When God Establishes You Pt 2

Well, last week we looked at three of five stages that the Lord takes Joseph through in his
journey from being a 17-year-old youth at his father's right hand until he becomes
governor of Egypt at the age of 30. Very quick review this morning just to make
sure we're all on the same page. The story starts with a comment that Joseph is
his father's favorite son. Genesis 37-3, now Israel or Jacob, loved Joseph more than
any of his other sons. We know from the rest of the narrative that these
one-sided love produced seriously dysfunctional family dynamics but for
Joseph experiencing the father's love was an incredibly valuable thing because
it established in his life the base of security, the base of self-identity that
was critical to surviving the things that he was to go through in life. And as I
mentioned last week where that hasn't happened where people have not felt a
belonged or felt secure in love typically what happens is they spend the rest of
their life trying to prove they're okay. You can trace it through Scripture from
Cain to Ishmael to many others more currently in the lives of people like Hitler
and Chairman Mao and Stalin and other great dictators of our own generation and
you see what happens when Satan finds fertile ground the principle of rejection.
Joseph had none of that he was secure in his father's love. Secondly we saw
that Joseph is a dreamer very early on in the story we're told that he has two
dreams in which the varying family members come and they bow to him as an
indication of what is to come in the future and we saw together that whatever
God has destined for us is often present in our hearts in seed form. Sometimes
it's by virtue of our birth in the circumstances thereof and sometimes it is
multiplied by the presence and the power of the Holy Spirit but the large
trees of life all begin with a tiny seed. Joseph was a dreamer and because he
was a dreamer his brothers hated him they hated him because they were jealous
of his relationship with his father they hated him because he flaunted his
dreams they hated him because he tattled on them and so when the
opportunity presented itself they were fully determined to kill him and it
was only through Ruben's intervention that instead of being killed he was
thrown into a well and it was through Judas intervention that he was was pulled
up out of that well and sold to the Midianites or the Ishmaelites the name is
used interchangeably and sold as a slave and just for the fun of it I I got an
email from Connie Lute last night showing me her one of her more recent paintings
of Joseph let's just put that up on the screen for a moment there is Connie's
painting based on an illustration by a Guido Bertello the original we have set
up in the foyer by the resource table and you can see what a brilliant job
Connie did painting that I think you should give her a hand wonderful picture
so that's where we pick up the story this morning for think we want to note in
the story of Joseph is that Joseph blooms where he is planted and if you know
how the story continues you will know that these Midianites or Ishmaelites
slave traders sell him in Egypt to a man called Potapher and Potapher is
described as a high official of Pharaoh and he's further described as the
captain of the guard and that appears to mean that he is in charge of the
King's prison some people speculate that he was also in charge of execution
he was a tough dude but Joseph fared well we don't know how long he was at
Potapher's house and of course you can read the full story from Genesis 37 on
towards the end of the book of Genesis but we're told the things went pretty
well until Mrs. Potapher cast a wandering eye upon Joseph Joseph the Bible
tells us was good looking he was strong he was capable and so she wanted to
go to bed with him Joseph resisted the temptation repeatedly finally fled
from her she grabbed his cloak and then she yelled bloody murder or rather
rape and you know the old saying goes hell hath no fury like a woman's
scorned she reported him to her husband her husband of course was extremely
angry and Joseph ends up in jail we don't know how long he was at Potapher's
house we don't know how long he was in jail we do know that the two places
combined amounted to 13 years he was 17 years old when he was sold into slavery
he was 30 years old when he got elevated into the position of Prime Minister or
governor over Egypt but here's where the story gets really interesting because
because you'd think that a 17 year old boy sold into slavery would be filled
with rebellion, resentment and resentment typically slaves spirit needs to be
broken in order to submit themselves to being bossed around by their slave
masters but you read none of those things about Joseph in fact both at Potapher's
house and in prison Joseph excels to such a degree that he rises in
responsibility listen to these verses in Genesis 39 the verses two three and
four the Lord was with Joseph and he prospered and he lived in the house of
his Egyptian master what his master saw that the Lord was with him and that the
Lord gave him success in everything he did Joseph found favor in his eyes and
