Naylor Community Christian Church
Naylor, Georgia
I. Introduction
-- turn in
Bibles to Genesis 37:1-5
Genesis 37:1 Jacob lived in the land where his father
had stayed, the land of Canaan.
2 This is the account of Jacob’s family line.
Joseph, a young man of seventeen, was tending the
flocks with his brothers, the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his
father’s wives, and he brought their father a bad report about them.
3 Now Israel loved Joseph more than any of his other
sons, because he had been born to him in his old age; and he made an ornate[a]
robe for him. 4 When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than any
of them, they hated him and could not speak a kind word to him.
5 Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his
brothers, they hated him all the more.
-- a few
weeks ago, we got to experience one of those very unusual events for us here in
south Georgia -- an unprecedented snowfall that actually accumulated and gave
us a glimpse of what the majority of the country experiences every winter
-- snow is something that we are
just not used to here in south Georgia -- but it was amazing watching that snow
drop down -- I remember when Kim and I moved to Tennessee, and in our first
weekend in our new home, we had a big snowfall -- the snow wasn’t like that that
fell on us a few weeks ago, which was mixed with sleet and freezing rain --
this was one of those snows like you see in the Hallmark movies -- one of those
snows with big fluffy flakes falling so slowly to the ground that you could
actually watch each individual flake as it fell gently from the sky to the
ground
-- I was reading an article this
week, and I was reminded of a fact that we all know -- that each of those
snowflakes that fell on us that night were unique -- as Wilson Bentley proved with his photographs
of snowflakes taken around the turn of the 20th century, "no two
snowflakes are alike" -- we all know that -- we've all heard that -- and
you can go look at Bentley's photographs and see that for yourself
-- but
here's the question -- why? -- why are no two snowflakes alike? -- have you
ever thought of that?
-- well,
the reason each snowflake is different is because each snowflake bears the
scars of its journey from the sky to the ground -- each flake starts out the
same -- they all start out as crystals of ice within a cloud, formed by
freezing temperatures
-- but each
crystal experiences different factors in their short lives which affect their
final shape -- things like the temperature of the sky as they are being formed --
the altitude of the cloud from which it fell -- the trajectory the wind took it
as it fell to earth -- and a thousand other factors -- all of these factors come
together to influence the shape of the snowflake into what we see when it hits
the ground
-- in other
words, each snowflake that we see is the result of its response to the things
of life that it experienced on its way to earth -- and that’s why they are all
unique
-- people
are the same way -- you are who you are because of your response to the things that
you have experienced so far in your life -- and the person that you are
becoming -- the person that you will be at the end of your life -- is all
dependent on how you respond to your future experiences in life, especially the
trials and tribulations
-- as Drew
Barrymore said, “I never regret anything, because every little detail of your
life is what made you into who you are in the end.”
-- when
trials and tribulations come our way, there are really only two options for us
-- we can either react or we can respond
-- when we
react to something, we are allowing the external event that we are experiencing
to dictate what we do -- we act without thinking, and we allow the experience
to shape our attitudes and feelings
-- but,
when we respond to something, we make a choice about what we are going to do
and what we are going to think and feel about what is happening to us -- rather
than just thinking and feeling and acting automatically, we choose how we will
deal with the experience and how we will receive it in our lives
-- to put
it a different way -- when something bad happens to you -- when someone hurts
you -- when you suffer a tragedy in your life -- when trials and tribulations
come your way -- you can either react and allow the experience to shape you --
or you can respond and choose how you will allow yourself to be changed as a
result of that experience
-- and what
you do affects who you will become -- the type of person you will be -- both
now and in the future
II. The Life of Joseph
-- this
morning, I want us to look again at the story of Joseph, one of the patriarchs
of the nation of Israel -- we looked at his story a few years ago from the
perspective of dreaming and living into the promise of God, regardless of what
we are going through
-- this morning, I want us to look
at this passage again from the perspective of how we should act when the storms
of life come upon us and we experience trials and tribulations in our lives,
just like Joseph
-- our choice is either to react or
to respond -- but here’s the key -- reacting to trials and tribulations instead
of responding to them can make us bitter and cynical and hard-hearted -- but
when we learn to respond and trust God in these situations, God uses them to
make us better -- and we come through to the other side more like Jesus
-- we see this truth in the great
verse that we all know from Romans 8:28 -- “For in all things God works for the
good of those who love Him, who are called according to His purpose” -- this
verse doesn’t say all things are good -- but for those who respond and trust
God, He takes all the things that happen to us and brings good out of it --
just like He does with Joseph
-- so, let’s look at Joseph’s story
now and see what we can learn from him
-- look
back at verse 1
Genesis 37:1 Jacob lived in the land where his father
had stayed, the land of Canaan.
