SMB/NR and SMM 05-09-04
Genesis 39:1-23 - The cost of integrity
My wife Maddy challenged me the other day when she said: "In our churches we only seem to preach from the New Testament, yet there are wonderful stories in the Old Testament that we are danger of losing"
This week I would like to look the story of Joseph who maintained his integrity in spite of the advances of Potiphar’s wife. And by keeping his integrity, he lost his freedom.
It seemed as if Joseph was destined to a life of failure - at least in the eyes of the world?
He had started off as the apple of his Father’s eye - yet his brothers took him and sold him into slavery
And just as things were beginning to work out for him in Potiphar’s house - he runs up against what many of us would term ’bad luck’.
But actually it is all in God’s plan for Joseph’s life
Life must have seemed so unfair to Joseph.
How would you feel, for example, if someone came and stole everything you had?
Angry
Bitter
Why me God?
Story: Matthew Henry, the famous Bible Commentator was once held up by a highwayman who stole everything Matthew Henry had. Do you know what Matthew Henry wrote in his diary that evening? He thanked God for four things:
1. That the highwayman had not taken a lot of
money (MH wasn’t rich)
2. That the highwayman hadn’t taken MH’s life
3. That it was after all - just money
4. That he, Matthew Henry had not been the one carrying out the robbery (in those days the sentence for highway robbery was hanging)
Even when bad things happen to us, we can take a positive approach.
In our Old Testament reading today, we can see that unfair and bad things happened to Joseph. But Joseph didn’t give up on God, despite the pressures on his integrity.
Joseph experienced three pressures - that we too can experience when our integrity is put to the test.
The first of these pressures was the pull of the world’s standards
The second was the power of physical attraction and
The third was the peril of loneliness.
1. THE PULL OF THE WORLD’S STANDARDS
Joseph was living in a society that is very much like ours. It was polytheistic.
The Egyptians believed in many gods - including the pharaoh of the day.
So far as we know, Joseph was the only one in Potiphar’ house who worshipped the One True God of the Israelites. We too live in such a polytheistic society - society that tells us that all religions lead to God.
If we are going to maintain our Christian integrity, we are going to have to swim against the flow ¨C to be countercultural - nd to stand up and say. "No - Jesus is the only way to God."
In business we hear the same old story: "Everyone is cheating the system so why shouldn’t I?
The eleventh commandment of business is: "Thou shallt not get caught!"
The world’s standards stand in stark contrast to God’s.When I as in business I cannot remember any of my bosses ever asking me to do something really ethically wrong.
But there are others who have been put in ethically untenable positions and it has cost them their career -o stand up for what is right.
Joseph was put in an impossible position. Would he lose his integrity - or risk the wrath of his boss’s wife
Look at what Joseph said when Potiphar’s wife asked him to sleep with her:
"How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God" (Gen 39:9)
Joseph was, I would suggest to you not the epitome of tact. He could have profited from reading Dale Carnegie’s book "How to make friends and influence people"
But he took a stand - full of integrity.
I wonder how we would have reacted.
2. THE POWER OF PHYSICAL ATTRACTION
The second pressure on Joseph’s integrity was the power of physical attraction. As Michael Ross-Watson so nicely put it: "Joseph was a hunk!"
He was good looking and Potiphar’s wife fancied him.
We live in a society where good looks are held in high esteem. Many of the stories in our boulevard press are about stars- not admired for their brains but for their good looks
But God thinks otherwise:
Story: When Samuel was sent by God to anoint one of Jesse’s sons as king in place of King Saul, he thought he was being sent to anoint Eliab - Jesse eldest a man of good physique. But God said this to Samuel:
"Do not consider his appearance or his height - for I have rejected him. The Lord does not loom at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward, but the Lord looks at the heart." (1 Sam 16:7)
3. THE PERIL OF LONELINESS
The third pressure on Joseph’s integrity was the peril of loneliness. There were at least two lonely people in Potiphar’s house - Potiphar’s wife and Joseph.
Loneliness can be a big problem in the world - and even in the church. When our services are geared to families, singles can feel so left out. And disappointment and discouragement often accompany loneliness
It is so easy to give in to sexual temptation ¨C it seems so private. It would have been easy for Joseph to give in and think the lie many adulterers tell themselves: "It won’t be found out anywa"
Our sociologists would have "understood". Poor boy - he can’t help his circumstances.
BUT JOSEPH DID NOT GIVE IN
And it cost him his freedom
Psalm 105 paints graphically what it cost Joseph physically when he was thrown in prison:
"He (God) sent a man before them - Joseph sold as a slave. They bruised his feet with shackles, his neck was put in irons till what he foretold came to pass, until the word of the Lord proved him true. The King (Pharoah) sent and released him, the ruler of his people set him free. He (Pharoah) made him master of his household, ruler of all he possessed, to instruct princes as he pleased and teach his elders wisdom¡± (Ps 105: 17-22)
Joseph could have taken the easy way out - and gone to bed with Potiphar’s wife. But I doubt that would have helped him in the long run. Potiphar’s wife would have either tired of him and shopped him to Potiphar or Potiphar would have found out from the other servants -and then had Joseph executed.
God however was faithful to his faithful servant.
Conventional wisdom would have said this was the end of Joseph’s career. Just as things seemed to be getting bad in Joseph’s life we read this interesting little phrase:
"The Lord was with him"
The first time this phrase appears is just after Joseph has been sold into slavery by his brother s and Potiphar buys him. And we read in the next verse:
"The Lord was with Joseph and he prospered¡... When his master (Potiphar) saw that the Lord was with him (Joseph) and that the Lord gave him success in everything he did, Joseph found favour in his eyes and became his attendant" (Gen 3: 2-3)
The second time this phrase appears is when Joseph is thrown in prison by Potiphar and we read in the next verse:
"But while Joseph was there in prison, the Lord was with him. He showed him kindness and granted him favour in the eyes of the prison warden" (Gen 39:21)
And of course we know how the story ends:
Joseph is eventually called from prison to interpret Pharoah’s two dreams - two dreams that warn of a terrible famine that will follow seven years of plenty.
And Joseph is then appointed Pharoah’s right hand man.
He is put in charge of storing enough grain from the seven years of plenty to see them through the seven years of famine - BUT THAT IS ANOTHER STORY!
Conclusion.
God will only use Christian men and women of INTEGRITY in his service. If we want to experience the blessings of God - even in adversity - we must remain faithful to Him cost what it may.
Story: Jesus could have opted out of the Cross. He could have simply denied being the SON OF GOD to Caiaphas the High Priest.
Conventional wisdom would have recommended that course. But Jesus wasn’t into conventional wisdom. He wanted to follow his heavenly Father’s will - come what may and he wasn’t prepared to compromise his integrity.
If we Christians are going to impact this world with the Good News of Jesus - we must maintain our integrity and so make our witness credible
Story: Henry Varley once said in a prayer meeting: "The world has not seen what God can do with a man totally dedicated to Himself."
You probably haven’t heard of Henry Varley - but you might well have heard of the young man who went out of that meeting and promised God
"By the grace of God I will be such a man."
His name was D.L. Moody - a simple shoe salesman with no formal theological education. Moody was to become the Billy Graham of the 19th Century. God used D.L.Moody to reach millions and to raise up many men of God whose influence can still be felt today - for example C.T.Studd who found WEC
The question we are asked this morning is this: Are we prepared to be a men or women totally dedicated to God.
No one is too old. Remember Moses only began his ministry at 80.
No one is too young. The prophets Samuel and Jeremiah were called and used by God as children.
(My thanks to Michael Ross-Watson for the three pressures in Joseph’s life and the Matthew Henry story)
