Genesis 39

Blake Arnold

Genesis • Sermon • Submitted 5 years ago

Genesis 39

0 ratings

· 23 views

Notes

Transcript

Sermon: Genesis 39

April 25th, 2021 - theRefuge Church

Intro

Good morning, Refuge family! For those of you who don’t know me already, my name is Blake Arnold and I am one of the pastors here at theRefuge.

It’s my joy to continue our study in Genesis this morning so grab your bibles and open up to chapter 39.

While you’re turning there, there’s two things coming up in the life of our church that I want yall to know about

Men’s Breakfast - Sat, May 1st, 8amBaptism Sunday, May 2nd

Alright, let’s dive in to today’s text.

Over the last several weeks, we’ve been following the life of Joseph.

However, Last week, Pastor Scott walked us through chapter 38, which is a bit a of a cut-scene away from the Joseph narrative and shows us what’s going on with Judah and his crew.

And… what’s going on was BANANAS. Chapter 38 is Jerry-Springer-level Reality TV.

My Aunt Shelley who was watching online last week told me that we should have rated that sermon Rated R. Haha!

Death, seduction, trickery, It’s WILD. If you missed it, go listen to it or watch it on our website because it’s nuts!

Today, we get back to our narrative of Joseph, which, when we look at it, is wild in its own right.

But, If you haven’t been following along with us in Genesis so far, let me catch you up a bit.

Short Recap

Joseph was born to Jacob and Rachel, and was among 12 sons of Jacob.

Joseph was pasturing his father’s flocks along with his brothers and there was some jealousy among them.

Ask: Who in here has children?

Ask: Of you who raised your hands, do you have a favorite child? Love one more than the other?

Of course not! Everyone always says that you love all your kids equally, regardless of how sassy they get at times.

Some of you say that you love your kids equally, but one of your kid’s birthdays is your password so stop lying to yourself…

I kid I kid

Well, we see in Chapter 37 that Jacob DID love Joseph more than his other sons. He had a favorite.

And the brothers KNEW it, and it was causing some bad blood.

Jacob didn’t even try to hide it, he even made Joseph a sweet multi-colored robe!

Now this is remarkable but they actually recently unearthed a photo of this robe… here it is.

Not only is Joseph strutting around in this sweet robe - much like Kramer here - but then he starts telling his brothers about these dreams he’s been having.

In these dreams, his big brothers are bowing down to HIM!

Finally, Joesph’s brothers have had enough! They plot to kill him.

But, thanks to the last-minute money-grabbing idea of his brother Judah, they end up just FAKING his death and selling him in to slavery to get rid of him.

Why just kill him for nothing when you can make a little cash out of the deal, right?

So they sell him in to slavery and then head back home with the fancy robe.

They mess up the robe, put some goats blood on it, and give it to their father, Jacob.

“Look what we found, Dad! Have you ever seen this robe?” Of course he’s seen this robe!

They tricked Jacob in to thinking that Joseph had been eaten by some wild animal.

And this is where we left Joseph at the end of Chapter 37:

His father weeping, thinking that he was dead while he was being re-sold to this guy named Potiphar.

And this is where we pick up in chapter 39.

Read with me:

Pray with me.

<pray>

I read something something on Twitter recently that kept coming to mind as I was preparing to preach this morning.

I searched and searched trying to find the quote but I couldn’t find it but Blake’s paraphrase is this:

“When approaching scripture, it’s easy to ask. ‘What am I to get out of this?’

Instead, ask, ‘What is this to get out of me?’”

If you know the real quote let me know so I can give credit!

In other words, what is the Lord inviting us to learn about Him this morning here in Genesis 39.

What is the Lord inviting us to DO, how is He inviting us TO LIVE in light of what we see here in Genesis 39?

It might be hard to see now, but I believe that this section of text serves as yet another example of:

Hopefully, after looking at Genesis 39 for a bit this morning, you will see a forgiving God who is for us and helps us in our times of need.

So let’s dive in together.

This is showing us that we’re picking right up where the end of chapter 37 left off.

Joseph was sold to this guy named Potiphar. What do we know about him?

He was an officer of Pharaoh, captain of the guard, and an Egyptian himself.

This wasn’t just some random cat. This guy was a big deal. Probably among the elite of Egyptian society.

We continue…

Much like how - several chapters ago - Laban recognized the Lord’s favor on Jacob…

Now Potiphar recognizes the Lord’s favor on the Son of Jacob, Joseph.

He sees that anything Joseph does, it succeeds. So, what does Potiphar do?

Potiphar puts Joseph in charge of everything!

We see in the next verse that Potiphar entrusted all his estate so deeply to Joseph that the only thing he had to worry about was what his next meal was going to be.

Must be nice!

So all of this sets the stage for the debacle that the rest of this chapter lays out for us.

Joseph, technically a slave, but in charge of an elite estate with no one breathing down his neck.

Things seem to be looking up for Joseph.

And we learn that not only does Joseph have success because of God’s favor…

He also has the looks… “Joseph was handsome in form and appearance.”

By the way, this is the real reason I’m preaching today…

As a pastoral team, we sat down together decided that we needed to have Blake preach as an example of this verse… so… you’re welcome church haha.

So it just keeps getting better for Joseph. Not only is he successful, but he’s apparently quite a looker too!

BUT, this is where the story takes a turn.

Enter: Potiphar’s wife

Potiphar’s wife’s solicitation

So apparently Potiphar’s wife ALSO thought that Joseph had the Blake vibe, “handsome in form and appearance.”

Now keep in mind that Potiphar is a high-up official. Among the elite in Egypt. Hanging out with all the important folks among the Pharaoh.

And who was probably enjoying a lot of that same fame? Potiphar’s wife.

She, by association, was probably an important woman too.

And, important women, especially back in this day, are not often told, “no.”

Which makes Joseph’s answer to her request even more stunning…

Joseph refuses.

This is a big deal too. Remember, Joseph is a slave to Potiphar, and would be subject to Potiphar and Potiphar’s wife’s commands.

Not to mention, in this society, fooling around with your slaves of the household was unfortunately pretty commonplace.

Which may be one of the reasons Potiphar’s wife’s attitude seems so bold yet flippant, as if she were asking for a cup of water.

“Hey good-lookin, let’s do this…”

Joseph refuses the commands of his master.

And his response shows us something about Joseph’s character.

He doesn’t just say, “no,” he gives reasons. Three reasons… all of them matters of honor.

The first we see in verse 8:

The first matter of honor is Joseph trying to honor his master, Potiphar.

“No way will I sleep with you! Look what I’ve been entrusted with! Look what Potiphar has done for me!”

“He’s given me everything! Except one thing…”

Which leads us to the second matter of honor in Joseph’s refusal:

Potiphar’s wife’s honor

“Not only couldn’t I jeopardize what Potiphar has entrusted me with, I especially couldn’t do so with his own wife!”

Then, Joseph gives the final - but most important - reason:

It’s not just an offense to Potiphar and his wife…

It’s a sin against God himself.

Joseph is being faced with a decision to engage in sin. But he refuses.

We see no evidence of hesitation in his firm refusal.

Good for Joseph, honoring not only Potiphar and his wife, but most importantly, honoring God.

Justification is easy

Isn’t it just as easy for us to refuse temptation lobbed our way?

I’m sure you always, without hesitation, refuse to engage in “wickedness and sin against God,” right?

I mean, I always do. Like a ninja, karate chopping sin away from me at every turn!

Of course that’s not the case, unlike Joseph in this situation, we… I often don’t refuse. I often give in.

Why? Because I’m a sinner! And a Sinner’s gonna sin!

Had we been in Joseph’s shoes in this situation, it could have gone much differently.

He could have, so so easily, pulled up to one of our favorite train stops:

“Justification Station”

How easy would it have been to justify this sin?

Well, how easy is it for you to justify any sin you choose to commit?

Here’s just a small list of justifications Joseph could have told himself in this situation:

My family is far away, they’ll never knowThe house is empty, no one will knowThis is my boss after all, I technically have to follow her commandsI don’t want to hurt her feelings, might make it awkwardThis will advance my career, further honoring God (making sin sound like virtue, classic)I don’t want to jeopardize my position of influence, Im doing this for GodI’m a slave, and probably won’t ever marry so what’s the harm?

And on and on and on and on it could go…

Here’s what we know about temptation… we WANT to sin.

Scripture calls our hearts desperately wicked, and it’s never hard for us to justify the sin in front of us.

But here’s ALSO what we know about temptation and sin…

We often know when we are being tempted, not all the time, but there are LOTS of times where we are faced with a choice and we CHOOSE to sin.

In those moments, 1st Corinthians 10:13 is true.

