The Birth of Jesus Christ
18 This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit.Lk 1:35 19 Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorceDt 24:1 her quietly. 19 Lk 1:35; Dt 24:1
20 But after he had considered this, an angelS Ac 5:19 of the Lord appeared to him in a dreamS Mt 27:19 and said, "Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus,[c] Jesus is the Greek form of Joshua, which means the Lord saves.S Lk 1:31 because he will save his people from their sins."Ps 130:8; S Lk 2:11S Jn 3:17Ac 5:3113:23,28S Ro 11:14; Tit 2:14 21 Lk 2:11; Ac 13:23,28
22 All this took place to fulfillMt 2:15,17,23; 4:14; 8:17; 12:17; 21:4; 26:54,56; 27:9; Lk 4:21; 21:22; 24:44; Jn 13:18; 19:24,28,36 what the Lord had said through the prophet: 23 "The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel"[d] Isaiah 7:14Isa 7:148:8,10—which means, "God with us." 23 Isa 8:8,10
24 When Joseph woke up, he did what the angelS Ac 5:19 of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. 25 But he had no union with her until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.ver 21S Lk 1:31 25 Lk 1:31
This Sunday –
Fourth Sunday of Advent.
The beginning of a great advent ure.
I remember getting my hair cut on the 17th of August 1973.
I remember the barber who was cutting my hair who happened to be a bit of a cult hero in Dunedin at the time – well he was chatting away like life was just normal.
But see I was on the edge of something.
The very next day I was to be married to my fiancée Heather Grace and I remember thinking – this guy doesn’t understand – I am about to make the most momentous change in my life and he just wants to make small talk.
Over the 34 years since that day life has been a great adventure and journey of faith.
That is only my little life – but imagine the great adventure that Mary and Joseph were embarking on all those years ago.
On the face of it they were just on a journey from Nazereth to Bethlehem to fulfill some requirements about a census.
No big deal.
Inconvienient perhaps and very poor timing, given, that Mary was pregnant.
But just an ordinary day in the life of two respectable but relatively unremarkable residents of Nazereth.
But something had happened before that made this journey – momentous.
Before I got my hair cut in 1973 I had met and got to know Heather to such a degree that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her. In fact I still do.
But before Joseph and mary set off for Jerusalem there had been some remarkable changes in their lives.
Some of those changes they knew about.
Some of them they probably didn’t or at the bwest were only bvaguely aware of.
For example take the prophecies that predict Jesus’ coming that are scattered throughout the old Testament.
At best Joseph and Mary probably only had a vague connection between these words and the life of their baby that was about to burst into their lives in ernest,
But things had happened – remarkable things.
The remarkable things we read about in our opening passages this morning are just some of the things that happened before jesus’ bbirth.
But even in that one short reading we read accounts of an angel – prophecies about what was about to happen – In this reading we read:_
1.There was a spiritual event that impacted upon Joseph. – An angel appeared before Joseph.
2. There was strong Biblical backing to what was happening:_
22 All this took place to fulfillMt 2:15,17,23; 4:14; 8:17; 12:17; 21:4; 26:54,56; 27:9; Lk 4:21; 21:22; 24:44; Jn 13:18; 19:24,28,36 what the Lord had said through the prophet: 23 "The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel"[d] Isaiah 7:14Isa 7:148:8,10—which means, "God with us." 23 Isa 8:8,10
3. Joseph obeyed God. 24 When Joseph woke up, he did what the angelS Ac 5:19 of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. 25 But he had no union with her until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.ver 21S Lk 1:31 25 Lk 1:31
This morning I want to suggest to you that not only are we in the advent season in relation to the Christian church and the Christian season called Christmas but also we are on the edge of an amazing adventure with God.
Advent can, for the Christian be a great teacher to us of what god is wanting to do with our lives in the future.
This morning I want to take these three points and to use them as an encouragement to you of how God is in work in your own life at this very moment to propel you into an amazing life of faith and service to God.
In fact I want to say that there is a Christian principle here that is – Advent always leads to Adventure. Here I am not talking about adventure in the rather tedious sense like merely climbing some great mountain or crossing some ocean or sea in a kayak.
Here I am talking about an adventure that leads to something that so impacts the world that it is never the same again.
Great missionaries and Christians like Hudson Taylor, David Livingstone, and Hudson Taylor discovered this for themselves as they stepped out and lived out the call of God on their lives.
But you don’t need to be David Livingstone to live like this!!!
When Jesus grew up from a baby to me and became a minister of the gospel he uttered two profound words to his followers that have been fundamental in Christians having huge impact on world culture.
Those two words:_ Follow me!!!
Let us look at the first point:_
1.There was a spiritual event that impacted upon Joseph. – An angel appeared before Joseph. Joseph was a skilled tradesman a carpentar in small town Bethlehem.
Imagine , if you will Joseph going to bed one night and going to sleep but having an amazing dream where an angel appears to him in such dramatic fashion that it changes his whole life.
Many people have had extraordinary events that have set them off in a completely new direction.
God speaks to people in many different ways. Clearly in Josephs life it was important for joseph to hear from God in emphatic fashion because of his important strategic part in God’s plan to save the world.
But in William wilberforce’s life it was a conversation with a brilliant but very unusual minister that triggered of his journey with God.
Isaac Milner was a giant of a man and always jcular joking about all manner of things. But Wilberforce said “On the matter of religion he seemed entirely serious.
Once Wilbberforce mention a Mr Stillingfleet, who was minister at Hotham, saying he was a Goodman, but one who carried things too far.”
“Not a bit toofar.” Shot backMilner.
“This declaration surprised me,” says Wilberforce, “and it was agreed that at some future time we would talk the matter over.” He goes on to say. “Had I known at first what his opinions were it would have decided me against making him the offer; so true is it that a gracious hand leads us in ways that we know not, and blesses us not only without, but even against our plans and inclinations.”
