Missions Paul

One of the things I do in my job is chair interviews between prospective ministers and the church leadership board. I seem to have had a run of them recently. In preparation, I tell the minister to simply be who they are, be honest, don’t oversell themselves, and be genuine above all things. To keep it simple, I could say, ‘don’t lie,’ but that seems a bit harsh; however, that’s what I mean.

Joseph’s family have spent years tangled in deception, and now, on the verge of settling in Egypt, Joseph’s advice runs counter to everything they have known and lived by. No spin, repositioning, or attempt to make the family sound more impressive than they are.

“Then Joseph said to his brothers and to his father’s household, “I will go up and speak to Pharaoh and will say to him, ‘My brothers and my father’s household, who were living in the land of Canaan, have come to me. ³² The men are shepherds; they tend livestock, and they have brought along their flocks and herds and everything they own.’ ³³ When Pharaoh calls you in and asks, ‘What is your occupation?’ ³⁴ you should answer, ‘Your servants have tended livestock from our boyhood on, just as our fathers did.’ Then you will be allowed to settle in the region of Goshen, for all shepherds are detestable to the Egyptians.” (Genesis 46 v 31-34)

Tell the truth, Joseph says. Tell him you are shepherds.

Why?

This is refreshing to see that the family is no longer lying over anything. They were so used to not telling the truth over the years. So why now?

Shepherds were detestable to the Egyptians, and so Pharaoh would want them out on the margins of Egypt, in a place like Goshen. The stigma becomes a shelter. They will stay together, distinct, and they will be ready as a new nation, Israel.

Like Joseph, we don’t need to lie on our resume. The occupation of this family, maybe even the smell of the animals, is exactly what God used to place them where they needed to be.

God’s plan for your life doesn’t need you to manage people’s expectations, to impress them by boasting or even lying. God can position you exactly where He wants you simply by you saying who you are.

Goshen may not have been the centre of Egypt, but it would be theirs, and it would be where God starts a new chapter for them.

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I’m sure you know that feeling of waiting for something that doesn’t come. At first, it is as if you are waiting at the door or picking up your phone every minute to see if you have received that message. Then, eventually, you stop expecting.

This is where Jacob had been living. Until he received news that he may have stopped dreaming of receiving.

“Now Jacob sent Judah ahead of him to Joseph to get directions to Goshen. When they arrived in the region of Goshen, ²⁹ Joseph had his chariot made ready and went to Goshen to meet his father Israel. As soon as Joseph appeared before him, he threw his arms around his fatherand wept for a long time. ³⁰ Israel said to Joseph, “Now I am ready to die, since I have seen for myself that you are still alive.” (Genesis 45 v 28-30)

Some people have to learn to live with very difficult circumstances. Like Jacob, they have to learn to live with a shadow. Jacob endured what many believe to be over 20 years of constant silence from his beloved son. These long periods of time can cause our expectations to die before we physically do. Living with grief with hope is one thing, but living with grief and a permanent loss is another. He was dead, and Jacob lived under the shadow of that death. So much so that after Joseph had stopped weeping, after ‘a long time’, then Jacob is ready to die. He can die in peace. His heart is now healed. Some people stay alive because of the wound. That would be true of Jacob. But now his life is complete.

Notice that ‘Jacob’ sends Judah, but ‘Israel’ meets Joseph. Is that written on purpose? If so, it could be that the name ‘Israel’ given after the wrestling match, as the name of the promise, the name which is now revealing the man God made through the suffering of life?

The last two words are powerful – ‘still alive’. Sadly, in our lives, there are people and things that are very much dead, yet, look again, perhaps something of their legacy is still alive. If that is the case, then life has not defeated you.

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I am posting this link for a few weeks to ask you to contribute to a cause that is so important and to spur me up a hill in June!

This morning, you are going to read names that will make you speed-read.  Hanok, Pallu, Hezron, and Karmi are names that make you want to move quickly to the point. A family is on the move. An old man has climbed into a cart sent by Pharaoh, leaving behind everything he has known in Canaan, heading toward a son he thought was dead and a land that is not his own.

Travelling with him are seventy people whose lives are held in the hands of a God who is keeping a very careful count of the overall number and the individual names.

“Then Jacob left Beersheba, and Israel’s sons took their father Jacob and their children and their wives in the carts that Pharaoh had sent to transport him. ⁶ So Jacob and all his offspring went to Egypt, taking with them their livestock and the possessions they had acquired in Canaan. ⁷ Jacob brought with him to Egypt his sons and grandsons and his daughters and granddaughters—all his offspring. ⁸ These are the names of the sons of Israel (Jacob and his descendants) who went to Egypt: Reuben the firstborn of Jacob. ⁹ The sons of Reuben: Hanok, Pallu, Hezron and Karmi. ¹⁰ The sons of Simeon: Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jakin, Zohar and Shaul the son of a Canaanite woman. ¹¹ The sons of Levi: Gershon, Kohath and Merari. ¹² The sons of Judah: Er, Onan, Shelah, Perez and Zerah (but Er and Onan had died in the land of Canaan). The sons of Perez: Hezron and Hamul. ¹³ The sons of Issachar: Tola, Puah, Jashuband Shimron. ¹⁴ The sons of Zebulun: Sered, Elon and Jahleel. ¹⁵ These were the sons Leah bore to Jacob in Paddan Aram,besides his daughter Dinah. These sons and daughters of his were thirty-three in all. ¹⁶ The sons of Gad: Zephon,Haggi, Shuni, Ezbon, Eri, Arodi and Areli. ¹⁷ The sons of Asher: Imnah, Ishvah, Ishvi and Beriah. Their sister was Serah. The sons of Beriah: Heber and Malkiel. ¹⁸ These were the children born to Jacob by Zilpah, whom Laban had given to his daughter Leah—sixteen in all. ¹⁹ The sons of Jacob’s wife Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin. ²⁰ In Egypt, Manasseh and Ephraim were born to Joseph by Asenath daughter of Potiphera, priest of On. ²¹ The sons of Benjamin: Bela, Beker, Ashbel, Gera, Naaman, Ehi, Rosh, Muppim, Huppim and Ard. ²² These were the sons of Rachel who were born to Jacob—fourteen in all. ²³ The son of Dan: Hushim. ²⁴ The sons of Naphtali: Jahziel, Guni, Jezer and Shillem. ²⁵ These were the sons born to Jacob by Bilhah, whom Laban had given to his daughter Rachel—seven in all. ²⁶ All those who went to Egypt with Jacob—those who were his direct descendants, not counting his sons’ wives—numbered sixty-six persons. ²⁷ With the two sons^[ who had been born to Joseph in Egypt, the members of Jacob’s family, which went to Egypt, were seventyin all.” (Genesis 46 v 5-27)

A long list of names, and this is one of those many passages that we are tempted to skim past or even not read at all. But of course, this morning we are not going to do that. We are reading what appears to be an important point: a large family is on the move. All of them.

The list looks boring, yet they are there because these names are important to God and His story. Even names we would rather forget, like Er and Onan, who died in Canaan. God knows these names, and that’s the point. Even people like Hushim? Serah? Malkiel? All of them, no one is anonymous to Him.

Seventy members of the family went down to Egypt. It seems to be a number of completeness and mission in the Bible. Seventy nations in Genesis 10; seventy elders appointed by Moses and seventy sent out by Jesus. Here, on the way to Egypt, is a significant number, seventy, that is a seed of the great nation God had promised Abraham. From this family of seventy, including an old man on a cart, comes a nation and through the tribe of Judah, whose sons Perez and Zerah appear quietly on this very list, the name above all names, Jesus.

God is faithful in the details. Behind every unfamiliar name is a life held in the hands of a God who forgets nothing and loses no one. Seventy went down to Egypt. Not sixty-nine. Not seventy-one. He numbers the stars and calls them each by name, and He numbers His people too. I’ve heard many people in my life suggest that God is not concerned with church attendance numbers. I understand the point being made, but the truth is God is most definitely concerned with numbers, every single one, you and me included.

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I am sure, like me. You have been called at some point down a path, a particular chapter of your life, that has been frightening because you have never experienced this particular moment before.

It is hard to imagine what Jacob must have felt at 130 years of age, having spent many years thinking Joseph was dead, and now knowing Benjamin was held in Egypt, he is travelling to this foreign land. He will travel through a place where his grandfather and father made commitments to God. This is a special place. Overnight, he had an encounter with God.

“So Israel set out with all that was his, and when he reached Beersheba, he offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac. ² And God spoke to Israel in a vision at night and said, “Jacob! Jacob!” “Here I am,” he replied. ³ “I am God, the God of your father,” he said. “Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for I will make you into a great nation there. ⁴ I will go down to Egypt with you, and I will surely bring you back again. And Joseph’s own hand will close your eyes.” (Genesis 46 v 1-4)

Jacob! Jacob! 

The same voice and urgent double-name call as when God calls Abraham to drop the knife, and when he calls Moses from the burning bush. There are moments in our lives when God needs to be heard, and this is one of them.

The comfort God brings isn’t a promise of ease or enjoyment but His presence. “I will go down with you,” God promises Jacob something he thought would never possibly happen. As an old man, he would die and join his beloved son. Yet God says, “You will see him. He will be there at the very end.”

Where is your Egypt? What is in front of you that seems daunting? There is a simple pattern here that will help us when we find ourselves in similar situations.

• Pausing to bring praise to God.
• Carrying the promise of God.
• Trusting the presence of God.

Whatever Egypt is for you, just go, for you won’t be going alone!

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I am posting this link for a few weeks to ask you to contribute to a cause that is so important and to spur me up a hill in June!

When you have learnt to live with loss it can be difficult to receive good news. It can be too good to be true. Grief can reshape your expectations. You don’t jump as quick to believe. Cynicism becomes a protection. Broken hearts that have arrived at settled realities are not easy to repair. Living under the shadow of loss for a long time can make us sceptical of anything good.

“So they went up out of Egypt and came to their father Jacob in the land of Canaan. They told him, “Joseph is still alive! In fact, he is ruler of all Egypt.” Jacob was stunned; he did not believe them. But when they told him everything Joseph had said to them, and when he saw the carts Joseph had sent to carry him back, the spirit of their father Jacob revived. And Israel said, “I’m convinced! My son Joseph is still alive. I will go and see him before I die.” (Genesis 45:25–28)

Jacob was stunned with disbelief. Twenty years of grief had done their work. His heart had learned to live inside the darkness of loss, and a heart like that does not easily let light back in.

Then came the carts. These proved to be the evidence of a son who was not only alive but powerful enough to send for his father. The sight of them said what words could not: this is real.

Can you see the gospel vocabulary? This is resurrection language. A man long dead inside was made alive again. His cold heart caught fire at the evidence of grace. Sorrow was replaced with joy, It is like the disciples on that first Easter Sunday morning, who also found the news too good to be true, who also needed more than words, who also moved from stunned silence to convinced belief.

“I’m convinced,” Jacob announces. He hasn’t yet seen with his own eyes but he believes! Faith did not wait for sight. This father would never be the same again.

Even a heart shaped by loss is still capable of coming alive again.

Most of us live our lives understanding that things need to be earned. Then we come across stories like this one, where instead of judgment, these brothers received grace. Of all the people to receive lavish gifts, these men were not those people. They deserved nothing but punishment. Grace is always excessive.

“When the news reached Pharaoh’s palace that Joseph’s brothers had come, Pharaoh and all his officials were pleased. ¹⁷ Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Tell your brothers, ‘Do this: Load your animals and return to the land of Canaan, ¹⁸ and bring your father and your families back to me. I will give you the best of the land of Egypt and you can enjoy the fat of the land.’ ¹⁹ “You are also directed to tell them, ‘Do this: Take some carts from Egypt for your children and your wives, and get your father and come. ²⁰ Never mind about your belongings, because the best of all Egypt will be yours.’” ²¹ So the sons of Israel did this. Joseph gave them carts, as Pharaoh had commanded, and he also gave them provisions for their journey. ²² To each of them he gave new clothing, but to Benjamin he gave three hundred shekels of silver and five sets of clothes. ²³ And this is what he sent to his father: ten donkeys loaded with the best things of Egypt, and ten female donkeys loaded with grain and bread and other provisions for his journey. ²⁴ Then he sent his brothers away, and as they were leaving he said to them, “Don’t quarrel on the way!” (Genesis 45 v 16-24)

1. Grace is given; it is never deserved.

The brothers have done nothing to earn Pharaoh’s favour. Grace moves first. It doesn’t respond to merit. Grace says you don’t need to bring anything with you, because what’s coming is better than anything you’re carrying.

2. Grace is excessive.

Grace is always more than enough. Five sets of clothes. Three hundred shekels. Ten donkeys of the finest things. Ten more donkeys full of provisions. Grace is outlandish.

3. Grace keeps caring after the gift is given.

Joseph calls after them: ” Don’t quarrel on the way.” He knows what guilt, fear, and brotherly rivalry can do to a group of men on a long journey. Grace is a relationship that continues even after the giving is done

Grace does not come after a confession or an apology, nor is it earned in any shape or form. Grace always costs. But the one paying the price is the one who carries the grace, not the one who receives it.

“So then, it was not you who sent me here, but God. He made me father to Pharaoh, lord of his entire household and ruler of all Egypt. “Now hurry back to my father and say to him, ‘This is what your son Joseph says: God has made me lord of all Egypt. Come down to me; don’t delay. ¹⁰ You shall live in the region of Goshen and be near me—you, your children and grandchildren, your flocks and herds, and all you have. ¹¹ I will provide for you there, because five years of famine are still to come. Otherwise, you and your household and all who belong to you will become destitute.’ ¹² “You can see for yourselves, and so can my brother Benjamin, that it is really I who am speaking to you. ¹³ Tell my father about all the honour accorded me in Egypt and about everything you have seen. And bring my father down here quickly.” ¹⁴ Then he threw his arms around his brother Benjamin and wept, and Benjamin embraced him, weeping. ¹⁵ And he kissed all his brothers and wept over them. Afterward his brothers talked with him.” (Genesis 45 v9-15)

1. Grace doesn’t wait for an apology.

They have not said sorry. Grace comes way before an apology. It moves first. It does not sit back and wait until the conditions are right. Grace is not earned.

• Grace renames the wound.

Joseph hasn’t forgotten what happened. “It was not you who sent me here, but God.” Grace does not require us to pretend that nothing happened; it refuses to let what happened have the final word.

• Grace is grounded in a story bigger than the offence.

God has been narrating a story through Joseph’s suffering, and that story is larger than the brothers’ cruelty. Grace flows most freely from people who are most convinced that God is at work in all things.

• Grace comes with an embrace.

It is not a formal declaration. Grace is physical. Joseph does not send word of his forgiveness through a messenger. He crosses the room himself.

The verse we read today has to be one of the most standout verses. It has to be underlined if you do that kind of thing. It has to be memorised.

With the backdrop in your mind of what the brothers had done to Joseph. The painful years he endured. Joseph sees beneath the surface of suffering, and he knows God has always been there. Behind all the betrayals, God was working out His purpose.

People may harm you in many ways, but the main point is to ask what God is doing through this. When you understand that love goes with you into the pit and prison of life, then you know that some purpose much larger than your experience is being worked through.

All around you right now, you may only see delays and abandonment. You may wonder where God is. You cannot see what life will be like in the next chapters. But one thing you should know is this: there will be more chapters; this is not the end of the story, and God never wastes anything of your life.

Today is not the end of your story. God is at work. Now marvel at this wonderful verse:

“So then, it was not you who sent me here, but God. He made me father to Pharaoh, lord of his entire household and ruler of all Egypt.” (Genesis 44 v 8)

There is a message you don’t expect from someone who has been betrayed. It is ‘come close’. Years later, it would be said again. Still today, the Spirit breathes the same message. Will you hear it today?

“Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph! Is my father still living?” But his brothers were not able to answer him, because they were terrified at his presence. ⁴ Then Joseph said to his brothers, “Come close to me.” When they had done so, he said, “I am your brother Joseph, the one you sold into Egypt! ⁵ And now, do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you. ⁶ For two years now there has been famine in the land, and for the next five years there will be no plowing and reaping. ⁷ But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance.” (Genesis 45 v 3-7)

I see a beautiful parallel with Jesus.

Here, the brothers were terrified in Joseph’s presence. But the invitation was to ‘come close’.

^“37 They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost. ³⁸ He said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds? ³⁹ Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.” (Luke 24 v 37-39)

Without minimising what they had done, Joseph speaks of a higher purpose, “But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you …” The evil they had done was, without their knowledge, the path God used to raise him to the position he holds today to save lives.

The cross was not a tragedy which God had to find a way through. It was meant to be. The wounds in Jesus’ body were not evidence that something had gone wrong. They were proof of the plan that was successful.

Suffering, in both stories, turns out to be the road to salvation.  The repeated message, generations apart, is this: ‘Come close’  

Stiff upper lip. Hold it together. Dignify yourself. We understand these phrases. Today, we read how Joseph lost it. We might think that his emotions got the better of him. But maybe the tears are not a weakness. Maybe it is the whole point.

“Then Joseph could no longer control himself before all his attendants, and he cried out, “Have everyone leave my presence!” So there was no one with Joseph when he made himself known to his brothers. ² And he wept so loudly that the Egyptians heard him, and Pharaoh’s household heard about it.” (Genesis 45 v 1-2)

The second most authoritative person in all of Egypt, who had masterfully handled the famine crisis and had contributed to the nation’s stable position, is now undone.

Combustion happened inside of Joseph. His own brothers had sold him. God had kept him. These two major factors of his life were now standing together in the same room after all these years.

Joseph didn’t begin with a speech. He didn’t launch into a severe reprimand, setting the record straight. Surely that would have been understandable, even expected. He wept. Uncontrollably and loudly weeping.

Do you remember Jesus weeping before he called Lazarus out of the tomb? It is the shortest verse in the Bible and probably one of the most powerful (John 11:35). The connection to this story is very close. The one with all the power chooses to enter the pain first rather than simply deal with it. Both were heard. “See how he loved him, ” was partly the response from the crowd. Others were frustrated, thinking Jesus should have prevented the death.

Both wept.

Love never treats suffering as merely a problem to be solved.

Joseph’s brothers were seeing a man losing control, his heart was breaking, and his world could hear him. His brothers are still not recognising him, but they would never forget this display of weeping, especially when his identity is revealed.

When they finally understood who he was, they would remember that the most powerful man in their world had wept for them before he said a single word. That is the shape of grace.

Joseph weeps in Egypt, and Jesus stands at Lazarus’s tomb in tears. Love always weeps first.