The Temptation

You'll get through this. It's what we call our series that we've been doing on the life of Joseph in the Bible. My name is René, one of the pastors here, and I am loving this series and I love being at church. How many of you are delighted to be at church this morning? Doesn't it feel good? I just love it.

Well, I want to invite you to grab your message notes or if you're joining us online you can download them at TLC.org/notes and we also have small groups all over the county and beyond studying this material, studying a Max Locato book with the same title all on the life of Joseph. It's been so enriching and you can get into a small group at TLC.org/smallgroups. We even have virtual small groups.

Well, as you're grabbing those message notes, I just want to very quickly give you an update. These are super exciting times at Twin Lakes Church for a variety of reasons, but here's one reason. Friday night we hosted a Latin gospel concert here in this very building with Qualo Zamorano, a well-known Latin gospel artist, and here is just a peek at that concert. As you see there was great energy, there was a great crowd, it was fun to see so many Spanish speaking people in this auditorium and this was meant to promote our new Spanish service coming in two weeks in the 11 a.m. service. How many people are excited about that? Please be praying about that. I'm super stoked.

And I also want to give you an update on our Spanish pastor, Julian Pizarro. Last weekend I asked you to please pray that they would find a home quickly for them and their triplets because they had gotten last minute notice kind of that they had to move out of their house. Well, four days ago they found a place and it's perfect for them, so praise God and thank you so much for your continued prayers for that ministry.

So say this out loud with me. You'll get through this. Say it with conviction. You'll get through this. Sometimes that is super hard to believe, isn't it? Louis Giglio tells the true story of a couple he knows, his friends Jay and Catherine Wolfe. He says they met at Samford University back east. Catherine was literally crowned Miss Samford. Beautiful and smart and full of love for Jesus. And in 2004 they moved here to California to Malibu. Jay started law school at Pepperdine and Catherine worked as a model and an actress until one afternoon in 2008.

Their first baby's just six months old and Catherine feels a little dizzy. Her arms go numb and she walks into the living room to turn down the TV. She wobbles once and then twice and then collapses. And Jay's there and he calls 911 and Catherine's rushed to the hospital and diagnosed with a massive brain stem stroke. And to save her life, doctors had to amputate part of her brain. For two months she was unconscious. She had to re-learn how to talk, how to eat, how to walk. Catherine was 26.

Today Catherine is partially deaf. She can't see very well. Her speech is slurred. She uses a wheelchair to get around. Yet Catherine and Jay just exude confidence in the Lord. They speak, they write, their topic, there is purpose in pain. Now very few of us have had our dreams dashed quite the way Catherine did. But every single one of us in this room and joining us online has experienced times of suffering. Times that you ask, wait a minute, if I've been following God and if God is good then why is all this bad stuff happening to me?

How do you get through those times? What do you do when your dreams die? Well, that is really what the story of Joseph is all about. Quick recap, the story of Joseph is told in the first book of the Bible, the book of Genesis. Joseph has a dream from God of his future. He's going to be a star. He's going to be a world leader and he shares his dream with everybody. His father adores him. His brothers loathe him. They throw him into a pit. They sell him into slavery and that's where we left him last weekend.

Now he's not only not a star, he's a zero. A nobody, a slave. The dream has died. Literally his dream is dead. But years later in ways no one could ever have imagined, all this mess is going to be used by God to save millions. And the big idea of Joseph's story is this. Even when I don't see it, even when I don't feel it, even when I am hurting, God is working. In fact, say this out loud with me. Even when I don't see it, even when I don't feel it, even when I am hurting, God is always working. And that is true for you right now.

Now maybe you think, oh this is great. I mean I'm saying amen to that, René. I believe that theoretically. But in the meantime, what am I supposed to do? How am I supposed to act? How am I supposed to think? How do I cope when my dreams seem like they're dead? When life is terrible? Well, in today's episode of the life of Joseph, Joseph realized a key truth to getting through life's adversities. Survivors know this truth. You see this truth in every story of like a POW or somebody who was in a concentration camp who survived. Wouldn't you like to know what the key is? It's this. No matter the adversity, I have agency.

No matter what the adversity, I still have agency. Agency meaning power to act, power to choose. That is a life-changing revelation right there. Specifically when life is out of my control, I can always control three responses. And you see every single one of these in Genesis chapter 39 where we're going this morning. And number one is this, jot this down. When I can't perceive the plan, I can choose to do the next right thing. When I can't perceive the overarching plan, I can still choose to do the next right thing.

It's kind of like this. We get a lot of foggy days around here on the coast, right? Like today. I was at Cowell's Beach the other day and I could barely see the end of the wharf. I mean, it was pretty foggy, but I could take the next step in the correct direction, which of course was toward the ideal bar and grill for the local specials. So when the long-range view is foggy, I can always take the next step. I mean, Joseph was completely in the dark about God's plan, but he did the next right thing.

Let's dive into the scripture for today. Genesis 39 starting in verse one, "When Joseph was taken to Egypt by the Ishmaelite traders," as in slave traders, remember his brothers had sold him into slavery, "he was purchased by Potiphar, an Egyptian officer. Potiphar was captain of the guard for Pharaoh, the king of Egypt." Now, in English, "captain of the guard" kind of sounds like head of personal security, right? But many scholars I read said this actually probably meant commander of the armed forces.

"The Lord was with Joseph, so he succeeded in everything he did as he served in the home of his Egyptian master." And Potiphar noticed this and realized that the Lord was with Joseph. Somehow he attributed it not just to Joseph, but to the Lord. You see this? His diligence, his trustworthiness brought glory to God, giving him success in everything he did. And this pleased Potiphar, so he soon made Joseph his personal attendant. And again, in English, that kind of sounds like butler, but this is the very same Hebrew word used to describe what Joshua was to Moses. So he's really his ex-O, right? His executive officer, his second in charge here.

He put him in charge of his entire household and everything he owned. "And from the day Joseph was put in charge of his master's household and property, the Lord began to bless Potiphar's household for Joseph's sake. All the household affairs ran smoothly and his crops and livestock flourished too." Now pause there for just a second because sometimes people think, "If I want God to really use me, like I want to be the man or the woman God used, then I got to go into full-time ministry." That is not in the Bible.

You've probably been conditioned to believe that by church or something because look at what you have here in Joseph, a slave who became highly successful at his job. And the world's eventually saved from starvation as we are going to see by Joseph's business savvy. And that does bring glory to God, but it's not like he's a preacher or a missionary here. So don't ever think that doing Christian jobs in air quotes is the only career that God uses. God uses people in every sphere of life that's represented in this room, whether it's farming or tech or medicine or coffee shops, full-time parent or anything else. You can fulfill God's purpose for you by being excellent at what you have in front of you, at your job, by doing the next right thing.

Now maybe you're in a situation right now where you feel like, "René, but I just can't do it." Well, maybe you can't in your own strength, but look at what's mentioned here seven times in this chapter. "The Lord was with Joseph." In other words, it wasn't just up to him. He was not alone. And I don't know what's going on in your life. Maybe some terrible, unanticipated tragedy, or maybe it's something that wouldn't seem like a big deal maybe to anybody else looking into your life, and maybe people don't even know about it. But to you, it feels insurmountable.

Or maybe you feel like you're kind of a slave. You're trapped by the cubicle or by the household chores or something. I want you to know this. Isaiah 41:10, "The Lord says, 'Do not fear, for I am with you,' just like he was for Joseph. 'Do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will uphold you by my righteous right hand.'" The Lord is with you. Even if you feel trapped, even if you feel like your dreams have died, he can bless you right where you are. When you can't see the plan, you can choose to do the next right thing. And you know you can because the Lord is with you, giving you strength.

