WEBVTT 00:00:00.959 --> 00:00:02.160 Good morning, church. 00:00:04.400 --> 00:00:08.720 Scripture reading for today is Genesis 37, 1 through 11. 00:00:09.279 --> 00:00:13.679 Jacob lived in the land of his father's sojournings in the land of Canaan. 00:00:13.839 --> 00:00:16.480 These are the generations of J of Jacob. 00:00:17.359 --> 00:00:21.600 Joseph being seventeen years old and pasturing the flock with his brothers. 00:00:21.839 --> 00:00:26.320 He was a boy with the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father's wives. 00:00:26.559 --> 00:00:30.239 And Joseph brought a bad report of them to their father. 00:00:30.879 --> 00:00:39.679 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 colours. 00:00:39.920 --> 00:00:47.520 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. 00:00:48.479 --> 00:00:53.359 Now Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him even more. 00:00:53.520 --> 00:00:56.159 He said to them, Hear this dream that I have dreamed. 00:00:56.320 --> 00:01:04.799 Behold, we were bending we are binding sheep sheaves in the field, and behold, my sheep arose and stood upright. 00:01:04.959 --> 00:01:09.439 And behold, your sheaves gathered around it and bowed down to my sheaf. 00:01:09.840 --> 00:01:13.120 His brothers said to him, Are you indeed to reign over us? 00:01:13.280 --> 00:01:15.519 Or are you indeed to rule over us? 00:01:15.840 --> 00:01:19.760 So they hated him even more for his dreams and for his words. 00:01:20.400 --> 00:01:25.760 Then he dreamed another dream and told it to his brothers, and said, Behold, I have dreamed another dream. 00:01:25.920 --> 00:01:30.480 Behold, the sun, the moon, and eleven stars were bowing down to me. 00:01:30.719 --> 00:01:36.959 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? 00:01:37.040 --> 00:01:41.920 Shall I and your mother and your brothers indeed come to bow ourselves to the ground before you? 00:01:42.239 --> 00:01:46.879 And his brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the sayings in his mind. 00:01:47.120 --> 00:01:48.159 This is the word of the Lord. 00:01:48.319 --> 00:01:49.519 Please be seated. 00:01:55.359 --> 00:01:56.879 Thanks for joining us this morning. 00:01:56.959 --> 00:01:58.079 My name is James Rathman. 00:01:58.239 --> 00:02:00.400 I'm the pastor here at Redemption Church. 00:02:00.560 --> 00:02:02.319 I'm wait a minute. 00:02:04.319 --> 00:02:06.560 I knew I brought this for some reason. 00:02:06.799 --> 00:02:08.319 Hey, how's that? 00:02:09.599 --> 00:02:11.599 I was just introducing myself. 00:02:14.080 --> 00:02:19.520 I'm excited for this morning because we are beginning the story of Joseph. 00:02:19.680 --> 00:02:22.240 And this will take us through to the end of Genesis. 00:02:22.400 --> 00:02:28.879 Genesis has this strange structure where it starts out and it's the description of everything, the creation of the whole world. 00:02:28.960 --> 00:02:32.000 It's this incredible scale that the story begins with. 00:02:32.159 --> 00:02:37.280 And then it goes down to one family, and then we see the family expand and grow. 00:02:37.439 --> 00:02:43.840 And then it becomes this huge chunk at the end that's just one son's story. 00:02:44.879 --> 00:03:02.960 It's an amazing structure, but it gives us this detailed look at the way all the different scales that God is interacting with his creation at, and all of the different levels in which God has dimin' God is demonstrating his love within the stories that we live. 00:03:03.120 --> 00:03:06.400 And so we get to see that so clearly in Joseph's story. 00:03:06.560 --> 00:03:08.240 It's an interesting story. 00:03:08.479 --> 00:03:20.080 It is full of intrigue and near misses and moral failures and moral excellencies, and ultimately the salvation of an entire people. 00:03:20.240 --> 00:03:22.400 It's an amazing, amazing story. 00:03:22.560 --> 00:03:24.479 So I'm excited to begin it this morning. 00:03:24.639 --> 00:03:31.840 It begins with a look at a quote that Joseph gets in some dreams that Joseph has. 00:03:33.919 --> 00:03:35.439 That's where the story begins. 00:03:35.599 --> 00:03:39.039 So let's pray, and we'll begin in the story of Joseph. 00:03:39.199 --> 00:03:48.240 Holy Father, we thank you for the intimate details with which you move in our lives. 00:03:49.360 --> 00:03:55.599 We thank you that we can see in your scripture and the very way that you communicate yourself to us in your word. 00:03:56.080 --> 00:04:04.879 A trust that you have the big picture of the universe in your hands and you are intimately involved in the details of our lives. 00:04:05.199 --> 00:04:25.519 Lord, teach our hearts to trust you in all of those places, that we might have endurance and patience with joy to move forward in the stories that you have written for us, even amidst the acute pain that they might bring and the dysfunction that we must participate in. 00:04:26.000 --> 00:04:35.279 Lord, we pray for your sovereign mercy and care, and that we might be encouraged by Joseph and his story, which points to you and your son. 00:04:35.519 --> 00:04:37.040 We lift this up in Jesus' name. 00:04:37.279 --> 00:04:37.920 Amen. 00:04:40.160 --> 00:04:49.920 So last time we were in Genesis, we, which was a couple of weeks ago now, but we saw Jacob finally returned to Bethel. 00:04:50.079 --> 00:04:55.279 And Bethel is this place of promise for Jacob in his story. 00:04:55.519 --> 00:05:00.399 And so when he finally returns to Bethel, it has this real homecoming sense about it. 00:05:00.639 --> 00:05:06.079 But the homecoming does not allow Jacob to emotionally settle in any way. 00:05:06.240 --> 00:05:12.000 In fact, he's coming up after this homecoming on the most difficult season of his life. 00:05:12.399 --> 00:05:15.759 And we see it start to happen almost immediately. 00:05:15.920 --> 00:05:34.000 When Jacob arrives in Bethel, uh a short while later, his favorite wife, which is what I call my wife, is giving birth to what will be the youngest of the 12 sons of Israel. 00:05:34.240 --> 00:05:36.399 Jacob's name was changed to Israel by God. 00:05:36.560 --> 00:05:42.240 So I'll kind of go back and forth a bit between Jacob and Israel, but just know those are the same person. 00:05:43.279 --> 00:05:47.279 So Jacob uh excuse me. 00:05:50.720 --> 00:05:55.920 His wife, Rachel, is giving birth to their youngest son, Benjamin. 00:05:56.240 --> 00:05:58.560 And while she's giving birth, Rachel dies. 00:05:58.959 --> 00:06:07.680 And so his beloved wife, whom he had spent 14 years serving a terrible father-in-law in order to marry, uh dies in childbirth. 00:06:07.759 --> 00:06:09.920 And so it's this incredible loss for Jacob. 00:06:10.160 --> 00:06:18.000 Now, around this same season of life, Jacob's oldest son, Reuben, sleeps with one of his other wives. 00:06:18.240 --> 00:06:24.480 Sleeps with one of Jacob's other wives, the mother of Reuben's brothers, Dan and Nophthaly. 00:06:24.639 --> 00:06:32.720 You know, there's uh terrible family dynamics are taking place within the chosen family. 00:06:32.879 --> 00:06:47.920 And we had seen in the stories just before this that the um abdication of Jacob's responsibility to care for his daughter Dinah resulted in her being uh taken advantage of by a neighboring tribe. 00:06:48.000 --> 00:06:50.639 And then that, hey, thank you. 00:06:50.800 --> 00:06:51.839 Look at that. 00:06:52.160 --> 00:06:52.959 Thanks, Brandon. 00:06:53.040 --> 00:06:54.079 Everybody give Brandon hand? 00:06:58.160 --> 00:06:59.360 That is awesome. 00:06:59.600 --> 00:07:00.560 Um, what is that called? 00:07:00.639 --> 00:07:02.480 I'm gonna have to get that recipe. 00:07:02.959 --> 00:07:12.079 The uh he uh um so there's this that there's this terrible dysfunction, and they end up uh murdering an entire nation of people before this. 00:07:12.240 --> 00:07:15.120 So dysfunction is raging within the chosen family. 00:07:15.279 --> 00:07:20.639 And what we're meant to see in this is where we're putting our uh priority in this story. 00:07:20.800 --> 00:07:25.600 The priority rests on that word chosen. 00:07:26.160 --> 00:07:39.680 It is not that the family, because of their own righteousness, deserves the faithfulness of the Lord, but it is that they are chosen, that God has chosen to set his love upon them. 00:07:39.920 --> 00:08:06.560 And we'll see in the story of Joseph that this choice of the Lord does not just extend to the family itself, but also within the family, that the choice of the Lord becomes even more particular to one son, to Joseph, whom he chooses to use in this very particular way to accomplish the salvation and rescue of the whole family. 00:08:06.720 --> 00:08:13.519 It is a pattern that becomes very important in Scripture that we see laid out clearly here in the story of Joseph. 00:08:13.920 --> 00:08:23.439 So in Genesis 37, verses one through the beginning of verse 2, says, So Jacob lived in the land of his father's sojournings, in the land of Canaan. 00:08:23.759 --> 00:08:26.480 These are the generations of Jacob. 00:08:27.199 --> 00:08:32.240 Now, one last refresher before we get into the meat of the text. 00:08:33.120 --> 00:08:40.960 The promise that we have been tracing since Abraham, which is like three years ago in our time. 00:08:41.360 --> 00:08:43.039 It was much longer for them. 00:08:43.279 --> 00:08:51.200 But the promise that we have been tracing is a promise from God to Abraham of land and offspring. 00:08:52.240 --> 00:09:02.320 And we've seen that Abraham was not able to receive the offspring, but then finally receives the birth of his son Isaac, and there's this tension in that relationship there. 00:09:02.559 --> 00:09:05.840 Isaac gets kind of a sweet deal, he's basically fine. 00:09:06.080 --> 00:09:19.200 And but then Isaac has Jacob and Esau, and those sons end up divided against one another, and both are expelled from the land for the majority of their lives. 