Lesson’s from Joe pt 3 - “The forgotten ones.”
Opening Video Illustrations – These two clips reveal how people wrestle with loneliness and the feeling of being forgotten. Listen to their stories:
“Alone again” - Blue Fish TV (2:12)
“Trusting God through loneliness” Blue Fish TV (1:30 min)
I imagine Joe struggled with some of these same feelings as he pressed through the injustices, the false accusations, the lies, the painful hurts, the feeling of abandonment, the thoughts of rejection, and the betrayal of others. Remember Joe was just like you and I - he was not a super saint – he had feelings – he had emotions and each setback hit him hard! But what amazes me about our man Joe is his connectedness to God through it all. He was forgotten by others and betrayed by others but never by God because he always did the right thing!
Thesis: Joe is forgotten by the cupbearer in our text today but not by God. It was a lonely time for Joe but God was with Him even in the dungeon. We need to be reminded that He is with us in the palaces of life and in the dungeons of life.
Summary of last two messages:
What have learned in the last few weeks from Joseph’s life Genesis chapters 37, 39?
I. The solution to showing favoritism (adapted from John Ortberg’s message).
a. For those of you who have grown up receiving favoritism you need to put yourself in places where you are not the center of attention.
i. You need to throw away the arrogance and pride of thinking you are more special than others.
ii. You need to learn to be servants to others
iii. One pastor says, “Carry someone’s groceries, change some other kids diapers in the nursery, anything. But just humbly serve someone else and learn to rejoice in just being ordinary.”
iv. You need to die to yourself and be what God wants you to be a servant – just like he was.
1. Hybels states, “Jesus’ perspective was shaped by a deep sense of humility. It was a humility where none was called for; Jesus, as God, clearly deserved His titles, position, and praise. But as we have seen, Jesus “did not consider equality with God something to be grasped.” (121)
2. Matthew 23:11-12: “The greatest among you will be your servant. For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.”
b. For those of you who have been on the other side of the coin the one not in your parents favor.
i. You need to recognize and admit the pain. You need to come face to face with the pain of not wearing the robe.
ii. For some of you if it’s possible you need to approach your family and acknowledge how this hurt. Maybe they just need the chance to apologize to you and have a time of reconciliation.
iii. You also need to forgive – with no conditions attached. Joseph learned this quality well as we will see over the next two Sunday’s.
iv. You also need to renounce your envy and jealousy of the person who has worn the robe. You need to repent and ask to be forgiven.
1. Some of you have been scared by envy and you need to make the choice not to give into this temptation - to gossip about others, to back bite about others, to tear down others, to try to hurt others because they have and you don’t.
2. This will be a daily battle but you can win over it with the assistance of the Lord.
v. You also need to receive love and acceptance and it starts with God!
1. “See what love the father has given us that we should be called children of God. And that is what we are”(I John 3:1)
2. Receive his love and His acceptance through Jesus.
3. You need to find friends who will receive you and love pray that God would send people into your life like this.
4. You also need to trust again – don’t hide behind the hurt and scar and keep making excuses. You need to trust and it does take risks but the benefits far outweigh the risks.
c. Parents there are very few issues in your family as important as this one. Deal with it and admit it. If you don’t your setting your family up for failure and turmoil.
i. Acknowledge you do and stop it!
ii. Watch your words and actions to all of your children
iii. Be consistent with them all
iv. Treat them as individuals and highlight each of their unique attributes.
v. Do not elevate one over the other.
vi. A parents job is to try to make robes for each of their children—robes that highlight uniqueness and qualities of each individual child.
II. Success in life comes from having God with you and godly character!
a. Godly character will help us succeed in life and in the work place!
i. Character Counts!
1. His positive attitude and trust in God promoted him even in prison to the Prime Minister of Egypt.
b. The strength of your character will be tested, sometimes by fire sometimes by temptation.
i. Do you have the support of friends and family, and a faith that can carry you through the trial?
ii. Do you know that God is with you even in the trial or temptation?
iii. Will you make the right choice?
III. The seductress of sin will come after successful Christians to bring them down and steal away the vision God has given them for their life.
a. Temptation is relentless!
i. Porn is America’s number one seductress!
ii. It is robbing people of their dreams and visions from God.
iii. It is destroying families and our society.
b. We learned that if you say “No” to sin there could be repercussions but don’t worry God is with you.
IV. Joe becomes the victim and is unjustly accused remember (Gen 39:20-23)
a. But Joe goes to prison and he grows spiritually
i. John Hamby stated, “It would have been easy at this point to give in to despair. Joseph was unjustly imprisoned, in fact imprisoned for doing the right thing” (sermoncentral.com).
1. Rick Mobley states, “When the bible speaks of suffering for Christ it means you are suffering because you did the right thing. That verse in 1 Peter said, 1 Pet 4:14-15: If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you. If you suffer, it should not be as a murderer or thief or any other kind of criminal, or even as a meddler. Too many Christians believe the only time they should have to suffer is when they do something wrong. That’s not suffering for Christ. That’s suffering for sin. There is no glory to God in us doing something wrong, and then saying I took my punishment like a Christian” (sermoncentral.com).
2. Why in America do we think that we should not have to suffer for making the right choices?
a. Spoiled Brat syndrome maybe?
b. Arrogance or pride of American thinking we are above suffering?
c. Can I give America a warning – things are about to change – you will suffer for making the right choices as this society becomes more anti-Christian and anti-moral.
ii. Prisons and hardships do have a way of making us wake up.
1. Share Jim Bakers story about how 5 years of prison helped him to grow in leaps and bounds.
2. “It was a five year seminary” he said.
iii. You might say “Wait a minute!” This is not the place to learn!
1. Well maybe we need to define the term teach-ability- It is defined as the willingness to learn from others, from life situations good or bad and to learn from God.
iv. Joe has made a decision to not be low but to grow. So what happens in prison? He rises to the top.
1. Interesting side note – he should have been executed!
a. Notice cross reference coming up who put him in charge of Pharaoh’s baker, and cup bearer.
i. Yes, it was Mr. Po – Captain of the Guard!
2. Joseph does not become bitter but better.
a. He learns and grows!
b. C.S. Lewis in his book “The Problem of Pain” says, “God whispers in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pain.”
V. Joe learned through his adverse circumstance and even though he could have become bitter he chose to become better.
a. Joe chose to grow and in midst of his trial he showed compassion and concern for others.
b. He took responsibility for his own attitude.
i. Joe while in prison does not whine and moan in our texts instead he cares for others.
1. He chooses to be a servant in the place God has placed him.
2. He chooses to die to himself and to serve His God – in spite of his surroundings.
c. Why did Joseph seem to always progress forward in life when unfair actions kept putting him down?
i. The key was his relationship to God and his personal attitude.
1. Charles Swindoll stated, “The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness, or skill. It will make or break a company, a church, or a home. The remarkable thing is that we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past. Nor can we change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We also cannot change the inevitable. The only thing that we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10 percent what happens to me and 90 percent how I react to it. And so it is with you – we are in charge of our attitudes” (Developing the Leader Within, Maxwell, page 98).
a. I believe we have a responsibility for our attitudes!
ii. John Maxwell shares how America’s largest companies were polled about why they fired people and here were the top reasons for dismissal:
1. Incompetence: 30 percent
2. Inability to get along with other workers: 17 percent
3. Dishonesty or lying: 12 percent
4. Negative attitude: 10 percent
5. Lack of motivation: 7 percent
6. Failure or refusal to follow instructions: 7 percent
7. All other reasons: 8 percent
a. Notice Maxwell states, “Notice that although incompetence ranked first on the list, the next five were all attitude issues” (page 99)
iii. Maxwell also notes this about attitude:
1. “It is improbable that a person with a bad attitude can continuously be a success” (page 101).
2. “A leader’s attitude is caught by his or her followers more quickly than his or her actions” (page 101).
3. “It’s not what happens to me that matters but what happens in me” (Page 104).
4. Victor Frankl’s words to his Nazi persecutors were, “The one thing you cannot take away from me is the way I choose to respond to what you do to me. The last of one’s freedoms is to choose one’s attitude in any given circumstance” (page 105).
a. The bottom line is we are responsible for our attitudes!
b. Maxwell states, “Our destinies in life will never be determined by our complaining spirits or high expectations. Life is full of surprises and the adjustment of our attitudes is a lifelong project” (Page 102)
iv. John Hamby answers this question for us, “Earlier in Genesis 39 we read that “the Lord was with Joseph” and “gave him success in everything he did” (vv. 2-3, 5). In the verses that we just read although the circumstances have changed this truth remains the same. Where is God when Joseph is thrown in the dungeon? Does His silence mean He’s absence? We’re not left to wonder. According to verse 23, “The keeper of the prison did not look into anything that was under Joseph’s authority, because the LORD was with him; and whatever he did, the LORD made it prosper.” The Lord was with Joseph in the palace of Potiphar and when Joseph went to prison, the Lord went there too. The only thing that severs us from God is sin” (sermoncentral.com).
3. God was with him – this is the key to success in life.
a. When we know God is right here with us it changes our perceptions and our attitudes.
Quote: Duane Brown from Sermon Central, referencing Swindoll:
Victim…that’s a word that we hear a lot these days isn’t it?
If anyone ever experienced being a victim it would have had to have been Joseph.
Let’s quickly recap his story thus far…
First he receives unfair treatment from his brothers, then he gets thrown into a situation of being a slave, next he gets falsely accused of rape, and we left him last week getting thrown into prison,
But if you recall we once again were reminded that The Lord was with Joseph and it wasn’t long until he was promoted to head trustee and despite his circumstances he was making the best of an otherwise bad situation.
In what could have been a bad situation Joseph prospered! Because of his commitment to God, he was freed up to be used of God in the lives of at least two other men.
LET me just throw this in for someone here today…When a dungeon experience comes…the quickest and easiest response is to feel like God has forgotten you…Lord where are you…what is going on will you ever answer my prayers? Have you been there?
If that is where you are this morning then just hang on…this message is for you, good news is on the way…. Let’s look at Genesis chapter 40 for our lesson today…
Scripture Text: Genesis 40:1-23
1Some time later, the cupbearer and the baker of the king of Egypt offended their master, the king of Egypt. 2Pharaoh was angry with his two officials, the chief cupbearer and the chief baker, 3and put them in custody in the house of the captain of the guard, in the same prison where Joseph was confined. 4The captain of the guard assigned them to Joseph, and he attended them.
After they had been in custody for some time, 5each of the two men—the cupbearer and the baker of the king of Egypt, who were being held in prison—had a dream the same night, and each dream had a meaning of its own.
6When Joseph came to them the next morning, he saw that they were dejected. 7So he asked Pharaoh’s officials who were in custody with him in his master’s house, “Why are your faces so sad today?”
8“We both had dreams,” they answered, “but there is no one to interpret them.”
Then Joseph said to them, “Do not interpretations belong to God? Tell me your dreams.”
9So the chief cupbearer told Joseph his dream. He said to him, “In my dream I saw a vine in front of me, 10and on the vine were three branches. As soon as it budded, it blossomed, and its clusters ripened into grapes. 11Pharaoh’s cup was in my hand, and I took the grapes, squeezed them into Pharaoh’s cup and put the cup in his hand.”
12“This is what it means,” Joseph said to him. “The three branches are three days. 13Within three days Pharaoh will lift up your head and restore you to your position, and you will put Pharaoh’s cup in his hand, just as you used to do when you were his cupbearer. 14But when all goes well with you, remember me and show me kindness; mention me to Pharaoh and get me out of this prison. 15For I was forcibly carried off from the land of the Hebrews, and even here I have done nothing to deserve being put in a dungeon.”
16When the chief baker saw that Joseph had given a favorable interpretation, he said to Joseph, “I too had a dream: On my head were three baskets of bread. 17In the top basket were all kinds of baked goods for Pharaoh, but the birds were eating them out of the basket on my head.”
18“This is what it means,” Joseph said. “The three baskets are three days. 19Within three days Pharaoh will lift off your head and hang you on a tree. And the birds will eat away your flesh.”
20Now the third day was Pharaoh’s birthday, and he gave a feast for all his officials. He lifted up the heads of the chief cupbearer and the chief baker in the presence of his officials: 21He restored the chief cupbearer to his position, so that he once again put the cup into Pharaoh’s hand, 22but he hanged the chief baker, just as Joseph had said to them in his interpretation.
23The chief cupbearer, however, did not remember Joseph; he forgot him.
Video Illustration: From Blue Fish TV -- “Not Alone” (2:20 min)
Today’s history lessons from the life of Joe Chapter 40
1. Joe was forgotten by other people but never God.
a. Joseph from what I read never blames God or rips on God for going through these painful moments in life. He just does what is right time and time again.
b. Quotes on loneliness:
1). “The biggest disease today is not leprosy or tuberculosis, but rather the feeling of being unwanted.” Mother Teresa
2). C.S. Lewis, the author of The Chronicles of Narnia, said, “We read to know we are not alone!”
c. Illustrations Unlimited: THE LONELY IN THE CROWD: A few years ago, the press carried a heartrending story of a young father who shot himself in a tavern telephone booth. James Lee had called a Chicago newspaper and told a reporter he had sent the paper a manila envelope outlining his story. The reporter frantically tried to trace the call, but was too late. When the police arrived the young man was slumped in the booth with a bullet through his head. In his pockets they found a child’s crayon drawing, much folded and worn. On it was written, “Please leave in my coat pocket. I want to have it buried with me.” The drawing was signed in childish print by his daughter, Shirley Lee, who had perished in a fire just five months before. Lee was so grief-stricken he had asked total strangers to attend his daughter’s funeral so she would have a nice service. He said there was no family to attend, since Shirley’s mother had been dead since the child was two. Speaking to the reporter before his death, the heartbroken father said that all he had in life was gone and he felt so alone. He gave his modest estate to the church Shirley had attended and said, “Maybe in ten or twenty years, someone will see one of the plaques and wonder who Shirley Ellen Lee was and say, ‘Someone must have loved her very, very much.’" The grieving father could not stand loneliness or the loss so he took his own life.… He felt it better to be dead than live in an impersonal world. How many James Lees are there in this world? They don’t wear signs saying “I’m lonely … will you help me?” Let’s discover these in His name.
c. I have been in the place of loneliness:
1). I have experienced its sour taste.
2). It was an eerie silence even when I was in a crowd.
3). I have known its bite and its emotional sting.
4). I have seen it strangle other people and bring them to a place of hopelessness.
5). I have had to untangle it’s tendons from around my throat and my mind. I have wondered at times – God where are you in my pain – God why do you let these things happen?
6). Why do I feel so alone in this dark dingy place of life? Life has been so unfair to me.
7). I struggle in this place and I find myself at times pushing away the ones who are trying to help.
2. Do not interpretations belong to God – for our dreams and visions?
a. Notice who does Joseph give honor and credit too?
1). He credits God as the interpreter of dreams.
2). I also notice that the disease of favoritism is gone
b. Joseph correctly hears from God and interprets the two men’s dreams
1). Think about how amazing this is?
2). He looks to God for an answer to an unexplained riddle.
3). He is able to hear God’s voice – even after being unjustly thrown into slavery by his brothers.
4). He is able to hear God’s voice because he fled sin, he is able to hear God’s voice even after being lied about and thrown into prison.
5). He gives one the good news and one bad news.
i. He told the truth no matter the cost.
3. He asks not to be forgotten but he is – but he still after two years is not bitter just better because of his attitude and his relationship to God.
a. What would you have done?
1). Got mad
2). Got angry
3). Got even
4). Given up
b. Rick Gillespie-Mobley – “Joseph had God’s call and blessings on his life, but that alone did not stop bad things from happening in his life. Through his difficulties, Joseph never let go of the dream he possessed that one day God was going to make him a great leader. No matter how discouraged he must have become at the many reversals he had experienced, we never find Joseph doing less than his best. In his moments of crisis and disaster, we see him choosing to do what is good” (sermoncentral.com).
c. Joe knew that he was not forgotten by God!
1). But one day the cupbearer remembers Joe!
Here are some practical things you can do when you feel lonely and rejected!
Video Illustration: Expert teaching “What to do when you feel lonely and rejected by Doug Fields” Bluefish TV. (time 5 min)
Conclusion:
QUOTE: SECURE IN OUR SALVATION FROM: EMBRACING ETERNITY LIVING EACH DAY WITH A HEART TOWARD HEAVEN. - QUICK VERSE
For his Holy Spirit speaks to us deep in our hearts and tells us that we are God’s children. (Romans 8:16)
I heard the story of a polar bear and her young cub living in the northern part of Alaska. One day the cub came to her mother and said, “Mom, are you sure I’m a polar bear?”
“Of course you are,” assured the mother. The cub went away satisfied.
But the next day the cub asked again. “Are you sure I’m 100 percent polar bear?”
The mother seemed confused. “I promise. You’re absolutely 100 percent polar bear. But why do you keep asking?”
“Because,” said the cub, “I’m freezing out here!”
I know a lot of Christians who can relate to that little cub, don’t you? Maybe you’re one of them. We know we’re saved because Jesus promised we would be, but too often we don’t feel like it. We do all the things we know that saved people are supposed to do, yet somehow we don’t seem to fit in. We read our Bible, we pray, we serve, we go to church, yet somehow our heart continues to wander. We love Jesus, but we struggle to stay in love with him. If you can relate, then know that you’re not alone.
What we are experiencing is one of Satan’s greatest weapons against believers. His strategy is simple but effective—and it’s a three-fold one: (1) to make us feel alienated from Christ; (2) to cause us to sin; and (3) to keep us from reaching the lost. If he can succeed in the first two, the third will usually fall into place as well. It is a strategy that is as potent as it is transparent, and too many Christians are taken in by it.
Combating this problem can often be as simple as meditating on the promises of God, beginning with Paul’s words in Romans 8:38: “I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from his love. Death can’t, and life can’t. The angels can’t, and the demons can’t. Our fears for today, our worries about tomorrow, and even the powers of hell can’t keep God’s love away.” The Lord’s blessings are sure and irrevocable, in spite of what the enemy would have us believe.
Romans 8:16-18: 16The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. 17Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.
18I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.
Lessons learned today:
1. Joe was forgotten by others, by his family but never by God.
2. Do not interpretations of dreams and visions belong to God – are you asking for his interpretation or are you doing it on your own?
3. Joe choose to be servant and God will lift him up.
