The Joseph Journey (5)

As the Hebrews were promised the land, but had to take it by force, one town at a time, so we are promised the gift of self-control, yet we also must take it by force. (Ed Welch, “The Battle Against ‘One More’”)

This morning’s verse brings us to a great bypass. Joseph’s physical fall into another pit, brought on by yet another garment of clothing.

Genesis 39:11–23 ESV

But one day, when he went into the house to do his work and none of the men of the house was there in the house, she caught him by his garment, saying, “Lie with me.” But he left his garment in her hand and fled and got out of the house. And as soon as she saw that he had left his garment in her hand and had fled out of the house, she called to the men of her household and said to them, “See, he has brought among us a Hebrew to laugh at us. He came in to me to lie with me, and I cried out with a loud voice. And as soon as he heard that I lifted up my voice and cried out, he left his garment beside me and fled and got out of the house.” Then she laid up his garment by her until his master came home, and she told him the same story, saying, “The Hebrew servant, whom you have brought among us, came in to me to laugh at me. But as soon as I lifted up my voice and cried, he left his garment beside me and fled out of the house.” As soon as his master heard the words that his wife spoke to him, “This is the way your servant treated me,” his anger was kindled. And Joseph’s master took him and put him into the prison, the place where the king’s prisoners were confined, and he was there in prison. But the Lord was with Joseph and showed him steadfast love and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison. And the keeper of the prison put Joseph in charge of all the prisoners who were in the prison. Whatever was done there, he was the one who did it. The keeper of the prison paid no attention to anything that was in Joseph’s charge, because the Lord was with him. And whatever he did, the Lord made it succeed.

Genesis

In college I used to love wall climbing. I never took it to the real thing and experienced rock climbing on the face of the rock, but there is one thing I learned:

You will only fall as far as your last anchor.

You can climb as high as you want and still be safe if you’re laying anchors all the way up the wall. What rock climber look for is possibly danger points. A good rock climber knows his limits. A good rock climber will test his limits continually, but they also know where to place their anchors; their safety nets.

Christians need to do the same thing as well. I preached before that you must make sure your time with God exceeds your time in service to others otherwise we will all end up like Britney Spears and be bald.

The Christian’s anchor is their self control. You can only support great success with self control. I have seen one to many mega preachers fall because they couldn’t control their own behaviors. I have seen marriages fall because of a lack of biblical self control. What made Joseph a prince buried Sampson under coliseum rubble. Joseph stuck close to God, increased in his knowledge and relationship with God which increased his ability to deny sin. Samson did what he wanted when he wanted and only cried out to God when he got himself into a situation he couldn’t get out of.

Are you crying out to God out of fear or are you calling unto God to build a relationship?

Self control isn’t built in a day.

As the Hebrews were promised the land, but had to take it by force, one town at a time, so we are promised the gift of self-control, yet we also must take it by force. (Ed Welch, “The Battle Against ‘One More’”)

And I’ll add ---one choice at a time. Just as sin overcomes you with every choice you make you overcome sin with even the smallest of choices made over time.

Proverbs

Proverbs 25:28 ESV

A man without self-control is like a city broken into and left without walls.

Without self control you have no defense against Spiritual Attacks; you’ll have no safety anchors when you fall you will just have a long trip down a steep hill.

We also may know that self control is one of the fruits of the Spirit found in Galatians. Self control is also found in the list when declaring someone to be an elder of a church. If one cannot control themselves how can they maintain control of a church?

In a conversation with Bill Suddeth he told me a story about a Pastoral Friend of his who was sitting in his office. What he was doing I don’t remember, but a lady came to talk with him at the church. This church had a secretary, but the Pastor’s door was open and she blew past the secretary and into the Pastor’s office. Once she closed the door she immediately opened her coat wearing only her Birthday suit and asked for intercourse. The pastor quickly told her redress and He ushered her back out of the church. on their journey out she said that her desire was to see Pastor’s fall. That she had done this at numerous churches and that this Pastor was the only Pastor who turned her down.

