Topic: “RISING ABOVE YOUR CIRCUMSTANCES”!

Text: Genesis 37:1-4: And Jacob dwelt in the land wherein his father was a stranger, in the land of Canaan.  These are the generations of Jacob.  Joseph, being seventeen years old, was feeding the flock with his brethren; and the lad was with the sons of Bilhah, and with the sons of Zilpah, his father’s wives:  and Joseph brought unto his father their evil report.  Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age; and he made him a coat of many colors.  And when his brethren saw that their father loved him more than all his brethren, they hated him, and could not speak peaceably unto him

Genesis is derived from the Hebrew word Geneseos and the Greek bereshift, meaning, “in the beginning”; “by periods”; “coming into being”; “source or origin”; “birth”.  It’s from another Hebrew root word reshiyth (ray-sheeth’) meaning, the first, in place, time, order or rank (specifically a first-fruit); chief.     

It’s the first book in the Old Testament.  The Old Testament books are designed to show us the many ways and various means of how God was preparing the way for the coming of His Son Jesus the Christ.  The central purpose in the Divine Incarnation, were prefigured before-hand.

St. John 4:24: God is a Spirit.  He is Spirit Mind!  That tells me, He is invisible or not seen.  He doesn’t have a physical body.  In order to be seen He need a representative, agent, ambassador, or He need a person to act on or in His behalf.  What God did was manifest the character and life of Jesus prior to His physical manifestation through seven prominent persons in the Old Testament that I’ll make mention of.

• When He showed forth “leadership” – He sent Adam.
• To show forth the “death of His Son” – He used Abel.
• When He wanted a “refuge for His people” – He used Noah.
• When He needed a “Priest” – He pointed to Melchizedek.
• When He needed a “Prophet” – He sent Moses.
• When He needed a “King” – He appointed David.

But the fullest and most striking of all these personages was Joseph.  

• He showed forth His “Heirship”.

The “heir” is legally entitled to the estate upon the death of another.  Joseph’s history and Christ’s can be traced fully for a hundred similarities.

In the last thirteen chapters of the book of Genesis, the focus is on Jacob’s large dysfunctional family, and it particularly focuses on one of his sons, Joseph.

The text opens with the generations of Jacob who married two sisters, and had two mistresses on the side.  They had a total of twelve sons, two of which were murderers, one a sex offender, and a daughter who was raped.  Can you imagine the constant conflict and competition between mothers and children?  This is why polygamy was never part of God’s plan in the New Testament.  It was forbidden because it led to one big unhappy, messed up family.

Things are no different today.  Chaos is still reaping havoc in many families today.  Why?  We live in a time of unprecedented self-centeredness, a time of envy, strife, divisions, immorality and broken relationships.  Living in such a family, can be very difficult to live for God.  But it is not impossible, as we will see.

 Joseph was sent here on “divine assignment”.  He lived through difficult circumstances in the midst of a troubled family.  He is now seventeen and feeding the flock with his brethren.  

Circumstances are facts or conditions connected with or relevant to an event or action.

Someone said that life is ten percent of what happens to you and ninety percent of how you respond to what happens to you.  Life circumstances can control our lives if we allow them too.

Have you ever told someone that you are doing alright “under the circumstances”?  Well, “Get out from under the circumstances”!  Don’t allow them to control you.  I know some dreamers: “Oh if this or if that was different, I would do such and such a thing”.  But nothing changed and the end result, nothing accomplished.

What about us today?  Every person is different.  We all have particular circumstances in our lives.  All of us have a choice to make as well.  We can choose to remain “under the circumstances” and be controlled by our circumstances, or we can choose to “overcome or rise above them” by relying on God who is greater than any or all our circumstances.

Our text today is the story about a seventeen year old teenager, Joseph, who is dealing with some circumstances of life regarding his family.  Joseph is Jacob’s second youngest son out of thirteen children.

From about thirteen years from the time he was seventeen to thirty, things/circumstances did little else than go wrong for him, humanly speaking.  Yet in these early life circumstances God was shaping Joseph in preparation for what was to come.

Look at Joseph’s family background.  Where did Joseph come from?  What were his family ties?  All of us have them and they mean something.  No other teenager can boast that his great grandfather is Abraham; his grandfather is Isaac; and his father is Jacob, the forefathers of the Israelites.

One thing I do know is this, “trouble has no respect of person”.  No matter who you are, the office you hold, no matter the amount of money you have, no matter how gifted or anointed you may be, somewhere along life’s journey, you will meet up with the thing called “trouble”!

This family who became the nation of Israel was no stranger to trouble.  Jacob was father over a troubled dysfunctional family.  Meaning, the family was not operating properly or normally.  They were flawed, broken, defective, unfit, sick, unstable, maladjusted, distressed, disordered, etc.  The root cause of dysfunctionality is the entrance of sin into the human race.  Sin means to miss the mark or step beyond boundaries of the divine law.  As long as sin is present, even the best relationship will be less than perfect.

Galatians 5:19-21 describes these imperfections as works of the flesh that works internally and externally through emotions in the manifestation of hate, wrath, etc.  The flesh being the corrupt nature, with its wants being contrary to the spiritual nature wants.

Once sin sets in, it will distort everything we do and say.  It will color life so that no marriage, no family, no parent-child relationship is truly perfect.

One of the strange dynamics in family life is when children grow up they often repeat the mistakes of their families.  It’s been said that we are products of our environment.  When it comes to marriage and parenting (good or bad) we learn in the home.  The end result is, dysfunctional families can create dysfunctional families for generations.

Joseph was born at the end of Jacob’s carnal life, while the older siblings saw him at his worst.  Joseph escaped all the bad experiences of life in Haran, the others didn’t.  Joseph was companion only to the changed Jacob.

Let’s examine the family struggles:  Deceit – deceiving someone by concealing the truth, lying, and backstabbing.  Joseph’s father, Jacob was a cheat, a con-man.  His character was revealed at birth when he grasped his brother, Esau’s heel while in the womb.  He was given the name or his name means deceiver, trickster, supplanter.  He lived true to that name.  He deceived his father into placing the blessing of the birthright on him that belonged to Esau.  When the truth came to light, Esau vowed to kill him.  But Rebekah, Jacob’s mother sent him to live with his uncle Laban.  He was a schemer himself who cheated Jacob and treated him like a slave.  But you know something, “You reap what you sow”!  Laban gave Jacob the same dose of medicine he had given to Esau.  Laban tricked him out of something that rightfully belonged to him, Rachel.  So Joseph’s parental history was not ideal by any standards.

We see deceit and division.  Have you ever heard parents or grandparents talk about their family?  For some, you would think they dropped right out of heaven.  They are so perfect.  But to understand the animosity toward Joseph, I have to show the relationship between Jacob and his wives.

The first eleven children born to Jacob were ten sons and one daughter.  There were four mothers:  Leah and her handmaid Zilpah; then Rachel whom Jacob loved and slaved for fourteen years to have and she couldn’t conceive so she gave her maidservant Bilhah to Jacob.  Here you have eleven children.  Then finally scripture said, “God remembered Rachel and she conceived and bare a son and called his name Joseph” Genesis 30:22, and later came Benjamin.  What a family, one father, four mothers:  two were wives, two concubines, twelve sons and one daughter, and at the end of a mixed up, complicated family, Joseph arrives.  Can you imagine the constant conflict, competition, and jealousy among the mothers and the children? That’s why polygamy never was a part of God’s plan in the New Testament.  It was forbidden.

Death’s in the family:  Joseph growing up, Rebekah his grandmother died; then his grandfather Isaac died.  The one that broke his heart was the death of his mother Rachel.  The threads of pain, sorrow, and bereavement were woven into his life.  This family had many twists and turns that could have turned Joseph bitter toward God and others, but he rose above the circumstances to be the incredible man of God he was.

What about your background?  Are you living amongst a crowd of conniving, selfish, miserable people?  Do you have family members more interested in money and material gain than in spiritual gain?  They’d rather gain the whole world and lose their soul.  It had to be a tough and lonely road for Joseph.  But in the rough and tough tumble of a less than perfect family, God was preparing him for the role he had planned for him.

There are people all over the world who are bitter about their background or position in life.  “If only this”, “if only that”, moaning and groaning.  “If only I was taller”; “if only I was thinner”; “if only I drove a Mercedes”; “if only my family was normal”.  Not once did Joseph cry “If only my”!

