The Thrill Of Hope (4) - Hope Is Here

Something about me is I rarely if ever watch the news on television anymore. I read it and follow stories online to stay informed but as for watching the news on TV, regardless of the bent of the news channel, I don't watch it. There's a variety of reasons why. One of those reasons is I absolutely despise all the attention our news media gives celebrities. Some of the news stories about celebrities political views or personal events or what they had for dinner is something I couldn't care less about. Let Taylor Swift sneeze and there's a news story about it. And a few years ago when all the coverage began about the Royals and how they were fighting and the prince and his wife were leaving royalty, that was my last straw. All this attention about billionaries fighting about who was more pious was beyond my patience. But even though I was fed up with the coverage, clearly there are many viewers who love this stuff. That's why they cover it. That makes sense because we are a celebrity driven culture. We love, borderline obsess, over celebrities. Let a famous person be near and people lose their minds.

Every year during this season, we hear much about the various characters of Christmas. People like Mary, the shepherds, the wise men (Who didn’t even show up until a couple of years later), even the sheep, donkeys and even a little drummer boy who isn't real are portrayed in this event as its reenacted year after year. One fellow, namely Joseph, is treated merely as an extra. He's largely ignored. He shows up in the Christmas program, but he brings no gifts, he sings no songs and he makes no speeches. He just stands there in his sandals and his robes, watching the scene unfold around him. Well, today, I want to set the record straight! As I read the Christmas story, I am convinced that Joseph possessed certain elements in his life that make him stand out as The Unsung Hero Of Christmas. He's an unsung celebrity if you will of the Christmas story. And its through him we begin to understand what the name Emmanuel means.

The very idea of being with someone famous or well known is exciting, but recognizing that God is with us should make us amazed because of who God is. God with us should cause us to be in awe because of who we are talking about. This is God, not a famous athlete or celebrity, this is the God who knit you together in the womb, who knows what is on your heart and mind at all times. And His promise is he is with you. Bible Passage Matthew 1:18-25 (ESV - English Standard Version) Scriptural Explanation In this section of scripture we hear the name Emmanuel. Emmanuel means God is with us.This is where the rubber meets the road. This is where faith in the Christ becomes personal. God is with me, walking with me, The song writer says, “And He walks with me and talks with me and tells me I am His own.” Oh yes, some people know the Christ as Jesus, but they have yet to experience with as Emmanuel. It is at the Emmanuel level where you walk God, and deal with Him, and interact with Him on the earthly and personal level. What does that name Emmanuel, really mean?

V18-19 By the time of the narrative in Matthew, Mary is approximately four months pregnant. She has spent three months with Elizabeth, her relative, but now returns to Nazareth, where she “was found” to be pregnant. Now we know this pregnancy isn't public knowledge yet, because Joseph can still divorce her privately. Matthew states simply that the child was conceived through the Holy Spirit. Without knowing of the supernatural origin of the conception, Joseph naturally thinks that Mary has committed adultery. As a righteous man it was appropriate & in some communities required for him to obtain a certificate of divorce.

Joseph is experiencing a personal dilemma. He cannot follow through and marry her, because that would condone what he thinks is Mary’s sin of adultery. Divorce for adultery was not optional but mandatory among many groups in ancient Judaism, because adultery produced a state of impurity that, as a matter of legal fact, dissolved the marriage. Yet, his concern for her long-term reputation compels him to avoid exposing Mary to public disgrace. The law did not require the deed to be made public, making allowance for a relatively private divorce.

This is a scandal. Mary is pregnant. Yet she is betrothed to Joseph. Joseph is not the father of this baby. This would be still scandalous in our anything-goes, play-by-your-own-rules culture, imagine how it would have been in their anything-does-not-go, abide-by-God’s-rules culture. Mary was in a tough spot. But Matthew reminds us that Joseph’s spot wasn’t any softer. The character and compassion of Joseph is revealed in this dilemma. Joseph intends to maintain his personal righteousness, yet his desire is also to have compassion for the woman to whom he is engaged, even though he considers her an adulteress. Joseph is a moral man who stands for rightness, but he is also merciful, which is a rare combination. Most people are either moral or merciful. Joseph is a man to be admired and copied.

VS 20-23 The angelic appearance in a dream provides the guidance Joseph needs. The angel dramatically announces to Joseph that the conception of the child is from the Holy Spirit, not from Joseph (which Joseph knows personally) or any other man (which he has suspected).

The Messiah is given two important names in Matthew 1; both of them point to who he is and what he will do for his people. The first is the name we know best: Jesus. The angel told Joseph: “She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21). The very nature of what Jesus will do is summed up in his name: “he will save his people from their sins”!

