Unlikely Characters of Christmas
Matthew 1:18-25
December 7, 2003
Introduction
We continue our look at the gospel of Matthew this week, as we count down the days to Christmas.
Today we¡¦re going to look at what we can learn about the lives of Mary and Joseph, and my hope is that you¡¦ll walk out of here with more than just a bit of head knowledge about these two vitally important people in the Christmas story.
These are two incredible people that often don¡¦t get much publicity, except at this time of year. But I hope that after today you¡¦ll consider them more often, and that you will come to esteem them as we do the rest of the heroes of the faith.
Because what makes Joseph and Mary so special is something we can all take to heart and learn from.
So please turn in your Bibles to Matthew 1:18-25. If you¡¦re using the Bibles in the seats, this is on p. 681.
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. 19 Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.
20 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.
Now next week we are going to come back to this passage and look at this whole issue of Immanuel ¡V God with us, and you¡¦ll want to be here for that.
Today I¡¦m focusing on Mary and Joseph, not because Jesus wasn¡¦t important to the story. Obviously He¡¦s the focus of the story.
But my intention is to give us a glimpse into the two other main characters.
And in looking at them, I want us to not only get some biographical information, I want us to see what we can take and implement in our own lives from their examples.
Let¡¦s get started by looking first at¡K
1. Mary
When working on this portion of the message, I came across a quandary.
I grew up Catholic, so I was taught to pray to Mary. She was presented as someone who interceded to God on our behalf, lifting our requests to God, and having some pull with Him when it came to our eternal destiny.
When I would go to confession on Saturdays, depending on the sins I confessed, I was usually given a ¡§penance¡¨ which included a given number of ¡§Our Father¡¦s¡¨ and a given number of ¡§Hail Mary¡¦s.¡¨
Large or numerous sins would generally cause you to have to say a whole bunch of these prayers.
Just so you know, I think the most I ever had to do was 3 ¡§Our Father¡¦s¡¨ and 5 ¡§Hail Mary¡¦s!¡¨
She is venerated all over the world, and virtually worshiped, if not actually worshiped by many.
And there is a movement in some parts of the Catholic Church to have Mary proclaimed the ¡§Co-redemptrix.¡¨ In other words, it would be believed and taught that salvation is obtained through Jesus and Mary.
The Immaculate Conception is not about Jesus, but rather the conception of Mary, because the Catholic Church teaches that Mary herself sinless, so that she could carry the Son of God.
This is not biblical, and is dangerous.
In response to this, the protestant church has pretty much banished Mary to the occasional discussion at Christmas time, because of our belief in the Virgin Birth. And she is neglected much of the year.
This also is not good.
The angel Gabriel called her ¡§highly favored.¡¨
She was a highly favored handmaiden, a humble servant of God, chosen by Him to carry His Son.
And while it doesn¡¦t give her a status next to deity, it does make her a special.
Even the reformers held Mary in higher esteem than we do today. We need to get back into honoring Mary.
Do I mean worship? Absolutely not. But think for a moment. We are quick to honor many heroes of the faith ¡V David, Abraham, Gideon, Joshua, and who have you.
But what about the one who carried the Messiah in her womb? The one chosen by God to give birth to and nurse His only Son? Where is the honor due her?
Now obviously there needs to be balance. The balance is found in recognizing her for who she is, and understanding just what the Bible says about her.
Let¡¦s see what we can find, okay?
The first fact I want to point out is that¡K
„« She was a young virgin.
We don¡¦t know how old she was when she gave birth to Jesus, because the Bible doesn¡¦t tell us. But history tells us that young brides in that time were generally teenagers, and many times young teenagers.
And although we don¡¦t know her age, we do know she was a virgin. This is stated in both Matthew and Luke, the two gospels that describe the conception and birth of Jesus.
Next week as we take another look at this passage, we are going to focus more on why this is so important.
Folks, the Virgin Birth of Jesus is one of the foundational doctrines in all of Christianity, and I¡¦ll explain why next week.
