Central Lutheran Church - Elk River
Central Lutheran Church - Elk River
What’s In a Name? with Ben Carruthers
What if your name carried a hidden narrative that could reshape your understanding of your life's journey? Join us as Ben Carruthers, Director of Student and Family Ministry at Central, unpacks the profound significance of names in the story of Joseph. Drawing inspiration from Shakespeare's famous query, "What's in a name?", we delve into the biblical meanings behind names like Adam, Esau, Jacob, and Isaac, and how Joseph's naming of his children reveals deeper truths about his tumultuous path.
Trace Joseph’s dramatic rise from the depths of betrayal and imprisonment to his pinnacle as second in command in Egypt. Despite these incredible advancements, Ben offers a fresh perspective, suggesting that Joseph perceived these events as moments of isolation from his true home and family. We lighten the discussion with playful analogies to 80s and 90s fashion trends, providing a relatable lens to view Joseph's newfound status and success.
Finally, discover the liberating power of letting go through the names Joseph chose for his sons—Manasseh and Ephraim—and what they reveal about his journey towards healing and faithfulness. We emphasize the enduring theme of God's unwavering promise of salvation and how, like Joseph, we can find hope and reassurance even in our darkest times. Tune in for a thought-provoking conversation that blends scriptural insights with relatable life lessons, reminding us of God's constant grace and the importance of maintaining our faith and identity amidst life's challenges.
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Thank you, jamie. Good morning everybody. My name is Ben Carruthers. I'm the Director of Student and Family Ministry here at Central. Great to be worshiping with you this morning as we are continuing our sermon series called how Did we Get here, which has been a journey through the book of Genesis and last week. We're coming to an end. We're at the story of Joseph and Sonia started us off last week, I'm covering it this week and Ryan's going to cover it again next week. So apparently he's a pretty big deal, this Joseph guy. But it's really cool because you're going to hear the story of Joseph perhaps through three different perspectives, which has been this journey through Genesis and we've gone through these pretty well-known stories and tales but looked at them a little differently. And today is the same the story of Joseph that a lot of us know it's going to be flipped on its head a little bit, I think for us, and it's not me saying it, but it comes from the lips and the words of Joseph himself and it comes in the way that he names his children, and so the name, the topic or the sermon title this morning is Joseph.
Speaker 1:What's in a name? Now, are there any English teachers out there that can tell me where that phrase is from? What's in a name? What is it from? Anyone? Remember Shakespeare? From what play Romeo and Juliet? If you don't know, don't worry about it. I had to Google it, it's totally fine, right? I will tell you this, though In high school, when we had to learn Romeo and Juliet, I memorized the whole thing about you know, for what lady is that with Doth and Rich, the hand of yonder knight?
Speaker 1:I memorized that purely because I thought girls would dig it if I could come out and say that I didn't get married until I was 33, so girls didn't dig it as much as I thought, right. But in the play it's this what is this name? And the line is this it's what's in a name, that which we all, by which we call a rose. By any other name would smell just as sweet, right? And it's meaning that their last names Capulet and Montague don't matter, right? It's love conquers all their last names don't matter. Well, I don't think that's the case here. I think names really do mean something, and they're an important part of who we are. And there's an important part of when you name your own children, right, you take a lot of time. And what are these kids going to be called? What's a history of the name?
Speaker 1:And for me, man, when I was in high school, I've always wanted to be a dad, like that's been my number one thing. I've wanted to be a dad, like that's been my number one thing. I've wanted to be a dad forever. And so I had names for my kids picked out in high school not a great first date thing to to say, by the way, don't, don't do that but I had names picked out and their names were Cage, virgil Carruthers and Jericho Benjamin Carruthers. And then I was going to have a girl named Memphis. Right, pretty great names. Who doesn't want a kid named Cage? Obviously my wife, because I have no kid to name these names. But I love movies, man, and so, back in the day, I love Nicolas Cage. I'm like man, cage, virgil and Virgil's my dad's name, like that's awesome. And Arnold Schwarzenegger did a movie in 99 called End of Days where he saved us from the devil, and only Arnold Schwarzenegger could do that. Right, his name was Jericho Benjamin. I'm like these names are sweet, these are great. And, yeah, I have four children today and none of them are named any of those things. So.
Speaker 1:But names are important and we've seen this through the book of Genesis. Right, we've talked about the names and the meaning of them. Right, adam, which means man, mankind or all humankind. Esau right, esau was extremely hairy, that's how they tricked into the blessing. Right, they covered Jacob in hair. Jacob, one which follows on the heel, which he did when he came into the earth following Esau. Isaac, meaning laughter, because Sarah thought there's no way that she could have a child. These names mean something.
Speaker 1:And as we look at the story of Joseph, a story that we seem to know and are familiar with in some way, a story that we look at this young man who goes through this transformation in life, from this young, arrogant, prideful individual to a man who really opens up his life to God's call, to obeying, and a great man of obedience to God. And because of that obedience, god blesses Joseph, he blesses him with all these amazing things happening in his life. That's the story that I grew up with, that's what Donny Osmond told me when I was in junior high. Right, that's what I remember of this story. But in the lips of Joseph, in the mouth of Joseph, in the reading that we just heard, in the naming of Joseph in the mouth of Joseph, in the reading that we just heard, in the naming of his two children, I think the story takes a big plot twist. I don't think these are blessings and I don't think Joseph views them that way, and so it's a familiar tale that might get turned on its head this morning. So, before we dive into the word, will you pray with me on its head this morning? So, before we dive into the word, will you pray with me? Heavenly Father, god, we give you thanks and praise for an opportunity to dive into this somewhat familiar story of Joseph for another week and, lord, I pray that as we do. It's a story that we may know in some way or some form, and so I thank you for the words of Joseph this morning that maybe give us a better idea of what's going on here and maybe a better idea of what's going on in our own lives. And so, lord, lead and guide us this morning as we go through the story of Joseph. In your name we pray Amen. So, joseph, we're not going to cover the whole thing, because Sonia did an awesome job last week talking about the first part of it, and it's long, and we're not going to be here all morning, so we're going to dive into the story.
Speaker 1:A quick background, right? So we know that Joseph was hated by his brothers because he was a bit arrogant, right? Kind of put it in his brother's face Dad loves me. He gave me this coat. I have these crazy dreams which basically means you're going to bow down to me. Brothers didn't want to have it anymore, so they threw him in a pit First. They brothers didn't want to have it anymore, so they threw him in a pit First. They were going to kill him. Then he said no, let's not kill him, let's throw him in a pit. And then these guys come by and they're like wait a minute, we can sell him, we can make some money off of him. So they sell Joseph into slavery to this guy named Potiphar.
Speaker 1:Now in Potiphar's house he rises kind of in power a little bit. He's a faithful servant and he's also extremely attractive, apparently because while in Potiphar's house his wife takes notice of young Joseph and makes moves and advances on young Joseph and he pushes her away. He wants none of it. But that's not good enough, because Potiphar comes into the scene, thinks Joseph is doing something he shouldn't be and throws him into prison, this young, innocent man thrown into prison. And it's in there.
Speaker 1:We start to see this transformation that Sonia talked about last week in young Joseph. But while in prison, there are two men there that Pharaoh, the mighty ruler of Egypt, has thrown into prison, two former employees or workers of Pharaoh. And it's in there that they have these dreams. And Joseph's like you know what? I have this thing with dreams. I can kind of tell you what's going on. Why don't you tell me what's going on in your dreams? So they do, they lay out their dreams and Joseph interprets them.
Speaker 1:Well, time goes by and these two men get released from prison and go back to work for Pharaoh. Wow, and this is the time where Pharaoh is having these dreams that he has no idea what's going on and all of his wise men and all of his magicians and all those people in his power can't figure out what's going on. And these two men speak up and say Pharaoh, you know when you put us in prison which was really nice of you, by the way, thanks for that right Well, you put us in prison. We met this guy named Joseph and he was able to interpret our dreams and interpret them correctly. So Pharaoh's like bring this guy up. I got to meet this guy, so he does. He brings Pharaoh up, or he brings Joseph up, and Pharaoh tells him this dream, this dream that basically means Egypt will have seven years of plenty there's gonna be more food to go around than ever, followed by seven years of famine go around than ever, followed by seven years of famine. And people are going to die. And so Pharaoh believes young Joseph and brings him into his court, brings him into the power of Egypt. And this is where our story picks up today, because this is the part of the story where we view all of these things happening to Joseph as blessings, as good things, and we're going to see exactly what Joseph thinks about these blessings in his life.
Speaker 1:So if you'd like to turn to your Bible in chapter 41 of Genesis that's where we're going to be 41, starting at verse 40. It says I have to wear glasses to read this, but I sweat a lot and it gets really hot and foggy. So either way, I'm blind. I don't know what to do. Chapter 40 starting at, or chapter 41, starting at verse 40. You shall be in charge of my palace and all my people are to submit to your orders. Only with respect to the throne will I be greater than you.
