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The Surprising Journey of Faith

Date: 10 November 2024, 9.30 am

Speaker: Ps Luwin Wong Sermon Text: Genesis 46:16 - 47:31

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TRANSCRIPT

Let’s pray.


Faithful God, who has promised never to break your covenant with us.

In the midst of the multitude of words in our daily lives,

speak your eternal Word to us,

that we may respond to your gracious promises

with faithfulness, service and love.


Amen.


When preacher Somsart, out missionary partner, came for our church camp earlier this year, he had to fly from Thailand to Singapore, which was supposed to be a short direct flight. But due inclement weather, they had to make an emergency stop at Johor. Landed at Senai Airport, and waited for the weather to clear before continuing the journey to Changi Airport.


And he told me his kids were excited because they had never been to Malaysia before. Well, they didn’t disembark, but still. However, he also said that a lot of folks on the aircraft, I’m assuming many of whom were Singaporeans, were complaining. And he didn’t understand why. He said, “They stopped in JB for our safety, and they gave us snacks and drinks while we waited on the plane, and there was aircon too, but people complained a lot”.


And we can understand why. Because the boarding pass reads “Thailand to Singapore”, direct. The airline said they were taking us to Singapore, and instead we find ourselves stuck in Malaysia. That’s not part of the agreement, that’s not what was promised. And now we’re stuck in Senai Airport doing nothing rather than being back home in Singapore.


Detours can be frustrating can’t they? Some of us would have experienced this first hand just weeks ago, with the disruption of the EWL train tracks, between Boon Lay and Queenstown station, lasting a total of 6 days, and affecting around 2.6 million commuters. No doubt some of you were part of that number.


The solution on offer was to take the free-of-charge bridging bus services. That is, of course, if you manage to even get on to one these buses during the peak hours. And these alternative routes added sometimes over an hour to your travel time.


One NTU student went viral for traversing Buona Vista mrt to Boon Lay mrt on foot, because there was no end in sight of the queues for the bridging buses, and he didn’t want to pay the $50 Grab was charging for the journey. That walk took him nearly 3 hours. In 3 hours Dn Richard would have reached Changi, I would think. Bedok at the very least.


The point is this. Detours are no fun. Not arriving at your promised destination is frustrating. Moving away from, rather than towards, the place want to be, is an experience most unpleasant.


This is the situation Jacob found himself in our text this morning.


There he was, settled in the land of Canaan, with his family of seventy. The land God promised to Abraham, to Isaac, and then to him. The land that God had said would belong to him and his descendants; the land where they belonged.


But God had other plans. Jacob, if you recall, had to flee the land of Canaan, and only managed to return after 20 years and with no small difficulty. Now, he is old and he’s settled in Canaan, and God, at this point in his life, summons him and his family to immigrate to the land of Egypt.


GEN 45:16-18 16 When the report was heard in Pharaoh's house, “Joseph's brothers have come,” it pleased Pharaoh and his servants. 17 And Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Say to your brothers, ‘Do this: load your beasts and go back to the land of Canaan, 18 and take your father and your households, and come to me, and I will give you the best of the land of Egypt, and you shall eat the fat of the land.’

GEN 45:19-20 19 And you, Joseph, are commanded to say, ‘Do this: take wagons from the land of Egypt for your little ones and for your wives, and bring your father, and come. 20 Have no concern for your goods, for the best of all the land of Egypt is yours.’”

Yes, there is a famine, and there is food in Egypt, but moving to Egypt was not on the cards for Jacob. Egypt was a pagan land, ruled by a Pharoah who believes he is god. It is difficult to tell how they might treat a family who worshipped Yahweh alone.


Moreover, the last time Jacob went to live outside of Canaan, in Paddan Aram, under the authority of someone else, things didn’t go very well. He was cheated and mistreated and even endangered. And that was his own uncle! What might Pharoah do?


The text does not indicate an eagerness for Jacob to relocate.


GEN 45:25-28 25 So they went up out of Egypt and came to the land of Canaan to their father Jacob. 26 And they told him, “Joseph is still alive, and he is ruler over all the land of Egypt.” And his heart became numb, for he did not believe them. 27 But when they told him all the words of Joseph, which he had said to them, and when he saw the wagons that Joseph had sent to carry him, the spirit of their father Jacob revived. 28 And Israel said, “It is enough; Joseph my son is still alive. I will go and see him before I die.”

It seems that Jacob was willing to go, mainly because he wanted to see his beloved son Joseph once again.


And so they went.


GEN 46:5-7 Then Jacob set out from Beersheba. The sons of Israel carried Jacob their father, their little ones, and their wives, in the wagons that Pharaoh had sent to carry him. 6 They also took their livestock and their goods, which they had gained in the land of Canaan, and came into Egypt, Jacob and all his offspring with him, 7 his sons, and his sons' sons with him, his daughters, and his sons' daughters. All his offspring he brought with him into Egypt.

From Canaan, the Promised Land to Egypt a Pagan Land.


At this point, Jacob is 130 years old. At his age, surely you want to retire and be buried in the place you call home. Which is why at the end of the passage, we see him giving Joseph instructions to bury him in Canaan, not in Egypt; not in a foreign land, subservient to a pagan king.


If you were Jacob, you might be tempted to think that things aren’t going according to plan.


But whose plans exactly? You see, God’s plan was always for Israel to dwell in Egypt for a period of time.


GEN 15:13-14 13 Then the Lord said to Abram, “Know for certain that your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs and will be servants there, and they will be afflicted for four hundred years. 14 But I will bring judgment on the nation that they serve, and afterward they shall come out with great possessions.

And Jacob’s fears of moving to Egypt, in a sense, is not unfounded. For there, Israel will be afflicted. A pagan king would wield his power to exploit and execute Jacob’s descendants.


Friends, God’s plan, will take us to unexpected places. God’s plan for our journey of faith may include detours, and heading strange and dangerous places. After all, it brought his people into Egypt for 400 years, and into the wilderness for 40 years, and even his son into the arid desert for 40 days.


Have you ever felt that way, that in your path of discipleship, in your journey of faith, you find yourself in a place where are you are not sure you are supposed to be, because it does not appear to a place of blessing and flourishing. It looks more like a place of affliction and suffering.


It could be that find yourself situated in a dangerous mission field, or a difficult marriage, or even a less than ideal church. You are uncomfortable, and it calls for self-denial and sacrifice, it is painful and difficult, and you don’t “feel blessed”.


And you think to yourself, this isn’t where I want to be, surely there is a better place to be.


But our text today reminds us that maybe the place of difficulty and affliction is precisely where you are meant to be. It reminds us that God doesn’t always lead us to a place of comfort and ease. It reminds us that when we follow a crucified Christ, it should not surprise us if our path leads us down the via dolorosa (the way of suffering), and up a hill called Calvary, with a cross upon our backs.


God’s PLAN…

may take us to unexpected places.


Uncomfortable situations. Difficult circumstances, but it’s okay, because God’s Presence is always with us.


It’s November, the schools holidays are upon us, and I’m sure a lot you are making travel plans. When I was young I found out from my classmates that their family holidays are usually planned consultatively as a family. That is, the whole family, parents as well as children, come together to decide where to go on holiday.


It came as a surprise to me, because in my home, I was never asked where I wanted to see, or what I wanted to do. I was simply told where we’re going and on which day.


It was made abundantly clear to me that in the term “family holiday”, the overwhelming emphasis lay on the word “family”, rather than on “holiday”. In other words, it doesn’t matter so much where we go, as who we go with. The point is the people, not the place.


Not that the place is of no importance, but that people is of more importance.


And this perhaps is the same with our journey of faith. As it is the case with Jacob.


GEN 46:1-4 ​1 So Israel took his journey with all that he had and came to Beersheba, and offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac. And God spoke to Israel in visions of the night and said, “Jacob, Jacob.” And he said, “Here I am.” 3 Then he said, “I am God, the God of your father. Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for there I will make you into a great nation. 4 I myself will go down with you to Egypt, and I will also bring you up again, and Joseph's hand shall close your eyes.”

