&nb= sp;

FOOD FOR THE FAMINE

&nb= sp;

Genesis 50:15-21

&nb= sp;

In the midst of evil, God works for good.

A sermon preached by

Rev. William O. (Bud) = Reeves

First United Methodist Church

Hot= Springs, Arkansas

June 1, 2008

Pastors get all kinds of interesting visitors.= One day a fellow walked in to a lo= cal Methodist church with a really sad look on his face. The pastor asked him what was the matter, and he began to tell about his dog. This dog had been his best frie= nd for years. He had raised the = dog from a pup, and they had shared so many good times together. But that very morning he had gone = in to where the dog slept and found that his old friend had passed away in the night. So he was wondering if= we could have a special service for his dog, a canine funeral.

The pastor said, “Well, I don’t think so. We don’t normally do funerals for animals. Why don’t you try one of the Baptist churches? They do all= kinds of strange things.”

“Oh, OK,” = the man said, obviously disappointed. As he turned to leave, he said, “I was just wondering, what do= you usually pay a minister for a funeral? Do you think $5,000 is enough?”

“Wait just a minute!” the pastor said. “You didn’t= tell me your dog was a Methodist!”

Do you ever find yours= elf jumping to conclusions before all the facts are in? Do you ever rush to make a judgmen= t, only to find out later that the reality of a situation was totally not what= you had expected? I have. And I would have been tempted to d= o that with the story of Joseph as well. Several times it seems he got the raw deal. It is not until the end = of his story that you find out what God had planned all along. Joseph’s story gives us a lo= t to think about and learn about discipleship.

The story of Joseph= 217;s life is the longest story in the Book of Genesis, and it’s one of the most interesting as well. Jos= eph was the 11^th son of Jacob and the firstborn of Jacob’s fav= ored wife, Rachel. Therefore he en= joyed a very special and privileged relationship with his father. Dressed in his coat of many colors= , not having to work like the other sons, and sporting an attitude of arrogance, Joseph was not well-liked. It= was no surprise that his brothers plotted to get rid of him. They took him and sold him as a sl= ave to a wandering band of traders and told Jacob he had been killed by wild beast= s, producing the blood-stained coat of Joseph as evidence.

Meanwhile Joseph ended= up a slave in Egypt. He did pretty well there, becoming= the chief steward in the house of Potiphar, an Egyptian official. But Potiphar’s wife, jealous= for Joseph’s affection, accused him of sexual harassment, and Joseph was thrown into prison. But even = there, Joseph won the trust of the prison guards and helped out some fellow inmate= s by interpreting their dreams. Wh= en Pharoah, the king of Egypt, had a disturbing dream, they sent for Joseph to interpret it. Joseph told Pharoah that the dream—seven thin cows eating seven fat cows, and seven bad ears of co= rn eating seven good ears of corn—meant that a severe famine was coming = and they ought to prepare for it. So Joseph was put in charge of the food warehousing program, and when the fami= ne did hit as predicted, Egypt became the breadbasket of the ancient world, feeding their own people and sending food to other nations as well.

Eventually Joseph̵= 7;s father Jacob sent Joseph’s brothers to Egypt to get food for the fam= ine, too, and Joseph was reunited with them.&nb= sp; The story of the intrigue surrounding that reconciliation is fascinating, but I won’t go into it here. Eventually the whole family moved = to Egypt, = and Joseph provided a place for them to live.&= nbsp; Jacob died in Egypt, and they took him home to Canaan to bury him. When Joseph and his brot= hers returned to Egypt, they were sure that Joseph had just been biding his time until his father w= as gone, waiting to exact a terrible revenge on them for selling him into slav= ery years before. They came crawl= ing to Joseph, saying that Jacob had said something about Joseph forgiving them and offering their lives in service to their younger brother.=

Finally, Joseph gave t= he punch line to his whole life story, right at the end of the book of Genesis. He said, “Do not be afraid! Am I in the place of God? Even though you intended to do har= m to me, God intended it for good, in order to preserve a numerous people, as he= is doing today.”[1] This was part of the plan all along. God knew what God was doing. In the midst of evil, = God was working for good the whole time. That is the great truth that I want you to believe and celebrate tod= ay. In the midst of evil, God works for good.

The New Testament counterpart for Joseph’s truth is Paul’s great statement in Rom= ans 8:28 (I like the NIV translation a little better here.): “We know that in all things God works f= or the good of those who have been called according to his purpose.” That’s good news! That’s the difference between optimism and hope. Optimism says everything will even= tually turn out all right. But true = hope says everything will eventually turn out all right because God enters histo= ry to make things right for his people who are faithful. As disciples, we are not merely optimistic; we have a hope that does not disappoint us because we believe i= n a God who works in the midst of evil to turn things good.

What are the implicati= ons of this great truth for our walk of discipleship? How can we be a Joseph? How can we find food in our times = of spiritual famine? How can we = walk in partnership with God to help turn evil into good? Let me share three ideas.

First, use your gifts. G= od has given each of us unique qualities and talents and spiritual gifts. Use who you are and what you have = to make a positive difference in the world.

Joseph had some unique qualities, not the least of which was the ability to interpret dreams. In his day, that was a highly admi= red gift. But he also combined th= is rather mysterious gift with an ability to organize and manage and lead. So he quickly succeeded, first as Potiphar’s head steward, then as the head of Pharoah’s famine relief program.

You and I are gifted differently than Joseph, but we are nevertheless given gifts to use for God’s glory. No one per= son is any better than anyone else in this respect. They’re all gifts; they̵= 7;re all God’s; they’re all good.&n= bsp;

Denzel Washington is an Oscar-winning actor and director of films.= In an interview with “60 Minutes,” Denzel Washington sha= red with Ed Bradley a pivotal moment in his life. He was in college at the time and dealing with questions about his vocation and direction. He was sitting in a chair in his mother’s beauty salon, and she was working on an elderly lady. All of a sudden, the elderly lady = said, “Give me a piece of paper. I have a word for Denzel.” On the paper she wrote, “You will speak to millions.”

Later Denzel asked his mother who the lady was, and his mother told him, “She is one of the oldest members of Mt. Vernon (the Washingtons’ church), and she has the gift of prophecy.” Washington points to that day as a defining moment in his life. Through her gift of prophecy, he realized that he had a gift as well. Even today, despite his busy schedule, his faith continues to be an important part of his life, and he prays and attends worship regularly.= 2&n= bsp;

Whatever your gift is, whether it is the gift of acting or the gift of prophecy or the gift of doi= ng hair, use it to glorify God, and you will be God’s partner in bringing good out of evil.

Second, grasp your opportunities. Look for the possibilities to make a difference. Carpe diem! Seize the day! Grasp your opportunities to do goo= d for God.

Joseph was not just gi= fted; he was smart. When he was cal= led before Pharoah to interpret this dream about the thin corn eating the full = corn and the thin cows eating the fat cows, he prophesied the coming famine. But he didn’t stop there. He practically volunteered for ser= vice. He said to Pharoah, “What yo= u need is somebody to handle the preparations for this famine. You have to tax the produce, build= the storage facilities, organize a network of distribution points; there’s lots to do! You need somebody= wise, somebody with insight, somebody with a discerning mind, somebody, if I do s= ay so myself, like me.”

Pharoah thought for a moment, then he said, “Say, how about you?” <= /p>

Joseph said, “Deal!” Suddenly = he was second only to Pharoah himself in authority over the land. Not bad—from prison to palac= e in one day, because he grasped his opportunity.

Half of success is just being able to spot opportunities. If you have on a pair of blue jeans today, chances are they have the name of Levi Strauss on them, or at least you have some “Levi’s= ” at home. But did you know the inventor of blue jeans was not in the clothing business at all? He went to = California during the Gold Rush of the 1840’s and 1850’s to make tents and wagon covers for the miners. He brought with him a= heavy canvas fabric he had found in France called denim. Unfortunately, = the first miner he talked to was not impressed. He told Strauss, “You should= have brought pants.” The min= er said they didn’t have any pants strong enough or durable enough to en= dure the tough conditions of mining. So, grasping an opportunity, Levi Strauss made a pair of pants out of his tent fabric. They caught on. Levi Strauss made a fortune, and h= e made a lasting impact on the clothes we still wear.

What opportunities are= there right now in your life to make a difference? If you want to make a lasting impa= ct for God, look for opportunities to do good, to help others, to serve human need= s, to witness the love of Jesus Christ, and you will be a partner with God in bringing good out of evil.

Finally, when your ene= my comes crawling, be gracious. This is much harder than using= your gifts or grasping at opportunities. If you are faithful to God, there will come a day when you are victorious. Those who have wr= onged you will themselves be proven wrong. You will prevail, and those who have intended evil toward you are go= ing to assume the boot-licking posture, crawling to you, begging for forgivenes= s, in fear for their lives. Well, maybe not, …but wouldn’t that be fun? Nevertheless, how are you going to= treat your enemies when you have the upper hand?

Joseph forgave his brothers. They had taken away= his privileged position, sold him into slavery, ruined that beautiful coat, and= now they were coming to him begging for food.&= nbsp; And what did Joseph do? He embraced them; he gave them food; he moved his whole family to Egypt, and w= hen his father died, he told his brothers who had wronged him that it was all p= art of God’s plan to preserve his people. So forget about it!

Isn’t that about= the tallest order of discipleship—to hold our tongues, to forgive our enemies, to forget past wrongs, and to work toward peace?

It was five days before Christmas in 1974 when a stranger approached ten-year-old Christopher Carri= er and told him he was a friend of his father. Could Chris help him pick out a pr= esent for his dad? Eager to do some= thing good, Chris climbed into the man’s motor home. The man drove to a remote field, c= laimed to be lost, and asked Chris to look at a map. Suddenly Chris felt a sharp pain i= n his back. The stranger was stabbing him with= an ice pick. After stabbing him repeatedly, he shot Chris in the left temple and dumped him in the alligator-infested Florida Everglades.

It was six days before searchers found Chris. Miraculously, he survived, though he lost sight in his left eye. Because he was unable to identify = his attacker, police never made an arrest in the case, and Chris lived in const= ant fear. Three years after the a= ttack, Chris became a Christian, and two years after that he shared his testimony = for the first time. Eventually Ch= ris went into full-time ministry, helping others to find the peace he had found= in Christ. Good out of evil.

In 1996, a detective p= honed Chris and told him a man had confessed to the crime that had blinded him. The man’s name was David McAllister. Ironically, he wa= s now blind, 77 years old, living in a nursing home nearby. He told the police that he had been hired by Chris’s dad. Chris’s dad caught him drinking on the job and fired him. Attempting to kill Chris was his w= ay of getting revenge.

So Chris went to visit= his attacker. At first the old man denied his confession, but as Chris shared more about himself, eventually he confessed and apologized for the crime.&nb= sp; Chris told him, “What you meant for evil, God has turned into a wonderful blessing.” Th= en Chris shared his forgiveness and his witness with this broken, humbled human being.

When Chris told his wi= fe and children about his visit with McAllister, the entire family began to visit = him almost daily. One Sunday afte= rnoon, Chris asked the most important question yet, “Do you want to know the Lord?” David McAllister= said yes, and they prayed together, basking in the grace of God, as David gave h= is heart to Christ. A few days l= ater McAllister died peacefully in his sleep.

Chris Carrier says his= story is not a story of regret, but redemption:&= nbsp; “I saw the Lord give that man back his life, and so much more. I can’t wait to s= ee him again some day—in heaven.”3

In all kinds of evil, God works for good. Will you work with him? Like Joseph, use your gifts; grasp= for opportunities to do good; be gracious to your enemies. And you will find strength for your journey, courage for your own difficulties, and food for the famine. Amen!