The Forgotten Man Of Christmas

Bunbury

Sun am

26/12/10

“Joseph the ignored man of Christmas”

Intro: As we look at the Christmas story every year there are an array of people / animals / events that all figure in the Christmas story.

But there is what we might call the forgotten man of Christmas whose influence we need to make everything work.

Joseph is the forgotten / ignored man of Christmas.

I want to preach t/m on the ignored man of Christmas.

Text: Matthew 2:1-14 (NKJV) 1Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, 2saying, “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the East and have come to worship Him.” 3When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. 4And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. 5So they said to him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it is written by the prophet: 6 ‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, Are not the least among the rulers of Judah; For out of you shall come a Ruler Who will shepherd My people Israel.’ 7Then Herod, when he had secretly called the wise men, determined from them what time the star appeared. 8And he sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the young Child, and when you have found Him, bring back word to me, that I may come and worship Him also.”9When they heard the king, they departed; and behold, the star which they had seen in the East went before them, till it came and stood over where the young Child was. 10When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy. 11And when they had come into the house, they saw the young Child with Mary His mother, and fell down and worshiped Him. And when they had opened their treasures, they presented gifts to Him: gold, frankincense, and myrrh.12Then, being divinely warned in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed for their own country another way.13Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, “Arise, take the young Child and His mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I bring you word; for Herod will seek the young Child to destroy Him.”14When he arose, he took the young Child and His mother by night and departed for Egypt,

# 1. He was sensitive in confusing circumstances.

A. Joseph models for us the kind of sensitivity God wants us to develop to hearing his voice.

a. Much of life is going to present us w/ confusing circ.

i. There are going to be times / seasons / situations / events in your life / family that you are not going to u/s.

ii. I’m talking about things that won’t fit into the framework of your u/s of what God is doing in your life.

iii. Things that will seem to be totally out of sync w/ everything else that is going on in your life.

b. When you take a look into the Bible you’ll find that this is often what God allows in our lives.

i. It happened to Jacob’s son Joseph ..... he’s a young man who has been hearing from God & he’s excited about it.

ii. But b/4 he has a chance to figure out the exciting realities of where God’s taking him & what God is doing in his life ...... he finds h/s down in Egypt for sale in a slave auction!

iii. That’s what I call out of sync w/ what God seems to be doing in your life.

c. Here’s another Joseph ..... engaged to be married to a pretty young lady named Mary.

i. She’s the kind of young lady he can commit his whole life to ...... she’s godly / quietly submissive / has a good testimony / she’s dedicated to him....

ii. But then the bombshell drops as Joseph finds out some shattering news – Mary is pregnant!

iii. Now that news is bad enough even when you are the father of the earlier than expected new baby!

iv. But it’s shattering news when you discover that it’s not your baby & even worse when the bride to be is saying ...... I’ve been faithful to you all along!

B. As we look at Joseph we see that he is a man who has a sensitivity to God in confusing circ.

a. And this is where Joseph’s sensitivity to God saves the day!

i. A sensitivity to God is what saves men / women in the midst of life’s sometimes horribly confusing circ.