Theme: Discovering God’s Will – Advent Style – Joseph
Title: Dancing with God – Step by Step
Go with us as we travel with Joseph as he learns how to follow God’s Will one step at a time.
Scripture: Proverbs 3:5-6; Matthew
INTRO:
Grace and peace from God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit
I can’t dance – it’s just not in me – oh, I have tried but to no avail.
I remember as a child we had this record album that was to tell you how to do certain dances. There were even some illustrative pages that were to show you how to do certain moves and steps.
I tried, oh how many times I tried as a child to do just the simple steps. But it was all lost on me. I just couldn’t get my feet to do the right things to the right music.
Even though I loved the song “Dancing in the rain” and have a least 1,000 times or more tried to dance in the rain – I mean who doesn’t like to dance in the rain – it just hasn’t worked.
I can jump in the rain, skip in the rain or even do a stutter step or two but no real dancing.
It’s hard to follow directions or to follow steps.
That’s not only true of learning how to dance or how to march or do a million other things, but it’s also true of learning how to live out God’s life plan for our lives.
And there is no one better to help us learn how to do that step by step than the man we are going to look at this morning – the man who adopted Jesus as his own son and raised him – the man we know as Joseph.
His whole story is remarkable to say the least. Perhaps even more remarkable given the fact that we have no recorded words coming from the mouth of Joseph.
That’s right. None of the Gospel writers record anything he said. All we have is his actions which when you look at them in detail say a great deal.
So, let’s look at this man named Joseph who according to the genealogy given to us in the Book of Matthew is a descendant of King David himself. Joseph is from the Tribe of Judah.
And he has an arranged marriage to a young lady named Mary but let’s not get ahead of our story.
I. Joseph dances superbly with the LORD in His Faith Walk
Joseph is walking the walk of obedience and faith with the LORD GOD ALMIGHTY.
He is a righteous man; he was following God’s life plan to the letter.
If we look at his life as a dance – then Joseph was an amazing dancing partner of the Lord God Almighty.
He was in the habit of listening to the LORD and obeying the LORD. He didn’t want anything in his life that was unholy or unrighteous.
He went to work, he went to synagogue, and he lived a life that was a model life.
I am sure that his parents were proud of him and I am very sure that Mary’s mom and dad were thinking that their daughter was going to have a very happy life with a man who was both a hard worker and a man of the law, of righteousness.
Joseph is the kind of guy that we in the church would look up to and want to have our children look up to as well. He is the kind of person that we would want on our church board or perhaps teaching a teen class.
So, when we first meet Joseph, we are impressed. He is a hard worker; he has his life together with family and God and is on the right life plan to enjoy a great life.
II. Joseph has a sidestep
Every now and then someone who is dancing happens to hit a snag; their feet get off track, and they find themselves either out of step or getting ready to face plant on the floor.
More than one dancer has found themselves in trouble.
Sometimes it is not them that get in trouble but their dancing partner.
You think the two of you are getting better at this dancing thing and suddenly you both find yourselves reaching out to either steady yourselves or falling to the floor.
Most of the time you just get off the floor and smile at one another, give a laugh or two and get back to dancing.
But in Joseph’s case – the sidestep that happened to him – was quite a sidestep.
His partner, or at least the one he wanted to be his partner appears to have taken a huge sidestep. A sidestep that would ruin everything for them both.
Mary was showing. Mary was pregnant.
Now, would Joseph and Mary have been the first young couple to find themselves in a rather delicate position before their wedding ceremony?
Truth be told there have been millions of couples that have walked down the aisle not just as two people but as three people.
And even in Biblical times this happened.
Being engaged for a year or so was a long year or so. On top of that your engagement was more like a pre-marriage.
So, it was frowned upon greatly because it meant a big change in how the wedding would take place – after all, no bride who was pregnant could sit out and have people fawn over her – everyone would know that the couple needs to just have a quiet wedding. After all, everyone would know what they had been up to; how they didn’t have self-control.
Joseph would have been looked at quite differently. No longer would he be seen as the ideal young man. We would have to take him out of teaching the teens and most likely have removed his name regarding being on the Church Board.
Oh, in time we would have accepted both of them, but you know as well as I know that no matter what they wanted to do in the church there would always be someone ready to tell their back story.
Yes, Mary and Joseph are nice people, but did you know that before they officially got married, they were sleeping together. We all thought she was such a holy little girl and he was such a fine young and respectable man, but it takes two to tangle and that girl was showing before they got married.
I don’t know about you but seeing your fiancé pregnant is no little deal.
3. Joseph takes a back step
There was one little problem.
Joseph knew he was not the father, nor had he slept with Mary.
