From the Pit to the Palace The Life of Joseph Genesis Sermon 5

Transcription

1 From the Pit to the Palace The Life of Joseph Genesis Sermon 5 WHATEVER YOUR LOT BUILD SOMETHING Joseph in Prison Genesis 39:21 40:46 D A church sign read, Whatever your lot in life - build something! That is good advice and it is God s will. When life hands us lemons we are to make lemonade. Joseph received a giant sized lemon and a hard lot when he refused to commit adultery with Potiphar s wife. She accused him of attempted rape and her husband, pretending to believe her, had him thrown into prison. Many of our trials and troubles come because we are children of God. We get into trouble not because God is punishing us for doing what is wrong, but because the world is attacking us for doing what is right. This was the case with Joseph. He was suffering in prison because he refused to disobey God. But trials for the child of God, no matter why they come, are tests. Joseph was faithful in Mrs. Potiphar s bedroom and he was faithful in Potiphar s prison and God raised him up, through three strange dreams, and made him second in command in the world s mightiest nation. In thirteen years, from age seventeen (37:2) to age thirty (41:46), God took him from the pit to the palace. God took Joseph to the top the hard way. Like Jesus he had to pass through suffering to enter into his glory (Lk. 24:46). He went to the palace by way of the prison. How much he suffered in prison we do not know. The Bible calls his place of confinement a roundhouse (39:20-23) and Joseph called it a dungeon (40:15). Psalm 105, speaking of Joseph, said, They bruised his feet with shackles, his nect was put in irons, till what he foretold came to pass, till the word of the Lord proved him true. The king sent and released him... (105:18-20). This, however, could be a figurative expression for slavery, or could 1

2 refer to how he was dragged away. At any rate, prison was a dirty word and Joseph s lot was hard to bear. He was somewhere he did not want to be. We do not have to be behind bars to identify with Joseph. Prisons come in all shapes and sizes. Life itself, for many, is a rut and a rut has been well defined as a grave with both ends knocked out. Home, with its unending responsibilities anc constant quarrels, is a prison to many. Work, with too little pay and too much stress, is a daily sentence many serve. We can feel imprisoned by poor health, poverty, parents, religion and a thousand other things. When John Steinbeck traveled incognito across America with a dog named Charlie, he talked with people from every walk of life - from the man who pumped the gas to the executive in the oil company. He said that most Americans wish they were someone else, living somewhere else, doing something else. They felt trapped by their lives. The question is, what are we to do when life is far less than the best for us? How can we built on our lot in life and find God s best? Joseph shows us. His life is a commentary on Romans 8:28. It shows how God can take all things, good and bad, and make them work together for our good. How do we build on life s lesser lots and tap into the resources of God s best for us? First... I. WE NEED TO BE SERVING GOD (39:21-23) Look at what he did. In prison Joseph found a task and he did it. His personality and administrative skills came to the front and the prison warden put him in charge of the other prisoners. First and foremost, we must keep on obeying and serving God. We must look at our lot and say, Lord, what is your will for me right here and right now? Joseph was like a Weeble. You could knock him down but he always bounced back up. The Book of Proverbs says, Don t you know that this good man, though you trip him up seven times, will each time rise again? (24:16, LB). We must do this as in the case of Joseph, when obedience has been costly, when walking in the will of God has gotten us in trouble. The church today is filled with fair weather obedience. We preach and practice and praise the steps of 2

3 obedience that lead to peace of mind or financial security or a high self regard. But what about the steps that lead to prison? to the cross? to pain and persecution? Remember this, it was Joseph s refusal to sin against God by having an affair with his master s wife that got him thrown into prison but it was the prison that was his stepping stone to the palace. If he had yielded, we might never have heard from him again. If he had said yes to sin, then perhaps no honors, no wife and family, no reunion with his family and no usefulness to God would have been his. On a lot we do not like we must keep serving God. In passing we might think about what he didn t do. He did not wallow in SELF PITY and plunge himself into the awful depths of depression. He didn t spend his time thinking about poor little Joseph and the way life was treating him. Neither did he give in to ANGER and gripe to all who would listen about the immorality and the lies of his master s wife. Like our Lord, Joseph opened not his mouth. In the face of her charges he was bravely and nobly silent. A word from him might well have kept him from prison because the whole story implies that Potiphar did not really believe his wife. Had he really believed her he would have followed Egyptian customs and after torturing Joseph would have put him to death. Joseph said nothing in his defense. He would not rob his master of his wife even to save himself. It takes great Christian character to remain silent in the face of horrible lies and unjust criticism. Every fiber of our being wants to retaliate but the word of God tells us to leave such people in the hands of God. The Bible says, Do not repay evil for evil... Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God s wrath, for it is written: It is mine to avenge; I will repay, says the Lord (Rom. 12:17, 19). Had Joseph given in to either self pity or revenge, he would have been a prisoner to depression and to hate. And no man can build a worse prison than those we build for ourselves. The great need of the hour is for men and women to serve God, like Joseph, not because it is profitable or comfortable, but because it is right. I like what Maclaren says here: 3

4 ...come what will of it, right is right, and sin is sin,,... consequences are never to deter from duty, and...it is better to have a clear conscience and be in prison than to do wickedness and sit at a king s table. (Expositions of Holy Scripture, Eerdmans, 1959, Vol. 1, p. 250). Think about what he got. The Scripture says, But while Joseph was there in the prison, the Lord was with him (39:20, 21). I am not surprised. It is when problems overwhelm us, when we are in pits over our head, that God seems nearest. I believe one of our greatest problems is the apparent unreality of God in our lives cause by our prosperity. With loving families, beautiful homes, good health, good friends and enough money to pay our bills, God is usually little more than an academic extra we tack on while we are in church or having our time of prayer. But you let troubles flood your life and all this changes. Let your child get on drugs. Let a doctor tell you the news is very bad. Let someone start hating you and attacking you with their tongue. Let your home fall apart. Let your job be taken away. When this happens, God will swiftly be the most important and one of the most real facts in your life. It is in the dark pits of pain that we go to our Bibles not as a student goes to a textbook but as a lost traveler goes to a map. We go to God not to learn things about Him but to get hold of Him. II. WE NEED TO BE HELPING OTHERS (Ch. 40) In prison Joseph found not only a task but a ministry. He reached out to help two fellow prisoners and in so doing, helped himself. During his imprisonment the king of Egypt threw two of his most trusted officials into prison. One was his chef and the other the steward of his wine. These men were responsible to see that no one poisoned the king and ancient records indicate that they were accused of doing just that - trying to poison him. While Pharaoh sorted the matter out they sat in jail. Joseph became their servant and one day noticed a troubled look on their faces. He asked them what was wrong. Each told him they were disturbed over a dream they had the night before. When Joseph offered God s interpretation they shared their 4

5 dreams. The wine steward s dream was that he squeezed three branches of grapes into the king s cup and gave it to him. Joseph told him it meant that in three days he would be completely reinstated. The chef shared his dream. He was carrying three baskets of food on his head to the king but the birds kept eating it. Joseph told him the sad news that in three days he would be beheaded and his body hanged upon a tree for the birds to eat. Go back to the day Joseph saw them disturbed. He could have minded his own business. He could have said, I have enough troubles of my own. But he did what was right and showed a little act of kindness. Little to us, but not to God. This was a big test of his character. He passed it and although it took two years, it was the key that unlocked the door of his prison. But the benefits of kindness were felt long before that day he stood before Pharaoh. He is in helping that we not only bring healing to others but find it for ourselves. Karl Menninger, a noted psychiatrist, said that if he felt himself slipping into a nervous breakdown he would go out immediately and find some hurting people to help. Dr. William Stidger, an honored Seminary professor, fell into a state of depression. Life became a prison cell and nothing mattered any more. A friend challenged him to think of some people who had helped him in life and to write them and thank them. He thought of his high school English teacher who had given him a love of reading and of great literature and poetry. He wrote her a thank you note. In a few days he got a reply. Calling him Willy she shared her fond memories of him. Then she said she had to brush back her tears of joy because his letter, the first she had received in 30 years of teaching, had blessed her so much. Over the next few years Stidger wrote over 300 more thank you letters. In reaching out to others he helped himself. He got out of the prison and back into the world through love. III. WE NEED TO BE HELPING OURSELVES (40:14-15) In prison Joseph did everything in his power to help himself get out. After promising deliverance to the wine steward he eloquently pleaded his own case. He said: 5

