In the past few days, as we head into the Christmas season, I’ve been spending some time pondering the Christmas story. To bring Jesus into the world, God approached his servant Mary with an incredible responsibility, the birth of the Savior of the world. This was the way God chose way to bring His plan of salvation to humanity. When Jesus was born everything changed. It’s so exciting to be able to celebrate his birth at this time of year! The Christmas story has an incredible build up, and this is where I want to focus my attention today.
It was beautiful and breathtaking when the Angel visited Mary and from there, she and Joseph had to deal with all the implications and realities of all that God required of them. Luke 1:26-56 tells us:
“God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin. She was engaged to marry a man named Joseph from the family of David. Her name was Mary. The angel came to her and said, “Greetings! The Lord has blessed you and is with you.” But Mary was very startled by what the angel said and wondered what this greeting might mean. The angel said to her, “Don’t be afraid, Mary; God has shown you His grace. Listen! You will become pregnant and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give Him the throne of King David, His ancestor. He will rule over the people of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will never end.” Mary said to the angel, “How will this happen since I am a virgin?” The angel said to Mary, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will cover you. For this reason the baby will be holy and will be called the Son of God. Now Elizabeth, your relative, is also pregnant with a son, though she is very old. Everyone thought she could not have a baby, but she has been pregnant for six months. God can do anything!” Mary said, “I am the servant of the Lord. Let this happen to me as you say!” Then the angel went away.”
Mary’s question to Gabriel was not one of doubt; she needed to more fully understand how this miracle was going to take place. It’s never wrong to ask God honest questions, trying to find out a little more about how and what He requires of us. It’s when we doubt God’s ability that He sometimes has a thing or two to say! Only faith pleases God! As soon as Mary found out what she needed to know, she humbly submitted to God’s will and believed God.
Now, of course, when Joseph found out his precious wife-to-be was pregnant, this was problematic. These were times when adulterers were stoned; the law of Moses said “’If a man commits adultery with another man’s wife–with the wife of his neighbor–both the adulterer and the adulteress are to be put to death” (Leviticus 20:10). Joseph was faithful to the law of Moses and was wondering what to do. As a couple, they faced the potential misunderstanding and punishment of their entire community!
Matthew 1:18-25 tells us: “This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother, Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly. But after he had considered 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 home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give Him the name Jesus, because He will save His people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call Him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”). When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. But he did not consummate their marriage until she gave birth to a son. And he gave Him the name Jesus.”
When Mary accepted this assignment from God, she must have known there would be concerns from her husband. When she shared with Joseph she was pregnant, she must have thought ‘he must think I’m crazy.’ The truth is Joseph didn’t believe her story. He thought she had been unfaithful and was looking for a way to protect her from public shame, disgrace, and a potential death sentence!
And yet, God knew the truth about Mary. There are times in life when God gives us an assignment, and we have to keep ourselves content with the fact that not everyone will understand or even believe it. And yet with the assignment, God has His ways of confirming His Word, confirming His will. God sent an Angel to Joseph in his dreams. God began to speak to Joseph and show Him that everything Mary had said was true. God was comforting Joseph and helping him to be the support Mary needed to bring Jesus into the world.
Now we need to understand as well that God believes in family units! He believes in and supports marriage! He knew Joseph needed to be on board with this plan and that Jesus would need a natural mother and father to raise Him in this world. He wanted to protect and preserve their marriage. And because of all of this He absolutely needed to convince Joseph as well, and He did!
Mary and Joseph were brave people, but their courage was drawn from the well of revelation from heaven, from the well of encounter with God. An encounter with God will make you as bold as a lion! And yet being misunderstood, in order to do what God shows us to do, is part of the Christian life and experience. What we do for God will not always be popular with people; our job is to ensure we are popular with God!
John 15:20 says, “Remember what I told you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also.” Persecution and misunderstanding is part of the Christian life! Today I want to encourage you! Maybe God has given you an assignment that nobody understands; you keep the faith and God will confirm His word.
I remember when I felt God calling me to a life of ministry. The CEO of the investment bank I was working for wasn’t too happy. He spent an hour with me in his office trying to convince me to stay and continue my career there. He had great plans for my advancement in the bank and yet God had other plans for me.
There are times we need to say, even if people think I’m crazy, I’m determined to obey God. Now let me say I sought God carefully and prayerfully over many years before making my decision; it was not a light thing to walk away from a successful career, but I can say over the years, God has confirmed … He is the One who called me.
God may have called you to business or some other industry. I have a friend in the US who was a Pastor and God called him to be a Doctor. Even though it made no sense, he obeyed God. He has a successful medical practice today, touching and bringing healing and health to many lives! God’s call may be counter to our own thinking, we may be mis-understood by others, even despised by others, but in the end it will be worth it to gain the approval of God.
Hebrews 11:24-26 tells us: “ By faith, Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. He regarded disgrace, for the sake of Christ, as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward.”
Moses chose disgrace for the sake of Christ as greater value than the treasures of Egypt. When it all boils down the rewards, of being true to what God has shown us to do, far outweigh anything the world might offer. What we live for as Christians is an eternal reward! We need to remind ourselves of that!
I want to close out this message with a story I received some time back from a missionary friend. It has a beautiful message about what really matters in life:
After forty years of faithful service to the Lord as a missionary to Africa, Henry Morrison and his wife were returning to New York. As the ship neared the dock, Henry said to his wife, “Look at that crowd. They haven’t forgotten about us.” However, unknown to Henry, the ship also carried President Teddy Roosevelt, who was returning from a big game hunting trip in Africa.
Roosevelt stepped from the boat with great fanfare; people were cheering, flags were waving, bands were playing, and reporters waiting for his comment, Henry and his wife slowly walked away unnoticed. They hailed a cab which took them to the one bedroom apartment which had been provided by the mission board.
Over the next few weeks, Henry tried, but failed to put the incident behind him. He was sinking deeper into depression when one evening he said to his wife, “This is all wrong, this man comes back from a hunting trip and everybody throws a big party. We give our lives in faithful service to God for all these many years, but no one seems to care.”
His wife cautioned him that he should not feel this way. Henry replied “I know you’re right, but I just can’t help it. It just isn’t right.” His wife then said, “Henry, you know God doesn’t mind if we honestly question Him. You need to tell this to the Lord and get this settled now. You’ll be useless in His ministry until you do.”
Henry Morrison then went to his bedroom, got down on his knees, and began pouring out his heart to the Lord. “Lord, you know our situation and what’s troubling me. We gladly served you faithfully for years without complaining. But now God, I just can’t get this incident out of my mind …”
After about ten minutes of fervent prayer, Henry returned to the living room with a peaceful look on his face. His wife said, “It looks like you’ve resolved the matter. What happened?” Henry replied, “The Lord settled it for me. I told Him how bitter I was that the President received this tremendous homecoming, but no one even met us as we returned home. When I finished, it seemed as though the Lord put His hand on my shoulder and simply said, ‘But Henry, you are not home yet!’
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