Before I get into my message today, I want you to pick a number, any number. Did you pick a number larger than a million? If not, then, why didn't you?
In 1998, Larry Page and Sergey Brin picked the number one followed by 100 zeroes while they were still graduate students at Stanford University. That number in mathematical terms is called a googol, and that became the name of their new enterprise. Today, Google operates the largest search engine in the world with internet users performing hundreds of millions searches a day.
Jim Reese, former chief operations engineer of Google, said this about Brin and Page: “It takes a lot of confidence and courage to go ahead and do that [i.e., to be that big]. It's rare to find people who think on such a grand scale and are able to create a great product at the same time.” (FreshMinistry.org, 11-5-02; www. PreachingToday.com)
Google’s founders were dreamers, and that’s what it takes to accomplish great things. It takes a great dream to do great things, and that’s true not only in business but also in the ministry to which God has called all of us.
Before Jesus ascended into heaven He told his followers, “Go and make disciples of ALL nations” (Matthew 28:19). That was a big dream especially when there were only eleven disciples to start with. And that’s still Christ’s dream for every church, because Jesus promised to be with us in that task “until the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20).
The question is: How do we fulfill this big, God-given dream right here in Rice County? How do we accomplish the vision Christ Himself gave us nearly 2,000 years ago? How do we do great things with the great dream Jesus has presented to us? Well, if you have your Bibles, I invite you to turn with me to Genesis 37, Genesis 37, where we learn some lessons from the life of Joseph about seeing great dreams come true.
Genesis 37:1-2 Jacob lived in the land of his father’s sojournings, in the land of Canaan. These are the generations of Jacob. Joseph, being seventeen years old, was pasturing the flock with his brothers. He was a boy with the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father’s wives. And Joseph brought a bad report of them to their father. (ESV)
Joseph, their little brother, was probably an obnoxious tattle-tale at this point in his life, no doubt because he was his father’s favorite.
Genesis 37:3 Now Israel loved Joseph more than any other of his sons, because he was the son of his old age. And he made him a robe of many colors. (ESV)
Literally, he made him a tunic of palm or sole. In other words, Israel made Joseph a tunic which reached to the palms of his hands and the soles of his feet. It was a full length undergarment, which in Joseph’s day was worn by only two people in the tribe. It was worn by the head of the tribe AND his designated heir.
Genesis 37:4 But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not speak peacefully to him. (ESV)
Literally, they could not say “shalom” to him – the common greeting of the day. They were so angry that their dad had chosen Joseph to be the primary heir, they couldn’t even say “hello” to him.
Genesis 37:5-8 Now Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers they hated him even more. He said to them, “Hear this dream that I have dreamed: Behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and behold, my sheaf arose and stood upright. And behold, your sheaves gathered around it and bowed down to my sheaf.” His brothers said to him, “Are you indeed to reign over us? Or are you indeed to rule over us?” So they hated him even more for his dreams and for his words. (ESV)
They hated him all the more, because not only had their father elevated Joseph to a high status in the tribe, it seemed that God himself was going to elevate Joseph, as well.
Genesis 37:9-10 Then he dreamed another dream and told it to his brothers and said, “Behold, I have dreamed another dream. Behold, the sun, the moon, and eleven stars were bowing down to me.” But when he told it to his father and to his brothers, his father rebuked him and said to him, “What is this dream that you have dreamed? Shall I and your mother and your brothers indeed come to bow ourselves to the ground before you?” (ESV)
This time, the dream indicated that his whole family would one day bow down to him: the sun and moon representing his father and mother; and the eleven stars representing his eleven brothers.
Genesis 37:11 And his brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the saying in mind. (ESV)
Outwardly, Joseph’s father rebuked him; but inwardly, Joseph’s father wondered if Joseph wouldn’t indeed rule the whole tribe one day. But Joseph couldn’t read his father’s thoughts. All he knew at this point was that his whole family had rejected his dreams – not only his brothers, but his father as well.
Those closest to Joseph rejected his dreams, and that’s often the way it is with most of our dreams. People almost always reject them initially, even those close to us.
That’s the way it was for Martin Luther King Jr. and his dream for racial equality. Charles Marsh, in his book Welcoming Justice, tells the story of how Jesus encouraged King to keep pursuing that dream no matter the opposition.
[In January 1956, Martin Luther King Jr.] returned home around midnight after a long day of organizational meetings. His wife and young daughter were already in bed, and King was eager to join them. But a threatening call—the kind of call he was getting as many as 30 to 40 times a day—interrupted his attempt to get some much-needed rest. When he tried to go back to bed, he could not shake the menacing voice that kept repeating the hateful words in his head.
King got up, made a pot of coffee, and sat down at his kitchen table. With his head buried in his hands, he cried out to God. There in his kitchen in the middle of the night, when he had come to the end of strength, King met the living Christ in an experience that would carry him through the remainder of his life. “I heard the voice of Jesus saying still to fight on,” King later recalled. “He promised never to leave me, never to leave me alone… He promised never to leave me, no never alone.”
In the stillness of the Alabama night, the voice of Jesus proved more convincing than the threatening voice of the anonymous caller. The voice of Jesus gave him the courage to press through the tumultuous year of 1956 to the victorious end of the Montgomery Bus Boycott. More than that, it gave him a vision for ministry that would drive him for the rest of his life. (Charles Marsh, Welcoming Justice, IVP Books, 2009, pp. 16-17; www.PreachinngToday.com)
You and I, too, need to hear the voice of Jesus telling us, “Keep on fighting. Keep on making disciples, because I am with you to the end of the age. I will never leave you.” Let His voice be louder than that of your critics, and…
DON’T QUIT JUST BECAUSE YOUR DREAMS ARE REJECTED.
Don’t give up on the vision God has placed on your heart through the reading of His Word. Don’t stop pursuing those aspirations just because those closest to you dismiss them as silly or worse.
William Carey was once a poor shoemaker with persistent allergies, who became a preacher. Then God gave him a vision for India, and he knew that God could use him to reach that vast country for Christ. He shared his dream with some of his pastor friends in a meeting, and one of them told him, “Young man, sit down. When God pleases to convert the heathen, He will do it without your aid or mine.”
His own father called him “mad,” and his wife was totally against the idea, but William Carey didn’t quit. God had given him a dream, and he was going to pursue that dream no matter what. In his own words, he was going to “expect great things from God and attempt great things for God.”
As a result, he went to India in the year 1793, and started a world-wide missionary movement that is still going on today. William Carey is called “the Father of Modern Missions,” because he not only reached the continent of India, his life and work inspires missionaries to this day to share the good news of Christ all over the world.
Christ has called us as a church to make disciples of ALL nations. What is He calling YOU to do as part of that great vision? To share the good news with a family member or friend? To use your gifts and abilities to serve in this great cause? To give or to go as God leads whatever and wherever that might be?
Please, don’t let anybody stop you from pursuing God’s call on your life. Don’t give up just because some people think you’re silly. Don’t quit just because your dreams are rejected. And…
DON’T QUIT JUST BECAUSE YOUR DREAMS ARE NOT REALIZED RIGHT AWAY.
Don’t give up on account of the setbacks and upsets along the way. Please, don’t let the roadblocks and detours stop you from pursuing your God-given dreams, because very seldom do our dreams get fulfilled without some major setbacks along the way.
That’s what happened to Joseph. He obeys his father in the pursuit of his dream and ends up being sold as a slave.
Genesis 37:12-14 Now his brothers went to pasture their father’s flock near Shechem. And Israel said to Joseph, “Are not your brothers pasturing the flock at Shechem? Come, I will send you to them.” And he said to him, “Here I am.” So he said to him, “Go now, see if it is well with your brothers and with the flock, and bring me word.” So he sent him from the Valley of Hebron, and he came to Shechem. (ESV)
“…Shechem” – that’s 50 miles north, a two-day’s journey.
Genesis 37:15-17 And a man found him wandering in the fields. And the man asked him, “What are you seeking?” “I am seeking my brothers,” he said. “Tell me, please, where they are pasturing the flock.” And the man said, “They have gone away, for I heard them say, ‘Let us go to Dothan.’ ” So Joseph went after his brothers and found them at Dothan. (ESV)
“…Dothan” – another day’s journey north, about 15 miles.
Joseph is dedicated in his obedience to his father. He spends all this time looking for brothers, who hated and ridiculed him. I don’t know about you, but I would have given up the search long before Joseph did – especially for that bunch of 1st class jerks – but Joseph spent three days looking for them! And what did it get him?
Genesis 37:18-22 They saw him from afar, and before he came near to them they conspired against him to kill him. They said to one another, “Here comes this dreamer. Come now, let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits. Then we will say that a fierce animal has devoured him, and we will see what will become of his dreams.” But when Reuben heard it, he rescued him out of their hands, saying, “Let us not take his life.” And Reuben said to them, “Shed no blood; throw him into this pit here in the wilderness, but do not lay a hand on him”—that he might rescue him out of their hand to restore him to his father. (ESV)
Reuben was the first-born, the one who by custom should be the primary heir, not Joseph.
Genesis 37:23-28 So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe, the robe of many colors that he wore. And they took him and threw him into a pit. The pit was empty; there was no water in it. Then they sat down to eat. And looking up they saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead, with their camels bearing gum, balm, and myrrh, on their way to carry it down to Egypt. Then Judah said to his brothers, “What profit is it if we kill our brother and conceal his blood? Come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and let not our hand be upon him, for he is our brother, our own flesh.” And his brothers listened to him. Then Midianite traders passed by. And they drew Joseph up and lifted him out of the pit, and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty shekels of silver. They took Joseph to Egypt. (ESV)
How callous and hateful can these brothers be? First, Joseph has been wondering around for three days and he’s probably very hungry; but when he finds his brothers, they throw him into a pit and eat right in front of them. Then they sell him at a bargain rate for 20 shekels of silver. The going rate for slaves in that day was 30 shekels, but they don’t even consider him worth the price of a slave.
Joseph’s dedication was turned into a great disappointment, and his brothers get away with it all. They deceive their father into thinking Joseph was killed by a wild animal.
