Tawa Baptist

Connection & Consequences

Scripture: Genesis 37:12-36

Video Link: https://youtu.be/dOELw8qLQqU

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • God’s providence
  • The brothers’ deceit
  • Joseph’s innocence
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

Good morning everyone.

Leonardo da Vinci is quoted as saying…

Learn how to see. Realise that everything connects to everything else.

There is truth in this statement I believe. Everything on this planet is connected. We are part of a complex eco system, part of a global economic system, part of a diverse human culture, part of a long history and part of a web of relationships that is all inter-connected.  

And those connections have consequences. For example, if we put plastic into the ocean, that plastic gets into the food chain which eventually gets into our bodies and affects our health.

If there is a natural disaster in New Zealand or overseas, then we feel an outpouring of compassion for those who have suffered loss. We also feel pain in our pocket as our insurance premiums go up.

If there is a war on the other side of the world, countries are inevitably forced to choose sides. Then before long food and oil shortages drive up commodity prices, making life tougher for everyone.

If someone in your family gets sick or goes to prison or dies, then that places more stress and pressure on the rest of the family. And if the family buckles under the pressure, then the fabric of the community suffers for it.

There are also spiritual connections. Connections we cannot see or understand that have real consequences. Without the sustaining connection of God’s Holy Spirit, life as we know it would collapse.    

I could go on, but you get the point. Everything is connected. What happens to one part has very real consequences for the other parts.

Today we continue our series on the life of Joseph, focusing on Genesis 37:12-36. This passage is full of connections and consequences. We just need to learn to see. From Genesis 37, verse 12 we read…

12 Now Joseph’s brothers had gone to graze their father’s flocks near Shechem, 13 and Israel said to Joseph, “As you know, your brothers are grazing the flocks near Shechem. Come, I am going to send you to them.”

“Very well,” he replied. 14 So he said to him, “Go and see if all is well with your brothers and with the flocks, and bring word back to me.” Then he sent him off from the Valley of Hebron.

When Joseph arrived at Shechem, 15 a man found him wandering around in the fields and asked him, “What are you looking for?” 16 He replied, “I’m looking for my brothers. Can you tell me where they are grazing their flocks?”

17 “They have moved on from here,” the man answered. “I heard them say, ‘Let’s go to Dothan.’” 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.

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 shekelsof silver to the Ishmaelites, who took him to Egypt.

29 When Reuben returned to the cistern and saw that Joseph was not there, he tore his clothes. 30 He went back to his brothers and said, “The boy isn’t there! Where can I turn now?”

31 Then they got Joseph’s robe, slaughtered a goat and dipped the robe in the blood. 32 They took the ornate robe back to their father and said, “We found this. Examine it to see whether it is your son’s robe.”

33 He recognized it and said, “It is my son’s robe! Some ferocious animal has devoured him. Joseph has surely been torn to pieces.” 34 Then Jacob tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and mourned for his son many days. 35 All his sons and daughters came to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. “No,” he said, “I will continue to mourn until I join my son in the grave.” So his father wept for him.

36 Meanwhile, the Midianitessold Joseph in Egypt to Potiphar, one of Pharaoh’s officials, the captain of the guard.

May the Spirit of Jesus illuminate God’s Word for us.

Last week we heard about God’s election and God’s revelation. This week’s reading shows us a series of connections and consequences.

In particular, the text draws connections with God’s providence, the brothers’ deceit and Joseph’s innocence. Let’s begin with God’s providence.

God’s Providence:

Some years ago, at the Wellington airport, there was a portrait of Peter Jackson made out of 2,000 pieces of toast, all organised to make a coherent image. Every piece of toast, even the burnt ones, found a purpose in the hands of Maurice Bennett, the artist.

Although we cannot see the artist in the picture, we know there is an artist because the picture makes sense. Toast cannot arrange itself in a meaningful pattern like this. The presence of the artist is revealed in the way the details are connected.  

Although God is not mentioned in today’s reading, we know God is present because, when we zoom out to look at the bigger picture, we see God’s providence.

God’s providence is a term that refers to God’s care and provision for creation. God works with the choices we make (both good and bad) to provide for his creation. God has a way of connecting the dots to give meaning and coherence to our lives.