Jacob, as we noted, was understandably anxious at the prospect of moving his entire family into the land of Egypt, and so God appeared him, told him, “do not be afraid” and assured him of his presence with him. “I myself will go down with you to Egypt”.


The land, even the Promised Land is not as important as the Promiser – the Person of God.


In Exodus 33, Moses was charged with bringing Israel out of Egypt and into the Promised Land, but they rebelled against the Lord at Mt Sinai in the incident of the Golden Calves, and in the aftermath, God spoke to Moses saying:


EXODUS 33:1,3 1 ​The Lord said to Moses, “Depart; go up from here, you and the people whom you have brought up out of the land of Egypt, to the land of which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, ‘To your offspring I will give it.’ Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey; but I will not go up among you, lest I consume you on the way, for you are a stiff-necked people.”

What does Moses say to this?


A land flowing with milk and honey, you say? Sounds good to me. Alrighty then, see ya!


No, Moses knows better. He says:


“If your presence will not go with me, do not bring us up from here. 16 For how shall it be known that I have found favor in your sight, I and your people? Is it not in your going with us, so that we are distinct, I and your people, from every other people on the face of the earth?”

It’s God’s presence that is of utmost importance. So what if it’s a land flowing with milk and honey? If God isn’t there, Moses doesn’t care. It’s person rather than the place, that is the point for Moses.


And friends, that ought to be our perspective as well as disciples of Christ. We want to be where Christ is, even if it means moving to, or remaining in, a difficult place.


God has promised to be with us as we strive to do his will. We know his will is to remain faithful in our marriages, so move towards reflecting the undivided one flesh union, remain in it. Because it’s easy? Because it’s fun? No. Because God is there. Because Christ is with you in your marriage. He is in it, and he is for it, because the Christian marriage is a reflection of Jesus’s love for the church.


Which brings us to another application. We know the will of God for us to love the church. So if you’re not in one, not committed to one, move into one, get into a church. And love it. Don’t leave it even when it’s difficult, even if it costs you, even when things are less than ideal. Why? Because Christ has called us to love. And loving is difficult, and loving costs you, and loving is most necessary when conditions are less than ideal. And because God is love. And we want to be where he is.


The thing about being in Egypt is that affliction is guaranteed. In the bible, Egypt is not described positively. Israel will suffer as a result of being in Egypt. They will be forced into slave labour, they will be expected to make bricks without straw, they will mourn the death of their sons.


But as a result, they will experience the salvation of God. They will witness his awesome power in the 10 plagues, they will behold his mighty hand which parted the Red Sea.


And as a result, God’s name and God’s fame is made known to one and all, Egyptian, Canaanite, Israelite, alike.


And is that not the purpose of our lives? The glory of God? We live for more than milk and honey, we live for glory. God’s glory. For his glory is our good.


We do not care where we are, so long as we know who is there with us – our great and glorious God.


And as far as his presence with us is concerned, we can be assured, for he has promised never to leave us nor forsake us. Even in Egypt, even in the wilderness, even in the valley of the shadow of death.


So we can declare along with the Psalmist:


Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.


In our journey of faith, in our mission to glorify God by being and making disciples, let us go, let us bravely follow, wherever Christ may lead. Even into Egypt.


We need not be afraid, he is with us.


As he says to his disciples being sent out into a hostile world, to carry on his mission, to glorify his name: ‘And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”


God’s PLAN… may take us to unexpected places, but


God’s PRESENCE… Assures us of his promise to be with us…


But his presence with us is not just personal, it is also purposeful.


This is the final point we want to see from our passage today.


God’s people are in Egypt for a purpose, to bless the Egyptians, to save their lives.


GEN 46:26-27 26 All the persons belonging to Jacob who came into Egypt, who were his own descendants, not including Jacob's sons' wives, were sixty-six persons in all. 27 And the sons of Joseph, who were born to him in Egypt, were two.

