I am Pastor Nathan, and today we're going to
be in Genesis chapter 47, talking about prosperity.
And if you just went, oh no, we're becoming one
of those churches, we're going to pass the offering
bag 17 times. No, that's not the type of prosperity
we're talking about today, although that will
be in the study. We're talking about the prosperity
that really counts. Some of you may be aware,
some of you may not be aware, but one of the
most influential and successful YouTubers in
history is a guy named MrBeast. He has over 465
million subscribers on his YouTube channel, and
he is quite famous for doing different contests
and stuff, but among the many different type
of contests he does are the, or at least were
for a long time, the grab as much stuff as you
can type of contests, right? He would have these
contests where he would say, you know, everything
you could grab in this store and fit within a
certain square on the ground, you get to keep.
and it's similar to you know like in you know,
older times, I say that gracefully, where you'd
have those, you know, shows where you'd grab
a shopping cart, right, and run around the grocery
store and fill the basket with as much stuff
as you can. And, you know, he's given away so
many millions and millions of dollars worth of
stuff. And, you know, those are always just fun
to watch, you know, because you see really what
is of value to people when they're up against
a clock or a buzzer. And, you know, when the
buzzer sounds, you keep everything you fit in.
the basket or the square but in games like this
you always notice people don't waste their time
on trivial items right it's like oh this is all
free i have you know five minutes to to give
and so they want to go grab the big stuff right
the important stuff the the stuff that carries
the most value and you know and in those moments
you see what's really important to people right
like i would try and grab the 120 inch tv because
who doesn't want 120 inch tv right But are you
going to grab the bubble gum out of the cash
register, the little side thing of the cash register?
No, you're not going to waste time on that when
you're up against the clock. It's a picture,
if you will, of what life is like. A lot of people
live their lives. running around with a shopping
cart, trying to grab what is most important to
them. And the problem with living a life like
that is we don't know when the buzzer's gonna
sound. We don't know when the clock is gonna
end and they're gonna say, time's up. And as
we get into Genesis 47 this morning, the quiet
question of this chapter is when the clock stops,
what's gonna be in your cart? What's gonna be
in your cart? When the time for your life to
be over is presented before you, Are you going
to look back and see prosperity, material prosperity,
comfort, ease, security? Or are you going to
see the purposes of God? in the kingdom of God,
in faith and obedience. You see, Moses slows
down the narrative of Joseph here in chapter
47 on purpose, and this isn't just to fill space.
You know, as I was studying this chapter, there's
a lot of people and commentators and stuff that
go, oh, 47 seems to be like a filler chapter,
right? It's like, you know, he was going for
a word count or something, and he had to fill
space, but it's quite... more than that. You
know, in this chapter, we see Joseph's diplomacy
and administration as he literally saves the
nation from destruction during the famine. We're
going to see the survival of Egypt. And we're
also going to see Jacob's dying request. Because
what this chapter teaches us, and a very important
lesson for us, is how God can prosper his people
without letting prosperity become their God.
And that's what we're going to be learning today.
But before we get into that, we're going to spend
some time worshiping our Lord because we know
every blessing we have is from Him. We know every
thing we have is from Him. We know every breath
in our lungs is from Him. And we want to be people
that really know what type of prosperity really
counts. To be able to see biblically and go,
you know, I mean, material prosperity is not
a bad thing, but it's the riches that we have
in Christ that matters most. It's the spiritual
prosperity that we have as a blessing from our
God that matters most. And that is what gives
us the right perspective to this life, to live
and to use what God has given us for his glory
and his kingdom first. And so we want to just
worship him for all that he has given us. You
know, everybody in this room, I know we're in
different places in our lives and in different
places of having. not having, but we're alive.
And we get to be here today to worship the God
who created us, the God who loves us, and the
God who saves us. And I think that makes us the
richest people of all. Amen? Let's pray. Father,
we love you. God, we thank you, Lord, for just
your will, Lord. We know we live in a physical,
material world, and God, there's so much in our
lives that vies for our attention and vies for
priority in our time. And God, really, this whole
universe is yours, and everything you've created
is yours, and everything that we have is yours.
And God, I just pray, Lord, you would help us
to live with the proper perspective on everything,
God, to understand that you're not against. prosperity,
Lord. There is no mandate biblically to say that
having material wealth is at all and in any way
bad or inherently evil. But God, it's what those
things do to us. And so, Lord, help us to just
learn from your word today, God, about the prosperity
that really counts, Lord, that at the end of
all things, Lord, and even through the life we
live here, God, that as you bless us materially
or don't bless us materially, we would still
have a heart. that is connected to you and your
promises, not connected to this world and the
things that this world tells us are important,
Lord. Help us to be people of faith who trust
you in all things, Lord. And then, God, that
if you do prosper us in a way that is beyond
what we were expecting, Lord, that we would still
be the people you've created us to be, to be
people who think of others, to be givers, to
be blessers, Lord. God, that we would be just
like you, the ultimate giver, Lord, the ultimate
one who prospers his people, God. And so we love
you, we thank you, we trust you, and we worship
you, God, now. It's in Jesus' name we pray, amen.
All right, we are in Genesis chapter 47. And
as we've been studying through the story of Joseph's
life, we've touched base a couple times on the
prophecies that God had given Abraham way back
in earlier chapters of Genesis about the future
for his family and his descendants. And among
those prophecies and promises that were given
about 200 years prior to the events of Genesis
47 was the prophecy in Genesis 12 .3 that says,
I will bless those who bless you, and I will
curse anyone who treats you with contempt, and
all the peoples of the earth will be blessed
through you. This is one of the reasons why,
as a church, we support the nation of Israel.
We support the Jewish people. We pray for the
nation of Israel and the Jewish people because
of this prophecy, this promise that God gave
to Abraham. It's one of the reasons why as a
church we reject things like replacement theory,
which tries to assert that all the prophecies
and promises that God has for the nation of Israel
have been relegated now to the church, that Israel
has been replaced. And we reject that type of
stuff. This is not to say that Israel is a perfect
nation and Israel is completely innocent and
sinless in behavior and activity, but it is saying
that God said, I will bless those who bless you
and curse anyone who treats you with contempt.