00:09:19.440 --> 00:09:27.360 And so we see, we haven't been able to see come together the realization of this promise for offspring and for land. 00:09:27.519 --> 00:09:35.039 But this story begins, and Jacob is in the land of Canaan, and he has 12 sons. 00:09:35.360 --> 00:09:37.039 That's not bad. 00:09:37.919 --> 00:09:44.799 This is a point in the story where you would think there would be a refrain, and we would see, like, oh, see, look at the faithfulness of God. 00:09:44.960 --> 00:09:46.159 We're done now. 00:09:46.399 --> 00:09:50.960 We're in the land of promise, and Jacob's got 12 sons. 00:09:51.120 --> 00:09:54.159 So we're gonna be on a roll here pretty soon. 00:09:54.799 --> 00:09:57.120 But the family falls apart. 00:09:57.679 --> 00:10:00.159 Not because of some external invader. 00:10:00.399 --> 00:10:03.120 The family falls apart internally. 00:10:03.600 --> 00:10:15.039 It is the dysfunction of the chosen family itself that that uh pulls apart what this hopeful moment where we think we're seeing the realization of the promises of God for this family. 00:10:15.279 --> 00:10:18.639 Instead, it just gets torn apart. 00:10:20.000 --> 00:10:25.039 So this is the story of a dysfunctional family. 00:10:25.759 --> 00:10:32.799 One way to phrase the story of Joseph is, and now the story of the chosen family who lost everything. 00:10:33.519 --> 00:10:38.720 And the one son who had no choice but to keep them all together. 00:10:41.840 --> 00:10:43.679 Genesis 37, 2. 00:10:43.840 --> 00:10:45.279 Let's hear the story. 00:10:45.759 --> 00:10:51.679 Joseph, being 17 years old, was pasturing the flock with his brothers. 00:10:52.000 --> 00:10:58.879 He was a boy with the sons of Billah and Zilpah, his father's wives, that's Billah and Zilpah. 00:10:59.039 --> 00:11:03.279 And Joseph brought a bad report of them to their father. 00:11:04.960 --> 00:11:10.960 Okay, so Joseph's story is a map of different types of dysfunction that he'll move through. 00:11:11.039 --> 00:11:16.799 We see familial dysfunction, we see moral dysfunction, organizational dysfunction. 00:11:18.080 --> 00:11:21.600 And the story begins with family dysfunction. 00:11:21.679 --> 00:11:31.679 Now there's a way of reading the Bible, which is to see that this is the whole story is a story of a dysfunctional family. 00:11:32.080 --> 00:11:34.159 That is the narrative of scripture. 00:11:34.320 --> 00:11:38.720 We see the first family, Adam and Eve, fall apart and turn against one another. 00:11:38.960 --> 00:11:43.840 We see their first sons, Cain and Abel, fall apart and turn against one another. 00:11:44.080 --> 00:11:49.039 We see the disintegration of Jacob and Esau as they turn against one another. 00:11:49.279 --> 00:11:56.879 And here in the twelve sons of Jacob, we will see this family fracture and fall apart. 00:11:57.440 --> 00:11:59.919 This is meant to show us a pattern. 00:12:00.080 --> 00:12:07.200 You know, there's a sense in which the whole pattern of humanity was meant to be the pattern of a family. 00:12:07.519 --> 00:12:10.080 We all come from Adam and Eve. 00:12:10.240 --> 00:12:14.720 There is a relatedness and a relationship that we all ought to be participating in. 00:12:14.879 --> 00:12:29.679 But we see that not only is humanity not a proper pattern of what family ought to be, but even families themselves are not a proper pattern of what family is supposed to be. 00:12:30.320 --> 00:12:49.039 And it shows us that our estrangement from God places an entropy in the world, in which we see it as ordinary for families to drift apart from one another, turn on one another, and devour one another. 00:12:49.279 --> 00:12:59.679 That there is an entropy in the world that stems from our distance from God, that manifests in all sorts of familial dysfunction. 00:13:01.360 --> 00:13:03.279 Some of you don't believe me. 00:13:03.679 --> 00:13:05.120 I'm just kidding. 00:13:05.440 --> 00:13:07.200 All of you believe me. 00:13:09.679 --> 00:13:25.600 So as we follow this dysfunction in the story of Joseph's life, what we should ask is, what could Joseph have done to prevent this dysfunction from taking place? 00:13:25.759 --> 00:13:28.720 I'm smiling because these questions are meant to set you up for failure. 00:13:29.279 --> 00:13:32.799 What could Joseph have done to prevent this dysfunction from taking place? 00:13:32.960 --> 00:13:34.240 We'll ask that question. 00:13:34.399 --> 00:13:45.039 And then we'll also ask the question: how does God, how does following God prevent us from experiencing familial dysfunction? 00:13:46.320 --> 00:13:48.080 Those are setups. 00:13:49.840 --> 00:13:57.279 So Joseph is 17 years old, and he's pasturing the flock with four of his brothers, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher. 00:13:57.519 --> 00:14:00.639 These are the sons of his father's concubines. 00:14:00.799 --> 00:14:09.519 They're kind of uh peripheral characters that have proved to be um uh they'll they'll prove to be bad just in this verse. 00:14:09.840 --> 00:14:19.440 So he's with them, and the text says uh in uh verse 2, he was a boy with the sons of Billah and Zilpa. 00:14:19.679 --> 00:14:21.200 And that can also mean servant. 