Part 7 of the People relating to God series from Genesis. Joseph part 1 of 2
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Ripped off !
Genesis – People relating to God
Part 7
Joseph
Genesis 37:1-36
Last week as we continued our study of people relating to God
I talked to you a lot about trading
We talked about good trades
We talked about bad trades
We took a hard look at Esau and his boneheaded trade
I want to continue on that line this morning
Have you ever made a trade where you felt like you got ripped off?
I mean
Someone really skinned you
Even to the point of outright thievery
I have had that happen a few times in my life
We would be here all day if I tried to tell you about every one of them
And
If I was to open the floor up to all the times in your life
We could be here for weeks
So
Just
Let me tell you about one particular time in my life
Where I got ripped off- royally
I was about 20 years old
Fairly newly married
And
Completely full of pride
I mean
There was nothing that I did not think I knew
Nothing that I did not think I could do
So
I found a pickup truck that I thought I really needed
It was not really anything special
Just an old Chevy ½ ton
Long bed
Not pretty but a seemingly solid truck
And
The price was right
So
I went and made a trade with the guy at the car lot for it
I should have swallowed my pride and took my Dad with me
I could have taken one of the older guys I worked with
To check out the truck
But
Remember said I was full of pride – all puffed up
So I figured I could do this on my own
So
I went to the bank
Got cash
Went back and paid the guy for the truck
Got the title
Started out the door
It was then that I
Noticed the sign on the door that said
ALL SALES FINAL-NO REFUNDS- NO EXCEPTIONS
I wish I had seen that sign before I paid the guy for the truck
Because
I paid the guy for the truck—in cash
Went back home and got Patti
Went back and got the truck
When we pulled out on hwy 19 headed home
We had only gone a couple of miles
Stopped at a couple of lights
And
Patti started flashing her lights at me
And honking the horn
I pulled over
And
She said something
That I can still hear today
“You don’t have any lights on that truck”
I felt like I had been kicked in the Guts
We checked it out and sure enough
No taillights
No brake lights
No blinkers
No Nothing
I laid down in the floorboard to check the fuses
And
What I found was a melted together mess of wires
The entire light wiring harness was fried
I knew that this had not just happened
I knew that the guy that sold me the truck knew also
So
I went back to the car lot to get my money back
Remember the sign
Well it turns out this guy really meant it
No Refunds
He told me “you checked out the truck”
You paid me it is yours
The lights turned out to be just one of many problems with the truck
Unless my Aunt sold it
It is still sitting in a pasture out on fm753 in Athens where is needed its life as a pasture ornament
I will tell you
I did not deserve to be ripped off
I worked hard for my money
Patti and I had very little at that time in our lives
But
I also will tell you
Had I
Choked back my pride just a bit
Had I checked out the truck better
or
Taken someone with experience
And a discerning eye with me
That guy never would have gotten the best of me
So Yeah , I was ripped off
But, I had to take some responsibility
Today
We pick up our study in Genesis
With Joseph
The 11th Son
Of Jacob also known as Israel
Son of Isaac
Son of Abraham
He is his father Jacobs’s favorite son
He is the eldest son of Jacob’s wife Rachael- the love of his life
And
As a result he has received special treatment
And
As a result of that treatment
He developed a bit of pride
Let me read for you about a time when Joseph got something he did not deserve
In the eyes of the world
He got ripped off
Please open your bibles to Genesis 37:1-36
37 So Jacob settled again in the land of Canaan, where his father had lived as a foreigner.
2 This is the account of Jacob and his family. When Joseph was seventeen years old, he often tended his father’s flocks. He worked for his half brothers, the sons of his father’s wives Bilhah and Zilpah. But Joseph reported to his father some of the bad things his brothers were doing.
3 Jacob[a] loved Joseph more than any of his other children because Joseph had been born to him in his old age. So one day Jacob had a special gift made for Joseph—a beautiful robe.[b] 4 But his brothers hated Joseph because their father loved him more than the rest of them. They couldn’t say a kind word to him.
5 One night Joseph had a dream, and when he told his brothers about it, they hated him more than ever. 6 “Listen to this dream,” he said. 7 “We were out in the field, tying up bundles of grain. Suddenly my bundle stood up, and your bundles all gathered around and bowed low before mine!”
8 His brothers responded, “So you think you will be our king, do you? Do you actually think you will reign over us?” And they hated him all the more because of his dreams and the way he talked about them.
9 Soon Joseph had another dream, and again he told his brothers about it. “Listen, I have had another dream,” he said. “The sun, moon, and eleven stars bowed low before me!”
10 This time he told the dream to his father as well as to his brothers, but his father scolded him. “What kind of dream is that?” he asked. “Will your mother and I and your brothers actually come and bow to the ground before you?” 11 But while his brothers were jealous of Joseph, his father wondered what the dreams meant.
12 Soon after this, Joseph’s brothers went to pasture their father’s flocks at Shechem. 13 When they had been gone for some time, Jacob said to Joseph, “Your brothers are pasturing the sheep at Shechem. Get ready, and I will send you to them.”
“I’m ready to go,” Joseph replied.
14 “Go and see how your brothers and the flocks are getting along,” Jacob said. “Then come back and bring me a report.” So Jacob sent him on his way, and Joseph traveled to Shechem from their home in the valley of Hebron.
15 When he arrived there, a man from the area noticed him wandering around the countryside. “What are you looking for?” he asked.
16 “I’m looking for my brothers,” Joseph replied. “Do you know where they are pasturing their sheep?”
17 “Yes,” the man told him. “They have moved on from here, but I heard them say, ‘Let’s go on to Dothan.’” So Joseph followed his brothers to Dothan and found them there.
Joseph Sold into Slavery
18 When Joseph’s brothers saw him coming, they recognized him in the distance. As he approached, they made plans to kill him. 19 “Here comes the dreamer!” they said. 20 “Come on, let’s kill him and throw him into one of these cisterns. We can tell our father, ‘A wild animal has eaten him.’ Then we’ll see what becomes of his dreams!”
21 But when Reuben heard of their scheme, he came to Joseph’s rescue. “Let’s not kill him,” he said. 22 “Why should we shed any blood? Let’s just throw him into this empty cistern here in the wilderness. Then he’ll die without our laying a hand on him.” Reuben was secretly planning to rescue Joseph and return him to his father.
23 So when Joseph arrived, his brothers ripped off the beautiful robe he was wearing. 24 Then they grabbed him and threw him into the cistern. Now the cistern was empty; there was no water in it. 25 Then, just as they were sitting down to eat, they looked up and saw a caravan of camels in the distance coming toward them. It was a group of Ishmaelite traders taking a load of gum, balm, and aromatic resin from Gilead down to Egypt.
26 Judah said to his brothers, “What will we gain by killing our brother? We’d have to cover up the crime.[c] 27 Instead of hurting him, let’s sell him to those Ishmaelite traders. After all, he is our brother—our own flesh and blood!” And his brothers agreed. 28 So when the Ishmaelites, who were Midianite traders, came by, Joseph’s brothers pulled him out of the cistern and sold him to them for twenty pieces[d] of silver. And the traders took him to Egypt.
29 Some time later, Reuben returned to get Joseph out of the cistern. When he discovered that Joseph was missing, he tore his clothes in grief. 30 Then he went back to his brothers and lamented, “The boy is gone! What will I do now?”
31 Then the brothers killed a young goat and dipped Joseph’s robe in its blood. 32 They sent the beautiful robe to their father with this message: “Look at what we found. Doesn’t this robe belong to your son?”
33 Their father recognized it immediately. “Yes,” he said, “it is my son’s robe. A wild animal must have eaten him. Joseph has clearly been torn to pieces!” 34 Then Jacob tore his clothes and dressed himself in burlap. He mourned deeply for his son for a long time. 35 His family all tried to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. “I will go to my grave[e] mourning for my son,” he would say, and then he would weep.
36 Meanwhile, the Midianite traders[f] arrived in Egypt, where they sold Joseph to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. Potiphar was captain of the palace guard.
Let me paraphrase this story just a bit
Joseph was his Dad’ favorite son
This alone upset his brothers
They worked hard
And
This favorite son from their dad’s favorite wife
Received special privileges- got a better deal
Jacob made his a fancy coat
While they just wore regular ones
Joseph was supposed to be working for them
But
He ran off and tattle tailed on them
Every chance he got
The he had a couple of dreams
I will tell you guys
The dreams were from God
They we given to Joseph as a sign of things to come
But the dreams really put the icing on the cake for his brothers
They could not stand it
In the dreams Joseph saw himself being the head of the family
The master
The heir to the birthright
In sheaves of wheat and in the stars
The dreams were true
God did indeed intend to make Joseph the head man
But
In his pride
Joseph kind of rubbed his brother’s noses’ in it a just a bit
I know what I was like when I was 17
Imagine how you may have acted as well
He was daddy’s favorite
Got special privilege
And now he was pride fully bragging about being in charge one day
That was the last straw for his brothers
They had had enough
Ya’ll know the rest of the story
They jumped on him
Stripped off his special coat
Chunked him in a well then sold him to slave traders
Later on we see
Joseph
Being wrongfully accused
Thrown in prison
Forgotten about
I preached about Joseph a few months ago
And we looked at how he overcame
All of this and became a great man
But today
I want to look at his reaction to being ripped off
And how are we to live when we feel we have been ripped off
Think about how you feel when money loan to a friend
And they don’t pay you back
Think about how you fell when helped a friend in business, only to get cut out of the deal when it gets successful
Think about how you feel when you lost a job even though you have done no wrong
Think about how you feel when you have lost a child to drugs having done your best
Think about how you feel when illness and injuries, hardships and perdujudices and all sorts of calamity come into your life
Things that you had no control over
Things that
Change your direction of your life
Change the steps of your life
Change the plans you had made
Change the future you had hoped for
You often
Just as I
Like Joseph did
Feel that we have been ripped off
Right?
That ain’t fair!!!
That ain’t right!!
So
How do we live when we feel we have been ripped off?