became his attendant Potapher put him in charge of his household and he entrusted
to his care everything he owned you may remember that that was part of his
argument over against Mrs Potapher he could not sin against God not only but he
could not sin against his master who had given him everything except his wife
well the same thing occurs a little bit later in jail listen again then to
these verses of 39 20 to 23 while Joseph was there in prison the Lord was with
him he showed him kindness and granted him favor in the eyes of the prison
warden so the warden put Joseph in charge of all those who all those held in
the prison and he was made responsible for all that was done there 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 Joseph thrived in prison
under the most difficult of circumstances and again there is I think an
important biblical principle here and that principle is this it is never the
circumstances of life that need to define us rather what you define us is the
favor of God and the favor of God ought to come to expression in how we submit
to his will as I said that's the genius of the story of Joseph he could
have complained he could have tried to run away he could have done all kinds of
things as as most of us typically would do in that kind of situation but he
didn't he he applied himself to the situation as he says much later to his
brothers you meant it for evil God meant it for good he lived by faith and he
continued at the task that was at hand Ziegler motivational speaker he likes to
put it this way he says it is your attitude not your aptitude that will
determine your latitude in other words how well you do in life and how high you
fly isn't simply determined by the circumstances of life it is determined
what you do with the circumstances that come your way as the old saying goes
when life hands you a lemon what do you do you make lemonade Joseph knew how to
honor God in the middle of all of that and use the circumstances of his life to
develop the kind of character the kind of gifting the kind of ability that would
one day prove to be necessary for being responsible for the food
distribution in the entire Egyptian empire chances are you've heard the
little fable of the two frogs who fell into a vat of cream it's apocryphal to
be sure but it makes for a good little story when the frogs fell into the
cream they of course panicked and desperately try to get out but try as they
might they couldn't and after splashing around in the vat of cream for a
period of time the one frog said this is just hopeless it's useless I may as
well quit he quit swimming sank to the bottom and drowned the other little
frog said to himself well I don't know how to get out of here either but I'm
going to give it my best and so he kept on patting as furiously as he could for
as long as he could and guess what happened the cream turned to butter and as
the cream turned to butter he pulled himself loose and he jumped out of the
bucket it's never the circumstances that define you it is what you do with
the circumstances in which you find yourself and I believe it's a biblical
principle that the higher God wants to raise you up in the kingdom the more he
wants to use you the deeper will be the valleys that he requires you to go
through because as we all know difficult as the valleys are and I can
testify to that personally over the years difficult as the valleys are the
valleys are crucial for shaping us with the skills that we need for whatever
position it is that God has in store for us it's in the valley that our
character is tested it's in the valley where you discover the difference
between faith and wishful thinking it's in the valley where you discover the
difference between believing things intellectually with your head and being
able to trust God deeply with your heart it's in the valley where your
motivation is laid bare where you discover how much of what you do in life is
all about you as opposed to the purposes of God even when on the mountain top
you think you're doing it all forgot isn't that true it's in the valleys it's
in the valleys where you learn the discipline that is necessary to walk it out
faithfully with God how many of us know the world is filled with people who will
follow God enthusiastically when God blesses them and it feels good and and it's
all going their way but how many when the road gets rough when the journey is
difficult when their dreams fail when it looks like God has abandoned them how
many will walk it out step by step in faithfulness to God simply because God is
God I've told you this story before what are the most defining moments of my
spiritual life was when I went very early in my Christian experience through
what what the saints of old will call the dark night of the soul it was the place
where God's presence was totally gone it was the place where scripture left me
cold it was the place when becoming a preacher was the very lasting that I
wanted to do it was a place that I wouldn't wish on my biggest enemy it was a
place where I felt utterly abandoned and I'll never forget the revelation that
I had one day when I was just feeling so badly that I wish the earth would
just open up and swallow me whole that suddenly dawned upon me that what God
