No Matter What: Genesis 39:1-23 - May 19, 2013

^NIV Genesis 39:1 Now Joseph had been taken down to Egypt. Potiphar, an Egyptian who was one of Pharaoh's officials, the captain of the guard, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had taken him there. ² The LORD was with Joseph and he prospered, and he lived in the house of his Egyptian master. ³ When his master saw that the LORD was with him and that the LORD gave him success in everything he did, ⁴ Joseph found favor in his eyes and became his attendant. Potiphar put him in charge of his household, and he entrusted to his care everything he owned. ⁵ From the time he put him in charge of his household and of all that he owned, the LORD blessed the household of the Egyptian because of Joseph. The blessing of the LORD was on everything Potiphar had, both in the house and in the field. ⁶ So he left in Joseph's care everything he had; with Joseph in charge, he did not concern himself with anything except the food he ate. 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. But while Joseph was there in the prison, ²¹ the LORD was with him; he showed him kindness and granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden. ²² 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. ²³ The warden paid no attention to anything under Joseph's care, because the LORD was with Joseph and gave him success in whatever he did.

            So far I think you all might agree that Genesis reads like an afternoon soap opera.  There were more scandals in Jacob’s family than in politics.  Lies, deceit, jealousy, betrayal, revenge, prostitutes, sister-wives, and death sentences have marked this family throughout.  And yet through it all God remained faithful to the ones he called.  Some members of Jacob’s family responded well to God’s faithfulness.  Jacob repented of his sin and sought to follow the Lord.  His son Judah repented of his sin as well.  Some members of Jacob’s family did not respond as well.  Rachel died in bitterness, full of discontent.  Esau chose to live his life apart from God.  Whether or not the end result was positive in someone’s life, their past sinful actions had horrendous consequences for others.  Two weeks ago we watched in horror as Joseph’s brothers, led by Judah and Reuben, first thought to kill Joseph out of jealousy, but eventually decided to sell him into slavery.  Joseph’s brothers thought they had it made.  Not only were they finally free of their spoiled brat of a brother, they had made good money disposing of him.  But Jacob’s grief was terrible.  No one could comfort him.  His constant grief reminded the rest of the brothers that Jacob loved Joseph more than any of them.  Moses left us hanging with a brief mention that Joseph was sold into slavery in Egypt.  Then last week we heard the story of Judah and Tamar.  Sexual depravity was on show for all to see last week and the consequences of that depravity were often great.  But this morning we come back to the true story of Joseph.  We begin this morning by discovering that Joseph was taken down to Egypt by slave traders and sold to a powerful man in Egypt.

            Egypt was a terrible place.  Some of you might be surprised to hear me say that.  Growing up we all learned about Egypt in our public school history classes.  We learned about the great civilizations of Egypt and Rome and Persia and Greece.  We were taught to wonder at their amazing accomplishments.  Egypt had some major accomplishments.  It was an amazing civilization by worldly standards.  But it was an evil civilization by God’s standards.  The great pyramids were built by slaves; by people who were beaten and abused and had no hope of freedom for themselves.  It was a civilization that worshiped multiple demonic gods and goddesses.  Brutality was prized and sexual indulgence was encouraged.  Sadly, it reminds me a lot of our own culture.  America is a great nation.  We have done some amazing things in our history.  Our armed forces are known for bravery in combat and integrity in service.  We have freed people from oppression.  The kingdom of God has been served well by many Americans both on the home-front and on the mission field.  And yet our culture has continued this slide toward evil.  We have been built on the backs of slaves.  Even today slaves around the world make our clothing, technology, and toys.  We are an atheistic culture that worships the self above all else.  Brutality toward the unborn is considered healthcare.  Sexual indulgence is encouraged.  Joseph found himself in a culture very much like ours.  This once pampered child found himself all alone in a strange, wicked, and demonic culture.  How would he respond?  Would he live his life faithful to God or would he just give into the culture around him because it was the easier thing to do?  As we look at this true story of Joseph it seems like he lived his life according to two principles: How can I honor God and how can I serve others?  As we work through Joseph’s life we will see how these two principles guided the decisions that he made.