00:14:21.360 --> 00:14:23.519 So he's there in just this servant role. 00:14:23.600 --> 00:14:25.200 He's considerably younger than them. 00:14:25.360 --> 00:14:37.039 He's the second youngest in the family, after uh just before Benjamin, and he's with these four sons that are kind of peripheral sons, as their servant. 00:14:38.399 --> 00:14:44.240 And what happens next is Joseph brought a bad report of them to their father. 00:14:44.559 --> 00:14:46.879 That's all the details we're given. 00:14:48.080 --> 00:14:51.279 He brings a bad report of them to their father. 00:14:52.159 --> 00:14:56.399 Now, it is likely that they did something bad. 00:14:57.279 --> 00:15:04.720 And it was right for Joseph to bring this bad report of these four brothers to their father. 00:15:04.879 --> 00:15:06.879 We don't know what the report was. 00:15:07.440 --> 00:15:10.399 Stealing company time when they should have been watching the sheep. 00:15:10.639 --> 00:15:15.919 And instead they were, I don't know, making long distance phone calls. 00:15:18.960 --> 00:15:23.360 I read about ordin I read about regular office jobs before to prepare for this. 00:15:23.840 --> 00:15:31.279 When 1970s manual of things to watch out for when you're managing your team. 00:15:37.679 --> 00:15:39.360 A dynamic forms. 00:15:40.399 --> 00:15:45.200 We can see this spark, this little spark in the family. 00:15:45.440 --> 00:15:53.279 And the dynamic is there's something about this relationship between Joseph, his brothers, and their father. 00:15:54.240 --> 00:15:58.799 And right now, Joseph is is uh going straight to the father. 00:15:59.519 --> 00:16:04.639 Now, this becomes a spark, which eventually becomes a flame that tears apart the whole family. 00:16:04.799 --> 00:16:11.679 So the question is, this is our questions, what should Joseph have done to prevent this dysfunction from taking place? 00:16:11.919 --> 00:16:15.759 Should he have not reported their wrongdoing to their father? 00:16:17.120 --> 00:16:33.840 Well, their father is the one who's ultimately responsible for these sheep and responsible for what happens here, and he ought to be told of the wrongdoing that's taking place among his brothers. 00:16:34.399 --> 00:16:38.639 The Bible offers no commentary on what Joseph does here. 00:16:39.600 --> 00:16:43.200 I think Joseph was not in the wrong. 00:16:45.279 --> 00:16:47.519 So this spark happens. 00:16:48.080 --> 00:16:59.679 We're establishing a dynamic where it seems to be kind of Joseph is triangulated with his father in such a way that it pushes out his other brothers. 00:17:00.720 --> 00:17:02.559 Genesis 37, 3 through 4. 00:17:02.799 --> 00:17:12.799 Now, Israel loved Joseph more than any of his other sons, because he was the son of his old age, and he made him a robe of many colors. 00:17:12.960 --> 00:17:21.519 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. 00:17:23.039 --> 00:17:38.000 Now, we see that this, what was evident in the verse before, of just a relational dynamic which excluded the brothers, was actually legitimately taking place in Israel's heart. 00:17:38.640 --> 00:17:44.000 Israel showed a clear favoritism to Joseph. 00:17:44.720 --> 00:17:52.480 And his other brothers hated Joseph because of it and could not speak peacefully to him. 00:17:52.720 --> 00:18:00.960 They could have no peace with Joseph because of the favoritism that was shown to him by their father. 00:18:01.119 --> 00:18:14.720 Now it's strange that Jacob would have shown such favoritism to one of his sons, because he himself had been the victim of that very dynamic from his own father Isaac. 00:18:15.039 --> 00:18:26.960 You may remember that Isaac, when he was going to give the blessing, he had known that the Lord had told him to give the blessing to the younger son, who was Jacob. 00:18:27.759 --> 00:18:30.240 But Isaac did not love Jacob. 00:18:30.400 --> 00:18:33.759 Isaac loved his other son, Esau. 00:18:34.160 --> 00:18:42.559 And so Isaac sought to, against the Lord's command, bless the son whom he favored, who was Esau. 00:18:42.799 --> 00:18:50.720 And so when Jacob cunningly receives the blessing from Isaac, Isaac thinks he's blessing Jacob. 00:18:50.960 --> 00:18:53.119 Nope, there's a lot here. 00:18:54.799 --> 00:18:57.759 Isaac thinks he's blessing Esau. 00:18:58.640 --> 00:19:04.880 The point is that Jacob knew exactly what it was like to be the son who was not favored. 00:19:05.920 --> 00:19:15.039 And he knew that that experience of that created a dynamic of rivalry between the children. 00:19:15.599 --> 00:19:30.559 And that dynamic of rivalry meant that both Esau and Jacob would be expelled from the promised land and that the family would, the family of promise, the chosen family, would disintegrate. 00:19:31.519 --> 00:19:38.799 And yet here is Jacob doing this very same thing with his own children. 00:19:39.039 --> 00:19:40.559 Now the coat. 00:20:38.640 --> 00:20:43.599 What should Joseph have done to prevent this dysfunction? 00:20:46.079 --> 00:20:53.200 Well, he could have not been the child of Jacob's old age. 00:20:53.519 --> 00:20:56.480 You know, when you're in this family, families have their things. 00:20:57.039 --> 00:21:14.480 And when Abraham's story is the providence of God, you know, his grandpa, the providence of God saw that I received Isaac, this child, in my old age. 00:21:14.640 --> 00:21:17.279 And that becomes kind of a family thing. 00:21:18.319 --> 00:21:24.079 And so he's the child of Jacob's old age, and there's a particular love for that. 00:21:25.279 --> 00:21:28.000 Joseph shouldn't have been born then. 00:21:28.799 --> 00:21:31.279 He could have done that to prevent the dysfunction. 00:21:31.519 --> 00:21:42.880 Likewise, Joseph could have been born to Leah, one of Jacob's least favorite wives, instead of being born to Rachel, Jacob's favorite wife. 00:21:43.920 --> 00:21:48.559 That would have helped some of this dysfunction if Joseph had only done that. 00:21:49.119 --> 00:21:52.319 Joseph could have not been the most loved by his father. 00:21:52.480 --> 00:21:54.720 He could have not worn the coat. 00:21:56.480 --> 00:21:59.279 Just denied the gift, denied the marker. 00:22:00.160 --> 00:22:05.599 Perhaps that would have prevented some of this familial dysfunction. 00:22:07.440 --> 00:22:24.880 But we see that Joseph had pitted himself against four of his brothers by reporting their wrongdoing to their father, and now the love that had been shown from Jacob to Joseph is splitting the family further. 00:22:25.200 --> 00:22:28.640 This spark is being added to the flame. 00:22:28.880 --> 00:22:31.039 And it's starting to smolder. 00:22:33.359 --> 00:22:43.920 The father's love, which was meant to hold the family together, is now being the very thing that drives the family apart. 00:22:48.480 --> 00:22:50.960 What should Joseph have done to prevent that? 00:22:51.839 --> 00:22:53.839 Genesis 37, 5 through 7. 00:22:53.920 --> 00:22:55.839 Now Joseph has some dreams. 00:22:56.480 --> 00:22:58.880 Now Joseph had a dream, I told you. 00:22:59.039 --> 00:23:03.119 And when he told it to his brothers, they hated him even more. 00:23:03.599 --> 00:23:04.559 That's verse 5. 00:23:04.640 --> 00:23:05.359 It's not up there. 00:23:05.599 --> 00:23:06.799 Now I'll join up there. 00:23:06.960 --> 00:23:10.480 He said to them, Hear this dream that I have dreamed. 00:23:12.000 --> 00:23:18.160 Behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and behold, my sheaf arose and stood upright. 00:23:18.400 --> 00:23:24.480 And behold, your sheaves gathered around it and bowed down to my sheaf. 00:23:25.440 --> 00:23:29.599 You cut down some wheat, you bind it together, that's a sheaf. 00:23:30.640 --> 00:23:33.519 So they're long sort of strands. 00:23:35.680 --> 00:23:38.960 You don't have to be Sigmund Freud to interpret this dream. 00:23:39.680 --> 00:23:44.079 Your sheaves, my sheaf stands up, pretty cool thing for a sheaf to do. 00:23:44.240 --> 00:23:47.440 Yours bow down, ordinary thing for a sheaf to do. 00:23:47.599 --> 00:23:52.240 And they're bowing down around me, around my chief. 00:23:54.720 --> 00:24:06.319 So this son who could not be spoken peacefully about shares his dream, and his dream is I will be the center of the family which you all bow down to. 00:24:07.440 --> 00:24:18.000 And the other sons are saying, don't you see that all of the dysfunction we experience is because you're already treated like that? 00:24:18.799 --> 00:24:26.559 That if we're going to bring any stability to this family, it will be by doing all we can to avoid that pattern. 00:24:28.319 --> 00:24:33.039 Avoid the pattern of you being favorited all the time. 00:24:34.480 --> 00:24:37.839 Because we were talking to Dan, Nafhtali, Gad, Asher. 00:24:38.319 --> 00:24:39.920 What they did wasn't that bad. 00:24:40.079 --> 00:24:41.279 Aren't we brothers? 00:24:41.519 --> 00:24:44.000 Why you always got to keep bringing dad into this? 00:24:47.039 --> 00:24:50.400 He's reinforcing the very dynamic that they hate. 00:24:50.720 --> 00:24:53.759 And he's saying this will be this, this will be the structure. 00:24:53.920 --> 00:24:57.519 So they say, are you indeed to reign over us? 00:24:57.680 --> 00:24:59.759 Are you indeed to rule over us? 00:24:59.920 --> 00:25:05.599 So they hated him even more for his dreams and for his words. 00:25:05.759 --> 00:25:09.440 Now the the flame is now starting to roar. 00:25:10.640 --> 00:25:16.079 And Joseph is standing completely outside of his brothers at this point. 00:25:16.240 --> 00:25:28.480 I don't know what he could do to uh reintrust himself to them or to restore that level of uh brokenness in their relationship. 00:25:29.279 --> 00:25:31.279 Well, Joseph has another dream. 00:25:31.519 --> 00:25:32.799 Genesis 37, 9. 00:25:32.880 --> 00:25:39.119 Then he dreamed another dream and told it to his brothers and said, Behold, I have dreamed another dream. 00:25:39.440 --> 00:25:40.720 They groaned. 00:25:41.759 --> 00:25:47.359 That's not in the text, but in the original language. 00:25:51.200 --> 00:25:52.880 Behold, I have dreamed another dream. 00:25:53.039 --> 00:25:58.160 Behold, the sun, the moon, and eleven stars were bowing down to me. 00:25:58.319 --> 00:26:00.880 And Asher goes, one, two, three, four, five, six, eleven. 00:26:01.039 --> 00:26:01.119 What? 00:26:01.200 --> 00:26:02.960 That's I think it's talking about us. 00:26:09.680 --> 00:26:13.920 Now, we see the pattern is cosmic. 00:26:14.000 --> 00:26:17.200 You know, it's a masculine, a feminine, and then the siblings. 00:26:17.279 --> 00:26:20.000 And they're bowing down to Joseph. 00:26:20.240 --> 00:26:25.759 You know, the one thing that's not symbolic in this dream is Joseph himself. 00:26:26.000 --> 00:26:28.559 There's one thing that's explicit going on here. 00:26:28.880 --> 00:26:31.359 You will bow to me. 00:26:33.200 --> 00:26:37.920 This is the order that will take place. 00:26:39.920 --> 00:26:48.160 In 37, 10, 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? 00:26:48.480 --> 00:26:56.240 Shall I and your mother and your brothers indeed come to bow ourselves to the ground before you? 00:26:58.160 --> 00:27:04.079 Joseph, after the first dream, stood completely isolated from his brothers. 00:27:04.960 --> 00:27:10.559 Joseph, after the second dream, is now isolated from his mother and father as well. 00:27:10.720 --> 00:27:16.640 Joseph stands utterly alone within his own family. 00:27:22.160 --> 00:27:24.000 Joseph is the problem. 00:27:25.759 --> 00:27:28.720 He's the root of all the dysfunction. 00:27:29.920 --> 00:27:32.559 Already he's holding his family together. 00:27:36.480 --> 00:27:39.279 So should Joseph not have shared these dreams? 00:27:41.279 --> 00:27:47.680 Should he at least, after the reaction to the first dream, not have shared the second dream? 00:27:48.720 --> 00:27:55.119 What should Joseph have done to prevent this dysfunction in his family? 00:27:55.680 --> 00:28:00.720 And to prevent the family being torn apart by the very things that he's saying. 00:28:02.559 --> 00:28:08.000 Let's give a brief aside on dreams, which is almost what I named the sermon. 00:28:08.640 --> 00:28:11.279 A brief aside on dreams, good album name, actually. 00:28:11.440 --> 00:28:14.799 The dreams of Joseph are not his own. 00:28:16.000 --> 00:28:19.039 These are given to him by God. 00:28:20.640 --> 00:28:27.039 And we see this clearly as the narrative unfolds, because these very things that Joseph dreams, they happen. 00:28:27.920 --> 00:28:34.880 This becomes the resolution of the story as his brothers gather around before him to bow down. 00:28:37.680 --> 00:28:42.240 These are a clear calling on Joseph's life. 00:28:42.559 --> 00:28:48.400 And the text gives us a bit of a class in dream interpretation. 00:28:48.720 --> 00:28:56.319 Because dream interpretation becomes a pretty important part of Joseph's life, as we'll see later on. 00:28:57.119 --> 00:29:05.279 And one of the most critical moments in Joseph's story is when he is called before Pharaoh to interpret two of Pharaoh's dreams. 00:29:05.519 --> 00:29:13.359 Pharaoh has these dreams, one involving sheefs, one involving cows, that lead to some great economic planning on Joseph's part. 00:29:14.240 --> 00:29:26.400 But Joseph tells us there, Pharaoh, because you had two dreams in the same pattern, it means that God is showing you something that is fixed. 00:29:27.279 --> 00:29:31.440 God is not showing you an option of something that may happen. 00:29:31.680 --> 00:29:36.400 Because you have two dreams in the same pattern, God is showing you something that is absolutely fixed. 00:29:36.480 --> 00:29:38.720 It is the fixed will of God. 00:29:39.440 --> 00:29:46.480 So Joseph has this self-understanding of the way that dreams work for the Lord. 00:29:48.079 --> 00:30:00.319 And Joseph has a conception that these two dreams are something that the Lord will absolutely do. 00:30:02.480 --> 00:30:09.920 So when Joseph shares them, he is not just sharing something he hopes to see happen. 00:30:10.240 --> 00:30:12.799 He might hope to see it happen. 00:30:13.200 --> 00:30:16.079 But that's not the center of what he's sharing. 00:30:17.599 --> 00:30:25.119 He's not sharing a possibility, a possible contingency that may unfold in their lives. 00:30:25.359 --> 00:30:29.359 He is sharing something that will absolutely happen. 00:30:29.599 --> 00:30:38.960 And Joseph, think of the, we see Joseph act so wisely throughout this story. 00:30:39.359 --> 00:30:41.759 Act with incredible wisdom. 00:30:42.079 --> 00:30:59.839 Think of the amount of foolishness we would have to apply to Joseph to assume that he doesn't know that sharing this message from God will bring a deep splintering to his family, which he will take the brunt of. 00:31:01.359 --> 00:31:05.599 Like he would have to be like a real bumbling fool. 00:31:06.240 --> 00:31:08.480 Hey guys, I had another dream. 00:31:10.000 --> 00:31:14.880 I don't think that's just not the character that we see in Joseph. 00:31:16.720 --> 00:31:27.279 Joseph is sharing the reality of God's sovereign choice to use him in particular. 00:31:28.160 --> 00:31:30.960 And he will use him in such a way, just look at the pattern. 00:31:31.039 --> 00:31:33.119 They gather around and they bow down. 00:31:33.279 --> 00:31:34.480 Do you know what that is? 00:31:34.720 --> 00:31:36.880 That's a pattern of unity. 00:31:38.240 --> 00:31:41.119 The family will be united. 00:31:42.720 --> 00:31:50.480 This family of absolute dysfunction will find unity by the work of God in the life of Joseph. 00:31:53.599 --> 00:32:04.480 So the way that Joseph's sharing of his dreams, it is a flame now, and the family is engulfed in this fire, and there's a clearly divided reception. 00:32:05.359 --> 00:32:13.920 In verse 11, the final verse of our text today, it says, And his brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the saying in mind. 00:32:15.440 --> 00:32:22.079 There's a divided reception to the clear expression of the work of the Lord. 00:32:23.519 --> 00:32:27.599 His brothers can only see what they're missing out on. 00:32:28.400 --> 00:32:36.240 They only experience Joseph in jealousy from what it seems like the Lord is calling him to. 00:33:12.640 --> 00:33:16.880 Because, you know, Jacob had been through a lot at this point. 00:33:18.160 --> 00:33:20.960 And he'd fled from his brother. 00:33:21.440 --> 00:33:30.480 He had been given a promise at this place, Bethel, that he would be brought back by the Lord, and he would be brought back in a prosperous way. 00:33:31.200 --> 00:33:45.119 And he had experienced the blessing of the Lord everywhere he had gone in these strange and counterintuitive interventions, where even the hostility of his father-in-law amounts to this incredible blessing for him. 00:33:45.839 --> 00:33:50.160 And so Jacob, it seems here we see this softness in his heart. 00:33:50.400 --> 00:33:57.519 This is not a softness that Joseph gets to access, because what Joseph heard was, Will we indeed bow down to you? 00:33:57.759 --> 00:33:59.279 It was a rebuke from his father. 00:33:59.359 --> 00:34:03.359 But in his father's mind, he stores this up. 00:34:03.519 --> 00:34:14.079 Kind of, it's that same language that we hear of Mary when she treasures up these things about Jesus that she hears before he's born. 00:34:16.480 --> 00:34:26.639 So there's this Jacob understands that the providence of the Lord, it can manifest in very strange ways, and it's not to be trifled with. 00:34:36.639 --> 00:34:52.320 Next week we'll see, results in the brothers absolutely turning on Joseph and working through their own their own internal strife that results in Joseph almost being killed by them, but ultimately being sold as a slave. 00:34:52.880 --> 00:34:59.360 A slave who becomes a gladiator, becomes more powerful than the emperor of Egypt. 00:34:59.519 --> 00:35:00.719 I'm mixing up stories. 00:35:00.960 --> 00:35:07.039 But there's they absolutely turn on one another. 00:35:07.280 --> 00:35:09.440 Joseph becomes absolutely turned on. 00:35:11.119 --> 00:35:13.280 So let's run a quick counterfactual. 00:35:13.599 --> 00:35:15.360 Joseph was only 17, right? 00:35:15.519 --> 00:35:16.639 You remember being 17? 00:35:16.800 --> 00:35:18.320 You'll be 17 soon. 00:35:18.559 --> 00:35:24.880 It's it you you you don't there's never there's no possibility of knowing anything when you're 17. 00:35:25.119 --> 00:35:32.159 So let's imagine that Joseph is wiser, that Joseph, when he told his dreams, he spoke more inclusively. 00:35:32.400 --> 00:35:36.000 You know, he used, he he was more tactful in the way that he told his dreams. 00:35:36.159 --> 00:35:40.239 I had this dream, and my sheaf was not that great of a sheaf. 00:35:40.880 --> 00:35:42.320 Your sheaves. 00:35:43.360 --> 00:35:47.679 Beautiful sheaves, the asher, the way you that you always you know how you wrap those sheaves. 00:35:47.840 --> 00:35:51.039 And the but mine stood up and yours bowed down. 00:35:51.280 --> 00:35:59.440 What still wasn't the most attractive of sheaves, but you know, he could have spoken, floated it over a little better. 00:36:00.800 --> 00:36:08.079 Uh could have not worn the coat, uh, could have even decided not to share one of the dreams. 00:36:08.159 --> 00:36:09.280 It was just one. 00:36:09.679 --> 00:36:13.360 Remember when Joseph dreamed that dream about how beautiful our sheaves are? 00:36:14.079 --> 00:36:15.599 They could have been saying. 00:36:16.880 --> 00:36:22.320 Now, when we're running that sort of counterfactual, we're entering into a fantasy. 00:36:22.719 --> 00:36:45.679 One of the fantasies, it's a fantasy of there's some magic space where Joseph could have said what the Lord was calling him to in such a way which would not provoke division around what he was saying. 00:36:47.280 --> 00:36:55.119 And the fantasy borders on disobedience to the calling of God. 00:36:57.599 --> 00:37:00.880 Because obedience to the calling of God is to share. 00:37:01.119 --> 00:37:08.400 I had these dreams, and even to share them might be relationally costly now. 00:37:10.559 --> 00:37:14.320 But it might be the very thing that God has called me to share. 00:37:20.000 --> 00:37:20.639 Listen. 00:37:23.039 --> 00:37:24.800 Listen, church. 00:37:27.519 --> 00:37:38.159 The promise of God is not that He will give you the skill to resolve the dysfunction of your family. 