Genesis 28:10-22 Bethel: Stairway to Heaven

I love how the founders of our church chose this story to give us our name Bethel: House of God. This story is an important turning point in Jacob’s life; it’s when he finally accepts God as his God instead of just being his father’s God. Each of us who have grown up in the church need to also make that same change in our relationship with God when we accept God as our God instead of just being our parent’s God, a time when we say to Jesus, “I commit myself to you, I don’t want to walk through life without you, I need, oh I need you.”

I want to take you back a few weeks for just a moment. On New Year’s Day we looked at when Joshua led the Israelites across the Jordan River and how they took stones from the middle of the river and set up a monument to God so that they would never forget how God has led them into the Promised Land. This is another monument story, another story of making sure that we never forget who God is. This is a ‘promise story,” a story where God builds on his relationship with his people. God extends his blessing that he had given to Jacob’s grandfather and dad and now to Jacob too.

Jacob has always been conniving to get this blessing from his dad. That’s why he took advantage of Esau’s hunger to buy the blessing from him, and then deceived his dad to make sure that Isaac and Esau didn’t take it back. The funny thing, funny strange, is that during all this conniving, Jacob had never really accepted God as his God. He wanted what God gives without making a commitment to God. Unfortunately, still today, that is so common; we want God’s blessings without really wanting God or making a commitment to him. God loves us way more than we love him.

What strikes me about Jacob is that it’s only when he’s messed up really bad, when he realizes that his actions can have painful consequences, that he becomes open to God’s presence. Jacob’s running away from his brother’s anger after deceiving their father and receiving the family blessing. Jacob’s heading to the safety of his mother’s family, to his uncle Laban’s place in Haran.

Jacob has had a hard day’s travel. He’s walking and has made it about 48 miles, or 77 kilometers. He’s tired and now that the sun has set, he sets up camp for the night. Jacob grabs a stone for a pillow, no Sleep Country pillows are available, and he goes to sleep. Jacob sleeps the sleep of the exhausted after the long journey and the emotional parting from his family. Since Jacob’s not coming to God, God comes to him in a dream. In his dream, Jacob sees “a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.” The angels are busy doing the business of heaven here on earth; carrying messages and tasks from heaven for earth.

At the top of the stairway, Jacob sees God. God speaks now, “I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying. Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring. I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”

It strikes me that the longer God is interacting with Abraham’s family, the longer and more detailed the blessing he’s giving them becomes. There’s the promise of the land Jacob is sleeping on, the promises of lots of descendants, but now God tells them they will spread throughout the world, not simply stay on this one piece of land, the reminder that all peoples will be blessed through their family, but now God also tells Jacob that he will be with him as he leaves the Promised Land and will watch over him for protection until he brings him back home again. We hear the echo to Jesus’ promise to his disciples of the gift of the Holy Spirit in John 14, “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever—the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.”

I love Jacob’s response; he recognizes the Lord is there even though he wasn’t even aware of it. He’s afraid, a combination of awe since he’s had a glimpse of God, and of fear, a realization of how great God is and how small he is. We remember that Moses is the one writing this years later, Moses who went up the mountain to meet with God, Moses who completely understands what it’s like to see God. As Moses writes, “Jacob was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven.” This is where our name comes from: Bethel, which means “house of God.” Jacob sets up the stone he used as a pillow as a monument to God’s presence.

We often think of heaven as being the place where God lives, yet here we see that God is not limited to heaven, that his presence and influence flows out into the world. This is what it means when Solomon builds the temple, and during its dedication, the glory of God pours into it. This story of Jacob meeting God reminds us that God is here and active, he’s not sitting in an easy chair in heaven watching what’s going on here on his tablet or iPad. Jesus becomes the visible presence of God and when he returns to heaven, he sends the Holy Spirit to be with us.

The central part of Jacob’s dream is the stairway, the ladder between heaven and earth with angels moving up and down it. Adam and Eve may have been kicked out of Eden and God’s presence, but God never abandoned earth or his people. Jacob’s ladder is a visual reminder that God is actively at work in our world, that heaven and earth are connected, that the work of heaven happens on earth. A former mentor, when talking about heaven would say that the veil between heaven and earth is really thin, only the breath of God thick. Jesus joined the angels in descending to earth, to equip 12 men, along with other followers and disciples to carry on his work of telling the gospel story and making more disciples of Jesus.

This is why God has placed Bethel Church here; to join God in the work he’s already doing here in Lacombe. We are like the monument stone that Jacob set up, a visual reminder of God’s presence here in Lacombe. This is why we’ve gone through this beautiful renovation; not just for us, but to be able to better reach out into our community, to be able to better serve our community, to be a place where we can feel comfortable inviting friends, neighbours, co-workers, fellow students to join us to learn more about Jesus as we follow him, as we grow deeper in our own faith and help others become disciples of Jesus. The pastoral elders have embraced the call to help you grow in your relationship with Jesus and helping us as a church family to grow and be a disciple making church family. We are focusing on this because we know that the Holy Spirit is in this place and will give us what we need, when we ask him, to help all those whom God has placed in our life to lead them to Jesus.

This beautiful building is a wonderful tool God has given us to join him in building his kingdom here, expanding his kingdom of shalom and peace. As Tim Keller writes in The Prodigal God, “The ultimate purpose of Jesus is not only individual salvation and pardon for sins but also the renewal of this world, the end of disease, poverty, injustice, violence, suffering and death.” Our renovated building, in a small way is a gift to give thanks for that gives a tiny glimpse of what God is doing here in Lacombe and calling us to join him in. This is not for us only, but a sign that God is in this place and he is at work, inviting, commanding us to join him in his kingdom work!

Genesis 39 Tempted

 

Joseph’s life is becoming more like a soap opera all the time. First, he’s on top of the world, being groomed to run dad’s business and getting the family blessing; then he gets sold into slavery after his brothers first threaten to kill him. Then, while a slave, Joseph rises to the highest position in his master’s household, an official in Pharaoh’s household in charge of the prisons. However, after a seemingly tawdry sordid affair refused by Joseph, he finds himself in Pharaoh’s dungeon, as far from his dreams of ruling as he’s ever been. We’re starting to get whip lash following the ups and downs of Joseph’s life!

Through the ups and downs of Joseph’s life, we see a change happening in Joseph. From a spoiled rich boy, we’re beginning to see a mature, faithful to God young man appearing. Walking closely with God will always change us. When we enter into a life long journey with God and Jesus, we are slowly shaped by the Holy Spirit into who we are created to be; people created in the image of God to take care of and develop the potential God has built into creation, to love God and others, sharing Jesus with those God places in our lives.

After being sold to Potiphar, captain of Pharaoh’s guard, Joseph quickly rises up in the slave ranks. His training in managing his father’s household is paying off. Moses tells us that Potiphar recognizes that “the Lord is with Joseph and that the Lord is giving Joseph success in everything he does.” Joseph works hard and with integrity and Potiphar is so pleased with him that he makes Joseph is attendant, placing all control of running his household in Joseph’s hands, a role with a great deal of responsibility. Life is looking up for Joseph, even though most Egyptians looked down of the Hebrews. Moses is writing this story down 400 years later, knowing how the Egyptians think, having grown up in the halls of power in Pharaoh's household.  

Success attracts all kinds of temptations, including Potiphar’s wife. She persistently pursues Joseph in order to sleep with him, “Come to bed with me!” she invites him again and again. Joseph is successful, but he’s also well-built and handsome, a potent combination for many people. It would have been so easy for Joseph to sleep with her, and in that culture, and with the amount of success Joseph has had with managing Potiphar’s household, he could easily have gotten away with it. What a way to exercise power and forget for a while that he’s a slave.

Joseph reveals why in a conversation with her, “With me in charge,” he told her, “my master does not concern himself with anything in the house; everything he owns he has entrusted to my care. No one is greater in this house than I am. My master has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?” Joseph is a contrast to Judah, who in the story just before this one, slept with his daughter-in-law Tamar after she had to trick him. Judah was supposed to give his youngest son to her as a husband after his two oldest sons died because of their wickedness, but he was afraid. Tamar had to trick him into believing she was a prostitute in order to get him to sleep with her so she could have a child. Judah does not have integrity in his relationship with Tamar.

