Sermon in Phoenix 09.08.2009

We have awakened to a new day of grace, where we have again, already on this beautiful summer day, been reminded of that warmth and glory of your beloved Son. When he was sent in the midst of a very dark world to fulfill the will of you, dear Father, there in heaven.

On this new day of grace, dear Father, we are thankful for the many gifts and blessings that you have given us. Those blessings of this life, where you have given to us loving brothers and sisters in faith. You have given to us believing families. You have given to us believing children. You have given to us all of the necessary blessings of Jesus. Amen.

The temporal needs, dear Father, have been met. And we have awakened with thankful hearts today, mindful of those many and abundant blessings. But as we gather and have been granted grace this morning to gather together, dear Father, around your holy and precious Word, we pray that you would be with us through thy Holy Spirit, enlightening us through thy holy and precious Word. And we simply pray, dear Father, that you would break those crumbs of grace small enough that even the weakest and poorest might be nourished. Bless our services and speak, Lord, for thy servant that promised to hear. And we yet conclude all of our unspoken thoughts and prayers into that prayer which your Son, himself, has taught.

When we say, Our Father, who art in heaven, give us this new life of forgiveness, please who art in heaven. Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen.

I will use a portion of God's word that has been reserved for this Sunday where we consider, and the theme of today's text speak of the faithfulness and caring for God-given gifts. And I will read from the Old Testament's book of Genesis, Genesis. Is that better? Last night we had services in Prescott and they had a microphone that went around here this way and so today's a little different. Hopefully you can hear it better now.

The text for today is from the 41st chapter of the book of Genesis. And I will read from the 46th through the 49th and then the end of that chapter.

And Joseph was 30 years old when he stood before Pharaoh, king of Egypt. And Joseph went out from the presence of Pharaoh and went throughout all the land of Egypt. And in the seven plenteous years the earth brought forth by handfuls. And he gathered up all of the food of the seven years which were in the land of Egypt and laid up the food in the cities. The food of the food of the cities, the field which was round about every city, laid he up in the same. And Joseph gathered corn as the sand of the sea very much until he left numbering for it was without number.

And the seven years of plenteous that was in the land of Egypt were ended. And the seven years of dearth began to come according as Joseph had said. And the dearth was in all lands. But in all the land of Egypt there was bread. And when all the land of Egypt was vanished the people cried to Pharaoh for bread. And Pharaoh said unto all of the Egyptians, Go unto Joseph what he saith to do, what he saith to you do.

And the famine was over all the face of the earth. And Joseph opened all the storehouses and sold unto the Egyptians. And the famine waxed sore in the land of Egypt. And all countries came unto Egypt to Joseph for to buy corn because that the famine was sore in all the lands.

Warm and loving greetings from your brethren there. But also greetings from many from Minneapolis and the congregations in the northern part of Minnesota. We were there last weekend for the confirmation exercise of our daughter. Many knew that we were coming and wished that their greetings would be sent here.

Also greetings from last evening. We were in Prescott for services. And it's a marvel, brothers and sisters, when we are able to travel and to spend some time with our brothers and sisters in faith, wherever they are endeavoring and traveling. It is with great joy that we are welcomed and we find that we have common footsteps on this narrow road of faith that leads one day to heaven.

We have surely also enjoyed this weekend spending some time with our children. It is also a great blessing, as those of you who have married children would attest. When those grandchildren come, the family grows and it's enriched with those seedlings that God has blessed into our care.

Today, when we consider as the theme of today's text, it speaks of the faithfulness in caring for those gifts which God has given us. We have all been given something in this life. Both temporally and temporal blessings and gifts. But also spiritual blessings and spiritual gifts.

Perhaps we consider in our lives more often the temporal. And maybe secondarily to that we consider the spiritual. Maybe I speak in general terms, but I think this may be the case. But I think it should be maybe to the opposite of this, where we should consider and worry over the spiritual needs more than the temporal needs.

The temporal needs are but for a few short moments in time. We have but a few short years to live. And even if we live to be 80 or 90, and perhaps even 100 years old, that number of years we're given to live is very short in comparison to eternity. I don't know that we could even put it in a fraction as to how short a 100 year life would be in relation to what eternity is. But it seems as if we are so earthy.

The Apostle Paul writes of this that the first man is earthy, it's of the earth. The second man is heavenly. So here we bear the image of the earthy, but there in heaven we will bear the image of the heavenly. But when we have borne the image of the earthy, there are those parts of us, and it is our fleshly portion that concerns itself often with the worries and the toils of daily life. And in some ways we cannot escape it. It is impossible.

We have been entrusted with the responsibilities of raising our families, of working, to provide for our families. We are entrusted with the care and responsibilities of providing homes and clothing for our children and so on. But perhaps we as people begin to worry too much of the everyday concerns of this life.

And I think it is important for all of us, myself even more than any, to consider what are the areas of focus or priority in our life today. Jesus reminded his disciples often, and when we think of the things that we have to do, we think of even the calling of those disciples which Jesus called into the work of the kingdom. They all left their daily jobs, their earthly and temporal callings, to follow after Christ and to work in the kingdom.

The questions though of the disciples, they worried over those temporal needs and blessings. But Jesus, and so Jesus, then needed to at different times and in different ways, remind them about where and how their blessings come.

In a very familiar portion of Jesus' Sermon on the Mount, he explains to his disciples, take ye no thought for the worries of today. Consider the flowers of the field, consider the birds in the air. Neither do the birds store their food in barns, and neither do those flowers toil or spin. But yet, how much more are you remembered as God's children?

So he reminded his disciples of the proper priority in life. Seek ye first the kingdom of God and its righteousness, and then all things will be added unto you.

May God give to each of us this kind of trusting heart and mind. Even today when we have experienced and faced difficult economic times, may God give to each of us this kind of trusting heart and mind.

Where not one hair will fall from our head without our Father in heaven knowing it. Can we trust simply in God's care?

This portion of God's word which we read illustrates the trust and the obedience of our long departed brother in faith, Joseph. Joseph was a younger son. And I was thinking this morning on the way to services that, was Joseph the youngest son? If I had to guess, I would think maybe Joseph was the second youngest son of Jacob. Was Benjamin younger? Maybe it isn't so important.

But Joseph, we remember, had those brethren, those brothers. There were 12 brothers in that family. And we remember how, according to God's word, that Joseph was a favorite son of his father. It says in the Bible that Joseph found favor with his father.

I suppose it's not necessarily right that a father, and we talk about this today in parenting considerations, that a parent would favor one son or one daughter over another. But it seems as if it's such a natural thing that a parent finds favor with one child or another, maybe more easily than another. And it doesn't have anything to do with the love of that child.

The love of a parent for their children is equally the same. The parent loves their children completely. And we don't realize how much a parent loves their children. And we don't realize how much a parent loves a child until maybe that child is hurt, or even beyond this, a parent would lose a child in death. Then we realize how much the love of a parent is for that child.

And you children can rest assured that your mothers and fathers love you equally the same.

When I was a boy, I questioned this. I was the second oldest of a family of 17. And I was sure that my mother and father loved my brothers and my sisters more than me. It seemed like they always had to get after me. And they were always rebuking me, and they were always sometimes giving me a tug in the back of my hair for something that I had done.

I didn't understand. I didn't understand at a young age that this was loving rebuke of my parents. I can understand much more perfectly now being a parent myself.

But you children can rest assured that your parents love each of you equally. And they would not wish that any harm or anything would happen to you. And this is, I think, especially important for you teenagers to remember. The parents love you, teenagers, dearly.

Although sometimes you wonder, because it may feel at times that you are at odds or at loggerheads, we say, with your parents. Teenagers, they need to grow up and they need to go through this period of adolescence. And they gain their independence from their mothers and fathers. And sometimes these are rocky and difficult roads to get through.

But it happens in every family to every child in similar ways and similar fashions. But the love of the parent does not minimize, even with the difficulties that they face in parenting. Remember this.

And your children can very easily and often go to the parents that God has given you for loving support in questions or in concerns that you have in your life. It would have been no different in the family of Joseph.

But it says in the Bible that Joseph found a favor in the sight of his father. There have been those kinds of times in my life where my children, maybe one of my children or one of my sons or one of my daughters, has left a very special imprint in my heart.

It may be for a period of time in their walk of life, and then it may change to one of the other children. But there are special considerations and needs that the children have. And it feels so often that the parent is consumed at times with one of the children or another.

