A Christmas Spirit – 2: A Spirit of Joseph

So, let's pray.

We actually have a couple people dealing with some pretty significant health issues, and

we have one of our longtime members who are on the way to the hospital, probably already

at the hospital.

So let's pray this morning.

Let's pray for them, and then I'll speak and I'll let you guys get out of here.

Let's pray.

Father in heaven, thank you so much for the opportunity to come together and to celebrate,

to see beautiful children, and to get to celebrate just the joy, the simple joy of celebrating

Christmas and how special it is to them, how special it is to us, and I pray God that what

has happened today and maybe what continues to happen will do something in all of our

hearts to remind us of who you are and the wonderful gift that you gave us on that first

Christmas.

Father, we come to you humbly now and we ask that you be with Ms. Helen as she's at the

hospital, that you would work in moving her body and use the doctors and nurses and tests

and anything that will be done to help her in this moment.

Lord, we pray for Zach and his baby, and Lord, we just pray for that situation.

For God, we just pray that your Holy Spirit would be with them and just touch them and

guide them in the coming days.

Lord, we pray for so many other people in our church who are dealing with different

health issues and treatments and long-term things, and so God, we just ask that your spirit

would be with all of us.

Help us to love one another as a church family the way you've called us to and to be there

and support one another the way we should, but Lord, we just pray and we know that you're

the only one who can truly change things and do things, so God, we put these things

in your hand.

As we read your word this morning, I pray that you would speak powerfully into our

hearts and help us to grow closer to you and to change in the name of Jesus through

his power and his spirit.

Lord, we love you, and we ask this in Jesus' name, amen.

So the song goes, have a holly, jolly Christmas.

It's the best time of the year.

I don't know if there will be snow, especially around here, but have a cup of cheer.

You know, there's this immense amount of pressure that comes with the holidays that

we as people, especially when you're adulting and you have kids to make this a very

meaningful, happy, joyful time.

And a lot of times in those efforts that we have to make it be something for the

people we love, a lot of times that joy can be suffered away from us in the midst

of that. And as we talked about having a spirit of Christmas to be reminded that

the world and the things of the world are not the things that actually give us true

joy. It's not what truly puts the spirit of Christmas within our hearts of what Jesus

Christ did for us. And last week we talked about how to even begin to have a

Christmas spirit.

You got to begin with having the spirit of Mary like it's hard to even talk about

having a Christmas spirit without considering the people who made Christmas a

possibility for you and I to even celebrate.

And so we talked about Mary because she was the one who initially had to agree to

all this and she had a spirit of willingness.

And for you and I this morning to have a Christmas spirit, we got to have a spirit

of willingness to serve the Lord and to be available and to do all the things

that he's called us to do.

And today we're talking about Joseph because he's the next one who had to

jump on board with this whole project.

And in Matthew chapter one, verses 18 to 24, you know, we don't get this

account in the gospel of Luke, which gives us most of the Christmas story.

So we got to go back to Matthew.

And we look at verses 18 to 24 and it says, 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, 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 to be his wife.

So as we talk about having the spirit of Joseph today, the first thing I want

to draw our attention to is that the Lord likes to interrupt our plans.

When you think about Joseph's life, it would have been on him and his parents

to kind of arrange this marriage to make sure that this was going to happen.

This would have been something that would have taken some time to work through,

to work through the details, to work through the process, the exchange of

money or different assets that the families had.

And one of the things you need to notice is, is I don't know about you

guys, but I remember when it was time for me to get married, I was excited

to go into marriage.

There was this just like that.

I'm ready.

I'm ready to begin this aspect of life, to have this relationship, to build

a family and to do this.

And there was a lot of excitement in that.

And as Joseph is moving towards this stage of life where he's engaged

to be married to Mary, God shows up and just throws a monkey rich

in the whole thing.

And so many times God's timing and God's plans are not convenient for us.

And when you look at this moment, you cannot neglect how awfully

untiming this situation would be for someone like Joseph who is moving

into this phase of life.

There was a lot of preparations to be made and yet God shows up and

he has a different plan, but he's willing to go along with it.

Now, Ecclesiastes chapter three, verse 11 says, yet God has made

everything beautiful for its own time.

He planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot

see the whole scope of God's work from beginning to end.

And I can guarantee you that Joseph and Mary both were probably at

this point in life where they're like, why now?

Why couldn't you wait about six more months, maybe nine more,

maybe another year, just give us a little more time.

Why do you have to make it so awkward?