Augustine has a lovely quote: Trust the past to God’s mercy, the present to God’s love and the future to God’s providence.

We may not be able to see it right now, but God is at work putting things in place and creating connections that will provide for our future.  

We see many providential connections in Genesis 37, which God’s uses to get Joseph to Egypt where the Lord will use Joseph to save millions from starvation.

In verse 12 we read how most of Jacob’s sons had gone with their father’s flock to Shechem.

Now Shechem was a strange place for Jacob’s sons to go really. It was like returning to the scene of the crime. For it was at Shechem that some of Jacob’s sons had massacred a number of people.

Naturally, Jacob would be feeling a bit anxious about his sons returning to a place where they had made enemies. So, Jacob sends Joseph to check that his family are okay.  

In his providence, God uses Jacob’s anxiety as part of the process of getting Joseph to Egypt.  

We see another seemingly random connection in verses 15-17.

Jacob sent Joseph from Hebron to Shechem, which would have meant roughly a four day walk for Joseph. And when Joseph gets to Shechem his brothers are nowhere to be found.

So, there he is, walking around in a lonely part of the countryside when a complete stranger finds him and asks what he is looking for. Joseph says he’s looking for his brothers, and guess what? The stranger just happens to know where Joseph’s brothers are.

We have to ask ourselves, what are the chances of that happening? Pretty slim I would think. Half an hour either way and Joseph probably wouldn’t have met this joker.

By including this detail of Joseph’s ‘chance’ encounter with the stranger the writer means for us to see the hand of God at work here, making sure connections are made.

When Joseph’s brothers see him coming in the distance, they conspire to murder him. They hate Joseph and want to kill his dream. But Reuben intervenes to save Joseph.

Reuben was the eldest son. He had made the mistake of sleeping with one of his stepmothers, that is, one of his father’s wives. So there was a cloud hanging over him. But God still used Reuben to save Joseph’s life, even though things did not go exactly the way Reuben planned.  

While Reuben is gone, Judah suggests selling Joseph to some merchants.

It’s interesting that the slave traders turn up at just the right moment, on their way to Egypt. Interesting also that these merchants just happen to be Ishmaelites and Midianites, cousins of Jacob. Another connection.

God, being the artist he is, chooses to weave other descendants of Abraham into his broader plan of salvation. In today’s terms, it would be like God getting Jews and Arabs to work together to save the Americans.  

God’s providence keeps popping up throughout the Joseph story, but Joseph and his family were not aware of it until after the fact. God’s providence is often only visible in the rear vision mirror.  

As you look back on your life, so far, can you see God’s providence?

Can you see the connections the Lord has made to provide for you?

Are you aware of the consequences of those connections?

Of course, we need to avoid extremes. On the one hand it is not helpful to try and read God’s providence into every little thing that happens. On the other hand, we don’t want to deny the possibility that God is at work in the very things we think are hopeless.  

The Brothers’ Deceit:

Right alongside God’s providence, in today’s reading, we have the brothers’ deceit. After Joseph was sold into slavery his brothers come up with a scheme to hide the truth from their father.

They kill a goat, like a sacrifice, or a scapegoat for themselves and they dip Joseph’s robe in the goat’s blood. Then they show it to their father Jacob.

Notice how crafty the brothers are in doing this. They don’t lie directly to their father. They simply show Jacob the blood-stained coat and allow him to draw his own conclusions.

And Jacob figures the most likely scenario is that Joseph was mauled to death by wild animals.

Like most parents, Jacob reveals a certain blindness here. Jacob does not think for a moment that his sons could be to blame for Joseph’s disappearance. Which is extraordinary. Does he not remember what they did at Shechem? Does he not realise how much they hate Joseph.   

So often we see what we want to see. We deceive ourselves by making the connections we want to make. It’s a self-protection thing.

Those who are familiar with Jacob’s origin story may see a connection here. Jacob is reaping what he sowed. Just as Jacob had taken advantage of his father Isaac’s physical blindness in order to steal the birthright from Esau, so too Jacob’s sons take advantage of their father’s emotional blindness in order to hide what they have done to Joseph.

