It’s in the Bible, Really!
I love a good story. Maybe cause my Dad was the best story teller ever. He had a way of explaining things as his story unfolded that just seemed to make you wish you had seen it for yourself. Most of his stories were hunting and fishing stories. They were never the short version that start like “we caught a big fish once.” His stories would start like “It was the fall of 35 and it was the coldest ever.” Then we could hear how cold it was, how hard it was to break the ice, how long they fished before he bit, how the others wanted to go home and finally how he caught the big fish. There would be time allotted to ask questions during the story if anything wasn’t clear. Since he was always old (he was born old to me!) I used his stories to get a picture of what his life was like before me. I still tell his stories to myself when I miss him.
Maybe my love of stories is what interested me in the Bible. It took way to long for to figure it out but it is the greatest story book on earth. It has stories of every situation you can imagine. I thought Hollywood could come up with some strange creepy situations until I started my own study of the Bible. Sure I went to Sunday school and church growing up but we got the sanitized version. They would only use the cleaned up version. Most of the preachers used the same stories over and over and left out the small details. I feel it’s always a mistake to leave out the details in a story because it loses its credibility without details. If the details are of a disturbing nature or extremely graphic there is a reason. Leaving out the rough parts might make it easier to talk about but it isn’t the same story.
It’s important to realize the Bible is a single purpose book. It isn’t a history book or a how to book for any task. Its sole purpose is to teach us the nature of God and his will. The Israelites wandered in the desert for 40 years but the bible only gives a small portion of what they did. It isn’t missing, it’s just not important to the purpose of the Bible. The stories that are in the Bible are important and each one is there for the same reason.
The next problem was the partial story. How many times have you had a lesson or sermon that required you take part in a sword drill marathon. Bible stories are complete and convey important lessons. It’s up to us to decide how to interpret the story and apply it to our lives for benefit. Hard to do when you extract one line from First Timothy and the next from Genesis.
For me it finally became apparent that the Bible was important. Then I realized it was too important to let someone else tell me what it says, I needed to find out for myself. This doesn’t mean I don’t listen when a bible story is told or explained. It just means I want to make sure I’m getting the whole story. I want to know who was in the story, where they came from, who wrote the story and who was it written for. Sometimes this takes some effort but it’s easier for us than any other generation.
Christians are just like the Bible when you stop and think about it. We too have only one purpose. Fulfill God’s will. That will mean different things for each person but it still comes down to serving God. Christians are God’s willing servants. Each with abilities and gifts that will glorify God when used in Christian service. The Bible is our rule and guide throughout life on earth and our instruction manual. Yes it’s always more fun to try it our way first but doesn’t it go better when we read the instructions first?
So what kind of stories can we find in that old book? It opens with our first dysfunctional family. In our family they were simply called Adam and Eve. I heard rumors that they had last names but I’m not sure. Adam’s answer was classic “The woman did it”. It never worked but we still try to pass the blame. They had two boys. Cain and Able. Then after Cain killed Able they had Seth. But who was Noah’s ancestor? It was the bad boy Cain.
Noah’s classic story was he built an Ark and had animals in it. That’s probably all most people know. He was also our first person to get drunk in the Bible. Ended up putting a curse on his son.
Abraham is called the father figure but his life didn’t give us much to brag about. Lied to the Egyptians about his beautiful wife being his sister. Had illegitimate children with his wife’s servant with her blessing. Left her to die with child in the desert.
While this is going on Lot is living in Sodom. He has to get out of town with his family but only his wife and daughters go. After his wife is turned to salt he is given wine till each of his daughters trick him into incest. They fear he is their only chance. Second example of alcohol and its effects on a family.
Abraham’s legitimate son was Isaac. His wife had twins. Difficult deliver. His wife helped one son defraud the other of his birthright and he had to flee for his life. His name was Jacob. While on the run he falls for a beauty and agrees to work 7 years to marry her. Pulls back the vail after the wedding and he has her ugly sister. Then has to work another 7 to get the girl of his dreams. The wives compete but the ugly one gives him more sons. Then to make up the difference the wives send in their servant girls to get pregnant. Out of this mix of dysfunction comes the 12 tribes of Israel.
Now you know with 12 brothers there are bound to be problems. Probably this was compounded by having different mothers and Jacobs feelings toward them. The Bible doesn’t try to conceal that he loves Rachael and the others are just to enlarge and enhance his work force. Everyone in the family would see this because emotions are not concealable.
You are more susceptible to another person’s emotions than you are the flu. Usually you will be affected by another’s emotions within the first minute. Your brain has a section devoted to picking up on the emotions present. Unfortunately that part of your brain doesn’t think, it just senses and reacts.
Joseph as a young man lacks “emotional intelligence” when it comes to dealing with his brothers. They already don’t like it that Jacob sees him as his favorite and gave him a special coat. Then Joseph throws gas on the fire by telling them about dreams where he will be their ruler. These are not boys and they are experienced at killing. They plan to kill Joseph and tell that he was killed by a lion or bear.
At the last minute one brother convinces them to put him in a pit but they see spice traders coming by and sell him as a slave. He is carried to Egypt and sold as a slave. He has gone from favorite son of a wealthy man to slave.
His life gets worse in Egypt. He is accused of a crime he didn’t commit and thrown in prison. Now in prison he is assigned to take care of Pharaoh’s baker and butler when they made Pharaoh mad. (wonder what they did? Bad donuts? Unshined shoes?)
It’s a small detail in a big story but we get to see how Joseph has learned and developed a critical skill. Joseph has learned to read emotions. Joseph has also learned how to keep a relationship with God while enduring what must have been terrible conditions. He is in a foreign prison and a slave. There will be no parole, no early release and if he does get out he will still be a slave. In spite of this he is true to God and seeks God’s will. It would be so easy for Joseph to give up on God and focus on himself.
The Bible says he looked and saw they were sad. Then he asked. Let that sink in—he asked. It is a logical step when we see someone giving off bad vibes but how many times do we use this as an opportunity to inject our own emotions? Since we already believe everything is about us it is a logical step. We assume we have done something or decide they are mean or crazy instead of just asking “what’s wrong.” I personally have a poor track record when I assume. I finally discovered with some help from the Bible that I was looking in mirrors with a lot of people. They were just showing me what I was showing them.
Ok it’s finally time to talk about what this lesson shows us. As Christians we know that we have a purpose. The “Great Commission” Jesus gave the disciples was to spread the Gospel. It wasn’t just for the disciples but for every Christian then and now. Doing this task well requires us to understand others and be able to empathize. (EXPLAIN EMPATHIZE!) By understanding the person we will be able to know the right thing to say at the right time and know when to shut up. Know anybody lacking that skill?
Timing is everything but unless you can understand someone you can’t possibly know how to time. You can’t just tell funny jokes to a grieving person, it doesn’t work. You have to connect with the person in such a way that they will ask why are you interested in me. Then your door is open. They are asking and you can answer “God loves me and changed my life, he can change yours if you let him.” You can use any phrase you like but getting them to ask is the key.
What I hope you take home today is that as a Christian I have a purpose. There can be many ways to achieve that purpose and we are all different but our purpose is the same. The Will of God.