Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/Sermons/zz20090308.htm

THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION
Genesis: Explaining The Foundations Of History
Part VII: Explaining God's Plan To Bless Men Regardless Of Apostasy
GG. Thinking Adequately In Unsettling Crises By Heeding God's Word
(Genesis 47:1-27)
  1. After Joseph settled his family in Goshen (Gen. 47:1-12), the famine intensified, producing MIND-NUMBING PROBLEMS:
    1. Joseph gained Pharaoh's approval for his family to settle in Egypt's agriculturally prized land of Goshen, Genesis 47:1-12.
    2. However, the famine so intensified, all the area's money was spent for Joseph's grain, so money-poor throngs asked him for grain, 47:13-15!
    3. This left him facing very perilous, complex issues (as follows):
      1. Joseph had to provide the people with a solution, for, the safety of him, his family and Pharaoh would be lost if throngs did not eat!
      2. However, the people urged Joseph merely to give them grain, but that suggestion contained very bad long-term consequences:
        1. Had Joseph merely given the people grain, he might have hurt their confidence, crushing their morale and turning Egypt into a welfare state, H. C. Leupold, Exp. of Gen., 1974, v. II, p. 1133.
        2. Yet, to refuse them grain would have spawned riots that ruined social order and risked the lives of Joseph and his family!
  2. For a SOLUTION to the MIND-NUMBING PROBLEMS, Joseph REFUSED his OWN wisdom, but FOLLOWED GOD'S WORD:
    1. Joseph did NOT rely on his OWN wisdom for a solution, but he recalled God had always led him by sets of two dreams each (Genesis 37:6-11 and 40:1-23), and God's guidance about the current famine had come in a set of two dreams where one dream had been about livestock, and the other about grain , cf. Genesis 41:17-24.
    2. Now, Joseph knew both dreams had predicted a famine, so he had stored grain, the only item of mentioned in either dream that he could efficiently store, to prepare for the famine, Gen. 41:22-24 with 33-36.
    3. Yet, these dreams had named two items of value, grain and livestock, so Joseph took a hint from these items in God's dream guidance to suggest the throngs trade their livestock for his grain, Genesis 47:16!
    4. This suggestion solved ALL the mind-numbing issues involved:
      1. First, Joseph's suggestion met Egypt's immediate material needs:
        1. In a famine, animals lacked food, so it was wise to take and feed them as sources of future work and clothing! (Ibid., p. 1134)
        2. Also, relieving the people of their animals relieved their own food burdens, and that in turn eased their social unrest! (Ibid.)
      2. Second, Joseph's suggestion saved the nation's morale and power:
        1. Joseph's call to trade livestock for grain preserved the people's confidence: it honored their own value by giving them an opportunity to help solve the crisis, Genesis 47:17:
        2. Once the livestock was all traded for grain (Genesis 47:18a,b), the people then took Joseph's idea of trading livestock for grain one step further to note what else they could trade for grain -- their land and their bodies to be Pharaoh's slaves, Gen. 47:18c.
        3. Thus, with their morale still high, the people asked Joseph to sell them grain for their land and bodies as slaves, and to be given additional grain to sow for a future crop, Genesis 47:19.
      3. Third, Joseph's suggestion helped secure Egypt's long-term benefit:
        1. The people's idea was good, so Joseph agreed to it, and traded grain for their land and themselves as Pharaoh's servants, 47:20.
        2. Then, Joseph used his authority over the people who were now Pharaoh's servants to move them from bare lands to cities near the grain stores for protection, Gen. 47:21 KJV; Ibid., p. 1137.
        3. When he agreed with the people's proposal and gave them grain to plant, Joseph told them perpetually to keep 80%, but to give 20% of all their future harvests back to Pharaoh, Genesis 47:24.
        4. This directive reflected Joseph's initial savings program that had saved the people from starvation, so they granted their approval.
        5. Joseph's ruling also secured Egypt's food stores in later famines, and so enhanced the welfare of the nation, Genesis 47:25-27!
  3. Now, Joseph's USE of GOD'S WORD had led to LESS individual LIBERTY and a STRONGER MONARCHY; YET, that CHANGE 400 years later led to God's HONORING Himself by FREEING the nation ISRAEL from a STRONG, OPPRESSIVE MONARCH in PHARAOH during the EXODUS, Gen. 47:20-26; Exodus 9:13-16.
Introduction: (To show the need . . . )

The financial crisis is vast, spreading uncertainty and unrest, but with it comes a deeper concern about the welfare of society itself:

(1) The uncertainty and unrest of the financial crisis is great: (a) When asked what steps he tells CEOs to take in today's era, Ram Charan, a management consultant to dozens of Fortune 500 leaders, said: "It's largely out of their hands. About 10 people in Washington need to come up with a coordinated plan. Everything is being done piecemeal. Unless . . . [they] deal with it, there's not much companies can do." ("Chaotic times call for CEOs to show optimism," by Del Jones, USA Today, March 2, 2009, p. 4B)

With this uncertainty, Mr. Charan adds that CEOs daily "worry if their customers will pay, if their suppliers will go bust. They are watching accounts receivables daily and with intensity." (Ibid.)

