This week 210 libraries in Arkansas benefited from the wealth of a very successful person. That person was none other than Microsoft’s owner and founder Bill Gates. Through a foundation set up by Gates and his wife Melinda the Arkansas libraries received one computer and Internet access linking them to each other and the web. That gift is just a 4 million-dollar drop in a 6 billion-dollar foundation that the Gateses have established. That 6 billion-dollar foundation is a drop in the bucket of a personal fortune for Bill Gates of over 77 billion-dollars. There is no question that by the world’s standards Bill Gates is the most successful person in the world today. What is interesting though is that in recent years as his fortune soared his satisfaction in financial success dropped. He discovered that in spite of the achievements he missed something very vital--loving relationships. Now with his wife Melinda and their two children his focus on what matters has shifted. His biggest concern daily is making sure he’s home in time to put the kids in bed.

While Bill Gates is far from being a person of faith he is an example to us. He shows us that even when you have all the world has to offer without lasting relationships with other people the success is empty. It isn’t the wealth that is the success. It’s the relationships. What I want us to discover today is that the circumstances of our success may change positively or negatively but for the believer it will be our relationship with God that is our greatest success. It isn’t the circumstances. It’s the relationship.

In our story of Joseph today we can see a divine definition of success. Joseph’s slavery, resistance to seduction, and shameful imprisonment teaches us that the result of a successful relationship with God is continuing to become what God wants me to be and continuing to obey what God wants me to do!

With this definition there is not one person who has to leave here today a failure. Every one of us doesn’t have to be a worldly success but we can each be a success from God’s eyes. It’s not the circumstances. It’s the relationship.

In Genesis 39:1-6 we discover that Joseph’s circumstances have gone from bad to worse. It was bad enough to have been mistreated by your brothers but now to have been sold into slavery. Think what it meant for Joseph to have been a slave! He had lived all of his life as the favorite son of his father. Now overnight he is bought and sold like an animal. All of his father’s favoritism is stripped away like the coat had been. Now he stood clothed only in his character!

The potential for Joseph’s success was zero! He had not one friend in the country! He had no knowledge of the language, skill or trade that could make him more valuable to anyone. He was facing a new lifestyle and a new system of values. Joseph had nothing to make him successful but his character that God had shaped and his faith that God had given!

No father, no favoritism, no family and certainly from all aspects he was surely to fail. But Joseph learned that there are some difficulties that can’t hinder the success God wants for us. That the potential for success does not lie in our "breaks" or our circumstances! The potential for success has nothing to do with circumstances from God’s point of view! The potential for success is found only in one place: "And the Lord was with Joseph." (39:2) It’s not the circumstances. It’s the relationship.

God was the source of Joseph’s success (39:2). Repeatedly the narrator makes references to the Lord and His relationship to Joseph("…the Lord was with Joseph so he became a successful man (39:2); "…the Lord was with him and caused all that he did to prosper" (39:3); "the Lord blessed the Egyptian’s house…" (39:4); "But the Lord was with Joseph…" (39:21). "The Lord was with him; and whatever he did, the Lord made him to prosper…" (39:23)). The word used here for success was a word that meant " to proceed/pass/go (with speed) to advance progress prosper succeed". The repetitive use of it suggests that it became a pattern. You see the source of Joseph’s success had nothing to do with the situation or his circumstances. The source of his success was because God was with him! Joseph could not rely on anything outward. His source of strength was totally the relationship that God had with him.

How is God "with" an individual? A sign of His being with us may be maximum pleasure and minimum pain that are usually associated with success. It also may be the godly character that is revealed when we are unfairly treated. The only thing that Potiphar could have observed that the Lord was with Joseph was his attitude or spirit. A person of weak spirit will simply throw in the towel and blame God for life being unfair. A person who is proud will grit their teeth and determine to get revenge. A person who is complacent will compromise anything they can to simply enjoy maximum pleasure and minimum pain!

But Potiphar saw that the Lord was with Joseph. The presence of God could not have been hidden from Potiphar any more than the moon can permanently eclipse the sun. There was something about the silent enduring of pain that let Potiphar knew that the source of Joseph’s success was God and God alone. It’s not the circumstances. It’s the relationship.

The honesty and diligence of Joseph was observed and Joseph was promoted to a position of overseeing all that Potiphar owned(Gen.39:3-6). His work was marked and stamped with success. He was absolutely respected and trusted by the one he served. Look at all he had: Fame, position, availability of wealth, good looks and charm. Those are just a few of the favors of life he enjoyed.

What is more important than the accomplishments of Joseph’s success is how he became successful. The phrase "became successful" means achievement not status. It means that Joseph did not arrive at his position because of who he was but because of who was with him and what he did in response to who was with him. There is such a thing as status without achievement. You get where you are because of who you know, not because of what you can do. But there is also achievement with status. Meaning you are where you are because you have been able to accomplish specific goals to be where you are. Joseph did not get a "lucky break". he achieved his position because: "the Lord" made him successful! Joseph became a success not because he had any potential in his circumstances or because he was a manipulator. Joseph became a success because of one thing: "The Lord was with Joseph." It’s not the circumstances. It’s the relationship.

I imagine Joseph was feeling very peaceful and satisfied about this time. God had enabled him to prosper and be successful in the most difficult circumstances. He has remained true to his character and to God’s purpose for his life. It was just now that Joseph was beginning to see a little light at the end of the tunnel. The only thing was the light at the end of the tunnel turned out to be a train.

It is said that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. It is also true that crisis reveals and absolute crisis reveals absolutely. Joseph has been tested up until now but the supreme test is about to be taken. It is in this crisis that the purity and power of Joseph character is awesomely revealed. There are people who can resist the temptation to kill, lie, steal and cheat, but there are few who can resist the pull of immorality at this degree.

Tragically the success of Joseph became the focus of seduction by Potiphar’s wife(39:7). She "looked with desire" at Joseph and brazenly commands him to "lie with me." The woman makes no plan or deception to get what she wants. Do you notice that here was the break Joseph needed! If he would only compromise at this point then there was no holding him back. She could help him get out of this mess if he only played his cards right. This was it!

"But he refused." There are few more powerful phrases of Holy Scripture than these three words. Countless numbers of lives have been lost all because they did not refuse or resist this kind of temptation. It’s almost as if Joseph is saying in a world of compromise and immorality why should there not be at least one place where there is honesty and purity! What is so fascinating is that Joseph’s reasons for refusal could have been someone else’s reasons to have yielded! By turning away the proposition and calling it wickedness he made truth his comrade and by relating all of it to God he rooted his loyalty to his master deep enough to hold(39:9).

Potiphar’s wife was a determined woman and her demand led to constant harassment (39:10).What she was doing here was always opening what, for Joseph, was a closed question. Joseph’s refusal though did not deter her but only caused her to be more determined. The result was that her constant harassment let to the final ambush (39:11-15). This was one of those situations where everything was won or lost in a moment. Joseph ran rather than sin against his master or his Lord.

The failure of her seduction led to vicious slander of Joseph (39:16-18).It was William Congreve who wrote, "Heaven has no rage like love turned to hatred, nor hell a fury like a woman scorned." Potiphar’s wife label’s Joseph an attempted rapist. His master in turn throws him into prison. Yet in spite of the shame and slander Joseph suffered in silence!

Joseph’s suffering in silence is powerfully moving (39:19-20). He could have spoken but he chose to remain loyal to God and to his master and suffer in silence. Imagine how he must have felt being accused of immorality! Think of the pains his spirit must have felt knowing he was pure in heart! All of this he now endures inwardly and prison outwardly because he would not compromise. But he suffered silently! In Joseph’s suffering though God gave him success (39:21-23).

Again Joseph becomes a success! If you and I were analyzing it we would say he was a miserable failure. Sold into slavery. Shamed into prison. When people live in their circumstances they will fail but when a person, just like Joseph dares to believe that God has a purpose for him and he seeks with all his heart to fulfill that purpose, he will not fail! It’s not the circumstances. It’s the relationship

I told you at the beginning that everyone of us could leave here today a success. Not one person has to leave here a failure. This portion of Joseph’s life teaches us what success is and what it is not.