2 This is the account of Jacob’s family line.
Joseph, a young man of seventeen, was tending the
flocks with his brothers, the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his
father’s wives, and he brought their father a bad report about them.
3 Now Israel loved Joseph more than any of his other
sons, because he had been born to him in his old age; and he made an ornate[a]
robe for him. 4 When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than any
of them, they hated him and could not speak a kind word to him.
5 Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his
brothers, they hated him all the more. 6 He said to them, “Listen to this dream
I had: 7 We were binding sheaves of grain out in the field when suddenly my
sheaf rose and stood upright, while your sheaves gathered around mine and bowed
down to it.”
8 His brothers said to him, “Do you intend to reign
over us? Will you actually rule us?” And they hated him all the more because of
his dream and what he had said.
9 Then he had another dream, and he told it to his
brothers. “Listen,” he said, “I had another dream, and this time the sun and
moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me.”
10 When he told his father as well as his brothers,
his father rebuked him and said, “What is this dream you had? Will your mother
and I and your brothers actually come and bow down to the ground before you?”
11 His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the matter in mind.
-- here we
are introduced to Joseph, one of the sons of Jacob, the son of Isaac, the son
of Abraham
-- Jacob
had 12 sons who were born to him by four different women -- so, Joseph had 10
half-brothers and one full brother, Benjamin, who was the youngest son
-- Joseph
was the oldest son of Rachel, Jacob's first love -- and because of this, we
read here that Jacob loved Joseph more than any of his other sons -- he was the
favorite -- he was pampered -- and he was put ahead of the others -- and this
made the brothers jealous and angry
-- and when
Jacob gave Joseph a special ornamented robe -- the coat of many colors, as most
of us know it as -- things got worse -- we read in verse 4 that the brothers
hated Joseph and could not speak a kind word to him
-- and, if
the favoritism by Jacob wasn’t bad enough to cause relationship problems with
his brothers, Joseph kept doing things that made his brothers even more angry
at him -- this chapter actually starts off by saying Joseph gave a bad report
about the brothers to his father -- he told on them and they got in trouble --
and now Joseph has a dream that just ticks everybody off
-- as it says in verse 4, they
couldn't even say a kind word to him -- they hated him with all of their being
-- which explains what happens next
-- Joseph had a dream where all the
sheaves of grain in the field bowed down to his sheaf of grain -- well, it’s
pretty obvious what the interpretation is -- Joseph dreamed that he was going
to be in charge of the family and that all of his older brothers were going to
bow down to him
-- you can
imagine how the brothers took it when Joseph shared his dreams with them -- they
already hated him, but we read here in verse 8 that they hated him all the more
because of his dream and what he had said -- you know nothing good is going to
come from this
-- skip
over to verse 17b-24
Genesis 37:17b So Joseph went after his brothers and
found them near Dothan. 18 But they saw him in the distance, and before he
reached them, they plotted to kill him.
19 “Here comes that dreamer!” they said to each other.
20 “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.”
21 When Reuben heard this, he tried to rescue him from
their hands. “Let’s not take his life,” he said. 22 “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.
23 So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped
him of his robe—the ornate robe he was wearing— 24 and they took him and threw
him into the cistern. The cistern was empty; there was no water in it.
-- Jacob
had sent Joseph out to help his brothers in the field with the flocks, but when
they looked up and saw him coming, their hatred just poured out of them -- and
they came up with a plan -- they were going to kill him and then tell their
father that he was killed by an animal
-- Reuben
convinced them to not kill Joseph immediately but to throw him into a cistern
and wait until he got back -- so they stripped Joseph of his robe and of all
his money and possessions and threw him into a dry cistern and sat down to eat
-- verse 25-28
Genesis 37:25 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.
26 Judah said to his brothers, “What will we gain if
we kill our brother and cover up his blood? 27 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.
28 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.
-- now skip over to verse 36
Genesis 37:36
Meanwhile, the Midianites sold Joseph in Egypt to Potiphar, one of Pharaoh’s
officials, the captain of the guard.
-- so,
while Reuben was away, the other brothers sold Joseph to the Midianites as a
slave, who took him to
-- now, I
want you to get a picture in your mind of what has just happened to Joseph --
here is a boy -- 17 years old -- who has been his father's favorite -- he grew
up in the lap of luxury -- Jacob was rich and Joseph enjoyed the finer things
of life -- he grew up as the favored son of a rich man, with robes and rings
and all kinds of wealth and possessions
-- but,
now, Joseph's life has taken a drastic turn -- his brothers, who hated him with
a passion and who wanted to kill him, have sold him into slavery -- in one
moment, Joseph has gone from being the son of a ruler to being a slave in a
caravan headed to Egypt -- his life of
luxury and ease and privilege was gone in a moment, and now all he has to look
forward to was a life of burden and toil and pain
-- Joseph
has a choice to make at this point -- he can either react or he can respond --
he can either be bitter or he can be better
-- there's
nothing else he can do -- he's powerless -- he can't change the situation -- he
can't buy himself out of slavery -- he can't call on his father's good graces
-- for right or wrong, from this point on, Joseph is a slave and will probably
remain so for the rest of his life
-- the only
thing he can control is his response to the situation
-- Joseph's
situation reminds me of a story I read one time about two monks who were
walking through the countryside -- They were on their way to another village to
help bring in the crops -- As they walked, they spied an old woman sitting at
the edge of a river -- She was upset because there was no bridge, and she could
not get across on her own
-- The
first monk told her, "We will carry you across if you would like." --
and she gratefully accepted their help -- So the two men joined hands, lifted
her between them and carried her across the river -- When they got to the other
side, they set her down, and she went on her way.
-- After
they had walked about another mile, the second monk began to complain --
"Look at my clothes," he said. "They are filthy from carrying
that woman across the river -- And my back still hurts from lifting her -- I
can feel it getting stiff." -- The first monk just smiled and nodded his
head.
-- A few
more miles up the road, the second monk griped again, "My back is hurting
me so badly, and it is all because we had to carry that silly woman across the
river! I cannot go any farther because of the pain." -- The first monk
looked down at his partner, now lying on the ground, moaning. "Have you
wondered why I am not complaining?" he asked. "Your back hurts
because you are still carrying the woman. But I set her down five miles
ago."
-- That is
what many of us are like in dealing with our problems -- with the tragedies and
trials and tribulations of life -- We are like that second monk who can't let
go -- We hold the pain of the past in our hearts and we become bitter and
continue to carry burdens over things that we can't change [adapted from: Dr.
Anthony T. Evans, Guiding Your Family in a Misguided World.]
-- the
question is what should we do when life lets us down? -- when things don't go
our way just as they're not going for Joseph here in this passage? -- do we
react or respond? -- do we become bitter, or do we choose to become better?
-- let's
look at what Joseph did -- skip over to Chapter 39:1-5
Genesis 39:1 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.
2 The Lord was with Joseph so that he prospered, and
he lived in the house of his Egyptian master. 3 When his master saw that the
Lord was with him and that the Lord gave him success in everything he did, 4
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. 5
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
-- Joseph
was made a slave against his will -- but rather than gripe and complain --
rather than allow the situation to make him bitter and affect his spirit,
Joseph chose to trust in God's providence and to respond to the situation in
the best way possible
-- he
embraced his new role -- he excelled in his new role -- and we read in verse 2
that the Lord was with Joseph, and he prospered -- he ended up living in his
master's house and being put in charge of all that his master owned
-- what
would have happened if Joseph had rebelled? -- what would have happened if
Joseph had reacted and become bitter? -- more than likely he would have been
sent to the fields to work out his days with hard labor -- but because he chose
to put the past behind him and set down the burden that he was carrying, he
made the best of the situation and God worked in his life to bring beauty out
of the ashes -- to bring good out of the tragedy that had befallen him
-- but,
Joseph's story doesn't end there -- we read in the rest of this chapter that
Joseph was well-built and handsome, and he attracted the attention of
Potiphar's wife -- she wanted to sleep with him -- and when he resisted her
advances -- even to the point of running from her grasp leaving his cloak
behind -- she ended up claiming that he tried to rape her
-- look at
verse 19-20a
Genesis 39:19 When his master heard the story his wife
told him, saying, “This is how your slave treated me,” he burned with anger. 20
Joseph’s master took him and put him in prison, the place where the king’s
prisoners were confined.
-- so,
things for Joseph have gone from bad to worse -- he's gone from being the son
of a rich man in the Promised Land to being a slave and now he's thrown into
prison for something that he didn't do
-- if
anyone had the right to complain, it was Joseph -- if anyone had the right to
become bitter, it was Joseph -- none of this was his fault -- he didn't cause
any of this -- but he's having to suffer the consequences none-the-less
-- once
again, Joseph is faced with a situation that demands a choice -- does he react
with bitterness or does he respond with faith and trust in the Lord?
-- look at
the second part of verse 20b-23
Genesis 39:20b But while Joseph was there in the
prison, 21 the Lord was with him; he showed him kindness and granted him favor
in the eyes of the prison warden. 22 So the warden put Joseph in charge of all
those held in the prison, and he was made responsible for all that was done
there. 23 The warden paid no attention to anything under Joseph’s care, because
the Lord was with Joseph and gave him success in whatever he did.
--
once again, Joseph chooses to respond rather than react -- he chooses to put
down his burden and to accept his new role, trusting that God will be with him,
even in prison
--
and we see in verse 21 that the Lord was with him again -- God worked in
Joseph's life and granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden, and
Joseph ended up being put in charge of the entire prison
-- but once
again, Joseph's story doesn't end there -- while he was in prison, he made the
acquaintance of Pharaoh’s cupbearer and baker, who had been thrown into prison
because they had angered Pharaoh
-- at one point, they both had
dreams that they didn’t understand -- but Joseph was given the interpretation
by God, and he told them that the cupbearer would be restored to his position
serving Pharaoh -- Joseph asked the cupbearer to remember him and plead his
case before Pharaoh, but when the cupbearer was released from prison, he forgot
-- it
wasn't until two years later, when Pharaoh had a dream that he didn't
understand, that the cupbearer remembered Joseph and told Pharaoh about him -- Pharaoh
had Joseph brought from prison to the palace to interpret the dream for him
-- when
Joseph told Pharaoh what his dream meant, Pharaoh realized that Joseph was wise
and discerning and that God was with him, so he put Joseph in charge of the
whole land of Egypt -- giving Joseph his signet ring, dressing him in fine
robes, and allowing him to ride in Pharaoh's chariot as his second-in-command
-- while
Joseph's story goes on through the rest of the book of Genesis, let's end this
account by looking at the naming of Joseph's two sons, because this speaks to
how Joseph chose to respond to the trials and tribulations in his life rather
than reacting and becoming bitter
-- skip
over to Chapter 41, and we'll end by reading verses 50-52
Genesis 41:50 Before the years of famine came, two
sons were born to Joseph by Asenath daughter of Potiphera, priest of On. 51
Joseph named his firstborn Manasseh and said, “It is because God has made me
forget all my trouble and all my father’s household.” 52 The second son he
named Ephraim and said, “It is because God has made me fruitful in the land of
my suffering.”
