WEBVTT 00:00:00.300 --> 00:00:00.805 Let us pray. 00:00:05.836 --> 00:00:13.667 Lord, open our hearts and minds by the power of your Holy Spirit, that as these scriptures are read and your word is proclaimed, 00:00:14.253 --> 00:00:18.159 we may hear with joy what you say to us today. 00:00:18.729 --> 00:00:18.940 Amen. 00:00:24.126 --> 00:00:26.945 Today's reading is from the book of Genesis, chapter 39. 00:00:30.665 --> 00:00:33.212 Now Joseph had been taken down to Egypt. 00:00:33.714 --> 00:00:41.692 Potiphar, an Egyptian who was one of Pharaoh's officials, the captain of the guard, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had taken him 00:00:41.692 --> 00:00:41.757 there. 00:00:43.522 --> 00:00:49.584 The Lord was with Joseph so that he he prospered, and he lived in the house of his Egyptian master. 00:00:50.792 --> 00:00:58.776 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 00:00:58.890 --> 00:01:00.074 and became his attendant. 00:01:01.802 --> 00:01:07.133 Potiphar put him in charge of his household, and he entrusted to his care everything he owned. 00:01:08.502 --> 00:01:16.332 From the time he put him in charge of his household, and all that he owned, the Lord blessed the household of the Egyptian because of 00:01:16.365 --> 00:01:16.834 Joseph. 00:01:17.704 --> 00:01:23.047 The blessing of the Lord was on everything Potiphar had, both in the house and on the field. 00:01:23.773 --> 00:01:26.856 So Potiphar left everything he had in Joseph's care. 00:01:27.871 --> 00:01:32.812 With Joseph in charge, he did not concern himself with anything except the food he ate. 00:01:34.726 --> 00:01:36.697 Now Joseph was well-built and handsome. 00:01:36.822 --> 00:01:37.014 Them. 00:01:37.575 --> 00:01:42.565 And after a while his master's wife took notice of Joseph and said, 'Come to bed with me.' 00:01:43.672 --> 00:01:44.650 But he refused. 00:01:45.597 --> 00:01:51.003 'With me in charge,' he told her, 'my master does not concern himself with anything in the house. 00:01:51.917 --> 00:01:54.452 Everything he owns he has entrusted to my care. 00:01:55.527 --> 00:01:57.885 No one is greater in this house than I am. 00:01:58.735 --> 00:02:03.291 My master has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife.' 00:02:04.856 --> 00:02:08.396 How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God? 00:02:09.905 --> 00:02:16.544 And though she spoke to Joseph day after day, he refused to go to bed with her or even be with her. 00:02:17.950 --> 00:02:24.185 One day he went into the house to attend to his duties, and none of the household servants was inside. 00:02:25.119 --> 00:02:28.029 She caught him by his cloak and said, Come to bed with me. 00:02:28.775 --> 00:02:32.157 But he left her left his cloak in her hand and ran out of the house. 00:02:34.070 --> 00:02:41.029 When she saw that he had left his cloak in her hand and had run out of the house, she called to her household servants. 00:02:41.740 --> 00:02:47.885 Look, she said to them, this Hebrew has been brought to me— brought to us to make sport of us. 00:02:48.693 --> 00:02:51.459 He came in here to sleep with me, but I screamed. 00:02:52.386 --> 00:02:57.401 When he heard me scream for help, he left his cloak behind left beside me and ran out of the house. 00:02:58.864 --> 00:03:02.047 She kept his cloak beside her until his master came home. 00:03:02.883 --> 00:03:10.674 Then she told him the story: That Hebrew slave you brought us came to me to make sport of me, but as 00:03:10.787 --> 00:03:15.119 soon as I screamed for help, he left his cloak beside me and I ran out of the house. 00:03:16.934 --> 00:03:24.075 When his master heard the story his wife told him, saying, This is how your slave treated He burned with anger. 00:03:24.975 --> 00:03:30.615 Joseph's master took him and put him in prison, the place where the king's prisoners were confined. 00:03:31.708 --> 00:03:34.906 But while Joseph was there in the prison, the Lord was with him. 00:03:35.565 --> 00:03:39.887 He showed him kindness and granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden. 00:03:40.899 --> 00:03:47.809 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. 