If someone tells you that they’re feeling blue, they don’t mean they’re turning into a smurf. They mean that they’re sad and feel that they are without hope. We all suffer from the blues from time to time – especially on dreary October mornings when we know we have six months of winter ahead of us. But the color blue has a totally different significance in the church. It stands for hope because it reminds us of the sky and our home in heaven. Blue is sometimes used as the color for the season of Advent. That’s when we express our hope in Jesus’ coming. As we continue the sermon series entitled “Joseph: a life of many colors,” blue will remind us of both the despair and hope that Joseph experienced during his time in Egypt.
Let’s get warmed up for the sermon by reviewing some essential facts about Joseph. Go ahead and voice the answers if you know them. Joseph was the son of…Jacob, and the great grandson of…Abraham. Joseph had how many brothers? Eleven. Ten of whom hated him and sold him into slavery. That’s how Joseph ended up in…Egypt where he was sold to the captain of the palace guard. His name was…Potiphar. When Joseph spurned Potiphar’s wife’s advances, she convinced her husband to imprison Joseph. That’s where we pick up the true story.
If you ended up in jail for doing the right thing like Joseph had done, how would you handle the situation? Would you rattle the cell bars and demand to see your lawyer so you could countersue Potiphar’s wife for slander? Or would you just ball up into a corner of your cell and pray that the nightmare would end? Joseph did neither. Although he wasn’t happy about being in prison, the Lord continued to be with him and Joseph made the best of his situation. He served cheerfully when the warden put Joseph in charge of all the prisoners.
Perhaps you are feeling imprisoned by your situation in life. You spent years and thousands of dollars to get a degree, but instead of moving up the corporate ladder you’re spending your days running up and down the stairs at home to pick up after others. It’s easy to feel resentful. Or if you work at a place where no one appreciates your talents or thanks you for your effort, you probably want to bail. But when you consider the benefits you would lose by doing so you resign yourself to resuming the slow count down until retirement. But Joseph’s example reminds us that there is no such thing as a dead-end job – not if you believe that you’re working for the Creator of the universe and not just for a paycheck.
This truth allowed Joseph to serve cheerfully even if he was in prison. One morning he noticed that two of his fellow prisoners were feeling blue. The two men were officials in Pharaoh’s household. One was the cupbearer and the other was the chief baker. These men were sad because they both had dreams for which they were certain there was an important meaning but they didn’t know what that was. Don’t you think Joseph would have been justified in saying to these men: “You think you’ve got problems? Let me tell you about mine. My brothers sold me into slavery! And then this good-for-nothing wife of Potiphar…” But there was none of that. Instead Joseph showed real interest in these men when he not only noticed that they were sad, but asked for the reason. And he didn’t do this because God had whispered: “One of these guys is your ticket out of here, Joseph. So be nice.”
Friends, even though you might not be in the situation that you want, it’s where God has placed you right now. You can grumble and complain but you’re not just making yourself more miserable, you’re giving in to your sinful selfishness thinking that life is all about you. It isn’t. Instead God has called us to take a genuine interest in others like co-workers, fellow church members, and of course family. Coax them to share with you what’s on their mind. It’s the kind of unselfish life that God has called us to live...even in prison if that’s where we should somehow end up.
When the baker and cupbearer expressed their regret that there was no one around to interpret their dreams, Joseph set them straight when he explained that only God can give the meaning of dreams. Since Joseph believed God would share the meaning of those dreams with him if that was his will, he invited the men to describe them. The cupbearer dreamt about three branches of grapes which he picked clean and crushed to fill Pharaoh’s cup. Joseph said this meant that in three days’ time the cupbearer would be restored to his position with Pharaoh. The baker on the other hand dreamt he was carrying three baskets of bread on his head that birds kept eating. Joseph said this signified that in three days the baker would be executed.
Everything happened as Joseph predicted. And that seemed good for Joseph, for the cupbearer had promised to help get Joseph out of prison. But when days, weeks, and then months went by with no word of a pardon, Joseph’s hopes were deflated and he was left singing the blues again. Was he a forgotten man? By the cupbearer yes, but not by his God. This was all part of a divine plan. You see had Joseph been released on the cupbearer’s testimony he would have been freed from prison but wouldn’t he still have been a slave? God had something much better in mind for Joseph.
