The Gospel According to Joseph: Humility

As we continue through the story of Joseph, Jacob, and Judah, there are so many great aspects of this story that we won't be able to cover from the pulpit. The passage at which we will be looking this week, Ge. 41, is one of the high points of this whole narrative. In it we see the climax of God's providential work in and through Joseph, and in it we also get a great look at Joseph's character.

Remember, one of the things we noted in the very beginning of this series is that we can often see the gospel in the development of characters in OT stories, i.e. gospel-change working in their lives. In the previous chapters of this narrative, we have seen Joseph become a man who endures and serves God faithfully wherever God has put him. However, in Ge. 41 we get the clearest picture of Joseph's developing character so far, and one of the things that stands out is the humility that God has developed in Joseph.

Humility is a tricky virtue to nail down. It's the one fruit of the Spirit that when we look at it or gaze upon it in ourselves, it immediately becomes something else. That's because true, gospel-driven, Christ-centered humility isn't what we might normally think of as "humble." I think we often think that the opposite of pride is self-abasing, but that's not true humility. True humility isn't talking or thinking about how bad we are and constantly bemoaning our flaws or sin in our own minds or before others. Constantly thinking about or pointing out how lowly we are is just another way of putting ourselves at the center when it is Christ that should be at the center. Furthermore, when do debase ourselves in our minds or before others, what creeps into minds after that is how great it is that we're so humble, and we become proud of being humble! Listen to what Jonathan Edwards has to say about this aspect of humility:

If on the proposal of the question [Are you humble?], you answer, "No, it seems to me, none are so bad as I." Don't let the matter pass off so; but examine again, whether or no you don't think yourself better than others on this very account, because you imagine you think so meanly of yourself. Haven't you a high opinion of this humility? And if you answer again, "No; I have not a high opinion of my humility; it seems to me I am as proud as the devil"; yet examine again, whether self-conceit don't rise up under this cover; whether on this very account, that you think yourself as proud as the devil, you don't think yourself to be very humble.

C. S. Lewis called this cycle of fighting self-admiration and then admiring yourself for defeating your self-admiration "like fighting the hydra... There seems to be no end to it. Depth under depths of self-love and self-admiration."

That's because humility is the one fruit of the Spirit that flourishes when our thoughts and our gaze are on Christ and others and not at ourselves at all! Humility isn't thinking less of ourselves, it's thinking about ourselves less. It is "blessed self-forgetfulness," as Tim Keller calls it. Lewis has a great statement about this in Mere Christianity:

Do not imagine that if you meet a really humble man he will be what most people call 'humble' nowadays: he will not be a sort of greasy, smarmy person, who is always telling you that, of course, he is nobody. Probably all you will think about him is that he seemed a cheerful, intelligent chap who took a real interest in what you said to him. If you do dislike him it will be because you feel a bit envious of anyone who seems to enjoy life so easily. He will not be thinking about humility: he will not be thinking about himself at all. [Emphasis added]

And, in Ge. 41, we see this kind of humility in Joseph when he stands before Pharaoh. In that moment, he has the chance to put himself in the spotlight. He has the chance to show Pharaoh how useful he could be to him or how he's been treated so unjustly, but he doesn't take it. In fact, it is remarkable how Joseph points the spotlight away from himself towards God. He doesn't give any hint of trying to impress Pharaoh with his abilities, self-abasement, or anything else. He simply serves God faithfully and let's God handle the rest. Before Pharaoh, Joseph isn't thinking about himself at all. He's self-forgetful, and that's because he finds his true, core identity in his relationship with God and nowhere else. And, that will be one of the things we talk about this Sunday from Ge. 41: true identity in Christ.

In the mean time, when you read through Ge. 41, make note of Joseph's humility and how it is in his self-forgetfulness, not self-abasing.

By His Grace,
Taylor

The Gospel According to Joseph: The Gospel and God's Presence

We have been working our way through the story of Joseph, Jacob, and Judah in a series of devotions and sermons. In the previous devotion, we learned about temptation and godly living from Joseph in Ge. 39. The sermon that goes along with that devotion, however, focuses on the main thrust of the two episodes of this story in Ge. 39-40: the impact of God's presence on Joseph's life. The sermon is entitled "The Gospel and God's Presence, and you can listen to it here or read it here.

