Our Savior Lutheran Church

Welcome

Meet Joseph, one of the truly good guys of the Bible. Joseph seemed to understand that he was a man of purpose. He had an inner drive to do the right thing. And it wasn’t because his life was easy. It started that way but quickly turned into a series of catastrophes. Yet eventually, like a cat tossed in the air, Joseph landed on his feet.

To Get Us Started

Everybody loves an underdog. That’s why so many people wanted to see the Boston Red Sox and the Chicago White Sox (When will it be the Cubs turn?) win the World Series, Charlie Brown kick that football, and the rebels defeat the empire in Star Wars one more time on DVD.

1. If a movie were made about your life, which underdog hero would you be? Why?

a. Rocky (I, II, III, or IV)

b. Raiders of the Lost Ark

c. The Matrix

d. Dumb and Dumber

e. The Revenge of the Pink Panther

f. Other __________________________

2. What actor would play you in the movie you selected in # 1 above?

b. Denzel Washington

c. Woody Allen

d. Jackie Chan

e. Ben Affleck

f. Other _________________________

The Word

Joseph grew up in a family marked by favoritism and deceit. His great-grandfather Abraham lied and claimed that his wife, Sarah, was actually his sister. He did this to protect himself against a lustful Pharaoh (Genesis 12:10-20). His grandfather Isaac pulled the same trick on the Philistines with his wife Rebekah (Genesis 26:1-11). The excerpts from Genesis in this study show us some of the dysfunctional behavior between Joseph’s grandparents (Isaac and Rebekah) and between his father Jacob and great-uncle Laban.

Genesis 25:26-28

After this, his brother came out, with his hand grasping Esau's heel; so he was named Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when Rebekah gave birth to them.

[27] The boys grew up, and Esau became a skillful hunter, a man of the open country, while Jacob was a quiet man, staying among the tents. [28] Isaac, who had a taste for wild game, loved Esau, but Rebekah loved Jacob.

Genesis 27:1-13

When Isaac was old and his eyes were so weak that he could no longer see, he called for Esau his older son and said to him, "My son."

"Here I am," he answered.

[2] Isaac said, "I am now an old man and don't know the day of my death. [3] Now then, get your weapons--your quiver and bow--and go out to the open country to hunt some wild game for me. [4] Prepare me the kind of tasty food I like and bring it to me to eat, so that I may give you my blessing before I die."

[5] Now Rebekah was listening as Isaac spoke to his son Esau. When Esau left for the open country to hunt game and bring it back, [6] Rebekah said to her son Jacob, "Look, I overheard your father say to your brother Esau, [7] 'Bring me some game and prepare me some tasty food to eat, so that I may give you my blessing in the presence of the Lord before I die.' [8] Now, my son, listen carefully and do what I tell you: [9] Go out to the flock and bring me two choice young goats, so I can prepare some tasty food for your father, just the way he likes it. [10] Then take it to your father to eat, so that he may give you his blessing before he dies."

[11] Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, "But my brother Esau is a hairy man, and I'm a man with smooth skin. [12] What if my father touches me? I would appear to be tricking him and would bring down a curse on myself rather than a blessing."

[13] His mother said to him, "My son, let the curse fall on me. Just do what I say; go and get them for me."

Genesis 29:16-25

Now Laban had two daughters; the name of the older was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel. [17] Leah had weak eyes, but Rachel was lovely in form, and beautiful. [18] Jacob was in love with Rachel and said, "I'll work for you seven years in return for your younger daughter Rachel."

[19] Laban said, "It's better that I give her to you than to some other man. Stay here with me." [20] So Jacob served seven years to get Rachel, but they seemed like only a few days to him because of his love for her.

[21] Then Jacob said to Laban, "Give me my wife. My time is completed, and I want to lie with her."

[22] So Laban brought together all the people of the place and gave a feast. [23] But when evening came, he took his daughter Leah and gave her to Jacob, and Jacob lay with her. [24] And Laban gave his servant girl Zilpah to his daughter as her maidservant.

[25] When morning came, there was Leah! So Jacob said to Laban, "What is this you have done to me? I served you for Rachel, didn't I? Why have you deceived me?"

Observations

Joseph is 17 when we first meet him. It isn’t hard to imagine what those first 17 years had been like. Genesis doesn’t whitewash the family flaws of his grandparents, parents, and great-uncle who played formative roles in Joseph’s life.

