Joseph's secret plan

so I've been teaching through the book of Genesis with our high school students.
Which inevitably lead to the life of Joseph. I'm sure this concept is not new because I agree with Solomon that there is nothing new under the sun. It's a concept that made something that seemed inconsistent in the story flow a lot easier.

In chapters 42,43 and 44 it looks like Joseph uses deception in order to "pay back" his brothers for what they did to him. It looks like he came up with a plan to watch them squirm and sweat for the lies that they had perpetuated over the last 20 or more years.
As I work through the story as a story there was nothing within Joseph's character seem to indicate that he would do such a thing. There seems to be plenty of opportunities within his story for him to be vengeful, retaliatory, bitter, but there is no indication that any of that ever occurred. So going with what I could clearly see
this is what I came up with. (I'm sure I did come up with it I read an awful lot of stuff and I have a feeling or brain just kind of put it together in a way that made sense to me)

I don't think Joseph saw his brothers and specifically accuse them of spying in order to get back at them. I know that he gets credit for it and I believe because he was the man in charge. Jewish writings indicate that the brothers were accused of spying by Egyptians who had observed all of them coming in to the country and spreading out into the various cities looking for food.
These writings seem to indicate it was their behavior in the cities that made them appear to be spies and brought before Joseph in order to be judged.
If that is true then Joseph showed amazing/God-given creativity. He not only was able to save his brothers but also rescue the family. He needed a way that the brothers could come and go out of Egypt and obtain food without being suspected. He also wanted proof that the ones who had sold him into slavery had done the same thing to his youngest brother.
His plan allowed the Egyptians to be satisfied that justice would be done, and the brothers could be proved innocent.

I have no doubt Joseph expected a quick return for two reasons, one to prove their innocence, and two to retrieve Simon who was imprisoned while they were gone.
dysfunctional family dynamics kept that from happening or probably close to a year.

When they returned he was able to see that his "real" brother Benjamin was fine, and that his father was still alive. He was able to provide both grain and money to the family. And creatively brought about a situation that would give him another opportunity to have them return and see him specifically so that he could continue to get news of the family.

I don't think he needed to reveal himself and I'm not completely convinced he ever planned on it.

So when the brothers returned after being accused of stealing the cup from Joseph's table his plan was broken down by the impassioned plea from Judah. Judah had been the one that pulled him up out of the hole/dry well in the desert and had sold Joseph into slavery.
Emotions were so intense Joseph broke down and revealed who he was. Then he called for all those connected to his brothers, their families, and his father to return so he could provide what God had clearly designed him to provide.

In the end forgiveness ruled and God was glorified.
It fits better in my mind than retribution and payback from Joseph.

Just a thought

tension in balance

While talking with a wise old man the other day, okay he's about five years older than I am so that makes two old men talking together.

The idea of balance was being discussed and defined. Within the conversation it became obvious to me for the first time that to keep things in balance is to live with a certain level of tension.
This is not the first time I've understood tension in a relationship or circumstance to be necessary. I've never been one to run away from tension or confrontation. I understand that it is a part of life and a part of any relational connection that is going to continue to grow. I guess I never looked at tension is a necessary part of balance.
If you have a scale and on either side are equal parts thereby perfectly balanced, you also have a natural tension that each side wants to pull down the other but can't. That balance is maintained because of tension. And although the scale may rock gently from one side to the other the only way to alleviate the tension is to be completely out of balance.

I think a lot of people try to approach life in balance but what they really are trying to do is alleviate tension and you can't do both.
When people say that their life is out of balance and they're under a lot of stress, I think what they're saying is true because when there's no tension holding their life steady all the weight is on one side of the scale, and causing stress.

As I have kicked around this concept in the last couple of weeks it seems to fit just about every example I pass through its filter.
Walking in balance means living with an appreciating the tension that balance brings.

So enjoy the day stay balanced, enjoying the tension

worship dialogue

the other day I was able to listen as several visitors sat around my dining room table having lunch. These were for gentlemen that attend college with my oldest son. They'd come down to visit for a weekend and were able to participate and two of our church services. At both these services worship was engaged in several ways but the dialogue seem to center around the idea of behavior during the musical portion.

Seems most were observing such freedom during worship for the first time. One of them from a more charismatic church enjoyed the freedom, because it reminded him of home. The other three had a varying opinion as to what they should do with what they saw and experienced.
One of them found it interesting to see people so comfortable to move as individuals in a corporate setting. One of the three admitted he did not see anything wrong but was uncomfortable just because he wasn't used to it. He also acknowledged that because he was unfamiliar, he was distracted by hand raising,swaying, and flag-waving by some.
the third one brought up an interesting point. This point lead to a fun dialogue around the table, and is why I am mentioning it in a blog.
His point was that he thought about 98% of those who worship with such passion are only that way on Sunday and they do not worship the rest of the week. His point was that if you saw these people at a local store they would not be raising their hands or waving flags and singing songs that Jesus, so these people are being inconsistent in their worship of God. He believes that we should always be in a state of worship of God and his worship should be consistent.
I have admit I wanted to get crazy all up in his face, the logic of the statement was so flawed but God gave me grace and I sat and listened. I listened as his friends tried to understand what point he was trying to make. they could not understand why he thought the way he did. In the name of consistency he refused to act any different in a corporate body worshiping God that he would walking down the aisles of Wal-Mart.
As I listened I heard many a flawed logical statement and yet I also heard my own voice using the same logic years ago. I smiled as I thought of the journey that God has allowed me to walk in the area of worship. I appreciated his grace and mercy in allowing me to have opportunity to grow in freedom both for myself and the grace to allow others to grow as well.
Before we were wonderfully interrupted by more visitors, and homemade apple pie I think the young man was beginning to see that it is possible to expand his definition of being consistent in worship. I believe he began to understand that a gathering of believers celebrating and honoring a God that they love can look different then that same believer honoring and celebrating a God that they love as they walk down the aisle of Wal-Mart.

