It's Not Too Late

Intro

I can remember when I was in grade school, I believe 1st grade. I wanted a lunch box with a thermos for I believe was my birthday. I know, I was a weird kid.

But it was just any kind of thermos, I wanted one that the lid doubled as a cup and when you screwed the top of it off there was a little spout that you could flip up and pour into the cup.

This sound oddly specific, and that’s because it was. You see I had a friend at school who had a thermos just like the one I described and I thought it was so cool.

I can remember telling my mom that I wanted one. Well, the day came for my birthday and we were having a party with all of my cousins and grandparents, aunts, and uncles.

And my aunt and uncle had gotten me a gift, and much to my surprise, when I opened it I discovered a brand new batman lunch box. Even cooler was that when I opened it, inside was a thermos to go with it.

I excitedly pulled the thermos out and screwed the lid that did in fact double as a cup off only to discover to much disappointment that it did not have the flip up pour spout I wanted.

Instead it was a twist off lid that you could open and then pout your drink into the cup or drink it directly from the thermos.

I wish I could tell you that I was grateful. I wish I could tell you I hid my disappointment. I wish I could tell you I said thank you and moved on to my next gift.

The truth is, the first thing out of my mouth wasn’t a thank you, it was a complaint telling everyone in the room, including those that got me the gift that it wasn’t what I wanted.

I was being selfish 7 year old in the moment who probably embarrassed my parents as I told my aunt and uncle I didn’t want the gift.

As a parent today, I can’t imagine what I would do if I heard one of my boys acting like that over a gift someone bought for them.

You see, I was disappointed. I had the vision in my mind of what this gift was going to be. I had built up excitement over it and pictured lunches at my school as I used my awesome thermos, much to the jealousy of my friends.

And when that didn’t happen, when things didn’t go the way I thought they would disappointment set in.

And disappointment has a way of blurring our vision. It has a way of preventing from seeing things as they really are.

I couldn’t see that I have just been given all these great gifts and that my parents had put on a birthday party for me. I couldn’t see how really cool the batman lunchbox and thermos were.

I couldn’t see any of those things because my disappointment caused me to miss out on all the good stuff that was going on around me.

This morning we are going to bring an end to this series we have been in the last couple of weeks where we have been looking at how certain individuals in the Bible missed out on something pretty special for one reason or another.

These are people who whether it be distractions or selfish motives, missed out on the first Christmas.

Today will be a little different however because the person we are going to look at today almost missed out on Christmas.

Power in the Text

We are talking about Joseph, the adoptive father of Jesus.

The Bible doesn’t tell us an awful lot about Joseph. In fact, the only time he is really mentioned is around the the Christmas story and once as Jesus is a young boy.

It appears that by the time Jesus becomes a man and enters into his ministry period that Joseph had already passed away.

But we do often remember about Joseph was that he was a Godly man who did the best he could to be there for young Mary.

Who did everything he could to keep her safe and find a place for her to give birth to her baby.

We see him as permanent fixture in our nativity scenes as the faithful husband and father of a baby that was not his own.

But the Bible tells us that before Joseph was all those things, he first had to confront the pain of his own disappointment. And it was this disappointment that almost caused him to miss out on the first Christmas.

Matthew 1:18 NLT 18 This is how Jesus the Messiah was born. His mother, Mary, was engaged to be married to Joseph. But before the marriage took place, while she was still a virgin, she became pregnant through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Now as Christians we have to come to accept this miracle as normal. We have the benefit of see everything Jesus did with his life in the scriptures; the miracles he would perform, the wisdom he possessed, and his resurrection and ascension.

We have the Holy Spirit that now dwells within each believer confirming in our own spirits that what we believe actually happened.

Joseph on the other hand didn’t have any of that. All Joseph knew was that is fiance who was supposedly a virgin was pregnant and it wasn’t his.

The shame this would have brought on him and his family name. The social implications of this kind of scandal were unfathomable.

Legally, Joseph had every right to have Mary shamed publically and even stoned to death.

Matthew 1:19 NLT 19 Joseph, to whom she was engaged, was a righteous man and did not want to disgrace her publicly, so he decided to break the engagement quietly.

Imagine the disappointment that Mary’s unexplained pregnancy would have brought on Joseph. Imagine what he was experiencing.

All of the unravelled plans and social stigma that would have resulted from such news if it were to get out.

Remember, engagement in this day carried the same weight as a marriage, minus the wedding night.

To break off an engagement required a certificate of divorce.

Joseph would have been completely justified in divorcing her and cutting himself off from this complicated mess, that is until God told him otherwise.

Matthew 1:20-23 NLT 20 As he considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream. “Joseph, son of David,” the angel said, “do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife. For the child within her was conceived by the Holy Spirit. 21 And she will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”

22 All of this occurred to fulfill the Lord’s message through his prophet: 23 “Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel, which means ‘God is with us.’ ”

The angel explains that Mary had been faithful to him. She was still in fact a virgin and that the baby she was carrying wasn’t another man’s but was something else entirely.

In fact the angel tells Joseph that this child was conceived not by a physical relationship with another man but by God’s Holy Spirit moving upon her.

To explain this further to Joseph this angel quotes a prophecy written in the Old Testament book of Isaiah some 600 years earlier when he says 23 “Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel, which means ‘God is with us.’ ”

This name Immanuel when translated means “God with us”.

Joseph had a decision to make. Does he trust God or does he allow his disappointment to prevent him from seeing what was happening right in front of him.

Does he allow his disappoint to prevent him from being part of something far bigger than his ego or reputations.

Matthew 1:24 NLT 24 When Joseph woke up, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded and took Mary as his wife.

Big Idea/Why it Matters

The Bible tells us that Joseph chose to trust God and rather than divorcing Mary he went through with the engagement and married her.

Joseph chose to not only take Mary as his wife but he chose to be a father to a child that wasn’t his own. Can you imagine the feelings of inadequacy Joseph would have felt trying to protect, teach, correct, and raise the son of God.

Joseph almost missed out on being part of God’s plan, but he overcame his fear and disappointment by placing his trust and his faith in God.

But Joseph isn’t unlike a lot of us is he.

We too can be part of God’s plan to be reconciled to Himself, His family, and His plan for our lives by trusting Him this Christmas season, too.

Christmas provides fresh opportunity to grieve over our disappointments. Some even take holidays as an opportunity to express their pain of past disappointments.

We can choose to keep reliving past pain, letting it steal joy from our present. Or, like Joseph, we can entrust our lives to God, knowing He can heal our disappointments and is able even to “do immeasurably more than all we ask for or imagine Ephesians 3:20 NIV.”

Don’t allow your own disappointment to cause you to miss Christmas, to miss out on God’s plan for your life.

Application/Closing

If Jesus really is Immanuel, God with us. That means that God actually came in the flesh. If that true then we get to know much more about God than we would have otherwise.

Jesus is the visible image of God. In Jesus we see...

God weep

God get upset over injustice

God cast down

God lifted up and exalted.

If Jesus really is who he claimed to be then we have pages upon pages to show us what he said, how he thought and felt, and what he wants from us, his followers.

Our understanding of God becomes so much more personal than any religion or worldview could ever hope to give us.

Pastor Tim Keller puts it this way...

“Look at what God has done to get you to know Him personally. If the Son would come all this way to become a real person to you, don’t you think the Holy Spirit will do anything in His power to make Jesus a real person to you in your heart? Christmas is an invitation to know Christ personally. Christmas is an invitation by God to say: Look what I’ve done to come near to you. Now draw near to Me. I don’t want to be a concept; I want to be a friend.”

We are a week away from celebrating the birth of Jesus. The single greatest moment in history where God chose to step into time and space, into the very creation he formed.

But not as a king or powerful ruler, but as a helpless, vulnerable baby. Unassuming, unexciting, unnoticed by most.

All so that he could one day hang on a cross to die for your sin and for mine. So that we could be forgiven, so we could be set free. There is no cross without the manger.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to miss out on that celebration.

I really hope you will join us this Christmas Eve and on Christmas morning to celebrate together.