The Great Scandal At Christmas
Matthew 1:18-1:25
12-11-05 Isaiah 7:13-17 Luke 1:26-38
Today we know all about scandals. There’s been scandals in our county government. Scandals in our churches, and scandals in our financial system. We find that scandals are nothing new. They happened in the bible with Abraham and Sarah, with David and Bathsheba, and with Jacob and Esau. One of the scandals would have made a great program on that ridiculous scandal of a show Jerry Springer. Here’s here the program would start.
Today we have a young woman engaged to be married. Her fiancée is about to find out that not only is she pregnant, DNA tests reveal that the fiancée is not the father of the child.
Can you imagine it. Laquita is sitting on the stage floor looking real and sexy. In comes Jacques. The audience claps at this rather good looking fellow. He sits down next to Laquita. Jerry says to him, “Jacques we invited you to this show today because you and Laquita are engaged.” Jacques is all smiles and again the audience claps. Then Jerry says, Laquita has something to tell you. Laquita says, “Jacques, I want you to know that I’m pregnant.” The audience goes ahhh in approval.
Jacques is sitting their stunned saying nothing. The audience thinks its great. Jerry then jumps in and says, “but I want you to brace yourself Jacques, the DNA testing reveals that you are not the father of the child. The audience starts yeling uh oh, uh oh. They expect Jacques to go wild. Jacques jumps up and says, “I don’t need any DNA testing to tell me that I’m not the father. Up until now, Laquita has been telling me she was a virgin, and I know good an doggone well I haven’t touched her. So there’s no way that child could be mine.
Jerry asks, “Does this mean the wedding is off.” Jacque responds “Is the wedding off, what kind of stupid question is that. What would you do in my shoes?” I ask you the question as well, “what would you do in Jacques shoes?
It’s almost Christmas time. When we think about Christmas today, it’s so far removed from what the Christmas story is about that many of us are not even aware that it could have been a hit on Jerry Springer. We do not recognize that God caused a scandal in the way God went about arranging that first Christmas. It really caused a lot of gossip and practically ruined a couple of people’s lives and reputations. We hear people talking about getting in the Christmas spirit as though Christmas is nothing more than us feeling good inside about giving and getting presents and telling one another merry Christmas.
I do not want to know whether or not you are in the Christmas spirit. What I want to know is do you have faith in the Christmas scandal. I’m not talking about do you believe in Christmas as you would ask a child do you believe in Santa Claus. To have faith in Christmas means, that you actually believe that God was so concerned about us as human beings, that God actually chose to become one of us, to talk clearly to us.
Before you can have faith in the Christmas Scandal , you have to have faith to believe that you actually matter to God. The God who created the earth, the sun, the moon and the stars, is actually interested in you and all your imperfections. You see you can’t read the bible story about Christmas without running into that word Savior. The only reason a savior being born is good news is that somebody needed to be saved. If a fire truck came racing down the street and pulled in front of your house, nobody shouts good news, the fire truck has arrived unless there is a ____________. Otherwise you’re left wondering, what are they doing here.
The only reason for recognizing Christmas is that you have faith to believe that God decided to come and live among us. Now it’s interesting and disappointing somewhat in looking at how God decided to come and live among us. First God didn’t let the world know, “I’m about to make my entrance, yoo hoo look at me. He didn’t write it in the sky.”
Second, “God didn’t choose well known celebrities or powerful political leaders to have as his parents which could have given him a great platform.” Third, “God didn’t choose an easy transition to come through the lives of others. He put some people in some difficult situations in order to come.
Now I want you to meet a couple back in the first century. A guy by the name of Joseph had his eye on this good looking teenager and wanted her for his wife. Joseph or his parents, struck a deal with her parents, and they told him, now in order to marry our daughter you have to pay us such and such a price. Joseph wanted this girl so badly, that he came up with the money and paid it to her parents. An announcement was made of the upcoming marriage to all in the village. This exchange of money or property and the announcement, made their engagement as official as it could get.
Joseph and Mary were more than simply engaged in our sense of the word. They had entered all the contractual relationship of marriage, with the exception of having sexual intercourse. They had to wait a year before having sex. This engagement could only be broken by death or divorce. If the man died during this period, the woman would be considered a widow.
It is during this waiting period of having been married, but not quire married that God decides to intervene into humanity and into this couple’s lives. God sends down the angel Gabriel from heaven, to announce to Mary, that she is about to become pregnant and give birth to a son, who will save the world from its sin.
Mary lets Gabriel know, “That all sounds great, and I know you’re from heaven, but you’ve got the wrong girl.” Mary is proud to announce to the angel, “I am a virgin, and even though I am pledged in marriage, I am still a virgin. Those of you who are virgins, be as proud of it as Mary was and continue to wait to give yourself to your husband or your wife.
The angel Gabriel, says God knows all about you and your situation. You’re not going to lose your virginity. The Holy Spirit is going to come upon you and you’re going to get pregnant. Look, I know you’re having a hard time believing this. After all this is the first Christmas and you don’t know what it’s about. But to increase your faith let me tell you something. You know your old cousin Elizabeth and her husband, old Zechariah. Now you know how old they are don’t you. Well Elizabeth is now six months pregnant.
