Life of Joseph 8

The Advantages of Adversity

Genesis 40:1-23

INTRODUCTION

“On November 27, 1965, Howard E. Rutledge parachuted into the hands of the North Vietnamese when his fighter plan exploded under heavy anti-aircraft fire. Within days of his capture, Rutledge was moved to the “heartbreak hotel,” an infamous prison in Hanoi. As soon as the key turned in the rusty lock, he felt the utter aloneness that comes from being a prisoner of war. He lived in a six-by=six concrete cell, caked with filth, full of rats. There was nothing to read, nothing to look at, and no one to talk with– just the man and his thoughts. Howard Rutledge began his stay wondering why God would allow something evil to happen to one of His children. When he was finally released, he understood that God had used that difficult time to make him a stronger man. There was a plan behind it, and it led to God’s glory.”

Joseph must have had those same feelings.– faithful yet thrown into prison.

Genesis 40:1–23 ESV

1 Some time after this, the cupbearer of the king of Egypt and his baker committed an offense against their lord the king of Egypt. 2 And Pharaoh was angry with his two officers, the chief cupbearer and the chief baker, 3 and he put them in custody in the house of the captain of the guard, in the prison where Joseph was confined. 4 The captain of the guard appointed Joseph to be with them, and he attended them. They continued for some time in custody. 5 And one night they both dreamed—the cupbearer and the baker of the king of Egypt, who were confined in the prison—each his own dream, and each dream with its own interpretation. 6 When Joseph came to them in the morning, he saw that they were troubled. 7 So he asked Pharaoh’s officers who were with him in custody in his master’s house, “Why are your faces downcast today?” 8 They said to him, “We have had dreams, and there is no one to interpret them.” And Joseph said to them, “Do not interpretations belong to God? Please tell them to me.” 9 So the chief cupbearer told his dream to Joseph and said to him, “In my dream there was a vine before me, 10 and on the vine there were three branches. As soon as it budded, its blossoms shot forth, and the clusters ripened into grapes. 11 Pharaoh’s cup was in my hand, and I took the grapes and pressed them into Pharaoh’s cup and placed the cup in Pharaoh’s hand.” 12 Then Joseph said to him, “This is its interpretation: the three branches are three days. 13 In three days Pharaoh will lift up your head and restore you to your office, and you shall place Pharaoh’s cup in his hand as formerly, when you were his cupbearer. 14 Only remember me, when it is well with you, and please do me the kindness to mention me to Pharaoh, and so get me out of this house. 15 For I was indeed stolen out of the land of the Hebrews, and here also I have done nothing that they should put me into the pit.” 16 When the chief baker saw that the interpretation was favorable, he said to Joseph, “I also had a dream: there were three cake baskets on my head, 17 and in the uppermost basket there were all sorts of baked food for Pharaoh, but the birds were eating it out of the basket on my head.” 18 And Joseph answered and said, “This is its interpretation: the three baskets are three days. 19 In three days Pharaoh will lift up your head—from you!—and hang you on a tree. And the birds will eat the flesh from you.” 20 On the third day, which was Pharaoh’s birthday, he made a feast for all his servants and lifted up the head of the chief cupbearer and the head of the chief baker among his servants. 21 He restored the chief cupbearer to his position, and he placed the cup in Pharaoh’s hand. 22 But he hanged the chief baker, as Joseph had interpreted to them. 23 Yet the chief cupbearer did not remember Joseph, but forgot him.

Important Principles for Christians Facing Crises Today

I. Problems Provide Greater Opportunities

A. As God’s children, we need to look for the possibilities in our problems.

Why do prisons exist?

Think about how important they are to God working in people’s lives.

1. Paul wrote many books of the Bible from prison.

a. Paul was able to look beyond his immediate concerns to focus on the larger plan of God.

2. The Book of Revelation was written by the apostle John while he was a prisoner on the Isle of Patmos.

3. John Bunyan envisioned the great allegory “Pilgrim’s Progress” while in prison.

B. Joseph was just about to learn that God had not forgotten him while he was sitting in that prison.

1. The Lord brought him into contact with a man who would ultimately be the link between Joseph’s boyhood dreams and his present reality.

2. Sometimes difficulties are necessary in our lives, because problems are the means that God uses to provide the opportunities that He wants us to experience.

