Introduction: Don and Lori Chaffer, founders of the contemporary Christian group "Waterdeep" have recently released a song called, "Stranger in This Land." The words are:

I spent too much time today on things that don’t mean much

The world around me groans under it’s tyranny of touch.

Every wasted thought and every battle left unfought

Stand as testimony of my need of you.

I’m a stranger in this land. Won’t you take me by the hand?

I can hear that distant band, but I’m still a stranger in this land.

Somedays at the strangest times I feel a sense of loss,

A bite or two of stolen fruit and we all suffer from the cost.

But every longing for my home, even when I’m not alone

Stands as testimony of the coming day.

All I’ve got to do is to believe on You

Then every struggle seems worthwhile.

I can see the promise of Your smile.

While those lyrics were penned in February of 1999 they reflect the same longing of Christians for the last 2000 years. That longing is a desire to be where we ultimately belong—with our Lord in heaven. That passion and longing filled the heart of hymn writer Fanny Crosby, who, though blind, would write:

"Oh, the soul-thrilling rapture when I view His blessed face,

None of us would find fault in the message of these song writers, yet we find it difficult to identify. Why? Because we get so comfortable living here and ignore the fact that we are going there. We become people living here going nowhere! We are a people who preach, pray, point and praise the truth of heaven. The reality is it makes little difference to our life now.

In our story of Joseph we see Joseph as an example of the faith we as contemporary Christians should have toward heaven or eternal life and the difference it should make in our life now. Joseph’s command upon his death to have his body buried in Canaan was a statement of faith. That act of faith teaches us that for the Christian life that is lived today is connected by faith with life that is to come. We’re living here but we know we’re going there!

1. Joseph’s requiring before his death that his burial occur in Canaan was his greatest act of faith (Genesis 50:22-26, Hebrews 11:22)

The record of the Bible leaves little doubt that Joseph was a man of tremendous faith. The history of his faith is well documented in the narration of the events of Genesis. For instance Joseph knew and realized God’s presence and lived in that moment by moment. Several times we read of God acting in Joseph’s life not in miraculous ways but by the evidence of His constant presence. Also, Joseph relied on God’s promises and believed He would keep them. He never forgot the dreams that God gave to him. Another example was that Joseph had always faithfully responded to God’s call. Wherever God placed him he lived out that experience without rebellion or bitterness in his life. Throughout his life Joseph received God’s grace as sufficient for his needs. He knew God would provide! With a lifetime of faith he at last rested in the belief that God would take him and his people home.

When the writer of Hebrews then was compiling his record of those who had lived by faith he included Joseph as an example. Hebrews 11:22 then is seen as a summary statement or the climax of a lifetime of faith for Joseph. Joseph’s request was not some blind leap or hope in the dark but an expectation that God would take His people out from where they didn’t belong!

The history of Joseph’s faith is outstanding but how deep was it? The answer is amazingly deep! You see for Joseph to command that he be buried in Canaan demonstrated the true depth of his faith! Think about the fact that ninety-three years of his life was spent in Egypt and during that time he had become in every outward way part of the culture. For example, he married an Egyptian, spoke Egyptian, ruled as an Egyptian becoming second only to Pharaoh sustaining all of Egypt during the famine. Therefore because of his power and greatness he could have had a tomb and a funeral that would have only been rivaled by a Pharaoh.

To an Egyptian in power, as Joseph was, his tomb meant that his world would go on forever! Each tomb was a universe all its own with gods, statues, gold, jewels, images of his likeness and all that would be needed to live forever. The tomb or pyramid was a holy shrine. It expressed a theology not just architecture. It was in the minds of all Egyptians the most desirable of all possible permanent abodes! There was only one problem for Joseph to consider about being buried as an Egyptian: Joseph wasn’t an Egyptian!

Joseph could live, breath, think, act and speak like an Egyptian but he was not an Egyptian and he knew that! He still knew that down deep within, beneath the gold and linen of Egypt he was still a servant of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob! How deep was his faith? So deep that the best that Egypt had to offer was totally worthless to him! Ninety three years in Egypt had not worn the cutting edge of his faith at all. The sands of the desert might eat away at the tombs of the Pharaohs but Egypt made no mark on the faith of Joseph!

As great as the example of his faith is the result of his faith is even more magnificent in its force. After his death four hundred and thirty years would go by and Israel would be a captive nation in Egypt. Where the coffin of Joseph was during this time we don’t know. Yet wherever it was it was a reminder to all Israel, "You’re not home yet.!"

Then one night after the Angel of the Lord passed through the land destroying all the first born of Egyptians, the people of Israel were going home. Exodus 13:19 records that the next morning, "And Moses took the bones of Joseph with him, for he had made the sons of Israel solemnly swear, saying, "God shall surely take care of you; and you shall carry my bones from here with you." Even when the people rebelled in the wilderness and for forty years they wandered in the desert wherever they went the coffin of Joseph went with them, always reminding them, "You’re not home yet!"

Finally, 400 years after Joseph’s command Joshua and the nation of Israel buries the coffin of Joseph beside his father and his ancestors. "Now they buried the bones of Joseph, which the sons of Israel brought up from Egypt, at Shechem, in the piece of ground which Jacob had bought from the sons of Hamor the father of Shechem for one hundred pieces of money; and they became the inheritance of Joseph's sons. (Joshua 24:32) They were finally home!

The force of Joseph’s faith was that as long as they were not in Canaan they could not fulfill his last request. They had to get back to Canaan to fulfill his words. Therefore for over 400 years Joseph’s faith was a driving force to the nation of Israel! "You can’t bury me until we’re all in Canaan!

Joseph’s greatest act of faith reminds us that just as Joseph had faith that at last he and his people would go home, so we can see that life that is lived today is connected by faith in a life that is to come.

2. Just as Joseph by faith expected to go home so the Christian is by faith to recognize that this life is not our destiny.(Phil.3:20-21)

The essence of this story is captured in Paul’s words to the Philippians in Philippians 3:20-21: "But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body."

In the same way that Joseph had faith that his people would return to Canaan so we are to have faith in the reality of living forever in heaven. Paul said, "For our citizenship is in heaven." (Phil. 3:20a)

Verse 20 is contrasted with verses 18 and 19: "For, as I have often told you before and now say again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is on earthly things." Those who set their goals on earthly things are not like us! We are to see ourselves as citizens of another city.

The word "citizenship" or "conversation" was especially meaningful to the residents of Philippi. The word referred to a group of people who were transported to another area for the purpose of exporting and transforming their surroundings. They were a city-state of Rome, a colony of Rome. Wherever they went they were to export their Roman way of life. Though thousands of miles from Rome they were to live and act as though they were always in Rome. Paul’s point was that they ,as a group of Christians, were to remember that they were residents of another city, more real and more important than Philippi.

As a Christian we are not a citizen of this world! Our allegiance is not here. Our goals in life do not end here! Our desires are not here! Why? Because we are a citizen of heaven! Peter called us "strangers and aliens." We are a people who are passing through on our way to another home—Heaven! There is nothing sadder than a Christian who forgets where his home is. My friend, the blood of Jesus Christ has set a seal on you that cannot be erased. You are destined for heaven because that is your home!

The direction of our faith being focused on heaven is vital. Yet, even more important is our faith in who we are expecting to meet us from heaven. Paul said, "…from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ." It is the hope of who is coming that gives our citizenship its real meaning. How are we to expect Him? Paul said we are to, "eagerly await" Him. The one who is coming is Savior—the One who is our forgiver. The One who is coming is Lord—He now reigns over us. The one who is coming is Jesus—the revelation of what God is like. The One who is coming is Christ—the promised one for all! Do we stand on "tiptoe" anticipating His return? Tragically, we allow our passion to be deadened by our culture and our comfort here.

What then is the result of our faith? Paul would say, "who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself" (Philippians 3:21). We believe that upon his return Jesus will change our earthly form("Who will transform the body of our humble state...") to be like the body He has now("into conformity with the body of his glory...") and all this will be done by His power ("by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself.").

My Christian friends, you and I must let what we believe be as awesome in force as the coffin of Joseph driving the people of Israel toward Canaan! How we must let our faith in our citizenship in heaven, our expectation of Jesus and what we will be like when he comes give us vitality today!

3. Joseph even after 93 years in Egypt never lost faith in God’s promises. Why? Because he let that faith change his heart and character in this life.

How can we let our hope in heaven help us today? It helps us by knowing by faith that while we are living here we are going there! Our faith in heaven gives us strength in the times when we really hurt. The Christian is someone who has decided to face up to and live through suffering! Just as in nature there is given in the deadness and absence of winter the hope of spring so the Christian has springtime within him. At times it may be dormant but because He has promised to return there is our hope of an eternal spring! "O joy that seekest me thro’ pain, I cannot close my heart to Thee; I trace the rainbow thro’ the rain, and feel the promise is not vain that morn shall tearless be."

Our faith in heaven makes us painfully aware that God has placed limits on our time. We imagine we will be immortal until a phone call, a medical report, or a funeral reminds us of our humanity and the hopelessness of that humanity! You don’t have all the time you would like! II Peter 3:9-11 says, "The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare."

Our faith in heaven will produce a quality of life that is unashamed! II Peter 3:14-15: "So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him. Bear in mind that our Lord’s patience means salvation…." Because we anticipate His return so passionately we choose to live daily in such a way that we will have no reason to shun His presence. Knowing that we are going there changes the way we live here! We face pain more confidently, cherish time more fully and live daily more holy. Our faith in heaven gives us a joy that at last we will see the one we have served all our life!

We sang today "Face to Face with Christ My Savior." Today I say to you let there be nothing in your life that would hinder your longing to behold Him. Face to face!

Conclusion: The beauty of this conclusion to our story of Joseph is that it causes us to took for Jesus. This powerful Old Testament figure points us to a New Testament truth that we must remember that life today is connected by faith with life that is to come. The question is, "How connected are you?" Have you grown so comfortable with this world you have forgotten you don’t belong? Have your eyes seen so much of this world that you have forgotten to look for Jesus? Has your lifestyle become so conformed that you have forgotten to be transformed?

Don’t forget, "I’m a stranger in this land." Living here, going there—that’s our connection! Believe it!

Sunday, October 24, 1999

Dr. Bruce Tippit, Pastor

First Baptist Church

Jonesboro, Arkansas

btippit@fbcjonesboro.org