The Lost Sermon

This morning my sermon notes were not available to my iPad because the internet at the church was down.  So I preached from memory.  I did okay, not fantastic.  Here's the text I could not access!


There are two odd things that run through the joseph story.

• He has and interprets dreams

• He keeps losing and changing his clothes.  

1. The Coat….a coat or cloak that extended all the way to the palms and all the way to the feet; hence, our translation “a long robe with sleeves.” It was clear that this was a special garment; this was a garment that betokened a certain exalted status, and that of course was one of the reasons the brothers were so angry when Joseph wore it.
2. ·The Coat taken from him.  Given back to Jacob with blood stains.  Joseph is sold half naked to a caravan of merchants, then to the slave trade in Egypt, and finally to Potaphar.   Slave Clothes
3. He leaves his clothes in Potaphar’s wife’s bedroom.   Prison, not death…. Made the servant of the Jailer – also named Potiphar. – he’s in charge of the prisoners.  Hence, he recognizes when the baker and the vinter are upset and interprets their dreams.
4. ·Called upon to interpret Pharoah’s dreams  .. He is shaven and he changes clothes again.  
5. ·He is made the governor of Egypt and he changes his clothes again… given a signet ring and a new wardrobe.
6. Changing clothes is a change of outward appearances.  It can help with first impressions. It can help us feel better about ourselves.  It does nothing for what is going on within our psyche or in our soul. The change is only skin deep.
7. Changing clothes is about us.  It’s about our ego and our self esteem. It’s only skin deep.

He has 2 Dreams.  

·in his dreams he was always the hero.  – The wheat bows to him.  The stars and moon and the Sun bow to him.  
·It’s about his own immaturity and arrogance.  These dreams build up his own self image and inflate his self importance.  

He Interprets 2 Dreams  

He listens to the dreams of others and helps them understand where they are headed in life.  It’s no longer about him – he give God the credit…. Though, he does tell the vintner to remember him when his day comes in so that Joseph can get out of prison.  

• He interprets Pharaoh’s 2 Dreams. 

1. It is no longer about him.  It’s about the larger picture.  It’s about the well being of all in his world.  He not only gives God the credit, Pharoah sees that it is God working through Joseph.  He sees Joseph as a representative to the One who is really in charge.  
2. This is no longer skin deep.  This is all encompassing. 
3. “It is not in me; God will give Pharaoh a favorable answer” (vv. 15-16).

• There are two dangerous dreams. 

1. Dangerous because God’s dreams disrupt the way things are. Dangerous because God’s dreams threaten the status quo, the normal order of life. 
2. Dangerous because dreaming God’s dreams might get you into trouble. 
3. If your dream just confirms what already is, rubber stamping the norm, pouring out a blessing on the sociopolitical empire of the day, it’s not God’s dream because God inverts our human way of doing things, flipping life on its head. 

• § The last shall be first.
• § The least are the greatest. 
• § The weak are the strong. 
• § The foolish are the wise. 
• § To go up, you go down. 
• § To have life, you have to die.

Joseph dreams of a different kind of world. His dream constructs a vision of a new social reality.  Joseph’s dreams disturb the “pecking order” of the world

in 1976, Jerry Garcia and the Grateful Dead sang a song penned by Mac Rebennack and first put out on a 1973 album by New Orleans R&B artist Dr. John. –It describes well what happens at the end of a dream: 

• § I been in the right place  But it must have been the wrong time
• § I'd have said the right thing But I must have used the wrong line
• § I'd a took the right road  But I must have took a wrong turn
• § Would have made the right move  But I made it at the wrong time
• § I been on the right road  But I must have used the wrong car
• § My head was in a good place  And I wonder what it's bad for

We can be in the right place at the right time, 
We can say the right things using all the right lines
We can be on the right road and take all the right turns
We can make all the right moves at the right time,
We can be on the right road in the right vehicle,
And we can have our heads in a good place, 

But if we are just operating out of a wardrobe, we’ll still end up at the end of the dream. 
If we want to really affect change in our own lives and in our world, we have to be about fueling dreams.

dreams that threaten the status quo, the normal order of life. 

• § •Dangerous because dreaming God’s dreams that will get us into trouble with the world. 
• § •Dreams that do not  pour out a sociopolitical empire of the day, 
• § Dreams that invert the human way of doing things and bring us in line with God’s Dreams.
• § We must dream of a different kind of world. 
• § Our dreams must construct a vision of a new social reality.  Our dreams need disturb the “pecking order” of the world.

So, Let’s get out of the wardrobe closet.  Let’s get into God’s bed of dreams.