And why is it true? Is it teaching us to white knuckle it and resist because of your iron will?

Does it say YOU will be faithful?

No, “God is faithful”

“…And HE will not let you be tempted beyond your ability,

but with the temptation HE will also provide the way of escape…”

We are not faithful. We are broken, sinful, wicked.

BUT… GOD is faithful to us. He protects us, He rescues us from ourselves.

What a GOOD GOD we serve.

What a GOOD Father we have in heaven.

Stop trying to white-knuckle your way out of that persistent sin in your life.

Ask God for help, because he WILL provide help.

Or maybe you need to ask a friend for help and support, maybe that’s one of the ways God will help you… through your friend.

GC / DNA Shameless Plug

This is also where we, theRefuge church, want to help.

Around here we talk a lot about family, about community that FEELS like family.

We celebrate a lot how the Lord has graciously chosen to bring us together in Christ.

And when we live in community, we’re able to support one another in lots of different ways.

I can’t even count the number of stories of one of our Gospel Community Groups rallying around one of their members to help meet a need.

And needs aren’t just financial.

Sometimes, in community, we get to help fight sin together.

Whether in your Gospel community group, or in a smaller group of men or women, called a DNA group, you’re able to dig in together. Be vulnerable with one another. Support one another. Call one another in times of hardship, or temptation. Pray for one another by name, daily.

Church isn’t just about showing up on Sundays.

You’ve probably heard us say this, asking you to serve.

But It’s also our deep desire that everyone at refuge gets to experience life in the gospel, life in community, and life on mission.

We don’t just want free labor out of you, haha, we want you to be poured in to. We want you to be discipled, while you disciple others. This is the purpose of The Church.

Yes, you’ll reap benefits from it yourself, but your fellow family members need you to support them too!

We’re all in this together.

If you’re not sure where to go to get plugged in to something like that, let us help you find it.

Just ask me or a blue shirt before you leave today about how to get involved with Gospel Community Groups.

Trust me, just like me, you NEED this in your life!

Alright let’s keep going…

Potiphar’s wife reacts to rejection

Potiphar’s wife makes a proposition and Joseph refuses.

So what does she do?

Politely retracts, apologizes for the imposition, and respects his decision and all is well…

Negative…

Dang, this is one persistent lady!

Us “handsome in form and appearance” guys gotta watch out!

She keeps badgering him (with hand motion)

But Joseph still refuses.

In fact, he takes it a step further than just saying no.

Being faced with the opportunity to engage in sexual immorality, what does Joseph do?

He ignored her.

Not only that, we see here in v. 10 that he wouldn’t even just “…lie beside her or to be with her.”

So they kind of skate along like that until one day she levels up her game and literally grabs him by the clothes and demands yet again, “Let’s do this.”

And we see in verse 12, “…he left his garment in her hand and fled and got out of the house.”

Flee from sexual immorality

So not only did Joseph continually refuse her, he wouldn’t even listen to her, or lay beside her, or even be with her.

And now, as she levels up her aggression, Joseph levels up he rejection and FLEES from her.

Doesn’t laugh it off, doesn’t consider it, doesn’t discuss it, “FLEES from her” and runs out of the house.

So again I’ll ask, is this how you approach sin?

To be more specific, is this how you approach sexual sin?

Here in Genesis 39, Joseph is demonstrating the new testament command we see in 1st Corinthians

How often do we see how close we can get to that line?

And maybe not just sexual immorality but all sin…

How close can we get to that line without crossing over it?

Joseph could have said - back in Justification Station -

“I won’t sleep with her but maybe if I just lie next to her it will get her to leave me alone…”

“Maybe if I just talk with her or spend some time with her, it will help the situation…”

But that’s not what happened, he got as far from that sin as he could, until he was literally running away.

SO what might that look like for us today?

You might not have someone literally grabbing you by the shirt, dragging you to bed, but surely many of you are thinking of situations you’ve been in.

For those of you who aren’t married, but have a significant other, how often do you examine that line?

“I know we shouldn’t have sex but we’re only… fill in the blank”

How close can we get to the line and still be able to say “it’s not sex”?

Fellas, those of you who struggle with sexual images on your screens:

"I would never go to THAT website…,” but you linger over certain content on instagram.

“It’s not porn, it’s just a girl in a bathing suit”

Are you “fleeing” from sexual immorality or are you hanging out in Justification Station?

Be honest with yourself because here in 1st Corinthians we see that it’s not just a sin against that person. It’s a sin against God and a sin against your own body!

In other words, it’s damaging to your soul, no matter how satisfying it may feel in the moment.

So I urge you, church, to FLEE from sexual immorality.

The name of the game isn’t to snuggle up as close to the line as possible without crossing over.

That game simply puts a spotlight on the fact that your wicked hearts WANTS to engage in that sin.

Flee! Don’t play with that fire.

Now instead of heaping more condemnation upon you, because surely there are some in the room who are struggling with these very things… or something similar… let me remind you again:

God is faithful to help you in those moments.

I’m not here to tell you to “do better or try harder” next time. No white-knuckling here.

When you’re tempted… for the first time or the thousandth time… look to God to help you escape, because he promised to do so in those moments.

He’s not just up in the clouds watching you with crossed arms and a furrowed brow, waiting for you to mess up.

He’s in your midst, giving you a boost to climb out of that mess! Look for Him in those moments, he’s there not to heap condemnation on your head, but to help you.

So be encouraged, Christian. Keep fighting the good fight, but know you don’t have to fight alone.

Let’s keep moving…

So Joseph ran out of the house, garment-less.

Well at least one garment less than he had.

I like to think he ran out of there buck-naked but scripture doesn’t specify haha.

Then Potiphar’s wife cooks up a plan and lie.

She calls her crew around and tells them:

She lies about the encounter telling her servants her version of the story.

Then, she lays the garment right next to her until her husband, Potiphar, gets home and tells him the same story.

But, as she’s telling her husband this story, she has a few arrows of insult just for him.

Likely embarrassed of her rejection, a situation she doesn’t find herself in often, she lashes out to shift blame off of herself…

“Look what happened, Potiphar, this is your fault because YOU brought him here!”

It looks to me like not only is she lying to save face in the light of rejection, but now she’s trying to rile up her crew around her.

Not only Potiphar, but did you notice before, when she was telling her servants the story she also slipped in, “he came to laugh at US” In verse 14?

She’s riling up the people around her to get them on her side.

A common tactic for people reeling from rejection, or maybe just embarrassed of their mistake.

She doesn’t repent, she doesn’t even just let it go, she digs her heels in.

And it works…

Angry because of the lie his wife told him - and also feeling guilty from the accusation of his wife - he throws Joseph in prison.

Seems like a pretty bad deal. Just when Joseph’s life started to seem to get better, he gets thrown in prison by a false accusation.

But, even here, we see that God is STILL faithful…

“But God…” my favorite phrase we see all over scripture. I should get a tattoo of that… oh wait I already did!

Even in a prison, we see the Lord showing love and favor to Joseph.

God is faithful!

So much so that we finish this chapter by seeing that the warden of this prison pulls a Potiphar and puts all the other prisoners under Joseph’s charge.

Regardless of the environment we find Joseph in, the Lord’s favor causes Joseph to succeed there.

“The Lord was with Joseph…”

But Don’t miss this phrase:

“But the Lord was with Joseph…”

This is an important phrase to this story here in chapter 39.

In fact, it isn’t the first time we’ve seen this phrase in this chapter.

We see it here at the end but we also saw this phrase at the beginning, way back in verse 2.

Genesis 39:2

2The LORD was with Joseph, and he became a successful man, and he was in the house of his Egyptian master.

Verse 2 and verse 21, bookending this narrative of Joseph’s success amongst slavery and lies.

These bookends display the ever-present presence of God.

“…The Lord was with Joseph”

Not merely, “the lord blessed Joseph…” or “the Lord assisted Joseph…”

“…The Lord was with Joseph”

So what?

So there you have it, Genesis 39.

A snapshot of one of the many tough seasons for Joseph.

Sold to an Egyptian elitegiven influence in the sight of his masterPursued -and then- falsely accused by his master’s wifeThrown from an opulent household in to a dirty prisonAgain favored by his new master and given influence again

“When approaching scripture, it’s easy to ask. ‘What am I to get out of this?’

Instead, ask, ‘What is this to get out of me?’”

What is the Lord inviting us to see in this story of Joseph?

Many of you may have been taught a moral of this story similar to this:

When you’re feeling down, just trust in God - like Joseph did - and he will make you prosperous!

When encountering sin, just try hard to resist, just like Joseph did and make God happy.

These are common “morals” taught from these stories.

Be more like Moses. Be more like Noah. Be more like Abraham.

Now, be more like Joseph.

