Joseph December 12, 2021

Introduction

Joseph Sermon December 12, 2021

How many of you cringed with me when he got that splinter? And how many of you jumped again on that final piece where he swept his hand across the board again, expecting him to get another splinter? :)

There's a passage in the Bible where Jesus says, behold I stand at the door and knock if anyone hears my voice I will come into him and make my home in him.

By all accounts, this is precisely what God was doing in the life of Joseph. Joseph had plans for his own life. He had things he wanted to do. . A woman he wanted to marry and start a family with. And yet God interrupted Joseph’s plans with God's plan.

Let's read about the encounter that Joseph had with God's Angel in the book of Matthew

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.

We dolly get to know much about the life of Joseph. He only shows up a little bit in the birth account and then a little bit later on in the life of Jesus. But he doesn't show up anywhere in Jesus’ story and, most scholars believe Joseph had passed away when Jesus was younger.

But there's one thing that we need to remember about the biblical story is, Mary and Joseph were ordinary people. But let's not make the mistake of turning them into untouchable Saints at the expense of learning from them as relatable people.

What I mean is this Joseph probably had big dreams for the children he would have someday. He probably, like any good dad, he probably wants to grow up and honor God period to be solid citizens. I think Joseph would want to live a good life and he would want his children to have lived a good life as well.

I love this quote from Paul Harvey of all the dreams that fathers have for their daughters. It’s probably how I will feel:

"Fathers are what give daughters away to other men who aren't nearly good enough...so they can have grandchildren that are smarter than anybody's." –Paul Harvey

As followers of girls, we want the world for them. But the same also holds true for Fathers with little boys. We want our boys too grow up to live a mark on the world. A good mark :) we dream of our sons living lives of honor and integrity and honesty.

I think every dad even with their shortcomings and failures would want their children to grow up to fulfill their dreams.

We know what even if you had a horrible dad. You can know that your heavenly father has dreams for you as well. Your heavenly father wants the best for you. And your heavenly father is a perfect father. And no matter what kind of problems you are living through in this life you can know that your heavenly fathercares for you.

Maybe you're living in a nightmare at work

At home

With your kids

With an illness

With legal problems

Or with something that is draining your bank account

We all face these problems these nightmares that we lived through at one time or another. But know this come on this Christmas your heavenly father loves you and wants what's best for you.

And sometimes the path that we have to get down in order to get where he wants to take us can seem crazy at times. Sometimes the journey that we take and the route we take to get where God wants us to be doesn't make sense to us.

Many of us have had a loved one whose life has been affected by Alzheimer's. We've lost loved ones slowly as memory by memory gets stripped away by this terrible disease. And eventually they can't remember important people places and more.

There's something like this in the spiritual realm. Where we start to forget that God loves us. We start to forget what God has done for us in the past period we start to forget the memories of how he has been faithful. Sometimes we can have spiritual Alzheimer's.

Perhaps this Christmas God wants to Pierce through your spiritual forgetfulness to remind you of his faithfulness. You know, the response that Joseph made to God echoes the choice that one of his ancestors made years before.

Matthew 1:1–2 ESV

1 The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. 2 Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers,

God had a big dream for Joseph and plans for his life. And so also God had a big dream and plans for one of the ancestors of Joseph named Abraham and abraham's son Isaac.

Remember the first time God came to Abraham back when we called him Abram?

Genesis 12:1–3 ESV

1 Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. 2 And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

The first part of God's plan for this man was for him to leave his home and go to an entirely new country where God would lead him. It was a world full of unknowns. It was a world full of trusting God. God gave Abraham a promise and he gave him a new name but before all that he simply called him to act in obedience.

Where could God be calling you to act in obedience?

Is he 25 years after God makes this original promise to Abraham God finally brings his promise to provide a son to pass. God had promised Abraham a son and even when it seemed impossible that God would finally make good on his promise God gave Abraham a son. And Abraham loved his son Isaac. But then God called Abraham to do something that made no sense.

Genesis 22:1–18 ESV

1 After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” 2 He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.” 3 So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac. And he cut the wood for the burnt offering and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. 4 On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from afar. 5 Then Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; I and the boy will go over there and worship and come again to you.” 6 And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son. And he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So they went both of them together. 7 And Isaac said to his father Abraham, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” He said, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” 8 Abraham said, “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” So they went both of them together. 9 When they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built the altar there and laid the wood in order and bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. 10 Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son. 11 But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” 12 He said, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.” 13 And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. 14 So Abraham called the name of that place, “The Lord will provide”; as it is said to this day, “On the mount of the Lord it shall be provided.” 15 And the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven 16 and said, “By myself I have sworn, declares the Lord, because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, 17 I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies, 18 and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice.”

Isn't that story always astonishing and even slightly disturbing? But the reality in this story is that God wanted to see if Abraham truly loved him above all else. And God called Abraham to do something that seemed crazy. But through that crazy act God loved Abraham to be the man he called him to be. God asked Abraham to trust him. And if you think about it Isaac was the one through whom God's promises came. So in sacrificing Isaac... or at least being willing to... Abraham was sacrificing the dreams that he had for the future.No

But God

Now it's easy to get down with this story or maybe right now say that's exciting and it's amazing that God wants to do great things. And we should remember that sometimes God wants us to lay down the dreams we have for our future so he can do something better through it. But we have to always remember these are real people with the same struggles and emotions that you and I have.

Sometimes we forget that God wants us to trust him just like Abraham did. He wants us to trust our dreams to him. And instead of trying to control all of our life he wants us to lay our dreams at his feet. What if we chose to let him have his way with our life and Instead of trying to control our future.

You see the dreams that God has for your life are bigger than even the best dad could dream up for his children.

And perhaps you have dreams about many things in your life:

About who you will become

About where you will live

About who you will end up with

About the perfect relationship

About a great job

About leaving a great legacy

You see, the dreams that our heavenly father has for us are greater and have more consequence than what we could ever come up with period this was true for Abraham. This was true for Joseph. And this was true in the life of Jesus. You see this baby born in a major didn't grow up to live a life that Joseph probably imagined for him. But yet the life he did live changed the world.

God wants you to know beyond a shadow of a doubt that as your perfect heavenly father:

God really does know you

God really did create you with a plan and a purpose

God really knows what you need even before you ask him.

God really does have your best interests at heart.

God really can be trusted with the hopes and dreams that you have for the future.

So as we close the question to consider today is are you willing to let God leads you? Are you willing to lay down some of the dreams you have for your life at God's feet? Are you willing to trust him with the big dreams he has for you?

That's basically where God asked Abraham. That's basically the same question God asked Joseph about his coming first born son Jesus. Both Abraham and Joseph responded with action and obedience when God spoke. They weren't perfect people but they chose to obey and then brace the dream God had for them.

Will you trust God today?