Good morning Medway, and thank you for the opportunity to share with you this morning.
Did you know that this life is hard? Very hard? Every adult here has had to deal with adversity in some way, shape or form. Even when we look at people whose lives seem to be running so smooth we’re mistaken. We have no idea of all the trials they may be going through because we can’t see them.
Today I’m going to share what I believe God wants me to say to all of us about persevering so I’ve named my sermon: ‘Keep on keeping on’. I’m going to be talking about an old-testament character who has been such an example to me of this very trait of endurance. His name is Joseph. Joseph is so often taught about in Sunday school and most children have coloured in his technicolour dream coat, movies have been made about him but what relevance does he have to us today?
The goal this morning is for all of us to be encouraged and built up in our faith walk with God. I am not going to be reading the entire story of Joseph because it’s 12 entire chapters, but I really do encourage all of you to go and read the whole story of Joseph from Genesis chapter 37.
Let’s open in prayer: Heavenly Father, I ask this morning that you speak your words through me so that we may all be built up in the faith and also be encouraged to keep on keeping on regardless of what this life throws at us. Amen.
Please turn with me to Genesis chapter 37 reading from verse 1.
37 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[a] 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.
We’ll read up till that point for now.
Joseph is an entitled 17 year old at this point who knows that he is his father’s favourite. His brothers know this too and hate him for it.
Even at this early stage we can see that God has gifted Joseph with certain abilities that his brothers don’t have, which also make his brothers jealous. As a teenager Joseph doesn’t have much wisdom or discernment and he blurts out his dreams to his brothers and his father which he possibly should have kept to himself.
When you read the rest of chapter 37 you’ll read about how Joseph is sent to his brothers to check on them, that they first plan to kill him and then settle on selling him as a slave. Chapter 37 ends with Jacob, Joseph’s dad tearing his clothes in grief as he hears of his son’s supposed death.
At the age of 17, Joseph has moved from a position of entitled son; to that of a slave. It’s highly likely that Joseph spent the next 10 to 15 days walking to Egypt, where he was sold as a slave to Potiphar, the captain of the guard under the Pharoah of Egypt.
According to Google it takes about 10 to 15 days to walk from Canaan to Egypt. I want you to picture, to imagine what was going through Joseph’s mind as he is being towed behind a camel with his hands tied. Initially I can imagine him thinking, ‘Lord God, why is this happening to me? ‘Where are you Lord?’ At some point he must have come to terms with the fact that the situation he was at least in part, his fault. Yes, his dad loved him more than his brothers but Joseph definitely used that for himself too.
Whatever happened between Joseph and God over those days walking to Egypt we see in chapter 39 that there had been a change in Joseph, for the better. Something happened on that road that humbled Joseph because he didn’t arrive in Egypt the same. Perhaps he realised that in large part he was in that situation because of his own behaviour, because of his own arrogance.
Every one of us has been in a situation where the rug has pulled out from under us. Where we’ve asked the question, ‘Lord, where are you? Why did you let this happen? Perhaps you’re there now. As believers we need to check ourselves first to see if we aren’t in this position because of our own actions. We need to take accountability for what we have done. Like Joseph, we need to humble ourselves, push the reset button and carry on with a new attitude and a changed heart.
39 Now Joseph had been taken down to Egypt. Potiphar, an Egyptian who was one of Pharaoh’s officials, the captain of the guard, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had taken him there.
2 The Lord was with Joseph so that he prospered, and he lived in the house of his Egyptian master. 3 When his master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord gave him success in everything he did, 4 Joseph found favor in his eyes and became his attendant. Potiphar put him in charge of his household, and he entrusted to his care everything he owned. 5 From the time he put him in charge of his household and of all that he owned, the Lord blessed the household of the Egyptian because of Joseph. The blessing of the Lord was on everything Potiphar had, both in the house and in the field. 6 So Potiphar left everything he had in Joseph’s care; with Joseph in charge, he did not concern himself with anything except the food he ate.
