Temptation

Introduction

Recap - Over the last several weeks we have been in this series called, “Plot Twist”, in which we are looking at the life of Joseph and breaking it down to find what God would want to communicate with us through each piece. So far, we have seen how his Father Jacob struggled with a sin of partiality and how this sin of giving favor to one person or group over another can cause issues; in this case, it caused Joseph to be a bit of a stinker and behave as someone who has favor, which led to his brothers landing in sin, hating him.

We have also witnessed Joseph being sold by his brothers into slavery and how Joseph had to deal with feelings of anguish and distress — and while these emotions had to be overwhelming inside of him, Joseph chose to not let them rule his life. When we have been found in the Lord’s favor once — or have seen the Lord deliver us even once — we can use that as a reminder through hard times in the future that God is faithful to us. The beginning of tells us that God was still close to him and he became a successful man.

Today’s Intro - Today we continue in the life of Joseph and we examine a time (the first time really) in which he was, in fact, a successful man. Today we will learn that with success comes temptation; and with temptation come choices. We will learn how to make the best choices both on our own and with the Lord’s help.

Joseph had been sold to the Captain of the Pharoah’s guard, a man named Potiphar. As Joseph enter’s Potiphar’s house, God is still blessing him… and Potiphar notices. says, “His master saw that the Lord was with him, and that the Lord caused all that he did to prosper in his hands”. Because of this, more responsibility was given to Joseph inside of the household to the point that he is literally running the show. Everything was under his leadership and the house was better for it. Has there ever been a time that you felt completely blessed and because of your blessings, you were pouring out blessings on others? You’ve heard the phrase, “If Momma aint happy, aint nobody happy”? So you can deduce that if you make momma happy, everyone else is going to reap those benefits also. That’s how it was here in this household. Joseph was being blessed handily by God and there was a trickle down effect via his leadership; everyone was receiving God’s blessings. The only thinking that Joseph didn’t have authority over or access to, of course, was his master’s wife. Makes sense, right?

THEME SCRIPTURE

Has there ever been a time in your life where you can remember

Let’s pick-up the story in verse 6b:

Now Joseph was handsome and good-looking. 7 And after a time his master’s wife cast her eyes on Joseph and said, “Lie with me.” 8 But he refused and said to his master’s wife, “Look, with me here, my master has no concern about anything in the house, and he has put everything that he has in my hand. 9 He is not greater in this house than I am, nor has he kept back anything from me except yourself, because you are his wife. How then could I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?” 10 And although she spoke to Joseph day after day, he would not consent to lie beside her or to be with her. 11 One day, however, when he went into the house to do his work, and while no one else was in the house, 12 she caught hold of his garment, saying, “Lie with me!” But he left his garment in her hand, and fled and ran outside. 13 When she saw that he had left his garment in her hand and had fled outside, 14 she called out to the members of her household and said to them, “See, my husband has brought among us a Hebrew to insult us! He came in to me to lie with me, and I cried out with a loud voice; 15 and when he heard me raise my voice and cry out, he left his garment beside me, and fled outside.” 16 Then she kept his garment by her until his master came home, 17 and she told him the same story, saying, “The Hebrew servant, whom you have brought among us, came in to me to insult me; 18 but as soon as I raised my voice and cried out, he left his garment beside me, and fled outside.” The Holy Bible: New Revised Standard Version. (1989). (). Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers.

The Holy Bible: New Revised Standard Version. (1989). (). Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers.

THE ISSUE

The devil seeks to keep us from walking in the joy of our calling as God’s children. For this purpose, he tried to tempt Jesus and continues to do so with every one of us. tells us that the devil comes “only to steal and kill and destroy”. One of the his primary weapons in his arsenal against us is temptation. The devil wants to entice us to sin against God and others to keep us in bondage to guilt, shame, and self-hatred.

Notice that temptations are enticing. The wife said, “Lie with me” (). She used sexual seduction in an attempt to capture Joseph. James says () “But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death” . The Greek word for “enticed” here literally means “to bait” or “catch by a bait” (James Strong, Enhanced Strong’s Lexicon [Woodside Bible Fellowship, 1995], G1185).

And while many of us may guess that sexual sin (I definitely would have guessed this based on television, movies, books, magazines and the internet) is the most widely used temptation used against us by the devil, it doesn’t even make the top 5!

HOW WE EXPERIENCE THE ISSUE

What are the top five self-reported temptations in America? According to a Barna survey:

1. Sixty percent of Americans are often or sometimes living in a state of noticeable and debilitating temptation to anxiety or worry, and the fear and dysfunction that usually come with it. Apparently, we are all in a state of panic over what tomorrow holds.

2. Sixty percent of Americans are often or sometimes stuck in habits of procrastination. We simply cannot do what needs to be done in a timely manner. Again, this is more a temptation for the young than for their grandparents.

2. Sixty percent of Americans are often or sometimes stuck in habits of procrastination. We simply cannot do what needs to be done in a timely manner. While we are anxious about what tomorrow holds, we feel whatever needs done today can be done tomorrow. That’ll surely help with the anxiety of it all!

3. Fifty-five percent are often or sometimes overwhelmed by the temptation to eat too much. Overeating and the growing concern about obesity is of course not news. A quick click on Google turns up 7.6 million hits for the word obesity. I can’t scroll on FB or Instagram without my feed being filled with “Get skinny quick” ads or even being asked to join the latest fad diet by those in my friends list. This temptation is the perfect segue into the next temptation on the list...

4. Forty-four percent of Americans admit that they face temptations to overuse electronics and social media such as Facebook, video games, and television. Young people are almost twice as likely as their elders to become addicted to online activities. But this should not lead one to assume that their parents (boomers) and grandparents (elders) are immune from the temptation. I have sat in waiting rooms full of those over 60 just to watch them be as screen addicted as I am. I also have plenty of friends who have negative consequences in their lives because they cannot tear themselves away from their phones or laptops.

5. Forty-one percent of Americans say they are often or sometimes tempted by laziness or by not working as hard as reasonably expected in their occupations. All of the generations that Barna polled are about the same when it comes to the temptation to slothfulness. Selfishness is a core sin within humankind. Perhaps that explains why people of all ages are tempted to hurt family, friends, coworkers, and bosses with selfish slacking, doing what feels good to them however much it may harm others.

Anxiety, procrastination, overeating, Internet and social media, and laziness: these are some of the most real issues of life.

At any given place and time, say the busy sidewalks of a college campus or the busy lunchroom of a large software company, you could draw a circle around half the people in those places and thereby give yourself a great visual image of the pain, frustration, dysfunction, and destruction caused by our failure to understand and cope well with temptation.

Maybe you didn’t see the temptation that you struggle with the most in the top five. Don’t worry. Failures with temptation are not rooted in their type or category.

Human temptation has so many variables, versions, and combinations that no list could contain all of them.

For example, let’s go back to the one temptation that surprisingly does not show up on the list: sex. The unique ways in which it manifests itself in human society are nearly endless; there are almost as many ways as there are people – six billion! So don’t look to the list itself for help. The crucial, fundamental strategy is to look within, at what you want, crave, covet, and desire. From there we’ll see how to rearrange those desires to fit within the story of God and your role within it. And the strategies and insights we gain from studying one temptation are almost always applicable to every other temptation because temptations of all kinds have a common root.

So, since we all battle temptations, how do we overcome the numerous temptations we continually encounter daily?

12 So if you think you are standing, watch out that you do not fall. 13 No testing has overtaken you that is not common to everyone. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tested beyond your strength, but with the testing he will also provide the way out so that you may be able to endure it.

OUR MISCONCEPTIONS

In verse , Paul begins with, “if you think you are standing”… or in other words, “If you think you aren’t going to experience or that no temptation can come up against you”, you have to watch out that you do not fall. He’s telling you to not underestimate the power of temptation. We must therefore get rid of some common misconceptions that we have about temptation.

First, temptations are particularly dangerous when you think you can’t fall. An example of this is Peter and his perceived unwavering loyalty to Jesus (). Jesus tells the disciples that they will all be deserters. Peter vehemently disagrees. Even after Jesus says, “listen, Peter, even before the rooster crows twice, you’re going to deny me three times”, Peter STILL says, “no no… you’re wrong”. Do you ever think, “I would never do that”. This is literally the kind of thinking that Satan loves to attack.

1. First, temptations are particularly dangerous when you think you can’t fall. An example of this is Peter and his perceived unwavering loyalty to Jesus (). Second, temptations seek to overtake you. Temptations want to come into your life and overpower you. As we saw in the story of Joseph, temptation is relentless in its desire to overtake you: “And as she spoke to Joseph day after day, he would not listen to her, to lie beside her or to be with her” (). Third, temptations are never unique. However, do you know what we think about our temptations? We believe we are the only person having to deal with these types of issues. Satan wants to bury us under a lie that our temptations are worse and more significant than anybody else’s. But the truth is that the areas and things that you are being tempted with are not unique. Other people are being tempted just like you.

