"I AM PILGRIM"

We are approaching the end of our study of the story of Joseph.  Joseph is making his way to the culmination of all things - that's Romans 8: 28 - where all things work together for good. In this last lesson on the life of Joseph, and because it's Thanksgiving Sunday, I want to weave his story into the one about the Pilgrims on that first Thanksgiving at Plymouth Rock in 1621. It's good to review our Christian holidays and heritage because the origin and meaning of the Christian holidays is increasingly becoming vague in our 21st century.

So, as we wrap up the story of Joseph today, I also want to link together the story of the Pilgrims and place them both in 3 tenses; the past that they endured, the present fruitfulness they enjoyed, and the anticipation of a blessed future. Joseph was like a pilgrim himself…. What do we mean by Pilgrim? We mean a stranger in a strange land that is looking forward to a new and better home.

The writer of Hebrews 11, who writes about the heroes of faith, talks about Joseph. He could have mentioned a lot of “great faith” exploits in his life; how he held on to the dream, endured hardship and imprisonment, but he sums it as follows:

Hebrews 11:22 By faith Joseph, when he was dying, made mention of the departure of the children of Israel, and gave instructions concerning his bones.

 The writer of Hebrews 11 selects one thing…that he was looking forward to a promised land, to going home to Canaan land. He had experienced God's faithfulness in his past; he was experiencing the fruitfulness of his present life and he was looking forward to the future. And the Pilgrims in 1621 understood this three-tense exercise of gratitude as well. They had escaped the persecution of the past; they were free to practice their faith in the present; and they were looking to set up a new colony for their children where they would be free to worship in the future.

Joseph saw himself as a Pilgrim; he knew that he didn't want to stay in Egypt forever, he gave instructions to his progeny to take his bones back home again; which Moses did 400 years later when he delivered Israel from bondage. And the Bible says this about the heroes of faith like Joseph.

 Hebrews 11: 13 These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured of them, embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.

And we, like the Pilgrims, are grateful for God’s faithfulness in the hardships of our past, give thanks for the blessings that we have in the present, and look forward with anticipation to our home with Christ in the future.

Phil 3:20 For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21 who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body….

Join us in person on Sunday at 10:00 a.m. or via livestream by going to https://www.firstbaptistsudbury.com and clicking on livestream for “I Am Pilgrim.”     

Blessings,                                  

Join us in person on Sunday at 10:00 a.m. or via livestream by going to https://www.firstbaptistsudbury.com and clicking on livestream for “A Prayer for Spiritual Wisdom and Revelation.”     

Blessings,

Kevin