All the persons of the house of Jacob who came into Egypt were seventy.


Why seventy? It’s a significant number.


Genesis 10 is known as “The Table of Nations”. It lists the various clans of the sons of Noah who repopulated the earth after the flood. And there are 70 different nations that were listed.


In other words, that the house of Jacob had seventy people corresponds to the seventy nations of the world. In a fundamental sense, Israel existed for the world, Israel was blessed so that the world may be blessed through Israel, that was always the plan. The blessing of the world, not just Israel, was always the purpose of God.


And so one first things we see happen when Israel came to Egypt was the blessing of Pharoah.


GEN 47:7-10 7 Then Joseph brought in Jacob his father and stood him before Pharaoh, and Jacob blessed Pharaoh. 8 And Pharaoh said to Jacob, “How many are the days of the years of your life?” And Jacob said to Pharaoh, “The days of the years of my sojourning are 130 years. Few and evil have been the days of the years of my life, and they have not attained to the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their sojourning.” 10 And Jacob blessed Pharaoh and went out from the presence of Pharaoh.

Jacob blessed Pharoah, because that’s the purpose of Israel, God’s covenant community exists for the purpose of bringing blessing to the nations, to every tribe and tongue and people.


And the blessing wasn’t just with words, it was actualized in the land, it was practical to their lives.


GEN 47:23-25 23 Then Joseph said to the people, “Behold, I have this day bought you and your land for Pharaoh. Now here is seed for you, and you shall sow the land. 24 And at the harvests you shall give a fifth to Pharaoh, and four fifths shall be your own, as seed for the field and as food for yourselves and your households, and as food for your little ones.” 25 And they said, “You have saved our lives; may it please my lord, we will be servants to Pharaoh.”

The people of Egypt acknowledge that Joseph had saved their lives. Pharoah as well. Why? Because Pharoah recognized the presence and wisdom of God was with Joseph and he exalted Joseph. He exalted Joseph because of his God. And thus he was blessed.


And so comes to pass the promise given to Abraham.


GEN 12:1-3 1 Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. 2 And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

God was with Joseph in Egypt not just to preserve the family of Jacob, but to bless the nation of Egypt.


Let’s bring it all together. What we see in today’s sermon is that


God’s PLAN… may take us to unexpected places but God’s PRESENCE… Assures us of the promise

of

God’s PURPOSE…

to bless the world through us.


How might we apply it as Hermonites today?


As followers of Christ, as disciples, we boldly go wherever God is leading us, even if it is to a difficult place, because we are assured of his presence with us there, and that is more precious to us than to be a land flowing with milk and honey, but without him.


But wherever we may be, we never lose sight for why we are made disciples in the very first place. We never lose sight of why we are called to go into all the world. Not for ease, nor for comfort, not for sight-seeing nor for leisure, but to be a blessing to the world.


The church exists for the world, the church goes out into the world to bless it. How do er bless the world? The primary way is to proclaim to them the good news of Jesus, the Gospel of Christ. There is no greater blessing than knowing the Lord Jesus Christ.


And that is precisely the context in which Christ has promised to be with us always.


MATT 28:18-20 18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

So family of Hermon, just as Jacob blessed Pharoah, just as Joseph saved Egypt. Let us bless the world, let us save the world by being and making disciples of Jesus Christ wherever he takes us in the world.


And as we do this, we can have confidence in our task, because what we are doing is nothing more than accomplishing what God had already promised to do so long ago, through Abraham. That in him, all the nations of the earth will be blessed.


We have come to experience that blessing when we came to know Jesus through the gospel. God’s faithfulness to his promises has reached even us, and now in Christ, we can reach others for Christ. His faithfulness lives on in the mission of the church.


So even when it takes us to difficult places, let us proclaim to a dying world that we have the words of life, we have the bread of life, we have the font of living waters.


Let us be faithful to his plan…

Let us rest assured in his presence…

Let us be true to his purpose…

to bless the world through us.

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