Sermon Tone Analysis

Good morning CCLC!

Open your Bibles in Matthew 1.

The last couple weeks we have been looking at the genealogy or genesis or origin of Jesus Christ.

If you recall, the word "genealogy" in verse 1 and the word "birth" in verse 18 share root words...both looking at Jesus' origin.

We finished last week vss 1-17 last week looking at Jesus' earthly origin, and today we will look at verses 18-25-Jesus' divine origin.

One thing that stood out to me in looking at verses 1-17 is Jesus' earthly ancestors were not at all perfect, and this is very comforting, as God does not expect us to be perfect, but he does desire for us to be like David in that he was "a man after God's own heart," and today we are going to look at Joseph the earthly, though not biological, father of Jesus.

In many ways Joseph seems to be the kind of guy who was "a man after God's own heart."

Let's see why...

Please stand with me and let's read Matt 1:18-25

Let's Pray!

If you celebrate Christmas in July, well this is the perfect message for you today, as was are looking at the Christmas story on this 19th day of July 2020.

Verse 18:

1. Beginning in verse 18, we see the birth account of Jesus Chris from the perspective of Joseph.

Joseph is a relatively obscure person in scripture who falls off the scene after Jesus was 12 years of age...the scene where Mary and Joseph went up to Jerusalem for the Passover and lost Jesus and found him in the temple sitting in the midst of teachers, both listening to them and asking questions.

This is when Jesus famously said, "Why did you seek Me?

Did you not know that I must be about My Father's business?"

Lk 2:49

2. It's presumed Joseph died early, but the Bible never clearly states this.

What we do know from scripture is that in John 2, shortly after Jesus starts his public ministry around age 30, Mary is at the wedding feast in Cana alone...there is no mention of Joseph.

3. 30 was the age a Jewish man was considered an adult, so this was one good reason for Jesus to start His ministry around this age, but if Joseph had died, it would have also been the right thing for Jesus, as the eldest son, to also care for His family and His widowed mother.

4. And, it does seem that Mary was widowed, for at the crucifixion, Jesus spoke to John and instructed John to care for Mary.

5. Jn 19:26-27 "When Jesus therefore saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing by, He said to His mother, "Woman, behold your son!" 27 Then He said to the disciple, "Behold your mother!"

And from that hour that disciple took her to his own home."

6. Had Joseph been alive, there would have been no reason for Jesus to entrust Mary to John for care.

7. So, the most plausible explanation for Joseph's absence in scripture was he died sometime after Jesus was age 12, but before Jesus started His public ministry around age 30.

8.

While we don't know a lot about Joseph, these verses today help us learn several things about Joseph.

Seven observations specifically.

9. Verse 18 tells us our first observation...Joseph was betrothed to Mary...

10.

Verse 18 gives us a sense of a timeline as to when Mary became pregnant by the Holy Spirit... after the betrothal period, but before Mary and Joseph were married and consummated the marriage.

11.

Lk 1:26-28 confirms Mary and Joseph were betrothed, and Mary was a virgin... "Now in the sixth month [after his appearance to Zacharias (or after Elizabeth became pregnant)] the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, 27 to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David.

The virgin's name was Mary.

28 And having come in, the angel said to her, "Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!".

12.

In a Jewish marriage, there were three essential steps:

13.

Step 1- Engagement: The engagement typically occurs when the bride and groom are young, and often this was by an arranged marriage...which is still true today for Ultra-Orthodox Jews AKA the Haredim...which would included Hasidic Jews and a couple other sub-groups.

14.

Step 2- Betrothal Period: The Betrothal period was typically the year prior to the marriage, where the bride and groom remained celibate and lived with their own parents.

In Lk 1:27 we just read that Mary was "a virgin" indicating Mary and Joseph were honoring their Betrothal by remaining celibate.

We also see that they remained pure in verse 18 where it states "before they came together" indicating before they were married and before they consummated the marriage.

This is echoed in verse 25, where it states Joseph "did not know her till she had brought forth her firstborn Son."

Joseph and Mary did what many today do not do.

They honored God through physical purity in their relationship.

15.

During the Betrothal period, a legal contract is signed, and could only be broken by an official divorcement.

During this period, the couple are now known as husband and wife, which you see in vs 19...Joseph is referred to as Mary's "husband," but they are still betrothed at this point.

16.

Step 3- Wedding: After the year of Betrothal, a wedding celebration occurs, which today looks something like this...there is a blessing by the Rabbi, the groom will lift the veil (to make sure he is marrying Rachel and not Leah...they are not going to fall for that trick again), they take their vows under the Chuppah (a decorative cloth canopy with four poles), they exchange rings, receive the seven blessings, break the glass, and shout "Mazel Tov!" (good fortune or congratulations), they share a meal, and they have a celebratory dance where they dance in a circle and the bride and groom are lifted in the air on chairs.

Like any wedding it's a very special time, and I would argue that the Jews have a much better wedding format than traditional Gentile weddings.

17.

Before we move on, In verse 18, also take note that Jesus' mother is named...she is Mary.

