Matthew 1
19 Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not wanting to make her a public example, was minded to put her away secretly.
20 But while he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, "Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.
21 And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name JESUS, for He will save His people from their sins."
22 So all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying:
23 "Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel," which is translated, "God with us."
24 Then Joseph, being aroused from sleep, did as the angel of the Lord commanded him and took to him his wife,
25 and did not know her till she had brought forth her firstborn Son. And he called His name JESUS.
In the Catholic Church we were taught a lot about Mary. The teaching of the Immaculate
Conception (not to be confused with Franco Harris’ Immaculate Reception in the Steelers’s 1972-playoff game) referred to Mary being born sinless. The Bible does not teach anything like that, nor does it teach that Mary was a perpetual virgin.
We know that God had His hand upon Mary, and the man that Mary was engaged to was also included in God’s plan. It wasn’t just a matter of Mary being chosen, and part of the package that God was stuck with was Joseph also. It was not an accident that Joseph was chosen as the one who would be an earthly father to God’s Son.
The fact that God respected Joseph was certainly recognizable from these verses we just read. God had an angel speak to Joseph in a dream to bring him up to speed and to give Joseph the same details that were given to Mary.
Once again, I am reminded of this amazing fact: God not only has a plan, but He includes us in His plan!
There are some insightful teachings that are shown in these verses that we can apply to our lives today:
1. There are attributes that enable us to hear from God
· You must be a fair person (Joseph, being a just man…)
Joseph was a just man, what a great quality. All of us have been the victims of someone who was unjust and unfair. If you were in a position that was lower that theirs you know how miserable life could be for you.
The Bible has always stressed character. When Paul gave Timothy a list of qualities to look for when appointing pastors in the church, he emphasized character:
1 Timothy 3:2-7 A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, temperate, sober-minded, of good behavior, hospitable, able to teach; not given to wine, not violent, not greedy for money, but gentle, not quarrelsome, not covetous; one who rules his own house well, having his children in submission with all reverence (for if a man does not know how to rule his own house, how will he take care of the church of God?); not a novice, lest being puffed up with pride he fall into the same condemnation as the devil. Moreover he must have a good testimony among those who are outside, lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil.
Did you hear that list of character qualities? In our minds we think, “A pastor needs to be a good speaker, a good promoter, and be good at administration.” God said, first he needs to be someone who is fair.
Micah 6:8 He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?
DO JUSTLY is listed first.
· You can’t be a vengeful person (not wanting to make her a public example…)
There have been times when all of us wanted to “even the score.” Just give me the opportunity to “get even” and I will take it!
Vengeance is not at your disposal; you have no rights to it.
Hebrews 10:30 “Vengeance is Mine , I will repay,” says the Lord.
Vengeance is God’s exclusively…so don’t mess with it!
When you see God bring His judgment upon those who have done evil, be careful that you don’t become part of it. Listen to what God had to say to the Moabites:
Obadiah
11 In the day that you stood on the other side — In the day that strangers carried captive his forces, when foreigners entered his gates and cast lots for Jerusalem — even you were as one of them.
12 "But you should not have gazed on the day of your brother in the day of his captivity; nor should you have rejoiced over the children of Judah in the day of their destruction; nor should you have spoken proudly In the day of distress.
13 You should not have entered the gate of My people in the day of their calamity. Indeed, you should not have gazed on their affliction in the day of their calamity, nor laid hands on their substance in the day of their calamity.
14 You should not have stood at the crossroads to cut off those among them who escaped; nor should you have delivered up those among them who remained in the day of distress.
15 For the day of the LORD upon all the nations is near; as you have done, it shall be done to you; your reprisal shall return upon your own head.”
Not only can’t you be a vengeful person, but you cannot even cheer when God brings His vengeance on evil doers.
Let’s learn some more about the attributes that enable us to hear from God.
· You must be concerned about protecting others (Joseph was minded to put her away secretly…)
Joseph could have publicly condemned Mary for being pregnant with a child that was not his. The penalty for such a thing was death. He was not the kind of man who could do that. He was determined to protect her. What a great attribute.
We see that same attribute in Jesus. The high priests had sent a mob to arrest Jesus in the garden, and we see Jesus protecting His disciples.
John 18:8-9 Jesus answered, "I have told you that I am He. Therefore, if you seek Me, let these go their way," that the saying might be fulfilled which He spoke, "Of those whom You gave Me I have lost none."
Listen again to the description of love that Paul gives us in 1 Corinthians 13:
1 Corinthians 13
4 Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up;
5 does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil;
6 does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth;
7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Love causes us to protect others, and not just be concerned about how we look.
Philippians 2:4 Let each of you look out not only for his own interests , but also for the interests of others.
· You can’t be a person of hasty decisions (while he thought about these things)
We know that some rash decisions in the Old Testament were disastrous.
Remember when the Gibeonites came to make a covenant with the Israelites, they came dressed in old patched garments and worn out sandals, they came carrying moldy bread and torn wineskins. Then the Israelites made a hasty decision.
Joshua 9:14 Then the men of Israel took some of their provisions; but they did not ask counsel of the LORD.
We also remember the rash vow that Jephthah made:
Judges 11:30-31 And Jephthah made a vow to the LORD, and said, “If You will indeed deliver the people of Ammon into my hands, then it will be that whatever comes out of the doors of my house to meet me, when I return in peace from the people of Ammon, shall surely be the LORD's, and I will offer it up as a burnt offering.”
What a disaster it was when he got home:
Judges 11:34 When Jephthah came to his house at Mizpah, there was his daughter, coming out to meet him with timbrels and dancing; and she was his only child. Besides her he had neither son nor daughter.
God knows what is ahead so He has plenty of time to prepare you in advance. So all you need to do is follow His peace.
Colossians 3:15 And let the peace of God rule in your hearts…
A literal translation says let the peace of God act as the umpire in your heart. In case you haven’t noticed, peace is rarely present when you are making hasty decisions.
Joseph gave us an example of not making hasty decisions.
2. God has intimate knowledge of us
· Joseph (God knows us by name)
God knows your name too. Not only does God have knowledge of us now, He has always known us. Listen to what He said to Jeremiah:
Jeremiah 1:5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations.”
David wrote this:
Psalms 139:16 Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, the days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them.
That the Lord had the angel call Joseph by name is significant.
· son of David (God knows our past)
Joseph was referred to as the son of David. When we read Jesus’ genealogy last week we learned that Joseph’s father was named Jacob. Here the Lord skips all the previous generations and goes back to the fact that Joseph was a descendent of David.
This reminds me that God knows our past.
But He never uses our past against us. God was not referring to David as the adulterer, because God forgave that the minute he asked to be forgiven. Listen to what the Lord said to David’s son Solomon:
1 Kings 3:14 “So if you walk in My ways, to keep My statutes and My commandments, as your father David walked, then I will lengthen your days.”
The same is true of us.
Isaiah 43:25 “I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake; and I will not remember your sins.
Psalms 103:12 As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.
God knows your past, and has chosen not to remember the wrong you have done.
· do not be afraid (knows our emotions)
God knows exactly how you feel at every moment. The events that were happening around Joseph were causing him fear, that was the first thing that the angel addressed.
Psalms 103:14 For He knows our frame;
He remembers that we are dust.
Sometimes we expect more from ourselves than God expects from us.
3. God gives us steps to take now that will take us where He wants us to be in the future
God doesn’t simply say, “Figure it out!” Rather, He tell us what we need to do next. Look at what he told Joseph:
· Take Mary to be your wife (“do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife”)
· When her son is born, name Him Jesus (she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name JESUS)
· Jesus will be the savior of the world (“for He will save His people from their sins”)
The Bible tells us that God will guide us to the next step we need to take.
Psalms 37:23 The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD, and He delights in his way.
We always want to know the nest 5 or 6 steps, or the next 500! God will tell you what step you need to take when you get there, and so often we are frustrated because we want to know the next step before we need to know it. God is not running late, it just appears looks like it from your perspective!
Listen to what is written in the book of Proverbs:
Proverbs 4:25-27 Let your eyes look straight ahead, and your eyelids look right before you. Ponder the path of your feet, and let all your ways be established. Do not turn to the right or the left; remove your foot from evil.
“Look straight ahead, and ponder the path of your feet.” Don’t get distracted by what you are seeing on the right and on the left, keep looking straight ahead. “Mentally weigh” the path you are taking…don’t just go, think about it and wait.
Remember, waiting never weakens you.
Isaiah 40:31 But those who wait on the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.
If you don’t see the next step…just wait, you will.
4. God has a reason for everything that He is doing right now
There are things that don’t make sense to us at the moment. That is okay, you will understand it later. Right now we walk by faith, not by sight!
We read in Matthew 1:
This was done to fulfill prophecy
Why was it necessary for a virgin to be with child? Because there was prophesy that had to be fulfilled.
Remember this very important fact:
Even though we may not understand, we still have to obey
Joseph still didn’t have all the answers.
He still had questions about the details.
But, questions never excuse us from obedience.
Obedience is the first thing that qualifies you to be treated as God’s treasure.
Exodus 19:3-5 And Moses went up to God, and the LORD called to him from the mountain, saying, “Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel: ‘You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to Myself. Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine.’”
God has a reason for what He asks you to do. Although you may not understand it right now, you will.
1. There are attributes that enable us to hear from God
2. God has intimate knowledge of us
3. God gives us steps to take now that will take us where He wants us to be in the future
4. God has a reason for everything that He is doing right now