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Introduction
We celebrated our Carols at Featherbrook event last week Saturday, and we saw over 5000 people attend the event, which was amazing.
We had songs and activities, kids programs, Shane Cooke attended as our guest artist, together with our own Matty Moo and Mel…it was an absolutely outstanding event!
We had a HOPE sign that Matt made for us, where we had the letters hope written by some of you to encourage the people in our community.
We also, for the first time had a nativity scene at our Carols event, which depicted the stable with baby Jesus in a manger.
And as Matt & Mel shared with us, the nativity scene had a number characters or players if you will.
Each year as we get ready for Christmas, we put up the Christmas tree, we buy the presents, we watch Christmas movies (Scrooge - the story penned by Charles Dickens about a man Ebenezer Scrooge who hated Christmas).
And some of us setup the nativity scene, with baby Jesus in the manger
But just as it is with some Nativity sets there were some extra figures and no one knew exactly the identity of those extra figures.
Which one is Joseph?
Some of them said that it was an old man leaning on his staff.
More romantic souls in the family said Mary wouldn’t want a crotchety old man like that, so it was a young shepherd with broad shoulders.
Talk about all the players/participants in the nativity scene
Angel Gabriel who announces to Mary the news that she is going to be pregnant with and will be mother to the Christ Child
Mary who was betrothed to Joseph, a virgin
Joseph a descendant from David, a righteous man, Mary’s husband
Baby Jesus
Inn Keeper who had no place for the Joseph & Mary
Wisemen who brought the gold, frankincense and myrrh
Shepherds who received the message from the angels while they were in the field watching their sheep
Angels celebrated the birth of Christ
The reality is that Joseph is somewhere in the background - he’s an almost silent participant in the Jesus story.
But I found Joseph to be a truly remarkable man...It was Emerson who said:
It should not be that way with Joseph, for he is a significant part of this story.
was willing to do by hanging everything in an immediate obedience on a word from God which on the surface of it seemed to be absurd.
It was Emerson who said, “What you do speaks so loudly that I cannot hear what you say.”
If that is true, what Joseph did speaks so loudly that it wasn’t necessary for him to say anything.
“What you do speaks so loudly that I cannot hear what you say.”
If that is true, what Joseph did speaks so loudly that it wasn’t necessary for him to say anything.
An Immediate Obedience
He is remarkably simple in his obedience, but he is also simply remarkable in what he was willing to do by hanging everything in an immediate obedience on a word from God which on the surface of it seemed to be absurd.
When you take a closer look at Joseph, you’ll see he models the influence and the consequences of an immediate, simple obedience to the command of God.
I’d like for us to look at Joseph in real life, because he shows us obedience to the word of God regardless.
I’d like for us to look at Joseph in real life, because the forgotten man of Christmas shows us obedience to the word of God regardless.
If we stop romanticising and idealising Joseph in Nativity sets or on Christmas cards and look at him as things actually were, we ought to have a great deal of sympathy with him.
If we stop romanticizing and idealizing Joseph in Nativity sets or on Christmas cards and look at him as things actually were, we ought to have a great deal of sympathy with him.
He was betrothed or engaged to a young woman who was suddenly and strangely pregnant, and an angel says this is an act of God.
He was betrothed or engaged to a young woman who was suddenly and strangely pregnant, and an angel says this is an act of God.
Then this northern Palestinian cabinet maker has to drop all of his tools and go to Bethlehem for a census.
Shortly after that there’s another warning in a dream and he flees to Egypt where he has no network, no connections, no job, no place to stay.
Then this northern Palestinian cabinet maker has to drop all of his tools and go to Bethlehem for a census.
Shortly after that there’s another warning in a dream and he flees to Egypt where he has no network, no connections, no job, no place to stay.
If you look at the life of Joseph, the man who says nothing, you can summarise it in a single, simple word.
There was in his life an immediate obedience to the word of God.
Look at that word immediacy.
If you look at Joseph you’ll learn that it is possible to obey God with a breathtaking, unquestioning immediacy.
God spoke through the angel, and Joseph married Mary.
In that regard, he acted with an obedience that outran any of the other major characters in the story of Jesus’ birth.
In that regard, he acted with an obedience that outran any of the other major characters in the story of Jesus’ birth.
In when the announcement came to Zecharias, the aged father to be of John the Baptist, Zecharias said to the angel, “How shall I shall I know this?
I’m an old man.
My wife is well advanced in years.”
He was struck silent because he said that.
Zecharias met the command of God with a denial.
Mary, the mother of Jesus, in , met that command with doubt.
Mary said to the angel, “How can this be since I know not a man?” Interestingly, Joseph did not respond with a recorded denial or doubt but, rather, with an immediacy of obedience.
“He took her to be his wife and did not touch her until that holy thing was born.”
In fact, Joseph has an obedience that outshines many of the luminaries of the Bible.
Mary, the mother of Jesus, in , met that command with doubt.
Mary said to the angel, “How can this be since I know not a man?” Interestingly, Joseph did not respond with a recorded denial or doubt but, rather, with an immediacy of obedience.
“He took her to be his wife and did not touch her until that holy thing was born.”
In fact, Joseph has an obedience that outshines many of the luminaries of the Bible.
There’s Moses called upon as an eighty-year-old shepherd to lead an exodus.
What do you hear from him?
Four consecutive excuses before he finally submits to do the will of God.
Luk
There’s Moses called upon as an eighty-year-old shepherd to lead an exodus.
What do you hear from him?
Four consecutive excuses before he finally submits to do the will of God.
There is Isaiah seeing God high and lifted up in the temple of Jerusalem.
And what does he give?
An excuse.
“I’m a man of unclean lips.”
There is Isaiah seeing God high and lifted up in the temple of Jerusalem.
And what does he give?
An excuse.
“I’m a man of unclean lips.”
There’s Jeremiah called to be a prophet, and he gives God two excuse.
“I’m too young.
I can’t speak.”
There’s Jeremiah called to be a prophet, and he gives God two excuse.
“I’m too young.
I can’t speak.”
There’s Amos, the keeper of sycamore fruit and keeper of sheep, and he says, “I don’t have the credentials to be a prophet.”
There’s Amos, the keeper of sycamore fruit and keeper of sheep, and he says, “I don’t have the credentials to be a prophet.”
Here’s Joseph, who leaves this record never having said anything.
Here’s Joseph, who leaves this record never having said anything.
When God spoke to him an astonishingly difficult word, he responded with an immediacy of obedience.
I’m reminded of those words in which give us a test of salvation.
“By this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep on habitually cherishing his commandments.”
4 which give us a test of salvation.
“By this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep on habitually cherishing his commandments.”
Joseph was marked with an immediacy of obedience.
God is not interested in our gold or our giftedness or our guilt-ridden excuses.
He wants to be obeyed.
Obedience is better than sacrifice.
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