Life In Between

Genesis 40 NASB95

Then it came about after these things, the cupbearer and the baker for the king of Egypt offended their lord, the king of Egypt. Pharaoh was furious with his two officials, the chief cupbearer and the chief baker. So he put them in confinement in the house of the captain of the bodyguard, in the jail, the same place where Joseph was imprisoned. The captain of the bodyguard put Joseph in charge of them, and he took care of them; and they were in confinement for some time. Then the cupbearer and the baker for the king of Egypt, who were confined in jail, both had a dream the same night, each man with his own dream and each dream with its own interpretation. When Joseph came to them in the morning and observed them, behold, they were dejected. He asked Pharaoh’s officials who were with him in confinement in his master’s house, “Why are your faces so sad today?” Then they said to him, “We have had a dream and there is no one to interpret it.” Then Joseph said to them, “Do not interpretations belong to God? Tell it to me, please.” So the chief cupbearer told his dream to Joseph, and said to him, “In my dream, behold, there was a vine in front of me; and on the vine were three branches. And as it was budding, its blossoms came out, and its clusters produced ripe grapes. “Now Pharaoh’s cup was in my hand; so I took the grapes and squeezed them into Pharaoh’s cup, and I put the cup into Pharaoh’s hand.” Then Joseph said to him, “This is the interpretation of it: the three branches are three days; within three more days Pharaoh will lift up your head and restore you to your office; and you will put Pharaoh’s cup into his hand according to your former custom when you were his cupbearer. “Only keep me in mind when it goes well with you, and please do me a kindness by mentioning me to Pharaoh and get me out of this house. “For I was in fact kidnapped from the land of the Hebrews, and even here I have done nothing that they should have put me into the dungeon.” When the chief baker saw that he had interpreted favorably, he said to Joseph, “I also saw in my dream, and behold, there were three baskets of white bread on my head; and in the top basket there were some of all sorts of baked food for Pharaoh, and the birds were eating them out of the basket on my head.” Then Joseph answered and said, “This is its interpretation: the three baskets are three days; within three more days Pharaoh will lift up your head from you and will hang you on a tree, and the birds will eat your flesh off you.” Thus it came about on the third day, which was Pharaoh’s birthday, that he made a feast for all his servants; and he lifted up the head of the chief cupbearer and the head of the chief baker among his servants. He restored the chief cupbearer to his office, and he put the cup into Pharaoh’s hand; but he hanged the chief baker, just as Joseph had interpreted to them. Yet the chief cupbearer did not remember Joseph, but forgot him.

What do you do when you are waiting on God to move you or change your life? Well, you serve Him where you are to the best of your ability, right? Admittedly this can be difficult.

ILL: How many of you have ever had your kitchen remodeled? We don’t realize how central the kitchen is in our lives until we have to live without one for 6-8 weeks. But what can you do? You manage the best you can- You set up the fridge somewhere, get a microwave cart and maybe a hot plate. You grill out and eat out, and do dishes in the bathtub.

Living in between good times can be difficult. As we look to the life of Joseph, we recognize that he is living in a bit of a tough time- he’s in prison in a foreign land. He was once the favorite child, but then he was betrayed by his brothers and sold into slavery. Then, as we saw last week, he was falsely accused of a crime and was imprisoned indefinitely.

Joseph was waiting on God to do something- rescue him, exonerate him, move him… something! The thing is, from Joseph’s perspective, God did not seem to be in any huge hurry.

And you can imagine that in this time of waiting, Joseph could have become depressed; he could have been understandably angry and bitter about his circumstances- perhaps he was do a degree… Can you relate?

At any rate, as we begin to examine Gen 40, we see that Joseph has been joined in jail by a couple servants from Pharaoh’s court. It’s in the verses that follow that we will spend our time this morning looking at how Joseph’s time in prison may give us insights into how we can serve God while we are waiting on what’s next.

So, if you picked up a bulletin this morning, I want to encourage you to follow along using the provided sermon guide. As always, the discussion questions are for your benefit as you seek to dive deeper this upcoming week.

Let’s learn together, Life in Between: 3 ways to live out our faith while waiting on God.

The first way that we live Life in Between is to

Acclaim God’s Supremacy (1-8)

Our perspective regarding this life and our circumstances is a directly correlated to our understanding of WHO God is.

God is indeed supreme. There is none greater, wiser, stronger, more moral, or more trustworthy.

Joseph, I believe recognized this and acclaimed God’s supremacy in 2 ways:

First, through compassion

Look at how he approached the baker and cup-bearer: (6-7)

Joseph looked at them and saw their troubled faces and sought to extend compassion to them.

How did this laud God’s supremacy?

He could have ignored them- after all, he had just as much reason as anyone to feel dejected. Many in our society would take this opportunity to kick them while they were down. Yet- though Joseph didn’t understand why he was in his current situation, his actions reflected his trust in Yahweh who is supreme in every way. Even though Joseph was in prison, he acknowledged that God’s ways are higher, and placed the needs of these two prisoners above his own.

Secondly, he acclaimed God’s supremacy through deference to God’s wisdom.

These men were dejected not simply because they had dreams, but because they had no one to interpret them. Of course, they likely were thinking of the king’s wise men and advisors, enchanters, etc.

We should note that God did use dreams occasionally for both prophetic words and to give understanding. And I believe He still does in some cases - I’ve heard of a number of Muslims who have come to faith in Christ because they dreamt of Jesus. BUT, there are a number of warnings about dreams as well. Not every dream is of God. The writer of Ecclesiastes warns that dreams may be the result of a busybody or one’s vanity (Ecc. 5:3, 5:7).

I would be hesitant to place too much emphasis on any of my dreams, especially if they led me to anything other than an affirmation of what is in Scripture!

Even still, these men had dreams that were evidently more than the result of an over-active imagination or a questionable meal from the mountain state fair. They knew these dreams meant something important, they just didn’t know what it was!

ILL: A few years ago in Haiti, I was leading a pastor’s conference. Every session, I would end with a Q&A. Of course I had an interpreter. But there was one guy who caught me at their break and was trying to convey something to me. But, no matter how many times he said it- slow, fast, loud,… I didn’t understand. I needed one qualified to help me get the message!

These men needed someone who could tell them what these dreams meant. Look at v. 8 - Joseph’s reply to them was not one of arrogance, even as he had jumped the gun on interpreting his own dreams several years earlier. Rather, he said “Do not interpretations belong to God?”

By deferring to and declaring the wisdom of God, Joseph points these two men to the reality that there is only One who holds this kind of understanding and coincidentally, He is the same who holds the future.

You and I can serve in similar ways. Think about the people around you who are struggling- looking for answers. Scripture tells us that God placed eternity in man’s heart, and therefore people all over the globe are longing to find meaning and answers to this life. As Christians, we ought to convey compassion to these… they are prisoners like we once were!

Go to them and ask them, like Joseph- what is wrong? Can I pray with you? Can I introduce you to the Only One who can give peace and understanding? Can I point you to the God who is greater than everything this world offers?

While we are waiting on God, We can serve Him faithfully by acclaiming God’s Supremacy.

Discuss: How might you point someone to the One True God this week? What opportunities has God already given you to do this?

The next way we can live Life in Between is to

Announce God’s Word (9-19)

In our text, we see that Joseph announced exactly the interpretations of each of these dreamers. Notice he did not say, “It sounds like...” or “It might be that...” No, he said “This is the interpretation”

And look- he didn’t add to or take away from them. He declared God’s Word regarding the Cup-bearer. He would be restored to his former position with Pharaoh… This was a message of hope and redemption. It was good news and likely was an easy message for Joseph to give.

That’s why the baker felt like he too could share his dream.. the cup-bearer got a good interpretation, he figured Joseph was a nice guy and he’d likely get a good report too. (this might make us think of how the OT kings demanded God’s prophets only ‘prophesy’ good on them and the nation)

But, instead, Joseph proclaimed God’s word of condemnation upon the baker. There was no sugar-coating here. The baker would be hanged- this was literally ‘beheaded and impaled on a stick and the birds will eat your flesh’ (Yikes!)

Joseph told the meanings of these dreams faithfully, which will turn out to be important later on in his story.

He wasn’t trying to be popular. He wasn’t trying to tell them what they wanted to hear, but rather what they needed to hear, that is God’s Word.

Folks, we have been entrusted with God’s Word and are commanded to proclaim it faithfully. Pastors and teachers are commissioned to “Rightly divide the word of God” (2 Tim 2:15) and to not shrink back from declaring the whole counsel of God (Acts 20:27).

Too many people choose only to speak the ‘cup-bearer’s' sermon … you know, the easy ones or the ones that will keep us from controversy or from perhaps offending someone. But the truth must be proclaimed. No matter our circumstances or our fears, ONLY the Word of God endures forever! And so we announce it boldly!

Friends, you and I have been placed in the here and now. Where you are - even in your in between, is where God wants to use you to announce His Word:

Announce His glorious Gospel- How we are all sinners - Rom. 3:23 says that all have fallen short of the glory of God. There is none good! Yet, even in our despair, we live by faith in Christ’s righteousness, not our own. Even though we mess up bad, even though life hurts sometimes, even though the cards seemed stacked against us, GOD has made a way of victory in Jesus Christ, so we proclaim this wonderful truth!

Announce your testimony - like Lee stood before you earlier in the service and told you how he gave his life to Jesus and how he was baptized in obedience to God’s word. People need to hear how you were born again, washed by the atoning blood of God Himself so that you no longer live as a prisoner to sin and shame, but you are free, raised to life from death, so tell them!

Announce the future - Scripture tells us the future. One day, Christ will return. On that day, everyone will be given a new body and will stand before the judgment seat of Christ- some will go into eternal damnation and torment because they have not repented of their sins and placed their trust in Christ for salvation. Others, who have been redeemed through His blood, will go into eternal triumph, where God will dwell among us - he shall be our God and we shall be his people. People need to know, and God has equipped you to announce this truth!

It doesn’t matter what stage of life we are in, we can serve God faithfully by Acclaiming God’s Supremacy and Announcing God’s Word.

Discuss: Who will you announce God’s Word to this week? What is preventing you?

Finally, the last example of living Life in Between is to

Acknowledge God’s Faithfulness (20-23)

The interpretations of the dreams came just as foretold… God is faithful.

Yet, these dreams did little to better Joseph’s circumstances. He’s still in jail. We can look back up to v.14-15 and see Joseph appealing to the cup-bearer to remember him and speak a kind word to Pharaoh so that Joseph might be able to gain his freedom.

I can imagine how Joseph simply wanted to go home… to see his father and brothers. As it was, he had gone from a pit in Canaan to a pit in Egypt.

Throughout his time in this foreign land, he likely hoped to earn his freedom from Potiphar… that didn’t pan out. Finally, he had met a man with connections to the most powerful man in Egypt. Surely the cup-bearer would put in a good word with the Pharaoh...

But, (v. 23) the cup-bearer did not remember Joseph, but forgot him.

This is not what Joseph wanted to hear. And if it’s your life that seems stuck while you are waiting on God to move, it’s not what you want to hear either.

BUT, it was not time yet. God’s plan was better than Joseph’s. The cup-bearer let Joseph down, but even here we are reminded that our hope must not be in man or man’s plans, but in God alone.

Joseph’s plan to return to the good ol’ life seemed great in his eyes. But had that happened, Joseph would have missed the great blessing of being elevated in Pharaoh’s court and being instrumental in rescuing a whole nation, including his own family, from an impending famine….

ILL: We can be a lot like Joseph sometimes. We want to get in our comfort zone… we don’t like the things that are different. They are painful most of the time and other times they just don’t make much sense to us. BUT God is faithful! His plan to grow us, to use us to impact the world around us will be filled with times of waiting. And it’s in these times, that we must anticipate His success. God never fails.

And while you might agree here, let me add one other element: God is never late. Oh, it may feel like he’s stuck in traffic on I-26, but I assure you that He is exactly on time.

Don’t get so caught up in your desire for comfort that your miss the blessing of God’s Faithfulness!

So, while Joseph was stuck in that old pit for a while longer without any commentary, we can be sure that God was still with him. And through his discomfort and uncertainty, Joseph could anticipate that God would bring about that which He has intended.

1 Peter 5:10 NASB95

After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you.

Hey, I wonder if God’s not speaking to you through His Word this morning.

Do you feel like you are in the dark? Do you feel forgotten? Afraid? God is faithful, friends. And as we close this morning, I want to invite you to renew your trust in Him. I want to encourage you to serve Him faithfully where you are. And, If you have never repented of your sins and trusted Christ as your Savior, I’d love to share with you more about how you can do that.

Discuss: Have you ever felt forgotten? How does God’s faithfulness comfort you?