Jesus Is Bigger Than Christmas.

Steve Gentry

[0:06] We’ll go ahead and have a seat. [0:07] Welcome to Village Church. [0:09] If this is your first time here, my name is Steve. [0:11] I’m one of the pastors here at Village Church. [0:12] And as always, I am thankful and grateful to see each and every one of you. [0:16] If you have a Bible, go ahead and open it to Matthew chapter one.

[0:19] We’re going to be starting in verse 18 this morning. [0:23] But before we do that, I just want to kind of recap that we’re going through the first [0:28] seven chapters of Matthew and this first part of a series throughout the entire book of [0:33] Matthew. [0:34] And in that, we started in the most simplest of places, and that is the genealogy of Matthew [0:41] chapter one.

[0:42] And in that genealogy, we see that Jesus is the son of Abraham. [0:46] Jesus is the son of David. [0:48] He’s come to fulfill all of God’s promises to the people of Israel. [0:53] And that is an exhaustive way of saying that. [0:55] All of God’s promises to Israel have been given through Jesus Christ. [1:02] And this week, I want to kind of zoom in a little further and talk about his actual

[1:07] birth. [1:08] This is a section that we often cover at Christmas, but it’s kind of to our detriment sometimes [1:13] because of the truths that are in this section of Scripture are much larger than Christmas. [1:20] And in that, we actually find the vital elements that form a foundation for following Jesus [1:28] Christ. [1:29] But also, we see in this narrative people who exhibit the type of faith that God calls

[1:35] us to live by in our lives. [1:37] And that there are a hundred different ways to apply this section of Scripture that have [1:43] absolutely nothing to do with the song, Away in a Manger. [1:47] So we can actually live out these truths in all of our lives. [1:52] That God works through two very ordinary people to bring about the most extraordinary birth [1:58] that has ever happened in this world.

[2:00] And that is the birth of God the Son into this world. [2:03] That the creator of the universe became a human being for the specific purpose of saving [2:10] you and saving me. [2:13] And so in verse 18, we start reading where the text transitions and says, Now the birth [2:19] of Jesus Christ took place in this way. [2:22] And so I want to pause really quick there and kind of help us understand that he’s

[2:27] restating what he said in verse one of chapter one by calling him Jesus Christ. [2:34] And so in that, I have to point out that he’s using the fullness of both the name Jesus [2:40] and his title for Christ. [2:43] Now Joseph Christ and Mary Christ didn’t have Jesus Christ. [2:48] OK, and I didn’t ever realize how important it was to point that out that Christ isn’t [2:53] his last name.

[2:55] It is his title that he is the anointed one, that he is the promised one of Israel. [3:02] And so Mary and Joseph had this child who had a specific designation, a special office [3:07] to be the savior of Israel and all of God’s people. [3:13] And so verse 18 again, when his mother, Mary, had been betrothed to Joseph before they [3:19] came together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. [3:23] And her husband, Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved

[3:28] to divorce her quietly. [3:30] But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a [3:35] dream, saying, Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that [3:41] which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. [3:44] She will bear a son and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from [3:49] their sins.

[3:50] All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet. [3:55] Behold the virgin shall conceive and bear a son and they shall call his name Immanuel, [4:01] which means God with us. [4:03] When Joseph woke from the dream, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him. [4:08] He took his wife, but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. [4:13] And he called his name Jesus.

[4:17] The virgin birth, number one, is foundational to Christianity. [4:23] Without the virgin birth, he could not be the son of God. [4:29] And I’ve often had conversations with people, and so I will often offer the apologetic, [4:34] first and foremost, of the resurrection, and for a good reason. [4:38] And that is because the resurrection serves as the ultimate evidence, the ultimate proof [4:43] that Jesus is God.

[4:45] If Jesus rose from the dead under his own power, then you have to believe he’s God. [4:52] There is no other way about it. [4:55] But the virgin birth stands as equal to vitality for the foundation of Christianity to be built, [5:03] just like the resurrection, because if Jesus had been born to both a human father and a [5:08] human mother, biologically speaking, then he could not have risen from the dead and [5:13] he would not have risen from the dead.

[5:16] It’s important to understand that he was born of a virgin, and that is why he had the power [5:22] and the authority to rise from the dead some 30-some years later. [5:29] Now, I’ve often heard many people talk about the virgin birth as if it is a less than [5:35] important figure. [5:36] And a few years ago, probably 10 or 15 years ago, sometimes the older you get, the less [5:43] you can keep track of how many years ago anything was.

[5:45] And so this was sometime between 2004 and 2008, then there was this movement that, by [5:52] God’s grace, died out. [5:53] But it was a movement that happened in which many of the fundamentals of the faith were [5:59] challenged as to how important they were to the total of what the Christian story is [6:06] and the total of who Jesus is. [6:09] And in one specific time in that movement, this book that thankfully I hope is out of

[6:15] print now, it’s called Velvet Elvis, which is just a stupid name for a book to begin [6:20] with, but by a guy named Rob Bell who has since left the faith. [6:25] He wrote this book in such a whimsical way that especially amongst college students, [6:31] which by the way, that’s why you send your kids to a Christian college, so that they [6:40] won’t be surrounded by atheists. [6:42] And so, I mean, I sent my son to a state school and he’s fine.

[6:47] Whatever. [6:48] But, but again, I’m up here, you’re not. [6:54] So I can say these things and not worry about getting in trouble later. [6:58] But the key here is an understanding that he wrote in this book and he described Christianity [7:04] as the way that it’s understood and he’s challenging that like a brick wall. [7:10] And in that brick wall are doctrines.

[7:14] And his question was, what would happen to the faith if we only took a few of the bricks [7:20] away? [7:21] And he specifically pointed to the virgin birth. [7:24] And so many people in that time were saying, well, how important is the virgin birth? [7:28] You know, is it really that vital to Christianity? [7:30] If we lose the virgin birth, do we lose Christ?

[7:32] And my statement is yes, we do, because faith has never been seen like a brick wall. [7:39] And that’s why it was a terrible analogy to begin with. [7:41] If you’re biblical in the way that you understand the faith, you know that it’s not a wall, [7:45] it’s a foundation. [7:47] And you build walls on foundation, you don’t build walls as foundation. [7:52] And so you do not, with the foundation of your home, want there to be any cracks in

[7:57] the foundation, because if there is a crack in the foundation, then that means that the [8:02] integrity of the structure as a whole is at risk. [8:06] And so we know that around here, because, I mean, in entire neighborhoods in this area, [8:12] they’ve had issues with the foundation because Virginia dirt just isn’t ideal, apparently. [8:18] And so as the seasons change, things, you know, it rains certain seasons, it doesn’t [8:23] rain certain seasons.

[8:24] The soil, you know, is really moist in one season, it’s extremely dry in another season. [8:29] And so sometimes people have developed these changes in their foundations, these shifts [8:33] and cracks have happened. [8:34] And so you have to pay thousands of dollars sometimes to bring in a company to kind of [8:40] restructure your foundation under the house. [8:43] And so that sounds difficult and it must be difficult.

[8:47] Right. And so you do not want to go home today. [8:51] And if you have a foundation that is on cinder blocks, none of you, if you have any [8:57] intelligence, are going to go home and say, if I just take a sledgehammer.

[9:03] And knock out one of the cinder blocks, look how many cinder blocks I have left. [9:09] Surely it will be fine if we just remove one of them. [9:13] That’s foolishness. [9:14] You wouldn’t do that because when you knock out that one cinder block, well, now you’ve [9:18] challenged the integrity of every cinder block around that. [9:20] And if the integrity of every cinder block around that is challenged, well, then the

[9:24] integrity of the foundation as a whole has now been compromised. [9:30] And so when you are building a foundation, this is what the scriptures tell us in the [9:34] Book of Ephesians when it says that Jesus Christ is the cornerstone of the foundation [9:40] of our faith. In other words, it all begins and rests ultimately upon him. [9:46] And if he was not born of a virgin, then he has an origin story that is ultimately no [9:54] different than mine, then ultimately no different than yours.

[9:57] I assume all of you have human fathers and none of you are from Krypton.

