Joseph, Neither Fooled Nor A Fool - January 2010 Crossties

Wouldn’t you love to know what Joseph knew…that is, what he came to fully understand about God’s will? Shortly after the death of their father, Joseph’s brothers threw themselves before their younger brother offering themselves as his slaves. How comforting Joseph’s words must have felt to them: "Don’t be afraid. Am I in the place of God? You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives" (Genesis 50:20, See also Gen 45:8).

The story of Joseph is among the most inspiring Old Testament stories. We read of Joseph being thrown into an old cistern by his brothers, sold to a band of Ishmaelites, sold again to the Egyptian captain of the guard, then lied about and imprisoned. His course seems rather uncertain until the day Pharoah calls Joseph into his presence to forever establish the direction of Joseph and the people of God.

Joseph, who was situated on the lower rungs of a somewhat unscrupulous family tree and who for 17 years lived among his dysfunctional siblings, shows signs of great spirituality all along his journey—especially by the ripe old age of 30. His comforting words to his brothers are to assure them that God had set the course of Joseph’s life for a cause greater than himself. What a startling reality to know that God had willed that Joseph be thrown into a cistern, sold into slavery, imprisoned and forgotten by man (but not by God). Finally, Joseph was elevated in life for only one purpose—so that God could keep his word to someone else. Be honest, could you be content if God made you suffer so that in the end he might prove himself faithful to another?

How would God repay Joseph, that is, if God repays at all? One might argue that from the age of 30 to 110 Joseph lived a life of comfort and royalty. Would it be reward enough after facing 13 years of exile to know God had used you to save your extended family? Someone might even point out that while the lineage of Christ passes through Judah, the honor of the birthright was bestowed upon Joseph (1 Chronicles 5:1, Gen 48:22). If there are paybacks on God’s grand scale of things, maybe the biggest is hidden away in Hebrews chapter 11, God's hall of faith. At first glance it appears Joseph gets short changed. No glowing reports of his suffering—only one meager statement quoted from the end of his life. His faith statement was simply for his brothers to remember his old bones when the exodus occurred. How could all the suffering and moments of glory not be mentioned? In reality Joseph was telling his brothers, "God keeps his promises." Is there any greater gift than that kind of assurance? When you stare eternity in the face what a blessing to know God is faithful and his eternal will is perfect? There is another alternative— the faith of the fool. He faces death believing there is no God, no plan, no future. I think I'll stick with Joseph. How about you?        —Bill Adcox

Over the top? Just a bit. Why is it that the pendulum never seems to stop in the middle? A life of extremes, is that the modern "norm?" In this issue of GT Associate Editor Allen Ketchersid asked his writers to deal with the tough subject of "Housekeeping," especially as it relates to our churches and homes. When unrighteousness comes calling how should a Christian act? React? Ignore?

I was thinking of so many areas in which the church inadvertently goes silent when sin walks in the door. In the January/February 08 issue of Wineskins, author Nancy Nason Clark wrote about abuse in our homes, which for all practical purposes exists under an unimaginable "Holy Hush." Clark offers suggestions for the church to "shatter" the silence, including church leaders encouraging a battered woman to consider her safety as top priority, the church women becoming proactive by offering practical and emotional support, for churches to get actively and financially involved in local transition homes and for the church herself to become a better advocate with educational material and biblical teaching to help those who are hurting.

Domestic abuse is but one of the "hushed" inequities and injustices of our age. The list grows, with things we would rather not even imagine: child abuse, hunger, those who sell drugs to our children, families forced to live on the streets of our cities, young teenage girls and boys who find their only way of survival is by turning to prostitution, the homosexual agenda, pornography, immodesty, sin and so the list grows. The common excuse is, "I just can’t fix all the world’s problems." How true. Mankind can’t fix a thing, but the redeemed know the Savior who can.

Neither extremism nor naivety is being recommended. There’s nothing over the top in deciding to clean up our spiritual "houses." Proactively defying the human tendency to surrender to darkness might just be the thing that makes us most like Jesus.

After all what is darkness? Black may be a color, but darkness isn’t. Darkness is just the absence of light or maybe just truth that is silent. All that’s necessary to make darkness flee is for one Christian or one congregation to make a decision to let the Savior, God’s light, break through the darkness. The goal is not going "over the top" or merely "cleaning up our houses" (Matthew 12:43ff) when it comes to fighting against sin.

Let us not be naive about the matter. While Satan may flee (James 4:7), he’s not afraid of a fight and he's very capable (Jude 1:9), especially if he can fight dirty and in the dark. Satan rejoices to see the temporary or momentary presence of light. The spiritual victory given at Calvary, certainly begins when the blood of Jesus is applied in baptism, but ultimate victory is finishing the race with the presence and priorities of Christ. May the reflective light that chases away darkness never be hidden (Matthew 5:16) and may it often be renewed in our individual lives.

It's neither the "Holy Hush" of naivety nor a life "over the top" that God seeks for us, but instead a full life that victoriously lives on the top (John 10:10). Wouldn't you agree? —Bill Adcox

I hear a lot of assumptions being made about the church, even her demise in America. Some folks are asking, "How in the world did this happen?" while others merely acquiesce by saying it is just part of life in a post-Christian America. Why is the old ship of Zion having trouble navigating when it comes to church growth or even stability? Is it that we need to change the set of her sails if growth is to occur again? When most folks get serious about really knowing why the church in America is shrinking, the truth isn’t hard to obtain and usually doesn’t require much assuming. Back in the late 90's several congregations started asking hard questions about their own lack of growth. They studied their own growth patterns and what they found was rather intriguing. Did these churches need more youth programs? More rallies? Special teachers? These can be, and are, great tools but the one cause that emerged was simply this fact: The vitality of the church correlated to the spiritual strength of the home. It seems our children’s faithfulness has little to do with special programs or teachers. The strength of their faith does not matter as to whether they attend a large or small church. The single most important factor was their own immediate family. Yes, strong churches resulted from spiritually strong fathers and mothers. Spiritually strong children come from faithful parents. I know the data is not new or cutting edge, but it is insightful to those who really want to know the truth. Here is a quote from the Glad Tidings issue, March 3, 1999:

Knowing the problem now leads us to a greater question: How will the modern church and her leadership rise to the task of strengthening the mothers and fathers of American's churches so that we will see a changing home and a growing church?

For those of us from the non-Sunday school/non-bible class background this should be the very point of our evangelistic spear. Has not our great emphasis been on God's design for the home as the primarily spiritual teacher of our children? Yet sadly, we are not faring better in keeping our own kids for the Lord. How should the church be strengthening the teachers of the home, the fathers and mothers? What tools can we place in our parent's hands as our society and teaching methods change? Should there be more emphasis on our older women mentoring the younger mothers and mothers-to-be? What of the church leaders and their roles as mentors and counselors of the young men and fathers? What a blessing if we could see such discussions opening up again in our fellowship. Wouldn't it be wonderful to see real thought-driven planning returning once more as it relates to our homes?

If the strength of our homes determines the vitality of the individual congregations, it only seems natural that we would be pouring our talents and energies into empowering those in the pews to make the spiritual well being of our homes a prime responsibility. I'd love to hear your thoughts how Gospel Tidings herself could become more helpful along these lines. Yes, the old sheet is nearing her 75th birthday, but she still has aspirations of becoming better. Those involved with GT truly want this publication to be a useful tool in all aspects of church life and for our homes.

Let's give up assuming. We cannot assume that things will just get better on their own. We can, and must believe, that our churches have God's power to thrive in the coming years if her church leaders will make the commitments now to strengthen the spiritual foundations of our homes.