Now, as I mentioned in the previous sermon post of this series, one of the things I am trying to do is teach how to study these Old Testament (OT) stories and how to see what the Holy Spirit was showing the original audience and is showing us about God's redeeming work in Jesus. For Jesus Himself told us in passages like Lk. 24:27, 44 and Jn. 5:46 that the OT is about Him, but seeing exactly how it teaches us about Him is not quite so easy. My senior pastor, Chris Hutchinson, has written a couple of great articles on preaching/teaching Christ from the OT that can be found here and here, and there are several of good books written on this subject like David Murray's Jesus on Every Page. But, in the interest of ease for this series of sermons, I have been teaching some basic questions that we can ask of any OT passage to help us to see how Jesus may be in that passage. Now, all these questions do not always apply to each OT passage, but we can ask these of any passage and one or more of them will help us to see Jesus on that page of Scripture. In this sermon, there one new one come up: How does this passage reflect upon or prepare us for the person or work of Christ—i.e. who He is to us (His person) and what He does for us (His work)? These two episodes of the Joseph story show us that part of Jesus' work for us is His presence with us to give us the strength to endure, and they prepare us for His person as our Lord, showing us that whatever we do, we ultimately work for Him, no our earthly masters.

I pray that this sermon will show you Jesus clearly and Him only and that it will be a blessing to your soul.

By His Grace,
Taylor

The Gospel According to Joseph: Temptation and Godly Living

As we talked about in the first sermon of The Gospel According to Joseph series and as Pastor Hutchinson pointed out in his first and second articles about preaching Old Testament stories, we must avoid the extreme of treating these stories as simply self-improvement stories and teaching them merely as moral lessons. Yet, at times, we can still find some examples that our Lord Jesus would have us follow (cf. He. 11:1-12:2). In the episodes covered in the sermon that will be posted this Sunday, there is such an example, and because of time and scope, it won't brought out in Sunday's sermon. So, we'll look at it here.

In Ge. 39, Joseph finds himself sold as a slave to Potiphar, Pharaoh's captain of the guard. There, because God's personal presence is with Joseph, he is quite successful and eventually Potiphar makes him overseer of his entire household. Well, apparently Joseph caught more than Potiphar's eye. Potiphar's wife took an interest in Joseph, but for a very different reason. Moses tells us in 39:6b that "Joseph was handsome in form and appearance," which caught the attention of Potiphar's wife. "Day after day" she made sexual advances and propositions to him, but he refused. And, I believe there are four things that we can learn about temptation and godly living from Joseph's response to Potiphar's wife.

First, Moses tells us in the text that Joseph refused even "to be with her." Joseph refused even to spend any time around her. Her temptations were strong, but Joseph protected himself by not even flirting with the danger. Joseph probably knew that if we crossed that line and spent time around her, resisting her advances would be even more difficult, so he stayed as far away from her as he could. We can learn from Joseph's example here. Sometimes we put ourselves in situations where we know the temptation to a certain sin will be strong, and when we do that, it should be no surprise at all when we give in. Joseph shows us that in the battle against sin, we need to stay far away from places, times, and situations where we know temptation will assault us. In 1 Co. 10:13 that God will always provide a way out for us, and sometimes that way out is never to approach the places, times, and situations of temptation in the first place.

Second, what happens when we can't avoid a place, time, or situation of temptation? Well, in v. 12, Moses tells us that Potiphar's wife "caught [Joseph] by his garment," and Joseph "left his garment in her hand and fled and got out of the house." Joseph got out of there as quickly as he possibly could, so fast that he didn't even take the time to remove his garment from her grasp. When we find ourselves unavoidably in a place, time, or situation of temptation, we need to flee it. Here, Joseph points us to Jesus' teaching by the pen of Paul in several NT passages: "flee sexual immorality" (1 Co. 6:18), "flee from idolatry" (1 Co. 10:14), "flee [false teaching, quarrels, and the love of money]" (1 Ti. 6:12), and "flee youthful passions" (2 Ti. 2:22). Joseph and Paul show us that we aren't to mess around with temptations to sin. In such cases, don't try to be a hero, run from it. Now, sometimes our "running" might be in a figurative sense, which often looks like Jesus' example in Mt. 4 of using Scripture to battle temptation thus redirecting our thoughts "on things that are above," and sometimes our running might mean literally removing ourselves from the situation as fast as we can. (It is worth of note in the literary context of this story, that Joseph's flight is in stark contrast to Judah's solicitation of the Tamar as a prostitute. Judah walked right into temptation in Ge. 38:15-16. In slavery, because God's presence was with him, Joseph was faithful. In freedom, Judah descended further into sin.)

