Are You Ready For Christmas?

According to the law, Mary should be stoned to death. But Joseph loved her so much that he didn’t want that. So he decided to divorce her quietly.

As he was thinking about this, an angel came to Joseph in a dream & in effect said, "Joseph, trust God. He is in this. You may not understand all that is happening, but just trust God & everything will be all right."

B. Joseph was evidently a man of faith. But sometimes it is hard to live by faith. If God always does what we expect Him to do, then maybe it’s easy to have faith. But when God doesn’t do what we expect, then it’s hard.

Joseph trusted God. Even though he must have had a list of questions a mile long, he trusted God because he believed that God’s will was best.

APPL. We find ourselves in much the same position as Joseph. Christmas comes as a time of peace, but there is conflict. Christmas comes as a time of joy, but there is so much sadness. Christmas comes as a time of love, but there is so much hatred in our world.

We cry out, like Joseph must have cried out, "God, how can this be?" But like Joseph we hear a still small voice from God saying, "Trust Me."

God’s ways are not always our ways. His thoughts are higher than our thoughts, & we may never understand everything that God is doing this side of heaven, but God says, "Trust Me, & it will all work out."

Paul wrote, "We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose."

Christmas happened because Joseph trusted God. And we need to learn to trust God, too.

II. LEARN TO CARE ABOUT OTHER PEOPLE

The second thing Joseph teaches us is this, "We need to learn to care about other people."

You know, Joseph’s assignment was a pretty simple one, & that is the way we often portray him in our Christmas plays. We picture Mary with a halo over her head, looking so angelic. Over here are excited shepherds, & over there are the wise men with their gifts of gold, frankincense & myrrh. In the midst of them all is the Christ child in the manger, looking so pure & clean.

Over there on the side stands Joseph. His isn’t a starring role, but his part is so important. His task is this, "Take care of Mary & the baby Jesus." Joseph had the important role of caring for the needs of others.

APPL. Christmas comes once a year, & this season probably causes us to be more sensitive to the needs of others. But there is so much that needs to be done that we often find ourselves frustrated. But still we try. Maybe the finest descriptive title that can be given a church is this, "A church that really cares."

ILL. One of my favorite stories is about a young couple with an 18-month old son who had gone to spend a few days with the grandparents at Christmas.

Christmas Day fell on Sunday that year & the young father had to be back at work on Monday morning. So right after going to church together, the young family said their "good-byes" & set off for home.

There weren’t very many filling stations open since it was Christmas Day. But they did find a truck stop that was open. So they stopped to get fuel & something to eat.