Here I think William Wilberforce explains this point clearly:_ so true is it that a gracious hand leads us in ways that we know not, and blesses us not only without, but even against our plans and inclinations.”
This apparently casual conversation led Wilberforce to Christ and the England eventually to totally abolish slavery.
In your live or mine whether it is a casual conversatuion like wilberforces with Milner or direct intervention as Joseph experienced with an angel of God, our spiritual adventure will be begun by some circumstances that God, through the work of His Holy spirit has arranged for us.
And we must not be surprised if god will not use us in some remarkable way as well for the same purpose.
On your adventure you may be the ver “Angel” that god chooses to use to help another to know Christ.
2. There was strong Biblical backing to what was happening:_
22 All this took place to fulfillMt 2:15,17,23; 4:14; 8:17; 12:17; 21:4; 26:54,56; 27:9; Lk 4:21; 21:22; 24:44; Jn 13:18; 19:24,28,36 what the Lord had said through the prophet: 23 "The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel"[d] Isaiah 7:14Isa 7:148:8,10—which means, "God with us." 23 Isa 8:8,10
There is strong biblical backing to the obedience that Joseph pracitised.
The Angel quotes prophetic words from the past to convince Joseph that he is to do as he is to do.
Whenever you have a project that god puts before you it is important to check if it is in fact in keeping with the word of god as described in the scriptures.
This should happen at several levels.
Don’t just find one proof text and use that as justification for your actions.
Rather find texts that are helpful by all means but grow in your understanding of the bible so that you know the mind of God as transmitted through a wider and thematic understanding of the bible.
As you grow in this you will less easily be duped by taking a scripture out of contect.
I hope this is not too cute for you but a text out of context is sometimes a pretext!!!!!
The great early failures of movements such as the seventh day Adventists – the mormons and the Jehovah Witnessess can track themselves back to this phenomenon in part.
The Church has always been at it’s strongest when it uses the bible as a basis for checking when people have thought they have discerned the voice of the Holy spirit.
William Wiberforce was not a man who had the experience of hearing from god in more mystical ways.
But he had a deep and abiding dependence on the scriptures.
The hours he spent praying and meditating on the scriptures over the years were truly impressive.
My third point was
24 When Joseph woke up, he did what the angelS Ac 5:19 of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife.
Joseph obeyed God.
We may not always understand just what it is that god is giving us to do. But we may understand the instruction clearly.
It is obedience to the instruction rather than fully understanding them that will be important.
Joseph was given a task that no one can really understand.
A preacher was leaving Victoria Station in London. Sitting across from him in the little train compartment were two men in their late thirties. About ten minutes out of the station, one of the men had an epileptic seizure. It caused him to fall off his seat. His friend lifted the striken man up and put him back onto the seat, took off his overcoat, and put it around him as a blanket. He rolled up a newspaper and put it in his mouth, incase the man bit his tongue. Then with great compassion, he lovinglty blotted the beads of perspiration on the ill mans forehead. After a few minutesthe man came around and dropped into a deep sleep.
The friend turned to the preacher and said “We were in Vietnam together. We were both wounded. I lost a leg.. My friend had half of his chest blown away by a hand grenade. The rescue helicopter was blown out of the sky and we knew that all hope had gone. My friend somehow picked himself up. He screamed with pain with every move he made. Then he reached down – grabbed my shirt and started pulling me through the jungle. I tried to tell him to give up on me. I pleaded with him to save himself, and I kept telling him that there was no way that he was going to get both of us out of the jungle. I’ll never forget him saying, “Jack, if you die in this jungle, I’m going to die here with you’ I don’t know how he did it, mister, but step by step, scream by scream, he pulled me out of that mess. He saved my life!
A year ago I found out about his condition and that somebody had to be with him all the time. So I sold up everything I owned in New York, and came over here to take care of him. Don’t be impresses, You see, after what he did foer me, there isn’t anything I wouldn’t do for him.”
The Christian is someone who recognizes what Jesus did on the cross to accomplish salvation, and in response says to Jesus, “After what You did for me, there isn’t anything I wouldn’t do for you.”
The three points to our sermon were:-
1.There was a spiritual event that impacted upon Joseph. –
2. There was strong Biblical backing to what was happening:_
l"[d] Isaiah 7:14Isa 7:148:8,10—which means, "God with us." 23 Isa 8:8,10
3. Joseph obeyed God.
Now if you are a Christian there is a Spiritual event that has impacted on your life – it is being born again – becoming a new creation.
You may have had other spiritual events but everything centers around this first one.
Secondly There is strong biblical backing for that.
What is left? - Obedience
Many Christians falter at this point – Why?
Because they are too busy?
No not at all because business is about priority.
I think it is matter of love.
You see my final point really should be Joseph obeyed – in love.
What we love is what will dictate what we do.
Do we love financial security – that will dominate our time.
Do we love reputation and community respect?
Then we will strive for it.
Do we love Jesus Christ – the He will dominate our landscape.
Richard Bellinger was the son of a Baptist minister.
One Saturday night Richard decided to polish his Father’s shoes.
The following night his father put a silver dollar on his son’s bedside drawers with a not commending him for what he had done, and telling him that the dollar was his reward.
The next morning, when the fater put on his shoes, hhe felt something hard and metallic in one of them. Examination of the shoe showed that the silver dollar was inside but a note had been added.
It simply read “I did it for love!”
To be a christian is to love Jesus so much you want to be like him out of loving gratitude for what he has done for you.
Three things that will propel you from Advent into Adventure next year.
1.A spiritual event that impacts upon you.
2. Back it up with scripture.
3. Obey god in love,.
