Moving Beyond A Conceptual Knowledge of God

Then the LORD passed by in front of him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth; who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generation.” Exodus 34:5-7 [read Ex. 3:13-15]

Intro: Thursday, a couple mentioned to me that they would miss today’s meeting

“Our only regret,” they said, “is that we won’t be there for the beginning of Exodus”
– at first, I didn’t know what they meant
• then I realized, they must have assumed we were going on from Genesis to Exodus
○ perhaps they thought I planned to continue through the whole Bible
– but we spent almost an entire year in Genesis and there are still sixty-five more books in the Bible!
• at that pace, we would not get through the Old in my lifetime

Where my heart has been leading me, however, is for us to return to the life of Jesus Christ
– and spend time deepening our relationship with him, getting to know him better
– so we’re going to look closely at the stories of people who met Jesus
• my hope is that as we absorb their stories, they will shape the development of our own story
• and that this will affect our perception and experience of Jesus

When we set out to know God, we typically take an intellectual approach
– and this is also the sort of help we usually get from Christians
• for example, J. I. Packer’s book, Knowing God takes us in the right direction for a couple chapters, but then slips into “knowing theology”
– what we end up with is a biography or list of attributes and we do not actually meet God
• in scripture, the people who knew God were those who encountered him
• they did not get to know him through logical proofs or propositions, but through living experience

So we are not going to begin a study in Exodus this morning
• however, we can use it to make the transition to knowing God through Jesus Continue reading →

The Christ-Like Virtue

When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “What if Joseph bears a grudge against us and pays us back in full for all the wrong which we did to him?” So they sent a message to Joseph, saying, “Your father charged before he died, saying, “Thus you shall say to Joseph, ‘Please forgive, I beg you, the transgression of your brothers and their sin, for they did you wrong.’ And now please forgive the transgression of the servants of the God of your father.” And Joseph wept when they spoke to him. Genesis 50:15-17

Intro: We have come to the end of Genesis

For a moment, let’s look back at the beginning — the creation story of chapter 1
– the origin of all that we love, enjoy, and find beautiful
• repeatedly, God looked at what he had made and saw that it was “good”
– but then a rupture occurred that affected the natural world as well as humankind
• what was whole became fragmented
• what was innocent became guilt-ridden
• what was intimate is experienced as alienating
– the fissure not only runs through the cosmos, but through time as well
○ fracture and disintegration became the new normal

God looked on his broken world and determined to fix it
– but he also determined that he would not fix it alone
• he would call humankind, that had been responsible for the rupture, to help repair it
– so from early on, history was given a goal – it is moving toward a target; namely, salvation
• healing, reconciliation, and restoration
• everyone is involved in this project–you and I,
○ with our own little break-ups and reconciliations
○ each life is a microcosm that reflects the rupture and repair of the macrocosm

This brings us Joseph and the end of the book
– his is also a story of fracture, betrayal, and alienation
• but he overcame it and achieved reconciliation
– in Joseph’s story we learn how healing occurs, and how salvation is worked into the wound Continue reading →

How Blessings Are Multiplied

Now it came about after these things that Joseph was told, “Behold, your father is sick.” So he took his two sons Manasseh and Ephraim with him. When it was told to Jacob, “Behold, you son Joseph has come to you,” Israel collected his strength and sat up in the bed. Then Jacob said to Joseph, “God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan and blessed me, and He said to me, “Behold, I will make you fruitful and numerous, and I will make you a company of peoples, and will give this land to your descendants after you for an everlasting inheritance. Now your two sons, who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you in Egypt, are mine; Ephraim and Manasseh shall be mine, as Reuben and Simeon are.”
Genesis 48:1-5 

Intro: There are two things I want to point out in these verses: The central theme (chapters 48-49) and a footnote

1. The central theme in chapters 48-49 is blessing
   – the source of blessings Jacob doled out, “God Almighty . . . blessed me” (48:3)
   – the blessing was divine and dynamic
   • it was because he was blessed, he was able to bless
   – the time had come to pass on the blessing
   • Joseph brought his two sons for this reason
2. The footnote (v. 7) — Jacob recalls Rachel’s death
   – with a deep sigh, the old man says, “Rachel died on me”
   • he still feels the heartache of losing his lover
   • the woman for whom he was willing to work fourteen years
   – it’s hard to lose someone precious and supportive, especially when you still have a long way to go

