Becoming a Believer of Integrity and Forgiveness
The Life of Joseph #1
Pastor Ben Fleming
The English poet – Alexander Pope said, “To err is human and to forgive is divine.” Everyone of us have done something to hurt someone else and we want to be forgiven… but forgiving someone who has done a wrong to us is difficult….. And for some us – we think it is next to impossible to forgive them. There is a bumper sticker that says “I do not get mad, I just get even” -------- you might laugh at that but to most people it is not a joke – it is a reality. Getting even has become a twisted art in our society….. for example, this past week, when some gang members could not tag some mailboxes on Woodside Drive because the residents chased them away…. they came back and shot guns at the residents because they said they were disrespected. Today – I want to begin a study with you of the life of Joseph in the book of Genesis. We are going to study his integrity and his forgiveness of his brothers. We are going to begin today by looking at his father Jacob and his family background.
I have been hurt by people who have said that they loved me and so have you. I have been hurt and taken advantage by believers and non believers who thought they were persons of integrity. When you think of integrity what do you think of???? Are you a person of integrity??
Some say integrity is what you are when no one is watching. Let me give you a working definition of integrity.
Integrity = One can describe a person as having integrity to the extent that everything that person does comes from the same core set of values while those values may change, their consistency with each other and with the person's actions determine the person's degree of integrity. ------ some of us have little integrity and some have a lot
We are going to study the life of Joseph in the book of Genesis. You can find him starting in chapter 37 all the way through chapter 50. Joseph was a man of integrity and forgiveness. That is why I have given this series the title “Becoming a believer of integrity and forgiveness”. Joseph was a man who demonstrated and lived out integrity and forgiveness in spite of how he was treated – he did so, in spite of how unfair his circumstances were – he was rejected – he was abused – he was abandoned and forgotten. He refused to become resentful – he refused to bear a grudge or become bitter. Some of you might have been treated like him in your past and some of you might be going through things like he did today??
The life of Joseph almost seems to be to good to be true – but Egyptian archeology tells of a leader who made great storehouses for food that saved the nation – Genesis tells who that leader was – Joseph. God has given us the record of many biblical characters to teach us and warn us as children of God. This is the reason we study such people like Moses and Joseph – David – Esther – Jonah – Peter and Paul. The bible tells us why God has given these written records:
Romans 15:4 “For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.” God has given us the Old Testament for two reasons: First - to teach us how to live and secondly to give us hope for the future…… We can learn who God is in the OT and we can learn how to persevere from the OT for the future….. The apostle Paul also wrote to the Jewish believers in the church at Corinth about their forefathers -
1 Corinthians 10: 9 - 11 “We should not test the Lord, as some of them did – and were killed by snakes. And do not grumble, as some of them did – and were killed by the destroying angel. These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings to us, on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come.” God has given us the life of Joseph as an example to follow and aim for --- So let’s begin - chapter 37: 1 - 4
Vs. 1 “Jacob lived in the land where his father had stayed, the land of Canaan. This is the account of Jacob. Joseph, a young man of seventeen, was tending the flocks with his brothers, the sons of Bilhah and sons of Zilpah, his father’s wives, and he brought a bad report about them. 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 a richly ornamented robe for him. 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.” ---- Let us pray. ------ keep your bible open to Genesis….
Background: So that we can understand what family background Joseph grew up in…. and what he had to overcome…. lets understand some background….. His father, Jacob was an old man when his son Joseph was born. The bible tells us that Joseph was the “son of his old age”. Jacobs original name in Hebrew meant “deceiver” or “conniver”. He was this kind of a man from his youth even though he was the son of Issac and the grandson of Abraham. This is one reason why you will read of Jacob at times referred to as the name “Israel” --- Right in the beginning Jacob deceived his father Issac and stole his fathers blessing from his brother Esau. It is not surprising that deception was part of Jacobs family and that he passed it on to his sons. Not only was he a dad who deceived but he was a passive father – he was too busy for his family – too preoccupied and could care less about what was happening in the lives of his children. And sadly, Many dads today are just like Jacob.
