Our Family is United before God

Peace

Our Family

Last week we started series titled “Our Family.” It’s a series that leads us into the season of Advent. Advent is a season of preparing yourself to rightly celebrate the birth of Jesus. A time when we look forward with anticipation, where we celebrate that God has come to live among us. As a church we want to be intentional during advent; entering into prayer personally and with one another, in meditating on scripture related to the coming of Jesus, and fasting in prayer.

Traditionally, there are four elements to the advent season. The first one is hope, which we talked about last week by recognizing this long genealogy in Matthew 1 is basically a long list of broken people who were ready and waiting for the coming messiah. As it turns out, each one these people represents measures of God’s faithfulness to mankind, revealing He is supremely trustworthy. So we learned that “It is by understanding the past that we will know how to live and have hope for the future.” When we see how God worked in the past, our hope grows. Even when facing incredible challenges we can be a be a people of great hope, recognizing the fullness of His plan and all that He invites us into.

The second element of Advent is peace. We often think of peace as the absence of war or a season of little turbulence. But there are two main ways for us to understand Biblical peace. The first is based on the word Shalom. This is a complicated word that often requires hope and often requires work in order for shalom to come about.

We can think of Shalom as the overall state of being. That it accounts for every pocket of our lives. If there is any upheaval or turbulence than shalom is not being experienced. It represents all of the complexity of life as a single, whole, image. We could think of a building made out of brick. There is no damage to any of the bricks, there are no cracks or gaps. It is strong, without error, and whole. Everything fits together and is in a state of completeness.

It is a recognition that there are all kinds of moving pieces and changing contexts as we live day to day. And as any part of our life begins to experience brokenness or hardship our state of shalom falls apart.

So it is something that we work towards, that we enter into.

Today, we are going to find that being a member of God’s family means we need to embrace another truth.

“it is a firm hope in God that enables us to cultivate Shalom-peace even when everything around us is chaotic.”

Let’s pray.

Before we dive into Matthew 1, I want to imagine that God came to you and asked you to be the planner for a big event. The event being the savior of all humanity coming to the world to be introduced to all humanity,

“How would you do it?”

Consider things like,

Where would it happen?

Who would be present?

How would you want those people to be prepared?

Would you inform the whole world? or plan a glorious entrance for Jesus to be seen by all?

Would there be a feast of food prepared to celebrate? What type of entertainment - music - theatrical, or perhaps a more reverent atmosphere of people demonstrating unity before the king?

It might be fun to dream up how we might plan such an arrival. Knowing that it is for the most important being in all of existence, in all of time.

I think very few of us would want to have too small of a plan. Rather, we would be terrified of not having enough. Like every hall mark movie, we would probably aim to make it into a perfect moment, when everything and everyone comes together in a very beautiful way.

I want you to hold on to some of the ways you might plan for such a coming, we will come back to that in a few minutes.

Matthew 1

“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.

Mary and Joseph are engaged which in many ways is similar to how we understand marriage today. Engagement was not something that should be broken off. By the time you get to that point, the legal work has already been taken care of and the two families would be sorting out how they will move forward together. This is not just a Mary and Joseph thing. This is a Mary’s Family and Joseph’s family thing. Where they have legally agreed to come together and arrangements are in process.

But you may have noticed a slight problem.... Mary and Joseph had not intimately been together, yet, Mary is pregnant. Of course, we see the explanation for this, Mary is “With Child from the Holy Spirit.” This is not a child she conceived with another but rather a child that God placed within her.

But here is the problem. Mary still had to tell Joseph. It is a beautiful example for us. She could have tried to hide it, prolong it, run from it in some manner. But that doesn't seem to be her response.... Not knowing how Joseph would respond, not needing to have control, she went and told Joseph. Simply doing what is right and trusting God with the outcome. It is a response and a habit that we all need to build.

Now, I don’t know about you, but if you put me in Joseph’s shoes, and my newly engaged spouse to be tells me “I'm pregnant. God placed a child in me.” I am sorry, but I am going to have some serious doubts.” We know how God designed the body and we know how people get pregnant. I am not buying it. Joseph wasn’t buying it either.

19 And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly.

We don’t know what type of attitude Joseph used with Mary. But what we do know is that this was a tenuous situation. Joseph couldn’t accept Mary’s claim, that God planted a child in her. So he decided to do what he felt was fare and what was best.

Yet, we see a loving act on his part. We are told that he was going to pursue a quiet divorce. At that time in Israel, there are major communal repercussions for infidelity. He didn’t want her to be the talk of the town. Instead, he chose to protect her even though he was hurt because he believed she cheated. But he wanted protect her reputation and he didn’t want her to struggle going forward. So he aimed to care for her in how he was going to proceed.

So we are told Joseph is a just man. That he was doing what was right without making a big scene.... And without causing harm to the best of his ability.

It is a good lesson for all of us. There are times in life where you will have opportunity to cause or allow harm; by the way we speak, the way you operate. But this is not the call of the believer. We are not to try and get people to pick our side in our relational struggles.

We should be more like Joseph, wanting to show honor and care for the other person. Leaving both Mary and Joseph with hope of Shalom in the future.

Now, I want to go back to your plan for the coming of the savior. All the ways that you would be prepared and go about handling His arrival.

I am curious.... would any of us have planned for the savior of the world to enter into a mess like this?..........

As we consider those who would care for and raise this savior from birth would we desire this situation?

A father who is hurting and perceives his bride has cheated on him?.

A mother who is hurting, because she was chosen by God and her husband doesn’t believe her?

Both heading towards the hardship of divorce.

It is easy to see the tension..... But do we see the profound beauty in this image?

God so loved the world that He was unwilling to leave us to our own destruction. Even though we abandoned Him in so many ways. When God created the world, everything was good!!!! But we wrecked it.

The way Jesus came is an image of His willingness to enter into the reality of mankind. That we are stricken with conflict, hurt, and broken relationships. That there are constant mis-perceived actions and labels placed on each other. You see, He didn’t come with a royal entrance, one the keeps Him clean from the mess, but rather came into our daily reality. From the time of His conception, he experienced all that we face each and every day.

Even the ways the people would have spoken of his conception being outside of wedlock. We don’t know this but it is possible that in his child hood there may have been all kinds of hurtful comments about His parents and him.

Jesus knows how to meet you where you are at, in the midst of all your challenges, because he too has faced them. He chose to enter complexity of the human experience and chose to take it all on for our sake.

Now, God didn’t want Joseph or Mary to be left in this state. Take a look at vs 20.

20 But as Joseph 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).

Friends, this is the goodness and mercy of God. He provides instruction, He has made His ways clear, and He invites us to be filled and led by His Holy Spirit. In Joseph’s case, it was abrupt, there was no denying the presence and message of the angel. God in a moment brought clarity to what He was going to do through Joseph and through Mary.

God doesn’t always send us an angel. He doesn’t always provide a miracle. But He has given us a promise, that for those who love Him, he works all things together for good. But the expectation is that we would live according to His ways and trust Him regardless of the challenges we face. I don’t know what challenges you are facing today, but I promise you there are biblical principles, clear teaching from the Lord about how you can respond and trust Him in the midst of your challenge.

This is how Joseph responds.

“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.”

Joseph did what the Lord asked of him. He changed his direction. Instead of pursuing a divorce, he trusted God and he pursued God by pursuing Mary. It is a radical change in direction, not one that many people are willing to receive. Too often, we are willing to embrace part of what God asks of us without embracing all of what God asks of us.

We don’t have an account of this, but I have to imagine there was some form of apology given to Mary. “Mary, I am sorry I didn’t believe you, that I didn’t trust you.” But I also have to imagine that Mary would be understanding. That she would be willing to receive it, knowing that it is a crazy world, where so many people do crazy things. And in her case, the unexplainable was now living in her very womb.

If we want healthy relationships where we cultivate Shalom, these are the types of conversations, the type of vulnerabilities, the type of humble posture that we must learn to embrace. It is not always easy, in fact, most of the time you have to battle against your own understanding and intuition.

But friends, when we choose to embrace God’s wisdom over our intuition we can take meaningful steps towards unity. To cultivate unity you have to cultivate peace.

“it is a firm hope in God that enables us to cultivate peace even when everything around us is chaotic.”

Mary demonstrated this hope in God by going to Joseph to tell him she is pregnant. Simply sharing what had happened.

Joseph demonstrated this hope in God by embracing what God called him to do.

You see, we cannot cultivate peace unless we start operating in truth and in love. Having hope that God will provide when we embrace His way, even though it is hard.

When we choose to trust God we will learn to have hope in God. It is when we have hope in God that we are able to cultivate peace.

Cultivating peace in the midst of chaos is no small task. It is not an easy barrier to overcome. It doesn’t happen on its own and yet it is not something we can force. But it is the only way to enter into the fullness of all that God has for you. If you are unwilling to diligently build shalom, you are unwilling to live in the fullness of God’s grace.

Are you ready to humbly love others, by entering into the mess?

By choosing to trust and hope in God’s plan even when you can’t see light at the end of the tunnel?

By acting in transparent honesty trusting God with the outcome.

By remaining calm and humble, even when others get fired up.

By addressing the issue, not attacking the other person.

By coming into the the complexity of human life, not keeping Himself from the mess but rather joining humanity in the midst of challenging situations;

Jesus models how to humbly work towards Shalom.

But there is a second understanding of biblical peace and the word is eirene which is the legal requirement of of peace. Jesus brought Shalom peace and He also provides Eirene Peace.

Ephesians 2:14–15, illustrates Eirene peace well which says, “For Jesus is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility (between us and God) 15 by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace,”

Not only does Jesus invite us into a state of complete peace, but He also fulfilled the legal requirements of our sin. Making a secured legal peace between God and anyone who puts their faith and trust in Jesus.

Friends, this is the love of God for you.