Mary says, “what six months. Now if God can do that, God can do anything. Let it be done to me whatever the Lord wants to do, because I am God’s servant.” Now the first thing Mary did to confirm what the angel told her was in Luke 1:39 Luke 1:39-45
At that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea, [40] where she entered Zechariah’s home and greeted Elizabeth. [41] When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. [42] In a loud voice she exclaimed: "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! [43] But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? [44] As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. [45] Blessed is she who has believed that what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished!"
Mary had an angel come and talk to her. She had Elizabeth start confirming what the angel said without having to tell Elizabeth anything. Mary became pregnant and Jesus was active in her womb, the day the angel told her it was going to happen. John the Baptist was six months old inside his mother, and he could feel the presence of Jesus. He had faith in Christmas and got excited over it. He could barely wait to start preaching, “prepare the way of the Lord.”
In the beginning it was kind of easy for Mary to have faith in Christmas. But what about Joseph. Would Joseph believe that God wanted to enter into the lives of humanity? Would Joseph believe God wanted to enter into his life?
Luke’s gospel tells us up front about the angel coming to visit Mary and telling her all that was going to happen. For some reason, Matthew leaves out that part of the story. But both gospels introduce Mary and Joseph at the same time emphasizing that Mary was pledged in marriage to Joseph. Now women is there a good way to tell your fiancée that you’re pregnant when you’re in the church and everybody is getting ready for the wedding. Men is there a good way for your fiancée to tell you I’m pregnant, you’re not the father and I’m still a virgin 100% faithful and true to you.
In Matthew 1:18 let’s read it together Matthew 1:18 This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. The phrase, “but before they came together” means, “before they had sex.” Matthew wants to make it clear, that Joseph had nothing to do with Mary’s pregnancy. Jesus was not going to be born with the same sinful nature that we all inherited from Adam through our fathers.
Now Mary may have struggled with how do I tell Joseph what has happened. During this year of waiting, Mary would have continued to stay at her parent’s home. Now the words, “she was found to be with child,” may indicate that she did not immediately tell Joseph about the pregnancy. Who found out and who told who? The only two people who knew about the pregnancy were Mary and Elizabeth. Did she wait until she had started showing.
Mary at some point must have told her family. I doubt if they bought the story of her being pregnant by the Holy Spirit. How many of you would accept that from your son or daughter at face value with no evidence other than her word. “Most of us would have been saying, well you better sure hope an angel appears to me and tell me, otherwise you better come up with somebody’s name.”
I believe that Elizabeth came to Mary’ aid and explained what happened to her when Mary came to see her. Now everybody in the family knows Elizabeth getting pregnant was a miracle. They were able to have faith in Christmas because they saw God was already intervening in this situation.
Now Joseph was a spiritual man trying to walk as close to God as he could. I can imagine him being called over to her parent’s home, and they try to convince him that their daughter is pregnant by the Holy Spirit. But you see, Elizabeth is not in Joseph’s family. Joseph doesn’t have any reason to believe Elizabeth, after all, she could just be watching out for her younger cousin trying to cover Mary’s back.
Joseph is too hurt, too humiliated, and too angry to believe this story. It sounds like something you’d here on the Jerry Springer show. Joseph and Jacque were both faced with a pregnant fiancée whom they had not had sex with. Joseph found himself in complete control of Mary’s future. He could file charges of adultery with the local officials. There would be no need of trying to prove anything, because they could see for themselves she was pregnant. Once found guilty, Mary could be led away to be stoned to death.
I want us to look at the way this man handled his hurt, his anger and his humiliation. First of all he knew what his limits were. In his own strength he could not go through with this marriage. He could forgive her, but he could not go on with her. Second, he gave up his right to seek revenge. He didn’t try to make this thing a public scandal or try to call for the elders for a trial to be held. The Scripture said he did not want to expose her to public disgrace.
Third, he kept his mouth shut. He didn’t yell out a bunch of accusations. He didn’t call her all kinds of names. He didn’t start saying what all he was going to do. He kept his mouth closed. You see, when you keep your mouth closed, you leave open the possibility that God might want to use you in a situation in the future. God needed to put Jesus in a home with a man that knew how to control his temper.
Joseph didn’t leave Mary’s house saying, “You’ll be getting the divorce papers tomorrow. The Scripture says, he had in mind to divorce her quietly. Instead of going to court Joseph was thinking of handling his divorce in private. He would simply call two witnesses to the scene to see him grant Mary a divorce. He wouldn’t have to specify any charges. But if he did this, he was obligated to support the child financially.
But Joseph kept all these plans in his head. He didn’t let his mouth get ahead of his heart. We can say a lot of things in our anger, that we will regret later. Joseph was an example of being angry and yet not sinning. Joseph didn’t blab his plans to the world. You see that was simply between Joseph and God. Even in the midst of this confusion, Joseph wanted to be in God’s will.