Jacob was getting old, and when Joseph was born.. he got a new lease on life. Joseph was his last born son and he loved him more than any of his other children. Jacob’s love for Joseph was also perhaps because of his great love for his beloved wife Rachel. Look at chapter 30: 22. “Then God remembered Rachel; he listened to her and opened her womb. She became pregnant and gave birth to a son and said, God has taken away my disgrace. She named him Joseph, and said, May the Lord add to me another son.” This is what the name Joseph means – “add to me” or may “He God add.”….. Up to this point --- Rachel was barren ---- in her culture… a woman had great shame if she could not bear a child. Jacob had another wife whose name was Leah ----- who had already given Jacob children. Some of you know this story or Rachel and Leah and some of you do not.-- let’s review it…
When Jacob was a young man --- he fell in love with Rachel who was the beautiful daughter of Laban. He asked Laban if he could marry his daughter Rachel and told him that he would work for him for 7 years ------- Laban agreed and Jacob worked 7 years for Laban – but on Jacobs wedding day --- Laban deceived him and switched girls and he ended up married to Leah – Rachel’s sister. Jacob worked 7 more years for Laban and he finally married Rachel. Over time – Leah had given Jacob 6 sons and 1 daughter and Rachel had given him none. Can you imagine the competition – resentment and bitterness in that family??
Laban lived in Haran – which was far to the north of Canaan – which was the promised land or today’s Israel. Jacob had worked for his father – in law for 20 years and now he wanted to go back home. Turn in your bible to chapter 30:25 “After Rachel had given birth to Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, Send me on my way so I can go back to my own homeland. Give me my wives and children, for whom I have served you, and I will be on my way. You know how much work I’ve done for you.” Laban agreed with Jacob but if you read on in the process both the son in law and the father in law again try to deceive each other. Jacob left, but on their way south – Jacob ran into tragedy when they got to the city of Shechem where the Hivites lived – Jacobs daughter Dinah was raped by the prince of the land --- look at chapter 34:1 “ Now Dinah, the daughter Leah had borne to Jacob, went out to visit the women of the land. When Shechem son of Hamor the Hivite, the ruler of that area, saw her, he took her and violated her. After this, Dinah, was surrounded by her brothers who loved her and cared for her and they came up with a plan and they killed all the men of that city. When Jacob heard what his sons had done – he was angry. He was not concerned about what was done to his daughter or how brutal his sons were…. he was upset at what the people of the land would think and do. He was more concerned with how the public would react.
They left Bethel and continued south towards Jacobs home of Jerusalem and on the way Rachel gave birth to another son who was named Benjamin....... but Rachel died in childbirth…… Can you imagine how Jacob felt? He had waited years to marry this women and now she dies. He buries her and continues on and one of his sons has sexual relations with one of the concubines who was the mother of his two half brothers. When Jacob heard that his son had committed incest – he did nothing. He was such a passive father that he did nothing. He did nothing when his daughter was raped and he did nothing when his son disgraced him with incest.
Folks ----This is the family that Joseph was born into…. His family was one of deception – anger – rebellion – sexual immorality - rivalry and out and out jealousy. All of these characteristics had been displayed and modeled by his father. Some of you come from such homes --- some of you know people who are in such homes and maybe your home is like this???? This is the home into which Joseph was born. You reap what you sow. Jacob learned that and it affected his entire family. Let us draw several lessons for our lives today from the life of Jacob.
Lessons from Jacob
#1 If you ignore God’s plan for a biblical marriage you can expect that eventually in your family others will ignore God’s plan. Monkey see monkey do. Children of divorced parents divorce easier. That is not to say that the Holy Spirit in the life of a believer cannot break the curse of divorcee but without the transformation of the Holy Spirit the curse of divorcee is easily passed on to the children. Right from the beginning Jacob was controlled by the lust of his flesh when he married two women.
#2 If you show favoritism in your family it will create serious friction that results in jealousy, resentment and hatred. This is what we saw in Josephs family – all because of the father Jacob. Look with me at our text in chapter 37.
Vs. 2 Jacob used Joseph to spy on his older brothers. “Joseph, a young man of seventeen was tending the flocks with his brothers,….. and he brought their father a bad report about them. “ Jacob elevated Joseph above his brothers as the object of his love and praise – he sent wrong signals to Joseph about his importance in the family. Jacob had raised a family and he had poured gasoline all over its members and now Joseph was going to light it……
It is easy to play favorites in a family and rationalize it --- but when you do you are creating a climate of resentment and bitterness.
Vs.3 Jacob made a special display of favoritism in his family by giving Joseph a special tunic. ”Now Israel loved Joseph more than any of his others sons… and he made a richly ornamented robe for him.” Can you imagine the pain of rejection that Jacob was inflicting on the rest of the sons who were the object of his attention and then this Joseph comes into the family. He treated his sons more like servants.
Vs.4 Jacob’s attitude and actions fed sibling rivalry, but his sons directed their anger at Joseph and not at their father. “When his brothers saw that their father loved Joseph more than any of them, they hated him and could not speak a kind word to him.” You can imagine the resentment that is building in these brothers and next week when Joseph tells them his dreams you can fully understand how they responded to their brother.
3. No enemy is more subtle in our lives than passivity. When parents are passive, they may eventually discipline their children but in the end their delayed action will often be carried out in anger. Passivity is an enemy. Inaction is ungodly. A family is not just going to take care of itself. Your marriage is not just going to take care of itself. Your finances are not going to get in order by doing nothing and going deeper and deeper into debt – and living the way you have always lived. The status quo is not acceptable in God’s economy. When there is action to be taken --- take it.
James 4:17 “Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do it, sins.” The best action is not inaction. When it comes to broken relationships take action to restore them. When it comes to an offense – take action to forgive the offender or reach out to the one you have offended. Listen to me: Things will not get better by just sweeping them under the carpet. For example: A father of a 7 year old boy was troubled. His father thought that he might be having nightmares and he patiently urged his boy to tell him what was bothering him. After a lot of persuasion, the boy began to describe several scenes of horrible – hard core pornography. Restraining his surprise and anger – the father probed to find out where his son had been exposed to this. The finger pointed to a 9 year old neighborhood boy who had turned a computer room into a porn shop --- and neither of his parents knew anything about it. Passivity is an enemy.
4. No response is more cruel than jealousy. King Solomon wrote in Song of Solomon 8:6 “Jealousy is cruel as the grave”. If we allow jealousy to rule in our hearts and in our families it will grow and fester and lead to devastating consequences. If you allow jealousy in your family – you are asking for trouble. The writer of Proverbs put it this way on your outline.
Proverbs 27:4 “Anger is cruel and fury overwhelming, but who can stand before jealousy?
We have to come down hard on jealously in our own lives and in the lives of our families. We have to attack attitudes that are wrong and when you catch glimpses of right attitudes – reward and build up that other person. Jacob – Rachel – Leah and Laban were very poor examples for Joseph and his brothers. Jacob could have turned to prayer – the bible does not say that he did but he could have modeled a life of prayer for his family. A father who prays is a father who brings power to his family. A father who speaks out verbally to God in front of his family models godliness. Fathers –we must become men of prayer. Single men – you must become a man of prayer.
Application:
1. Allow God to change you and begin to conform you into His image. It does not matter what your family background has been. You begin this change by coming to Jesus. You begin this change by being born again. It is what is known as saving faith. Saving faith changes a person. Saving faith is different from believing faith. Saving faith begins to restore a person. It begins to make them whole. It takes the past and begins to heal it.
2 Cor 5:17 --- “if any man or woman is in Christ – they are a new creation – the old is passing away and the new is coming.” Old habits – old sin – old pain – old resentment – anger and bitterness. Start by coming to Jesus …….. ask God to give you saving faith. COMMENTS…
2. Begin to understand and live out your new identity in Christ. You are a new person in Jesus Christ. You do not have to wait until you go to heaven to begin to experience the benefits of saving faith. Your past does not have to control you and determine your future. Your family and the pain and disappointments of the past have no power over you when you begin to understand and live your new identity in Jesus Christ. The bible says, “you are complete in Christ” – “You have been redeemed and forgiven from all your sins, you may approach God with boldness and confidence, you are a member of God’s household, you have been adopted as God’s child, you are Christ friend…. and I could go on and on and on telling you more of who you are in Christ. Joseph did not live his life like his father. He knew His God and His God knew Him.
3. Keep on pursuing a renewed mind. In the New Testament, the apostle Paul tells the believer three vital actions in the renewal process. In Romans 6:14 – he says that “sin shall not be your master. In Romans 8:2 – he says – the law of Spirit of life has set me free from the law of sin and death – we do not have to live in the past --- we do not have to live the way were taught and how it was demonstrated for us by our families and then in Romans 12:2 “be transformed by the renewing of your mind”. I do not have to think like my parents Bill and Rowena Fleming taught me to think. I can think like God wants me to think and has freed me to think. Joesph learned this – we are going to see time and time again --- Joseph did not think like his family taught him to --- he allowed God to renew his mind. What are you doing? Is the past still controlling you? Are you still living and thinking the way you did last year? Comments……….
Let us pray:
