The Practical Redemption Of Man

The Life Of Joseph, Session #8- The Redemption Of A Man’s Family pt.3

Intro.

- We have been watching Joseph’s ten brothers squirm under the hand of their brother.

- They have not recognized Joseph, as he is 22 years older, looks like an Egyptian, speaks a perfect Egyptian dialect and is named Zaphnath-Paaneah.

- It’s Judah’s impassioned plea for his half-brother Benjamin that ends the charade. Joseph can no longer hide his true identity and he reveals himself to his brothers.

- 20 years of grief melts in a giant emotional outpouring for all to see.

- The brothers are completely shocked and more than a little afraid!

• Genesis 45:3 : “Then Joseph said to his brothers, ‘I am Joseph; does my father still live?’ But his brothers could not answer him, for they were dismayed in his presence.”

- They are more afraid now because they know what they have done! We know Joseph’s intentions and know the story. Remember, at this moment, they were living a veritable nightmare!

- They are staring their supposedly dead brother in the eye and he is not only not dead, but he is the most powerful man in the known world!

- I imagine that this is the shock of every athiest who dies cursing Christ and then wakes to find that the one that he cursed a millisecond before is alive, well and in charge of heaven and hell!

- Joseph is not looking for revenge. He is not going to take advantage of their fears and look to exact a measure of recompense.

- Joseph is looking at life with a perspective that allows him to be a blessing.

- It’s a perspective that we desperately need to have when it comes to our family, our relations, our church.

- We will take a close look at this didactic portion of scripture, as it encompasses what Joseph has been working out theologically for 22 years of his life.

- How did he get through it? How did he manage his emotions and carry on through it all? How did he not give in to thoughts of vengeance and retribution?

- I believe that this section answers those questions for us.

- There are three perspectives that come clear to us in these first 8 verses of Genesis 45.

I. The Preservation Of Life (v.4,5)

II. The Preservation Of Posterity (v.6,7)

III. The Presentation Of God’s Glory To Pharaoh (v.8)

Text

I. The Preservation Of Life (v.4,5)

• Genesis 45:4,5 : “And Joseph said to his brothers, ‘Please come near to me.’ So they came near. Then he said: ‘I am Joseph your brother, whom you sold into Egypt. But now, do not therefore be grieved or angry with yourselves because you sold me here; for God sent me before you to preserve life.”

- Joseph brings his brothers near to him. They would remain in their fear otherwise.

- He acknowledges why they are afraid, but then affirms them.

- “Don’t be angry of grieved because of what you did to me” Joseph says.

- How Joseph could say that to the people who were directly responsible for putting him in such a miserable condition. How could he be so forgiving?

- It’s because of the next line: God sent me before you to preserve life!

- “You were the vehicle that God used to bring me to Egypt!”

- “God sent me” is an interesting statement. It was God who was directing Joseph’s course.

- It was God providentially allowing circumstances to take place, so that Joseph could preserve life.

- Joseph was a conduit of life. He was dispensing life. He was handing out hope with every loaf of bread. It was his genius that God employed to sustain the known world.

- It’s interesting to me, just how turned we might be on this issue.

- When bad things happen to us, legitimate, offenses that arise, what are we to think of them?

- In our day and age, we consider the person who has hurt or offended us and think only that He/She is to blame.

- Joseph had a different perspective. God allowed this so that he could preserve life.

- God allowed this to happen to me so that I might be in a position to dispense life to another.

- Why were you hurt? So that you could be embittered? Maybe now you can sympathize and minister to the hurting and disenfranchised.

- Why did you go through that health scare? So you could be discouraged? Maybe now you can live a life in thansgiving and offer resources to those in a similar condition.

- Why were you offended? So that you could leave and be angry? Perhaps God opened a door for relationship to better both sides.

- Go on down the line. The enemy of your soul hopes to drain you of life and God intends to use the same situation so that you, like Joseph, might preserve life and dispense it to those of similar circumstance.

- Our troubles become points of connection with people, God will redeem them.

