June 2, 2019 – “Heroes of the Faith: Joseph Blooms Where He is Planted” by Rev. Cody Sandahl
Sermon starts around 9:27 after the Scouts
Lay Reader = Genesis 39:1-6
1 Now Joseph was taken down to Egypt, and Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, the captain of the guard, an Egyptian, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had brought him down there. 2 The Lord was with Joseph, and he became a successful man; he was in the house of his Egyptian master. 3 His master saw that the Lord was with him, and that the Lord caused all that he did to prosper in his hands. 4 So Joseph found favor in his sight and attended him; he made him overseer of his house and put him in charge of all that he had. 5 From the time that he made him overseer in his house and over all that he had, the Lord blessed the Egyptian’s house for Joseph’s sake; the blessing of the Lord was on all that he had, in house and field. 6 So he left all that he had in Joseph’s charge; and, with him there, he had no concern for anything but the food that he ate. Now Joseph was handsome and good-looking.
Introduction
We are continuing our series looking at the heroes of the faith – the women and men in the Bible who had a character trait or did something that is worth copying today. Last week we heard how inspiring Deborah was, and how people followed her because of her inspiring life, faith, and wisdom.
This week we are looking at Joseph. Just to remind you of his story, he’s way, way back in the Old Testament. This is long before Moses. In fact, Joseph is how the Israelites wound up in Egypt in the first place – though it was a good thing at first.
So when Joseph was a young boy, he had a vision from God that he shared with his brothers. In this vision, all of his brothers were bowing down to him. This unsurprisingly did not sit well with his older brothers, so they did what brothers do…and sold their brother Joseph into slavery. Boys will be boys, you know? I’m glad my brother never thought of that one.
But even in slavery to Potiphar, Joseph stood out and became the most trusted slave with the most influence. That’s where we pick up the story. Listen for how Joseph responds to temptation, and how he responds to another bad turn in his life.
Genesis 39:7-23
7 And after a time his master’s wife cast her eyes on Joseph and said, “Lie with me.” 8 But he refused and said to his master’s wife, “Look, with me here, my master has no concern about anything in the house, and he has put everything that he has in my hand. 9 He is not greater in this house than I am, nor has he kept back anything from me except yourself, because you are his wife. How then could I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?” 10 And although she spoke to Joseph day after day, he would not consent to lie beside her or to be with her. 11 One day, however, when he went into the house to do his work, and while no one else was in the house, 12 she caught hold of his garment, saying, “Lie with me!” But he left his garment in her hand, and fled and ran outside. 13 When she saw that he had left his garment in her hand and had fled outside, 14 she called out to the members of her household and said to them, “See, my husband has brought among us a Hebrew to insult us! He came in to me to lie with me, and I cried out with a loud voice; 15 and when he heard me raise my voice and cry out, he left his garment beside me, and fled outside.” 16 Then she kept his garment by her until his master came home, 17 and she told him the same story, saying, “The Hebrew servant, whom you have brought among us, came in to me to insult me; 18 but as soon as I raised my voice and cried out, he left his garment beside me, and fled outside.”
19 When his master heard the words that his wife spoke to him, saying, “This is the way your servant treated me,” he became enraged. 20 And Joseph’s master took him and put him into the prison, the place where the king’s prisoners were confined; he remained there in prison. 21 But the Lord was with Joseph and showed him steadfast love; he gave him favor in the sight of the chief jailer. 22 The chief jailer committed to Joseph’s care all the prisoners who were in the prison, and whatever was done there, he was the one who did it. 23 The chief jailer paid no heed to anything that was in Joseph’s care, because the Lord was with him; and whatever he did, the Lord made it prosper.
Be Prepared
Well since we have the Scouts with us today, I thought I would try to summarize my understanding of what the Scouts do. I’ve never been a Scout myself, so I might get a few details wrong. But let’s see if I’ve got this right.
A Scout only camps when they have an RV with electricity.
A Scout assumes that everything will go as planned, so there’s no need to have any extra supplies for the unexpected.
A Scout only learns the minimum skills necessary, because they’ll never need to be prepared for anything else.
A Scout is trustworthy as long as there isn’t any temptation.
Did I get that right? I think I missed a few points.
I think Joseph should be the patron saint of Scouts. Because he is always prepared. He has ironclad character no matter what. He knows how to make do in the desert or the city, in luxury or scarcity, when he is praised and when he is ignored and forgotten.
