Matthew 1:18-25
Learning to Trust God
Have you ever been driving down the road, trying to get somewhere with your navigator or your smart phone giving you directions? And you start doubting whether that thing really knows what it’s talking about? Now I’ve had it work out both ways. Sometimes that little device has taken me around in circles, until I finally refuse to listen to it anymore. But others times...oh, if I’m honest, most of the time I’ve doubted, Siri was right and I was wrong! It’s hard to trust your GPS.
And sometimes it’s hard to trust God. Consider the parents of the Messiah. Have you ever tried to imagine that first Christmas through their eyes? The gospel of Luke has the most detailed birth narrative, but this year we’re going to look at the shorter version in the gospel of Matthew. Here you won’t find any shepherds. The wise men come later. What we do find here is Joseph’s story. And we’ll borrow a little from Luke to get Mary’s perspective. And let’s watch this young couple as they learn to trust God through some very difficult moments, all revealed through that first Christmas. Three lessons from the earthly parents of Jesus: First,
1. Make yourself available
The second half of verse 18 tells us of a pending scandal Mary and Joseph faced:
18b Before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit.
Well, this could be a problem, could it not? Biblical teachings and Jewish culture call for sexual purity before marriage. Mary was a Jewish teen, deeply committed to God, when the angel Gabriel showed up and threw her world upside down. He told her she would birth the Savior of the world, the one who would inherit King David’s kingdom and rule forever. When she asked how that would be possible, since she was a virgin, he replied that it would happen through the Holy Spirit. And her response?
“I am the Lord’s servant...May your word to me be fulfilled.” Luke 1:38
Mary made herself fully available to God. She recognized that God was her master, and she was his servant; God was the potter and she the clay. She was perplexed by the scientific possibility of it all, but she was made herself a willing vessel in the hands of God.
Joseph felt the same way about God. Matthew 1:19 says he was “faithful to the law,” or a “righteous man” (v. 19), which tells us he was trying to order his life to be most pleasing to God. God’s law was Joseph’s plumb line.
When you live your life committed to God, one moment at a time, one decision at a time, one day at a time, you open up your availability for God to use. Joseph and Mary became part of the very first Christmas and helped change the world.
Make yourself available to God, and #2,
2. Treat others well
It’s not enough to seek to please God; we are also supposed to love one another. Listen to these verses, from 1 John 4:19-21:
19 We love because he first loved us. 20 Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. 21 And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.
Joseph gets high marks for love in the Christmas story. Catch his dilemma in Matthew 1:19:
19 Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.
Back then, if you were faithful to the Law (or your translation might say, you were a “righteous person”), and your fiancée cheated on you, the righteous thing to do was to denounce them as quickly and as loudly as possible. That way, everyone knew you stood on the side of the Law. It was the only way to protect your own reputation. Some people still act like that today.
Yet, that was not the case with Joseph. He went to bed sad that night. He wanted to stay in God’s plan, fully available to God (point 1), yet he also wanted to treat Mary with compassion and respect (point 2). So he decided to divorce her quietly. (Yes, back then, if you wanted to break an engagement, you had to get a divorce.) That was his way forward, to treat her graciously regardless of how he felt she might have treated him. He was living the Golden Rule, to treat others how he would like to be treated.
Couldn’t this world use a little more application of the Golden Rule? Could this world use a little more civility? I believe that is why the new Mr. Rogers movie is doing so well, because we emulate someone who lived by the principle that everyone deserves respect. We can show our love for God by showing our love for each other, like Mr. Rogers, like Joseph.
Joseph decided to divorce Mary quietly, to protect her reputation as much as he could. And then an angel invaded his dreams. And that brings us to part 3, which is to...
3. Follow the Holy Spirit’s promptings
How important was it that Joseph listen to God that night? Quite important, right? The plans he had made were in direct conflict with God’s plans. What if he had shrugged off his dream, refused to pay attention to it? But that’s not what he did. Look at what he did next, in verse 24:
24 When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife.
There is no hesitation here, no debate with God. Joseph woke up, he found Mary and said, “Let’s get married!” And they headed to the courthouse to tie the knot. Well, not to the courthouse, but probably to the nearest priest.
If you will make yourself fully available to God’s work and treat others with respect, you will most likely be in a position to follow the prompting of the Holy Spirit. Maybe your prompting will come through a dream, like it did for Joseph. Or maybe it will come from a memory verse that springs to mind, of from a devotional reading, or from something you hear from a radio or TV preacher. You may receive an impression from a friend, or a scripture you read, or a song you heard. You will hear from God, and as soon as you do, Henry Blackaby says THAT is your invitation to follow God.
Joseph followed God’s nudging and did exactly what the angel said to do: he married Mary. And he named the baby Jesus, which means, “God saves.” That’s an accurate name, don’t you think?
Please note what Joseph did NOT do: he did not stick with religious tradition when it could damage a person. He did not put pious religious activity ahead of the well-being of another. What he DID do was to follow God’s nudging, even when it put himself at risk. Joseph would pay a price, as would Mary. Their reputation would be forever marred. However, they would also be blessed beyond measure, and would forever be revered by billions of believers.
Joseph and Mary earn our tremendous respect. Yet what they did is not beyond what God calls any one of us to do. We are part of the story, too, God’s unfolding story. And our obedience is key to what he wants to do in and around us each and every day. Joseph and Mary named the baby “Jesus” because he would save the people from their sins. 2,000 years later, God is still in the saving business, and he is ready to use you and me to help accomplish it. All as we make ourselves available, treat others well, and follow the Holy Spirit’s promptings. Let us pray:
Thank you, Father, for Christmas, for the birth of the Savior of the world, Jesus. What a special event! And thank you for using natural human beings, Mary and Joseph, to usher in this supernatural event. As you used this special couple for the unfolding of your plan, will you still use us today? Help us to be committed to you and your ways, to love others as you first loved us, and to pay attention to your promptings. So that you will be glorified and your Kingdom expand.
Perhaps someone here needs to receive the very best Christmas gift ever, the forgiveness of all their sins and a relationship with you forever. Please help them trust you with their life right now, Father, as the grown Lord Jesus becomes their Master and they his servant.
We pray all this in the name of Jesus Christ, in the power of the Holy Spirit, amen.
-----------------------------------
For welcome time:
As a little girl climbed onto Santa's lap, Santa asked the usual, "And what would you like for Christmas?"
The child stared at him open mouthed and horrified for a minute, then gasped: "Didn't you get my E-mail?"
---------------------------------------
Matthew 1:18-25
18 This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. 19 Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.
20 But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream 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, because he will save his people from their sins.”
22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet:23 “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”).
24 When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. 25 But he did not consummate their marriage until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.