Connections come with consequences. But not all connections are the same. The closer the connection, the more deeply we feel the consequence. They say a parent is only as happy as their unhappiest child. If your son or daughter is suffering, then you feel it too.

The brothers did not see this connection or realise the consequences for their father. By leading Jacob to believe that Joseph was dead, the brothers put their father in another kind of pit. The pit of grief. Jacob entered into a long depression, refusing to be comforted. Our words and actions have very real consequences for those around us.

The brothers remind us of the religious leaders of Jesus’ day. Pretending to be one thing when all the time they were something else. Jesus was scathing in his rebuke of their hypocrisy.

Jesus understood the damage deceit can cause. Dishonesty destroys trust and trust is essential to abundant life. Trust is the foundation of right relationship. Without trust our relationships collapse. Without trust we feel alone and anxious.     

Joseph’s Innocence:

Like a light in the darkness, Joseph’s innocence stands out against the backdrop of the brothers’ deceit.  

One of the qualities of light is silence. Light makes no sound. You can see it and feel it, but you cannot hear it.

Strangely, the text gives more attention to the brothers’ deceit than it does to Joseph’s innocence. How often is that the way. The naughty kids get most of the attention while the good kids are overlooked.

We see Joseph’s innocence in the way he obeys his father in going to look for his brothers. And we see his innocence in the charges the brothers bring against him. Joseph’s only crime (and it is no crime at all) is being the favourite and having a dream.

Once Joseph catches up with his brothers, we don’t hear a word out of him. The writer of Genesis leaves Joseph’s ordeal to the reader’s imagination.

Joseph was quite young, still a teenager. He was outnumbered by grown men who, to his complete surprise, mug him, strip him of his clothing and throw him into a pit in the ground. He is left there, in the dark, confused, sore, thirsty, terrified and crying for help.

We know that Joseph was distressed in the pit because later in the story, in chapter 42, Joseph’s brothers recall how they had ignored his cries for help. All those years later they could still remember it.  

By silencing Joseph, at this point, the author is highlighting Joseph’s powerlessness. The boy has no say in the matter. He is forced. Joseph is innocent. He has done nothing wrong and yet he is being severely mistreated. This is a circumstance outside of his control.

It is a well-documented fact that most abuse happens within families. Joseph’s experience mirrors that of millions of innocent children down through the ages. And millions more who have been trafficked and sold into slavery.

If you are not safe with your family, then where are you safe?

If you cannot trust your family, then who can you trust?  

Joseph’s ordeal at the hands of his brothers draws some clear connections with Jesus’ suffering…

Like Joseph, Jesus was the subject of a murder plot.

Like Joseph, Jesus was betrayed by those close to him.

Like Joseph, Jesus was sold for a bag of silver.

Like Joseph, Jesus was innocent.

Like Joseph, Jesus was stripped of his robe.

Like Joseph, Jesus cried out.

And like Joseph, Jesus went down into the ground.

Unlike Joseph though, Jesus didn’t just die in people’s imaginations. Jesus actually died, physically, and was raised to life again.

Conclusion:

Who do you identify with most in this story of Joseph and his brothers?

What connections do you draw with your own experience?

Perhaps like the stranger in the wilderness you are oblivious to the part you play in God’s providence. May the Lord give you eyes to see that your life has consequence. What you do matters.   

Or maybe, like Joseph’s brothers, you have done some terrible things. Things you wish no one to ever find out. Things you now regret. May the Lord hear your confession and help you to make amends.

Or perhaps, like Jacob, you have dared to love greatly and are paying the price in grief. May the Lord heal your pain and restore your joy.   

Or maybe, like Joseph, you have suffered great injustice at the hands of people you should have been able to trust. May the Lord lift you out of the pit and set you free. Amen.

Questions for discussion or reflection:

What stands out for you in reading this Scripture and/or in listening to the sermon? Why do you think this stood out to you?

  • Discuss / reflect on the quote: ‘Learn how to see. Realise that everything connects to everything else’. What connections and consequences are you aware of at the moment?  
  • What is providence? How might we recognise God’s providence? Can you think of an example of God’s providence at work in your own life? What happened as a consequence?  
  • What are the consequences of the brothers’ deceit? E.g. the consequences for Jacob? And the consequences for the brothers’ themselves?
  • Why is deceit so damaging? What is the remedy for deceit?
  • Discuss / reflect on the ways Joseph’s experience connects with Jesus’ experience.
  • Who do you identify with most in Genesis 37:12-36 and why?   
Tawa Baptist

The Dream

Scripture: Genesis 37:1-11

Video Link: https://youtu.be/f4wWy7Cf3JI

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • God’s election
  • God’s revelation
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

Good morning everyone.

In the early 1970’s the musical production, Joseph and the amazing technicolour dream coat was launched on stage. The story line is based on the account of Joseph in the book of Genesis. 

It must be one of the most popular musicals of all time. Something like 20,000 amateur productions have been performed throughout the past 50 odd years.

Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber took some liberties with their version, but we won’t hold that against them. It’s good to see a Bible story celebrated.

Today we begin a new sermon series based, not on the Joseph musical, but on the original story of Joseph in Genesis. From Genesis 37, verses 1-11, we read…

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 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.

May the Spirit of Jesus illuminate God’s word for us.

If you didn’t know anything about the Joseph story, and all you had to go on was the title, Joseph and the amazing technicolour dream coat, then you might think it was a story about a dude called Joseph who had a coat which gave him special powers.

But really, the Joseph story is not about a coat and it’s not primarily about Joseph either. At its core, the Joseph story is about God and his hidden purpose.

Today’s reading highlights the twin themes of God’s election and God’s revelation. Sadly, God’s revelation and election are misunderstood by his people.

God’s election:

God’s election is a technical theological term that refers to God choosing a particular person or group of people for a particular purpose. To be elected by God is to be chosen for a purpose.

If you think of God as a carpenter and human beings as the carpenter’s tools, then God’s election is like the Lord selecting a particular tool to do a specific job. Maybe, at one time, he will select a hammer. But he won’t always select a hammer. Other times he will select a measuring tape or a scribe or a saw, depending on what he wants to achieve.

God makes people differently, each to serve a different purpose. Being chosen (or elected) by God does not make you better or more important than other people. Nor does it make your life easier. But it does give your life eternal meaning.

Earlier in the book of Genesis, God elected Abraham to serve the divine purpose of blessing the nations of the world. As part of God’s election of Abraham, the Lord made certain promises. Those promises, together with God’s election, were passed on to Isaac and then to Jacob. 

God changed Jacob’s name to Israel, and Jacob became the founding father of the nation of Israel. Israel being God’s elect, his chosen people and the inheritors of God’s promises to Abraham.

Put very simply, God elected the people of Israel for the purpose of blessing the world. 

Jacob had four wives, twelve sons and one daughter. (He must have been exhausted.) These days we would call this arrangement a blended family. The twelve sons became the twelve tribes of Israel.

It would be fair to say, Jacob’s family dynamic was not that healthy. In fact, it was dysfunctional. There were rivalries and jealousies, secrets and lies, violence and cover ups. There wasn’t much love to go around.

God’s election is inscrutable. It is beyond our comprehension. If you are selecting someone for the All Blacks or the White Ferns, you pick the best of the best. More than selecting raw talent though, you pick people who work well together as a team.

But, from our limited human vantage point, it appears God’s election does not work like that. God’s election is not based on our virtue or competence.

Jacob’s family were not very good at being a family. They did not work well together as a team. And some of them lacked a moral compass. It is a testament to God’s wisdom and grace that he was able to use such a dysfunctional family to bless the world in a significant way.     

Joseph was Jacob’s second youngest son and he was Jacob’s favourite. Jacob gave Joseph a special coat to wear. We don’t know whether the coat was one of many colours but it stood out in some way, perhaps a bit like a korowai in that it was a symbol or mantle of leadership.

The coat sent a clear message to the whole family that Joseph was Jacob’s favourite to take over one day. The brothers hated him for it. Being elected the favourite tends to isolate you.

I’m reading Martin Seligman’s book, Flourish, at the moment. It’s about positive psychology and wellbeing. In his book, Martin writes about the Losada ratio.

The idea is that for organisations and teams to function well, people need to be saying at least three positive statements for each negative statement. Three to one is the minimum.

A ratio of five positive statements to one critical statement is better though.

For example, if you want a strong and loving marriage, you need to be saying five good things to your husband or wife, for every critical comment.  

That being said, critical comments still have their place. If there is no critique, then the positive statements tend to lose their credibility. The point is, for human flourishing we need to aim for a ratio of five positive statements for each negative statement.        

Three times in today’s passage we read how Joseph’s brothers hated him and they could not speak a kind word to him.

Joseph did not get a Losada ratio of five to one. He didn’t even get a three to one ratio. The negative comments he received outweighed the positive. Which was like pouring weed killer on the relationship.

Joseph’s mother, Rachel, died when Joseph was around six or seven, so Joseph was pretty much on his own in the family, except for his father and his younger brother, Benjamin. Life within the family was not easy for Joseph.

Which brings us to a sobering point. Election, being chosen or set apart for a special purpose, is not easy. Election has a way of putting a target on your back. 

Some might say that Joseph did not help himself in this regard. In verse 2, for example, we read how Joseph was working with four of his brothers and brought a bad report about them to his father.

Some commentators criticize Joseph for doing this, saying it shows he was a spoilt brat, a tattletale and unwise. But the text makes no criticism of Joseph.

Joseph’s honest report to his father is more likely a sign of his integrity. Joseph was not like his brothers. He was not inclined to deceit. He did not hide things. Joseph was an open book.

In talking about election, we must also talk about Jesus. As we will see throughout this series, Joseph points to Christ in many ways.

Joseph is like Jesus in that God used Joseph to save many people.

When it comes to God’s election, Jesus does more than Joseph though.

Jesus opens the door of God’s election to all people.

You see, God has elected one person, Jesus, to be the Messiah, the Saviour of the world. Therefore, anyone who accepts Jesus and is found in Christ becomes part of the elect people of God.

As I mentioned before, becoming part of the elect people of God does not make you better than others. Nor will it make your life easier (in this world). Being part of the elect people of God comes with the responsibility of serving God’s purpose. Obeying his will.

Some believe that God elects certain people for salvation and others for damnation. And they call that predestination. I don’t believe that. I believe God gives everyone a fair go.

It’s more like God is saying to humanity, if you want to become part of my elect people, then Jesus is the pathway. Jesus is the doorway for entry. Accept Jesus and you are in, you are one of the elect. Jesus is way, the truth and the life.

Now, at the same time, God is free. Free to help certain people onto the right path. Free to help certain people to receive Jesus. But God’s action in doing that does not exclude anyone else from coming to Christ.

You might wonder, ‘So what about those who are not in Christ? What about those who don’t accept Jesus? Perhaps because they did not have much opportunity. What happens to them?’

Well, Jesus taught that God treats everyone with justice and fairness. That means, at the end of the day when we face judgment, the least we can expect from God is fairness.

The measure you use for others is the measure God will use for you.

If you forgive others, God will forgive you.

Blessed are the merciful for they will be shown mercy.

These are the sorts of things the Lord said. Therefore, it is in our interests to be kind, forgiving, and generous. Of course, if someone is living their life like this, then they have accepted the way of Christ, even if they are not aware of it.

God’s revelation:

God’s election goes hand in hand with God’s revelation. Revelation is another technical theological term that basically refers to the way God reveals himself and his plan. Revelation is God’s way of communicating with us, in other words.

God can communicate in all sorts of ways. One way is through dreams.

In the ancient near east, people were inclined to believe that a dream was a message from the gods, like an omen or a prediction of things to come.

Let me be clear. Just because Joseph had a dream that came true, it does not automatically follow that every dream you have is a message from God about the future.

Current thinking tells us that dreams are our mind’s way of processing what has already happened to us, in the past, especially the recent past. Our dreams help to untangle knots in our thinking and feeling. Dreams are sort of like anti-virus software on a computer, identifying bad code and cleaning it up.

Or, to put it another way, dreams are the unconscious mind communicating with the conscious mind. For example, if we repress an emotion during the day,

that emotion is likely to pop up in a dream at night. Maybe a dream that gives us a good feeling, or a nightmare, depending on the emotion.

