The Promise and the Pit To Wisdom | Pastor Joe Valanzuela| Active Church Yucaipa

The scoreboard names the way people keep trying to figure out if life is being won or lost. The trash cans, the green grass, the better bat, the anxiety-free day, the liked post, the marriage that looks better than somebody else’s marriage, all of it becomes points on a board. The sickness underneath that scoreboard is comparison, and the game is rigged because the person playing also made up the rules.

Greatness, in this word, is not destiny and it is not achievement. Greatness is design. God designed people for greatness, but not the kind that needs applause, a stage, a title, or a higher score than somebody else. Significance gets confused with being seen, but Jesus flips the whole thing upside down.

Matthew shows Jesus stopping the disciples while they argue about who is the greatest. Jesus puts a child in the middle and says humility is what greatness looks like. Then James and John bring their mom into the whole thing, asking for the corner office next to Jesus, and Jesus says, “Not so with you.” The Gentiles lord power over people, but Jesus says the great one becomes a servant, and the first one becomes a slave. The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and give his life as a ransom for many.

Joseph becomes the living picture of that upside-down greatness. Jacob loves Joseph more than the rest, gives him the beautiful robe, and sets the whole family up for pain. Joseph has real dreams from God, but he talks about them like they are all about him. His greatness was never for him. God does not elevate a person to make a celebrity. God elevates a person to make a servant.

Joseph’s brothers see the robe, hear the dreams, and say, “Here comes the dreamer.” The pit becomes the place where greatness looks like it is dying. Joseph is stripped, betrayed, thrown down, and left while his brothers eat lunch nearby. The pit is unfair, and some pits really are unfair. Yet the enemy of greatness is not the pit itself. The enemy is what the pit convinces a person to believe about themselves.

Genesis says the Lord was with Joseph. Joseph did not need the royal coat to have the presence of God. Joseph served in Potiphar’s house, endured the long hidden years, and twenty-two years later stood in Egypt with power that could rescue others. Joseph tells his brothers that God sent him ahead to preserve life. The pit was not a graveyard. The pit was a womb, the hidden place where God brought the future to life.

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Key Takeaways

• 1. Turn off the scoreboard. [01:16:17] The scoreboard can count wins and losses all day and still never give a soul significance. Comparison keeps moving the finish line, so even success becomes exhausting. Servanthood frees a person from needing life to prove worth and opens the heart to give itself away. [76:17]
• 2. Greatness is never for self. [59:42] Joseph’s dreams were real, but the dream was never meant to make Joseph the center. God-given influence is not a trophy case, it is a responsibility. Promotion becomes protection for others, and resource becomes rescue when greatness is surrendered to God’s purpose. [59:42]
• 3. The pit tells dangerous lies. [01:07:11] The pit may be unfair, painful, and caused by another person’s sin, but the pit does not get the final word. Its danger is the way it whispers that a person is abandoned, finished, and unseen. God’s presence does not always remove the pit quickly, but it keeps the pit from becoming identity. [67:11]
• 4. God is with Joseph. [01:09:21] Genesis gives Joseph the strongest sentence in the lowest place: “The Lord was with Joseph.” The coat is gone, the family is gone, and freedom is gone, but God is not gone. Great people move by what is known about God, not merely by what is felt in the moment. [69:21]
• 5. The pit becomes a womb. [01:16:38] The pit looks like the death of the dream, but God can make it the place where the dream is formed. Hidden places develop empathy, endurance, humility, and care that applause never could. The future God brings to life often starts in the place no one would have chosen.
  
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Youtube Chapters

• [00:00] - Welcome
• [32:55] - World Cup Sunday Opening
• [33:46] - The Great Uncle Scoreboard
• [36:18] - How Do You Know You’re Winning?
• [39:48] - The Rigged Game of Comparison
• [41:54] - Designed for Greatness
• [44:32] - Jesus Defines Greatness with a Child
• [47:11] - “Not So With You”
• [49:26] - Greatness Means Serving
• [53:30] - Joseph’s Story Begins
• [59:42] - Greatness Is Never for You
• [63:11] - Joseph Thrown into the Pit
• [67:11] - The Pit’s Dangerous Lies
• [69:21] - The Lord Was With Joseph
• [76:38] - The Pit Is Not a Graveyard

Bible Reading

Genesis 37–50
The story of Joseph, from his dreams and betrayal by his brothers to his rise to power in Egypt and eventual reconciliation with his family, demonstrating that God's presence and purpose turn pits into places of preparation for greatness that serves others. [59:42] [01:07:11] [01:09:21] [01:16:38]

Matthew 20:25–28
“But Jesus called them to him and said, ‘You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.’” [49:26]

Matthew 18:1–4
“At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, ‘Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?’ And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them and said, ‘Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.’” [44:32]

Observation questions

1. In Matthew 18, what does Jesus place in the middle of the group, and what does he say that child shows about greatness? [44:32]
2. In Matthew 20, what are the two different ways of using power that Jesus contrasts? [47:11]
3. In Joseph’s story, what details made his brothers resent him so deeply before they threw him into the pit? [55:27]
4. After Joseph was stripped of his robe and thrown into the pit, what did his brothers do next, and what does that show about the moment? [01:03:11]

Interpretation questions

1. Jesus says, “Not so with you,” after describing how worldly rulers use power. What does that suggest about how easily people can copy the world’s way of defining greatness, even while following Jesus? [47:11]
2. Joseph’s dreams were real, but his greatness was never for himself. How can a God-given dream slowly become self-centered, and what helps keep it aimed at serving others? [59:42]
3. The pit was unfair, but the deeper danger was what the pit could make Joseph believe about himself. Why are painful seasons often so powerful in shaping identity? [01:07:11]
4. Genesis says, “The Lord was with Joseph,” even while he was a slave in Potiphar’s house. What does that reveal about God’s presence when circumstances do not look blessed at all? [01:09:21]

Application questions

1. Everybody tends to keep some kind of scoreboard. What has recently been giving points or taking points in the heart right now—work, parenting, marriage, money, appearance, being noticed, feeling calm, or something else? How is that scoreboard affecting peace? [36:18]
2. Greatness in the kingdom looks like serving instead of being above others. Where is there a real opportunity this week to quietly serve someone at home, at work, or in church without needing credit for it? [49:26]
3. Significance is often confused with being seen. Where has the desire to be noticed, appreciated, or applauded been especially strong lately? What might it look like to be faithful in a hidden place instead? [42:18]
4. Some pits are truly unfair. If there is a painful place in life right now, what lies has that pit been whispering—“I’m forgotten,” “I’m stuck,” “I’m not enough,” “God is distant”? Which of those lies needs to be named out loud? [01:07:11]
5. Joseph did not need the robe to still have the presence of God. What “robe” has been lost or threatened lately—a role, a title, a relationship, a plan, a sense of control? How might life look different if God’s presence mattered more than that lost thing? [01:09:21]
6. Great people move by what they know about God, not only by what they feel in the moment. In one hard area of life, what would change if there were a settled belief that God is with them there? [01:12:23]
7. The pit is not a graveyard but a womb. Looking back, has there been a hidden or painful season that produced humility, empathy, endurance, or deeper trust in God? What signs of new life can already be seen, even if the season is still hard? [01:16:38]