Sermon Tone Analysis

Title: Christmas Courage

Theme: The Courage of Joseph

“This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit.

Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.

But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, ‘Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.

She will give birth to a son, and you are to give Him the name Jesus, because He will save His people from their sins.’

All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: ‘The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call Him Immanuel’ --which means, ‘God with us.’

When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife.

But he had no union with her until she gave birth to a son.

And he gave Him the name Jesus.” (Matthew 1:18-24)

There are many miracles connected with the birth of Christ

There are many miracles connected with the birth of Christ.

The best way of overcoming the world’s view of Christmas is to have a Biblical understanding of the miraculous events that took place at the first Christmas.

I remember the first Christmas after becoming a Christian, the holiday season became so exciting to me because the Holy Spirit illuminated within me what Christmas was really about.

I have found personally the best way for me to maintain and restore joy for the Christmas season is to meditate upon what the Word of God says about the lives of those who were so closely involved in the earthly life of Jesus Christ.

Just what is found in Joseph’s life that made him such a valuable person in the gospel of Jesus Christ?

Can these character traits be found in the children of God today?

I would propose to you that the Biblical account of the life of Joseph holds truths that the Holy Spirit of Christ wants you to grasp this Christmas season.

Many have Biblical revelation or understanding of the life of Joseph.

However, Christians who live a life expressing that the birth of Christ is an event worth celebrating take time to invite the Holy Spirit to illuminate Biblical truth into their hearts.

Lord takes ordinary men and makes useful vessels of them

The first truth worth grasping is that the Lord takes ordinary men and makes useful vessels of them.

Joseph was a man doing ordinary common work and to my knowledge he held no place of what men of this world would call authority or worldly fame.

Joseph, the earthly father of Jesus had the character that should be found in all Christian fathers, yet very little is said of him in Christian writings.

What is revealed to us in Scripture about Joseph is that he was poor and he observed the Word of God expressing a heart that is willing to seek out and do the will of God.

Luke 2:21-27 says, “On the eighth day, when it was time to circumcise Him, He was named Jesus, the name the angel had given Him before he had been conceived.

When the time of their purification according to the Law of Moses had been completed, Joseph and Mary took Him to Jerusalem to present Him to the Lord (as it is written in the Law of the Lord, ‘Every firstborn male is to be consecrated to the Lord’), and to offer a sacrifice in keeping with what is said in the Law of the Lord: ‘a pair of doves or two young pigeons.’”

(Luke 2:21-14) The Bible says Joseph and Mary, “brought in the child Jesus to do for Him what the custom of the Law required…” (Luke 2:27) Joseph as head of his family knew what was written in the Book of Leviticus chapter 12 and made the offering required for a woman who was poor financially.

(Who’s Who in the Bible; The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia)

This is a great encouragement to all Christians.

Most Christians are not going to be famous, have a place of authority nor be rich in the world’s eyes.

They can, however, become very important in proclaiming the good news of the gospel of Christ as long as they are willing to seek the will of the Lord through the written Word of God and obey what the Holy Spirit of Christ calls them to do.

The Holy Spirit gives this exhortation through the writings of the Apostle Peter, “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light.”

(1 Peter 2:9) It has been very well said, “God takes ordinary people and does extraordinary things through them.”

Live as Joseph, a moral upright life

It takes a courageous man to die to self, seek out the Lord’s will and pray through to completion of God’s plan for him.

It also takes courage to live as Joseph, a moral upright life.

Our text says, “This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit.

Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.”

Matthew 1:24 -25 tells us that Joseph did what the angel of the Lord commanded him to do and he did not have sex with his wife until after Mary gave birth to Jesus Christ.

(Matthew 1:18-19, 35)

The first truth worth grasping in these passages of Scripture is that Joseph was a righteous man.

“Righteous” (dikaios) in this passage of Scripture means to be merciful, kind and tender.

The application is that Joseph was not a man given to passionate vengeance, rather he had a right relationship with God.

Joseph lived in accordance with God’s compelling standard.

(The Expositors Bible Commentary; Greek-English Dictionary of the New Testament; The Completer Word Study of the New Testament)

In his natural man Joseph’s response in regard to being engaged to a woman of God who told him she was now pregnant would have been shock, thinking his bride to be pure having a heart only for him.

He would have had deep sorrow.

His dreams of marriage to a Godly woman, surrender to purity of the Lord and raising children in God’s perfect will now chattered.

In his natural man there would have been anger.

Joseph very well could have felt betrayed.

No one would have blamed him if he would have laid the full blunt of the written law upon Mary and done all he could to save face in the community.

Not only was she subject to accusations of giving in to sin, but Joseph as well.

In the natural it takes two to bring about pregnancy.

To our western ways of thinking the engagement relationship is bewildering in this passage of Scripture.

To the Jews the marriage relationship was far too serious a step in a person’s life to let marriage be dictated by the human heart.

According to William Barclay there were three major steps to the Jewish marriage procedure.

Here are two of them, 1.) the engagement was often made through the parents, or through a professional match-maker.

2.) The betrothal stage and by this stage the woman involved could break off the engagement if she chose not to go through with the marriage.

It is in this stage the marriage becomes binding and it lasted one year.

They were referred to as man and wife, although consummation of the marriage is not permitted until the marriage ceremony is over.

It was during the betrothal stage when Joseph learned of Mary being with child.

According to Deuteronomy 24:1, Joseph, from what he could see in the present circumstance before his dream, had every Biblical right to write a certificate of divorce.

Joseph could have been angry because it was customary for the groom to give a marriage present to the bride’s family.

This gift to the family was a form of compensation and sealed a covenant between the two families.

The gift could have been in the form of money or service or any other consideration that was agreeable to all the parties involved.

(The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia; Genesis 34:12; Exodus 22:16; 1 Samuel 18:25; Genesis 29; Joshua 15:16) They had a deal, Biblically a covenant that was to last until death do they part and up to Matthew 1:18-19, it appeared to Joseph that Mary had broke that covenant.

At this time in history we have two people called of God to play a very important part of the Christmas story, and they are both being tested in their faith in God.

Mary had been told ahead of time that she would be with child by the power of the Holy Spirit and what to name the child.

(Luke 1:31)

For some reason Joseph felt it was a necessity to divorce Mary and I am not going to go off into man made fantasies.

I am going to stick with the Biblical fact that God’s character had a powerful effect on Joseph enabling him to handle this difficult time in his life by showing mercy, kindness and tenderness to Mary and her family.

Joseph knew the consequence of being accused of adultery and he most likely knew how the world of his day handled those accused of it.

Those accused and convicted were met with public disgrace.

In Joseph’s day in Egypt the punishment was cutting of the nose, in Persia the punishment was cutting of the nose and ears and in Judea the punishment could have meant being stoned to death.

In Joseph’s day most often a certificate of divorce stated the reason for the divorce.

This great man of God most certainly had the mercy of God overriding fleshly desires and worldly influences.

Our text clearly says, Joseph, being a righteous man, a man expressing the mercy of God through his life did not want Mary to be exposed to public disgrace.

Not only did Joseph have the courage to live out the mercy of God, he had the courage to subdue the flesh so he could protect Mary’s purity until the Child was born, thus, bringing us the surety of the Virgin Birth of Jesus Christ.

I purposely repeat what the Bible says, Joseph, “…did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home to be his wife.

But he had no union with her until she gave birth to a son and he gave Him the name Jesus.” (Matthew 1:24-25) I am fully persuaded that Joseph had the Godly character he had because he was a man of the Word of God.

Hearing the angel quote what the Prophet Isaiah said 700 years before in his dream, “The virgin will be with Child and will give birth to a Son and they will call His Name ‘Immanuel’ meaning God with us” (Matthew 1:22-23) was more than enough to give Joseph the courage he needed to subdue the flesh and trust in his God.

This gave him strength to fulfill his part as the head of the house, enabling him to protect his wife from any impurities that could keep her from fulfilling her part of the Christmas story.

Christians with the courage of Joseph will make themselves available and aware of what the written Word of God says.

Knowing God’s Word and being open and sensitive to the Holy Spirit’s leading will make them a very important part of proclaiming Jesus as the Savior of the world, not only at Christmas time but in every part of their lives.

Too much time can be spent on the term “an angel of the Lord” in Matthew 1:20.

Some say it was an angel, others say it was a manifestation of God.

The high and safe road is to rejoice in God’s gracious intervention to communicate privately with those who are sold out to His will.

All Christians can take courage.

The Lord is always ready and able to intercede in their lives in the most difficult time of life.

He has a great plan for using Christians and allowing them to be a very important part of proclaiming the truths of Christmas.

Courage to live a life of righteousness opens the door to receive revelation from God

Joseph had the courage to live a life of righteousness, expressing compassion, mercy and tenderness to the person he loved.

His courage to live a life of righteousness opened the door for him to receive revelation from God.

Our text says, “But after he had considered [divorcing Mary quietly,] an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, ‘Joseph… do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.

She will give birth to a Son, and you are to give Him the name Jesus…’” (Matthew 1:20-21)

What we have here is divine revelation from God to his obedient servant who was enabled to die to himself for the sake of others.

There are two key aspects to revelation from God that is worth grasping here.

One is God’s self-revelation found in the entire Word of God.

The second is the ways and means through which the Lord discloses Himself, His will and His purpose to His people.