Genesis 39 Joseph righteous Tim Anderson 22/7/18 You would have had to be hiding under a rock for the last few years to have missed that there is a massive crisis in the sexual behaviour of men in our society. Whether it's the #metoo movement, which women have used to record their experiences on social media; to prominent men in the arts, think Harvey Weinstein and closer to home Craig McLaughlin and Don Burke, to politics, think Barnaby Joyce and in the US Al Franken and how could we forget Donald Trump; to the church where there have been literally thousands of cases of child sexual abuse uncovered by the recent royal commission; then there's the military, with high profile cases at ADFA; then there are schools where teachers have abused students. I took a funeral on Tuesday. One of the women told me that her husband had left her for another woman while she was pregnant with her third child. What a good bloke! What a way to make sure your children grow up feeling abandoned and rejected. Not to mention your ex wife. Like I said, You would have had to be hiding under a rock for the last few years to have missed that there is a massive crisis in the sexual behaviour of men in our society. As a society, we have thrown off the shackles of all of that 1
out of date, stifling, repressive, Christian morality. We've sown the wind and reaped the whirlwind. And we will be feeling the effects of the damage done especially to children for generations. And so we read a story like Genesis 39 and we think to ourselves, could this possibly be true? Is it possible that there is a handsome virile man who instead of scheming about predatory ways to get women into bed with him, says 'No' when he is given an open invitation to have sex with someone else's wife? The answer is that it is true, Joseph really did that. He didn't do it just once. He did it with repeated requests over a long period of time. How did he manage it? How can a man resist that kind of sexual temptation? No point asking Harvey Weinstein, he won't be able to tell you. Maybe men back then were just better behaved across the board? No. It can't be that. Look at his brother Judah in last week's reading. His wife died and he was off to visit the prostitute. Men lacking sexual self control is not a modern phenomenon, (though I have to say it does look to be getting worse in recent decades). But Joseph is a clear contrast to his brother. So how does he do it? Let's look at how Joseph managed it. And then we'll turn to the real point of the passage. Because believe it or not, 2
this is really a story about God. Joseph and Potiphar's wife are supporting actors. Three keys to Joseph resisting sexual temptation. Number 1, he recognises the victim. Our society does its best to present sexual sin as a victimless crime, so long as everyone is an adult and they are all consenting. But that is the lies of the devil. Sexual sin damages people left, right and centre. Joseph recognises who he would be sinning against. Listen to his words, "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." The devil says, "She wants to, you want, it will be fun, no one will know." The truth is that Potiphar would be deeply hurt. Potophar has done the right thing by Joseph. He's given him great responsibility. What a way to say thank you, to go behind his back with his wife. Key number 1, recognise the victim or victims, often there are many. Key number two, get rid of the possibility. Verse 10 tells us, "Though she spoke to Joseph day after day, he refused to go to bed with her or even be with her." He wouldn't even be with her. 3
Was that because he didn't trust her? If so, then later events would prove him dead right. But could it have been that Joseph didn't even trust himself if he exposed himself to constant relentless temptation. Everyone has days when they are more susceptible to temptation than other days. So eliminate the possibility. Paul tells the Corinthians, "Flee from sexual immorality." Don't give it a chance. Key number two, get rid of the possibility. Key number three and this is the most important of the three. Live life in relationship with God. No one is strong enough to fight against sin in and of themselves. We are all children of Adam. We have inherited from him the fallen natures that lead us astray. You can recognise the victims and try to eliminate the possibility, but unless you are walking closely with God, you won't be able to resist temptation. Only God can give us the power to resist temptation. Have a look at what Joseph says to Potiphar's wife in verse 9. "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 my master?" Is that what he says? No it's not. That's what you might expect him to say. But it's not what he says. How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God? 4
And that is the sign that Joseph is walking closely with God. He recognises that if he were to do the wrong thing, he would not just hurt Potiphar, he offend against the God who created him, and the God who had granted him success in Potiphar's house. So that's three keys to resisting sexual temptation. 1. Recognise who the victims are. 2. Eliminate the possibility of being tempted. 3. Walk closely with God. And now it's time to move on to what this story is really about. Joseph and Potiphar's wife are supporting actors. This is at its heart a story about God. It's a story about God who is true to his promises. It's a story about God preparing a man to be the saviour of his people. So what is God up to in this story? The first thing to say is that the Lord is raising Joseph up. Joseph who had been sold into slavery is being given a position of prominence. Listen to how many times we are told this. Verse 2. "The Lord was with Joseph so that he prospered." Verse 3. "When his master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord gave him success in everything he did, Joseph found favour in his eyes." Verse 5. "The Lord blessed the household of the Egyptian because of Joseph. The blessing of the Lord was on everything Potiphar had." Then down in verse 21 after he was sent to prison, "The Lord was with him; he showed him kindness 5