And this applies to Abraham and his descendants.
And so we pray for Israel and we pray for what
God is going to do with the nation of Israel
as history continues to move forward. And Genesis
47 is a picture of these promises. to Israel
specifically playing out in real time. Now, as
we pick up the story here in Genesis 47, Joseph
is now arranging a royal audience between his
father and his brothers and Pharaoh. At the end
of the previous chapter, we had seen that the
people of Israel, this is Jacob and his family,
have now arrived in Egypt. They have left. Canaan,
the promised land, because of the famine that
has created extreme difficulty for everybody,
and they have come to the place where not only
is there going to be abundance and prosperity,
but for Jacob, it's the place where his favorite
son is alive, that he's going to be reunited
and reconnected with his son and be like, you
know, this is going to be awesome. And it was
mentioned to me first service, which was a detail
I'd missed, that it's just this neat blessing
that Joseph had 17 years with his father early
in his life because, as we read earlier in Genesis,
that was when he was 17 that all the stuff went
down that caused him to be sold into slavery.
And as we're going to see here now at the end
of Jacob's life, that his final 17 years of life,
he's going to be with his favorite son, Joseph,
which is just a neat picture of God bookending
a life with blessing. This situation here for
Joseph's family is slightly precarious because
they are shepherds. The people of Jacob are all
shepherds. They take care of sheep and livestock.
And it just so happens that shepherds are hated
in Egypt, that they are considered an abomination
in Egypt. And there's a history to that because
in Egypt's past, there was a group of people
called the Hiskos who were shepherds. And they
had actually invaded Egypt and conquered. conquered
the country and ruled it for a couple hundred
years. And as a result of that occupation, Egypt
hated anybody that was a shepherd. And so now
here we have God's people leaving the promised
land, coming into Egypt, the nation that is a
type of the world, the secular world, as we would
say. And now we're going to see how God... prospers
them, but still maintains their separate identity
in the midst of that. And so this is not about
prosperity gospel or any of that type of thing,
but it is a picture of what God can do with his
people and then the dangers that come with that.
And so as we see them here now in Egypt, Joseph
is setting up this meeting. He tells his brothers,
excuse me, don't lie to Pharaoh about being shepherds.
All right, just tell the truth. Be honest. And
I believe that is in the story because it's an
important reminder to us as Christians that as
God would move us from place to place in this
life throughout the world, whether it's jobs
or places we live or whatnot, that we should
always remember to maintain our identity of who
we are, that we're Christians, that we're...
people called to serve God, that we're not to
go into the world in places and water down our
identity as God's people, as God's children,
to water down the calling we have to stand for
righteousness, but to just simply be honest.
And so in that vein here, we pick up the chapter
here in Genesis 47, verse one. It says, so Joseph
went and informed Pharaoh, my father and my brothers
with their flocks and herds and all that they
own have come from the land of Canaan and are
now in the land of Goshen. He took five of his
brothers and presented them to Pharaoh. And Pharaoh
asked his brothers, what is your occupation?
They said to Pharaoh, your servants, both we
and our ancestors, are shepherds. And they said
to Pharaoh, we have come to stay in the land
for a while because there is no grazing land
for your servants' sheep since the famine in
the land of Canaan has been severe. So now please
let your servants settle in the land of Goshen.
Now, if you remember, Joseph, who had been sold
by his brothers into slavery and had ended up
in Egypt and had gone through many, many years,
22 years at this point, of being in prison and
then being raised up and all these different
challenges and successes that he's had, he's
number two to Pharaoh in the land. He's the number
two guy. What that means is that his power and
his authority and his influence are very, very
significant. He was Pharaoh's advisor. He had
Pharaoh's ear. And Pharaoh had come to greatly
trust in and respect Joseph so much so that he
said, hey, all the land is yours to do with what
you will. And yet we see here that Joseph, who
is a God -fearing man, a man who believes in
the one true God, is still serving this pagan
ruler. This man who thought himself a God, he's
serving him with respect and honor and tact.
And that's just an important reminder for us
again. You know, many of us serve ungodly bosses,
right? We serve people in our places of employment
that hate the Lord or reject the Lord. Or maybe
they're like, hey, I respect that you're a Christian,
but they're still kind of ungodly in their behavior.
And we have to always remember that, that when
we're serving in a place, when God has brought
us into a place, whether it's in the world or
wherever it may be and the authorities above
us don't necessarily share our values or share
our faith, that our faith doesn't grant us the
permission to be a bad worker. Our faith doesn't
grant us the permission to be belligerent or
grant us the permission to be just a bad witness,
right? When God moves us through the phases of
our life, we're called to be the people he's
created us to be in every phase. We're called
to be in a place of witness. And so here we see
Joseph just being that example, right? He's been
raised up by God to be number two in one of the
most powerful empires of the world. And he's
not at a place here where he's going to start
demanding like, well, you know, my God is the
only true God, Pharaoh, and you're not really
a God. And in fact, your gods are stupid. They
have weird heads and all this kind of stuff.
And so, He doesn't do any of that. He's still
serving in this place of respect. And that's
one of the things I think when it comes to God
raising us up in this life and giving us, you
know, whether it's prosperity or power or authority,
that we're still called to serve others as we
serve the Lord. Because the witness that you
have when God gives you a place of influence
can be great. It can be very significant. And
it's not a place to become prideful or to think
that we deserve this or that. Our faith requires
us to still be witnesses with what God has given
us. The influence, the wealth, whatever it may
be. And that's why it's there, so that we would
be a positive influence. And so Joseph is that
reminder to us that even when you're in a place
of prosperity, you're not off the hook from serving
and witnessing and using what God has given you
to be honest and tactful and respectful. And
even here when it's serving a pagan boss in that
sense or a pagan authority over you, you're not
off the hook from being. respectful, and honorable
in all these things. And so he brings his family,
and he comes to Pharaoh, and he says, hey, they're
here, and it says he selects five of his brothers,
right? And I know we've talked a lot about numbers
over the last few weeks, and we go, oh, what's
the significance of five brothers? I have no
idea, okay? There's five brothers, and it doesn't
tell us which five, right? And so I looked. I'm
like, oh, is there some cool little thing in
there? And not that I could find. Okay, so five
brothers. He just selected five of those brothers
to come to this audience with Pharaoh, but I
still believe that when they came, they confessed
the way their brother Joseph had told them to,
and it was very intentional and very strategic,
again, because of how Egyptians felt about shepherds,
right? I believe God honors and blesses and we
have far more reaching effect when we're simply
honest about our beliefs and who we are, right?
