<Gen 39> 6b…Now Joseph was well-built and handsome, 7 and after a while his master’s wife took notice of Joseph and said, “Come to bed with me!”

8 But he refused. “With me in charge,” he told her, “my master does not concern himself with anything in the house; everything he owns he has entrusted to my care. 9 No one is greater in this house than I am. My master has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?” 10 And though she spoke to Joseph day after day, he refused to go to bed with her or even be with her.

11 One day he went into the house to attend to his duties, and none of the household servants was inside. 12 She caught him by his cloak and said, “Come to bed with me!” But he left his cloak in her hand and ran out of the house.

13 When she saw that he had left his cloak in her hand and had run out of the house,14 she called her household servants. “Look,” she said to them, “this Hebrew has been brought to us to make sport of us! He came in here to sleep with me, but I screamed. 15 When he heard me scream for help, he left his cloak beside me and ran out of the house.”

16 She kept his cloak beside her until his master came home. 17 Then she told him this story: “That Hebrew slave you brought us came to me to make sport of me. 18 But as soon as I screamed for help, he left his cloak beside me and ran out of the house.”

19 When his master heard the story his wife told him, saying, “This is how your slave treated me,” he burned with anger. 20 Joseph’s master took him and put him in prison, the place where the king’s prisoners were confined. (…)

Powerful Seduction

• No one is looking >>> Nobody knows
• Free ‘gift’ readily available.
• Full strategy of temptation:
  • Invitation <v7>
  • Relentless persuasion <v10>
  • Aggression <v12>

Cannot control uninvited temptations but can choose to resist.

How did Joseph overcome the temptation?

• What others would have cited as excuses for sin, Joseph used as reasons not to sin:
  • High degree of freedom and trust.
  • Only one thing withheld from him.
• Did not want to sin against God.
• Strength from “God with him”.

How should we avoid and overcome sexual temptation?

1) Live before God.

2) Abide by God’s design for sex.

• Heterosexual marital monogamy.
• <1 Co 6:18>: “All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body.”

3) The necessity and wisdom of “flight”.

• <1 Co 6:18>: “Fleefrom sexual immorality…”
• <2 Ti 2:22>: “Fleethe evil desires of youth and pursue righteousness…”
• Stay >>> Stare >>> Sin
• Do not overestimate ourselves.
• John Piper: “5-second rule”.

4) Guard our eyes and mind.

• <Ps 119:37>:Turn my eyes away from worthless things; preserve my life according to your word.

Some practical reflections:

• Are we tempted or tempting others sexually?
• Also need to guard others’ eyes and mind.
• The signals we give?
• Keeping a healthy distance.
• Thin line between being ‘friendly’ and ‘flirting’.
• <1 Ti 2:9-10>: I also want the women to dress modestly, with decency and propriety, adorning themselves, not with elaborate hairstyles or gold or pearls or expensive clothes, but with good deeds, appropriate for women who profess to worship God.
• Sinner should be punished, but what about role of the tempter?
• <Rom 14>: Wrong to stumble others, but should act in love for mutual edification.

Reflection

1. Are you conscious of the things seducing you away from God? What are those things? What motivate you to stay away from temptations?
2. With regard to sexual temptation, how are you guarding your eyes and mind for purity? How about helping to guard the eyes and minds of others? Examine if you have been giving appropriate signals to the opposite gender. Are there anything in your mannerism, words, actions or dressing that could stumble others?