It's Time To Get Up Part 3--We're All Going To Face Them

It’s Time To Get Up Part 3- We're All Going To Face Them

Genesis 39:1-12 1 Corinthians 10:1-13 7-12-2020

We all have two traveling companions that journey with us throughout our lifetimes. Every now and then one or both of them will leave, but we are bound to run into each of them again, never knowing exactly when they might show up or how long they will stay with us .

When one of them leave us, we think its gone forever, but when one of them comes back, we think they will be with us forever. Neither of our beliefs is actually true. We may even pray to God, “Lord keep both of them out of my life for good.” But its not going to happen. God has a purpose for both of them. Who are they, keep listening to find out.

We are in part 3 of our series, It’s Time To Get Up. We are journeying in the life of Joseph. A young man who had special privileges in his Father’s home. He was hated and betrayed by his brothers. He was sold as a slave in Egypt.

We learned last time that after a period of about 11 years, Joseph rose to a place of prominence in Potiphar’s house. Potiphar saw that God’s favor was on Joseph, and he trusted Joseph with everything he had in his home putting him in charge of everything including the family business.

In our last message, I pointed out that some things come into our lives through no fault of our own. They just happen, and we find ourselves caught up in something that we never intended to be caught up in. Have you ever just been minding your own business and found yourself caught up in a situation?

This same thing was happening with Joseph among some of the women in the city Joseph was working. Joseph’s problem was that he was in his upper twenties, and he was handsome. Joseph had no control over his age or that he grew into a handsome young man. He did not know the women were having secret talks behind his back. Who was going to get to this young man first? He obviously was quite a prize?

We like to think of ourselves as a society of being progressive in our views and liberated in our beliefs especially when it comes to sex. We think we created affairs and one night stands and these things would be helpful to our self esteem. We even think sexual harassment on the job started in the 20th century. We don’t believe it when the bible tells us, there is nothing new under the sun, what is today has already been in the past.

If we are thinking we are progressing toward something, when it comes to sex, what is it that we are progressing towards? What do we hope the end is going to look like. What is the cost of sexual freedom with no restraints, no boundaries, and everyone free to choose what their behavior will be?

Why on earth would God ever come up with the idea that sex should me between a man and a woman who are married to each other when there are so many other possibilities?

Joseph is a slave working for his master, Potiphar. Joseph has his bosses’ complete trust and confidence. The first traveler I mentioned that is with us throughout life even though it comes and leaves on its own is Temptation.

Temptation is something that all of us has to deal with regardless of our age, our status, our position, our world view and whether we are a believer or not. It happens, when what we want is something we cannot or should not have.

One thing about it, we think that if we give in to it, we are going to feel better about it ,and we are going to be rewarded with something.

Temptation does not deliver what we hope, and costs more than what we planned to pay. It’s something we can’t just go back and undo, because it always has a spiritual or emotional cost that we can’t just get back. A trust is broken, a commitment is violated, or a person is hurt.

Potiphar’s wife has temptation come alongside of her and points out to her, just how good looking Joseph is. After all she is his boss, and even more than that she’s his owner. She should be able to have whatever she wants from him.

Temptation allows us to build up a fantasy world that has no basis in reality. The first mistake we make is that we think we can control all the circumstances that will flow after giving in to it. We simply see everything going in our direction as planned.