-- here we
see the heart of Joseph -- here we see how Joseph was able to endure so many
hardships -- from being a prince in the land of Canaan to going to the pit --
from being raised from the pit to go into slavery -- from being thrown into
prison and being forgotten by those he helped -- it all comes down to how
Joseph responded when troubles fell on him
-- rather
than reacting in anger and bitterness, Joseph responded with faith and trust --
and we see that choice reflected in the naming of his sons
-- Joseph
named his first son Manasseh, which means "forget" in Hebrew, because
he said God made him forget all his troubles and all the pains that he had
suffered
-- he named
his second son Ephraim, which means "twice fruitful," because God had
made Joseph prosper despite his circumstances
-- Joseph
was able to respond rather than react because he trusted God -- he had faith
that God would be with him and help him in all situations -- especially in the
tragedies and trials and tribulations that he was facing
-- and it
made him into the man we see portrayed for us in the Bible -- a man of faith,
wisdom, and grace who lived a right relationship with God
III. Closing
-- while
none of us may face the situations that Joseph faced, every single one of us
face problems and burdens in our lives -- we have to deal with people who hate
us and people that we don't like -- we have to deal with difficult family
members -- we have to face sickness and accidents -- we get treated unfairly --
we get accused of doing things that we didn't do
-- we get
cheated -- we get stepped on -- we get overlooked -- we get disrespected -- we
get fired for no reason -- every day brings with it new problems and new pains
that we have to face
-- but it
also brings with it opportunities for growth and grace -- as the Bible says,
God's mercies are new every morning, and He gives us the grace that we need to
respond to whatever comes our way
-- as
Joseph's experience shows us, problems often provide us with greater
opportunities -- they can promote our spiritual maturity -- they can help us
become more like Jesus if we choose to respond to them in a godly way
-- problems
prove our integrity -- and they produce a sense of dependence as we are forced
to rely on God and trust in Him to see us through
-- and
problems prepare our hearts for ministry -- they make us more empathetic -- who
better to help another person through a pain in their life than someone who has
already walked down that road and survived?
-- as we
close, I want to leave you with one final story -- a true story of a man who
faced adversity in his life but who chose to respond rather than to react --
who put down his burdens and moved forward in faith rather than letting the
past dictate his future
-- this man
had a hard life from the start -- when he was seven years old, his family was
forced out of their home on a legal technicality, and he had to work to help
support them -- At age nine, his mother died -- At 22, he lost his job as a
store clerk
-- He
wanted to go to law school, but his education wasn't good enough and he
couldn't get in -- At 23, he went into debt to become a partner in a small
store -- At 26, his business partner died, leaving him a huge debt that took
years to repay. -- At 28, after courting a girl for four years, he asked her to
marry him. She said no -- he finally married and had children, but at 41, his
four-year-old son died
-- all
along the way, he could have given up -- he could have gotten bitter -- he
could have gone through life as a victim, saying, "Woe is me" -- but
each time, he got up and tried again
-- in his
thirties, he decided to try his hand at politics -- At 37, on his third try, he
was elected to Congress, but failed to be reelected and only served one term --
At 45, he ran for the Senate and lost -- At 47, he failed as the
vice-presidential candidate -- At 49, he ran for the Senate again, and lost
-- a life
of tragedy -- a life of failure -- a life like Joseph's -- but each time, this
man refused to quit -- and finally, when he was 51 years old, Abraham Lincoln
was elected president of the United States, and is considered one of the
greatest leaders this country ever had -- would he have been as great a
president if he had not suffered through so much and responded with faith and
trust in God -- choosing to be better and not bitter because of his experiences?
-- I suspect not
-- there is
a lesson that we can learn from the stories of people like Lincoln and Joseph
-- we are
not so different from them -- we are just like Abraham Lincoln -- just like
Joseph -- and just like the snowflakes that I told you about at the start of
this message
-- we can't control what happens to
us -- bad things are going to happen -- we are going to suffer loss and
heartache and difficulties -- and there's nothing we can do about it -- we
can't change the things that we go through in life
-- but, we
can choose what we do in response to these things -- we can either react or
respond -- we can either live in the past and continue to carry our burdens and
become bitter people -- or we can get up and live with an eye to the future -- trusting
in the hope that we have in Christ and becoming better people through God's
grace
-- so, when
trials come our way, we can either react or respond -- we can shake our fists
at heaven and cry out, “Why me?” -- or we can raise our hands in prayer and
trust in God’s promise that He is with us and will never leave us or forsake us
-- and the choice we make will
determine who we become -- bitter or better
-- I pray that you will all choose
the better way
-- so, as we close now in prayer,
take a moment and consider how you have been responding to the things that have
happened to you in life -- and whether you need to change your ways to better
reflect faith and trust in God so that you might be better and not bitter -- so
that you might experience His grace and His presence in a real and mighty way
in your life -- the choice is yours -- choose wisely
-- let us
pray
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