Broken Vessels: Joseph

The story of Joseph’s life has to be one of the most well known of the Old Testament. It is a great story that has everything in it. There is intrigue and betrayal, rescue and restoration, redemption and reunion. Not to mention, a happy ending. While God does not speak audibly to Joseph in the same way he did to Jacob, it is clear that God is orchestrating Joseph’s circumstances and blessing him even in and through the difficulties. Acts 7:9 puts it succinctly, “But God was with him.”

There is also a lot of story here. No fewer than 12 chapters of Genesis deal with the account of Joseph’s life. If I read the entire story, it would take longer than we normally spend on a message. So, I’m going to pick and choose a little bit, but I won’t take away too much because it is so important to see Joseph’s full life.

In fact, when both Jacob and Joseph are mentioned in Hebrews 11, it isn’t their faith during their lives, but their faith at the ends of their lives that get mentioned.

By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of Joseph's sons, and worshiped as he leaned on the top of his staff. 

 
By faith Joseph, when his end was near, spoke about the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt and gave instructions about his bones.--Hebrews 11:21-22

Jesus the Author

Today we are going to spend time remembering Jesus’ willing sacrifice of Himself on the cross for us. We have the bread and the cup, instituted by Jesus Himself as a way for us to continually remember Him. Now, this month we have been going full speed into our Broken Vessels series, examining the lives of a number of the personalities in Genesis who are also described as people commended for their faith in Hebrews 11. Today I want to start with a familiar passage from Hebrews 12.

Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. – Hebrews 12:2

What does it mean that Jesus is the author of our faith? In addition to author, the word also means chief leader, or prince, as well as one that takes the lead in something and becomes an example. I believe all of these meanings apply here. The same word is used in Hebrews 2:10, where Jesus is called the author of salvation.

Broken Vessels: Jacob

Today we are going to look at Jacob, Abraham’s grandson and the father of what became the twelve tribes of Israel. Jacob is one of my favorite characters in the Bible, I think because I identify with some of his weaknesses. Now, there are far more passages on Jacob in the Bible than we have time to cover, so we will need to be selective. Let’s start, however, at the beginning:

This is the account of Abraham's son Isaac. Abraham became the father of Isaac, and Isaac was forty years old when he married Rebekah daughter of Bethuel the Aramean from Paddan Aram and sister of Laban the Aramean. Isaac prayed to the Lord on behalf of his wife, because she was barren. The Lord answered his prayer, and his wife Rebekah became pregnant. – Gen. 25:19-21

Broken Vessels: Abraham

Abraham, originally called Abram, was the son of Terah. He was born in the Sumerian city of Ur (in modern-day Iraq). Terah, like his father and others before him, worshiped false gods – we know this because of Joshua 24:2, which says,

Joshua said to all the people, "This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: 'Long ago your forefathers, including Terah the father of Abraham and Nahor, lived beyond the River and worshiped other gods.'" – Josh. 24:2

Sumerian worship involved temples called ziggurats. In the image, you can see the Ziggurat of Ur, called Etemennigur, which, translated, means “house whose foundation creates terror.” The ziggurat was in the city center along with administrative buildings, and it was believed to be the dwelling of the moon god, Nanna, on earth. His symbol was a crescent moon. This next image shows an artifact from around the time of Abraham. You can see the crescent on the top.

Broken Vessels: Adem, Abel, Enoch, and Noah

Welcome! Today we kick off our “Broken Vessels” series in earnest. Now most weeks in this series, we focus on a single Old Testament character; some characters will get multiple weeks. But this week is unique in that we are going to look at four, four different major characters of the Bible. Obviously, we cannot talk in depth on each of these people. And as I have studied this week, I realize I could have spent a month on these guys. So let me not waste any time, and start right at the beginning, with Adam.

Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, in Our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground." So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. – Gen. 1:26-27

The History of Broken Vessels

Today we begin an approximately six-month long series of teachings on the Old Testament called “Broken Vessels.” Today I want to introduce the series, talking about the Old Testament in general, and talking about the purpose of the series.

Six months may seem like a long time to focus on the Old Testament. Will we really not look at the New Testament for six months? No, of course not! We will tie things forward into the New Testament whenever we can, and we will continue to have our monthly communion and sharing times at the end of each month, times that really focus on Christ. But perhaps some of you still have some reservations, so I would like to speak to you regarding this idea.

Falling Down Before the Throne

Carl planned a new series for us starting next week titled “Broken Vessels.” These messages will take a look at the lives of men and women throughout the Old Testament. However, I’m going to sneak ahead and look at one of the kings of Judah, one of these broken vessels, today.

Does anyone remember King Amaziah? Can you say anything remarkable about his reign as king or how he came to be king? If anyone says, “yes,” I’ll be surprised.

Amaziah was the son of Joash. Amaziah’s son was Uzziah. Here is the beginning of the record about his life from II Chronicles 25:1-2:

Amaziah was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem twenty-nine years. His mother's name was Jehoaddin; she was from Jerusalem. He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, but not wholeheartedly.

Jesus: The Returning One

One day in a stable a baby was born;

He was the King’s Son, but came unadorned.

That special Babe would be Savior to all.

He was called Jesus and born in a stall.

He was brought to the Temple and praised by some,

Though more did not know what soon was to come.

Joseph and Mary, His father and mother,

Knew not that their Son was above every other.

Jesus was born a poor carpenter’s Son,

But whatever He did was always well done.

He went back to the Temple and got scholars mad;

They said He was crazy; He called God His Dad.

Jesus, the Risen One

Christ is Risen! He is risen indeed!

In The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, C. S. Lewis makes the lion Aslan a Christ figure by having him killed and then resurrected back to life. Aslan himself says, “though the Witch knew the Deep Magic, there is a magic deeper still which she did not know. Her knowledge goes back only to the dawn of time. But if she could have looked a little further back, … she would have read … a different incantation. She would have known that when a willing victim who had committed no treachery was killed in a traitor’s stead, the Table would crack and Death itself would start working backward.”

Is this an appropriate picture of Christ? How deep does the analogy go? Is there a “deeper magic”? What is it? Let us not waste any time and get right into reading John’s account of the resurrection.

Jesus, the Crucified One

Today we begin a 3-week series called Jesus: The One. The title for these series comes from a number of verses, including this:

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. – John 1:14

The word in Greek for “One and Only,” also translated “Only Begotten” in some translations, is monogenes. It is only used in the context of sons and daughters. Like logos, (The Word), it is a deep word, when you spend time thinking about it. In purely human terms, Jesus was not an only child; Matthew 13:55 and Mark 6:3 mention four “brothers” of Jesus: James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas. And the same verses talk about unnamed “sisters” as well. And although there is some question whether these people were Jesus’ half-brothers and sisters, His step-brothers and sisters, or even His cousins (personally I take the verses at face value and assume they were half-brothers and sisters), we can be absolutely certain that in no way were these people Jesus’ full brothers and sisters, because God and not Joseph was the true father of Jesus. In this Jesus was truly the One and Only.