Now why on earth did God let Joseph go through this pain and suffering. He could have sent the same angel Gabriel to Joseph that he sent to Mary. All I can tell you is that God calls us to walk different paths in life, with different amounts of miracles, different amount of pains, and different amount of suffering in our lives.
Joseph wanted to have faith in Christmas. He wanted to believe that God was about to do something new for humanity. But it was hard to believe that God wanted to use him as a part of that process. One of the great barriers to our growth in Christ, is our refusal to believe that God actually wants to use us to make a difference. We’d rather believe that God is not really interested in us or in our circumstances. This allows us to keep doing the little things we want to do.
God intervening into Joseph’s world drastically changed his plans for the future. The beautiful wedding he had hoped for was shattered. His reputation as a man of high moral character and righteousness would soon disappear. His confidence in women was shaken. The trust he had in Mary vanished. He must have though she had lost her mind by insisting that she was pregnant by the Holy Spirit. Who had ever heard of such a thing? Why couldn’t she just tell the truth?
In the midst of his despair, God stepped in to restore his faith in Christmas. Let’s read verses 16-25 Matthew 1:20-25
But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. [21] She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins."
[22] All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: [23] "The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel"--which means, "God with us."
[24] When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. [25] But he had no union with her until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.
I want you to notice, even with this Joseph still had to take a step of faith to believe in Christmas. You see an angel came to Mary when she was wide awake. How many of you ever had a dream, and you were convinced it was a sign of something that was going to happen and it didn’t. A dream would not have been enough for many of us. The key in this verse that persuaded Joseph was the angel’s recitation of the Scripture passage in Isaiah, “that a virgin will be with child.”
Once Joseph believed that God was willing to intervene into the lives of people, he put himself in motion to be used by God. He went back to Mary’s home and took her to his house. He was no longer concerned about what others would say about him, or about his reputation. Talked about him they did, because even when Jesus was a man, there were those who reminded him that he had been conceived outside of marriage.
Joseph accepted this child by faith that He was the Son of God. Joseph loved him as his own Son, risked his life for him, and trained him to be a carpenter. Yet Joseph didn’t live to see Jesus do a single recorded miracle. Other than the one time Jesus was 12 and was asking the religious teachers all kinds of amazing questions, Joseph never saw Jesus act like the Son of God. His faith in Christmas lasted his entire lifetime. He died waiting for Jesus to become the Savior of the world.
My friend what about you today. Do you have faith in Christmas? Do you believe God actually intervened in the life of humanity? Do you believe God is still interested in making a difference in your life? If you let God in, I guarantee you, He will not leave you where you are today. God does not come into our lives simply to make us better, nicer people. God comes in to take over and to change us into something different.
The Holy Spirit want to come upon each of us and to birth things into our lives that He can use to be a blessing to the lives of others. God made you unique, not to simply sit back and enjoy you. God made you unique because God has a unique plan to use you in His eternal plan for creation. But it all begins with you accepting this Savior that God has sent into the world. Do you faith in Christmas?
Sermon Outline Pastor Rick
The Great Scandal At Christmas 12/11/2011
Isaiah 7:13-17 Luke 1:26-38
A. It’s TV Talk Show Time
1. Engaged Couples With Problems
2. Laquita, Jacques, & DNA
3. Will The Wedding Go Through
4. God Caused A Scandall The Way He Went About Christmas
5. Lives & Reputations Closed to Being Destroyed
B. What Is The Great Scandal At Christmas
1. God Choosing To Be One Of Us
2. Is A Fire Truck Good News
3. No Big Announcement
4. No Name Celebrities
5. No Easy Transition
C. First Century Way Of Marriage
1. Choose One & Pay The Price
2. Engagement Much More Serious
3. The One Year Waiting Period
D. Angel Gabriel Visits Mary
1. The Prophecy & Problem
2. Proud To Be A Virgin
3. Wrong Person—Wait Elizabeth
Luke 1:39-45 At that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea, [40] where she entered Zechariah’s home and greeted Elizabeth. [41] When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. [42] In a loud voice she exclaimed: "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! [43] But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? [44] As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. [45] Blessed is she who has believed that what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished!"
F. What About Faith For Joseph
1. Joseph & Mary Introduced
2. No Good Way To Tell The News
Matthew 1:18 This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit.
3. Did Mary Struggle To Tell
4. Praise God For Elizabeth
5. Joseph Can’t See It.
G. Joseph A Man Under Control
1. Hurt, Angry, Humiliated
2. Adultery & Death
3. Knew His Limits, No Revenge
4. Kept His Mouth Shut
5. Keep Some Things In Your Head
6. Why Did Joseph Go Through?
7. Everything On The Line
Matthew 1:20-25 But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. [21] She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins."
[22] All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: [23] "The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel"--which means, "God with us." [24] When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. [25] But he had no union with her until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.
H. Joseph Chooses To Become A Father
1. Still A Walk Of Faith With Dream
2. Key Was Prophecy
3. Made Himself Available
4. Forgot What Others Thought
5. Never Saw The Miracles
6. Died Waiting For The Savior
7. We’re All Made Unique
8. Do You Have Faith In Christmas