Genesis 37:29-33 When Reuben returned to the pit and saw that Joseph was not in the pit, he tore his clothes and returned to his brothers and said, “The boy is gone, and I, where shall I go?” Then they took Joseph’s robe and slaughtered a goat and dipped the robe in the blood. And they sent the robe of many colors and brought it to their father and said, “This we have found; please identify whether it is your son’s robe or not.” And he identified it and said, “It is my son’s robe. A fierce animal has devoured him. Joseph is without doubt torn to pieces.” (ESV)
How ironic. Years before, Jacob used the skin of a goat to deceive his father into thinking he was his hairy brother, Esau. Now, his own sons use the skin of a goat to deceive him. Oh, they don’t actually say Joseph was killed by a wild animal. They just lead their father to believe it, and that’s a lie just the same.
Genesis 37:34-36 Then Jacob tore his garments and put sackcloth on his loins and mourned for his son many days. All his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted and said, “No, I shall go down to Sheol to my son, mourning.” Thus his father wept for him. Meanwhile the Midianites had sold him in Egypt to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, the captain of the guard. (ESV)
The captain of the slaughterers – i.e., the executioners. Potiphar was the chief executioner, and Joseph was his slave. This was a major set-back! Joseph went from being the primary heir of his tribe to being a slave of Egypt’s chief executioner himself with his life in potential danger every day.
So much for Joseph’s dreams of one day ruling the entire family! This was not going forward; this was going backwards, and that happens to us as well, in the pursuit of our dreams. Often, there are setbacks along the way.
In 1836, the fledgling Washington National Monument Society announced that they had chosen Robert Mills’ plans for the construction of a monument to our nation's first president. Mills had slaved for months over the elaborate drawings, and he had dared to dream big – a granite obelisk soaring 555 feet high, slated to be the tallest structure in the world.
But the funds didn't come in as fast as the society had hoped. Construction didn’t start until a full twelve years later. Then the engineers discovered that the ground at the site was too soft to support the weight of such a huge monument, so they had to start over farther north.
Work proceeded smoothly for six years, and major figures began donating marble to the project. But in 1854, when Pope Pius IX donated a marble block from the Temple of Concord, a group of saboteurs stole the block and destroyed it. The incident shocked the public, and donations nearly stopped.
Then members of the Know-Nothing political party broke into the society's offices and actually seized possession. Vandals continued to deface the monument, and construction finally stopped dead in 1855.
What remained of Mills's soaring dream was a squat, ugly, 150-foot stump. Robert Mills died that year.
But his vision would not die. 25 years after his death, 50 years after Mills' dream began, work resumed. Four years later a cast-aluminum cap was placed over the granite tip. Today, Mills’ monument stands as the tallest masonry structure in the world, with over a million visitors every year coming to see the realization of his dream. (Kevin A. Miller, Secrets of Staying Power, Word, 1988; www.PreachingToday.com)
Any dream worth pursuing is going to experience roadblocks and setbacks along the way, but that is no reason to stop pursuing the dream.
William Carey didn’t. When he got to India, he labored for seven years before he saw his first convert. He labored many more years to complete his first translation of the Bengal New Testament, but it was totally incomprehensible, so he had to start all over again. Then years later, a fire in his shop destroyed everything he had worked to accomplish – all his dictionaries, all his translations, everything – but Carey never quit. He plodded on until God used him to reach the entire country of India and beyond.
Setbacks are no reason to stop, because in God’s sovereignty, our setbacks are but stepping stones to success.
That was certainly true in the life of Joseph. Sure, he got sold as a slave, but that got him to Egypt. Later, he’s going to be thrown into prison, but that puts him in touch with one of Pharaoh’s attendants. And eventually, that attendant brings Joseph to Pharaoh’s attention and Joseph ends up ruling Egypt itself.
Each setback actually brought Joseph closer to the throne. God had not abandoned Joseph, no! God was leading Joseph through his setbacks to the fulfillment of his dreams in a way far beyond anything he could have ever imagined. Before all this, no doubt, Joseph saw himself simply becoming a tribal leader of a nomadic tribe in Canaan’s desert. But God was leading him to be second only to the mighty Pharaoh in the one major world-power of his day.
In God’s sovereignty, our setbacks are but stepping stones to success. So don’t quit just because you face a setback. Don’t give up just because of a few reversals along the way.
Consider Jesus. He was rejected by his brothers and nailed to a cross. His followers were heartbroken, thinking His mission had failed. It was a huge setback in their minds. But the cross was the very thing God used to save us from our sins. And now, Jesus sits at the right hand of God in the place of all authority. So trust Him with your life, and trust God to bring about His marvelous plan for you no matter what happens.
Please, don’t let anything stop you from pursuing your God-given dreams, not rejection nor reversals, because in God’s sovereignty, our setbacks are but stepping stones to success.
Douglas MacArthur once said, “People grow old only by deserting their ideals. Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up interest wrinkles the soul. Worry, self-doubt, self-distrust, fear and despair; these are the long, long years that bow the head and turn the growing spirit back to dust. (Douglas MacArthur, Leadership, Vol. 3, no.2; www.PreachingToday.com)
Please, don’t let that happen to you.
