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INTRO:
Good morning and Merry Christmas.
It’s always a joy to break open the Word of God and proclaim the good news to you.
Go ahead and if you have a Bible open to Matthew chapter 1. We’ve already heard from the account of the nativity in the book of Luke.
Now we look at Matthew.
Over the last few Sundays leading up to Christmas we have been walking through the family line of Jesus and looking at a few of the people who are mentioned.
Today we come to Mary, Joseph, and of course and most importantly, Jesus.
Matthew 1:18–25 (ESV)
18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way.
When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit.
19 And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly.
20 But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.
21 She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”
22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet:
23 “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us).
24 When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife,
25 but knew her not until she had given birth to a son.
And he called his name Jesus.
I.
The Forgotten Participant: Joseph
We don’t know a whole lot about Joseph.
But we do know a few things.
We don’t hear anything about him after Jesus is grown, probably meaning he was dead by then.
We just don’t know.
But we do know some things about him from this account.
A. Joseph was a common man.
1. Worked with his hands.
He was a craftsman or builder.
The Greek word in scripture has been translated as carpenter but it was probably more likely that he was more akin to a stone mason as most buildings were not built solely from wood in Bible times.
2. From Nazareth
3. Family city of Bethlehem
4. Betrothed to a virgin girl named Mary
a. Betrothal - One year in length
- Would live and treat each other in every way like they were married except for in the area of physical intimacy.
She would still live with her family.
If it was broken it required a divorce.
B. Joseph had an uncommon dilemma.
1.
His betrothed is pregnant.
Not his baby.
2. Is he embarrassed?
3. Is he hurt?
4. We know that he is an honorable man.
5. Didn’t want harm to come to Mary - was going to put her away quietly.
6.
She could have been stoned but he didn’t want that.
C. Joseph made an uncommon decision.
One of the amazing things about the Christmas story, and there are many, is that there were SO many points in this thing where it could have just fallen apart, if God had not been in control.
If He hadn’t ordained and directed things to go the way they did, there were these moments where things just could have collapsed.
That should increase our faith in the sovereignty of God and His rule and reign over our lives.
1. Visited by an angel in a dream.
2. Plan was laid out
3. What to name him
4. Would save his people from their sins
5. Fulfillment of Isaiah 7:14
II.
The Normal Jewish Girl: Mary
Now, much has been made of Mary over the years.
Some other steams of belief have all sorts of different and quite frankly, unbiblical ideas about her.
I will just say this.
She was a normal Jewish virgin girl.
One misconception about her is that she remained a virgin after Jesus was born.
This is simply not true.
We know from the scriptures that she had other children.
They were created in the normal way children are created.
She was probably around 14 years of age when this occurred.
She had been betrothed to this man, Joseph.
A. Mary gets an uncommon visit.
1. Gabriel comes with a message
2.
She had found favor with God.
3.
She was chosen.
4. She’s going to become pregnant with the Son of God.
B. Mary’s uncommon obedience
1.
She doesn’t understand how all of this could happen but she submits to the plan anyway.
2. It was inconvenient.
3. It was dangerous.
4. It was unprecedented.
5.
She embraced this unexpected plan.
Trust.
C. Mary’s uncommon praise.
1. Mary’s response to the plan being confirmed is praise.
2. Our response to God’s plan should be praise.
3. The faithful servant, eventually becomes a disciple.
... the mother becomes a follower of Jesus.
Recognizing her place following and submitting to the Lord, her Savior.
Faith in unexpected circumstances.
- In Mary’s story we see faith even in unexpected circumstances.
Will you obey even when things look bleak or dangerous or you aren’t sure how it could even happen?
- The point here isn’t how great Mary was.
The point is that God used her and showed Himself faithful by fulfilling the promise and sending the redeemer, the Son of God to save sinners of whom Mary was a part.
You see, the Bible tells us that through Jesus God has adopted those who trust in Him into His family.
- Joseph adopted Jesus as his own.
He raised Jesus with Mary as long as he was around from what we can tell.
And our Lord who lived a perfect life on earth as the adopted son of Joseph.
Now let me show you something:
Pay attention to that word: adopted.
Adopted
- Because of Jesus coming and completing his mission of redemption, we get adopted into the family of God.
Joseph adopting Jesus pictures us being adopted by God.
How great is that!!!??!!
- And more.... look at that John passage again.
Jesus came and revealed God to us.
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