Joseph-The Interpreter

Please turn with me in your scripture's to. Genesis, chapter 40. Genesis 40, we're going to be looking at the whole chapter verses one through 23.

We catch up with Joseph here, he's in prison because Potiphar's wife falsely accused him of trying to get her into bed, even though it was the other way around. Before I read, I'd like to pray and ask for God's blessing on the reading of his word.

Father in heaven, we thank you for the gift of your word, we ask you to open our hearts and our minds by the power of your Holy Spirit, that as the scriptures are read and as your word is proclaimed, that we may hear with joy what you say to us this morning, in Jesus name, Amen.

For the last several weeks, we've been studying Joseph's life. We've wondered at times how he reacted to the different circumstances that he found himself in. First his brothers challenging him when he told them about the dreams that he had received from the Lord. And then his brothers growing more and more angry and frustrated and filled with hatred toward him to the point where they conspired together to murder him. But they decided to make money off of him instead, and sold him into slavery. Throughout it all, Joseph remained connected to God.

He stayed in close companionship with the Lord. And the Lord, it says in the scriptures repeatedly, the Lord was with him. Joseph worked hard to serve the Lord in whatever circumstances he was in. So when Potiphar bought him as a slave, he worked hard for Potiphar and the Lord blessed him. But then Potiphar's wife accused him of attempted adultery, and he was thrown into prison.

But what we've also discovered so far is that Joseph's heart reflected the heart of Christ. When we consider the saints who have gone before us when we consider people like Joseph when we hear testimonies of God's grace and mercy, not only in Joseph's life but in King David's life and other people in the scriptures, we hear about the heart of Christ.

So when we hear about people who demonstrate a resolute faithfulness to God, regardless of their situation, we are encouraged. We know that Christ came to seek and to save the lost. And yet, throughout his ministry, people tried to force him to do what they thought he should do. Even his own disciples tried to get him to be the kind of messiah or the kind of king that they wanted him to be.

But Christ remained faithful to the plan that his Father had given to him, and Joseph in this way helps us to see Christ, to see how we, filled with the same Holy Spirit, can live in faithfulness to God also.

Now, have you ever tried, by your own strength and determination, to live for Christ? Have you ever woken up in the morning and said, I am going to do everything in my power to live my life this day in perfect obedience to Jesus Christ? And I won't fail. Because I'm so committed in my decision to do this.

If you've ever made this kind of commitment, it doesn't take very long before the evil one brings all kinds of evil desires and ideas to mind, to your thinking, to drag you away from obedience to God. In fact, sometimes I don't even think the evil one has to do much work because there's enough of our old natures within us that constantly pulls and drags us down. No matter of strength that we exercise has ever resulted in any kind of faithful living before the Lord.

All our best efforts by our own strength, are as filthy rags before the Lord. It’s not as though they’re not good enough, not quite strong enough, it is that coming from us, they are tainted by sin. Where we find victory, is when we surrender ourselves to Christ. Where we pray, "Lord, I cannot. Lord, I know I will not. I trust in you in the presence of your Holy Spirit in me, to live as you have created me to live."

We totally depend upon the Holy Spirit to keep us walking in step with him, and that's what we see in Joseph's life. He, too, was blessed with the Holy Spirit. That’s what the phrase "the Lord was with Joseph” means. It means the presence of the Holy Spirit. Yes, the same Holy Spirit who came and descended and alighted upon Jesus at his baptism. It's the same Holy Spirit who came on Pentecost Sunday nearly 2000 years ago, the same Holy Spirit who anointed the disciples and turned them from being afraid, little men—men who were afraid to gather together without locking the doors--that same Holy Spirit transformed them and gave them boldness to go out and to preach. To go to the Temple Mount, to stand in Solomon's colonnade and to proclaim boldly the Jesus Christ that you crucified. He's the one who is the Messiah. He's the one who can take your sins and forgive them, and that he is the lamb of God who took away your sins and he has made you right with him. All you must do is repent, turn to him and put your hope and trust in him. And they boldly proclaimed this day after day at the temple until they were arrested and thrown into prison and released again, and then eventually most of them, if not all of them, gave up their lives for the gospel of Jesus Christ, that same Holy Spirit, that was work in the disciples, who has anointed all of us. So that we may be free from slavery to sin and may be slaves for Jesus Christ.

Because the Holy Spirit was upon him, Joseph's attitude was to live his life in awareness of those around him. He didn't just take his job, his responsibilities in prison, as something that he had to do, but he saw them as opportunities in which to serve the Lord, and he saw them as opportunities in which to serve the Egyptian people. Joseph treated them as his fellow man.

And these two, the cupbearer and the baker, in the years that they were together, he must have come to know them and he could see a change in their disposition that morning.

We live with people. We interact with people at work, at school, in our neighbourhoods. We don't even have to know people extremely well in order to sense when something's a bit off with them. And as you pray for your neighbours, as you pray for your friends and your coworkers and classmates, when you see those changes, those are opportunities in which to speak to them.

Something was weighing upon the hearts of these two men. God was at work in them, he'd blessed them with dreams, but they didn't understand what the dreams meant. So the Lord blessed Joseph with the ability to understand and interpret their dreams. Joseph's interpretation brought good news to one and bad news to the other, and in a nutshell, that's what God calls us to do.

We bring an interpretation, that is, a correct worldview to the people that we are in fellowship with, in relationship or friendship with. Everybody has a worldview. Everybody has an idea of how things correspond to reality.

Everybody has an idea of why there is evil, why there is good, all these different things. And yet most people who do not know Christ or do not know the Bible, who do not know they don't understand, why there is evil. They don't understand why there is such a thing as sin, even though they may not be able to articulate that word, but they understand it innately.

And we need to bring to them the true worldview that they need to know in order to be able to receive Christ, receive freedom.

So we act, in that way, as interpreters, just as Joseph did. There are three things we need to do:

First: Pray

First thing that we need to do is pray. We need to develop our relationship with God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. We need to spend time with God in prayer and in the study of his Word so we can know what is true and what is false. That’s how the Lord is with us.

Second: Be Attentive to Others

Second, we need to turn our attention to others, to those who are bound in bondage and slavery and sin to this world. We need to pray for our neighbours our coworkers our fellow students our friends and family. We must ask God to give us a heart for other people. We must ask for the same heart that Jesus had, that when he looked over Jerusalem, he wept. His heart that was compassionate in feeding the 5000, the 4000, the heart that raised Lazarus from the dead and raised Jairus' daughter; the heart that gave the truth to the Syro-Phoenician woman and mercy to the woman at the well. We must ask for the heart and the eyes and the care and the attention of Jesus.

Third: Recognise Opportunities to Share Our Hope in Jesus

And third, we must recognize when people in our lives have heavy hearts, recognize when there are opportunities to tell them about the hope we have in Jesus. Joseph saw that his fellow prisoners had heavy hearts—that their dreams troubled them. One received good news, the other did not. When we tell people about the hope we have in Christ, some will receive the good news. And others will not. And still, we must tell them.

In this, in the interpretation of their dreams, Joseph is starting to see the fulfillment of God's plan for his life. Be we don't always get to see that. We don't always get to understand why God allows us to go through such a difficult journey.

We don't know.

But what we can do is trust.

We can trust that he who began the good work in us, he is going to be faithful to finish it. We can trust that regardless of the circumstances that we've faced, God transforms them, if not for our benefit, certainly for the benefit of others.

And so Joseph is just getting a glimpse of a way out, and so he asked Pharaoh's cupbearer to remember him when he was restored to the court.

And unfortunately, that fellow let Joseph down.

We'll see, as we continue our series, it was another two years that Joseph languished in that dungeon. And that just serves to remind us that people are going to let us down. But we must not give up hope, not in Christ, certainly, and not in Christ who is at work in those around us. Joseph trusted God and God's timing. How is it for you, how are you trusting God, are you trusting him to work out his plan for your life?

Are you feeling anxious, concerned about anything, in these times? Listen to these words of hope and encouragement, from Isaiah 41:10-13 "Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. Behold, all who are incensed against you shall be put to shame and confounded; those who strive against you shall be as nothing and shall perish. You shall seek those who contend with you, but you shall not find them; those who war against you shall be as nothing at all. For I, the LORD your God, hold your right hand; it is I who say to you, “Fear not, I am the one who helps you.”

God is holding your right hand. Right now. He's the one who is helping you through each challenge, each day. He will strengthen you and help you; upholding you by his righteous right hand. Trust in him today. Trust in him tomorrow. Trust in him every day. In the mean time, do the work God prepared for you to do, with all the integrity, determination, and joy in the Lord. Amen.

Let us pray.

Father in heaven, we thank you for this promise that no matter what we have gone through, are going through, or will go through in this life, you hold us by your strong and mighty hand. You have grabbed hold of us so strongly that nothing can possibly tear us away from you, not one thing.

Lord, help us to live in the light in the power of that truth. And help us, Lord, to trust in you. And trust you to work in the lives and the hearts of our loved ones, our friends, our coworkers, our schoolmates, and our neighbours, in Jesus' name, Amen.