(b) The uncertainty and unrest filters down to regular wage earners. Mary Brophy Marcus' article [Ibid., "Economy keeps people tossing and turning", p. 6D] noted that "the 2009 Sleep in America poll by the National Sleep Foundation" due out February 23rd reported "27% of Americans are losing sleep over financial worries."

(3) However, such uncertainty and unrest is being accompanied by an even deeper concern over the future welfare of society itself:

(a) Last Wednesday, I heard a legendary local radio talk show host, Brad Davis, who prides himself in not screening his callers, but letting anybody of any political viewpoint speak, say that many callers have expressed great concern that the government seems to be using the financial crisis as a cover to force "socialism" on America!

(b) Other talk hosts have camped on this theme to where the President told Republicans to quit listening to Rush Limbaugh if they expected to get anything done in a Democrat-controlled Congress!

(c) This statement led talk show hosts to sound an alarm about a "dictatorship", but even Democrats like Senator Robert C. Byrd of West Virginia worry; he sent the President a letter airing anxiety about his appointing many "czars" who can avoid Senate oversight that the U. S. Constitution requires. (www.latimes.com, 3/5/09)!

So, we ask, "In our era of doubt and unrest at the financial and deeper social issues we face, how may we think and act well?!"



(We turn to the sermon "Need" section . . .)

Need: "In our era of unsettling, complex financial crises accompanied by societal change, how may we think and act well?!"

Application: In big, complex crises that involve unsettling, mind-numbing problems, (1) may we trust in Christ for salvation to become a child of God, John 1:11-12. (2) As a believer, may we (a) REFUSE to be SHAKEN in the crises into using our OWN WISDOM, but (b) FOLLOW GOD'S WORD (Proverbs 3:5-6), and God will use us to solve big problems and glorify Himself!

Lesson: By REFUSING to THINK and ACT in his OWN WISDOM in a MIND-NUMBING crisis, but FOLLOWING GOD'S WORD, Joseph was USED of GOD to solve the crisis and glorify God in the future Exodus!

Conclusion: (To illustrate the sermon lesson . . . )

For direction in view of the financial crisis and accompanying social concerns faced, we can apply this sermon (as follows):

(1) A concern for many people is the fast, strong centralization of government power being exerted in the name of solving the money crisis, but allegedly at the price of pushing socialism on the people!

Well, if we check Scripture, we recall that after God removes the Church from the world by the pre-tribulation rapture, the antichrist will rule the world and its economy (Revelation 13:1-18), but his reign will be supplanted by Christ's refreshing rule (Revelation 19:1-20:4)!

In accord with this prediction, Revelation 3:21 forecasts that in the last era of the Church before the rapture, Christ will enthrone godly leadership with refreshing monarchical influence as a type of Christ's refreshing earthly monarchy. [cf. Revelation 3:14-21 lessons]

So, we may WELL EXPECT GOD to LET the current economic crisis OCCUR to ALLOW for the CENTRALIZATION of government power to PREPARE for a RENEWING CHANGE to GODLY LEADERSHIP . In parable form, God may be letting the (economic) famine arise to lead to centralization of government power (Pharaoh's power growth under Joseph in the famine) to lead people to long for deliverance (the Exodus) to come under godly leadership (Moses) from oppression (the strong, hard, oppressive Pharaoh of Moses' era).

(2) We often hear people express fear over the huge debt the governments of the world are building! Well, we have seen from the study of Joseph's administration that Egypt's survival depended not on post-famine crisis indebtedness, but on pre-famine crisis savings!

Thus, we should expect God to be letting the public face runaway debt to expose the futility of such a condition so people will long for the rise of SAVINGS under godly leadership !

(3) So, OUR part NOW is NOT to FRET, but apply SCRIPTURE in the crises we PERSONALLY face, letting God USE it for HIS glory, and waiting for HIM to work in our behalf!

May we then like Joseph RESIST REACTING in our OWN wisdom to the troublesome economic and social crises we see, but FOLLOW God's WORD at EACH STEP, trusting HIM to USE us to HIS GLORY in the PROCESS!