Well let me ask you to turn back again in your Bibles if you will to these closing verses of Genesis chapter 50.
A seven year old knew that the Apostle Peter was also a prophet because you'll remember there are very specific prophecies that Peter makes about exactly how the world is going to end.
So next week there will probably be a question where the answer is hidden in the book of Revelation.
So it's excellently encouraging to me as I feared I might be turned into a pumpkin for not getting back to Scotland on the Sabbath day.
And that's been a blessing to me.
Well you would guess that the particular verse I want to draw your attention to this evening is the famous words.
Very familiar words in Genesis chapter 50 and verse 20 where Joseph is addressing his fearful brothers.
Who are obviously concerned that perhaps now out of respect for his father he has been gracious and kind to them.
But now that their father is gone the real Joseph will emerge and they will get their comeuppances for the way in which they have treated him.
And he speaks to them with such kindness.
You meant evil against me but God meant it for good to bring it about that many people should be kept alive as they are today.
So do not fear I will provide for your little ones.
I did not have the privilege of growing up in a church going family.
And I'm a post war baby.
We did not have much in the way of literature in the house.
My mother had relatively little education although I think she was a highly intelligent woman.
And she taught me to read very very early on.
And the one book that I remember we had in the house although we were not church goers was my grandmother's Bible.
Looking back now I think what phenomenal eyesight these people must have had.
These thick Bibles and tiny print.
And since we also had no central heating I simultaneously devised a way of satisfying my reading habit and enjoying central heating.
When my parents got out of their bed in the morning I got into their bed with my grandnana's Bible.
And it was the story book of my childhood.
And there were two particular stories that I always loved to read for some reason.
One was the story of Daniel whom I always found difficult to find because he was kind of lost away somewhere in my grandmother's Bible.
And the other was the story of Joseph.
And I could never remember there was not a book of Joseph in the Bible.
So sometimes I was scrambling around in order to read it.
And in much later life I looked back on those early childhood memories of reading this story again, again, again and again.
And realized I think God was preparing me to be a minister of the gospel.
To be a pastor of the flock of God.
Because one of the most frequent questions that comes up in conversations ministers have with people and people with ministers is the question,
Why is this happening to me?
And that is what this whole narrative is about.
This narrative that begins in Genesis 37 ends here in Genesis 50 is a narrative of tracing the pattern of God's working in a man's life
until he is able to look back and he knows why these things were happening to him.
You meant it for evil to harm me.
God meant it for good.
And I'm pretty sure all of us here this evening know the story.
Joseph is his father's favorite.
And his foolish father gives him special treats.
His brothers are jealous.
They express that jealousy.
He is sold into slavery.
God is with him in that slavery.
And yet in that God presence with him, he finds himself going further downhill.
He is faithful to God.
But he is betrayed by Potiphar's wife.
He is given the gift of the interpretation of dreams.
And those whose dreams he interprets find their interpretation comes true.
And then he is forgotten in prison.
And then eventually, years later, actually 14 years later, inclusive reckoning.
17 through to the age of 30.
Eventually at the age of 30, he is raised up to become, for all practical purposes, the prime minister of Egypt
and ultimately the human savior of the whole Mediterranean basis.
Because he has this wisdom to harvest the seven years of plenty in order that they may be used for the seven years of famine.
In the providence of God, his brothers appear.
He becomes part of God's instruments in eventually bringing the whole family together.
There is a glorious reconciliation.
And here, in the end of chapter 50, we read that this reconciliation was the real deal.
And the brothers are united together again here in the land of Egypt.
And it becomes clear from, at least from chapter 45 onwards, that Joseph has long meditated on the ways of God in his life.
My mother used to say to me when I was seven, Sinclair, there is no substitute for experience.
And it used to infuriate me.
Because at seven, you don't have much of it.
And it made me see that this was a very unjust world.
That at seven, you couldn't have much experience.
But there is no substitute for experience.
And here now, he's old enough to look back on God's ways and to see the pattern of God's working in his life.
So much so that what he says here summarizes what is a kind of dramatic version of what Paul says towards the end of Romans 8, isn't it?
That God works everything together for good for those who love him and who are called according to his purpose.
We cannot read God's purposes in advance.
But often in retrospect, we are able to see how the various elements in the experience of the Lord's providence that we have.
He has been working together in order eventually to bring us to this place at this time.
As these particularly carefully shaped people to serve him for his glory.
And that's all I really want to point out from these verses this evening and from this whole section.
That Joseph is now able to look at the jigsaw puzzle of his life with the major pieces in place.
I know, not by happy experience, but by observation usually of my wife,
that the way you begin to solve a jigsaw puzzle, if it's square or rectangular, is to look for the four corner pieces.
And once you've found the four corner pieces, you begin to build the rest of the picture together.
And I want to suggest to you that in the jigsaw puzzle of Joseph's life,
there actually are four corner pieces that are not only in his life,
but they're really to be found in the life of every believer.
And I want simply to pick them out one by one and emphasize their importance.
The first is this, that our God is always working in a variety of circumstances.
You know, when we ask the question, what is God doing in my life?
We're almost always thinking about one particular thing.
One particular thing goes wrong.
And it's usually when things go wrong that we ask this question, what is God doing in my life?
And we need to understand that God's purposes are not like individualized words.
They're like sentences.
And when we focus on particular incidents and become, as some of us tend to do, obsessed with particular incidents,
we will never be able to unravel the answer to the question, what is God doing in my life?
Because God is never working merely in one particular incident, one particular circumstance in my life.
He is creating a mosaic.
And his purposes are seen when the pieces of that mosaic begin to fit together, and never before.
That's why John Flavel, the 17th century English minister, said that the providences of God are like Hebrew words.
They're always read in what we regard as reverse order.
We can't interpret them looking forward.
We can only begin to see the picture as he gives us, as it were, more dots.
And eventually a face begins to appear, and we understand a little of what he is doing.
Because certainly earlier on in Joseph's experience, he must have felt quite lost.
He must also have felt that whatever God was doing in his life, and we're told that when he was in Potiphar's house, the Lord was with him.
Whatever God was doing in his life, he was doing it far too slowly.
And I'd be surprised if you have not been there.
Where you're waiting for God to catch up with what your idea of his will might be in your life.
And what he eventually learns is that as God works in a variety of circumstances, as the dots begin to be joined, and the picture begins to become clear,
is that God's ways are perfect, God's purposes are perfect, and God's timing is perfect.
I think as I look at Joseph's life and think about servants of God I've known,
that he and they shared in what I have come to call the divine cul-de-sac principle.
The divine cul-de-sac principle.
Because I've noticed how actually quite regularly in the lives of men and women that I have later seen God use in particular ways,
there have been times in their lives when they seem to have been shunted into a cul-de-sac,
and whatever God is doing seems to have passed them by.
And on occasion I've sat with some people like that and said,
what we need to do under these circumstances is to recognize God has not passed you by.
God is simply getting you ready for the place in the traffic flow of his purposes in which he intends to use you for his glory.
Because he is concerned with timing.
And he is concerned that you should learn what it means to experience waiting on the Lord.
And do you know how the scriptures use those two expressions that we might think mean the same thing,
but they don't mean the same thing.
Waiting on the Lord and waiting for the Lord are related to one another.
But what Joseph had learned to do was to wait for the Lord until in his providences he began more fully to disclose where he was really leading Joseph.
There's a very interesting illustration of the same principle in the life of the Apostle Paul in the Acts of the Apostles in chapter 16.
You'll remember the tale end of this experience even if you don't remember the beginning of it.
They went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia.
So why were they doing that?
Because they had been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia.
Now that clearly means they intended to speak the word of God in Asia,
but they had been forbidden from doing what they intended to do.
So they came to Mycenae.
And they attempted to go into Bithynia.
Now here's the paradox.
They were attempting to do what God's sovereign will did not want them or purpose them to do.
They were not sinning because they were seeking to be wise.
But Luke tells us here in the Acts of the Apostles that when they came up to Mycenae and attempted to go into Bithynia,
the spirit of Jesus did not allow them.
So, passing by Mycenae, they went down to Troas.
Everything they've sought to do thus far.
Everything they've laid before the Lord and said,
Lord, show us if this is not your purpose.
Every, every move they've made has been frustrated.
And what is the result?
Well, you know what the result is.
The next verse is about the Macedonian call.
It's about the gospel coming to what we call Europe.
It's about the gospel coming to people like us.
And you see what the story is.
That they were able to look back and realize
if we hadn't been prevented there and forbidden here,
we would have never ended up here in Philippi.
Where in God's mercy, there had been a preparation of a woman
who went to a prayer meeting at the riverside.
And in God's mercy, a girl who was oppressed by wicked men.
And a jailer who would never in a thousand years have imagined
he would ever become a Christian believer.
And that's how it is.
The fact of the matter is, they did not know what God was doing.
But he was working in a variety of circumstances
in order to bring about the fulfillment of his will.
And he always is.
He always is.
So God was working together a variety of circumstances
in Joseph's life.
But we ought to notice also that God was working
in a variety of people in Joseph's life.
My tendency, and I imagine some of you at least share it,
is when the Christian life and how we are looking to serve the Lord
becomes frustrating, then the way in which we frame the question
is usually, why are these things happening to me?
Why are these things happening to me?
Now what Joseph clearly came to understand was
many of these things that involved him were not about him.
And that's a particularly important lesson for our self-obsessed, narcissistic age
in the way that self-obsession and narcissism has profoundly influenced
not just the Christian church in general, but the evangelical subculture in particular.
You only need to listen to the songs that are being written and sung
to catch a sense of the self-obsession that has been encouraged
in the atmosphere of the late 20th and early 21st century.
But you see, this isn't just about Joseph.
This is about others.
I mean, ultimately it's about the whole Mediterranean basin.
But it's also about his father.
And if you go back to the beginning of this narrative in Genesis 37,
what do you see?
You see that Joseph's father is repeating the very same mistake his own parents did
in bringing him up.
He's got a favorite.
And all of that needs to be divinely torn out of his soul.
And God is using the situations into which Joseph is brought
in order to do something at distance, as it were, to his father.
In order to bring about a restoration and a reconciliation
between the father and all his other boys.
And the same is true of the brothers.
It is true.
I mean, it's very interesting that Joseph is clear to them about this.
You meant evil against me.
But you see, in God's amazing providence,
he had used this in order to do something to the brothers.
And if you, if you're like, you'll read through the narrative.
Don't just keep your eye on Joseph.
Keep your eye on what is happening to these brothers.
And the way in which God slowly deconstructs them.
Until, instead of selling their brother,
they're embracing their brother.
It is amazing the way in which God does this.
So, if earlier on in the narrative,
it would be perfectly understandable if Joseph was saying,
God, why is this happening to me?
The answer is, Joseph, this is only partly about you.
It's about them.
I'm doing this in you for them.
And the person who grasps that that is the way God works
will be a happier, contented, more stable,
and indeed more fruitful Christian believer.
Of that I have no doubt whatsoever.
And you see this repeated time and time again,
don't you, in the pages of Scripture.
Let me just use Paul as an illustration again.
There he is in jail.
And he's writing to the Philippians.
What's his concern about the Philippians?
His concern about the Philippians is
that the Philippians are concerned
that the whole project of preaching the gospel
is going to die because the Apostle Paul is in prison.
And Paul underlines for them that he is a prisoner
for the sake of Jesus Christ.
And that because of that,
there has been fruit in the Roman artillery.
And there has been fruit in the Christians
who have been bold to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ.
And he realizes this did not happen to me for me.
This happened to me for the sake of the gospel
and for their sake to do something in them.
And that's the way God works, isn't it?
I remember hearing at the memorial service
for the daughter of a colleague
that she had said one Lord's Day after worship
just bare bones of a young woman.
And she had said to him
as they greeted one another at the end of the service,
she said, I realize this isn't just about me.
It isn't just about me.
Very moving, isn't it?
But you see, it's true.
It's true of everything that happens to us.
We're not the center of the universe.
So God, in his mercy,
works together a variety of circumstances.
He works together in a variety of lives.
And he also works out a variety of consequences.
And I've already alluded to this, really,
in Jacob's life, the reconciliation.
There's this beautiful illustration of it, isn't it?
When the brothers are seated by Joseph.
They come and they don't recognize him, you remember.
And he seats them all
just the way they should have been seated
and maybe were seated at home.
We have four children.
And of course, we were all together for years.
And then you get this age.
And you're never together in the same way.
Except on the rarest occasions.