[10:04] Some of you might think you are, but you’re human. [10:08] And if Jesus is no different than me, then he could not live up to be everything that [10:14] the father sent him to live for. [10:16] He could not accomplish the mission that God gave him if his origin story was any [10:22] different than yours and mine. [10:24] And so it’s vital that we kind of root ourselves down into whether or not what is

[10:30] said in this story, in this narrative, in this historical perspective about Jesus is [10:37] true, because him being the son of God literally rests upon the validity of his [10:43] virgin birth. [10:44] And it’s a story that’s fascinating to begin with when you look in this book, because [10:48] they’ve sent 17 verses rather, establishing the lineage of Jesus Christ. [10:55] And then it goes into a story that says while his lineage is of this historic

[11:02] perspective, his origin is far beyond anything that this world could hope to [11:08] contain. And so it points out Joseph as the main character. [11:12] Joseph is betrothed to Mary. [11:14] In other words, they are less than married and more than engaged. [11:20] And so if you get engaged in our culture, it is simple to end that engagement. [11:24] Ladies, you take the ring off and you give it back.

[11:28] That’s how engagements end. [11:30] Now, if you guys ever have to end an engagement, let’s say you’re in a dating [11:33] relationship right now and you’re sitting in here, don’t be petty, ladies. [11:37] If you’re not going to marry him, give him the ring back. [11:41] All right. [11:42] He deserves to get some money for the time that he put in.

[11:46] All right. And so he can put that on Facebook classifieds, but he spent the money [11:51] you didn’t. [11:52] Thou shalt not steal. [11:56] All right. I’ve straight up mean that. [11:57] All right. And so I’ve only been engaged once and it took.

[12:03] So, so many years ago, you know, my wife and I, she’s from Santa Fe, New Mexico. [12:09] And so we went up and I mean, I’m just I’m so romantic. [12:13] And so we went up to this place in Santa Fe. [12:16] It’s this overlook called the Cross of the Martyrs. [12:18] And so we went up there and just beautiful looks over the the Sangre de Cristo [12:23] mountains. And it’s interesting being a white guy from Virginia when you’re in

[12:27] Santa Fe, because everything you say is wrong. [12:30] And so I didn’t pronounce that right, just so you know, and my in-laws will point it [12:34] out if they listen to the podcast. [12:35] And so we’re overlooking this and I got down on one knee and I opened the box and, [12:40] you know, you’re everything. [12:41] Will you marry me and all that good jazz?

[12:43] And so and she said yes. [12:45] And so she took the ring and she put the ring on her finger. [12:48] Now, I was not legally bound to her at that point. [12:53] Financially, I was putting a lot of trust in her. [12:56] But legally, we could have broken up after that. [12:59] Joseph and Mary didn’t really have that type of option, because what happened in

[13:03] that culture was that you would enter into this period of betrothal where you [13:09] would have time over the next 12 months to get to know one another better under [13:14] the supervision of the parents. [13:17] And so in this, it was also a time for the parents to observe them, to say, is [13:24] this a good match? [13:26] Is this something that we want to bless?

[13:28] And it also gave them a 12 month period where they could prove their purity. [13:35] In other words, this isn’t going to be a shotgun wedding and there is no sexual [13:39] immorality assumed between the two, because if you know anything about pregnancies, [13:44] which I don’t, I think they last longer. [13:47] Excuse me. I don’t think they last longer than 12 months. [13:50] All right. And so Mary and Joseph are in this time of betrothal where they’re proving

[13:55] their purity, they’re living up to these standards. [13:57] And then guess what happens? [14:00] Mary’s pregnant. [14:01] And from a human perspective, this is a disaster. [14:05] This is a nightmare because everyone’s purity has now been challenged. [14:11] Everyone’s reputation has been challenged.

[14:14] The relationship has been challenged. [14:17] There is a financial investment that if Joseph is found to be the father, he may [14:22] owe his father-in-law money for committing fraud against him. [14:25] And if he’s found to not be the father, the father-in-law might owe Joseph money [14:29] because he’s been defrauded. [14:31] Religiously speaking, there’s controversy.

[14:35] Legally speaking, there’s controversy. [14:37] Relationally speaking, controversy. [14:39] Reputationally speaking, there is controversy in every element of this period [14:46] when the bride is found to be with child before the actual wedding ceremony. [14:52] Takes place. [14:54] And so Joseph is a good man, though.

[14:57] Says he’s a just man in the original language. [15:02] And so he tries to divorce her away, the text says, quietly. [15:06] And he’s doing that because Joseph loves Mary.

[15:11] Joseph wants to salvage as much of her reputation as he can, but he knows one [15:19] thing is true in this situation. [15:22] That is not his child. [15:25] And so he is in a bad place. [15:28] I mean, anybody would be in a bad place if they knew beyond the shadow of a doubt [15:31] that that was the reality of what he was dealing with.

[15:34] And so Joseph has made his choice, but then an angel of the Lord appears to him [15:38] in a dream and says, Joseph, this child is from the Holy Spirit. [15:44] So don’t be afraid to marry her. [15:46] She has not been unfaithful to you. [15:48] Enter into this marriage because the child that she is carrying right now, [15:53] the child that will be born is the fulfillment of prophecy.

[15:57] And the text has told us that Joseph is a good man. [15:59] He’s a just man. [16:00] So I assume that he knew the prophecy that the angel was telling him about [16:05] from Isaiah, chapter seven, verse 14, which came hundreds of years before this, [16:09] where God promised to give them a sign. [16:12] The child will be born to a virgin and his name would be God with us.

[16:18] That is what Emmanuel means. [16:20] And again, this is a title that was given to Jesus. [16:24] So comes to Joseph, he gives it and Joseph believes. [16:29] But what’s fascinating about this is that if this was a way in which for us to defraud [16:36] the world from a Jewish perspective that the Messiah had come, they would not have [16:41] done it in this way because it did not matter what Mary’s lineage was.

[16:46] See, the way that they trace lineage was through the father. [16:49] And that is why when the angel comes to Joseph, what does he call Joseph? [16:53] Joseph, son of David, because he wants David to understand a key element. [16:59] Just because you were not involved in the conception, you are involved in the story [17:05] that I am about to tell. [17:08] Mary’s lineage, culturally speaking, did not matter.

[17:11] All that mattered was whose lineage did the father have? [17:17] And Joseph’s lineage was of Bethlehem. [17:19] It was of David, the king. [17:23] And so God is saying that this is the way that you will fulfill one prophecy, the [17:29] prophecy of bloodline. [17:30] But this is more vital than the lineage of Joseph.

[17:35] This is otherworldly because he has to be the son of God. [17:40] And so the angel comes to Joseph and he says, Joseph, you are vital to this story, even [17:45] though you are not the biological father of this child. [17:49] There would have been less controversial ways for God to go about this. [17:55] But God goes about it in so many different perspectives so that Jesus would be the only [18:02] plausible one who could live up to all of the Old Testament prophecies, even not having

[18:11] an earthly father. [18:12] Because if you have a virgin who is with child, then the only other option is this was an [18:19] immaculate conception.

[18:22] Now, young ladies, if you find yourself in a bad way, don’t use that as an excuse. [18:27] It’s only happened once. [18:29] All right. Your parents aren’t going to buy it. [18:31] The reality that Joseph now deals with is that God is calling him to walk into a life [18:38] of faith that he had not prepared for. [18:42] Look at what the angel said to Mary, because Luke two focuses, excuse me, Luke one focuses

[18:47] on Mary, where Matthew one focuses on Joseph. [18:50] The angel comes to Mary and says, the Holy Spirit is about to come upon you. [18:54] Mary had a warning. [18:55] Joseph didn’t. [18:57] And the power of the Most High will overshadow you. [18:59] Therefore, the child to be born will be called Holy, the Son of God.

[19:06] You see, the origin of Jesus Christ stands at the core of whether or not Christianity [19:11] is true. [19:13] He had to be born of a virgin. [19:15] And so when our emotions are not enough to root our lives down in faith, we must have [19:21] objective truth to root our lives into. [19:24] And the virgin birth is an ultimate truth for us to root our lives into because for

[19:30] him to accomplish the mission that he was sent to accomplish, he had to be born in [19:34] the way that the Bible promised for him to be born. [19:38] Look back in the text, starting in verse 20. [19:41] The text tells us, an angel of the Lord appeared to him, Joseph, don’t fear to take Mary as [19:47] your wife, for that which she has conceived is from the Holy Spirit. [19:51] She will bear a son and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from

[19:59] their sins. [20:02] Number two, this morning, only God can save you from your sins. [20:07] Now, the name Jesus establishes that. [20:09] But then I want to explain why. [20:11] You see, the name Jesus is from the Hebrew Yeshua, which we call Joshua, which literally [20:17] means the Lord or Yahweh saves.

[20:21] And so this is setting up the reality that Jesus did not come just to showcase deity. [20:30] Jesus came with a purpose, and that purpose is to save us from our sin. [20:34] And his name points to that. [20:36] But why? [20:37] The first reason is you can’t save yourself from your sin. [20:40] You are a sinner.

[20:42] I don’t know if that’s something that I’m having to expose to you today, but it’s the [20:47] truth. Give me a minute and a half and I’ll prove it to you. [20:50] All right. [20:51] And that’s true of anyone. [20:52] I’ll just start with lying. [20:54] And then if you deny that you’ve ever lied, well, there’s one.

[20:58] So you are a sinner. [21:00] You have sinned against God. [21:02] You’ve sinned against him a thousand different ways, whether or not you realize it or [21:06] not. Every aspect of our lives points to that truth. [21:12] But you can’t save yourself from that sin because in order for you to pay off the debt [21:18] of sin that you owe to the God that created you for not living up to his purpose,

[21:23] you would have to keep paying it for eternity. [21:25] It would never be paid off. [21:28] So you can’t pay for your own sin. [21:30] But the second thing is that no one else can pay for your sin either. [21:35] See, some of you, you’re going to spend a large portion of your life [21:40] racked with shame, racked with guilt, and you’re going to try to pay your sin.

[21:48] Off no matter what I tell you. [21:50] It’s pointless, but neither can anyone else. [21:54] So some of you, rather than blaming yourself and trying to pay off your own sin, you’re [21:59] going to point to someone else and you’re going to victimize yourself. [22:03] You’re going to say, I have sin in my life and it’s your fault. [22:07] And you’re going to live blaming someone else for the situation that you’re in, blaming

[22:12] someone else for the shame that you feel, blaming someone else for the baggage that [22:17] you carry. But here’s the key. [22:18] They can’t pay off your sin either because they have their own sin to pay off. [22:25] And so long as that’s the cycle that every single one of us share in common, there is [22:30] no human being that can pay ultimately for sin that will do any of us any good. [22:40] Only God can do it.

[22:42] In the Book of Romans, Chapter five, it explains it this way. [22:45] It says, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, how does that work out? [22:50] In other words, Adam, in the Garden of Eden, represented every single one of us when he [22:57] disobeyed God. [22:58] And before you say that that’s not fair, which is often an understandable response [23:04] because nobody else should be able to have say over what you experience, the Bible

[23:09] informs us that he was our representative because he did what all of us would have done. [23:14] And if you’re a parent, you know that to be true. [23:18] Because I’ve watched my sin, excuse me, my children sin in a million different ways, [23:23] but I’ve watched them do exactly what Adam and Eve did, that they have a thousand [23:30] pleasures in this world and all that they are consumed by is the one limit that God [23:37] has put on them.

[23:39] And in the situation of parent to child, I could give my children and have, I think [23:46] I counted 17 million toys. [23:48] All right, that’s how many I’ve counted at last count and they’re adding new ones [23:51] every day somehow. [23:54] But they only want the one that I’m going to throw away, that they haven’t played with [23:59] in three years.

[24:01] It was in an air conditioning vent by their own doing, and I found it and they haven’t [24:07] cared about it, haven’t missed it. [24:10] It’s broken. [24:11] It’s worthless. [24:13] So, son, honey, daughter, whatever, let’s get rid of this toy or let’s, you know, give [24:18] it to goodwill or something.

[24:22] No!

[24:24] That’s my favorite toy. [24:28] Why do you hate me?

[24:32] What is wrong with my children?

[24:36] I mean, that just plays out over and over and over. [24:42] A thousand pleasures are afforded to you and you want the one that you can’t have. [24:49] A few weeks ago, our daughter decided that she needed a desk in her room. [24:54] I don’t know why. [24:56] She’s not writing novels, folks, but she just decided she wanted a desk in her room [25:02] and it wouldn’t fit because it was a desk that we had in the attic and she has this

[25:10] obnoxious dollhouse. [25:11] And I say it’s obnoxious because you could, I mean, it’s roomy enough for an infant to [25:17] live in. [25:18] All right. I mean, it’s just too big for a dollhouse. [25:21] And it’s so big that if it’s in there, you can’t have, you know, you can’t have them [25:26] both. And so my wife and I are dealing with this.

[25:28] And so we explained to her, if you get a desk in here, we got to take the dollhouse out. [25:33] And my wife is just a genius. [25:35] And she had the forethought to not throw the dollhouse away. [25:39] I would have taken a baseball bat to it and just put it in the dump. [25:43] But but my wife says, well, let’s put the dollhouse in the attic. [25:46] So it’s up in the attic.

[25:47] And about a week later, where’s my dollhouse? [25:53] I want my dollhouse. [25:56] And so then the conversation comes and my wife corrected me later. [26:00] Apparently, this wasn’t the most diplomatic way to handle the situation. [26:04] But I explained to her, I said, look, you can have the dollhouse back, but the desk is [26:11] coming out and you can never have a desk again.

[26:21] Apparently, I could have been a little nicer in the situation. [26:25] But parents understand what can happen. [26:29] And so the desk comes out, the dollhouse goes back in. [26:32] We’re always concerned with what we can’t have, even in light of what we know we have. [26:40] God has afforded us thousands of pleasures, and he says, enjoy freely. [26:47] But it’s always the temptation of the one thing that we can’t have that consumes our mind.

[26:55] So Adam and Eve sinned just as we would have sinned. [26:57] But then the text goes on and it says, just as condemnation came for all men through one, [27:02] so one act of righteousness leads to justification in life for all men. [27:06] For as by the one man’s disobedience, the many were made sinners. [27:10] So by the one man’s obedience, the many will be made righteous. [27:14] You see, Adam is that disobedient one.

[27:16] And we are like Adam. [27:18] But it says there had to come someone who is defined by righteousness. [27:21] There had to come someone who is defined by obedience. [27:25] And it’s only when you are defined by those things that anybody else can have hope. [27:31] Because for you to be a substitute for the sinful, you have to be the sinless. [27:38] And only God is sinless.

[27:43] Only God is righteous. [27:46] And so God came in the person of Jesus Christ. [27:51] And that’s why Matthew one twenty one declares he came to deliver his people from their sins. [28:01] See, that word Christ again is so significant. [28:07] See, in the Old Testament, it’s a derivative of the word Messiah in Hebrew and in the Greek. [28:11] It means Christ and what it had come to mean because it had evolved over time in their

[28:17] understanding that it was more than an anointed one. [28:19] It was an anointed king who would deliver his people. [28:24] And that was their understanding. [28:26] But in their understanding, the greatest problem that they had was that they were being [28:31] oppressed by foreign lands. [28:33] And so for them, they would know that the Messiah had come if he met their ultimate

[28:39] need, which was deliverance from Roman reign.

[28:44] And in this age, God is telling Joseph, the greatest need that you have is not a foreign [28:52] ruler. The greatest need that you have is not from oppression from outside. [28:58] The greatest need that you have is the personal oppression that you give yourself through [29:03] sin. And so the anointed king will deliver his people. [29:08] He will deliver them from sin.

[29:13] So Jesus came and he fulfilled every single one of them in Psalm 130, verse eight, it [29:20] says he will redeem Israel from all of Israel’s iniquities. [29:26] See, that was the promise of what Jesus would do. [29:30] All of the intricate details, all of the intricate facts, all of the ways that the [29:37] Old Testament comes alive through the person and work of Jesus is ultimately vital to [29:44] everything for us to root our lives down in.

[29:46] So there is no unimportant fact about Jesus because every single one of them serve to [29:54] fortify my faith in him. [29:57] But there’s another part of this story. [30:01] And in our final point, I’m not departing from the virgin birth, but I want to talk [30:06] about why it was vital in even just Joseph’s life, because Joseph had made a choice and [30:14] God comes to him and says, make a different one.

[30:17] I mean, that really is what happens. [30:19] This is a moment in Joseph’s life and your life will ultimately be defined by the [30:27] moments of your life. [30:30] And in this moment, we have a detail about Joseph. [30:33] And let’s be honest, we don’t know much else about Joseph. [30:36] There’s not a ton in the scripture about Joseph in the sense of some other people.

[30:41] Like, if you take a guy like Moses, we have a grand epic tale of Moses from the womb to [30:46] the tomb. [30:46] We know everything about this guy. [30:49] The scripture gives us great detail. [30:50] The scripture gives us great detail about the life of Abraham. [30:53] But for Joseph, everything that we know about him hangs on this moment of his life.

[31:01] And God is coming to Joseph and he’s telling him, this is a moment where if you exhibit [31:07] faith in God, it will change the direction of the rest of your life. [31:13] And some of the problem that many of you are having with growing in your faith is [31:19] that you refuse to believe that the moments of your life are that important. [31:26] You choose to believe that since I get a million moments in my lifetime, I can throw [31:32] half of them away.

[31:34] But God comes to Joseph and says, that’s not the case.

[31:39] Your moment by moment practice of faith will define the future that you walk into. [31:50] You see, number three this morning, faith is about following God into his future.

[31:59] I love the conversations that I’m able to have about faith. [32:03] When you’re a pastor, it tends to be what many of your conversations are about. [32:07] And I love it. [32:09] I invite it. [32:11] It’s all that I like talking about.

[32:14] But what I struggle to help many people understand is that faith is not about your future. [32:24] And the reason some of you are strangling your faith in Jesus to death is because you’re [32:28] consumed and concerned with your future. [32:32] Your future is insignificant to the story your life is telling. [32:35] Your future is meaningless.

[32:40] What will tell the story that God wants to tell is his future. [32:44] And he comes to Joseph’s life and he ruins Joseph. [32:48] He comes to Joseph and he says, Joseph, if you have faith in me, if you will trust me, [32:53] follow me into the future that I am going to create through Jesus. [33:00] And that is exactly what he has for you. [33:02] And look at what happens to Joseph in verse 24.

[33:04] It says, When Joseph woke from his sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him. [33:12] He did what God told him to do.

[33:17] My hope for my future, my hope for what my children see in my life is all that I care [33:23] about is that I want them to know me as a man who obeyed what God commanded me to do. [33:32] I want them to know their father as someone who didn’t just sit on the sidelines and [33:39] let God’s future pass him by because I was so consumed with what I deserve. [33:46] I was so consumed with my leisure. [33:49] I was so consumed with what I want that I said, God, it’s more important than your

[33:56] story. [33:56] I’m worried about my story. [33:59] For so many of you, you are missing what God is doing because you will not take those [34:09] moments and move with God. [34:12] Instead, you watch them.

[34:16] And you say, maybe tomorrow.

[34:20] Maybe in six months, maybe in a year. [34:23] Stop telling God what you will do for him in a year because if you won’t do it today, [34:30] you won’t do it then. [34:32] Stop being so selfish and then claiming, I worship the creator of the universe. [34:40] You don’t.

[34:43] Ninety nine percent of your life takes zero faith in God. [34:49] We treat faith. [34:51] I’m stepping out on faith. [34:52] I’m going to go adopt a puppy today.

[34:57] What exactly is your faith in in that moment?

[35:02] God is not telling that story. [35:05] I’m sorry. [35:05] He’s not. [35:07] All that you can say is my faith is that the puppy won’t ruin my house. [35:11] And that’s stupid. [35:12] That’s not good faith.

[35:13] He’s going to ruin your house. [35:15] All puppies do. [35:17] They’re programmed that way.

[35:22] Faith is looking at the story God is telling and saying, I will be a part of that and moving. [35:31] And I know what so many of you will say. [35:33] If God would just come to me in a dream like he did Joseph and tell me what huge thing he wants me to do, [35:41] then I will do it. [35:42] Do you think this is the first moment of faith in Joseph’s life? [35:45] And I tell you the text tells us he’s a just man to let us know that he took advantage of this moment of faith

[35:51] because he had taken advantage of a thousand smaller moments before that.

[35:56] You refuse to exhibit faith in a hundred subtle ways every day. [36:04] Because you’re not looking for it. [36:07] You’re writing a story about yourself. [36:09] You’re not worried about the story. [36:10] God’s writing. [36:11] I don’t have time to be in the word today.

[36:13] That’s a moment.

[36:16] I don’t have time to pray about this issue.

[36:20] That’s a moment.

[36:23] I don’t have time to enter into an environment of discipleship this week. [36:27] That’s a moment. [36:28] I don’t have time to go to community group. [36:31] I’ve got a lot going on in life right now. [36:33] By the way, when you send that message to your community group leader, [36:36] we know that that is code language for watching TV in the recliner because I’m sleepy.

[36:42] So come up with a better lie. [36:44] And the thing is you don’t think you’re lying. [36:46] I wish you would just tell me you’re throwing up even if you’re not.

[36:51] The reason you say that is because you believe it to be true. [36:55] But what the truth is is you’re literally saying I’m too busy with my future. [37:02] I can’t care about God’s future today.

[37:09] And here’s the deal. [37:10] I don’t have any skin in the game that you’re playing. [37:14] So it doesn’t ultimately affect me.

[37:18] But the fact is that whether you want to admit it or not, you’re strangling your faith to death. [37:25] And you’re going to kill it. [37:27] You’re not going to grow. [37:30] And you’re just going to keep recycling the same story every six months where you’re going to feel like you’re not growing [37:37] and you’re going to start pointing fingers at everyone around you. [37:40] I’m not growing because they don’t have this.

[37:43] I’m not growing because you didn’t do this. [37:45] I’m not growing because the music’s like that. [37:48] I’m not growing because he didn’t preach that series. [37:50] I’m not growing because because because you’re not growing because you’re not following God into his future. [37:58] That’s the whole story because you are obsessed with yours.

[38:04] God is going to call you to risk something. [38:09] Look at Joseph’s life.

[38:12] Joseph had to risk everything to stay with Mary.

[38:17] The Bible doesn’t tell us that an angel appeared to his parents.

[38:22] The Bible doesn’t tell us that an angel appeared to Mary’s parents.

[38:26] The Bible doesn’t say that an angel appeared to all of Joseph’s business associates who in that area would have been deeply religious. [38:35] The Bible doesn’t tell us that it appeared to all of Joseph’s extended family, to any of his friends. [38:39] The Bible tells us that the angel appeared to Joseph, the angel appeared to Mary, [38:44] and everybody else in the world had to just believe Joseph and Mary’s word.

[38:51] This moment

[38:56] required Joseph to risk everything.

[39:02] And it says that he took Mary as his wife. [39:06] He did not know her until Jesus was born and he named the child Jesus. [39:15] He obeyed everything he was commanded to do at the risk of everything that he had.

[39:24] Joseph said God’s future

[39:28] is so great.

[39:31] I don’t know what this child’s gonna do. [39:35] I don’t know what the future looks like completely, but God has said it. [39:40] Therefore, I believe it is better than what I would do even if it costs me much. [39:48] I will obey.

[39:54] There are, like I said, a hundred subtle ways that God calls you to faith every day.

[40:03] And so my challenge is, [40:07] if an angel really appeared to Joseph and Mary,

[40:13] if Jesus was born to a virgin, [40:16] if he had a mission to save his people from their sins, [40:20] if he paid the price for your sin and my sin on the cross, [40:25] if Jesus rose from the dead to give me a second chance, [40:30] new life,

[40:34] every day I have to ask myself the question, [40:38] what step of faith does God want me to take today?

[40:47] Right now. [40:49] What is happening in this moment [40:53] where God says, trust me [40:56] and follow me into my future?

[41:02] Sometimes it’ll be big.

[41:06] Most of the time, [41:08] it’s a subtlety.

[41:11] But every time it costs me something.

[41:16] But in all of the years I’ve been following Jesus and all of the moments [41:20] where I could have said yes or no, [41:23] I will tell you every yes has paid off in so many dividends. [41:30] Because I have received over and over the greatest gift this world has to offer me [41:35] and that is the gift of God.

[41:41] Friends, ultimately Jesus came to deliver us from our sin [41:44] and when you are delivered, you will walk by faith.

[41:52] What is that step that you know, he’s been calling you to take and you haven’t? [41:58] What is it?

[42:00] What’s the one thing right now? [42:03] Because one thing is where you start. [42:06] Then you move on to the next and you move on to the next. [42:09] And it builds. [42:10] And then you have spent your life following Jesus Christ.

[42:15] Every week we reflect on communion. [42:18] The bread represents the broken body of Christ, the cup represents his shed blood. [42:23] When you eat and when you drink, you proclaim to everyone in this room, [42:29] I believe every word of Matthew 1, 18 through 25 is true. [42:34] I believe it.

[42:38] But then as you leave that table today,

[42:43] walk and pray a very simple prayer. [42:48] Father, through Jesus, [42:50] I want the faith to follow you into your future, [42:55] even if it costs me my future.

[43:01] When you’re ready, come.