Evil and temptation never give up though. Even though Joseph refuses to go to bed with Potiphar’s wife, she doesn’t take no for an answer. Joseph goes out of his way to try to not even be in the house with her and never alone with her, he knows the danger and alure of temptation, especially sexual temptation. Joseph reminds me of Billy Graham and his determination to not place himself into a situation of temptation. Yet, even with all his precautions, one day Joseph drops his guard a bit and he finds himself in the house alone with Potiphar’s wife and she immediately tries to tempt him into her bed again. She grabs Joseph by his cloak, but he slips out of it and runs away, but his cloak remains behind with her. She goes on to use his cloak to accuse Joseph of trying to rape her. It’s not always easy to do the right thing, to run away from temptation, to be the only one who is living life to please God instead of ourselves.

Potiphar’s wife first turns the other slaves against Joseph and then, when her husband Potiphar comes home, she turns her husband against Joseph. “She tells him this story: “That Hebrew slave you brought us came to me to make sport of me. But as soon as I screamed for help, he left his cloak beside me and ran out of the house.” Potiphar really has no choice, even though Joseph has made him a lot of money and did such a great job for him, he has to believe his wife and he throws Joseph into Pharaoh’s prison where Potiphar is in charge.

Walking away from temptation is hard. We all know that. The temptation of lust is powerful, but so the temptation to anger, sarcasm, bullying, cheating, lying and so much more. Doing right pleases God, but it may make you look silly in the eyes of those who do not follow Jesus. An article I read this past week talked about how our society had degenerated in terms of how we treat each other, nastiness, anger, mocking and dismissing others is common, due to the prevalence of social media and the easiness of being our worst instead of our best. It’s tempting to lash out, it’s more difficult to be Christ-like.

It’s unfair that Joseph gets punished for doing such a great job and being really good looking. Why would God allow someone who is growing in their faith, working really hard to do what God wants, maturing as a man, and has integrity suffer through all the injustice that Joseph is facing? Shouldn’t God be blessing Joseph instead. Joseph could have slept with Potiphar’s wife, enjoyed himself and even have gotten away with it because Joseph was such a hard worker and made Potiphar’s life so much easier. Potiphar took the easy way out, did no thinking, did no real digging into what really happened, he just wanted to keep the peace in his household, had no real relationship with Joseph because he was only a slave. The saying goes, that “evil flourishes when good people fail to do the right thing.” Joseph’s soap opera continues.

Yet I do wonder sometimes why we are surprised as followers of Jesus when we have times where we suffer and things are unfair. Jesus never told us that following him would be easy, he specifically told us that persecution and suffering comes as part of following him, that we will suffer for doing good. Matthew 5:11–12, “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” In Matthew 16, “Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it.” It’s in suffering, persecution and the unfairness we face in life that we learn a deeper trust and dependency in God, a greater appreciation for Jesus as he actually carried his cross to his death for our sin. This is why we chose to live Jesus’ way. Peter reminds us of the importance of, “keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.” (1 Peter 3:16) In 1 Corinthians 10:13, Paul reminds us, “No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.”

The shining hope in Joseph’s story, even though it’s a soap opera going the wrong way, where the highs get lower and the lows get deeper, is that no matter where Joseph is, whether it’s in the pit because of his brothers, in slavery to Potiphar, or even in a Pharaoh’s prison, the Lord is with him, showing him kindness and granting him favour in the eyes of the prison warden. The Lord gives Joseph success in whatever he did, wherever he was, though never quite in the way Joseph must have hoped for or imagined after his dreams of becoming a ruler.

Through all these ups and downs, through the suffering and unfairness, Joseph continues growing in his faith in God, and in living his faithfulness out, no matter the cost or confusion that must be in his heart and mind over why his life is working out the way it is. Joseph resists temptation, not because it might get him into trouble, but because he realized that it would be sinning against God. Resisting temptation will not always pay off for us in the world’s eyes, but we resist because it’s who we are as children of God, followers of Jesus. Our faith is not just believing the right things about God, but it’s about living in the Way of Jesus, orienting our heart to Jesus’ heart, submitting our desires and will to Jesus’ will and desires. Faith involves developing Christian character, spending our entire life asking ourselves, “Who is God calling me to be, how is he using this situation to shape my heart and soul?”

