Joseph Series I of IV

	LISTEN HERE SHOW SUMMARY In the first installment of a four-part series, Hans Finzel shares insights and lessons from the life of Joseph. See what God can do in the lives of His children. SHOW NOTES MOF_2010_07_21_Joseph1of4-web_nvr.mp3
SHOW TRANSCRIPT

HANS FINZEL: Hi, this is Hans Finzel, president of WorldVenture, based in Littleton, Colorado. Our website is WorldVenture.com. Welcome to our radio program, Missions on the Frontline. WorldVenture supports over 1,000 mission projects and missionaries in over 65 countries. We’ve been sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ around the world since 1943. This radio program is part of our new initiative to make you aware of new and exciting ways you can be involved in missions.

I’m excited about today because we’re going to have the first in a four-part series of life lessons from Joseph in the Old Testament of the Bible. You know, I lead an international mission agency and when I look at the Bible one of the greatest missionaries in all the Bible was Joseph. He’s a man who had to leave his country against his will and he really made a go of it.

I call the theme of Joseph’s live, “Get it over it and get on with it”. Now that may sound a little callous but there is no one who had more hardships and had a better attitude in the Old Testament than the life of Joseph. In fact, I just think that’s why I like him so much.

In the book of Acts 7, verses 9-10 it says, “But God was with him and rescued him from all his troubles.”

So today we are going to take a look at Joseph and see what lessons we can draw for our own lives right now and believe me, there are a lot of lessons.

