The Good News is that the tests you took indicated that you have 24 hours to live. The Bad News is that I forgot to call you yesterday!

Transcription

1 The Story ~ Joseph s Faith Journey [ ] I ve always enjoyed GOOD NEWS / BAD NEWS type stories. Most of you know how these types of stories go ~ you hear (1) detail & you think, O that s good, & you hear (another) detail & think, O that s bad. Here s a new one J Doctor: Patient: Doctor: Patient: Doctor: I have some Good News and I have some Bad News. What's the Good News? The Good News is that the tests you took indicated that you have 24 hours to live. That's the Good News? What's the Bad News? The Bad News is that I forgot to call you yesterday! J As I ve been preparing for this teaching on the life of Joseph, it struck me that his life is sort of like a Good News / Bad News type of story. I. Here s a few examples of Joseph s Good News /Bad News Story J A. (R) Genesis 37: 1 2a = Joseph has an amazing family tree = that s very good! Joseph is the son of Jacob + grandson of Isaac & the great grandson of Abraham B. Genesis 37 gives both Good News + Bad News (we learn that) 1

2 ü Joseph is his dad s favorite son, that s very Good. ü BUT his brothers hate his guts, that s very Bad. ü His dad Jacob gives him a beautiful coat, that s very Good, ü BUT his brothers rip it off, pretend he is dead, sell him into slavery in a distant land, and that s very Bad. C. Genesis 39 continues the Good News / Bad News story of Joseph (we learn) ü That Joseph gets sold into Potiphar house who is a high ranking wealthy official in Egypt. Potiphar likes him & puts him in charge of his entire household and we are told that he is a tremendous success, that s very Good, ü (+) plus we are told that Joseph is well built and handsome. Sort of like Harrison Ford who my wife thinks is good looking, but in person I m told he s kind of scrawny and not all that impressive. Unlike Joseph who is apparently is better built than Harrison Ford, that s very Good. ü BUT Potiphar s wife is attracted to him & tries to seduce him, & that s very Bad. ü BUT Joseph resists her, that s very Good. ü BUT Potiphar s wife is furious and lies to her husband and has Joseph arrested, since there is no sexual harassment laws on the books in Egypt at this time, Joseph is hosed, and that is very Bad. D. Genesis 40 Joseph s Good News/Bad News story continues ü Joseph goes to prison BUT finds favor w-the prison warden, that s very Good. 2

3 ü Joseph languishes in prison as an innocent man for 2 more years & that s very Bad. E. Lots of twists & turns in Joseph s faith journey ~ it s filled w- disappointment & heartache = as you read you have to wonder; how s the story going to end? BECAUSE what matters most with any Good News / Bad News story is the very last turn, how the story actually ends. Like most of our stories, Joseph s life [begins with a dream]. Chapter 37 tells us about his dreams of doing great things, of making his dad proud! & like all of us he awoke one day to Bad News. He is attacked by his brothers, sold to a foreign caravan, purchased to be a slave in a distant country, bought by a family he did not know. Penny-less, no loved ones, he s about to learn what everyone of us come to find out. That your heart is revealed and your character is forged when life does not turn out like you planned = when bad news arrives. Everybody here today knows about BAD NEWS, about disappointment. At some level we are all GOOD NEWS / BAD NEWS stories. Let s examine(3) CROSSROADS that helped define Joseph s fate: Crossroads that all of us come to when our life does not turn out like we had hoped for, I would like for you consider how you are going to respond when it happens. 3

4 II. 1 st Crossroad we face when life disappoints us = Am I going to quit/just give up? A. (R) Genesis 37: B. Joseph s DREAMS are crushed & he is disappointed. I d be tempted to quit. Not Joseph ~ he refused to dishonor God in his disappointment = he learned! (R) Genesis 39: 1 2 ~ The Lord was with Joseph. You see it was when life did not turn out how he had planned that Joseph discovered that he wasn t by himself, When everything else was taken away from him (family, position & freedom) that he learned the one thing that could never be taken from him, and that was his relationship with God. C. Because of Joseph s faithfulness (R) Genesis 39: 3 6 = Blessing of the Lord was upon him D. Joseph did not quit. He set motion the development of his character and potential, the deepening of his faith and endurance that one day would enable him to one day become the most effective leader in all Egypt. So, what if Joseph quit? ü Real good chance that he would have missed his destiny. He would have missed the unique opportunity of being part of God s redemptive work in human history. ü Reality is that quitting is always easier than enduring. Easier to eat another jelly donut than hammer up another hill on your bike. 4