God has something much better in mind for you too. Everything you’ve ever wanted – peace and happiness is waiting for you in heaven. Isn’t that what Jesus promised the thief on the cross? That convict may have been long forgotten by his loved ones, embarrassed at what he had become. But when he pleaded: “Jesus, remember me,” the Savior of the world did not answer: “Remember you? Why I should I do that when you deliberately forgot all you were taught about morality and love when you became a murderer? Remember you? I can’t wait to forget you and every other sinner here!” Instead Jesus replied: “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.” Will you be there too one day? At your baptism God promised to never forget you. He washed you clean of your sins and put his name on you – the way you might carefully wash a quilt your grandmother lovingly made for you and then write your name on it so that you never lose it.
Two years would pass before the hope of freedom would return for Joseph. It happened when Pharaoh himself had a couple of dreams that neither he nor any of his wise men could make sense of. Only then did the cupbearer remember how Joseph had helped him with his dreams and so he suggested that Pharaoh summon the Hebrew. When Pharaoh told Joseph that he heard he was an interpreter of dreams, Joseph again made it clear that God alone was the diviner of dreams. You have to love that humility. It’s an attitude that we want to adopt, for whatever talent we may possess is not ours by right; it’s God’s gift for service to others.
Encouraged by Joseph’s response, Pharaoh described his two dreams. In one dream seven fat cows stepped out of the Nile River. They were followed by seven skinny cows. Here’s where the dream gets weird. The seven skinny cows swallowed the seven fat cows! In the other dream, seven wimpy heads of grain swallowed seven bountiful heads of grain. Joseph explained that this meant that there would be seven years of good harvests followed by seven years of famine. He then suggested that someone should be put in charge to collect the excess grain during the good years so that they would have something during the lean years. On the spot Pharaoh chose Joseph to be that man! He was given fine clothes to wear and Pharaoh’s signet ring. Just like that, Joseph went from being a slave-prisoner to the second most powerful man in Egypt.
Joseph’s God-given wisdom propelled him from pit to palace. We have a God-given wisdom that lifts us even higher. Our God-given faith in Jesus has propelled us to a place in God’s heavenly mansion and not as a servant polishing the brass but as a member of the family. So are you singing the blues right now, disappointed about your living arrangement, your work, your school? That will pass. It may take longer than the two years that Joseph spent in prison but some day you’ll be standing next to the King of kings clothed in one of his robes and wearing his signet ring marking you as his beloved child. And this is an appointment that will never end. Let the despair you now feel give way to hope, that is, to an absolute confidence that in heaven you’ll never sing the blues again.
Would a dream from God make you more certain of this truth? The New Testament book of Revelation contains seven such dreams (visions really). Those visions may seem as confusing as the crazy dreams you have when you sleep – visions of locusts with the head of a woman and the tail of a scorpion, and visions of a seven-headed dragon. But the message of Revelation is crystal clear: there will be wars, famines, earthquakes, epidemics, and false teachers will assault the Church, but the victory belongs to Jesus and to all those who continue to trust in him.
That’s a message that we need to hear repeatedly isn’t it? Otherwise we would never shake ourselves of the blues that come over us when we look at everything happening in the world today like the recent floods in Alberta and Colorado and the terrorist attack in Kenya. But even when these events directly affect our lives, we can look up to the skies, which are especially blue in Alberta, and know that there’s a better life waiting for us beyond it. For God will not forget us just as he did not forget Joseph. Amen.
SERMON NOTES
How might you have expected Joseph to handle his false imprisonment? What did he do instead?
God has placed you where he wants you right now. How does that truth lead you from despair to hope?
Twice Joseph reminded his audience that only God could give the meaning of dreams. Why is Joseph’s example worth remembering when someone praises you for a talent you have?
Why was it fortunate that Joseph wasn’t released from prison on the testimony of the cupbearer? What kind of “delays” in your life have turned out to be a blessing for you and others?
Joseph may have been forgotten by the cupbearer, but he was not forgotten by God. How do you know God has not forgotten you?
Joseph’s God-given wisdom propelled him from pit to palace. What God-given wisdom do you have that has elevated you even higher than that?
Agree or disagree? God still communicates to us today in dreams.
