Acts 7:9-16

March 10, 2002  

Seeing Jesus in Joseph

We all love a story. Whether told on the big screen at the theater, in a book being read by a blazing fire, or as a child, tucked into bed ready to hear of the adventures of good vs. evil. We love the adventure for it not only transports us to another time and place, but it also may teach us an important lesson in life. Some stories are enjoyed for their sheer escapist benefit, but others may be undergirded by a moral or instruct us how to live and think. As kids such stories began with the familiar “Once upon a time...” Fairy tales and fables are meant to teach us how to live. Now if you are a twisted sort you may have read the Politically Correct Bedtime Stories a few years ago, or better yet, you may recall getting your giggles from Fractured Fairy Tales, those delightfully twisted parables brought to us between the cliffhanger adventures of our favorite cartoon heroes, Rocky & Bullwinkle.

We use stories to teach a lesson, to make a point. Not only with kids, but adults. In church these stories form the warp and woof of our faith. The OT is but a collection of these stories. But how do we use them? How should we read and apply them to our lives? If they are just morality tales, then why not look elsewhere for illustrations. Often that is what a sermon is, a patchwork of stories, biblical and otherwise, to encourage people to do right and avoid wrong. In fact, for many, that is how you tell a good sermon from a mediocre one – the better the stories the better the sermon.

In Acts 7 Stephen is on trial for his life. Prior to this point, Stephen was chosen to serve the church by distributing food to Greek speaking Jewish widows. But he is not limited to that field. He speaks to fellow Greek speaking Jews in Jerusalem about Christ. This creates tension. False charges are levied vs. him. Yet the false charges have enough an air of truth to be plausible. He is charged with undermining the Law of Moses and the Temple of God, two key components in Judaism in the 1st century.

Arrested based on false testimony, he is called to defend himself, Stephen says nothing about the charges but rather tells some stories. The stories he tells to the leaders of Israel are ones they all knew by heart, which raises the question – what is Stephen doing? How do these stories defend Stephen? How do they answer the accusations against him? Why are they in God’s Word – that is, what is their benefit for God’s people? READ Acts 7:9-16

Stephen defends himself, an apology to counter the charges, but his defense is retelling familial stories.

Scholars often have scratched their balding heads over this sermon, some even pronouncing it to be pointless. Stephen strings together four major periods of Jewish history and concludes with a tirade against the Jewish leaders which results in his death.

He highlights the call of Abraham out from pagan Mesopotamia, Joseph in Egypt, Moses in the desert and the construction of the temple in Jerusalem. But if we remember the charges are leveled against him and examine what he includes in these four periods of history, we can begin to see they why’s and wherefore’s of his sermon. But as we do this, we can also see how Stephen views the stories of the past and makes use of them in the present.

This morning we’ll concentrate on the second period of history, the life of Joseph. Remember his audience are the teachers of Israel, the leaders of the people, who knew the story well, but we need reminding.

Joseph was the son of Jacob and Rachel. Rachel, Jacob’s favorite wife, was barren, while her sister and household servants gave Jacob many children. But after years and numerous kids, finally Rachel gave birth to Joseph, who soon became Jacob’s favorite son. Jacob lavished attention on Joseph and Joseph was not the bit bashful in letting his older brothers know he was the special child. It didn’t help that little Joe loved to tell his brothers about his dreams of his personal greatness and their subservience to him. The brothers, jealous of the punk decided to kill him. But not wanting to miss a chance to make some money and to avoid the horrible stigma of fratricide, they sold him as a slave to their cousins, the Ishmaelites, who in turn sold him into slavery in Egypt. But all was not lost for Joseph there, as Potiphar, the captain of Pharaoh’s guards, purchased him, making him his household manager. The only problem in the house was Potiphar’s wife, who took a liking to Joseph and tried to seduce him. When he refused to succumb to her wiles, she trumped up charges of rape, Joseph was quickly thrown in jail. In time, Joseph’s skill in telling dreams was his ticket out of jail as he successfully interpreted Pharaoh’s dream. His wisdom and skill help Egypt through a horrible famine, a famine which soon brought Joseph’s brothers back into the picture as they were in search of some food. In time, Joseph made himself known to his brothers, who retrieved their aged father, Jacob from Canaan. The entire family relocated in the suburbs of Egypt. After 400 years, some of the time under the kind protection of Pharaoh and then later suffering under another Pharaoh’s maniacal scheme to destroy them, Moses led them back to Canaan, where Jacob was finally buried.

As we unpack this story and see how Stephen uses it, we can learn how we too are to read and understand God’s Word. Does Stephen use the story as a moral lesson, instructing his hearers how they should live? Is the goal practical application by which the hearers can change their lives? Or does he use the familiar stories to another end?

Joseph teaches us how to live

The first approach is the most natural, most expected way to use a story. Joseph is the paragon of virtue. He teaches us how we should live. The immediate application of the story is simple:

• Dad’s don't play favorites – treat all your kids friendly otherwise, your sons will sell one of their brothers to Ishmaelites!
• Run from immorality, resist temptation – even if it means going to jail
• When brothers are mean to us be nice to them, but first it’s okay to test them to see if they really have changed.
• Share your food with those in need. (During Y2K panic the Joseph Project used the Genesis account to describe how Christians should share their goods)
• Work hard and you too could help run a country, save the population from starvation and have your family bow at your feet.

While I am a tad sarcastic, there are truths that can certainly help us to live lives which please God

• Joseph’s life reminded the Jewish leaders of their origins, keeping pride in check. In God’s mercy, he provided help from a nation they despised while the promise land could give them nothing. Their pride in the land and law was undercut by how God made them into a nation.

Likewise, we should be comforted by Joseph’s wonderful grasp on God’s sovereignty when he reminded his brothers in Genesis 50:18-21 that while they did evil, God brought about a great good.

• Joseph’s life illustrates the ongoing sinfulness of God’s people. Stephen makes it clear that these brothers were the patriarchs who were jealous of Joseph. That same jealousy was present during this trial. So the life of Joseph should remind them to not mistreat others.
• The land which the Jews in the first century had come to love so much, was not Promised Land they thought. The promised land, as we saw with Abraham, was the city of God. It was not a parcel of rock and soil, but was a city whose designer and builder is God (Heb 11:10)

Their hope was to be in God’s presence with his people. God was with Joseph not in the temple or in the land, but in a foreign country. The phrase in Acts 7:9 “God was with him” was repeated not during times of plenty, but was a constant refrain as everything was going wrong for Joseph. What is more, the final resting place for Jacob in Shechem. To us that may mean little, but in the first century Shechem was part of Samaria. Not the place the Sanhedrin wants to be reminded of when it comes to the patriarchs.

While that is true, the question remains – “how do I make the jump from Joseph to me?”

Joseph ran from sin, but too often I might embrace it.

Joseph was able to see his life from a divine perspective – he could see how God was working all things for God. That is easier said only after everything works out well. So what do I say when life stinks, when I can’t say that all feels good.

What is more, how do I keep from using God’s Word from just being a collection of morality tales, Aesop’s fables with God in the story, leading me to personal righteousness?

There is nothing wrong with the advice the stories give, but is this what the Bible is all about? Where does the power come from to live the kind of life Joseph lived? How do I keep myself from utter frustration as I read these stories and see how the heroes of the faith succeed while I am just a zero and not a hero?

How Stephen uses this story will help us to read God’s Word with a different eye, how we are to read in faith. There we see the One who succeeded where I fail, one who remains true when I am not. Stephen uses Joseph because Joseph is a good example of how God worked with sinful people in a foreign land. But there is another reason. Joseph is reading the Old Testament through Christ.

Joseph teaches us about Jesus

Remember, Stephen’s audience knew the story and the story should answer the accusations made against Stephen. By telling the story of Joseph, Stephen is retelling the story of Jesus. Stephen read the Scripture Christo-centrically, that is, he saw God’s Word as not just a collection of morality tales to guide us to do right and avoid wrong. Rather, the events leading up to Christ’s coming were but pointers to Christ. This way of reading God’s Word was made clear to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus on that first Easter. In Luke 24:26-27, Jesus showed them how the Law and the Prophets spoke about him. That is what Stephen is doing now.

God was with Jesus when faced with brothers in Israel

Joseph’s life foretells the life of Jesus. The life of Joseph is the perfect answer to the charges made against Stephen, for they were the charges made against Jesus. What happened to Jesus is what happened to Joseph. So by telling the story of Joseph, he recounts the events of the months before when Jesus was standing before this same august body.

Joseph was the chosen son of his father’s house. Joseph was abused by his brothers. They treated him as dead although it was clear to one and all he outshone them all. Although treated with such contempt, Joseph provided the means for the saving of Jacob family. God was with him in the grave of Egypt.

God gave Jesus wisdom and favor

The refrain found here is seen before in Luke’s work. In Luke 2:40,52 God says of Jesus that he too had wisdom and favor. While his own brothers rejected him, while the Sanhedrin plotted his death, others clearly recognized God’s work in his life. The crowds gathered to listen, God’s power was evident not only as he taught, but as he performed miracles.

God raised Jesus from the dead and provided help to those who harmed him

The victim became the vehicle for blessing. The promised land was barren, there was a famine. Repeatedly during Jesus’ life and throughout the preaching of the early church, it was clear that apart from God’s grace, the blessings of God of the Law and the Temple are empty unless God is there. The Law of God without the grace of God is nothing more than a dry wasteland. It will produce nothing of benefit in our lives.

It was not that God’s promises about the land were meaningless or false, but the patriarchs hopes were misplaced. They pursued the gift forgetting the giver. Their ancestors did the same before. But now was their opportunity to come to and receive from God’s favored Son, the son of Joseph, Jesus, and be given riches they could never imagine.