He was innocent.
And she was claiming innocence.
Had she been unfaithful?
It sure looked like she had.
Had someone abused her?
What could he do?
The problem Joseph had centered on Hesed Love –
+Hesed Love for God the Lord God Almighty
+Hesed love for Mary; the young woman he wanted to marry. The young woman he had spent the last year working on their home. The young woman that would one day bear his children and together they would raise a family. The young woman he loved almost as much as he loved God.
Why did God let this happen?
Why did his life plan get wrecked?
How could he take her now as his wife?
How could he be faithful to God and at the same time accept what she apparently had done?
Even if he covers for her and lets everyone talk about him and her could he trust her?
And what about him – the real father – would he suddenly show up and demand Mary?
Also, what about the baby. If it’s a girl, then there is a good chance that she would look like her mother so there may be some covering there.
But what happens if it’s a boy and he is a spitting image of his father.
What would his parents say then?
What would his hometown of Nazareth say?
God – why are you letting all of this happen to me?
Have I not done what you said to do – to listen, to obey and then to do all I can to bring you glory?
4. God straightens out the dancing
Sometimes we can’t just get it right.
We start off well; our feet are doing what they should be doing but then something just happens. We misstep. We falter. We find ourselves sidelined.
Joseph made up his mind.
He would quietly divorce Mary.
That is until he got his God dream.
Like Joseph of Old, this Joseph also had dreams. Dreams that he believed in and dreams that he knew came from the LORD.
And what a dream it was – what a revelation!
Mary had not been unfaithful. She was pure.
In fact, so pure that she had been given a special mission from God – she would bring the Messiah into the world.
But how do you share such a thing?
The dream just told him to take Mary as his wife, protect her and the child and God would oversee everything.
That must have been some dream.
But then, so too was Pharoah’s dream that caused Egypt to promote the Old Testament Joseph and set about storing away food for seven years.
So, too, Jacob’s dream, Daniel’s dreams and Peter’s dream. All those dreams brought about great changes and revelations in their lives.
But none was bigger than the one that Joseph received.
Suddenly, everything shifted – no more sidesteps, no more backsteps – Joseph was once agaib dancing both with God and with Mary.
5. Joseph learns a new dance
That dream brought about a new dance for Joseph.
He would take Mary as his wife and the baby as his own.
In fact, he would take Jesus as his own so much that when it came to dedicate Jesus in the Temple, Joseph will tell those in charge that Jesus was his son.
For no child born out of wedlock or from sin could come to the Temple and be dedicated.
The before Joseph would have had some trouble saying – Jesus is my child but in this new dance with God, Joseph knew that he was to be Mary and Jesus’ protector.
No other man had been given the responsibility to take care of the Messiah.
His old life plan was gone.
He first thought he would never again have a great life plan. Not without Mary.
And now, God told him – Take Mary and be a father to Jesus. Watch over him, teach him, walk with Him and give your life for Him.
That is exactly what Joseph did.
Joseph had a simple life plan – Live righteously, show mercy and immediately obey the LORD even when it didn’t make sense. Then set about just serving God quietly and faithfully.
Joseph doesn’t command bells, whistles or a marching band.
He will be content with a slow dance with God, Mary, Jesus and the rest of the family.
He will be their stalwart. He will do his best to serve God and to help this God child be raised.
There have been millions if not billions of Josephs through the years in God’s Kingdom – people we don’t hear from but who faithfully each day dance with God.
When they have a sidestep or even a backstep they go to the One who can help them the most and find themselves in a new dance with God. A dance that they take one step at a time.
One of the fruits of the Holy Spirit is faithfulness and there is no better example of a person living out that fruit than Joseph.
He doesn’t always have a song like Zacharias or Mary. He doesn’t walk on water like Peter. He doesn’t write letters like Paul.
But he does know how to live a righteous life.
He does know how to listen to God and accept God’s mission in his life even when that mission seems impossible.
He does know how to bring peace and stability into the lives of Mary and Jesus when everything was chaotic around them.
He does know how to dance with God – allowing God to lead.
So, this week – if you can dance – then enjoy a time of dancing.
If you can’t, then watch those that can and even try a step or two – but maybe when you are alone.
But as you dance or as you dance alone – invite God to be your partner – watch His steps, His moves and listen to Him.
You don’t have to be out front.
You just have to follow God – to listen, to obey, to be flexible and then go about living a life of faithfulness.
All you have to do is to live the life that God has given you through Jesus Christ and following the leadings and guidance of His Holy Spirit.
It worked for Joseph – and it will work for all of us this morning.
So, how is your spiritual dancing this morning?
Ending the Service – With Communion or a Call of Response