and granted him favour in the eyes of the prison warden." And verse 22. "The Lord was with Joseph and gave him success in whatever he did." Way back in Genesis 12, God promised Abraham, "I will make your name great and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you." Those promises to Abraham shape the first five books of the Bible. And the promises belong to Abraham's descendents after him. And they are front and centre in this chapter. God is making Joseph's name great. Joseph is being a blessing to those around him. God is blessing those who bless Joseph. So here's the question. If God is on Joseph's side, blessing him in all that he does, why does he end up in jail? He's innocent, right? Why can't God have his innocence demonstrated and Potiphar's wife punished for falsely accusing him? Is it that God is doing the best he can for Joseph, but when God runs into an evil woman like Potiphar's wife, God is powerless to bless Joseph in the face of her false accusations? Could that be it? No of course not. That would be making Potiphar's wife more powerful than God. So why does Joseph end up in jail? Well it's like when his brothers sold him into slavery in Egypt. Their actions were evil, 6
but God used them to get his man to Egypt to save his people. Potiphar's wife's actions were evil. But God used them to achieve his purposes. What were God's purposes? It's easy to see why God wanted Joseph in Egypt. It's not so clear why he needed Joseph in jail in Egypt. Sure it was while Joseph was in jail that he met the kings cupbearer who would later remember Joseph interpreting his dream and be the trigger for Joseph to meet Pharaoh. But God could have organised for Joseph to interpret Pharaoh's dream another way. It's actually a regular way that God works to bring his servants low before he uses them to achieve great things. Moses flees Egypt and is a shepherd before God brings him back to lead his people. Elijah is living by himself in the desert being fed by ravens before he defeats the prophets of Baal on Mt Carmel. The apostle Paul is blinded before he is sent to preach the gospel. Why does God do that? I think partly to refine the character of his servants. Is it possible that Joseph was a touch arrogant as a young man? Why did he relate his dreams about his family bowing down to him? He could have kept them to himself. Maybe God had some things to teach Joseph along the way, and they were things best taught in a prison cell. That's one reason why God brings people low. I think the other reason is so that everyone can see who is responsible. If Joseph had been vindicated in the incident with Potiphar's wife, and had been recognised and promoted, 7
and gradually worked his way up the Egyptian civil service until finally he was noticed by Pharaoh and given the opportunity to interpret Pharaoh's dreams, then it could have looked like it was all about Joseph's outstanding talent. He was so diligent, hard working and intelligent. You can't keep a good man down. But you see, God is the one who is saving his people. And the glory rightly belongs to God. So God organises things so that it's very clear that everything depends on him. God delights in achieving his purposes by nearly impossible methods. That way when you get to the end and look back, it becomes clear that it was God at work all along. What's the message in that for us? Firstly, you should never think that God thinks you are a second rate servant if he's put you in a humble position. If I think about it from my perspective, does it mean that God thinks less of me because he has put me at Holy Trinity Hastings, rather than St John's in Toorak? Absolutely not. God loves the people of Holy Trinity Hastings just as much as the people of St John's in Toorak. (And there are more people at Holy Trinity Hastings.) Does God think that Godfrey Mbelwa the bishop in Tanzania I showed in the notices last week, is less of a bishop because he has to put the begging bowl out to get simple church structures built for dirt poor folk in his diocese? 8
Not in the slightest. God loves the poor people in rural Tanzania just as much as he loves the wealthy people in Australia. What about you? You might have some very humble roles. Maybe you help with sorting people's cast off clothes in the Op Shop. Maybe you make snacks for children at play group. Maybe you spent your Saturday in a talk fest about a MAP. Maybe you drive the church trailer to the tip. Maybe you mow the church grass. Maybe you meet with a group of friends in a coffee shop to pray. Maybe you visit sick people in their homes. Maybe you've been trained to mentor a child at the local primary school. These are all humble roles in God's kingdom. Does that mean you are not important? Not at all. You see what God cares about is whether you are faithful in carrying out the jobs he gives you. He puts you where he wants you. And he wants you to be faithful where he puts you. Joseph was faithful as a servant in Potiphar's house. You be faithful as a servant where ever God puts you. Well we can't finish without drawing some parallels between Joseph and Jesus. In this chapter, Joseph was unjustly accused of wrongdoing and unjustly condemned for a crime he didn't commit. So was Jesus. Jesus was accused of being a blasphemer, and he was crucified because of a trumped up charge. 9
In this chapter, Joseph was brought low before God raised him up. Jesus too was brought low before God raised him up. In Joseph's life, you see God working behind the scenes. God achieves his saving purposes and he does it bringing glory to himself. You see the same thing in Jesus' life. He was born in obscurity and had to flee to Egypt to escape Herod. He did his ministry amongst the common people. He slept outdoors. And yet through it, God was glorified. God's power was put on display in Jesus' miracles and his resurrection. In lots of ways, Joseph is a saviour who is a forerunner to Jesus. Joseph points us to Jesus, if we have eyes to see. And that's important because there may be some part of this story that resonates with you. Maybe like Joseph, you've been falsely accused. Well as you resonate with Joseph, you are actually resonating with Jesus. Joseph points us to Jesus. Let's summarise the various messages from this passage. There is a word to those facing sexual temptation. 1. Recognise who the victims are. 2. Eliminate the possibility of being tempted. 3. Walk closely with God. There is a word for those serving God in humble positions. God puts you where he wants you. Be faithful like Joseph. And there is a word for all of us. When you look at Joseph, see Jesus. 10
It's good to resonate with the life of a fine believer. It's better to be driven into the arms of your saviour. 11