The other thing to understand is that dreams use symbols or picture language to communicate. It does no good to try and interpret a dream literally. You have to translate the images in your dream, according to what those images mean for you personally, or the dream won’t make sense.

What I’m saying here is most dreams are about your personal past, not the future. And most dreams are a message from your unconscious mind, not a message from God.

There are exceptions to this rule, however. There may be times when God plants an idea in your mind while you sleep. Sort of like the movie Inception.

With the benefit of hindsight, it appears God revealed something of his purpose for Joseph and Jacob’s family through the dreams in Genesis 37.

Joseph had two dreams which he shared with his brothers. In the first dream the brothers’ sheaves of grain bowed down to Joseph’s and in the second dream the sun, moon and eleven stars bowed down to Joseph.

Interestingly, Joseph does not offer an interpretation of his own dreams. He simply shares the dreams and lets his family draw their own conclusions. Sometimes we are too close to our dreams and we need the perspective of someone who knows us well, someone we can trust, to help us interpret our dreams.

Unfortunately, Joseph’s brothers did not really know him all that well and they were not trustworthy caretakers of his innermost thoughts. The brothers respond defensively, saying, “Do you intend to reign over us? Will you actually rule us?”   

Joseph’s brothers question the revelation Joseph has received. They cannot accept it. Joseph’s dreams are dangerous. They threaten the status quo. They are an omen of upset in which the natural order of things is turned on its head. The young are supposed to serve the older, not the other way round.    

Sadly, Jacob’s family do not properly understand Joseph’s dreams or God’s purpose. In God’s scheme, the greatest is the servant of all and the one in charge does not lord it over the others. This is what Jesus taught us.

What Jacob’s family do not yet realise is that Joseph has been elected by God to save the family, more than rule over them. Had Joseph’s family understood the suffering Joseph would go through to achieve God’s purpose, they might have had a different response.

Although Jacob echoes his sons in publicly rebuking Joseph, privately the old man kept the matter in mind. We are reminded of Mary who, at the wonderful revelations surrounding Jesus’ birth, pondered these things in her heart.   

Jacob knew enough of God’s ways to not rule out the possibility that Joseph’s dreams would come true. Likewise, we should not be too quick to judge.

We should never say, ‘God cannot use me. I have nothing to offer’. Nor should we say, ‘God cannot work through this person or that situation’. God is free to work out his purpose however he wants. We need to let God be God.

God’s inscrutable election means we live with hope and possibility. We do well to ponder these wonders in our heart.  

Conclusion:

Just as God elects his Son Jesus to save the world, so too God reveals himself to the world most clearly through Jesus.

Jesus is the perfect image of God. Jesus shows us what it looks like to be human, as God intended. If we want to know God’s purpose, our best bet is to look to Jesus who embodies the truth and grace of God.

Let me conclude our message now with another way in which Joseph points to Jesus. The dreams Joseph had were similar to the dream God has given us. Similar, but not identical.  

Joseph dreamed that his family would bow down to him. Our God inspired dream is not that people would bow down to us, but rather that at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow… and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. 

When that happens, God’s kingdom will be realized in its fullness and we will have heaven on earth. No more injustice, no more war, no more loneliness, no more sickness or pain. That is the dream.

May the Lord strengthen our hope as we wait for the day of Jesus’ return. Amen.

Questions for discussion or reflection:

What stands out for you in reading this Scripture and/or in listening to the sermon? Why do you think this stood out to you?

  • What do we mean by ‘God’s election’? Why does God elect people?
  • How do we become part of God’s elect people? What are the implications of being part of God’s elect people?
  • What ratio of positive to negative comments do you use in your conversation with others? What ratio of positive to negative comments do you receive? Does anything need to change for your relationships to flourish?
  • What do we mean by ‘God’s revelation’? What are some of the ways God communicates with you?
  • Have you ever had a dream you sensed was from God? If so, how did you know God was speaking to you in the dream?  
  • Discuss / reflect on the twin concepts of God’s election and revelation as they relate to Jesus? How does Jesus fulfil God’s election and revelation?