Christmas Controversy, Part 2

Christmas Controversy
Part 2, Matthew 1.18-25

John Simmons tells about a grade school class that was putting on a Christmas play which included the story of Mary & Joseph coming to the inn. In that class was one little boy who wanted so very much to be Joseph. But when the parts were handed out, his biggest rival was given that part, & he was assigned to be the inn keeper instead. He was really bitter about this.
So during all the rehearsals he kept plotting in his mind what he might do the night of performance to get even with his rival who was Joseph. Finally, the night of the performance, Mary & Joseph came walking across the stage. They knocked on the door of the inn, & the inn-keeper opened the door & asked them gruffly what they wanted.
Joseph answered, "We’d like to have a room for the night." Suddenly the inn-keeper threw the door open wide & said, "Great, come on in & I’ll give you the best room in the house."
For a few seconds poor little Joseph didn’t know what to do, & a long silence ensued. Finally though, thinking quickly on his feet, Joseph looked in to the left & to the right past the inn-keeper & said, "No wife of mine is going to stay in dump like this. Come on, Mary, let’s go to the barn." And once again the play was back on course.
One year a Christmas afternoon visitor asked five-year-old Ruth, "Did you get everything you wanted for Christmas?" After a moment’s hesitation, she answered, "No, but then it’s not my birthday!"
Christmas is all about Jesus, yet many of the essential figures of the nativity are still recognizable, well maybe, except for Joseph.
The cast of characters associated with the story of Jesus’ birth is colorful and memorable. We recognize them by their unique speaking parts. With dramatic lines, the Angels take center stage to announce the birth of the Savior. They appear to Joseph to announce that the name of the child would be Jesus. The arch angel Gabriel makes the unforgettable announcement to Mary. An angelic choir interrupts the shepherds singing, Glory to God in the highest.
The Virgin Mary, whose Divine selection humbles her, offers her beautiful hymn and thanksgiving in Luke 1:46-48: "My soul magnifies the Lord, And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior. For He has regarded the lowly state of His maidservant; for behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed."
The wise men are desperate in their search to find the newborn king and prepared to divest themselves of treasures to present Him with gifts of worship. In Matthew 2:2… "Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the East and have come to worship Him."
The shepherds became early evangelists! In Luke 2, the shepherds hasten to find the baby Jesus after the announcement of the angelic choir. Upon finding Jesus, Luke says, "Now when they had seen Him, they made widely known the saying which was told them concerning this Child (v. 17)."
Oddly enough, only Joseph has no speaking part. He is the lone silent member of the cast and often forgotten. Angels bring heavenly greetings. Mary sings a praiseful solo. Wise men worship. Shepherds preach. Joseph is silent. No notable lines are attributed to him. No sound bites. No quotes, only silence.
However, while Joseph is the forgotten figure of Christmas, he is irreplaceable in the story of Jesus’ birth. His importance cannot be overstated. Through Joseph, God protected the unborn life of Jesus and preserved human life for the Savior.
This message: The Story of and the Glory of Christmas…

The Story of Christmas (from Joseph’s perspective)

• Joseph’s Dilemma (18)

• Engagement in ancient Judaism was legally binding and required divorce if it were to be broken, but sexual relations and living together under one roof were not permitted until after the marriage ceremony.

• Now notice that Matthew says, "Before they came together." There were no sexual relations during this time. Joseph loved Mary so much that he did not take advantage of her.

• Now let me say this to the young people here. If someone is pressuring you, saying, "If you really love me, prove it by giving yourself to me," then you say, "If you really love me, you’ll wait, because I’m going to save myself for the one I marry. If you’re not willing to wait, then you’re not the one."

• Now some may say that is unrealistic, but I don’t agree. Marriages built upon lust are insecure, because if you can lust after one person, you can lust after another. But marriages built upon love exhibit trust & commitment & faithfulness.

• Joseph’s Decision (19)

• In Old Testament law the penalty for unchastity before marriage was stoning (Dt. 22:13-21), but by this time divorce, based on Deuteronomy 24:1, was the rule. Joseph was a just (i.e. law-abiding) man, could, and perhaps should, have done so by an accusation of adultery resulting in a public trial, but his unwillingness to put her to shame led him to consider the permitted alternative of a private divorce before two witnesses.

• A “righteous” man, refers to one who is law-abiding, upright in character, and generally obedient and faithful to God’s commandments. Here Joseph’s righteousness leads him to want to spare Mary the disgrace of public divorce and censure and the legal proceedings for a suspected adulteress. Jewish laws typically required a man to divorce an adulterous wife, but Joseph proposes to divorce her “quietly,” which is perhaps better translated “privately” in the sense of a settlement our of court.

• Because he was a righteous man, Joseph therefore could not in good conscience marry Mary who was now thought to be unfaithful. And because such a marriage would have been a tacit admission of his own guilt, and also because he was unwilling to expose her to the disgrace of public divorce, Joseph therefore chose a quieter way, permitted by the law itself. The full rigor of the law might have led to Mary’s stoning, though that was rarely carried out in the first century. Still, a public divorce was possible, though Joseph was apparently unwilling to expose Mary to such shame. The law allowed for private divorce between two witnesses (Num 5.11-31). That was what Joseph purposed. It would leave both his righteousness (his conformity to the law) and his compassion intact.

• Joseph’s Dream (20-23)

• In patriarchal times either a mother (Gen. 4:25) or a father (Gen. 4:26; 5:3) could name a child. According to Luke 1:31, Mary was told Jesus’ name; but Joseph was told both name and reason for it.

• Jesus is the one called “God with us:” the designation evokes John 1:14, 18. As if that were not enough, Jesus promises just before his ascension to be with us to the end of the age (28:20; cf. also 18:20), when he will return to share his messianic banquet with his people (25:10).

• Some Jews two hundred years before Christ favored an interpretation in which this immediate fulfillment was not seen as exhausting Isaiah’s prophecy. Isaiah 8:4, 8 seems to equate Immanuel with Maher-Salal-Hash-Baz, but Isa. 7:11; 8:18 suggests that this child will be a “sign,” a term that regularly in Scripture refers to a more remarkable event than a simple birth of a child to a normally impregnated woman. By the time one reaches Isa. 9:6, the prophet speaking of a child, naturally taken as still referring to Immanuel, which is the “Mighty God.” In no sense can this prophecy be taken as less than messianic or as fulfilled in a merely human figure. So it is best to see a partial, proleptic fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy in his time, with the complete and more glorious fulfillment in Jesus’ own birth.

• Joseph’s Dedication (24-25)

• Dr. Robertson McQuilkin was for many years the president of Columbia Bible College and Columbia Seminary in South Carolina. For a number of years, he was well known as a Bible teacher, scholar and author. When he was in his early sixties, his wife developed Alzheimer’s. He could have put her into a facility that would have cared for her very well. Instead, he chose to resign his position and devote his life to caring for her. When questioned about why he would need to do that, his answer was simply, “That’s what God wants me to do.” It was an answer that was a demonstration of a commitment of love for both his wife and his Lord.

• In the same way, Joseph also was willing to sacrifice his own hopes, dreams and plans for his life. He would keep his commitment to Mary and to God, sacrificing even his own reputation.

• Read “Man of Wood,” by Jerry Jenkins, co-author of the Left Behind series.

The Story of Christmas

The Glory of Christmas

• The Miracle of His Birth: Virginal Conception

• A Human Being is Born (cf. Heb. 4.15-16)

• Jesus exhibited all the normal human activities save one; He never sinned. He ate and drank, got tired, rested, and slept. He got angry (appropriately so), He cried and shed tears. He laughed and expressed sorrow. Accordingly, He was/is able to identify with our humanity and its corresponding difficulties…

• Heb 4:15-16 For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.NKJV

• A Divine Being is Born (“Immanuel”=“God with us”)

• Virginal conception allowed a preexistent Person to be “born.”

• “Immanuel,” meaning God with us. The church in every age should recognize here a clear affirmation of Jesus’ deity and cling tightly to this doctrine as crucial for our salvation.

• Physically—Mary’s Son

• Legally—Joseph’s Son

• Eternally—God’s Son

• Though Matthew expounds nothing of its significance here, the virginal conception has regularly been understood as a way by which Jesus could be both fully human and fully divine. His father, in essence, was God, through the work of the Holy Spirit; his mother was the fully human woman, Mary. As fully God, Jesus was able to pay the eternal penalty for our sins (v. 21) for which finite humanity could not atone. As fully human he could be our adequate representation and substitutionary sacrifice.

• When Moses was afraid, notice how God answers his fears: “I will be with you!” And He was. As Moses faced the new Pharaoh, he could do so with confidence. God enabled him to perform a number of miracles. And when Pharaoh refused, God brought upon a series of plagues. And when Pharaoh finally relented and the people found themselves free, but wandering around the desert, God was still with them, leading them with a pillar of cloud of by day and of fire by night, and sustaining them with manna from Heaven! In fact God never left them! He is true to his promises!

• Do you remember God’s promise to Joshua? When Joshua replaced Moses as Israel’s leader, he had his work cut out for him. Moses had been a great and charismatic leader. The people had seen miraculous wonders under Moses’ leadership. They had been freed from 400 years of bondage; they had miraculously escaped Pharaoh’s army; They had seen the law delivered unto them. The promised land lay before them and it wasn’t going to be handed to them on a silver platter... there would be much work to be done in its conquest. Would the Lord do through Joshua the same mighty things he had done through Moses? This is what God said to Joshua: Jos 1:5-6 No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life; as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you nor forsake you. Be strong and of good courage, for to this people you shall divide as an inheritance the land which I swore to their fathers to give them.NKJV

• Do you remember Jesus’ promise to His Disciples? What a roller-coaster ride they had been through! They had seen their Lord crucified. They had seen his body placed on the slab in that tomb. They had wept for him. Some had scattered…some had denied him…one who had turned on him subsequently took his own life. But then they had witnessed the most remarkable thing any of them would EVER see…Jesus had risen! First the tomb was found empty and then they realized why as the risen.

• Jesus appeared to them, not just once or twice but on a number of occasions over a period of several days! There was no doubt! Then, on that last occasion just before Jesus is taken up into Heaven, He gives them a set of last instructions: Mt 28:18-20 Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.NKJV

• And THAT’S the promise of Immanuel to US…even today! He is WITH US! True, He is no longer with us in the flesh as He had been ‘with’ his disciples. But, He is ‘with us’ in an even more special way today through His Spirit! His promise to us...

• Jn 14:16-18 And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever— the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.NKJV

• The Miracle of His Birth: Virginal Conception

• The Mission of His Birth: Eternal Salvation

• There was much Jewish expectation of a Messiah who would “redeem” Israel from Roman tyranny. But there was no expectation that the Davidic Messiah would give his own life as a ransom (20:28) to save his people from their sins. The verb “save” can refer to deliverance from physical danger (8:25), disease (9:21-22), or even death (24:22); in the NT it commonly refers to the comprehensive salvation inaugurated by Jesus that will be consummated at his return. Here it focuses on what is central, viz., salvation from sins; for in the biblical perspective sin is the basic (if not always the immediate) cause of all other calamities.

• Saving us from sin’s…

• Deceptive power

• Believers have their spiritual eyes opened to the truth; they no longer walk in darkness

• Believers are able to formulate a proper world view

• We have the answers to the most important questions of life.

• Destructive power

• Sin takes an incredible toll on a person’s life (physiologically, psychologically, etc.)

• Two identical twins raised in the same home; one pursues a life a purity and righteousness, the other a life of partying, carousing, drinking, drugs, sleeping around, etc.; stand them side-by-side and you’ll probably see that one has aged much more than the other; one has deep lines that have been etched into their face and forehead because of the destructive power of sin; the other may have a glow of peace and contentment.

• Sin destroys relationships, families, etc.

• Demoralizing power

• Sin produces embarrassment: to self, family, friends, church, enemies of God…

• David’s sin cause enemies of God to blaspheme

• Peter’s embarrassment when the cock crowed

• Sin produces incredible guilt, shame; it weighs us down.

• Illus of “Christian” in Pilgrim’s Progress, written by John Bunyan, weighed down by the burden of sin

• Damning power

• Rom 6.23 “wages of sin is death”—eternal death!

• Hell is an eternal place of damnation.

• Hell is an eternal place of torment

• Hell is an eternal place of separation

• Illus of “rich man” who died and went to Hades (Lk 15)