GOD USED JOSEPH

Genesis 45:4-50:26 Key Verse 50:20

“You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.”

Thank God for helping us through the book of Genesis in this last year. In the book of Genesis we learned first about God’s creation power. Next we learned of sin, the fall of man, and man’s coming redemption through the promised Messiah (Gen 3:15). We saw how God called one man Abraham and told him, “I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you…” (Gen 12:2a). Finally we saw Abraham’s descendants Isaac and Jacob struggle to meet God personally and come to have absolute faith in the same promise that God gave to Abraham to make him a blessing to the entire world (Gen 12:3). 

In this passage we conclude our Genesis study with Joseph’s final story. There is a lot of material to cover and many points to look at, but as we read we want to focus in on three clear ways how God used Joseph through Joseph’s faith, through Joseph’s stewardship towards others, and through Joseph’s hope for himself and his people in God. May we accept God’s sovereignty in our lives and be used by God to save many people in Dupage County through our faith in God, stewardship in God, and hope in God. 

Part I – Joseph’s Faith (45:4-28) 

In the beginning of chapter 45, we can learn the character of Joseph’s faith. Let us read verses 5-8, ““And now, do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you. But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance. So then, it was not you who sent me here, but God. He made me father to Pharaoh, lord of his entire household and ruler of all Egypt.” 
How could Joseph respond like this? The Bible tells us that Joseph responded like this because he had faith in God’s sovereignty. What does it mean to have faith in God’s sovereignty? Having sovereign faith in God means that Joseph believed that God is in control of everything and everything works for God’s good purposes (Ro 8:28). 

What would have happened to Joseph if he didn’t have faith in God’s sovereignty? Joseph had gone from being the favorite son of Jacob, to a slave sold in Egypt, to then a slave in the king’s prison! He was falsely accused and forgotten about in a dungeon—not a desirable life. His life had spiraled down rapidly giving him many opportunities to compromise and give up his faith in God and despair in hopeless depression, anger, or even suicide. We would not be shocked to hear from Joseph’s mouth that he was going to serve his brothers a delicious helping of justice with some sweet revenge on the side. 

But when Joseph believed in God's sovereignty, he could overcome all difficult moments inwardly and outwardly. Finally, he conquered his fate by faith in God's sovereignty and was used in God's redemptive history very preciously. Why is faith that believes in God’s sovereignty so important to our Christian life today? When we look at this question as Christians we see that God’s sovereignty touches three main areas of our faith. 

First – God’s sovereignty effects how we view fate.

Faith that believes in God’s sovereignty helps us see that there are no accidents in life. In Joseph’s story he never complained to God, instead he figured out each time what God’s purpose was. Without belief in God’s sovereignty we are crushed under the weight of daily life. But with absolute faith in God this enabled Joseph to say in verse 8, “"So then, it was not you who sent me here, but God.” And Joseph continued to work for the Kingdom no matter his circumstance.

Second – God’s sovereignty affects our world view.

When we have God’s sovereignty in our faith we can begin to see events from God’s point of view. Joseph’s eyes were opened in Egypt to see God using the famine to reveal God’s control over the creation. Joseph saw his situation as a good chance to receive training from God and experience God’s power. Without God’s point of view, without his sovereignty, we are surprised at the day to day events and lose hope for the unpredictable future. But seeing things with God’s point of view gives us hope and victory over the power of despair in our lives. 

Third – God’s sovereignty affects our view point of forgiveness. 

When we acknowledge God as sovereign and in control of the world we can understand God’s purposes and direction. Based on this fact Joseph thrived in Egypt. Joseph was also able to completely forgive his brothers and love them dearly. When we look at today’s key verse in Genesis 50:20 it says, “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.” Joseph could forgive his brothers and even understand what they did in God’s context, that is the power of God’s sovereignty in Joseph’s life of faith. 