Our passage this morning tells us that Joseph and Mary did not consummate the marriage until after Jesus was born.
But contrary to Catholic teaching, Mary did not remain a virgin her whole life. In Matthew 13:55-56, we read these words:
"Isn’t this the carpenter’s son? Isn’t his mother’s name Mary, and aren’t his brothers James, Joseph, Simon and Judas? 56 Aren’t all his sisters with us?
She was a virgin when Jesus was conceived in her womb until after His birth.
Before moving onto the next fact about Mary, I want to tell you about a ten-year old, who was becoming quite knowledgeable about the Bible because of her grandmother¡¦s teaching, asked her grandmother: "Which Virgin was the mother of Jesus? The Virgin Mary or the King James Virgin?"
(SermonCentral.com, James Wilson)
The second fact we learn about Mary is that¡K
„« She was spiritually sensitive.
She was able to discern that the message she heard from the angel Gabriel, as recorded in Luke, was indeed from God.
She voiced praise to God. Do yourself a favor this Christmas and read Mary¡¦s words in Luke 1, which the NIV calls, ¡§Mary¡¦s Song,¡¨ but which other versions call, ¡§The Magnificat.¡¨
You¡¦ll see why when you read it and meditate on those powerful words uttered by Mary under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
She was obviously familiar with the Scriptures, and was apparently in the habit of praying to God.
The third fact we can learn about Mary this morning is that¡K
„« She was obedient.
Her sensitivity to God and His ways was probably the one thing she could cling to as she contemplated the possible outcomes of being pregnant out of wedlock.
What if Joseph didn¡¦t believe her? What if her parents didn¡¦t believe her? What if nobody believed her?
But rather than become overly worried, she had the attitude that said, ¡§whatever You wish, Lord.¡¨
She couldn¡¦t explain any better then, than we can now. All she knew was what God had told her, and she would obey, no matter the consequences.
Folks, Mary is worthy of honor. Give her some this season, okay?
Now let¡¦s take a look at some facts regarding Joseph.
2. Joseph
We don¡¦t know much of Joseph after the Christmas story, and we have no record of him saying anything. In Luke, we see Mary¡¦s words, but nothing by Joseph in all of Scripture.
I¡¦m guessing that this doesn¡¦t mean he couldn¡¦t speak, but rather that he was a quiet sort of guy, who let his actions do the talking.
And the Bible fairly shouts his actions to us, telling us a good bit about him. The first fact I want to point out about Joseph is that¡K
„« He was a carpenter.
Big deal, Brian; tell us something we already knew, why don¡¦t you?
Well, my point in bringing this up is that he was a working man. He wasn¡¦t a Pharisee, or any kind of religious leader. He was in the everyday work world, just like you and me.
Keep that in mind for later in the message, okay, because we¡¦re going to come back to that.
The second fact I want to point out about Joseph is that¡K
„« He was a righteous man.
19 Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.
He lived a life of obedience and God-centered spirituality, which I think groomed him to be the best foster father possible for Jesus.
We don¡¦t think of that very often. As much as Mary is neglected by most, Joseph gets even more neglect.
Sometimes Joseph gets pushed back to the rear of the nativity set, as just another observer of the scene, the guy who tagged around so Mary wouldn¡¦t be the center of scandal.
I think it¡¦s much more than that. I think his spiritual character was such that God could call on Joseph with confidence in his ability to model a godly character to Jesus and the rest of his children.
And God used Joseph to protect the Messiah from those who would seek to take His life. God knew He could count on Joseph to get the job done.
When the Bible calls someone righteous, that¡¦s a big deal. Not everyone was righteous, and not everyone is righteous today.
But his faith in the God of the Bible, and his trusting in the promises of God, made it possible for Him to be made righteous by God.
Joseph was concerned about pleasing God in all things.
The third fact I want to show you about Joseph this morning is that¡K
„« He was compassionate and considerate.
We see this shining out in his thoughts regarding Mary when he found out she was pregnant.
