July 3, 2016
Joseph | Genesis 41:33-57
- Genesis 41:33-57
- Rev. Dr. Randal Gilmore
Joseph and Servant-Leadership
Main Idea
Servant leadership positions us perfectly on a cross, maximizing our potential to fulfill God’s purposes for us in community with others, to receive blessing, and to share in Christ’s sufferings and to become like him in his death.
Introduction
We pick up the story of Joseph today at a point just after Joseph tells Pharaoh the interpretation of his dreams, that “God was about to bring seven years of plenty to Egypt, followed by seven years of famine.”
What happens next is one of the more shocking parts of chapter 41. Without being asked, and without even hesitating, Joseph looks at Pharaoh and issues a call to action. Let’s put the words back on the screen:
“Now therefore let Pharaoh select a discerning and wise man, and set him over the land of Egypt. Let Pharaoh proceed to appoint overseers over the land and take one-fifth of the produce of the land of Egypt during the seven plentiful years. And let them gather all the food of these good years that are coming and store up grain under the authority of Pharaoh for food in the cities, and let them keep it. That food shall be a reserve for the land against the seven years of famine that are to occur in the land of Egypt, so that the land may not perish in the famine.” (41:33-36).
So Joseph tells Pharaoh what to do and he perfectly positions himself to be Pharaoh’s choice to carry the plan forward. Still I wonder whether the oxygen went out of the room, at least just for a second or two.
I can imagine the people who came for Joseph in prison telling him, "Look, Pharaoh’s had a couple of dreams he doesn’t understand. He’s going to ask for your help. But wait for him to speak, stick to the question, and get right to the point. Remember, you're not here for anything else!"
But Joseph had the audacity to go way beyond the interpretation.
Fortunately, Joseph’s call to action “pleased Pharaoh and all his servants.” So Pharaoh turned to the servants and asked, “What are the chances that we could ever find someone like this, even if we had been looking for him, someone that has the spirit of the gods actually living in him?”
Then Pharaoh turned back to Joseph and said,
“Since God has shown you all this, there is none so discerning and wise as you are. You shall be over my house, and all my people shall order themselves as you command. Only as regards the throne will I be greater than you” (41:39-40).
In other words, Joseph, you are perfectly positioned to be my choice to carry forward your plan.
Analysis
As I was pondering what we might gain from this part of the Joseph story, I remembered that this was NOT Joseph’s first call to action connected to his interpretations of dreams.
Back in Genesis 37, Joseph implied to his brothers and parents that they should bow down to him, and submit to his lordship. After Joseph interpreted the dream of the cupbearer, he explicitly told him to remember him to Pharaoh. So this is now the third time Joseph goes beyond the interpretation to issue a call to action.
Now I love the human authors of Bible stories. They were literary geniuses, masters of the rhetorical devices known them, wise craftsmen in the hands of God’s Spirit, composing each sentence, coining each phrase, and writing each word with intention. One of their intentions was for people like us to gain insight from bringing various parts of a story like this together to make comparisons and contrasts.
When we bring together Joseph’s various calls to action, we notice that this last one differs from the previous two in at least three ways:
(1) For one, this is the first time Joseph shows concern for the needs of others. Previously, Joseph’s calls to action were about him: “bow to me,” “submit to my lordship,” and “remember me.” Now Joseph shows concern for the needs of others, especially for their survival once the seven years of famine begin.
(2) Secondly, this is the first time Joseph cast himself in community with others. Previously, Joseph cast himself either as above everyone else, or someone deserving better treatment than everyone else. Now, even if Joseph were angling for Pharaoh to pick him, he saw a need for others to be on his team, “overseers” he calls them.
(3) Finally, this is the first time that Joseph’s call to action actually results in someone doing what he said. Previously, Joseph’s brothers did not bow to him, nor did they submit to his lordship, and the cupbearer forgot him, leaving him to languish in prison for two more years. Now Pharaoh ponders for only a moment, and then he does exactly what Joseph said.
A Remarkable Change
These comparisons and contrasts show a remarkable change in Joseph. Joseph transformed from a focus on himself to a focus on others, and from the pursuit of his own interests to the practice of servant leadership.
Now sometimes we talk about servant leadership without really drilling down to what it means.
So I thought I’d put on the screen a list of Christ-honoring practices that form an arena of servant leadership. All of these are just as much a part of servant leadership as a focus on meeting the needs of others. Read them out loud with me, please:
- Forbearing
- Forgiving
- Encouraging
- Modeling
- Empowering
- Speaking truth in love
- Pursuing same-mindedness
- Building faith
- Cautioning against self-reliance
- Calling attention to God's presence, power, resources, and commission
- Celebrating when others succeed, or when they receive grace and generosity from the Lord
- Establishing accountability
- Setting others up for reward
Now take a careful look at this list. Sometimes people say, “But I’m not a leader, so I don’t have to be too worried about servant leadership, right?”
Look again, these are for everyone. These same practices also form an arena of servant followership. Jesus calls everyone to practice these, even if you’re not in a role that we traditionally associate with leadership.
Sacrifice
Before closing this morning, I want to call your attention to one other dynamic associated with Joseph’s new focus on the practice of servant leadership.
