You can hear a thousand sermons without ever really thinking about what the goal of a sermon is. But the more clear you are on what a sermon is all about, the better you understand what a preacher is trying to do and the more discerning you can be when you listen. Understanding the preacher’s dilemma may also make you a better Sunday School teacher or youth leader. It might help you assess the books you read and how you read the Scripture yourself. Let me explain the preacher’s dilemma with the story of Joseph and Potiphar’s wife as a case study.

I’m tempted to preach the part that I know

They say that familiarity breeds contempt, but with the Bible, familiarity often breeds laziness. The first problem with the story of Joseph and Potiphar’s wife is that everyone assumes that they know what it means. The Sunday School story and our own casual reading seem to present a classic story of seduction, so we don’t feel that we need to put much effort into actually studying the passage. And when we do study it, we focus on what we know and look for details to support our assumptions.

When preparing to preach on Genesis 39 recently, I listened to three or four sermons and read three others. The worst of them just took the theme of sexual temptation from the text and spent most of the message railing about why adultery is wrong and what can be done about it. Others spent more time in the text and pointed to specific things that Joseph did to resist temptation and called for people to imitate him. Often, there was some attempt to show how Joseph’s obedience points to Jesus or how Jesus helps us when we fail.

The main problem with the sermons was that they just focused on the part of the story that everybody knows. And the main message was “be like Joseph” because “sin is bad.” Is that all there is?

I’m tempted to preach what my favourite scholar says

If you don’t assume you already know what the passage is teaching, you’re going to invest time in studying the passage carefully and listening to what other scholars have written. With Genesis 39, commentaries will point out that the passage begins and ends with repeated statements of the Lord’s presence with Joseph (vv. 2, 3, 21, 23). In fact, some scholars see this as so crucial that they point to it as the heart of the chapter’s message. It would have been very tempting for me to follow Sidney Greidanus, for example, and conclude that the chapter is seeking “to assure God’s people of his presence with them in times of prosperity as well as times of adversity.” To him, Joseph’s resistance of temptation is only important to show how God is still with us when we suffer unjustly. But a preacher’s goal is not just to preach what your favourite scholar tells you.

I’m called to preach what God intended the passage to say

The preacher’s dilemma is to study a passage of Scripture until you see the clues and emphases that the biblical author has given and can feel confident about what he intended to express.

The story of Joseph and Potiphar’s wife in Genesis 39 is immediately preceded by another story of sexual sin in Genesis 38. The fact that Moses lined up a story about Judah easily giving into sexual temptation in Genesis 38 and Joseph fiercely resisting sexual temptation in Genesis 39 can’t be coincidental, especially since the story with Judah seems to interrupt the flow of Joseph’s story.

We know that Hebrew writing uses repetition for emphasis and one of the favourite forms begins and ends with a repeated emphasis and delivers a climax in the middle. The repetition of the “the LORD was with Joseph” (vv. 2, 21) and “the LORD was with him” (vv. 3, 23) is Moses’ way of indicating this. He wants us to consider the connection between the Lord’s presence with Joseph and his resistance of temptation. The message could just be, if the Lord is with you, you’ll be able to just say no, but that wasn’t true of Israel, or David, or Peter. It’s not often true in our experience either.

I’m convinced that the connection was that Joseph resisted sin by learning to treasure the presence of God in his life. If God hadn’t come into his life by grace and showed him the power of His presence and blessing, Joseph would have likely fallen just as Judah had. This seems to be illustrated and highlighted in the text for us by the fact that Joseph’s coat is mentioned five times in Genesis 37, first as a symbol of his father’s love and then of his brothers’ jealousy. In Genesis 39, Joseph learns to depend on the Lord’s presence instead of his special coat. Then, when temptation comes and his master’s wife tries to grab his new coat at the climax of the seduction account (Genesis 39:12), he’s able to leave his coat behind (Genesis 39:13) and choose loyalty to the Lord, instead. It’s still a message about resisting sin, but it deals with the heart, not just the behaviour. It addresses the why, not just the how. It starts with the grace of God, not just the effort of man.

As you listen to a sermon, don’t just ask yourself, did it speak to me? Or was it relevant or funny or convicting? Remember the preacher’s dilemma. Ask yourself, is this what the passage is actually teaching? And when you read the Bible or teach it to others, don’t assume that you know what it means or just teach what your favourite pastor said. Look for the clues in the passage itself that show you what God is trying to say. It’s God’s Word not ours that we’re seeking to follow.

In awe of Him,

Paul