A RIGHTEOUS MAN IN A SINFUL WORLD
2 Cor 6:14-18
Gen 39:1-7
One of the biggest challenges that face believers these days is how to stay righteous in a very sinful world. The truth is that sin is pleasurable no matter how much you pretend that it is not. It is great temptation that we face on a daily basis not to fall into sin. Heb 11:24 says that by faith, Moses when he came to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter. Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. Verse 26 says esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt, for he had respect unto the recompense of the reward. The truth about sin is that the pleasure is only for a season and the thing that really endures is the blessing of God. That is why we are told in Prov 10:22 that the blessing of The Lord maketh rich and addeth no sorrow with it.
The truth is that the gospel that is generally preached in the present at church deals with the issue of blessings, miracles and prosperity and God has been doing great things along these lines in the lives of believers, even the biggest cynics cannot deny the awesome power of God that is at work in the lives of believers. However, where the challenge now comes is that as our people are getting blessed and getting very exposed many of them are unprepared on how to deal with the challenge that comes with the new lifestyles that they adopt. Let me create a scenario for us. When we just gave our lives to Christ things were still pretty rough and our lifestyle was restricted to going to hustle, get back home and go to church. You did not have money for the other luxuries of life and the temptations that come with it. However, as you progressed in faith and grace, God started to bless you and this also came with it new exposures. You can now afford the highest level of electronics in your house, overseas travels and exposures and new friends who are not necessarily believers. At the highest level of life you cannot be secluded and you must have close interactions with all types of people. In fact you will have the opposite sex literally throwing themselves at you. You will have amazing attention from ladies who can win beauty contests anywhere in the world. It is even worse when you are not in Nigeria, where some of these ladies look like the ones that you see in fashion magazines, very clean.
There is also the lure of the corruption that is in the world. In a bid to remain competitive in the business world, you are often under pressure to make compromises. A little concealment can make all the difference in making hundreds of millions or even billions in a transaction. It may be easier to deal with when you are on you own, where you can just walk out of it and no one will question your discretion. But what happens when you are in the employment of someone and walking out of such a deal may cost you your job. Remember that you are now living a great lifestyle provided for by the job which you are doing. The house is on mortgage, the cars were purchased by loan funded by the job and guaranteed by the office and the children are in posh schools that you cannot afford if you do not have the job. In order words, you are a slave in Egypt.
The only problem is that you do not know that you are a slave already in Egypt. The bible said concerning Joseph that he was a prosperous man, but he was a slave in the house of his master in Egypt. That was a very difficult situation and condition to live in. The problem will always be, how can a righteous man survive in a sinful world? How can Joseph keep up with the principles of the word of God so as not to compromise his faith knowing that he would always be under pressure to compromise. How can you stay righteous in a market place that is rife with sharp practices and manipulations? How can you hang out with friends and not indulge in the things which they all do? How can you restrain yourself from keeping the girlfriends that they keep and all kinds of fashionable things which are contrary to the word of God? If faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word, fear and iniquity also comes by hearing and hearing from the devil through the company that you keep. After a while, the things which you have always seen as completely wrong will now seem permissible and you will even begin to look for scripture to back our actions. So many of us have shipwrecked our lives simply because we could not keep the faith in a sinful world. It is often difficult to tell a man who is being apparently blessed that his lifestyle is wrong, especially when things are still going well until the inevitable happens to him. At this stage of your life everyone is telling you of how good God has been to you and how much of a wonderful person you are and no one is likely to tell you where you are missing it because of one or two things that they are getting from you. As a pastor, one of the things that I hate telling my members is, did I not warn you? I hate it because at that stage, what he really needs is encouragement and solution to his predicament. But the truth is that you must tell him so that he would not fall into that error again.
How did Joseph survive in Egypt? How can I prevail in a sinful world? How can I stand against pressure to compromise?
The first thing about Joseph was that he never allowed Egypt to take over his life and he never forgot where he was coming from. Let us be careful the way we adopt the lifestyle of Egypt because you are not an Egyptian. In spite of being in the highest office in the land, Joseph never forgot where he was coming from. He had his people in his heart and that was why when he saw them he quickly recognized them. I have seen too many believers who become carried away by success that they become alienated from the church as soon as they become successful. All you do is criticize everything about the church, assuming you are better than everyone else. That lifestyle that you are trying to adopt is not superior to the church. That was why Paul was very clear to us when he said we cannot be unequally yoked with unbelievers. There cannot be fellowship between righteousness and unrighteousness, and no communion between light and darkness. When you relate with their lifestyle, you must see it as being inferior to the lifestyle of the church.
Jesus Christ said in Matt 16:6 take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees. This means that you must relate with them with extreme caution and restraint so that you do not get lured by their sinful lifestyle.
Secondly, you must be hard and brutal about your salvation. You must see your salvation from the superior pedestal that it represents. Everybody that comes in contact with you must know what your stand is on your spirituality. By the time they start calling you a modest believer then you have started backsliding. You must be radical about your faith and you are better off being called a fanatic or a fundamentalist. While we Christians try too hard to hide our commitment to Christ, Moslems are very open with their faith. A Moslem will break a very important meeting half way to do his prayers, while a believer will give up his fast just because he was offered a business lunch. The three Hebrew youths in the book of Daniel refused to bow to the image of gold and were prepared to face the fiery furnace. Daniel on his own insisted that he would pray to God and ended up at the den of lions. In these cases, God delivered them. But there were any more that God did not deliver, but it means that their eternity was preserved. Joseph was prepared for ay consequence, but he would not sleep with the wife of his master Potiphar.
Thirdly, never took his eyes away from his purpose which was inspired by God. I have come to realize that the reason why Joseph had two dreams was so that he would not be in doubt about where he was going to. It was apparent to him that no individual had the capacity to bring the dream to pass. This helped him to be focused and he was not distracted. He knew that the only way he could get to his destiny was by staying in the will of God. It is a man that has no vision that is likely to get involved in irrelevant and wasteful expeditions or live a directionless lifestyle. Prov 29:18 where there is no vision, the people perish. He always knew that his purpose was hid with God and was bigger than any position that he was presently occupying. This mindset will give you boldness to resist any suggestion to compromise.
Fourthly, Joseph made sure that he was extremely good in whatever he was doing. The issue of compromise only thrives in an environment of mediocrity where you desire to be accommodated in spite of your performance. But when you are excellent, people will have no option to differ to you. Joseph was a man who excelled in what he was doing and did not need a Potiphar's wife to move him forward. He knew that even if he was in prison he would still excel and rise to the top. That way you will not be afraid of being thrown into the labour market for refusing to compromise. One day they will look for someone to perform an assignment that only you can perform. It is that the that will announce you.
Fifthly, Joseph did not allow himself to be consumed by the lure of his present office and position. As a believer you must have the mindset of a pilgrim, and you should never be too comfortable with earthly possessions. That was what happened to the rich fool in Luke 12:13 and the rich young ruler in Luke 18:18. You must never allow ourself to be too attached to the things of this world that you find it difficult to walk away from it, if it threatens our salvation. Daniel and the three Hebrew youth said they will not eat of the king's meat and drink of his wine. Daniel 1:8 says that Daniel purposes in his heart that he will not defile himself with the portion of the king's meat and wine.
Finally, Joseph held on to God. The only thing that keeps most of us from falling is the fear of God. That is why it is said that the fear of God is wisdom. The scripture says that the Lord was with Joseph and his master saw that The Lord was with him. You can imagine that Joseph would have been committed to his local church if it was today and he would even be in a ministry group. All these things are given us by God in order to keep us in faith and to strengthen us against the enemy and the temptations of life. Prov 27:17 iron sharpeneth iron, so doth a man sharpen the countenance of his friend.