So inconvenient, so unpredictable in this moment where it's going to

be this very difficult situation for us.

And this is not just something in this moment.

This is something they're going to hear whispers about for the

rest of their lives.

You know what I'm saying?

It's like Jesus would have been evidence of something that would

have been not super normal for this day and time and the claims

that they would make and the things that they would communicate

to other people would all be brought to question.

But I want to challenge you this morning as you talk about having

Christmas, there's going to be this urge in your life to make

things perfect, to do things just a certain way, to try to

make it be this exact thing.

And whether it's Christmas or if it's just in life in general,

if you're feeling like that, you're feeling this pressure, do

not discredit the Lord's timing in your life.

God has perfect timing.

It may not be your timing, but it's perfect timing.

It's better than our timing, and it may be very inconvenient.

It may be very hard for us to understand.

It may be very difficult for us to agree to and jump on board

with, but the Lord's timing is perfect.

Point number two.

In this process, we need to see that the Lord loves to use

righteous people.

As we talk about Joseph, there's really not much given to

us about this man as much as God chose Mary to bring Jesus

into this world.

He also chose Joseph to be his earthly father.

You don't get a whole lot of information about him, but one

of the things you do see about him is that he is righteous.

He is a godly man, and that counts for a lot.

And I think it's really important this morning that we

need to understand that there's this calling in our

lives where we want God to use us to do great things.

We want to do something significant and meaningful in

our lives, but if we want God to do that, if we want God to

use us to do something meaningful and significant, we

need to be on board with surrendering to God and

allowing him to bring us into righteousness.

It's not something that you can do on your own.

You need the power of God to help you in that, but you

have to surrender to him so that righteousness can

become who you are.

And in first Timothy chapter six, verse 11, Paul writes

the young Timothy and he says, but you, Timothy, are a

man of God.

So run from all these evil things, pursue righteousness

in a godly life, along with faith, love, perseverance,

and gentleness.

And you notice whenever it comes to pursuing

righteousness, there's a godly life, faith, love,

perseverance, and gentleness kind of comes along and

Paul couples those qualities with having this

righteous life.

And it just so happens when you read about Joseph

and the evidence of his righteousness was that he

was going to divorce Mary and he was going to do

it quietly.

And according to the law during this time,

Joseph could have done a lot.

Mary could have been stoned for being pregnant

and Joseph not being the father.

If he wanted justice, if he really wanted to demand

and push it, Joseph could have.

But because he was righteous and he had that

gentleness of the Lord about him, he was going to

do it quietly.

He did not demand what he thought may have been

her sin to be answered for because he was

offended by it, but he was willing to let it

pass and to do it quietly.

And that was one of the direct evidences of the

righteousness in Joseph's life that he was

leaving that for God to handle and he wasn't

claiming it for himself.

And today, as we talk about righteousness,

whether you're a woman and especially this

morning, if you're a man, it's so important for

us to choose righteousness in our life.

And it's a choice that you have to make.

We are made righteous by the power and the

power to choose to flee from things of the

world.

We have to flee from sin, flee from the desires

and the hopes of what this world has to offer

to flee from sinful things.

There has to be a choice made in our part.

And then God, in the midst of that, as we're

filled with his spirit and as we follow him and

surrender to him, as we continue to surrender to

him, he will lead us into righteousness.

And in that righteousness, he loves to use

righteous people.

So don't expect God to just show up one day and

to want to use you.

You have to surrender.

I have to surrender.

We all have to surrender in a way, even like

Joseph, when situations and circumstances are

unpleasant, that we don't demand to do it our

way or do what is even legally or rightfully

ours to do, but we're willing to let it be

in God's plan, in God's timing.

Point number three, always know that the Lord

will speak and clarify.

You know, in the midst of this, there's a lot

of really wiry things going on.

These are not normal situations, not normal

circumstances, nothing about Christmas is normal.

I don't know if you've ever noticed that, like

we all want it to be perfect and to have this

like routine and these things that we always

do and just make it these like perfect moments.

But nothing about that first Christmas was normal.

But the Lord will speak and clarify because he

understands that a lot of times when he calls us

to do things, it may not make sense.

You may not understand.

There may not be a lot of realization as in you

can't see the whole scope of the things that

God is doing, but God will speak and clarify.

And you notice that the Lord came to marry

through an angel.

All right, she was awake when the angel came

and the angel spoke clearly and thankfully

Mary had a willing spirit, but the angel came

and spoke to Joseph in a dream.

I don't know about you guys, but I've dreamed

some pretty crazy dreams before.

And there are some dreams that I believe

are very significant.

There's still some things that I've dreamed

about that I still ponder on and pray about.

Other things I'm like, yeah, I probably

ate a little too much spice that night.

But Joseph could have easily awoken from his

dream and just said, five, that was a dream.

I'm going to divorce that girl, send her

on her way.

I'm going to do my thing.

We can rationalize and discredit and do all

kinds of stuff, but we need to realize that

God will always speak and God will always

clarify and it is up to us to make sure that

we are listening whenever God speaks.

And in Jeremiah chapter 33 verses two through

Jeremiah 33 · chapter mention

three, Jeremiah wrote, this is what the Lord

says, the Lord who made the earth, who formed

and established it, whose name is in the Lord

asked me and I will tell you remarkable

secrets you do not know about the things to come.

There has to be an attitude and a

willingness in our lives to seek God and ask

him to reveal things to us, to speak to us.

And when he does for us to be in a posture

and a position to be ready to listen.

And if Mary and Joseph were not godly,

righteous people and willing to do this, we

would not be able to celebrate this moment

that we just had just now or the salvation

that we just thankfully claim or the

relationship with Christ that we are freely given.

We get to celebrate none of that if they

are not listening and willing.

You know, as Joseph woke up from this

dream, I'm very thankful that he did not

act like I have done a lot of times in my life.

Like I don't know about y'all, but many

times in my life, even in my spiritual life,

I have looked for loopholes and things to

get around like I've treated God like the

government, like it's a law, but we can

find a way around this and then we can

work it out. I've done that before.

And I'm very thankful that Joseph didn't

wake up and do that, but he was obedient

to even something is what some of us would

consider this dream, which may not be this

very concrete thing to build our life on.

But Joseph was willing.

He found a way to be obedient.

And point four, last one.

Joseph's spirit, Joseph had a spirit of

obedience when we talk about having a

spirit of Joseph and we want to celebrate

Christmas and we want to have a Christmas

spirit, there has to be a spirit of

obedience in our life to the Lord.

As difficult as this situation would have

been for Mary, if you're a man this

morning, you can imagine how much more

difficult it would have been for Joseph

in a lot of ways, your reputation, your

ego, your status.

So many of these things would have been

brought into question.

If you would have just allowed your

future wife to get away with probably

what everyone else assumed that she had

done. And so for Joseph to be able to

look past himself and to believe in

God's plan, to believe in God's

ordination of this moment in this

situation, this time is a wonderful

testament to the righteousness that he

truly had in his life.

He was willing to be obedient even

when it did not make sense because he

could have very easily said, why

me? Why now?

I don't know about y'all, he could

have pitched a hissy fit.

I pitched a lot of hissy fits in my

life. He could have pitched a hissy

fit. He could have said absolutely

not. This is not going to happen.

But he was obedient.

When you start talking about what it

means to follow Christ and to be a

true servant of the Lord, James

chapter one, verses 22 to 25 says,

but don't just listen to God's

word. You must do what it says.

Otherwise, you are only fooling

yourselves. For if you listen to

the word and don't obey, it's

like glancing at your face in a

mirror, you see yourself walk away

and forget what you look like.

But if you look carefully into the

perfect law that sets you free,

and if you do what it says and

don't forget what you heard, then

God will bless you for doing it.

You know, this is one of the

lines that a lot of people come

up to and they can't rationalize

crossing it in their life on

their journey as they're

committing their life to Christ,

they're pursuing righteousness,

they're trying to walk with the

Lord is this line of obedience.

We want eternal life.

We want a relationship with God,

but there's still something in us

that wants to cling to things,

cling to relationships,

cling to stuff of the world.

And because of that clinging,

we're looking for loopholes.

We're looking for ways to get

around stuff and get out of

stuff and really not give all

that we really know that

Christ wants us because deep

down inside in our hearts, we

know he wants it all.

He wants us to surrender.

He wants us to commit everything

to him, and that scares the

bejeebies out of most people

and they never cross the line.

But God wants obedience.

He wants us to be obedient to

his word and to his ways.

And the only way that we can

truly serve him and to be

righteous and to do things

that he calls righteous people

to do is through obedience.

And we look at obedience

as this burden.

We look at it like bondage.

We look at it like slavery.

Well, God just wants me to be

obedient so he can control me.

It's going to make my life

boring. It's going to

it's going to remove me from

all these different possibilities.

And there could be nothing

further from the truth.

Because the message of Christ

and salvation in Jesus Christ

is the exact thing

that sets us free.

It gives us freedom.

I don't know about y'all,

but before I got saved,

I was a little bit of a handful.

I didn't break a lot of laws

that most people knew about.

I didn't have never served jail time.

I should have, but I haven't.

But I would just everything

that I was wanting to do

and was drawn to got me in trouble.

I stayed in trouble.

I always was in trouble at school.

Never anything bad,

didn't set anything on fire,

didn't burn the place down

or anything like that

was just always in trouble.

My life was just always annoying.

And following Christ

and surrendering my life to him

was one of the most freeing things

because there's nothing more freeing.

They're just going through life

and showing up and doing everyday life

and not feeling guilty about something,

not feeling like you have to lie

about something to cover it up,

not feeling like you've got to remember,

okay, what corner did I cut in this area

so that I can make sure

no one finds out about that

and then I get in trouble for it.

That was my life as a kid

and as a teenager.

It was constantly covering things up.

When I found Christ, I found freedom.

Living for God is much easier

than living for myself

because I was having to clean up

after myself a lot

and I never got it clean.

There's freedom in obedience.

It's not a burden.

It's not slavery.

It's not bondage.

And so if you're on that line

and you're deciding whether or not

you're going to cross that line

and you're going to fully surrender

and be obedient,

know this morning it is not bondage.

It's freedom.

You will never feel more free.

You will never sleep better

than you ever slept.

I never could sleep before I was saved.

I sleep like a baby now.

It is one of the most freeing things

I've ever experienced in my life.

When you look at Joseph,

he did not find a reason to not obey

but he found a reason to obey.

People who truly love Jesus

will find every reason in the world

to be obedient.

And if you find yourself this morning

not being obedient,

not wanting to surrender,

not wanting to serve the Lord

in ways that you should,

there's an issue there.

There's an issue there

that needs to be addressed.

I'm not going to define what the issue is

or where the issue is.

I'm just saying there's an issue

that needs to be addressed

in your heart and your life.

Because people who love Jesus Christ

with all their hearts

find a reason to be obedient.

And thankfully we have someone like Joseph

who woke up from that dream

and he did exactly what God asked him to do

because most people would not be willing to do that.

So this morning,

wherever you are,

whatever the Lord is asking you to give,

whatever he's speaking to you about,

know this morning you're going to have a hard time.

You're going to have a hard time

being joyful around Christmas,

having that Christmas spirit,

you're going to have a hard time

all 12 months of the year.

If you're not a willing spirit like Mary

and if you're not an obedient spirit like Joseph,

you've got to make that decision.

And standing on that line,

figuring out whether or not you're going to cross it,

the only thing I can tell you this morning is

when I crossed that line,

it was the best decision I ever made.

And I wouldn't go back and undo it.

And as there are times in my life

where I'm still tempted to cut corners

and skimp my own things

and try to cheat on things

because I'm human just like you guys

and it still comes.

The Lord reminds me regularly,

it's not worth it.

I've given you something so much better.

And even if you lose in this,

you win something so much better

that's apart from that,

that you can't put a value on

because it's something that only God can give,

the world can't give it to you.

So if you're deciding this morning, no,

it's the best decision you can make.

There's no better decision than to surrender to Christ

and to commit yourself to being obedient to Him.

And in that obedience,

righteousness will come through the power of the Spirit.

Let's pray this morning.

Father God, thank you again for this day and this time.

Thank you for the wonderful kids,

the many families who have poured into them

and all the guests we have today.

Lord, thank you for that.

God, I pray that you would speak to our hearts

and Lord, if there's any way,

any way we need to change,

any way we need to surrender,

God, I pray that you would just speak to us right now.

Lord, it doesn't have to be something

that's said or done or anything specific,

but Lord, if we feel it,

if we feel you speaking to our hearts right now,

I pray that we would just be obedient

and we would listen.

Today, give us that spirit of Joseph

to just begin that journey

of surrendering to you

and just simply doing the things you've called us to do.

We can't see the whole scope of everything now.

We cannot see how important this moment

and this day is right now,

but you can.

And one day, when we look back 10, 15, 20,

30 years down the road

and we look back on this Sunday,

this may very well be

one of the most impactful, life-changing moments

we've ever experienced in our life.

And we'll always look back to this moment

when we decided whether or not we were going to surrender

and be obedient.

Help us to do that, Lord.

We love you and ask this in Jesus' name.

Amen.