Angel Encounter: Joseph

1 In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. 2 (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) 3 And everyone went to their own town to register. 4 So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. 5 He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. 6 While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, 7 and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.

Christmas Anxiety

Last Sunday Angel encounter with Mary: produced anxiety over the things God asks of us… we looked at God determines to use people regardless of their status; and when God decides to use us, we aren’t responsible for the outcomes, God is. We are responsible to follow him.

This Sunday angel encounter with the shepherds and how their lives were changed.

Tonight I want us to look at the encounter the angels had with Joseph and how that encounter with angels caused him to sense fear as well. For Mary, the source of Mary’s fear was the result of a conversation she had with herself, telling her she couldn’t be used for such a thing by God. For Joseph, anxiety comes when he considers what people might think of him.

I remember when we were pregnant with our first child… people were excited, people offered advise, people gave you that look.... there you go!

Like I had really done anything.

It was a season of excitement for all of us. Anxiety, but anxious excitement.

For Joseph, he finds himself in a difficult situation. He’s struggling between what’s right and what’s easy. Between what others want for him and what God wants.

Matthew 1:18 NIV

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

So for some background, He and Mary have been engaged. Now in their time an engagement was an official thing. The only way out of an engagement was death or divorce. It was all the marriage but it wasn’t consummated; they hadn’t moved in together yet. She was still at home and Joseph was out building a home for his new family.

Imagine Joseph hearing this news the first time. We don’t know if Mary told him or someone else, but imagine Mary telling him.... “Joseph, I’ve got some news. Now don’t react, let me explain before you interrupt. Joseph, I love you, I can’t wait to be your wife, but you need to know, I’m pregnant.” What how did this happen? Never mind I know how it happens. Why Mary?

Joseph, it was the Holy Spirit. oh yea right. I’ve heard about that happening to other people… no Mary that never happens.

Seriously Joseph, it was God… I’m pregnant with the son of God. We are to call him Jesus.

I don’t want to hear it…just tell me the truth Mary, who is it? Who is the father? I’ve seen how other guys look at you. Who was it? Mary I can’t believe you did this to me… to us.

That’s how Joseph probably saw things.... either she’s a liar or she’s crazy.

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It’s a scene out of a modern day drama right. Some things were different back then, but some things were like they are now.

Back then, Mary could be convicted of a serious crime breaking the engagement as it seeemd she had. And Joseph; you can jus timagine what he waas thinking about himself. My family will be marked for life.

His family would have a stain. There’s no way his father would bless this marriage. No one is going to hire him. He waas going to be a joke, a punchline to everyone...

“There’s Joseph, did you hear about his wife? That’s not really his son you know...”

All these thoughts are swirling around in his head. What should he do? Should I stay or should I go? We should just break up.... but I love her. What am I going to do?

Matthew 1:19 NIV

19 Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.

You see Joseph was a righteous man. He was faithful to the law, sure he could make a stink of what she had obviously done, but he loved her.

The best thing to do, was just to keep things quiet.

We aren’t sure, but it seems that he genuinely doesn’t believe her.

In this is his Angel Encounter

Matthew 1:20–21 NIV

20 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. 21 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.”

This promised Messiah for centuries, it would be awesome if it were true. Do you think it could be true? The angel seems to make it seem so right? But If I do this, If I marry Mary, this is going to be hard.

It’s hard to focus on what God thinks about us when we are consumed about what people think about us.

Well we know how the story ends. Joseph did mary Mary. He did name Jesus, an act of taking resonsibility for Jesus.

Even still, everything wasn’t happier ever after. In fact Joseph was right, all throughout the Gospels, Jesus is referred to as Mary’s son… you know Mary… wink wink.

This reveals a principal that you will find true in the life of a being a disciple.

That’s why this Angel Encounter was a blessing to Mary and Joseph. The encounter reminded Joseph that when he stays focused on what God think, what others think doesn’t really matter.

PLEASING GOD OFTEN MEANS DISAPPOINTING PEOPLE.

This might apply to your life as well.

You might face troubles for following God at your workplace, your school, in your family.

The choices you make because of your faith often result in the jokes, or gossip of others.

When I first became a Christian.... fasting lunch every day to memorize scripture. But it didn’t matter because I was spending time with

But everything the Angel promised came true as well.

Their son changed the world.

In life, nothing of real significance comes without difficulty, so there is no reason to expect it to be any different when it comes to doing things of faith.

Think of it, through the faithfulness of Mary and Joseph, the world has been changed forever.

A baby born in a manger to an unmarried teen mom would be the savior of the world.

If you tried to script out God’s plan for salvation, you would never come up with the way God has done it.

And in real time, Mary and Joseph had no idea until they had an Angel encounter, An encounter that led them to simply obey a call from God that would change the world.

