The
A Sermon series on the Life of Joseph
Gen. 37:12-36
4. Spying ! (37:12-14)
Again, part of Joseph’s job was spying on his brothers and
reporting to his father. No one trusted the other. Remember my last Sunday’s sermon.
Lying and cheating was in their system.
Please
notice that the brothers were in the pastures of Shechem.
Do you remember the murders of Shechem? This time a new
“killing” is on its way: it’s the turn of this dreamer boy, Joseph.
5. Searching for Brothers (37:15-20)
It is
interesting that Joseph does not find his brothers. Why? Perhaps he did not
know exactly where they were. Now we see an anonymous man who helps him
to find his brothers.
I see
God’s hand in directing Joseph. Allowing for troubles to be
in our roads, yes, into trouble. God is not source of troubles. He
allows them to happen. Yet
Every
ditch that we fall in, God can take care of us to pull us out.
Now
“Jealousy” was put in action.
6. The
killing plan is changed to throwing him in the pit, starving him to death.
(37:21-22)
We don’t
want to shed blood. Reuben had his plans to be the successor. He thought
he could be clean by rescuing his brother from direct killing.
(finding ways to cover the sin)
7. The killing is changed one more
time into selling him (37:23-28)
8. Reuben greaves (37:29-30)
Reuben
returned to the scene. He found his brother is sold. Reuben, the firstborn, tore
his clothes at the scene (grief). Remember, Rueben is one who had plans for the
family succession. When he did not have
children from his marriage, he slept with one of his step mothers Bilhah (35:22) to provide offspring. Even his grief is
selfish because he is only concerned about his own future, his dreams, not God’s dream for him.
9. The Garment (37:31-33)
The “royal”
colorful garment was immersed in blood. What kind of blood?
A deceiving blood. The Jacob the deceiver now became the
deceived Jacob.
Oh, this
garment, the garment of “favoritism”
became the garment of grief.
By the
way, the story of the garment continued as Joseph had another garment in
Yet,
later in life, Pharaoh gave him a royal
garment, a robe to be a leader in
10. Jacob is not comforted (37:34-35)
Sheol
is a place of death. There is no comfort in Sheol.
The words of Jacob are very sad. He is not comforted.
What can
we learn:
1. When we are in “pit”, when we
down, God is up to do something in our lives.
My sermon
title is: The
When you
look at the story, you do not expect to see Joseph in the “pit”. He was, and
God was there with him, helping him to come out and go forward in his life.
Joseph did not realize that, but God was there. God’s presence is not dependent
on my perception.
I said
before God has a plan for each of us. The important thing is to walk with God
and to accept His will, His plan in our lives.
I have a
dream. I should examine if that dream is
God’s dream for my life.
How do you
think Joseph felt in the pit? I say terrible.
He had
dreams. Dreams of being a ruler over everything. How? From a pit?
We should
not blame him. How many of us have dreamed of something then we realize God has
something else in his plan?
I did not
know that I would be a pastor. My dreams were different.
2. Most of the time God’s dreams
are tough, which means we will face challenges and difficulties.
I bet Joseph’s
dream died the day he was sold to slavery.
Confusion. What is going on God?
Where are
you God?
Think of
examples in your life:
-We have
seen that your career could be in trouble because of you being faithful to your
God.
-We have
seen the bosses fired you because you of your Christian priorities.
-Politically
to be correct is a statement that if you ignore it you can be in trouble. (remember beadveli Krikor aghbaloughlou?)
There is
a cost to be a disciple of Jesus.
David is in the “pit” as he writes
this Psalm (psalm 55:1-8)
1 Listen to my prayer, O God,
do not ignore my plea;
2 hear me and answer me.
My thoughts trouble me and I am distraught
3 at the voice of the enemy,
at the stares of the wicked;
for they bring down suffering upon me
and revile me in their anger.
4 My heart is in anguish within me;
the terrors of death assail me.
5 Fear and trembling have beset me;
horror has overwhelmed me.
6 I said, "Oh, that I had the wings
of a dove!
I would fly away and be at rest-
7 I would flee far away
and stay in the desert;
Selah
8 I would hurry to my place of shelter,
far from the tempest and storm."
How about Jesus? Who knew his fathers’ dream? He
knew he came for that dream. Jesus pursued his Father’s dream: salvation. Yet
He was rejected, humiliated, and crucified.
3. If you think God’s dream put
you in trouble, resurrection is on its way.
If
Joseph’s dream died, God used all the tough circumstances to build
Joseph’s character. Joseph became the rescuer of
Many
stories in the Bible have this theme.
-Job lost everything. His faith defeated
Satan. God restored everything, more than before.
-Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the
fire pit. God rescued them, what a witness for “resurrection.”
-Peter dined Jesus three times. He was
in the “pit”. He was a failure. But God was preparing him. On the day of Pentecost,
Peter was a new person. God prepared him.
-Paul was often beaten, put in prison. As if God’s dream was
shattered. No, God was there helping him to be “resurrected”.
Today my
message is to you is this. God has a dream for each of us. God has a plan for
your life. Each of us are created in his image so we
can serve him.
Blessed
is the one who finds God in his her life.
Yet, to
follow God is costly. Christ came and shared his love through his grace. Grace
is free, yet costly.
There is
a tough road when we follow God’s dream. The good news is God is with us
helping us to fulfill his will.
Amen