March 30, 2025

Sunday Gathering – Genesis – Putting Things Right

29 minutes

Here is a summary of Nick's sermon:

The Chaotic World: Nick begins by acknowledging the chaos in the world, referencing the scientific principle of entropy and the negative news we see daily. However, he emphasizes that God's work is to push back against this chaos, bringing order and hope.

Except God: Nick introduces the Ghanaian symbol "Gye Nyame," meaning "except God," as a central theme. He reflects on how, without God's grace, life would be lost and emphasizes God's silent influence in transforming lives.

God's Faithfulness: Nick highlights God's faithfulness even when we are faithless, drawing from scripture to illustrate God's constant presence and care.

Joseph's Brothers: Nick uses the story of Joseph and his brothers to demonstrate how God works even in the midst of flawed individuals. He points out how God shaped Joseph's brothers, transforming them from "lost causes" into better people.

God's Work in Our Lives: Nick encourages listeners to recognize God's ongoing work in their lives, even in dark and chaotic moments. He emphasizes the transformative power of trusting God, leading from slavery to sin to slavery to righteousness.

Judah's Transformation: Nick focuses on Judah's selfless act of offering himself as a slave to free his brother, highlighting this as a manifestation of God's heart and a foreshadowing of Jesus' sacrifice.

God's Plan: Nick explains that God's plan, including Jesus' crucifixion, was in place before the foundation of the earth. He encourages listeners to see God's will working through the messiness of life.

Trusting God: Nick concludes by urging listeners to trust God, acknowledging their blessings in Christ and recognizing that challenges serve to magnify God's work in their lives. He uses the analogy of calming a frantic dog to illustrate the need to return to God's presence and trust in Him.

Here are the Bible references used in the sermon:

Genesis 1

Genesis 38

Genesis 44

Transcript

in Genesis and it's a 50 yeah so May May that's our our our heading where we

where we end up the titles it's often commented about the titles that we have

there's a sort of a background outline of Genesis that we use like these titles

are there and they very rarely connect with with what we actually believe God

is saying to us at the time but it's a good enough title and that today it's a

changing world last time I talked about the things we observe in everyday life

how things can become more or do become more chaotic as I mentioned the

scientific principle of all theory of entropy that everything tends towards

chaos that things deteriorate bad things get worse if you buy a car it rusts

there's all of that process that things don't get better they get worse and we

only have to turn on our TV or open up the internet and to see what is

happening it just feels like there is a whole downwards a downhill rush towards

chaos and then we reflected that in actual fact the work of God and in the

world and in our lives is to push back against the chaos and to actually be a

life force in us that that goes against nature that actually creates something

wonderful out of darkness that we went back to Genesis 1 and remembered that in

the beginning there was darkness and there was chaos and there was there was

nothing there and the Spirit of God hovered over it and then at one moment

God said let there be light and he called the chaos into order and he

started to bring all the random atoms and everything that was around and he

gathered them together and he made you and me I mean there anybody that looks

into the the physiology and the biology of the human of the human being can't

fail to see the hand of God bringing order out of chaos pushing back bringing

direction hope and solution in Ghana there is a traditional symbol can shot

on the screen grab a few if it will come up there we are genuinely it's very

very well now you see it everywhere you go to Ghana those of you that that many

of you know Ghana better than I do but if you go there you see this all over

the place it's carved it's made into jewelry there's there's all sorts of

depictions of it it's and Jane Yami means simply means except to God except

God and for those who have encountered the grace of God the power of God who

attach their lives to Christ and have set their selves to follow him we can

honestly sum up our testimonies in those two words we said except God if they we

accept God there is nothing you know we used to sing that song father God I

wonder how I managed to exist without the knowledge of your parenthood and

your loving care and when I was young and naive I'm old and wise now but when

I was young and naive you know I used to think well yeah I don't know you know I

don't exactly know what that means but as you get older and as you go through

life you really can say yeah without the knowledge of your parenthood and your

loving care how did I exist how how does anything happen except God where

without God where would you be think about it just for a moment just reflect

as I'm talking think about your life without the grace of God where would you

be you might not always understand what he does you might not always like what

he does you might not always enjoy what it means to live life on this earth you

might wish that your life had taken a different path you might wish that you

had a different family or you were born into different circumstances or you had

a bit more of an advantage in life but truly honestly we can say without God

and his intervention and the silent influence to transform our lives and to

fight back against the chaos we would absolutely be lost and everybody and

time and time again when people stand up here to give a testimony is if they if

they had given up on faith in God that would have just been lost awash in a sea

of chaos and yet they're able to say people are able to say week after week

but God except God this was the way things were going but God intervened but

God did something and it's there it's this except God principle that we have

to remember and we have to remind that we're not calling him down from from out

from afar but he's within us that he's he's given us his Holy Spirit and he

walks alongside us even when we don't know you know when we are faithless the

Bible teaches us he is faithful when we don't regard him he regards us when we

ignore him he draws close to us he is faithful in every way all my life you

have been faithful all my life you have been so so good and we can say that

whether we feel it or whether we don't because it's an objective fact that we

learn from the scripture that all our lives God is faithful and except God we

would be utterly lost now Genesis Joseph's brothers didn't start well if

you've been following the story the box set as it's been unfolding you might

even say they were lost causes from the outset they were hopeless horrible

horrible nasty pieces of work they didn't like Joseph and his coat Joseph

perhaps was a little bit of an upstart a little bit unpleasant probably had a

grating personality but I don't know if he deserved what happened to him but his

brothers did it to him anyway they they set about to destroy him to have him

first of all killed and when he wasn't killed they wanted to sell him off into

slavery and they deceived their father into with a with a false story about

what had happened but as I said in one of our previous messages if you've

remembered it but if you haven't remembered it you get a little bit again

today silently imperceptibly these fathers of the 12 tribes of Israel being

shaped and fashioned and schooled in the ways of God so they ended up better than

when they started God was working against the chaos fashioning them

quietly and while they would do it they were just living their own life they

were doing their own thing following their own instincts sometimes but God

was still working still going at it and sometimes we think that God will only

come and work in my life when I've got everything right when I've prepared the

room for him when I call him down and he says all right I'm ready now now you've

you know now you've decided that you're gonna pay me some attention I'll come

and join you that's not it even when we're in our darkest most chaotic most

lost moments God is committed to us in actually working against the chaos as we

put our faith and our trust in him you might look at your life and think well

what hope is there for me maybe if I hadn't messed up quite so much maybe if

I said earlier if I had more of an advantage in life maybe if I had a

different family maybe if things were different for me things might have

worked out better but that is where we need to look and to open up our eyes and

see that God is working in our lives if you give yourself to him if you open

your heart to him if you trust him not just today nor next week but for the

whole long haul through every circumstance of life through every

success and failure if you trust him not only to forgive your sin you know when

you think oh no I've messed up again Lord forgive me and then you go on again

it's not about just day by day sin but deliverance from the power of sin over

your life so that we're actually set to live a different life as I've said

before the Bible says that before we knew him we were slaves to sin slaves to

sin you know if you're a slave you don't have any choice over what you do do you

you don't have any say in what you do you just do what your master tells you

to do and so if you're a slave to sin guess what happens but says that through

the power through the power of God he has transformed us from being slaves to

sin to being slaves to righteousness so slave so if we're a slave to righteous

we do we don't really have a day by day choice am I going to be you know what am

I going to be whatever we're slaves to righteousness and slowly imperceptibly

we are transformed into the image of God because of the work that he has said

about to do in us he who began a good work in us it's faithful to bring it to

completion and we will look back and see just what God can do every single one

and while you're sitting there this morning listening to me disqualifying

yourself and thinking well yeah it's not for me remember you are not exempt from

the grace of God except God you wouldn't be here except God God will do and you

will never see him disappointing you and you might say well he's already

disappointed me compare our pain can bear our angst but the truth is he

doesn't disappoint us he brings us to transformation by the grace of God Joseph

seemed to have an awareness of the possibility that his brothers had

changed you see he was now in power he wasn't in a pit anymore looking at his

torn coat I'm thinking you know what's gonna happen to me he was he wasn't in

jail anymore he was now the Prime Minister of Egypt for want of a better

term he had enough power to judge them and to destroy them based on what they'd

done and yet he chose to try and find out what were they now maybe they're

different he saw the grace of God on his own life he understood that he was only

where he was now because of God how could you be thrown into a pit be left

for dead dragged up sold it to slaves to slow sold into slavery go into Egypt and