00:03:48.889 --> 00:03:56.830 The warden paid no attention to anything under Joseph's care, because the Lord was with Joseph and gave him success in whatever 00:03:56.882 --> 00:03:57.199 he did. 00:03:58.317 --> 00:03:59.285 This is the word of the Lord. 00:04:07.924 --> 00:04:15.267 Here we are in our fourth week studying the book of Joseph, or the story of Joseph, and now we're starting starting to see the themes come through. 00:04:16.102 --> 00:04:22.894 This is the third deception where a garment is used as a prop to fabricate a story. 00:04:23.488 --> 00:04:28.658 Starting back a few chapters ago, we're starting to see these themes fall in. 00:04:29.975 --> 00:04:35.643 And a second story now about an illicit ploy for sexual relations with another. 00:04:36.333 --> 00:04:38.742 And yet this is a very different story than the one before it. 00:04:41.012 --> 00:04:46.806 It's a beautiful thing to witness someone who is the ruler of their domain. 00:04:48.252 --> 00:04:55.901 One of the reasons that I love watching basketball highlights of Michael Jordan is because when the game was 00:04:56.094 --> 00:04:58.156 on the line, he wanted the ball. 00:05:00.203 --> 00:05:08.192 I remember reading about Michael Giacchino, who's a composer, a music composer And when they were making new movies 00:05:08.305 --> 00:05:15.807 for the Star Wars franchise, the big question was, who could possibly carry the weight of John Williams' 00:05:15.807 --> 00:05:18.026 soundtrack to Star Wars? 00:05:18.219 --> 00:05:21.740 And Michael Giacchino said, give it to me, I know what to do with it. 00:05:22.705 --> 00:05:23.653 This is my domain. 00:05:26.402 --> 00:05:27.109 What's your domain? 00:05:29.392 --> 00:05:36.549 Where's the place where you feel like you can achieve and succeed, where you feel competent in the eyes of others. 00:05:38.178 --> 00:05:46.171 This domain may be a mental competency that you have, working with software and computers, or maybe 00:05:46.188 --> 00:05:48.453 it's communication with other people. 00:05:49.004 --> 00:05:51.901 You feel like you can defuse situations, you're a great mediator. 00:05:53.205 --> 00:05:56.662 Maybe you feel in your domain when you're talking about geopolitical affairs. 00:05:57.749 --> 00:06:00.694 Maybe it's creativity, creativity, outside-the-box thinking. 00:06:02.079 --> 00:06:08.316 Maybe you're in your domain when you think about design and layout and the way that things look, or your ability with literature. 00:06:09.173 --> 00:06:11.018 You can take apart a text very easily. 00:06:12.329 --> 00:06:16.423 Maybe it's details, or maybe it's big picture, but all of us have a domain. 00:06:18.095 --> 00:06:21.024 And maybe there's a physical domain that comes to mind. 00:06:21.153 --> 00:06:29.092 Ah, I'm in my domain when I'm at my desk, or I'm in my domain when when I'm with my small team of employees, or when I'm 00:06:29.092 --> 00:06:32.669 overseeing a project or involved in a certain type of project. 00:06:33.604 --> 00:06:34.699 Maybe it's hosting parties. 00:06:35.778 --> 00:06:37.614 Maybe it's caring for small children. 00:06:38.757 --> 00:06:41.028 Maybe it's building something physical. 00:06:42.301 --> 00:06:43.061 Maybe it's the office. 00:06:43.437 --> 00:06:44.317 Maybe it's the kitchen. 00:06:44.823 --> 00:06:45.916 Maybe it's on the ship. 00:06:47.432 --> 00:06:48.340 Maybe it's the classroom. 00:06:50.424 --> 00:06:55.468 Friends, to be competent and successful in our domain is actually something we were created for it. 00:06:55.517 --> 00:06:57.159 It's a good gift of God's grace. 00:06:57.594 --> 00:07:05.439 Humans were created to work and have dominion, to care for and work in the Garden of Eden, and to 00:07:05.650 --> 00:07:13.282 rule over all of creation, to be blessed in competency and good success in order that everything under you 00:07:13.977 --> 00:07:14.722 would be blessed. 00:07:15.289 --> 00:07:17.201 Blessed to be a blessing. 