Christmas Day: Joseph Adoption Of Jesus Series

Well good morning new life church and merry Christmas to you all. Man, it is great to spend the morning with you, as yes, we celebrate Christmas but that we can come together as families, friends and relatives and hear from God’s word as the real reason we celebrate the birth of Jesus. I have loved in this series how the birth of Jesus as shown in the bible, has so many aspects and layers around it that we can see so many histories yes but also life lessons in the birth and the life of Jesus.

Now I want to ask you, have any of you see the movie Annie, or despicable me or the blind side. It is really those feel-good movies. You know where a child or a group of children is living in foster care, seemed no hope, and along comes a person yes maybe for selfish reasons in the beginning, but we see in these movies how their hearts softened, and in the end these kids are adopted into a household. Well, there is where I want to shine the light on today. In the birth of Jesus through the lens of adoption.

Let us start off by reading together. Matthew 1:18-25(AMP): Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: when His mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child by [the power of] the Holy Spirit. 19And Joseph her [promised] husband, being a just and righteous man and not wanting to expose her publicly to shame, planned to send her away and divorce her quietly. 20But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, descendant of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the Child who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. 21She will give birth to a Son, and you shall name Him Jesus (The LORD is salvation), for He will save His people from their sins.” 22All this happened in order to fulfill what the Lord had spoken through the prophet [Isaiah]: 23“BEHOLD, THE VIRGIN SHALL BE WITH CHILD AND GIVE BIRTH TO A SON, AND THEY SHALL CALL HIS NAME IMMANUEL”—which, when translated, means, “GOD WITH US.” [Is 7:14] 24Then Joseph awoke from his sleep and did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him, and he took Mary [to his home] as his wife, 25but he kept her a virgin until she had given birth to a Son [her firstborn child]; and he named Him Jesus (The LORD is salvation).

Now let me give you some context first on what is happening here. So, Mary and Joseph were bethrowed to each other and in Jewish culture this was a legal and binding agreement. It was a way bigger deal than what we see on engagements today look like. It could only be broken by a formal divorce. So, when Mary fell pregnant, Joseph being a righteous man (meaning an honest loyal, and in right standing within his community, really faced a difficult decision, because according to the law which we know as Deuteronomy 22, public exposure of this Perceived infidelity could have resulted in severe punishment. But you see an Angel visited Joseph, and if you want to know more about angels, Ryan did a sermon a few weeks ago on this.

This is the first point I want to make. Jesus earthly adoption by Joseph changed everything.

But an angel visited him and tells him. Hey Joseph dude this is a miracle, and the child is conceived by the Holy Spirit. So, Joseph decides to take Mary still to be his wife and name the child Jesus. Now look at this he was legally adopting Jesus into his family, as Jesus was not his biological child, and with that Jesus goes into the lineage of King David as prophesied. Just a side note. Family does not always have to be blood related. But here we see Joseph acknowledges Jesus as his legal son and fulfilling Isaiah 9:7.

Man, can you imagine this. You need to understand this Jewish Context of Adoption

In Jewish culture during New Testament times, formal adoption practices were not as common as in Roman culture. Instead: Inheritance and Lineage: Jewish society placed a strong emphasis on biological lineage and inheritance passing through family lines. Surrogate Care: When a child was orphaned, a close relative (such as an uncle or grandparent) typically took responsibility for the child, but this was not always a formal adoption.

So, this was a big deal. And when this was in motion, the plans for restoring us to the perfect Father was put into place. You see because of that Adoption into the family, it set in motion to the relationship we can have today with the Father, Jesus and the Holy Spirit that was not seen in those days.