Hello and welcome back to the Speak Life podcast. My name is Thomas Thoroughgood, media producer at Speak Life, and today we have another sermon from Nate Morganlock, Speak Life's Creative Director. He gave this sermon at All Souls Church Eastbourne on the 17th of March 2024. And it the passage is Genesis 50, verse 1 to 26. So I will read the passage and then I will hand straight over to Nate Morgan Locke. I'm reading from the New International Version, Genesis 501 to 26. Joseph threw himself on his father and wept over him and kissed him. Then Joseph directed the physicians in his service to embalm his father Israel. So the physicians embalmed him, taking a full forty days, for that was the time required for embalming. And the Egyptians mourned for him seventy days. When the days of mourning had passed, Joseph said to Pharaoh's court, If I have found favour in your eyes, speak to Pharaoh for me. Tell him, my father made me swear an oath and said, I am about to die. Bury me in the tomb I dug for myself in the land of Canaan. Now let me go up and bury my father. Then I will return. Pharaoh said, Go up and bury your father, as he made you swear to do. So Joseph went up to bury his father. All Pharaoh's officials accompanied him, the dignitaries of his court and all the dignitaries of Egypt, besides all the members of Joseph's household and his brothers, and those belonging to his father's household. Only their children and their flocks and herds were left in Goshen. Chariots and horsemen also went up with them. It was a very large company. When they reached the threshing floor of Atad, near the Jordan, they lamented loudly and bitterly, and there Joseph observed a seven day period of mourning for his father. When the Canaanites who lived there saw the mourning at the threshing floor of Atad, they said The Egyptians are holding a solemn ceremony of mourning. That is why the place near the Jordan is called Abel Mizraim. So Jacob's sons did as he had commanded them. They carried him to the land of Canaan and buried him in the cave in the field of Makpela near Mamre, which Abraham had brought along with the field as a burial place from Ephron the Hittite. After burying his father, Joseph returned to Egypt, together with his brothers and all the others who had gone with him to bury his father. When Joseph's brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, What if Joseph holds a grudge against us and pays us back for all the wrongs we did to him? So they sent word to Joseph saying, Your father left these instructions before he died. This is what you are to say to Joseph. I ask you to forgive your brothers the sins and the wrongs they committed in treating you so badly. Now please forgive the sins of the servants of the god of your father. When their message came to him, Joseph wept. His brothers then came and threw themselves down before him. We are your slaves, they said. 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. So then don't be afraid. I will provide for you and your children. And he reassured them and spoke kindly to them. Joseph stayed in Egypt along with all his father's family. He lived a hundred and ten years and saw the third generation of Ephraim's children. Also the children of Machia son of Manasseh were placed at birth on Joseph's knees. 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, till the land he promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And Joseph made the Israelites 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.
SPEAKER_01And as you take your seats, do you want to take your Bible up again and open it to Genesis fifty, page fifty-six, if you've closed it? And look, we can see the end of the book. And with that open, let me uh pray for us. Dear God, may the words of my mouth and the meditation of all of our hearts be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer. Amen. Uh fifty-two years and two days ago, Francis Ford Coppler's The Godfather was released in cinemas. Please put your hand up if you have seen said film, The Godfather. For those who haven't got uh their hands up, this is gonna be a long sermon because it mainly involves me explaining the plot of The Godfather, parts one and two. We won't look at Godfather Part Three because that's an awful film. Um, but yeah, strap in is gonna be a long time. I am fulfilling the uh the male film fan cliche that was uh much parodied in Greta Gerwig's film Barbie. Anyone see the Barbie movie? Okay, you see them too. Um the reason why I mentioned The Godfather at the beginning of a sermon to conclude the book of Genesis is because I believe that if you watch The Godfather, you have a close understanding of the sociological situation at play in Genesis. Because The Godfather, originally it was a novel by Mario Puzzo, he helped with write the screenplay. The Godfather is a true patriarchy, it's about a Godfather, it is the rule of the fathers, the patriarchs, and of course, that's what we have in Genesis. From around Genesis 11 onwards, we have the stories of the patriarchs, and the role of those fathers in those families or as they grow into those tribes is very, very sociologically significant, much more so than the roles of fathers in the families that we're part of, because of course we are part of a secular democracy. Our governance is something that we all get to involve ourselves in. We vote. And aren't we all delighted with how that's going? But you see, the Godfather and the book of Genesis are both true patriarchies because they're about fathers and then about sons. No, I don't know what you make of that, but certainly that is what we find in both the book of Genesis and the Godfather. Now, I think the reason why I find uh the films of the Godfather so fascinating when applied to the book of Genesis is because things are resolved within the families and among the families and the relationships between families and groups. There is no real kind of appeal to the police, if you like, or to the state in any real sense. Things are worked out in these large family groups, and I suppose our families, whilst they are vitally important to us and have a hugely significant impact on our lives, our families, certainly in the West, are not the major institutions that they have been around the world throughout history and as they are in Genesis. Now there's a key phrase that has been appearing through the book of Genesis, which acts as a kind of chapter marker through the book. And we find it uh you can find one uh version of it uh in Genesis chapter 11. Can you turn back to Genesis chapter 11? And we're gonna see this key phrase that's gonna be repeated through the book, which reminds us that we are dealing with a true patriarchy, we're dealing with some fathers and we're telling their stories. Genesis chapter 11 and verse 10. This is the account of Shem's family line. So the writer of Genesis there is saying this next bit is about Shem and his family. Think of Shem as a father, now think of Shem as his family, and that's the next bit that we're gonna be looking at. Now it's nested because when we get to the next significant man in the story, it's gonna be Terah, verse 27. And it's exactly the same words. This is the account of Terah's family line, and Terah is the father of Abraham, and then if we keep flicking through, we're gonna get to Genesis chapter 25. Click forward again for me. Genesis chapter 25 and verse 12 is gonna say this is the account of the family line of Abraham's son, Ishmael. So they're saying this next bit is about Ishmael. Now he only gets a few verses because it's just a genealogy, it's just a list of names, it's just the family tree. But when we get to the next one, that's gonna involve loads more stories, the family stories, the family history, the important events which brought the family to be where they are, and that is in Genesis 25, verse 19. This is the account of the family line of Abraham's son Isaac, and then we can go forward to Genesis 37, and we can see our final chapter, if you like, because of course the chapter numbers that we have in the Bible aren't original, they just help us to find our places. But the final big piece of the story of Genesis is going to be Genesis 37 from verse 2. This is the account of Jacob's family line, and that's going to take us all the way through to chapter 50. And the reason why I think of the Godfather in that, okay, is because in these accounts, in these stories, it's about the progression of the narrative through one of the fathers to his heir. The next one in line. And so the Godfather is about Marlon Brando, Vito Corleone, passing on his mantle as the Don, the mafia boss of the Corbleone crime family. He is passing that down to not Sonny, played by James Kahn, not Fredo, played by uh Jim, what's his name? Doesn't matter, you can quiz me on it later. Uh, not Fredo, but Michael Al Pacino. It goes to Al Pacino. And then the first Godfather film is about the rise, or rather the fall, the descent into darkness and jealousy and bitterness and murder of Michael Corleone, Al Pacino. And we're watching as that story is unfolding. And so when you come to the book of Genesis, from about chapter 11 onwards, you are dealing with the father stories and nested inside each one are the next generation. So it's moving its way forward until the promise that came to Abraham will be fulfilled in Jesus Christ. And so the stories that we find in Genesis, the stories of these patriarchs and their relationships with their families, these are given to instruct us as to the shape of the story of Jesus, our salvation. So when we're reading the book of Genesis, we're not just reading some old history, we are reading the story of God's relationship with his people and how it was forming in our minds the narrative structure that we would come to delight in as Christians, which is the gospel of Jesus. This is the family story. Because Jesus is in the line of Abraham, and that when we get into the book of Exodus, how is God going to introduce himself to Moses? He's going to say, I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob. I am the God who is the one who reigns over heaven and earth, and yet I committed myself to a specific group of people. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and onward. I am their God and they are my people. And I have been unfolding my plan of salvation year after year after year. God's covenant with his people is unbreakable because it is God who will make sure that it happens. So when God makes his promises to Abraham, and as he continues those promises through the lives of Isaac and of Jacob, and we'll read here in Joseph's life, he will bring all of these promises to pass in Jesus. That all of this narrative is pushing us unrelentingly towards the person of Jesus Christ. And it is he who is the fulfillment of the book of Genesis. And unlike those Godfather films, it's got a very, very happy ending. Now, this particular passage in Genesis chapter 50, uh, forgive me uh for taking you on around about roots, but Genesis chapter 50, this particular passage is a favorite of many. Genesis chapter 50. In fact, I was texting a friend uh yesterday, he's a man in ministry. He said, What have you been up to? I said, I'm working on my Genesis 50 sermon. Immediately he came back, Genesis 50 20. Oh, such a glorious verse. And I wonder if you spotted it as we read. Uh Mark introduced our service with it, Genesis 50 20. In fact, probably every preacher who's been preaching this uh through this series has wanted this passage so that they get this verse, and it's Genesis 50 20 on page 57. So then, sorry, you intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. So at God's providence, God's sovereign control over all things, God's ability to work out his plan, even when everyone else is working out their antagonistic