You know, in the Old Testament there are two great men of destiny – Joseph and Moses. Joseph is the one that got them into Egypt to begin with. It says in Genesis 46,
2 And God spoke to Israel in a vision at night and said, "Jacob! Jacob!"
"Here I am," he replied.
3 "I am God, the God of your father," he said. "Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for I will make you into a great nation there.
4 I will go down to Egypt with you, and I will surely bring you back again. And Joseph's own hand will close your eyes."
This was the promise to Joseph’s father, Jacob, that they would have to go down to Egypt to become a great nation. Four hundred years went by and then Moses got them back into Canaan and they had grown from the 12 brothers to the 12 tribes of Israel and by the time they went back to the Promised Land, they had reached the size of two million.
Here’s what it says in Exodus 3
9 And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them. 10 So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.
So Joseph got them into Egypt and Moses got them out.
Now one thing I’ve learned as I’ve studied the life of Joseph is that there is more air-time given to Joseph than any Old Testament character in the book of Genesis. From Genesis 37 to the end of the book of Genesis in chapter 50, it’s all about Joseph. Why?
Well Chuck Swindoll has written a great commentary on the life of Joseph and here is his insight:
“Why does the Spirit of God hover over his life more than any other person in the book of Genesis, including Abraham? God said to Moses somehow as he wrote the book of Genesis, ‘Make a careful record of this man’s life so that future generations can spend an extended amount of time with him.’”
And that’s what we are going to do in this four-part series on the life of Joseph. We’re going to spend some extended time with him and see what kind of lessons we can draw out for our own lives.
Let me begin by giving you my Top Ten Things I Love About Joseph and why I have poured myself into studying his life for the last couple of years. I have found that as I have walked with Joseph through the Old Testament and the New Testament record, he has been a great encouragement to me in times of great discouragement.
You know life throws us some pretty hard knocks and in leadership we really have some great challenges. Here are the Top Ten Things I Love About Joseph.
1.He was a dreamer and dreamers are often misunderstood. In our day I think he would have been labeled a Maverick, a Visionary, an Entrepreneur. So if that’s what you are, you are going to love Joseph.
2.He practiced faithfulness to God with no support group to motivate him or hold him accountable. It’s what I call obedience in solitude.
3.He kept his attitude positive in a very negative set of circumstances and we will look at that in a little bit more detail in a moment. He did not allow defeat to defeat him.
4.He learned to grow where he was planted as a Multiple Uprooted One. And this is why I think the life of Joseph applies so much to people in missionary work because WorldVenture deploys missionary families all over the world to more than 65 countries and these people are greatly uprooted people. I’m always amazed at how they thrive where they are planted and that’s what Joseph was – the Multiple Uprooted One.
5.He grew better as a person through his trials; not bitter.
6.He knew the source of his gifting – that it was from God and not himself.
7.He was the black sheep of the family but he survived and thrived.
8.He overcame a highly dysfunctional family with a passive father. Maybe some of you listening come from a highly dysfunctional family and you have a passive father. It’s so easy to blame our failures on our family and not get over it and that’s why I say the theme of this man’s life is “get over it; get on with it”. He was able to draw on the resources of God and to have enough faith to get over it.
I’m reading the Top Ten Things I Love About Joseph.
9.He was extremely gifted and yet humble. It says in the record in Genesis he was strong, handsome, and had unusual wisdom but he remained humble.
10.His whole life is a positive boost to the story of redemption.
If we look at the life of Joseph it really spans a number of chunks of time. The first seventeen years of his life he’s basically a teen-ager and at the end of his teen years is when he gets in trouble with his brothers because of the dreams that he has.
Then he’s sold into slavery and for 13 years he drops off the radar screen.
And then all of a sudden about the time he reaches 30-years of age, he starts through a series of circumstances interpreting dreams which puts him into great leadership in Egypt, just when these famines are about to take place.
We know there were seven years of plenty and seven years of famine and it was through the context of this famine that his father, Jacob, and all of his brothers came down.
In the last of the four-part series we’ll look at forgiveness and how he forgave his family even before they showed up.
One of the things that amazes me about Joseph’s time-line, you know we think of all the stories of Joseph’s life that I just reviewed but do you realize the greatest chunk of his time happened after his family came down and joined him in Egypt? Sixty-eight years he went on to enjoy his father, Jacob, who thought he was dead. His brothers. His grandchildren and I just became a Grandpa recently and I tell you, it is the thrill of a lifetime. He was able to enjoy – after all that pain and suffering –his children, his grandchildren, probably even his great-grandchildren because he lived a long time.
We’re looking at the life of Joseph and in case you just joined us, I’m Hans Finzel, and this is the program, Missions on the Frontline. We’d love to hear from you, our listeners, and we have a new email address. If you are encouraged by what you hear, would you write me at Frontline@WorldVenture.com and let me know you are encouraged by this program? You can also visit our website at www.WorldVenture.com.
I want to speak with you today specifically about the first of four lessons we’re going to look at from the life of Joseph. I’ve tried to give you an overview but now we’re going to look specifically at the first of our lessons.
This is the lesson about winning the battle over our circumstances.
