Sermon Tone Analysis

Intro…Fear can take on many forms…I remember a battle I had with fear when I was a freshman in high school...

...fast forward to 2021…as I completed my masters I had to contemplate the next steps…I had a lot of baggage from my past churches…no church is going to want a pastor with baggage…I was growing afraid that God had shelved me and there was not going to be a place for me in ministry anymore…I was fearful of making myself and my baggage known to others…I was afraid to take any steps forward even though I knew God wasn’t finished with me yet...

Transition...What fears have paralyzed you here this morning?

What are the next steps God wants you take by faith, but there is something in your heart and mind you fear will happen that keeps you from moving forward?

You know there are things you ought to be doing that give others a better testimony of your Savior but you are afraid of what they might really say to you.

Maybe you are struggling with sharing Christ with your friends, family, neighbors, etc. because you are afraid of the ridicule or rejection.

Perhaps you are struggling as a husband to begin taking the leadership in your home.

You’ve not done it in the past and you are fearful of the push-back or arguments if you do it now.

As a wife, you’re fearful of the decisions your husband makes or will make and so you struggle to submit to his leadership.

As a teenager or young adult you are afraid to let your peers know how committed you want to be in your relationship with Christ and that means you have to make some significant changes to your activities and conversations with them.

Perhaps many of us here this morning see the response of our culture to Christianity and we are afraid to set the example of righteousness in our spheres of influence so we let others dictate how we think and act.

Are you here this morning struggling to find the necessary courage to be obedient to the Scripture because your fear of man is greater than your awe of God?

Defining Fear

Healthy respect for danger (this is not the fear we are talking about this morning)

An unpleasant feeling of anxiety or apprehension caused by the presence or anticipation of danger

An overwhelming concern about something that threatens to bring bad news or results

What bad news or results do you fear so much that you are willing to disobey God to avoid?

As we continue our Christmas Series: Responding to the God of the Impossible…we see ourselves living in a time when believers who stand for what is right are often ridiculed and scorned…this has created a fear amongst God’s people to continue doing what is right.

Many believers want to live in isolation because they are afraid of public humiliation or “cancellation.”

Believers become comfortable with compromising their faith in front of others because the thought of losing friends by taking a stand for God is “too hard for them”.

We have a God who does the impossible…who can meet you where you are, change your heart, and make something beautiful and good out of what you think is impossible.

Last week Pastor Matthew showed us the response of the wise men to the God of the Impossible…God communicated truth to these Gentiles in a way that seemed impossible (a star and then by a dream) and they responded with obedience to follow that supernatural sign, and then when they found Jesus they worshipped Him as king… The Jewish leaders, who had more information about the birth of the Messiah than the Gentiles, responded with indifference…Herod responded with hatred.

Although they had the truth of the Old Testament prophecies, it made no sense to the Jewish leaders that the King of the World would be born in a small town with little to no significance…humanly speaking it seems impossible for the king of an entire nation to be born anywhere else than an important city to the culture or without the fanfare of a royal birth.

It made no sense to King Herod that he had to compete with a child.

It was impossible that Gentile people of wealth and significance would travel all that way to worship a child.

We know that’s just the way God likes to work isn’t it…using the foolish things of this world to confound the wise...

Believing that means we can find hope in knowing that God can take what seems impossible to us and make it possible.

God can take that which paralyzes us in fear and equip us with the courage we need to face that fear!

Not only can He make it possible, but in His sovereignty, He will accomplish everything we need in our life to conform us to Christ.

So this morning as we examine the response of Joseph to the God of the Impossible we can see that...

Main Point: God Provides the Courage to Overcome Your Fears.

Read Matthew 1:18-25…this is historical narrative…(explain)…through the guidance of the Holy Spirit, Matthew serves as the narrator to this story…he chose specific details for a reason.

The principle characters of this story are Mary, Joseph, God, and an angel.

The thrust of this text is to show the miraculous birth of Jesus as the Messiah fulfills the Scriptures…he just laid out his genealogy to show his spiritual pedigree gives him that right…

In every historical narrative, the narrator reveals something about the principle characters that is instructive to his audience…let’s examine the character of Joseph.

Our knowledge of Joseph is limited to what Matthew and Luke tell us...

We know he is in the lineage of David...

we know an angel appears to him, and he is present when Jesus was born...

we know he takes Jesus to the temple when he was 8 days old...and he takes Mary and Jesus to Egypt when Herod was trying to kill him...

Joseph also took his family each year to Jerusalem for the Feast of the Passover and so he was alive at least until the Lord was 12 years old...

after that, you never read about Joseph again, and the assumption is that he died sometime before Christ began His public ministry...

so we don’t know a lot, but what we do know about his story gives evidence to extraordinary faith and impossible courage...

His faith is going to help him make an impossible decision…

God is going to give him impossible courage - let’s start at Matthew 1:18...

now, we probably need to stop there for several reasons, because the details here are very important...

As Pastor Matthew told us last week, the gospel of Matthew presents Jesus to the nation of Israel as the King...

That is why you see His birth line…the king’s genealogy was very important...that is what the first 17 verses are about...

if you compare this to the gospel of Mark, which presents Jesus as the servant...do you find nothing about a genealogy at all...the birth line of a servant is not important...

but when you think about Christ from the perspective of being the promised king who will one day sit on the throne of David...genealogy is crucial...

now, if you just glance over the verses...you find a similar formula...so and so was the father of so and so...or if you have an older translation of the Bible...so and so begat so and so...it is primarily about the fathers---there are a few women mentioned—but always along with the husband and father...

until you get to verse 16...read...

So if you are a careful reader you should observe there is something unusual about the birth of Christ...specific language is used to show that Jesus was uniquely born of Mary...without apparent involvement by Joseph...

how that occurred becomes patently clear in the next verses...but Matthew is already alluding to that as early as verse 16...

We also need to provide some further clarification here…this text tells us that Mary was betrothed to Joseph…

it was similar to our engagement period, but more formal and binding...

After a couple was betrothed to one another, they still lived separately it was a period of testing where they abstained from sexual relations...but they were actually called husband and wife at that point in the relationship...

and to dissolve a betrothal, which would happen because of infidelity during the betrothal period, there actually had to be a divorce...

The text also tells us that during this betrothal period, which generally lasted 12 months, Mary was “found to be pregnant”… in Joseph’s eyes she was unfaithful…people are going to talk..

Joseph is facing an impossible situation and God gives him the courage to make the right decision

Let’s look for Two aspects of the character of Joseph that God used to produce the courage to make the right choice.

Joseph’s heart was right with God

Joseph was a man of God

Old Testament description – Job 1:8 “The Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job?

For there is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, fearing God and turning away from evil.””

Righteous -- innocent, holy

One who with his whole heart wanted to live in accordance with the will of God.

There is something significant here that all of us need to recognize that is often lost in the Christmas stories…

We say Joseph was a man and that Mary was a woman often thinking of adult men and women.

Most conservative scholars suggest that Mary was probably around 13-14 years old when the angel appeared to her...it is generally believed that Joseph was about 16 years old...

So we are not talking about someone who has been around the block a few times…who has gained a bit of life experience that can make some decisions a bit easier…Mary and Joseph were teenagers burdened with great responsibilities…we all know how tough it is to be a teenager…especially now…keep that in mind as we progress.

So when we say Joseph was a “man” we are really talking about him as a teenager!

Joseph was a man of God whose heart was filled with mercy.

Something important to keep in mind here…Matthew tells US the child is of the Holy Spirit, but it is not until the angel speaks to Joseph in the dream he discovers the truth...

So you can imagine with a good level of certainty the conversations between Mary and Joseph…the idea here is that it has become obvious Mary was pregnant…Joseph knew the baby was not his!

Think about it…you are a teenage boy with a wife you discover is pregnant by someone else!

What would you do…what fears do you think Joseph is dealing with at this point.

Joseph had 3 options to take.

1.

He could have appealed to OT law which meant she would have to die.

Deut.

22:23-24 ““If there is a girl who is a virgin engaged to a man, and another man finds her in the city and lies with her, then you shall bring them both out to the gate of that city and you shall stone them to death; the girl, because she did not cry out in the city, and the man, because he has violated his neighbor’s wife.

Thus you shall purge the evil from among you.”

the penalty for this kind of apparent behavior during the betrothal period was being stoned to death.

because of general laxity toward biblical law during this period of history coupled with the Roman influence on Jewish customs...there is no evidence that this penalty would have been carried out...but at least from an OT perspective, that is how important chastity was to be considered among God’s people...

2.

He could have exposed her to public condemnation.

there would have been some sort of public shame placed upon her...

Remember...he was a righteous man…which meant that she had embarrassed him, or shamed him...at least it would have certainly appeared from his perspective...so this option would put the shame where some would think it belonged…think about the conversations Mary and Joseph had to have with their parents…public sentiment would have been on Joseph’s side here....so when the baby was eventually born, it would not appear that he was involved and his reputation would be preserved...

and when you think about the argument of the text...that is probably what you would have expected...Joseph was a righteous man...and he could not let this turn of events mar his testimony...but that is not the focus of the righteousness that is being discussed...

3.

He could choose a private divorce.

the text indicates this is the plan Joseph was taking...

Joseph was not focusing on how he had been hurt, how he had been mistreated or betrayed [as it would certainly appear at this point]...that was not his concern...

The text says he did not want to disgrace the woman he loved...that’s merciful faith...it’s a tender righteousness...

we of course don’t know the exact passages of Scripture that were motivating and directing Joseph to respond this way but Joseph knew God clearly wants him (and us) to have hearts that are full of mercy...

Psalm 18:25 “With the kind You show Yourself kind; With the blameless You show Yourself blameless;”

Psalm 25:10 “All the paths of the Lord are lovingkindness and truth To those who keep His covenant and His testimonies.”

Micah 6:8 “He has told you, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of you But to do justice, to love kindness, And to walk humbly with your God?”

Point is that somewhere, somehow, in advance of receiving this potentially devastating news about his fiancé, he had cultivated a heart of mercy.

His love for God and for Mary overruled a desire for vindication!

Character aspect #1 — Joseph’s heart was right with God.

Character aspect #2...

Joseph listened to the Word of God