ORDINARY OBEDIENCE PRECEDES EXTRAORDINARY ACTS OF GOD

Like we said on Sunday, the outcome is God’s responsibility—Obedience is mine!

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The Angel gave Joseph a preview, but that’s not the way we always get it. Often times, you have no idea what you are setting into motion when you obey what God puts on your heart.

When I went to church in April of 1999 to pray, I had no idea God would call me into ministry.

We had no idea what would happen on Wednesday nights when we began to gather with kids.

We had no idea what would happen when we invited our neighbors to attend Ageless Wonders.

ORDINARY OBEDIENCE PRECEDES EXTRAORDINARY ACTS OF GOD

Before the first Christmas Joseph was invited to take his part in this angel encounter; Joseph responded and walked into Christmas

Matthew 1:24 NIV

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

Christmas is an invitation, not just for Joseph and Mary to be a part of what God is doing, but to each and every one of us. It’s an invitation to trust, to believe, to follow Jesus. No matter where he calls you.

Christmas is about celebrating the reality that God came to earth and invited us to believe… not in mistletoe and trees; not in gift giving and family gatherings; but in the son of God who came to be the invitation for you to live into a relationship with God.

This Christmas might be an invitation for you to simple obedience and you have no idea what it might lead to. Maybe God is calling you to believe. Not believe in your head, but a life changing belief. A belief that changes how you see the world and your part in it.

This Christmas might be an invitation for you to step into a new role in your family or work place as a disciple of Jesus. You have been keeping yoru faith private, and you sense God asking you to live with boldness and confidence. Inviting family, friends, and coworkers to share prayer requests with you, offering words of hope and blessing to people in your sphere of influence. It’s time for you to wear the team colors in public, not just in your private prayer closet.

Or perhaps this Christmas it’s time for you to start to invest in others. You have been a Christian consumer for some time but this Christmas you sense God inviting you to invest in someone else. Maybe it’s a child without a father present in their life, maybe it’s a neighbor who’s parents are diseased or live far away. Maybe it’s someone you know going through something that you have already experienced.

Remember if God is inviting you to something, all you have to do is follow him, he’s responsible for the outcome.

And ordinary obedience precedes extraordinary works of God.

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HOLY COMMUNION

The Lord be with you.

ALL: And also with you.

Lift up your hearts.

ALL: We lift them up to the Lord.

Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.

ALL: It is right to give our thanks and praise.

It is right, and a good and joyful thing, always and everywhere to give thanks to you, Father Almighty, creator of heaven and earth.

You created light out of darkness and brought forth life on the earth.

You formed us in your image and breathed into us the breath of life.

When we turned away, and our love failed, your love remained steadfast.

You delivered us from captivity, made covenant to be our sovereign God,

and spoke to us through your prophets.

In the fullness of time

you gave your only Son Jesus Christ to be our Savior,

and at his birth the angels sang

glory to you in the highest and peace to your people on earth.

And so, with Your people on earth and all the company of heaven we praise Your name and join their unending hymn:

ALL: Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might, Heaven and earth are full of your glory. Hosanna in the highest.

Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest.

Holy are You, and blessed is Your Son Jesus Christ. As Mary and Joseph went from Galilee to Bethlehem and there found no room, so Jesus went from Galilee to Jerusalem and was despised and rejected.

As in the poverty of a stable Jesus was born,

so by the baptism of his suffering, death, and resurrection

you gave birth to your Church,

delivered us from slavery to sin and death,

and made with us a new covenant by water and the Spirit.

As your Word became flesh, born of woman, on that night long ago,

so, on the night in which he gave himself up for us, he took bread,

gave thanks to you, broke the bread, gave it to his disciples, and said:

"Take, eat; this is my body which is given for you.

Do this in remembrance of me."

When the supper was over he took the cup,

gave thanks to you, gave it to his disciples, and said:

"Drink from this, all of you; this is my blood of the new covenant,

poured out for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins.

Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me."

And so, In remembrance of these Your mighty acts in Jesus Christ, we offer ourselves in praise and thanksgiving as a holy and living sacrifice, in union with Christ's offering for us, as we proclaim the mystery of faith.

ALL:

Christ has died;

Christ is risen;

will come again.

Pour out Your Holy Spirit on us gathered here, and on these gifts of bread and wine. Make them be for us the body and blood of Christ, that we may be for the world the body of Christ, redeemed by his blood.

By Your Spirit make us one with Christ, one with each other, and one in ministry to all the world, until Christ comes in final victory and we feast at His heavenly banquet.

Through Your Son Jesus Christ, with the Holy Spirit in Your holy church, all honor and glory is Yours, almighty Father, now and for ever.

ALL:

Amen.

THE LORD'S PRAYER

BLESSING

Now, as you depart from this place and go out into the night,may you carry with you the promises of God, the blessing of the Christ Child, and the song of the Spirit: “Glory to God in the highest, and on Earth, peace, good will to all.”

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