Matthew 1:16-2:22 (other scripture) An Overlooked Father

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Doesn’t that stir your heart as a father. We want to so live that our children will follow.

Some of the deacons come forward to pass our Father’s Day recognition gift. Please stand if you are a father. Remain standing until you receive your gift.

Give our fathers a hand

Most children

Most grandchildren

Most great grandchildren

Our influence does not stop when our children are gone. We continue to influence through the generations.

How do we influence? It’s in the details. The little things are what makes a father great.

I thought we would reflect on one such father in the Bible this morning. He is pretty much overlooked. We don’t see any great talent. He doesn’t conquer the world. He is an overlooked father, hidden in the depths of the fringe of society. Yet, of the few details we see, we find he is worth considering. He is Joseph, the step father of Jesus. While overlooked, we discover that he is a father worth considering.

Matthew 1:16-2:22 and other scriptures.

I. A Father Worth Considering: Lived in the shadows

A. Passed over

(ESV) Matthew 1 2 Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers … 6 and Jesse the father of David the king. And David was the father of Solomon … 16 and Jacob the father of Joseph …

1. Stand in line for king of Israel

2. Famous relatives – who can compete

3. Should been king / but not

a) Line of kings forgotten

b) Return from Babylonian exile

(1) Nehemiah – governor

c) After independence from Hellenistic kingdoms

(1) High priests

(2) Sanhedrin

(3) Foreign king (Herod - Edomite)

How does one react when he is forgotten? Midlife crisis

B. With limited time

No scripture

1. Died? No mention in accounts of ministry / mother’s care committed to John at cross

C. Had an eternal legacy

(ESV) Matthew 1 16 and Jacob the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called Christ.

Never know where you stand in history and what legacy you can leave

1. Attention on Mary / But Joseph as step father

2. The most significant step father in history

a) Matt 1.16 feminine of whom

b) Tense – passive

c) Gender – feminine

II. A Father Worth Considering: Led in his home

A. Provided for his family

1. Carpenter – woodworker – furniture – farm implements

(ESV) Matthew 13 55 Is not this the carpenter’s son? Is not his mother called Mary? And are not his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas?

B. Cared for family

(ESV) Luke 2 48 And when his parents saw him, they were astonished. And his mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us so? Behold, your father and I have been searching for you in great distress (anxiously).”

C. Modeled and led his family spiritually

1. Made the spiritual a priority in his family’s life

(ESV) Luke 2 22 And when the time came for their purification according to the Law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord

2. Faithful to attending the feasts at Jerusalem

(ESV) Luke 2 41 Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover.

a) Passover, Pentecost, and the Feast of Tabernacles - NT most at least once a year

b) Cost / inconvenience / 2-3 day one way trip three times a year

c) True worship of God – God’s way (can God say how to worship? – If not sets a prescedent for life – my way)

d) Community – faith always larger than individual

e) Object lessons of faith in the ceremonies – teaching tools

f) Model of priorities – what is really important is what you find time to do

III. A Father Worth Considering: Showed character in crisis

A. The Crisis of Jesus’ birth

(ESV) 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.

1. The problem of unfaithfulness

a) Betrothal – contract (like marriage) although you did not consummate or move in until 1 year later.

(1) Difference from now

b) Discovery of unfaithfulness required divorce

2. The penalty of unfaithfulness

a) Stone

(1) A issue of grace – instead of killing one was allowed to break permanent covenant of marriage through a certificate of divorce

(2) View the unfaithful as dead to release the other (allows remarriage)

3. NT handling of unfaithfulness

a) Divorce publicly with disgrace

b) Divorce privately between two witnesses

B. The character of righteousness

(ESV) Matthew 1 19 And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly.

a) Do what was right

C. The character of love and compassion

(ESV) Matthew 1 19 And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly.

a) Yet loving and compassionate

D. The character of self control

(ESV) Matthew 1 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.

E. The character of integrity

(ESV) Luke 2 1 In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. …3 And all went to be registered, each to his own town. 4 And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David

IV. A Father Worth Considering: Responsive to God

A. Responsive in public ridicule

1. Problem of facing community pressure for beliefs

(ESV) Matthew 1 20 But as he 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.”

2. Guidance given

3. Response

(ESV) Matthew 1 24 When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, 25 … And he called his name Jesus

B. Responsive when asked to sacrifice

1. Problem of leaving all that he knew

2. Guidance given

(ESV) Matthew 2 13 Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.”

3. Response

(ESV) Matthew 2 14 And he rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed to Egypt

C. Responsive when asked to trust

1. Problem of trusting by faith God’s leadership

2. Guidance given

(ESV) Matthew 2 19 But when Herod died, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, 20 saying, “Rise, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the child’s life are dead.”

3. Response

(ESV) Matthew 2 21 And he rose and took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel.

D. Responsive in the midst of fear

1. Problem of following even when afraid

2. Guidance given

(ESV) Matthew 2 22 But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there, and being warned in a dream …

3. Response

(ESV) Matthew 2 22 … he withdrew to the district of Galilee. 23 And he went and lived in a city called Nazareth, so that what was spoken by the prophets might be fulfilled, that he would be called a Nazarene.