How do we get past it?
And live a Godly life
I believe God would like to challenge us from the life of Joseph
Joseph captures that challenge
Because life as far as he knew had ripped him off
We have the privilege of knowing the rest of the story
But Joseph did not
See
While he was in the pit- in that well he had no idea how his future was going to turn out often he could not know the rest of the story.
Joseph’ first reaction was very likely the same as ours
Fear
Abandonment
Despair
Anger
A feeling that it’s all over
Nothing will ever be right again
Why me???
It is very easy in times of hardship
And
In times of trouble
To shift the blame
Make excuses
Give up
Quit
And
Many do !
All of us get ripped off every now and again it is simply part of life in this wicked world
But
I love a movie quote from the newest Rocky movie
Rocky is telling his son
“ It is not about how hard you can hit that matters
But about how hard you can get hit and keep getting up “
We all have times in our lives where we feel we have gotten the short end of the
But
Our response to those times of trouble
Those times of unfairness
Makes all the difference as to whether we spend our lives in the pits
Or in the palace
So how did Joseph
Go from the pits to the palace?
First
When he was at the bottom of the well he looked up
You hear me
He was in the bottom of a pit
Lost
Lonely
Sacred
Hurt just a bit
But he looked up
He knew that his survival
His was not going to come from the pit
Many people when they are wronged
‘Tend to internalize their problems
Hang onto their problems
Lose hope
Listen to me
Hope does not come the pit
Deliverance does not come from the pit
And
You can only get out of the pit by looking up
And when we look up
We see God looking down
Second
Joseph ended up in the pit partially because of his pride
I hate to say he got what he deserved because that is not completely correct
But he was not innocent in the deal either
He prodded his brothers with his pride
No doubt he did not deserve what he got
But had had showed a bit of humility
A bit of tact
He might not have ended up where he was
When we get into a situation where we feel we have been wronged
We must take a hard look at ourselves
And ask
Did I cause this?
Is there something I need to change in my life?
I s there something I can do to avoid a similar situation?
Joseph could have come out of the well with the same pride he went in with
He could have bucked his new masters
I am pretty sure those Ishmaelite traders would have beaten him into submission
Or simply killed him
Had he refused to humble himself
But we know that he was sold to
Potiphar
And
We know that he was successful
So we also know that Pride took a back seat to humility
Third
Joseph trusted God
Joseph may have had no idea
Why these things were happening to him
But we know he trusted God to take care of him
Over and over again we see him trusting God
Proclaiming god
Giving God the glory
And we see Joseph and all those around him get the blessings God had planned for them
I bet when he was being thrown into the well/sold/accused/impriosoned Joseph wished someone could tell him why these things were happing to him
Why was he being ripped off?
Better yet
I know I as you do wish someone could tell me why bad things happen
Why do I often get ripped off?
Why is life so unfair?
Why do bad things have to happen?
That is one of the most common questions that I am asked
No one could answered those questions of Joseph
No one can answer them for you or I
I don’t know the answer
Maybe God wants to open your eyes to a sin or a behavior in your life
Maybe he wants to bring you to salvation
Maybe he wants you back in obedience
Maybe he wants to grow you through pressure/pruning
It is often in the hard times where we grow the most
Maybe you were just in the wrong place at the wrong time
Maybe you made bad choices
Gave into temptation
Had wrong beliefs and attitudes
Chose the wrong road
I can’t fully answer all the questions about Why thing happen
But I can answer the question
When bad things happen – how do I get through it
Do like Joseph
First
Look up
Your help ain’t coming from the pit
It ain’t coming from the problem
It ain’t coming from the situation
It ain’t coming from the storm- the wreck
Your help comes from the Lord- only he can deliver you from the storms of this life
Only he can save you from the pit
Second
Put aside your pride
Admit you’re in a mess
Look for areas in your life that you can change
Stop trying to do it your way
And humble yourself
Submit to his Lordship in your life
Then trust
Trust God
In the midst of the storm
Praise God
In the midst of the storm
Worship God
In the midst of the storm
Give him the glory
We all feel like we have been ripped off some time
We know that God sometimes he uses hardships to get us to a place where he can bless us
Use us
We also know that
Sometimes he blesses us in spite of the hardships that we cause
I was listening to some of my old CDs just before sitting down to write today’s sermon
And I came across an older song By Robert Earl Keen
Called this “road goes on forever and the story never ends”
Only the title is appropriate for church
But it is relevant
A lost life
A life lived without Jesus
Is a wasted life
You see the road of this life is hard
The road of this life is unfair
And the road of this life without Jesus
goes on forever and the story never ends
Apart from Jesus we are destined to be ripped off for all of eternity
Apart from Jesus the toils and trouble of this life will follow you to the next
To a place called hell
This is where the rip off comes
You see
God never intended for you to go there
He had much better plans
And he gave us an out- he made a way
But
Like that sign in that crooked car dealer’s office
Once this life has past
You bought it
ALL SALES FINAL-NO REFUNDS- NO EXCEPTIONS
Don’t spend eternity in the pit !!!!
Close from the heart
pray
