This past week I had the pleasure of doing a funeral. Pleasure and funeral are not two words that you hear in the same sentence. The reason it was a pleasure is because of the remarkable legacy of faith that the man left. I never met him but I was amazed by the impactful testimony that a disabled bed ridden man could leave behind.
Today we are looking at another remarkable person, Joseph. Joseph’s story is found in the book of Genesis and it is a wonderful example of a man who left a powerful legacy.
Our text is Genesis 39:8-9, but before we look at this passage, we need to put it into the context of Joseph’s life.
Joseph was the youngest son of a rich patriarch, Jacob. Jacob had two wives and two concubines. Joseph was the only son of Jacob’s favorite wife. Joseph was also a very good looking, resourceful young man who became his father’s favorite. Perhaps you have heard of the coat of many colors that his father gave him. We also know that while his brother’s were out watching the family herds, Joseph was given preferential treatment being kept at home. As if that wasn’t bad enough, Joseph told his family about dreams that he had in which his family symbolically bowed to him.
The brothers did not react well. When Joseph was sent by his father to check on their well-being, his brothers gave into their anger and envy by selling Joseph into slavery, tearing his precious coat and covering it in animal blood in order to cover up their crime. They took the blood-soaked coat to their father declaring Joseph had been attacked and killed by an animal.
Fast forward to Egypt. Joseph is a household slave owned by an important man named Potiphar, the captain over the Pharoah’s bodyguard. Potiphar has made him head of the household staff. His household flourished so well, that Potiphar made Joseph overlord of all his affairs.
Now Joseph was handsome in form and appearance. And it came about after these events that his master’s wife had her eyes on Joseph, and she said, “Sleep with me.” (Genesis 39:6, 7, NAS)
But he refused and said to his master’s wife, “Look, with me here, my master does not concern himself with anything in the house, and he has put me in charge of all that he owns. There is no one greater in this house than I, and he has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How then could I do this great evil, and sin against God?” (Genesis 39:8, 9, NAS)
Not one to take no for an answer, Potiphar’s wife continued to pursue Joseph until one day she grabbed his cloak and he ran off without it.
So she grabbed him by his garment, saying, “Sleep with me!” But he left his garment in her hand and fled, and went outside. When she saw that he had left his garment in her hand and had fled outside, she called to the men of her household and said to them, “See, he has brought in a Hebrew to us to make fun of us; he came in to me to sleep with me, and I screamed. When he heard that I raised my voice and screamed, he left his garment beside me and fled and went outside.” So she left his garment beside her until his master came home. (Genesis 39:12-16, NAS)
Potiphar put Joseph in the king’s jail, where Joseph was eventually put in charge of the jail itself and from where he was eventually raised up by God to become one of the most important men in all Egypt.
Now the proposal seemed good to Pharaoh and to all his servants. Then Pharaoh said to his servants, “Can we find a man like this, in whom there is a divine spirit?” So Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Since God has informed you of all this, there is no one as discerning and wise as you are. You shall be in charge of my house, and all my people shall be obedient to you; only regarding the throne will I be greater than you.” Pharaoh also said to Joseph, “See, I have placed you over all the land of Egypt.” (Genesis 41:37-40, NAS)
What an amazing legacy! Joseph was able to save countless lives including his own family’s through whom the entire nation of Israel grew.
Joseph was clearly one of the beautiful people. You know who I mean. One of the people whose presence changes everything. He reminds me of a girl I knew back in my college days. She was Dallas Cowboy cheerlead for a couple years. She was stunningly good looking and full of personality. Everywhere she went there was a party because she brought the party with her. Unfortunately, she was lacking in consistency and intelligence. Joseph lacked neither. He was a complete package. The real deal who left a legacy of a changed world.
It was a legacy that almost wasn’t. Imagine if Joseph had slept with Potiphar’s wife. What would have been Potiphar’s reaction? Joseph could quite probably ended up dead. From Joseph’s perspective it was a dream opportunity. He had never been with a woman before. As a slave, he may never be given a woman. She is his owner. She is insisting he go to bed with her. How in the world could he resist? It wasn’t the example of his father - two wives, two concubines. It wasn’t the example of his brothers. Just look at Genesis chapter 38 to get a taste of their morality. How did Joseph have the moral courage and conviction to resist temptation?
This brings us to a strange question. If you are God and you create someone like Joseph, why allow him to become a slave? Why allow him to be imprisoned? I could be wrong, but I believe Joseph became who he was, exactly because he was enslaved.
Do you remember the dream that Joseph dreamed? In the first dream, Joseph and his brothers were binding sheaves of wheat in the field when his brothers’ sheaves bowed down to him. In the second dream, the sun, moon and eleven stars bowed down to him, symbolizing his mother, father and eleven brothers bowing to him. What does he do? He goes around telling everyone about it. Not exactly a mark of humility.
Two things must have happened to Joseph because of his enslavement. 1. He had to rely on God – every other source of security was ripped away from him. 2. He developed humility.
Dependence on God and humility are exactly the characteristics that we all need if we are to resist temptation. They are the characteristics that determine whether our legacy is one of failure, one of self-glorification, or one of glory to God.
Notice Joseph’s reaction to Potiphar’s wife: “There is no one greater in this house than I, and he has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How then could I do this great evil, and sin against God?”
Joseph clearly recognized his position as a gift of God and knew that to betray the trust given to him would be an affront to God. But then she pulled an energizer bunny. She kept going and going. There are times when even dependence on God and humility are not enough. Running shoes are needed. Joseph got out of there!
I recently heard a preacher say moments of temptation do not determine our character. Our character determines the moments. It is what we bring to those moments that determines whether we resist or give in to the temptations before us.
Fortunately, we have a God who can change our character. When we have blown the moment. When we give in to the temptation, God allows us to respond in dependence on God and humility.
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous, so that He will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (I John 1:19)
Some of the godliest people I know have also been some of the biggest failures. The question is not if we are going to fail, it is what we do when we fail. Do we repent well? Do we respond in dependence on God or pick ourselves up by our bootstraps? Do we repent in humble confession or stiffen our back in pride?
Joseph had to go on a detour through enslavement and imprisonment to become the man that God could use. Are you going through a detour where God is trying to teach you to depend on Him and to embrace humility? If so, count your blessings, because God is preparing to leave you a powerful legacy.