was after in my life was inability to love him and to serve him whether or
not I got anything out of it at all and I remember what a revelation that was
because up until then see I was at the mercy of my spiritual moods when I felt
good I had no difficulty praising God or bearing witness to his truth or
doing what he wanted me to do but when I felt badly when serving God cost me
and cost me dearly as it has over the years I wanted to throw in the towel and I
wanted to say well this is not what I bargained for having put my hand to the
plow I was looking backward like Israel in Egypt was longing for the cucumbers
and the leaks and the onions of Egypt anybody here identify with that there are
moments when things are tough those are the valleys and in those valleys you've
got to make a decision am I serving God because of what I get out of it or am
I serving God because he is worthy it's in prison it's in the pit that you
discover that God is God no matter how you feel he is worthy of our allegiance
and he is worthy of our obedience that is the test of maturity the test of
maturity is not how loudly you can sing pray songs when you're feeling good the
test of your maturity is when you can bend the head with Job and say the Lord
gives the Lord has taken away blessed be the name of the Lord that's faith and
it's only Jesus who can give that and you discover it in the valley and
prison is the place where you develop the skills that are needed to do the job
that God is calling you to do and the story is told of President Reagan he was
known in his presidency as the great communicator and many people thought he was
the great communicator because he had been a great actor before and it's true
he had made hundreds of films and for a good many years his life was like
having a silver spoon in his mouth he was a popular actor he was married to one
of the most beautiful actresses in Hollywood a woman who had been chosen as
actress of the year and things were sailing along smoothly until just in the
aftermath of World War II and his life and his career when South almost
overdied he lost his movie contract for a number of reasons his wife divorced
him he had to give up his acting except for small bit television parts and he
became instead a spokesman for General Electric and what a drop down it was
from up here to down here but as one of his biographers Peggy Noonan
observes good as his experience was in acting the thing that ultimately made
him a great communicator was serving as spokesman for General Electric because
as he traveled all across America he had an opportunity to hear firsthand what
people's concerns were he had an opportunity to learn firsthand what what
people were looking for and he was able to rub shoulders with the average
American he was able to to refine his own political views so that by the time
he could nominate it into the presidency he had acquired a set of skills that
he could have never learned if his life had gone as smoothly as he or we might
have liked it's never the circumstances that define us it is the discipline of
the Lord that we need to submit to it proverbs three quoted in Hebrews 12 puts
it this way my son do not despise the Lord's discipline and do not resent his
rebuk because the Lord disciplines those he loves as a father the son he
delights in and that was the story of Joseph he learned to bloom where he was
planted point number five fifth stage a Joseph's life is that God in the
fullness of time makes his dreams come true again if you know the rest of the
story you will know that as he is languishing in prison he is joined by two
high-ranking government officials he is joined by the King's chief cup
bearer butler in older translations and also the King's chief baker there is
some speculation that an attempt had been made on Pharaoh's life and the
suspicion had fallen on these two men and they join him in the King's prison
under the supervision of Potiphar and as the story goes on and dreams of course
as you know play a large role in the story of Joseph I talk about that in
quite some detail in my book but as the story goes on both the cup bearer and
the baker have dreams and they both dream similar dreams the the cup bearer
dreams about seeing three branches of grapes on a vine and he picks the grapes
off and he presses them out puts them in a cop and he gives it to the Pharaoh and
the baker similarly has a dream where he has a basket on his head with with
bread in it and the birds of the air come and they steal the bread and they
turn to Joseph who gives the interpretation and as you know Joseph says to
the cup bearer listen the dream means that in three days Pharaoh is going to
set you free and he's going to restore you to your position and to the
baker he says your dream means you're also going to be set free your head is
also going to be lifted up but not on the way that you would like because it's
going to get cut off or you're going to die and of course that's precisely what
happens and the importance of that story among other things is that Joseph then
makes a plea for his own freedom with the cup bearer here is what he says in
Genesis 40, 14 and 15 but what all goes well with you remember me and show me
