UNLIKELY - Your Place in an Uncertain Future
John 3:7-8 MsgB
“So don’t be so surprised when I tell you that you have to be ‘born from above’—out of this world, so to speak. You know well enough how the wind blows this way and that. You hear it rustling through the trees, but you have no idea where it comes from or where it’s headed next. That’s the way it is with everyone ‘born from above’ by the wind of God, the Spirit of God.”
Introduction: The future is a mystery, a story yet to be written. From time to time we all try to imagine what tomorrow holds; sometimes its with anticipation and excitement while at others its with fear and dread. No matter how well we plan for tomorrow, none of us can know for sure what will happen. The future is an uncertain place.
God wants us to know we have a secure place with the Lord in an uncertain future.
God has a place for the unlikely; the wind of the Spirit will blow us into surprising places to accomplish His purpose in our lives.
Will we yield to the Holy Spirit, or will we push back against the wind to resist the Lord?
God has a place for the unlikely. The Holy Spirit continues to Surprise us; one breath of God is not enough.
Nicodemus found himself surprised by the place God brought him. Nicodemus thought he was good with God. He struggled to understand the God wanted him to be born again. Jesus explained this spiritual rebirth as being of the Spirit - the wind or breath of God.
Wind and Spirit as translated in our English bibles comes from the same Greek word PNEUMA. The wind (pneuma) blows wherever it wants; you hear the sound of the wind (pneuma), but you don’t know where it came from or where it’s going. In the same way the Holy Spirit, or Spirit (pneuma) blows into our lives to accomplish the work God desires.
Being born again or born from above is only the beginning of the work God wants to do in your life. Just as the winds continue to blow day after day, the Spirit will come again and again into our lives- sometimes as a gentle breeze and at other times like a gusting hurricane we will discover the wind of God has blown us again into an unlikely place.
An Uncertain Future is before us all; only God knows what tomorrow holds.
1. Joseph lived with an uncertain future.
God had already changed Joseph’s plans. Joseph dreamed of bringing Mary home to be his wife and starting a family of their own. But his betrothed was found to be pregnant by the Holy Spirit. Joseph thought about ending their relationship because he wasn’t sure what to think about Mary or her pregnancy. But an angel appeared to him in his dreams assuring him that the child she carried truly was the son of God; this baby, Emmanuel or God with us was to be given the name Jesus because he would save His people from their sins. His dream of having his firstborn son being named after him came to an end; instead Joseph would be the earthly step-father to the Son of God.
Uncertainty continued to follow Joseph’s story. He took Mary home to be his wife, but no sooner had she gotten settled in her new home with the man of her dreams, things changed. They were ordered to leave their home to return to Joseph’s hometown for the Roman census. And while they were in Bethlehem, overflowing with all the people who had likewise been displaced from their homes, Mary gave birth to Jesus in an unlikely place - a stable where she laid her newborn baby in a manger.
Joseph brought some stability to their lives. Sometime after the shepherds returned to the fields and the angels had returned to heaven, Joseph found a home for them to live in there in Bethlehem, but an uncertain future soon found them again. Magi from the east had stopped in Jerusalem and inquired of King Herod where the newborn king of the Jews had been born. There were no babies in Herod’s palace, but the religious leaders found God’s promise of a newborn king to be born in Bethlehem. Herod sent the Magi on to Bethlehem to find the child and report back to him so he to could go and worship the newborn king; however, Herod’s intentions were not so noble. Herod planned to kill this rival king before his throne could be challenged and taken away from him.
2. God provided direction, but the future for Joseph and his little family was indeed an uncertain place because God didn’t even tell Joseph everything.
Matthew 2:13-15, 19-23 NIV
13 When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.”
14 So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, 15 where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called my son.”
Joseph may have heard how Herod had killed the boys in the region of Bethlehem 2 years old and younger and was thankful to be safe in Egypt. In time an angel again directed him to return home to Israel.
19 After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt 20 and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to take the child’s life are dead.”
21 So he got up, took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. 22 But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning in Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. Having been warned in a dream, he withdrew to the district of Galilee, 23 and he went and lived in a town called Nazareth. So was fulfilled what was said through the prophets, that he would be called a Nazarene.
Joseph was told to return home, but he was uncertain where he should make his home. God did not send an angel to tell him to move to Nazareth; that would have made it much easier for him. Yet even in the midst of his uncertainty, Joseph made the right choice when he chose to live in Nazareth - this accomplished the fulfillment of what was said through the prophets.
Joseph did the best he could, but God did not give him a play book with step by step instructions. God simply entrusted Joseph to be the earthly father to the Son of God. Raising a child is a big enough responsibility, but to be entrusted with the Son of God! Joseph lived with uncertainty, but he did the best he could to be obedient to God.
We only hear of Joseph one more time when he and Mary travel to Jerusalem for the Passover when Jesus was 12 years old. If you need proof that Mary and Joseph had other children this story is it. When they returned home, they left Jesus behind in Jerusalem! Why? They though He was with other relatives. Why would they think this? They were busy with the other kids; you don’t leave your only child behind at church, but you will leave one of many kids behind - been there done that!
That’s the last we hear of Joseph. He lived his life with an uncertain future, and how his life came to an end we are not told. Yet in living in the midst of an uncertain future, Joseph was faithful to God’s plan and purpose in his life. He raised Jesus in such a way as to prepare Him for the time to step out into the ministry His Father in heaven had planned for Him to do.
Don’t Fear an uncertain future; it is our Opportunity to walk with God.
1. Don’t make the mistake of believing Joseph received special help.
Even though he was entrusted with the Son of God to raise as his own, he was only given the same help God provides to everyone who believes.
Joseph’s help like ours came from the Lord!
Psalm 124:8 NIV
Our help is in the name of the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth.
But Joseph dreamed of angels - God can give you an angelic visitation in your dreams too if that’s what is needed. In Joseph’s time of need God provided the help that was needed, and God will do the same for you and me.
If God sent an angel to speak to us in our dreams would we listen like Joseph or would we wonder if the dream was the result of too much pizza or something?
2. How can we seize the opportunity to walk confidently with God into an uncertain future?
The wind of the Holy Spirit will blow upon us leading us into some Unlikely Places - places of opportunity to walk with the Lord into our God ordained future.
We could look many places in scripture to see how God will help us know how to walk confidently in His plan and purpose for our lives. One of those is found in Paul’s letter to the young preacher Titus.
Titus 2:11-14 NIV
11 For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. 12 It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, 13 while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, 14 who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.
God gives us the Grace we need.
11 For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people.
How did God’s grace appear? God’s grace appeared in the flesh in His Son Jesus Christ! Joseph lived with the physical grace of God in his house. You and I live with the grace of God within our very lives - the Spirit of Jesus is now within us for all who believe - the Spirit of Grace!
God’s grace Sets Us Free from our past sin.
11 . . . salvation to all people. . . . [through] Jesus Christ, 14 who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.
Joseph knew that the child he had been entrusted to raise would “save his people from their sins.” He didn’t know how, he just knew Jesus was the Savior. The chains that once bound us have been broken. Jesus has cleansed us and made us His very own. It is God’s grace demonstrated through the blood of Jesus poured out for us on the cross that we are forgiven and cleansed from all sin. Nothing can hold us back from walking with God for He has set us free!
God’s grace Teaches us how to please the Lord in what we do and say.
12 It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age. . . 14 eager to do what is good.
Because of Joseph’s faith in God he was known as an upright or righteous man even before Jesus was born. By our faith God’s grace likewise teaches us how to live our lives “eager to do what is right.” God transforms us from the inside out changing our desires. We were selfish thinking only about what we could obtain for ourselves to improve our future. Now we have been given God’s desires to do what is right and pleasing to Him.
God’s grace gives us the confident hope of a Future with Jesus.
13 while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.
We don’t know what happened to Joseph, but by his faith in God his life did not end when he died; Joseph lived on and entered into the eternal kingdom of our God. We too can have this confident hope knowing that the day will come when Jesus will return again and we shall again forever be with the Lord.
What is the Holy Spirit Saying to YOU today? As God gives you ears to hear and eyes to see will we now allow Him to transform our heart and empower us to respond in obedience to Him?
Is God wanting to breathe the breath of life into your soul so you might be “born from above?” Describe how you know you have been “born again.”
How is the wind of the Holy Spirit blowing in your life today? A gentile breeze? A gusting hurricane? What is God wanting to do in your life?
Do you face an uncertain future with fear or as an opportunity to walk with God through His grace? Explain.
