Boldness A-Z
O- Obedience
Once again we find ourselves in our a-z of spiritual Boldness. Last week we considered the letter "N" and we looked at the Good good news of Luke chapter 2. The angel of the Lord delivered the news of the Messiah's birth. "Fear not: for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord." Since it was a newsworthy event we looked at it from a reporters stand point, asking the hard questions , who, what, where, when, and why. We saw who the source of the news was, as well as who it was for "which shall be to all people" We also discovered what the good good news was. Christ the Saviour had come. We answered the question of where it happened, Bethlehem as prophesied by Micah. We found out when the event took place "this day " We discussed how according to the scriptures Jesus came at just the right time. And of course we answered the question why, For God so loved the world not to condemn the world but to save it.
When Christian Herter was governor of Massachusetts, he was running hard for a second term in office. One day, after a busy morning chasing votes (and no lunch) he arrived at a church barbecue. It was late afternoon and Herter was famished. As Herter moved down the serving line, he held out his plate to the woman serving chicken. She put a piece on his plate and turned to the next person in line.
"Excuse me," Governor Herter said, "do you mind if I have another piece of chicken?"
"Sorry," the woman told him. "I'm supposed to give one piece of chicken to each person."
"But I'm starved," the governor said.
"Sorry," the woman said again. "Only one to a customer."
Governor Herter was a modest and unassuming man, but he decided that this time he would throw a little weight around. "Do you know who I am?" he said. "I am the governor of this state."
"Do you know who I am?" the woman said. "I'm the lady in charge of the chicken. Move along, mister."
This week we will consider the letter "O" and once again God has provided for us a Christmas theme for the letter "O". This was a little more difficult to think of for me, and it's a good thing I don''t have to come up with these sermons on my own. This week we will look at being bold in the spirit by being Obedient to the Lord. There are a few examples of obedience in the Christmas story. Every day we have a choice to make whether or not to be Obedient to God. Sometimes it's a big thing and sometimes it appears to be a small thing. Sometimes it's easy, sometimes it is difficult. This morning we will look at three examples of Obedience concerning the events around Christ birth. We will look at the Obedience of Mary, The Obedience of Joseph, and the Obedience of the Wise men.
1. The Obedience of Mary
Luke 1:26-38 "26 And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, 27 To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary. 28 And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women. 29 And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be. 30 And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God. 31 And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS. 32 He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: 33 And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end. 34 Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man? 35 And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. 36 And, behold, thy cousin Elisabeth, she hath also conceived a son in her old age: and this is the sixth month with her, who was called barren. 37 For with God nothing shall be impossible. 38 And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word. And the angel departed from her."
This was not an easy thing to do. She was a young woman who was engaged to be married to Joseph. She was well aware of what people would think, say and do to an unmarried young woman who was pregnant. She would be the cause for gossip and judgement. She was possibly even risking her life. These things are enough, but in her obedience she also faced long term responsibility. She would be raising, caring for, the Son of God. What a huge responsibility she accepted by her statement "Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word"
Could she of done something different? Was it a done deal? Was there even a choice? I believe so, God has never created man a robot to do everything God asks. It that were so we would not need a Saviour. He has given us free choice. Did God know what Mary's response would be? Of course God knows all. Mary as we have discussed before was not perfect, she was not sinless. She was blessed among women, she did find favor with God. I believe that this may have been because God knew she would be obedient to what God had for her to do.
2. The Obedience of Joseph. We see a couple different examples of Joseph's Obedience.
a. Matthew 1 :18-25 "18 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. 19 Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a public example, was minded to put her away privily. 20 But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. 21 And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins. 22 Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, 23 Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us. 24 Then Joseph being raised from sleep did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him, and took unto him his wife: 25 And knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son: and he called his name JESUS. "
Joseph was engaged to be married to this young woman Mary and he found out she was with child. The scripture tells us that he was a just man and was not going to publicly humiliate her and possibly cause her and her unborn child's death. But he certainly was not going to marry her.... At least not until the angel of the Lord appeared and spoke to him. Note it says the angel appeared to him in a dream. Do you dream? How often do you dismiss your dreams as just that, a dream. Joseph could have woke up and shook it off and went about divorcing or ending the engagement as planned, but he was obedient to the dream. Joseph was facing some of the same things Mary would, the gossiping, the judgmental people. It would not be easy, he was an carpenter, he made his living off of people buying his wares. He could be boycotted for not waiting to lie with his betrothed. He certainly could not make it known that the child was not even his!
b. Here is another example of Joseph's Obedience.
Matt 2:13-15 "13 And when they were departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word: for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him. 14 When he arose, he took the young child and his mother by night, and departed into Egypt: 15 And was there until the death of Herod: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Out of Egypt have I called my son."
An angel appeared and told Joseph that someone is out to destroy or kill the Child so he should take his wife and the child and flee into Egypt. You would think that this would be an easier decision, the child was in danger so don't go home. Keep in mind although Joseph would help in raising the child it was not his biological son. He was leaving his home town of Nazareth. He would be leaving his house, any family, his business and customers behind. He would have to start over. An east choice I don't think so. Yet, he was Obedient.
OK,so we have heard of the Obedience of Mary and Joseph and probably have considered it before, but what about the wise men? What example of their obedience do we have?
3. The Obedience of the Wise Men
Matt 2:1-12 "1 Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, 2 Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him. 3 When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. 4 And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he demanded of them where Christ should be born. 5 And they said unto him, In Bethlehem of Judea: for thus it is written by the prophet, 6 And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, art not the least among the princes of Judah: for out of thee shall come a Governor, that shall rule my people Israel. 7 Then Herod, when he had privily called the wise men, inquired of them diligently what time the star appeared. 8 And he sent them to Bethlehem, and said, Go and search diligently for the young child; and when ye have found him, bring me word again, that I may come and worship him also.
9 When they had heard the king, they departed; and, lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was. 10 When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy. 11 And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshiped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh. 12 And being warned of God in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed into their own country another way.
It is almost a scripture verse that seems to be overlooked. Verse 12 " 12 And being warned of God in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed into their own country another way. " They were asked to seek the child and return to Herod and tell them where they found him, so Herod could go an worship him also. It sounded good like something they should do, but they were warned in a dream not to go back to Herod but to return home another way. That's exactly what they did. You know what happened as a result of the wise men not returning to Herd. Herod ordered all the children under two years of age to be killed in Bethlehem and the surrounding areas. If they had returned Herod would have known exactly where to find the newborn King and could have had him killed. Could God have protected the babe even in that way? Certainly, He is after all God, nothing is impossible. But it was an opportunity for the wise men to be obedient to God and they were.
Conclusion:
So what can we learn from these three examples of OBEDIENCE?
Sometimes it's not an easy thing to do, but do it anyway. To be obedient to God we have to sometimes be bold and step out of our comfort zones. Sometimes we have to Boldly go where God tells us to go. Sometimes we have to be boldly obedient even when it means being mocked and judged by the world around you. Sometimes like the wise men we have to Boldly go anew way! We like to go back the same way we came , don't we? Maybe God is calling you to do a new thing, to go a new way. Be Obedient.
God had a perfect plan of redemption for the world. That plan was to send His Son as the Saviour of the world and He used people that were Obedient!
The Christmas story contains a story of people that were Bold enough to be Obedient to God! How about you?
Marine story... A friend often told me about the problems he had getting his son to clean his room. The son would always agree to tidy up, but then wouldn't follow through. After high school the young man joined the Marine Corps. When he came home for leave after basic training, his father asked him what he had learned in the service.
“Dad,” he said. “I learned what ‘now’ means.”
Delayed Obedience is Disobedience
