The Descent
Tom Shrader opens with a personal announcement of his upcoming remarriage before turning to a survey of Genesis 37 and 39, the beginning of the Joseph narrative in a four-part series on faithfulness. He traces Joseph's betrayal by his brothers, his sale into slavery, his rise in Potiphar's household, his wrongful imprisonment, and God's consistent presence through every reversal, showing that difficult circumstances are never an accurate measure of one's standing before God. Drawing on Romans 8:28 and the repeated refrain 'the Lord was with Joseph,' Shrader calls believers to a theology that sustains integrity, resists temptation, and trusts God's economy even when suffering seems to contradict His care.
“It is a giant mistake if you try to interpret your physical circumstances as being an accurate barometer of your spiritual condition.”
— Tom Shrader
Series: Faithful
Recorded: 2012 at East Valley Bible Church
Duration: 1 hr 2 min
Themes: faithfulness, suffering, temptation, integrity, betrayal, trust, perseverance, hope, grieving a spouse, widower, remarriage, feeling abandoned by God, facing injustice, struggling with doubt, navigating loss, starting over
Scripture: Genesis 37:2, Genesis 37:3, Genesis 37:4, Genesis 37:5, Genesis 37:7, Genesis 37:8, Genesis 37:9, Genesis 37:10, Genesis 37:11, Genesis 37:12, Genesis 37:18, Genesis 37:19, Genesis 37:21, Genesis 37:23, Genesis 37:26, Genesis 37:33, Genesis 37:36, Genesis 38, Genesis 39:2, Genesis 39:3, Genesis 39:6, Genesis 39:7, Genesis 39:9, Genesis 39:10, Genesis 39:12, Genesis 39:17, Genesis 39:19, Genesis 39:20, Genesis 39:21, Genesis 39:23, Genesis 42:21, John 3:19, Romans 8:28, Galatians 5, Ephesians 4:31, Philippians 1:12, James 1:2-4
Theological Themes: providence, divine sovereignty, sanctification, theodicy, suffering and grace, romans 8:28, God's presence, covenant faithfulness
Full Transcript
A Personal Announcement
This is one of those Sundays where I have an awkward task of talking about private stuff in a very public setting. Over the years, I hope I have done a reasonably good job of discerning what is important to bring into the church and what is not. We tried to steward that for so many years — with the kids, with Susan's sickness, navigating what things needed to be said and recognizing that silence is good too. Even with my heart condition, as many of you know, I stared down death earlier this year and faced it head on and didn't blink. Death blinked. I shared that.
This is one of those things I know needs to come in, and we need to talk about it here, but it is awkward — and maybe that will become clear to you. I had the chance to talk to the staff on Tuesday, and then Thursday night I spoke with 250 to 300 of the volunteers who are part of Third Thursday, and now I am bringing this to you today across all four services. I bring you what is, for me, really good news, and I hope you see it that way as well. This Friday — the 25th, five days from today — I am going to get married.
I know that some of you coming in already know about it, some of you have an inkling that I have been spending time with Sandy, and for some of you this is completely cold — you are wondering what is going on. Some of you are thinking, I don't care, get to the Bible lesson. But I know the ones who do care, and they need this moment, so we are going to make sure they get it.
Answering the Hard Questions
If I were in your position hearing that, I would have a whole set of questions, and they fall into two big buckets. The first is that this seems quick — quick in two ways: quick since Susan passed away, and quick in terms of how long I have known this woman. The honest answer is that I have not known her very long, and saying that out loud is not exactly reassuring even to me.
Part of what I want to share is the personal journey behind this. Susan Miller has been a helpful voice through all of it, having had the opportunity to speak as Susan's best friend and offer an inside perspective. But for me, there was a season of seven years — and the last three in particular, with the last one being the hardest — where a great deal of grieving and hardship took place. Those were painful, difficult times. So in a real sense, emotionally, and through many conversations and much reflection, I arrived at a place where I felt ready for life again, even though I honestly was not necessarily ready for this specifically. Like you, I found the pace faster than I would have expected.
The big question — and it is the right question — is how the girls are with this. You are all important, but you are not the key decision-makers here. So let me address that. Sandy and I had been together a couple of times, and I did not know quite where to bring it in because I was not sure where things were going. But I am fairly visible, and I knew someone was going to say to Sarah or Hayley, I saw your dad at Keegan's having dinner with someone — and if they did not know, that would be far more awkward. So I said to the girls, I do not know where this is going, but I am dating someone. They asked who it was. I told them I had not known her very long myself. And I said I thought they should meet her.
The Girls Meet Sandy
It was a role reversal from when my daughters would come to me and say, Dad, I have this guy — and I would say, tell me about this fellow, and they would unpack it. So a meeting was arranged with Sarah and Hayley and Sandy, though Sarah could not make it due to scheduling. I said they should go ahead and meet anyway. Then when I assumed the meeting was over, my phone rang. It was Sandy, and right on top of that call came one from Hayley. I told Sandy I would call her back — I needed to talk to Hayley first.
Hayley had just spent an hour and a half with Sandy. These were her first words: "Dad, she's perfect. She's just like Mom. She would be Mom's best friend. She's awesome and she's amazing." That was the initial impression, and since then the relationship between them has really deepened. So the girls are terrific.
The guest book will be simple. Right now it reads: Sarah, Tim, Hayley, Tyler. The girls will be there. Sarah was here for the first service, and I had the chance to let her share a few things and pray for us.
Meeting Sandy
I was not originally planning to do what I am about to do, but watching how the week progressed, I could see that what helped people get their arms around all of this was simply meeting Sandy. So even though doing this across four services is a lot to ask of her, I thought it would be good. So please welcome Sandy.
She mentioned to Dave Newquist before the service that this is the third time we have done this today, so you might think it is rehearsed — but it is fairly spontaneous. And Sandy, full disclosure, you do not know any of the questions ahead of time, do you?
Well, some are predictable, like this first one. Tell us a little about yourself — where you grew up, your family, all of that.
I grew up in St. Louis, Missouri, born and raised there. I was there until about five and a half years ago when I moved here. My family are not believers. I have three siblings, and for the most part they are all still in St. Louis.
And you came out here for work?
Yes, I came out here for work. I received a phone call from ASU through a headhunter —
A New Beginning
That was hired by the university, and they said, "Have you ever been to Phoenix?" And I said, no. And they said, "Do you know anything about ASU?" And I said, "Well, what is that?" And they said, Arizona State University. I said, "Oh, okay."
So I came out as a fundraiser for the School of Engineering, and I did that for about three years. Then I moved over into one of our research units, initially part of the School of Sustainability and now part of the overall research wing at ASU. We do some really cool stuff in sustainability planning for solar development, water issues, those sorts of things. I know people's eyes are glazing over, but it's hard to explain and it's great when you see it. We create these really cool visualizations and environments so that decision makers can make better decisions.
Getting to Know Each Other
How old are you? Because people are asking me that — they want to know. I'm 47. Okay, because I've had several people say, "She looks young." And I said, "That's because she's standing next to me, so I look old and she looks young."
So we met — I actually served here and attended here until about last May. Then in May or June of last year, I moved over to the Tempe campus and started working and serving with Ricardo Stewart and others over there. Tom was in conversation with them and asked who they saw as key leaders, and my name came up.
At the same time, last year I had a few different job offers to move out of the Phoenix area. So Tom asked if maybe it would help if we got together, and he primarily wanted to let me know that I was important — or something. Maybe. I think that's what it was. So we got together for coffee, and it seemed to be a very normal conversation. What we found was that we talked, and then we talked, and then we kept talking — and here we are.
The First Date
He called me up early on and said, "Hey, I'm thinking maybe we could go grab a bite to eat or something." And I said, okay. When I got off the phone, I realized he had asked me out on a date. And that's when I realized it too — after we got off the phone — that I'd asked her out on a date.
So we started hanging out, and there were some key moments along the way. One of them was several weeks in, when she confronted me on something.
When I came out here, I didn't know anyone. I had never really been to Phoenix before, and I came out by myself with my dog. I knew no one for 1,500 miles — just me and my dog. My dog's name is Humphrey, by the way.
By this point, a few weeks into things, Tom had asked me absolutely everything — blood type, whatever — I mean, this is Tom we're talking about. But he had never once said a word about my dog. I've heard the guy talk for quite a few years, so I thought maybe this was an issue for him. So we're on the phone and I said, "Tom, I noticed you've never said anything about my dog." And he said, "Yeah — that's a problem. It's a deal breaker, in fact." So we had to talk through that. Humphrey is now safely in St. Louis with my father.
Telling the Family
Now let's tell that story, because it gives us a glimpse into her family. Before she told them about Humphrey, she went home to tell her folks we were getting married. My mother doesn't know yet, by the way — we're taping this and we're going to save it as a surprise for her. But we wanted to tell her folks in person.