Joseph Found Favor

            When Joseph arrived in Egypt he was sold to Potiphar.  Potiphar was a big man in Egypt.  He was one of Pharaoh’s officials.  Pharaoh was what they called the king of Egypt.  While he worked for Potiphar Joseph found favor.  Most slaves worked outside and were not allowed to be in the house of their owners.  Since they were only considered property their owners couldn’t trust them.  But Joseph was different.  Through God’s grace and favor Joseph was able to work and live inside Potiphar’s house.  Genesis 39:3-4 says, “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 and became his attendant.  Potiphar put him in charge of his household, and he entrusted to his care everything he owned.”  So here we have this foreign-born slave, a man who was a stranger to Potiphar when he first arrived, not only being trusted to live in Potiphar’s house, but also being trusted enough to become Potiphar’s attendant.  When Moses tells us that Joseph was Potiphar’s attendant it doesn’t mean Joseph stood by Potiphar’s side waiting for an order to go fetch his paper or get him a snack.  Joseph was Potiphar’s Executive Administrative Assistant.  He had access to everything that belonged to Potiphar: credit cards, keys, social security number, schedule – everything!  He was still a slave.  He had no rights.  He couldn’t get his freedom.  He didn’t receive a good paycheck.  But even as a slave Potiphar trusted Joseph completely.

            How did Joseph work his way into this position?  Joseph accomplished this because of his two guiding principles.  When he did his work he always sought to honor God and serve Potiphar.  Joseph probably had some horrible jobs when he first started out as a slave.  Slavery is not really a good job.  Yet Joseph worked hard and worked honorably.  I know there are some in our congregation who are working jobs you absolutely hate.  Your hours aren’t good and your pay is even worse.  But as you go to work each day I would encourage you to think about Joseph.  Try to live your life the same way Joseph did.  Do your job well.  Honor the person you work for.  Work faithfully and with integrity.  Ask yourself every day how you can honor God and serve other people.  Our culture teaches us that jobs exist purely to make money so you can get to the weekend; that our jobs are primarily about us.  But I want to challenge that thought this morning.  What if we looked at our jobs differently?  What if we saw our jobs as opportunities to honor God and serve others?  How would it change the way we worked?  What if we consider our jobs, no matter what they are, as opportunities to minister to others?  That is how Joseph saw his slavery.  And God blessed him in it.  Potiphar saw Joseph’s integrity and hard work and promoted him.  He saw that God was with him.

            And that’s the most important part of it.  Potiphar could see God through Joseph’s work.  Joseph was living in Egypt, away from home, away from everything he knew.  He was completely alone.  And yet Moses tells us repeatedly that God was with him.  Even while working as a slave, while in a situation in which he was reduced to being sub-human, Joseph knew that God was with him.  It was God’s presence that enabled Joseph to work hard with integrity.  God blessed Joseph in his faithfulness.  Potiphar saw this and that is why he trusted Joseph.  That’s an important lesson for us this morning.  We should conduct ourselves at our jobs in such a way that people can see God.  If you are a Christian that means the Holy Spirit is actively living through you.  The Holy Spirit will guide you and strengthen you to do what is right and to work hard with integrity.  The hope is that other people will see it and turn to God too.  Potiphar saw that God was with Joseph.  He didn’t decide to follow God but Joseph at least gave him an awesome witness.  When I finished working for UPS in Kentucky Alex, one of my fellow supervisors, came to me and said, “You have been like Jesus for me in this building.”  That was an incredibly important moment for me.  Without realizing it I had been a witness to God’s character to Alex.  It was also a moment of reflection as I realized how many ways I had failed to be a good witness.  This is something we should all focus on when we work.

Joseph Had Opportunity

            Since Joseph was in charge of everything that Potiphar owned, that meant Joseph had opportunity to do whatever he wanted.  He could choose to use his power and authority to build himself up or he could use it to faithfully serve his master.  But he also had another choice that presented itself.  Genesis 39:6-7 says, “So he left in Joseph’s care everything he had; with Joseph in charge, he did not concern himself with anything except the food he ate.  Now Joseph was well-built and handsome, and after a while his master’s wife took notice of Joseph and said, ‘Come to bed with me!’”  This was the original “Desperate Housewives.”  Let’s take a look at everything going on here: Joseph was a great looking guy, he was far from home, he was probably an 18-21 year old virgin, as a slave he may never get the chance to marry, he had no one around to keep him accountable, he couldn’t quit his job because he was a slave, he was in no position to sue for sexual harassment, slaves were expected to perform sexual favors for their owners, Potiphar was a negligent husband, and this woman was very willing to enter into an affair with Joseph.  Everything pointed to Joseph making the choice to sleep with Potiphar’s wife.  Our culture would just expect it to happen.  We promote this weird idea that as long as they are both consenting adults it makes any type of sex acceptable.  Everything was pushing Joseph to sleep with her.  With Potiphar not around Joseph could have easily gotten away with it.  It was the defining moment of Joseph’s life.  Would he choose to continue honoring God and serving other people or would he seek to bring pleasure to himself?  There are some decisions we face that have profound implications for the rest of our lives, where our future hangs in the balance.  This was one of those moments for Joseph.

