Sermon Tone Analysis
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A Savior Worth Waiting For
Matthew 1:18-25
Open your Bible to the first chapter of Matthew’s gospel.
Does everyone have their Christmas shopping done?
Are you done with everyone on your list yet?
I’m not good at shopping for someone else.
If they don’t tell me what they want, you never know what they are going to wind up with.
Some people are good at it and others aren’t.
Gift giving isn’t as easy as it sounds.
For those of you who aren’t good shoppers either, we could use some help so that we don’t buy the wrong things.
And I guess you do have some time left.
Christmas is two and a half weeks away.
I saw a survey of the things that men and women wanted the most for Christmas – a dream list.
They were also asked to name the gifts that they hated the most.
The top five gifts women want the most:
1. Designer shoes
2. A designer coat
3. A pet
4. A designer purse
5. Jewelry
The five gifts women DON’T want:
1. Household items.
2. Gift cards.
3. Champagne.
4. A gym membership.
5.
A kitchen appliance.
The top five gifts MEN want the most:
1. Season tickets to their favorite sports team, preferably football.
2.
An iPad.
3.
An expensive watch.
4. A designer suit.
5. Gardening equipment.
The five gifts men DON’T want:
1.
A tie.
2. Socks.
3. A shirt.
4. A book.
5. Cufflinks.
Last week, we unwrapped the gifts that a woman named Mary received that first Christmas.
We learned that if we want to have a Merry Christmas then we need to understand Mary’s Christmas.
God gave her gifts that were a perfect fit for her.
She was going to be pregnant with a son named Jesus.
He was going to be great because He was the Son of the Most High God.
His kingdom will never end and He will be called the Holy One.
Mary responded with the only gift she had, the gift of herself, when she said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.”
This morning we’re going to look at how a man named Joseph responded to the gift that God had for him in the first chapter of Matthew.
We are going to see he wasn’t too thrilled with the whole idea at first but eventually accepted the present as God carefully unwrapped it for him.
Joseph is really the forgotten figure of Christmas, paling in comparison to the infant savior and to Mary the mother of Jesus.
Did you know that he’s the only one in the Christmas narrative who isn’t heard from?
In fact, he doesn’t say a single word in any of the gospels.
Even though he was silent, this quiet man of character left behind something that speaks so much louder than his words ever could.
A Sunday School was putting on a Christmas play, which included the story of Mary and Joseph coming to the inn.
One boy really wanted to be Joseph, but when the parts were handed out, he was assigned to be the innkeeper instead.
He couldn’t stand the guy who got to be Joseph but he kept quiet about everything.
Inside he was secretly plotting how to get back at his rival.
On the night of the performance, Mary and Joseph came walking across the stage and knocked on the door of the inn.
The innkeeper opened the door and asked them gruffly what they wanted.
Joseph answered, “We’d like to have a room for the night.”
Suddenly the innkeeper threw the door open wide and smiled even wider, “Great, come on in and I’ll give you the best room in the house!”
For a few seconds poor little Joseph didn’t know what to do.
Thinking quickly on his feet, he looked inside the door past the innkeeper and then said, “No wife of mine is going to stay in a dump like this.
Come on, Mary, let’s go to the barn.”
In all the Christmas pageants performed, Joseph doesn’t get a starring role, but his part is so important.
The real Joseph tried to think quickly on his feet when he thought the lines were messed up, but he needed some angelic intervention before he was able to play the role that had been assigned to him.
Joseph probably thought his life was all scripted out.
His marriage to Mary and his career as a carpenter were all most likely arranged for him, but then his world came crashing down.
He had a day of disappointment, which was followed by a night of discovery that eventually led to a morning of dedication.
Let’s pray and we’ll read our passage for this morning.
Pray!
Let’s look first at his day of disappointment that stretched his limits and dashed any hopes he had for his future wedding.
A Day of Disappointment
We are told:
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.
It helps to understand the two stages leading up to a Jewish marriage.
· Engagement.
A contract is made out between the families.
· Betrothal.
This is similar to the engagement stage except that couples signed a legal document that could only be broken by divorce.
For all legal reasons and purposes, the couple was considered husband and wife but they did not live together and they had not yet consummated their marriage.
This second stage could last for about a year and was to be a time of building the relationship, planning and happy expectations.
This was the stage Joseph and Mary were at.
Think about how matter-of-factly Matthew describes Joseph’s dilemma: “before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit.”
Have you ever wondered how Joseph found out that she was pregnant?
They were probably doing all the things that couples do to get ready for weddings.
Maybe Mary was asking Joseph questions about the flowers and the reception and being the good (and smart) guy he was, he just nodded and said, “Whatever you think, dear.”
At some point in all of the wedding arrangements she must have dropped the bomb about the baby.
I don’t know how she did it.
How do you tell your fiancé that you’re pregnant and it had nothing to do with him?
Joseph was completely stunned, how could she possibly have done this to him, and then expect him to believe that she was still a virgin?
I doubt that conversation ended well.
I bet Joseph felt betrayed and Mary was hurt because he didn’t believe her.
He had trusted her and expected to spend the rest of his life with her, but for her to go and . . . it just wasn’t right.
So, what was he supposed to do?
Well, there were a couple of options available to him.
He could legally have her stoned to death for committing adultery.
The other option was to secretly break off the engagement and end everything.
Can you imagine what was going on inside Joseph?
“My head say she needs to be punished but my heart said…well, my heart says nothing, because it’s broken, shattered and lying in pieces.
I hadn’t even kissed her and now she’s carrying someone else’s child?
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