So look at verse 6. "So, Potiphar gave Joseph complete administrative responsibility over everything he owned. With Joseph there, he didn't worry about a thing except what kind of food to eat. Like, 'Shall I have the escargot or the caviar?' You know, decisions, decisions. That was the extent of Potiphar's stress because Joseph handled everything. So everybody, Joseph, Potiphar, everybody in the household is being blessed. They're living large, except of course, this is Joseph's story we're talking about. So things take a downturn again. It's a soap opera.

The story continues. "Joseph was a very handsome and well-built young man, and Potiphar's wife soon began to look at him lustfully. 'Come and sleep with me,' she demanded." Now in English, you know, this sentence here, "Come and sleep with me," she demanded, almost sounds like a seduction, you know, I don't know, kind of romantic, like she's lighting candles. You have to know that in Hebrew, this whole sentence is two words. Well, it's translated in English as a sentence. It's two words. And scholars that I read this week in my research said that basically an accurate English translation will be something like this. "Sex now." That's why it says she demanded. There's this element of you, get over here, sex now.

And in this moment is where you see the next way that I have agency when I'm faced with adversity. When I'm offered compromise, I can choose integrity. You know, when your dreams die, you will be offered alternative, evil dreams, but you can still choose integrity. I love the word integrity. I love this word because it comes from the same root as the English word integer or whole number. When I sin, it causes my personality to start to disintegrate. And I no longer feel whole because I'm compartmentalizing and I'm lying. But Joseph chooses integrity.

It says Joseph refused. He doesn't say, "Well, let me pray about this." You know, I've really gotten the shaft here. I've had a very tough life. I deserve this. Flat out, refuses. You know, the Bible says, "Do not give the devil a foothold." This is so important right now because so much of contemporary entertainment is almost like an ad campaign for immorality. You know, and if they think a 30-second commercial for Coke is going to make you go out and buy a Coke, then a whole series about immorality, it's going to weaken your will because if you let those things gain a foothold, you're going to start a daydream and daydreams will weaken your will and that's why sometimes you just have to refuse.

But I want you to notice Joseph doesn't just stop with a no. Let's explore this a little bit. "Look," he told her, "my master trusts me with everything in his entire household. No one here has more authority than I do. He's held back nothing from me except you because you're his wife." So I don't you if you notice after Joseph says no, he actually says yes to a couple of things. He says two things. He says, "I've been blessed and I have my responsibilities. My best defense against temptation is choose to focus on my blessings and my responsibilities." This is so important. My blessings. You know, what are the gifts God has given me? One of the biggest defenses against sin in your life is gratitude for what you have now and what you do not want to lose.

And my responsibilities, who's counting on me? Who do I not want to let down? Right? I mean, honestly, in my experience, this can be so effective. Clearly, I'm like you, I am far from perfect at resisting temptation, but I've discovered that when I focus on my blessings and my responsibilities, this brings me back. Joseph says, "How can I do such a wicked thing? It would be a great sin against God." Now wait a minute. This is before the Ten Commandments and the "Thou shalt not commit adultery." So how does he know it is a great sin? Well, I mean, he might have been taught this by his father, but also in Egyptian religion, it was also a great sin. And the penalty was severe.

In fact, in Egyptian law, there was no distinction between adultery and rape. And in one instance that I discovered this week from ancient Egypt, an Egyptian noble woman, like Mrs. Potiphar, commits adultery with a young peasant, a little bit like Joseph. And when they're discovered, the peasant is fed to the crocodiles, and the noble woman is stripped of her riches and forced to live the rest of her life on the streets, destitute and homeless. So this would not have been a very wise choice. Yet as we all know, even when we know something is a sin and it's wicked, in other words, it's destructive, it has bad consequences, sometimes we do it anyway, right? Or am I the only one, right? We do it anyway.

So how does Joseph resist? Again, Joseph is not just saying no. He's saying yes to something greater. Did you notice that? Specifically for him, he's saying yes to his purpose, yes to his blessings, yes to his responsibilities. I saw some research showing the most common denominator among teenagers who stay out of trouble is a sense of purpose, a sense, "My life is going somewhere. I don't want to mess it up." This is where Joseph is. Listen, you will wear out if your only strategy is no. Temptation, no, temptation, no, temptation, no. That doesn't work for very long, but you'll succeed if your strategy is to say yes to something greater.

It's kind of like there's a Greek myth about the sirens. Do you know this Greek myth? The sirens were these evil demons that tried to lure sailors to crash their ships on rocks because they sang such a beautiful and enticing song. It's obviously a metaphor for temptation, and the sailors just could not resist the siren song. And this sounds like a challenge to a guy named Ulysses, and so he hires a crew to sail past the sirens, and he puts wax earplugs in all their ears so they can't hear the siren song, but he himself wants to hear what it sounds like, and so they bind him with ropes to the mast so he can hear the song, and what happens is Ulysses strains against the ropes and screams and curses at his sailors to steer closer to the sirens, but he survives because he's bound, but for the rest of his life he is haunted by their song. In fact, he's ruined by it, the memory of it.

But then another sailor tries it, Orpheus, and Orpheus has a different strategy. He's been gifted by the gods with an incredible gift of music, and so he grabs his lyre on the boat and he starts to play, and on his boat none of the sailors have earplugs, and he's not bound, but the music of Orpheus so surpasses the music of the sirens that the sailors turn away and raptured by the better song. When you're trying to resist sin, and we all are there, you can try Ulysses' way, or you can try Orpheus' way. The Bible says, "Listen to the better song. Set your minds not on earthly things, but on things above."

And specifically for Christians, when my heart is captured by the beauty of Jesus, I mean we got a much better master than Potiphar, and when we think of my blessings and my responsibilities, his gift of grace, his blessings, he lavishes on me, and the purpose he's given me, the responsibilities that he's given me, that could help me focus on the better song.

Okay, you think that Joseph would be rewarded by doing what's right, having integrity, right? Aren't we rewarded when we have integrity? Well remember, this is Joseph we're talking about, so all the wheels come off again. She kept putting pressure on Joseph day after day. Now he said no, so here this is clearly not seduction, this is harassment. Harassment is about power, and she has all the power in this relationship, but he refused to sleep with her, and he kept out of her way as much as possible.

One day however, when no one else was around, he went in to do his work, and she came and grabbed him by his cloak demanding, "Come on, sleep with me!" Joseph tore himself away, but he left his cloak in her hand as he ran from the house. You notice in the story every time Joseph has a coat he gets into trouble? I'm recommending he just wear t-shirts from now on.

Well, when she saw that she was holding his cloak and he had fled, she's looking at that coat thinking, "Okay, one of us, we're both going to be asked for an explanation here. People are going to ask Joseph, 'Where's that cloak you always wear?' And they're going to ask me, 'How come you have Joseph's cloak?'" And she's like, "We're both going to be asked for an explanation, so I'm going to get mine in first." And look at what she says, "Soon all the men came running." "Look," she said, "my husband has brought this Hebrew slave," element of racism there, "here to make fools of us. He came into my room to rape me, but I screamed, and when he heard me scream, he ran outside and got away, but he left the cloak behind with me."

So she's telling this to all the servants, right? So now it's on social media. Now, everybody is talking about this, right? She kept the cloak with her until her husband came home, and then she told him her story, that Hebrew slave you brought into her house, tried to come in and fool around with me, she said. But when I screamed, he ran outside, leaving his cloak with me. Potiphar was furious when he heard his wife's story about how Joseph had treated her, and so he took Joseph and threw him into the prison where the king's prisoners were held, and there he remained.

If I were like Joseph, I'd be like, "What? Not again! I tried to do what was right! You're supposed to get rewarded for doing what was right. That's what I would be thinking, but apparently not Joseph." He's maturing here, verse 20, "But while Joseph was there in the prison, the Lord was with him. He showed him kindness and granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden, and 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." You know you're a dependable guy when you're in prison and they give you keys, right? This was Joseph, and this is where I see a third way that I always have agency in adversity when I can't see the blessings, right? There were no blessings around him anymore.

I can choose to be a blessing. Joseph is always thinking, "Okay, how can I be a blessing where I am now?" instead of being self-absorbing. Look what happens in verse 23, "The warden had no more worries because Joseph took care of everything." The jailers take a nap and play Super Mario while Joseph's just doing his job for him. "The Lord was with him and caused everything he did to succeed," and as we will see in our next episode, this opens all kinds of doors for Joseph, and Joseph actually becomes the template for how to live in a hostile culture.

When things are out of your control, you seek to be a blessing wherever you're put, kind of bloom with your planted attitude. Jeremiah 27, centuries later in the Bible, this is written to Jews in exile in Babylon, it says, "Seek the prosperity of the city to which I have sent you as exiles. Pray to the Lord on its behalf, for if it prospers, you too will prosper." That was Joseph's philosophy right there.

And centuries after this in the Bible, Peter is writing to Christians who are now under the oppressive thumb of the Roman Empire led by Nero, and he says this, "Live such good lives among the non-Christians that though they may malign your behavior as happened to Joseph, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us." And one of the ways that we try to do this every fall here at Twin Lakes Church, exactly what the Bible keeps recommending, is through what we call our acts of kindness projects, like Adrienne talked about earlier, and at a time when people are so angry about everything, we want to respond with kindness because just like it did for Joseph, that can open doors.

Now you might ask, "What are the acts of kindness projects? How can I get involved?" Here is our local outreach director, Robin Spurlock, with some details. So we want you to be involved in that acts of kindness project this fall. Some start just in two weeks. If you go to TLC.org to our home page, you're going to see banners on the front, and if you click on the acts of kindness banner, it's going to take you to the acts of kindness page, and if you scroll down, of course you can do read all about this, but there are projects listed.

We've got second harvest that needs help on several Mondays. We have the assembling gift bags for Watsonville High School and Project Pajamas. There's a painting project. There's a homeless garden project. You can read all about these, and if you want to help out, each of them have a link. You can just click on here where it says, "If you want to help out, please sign up here." If I click on here, it's going to take me right to a sign up sheet with my name and email, and you're going to be listed that way, or there might be an email of who you would email, but click on those links that's right there. We'll get you signed up, and if you have any questions, feel free to email me at robin@tlc.org.

Thanks. And then in two weeks, we're going to launch our second harvest, Food Drive 2, which I'm very excited about, because focusing on being a blessing, when sometimes you read the nonstop daily bad news headlines, and you don't see any blessings there, if you focus on being a blessing, it blesses you, and it opens doors for God to be glorified.

So, what do you do when your dreams die? I started with the amazing story of Catherine Wolfe. Shape magazine recently did a cover story on her and linked the story to a video interview, and I want to show you just part of it. This is courtesy of Shape magazine's website. Watch this. My four-year-old dreams, bye-bye. My 37-year-old dreams are here to stay, and they're awesome. This is my life, and I have the opportunity to love this and to champion it really well, even though it's never the story I would have chosen or written.

Like, I can recognize and make up to the life right in front of me is the best life. Honestly, we cannot control what happens to us a lot of it. We cannot control, but what we do have control over is how we respond to it. We have control over how we respond, how we think about it. I said to myself, "A joy rebel, I am rebelling with joy," and that is something we entirely have the ability to do, is no matter how hard our stories are, we get to be the joy rebel. Don't miss the life right in front of you, even if it's not the life that you ever imagined when you were a little girl.

You have the power to re-narrate what's happening in your life. We all need a little less pity and honestly self-absorption and an outward focus. I don't have time to worry so much about, like, the details that didn't work out right in my story because I've got a laser focus on making others' lives better and it's crazy because it fuels you. It fuels how you feel about your life and you know you're impacting other people. It changes how you experience your story.

