We who are successful in God's picture (Gen 39)

Intro

- Have you ever experienced the absence of parents before?

- For the first time, it feels like it’s good. But as time goes by, kids feel the absence of the parents and begin to feel uneasiness.

- Joseph, the son of Jacob experienced this absence of parents since he was a little boy. His mother died when he was so little. Other brothers had their mothers, but he didn’t.

- When he became 17 years old, he also had to suffer from the absence of his father because his brothers sold him to Egypt.

- In Egypt, Joseph had nothing to rely upon and boast in.

~ Let’s see together how his life in Egypt progresses through Genesis 39.

1. God who was with Joseph in the house of Potiphar <1-6>

- Joseph who had been taken down to Egypt was sold to Potiphar, an Egyption who was one of Pharaoh’s officials. He was the captain of the guard.

- So Joseph began the life of a slave there.

- So pathetic situation! Originally, Joseph was a beloved son of a father. And he was an heir who was supposed to come into a lot of inheritance.

- Such a man suddenly became a slave in a faraway country. There was no family. No friend. No freedom.

- How much would he feel discouraged?

!! But God was with him even there,

<< Gen 39:2-3

- Because God was with Joseph, he became a successful man. And the master saw that God is with him and admitted him.

- This is the blessing God promised to Abraham before. God had promised blessings to Abraham and his descendants. The content of the blessing was that God is with him, and He will always help and protect him. So the God who was with Abraham is with Joseph even in Egypt.

- And Joseph was credited for his ability by Potiphar, so he became his attendant and came to oversee his house.

2. The Temptation of Potiphar’s wife <7-10>

- And the text says that Joseph was well-built and handsome.

- His appearance would be like Justin Bieber or 박보검 in Korea. <PPT>

- What happens in the lives of such handsome guys? There are always women around them. Joseph was not an exception.

- Because Joseph was so handsome, Potiphar’s wife paid attention to him. And from some point, she began to flirt with him.

- In today’s text, it is written that she said to Joseph, “come to bed with me.”

!! Why is this a problem?

- All kinds of sexual relationship outside marriage relation is a sin. In addition, it was a wrong attitude to Potiphar who trusted Joseph.

- So Joseph refused. Let’s read what he said to the woman.

<< Gen 39:9 “… How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?”

>> Learn from Joseph!

>> When you undergo some temptations in your life, if you judge that it is a sin biblically, refuse it.

- God will be pleased with your refusal.

- In verse 10, Potiphar’s wife persistently flirts with Joseph, but Joseph persistently refuses it.

<< Gen 39:10

3. The Slander of Potiphar’s wife <11-20>

- One day, he went into the house to work something. There was nobody, but the woman suddenly appeared to him.

- Maybe, she would have decorated herself to look beautiful. She might have stripped down to tempt Joseph.

- She says again to Joseph, “come to bed with me!”

- Joseph refused it and ran out of the place. But there he left his cloth in her hand.

- The wife of Potiphar suddenly calls her household servants, screaming loudly.

- Let’s see what she said!

<< Gen 39:14-15

- And she suggests Joseph’s cloth as the proof.

- It is a perfect slander. She is lying now.

- Hearing this, Potiphar got furious so took Joseph and put him in prison.

- The prison was the place where the king’s prinsoners were confined.

- Think about Joseph’s feelings.

- It’s false accusation. He would have felt like falling into the bottomless pit.

- He would say, “Ah… I was sold as a slave and suffered from a lot of hardships, but with the grace of God, I became my master’s attendant… But.. I became a prisoner from a slave.”

- He would feel discouraged and tight. It really is the worst situation!!

4. God who is with Joseph even in prison <21-23>

- By the way, even in prison, God was with Joseph. And there God made Joseph successful again.

<< Gen 39:21-23 / These expressions are repeated in this chapter.

- It’s a kind of spiriual formula, the pattern repeatably happening to God’s covenant people.

!! God being with His people. >> Being Successful >> Getting credit from people <PPT>

- It’s God’s covenant with Abraham. In the whole Genesis, God keeps his promise continuously whatever the situation.

!! Wherever his people are, God is with them. God made them successful and made them get credit from others.

- The meaning of success here 형통의 의미

- In today’s text, the expression, success or being successful occurs repeatably.

- It does not mean unconditional successes like going to good college or being rich.

- Think of where Joseph was in today’s text! He was a slave, and now he is in prison. But God says he is successful. The definition of success in the Bible and the definition of success in the world are different.

!! Biblically, success or prosperity means “to enjoy the right relationship with God and experience God’s grace and help wherever they are.” This is what being successful means in today’s text.

- So even people who don’t know God come to admit that God’s people are the extraordinary who are under the help and protection of some divine being.

- This is the pattern of the lives of God’s covenant people. Today’s text stresses this now.

Application <PPT>

- This spiritual formula applies to you guys, too, if you believe in Jesus Christ!

- Remember this spiritual formula!

>> God is always with you wherever you are, just as He was with Joseph in Egypt.

- Even when you stay away from your parents and family, you are not alone. God is with you.

- Sometimes you may face some relatioship problems with your friends so you may be bullied or may feel alone. But remember! you are not alone. God is with you. God abides in you through the Holy Spirit.

- By the way, that God is with you is a double-edged sword.

- The fact that God is with you means that God is always watching you whenever you face temptations like Joseph.

>> When there are temptations to you, recognize that He is with you, and He is watching you!

- Some of you may say “Oh! it is not good. It is so stressful to think that God is watching me always.” Yes. But it is a fact. God is really watching you, being with you.

>> The God who is with you will make you successful. He will help you and protect you and give grace to you.

- In this sense, you guys are different from others who belong to the world. There is an Almight being for you.

- So you will experience the biblical success in your life, enjoying the right relationship with God and experiencing God’s special help and grace even in the worst situation.

- As a result, people around you will ultimately admit that you are under God’s grace.

>> Therefore, believe this!

Joseph’s situation and God’s plan <PPT>

~ Look at Joseph’s situation! He is falling into the bottomless pit.

- Father’s embrace >> Slave >> Prisoner

- The dream that God made him dream was like rising up, but his situation is opposite.

- However, God has his own plan, and there are some hints in the text.

<< Gen 39:1 “one of Pharoah’s officials”

<< Gen 39:20 “prison, the place where the king’s prisoners were confined.”

- Now we know that God will make Joseph Pharoah’s number 2 later

- Now it seems that Joseph is falling into the bottomless pit, but acutally God’s plan is proceeding. Joseph is getting closer to Pharoah. Can you notice this?

!! Real success is not being successful or rich in a worldly way but going according to God’s plan. <PPT>

- I mentioned that Joseph would be the prime minister, the number 2 in Egypt.

- Do you know what the prime minister does? The prime minister’s job is taking charge of administrative affairs, helping the top leader, Pharoah.

- Did you notice what Joseph did in Potiphar’s house and in the prison?

<< Gen 39:4

<< Gen 39:22

- Yes! Although Joseph does not know, God was equipping Joseph to be the prime minister.

- God was preparing Joseph to handle what he has to do as the prime minister.

- Isn’t it amazing?

- We don’t know where we are now in God’s plan. But God has his thoughts and plans.

- We can just trust in God!

>> Don’t neglect what you are doing now! <PPT>

- You don’t know when and how the things you are doing now will be used.

!! All things you are doing now can have to do with God’s big picture toward you.

>> So, don’t waste time! Do your best to learn whatever it is. Otherwise you will regret it.

- EX: 내가 후회하는 것

- I have one thing I regret so much so far.

- That’s that I wasted too much time in my college.

- In my college, I just played. Always played. I almost lived in billiard room.

- My major in college was English language & literature. I had a lot of opportunity to practice English at that time.

- But I could not use those opportunities.

- If I had studied English harder at that time, I think I could have spoken English more fluently and could have been used by God better.

- And I had a few opportunities to learn playing the guitar. But I kicked the opportunities. Now I regret it.

>> I want to say to you that all things you are facing and learning and doing now can have to do with God’s plan for you.

>> Don’t waste your time! God is prepareing you guys for God’s plan even now.

Conclusion

- Today, we shared Joseph’s story in Egypt.

- We learned that (1) God was with Joseph even in the worst situation, and there God made him successful and made people admit him as the one under God’s protection.

- Remember this spiritual pattern for God’s covenant people.

>> Believe that God is always with you wherever you are and wherever you go, and that God will give you grace so that you can enjoy the right relationship with God and experience God’s help. So People will admit and respect you ultimately.

- And we also learned that, (2) even in the bad situation, God was preparing Joseph to be qualified as the number 2 in Egypt.

>> Don’t neglect what you are doing! Do your best always! It can be the process where God equips you for God’s plan.

기도제목

(1) Let’s pray for us to believe and recognize in our lives that God who was with Joseph will be with us, and that the God will make us successful always so that we can be credited from others.

(2) Now we are in God’s plan and picture. He wants to equip us to fit God’s final picture.

Let’s pray that we may use all opportunities to be trained by God and we may do our best always.