Proper Perspectives for God

Proper Perspectives for God’s Persistent Servants

Gen 45

Imagine if you will that you see a man driving a pick-up truck toward a building. All of a sudden he stops the truck and begins to back it up toward one of the windows of the building. Once the truck is parked just under the window, he gets out and goes into the building. A few minutes pass and then without any warning you hear the sound of crashing glass. You look and see that the man has thrown something out of the window into the back of the truck. You stand and watch and for the next 15 to 20 minutes you see nothing but books, and files and all kinds of paper fly out of the window and into the back of the truck. Finally you see the man drive away and because of the direction he is headed, you conclude that he is going to the city dump.

Now imagine that the building is a church and the man is the Senior Pastor.

Sadly this is a very common occurrence in the Church today.

For whatever reason it may be, pastors from all over the world are deciding that it is not worth it anymore. They have tried and tried to continue on but they just can not. They decide it is time to quit.

If ever there was a man who could be expected to do this, it would be Joseph.

But Joseph chose a different route. Rather than choosing to be a quitting servant of God, Joseph chose to be a persistent servant of God.

This morning we are going to continue our series on the life of Joseph. Just as in all the previous weeks, we are going to see Joseph as he is stretched and strengthened by God.

Last week we saw him as he focused on the divine. We saw Joseph as he looked to the big picture of God’s divine plan and lived in the true light of God’s sovereignty.

This week we will see Joseph as God uses Him to put God’s kingdom plan into action. We will see Joseph as he is stretched in expressing his forgiveness of his brothers to them. We will see him strengthened as he sees his faith in God is fulfilled as God uses him to serve God by serving others.

This week we will see Joseph as God’s persistent servant and we will see how we too can be one of God’s persistent servants.

God has called each one of us to do so, and I believe if we want to do so, we must have proper perspectives.

This morning by carefully examining Gen 45, we will learn five proper perspectives for God’s persistent servants.

In order for us to better grasp what is happening here, I believe that it is necessary for us, instead of going through the passage in order, to do a certain amount of skipping around.

My prayer is that in the end we will indeed clearly see the proper perspectives for God’s persistent servants.

We will close by looking at one specific thing we should do as we keep these perspectives in mind.

If you have your Bible, please turn with me to Gen. 45 and begin with proper perspective number one.

Gen. 45:1-8a

1 Then Joseph could not control himself before all those who stood by him, and he cried, “Have everyone go out from me.” So there was no man with him when Joseph made himself known to his brothers.
2 He wept so loudly that the Egyptians heard it, and the household of Pharaoh heard of it.
3 Then Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph! Is my father still alive?” But his brothers could not answer him, for they were dismayed at his presence.
4 Then Joseph said to his brothers, “Please come closer to me.” And they came closer. And he said, “I am your brother Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt.
5 “Now do not be grieved or angry with yourselves, because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life.
6 “For the famine has been in the land these two years, and there are still five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvesting.
7 “God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant in the earth, and to keep you alive by a great deliverance.
8 “Now, therefore, it was not you who sent me here, but God.

Joseph is finally alone with his brothers, and so with no one else watching, Joseph reveals his true identity to his brothers.

Joseph says three times – “God sent me.” The word “sent” literally means ‘put’ or ‘placed’. Joseph is saying God put me here.

Verse 4 reminds us that ‘here’ was in Egypt. We know from the whole of the account that specifically he was in Pharaoh’s home. Prior to this he was in jail, and prior to that in Potiphar’s house. Everywhere Joseph has been, he has faithfully served the Lord. In all of these places, he could have made up some really good reasons not to do so. He was away from his family and his home. He had to learn a new language, a new culture, a new way of living. He had to serve his God in a land that had no regards for his God. In spite of all of this, Joseph persistently served Him.

Why, because Joseph believed that God, not his brothers, not his circumstances, had sent him, or divinely put him, where he was in order for him to serve God. No matter where God put him, Joseph served God.

Proper perspective number one for God’s persistent servants is –

God has divinely appointed me a place to serve Him.

Most of us are here away from our families and our earthly homes. We have to adjust to a different culture and to a certain degree deal with a different language or languages. In spite of all of this, we are called to persistently serve God, here. Here in Abu Dhabi. Most people come here with the idea that they are here to work and make better money, some out of desire to have more, some out of perceived need. For whatever reason it is that you are here, I wonder if you have ever considered one thing.

Have you ever considered that God brought you here to serve Him? Have you ever thought – God has divinely put me in Abu Dhabi to serve Him?

Two weeks ago you met Alfonso and Marli. They did not come here with the plan of serving God. They came here to work and yet God reached down and grabbed their hearts. As they saw God work in their hearts, they realized, God has brought us here to serve Him. So now they are faithfully serving Him. Lord willing in the months ahead, the Lord will open the doors for them to serve on the Doulos ship and use them to serve Him there. They are just one of many examples of people who came here thinking it was to work and then learning that it was really to serve God.

Have you ever considered – God has divinely put me in Abu Dhabi to serve Him?

Proper perspective number one for God’s persistent servants is –

God has divinely appointed me a place to serve Him.

Let’s continue with proper perspective number two in verse 8.

Gen. 45:8

8 “Now, therefore, it was not you who sent me here, but God; and He has made me a father to Pharaoh and lord of all his household and ruler over all the land of Egypt.

Joseph describes himself in three different ways. He states that God made him a father to Pharaoh, a lord – literally a ‘servant’ over Pharaoh’s household, and a ruler over Egypt.

The word ‘made’ could literally be translated “made me like” or “represented me as”. The implication being that father, lord, and ruler were not Joseph’s real positions or occupations, if you will. His real position was servant of the Living God. God made him, or positioned him, as these so that from these he could serve God.

Remember, prior to this Joseph was slave, then overseer of Potiphar’s home, then prisoner, then second in command to the chief jailer. God made Joseph all of these different positions and from each and every one of them in faithful persistence he served God. His true position was servant of the Living God and he served God from the earthly positions which God gave, or made, him.

No matter what earthly occupation God gave him, no matter what position God made him, Joseph served God from it.

Proper perspective number two for God’s persistent servants is –

God has divinely appointed me a position from which to serve Him.

Our true position is “child of God”. As such, we are to serve God.

Let’s take away everything else that we think we are, because everything else that we think we are can be changed. Let’s say you label yourself a banker. If you lose that job and have to go work in a totally different job, then you are no longer a banker. If I label myself a pastor and then I lose this job and have to become a janitor, I am no longer a pastor. If I label myself a husband and then do something stupid to lose my wife, I am no longer a husband. If I identify myself as anything other than child of God, I am in danger of losing my identity, because every identity – except child of God – can change.

God’s true definition of you, God’s true definition of me, is child of God. This can not change.

God has given each of us different earthly positions, each one being divinely appointed by Him so that from it we can serve Him.

No matter what our earthly position is, from it we should persistently serve God. Each and every one of us is in unique positions from which come opportunities to serve that will not come to others who are in different positions. So rather than seeing things from a human perspective and focusing on our earthly position and all the plusses and minuses that come from it, let’s focus on the divine and know that our true position is servant of God. Let’s serve Him from whatever earthly positions He has given us.

Proper perspective number two for God’s persistent servants is –

God has divinely appointed me a position from which to serve Him.

Let’s continue with proper perspective number three. For it, we must go back to verse 7 and go through verse 11.

As I read, see if you can hear all of the people that are mentioned.

Gen. 45:7-11

7 “God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant in the earth, and to keep you alive by a great deliverance.
8 “Now, therefore, it was not you who sent me here, but God; and He has made me a father to Pharaoh and lord of all his household and ruler over all the land of Egypt.
9 “Hurry and go up to my father, and say to him, ‘Thus says your son Joseph, “God has made me lord of all Egypt; come down to me, do not delay.
10 “You shall live in the land of Goshen, and you shall be near me, you and your children and your children’s children and your flocks and your herds and all that you have.
11 “There I will also provide for you, for there are still five years of famine to come, and you and your household and all that you have would be impoverished.” ’

Joseph mentions the following people: Joseph’s brothers, a remnant in the earth, Pharaoh, his household, all Egyptians, Joseph’s father – Jacob, Jacob’s children, Jacob’s children’s children

These are all of the people Joseph was serving.

If we again look back, we would see many more people that Joseph served depending upon where God had divinely put him and what position God had divinely made him.

Whomever it was that God specifically put in Joseph’s path, Joseph served them.

Proper perspective number three for God’s persistent servants is –

God has divinely appointed me a people to serve.

Who are the people God has divinely placed around you? There are family members, relatives, friends, neighbors, co-workers, and the list goes on and on. There are also those who we meet in passing. Salespeople, electricians, plumbers, mechanics, and the list goes on.

Have you ever considered that everyone you meet is someone you can serve? Perhaps they will be someone with whom you can share the gospel; perhaps someone to whom you will minister in another way. Whatever the situation may be, no matter who the person is, everyone you meet is an opportunity to serve God by serving them.

I know I have already shared this, but every time I remember it, I am amazed.

A couple of years ago, we were getting ready to go on a family vacation. The night before we were set to leave, we went out to run some errands. The time got away from us and all of a sudden we realized that we needed to get home, get the children to bed and finish packing. My wife then reminded me that we had not yet bought sandals for the children. Again, it was late, so I made it clear in a firm, but very loving voice, that we were to go into the store, get the sandals, and get out. I made sure she knew that we were not to enlist the help of a salesman unless absolutely necessary. We got to the store and being true to my word, when the salesman approached us, I said no thank you and refused his help. He came back a second time and I said the same – no thank you. He approached me a third time and I thought to myself – this guy is not going to leave me alone until I talk to him – so I let him help. I did my best to keep it short, thinking he would go away, but he did not. Now, I may be a bit slow, but I am not stupid. God reminded me – Joe, you pray for divine appointments. Could this not be one? So I started talking with him. As it turns out, he was from Nepal and he was bored living here. I asked him what he did for entertainment and he said, it may sound weird but I am studying Christianity. I said, well you will never guess what my job is. The next thing I know, he was hugging me. I invited him to lunch. After going out once, we started having a weekly Bible study together. During the third week, he placed his faith in Christ as his Savior.

If I would have had my way, I never would have talked to that man. God divinely appointed for the two of us to meet.

Proper perspective number three for God’s persistent servants is –

God has divinely appointed me a people to serve.

Let’s continue with number four.

A pastor once said – I love the ministry; it is just the people that I cannot stand. Rest assured that it was not this pastor or anyone on the pastoral staff of this church.

The pastor was in effect saying – I love serving the Lord, but sometimes the people get in the way.

Why did he say this? Because people often cause problems which make for difficulties in serving.

Joseph could relate well. Let’s look back at verses 1-6.

Gen. 45:1-6

There is no one except Joseph and his brothers present. Joseph now had to speak to them in their own language.

He expresses his forgiveness to them for what they did.

He had already forgiven them a long time ago. We saw evidence of this in the naming of his sons. Had he not forgiven them, he could have, and probably would have, easily exacted revenge on them the first time they came to Egypt.

In expressing his forgiveness to them, he is telling them:

· I was divinely appointed by God to serve Him.

· It is God who has been in control all along.

· Do not worry about what has happened. What most would see as obstacles, I have seen as opportunities to serve God.

Joseph is in essence saying – God has divinely appointed all of the problems you caused by selling me as a slave into Egypt and turned them into opportunities for serving Him.

Proper perspective number four for God’s persistent servants is –

God has divinely appointed me problems as opportunities to serve Him.

Now if you are like me, you do not like this.

What does it mean – God divinely appoints problems; God allows problems?

We must be careful here. We are not saying that God caused them to happen. God did not force them to happen.

God in His sovereignty and in His perfect knowledge, knowledge that we can not fully understand, allows problems into our lives for our good, for the good of mankind and for His glory.