5 Easier to stomp out of the room in anger than do the hard work of reconciliation. STRONG CHARACTER is forged when you endure when you feel like quitting.you will discover that the Lord is with you where you are! (Even in slavery) YOU are not alone, God is with you, so don t you quit. Joseph finds himself a slave in a foreign land, that s very Bad But he endures and God blesses him & rises to the top, that s very Good. III. It seems like the Bad news ought to be over for Joseph but it is not. 2 nd Crossroad when life disappoints us = Am I going to cave in to temptation? A. (R) Genesis 39: 6b 10 B. Joseph could have thought, What good has obedience been up to this point? Where s God been when I need Him the most? Joseph could have said that BUT Joseph SAYS NO! C. (R) Genesis 39: (Best Strategy = JUST RUN) Paul says in 1 Corinthians 6:18, Flee from immorality, Don t play games with it, stop rationalizing it, do not pretend you are too sophisticated to get caught up in other temptations that other people get messed up in. AFRICAN SAFARI: A reporter asked a guide on an African Safari if it is true that ferocious animals won t harm you if you carry a torch, and the guide said that depends = on how fast you carry it! 5

6 James 4:7, Resist the devil and he will flee from you. (NEVER say NEVER) Please do not think that it can happen to you! It happened to the wisest man in the Bible Solomon It happened to the strongest man in the Bible- Samson It happened to the spiritual protector of Israel David (If we are not careful, it can happen to us.) MY 1 st inclination as I read this is to say surely God will reward Joseph NOW, after putting up this heroic effort. (R) Genesis39: (more BAD NEWS) Joseph decided he would rather face life with the Lord and have nothing than to face life without the Lord and have everything. IV. 3 rd Crossroad we face when life disappoints us = Am I going to have a pity-party? A. When life does not turn out the way you planned, you will be tempted; sin will begin to look good to you. Joseph could have thought, What good is obedience doing me anyway? Where has God been since I was 17? Joseph could have easily rationalized = I m far away from home, I ve been betrayed by my brothers, isolated from my father, I m a slave, most likely a slave is all I m going to be. I will never have what my father has, my own life, my own wife, my own family, etc. B. MODERN PSYCHOLOGY: 6

7 It is interesting to imagine what would have happened if Joseph would have taken a modern course in psychology, He would have had all kinds of rationale for indulging. His father Jacob was over indulgent, his mother died when he was young, his brothers abused him, God seems to have deserted him, he s all alone in a foreign country, he feels neglected, he feels repressed, it would be to his advantage in his career to participate. I was humbled by Joseph s response to his brothers who d sold him into slavery! (R) Genesis 45: Genesis 50: The Story of this book is sort of a GOOD NEWS / BAD NEWS ü God created the heavens and the earth and said that it was Good. ü The Bible said that when God created male & females, He said it was very Good. In Genesis 3 Adam & Eve spurned God and that was very Bad. After God destroyed the world by the flood ~ He faithfully started over w-abraham, Isaac, Jacob & Joseph = that was very Good. Unfortunately they were just like us, weak & broken given to wander from God. ü And so God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, who was the best thing that ever happened to this old fallen world, and we beheld his glory, the glory of the only begotten Father, full of grace and mercy. The angels of heaven looked 7

8 as God came to this earth, and they marveled and cryed out, Glory to God in the hightest. And God said, this is very GOOD. God left the glory of heaven to be w-us, but his own did not receive Him not. People rejected Him, crowds mocked him, Peter denied Him, Judas betrayed Him, his friends abandoned Him, the government crucified him, they laid his body in the tomb, and that was very BAD, that was the worst day in the history of the world. ü But on the 3 rd day, He arose from the dead and that s really GOOD NEWS, and every since that 3 rd day whatever bad news may enter your lives, has no power to separate you from the love of Christ, for the story of this world, the story of your life and mine, is a GOOD NEWS / BAD NEWS deal. BAD NEWS you know all about that, disappointment, failure, sins, sickness, pain, disease, death, here is the GOOD NEWS, God always has the last word ~ be sure the enemy has been defeated, the victory is all God s! 8