Lessons from Mary and Joseph
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Intro:
Intro:
TS: Context: The period of the Kings ended with Judah going into the Babylonian captivity. Though the Persian King would allow them to return home and rebuild Jerusalem and the temple, they never truly controlled their own country.
The Lord grew silent during the years between the OT and NT. He had given Judah the word. He had upheld his covenant. He had given them a land, He had blessed as they followed and disciplined when they rejected. He sent judges and gave them kings. He sent prophets to warn and declare His word. All the while, he foretold and pointed to the coming Messiah who would come. Nothing more needed to happen.
400 long years pass and then the events of the NT begin to unfold. The time had come to fulfil the promise to Eve.
The first lesson we can learn from Mary and Josephs is to be
Have Courageous Faith
Have Courageous Faith
They grew up in a time of Roman occupation. God had been silent 400 years, but they knew the promises He had given. It is one thing to know the word, but when it starts unfolding right in your life, it can be frightening! Mary and Joseph faced it with courage.
In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth,
to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin’s name was Mary.
And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!”
But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be.
And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.
And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus.
He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David,
and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”
And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?”
And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God.
And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren.
For nothing will be impossible with God.”
And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.
Mary - She accepted the word of Gabriel with courage.
Being told of this miracle was overwhelming.
A virgin would suddenly be pregnant.
Now she finds out it was HER
She recognized a heavenly visitor and accepted God’s choice with courage
She was a woman of faith!
She knew the talk which would spread
natural to think she made up a story to not be labeled promiscuous
The town folk would assume her Joseph were the biological parents and heads would shake and tongues wag
She did not hesitate or shrink away
Joseph-
Joseph knew he wasn’t the Father
Imagine the hurt and betrayal which flooded him
He assumed Mary had committed adultery and betrayed him
The Law said she and her partner could be stoned
Then, God sent a message in his dream:
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.
And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly.
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.
She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”
All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet:
“Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us).
When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife,
but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus.
With courage born of faith, he took Mary as his wife and stood up to be the stepfather of the Messiah, Jesus
He reared Jesus as his own son
He assumed the mantle of responsibility
AP: We need Courageous Faith
It takes courageous faith to live for God
We believe God is and rewards those who seek Him
We believe HE inspired and preserved His word
We follow the Word by faith
When God instructs us in His word, we believe it and obey it
That takes courage in today’s world
It is often against current popular opinion
Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!
That has often been the way of the world.
Today is nothing new
What God has decreed as right is right
What God has decreed as sin is sin
There is no middle ground
It takes courage to live that way:
God designed and instituted the home where you have one man and one woman married to each other and bringing up the children in the way of the Lord.
God decreed we are to love Him above all and love our neighbor as ourselves
Courageously live God’s way
Not only did Mary and Joseph had a courageous faith, they also were
Compassionate
Compassionate
Their actions reveal compassion
Compassion is sympathy and concern for the sufferings of others and a desire to alleviate it.
Joseph:
And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly.
He didn’t want to cause a scene
He didn’t want to make it more difficult on Mary
This demonstrates he was compassionate even in the midst of the pain of supposed betrayal
It is said that we are like lemons. What is in us is revealed when we are squeezed
Joseph’s compassion came out in the midst of the trial
Mary:
On the third day there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there.
Jesus also was invited to the wedding with his disciples.
When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.”
And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.”
His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”
Mary cared for couple and the host of the wedding
She saw the need and went to her Son to help.
(another example of her faith!)
Her compassion caused her to act.
AP: We should be compassionate people
The gospel of Mark includes the phrase that Jesus was “moved with compassion”
compassion motivated His actions
It should motivate our own as well
So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.
Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience,
bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.
And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.
And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful.
Compassion is more than just a feeling
Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.
Let us both have and work out our compassion
This is fulfilling the 2nd greatest commandant: LOVE OTHERS
we meet needs
we pray for and with them
we serve them
we proclaim the gospel to them
Obedient
Obedient
Mary and Joseph had incredible circumstances in their lives and they responded with obedience!
Mary accepted the word that she was give birth to the Savior:
And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.
Joseph obeyed and married Mary. He also listened to and obeyed God after Jesus was born. Sometime afterwards (up to 2 years later) the wise men came and gave gifts to the newborn King of the Jews. They had stopped and consulted with King Herod and learned that the heir of David was to be born in Bethlehem.
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.”
And he rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed to Egypt
and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, “Out of Egypt I called my son.”
Joseph obeyed and moved his wife and child to Egypt
AP: We need the same kind of obedience
In some ways it is easier, we have the complete Word now
God’s will is made plain in the Bible
It is clearly written and spelled out in most cases
In some ways it is more difficult, No angel and special revelation
We don’t get angelic proclamations and burning bushes today.
Perhaps that might make a greater impression on us
Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger;
for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.
Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.
But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.
For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror.
For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like.
But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.
Conclusion:
Conclusion:
Live with courage, compassion, and obediently