God of the Valleys
Notes
Transcript
Call to worship
Welcome everyone!
Call to worship
Psalm 23 “A Psalm of David. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters. He restores my soul; He guides me in the paths of righteousness For His name’s sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You have anointed my head with oil; My cup overflows. Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life, And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”
LET US STAND AND WORSHIP!
“Goodness of God”
Words and Music by Hillsong
PRAYER OF PRAISE FOR WHO GOD IS
Lord, we thank you that you are good all the time. Even in the valleys, when life is hard, and the circumstances we find ourselves in do not make sense, we know that you are the GOD who works all things together for good. And as we meditate on that, we praise you. Amen
“In Christ Alone”
Words and Music by KeithandKristen Getty
“O Priase the name
Words and Music by Anastasis
PRAYER OF ILLUMINATION TO OPEN OUR HEARTS
Lord, would you open our hearts to hear from You in the glorious life of Jospeh. Would you take all the distractions away from us, and may your Spirit minister to us today in a mighty way. Amen!
SERMON
Introduction
We are starting a new series today on the life of Joseph, the son of Jacob. I would encourage you this week, take some time and read through the story of Joseph, it will bless you and you will get more out of this study.
No other single person in the entire OT receives as much Scripture than Joseph.
He was a remarkable man with a godly character that is very admirable today.
He is an encouragement to us who may be in difficult places in our lives because his steadfast trust in God and persistence in doing what is right the right, eventually lead to his triumph and vindication.
I love what James Montgomery Boice said about Joseph,
“If there was ever a man for all seasons, it was Joseph….He was loved and hated, favored and abused, tempted and trusted, exalted and abased. Yet at no point in the 110-year life of Joseph did he ever seem to get his eyes off God or cease to trust him. Adversity did not harden his character. Prosperity did not ruin him. He was the same in private as in public. He was a truly great man.”
“It is a striking characteristic of this story that nothing bad is ever reported about Joseph. Like all people, he most certainly had a sinful nature, but we are not told of any outward expressions of it. As a result, we are free to respond to and love him as perhaps no other character in the Bible except the Lord Jesus Christ.”
As I read trough his story again this year, it caused me to love him. And I hope this study of Jospeh will inspire us and encourage us to be a Jospeh in the world today.
Be willing to stand when it seems like the whole world is against us
Never compromise our commitment to God
And love the unlovable. Do not repay evil for evil, but repay good for evil.
We are going to begin right where Scripture does, at the beginning where the circumstances that God has ordained for Jospeh’s life, lead him into slavery and rejection so that he may reach his place of prominence and save his people.
~Prayer~
The circumstances that changed Joseph’s life
The circumstances that changed Joseph’s life
1) The favoritism that Jacob showed Joseph
1) The favoritism that Jacob showed Joseph
These are the records of the generations of Jacob. Joseph, when seventeen years of age, was pasturing the flock with his brothers while he was still a youth, along with the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father’s wives. And Joseph brought back a bad report about them to their father. Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his sons, because he was the son of his old age; and he made him a varicolored tunic. His brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers; and so they hated him and could not speak to him on friendly terms.
Explanation
“Joseph brought back a bad report about them to their father”
It’s tempting to read this quickly and say that Joseph brought his trouble upon himself. He’s a tattle tale and instead of minding his own business, he spends his time spying on his brothers trying to get them in trouble.
We do not know what his brothers were doing BUT we do know that is was a BAD REPORT
And we also know from chapter 34, that these same brothers killed every male in the city of Shechem and Jacob had to move his entire family to Bethel because they gave him a bad reputation.
So I think Joseph is looking out for his family by reporting to his father what they were doing.
This also aligns with Jospeh’s character as we will see
(v 3) “Israel loved Jospeh more than all his sons” AND (v 4) “his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers; and so they hated him and could not speak to him on friendly terms.
This was the real root of his brothers dislike towards Jospeh.
It was not because Jospeh told their father of some bad things that they had done, it was because their father showed Joseph more love than he did to his other sons.
Bridge
One thing I love about the Bible, it tells it “warts and all”.
If man were telling a story about God’s people, he would only tell about the triumphs.
But God doesn’t leave anything out.
Jacob was God’s chosen vessel to carry on the promise He made to Abraham to bless ALL the nations of the earth.
Rom 9:13 “Just as it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.””
And though he was God’s chosen, he was far from perfect.
He played the dangerous game of favoritism that caused this animosity between his children
Application
And so this temptation exists for us today
The temptation to show favor to one of our children, one of our grandchildren, niece's, nephews, even children in our class that we are teaching.
None of us are exempt, and the damage it does it tremendous!
And we should know this: Jacob experienced this same favoritism from his childhood
His mother Rebekah loved him more than she loved her other son Esau (they were twins by the way)
And Issac, Jacob’s father loved Esau more than he loved Jacob
So favoritism runs in family bloodlines
We see this in the Bible, and we see this in our own lives
And so we make so excuses as to why we do this:
Jospeh was the one was upright and did not participate his brother’s bad deeds
Jospeh was the loyal son who obeyed anytime his father asked him to do something
Joseph was always kind hearted and cared about his family
Jospeh liked the same stuff I liked
on and on
And here is the sad thing about playing favorites:
The child who is favorited by the parent becomes hated by the siblings
(v 4) “So they hated him” (Joseph)
It was not Jacob that suffered but Joseph
The one who was innocent of his father’s sin, paid for it because he was the one whom his brothers hated
He was one who was grown into the pit
He was the one whom his brothers “could not” even speak to him in a friendly way because they hated him.
What should our character be like?
Free from any kind of favoritism
My brethren, do not hold your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with an attitude of personal favoritism.
God wants us to love everyone regardless of their gifts, regardless of what we have in common with them, because that is the way He loves us
People in the church
The people in our homes
The people that we encounter in our everyday lives
2) The envy of Joseph’s brothers because of his dreams
2) The envy of Joseph’s brothers because of his dreams
Genesis 37:5–8 (NASB95)
Then Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him even more. He said to them, “Please listen to this dream which I have had; for behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and lo, my sheaf rose up and also stood erect; and behold, your sheaves gathered around and bowed down to my sheaf.” Then his brothers said to him, “Are you actually going to reign over us? Or are you really going to rule over us?” So they hated him even more for his dreams and for his words.
Genesis 37:9–11 (NASB95)
Now he had still another dream, and related it to his brothers, and said, “Lo, I have had still another dream; and behold, the sun and the moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me.” He related it to his father and to his brothers; and his father rebuked him and said to him, “What is this dream that you have had? Shall I and your mother and your brothers actually come to bow ourselves down before you to the ground?” His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the saying in mind.
Explanation
Joseph has two dreams that he realizes are special
In the OT dreams like this were taken seriously because they were considered to be from God
And like any other 17 y/o boy, he probably was pretty excited to tell his family about God speaking to him in a dreams!
In the first dream Joseph’s sheaf rises above the others and they bow down to him
The brothers pick this up quickly to mean that Jospeh is going to rule over them
Keep in mind Jospeh was the 2nd youngest brother
In those days, it was the younger that would serve the older not the other way around
So Jospeh’s dream was going against the cultural norm which is why they respond the way they do, “are you really going to rule over us”
The second dream includes the sun, the moon, and the stars all bowing down to him
Jacob now realizes that this second dream is about his mother and father also bowing down to him
Again against the culture and out of place in the ancient world
It would always be the children serving the parents
Let me say something about these dreams
They are not from Jospeh’s imagination, they truly are from God
And through these dreams, God is revealing the future to Jospeh and his family
And if we look aheads in this story, we will see them come to pass just as Jospeh saw
Now Joseph was the ruler over the land; he was the one who sold to all the people of the land. And Joseph’s brothers came and bowed down to him with their faces to the ground.
Bridge
How did the brothers respond to this?
(v 8) “they hated him even more for his dreams and for his words.”
(v 11) “His brothers were jealous of him”
They responded with jealously and hatred
Why?
It says they hated him for his dreams and words
Not just that he told them about his dreams, but they hated the dreams
They hated the words that he spoke
And they were jealous of him that God was speaking to him
Application
What does jealousy or envy mean spiritually speaking?
When we envy someone else, what we are saying to God is, “I am dissatisfied with the decisions you have made for my life
I am dissatisfied with the spouse you have given me
I am dissatisfied with my church
I am dissatisfied with my job
I am dissatisfied with my circumstances
And we begin to look at other people in a negative way because it looks like God has blessed them more than He has blessed us
And we compare ourselves to others
And we begin to resent those people
And if our envy goes unchecked, we can find ourselves right where Jospeh’s brothers were: resentment towards man and resentment towards God
It was his words that they hated him for
People have dreams all the time that really mean nothing
But his dream was from God, and it was that which made them hate it and be jealous
3) Jospeh’s obedience to his father
3) Jospeh’s obedience to his father
Then his brothers went to pasture their father’s flock in Shechem. Israel said to Joseph, “Are not your brothers pasturing the flock in Shechem? Come, and I will send you to them.” And he said to him, “I will go.” Then he said to him, “Go now and see about the welfare of your brothers and the welfare of the flock, and bring word back to me.” So he sent him from the valley of Hebron, and he came to Shechem.
Here is Joseph, the favorite son, at home on the couch watching TV while the brothers are out working in the fields
And it just so happens that his brothers are at Shechem disgraced his father just a few years ago and forced him to move
So he sends Joseph to them to check on them and bring back word to his father
And like a good son, Jospeh does just what Jacob asks him to and heads to check on the welfare of his brothers.
They said to one another, “Here comes this dreamer! “Now then, come and let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits; and we will say, ‘A wild beast devoured him.’ Then let us see what will become of his dreams!” But Reuben heard this and rescued him out of their hands and said, “Let us not take his life.” Reuben further said to them, “Shed no blood. Throw him into this pit that is in the wilderness, but do not lay hands on him”—that he might rescue him out of their hands, to restore him to his father. So it came about, when Joseph reached his brothers, that they stripped Joseph of his tunic, the varicolored tunic that was on him; and they took him and threw him into the pit. Now the pit was empty, without any water in it.
Then they sat down to eat a meal. And as they raised their eyes and looked, behold, a caravan of Ishmaelites was coming from Gilead, with their camels bearing aromatic gum and balm and myrrh, on their way to bring them down to Egypt. Judah said to his brothers, “What profit is it for us to kill our brother and cover up his blood? “Come and let us sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay our hands on him, for he is our brother, our own flesh.” And his brothers listened to him. Then some Midianite traders passed by, so they pulled him up and lifted Joseph out of the pit, and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty shekels of silver. Thus they brought Joseph into Egypt.
Explanation
What I have tried to show you through this narrative is that the circumstances that led to Joseph being thrown into a pit and sold into slavery had really nothing to do with him.
His father favorited Him which caused the brothers to hate Him
God sent the dreams to Him, which caused the brothers to be jealous of Him and plan to murder him
His father told him to go to Shechem and check on his brothers which led to him being thrown into pit and sold
God is not mentioned 1 time in these 28 verses, but we can trace His hand through the twists and turns
God used the bad and the good to take Joseph where he needed him to be in the center of his will
And the worst possible thing happened to Jospeh when he was sent to the Valley of Shechem, BUT GOD WAS THERE!
(v 25) “and behold, a caravan of Ishmaelites was coming”
Whenever you see that word in Scripture, God wants to get our attentions!
He is saying, “pay attention, his is important”
This was not happenstance, but by way of divine providence
God has aligned these events so perfectly, because He had a plan for Jospeh
And a major part of that plan was getting Jospeh out of Bethel and into Egypt
Bridge
Now I can only imagine what was going through Jospeh’s mind
I am the son who has tried to do the right thing
I did not participate in my brothers bad deeds
I was respectful and obeyed my father
God gave me dreams that I would rule over my family one day
I went to check on the welfare of my brothers even though they hated me, I still loved them
And for all of this, I am thrown into a pit and sold into slavery for 20 shekels of silver
Application
And so it is with every believer who walks with God
You will have spend a significant amount of time in the valleys
You will have things done to you for doing what is right!
You will experience hatred, and jealously, and rejection from this world
You will feel like a failure at times and think your life is wasting away!
BUT GOD WAS THERE IN THAT PIT
And God sent that caravan to him because He had a plan for Jospeh
And God would do things with Joseph that he could not do with him in the land of Canaan
And if you are a follower of Jesus Christ, that same hand that was with Jospeh is with us too
And if we find ourselves in hard times that look hopeless, we must remember, “God has a plan”
He does not just have a plan for some followers, but all followers
He has not let life slip out of His control!
This is the way God often works in our lives!
And from my experience and study of Scripture that plan often involves hardships before it involves triumphs
Conclusion
What is the major lesson for us here?
Do not resent or reject the circumstances which God has brought into our lives
We have no idea what God is doing, and what kind of future God has for us
And God can radically change our situations in the blink of an eye when it is time too.
Ecclesiastes 3:1 (NASB95)
There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven— (Ecc 3:11) “He has made everything beautiful in its time.”
Trust God wherever you are
Trust that God has a plan
He is the Gos of the valleys, and only He can bring us out of them to triumphs
~PRAYER~
RESPONSE
PUBLIC INVITATION
“What a beautiful Name”
Words and Music by Hillsong
OFFERING
We will now worship the Lord through our tithes and offering.
BENEDICTION
Numbers 6:24-26 “The Lord bless you, and keep you; The Lord cause His face to shine on you, And be gracious to you; The Lord lift up His face to you, And give you peace.’”
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