As men we have been given a huge responsibility to be the guardians and protectors of what God has given us. First and foremost God has given us life and a responsibility to honor Him with our decisions.
*Proverbs 20:11 “Even a young man is known by his actions, by whether his behavior is pure and upright.”
God wants us to have an abundant life that is adventurous and amazing, but a lot of the time we go through and screw things up pretty badly. That is why we are cautioned so much on the choices that we make. The book of Proverbs is full of wisdom about becoming a man of character and of valor. The Bible in general pleads with us to grab a hold of wisdom and never let go.
Tonight we are going to be looking at the lives of two different men and will see how their choices affected their future. These two men were brothers, but their choices were completely different. God honors one and leads him into a life of some pretty awesome adventure. The other gets himself in more and more trouble and leads a life of regret.
If you don’t hear anything else tonight, hear this: Who you are now directly impacts who you will be later in life. It not only affects you, but your children as well.
What do you guys know about Joseph? His dad loved him, gave him a colorful coat, dreamed some crazy dreams, et… right? His brothers hated him from the get go. Joseph may have ended up a pretty wise guy, but at the beginning he really knew how to make people angry.
*Genesis 37:2–4
“2 These are the generations of Jacob. Joseph, being seventeen years old, was pasturing the flock with his brothers. He was a boy with the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father’s wives. And Joseph brought a bad report of them to their father. 3 Now Israel loved Joseph more than any other of his sons, because he was the son of his old age. And he made him a robe of many colors. 4 But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not speak peacefully to him.”
What was Joseph doing here? He was basically tattling on his older brothers. We don’t know what was going on, but apparently his brothers were already making some bad decisions and Joseph was calling them out on it.
Joseph also had a series of dreams that irritated his brothers. They basically stated that his family would bow down to him. Now, if your younger brother or sister came to you and said, “Hey, you are going to bow down to me when I am older.” Would that make you excited? Probably not. But does Joseph just skip telling them when he has a second dream saying the same thing? Nope. He goes right on ahead and proudly lets them know them both.
This is where we pick up in the story. His brothers are still mad at him for getting them into trouble and for telling them about those dreams. Joseph was just sent out to go find them and see how they were…
*Genesis 37:18–28
“18 They saw him from afar, and before he came near to them they conspired against him to kill him. 19 They said to one another, “Here comes this dreamer. 20 Come now, let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits. Then we will say that a fierce animal has devoured him, and we will see what will become of his dreams.” 21 But when Reuben heard it, he rescued him out of their hands, saying, “Let us not take his life.” 22 And Reuben said to them, “Shed no blood; throw him into this pit here in the wilderness, but do not lay a hand on him”—that he might rescue him out of their hand to restore him to his father. 23 So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe, the robe of many colors that he wore. 24 And they took him and threw him into a pit. The pit was empty; there was no water in it.
25 Then they sat down to eat. And looking up they saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead, with their camels bearing gum, balm, and myrrh, on their way to carry it down to Egypt. 26 Then Judah said to his brothers, “What profit is it if we kill our brother and conceal his blood? 27 Come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and let not our hand be upon him, for he is our brother, our own flesh.” And his brothers listened to him. 28 Then Midianite traders passed by. And they drew Joseph up and lifted him out of the pit, and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty shekels of silver. They took Joseph to Egypt.”
Judah
What I want you to see here is that Judah sets up who he was going to be in this very moment. From this point forward Judah lives a life of covering up his decisions. He was looking out for himself by deciding to sell his brother into slavery. He wasn’t concerned about what would happen to Joseph. At least the blood wouldn’t be on his hands this way.
Let’s look a little deeper at what takes place in Judah’s life after this point. Does it consistently get better as he gets older?
Genesis 38 tells the rest of the story. Judah has a few sons, but the Lord kills them because they are evil. Where does a son learn to become a man? Where does he learn how to treat women? A son learns that from his father. The life that Judah had been living was quite literally passed down to his sons and they were killed for it. Out of this process his daughter in law is widowed.
