Scripture Reading: Genesis 39:1-9
‘And Joseph was brought down to Egypt; and Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, captain of the guard, an Egyptian, bought him of the hands of the Ishmeelites, which had brought him down thither. 2 And the Lord was with Joseph, and he was a prosperous man; and he was in the house of his master the Egyptian. 3 And his master saw that the Lord was with him, and that the Lord made all that he did to prosper in his hand. 4 And Joseph found grace in his sight, and he served him: and he made him overseer over his house, and all that he had he put into his hand. 5 And it came to pass from the time that he had made him overseer in his house, and over all that he had, that the Lord blessed the Egyptian’s house for Joseph’s sake; and the blessing of the Lord was upon all that he had in the house, and in the field. 6 And he left all that he had in Joseph’s hand; and he knew not ought he had, save the bread which he did eat. And Joseph was a goodly person, and well favoured. 7 And it came to pass after these things, that his master’s wife cast her eyes upon Joseph; and she said, Lie with me. 8 But he refused, and said unto his master’s wife, Behold, my master wotteth not what is with me in the house, and he hath committed all that he hath to my hand; 9 There is none greater in this house than I; neither hath he kept back anything from me but thee, because thou art his wife: how then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?’
We are all subjected to a few stages of life or I would like to call it the seasons of life. The important question is, in the seasons of life what does a person look like that walks with God? The bible has given us a few examples of these men and what do they look like who walk with God. Here we see Joseph was a man of incredible character. Joseph is not just a bible character anymore to me. I have come to deeply respect Joseph and to be honest I am constantly amazed at his character and pray that I adopt his characters. Joseph is a man for all seasons. Let’s observe Joseph’s character in his seasons of life.
1. Grounding Of His Belief In His Season Of Temptation
The bible in John 1:26 says, “For everything in the world–the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life–comes not from the Father but from the world.” We all have our season of temptation and our temptation is summarised in the bible as the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life. Billy Graham calls them the 3 Gs in our life; girl, gold and glory. We are all tempted by these 3 elements: lust, greed and pride.
Joseph too had his season of temptation. We will have our season of temptation. Look at the advances of Potiphar’s wife towards Joseph. Genesis 39:7 says, ‘And it came to pass after these things, that his master’s wife cast her eyes upon Joseph; and she said, Lie with me.’ I respect Mike Mike. I was told that during his intern in Boracay, while staying in a dorm, a girl barged into his dormitory and offered herself to him. He rejected her and told her to leave the room. I pray that Mike Mike will stay the same and God will bless him. When Jan was a high school student in Singapore, a young man on the street wanted to be his boyfriend and Jan simply flee, as she remembered that Joseph flee. But how many of us can do that. Especially when you have made it. During this period Joseph had become a successful man” in Potiphar’s house. Genesis 39:2 says, ‘The LORD was with Joseph. He was successful and lived in the household of his Egyptian master. The adverb ‘successful” comes from the Hebrew word ‘Hiphil’ which implies that the man is successful and those around him also were successful and prosperous. It also implies the ability of Joseph in accomplishment of a task. Whatever task that was given him, he did it well and accomplished it. Don’t belittle such an ability. It is an ability given by God. Potiphar observed joseph and saw something in joseph what i call a man in whom the Spirit of God is.’ Because of that Potiphar made him overseer in his house, and over all that he had, that the Lord blessed the Egyptian’s house for Joseph’s sake; and the blessing of the Lord was upon all that he had in the house, and in the field. . Potiphar did not put him in charge simply because of his administrative abilities, but because of his unique connection with the blessings of God. Potiphar did this strictly for personal gain and not in any religious sense. I strongly believe God wants our life to be like that. Then comes Potiphar’s wife. And she just barged into his room and say ‘come lie with me.’ I am very sure that she is very beautiful. She has the sweetest perfume on her. She is gorgeously arrayed. I wonder how many of us would have easily given in. Anyway, nobody is looking and also she is the one who made the move.
We see the response of Joseph in Genesis 39:8-9, “But he refused, saying to his master’s wife, “Look, my master does not give any thought to his household with me here, and everything that he owns he has put into my care. There is no one greater in this household than I am. He has withheld nothing from me except you because you are his wife. So how could I do such a great evil and sin against God?” Adam was put in such a position and he failed miserably. God did not give any thoughts in his garden for Adam. Everything God owns in the garden He put into Adam’s care. God has withheld nothing except just one tree for a reason. How could Adam do such an evil and sin against God.
Joseph seems to make a very logical and appropriate answer to her advances in this verse. The first is connected to the kindness of Potiphar toward him and, in an implied way that her unique position should not be violated. Also, Joseph sees God in connection with his sexual life as he sees Him in connection with all areas of his life. It is significant that sexual promiscuity, in his opinion, is not only a sin against Potiphar and also against Potiphar’s wife, but certainly against Elohim, the general name for God.
In the seasons of life, there are two powerful forces: the absolute and the relative. The absolutes are free from imperfection, complete, pure, and independent. The word of God, the law of God are absolutes. They cannot be violated. You cannot remove the ancient landmark. The Relative on the other hand is something that is dependent on external conditions. It is subjective. Our world has been attacked by subjectivity. We don’t like boundary set by God. In our society we see humans rebel against absolute behaviour. Transgression is the spirit of our age. Notice the slogan from national advertising campaigns: Nothing is taboo, break all the rules, to know no boundaries, relax, no rules here, and peel off inhibitions. Find your own road. That makes us human; living without boundaries. Just do it. Relative behaviour reign supreme and the young people thought nothing of the absolutes. Sexual promiscuity is example of relative behaviour against the law of God and the word of God. God has put us into positions of privileges and set boundaries for our wellbeing.
Joseph was put into a position of choices; absolute or relative. I mean Joseph could have easily given in. But it is not just Potiphar’s wife that Joseph is dealing with. It is the law of God and the sanctity of marriage. There is much that is at stake here. And Joseph is grounding in his belief in the season of temptation. Ravi Zacharias was one of the speakers of Global Discipleship Conference that I just attended with Pastor Lily. He shared that once he was part of a conference where 40000 youth attended. And in that conference, many questions were posted by these 40000 youth to the speakers. When sorted out they discovered the number one question posted was pornography and the number 2 questions was suicides. Ravi boldly stated that people that are deep into and enslaved by pornography usually ended up in adultery and fornication. And also is pornography closely related to suicide. It is said that enslavement to pornography changes the patterns of your brain and leads to depression. Could suicide has something to do with pornography? Well the bible did say ‘the soul that sinneth it shall die.’
2. The Guarantee Of God’s Peace In The Season Of Pain
A preacher was invited by an Indonesian preacher by the name of Stephen Tong who is Pastor of the biggest church in Jakarta. While in Stephen Tong’s home, this preacher, having some free time, and was scribbling on the content of a book he was trying to finish. He was working on the topic on suffering; all the aspects of suffering. Stephen Tong asked what he was doing. The preacher told him the content of his book and so on and so on. Then Stephen Tong said, “Suffering is necessary.’ The preacher was taken aback because his whole book is summarised by Stephen Tong’s statement, ‘Suffering is necessary’. But the preacher knew what Stephen Tong said was true. Because in years to come the lesson you learn the most is in your pain. Joseph went through betrayal, false accusation, prison, ingratitude but he conquered through pain, not in spite of it but through it.
You will grow only to the threshold of your pain. How much pain you can take that much you will grow. The conference that Pastor Lily and i attended was in CCF. It is a mega church. It can seat 10,000 people. They have a ground floor, a lower baloney and an upper baloney. There is another preacher by the name of Samuel Chand, who also saw the church for e first time like us. He made a comical statement. ‘Wow, Jesus must have loved Peter Tan Chi more.’ Well that is not true. In the conference the messages by the speakers seem to blend with one another. And I notice pain was one of the major topic. Samuel Chand added that there is the difference between a mega church and a small church pastor – the difference is in the capacity to handle pain. Samuel Chand doesn’t know what he is talking about and it has truth in it. You see, on the first day, we had to take a taxi to CCF. The taxi driver entered into a conversation with us. He was telling me that some preachers is just trying to get money out of people. I said that, well, it is true concerning many American preachers. They asked for money on TV to buy a plane and another is believing God for a second plane. I said this is not true concerning the Philippines. Majority of the people are poor and you can’t get much out of them anyway. I told him that I believe Peter tan chi is ok. He finally agreed with me and confessed that he do watch Peter tan chi on television. Then he made a statement that shocked Pastor Lily and I. He emphatically told me that Peter Tan Chi’s daughter had been raped. I could not believe it. I went into the Internet to read. I found out that there was one time, when Peter Tan Chi and his wife went for bible study, 6 robbers broke into his house and raped his daughter. At that time she was just a teenager. It was the most painful time for Peter Tan Chi and his wife. They were wondering what good can they learned out of that devastation. Their faith were tested to the core. Their daughter was an innocent good girl, who has never been kissed in her life and was violated terribly. Then Samuel Chand went to the pulpit and said, ”there is a difference between a mega church and a small church – the difference is the capacity to handle pain. You can only grow to the extent of your pain – how much pain you can take, that much you will grow. We will conquer through pain not in spite of it. Now CCF has 40,000 people. But I wonder how many people knew that pain that he has gone through. You can only grow through pain.
In the midst of pain you must be committed to the character of God. A famous young preacher has a lot of suitors and he was quite particular concerning his other half. Well to cut the story short, he found a lady and fell deeply in love with her. They had a wonderful marriage life and both were young and deeply in love with each other. One day the lady had to go somewhere. At the end of the trip, the preacher and his mother decided to pick her up at the airport. He was excited to see her again. While waiting for her at the arrival hall, his mother noticed that ambulance personnel were pull a movable bed covered with a long white sheet and a body was under the white sheet. The mother alerted her son, the young preacher and pointed at the body under the white sheet being pulled away by the ambulance personnel. She said, ‘son, isn’t that the handbag of your wife.’ His wife had suffered a massive heart attack and died inside the plane. At the funeral, he had to give a speech. He said, ‘I thank you for all the cards and condolences and flowers. I know that all of you are wondering how I am taking it. But I want to say that I am committed to the character of God, whatever happened to me. My faith is tested and my faith is intact. I am committed to the character of God.’
God gives us a target and more often than not we are the target of people’s slander, anger. If you are not bleeding you are not leading. It is not leadership but bleedership. If you want to remain in the ministry you must be prepared for more pain to come your way. In life you will definitely get disappointed but you must not develop layer like onion; become protective and nasty. That is wrong. The moment you began to live life not to get hurt, you are making a decision not to serve Jesus Christ anymore.
The best example is Jesus Christ
After being slapped, punched, crowned with thorns and beaten with reeds, He was covered with a red robe and led to Golgotha. There, Roman soldiers drove seven-inch nails into his wrists (most likely hitting the median nerve, causing more blinding pain) and then they rammed another nail into his feet.
His suffering began in Gethsemane, when God laid the sins of the world on His beloved Son. The intense stress caused what physicians call hematidrosis, a condition in which blood seeps out of sweat glands. After His arrest, Jesus was flogged so mercilessly that his skin was stripped off His back, exposing muscle and bone. But the worst pain was when he cried ‘my God my God why has thou forsaken me.’ But finally in the midst of it, Jesus said ‘into thy spirit I commit myself. Jesus conquered through pain.
The second strength of Joseph he has the guarantee of God’s peace in the season of pain. The phrase “the Lord was with Joseph” occurs repeatedly (cf. Gen. 39:3, 21, and 23. I am sure that at this point in Joseph’s life, even with great faith in God, he must have wondered what was happening. But In Potiphar’s house ‘And the Lord was with Joseph, and he was a prosperous man; and he was in the house of his master the Egyptian. (Genesis 39:2 KJV). In prison, ‘The keeper of the prison looked not to anything that was under his hand; because the Lord was with him, and that which he did, the Lord made it to prosper. (Genesis 39:23 KJV).
The presence of God was still with Joseph in a very unique and, apparently, visible way. This does not mean that there were not some very difficult experiences of body and mind which he went through, but God’s care was obviously with him. I can assure you that God is there, his presence is with you as you go through pain.
3. The Generosity Of His Spirit In His Season Of Power
Pharaoh said this of joseph. “And Pharaoh said unto his servants Can we find such a one as this is, a man in whom the Spirit of God is? (Genesis 41:38 KJV)
In the conference, there were a number of speakers. But there is one speaker that stands out. When he shared, you are glued to his messages, tears flow down and you searched your heart and repent. Oh other speakers are good, but when for his speaker he is just different. I would say that in him there is the spirit of God. That is what attracted us to him.
Joseph was such a man in whom the Spirit of God is. Pharaoh was chiefly saying, ‘if we search among all the ranks and degrees of men throughout the kingdom, let them be of what character they will, we shall never find a man like this, who appears to have the Spirit of God, or “of the gods”,
What are the characteristics of Joseph in whom the Spirit of God is?
One, he is a person who does a lot of things to those who can give nothing for you. It is a generous spirit. Help a lot of people who you know cannot pay you back. Joseph interpreted the dreams of the butler and the baker. And when the butler was restored to his original position by pharaohs, he did not remember Joseph, but forgat him. (Genesis 40:23 KJV). Genesis 41:1 says “at the end of two full years” This, of course, relates to chapter 40, where Joseph interprets two person’s dreams, both hoping to be released from prison, and yet, this was not successful. The date is from the restoration of one servant and the execution of the other. Throughout the account of Joseph it is interesting that the author/editor gives us several dates: (1) he was seventeen years old when he was sold into slavery (cf. Gen. 37:2); (2) he became second in command of the nation of Egypt when he was thirty years old (cf. Gen. 41:46). With these figures it is possible to see that he had remained in jail approximately thirteen years. This is conditioned on how much time he stayed in Potiphar’s service before. He was a slave. All these while Joseph has been doing a lot of good things to those who can give nothing to him.
Another is forgiveness. I take my hats off Joseph when it comes to forgiveness. Look at the Middle East today. The logic of un-forgiveness is happening in the Middle East. You wrong me, when I get stronger, I will retaliate. Every time we wrong / hurt somebody, there is a boomerang effect. There is only one place where this stops and that is the Cross. Indifference, insolence were hurled but Jesus asked the Father to forgive them because they know not what they do.
I believe some of you heard of Jim Bakker. We heard about the famous PTL club; praise the LORD. He was the most famous televangelist of his time. Jim was a man who created the 1400 hectares heritage USA. But Jim Bakker was the man who admitted to having sex with his young secretary, and whose life hit bottom when he was convicted of fraud and sentenced to 45 years in prison; later, reduced to 8 years. Later he wrote a book. I was wrong.
One day while Bakker was cleaning toilets in prison, a guard interrupted him. He thought he might be in some kind of trouble, but he soon found out he was pulled away from his toilet cleaning duties because someone wanted to see him. At first he refused, but the guards insisted. Reluctantly he walked into the room looking and smelling like well, a convict who was just bring interrupted from cleaning toilets. Lo before him was Billy Graham. I mean Billy Graham is a very busy man. He was voted the most respected man in the world once. And Billy Graham was there to visit him. Billy Graham held out his arms and embraced Jim Bakker. He felt that he was the worst Christian in the entire world being embraced by the most respected man of God in the world. He said, ‘When you feel like you’re worthless, and then somebody like that comes, it really shocking.’ Forgiveness was released upon a man undeserving of one.
Look at Joseph. Genesis 45:1-3 says ‘That stood by him; and he cried, Cause every man to go out from me. And there stood no man with him, while Joseph made himself known unto his brethren. And he wept aloud: and the Egyptians and the house of Pharaoh heard. And Joseph said unto his brethren, I am Joseph; doth my father yet live? And his brethren could not answer him; for they were troubled at his presence. (Genesis 45:1-3 KJV)
Joseph cried. He cried because it was definitely painful. He cried because he forgave them. He said, ‘Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me before you to preserve life. And God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance. So now it was not you that sent me hither, but God: and he hath made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt. (Genesis 45:5, 7-8 KJV)’
Joseph recognised God’s hand
Joseph is about to make one of the most astonishing faith statements found anywhere in the Bible. This verse is the theological purpose of the Joseph account! In the midst of abuse and treachery he was able to see the hand of God (Elohim) by faith. Verses 5-9 form one of the strongest affirmations of the goodness and presence of God even amidst the struggles and problems of life.
My question has always been, “Does God act in these ways only toward the covenant family? “It is obvious that God does whatever is necessary to support the family of Abraham (cf. Romans 9-11), but what about ordinary believers? Is He with us in the same way? The answer is an affirmative YES. This world is an evil, rebellious place. Believers suffer; believers are persecuted; believers are killed! From the NT under today’s believers, God is with us and for us even amidst circumstances that are unexplainable. It is a faith presupposition and a Scriptural revelation that believers are precious to God! Life is a mystery, but the unseen (yet not unknown) hand of God is with us moment by moment. Our peace must rest in Him, His Word, His Son, not in circumstances (cf. 1 Cor. 10:13; 13:8-13). We are the family of Abraham!
In conclusion observe the testimony of Joseph’s character in a contrary culture. Egypt is the first world empire. A wicked empire. But when it comes to Joseph, Pharaoh and all the Egyptians respected him. When Joseph cried out loud, even though he told all to leave his brothers and him alone, they cannot go far because they are required to attend to him. They heard his cry and are concerned for him. When they realized that it is his brothers, they get excited. Joseph, in their eyes is such an unusual man and therefore his brothers must be likewise. When Pharaoh heard that his father and brothers and all the family are coming, Pharaoh personally wanted to meet the father of this great man Joseph. He wanted to be blessed by Jacob. The testimony of Joseph in a contrary culture is exemplary. Why? Because Joseph lived by the absolutes. Joseph had the spirit of God inside of him. I think of Daniel, another exceptional man. Wicked kings when they see Daniel, they look at him with deference. They all have the testimony to their character
