I don't know anybody who likes tests. Maybe people who have some streak of self-flagilatory inclinations like tests. But I don't really know anybody who likes tests.
Seems to me or characterized by or involve a couple of things. One is the fact that tests tend to expose your weaknesses. They like to expose those things that you don't know. But they also probably expose some other things. They may expose lack of preparation, lack of diligence, lack of care, and those kinds of exposures may even lead to some other exposures like character kinds of things, like character flaws that explain why I'm not diligent or why I'm not adequately prepared, which then explains why maybe I don't know everything I ought to know when I take a test. So I don't like tests because I don't like having my stuff exposed. There's nothing about tests that seems all bound out in this, and that is the test giver. I don't trust the motives of test givers. I think test givers too often take too much delight in exposing the flaws and the weaknesses and the frailties, the lack of preparedness, lack of knowledge of the one taking the test. So there's the test, and there's the test giver, and I don't like any of it, but we all take tests. Not only those of us who are still in elementary school, or middle school, or high school, or college, or seminary, graduate school, but all of us. We're all taking tests, taking tests every day, and those tests aren't all that fun either. In fact, those tests are more penetrating and piercing and poignant than the tests that you take at various places along the way in your education. Puts in this 44th chapter are being tested. That's what's going on here. They are the test takers, and Joseph is the test giver. They're being tested at a point where they have evidence weakness in the past. They're being tested at the point of their loyalty to their brothers, to their father. They're being tested, in fact, at the point of their loyalty and faithfulness beyond those things to the purposes of God. They were tested in this area about 20 years earlier, and they failed the test, and they betrayed their brother. They were offended by his dreams, and they're being offended by his dreams took on greater significance for them than the promises and purposes of God and loyalty to the family, this nascent emerging nation that is to become this great and numerous people. They lost sight of all of them, and they betrayed their brother. And now they're being tested at precisely the same point. What is going to happen when the silver chalice, when Joseph's favorite coffee mug is found in Benjamin's sack, it's far more than a coffee mug. It was a prized and precious possession of him, and he alleges that with this silver chalice, he practiced religious symbolism and significance to him. What are the brothers going to do when the cup is found in the sack of the youngest brother? There they are, face to face with it all over again. They're threatened by Joseph in his dreams. Not Joseph in his dreams that is threatening their safety and security and their well-being, but it's Benjamin and the cup in his sack. It threatens their safety and security and their well-being. Joseph is testing them. So once again, you see Joseph in his dealings with his family, continuing to address the problems that exist in his family, continuing to move these brothers who have been guilty of kidnapping and slave trading and deceit and betrayal, continuing to move these brothers deeper and deeper and deeper into an exposure of their own sin, and testing them precisely at the point where they failed before. Joseph, once again, using the knowledge of them, his knowledge of the circumstances, and his authority and his power to move this whole scenario in the direction ultimately of reconciliation and restoration, that's what Joseph is doing. The precipitating circumstance that brings all of this ultimately to a head is famine, this intrusion of discomfort into this family's life. There's no famine, there's no crisis, there's no crisis, there's no trip to Egypt, there's no trip to Egypt, there's no encounter with Joseph, there's no encounter with Joseph, there's no context in which to address the problems in the hearts of the members of this family. How do you view the circumstances of your life? How do you think about these famine experiences, these intrusions, these disruptions, these complications, these troubles? How do you think about them? What we've been saying all along is that in Joseph, there is a snapshot, a picture, a metaphor of God's dealings with us and Joseph weaves together the problem of the famine, together with his knowledge and his authority to force his brothers and his father to face the reality of their own sin. And the outcome of it all is the restoration and preservation of his family. How do you think about these intrusions, these disruptions, these complications in your life? Now here the story is still unfolding. Joseph is still working, the job is not finished. This is the second visit that the brothers have made into Egypt. And Joseph is orchestrating this test. He is the tester. The brothers are the tested. Next week we'll look at the tested. But this week we're looking again at the tester. And again, this week I want you to think about Joseph as a snapshot, a metaphor, a picture, a God. And as you look at the one who is giving the test, not the ones who are being tested, but the one who is giving the test, I want you to observe some things about what he is like, but what is Joseph like? And what does that teach us about what God is like? Not so much how he works, but come back to that next week. But what he is like, these brothers' lives are in Joseph's hands. If my life is in somebody else's hands, I'd like very much to know what that person is like, what are his character traits, what are his attributes, what is he like? And as you look at Joseph, the one who is administering the test, there are some things that emerge and they teach us about God. Here's the first thing. The first thing you learn about Joseph, the first thing you see in Joseph, in addition to the other things that we've seen, which also teach us about God, the Joseph possessed knowledge and Joseph possessed authority and Joseph possessed power and that knowledge and that authority and that power, all of those things were woven together for the good of his brothers and his family and the future of the nation. Those are the things we have seen. But here's something else that you see. You see in Joseph, and Joseph is independent.
And in looking at Joseph's independence, you observe that about God as well. What do we mean by the fact that Joseph is independent? It's an important idea. Here's what we mean. We mean that Joseph functions apart from any dependence upon his brothers. He is entirely independent of them. He does not depend upon them. They have no control over him. He does not depend upon him. He does not depend upon them for his existence, for his authority, for his power. He is not beholden to them in any way. You see, he exists and operates and functions entirely independent, not detached from, but independent of his brothers. He depends upon them in no way whatsoever. Go back to Genesis 42, verse 6. Joseph is called there a governor. Derek Kiddner observes in his little commentary on Genesis that the Hebrew word is a strong word. It's a word that emphasizes Joseph's complete mastery. His complete mastery. Genesis 42, 30 and 33. And that passage, those passages. Joseph is referred to by his brothers as the Lord of the land. The Lord of the land. In the original, he is the Adonai Haerats. The Adonai of the land. The Lord of the land. If you're hearing these words red, and you're in this place between Egypt and Canaan, the promised land, which is where the original cures of these words were. If you're making that trek through the wilderness, you've already heard that word Adonai lots and lots of times. And it describes God's lordship and his sovereignty and his governance. And that now is being attributed to Joseph. He is the Adonai of the land. And he acts independent of those over whom he rules. 41 verses 40 and 41, Pharaoh places Joseph. Joseph is accountable to no person, save the king. He answers to no one. He has not obligated by anyone or two in one.
So here's the point. You hear these words and you hear these phrases, and you look at Joseph, here's the point. The brothers are in a pickle. The brothers are in a tight spot. They are frustrated. They are confused. They are perplexed and they are afraid. As we said several times, they're looking at this tapestry from the bottom side of the tapestry. The fibers are being woven together, but they can't see the pattern. They can't make sense of it. And here is money again, back in their sacks. It's happened one time on their first visit. They knew that they were guilty when they came to Egypt. And Joseph uses this ploy to pierce their hearts, to get into their hearts so that they wrestle with their guilt. And here it is again, the money back in their sacks. But this time there's another article, the favorite wine goblet of the king. And it's in the sack of the youngest son, Benjamin, the favorite son, the one about whom Jacob had said, if he goes down into Egypt, I am certain he will die. And when he dies, I will die. Everything is against him. And that sack, that cup now in Benjamin's sack makes Benjamin guilty before Joseph. And the very thing that the brother's fear might happen is going to happen. Benjamin is going to be taken from him. So there they are. They're wishing that they were someplace else, wishing that Joseph would be somebody else. Isn't that how it is? Isn't that how it is in our circumstances? We could paint it into these corners, these things intrude upon our lives. They frustrate us, they confuse us, they make us afraid. The money is in our sacks, the chalice is in our sack. We're in a tight spot, and there's no way of escape. And we, for all the world, could wish we were somewhere else and that God were somebody other than who he is. But he is who he is. Just as Joseph was who he was. The brothers might like for Joseph to be somebody other than who he is. Somebody who has their lives in his hands who seems to be playing with them, who seems to be toying with them, who seems to be able to read their minds and think their thoughts before them, who seems to know things about them that they've not communicated to him, and who seems somehow continually to be painting them into this corner. They could, for all the world, and probably did wish that Joseph were somebody other than who he is. So it is with God. So it is with us. Sometimes, as we relate to God, that folks God exists apart from us. He exists independent from us. He exists apart from our wishes, apart from our opinions, apart from our desires about him. You see, he does not depend upon us in any sense or in any way whatsoever for his own existence. Our wishes do not define who God is. Our desires do not define who God is. Our opinions about God do not define who God is. Our beliefs even about God do not define who God is. God exists regardless of our opinions and beliefs about him. And the struggle for us is Christian, and the struggle for us is non-Christians. The struggle for us, whether we are seekers, and I guess in some sense we are all seekers, or whether we know that we are seekers or not, the struggle for us is to bring our thinking about God into line, into accord with what is really true about God. He Joseph exists. He is who he is. Even though the brothers could wish he was somebody other than who he is, he is who he is. And it's true about God. God is who he is apart from me. I don't define him. He defines me. He is the governor. He is the Lord of the land. He is the eternally self-existing one. And everything that exists, those its existence to him, we are not in Exodus yet. Probably aren't going to get to Exodus, at least not in this next year, maybe in a few years. But in just a few chapters from where we are now, God