Joseph Our Godly Example

JOSEPH

Our Godly Example

Matthew 1:18-19

One little boy defined Father's Day best when he said that Father's Day was just like Mother's Day, the only difference is that you don't spend as much money on the gift- most of you men would agree.

I read a statistic that stated that the greatest numbers of long distance phone calls are made on Mother's Day; however, the largest number of collect calls is made on Father's Day.

Before we get started, I just want to put all fathers at ease. I am going to do things a little bit different this morning.

You see: The usual pattern is to exalt (or praise) motherhood on Mother's Day and beat up (or criticize) fathers on Father's Day.

I find it amazing that we have the audacity to come to Church the following Sunday and complain about the lack of male presence.

So brothers, let's get that ritual over with. Brothers, spend more time with your family and don't be a spiritual wimp - be the head of your home. Got it?

Whew, I feel better now, don't you?

Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to do things just a little bit differently this morning.

I'd like to preach one of those uplifting "Mother's Day" type of sermons for our Fathers.

Why? Because I am a Father and I don't feel like being beaten up.

AND ... Because I believe that being a Christian Father is one of the highest callings any man can ever achieve in his life.

In preparing for the sermon today, I ran across some Top Ten lists for Dads.

10 Reasons Why It's Good To Be a Man.

10 You know how to light a grill.

9 Shorter lines at the bath room.

8 If someone forgets to invite you to something he can still be your friend.

7 You can drop by to see a friend without bringing a little gift.

6 If another guy shows up at the same party in the same outfit, you might become lifelong buddies.

5 One wallet, one pair of shoes, one color, all seasons.

4 There is always a game on somewhere.

3 You can go to the bathroom without a support group.

2 You can do your nails with a pocketknife. and last and best...

1 Your pals will never to ask you, "Does this make my butt look big?"

There are some obvious advantages to being a man, aren't there?

I want to start this morning with some encouraging news about dads from the National Center for.

Here are 2 encouraging statistics: In the past 25 years, the number of dads present at their children's births has risen from 27% to more than 90 percent today.

More than 75% of men say they would trade rapid career advancement for more time with their families.

Now the bad news... even with this good news, Time magazine, (5/22/00), in an issue called, "The Hottest Jobs of the Future," lists fatherhood as one of the occupations that will disappear in the next century.

I think he is wrong.

Joe Maxwell, writing on the web site called ibelieve.com, says: "... guys really want to be good dads more than ever, but they aren't changing much. When the good news is combined with the bad, it seems that fatherhood in the United States is poised for either a great awakening or a gory collapse."

I think he's right.

Dads, we're either headed toward a spiritual stirring or we're looking at becoming an endangered species.

We need to come back to a biblical theology of fatherhood. In that vein, today I want us to look as a biblical role model.

I remind you, I am not going to beat us Dads up. But I want to encourage us toward excellence as fathers.

Our biblical example is Joseph, the earthly father of Jesus.

Today as we think about fathers, we look to the life of one of the great father figures of the Bible.

But strangely enough, not one word is attributed to him in the scripture.

His name is J 0 S E PH. Let's use his name as an acrostic with each letter representing a characteristic of his life.

J- JUST

(Matt 1:18-19 KJV) "Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise; when as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost. Then Joseph her husband, being a JUST man, and not willing to make her a public example, was minded to put her away privately."

Just

Definition a. Upright, righteous, having integrity,

Being moral

JUST and Righteous are synonymous.

I am going to use JUST instead of righteous because there is no R in Joseph's name.

Ecclesiastes 7:20 tells us, "There is not a righteous/JUST man on earth who does what is right and never sins."