Matthew 1:18-25
[18] Now this is how Jesus the Messiah was born. His mother, Mary, was engaged to be married to Joseph. But while she was still a virgin, she became pregnant by the Holy Spirit. [19] Joseph, her fiancé, being a just man, decided to break the engagement quietly, so as not to disgrace her publicly.
[20] As he considered this, he fell asleep, and an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream. "Joseph, son of David," the angel said, "do not be afraid to go ahead with your marriage to Mary. For the child within her has been conceived by the Holy Spirit. [21] And she will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins." [22] All of this happened to fulfill the Lord’s message through his prophet:
[23] "Look! The virgin will conceive a child!
She will give birth to a son,
and he will be called Immanuel
(meaning, God is with us)."
[24] When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord commanded. He brought Mary home to be his wife, [25] but she remained a virgin until her son was born. And Joseph named him Jesus.
Welcome to Bethany. I want to especially welcome our guests and hope this service will be a good experience for you today. We’ve been in this series on Humbug to Hallelujah during the Advent as we look forward to the coming of Christ.
If you’re still in a Humbug mood—say it lous with me and get it out of your system. Boy I was in a Humbug mood this week with the ice storm. I had no electricity for ___ hours. So say it with me HUMBUG!!!!
How many of you still honor the long time tradition of sending cards. Here’s what happened to one couple.
SLIDE 2
Rick and Judy Armstrong had a hectic holiday schedule encompassing careers, teenagers, shopping, and all the required doings of the season. Realizing that she would be short of time, she had the stationer print their signature on their Christmas cards, instead of signing each one.
Soon they started getting cards from friends signed "The Modest Morrisons," "The Clever Clarks," and "The Successful Smiths." Then she discovered the stationer’s subtle mistake. She had mailed out a hundred cards neatly imprinted with "Happy Holidays from the Rich Armstrongs."
I’m sure they laughed their way through that mistake.
But sometimes, during this time of the year, when things do go wrong, it is easy to throw up our hands and say, “What is the use?”
It just seems to be too much.
Have you ever wanted to skip Christmas?
SLIDE 3
Ebenezer Scrooge in A Christmas Carol would have just as soon skipped Christmas as you may know if you have been here each week as we have followed his experience that one dreadful Christmas Eve.
For different reasons than maybe what Scrooge encountered, there is no doubt that Christmas can be a time of stress rather than peace.
There is a touch of irony in that, isn’t there?
I mean…
Isn’t it amazing that we show the least amount of tolerance during a time that is to be distinguished by peace?
Do you know what the best part of Christmas is?
It is being together with members of your family. That’s the way it was for Bob Cratchit and his family, including his son Tiny Tim.
Do you know that the worst part of Christmas is?
It is being together with members of your family.
It would be funny if it weren’t true.
Right?
SLIDE 4
In a Peanuts cartoon, Lucy says to Snoopy: "There are times when you really bug me, but I must admit there are also times when I feel like giving you a hug." Snoopy replies: "That’s the way I am--huggable and buggable." And such is the plight of spending time with relatives and acquaintances at Christmas. Because they are imperfect people (as are you and me), things aren’t going to be completely ideal. But without them in our lives, something is dreadfully wrong.
Well, we know that Christmastime is about valuing relationships. But sometimes there is a lot of stress when it comes with being with others, especially family.
Those imperfections become difficult to digest.
In fact, because of past mistakes in our relationships, the relationships may be more known for anger, heartache and confusion rather than peace and good will.
SLIDE 5
So it was for Scrooge. As we continue in our journey from humbug to hallelujah, we come now to Scrooge’s encounter with the Ghost of Christmas Present. In this second “holy haunting” the miserly Ebenezer Scrooge is shown the consequences of giving too little. The ghost takes him to Bob Cratchit’s house on Christmas Day.
(SHOW VIDEO CLIP, OR SUMMARIZE AS BELOW.)
