December 14, 2008 Advent
Doing the Right Thing

Matthew 1
THE BIRTH OF JESUS THE MESSIAH
18 This is how Jesus the Messiah was born. His mother, Mary, was engaged to be married to Joseph. But before the marriage took place, while she was still a virgin, she became pregnant through the power of the Holy Spirit.19 Joseph, her fiancé, was a good man and did not want to disgrace her publicly, so he decided to break the engagement* quietly.
20 As he considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream. "Joseph, son of David," the angel said, "do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife. For the child within her was conceived by the Holy Spirit.21 And she will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus,* for he will save his people from their sins."
22 All of this occurred to fulfill the Lord's message through his prophet:

23 "Look! The virgin will conceive a child!
She will give birth to a son,
and they will call him Immanuel,*
which means 'God is with us.'"

24 When Joseph woke up, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded and took Mary as his wife.25 But he did not have sexual relations with her until her son was born. And Joseph named him Jesus


There is a beautiful chorus from a song by Christ Tomlin called Jesus Messiah:

Jesus Messiah
Name above all names
Blessed Redeemer
Emmanuel
The rescue for sinners
The ransom from Heaven
Jesus Messiah
Lord of all

Take a look at number one on our outline:

1. Jesus is Messiah; Messiah means: anointed or chosen

Jesus is Messiah. He was anointed or chosen. To do what? To save us!

Let me tell you a story. In a remote village stood a beautiful church. It was so beautiful, in fact, that it was known as the Mountain Valley Cathedral. The church was not only beautiful to look at – with its high pillars and magnificent stained glass windows – but it had the most beautiful pipe organ in the whole area. People would come from miles away – even from far off lands – to hear the lovely tones of this organ.

But there was a problem. The columns were still there – the windows still dazzled with the sunlight – but there was an eerie silence. The valley no longer echoed the glorious, fine-tuned music of the pipe organ.

Something had gone wrong with the pipe organ. Musicians and experts from around the world had tried to repair it. Every time a new person would try to fix it the villagers were subjected to sounds of disharmony – awful, penetrating noises which polluted the air.

One day an old man appeared at the church door. He spoke with the pastor and after a time the pastor reluctantly agreed to let the old man try his hand at repairing the organ. For two days the old man worked in almost total silence. The pastor was, in fact, getting a bit nervous. Then on the third day – at high noon – the valley was once again filled with glorious music. Farmers dropped their plows, merchants closed their stores – everyone in town stopped what they were doing and headed for the church. Even the bushes and trees of the mountaintops seemed to respond as the glorious music echoed from ridge to ridge.

After the old man finished his playing, a brave soul asked him how he could have fixed the organ, how could he restore this magnificent instrument when even the world’s experts could not. The old man merely said it was an inside job. “It was I who built the organ 50 years ago,” he said, “I created it – and now I have restored it.”

That is what God is like. It is He who created the universe, and it is He who can, and will, and is in the process of restoring it. God’s perfect plan was an inside job. He came and lived inside a man named Jesus Christ – God’s son. It was God’s perfect plan to live with us and to die for us. So, even though the world is not so perfect, and even though we aren’t so perfect, God is still perfect in doing His work of salvation. If we believe in Jesus and follow his teachings in the Bible, we will be saved. And someday, he will give us a new heaven, a new earth, and a new body – all will be perfect again.
Let’s take a look at the second point on our outline.

2. Joseph was a good man because:

a. He was willing to put his own interests last

Let’s put this in perspective. It was a terrible disgrace in this day to be pregnant out of marital union. Remember, the Jewish folk of this time were given to one another but not officially married until the wedding ceremony, which lasted a week. Mary and Joseph did not yet have their ceremony. A pregnant Mary would have been a very big problem. Either Mary committed a type of adultery or he and Mary had sexual relations before they were supposed to. Either situation was disgraceful and by the letter of the law was punishable by death.

A lot of people don’t mind making others look bad in order to save their own reputations. In that day, it is probable that most men would have implicated their fiancé and very publicly broken off the engagement. But Joseph was not willing to protect his own interests at the expense of Mary. He wanted to quietly break it off – no public announcement denouncing her.

In his dream, he discovered the will of God – he was to keep Mary as his wife. Such a move was actually an implication that he was the father. If folks noticed the pregnancy, everyone would have assumed that he could not control himself. The risk was now much larger. But Joseph, a godly man, was willing to take the risk rather than disobey God. So Joseph put his very reputation on the line. He put himself last at a great cost to his own status.

