Sermon Nuggets Mon Nov 19
Genesis 39
When
You're Tempted, Think of Joseph
This morning in the news it is reported Paula Broadwell,
whose extramarital affair with CIA chief David Petraeus led to his resignation,
is telling friends she is devastated by the fallout.
She warned socialite Jill Kelley to stay away from
Petraeus and Afghanistan war commander Gen. John Allen, with whom she was
having some romantic involvement.
Allen's nomination to lead the U.S. European Command
has been put on hold, pending results of the investigation, though officials
now concede only a handful of the emails between Kelley and Allen are of
flirtatious or questionable nature.
Contrast that story with Cleveland Stroud who had
coached the Blue Collar Bulldogs for 18 years before his basketball team made
it to the championship. Stroud recalls that it was a perfect night when they
won. “A night you dream of.” He was carried around the gym on the shoulders of
his triumphant players and their proud parents.
But two months
after the championship, during a routine grade check, Stroud discovered one
player was academically ineligible. He only played 45 seconds in the regional
qualifying tournament. He struggled with what to do next. Yet, his commitment
to integrity led him to the right decision. “Winning is the most important
thing for any coach but your principles have to be higher than your goals.” He
reported the error to the league and the Bulldogs forfeited their trophy. Then
the team took their loss hard, but he told them “You’ve go tot do what is
honest, what is right, and what the rules say. People forget the scores of
basketball games, but they don’t ever forget what you’re made of.”
How do you handle temptations? We all have them. It is
not a sin to be tempted.
Then again, do we really want to stay away from
certain temptations? They are appealing. One man trying to stop drinking said,
"As I passed the tavern I will not stop in unless there is a parking spot
in front of the tavern; that will be the only condition.” Soon he is walking in the tavern door. He
told his friend" I had to drive around the block 7 times before the spot
finally opened up." The problem with resisting temptation is that we
really want to do what we have decided or told we shouldn’t do. We all are
tempted.
Last week we looked at how Judah lived his life and
the consequences. This week we will look at how Joseph lived his life and it’s
consequences. One lived according to the flesh the other with the spirit. Judah
left for a foreign land and lived like his neighbors. Joseph went to a foreign
land against his will but lived for the Lord. Perhaps the most well known part
of Joseph’s story is recorded for us in the temptation of having a sexual
affair with his boss’s wife.
After his brothers sold him into slavery the travelers
brought him to Egypt and made a profit when Potipher, Pharoahs general, buys
him to work in his house. The Bible says that God was with Joseph in a special
way so everything he did prospered. So much so that even Potifer’s household
under his care prospered. He was given such leadership abilities by the Lord
that everyone noticed not only him, but his God.
I want to review ways to handle temptations as
presented in this chapter.
Pastor
Dale
Sermon
Nugget Tues Nov 20
Gen
39: 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 and 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 he left in Joseph’s care
everything he had; with Joseph in charge, he did not concern himself with
anything except the food he ate.
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?”
Fearing Temptation
Many people who fall into
sexual temptations are often very successful pastors. They experience the hand
of God upon their work. They are praised for their abilities and admired for
their leadership and sought after for advice. Although it may be hard to
understand many will compartmentalize their lives as work, home, church, and
pleasure. And live as if these different compartments are inter-related. They
can preach very inspiring sermons while at the same time in their private and
personal lives be living a lie. Many will think they are above the laws and
rules that other people are under because their abilities or position gives
them special privileges.
Some who find success in
their pursuits quickly forget that it is because the Lord allowed for those
successes. Pretty soon, they falsely think it is their doing, through
education, capabilities, hard work and influence that allows them to achieve. I
am all for learning techniques and gaining ideas, but don't forget all the
blessing we receive are from above.
When Joseph is confronted by Potipher’s wife he is
lusting after his handsome body and is blunt to say, “Come to bed with me”. I
want you. What a way to show that you
are the head of all the household when even the most powerful person next to
Potifer can be your lover. That would be a great ego boast to a young slave,
maybe even a sense of revenge for being a slave.
But Joseph immediately feared the situation. Having
sex with his boss’s wife could mean death if not beatings and imprisonment.
We have heard in the news of some women teachers, as
well as men who are infatuated by some of their high school students and are
involved in love affairs with them. When they get caught they are not only
ridiculed, lose their jobs, but also their freedoms. But for Joseph it was more
than fear against his master it was a sin against God. That is what he feared
the most. It would be against God.
Joseph saw such sexual relationships for what it was-
wickedness, even though he was not responsible. I think we don't begin to have
a grip on resisting temptation unless we can fear the temptation and realize
instead of rationalize that we are being faced with sin and its consequences.
We disobey God who is holy and righteous. There are things I wouldn't do not
because I was more honorable, I afraid of God. There are many temptations that
seem harmless enough and others are doing it, but I fear God; I fear the
consequences knowing one is going against His will. Because I feel miserable until
confession and forgiveness is faced.
When David's was confronted with his adultery with
Bathsheba he said "I have sinned against thee oh Lord and Ps. 51 we read,
"For I know my transgression, and my sin is always before me. Against you
and you only have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight.” Sin has
consequence.
When someone isn't having the right relationship with
God and something is blocking it, we need to pray as David did "Search me
o God and see if there be any wicked way against thee.”
It is also
hurtful to others. Joseph knew that his master would be would be hurt by Joseph
yielding to Potiphers wife's sexual advances. Since he had been so kind to
Joseph, He didn't want to hurt his master with evil. Although sin is primarily against God it is
affects other people and often people we love. Certainly this is obvious with
adultery. It is a sin not only against
God but against the married partner, youngsters and the other person and other
families. Sins of lying are hurtful to
the one lied to, sin of stealing and cheating and gossip and anger, and hatred,
and prejudice unfair treatment, poor wages, abuse. It is not true that people have their own
lives to lead and can do anything they want.
By their actions they sin against others. Friends even in making business deals you
must be honest and not yield to dishonest temptation for financial profit. I
have gotten to know unchurched people who have been ripped off by members of
our church and believe me it hurts the testimony of Jesus Christ. Don't be
fooled by it.
Pastor Dale
Sermon Nuggets Weds Nov 21
Gen 39: 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.
Facing Temptation
I am not sure that
Joseph is the best example of facing what to do when there is the potential of
being trapped. Perhaps we can learn the lesson that Joseph tried to ignore and
hoped the problem would go away by saying no the first couple of times. The
problem did not go away. It got worse.
The problem was with the person who was trying to seduce him. I do not
want to preach an argument out of silence. There may be things Joseph tried to
do to stop the advances, the story does not tell us he did. But once you are
alerted to a problem it needs to be faced quickly for the likelihood of it
getting worse usually does. Perhaps
Joseph couldn't do anything as a slave.
There was a
secret going on and Joseph needed advise, help, or confrontation with Mrs.
Potipher. Perhaps a witness or trusted associate of his master since
accusations by a slave to his master concerning his wife may have been cause
for punishment since she would have clearly denied it.
When I was in Russia our translator received a love
letter from one of the Deacons in the church. Although she was a new Christian
she told him he was married and it wasn’t right. He wanted it to be a secret
and be allowed to continue to write her. She asked me what she should do since
it was flattering getting these notes. I told her as long as it is a secret it
will grow. As soon as you share it with someone who can talk to the man, the
secret it out.
There is something almost erotic about having secrets
with the opposite sex that is not your spouse. You share something in common
with no one else and there is a bond. The guise of confidentiality is sometimes
a means of manipulation used to bring about worse results. I told her that she
should share the concern with a mature sister or pastor and the two of them
confront the man that if there are any more letters they will bring them to him
with his wife present. It was a means of facing squarely the situation before
it got out of hand and further sin involved.
We need to realize we are automatically drawn into temptation
to sin by our inward desires. Facing it recognizes that there is potential
problem. Admit it ourselves that something needs to be done.
The Christian that concerns me is the one that thinks
it cannot happen to me. “Pride cometh before a fall.” I was surprised when an
80 year old explained he was still being tempted to commit mental adultery with
women. Temptation is lifelong. When I hear of a treasurer taking church money by embezzlement,
it can happen to me. When I hear of someone who commits adultery I know it can
happen to me. When I see pride destroy a ministry. I know it can happen to me.
When I see jealousy wreak the ministry of other churches and pastors I know it
can happen to me. There is nothing that
I also not capable of doing if giving the right circumstances, so facing it
early can prevent what we don’t want to happen.
Now Joseph could have made up all kinds of excuses. ‘We’re
alone and no one will know.’ That is true; ‘She made me do it.’ Right again. ‘Everyone
else is fooling around, God will understand and forgive me, after all I am a
slave and must be obedient to my master.’ Excuses, rationalization, and compromising
your commitments are ways to further the problem. One man said it right “Tell
the people they need to make up their mind before hand how they will handle
temptations. If they wait until they are tempted it will be too late.”
Kids need to plan ahead what they will say when
friends offer them smokes, or drugs, or alcohol, for it will happen. Plan on
it. Plan how you will handle it when you’re on a date and the date wants to go
further in sexual play than you should. Don’t come up with a plan when it
happens for you won’t be thinking clearly. Plan on what you will do now when
money is at your disposal.
Do you think we are put to tests by the Lord? How is your IQ, your Integrity Quotient? What
tempts you? Money that isn’t ours, pleasures that are wrong, cheating on taxes,
or stealing a piece of equipment or materials at work, or school or in a store?
Cheating on tests at school, plagiarism, lying? If there is something that you
are being tempted with there is no sin in the temptation but in the yielding of
it. Temptation must be the red flag that alerts our senses that something is
wrong no matter how enticing it is. You need spiritual support from God and
others.
Do you have people of the same sex who you pray for
and can pray for you, and can be honest with and support and encourage for
things of the Lord? We need small groups and godly friends to help us in the
Lord.
Pastor Dale
Sermon Nuggets Fri Nov 23
Gen 39: 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.”
Fleeing Temptation
Now facing it and
fleeing it sound like opposite instructions doesn't it? Joseph did right. There
will be times when all we can do in a giving situation is to get out of that
situation. Joseph literally ran rather than be seduced by the wife of
Potipher. That is not easy for young
sexually interested and healthy 17-18 years old young man, when he had every
opportunity available to him. Joseph did
right thing before God in fleeing the temptation even to the point of leaving
his coat and being lied against.
I have a book by a former teaching in my office. I studied with him in an independent study
course in marriage counseling. I appreciated his insights and abilities. He
wrote a book on protecting your marriage. Yet within just a few years after he
published this book he was being sued by a client for sexual involvement. He
knew what to do, aware of the problem, wrote about the problem but at the wrong
time was unable to do what he needed to do which was to flee.
Satan is so shrewd, each exposure increased the chance
that we will sin and each time Mrs. Potipher saw Joseph the desire increased.
In Joseph's case even in fleeing he was in trouble.
Potipher's wife took his cloak and screamed accusing Joseph of trying to rape
her. There is nothing Joseph can do at
this point as a slave, but be true to himself knowing where the truth lies, and
trusting Christ
Did you ever wonder what went through the mind of Mrs.
Potipher those years Joseph was in prison? Did you ever wonder what happened to
Mrs. Potipher when Joseph later held a position of authority over even Potipher
himself? But even if Joseph never rose to such place or power still she would
have to face God as do we all. Vengeance is mine says the Lord, I will repay.
Crystal Michelle as high schooler understood that
being in love wasn’t reason enough to become sexually active. One of her
favorite quotes to spread her message of abstinence comes from Ann Landers, it
goes¨”I met him; I liked him. I liked him I loved him. I loved him, I let him.
I let him; I lost him.”
She has some answers for boys who pressure her if a
boy says to her “Real men are sexually active. She will say “So is my REAL
dog.” If he says, “If you loved me, You’d let me” She’ll say “If you loved me,
you wouldn’t ask.” He says , “Everyone is doing it.” Not true I’m someone and
I’m not doing it.” IF he says, “If you won’t let me I’ll find someone who will.
“It was nice knowing you.”
Here is her
best quote “When we date, we start giving gifts, like flowers or candy. When a
couple becomes engaged, they give special things- a diamond and very personal
things. The most personal gift that I can ever give is myself. I have nothing
more precious to give. When I marry, I want to give my husband the best that I
have- my whole self as complete as I can. “ That is a gift best for your
husband and wife for you wedding.
Pastor
Dale
Sermon Nuggets Sat Nov 24
Gen 39: 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.
But while Joseph was there in the prison, 21 the Lord
was with him; he showed him kindness and granted him favor in the eyes of the
prison warden. 22 So the warden put Joseph in charge of all those held in the
prison, and he was made responsible for all that was done there. 23 The warden
paid no attention to anything under Joseph’s care, because the Lord was with
Joseph and gave him success in whatever he did.
Fighting Temptation
Temptation for Joseph I am sure did not end once Joseph was sent to prison. He had a different type of temptation. It was to be bitter, despondent, and depressed. Joseph could have become
bitter and angry at God for yielded to temptation but then another sin would
have occurred.
Fighting temptation includes the armor of God. I wish
I could tell you that went well, but look at what happened to righteousness
and integrity of Joseph. First he was falsely accused, and secondly he was
falsely put in prison. He could have falsely been killed also. Other have.
Jesus was. Jesus said if we are going to be like him, things like that may
happen to us as well. It happened to most of the disciples. They were in Gods’
will doing what was right when persecution and suffering came to them.
How do we fight temptation? Jesus said, "Watch
and pray that you enter not into temptation.” He knew that in this world there
would be a constant battle that needed to be fought with prayer, and with
alertness to the spiritual dangers around us.
In the Lord’s prayer we are taught, “Lead us not into
temptation, but deliver us from evil.” I think the reason prayer is proposed to
be a perpetual part of the solution is that it allows us to have the attitude
of humility. It is the realization that we need to be in the protection of God
and it allows our thoughts to be upward.
Most sexual sins are yielded first with our minds. If
Joseph’s thought were on this woman he would have failed. If they were on
himself he wouldn’t have stood much of a chance, but his thoughts were on
God.
Another excellent strategy is to work on your own home
situation. Keep a good communication with your wife and with your husband. Allow
the love to grow and be satisfied in your union sexually as well. Don’t use it
as a threat or means of manipulation.
What was it that Satan could not stand against when he
was tempting Jesus in the wilderness? It was quote from the word of truth. Even
when Satan tried to quote Scripture to Jesus out of context and to accomplish
sinful ends, Jesus could throw it back at him.
Psalm 119:15 "Thy Word have I hid in my heart
that I might not sin against thee." Fighting sin and Satan with the truth
against his lies keeps us from hurt and pain.
I John 4:4 further reminds us "Greater is He that
is in you that He that is in the world." We need to be on guard. We need
to be alert for Satan sneaks around seeking whom he can devour.
There is story of wild ducks in S. Africa were boys
put pumpkins in the river and allowed the current to carry them down to where
the ducks were swimming. They were nervous about it and flew away, but watched
from a distance these pumpkins were harmless. When they saw there was no
danger, they flew back into the river as more pumpkins floated by. Then the
boys had large pumpkins hallowed out that they put over their heads and they
moved slowly and quietly into the water until their bodies were in the water
and their heads were out inside the pumpkin. As they walked toward ducks they
were able to catch them by the leg under the water and kill them. How many are led into sin by saying, there is
no harm in it? The devil likes to deceive us just as the ducks were.
I Cor 10:13 There is no temptation that is taken you
that is not common to man but God is faithful with every temptation there is a
way of escape that we may be able to endure it"
While the manager of a large estate was a young man
was conducting his daily business, a wicked woman enter the room. But this
young man wasn't surprised; she came to see him every day. He knew what she
wanted-what she always wanted. She would attempt to lure him with her eyes, her
words and her smile to entice him into an affair.
Assuming he could never fall into that sin, this man
remained indifferent to her presence. He apparently thought this latest
incident would end like all the rest; He would reject her advance and she would
leave. So he went on about his business, a decision that produced severe
consequences. Later he was charge with attempted rape and sent to prison for
more than two years. This man did nothing wrong, but no one would believe his
story. It didn't matter. His testimony was marred by not avoiding this woman.
There are some lessons we can learn form this man. His name was Joseph.
There three important words to use in all similar
situations; Just say No. Fear it, Face it, Flee it and Fight it. The consequences are too severe to do
otherwise. But given the choices I'd rather be a Joseph and sense the presence
of God in prison, than a David and to have lost it with Bathsheba and he paid
with great sorrow.
But even with a David who loved God but failed, there
was the way back to God and that way for us is also through confession,
repentance, and reliance on God our Savior and our Lord. For the best is use his power to resist the
second best is use his power to forgive and walk in the ways he prepares for
us.
Pastor Dale
