Joseph's Temptation

Welcome

Good morning once again everyone. Today we are continuing on in our sermon series on Joseph. Last week we looked at the different family dynamics that created some tough feelings within Joseph’s family. Jacob was demonstrating favoritism towards Joseph, Joseph was telling his brothers about dreams that he was having about them bowing down to them, and because of all of this Joseph’s brothers hated him. As a result, Joseph is betrayed by his brothers, he is almost killed by them, but instead of killing him they decide to sell him as a slave. Joseph is then taken to Egypt and sold to a man named Potiphar, one of Pharaoh’s officials. That is where we left off last week, so this morning, we will be reading about Joseph’s time in Potiphar’s house.

Prayer

Engage/Tension

Fishing Illustration, How do you catch a fish? What do you need? Why would a fish bite a hook? (It looks good, they don’t know that it has a hook in it) You catch a fish by tempting it to eat something that really it shouldn’t eat.

Temptation in our lives looks very similar. We might be tempted to lie because we don’t want to get in trouble. We might be tempted to take something that isn’t ours because we really want it and think it would be fun. I know we aren’t in school at the moment, but we all want good grades right? But there are times we don’t understand something and so we might be tempted to cheat so that we get a better grade. There are a lot of other examples, but we are all going to be tempted in life and it’s important to find out how we should respond to those temptations. Which, we will learn today that God always provides a way out of our temptation.

Joseph and Potiphar

Genesis 39:1–6 (NIV)

1 Now Joseph had been taken down to Egypt. Potiphar, an Egyptian who was one of Pharaoh’s officials, the captain of the guard, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had taken him there.

2 The Lord was with Joseph so that he prospered, and he lived in the house of his Egyptian master.

3 When his master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord gave him success in everything he did,

4 Joseph found favor in his eyes and became his attendant. Potiphar put him in charge of his household, and he entrusted to his care everything he owned.

5 From the time he put him in charge of his household and of all that he owned, the Lord blessed the household of the Egyptian because of Joseph. The blessing of the Lord was on everything Potiphar had, both in the house and in the field.

6 So Potiphar left everything he had in Joseph’s care; with Joseph in charge, he did not concern himself with anything except the food he ate.

We pick up with Joseph in Potiphar’s house. Now, at first glance you might think Joseph is just in for a terrible time. After all, he was hated by his brothers, almost killed by them, and sold off to be a slave. Surely things aren’t going to go well for him now. But we learn that Joseph actually does do pretty good at that point. If we were in Joseph’s shoes, we would be upset, trying to run away, trying to do something to get out of this situation. But Joseph works for Potiphar and God blesses the work that he does so much that Potiphar notices it. And because of this, Potiphar ends up putting Joseph in charge of his entire house. Talk about a change in the story. He’s sold to Potiphar as a slave yet he becomes the one in charge of everything in the house. But, unfortunately things don’t stay the same for Joseph and he is faced with a difficult situation.

Joseph and Temptation

Genesis 39:7–20 (NIV)

Now Joseph was well-built and handsome,7 and after a while his master’s wife took notice of Joseph and said, “Come to bed with me!”

8 But he refused. “With me in charge,” he told her, “my master does not concern himself with anything in the house; everything he owns he has entrusted to my care.

9 No one is greater in this house than I am. My master has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?”

10 And though she spoke to Joseph day after day, he refused to go to bed with her or even be with her.

11 One day he went into the house to attend to his duties, and none of the household servants was inside.

12 She caught him by his cloak and said, “Come to bed with me!” But he left his cloak in her hand and ran out of the house.

13 When she saw that he had left his cloak in her hand and had run out of the house,

14 she called her household servants. “Look,” she said to them, “this Hebrew has been brought to us to make sport of us! He came in here to sleep with me, but I screamed.

15 When he heard me scream for help, he left his cloak beside me and ran out of the house.”

16 She kept his cloak beside her until his master came home.

17 Then she told him this story: “That Hebrew slave you brought us came to me to make sport of me.

18 But as soon as I screamed for help, he left his cloak beside me and ran out of the house.”

19 When his master heard the story his wife told him, saying, “This is how your slave treated me,” he burned with anger.

20 Joseph’s master took him and put him in prison, the place where the king’s prisoners were confined.

This passage tells us that Joseph was a good looking guy and as a result of this, Potiphar’s wife decides that she would like to sleep with Joseph. Yet even though she is persistent in asking him to come to bed with her, Joseph continues to refuse. Joseph knows that he shouldn’t do this because it would be a sin against Potiphar, who has treated him well and put him in charge of the house, and he also knows that he shouldn’t give in to this temptation because it would be a sin against God.

But Potiphar’s wife continues to try to get Joseph to sleep with her. She goes so far as to get everyone out of the house so it was just her and him, no one else would even know about it. She grabs on to Joseph’s cloak and tells him to come to bed but Joseph does the opposite. This time Joseph doesn’t just say no, he bolts out of there, leaving the cloak behind. This prompts her to then lie about what happened to the other servants and later to Potiphar. And if you were Potiphar in this situation, you would likely respond in a similar way. Potiphar is upset and angry that Joseph would do this and as a result, Potiphar has Joseph put in prison.

Overcoming Temptation

This part of Joseph’s story communicates to us the importance of resisting temptation. Joseph could have probably given in to this temptation and Potiphar would be none the wiser, especially once his wife gets everyone out of the house. Yet, Joseph knows that it is the wrong thing to do and he actively resists the temptation.

For Joseph and for all of us, resisting temptation is a difficult, but necessary thing. Why? Because while temptation itself is not sin, giving in to it is. It leads us ultimately down a path that is not beneficial for us.

James 1:13–15 NIV

13 When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; 14 but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. 15 Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.

When we give in to temptation, it leads to sin, which James then says that when that matures, it gives birth to death. What is interesting about this passage in James is that the greek word used for “Dragged away” which is exelko, means “to be lured away.” When we are tempted it is just like we are fish looking at that tasty lure. That lure looks tasty, that temptation looks good, it might help us in a tough situation, it might give us comfort or some kind of pleasure, yet in the same way as the fishing lure, these temptations will end up harming us if we give in to them.

Knowing that we should resist these temptations that lead to sin, just as Joseph did, we end up asking ourselves, “How can we resist these temptations that we encounter on a daily basis?” 1 Corinthians 10 helps us answer that question.

1 Corinthians 10:12–13 “12 So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall! 13 No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.”

One of the first things we have to realize when it comes to temptation is that pride can be dangerous. We get in trouble when we think that we are immune to temptations, when we think that there is no way we will ever give in to them. One example of this is seen in Peter when he is adamant that he will never betray Jesus. He would never deny knowing Jesus. Yet, within that very same night Peter does exactly that. So it is important that we never think we are above temptation.

Second, I think it is important for us to know that we are not alone in our temptations. There are times when we think we can’t talk to others about the temptations we are dealing with because we are the only one dealing with it. But the truth is, is that all of us are being tempted probably in very similar ways. And so we can resist temptation by talking to others that we trust about it, and lean on them for strength.

And finally, it is important to know that God doesn’t abandon us in the midst of our temptations. God is right there with us, he does not leave us or abandon us when we are faced with temptation. And as a result of this, we are told from that passage in 1 Corinthians 10, that God is faithful to us in our temptations, that he will never let us be tempted beyond what we can handle, and that he will also provide a way out for us when we are tempted. While temptations are strong and hard to run away from, they do not hold more power over us than Jesus does.

Saying no to temptation will not always be easy. While Joseph’s story makes it seem like he handled it pretty easy, I am sure that it was still difficult for him. But through Jesus, overcoming temptation is always possible because he makes a way for us to escape.

An illustration that demonstrates “the way of escape” can be compared to the pre-flight safety procedures presented to all passengers. The flight attendant often announces that in case of an emergency, emergency floor lighting will indicate the path to the closest exit.

In the same manner, when temptation comes to entice us to sin, God is right with us, and he provides the way for us to escape the emergency. The Greek word for provides means “make a path” God indicates to us the path to escape the temptation.