I would love to say that this is not true. I would love to find a reason to not believe it, but we need look no further than Joseph. When we look at Joseph’s life and see how all the problems came about, I do not see any other conclusion that we can come to.

God divinely appoints problems for us as opportunities to serve Him.

Problems are problems. We do not want to deny this. This does not make light of or ignore the difficulties caused by the problems we face. It simply helps to see them from God’s divine perspective.

God is in control of the circumstances of our lives.

Nothing happens that does not first pass by His sovereign throne.

He allows and uses the events of our lives, both good and bad, as opportunities to serve Him.

He divinely appoints problems as opportunities to serve Him.

We must have the proper perspective.

Think about the problems in your own life. If you simply see them as problems and you are simply seeking to only bring about an earthly end, then I would submit to you that while the earthly end may be good, it is of no true eternal value.

If I am having family conflicts due to the fact that I am a Believer and others are not, and I bring about a resolution that ends the conflict, that is good and we want that. But, if it stops there and goes no further, where is the eternal good that comes out of that? I am sorry to say, but I have to say honestly, if there is no reconciliation to God on the part of my family members, they will still sadly go to a Christ-less eternity. I must look at our reconciliation to each other and not see it as an end, but rather see it as a means to the greater end of my family being reconciled to God.

God divinely appoints problems so we have opportunities to serve Him.

Are there relationship problems in your family? Has someone wronged you causing great pain? Perhaps God wants to use you or to use the situation to bring people to faith in Him.

Have you suffered through medical problems? Perhaps God wants you to minister comfort to others with the same.

Do you have mechanical things that break down? Perhaps God wants to use you to encourage the repairman. Perhaps he wants to use you to share Christ with him.

If we look at the problems in our lives and think – I want them solved; I want them over, and that is our only goal, that is of no true eternal value. But if we look at the problems in our lives and pray – God use these to draw me to you, God use these as opportunities to serve You, then we can see God and trust God for the eternal value.

Whatever problems you may encounter, they can and should be seen as God’s divine opportunities to serve Him.

Proper perspective number four for God’s persistent servants is –

God has divinely appointed me problems as opportunities to serve Him.

God has divinely appointed me a place, a position, a people and problems as opportunities to serve Him.

And just as He is sovereign over these, he is sovereign over the fruit.

Let’s look at the fifth and final proper perspective which is found in verses 12-28.

Gen. 45:12-28

12 “Behold, your eyes see, and the eyes of my brother Benjamin see, that it is my mouth which is speaking to you.
13 “Now you must tell my father of all my splendor in Egypt, and all that you have seen; and you must hurry and bring my father down here.”
14 Then he fell on his brother Benjamin’s neck and wept, and Benjamin wept on his neck.
15 He kissed all his brothers and wept on them, and afterward his brothers talked with him.
16 Now when the news was heard in Pharaoh’s house that Joseph’s brothers had come, it pleased Pharaoh and his servants.
17 Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Say to your brothers, ‘Do this: load your beasts and go to the land of Canaan,
18 and take your father and your households and come to me, and I will give you the best of the land of Egypt and you will eat the fat of the land.’
19 “Now you are ordered, ‘Do this: take wagons from the land of Egypt for your little ones and for your wives, and bring your father and come.
20 ‘Do not concern yourselves with your goods, for the best of all the land of Egypt is yours.’”
21 Then the sons of Israel did so; and Joseph gave them wagons according to the command of Pharaoh, and gave them provisions for the journey.
22 To each of them he gave changes of garments, but to Benjamin he gave three hundred pieces of silver and five changes of garments.
23 To his father he sent as follows: ten donkeys loaded with the best things of Egypt, and ten female donkeys loaded with grain and bread and sustenance for his father on the journey.
24 So he sent his brothers away, and as they departed, he said to them, “Do not quarrel on the journey.”
25 Then they went up from Egypt, and came to the land of Canaan to their father Jacob.
26 They told him, saying, “Joseph is still alive, and indeed he is ruler over all the land of Egypt.” But he was stunned, for he did not believe them.
27 When they told him all the words of Joseph that he had spoken to them, and when he saw the wagons that Joseph had sent to carry him, the spirit of their father Jacob revived.
28 Then Israel said, “It is enough; my son Joseph is still alive. I will go and see him before I die.”

What we have just read is a description of the fruit that God brings forth as a result of Joseph’s persistence in serving Him.

God brings forth fruit from Joseph’s persistent service in many ways. I would like to highlight two specific ways.

First, his family is to be re-united. This is more from a human perspective, more, as we discussed last week, a benefit that is good, that is wanted, that we rejoice in and thank God for, but is not to be viewed as the end, but rather a means to a more divine end.

The second fruit that God brings forth is Pharaoh commanding Joseph to move his family to Egypt. Do you remember verse 43:32? The Egyptians of that time were not too fond of Hebrews and they most definitely had no regard for their God. They had gods of their own. From a divine point, God is putting His plans for the immediate future into action. Remember, these are for Joseph to express his forgiveness to his brothers thus bringing Jacob and his family to Egypt preserving them from the famine. There in Egypt, God was to make them into a nation, specifically the nation of Israel. God was to do all of this to ultimately bring forth God’s plan for the distant future – namely to usher in the first coming of Christ.

The important thing to note here is that Joseph had no way of knowing that God was doing all of this. He only knew in part the fruit of his serving. Joseph now knows and sees God’s bigger plan. We too have no idea what God is ultimately going to do, what fruit he is to bring forth from our service to Him. But we do know Him and examples of what He has done.

Proper perspective number five for God’s persistent servants is –

God is to be trusted to divinely bring forth eternal fruit.

We have no idea how God is going to use the smallest act of service we do on His behalf. We have no idea what eternal fruit God is going to divinely accomplish when we serve Him.

We have no idea what divine purpose God is going to accomplish when we serve Him.

Quite some time ago, some man, no one is quite sure who, gave a Bible to another man in the country of Turkey. The gentleman who received the Bible, as far as anyone can tell, did not give much attention to the Bible. He put it on a bookshelf and left it there. It stayed there for two generations. The man’s grandson one day picked up the Bible and started reading. He asked for a modern translation and just could not get enough of it. To make a long and exciting story short, that young man is now a leader in a church in Turkey.

I believe it is safe to say that the man who gave the Bible two generations ago had no idea that a young man, two generations later would pick up that Bible, and that by God’s grace that young man would place his faith in Christ as his Savior. He also had no idea that this man would become a leader in the Turkish church.

We have no idea what God will do when we serve Him.

This is why we should persistently and faithfully serve Him.

Proper perspective number five for God’s persistent servants is –

God is to be trusted to divinely bring forth eternal fruit.

No matter what my place or location; no matter what my position or occupation; no matter who the people; no matter what my problems; God has divinely appointed me to serve Him.

And we trust God to divinely bring forth fruit.

God has divinely appointed us to serve Him.

Eph. 2:10 says – For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.

I am always puzzled as to why it is that so many people can quote Eph. 2:8-9 and yet ignore Eph. 2:10. We have these first two verses which express wonderfully how it is that we are saved – by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. The very next verse tells us why we were saved. It starts with the word “for”. This tells us the why for the previous verses. We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.

God has divinely appointed you and God has divinely appointed me to serve Him.

What is one specific thing we can do as we keep these in mind? We can pray. We should all be praying daily that we would be aware of and take advantage of the specific divine appointments that God gives us to serve Him.

We should daily be praying – God make me aware of the divine appointments You give me for service; God make me bold and faithful to take advantage of the divine appointments You give me for service.

God divinely appointed Joseph to serve Him.

Joseph did so persistently.

How so, because he had the proper perspectives.

God has divinely appointed me a place to serve Him.

God has divinely appointed me a position from which to serve Him.

God has divinely appointed me a people to serve.

God has divinely appointed me problems as opportunities to serve Him.

God is to be trusted to divinely bring forth eternal fruit.

God has divinely appointed us to serve Him.

May we faithfully follow his example.

May we too have these proper perspectives.

May we too be His persistent servants.