Joseph Remained Faithful

            In this amazingly difficult test Joseph remained faithful.  Genesis 39:8-9 says, “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.  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?’”  This woman was relentless.  She approached Joseph day after day for what was probably years, trying to get him to sleep with her.  But Joseph stayed strong in his decision to be faithful.  He knew that not only would he be hurting Potiphar but he would also be sinning against God.  Joseph knew that to sleep with Potiphar’s wife would be to turn his back on his two guiding principles: to honor God and to serve others.  Not only did Joseph make the right choice but he also set himself up for success.  Joseph knew that if he was even alone with her that the temptation might be too great, so he stayed completely away from this woman as best as he could.  He resisted temptation and did his best to keep himself away from tempting situations.

            Our culture constantly bombards us with sexual messages.  We are told constantly to do whatever makes us feel good.  You can’t drive from here to Wilkes-Barre on 309 without seeing sexually enticing images.  Everything seems to be stacked against us in our culture.  But it was the same for Joseph.  Like Joseph we must make no provision for the flesh.  Joseph had a real life woman standing in front of him.  We now have the internet and the privacy of our own homes to engage in secret affairs and pornography.  They are both evil.  Pornography can even be considered worse since the women on the screen are exploited and often controlled by violence and manipulation.  We have it hard, and yet God still expects us to make the right decision.  What we do matters to God.  If you are in a situation where you are sinning you need to remove yourself from that situation.  If having the internet in your house trips you up then get rid of the internet when you are home.  If you are having an affair then end it and make sure you are never around that person again.  We need to orient our entire lives in the direction of holiness so that we can honor God and serve others, not just expect to stay free from sin when we willingly place ourselves in the middle of it.  Because the truth is that there are some people out there who just want to destroy us.  We’ve already seen some men like that in Genesis, now we meet a woman of destruction.  Moses is very clear throughout Genesis that both men and women are bent toward evil.  While Joseph was a slave he was actually free because he was able to control himself to honor God and serve others.  Potiphar’s wife was a wealthy woman who was actually enslaved by her own lust.  If you know someone like this, someone who just wants to take you down with them, run away as fast as you can!

Joseph Was Set Up

            Joseph did everything he could to do the right thing.  This only angered Potiphar’s wife.  She was used to getting what she wanted.  There was no way she would allow a slave to deny her and get away with it.  Because of his integrity Joseph was set up.  This woman continued to show just how evil she was at her core.  Potiphar’s wife continued to pursue Joseph despite his constant rejection.  One day she set Joseph up for a final showdown.  My guess is that she made sure no one was in the house.  When Joseph came in she propositioned him again.  She thought she had him trapped.  No one was around to see.  There was no way he could refuse her beauty again.  She violently grabbed Joseph’s cloak and demanded of her slave to come to bed with her.  But Joseph wrestled himself away from her and ran.  That’s when she took her revenge.  If he wouldn’t sleep with her then she would get rid of him.  She called the servants back into the house and told them that Joseph had attempted to rape her.  She told them that the offence was also against them.  She screamed for help but no one came to help her.  Then she waited for her husband to return home, proudly keeping Joseph’s cloak beside her as she waited.  Genesis 39:17-18 says, “Then she told him this story: ‘That Hebrew slave you brought us came to me to make sport of me.  But as soon as I screamed for help, he left his cloak beside me and ran out of the house.’”  In other words, she said to her husband, “You made this mess, you fix it.”  As the guilty person she got her side of the story out first to control the situation.

Joseph Was Punished

            Joseph did everything he could to get away from a bad situation, but since he was Potiphar’s slave, he couldn’t stay away for long.  He had to come back at some point.  He hoped that his master would believe the truth, but Joseph was punished for something he didn’t do.  Genesis 39:20a says, “Joseph’s master took him and put him in prison.”  In a perfect world someone like Joseph would be lifted up because of his high moral standard and integrity.  But we live in a fallen world.  We live in a world where morals and values are considered suspect, wrong, and intolerant.  Even though Joseph had done the right thing he was still punished.  It is likely that Potiphar believed Joseph’s innocence.  After all, the punishment for adultery, let alone rape, would have been death.  Potiphar only threw Joseph in prison.  It was like Potiphar felt obliged to believe his wife.  He didn’t want to be known as the guy with that type of wife.  Potiphar didn’t want to lose his best slave, but he also didn’t want to lose his reputation.  When we are faced with a he said/she said situation we must always use wisdom.  There are always two sides to the story.  Anyone with children knows that.  One child comes up and says that her brother hit her.  When you find her brother you realize he has a bloody nose that she caused first (contrary to what you are thinking, this is not a situation that took place between Karis and Josiah).  We must always be careful not to defend someone in their sin like Potiphar did.

            And yet, even in prison God continued to be with Joseph.  Despite being a slave and a criminal charged with rape God led the warden to see that his favor was on Joseph.  Eventually Joseph was put in charge of the entire prison.  The warden gave a convicted criminal the keys to the prison and trusted him not only to stay, but to run the prison for him.  I’m not entirely sure how our prison system works in Pennsylvania, but I would guess that a warden would be fired over something like this (well, maybe not in our county).  Joseph had great success while serving in the prison, but he was still in prison for something he didn’t do!  There were no weight rooms or cable TV in an ancient Egyptian prison.  It was a dark, smelly hole in the ground.  He served God faithfully, rejected temptation, and yet was still punished.  Eventually Joseph was vindicated and became second-in-charge over all of Egypt, but that is not a common outcome.  Many times we will have a hard life because of our choice to follow God the Father and his Son Jesus Christ.  We will go through all of the trials Joseph faced without any of the vindication here on earth.  Many times the disobedient life is the easier life.  But we must choose between being obedient and having things easier in life.  Life doesn’t always go well when you follow God.  In fact, to be a Christian is to be treated like Christ: to face hardship, to go through betrayal, to face false accusations, and to be persecuted.  But here’s the key – while Joseph was in prison the Lord was with him.  If you remain faithful to Jesus Christ the Lord will be with you too.

            We are called to be like Joseph in the way we live our lives.  We are called to constantly ask ourselves how we can honor God and serve other people.  It doesn’t matter what the outcome will be in this life.  We may never catch a break while we honor God and serve others.  But even if we don’t catch a break in this life we will have eternity with God in the next.  Our faith in Jesus Christ is about dying – dying to sin, dying to self, dying to perversion, dying to finances, dying to power, dying to our selfish desires, dying to control.  Instead, we seek to honor God and serve other people.  That is what life in Jesus Christ is about.  Joseph lived this out well.  Our memory verse, Romans 6:11 says, “In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.”  Joseph may have looked like a poor man and a slave but he was truly free and rich in God because he lived in integrity.  He became a blessing to others because he stayed obedient to God.  That is our goal in life.  If you are a Christian you exist not for yourself but for others.  Through your life and your obedience others should come to see God so they can make the decision for themselves, whether they will follow him or not.  But for our part, we must continue to honor God and serve others, no matter what.

The Mardi-Gras Hangover: Genesis 38:1-30 - May 12, 2013

^NIV Genesis 38:1 At that time, Judah left his brothers and went down to stay with a man of Adullam named Hirah. ² There Judah met the daughter of a Canaanite man named Shua. He married her and lay with her; ³ she became pregnant and gave birth to a son, who was named Er. ⁴ She conceived again and gave birth to a son and named him Onan. ⁵ She gave birth to still another son and named him Shelah. It was at Kezib that she gave birth to him. ⁶ Judah got a wife for Er, his firstborn, and her name was Tamar. ⁷ But Er, Judah's firstborn, was wicked in the LORD's sight; so the LORD put him to death. ⁸ Then Judah said to Onan, "Lie with your brother's wife and fulfill your duty to her as a brother-in-law to produce offspring for your brother." ⁹ But Onan knew that the offspring would not be his; so whenever he lay with his brother's wife, he spilled his semen on the ground to keep from producing offspring for his brother. ¹⁰ What he did was wicked in the LORD's sight; so he put him to death also. ¹¹ Judah then said to his daughter-in-law Tamar, "Live as a widow in your father's house until my son Shelah grows up." For he thought, "He may die too, just like his brothers." So Tamar went to live in her father's house. ¹² After a long time Judah's wife, the daughter of Shua, died. When Judah had recovered from his grief, he went up to Timnah, to the men who were shearing his sheep, and his friend Hirah the Adullamite went with him. ¹³ When Tamar was told, "Your father-in-law is on his way to Timnah to shear his sheep," ¹⁴ she took off her widow's clothes, covered herself with a veil to disguise herself, and then sat down at the entrance to Enaim, which is on the road to Timnah. For she saw that, though Shelah had now grown up, she had not been given to him as his wife. ¹⁵ When Judah saw her, he thought she was a prostitute, for she had covered her face. ¹⁶ Not realizing that she was his daughter-in-law, he went over to her by the roadside and said, "Come now, let me sleep with you." "And what will you give me to sleep with you?" she asked. ¹⁷ "I'll send you a young goat from my flock," he said. "Will you give me something as a pledge until you send it?" she asked. ¹⁸ He said, "What pledge should I give you?" "Your seal and its cord, and the staff in your hand," she answered. So he gave them to her and slept with her, and she became pregnant by him. ¹⁹ After she left, she took off her veil and put on her widow's clothes again. ²⁰ Meanwhile Judah sent the young goat by his friend the Adullamite in order to get his pledge back from the woman, but he did not find her. ²¹ He asked the men who lived there, "Where is the shrine prostitute who was beside the road at Enaim?" "There hasn't been any shrine prostitute here," they said. ²² So he went back to Judah and said, "I didn't find her. Besides, the men who lived there said, 'There hasn't been any shrine prostitute here.'" ²³ Then Judah said, "Let her keep what she has, or we will become a laughingstock. After all, I did send her this young goat, but you didn't find her." ²⁴ About three months later Judah was told, "Your daughter-in-law Tamar is guilty of prostitution, and as a result she is now pregnant." Judah said, "Bring her out and have her burned to death!" ²⁵ As she was being brought out, she sent a message to her father-in-law. "I am pregnant by the man who owns these," she said. And she added, "See if you recognize whose seal and cord and staff these are." ²⁶ Judah recognized them and said, "She is more righteous than I, since I wouldn't give her to my son Shelah." And he did not sleep with her again. ²⁷ When the time came for her to give birth, there were twin boys in her womb. ²⁸ As she was giving birth, one of them put out his hand; so the midwife took a scarlet thread and tied it on his wrist and said, "This one came out first." ²⁹ But when he drew back his hand, his brother came out, and she said, "So this is how you have broken out!" And he was named Perez. ³⁰ Then his brother, who had the scarlet thread on his wrist, came out and he was given the name Zerah.

            The book of Revelation is one of those crazy books in the Bible.  When you read it you almost think you are in the middle of “The Lord of the Rings.”  We hear of dragons, beasts, terrifying riders on horses and destruction on a massive scale.  A lot of the things we see in the book of Revelation are symbolic.  We won’t necessarily witness dragons and beasts, but these were helpful ways to convey the evil they represent.  What the book of Revelation does speak about is the end of the world.  There will come a day – and maybe that day will come in the next year, the next month, maybe even tomorrow, we can’t know for sure – but there will come a day when the entire universe will be destroyed.  Everything we know will be gone.  The book of Revelation gives us insight into all of this.  But what it also tells us is that the end of the world will not be some random event of nature or politics.  It won’t take place just because the sun happens to come to the end of its life-cycle.  It won’t take place just because North Korea, China, Russia, Pakistan, India, Israel, France, England and the United States happen to engage in a nuclear war.  The end of the world will take place because God will decide it is time.  On the surface it may come as a nuclear war or the sun exploding, but ultimately it will be from the hand of God.  It will be a terrible time.  But there will be a great hope in it.  When God decides to bring an end to creation he will send his Son Jesus Christ back.  Jesus will come and separate all people.  Those who have lived for themselves and in evil will go to eternal punishment.  Those who followed Jesus will go on to eternal glory.

            In the book of Revelation Jesus is referred to as the Lion of the tribe of Judah.  It is used as a very triumphant name.  It reminds us that when the world is coming down around us we can put our hope and trust in him.  Jesus is given this name because he was a descendant of Judah, one of Jacob’s children.  So we see this triumphant name and might assume that Judah must have been an amazing man.  Who else would have his name attached to Jesus like that?  Judah must have been something else.  And he was.  Judah was certainly something else; but not in a good way.  Last week we saw how Judah led his brothers against Joseph.  They originally wanted to kill their brother Joseph but eventually Judah led them in selling Joseph into slavery.  He wasn’t what I would call a nice guy.  And yet Judah gets his name in the book of Revelation on a triumphant and hopeful note.  How can that be?  Why would the Savior of the world be a descendant of such a horrible person?  I think the answer to this question from the last book of the Bible is answered in this chapter of the first book of the Bible.  So let’s take a look at this true story about Judah and Tamar.

Judah Left Home

            Right after Judah sold his brother Joseph into slavery we find out that Judah left home.  Genesis 38:1 says, “At that time, Judah left his brothers and went down to stay with a man of Adullam named Hirah.”  Judah reminds me of the kid from a Christian home who goes off to college to party.  He grew up in a home where his father worshiped God, but Judah never really understood it.  He saw his dad fail time and time again and decided he must only be a hypocrite.  Judah didn’t want to live that life.  He wanted to live the life of the average American college student – drinking and partying and having sex with every girl he could meet.  So Judah left home to be able to freely live the life he wanted to live.  Judah turned in the friends he had growing up for a new friend.  Hirah was the type of friend who would party with Judah.  He was basically Judah’s drinking buddy.  One day Judah met this girl.  He decided that it was probably time for him to at least look responsible so he married her.  Moses makes sure to tell us that this was a Canaanite woman.  That means she and her family worshiped false gods and idols.  People in Judah’s family were not supposed to marry Canaanites.  They were supposed to marry other people who would worship the one true God with them.  It would be like a Christian marrying an atheist today.  Judah knew he wasn’t supposed to do this.  But he had complete disregard for his father’s feelings so he went ahead and did it anyway.  Judah only married her because he thought she was hot.  Moses describes Judah’s marriage in the same way he described Eve eating the forbidden fruit.  The Bible doesn’t even tell us her name.  The marriage was based purely on Judah’s lust and so the two of them had three sons in quick succession.  Judah had fallen away from his family and God.

Judah’s Sons Were Evil

            Judah was a partying womanizer.  His selfish ways led him to also be a really bad father.  Because of his failures as a father Judah’s sons were evil.  Genesis 38:6-7 says, “Judah got a wife for Er, his firstborn, and her name was Tamar.  But Er, Judah’s firstborn, was wicked in the LORD’s sight; so the LORD put him to death.”  Judah’s poor example to his sons led them to make evil decisions in their own lives, although they were still responsible for their own decisions.  Then we come to this really shocking verse that tells us God put Er to death.  We don’t like this type of verse in the Bible.  We want a hippie Jesus who talks about peace and love, not a God that kills people.  But we find even in the New Testament that the Bible records God putting people to death.  If we are going to be serious about our Christians lives we need to deal with the real God.  I’m so tired of people who have never read the Bible before telling me what they think God is like.  They like Joel Osteen’s god who doesn’t do anything controversial but only exists to make them happy.  God kills people.  He did it in the Old Testament.  He does it still today.  God is the author of life; he has the right to end our lives.  The Bible tells us that God is a God of justice.  He knows everyone’s heart.  He knows that there are some people who will never change.  If this frightens you this morning, if this makes you feel uncomfortable, you have three options.  You can decide that I don’t know what I’m talking about and ignore me.  You can believe this really is a true description of God and decide you don’t want a God like that.  Or you can look at a passage like this and say, “I don’t want to end up like Er.  I will confess the things I’ve done wrong, ask God for forgiveness and stop doing those things.”

            Er lived out the philosophy that “you only live once.”  He lived a wicked life.  We don’t know exactly what he did that was so evil, but we know that God killed him for it.  Judah then told his next oldest son to marry Er’s widow and have children with her.  We look at this and think it is really strange.  How could they treat a woman like that?  But if we are honest, we have no right to take the moral high ground as a culture when it comes to the treatment of women.  Our culture treats women as sex objects that exist only to please men.  At least one in four women in our country has been sexually abused.  The only women who are allowed to get ahead have to dress like men and act like men.  We don’t treat our women very well.  Judah’s culture was male dominated as well.  Women had no ability to take care of themselves.  They were dependent on the men in their lives.  If they had no one to take care of them women would be forced into prostitution.  Tamar was in a bad situation.  She was no longer a virgin (so no man would want to marry her), her husband was dead and she had no children.  There was a practice known as the levirate marriage that was meant to help a woman in this situation.  It was the responsibility of the dead man’s brother to marry the widow and give her children.  He was responsible to take care of her.  Judah knew this and made Onan marry Tamar.  But Onan was wicked like Er.  He didn’t want to share his inheritance.  He wanted the sex; but he didn’t want the responsibility.  So God put Onan to death.  Friends, sexual sin matters.  What we do with the sexuality God has given us matters.  God tells us sex belongs between one man and one woman in the context of marriage.  Anything outside of that is wrong and brings about God’s anger.  At this point Judah was supposed to give his third son in marriage to Tamar, but the evil and selfish Judah wouldn’t do it.  He lied to Tamar and sent her away with a false hope.

Judah Went to Party

            At some point Judah’s unnamed trophy wife died.  After her death, Judah went to party.  Genesis 38:12 says, “After a long time Judah’s wife, the daughter of Shua, died.  When Judah had recovered from his grief, he went up to Timnah, to the men who were shearing his sheep, and his friend Hirah the Adullamite went with him.”  Notice he didn’t take his accountability partner.  Judah went into town looking for trouble and brought the friend who would help him find it.  Sheep-shearing season was like Mardi-Gras; it was one big party.  Tamar heard that Judah was coming into town, disguised herself like a whore and waited.  When we see women who wear clothes and act in ways that signal they are willing to give themselves away to any guy who wants them, we have to ask ourselves what happened to that girl to get her to that point.  She is still responsible for her own actions, but there must be some deep pain or emptiness inside that would lead her to do such things.  It was the same with Tamar.  Tamar had no one to take care of her and needed to help herself.  Judah once again showed that he was a pervert.  There are some guys out there who only have one thing on their mind, “Come now, let me sleep with you.”  They will lie and do whatever they have to do to get a girl to sleep with them, but they care only about one thing.  Judah was that type of man.  Tamar got Judah to give her his seal and staff as a pledge of future payment.  That would be like giving his credit card and wallet.  But Judah wasn’t going to let anything postpone his sexual appetite.  He wanted what he wanted and he wanted it right then.  Tamar acted like a prostitute.  But you don’t have to be a hooker on a street corner to be a prostitute.  The essence of prostitution is transaction.  Dinner and a beer can constitute enough payment.  The “sexual freedom” we have taught girls in our country has done nothing but sell them into prostitution.

Judah Tried to Justify Himself

            Judah was the type of man who thought nothing of others and sought only to satisfy his own desires.  Notice how Genesis mentions nothing about Judah mourning the loss of his children.  He lied to Tamar about giving his youngest son to her in marriage.  Judah also refused to do his part in taking care of Tamar.  Since Tamar was married to his sons she was legally and culturally considered to be a part of Judah’s family.  She was no longer part of her family of origin.  Tamar should have lived as a widow in Judah’s house, with Judah taking care of her until his youngest was old enough to marry.  But Judah refused to do this.  Instead he sent her back to her family to live.  Despite all the evil that he did Judah tried to justify himself.  He liked to pretend that everything he was doing was ok.  Judah had promised the woman he thought was only a prostitute that he would pay her by giving her a young goat.  Amazingly, he wasn’t willing to keep his word with Tamar but he was willing to keep his word to her when he thought she was only a whore.  He actually attempted to send the goat, but he was more concerned about getting his seal and staff from her than keeping his word.  Of course he didn’t go himself; he did it through his drinking buddy.  He wasn’t willing to do the dirty-work himself.  Judah’s friend went to search for the woman but couldn’t find her!  When he returned to Judah to tell him we see this response in Genesis 38:23, “Then Judah said, ‘Let her keep what she has, or we will become a laughingstock.  After all, I did send her this young goat, but you didn’t find her.’”

            Even in Judah’s culture it was not proper to visit a prostitute.  Judah knew what he was doing was wrong and he tried to hide it.  But even while doing wrong Judah still tried to find something noble in his sin.  It was almost like he was bragging to his friend that he was such a good guy for sending the goat.  How often do we do this?  We get ourselves caught up in a bad situation, we do something we know is sin – and then we try to find the bright spot in all of it: “I might have done that, but did you see this great thing I did?”  We really work hard to try to hide our sin and cover up our own wrongdoing.  Judah tried to hide the wrong he did.  But we can’t cover our own sin.  We can’t make up for the wrong things we have done.  There is nothing noble about our sin.  There is nothing we can do to justify ourselves.  Eventually our sin will be found out.  Of course, we are afraid of this happening because it will make us look bad.  But, guess what?  If we are sinning, we are bad.  God wants us to stop covering up our sin.  He wants us to stop hiding it.  He wants us to admit what we’ve done.  When we don’t admit our sin that is when God punishes us.  But when we actually come to him, admit to what we’ve done, ask for forgiveness and then stop doing that sin – God forgives us.  He is the one who will justify us.  And when our sin is out in the open it is a lot easier to stop doing it.

Judah Confessed and Repented

            Judah finally learned this lesson.  Three months after Judah slept with Tamar he found out that she was pregnant.  He assumed it was prostitution.  And since she was pledged to be married to his son (even though it wasn’t going to happen) it was also considered adultery.  By law Tamar should have been stoned to death.  But Judah, in his selfishness, decided she should have an even worse punishment.  He wanted her burned to death.  Judah refused to take care of Tamar in his own household, but he was still willing to take the judge’s seat in the matter.  Of course, the law said that a man who was guilty of adultery should also be put to death, but sadly people cared less about that part of it.  Judah’s judgment of Tamar was wrong because he was acting as a hypocrite.  We are actually supposed to judge sin within the church.  We are supposed to take the Bible and teach from it clearly what is right and wrong.  When someone in the church sins we are supposed to confront them lovingly about it so they can confess and repent.  The problem comes when we do it in a hypocritical fashion, pretending that somehow we are perfect and that only other people sin.  As Tamar was being brought out to be burned she sent Judah a message.  Judah immediately realized that he was the father.  He had committed adultery with Tamar.  He was just as guilty as Tamar.  In response to being found out Judah confessed and repented.  As he looked at his own seal and staff, Genesis 38:26 tells us, “Judah recognized them and said, ‘She is more righteous than I, since I wouldn’t give her to my son Shelah.’  And he did not sleep with her again.”

            This was an amazing response by Judah.  He openly admitted to the wrong he did.  On top of that Judah also took steps to not do the wrong again.  When we sin our worst fear tends to be getting caught.  But that shouldn’t be our fear.  Our fear should be that the sin we continue to do will serve to separate us from God for all eternity.  Getting caught can be the greatest thing to ever happen because it can give us the chance to confess and repent.  To confess means that we admit we have done wrong.  It is to state the particular sin we are guilty of.  It is to admit that God’s ways are right and our own ways are wrong.  When we confess we make a decision that God is allowed to make the rules, not us.  If God tells us in the Bible that something is a sin then it is a sin.  And if that sin is in our lives then we need to admit that.  But then we are also called to repent.  That means we need to stop doing that sin.  Judah was one of those guys who was just completely bad through and through: he sold his brother into slavery, lied to his father, married a woman he shouldn’t have married, separated himself from accountability, chose to hang out with a bad friend, didn’t raise his boys well, refused to take care of his daughter-in-law, had sex with a prostitute and then attempted to murder his daughter-in-law for a crime he was guilty of.  But his heart changed.  He didn’t blame anyone else for his sins.  He didn’t say, “Well, I was lonely because my wife died.”  He didn’t say, “It was her fault for dressing that way.”  He confessed and repented.  We too need to be honest about the sin in our lives and let God change us from the inside.

God Brought Redemption

            God took a pervert like Judah and made him new.  God took a whore like Tamar and did an amazing work in her life.  In this entire situation God brought redemption.  Genesis 38:27 says, “When the time came for her to give birth, there were twin boys in her womb.”  This birth story is a little crazy.  It must have been profoundly troubling for a mother to see that!  But it was an incredible blessing from God.  Tamar now had male children who could look after her.  Judah was given heirs to continue his family line after having lost his first two sons.  God could have done away with Judah, but instead he was patient.  He waited for Judah to turn his life over to God.  And then he blessed him richly.  In fact, God even chose one of the twins to be the ancestor of Jesus Christ.  Judah and Tamar found themselves in the middle of God’s salvation story for all humanity.  God turned a pervert into a patriarch and a whore into a matriarch.  Our memory verse, Romans 3:23-24 says, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.”  That is something offered to all of us today.  Maybe you can relate well to Judah this morning.  You come from a Christian family but you have really turned your life in the wrong direction.  Maybe you can relate well to Tamar.  You don’t come from a Christian family but want to be part of something greater.  Don’t be the person that dies separated from God.  Don’t try to cover up your own sin.  Confess and repent your sin and let God change your heart and include you in his kingdom.