kindness mention me to Pharaoh and get me out of this prison for I was
forcibly carried off from the land of the Hebrews and even here I have done
nothing to deserve being put in a dungeon and the chapter ends sadly with
these words the chief cup bearer however did not remember Joseph he forgot
him and the next chapter goes on to point out that another full two years go by
before Joseph gets delivered from jail and I've often thought for all this
stuff Joseph went through those two years must have been the hardest of all
because as the book of Proverbs says hope deferred does what it makes the heart
sick and to see light at the end of the tunnel and then to discover that it's a
train coming your way and not the way out is the most debilitating of all
experiences that you can go through Joseph was stuck in prison but remember God
is sovereign and God has arranged this whole deal not only for Joseph's
well-being but for the well-being of God's own people and so wouldn't you know
it two years hence now who has the dream Pharaoh do you remember the dream he
has two of them in the first dream he has this dream of seven fat cows being
swallowed up by seven lean cows and then he falls asleep again and this time seven
fat heads of grain swallowed up by seven scrawny heads of grain and he's
troubled by it because he knows this isn't just the average ordinary dream so
what does he do he he calls in his magicians and in his wise men and none of them
can give the interpretation and the story is a very close parallel
interestingly enough to what happens with Daniel and King Nebuchadnezzar in case
you haven't caught it and so that is finally what jars the cup bearers' memory
and I love the way that he puts it in 41.9 he says today I am reminded of my
shortcomings duh he finally clues in gets past his own stuff and remembers Joseph
and so make long story short they haul Joseph out of prison they shave him
they wash him they put new clothes on him he gets ushered into Pharaoh's
presence and of course he's able to interpret Pharaoh's dream when he says
there's going to be seven years of great abundance and then there's going to
be seven years of great famine and that only does he give the interpretation
but being the strategic thinker that he is he now goes out of his way to give
Pharaoh advice he says what you need to do is you need to appoint somebody who
can manage the good seven years so that they will supply the seven lean years
and of course Pharaoh is so impressed by this time recognizing the presence of
God and Joseph's life that he says who better than you and so overnight
practically you have Joseph going from the dungeon to the throne he gets
placed into a position of being second in command over all of Egypt
supervising the food distribution for the next 14 years amazing story and of
course the principle is very clear the principle is this it is God who
establishes us as we said many times now when we know our authority in Christ
and we faithfully start exercising our authority in Christ being faithful
over the little God himself will place us over much it is God who established
us scripture says it this way second Corinthians 121 it is God who
establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us and in the word the words
of our text Psalm 7567 not from the east not from the west and not from the
wilderness comes lifting up but it is gone who executes judgment putting down
one and lifting up and other and that as you know is the whole message of
scripture the whole message of scripture as we said many times before now is
is that we were created to have dominion we lost our dominion on a kind of
sin in Christ God comes and restores us so that is deathrained through one
man we now reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ and the challenge for
all people since the time has been the question how do I rise above my
circumstances and the world says you do it by violence you do it by your own
strength you do it by your own wisdom you do it by manipulation you do it by
whatever means you have to do in order to rise to the top and God says when all
has been said and done that's never going to work it happens in submission to
God through faith in Jesus by faithfully exercising what it is that he calls us
to and then it is God who gives recognition to the powers around us so that we
get elevated to where God has wanted us to be that's the story of Jesus who
for the joy that was said before him despised suffering and shame and today is
seated at the right hand of God in glory and that you see is also how Paul got
established you will recall for many years after his conversion he quietly
sought out God the Bible tells us he spent three years in the Arabian desert
and then when he moved to his hometown of Tarza he faithfully sought to be
about the business of the kingdom until Barnabas took note and Barnabas
invited him down and being second in command of Barnabas he ministered in the
church in Antioch for many many years until God called both of them into their
missionary journey and allowing Barnabas to lead him they went to Cyprus and all
the stories that we've talked about in recent weeks and there in his power