00:07:18.936 --> 00:07:26.893 And this is why one of the best ways we can show God God's grace to our workplaces and in our neighborhoods 00:07:27.874 --> 00:07:33.518 is by simply being the most competent employee and neighbor we can be. 00:07:35.697 --> 00:07:38.595 And this is where we see the opening of the Joseph story today. 00:07:39.890 --> 00:07:47.170 He has his own garden, and he is a new Adam in that garden, blessed to be a blessing. 00:07:48.750 --> 00:07:56.340 Joseph is serving as a slave in the home of one of the chief officials of the Egyptian Pharaoh, and his employer sees that Joseph does 00:07:56.534 --> 00:07:57.294 everything well. 00:07:57.990 --> 00:07:59.533 Anything on Joseph's watch, 00:08:02.054 --> 00:08:03.651 the Potiphar doesn't need to even care about. 00:08:04.554 --> 00:08:11.700 He shows up for work during the day, Potiphar, all he has to do is worry about what he's going to have for lunch, the text tells us. 00:08:13.311 --> 00:08:14.250 Look at verse 6: 00:08:15.917 --> 00:08:20.156 So Potiphar left everything he had in Joseph's care. 00:08:21.402 --> 00:08:27.143 With Joseph in charge, he did not concern himself with anything except the food he ate. 00:08:30.076 --> 00:08:34.621 Why was Joseph able to be so successful, to be a blessing to Potiphar? 00:08:35.349 --> 00:08:38.834 The text tells us 4 times the Lord was with Joseph. 00:08:39.637 --> 00:08:40.809 The Lord was with Joseph. 00:08:41.548 --> 00:08:42.623 The Lord was with Joseph. 00:08:42.704 --> 00:08:50.025 It was because the Lord was with Joseph and gave him favor that he blessed all that was underneath Joseph's domain. 00:08:50.378 --> 00:08:54.183 See, Joseph is a new Adam blessed in the garden. 00:08:54.954 --> 00:08:58.181 He's a new Adam blessed in the garden. 00:08:59.305 --> 00:09:05.052 And before we even get into the tension point of the story, look at what the Holy Spirit is already teaching teaching us. 00:09:06.191 --> 00:09:14.133 All of our competence and success comes from God, our Creator, and he's designed the domain in which he's 00:09:14.133 --> 00:09:14.855 placed us. 00:09:15.513 --> 00:09:18.722 God took the man and put him in the garden. 00:09:19.283 --> 00:09:26.984 The workplace, the home place, the school place, along with the families and the co-workers and the church families that we 00:09:26.984 --> 00:09:27.642 serve with. 00:09:28.011 --> 00:09:35.787 You have been placed in that domain and And he has blessed us for the purpose of being a blessing to others. 00:09:38.062 --> 00:09:45.523 Friends, God has given us influence and responsibility and competence, and that is not for a feeling of self-importance, 00:09:47.401 --> 00:09:48.340 but to bless others. 00:09:50.218 --> 00:09:57.971 Students in the room, if you are the best biology student in your class, it is for the purpose of helping other people 00:09:58.679 --> 00:10:03.734 who don't understand what mitochondria and RNA is, like myself. 00:10:05.023 --> 00:10:06.223 You're not there to set the curve. 00:10:07.406 --> 00:10:09.790 You're there to bless your teacher and your classmates. 00:10:11.785 --> 00:10:19.151 Employees, if you're the best person on your team, it is not for the purpose of making the others on your team look bad so you can feel superior. 00:10:20.175 --> 00:10:28.160 You are there to bless every coworker and every supervisor with the peace of knowing if that assignment is on your watch, they don't 00:10:28.160 --> 00:10:28.867 need to worry about it. 00:10:29.976 --> 00:10:35.808 Imagine the gift that you could give to your supervisor if they show up for work and all they have to do is think about what they're going to have for lunch. 00:10:37.126 --> 00:10:40.902 That's what it was like in Potiphar's household with Joseph in charge. 00:10:41.930 --> 00:10:48.342 How might God be calling you to be a blessing to others with the responsibilities of 00:10:48.942 --> 00:10:53.258 success and intelligence and competence that he's given you. 00:10:56.522 --> 00:11:04.247 This is so helpful to me because many mornings I wake up and my prayers are prayers of exasperation. 00:11:05.322 --> 00:11:06.322 They're wandering prayers. 00:11:06.422 --> 00:11:07.222 What am I going to do today? 