Joseph’s story is a story that will challenge each of us to move to where God wants us to be and a story that will challenge us as a community to be the people God wants us to be.
What I love about Joseph’s story is that it’s so human! It’s so easy to associate ourselves with Joseph. It’s so easy to find ourselves in Joseph. The task ahead of us will be whether we actually want to or not.
Many of us are where Joseph began his journey, we aren’t necessarily ready to take on the responsibilities of God’s kingdom.
Joseph’s story raises for us many different questions. The first is: What do you do with what God’s given you?
His story begins in dysfunction, relational disunity, self serving attitudes and with a bunch of people who make a bunch of bad decisions. This is our story! I’m in this story. You’re in this story. This is good news for all of us, because if God can not only sort out these guys, but also redeem them so much that they go on to be the foundation for who God’s people become. Then God can and will transform us as followers of Jesus and us as a community of disciples.
And it begins with a 17 year old kid who we’ll see has a lot of growing up to do.
Joseph has a dream and we have the benefit of knowing that the dream Joseph has is more than just an ordinary dream. That dream is a signpost that God chooses to give Joseph, which raises our question: What does Joseph do with the things that God gives?
We see that Joseph has influence and now God has spoken words of hope. Not just for Joseph, but actually words of hope for the brothers and all their descendants. God paints for Joseph a picture of care and provision and protection, which Joseph interprets quite differently to how God intended him to.
Joseph uses what God has given him to alienate people and repel people from him. He uses it to promote himself! Joseph’s spiritual maturity determines what he will do with, and how he will view what God has given him. The same is true for you and me. All too often even in Church ministry we use what God has given us for selfish promotion.
Joseph didn’t understand the value and importance of the things God had entrusted him with. He didn’t treat the things God gifted him with, with the reverence they deserved. As a result people were hurt, a family was split up, hatred raged and consumed and Joseph was nearly killed.
When we steward the gifts of God with grace and love and maturity amazing things can happen. When we steward them with a self promoting spirit, disaster is usually headed our way, and it’s usually disaster that affects more than just us,
The gifts of God are for the edification of everyone. They are for the benefit of everyone, and the bi-product is we benefit too. There is no doubt that as God’s desires for Joseph unfold he is the beneficiary, But he only benefits as everyone else benefits. And they usually benefit first!
The place Joseph begins, is all about him. Yet God still provides for him. But the place he where he ventures to, is all about something far greater, which we’ll come to see also.
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