October 14, 2007
 

The Revenge of the Brothers

Gen 37:12-28

(Note This sermon came from my archives and I think I borrowed the more astute thoughts from Steve Brown of Key Life Ministry because he said it better and has greater understanding)

As the camel train wound its way across the wilderness Joseph’s young heart continued to ache. Since that first horrible shock as his brothers openly declared their intent to kill him, he had been nearly in a stupor.

How innocently he had set out, full of the spirit of adventure as Father had finally let HIM go to the distant pastures. He knew that Dad was worried about him and fussed over him a lot, that was why he kept him so close to home. Oh Father! Poor Father would be in agony, it would kill him. Oh Lord what is happening? Where are you Nameless one?

His mind returned to the trip across the wilderness, the enjoyable slow paced journey in the summer sunshine had given him a sense of well being and timelessness such as passes as the years pile their ponderous weight on us. His last fleeting moments of youth, had he known it, were already spiraling upward to join the migration of years.

He recalled the kindly shepherd at Shechem who had let him know that the brothers had left this area and headed off toward Dothan. And how he had then headed after them, a little faster now because Father would worry if he took over long on this journey.

He had begun to feel uncomfortable as he approached the encampment near Dothan. The brothers did not act as if they were at all glad to see him and in fact were giving off the aura of hostility. He still felt the cold chill of fear that descended on him when the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah roughly grabbed him and threw him to the ground.

He never realized how deep was their hatred until they produced those long, evil looking blades and actually raised them against him. His youthful idyll was shattered on the cold floor of reality and in an instant he knew he was about to die. But that had not been their plan it seemed, or at least if it had they had listened to wiser council..

His spinning mind relived the horrid moment when he felt himself falling into darkness and felt the jolt as he landed on the floor of the dried up, well. He lay still. One never knew what was seeking shelter from the oppressive heat in dark holes like this. Scorpions and other nasty creatures were not slowed by the step walls at all, and serpents-he shuddered, what if there were serpents.

He could hear the conversation above the lip of the well, the brothers were still wrangling and fighting about him. He was sure from their tone that it was Reuben who had talked them out of killing him and persuaded them to drop him in here. ah if only Judah was here, he would never let this happen.

But now, here he was, not dead,but OH if only he were. This was almost worse in a way. What had he done,why did they hate him so?

Almost as if in answer to his question, thoughts of his past actions flooded his mind and Joseph, now in the catacomb of deep despair, reviewed his life with a critical gaze.

He remembered the almost gloating way in which he had run to Father with tales of the misbehavior of the sons of Zilpah and Bilhah. And as he let that phrase play back in his mind, he understood that he had sinned grievously. He knew them not as “Brothers” but as the sons of servants.

Oh Lord God, I would go back and repent of my wicked attitude. I have been prideful in heart and have shown respect of persons such as thou oh Mighty Rabboni Shal Eloahm would never do. An I confess this sin to you and ask that I be granted thy forgiveness.

Joseph trod silently along a sorrowful feeling deepening around his already broken heart. Oh why had he allowed that pride to show? Now another series of thoughts ran through his spinning mind.

He pictured himself almost as a young Jackal yapping at lions in a manner that suggested that HE the mighty unproven Jackal was really master over the young lions. That must be the way his brothers had perceived the relating of his dreams of supremacy.

They had been deeply offended by his tattling and now incensed by his declarations of superiority, they had probably grown in their anger to the point where they decided to remove this little jackal.

Deep sorrow flooded Joseph, the depth of sorrow that only comes as God grants a candid look into our own impurity, our own unrighteous heart, and lets us see it for what it really is.

The Amelichites thought he was weeping with sorrow over his captivity, and that may have been true in part, but his depth of sorrow on this journey as a slave into Egypt was occasioned by a much deeper grief, the grief of having offended the holiness of God, the grief of having, offended brothers with whom he could never make amends.

“Oh thou who sittest in the heavens, hear my humble cry,” he prayed. “ Forgive my sin against thee and against my brethren and may you grant to me faith to follow thee and trust in thee wherever I go. May my life be one that honors thee Oh Mighty Elohim, God of my father’s Abraham and Isaac and Jacob; and at that last utterance he wept anew for the pain his old Father must be enduring at his supposed death.

The brothers, meanwhile, were rehearsing their story. Reuben was absent, having flocks of his own that needed care. Judah had not been present for the whole affair and it had been Reuben who had persuaded the brothers not to kill Joseph but rather to throw him in the well. It was his intention to return later and release Joseph from the pit. He knew the horrible grief that would envelop Father if anything happened to his favorite, and as much as Joseph got under his skin,he was still family.

“Now,here’s what we have to tell Father,” Dan whispered even though there were no prying ears within 30 miles of him. “ We need to come quickly home with this coat and say we found it on the trail between Dothan and Shechem, and ask him if it is his son’s coat. With this Dan held up the shredded robe of Joseph, soaked in goat’s blood and layered with desert dust.

“We will not say Joseph is dead, but if that is what he assumes, then is that our fault?” Naphtali chimed in?

And so the plot was settled and Gad was dispatched homeward with the message while the others followed along with the sheep. The deed was done and now it felt less than good to have gotten revenge. What if the story ever came out? what if someone had seen?

But no matter, they must be resolute and accept that the deed was done and the dreamer was no more thorn in the side.

What Joseph thought during that trying terrible time of his life, we do not know. We do know that he arrived in Egypt a humble man, having left Canaan a haughty boy.

His future deeds will show his present commitment to a trust that even in hardship the God of creation knows best.

Joseph had come to the end of his rope and it was a rope that had just broken. He did not know the future,he only knew that he was sold BY HIS BROTHERS into slavery and that his father thought him dead. He did not understand why all his world had come down, but it had. He needed to know what to do in this trial.

Someone else had these ideas (perhaps Steve Brown) I pass them on to you. God gives grace to us who are believers in our lives. There are ways that God helps us out, these are called “means of grace” ways God helps us endure.

Joseph,and indeed YOU in a trial need to know these means.

The first thing you need to know is that problem # 1 is always honesty. Christians deny or conceal hardships underneath a spiritual quilt.

The first honesty needed in dealing with trouble is:

HONEST PRAYER. Psalm 69:1-3 says
Save me Oh God! For the waters have come up to my neck. I sink in deep mire,where there is no standing;I have come into deep waters,where the floods overflow me. I am weary with my crying; My throat is dry; My eyes fail while I wait for God.

Have you ever dared question GOD? I usually am too “falsely pious to actually say it but there have been times when I honestly feel like I am forsaken.

I remember getting to the place where I was so low that I cried out in my heart to God with the thought that He had given me a job to do but not the power or gifts to do it. He called me to a church but I was not able to do the job. “Look, God, people are complaining about me ,I feel ineffective and you have deserted me.”

Later on as I grew up a little and felt better I was ashamed of the foolishness of my thoughts. But as I grew to know him better, I began to know that he was the one who could understand my feelings and that I had gone to the right place with my hurt.

Have you ever unloaded your problem on someone and they didn’t really say much but took it in? And then you could see your way out of the problem? You expressed your hurt or anger or bitterness and it made your response to it come clear. God is the one who can understand most. If you are angry and hurt don’t tell God you love Him. He knows you are lying. Don’t tell him you know he’s doing whatever it is in your life for a good reason. He knows that you don’t believe that for a minute. Tell Him the truth. He can absorb it,understand you and still love you. (perhaps Steve Brown?)

Too often when we are under pressure our prayers are spiritual nonsense. If we’d stop talking nonsense for a minute God might say “Come off it! Tell me what you really think.” Once we understand that God can handle honesty then our trial,problem or trouble seems a bit lighter than before.

We also need what Joseph didn’t have here; HONEST FELLOWSHIP.Gal 6:2 says we are to bear one another's burdens. Often we don’t go to a fellow believer because it might dash our veneer of spirituality. We are afraid that if someone finds out we are hurting we will be though less of.

We are silent in suffering because somewhere we have heard that Christians should not fall apart.

In the past years notable televangelists have fallen. The stories are tragic, but even more tragic are the vast sums paid to silence for a number of years. I feel sad that the church is so fearsome that a fallen brother DARE not speak up.

I know that I have felt like quitting at times when my family doesn’t do it just right. I fear for you to find out because I fear that you cannot handle a pastor who hasn’t got it all together and will look down your nose at me. I am not alone. All of us are afraid to have the cracks in our armor show...but I want to overcome that... That’s why I have a Christian brother in front of whom I can be honest ...totally honest..and he loves and accept me anyway,t hats a rare gift. Joseph didn’t have that we are supposed to have it and sometimes don’t. If you don’t have a brother or sister i front of whom you can be transparent, find one.