6 ...please remember me and show me kindness. Mention me to Pharaoh and help me out of this prison. For I was taken by force from the land of the Hebrews. And even here I have done nothing to deserve being put in this dungeon (40:14, 15). Here is a though question. Since God had promised to deliver Joseph should he have tried to deliver himself like this? Does God help those who help themselves or those who trust Him? The answer is not simple. There are times when God tells us to stand back and do nothing - to wait upon Him. Jesus told His disciples to tarry in Jerusalem until they were clothed with the power of the Holy Spirit. There are also times when God tells us to jump in and get busy - to work with him. Mordecai knew God was going to spare the Jews, but when the king of Persia was tricked into signing their death warrant, he begged Queen Esther to intercede with her husband. God used him to fulfill his promise to him. As for me, I, like Joseph, believe we should do our best to help ourselves unless we have a deep conviction from the Lord to do nothing. Like the sign says, The harder I work the luckier I get. Dr. John Havlic flew to a certain city to conduct a revival. He noticed that NOTHING had been done to promote it. There wasn t even a sign or one bit of advertising. Dr. John commented on this and the pastor said, I m tired of gimmicks. I m tired of begging people to visit, of pack-a-pew, of suppers, of letters and of listening to cowboys and athletes. Dr. John! This time I AM JUST TRUSTING GOD TO SEND REVIVAL. Dr. Havlic wrote later how that sounded real pious and how some gimmicks should be done away with. The meeting, however, was poorly attended, with almost no decisions, and Havlic said we must never forget that we depend on God and GOD DEPENDS UPON US. IV. WE NEED TO BE WAITING ON GOD (40;20-41:46) Although Joseph was faithful to God and pleaded eloquently for his own release, nothing happened. Although the wine steward knew it was wrong (41:9), the Bible says he never gave Joseph another thought - he forgot all about him. For two long years the door was slammed in Joseph s face. Neither the steward nor God did anything. The Bible says, When hope is 6

7 deferred, the heart is crushed (Prov. 13:12). We can only imagine the sense of desperation and dejection Joseph felt as the days turned into weeks, the weeks turned into months, and the months turned into years. Joseph was driven to hope only in God and to wait for God. After two years God s time came and He visited a sleeping king. Pharaoh dreamed that seven fat cows were eaten by seven skinny ones and seven heads of full, ripe grain were swallowed up by seven thin heads. When no one could interpret the dream the wine steward remembered Joseph and told the king how he could interpret dreams. Joseph was rushed into the king s presence, stopping only long enough to shave and change clothes. Giving God the credit Joseph said the land would have seven years of great plenty followed by seven years of great famine. Then Joseph, either seeing the hand of God in this, or wisely seizing the opportunity, gave the king some good administrative advice. He said the king should put someone in charge of food harvesting and distribution. (Guess who he was hinting it should be!) During each of the seven good years he would put one fifth in storage. Then during the seven lean years he would ration it out to the people. The king loved the plan and put Joseph in charge of it all, with power and authority second only to him. God s promised elevation (37:5-7) and long awaited deliverance had finally come. Why had it taken thirteen years? Because that s how long it took Joseph to mature and develop the administrative and spiritual skills to be a wise and a good ruler. A spoiled, pampered, arrogant teenager had the maturity to carry the Eastern world through the stress of famine without a hint of anxiety or a sign of revolt. He walks with kings and stands as one born to rule. How? Thirteen years! That s how. F.B. Meyer says, Surely the iron has entered his soul. Our prisons which we come to hate so much might well be the anvils of God that we would come to love or at least appreciate, if only we could see that God is using them to help us mature and fit us for His will and work. Joseph Fletcher was the son of wealthy English parents. As a boy he had a consuming passion to sail across the seas to a life of 7

8 danger and adventure. He never outgrew it. It was part and parcel of his soul. He would sit at the dock and listen to the stories of the rugged sailors as they told him of places like Brazil where cups overflowing with gold were hidden in jungle caves. When he was old enough an old sailor talked him into booking passage on a ship to South America with its dangers and its gold. A few days before the departure he was sitting in his living room with his family. The servant brought in the afternoon tea and he tripped and spilled the boiling liquid on young Joseph s legs. The burns were severe and serious infection set in. When the old sailor friend came to get him, Joseph, with tears in his eyes, told him there was no way he could go with his injury. He hobbled down to the dock and watched his dreams sail away. A few days later the news arrived. The ship with all its crew and passengers had gone down. There were no survivors. Young Joseph Fletcher was so moved that not long afterward he became a Christian. As he sought a way to show his gratitude to God for sparing him, God led him to become an associate of John Wesley. And who was John Wesley? He was the man who crossed oceans, faced savages, climbed mountains, and led an adventurer s life as he carried the gospel to the world. And with him was Joseph Fletcher, a man whose dreams came true, in ways far greater than he ever imagined as a boy. For Joseph it all began with a boy s dream and a pretty coat. For Joseph Fletcher it all began with a boy s dream and a pot of tea. Your prison is a bad lotbuild something. God will make it a palace. 8