plan against him, that God is working his purposes out, that God is in control in every situation, and that for Joseph to be able to say it to his brothers at the end of Genesis as a summary statement of the life of Joseph is an incredible encouragement. Because you may have a story like Joseph's story. You may not. That's also okay, because the Joseph story, as we've said, is pointing us towards the Jesus story. But now, before we actually get stuck into that verse particularly, there is one point in this passage which made me stop and gasp and say, This really is just like the Godfather. And it was in the second passage uh that we had read, it was in verse 15. Verse 15, stop me in my tracks. Did it stop you? Verse 15. When Joseph's brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, What if Joseph holds a grudge against us and pays us back for all the wrongs we did to him? Joseph welcomed his brothers into Egypt seventeen years ago. Jacob was living in Egypt for seventeen years, and in that entire time Joseph did not wreak vengeance, retributive justice upon his brothers for seventeen years. But then Jacob dies, and the brothers say, Now's when he's gonna rip bring his vengeance against us. And that reminded me of the bit in Godfather Part 2 where Michael has been betrayed by Fredo, but Michael says to the guy who's gonna deal with Fredo, do not do anything with him until after my mother's death. Why? Why would Michael not do anything to Fredo whilst his mother is still living? Was kind of obvious, right? He doesn't want to bring grief to his mother. He doesn't want his mother to go through the pain of her son dying. So Michael is gonna hold back his vengeance until mummies died. But as soon as mummies died, now you can unleash fury upon these brothers. And that is what the brothers are thinking. Because in their minds they have Jacob loves Joseph. We know that from Genesis chapter 37 and the richly ornate robe, right? You remember that bit? Joseph and Jacob are united. There is love and respect and honor and unity between Joseph and Jacob. And we're fine with Jacob. We get on with Jacob. He's our father. We have a direct relationship with Jacob. And Joseph has a direct relationship with Jacob, but we don't have a relationship with Joseph. Joseph would hold back his rage in order to not bring his father to grief. But now our father has died, surely now. What does it say? Verse uh 15. What if Joseph holds a grudge against us and pays us back? What if Joseph for 17 years has been waiting for his father to die so that he might bring his judgment against his brothers? Now the only way that you can believe that someone could hold a grudge for 17 years is because you believe that you could hold a grudge for 17 years. Question is could you hold a grudge for 17 years? Would you be prepared to hold your tongue until such a time as someone else is off the scene so that you can now say what you really wanted to say? But you see, the brothers have got Joseph all wrong. And in fact, they put a rift, if you like, a disagreement between Joseph and Jacob that is not there. See, they have said that Joseph cares about Jacob, but he doesn't care about us. Jacob cared about us, but Joseph doesn't. So if we're just left with Joseph, then we're gonna die. And people do this with the father and the son. Now they don't usually do it in this way round, okay? It is not ordinary for people to believe that God the Father loves them, and that God the Son is just doing what his dad says, just keeping his father happy. That Jesus doesn't really love you, but he wants to do what his father wants to do, so he's prepared to go along with it and put up with you because that's what his father wants. But if his father wasn't around, Jesus would drop you like a stone. People often put it the other way around. They say, Jesus loves me, this I know, but the father, he really, I'm not sure. I've got a suspicion, I've got a niggling doubt that if Jesus was off the scene, the father would not love me. But if there was a unity between Jacob and Joseph, there is even more unity between the eternal father and the eternal son for your salvation. The father loves you, the son loves you, the spirit loves you, and the father sent the son in the power of the spirit to save you. Refuse the doubts that say maybe the father doesn't care about me. Refuse the doubts that say maybe the son doesn't care about me. Recognize that our salvation is secure because the will of God is one. The father sends the son, the son delights to come to rescue his people. And also, there's no time thing on this, right? So often we can believe uh, well, I'm saved now, right? Uh, but come judgment day, it's a bit up in the air. I'm not sure what's going to happen then. I might not get through then. See, I'm part of the church now, and I I love Jesus, and I'm part of the but but when it comes to judgment, maybe they're operating on a different system at that stage. Well, the eternal plan of the Father through the Son in the power of the Spirit is to rescue you. It is by grace you have been saved. Your salvation is secure, you do not need to doubt that either the father or the son or the spirit would drop you like a stone if it wasn't for those other two. And so it is in that context that Joseph has to reassure his brothers. That Joseph has to say, guys, I have not been holding on to a grudge for 17 years. I am not like Michael Colleone. I am patient, I forbear with you, and I had already forgiven you for what you did. And I know you intended it for evil. I know you did it as the confession says, by your own deliberate choice, or sorry, own deliberate fault. But this is about my forgiveness, not about your guilt. You are guilty, of course. But what you intended for evil, what you intended to harm, God intended for good. The salvation of many. And so that's what we have uh here in our final section. This single verse that sums