Maintaining Integrity Under Pressure
Notes
Transcript
My mom was a licensed counselor for much my life. She focused her practice on children and play therapy. Her office was always filled with toys and activity stations. She would use the art of play as a method of drawing out of her clients the things they did not have the vocabulary to express. I always told myself I could never do that job. I could never be a counselor because my advice would always be, “Life’s not fair. Get over it!” Do you want to know where I got that from? My parents! When I thought a rule or a consequence for breaking it was unfair, the reply was either, “Well, tough,” or, “Life’s not fair. Get over it!” I also lacked a lot of compassion for others growing up, so there’s that.
I have since gotten better at counseling people, and as challenging as it is, I enjoy it. I love watching people change and become better.
But it’s true. Life is not fair. As much as we wish it was, it isn’t. But God is in the midst of restoring all things. One day we will not experience the brokenness and the injustices of the world.
Two weeks ago, we explored Genesis 38, a strange story right in the middle of the narrative about Joseph. Judah, the brother who came up with the idea to sell Joseph into slavery, lacked integrity. He made promises to his daughter-in-law Tamar, but didn’t keep them. The story is a mess of ethics, but Judah is set up as a foil, a character who acts completely opposite to another. In this case, Joseph is the main character of the narrative, and Judah is a supporting character. His character is opposite of Joseph’s.
Unlike his brother, Joseph is a man of integrity. What is integrity? The word comes from the same Latin root word for integer, which is a whole number. It carries the idea of completeness. It is not a fraction. It is not a part of something. It is whole, or complete, not divided. Moral integrity is often described as doing the right thing even when no one is watching. Integrity speaks to one’s trustworthiness. They are known as a promise keeper. For something to have structural integrity, it means that is is free from damage or defect.
The Bible calls followers of Jesus to be as Jesus is, and Jesus was complete. He is the epitome of integrity. Two weeks ago, I told you that if you could take a quiz and it generate an integrity score, the closer your score to zero is, the better. That is the distance between what you say and what you do. It is the difference between the person you are in public versus the person you are in private. Are you known to be someone of integrity? We are called to emulate Jesus in every way, but have you lived in this world lately? It is hard! It is hard, but not impossible.
Today, we return to the story of Joseph, who in chapter 37 was sold by his brothers into slavery and taken to Egypt. He faces intense pressure to compromise. We are going to discover what it takes to maintain integrity under pressure.
Maintaining integrity requires committing your work to the Lord.
Maintaining integrity requires committing your work to the Lord.
When Joseph arrived in Egypt, he was bought by a man named Potiphar, a high ranking official in Egypt’s military. He was put to work in his house. There are five words in verse two that are extremely important.
The Lord was with Joseph, so he became a successful man. And he was in the house of his master, the Egyptian.
The Lord was with Joseph. God had his hand on Joseph’s life. We know this from the whole narrative of Joseph’s story. God gave Joseph a dream that one day he would rule over his family. But God did not show him the path. This is the path, and it is a tough path.
Joseph was so so good at his job he was put in charge of the whole house. There is another interesting word in verse two. It says Joseph became a successful man (other translations use prosperous). When we say successful, it is used as an adjective. It describes a quality of something. “That man was successful” or, “His business is successful.” This word in Hebrew is important because it is a verb, not an adjective. The verb is close to our word succeed, but it means to force entry, to break through, to advance. Joseph’s work was not easy, and we should expect the work we are called to will not be either.
Joseph spent thirteen years of his life a slave before he rose to power in Egypt and God fulfilled the dream of his seventeen-year-old self. It is not like Joseph walked into Potiphar’s house and got put in charge of it a week later. He had to work hard and prove his trustworthiness before Potiphar would give a slave control over his whole house.
It is not fair that Joseph is in this position, but he commits his work to the Lord, and God blesses it. We see this principle appear multiple times in scripture:
Commit your works to the Lord
And your plans will be established.
This doesn’t mean God is obligated to bless all of your plans. Sometimes your plans are bad plans. But as you seek to earnestly do what he calls you to do, you can generally expect that those plans will come to fruition.
The mind of man plans his way,
But the Lord directs his steps.
We are called to seek and trust God for guidance, trusting that he will guide our steps. We are invited to join God in the decision-making process, but we are also invited to trust that he will lead us where we need to go.
When we jump over to the New Testament, the Corinthian church was arguing about whether they should eat meat sacrificed to idols. This was forbidden under Jewish law, but Paul makes a case for it being permissible under certain circumstances. He redirects the concern back to motive. Are they concerned only for themselves, or for others? Then he reminds them:
Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.
We can take this verse and isolate it and simply say we should do all things to the glory of God, and that is true, but for whose benefit? Not ourselves, but others.
Give no offense either to Jews or to Greeks or to the church of God;
just as I also please all men in all things, not seeking my own profit but the profit of the many, so that they may be saved.
Do you live your life in such a way that you have committed your work, not just your vocation, but everything you do so that it would be a testimony to those around you who are far from God?
Look at this:
Now his master saw that the Lord was with him and how the Lord caused all that he did to prosper in his hand.
So Joseph found favor in his sight and became his personal servant; and he made him overseer over his house, and all that he owned he put in his charge.
It came about that from the time he made him overseer in his house and over all that he owned, the Lord blessed the Egyptian’s house on account of Joseph; thus the Lord’s blessing was upon all that he owned, in the house and in the field.
So he left everything he owned in Joseph’s charge; and with him there he did not concern himself with anything except the food which he ate.
Potiphar took notice. Potiphar got an indication of who Joseph’s God is because of how Joseph worked. My brothers and sisters, the people around you will take notice when you work your tail off for the glory of God. That’s your invitation to share.
In Colossians, Paul writes:
Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men,
knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve.
We ought to be the hardest working class of people anywhere. Not because we love our boss, the company we work for, or anything else, but because we love our God. Our work, no matter what we do, should be so excellent that even if all we get is an “atta-boy” or an “atta-girl” from the Lord, then it is enough.
Joseph’s trustworthiness grew in the eyes of his master because he maintained integrity under immense pressure. He maintained his integrity by committing his work to the Lord.
Maintaining integrity starts with a fear of the Lord.
Maintaining integrity starts with a fear of the Lord.
Once Joseph was in charge of Potiphar’s house, he caught the attention of Potiphar’s wife. The last part of verse six says Joseph was handsome in form and appearance. He was good looking. The wife took notice. She started developing an attraction to him. She spent time propositioning him. She offered to sleep with him, which for a man like Judah might be seen as an opportunity. Stripped of his freedom, from his homeland, and left with nothing but taking care of some other man’s house but gets to sleep with the wife might be seen as icing on the cake.
But Joseph is a man of integrity. Here’s how he responds:
But he refused and said to his master’s wife, “Behold, with me here, my master does not concern himself with anything in the house, and he has put all that he owns in my charge.
“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 rightly identifies this not primarily as a betrayal of his master’s trust, but a great sin against God. He fears God more than anything else. If you want to maintain integrity under pressure, it begins with a fear of the Lord.
Prov 1:7
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge;
Fools despise wisdom and instruction.
Those who want to be wise must fear the Lord.
By lovingkindness and truth iniquity is atoned for,
And by the fear of the Lord one keeps away from evil.
Because of his great love for us, God sent his son into the world to atone for our sins through his death on a cross, that we would be rescued from the power of sin over our lives. We can live in true freedom when the power of sin is broken.
Fear in this context is not a phobia, or to be afraid of God. It means to have a profound respect for God and his authority. When we properly respect God, we respect his authority and what he has done to buy our freedom. We understand that our relationship with him and our salvation came at great cost. Our respect for him translates into listening to him and obeying his instructions.
Solomon, the richest king Israel ever had, pursued every pleasure, every vice available. The book of Ecclesiastes is sort of like lessons he learned as he threw himself at all of life’s pleasures. It sort of sounds depressing, but the end of the book is very telling:
The conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person.
At the end of it all, the pleasures of the world will not satisfy you. What will is fearing God and keeping his commandments.
Israel was sitting just on the other side of the Jordan river. After 40 years of wandering in the wilderness, they were ready to enter the Promised Land. Before they do, Moses, as God’s representative to the people, reconfirms the covenant with them.
“Now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require from you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways and love Him, and to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul,
and to keep the Lord’s commandments and His statutes which I am commanding you today for your good?
Integrity is doing and saying the same thing. People who don’t fear God usually lack integrity. If you want to maintain integrity under pressure, you must start with a fear of God.
You must trust God with the outcome.
You must trust God with the outcome.
We live our lives in real time. Joseph is living his in real time. He doesn’t know how things are going to turn out, and neither do we. But it doesn’t mean we can sit and wait for things to change. Successful people don’t wait for the right moment. They create them. They force entry. They push through. They advance. Sometimes we find ourselves looking for the door God is opening when he’s already led you to the door and he wants you to kick it open.
Whatever the situation, we have to trust him with the outcome. Paul’s letter to the Philippians is written while he is incarcerated in Rome. Remember that when you hear what he says in chapter 4:
But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly, that now at last you have revived your concern for me; indeed, you were concerned before, but you lacked opportunity.
Not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am.
I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need.
I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.
You can do all things through Christ who strengthens you. You can overcome. You can persevere. You can maintain your integrity. Fear God. Commit your work to him. Trust him with the outcome.
Is he identifying a part of your life where there is distance between what you say and do? Is he calling you to action you are reluctant to take? Success is hard fought. In my experience, the easy thing is usually the wrong thing. We have a kingdom agenda to advance. What are you willing to be obedient to?