Look, I don’t care what your background is, how dark your circumstances, how thin your wallet, how lacking your opportunity for advancement maybe, God said, “Them that honor me, I will honor”     (1 Samuel 2:30).

The favorite son:  Have you got favorites in your family?  Do you know families that do?  Parenthood is no easy task, whatever its definition.  And one of the deadliest traps is when a parent shows favor to one child above another.  Favoritism is a monster!  Was it right?  No!  It can be devastating!  Jacob was the classic passive parent.  Joseph was his baby boy, born in his old age to the only woman he ever loved, Rachel.  She was a stunningly beautiful woman and surely Joseph inherited her good looks.  Now she’s dead and Joseph is a constant reminder of the woman he labored fourteen years to have.  Oh no, he didn’t have a problem letting the others know where his heart was.  

Here’s the thing, when he gave Joseph that coat of many colors that really pushed the brothers over the edge!  Nobody else had one like it.  They knew that coat wasn’t for a working man!

Jacob was clearly marking Joseph for leadership!  Meaning, the wearer was an overseer, a master.  It was a robe of nobility!  Can you imagine his brothers looking at that coat as a constant reminder of Joseph’s favored status?  They hated him!!

The “coat” was a symbol of “TRUTH” given by our Heavenly Father!!!  It was one piece and it was “seamless”!  Jesus’ robe was of one piece and “seamless”, meaning – “truth must be whole”. 

When Joseph was accused of being a tale-bearer, I think not, because he embodied the very character of Christ – “THE TRUTH TELLER” Himself!!!  So Joseph was bound to the “truth” and nothing but the “truth”!

Joseph’s coat was multi-colored, symbolizing infinite perfection, priesthood, denoting royalty, high honor, and rank.  It was worn only by the “chief” and the “chief heir”!   It also represented “righteousness” which is the color “white”or “the light of God” out of which comes all the other colors.  With every color there is a spirit of God, a name of God, and a gift that goes with it.  Although the truth is whole, it can be separated into division or parts because Christ’s Body is many membered, but yet one body:

• 1 Corinthians 12:12-13: For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body:  so also is Christ.  For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews of Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.

His brothers caught on that Joseph was replacing Reuben as “heir” to the birthright and they felt inferior to him.

To add insult to injury, Joseph is a dreamer and interpreter of dreams.  He shared the meaning of two dreams indicating they (the family) would bow to him.  That was the last straw!  The one they hate, after years of watching their father pamper him as if he was a prince, they felt he should have been doing the same share of the work, and they weren’t having it!

• Genesis 37:4: They hated him and could not speak peaceably to him.  Vs 5: And they hated him yet the more!  Vs 8: And his brethren said to him, “Shalt thou indeed reign over us”?  “Or shalt thou indeed have dominion over us”?  And they hated him yet the more for his dreams, and for his words. 

Hebrews took dreams seriously, believing it was a message from God and a sign of the future.  Joseph’s brothers from that point plotted to kill him.

Jesus’ brethren (the Jews) according to the flesh (four gospels) hated Him for the same reasons and sought to kill Him!  Jesus said, “If the world hate you, understand that it hated ME first” (John 15:18).  

Can you see what favoritism does?  It fuels jealousy so deadly, it can kill.  It breeds division and brings discord to families.

Hate is a strong emotion.  It’s an intention and passionate dislike for someone.  Envy is worse!  It’s a personal emotion.  The danger is if you live in it, it leads to jealousy, the most violent of all emotions. 

• Proverbs 14:30: A tranquil heart is life to the body, but (envy) passion is rottenness to the bones.  It will consume you!
• Proverbs 27:4: Wrath is fierce and anger is a flood, but who can stand before jealousy?
  Jealousy says, “I’m jealous because I don’t have what you have”.  Or “because you’re in that position and I’m not”.  

Envy and jealousy fit together.  It will lead to murder.  These brothers were walking, not in the fear of God, not even in respect for their earthly father, but in full fledge flesh desire, the things mentioned in Galatians 5:19-21.  You can take it to the bank the kingdom of God does not belong to people who live in envy, factions, division, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, etc.  “I’m not talking about you all, I’m talking in relation to Joseph’s brothers!!!

Faithful Teenager:  This seventeen year old teenager is marching to the beat of a different drum.  Study the meaning of Joseph’s name and you will see why.  

He had two names.  Joseph was his human name; Zaphenath-paneah, was his spiritual name, meaning, revealer of secrets.  It also means the savior speaks and lives; savior of the universe; salvation of the age; sustainer of the life of the world. 

Pharaoh gave him that name because of the divine wisdom in him, Genesis 41:45.  The one Joseph foreshadowed had two names:  “Jesus” (human) - “Christ” signifying His Anointing: “His humanity as “Son of Man”:  “Son of God”, His Deity!!!

This was significant because Joseph was anointed from birth.  His name also means “ADDER”.  The first Adam was the great “Subtractor” and the last Adam is the great “ADDER”!

Through the one, “the Subtractor”, men lost and by the other, “the Adder”, all who believed are saved!  How many know Christ is the one who “adds” to the Kingdom, through the ultimate results of His death? 

• John 12:24: Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abides alone; but if it dies, it brings forth much fruit!

Joseph had no say in his position or status:  Ephesians 1:4: For he chose us in him before the foundation of the world!  

My sister and my brother, you don’t have a choice in your status either: John 15:16: “You did not choose me, but I chose you”!   God is saying, “I appointed you”!  Hear me, “If God chose you, no devil in hell can touch that”!  He might kick up some dust and he might knock you down at times, as long as he doesn’t knock you out!

Joseph was thrown into a pit.  You might fall into a pit (discouragement; struggles of life), a place where you feel all alone and have to ask, “God is you still here”?  But hear me, “If God is for us, who can be against us” Romans 8:31?

Joseph was separated from his brothers.  He stood apart in so many ways, especially in conduct.  Our text states, “He brought unto his father their evil report” Genesis 37:2.  Did that make him a tale-bearer or a snitch?  I don’t think so!  He was concerned about his father’s reputation and God’s honor.  Here he was living in the midst of a dysfunctional family where rape, cruelty, murder, and incest stained the lives of his brothers and sister, as they lived for themselves and the devil.  Don’t think the older brothers didn’t try to sway him to their way of life, but Joseph was different!

Have you ever been solicited to be a part of the “in-crowd” - those that tried to get you to attend wild parties, drink their alcohol, and use their drugs?  Will you dare to be different?  Will you dare to obey the Word of God which says, “And be not conformed to this world” Romans 12:2?  Don’t let the world around you squeeze you into its mold!  Take a stand openly and defiantly!  Your walk with Christ can’t be the same as the world.

God offers hope!  How?

1. God’s training program is through waiting, suffering, and sin.  You don’t have to sign up for them because God is going to use them for your good.
   His training route for you may take you along a path you’d never have chosen yourself.  He will take you down a path that will wind through the valley of deep shadows and take you into battles from which you will emerge with wounds whose depth only you and God know.  But I declare unto you, He will be with you every step of the way, as He promised, shaping you for greatness, for glory, for holiness, in His sight, through each of your difficult and painful experiences.

• Romans 8:28: And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
• Hebrews 13:5: He hath said, “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee”.

1. What man designed for “Evil”, God designed for “Good”!
   Genesis 45:4-5: And Joseph said unto his brethren, “Come near to me, I pray you”.  And they came near.  And he said, “I am Joseph your brother, whom you sold into Egypt”.  “Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that you sold me hither:  for God did send me before you to preserve life”.  Vs 7: “And God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance”.
   Joseph was saying to them, “It was not you who sent me here, but God”!  He said, “Your intention was to harm me, but God intended it for good, to accomplish what’s now being done, the saving of lives”!
2. Our salvation comes through a Righteous One, through sin and suffering, and through the Lion of the tribe of Judah, who is the Lamb who was slain from the beginning, Revelation 13:8.

In this story, we find a righteous person who is sinned against and suffers greatly, especially at the hands of his own family.  Yet God uses sin and suffering to bring physical salvation to the whole world. 

• 2 Corinthians 5:21: For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

Jacob’s blessing upon his son, Judah, was that Messiah would come through his family, Genesis 49:8-12, and He did.  All these things came to fulfillment in Jesus being born from the tribe of Judah!

Be a Joseph and know that you can “rise above your circumstances”!!!

Despite his circumstances and it wasn’t his choosing, but nevertheless, his faith was in his God!  He was able to rise above his circumstances!!!  So can we rise above ours!!!

Evangelist Brenda Hansley