This week I’ve begun reading a new book by one of my favorite authors, Malcolm Gladwell, titled Outliers: The Story of Success. The premise of the book is simple: no successful person is a self-made man; everyone who gets to the top had a lot advantages, help, and luck. He devotes two chapters to geniuses. In our society, we expect people who are blessed with a high IQ to rise to high levels of success. Gladwell reveals that that’s not necessarily the case. Consider Chris Langan, arguably the smartest man in the world, with an IQ of 200. (The average person has an IQ of 100; Albert Einstein rated 150.) With his natural intelligence, Langan should be at the top of any profession he chose. Early on, that appeared to be the outcome of his life:
“He was speaking at six months of age. When he was three, he would listen to the radio on Sundays as the announcer read the comics aloud, and he would follow along on his own until he had taught himself to read.
“In school, Langan could walk into a test in a foreign-language class, not having studied at all, and if there were two or three minutes before the instructor arrived, he could skim through the textbook and ace the test. In his early teenage years, while working as a farmhand, he started to read widely in the area of theoretical physics. At sixteen, he made his way through Bertrand Russell and Alfred North Whitehead’s famously abstruce masterpiece Principia Mathmatica. He got a perfect score on his SAT, even though he fell asleep at one point during the test.
“‘He did math for an hour,’ his brother Mark says of Langan’s summer routine in high school. ‘Then he did French for an hour. The he studied Russian. Then he would read philosophy. He did that religiously, every day.’
“Another of his brothers, Jeff, says, ‘You know, when Christopher was fourteen or fifteen, he would draw things just as a joke, and it would be like a photograph. When he was fifteen, he could match Jimi Hendrix lick for lick on a guitar. Boom. Boom. Boom. Half the time Christopher didn’t attend school at all. He would just show up for tests and there was nothing they could do about it. To us it was hilarious. He could brief a semester’s worth of textbooks in two days, and take care of whatever he had to take care of, and then get back to whatever he was doing in the first place.’”
Sadly, Langan has yet to reach his potential. He’s only had a year and a half of college, having been kicked out of two universities. As a young man he worked on a clam boat, took factory jobs, and was employed in a minor civil service position. He spent most of his adult life working as a bouncer in a bar on Long Island. In that time he wrote a massive book combining philosophy, mathematics, and physics on the subject “Cognitive Theoretic Model of the Universe.” Unfortunately, no scholarly journal will look at it because Langan has no academic background. And he’s not personally very motivate to market the book to publishers. Gladwell devotes some detail to Langan’s lack of achievement, but it really comes down to this: he didn’t know how to use the gift he was blessed with. His poor family background left him ill-equipped to handle himself around people and, as a result, his high IQ remains an untapped potential.
This is a long way to introduce this morning’s message, but I think you’ll see the link immediately. God has invested enormous potential in us, but few of us utilize it effectively. Not only is there untapped potential within, but God’s favor is upon. Unfortunately we tend to mishandle it, just as Langan mishandled his intelligence. As a result, we don’t quite live up to the gifts God has given us. I go so far as to say that our nation has been blessed with God’s special favor, but, because of our mismanagement, His gifts are being taken away.
In every age, God blesses his people so that a watching world will know who the real God is. In the time of the Patriarchs God’s favor could be seen in the material blessings and number of descendants they enjoyed. When Israel moved out of Egypt the plagues and opening of the Red Sea were signs of His presence. When the nation was established in Canaan, God revealed his favor through conquest of the enemies of Israel and Judah. In the days of the early Church, His blessings came in the form of signs, wonders, and miracles. In every age, God send His heavenly assets to His people.
It’s imperative that we learn how to manage the heavenly assets God sends our way, as individuals, a church, and a nation. We can see some clear guidelines toward this end from Genesis 39, which we read earlier.
Guidelines for Managing the Heavenly Assets
I’ve noticed that most preachers use this as a temptation story. Sure, temptation is an element of the narrative, but it’s a small piece of the overall picture. A minimum of six times, this short chapter mentions either that God was with Joseph or blessed him in some way. That’s the theme. When His favor is with you, no adversity can stop you. There’s an old saying that we see the truth of in this story: when God’s on your side, you’re in the majority. Paul asked, “If God be for us, who can be against us?” The answer is “no one.” God’s wisdom and power overcomes all obstacles.
