What's Your Lane (6)?
What's Your Lane ? • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Please open your Bibles to Genesis 37. We’ve been talking about going – as you go along in life in your “lane” point people to Jesus. A lot of pointing people toward Jesus is doing what we can with what we’ve been given. We’re wired in particular ways, we have different strengths, talents, skills, interests – which all can play a part in making disciples of Jesus. Last week I introduced another layer to this topic – finishing well. When our lives are done, how do we want to cross the finish line? I want to take the next few weeks to look at some people who did what they could with what they had been given and finished well.
So, as we begin to look at their lives, I’m curious – how do we respond when circumstances beyond our control disrupt our lives? What do we do when adversity, life, tragedy seems to get in the way of doing what we can with what we’ve been given? Maybe gets in the way of finishing well?
Let’s see how a young man named Joseph dealt with this issue. Joseph, son of Jacob. So we’re talking approximately 1,900 years before Christ – about 4,000 years ago. Jacob being one of the patriarchs of Israel – son of Isaac, son of Abraham. God changed Jacob’s name to Israel and his 12 sons became the 12 tribes. Joseph was the 11th son but the first born of Jacob’s 2nd wife, Rachael. Jacob had two wives – Leah out of necessity and cultural norms, and then Rachael whom he loved dearly. Because Joseph was Jacob’s first-born with Rachel, Joseph was favored, pampered, spoiled. Jacob gave him a special coat (of many colors) that caused his head to swell. Because of his position and favor, Joseph would tattle on his brothers. So they didn’t like him – they hated him.
When Joseph was 17, God gave him some dreams that one day his brothers, even his father would bow down to him. This caused his head to swell more. He probably became an arrogant, self-centered, entitled teenager – more concerned with how many followers he had on FB and Instagram than doing hard honest work. He probably flaunted his coat, his dreams, and his status as daddy’s favorite. Long blond hair like Fabio.
One day while his brothers were tending the flocks - about a day’s journey away - Joseph was home brushing his hair. Jacob sent him to his brothers to check on them, see what they were doing and then come back home with a report. That’s good for building family relations. Let’s pick it up in
But they saw him in the distance, and before he reached them, they plotted to kill him.
“Here comes that dreamer!” they said to each other.
“Come now, let’s kill him and throw him into one of these cisterns and say that a ferocious animal devoured him. Then we’ll see what comes of his dreams.”
When Reuben heard this, he tried to rescue him from their hands. “Let’s not take his life,” he said.
“Don’t shed any blood. Throw him into this cistern here in the wilderness, but don’t lay a hand on him.” Reuben said this to rescue him from them and take him back to his father.
So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe—the ornate robe he was wearing—
and they took him and threw him into the cistern. The cistern was empty; there was no water in it.
As they sat down to eat their meal, they looked up and saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead. Their camels were loaded with spices, balm and myrrh, and they were on their way to take them down to Egypt.
Judah said to his brothers, “What will we gain if we kill our brother and cover up his blood?
Come, let’s sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay our hands on him; after all, he is our brother, our own flesh and blood.” His brothers agreed.
So when the Midianite merchants came by, his brothers pulled Joseph up out of the cistern and sold him for twenty shekels of silver to the Ishmaelites, who took him to Egypt.
Ishmaelites -Midianites – which is it? There are some possible explanations regarding the back and forth - but not pertinent now. But know this, the Midianites and Ishmaelites were relatives, kinsfolk to Jacob and his sons – which adds more tragedy. Family should have rescued Joseph.
Let’s get the picture. Joseph is probably an arrogant spoiled teenager who has a revelation from God, which contributes to his arrogance. He’s loved by his father, hated by his brothers, and sell him into slavery. Joseph is put into a cage or shackled and taken to a foreign land. Not on his agenda. Betrayed by family, has no friends, and has no idea what his future will be. Thrown into deplorable conditions as a slave. No comforts from home, nothing is familiar, no freedom, and no hope of escape. His life was radically turned upside down. He went from favorite and pampered to slave. Talk about grief, loss, fear, suffering, trauma, loneliness, anxiety, abandonment – it’s all there. His humanity, his dignity, and his God-given dreams stripped away, and he becomes nothing more than a commodity to be sold, traded, and used.
What about his lane? What about doing what he can with what he’d been given? What about finishing well? What about the Parable of the Talents in Matthew 25 where Jesus taught how we live really matters and one day we will be held accountable for our lives?
Where was God in all this? That’s a topic we might get into later.
Turn to chapter 39.
Now Joseph had been taken down to Egypt. Potiphar, an Egyptian who was one of Pharaoh’s officials, the captain of the guard, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had taken him there.
The Lord was with Joseph so that he prospered, and he lived in the house of his Egyptian master.
When his master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord gave him success in everything he did,
Joseph found favor in his eyes and became his attendant. Potiphar put him in charge of his household, and he entrusted to his care everything he owned.
From the time he put him in charge of his household and of all that he owned, the Lord blessed the household of the Egyptian because of Joseph. The blessing of the Lord was on everything Potiphar had, both in the house and in the field.
So Potiphar left everything he had in Joseph’s care; with Joseph in charge, he did not concern himself with anything except the food he ate. Now Joseph was well-built and handsome,
(Side thought – who did the hard work? Who received the blessing? Would you be ok with that?)
This did not happen overnight. It’s estimated through several chronological references in Scripture that Joseph served Potiphar for approximately 11 years. 11 years without any contact with family. 11 years of working through grief and trauma. 11 years of serving a non-Jewish or non-Christian master in a foreign land. 11 years of wondering, “What about those dreams, God? What about those plans and promises you had for me? Will they happen?” 11 years of growing up, becoming an adult, and wrestling with theological and faith issues.
How did Joseph respond to the adversity, to the lane he was forced to walk in – a lane not of his own choosing (he contributed)? How many of us have been down paths that we did not choose? How have we responded?
Joseph may not have chosen his path, but he did choose how to respond. He chose what to do in the lane he was given. What did he choose?
1) He chose to embrace God.
God was with him, blessed him, and caused him to prosper. The idea that God caused him to prosper is not passive. God did not do all the hard work while Joseph played video games all day. God doesn't work that way. God doesn't bless laziness or entitlement, but He does bless faithfulness and doing on part.
Joseph chose to believe that God had not abandoned him, even though all others had.
Who or what are we choosing in adversity?
2) He chose to embrace the circumstances that were beyond his control.
I’m sure there was a time of lamenting, depression, frustration, and asking God why … all the normal human emotions that would occur in a situation like this. But eventually, he came to embrace the lane he was given. It’s obvious that Joseph served his master and served him well and faithfully, and with integrity. He did the best that he could with what he had been given. Rather than fighting circumstances that were beyond his control, he chose to go with it.
My friend Dwight with Parkinson’s could have spent the last 40 years fighting God and asking, “Why did this happen? Why have you not healed me? Why this and why that! God, if you’re in control …?” Dwight told me that attitudes like that lead to anger and disillusionment and creates distance between us and God. But when we learn to embrace the suffering or whatever, that’s when we truly draw close to God, learn who He is and learn who we are.
Regarding circumstances and trials that are beyond our control, what might happen if we embraced more and fought less?
Joseph also
3) He chose to embrace growth.
He chose to learn. He chose to allow adversity to teach him and shape the person God designed him to be. He allowed adversity to reveal his natural God-given talents and strengths. They were there - they just needed uncovered and a place to put them into practice and to hone. Interestingly, God used an Egyptian who worshipped other gods, and God used adversity and suffering to expose Joseph’s lane. Not saying God caused any of this, don’t know - but He definitely used it. This really is Romans 8:28 at work.
More to say about Joseph next week, but to reiterate - Joseph chose to do what he could with what he was given. What was he given? One of the greatest gifts of all – choice. He did not choose his circumstances, but he did choose how to respond to them.
How are you and I choosing God, to embrace, and choosing to grow in adversity?
If you don’t know Christ, choose Him today.