Joseph and You: Flourishing in All of Life’s Seasons – “Tempted” April 7, 2024

Genesis 39:1-6a (NIV)
Now Joseph had been taken down to Egypt. Potiphar, an Egyptian who was on of Pharaoh’s officials, the captain of the guard, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had taken him there. The Lord was with Joseph and he prospered, and he lived in the house of his Egyptian master. When his master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord gave him success in everything he did, 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.

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. 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.

Genesis 39:6b-7 (NIV)
Now Joseph was well-built and handsome, and after a while his master’s wife too notice of Joseph and said, “Come to bed with me!”

TEMPTATION…

• TEMPTATION IS NO RESPECTER OF PERSONS

Luke 4:1-2 (NIV)
Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the desert, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil…

• BEING TEMPTED IS NOT A SIN

• TEMPTATION IS PERSISTENT

Luke 4:13 (NIV)
When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time.

I Corinthians 10:13 (NIV)
No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. 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 stand up under it.

How did Joseph Flourish in this situation?

Genesis 39:8-9a (NIV)
But he refused. “With mem 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. No one is greater in this house than I am. My master has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife.”

Joseph Had Ethical Conviction

Genesis 39:9b (NIV)
“How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?”

Joseph Showed Spiritual Devotion

Genesis 39:10 (NIV)
And though she spoke to Joseph day after day, he refused to go to bed with her or even be with her.

Joseph Understood the Danger of Proximation

Genesis 39:11-15 (NIV)
One day he went into the house to attend to his duties, and none of the household servants was inside. 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. When she saw that he had left his cloak in her hand and had run out of the house, 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. When he heard me scream for help, he left his cloak beside me and ran out of the house.”

Joseph Ran!

Genesis 39:16-20 (NIV)
She kept his cloak beside her until his master came home. Then she told him this story: “That Hebrew slave you brought us came to me to make sport of me. But as soon as I screamed for help, he left his cloak beside me and ran out of the house.”
When his master heard the story his wife told him, saying, “This is how your slave treated me,” he burned with anger. Joseph’s master took him and put him in prison, the place where the king’s prisoners were confined.