In fact, the only thing that can obstruct God’s favor in our lives is our mishandling of it. Joseph’s very own father, Jacob, mismanaged the blessings of God for most of his life. God had to teach him painful lesson after painful lesson, until he finally learned to handle God’s gifts with greater care. Joseph learned how to do this much more quickly than his dad. As a result, God used him in a mighty way as a young man. He saved the nation of Egypt and preserved his own family mainly because of his proper response to the heavenly assets God sent his way. Let’s look at just how he managed these blessings.
1. Replace an arrogant attitude with humble responsibility.
When Joseph was a teenager, he had his earthly father’s favor. Jacob loved him more than his other sons, lavished him with gifts, and promoted him above his brothers. Joseph responded in an immature way. He thought he deserved the special treatment and he didn’t mind rubbing it in his brother’s faces. He eagerly told them of his dreams about the whole family bowing down to his leadership. And he did this twice. He gave negative reports about his brothers to their father, probably for self-promotion. The first time he had someone’s favor, he mishandled it. The result was family strife and Joseph being kidnapped and sold into slavery.
By chapter 39 Joseph once again experienced favor, but this time it was God’s. A little older and much wiser, Joseph recognized the blessings of the Lord, but did not follow the path of arrogance. Instead, he humbly used the heavenly assets in the house of Potiphar. He was a diligent worker. He could be trusted not to steal. Unlike the time before, he did not seek self promotion, but it came to him.
Joseph found favor in his eyes and became his attendant. Potiphar put him in charge of his household and he entrusted to his care everything that he owned, the LORD blessed the household of the Egyptian because of Joseph. Genesis 39:4-5
Joseph saw that everything he touched turned to gold, so to speak, but he did not let that be an excuse to shirk his responsibility. He didn’t take short cuts knowing that God would make it all work out right. He never compromised his integrity in even the smallest way. When it was clear that God’s hand was upon he worked even harder and was trusted even more. Joseph revealed the character of his God who is powerful and trustworthy.
I promise you that if you use God’s blessings with arrogance He will take you down a few notches. God is in the humbling business because He loves us. I refer to my last church a lot because God taught me so many lessons about myself through it … unpleasant lessons. Within two years after we launched that church, at one particular event we had more than two hundred people in attendance. I was arrogant about God’s blessings. We were the cool church and I was the hip young pastor. I didn’t mind making fun of other churches and other preachers. I was God’s chosen vessel, after all. He slammed the brakes on that ego trip. Within a few months attendance across the board dwindled. We eventually recovered, but never to the same level as before.
If you’ve got a gift from God, recognize that not only are you privileged, you have a greater responsibility than others to use it correctly. If you have material possessions, don’t let it be reason for pride. Who gave you the ability to make that money? Who situated your life with advantages others weren’t born into? By all means, be happy with what He’s given you, but be humble and use responsibly.
Just how are we supposed to use what God has given us? That’s the next point.
2. Focus on honoring Christ and serving people.
The villain in this portion of Joseph’s story is an unnamed tramp married to Potiphar. She gazed upon the well-built body her husband’s handsome young slave and burned with lust for him. She was probably used to having her way with the slaves and assumed Joseph would succumb to her relentless advances. Day after day he refused. Imagine how difficult that must have been for a young man in his late teens or early twenties. Somehow Joseph held out. On one occasion he ran away to avoid temptation.
To accomplish this, Joseph obviously had a unique focus. Keep in mind that God’s blessings were upon him. He knew that God was on his side. He could have caved in to the woman’s offer knowing that it’d be alright. He could have acted like a lot of Baptists who say “once saved always saved” and “God will forgive me so why not.” I can ask for forgiveness later. Not Joseph. He wouldn’t touch the woman and I’m sure he was tempted.
I think Joseph encountered temptation on another level. Potiphar’s wife was his boss too. She could make life easy or difficult for him. Imagine how much further he could have advanced had he given into her requests. It would have been win-win. It had probably happened before with other slaves and it worked out alright for them. But not for Joseph. He had a different focus due to God’s favor on his life. We get a sense of it from his statement to Potiphar’s wife.
"With me in charge,” he told her, "my master does not concern himself with anything in the house; everything he owns he has entrusted to my care. No one is greater in this house than I am. My master has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?” Genesis 39:8-9
Despite the blessings of God, Joseph wasn’t about self-gratification or self-promotion. His focus was on honoring God and serving people. I think that’s how he was able to resist. He wasn’t focusing on having his needs met or making a name for himself. He lived with a sense of purpose which is quite a credit to him. In most slave societies sexual promiscuity throughout history was rampant. They had nothing else to live for except any little bit of pleasure they might grab. Not so with Joseph. He honored the Lord and served people.
Jesus said that this is the proper focus for all people everywhere who want to please God. In fact, He said so much, not to a slave but to a well-to-do religious guy:
One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”
"The most important one," answered Jesus, "is this: ’Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ’Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.” Mark 12:28-31
Joseph’s basic argument against giving in to Potiphar’s wife was that he love God and his neighbor too much to do it. If we’d make this our focus we’d handle our own temptations more effectively. We would exercise God’s blessings in our lives and not be disqualified from impure motives and sinful actions.
Joseph managed the heavenly assets well. In fact, he took it to a level that the best of God’s people often fail to go.
3. Display the goods for the glory of God.
Here’s a simple way to explain this one. Joseph took God’s blessings and pointed them right back at Him. He did this through his actions, of course. He worked hard, was trustworthy, and exemplified personal holiness. But Joseph let the people in his life know that the blessings were coming from the Lord. He made it clear that they were not of his own ingenuity or effort. He informed Potiphar’s household that the favor they witnessed was not from one of the many gods of Egypt. Joseph testified to the goodness of the LORD, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. How do we know this? Look at verse 3.
…his master saw that the LORD was with him and that the LORD gave him success in everything he did Genesis 39:3
Understand that when you see the word Lord in all capital letters in your English translation, that’s a shorthand way of writing the covenant name of God, Jehovah, Yahweh, or Adonai as the Jews respectfully refer to God. Somehow Potiphar knew that it was specifically the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob who was blessing Joseph, not an Egyptian deity. How could he know this unless Joseph told him? He couldn’t. Joseph managed the favor of God by witnessing with his lips.
That’s should be our objective when we perceive God blessing us. We find some way to give a verbal witness to His goodness and glory.
A few years ago I was working in Qatar installing a newsroom set for Al Jazeera TV. I’d been there for nearly a month and was ready to go home. I can’t describe for you how badly I missed my family. We were nearly finished with the set and the last thing to be done was to snake a long strip of plexiglass into the large central news desk. We encountered some problems, but my friend Dean, one of the best and most innovative carpenters I’ve ever known came up with a new plan. Before trying it I prayed silently to God: “Please Lord, please help this to work. I am so ready to get out of here and go home. Please help us.” We embarked on Dean’s plan and successfully snaked the plexiglass through. I said aloud, “Dean, you are the man!” Suddenly, they found a problem. The plexiglass wasn’t in right and would have to be taken out. There was a strong possibility that it might be damaged. It was the only piece we had on hand, so if anything went wrong finishing the project would be delayed. Then it hit me, “You gave glory to Dean and not to God.” I asked for forgiveness and then proceeded to tell all the carpenters that I was praying and God could help us finish. We tried it again and got it right. I publicly gave glory to God, packed my tools, and went home.
God’s blessings are for a reason. We are to bless others with those gifts, but even more we are to use them to point to Jesus Christ. The purpose of God’s favor is His glory. He wants to use it to draw people to His Son by faith so that they will know Him, and praise Him even more. The goods are for God’s glory. Jesus said it this way:
If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples. John 15:7-8
Jesus lived a blessed life. The signs of God’s favor were all over Him. He managed the heavenly assets all the way to the cross. The evening before He was crucified for the sins of humanity from which death He would arise after three days, Jesus gave the reason for it all:
After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed:
“Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began. John 17:1-5
