Category: Saturday Study

Saturday Study

Mark 6-10 (3-24-18)

Today, let’s dig deeper into Mark Chapter 7 and see the beauty and need for the stain-removing gospel of Jesus Christ.

Before we dig in, let me clarify our problem.

Our problem is we are defiled. Defiled: to be unclean, dirty, stained, foul, polluted.

The Bible says that because of our sin (our breaking of His holy law, our rebellion against God, our pursuit of self-salvation and self-glory), we are defiled. We are wicked, stained, unclean, and impure.

If you think that somehow you have figured out a way to avoid this sin thing and that you might be good enough, the Bible says otherwise:

all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23)

“None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God.

All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one” (Romans 3:10-12).

And If you think that you might be able figure out a way back to good standing with God, the Bible says the following:

For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot (Romans 8:7).

The very real truth is we do not measure up to our holy God because of our vile sin. And we CANNOT clean ourselves up in order to restore ourselves to a right standing with God.

So, we are dirty but unable to clean ourselves up. This leaves us with a big problem!

The reality is something that is defiled needs to be cleansed.

The opening part of Chapter 7 deals with the failed way man seeks to be cleansed.

Read Mark 7:1-23. 

Two things to highlight here:

1. Hypocritical worship of God

Jesus addresses His questioners by first quoting Isaiah 29:13, and then He applies Isaiah’s description of the hypocrites in his day to the religious elite whom Jesus called hypocrites.

They were “hypocrites” because they made an outward profession of worshiping God but gave Him no genuine worship from their hearts, thoughts, or choices.

We, too, can be guilty of hypocritically worshiping God out of hearts that do not truly enjoy or love Him but instead are acting or praising out of obligation.

God doesn’t want worship that is out of obligation or religious mandate.

This weekend, hundreds of thousands of men, women, and children around this world will attend a Sunday church service, giving their time and money and singing songs to God, not because they are joy-filled about God, but because they think they have to make God happy or to meet some kind of moral standard.

Jesus is pointing out here that these people are more focused on their outside actions then their hearts. They’re busy keeping up with the rules of the kingdom instead of falling in love with the King. Jesus tells us rule keeping will not produce authentic worship with God; it will produce hypocritical devotion.

Jesus is saying, “The only way your worship will be honest and real is if it is out of a heart that is made new, cleansed from its impurity, and revived.” It is a heart issue–not an actions issue.

For these Pharisees, their worship of God was in vain because like the Jews of Isaiah’s day, they were teaching the rules of men as authoritative teachings over God’s living word, and they were focused on their self-made transformation instead of the transformation the gospel of Jesus brings about in one’s life.

This brings us to the second failure we see here:

2. Man-made traditions being followed more than the authority of God’s word

In this interaction, Jesus charged the religious elite with abandoning the commands of God, His Law, and adhering instead to the traditions of men.

Traditions of Men = man-made laws or rituals that become more prioritized and authoritative than God’s word.

The example we read about here is ritual cleansing.

Ritual cleansing was the required washing of one’s hands with a handful of water before eating food.

This was especially important after a trip to the marketplace where a Jew would likely come in contact with an “unclean” Gentile or such things as money or utensils.

The loyal Jews believed disregarding these kind of regulations was a sin; to follow them was the essence of goodness and service to God.

Now, for those of you who are thinking, “That’s great, but we don’t have rules or rituals like that today,” oh, how mistaken you are!

A quick modern example is praying before we eat. It is believed by many Christians that one is to bless the food before you eat, or you are in some way guilty or sinning against God.

Now, is it good to pray when you eat?  Yes! It is good to thank God for our food.

But if this is the only thing during the day you are regularly thanking God for because it has become a ritual or tradition, you might be doing it out of religious obligation and not out of heart-felt thanks.

When we thank God throughout the day, our prayer at meals is likely an authentic prayer.

But if you only dial Him up at the religious handbook moments, (meals, hardship and bed time), it’s most likely not authentic but ritualistic devotion.