II. The Preservation Of Posterity (v.6,7)

• Genesis 45:6,7 : “For these two years the famine has been in the land, and there are still five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvesting. And God sent me before you to preserve a posterity for you in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance.”

- Things are going from bad to worse! The famine will continue and grow worse in severity.

- Joseph says, I have gone before you to preserve life in general and to save our family!

- During this time, Canaan was a dangerous place to live, without plowing or harvesting, meaning that there would be no way to sustain life there.

- Jacob’s family and that of the Messianic line are truly, physically in jeopardy.

- Joseph’s work in Egypt, through the sufferings that He has faced, would preserve the very life and future of his family!

- This idea of posterity refers to the spiritual characteristics of these survivors.

- Joseph was not just keeping them alive physically, but the hope of their redemption spiritually!

- Thus, posterity refers to descendants who are spiritually carrying on the messianic hope.

- Have you ever considered that the relationship that you have with Jesus is actually preserving a posterity for you?

- The truth principle seen here is precisely this: Our sufferings, be they physical, mental or otherwise, are meant to cause us to respond a certain, godly way.

- It’s no accident that you came to know the Lord when you did.

- It’s not incidental that you are leaders in your family, and in this community.

- The battles that you fight today with your children, on behalf of your family, actually serve to preserve a godly remnant, a faithful family for the future.

- Joseph physically was saving his family who would grow to a large nation in the racially segregated land of Egypt.

- Spiritually, that nation would produce Christ and His ministry and kingdom.

- You perhaps have suffered, have become the men that you are because of or in spite of your past. Your actions today of discipline, parental love, and prayer support, are possibly saving the lives of your children from the destruction the enemy would love to bring upon them!

- God has sent you before your children to preserve a posterity, a remant, a group of people who will be blessed and a blessing to their community, their family, their church long after you are gone!

III. The Presentation Of God’s Glory To Pharaoh (v.8)

• Genesis 45:8 : “So now it was not you who sent me here, but God; and He has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt.”

- Finally, let’s not forget that God revealed himself to the Pharaoh himself.

- Joseph was brought to Egypt by God to preserve life in general, to preserve a posterity and present the life of God to this Pharaoh.

- Pharaoh was thought of as “god on Earth.” What happens when “god on Earth” cannot control the Earth and it’s production? Where does that kind of person turn!?

- Joseph was placed there to reveal who the real God was!

- This verse shows us the extent of the relationship that Joseph had with Pharaoh.

- It was an essentially close one, as Joseph says that God had, “made me a father to Pharaoh.”

- That word may refer to an actual office, like that of a Prime Minister.

- But the implication is one of close counsel and influence.

- It is more than a position and more than a career.

- Joseph had the ear of the king! The King asked Joseph to speak into his life and to the matters of the Kingdom.

- Joseph was able to minister and ministrate in a godly fashion.

- There is little doubt that Joseph lived a testimony to the Pharaoh and spoke of the faithfulness of the true God.

- All the while, the Pharaoh looked on and watched this remarkably gifted man, perform his duties without a word toward revenge or a hint of anger.

- All the while, the Pharaoh must have been continually intrigued at the life of Joseph and continually thankful for such a wonderful steward to be in his employee.

- This extended to all of Pharaoh’s house and indeed throughout the land of the idolatrous Egyptians.

- God opened the floodgates and allowed a faithful man to proclaim the goodness of the true God of all Creation.

- The principle is obvious: Our positions, careers, paths, whatever you might call your “work” is meant of God to serve a greater purpose than to merely feed your family and provide happiness for you.

- I feel as though I am pressing a point or bringing a pet peeve to bear upon us. I assure you that I am only following scripture and this point is clearly made over and over again.

- God puts people in their places in order that He might bring glory and life to a group of people who were previously without it!

Conclusion

- The Christian life is one of purpose, from beginning to end, from trial to triumph.

- God has placed you where you are to be a conduit of life.

- You are the salt of the Earth, preserving the life of God in a dying society.

- Along the way, your children or the people that you influence, will carry on the life that you pour into them.

- The result will be the glorifying of God’s name on the Earth.

- Sounds like a good plan to me!