And perhaps it was this way with Joseph that his father had found special favor with him. And because of this, his brothers became very jealous. And you children and all of us remember, of the experience and the story of how Joseph then was sold by his brothers into slavery there in Egypt.

There were those Egyptian merchants that were traveling by. And his brothers had devised a plan that they would sell Joseph into Egypt. They didn't want to kill him. They had this plan. They had this kind of love for him that they would only sell him and do away with him.

And we remember then how Joseph was there then in Egypt, far away from his homeland. I don't know how far it would be, but it was far enough that Joseph didn't see his brothers for many, many, many years.

But when Joseph was in Egypt, God protected him there. And he lived in the house of the Potiphar. And he was a special man, a special boy and a special man in the work of God's kingdom.

We won't take a lot of time to consider a lot of the things of which Joseph did. But we remember how he was wise and he was very learned. And God gave him many special gifts. He was also evidently very handsome as a man.

When he was in the house of the Potiphar and Potiphar was gone and all of the servants of Potiphar were gone, we remember how Potiphar's wife lusted after Joseph. And Joseph was tempted there in the house of the Potiphar with the sin of fornication with this Potiphar's wife.

But we remember how Joseph was given strength to battle over that temptation.

Brothers and sisters, when we read from the Scriptures, sometimes, at least I have thought, and sometimes I think that we live in a different day today than those biblical people did, those people that are remembered in the Bible. They must have been different kinds of people than we are.

How is it for you, brothers and sisters, today, the youngest to the oldest, do you find that you have temptations in your flesh? Or are you tempted to be tempted in your flesh? Or are you without?

All of us carry two portions, the new man and the old man. The sinful, corrupt flesh battles against the faith that is in our heart. Or that new man that dwells in us, through the Spirit.

And we go day by day, and sometimes moment by moment, struggling and battling against the threefold enemy. That threefold enemy that we often say is the world, our own sin-corrupt flesh, and the devil. And we cannot escape this temptation.

We have in us that sinful part, that sinful being. Because of the fall of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, we carry what we call that sinful flesh. And that sinful flesh is drawn to all of the corruption of this world. And it's not a fun travel companion, is it? It isn't for me.

I am sure with the same faith, I am sure with the same consideration that the Apostle Paul had when he prayed three times that that sinful thorn that was in his flesh would be removed. But God told him that that thorn in his flesh would remain there. So that his strength was not in himself, but that his strength was in Christ.

So it is the same for us today. That we in ourselves, cannot please God. Yet through the merit work of Christ, our sins are forgiven. And when we believe those sins forgiven, we have faith in our heart. And it is through faith in this way that we are able to please God.

It was the same for Joseph. He carried two portions. He carried the flesh, but he also carried that inner part that battled against the flesh. And when he was tempted by the Potiphar's wife, what did he do? He didn't stay there in that home, but he fled.

We also read from the New Testament where Jesus reminds, and also the Apostles have written, that flee sin and flee the devil. If we flee sin, the devil will leave us. And so we would run away from the temptations that we are faced with.

And I have found it so important in my life that when I have felt, and it seems like it so often, the temptations that my flesh brings, that I need to flee even the place I'm at or where I'm at.

And I often think how closely even the enemy of souls can approach us in this day and age through the internet. How many times have we, in the quietness of our own home or at the office, been faced with temptations of the internet?

There's a lot of blessings and gifts, blessings and good things that come from the internet. But there's also corruption and evil. Sometimes I've thought, as some of my older brothers have said, that I wished some way that the internet would have never, ever happened. Because the enemy of souls is able to work. It's so, so cunning with that tool.

So there are those times that we would need to flee from the very presence of the internet access for our flesh is drawn to those temptations.

Joseph fled the temptation there in the house of the Potiphar. But then we see from that example in that story where the wife of the Potiphar who was left holding Joseph's garment when he fled, she then accused Joseph wrongfully.

And when the Potiphar came home and the servants of Potiphar heard her story that Joseph, she said, had tried to commit sin with her and lie with her. And when Joseph had fled, we could say in our present vernacular that he was framed.

And he then suffered because of this. He was cast into prison there in Egypt. And for many years Joseph was there in prison.