The footnote introduces a sub-theme in these chapters
– the blessings collide with the realities of family disappointments, misconduct, and hardships

Something subtle happened in verses 1-7

It’s not likely we would catch it on our first reading Continue reading →

How to Answer When God Calls

So Israel set out with all that he had, and came to Beersheba, and offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac. God spoke to Israel in visions of the night and said, “Jacob, Jacob.” And he said, “Here I am.” He said, “I am God, the God of your father; do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for I will make you a great nation there. I will go with you to Egypt, and I will also surely bring you up again; and Joseph will close your eyes.” Genesis 46:1-3

Intro: This last week, Derek Nichols posted on Twitter a poem his younger brother wrote

Within twenty-four hours it had been re-posted more than 100,000 times
– what’s remarkable about the 24 lines of verse that eighth-grader Jordan wrote:
• it can be read backwards as well as forward and read backward the message is reversed
– I’ll give you just a sample in the first three lines of his poem:

“Our generation will be known for nothing.
Never will anybody say,
We were the peak of mankind.”
(Now read the lines from bottom to top)

Our negative perspectives are usually formed by way we read things
– for example: our personal history, our current circumstances, and the behavior of others
• if we can find another way to read our situation, we can form a positive perspective
– Joseph’s story is about finding an alternative reading
• it has to do with learning to read from the end – as in Philippians 1:6

For I am confident of this very thing, that He whoo began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.

• reading our lives in reverse from this point may help us see that our momentary challenges are doable

Beersheba was the last outpost before entering the desert wilderness

The text reads, “So Israel set out,” but the Hebrews says he “took his journey” or “journeyed on”
– venturing onto the desert road to Egypt was the next step in an ongoing journey
• but first, Jacob wanted to secure his connection with God
– in the sacrifice, Jacob was turning himself toward God with his whole being
• God responded with encouragement to continue on
• our private meditation on God’s words to Jacob will be richly rewarded
• every phrase is meaningful
– “Then Jacob arose from Beersheba . . .” — he got up and got going

Just as we come to the crucial moment, the story is interrupted Continue reading →

Revelation and Reconciliation

Then Joseph could not control himself before all those who stood by him, and he cried, “Have everyone go out from me.” So there was no man with him when Joseph made himself known to his brothers. He wept so loudly that the Egyptians heard it, and the household of Pharaoh heard of it. Then Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph! Is my father still alive?” But his brothers could not answer him, for they were dismayed at his presence. Genesis 45:1-3 

Intro: We ended last week with a real cliffhanger

Joseph had put the squeeze on brothers until they broke
– he was satisfied with what he discovered through the pranks he played on them
• they were not only able to admit their guilt, but they indicated a true change of heart
– Joseph’s game ended with Judah’s speech
• Joseph felt it was time to lose the disguise and reveal the truth, “I am Joseph!”

Vv. 1-3, Earlier, Joseph had turned away each time he broke down

Not this time – he could not control himself — the dam broke and a flood of emotion swept over him
– “I am Joseph! Is my father still alive?”

Now, we must try to get inside his brothers’ minds

1. Suddenly he was addressing them personally – in Hebrew!
2. He was saying a name they had not dared to speak
3. He was telling them that he is Joseph
   • it would be like seeing a ghost
   • after the string of calamities they suffered, this is the worst
   ○ they were speechless – silenced by terror

Vv. 4-5, Joseph had to continue to take initiative

“Come close” – he needed to close distance between himself and them Continue reading →

Purposeful Pranks

Now Jacob saw that there was grain in Egypt, and Jacob said to his sons, “Why are you staring at one another?” Genesis 42:1

Intro: This next episode begins wit a scene change

Joseph is now well-placed in Egypt, controlling the largest stockpile of food in the world
– the scene cuts to the humble campsite of his father
• feeling the pinch of the famine, Jacob hears about food in Egypt
• he sends his sons to buy grain in Egypt, but did not send Benjamin with them
○ his inner motivation is revealed: “I am afraid that harm may befall him”

Cut to Egypt
Joseph, while managing the grain distribution, spotted his brothers
– he immediately recognized them – but disguised himself (repeated for emphasis in verse 8)
• in essence, he made himself invisible so he could mess with them
– he accuses them of being “spies,” but they deny it, claiming to be “honest men”
• I think that angered him, remembering what they did to him

“Honest men! What about taking my coat from me and throwing me in a pit to die?! What about selling your own brother to slave-traders on their way to Egypt?! What did you tell father when I never returned home? Honest men! No, it is as I said to you, you are spies.”