Is this what God is inviting us to see?

Negative.

The moral of this story is not to be more like Hero Joseph.

Looking closely at this story, who’s the real hero?

Why was Joseph successful?

Who is it that provides a way of escape in the face of temptation?

GOD was with Joseph!

GOD provides a way of escape!

God is the hero!

The whole bible, even the Old Testament, is not a book of disconnected stories.

It’s not just a book about “heroes of the faith” and how to be more like them.

It’s a WHOLE story pointing us to what God has done for us.

It’s a GRAND narrative culminating in God’s greatest demonstration of Love for us: Jesus’ death and resurrection!

In fact, Heath Harrell said it well when he preached here at Refuge just a few weeks ago:

Watching the life of Joseph points us to the life of Jesus.

And, just like Heath said a few weeks ago, the parallels are no coincidence:

Joseph was rejected and humiliated by his brothers…

Who else was rejected and humiliated by those he loved? Jesus

Joseph, here in Chapter 39, was tempted but fled from sin.

Who else didn’t give in to sin but was tempted in every way? Jesus! (THOUGH Unlike Joseph, Jesus NEVER sinned!)

Joseph was falsely accused.

Who else was falsely accused? Jesus!

And, as we’ve seen in this story, it doesn’t ONLY serve as an allegory to the life of Jesus.

We see Joseph himself derives his success from God.

In the life of Joseph we see:

God’s faithfulnessGod’s forgivenessGod’s unmerited favor

Genesis 39, just like all of the Bible, is an invitation for us to see Jesus.

And, as we’ve seen, and we’ll continue to see, Joseph’s life serves as a parallel pointing us to the savior Jesus.

To close, let’s look at one of these parallels to Jesus we see in Joseph’s life a bit more closely.

False accusations

The most dramatic part of our story this morning was in Potiphar’s wife falsely accusing Joseph.

Falsely accused of something he didn’t do.

What was a moment of righteousness for him - rejecting temptation - was turned against him in lies, landing him in prison.

The obvious parallel we see is that Jesus was also falsely accused.

Jesus was not a liar or a lunatic. Jesus IS the Son of God that he claims to be.

However, he was sent to trial and to the cross, because the crowd didn’t believe his true claims.

But, this isn’t the only parallel I want us to see.

In the grand narrative of our faith, Jesus and Joseph aren’t the only ones who stood accused.

In Romans we read that, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”

“All” includes you and me.

All of us stand accused of sin.

But unfortunately for us, these accusations ARE NOT false.

We must plead guilty. Because we ARE guilty.

I gave some examples earlier of the justifications we whisper to ourselves to make our sin more palatable.

I gave other examples of how some of us may be struggling with specific sins - like sexual immorality.

And I know that it hit home with many - if not all - of you.

It may not have been the sins I mentioned by name, but maybe you thought of the ones in your life you’re glad I didn’t mention.

We all stand guilty in the face of these accusations…

“Thanks a lot Blake, why do you keep heaping condemnation on our heads?”

The reason is - I want you to feel the weight of this condemnation just for a moment before I tell you this good, good news:

Yes, we stand accused, because we are guilty…

But, “For those who are in Christ Jesus” there is no condemnation!

Jesus paid the debt of that guilt on our behalf!

This is great news, yall!

But some of you may be asking, “How do we ensure that we are ‘in Christ’?”

Here’s the answer from the Bible, and It sounds too easy to be true: confess and believe.

Also in Romans we read that “if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”

Confess and believe.

Confess that you are guilty of sin, and are unable to pay the debt of that sin on your own.

No amount of goodness will ever offset your badness

Believe that Jesus DID pay for that sin on your behalf by dying on the cross and raising to life again three days later.

Joseph trusted in God, and God blessed him.

God kept his promise to bless Joseph and kept his promise to bless those who bless him.

God is faithful to keep his promises.

And we get to enjoy the favor of God because Jesus not only paid for our sin but also gave us his righteousness.

God keeps his promises to us and redeemed us back to himself

God forgives us because of Jesus’ finished work on the cross

God favors us because because when he looks at us, he doesn’t see our sin, he sees Jesus’ righteousness given to us

This is the good news God is inviting us to see here in Genesis 39.

We get to live free,

no longer under the penalty of sin,

no longer condemned because of the True & Better Joseph, Jesus Christ.

Pray with me.

Related Media

Related Sermons

Earn an accredited degree from Redemption Seminary with Logos.