We should not expect people to praise us for this, we should actually expect non-followers of Jesus to mock us for how we live for not indulging our every desire. Our joy and happiness, our peace and strength come from pleasing Jesus, not ourselves. God has a plan for our lives, he has created opportunities for us to serve others, to grow in humility, generosity, grace and maturity. An important part of our faith is that we continue to mature in our faith. A former mentor told me life is a life long opportunity to look more like Jesus and the more difficult the times are, the greater the opportunity to be more like Jesus. So as you walk through life, whether young or old, keep asking God, “Through this, how do you want me to live, who are you calling me to be?”

 

Genesis 37:12-36 Sold!

 

The Bible is filled with families who are chosen by God to move his plan to bring the Messiah, who is Jesus, who will save his people and fulfill God’s promise that Abraham’s family will be a blessing to all nations. However, there are few families as messed up as Jacob’s. Last week we looked at the roots of the hatred Joseph’s brothers have for him: favouritism by Jacob to Joseph and Joseph’s inability to understand how arrogant he sounds as he shares his dreams of ruling over his brothers with them. Even Jacob rebukes him over his dreams.

The story of Jacob’s family continues with “Now his brothers had gone to graze their father’s flocks near Shechem.” Jacob’s concerned about his sons because they have a rough history with the people of Shechem. Jacob’s daughter Dinah had been raped by Shechem, son of Hamor, so her brothers Simeon and Levi, after Jacob agreed to allow Dinah to marry Shechem, tricked the men of Shechem into being circumcised and then, when they were still in pain, murdered them all. Shechem’s no longer a safe place for them, so Jacob asks Joseph, the only son still at home, to go check on them. There are clues in the story that Joseph is being groomed to take over running the family household even though he’s a younger son from a second wife, from the fancy robe, which is not a working robe, to being at home while everyone else is herding sheep. It looks like Jacob is about to make Joseph his first heir. This cannot sit well with the brothers, especially after the dreams!

I wonder at Jacob’s wisdom, he must realize how much his sons detest Joseph after having gotten some of them on trouble with a bad report and then how Joseph interpreted his dreams, and yet Jacob sends Joseph instead of a servant to check on the others. I recognize in Jacob something in myself, how there are times I can be so smart and yet so blind to how things are going on around me. Looking back, there are times I wonder, “What was I thinking?”

Joseph heads out, foolishly wearing the very robe that shows how their father favours him over his brothers. He heads to Shechem, but can’t find his brothers. A man in the fields directs Joseph to Dothan, a few kilometers away, where his brothers have taken the sheep to graze them; a much safer place for them. While Joseph is still a way away, his brothers recognize him.

Now the Bible shows us just how deeply the brothers’ anger and jealousy has taken root in their hearts. They start plotting how to kill Joseph. Jealousy combined with anger is a toxic poison for our souls. We’ve seen this already in Scripture when Cain is jealous that the Lord accepts his brother Abel’s sacrifice instead of his and in anger, he lures his brother into a field and kills him. This spirit of anger and jealousy is at the heart of the religious leaders’ hearts as well when they arrange for Jesus to be crucified. I wonder if this is part of what happened in the USA this past week? This is why Jesus focuses so much on having a right heart with God and others, why he summarizes the commandments with loving God with everything we have and then loving our neighbour as ourselves. This is sacrificial love that focuses on the other person, wanting their good even over our own. Anger and jealousy perverts that love and focuses it inwards on ourselves and our wants and desires instead. If you are struggling with anger or jealousy issues, please reach out to myself, an elder, a trusted Jesus follower whose inner peace with God is evident and seek guidance on how to find God’s peace for your own heart and soul.  

When Joseph comes close, the brothers grab him and throw him into an empty pit after Reuben talks them out of killing Joseph. Reuben wants to find a way to get back on his father’s good side after sleeping with one of his wives in an act of rebellion. First thing they do is strip Joseph of his special robe, the sign of their father’s favouritism. Then they sit down and have lunch. This is a special depth of cruelty since, as we find out in Genesis 42, the entire time Joseph is pleading for his life.

While everyone, except Joseph and Reuben, who has left for some reason, are eating, an Ishmaelite trading caravan appears and Judah has an idea. Now we see Judah begin to rise in importance within the family. This is an important moment. Reuben, Simeon and Levi, the three oldest sons have all disqualified themselves for leading the family and receiving the father’s and God’s family blessing. Judah is next in line for the blessing, for being the line through which the promised Messiah will come. The rest of Jacob’s story is really the intertwining of Joseph and Judah’s stories, guiding and protecting the family as God’s way of preparing Abraham’s family to be a blessing to all nations.

Judah steps forward and tells his brothers, “What will we gain if we kill our brother and cover up his blood? Come, let’s sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay our hands on him; after all, he is our brother, our own flesh and blood.” Faced with the potential to have a few extra coins in their pockets and no blood on their hands, the brothers all agree to this plan. Joseph is sold for 20 shekels of silver. As Joseph is pulled from the pit and handed over the Ishmaelites, he must be wondering “Where is God, why is this happening to me?” We wonder, “How can Joseph’s dreams come true now?” The brothers then deceive their father by dipping Joseph’s robe in blood and letting their father think Joseph was killed by wild animals.

This becomes a turning point for the brothers, especially Judah, as Jacob’s grief is much deeper than they ever expected. Later on, when the brothers are in Egypt for food during a famine, Judah tells the governor to hold him prisoner instead of Joseph’s younger brother Benjamin, “Now then, please let your servant remain here as my lord’s slave in place of the boy, and let the boy return with his brothers. How can I go back to my father if the boy is not with me? No! Do not let me see the misery that would come on my father.” Jealousy and anger are so powerful, this is why Jesus tells us in Matthew that if we hate someone, it’s like we murder them. Jealousy makes us want to take away what someone else has, not because we want it, but because we don’t want them to have it. This is a turning point for the brothers as their jealousy and anger is transformed by their love and concern for Jacob. Jesus summarizes the Law, telling us to orient our hearts on loving God and others. Paul expands on this in Galatians 5 when he tells us to nurture the Fruit of the Spirit in our hearts and minds. “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.” Judah is starting to understand this.

Joseph goes into exile, thrown out of the family, cast out to be forgotten. Countries exile people with the goal of never seeing them again, taking away their ability to come back, making them homeless and powerless. This is what the brothers are trying to do to Joseph by selling him to their cousins who will then sell Joseph into slavery in Egypt. Joseph must have been wondering if his dreams were really from God, wondering why God wasn’t stopping this. Joseph enters into an exile from home, separated from his roots. We hear an echo back to Genesis 3 when Adam and Eve are exiled from the Garden, from the presence of God. There’s a heart ache that never really goes away.

We’re also exile and in slavery to our sin. God uses exile to teach us and remind us our hearts are supposed to be oriented towards him. God also provides a way home through Jesus. Jesus comes to guide us home by going into exile with us. On the cross we hear his cry, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Jesus is separated from his Father for the first time ever, after eternity with the Father and the Spirit, Jesus forsaken for us, he dies so that we can be cleansed from our sin and return home. Jesus’ resurrection brings us new life in the kingdom of heaven, guaranteeing us a place at the banquet table of our Lord.

We are created for Eden, to be in the presence of God. Since our exile from Eden, we have been searching for home, for belonging. There are so many of our neighbours, friends, co-workers and sometimes family who live with an unrealized seeking for home that can only be found in and through Jesus. Sharing Jesus with others, inviting them to follow Jesus with you is an invitation to come home again, to become part of God’s family. Jesus’ earliest memories would have been being in exile with his parents, hearing their longing to return home again. He knows the yearning in your hearts for home, for belonging. Jesus brings healing in our relationships with God and neighbour and guides us home to our Father.

 

 

 

 

 

Genesis 37:1-11 The Dreamer

 

We’re entering into a new series of stories here in Genesis and they’re introduced with, “This is the account of Jacob’s family line.” This is important to remember over the next few weeks as we walk through the Joseph stories; that Joseph’s stories are all about Jacob’s family line, not just Joseph. Joseph’s story at the beginning, surprisingly doesn’t have any mention of God; though we make some big assumptions about what God is doing. This story of Joseph’s dreams and early relationships with his brothers are foundation stories, setting the stage for the main part of God’s plan for Jacob’s family.

We get introduced to Joseph as a 17-year-old young man. The first thing we learn about Joseph is that he tattles on his brothers after they were taking care of the sheep together. This is not a good way to act with your brothers and sisters, no one likes a tattle tale! It’s important to recognize that Joseph tattles on his brothers from his father’s concubines, not from Leah, Jacob’s first wife. Family standing and importance is an important part of the story. Then we’re told that Jacob loves Joseph more than all the other kids and gives him a special coat. Jealousy rears its ugly head! This is becoming a family thing, that the younger sons get favoured and blessed over the older ones.

You would think Jacob would know better after his own experience with his brother Esau and his father Isaac’s experience with his older brother Ishmael. Jealousy, anger and deceit shape Jacob’s family dynamics, just as they did with Abraham and Isaac’s families. God doesn’t use perfect people or families to carry out his plans, he uses some pretty broken and messed up people to accomplish his plans. This has always given me hope, it helps me believe that God can use me and my family to carry out his plans too, that he uses us and our own peculiar brokenness, just as he can use yours.

Dave Bast recognizes that God has his own ways of doing things that don’t always match our ways; using the younger son over the older son is becoming the way God chooses to move his plans forward, “Yes, there is a pattern developing here. That clues us in. You know, there are always two levels to a Bible story. You can imagine the reactions – or you can even read about the reactions of the characters toward one another, but we the readers stand outside that and we see the hand of God operating through this, because in and through the whole story, it is not just a soap opera about the ups and downs, the loves and lives and loses of these people. It is about God instituting a plan. Remember way back to Abraham in Genesis 12, “I will bless you, and through you all the nations will be blessed.” And that is the thing that drives it forward, that promise. How is Joseph going to play a role in that?” Keep this in mind over the next few weeks!

Joseph now has a dream about sheaves of grain that he interprets as being his brothers, and they all bow down to his sheaf. Of course, Joseph tells his brothers. They’re not impressed. Joseph then has a second dream and in that dream the sun, moon and eleven stars all bow down to him, and of course Joseph has to tell his brothers and dad about that dream too. This time even Jacob is not impressed, thinking that he will end up bowing down to his son.

The Bible doesn’t tell us here that these dreams come from God, we assume they do. They could have simply been the dreams of a young man full of himself as the favoured son, who simply made up what the dreams mean to make himself important. After all, he’s the son dad gives a special coat to, the son of the favoured wife. However, we remember how God appeared to Abram in a dream after Abraham had made sacrifices of animals and placed them in a row. God appeared in the dream as a burning pot to confirm his covenant with Abraham. God spoke to Jacob in a dream at Bethel, showing Jacob the movement between heaven and earth; that God’s at work on earth, not sitting idly by watching humanity mess things up again and again. Now Joseph is dreaming. Peter Wilcox reminds us, “the fact that a person has a gift from God is no guarantee that they also have the wisdom and maturity to use it well.” Does Joseph use the gift of dreams and their meanings well? Probably not. Joseph has some growing up to do.

Scott Hoezee writes, “Martin Luther King, Jr. once told the world: I have a dream; and his dream inspired millions. Entrepreneurs sometimes have dreams for building a new business, and if they realize those dreams everybody celebrates the success; but sometimes dreams can make life hard for the person who has them. Just ask Joseph. He had a dream of a future in which he would be an important person, the most important person in his family in fact; and although in the book of Genesis those dreams come true one day, they made Joseph’s life miserable for a very long time.” Dreams can inspire us to achieve great things, give us hope and perseverance, but dreams that call us to hard change also create big pushback, as with Martin Luther King Jr, as dreamers in the church who call for change often face, as Joseph faces.

God doesn’t use easy as a way forward for his people or his plans. Anything valuable and important is usually achieved only after a lot of hard work and even adversity. Just look at how he chooses to reconcile his people, that’s us, to himself. God makes things right by coming to earth in Jesus who calls the people to repent and believe, and when his own people reject him or abandon him, Jesus goes to the cross to take the penalty of sin, to die for us, and even be buried. But Jesus, on the third day, rises again, proving that the twin enemies of sin and death are defeated and this guarantees our own resurrection into new life.

Dreams are part of how we find hope and inspiration to move forward. Genesis was written by Moses during the Israelite’s time in the wilderness. The Israelites are dreaming of returning back to the Promised Land; dreaming of claiming the land that God has promised them. The dreams are calling them to change, to commit to being God’s people; allowing God to shape their lives, their morals, beliefs, and ways of thinking about the world around them and their place in it. Our dreams need to be God centered, to be interpreted in light of what Jesus is doing and who Jesus is calling us to be.

The story of Joseph and his dreams reveal to us how God uses broken families, dysfunctional people to move his plans forward to bless the world and save his people. We see that brokenness and deceit have become foundational to the family God has chosen to bring his plans of salvation forward. Joseph, in his dreams, focuses on his position over his brothers, there’s no mention at all of what God might be revealing to him about why his brothers would be kneeling before him. Joseph, as much as many of us want to see him as a devoted God follower all his life, has issues to work on, he’s a work in progress, just like we all are. We’ll watch how God shapes Joseph through the next few weeks, leading Joseph to learn to trust in him while preparing Joseph for what lies ahead for Jacob’s family. We’ll see how dreams, and especially the God given ability to rightly interpret them will become an important of Israel’s history.

Why should we pay attention to these families since they have so many issues, after-all, it’s Jesus we’re focused on, right? The stories of the people and families God works through in the Bible are important because they show us a God who is willing to work through imperfect people, that God’s family is made up of imperfect people who keep messing up. It’s not how good they are that makes God include them as part of his family, it’s that God makes them useable and worthy. I’ve had conversations with many people over the years who believe that God can’t use them because their lives, their families are hot messes, and yet, as Paul reminds us, it’s in our weaknesses, our messes, that God reveals his grace, power and glory. God has his own ways of accomplishing his plans, often very different from our ways; using the less important, the less perfect people and ways to shine the light on him instead of us. It makes me wonder if sometimes we miss what God is doing, what he is calling us to do or be, because we love our ways of doing things too much.  We’re so focused on being in control so that there are no surprises, no messes.

It’s through our own issues, our own messes that we are best able to reach others with the good news of Jesus because the people you are reaching out to then see that Jesus can really bring hope, change, new life to any one who reaches out to him, accepts him as Lord. When we accept Jesus, Jesus fills us with his life, words and courage. As we speak Jesus into our friends, our co-workers, employees, workers, and neighbours’ lives, we can be confident that God is using us to lead them to him.

Joshua 4 Crossing Over into a New Future

 

It's 2021, the beginning of a new year. A year ago, we were looking ahead to the year we're now looking back on. A lot of changes that have happened in our lives, our church and our community. Some changes were exciting like marriages and births, others are more neutral changes like being a year older, and then there are the larger difficult changes of COVID, physical distancing, and loss.

2020 revealed a lot about our society and us. It was defined by a virus, an election, and our building renovation. The virus and election created lots of division and even accusations. Social media became a nasty place where people stated out their positions, often in unkind ways, creating more division. 2020 has been a year of fear, those who feared the virus and wore masks, those who feared loss of freedom and became anti-maskers. 2020 created an identity crisis; our identities became defined by our fears and our politics. This is why there was so much anger and fear. Thankfully, the renovation has created excitement, unity and dreams for how we can use the new building to reach our community for Jesus. My prayer is that in 2021 we regain our identity first and always in Jesus and who he’s calling us to be.

For some of us the biggest deepest changes have been in our relationship with Jesus, either learning a deeper trust or maybe the year brought hard questions about who Jesus is and our relationship with him or his church. The year ahead will bring changes, some expected, many of them not, but change itself is not bad. Just look at yourself; if you're exactly the same person today that you were 10, 20, 30 or more years ago, that would show that there's something deeply wrong in your life. If your relationship with your spouse, your parents, your children and friends is exactly the same now as it was even 5 years ago, it shows that you’ve become stagnant in your life. The same goes for our relationship with Jesus. A healthy relationship with Jesus looks like growing in trust as we walk closely with him and each other.

In our story this morning Israel is at the beginning of great change. Change is going to happen in their relationship with God now that they’re actually in the Promised Land because they are going to change. Israel will change from being a nomadic people to becoming farmers, builders, merchants, and business owners with houses and buildings to take care of. Yet sometimes change creates memory loss, especially memory loss when it comes to the credit we give to God. We easily give ourselves way more credit and forget God’s role. Joshua tells us the story of entering the Promised Land to help us remember that it's all about God.

As we watch Israel entering the Promised Land, we're reminded that they haven't accomplished anything yet. They're moving forward in trust without knowing exactly what lies ahead. They know that it won't be easy; they have a huge number of obstacles in the way like city kingdoms like Jericho, greedy Israelites thinking only of themselves, a habit of not trusting God, among others. This is why the Israelites were afraid to enter the Promised Land 40 years earlier. But all that the people know right now, is that it's time to cross the river because God told them it's time. Joshua trusts God and the people trust Joshua.

When you look at where we are as a church, or as individuals, we face obstacles in moving forward. The obstacles range from being content with the way things are right now; not wanting change. Another obstacle is rebuilding deeper community after almost a year of distancing from each other; moving from simply being friendly to becoming a hospitable people who open their lives, homes and hearts to each other, and then there’s the challenge to learn together about who Jesus is, coming together to read the Bible and share who Jesus is with each other.

However, the Holy Spirit’s guiding us. The Holy Spirit’s providing a growing number of opportunities to get more deeply connected into our community here in Lacombe. At some point we need to pick up our robes and step out into the river and make the crossing into the new future, trusting that Jesus is with us even while he leads us. Just like Israel, we will need perseverance and trust and courage. As we move forward into this new year, we will be working on building a strong sense of community among ourselves in order to invite the community to become part of us. Israel was told to take one rock to represent all the people, to represent how they were all different tribes and yet one people. We need to learn to think of 'we' instead of 'me,' no matter how old or young we are.

We don't need to fear what lies ahead because Jesus promised us that he's with us. Jesus has given us the Holy Spirit, helping us look back to see how God has been with us as we move forward into 2021. The Holy Spirit is working to help us grow deeper into a community that reflects Jesus, helping us look forward with confidence and hope. The Holy Spirit’s preparing the way for us just like the ark went ahead of the Israelites into the middle of the Jordan River to stop the flow of water so Israel could cross on dry ground. God’s with the priests in the middle of the Jordan River and he’s with us as we cross into 2021.

God tells the Israelites to build a monument to help them remember what happened, that it's all about God. The monument is built of rocks from the middle of the river. Rocks are plain and simple and yet strong and solid. Large rocks were used as the foundation to build strong buildings on. this is why the writer of the Psalms calls God a rock, solid, strong and dependable. The Apostle Paul refers to Jesus as our cornerstone, the rock Bethel is to be built on. Jesus gives us monuments to remember him: the church itself, the sacraments of the Lord's Supper and baptism, but Jesus has gone even further than that, and has given us the Holy Spirit. It's in the simple places in life where we often find Jesus; he gives us everyday things to remind us that he’s here: bread, wine, water, and now rocks, things we see around us every day and everywhere.

How do you remember important moments in your life? How do you remember those significant moments where Jesus became more real, times when you experienced the closeness of Jesus in special ways that changed how you experience life with all its messiness and chaos? Monuments and rituals remind us we belong to Jesus and are called to carry on his work of making disciples.

The beginning of a new year is a good time to remind ourselves of who we are and why we’re here; committing ourselves to living for Jesus. The goal is to be a people who reach out to others; creating places and groups for people to connect with us and develop friendships; always asking ourselves how can we show Jesus' love and tell others his story. Joshua reminds us, "God has done these things so that all the people of the earth might know that the hand of the Lord is powerful." We've been placed here to help others know that Jesus is powerful enough to carry them through any storm in life and give them new lives of hope.

Bethel Church is about becoming who Jesus has created us to be, humble servants who help others know Jesus through serving our community with grace and generosity. It's about blessing the community as we've been blessed. It's about being excited about being followers of Jesus, as excited about following Jesus as Oilers fans are about following Conner McDavid or Flames fans of following Johnny Hockey. Jesus reminds us that we don't do this alone, that he’s with us always through the Holy Spirit; calling us to trust him as he leads us forward.

We'll need courage and trust in Jesus to step forward into a new future. To make the changes that we will be called to make, we’ll need something to remind us that this is something the Holy Spirit is guiding us into. You are asked to take a small rock from the pile up front here after the service to take home and put it somewhere where you will see it regularly. Once we’re back in our building we will place a rock in each mail slot and have others available. Its purpose is to remind you that Jesus is guiding us through this year, leading us to love others, serve our community and share our faith. As Joshua told Israel, "He did this so that all peoples of the earth might know that the hand of the Lord is powerful and so that you might always fear the Lord your God."