In his journey with the Ghost of Christmas Present, Scrooge gets a lesson in spiritual economics. He sees clearly that gold and silver are not the true indices of value. People are. Scrooge sees the impoverished Cratchit family (notice how their name sounds like “scratch it”--perhaps as in “scratching out their existence”) enjoying one another and the holiday, in spite of their meager fare. They have riches that have nothing to do with finances.
As Scrooge witnesses this family’s interaction, he genuinely softens. Beginning to thaw from his "humbug chill," Scrooge anxiously inquires about the prospects for Tiny Tim. The ghost reminds Scrooge of an incident that had occurred earlier that Christmas Eve: Scrooge, asked by some other wealthy gentlemen for a charitable Christmas contribution, responded with bitter sarcasm: "Are the poor houses still in operation? The orphanages?" Receiving an affirmative reply, Scrooge expressed relief, for he was convinced that such institutions were the primary aid for the poor.
"But many would rather die than go to those places," one gentleman replied.
"Then let them die," said Scrooge, "and decrease the excess population!" (END OF SUMMARY.)
When we hear a comment such as this--Let them die, and decrease the excess population--we ask ourselves, "Just what kind of a person could make such a statement? How could anyone be so angry and cold-hearted and yet confused at the same time? Where are the riches of human compassion? Who really is in the poor house?" Scrooge has yet to understand that the riches of love far surpass the accumulation of money. He has yet to learn that generosity brings a joy with which dollars cannot compare. The Cratchits will show him the riches found in relationships.
The value of relationships is at the heart of the story of the very first Christmas.
Interestingly, those characteristics that Scrooge displayed were something that Joseph experienced as well. We are going to look at this guy named Joseph from today’s Bible story about the first Christmas.
He knew anger, heartache and confusion.
SLIDE 6
I will identify five stages of development in our look at Joseph that will help us understand how he handled the first Christmas dilemma and how he moved from a Humbug attitude to a Hallelujah attitude.
SLIDE 7
I. The first stage is the SITUATION (18).
SLIDE 8
Now this is how Jesus the Messiah was born. His mother, Mary, was engaged to be married to Joseph. But while she was still a virgin, she became pregnant by the Holy Spirit.
The Bible tells us that Mary was expecting a child.
If the fact of her pregnancy wasn’t shocking enough, the explanation was even worse!
It was simply unbelievable.
It also tells us that Mary was engaged to be married to Joseph.
They were not technically married yet, but in a way they were.
This engagement was a great deal more formal than our engagement period is today.
It was a kind of pre-marriage relationship, so much so that a rabbi would perform a ceremony for this pledge.
During this time that lasted about a year, abstinence was to be maintained until after the official marriage ceremony.
If during that period a woman became pregnant, it was viewed as adultery.
Under the strictest interpretation of the Old Testament law it was punishable by death for both parties.
But to be fair, it was not normally enforced during the time of Mary and Joseph.
So…
Joseph is faced with a crisis of betrayal.
Mary’s pregnancy was a breach of contract.
And her explanation that God made her pregnant…well, would you believe that?
Joseph wasn’t that gullible.
It is apparent to Joseph that Mary is not the person that he thought she was.
As I was studying this week, I read someone criticizing Joseph for jumping to conclusions.
He should not have acted until he had all the facts first.
I really scratched my head on that one.
What other conclusion was he going to come to?
This is a big disappointment.
He had to be shocked and humiliated.
After all, Mary was carrying somebody else’s baby.
He was, in essence, a jilted lover.
So the first stage Joseph goes through is the SITUATION,
Which leads us to…
SLIDE 9
II. The second stage -- SEPARATION (19).
SLIDE 10
Joseph, her fiancé, being a just man, decided to break the engagement quietly, so as not to disgrace her publicly.
We find that…
Joseph tempers justice with mercy.
The text tells us that Joseph was a just man.
This means that Joseph’s life had been shaped by the transforming touch of God.
