Central Thought: No one who puts his trust in God will ever be put to shame.
Hymn: Yield not to temptation
Text: Genesis 37: 25-36, 39:1-23
Joseph was a handsome young man, well-shaped and developed in body and well favored. Joseph was morally upright, obeyed his father, feared God and lived for Him. It may be said that his character stands out distinctly as one of the purest in all history. He did not allow daily temptation from whorish Potiphar’s wife to weaken his high morality.
No calamity shook his implicit faith in God, nor did he allow adversity to depress him.
Lesson Objectives:
- To know why Potiphar made Joseph overseer of his house.
- To understand why Joseph refused Potiphar’s wife request to lie with her.
- To know how to reject sinners’ enticement to sin.
- To highlight the lesson we derive from Joseph’s experience in Potiphar’s house.
Question 1.) Why did Potiphar make Joseph overseer of his house?
After Joseph had been sold by his brethren to the Ishmaelites, he was brought down to Egypt where he was again sold by the Ishmaelites to an Egyptian, Potiphar, who was Pharaoh’s captain of the guard. This gave Joseph the opportunity to be exposed to someone with whom he might be acquainted with in public and business life. Joseph was bought as a slave by the Egyptian captain “And the Lord was with Joseph…” Genesis 39:2.
While in his master’s house, Joseph was wonderfully blessed even as a servant. God prospered him though at first he was engaged in the meanest services. His ingenuity and industry came to bare and a particular blessing from heaven attended to him. He became more and more discernible as he rose in his employment. Genesis 39:2 says “And his master saw that the Lord was with him, and that the Lord made all that he did to prosper in his hand”.
With God’s hand mightily upon Joseph for good, Potiphar had no choice but to make him overseer over his entire house to continuously be connected to this blessing and to have it in full measure.
Question 2.) Why did Joseph refuse Potiphar’s wife’s invitation to lie with her?
In Genesis 39:7, we read “And it came to pass after these things, that his master’s wife cast her eyes upon Joseph and she said, lie with me”.
This is a most shameful instance of impudence and immodesty of Joseph’s mistress. She spoke to him on a daily basis which was a great wickedness on her part and great temptation to Joseph.
However, Joseph was resolved to uphold his virture and chastity; and by the grace of God was able to overcome the temptation by escaping. The temptation coming from his mistress left Joseph with two options.
- To succumb to the tempter, and find “favor” with her but sin against God or
- Maintain his integrity and reject the tempter but face the danger of being her enemy. Joseph opted for the second option at the risk of “losing everything”. This was a brave and honorable decision on his part.
Joseph took this step because he saw his yielding to his mistress’ temptation as a sin not just against his master but against God. This was the propelling force that kept him on in resisting the tempter “…. How then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God” Genesis 39:9. How can I do this, was Joseph’s question. Joseph considered who he was that was tempted. Others may take the opportunity or liberty but I cannot. Also, he saw the sin as an act of wickedness. Others may see it as a small thing but Joseph had another idea of it altogether. We should see sin as it is and not as anything else, call it by its name and never try to lessen it or play it down.
Lastly, Joseph considered the one against whom he was tempted to sin against GOD. This means that yielding to temptation will mean sinning against God, against His nature and dominion, and against His love and His design. We as Christians should, if for nothing else, also hate sin for these reasons. By steadfastness and resolution, the grace of God will always enable us to overcome any temptation by resisting the tempter. We should not stay much with or parley with temptation, but flee from it with the utmost abhorrence.
Question 3.) How do we reject sinner’s enticement to sin?
In Proverbs 1:10, we read “ My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not”. Here, the writer of Proverbs gives a general rule to the Christians to take heed of the snare of bad company. Sinners love company in sin. The tempter does not threaten or argue, but entices with flattery and fair speech. Although he entices us, he cannot force us, therefore we should have no fellowship with him.
The believer is in the world that is bereft of truth and sincerity, but is not of the world. This implies that we are in constant warfare with the world, the flesh and the devil. Very often, enticement comes from the opposite sex who appears in such ways that start evil or immoral thoughts in the heart of the believer. When this happens, we should resist immediately such thoughts and allurements. It is very dangerous to assume that we are strong in the Lord and so nothing can happen to us. Therefore, we should be very careful as admonished in 1 Corinthians 10:12 “Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall”, so that we are not swept off our feet.
As Christians, we should be watchful so as to forsee danger and escape. We should be vigilant, because our adversary the devil as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking who he may devour. We should abstain from all appearances of evil.
Question 4.) What lessons can be learned from Joseph’s Experience in Potiphar’s house?
Christians have so many lessons to learn from Josephs experience in Potiphar’s house that will help us in our pilgrimage here on earth. Amongst such lessons is the need to maintain moral purity in the face of severe temptation and possibly flee from sin and all appearance of evil. We must fear God and be determined not to sin against Him in anyway.
Moreover, Joseph’s experience is a reminder to the believer that God’s blessings and favor goes with His children wherever they go. We should know this and appropriate it. As God’s own, we are special. “Thank God I am a child of God!”. Consequently, anything kept in our care is kept in His care, so He keeps and prospers it. The presence of a believer in any establishment must make a difference (Genesis 39:3).
Lastly, even when Joseph was wrongly accused by Potiphar’s wife and subsequently imprisoned, he bore it patiently, featuring longsuffering as admonished by Paul in Galatians 5:22, with uninterrupted faith in God. He trusted God and left everything in His hands. We should like Joseph, learn to hand over difficult matters to God, trusting in Him to intervene in His own way. “Vengeance is mine, I will repay saith the Lord”. Romans 12:19.
Daily Living Application
It is by the grace of God that we are still strong in the faith. This grace must be jealously guarded to be able to run the race to the end. Exposure to wrong influences must be minimized and possibly avoided.
“Be not deceived: evil communication corrupts good manners” 1 Corinthians 15:33. The God that enabled Joseph to run away from the enticement to sin is still alive and ever gracious towards us. There is however need not to be careless with our Christian faith.
Memory Verse
1 Timothy 4:12
Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity.