Let’s pray.

Father in heaven. Thank you for this opportunity to worship you. To learn how we can implement our faith actively into responses that you expect from us. Lord, I ask that as we study this word you have for us that we can learn something about ourselves that you are unveiling to us as we grow in faith. I know that there are many of us, especially in this season, where there is a resurgence of sickness, decay, and division. Lord, we are looking to you for answers, for a plan, because too many things in our lives are uncertain and we feel shaken and abandoned. The weight of it all can be crushing. But we know you are for us, that you have plans for us. Plans for good. Plans that cause us to give us peace beyond our imaginations.

Lord, I pray specifically for those of us today who find themselves powerless and hopeless, fill us with your spirit at this time and occupy our minds and hearts with your countenance. We pray these things in Jesus name. Amen.

We started our Christmas series last week to learn how the experiences of first-person witnesses can strengthen our faith in Jesus Christ. Last week, Pastor Chris taught us about Mary, the misunderstood girl from Nazareth. Today we’re going to experience the first Christmas through the eyes of Joseph, her husband that doesn’t talk much. Sound familiar to any of you wives or girlfriends?

Let’s open our Bibles to Matthew 1. We’re in verses 18-25.

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. (Matthew 1:18-25 ESV)

What we see in Joseph’s experience is that:

Big Idea: True faith results in a righteous response

I just wanted to tell you up front. If you are a follower of Jesus and you say, “I have faith,” it must lead to a righteous response on your part. The difference between a regular response and a righteous response is: a righteous response filters situations and circumstances through the perspective of God and then do as he would. To execute what God would do  with the same mercy, grace, and love. That’s what living in faith is.

I’ll tell you what, the crazy thing about living in faith and responding righteously, it’s going to require you to do things that are uncharacteristically you, and counterintuitive to how everybody else is responding. But that’s the distinction between Christ followers and all others, isn’t it?

Earlier this week my daughter Kate, was hospitalized for seizures and our family spent most of the week at hotel Beaumont, right here on 13 mile. The beds are too small for more than one person to sleep on them, and the chairs don’t have enough cushion to get comfortable. We have no history of seizures and she had no medical conditions. In fact, she was just her normal self, getting ready for a play date and that’s when the seizures started. We got her to the hospital and the doctors finally stabilize her. When you’re carrying your convulsing child and various medical teams ask the same question over and over again, you get pretty indignant.

I’m already super type A to start with, you better believe that when my only child is purple and blue, switching between lifeless and writhing in pain on a hospital bed, you better believe my responses to everything was far from righteous.

On the flip side of that, there was all of you. Many of you got wind of the situation and started praying. You started encouraging. You started to bring your care whether or not Michelle and I wanted it. You showed us the righteous response of faith: to be patient, to keep coming back, to carry our burdens for us.

I’m sharing this with you because as I was praying at the hospital with Michelle after yet another frustrating day in search of answers, God started challenging my response in faith. You see, Kate’s not just Michelle and my child. She’s God’s child, and he was pressing us to righteously respond to the situation by giving our child to God. So her heavenly father could heal and do things that doctors can’t. He would do so through prayer and intercession.  

As we released Kate into God’s hands for prayer, she woke up in the morning able to talk and walk again, and the anomalies the doctors found in the tests that don’t add up, well, one day, they’ll figure it out, but I’m going with God supernaturally reached into his beloved daughter’s brain and rearranged stuff so that her mind and body would work again.

I’m sharing this because in the most critical of all circumstances, where I needed to have a righteous response in faith, that became impossible for me. But our God intervenes when the circumstances are impossible. That’s what happened this week with me. That’s happening in this story with Joseph.

Consider in your own lives, many of you only made a righteous response in faith because God intervened in some shape, way, and form. Your mom prayed for you. You grandfather prodded you along. A friend brought you. Your spouse convinced. And it continues, when we needed to make a righteous response in faith, we didn’t; but God intervened. That wasn’t a fluke. No, absolutely not. You see, that is who God is. He comes to us because we are not righteous and then he gives us everything we need to make the righteous response.  

Matthew lays a lot of context in these first two verses of Joseph’s story that help us understand how God moves us to righteously respond in faith. Let’s read it again.

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. (Matthew 1:18-19 ESV)

Mary was engaged to Joseph but she was already pregnant. This engagement wasn’t because Joseph got her pregnant. Matthew says “when” or at the time of their engagement, Mary was already pregnant. Meaning, the families had talked about it and started putting things into motion before she was pregnant, but when time came for the engagement, she was already pregnant. That’s why this situation Joseph is facing is a straight up crisis—because here he is, engaged to this pregnant woman and the kid isn’t his.

What Joseph didn’t know was that Mary was carrying a baby from the Holy Spirit. Matthew wraps it together nicely for us, but if you’re not sitting on this side of history this whole thing is an engagement gone wrong.

Joseph, like any of us when facing a crisis, began to wrestle with what his next step would be. So what decision does Joseph make? Verse 19 says he “resolved himself to quietly divorce Mary.” Here’s why he wanted to keep things quiet in the divorce – because he was “just” and “unwilling to put Mary to shame.”  

What does this tell us about Joseph? It tells us HOW he observed the law. He could have been vindictive because from his limited perspective, she cheated on him, and got pregnant. If Joseph was just the average law-abiding Jewish person, he would have said, “give me my rocks, I’m going to stone her myself.” Honestly, most of us would have chosen stoning. But Matthew makes it a point to show us that Joseph isn’t most of us.

He wanted to do the “right” thing and not shame Mary more than already shameful in the first century to be pregnant and divorced. The way Joseph was going to divorce Mary shows us the grace he gives so Mary can move on with her life without retribution, at his own cost. Joseph didn’t try to cancel Mary!

But how many times do we hear of hypocritical Christians, so unforgiving, lacking mercy, refusing to give grace? How many times do we say it and see it in others? Better yet, how hypocritical are we? I know some of you are up on your high horses saying, “well if Joseph really practiced what he believed, then he would completely overlook this transgression and take Mary as his wife without a second thought.” You and I both know that’s easier said and done, and it probably wouldn’t be done by you, so stop judging the man for doing the best that he can. You get mad when the car in the parking spot next to where you want to park is parked too close to the yellow line.

The story doesn’t end with divorce and Mary raising Jesus as a single mom. This is where it gets interesting. Let’s read verses 20-23.

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). (Matthew 1:20-23 ESV)

Remember what I said, in times where we’re not capable of making the righteous response, God intervenes to help us. That’s what’s happening to Joseph here. Joseph’s story shows us that God wants to help us as you consider our own circumstances and situations. Maybe not in a dream, but in some shape, fashion, and form—God is trying to get our attention to give us his insight and perspective, especially if we’re wrestling with something or in the middle of a crisis.

If God doesn’t have your attention, and if he hasn’t intervened in your decision making, then now is the time call on God. When you call on God, he will answer. Now, the part you may not like… When God answers, we need to

Point 1: Trust the plan of God. (vv. 18-23)

The reason we need to trust the plan of God is because if our plan and God’s plan don’t line up, and they rarely do, then we’re going to have trust that from the perspective of eternity, God knows better than you or me.

In verse 20 when the angel begins sharing the God’s plan with Joseph, he starts off by telling him “not be afraid” of taking Mary as his wife. I love how all of God’s plans always starts off with “do not fear.” Because you know when God has a plan, it’s going to take some courage. Joseph was afraid of taking Mary as his wife because she was pregnant and he didn’t know how to handle that situation.

What’s not said in this passage is that the plan being shared with Joseph is actually giving Joseph confidence to trust the plan of God. Joseph being a “just” man, understood what Matthew tells us in verses 22-23, that the virgin giving birth through the holy spirit fulfills the prophecy the Jewish people have been waiting for. That being the case, when the angel drops the prophesy from Isaiah, Joseph becomes confident in God’s plan and believes it can be trusted.  Just in case you’re not confident, I’m to give you the super cliff notes version of what was going through Joseph’s head and it starts in verse 1. The “book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.”

That’s the link between Jesus, the baby inside Mary, and King David, who was promised by God to have an heir on the throne forever and ever (2Samuel 7:16). Then there’s the link between David to Abraham and the promise God made to Abraham which is that it will be through his heirs that the nations will be blessed (Genesis 12). From verses 2-17, Matthew traces lineage for us, but in Joseph’s head, he already knows his own lineage. So the plan the angel is sharing, just connected the dots on 42 generations of Joseph’s lineage—God’s plan.

We are gathered here today because the plan God laid before Joseph continues to unfold in our lives. At Christmas we celebrate the birth of Jesus, the Christ, God’s plan for our eternity. We trust God’s love for us is so great that he would give his only son to rescue those who are perishing. That is the plan God is telling us to trust.

I want us to all see this, most business plans they have a 3 to 5 year shelf life. Political plans have a 4 year shelf life. For some reason we trust those plans with our entire livelihoods at stake. And yet, when God presents us with a plan for eternity, we choose to ignore it. How can look at 3-5 years and choose that over eternity? It doesn’t make sense that we’re buying digital land and NFTs trying to cash in on a 5 year investment on imaginary things that disappear when the power goes out when there is eternity in front of us.

Just like God had a plan for Joseph, God has a plan for you and he wants you to trust the plans he has for you because he wants your eternity. He has a purpose for your life even if you don’t see it. Just ask God. He will tell you.

But don’t just stop at trusting the plan of God. Remember, true faith results in a righteous response. We have to trust the plan and then  

Point 2. Obey the Word of God. (vv. 24-25)

Verse 24.

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. (Matthew 1:24-25 ESV)

Joseph not only trusted God, but obeyed God by doing something that would go against the norm. His obedience allowed him to participate in the plan God. Matthew is clear, Joseph was obedient and executed the plan of God by taking Mary as his wife and calling the son born to her, Jesus. He went against the grain of culture, of worldly wisdom, and obeyed God. He took a huge risk. That’s a righteous response in faith.

Joseph, if not for this act of obedience, would not even be a footnote in the Christmas story. Instead, he was privileged to participate in God’s plan for the world. Joseph did exactly what God told him to do.

Just imagine if we would invite God to show us our part in his plans for the world and then obey those plans this Christmas season, what would happen? Would more miracles abound in this short season than you’ve ever seen in your entire life? I think so.

You see, I had faith in the plan of God, in theory God would take care of my daughter and this seizure that left her as a shell of who she was for two days, unable to walk or talk that the doctors couldn’t explain or help with. I just wanted the plan of God to work without the obedience of Jonathan. That’s definitely not a righteous response. That’s not even faith.

God calls us to obey his Word period. We don’t obey out of convenience, or when all the checkboxes work out and the stars are aligned. Faith is moving to action the plan of God in our lives, especially when those plans seem counter-intuitive.

For some of us, the plan is to stop giving yourself to that guy or gal you just met online because you want to get married. That person is not helping you exercise faith to obey God in the plan he has for you. You can’t find the right person if you’re constantly with the wrong person, be obedient to the plan and make yourself the right person.

Maybe that porn site you spend hours watching every week and feeling guilt over on Sunday mornings. Being obedient is getting somebody around you to hold you accountable and kick you hard when you need it so you can address the real issue behind it. Stop hiding behind a screen.

Maybe it’s the gram or tiktok or HGTV that makes you lust for things that rust. Being obedient is to take the money you would’ve spent on those things and invest it in an area you know you’re not going to see a return in enjoyment, but you will see a return on God’s plan for you. The generosity you show will bless others much more than you will ever know.

Maybe you’re a parent and God’s been prompting you to read the Bible, share the gospel with your children, and meal after meal, activity after next, one bed time after another, they still have no idea who God is. They have no idea how Jesus saved you from your sins. They have no idea that the legacy of generational curses he freed your family from. You know the plan, but you disobey by allowing things get in the way. You excuse yourself from the righteous response of faith God is demanding from you because for some reason you have to steward what God gave you. Steward what God gave you by sharing the love of God with them.

For some of you, nobody actually knows why your spouse still keeps you around or why your friends, neighbors or coworkers keep inviting you to spend time with them. We simply know it’s not because of your fun, bubbly personality. There is a righteous response, a risk, you need to take in those relationships and you’re not. You’re sitting on the sidelines not even looking to participate in God’s plan for your life.

What is God calling you to obedience into?

Jesus was born to be with us, Immanuel, that’s literally what it means. He came to us because there was no way that we would ever in our own ability or volition go to be with God. The plan of God was that Jesus would walk this life like we did, and live sinless, so that he could be the payment for all of our sins. Jesus died on the cross for our sins and paid the price to rescue us as part of God’s plan.

Jesus was obedient to the plan of God. Jesus died, he was buried, and then he was resurrected on the third day to give us eternal life. That is our inheritance. That was the plan for our lives that we would inherit eternal life with God.

Our eternity became secured because Jesus obeyed. That doesn’t happen without Joseph willing to trust the plan of God and take Mary, a woman already with child, as his wife. Then to take that boy, born of Mary, from the Holy Spirit, and give him the name Jesus. The name  God commanded and raise Jesus as his own.

If you believe the plan of God for your life is to be his beloved child, and you want to obey the word of God for your life, then obey the call of Jesus Christ and receive him as Lord and Savior of your life. Make that your righteous response. He came to be with you and me. Do not fear the consequences of your obedience. It’s God’s plan. Trust it.

Let’s pray.

Father in heaven, thank you for giving us your plan for our lives. A plan that is intended to bless the nations through your son. Lord, none of us would be here if you didn’t rescue us, and save us from the plight of our own selfishness and evil desires. Thank you for sending us Jesus in the form of a little baby. Lord we know that you selected Mary and Joseph because of their faithfulness, and then asked them to take a mesmerizing leap of faith.

Father, for those of us who have not taken that leap of faith into receiving your son as our savior, move our hearts and minds toward that end. Regardless of the questions that are raised and the concerns that they have, let those be the small things. Let them trust that placing their faith in you is part of your plan for their lives.

On the flip side of that, for some of us, we’ve placed our trust in you for so long that we sometimes forget that you continue to ask us to trust you with more. Let us be open handed with our faith and move into action to the places and things in our lives that we need to in order for us to be completely obedient to you. God that is what we want for our lives. That we can take the little faith that we have and move the mountain of doubt we see ahead of us. We pray that all of us here can have the righteous response of faith like Joseph and boldly obey you commands.

God we want to be that type of people because that is who you designed us to be in your image. Just as your son was radically obedient in his sacrifice, we want to follow him wholeheartedly. We pray this in Jesus name. Amen.