Faith When Wronged - Joseph Part IV (Genesis 42.1 - 44.34)

Introduction

In 2005, a graffiti artist called David Choe was hired by a young, unknown IT start-up business in Silicon Valley, to create murals for their office walls. He was offered sixty thousand dollars in cash for his services, or alternatively he could opt to receive payment in company shares instead. What would you do? He went for the shares.

Seven years later, that little IT firm floated on Wall Street as a public company. David Choe cashed in the stocks he earned from a few days of painting for an eyewatering $2,000 million. The company is called Facebook.

As we’ve followed the story of Joseph these past three weeks, we have witnessed, if anything, an even more remarkable trajectory. Beaten and rejected by his family, sold as a slave, pressured with constant sexual harassment, falsely accused of sexual assault, thrown in jail without trial, and forgotten; Joseph has been wronged time and time again over a period of years.

But last week we saw his fortunes turn dramatically in a single day. He successfully interprets Pharaoh’s strange dream and, as a result, Pharaoh instantly elevates him to the highest office in the land.

As David explained last Sunday, when Joseph wakes up that morning, he is a forgotten prison inmate. By sunset, he has freedom, status, huge wealth, power and the admiration of an entire nation. He gets to oversee a large and complex logistical operation to store a superabundance of cereal crops, ensuring survival in a period of severe famine.

Like Jesus, Joseph goes from terrible and undeserved suffering to being an exalted saviour of many.

Joseph’s story so far in Genesis 39 to 41 has focused on his spectacular rise, despite being the victim of a shocking injustice. But all along, Joseph’s years of affliction are testing the substance of his faith; a test he passes with dazzling success.

In the next part of his story however, chapters 42-45, the spotlight will shift to Joseph being reunited with the brothers who left him for dead.

Let’s pick up the story in chapter 42, verse 1.

When Jacob learned that there was grain in Egypt, he said to his sons, ‘Why do you just keep looking at each other?’ He continued, ‘I have heard that there is grain in Egypt. Go down there and buy some for us, so that we may live and not die.’ Then ten of Joseph’s brothers went down to buy grain from Egypt. But Jacob did not send Benjamin, Joseph’s brother, with the others, because he was afraid that harm might come to him. So Israel’s sons were among those who went to buy grain, for there was famine in the land of Canaan also. Now Joseph was the governor of the land, the person who sold grain to all its people. So when Joseph’s brothers arrived, they bowed down to him with their faces to the ground.

[Do you remember Joseph’s dream in chapter 37, where his brothers’ sheaves of wheat bow down before Joseph’s? Here, at last, is the fulfilment, over twenty years later]

As soon as Joseph saw his brothers, he recognised them, but he pretended to be a stranger and spoke harshly to them. ‘Where do you come from?’ he asked. ‘From the land of Canaan,’ they replied, ‘to buy food.’ Although Joseph recognised his brothers, they did not recognise him.

[You know, it’s a bit weird that Little Red Riding Hood failed to notice that a talking wolf in drag was not in fact her grandmother! But this is not like that. You have to remember that two decades or more have passed since these brothers sold Joseph into slavery. Here he is, no longer an annoying teenager, but an aristocrat in his late thirties, dressed in fine linen, clean shaven, surrounded by important officials and speaking fluent Egyptian. It’s little wonder they don’t recognise him].

Then he remembered his dreams about them and said to them, ‘You are spies! You have come to see where our land is unprotected.’ ‘No, my lord,’ they answered. ‘Your servants have come to buy food. We are all the sons of one man. Your servants are honest men, not spies.’

[Now, it’s quite true they are not on an espionage mission, and Joseph knows this full well, but ‘honest men’? Really? For years, they have maintained the bare-faced lie to their father that Joseph is dead.]

‘No!’ he said to them. ‘You have come to see where our land is unprotected.’ But they replied, ‘Your servants were twelve brothers, the sons of one man, who lives in the land of Canaan. The youngest is now with our father, and one… is… no more.’ Joseph said to them, ‘It is just as I told you: you are spies! And this is how you will be tested: as surely as Pharaoh lives, you will not leave this place unless your youngest brother comes here. Send one of your number to get your brother; the rest of you will be kept in prison, so that your words may be tested to see if you are telling the truth. If you are not, then as surely as Pharaoh lives, you are spies!’ And he put them all in custody for three days.
On the third day, Joseph said to them, ‘Do this and you will live, for I fear God: if you are honest men, let one of your brothers stay here in prison, while the rest of you go and take grain back for your starving households. But you must bring your youngest brother to me, so that your words may be verified and that you may not die.’ This they proceeded to do. They said to one another, ‘Surely we are being punished because of our brother. We saw how distressed he was when he pleaded with us for his life, but we would not listen; that’s why this distress has come on us.’
Reuben replied, ‘Didn’t I tell you not to sin against the boy? But you wouldn’t listen! Now we must give an accounting for his blood.’ They did not realise that Joseph could understand them, since he was using an interpreter. He turned away from them and began to weep, but then came back and spoke to them again. He had Simeon taken from them and bound before their eyes. Joseph gave orders to fill their bags with grain, to put each man’s silver back in his sack, and to give them provisions for their journey. After this was done for them, they loaded their grain on their donkeys and left.

So then, ten of Joseph’s eleven brothers have travelled from their home in Canaan down the Mediterranean coast to Egypt; a roughly 200-mile journey. (Notice the youngest, Benjamin (the only other son, besides Joseph, born to Jacob’s favourite wife Rachel), is not with them. It’s a strong hint that Jacob never really believed their story about what happened to Joseph).

But this story has layers. Talking about the whole Old Testament in in Romans 15.4, Paul says, “Everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope.”

So what does this all teach us? What encouragement is there for us from this story? In Ezekiel 36, God says, “I will give you a new heart… I will remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.” And in Hebrews 3 the following words are addressed to Christians; “Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.”

Do you have a hard heart of stone? Or a soft heart of flesh? I’ve found that there are three things that harden the human heart: a refusal to listen, a refusal to repent and a refusal to forgive. This section of Jospeh’s story centres on those issues. Joseph needs to forgive, and I’ll come back to that. His brothers need to repent. And we all need to listen to what God is saying to us through his word.

The need to repent

Even though the brothers have travelled a long distance, their most important journey is not the physical one. It’s their journey from a hardened heart to one softened by an awareness of guilt and a conviction of sin.

Verse 21 gives us a flashback to that dreadful day when they sold their little brother Joseph as a slave: “We saw how distressed he was when he pleaded with us for his life, but we would not listen.”

Now the ten brothers are being held in custody, and at last, finally, after all these years, their conscience starts to trouble them. “Surely we are being punished because of what we did to our brother...” they say. For two decades or so their sense of right and wrong has slowly become dulled to any feeling of remorse or shame. But God is starting to soften their hearts.

And just as their guilty conscience is laid bare before Joseph here, God sees and knows everything about us. He knows what everyone truly feels about him. He knows it better than we do. He knows our truth from our lies, and he sees through every mask.

What the brothers experience here is what the final judgement will be like. There are well over 200 references to the last judgement in the New Testament. It is is one of the biggest themes in the entire Bible. Many Christians recite the Apostles’ Creed in church every Sunday saying, “I believe that the Lord will come in glory to judge the living and the dead.”