A self-righteous would have thrown her out, leaving her to the civil and religious penalty of the day
Not only was he a righteous man, but because he was a righteous man, his decisions regarding Mary sought to keep her from shame.
He wanted her to save face as much as possible. That tells me that his character was one of compassion and caring.
He was a kind man, humble and obedient.
So now that we have a facts down about them¡K
What can we learn from these two people?
Although we could really take study these two, and spend weeks just on the persons of Joseph and Mary, discussing all the theological implications of everything about them, allow me to point out just three lessons we can learn from them.
„Ï They were just like us.
They were average, run-of-the-mill people who worked and lived like everybody else in Israel at the time.
No one saw Mary and said, ¡§Look! There goes the girl who is going to give birth to the Messiah! We can tell by the way she walks and talks and eats her food!¡¨
Or, ¡§Look! There¡¦s Joseph! Look at the way he handles those carpentry tools. Nobody holds a saw like he does. Obviously, he will be the one to raise the Messiah someday!¡¨
Now understand, God knew before the beginning of time that Mary and Joseph would be the ones to birth and raise the Messiah.
He chose them, after all!
But the point is that nothing in the way they lived would give anyone the impression that they were destined for such a wonderful opportunity and responsibility.
Besides, even THEY didn¡¦t know until it was happening! They were just ordinary folk.
„Ï They were available and obedient to God.
Their attitude during this whole time was, ¡§Whatever You wish, we will do.¡¨
None of this, ¡§What¡¦s in it for me, God? Huh?¡¨
They didn¡¦t argue with Him or His messenger, the angel. When they knew what God wanted, they did it ¡V right now.
When God said, ¡§Go,¡¨ they went. When God told them to skedaddle, they skedaddled.
Do you know why I think they were so obedient to God?
I think it¡¦s because they had spent their lifetimes cultivating a relationship with God that helped them recognize the voice and leadings of God.
Jesus said later that His sheep know His voice and they will follow Him.
Well, it was no different before Jesus was born. Those who knew the voice of God would follow it.
„Ï God uses ordinary people.
This is really where I wanted to go with this message today.
Sometimes we yearn for God to use us like He uses Billy Graham and Mother Theresa, but then we look at ourselves and wonder how He could possibly have anything significant for us.
But listen up. Not only does He want to use you, He already has a job lined up and waiting.
The Bible says in Ephesians that we (that¡¦s all of us who are followers of Jesus) are God¡¦s workmanship, created to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Folks, that¡¦s good news!
I don¡¦t know what these good works are for you. That¡¦s something you need to get with God about. And I don¡¦t think He¡¦s just talking about being a nice boy or girl.
I think He¡¦s talking about our part in advancing His kingdom by helping people see the Savior.
God could have chosen the religious leaders of Jesus¡¦ time to bring about the kingdom, but you know what, He chose two ordinary people like Joseph and Mary, and then 12 totally ordinary guys to make things happen.
And I think it¡¦s because they weren¡¦t so full of themselves that they were blinded to what was going on.
So don¡¦t think you need to be some super-saint. You need to be a humble, obedient man or woman of God, willing to listen for what God has in mind for you.
You have more to offer than you think. And with God enabling you, the sky¡¦s the limit.
It may be an up-front kind of thing, or it may be a background kind of thing, but He¡¦s got something for you to do.
Seek His face, and ask Him to help you see your part.
Conclusion
You know, I don¡¦t know if you learned anything new about Joseph and Mary this morning, but if nothing else, I hope that you were reminded of something that will help you in your Christmas celebrations this year.
When you set up your nativity sets, take a moment to think about these two heroes, and what God did through them.
And then take a moment to thank God for choosing them and using them to bring about His perfect plan for the Messiah.
And lastly, take a moment to thank God that He has something for you to do as well, and tell Him you¡¦re ready, no matter what it is or what the cost.
You never know what He has in store for you, but you¡¦ll never know until you let Him have you entirely ¡V heart and soul.
Learn from the example of Joseph and Mary, and may God bless you as you seek to implement these lessons in your own life.
Let¡¦s pray.