reveals Himself. It's just a few chapters that later, God reveals Himself to Moses, a shepherd, taking care of sheep and goats on the back side of a mountain, reveals Himself to Moses at a bush that is filled with fire but that is not consumed. And in that confrontation between Moses and God, God reveals His name to Moses and says, this is my name. This is my name, Moses. I am who I am. I will be what I will be. We've talked about this before. The translators don't know which way to go. The term is ambiguous. I am who I am. I will be what I will be. Or I will be who I will be. What is God saying about Himself? As He reveals His name to Moses, remember that a name reflects and reveals the essence of the one name, the core of the being of the one name. That is what God is seeing to Moses about Himself. You don't define me, Moses. I am self-defining. I am eternally self-existing. I define myself. Nothing outside me defines who I am. This is important. It's so important. I would suggest it's important to all of us and for all of us because as I said, the struggle is to bring our thinking into conformity in line with what God has said about Himself. But as you go out into the world, what you encounter in this world around you is a world filled with differing views about who God is. Here's what I want to encourage you about. I want to encourage you to be in conversation with people about what God is like. What is God like? And as you do that with folks, you will find out that there are opinions out there, differing views of God. Some people believe that God is one, that He is eternally self-existing and that that one God exists in these three persons, this tri-personal God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. You'll run into people who will believe that about God. But increasingly, you're going to run into people. You're going to meet people. You're going to be in business with people who believe that there is one God who exists monopersonally and not try personally. And you will find, as you ask those people about that God and the God they believe in, you will find that they deny in that. The deity of Jesus Christ. And they deny in that the personality of the Holy Spirit. Now, here's the point. Here's the rub. Here's the question. How is it possible? Please help me. I want to understand how it is possible that God can be tri-personal and one God and monopersonal and one God at the same time. And beyond that, if you go to Japan, you will find that people believe not in one God, but in countless numbers of God. Cultures are there, and you will find that there isn't even in the vocabulary of that culture, language sufficient to describe monotheism. Much less tri-personal monotheism. And the question is, as you interact with people, how can God exist as one God expressed tri-personally and exist as multiple God's hundreds and thousands of God? How can they both be true? You see, it doesn't matter at the end of the day. It doesn't matter what I think about God. My view of God does not define His existence. He defines His own existence, and He should be permitted to speak for Himself. And we who are creatures. Not creators. We who are finite and not infinite respond appropriately, not by saying, I don't like what I hear, I dismiss it. I prefer the beliefs, the wishes, the convictions, the desires that I've come to by myself. The smart thing, the wise thing, the truly sensible thing is to let God speak for Himself. And then for us, the finite creatures humbly to bow before Him and accept what He says about Himself. Because my view is my opinions about God do not define God's existence. His own opinion about Himself defines His own existence. There's a whole lot of stake in this, folks. There's a lot of stake in this. As you converse with people outside the safety of these four walls, as you rub shoulders with people. In fact, as Bob said at the beginning of the service, as he challenged us to think about what we're talking about when we make this affirmation of faith about what it means to be right with God. Presupposed in all of that is the fact that God exists and that we need to be made right with Him. And if we come to wrong conclusions about the nature of that God, we run the very great risk of missing the message that He is seeking to communicate to us about how we may be made right with Him. If we come about who God is, if we are mistaken, if we come to the end of our lives and we stare death in the face and then beyond death we are face to face with this tri-personal God who is self-defining and who is eternal. And we have been wrong about that through the course of our lives. And so have drawn wrong conclusions about what He has done and is doing in and through Jesus Christ, that we might be made right with Him, not on the basis of what we do, but on the basis of what Christ does. We come to wrong conclusions about that, the stakes are high, unimaginably so. It makes all the difference in the world that we come to terms with what God has said about Himself, not who I want Him to be, but who He in fact is. God exists independent of my notions about Him. But here's the second thing. I have two more things very quickly. Here's the second thing about God. God is also personal. He exists apart from me. He defines Himself apart from me. My opinions about Him do not change who He is, do not alter Him in His essential being. But what you see in this passage is that God, like Joseph, is intensely personal. He deals with His brothers