When Christ returns to judge, every wrong will be exposed and then righted. No ingenious excuses, either for ourselves or for others, will wash. Like for the brothers here, there will be no hiding place.

Jesus says in Luke 12.2, “There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known.” The Day of the Lord will bring everything to light, assess everything, and deal with everything. The evidence will be indisputable. All unrepented, persistent sin will have to face God’s perfect justice. It’s inescapable.

For all who have turned from their sin, turned to Christ as Saviour and now bow to him as Lord, the verdict will be, “Guilty. But your guilt is removed because you put your trust in the perfect, substitutionary atonement of the cross of Christ. Your name is now written in the book of life. Consequently, you are declared innocent and are free to go.”

For all who refuse to repent, and who persist in their hard-hearted rebellion against God, the Bible gives a sober warning; “Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire” (Revelation 20.15).

Do you need to turn to God in repentance today? Or turn back? Have you lost your way? Some people drift so far from God that they think there’s no way back. But, as Louie Giglio once said, “If you’re thinking that you don’t deserve a second chance from God, it’s important to remember that you didn’t deserve the first one either.” There is no “deserved.” There’s just grace, and this place overflows with the grace of God this morning.

Don’t live under a cloud of shame or with buried guilt another day. Turn to Christ in repentance and faith, and live again.

Well, this encounter with Joseph is the first step back to repentance for these brothers. Their hard hearts are starting to soften.

We don’t have time to read the next two chapters, but what happens next is this; nine of the ten brothers journey home, leaving Simeon in Egypt. They then discover that their money has been returned in their sacks. Maybe they think the twenty pieces of silver they sold Joseph for have come back to haunt them. They react with fear, thinking God’s justice is catching up with them.

They report everything to their father Jacob, including Joseph’s demand to bring Benjamin with them next time they come to Egypt. But Jacob is still grieving Joseph and evidently doesn’t trust them to guarantee Benjamin’s safety.

However, the famine gets worse, so brothers eventually have to return to Egypt with Benjamin and double the money. When they arrive back in Egypt, Joseph receives them again, testing their hearts while still concealing his identity. He shows Benjamin special favour.

But as they are about to leave the second time, Joseph strangely arranges for his silver goblet to be concealed in Benjamin’s sack. He then accuses Benjamin of theft and says he must become his slave.

This is the acid test. Will the brothers abandon Benjamin to a life of slavery, just as twenty odd years ago they had done to Joseph? Will they dump him there and get out of Dodge? Will their hearts harden once again?

No. Judah, one of the brothers, pleads with Joseph. And he asks permission to suffer as a slave for life in Benjamin’s place. That spontaneous expression of sacrificial love proves that Joseph’s brothers’ have finally softened their hearts.

The need to forgive

So much for the brothers. Back to Joseph now. Why these games of cat and mouse? Why does he speak to his brothers harshly? Why accuse them of being spies? Why does he throw them into prison? Why does he secretly return their money? Why does he mess around and hide his goblet in Benjamin’s sack?

Two weeks ago, I said that God’s favour was on Joseph in Potiphar’s house because he had forgiven, and forgotten and moved on. But is that right? Now, Joseph is turning the screw and making his brothers squirm. It looks for all the world like some kind of payback.

There is, it is true, a satisfaction in refusing to forgive. Is Joseph being malicious? Is that what is going on here? I don’t think it is. Joseph is tearful and emotional when he hears his brothers talk about his distress on the day he pleaded with them for his life.

John Lennox in his excellent book on Joseph comments at this point, “This is scarcely the reaction of a cruel, vindictive man, toying with his brothers, revelling in their pain as he seeks to get the maximum revenge for what they have done to him. This is much more the attitude of a man who wanted to tell them who he was, but he couldn’t do it yet. Why not? Because Joseph knew that genuine forgiveness involves repentance.”

And yet… I can’t help but wonder if it’s a bit more complex than that. I think Joseph is conflicted here. I suspect the sight of his brothers has brought some unresolved anger back to the surface. After the trauma of rejection, after all the added injustices he endured, after all those lost years in prison, and after being forgotten by the chief cupbearer, has Joseph’s heart perhaps slowly and imperceptibly begun to harden again?

If I’m honest, I think mine would. There have been times in my life when someone wronged me, and I genuinely forgave them from my heart. And it took prayer and a lot of effort, but I managed eventually to forgive and not hold a grudge.

But later, when I bump into them again, all those old painful feelings resurface. I thought I had dealt with all that. But just seeing them again opens up old wounds, and all those old desires to settle scores are back. Has that ever happened to you? Or am I the only one?

About two years ago, a woman I know cheated on her husband, a man who is dear to me, and although he forgave her, she hardened her heart and broke up the marriage. It brought pain and heartbreak for her wronged husband and for their children too. Last year, I had to work through feelings of anger and daydreams of vengeance towards the guy she cheated with. And I thought I had managed to move on. But various things still trigger me. I am not a violent man, but I have entertained the thought, quite recently, that if I met that guy, I would absolutely deck him with a blow to the chin. Which is not what Jesus would do, is it?

I need to soften my hard heart. The New Testament tells us, as followers of Jesus, how to respond to someone who has wronged us.

"Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: ‘It is mine to avenge; I will repay’, says the Lord” (Romans 12.17-19).

In one of his books, Bill Bryson notes that ‘to avenge’ and ‘to take revenge’ are not quite the same thing. To avenge is “to address or correct an injustice.” Ultimately, payback is God’s business. “I will repay,” says the Lord.

But revenge, Bryson says, is not correcting an injustice, it's “retaliation for the sake of personal satisfaction.” And God says, “Do not take revenge, my dear friends.”

I don't know whether you identify more with Joseph or with his brothers. I don't know whether your greater need today is to forgive or to repent.

Ending

But as I draw to a close, I want to return to Genesis 42:28. The brothers are heading back home for the first time, and they discover some money in one of the sacks. The response is remarkable. “My silver has been returned,” one of them says. “Here it is in my sack!” Then their hearts sink, and they are filled with fear. They say to one another, “What is this that God has done to us?”

When they get home, they find their money in all the sacks. They recognise that God is behind their unexpected discovery because they say, “What is this that God has done to us?”

But their response is not, “Well, praise God, this is amazing.” It isn’t, “Wow, just look at what our Facebook shares are worth now!” Not at all! They freak out. They are uncomfortable. They’re frightened. Why? They don’t know how to receive.

Yes, it was not owed to them; it was a gift. And God’s grace is a gift that must be received freely. Yes, they have done nothing to deserve having their silver returned to them - and neither do we deserve anything from the hand of God.

Everything we have comes freely from the Lord. God gives generously to his children, without measure and without requiring payment. Paul asks in 1 Corinthians 4.7; “What do you have that you did not receive?”

A few years ago, a church leader in York told me about a guy who came to speak with him after the service the previous Sunday. He said, “I've never been to this church before. I don’t know why I’m here. I was just walking past, and I heard the music, and something drew me in. And then I heard you talk about broken dreams. It was just what I needed to hear, because... I was going to take my life this evening. But I won’t now, because today I have become a child of God!”

That’s the grace of God and there’s more than enough of it in this place today for everyone, whether we need to repent or whether we need to forgive.

“Let us then approach [not the Governor of Egypt’s throne of power, but] God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”


Sermon preached at King's Church Darlington, 16 August 2026.