It’s not an accident that the Holy Spirit chose to expose us immediately to some of this dysfunction in the biblical account of Joseph’s life: “This is the account of Jacob. Joseph, a young man of seventeen, was tending the flocks with his brothers, the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father's wives, and he brought their father a bad report about them” (Genesis 37:2). What observations can we find here that might aid us as we face our own challenges in life – whether we’re 17, 37, or 67?

Observation 1

God specializes in changing us and conforming us into His image, no matter what our family background.

His family’s sins definitely impacted Joseph. Lying, deceit, immorality, and manipulation dominated his family for several generations. If any young man had an excuse for turning out badly, Joseph certainly did. Still Joseph did not blame his family for his misfortunes. He could have easily blamed his did, his mom, his brothers, and even his sister for the rest of his life – for repressed anger, lingering bitterness, persistent anxiety, fear of rejection, and a tendency to be deceitful, manipulative, and immoral. After all, he was reared in that kind of environment for 17 years!

The facts are, he did not blame anyone. This will become even more clear as we continue to study his life. Joseph rose above the negative influences in his environment and let God make him into the person God wanted him to be. He let God help him choose t do what was right when family background pushed him in another direction.

Observation 2

God understands our particular circumstances, and He wants to help us rise above the negative influences in our lives.

God’s will does not include our getting bogged down with self-pity and other sin patterns. Rather, God works in our lives to eliminate such self-destructive patterns. It takes time – as it did in Joseph’s life – but with God, all things are possible.

This is not to say that we won’t be seriously affected by our home environments. I know some people who have suffered throughout their adult lives – particularly when they’ve experienced serious psychological and emotional trauma as children. Sexual abuse can be the most damaging of these traumas.

God wants to bring healing to all of us in all areas of our emotional and spiritual lives. But it can only happen when we follow God’s plan.

Observation 3

No matter what our family background, transformation begins with new birth.

Jesus tells us that we “must be born again” if we are to find eternal life (John 3:7). This new birth gives all of us a new beginning in life. This is what Joseph’s father, Jacob, experienced at Bethel when God appeared to him in a dream (Genesis 28:10-22). The ladder that reached from earth to heaven symbolized and foretold the coming of Jesus Christ who was and always has been “the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6).

Referring to this new beginning, Paul wrote, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” (2 Corinthians 5:17). We don’t receive a new body – a new brain, a new set of lungs, and a new heart that pumps blood through our veins. Nor does our emotional and psychological makeup become totally new. For example, people who suffer form clinical depression may still get depressed. But when we become Christians – no matter what our physical and psychological state – we have a new identity in Christ. The Holy Spirit comes to dwell in our lives. By His indwelling presence and power we are able to live a new life, even as Joseph did.

To Discuss

3. How did you feel as a child when adults seemed to favor another child over you? How do you feel now when you sense someone getting an advantage simply because of favoritism?

4. What happens in a family or organization when trickery or deceit become the usual way of relating and getting things done?

5. How do you think Rebekah and Isaac should have handled their natural preferences for one twin over the other? What does it say about their relationship that they let their preferences turn into competitive favoritism?

6. Jacob’s objections to deceiving his father were more timid than principled. What do you think he learned about scheming and deceit from his mother?

7. Rebekah tricked her husband and older son on Jacob’s behalf. Her brother Laban then tricked Jacob on Leah’s behalf. What should Jacob have learned from the humiliation of being tricked by his uncle?

8. What do you think it must have been like for Joseph growing up in a family with four mothers, eleven brothers, and one sister when lying and cheating were the expected methods of getting what he wanted?

9. What negative of dysfunctional traits tend to characterize your family? How is God working wit h you to minimize or eliminate them from your life?

10. What do you think happens in our souls when we start feeling sorry for ourselves because our family backgrounds are less than we wish they were?

11. Who has an ideal family background? How can the love of God and the power of community help us overcome our family backgrounds?

12. What does God transform at the time of new birth? What resources does God give us to overcome any negative family heritage?

Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob all seem to have been oblivious to the increasing harm dishonesty was causing their family. In contrast, we need to accept responsibility to cooperate with God’s Spirit in identifying and halting negative family traits in our generation.

13. Share with the group the changes that God has made in your life either since the Holy Spirit brought you into faith or as He has matured you in that faith. Are you thankful for those changes? Please explain.

Next Week

Next week we’ll see how the dysfunction of Jacob’s family came to a head. We’ll look at the antagonism that Joseph experienced as a teenager form his older brothers. At first glance it may seem petty: Joseph’s brothers didn’t like him. However, God planned to use this outbreak of family jealousy to initiate a chain reaction of conflict and suffering that would transform this family.