Transcript
And as you're finding that I want to lead us in prayer for our mission team. Would you guys join me in this prayer? Father, thank you for the privilege of being able to send out people to the nations. I pray for Kyle Bragance, our missions pastor and his team there of about eight believers from our church in Chiapas, Mexico. I pray for the leaders on the ground there, Greg and Michelle McClanahan and the hundreds of pastors and churches that will be there represented and the thousands of backpack blessings they'll be giving out to poor children in the Mexican jungle and surrounding areas.
God, I pray for that meeting they'll have later in the week where the kids bring their parents back. And I pray God when the gospel is preached in that meeting that hundreds would believe and be saved, that churches would be started. I pray for divine appointments for our missionary team through their translators and overcoming the Spanish language barrier there, God, that they'll be able to preach the gospel to people in the streets and in their homes. And God, I pray that older people and younger people and everybody in between will hear and see the beauty of Jesus and see the appeal of the gospel and believe and be saved. And God, as they travel home next Sunday, give them great mercy and bring them home safe to us.
And we can't wait to hear their report of your glory in Mexico. In Jesus name and a faith filled church said amen. Remember them this week about eight or nine believers from our church. Today I have some questions for Joseph and I want us to take a closer look at his life. He's the husband of the Virgin Mary.
He is the earthly father, the surrogate dad for the Lord Jesus. And we often focus on Mary at Christmas time they write songs about her. But I want to suggest to you that Joseph's role is especially important. He's a silent figure in these birth narratives, but his actions speak volumes. We don't have a recorded single word that Joseph ever spoke, but he is the recipient of words and messages from God.
So we don't hear him speak, but we watch him listen and he quickly obeys what he hears from the Lord. So what I want us to do, and I'm going To use a series of four questions so that we can imagine what it might be like to walk in Joseph's shoes today. So if you're ready, say yes. Question number one. Joseph, how did it feel when you first heard the news?
This is Matthew, chapter 1, verses 18 and 19.
Now, the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows. His mother Mary, was betrothed to Joseph before they came together. She was found with child of the Holy Spirit. Do you believe that verse? You're weird.
If you do, you need to look at the content of that verse. Then Joseph, her husband, being a just man, not wanting to make her a public example, was minded to put her away. What? Secretly, Joseph, how did it feel when you first heard the news? Imagine discovering your fiance is pregnant and you know the child is not yours.
Do you imagine it? Yet? On a scale of 1 to 10, how high would the shock and confusion register to you?
But what we know from the verse is that Joseph was a righteous man. That's what the word just means. It's the same word in the original language. Joseph is this righteous man. Can we agree that Joseph, even being a righteous man, felt betrayed?
He felt the sting of this news. He's embarrassed, he's hurt. He's thinking, was I not good enough? I mean, we've already made this arrangement. Our parents have made the transaction.
We got the dowry money. We've already had the initial betrothal meal. You promised to love me, and you've discarded me already.
So Joseph, this righteous man, feels betrayal. And yet the verse says, not wanting to make a public example out of her, he decided, how can I make this sting the least? I'll put her away. Secretly, Joseph has a plan. He chooses mercy for Mary over public shame.
But I want to know something. I want to ask the person sitting in your seat. What do you think your first thoughts would have been if you were Joseph? If you hadn't had your daily devotional that day and weren't really spiritually prepared, Would you go with that lousy no good lady? How could she?
How would you react in a situation that could tarnish your reputation? You had nothing to do with it. But when others hear, they're gonna think you're the culprit. You couldn't wait. Wouldn't you be tempted to become your own best defense attorney?
Hey, I just want all of you people to know she cheated on me. I had nothing to do with this. How do you think you would have felt if you were Joseph? So Joseph gets a plan. It's not a good plan.
It Turns out we're going to learn in just a couple verses. It's the wrong plan, but it's a kind hearted plan. He plans to divorce Mary quietly and take the edge off the public disgrace as much as he could. But for us, how do you respond when you're faced with unexpected situations that are not good, unexpected moments that are challenging and uncertain? Because that's squarely what Joseph is looking at.
He didn't ask for this. He had nothing to do with it. He didn't take any steps to cause it. And yet now it's laid right into his lap. Do you respond with grace and mercy?
Or like what we just described, harsh judgment? Joseph, how did it feel when you first heard the news? I want you to enter in to Joseph in that moment. Question number two, Joseph, what was it like to receive a message from an angel? You guys believe in angels?
Believe in demons and the devil? Do you believe that they belong in that time period of history that you can only read about in the Bible, or are they active today? Whoever wrote the book of Hebrews to the scattered church in the New Testament says, you know, some people entertain angels and they don't even know it. Entertaining angels unaware. What was it like to receive a message from an angel?
Joseph? Matthew 1, 20 and 21. But while he thought about these things, let me just stop and say, I didn't tell the first service this. You know when you, when you get bad news and you make a plan, there's some value in just taking a break and pumping the brakes on your life car and going, I need to think about this for a second. As Joseph was mulling what to do while he still thought about these things.
Behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream saying, joseph, son of David. It's hard for me to speed past son of David because Joseph's dad's not named David. Joseph's real dad's name Jacob, we find out from one of the genealogies. But the angel of God sent from heaven with a message from the throne room says when you talk to him, remind him of his heritage. He's not just Joseph, the son of Jacob.
The guy we've never heard of, his ancestor is King David that David, David and Goliath sling. David king in Israel 40 years. David, the one who in 2nd Samuel 7 got an eternal promise from God. David, make sure you remind him who he is. Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary, your wife.
I'm thinking Joseph's going. Well, I needed to hear this because I'm sure afraid to take her as my wife because it's already not looking good. Don't be afraid to take Mary as your wife because that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. Hey, do you believe that? Talking about you.
You believe that what was conceived in Mary's womb didn't come from another human. The Holy Spirit put a baby there. Can I tell you, the Christian faith hinges on the truth of that verse.
And the angel goes on to say she'll bring forth a son. If you were wondering what to call him, you should call his name. Jesus. Jesus means Yahweh saves, Jehovah saves because he'll save his people from their sins. Oh, I wish I could just had.
I wish I had time just to talk about what it means to be saved from your sins. At the very least, it means that when you meet Jesus, he takes all your sins away. Secondly, it means that you can walk in victory and not fall to temptation all the time. You're saved from your sins. So here's where we are in the story.
Joseph is ready to end his engagement to Mary. But an angel's message changed everything. Joseph, what was it like to receive a message from an angel? So appearing to him in a dream, an angel told Joseph to take Mary at his wife as his wife and look at me anyway, I call this. This is God's.
Anyhow, Look, I know it doesn't make sense. I know you can't see the end from the beginning. I know you can't connect all the dots. I know you don't know which pieces are missing and what you have on the table. But Joseph, take her as your wife anyway.
Yes, she was expecting. No, it wasn't his child. No, it won't make much sense, but God sent an angel to a man in the Bible who never speaks to make sure he understands that Joseph was going to oversee the most sacred birth ever in human history. So Joseph, you must be courageous and you must trust God.
And I want you to review this with me. What was this story that Joseph was supposed to believe again? Well, an angel tells him, hey look guy, above any human reasoning, you have to believe that there's a baby in your fiance's womb that's been miraculously conceived without any human participation. It was a virgin conception that would lead to a virgin birth. This is how Jesus came in the world, untouched by human sin, that Adam passed down through all the dads.
Jesus misses it because of what this verse teaches.
So on Friday night, two of my sons and my brother And I wanted to venture out to see a good high school football game. We're going to go to Tupelo, Mississippi, an hour away. See Tupelo play Madison Central for the north half of the state in 7A. And it's going to be very cold. It was one of those, you know, you wear your layers and, you know, you go.
You're guys. So you go to the mall and eat pizza and then you go to the game. And I thought, well, I'm going to drive for a while. And so I asked Angie, she has our newest vehicle. I said, hey, can we take your vehicle?
She goes, you know, your truck has 100,000 miles on it. Mind it. We just got ours a couple of years ago. We don't need to put all these miles on the vehicle. There was just something in me that says, I agree with you.
Just feel like for this short road trip, need to take your car. She goes, okay, so I won that. How about that? And. And so we go.
And on the way back, Angie calls me. We're about 50 minutes away from home. She said, I wanted to call you to give you some minutes to prepare yourself. I was like, well, I mean, you know, I'm a pastor, right? I don't typically fly off the handle.
It's kind of part of the job description. But she goes, I wanted you to prepare. She said, she and my son Griff and my mom had gone out to eat, and they were coming back home in my truck. And a deer. I see where this is going already.
I guess they weren't going hunting. So a deer is in the middle of the 302 highway about a mile down the road. And he. The deer, she jumps out right in front of the truck. Boom.
Hits the truck, helicopters into the ditch somewhere. And so it looks like a shark hit my truck and took a bite out of it. I think I got a photo. We got some photos here. Go to that next one.
Yeah. So a deer did that, bent the thing back. We don't know the condition yet. We've got a claim in. And I was sitting there thinking, man, you're reading about making a claim to your insurance about a deer.
By the way, after the first service, you don't know how many rednecks came up to me and said, if you'll just put this on your vehicle. One guy said, see that thing on my truck out there? I was like, yeah. He goes, I've killed six deer with that already. Didn't touch my truck.
You need one? It's amazing. All the help came in too late, Right? So we're looking at making the insurance claim, and there's all these warnings and disclaimers about insurance fraud. And I was like, well, how do you prove that you hit a deer?
One of the ways that we can prove we hit a deer is there's pieces of the deer in the truck. So they're. There's, like, evidence, there's photos. But we have a dash cam on my truck. Griff, who is my can build anything guy, installed a dash cam, rear and forward on my truck.
And I was like, man, I bet you we have it. So he went and he got the little card, and we have the. I'm not showing you this one. We.
Wow.
Show us the death preacher. I got. Okay, all right, Sorry. Maybe next time. I don't know.
So you can see, it is so fast. But we have video evidence, and it's like, I can prove we hit a deer, and, you know, we can get our claim. Joseph didn't have any evidence. No pictures, no dashcam video. Hey, Joseph, I noticed we hadn't been to your wedding ceremony.
And I notice your wife is showing. And he's like, yeah, we hadn't been together. In fact, she hadn't been with anybody. God put a baby in there.
Really? Prove it. Angel told me, you see the position Joseph's in. Joseph, what was it like to receive a message from an angel? Can we agree that a virgin conception and a virgin birth is unprecedented?
I mean, there's nobody in the Old Testament. Joseph can look back and go, oh, I remember when this happened to. Well, it didn't happen to Abraham, didn't happen to Moses, didn't happen to any of the patriarchs, none of the kings, none of the people in the times of the Judges. There is no handbook for when you're the dad, your wife is pregnant, and there's been no anything. All you have is a word from God.
It's humanly impossible. Can we agree that it took remarkable faith to believe in such an unusual message? And I want to suggest to you it took even more faith for Joseph to act on it.
Would you trust a message from God even if it didn't make sense?
Have you been paying attention to the voice of God even when it comes in unexpected ways? Have you been paying attention to the voice of God even when it comes from uncommon sources? Let me tell you how God might have spoken to you last week and maybe you missed it when that person at work that irritates everybody unloaded all their garbage on you unprovoked and you didn't ask them to do it. And you're thinking, why is this happening to me? Sometimes that's the still, small voice of the Lord saying, see that person that nobody really likes?
I have them in my crosshairs on my scope from heaven, and I've targeted them for grace. And you're my grace agent. And so the reason it happened to you is that you could respond to them the way my son would respond.
See, that's like a message from an angel.
Well, here's what Joseph does after he hears the message from an angel. Matthew 1:24, 25. Then Joseph, being aroused from sleep, did as the angel of the Lord commanded him and took to him his wife, and did not know her till she had brought forth her firstborn son, and he called his name Jesus. If you will compare Matthew 1:24 and 25 with Matthew chapter 1, verses 20 and 21, you'll see that Joseph does everything on the list that God told him to do. Take her as your wife.
She's gonna have a son. Here's the name you give him.
How quickly should we act on God's instructions? Let me ask that another way. How long can you wait until you finally obey God, where your obedience is really just disobedience in disguise? Joseph did not procrastinate on God. It's like he got up and wiped asleep out of his eyes and said, well, guess we're doing this.
Joseph, what was it like to receive a message from an angel? Question number three. Joseph, how did you handle the assignment of being Jesus earthly father?
We go to Matthew, chapter two. Now, these are the verses. Just after the visit to the wise men. The wise men. The visit of the wise men.
Matthew 2, 13, 15. Now, when the wise men, when they had departed, behold an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. If you're taking notes at home, how many. This is the second visitation of an angel with the second message to Joseph in a dream. And here's what he said.
Arise. By the way, he's going to call Jesus the young child at least three times in this text. Arise. Take the young child and his mother, flee to Egypt. Stay there until I bring you word.
For Herod will seek the young child to destroy him. And when he arose, he took the young child and his mother by night and departed for Egypt, and was there until the death of Herod that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet saying, out of Egypt I called my son Joseph. How'd you handle the assignment of being Jesus, earthly dad. Well, in the birth story of the Lord Jesus, Joseph doesn't really have a unique role.
He doesn't have a spectacular job. He has the conventional role of husband and father. And can I tell you guys, there is no higher calling for, from a human perspective for you than to be the husband and the father, the one that God set you and marked you out for to be. So Joseph was entrusted with the safety of this young child, which is a word in the original language that means something like toddler.
This little boy who's not old enough to do anything for himself, take care of him and your wife, his mother, because she's busy and her full time job is taking care of the baby. Amen. Ladies. It's a full time job being a mom and mom and baby in Egypt do what mom and babies do. Joseph had the most pressure while he was there and he has not a whole lot to go on.
The angel says, here's what God wants you to do, Joseph, leave town. Where am I going? You're going to Egypt. Mr. Angel.
You do realize I'm a citizen of Israel, do understand that. You understand that Egypt's pretty far away. I mean, it's a bordering place, but we don't have cars or anything. Can't get there fast. I understand that.
Well, what am I supposed to do when I get there? Just wait until God tells you to do something else.
Oh, and you need to go tonight because King Herod wants to kill all the boys and in your town. This reminded me of when God called to Abram in Genesis chapter 12 and he says, hey, I want you to leave your family, everything you knew. And if anybody doesn't want to go, leave them behind and go to a land I will show you. Which land, the one I'm going to show you. Which one is that?
You'll just have to wait and see. And in that one act of faith, you get the gospel preaching of those that are going to be descendants of Abraham. Their faith is going to bless all the nations on the earth with just a little bit, two or three sentences to go on. That's all Joseph had. He's got pressure all around him and his actions are noteworthy.
So here's what we just read. He's warned in a dream to flee to Egypt to protect his child from the wrath of King Herod. He's got no family support in Egypt and likely no security officers that he can rent out. And this decision being so urgent, he had to make it quickly. You see, Joseph had to protect his young family Let me ask you a question.
How far would you go to protect the ones you love? Isn't the answer to that question, there's nothing I wouldn't give. There's no decision I wouldn't make. There's no loan too big, whether I can pay it back or not. There's no sacrifice too great.
You can't come up with anything, Pastor, that I wouldn't give to take care of my family with. Well, good. You're onto something now. You're entering into Joseph Land because that's what's happening here.
Do you trust God in times of uncertainty? How much information do you have to have to obey him? Joseph got two sentences.
What if God calls you in ways that involve difficult decisions? What if God leads you into uncomfortable places?
And what if he asked you to sacrifice Joseph? How did you handle the assignment of being Jesus earthly father? I think his answer would be, I gave it my best, but I don't feel good about it. But I didn't hold anything back.
Question number four. Last question, Joseph, how did you embrace being a servant in the background?
For this sermon point, we go 12 chapters into further into Matthew. We get to Matthew 13, and we read a commentary about Jesus going back to his hometown. Matthew 13, verses 54 through 57. While you turn there, think about this question. How did you embrace being a servant in the background?
Joseph, here's how it reads. When Jesus had come to his own country, he taught them in their synagogue so that they were astonished and said, where did this man get this wisdom and these mighty works? And then I want you to circle this question. Is this not the carpenter's son? Circle that in your Bible.
Make a note of it. Is this not the carpenter's son? Is not his mother called Mary? And his brothers James and Joses and Simon and Judas and his sisters? Are they not all with us?
Don't we know this family? Where then did this man get all these things? So they were offended at him. Jesus is offensive. I want you to go and look back at those verses we just read.
You see lots of names. You see Mary and James and Joses and what's the other guy? Simon? Did you know Jesus had a brother named Judas? Kind of ironic, huh?
You don't know him as Judas. You call him Jude. Next to the last book of the Bible. Look at all those names of all those men. And do you notice that one name's missing?
Matthew doesn't even name Jesus earthly father when he's cataloguing his family. Now I realize he leaves out the name of Jesus sisters too. But he called him Joseph in chapter one and he called him Joseph in chapter two. And we get to Jesus on the scene as an adult and he's just the carpenter. And I'm wondering what the commentary Matthew's making about him is by not naming him.
Can I tell you? Joseph was a humble man of a simple trade. And yet he played a crucial role in God's plan to redeem humanity. Do you understand that an ordinary carpenter, a. A blue collar worker, a man with calloused hands and bruised knees and a strong but aching back.
Do you understand that an ordinary carpenter would be the everyday father figure to the most extraordinary baby to have ever been born?
When God looked for a surrogate dad for his son, he didn't pick a king, he didn't pick a sage. He didn't get a prime minister. He didn't even get him a daily tutor. He. He didn't get an author, not a conference speaker, not a scribe, not anything noteworthy.
A carpenter.
And what did this man do? He did three things.
Three things that God's assigned for every dad in the room. Number one, he provided for his family. Number two, he taught Jesus a trade. He raised a boy into a man. And number three, he raised his son in faithfulness to God and God's laws.
Can I tell you dads, you want that to be your resume? The beginning and the end of it took care of my family. I raised my children to be responsible adults and I raised them to know the Lord my soul. And then. Then we don't know what happened then.
Joseph must have died a very unremarkable death sometime between Jesus at age 12 because he was around then, and Jesus at age 30 when he inaugurated his public ministry. Sometime in that 18 year stretch, Joseph just died. He's not mentioned anymore. Joseph fulfilled his role skillfully and he faded into the background. But he was a silent, powerful presence.
This is kind of what I want my life to be like. I want to fulfill my role before God. I want to do it skillfully. And then I want to die and be forgotten and go to heaven. I want Joseph's resume.
Let me ask you a question. Are you willing to serve in obscurity? Are you willing to be the one they leave the name off of?
The truth is we live in a modern culture that exalts fame and celebrates celebrity. Isn't that true? Turns out recently we found out most of them are just dumb and we shouldn't follow them. They live in a bubble you don't live in. We're taught to crave recognition.
And we're also taught by our culture to be offended when we're overlooked and slighted. But Joseph reminds us that serving God faithfully, even in hidden ways, pleases the Lord. And it makes an unquestioned impact. And we're preaching sermons about it two millennia later. Let me ask you a question.
What would happen if we embrace the roles God has for us with the same attitude Joseph has?
What impact would being faithful in the small things make for God's glory and his purposes in your life and in your church?
Joseph, how did you embrace being a servant in the background? Well, those are my four questions that I have for Joseph. I want to apply this message to our life. I want to ask one more question outside the text. What can we learn from Joseph?
I think we can learn three things. And I'm going to ask you to come for prayer after the service today for one, two, or all three of these, to bless our prayer team and to receive from God what you need. What can we learn from Joseph? Number one. Joseph would tell us.
Hey. Respond to unexpected challenges with grace.
Just like Joseph responded to Mary's unforeseen pregnancy with mercy instead of subjecting her to public judgment, so too are we called to handle surprising challenges that just pop up in our lives. To do so with kindness and with integrity. It shows the character of Jesus in the face of adversity. Respond to unexpected challenges with grace. Number two.
Trust God when others may not understand.
You realize that Joseph followed the instructions of an angel, even though the information he received exceeded his own ability to reason it all out. I mean, come on. Who would have believed Joseph if he even tried to explain his actions? He. He had no dash.
Cam. And number three. Embrace humility through hidden faithfulness. Can I tell you, God honors those who remain steadfast and obedient even when their contribution seems small? Joseph obeys without fanfare.
Nobody celebrated it. He served quietly. And here's why. Listen to me. Significance is not measured by recognition.
Significance is measured by being faithful.
So finally, as we approach the Christmas season, I want us to reflect on Joseph's example. Are we willing to trust God's plan even when it's difficult? Can we be faithful in the roles God has called us to, Serving with a humble heart and obeying his commands? I think that's enough for us to think about today. Let's bow for prayer, Father.
Christmas Questions
QUESTIONS FOR JOSEPH
Intro: Let’s take a closer look at the life of Joseph, the husband of Mary and earthly father of the Lord Jesus. We often focus on Mary during the Christmas season, but Joseph’s role is especially important. He is a silent figure in the birth narratives of Jesus, yet his actions speak volumes. Using a series of reflective questions, let’s imagine what it might have been like to walk in his shoes. What can we learn from the life of Joseph?
HOW DID IT FEEL WHEN YOU FIRST HEARD THE NEWS?
Matt 1:18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: After His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit.
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.
Imagine discovering your fiancée is pregnant, and you know the child is not yours. On a scale of 1/10 how high would the shock and confusion register?
Joseph was a righteous man who must have felt betrayed. But he chose mercy for Mary over public shame.
What do you think would have been your first thoughts if you were Joseph? How would you react in a situation that could tarnish your reputation?
Joseph planned to divorce Mary quietly to protect her from as much public disgrace as he could.
How do you respond when faced with unexpected situations that are challenging and uncertain? Grace and mercy? Harsh judgment?
WHAT WAS IT LIKE TO RECEIVE A MESSAGE FROM AN ANGEL?
Matt 1:20 But while he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.
Matt 1:21 And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name JESUS, for He will save His people from their sins.”
Joseph was ready to end his engagement to Mary, but an angel’s message changed everything.
Appearing to Joseph in a dream, an angel told him to take Mary as his wife anyway.
Yes, she was expecting. No, it wasn’t his child. No, it won’t make much sense. But this was to be the most sacred birth ever. He must be courageous. He must trust God.
And what was the story Joseph must believe? Above any human reasoning, he must believe that the baby in his fiancée’s womb was miraculously conceived. It was a virgin conception that would lead to a virgin birth.
It took remarkable faith to believe such an unusual message. How much more to act on it?!?
Would you trust a message from God even if it didn’t make sense?
Have you been paying attention to the voice of God even when it comes in unexpected ways and uncommon sources?
Matt 1:24-25 Then Joseph, being aroused from sleep, did as the angel of the Lord commanded him and took to him his wife, and did not know her till she had brought forth her firstborn Son. And he called His name JESUS.
Joseph woke up and immediately received Mary as his wife, without delay. He did not procrastinate on God.
How quickly should we act on God’s instructions?
HOW DID YOU HANDLE THE ASSIGNMENT OF BEING JESUS’ EARTHLY FATHER?
Matt 2:13 Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, “Arise, take the young Child and His mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I bring you word; for Herod will seek the young Child to destroy Him.”
Matt 2:14-15 When he arose, he took the young Child and His mother by night and departed for Egypt, and was there until the death of Herod, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying, “Out of Egypt I called My Son.”
In the birth story of the Lord Jesus, Joseph had a conventional role to play. He was entrusted with the safety of the Christ child and his young, fragile wife. Mom and baby did what moms and babies do. Joseph had the most pressure. His actions are noteworthy.
Joseph was warned in a dream to flee to Egypt to protect the child from the wrath of King Herod. The decision before him was so urgent, it required him to make it quickly. He had to protect his young family.
How far would you go to protect the ones you love?
Do you trust God in times of uncertainty? What if God calls to us in ways that involve difficult decisions and even sacrifice?
Reflect: How do you respond when God leads into unknown and uncomfortable places?
HOW DID YOU EMBRACE BEING A SERVANT IN THE BACKGROUND?
Matt 13:54 When He had come to His own country, He taught them in their synagogue, so that they were astonished and said, “Where did this Man get this wisdom and these mighty works?
Matt 13:55-57 Is this not the carpenter’s son? Is not His mother called Mary? And His brothers James, Joses, Simon, and Judas? And His sisters, are they not all with us? Where then did this Man get all these things?” So they were offended at Him.
Joseph was a humble man of a simple trade, yet he played a crucial role in God’s plan of redemption.
An ordinary carpenter would be the everyday father figure to the most extraordinary baby ever born.
This man: (a) provided for his family (b) taught Jesus a trade (c) raised Him in faithfulness to God and His laws.
Then he must have died unremarkably between Jesus’ age of 12 and the inauguration of His ministry at age 30.
Joseph fulfilled his role dependably and faded into the background. He was a silent but powerful presence.
Are you willing to serve in obscurity?
We live in a modern culture that exalts fame and celebrity. We are taught to crave recognition. But Joseph reminds us that serving God faithfully, even in hidden ways, is pleasing to the Lord. It makes an unquestionable impact.
What would happen if we embraced the roles God has for us with the same attitude that Joseph had? What impact would being faithful in the small things make for God’s purposes?
Application:
WHAT CAN WE LEARN FROM JOSEPH?
Respond to unexpected challenges with grace.
Just as Joseph responded to Mary’s unforeseen pregnancy with mercy instead of public judgment, we are called to handle surprising challenges with kindness and integrity. It is the character of Jesus in the face of adversity.
Trust God when others may not understand.
Joseph followed the instructions of an angel even though the information he received exceeded his ability to reason it all out. Who would have believed Joseph if he tried to explain his actions?
Embrace humility through hidden faithfulness.
God honors those who remain steadfast and obedient, even when their contributions seem small. Joseph obeyed without fanfare. He served quietly because significance is not measured by being recognized but by being faithful.
As we approach the Christmas season, let’s reflect on Joseph’s example. Are we willing to trust God’s plan, even when it is difficult? Can we be faithful in the roles God has called us to, serving Him with a humble heart and obeying His commands?
Pray for grace to follow Joseph’s example, trusting God’s plans for your family, listening for His voice, and faithfully fulfilling the responsibilities He has given you.
Come and join us this Sunday at the Great Commission Church for a truly remarkable and uplifting experience. Great Commission Church is not just any ordinary place of worship; it's a vibrant community where faith comes alive, hearts are filled with love, and lives are transformed. Our doors are wide open, ready to welcome you into the warm embrace of our congregation, where you'll discover the true essence of fellowship and spirituality. At Great Commission Church, we are more than just a congregation; we are a family united by a common mission – to follow the teachings of Christ and spread His love to the world. As you step inside Great Commission Church, you'll find a sanctuary that nurtures your faith and encourages you to be part of something greater than yourself.
We believe in the power of coming together as a community to worship, learn, and serve. Whether you're a long-time believer or just starting your spiritual journey, Great Commission Church welcomes people from all walks of life. Our vibrant services are filled with inspiring messages, beautiful music, and heartfelt prayers that will uplift your soul. Every Sunday at Great Commission Church is an opportunity to deepen your relationship with God and connect with others who share your faith and values.
At Great Commission Church, we believe that faith is not just a solitary endeavor but a shared experience that strengthens and enriches us all. Our church is a place where you can find purpose, belonging, and the encouragement to live a life in accordance with Christ's teachings. Join us this Sunday at Great Commission Church and experience the transformative power of faith in action. Be part of a loving and supportive community that is committed to making a positive impact in our world. Together, we strive to fulfill the great commission to go forth and make disciples of all nations. We look forward to having you with us at Great Commission Church this Sunday, where faith, love, and community intersect in a truly amazing way.
Great Commission Church is a non-denominational Christian church located in Olive Branch, Mississippi. We are a short drive from Germantown, Southaven, Collierville, Horn Lake, Memphis, Fairhaven, Mineral Wells, Pleasant Hill, Handy Corner, Lewisburg and Byhalia.
See you Sunday at Great Commission Church!