Richard Baxter was a minister in the Church of England in the 18th century. He wrote these words:

Lord, it belongs not to my care
Whether I die or live;
To love and serve Thee is my share,
And this Thy grace must give.
If life be long I will be glad,
That I may long obey;
If short--yet why should I be sad
To soar to endless day?
Christ leads me through no darker rooms
Than he went through before;
He that to God's Kingdom comes,
Must enter by this door. Richard Baxter

Richard himself faced much persecution, but he was willing to do so for the Mater’s sake. So was Joseph. This passage does not record any words spoken by Joseph. But this passage shows that Joseph did the right thing.

Andrew Murray was a pastor in South Africa during the 19th century. He wrote these telling words about humility:

Humility is perfect quietness of heart. It is for me to have no trouble; never to be fretted or vexed or irritated or sore or disappointed. It is to expect nothing, to wonder at nothing that is done to me, to feel nothing done against me. It is to be at rest when nobody praises me and when I am blamed or despised. It is to have a blessed home in the Lord where I can go in and shut the door and kneel to my Father in secret and be at peace as in a deep sea of calmness when all around is trouble. It is the fruit of the Lord Jesus Christ's redemptive work on Calvary's cross, manifested in those of His own who are definitely subject to the Holy Spirit. Andrew Murray

Joseph was also a good man because

b. He took his time with big decisions.

The hardest thing to learn in life is which bridge to cross and which to burn. David Russell.

Joseph had a great idea. He slept on it. This is good advice to all of us! When we are facing big decisions, don’t be too rash. Sleep on it. This slowing down made time for the Holy Spirit to penetrate Joseph’s heart. The Holy Spirit spoke to Joseph. When you know God is calling you to do something, you can go forward, for all the power of heaven is behind you. Take your time, but don’t take too much time.

Former president Ronald Reagan once had an aunt who took him to a cobbler for a pair of new shoes. The cobbler asked young Reagan, "Do you want square toes or round toes?" Unable to decide, Reagan didn't answer, so the cobbler gave him a few days. Several days later the cobbler saw Reagan on the street and asked him again what kind of toes he wanted on his shoes. Reagan still couldn't decide, so the shoemaker replied, "Well, come by in a couple of days. Your shoes will be ready." When the future president did so, he found one square-toed and one round-toed shoe! "This will teach you to never let people make decisions for you," the cobbler said to his indecisive customer. "I learned right then and there," Reagan said later, "if you don't make your own decisions, someone else will." Today in the Word, MBI, August, 1991, p. 16.

Prayerfully consider what God wants you to do! Take some time – not forever – some time. Read scripture. Talk to others (God speaks through other people, too). Pray some more, and then do what you feel God is leading you to do.
Last, on our outline, Joseph was a good man because:

c. He obeyed the will of God.

Peter T. Forsythe was right when he said, "The first duty of every soul is to find not its freedom but its Master". Warren W. Wiersbe, The Integrity Crisis, Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1991, p. 22

Roger Staubach who led the Dallas Cowboys to the World Championship in '71 admitted that his position as a quarterback who didn't call his own signals was a source of trial for him. Coach Landry sent in every play. He told Roger when to pass, when to run and only in emergency situations could he change the play (and he had better be right!). Even though Roger considered coach Landry to have a "genius mind" when it came to football strategy, pride said that he should be able to run his own team.
Roger later said, "I faced up to the issue of obedience. Once I learned to obey there was harmony, fulfillment, and victory." Source Unknown.

Imagine, if you will, that you work for a company whose president found it necessary to travel out of the country and spend an extended period of time abroad. So he says to you and the other trusted employees, "Look, I'm going to leave. And while I'm gone, I want you to pay close attention to the business. You manage things while I'm away. I will write you regularly. When I do, I will instruct you in what you should do from now until I return from this trip." Everyone agrees.

He leaves and stays gone for a couple of years. During that time he writes often, communicating his desires and concerns. Finally he returns. He walks up to the front door of the company and immediately discovers everything is in a mess--weeds flourishing in the flower beds, windows broken across the front of the building, the gal at the front desk dozing, loud music roaring from several offices, two or three people engaged in horseplay in the back room. Instead of making a profit, the business has suffered a great loss. Without hesitation he calls everyone together and with a frown asks, "What happened? Didn't you get my letters?"
You say, "Oh, yeah, sure. We got all your letters. We've even bound them in a book. And some of us have memorized them. In fact, we have 'letter study' every Sunday. You know, those were really great letters." I think the president would then ask, "But what did you do about my instructions?" And, no doubt the employees would respond, "Do? Well, nothing. But we read every one!" Charles Swindoll, Living Above the Level of Mediocrity, p. 242.

One step forward in obedience is worth years of study about it. Chambers, Our Daily Bread, March 4, 1993.