And the last occasion,
my wife and I,
and just the four children,
none of their attachments of any kind,
their spouses or children,
the last time we were all together,
our first son,
as we went to the table in a restaurant
to have a meal,
he insisted we sit around the table
the way we sat around the table.
Which was immovable.
It was the law of the Meats,
the Persians, and the Fergusons.
We always sat in the exact same place.
It moved me profoundly
that he even remembered that.
And Joseph does the same thing.
Now some of you are probably mathematicians
and you can work out the statistical probability
of accidentally placing
a whole bundle of brothers
in the right age order around a table.
And they're stunned.
And then you remember
when the wee boy arrives,
Joseph says,
pile his plate high.
Put the best steak on his plate.
Now why is that?
You see what he's doing?
He's kind of,
he's like a surgeon,
just,
well not a surgeon,
he's like your family doctor
that you go to
and you know,
he knows where to press.
Is it sore here?
No!
If you're a man,
you're relieved,
there's nothing wrong with me.
It's not a really serious doctor.
And then he,
are you sore here?
And you go,
oh!
And that's what he's doing.
This is exactly the sore point.
They were jealous of Joseph
because he got the best.
And here God is using Joseph
to discover whether they're going to be jealous
of the wee boy again
because Joseph is giving him the best.
And what begins to emerge
is that God has so worked
in the lives of these brothers
that they are prepared to make sacrifice
for the sake of their youngest brother.
And it's all,
it's all sourced back
to what God was doing here
in their formerly younger brother's life.
And yes,
God was working in Joseph's life.
I have never understood
why God does things this way.
But both Scripture
and the history of the church
teach me
that God gives people gifts
even when they're not able to handle them.
And I think it's pretty clear
God gave this boy,
age 17,
an extraordinary gift.
He did give him
a revelatory dream
that actually came true
when he didn't have the wisdom
to contain it.
And so when he came down
to breakfast in the morning
and he put his cornflakes
into his bowl
and he poured the milk out
and one of the brothers said,
did you sleep well Joseph?
Instead of saying,
yeah it was okay.
And keeping it all to himself.
He blurted it out.
And nobody was in any doubt
what he was saying.
The arrogant 17 year old teenager.
The favourite of the father.
And yet,
given this extraordinary revelation
that came true,
he blurted it all out
and the message was,
I'm the man.
You'll all be coming
and bowing down
before me.
And what is so amazing,
what is so apostolic
in this is,
this foolish act of his
in the hands of
a gracious, loving,
heavenly father
becomes, as it were,
the raw materials
out of which
this elongated process
of transforming
this whole family
and reconciling them
and it's so interesting,
it's so interesting
this connection
that when you read
through the whole narrative
you meet Joseph
when he's 17,
when he becomes
prime minister
he is 30.
Okay,
so that is 14 years
by the kind of
inclusive reckoning
that Bible writers use.
And that's significant,
isn't it?
Because what he's now
going to deal with
is the next 14 years.
He is at 14 years
in which he has learned
patience and wisdom.
And those are exactly
the two gifts he needs
in order to accomplish
what he accomplishes.
Patience.
Patience to handle
those seven years
of plenty
and wisdom
to use those
seven years
of plenty
so that he may be
a blessing
to the world
in the seven years
of famine.
And it's taken
14 years
to make him that.
So that when he becomes
prime minister of Egypt
he's not only
in the right place
at the right time
but he's the right man
for the right place
and the right time.
And I don't know
why God does it
this way as I say
but he was not
the right man
at the age of 17.
And when he spoke
it wasn't the right time.
And yet in his
you know maybe
maybe some of you
are thinking
I have been
exactly there.
I have so messed up.
And God is
in the mystery
of his wisdom
and providence
he's taken
all that rubbish
you've kind of
landed on his plate
and he's made
something of you.
And you realize
that the wonder
of his working
is that he has
been working out
his own purposes
in this way
because
he's able to
not only work
in a variety
of situations
and to
work
in a variety
of people
but he's able
to work out
a variety
of consequences
and how often
it's true
in our lives
that he does
that through
pain and difficulty
and challenge.
John Flavel
again has a
lovely saying
when he
he says
that afflictions
are like
frosty weather
on garments
they change
their hue
and whiten
the sheet.
If you're under
30 you've no idea
what that is all
about
because you use
washing machines
and tumble dryers.
But my generation
I still remember
as a little boy
in those rare days
in winter
when the sun
shone
and it was
frosty
my mother
would say
this is going
to be a great
day for bleaching.
And
that's it
isn't it?
The frost
in Joseph's
life
had
been used
by God
to make him
the right man
in the right
place
at the right
time.
Now there's a
fourth corner
piece
I want you
to notice
and
it's not
a corner
piece
that is
stated in
the text
but it's
really written
all over
the story
of Joseph
and that
is that
in our
lives
God
is always
working
through a
variety
of
circumstances
he is
working
in a variety
of people
he's working
a variety
of consequences
and the
fourth corner
piece
is this
and it's
the one
to hold
on to
that he's
doing all
this
in order
that Jesus
may be
glorified
he's doing
all this
in order
that Jesus
may be
glorified
now
you know
there's some
very artificial
preaching of
Jesus from
the Old
Testament
you know
where suddenly
you leap
from the
text to
Jesus
and you
don't know
how you
got there
but it's
pretty evident
how you get
to Jesus
from Joseph
it's because
all those
men and
women of
faith in
the promise
of God
in the Old
Testament
scriptures
are united
by that
faith to
the Jesus
who is to
come
just as we
are united
to that
Jesus
on this
side of
his death
and resurrection
they were
united by
faith to
Jesus
on their
side of
the death
and resurrection
and as the
New Testament
makes clear
one of the
great implications
of that
is
that if you
are united
to Christ
in his
death and
resurrection
your life
will be
shaped
in small
ways
perhaps in
very great
ways
your life
will be
squeezed
into the
mold
of his
death
and resurrection
you will
be united
to
remember
how Paul
puts it
what I want
to do
with my
life
is to
know
Christ
the
power
of his
resurrection
share
the
fellowship
of his
sufferings
become
like him
in his
death
and attain
to the
resurrection
the lenses
through which
he viewed
what it means
to be a
Christian
were lenses
of being
united to
Christ
and being
transformed
into his
likeness
and it's
all over
his life
and it's
all over
his letters
but you
see the
same
is true
of the
Old
Testament
saints
and you
can
just
run
through
them
in
your
mind
and you
see
this
is
the
way
they
share
in
advance
in the
fellowship
of the
sufferings
of Christ
in this
world
and they
also share
in advance
in the
triumphs
of Christ
and his
resurrection
and you
can see
it here
in Joseph
what we
might call
the Jesus
pattern
of humiliation
and exaltation
suffering
and glory
death
and resurrection
it oozes
out of
what God
is doing
in the
life of
Joseph
and in
addition to
what we
might call
the Jesus
pattern
there's the
Jesus
principle
it's
through his
suffering
that blessing
comes to
the nations
it's all
over Joseph's
life
it's through
his
suffering
that blessing
comes to
the nations
and you
notice also
in the end
of Genesis
chapter 50
there's
the Jesus
promise
that runs
right through
his life
the promise
that was
given
you remember
to
Adam and
Eve
that there
would be
a seed
who
would
be the
conqueror
of the
evil
one
and that
as it
were
grows
in the
promise
that's
given
to
Abraham
that in
his seat
the nations
of the
world
are going
to be
blessed
but in
the pursuit
of that
promise
God's
people are
going to
be brought
down
into
a land
where they
will remain
for over
400 years
before
the next
stage
in God's
movement
forward
to the
coming
of our
Lord
Jesus
Christ
comes
on to
the
horizon
and you
see
Joseph's
place
there
in that
timeline
the promise
of Genesis
315
the promise
that's given
to Abraham
the fact
that before
that promise
given to
Abraham
is fulfilled
in the
coming of
Jesus
Christ
the saving
seed
there is
going to
be a
period
when the
people
will be
brought
down
to
a
land
from
which
they
will
be
brought
up
so
that
in
Joseph
without
Joseph
this
does
not
happen
in
Joseph
God
is
advancing
his
purposes
that
eventually
lead
to
the
revelation
of
Jesus
Christ
and I
think
we can
apply
that
to
ourselves
can't
we
that
this
actually
is
his
purpose
in
our
lives