The week after Easter, I flew home to St. Louis to share the news. It was a little awkward, given our ages. How do you say, "I'm getting married" — especially when I really hadn't dated, really since I was saved, so for about eight years? People, especially my family, no longer really asked about dating or anything like that. So I needed not only to tell them I was dating, but also that I was getting married.
So I'm at my dad's house, we're hanging out, and I said, "Dad, I have some news to share with you." He said, "Oh, really?" I said, "Yeah. I met this guy, we started talking, then we kept talking, and now we're going to get married." He said, "Oh." And then he said, "But what about Humphrey?"
I said, "Yeah, that's part of it — we're going to have to find another home for Humphrey." He thought for about half a second and said, "Well, if nobody else will take Humphrey, I'll take Humphrey." I said, "Oh, that's great to know." And he starts looking around the house, gets a sketch pad out to work on plans for an electric fence. And at this point, he had not asked a single thing about who this guy is — not even his name. Nothing. He was completely consumed with the thought of Humphrey.
A New Beginning
He woke up the next morning, still having not asked any other questions. As I was heading over to see other family members, we followed our tradition of getting Chinese food. We were at the restaurant with our food in front of us when he said, "Well, let's get back to the big news." I said, "Yeah, I'm getting married." He said, "No, no, no — Humphrey. Let's talk about Humphrey." That was it. He never did ask about the engagement. His name is Tom Schrader, and he knows a little bit more now, but the dog is safe and we're happy about that.
Coming to Know Christ
I came from an unbelieving home. I was saved eight years ago, and I had no friends who were believers, had never owned a Bible, and knew nothing about any of it. Life came crashing down on me. I felt empty and hollow. Although it seemed on the outside that I was successful in my career, and I have a beautiful daughter who is twenty-seven now, she was in her teen years at the time, and that was traumatic. I was just broken and a mess, and didn't know what to do next.
It was the middle of the afternoon in April in St. Louis. The sun was shining, and I was driving down the highway, crying and upset and broken. Then a terrible hailstorm came, and the hail was pounding down on my car. All the cars stopped, and between the storm and everything life had brought, I just said, "If there's a God, I need you here. I don't know how to go on." At that moment, I felt His presence, and I thought, okay, so there is a God. As the hailstorm stopped, I started my car up, went home, and prayed. I said, "I really don't know what this means or what to do next. God, I know that You're here, but You'll have to show me with baby steps what comes next."
Two days later, I was supposed to meet my girlfriend at a park to run. We would get together at five-thirty or six in the morning, but she called and said her kids were sick and she couldn't make it. I went to the park anyway. As I was pulling in, there was a sweet old man at the entrance who tried to stop my car. I was still crying and really upset, so I just kept going. I parked, tied my shoes, and stopped in at the restroom. When I came out of the building, the man was waiting at the door for me. He handed me a Bible and told me that Jesus loves me.
I was too stunned to say anything. I went back to my car and said, "Wow. Okay. I know that there's a God. I know that You're here with me. I know that it has something to do with the Bible, but I don't know what comes next, so I'm going to trust You to show me." He led me to an Acts 29 church in St. Louis, and here I am today.
Finding East Valley Bible Church
When I moved out to Phoenix, I contacted the pastors and elders in St. Louis and asked if they could point me in the right direction. We went on the Acts 29 network website, and I found quite a few different churches. Because I had been working at a university and spending all day in that setting, I wanted to attend a church that had a little more age diversity than that. I found East Valley Bible Church, and the first Sunday I went, there was this guy with long hair, and I just knew I was in the right spot.
Serving and a New Relationship
After arriving, I started serving in children's ministries, student ministries, and had done quite a bit with the community and global engagement groups. I even went to Morocco. When I eventually had coffee with Sandy and came away thinking she was pretty awesome, I was able to vet her closely because many staff members had worked with her. I did all of that before anyone knew there might be some interest, because I didn't want anyone to give me a distorted picture of who she was.
As we slowly began telling people we were dating, it has been really fun. When I tell people here in Phoenix that I'm dating, and go on to say that I'm dating Tom Schrader, that gets a reaction. It is more visible in that sense, but the girls have been absolutely fabulous in helping with that, as well as all of you here at church. For all the awkwardness and visibility of it, it has just been great. I get just a glimpse of Sandy and a glimpse of what's been built here, and it has been wonderful.
Introduction to Joseph
These are the records of the generation of Jacob. We are looking at Genesis 37 through 50, and as always, though we will be examining character studies of Joseph, Daniel, and the boys, God is the one who is our focus here.
