Things to Look for: Things That Point You To God
Matthew 1;18-25
by Jim Westmoreland
Last Sunday night, we had our children-led Christmas program, and our children did a great job and, then we had refreshments and a visit from Santa. There is more than one interesting story about children’s Christmas programs. A grade school class was putting on a Christmas play which included the story of Mary and Joseph coming to the inn. In that class was one little boy who wanted very much to be Joseph. But when the parts were handed out, his biggest rival was given that part, and he was assigned to be the inn keeper instead. He was really bitter about this.
So, during all the rehearsals he kept plotting in his mind what he might do the night of performance to get even with his rival who was Joseph. Finally, the night of the performance, Mary and Joseph came walking across the stage. They knocked on the door of the inn, and the inn-keeper opened the door and asked them gruffly what they wanted.
Joseph answered, "We'd like to have a room for the night." Suddenly the inn-keeper threw the door open wide and said, "Great, come on in and I'll give you the best room in the house."
For a few seconds poor little Joseph didn't know what to do, and a long silence ensued. Finally though, thinking quickly on his feet, Joseph looked in past the inn-keeper, first to the left and then to the right and said, "No wife of mine is going to stay in a dump like this. Come on, Mary, let's go to the barn." And once again the play was back on course.
A little boy in another church Christmas program only had one line to remember. He was the Angel of the Lord, and his line was: "Behold, I bring you good tidings."
After the rehearsal, he asked his mother what "tidings" meant. She told him that it meant "news".
When the program was put on, the boy got a case of stage fright and couldn't remember his line. Then, all of a sudden the idea came back, and he blurted out. "Hey! Boy, have I got news for you!"
Let me read you a portion of that "Good News," a portion of the
story that seems so old it can't have any more mystery about it.
But when we hear these words, the Word comes alive once
again, and it is laid in the manger of our hearts, where it dwells
and grows into faith.
Hear the Word of the Lord from Matthew 1:18-25 (NRSV)
[18] Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit.
[19] Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly.
[20] But just when he had resolved to do 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 as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.
[21] She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins."
[22] All this took place to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet:
[23] "Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel," which means, "God is with us."
[24] When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took her as his wife,
[25] but had no marital relations with her until she had borne a son; and he named him Jesus. [This ends this reading of the Gospel.]
The Gospel of Luke focuses the birth story of Jesus on Mary, but Matthew focuses on Joseph. Joseph was caught in the middle of a soap opera with the discovery that Mary is pregnant. When our world gets turned upside down, where do we look to find things that point us to God? Sometimes, the voices around us, the voices in our own heads and events that happen way to fast for us to adjust keep us off balance. We can easily get distracted and have difficulty keeping God in the center of our lives.
All of us know that Christmas is not about what gifts we give or receive. It is not about all of the rush of shopping, and it is not about Christmas parties, cards, drinking wassail or any other seasonal punches or drinks. It is about allowing God to come into our lives and speak to us. It is about re-centering our lives on Him. It is about welcoming Him into our lives as the Light of the world and savior of all people.Everything else is at least secondary. What we spend most of our time doing is NOT about the main thing!
Joseph saw a big mess in his life’s plans and his desire to have a normal, religious family. He was a good man and didn’t want to make a public thing out of exposing Mary’s pregnancy. He was going to dismiss her quietly, the scripture says. He could have be righteously indignant at what happened, but he was restrained. He was gentle. And, all of that, I believe is the result of his devotion to God.
If we are looking for things that point us to God, I think we can look at the character and actions of Joseph. Out of his faith, tested as it was, he was a good man. I hope that people can look at us, and, in spite of our bruises and blemishes, I hope that they can see the work of God in our lives. I hope the harshness and coldness of the world has been replaced by the warmth and patience of God. If there is ever anything that can test us, it is Christmas shopping. It may even be just having to be on or accidentally getting on South Frederica St. in the week before Christmas.
Just when Joseph was ready to break things off with Mary, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream. Have you ever awakened from a dream where you were either chasing someone or your were being chased by someone. It can be pretty unsettling. I wonder what Joseph felt when he awakened after that dream. We read it and think, “Well that straightened him out. Easy for him. He got an angel!” Was it? . . .
One of the things that points me to God is that Joseph didn’t just dismiss this experience, but he discerned that God was speaking to him about what he should do, not only with Mary, but with the baby. I have no doubt that God is not continuing to reveal Himself to all of us, but He doesn’t force Himself on us. Our spirit must be willing to receive and perceive the presence of God, whether we call it an angel, a voice, an impression or some other type of direction and relationship.
The angel talked about two names that would be given to the baby, Jesus and Immanuel. Names mean many things. Sometimes, it is related to when the baby is born, or what things were like that day, sunny, windy, stormy. Sometimes, they are descriptive of what the hopes are for the child. The names given to Jesus were descriptive. They meant something.
Jesus means “God is salvation.” The angel made reference to its meaning when he says, “. . . you are to name him, Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” This child was given a name that would be a constant reminder of the saving grace of God. That is something that points us to God, too. Everything time we hear, read or say the name of Jesus, it should remind us tht god is our salvation, that Jesus came to save us from our sins and that he wants to bring forgiveness and salvation to all the people of the world.
The other name given was Immanuel, which means “God is with us.” Each Sunday, except during Advent, we light the Christ candle in our service to remind us that God is with us, that wherever two or three are gathered together, that Jesus is with us. Because Advent is a time of expectancy for the coming of Jesus, building up to the celebration of His birth on Christmas Day, we wait to light the Christ candle as we continue to light the other Advent candles in anticipation of His birth. Following the custom of the Jews that the next day begins with the evening preceding the sunrise, when we meet for our Christmas Eve service, we will not only change the paraments from purple to white, we will also light the Christ candle. At the end of that service when all the lights are out in the sanctuary, we begin the lighting of the candles by taking the light from the Christ candle and taking it to the people standing around the walls of the sanctuary to spread Christ’ light, which then fully lights the sanctuary.
God reveals Himself to us through Jesus, through Immanuel, and we need to cultivate our spirit to be sensitive to God’s voice for us. Why is this important? Because life is not always easy, and because there is more to life than food and water, sleep and work.
Sooner or later, every one of us comes up against the rough side
of life, and we have to face life’s big problems. Dr. J. A.
Hadfield, noted British psychologist, commented on this when
he said, "When people run up against life and find it too much
for them, one swears, one gets a headache, one gets drunk, and
one prays"
When life gets hard, what do you do? Do you give up? Do you swear? Do you lash out in hostility? Do you try to find someone to blame? Do you give in to bitterness? Do you run away? Do you hide behind some illness? Do you drug yourself? Or, do you pray? Do you consider the problem prayerfully and then listen for God? That's what Joseph did, and it worked. He found the things that pointed him to God.
What a great lesson to learn from Joseph: the art of listening! Maybe this is why Jesus went often into the wilderness alone to do some praying and listening. Perhaps he learned from father Joseph how to listen for God's will. Joseph was big enough to listen. What a wonderful quality!
An old pioneer traveled westward across the great plains until he
came to an abrupt halt at the edge of the Grand Canyon. He
gawked at the sight before him: a vast chasm one mile down,
eighteen miles across, and more than a hundred miles long! He
gasped, "Something musta happened here!" A visitor to our
world at Christmas time, seeing the lights, the decorations, the
trees, the parades, the festivities, the religious services, and the
many acts of charity would also probably say, "Something must
have happened here!"
Indeed, something did happen.
God
came to our world on the first Christmas, and our lives were
changed. Amen.
Century Christian Church, December 23, 2007 - Sermon by Jim Westmoreland
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