He was a spiritually sensitive man that was committed to doing the right thing in every circumstance.
So when he decides what he has to do about Mary’s pregnancy, it is his goal to not embarrass or disgrace her.
He does not want to hurt her any further.
There would be enough hurt as it is.
There would be public ridicule.
There would be consequences to being pregnant and unmarried.
So, he has his own solution.
He will move on with his life without Mary.
And compassionately, he will break off the pledged marriage and divorce her.
He is going to SEPARATE himself from her.
SLIDE 11
III. The third stage is the SECRET (20).
SLIDE 12
As he considered this, he fell asleep, and an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream. "Joseph, son of David," the angel said,
SLIDE 13
"do not be afraid to go ahead with your marriage to Mary. For the child within her has been conceived by the Holy Spirit.
Can you imagine having a dream when you are told, in effect, to wake up?
“Joseph, Wake up!”
You’ve been drafted!
And…
Joseph gets the inside information.
…literally…
Mary wasn’t telling a story after all, even though it violated common sense.
These were circumstances that seemed so unreal.
But Joseph was now learning a valuable lesson that would carry Him for a lifetime.
Never underestimate God.
But sometimes before we believe the promises of God we are faced with a situation that tests our faith, and we may try to separate from the very person God has brought us into relationship with, and we devise some secret action to get us out of it but then come
SLIDE 14
IV. The fourth stage, SATISFACTION (21-23).
SLIDE 15
And she will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins." All of this happened to fulfill the Lord’s message through his prophet:
"Look! The virgin will conceive a child!
She will give birth to a son,
and he will be called Immanuel
(meaning, God is with us)."
Joseph discovers he is part of a bigger plan.
Joseph is instructed to give this baby a name.
It was Joshua (Jesus is the Greek form of the Hebrew, Joshua).
It was a very common name with a very powerful meaning.
It means salvation.
And Joseph was to name Him Joshua because this son was going to save His people from their sins.
There was a group of first graders who got together and decided to write their own version of the Nativity. It was more modern than the traditional drama. There were the familiar members of the cast: Joseph, the shepherds, and an angel propped up in the background. But Mary was nowhere to be seen.
Suddenly behind the bales of hay could be heard some loud moans and groans. Evidently Mary was in labor. Soon the doctor arrived dressed in a white coat with a stethoscope around his neck. Joseph, with a look of relief on his face takes the doctor straight to Mary, then starts pacing back and forth.
After a few moments the "doctor" emerges with a big smile on his face. "Congratulations, Joseph," he says, "It’s a God."
Well, that was the message the angel was giving Joseph as well.
This baby was “Immanuel.”
He would be “God with us.”
This was the ultimate miracle.
So, it was time for Joseph to get on board.
And he does.. After all these other stages through which he struggles he comes finally to
SLIDE 16
V. The fifth stage --the SERVICE (24-25).
SLIDE 17
When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord commanded. He brought Mary home to be his wife, but she remained a virgin until her son was born. And Joseph named him Jesus.
The dream works and Joseph is convinced.
His anxiety is gone.
And now he has faith in the unbelievable.
As a result…
Joseph provides for Mary regardless of the cost.
He chooses to love and understand.
He chooses to get married so that they will now live together and share the home, even though the engagement period would not be up.
This would undoubtedly raise the eyebrows of the community.
It would be presumed by the busybodies standing on the street corners that Joseph and Mary had been unable to wait sexually through their engagement period.
Nazareth was a very small town, so the gossip would be going wild, because people knew how to do math back then.
The impeccable character of Joseph would be undermined.
Nevertheless, he tenderly cared for Mary.
He decided to love her in these difficult situations, no matter what the stress was that they were facing.
In our Christmas story from the Bible today, Joseph was willing to sacrifice his own hopes, dreams and plans for his life.
He would keep his commitment to Mary and to God, sacrificing even his own reputation.
Now, that’s a demonstration of love, of the proper valuing of relationships.
SLIDE 18
So how do you properly value relationships during this Christmas season 2002?
I will show that I value my relationships by realizing that …
1. CHRISTMAS IS THE TIME TO BE FAMILY.
Notice, that this time I didn’t say that Christmas is a time for family.
Christmas is a time to be family.
It is an important distinction.
Many of us are going to spend time looking for just the right gift for someone we care about, whether it is for a spouse or children, parents, or perhaps a really good friend.
The gift will be a demonstration of our love for them.
Many of us will gather next week and spend time with grandparents, uncles and aunts, and cousins. Or in-laws!
I mean…what would this most special of holidays be without extended relatives?
Perhaps you shouldn’t answer that!
But it is at Christmas we are reminded of our identity as we celebrate our ancestry.
We are not isolated persons existing in a vacuum.
We belong to those who claim a common name and a common past.
That’s a lesson Scrooge was beginning to learn in Dicken’s A Christmas Carol.
I ran across a story of a modern day Scrooge ..yes there are still Scrooge’s around.
George Mason’s life centered on his business. He lived alone, and on this Christmas he had refused all invitations. Late afternoon Christmas Eve, he went into the office vault. Soundlessly, on newly oiled hinges, the great door swung shut behind him.
Desperately he pounded on the door, but realized no one would hear him. Everyone was gone, even the cleaning woman. Surely he could make it overnight, he consoled himself. Then he remembered that the next day was not a working day; it was Christmas! Feeling around in darkness, he was relieved to locate the safety air hole at the bottom of the wall, where a trickle of air was coming in.
Christmas Eve and then Christmas Day passed. He was alone--as he had planned. But he was uncomfortable, hungry, and thirsty, in darkness so dense he could almost feel it brushing his face. He tried to sleep . . . anything to pass the time. He thought of friends and family and how they must be enjoying Christmas. He wondered if they had missed him.
The day after Christmas, someone arrived early and unlocked the vault. Unnoticed, George Mason staggered out and over to the water cooler. Then he took a taxi to his lonely apartment to freshen up. Back at the office, no one suspected a thing.
Physically, he had missed Christmas. But friends and family hadn’t given him a thought, so in a way, he hadn’t missed anything. After that lonely experience, he wrote on a little card these words: "To love people, to be indispensable, somewhere: that is the purpose of life. That is the secret of happiness." He then taped it to a wall high up in the vault to always remind himself of what had been missed.
God wants us to value our relationships even when we feel disappointed or let down by others at times.
Why?
Because, like Joseph, it is time to be family.
SLIDE 19
It’s time to realize that "Relationships are more important than accomplishments. " (Rick Warren)
The example of Joseph challenges us to not look out for our own interests (as did Scrooge), but to the interest of those who call us family. I will realize it is time to be family and…
SLIDE 20
Because of that I will realize that…
2. I need to follow the example of Jesus by seeking ways to value relationships.
(Philippians 2:1-8, The Message).
SLIDE 21
Note how this familiar passage in Philippians is expressed in The Message:
If you’ve gotten anything at all out of following Christ, if his love has made any difference in your life, if being in the community of Spirit means anything to you, if you have a heart, if you care—then do me a favor: Agree with each other, love each other, be deep-spirited friends. Don’t push your way to the front; don’t sweet-talk your way to the top. Put yourself aside, and help others get ahead. Don’t be obsessed with getting your own advantage.
SLIDE 22
Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand.
Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of himself. He had equal status with God but didn’t think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what. Not at all. When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human! Having become human, he stayed human. It was an incredibly humbling process. He didn’t claim special privileges. Instead, he lived a selfless, obedient life and then died a selfless, obedient death—and the worst kind of death at that: a crucifixion.
The Ghost of Christmas Present blessed the poor home and humble Christmas celebration of the Cratchits. He saw the love and care they had for each other. He knew that to them, people mattered. Especially to Tiny Tim.
Those who suffer and whose hearts have been touched by God are able to realize a profound
truth. Paul states it this way in 2 Corinthians 1:3–5. –
SLIDE 23
All praise to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. He is the source of every mercy and the God who comforts us. He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others.
SLIDE 24
When others are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us. You can be sure that the more we suffer for Christ, the more God will shower us with his comfort through Christ.
SLIDE 25
Tiny Tim echoed this truth when he said, “that he hoped the people saw him in the church, because he was a cripple, and it might be pleasant to them to remember upon Christmas Day who made lame beggars walk and blind men see.”
Tiny Tim turned the humbug of his life into a God-glorifying hallelujah. Rather than being poor, he was rich, because he had received the riches that only Christ can give, and he passed them on.
Today is a day to value another person.
Who is someone special you could celebrate by spending time with this season? Do you need to reconnect with a long-lost friend or relative? Or what about someone who has helped you in the past, and whom you’ve never thanked in the way you’d like?
Or how about coming out tonight and celebrating the Christmas story with our Bethany family celebration. It’s tonight at 7pm—Christmas music, a short play and then refreshments.
Or maybe you know someone you could invite to our Christmas Eve multimedia celebration. Hey Grandpa will be here! If you were here last Christmas Eve you know who Grandpa is. You think Scrooge is bad—wait until you see Grandpa. Christmas Eve at 9 pm—bring someone with you—someone is waiting for you to invite him or her.
Or, consider someone who is struggling with an issue in life. Who could be your Cratchit family? Ebenezer Scrooge found a natural outlet for his Christmas joy in the Cratchit family as he reached out to them in their need.
Ask the Lord to bring to mind a special need--food, transportation, time--you could meet this season. Set a time this week to get together with someone who comes to mind right now.
SLIDE 26
I think it is also necessary for us to be in prayer for the current world situation. I like what President Jimmy Carter said in his Nobel Peace Prize Speech this past week:
The unchanging principles of life predate modern times. I worship Jesus Christ, whom we Christians consider to be the prince of peace. As a Jew, he taught us to cross religious boundaries in service and in love. He repeatedly reached out and embraced our Roman conquerors, other Gentiles and even the more-despised Samaritans.
Despite theological differences, all great religions share common commitments that define our ideal secular relationships. I’m convinced that Christians, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, Jews and others can embrace each other in a common effort to alleviate human suffering and to espouse peace.
Carter concluded his speech with this admonition:
Ladies and gentlemen, war may sometimes be a necessary evil. But no matter how necessary, it is always evil, never a good. We will not learn how to live together in peace by killing each other’s children. The bond of our common humanity is stronger than the divisiveness of our fears and prejudices. God gives us a capacity for choice. We can choose to alleviate suffering. We can choose to work together for peace. We can make these changes. And we must. –END OF CARTER”S SPEECH
How do you and I begin to make these changes suggested by Carter in his speech?
Reach out to someone, look out for their interests and needs, just as Joseph did for Mary and also, as Jesus did for us.
Why do this? So you can share in Tiny Tim’s rejoicing that Christmas is about people, and people matter to God.
SLIDE 27
May it be said of you as it was of another man in the the Bible, read this with me--
"Your kindness has so often refreshed the hearts of God’s people" Philemon 7, NLT.
SLIDE 28
“God bless us--everyone!” Give thanks to God for the blessings you receive from others.
PRAYER:
Dear Lord, too often I forget what’s really important. Forgive me. Help me to value the people you have put into my life before it is too late--both for them and for me. I thank you for the way you showed your love for me by sending Jesus Christ, your Son, to earth. May I trust him, and may I show his love to all people I meet. And Lord, comfort those whose hearts are broken. And where possible, let me be part of the answer. I ask this in Jesus’ name. Amen
SLIDE 29
(Sermon Central resource: Paul Decker and Mainstay Ministries)
