Sermon Tone Analysis

Welcome

Good morning everyone, today we are continuing in our series on the life of Joseph.

Today, we get to see Joseph encounter some better experiences than what he has had for the last 13 years of his life.

He was sold into slavery by his brothers, accused falsely of a crime that landed him in prison, and then he was forgotten about by the one person who could have helped him get out.

Today we will see how the cupbearer eventually remembers Joseph, and the effect that has on the rest of Joseph’s life.

Prayer

Engage / Tension

Who has ever wished that they would catch a really lucky break in life?

It could be a lot of different situations, but a lot of people often want to catch one good break in their life, something that sets them up financially or relationally for life.

Well in 1999, there was a man named Bill Morgan and he caught about three lucky breaks in life.

The first one happened after he was involved in a bad car accident that left him in a coma for over 12 days.

The doctors eventually reached the conclusion that he didn’t have a chance of survival, but not long after they thought that, he woke up!

Not only did he wake up, he woke up completely fine.

After this, Bill felt pretty lucky for having survived when no one thought that he would, so he went to a gas station and bought a lottery ticket.

Bill scratched it off and realized that he had just won a car.

A local news station heard about this man who was almost killed in a car wreck and then won a car through the lottery and decided to do a news story on him.

While they were filming they asked him to go back to the gas station he won the car at and buy another lottery ticket so they could re-enact him winning.

He agreed, bought the ticket, went over to the counter and started to scratch it.

Mid scratch though, he stopped, looked at the camera, and said, “I just won $250,000.

I’m not joking.”

This guy miraculously survived a car accident that should have killed him, won a car through the lottery, and then won $250,000 while he acted it out on the news!

As we look at Genesis 41 this morning, I want us to see that the events that happen with Joseph on not merely a lucky break, even though it might look like that.

But, Genesis 41 is not the entire story of Joseph.

This chapter provides us with an opportunity to look at Joseph’s past and his future, and see that God is the one who is acting here.

It is not a “lucky break” that helps Joseph, but God, who has been at work in Joseph’s life for years.

The chapter begins by explaining the events that lead the cupbearer to remember Joseph.

Pharaoh has two dreams, both very similar, and like the baker and the cupbearer he knows that there is a deeper meaning behind these dreams.

He send out for the wisest people in his kingdom to come and interpret them, but none of them can.

This is what jogs the cupbearer’s memory.

He tells Pharaoh about this young Hebrew man in prison who interpreted his dream and how those events came true.

Pharaoh then sends for Joseph and asks him if he can interpret the dream.

Joseph responds in a very important way.

He tells Pharaoh first, that he cannot do it, he cannot interpret the dream on his own.

But, Joseph says that God is the one who can interpret the dream through him.

Right here, we see how important it is in knowing that we can only accomplish the things of God by admitting that we are not the ones who have the power to do so.

Joseph didn’t confidently tell Pharaoh that he was the best interpreter and that he could trust him, no, he simply pointed to God as the one who actually held all of the power.

In the same way, Jesus asks us to do some pretty hard things.

He tells us to pick up our cross and follow him, he tells us to love our enemies, he tells us love God with all of our heart mind and soul.

All of these things, we truthfully cannot do on our own.

We need the Holy Spirit in our lives to give us the strength that we need to live and love like Jesus.

And like Joseph, we should not take credit for the work that God is actually doing.

Like Joseph we should be pointing it all back to the power of God so that others might realize who God is, just as this Pharaoh comes to learn.

To summarize what happens then, Joseph tells Pharaoh that both dreams mean the same thing.

There are going to be seven great years for Egypt, years of abundance.

But after these years of plenty, a severe famine will sweep across the land so badly that people will forget about the seven years of plenty that they just had.

Joseph then tells Pharaoh that in order to make it through that famine, Pharaoh should find someone who is wise and place them in charge of preparing for the famine.

Someone who can lead the nation in collecting food and storing it so that during the years of famine, the nation might survive.

I don’t think that when Joseph is telling Pharaoh this, that he is really trying to place himself in this position.

He isn’t saying this and winking at Pharaoh like, “Well, you know who could do this job really well?

Me.” No, Joseph just wants to get out of prison, he doesn’t necessarily want this position.

But Pharaoh recognizing, like Potiphar, like the prison warden, that something is different about Joseph because of how God works in and through him.

So Pharaoh appoints Joseph to this role and makes Joseph the second most powerful person in all of Egypt.

Everything that Joseph had said would happen comes to pass.

Egypt goes through the seven years of plenty followed by seven years of famine and Joseph’s plan begins to be put to work.

Because of Joseph’s plan the people of Egypt are able to get food, but even other nations are able to survive because of this.

That last verse tells us that the famine was so severe that the world comes to Egypt to survive.

I know that this is a lot of scripture that we got through, but this chapter really provides us with this chance to look back on the events of Joseph’s life and see how they have brought him to this point, as well as what God will do with the events that will still happen.

Conclusion

As we look back on Joseph’s life, we have to see that this encounter with Pharaoh was not the result of one lucky break.

Joseph didn’t win the lottery by getting to go before Pharaoh.

Instead, this happens because of a series of painful events that God used for his glory.

If Joseph had not been sold by his brother into slavery, he would not have made it into Potiphar’s house.

If Joseph had not said “no” to Potiphar’s wife, he would not have been thrown into prison.

If he hadn’t been in prison, he would not have interpreted the dreams of the baker and cupbearer.

And if he hadn’t interpreted those dreams, he never would have been taken before Pharaoh and placed in this position where he was able to save thousands upon thousands of lives.

Joseph is really this great illustration of Romans 8:28 “28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”

As we look ahead at Joseph’s life, we will see that because of everything that happens, Joseph is actually able to save his brothers and his entire family during the famine.

But, we also need to see that the events of Joseph’s life are descriptive, not prescriptive.

What I mean by this is that while we go through suffering in life, there is no promise that we will experience glory and prosperity in this life.

Now, you may be thinking, “Bummer, not a great application point Noah.”

But in reality, we do have the promise that God works all things for the good of those who love him.

We can be assured that we will face suffering in life, but we also know that we will ultimately experience joy when we experience our salvation through the power of Jesus.

As we look back on different moments of suffering in our life, I think we can begin to see how God has been able to use those things for his good and for his glory.

And we can find peace in knowing that even if things don’t work out for us like they did for Joseph, even if we don’t end up before Pharaoh or catching that big lucky break, we have the greatest inheritance waiting for us upon our arrival in heaven.

While we will suffer at times in life, we know that a time of great rejoicing is just around the corner when we experience Jesus face to face.