Godly Generation 2 - They will not Compromise but Resist

Today I want to bring to your attention a person from Bible who can be added as a person in Godly Generation. He is one of my favorite character in Bible because of many reasons. Mostly we remember him as the person who kept moral integrity. But when we study his Life we can learn lot of things from his life. He is Joseph. Now let me add few verses here about Joseph. Its from NLT

1. Gen. 37:2- “……When Joseph was seventeen years old, he often tended his father’s flocks. He worked for his half brothers, the sons of his father’s wives Bilhah and Zilpah. But Joseph reported to his father some of the bad things his brothers were doing .”
2. Gen.37:4- “But his brothers hated Joseph because their father loved him more than the rest of them. They couldn’t say a kind word to him.”
3. Gen.37:5-”One night Joseph had a dream, and when he told his brothers about it, they hated him more than ever.”
4. Gen.37:8- “And they hated him all the more because of his dreams and the way he talked about them.”
5. Gen.37:10-”This time he told the dream to his father as well as to his brothers, but his father scolded him.”
6. Gen.37:11-”But while his brothers were jealous of Joseph, his father wondered what the dreams meant.”
7. Gen.37:18-20-”When Joseph’s brothers saw him coming, they recognized him in the distance. As he approached, they made plans to kill him.19 “Here comes the dreamer!” they said. 20 “Come on, let’s kill him and throw him into one of these cisterns. We can tell our father, ‘A wild animal has eaten him.’ Then we’ll see what becomes of his dreams!”
8. Gen.37:23-24- “So when Joseph arrived, his brothers ripped off the beautiful robe he was wearing. 24 Then they grabbed him and threw him into the cistern . Now the cistern was empty; there was no water in it.”
9. Gen.37:28- “So when the Ishmaelites, who were Midianite traders, came by, Joseph’s brothers pulled him out of the cistern and sold him to them for twenty pieces of silver. And the traders took him to Egypt.”
10. Gen.39:7-9-”..Joseph was a very handsome and well-built young man, 7 and Potiphar’s wife soon began to look at him lustfully. “Come and sleep with me,” she demanded. 8 But Joseph refused. “Look,” he told her, “my master trusts me with everything in his entire household. 9 No one here has more authority than I do. He has held back nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How could I do such a wicked thing? It would be a great sin against God.”
11. Gen.39:20-”So he took Joseph and threw him into the prison where the king’s prisoners were held, and there he remained.”

These verses just reflect the first part of Joseph’s story. Let me put few things in plain words about Joseph which I can conclude out of the above verses.

“Joseph was a young man who had a strong faith in the existence of God and firm decision not to do anything to defile himself or sin against God. When he was with his brothers, he never did bad things and whenever his brothers did anything wrong then he will report it to his father. Now he was a man who used to see dreams. His brothers used to hate him because of his righteous attitude. Because of his dream he was scolded by his loving father. But tragedy stuck him when his own brothers threw him to a cistern and later sold him as a slave for 20 pieces of silver. He was taken to a foreign land and was sold again to another person. God blessed him there and he was made in charge in that house. But a big problem came. His master’s wife wanted to commit adultery with him. He had 2 options-

• Compromise and enjoy the blessing or Resist and go to jail.
• Compromise and disobey God or Resist and obey God.
• Compromise and defile himself or Resist and maintain his holiness.

I can add more. Lets think for some time that Joseph opted for first option. Then conclusion of this message could be like this:-

“Joseph compromised and had a great time at Pothipar’s house. He started leading a wicked life. Pothipar’s wife praised Joseph in front of her husband and Joseph got more promotions in his Job. He got a hike in his salary. Pothipar got him a car and later build him a small house also. When Joseph was old he died. ”

But I am glad that Joseph selected second option. So the Conclusion is like this:-

“Joseph was in jail for more than 2yrs. God blessed him there and gave him ability to interpret dreams. Once Pharaoh the king of Egypt had a dream and God used Joseph to explain it and hence Pharaoh made him Prime Minister of Egypt. Later his brothers came to Egypt and bowed in front of him as fulfilment to the dream God gave him many years ago. He was joined by his father who loved him so much. In the middle of all this Joseph also got married and had his own family. Joseph named his older son Manasseh,for he said, “God has made me forget all my troubles and everyone in my father’s family.” Joseph named his second son Ephraim, for he said, “God has made me fruitful in this land of my grief.” His brothers and their families also joined him.So Joseph and his brothers and their families continued to live in Egypt. Joseph lived to the age of 110. He lived to see three generations of descendants of his son Ephraim, and he lived to see the birth of the children of Manasseh’s son Makir, whom he claimed as his own. ”

Now the question is- What conclusion you want?

Remember People who belong to a Godly Generation will not Compromise but Resist. They will have high moral standards. They may go through difficulties and pain in beginning but their end will be good. Their name will be remembered for generations as a testimony.

May God Bless You!