The Gift of the Child

Intro

We have been opening God’s wonderful Christmas gifts to us. We first un-boxed the gift of life - God’s most basic gift to us. We found that this gift of life requires us to use our lives in obedience to God’s commands. Then, we carefully peeled back the wrapping of the second gift - the gift of a promise for restoration with God and others. That promise also came with a requirement - that we put our trust in the God who offers us that promise.

Last week we tore open the wrapping on God’s third gift - the gift of grace. Through a genealogy we found God’s great tapestry of grace interwoven throughout human history. Yet even grace makes a demand of us - that we repent of our sins and turn ourselves to God. Today, we have a fourth gift - the smallest gift.

When kids get Christmas presents, they get most excited by the big gifts. Those are usually the expensive ones - bicycles, trampolines, or large swing sets for the back yard. The bigger - the better! But when you get older, often the smallest gift is the most precious.

Hold up a ring box

Gifts that come in a box this size, for example, are often more expensive, and more valuable, than a trampoline!

So as we consider this smallest gift - just remember: the size of the gift doesn’t indicate it’s value. Stand with me as we read from the Gospel of Matthew. This is God’s Word, and if you let it, it will change your life.

Matthew 1:18–25 ESV

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. 19 And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. 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.” 22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: 23 “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us). 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.

Pray: God, thank you for your gift of the child. May your smallest gift be the one that looms largest over our lives. Amen.

We’re looking at the birth story from Matthew’s gospel, but Matthew doesn’t really focus on the birth. Luke gives us much of the detail of the Christmas story, but Matthew focuses on a couple of characters that Luke bypasses. After telling the genealogy that brings us to Christ, we shows us the internal struggle of Jesus’ earthly father - Joseph.

Matthew begins with the predicament in which Joseph finds himself:

Matthew 1:18 ESV

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.

Betrothal in that day was a stronger form of what we might call the engagement. When you’re engaged, you’re not quite married but you’re planning the wedding and making the arrangements for married life. You begin to look for where you will live and what you will need as a family. It’s a time in which the couple begin to become one.

In that day, betrothal was similar, but stronger. Though the marriage wasn’t complete (they didn’t live together or anything else along those lines), the betrothal was the legal contract of the pending marriage. The only way to end a betrothal was with a divorce. If the bride’s parents had paid a dowry, it had to be returned. If one of them was unfaithful during this time, it was considered adultery. If he died, she would have all the rights of a widow.

So Mary and Joseph are almost married. Luke tells us that Mary went to the home of Elizabeth for a few months to help her with the birth of John. By the time she returned, the effects of her pregnancy had become evident. As Matthew puts it, “she was found to be with child.”

Joseph doesn’t know about God’s plan yet. He doesn’t know that Mary is pregnant because the Holy Spirit has conceived this child within her womb. There’s been no angelic visit for the betrothed husband. He didn’t have the NT text or years of seeing and hearing the Christmas story as acted out in town parades and church plays.

So imagine his surprise when he first sees his fiancé and her baby bump. Imagine his fear as he realizes that it’s not his child. What should he do? How will he respond?

Matthew 1:19 ESV

19 And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly.

Here’s a valuable insight: the way that we respond to God’s gifts is determined by our genuine character, especially when that gift is difficult to receive. Here’s what I mean: whenever God gives us something that is hard for us, such as adversity of some kind, we can only respond to that out of the depths of our own character. If we are just, or righteous, we will respond justly and righteously. Why? Because that’s who we really are.

We often respond to difficult situations in bad ways. When things get stressful, we can lash out at those we care about, become anxious over small details that go wrong, and have lapses in judgment that we would normally easily avoid. We assume that the stress somehow makes us “not ourselves,” almost like the candy bar commercials where the tagline is “you’re not yourself when you’re hungry.”

But that’s just it - we ARE ourselves in those stressful times. We act according to what’s in the depths of who we are. We can put up a facade when everything is hunky-dory, but when the going gets tough the mask falls off and people see who we really are.

That’s what’s so amazing about the story of Joseph. When things get really tough for him, his righteousness shines through. That word “just” in verse 19 is the same word the Bible often uses for “righteousness.” Joseph is a righteous man, and because of that he looks for the righteous way to respond.

Notice, he doesn’t respond harshly. He doesn’t lash out at Mary or drag her before the priests to be tried and killed as an adulteress. He also don’t deny the severity of the situation, ignoring it as though it would go away on its own. He tries to find a way to balance devotion to God’s and his commandments and devotion to Mary.

He also doesn’t respond quickly. The beginning of verse 20 says:

Matthew 1:20 ESV

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.

Consideration takes time and a great deal of effort. It takes mulling over details multiple times, thinking through the possibilities to come up with the best plan of action. Consideration requires patience and wisdom, insight and diligence, and it is one of the hallmarks of righteousness. When we speak or act quickly we are much more prone to speaking or acting wrongly. But when we take our time, we often say things better and do better things, too.

Notice thirdly that he doesn’t respond loudly. Look at the end of verse 19:

Matthew 1:19 ESV

19 And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly.

Here we find Joseph’s plan to balance mercy and justice. Not knowing yet exactly how Mary has become pregnant, he finds a way to balance his legal obligation with his love for his betrothed. He will divorce her quietly - not shaming her before others but also not condoning her supposed sin.

There is a passage in Proverbs that plays out in this passage, and it is familiar to many of us:

Proverbs 3:5–6 ESV

5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. 6 In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.

Notice what that Proverb does not say: it does not promise that God will reveal all his ways to you. It promises that God will straighten your ways. In other words, when you devote yourself to God, when you trust him with your whole heart (and mind, and soul, and strength, too), when you stop leaning on what you think you know, when you seek to align your steps with God’s character and actions, he will help you walk in the right path. He will guide your steps. That’s what he does with Joseph:

Matthew 1:20 ESV

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.

Now Joseph learns the truth - it was not Mary’s infidelity that caused this small gift of God in her womb. It was actually God’s fidelity to his promises to bless the nations and to send a Son to reign on David’s throne that brought God’s Son into human flesh.

So “do not fear,” says the angel, “to take Mary as your wife.” God stops Joseph from making a mistake. He straightened Joseph’s path. He then does something we all wish he would do for us sometimes: he lays out the next steps:

Matthew 1:21 ESV

21 She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”

Oh, what a special gift this child was! He was the gift of salvation swaddled and placed in a feeding trough. His name, Jesus, was a Greek version of the Hebrew name Joshua. It directly means “salvation.” But the angel describes that salvation clearly. “He will save his people from their sins.”

And this wasn’t some “Plan B” for God, as though his original plan went awry and he had to come up with something else. This was always his plan:

Matthew 1:22–23 ESV

22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: 23 “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us).

When Isaiah declared this to Ahaz, there was an immediate application - Syria and Israel (the northern kingdom) joined together and threatened to conquer Judah (the southern kingdom). God through Isaiah promised a sign that this evil plan would fail - a child would be born, but before he was a preschooler these nations would be destroyed themselves.

But there was a more eternal application - one that Matthew identifies. We didn’t simply need a leader to save us from our enemies. Our biggest enemy of all was within us - sin. Jesus would be that child that would signify the approaching destruction of our sinful nature.

Matthew is so adamant that this scriptural prophesy must be fulfilled, that he goes out of his way to show his readers that this event - this birth of Jesus, the Christ - happens for the express purpose of bringing Isaiah’s prophesy to fruition. God’s gift of the child brings all of his promises throughout the ages to their ultimate crescendo!

Now that Joseph sees God’s hand in his circumstances, he is ready to fully embrace God’s gift:

Matthew 1:24–25 ESV

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.

Joseph’s righteous deeds demonstrate his faith in God’s Son.

God Gives Us His Son, But Requires Us to Put Faith in Christ

By receiving God’s gift of his Son, by putting faith in Christ to forgive us of our sins and to save us from those sins, we are cherishing God’s smallest, most valuable gift. We are being saved from our doom and redeemed to a new life that only he can give us.