personally. Joseph is an elevated person second only to the king. I do wonder as I read this as I reflect on it, if there isn't some Christology in this. There is the king who gives all authority in His kingdom to one who is dependent upon Him for His existence. That's what we believe about Jesus. The Jesus is eternally dependent upon the Father for His existence, that He proceeds from the Father eternally, is eternally begotten of the Father. This God who is so elevated, this Joseph, this picture of God who is so elevated, is personal in His dealings with His brothers. He's not a force, He's not a machine, but He's a person, an elevated person to be sure, but He is a person, He is conscious of and sendative to the particular needs of His brothers. And that's true of God. God is sensitive to conscious of your particular needs. He takes personal interest in you. He's not a detached, distant ruler who remains independent far from us, but He is intensely personal to us, and intensely interested in the concerns of His people. Just think about these verses that I trust you've been memorizing. Just sort of rehearse all of those verses in your mind and look at all of the personal pronouns that you find in those verses. Go back to the first one, Deuteronomy 7.9. Know therefore that the Lord your God, He is God. You don't call machines Him or Her or you. You call persons He. Know therefore that the Lord your God, He is God. He is the faithful God, keeping His covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love Him and keep His command. Persons make promises. Persons make covenants. Persons remain faithful to promises and remain faithful to covenants. Think about this week's verse, whom have I in heaven but you? And there's nothing in earth that I desire beside you. My flesh and my heart, the text says may. But there's no may about it folks. My flesh and my heart will fail. But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. I don't want a machine for an inheritance. I want a person, a person of unspeakable beauty and glory. And that is what God is. And He's personal. You need to know that there's somebody at home in the universe as you stare at the vastness of space, the days of history being woven together in the weeks and months and years and you wonder if it makes any sense. You wonder if anybody's hand is on the wheel. Know this. There is someone at home. He is the one true God who has told us about Himself and He is interested in you. Conscious of sensitive to your particular need. Your opinions about Him don't define Him. He doesn't need for you to believe that He is personal in order for Him to be personal He just is. He just is. And as persons can have fellowship and conversation and intimacy with one another, God who is really there, who is not a machine, who is not an impersonal force, who is not one God among many, vying for the affections of loyal subjects, the one true God, maybe known. Maybe known. And He invites us to know Him through Jesus. And here's the third thing. And it sort of flows out of this second thing. God is independent. God is personal. And God is engaged. God is engaged with Joseph and his brothers. He puts them through hell. He puts them through agony. He worked in such a way that they, for all the world, could wish that they were someplace else. But He's engaged. Five times in this narrative. Joseph weeps for his brothers. Five times. Five times he weeps over his family. One of those times, he weeps so loudly that the Egyptians can hear him even though they've left his courts and the doers have been closed, so agonizing, so profound, so deep, is the compassion of Joseph for his brothers and the tears flow out of it that the Egyptians can hear him. God loves his people. God weeps over his people. God is engaged with his people. That's what you learn as you look at Joseph. He's independent. He is who he is. Who he is is personal. Who he is is engaged. And the New Testament is filled with so many promises. These songs are filled with so many expressions of that engagement. When I am afraid, I will trust in you, in God whose word I praise, in God I trust. There's engagement. The New Testament. God says through one of the writers of the New Testament letters, God is the rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. There's engagement. So what do you need this morning? Where are you this morning? The living is vast, vast universe where nobody's home and where you are at the mercy of forces completely outside your control. Do you know in your heart of hearts that there is one God who may be known and he may be known through Jesus Christ? Do you know that? But maybe having known it in the past, do you know it right now in your experience? Do you know it in such a way that these things that you can spit out far better than I can, that you can articulate far more clearly than I can about who God is and what He's done? Do you know those things notionally or do you know them existentially? Do you know that God is a rewarder? Do you know that God is a refuge? Do you know that God is a rock and a fortress? A shelter in every storm promises to be. That's what his word says about him. That's how he sets it throughout the scriptures. What do you need this morning? I promise you whatever you need. It is to be found in the one God who is really there. Seek him. Maybe for the first time. Seek him. Maybe for the hundredth time. Maybe for the thousandth time. Don't stop seeking the one God who is really there. Let's pray.