Sermon Central
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Sermon # 51 - Obedience God Desires Series
Contributed by Andrew Dixon on Sep 17, 2025 (message contributor)
Summary: Joseph and Mary are great examples of ones who implicitly obeyed God, and thereby were instrumental in being channels to bring forth and raise Jesus, the Son of God. Are we willing to obey God, despite not having logical reasons to do so and even when it is hard to do so?
For our meditation today we will consider 1 Samuel 15:22, “And Samuel said, “Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams.” (ESV)
The prophet Samuel spoke these significant words, and had to remind King Saul that the Lord valued obedience over all the burnt offerings, sacrifices and fat of rams that one could offer to Him. This message will help us understand the kind of obedience that God expects from us, in order to receive God’s blessings, goodness, and see the fulfilment of God’s promises in our lives.
Both in yester years and in these days as well, there is no dearth for sacrifices. In times past animals were sacrificed, and today people offer, what they call as sacrifices of praise to the Lord. There is nothing wrong with our sacrifice of praises, but they are of no avail, and will not please the Lord in any way, if it is not coupled with obedience.
All over the world there are great festivities celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ during this season. Jesus came down to the earth, and gave His life as a ransom for the sins of the whole world and this was made possible because of the obedience of a couple.
Joseph was in a dilemma
We read in Matthew 1:18-19, “Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly.” (ESV)
Joseph was engaged to be married to Mary, and this was the news that reached him. He was told that Mary was already found to be with child, and this must have caused shock, sadness, anger and confusion for Joseph. However, the word of God testifies that Joseph was a just man, and hence he decided that he would divorce Mary quietly. Joseph did not want to defame Mary in any way, and Joseph also did not share this news he received from Mary to anyone else.
Those who claim to be the children of God must necessarily possess these two qualities found in Joseph. The first quality is that we should not seek to disgrace others in any way. We live in times when people seek to get popularity by slandering others.
Today, most of the news that is being viewed on social media are those about murder, rape, violence and other atrocities which are spread far and wide. There are millions who watch these telecasts, and this is spoken about for months together, and interestingly one never hears of what happened eventually. Often the time spent on such information is wasteful, and of no use to anyone. We should take a decision to not read, watch or hear such offensive news. So many are hooked on to such news, and want to keep following up on them which is of no benefit whatsoever. The second quality we must develop is to not spread bad news with others.
God’s assurance to Joseph
As Joseph was pondering on this news, this is what happened.
We read in Matthew 1:20-21, While he was thinking about this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph, descendant of David, do not be afraid to take Mary to be your wife. For it is by the Holy Spirit that she has conceived. She will have a son, and you will name him Jesus--because he will save his people from their sins." (GNB)
This was something that had never happened before. A virgin had conceived, and the child that was formed inside of her was conceived by the Holy Spirit. Surely this was not an easy information for Joseph to accept or process. There were two options before Joseph, one was to obey God implicitly though it was tough or the other was for him to not accept the word of God as was revealed to him.
Joseph obeyed
When Joseph woke out of his sleep, this was what he did. We read in Matthew 1:24-25, “When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him to do. He took Mary to be his wife. He did not have marital relations with her before she gave birth to a son. Joseph named the child Jesus.”(GW)
Joseph chose the path of obedience, and took Mary to be his wife. When the baby was born Joseph named the child Jesus just as the angel had commanded them to do so.