It teaches us that success is not determined by the circumstances in which I find myself. That means success is not based on material satisfaction! Joseph was destitute when he arrived in Egypt and was destitute when he was thrown into prison but he was successful! It also means that success is not self promotion. Joseph could have been successful if he would have taken the popular approach of success at any price. He could have compromised his way to the top but instead he knew the true source of his success. This definition of success shows us that success is not a problem or pain free life! Over and over we read how Joseph was blessed and successful but here he was in prison! He was a success! This shows us that the source of success is not a positive mental attitude! Joseph had never read a positive thinking book or been to a self-help seminar. All he knew was that the Lord was with him. Nor is success pleasing everybody! All Joseph would had to have done was give in to the seduction of Potiphar’s wife and he would have it made. He could have had a position but he would have lost his character. All of those things base their source of success on circumstances. If the circumstances aren’t correct then you fail! It’s not he circumstances.

Well, if that is what success is not, what is it? Success is having a relationship with God that is stronger than my circumstances that causes me to become the person God wants me to be and to obey what God wants me to do. On either side of the seduction are comments about Joseph’s success. His success was his relationship with God. If your definition of success is anything more or less than this you will struggle with failure all your life. You can settle this issue about success today by yielding to the hands of God that he is going to make you into the person He wants you to be and to choose to obey with all your heart what he asks you to do!

Randall Cunningham quarterback for the Minnesota Vikings was one game short of going to the Super Bowl this past January. Under his leadership they compiled a 15-1 record only to have been beaten by the Atlanta Falcons in the NFC Championship game. There is no doubt that Cunningham has achieved success. Four years ago though, he was at the bottom.

For several years Randall Cunningham was the quarterback of the Philadelphia Eagles. He was a scrambling type of quarterback and was very effective in Philadelphia. He was known as a typical egotistical player that taunted the press and abused his fame and fortune. In 1995 that came to an end when the Eagles changed their offense. Cunningham was cut and ended up laying tile for his own contracting business. While on his knees in strangers’ kitchens and bathrooms, he came to appreciate what he had lost and what success really was. It was during that year off that God humbled him and when he came back he dedicated his life to being a vessel , a servant. He has dedicated his life to a daily relationship with the person of Jesus Christ. This past January he signed a contract to play five more years with the Vikings for 25 million-dollars. He wants desperately to lead Minnesota back to the Super Bowl. He wants to be able to say on ESPN Sportscenter, "I thank God for this!". Yet his greatest desire regardless is to hear the words "Well done my good and faithful servant!". You see it’s not the circumstances. It’s the relationship.

Your continuing to become the person God wants you to be demands a relationship with God through Jesus Christ! It is impossible, then, for an unbeliever to be a success from this definition. Regardless of your degree or lack of degree, financial position or lack of it, you can be a success because every situation of your life is moving you toward the person God wants you to be – conformed to the image of His son!

What’s necessary? Your continuing to obey what God wants you to do demands a constant growth toward the likeness of Christ! Col. 2:6-7 says, "And now, just as you accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord, you must continue to live in obedience to him. 7Let your roots grow down into him and draw up nourishment from him, so you will grow in faith, strong and vigorous in the truth you were taught. Let your lives overflow with thanksgiving for all he has done." Again, regardless of what is seen outwardly, you can be a success by doing the will of God in growing as a Christian. There is not one of us here today who can’t fulfill this definition of success! You may never be known far and wide, you may never be wealthy or materially prosperous, you may even fail in your business goals. But you can be a success! You can continue to become what God wants you to be and you can continue to obey what God wants you to do. It’s not the circumstances. It’s the relationship.

Sunday, August 29, 1999

Dr. Bruce Tippit, Pastor

First Baptist Church

Jonesboro, Arkansas

btippit@fbcjonesboro.org