The third honesty in trial is Honest Bible study. I’d call that reading beyond the “spiritual.” accept the Bile as a practical honest and real book. The Bible is a book with no candy coating. There we see God’s people doing ungodly things.God did not make the Bible a Public relations book. I’m glad because when I am in it up to my neck I don’t need that. The Bible has what I need, real people dealing with real problems. People who sometimes changed the situation and other times accepted it with grace and power. Read the Bible...read the parts you Haven't underlined. You will be amazed at what God said that you haven’t underlined.

Not only do we need honest prayer,honest fellowship and honest Bible reading, we also need honest action.

The Bible is not passive . Scripture challenges us to run the race,fight the fight,wrestle with angelic powers. There may be a time for the let go and let God philosophy, but sometime it is absolutely wrong. Sometimes we need to get busy doing what God has said to do.

In first kings 19 we see Elijah the prophet running out into the wilderness . It was right after he had challenged the Baal dudes and won. Jezebel turns up the heat and Elijah prays “IT IS ENOUGH LORD, take my life for I am no better than my fathers.”

Have you ever felt like that? Things fall apart and you want to give up. JUST DIE? You lose your job or go through a divorce or suffer a financial loss, maybe lose a loved one.Our first reaction is often apathy and depression. We want to go away and do nothing...but sometimes we should act.

1 Kings 19: 5-8 God has plans for Elijah: And as he lay and slept under a juniper tree, behold, then an angel touched him, and said unto him, Arise [and] eat. And he looked, and, behold, [there was] a cake baken on the coals, and a cruse of water at his head. And he did eat and drink, and laid him down again.

And the angel of the LORD came again the second time, and touched him, and said, Arise [and] eat; because the journey [is] too great for thee.

And he arose, and did eat and drink, and went in the strength of that meat forty days and forty nights unto Horeb the mount of God.

He wanted to lay down and die, God wanted him up and moving. There are times when there is nothing you can do, but before you accept that, make sure there is nothing you can do.

You may have come here for counsel about something and I may not have been as “poor babyish” as you wanted me to be.

I might say “No I don’t understand what you are going through, but since YOU are going through it, then YOU have to do something about it. Honest action is needed.

The 5th means of grace in trial is honest relinquishment.

God isn’t interested in us saying well that's life it is hard but I just have to accept it.

Positive relinquishment means that whenever something comes into your life that you cannot change or avoid ,accept it as coming from the loving hand of your father. Do you have to like it? Of course not. Steve Brown says it’s like OKRA, why is it so full of vitamins and yet so hairy and slimy?

Honest relinquishment may not be a solution to your problem, but it will help you through it.

Finally we need another thing to help us and that is honest victory. Celebrating when you get it right.Paul was honest when he was under trial. Rom. 7: 24 -25 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? 25 I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.

But note that he was also honest when he did things right. look at is call to the phillipians.phil.3 17 ¶ Brethren, be followers together of me, and mark them which walk so as ye have us for an ensample.

One of the problems with honesty is that honesty about your failures and sin can become addictive. You think the only real honesty is honesty about failure. If you are honest about your failure be just as honest about your success.

I have that problem. I fail a lot. But I need to say that I also am not a dummy and I have knowledge, a broad array of it, and its easy to downplay that in the guise of being humble (man saying that comes hard). I have also been growing in the Lord and gaining some self control. I have dropped 30+ pounds with God’s help. You see there will be trials and troubles.but also victories because God loves to fix hurts.

when Jesus told Peter that he was going to deny him he didn’t stop there. He said a very compassionate and beautiful thing to Peter he said: Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired [to have] you, that he may sift [you] as wheat: But I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail : and when you have returned to me, strengthen your brethren.(Luke 22:31-32).

He says the same to all of us. Joseph’s life will be a sterling example of that as events unfold. All of what he goes through ends in God’s ultimate purpose being accomplished.

When you are in trial He says to you “When things get better,don’t waste a bit of what you are going through. Take your wounded scarred hands and help those who are in the thick of it.

That may be the reason you went through it in the first place.

Amen