The Bible tells us that the world's going to
hate us because we're Christians. It's going
to tell us that the world's going to come against
us because we're Christians. And we don't do
the Lord and the kingdom any service when we
try and pretend we're not who we are because
when it comes out anyways that we're Christians,
all that's going to do is then add to the derision
that people are going to have against the Lord,
right? Oh, you don't really believe it very much
if you were trying to hide it. And so the idea
here is just be honest. This is who we are. We
are shepherds. We're here to settle in the land.
And then again, the favor that they're going
to get from Pharaoh is because of their relationship
with Joseph, right? Our Joseph in the world today
is Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. It is his
desire and his will and his business to take
care of us and to bless us and to use us as tools
in this world to shine the light. And any favor,
any positive thing that comes into our life,
it's because of him. It's because of our relationship
with him. And so we have no business trying to
pretend and hide that to bolster our own needs
or take care of our own needs or to boost ourselves.
It's just simply I'm a Christian. I believe in
Jesus. I believe in this. I believe in that.
I believe in the Bible. And we let God take care
of things. And so that's the picture that we
see here. And Pharaoh goes on to let them settle
in the land of Goshen, which is this very fertile
land. It's a land of abundance. It's a land quite
the opposite of where they're coming from with
the famine that's in the land of Canaan. And
all of this is God creating safety for the family
of Joseph. The land of Goshen was on the very
edge of Egyptian society, and so they were far
enough away to be protected from assimilation
into the culture, and yet they were close enough
to be provided for and get the benefit of what
God had there. But this whole decision of Joseph
to tell them, be honest, be upfront, be respectful,
it's very shrewd of Joseph, if I could say that,
because it was a very purposeful way to suggest
a win -win. A win -win. You guys have heard that
phrase before. You know, they come and Joseph
says, hey guys, come to Goshen. And then he goes
to Pharaoh and he goes, well, goodness, Pharaoh,
golly gee, they're already in Goshen. Maybe we
should let them stay there. You know, and it's
a very fertile place and all that. You know,
I think he was very shrewd in how he presented
this to Pharaoh because, one, he wanted to get
what was best for his people and his family,
but he also knew, having been a part of Egyptian
leadership and stuff for so long, that in their
hatred of shepherds, that Pharaoh risked angering
his people by showing any type of favor towards
this shepherd people here in Goshen. And so the
way he presents all of this gives Pharaoh an
opportunity to, I believe, kind of honor Joseph
and who he is without angering his people. And
that kind of shrewdness is something that is
given to us. It's a wisdom that God gives us
as we navigate in this world. We understand as
believers this isn't our home, and yet we work
in places where we have ungodly. co -workers,
ungodly leaders who are always trying to, you
know, lie and cheat and steal and, you know,
and work things out in selfish ways. And that's
just how the world works, right? Cheat on the
contract. It doesn't matter. Lie about what we're
going to do. You know, undercut, overcharge,
all these types of things. And sometimes in our
service and our employment and our being a part
of this world, The devil tries to rope us into
those ungodly activities and doing things in
a shady way. And I think shrewdness is the gift
God gives us to navigate how we work through
the world to accomplish his purposes. And one
of the things that God did here in our church
years ago is... We saw an opportunity as a church
to minister to people in counseling that had
been arrested for domestic violence, right? And
the way the system works here, at least in California,
is you get arrested for domestic violence. Typically,
the result is they order you to take 52 weeks
of domestic violence counseling, right? And so
we were offering that counseling for a long time.
And then the state of California and the county
of Los Angeles started to say, hey, we want to
regulate things more actively. So they ended
up coming to us and going, hey, we hear you do
domestic violence counseling, but you need to
do things according to our regulations, right?
You need to do things according to the way we
do it. And Pastor Gary was always just, he had
the gift of shrewdness, okay? He was just a master
at getting those win -win situations. And so
one of the things that the state... in the county
were requiring of us at that time was you have
to teach these subjects, and you have to do paperwork
this way, and da -da -da -da. And one of the
things we did at the time is we required the
guys to come to church, right? If you're in our
program, you have to come to church. And so the
county said, whoa, whoa, whoa, you can't do that,
right? You can't require people to come to church
because that is then going to be seen as state
sponsorship of faith. And so Pastor Gary was
like, well, what about this? And he... posed
to the guy that was in charge of it at the time.
He said, okay, we can't require them to come
to church. Now, we are required by law for charging
them for classes, so how about we say if they
come to church voluntarily, we give them a discount
on their class fee? And the guy was like, yeah,
we can approve that, you know? That's a win -win,
right? The state's getting what they want. The
people are there. The people aren't being forced
into faith. And then what did we get? We got
the opportunity to incentivize these guys to
come to church. And many of them did. And to
be quite honest, we have so many stories of people
who, I'm just coming to church to get the discount.
And now they're saved and they're walking with
the Lord and lives are changed, right? And that's
a picture of shrewdness, right? It's finding
that, you know, shrewdness is not opposed to
holiness. Shrewdness is something that God gives
as we're out here in the world navigating how
to live and, you know, push the kingdom and all
of this stuff. And so wisdom and faith are not
enemies. And so Joseph here. Comes up with this
really neat idea of letting them live in Goshen,
but they're not too close, so Pharaoh won't get
in trouble. And in verse five here, then Pharaoh
said to Joseph, well, now that your father and
brothers have come to you, the land of Egypt
is open before you. Settle your father and brothers
in the best part of the land. They can live in
the land of Goshen. Now, this is one of those
things where it's like, If you help someone think
the idea is theirs, there's buy -in, right? And
Pharaoh's like, I got this great idea. Goshen.
Pharaoh, that is the best idea I've ever heard.
Wow, you are so wise coming up with that idea,
right? And then Pharaoh, though, I believe, sense
in the win -win of this. He goes, if you know
of any capable men among them, put them in charge
of my livestock, right? Again, I believe Pharaoh
was a fairly intelligent guy. Hey, even though
we don't like shepherds, if any of your people
can be a blessing to my flocks, hey, hey. What
we're seeing here is Genesis 12, verse 3 play
out. What we're seeing here is Pharaoh is going
to be blessed as he is blessing God's people.
And this is something that still happens in our
world today. And sometimes we'll look at what
the world's doing. We'll look at what the wicked
and the evil are doing. And we get righteously
angry. We get righteously frustrated. And you
don't believe in the Lord and you don't stand
for the Lord. And so therefore, we want to pray
judgment upon them. And we want to pray disaster
upon them. And I just think sometimes we lose
focus on the fact that vengeance belongs to the
Lord. For us, it's to be a people that are praying
for those that are lost in wickedness, that are
enslaved to sin, and to pray for them, to pray
that God would break through, to pray for their
salvation, to pray that somehow they would come
to know truth and all of that. Because what God
does is honor his promises, and sometimes God
will bless Pharaoh because Pharaoh is blessing
God's people. And that's okay. That's a part
of God's work. We're gonna see more of this as
we go forward, but it's like, how can he bless
Pharaoh? Pharaoh thinks he's a god and all that.
That's God's business. Our business is to be.
honest and honorable and tactful. And our business
is to be, you know, bold in righteousness, but
to not be belligerent in all this. And so, you
know, Pharaoh, he's like, hey, this is great.
You know, this is a good thing. And so in verse
7, Joseph then brought his father Jacob, presented
him to Pharaoh, and Jacob blessed Pharaoh. Pharaoh
said to Jacob, how many years have you lived?
Jacob said to Pharaoh, my pilgrimage has lasted
130 years. My years have been few and hard, and
they have not reached the years of my ancestors
during their pilgrimages. So Jacob blessed Pharaoh
and departed from Pharaoh's presence. What's
very surprising about these verses is not the
presentation of his father, right? That's understood.
It's not the polite conversation, right? Because
that's how people would conduct themselves in
front of kings and dignitaries. It's the blessing.
That's the important detail here. You see, in
the ancient world, it was always the greater
who blessed the lesser, right? And so what's
happening here is Joseph brings his father and
presented him to Pharaoh, and then Jacob immediately
blesses Pharaoh. What that could be construed
as in the culture is, you think you're better
than me? You think you're greater than me? Right?
I'm Pharaoh. I'm supposed to bless you because
I'm the greater and you're the lesser. And yet
Jacob here just very kind of boldly jumps right
into it, that he blesses Pharaoh. You know, his
boldness, I believe, comes from the fact that
he knows who he is. What did he say there to
Pharaoh? Pharaoh goes, how long have you been
alive, bro? And he's like, oh, my pilgrimage
has been 130 years. Pilgrimage implies that Jacob
is finally at the place in his life where he's
going, this isn't home. This world isn't my final
destination. I'm just on a journey. I'm just
passing through. And then he says on top of that,
he goes, yeah, it's only been a few years. I
believe Jacob at this point in his life where,
yeah, he's grieved and he's had his struggles,
but his son is alive, he's come, he's seen his
son again. He's finally at this place where he's
like, I get it. This world is nothing. This life
is but a vapor. I have eternity before me with
my God. I have eternity before me with the God
who loves me. And so, yeah, you know, I'm 130
years old. That's just a few years compared to
the promise that I have in front of me. And we're
going to see more of that as we go. But Jacob
now is like just fully settled and convinced.
And he knows who he serves. He knows what that
means. And that is a... richness that God gives
us when we understand our identity in Christ,
right? When we know who holds the real power,
and we're just, we're sure of that, we're confident
of that, and we can even look around this life,
and we can look at our famines and our riches
and all this stuff, and we just say, you know
what? None of that ultimately matters. It matters
who God is. And when we understand our identity
in that and what that gives us, we can stand
before any human on this planet. We could stand
before the most powerful rulers and the most
wealthiest and influential people and just be
like, what's up, bro? You need Jesus. And this
is kind of what is happening with Jacob here.
That's a richness. That's a prosperity that God
gives those whose identity is settled. And really
grounded in who we are and grounded in the fact
that this life is but a vapor and grounded in
the fact that forever and eternity awaits us.
And it's all because of who Jesus is and what
he has done. And so Jacob here, he's not standing
before Pharaoh prideful or arrogant or dismissive,
right? He's not here going, man, I thought my
son was dead for 22 years and he's alive. God
is so awesome. And you think you're a God, Pharaoh,
whatever. We're gonna move in over here, deal
with it. We don't have to get permits. We're
the church. No, what he's doing is he's showing
up and he's going, hey, Pharaoh, God bless you.
And that's what that word blessing means. It
means to invoke divine favor. What he's doing
is saying, may God Almighty have favor on you,
Pharaoh. He's praying God's favor on a pagan
king. And that just comes from that whole place
of saying, look, vengeance belongs to the God,
or belongs to God, but me as a Christian, I'm
going to pray for my ungodly boss. I'm going
to pray that God would show himself in their
life. I'm going to pray that God works in their
darkness and their traumas and their tragedy
because I believe Romans 2 and it says God's
kindness leads us to repentance. And so, yeah,
I may not like them. I may not like what they're
doing. I think it's evil and wicked. And God,
I believe you. I believe all of your scriptures
about judgment. I believe all of your scriptures
about holding the wicked accountable. And so,
God, I believe you're going to do that. But right
now, my part is I'm going to pray blessing upon
them. God, show yourself to them. Because, God,
I know if you show yourself to them and they
come to see who they are in the light of your
glory and stuff, that salvation is possible.
That they can be saved, they can be different.
And so this same God that Joseph worshiped, the
same God that Pharaoh had acknowledged here,
what Jacob is doing is saying, that God, Pharaoh,
may he have favor upon you. May he have favor
upon you for blessing us. May he have favor upon
you just in general. And, you know, here's Pharaoh.
I believe this Pharaoh had acknowledged Joseph's
God as real, but... He had acknowledged him as
one of the gods, right? So Pharaoh still has
this imperfect polytheistic view, but he receives
the blessing. He doesn't argue back. He doesn't
say, how dare you bless me? I'm Pharaoh. He just
simply receives it. And then Jacob moves on.
Verse 11, And so the narrative's going on here,
and it's just telling us essentially that they
won the lottery, right? They've got property.
They've got property in the best part of the
land, right? They're living in, you know, Bel
Air or whatever you might consider like, ooh,
the fancy neighborhood, you know, and it's fertile
and all this land for grazing. And it's just,
I mean, imagine they've gone from we're starving
to death to, oh, my gosh, we have everything
here. Now, it says the land of Ramses, and that's
because the area where Goshen is, interestingly
enough, there was a town there named Avaris.
And the town of Avaris was the capital of the
Hiskos people. Remember I told you those shepherd
kings that came in and conquered Egypt at one
time? They were actually Semitic people. They
were people that were descendants of Shem. So
these were where the Jewish people came from
and the Arab people came from. And they were
people that had been shepherds and came down
into Egypt in some centuries prior and conquered
Egypt and ruled for a century. And that's why
the Egyptians didn't like shepherds, right? They're
like these Hiskos people. Well, Goshen, ironically
enough, the city of Ramses was once the capital
of the Hiskos people. And the reason they call
it the land of Ramses here is because later on
in the story, as we move into Exodus, we're going
to find out that a different Pharaoh comes to
power, and that Pharaoh then forces the Jewish
people to build the city of Ramses. And that's
where the slavery and forced labor starts to
come into their story. But for right now, as
Moses is writing this, you know, years and years
later to the people, he's saying, yeah, it's
in the best part of the land, the land of Ramses,
the place we left, you know. Yeah, that was once
this blessing for God's people. And so they were
shepherds now occupying the shepherd lands of
the previous shepherd kings right in the middle.
of the secular world. You just see what God is
doing with his people. So as the story goes on
here, we can't forget that there's still like
five years of famine, right? God has brought
his people out of Canaan. He has brought them
to this place of blessing. And so as we go on
here, we just kind of get the fast forward of
the story through what is taking place over the
time and the rest of the time of this famine.
So in verse 13, it says, there was no food in
the entire region for the family was very severe.
The land of Egypt and the land of Canaan were
exhausted by the famine. Joseph collected all
the silver to be found in the land of Egypt and
the land of Canaan in exchange for the grain
they were purchasing, and he brought the silver
to Pharaoh's palace. When the silver from the
land of Egypt and the land of Canaan was gone,
all the Egyptians came to Joseph and said, Give
us food. Why should we die here in front of you?
The silver is gone. But Joseph said, Well, give
me your livestock then since the silver is gone
and I will give you food in exchange for the
livestock. So they brought their livestock to
Joseph and he gave them food in exchange for
the horses, the flocks of sheep, the herds of
cattle and the donkeys. That year he provided
them with food in exchange for all their livestock.
When that year was over, they came the next year
and said to him, we cannot hide from our Lord
that the silver is gone and that all our livestock
now belongs to the Lord, or our Lord, speaking
of Pharaoh. There is nothing left for our Lord
except our bodies and our land. Why should we
die here in front of you, both us and our land,
by us and our land in exchange for food? Then
we with our land will become Pharaoh's slaves.
Give us seed so that we can live and not die
and so that the land won't become desolate. In
this way, Joseph acquired all the land in Egypt
for Pharaoh because every Egyptian sold his field
since the famine was so severe for them. The
land became Pharaoh's. And Joseph made the people
servants from one end of Egypt to the other.
The only land he did not acquire belonged to
the priests for they had an allowance from Pharaoh.
They ate from their allowance that Pharaoh gave
them and therefore they did not sell their land.
Jacob and his family, they get to the land of
Goshen, they acquire property, they have all
this abundance, but this famine that had overtaken
the world just got worse and worse and worse.
And so we see Joseph's administration unfold
in steps as things got worse, right? The first
step was people started to come to Egypt with
money and say, hey, can we buy grain so that
we could plant and have food? Well, eventually
all the money ran out. Can you imagine that?
Everybody's like, there's no more money. because
we've given it all to you for grain, and yet
the famine is still here, and man, we're gonna
die. What are we gonna do? And so Joseph's like,
well, then let's barter. Let's trade your livestock
in exchange for grain. And they're like, great.
So they give him all the sheep and the horses,
and golly gee, isn't it kind of cool that God
had already provided a whole family of shepherds
to be a part of the nation here in Israel, or
in Egypt, and so eventually all the livestock
runs out. And the people are like, the famine
is still here. Now we don't have any livestock.
All we have is the land we live on and ourselves.
And so, buy us. Put us to work. We'll sell you
our land. We'll sell you everything. And then
we'll work the land as indentured servants. And,
you know, this is just business going along here.
Now, some people look at this and they go, wow,
didn't Joseph take advantage of them? Right?
It's like, yeah, I'll sell you grain. We're out
of money. Can we still get food? Well, what else
you got? Livestock, all right. I'll take that.
We're out of livestock. What else you got? My
home? All right, I'll take that. What else you
got? I'll work for you. All right, right? And
some people look at this and they go, man, this
is really ungodly or this is really exploitive,
but... That isn't what's taking place here, and
I'm gonna explain that here in a moment. This
wasn't exploitation, this was preservation. There's
multiple things going on here. One, God is honoring
his promise to bless those who bless Israel,
as Pharaoh literally is being blessed and enriched
through this time, but this isn't the people
going, oh no, we're being taken advantage of.
This is literally a real situation of life or
death. Like this is how bad this famine was that
the people were in a place of saying, you know,
we're gonna die if something doesn't happen.
In verse 23, we see this unfold where Joseph
says to the people, understand today that I have
acquired you and your land for Pharaoh. Here
is seed for you. Sow it in the land. At harvest,
you're to give a fifth of it to Pharaoh and four
fifths will be yours as seed for the field and
as food for yourselves and your household and
your pendants. Verse 25, you have saved our lives,
they said. We have found favor with our Lord
and will be the Pharaoh's slaves. Now that is
not a people going, dang it, you're taking advantage
of us and you're stealing from us. This is a
desperate people saying, look, we had two opportunities
in front of us. Die or live. And this was a famine
that God allowed in the realm. And so this situation
here is what we see Joseph not taking advantage
of people, but being very shrewd and very wise
in his business dealings. Now again, some of
you may look at this and you go, that's not fair,
and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, and tax the
rich, and all that silliness. The point is here
is what Joseph is doing is saving lives. In a
very, very, very desperate and difficult situation.
And the fact that he says, okay, you know, money
for grain. Great. Oh, the money's gone. There's
still an exchange going on here. And the exchange
is not a bad thing. The exchange is not something
to be condemned. The exchange is something God
is allowing for a purpose. And these people,
when they come, they go, thanks, Joseph. You
took everything. This is terrible. No, they say
you've saved our lives. We found favor with you
and with our Lord. So for those that read this
and go, oh my gosh, Joseph is being this ungodly
guy, that is not how the people felt about it.
That is not what's taking place here. And on
top of that, the reason Joseph is not exploiting
people is because he's not enriching himself.
through the situation here. You see, exploitation
and whatnot, it's always seen where people want
to enrich themselves at the expense of others,
right? That's not what he's doing. He's not making
himself wealthy at the expense of the people.
He's not hoarding his own power. He's acting
very transparently and very justly here because
we saw there right in verse 23, he says very
clearly, understand, everybody, what is going
on. There's no fine print here. There's no terms
and conditions hidden on page 173 of this thing
written in font size two, right? There's transparency
here that this is what's going on. I've acquired
you in your land for Pharaoh and here is seed
sowed in the land. And then the wisdom of still
saying, look, we don't know how long this, well,
Joseph knew exactly how long the situation was
gonna go, but as we've been giving out grain
over the years, and now you are still able to
live and still have your home and still eat and
everything, there's this 20 % tax on the grain
because we're still gonna continue to contribute
for the betterment of our society. If Joseph
didn't do this, it's very likely Egypt as a whole
and as an empire would have just collapsed. There
would be nothing. And so, again, this is wisdom
on Joseph's behalf. The 20 % tax, that was incredibly
low by ancient standards. And so the end result
of this is that Egypt survives. The end result
of this is that the people live. The end result
is that lives were preserved. And yeah, you go,
well, but Pharaoh's prospering and all that.
It's simply a fulfillment of what God said in
Genesis 12 .3. But what we can't miss here is
this whole picture is a picture of the covenant,
God's covenant being fulfilled. Pharaoh blessed
Abraham's descendants. God is blessing Pharaoh
through them. Jacob blesses Pharaoh with words,
right? Jacob said, may God's favor be upon you.
And what is happening? God's favor is upon Pharaoh
through this situation. Jacob blesses with words.
Joseph blesses Egypt with deeds, managing all
of this to make sure that everybody is taken
care of. And the whole thing is just, it's faithfulness
being acted out. Now, God's people, I believe,
in general, are blessed to bless others. That's
why God would give God's people prosperity. That's
why God would put God's people in a place of
being blessed, as God brought Jacob and his family
to Goshen to be blessed, to have abundance, to
all this. All of that is about being a blessing
to others. That is why the encouragement is you
go and you pray for the ungodly and you pray
for them and you pray God's favor in their life
because we want to see that they would come to
know the Lord. But in the midst of Pharaoh blessing
Israel, Israel is going to thrive as we're going
to see in the story to come. And Pharaoh is blessed
because of his blessing. We can't look at that
and go, oh, this is a terrible thing God did.
Because this is what God is allowing here. And
so in verse 27, it says, Israel settled in the
land of Egypt in the region of Goshen. They acquired
property and it became fruitful and very numerous.
This is what's happening over this time. As God
is allowing this famine and allowing all this
stuff to take place, God is fulfilling his intent
and his will and his desire for people. Now,
Israel settled in the land of Egypt. They acquired
property. They became fruitful. This is where
prosperity can become very dangerous for God's
people. You see, they came from the promised
land that was barren, that was destitute. They
couldn't feed their flocks. They couldn't feed
their families. That's the promised land, and
then they come into Egypt, and in the middle
of this famine, we have everything we need. In
this moment, in these years for, excuse me, Egypt
or Israel, Egypt is the safe place. Egypt is
the abundant place. Egypt is the comfortable
place. It would be very easy in their prosperity
in the midst of this difficulty to say, Egypt
is way better than the promised land. And that's
always the temptation. That's the temptation
with prosperity and wealth here, and that's why,
quite frankly, I think God says, that's not my
calling for some people. I mean, we all want
to be wealthy if we had the choice, right? Who
would turn down a billion dollars right now?
Anybody? Okay, one of you, all right. I'll take
your billion, that's fine. The reality is we
live in this material world. We live in this
world where, yeah, resources are real and paying
bills is real. And if we didn't have to pay bills,
that'd be great. I saw this video a while ago,
and I don't know if it was comedy or not, but
somebody was interviewing Mariah Carey. And in
the conversation, something came up about having
to pay for electricity. And she goes, you don't
have to pay for electricity. It's free. And the
interviewer's like, what? Now, again, I don't
know if it was a bit or whatnot, but I just remember
seeing that and going, oh, man, you know, like,
isn't that the problem with prosperity and riches?
You kind of get out of touch, you know? I think
it's why Jesus said that it's easier for a camel
to go through the eye of the needle than for
the rich to enter heaven because when you have
everything and you have no needs and you think
electricity is free because you've never seen
an electricity bill maybe, you're not really
in a place of saying, God, I need you. God, please
provide. I'm trusting you. God, I need you for
this and I need you for that. It's like I have
no needs. Everything is fine and this is the
temptation now that Israel and his family are
going to be facing. Wow, it seems to be so much
better here in Egypt than in the promised land.
There's so much more comfort and ease. here in
the world than there is living for the Lord.
There seems to be so much blessing here just
in this place that denies God than there is in
the place that is where God said stay here and
be in this place. And that's always the temptation
in our life now. Right, God is doing this thing
here through this whole story about look how
I'm prospering my people in the midst of this
worldwide devastation. And then we go, oh my
gosh, God is still saving people, saving lives.
Yes, he is, but the subtext, as you will, is
while this famine is going on, look what's happening
to God's people. He's blessing them in an abundant
way. And yet the temptation for them is to be
like, wow. Why should we ever go back to the
land of Canaan? Why should we ever go back to
God's way of doing things? But as we close this
chapter, we're gonna see Jacob, now at the end
of his life, finally has the right perspective
on prosperity. Verse 28, now Jacob lived in the
land of Egypt for 17 years, and his lifespan
was 147 years. When the time came... Or when
the time approached for him to die, he called
his son Joseph and said to him, if I have found
favor with you, put your hand under my thigh
and promise me that you will deal with me in
kindness and faithfulness. Do not bury me in
Egypt. When I rest with my ancestors, carry me
away from Egypt and bury me in their burial place.
Joseph answered and said, I will do what you
have asked. And Jacob said, swear to me. So Joseph
swore to him and then Israel bowed in thanks
at the head of his bed. Now, We have this picture,
right? Famine, devastation, prosperity and blessing
for Jacob and his family. Blessing for Pharaoh
for blessing God's people. And then we get all
the way to the end here where instead of saying,
Joseph, the land of Canaan is terrible. Bury
me here in Egypt. Egypt got it right. Obviously
God is blessing this place. Jacob has come to
the place at the end of his life where he's finally
understanding and he's like, look, all this prosperity
and all this wealth and all of this stuff, this
is fine, this is great, this is taking care of
us, but this isn't the promise. This isn't what
it's all about. This isn't forever. And Jacob
is really preaching to future generations here
without saying a lot of words that material prosperity
is not necessarily the marker of God's presence
and it doesn't erase God's promise. Sometimes
we could get caught up in the thinking that prosperity
means I'm doing right with God and lack means
God's mad at me or I'm doing wrong. And that's
not the case. Material wealth and prosperity,
it's a tool. It's a tool to be used to further
the kingdom. It's not a marker of whether you're
good with God or not. I mean, you just look around
the world today, there are so many people that
have untold wealth and riches and material prosperity,
and they're not good with God at all. And then
on the flip side of the coin, you'd have some
of the most destitute people languishing in poverty,
and yet spiritually, they're the richest people
you could possibly imagine. And Jacob here at
the end, he's like, look, this is fine. You know,
it's not that wealth is evil. It's not that it's
a sin to have wealth and prosperity. But that
prosperity didn't cause him to forget about the
promise. What really matters is God and his promises.
So even though I'm going to die here in this
land, this is not my home. I'm a pilgrim. Take
me back. Bury me with my ancestors because that's
the promise. That's what's eternal. That's what
matters. You know, material prosperity, it doesn't
erase the promises of God, and comfort does not
cancel the covenant. Material wealth is great,
but it's not the point. And if God knows that
that material prosperity is going to be bad for
you, guess what? You could have the best business
plan. You could have the best ideas. You could
have perfect planning. You could have all of
that. You could have the most talent in the world,
and it cannot happen. Because God says, nope,
not for you. And that's okay. You could be an
uncle head and not make any plans. And boom,
the Lord blesses you with a billion dollars.
And that's because God knows what he's doing
in your life and how you're going to handle that.
But the focus isn't on those things. We can't
look at that and say, oh, that means I'm walking
with the Lord. That means God is blessing me.
That means I'm doing right. Those things are
simply tools to be used to live in this world.
And when we live in this world, it's not about
just enriching ourselves. It's not about, you
know, making my life comfortable. It's not about
all of that stuff. I mean, can and does God bless
his people with material prosperity? Yeah. Can
God prosper his people without compromising his
purpose? Yeah. Psalm 105, 24, speaking of this
story in Egypt, it says, the Lord made his people
very fruitful and he made them more numerous
than their foes. But I think prosperity here
on earth is meant to be an outflow of our distinctiveness
as God's people. As a separate and a different
people. It's meant to flow outward from a constant
reminder that we deserve nothing. Because we're
sinners. We deserve judgment. And yet instead
of that, God has allowed us to live and God has
still allowed us to work and to earn and everything
we have is his. And so prosperity in the life
of a believer, it's not about, oh, this means
I'm right with God. It's simply a tool of God
saying, hey, go use this to bless others. Go
use this and be like me. Where I will bless according
to my will so that others can be blessed through
that. That's the idea here. When prosperity causes
us to become complacent or too comfortable, that's
when we're faced with the challenge to forget
God's promises. To look around at Egypt and go,
this place is great. Forget that. Forget Canaan.
And we forget that true prosperity isn't Wealth
and things and all that, true prosperity is alignment
with God's will. True prosperity is peace in
the midst of whatever the circumstances are because
we know that God is in control. We know that
God is leading and guiding our lives. It's not
accumulation of ease and comfort. And so when
the buzzer sounds in your life, what is your
cart gonna be full of? 120 -inch TVs? Think about
it. We're going to get to heaven, and it's going
to be an infinity -inch TV of all creation, interactive.
I mean, right? It's going to be amazing. What's
your cart going to be full of? Comfort, ease,
pleasure, things? Or is your cart going to be
full of obedience, whether or not you had things?
Is your cart going to be full of what the world
would call success, or is your cart going to
be full of faith? Regardless if God's given you
stuff or hasn't given you stuff. You see, Jacob
had everything Egypt offered, but he knew that
it just paled in comparison to the promise. It
meant nothing according to the promise, and so
he chose the promise. It's not that he rejected
God's blessing there. I mean, it sustained him
and his people. But he still said, this isn't
it. And so when I die, take me home. Joseph,
on the other hand of the coin, he had power,
influence, and authority, and he used all of
that to preserve life, not to enrich himself.
He used that to take care of people, not to make
sure that he had more things and one more dollar.