up, if you like, the the story of Joseph. The tragic and yet glorious comic story of Joseph. Now, I actually don't believe that chapter 50 is focused on verse 20. I think verse 20 is there as a summary of what's been happening, but this concept of God's providential care, his sovereign care in all the circumstances of our lives, was actually what God was working out in Genesis chapter 45. Let's just remind ourselves of what 45 says. So go back just a couple of pages, verse 40 uh, chapter 45. Uh, we'll read from verse 4. Then Joseph said to his brothers, Come close to me. When they had done so, he said, I am your brother Joseph, the one you sold into Egypt, 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. For two years now there has been famine in the land, and for the next five years there'll be no ploughing and reaping, but God sent me ahead of you to preserve you for a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance. So then, verse 8, it was not you who sent me here, but God. What you intended for harm, God intended for good. And this is this is the big thing to get your head around, okay? But you can get your head around it very easily with a couple of other film references, you'll be delighted to know. So in the Dark Knight, okay, The Dark Knight, that's the second of Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy, I believe it was released in 2008. Heath Ledger, he's playing the part of the Joker, that's Batman's big baddie. He finds himself in a prison. He's been arrested, he's been caught by the Gotham City Police Department, and he is in custody. But after a few hours in custody, they realized he meant to get caught. It was all part of his plan. They thought they were working against his plan, but he was working out his plan, knowing that they would try and arrest him and they would put him into the Gotham City jail, and from there he would then be able to execute the next step of his plan. Exactly the same thing happens in the Avengers film, in which Tom Hiddleston, playing the part of Loki, a Greek, uh, sorry, a Norse god uh who's a trickster, gets himself caught into the great big shield spaceship thing, and the Avengers suddenly click and they go, he meant it to happen. But in both those cases, we're talking about billets. In this situation, we're talking about God. And Joseph says of God in the life of Joseph that God has worked out his good intentions. We just thought about the Father and the Son and the Spirit desiring salvation. Think about the Father and the Son and the Spirit having good intentions for you. Such that even those who seek to cause you harm, even when you're looking to make things worse yourself, God is working out his good purposes, his good intentions. And to steal a line from a Christian brother, his name's Rico Tyson, worked together with him for a long time. He says, You've got to be pretty powerful to have your enemies do your bidding when they think they are working against you. But this is the nature of our God. Here in Genesis chapter 50, verse 20. But also as we see fulfilled, and as we start to close, we're going to have a look uh at two passages in the New Testament. Could you turn with me to Acts chapter 2? So, Acts, uh, let's just locate that in the story. Jesus has come, he's been incarnated, he has been uh conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, been crucified, died, and was buried, descended to the dead. On the third day he rose again, he ascended into heaven. He is seated at the right hand of the Father. At that point, when Christ is seated at the right hand of the Father, his church begins to share the gospel in a fresh and delightfully completed way. And so, verse 22, uh, Peter, one of the apostles, says in Acts chapter 2, verse 22, fellow Israelites, listen to this. Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know. This man was handed over to you by God's deliberate plan and foreknowledge, and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to a cross. The death of Jesus is being worked out by God for good, even as the Jews and the Romans are working out their evil plan. And it's not just that Joseph points forward to Jesus, but that this message of God's sovereign goodness in the gospel of Jesus we can also see in regard to our own lives. And can you turn for our final verse to Romans chapter 8? It's on page 1135. And here's the Apostle Paul writing uh possibly the most glorious chapter in all of the scriptures, and verse 28, Paul says this to the church in Rome, and we are in the same period of God's history as they were, so he's saying it to us directly. And we know that in all things, Romans 8 verse 28, God works for the good of those who love him who have been called according to his purpose. When you read the the stories of Genesis, uh there's a lot of births and marriages and deaths. It's kind of how we we stage these things. Uh there's people getting involved in big fights, there's people falling out with each other, there are people moving a long way. I don't know what you're going through in your life at the moment. Births, marriages, deaths. What's next on the horizon for you? What's the family situation like? What's the financial situation like? What's the health situation like? And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. Jesus is Lord. He reigns on high. He is working out his purposes, even in the difficult things of our lives. God has good intentions, and nothing can stop him bringing them about. Let's pray. That you are the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob, that in your sovereign grace you have committed yourself to a people. And that we as your church are the same people. As the good news of Jesus goes forwards as well as backwards. We thank you that in Christ we find your good purposes, and we know that we will be safe, and that we know that we are secure because you love us. We pray in his name. Amen.