00:11:08.565 --> 00:11:10.468 How am I going to get all this work done today, Lord? 00:11:12.016 --> 00:11:19.832 But what if instead of praying that we would get all our work we prayed that we'd enjoy God's favor upon our work 00:11:21.379 --> 00:11:23.201 and to ask God to make it a blessing for others. 00:11:26.271 --> 00:11:33.305 Eric Liddell was the Scottish Olympic sprinter who was famous from the '80s movie Chariots of Fire. 00:11:34.876 --> 00:11:42.701 He lived his devotion to the Lord in a very public way, and of course he finally won the gold medal in the 1924 1924 Olympics, 00:11:43.103 --> 00:11:47.170 but he spent his final days in a Japanese internment camp where he would die. 00:11:49.169 --> 00:11:55.527 And as he waited and he suffered— think about what the day-to-day experience would be like for that person— 00:11:57.157 --> 00:12:02.792 he continued to offer every day to the Lord in order to be a blessing to others. 00:12:04.503 --> 00:12:10.347 He wrote most of a book while he was there, wasn't wasn't able to finish it, called The Daily Disciplines of the Christian Life. 00:12:11.042 --> 00:12:13.370 And included in that book was this prayer: 00:12:15.390 --> 00:12:22.652 Father, I pray that no circumstances, however bitter or however long drawn out, 00:12:23.620 --> 00:12:29.083 may cause me to break your law, the law of love to you and to my neighbor. 00:12:30.467 --> 00:12:37.236 That I may not become resentful, having hurt feelings, I may not resent, hate, or become embittered by life's experiences, 00:12:38.628 --> 00:12:46.202 but that in and through all I may see Thy guiding hand and have a heart full of gratitude for Your 00:12:46.332 --> 00:12:52.497 daily mercy, daily love, daily power, and daily presence. 00:12:55.637 --> 00:13:03.391 Joseph has been blessed by God with with daily presence and power, and he is to be a blessing to 00:13:03.391 --> 00:13:04.587 Potiphar's whole household. 00:13:07.494 --> 00:13:09.376 But what happens when that power is tested? 00:13:11.168 --> 00:13:15.491 The narrative suddenly offers a single detail that pivots everything. 00:13:15.844 --> 00:13:19.058 Now Joseph was well-built and handsome. 00:13:20.247 --> 00:13:23.351 He was beautiful in form and appearance. 00:13:23.614 --> 00:13:29.677 In other words, he takes after his mother, Rachel, beautiful in form and appearance. 00:13:30.082 --> 00:13:32.641 And the text is setting up a key tension. 00:13:33.772 --> 00:13:35.865 Joseph is successful in all that he does. 00:13:36.364 --> 00:13:43.370 He is the reason the household is prospering in the field and in the home, and he's pretty easy on the eyes. 00:13:45.426 --> 00:13:49.890 Will he be tempted to abuse those responsibilities? 00:13:52.086 --> 00:13:59.135 And this is where we learned that not only is Joseph a new Adam blessed in the garden, he is also a new Adam tempted 00:14:00.132 --> 00:14:00.584 in the garden. 00:14:02.235 --> 00:14:09.879 In the Garden of Eden, friends, God blessed humanity with dominion and power and responsibility, but 00:14:10.526 --> 00:14:14.215 paradise came with obligations. 00:14:15.234 --> 00:14:16.480 It was not just pleasures. 00:14:17.902 --> 00:14:21.751 God didn't just release humanity with unchecked authority. 00:14:22.476 --> 00:14:27.778 They weren't given free range because he knew that they needed to learn something. 00:14:28.681 --> 00:14:30.537 They needed to learn integrity. 00:14:32.368 --> 00:14:40.266 When I was in high school, there was a poster up on the wall, and the poster said, "Integrity is doing the right thing when no 00:14:40.347 --> 00:14:41.381 one is looking." 00:14:42.512 --> 00:14:46.859 Integrity is doing the right thing when no one is looking. 00:14:47.776 --> 00:14:52.794 And God built in a mechanism where humanity would learn 00:14:54.800 --> 00:14:56.638 integrity: the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, 00:14:58.314 --> 00:15:00.410 with the command, "You shall not eat of it." 00:15:01.555 --> 00:15:03.957 And in doing so, God took a great risk. 00:15:04.372 --> 00:15:08.048 Would humans trust God's authority when no one is looking? 00:15:10.403 --> 00:15:13.446 And what do you remember about the tree of the knowledge of good and evil? 00:15:14.912 --> 00:15:21.976 When Eve takes a look at it, not only does she understand that it would open the eyes to wisdom, but also it was what? 00:15:23.592 --> 00:15:27.095 Beautiful in form and appearance. 00:15:28.525 --> 00:15:33.820 Not only will Joseph be tempted as the new Adam, he has also become the new forbidden fruit. 00:15:35.102 --> 00:15:40.033 Fruit, and a woman sees and wants to take of the fruit. 00:15:42.670 --> 00:15:50.566 Joseph is beautiful in form and appearance, and as the forbidden fruit, suddenly the wife of his master says, "Come to 00:15:50.566 --> 00:15:50.974 bed with me." 00:15:52.772 --> 00:15:53.769 And every responsibility 00:15:55.366 --> 00:15:58.218 that he had is being tested right here. 00:15:59.012 --> 00:16:01.637 And friends, every responsibility we oversee 00:16:04.032 --> 00:16:09.756 The garden comes with responsibility, and it also comes with risk. 00:16:11.612 --> 00:16:14.659 If we are managing a project, we will be tempted to cut corners. 00:16:15.872 --> 00:16:19.864 If we oversee employees, we will be tempted to abuse our power. 00:16:20.975 --> 00:16:26.946 If we're raising children, we will be tempted to attach our success to their success. 00:16:28.301 --> 00:16:28.365 Us. 00:16:29.092 --> 00:16:35.846 And the scriptures teach that all people without exception fail in their faithfulness to God. 00:16:37.462 --> 00:16:42.586 Every new Adam and Eve placed in every new garden will lack integrity. 00:16:43.796 --> 00:16:44.635 You and I fail. 00:16:46.201 --> 00:16:47.186 And what's the result? 00:16:48.219 --> 00:16:51.432 Well, we compromise the responsibilities God has given us. 00:16:52.013 --> 00:16:53.729 Adam and Eve We lose the garden. 00:16:54.372 --> 00:16:55.947 We lose our jobs. 00:16:56.461 --> 00:16:58.518 Employees quit underneath us. 00:16:59.113 --> 00:17:01.685 Children are driven away from our care. 00:17:03.217 --> 00:17:08.311 The world around us demonstrates the exact same thing that the Bible testifies to. 00:17:08.698 --> 00:17:10.552 People abuse their responsibilities. 00:17:11.012 --> 00:17:12.996 There's misuse of power in this world. 00:17:13.287 --> 00:17:15.852 There's dishonesty in business dealings. 00:17:16.127 --> 00:17:17.999 There's affairs in marriage. 00:17:18.567 --> 00:17:25.984 There's spousal abuse and child abuse and bullying bosses and manipulative friendships and exploitative 00:17:25.984 --> 00:17:26.744 partnerships. 00:17:29.687 --> 00:17:37.421 So Joseph, as the new Adam in a new garden, being faced with a new temptation, is he going to botch it the way that we do, 00:17:38.199 --> 00:17:38.945 the way that Adam did? 00:17:40.653 --> 00:17:43.285 And with bated breath, we read verse 8. 00:17:45.374 --> 00:17:47.022 But Joseph refused. 00:17:48.687 --> 00:17:56.026 'With me in charge,' he told his master's wife, 'my master does not concern himself with anything in the house. 00:17:56.705 --> 00:17:59.147 Everything he owns he's entrusted to my care. 00:17:59.939 --> 00:18:01.667 No one is greater in this house than I am. 00:18:02.422 --> 00:18:07.820 My master has withheld nothing from me except you.' 00:18:09.025 --> 00:18:10.921 Does that sound like the tree of the knowledge of good and evil? 00:18:13.427 --> 00:18:20.857 And then he closes with this: "How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against 00:18:22.458 --> 00:18:22.911 God?" 00:18:24.221 --> 00:18:26.469 Not my master, but God. 00:18:29.186 --> 00:18:32.754 See, why does Joseph reason that he's not going to have this affair? 00:18:33.063 --> 00:18:33.793 What's his motivation? 00:18:35.270 --> 00:18:40.217 Is it because he wants to maintain his position Is it because he loves his boss? 00:18:41.491 --> 00:18:46.049 Is it because he considers himself morally above having an illicit affair? 00:18:47.396 --> 00:18:49.213 No, it's because he knows that he would sin against God. 00:18:50.885 --> 00:18:58.152 And finally, in the book of Genesis, finally, when we get to these final chapters of Genesis, here is a man who understands that all of his 00:18:58.184 --> 00:19:03.133 conduct is done before the sight of the Lord, who has He has blessed him. 00:19:05.012 --> 00:19:06.548 We're reminded of King David 00:19:08.181 --> 00:19:11.124 who confesses after he himself commits adultery. 00:19:11.188 --> 00:19:17.410 He says, "Against you and you alone have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight." 00:19:18.157 --> 00:19:19.748 David is praying to the Lord. 00:19:20.592 --> 00:19:26.106 Well, doesn't he sin against the man who he's murdered and the wife that he's taken? 00:19:28.002 --> 00:19:28.402 when you alone. 00:19:30.522 --> 00:19:34.299 Now, why is this so important that Joseph's motivation was to please God? 00:19:35.862 --> 00:19:43.239 Because sometimes obedience to God results in not reward but punishment. 00:19:45.515 --> 00:19:52.730 If we're motivated to do good so that we can feel superior, if we're motivated to do good so that we can get a good grade, 00:19:53.628 --> 00:20:01.519 If we're motivated to do good so that we can achieve a promotion, or that people will respect us, we will eventually end up abusing our 00:20:01.519 --> 00:20:02.291 responsibilities. 00:20:03.912 --> 00:20:10.881 Verse 10 tells us that every day Potiphar's wife spoke to him, saying, "Come to bed with me." 00:20:11.932 --> 00:20:15.310 That means that every day Joseph was faced with a choice. 00:20:15.659 --> 00:20:16.405 No one would know. 00:20:18.797 --> 00:20:20.266 They could keep the affair totally hidden. 00:20:21.091 --> 00:20:23.101 The only result would be sheer pleasure. 00:20:24.397 --> 00:20:26.877 There's no barrier to sin in Joseph's case. 00:20:27.006 --> 00:20:29.016 It is completely anonymous. 00:20:30.605 --> 00:20:36.232 But Joseph shows himself faithful because he does what is right when no one is looking. 00:20:37.089 --> 00:20:42.622 Or maybe we could put it like this: he does what is right because he knows only God is looking. 00:20:44.516 --> 00:20:51.390 And what is his reward for this righteousness, this obedience, this faithfulness with his responsibilities? 00:20:51.647 --> 00:20:52.547 He's put in prison. 00:20:53.671 --> 00:20:54.394 It's punishment. 00:20:55.664 --> 00:21:00.960 And interestingly, the authors of Genesis use the word pit to refer to the prison. 00:21:01.009 --> 00:21:04.118 Do you remember where Joseph was before he was sold into slavery? 00:21:05.018 --> 00:21:07.826 He was in a pit awaiting his death. 00:21:08.890 --> 00:21:13.843 And now we're told that the reward for Joseph's obedience is that he went right back to where he started. 00:21:14.311 --> 00:21:20.536 He's gone from pit From the pit to blessed with everything back to the pit, the pit of dismay. 00:21:23.347 --> 00:21:28.759 The Bible tells us many stories of people who are faithful to God and they end up going into the pit. 00:21:29.542 --> 00:21:33.275 They end up suffering for it, like this story in Joseph. 00:21:33.533 --> 00:21:37.705 Jeremiah also speaks God's word to the king, and where is he thrown? 00:21:38.375 --> 00:21:40.351 Into a cistern like Joseph. 00:21:41.520 --> 00:21:44.381 Daniel is told not to pray to the Lord. 00:21:44.429 --> 00:21:46.191 He does it anyway, and where is he thrown? 00:21:47.015 --> 00:21:49.181 Into the pit full of lions. 00:21:50.810 --> 00:21:56.667 And all of these stories make up a composite image of a fuller picture. 00:21:58.528 --> 00:22:04.679 A photo mosaic is a picture composed of lots and lots of tiny other pictures. 00:22:04.808 --> 00:22:08.365 It's okay, Joseph is not making a up a picture of Abraham Lincoln. 00:22:09.458 --> 00:22:14.455 Just by way of example, here's a man of great integrity, Abraham Lincoln. 00:22:15.660 --> 00:22:23.647 But if you look closely at the tiny pixels that create his image, you'll find individual frames of different images that 00:22:23.647 --> 00:22:24.434 make up the whole. 00:22:25.864 --> 00:22:33.481 And when we look over all of the stories of the characters in the Bible who acted in faith, none of them is a complete picture of 00:22:33.481 --> 00:22:39.602 Jesus, but each is a small pixelated snapshot that contributes to his identity. 00:22:40.566 --> 00:22:47.912 And this is why Jesus is able to tell his disciples and the students of the law that the Hebrew Scriptures, the Old Testament, 00:22:48.138 --> 00:22:50.095 wrote about him. 00:22:51.712 --> 00:22:59.201 It is when people obey God and expect to suffer for it that we see Jesus most vividly. 00:22:59.482 --> 00:23:01.380 vividly stories like this, 00:23:03.133 --> 00:23:09.536 because Jesus is actually the new and ultimate Adam in the new and ultimate garden. 00:23:10.680 --> 00:23:14.078 Jesus is the one faithful in that garden. 00:23:15.849 --> 00:23:18.651 Jesus obeys out of pure devotion toward God. 00:23:19.696 --> 00:23:27.658 Joseph may not have known that his obedience was going to lead to, uh, being put in prison, but Jesus certainly knew what his 00:23:27.754 --> 00:23:28.654 obedience would mean. 00:23:29.039 --> 00:23:31.190 His faithfulness would mean damnation. 00:23:32.668 --> 00:23:38.609 When he was in his own garden, the Garden of Gethsemane, he spoke about a cup. 00:23:39.476 --> 00:23:42.623 "Father, if it is possible, take this cup from me." 00:23:43.024 --> 00:23:47.087 And that cup had one meaning in all of the Hebrew scriptures. 00:23:47.376 --> 00:23:50.507 It was the bitter cup of God's anger. 00:23:51.843 --> 00:23:59.592 anger and wrath that God justifiably had against the unfaithfulness of every 00:23:59.867 --> 00:24:07.025 previous Adam in every previous garden who had taken their responsibilities and abused them. 00:24:08.878 --> 00:24:09.765 Friends, that's all of us. 00:24:12.022 --> 00:24:14.886 No one was looking in the Garden of Gethsemane. 00:24:16.407 --> 00:24:23.495 The devil himself Satan himself was taunting Jesus to reach out and take hold of the forbidden fruit of worldly 00:24:23.913 --> 00:24:24.491 power. 00:24:24.781 --> 00:24:28.465 He tells Jesus, "There can be rain with no pain. 00:24:29.689 --> 00:24:30.977 All you have to do is take it." 00:24:33.166 --> 00:24:38.031 But Jesus knew that he wouldn't sin against anyone else by avoiding the cross. 00:24:38.096 --> 00:24:39.672 He wouldn't sin against you or me. 00:24:41.644 --> 00:24:42.559 But he would sin against God. 00:24:44.566 --> 00:24:51.631 See, Jesus' motivation was perfect to do what God desired, even obedience that meant damnation. 00:24:53.612 --> 00:24:55.031 And do you know what that means for us, friends? 00:24:56.414 --> 00:25:00.099 It means that Jesus had integrity in the garden so that— 00:25:01.973 --> 00:25:03.816 There's a transfer that takes place. 00:25:05.162 --> 00:25:12.672 Jesus' perfect faithfulness won him damnation in the pit, so that we, the unfaithful, would have salvation. 00:25:14.772 --> 00:25:18.555 Brothers and sisters, in your domain you will have temptation. 00:25:19.940 --> 00:25:27.320 It is how God is training you to employ the integrity of Christ that he gives you by his Holy Spirit. 00:25:28.643 --> 00:25:33.470 There will be times when obedience to God means punishment in this world. 00:25:34.491 --> 00:25:39.649 That's when Christ, friends, will show you his love and companionship most powerfully. 00:25:41.902 --> 00:25:46.477 1 Peter, chapter 2, tells us what God's will is for us. 00:25:47.702 --> 00:25:54.928 He says, "For it is commendable if someone bears up under the pain of unjust suffering 00:25:55.916 --> 00:25:57.341 because they are conscious of God." 00:25:57.487 --> 00:25:59.382 In other words, they know that God sees 00:26:00.967 --> 00:26:01.177 them. 00:26:01.435 --> 00:26:06.667 But how is it to your credit if you receive a beating for doing what is wrong and you endure it? 00:26:07.784 --> 00:26:13.428 Ah, but if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God. 00:26:14.495 --> 00:26:22.087 To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example that you should follow in his 00:26:22.087 --> 00:26:22.609 steps. 00:26:24.859 --> 00:26:26.403 Do you see See what this passage is telling us. 00:26:26.916 --> 00:26:34.912 When you and I suffer for obedience, you and I are displaying examples of Christ to the 00:26:34.912 --> 00:26:35.153 world. 00:26:36.355 --> 00:26:44.287 That means everyone who follows the example of Christ becomes a small pixelated image in the great photo 00:26:44.287 --> 00:26:47.668 mosaic of displaying Christ's character to the world. 00:26:47.988 --> 00:26:52.745 He who suffered unjustly— because he cared for God. 00:26:55.239 --> 00:26:59.222 Every Christian is to do good even though suffering awaits. 00:27:00.202 --> 00:27:06.260 And when we do so, we become a little picture of the huge makeup of Christ's photo mosaic. 00:27:07.645 --> 00:27:15.620 People need to see a snapshot of Jesus, and they'll see it through how we face the temptation in our own responsibilities. 00:27:18.248 --> 00:27:25.763 On Friday, I went to Citytree Chapel, where a teacher had recently recognized a student who displayed 00:27:25.875 --> 00:27:27.400 Christlike conduct. 00:27:28.829 --> 00:27:36.794 The student had received a test back that had been graded incorrectly, and he knew that by telling the teacher about her 00:27:36.794 --> 00:27:39.684 mistake, it would actually result in a grade deduction. 00:27:40.631 --> 00:27:41.739 He would lose points for it. 00:27:43.418 --> 00:27:48.595 There was a moment in that student's head and heart where temptation speaks loudly. 00:27:49.224 --> 00:27:50.256 No one will ever know. 00:27:51.655 --> 00:27:54.736 You know, you'll only suffer for doing what is right. 00:27:56.585 --> 00:27:59.601 That student turned the test in and received a lower grade. 00:28:01.693 --> 00:28:05.402 Ah, but wasn't Jesus put on display in the classroom? 00:28:06.985 --> 00:28:09.542 Wasn't Jesus put on display to the whole whole school. 00:28:10.468 --> 00:28:15.653 And Jesus's love and reassurance became that much more powerful in the heart of this young man. 00:28:18.424 --> 00:28:21.897 Finally, in the story of Joseph, did you notice what happened when he was thrown in prison? 00:28:23.271 --> 00:28:24.143 The Lord was with him. 00:28:25.304 --> 00:28:33.227 The Lord showed him favor because he had been responsible with everything before, and he had been responsible in the face of risk 00:28:33.227 --> 00:28:34.034 and temptation. 00:28:34.083 --> 00:28:42.006 The prison prison warden made him responsible for everything under Joseph's charge, so that all the prison warden needed to think about when he showed up for the 00:28:42.039 --> 00:28:43.870 workday was, "What am I going to have for lunch? 00:28:44.690 --> 00:28:48.064 Anything put under Joseph's watch, I don't need to worry about." 00:28:49.365 --> 00:28:52.547 Friends, likewise, Jesus did not stay dead. 00:28:52.965 --> 00:29:00.741 He did not remain in the pit, but he has been given lordship and authority and responsibility over God's whole creation. 00:29:01.400 --> 00:29:09.095 We could say that when God the Father comes into work, all he needs to do is worry about what he's going to have for lunch, because 00:29:09.127 --> 00:29:11.363 God the Son is taking care of everything else. 00:29:12.894 --> 00:29:13.716 And you too, 00:29:15.408 --> 00:29:20.196 as a member of God's household, are under his loving care. 00:29:21.936 --> 00:29:22.162 Amen. 00:29:23.387 --> 00:29:23.774 Let's pray. 00:29:27.425 --> 00:29:29.855 Thank you, Lord Jesus, for your faithfulness. 00:29:31.094 --> 00:29:32.839 Thank you for the result of that faithfulness, 00:29:34.570 --> 00:29:37.926 that you by your Holy Spirit have given us your heart. 00:29:39.312 --> 00:29:46.838 You've shown us great joy in the fact that we belong to you, and now you've given us charges, things that we're 00:29:46.838 --> 00:29:50.970 responsible for, and we have great joy in exercising dominion. 00:29:52.479 --> 00:29:58.522 Thank you, Lord, that we get to play a part in the great photo mosaic picture to the world of who you are. 00:29:59.022 --> 00:30:04.874 And we pray that you would be glorified, you would shine through us, especially 00:30:06.686 --> 00:30:07.705 in the face of temptation. 00:30:09.016 --> 00:30:10.730 In the name of Christ, amen.