1Now Joseph was taken down to Egypt, and Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, the captain of the guard, an Egyptian, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had brought him down there. 2The LORD was with Joseph, and he became a successful man; he was in the house of his Egyptian master. 3His master saw that the LORD was with him, and that the LORD caused all that he did to prosper in his hands. 4So Joseph found favor in his sight and attended him; he made him overseer of his house and put him in charge of all that he had. 5From the time that he made him overseer in his house and over all that he had, the LORD blessed the Egyptian’s house for Joseph’s sake; the blessing of the LORD was on all that he had, in house and field. 6So he left all that he had in Joseph’s charge; and, with him there, he had no concern for anything but the food that he ate. Now Joseph was handsome and good-looking. 7And after a time his master’s wife cast her eyes on Joseph and said, “Lie with me.” 8But he refused and said to his master’s wife, “Look, with me here, my master has no concern about anything in the house, and he has put everything that he has in my hand. 9He is not greater in this house than I am, nor has he kept back anything from me except yourself, because you are his wife. How then could I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?” 10And although she spoke to Joseph day after day, he would not consent to lie beside her or to be with her. 11One day, however, when he went into the house to do his work, and while no one else was in the house, 12she caught hold of his garment, saying, “Lie with me!” But he left his garment in her hand, and fled and ran outside. 13When she saw that he had left his garment in her hand and had fled outside, 14she called out to the members of her household and said to them, “See, my husband£ has brought among us a Hebrew to insult us! He came in to me to lie with me, and I cried out with a loud voice; 15and when he heard me raise my voice and cry out, he left his garment beside me, and fled outside.” 16Then she kept his garment by her until his master came home, 17and she told him the same story, saying, “The Hebrew servant, whom you have brought among us, came in to me to insult me; 18but as soon as I raised my voice and cried out, he left his garment beside me, and fled outside.” 19When his master heard the words that his wife spoke to him, saying, “This is the way your servant treated me,” he became enraged. 20And Joseph’s master took him and put him into the prison, the place where the king’s prisoners were confined; he remained there in prison. 21But the LORD was with Joseph and showed him steadfast love; he gave him favor in the sight of the chief jailer. 22The chief jailer committed to Joseph’s care all the prisoners who were in the prison, and whatever was done there, he was the one who did it. 23The chief jailer paid no heed to anything that was in Joseph’s care, because the LORD was with him; and whatever he did, the LORD made it prosper.
Healthy churches practice Biblical stewardship. This is a statement made by our Bishop, Rev. Dr. Larry Goodpaster, this past week at a conference I attended. [1] I have one simple question: how in the world did he know I would be preaching on stewardship today and needed a starter for my sermon? I guess it’s true that Bishops have eyes everywhere!
Stewardship; if ever a word thinned-out a crowd, this word can do it! Have you ever wondered why preachers never advertise this topic in advance? It was Pentecost Sunday. As the congregation filed into church, the ushers handed each person a bright red carnation to symbolize the festive spirit of the day. The people listened attentively to the reading of the Pentecost story from the Book of Acts, about how the disciples had heard “what sounded like a powerful wind from heaven”; about how the Holy Spirit had appeared “like tongues of fire.”
Then came the sermon: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon us,” the preacher began. “Like the powerful wind from heaven!” shouted a woman sitting in the first pew as she tossed one of the red carnations toward the altar. The preacher began again: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon us.” The same woman’s voce rang out again, “Like the tongues of fire, the tongues of fire!” Again, she threw a red carnation toward the altar. The preacher looked straight at her and said, “Now throw your pocketbook.” To which the woman replied, “Preacher, you have just calmed the wind and put out the fire.” [2]
Sometimes when I preach on stewardship I feel like the preacher who heard from the head usher: "Your stewardship sermons are improving; still no money, but a lot more IOUs." [3]
We are mid-way in our study of what it means to be a church member. We are looking closely at the vows we all took when we became members of this church. Today’s emphasis on stewardship had to come sooner or later, eh?
Healthy churches practice Biblical stewardship
For just a moment, let’s unpack the Bishop’s statement about healthy churches practicing Biblical stewardship. We all practice stewardship. If you get paid, or have any money at all you practice stewardship. The word means to “exercise control over”. You make choices as to how you will “steward” or control/spend what you possess. Not all stewardship is Biblical. Not all choices are Biblical choices.
So, before we get to the text and the patriarch Joseph, let’s define what Biblical stewardship is, and why it matters. Some of us are likely to think in terms of “owing” something to God, being a debtor, and we have to give back to God. Well, there are some similarities between being indebted to God (for life, health, air to breathe, etc.) and being God’s steward. Both debtors and stewards possess that which doesn’t belong to them; both also must, at some future time, pay it all back. But where the similarity ends is in how it’s used while you possess it. Someone who is a debtor has borrowed money and can use what he borrowed as he will; not so with stewards. John Wesley, founder of we Methodists makes the difference:
“We [stewards] are not at liberty to use what he has lodged in our hands as we please, but as he pleases, who alone is the possessor of heaven and earth, and the Lord of every creature.” [4]
Even those of us who were taught to tithe 10% early in life imagine that the other 90% somehow is ours to use or abuse. Again – not so! A steward must view everything as God’s personal property, and the steward’s task is to use it as God would approve; this is a healthy steward!