If you pray the same thing at each prayer, it is also probably a sign you do not mean what you are saying and have not really thought much about it. It most likely just means you are good at reciting religious mantra prayers because it is your duty–not because it is your JOY!

Is it good to pause and thank God for His provisions? Yes, but we should do this in all things!

We have to see what Jesus is stressing here: We are defiled because our hearts are wicked and sinful.

It is not because we are simply not living out a certain moral lifestyle.

The reality is we are sinners at birth in our very nature, so when we sin, the action to sin is not causing us to be sinners, but the action to sin is proof that we already are sinners.

A sinner is someone whose heart is defiled, and as a result they practice sin.

We do not stumble into sin and therefore become a sinner.

If the latter is true, the religious zealots are right! And all I need to do to be cleansed is to not do the wrong thing.

Out of this mindset, religious people work really hard to live a righteous life and do the right things.

But in the end, they will always be let down because we CAN’T do all the right things–our hearts are defiled!

Later, Jesus says cleaning the outside of the cup doesn’t make the cup clean.

The inside of the cup must be cleansed if you are going to use it.  It is our hearts that must be purified!

Our defiling is not due to a bad diet, but instead due to a diseased heart.

No amount of self-scrubbing on the outside will help cure the rampant diseases on the inside.

The absolute truth is we need to be healed and restored from the inside out.

So, the question then is this:

Do we have any hope to be cleansed form the inside out? To be healed and restored?

Skip to verse 31 and look with me at the good news of Jesus.

Read again Mark 7:31-37

Jesus:

• Took the man aside
• Put His fingers in his ears
• Touched his tongue and then placed it on the man’s tongue
• Drew the eyes of the man heavenward
• Sighs (we’ll come back to this in a moment)
• Calls out His command of healing
• And it is done… The man can hear and speak clearly.

What makes this healing act of Jesus unique is the way He goes about it.

Now at first, this looks like the rituals of a miracle worker. 

Doing a dance, pulling out random objects and placing them on the table, saying some crazy words.

In all of the healings we have seen form Jesus so far, He doesn’t do any arm waving or say any mumbo jumbo.

This tells us the rituals are not where the power comes from.

They are not needed to heal or restore people.

So we must ask, why does Jesus do it here? The answer: He is meeting the man where he is!

The man is deaf. How do you communicate with a deaf man?  Sign language!

Jesus is showing him compassion and using a form of sign language.

Let’s look at what Jesus does and interpret it through the lens of sign language:

Jesus takes hold of the man and takes him aside = “Let’s go over here.”

Jesus puts His fingers in the man’s ears = “I am going to heal your deafness.”

Touches His own tongue and then places it on the man’s tongue = “I am healing your speech.”

Draws the eyes of the man heavenward = “Look with me to God and realize He is the One worthy of all praise.”

The good news is you don’t have to come to Jesus and go through a certain rigmarole to get saved.

He comes to you and meets you where you are, and He is the one who does the opening of the ears and the healing of the heart and the restoring of your life.

What this means is people get saved in a wide variety of situations and ways.

If we were to go out to all the places this morning’s devotion is being read and ask, “By what circumstances did God give you saving faith?” we would hear a wide variety of answers. For some it was alone,  for others it was in a crowd; for some it was a long process, and for others it was like a strike of lighting; for some it was in the middle of great hardship, and for others it was in the normal stride of daily life.

All are saved by hearing and understanding the gospel, but the gospel is taken into one’s soul in so many ways! Some are moved while driving, some while listening to the radio or watching a movie, some while experiencing a sacrificial act of another, some when a basic need is met by an unobligated person who helped, some when a spoken word, and some by terrifying experience.

The point is Jesus will meet you where you when it is His time to give you new life and saving faith.

This is good news because God is not leveling us with a certain combination that must be discovered and then dialed in order for God to work saving grace into our lives.

We are so plagued with rituals that the church even makes getting saved a ritual that for some must be done a certain way. Walk here, say this, do that, and you’re in!

Praise God that He is a compassionate God who meets us where we are.

Did you notice when healing the man Jesus sighs before He calls out His command of healing?

This is so easy to miss. The word “sigh” signifies some kind of relationship to pain.

What pain is Jesus feeling in this moment?

Back up in verse 32, Mark uses a Greek word only used in one other part of the Bible found in Isaiah.

The word is “Mogilalos.”

The use of this rare word would have meant Mark had in mind the prophetic words of Isaiah as he wrote about this particular interaction between Jesus and this deaf man.

Here is the passage from Isaiah where we see this same word used: Isaiah 35:3-6 “Be strong; fear not! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God. He will come and save you.” Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then shall the lame man leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute sing for joy.

Jesus sighed because He would take on our pain. He would meet us where we are at… literally.

We were dead in our sin and deplorable before God.

Jesus would take on our blindness and deafness–our disease, our hardship–so that we could live, and see, and sing songs of joy for the King of all.

God has come to save us. Jesus Christ is God who has come to save us. Jesus is the KING!

We are the deaf, who in Christ have our ears uncovered; and we are the blind, who in Christ can now see; we are the mute, who in Christ are now shouting for joy!

In Isaiah, it says God will come with divine “vengeance,” but Jesus isn’t going around smiting people with justified vengeance. He is not killing people; He is the one to be killed. He is not hurting people; He was the one hurt.  So what does this mean?

It means Jesus is not bringing divine vengeance; He is going to bear the divine vengeance on our behalf. With the recompense of God. He becomes the victim, and we get the recompense– the reward!

The question is what is your response to the gospel of Jesus? To what He has done in the place of sinners?

To really drive home your response, I want to close by looking at the testimony we skipped in verse 24-30.

Read again Mark 7:24-30.

Tyre was a Gentile region. In this time, Jesus was looking to get away from the Jewish masses that were smothering him. Even though this woman was a Phoenician Gentile pagan, she would have known enough of the Jewish customs to know that she had none of the religious, moral, or cultural credentials to approach a Jewish rabbi.

But she does it anyway, probably because she is a mom and her daughter is suffering, and she is willing to do anything to help–even if there are repercussions.

Now, when we read this, Jesus’ response seems demeaning. She asks for help to heal her daughter, “And he said to her, ‘Let the children be fed first, for it is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.’”

All Jesus is referring to here is the order of his ministry focus. First, He would minister to the Jewish people and then the Gentiles.

In an astounding response, she understands Jesus’ priority and humbly wants what He is offering.

Not because she deserves His grace but because she gets that it is grace.  Listen again:

“But she answered him, ‘Yes, Lord; yet even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.’”

The woman’s response is the very response we MUST have to the gospel.

We must recognize we are not worthy on any level; in fact, we are more wicked and sinful than we even understand.

But, at the same time, Jesus came to love us with grace and to heal us when we didn’t deserve it.

She doesn’t say in pride. “How dare you for calling me a dog,” like we often do when confronted with the fullness of our sin.   Neither does she overreact and cower in the corner with her tail between we legs in self-loathing like others tend to do, thinking, “I am too wretched for even God to save.”

Instead, she sees her sin and disgust and at the same time takes hold of Jesus’ saving grace.

We need this kind of faith. We need to have this response to the gospel we are hearing today.

We need this kind of humble and yet bold approach to God’s offer of grace and life.

Look at how Jesus responds:

“And he said to her, ‘For this statement you may go your way; the demon has left your daughter.’ And she went home and found the child lying in bed and the demon gone.”

This is the gospel:

The child of God was cast away from the table without a crumb so that those who were dogs could be brought in and adopted as children of God!

The child of God (Jesus) was cast away from the table without a crumb (the Cross) so that those who were dogs ( you and me) could be brought in and adopted as children of God (be saved)!

This morning, don’t believe the lies of man who convince you to stay isolated.

You are not beyond healing when Jesus is involved.

Don’t believe the priorities of man who tries to convince you to make your own way to the top.

Instead, hear the gospel, which rightly proclaims your unworthiness but then does the unthinkable and imparts love and grace so you can be healed and satisfied by the living God!

Pastor Joshua Kirstine

Disciples Church

Saturday Study

Mark 1-5 (3-17-18)

As we dive into Mark’s Gospel, I want to give us a little context:

1. Who is Mark?

Mark was not an eyewitness of Jesus’ life but was a secretary/translator for Peter, who was one of Christ’s disciples. Mark took Peter’s eye witness testimony and pieced it together into the narrative that is the Gospel of Mark that we know today. This helps make sense of the fact that Peter is present in every part of Mark’s Gospel.

2. What are the Gospels?

The word gospel means “news,” and it specifically means good news of an event.

The gospel is the good news of the grace and power of God to redeem undeserving sinners to eternal life through Jesus’ perfect, sinless life; substitutional, sacrificial death; and victorious resurrection from the grave. These sinners are saved by grace alone through faith alone in Jesus alone from the eternal wrath they deserved, and they are reconciled into an eternally secure relationship with God (The Word of Truth Catechism).

The four written Gospels are found in the New Testament, and they testify of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection. They are Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

3. What is unique about Mark’s Gospel?

A few things that make Mark’s Gospel unique:

• It is written in the present tense. A fast-paced, action-packed narrative helps Mark be read with urgency and importance as to who Jesus is.
• Mark’s Gospel recounts less of Jesus’ teaching and more of Jesus doing. I pray that this is a reminder to us not to just hear but to witness and respond likewise with action instead of just contemplation.
• This Gospel is a mosaic of events that tell us about Jesus’ ministry on earth. Even though the overall format of Mark’s Gospel is narrative or story, it does not possess a continuous story line, but it is a collection of discrete units. The result is a collage or mosaic of the life of Jesus. As you study with us in the next few weeks, put yourself in the position of Mark and Peter’s traveling companion, as they assemble this documentary on the life of Christ based on Peter’s testimony.
• Finally, Mark’s telling of Jesus’ ministry is given to us in two distinct acts:

Act 1 (chapters 1-8) is all about Jesus’ identity and authority as King over all things: the King of glory, the King of kings!

Act 2 (chapters 9-16) is all about Jesus’ sacrifice and death on the cross and the purpose for it. We see the sacrificial Lamb, the servant leader, and our substitutionary atonement.

With that, let’s dig into Chapter 1.

Mark 1:1 The beginning of the gospel …

Mark is said to have been the first Gospel that was written.

So it is fitting that it begins with the sentence, “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.”

In other words, this written account is the first to be written so that the GOOD NEWS of Jesus’ life and ministry can be shared for all peoples to be able to study and know.

Mark 1:1 The beginning of the gospel about Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

The central figure of the gospel is Jesus Christ. He is the good news.

He is the central figure of all of life, our world, and all that exists.

Jesus Christ is the most significant man to have ever lived in the history of the world.

In fact, human history is divided around his life. We have B.C., which is “Before Christ,” and A.D., which is “Anno Domini,” a Latin phrase meaning “the year of our Lord.” Our history literally hinges on this man.

The Scriptures tell us the name we will sing and celebrate of for all of eternity is Jesus Christ. The Scriptures tell us that the world was created at the word of Jesus.

Jesus lived a relatively simple life. He never traveled more than 200 miles from his home. He never wrote a book.

He never married. He never had children, never ran for political office, never oversaw a large company, never made a lot of money. The first 30 years of His life were spent in great simplicity while working a blue-collar job as a carpenter with His dad.

The part of Jesus’ life that this book covers is the last three years of His life. He spent them doing ministry, preaching, teaching, and performing miracles while mentoring a small group of average Joes.

Jesus Christ was then falsely arrested, publicly tortured, and murdered at the age of 33!

This is “The beginning of the gospel about Jesus Christ, the Son of God.”

We are given two titles after Jesus’ name: Christ and Son of God.

Let’s look further at these important titles to better understand who Jesus is

Christ

The Greek word is Christos. meaning an “anointed royal figure.”

Christ is also translated in the Hebrew as “the Messiah.”

The Messiah was the one foretold in Jewish history who would come reconcile God’s people to God: the Redeemer.

So Jesus Christ is an anointed royal figure–a KING!

He is not just “a” KING; He is “the” KING. He is the one mankind has been waiting for.

He is the one who would redeem God’s people from the slavery of sin and death and deliver us to eternal victory in life with God.

The second title used here is Son of God

Mark ups the stakes all the way by using this title: SON OF GOD.

In other words, Jesus is divinity; He is God.

A minute ago, I just said He was not just “a” king but “the” King.

Like I might say Michael Jordan is not just “a” basketball player but the greatest basketball player ever.

But SON OF GOD takes His kingship to another level. He is not just a king, and not just the greatest king to ever wear a crown…

He is the King of the kings,

The Lord of lords, the Creator and Ruler of the Heavens and the Earth.

He is The SON OF GOD, upon which NOTHING holds a higher rank! NOTHING.

My prayer this morning is that you come to know the Christ–Jesus. That He would be your King, your Redeemer, the one to bring you form death to life everlasting. But I also pray that He would become your EVERYTHING, and that you come to enjoy Him and know His power and majesty at such an intimate level that NOTHING compares to knowing Him.

The beginning of the gospel about Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

In the first 12 words of the Gospel of Mark, we are told:

This is a story…

About a man named Jesus…

Who is the Christ… the anointed royal one… the Messiah…

Who has been foretold since the most ancient roots of Israel that He would come and reconcile God’s people once and for all to God Himself.

And if that were not enough…

That this Christ, this Messiah, this royal Redeemer is not an angel and not a just a man, but He is the Son of God in human flesh.    He is the divine Redeemer King.

To cement and validate this epic introduction, Mark refers back to Isaiah’s famous prophetic passage about the man who would announce the Messiahs’ arrival:

Mark 1:2-3 As it is written in Isaiah the prophet, “Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way,

the voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight’”

Then in verse 4, Mark goes on to say that John the Baptist is the announcer, the preparer, the messenger, the voice!

Mark 1:4-6 John appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And all the country of Judea and all Jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. Now John was clothed with camel’s hair and wore a leather belt around his waist and ate locusts and wild honey.

The wild hippie man would announce the arrival of the Messiah, the Redeemer, the LORD.

John definitely understood the power–the magnitude–of the one he was setting the table for. Mark 1:7 says, “And [John the Baptist] preached, saying, ‘After me comes he who is mightier than I, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie.’”

Not even worthy to untie His filthy sandals.

That is like me walking up to you and saying, “I am so below you that I am not worthy to wipe snot from your nose with my bare hand.”

Now this is either a recognition of how low you are or how HIGH the person you speak of is.

In this case it was both. John understood how low he was in the towering shadow of the Son of GOD!

The name of God in the Old Testament is “I AM.”

This statement from John was him saying, “My name is I AM NOT; Jesus is I AM.”

We can learn so much and gain even more from the perspective John had of himself compared to Christ.

See, our sinful tendency is to make much of ourselves, which makes it hard for us to embrace the fact that Jesus is so far greater. But let me tell you, when you gain a new perspective like John had of who you are in comparison to who Christ is, you begin to know freedom. Freedom from:

• The seduction of fame
• The tyranny of comparison
• The delusion of greatness
• The never-ending scramble to get to the top of the ladder
• Ego
• Jealousy
• Backbiting
• And the massive swollen-head syndrome that some of you suffer from

You are free to let Jesus be God and to enjoy the privileged opportunity to make much of His name.

Back to Mark’s introduction of Jesus to us:

He has made it clear that Jesus is royalty like no other the world has ever known and the one who has been prophesied about and expected like no other. He is the KING.

Our first sight of Jesus in Mark’s telling is not His birth or childhood experiences like other Gospels. Instead, Mark skips right to Jesus’ baptism. This is Jesus’ commissioning for ministry. In His baptism, we get to see an even fuller picture of who the Son of God is.

Mark 1:10-11 And when he came up out of the water, immediately he saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”

In these two verses, we get to see the Trinity at work.

The Triune Godhead: a tri-unity or three in oneness.

The Scriptures teach us that there is one God who eternally and equally exists in three Persons: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Each Person is fully God, and the three make up our ONE GOD.

Here we see Jesus, God the Son, being baptized;

God the Father saying, “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased;”

And God the Holy Spirit descending on Jesus like a dove.

Now look at what follows the Trinity’s work in Jesus being commissioned to ministry:

Mark 1:12-13 The Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. And he was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan. And he was with the wild animals, and the angels were ministering to him.

The first sight of Jesus in Mark is at His baptism, where the Trinity commissions Jesus to ministry.

But where does it go next? To the desert, where Jesus will be tempted by Satan just like Adam and Eve were in the Garden.

The first Adam failed and gave into sin, just as all of us have done since.

Mankind is self-centered and against God in our sin.

The temptation of Jesus is just like the one given to Adam, and yet Jesus stayed faithful to God

This is a view into the restoration of God’s people that Jesus would bring. He would be the redeemer of our lives by His faithful work and substitutional atonement on the cross. May we not just know about the good news of Jesus but walk in His power every day, as we look to serve our God and not our flesh.

Pastor Joshua Kirstine

Disciples Church

Saturday Study

Genesis 46-50 (3-10-18)

In this week’s reading, we come across truly one of the greatest verses in all of Scripture:

Genesis 50:20 As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.

One hundred and ten years old. As we finished Genesis this week, we read that Joseph lived to be 110 years old. What a life he lived. If you think back to the happenings of his youth, the favor of his father, his dreams and that beautiful coat he was given, and then all that he went through and all that he accomplished and help provide, God was surely at work in Joseph all along the way.

Do you see this in your own life? God has been at work in you and your life much more than you have known how to give Him credit. Do you see Him in all the common graces to provide for you or protect you in hard times or crazy circumstances? What about how God has been at work even though you willingly sinned against Him and/or people sinned against you? God doesn’t do evil in our lives, but He surely uses willing men who do evil for His purposes. It is awesome to see how God worked in both the brothers of Joseph and in Joseph to bring about great good for them and the people in the land they were in.

Can you imagine the guilt the brothers carried with them for selling their brother into slavery? All those years and decades went by, and they never heard what became of their little brother. Many of us have done some terrible things and can relate to the guilt and shame they must have felt. To see God work in Joseph to forgive his brothers and to restore them is truly a remarkable thing. I have counseled many men and women over the years to help them prayerfully process dark things they did in their past. One of the things the gospel does for us is give us great hope, not only to forgive ourselves as the holy God has forgiven us, but to never stop praying for reconciliation and restoration to happen with those who have been hurt by our sin. We never know when in our lives, even decades later, God can restore and repair. Our hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness. He is able–more than able.

What about Joseph? We have been talking about his journey of faithfulness through unbelievable setbacks and injustices. If there ever was someone who, in their flesh, was justified to give up on God through a lifetime of injustices, it was Joseph. But hopefully you see the folly of that statement as you read it. God is faithful, and His promises are true. God is at work in ALL things and using all things for His purposes and glory. To give up on God is to not understand who God is. Surely our faith will be challenged as it was with Joseph, but he endured and continued to trust in God. Although many of the seasons and even years of Joseph’s oppression seemed like a lifetime, he remained faithful to trust in God, and God used him in ways he could have never imagined.  To be raised to second in command over Egypt, just under Pharaoh, and to be used by God to provide for so many people is truly the work of God and no other.

