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June 6, 2021
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Current Sermon Series: Plot Twist: Lessons from the Life of Joseph
Current Sermon Title: The Problem with Good Intentions
His brothers had gone to pasture their father’s flocks at Shechem. Israel said to Joseph, “Your brothers, you know, are pasturing the flocks at Shechem. Get ready. I’m sending you to them.”
“I’m ready,” Joseph replied.
Then Israel said to him, “Go and see how your brothers and the flocks are doing, and bring word back to me.” So he sent him from the Hebron Valley, and he went to Shechem.
A man found him there, wandering in the field, and asked him, “What are you looking for?”
“I’m looking for my brothers,” Joseph said. “Can you tell me where they are pasturing their flocks?”
“They’ve moved on from here,” the man said. “I heard them say, ‘Let’s go to Dothan.’” So Joseph set out after his brothers and found them at Dothan.
They saw him in the distance, and before he had reached them, they plotted to kill him. They said to one another, “Oh, look, here comes that dream expert! So now, come on, let’s kill him and throw him into one of the pits. We can say that a vicious animal ate him. Then we’ll see what becomes of his dreams!”
When Reuben heard this, he tried to save him from them. He said, “Let’s not take his life.” Reuben also said to them, “Don’t shed blood. Throw him into this pit in the wilderness, but don’t lay a hand on him”—intending to rescue him from them and return him to his father.
When Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped off Joseph’s robe, the robe of many colors that he had on. Then they took him and threw him into the pit. The pit was empty, without water.
They sat down to eat a meal, and when they looked up, there was a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead. Their camels were carrying aromatic gum, balsam, and resin, going down to Egypt.
Judah said to his brothers, “What do we gain if we kill our brother and cover up his blood? Come on, let’s sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay a hand on him, for he is our brother, our own flesh,” and his brothers agreed. When Midianite traders passed by, his brothers pulled Joseph out of the pit and sold him for twenty pieces of silver to the Ishmaelites, who took Joseph to Egypt.
When Reuben returned to the pit and saw that Joseph was not there, he tore his clothes. e went back to his brothers and said, “The boy is gone! What am I going to do?” So they took Joseph’s robe, slaughtered a male goat, and dipped the robe in its blood. They sent the long-sleeved robe to their father and said, “We found this. Examine it. Is it your son’s robe or not?”
His father recognized it. “It is my son’s robe,” he said. “A vicious animal has devoured him. Joseph has been torn to pieces!” Then Jacob tore his clothes, put sackcloth around his waist, and mourned for his son many days. All his sons and daughters tried to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. “No,” he said. “I will go down to Sheol to my son, mourning.” And his father wept for him.
Meanwhile, the Midianites sold Joseph in Egypt to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh and the captain of the guards. —Genesis 37:12-36
That’s the danger of good intentions isn’t it. Sometimes good intentions are just as insidious as bad intentions because they fool us into believing we’re doing something righteous when the truth is we’re doing nothing at all.
“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. —Deuteronomy 6:4
Hebrew thought was focused on action. You hear
and you obey. You intend and you act. They would never say, “its the thought that counts.”
But be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. —James 1:22 (CSB)
1. Impact. Not just Intention.
This is how we have come to know love: He laid down his life for us. We should
also lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. If anyone has this world’s
goods and sees a fellow believer in need but withholds compassion from him — how
does God’s love reside in him? Little children, let us not love in word or speech,
but in action and in truth. —1 John 3:16-18 (CSB)
2. We need to walk in the Spirit.
I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in me and I in him
produces much fruit, because you can do nothing without me. —John 15:5 (CSB)
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness,
faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. The law is not against such things. —Galatians 5:22-23 (CSB)
3. Change our scorecard.
4. Remember Jesus
Imagine if He had been content with anything other than impact.
keep your eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. For the joy that lay
before him, he endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down at the right
hand of the throne of God.For consider him who endured such hostility from sinners against himself, so that
you won’t grow weary and give up. —Hebrews 12:2-3 (CSB)
A life of impact is a life connected to Christ.
The Gospel.