The second name is Emmanuel. We have no record of Jesus ever being called “Emmanuel” by his family or followers. Instead, as Matthew translates it for us, we see that the name is intended as a title to indicate Jesus’ messianic identity: “God with us.” Both his common name and his titular name indicate profound truths: Jesus specifies what he does (“God saves”), and Immanuel specifies who he is (“God with us”).

Matthew declares that the events surrounding the conception of Jesus fulfills directly the prophet Isaiah’s sublime prophecy made during the dark days of national threat under the reign of Ahaz, king of Judah. You don’t have to turn there, but Isaiah chapter 7 tells us a story about King Ahaz and Judah. And King Ahaz and the people of Judah are shaking in their boots… they’re literally afraid for their lives. Isaiah says they’re like trees trembling in the wind. They’re afraid because word on the street was that two other kings had gotten together, and they were going to come and wipe out Ahaz and Judah.

With this threat on the horizon, Isaiah meets with Ahaz and tells them, these two kings are no threat to you at all. You don’t have to worry about this, there’s no need to be afraid. Isaiah says, "Ask God for a sign. Ask Him to show you that He’s going to take care of this for you & that He’s going to be WITH you." Ahaz, who is kind of a stubborn, grumpy, get off my lawn kinda king, says, "I’m not going to ask God for a sign." Isaiah says, "Well, you’re going to get one anyways."

And it’s here that Isaiah says, "A virgin girl will conceive and have a baby and His name will be Emmanuel, which means God with us." And before Emmanuel grows up to know right from wrong, those two kings will be wiped out. So every time the name Emmanuel is called out, Emmanuel, it would be a reminder to the people that those two kings would not attack, and God will be with us.

Matthew says here that Isaiah’s prophecy was about Mary conceiving by the Holy Spirit and that Child would in fact be God WITH us! A promise from hundreds of years before hand, this promise of God being WITH us. A promise made by God, a promise kept by God. His name is Emmanuel, God with us. For Joseph while confusing and scary it also had to feel thrilling that hope was on the way.

VS 24-25 In keeping with his “righteous” character, Joseph obeys the Lord’s directives. Verse 25 goes beyond what the angel explicitly commands, but further refutes any claim that might be made then or later that Joseph himself was Jesus’ biological father. Joseph married Mary, but he refrained from having intimate relations with her until after Jesus was born. To me, this absolutely refutes the Catholic teaching that Mary was a virgin perpetually. The word here is he knew her not until she had birthed Jesus. We know that at least two of the writers of the New Testament, James and Jude, were the offspring of Joseph and Mary. Joseph acts like Old Testament men and women of God who obeyed God’s call even when it went against all human common sense and what culture would say. Joseph was like his ancestor David, a man after God's heart. Application KEY TRUTH No matter the circumstances, You Have Hope, because God is With us.

The primary character of this section is Joseph, which flows naturally from the genealogy, as he is a son of David. Joseph is an example for us in the way he establishes his priorities. His purpose for his life and relationships stays focused on maintaining his righteous standing before the Lord by his obedience to the law. His commitment to righteousness is striking. Joseph’s obedience to the law is not legalistic. He is concerned not only about his own obedience to the law, but also about showing compassion for Mary and having regard for her well-being. He does not abandon his faithfulness to the law in order to care for Mary, nor does he abandon Mary when her condition presents him with a dilemma about his own righteousness. Rather, he attempts to balance his obedience with compassion.

I think having an angel speak to you would change your mind about a circumstance. But I think there was something specific that the angel said that turned Joseph. I believe it was the two names that got Joseph's attention and heart. Those two names gave him hope that no matter the circumstances to come, he had hope.

First was the name Jesus. The name Jesus, which means “Yahweh saves," teaches that we cannot save ourselves, that ordinary flesh cannot save. God saves, and he inaugurates that salvation at the birth of Jesus. Jesus’ very name suggests that sin is humanity’s core problem. Jesus came to rescue his people from that state. The Lord was initiating our redemption by creating life once again, this time in the womb of the Virgin Mary.

Then, by identifying Jesus as “God with us,” the angel continues a theme that permeated in the Old Testament: God is with his people. When giving the law to Israel in the desert, God stressed: “I will walk among you and be your God, and you will be my people”. The significance of Jesus’ name as Immanuel, therefore, cannot be overstated. God has come to be with his people to fulfill the deepest meaning of the covenant. In Jesus, God is now with his people personally as their Savior. For Joseph, that had to be a powerful moment. Two thousand years ago, God looked upon our sin-ravished world, saw humanities hopelessness and all our futile attempts to make ourselves right with Him, and He did what we could never do—He came to us. When Christ came to earth, He quite literally became “God with us.” Not just with us, as a friend who walks beside us, though He indeed does that. But God with us, as in He comes to live inside us, giving us strength in place of weakness, courage in place of fear, and vibrant life in all those dark places that once felt dead. For Joseph, knowing hundreds of years of history and knowing that God had made promises of a Messiah who would save His people, would be a life changing moment. An angel telling him that the Messiah was coming to the world through Mary completely changed his heart.

