Sunday, December 7, 2008

Joseph: What Now? - December 7, 2008

Audio Version HERE.

Matthew 1:18-25

Welcome to Advent, week 2 …

Last week, it was Mary …
This week, Joseph … next week, the Inn Keeper, and Advent 4 – the Shepherds …

Let me ask a question:
Is there anyone here who ever had to change plans unexpectedly?

Of course … live long enough, and unexpected changes are required … that’s living 101 …

A friend cancels lunch …
The boss wants us in Tupelo instead of Paris …
The car breaks down …
A thousand little things that require unexpected changes.

And sometimes big things … serious things …
Job loss …
Illness …
The death of a loved one …
What I call, A hard twist in the road …

What now?

Such was Joseph’s situation …
Engaged to Mary …
Wedding plans in hand …
Customs honored …
Things as they should be …

But, then, one of those “oh, oh” moments …

Joseph, I’m pregnant.

Let’s take a look at the story … please, open your Bibles to Matthew Chapter 1, verse 18 – p. 1 in the New Testament … ….

As I speak, “oh, oh” moments all over the place …

The auto industry reeling …
Wall Street stumbling …
Jobs lost …
Tens of thousands in foreclosure …
Consumer confidence - way down …
Retail sales – way down …
Vacations on hold …
College delayed …
Fewer gifts under the tree …
Less entertainment …
More meals at home …
Hot dogs instead of steak …
Even for the comfortable, the pinch is real … investments have taken a huge hit …

All kinds of “oh, oh” moments …

A friend of mine enrolled in seminary … a second-career guy with a calling – he had to make a lot of adjustments just get into seminary.
But then it wasn’t long after getting into the swing of things, that he developed heart problems … the road ahead suddenly filled with obstacles … what looked simple now became uncertain …
A tough transition …
Anger, frustration, fear …
Why did God call me? Only to put me through this?

But my friend made it …
He believed in God …
Trusted God …
Put his life into God’s hands …
He swore and cursed about it …
He cried about it …
Didn’t like it one bit …
But he made it …
Faith didn’t make the road easy; faith got him over the bumps and through the woods …

There’s always a way …
Always a way through, around, under or over …

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me …

Basic spiritual principle … God at work in ALL things for good …

But I don’t want God to always be at work in all things for God … I want to grumble and groan, mope and moan … feel sorry for myself … and get others to feel sorry for me … it’s fun to host my own pity party!
If God is really at work in all things for good, then I have to think again about my attitude …
I have to put on my spiritual eyeglasses – to look for God; look for the good … because God is there … and so is the good.

And another spiritual principle: God will keep us in the hard place until we learn to find the good … until we learn the lessons of gratitude and humility …

Like an old gold mine – we think it’s played out; there’s nothing here … but God says, Dig a little longer, dig a little deeper … there’s still gold in this mine.

The truth is this: If I’m not grateful for the grace of God in hard times, what makes me think I’ll be grateful for the blessing of God in the good times?
If I don’t practice kindness right now, when will I do it?
If I’m not a person of faith, hope and love right now, when?
Next month, next year, next job, next marriage, next relationship, next whatever …?
No, it has to be now.
It can be now!

As I was preparing this message, I thought of one of my favorite stories from the Book of Acts …

Paul the Apostle had his plans …
Paul wanted to go East …

Listen to the Tex- Acts 16:

When they had come opposite Mysia, they attempted to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them; so … they went down to Troas … (Acts 16:6ff).

Who hasn’t planned on going to Bithynia?
Who hasn’t been stymied?
But there’s always Troas …

There’s always a way through, around, over or under.

When life hands you a lemon,
Add a little sugar and make lemonade.

A friend of mine reaching back 40 years …
A fellow-pastor …
Lost his wife 15 years ago to a brain aneurysm … a bitter loss that turned his world upside down … the church he was serving at the time couldn’t cope with his grief and asked him to leave … he stumbled and struggled …

But I’ve watched him add sugar …
The sugar of faith …
None of it easy … his lemonade is made with tears and trembling …

Along the way …
Another women came into his life …
She, too, a widow … having lost her husband tragically …

Love blossomed … and both have helped each other grieve the loss of a first love …
They add the sugar of faith to a bitter chapter in life …
It’s still bitter-sweet for them …
But they rejoice in love anew …

There is always a way through, around, over or under …

Poor Joseph … a righteous man …
Not self-righteous … but really righteousness … a God-lover, serious about the things of God … a man of faith …

In other words, Joseph wanted to do it right!

Joseph decides to call it off quietly … “give the ring back” so to speak … no fanfare, no public announcement … just end it quietly … she must love someone else.

Here’s where the story reveals a lot about Joseph:
He could have put Mary on trial …

The law allowed for an adulterous woman to be stoned to death … (Deuteronomy 22:20-21) …
Remember the story of the woman “caught in adultery”?
The mob brought her to Jesus … they were ready to stone her.
But Jesus writes in the dust … wish I knew what he wrote … and then said to the mob, The one without sin can cast the first stone … and with that, the mob melted away …

Jesus had a fatherly example in mind …
Not just a heavenly Father …
His fatherly father, Joseph …

Joseph refused to humiliate Mary and bring her to trial …
The law would have been on his side …

But are some things in this life more important than just being “right” …

Joseph chose the better way …

Only then did God break in …
An angel dream …
Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.

Why did God wait so long to clear things up …?
Was God waiting to see what Joseph would do?
Was God waiting to see what kind of man Joseph really was?
What kind of father he would make for Jesus?
What kind of an example he would be for God’s own son?

Paul the Apostle would write thirty years later to Christians in Corinth … about a way of life … a still more excellent way …

Not law, but love …
Not about being “right” but being righteous …

If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gone or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.

Joseph was more than right, he was righteous …
He chose the better way …
And that’s when God stepped in …

God stepped in to finish the deal … God enabled Joseph to take the next step.
To take Mary for his wife, and be the earthly father to the Son of heaven.

A partnership between a man of faith and a faithful God … Joseph had to choose, and choose he did, the better part … and God helped Joseph finish it …

When things fall a part …
When the unexpected happens …
When there’s a hard twist in the road and we end up in the ditch …

There is always a way through, around, over or under …

But we have a role to play …
A choice to make …
A faith to live …

I can’t think of a better example than Joseph …
Faced with a lousy “oh, oh” moment …
Joseph chose love …
And God’s love finished the deal!

Amen and Amen!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Lovely--as I read it I "heard" it in your voice. Not as good as the real thing, but it will have to do.