Joseph’s Obedience Series

Sometimes there's words that we just don't like. Sometimes it's because of the way they sound. Some sound weird or sometimes they conjure up something kind of gross. One word that I don't like is the word ‘maggot.’ Really, if you think of maggots, is anything pleasant ever really associated with maggots at all? There’s other words that bring to mind things that give us pause. Maybe it's from a bad experience, maybe something that we've been through or we don't really like the idea of it.

It used to drive me crazy when I worked in the factory when people would refer to me as someone's subordinate. Even though that's what it was, you're in a subordinate position, just the thought of that made me feel like less of a person. The Bible contains some words like this. Words that give us pause, that just bring to mind things that are unpleasant, likely from our experiences or what we've seen around us. Think of the words like ‘submission’ or ‘be subject to’ or ‘enslaved’. They're all perfectly proper because they describe what it is and they come from God's word. But we hesitate because the actions associated with them we really find unpleasant. Sometimes when words won't do, scripture will explain to us what God is telling us to do and uses other actions or the actions of an individual to model certain behavior.

Today we begin our “Christmas” series. For the next three weeks (and then including Christmas Eve), we're going to look at four key figures from the Bible. There'll be the wisemen's worship, there'll be Mary's trust, there'll be the shepherds’ sharing. Today we're going to look at Joseph’s obedience.

‘Obedience’ I think is one of those words that sometimes we don't dig. When I hear ‘obedience,’ sometimes I think of someone barking orders, or you do what they tell you to do because there's going to be a consequence for you not doing them. Sometimes when I hear the word ‘obedience,’ I think of my dog.

But obedience isn't a bad thing. Right? Especially when it's obedience to God. Scripture is filled with examples of individuals that were obedient to God, but sometimes their “yes” wasn’t yes, but rather it was a “yes, but.” Think of how many times God had to tell Moses, “Listen, I need you to lead my people out of slavery.” But Moses was like, “Yes, but I can't.”

Today we're going to see that Joseph didn't do that. God needed Joseph to do something. Joseph didn't hesitate. He didn't say, “Yes, but can I first just…” He just did it. And then we're also going to take a look at how do we respond when God seeks us to be obedient? How can we be prepared to move when God says, “Go”?

Today's scripture reading comes from the gospel of Matthew 1:18-25. Let's stand as we read God's word together.

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.

You may be seated. If I were to ask you who were some of the most obedient individuals of the Bible, who would you say? Noah, Abraham, Mary, Paul, even Moses after a little bit of nudging. And then if we asked who is the most popular, it's probably some of the same people. But really, as we're studying Joseph here, Joseph often gets overlooked. But I think it's important today to look at Joseph to really understand who he is.

So who was Joseph? First in our reading, it says that Mary was betrothed to Joseph. Now, betrothed isn't something that we do in our culture. We go from engaged to married, and if we're in Vegas sometimes we skip from engagement altogether and go right to married. Seriously though. An engagement in biblical times was essentially when the parents of individuals came together to arrange the marriage. This was typically done at a very early age, a lot of times without the knowledge of the kids at all. After this, when they became old enough, there was the betrothal. This is when the impending marriage became legally binding. The man and the woman spent time together getting to know each other. They consider themselves as husband and wife. Being in the betrothal period, even though they were considered husband and wife, it carried with it the same expectations of purity. The only way for a betrothal to end was the death of one of the individuals or if the husband was to issue the wife a certificate of divorce. Then finally, after the betrothal period, there was the marriage. This is when the couple would begin building their home and their family together.