I think Joseph is a good person to keep in mind when you don’t know what to do, or you’re seeking direction from God but you’re just not getting it. Have you ever been there? Have you ever wondered what God wanted you to do or where God wanted you to go? Ever wondered if you should take this job or that one, go to this school or that one, join this club or that one, pursue this relationship or that one?
I often tell people who are still waiting to hear from God the GPS analogy. I remember driving a caravan of vehicles for a youth mission trip when I was at my last church. We were driving from Eastern Pennsylvania to Chicago. And I still vividly remember what my GPS told me when we crossed over to Ohio on I-80 West. “Continue on I-80 West for 354 miles.” And so for the next 354 miles my GPS sat quietly. It never jumped in to comfort me. The GPS never says, “You’re still on the correct road. Good job.” No, it only tells you when it’s time to turn or to chastise you when it’s “recalculating” after a wrong turn. I think God is kind of like that sometimes. If you are seeking a new direction from God, and you’re not getting it, I always ask, “What was the last set of directions you received from God?” Even if it was 354 miles ago, keep going until the Godly Positioning System gives you a new direction.
And Joseph also demonstrates the second piece of advice I give people when life changes and they don’t know what to do or where to go. What did Joseph do when he was sold into slavery by his brothers? He remained faithful to God. What did Joseph do when he his master’s wife attempted to seduce him? He remained faithful to God. What did Joseph do when he was wrongfully imprisoned? He remained faithful to God. Later on in Joseph’s story he helped another prisoner and asked that man to pass along a good word to Pharaoh on Joseph’s behalf. That guy totally “forgot” to mention who had helped him for several years. What did Joseph do? He remained faithful to God even when he was betrayed. That man eventually told Pharaoh about Joseph when no one else could help. And Joseph was faithful to God in front of Pharaoh. When Pharaoh put Joseph in charge of the whole country? Joseph remained faithful to God. When Joseph’s conniving brothers were at his mercy during a famine? Joseph remained faithful to God. Are you picking up on a theme?
Even if you don’t know the big picture direction of your life, you can remain faithful to God with your decisions and behavior and how you treat other people. That’s a good idea always and forever. You can be prepared for that no matter your circumstances.
God’s Definition of Success
When we get stuck asking God the big picture questions, sometimes we can lose sight of what simple faithfulness looks like in our daily lives. Micah 6:8 summarizes it pretty well: “O people, the Lord has told you what is good, and this is what he requires of you: to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.” That’s not overly complicated. The details can be fuzzy, but you don’t need new directions from your GPS to do what is right. You don’t need new directions from your GPS to demonstrate mercy and compassion. You don’t need new directions from your GPS to walk with God in humility, not arrogance. You can do that today. And tomorrow. And the next day. And every day no matter what life throws at you.
We had an interesting event for our high schoolers at my previous church where we tried to recreate some of the experiences of poverty for our students and paired that with discussion of what it means to lack basic necessities like food and shelter. We had the students not eat for 30 hours. And we rounded up a ton of cardboard boxes and they had to build their own shelter for the night out of that. At least, that was the plan.
There was one wee little detail we had forgotten about. You see, our cardboard city with dozens of students and leaders was out on the church’s massive grass front lawn. And massive grass lawns need to be watered on a regular schedule. And that schedule turned on the sprinklers at like two in the morning. So our cardboard city became one big, soggy, gross, epic fail. The plan was ruined.
Or was it?
We were hoping to help the kids have a greater understanding of what it meant to lack proper shelter. And even though we let everyone back into the church to warm up and dry off and go back to sleep, that experience was a fantastic starting point for even better conversations than we had planned. Some of the kids had an “a ha!” moment when they started thinking about homeless people in our community who lived underneath cardboard. What happens to them when it rains?
That 2 AM wake-up splash also made the event memorable. That’s one of my strongest memories of my time with the youth.
If your definition of success is, “things went according to my plan,” I hate to tell you but you’re going to sorely disappointed. Slavery wasn’t in Joseph’s plan. Jail wasn’t in Joseph’s plan. Managing a famine wasn’t in Joseph’s plan. But he was faithful through it all. And he bloomed wherever he was planted.
God’s definition of success is for us to simply be faithful no matter what. Whatever you’re experiencing in your life, you can do what is right. You can demonstrate mercy and compassion. You can stick close to God. No one can stop you from doing those things. And that’s success in God’s eyes.
Will you seek success in the eyes of the world? Will you seek success based on your own plan? Or will you seek success in God’s eyes? Amen.