Third, Joseph's words to Potiphar's wife show us that he kept a God-centered perspective on his service and on sin. In vv. 8-9, Joseph tells her that Potiphar has trusted him with everything and not kept anything back from him (except her), and we might expect him then to say, "How can I sin against him, your husband?" But, Joseph ends his statement with "How then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?" Joseph realized what David did after his sin with Bathsheba: "Against you [God], you only, have I sinned." (Ps. 51:4) Sometimes it's easy to rationalize sin when it's against someone whose also a sinner like us. If Joseph had been thinking only in reference to Potiphar, he could have rationalized it by saying something like, "Potiphar bought me as a slave, so, for that reason alone, he deserves it." He, however, had a God-centered perspective on sin: that every sin is ultimately against God Himself. That changes our perspective on sin, and it gets at our primary motivation to resist sin: thankfulness to God. The Heidelberg Catechism states in the answer to question 84, "We do good... so that in all our living... we may show that we are thankful to God for all He has done for us."

Fourth and finally, this story also shows us that sometimes obeying God means incurring the wrath of men. Joseph resisted Potiphar's wife, and she was so upset by his final flight that she took revenge on him and lied about him to Potiphar. She told Potiphar that Joseph tried to tempt her just as she had done to him, which is a little bit of irony for you, and Potiphar threw Joseph in jail. Sometimes following Christ and living for Him will cost us greatly. Sometimes telling the truth gets you fired. Sometimes playing by the rules gets you in last place. But, our hope as Christians is not in our jobs or winning. It's in the ultimate justice and providence of God secured for those who are in Christ. Ro. 8:28 is going to come up a lot in this series because Joseph's story is a real-world example of this promise to those who are in Christ: "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." The key here is God’s purpose. We cannot separate providence from purpose or substitute our purpose for His. Yet, since God has given us everything in Christ (cf. Ro. 8:29-32), we can trust His purpose, even when it costs us materially in this life.

These are four things that we can learn from Joseph's example, but I do want to make it clear that Joseph's example is not the emphasis of these two chapters. Moses emphasizes the impact of God's personal presence on our lives by highlighting how "the LORD was with Joseph" and what that did in him. That will be the topic of the sermon that will be posted Sunday afternoon.

By His Grace,
Taylor

The Gospel According to Joseph: The Gospel and Sin

In the previous post, I talked about the summer series I am presently preaching at GCPC called "The Gospel According to Joseph," and I also posted a short prequel to the story of Joseph, Jacob, and Judah, briefly summarizing the first 36 chapters of Genesis. Well, the first sermon in this series comes from Ge. 37: 2-8, 18-28, 36, and it is entitled "The Gospel and Sin."

Now, our culture doesn't like to talk about sin and doesn't want us to talk about it. And, honestly, you'd be a strange person indeed if you actually enjoyed talking about sin, but to be faithful to God's Word and truly Christ-centered people, we have to talk about it. The good news of the gospel isn't really good and doesn't really affect our lives until the bad news of our sin first drives us to Christ. Well, that's where Moses begins in the story of Joseph, Jacob, and Judah, and it's where we begin in the first sermon—clearing seeing our sin, so that we're driven to our Savior. You can listen to the sermon here or read it here.

Also in this series, one of the things I am trying to do is teach how to study these Old Testament (OT) stories and how to see what the Holy Spirit was showing the original audience and is showing us about God's redeeming work in Jesus. For Jesus Himself told us in passages like Lk. 24:27, 44 and Jn. 5:46 that the OT is about Him, but seeing exactly how it teaches us about Him is not quite so easy. My senior pastor, Chris Hutchinson, has written a couple of great articles on preaching/teaching Christ from the OT that can be found here and here, and there are several of good books written on this subject like David Murray's Jesus on Every Page. But, in the interest of ease for this series of sermons, I will be teaching some basic questions that we can ask of any OT passage to help us to see how Jesus may be in that passage. Now, all these questions do not always apply to each OT passage, but we can ask these of any passage and one or more of them will help us to see Jesus on that page of Scripture. In this sermon, there are two that come up:

• What does this passage reveal about the sinful nature of man who needs redemption? And, when we see an aspect of man's sinful nature and need of redemption, we can see Jesus there, for He is the ultimate solution to man's need. 
• What does this passage reveal about the redeeming nature of God? And, when we see an aspect of God's redeeming nature, we can see Jesus there, for He brings together all those aspects in His work of redemption. 

