Devotional Materials. Week Commencing Sunday 29th August 2021
Call to worship
I will proclaim the name of the Lord. O, praise the greatness of our God! He is the Rock, his works are perfect and all his ways are just. A faithful God who does no wrong. Upright and just is he. (Deuteronomy 32:1-4).
When I am afraid, I will trust in you. In God whose word I praise, in God I trust; I will not be afraid. (Psalm 56: 3, 4).
This morning we look at the well know character Joseph whose life is described in the Old Testament. Joseph exhibited deep faith in God. He frequently met opposition and had every reason to be afraid, but he guarded his heart because his faith was in a great and faithful God.
Hymn
‘Great is thy Faithfulness’ MP 200
Thomas O Chisholm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IiQzzc41z5Q
Opening Prayer
Father we do praise you for your faithfulness. How you have provided for us with all we have ever needed. How we have so many material and spiritual blessings. For the beauty of the world around us. For our parents and families. For work and play, for food and clothes, for the joy of friends, but most of all for the Lord Jesus Christ and for his death on the cross to save us. For raising him from the dead to be our living Lord and for sending us your Holy Spirit. For all these blessings we bring you our love and give you thank and praise.
Father, help us to keep our eyes fixed on you. To walk by faith. To remember all that you are and what you have done and so to give thanks and praise. To walk humbly reliant on you, according to your character and promises.
We confess we speak and sing such words easily enough, but then we are tempted to think everything depends on us. We become self-sufficient, proud, self-reliant. Forgive us. Help us by your Spirit to walk humbly before you. To be teachable, repentant, self-emptying, just as indeed you are perfect, but gave up everything for our sakes. Amen.
Hymns
‘Majesty’ MP 454
Jack Hayford
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ky_38dvCqfE
‘Who is there like you?’ /Father me
Paul Oakley
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnoQ3K4pk5Q
Reading. Genesis 50:15-26
When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “What if Joseph holds a grudge against us and pays us back for all the wrongs we did to him?” So they sent word to Joseph, saying, “Your father left these instructions before he died: ‘This is what you are to say to Joseph: I ask you to forgive your brothers the sins and the wrongs they committed in treating you so badly.’ Now please forgive the sins of the servants of the God of your father.” When their message came to him, Joseph wept. His brothers then came and threw themselves down before him. “We are your slaves,” they said. But Joseph said to them, “Don’t be afraid. Am I in the place of God? You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. So then, don’t be afraid. I will provide for you and your children.” And he reassured them and spoke kindly to them. Joseph stayed in Egypt, along with all his father’s family. He lived a hundred and ten years and saw the third generation of Ephraim’s children. Also the children of Makir son of Manasseh were placed at birth on Joseph’s knees. Then Joseph said to his brothers, “I am about to die. But God will surely come to your aid and take you up out of this land to the land he promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.” And Joseph made the Israelites swear an oath and said, “God will surely come to your aid, and then you must carry my bones up from this place.” So Joseph died at the age of a hundred and ten. And after they embalmed him, he was placed in a coffin in Egypt.
Prayers
Awesome Creator, You are my shepherd, I lack nothing. I thank you in advance for blessing your people because just as you draw the sheep near to green pastures and still waters, you refresh and uplift the souls of your people. I know that you will guide them along the right paths for Your Name's sake. Even when they walk through the darkest valley, they will fear no evil, for you are with them; your rod and your staff will uplift, comfort and bless them, Amen. (Prayerist.com)
Prayer for Afghanistan
O God of mercy and of peace,
We hold before you the peoples of Afghanistan.
Be living bread to those who are hungry each day
Be healing and wholeness to those who have no access to health care amidst the ravages of pandemic
Be their true home to all who have been displaced
Be open arms of loving acceptance to those who fear because of their gender, ethnicity, religious or political views
Be peace to those engaged in armed conflict and those who live within its shadow.
Turn our hearts and minds to your ways of just and gentle peace,
Open our eyes to see you in all acts of compassionate care
Strengthen our hearts to step out in solidarity with your suffering people and
Hold us all in your unfailing love.
We pray in the name of Jesus Christ, who emptied himself of all but love in order to bring life in all its fullness. (Christian Aid)
Here is a good article to help us pray for Afghanistan in more depth at this time. ‘How to Pray for Afghanistan—and the Taliban.’ Joe cARTER 16/8/21
https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/how-to-pray-for-the-taliban/
We bring before you the people of Haiti, after their earthquake and storms – we pray for all who are suffering and the aid workers trying to help them.
We pray for all the people who are suffering from extreme weather patterns. Please give strength to all fighting fires and drought and also those combatting extreme rains and flooding. We give thanks for the countries coming together to recognise the causes are at least in part due to human activity and ask for your strength to help reverse the damage. Although our small contributions help very little on a world scale, help us to continue to do our bit to preserve this planet’s resources for life.
Give wisdom to all in authority; and direct this and every nation in the ways of justice and of peace; that we may honour one another, and seek the common good. Amen (St Christopher’s Church)
The Lord’s Prayer.
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name; thy kingdom come; thy will be done; on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen.
Hymn
‘The Lord’s my shepherd’ MP 659
Francis Rous
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SziMnaLj_Iw
Reading. Hebrews 11:22 (New Testament)
“By faith Joseph, when his end was near, spoke about the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt and gave instructions about his bones”
Sermon
“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” (Romans 8:28).
That verse expresses God’s control of events in our lives. Whatever happens to us- whether good or ill. God takes these events and works them for our highest good and His good purpose. The one who loves God when he or she meets an unexpected difficulty can say- “I don’t understand why this has happened- but I still believe God is in control. He has a greater purpose that I cannot see yet, but I will trust Him now. I believe in His providence
The world does not believe in God’s providence. Many say that we are on our own. Some say that far from a benevolent God being in control, there is something like a malign fate that defeats all our best intentions. Thomas Hardy was a great believer in fate and attacked the biblical claim that God is in control of events. In his novel “Tess of the D’Urbervilles” he has his heroine Tess go from one tragedy to another. These unfortunate circumstances pile up until Tess is in a situation where she is seduced and hardy says “Where was Tess’s Guardian angel ?, the providence of her simple faith?”
I sometimes wonder what Hardy would have made of the story of Joseph.
At first sight fate seems to be the dominating factor in Joseph’s life. He too goes from one misfortune to another, despite the promise of hope.
Joseph has a dream, that he will be exalted above his brothers. But what happens to his dream? His brothers plotted to kill him. They threw him in a cistern and sold him into slavery.
Joseph’s fortune seems to change; it looks like he will prosper. He is moved from the position of slave to attendant in the house of Potiphar. One of Pharaoh’s Egyptians officials. But no. Fate seems to pursue him. He is falsely accused of seducing Potiphar’s wife. He is thrown into prison.
Hope still glimmers. Joseph finds himself in prison with Pharaoh’s cupbearer. Joseph interprets the man’s dream- the cupbearer will be restored to his prestigious position. Joseph asked this man to remember him to Pharaoh. And yet fate, it seems strikes again. The cupbearer, the Bible tells us, forgot Joseph. Joseph is left in prison
Now if we had been in Joseph’s shoes, perhaps we would have started to share Hardy’s beliefs about fate. Every hope seems to flourish and then is cruelly dashed to pieces. The dreams destroyed, his character smeared.
Actually, no biblical story better illustrates God’s providence than the story of Joseph. It really does tell us that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose. Even the difficult, unjust circumstances were worked by God for good:
Joseph’s being sold into slavery took Joseph to Egypt where later God had time to make a large nation out of His people as they lived within Egyptian protection.
His being sold to Potiphar enabled Joseph to become thoroughly Egyptionised and brought him within one step of Pharaoh.
His false arrest led him to meet Pharaoh’s chief servants and interpret their dreams. His being forgotten by the ungrateful cupbearer for 2 years led to his being remembered at the right moment, as the only possible interpreter of Pharaoh’s dreams.
Joseph wasn’t left in prison. Having interpreted the dream, Joseph was exalted. He became Pharaoh’s right hand man. His wisdom ensured that all had enough food to eat when famine struck. And the compassion he learnt through suffering made for the eventual reconciliation and salvation of his family. Indeed, his family finding a home in Egypt allowed them to become a great people under Egyptian protection, and so the promise originally given to Abraham was fulfilled, the Jewish remnant was preserved. The means by which the Messiah would come into the world was prepared.
Joseph’s example teaches us our own duty when we are faced with the difficulties of life. Joseph was to say to his brothers “You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good” This is faith. Joseph believed that God could take the evil intended to harm him and make it work, not only to help him, but even to help those who meant to harm him.
Joseph was not trapped by his circumstances. He saw that God had a greater purpose. By faith he believed this although circumstances suggested otherwise.
What difficulties do you face? Has God shown you how you can dignify your trial? Can others be brought to Christ through your difficulty? Can others be drawn to Him through the way you persevere, your patience and cheerfulness? The way you refuse to give in to self-pity, but rather look for God’s better purpose and glory?
One very strong reason for my becoming a Christian was through the example of my mother. Despite her many adverse difficulties she has had faith and projected great strength as a result
Like Joseph my mother’s life seemed to be dogged by fate. Her father died when she was three and her mother died a few years later. She ran away from a foster home but was eventually placed with foster parents. These insisted that she leave school after O- levels to “pay her way”. This was unfortunate because the school wanted her to stay on.
She married early, but the cycle of misfortune continued. Her husband- my father- was a compulsive gambler (like his father). Three times she tried to separate from him without success.
Her conversion was dramatic and the new found joy was so overwhelming my father couldn’t understand the change in her; he thought she must have a lover! She constantly read the Bible, and, like Joseph, started to see things by faith. To look to see what God wanted despite the difficulties.
So she became convinced that she should stay with my father and stop trying to separate from him. At first my father refused to let her to go to church, but this changed and then she found God reliable in the area of finance. The area hardest hit by gambling.
She prayed that although the past had “nullified” her future options, that God would keep us- her children. My sister and I are both Christians, and my brother, although he suffered from mental illness, did have faith in Christ. So in God’s providence he has taught my sister and I to see the difference between her faith and my father’s lifestyle and to choose the former.
Furthermore, my mother pioneered a work on a council estate among unmarried mothers. Many have come to Christ through it, and their children are also influenced. God’s providence at work again. The Lord has taken and redeemed her earlier awful experiences as a child and in her marriage, and used them as a bridge to these children and women. She feels instinctively with them, but, in addition, she can share so much of the comfort with them she herself has experienced from the Lord.
Faith in God’s good providence, not faith in fate.
Joseph’s story is one that encourages us to have faith in God’s providence- not faith in fate or despair.
Again, if we had been in Joseph’s position we would naturally feel grieved when he was mistreated by his brothers and forgotten. But such is Joseph’s faith in God’s providence and power, he sees it is God’s action in bringing him to Egypt. The prime mover was not his jealous brothers, but God. So in our reading from Genesis 50, after Jacob’s death, Joseph reassures his brothers:
“You intended to harm me; but God intended it for good- to accomplish what is being done; the saving of many lives” (Gen.50:20).
By faith he saw God’s greater good purpose, and he was proved right. Taken from slavery to being made a lord of Egypt he saved many lives. Joseph provided for his own family and others during the famine. Joseph had vision and persevered, even when circumstances seemed to say the opposite.
Joseph by faith also perceived that God had engineered circumstances in order to preserve a Jewish remnant. It’s alluded to in Chapter 50, but specified in Genesis 45: “God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance”
Joseph is holding to the promise of God, that God will preserve this remnant. So, even as Joseph is about to die, he again peers into the future to see what God will still do for the Israelites. It is at this point we make sense of our text from Hebrews 11:22:
“By faith Joseph, when his end was near, spoke about the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt and gave instructions about his bones” (Hebrews 11:22)
First, then, Joseph sees the continued preservation of his people into the future. He even speaks of the exodus to come- the exodus was to happen through Moses leadership many years later, so it’s staggering that the Lord gave him this insight at this point. He looks to the time when the people of Israel would come out of Egypt to be taken to the Promised Land. This is how Joseph puts it in Genesis 50:24: “but God will surely come to your aid and take you up out of this land to the land he promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob” So we see that Joseph can foresee the coming of the exodus- not because he was granted some kind of mystical vision that this would take place. He understood it must happen, because he believed the promise originally given to Abraham
Second, Joseph reinforces this insight into the exodus by saying “Carry my bones with you when it happens” Again this shows Joseph’s faith in what God will accomplish. God will do it!! So when He does, take my bones with you. This is unique to Joseph. The bones of others stayed in Egypt and were not taken to Canaan. But Joseph could make such a request because he could see what God would do for the Israelites. He says it by faith and he says it to encourage the faith and expectation of his brothers. And their descendants.
Indeed, these things did come to pass. Joseph’s body was placed in a coffin in Egypt. But the Israelites did leave Egypt and Exodus 13:19 tells us that Moses took charge of Joseph’s bones. They were safely transported to Canaan and buried at Shechem in the plot of land that Jacob had bought (Joshua 24:32)
When Joseph was on his death bed, all this looked very unpromising. His family are esteemed but the Israelites are small and need Egyptian protection. But Joseph’s faith in God’s promise and good providence was as strong as ever. And, as we have seen, he had always lived by this kind of faith. Even on his death bed- the time of greatest trial- Joseph was given insight into the promises of God concerning his people’s future. He wasn’t focused on his own mortality, his own body wasting away, he still had eyes to see God’s purposes for the future. As Christians we have even greater promises to hold on to when our brothers and sisters in Christ pass away, and indeed when our own time comes to pass from this world to the next:
Jesus said “I am the resurrection and the life, he who believes on me will live, even though he dies” (john 11:25, 26)
Paul could write to the believers in Rome :“I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38, 39)
Faith holds to such promises at the time of that greatest trial that each of us will face one day.
So we are faced with a choice when we meet the trials and difficulties of life. We could go the way of Hardy and believe in Fate. But this is literally hopeless and leaves us feeling trapped and powerless. We become cynical, complaining and bitter.
Or, by faith, we can believe in God’s providence. That God is in control and will work, even our adversity, for greater good, according to his promises. With this outlook the Holy Spirit makes us more Christ like. We will have that peace that passes this world’s understanding, and even a joy, given by Him that we would otherwise not possess. We will have a wider vision that looks to glorify God and benefit others even through the adversity. We will be strong because we believe that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.
Hymn
‘See what a morning’ 1105
Stuart Townend
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNNhzjwTYKk
Blessing
The Lord bless you and take care of you; may the Lord be kind and gracious to you; may the Lord look on you with favour and give you peace. Amen
David Barnes 25/8/21