So, yes, evil men and women are working to do evil things in this life. But we never lose hope in God to restore and reconcile. We never stop believing that God can take the very worst of circumstances and use it for His holy purposes and our good.

Romans 8:28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

Do you believe this? Do you trust in God not based on your circumstances but based on who He is?

I pray that I would remain steadfast in the midst of great loss and hardship, not because of who I am but based on who God is.

I pray that you would as well and that you see that God is on the throne and working in all things.

What man means for evil, God will use for good!  

All praise be to God who reigns forevermore!

Pastor Joshua Kirstine

Disciples Church

Saturday Study

Genesis 41-45 (3-3-18)

Last week, we read the first half of the testimony of Joseph. This week, we got to dig into part two of his amazing journey.

Let me recap quickly:

Joseph is the son of Jacob and Rachel and lived in the land of Canaan with his ten half-brothers and one full brother.

First, his father favors him with a special coat. This results in his brothers resenting him.

Second, God gives him a vision for his life. This results in his brothers selling him into slavery and telling their father he died.

Third, Joseph makes the most of being a slave for Potiphar and is raised to second in command of Potiphar’s estate, but is falsely accused of sexual advancements towards Potiphar’s wife and thrown in jail.

Could anything else go wrong? YES!

While in prison, Joseph again wins the trust of his master (the warden). The warden puts him in charge of all the prisoners, and God graces him with success. Over time, Joseph befriends two of Pharaoh’s attendants in prison and assists them with the interpretation of their God-inspired dreams.

When Pharaoh’s cupbearer was restored to his position, Joseph made a simple request:

“Put in a good word for me! Get me out of here.”

Of course, God had bigger things in mind, so the cupbearer forgets Joseph.

Genesis 41:1 says he forgot Joseph in jail for two full years!

In Joseph’s case, God used prison to make final preparations for his future life of service and leadership. It was likely the darkest period in Joseph’s life, but it finally gave way to the light of day.

How often are we undone at the obstacles we face, especially when those obstacles are not a result of our sin? Do you trust in God and lean not on your own understanding?  Do you believe His plan is better than yours? Do you believe His view of what is ahead is better than yours?  God is so faithful. The question is, will we remain faithful in Him when we are down and out? Will we walk by faith and not by sight?

James 1 says it so well:

James 1:2-8 Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

Joseph trusted God!  Do you think it all made sense to him?  No way!

He had faith in what he could not see or know! How is your faith in the middle of trouble?

James 1:12-18 Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him. Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death. Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures.

The testing of faith produces perseverance which yields maturity.

God is refining Joseph. He is preparing Joseph for what He has ahead of him.

Later in Genesis 41, we see that Pharaoh calls for Joseph to interpret his dreams. God is at work in all of this.

What comes next is a huge curveball, as Pharaoh is so happy with Joseph’s work that he raises him up to be the one in charge of Egypt under Pharaohs rule. Wow. Joseph could have never imagined that God’s plan would be to raise him up and use him in this way.

We simply cannot know what God has in store. We must simply stay faithful and trust Him.

What are you choosing at this junction of your life?

Are you trusting God and allowing Him to mold and shape you through your troubles?

OR are you focused on your struggles in an absence of faith, and therefore missing the opportunity to become more like Christ as the Holy Spirit refines you?

Instead of asking God, “WHY?” Ask God, “WHAT SHALL I DO NOW?”

A great saying goes like this:

“I don’t know what the future holds, but I do know who holds the future.”

Hebrews 12:12-13 (NLT) So take a new grip with your tired hands and stand firm on your shaky legs. Mark out a straight path for your feet. Then those who follow you, though they are weak and lame, will not stumble and fall but will become strong.

By His grace and for His glory,

Pastor Joshua Kirstine

Disciples Church

Saturday Study

Genesis 36-40 (2-24-18)

In our reading this week, we read about the first half of the testimony of Joseph. He is one of my favorite men in the Old Testament, as he models so well how to remain trusting in God despite incredible and ongoing setbacks and persecution.

Joseph is the son of Jacob and Rachel and lived in the land of Canaan with his ten half-brothers and one full brother.

We pick up the testimony of Joseph in Genesis 37, where we read that he has the favor of his father, Jacob. Joseph was given a very special robe of many colors by his parents and given the gift of prophetic dreams by the Lord. He is blessed and highly favored, but both of these gifts proved to be highly problematic for the sin of his jealous brothers.

Things take a terrible turn for Joseph in the latter part of Genesis 37, when his brothers’ hatred and jealousy causes them to distance themselves from Joseph and even plot to kill him. Thankfully, Rueben convinces their brothers not to kill Joseph. Still, their anger and resentment propels them to throw Joseph into a pit and then sell him to some traveling gypsies, who would then sell him as a slave. Their father is broken when the brothers show him Joseph’s coat and deceive him into thinking Joseph had been killed by an animal.

What is sobering is that Joseph’s rejection by his family is not a rare testimony in the reality of sin in this world. Many people, maybe including you, know what it is like for sin to reign in a family and cause great division and rejection. I pray that if you have experienced this kind of abandonment from your blood family, that you would truly know our Father in heaven and the price that His only begotten Son paid to adopt you into their eternal family. While that would be more than enough, I also pray that you would truly come to know and value the blood-bought family God has brought you into, and that you would fully embrace and do life with a local church family for all the days the Lord ordains for you in this life. The good news of God’s saving grace is that we don’t have to be an orphan because of sin; we can joyfully be in His forever family. Praise God.

In Genesis 39, we read that Joseph ends up in a great situation for a slave. He is sold to Potiphar, Captain of Pharaoh’s guard, and he quickly earns Potiphar’s trust and is appointed to oversee his entire house. What an amazing turn from such life-altering, horrible events. But, it doesn’t last long, as things go horribly bad again. Potiphar’s wife lusts after Joseph and pursues him to sleep with her. When he tells her no, she screams out that he assaulted and raped her. This means the loss of everything good he had come to know, as Joseph is thrown into prison. Once again, many can relate to being lied about and even sold out, maybe by a boss or co-worker, a spouse or close friend. To be falsely accused and then unjustly persecuted for something you did not do is one of this lost world’s most painful realities. It is a true temptation to let injustice and unfair circumstances cause us to become bitter and cold. But Joseph kept trusting God. Instead of saying, “Why God,” Joseph would keep saying, “What do you have next for me Lord?” While we can’t control many of life’s happenings and the things that come our way, we can control how we respond. We can turn to our God who is always with us and will never forsake us. You can “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord, and turn away from evil. It will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones” (Proverbs 3:5-8).

While Joseph had all the fleshly reasons for doubt after having now encountered yet another huge life set back, he kept seeking the Lord and trusting in Him while in jail. We see God at work in Joseph even in jail, as he earned the favor of the chief jailer, who ends up putting Joseph in charge of the entire jail. After some time goes by, in Genesis 40, we read that Joseph is given the opportunity to interpret the dreams of the chief cup bearer and Pharaoh’s baker. Unfortunately, the baker’s dream’s negative interpretation proves true, as he dies, and the cupbearer’s positive interpretation proves true, and he is restored to his position and freedom.

Joseph sees an opportunity to be released, as the cupbearer’s positive dream could mean him using his connections and authority to put in a good word for Joseph and maybe get him released. But once again, Joseph is forgotten and left to remain in jail.

We will read the second half of Joseph’s journey next week, but let us not miss the example given to us this week. God can and will use us, even when the world and sin is absolutely working against us. He will not waste one day of our lives. If you are reading this and you have been knocked down in life or have experienced incredible injustice or abandonment by others, God has you in His sovereign grip. Trust in Him, and wait on Him. If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that. Our lives are His. Let us remain faithful and know that He will use every day for His eternal glory and our eternal joy.

By His grace and for His glory,

Pastor Joshua Kirstine

Disciples Church