○ to satisfy himself that they have changed, Joseph has to test them, as he said, to see “whether there is truth in you”
○ he threw them into prison – as he had been thrown into an Egyptian prison
• three days later, he made his decision as to what he was going to do with them Continue reading →

The Land of Affliction

Now it happened at the end of two full years that Pharaoh had a dream, and behold, he was standing by the Nile. Genesis 41:1

Intro: In the last exciting episode, we left Joseph stuck in prison

He asked Pharaoh’s cupbearer to remember him and mention him
– both remember and mention translate same Hebrew word
• Strong’s definition: “to mark (so as to be recognized)”
– I’m pointing this out, because it comes up again in today’s story
• the story swings on the themes of remembering and forgetting

It had been “two full years” since the cupbearer had forgotten Joseph
– the Hebrew reads, “two years of days”
• when waiting anxiously for something to happen for us, each passing day seems long
• Joseph was aware of every day that filled those two years

The introductory “behold” transports us into Pharaoh’s dream — we are now seeing through his eyes
– there are two more “beholds” in his first dream
• we might remember that Joseph used three “beholds” when he told his first dream to brothers
– in Pharaoh’s second dream there are two more “beholds” and then a final “behold” in verse 7

Then Pharaoh awoke, and behold, it was a dream.

• the “beholds” at the beginning and end of his dream sequence creates a verbal enclosure for it

Pharaoh’s dreams launched him into terrifying world
– it looked like his Egypt–he stood by the Nile–, but its animals and events were surreal Continue reading →

When the Hour Comes

When the hour had come, He reclined at the table, and the apostles with Him. And He said to them, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; for I say to you, I shall never again eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He said, “Take this and share it among yourselves; for I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine from now on until the kingdom of God comes.” And when He had taken some bread and given thanks, He broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” And in the same way He took the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in My blood.”  Luke 22:14-20

Intro: We set aside our ongoing study when we observe Communion

We do not have to learn something every Sunday
– we do not have to be inspired or motivated fixed or straightened out every time we meet
– some of these times we need nothing other than to be with God
• we need these opportunities to renew our decision, our  faith, and our connection with God
○ what comes to mind is Psalm 51:10

Create in me a clean heart, O God,
And renew a steadfast spirit within me.

We need an experience of God rather than another lesson about God

“When the hour had come . . .”

Every hour may consist of sixty minutes, but some hours are longer than others
– if you’ve ever sat in the waiting room of a hospital, you know those can be long hours

The quality of one hour can be radically different from another hour
– there are some moments we would live over and over if possible
– others we wish would could wipe from our memory–and also from history

Luke is simply telling us that the time had come to eat the Passover meal
– but this particular hour was bigger than that
• twice Jesus says, in effect, “This will never happen again”
– something from beyond time had entered this hour and it stretches the hour extending into the future
• so Jesus can talk about a “remembrance” of this event Continue reading →

Let God In

Then it came about after these things, the cupbearer and the baker for the king of Egypt offended their lord, the king of Egypt. Pharaoh was furious with his two officials, the chief cupbearer and the chief baker. So he put them in the house of the captain of the bodyguard, in the jail, the same place where Joseph was imprisoned. Genesis 40:1-3

Intro: As you read through the story, be aware of the following:

■ Joseph was twenty-eight years old when these things took place
■ a “cupbearer” or “butler” was a wine-server who chose, sampled, and recommended wines to the king
– he held a powerful position, always standing next to the king
■ the butler’s dream was elaborate, containing seven visual images and lots of action
■ the baker’s dream was sparse but wild, contained only three visual images and one action
■ both of their dreams incorporated symbols of their occupations

God makes his next move

God has an objective, but he doesn’t pursue it with brute force
– the game board on which he makes his moves is the natural world
• it’s cluttered with humans who have their own objectives
○ their objectives may interfere or conflict with his
○ but God doesn’t violate their free will
• God can use any situation humans construct
○ he works through the ordinary circumstances of our everyday lives
– if it were a chess match, God knows every possible move and every countermove
• he never loses–he always achieves his objectives Continue reading →