It was fun, and I hope they come again if not for the conversation at least for the apple pie. :-)

April 10 Elevate

And elevate this week we took a look at some Four short parables found in Matthew 13..

We took a look at the mustard seed in verse 31. We took a look at the bread verse 33
the hidden treasure in verse 44. The big Perl verse 45.

We took the first two together to try and see what aspects of the Kingdom of God was Jesus referring to, or trying to illustrate. One of the assistant insights was at the idea of the Kingdom of Heaven is more about the sanctification of people in the world than it is about the salvation. We do understand that sanctification does not take place without salvation of people but to limit God's kingdom to only the act of receiving Christ as your savior is just, that very limiting.

The idea of a mustard seed illustrates the point of the Gospel of salvation containing far more than just a guarantee of Heaven. Within this mustard seed of faith there is all that is needed for a very large tree to be produced. This tree takes a long time to complete, and is not something that can be rushed. The tree when completed brings benefit to many people, and is clearly seen by anyone who is passing by.
This concept is also pretty clear in the idea of yeast affecting the flour of bread. For just a little bit of the yeast a whole lot of flour is affected and grows. The idea of God's kingdom being something that starts small again affects a large portion of those around it was pretty clear.
The Kingdom of God is also something that evidently is very easily seen and its effects on those around someone who contains the Kingdom of God . This little beauty beast or this mustard seed allows positive benefits to the world because he is in and amongst the world.
We see in these two illustrations that there is not a large pile of yeast separated from the flower. There is not a large bag of mustard seeds separated from the garden. What we see in these illustrations as well as the other illustrations of Matthew 13 is that we are to be right along side of those who do not have the Kingdom of God in their lives.
We need to challenge the concept of building walls to protect all the seeds or Eastern of God's kingdom and instead figure out ways to plant and spread about all the garden or flower of the world. We as individuals need to grow, or infiltrate with the positive effects of what has been built into us when we accepted the salvation of Christ into our hearts.
We can tell how the kingdom is doing based on the effect that we have on those around us. Are they drawn to us because we give them nourishment, filling them with the aspects of the kingdom like hope peace and love. Are they drawn to us because we give them a place to rest, have shade, and refreshment.
These are the aspects of the kingdom of heaven that Jesus was trying to allow his people to understand. The kingdom of heaven is not about politics and power or military conquering its about affecting the world in such a way that they desire to have more of it.

Second two illustrations that of a treasure in the field, and that of a pearl that is worth a lot carry would it a similar theme with a different picture. In both cases people who had possessions got rid of them all in order to obtain what the parable used to illustrate the kingdom. In both illustrations we see that what they obtained gave them great satisfaction and contentment because what they gave up was nowhere near the value over the long term of what they now possess.
We acknowledge that this probably looked very strange to those around them .This is true often of Christians experience in the world.Many times what we give up makes no sense to those who are observing us. What we seem to walk away from versus what we obtained for it doesn't look like a good deal to those who don't understand. The values of the kingdom of God are something that might not make a lot of sense to those outside of the kingdom.
Once again it goes against the concept of an earthly kingdom. The earthly kingdoms are constantly seeking more and instead of selling everything to gain something of great value .They look for ways to gain everything because they do not understand the long-term investments that God's Kingdom makes it people.

Many of those present on Saturday night were encouraged by God's Holy Spirit to see that what they had given up was worth it. That the kingdom that they are investing their time and energies into is the better deal even though it might not make much sense to those who do them now. They need to continue to be reminded that this is a long-term growth concept of God, and in the end many will be the blessed.

A rebel spirit

This past week I had a brief encounter with parents of a rebellious teenager. They took the path of least resistance which was "he's a good kid just going through a phase" I disagreed and then tried to encourage them with these words.

A rebellious spirit is a good thing when it is turned toward the side of righteousness. You see someone who has a rebellious spirit in concept has a strength to stand against what they believe to be the norm. They have the strength to stand against those whom they see as authority figures. They have the strength to go against the flow and not be told what to do, or believe. This strength is a good strength and not one to be destroyed.
What you want to do with a rebellious spirit is guide it toward righteousness. When someone is righteously rebellious they use their strength to stand against unrighteousness. They have the strength to stand alone when seemingly everyone else is going the other direction. They have the strength to stand up to ungodly authority that tries to force them to behave in a worldly way.

Righteous rebellion is probably the closest thing to describe what Christ was like. We ourselves are called to be like Christ and in essence he rebelled against much of his culture's authority, expected norms, traditions, and I'm sure as a teenager was not "like everyone else"
I encouraged these parents not to seek to break their teenagers rebellious spirit, but to guide it or shepherd it in such a way that allows the team to remain strong but rebel with blessing.
I've often said there is nothing more powerful on this planet than a teenager with purpose and direction.

Teenagers in general have great strength of character, but have often been corralled in a tight space or released to too much freedom. Guidance and growth of character is not an easy task for any parent or authority figure and a teenager's life but the reward is amazingly beneficial both to the family, their community, and ultimately a culture in which they engage.