Yet when Joseph was in prison, when he was wrongfully accused, Joseph didn't become bitter. But rather Joseph had the heart of a very, when I read from Joseph's life, it's the heart of a very mature, and we would have to say that God gave him strength to endure.

He didn't bewail the Father. He didn't bewail the fact that he was there in prison. So rather he saw this as an opportunity to serve God.

There in prison, there were those prisoners with him. And we remember that dream that they had. There were a couple of Pharaoh's Chief Baker and one of his other servants who were cast into prison. And they had a dream, both of them.

And Joseph was able to interpret the dreams of the prison. Where he told that Chief Baker that three days from now you will be released from prison. You will go back to serve in the house of the Pharaoh.

And when Joseph told him this dream and this Chief Baker was very happy for the reading of that dream and the prophecy of what would take place, he thanked him.

But Joseph told him, when you're taken from prison, remember me here. That I would also be released from this place of where I have been wrongfully accused.

And then when this took place that the Chief Baker was there before Pharaoh and he was released and he was given his position back, he forgot then that he had made this promise to Joseph that he would tell the Pharaoh that there was this boy named, this boy from Israel who had interpreted his dream.

It wasn't until some years later when we remember then that the dream of the Pharaoh was such where it prophesied of those seven years of famine and the seven years of plenty and then the seven years of famine.

The Chief Baker remembered when they had tried to find all of the ones in Egypt, in the land of Egypt, the wise men who might be able to interpret these dreams, where they are and who they might be, none of them could interpret this dream.

But yet then this Chief Baker remembered years later of this Joseph who was still in prison there in Egypt.

So they called him, this Joseph, into the house of Pharaoh that he might be able to interpret the dreams which the Pharaoh had experienced.

And when we see of these events that took place, and it was true according to that dream that the seven years of plenty came and Joseph said that during these seven years of plenty that you would gather many, many of that, much of that food of the years of plenty because the years of famine would follow.

God had prepared the protection of his children. He had left Joseph with this skill and with this gift to serve him in his day according to God's plan.

So through the wisdom of Joseph, through the ability to interpret those dreams, the land of Egypt was preserved. And it says in the Bible that all of the world faced now famine.

And after two years of famine, in the homeland of Joseph, of where his father's children had been left, Jacob was already getting to be an old man. And we remember now again the events with which Jacob's sons were sent into Egypt to find bread there because they had heard that in Egypt there was the land of plenty.

So in this text that we've read, it speaks of that which Joseph had done. Where it says when Joseph was thirty years old he stood before Pharaoh the king of Egypt. And Joseph went out from the presence of the Pharaoh and went throughout all of the land of Egypt.

And there Joseph was given that job to teach and to instruct all of those in his day of those things which they should do. And so it was that they gathered up all of the food of those seven years which were in the land of Egypt. And they laid up the food in the cities and the food in the field which was round about every city laid up in the same.

And it says, and Joseph gathered corn as the sand of the sea, very much until he left numbering for it was without number.

And then after this came the seven years of drought and the seven years of famine. And when all of the land of Egypt was famished the people cried to Pharaoh for bread.

And Pharaoh said unto all of the Egyptians go unto Joseph. What he saith to do to you do.

And the famine was over all of the face of the earth. And Joseph opened all of the storehouses and sold unto the Egyptians and unto the famine.

Wax store in the land of Egypt. And all of the countries came unto Egypt to Joseph to buy corn because that the famine was sore in all of the lands.

Later on then when Joseph's brethren in the land of Canaan heard of the abundance of food there. We remember of the events that took place when Joseph's brothers came. This was many years later.

And we see now the heart of Joseph and how forgiving he was. May it be brothers and sisters that in our lives when God has given us some gift or some skill, may it be that God also gives us this kind of heart that we would share those gifts and skills with all of mankind.

The Apostle Paul says of this matter when he speaks about our relationship with the unbelieving world but also in our relationship with our brothers and sisters in faith. How does he say it to this degree or paraphrasing it very roughly? That we would treat all men in this world with respect and love. But especially to those of the household of God.

May it be that God will give to us this kind of heart to serve one another.

There is, I know in the times we live in the economic situation that we live. That we live in a situation that we carry certain proprietary secrets or skills. We have learned a profession and this profession and this skill becomes sought after and we can sell this then.

In many ways this is how we make our living. But may we understand even how it is God who has given us skills and blessings to work and to serve.

May it be that we can help in our communities and even in the business world to help our fellow man.

We have this selfish part and it comes from our pride I think where we hold things kind of close to our vest. And it's not entirely wrong. It is a competitive world in which we live.

But there is a balance between being overly covetous of what we have and understanding this that God has blessed us with all things.

So may it be that we would be able to help and serve even our fellow man. But even more than this in the care of our brothers and sisters, our brothers and sisters in faith in God's kingdom.

May we be given a heart to serve in the proper way without holding grudges. Joseph didn't hold any grudges it seems. Perhaps in the quietness of prison he would have grumbled because he was flesh as we are.

But yet when his brothers returned to him many years later and he saw his brothers for the first time and they were seeking food. It says that he needed to turn away because he wept.

There was this kind of love in Joseph's heart for his brethren that was a God given love. He had done them wrong. Or they had done him wrong. He had been sold into slavery.

But when we see of that encounter of the return of his brethren Joseph says this, Now therefore be not grieved nor angry with yourselves. He's speaking to his brothers. That you sold me hither for God did send me before you to preserve life.

He was able to see that there was a reason that God allowed it to be that he would struggle. And it is also so in our day.

Luther has said of the trials of our life that he says if you don't have trials pray for them. And I have thought of this many times. I have not been so willing to pray for trials. But rather I have prayed often for the good that might come from the Father's hand.

But yet what does trials of this life bring? It brings patience. It brings understanding and empathy. It brings this kind of understanding that we are only as prophet Jeremiah has said we are only lumps of clay in the hand of the potter.

And the maker can create us according to his will but he also might destroy. So we are only servants. We are only workers. Both in this life in the temporal endeavor but also in the work of God's kingdom.

May God give to each of us the same kind of heart that he gave to Joseph. And even in the face of difficulties we find that this is according to God's will and his plan.

And I have thought sometimes even of our most recent economic difficulties. And it is good even here today to see young and old at the services of God's children.

Where does a child of God turn during a time of difficulty? We have experienced in our times of difficulty at home. Maybe there has been a sick child or a death of a loved one.

We have often turned to our loved ones and especially to the kingdom for its loving care and support. But so also do we turn to God's kingdom for its loving care and support in the times of difficulty that we are facing today.

Where does the child of God find its greatest strength? It is in the hearing of God's holy and precious word.

In the reading of God's word, we find that the life that we are living is not that much different than any other time throughout history. There have been times of plenty. There have been times of difficulty.

But through all of this, God knows the needs of his children. The Bible says that not one hair might fall from the head of you or me without our Father in heaven knowing it. How closely and intimately our Father knows us.

Brothers and sisters, this temporal and earthly life will one day end. And when this life ends, then begins eternity. It will not matter at that point in our lives of how much temporal blessings we have been given.

Job said, I came into this life naked and I will leave also from this life naked. The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away. Blessed be the name of our Lord.

This is where, brothers and sisters, we can find so much comfort and so much assurance that even if everything in this life was taken from us, even as Luther has written, we sing in that very familiar song which Luther wrote, The Almighty Fortress is our God.

If everything in this life was taken from us, it doesn't matter if we have faith in our hearts. This is what remains as important, even today. That we remain as a grace beggar in God's kingdom, placing our trust and our care upon the Father of heaven of whom has promised to carry us all the way to the end of this life.

We have recently seen and experienced in God's kingdom, we have heard of the passing of loved ones, some younger and some older. But those who have died with faith in their heart have attained a very rich, glorious gift there in heaven.

Some have struggled for years financially, but yet when the eyes of this life close, the glory of heaven waits for those who own faith in their heart.

Be not faithless, but believing. Remain today, even in the midst of temptations, doubts, in the midst of trials, believing all of your own worries and your own temptations forgiven in the name of the precious Son of Jesus.

God has promised to care for you and has also promised to care for me. Yet I find myself this morning often doubting of how rich and gracious our Father in heaven is. Can I also hear that? Can I also hear that same gospel? I promise to believe with each of you.

And those forefathers who have gone before us, Joseph died in faith. He left a very precious testimony for us of those trials that he faced, but yet also the faithfulness and that heart and that joy that Joseph found in his life.

May God also richly bless us in the same way. In Jesus' name, Amen.