00:37:41.760 --> 00:37:44.079 This is not the promise of God. 00:37:47.599 --> 00:37:55.119 We see through the narrative of scripture that our dysfunction runs deep, and you're a part of it. 00:37:58.000 --> 00:37:59.519 So what do we do? 00:38:03.039 --> 00:38:04.880 We need to be saved. 00:38:07.760 --> 00:38:09.440 We need to be saved. 00:38:21.360 --> 00:38:25.280 We read this story and we know the ending. 00:38:26.239 --> 00:38:38.960 We know that Joseph will go through trials and then be elevated to leadership of Egypt, and that his elevation will accomplish the salvation of his family. 00:38:39.760 --> 00:38:41.599 Joseph doesn't know this. 00:38:42.320 --> 00:38:44.880 Not in real time in the story. 00:38:46.320 --> 00:38:48.800 But he has a particular hope. 00:38:50.079 --> 00:39:04.559 A hope that even though it feels like his honoring the calling of God is just making more acute the dysfunction of his family. 00:39:05.280 --> 00:39:11.519 His hope is that God is the one who will accomplish salvation. 00:39:12.880 --> 00:39:17.440 And so, what is the greatest aim that we could make? 00:39:17.679 --> 00:39:33.039 Because look, God is in the business, the narrative of Scripture is him reconciling his estranged sons and daughters, reuniting the family of the earth. 00:39:33.119 --> 00:39:44.320 And the way that he does that is not tips and tricks, it's salvation. 00:39:46.159 --> 00:39:49.840 So, how do we participate in that type of salvation? 00:39:50.480 --> 00:39:57.119 We seek to honor the Lord and trust in the Lord in the steps that he has given us. 00:39:58.719 --> 00:40:17.199 And we seek, we trust that in seeking to honor him above all else, even when it feels like this is bringing more acute pain, that we're actually seeking with him the restoration that he has accomplished, we have seen him accomplish on the cross. 00:40:21.440 --> 00:40:28.880 And so my hope is that in this story you gain a sort of sober and deep encouragement. 00:40:31.280 --> 00:41:01.679 One that gives you an expectation of familial dysfunction, and one that encourages you, meaning gives you courage to follow God in the midst of those things, which is a participation in this hope that He will restore the broken family of humanity. 00:41:03.360 --> 00:41:07.760 You might be able to even participate in that at the level of your own family. 00:41:20.480 --> 00:41:23.039 Who had no choice but to keep them all together. 00:41:26.800 --> 00:41:39.760 The sacrifice of Jesus is what gives us the endurance to live within our dysfunctional families from a place of deep and certain hope. 00:41:40.320 --> 00:41:45.039 As though we had two dreams that fixed a pattern, but better than that. 00:41:47.119 --> 00:41:47.760 All right. 00:41:52.079 --> 00:41:55.280 What is the right way for us to view interpret dreams today? 00:41:55.360 --> 00:41:57.440 Ah man, I was hoping nobody'd ask this. 00:41:57.920 --> 00:42:02.639 Especially when they are very vivid and we remember them like Joseph did. 00:42:02.880 --> 00:42:08.559 Okay, so my take on life is that it's all up for interpretive grabs. 00:42:08.880 --> 00:42:13.599 So there's not parts of life that we interpret and other parts of life that we don't interpret. 00:42:13.840 --> 00:42:17.599 Because what would a part of life that you don't interpret be? 00:42:18.559 --> 00:42:19.920 You know what I mean? 00:42:20.159 --> 00:42:21.599 You're always interpreting. 00:42:21.840 --> 00:42:27.599 You're gonna go to some space where you just sort of like receive blank information with no interpretation. 00:42:27.760 --> 00:42:30.719 There is no such, there is no such place. 00:42:31.280 --> 00:42:37.280 So we have a sovereign lord, and you have lives full of all sorts of strange things. 00:42:37.440 --> 00:42:39.760 Some of the strangest are dreams. 00:42:40.719 --> 00:42:51.039 And within those, we interpret, just like we interpret our lives, and we interpret conversations that we had with a friend. 00:42:51.840 --> 00:42:58.320 Now, what do you do with those interpretations? 00:42:58.639 --> 00:43:04.880 I think it's probably best to give them a sort of credence. 00:43:33.920 --> 00:43:36.480 Almost like you give your own thoughts. 00:43:37.679 --> 00:43:39.840 Which are like, maybe. 00:43:43.840 --> 00:43:46.000 That's a pretty good way to hold your thoughts. 00:43:46.320 --> 00:43:48.400 This is what I'm thinking right now. 00:43:48.719 --> 00:43:50.800 Dreams, maybe something like that. 00:43:51.599 --> 00:43:58.480 You know, the there we've got like competing narratives with regards to dreams an ancient and a modern. 00:43:58.719 --> 00:44:02.559 Modern narrative, like Freudian, this is just your subconscious. 00:44:02.719 --> 00:44:04.400 Why is it just your subconscious? 00:44:04.639 --> 00:44:10.559 Because there is no transcendent in the modernist worldview. 00:44:11.599 --> 00:44:15.599 I don't think the Bible allows us to say just subconscious. 00:44:15.760 --> 00:44:20.000 And even when I use the word subconscious, I say it like we know what we mean. 00:44:20.719 --> 00:44:23.280 You know, the subconscious. 00:44:25.440 --> 00:44:35.199