Resilient People - 3

Resilient People - 3

Subject - Joseph Teaches Us to Deal with Our Rockies 

by Rick Welborne

Genesis 45:1‑9 (NLT) 

1 Joseph could stand it no longer. There were many people in the room, and he said to his attendants, “Out, all of you!” So he was alone with his brothers when he told them who he was. 

2 Then he broke down and wept. He wept so loudly the Egyptians could hear him, and word of it quickly carried to Pharaoh’s palace. 

3 “I am Joseph!” he said to his brothers. “Is my father still alive?” But his brothers were speechless! They were stunned to realize that Joseph was standing there in front of them. 

4 “Please, come closer,” he said to them. So they came closer. And he said again, “I am Joseph, your brother, whom you sold into slavery in Egypt. 

5 But don’t be upset, and don’t be angry with yourselves for selling me to this place. It was God who sent me here ahead of you to preserve your lives. 

6 This famine that has ravaged the land for two years will last five more years, and there will be neither plowing nor harvesting. 

7 God has sent me ahead of you to keep you and your families alive and to preserve many survivors. 

8 So it was God who sent me here, not you! And he is the one who made me an adviser to Pharaoh—the manager of his entire palace and the governor of all Egypt. 

9 “Now hurry back to my father and tell him, ‘This is what your son Joseph says: God has made me master over all the land of Egypt. So come down to me immediately! 

--Lewis and Clark thought they were at a place of great victory and almost the completion of their expedition just to find out they were faced with the Rocky Mountains. How do we face adversity in times like that?

1. Purpose in our lives.

Frankl: Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of human freedoms–to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s way. The way in which a man accepts his fate and all the sufferings that it entails, the way in which he takes up his cross gives him ample opportunity to add a deeper meaning to his life.

–Adam Szymusik found that those who were taken into the prison camps who had no strong convictions did not do well...those who felt like they were suffering for a political or religious cause had greater resilience.

–Studies done of the notes left by those who have committed suicide rarely mention health, finances, or rejection but did mention “tired of life” and they were looking for a way out...no purpose or meaning in their lives.

–Joseph was able to find purpose and meaning even in prison...even looking at the Rockies...The Lord was with Joseph.

–God shows up on the mountain (transfiguration) but He also shows up in the storm and when we find something bigger than we are.

Genesis 39:21‑23 (NLT) 

21 But the LORD was with Joseph in the prison and showed him his faithful love. And the LORD made Joseph a favorite with the prison warden. 

22 Before long, the warden put Joseph in charge of all the other prisoners and over everything that happened in the prison. 

23 The warden had no more worries, because Joseph took care of everything. The LORD was with him and caused everything he did to succeed. 

–What could your purpose be in a prison when you were not supposed be there anyway? He had a couple of cell mates...a baker and a butler who needed him.

–One day after these guys had troubling dreams Joseph asked them this question...

Genesis 40:6‑7 (NLT) 

6 When Joseph saw them the next morning, he noticed that they both looked upset. 

7 “Why do you look so worried today?” he asked them. 

–This is such a great detail of the story...why?  Joseph could have hidden in a corner and pouted about how God was treating him and not see others are hurting too!

–You can get to the point that you believe your problems are the only problems in the world and forget the pain of those around you.  

--This is when your heart starts to die because you have lost the meaning and purpose God has put you where you are.

–Joseph decides to live like Jesus and be concerned about the pain of others and treat them as having value to himself and to God. By his noticing their hurt he finds meaning for his being in prison.

–Do you just suppose that Joseph (Mr. Robe and Mr. Dreamer) needed to face the Rockies so that he would not think only about himself but have compassion on others.

–Do you think maybe (just maybe) our adversity may be God’s way of teaching us to have compassion on others?  We need to walk a mile or two in their shoes to learn to love.

–Not an accident that Joseph was a slave and in prison before God exalted him.

Key: 

A. As long as he was wearing the Robe, Joseph could never move into community with his brothers.

B. As long as he was wearing the Robe, Joseph would never know what he was capable of under pressure.

C. As long as he was wearing the Robe, Joseph would never understand that God is enough even when you have lost everything.

–Whether Joseph’s adversity was sent by God or just because we live in a fallen world he learned what life was like without the robe.

–When he was home he never seemed to learn how hurtful him wearing the robe and sharing his highfalutin dreams was to his brothers. In prison, he noticed. His suffering gave him eyes of compassion...it helped him find his purpose.

 2. Our actions must show forth our compassion. 

– How compassionate are your actions? In the middle of your storm or while you are facing the Rockies how well do you read the faces of those around you?

–We must learn that most people wear on their faces what is going on inside of them unless they have learned to “turn it on or turn it off” to keep their image.

–Do you really look at the faces of your family, your friends, your co-workers or even people who serve you and notice their faces are downcast?

Ortberg: It is a paradox: Self-preoccupation is actually self-defeating and produces loneliness.

–Joseph expressed his heart to his fellow prisoners in a single question: Why are your faces downcast today?

–Someone noticed them...someone cared about their lives. Words are powerful! Every word you speak boost someone’s hope a bit, or kills it just a little.

Proverbs 18:21 (NIV) 

21 The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit. 

–Here’s a little test: When you are facing the Rockies in your life or a storm, how often have you expressed genuine concern to others when you have nothing to gain?

–Because Joseph asked and because he cared he not only offered them help himself but shared with them that God could help...Do not interpretations belong to God!

–The butler gets good news but the baker...not so much.

–The butler agrees to speak in behalf of Joseph and I am sure he was so elated that his freedom was in sight...I can go home and see dad.

–Can you imagine the wait...first day anticipation...maybe tomorrow...maybe the butler is just waiting for the right time...days turn to weeks and weeks to months...still he sits there.

–It becomes clear that the butler has forgotten or just was so elated to be out that all he can think about is his own life...forgot to be compassionate for two years.

–Two years was the time that it took Lewis and Clark to cross our continent, and as Joseph sat alone, I wonder if he thought this was the end of his story?

–Of course you and I know that this was not the end of his story but at this moment he had no way of knowing except for his dreams...were they really from God?

–As God was helping him to learn compassion from the things he was suffering eventually it would be revealed to him God’s ultimate plan...His dreams.

Hebrews 5:8 (NKJV) 

8 though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered. 

–After his being reunited with his brothers listen to what he tells them about all that happened:

Genesis 45:3-5 (NLT) 

3 “I am Joseph!” he said to his brothers. “Is my father still alive?” But his brothers were speechless! They were stunned to realize that Joseph was standing there in front of them. 

4 “Please, come closer,” he said to them. So they came closer. And he said again, “I am Joseph, your brother, whom you sold into slavery in Egypt. 

5 But don’t be upset, and don’t be angry with yourselves for selling me to this place. It was God who sent me here ahead of you to preserve your lives. 

–All of Joseph’s best days, his rise in Egypt, his service to a nation, his impact as a leader, his reunion with his father, his reconciliation with his brothers, all lay on the other side of the Rockies.  

3. Being resilient is being like Jesus.

–The reason for that is because his story became part of God’s story. Joseph reminds us of another young man who was a dreamer and His life seemed to be not good at all.

--Notice how these two stories parallel each other…Biblical typology.  

Philippians 2:1-11 (NKJV)
¹  Therefore if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy,
²  fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.
³  Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself.
⁴  Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.
⁵  Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus,
⁶  who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God,
⁷  but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men.
⁸  And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.
⁹  Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name,
¹⁰  that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth,
¹¹  and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. 

–He, too, wore a robe, a scarlet robe given to Him in mockery, and He too found His robe taken from Him by those who wanted to kill Him.

–Crowds mocked Him, friends abandoned Him, Peter denied Him, Judas betrayed Him, soldiers crucified Him, and His body was laid in a tomb.

–One more dreamer - One more young man whose life turned out to be a disappointment. Until one day...on the third day He woke up...ultimate resiliency!

–One third day...bad news lost for all time!

–Ever since that third day, whatever bad news may enter your life has no power to separate you from God...for the story of this world is a good news bad news story.

Romans 8:37‑39 (NIV) 

37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 

38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 

39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. 

 –Just wait until you reach the other side of the Rockies.