Just like Joseph had to come to terms with what was happening in his life, and decided that whatever the situation he ended up in, he would serve God to the best of his ability, so we should do the same. Whatever wilderness moment you are in right now, walking behind your own camel with your hands tied you’ve got a choice to make. You may be the reason you are in this situation, the situation may be completely random, either way, you have a choice to make.
You can continue feeling sorry for yourself or you can respond by acting in the way God would want you to act. As believers we can’t often change the situation we are in but we can control our behaviour in it.
We read that the Lord pours out his favour over Joseph in Potiphar’s house and blesses Joseph. He ends up in charge of the entire household and once again returns to a position of comfort to a large degree.
We read too, that Potiphar’s wife temps Joseph continually to sleep with her and eventually he runs away from her, leaving his garment in her hands. Potiphar finds out, is enraged and puts Joseph into prison. So once again, Joseph has moved from a position of comfort and feeling that all is good with the world to being not just a slave but a prisoner as well.
You can imagine his conversation with God as he languishes in his cell. Father God, I did everything right, I did all I did with a good attitude, you even blessed me, I know you did. Why have you allowed this to happen to me, and it’s all based on lies, I’ve done nothing wrong!!!!!
When he was sold as a slave by his brothers he was at least in part to blame for his behaviour. This time he’s doing everything right and the Lord is blessing him and using him.
Are you having this conversation with God in your own life? Have you had this conversation with God before? I know I have. You can’t see the wood for the trees or any purpose in what is happening. How can any good come from this? You’ve been brought low. You have been humbled to the point where you can’t stand on anything you have done.
But, even in the midst of all this turmoil; God steps in again and blesses and uses Joseph where he is at.
Genesis 39 verse 20: But while Joseph was there in the prison, 21 the Lord was with him; he showed him kindness and granted him favour in the eyes of the prison warden. 22 So the warden put Joseph in charge of all those held in the prison, and he was made responsible for all that was done there. 23 The warden paid no attention to anything under Joseph’s care, because the Lord was with Joseph and gave him success in whatever he did.
When Joseph was working for Potiphar he learned how to manage projects and people. In fact he did such a good job that was in charge of every aspect of Potiphar’s household.
Even in jail, because of God’s hand on him, Joseph again ends up managing everything for the warden. Again, managing people.
It’s at this point where Pharoah losses his patience with two of his staff, namely his cupbearer and his baker and they are thrown into the prison where Jospeh is the 2IC. They both have dreams and Joseph is able to interpret them. As per Josephs interpretation the cupbearer is re-instated after 3 days and the baker is executed after 3 days. Both of these men had direct contact with the most powerful man in the country, Pharoah himself.
Joseph asks the cupbearer to remember him but the cupbearer forgets Joseph until Pharoah himself has a dream that none of his magicians can interpret. The cupbearer remembers Joseph and Joseph is then brought before Pharoah, where he interprets his dream and then is put into the position of ruler over all Egypt, second only to Pharoah himself.
Everything that has happened to Joseph culminates in him moving from being a slave and prisoner to being the second most powerful person in Egypt in one day.
At this point Joseph has been in Egypt for 13 years of which a minimum of 2 were spent in jail. 13 years of honing, stripping and training to lead to one moment where God aligns everything for his will to be done.
Think back to what Joseph was like when he had his first dream where his brothers and father were bowing down to him, an arrogant young man to this point where he knows that God himself has given him the ability to interpret dreams, and Joseph gives God all the glory.
The rest of Genesis talks about Joseph managing the country and doing everything necessary to prepare for the 7 years of famine to come. We read about his brothers coming up to buy grain and how he recognizes them; how they bow down to him in fulfilment of the first dream he had as a 17 year old. We read too of Joseph forgiving his brothers when he could have had them put to death if he so wished. Eventually Joseph’s entire family move to Egypt and live in Goshen for the next few hundred years, the perfect place to grow in numbers and prosper.
Everything that happened in Joseph’s life truly did have a purpose and all these events line up to cause him to manage an entire country, including the people in it.