Stephen's use of Joseph teaches us how we are in Christ

But Stephen is doing more than just drawing an interesting comparison between Joseph and Jesus. This is not just a theological exercise of knowing how to see Jesus in the Old Testament. This is life and death for Stephen. He makes the connection between Joseph and Jesus, because he knows that he, as one who is in Christ, one who is chosen by the Father in eternity past, adopted by means of Christ’s death on the cross and sealed the Holy Spirit – he sees himself in that same story.

Stephen’s apologetic, his self-defense in the court, is to proclaim Christ but to do so as one who is owned by Christ, controlled by Christ, empowered by Christ. If we miss this we miss the ultimate issue in the story, the big so what, the application. For Stephen is, like Joseph before his brethren facing mistreatment merely for telling the truth. But he can withstand the accusation and will, in a short time, his death because of what Christ has done. Not just imitating an example, but looking in faith to what Christ has done for him.

If we are in Christ then we know that we have the presence of Christ in adversity

God was with Stephen as he too faced his angry brothers. But what he says and does points not just to Joseph, who in adversity knew God’s presence, but rather his life imitates that of Christ.

We’ll see this later, but notice what happens at the end. As he drives home the point that they have sinned and must repent, they respond with hatred. In 7:55, Stephen sees God’s glory. He focuses not on their evil, but God’s ultimate good. When he makes it clear that Jesus is standing at the right hand of God, a position of intercession for Stephen, the crowd has heard enough. They throw him out of the city and stone him. To this Stephen responds with familiar words: “receive my spirit” and “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.’ The words are what Jesus said on the cross.

It is hard to imagine how we could ever face such persecution. Not one of us has it in ourselves to do so in our own strength. If I were to try to give you six steps on facing adversity, such helpful suggestions would take you only so far. How can we face this kind of aggression is only by looking to Christ. As you look in faith to the work of Christ, standing before the Father as your Great High Priest, pleading your case based on his own wounds – then you will be able to withstand whatever God has placed you.

If we are in Christ then we know that we have the provision of Christ for wisdom

Stephen makes the point that Joseph had wisdom and favor before Pharaoh, an attribute the reader of Luke would know is also seen in Jesus. But in the context here, Stephen is making another connection, one which Luke goes to great pains to tell us before. Who else possesses such grace from God, but Stephen.

We should not miss the subtly of connection here. Joseph, granted wisdom by God to care for the needs of those hungry in Egypt and in Canaan is but a pointer to Jesus who likewise cared for the bodies and souls of those who came to him. It should not come as a surprise then that Stephen too distributed food to those in need and that the too is said to wise (Acts 6:3,5,8).

If you lack wisdom what should you do? To gain knowledge you read and study, but for wisdom, Solomon tells us, begins with the fear of God. James tells us that we should ask of God. The source of wisdom needed is Christ. We gain it simply by looking in faith to the only Wise One, to the very incarnate Word of God. Again the answer will seem too simple for many, but I have nothing more to offer you, than Christ.

If we are in Christ then we know that we have the promise of Christ for proclaiming him

Stephen’s defense resulted in his death, yet he did not shy away from his audience to a knowledge of their sin, and we assume if they had let him finish, he would have pointed them to their only hope, Jesus Christ. But that he was confident in God’s grace to save is hinted at, I believe, in this short narrative about Joseph.

Have you ever wondered why, in such short narrative, it is important to mention both visits to Joseph and that only on second did the patriarchs recognize Joseph for who is really was? In the next portion of this speech, Stephen makes this same point when talking about Moses (vv27-28; 35-36). There is so much more that could be said, so much other information left out. Why this?

Stephen’s ability to boldly proclaim Christ came not from his own internal fortitude which we should seek to emulate, but in knowing that God does work all things for good.

But that good is not the good of our own enjoyment and happiness. The good is God working his grace in our lives, leading us to eternity with him. This is why Joseph could see his brothers’ sin but still say that God meant it for good. The scripture we read earlier drives home the same truth – (Rom 8) God the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness, interceding for us when we don’t know how to pray. So that, we can, with Paul conclude that since God is for us, nothing that matters will ever be against us. The promise of Romans 8 is not comfort and ease, it is better than that, it is grace to endure what God places before us. We have the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Stephen eventually died and only then seeing the good God had for him. But another good that came out of his boldly proclaiming Christ, that flowed from his looking to Christ for everything was that his chief accuser, Saul of Tarsus, would one day make his hallmark the bold proclamation of the benefits we have being in Christ. 

I want to call on you today to stand in that same truth – knowing that the stories we have in God’s Word are not merely fairy tales nor just historical events to motivate us to go and do likewise. But rather, God’s Word constantly and consistently points us to Christ. As we embrace the completed work of Christ on our behalf, as we see our sins nailed to the cross, his righteousness as our only covering – then we can stand firm in God’s grace. That is what this table, laid out before you here this morning, is all about. This table, simple elements of bread and wine seemingly can do so little to enable us to live godly lives. But, when we attach faith to the promises – God is faithful to his children.