First Baptist Church
November 30th
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      • Luke 2:21–35NIV2011

      • Lamentations 3:25–26NIV2011

      • Psalm 130:5–6NIV2011

  • Welcome

    Welcome to the second Sunday of Advent! Advent is a season of waiting, waiting to celebrate the birth of Jesus and waiting as we await his second arrival. That is why this year we are talking about waiting all throughout Advent. Last week we talked about waiting for a long time. We looked at Simeon and how he had to wait for years before he was able to meet Jesus face to face. In his waiting though, he grew in righteousness and in his walk with God. Today, we are going to look at Joseph from the Christmas story and consider how he had to wait.

    Prayer

    Joseph had a different kind of wait than Simeon. Joseph had a plan for his life and within a short span of time, all of that went out the window. Joseph’s waiting wasn’t difficult because of the length of time, but because it must have been so confusing.

    I. The Crisis of the Wait (vv. 18–19)

    Matthew 1:18–19 NIV
    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. 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.
    Matthew starts off by specifically saying who Jesus is when he begins to write about his birth. These are the details of the birth of the Messiah, Jesus. Matthew isn’t writing the Gospel in a way where he wants the readers to slowly discover that Jesus is the Messiah over the course of the book. He wants everyone to know immediately that this Jesus that he is writing about in the Messiah that the people had been waiting for. Matthew begins by focusing on Joseph, the man who was engaged to Mary, Jesus’ mother. I know we have likely heard these details before, but they are good to be reminded of as we consider Jesus’ birth. Joseph and Mary were engaged, and back then engagement was different than how we practice engagements. When you were engaged to someone during Joseph’s time, it wasn’t something that you could just call off. The process of becoming man and wife had essentially began and so if you wanted to call off an engagement you had to actually present a reason for divorce. It’s during their engagement that Joseph finds out that Mary is pregnant. They have not been together intimately and so for Joseph, this must mean that Mary has been unfaithful. She has been with another man and now the life that Joseph had been preparing for was quickly falling away.
    Once again, I know we have heard these passages over and over and we can become numb to them. But think about what this was like for Joseph. He had been waiting for while to actually get married and now it looked like that wasn’t going to happen.
    (Illustration on waiting for Amy and I’s wedding day. Out of our friend group we were engaged first, we picked our wedding day first, and everyone else who got engaged after us picked the 4 weeks before us to have their weddings. We had to go through a wedding every Saturday for around 4 weeks before we got to our own wedding. That time period of waiting for the wedding was full of excitement. Waiting for this new part of life, imagining what our future is going to be like.)
    Joseph was probably feeling those same things. Imagining what life was going to be like. How many kids would they have? Where would they live? And in a moment, those thoughts and plans quickly fade. This is another instance where it would be so interesting to know more of how this conversation went. How far along was Mary when she told Joseph? Did she tell him right away? How did he respond to her saying the pregnancy was caused by God? Think about that for a moment. If I was in Joseph’s shoes, I would think “oh sure, Mary. That sounds so real, God got you pregnant, sureeeeee...” But based on what Matthew writes, I don’t think that is how Joseph responded. We’re told that Joseph was faithful to the law yet he didn’t want to expose Mary. During this time period Joseph could have presented her unfaithfulness to the religious leaders and Mary could have suffered greatly as a result.
    Instead of doing that though, he wants to end things quickly and quietly. Most people in Joseph’s shoes, when dealing with an unfaithful partner, would want some kind of vengeance. Yet Joseph chooses the route of mercy instead. He doesn’t want harm to come to Mary, he wants the best outcome possible for her considering the circumstances. Think about the thought process that Joseph had to go through during this time. He wasn’t waiting around a long time like Simeon, instead Joseph was likely confused. Why God? Why did this happen? How could Mary do this? Why am I having to deal with this? Think about the uncertainty that Joseph must have had.

    II. The Voice in the Wait (vv. 20–23)

    Matthew 1:20–23 NIV
    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. 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.” All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”).
    Verse 20 tells us that only after Joseph had considered these things, did an angel appear to him in a dream. This isn’t like Mary told Joseph she was pregnant one afternoon, he thought about it for that day, and then an angel appeared that night. Joseph went through all of the emotions and thoughts that made him arrive at the decision to divorce Mary quietly. It was after Joseph went through that time, that God spoke to him. God often waits until we are at the end of ourselves, we are out of our own ideas, before he intervenes.
    But the angel shows up and refers to Joseph in a unique way. He says, Joseph, son of David. Why is that interesting? Because in all of the New Testament, only two people are referred to as the “son of David.” Joseph here and Jesus, later in his life. And if you go back and look at chapter 1 before we started, it’s a genealogy. This genealogy shows that Joseph is a direct descendant of King David. God had promised David that he would establish Davids throne and that his son would rule on it forever. As we look at these events then, we can see God’s promises from hundreds of years ago proving that Jesus is the promised Messiah. He is the promised son of David that will rule forever.
    The angel then confirms what Mary has likely told Joseph. That this baby was conceived by the Holy Spirit and that this baby is the one who will save people from their sins. (I think it’s interesting that this early on we are told what Jesus was being sent to do. He wasn't being sent to free the people from Rome or oppression, he was sending Jesus to save people from their sins)
    Matthew also reminds us of what Isaiah had said long ago, this Messiah would be Immanuel, God with us. This is key here. God in entering into his creation as a man and is literally with his creation fully as a man and also fully God.

    III. The Obedience of the Wait (vv. 24–25)

    Matthew 1:24–25 NIV
    When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. But he did not consummate their marriage until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.
    He did not argue. He did not ask for a Plan B. He "did as the angel of the Lord commanded him." Now, there was a certain cost to following what the angel told Joseph. Next week as we look at Mary we will see what it cost her as well, but by naming the child Jesus, Joseph was claiming the child as his own. He was making the baby his legitimate child despite the fact that he was not the biological father. This matters because people would have known that Mary was pregnant before they were married and by accepting this child, by naming him Jesus, Joseph is taking on that public disgrace he had hoped to keep Mary from.

    Conclusion: The Gift of Peace

    What does this mean for us then? How does Joseph’s story apply to us? Well, first, it shows us once again who Jesus is and who we celebrate this time of year. Jesus is not just a great person in history. He is the Messiah, Emmanuel, God with us. The one prophets have spoken about and generations have watched for. This is an account of the birth of our savior and how amazing it is.
    Second, it shows us the peace that is available to us in this middle of these confusing wait times in our life. Chances are everyone in this room has at some point prayed, “Why God? Why is this happening? Why am I going through this? How could this happen to me? What am I supposed to do here?” This is a confusing wait. Why would God even be allowing all of this to happen. Now, there is a lot to be said about these times in life, but specifically today, I want us to see that peace was available to Joseph because he trusted that God had a plan in this. Peace for Joseph was not knowing everything and how it would all work out. He didn’t get a detailed ten year plan from the angel, he didn’t even get a detailed weekly plan. He was just told, this is from God, take the child as your own. Joseph had his own plans, his own dreams for his life, but it was likely when he surrendered them to God that he felt peace about the situation.
    When we are in these times, when we are confused about what is happening, we have to recall that peace is not the absence of trouble, but the presence of God. We don’t have to have all of the answers, when we recognize that God is with us. Jesus, when speaking to his disciples, told that they he would send the Holy Spirit to be with them.
    John 14:25–27 NIV
    “All this I have spoken while still with you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.
    Jesus offers us his peace. This peace is better than the absence of these confusing times in life, this peace comes from the presence of the Holy Spirit. Like Joseph, our fears and troubles can be silenced when we rest in God’s presence. When we recognize that God is with us during these confusing waits, we are able to have peace.

    Prayer

    Open Communion
    Give him the name Jesus because he will save his people from their sins. Jesus comes from the Hebrew name, Yeshua, which means, Yahweh saves. The Lord saves. It is through the cross that Jesus does this. He takes away our sin by enduring the cross. He does so that we might live. As we receive the bread and the cup, know that it is only Jesus who saves us from our sins.

      • Matthew 1:20–23NIV2011

      • Matthew 1:24–25NIV2011

      • John 14:25–27NIV2011

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