“As To The Lord, And Not To Men”

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Genesis 39:1 “And Joseph was brought down to Egypt; and Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, captain of the guard, an Egyptian, bought him of the hands of the Ishmeelites, which had brought him down thither.”

Genesis 39:2 “And the Lord was with Joseph, and he was a prosperous man; and he was in the house of his master the Egyptian.

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The Bible says in Ephesians 6:7 “With good will doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men:”

If you read for context, you’ll find that Ephesians starts out by telling us all about who Christ is, what he’s done for us, his grace and love for us, and all the riches that we have in him… hopefully he is what you’re rich in, and where you’ve banked your riches!

We all understand the stock market, and fancy a sneaky investment that might 10x for us to fast track our wealth creation right? …well one day soon, all stocks are gonna go to zero “And the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her; for no man buyeth their merchandise any more:”

… but Jesus Christ ticker: Kingofkings is going to go 100%! “…and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth.” Yeah, there’s only one investment that truly counts.

Anyway, Ephesians is a great book about Jesus Christ, and it’s for Christians, because you’re entitled to none of it if you’re unsaved… but it is written so you can be saved and be part of it too “… and you”. FOMO?

But then the doctrine of Ephesians flows into how all this manifests, proves itself and flows through our lives… aka . practical Christian living, the outworking of the inward faith. How could Christ in you not change your life?! Channels only, blessed Master!

And the good news is… remember, we love a bit of equality… well, no one is excepted… because it’s got something for everyone, and the same thing for everyone! So whether a child, a parent, a servant, a master… even bond or free (Hello Joseph in the book of Genesis) the Bible says the same thing on repeat… which is, do what you do as unto the Lord, and not to men…

That way you’re not going to get all disappointed and burnt out when life chucks you it’s curveball. Yeah you’ve got it all mapped out for now, but we are one visit to the doctor away from our little life being shattered into a million pieces right.

The Bible is emphatic that we should not live unto men, but unto God. Uh oh, that kind of hits us all a bit, we may feel like that lawyer who felt the sting of Jesus rebuke to the Pharisees hit him also “Then answered one of the lawyers, and said unto him, Master, thus saying thou reproachest us also.”

Now yeah, you may still have some confidence in man and the institutions of man. Seemingly history may have taught you not much just yet! Because the history of man is disappointment. Thus if you live unto man, you will always be disappointed. Government will routinely disappoint your whole life, but you’ll still vote with renewed confidence like this time it will be different. You’ll live your life trying to bank someone’s good graces only for them to burn it all in one moment. Look, man is a fallen creature, we trust Jesus not man, Jesus himself didn’t commit himself to man… why would you?

We all need to judge ourselves first and foremost, and ask our selves… is why I do what I do because of Christ or because of man?

I’ve found personally that this phrase “as to the Lord, and not to men” to be lifechanging and so needful for me, and I know it will ABSOLUTELY change your life dear Christian. It certainly changed Joseph’s life, giving him a miraculous life in impossible circumstances.

The Bible says he was a “prosperous man”… but if you read his story… how could that be!? … because when you live in Christ and unto Christ God will make you prosper where you’re at… because the circumstances are not God, he is God IN the circumstances.

… kind of shines a little differently to the way the world and phoney Christianity sells prosperity aye.

But these life changing words “as to the Lord, and not to men” are modelled in the Bible by one of the truly great characters of the Bible… who did this as a child, father, servant, master, bond and free… a man called Joseph in the Bible… my namesake! I don’t think I’ve added to it’s prestige to date!

Look, Joseph lived in quite an insane situation… the way he was treated was terrible… you may wonder how did make it, do it, and thrive in it all? And although he knew how the story would end, and so do we, it doesn’t make it easier as we are stuck in time, unable to see outside and beyond but for faith, as that faith is fiercely tested as his was in the fiery cauldron of this world. He wasn’t whistling dixie and thanking his brothers for grabbing him and chucking him down to die of thirst and starvation in the pit.

But the Bible tells you how he did it and why he kept doing what he did… because he wasn’t doing what he did unto man.

When he didn’t bed Potiphar’s wife, it wasn’t because daddy or mummy might find out, it wasn’t because she wasn’t attractive, it wasn’t because he couldn’t justify or rationalize it or be forgiven to ceding to lust of the flesh… he didn’t do it because he was living unto God “how then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?”

When Joseph so faithfully served and benefited Potiphar, it wasn’t because Potiphar was an amazing bloke, it wasn’t because he was trying to make the best of a bad situation, it wasn’t because he was trying to manipulate Potiphar’s fickle good graces, it wasn’t because his situation wasn’t awful, it wasn’t that it didn’t hurt that his brothers had sold him into the sentence he was serving… it was because he served his master as unto the Lord… he was doing what he did for God as unto God with God in mind “that in all things he might have the preeminence”

When Joseph got lied about and chucked in the dungeon for doing Potiphar the biggest solid anyone ever had done him! and then was the doer of what was done there, and when he helped others with the meaning of life, it wasn’t because prison and the dungeon wasn’t a horrendous place to be, it wasn’t because being forgotten and let down again didn’t hurt and he was immune to human emotion… it was because he just kept on living and doing and serving the Lord.

That’s how Joseph made it. And didn’t just make it, but he even could walk in one day to people who were sad in prison and ask them why they were so sad. It wasn’t because he was an idiot, it was because his hope, his life, his focus, his fulfillment, his validation, his approval was all based on God. He pinned his heart and soul in the right place, to the anchor that never lets you down, to the rock that cornerstoned the building of his life. He was living unto God, not just talking about it… we know he was a “doer”.

If Joseph had been living unto people, unto “man” he would have burnt out, he would’ve been so ruined by bitterness, resentment, unforgiveness and being a victim, he would’ve rotted away as many people do. Instead, when he finally gets remembered by the butler a couple years after… and they haul him out of prison to stand before Pharaoh, he scrubs up well, and there’s no trace of thirteen years of mistreatment and being a victim and blame on him.

Because he’s lived his life unto God. He’s not going to misrepresent his God, and he lived out “Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place.” The Bible is different when you’re living it. You won’t need a movie made about it to make it more real to you when you’re living it. Get off the sidelines! And so attractive was the living testimony of this man that Pharaoh realized, I don’t have anyone in my kingdom like you, and he committed the whole country and basically the fate of the world into his hand. And Joseph’s life resulted in the salvation of his whole family. That’s how much in the end a life spent just serving God in whatever state stage or season you’re in can amount to.

May we live and do what we do as unto God. Not mummy, not daddy, not to meet human expectations and obligations, not to man please, not to manipulate, not as a device… Do what you do because of God, for God, to God. It’ll save us from all the tricks and traps of man pleasing, being disappointed by others not living up to expectations, obligation based relationships, and getting engaged in, bogged down by and drawn into the whole mess. Live unto God, he’ll know about it, and he will change your life and you’ll come out on top in Christ Jesus! “and we shall see what will become of his dreams”!

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