So our Bishop’s statement has to be considered in full awareness of the context – a healthy church practices Biblical stewardship because its members are viewing everything they possess as God’s, whether it’s money, time, talents or service. This affects the whole concept of the church as a missional entity, doing the will of God in precisely the way he has called us to live in our community. A church cannot be missional unless it is healthy spiritually. Spiritual health includes stewardship health!
The resident “bishop” in our house is Annie the wonder-dog. At one point she was a 65-pound running machine. At age 92 (in dog years) her spine has so much arthritis she needs twice the normal human dose of prednisone just to walk. She is not healthy; she cannot do what she was born to do.
In the same way, unhealthy churches cannot do the mission of God. If the church is to reclaim its spiritual health we have got to shed the arthritic view of what we want to do with “our” possessions, time and talent. We must adopt a Biblical stewardship that bows before the throne and says “God use me and whatever you’ve placed in my hands for your own glory; I surrender all!
What stands in the way?
If there is one obstacle that ever stands in the way of even good United Methodist Christians accomplishing Biblical stewardship it is fear. We fear that we won’t have resources to meet our needs, and so we hoard when we should be investing in lives. Hard times (like these days) will always attempt to steal your stewardship.
Let’s turn to the text and see what Joseph did to ward off the fear that would have stolen his stewardship. If you recall anything of the story you remember that Joseph had one brother and ten step-brothers. The “steps” were jealous and sold Joseph to a band of Bedouin travelers who were headed to Egypt. Joseph was only 17 and he spent the next twenty years away from his parents, serving in a foreign land. Hard times!
Joseph’s Beauty
There is a lot written about the physical beauty of Joseph. In fact in the Koran Mohammed wrote a whole chapter which details just how “American Idol-ish” looking was Joseph, the favorite son of Jacob. In one of those stories Zuleekha (Mrs. Potiphar) is pictured as being harassed by her servants for her reputation of being too flirtatious with Joseph. So she sets a banquet table for forty of the servants and invites Joseph to attend. Zuleekha gives her servant girls knives with which to cut their oranges, but just then Joseph walks in, and Mohammed writes:
When they saw him they were struck with admiration, and so confounded, that instead of cutting their oranges they cut and hacked their own hands, crying out, “O God! this is not a human being; this is none other than a glorious angel!” [5]
Joseph’s Duty
When Mrs. Potiphar attempted to seduce Joseph he instinctively knew that there was a decision to make, and he knew which was right. This was before Moses and the giving of the Ten Commandments; however, there are some things that we know are wrong without a teacher!
Joseph also knew that his decision would cost him either way. In his position as a slave, albeit a trusted slave, the boss’ wife was way off-limits! Joseph used what one commentator called Principiis obsta, “resist the first overtures of sin,”….After-remedies come too late. [6] In other words, as James warned, when sin comes knocking…get away any way you can!
Even though Joseph had fallen into hard times for most of his young life he was living by what King Solomon would write centuries later:
Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not rely on your own insight. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. Proverbs 3:5-6 (NRSV)
Joseph was on the wrong end of the stick – AGAIN! Yet he trusted God to make things come out right. Alexander MacLaren wrote, “…it is better to have a clean conscience and be in prison than do wickedness and sit at a king’s table.” [7]
Stewardship Connection
OK…great story…Joseph gets the wrong end of the stick, gets thrown in jail, but in the end the Lord was with him and everything comes out just fine. How does that relate to me and that offering plate?
Here’s how; are we not in a recession? Are people not struggling? And who asked us if we wanted this? Do you ever feel like you’re riding Joseph’s end of the stick?
Hard times may be temporary, or they may be here to stay for a good while. Stewardship of God’s good creation is a gift. It is not subject to the ways and whims of this world. It’s ours to joyfully participate in until God calls us home. As a member of this church you have the privilege to join with other Christians to bring all the tithes into the storehouse and watch God’s blessings pour down from heaven!
Bishop Goodpaster also talked about a trip to Laos some years back (he is bishop of that country also). The per capita income last year in Laos was only $785. The bishop met with a local pastor in an extremely impoverished area and they discussed stewardship. The pastor told him their church has four qualifications for people to become members there. A prospective member must:
• Give up all idols
• Read the Bible daily
• Attend worship at least once a week
• Tithe
I suspect that although they don’t have much to eat, and no health insurance – that transportation is “two-foot-power” and life expectancy there ended for me more than a decade ago, that their churches are healthy spiritually.
All it takes is what we sing about periodically here…and the more I know about such third world vows and sacrifices, sometimes I wonder if any of us really did surrender all, or if we have some I.O.U.’s piling-up in the plate?
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ENDNOTES
1] 8/25/09, Rev. Dr. Goodpaster, Presiding Bishop, Western North Carolina Conference, UMC.
2] Bruce Howell in a sermon on SermonCentral.com
3] Tony Abram in a sermon on SermonCentral.com
4] John Wesley, Sermon #51, The Good Steward
5] Surat xii, verse 32, Adam Clarke’s Commentary on the Old Testament © 1999, Parsons Technology, Inc.
6] Alexander MacLaren, Expositons of Holy Scripture: Old Testament ©2006, Parsons Technology
7] Ibid.