Part II – Joseph’s Stewardship (46:1-47:12)

In chapter 46-47, we want to examine Joseph’s stewardship towards his family and for Egypt that came out of his faith. They say that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. But Joseph was not corrupted by his position. After Joseph had revealed himself to his brothers, he sent them home to bring his father and all their families down to Egypt to survive the famine. Joseph told them not to quarrel on the way but to just go and get his father (45:24). There were 70 people in all who went down with Jacob to live in Egypt under Joseph.
The city of Chicago and the state of Illinois are notorious for patronage hiring and nepotism. That is where an elected official hires all his relatives and friends for city and state jobs, instead of qualified people. But Joseph didn’t do that for his family. Joseph helped his family members first by telling them about the famine and the 5 years still to come. Joseph sent carts to collect his father and all his brother’s household’s to bring them to Egypt to preserve them. 

When they returned Joseph gave them resources as they needed based on their families (47:12). Joseph took his family members and settled them in the land of Goshen, far to the north away from the center of Egyptian culture. He did not give them jobs in the palace or cushy patronage, but let them live hard-working lives as shepherds. In this way the Israelites could keep their identity. Joseph was a wise man in providing but not spoiling his brothers.

Joseph’ main job was to provide food for the people of Egypt. When the people became a crazy hungry mob, Joseph did not just hand out food to make them beggars. Joseph worked carefully and skillfully for Pharaoh. Joseph first asked all the people of Egypt and Canaan to use up all their money to buy food. Then he asked them to sell their horses, goats, sheep, cattle, and donkeys. Then he told them to sell their land and themselves for food. In this way the people could have food and still work hard. No free lunch. This kept the country and the state together and allowed them all to survive the famine. Joseph was a faithful steward to Egypt and the world. 

Based on Joseph’s wisdom from God, everyone loved Joseph, they probably wanted to build a statue of Joseph, and issue commemorative trading cards with his picture on them, even rename the main street in the capital Joseph Street. But probably Joseph refused idolizing himself like this because he wanted to glorify God only. Verse 25 says, “You have saved our lives,” they said. “May we find favor in the eyes of our lord; we will be in bondage to Pharaoh.” Here we learned that God saved so many people’s lives through Joseph’s stewardship.

Part III – Joseph’s Hope (49:29-50:26)

After the passing of Jacob, the brothers thought that Joseph might turn on them and take revenge. So they made up a story that Jacob asked Joseph to have mercy on them. The brothers weren’t sure what Joseph’s hope was in, and this moved him to tears (50:17). 

Joseph’s hope was not in revenge or in living the good life in Egypt, Joseph’s hope was in the kingdom of God. Look at his response in verses 19-20, “But Joseph said to them, "Don't be afraid. Am I in the place of God? You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.” When Joseph had the hope of the kingdom of God he could reassure the forgiveness of his brothers confidently. Where did Joseph get this hope in God? Well they say the apple doesn’t fall too far from the tree.

Let us look at Joseph’s father, Jacob, and his last words. Sometimes as life goes on we lose the hope we once had when we were young and just settle for what we have. A bird in hand is worth two in the bush right? But Jacob did not think so. Jacob lived in Egypt 17 years, and the years of his life were a hundred and forty-seven (47:28). But his hope was clearly articulated in verse 49:29-32. 
In his last words, Jacob remembered God’s promise about the land that was promised to Abraham and his descendants in Canaan. Jacob took God’s calling and promise serious and made his descendants promise him to be buried in the cave of Machpelah, the land Abraham bought from the Hittites. Jacob believed God’s promise and his hope was in the promised land. Jacob had a sense of God’s history in not wanting to be buried in Egypt. 
In the same way Joseph, who had lived most of his life in Egypt made the same request of his people. Based on verse 41:46 and 50:22 we can tell that Joseph was Prime Minister of Egypt for 80 years! But look at his last will and testament in verse 50:24-26; “Then Joseph said to his brothers, “I am about to die. But God will surely come to your aid and take you up out of this land to the land he promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And Joseph made the sons of Israel swear an oath and said, “God will surely come to your aid, and then you must carry my bones up from this place.” So Joseph died at the age of a hundred and ten. And after they embalmed him, he was placed in a coffin in Egypt.”

Even though Joseph spent 84.545% of his life in Egypt, his heart and hope were with God. His mind was with God to see God’s purpose in using his time in Egypt. Joseph remembered God’s promise and made his ancestors swear an oath to not burry him in Egypt. If Joseph had no hope in God, he would not care where he was buried. Joseph knew that God would take his people out of Egypt. This gave the remaining Israelites a hope to fulfill and a direction to look forward to—the Exodus—not to stay in Egypt—but long to return home to the land God promised.

The main point of Joseph’s life was God’s sovereignty. When the Patriarchs, such as Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, lived by faith that believes in God’s sovereignty, God produced a fruit of faith, Joseph. God in his sovereignty raised Joseph and used him in his work. Joseph’s faith and hope in the kingdom of God allowed him to serve and save many people and become a shadow of Jesus Christ. Joseph is not the only man to be trained and used by God. God has been doing this since the beginning of history and will continue calling men to be used until Jesus’ kingdom comes. 

I would like to share what I have learned through studying the book of Genesis and Joseph’s story. Here I learned that faith in God’s sovereignty is central to being a believer in God. I learned how God chooses one person, and molds them to have faith in God to be used by God. 

While I was a student at COD some 9 years ago, I was called by God to serve in his ministry. Joseph was sent to Egypt and trained by God in order that he could acknowledge God’s sovereignty and save many lives as Prime Minister of Egypt. God prepared me for a great work at COD to save many lives by helping me grow up in this area and giving me a good job close by and training me. But I repent that I have not been living with God’s sovereign purpose in mind. I repent that recently I have lost sight of that sovereign calling to be used by God. God prepared the perfect environment, the best home to live in, the best spiritual wife, and best fellowship members, and more. But I have been living a work centered life with three jobs responsibilities, and a fear-of-people centered life. This has paralyzed me from engaging in God’s salvation work. Whereas Joseph’s faith allowed him to see God working in all things, my weak faith causes me to struggle with people and not look to God. I found myself too busy to pray or even stop to read the Bible. I have many excuses but I have failed to believe in God’s sovereignty to carry me. 
Joseph had God’s sense of stewardship for his family and the Egyptians because of his faith. I repent that I have been waking up later and later and having no energy to take care of the students at COD. Finally I learned how Joseph had hope in the kingdom of God. Joseph’s whole hope was to inherit God’s promise and follow God’s direction in life. I repent that my hope had been to finish a day’s work and then come home and rest. I thought I could manage a very busy schedule but without faith and hope in the sovereign God, I was overcome by all the things to do.

But God’s sovereign calling brought me back to God this week. Lord, you know that this week you have been training me with impossible work conditions to bring my heart back to you. Through my grandparents recent funeral, you gave me time to stop and pray and remember the grace of God. Now, please help me to surrender my heart, faith, stewardship, and my hope to you alone and acknowledge that you’re are sovereign. Lord, please use me to help college students starting from taking care of Adam, Isaac, Michael, and Alex, like Joseph took care of his family and Egypt. Lord, please help me to pray with my wife for our ministry, pray for my co-workers and to pray for your kingdom to come here in this county. Lord, forgive me for not relying on you and forgive my weak faith. Help me to serve the campus 1 to 1 mission this fall semester—that I may help raise 5 1 to 1 Bible students and 3 Sunday service attendants—by God’s grace this year.

Conclusion*** Today and through the book of Genesis we learned many things, but we need to remember one thing: that God uses those who have faith in God, stewardship in God, and hope in the kingdom of God. May we all be used mightily like Joseph in this fall semester to bring faith in God and hope in God to the lost people of COD and our universities, through believing in God’s sovereignty.