Part 28 – Joseph Can’t Get Out of the Pit – Genesis 40
February 25, 2018Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Speaker: Jerry Cisar
If you google, “sermons on Genesis 40,” the first one likely to pop up is on Bible.org titled, “How to Get Out of the Pits.” Imagine with me, John the Baptist in the dungeon in Herod’s palace. Are we to suppose that if he had just applied what is taught in the story of Joseph on how to get out of the pits that he’d have kept his head?
Others may look at the text through the lens of their favorite doctrine. If I am all about relationships, then I will focus on the fact that Joseph served two people in the prison with him so much that they felt comfortable sharing their dream with him. Therefore we too must build relationships through service so people feel comfortable opening up to us about what is bothering them. This, however, has nothing to do with the point of the text.
If I’m all about winning the lost, I might use Joseph’s conversations with the cup-bearer and the baker as “ways we need to speak to the lost”—both the good news and the bad news. Therefore we must be willing to share the good news of the gospel as well as the bad news of people’s sin. Once again, not the point of Genesis 40.
What is this story about? One could say: “It is about what it looks like to have God’s blessing on your life while you are suffering serious injustices by those who have significant power over your life.” Or we might say it is about how God has provided hope for His people when they find themselves in the pit of suffering on account of righteousness. Of course, these are too long for titles.
Join us this Sunday morning at 8:30 or 11:00 as we worship the risen Lord in our study of Genesis 40 under the title, “Joseph Can’t Get Out of the Pit.”