July 13, 2025
Joseph, a
man of Faith and Integrity
Genesis
37:1-8,16-28
It has
probably been a while since most of us have looked at the story of Joseph. There
are several men with the name of Joseph that have played important roles in
Gods story, Gods relationship with mankind. In Genesis 37 we pick up on the story
of one of the sons of Jacob who had an important role in shaping not only the
direction of his family but the nation of Israel from this point forward.
Joseph was the
first son born to Rachael and Jacob. Let’s quickly go back and look at first Jacob’s
story then Jacob and Rachael’s. Jacob got both the birthright and the blessing
that was supposed to go to Esau. The first Esau gave up willingly the second
was taken from him with trickery. As a result of these actions Jacob escaped to
Paddan Aram to the relatives of his mother. Esau, his brother, had vowed to
kill Jacob if he ever caught up with him.
While in
this new land he saw a young women named Rachael and fell in love with her. He
spoke to her father about marriage and it was agreed if he worked for him for 7
years he could marry Rachael. There was one catch Jacob didn’t know about
before he could marry Rachael Labans oldest daughter must marry. Laban tricked
Jacob and after 7 years he was really marrying Leah not Rachael.
He
ultimately also married Rachael and finally had the girl of his dreams. However,
one of the most important things to a man at this time was carrying on the
family name and Jacob really wanted to do this through Rachael but she seemed
unable to have children. Without going any deeper into the story than we
already have Rachael finally did have 2 boys, Joseph and Benjamin. Jacob’s
favorite of all the sons he had been blessed with was Rachaels firstborn,
Joseph.
Jacob was
the father of 12 sons; they eventually became the father of the 12 tribes of
Israel. With all that being said let's get back to the story of Joseph that we
read a little about in Genesis 37. We read that Jacob loved Joseph more than
any of his other sons. As a result, he gave Joseph this amazing coat that set
him apart from his brothers in a very visible way. Josephs brothers were jealous
of the way their father favored Joseph in many ways. Their jealousy turned into
hatred. Things got worse when Joseph had a dream that told how the older
brothers would bow down to their younger brother something that was unheard of
in the culture of the day.
Instead of
keeping this dream to himself he told his brothers about it which made them
hate him even more. As bad as things were already Joseph had one more dream
that even had not only his brothers bowing down to him but his dad as well. As
far as his brothers were concerned this was the last straw, they vowed to kill
Joseph first chance they got.
That’s where
we picked up the story at the 16th verse. The brothers didn’t kill
Joseph they decided to sell him to traders on their way to Egypt instead. So,
they were sure he was gone forever, and they got some money besides. What was
Joseph’s biggest crimes? The love of his father that he personally had nothing
to do with and being naïve. Joseph just honestly told his brothers and also his
dad the dreams he had. We don’t know whether Joseph actually thought those
dreams would come true or not but the fact that he had the nerve to tell his
brothers and his dad these dreams were just too much for his brothers to take.
I don’t know
how many of you might be the youngest son or daughter in your family but
sometimes it seems like the youngest child gets away with a lot more than the
older brothers and sisters were able to do. That may have also been the case
with Joseph as well. To be perfectly clear Joseph wasn’t actually the youngest
son but was the favorite because he was the first son born to Jacob by Rachael.
Still he was one of the youngest sons as well.
We are going
to follow Joseph’s story a little more next week but before we close things out
today, I would like to read Genesis 38:1-6 for you. Now Joseph had been taken down
to Egypt. Potiphar, an Egyptian who was one of Pharaoh’s officials, the captain
of the guard, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had taken him there.the Lord
was with Joseph, and he prospered, and he lived in the house of his Egyptian
master. When the master saw 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. Potiphar put him in charge of his household and all that he owned, the
Lord Blessed the household of the Egyptian because of Joseph. The blessing of
the Lord was on everything Potiphar had, both in the house and in the field. So
he left in Joseph’s care everything he had; with Joseph in charge, he did not
concern himself with anything except the food he ate.
So we see
that Joseph was a man of honesty as well as integrity. And we see the Lord
blessed everything Joseph did even in this foreign land. Gods blessing clearly
came as a result of his faithfulness to God in spite of everything that had
happened to him. How would we have reacted if the things that had happened to
Joseph happened to us? Would we have questioned God? Would we be angry at God
for allowing this to happen even though he had really done nothing wrong. One
might say, so that’s what I get for being honest.
Josephs
story still has a few more twists and turns in it that we will pick up next
week. Just a couple of things to think about as we wrap this up today. Can you
remember a time when you told the truth about something that had no intention
of hurting anyone only to have it come back to bite you? Have you ever felt the
anger of someone because you seemed to be favored by someone even though you
did nothing special that lead to that favoritism? That what set all this in
motion for Joseph. Maybe we could say he didn’t use the best judgement with his
brothers and his dad but I think it’s hard to say he was doing anything more
than just telling them about his dream.
Next Sunday
we will see what still lies ahead for this man of faith and integrity. We will
see if there are things in Joseph’s life and how he faced a variety of
challenges that we can apply to our own lives.
Pastor Larry
Announcements:
Sunday
School 9:00
Tuesdays
9:30
Bible Study
July
15 6:00 pm Search Committee
July
21-25 VBS at the Oakley Brick CoB
July
24-26 Town rummage sales
We
sent a total of $1940 to Heifer International. Thanks to all who gave and to Witness
Commission for matching the giving.
First
Sundays: Food Bank donations
Pastor
Larry Traxler (217) 454-2362
Keep in Your Prayers
The
Baker family; Shirley Clarkson and family; Randy & Michelle West; Bill
Traughber; Martha Wood; Stacie Warren; Nancy Fansler; Ruth Siburt; Dorthea
Wood; Mike and Kathy Gentry; Steve Needham; Larry Traxler; Nancy Gorrell; Nora
Hanaver; Ron and Kathleen Petersen; Doug Larrick; Louis & Carol Sulwer; David
and Jan Bower; Debbie Garvey Leibrock; Adiline Young; Mayo Hanaver; many
unspoken requests; victims of shootings and of natural disasters; shut-ins; the
Nigerian church; the Haitian church; the CoB in the Democratic Republic of
Congo; those in the middle of war and violence; military and other services and
their families; Brethren Volunteer Service workers; Disaster project workers;
immigrants, the poor and needy, flood victims and their families; those who
will lose insurance and Medicaid
District Prayer Calendar: Pray for Camp Emmaus, campers,
staff, and manager Randall Westfall.
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