If you want to learn how to apply those questions and see it done with Ge. 37, you can listen to the sermon here or read it here.

I pray that this sermon will show you Jesus clearly and Him only and that it will be a blessing to your soul.

By His Grace,
Taylor

The Gospel According to Joseph: The Prequel to Joseph

Wow, it has been quite a long time since I have had a chance to write. I apologize for being MIA for so long. It has been quite a busy past few months, and I have barely had enough time to get done what I have needed to get done for my family and church over the past few months, so I have just let writing fall to the wayside. I still do not have a lot of time to write presently, but I have also started a new sermon series at my church, (GCPC), and it should give me enough for a couple of posts per week.

The sermon series is called "The Gospel According to Joseph," and it is on the story of Joseph, Jacob, and Judah from Ge. 37-50. And, each week I write a short devotional that relates to the passage on which the sermon will focus and, of course, preach a sermon from that passage. So, I will put all that up here as the series progresses. I am actually already three weeks into the series, but I will probably post them a week at a time so as not to give my regular readers information overload.

The first weekly devotional for this series was a short summary of the story of Genesis leading up to the story of Joseph, Jacob, and Judah. The prequel provides important information for understanding this wonderful story. So, here it is. On Sunday I will post the first sermon entitled, "The Gospel and Sin."
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In Ge. 3, we read about the fall of Adam and Eve that introduced sin into this world and to all of mankind that followed. Their fall created a huge problem for them and for the rest of humanity: how will we ever be able to get back into right relationship with God and have peace with Him? How will we be redeemed from our sin? But, God in His grace doesn't leave us without hope even for a moment. In Ge. 3:15, in the midst of His curse on the serpent, He promises a Redeemer who will crush satan and save His people. That Redeemer will come from Adam and Eve's "offspring" or "seed" (you can read about this covenant in more detail here). Then, the story of Genesis progresses, and the immediate offspring of Adam and Eve are certainly not the promised Redeemer, so we must continue to wait, trusting God's promise.

Then, in Ge. 12, God calls a man named Abraham, and God promises to make him into a great nation and bless "all the families of the earth" through him. And, as Abraham trusts God and follows Him, he gets more information about how God will fulfill this promise in the covenant God makes with him in Ge. 15:8-22; 17:1-14. There, we learn that the "offspring" or "seed" that will Redeem His people promised to Adam and Eve will come specifically through Abraham's line. God promises to make his descendants more than the stars in the sky or the sands on the seashore, and one of those descendants will be the Redeemer (you can read about this covenant in more detail here). And, Paul tells us later that it's through this promise that the Scriptures "preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham," and it is this very promise that Peter says Jesus fulfilled (Ac. 3:25-26; cf. Ga. 3:16). Jesus is the "offspring" or "seed" promised to Adam and Eve and Abraham! He would one day come from the line of Abraham to redeem the world through His life, death, and resurrection.

After God made His covenant with Abraham, the story of Genesis continues and we must continue to wait, trusting that God will fulfill His promise. Abraham sees the seeds of that fulfillment in the miraculous conception of his son Isaac, who will continue the line that would one day produce Jesus. Isaac has two sons--Esau and Jacob--and while Jacob is the younger, God chooses him to be the one through who the Redeemer would come. Jacob gets the covenant God made with Abraham and Isaac confirmed to him in Ge. 35. Yet, we still have to continue to wait, trusting that God will fulfill His promise of a Redeemer.

That brings us to the story of Ge. 37-50, which will be our summer series. In this story, we see that there is a crisis in the family line of Jesus. Jacob's family is a complete mess and there is a famine coming that threatens to wipe them out. Will this messy group of people actually produce the Redeemer who will save them from their sin? Will the line of Abraham continue or will the hope of the "offspring" or "seed" promised to him die with this family as they starve in the famine? We, of course, know that God does save them and Jesus does eventually come, but as we study this story, we'll see God's great providence working to accomplish His promise of the Redeemer and His gospel working in the lives of this messy family to make them faithful followers of Him who live by faith and not by sight (cf. 2 Co. 5:7).

By His Grace,
Taylor