I love that so much and I love that quote, "Don't miss the life right in front of you, even if it's a life you never imagined." And that is Joseph right there, isn't it? I mean he literally had dreams. You know, you might have dreams about becoming this or that or having a life that looks like this, but he literally had dreams about his future from God. And those dreams seem to be completely shattered, but he does not miss the life right in front of him and the agency he has in that life.

He doesn't miss that with self-absorption and pity, right? This is the hand I got dealt. I didn't control the deal. I didn't control the dealer, but I have total control over how I play this hand. So we leave Joseph in prison. Another cliffhanger. Will he get through this? Tune in next weekend and see.

I'm gonna ask Elizabeth to come back with the band because instead of me closing in a word of prayer, we're gonna sing a prayer together and the song is going to be our closing prayer. But listen carefully to me. As they return, I really want to be sensitive about something. And it's this, and it's, I know that anytime we talk about temptation in a sermon, I know I can elicit a lot of guilt and a lot of internal dialogue. And some of you, when I was going through that passage, might've been looking back on a temptation that you yielded to.

And you think, "Man, how could I have been so stupid? Why didn't I fight against that? Why couldn't I have been a person of integrity like Joseph in this story? Why do I have to hear stories like this and live the rest of my life with such guilt?" You don't. Because there's forgiveness from the Lord. And guess what? The Lord still has a purpose for you. He has a mighty purpose. You can't be transformed. You can serve God in great ways. You can be made new no matter what you have done in your past.

And so we're about to sing, "Lord, I need you" and I encourage you to make this your prayer. Lord, I need your forgiveness. Make me new, maybe for the very first time. Come to Jesus and say, "Lord, I need you in my life. I receive you as my Lord and Savior." Now, maybe when I talked about temptation, you were thinking about your own greatest temptation, the one that never seems to go away in your life. It could be a sexual temptation like in this story, or it could be a temptation to bitterness or despair like I'm sure Joseph was tempted to in the prison and in slavery.

As we sing, "I want you to pray, 'Lord, I need your strength. I want to refuse compromise to that temptation. I want to choose integrity. Please empower me. Please help me.'" And in fact, as we sing, I'm going to do something a little bit different. We don't do this a lot, but I have found that coming forward to the altar to pray, just kneeling on steps to pray, can be a powerful physical act that expresses a spiritual turning point. So as we sing, I want to invite you to come up to these steps to pray if you're so moved. And of course, after the service, our prayer team will be here for more prayer.

You might just be in a pit, your dream seemingly dead. You might want to come up to just pray, "Lord, help me. I just need your help. Strengthen me." Let's stand together as we sing, and let me just encourage you, don't give up. God is here with you. As the Lord was with Joseph, turn to him, and you'll get through this. Let's sing together. Lord, I call. I confess. But when here, I find my rest. And without you, I fall apart. You're the one that guides my heart.

Lord, I need you. Oh, I need you. Every hour, I need you. My one defense, my righteousness. Oh, God, how I need you. Which then runs deep. Your grace is more. Where grace is found is where you are. And where you are, Lord, I am free. Holiness is Christ in me. Where you are, where you are, Lord, I am free. Holiness is Christ in me.

Oh, Lord, I need you. Oh, I need you. Every hour, I need you. My one defense, my righteousness. Oh, God, how I need you. So teach my song to rise to you. When temptation comes my way. When I cannot stand, I'll fall on you. Jesus, you're my open state. Teach my song. Yeah, teach my song to rise to you. When temptation comes my way. When I cannot stand, I'll fall on you. Jesus, you're my open state. You're my hope, Jesus.

Lord, I need you. Oh, I need you. Every hour, I need you. My one defense, my righteousness. Oh, God, how I need you. Oh, you're my one defense, my righteousness. Oh, God, how I need you.