Faith When Wronged - Joseph Part II (Genesis 39.1-23)

Introduction

The man behind the Alpha Course, Nicky Gumbel, once said, “Of all the prisons I have visited around the world, the worst is in Lusaka, Zambia.”

It was built in 1950 to hold 250 men. Today, it is 265% over-capacity. There isn’t enough room for all the inmates to lie down at the same time, so they take it in turns to sleep. If, when they enter the prison, the prisoners do not have AIDS or tuberculosis, they usually become infected soon after.

When Nicky went there, his team held an outdoor evangelistic event in a central courtyard. With the stench and the heat unbearable, unsurprisingly, virtually every prisoner attended.

Amazingly, the event was led not by a chaplain, but by one of the inmates; a church leader awaiting trial in that jail. He had been falsely accused of a minor offence (for which the penalty in the UK if proven guilty would be a small fine). He was innocent, but he had been behind bars for over four years, framed on a politically motivated charge, without trial, without legal representation, and not knowing when he would be released – if ever.

His opening words as he began the service were these: “God is good – all the time.” Here was a man expressing absolute assurance of the goodness of God, despite having been appallingly mistreated. Even in such depressing circumstances, he seemed to radiate the joy of the Lord.

We’re following the story of Joseph in the Book of Genesis, a man who was likewise terribly, terribly wronged in life. Time and time again, in fact. It was so unjust. And we’re asking ourselves the question; what can I learn about growing in faith from his life?

Do you want to be a giant of faith? Do you want to live victoriously? Do you want to be an overcomer and more than a conqueror? I do. And the story of Joseph shows how we can triumph in faith, even when we are badly wronged.

Last week, we saw that he was given prophetic dreams by God. That is significant, because the Book of Acts says that, in these last days, God is pouring out his Spirit on men and women, young and old, and that will be expressed in signs and wonders, in spiritual gifts, and particularly in visions and dreams. So Joseph, in many ways, kind of prefigures or embodies the Spirit-filled church that God wants to raise up in every generation.

And when Spirit-filled churches speak prophetic truth, like Joseph did, (“God gave me a dream,”) it bothers and annoys people, because people prefer darkness to light. People block their ears to truth from God. They find it provocative and offensive. It was the same for Joseph, so one day, as we saw last Sunday, his jealous brothers sell him to some passing slave traders.

According to the International Society for Human Rights, which is a secular organisation with members in 38 states worldwide, 80 per cent of all religious discrimination in the world today is directed at Christians. How should followers of Jesus, like us, live by faith in light of the fact that statistically we are more likely to be wronged than adherents of any other religion? That’s the question we are going to try to answer this morning.

Here’s how the story of Joseph continues after his brothers fake his death and sell him to human traffickers: Genesis 39, verse 1.

Now Joseph had been taken down to Egypt. Potiphar, an Egyptian who was one of Pharaoh’s officials, the captain of the guard, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had taken him there. The Lord was with Joseph so that he prospered, and he lived in the house of his Egyptian master. When his master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord gave him success in everything he did, Joseph found favour in his eyes and became his attendant. Potiphar put him in charge of his household, and he entrusted to his care everything he owned.
From the time he put him in charge of his household and of all that he owned, the Lord blessed the household of the Egyptian because of Joseph. The blessing of the Lord was on everything Potiphar had, both in the house and in the field. So Potiphar left everything he had in Joseph’s care; with Joseph in charge, he did not concern himself with anything except the food he ate. Now Joseph was well-built and handsome, and after a while his master’s wife took notice of Joseph and said, ‘Come to bed with me!’
But he refused. ‘With me in charge,’ he told her, ‘my master does not concern himself with anything in the house; everything he owns he has entrusted to my care. No one is greater in this house than I am. My master has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?’ And though she spoke to Joseph day after day, he refused to go to bed with her or even to be with her. One day he went into the house to attend to his duties, and none of the household servants was inside.
She caught him by his cloak and said, ‘Come to bed with me!’ But he left his cloak in her hand and ran out of the house.
When she saw that he had left his cloak in her hand and had run out of the house, she called her household servants. ‘Look,’ she said to them, ‘this Hebrew has been brought to us to make sport of us! He came in here to sleep with me, but I screamed. When he heard me scream for help, he left his cloak beside me and ran out of the house.’
She kept his cloak beside her until his master came home.
Then she told him this story: ‘That Hebrew slave you brought us came to me to make sport of me. But as soon as I screamed for help, he left his cloak beside me and ran out of the house.’
When his master heard the story his wife told him, saying, ‘This is how your slave treated me,’ he burned with anger. Joseph’s master took him and put him in prison, the place where the king’s prisoners were confined.
But while Joseph was there in the prison, the Lord was with him; he showed him kindness and granted him favour in the eyes of the prison warder.
So the warder put Joseph in charge of all those held in the prison, and he was made responsible for all that was done there. The warder paid no attention to anything under Joseph’s care, because the Lord was with Joseph and gave him success in whatever he did.

Forgiveness and favour

If I were to tell you about a friend of mine who was rejected by his family, and then became a victim of modern slavery, and was then falsely accused of sexual assault, and was now in jail with no prospect of release, I think the last thing you would say to me would be, “Oh, it really sounds like God is blessing him.”

And yet, despite all that happening to Joseph, twice in this chapter it says, “the Lord gave Joseph success” and it also says, “he prospered” (which is the same word in Hebrew). In addition, it twice says, “Joseph found favour.” Twice more it speaks of blessing in his life. And it clearly says in this one chapter alone, no less than four times, “the Lord was with Joseph.”

I find that really challenging. Would people say that God is with me, just by looking at my life? Would they say it about yours? Even if everything was going well?

How is it that God’s favour is so evident in Joseph’s life even when he has been so obviously and severely wronged?

Let’s take a look. Verse 1 tells us that Potiphar, his new master, is captain of the guard, and on the palace staff. Some commentators describe him as Pharaoh’s top-ranking bodyguard. Others say it possibly means head executioner. Tim Keller thinks captain of the guard is more like commander-in-chief of the armed forces. In any case, he is a top official, with access to the most powerful man in the land. We read here also that Potiphar has property and land and servants, so he is evidently very wealthy.

Joseph is sold, as a foreign slave, into Potiphar’s service. He has to learn the local language, and become accustomed to an alien culture, adjust to having no rights or any time off, not to mention recover emotionally from the trauma and ordeal of family rejection. The stress and shock of all that could wreck some people for life.

And yet, by v4, Joseph has already risen to become managing director of Potiphar’s entire estate. He distinguishes himself by the excellence of everything he does. He runs the household with outstanding success. Everyone can see it. He works hard. He works well. He proves totally trustworthy. And v5 tells us that the blessing of God is on everything he does.

In v3 we’re told, “his master saw that the Lord was with him.” Joseph doesn’t have to tell Potiphar that the Lord is with him, he can see it clearly for himself. What do you think Potiphar sees?

I think he sees a man who has forgiven and forgotten and moved on. Do you think Joseph would have earned such respect and admiration if he had spent his days sulking in self-pity? Would Potiphar have promoted Joseph so quickly if he was always seething and resentful about his misfortune? No. He’s not stuck in a rut of bitterness. He’s not going round and round in a cycle of constant moaning.