Let me read you a quote from the introduction of the commentary that James Boyce writes: "If ever there was a man for all seasons, it's Joseph. Joseph's life spanned the social spectrum of the ancient world. Raised as a future heir of the wealthy Jewish patriarch, he fell into slavery in the far-off Gentile land, but later rose to a position of prominence as a second-in-command only to Pharaoh. He was loved and hated, favored and abused, tempted and trusted, exalted and abased. Yet at no point in the 110-year life of Joseph did he ever seem to get his eyes off God or cease to trust Him. Adversity did not harden his character. Prosperity didn't ruin him. He was the same in private as in public. He was truly a great man. The single greatest characteristic of Joseph was his absolute faithfulness to God under all circumstances."
That is what we are going to look at. The challenge is that this section of scripture is rich enough that other teachers have spent weeks on individual chapters alone. We are going to cover a great deal of ground today, so there is an intentional breadth to this overview.
The Scope of the Story
We will be looking at chapters 37, 38, and 39. Chapter 37 sets the stage for Joseph's story. Chapter 38 is a study that functions as something of a parenthetical insert — it is a roughly twenty-year overview of the life of Judah. It is critically important, not just to the story of Joseph or Jacob or the boys, but to the story of redemption itself, because through Judah comes the line that leads us to Jesus.
If you read through chapter 38, it contains some dark and difficult material, and Judah is right in the middle of it. But the rest of the story, as we reach the end of Genesis, is ultimately a story of redemption and forgiveness. We will return to Judah more fully in the final week of this study.
The majority of our focus, however, will remain on Joseph. Just from this story alone, you can make a list: wealth, betrayal, survival, success, seduction, perseverance, triumph, reconciliation, restoration. You are going to learn a lot about Joseph, but you are also going to learn a lot about yourself, and a lot about God.
The Faithfulness of God Through Every Season
In Joseph's life there is a kind of penthouse, outhouse, penthouse, outhouse, penthouse pattern. What you see in those inevitable tough times, as well as in the successful times, is the faithfulness of this man — but more than that, you see the faithfulness of God.
So often when we teach through the New Testament and come to certain truths, we illustrate them through the Old Testament. Romans 8:28 says, "And we know God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God and are called according to His purpose." Nowhere could we illustrate that any better than in the life of Joseph, or Daniel, for that matter.
This series is designed so that each lesson stands on its own. But as much as any series we have ever done, this one will build week after week. We could genuinely place "to be continued" at the end of each session. With that in mind, let us turn to Genesis 37, verse 3, where we meet Joseph — and where it tells us that Israel...
Jacob's Favoritism and Joseph's Coat
Jacob loved Joseph more than his other sons because he was the son of his old age, and he made a varicolored tunic for him. Jacob had a favorite wife, Rachel, and Joseph was his firstborn son of that relationship, making him the favorite. It wasn't just something Jacob held internally, however. He made it visible.
To illustrate this, consider my own family. There are four boys, and my mom's favorite is my brother John. It's one thing for a parent to have a favorite child privately — that's not uncommon — but it's another thing entirely to give that child a pendant that says, "I'm dad's favorite." That is exactly what this coat was.
The garment was a long-sleeved tunic, likely reaching all the way to his ankles, ornamental and conspicuous. It was a public declaration of favoritism. And I believe the only passing of personal property — including land — that we see in Jacob's life was to Joseph. This was unmistakably the favorite, and the other boys knew it.
The Hatred of the Brothers
Verse four tells us that his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all of them. They saw it in the way Jacob talked about and treated Joseph, and every day they saw that coat as a reminder: he is dad's favorite. And they hated him. In fact, they couldn't speak to him on friendly terms.
Several commentators point out that the brothers' hatred may have run deeper than mere jealousy over favoritism. Joseph's very existence — his goodness, his godliness, his faithfulness — may have been an offense to them personally, because it exposed their own sin. They looked at him and knew, in their own minds, what they were, and he was not that.
This is the same dynamic we see in John chapter three, verse nineteen. The light of the world came into the world, and that light — Jesus — exposes the darkness. He exposes the sin, the challenges, the difficulties, the evil in people's lives. In a similar way, Joseph's presence had that effect on his brothers.
Joseph's Dreams
Joseph had two dreams, and they were very similar. Crucially, he did not keep them to himself — he shared them. The first dream is recorded in verse seven: they were binding sheaves in the field, one sheaf rose up, the others stood around it and bowed down before it. His brothers responded immediately: "Are you going to reign over us? Is this what is going to happen?"
Then he had another dream, recorded in verse nine: "Lo, I still have another dream, and behold, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars are bowing down to me." He related this to his father and his brothers. His father rebuked him and said, "What is this dream that you've had? Shall I and your mother and your brothers actually come and bow down before you?"
On the surface, it is easy to be critical of Joseph here. A pragmatic person might say, if you are going to have these dreams, keep them to yourself. But there is another way to look at it. Joseph knew these dreams were from God, and in sharing them, he was doing his family a favor — communicating what God was going to do, what would play itself out in the future. He had a message from God, he was convinced it was from Him, and because of that he felt compelled to share it. His father, as we learn in verse eleven, stopped and contemplated the matter. The brothers, however, did not.
The Root of Bitterness
Look at the progression in the text. Verse four: the brothers hated him. Verse five: they hated him even more. Verse eight: they hated him even more still. Verse eleven: they were jealous of him. This is exactly what the New Testament describes as the root of bitterness.
When we looked at the book of Galatians, we discussed the fruit of the Spirit and the deeds of the flesh. The deeds of the flesh are evident — they include immorality and sorcery, but also strife, jealousy, disputes, and anger. When Paul writes to the church at Ephesus in Ephesians chapter four, verse thirty-one, he addresses this same escalation: "Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamor, and slander be put away, along with all malice."
Bitterness gets into a person, takes root, begins to boil, and then it explodes outward. It becomes verbal, and ultimately it becomes violent. That is precisely the progression we see in this passage. The brothers are angry, they hate Joseph, they grow more and more angry, and now they are jealous — yet there is a restraining factor present, and that is Jacob himself. As long as their father is near, the brothers have no real opportunity to act on this rage.
The Reconnaissance Mission
That restraint is removed in verse twelve. The brothers are out in the pasture with their father's flock at Shechem. Jacob then makes the unwise decision to send Joseph on a reconnaissance trip — go and gather information about the brothers, find out how things are going. So Joseph sets out on this mission. He travels through the Valley of Hebron, arrives at Shechem, and when he encounters a man there, he explains what he is looking for: he is looking for his brothers.
The Brothers' Plot
He has traveled twenty miles, and then thirty miles beyond that — fifty miles from home — now in a land without the protection of his father, where the boys are free to respond without, at least in their minds, the restraint of what their father might do. Verse 18: "When they saw him at a distance, and before he came close to them, they plotted against him." They said, "Let us put him to death." Then they said to one another in verse 19, "Here comes the dreamer."
Let me hit the pause button and do a little application. The very first thing that came to their minds when they saw Joseph coming was contempt. When you are walking down the hallway at work and there are people coming the other way, what do they say to one another when you come walking toward them? What is it you want them to say? And to the extent that you have something you want them to say, what are you doing to ensure they would actually be able to say it?
When we are in here one day doing your memorial service and we pass around the microphone, what do you want people to say about you — without having to lie? Everybody says good things at a memorial service. You never hear someone say, "You know what, I'm kind of glad he's gone." We had a guy we used to know and work with who had a habit of correcting you. You would use a word, and he would point out how you had used it incorrectly.
I don't do that so much, though I do it with certain phrases. Early on, Sandy said to me, "I love you 110%," and I said that means nothing to me, because 110% is impossible. She said, "Well, I meant 10%." It degenerated from there. But that phrase — "they gave 110% effort" — I hate that. By definition you cannot give more than 100%, so why clutter a conversation and lose credibility by inserting it? This man I mentioned would distinguish between words and verbs and tenses, and here is what I discovered: that quality was apparently far more endearing after he was gone than when he was alive. We heard about this quirkiness at the funeral, and I was sitting next to a friend, and I said, "It wasn't all that charming." So — what do you want people to say at your funeral, positively and without lying, and what are you doing to make that happen?
Think about it in everyday terms. In the course of a conversation, your name pops up on someone's phone. What do they think? How often does it ring once and then stop — meaning they hit decline? "Tom Schrader — decline." How often does that happen?
Joseph Thrown into the Pit
Back to the story. "Here comes the dreamer," they said, "and when he comes, let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits, and we will say a wild animal devoured him." Verse 21: Reuben heard this and rescued him out of their hands, saying, "Let us not take his life." His plan was to put Joseph in the pit and then return later, retrieve him, and take him back to their father.
Now, that plan looks noble — if it truly is noble. If Reuben were genuinely standing on principle, he would take a full stand as the oldest and say plainly: this is wrong, we are not doing this. Instead, his plan is to come back later and retrieve Joseph, and in doing so, likely gain favor with their father. But by the time he returns, the story has taken a different turn entirely.
So they lay hands on Joseph in verse 23 and strip him of his tunic — the multicolored tunic that was on him. They must have loved that moment, being able to tear it away. I imagine there was not much left of it by the time they were through ripping at it. Then — and this is what is semi-pathological — they sat down and ate. Whatever they had just done, as dastardly as the deed was, they apparently had no trouble eating. They had thrown Joseph into a pit — an empty pit with no water — and they sat down to a meal.
The picture becomes even darker when the blanks are filled in later. In Genesis 42:21, the brothers have come back to Egypt and are now being thrown into prison. Their minds fly back across the decades, and here is what they say to one another: "Truly we are guilty concerning our brother, because we saw the distress of his soul when he pleaded with us, yet we did not listen to him; therefore this distress has come upon us." So it was not that Joseph simply went away quietly. He was pleading for his life. He was begging for mercy — and there was none.
Sold into Slavery
Then Judah, in an entrepreneurial and very practical move, says in verse 26, "What profit is it if we kill our brother and cover his blood? Come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites." This is Judah — the same central figure we are going to encounter again in chapter 38. They devise a plan, pull Joseph up out of the pit, and sell him to the Midianite traders passing by, who then sell him to the Ishmaelites.
What they do next is take his tunic and soak it in a male goat's blood. They bring it to their father, who examines it and reaches his own conclusion in verse 33: "A wild beast has devoured him. Joseph is without doubt torn to pieces." And not one of them bothers in any way to correct him. Brothers and sisters come in to console their father, but there is no consolation.
God's Presence in Difficult Circumstances
Meanwhile, the Midianites sold Joseph in Egypt to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh and captain of the bodyguard. Joseph is transferred in terms of possession — from the pit into slavery in a foreign land. Egypt was a wealthy land, known for mathematics and construction. Religiously, one commentator gives us this insight: "So far as its religion was concerned, it was the most ignorant and polytheistic of all the nations of the ancient world." Joseph is dropped into that.
It is interesting to wonder what Joseph did in this situation, and where God was in all of it. We are never given any indication that Joseph did anything wrong. In fact, all we see are good things in Joseph's life. He is certainly faithful at every twist and turn as we look at chapter 39.
Joseph is taken down to Egypt, and Potiphar, an Egyptian officer of Pharaoh and captain of the bodyguard, bought him from the Ishmaelites. We resume this story after the parenthetical insert of chapter 38, which we will tie together when we return to that text. But here is where we find out where God is.
Look at verse 2: "The Lord was with Joseph." Look at verse 3: "The Lord was with Joseph." Then there is an event where Potiphar's wife attempts to seduce Joseph, and he resists. He does everything right, and ends up not just in jail, but in the dungeon — in the inner bowels of the prison. Verse 21: "The Lord was with Joseph." Verse 23: "The Lord was with Joseph."
And God is not with Joseph in some abstract way. Verse 2: "The Lord was with Joseph, so he became successful." Verse 3: "The master saw the Lord was with Joseph, and how God caused all things he did to prosper at his hand." Verse 21: "The Lord was with Joseph, and extended kindness to him, and gave him favor in the sight of the chief jailer." Verse 23: "The Lord was with Joseph, and whatever he did, the Lord made prosper."
Circumstances Are Not a Barometer of Spiritual Condition
It is a giant mistake to try to interpret your physical circumstances as an accurate barometer of your spiritual condition. If you stood back and looked at Joseph's situation, you might say, "There must be something you've done wrong." We see that human tendency manifest itself often in biblical characters — just look at Job. His friends insisted he must have done something. And the reality is, God was with him. God is there in the midst of what we might perceive to be very difficult circumstances, because God works in those circumstances.
Not only is God seen to be with Joseph in some religious sense, it is also visible in a very practical way. There is a clear transition and correlation between the fact that God is with Joseph and the fact that he prospers.
Faith as an Asset in the Marketplace
Let me pause and make an application here. In your life, your greatest asset in the marketplace is your faith — an active faith, a real faith, a life-transforming faith. I have taught this before, but I have never made this final connection until today. I have contended for a long time that Christian faith lived out is a great asset in the marketplace. And it is visible. That is verse 3: the master saw it.
Going online today, all I did was search for what employers want in employees. The list I found is entirely secular — not a Christian resource at all. It contained eleven characteristics. Six of them are skills related to communication, spelling, and technology. Five of them, however, are highly relational in nature — and they are, I would argue, direct manifestations of a love for Christ.
Here are the five. First, interpersonal skills: the ability to relate well to people from diverse backgrounds. There is no prejudice in this, because God loves people, and we love people. Second, ethical application: the ability to apply moral standards and appreciate values in the work setting. You simply go to work and do what is right because it is right — not going to cheat, even if everyone else does. Third, career planning: the cultivation of a personal sense of direction and desire for improvement, including a willingness to learn. Who is more coachable than someone who loves Christ? There is a humility that runs all through that person.
Fourth, diversity awareness: the demonstration of respect and empathy for a diverse community. Think of Jesus and the woman at the well. Think of the barriers that break down. Jesus was, in a real sense, the great liberator of the marginalized. When we love Christ, we find that it truly does not matter to us what color someone is, what their background is, or what their financial standing is — we love them because they are a person. Fifth, teamwork: the ability to encourage cooperation, collaboration, and partnership. This has Christianity written all over it.
Serving Others as a Witness
I always love to distinguish this quality in the service industry — and let me be clear, all business is service. I spent seven years in and out of the hospital a great deal. We were talking about this recently, and I have never been in a place where the employees more consistently avoided eye contact. Every time I walked down one of those corridors — six feet wide, a thousand feet long, one person coming the other way —
Joseph's Character in Potiphar's House
Out comes Potiphar, and Potiphar finds Joseph to be an amazing man, so he puts everything — verse 6 — everything in Joseph's charge. Joseph becomes the CEO, if you will, of Potiphar Enterprises. You know the story: Potiphar's wife then comes along. She is a shy, subtle girl, so she sees Joseph and says, "Lay with me," in verse 7.
Here is my problem with this story. So often we look at it and think of Joseph as this little, wimpy guy. Let me bring it to life. Verse 6, last sentence: "Joseph was handsome in form and appearance." So here is this virile, attractive, charming, winsome, fit young man — handsome and obviously appealing.
Now, Potiphar is a big guy, and a man like that is going to have a trophy wife. I am reading into the story a little here, but I think he is going to have a beautiful woman on his arm. So here is Joseph minding his own business, and along comes Mrs. Potiphar saying, "Lay with me" — and he says no.
But it is not a one-time deal. Verse 10 makes clear it was day after day after day, until finally one day, in verse 12, she grabs him by the garment, says "Lay with me," and he runs out — leaving his tunic in her hand.
Potiphar's Response and Joseph's Imprisonment
Potiphar comes home, and she makes her charge. Notice the tone in verse 17: "The Hebrew slave who you brought to us." You can hear her saying, *it's you, it's your fault.* Then in verse 19, she is rambling and rambling until it says, "When he heard the words of his wife, when she spoke to him saying, 'This is what your slave did to me,' his anger burned."
My contention is that the source of his anger is not Joseph — it is Mrs. Potiphar. I think he knows the kind of woman he has married, and here is how I know he knows it: if he truly believed her, what would he have done? He would have killed Joseph. He does not kill Joseph. In fact, a little later in the story, things begin to come back around. I think Potiphar knows, deep down, that Joseph does not deserve to die.
What I imagine him essentially saying is: *Joseph, I am really sorry. There is nothing I can do here. I have to do something — but I am not going to kill you, because you do not deserve that.* Instead, verse 20 says he put Joseph into the place where the king's prisoners were confined, into the worst part of the jail. If it is better than killing him, it is all Potiphar can do.
The Theology That Sustains Joseph
Now, there are about 88 ways to go with this story, but I skipped a big verse — verse 9 — and I need to go back to it. Joseph is refusing Mrs. Potiphar, and he points out: "No one is greater in this house than I am. He has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife." But here is the overriding factor in his refusal: "How could I do this great evil and sin against God?"
See, Joseph is not motivated merely by his circumstances. He is not simply thinking about Potiphar or about getting caught. He understands that his relationship with God is what is going to drive this decision. He says, in effect: I could not do it to Potiphar — but ultimately, I cannot sin against God. It is that honest, grounded, biblical theology that sustains him and allows him to persevere in the midst of genuinely difficult circumstances.
Let me be honest about this. I can see myself going two different ways in that situation. One way: *Look at her. There is not a man around who is not going to understand this temptation. And if I get caught — nobody is here. It is possible nobody will ever know.*
Theology Affects Behavior
Certainly after once, twice, or three times — but day after day, with nobody around — you can hear the voice saying, "Joseph, nobody is ever going to know. I'm not going to tell. You're not going to tell anybody." I could see him cave at that point. I could see myself cave at that point. But he doesn't.
Here is the next thing. If I got to that moment, I'm not sure I could handle what comes next. Now he is in prison. As they drag him there, I can hear the discussion in his mind: "This is interesting, God. Let's review. I'm my father's favorite because I'm the one faithful one out of all these boys. All I did was communicate the dream — what You communicated to me — and they put me in slavery. Then I get to Egypt. I didn't do anything wrong there. I'm in slavery. I work hard. You can see the fruit of it. Things come together. And now, God, apparently following You isn't very beneficial. Certainly not a good career move. And not very satisfying."
But I'm pretty sure that Joseph did not respond that way. Let me give you five points, and I'll expand the last one as a close.
The first is this: theology affects behavior. Look at what happens next. He is in jail. Verse 21: *"But the Lord was with Joseph and extended kindness to him and gave him favor in the sight of the chief jailer. And the chief jailer committed to Joseph's charge all the prisoners who were in the jail, so that whatever was done there, he was responsible for it. And the chief jailer did not supervise anything under Joseph's charge, because the Lord was with him."*
Joseph understood God. He did not necessarily understand exactly what God was doing at that moment, but there is no record of him complaining. There was no pouting. There was no self-pity. How do I know? Because that is not winsome. Whatever it was about Joseph — Potiphar saw it, the chief jailer saw it. If he had been down there pouting and making accusations, the chief jailer is not going to put him in charge of everything.
Suffering Has Purpose
The second thing is this: his suffering has purpose. Suffering and hardship do not mean that God has somehow abandoned you. He is allowing you to see Him in the midst of it. Suffering allows us to see God work.
We know that God causes all things to work together for good. The perseverance part — *"Count it all joy when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance."* How do we grow? How do we get strong? We get to see God work through suffering and pain and hardship, and the end result is perseverance, stick-to-itiveness. It is the suffering that builds character.
Faith Is Visible and Attractive
The third point is that faith is obviously visible, and it is attractive. We see that throughout Scripture. As I was looking for another illustration, I thought of the book of Philippians, where Paul is in jail, chained to the jailers all day, and he writes this — Philippians 1:12: *"Now I want you to know, brethren, that my circumstances have turned out for the greater progress of the gospel, so that my imprisonment in the cause of Christ has become well known throughout the whole Praetorian Guard and to everyone else."*
God is using the whole situation to expand the gospel. Paul goes on to say that *"most of the brethren, trusting in the Lord because of my imprisonment, have far more courage to speak the Word of God without fear,"* and that his imprisonment has encouraged the brothers. Potiphar sees this faith. The chief jailer sees it. And they are not repelled by it. What they say, in effect, is: "I don't want your God, but I want the benefits of your God. I'm not interested in worshipping Him, but I'll let you do that — and you come and work for me."
Time Is Your Ally
The fourth thing is that time is your ally. There is a period of decades covered in Joseph's life, and we tend to think of time as our enemy.
Sandy and I were talking about the difference between getting married at twenty-two versus sixty-two, and it is very different. At twenty-two, you are planning your life, your future — who you are going to be, what you are going to do. At sixty-two, those conversations look completely different. We were having some very serious conversations, because I take serious conversations seriously. She is fifteen years younger than I am, and I tell her actuarially — and I am not a healthy man; I stared death right in the face earlier this month, and subsequently as well, though I don't want to get into it — but I said, "Sandy, let me just tell you, because I know what that is like. It is really hard. You are going to be in a difficult position." And she said something that stuck with me: at twenty-two, you are planning your future; at sixty-two, you are planning your death.
I really love Sandy, and I really enjoy being with her. And if I have a regret, it is that my biological clock is ticking. But time is your ally. Remember the old saying we try to keep in front of us here: most people overestimate what they can do in a day and underestimate what they can do in a decade. Everything has a way of evening out as God works through things at His pace.
God's Economy Is Different from Ours
And here is the last and obvious point: God's economy is clearly different from ours. Joseph is succeeding.
God's Definition of Success
He is in jail. Yet in God's economy, man also sees the prosperity around him in that limited sense. You may be arguing, how successful can he be? This isn't what I call success. It might not be, but it is what God calls success.
By the way, Joseph is not at a scary place. He is at the safest place he can be, because he is right where God wants him. Remember what I said at the beginning — "to be continued"? We built on that all the way along through these entire four weeks.
Closing Prayer
Father, thank You for that truth. We look at Joseph, and we know that we see his life, and there are so many parallels in ours. Let us be faithful in the midst of adversity and challenges and difficulties. God, we love You. We worship You. We pray that You would work in our life the way You worked in Joseph's life. We pray this in Christ's name, amen.