There is one thing about self control we must understand. Self control isn’t not sinning. Because I have never murdered someone, one could say I employ a great amount of self control. I would state that I have never been in a situation that would seriously cause me to restrain a murderous rage. The only way I know I wouldn’t murder someone is to first control the anger I allow myself to feel when I want to yell, curse, or hit someone. The more I allow those little sins into my life the lessor the leap it is to murder. If that Pastor was watching porn, gaucking at women on the street, allowing impure thoughts run through is head he may have fallen for the sudduction of that women. The same goes with Joseph. If Joseph wouldn’t have exercised self control in the little things we may have had fallen for Potiphers wife.

First we must understand what self control is:

The delaying of an impulse or gratification for a greater purpose.

Simplistically. It’s not buying a gun when you’re saving up for a house.

The first idea we must embrace when growing in our self control is

Understanding Our Weaknesses

Like the rock climber- we must know where we might fail so we know where to put in an anchor.

2 Corinthians 12:9 ESV

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

The anchor for our weakness is the power of God.

The Oxford Dictionary defines power as this:

The capacity to influence the behavior of others, the emotions, or the course of events.

The greatest power God has in your life is his ability to influence your decisions.

The only way for that ability to take hold is truly know God—how he would act, feel, speak, or move in a current situation. The only way to know that is read your bible.

To understand the power or authority you have in your child’s life is to know the choices they make when you aren’t around. It’s easy to get someone to obey you while you’re standing in front of them. but it’s difficult to influence their choices when you aren’t around. Growing up this was respect.

How much I respect God is shown in His ability to alter my decisions.

Which brings me to my second point.

Self control is a Partnership.

Philippians 4:13 ESV

I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

Self control is a funny word because it takes more than myself to control my behaviors. It takes a healthy marriage to keep people together. It takes mutual respect for two people to grow a business. Self control is how well you play with others. It’s about putting someone other than yourself first in your life.

Third:

Make it a Goal

Matthew 6:33 ESV

But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

If you make self gratification a priority you will do what pleases you, but if you make gratifying God a priority you will do what please Him.

I used to be told by teachers all the time :

If you fail to plan you plan to fail

I used to laugh at that that saying. Now I live by it. I have goals for my marriage, I have goals for my kids (although sometimes that goal is to just keep them alive), I have goals for the church, I have goals for my business. Goals give me a sense of direction. all of my decisions are based on where I want to be. If you don’t have goals you won’t get anywhere.

Fourth

Exercise the Muscle

This doesn’t mean to put yourself in a strip club and trying not to look. That’s a disaster waiting to happen. It’s an understanding to never walk through the door. It isn’t trying not to murder someone—it’s trying not to get mad, hold a grudge, or make a decision while you are angry. When I was in college I could bench 400 lbs. It didn’t start that way. When I started in 9th grade I could barely lift the 45lb bar. It was a gradual increase of weight.

5 and one of the most important

Learn from your failure

You will fail; but it doesn’t mean you set out to fail.

Romans 6:1 ESV

What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound?

By no means. Grace is there for when we mess up. There is a reason you have a bumper on your car. It’s so if you make a mistake the accident won’t take your life. You don’t hit things just because you have a bumper. the same is true with Grace. Grace is there so your mistake won’t kill you for eternity. It allows you to get up dust yourself off and try again.

I remember the first time I put up 400lbs on the bench, but I also remember the numerous time 400lbs sat on my chest unwilling to move until my spotter helped me to put it back. I didn’t walk away a failure. I exercised more and then came back to try again.

Learn from your mistakes. Don’t forever live in them.

Lastly,

Draw Close to God

The closer you are to him the further you are from Satan. The most dangerous place for a quarter back to be is outside of the pocket. A pocket is the space between the offensive line. Those men are there protect the quarter back. Once he steps outside of that pocket he is exposed on all sides. The same is true with us. once we step outside of the will of God, out of the presence of God we are exposed on all sides.