Second, temptations seek to overtake you. They don’t just come around like a pop quiz. This is finals week and these are meant to completely break you. Temptations want to come into your life and overpower you. As we saw in the story of Joseph, temptation is relentless in its desire to overtake you: says, “And as she spoke to Joseph day after day, he would not listen to her, to lie beside her or to be with her”.

Third, temptations are never unique. However, we often believe we are the only person having to deal with these types of issues. If it was, in fact, just you that had to deal with this, do you think it’d be a topic that an incredible amount of scripture was written to address? Or that the entire marketing strategy of television is build on temptation? Satan wants to bury us under a lie that our temptations are worse and more significant than anybody else’s. But the truth is that the areas and things that you are being tempted with are not unique. Other people are being tempted just like you.

HOW TO WIN

Now that we know some of our biggest temptations and our misconceptions around them, let’s address how to overcome them.

First, you have to know that temptations aren’t allowed to exceed our ability to resist them. Going back to , focusing now on verse 13; “God is faithful, and he will not let you be tested beyond your strength, but with the testing he will also provide the way out so that you may be able to endure it”.

This instruction, while letting you know that God will provide an exit, also tells you something very important about withstanding temptation. We are told that temptation will not go beyond our strength. This means that we ourselves MUST be proactive in fighting temptation. confirms this when it says, “Do not let sin exercise dominion in your mortal bodies, to make you obey their passions. No longer present your members to sin as instruments of wickedness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and present your members to God as instruments of righteousness.”

We play an active role, and it will be no surprise to you, because I seem to harp on it quite a bit, but you MUST actively pursue Christ. The first step in fighting temptation is being grounded in your pursuit of Christ; Self-Discipline and Spiritual Discipline… practicing the spiritual disciplines. Prayer is a significant combatant in the war against temptation. Every morning when you wake, you should utter a prayer that commits yourself and your day to HIS purposes and not your own. By “members”, this scripture is speaking to every part of you. When is the last time you specifically prayed that your hands, your feet, your brain or your mouth would be used to glorify God? This may seem like a whimsical thing, but I want you to understand the depth and complexity of it and its implications on the world of yoga pants or what we now simply call leggings. You may not wake up in the morning and specifically pray, “God, use my booty for your glory”, but you should be mindful that your booty not be used to produce temptation in the lives of others. Make sense? And this doesn’t apply to just your booty ladies. It applies to all of us. We must use our bodies only to glorify God. And in the world of sex, the only glorifying way to use your body is through a marriage relationship. I’ll repeat that. Because while that may not be in our top 5 list of things, we all watch shows and movies, listen to music or even live lives ourself where we laugh at, minimize or fully accept sex used in a multitude of ways other than within a marriage.

Practicing self-discipline is good, but its also important to know that, again, we do not fight this alone. When we have practiced the spiritual disciplines and actively given ourselves over to God, the Spirit will produce within us a fruit called, “Self-Control”.

This weekend, for some reason, one of my kids randomly started singing the “Fruit of the Spirit Song”. In this song we learn that the fruit of the spirit is not a coconut, cherry, banana, jalapeno, grape or watermelon. We know that the fruits are, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and SELF-CONTROL.

We CANNOT exhibit too much self-control without the Spirit. We will quickly surpass our abilities to withstand the temptation and will give in without the Spirit’s help. I have, I don’t know how many times, tried to give up eating too much. You can clearly see that in my own strength, I am failing. It seems cliche, funny or maybe even ludicrous to think that the Spirit will help you put the brownies down… but HE TOTALLY will! You want a real diet plan? You want to stop procrastinating, putting your foot in your mouth, looking at pornography, overspending, drinking, stressing about tomorrow and overusing social media? Allow the spirit to produce a fruit called “self-control” in your life! And if I haven’t clearly explained how to do that already, it comes from confession of your sin, submission to the Spirit as you wake each morning and throughout the day through the practice of the spiritual disciplines, and then allow the Spirit the ability to work in your day. When He says to not pick up your third hamburger, listen to Him!

Okay… all joking aside, here is a final illustration of how we need to better practice this as a congregation:

Speak about the coffee bar. Close.

Self-Control: