The Most Wonderful Time of the Year - Week 1: It’s Time to Obey | Isaiah 7:14 & Matthew 1:18-25

Hi, Pastor Jonathan.

Thanks for downloading the FBC El Dorado Sermon Podcast.

Today's sermon, we start a new series called It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year.

In this series, we're gonna reflect on the most wonderful truth that all of us need to hear.

The most wonderful truth that makes this time of year possible.

Jesus is God will God.

I hope you enjoyed this first week in this new series.

On the afternoon of Thanksgiving, many of us exchanged our normal rotation of songs for that perfectly curated playlist of Christmas songs.

Or on that same Thanksgiving afternoon, after all of the leftovers have been put into the refrigerator, you scanned your house, made sure no one was watching, you crept back into the kitchen and you got just one more piece of pie.

Then you went back to the couch, curled up, and watched your favorite Christmas movie.

Or over that Thanksgiving weekend, you and your family, you went in search of the perfect Christmas tree.

It had to be just the right height and just the right shape.

And then after you hauled it inside of your living room, you spent what seemed like hours hanging hundreds of ornaments and thousands of lights.

Or on Thursday night, you stood along Northwest Avenue or maybe on a block in downtown and watched the procession of the annual Christmas parade.

You'd seen many of those floats dozens of times, but you still come back year after year.

Something just draws you.

There's something in the air, that Christmas spirit.

The music, the movies, the decoration, the spirit of goodwill and cheer.

That's why for some of us, it's so easy to sing, it's the most wonderful time of the year.

But for others of us, the weeks preceding Christmas are anything but the most wonderful time of the year.

In fact, if we're being honest, the weeks preceding Christmas are the most difficult time of the year.

These weeks, they're difficult.

You're lonely.

Your friends are making plans to spend time with their family, and your family is scattered across the country.

Or your friends, they're making plans to spend time with your loved ones.

And as they tell you their plans, all you can think about is the loved one you lost earlier this year.

Or it could be that, yeah, you've got Christmas plans, you're gonna see your family, but you really wish those plans would change.

Because every time your family gathers together, there's tension around the table, there's disagreement in the dining room.

Or in 2021, this is the most difficult time of the year because just a few weeks ago you lost your job.

And now you can't buy that one gift that your child just has their heart set upon.

Or it's the most difficult time of the year because just honestly, you're stressed and you're stretched.

You don't feel like you have the energy or the patience to buy the gifts and to wrap the gifts, to go to the parties, to make all of the holiday treats, even as you're still required to do all the laundry, do all the grocery shopping, uh, clean the house and pack the lunches.

Maybe you're a person who wishes you could sing, this is the most wonderful time of the year.

But if you're being honest, it's just easier to say this is the most difficult time of the year.

I just described two types of people.

Which one are you?

Are you the person who finds it easy to sing it's the most wonderful time of the year?

Or are you the person who can only say it's the most difficult time of the year?

And as you try to locate yourself in one of these two groups, it's natural to notice that these groups seem miles apart.

One group is gonna spend the next three and a half weeks and it's gonna be filled with laughter and smiles.

And the other group, well, it's gonna be filled with sorrow and sadness.

When you consider the gap between these two groups, it certainly seems there's nothing that can bring these two groups together.

They share nothing in common.

But really, if you think about those two groups, it's just two sets of circumstances in life and both circumstances, both people, groups of people, listen, they need to hear the most wonderful truth.

This most wonderful truth brings together and it unites the people in both parties, both camps.

And it's not just uh the most wonderful truth that you and I need to hear, it's the most wonderful truth that the entire world needs to hear.

And the person who first told us about it is a prophet named Isaiah.

And Isaiah chapter 7, verse 14, the prophet tells us the Lord Himself will give you a sign.

Isaiah 7:14

Look! Exclamation mark.

Open your eyes.

The virgin will conceive a child.

She will give birth to a son, and will call him Emmanuel, which means God is with us.

It was about seven hundred years prior to the birth of Jesus when the prophet Isaiah wrote those words.

And he predicted the future perfectly.

Think about that.

The weatherman struggles to get tomorrow's weather correct.

You're with me, Bob.

You and I, we struggle to know how our schedule tomorrow will unfold.

But the prophet Isaiah hit it right on the nose, 700 years in the future, how Jesus would be born.

That's pretty remarkable, isn't it?

He's under the influence, under the power of the Holy Spirit.

That's why he can get that right.

But listen, that's not the most wonderful truth you and I need to hear.

Isaiah, he also tells us about the miraculous manner about how this child will be born.

A virgin will conceive a child.

I'm not a doctor.

I took two science classes in college.

I did, though, in tenth grade, take honors, biology, and then AP biology, and I passed the AP exam.

Okay, so I have a little training.

It's been 20 years.

Um, but one thing that stuck with me is this virgins don't have babies.

It doesn't happen.

It's not just improbable, it's impossible.

Yet Isaiah says that's what's gonna happen, and it's what did happen.

That young girl named Mary conceived under the power of the Holy Spirit, but even as remarkable as that is, that's not the most wonderful truth that you and I need to hear this morning.

So what is it?

What is that wonderful truth?

Well, Isaiah tells us that the child in Mary's womb, he will be called Emmanuel, which means God with us.

This morning, no matter which group you identify with, whether you are a person who says, This is the most wonderful time of year, and I'm gonna sing as loud as I can to let the world know.

Or if you're a person who's in the other camp and you can hardly say this is the most difficult time of the year.

No matter which camp you find yourself in, the wonderful truth you and I need to hear, the wonderful truth that brings us together this morning, is that Jesus is God with us.

And that name Emmanuel, it tells us all you and I need to know about God.

God is not against us, God is not far from us, God is not content to be just over us, God is with us.

Today we're beginning a new series called The Most Wonderful Time of the Year.

And the reason that Christians, no matter the circumstances of their life, can know that this truth and hear it and know that this is the most wonderful time of year, no matter what's going on in life, it's because of who Jesus is.

Jesus is God with us.

And listen, for the person, and it's easy for you to sing this morning that this is the most wonderful time of the year.

You need to hold on to this truth and you need to focus on this truth because listen closely, it's easy for you to be distracted by the decorations and the movies and the music.

You need to focus on this truth that Jesus is God with us.

Because listen, when Jesus was born, the heavenly orchestra began to play, the angelic choir began to sing because of who he is.

And listen, you may have a list of 10 movies you're gonna watch this month, and they're all your favorites, but none of the stories told in those movies compare to the greatest story that was ever told.

Jesus is God with us.

And all of those lights, the lights on your tree, the lights on your house, the lights that are tiny and twinkling, those little lights point us to the greater light.

Jesus is the light of the world.

Jesus is God with us.

And for that person, maybe many of us this morning, who thinks that this is going to be a month of sadness and tears, you too need to focus on this most wonderful truth.

Jesus is God with us.

Jesus, he is with us in our loneliness.

He is our good shepherd who will lead us through the darkest valley.

Jesus, listen, Jesus is with us as we continue to mourn the loss of a loved one.

He is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.

And Jesus, he is with us even if our family is in a fight.

Because listen, Jesus' own family got into fights.

They thought Jesus was a little crazy.

He can sympathize with you.

He knows what it's like.

And Jesus, listen, he is God with us when we are stressed and stretched to the max because his burden, his yoke is easy and light.

You see, the most wonderful time of the year is not limited by the circumstances of your life or my life.

It's not confined by that box.

This is the most wonderful time of the year because of this most wonderful truth.

Jesus is God with us.

So each week in this series, we'll spend some time reflecting upon and meditating on this most wonderful truth.

We want this truth to capture our attention, to convict our hearts if we're people who are distracted, to comfort our souls if we are in despair.

But this truth that Jesus is God with us, it not only captures and it only convicts or comforts, it's also a truth that calls each of us to action.

It calls us to respond.

And this most wonderful truth, this most wonderful time of the year, for you and me, our call to action this morning, this is a time to obey.

Listen to this familiar story found in Matthew chapter 1, beginning with verse 18.

Matthew 1 · chapter mention

This is how Jesus the Messiah was born.

His mother Mary was engaged to be married to Joseph, but before the marriage took place, while she was still a virgin, she became pregnant through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Joseph, to whom she was engaged, was a righteous man and did not want to disgrace her publicly, so he decided to break the engagement quietly.

As he considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream.

Joseph, son of David, the angel said, Do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife.

For the child within her was conceived by the Holy Spirit, and she will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.

All of this occurred to fulfill the Lord's message through his prophet.

Look, hear it again, look, the virgin will conceive a child.

She will give birth to a son, and they will call him Emmanuel, which means God is with us.

When Joseph woke up, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded and took Mary as his wife.

But he did not have any relations with her until her son was born, and Joseph named him Jesus.

Matthew concludes the first chapter of his gospel by explaining to us how Isaiah's prophecy comes to pass.

He quotes Isaiah chapter 7, verse 14.

Isaiah 7:14

He explains how God's, listen, God's eternal truth came to this earthly world, this earthly existence.

This is how Matthew says Jesus was born.

And his account of the birth of Jesus begins by introducing us to two people, Joseph and Mary.

And Joseph and Mary, they know each other well.

They're engaged to be married.

In the first century, an engagement between two faithful Jews, it would last an entire year.

Now, think about that.

An entire year to be engaged.

Laura and I were engaged for an entire year, and I know our culture is a little bit different, right?

Different expectations, different planning goes involved.

But if you're engaged for an entire year, for that entire year, you think about getting married.

And I wonder if Joseph is a lot like me during that year from it was summer of 2004 all the way to May of 2005.

As I thought about getting married, and I was counting down the days.

I wonder if Joseph was thinking about marrying Mary.

If he was ready for that relationship to come to its completion, for the engagement to lead to vows.

Okay, honey, yeah, yeah, Mary, I'm I'm all ears.

No man is ever all ears, let's be honest.

I'm listening.

Well, I'm pregnant.

And I wonder if like there's this range of like anger to confusion to sadness that Joseph feels all of those emotions in one moment.

You're what?

Pregnant?

I mean, who's the guy?

Because I'm gonna.

And Mary's like, no, no, no, no, no.

You told me you were all ears.

You told me you would hear me out.

You told me you would listen, because that's not what happened.

That's not what happened.

That that had to happen.

No, no, no, just listen.

I thought it was that way too.

But one night an angel came to me.

And this angel said, I would give birth to the Son of God.

And then one night, I thought it was crazy.

And then one night the Holy Spirit came on me and I conceived.

And there's like a baby in me.

And Joseph, like, I didn't understand what was going on, and then I remembered what that prophet Isaiah, you know, we've learned about him at synagogue.

Our parents taught us about him.

I remembered what Isaiah said.

He said, a virgin will get pregnant.

That's me.

I'm the virgin.

And Isaiah said that we're gonna call this child Emmanuel, and that means God with us.

And Joseph, listen, God is with us.

He's in me and he's growing.

And now if I'm Joseph, I'm kind of like, how long did it come?

How long did it take to come up with that kind of story?

I've heard people blame God for all sorts of things in life.

All sorts of things.

I think Joseph, maybe in that moment, he's like, oh, okay, okay.

I still would like you just to point the guy out to me and I can take care of it.

But Mary never wavered in her story, right?

Her story stayed the same.

It was consistent, every detail.

So Joseph said, Okay, well, I don't know what to do, but I'm done.

I'm gonna walk away.

But Joseph makes the decision.

He says, I don't want to publicly shame this woman who I care about.

I don't want her to be punished for what has happened.

And so he makes plans to divorce her quietly, the Bible teaches us.

Maybe he's just hopeful that they both can kind of go their separate ways and start over in life.

But for some reason, uh Joseph can't stop thinking about all that Mary said to him.

He keeps replaying that conversation through his mind.

He just hears every word and he thinks about every word until one night he just finally falls asleep.

And while he's asleep, what happens?

Just like an angel had appeared to Mary, an angel appears to Joseph.

This angel is an angel of the Lord.

That means the angel has come straight from the throne room of God.

It means this angel speaks for God.

And this message comes from God without interruption and without qualification.

And here's the message.

Believe Mary.

Trust Mary.

Mary, Mary.

Everything she told you is true.

And do you know what Joseph did?

He woke up and he did just as the angel commanded.

Joseph had already devised an exit strategy.

Joseph already had a plan laid out.

Joseph had decided how he would spend the next several days to make it come to pass.

But the moment God spoke, his plans changed.

The moment God spoke, he knew things would be different.

He knew that his plan had to be pushed aside so he could follow and walk into God's plan.

And so the moment he woke up, he did what God commanded.

Because he knew if Mary's telling him the truth and the angel's telling him that Mary's telling him the truth because his message, the angel's message, comes straight from God, Joseph knew he was standing on the brink of the most wonderful time, the most wonderful moment in human history.

And if he was going to stand in that most wonderful moment, that most wonderful time in human history, it was a time for him to obey.

So how is God specifically calling you to obey during December of 2021?

Is God calling you to serve others?

It's something you plan on doing every single year.

But it never happens.

You can volunteer through the call this week.

They're receiving the gifts for children in foster care and volunteer at College Avenue.

You can volunteer by ringing a bell for Salvation Army.

They still need hundreds, if not thousands, of people to cover the bells in El Dorado this holiday season.

Or you can just buy gifts or groceries for someone who's in need.

Or is God just calling you to slow down?

To slow down?

The angel of the Lord appeared at you in a dream and he just said, Hey, stop.

Don't go so fast.

How it didn't, it wasn't the holiday you had dreamed of.

I wish my family had spent more time together.

I wish my family had spent more time talking about and maybe reflecting upon that eternal truth that Jesus is God with us.

I just wish we had spent more time in worship.

I wish we had spent more time reading God's word during this special and this holy season.

And you just think to yourself, on December 26th, next year can be different.

Let's make next year different.

Well, what if next year is this year?

It's December 5th.

Like Christmas is about two and a half weeks away.

You got some time.

You can make some changes.

You can slow down.

And if God is calling you to slow down this month, uh a really simple action step is to go home this afternoon, look at your calendar, and decide.

Let God decide what you can cross out and take off.

It may be something where your uh friends and family will be there, and God's saying, You don't need to go there.

You need some time away, you need some time to slow down.

Right?

That was part of Joseph's obedience himself was that what he went against culture and custom in that moment.

And so maybe our way to go against culture and custom is simply to take some things off the calendar.

And when we take a few things off the calendar, what do we do?

In their place, we schedule that time and just write, slow down in all caps.

Slow down.

Slow down.

Read God's word, pray, spend time with your family, enjoy the moment, savor it.

Or is God calling you to share?

Let's not hide the most wonderful truth of Christmas.

That Jesus came to live with us and get to know us.

And when Jesus lived with us and he got to know us, do you know what he learned?

Do you know what he saw firsthand?

He saw that we were burdened by sin, that we were crippled by sin, we were broken by sin, and there was nothing in our power to fix the problem.

And so he bore that sin because he lived with us and he saw us.

He bore that sin and carried it to a cross so that we could live all eternity with God in God's kingdom.

Is God calling you to share that message?

So, what act of obedience is God calling you in December of twenty twenty one?

And no matter how God is calling you, follow the example of Joseph.

Don't delay, just obey.

Wake up and do as the Lord commanded.

Now, one final note.

Just a note of clarification as I close.

The most wonderful truth of Christmas doesn't depend upon your obedience.

It doesn't depend upon you obeying God or anyone obeying God.

That most wonderful truth of Christmas, Jesus is God with us.

That truth isn't dependent on your obedience because it reflects the very character and person of God.

It doesn't depend on you.

God isn't cosmic Santa Claus.

He's not trying to find out if you've been naughty or nice.

Trying to decide, oh, am I gonna send Jesus?

Oh, is Jesus gonna be with them?

No.

Jesus is God with us, not because of anything you've done, but because of who God is.

Jesus is God with us, and that reveals to us that our God, the God of this universe, is a God of grace.

God is with us and he comes for us no matter if we obey or disobey.

That's who he is.

He is full of compassion and gracious, and he is long-suffering, and he is patient, and he is filled with mercy and truth.

This is the most wonderful time of the year because of who God is.

Jesus is God with us.

But listen, for you to experience the fullness of that truth, Christmas does call you to obedience.

Because listen, each act of obedience draws us deeper and deeper into God's story as it unfolds on this earth.

Each act of obedience allows us to play the part that God knit into you the moment he made you inside your mother's womb.

And even, listen, even the most simple act of obedience has the potential to have extraordinary, eternal results.

Because listen, that single act of obedience could have an extraordinary result, not just in your life, but in the life of someone you know.

And the reason why is this you carry with you, if you are a follower of Jesus, the most wonderful truth that all the world needs to hear.

Jesus is God with us.

Would you stand with me as we pray?

Almighty God, I pray that this most wonderful truth would sink deep into our hearts.

Let the person who is easily distracted.

Let them see and focus upon the glory of Jesus this month.

May they know that he is the reason this month is so wonderful because of who he is.

Comfort them with the truth that Jesus is God with us, and I just pray that they would feel the presence of Jesus just press up against them right now.

They would know that Jesus is closer and more faithful than the dearest brother.

That Jesus would lead them and guide each step.

Father, our ears are open.

Our ears are open to hear what you are calling us to do in an act of obedience and faith this month.

And we desire to be like Joseph.

Who woke up and went, who obeyed without delay.

We confess that sometimes, God, we um have our own set of excuses that we present.

Maybe sometimes we just hurry ourselves to death so that we don't have time to obey.

We're distracted from obedience.

Forgive us.

We just trust you're still a God of grace and you will forgive us when we do that over and over.

But we know that for us to truly grow in this season, to understand better who you are and who you're calling us to be, we have to be people who obey.

Holy Spirit, give us that spirit of obedience at this hour.

We are thankful and grateful to say that Jesus is God with us.

Without that foundational truth, we would be lost.

We would be without hope.

We would be without peace or joy or love, but because of who he is, we can experience all those things right now.

The person who is far from you this morning and doesn't know Jesus, Holy Spirit, draw them.

Draw them to Jesus because he wants to be with them this morning.

In Christ's name we pray.

Amen.

As we enter into our time of response, I just want you to imagine you're like Joseph asleep at night.

I want you to imagine that the Holy Spirit is speaking.

The angel of the Lord is speaking and giving you a clear instruction.

I want you just to see yourself obey without delay, honoring the command of God right when you hear it.

And if that command of God this morning is to follow Jesus, we would love to tell you more about who Jesus is, what he has done, and how he wants to have a relationship with you.

Let's sing together.