And, Mary was betrothed to Joseph, but notice Joseph is not titled 'Jesus' father', because Joseph was not the biological father of Jesus.

At the end of verse 18, the true Father of Jesus is found, His true genealogy is listed...His true origin is revealed...Mary "was found with child of the Holy Spirit."

18.

And, you may be wondering, how did that happen?

Good question, in fact in Lk 1:34 Mary asked the same question to the angel Gabriel, "How can this be, since I do not know a man?"

And the angel answered and said to her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you..."

19.

I don't know if that makes anything clearer for you or not, but what we can say is that when the Holy Spirit comes upon a person, miraculous things happen.

He was able through divine dunamis or miraculous power make the virgin Mary conceive.

Nothing is too big for God.

20.

In Acts 1:8 Jesus said a similar thing to the disciples, "...you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth."

And, the disciples definitely saw change in their life, and they were imbued with power.

21.

When the Holy Spirit came upon me in 2012, I immediately was changed...it was also a miracle.

I no longer had a taste for alcohol, but I did have a taste for the word of God, and knew I was called into ministry.

Truly this was a miracle in my life.

22.

In any of these examples, it's impossible to know how the Holy Spirit does what He does, but He does it.

It's not for us to understand all the ways of God, but we can have faith that He is good and has the power to perform miracles.

Well, let's continue in verse 19

Matt 1:19 "Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not wanting to make her a public example, was minded to put her away secretly."

1.

A second observation about Joseph is that he was a just man.

2. Joseph was just...he was upright.

He was a man of Godly character who did the right things.

No doubt, God did not just call Mary, He also called Joseph.

3. Mary's pregnancy was a hard thing to comprehend, and to accept for Joseph.

During their betrothal period, Joseph discovers his wife is pregnant, and not by him.

By the natural eye, one would assume she had been unfaithful.

4. If a wife was unfaithful, according to Deut 22, she was to be stoned, and a man could also be stoned for sexual impurity.

The law was very serious that fornication was disgraceful and evil.

There was no place for this evil in Israel, and the death penalty was permitted.

5. Deut 22:20-21 if "evidences of virginity are not found for the young woman, 21 then they shall bring out the young woman to the door of her father's house, and the men of her city shall stone her to death with stones, because she has done a disgraceful thing in Israel, to play the harlot in her father's house.

So you shall put away the evil from among you."

6. Deut 22:23-24 "If a young woman who is a virgin is betrothed to a husband, and a man finds her in the city and lies with her, 24 then you shall bring them both out to the gate of that city, and you shall stone them to death with stones..."

7. So, by Jewish law, Joseph could have had Mary stoned, but he did not, because he was a just man...an upright man...instead of seeking justice for personal vindication, he demonstrated mercy...he was seeking to divorce Mary quietly, and not to cause her harm.

8. Another option was Divorce: Deut 24:1 "When a man takes a wife and marries her, and it happens that she finds no favor in his eyes because he has found some uncleanness in her, and he writes her a certificate of divorce, puts it in her hand, and sends her out of his house..."

9. Well, what is 'uncleanness?'

Rabbis have been asking the same question for centuries!

10.

By definition, uncleaness is indecency, which has led some Rabbis to develop a very liberal definition that a man can divorce his wife for almost any reason, even burning his toast!

11.

Praise God that Jesus in Matt 19:9 gave a better definition and clarification on divorce, "...whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery..." Ah, so you see, Jesus provides us with clarity, if a person has been sexually immoral, a divorce is permissible.

12. Legally, Joseph had legal standing to either stone to death or divorce Mary, being that she was pregnant during their betrothal period.

He was called just because he sought to divorce her, and to divorce her quietly so as to not shame her.

God saw this as upright.

13.

Of course, God will set Joseph straight...and we will see even more that Joseph is upright, when he listen to God.

14.

A third observation about Joseph is that he was human, subject to human emotions and human struggle.

15. in verse 18, we are told that Mary was "found with child of the Holy Spirit."

And, in the next verse, we see that Joseph wants to divorce her.

This may indicate that either Mary did not tell Joseph that she was pregnant by the Holy Spirit, or he did not believe her.

Either way, he had doubts, suspicions, and may not have shared the faith Mary had about her miraculous conception.

16.

Joseph's decision to not stone Mary and to put her away secretly seems to indicate that he loved Mary, but the fact that he was planning to divorce her also demonstrates he was perhaps heart broken or desired justice.

Whatever the case, Joseph was a man who was struggling.

17.

In verse 20, we will see the angel instructs Joseph "...do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife..." "Do not be afraid" may indicate that Joseph was afraid...that he was fearful of marrying Mary.

What would people say and think?

Will she be unfaithful again?

Am I to raise this child that is not mine?

18.

There are times in life when we all have struggles, and we wrestle with our emotions and wrestle with the best course of action.

We may even make a plan in our human logic and human thinking, or we may consult the scriptures to seek out a biblical plan... but what if God intervenes?

What will you do when He redirects you in a direction you were not considering?

Will you be obedient to His instruction even if it is not your plan?