Speaker 1:So Pharaoh said to Joseph I hereby put you in charge of the whole land of Egypt. This is a promotion, right? This is good stuff. The whole palace of Egypt, the whole land of Egypt. Only Pharaoh has more power than Joseph. This is great news. In our world today, this is like a promotion where you're just under the CEO, just under the guy running the show, and this is Joseph. He has gone from the pit to the prison to second in command of all of Egypt. This is good, this is a blessing, but this is not his home. That's not his home. Egypt is not his home. He's supposed to be with his father and his brothers in the land that God promised them. That's his home, not this. This isn't a promotion. This is being taken away from the place that you know, the people that you know, and forced to work. This is not a blessing in the eyes of Joseph. And the blessings continue right after that. Then Pharaoh took his signet ring with his finger and put it on Joseph's finger. He dressed him in robes of fine linen and put a gold chain around his neck. All right Now. He's powerful man, he's got power, he's second in command of all of Egypt and now he looks the part. He's given all this fancy jewelry, this fancy robe.
Speaker 1:Maybe in my day, back in the 80s and 90s, it would have been something like this yeah, who remembers Gerbeau jeans? Oh, yeah, pockets right there in the front, right, the tag. How about Mossimo t-shirts right? Reebok pump man this. If you were in the eighth grade and your name was Ben Carruthers and wearing this, you would have been the man right Now. I didn't. I had, I don't know, not Jerbo jeans and I didn't have any of that stuff, but if you were to wear that, you were in charge of the place man. You had that status. Now, if you had this, you were really in charge. Starter jackets who had a starter jacket? Come on, let's see them. There you go, all right now. Who was with me and who had an Apex Kmart brand? All right, yeah, there's a few of us right. All right, yeah, there's a few of us, right? Man, if you had this, if you came to school with this, you were somebody. You were somebody and people took notice of you.
Speaker 1:So here's joseph in the big palace with all the power, wearing all the right clothes. This is good. This is great. This is a blessing. He's honoring god with his actions and god is him. He was given a robe from his father. That's his robe. This is not his robe. This is not the clothes of his people. It might be fancy or, as my kids tell me, drippy or drip, I don't know, I drip for other reasons. Right, he's it. He's hit the top. His father gave him a robe, a robe of his people, and this isn't it. This is not a blessing. He keeps going in verse 45.
Speaker 1:Pharaoh gave Joseph the name Zephanath-Paneah. He got a new name Zephanath-Paneah man, just say it. It sounds powerful, right, joseph, zephanath-paneah? Right, there's power there. It's a name that will be known throughout the world, because Egypt is the source of power. People will know Zephanath-Paneah. This is a good thing. He's going to be famous. People all around the world will know this name, zephanath Paneah. But this is not his name. He was given a name from his father that represented his people, god's people, and this isn't it. This is not a blessing. In that same verse, he continues so Pharaoh gave Joseph a new name, Zephanath-Paneha, and gave him Asenath, daughter of Potiphar, a priest of On to be his wife and Joseph went throughout the land of Egypt. All right, now we're talking. His wife and Joseph went throughout the land of Egypt. All right, now we're talking New palace, new digs, new powerful name and the ultimate power couple.
Speaker 1:Right Back in the day. This was it right here. Power Benjalina right there, or whatever. Yeah, was that what it was? Benjalina Brad-a-fer Bradjalina. See, I'm hip, I'm cool, I got it Right. This is the power couple. They made it. In today's world. It's something more like this Travis Kelsey and whoever. That is Right. It's the power couple. I don't know, I guess she's a famous. If I showed this picture anywhere around the world, most likely they'd know who that is. And this is Joseph. He's hit it the big time the new palace, the new digs, the new name, the new job and the powerful wife. The world screams success. If this person walked down, we would all look at him and be like he made it. He did it From the pit to the prison, to the palace.
Speaker 1:Joseph received all of these blessings for honoring God, but that's not supposed to be his wife. His wife was supposed to be from his people. That's not his palace, that's not his home. That's not his robe. That's not his name and that's not his wife. Imagine being Joseph in this situation.
Speaker 1:All of these things are not good things, but yet he remains faithful to God. That changes the story a lot, instead of it being a story of this young man being faithful to God and getting blessings because of it. Because, let me tell you, if you're being blessed because of your actions and if you're doing good things and God's like, oh man, because of what you're doing, you're doing so good things, blessings upon you. I don't know about you, but that doesn't make sense in the world, because you can do all the right things and all the good things and it sure doesn't feel like blessings. That feeling that you feel right now when we talk about that. That's what Joseph feels In all of these things happening, just asking himself why.
Speaker 1:That's what I think is happening in the story of Joseph, and this is not me thinking it. The reason why I think that is because Joseph gives us a hint. He tells us that these are not the blessings that he thinks he wants. These are not the blessings that God is giving him. He gives us a hint of this in 41, 50 through 52, and that's what was read there, but he tells us through the names of his children Manasseh and Ephraim. Manasseh means let that stuff go, and it says in the passage that he was able to let those past hurts and experiences with his father and with his brothers, and where he's at now in Egypt, somehow he was able to let that stuff go. And Ephraim the land of his grief. If there is not a bigger hint that Joseph is not digging where he is living, it's naming his kid Ephraim, the land of my affliction. In scripture it says he names him Ephraim because God has not left him in the land of his affliction.
Speaker 1:Now there are three things I think we can take away. Probably a lot more, but we have time for three. Three things that we can take away from this whole situation. And the first is this Remember, he is surrounded by Egypt. He is surrounded by Egyptians and their gods and their lives and their heritage. He is completely removed from his family and his way of life, the Hebrew way of life. He is in deep in Egyptian culture and yet when his two sons are born, he names them Hebrew names. He gives them Hebrew names.
Speaker 1:I go back to the conversation with my wife hey, honey, what do you think about for our first son, cage Virgil? I don't think so. I stopped there, I didn't press the issue. Joseph's like hey, honey, I know you're Egyptian, I know we lived in Egypt, I know we're kind of a big deal, but my sons are going to have Hebrew names. I'm sure that didn't go well. I'm sure that didn't go well in the palace, with Pharaoh having his number one in command give his sons Hebrew names.
Speaker 1:Can you imagine the pressure and I think we can. I think we can imagine the pressure that he must have gone through when I was 19, right out of high school, my youth pastor for all my years in high school left. He went to go to Florida to be a youth pastor and so me and a buddy road tripped down there to visit him and we went to Universal Studios in Florida and on the way up there, I'm a big movie guy, I love movies, and I had just watched some pretty like scary horror movies that dealt with possession and it was freaking me out a little bit. So I said, hey, man, I saw this movie. Heads were spinning, people were puking green.
Speaker 1:I don't want that happening in my life, right? What's going on here? Like how do I make sure that doesn't happen to me? And he looked at me. He laughed first of all and then he said yeah, ben possession, it's in the Bible. We can talk about that. But if you really want to know how the world works, if you really want to know how the evil of this world works, it's not in what you see on TV, but it's through oppression. He said this world is going to kind of come at you from all angles and just put so much pressure and so much hurt and so much pain and so much anxiety and worry that it's just going to crush you. And that makes a lot of sense.
Speaker 1:He told me about the egg. So the egg's pretty interesting, right? This little egg here, this egg shell, can hold almost over 90 pounds of pressure, and if you were to put it in the palm of your hand and put pressure equally all around it, it won't crack. It won't crack. Do you trust me? She trusts me. That's pretty good. I don't trust myself. I hard-boiled this just in case. So true story. But that's so great that you trust me. I appreciate that it's true. Though Try it at home. Well, be careful, because in this egg, if there is the tiniest pinhole that you can't even see, so small that stuff's not even leaking out from it, but it's there. A little bit of pressure will crush the egg.
Speaker 1:Joseph had an enormous amount of pressure and with all that pressure around him he stood strong and gave his boys Hebrew names. He never forgot who he was. He never forgot where he came from. He never forgot that he was a child of God. What kind of pressures are surrounding you in your life today? Where are you feeling the pressure? Think about that for a little bit as we keep going here. The second thing I want you to look at is this is the names themselves Manasseh he names his first Manasseh to let this stuff go Somehow.
Speaker 1:Joseph with all of the hurt of his past that has happened to him, he says I'm able now to let that go, to release it. I have a good friend man right now and he is going through a ton of stuff. 99% of it has nothing to do with him or his actions. Life just kind of keeps crushing on this guy and crushing on this guy and we had a great talk a couple weeks ago and I just said to him how do you do it? How are you doing this man, you're just all this stuff is coming at you, boom, boom, boom. How are you surviving? And he said a lot of things. But he said, man, a lot of the stuff's out of my control. I can't change what's happening in that aspect, so he has to let it go. I said, man, you could write a book, because we're all searching how to do that. And the coolest part about this story he has no faith. He's not a Christian. He believes in something strong enough where he's able to release that stuff and let it go. Guys, what are you holding on to? What past hurts and hang-ups that have happened to you are you still holding on to that are affecting the way that you live? What past actions of your own are you still holding on to that you think will change? Are you still holding on to that you think will change? Maybe we need a Manasseh to let that stuff go.
Speaker 1:And the next one was Ephraim, the land of grief, or the land of my affliction. I think this is a great reminder, a true, telling story, of how Joseph really feels about his place in Egypt, but a little bit more than that. It's a reminder, though, no matter how good things get in life, no matter how bad things get in life, no matter where we are in our life cycle, this will and always be the land of our affliction. As long as there is sin in our life and sin in our hearts, and as long as we live in this fallen, sinful world where we are being taught and pulled between all of these different things, while there is still these broken relationships between us and God, this will always be the land of our affliction. And this is where I think the meaning of the story of Joseph comes into play, because I think it's a lot more than just this young, arrogant man's transformation and honoring God and somehow surviving all of these blessings in his life.
Speaker 1:This is a story and it's our story, and at the heart of the story is this that God saves his people. That God saves his people because, as we continue on in the book of Genesis, in chapter 45, the famine has now hit Egypt and Joseph's brothers and father Jacob are starving, they're dying, they have no food, and so they are forced to go to Egypt. And when they get to Egypt, they go before Joseph to beg for food. They need food, they're going to die. And when they see him, they don't recognize him, probably because he's wearing Reebok pumps and a starter jacket. I don't know, but they don't recognize him.
Speaker 1:And Joseph realizes this, and so he wants to see if his brothers have been transformed and see if his brothers have changed. So he has this plan. He has this piece of gold, copper or something put into young Benjamin's bag without them knowing. And so they beg for food. They say yeah. Joseph says yes, I'll give you food, but I think one of you stole from me. And they're all like, no, we would never do that, ever in a million years. Yeah, one of you did Search their bags. And as they search the bags, of course, they find the piece of gold or silver or cup in Benjamin's bag. And so Joseph says Benjamin's done, he's going to prison, he's going to be killed. And these same brothers that threw Joseph in the pit, that sold him into slavery, stand up for young Benjamin. He says no, this can't be. Take me instead. Judas says Instead of killing their brother, they're now laying down their life for their brother. And so Joseph man, it tells us is moved so much that he's crying and he says brothers, it's me, it's Joseph.
Speaker 1:And there's this amazing part of scripture where there's this embrace and love and compassion and they bring Jacob and they live together. Because there's been this transformation, because God saves his people, because here's the thing when Joseph was living through all of these blessings in his story, I don't think he ever saw man. This is happening, so that I will be in power in Egypt where someday my family will be saved because they can come here and be fed and have food. I don't think he saw that happening. I don't think the disciples stood and looked at the cross and saw Jesus and said this is happening, so God can save his people. God saves his people. We just might not see it the way that we want to see it, the way that we hope we see it, the way that the world says it should happen, but the story of Joseph is a story of God saving his people because one of Joseph's brothers' name is Judah. Judah is a descendant of King David and King David a descendant of who Jesus, through the line of Judah, brings us to Jesus. God saved his people here in Genesis 40.
Speaker 1:God saves his people in the New Testament with Jesus on the cross, and they're all connected. We're almost done with the book of Genesis and if you turn the page, you'll be in the book of Exodus, which is a story of about what? God saving his people. The rest of the Old Testament is story after story after story of God's people being captured and taken prisoner and God saving his people. And the New Testament gospel is an amazing, beautiful story about God saving his people.
Speaker 1:This is a story about God saving his people, and your stories today is a story of God saving his people.
Speaker 1:Because if you are here feeling oppressed by the world and feeling like you're about to crumble, god saves his people.
Speaker 1:If you are here today and you cannot let go of something that you've been holding on to forever and it's holding you back, god saves his people.
Speaker 1:If you are here and you are feeling this is the land of my affliction and it won't get better ever, god saves his people and pulls us out of that, not because of anything that we do, but because what Jesus has done for us. Because that's what this book tells us over and over and over again. It is a tale of God saving his people, even if we don't see it, even if we don't live long enough to see it, but it's a story of God saving his people. So, central Lutheran Church, if you are someone here today who is feeling oppressed by the world and under a crazy amount of weight and pressure, know that God saves his people. If you are here today and you need to release something in your life that you have been holding on to, god saves his people. And if you are here today and have hit rock bottom and you feel you can't go any further down, know, in the promise of God, that he saves his people, not because of things that we do, but because who you are as a child of God. Amen.