II. Problems Promote Spiritual Maturity

A. Problems can make us better if we refuse to let them make us bitter.

1. Apart from the Jesus, no one experienced more unfair treatment than Joseph.

2. He is the classic example of suffering for doing good.

a. He obeyed his father, and his reward was to be sold into slavery.

b. He remained faithful to God, protecting his purity, and his reward was to be slandered and put into prison.

c. He faithfully interpreted the dreams of a man who promised to remember him, but that man failed to say anything about Joseph for two full years.

3. Yet, Joseph is never showed to have complained

B. Joseph had to be toughened up after living a spoiled life as a child.

1. He had to be ready to be prime minister of Egypt during a world-wide famine.

2. Psalm 105:16-22 “16 When he summoned a famine on the land and broke all supply of bread, 17 he had sent a man ahead of them, Joseph, who was sold as a slave. 18 His feet were hurt with fetters; his neck was put in a collar of iron; 19 until what he had said came to pass, the word of the Lord tested him. 20 The king sent and released him; the ruler of the peoples set him free; 21 he made him lord of his house and ruler of all his possessions, 22 to bind his princes at his pleasure and to teach his elders wisdom.”

3. When he left prison, he had become a man of great wisdom and courage and determination.

C. God desperately would like to see some iron saints today, and the only way to get a little iron into our souls is to experience a little suffering.

D. Hebrews 12:11 “11 For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.”

James 1:2,3 Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, 3 for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. 4 And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

E. This idea is under assault today by those preaching success and prosperity.

1. They preach God wants everything to be right and easy for us.

2. Rather than producing soldiers, that sort of thinking produces pampered children.

3. Problems are God’s gifts to us to make us strong.

4. Problems are God’s way of molding us into maturity, putting iron into our souls so that we can face the challenges ahead. Problems promote maturity.

III. Problems Prove Integrity

A. Character should never be altered by our circumstances.

1. Character versus Reputation.

a. Reputation is what others think we are.

b. Character is what God knows we really are.

c. Reputation is chiseled on our tombstones,

d. Character is what the angels say about us before the throne of God.

2. Character never changes as circumstances change, because the circumstances give us an opportunity to prove our integrity.

B. Some people say, “My situation made me this way.”

1. Our situations didn’t create us; they simply revealed who we are.

C. When we face the difficulties of life, it’s a wonderful opportunity for God to use us to demonstrate the reality of our character in front of others.

IV. Problems Produce a Sense of Dependency

A. Genesis 39:20-21 “20 And Joseph’s master took him and put him into the prison, the place where the king’s prisoners were confined, and he was there in prison. 21 But the Lord was with Joseph and showed him steadfast love and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison.”

1. Everywhere Joseph went, God went with him.

2. Nothing separates us from God.

B. Joseph’s was always conscious of the presence of God.

1. While in prison, he found that God was with him.

2. He discovered how much God loved him.

C. Problems make us dependent upon Him. For Christians it is not self-sufficiency but the presence of God that helps us get through difficult days.

V. Problems Prepare Our Hearts for Ministry

A. Genesis 40:6-7 “6 When Joseph came to them in the morning, he saw that they were troubled. 7 So he asked Pharaoh’s officers who were with him in custody in his master’s house, “Why are your faces downcast today?””

1. This unjustly accused man had awareness to minister to someone else.

a. Not wrapped in self-pity, blaming God.

b. Joseph was sensitive, loving, and sympathetic.

c. There is no more meaningful ministry than that which comes from someone who is himself suffering.

2. Problems in our lives make us sensitive to the problems of others.

a. God allows problems in our lives so that we can better minister to someone else.

b. From his humbling slave and prison experiences, he was able to fairly administer grain to a starving populace.

CONCLUSION

David Jeremiah, “You see, problems have advantages. They provide us with opportunities if we will but look for them. They promote spiritual maturity if we let them make us better instead of bitter. They prove our integrity, produce a sense of dependency, and prepare our hearts for ministry. That’s exactly what happened to Howard Rutledge, the pilot shot down over Vietnam. Through his experiences, God taught him lessons he could have learned no other way. He learned the power of prayer, because God put him in a circumstance where he had to learn to pray. He learned the importance of the church, since the Lord allowed him to see what it was like to be isolated and alone. He learned the importance of the Bible, for he was without his for so long. And he learned how critical a family is, as he thought back over all his missed opportunities with his wife and children. God allows problems so that we can learn and grow. We don’t like them, but they are necessary if we are to grow and change. Don’t run from the pressures God wants to use to make you His perfect example of Christlikeness.”