In the Beginning: A Study in Genesis 37-50Намуна

What are the 6 marks of a missionary mindset?

In this section of Genesis, we witness the godly Joseph seemingly wasting away the best years of his life imprisoned in Egypt far from his loving father Jacob, who believes he is dead after being sold into slavery by his own brothers. Worse still, he is an innocent man imprisoned by the false accusations of sexually assaulting the wife of his master, Potiphar.

Theologically, the point of this scene, as well as the rest of the Joseph story, is that the unseen hand of God’s sovereign providence is continually at work in our lives. If you think of God’s work in your life, it’s helpful to remember that He has two proverbial hands. God has a visible hand of miracle where He works in your life with obvious supernatural displays of power. God also has an invisible hand of providence where He works in your life with subtle, behind-the-scenes planning and care. Throughout Joseph’s life, God does most of His work through the invisible hand of providence and the same is true in the lives of most believers. In one instance of the supernatural, Joseph picks up his old hobby of dream interpretation as the cupbearer and the baker of the Pharaoh, both under the supervision of Joseph in prison, come to him with dreams that God has given them.

By God’s providence, the cupbearer and baker to the king of Egypt were thrown into the same prison as Joseph and placed under the authority of Joseph whom God had arisen to power in the prison. The men greatly angered the king for reasons that we are not given.

Nonetheless, God gave a dream to each man that they could not interpret. Knowing that Joseph was a godly man, they sought him out to provide the meaning of their dream. God then enabled Joseph to interpret their dreams, telling each man that their heads would be lifted up by Pharaoh. For the cupbearer, it meant that he would be returned to his previous post in honor, while, for the baker, it meant that his head would be hung in a noose off of a tree. On Pharaoh’s birthday, three days after Joseph interpreted the men’s dreams, his interpretation came to pass exactly as God had revealed to him.

Tragically, the chief cupbearer who was restored to working with the king forgot about Joseph, even though Joseph had specifically requested that he not be forgotten. However, God did not forget Joseph or leave him abandoned in prison.

Two more years passed until God gave dreams to the Pharaoh, which troubled him because he could not understand their meaning. Subsequently, he called for his pagan magicians and interpreters to provide the meaning of his dreams, which they could not because its meaning was only known by God. God then enabled the chief cupbearer to remember how Joseph had correctly interpreted his dream and the dream of the now deceased baker in prison.

Joseph was then summoned from his dungeon and in astounding humility he told the king that he could not interpret the dream, but that God could and would through him. Joseph then interpreted King Pharaoh’s dream according to God’s enablement. He told the king that seven years of abundance, which were to begin shortly, would be followed by seven years of severe famine. Subsequently, God in His great mercy, also revealed to Pharaoh through Joseph a plan to save the abundance in preparation for the years of famine.

In this account, we discover that Joseph’s God was in fact supreme because He alone could give dreams, He alone could interpret those dreams, and the future that He promised could not be thwarted by anyone, including the mighty Pharaoh. Therefore, Joseph’s God was supreme to even the Pharaoh and had sent Joseph to Egypt as a sort of missionary to bless that nation according to His covenant promise to bless the nations of the earth through His people whom He blessed.

In a world filled with unfaithful people, it’s comforting to know that God is always faithful. This reality is on full display in the testimony of Joseph. His brothers disowned and sought to destroy him, and his master’s wife demanded he commit adultery with her. When he refused, she had him found guilty of rape. Everyone was unfaithful to Joseph, except God.

As Joseph adjusts to his new reality in Egyptian prison, God continues to be faithful. We learned at the end of the last chapter that Joseph has been promoted to a similar responsibility within the prison that he had within Potiphar’s estate. His character and integrity were such that they let a prisoner run the prison. This position ends up being how God will architect Joseph’s eventual release from prison, which comes from relationships he forms with imprisoned members of Pharaoh's household. God is always working, but we don’t always know what he’s doing. We, like Joseph, need to have faith in the midst of circumstances that might seem dire, trusting that God is faithfully working in us and through us.

Everywhere Joseph goes, he maintains a missionary mindset. This means he is always conducting himself in a way that honors God, looking for ways to serve other people instead of ways to be served by other people. This humble, obedient attitude, empowered by the providence of God, is what allows Joseph to rise to the top of whatever situation he finds himself in. Since he is perhaps the only believer, the witness of his character is crucial to him, evangelizing all the lost people around him. If they do not respect him, they will not listen to him tell them about his God.

Faith includes both waiting and working. Joseph is waiting on God to deliver him to his destiny–the destiny that was revealed to him in a dream many years prior–and while he is waiting, he is working. He’s risen up the ranks and is leading in the prison, doing ministry at every opportunity. Some people think faith is just waiting on God, which can cause us to miss opportunities that God has offered to work through us. Faith not only trusts God to work on our behalf, but also seeks to discover how God wants to work in and through us as part of His plan for our lives.

When Joseph interprets the baker’s dream and delivers some very bad news, he does so honestly. Sometimes as Christians, we hesitate to deliver bad news to people. We don’t want to tell people things that might offend them, for fear of man. We might not be honest about the consequences of sin, reality of hell, or need for faith in Jesus to escape God’s wrath. Having a missionary mindset is not just service and kind words, but also includes delivering the truth, with love.

Later, when the cupbearer is restored to the household of Pharaoh, he completely forgets about Joseph and does not put in a good word for him. This is a lesson for ministry–when we serve others, most often they will not serve us back. God loves those who are in Christ with a one-way love. He does so without any strings attached. Having a missionary mindset means treating others the same way God treats us.

Joseph stays in prison for another two years before the Pharaoh himself has a dream that needs to be interpreted, and the cupbearer remembers that he knows a guy for that unique job. Instead of getting bitter in these two years, angry at God or resentful at the cupbearer, Joseph continues to lead and to serve in the place God’s providence has placed him. Having a missionary mindset means he accepts God’s timing instead of demanding his own, and he patiently waits for God to show up in his circumstances.

When it comes time for Joseph to once again do “dream ministry” and interpret Pharaoh’s dream, he does it without trying to make a deal to save himself and by giving credit to God again for the interpretation of the dream. The interpretation he gives will offer salvation not only for Egypt, but for the surrounding nations that will come to Egypt for provision during a long famine. Included among these is Jacob’s household: God’s people. Joseph cares first about the reputation of His God and the care of the lost people around him, and this proves his integrity as part of his testimony.

Throughout every peak and valley of Joseph’s life so far, God has maintained His faithfulness and Joseph has maintained a humble missionary mindset. At any point in the story, Joseph could have shipwrecked his future by getting bitter against God and trying to save himself. God is always working, whether or not we can see the whole picture. With the bird’s-eye view, we can see that God used Joseph’s imprisonment to elevate him from slavery in a lower estate to the audience of the most powerful man in the world. Through this, God delivers Joseph personally from suffering, but also delivers the Egyption people from famine and the Jewish people from extinction as God is often up to far bigger things than we are seeing.

Question:

How is doing good work at a “secular” job actually ministry if you have a missionary mindset?