After all, it was servant leadership that perfectly positioned Joseph to be Pharaoh’s choice.
But that’s what servant leadership does. It maximizes our potential to fulfill God’s purposes for us in community with others. So it perfectly positions us to do what God wants us to do, and to receive the blessings that God has in mind for us.
That’s the way it worked for Joseph.
Above him was Pharaoh, who was doing everything possible to show favor to him, giving Joseph his ring, giving him garments of fine linen and a gold chain for his neck, giving Joseph a new identity and a new wife from one of Egypt’s best families.
Down line from Joseph were the overseers and others, cooperating to harvest and store the abundance. Also down line were the two precious sons God gave to Joseph, sons God gave to help Joseph forget the past and to remind him that things are different now.
So servant leadership perfectly positioned Joseph to fulfill God’s purposes for him in community with others and to receive blessing. Above him everything was great. Down line from him, everything was great.
But . . . there were those pesky brothers.
And isn’t that the way it goes? Things can be going so well. We can be perfectly positioned in life, perfectly positioned to fulfill God’s purposes for us in community with others, perfectly positioned in the flow of all kinds of blessing, but then along comes some relationship that stretches us and tries to pull us out of line and out of stream of things God has for us.
So now Joseph’s position as a servant leader looks a little different. Above him is Pharaoh. Down line are the overseers and population of Egypt. And to the sides are those pesky brothers.
Now Joseph’s position looks more like someone hanging on a cross.
By the way, all this can work in just the opposite direction. Our horizontal relationships can be the best ever. And it is our relationships with authorities or with others down line from us that seem to give us so much grief.
Either way, like Joseph, we’re left hanging on a cross.
My Brothers and Sisters, this is what it means to be perfectly positioned, servant leaders or servant followers hanging on a cross. It was the perfect position for Joseph to experience blessing and to fulfill God’s purposes for him in community with others. And it is the perfect position for you and me.
So please take another look at the list of Christ-honoring practices clustered together in the arenas of servant leadership and servant followership.
Joseph’s experience shows us one we need to add. I’m talking about the practice of Sacrificing.
The practice of sacrificing, along with the rest, will perfectly position you to fulfill God’s purposes for you in community with others. It will perfectly position you to experience the blessings God has in mind for you.
And, in the end, it will perfectly position you to be more like Christ, to share in his sufferings, and to become like him in his death.
By way of application, I would like to ask you to select one of the servant-leadership (and servant followership) behaviors and practice it this week.
Extra
And God allowed Joseph to find favor with Pharaoh, who chose him to be second-in-command only to him. In one sense, Pharaoh’s choice isn’t unlike Potiphar’s choice to make Joseph overseer in his house, or the keeper of the prison’s choice to put Joseph in charge of the prisoners. But there is a remarkable difference. In Potiphar’s house, Joseph was still a slave. In prison, Joseph was still a prisoner. Now the bane of his existence was removed in its entirety. Now he is second in command in Egypt.
The rest of Genesis 41 shows God blessing Joseph in three other ways:
(1) By Pharaoh honoring him. Pharaoh "took his signet ring from his hand and put it on Joseph's hand, clothed Joseph in garments of fine linen, and put a gold chain about his neck." Then Pharaoh orchestrated a parade in Joseph's honor. He gave Joseph a new identity, calling him Zaphenath-paneah, a name that likely means, "he knows." Finally, Pharaoh gave Joseph a wife, the daughter of Potiphera, priest of On, the head of one of Egypt's most prominent families.
Volumes could be written about all of these, each honor pointing to a complete break from Joseph's previous experiences as slave and prisoner.
(2) By making his interpretation of Pharaoh’s dreams come true. Genesis 41:46-49 tells of Joseph's service "during the seven plentiful years, [when] the earth produced abundantly."
(3) By providing Joseph with sons, sons who would reinforce his break with the past, reminding Joseph to forget the hardship and to remember that things are different now, that now he was bearing fruit in the land of his affliction.
In verses 37-45, Pharaoh honors Joseph with his ring. He “took his signet ring from his hand and put it on Joseph’s hand, and clothed him in garments of fine linen, and put a gold chain about his neck” (41:42).
So a ring, garments of fine linen, and a gold chain — each of these remind us of some part or parts of the story we’re already familiar with.
Earlier in the story, we’re told that Judah gave his ring to Tamar to guarantee his promise to pay her a goat. Here Pharaoh gives his ring to Joseph to guarantee his promise to promote Joseph to second in command. So the signet to Judah became a symbol of weakness and shame; whereas, to Joseph, the signet stood as a symbol of power and honor.
As for the garments of fine linen, this is Joseph’s clothes fifth set of clothes. The first was the multi-colored robe that Jacob gave him in the beginning. We might call these clothes of pride. The second was the garment that Joseph wore in Potiphar’s house; the one Potiphar’s wife tore from him, the clothes of a slave. The third is whatever Joseph wore in prison, the clothes of a prisoner. The fourth is the garment Joseph changed into on his way to appear before Pharaoh, the clothes of a courtesan. And now, “clothes of fine linen,” the clothes of royalty.