Judah didn’t grow from this situation and turn from the life he was living, instead he continues trying to cover his sin. On a trip out of town this is what takes place:
*Genesis 38:15–19
“15 When Judah saw her, he thought she was a prostitute, for she had covered her face. 16 He turned to her at the roadside and said, “Come, let me come in to you,” for he did not know that she was his daughter-in-law. She said, “What will you give me, that you may come in to me?” 17 He answered, “I will send you a young goat from the flock.” And she said, “If you give me a pledge, until you send it—” 18 He said, “What pledge shall I give you?” She replied, “Your signet and your cord and your staff that is in your hand.” So he gave them to her and went in to her, and she conceived by him. 19 Then she arose and went away, and taking off her veil she put on the garments of her widowhood.”
*Genesis 38:24–26
24 About three months later Judah was told, “Tamar your daughter-in-law has been immoral. Moreover, she is pregnant by immorality.” And Judah said, “Bring her out, and let her be burned.” 25 As she was being brought out, she sent word to her father-in-law, “By the man to whom these belong, I am pregnant.” And she said, “Please identify whose these are, the signet and the cord and the staff.” 26 Then Judah identified them and said, “She is more righteous than I, since I did not give her to my son Shelah.” And he did not know her again.
Judah tries to cover his tracks to the best of his ability, but his actions come back to haunt him. Notice the double standards that he has in verse 24. “Bring her out, and let her be burned!” He is angry with her for sleeping around when he was the one that did it in the first place! The decisions that Judah had made tainted his life and led to remorse and regret instead of the full life that God wants for us. He thought, just like a lot of people today thing, that boundaries only held him back from freedom instead of protecting him from messing things up.
Joseph
What is the difference between Joseph and Judah? Look at the difference between their choices. Instead of being involved in evil, he was exposing it (Gen 37:2). He sets his standards on God’s and holds true to them even when it is difficult.
*Genesis 39:2–6
“2 The Lord was with Joseph, and he became a successful man, and he was in the house of his Egyptian master. 3 His master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord caused all that he did to succeed in his hands. 4 So Joseph found favor in his sight and attended him, and he made him overseer of his house and put him in charge of all that he had. 5 From the time that he made him overseer in his house and over all that he had the Lord blessed the Egyptian’s house for Joseph’s sake; the blessing of the Lord was on all that he had, in house and field. 6 So he left all that he had in Joseph’s charge, and because of him he had no concern about anything but the food he ate.”
Even after being sold into slavery Joseph honors the Lord in his conduct. What does that gain him? Success. The Lord is with him in everything that he does. God even blesses Joseph’s master, his house, and even his fields!
It seems like Joseph has it pretty good doesn’t it? This part of the story makes you think that honoring God in your decisions is pretty easy when the outcome is so great. But what happens when the opportunity for sin enters the picture?
*Genesis 39:6–10
“Now Joseph was handsome in form and appearance. 7 And after a time his master’s wife cast her eyes on Joseph and said, “Lie with me.” 8 But he refused and said to his master’s wife, “Behold, because of me my master has no concern about anything in the house, and he has put everything that he has in my charge. 9 He is not greater in this house than I am, nor has he kept back anything from me except yourself, because you are his wife. How then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?” 10 And as she spoke to Joseph day after day, he would not listen to her, to lie beside her or to be with her.”
Joseph was entrusted with everything in his master’s house. God wants Christians to be in this position, but it doesn’t happen without making good choices now and leaning on His leadership.
When his master’s wife came to him and asked him to “Lie” with her what could have happened. No one else was there. No one would know. But Joseph saw the situation through God’s eyes. “How then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?” He was focused on his relationship with God, not anything else.
This would be a hard situation to face once, but scripture tells us that she came to him day after day! After refusing over and over potiphar’s wife eventually frames Joseph and he is imprisoned for something he didn’t do. But through another series of events he is given favor and rises to second in command to the Pharaoh himself!
Joseph set his eyes on God and put his standards on God’s level. He was honored and given a life of great reward. God used him to literally save nations from famine! That is a wild legacy to leave your kids isn’t it?
Judah had his eyes set on what he wanted and his standards were to do whatever felt right to him at the time. What legacy did he leave?
*Genesis 42:22
22 And Reuben answered them, “Did I not tell you not to sin against the boy? But you did not listen. So now there comes a reckoning for his blood.”
Joseph still remains righteous and treats his brothers with mercy after everything that they put him through!
God wants us to be men of strong character. The decisions you make today will impact who you are in the future.
*Proverbs 20:11 “Even a young man is known by his actions, by whether his behavior is pure and upright.”
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