Being The King's Cupbearer

[BroTrey]

And Joseph said unto him, This is the interpretation of it: The three branches are three days: Yet within three days shall Pharaoh lift up thine head, and restore thee unto thy place: and thou shalt deliver Pharaoh's cup into his hand, after the former manner when thou wast his butler. But think on me when it shall be well with thee, and shew kindness, I pray thee, unto me, and make mention of me unto Pharaoh, and bring me out of this house:
(Gen 40:12-14)

O Lord, I beseech thee, let now thine ear be attentive to the prayer of thy servant, and to the prayer of thy servants, who desire to fear thy name: and prosper, I pray thee, thy servant this day, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man. For I was the king's cupbearer.
(Neh 1:11)

And it came to pass in the month Nisan, in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes the king, that wine was before him: and I took up the wine, and gave it unto the king. Now I had not been beforetime sad in his presence. Wherefore the king said unto me, Why is thy countenance sad, seeing thou art not sick? this is nothing else but sorrow of heart. Then I was very sore afraid, And said unto the king, Let the king live for ever: why should not my countenance be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers' sepulchres, lieth waste, and the gates thereof are consumed with fire? Then the king said unto me, For what dost thou make request? So I prayed to the God of heaven.
(Neh 2:1-4)

From our scriptures we read of two cupbearers, one called the chief butler of Pharaoh and the other the prophet Nehemiah. These two men that had nothing in common other than their role to their respective king and that they both played a pivotal role in the history of the Nation of Israel. For a few moments this morning I would like to teach on the importance of being the King's cupbearer.

[prayer]

I have to confess something this morning before we get any further, I have an addiction. I have learned to be addicted to educating myself in the scriptures and the history of the book we call the Bible. I used to be dyslexic and couldn't read a book much larger that 20 pages without getting very frustrated and upset at the time it took to read just a single page. But you know the wonderful thing about the Lord is that even though we come to Him with limitations He somehow makes it to where that former limitation is a testimony of how He can deliver. It used to be that it would take me a year to read a book larger than 80 pages, now it seems as though I read one or two of those a week. God truly can change things. Amen! I would encourage you to try picking up reading as well. I have learned that the more you read about the Bible and its history, the more you understand it, and the more you understand the easier it is to communicate it to others. The reason I said all that was to mention a new book that I have. It is a book about the culture of the days of the bible. It is sometimes important to understand the culture of those that are speaking to truly understand what they are saying. Even the bible has some slang to it. This book explains some of the slang and customs in the Bible to help us understand what's really going on in the book. * continue with book*


Now for a little history about the cupbearer. The office of royal cupbearer was a place if great honor in the Persian court. A person must be regarded as thoroughly trustworthy to hold this position, as they would be constantly around the king and at any moment would have opportunity to betray the crown and assassinate the king. In many cases, due to his closeness to the king, the cupbearer would be an unofficial advisor and confidant. The cupbearer was daily in the presence of the king, and saw the king in all of his daily life routines. He saw him victorious, and saw him grieved, he saw him at his happiest, and he saw him during his anger and wrath. The cupbearer has many opportunities to charm his way into the goodwill of the king through service, and thus could obtain many favors that others were denied. Among the Medes and the Persians the cupbearer would taste the wine before serving it to the king to tell whether or not it had been poisoned without running any personal risk to the king. To do so, the cupbearer would pour the wine from its container to a cup and then from the cup into his hand where he would taste of it.

This should serve as a reminder to us of the duty of the faithful Christian servant. Each Christian is a cupbearer for the Lord and as such we spend our days living close to the King of Kings. We likewise see the Lord victorious in our own lives and see Him pleased with our lives, and when He is grieved by the way we sometimes treat our fellow servants. There need not be envy, backbiting or strife in the House of God. Because of our faithfulness to the Lord and our willingness to serve Him to our utmost potential, He has favor on us, in my opinion, more than He does on the unsaved and answers some of our prayers that He wouldn't answer for others. The most important part of the cupbearer was the pouring of the wine. We as faithful servants must pour out of ourselves for the work of the Lord and when that 'new wine' is poured onto us that we are overflowing on to others that they may "taste and see that the Lord He is good."

There are other interesting facts about the cupbearer that history tells us. In some historical financial records of an Assyrian court, the third-fourth top paying job on this long list of servants of the court at that time was that of the cupbearer. Isaiah 49 says that "The LORD hath called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name." In other words, He was bragging on what works we as individuals would do even before He formed us! I believe there are many types servants for our Lord, infact everyone is called to be a servant in some form or fashion. They all serve Him and please Him, but I believe today he is looking for someone who is willing to step up and say it's not enough to just be a servant, but that they want to be a trustworthy and faithful servant. God is looking for some cupbearers!

As we look back to our scriptures we will find that it was the cupbearer of Pharaoh that remember Joseph and interceded for him later one, and through that encounter with a cupbearer Joseph not only got out of jail and met the king, but he also helped save the nation of Egypt and was able to help mold the Children of Israel to what they were to become. It was the prayer of the cupbearer Nehemiah that influenced God to move upon the king and grant Him favor so that he could help rebuild the city of Jerusalem. What great things will we do as cupbearers to our King?

Here are some attributes of a cupbearer:
THE CUPBEARER IS HUMBLE – What is humility? Humility is not denying your strengths. Humility is being honest about your weaknesses. Humility is when you're so focused on serving other people that you don't even think about yourself. "All of you must put on the apron of humility to serve one another. For God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble." 1 Peter 5:5

THE CUPBEARER IS COMPASSIONATE AND LOVING – Sympathy is when you say, 'I'm sorry you are hurt.' Empathy is when you say, 'I hurt with you.' But compassion is when you say 'I'll do anything I can to stop your hurt.' In Matthew, chapter 9, the Bible says that Jesus was filled with compassion.

THE CUPBEARER IS OBEDIENT – A servant obeys God, not out of convenience, but conviction. A lot of people want to serve the Lord if it's convenient, but a real servant will serve the Lord from conviction. "The one thing required of a servant is that he be faithful to his master." 1 Corinthians 4:2

THE CUPBEARER IS NOT SELFISH – A servant will put others before himself. He will relinquish his rights in order to serve others. It was once said that the true way to joy in our lives is Jesus first, Others second, You (ourselves) last. "Jesus gave up everything and became a slave when He became like one of us." Philippians 2:7

THE CUPBEARER ENCOURAGES OTHERS - A true leader will build up those around him. A true leader makes those around him better people with his words, actions and reactions. "Encourage and help each other, just as you are already doing." 1 Thessalonians 5:11

In Closing: I read of a story about a ragged boy with a violin under his arm that once roamed the streets of Europe. A famous musician heard him play, and learned that the boy had no home, nor family, took him under his wing.
He became a father to the boy and taught him all he knew about the violin. The boy practiced faithfully.
Then came the night of his first performance. He played so well that after each number the applause was deafening. But for some reason the boy didn't pay any attention for the huge ovation. He kept his eyes turned upward and played on and on.
The audience was mystified at his strange behavior. Finally, someone remarked, "I don't understand why he is so insensitive to this thunderous applause. He keeps looking up all the time. I'm going to find out what is attracting his attention!"
Moving around the concert hall the man found the answer. There in the top-most balcony was the old music master. Looking over the railing toward his young pupil, and nodding his head as if to say, "Well done my boy, play on."
The boy played on seemingly unconcerned whether the audience liked it or not. He was playing to please his master only.
Let me ask you, are you pleasing your master the Lord Jesus Christ today/tonight? Are you looking up at Him. Is He nodding His head in approval to you?