and
everything
that
happens
he's
wanting
to
shape
our
lives
in
such
a
way
that
our
lives
will
be
a
manifestation
to
others
of
the
grace
of
God
in
our
Saviour
Jesus
Christ
and we
will
be
a
link
in
the
chain
of
God's
providential
purposes
as
Joseph
was
such
a
major
link
in
that
chain
that
eventually
would
lead
history
and
lead
individuals
to
the
foot
of
the
cross
to
embrace
the
Saviour
and
to
advance
the
gospel
in
the
world
and
maybe
the
best
way
to
put it
is
like
this
that
in
these
chapters
between
Genesis
37
and
Genesis
50
God
puts
these
principles
on the
big
screen
Joseph
is a
big
screen
example
but
you're
only
an
iPad
or
perhaps
you're
just
an
iPhone
and that's
true of us
isn't it
not many of us
live on the
big screen
not any of us
have lives
that are written
in capital
letters
but in
small
letters
but it's
the same
sentence
that's being
written
that transforms
our lives
transforms
others
lives
and brings
others
to faith
in the
Lord
Jesus
Christ
because
our
God
is
a
master
of
his
purposes
we
we are
but members
of the
orchestra
different
instruments
seeking
to play
to his
glory
and he
is the
conductor
who
harmonises
absolutely
everything
I remember
when our
daughter
our daughter
had a
birthday
I think
it was
maybe her
13th
birthday
and she
wanted to
go and see
Joseph and
his amazing
technicolor
dream coat
she didn't know
anything about
Joseph and
his amazing
technicolor
dream coat
she knew
about Joseph
and the
Bible
and unfortunately
for her
and for me
my wife
who was
going to
take her
took
unwell
and I
had to
take her
we had
seats
absolutely
in the
front row
I don't know
about 3,000
people in the
theatre
it was
the professionalism
was spectacular
beyond words
but I was the
only person
in the entire
theatre
who did not
know
that at some
point
in this
musical
Pharaoh
turns into
Elvis
Presley
and I
left out
this kind
of wild
and
daughter
embarrassing
but the
thing about
sitting in
the front
row
was
that we
could see
into the
pit
and so we
could see
the whole
thing on
two levels
we could
see the
conductor
who was
absolute
master
I mean he
was so
master of
the score
that I
watched him
walk in
and he
pulled out
a packet
of M&M's
and he
poured them
into this
little cup
he had
at the
side
and he
was
in total
control
and I
sat there
thinking
this is how
it is
in the
Christian
life
isn't it
although
God is
a much
more
serious
conductor
you know
we see
the drama
being played
out
but it's
being played
out
according
to
the score
that the
conductor
has designed
from all
eternity
and he
is a
master
an absolute
master
of that
score
yes it's
true
he moves
in mysterious
ways his
wonders to
perform
it's true
he plants
his footsteps
in the
sea
and the
problem
with footsteps
in the
sea
is they're
not visible
but he
does work
in the
deep
unfathomable
minds
with his
never failing
skill
he treasures
up his
bright designs
he works
his sovereign
will
and his
sovereign will
is to work
in our lives
in a variety
of circumstances
to work
through our
lives
in a variety
of people
to work
by our
lives
a variety
of consequences
and most
of all
to work
upon
our lives
for the
glory of
our Lord
Jesus
Christ
those of us
who are here
for the unique
two o'clock
service
were thinking
a little
about Simon
Peter
and the
storm
and this
narrative
also makes
me think
about the
words that
Jesus
you remember
spoke to
Simon Peter
when he was
arguing about
the foot washing
with him
that is
Peter
arguing with
Jesus
remember what
Jesus said
the words
could be written
all over
Joseph's life
you don't
understand
what I'm
doing
now
but afterward
you will
understand
sometimes
in his
kindness
that afterward
becomes
here and
now
the great
thing about
being a
Christian
and being
a Christian
who is
getting older
is you
know the
day is
coming
when that
afterward
will reveal
the whole
of his
purposes
congregation
I served
in
Columbia
came to
know
that when
I was
finding it
difficult
to land
the plane
as the
sermon
went on
I tended
to finish
the same
way
and I
think I'll
do that
tonight
don't you
think it
is the
greatest
thing
in the
world
to belong
to the
Lord Jesus
Christ
let's pray
together