God promised Mary and Joseph a son who would save his people from their sins. This promise of hope should bring us joy!

Joseph was chosen to be the surrogate father of Jesus because he was pure of life and pure of heart. He was the kind of man God could use, because God didn’t have to worry about Joseph getting in the way. In other words, he was yielded to the will of the Lord. He was open to that because he now knew that hope that no matter the circumstances to come, he had hope. That's what Emmanuel means.

In truth, God is and always has been with us. He is omnipresent, which means He is everywhere all the time. Speaking of God, the ancient psalmist David wrote, “Where can I go from Your Spirit?"

Joseph knew that God had always been present, throughout the universe. But now he understood that God would be physical present with His people as well. This was what made Him so different from all the false gods the pagan nations worshiped. Through a select group of people, the Jews, He revealed Himself as I Am—a present, personable and knowable God—to all people, triggering within them a hunger for intimacy with their Creator. He created mankind for relationship, but we rebelled against Him again and again, and though He remained with us, in the sense that His presence fills all of reality, this wasn’t true in a relational sense. Our sin separated us from Him, and this drove God to action. Through a baby, Emmanuel, He drew us close despite our sin, in a way the ancient world never could’ve imagined. God is with us by way of His promises made to us (2 Peter 1:4). God has promised His children that He will work all things together for our good (Romans 8:28). He has promised us that He will never leave us nor forsake us (Hebrews 13:5). God has promised that nothing will ever separate us from the love of God in Christ (Romans 8:38–39). He has promised to resurrect us from the dead and grant us eternal life and joy in His presence (1 Corinthians 15:53; Titus 1:2).

This baby was Joseph's hope for change. This baby is our hope for change. No matter the circumstances, You Have Hope, because God is With us. When I think about the person I am today, I am amazed how God has changed me—and I'm so grateful for the ways He allows me to help others now. There were times when I came very close to giving up along the way. But God was faithful to be with me, help me and keep me going on those days. I know that apart from Him, I am nothing. However, in Him, I have everything I need to live the abundant life He gives me in Christ. It is the same for you. You can all have the strength and confidence to keep going because of what Jesus has done for you...because God is with you every day. No matter the circumstances, You Have Hope, because God is With us. Conclusion This weekend is the release of sequel to the film Avatar. In the first film Avatar, the Marine Jake is put into a body like those of the natives on the moon Pandora. The bodies that people inhabit are called avatars. Jake ends up identifying so fully with the natives that he unites them, leading them in a war of independence from the humans. While not a perfect match, it is still illustrative of how powerful God’s love was for us, that he would leave the glories of heaven behind and take on the form of a servant, dying in our place. Our series, The Thrill of Hope, has been about the promises God made to send Jesus, then leaving Heaven to come rescue us.

The angel told Joseph, “‘They shall call his name Immanuel’ (which means, God with us)” (Matthew 1:23). In Jesus, God has entered this world and come to be with his people. Because Jesus is Immanuel, “God with us,” he is able to save us from our sins by offering himself—the one true, acceptable sacrifice for our sins. Because of that, no matter how worn down we may be in this life, we can be people who hope.

God really cares about you...a lot. Have you noticed that when God speaks to your heart, He does so with care and encouragement? He never asks us, “Why aren’t you more like this person?” or “When are you ever going to amount to something?” nor does He bash you with, “I can't believe you've failed, again!” That’s because when you're in Christ, God sees you redeemed, whole, and rescued. Many people don’t realize God sees them that way. In fact, if you have ever been hurt or rejected, you may have thought that God is mad at you and doesn’t really love you. But that is not true. The reason we have Christmas is to prove that God cared enough to send Christ to rescue you. Jesus came, He lived, He died, and He rose again, so we can have a real relationship with our Father Creator. Let it be our comfort & hope that God is Emmanuel. God is with us. He is here. He is present. He walks with you, He talks with you, He cares for you. That's what the angel told Joseph. God is here. Hope is here. Jesus is our Hope.

That's why when your world is broken because of sin, You Have Hope, because God is With us. That's why when your stress is at an all-time high, You Have Hope, because God is With us. That's why when your family is in shambles, You Have Hope, because God is With us. That's why when you've lost your job and even your career, You Have Hope, because God is With us. That's why when your addiction is crippling you again, You Have Hope, because God is With us. That's why when your child has turned from God, You Have Hope, because God is With us. That's why when you have turned your back on God, You Have Hope, because God is With us.