No, he handled things in a very wise way to make
sure that people's lives were preserved, the
nation was preserved, that... that all this continued.
So on one hand, it's like be distinct as God's
people even if it risks comfort and ease. Don't
compromise your holiness for the prosperity that
the world offers. Let God be the one who places
you in Goshen if that's his will. If God places
you in Goshen, hallelujah. If God places you
in a place where you have material wealth and
abundance, praise God. Now use that to bless
people. But if God doesn't place you in Goshen,
hallelujah. Because that's where he wants you.
And still use everything he's given you to bless
people. It's regardless of the circumstance,
be a blessing wherever he has placed you. Do
it like Jacob through words. Just pray God would
bless you with his favor. I pray you would know
God. You are a mean, wicked, evil person. You
think yourself a God. Well, you're going to have
to talk to God about that. But I just pray. God
is the one who said, oh, if they curse my people,
I'm going to curse them. Sweet, let God do that.
Let God handle his business. But bless people
through your sacrificial deeds that preserve
life. As God has given to you, just how do I
bless others, God? How do I be faithful? How
do I be generous? How do I take care of those
in need with what you've given me? I have a little,
so I can't go build an orphanage, but maybe I
could take a meal to that one family or whatever
it may be. But it's keeping your priorities straight
because... If and when and how God prospers his
people here on earth with material prosperity,
all of that can very subtly and very quietly
replace our hope in the Lord. And I would rather
have full faith and hope in the Lord than a billion
dollars any day. So ask yourself, if God changed
your circumstances today, Would you still trust
his promises? If God dropped a billion dollars
in your lap today, would you still be like, God,
I'm nothing without you? God, I can't pay my
bills without you. Or would you be like, well,
now I kind of got a billion dollars. I could
pay some bills. I don't need you, God. I'll talk
to you later when I need you, right? God will
use famine and fullness. He'll use hardship and
prosperity. He'll use power and weakness to shape
his people. And my prayer for us as a church
is that when the buzzer sounds in your life,
that your cart would be full of what lasts, that
your cart would be full of what truly has value.
And if God has blessed you with things along
the way, great, hallelujah. But if he hasn't,
hallelujah, because God is what matters most.
And if you haven't trusted in Christ as your
Lord and Savior this morning, yeah, I pray God's
favor upon you. May you be prosperous and successful
by the world's standards, but not to the point
where you trust in those things for your life.
I pray you come to the place where you don't
miss the prosperity that truly counts. If God
has blessed you in business and things and wealth
and all that, hey, great. But none of that goes
with you to the other side. If you die without
Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, you're
just as destitute as anybody else who dies without
the Lord. And so while you still have time and
while you still draw breath, recognize material
prosperity doesn't go with you. It doesn't pass
to the other side. You're not going to be able
to get to the gates of heaven and buy your way
in. The only riches that matter is the riches
of Christ, a saving relationship with him. Everything
else is just about how can I bless people? And
if you don't know Jesus this morning, especially
if you've been in a place and you've been blessed
and you have riches and wealth, I pray that you're
listening to the Holy Spirit right now that says,
hey, that's great, I've given that to you, but
it means nothing in the big picture. You need
me. Because without me, you really are nothing.
And when you die, and if you should die today,
none of that material wealth means anything.
But today you can give your life to Jesus Christ.
Today you can know that you have salvation. Today
you can know that if you pass from this earth
today, that you have the most prosperity you
could possibly have in the fact that God has
forgiven you. and set you free from sin. And
then every moment and every day afterwards here
now, all the blessings that God has given you,
it's about being a blessing. Let's pray. Father,
we love you. We thank you, God, for your word,
and we thank you for just what you do, Lord.
God, I pray that just your people, all of us,
we would have a proper biblical view of prosperity.
Lord, riches and wealth and things, Lord, that's
nothing to you. And Lord, even as believers,
we can find ourselves filling our basket with
these things because we think those things are
going to bring happiness and those things are
going to bring fulfillment. And so, God, instead
of grabbing what matters, we want to fill our
basket with these temporary things. And Lord,
there's... There's nothing inherently wrong with
the temporary things, God, but Lord, we don't
want a people who prioritize those things over
you, over the promises. And so, God, I pray,
Lord, that you would bless your people. I pray,
Lord, that you would bless each one of us according
to your will. For those that you choose to bless
with material prosperity, God, I pray, Lord,
that they would be wise and a blessing to others
with what you've given them, Lord. For those
that don't have a lot, I pray that they would
still be a blessing to others, God, because every
single thing we have is from you. But that, Lord,
we would never let prosperity cause us to forget
about the promise. That, Lord, we would trust
that you can prosper us if that's your will,
but, Lord, we wouldn't pursue that at the expense
of pursuing you and pursuing faithfulness and
holiness and obedience. God, we pray for those
around us that we serve, Lord, even the ungodly
bosses. And, Lord, we, as Jacob, we follow that
example. And, Lord, I just pray, God, that you
would show favor in their lives. Favor such that
they would come to know you. That the kindness
that you may extend to them, Lord, would lead
them to repentance, Lord. And God, I pray that
we would trust in and leave judgment and vengeance
to you, God. But let us be a people that are
about blessing others in every way, God. trusting
that whether we have or have not, we are blessed.
That God, because we have you, we are the most
prosperous people that could possibly be, Lord,
and that we simply want to share that hope with
others. And while we're here on earth, Lord,
just use us to be a blessing to people. Lord,
like Joseph, with his power and his influence,
Lord, it was about saving lives and protecting
life, not enriching himself, Lord. May we be
people. Who have that attitude in whatever it
is that you've given us in this life, Lord. Because
God, we want to have an effect on this world
for the kingdom. We want to have an effect on
this world for eternity. Not for ourselves, not
for this temporary life that is but a vapor,
but Lord, for forever. And so help us, Lord,
to live for you and to glorify you and to magnify
you in all things. That, Lord, if it's your will
to prosper us materially, we're no different
than we were before. Because we're grounded in
you. Lord, we thank you. We love you. We worship
you. Be glorified, God, in Jesus' name. Amen.