go through all they went to be thrown into prison for years and years come

back and finally he's here except God it's only God that can do that and he

knew that that God had been at work in his life and as he said later I don't

want to steal anybody's thunder but when he said later you know what you meant

for evil God meant for good he was beginning to understand that God was at

work in all of these circumstances that's why we sing praise praise the

Lord there's our praise when I'm sure and I'm praise when I'm doubting there's

as long as I'm breathing I've got a reason to praise the Lord Joseph was

seeing that in his own life and so he thought that if well if God has done all

this for me as a result of what they did then maybe just maybe God has also been

at work in them and it was certainly possible and he wanted to see and what

he did in this story and I'd urge you to read it reveals the treasure that God

had been working in their lives treasure in jars of clay treasure in imperfect

jars like ours are but treasure nevertheless and so these brothers had

come back to Egypt and they brought their youngest brother Benjamin Benjamin

was Joseph's blood brother Benjamin was the son of Rachel just as Joseph was and

he loved Benjamin when they brought him earlier on to his house when I spoke

last time he gave Benjamin five times as much food as everybody else Joseph was

into the whole concept of favorites and he he just loved Benjamin and they and

he had insisted and he'd worked it out that they would bring Benjamin to see

him and it was time for them now to leave and as they prepared to leave

Joseph did something very strange he arranged for his silver cup to be

planted in Benjamin's sack and for them to be arrested on the way home for

stealing sounds very loving doesn't it the only conceivable reason I can think

of is so that he and we could see what happened to these brothers over the long

years since they conspired to destroy Joseph so the cup was discovered they

were horrified and they heard the sentence that Joseph had said that when

they find this cup that he'd put in the sack when they find this tell them that

that brother that owns that sack will become my slave and everybody else will

go they were horrified that Benjamin would stay as Joseph's slave and the

others would go free and so we start to see you can't even believe this is the

same bunch of wasters that messed up all those chapters ago they started to

express something different they were horrified I mean they basically they've

got a get out of jail free card the brothers from before the brothers of

yesteryear might have said oh too bad Benjamin see you later we're off but

they said no we cannot leave him here on his own they would have jumped at

the opportunity before but against the odds remember the work of God in their

lives against are they beginning to react differently respond differently

now and in verse 18 there's a really powerful verse chances chapter 44 verse

18 simply says then Judah stepped forward Judah stepped forward and said

please my lord let your servant say just one word to you please do not be angry

with me even though you are as powerful as Pharaoh himself Judah had led the

conspiracy to destroy Joseph Judah had deceived his father Judah had behaved

so badly when it came to Tamar his daughter-in-law go back to Genesis 38

in that parental advisory chapter that we that we read about go back there and

see just what Judah used to be like he was a lost cause to any normal eyes but

in this moment Judah stepped forward stepped forward and spoke he pleaded for

mercy on behalf of his brother on the basis that mercy must be shown to their

father he said I cannot go back without this boy because it will kill my father

it would be it will be the worst possible thing my father cannot bear

that grief and I cannot do it to him and in one moment it's as if all the dross

falls away and we begin to see I said about treasure in jars of clay it's

almost like the clay comes away and you start to see well this is beautiful he

said so please my lord let me stay here as a slave instead of the boy and let

the boy return with his brothers for how can I return to my father if the boy is

not with me I couldn't bear to see the anguish that this would cause my father

Judah stepped forward and says don't keep him here keep me he would give up

himself that his brothers could go free

I think well what's happened to Judah who's got who give him back this is this

is a miracle David talked about miracles miracles miracles miracles that God is

working quietly and imperceptibly in our lives Genesis is a long and complex

history of families it's the beginning it's the foundation of our understanding

of how God works I don't know about you if you ever watch those well I'm sure

you have watched them those long and involved box set things you know

detective stories Netflix or whatever it is whoever subscribes to the devil's own

channel like that I hear you start off with a six-part thing and you think right

I'm gonna get this I'm gonna follow it all the way through and I'm gonna pick

up all the threads and at the end of it I'm gonna be able to tell you exactly

who done it and and when and when they when it's all revealed I'm gonna say I

knew that because I've followed it through I'm clever but about half an

hour in I get lost I said to Erica what's happening who's that where do

they come from I don't remember that there was Vera that's one of them that's

the worst

trouble with Vera is that you follow you try and follow through work it all out

and in somebody who's never been in the story for the last two hours turns up

and turns out to be the murderer but anyway but you end up waiting for the

final episode to for everything to become clear and to make sense and dare

I say it without being irreverent that the Bible can seem a bit like that at

times but you start by thinking you know what's happening but then you get

slightly lost and slightly confused you think okay and even reading Genesis even

preparing to speak on Genesis you like well I think I understand it and you go

in backwards and forwards and trying to pick up the threads but it's a gradual

unfolding and a revealing of God's plans and purposes until we arrive at the

final episode at the cross and then we have the rest of the New Testament to

pick and explain what all that means but when you get to the cross and you

see and you begin to understand that what Jesus was doing as he and we're

going to celebrate that as we go through Easter aren't we what Jesus was doing as

he stepped forward and he gave himself to be nailed on a cross and he gave

himself to be punished and he gave himself to suffer and he gave himself to

go through all that he went to in order that we might go free

then just like a box set if you take time to go over it again then you can

pick up the clue say oh I should have seen that and Genesis even though it's

way back at the beginning of the scripture even though it's thousands of

years before this you can pick up the clues all the way through whether it's

Abraham about to sacrifice his only son and as he lifts the knife there's a ram

in the thicket and you know saying God himself will provide a ram and it

begins to unfold and there is story after story that if you have eyes to see

maybe if you just read it on its own you think what does that mean a ram why

would God give somebody a son and then tell them tell him to sacrifice him

what's all that about but when you go through the whole story and you go

through to you know episode 21 of season 6 and you get here then you begin to

understand and you go back to all right okay let's watch it again let's let's

think about it again and this is what was happening here in this case it's

Judah the son of Leah the one who wasn't wanted the one who was rejected

the one who wasn't picked and then Judah became the head of the tribe from which

Jesus was born the Lion of the tribe of Judah and in this story Judah stepped

forward and offered himself as a sacrifice so that his brothers could go

free Judah was manifesting God he didn't even know himself what he was doing I'm

sure but God was at work in his heart to the extent that he was filling the space

and he was making him a better person he was shaping his character and at this

crucial moment he stepped forward and revealed the heart of God said let me

stay let me give my life in order that these brothers of mine might go free

that he was manifesting the heart of the gospel way back at the beginning of

history and what it shows is that there is no plan B that this is what God

wanted from the beginning they didn't look and say oh it's got in a real mess

and now I've got to come up with something in order to put it right no in

actual fact the lamb that was slain the Jesus that was crucified was crucified

before the foundation of the earth he was crucified before how do we work

this out I don't know but he was before Genesis was written and so therefore all

of this was laid down all of this was in place all of this was there for us

before all of this history started to work out and so when we look at it and

we scratch our heads and we think what a mess what an absolute car crash of these

families and everything else going on you begin to see the threads of God's

will and his heart working out and being manifest through it all and you see as

somebody eloquently put it one Christ in all the scriptures you see all the way

through and we'll go as we continue you see more and more and more Judah was

manifest Judah was preaching the gospel thousands of years before Judah work

before Jesus was born Judah was redeemed brought back from the edge of

destruction and God began a work in him that was not evident until he was tested

by Joseph and the full beauty of what had happened was revealed when you look

at your life and you wonder what is God doing and then you look at your

circumstances you think I wish these things wouldn't happen why has God

allowed these things to happen remember it's those things sometimes and many

times that reveal the beauty of what God is doing in our lives he revealed the

reality of it if everything was just handed to us on a plate we would have

nothing of value but because we go through all that we go through because

we are tested because we are tried because we meet injustice because we are

sad because we grieve because we are complexed all of those things serve to

reveal the heart of God in our lives and what he is doing

Judah came from nothing Judah came from sin to be the father of the tribe of

salvation the salvation that has been planned from before the beginning of

time and slowly slowly God has been working out through history and working

it out through our lives you might have an idea what your life would look like

if I were blessed you ever play that game what if I won the lottery we

couldn't win the lottery of course because we never play it do we but if

you if you if you if you say well what if I had a million pounds this is what I

would do I'd have a new lawnmower I'd have some new some new spoons and and

everything would be would be good all right okay it'll go into a trust fund

until I'm old enough to spend it but if I were blessed what would my life look

like and we remember that the Bible teaches us that we have been blessed

with every spiritual blessing in Christ every spiritual blessing he hasn't

reserved anything he's poured it out even the national

lottery don't give us everything they've got

but God has given us everything poured out on our lives

we are blessed and so the things that challenge confuse distress us

are all designed to magnify what God is doing in our lives it's painful to think

about sometimes we don't like it but Jesus the Lion of the tribe of Judah

has stepped forward on our behalf and because of him we

are free we don't have to wonder we don't have to guess anymore we can trust

God whatever happens that's what happened

at Easter as we approach it that there was a moment

where God said what is going to happen because the only

the only path the only course of action I have

is to judge them and Jesus stepped forward

and said take let me take it that they might go free

and that's our blessing in the pattern of what was happening in Genesis

and so my request at the end of all this is very very simple

sometimes we over complicate things we twist ourselves in knots

we try to understand God and we just need to bring ourselves back to the

center and breathe and say okay

Jesus I trust you because I've not come into this late

I've not come into this you know as somebody's sort of banging on the door

trying that you called me from before the

beginning of time that you have purposes for my life that you have blessed me

with every spiritual blessing in Christ that Christ has

paved the way for me from before the beginning of time there is no plan b

in my life Jesus I trust you we're not asking for lightning bolts

from heaven just the ability to trust for the journey

maybe you feel like you've never ever done it you've never actually

let go of everything that is causing you angst and said all right

Lord I trust you don't know what that means don't know

what it looks like but I see that you have always been

there and you will always be there and you

will every step of the way all my life you

have been and you will be faithful and sometimes for us it's a it's a

coming back always hesitate to use these analogies

because I'm not likening this to to dogs or anything

else but I have a challenge with my dog that sometimes you know he can he can be

wonderfully well behaved and trotting along like a cruft champion sometimes

and and other times he goes absolutely ballistic because there's something has

happened a pigeon has flown across his path or

something he gets all terribly worked up and what I've realized is

there's you know all the fighting with the lead and you know shouting and trying

to communicate and he doesn't speak English I found out

and uh and so I just have to pull him back

pull him back to the center get him to sit down and stand still

and we just stand there together like this doing nothing

except calming down and thinking okay and the reason that he's jumping up and

down and running in every direction is because he's afraid or because he's

stimulated because he he wants to do something but he's like

something has overtaken his brain we know what that feels like don't we

fear and anxiety and insecurity and worry they take over our brain and we

run in every different direction and there comes a time when god just

wants to say all right come back let's let's just sit down together breathe a

little bit calm down and start again

trust me because he's always there in the middle sometimes it's in the middle

of our franticness we say lord where are you where are you where are you come

lord help me why have you let this happen

and he's just there like all right come back to the beginning

and just as I finish there's a chorus that came to mind which I won't

sing to you but I will share the words

very simply I don't know why it came out maybe it's just inspired by the holy

spirit I need thee oh I need thee

every hour I need thee oh bless me now my savior

I come to thee I need thee oh I need thee every hour I need thee

oh bless me now my savior I come to thee and just like with Alfie my dog

like I said he doesn't speak English the words the conversation doesn't produce

much fruit and sometimes it's just being aware that

actually in my presence he's safe and he can afford to calm down and maybe

there is that element to our relationship with God that we can't work

it all out in conversation sometimes we can't articulate what we feel we don't

quite know what it means if we're honest to listen to God

because we we can't hear him speaking and you know there's all of that stuff

goes on and sometimes it's just a matter of

sitting in his presence and saying lord I need you and I trust you and I believe

in you Jesus I believe in you and maybe we can

sing that song Jesus I believe in you is that right

unless you've got a different one oh very good

Erica's all on her own

and just as we do this I would urge you if there's anything in response in you

if you know what it's a bit like to be that frantic

person running in every direction trying to work out as you go where is God

and you know there comes a moment where you just have to lay it all aside

and you have to sit still and you have to listen and you have to breathe and

you have to say lord I trust you then trust him and if it will help you

just as Judah's moment was very very powerful when he stepped forward

there is power in stepping forward if you would like to step forward

and come here and just as a declaration if maybe you can't speak the words

but you know you want to trust in the lord maybe for the first time

maybe for the hundredth time but you can come

and you can physically stand in his presence

and if you want someone to pray for you someone will pray

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By Meadowhead Christian Fellowship