How has Joseph not become a hostage to all his hardships? What’s his secret? Romans 8.28 says, “We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”

It says, “we know.” Not “we hope,” or “we think,” or “we suppose.” Yes, we can see very well that life is unfair. It can be cruel. But we know, the Bible says, we know, that God works all things for good. Do you believe that?

Can you say, “I have read God’s promises and I believe they are true, and whatever happens, however bad it gets, I know God is good, all the time, and he is for me, and nothing can separate me from his love or pluck me from his hand”?

Joseph had heard from God in his dreams. One day, his brothers would bow before him. God had said it. And so, by faith, Joseph knows that, in the end, all things will work together for good.

He didn’t have Romans 8.28, it wasn’t written yet, but Joseph knew the truth of it. He himself will say to his brothers in chapter 50, something strikingly similar; “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good.”

Some of you here have recent experience of being wronged. It’s very raw. Someone lied about you. Someone cheated on you. Someone insulted you for no reason. Someone treated you unfairly. Someone stole from you. Someone slighted you or blanked you. You can’t get it out of your mind.

For others, it might have been years back, but it still stings every time you think about it. Have you given it over to God yet? Don’t carry it in your heart another day. Leave the burden in this room this morning and resolve to walk out of here free.

You might not understand why God allowed you to be wronged, but you know that God can work all things for good and so you’re going to let it go and leave it here. This is key, so key, to receiving God’s favour and God’s blessing on your life.

Forbidden fruit

But favour and success and prospering and the Lord being with you does not always mean “problem free.” Just when things are beginning to look up for Joseph, everything is poised to come crashing down.

It doesn’t take a creative mind to imagine Mrs. Potiphar as a bored and disgruntled wife. Stuck at home all day. Unfulfilled. Unsatisfied. Unhappy. And Potiphar is an important man, never around, always busy.

Time passes slowly, and she notices the new chief servant who is doing so well. It says in v6 that Joseph is well-built and handsome. She starts to fantasise and, with Potiphar always at work, she befriends him and begins to flirt with him.

And, as so often with sexual temptation, in v7 it is sudden and full-on. Joseph of course will never have encountered anything like this before. “Come to bed with me!” she says. In the Hebrew, it’s a crude and direct imperative of just two words.

Being a rich man’s wife, she’s probably attractive, well-dressed and perfumed. The neckline on her dress is getting lower every day. Joseph is a single man in his prime. He suddenly has access to immediate pleasure.

Why not? Just this once. It would be just their little secret. Who would ever find out? And, who knows, maybe someone with her influence could pull a few strings and put in a good word for his freedom? This could be his big opportunity. It’s an open goal for Joseph.

But he refuses. It's tasty looking fruit. But it's forbidden fruit. He tells her not only that it would betray Potiphar’s trust, but in v9 he describes sex with her as “a wicked thing and a sin against God.”

God is looking for a people who, like Joseph, call a spade a spade, and a sin a sin. He doesn't call it a 'love triangle' or a 'fling' or a 'bit on the side'. He says it's 'wicked' and 'sinful'. Are you refusing the world’s narrative and the world’s language on sexual issues?

But Potiphar’s wife is persistent and explicit. “Day after day,” says v10. Just like in our world, the pressure to conform is relentless.

You can imagine the kind of thing she says to him again and again. “My husband is never home and I’m so lonely. He could never meet my needs like you could. I’m sure God brought you into my life. You’re so handsome and strong. How could anything that feels so right be wrong? These are natural feelings. It would be unhealthy to suppress them. No one would ever know, we’re alone and safe.”

Like two strong magnets; you inch them towards each other until suddenly the attraction is overpowering and they slam together. You have to keep them at a safe distance.

Like on the motorway, where you need to stay two chevrons behind the vehicle in front to avoid a crash, Joseph takes great care to keep a safe distance. He refuses to even be with her, says v10.

The world is constantly saying to the Spirit-filled church, “get into to bed with us. Embrace our standards. Fly our flag. Come under our roof. Accept our morals. Adopt our vocabulary. Support our causes.” But Joseph refuses to go to bed with her or even be with her.

Are you clear where the line is? Are you rejecting the world’s agenda? Are you putting your foot down and saying, “no”? This is what faith looks like in 2026.

One day though, Joseph’s going about his work, focusing on the tasks ahead, and he notices it’s quiet. Unusually quiet. There are no other servants about today. That’s strange… “I wonder wh….” Bang!

There she is. It’s an ambush. And it’s not just flattery and seduction this time; she physically grabs hold of him, pleading, “Come to bed with me!”

The Bible never tells us to reason with temptation, or consider it, or analyse it, or let it linger. “Flee from sexual immorality,” says 1 Corinthians 6.18. Run away!

Dallas Seminary professor Howard Hendricks examined the cases of 246 men in full-time ministry who fell into adultery.

The shocking thing is this: as far as Hendricks could discern, these full-time church leaders and evangelists seemed to be born-again believers in Jesus. And after interviewing each one, Hendricks identified four common denominators:
- Every one of these 246 men had been convinced that falling into sin “would never happen to me”
- None was involved in any kind of personal accountability
- Each one had all but ceased having a daily time of prayer, Bible reading, and worship
- Over 80 percent became sexually involved with the other woman after spending significant time with her, often in counselling situations

But Joseph won’t even be near her, so he runs away, leaving his outer cloak in her hands.

It keeps happening, doesn’t it? This is the second cloak he’s had removed from him; his ornate coat seized by his jealous brothers in chapter 37 and now his servant’s cloak snatched by this cheating wife in chapter 39.

The 17th Century playwright William Congreve famously observed, “Hell has no fury like a woman scorned.” Potiphar’s wife is scorned and she is furious.

Now she has to face Joseph every day, humiliated and rejected. What’s she going to say to him now? So rather than live with the shame and awkwardness, she frames him. When Potiphar hears about it, he burns with anger and throws Joseph in prison.

Did Potiphar really believe her story? Pete Wilcox, in his excellent book on Joseph called Living the Dream perceptively writes, “Potiphar knew what sort of man Joseph was and probably also what sort of woman his wife was.”

What if Potiphar’s anger was about losing his best servant? What if it was because he suspected his wife was a seductress and a liar?

The standard punishment for such an offence would have been death for Joseph. But instead, he is imprisoned. And not in the common jail, where conditions would have been worse. It says in v20 that he was confined in a special category, with the king’s prisoners, curiously a place where Potiphar, as captain of the guard, could keep an eye on him.

All things work together for good. And, as we’ll see in the coming weeks, this detail of the special prison Joseph is in will prove significant - in fact, decisive. God is sovereign.

Ending

I hope you feel you’ve learned about how to grow in faith from Joseph this morning.

But I hope even more you’ve met with Jesus. Already, after two weeks, we’ve seen how Joseph points to our Lord and Saviour.
- Like Joseph, Jesus was deeply loved by his father
- Like Joseph, Jesus was a good shepherd
- Like Joseph, Jesus was betrayed by his own and handed over to Gentiles
- Like Joseph, Jesus was sold for pieces of silver
- Like Joseph, Jesus proved faithful and above reproach
- Like Joseph, Jesus was falsely accused and badly wronged

And in the weeks to come, we’ll see more foreshadowings still.

I want you to draw inspiration from Joseph, but I want you more to draw near with faith to the one he so clearly points to; Jesus Christ.

