Have you ever had weird dreams? Can you give some examples?
Dreams
are a way of our mind talking to us … all the filters that we have in the day
are set aside and our brains are free to confront what is really going on in
there. Dreams often recount:
·
Fears
·
Unexpressed emotion
·
Ambitions
·
Reflect what is going on in our lives at that
point in time
Yet
they are an incredible metaphor for another kind of dream … dreams for our
lives … our hopes and aspirations … I would like you to take a moment to think
of the dreams that you have had for your life …
·
How many of these dreams have been realized?
·
How many are outstanding?
·
How different would your life be if these
dreams had come true?
A
man had had a very vivid dream – he was floating down the river on a boat when
he saw someone he recognized and shouted out a greeting at them … at which he
woke himself up by shouting, ‘Hello’. He wasn’t sure if he had or had not
disturbed his wife until the next night when after he kissed her goodnight she
said, “Oh by the way if you dream again tonight please make sure you just wave
hello this time”
Sometimes
our dreams just end up being waves instead of hello’s … and there are a whole
lot of reasons why our dreams don’t end up being what we want them to be:
·
Out of control of our circumstances
·
Making the wrong decisions
· Dreams are unrealistic – what’s wrong with a
self-cleaning car that flies you to work while you sleep?
When
our dreams fail … we feel as though we fail … and we feel as though our lives
have failed … and we are left feeling frustrated!
Joseph
Joseph
is a fantastic template for you and for me because he gives us both sides of
the story: both dreams that fail and those that are successful and he offers us
an invitation to dream again:
Joseph’s Failure
When
we look at Joseph’s dreams in the beginning of Genesis 37; as a 17 year old
there are two marked characteristics of his dreams:
·
Joseph’s dreams are centred on himself
o About
himself
o About
his own success
·
Joseph’s dreams are a source of arrogance and
affect his attitude towards others …
Yet
Joseph isn’t the only one who dreams …
Acts 2:17 ESV
“‘And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I
will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall
prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream
dreams…”
Regrettably
our dreams are most often about serving self – we dream of
·
Success
·
Wealth
·
Influence
Things
that will bring us peace and joy and wholeness … now I don’t want you to think
that there is anything wrong with wanting these things for our lives … but when
this becomes our point of departure – as with Joseph - it affects our
·
Attitudes
·
Priorities
We
find that we tend to live lives that are self-serving and inward looking … you
will remember how this so annoyed his brothers they tried to kill him and ended
up selling him off into slavery … yet if we move ahead 13 years we discover
that dreams have become something quite different for Joseph.
Joseph
has been serving in Egyptian households, he has been thrown into Egyptian jail
and his life is uncertain … but this time dreams are playing a different
function for the thirty year old.
Pearl Necklace
After
she woke up, a woman told her husband, "I just dreamed that you gave me a
pearl necklace for our anniversary. What do you think it means?"
"You'll
know tonight." he said.
That
evening, the man came home with a small package and gave it to his wife.
Delighted,
she opened it to find a book entitled "The Meaning of Dreams."
Suddenly
we find Joseph not interpreting his own dreams but rather the dreams of others
in
·
Genesis 40
o Cup-bearer
= good news
o Baker
= not so good news
·
Genesis 41
o Pharaoh
= famine
You
see suddenly Joseph’s dreams were not about himself … but rather about others …
suddenly his interest lay not in his own preservation or growth or success but
rather about supporting and benefitting others.
Perhaps
more striking though is that in the first instances Joseph just talks about his
dreams but years later after all his journeys and incarcerations Joseph says, “Do
not interpretations belong to God?”
(40:8b)
Then
in the next chapter of Genesis, when Joseph is summoned to interpret Pharaoh’s
dream he says in (41:16)
16 “I cannot do it,” Joseph replied to Pharaoh, “but
God will give Pharaoh the answer he desires.”
You
and I have so many dreams for our lives … from winning the rugby world cup all
the way through to career success, from having the perfect family to being
financially secure … from having the perfect body … all the way through to a
dream car … yet the message of Scripture is clear … the message of Joseph is
clear …
·
Our dreams should serve not only our own
interests but the interests of others …
·
Our dreams can only become real in God’s
strength and not our own…
When
Joseph was dreaming as a 17 year old … his dream was pathetic – his family
bowing down to him … he never ever could have imagined that 13 years later …
not only his family but in fact the entire nation of Egypt would be bowing down
to him!
Dream
I
encourage you to dream … to hope … to reach for the stars … for this is God’s
way of drawing you and leading you into greater things than you could ever
dream of …
·
And so base your goals and your aspirations
in Christ’s call to love … of course to love yourself but also to love others …
to serve them … to reach your aims for the benefit of the world around you!
·
And then rely not on your own strength but
that of the Holy Spirit in Christ our Lord to make those dreams a reality!
You
and I have all had crazy dreams in our sleep … but would you believe me that
the following inventions all originated from night time dreams:
·
Sewing machine
·
DNA structure
·
… of all things Google
·
Degas paintings
Where
will your dreams lead you …
·
What is your dream for others?
·
Are you able to trust God to make this true?
And
through the power of the Holy Spirit you will change the world.
Amen
The Rev
Armando Sontange
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