When Joseph Woke Up Series

“When Joseph Woke Up”

The King and His Kingdom

(Matthew 1:18-25)

OKAY MGCC - welcome to December 26th

Welcome to the day after Christmas.

Welcome to week 2 of our study of Matthew’s Gospel the King and His Kingdom.

NOW – last week we looked at Matthew 1:1-17… Matthew’s Genealogy. A genealogy as we saw last week where Matthew drives home and underscores the truth that Jesus is the KING. UNDERSTAND – in his genealogy Matthews is declaring (is making the case) that Jesus is the son of David through his adopted father Joseph. AND THEREFORE – He is the true king and legal heir to the Davidic throne and the fulfillment of God’s promise to David.

Your house and your kingdom will continue before me for all time, and your throne will be secure forever.

– 2 Samuel 7:16

UNDERSTAND MG – as Matthew begins His Gospel He wants everyone to know who Jesus is… THAT - He is the promised King the son of David.

AND LISTEN – as King Jesus has…

• The authority to speak (into everyone’s life, ‘you have heard it said but I say to you”… “Those who hear my teaching and put them into practice is like…)

• The power to rule (over nature, over sickness, over demons, over sin death and the grave)

• The desire to include (everyone and anyone in His Kingdom)

• The right to reward (“well done my good and faithful servant, come enter my joy and happiness).

OKAY – that was Matthew 1:1-17…. That was week one.

AND THIS MORNING – we are going to unpack a conversation that I am calling, “When Joseph Woke Up.”

OUR TEXT – is Matthew 1:18-25… and this event more than likely takes place, right after Mary returns from her visit with Elizabeth. YOU SEE – after her encounter with Gabriel Mary packs her bags and heads over to her cousin Elizabeth place… who was 6 months pregnant at the time…

YOU KNOW – I have always loved the scene that Luke paints of Mary arriving at Elizabeth’s home…

God has blessed you above all women, and your child is blessed. Why am I so honored, that the mother of my Lord should visit me?

HEY MGCC – why are we so honored that ‘God’ would not only visit us, but put His Spirit inside of us?

When I heard your greeting, the baby in my womb jumped for joy. You are blessed because you believed that the Lord would do what he said.” - Luke 1:42-45

MARY - stays for about 3 months and then she goes home… Most likely after John was born.

AND – it’s here after her return home that we meet Joseph, the stepfather of Jesus.

OKAY – let’s do this… Matthew 1:18-25

This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph - Matthew 1:18

• Again - ‘Christ’ – is a title not a name… it means the anointed one – the Messiah

• ‘pledged’ – understand engagements in that culture and time were legally binding and actually required a divorce to end.

QUESTION - how old was Joseph…?

We don’t really know. BUT - how old do you think he was.

NOW - I did ‘a little’ research for this and found that prior to 400 AD the tradition was that Joseph was in his late teens to early 20’s. OKAY – so why this shift?

I think because of a teaching that was beginning to take root that Mary remained a virgin for her an entire life.

Which make passages like Mark 6:3, which tell us that Jesus had 4 brothers (James, Simon, Jude, Joseph) and at least 2 sisters a little confusing and hard to explain…

SO – it became a tradition that Joseph was an older widower who brought his 6 children into his marriage with Mary…

OKAY – back to Matthew…

but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit.

NOW – I am sure you recall how things went down with Mary and the angel Gabriel in Luke chapter 1.

In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy,

Who is Elizabeth?

Mary’s older cousin. The wife of Zachariah. The mother of John the Baptist.

God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. (okay, there’s that ‘King’ emphasis again)

The virgin’s name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.” Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be.

But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus.