Genesis 40
Suffering Well
V.1-2 Cupbearer and baker were two highly important people in Pharaoh’s court
Cupbearer- In charge of tasting the wine
Baker- In charge of the Pharaoh’s food
Why was Pharaoh so mad?
V.3 We don’t know why they were in prison
Whatever external reason they were sent to prison, they were really there to meet Joseph.
V.4 Though Joseph had a position of high authority in the prison, he did not use it to make others serve him. He used his high position to serve others.
Phil 2:5 Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, 7 but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death- even death on a cross!
V.5-7 Why would he even care?
V.8 True! Interpretations belong to God but not all dreams are from God
The question is not “can God” but does God?
Jer 23:25 "I have heard what the prophets say who prophesy lies in my name. They say, 'I had a dream! I had a dream!' 26 How long will this continue in the hearts of these lying prophets, who prophesy the delusions of their own minds? 27 They think the dreams they tell one another will make my people forget my name, just as their fathers forgot my name through Baal worship. 28 Let the prophet who has a dream tell his dream, but let the one who has my word speak it faithfully. For what has straw to do with grain?" declares the LORD. 29 "Is not my word like fire," declares the LORD, "and like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces? 30 "Therefore," declares the LORD, "I am against the prophets who steal from one another words supposedly from me. 31 Yes," declares the LORD, "I am against the prophets who wag their own tongues and yet declare, 'The LORD declares.' 32 Indeed, I am against those who prophesy false dreams," declares the LORD. "They tell them and lead my people astray with their reckless lies, yet I did not send or appoint them. They do not benefit these people in the least," declares the LORD.
How do you know if a dream is from God?
1. See if it comes true
2. Test it in light of God’s word
V.9-16 God enables Joseph to understand the cupbearers dream and Joseph interprets it for him
V.17-19 Joseph had no problem telling good news
Notice, Joseph is equally faithful to tell the bad news
James Montgomery Boice, “How many there are who are willing to preach the cupbearer’s sermon but are unwilling to preach the baker’s sermon!”
We’re quick to tell of God’s love and forgiveness but tend to pass on the message of God’s justice and wrath
Did Joseph speak the truth?
1. Dreams to family
2. About Potiphar's wife. Could have kept it quiet and had the affair with the troubled wife on the side.
Some of you will suffer for the truth
John 15:17 "If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. 19If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.
V.20-22 Apparently God was enabling Joseph to interpret dreams
V.23 Thus the suffering continues
Doesn’t this seem strange?
Joseph is a righteous guy.
· Loves God
· Obeys his parents
· Hard and industrious worker
· Esteems his boss and his property
· Sexually pure
· Serves others
Yet he continues to suffer
Phil 1:29 For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for him
Suffering:
1. Just living in this depraved world is a form of suffering
2 Peter 2:7 and if he rescued Lot, a righteous man, who was distressed by the filthy lives of lawless men 8(for that righteous man, living among them day after day, was tormented in his righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard)-
2. Mocked for Living Right
1 Peter 4:3 For you have spent enough time in the past doing what pagans choose to do-living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing and detestable idolatry. 4 They think it strange that you do not plunge with them into the same flood of dissipation, and they heap abuse on you.
So the question is not will we suffer but, “Will we suffer well?”
Like Joseph
(V.6-7)
But when your life sucks and you trust God you still look out for the interests of others
Acts 16:16Once when we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a slave girl who had a spirit by which she predicted the future. She earned a great deal of money for her owners by fortune-telling.17This girl followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, "These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved." 18She kept this up for many days. Finally Paul became so troubled that he turned around and said to the spirit, "In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!" At that moment the spirit left her.
19When the owners of the slave girl realized that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to face the authorities. 20They brought them before the magistrates and said, "These men are Jews, and are throwing our city into an uproar 21by advocating customs unlawful for us Romans to accept or practice."
22The crowd joined in the attack against Paul and Silas, and the magistrates ordered them to be stripped and beaten. 23After they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison, and the jailer was commanded to guard them carefully. 24Upon receiving such orders, he put them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.
25About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. 26Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everybody's chains came loose. 27The jailer woke up, and when he saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself because he thought the prisoners had escaped. 28But Paul shouted, "Don't harm yourself! We are all here!"
29The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. 30He then brought them out and asked, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?"
31They replied, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household." 32Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house. 33At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his family were baptized. 34The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them; he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God—he and his whole family.
The hardest thing about suffering is not knowing the outcome
· Job didn't know he's be restored and healed
· Joseph doesn't know he's going to save millions
· We don't know how our suffering is going to turn out
Romans 8:18 I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.