encounter with elements God establishes his credibility God establishes his
authority and from that point on as I pointed out in recent weeks Paul is listed
as the lead apostle because you see it's not from east it's not from west it's
not from the wilderness it's not from the desert that lifting up comes it comes
from God himself and I don't know where you find yourself this morning in
reference to these stories or even in reference to the journeys that we've gone
through as a church community maybe you're the kind of person who was here this
morning and you have had a solid foundation in your life you knew what
parental love was things came easily to you in life you know the reality of
God's love and and you're just solid as solid can be and in fact often times
when you hear other people talking about their struggles and talking about
the difficulties there's part of you that that just doesn't really get it and
you you want to tell them just pull yourself up by your bootstraps make
something out of yourself and you're missing their heart and you're missing
their lives because you see not everybody has the advantages that you've had in
life and if you had those kind of advantages that's not a bad thing it's a good
thing it stands you in good stead but what it calls you to is to share your
resources with those who don't have it and the chances are you might have to
go through some valleys in life to get rid of any smootiness that has been
written on your heart and to understand the pain of some other people but
maybe you're the kind of person who's here and you know you've not born with a
silver spoon in your mouth you you haven't had a good relationship with your
parents you you haven't sensed their approval you haven't sensed their love
and and you've looked every whichever direction to try to make life come
together and and you've you've struggled and you've driven and you've climbed and
you've pushed and you've called and you're just exhausted because life has
been hard and God says to you come to me all who are weary and heavy-laden and I
will give you rest my yokas easy my burden is light it's not by our works of
righteousness that we win the approval of God or the approval of the world
around us it is by God's favor and God's presence undeserved through the
person of Jesus Christ and maybe you're here this morning and the Lord has
started to bring you to life and you've begun to hope and you've begun to
dream and you've made a decision to start to live and all hell has broken
loose and everything inside you says whoa I can't do this I can't open up my
heart because people trump on it all the time I can't step out with my gifts
because I couldn't bear the criticism I can't handle the rejection I can
possibly live in this real world because the world is too painful and it is too
difficult I want to curl up into a little ball and disappear believe you me I
understand what that feels like but the promise is Jesus says I will be with
you always even to the end of the age and even if the whole world turns
against you in those places even if everybody wants to define you and even if
everybody wants to kill you as sometimes is the issue that you know they cannot
get any closer than God allows them to get to you remember Joseph he said you
minted for real but God minted for good and in the middle of all of that pain God
is calling you forth and he is refining you and me and he is refining our
character and he is building us to make a strong and faith so that when the
time comes for God to fulfill his purposes in your life and in my life God will
enable us to do it because he has established us and he has made us strong
he has made us strong because it's not God's interest to destroy us in the
fire it's not God's interest to squash us so that we can breathe or live God's
interest is to refine us with a faith that is purer than pure as gold so that when
he says go we can go and when he says well we can go we can wall and and he
can can demonstrate his love and his power through us and in us in the world
and I'll tell you prophetically that in the Lord I believe is a church
community our best years are still to come I think what God has taken us
through collectively many of us individually has not simply been to destroy
or to harm or to make life miserable it is to refine us and to grow us up
so that we can lay hold of the commission that he has for us and as we
draw near to our 60th as we look forward to whatever it is that God has
in store for us as a community I invite you to put your shoulder to the
we are let God do in your life what he needs to do because he has said I will be
with you always even to the end of the age and collectively together with
God's power and God's grace we can reach the lost we can see the broken
healed we can see the saints equipped and we can see the workers released
into the harvest and one day when we stand before God in that final day when he
hands out the rewards for all eternity you know what we're going to hear we're
going to hear the words well done good and faithful servant you have been
faithful over little and I will put you over much and nobody will remember the
crap we have gone through in order to get there for the glory of God amen amen
you