No one in history was ever more wronged than him. And because of him, in the end, no matter how wronged you have been, God works all things for the good you who love him and are called according to his purpose.


Sermon preached at King's Church Darlington, 2 August 2026

Faith When Suffering - Job Part I (Job 1.1-22)

Introduction

From today until Easter next year, (that’s 33 weeks, not including a break for Christmas), our preaching series at King’s is going to focus on heroes of faith in the Old Testament.

We’re going to be learning together about how very different men and women lived by faith in very different circumstances. And we’ll listen to what God is saying to us through what they did.

I say ‘what they did’ deliberately, because the Bible is consistent in asserting that faith is not so much about what we believe, (even demons believe), but faith is about what we do, or, better still, how we live.

Some of the heroes we will follow are well known; many non-Christians who have never opened a Bible will have heard of Joseph and his amazing technicolour dream-coat. Other heroes in our series are more obscure. I'd bet that many churchgoing Christians couldn't tell you a single thing about Jehoshaphat for example.

But, whether famous or anonymous, all our heroes displayed their faith in a unique way. Joseph; faith when wronged. Moses; faith when leading. Joshua; faith when advancing. Gideon; faith when outnumbered. Samson; faith when faithless. Hannah; faith when desperate. Samuel; faith when young. Jehoshaphat; faith when dismayed. Hezekiah; faith when ridiculed. Josiah; faith when convicted. Jeremiah; faith when discouraged. Esther; faith when in danger. Daniel; faith when persecuted. And Nehemiah; faith when stirred.

But today, and over the next two Sundays, we’re starting with Job; faith when suffering. And we’re starting here for two reasons.

Firstly, because the timing feels right. Many of us have faced affliction and pain and grief recently. Is there a word from God in the midst of our sadness and loss which, for some of us, is still very raw?

Secondly, because our new series is roughly chronological and Job is one of the oldest books we have - not just in the Bible - but in the world, full-stop. And it explores one of the oldest questions; why do bad things happen to good people?

Job is a good person. In chapter 9 he admits he is not innocent of sin compared with God, but he is blameless compared to most of his contemporaries. He’s an upstanding and virtuous man. And yet bad things happen to him. Lots of really bad things…

Why is that? If God is good all the time, and if God is able to do all things, whenever he pleases, why does he let Job, someone above reproach, suffer so much? And how can I trust in the goodness of God when, despite trying to live a holy life, everything around me collapses and my prayers seem to have no effect?

The book of Job explores this question at length and it offers some perspectives but - spoiler alert - it never really solves the puzzle.

Let’s read chapter 1 together.

In the land of Uz there lived a man whose name was Job. This man was blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil. He had seven sons and three daughters, and he owned seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen and five hundred donkeys, and had a large number of servants. He was the greatest man among all the people of the East. His sons used to hold feasts in their homes on their birthdays, and they would invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them. When a period of feasting had run its course, Job would make arrangements for them to be purified. Early in the morning he would sacrifice a burnt offering for each of them, thinking, ‘Perhaps my children have sinned and cursed God in their hearts.’ This was Job’s regular custom.
One day the angels came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came with them. The Lord said to Satan, ‘Where have you come from?’ Satan answered the Lord, ‘From roaming throughout the earth, going to and fro on it.’ Then the Lord said to Satan, ‘Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil.’ ‘Does Job fear God for nothing?’ Satan replied. ‘Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land. But now stretch out your hand and strike everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face.’ The Lord said to Satan, ‘Very well, then, everything he has is in your power, but on the man himself do not lay a finger.’ Then Satan went out from the presence of the Lord.
One day when Job’s sons and daughters were feasting and drinking wine at the eldest brother’s house, a messenger came to Job and said, ‘The oxen were ploughing and the donkeys were grazing nearby, and the Sabeans attacked and made off with them. They put the servants to the sword, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!’ While he was still speaking, another messenger came and said, ‘The fire of God fell from the heavens and burned up the sheep and the servants, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!’ While he was still speaking, another messenger came and said, ‘The Chaldeans formed three raiding parties and swept down on your camels and made off with them. They put the servants to the sword, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!’ While he was still speaking, yet another messenger came and said, ‘Your sons and daughters were feasting and drinking wine at the eldest brother’s house, when suddenly a mighty wind swept in from the desert and struck the four corners of the house. It collapsed on them and they are dead, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!’
At this, Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground in worship and said: ‘Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I shall depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.’ In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing.

The suspense of the drama

Job has a nice life. But to be fair, he has it easy. What if serious misfortune comes his way? Will he lose his faith?

Good film directors and bestselling authors know how to work with suspense and tension - and this drama is no exception. We know, as readers, all about the strange conversation between God and Satan in v7-12. We know what’s behind Job’s sufferings. But neither Job nor anyone else are ever told the reasons for it, even at the end of the book.

Chapter 1 tells us that, in a single day, Job loses all his flocks (which are his livelihood), all his servants (who represent his status), and all his children, his own flesh and blood.

In modern terms, we might say his employer goes bust, leaving him jobless, his entire savings and pension are wiped out, leaving him penniless, his house collapses leaving him homeless, and all his offspring are killed leaving him childless – all that in less than 24 hours.

To add insult to injury, v5 tells us that these personal tragedies all occur shortly after Job gets up early to specifically pray for blessing on each of his children.

Three separate disasters, all on the same day, each leaving one survivor to break the news. That's... strange. Later in the book, three ‘comforters’ speak in turn, in flowing poetic verse. That's even stranger. It makes you wonder, “wait a minute, is this just a story?” And there has been no shortage of scholars who dismiss the book of Job as a myth or a fable. Because it sort of reads like one.

But Ezekiel in the Old Testament, and James in the New, both refer to Job as a real person who actually lived, and Job appears in other ancient writings as well outside the Bible.

How should we understand the book of Job as Christians with a high view of scripture? Most Bible-believing commentators see it as a dramatization of historical events, like The Crown on Netflix or Stephen Spielberg’s film Saving Private Ryan, or a Shakespeare play like Henry V.

Like those three examples I just gave, Job is about real people and true events. And like those three examples, a gifted writer later crafted a work of art from it for us to appreciate. Except in this case, the Holy Spirit inspired the author to write up the ancient oral tradition of the story, and so what we have is not just an epic poem, but the word of God.

Why suffering?

Does the Bible offer us any clues as to why a loving God allows suffering in the good world he made? Yes, it does, and not just in the book of Job.

Firstly, it says that some suffering is caused by personal sin. If I regularly consume cocaine, my financial problems, addiction issues and possible early death are on me. The Bible says, even if it’s in the next life, we reap what we sow. So, some suffering is caused by personal sin.

But chapter 1 is clear that this isn’t the case for Job. He lives a good life, and his suffering is not a consequence of his sinful choices. And it’s not necessarily on you if you are suffering either.

The Bible says that there is a second cause of suffering; other people's sin. Since the fall of Adam and Eve, nothing works like God intended it to. The Covid pandemic, like all sickness, was a consequence of living in a broken and disordered world. So are hurricanes and acid rain and droughts and tsunamis.

Our paradise planet is disfigured by rotting garbage and discarded plastic and toxic waste and unbreathable air. We are vulnerable to earthquakes and floods because people build cheap houses on geological faults and in flood plains. God is one day going to put it all right again, when he renews the heavens and the earth, but in the meantime, some suffering is just what comes from sharing a messed-up world with messed-up people.

Job’s suffering is partly down to this. He is a victim of terrorism in v15, a lightning strike in v16, more terrorism in v17, and a storm in v19. Next week, we’ll see that Job will suffer from ill-health too. Then his wife will turn against him. Then three so-called friends will spend eight chapters judging him and blaming him.

By the way, even in natural disasters, we can find grace. When the Haiti earthquake hit in 2010, people sitting comfortably at home in the UK said, “Why? This is terrible. If there is a God, why would he allow this?”

But on the ground, Tearfund reported that everywhere they went they found people saying, “God is with us in the most amazing ways.”

Throughout this book, as his suffering increases, amazingly Job actually grows in his relationship with God.

The Bible speaks of a third source of suffering; the demonic. There is a spiritual realm all around us that we cannot see.

In Luke 13, we meet a woman whose body is bent over and contorted so that she cannot straighten up at all. Luke specifically says that she had been crippled by an evil spirit. Jesus says that Satan had kept her bound for eighteen long years.

We have a spiritual enemy, Satan, who hates God, who hates us, and who has power to afflict us, though Job 1 and 2 tell us that he is permitted to harm us only up to a limit set by God.

But, let’s be honest, the revelation here that God sometimes allows Satan to afflict innocent people leaves us with more questions than ever.

Response - you give and take away; blessed be your name

What about Job? He never finds out, even at the end of the book, why God lets him suffer like he did. Likewise we may never know why in this life.

But faith is trusting that God does know why and that’s enough for now. Job’s faith is going to wobble as the book goes on as we’ll see over the next two weeks. But his faith just about holds out, even if his patience is tested and hope fails him at times. He will have ups and downs. Not many ups to be honest. And some of the lows will be really low.

But his very first reaction in v20-21 is to fall to the ground, not in despair, not in self-pity, but in worship. “The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.” God is still God, he still reigns, he’s still good and, whatever happens, he is forever to be praised.

Evangelist to Burundi Simon Guillebaud talks about how humbling it is to live alongside people who have suffered much. He has a colleague called Sarah, whose husband was murdered, so she is now a widow with four children to feed and no Social Security. Yet, he says, her face beams every day, and she constantly praises God for his many blessings to her.

“The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.”

I heard just this week about a short-term mission team that went to the Caribbean island of Tobago to serve in a Christian leper colony. During a worship meeting, the team leader asked if anyone had a favourite song they wanted to sing. A woman raised her hand straight away.

When he looked at her, he was taken aback by her appearance. Her raised hand was a fingerless stump. Her face was disfigured; her nose, lips and ears had gone. But she shone with joy, and asked, “Could we sing, Count Your Many Blessings?”

The team leader started the song, but he was so overcome with emotion that he couldn’t finish it. He said afterwards, “I’m sure that won’t be the last time I’ll sing that song, but I’ll never again sing it the same way.”

“The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.”

In the recent weeks and months, in this church, I’ve been humbled to see grandparents of a child who died and parents who miscarried their baby, standing just days after their devastation with hands raised in worship, singing out praise to God with all their hearts.

“The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.”

Professor Sir Norman Anderson was an outstanding academic with a brilliant legal mind; he lectured on Law at Cambridge University. He was elected to the British Academy of leading scholars, honoured for their distinction in the humanities and social sciences.

He was also a Christian and he wrote a book called The Evidence for the Resurrection which argues from a forensic perspective how compelling the case is for Jesus’ rising from the dead as the four Gospels describe. Anderson was a man of high intelligence and great faith.

But that faith was severely tested when his only son, Hugh, an exceptionally gifted young man, undergraduate at Cambridge, suddenly became ill and died of a brain tumour. A few days later, Anderson spoke, as planned, on Radio 4’s Thought for the Day. He explained why he believed that God raised Jesus from the dead and then he said, “On this I am prepared to stake my life. In this faith my son died just a few days ago." One of the last things he said was, “I'm drawing near to my Lord.” Anderson said, “I am convinced that my son was not mistaken.”

“The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.”

Yes, but why? What a waste! A Christian in the prime of his life, with such a future ahead of him, a great gift for the church and the world – taken, apparently randomly.

We have to admit and accept, along with Job, that a lot of suffering is simply a mystery to us. Deuteronomy 29.29 says that the secret things belong to the Lord alone.

There is a bigger picture that we cannot see now, but which we will in eternity and the time between now and then is where we live by faith, not by sight.

We may have to wait until the next life to understand fully why bad things happen to good people. And this was Job’s experience.

Ending

In the five minutes or so I have left, I want to say this: Job chapter 1 teaches that suffering can expose the genuineness of our relationship with God.

I have known people who I thought had a real heart for God become hardened away from faith because of suffering. But I have also seen others with angry hearts, hardened against God, soften because of affliction.

I know a man in France for example called Jacques who, like Job, had three daughters. Like for Job, each of Jacques’ daughters died. All three in fact died of leukaemia before reaching adulthood.

He told me once that, decades later, he still felt utterly bereft. He and his wife never recovered emotionally, nor will they I believe until they get to heaven where all pain and tears wash away.

But Jacques thanks the Lord, with tears in his eyes, that in the strange mercy of God, that triple tragedy is where his journey of faith started.

He had been a communist militant, always agitating, always protesting, always in an angry crowd with a placard and a clenched fist. After his third daughter died he met a Christian who gave him a Gospel to read. When he met Jesus, reading Luke's Gospel, he became one of the most soft-hearted, grace-filled, joyful Christians I have ever met. And a great evangelist too who has led many to Christ.

When as Christians we ask, “Why? Why do bad things happen to good people?” we ask it, like Jacques does, in the shadow of the cross.

This morning, I’ve shared stories of parents whose children died. Like for Job. I think this must be the most unbearable pain humans ever experience.

It’s also the deepest agony that God has ever experienced. He watched his Son, who lived a perfect life, better than Job’s, better than anyone’s, suffer the worst fate anyone ever has.

And on the cross, just like we do, at the point of his greatest distress, Jesus asked, why? “My God, why have you abandoned me?” Why?

As Jesus took upon himself the wrath of God for the sin of the whole world, the spiritual shock was so traumatic, the physical agony was so excruciating, the mental torment was so harrowing that he suddenly felt thirsty because he was passing through hell taking the condemnation and separation from God our sins deserve. Such is his love for us.

As pastor and theologian R.C. Sproul has said, “Why do bad things happen to good people? That only ever happened once, and he volunteered.”

So let’s respond now in praise and worship. Because the Lord gave… his only Son. And the Lord has taken away… our sin and shame. May the name of the Lord be praised.



Sermon preached at King's Church Darlington, 5 July 2026.

How Can I Find Happiness? (Ecclesiastes 2.1-26)

Introduction  

The British actor A.E. Matthews once reflected sadly over his own life saying, “In the end I got so old and tired and weary of living, that I looked in The Times obituary column each morning and if I wasn't there, I got up!”

The American novelist Ernest Hemingway wrote, “I live in a vacuum that’s as lonely as a radio when the batteries are dead.” Shortly afterwards, he committed suicide. 

The Irish rock musician Bob Geldof's autobiography is entitled Is That It? 

 

The French artist Paul Gauguin painted a large picture in 1897 called Three Questions. In the top left panel it says, Where do we come from? What are we? Where are we going? Moving from right to left, it shows the beginning of life depicted as an infant and the end of life as a lonely old woman with various random and disconnected figures in between. But the painting, completed just days before the artist's sad decline and death, doesn’t seem to really communicate much of anything. And perhaps that's the point.

 

Where do we come from? Who are we? And where are we going? are the big existential questions of our time. And not just of our time, actually, because they appear in the Bible too, and never more forcefully than in the book of Ecclesiastes.

 

Understanding Solomon

 

It was written by King Solomon who lived around 950 BC, which was Israel’s golden age. Its borders have never, before or since, been as extensive as they were in Solomon’s day. Israel’s economic wealth, its cultural influence and its military strength were all at their highest point during his reign. 

 

Solomon was an exceptionally high achiever. He was multitalented. Politically, culturally, intellectually, artistically and spiritually, he left his mark - big time. But above all, he was renowned all over the ancient world for his unparalleled wisdom. 

 

He was a scholar, a highly original thinker, who spoke a lot of sense to people. He came before the great Greek philosophers like Socrates, Plato and Aristotle. And in fact, only Jesus in the whole Bible is presented as having superior wisdom to Solomon. 

 

But his whole life was a restless pursuit of the answer to those great questions behind every midlife crisis – What is life all about? Why am I here? Who am I? What is the meaning to my life? How can I find happiness?

 

Solomon is associated with three books in the Bible, and it seems he wrote them at three different points in his life. 

 

His first book is the Song of Songs. Or as some call it, the snog of snogs! It’s an epic love poem.  It’s full of sensual imagery and it's packed with dreams and fantasies that the two breathless young lovers have about each other. They long for intimacy all the way through it. You read it and think, these two need to get a room. Or perhaps take a cold shower. Most would guess that Solomon was in the springtime of his life, maybe his early twenties, when he wrote it.

 

Later, Solomon started a hobby of collecting sayings and maxims from all over the world. It seems he was in his 30s or 40s with badly behaved teenage kids when he compiled the book of Proverbs, because it’s basically a manual of advice from a worried father to a wayward son.  

 

It reminds me of something a sixteen year-old girl once said to her mother. “Mum, what did you get up to when you were my age that makes you so worried about me now?”

 

The problem is, Solomon had a fantastic words of wisdom from God for other people, including for his own children, but as he slowly backslid in his faith, he ignored that wisdom for his own life and made catastrophic choices he later regretted. As a result, his kids ended up even further away from God than even he did. When you walk with God with integrity your whole life, you give your children the best model to emulate. 

 

Background to Ecclesiastes

 

Solomon's third book is Ecclesiastes. He introduces himself in chapter 1 as David’s son and king in Jerusalem. 

 

It looks like Solomon wrote this one when he was old. He’s near the end of his earthly journey now, looking back. And he muses about the many things he did in his ambition for greatness and his quest for happiness. 

 

Let’s pick it up in chapter 2. 

 

I said to myself, ‘Come now, I will test you with pleasure to find out what is good.’ But that also proved to be meaningless. ‘Laughter,’ I said, ‘is madness. And what does pleasure accomplish?’ I tried cheering myself with wine, and embracing folly – my mind still guiding me with wisdom. I wanted to see what was good for people to do under the heavens during the few days of their lives. I undertook great projects: I built houses for myself and planted vineyards. I made gardens and parks and planted all kinds of fruit trees in them. I made reservoirs to water groves of flourishing trees. 

I bought male and female slaves and had other slaves who were born in my house. I also owned more herds and flocks than anyone in Jerusalem before me. I amassed silver and gold for myself, and the treasure of kings and provinces. I acquired male and female singers, and a harem as well – the delights of a man’s heart. I became greater by far than anyone in Jerusalem before me. In all this my wisdom stayed with me. I denied myself nothing my eyes desired; I refused my heart no pleasure. My heart took delight in all my labour, and this was the reward for all my toil.
Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun. Then I turned my thoughts to consider wisdom, and also madness and folly. What more can the king’s successor do than what has already been done? I saw that wisdom is better than folly, just as light is better than darkness. The wise have eyes in their heads, while the fool walks in the darkness; but I came to realise that the same fate overtakes them both. 

Then I said to myself, ‘The fate of the fool will overtake me also. What then do I gain by being wise?’ I said to myself, ‘This too is meaningless.’ For the wise, like the fool, will not be long remembered; the days have already come when both have been forgotten. Like the fool, the wise too must die!

So I hated life, because the work that is done under the sun was grievous to me. All of it is meaningless, a chasing after the wind. I hated all the things I had toiled for under the sun, because I must leave them to the one who comes after me. 

And who knows whether that person will be wise or foolish? Yet they will have control over all the fruit of my toil into which I have poured my effort and skill under the sun. This too is meaningless. So my heart began to despair over all my toilsome labour under the sun. For a person may labour with wisdom, knowledge and skill, and then they must leave all they own to another who has not toiled for it. This too is meaningless and a great misfortune. What do people get for all the toil and anxious striving with which they labour under the sun? 

All their days their work is grief and pain; even at night their minds do not rest. This too is meaningless. A person can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in their own toil. This too, I see, is from the hand of God, for without him, who can eat or find enjoyment? To the person who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge and happiness, but to the sinner he gives the task of gathering and storing up wealth to hand it over to the one who pleases God. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.

 

Now this is all very well, but what is that doing in the word of God? It seems to be more about fate than faith. It sounds like the confessions of a burned-out secular humanist. It could have been written by Eeyore in a wretched mood, on a rainy day. These aren’t the words of someone whose strength is the joy of the Lord. 

 

It’s because, in the winter of his life, Solomon had drifted far away from God. That’s why he sounds so bored and tired of life and world weary. “Oh, what’s the point?” he seems to say again and again.

 

Ecclesiastes is never once quoted in the New Testament. But absolutely belongs in holy scripture. When they put the Old Testament together no one questioned whether this book had a rightful place in God’s inspired word. You need to dig deep to unearth its riches though - and that’s what we’re going to try and do together this morning.

 

When you read Ecclesiastes through, you realise that Solomon is having a debate with himself throughout the book. 

He begins with a statement, “Meaningless, everything is meaningless.” Then he argues with himself, for and against, whether there’s any purpose, whether he’s wasted his life, whether it’s all just pointless. And he explores his own soul; the dark side as well as the bright side. 

 

Life makes no sense to him. Then again, maybe it does after all. But everything’s such a big waste of time. Or, actually, perhaps not totally.

 

It’s a bit like picking petals off a flower; “she loves me, she loves me not…” It doesn’t work if you stop halfway through! You’ve got to get to the end, haven’t you? Or you might get the wrong answer. (Actually, in my experience this is not a 100% a scientifically reliable method of determining the affections of a young woman’s heart…)

 

But it’s the same with Ecclesiastes. You have to get to the final chapter to make sense of the rest of the book, as we’ll see. 

Solomon’s great experiment

 

Solomon is a man with exceptional talents as we've seen. In addition, he is born into a life of wealth and privilege. He has every opportunity possible to live life to the full. 

 

And in Ecclesiastes 2 he reels off an impressive catalogue of all the things he did to try and find happiness.

 

This is Solomon’s bucket list – and he crosses off every item on the list. He tries partying (v1), comedy (v2), drinking (v3), engineering (4), gardening (v5), inventing (v6), acquiring (v7), womanising (8), studying (v12) and working (v19). 

 

The first book of Kings gives us some detail on all this. It says he lived in sumptuous palaces. He strolled around in beautiful, landscaped gardens. He constructed a private zoo displaying exotic animals from all over the world. He amassed; 12,000 Egyptian thoroughbreds (the best horses that money could buy) and 1,400 chariots (these were his Ferraris and Bentleys).

 

Royalty from all over the world travelled to Jerusalem to admire the splendour and finery of his kingdom. He sent them home dizzy from the experience and lavished with extravagant gifts. He held banquets serving the world’s most luxurious and sumptuous food and drink with celebrity guest lists. Everyone envied him.

 

He was waited on by a personal staff estimated at 10,000 servants, each one trained to indulge his every whim. He only had to click his fingers and he would be entertained by the country’s best singers, musicians and actors. 

 

He drank vintage wines in pure gold goblets. Prosperity in his reign was such that silver was considered of little worth. 

 

He could make love, whenever he felt like it, with any one of the 1,000 or so beautiful women in his harem. He spared himself no sensual pleasure. 

 

He had the power to do anything he wanted. He was an absolute ruler. He sat on a throne of ivory and gold, elevated on six steps, adorned with twelve hand-carved lions, and surrounded by hundreds of shields of hammered gold. 

 

His engineering feats were stunning; grand building projects, the temple of course, but also fortress cities, parks, bridges, roads and canals...

He says in v9, “I became greater by far than anyone in Jerusalem before me.” That’s not hubris and ego. It’s an undeniable fact. 

 

Solomon would be the envy of the world today as well. He's at the top of the ladder that practically everyone is climbing. I find that people spend their whole lives dreaming about and striving for the next job, the next house, the next extension or new kitchen, the next promotion, the next relationship, the next holiday, the next buzz. But when they get there, once they have tasted the elation, they find it doesn’t fulfil them in the way they hoped it might. Can you relate to this? 

 

Money can buy you virtually anything, but love isn’t one of them and neither is contentment. You can have a full wallet, a full larder, a full stomach, a full house, a full calendar, a full career, a full wine cellar, and an endless supply of lovers - and still have an empty soul. This is what Ecclesiastes chapter 2 shouts to us. 

 

The empty promises of wealth

 

As Solomon reflects back on his life, it dawns on him that he’s got it all wrong. His relentless pursuit of pleasure took his focus away form God. 

 

1 Timothy 6.6 says, “Godliness with contentment is great gain.” Most of his life, Solomon didn’t value godliness, so he found no contentment. That’s why he paints his life here in dull shades of grey as meaningless and empty.

 

I don’t know if there is any discovery more depressing than to realise at the very end of the only life we have that it’s all been a terrible waste. 

 

“Yet (v11) when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun.” 

 

Solomon's first-class intellect cannot make sense of anything. He lives in a playboy mansion but feels no pleasure. He has a dream career but has zero job satisfaction. 

 

At the end of the day, he looks at everything he has, everything he’s done, and everything he is, and he rolls his weary eyes and says, “whatever.” It just leaves him frustrated and unfulfilled.

 

A 21st Century Solomon would have a private jet, a luxury yacht, a personal golf course on a private Caribbean island, an exclusive art collection, stately homes with diamond chandeliers, swimming pools, high-class vineyards – but all of it in the same suffocating spiritual vacuum... 

Jay Gould, the American multi-millionaire businessman and investor said on his death bed, “I suppose, that I am the unhappiest and least satisfied man on earth.” Welcome to Solomon's world.

 

Social psychologist Oliver James wrote a book twenty years ago called Affluenza. And in it he comments on a study that said that 50% of people with incomes over £35,000 (around £55,000 today, allowing for wage inflation) feel they can’t afford to buy everything they need. 

 

And the conclusion of this research is that whatever your income, however much is in your bank account, you will always think that you need about a third more money than what you have to live the way you think you should. Mammon always says, “You haven’t got enough to give away. Store it up.”

 

Money can buy you a bed, but not sleep. Money can buy you a wedding ring, but not love. Money can buy you a clock, but not time. Money can buy you an education, but not wisdom. Money can buy you jewellery, but not beauty. Money can buy you insurance, but not security. Money can buy you a crucifix, but not a Saviour.

 

Phil Collins is one of the world’s best known and most successful musicians. He is one of only three recording artists to have sold over 100 million records as a solo artist and over 100 million records as a member of a band. (Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson are the other two, so that's exalted company).  He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. His net worth is estimated at around £300 million. 

 

But in an interview shortly after his third marriage breakdown, he said this: “Night after night I find myself lying on the bed, staring up at grey skies, rueing my life." He later said, “The huge hole, the void, I filled watching TV and drinking alcohol. And it nearly killed me.”

 

Many people spend most of their life losing their health to try and gain wealth, and then spend the end of their life losing their wealth trying to regain their health.

 

The turning point

 

Why is Solomon so cynical and despondent? It’s because he tries to find happiness in everything he has, without any connection with the God he once knew. 

 

But after 41 straight verses of doom and gloom in chapters 1 and 2, there’s a first glimmer of optimism.

 

Finally, Solomon mentions the “G word”. Verse 24: “A person can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in their own toil. This too, I see, is from the hand of God, for without him, who can eat or find enjoyment?"

 

He’s saying that life is given to us by God for our pleasure. And as soon as Solomon brings God into the picture, his mood lifts. 

 

1 Timothy 6.17 says, “God richly provides us with all we need for our enjoyment.” Take pleasure in what you do, and enjoy life, live it to the full, because it’s a gift from God who loves you and wants to bless you and fill you with good things.

 

And then he says this, (v26); “To the person who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge and happiness…"

 

Hold that right there. What he’s saying here is that satisfaction comes to those who make God their supreme treasure. 

 

Food and work and friends and laughter and leisure are good. God created them for our pleasure. But, on their own, they can’t give you enduring happiness or self-worth. Solomon went down that road and found it was a dead end. 

 

And those who shut God out all their lives end up with nothing. The day after you die, if you have had zero spiritual interest at all your whole life, what is there to show for it? And what are you going to say to God?

 

Ending

 

C.E.M. Joad was an Oxford Professor who converted from atheism to Christianity. Here’s what he said after he came to faith in Christ: “Trying to find happiness from this world is like trying to light up a dark room by lighting a succession of matches. You strike one, it flickers for a moment, and then it goes out. But when you find Jesus Christ, it's as though the whole room is suddenly flooded with light.”

 

Real satisfaction in life comes through relationship with God. Which Solomon neglected. And that’s why he ends Ecclesiastes in chapter 12 with this final plea:

 

"Remember your Creator in the days of your youth…" (while you’re still young, with your whole life ahead of you). “Don’t waste your life like I did,” he’s saying.

 

What about you? Today is the first day of the rest of your life. 

 

Are you going to build the rest of your days on Solomon sand, chasing after the wind, or on the solid ground of living wisely by knowing God through Jesus Christ, the wisdom of God?

 

Let’s pray...

Sermon preached at King's Church Darlington, 14 June 2026