In everything that happened to Joseph, he endured and remained faithful. Even when Joseph had no inkling as to why he was going through all these trials. He kept on keeping on. I’m sure that like us he would have been asking, ‘why me?’ I think it’s important to note that God knows we are going to wobble and even fail at times; but his emphasis is that we keep picking up our cross daily and choose to live a life in surrender to him. To endure, to persevere…
What is God’s perspective on all of this? We read the story of Joseph but the big picture is not written down as such. God’s plan is the salvation of his entire people Israel. God wanted them in Egypt to grow and prosper them to become a great people, ready to move into the promised land. God chose Joseph to be the man that he would use to make his plan come about.
What do we learn from Joseph that we can directly apply to our own lives? What can we learn about the situations Joseph was in that we can apply to our own lives as well?
God is for us and not against us. He works all things for good for those that love him and are called according to his purposes. Every person here has a purpose that God wants to fulfil. Perhaps none of us will ever be the second in charge of a country but the principal is the same.
We also need to understand that we are not a finished work, we are a work in progress. The things that happen in our lives all work towards us becoming more like Jesus, our Lord and saviour. That is if we allow it. We can become bitter and stubborn, not wanting to be molded by God but resisting the whole way. Joseph chose to be humble, knowing that God was working in him and training him up and so could be used.
We also need to remind ourselves of is that we live in a fallen world, with fallen people. Joseph lost his position in Potiphars household because of fleshly desire from Potiphars wife, not because he did something wrong.
The second thing I want you to take hold of is that Satan hates you, he wants to steal, kill and destroy you. To break you down to the point where you give up and say, ‘I can’t do this Chistianity thing any more’. That is what he wants for you.
Satan could see that God was planning to rescue his people and he used whatever methods he could to destroy the man that God had chosen for that task.
I doubt very much that Joseph could see things from that perspective. Do we see that in our lives? Do we recognise when we are under attack by Satan? How often do we blame God instead of realising that either Satan is at work or it’s simply the result of us living in a fallen world with fallen people?
Every person here, every family, is going through challenges of different kinds. It may be relationships, finances, health, doubt of your faith, perhaps children who have decided to walk from the faith they were raised in. In all these things we are going to wobble; we won’t understand why or what we are going through. But I urge you today to keep on keeping on. We truly do live by faith and not by sight.
Just like God’s goal was to rescue his people through Joseph then, he wants to rescue people now through the blood of his son Jesus.
As I close off I want to say a few words about salvation.
I believe there are people here today who have heard the call of the gospel, they’ve heard the truth but have not responded. It’s possible that you haven’t responded because you believe something that is not true so bare with me as I share s few myths that I believe may be holding you back from choosing to surrender your life to Jesus.
Myth 1: You have to fix your life up before you become a believer and follower of Jesus. Because we know we’re not worthy of salvation, because we know our own hearts we feel that we have to be ‘better’ to be a Christian. Let me remind all of us that Jesus meets us where we are at. It is he who changes us to become more like his son Jesus. There is nothing we can do to make us ‘better’ or more worthy to become believers.
Myth 2: There may be some who look at the Christian life and think; ‘there’s no way I can maintain that life’ and so they turn away from surrendering to Jesus. They give up before they’ve started. Once again, it is God who changes us through his holy spirit. None of us can maintain a life of righteousness in our own strength. It is he who sanctifies us for the rest of our life to become more like Jesus. It’s a process of being set apart. It is not instant.
If you’ve perhaps believed these myths, or any others I encourage you let hem go and decide today to lay down your life in surrender to Jesus as your Lord and saviour. Today is the day of salvation. Take the step now and allow God to transfer you from the kingdom of darkness and into the kingdom of the son of his love. No more delaying, no more excuses. You’ve heard the truth, you know the truth. Now you need to choose the truth.
Let’s close in prayer: Dear heavenly Father. Thank you for the encouragement we have in your word to keep on keeping on regardless of our circumstances. Give us the strength daily to choose you, to pick up our crosses and follow after you. I pray for those here who don’t know you. Stir their hearts through your Holy Spirit now Lord and may they choose to surrender their lives to Jesus as their Lord and saviour. Amen.