Of all the tools in Satan’s tool belt, there is no more powerful tool than the tool of discouragement. Discouragement takes out more Christians than I think just about anything. Probably more than even temptation.
Joseph refused to join the pity party. Let’s pick up the story in Genesis 37, beginning in verse 12. What we will see in this story, here’s a couple of insights that I got from Joseph – bad things happen to good people and really bad things happen to really good people.
You know, really, there was nothing wrong with Joseph. He was a good man; he happened to be a young man who had some passionate dreams but he got…
You know those dreams and that vision really got him into trouble. So bad things happen to good people; really bad things happen to really good people so if some really bad things have happened to you and you feel that God has been unfair to you, read the life of Joseph.
We’re going to take a minute to look at this actual story in the book of Genesis and if you are not driving and you can grab a Bible, then grab it and read Genesis 37 with me. If you are not able to get to your Scriptures and you want to listen to all four in the series, I would highly recommend you read Genesis 37 through 50 in preparation for my sharing some of these thoughts with you.
Genesis 37, picking it up in verse 2.
When Joseph was seventeen-years old he often tended his father’s flocks with his half –brothers, the sons of Zilpah, his father's wife, and Jacob loved Joseph more than any of his other children, because Joseph had been born to him in his old age. (And I know from other places that there were only two sons of Rachel. Rachel was Jacob’s most beloved wife and she gave him only two sons – Joseph and Benjamin and that’s one of the reasons that Jacob loved them so dearly.) So one day he gave him a special gift – a beautiful robe. But his brothers hated Joseph because of their father’s partiality. They couldn’t say a kind word to him.
You know, this kid was highly-gifted. We know he was handsome, he was strong, he had great wisdom but you know he probably, perhaps, had kind of an arrogant spirit as a teenager. We all know what teenagers are like.
I’ve raised four teenagers and thankfully they are beyond the teen years and when I was a young dad they thought I knew everything. In the teen years, mom and dad don’t know anything. Then when they become adults, the cool thing is they get married and start having children and then they cycle back around and they think we know everything.
Well, one night Joseph had a dream and he promptly reported the details to his brothers, causing them to hate him even more. Listen to the dream and really, he has two dreams.
The first one is a bundle of grain that bows down to the other bundles and they say to him, “So you are going to be our King, are you?” his brother taunted. And they hated him all the more for his dream and what he had said.
Then Joseph had another dream. And he told his brothers, “Listen to this, the sun, moon, and eleven stars bowed low before me.” This time he told his father as well as his brothers and his father rebuked him.
“What do you mean?” he said, “Will your mother and brothers and I actually come and bow down before you?”
But while his brothers were jealous of Joseph, his father gave it some thought and wondered what it all meant.
If you go back to the original promise to Jacob that God had told him that he had to go down to Egypt, I think Jacob was putting together that his son was very special.
Well, as it goes on, the brothers are so unhappy that a couple of days later they decide to sell him into slavery.
In verse 18 of Genesis 37, “When Joseph’s brother saw him coming, they recognized him in the distance and made plans to kill him.”
“Here comes the dreamer,” they exclaimed. “Come on, let’s kill him and throw him into a deep pit. We can tell our father that a wild animal has eaten him. Then we’ll see what becomes of all of his dreams.”
But Reuben came to Joseph’s rescue. “Let’s not kill him. Why should we shed his blood?”
So when Joseph arrived they pulled off his beautiful robe; they threw it into the pit and then eventually they sold him into slavery because a band of travelers were on their way down to Egypt.
He says in verse 27, “Let’s sell Joseph to those Ishmaelite traders. Let’s not be responsible for his death. After all, he is our brother.” And his brothers agreed.
So when the traders came by, his brothers pulled Joseph out of the pit and sold him for 20 pieces of silver.
By the way, on the very last of the four lessons we’ll look at during the four weeks of the life of Joseph, I’m going to make comparisons between Joseph and Christ. There’s one of the comparisons -- they were both betrayed for pieces of silver.
Bad things happen to good people and really bad things happen to really good people.
What do you think Joseph felt like?
He had these dreams, he innocently shared these dreams with his brothers and they hated him all the more. How do you think he felt when he was down in that bottom of that pit? I think he felt very, very alone and very abandoned. It’s amazing how bad things can happen to people even when they follow God faithfully.
In Psalm 105 we read an interesting…
I love other places in the Old Testament and New Testament where a whole life is summarized or a great period of time in Biblical history is just shrunk down. And in Psalm 105 verses 16-22, we see how God was the Master Designer even though his brother’s sold him into slavery, we know later in his life – years later when they come back and they are finally reunited – he says to them, “You know what? You intended it for evil; but God intended it for good.” Because He’s the Master Designer.
By the way, that is one of the ways in my mind that we get over it and get on with it when bad things happen to us.
Psalm 105, verse 16 and following.
16 He called down famine on the land
and destroyed all their supplies of food;
17 and he sent a man before them—
Joseph, sold as a slave.
18 They bruised his feet with shackles,
his neck was put in irons,
19 till what he foretold came to pass,
till the word of the LORD proved him true.
By the way, in the Genesis account we don’t read that his feet were put in shackles and his neck was put in irons but that must have been how he was transported by the Ishmaelites down to Egypt.
20 The king sent and released him;
the ruler of peoples set him free.
21 He made him master of his household,
ruler over all he possessed,
22 to instruct his princes as he pleased
and teach his elders wisdom.
23 Then Israel entered Egypt;
Jacob lived as an alien in the land of Ham.
God, the Master Designer.
Another place where we read about this master design is in the book of Acts chapter 7: 9-15, another great place in the New Testament where we are given insight into Jacob’s life.
9"Because the patriarchs were jealous of Joseph, they sold him as a slave into Egypt. But God was with him 10and rescued him from all his troubles. He gave Joseph wisdom and enabled him to gain the goodwill of Pharaoh King of Egypt; so he made him ruler over Egypt and all his palace.
11"Then a famine struck all Egypt and Canaan, bringing great suffering, and our fathers could not find food. 12When Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent our fathers on their first visit. 13On their second visit, Joseph told his brothers who he was, and Pharaoh learned about Joseph's family. 14After this, Joseph sent for his father Jacob and his whole family, seventy-five in all. 15Then Jacob went down to Egypt, where he and our fathers died.”
Isn’t it amazing how God used these terrible circumstances in Joseph’s life for good? I think that Jacob really saw Joseph’s destiny. If you’ll look over in Genesis 49 toward the end of Jacob’s life as he blesses all of his sons, we read what he thought about Joseph.
I think it’s kind of interesting how he blesses all twelve of his sons, some of whom were scoundrels. And some he says bad things and some he says good things. Isn’t it interesting at the end of our lives, if we have all of our children around us, what will we say to each of our children about how they lived their lives?
Well, this is what Jacob said to his son, Joseph, in the presence of the entire family on his deathbed.
22 "Joseph is a fruitful tree,
a fruitful tree beside a fountain,
whose branches reach over the wall.
23 He has been attacked by archers;
who shot at him and harassed him.
24 But his bow remained strong,
and his arms were strengthened by the Mighty One of Jacob,
the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel,
25 may the God of your ancestors help you,
may the Almighty one bless you,
with blessings of the heavens above,
blessings of the earth beneath,
and blessings of the breast and womb.
26 May the blessings of your ancestors be greater
than the blessings of the eternal mountains,
reaching to the utmost bounds of the everlasting hills.
these blessings will fall on the head of Joseph,
who is prince among his brothers.
Think about all that transpired since the time Joseph was 17-years old and first told his father about his dreams. Until all these years later when Jacob is on his deathbed and he says, “Yeah, I got it. I have a special son who has survived so very much at the hands of his brothers.” And at the hands of others who, we will see in subsequent weeks, as we look at some of the other bad things that happened to him. But Jacob was so pleased because he realized it was through Joseph that God’s promise came to the entire nation of Israel.
Well let’s talk about some implications and illustrations. First of all, I like to remind us that Joseph refused to join the Pity Party. You know, he could have been Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Pity Party. He could have been Captain of that team but he didn’t. He didn’t wallow in self-pity and that’s why I say to me the theme of his life is “Get over it and get on with it.”
C.S. Lewis, who wrote a tremendous book, THE PROBLEM OF PAIN, says, “God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts to us in our pain…”
When we have the greatest pain, we sometimes see the hand of God the strongest.
John Lawrence, who wrote a book called, DOWN TO EARTH, says, “It’s Satan’s most useful tool; is that tool of discouragement.”
F.B. Meyer, who has also written a book about Joseph and this is just one of the greatest statements I’ve ever seen as you look back on your life. You see, looking forward we don’t understand the tapestry that God is weaving. It could be a giant oriental rug and all we see is a few strands of thread and things that seem to be out of place and we are saying, “Lord, why? Why did these terrible things have to happen to me?”
Here’s what F.B. Meyer says, “It is very sweet as life passes by to be able to look back on dark and mysterious events and to trace the hand of God where we once saw only the malice and cruelty of men.”
Have you ever been hurt deeply by people? I have. Sometimes you just feel like you are so misunderstood and you just can’t even take the pain and you wonder, “Lord, why would you let that happen to me?”
Well someday we will understand and we need to take this lesson from the life of Joseph who did not get bitter over all this; he got better. It all ended well for him and he finished strong.
You know as I’m going on in my life and I’ve become a grandfather and I’ve been around the block a few times, more and more I want to finish well. I want to finish strong.
He lived another 68 years after all these tough times. He buried his father Jacob in honor. The family healed and spent years together and he grew old enjoying his children and grandchildren.
In conclusion, I would encourage you to spend some time with Joseph. Read Genesis 37 through 50. If you are discouraged, if you feel betrayed, if you have a very dysfunctional family and you just can’t get relief. If you feel alone and abandoned; it’s just you and God. If you are struggling with temptation or you are struggling with negativity or perhaps you have a bent toward being kind of a sour, negative person – you need to let Joseph rub off on you. If you are the head and Captain of the Pity Party, maybe you need to resign that position.
Get over it and get on with it! And please, let me also encourage you to talk to someone. Talk to a friend; talk to a pastor if you are really suffering in discouragement. Please talk to someone.
This has been Hans Finzel and this is Missions on the Frontline, a ministry of WorldVenture. Our website is WorldVenture.com. We are here to extend your vision; help make you aware of creative new ways you can get involved in sharing the great news of Jesus Christ around the world.
Thanks for listening today. We’ll see you next week on Missions on the Frontline.