Garry spoke from Gen 41:33-40 this morning, looking at Joseph’s plans for dealing with the impending famine in Egypt. The change, from being in prison to being 2nd in command to Pharaoh, was a rapid one; we could say that Joseph had ‘hit the big time’, sine he was appointed suddenly to a position of power and infuence. Finally, we see a ‘successful’ Joseph! But of course, this begs the question ‘What is success?’ How do we measure success? What does God call success? What do we have to do to be successful?
In Matt 17:1-5, we see the Transfiguration of Jesus and hear God’s commendation of Him. By this time, Jesus was well into His ministry, had healed many people, raised the dead, cast out demons and done many miracles.Yet God’s commendation of Jesus (calling Him His beloved Son with whom He was well pleased) was exactly the same at His baptism, before His ministry had started. (Matt 3:13-17) From this, we see that God measures success through our obedience, not through the outward results which matter so much ot us.Micah 6:6-8 reminds us that what God requires of us is ‘to act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with God.’ We are required to walk humbly with God, following His ways, learning to obey Him wholeheartedly. In the Parable of the Talents (Matt 25:14-15), we see that God gives responsibiity according to ability and what matters is our obedience to Him. God is looking for faithfulness and reliability (see Luke 12:48, 1 Cor 4:2).
We are not to despise the small things or consider anything unimportant or inconsequential.Joseph was a success in each situation, whether in prison or as prime minister. Success is to do the will of God, whether that is for an audience of One or for many. God measures success by how faithful we are. We don’t hit the big time by doing great things necessarily, but by doing what God wants in every situation so that we can hear his ‘well done, good and faithful servant.
