If you are ready to go another step, this is the 4^th in our pathway to Christmas.  Today we look at the step of “purpose”.  Purpose is a very common word now; Rick Warren has made it very popular with his books, The Purpose Driven Life, Church, etc.  It’s not too difficult to look at the purpose of Mary.  We’ve repeated often the purpose of Jesus—born to become Savior, Savior of the world.  Mary—to give birth to Jesus.  Those are valuable.  But some person in this whole mix is overlooked many times.  It’s Joseph.   

            I want to focus on Joseph’s purpose today.  First a little background on Jewish marriages at the time of Jesus.  There are three parts to it—one is an engagement.  That’s essentially when the two families arrange who will marry someone else.  The couple may not have known each other before or may have grown up together.  But the families make the arrangements and it is accepted by the man and the woman. And then we enter in to a public time of betrothal where it is declared to the community that these two people will be married in one year and for one year they are as husband and wife with the exception of coming together in a physical way to start a family.  The only way that the betrothal can end is officially by divorce or death of one of them.  And then, of course, the marriage. 

            Today, focusing on Joseph puts us into a realm of understanding that Joseph may be more like us than most of us might even care to admit or be aware.  The passage in Matthew this morning, which you have already heard a part of it, the dream, I want to lift up five points and point out where they are as we read the Scripture.  We’ll look at the theme of justice, of Joseph being a just man.  At discretion, of faithfulness, obedience, and self-discipline—the very familiar words found in Matthew, Chapter 1, Verse 18. 

            “This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about:  His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit.”  (Now watch the next sentence or verse 19; this is the “justice” statement.)  “Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace,” (and then the next is “discretion”) “he had in mind to divorce her quietly.”  The next part is the “faithfulness”—not of Joseph yet, but the faithfulness of God first.  “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.”  And then the writer of Matthew adds, “All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet:”  (Isaiah, in 7:14) “’The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel’—which means, ‘God with us’.”  God is faithful first.  Then moving on in Verse   God is faithful first.  Then moving on in Verse 24, “When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him” (and you could understand that to be the “obedience” statement; obedience to God’s command.)  “… and took Mary home as his wife.”  (And then “self-discipline” he followed.)  “But he had no union with her until she gave birth to a son.  And he gave him the name Jesus.”   

            Justice—Joseph had several choices.  But justice essentially can be defined as standing on the side of right and truth even when all others are rushing in the opposite direction.  Knowing what is the truth and standing firm with it is the basis of justice.  Supreme Court Justice, Horace Gray was hearing a case of a lower court.  It turned out that in the lower court a man had escaped the death penalty and a murder conviction on a technicality.  He said to the man, “I know you are guilty and you know it too.  And I wish you to remember that one day you will stand before a better and wiser Judge, and that there you will be dealt with according to justice and not according to the law.”   

You see, Joseph could have applied the law.  This woman he is betrothed to is pregnant.  He had every right to stand forth in public and declare that Mary was pregnant and therefore he would divorce her but also disgrace her.  Joseph’s purpose was in his heart first. He was a righteous man. And so with justice, even though he saw what she had done, what he thought she had done was wrong, Mary as far as Joseph was concerned had broken the outside measurement of God’s law.  But with that justice, he chose instead to quietly divorce her.  And quietly is an important point because that’s the discretion.  He didn’t say anything about this in public apparently.  Former President Calvin Coolidge made the statement one time, “I’ve never been hurt by anything I didn’t say.”  Have you ever hurt someone by what you’ve said or been hurt by what someone says?  At the basis of rumor and gossip is the willingness to pass on information, right or wrong information.  Even when you know something is right and fully correct, it is not always the right or correct thing to pass it on particularly when it may cause further harm.  Mary was pregnant—that is true.  He could have said, “She’s pregnant” to the public, but Joseph’s purpose was to protect Mary even when she had, as far as he could determine at that point, failed him, failed her family, failed the community, failed her faith and failed God. 

He had every right.  But he chose a different right and that’s to quietly handle it, not to bring further disgrace.  He would have been found right and correct and righteous by the public if he had stepped forward, but he chose the other way.  Hurt as he was, he was honorable and protective.  You see, you can tell about the character of a person if they are affronted or offended, whether they strike out or not. If they strike out by passing on even the truth and spreading it abroad just because they can, because they know it is true.  Think about that when the meaning of justice becomes an action of what we say.   

And the third area is “faithfulness”.  And that faithfulness starts first with God.  For Joseph was taking one set of directions or actions but God in a dream through the messenger of an angel said, “No, here’s the truth even more than you knew.”  And based upon God’s faithfulness to keep what is true before us, then Joseph was able to be faithful in response.  Joseph could have quit and walked out but with the dream he got back in to the race of life, picked up the responsibility of being Mary’s husband, of now looking forward to a son that was not his technically but that he was given the joy and responsibility of naming and then raising.  He went right back in to what others would have run away from. 

I came across a poem I want to read to you.  It’s a little lengthy but I think if you stick with me you’ll see the point of the poem.  It’s about a man who is looking back to his childhood and he’s running a race.  And it’s the memory of that race that brings him to the point where he says:

And hope refills my weakened will as I recall that scene,

for just the thought of that short race, rejuvenates my being.

A children’s race, young boys, young men; how I remember well,

Excitement sure, but also fear, it wasn’t hard to tell.

They all lined up so full of hope, each thought to win that race

or tie for first, or if not that, at least take second place.

Their fathers watched from off the side, each cheering for his son,

and each boy hoped to show his dad that he would be the one.

The whistle blew and off they went, young hearts and hopes of fire,

to win, to be the hero there, was each young boy’s desire.

One boy in particular, his dad was in the crowd,

was running near the lead and thought “My dad will be so proud.”

But as he speeded down the field across a shallow dip

the little boy who thought to win, lost his step and slipped.

Trying hard to catch himself, his hands, flew out to brace,

And mid the laughter of the crowd he fell flat on his face.

So, down he fell and with him hope, he couldn’t win it now.

Embarrassed, sad, he only wished to disappear somehow.

But as he fell his dad stood up and showed his anxious face,

which to the boy so clearly said, “Get up and win that race!”

He quickly rose, no damage done, behind a bit that’s all,

and ran with all his mind and might to make up for his fall.

So anxious to restore himself, to catch up and to win,

his mind went faster than his legs, he slipped and fell again.

He wished that he had quit before with one disgrace.

“I’m hopeless as a runner now, I shouldn’t try to race.”

But, in the laughing crowd he searched and found his father’s face,

that steady look that said again, “Get up and win that race!”

So he jumped up to try again, ten yards behind the last,

if I’m going to gain those yards, he thought, I’ve got to run real fast.

Exceeding everything he had, he regained eight or ten,

but trying so hard to catch the lead, he slipped and fell again.

Defeat!  He lay there silently, a tear dropped from his eye,

there’s no sense running anymore—three strikes I’m out—why try?

The will to rise had disappeared, all hope had fled away,

so far behind, so error prone, closer all the way.

“I’ve lost, so what’s the use,” he thought, “I’ll live with my disgrace.”

But then he thought about his dad, who soon he’d have to face.

“Get up,” an echo sounded low.  “Get up and take your place.

You were not meant for failure here, get up and win that race.”

With borrowed will, “Get up,” it said, “you haven’t lost at all,

for winning is not more than this; to rise each time you fall.”

So, up he rose to run once more, and with a new commit,

he resolved that win or lose, at least he wouldn’t quit.

So far behind the others now, the most he’d ever been,

still he gave it all he had and ran as though to win.

Three times he’d fallen stumbling, three times he rose again.

Too far behind to hope to win, he still ran to the end.

They cheered the winning runner as he crossed, first place;

head high and proud and happy—no falling, no disgrace.

but, when the fallen youngster crossed the line, last place,

the crowd gave him the greater cheer for finishing the race.

And even though he came in last with head bowed low, unproud,

you would have thought he’d won the race, to listen to the crowd.

And to his dad he sadly said, “I didn’t do so well.”

“To me, you won,” his father said, “You rose each time you fell.”

And now when things seem dark and hard and difficult to face,

the memory of that little boy helps me in my own race.

For all of life is like that race, with ups and downs and all.

And all of you have to do to win is rise each time you fall.

“Quit!” Give up, your beaten,” they still shout in my face,

            but another voice within me says, “Get up and win that race.”

            That’s the faithfulness.  God is fatherly and does not lose.  But we will never win like God can. It is God’s race and victory.  It is our race to be in that victory.  It is our race to get up each time we fall.  And Joseph did, seemingly, according to the record, without question. 

            And then that leads us into the next, the fourth quality, which is obedience.  Listening to God is to know one’s purpose—to be a husband, to be a father, to be obedient to God as a disciple.  It takes obedience when you listen to the commands, you see the path before you, and you move forward.  You may not see the very end; Joseph didn’t.  Joseph didn’t know that it’s going to mean, shortly after the birth of Jesus, he would have to take off across the desert to go to Egypt to avoid King Herod’s wrath.  He didn’t know that he was going to just simply raise this boy until the time he’s embarrassed at the Temple at the age of twelve because they lost him for awhile.  And we have no record of Joseph after that.  So sometime between 12 and his entry in to the ministry as Jesus, the Christ, Joseph must have died.  He didn’t even get to see his son at that level of glory.  But he was obedient. 

            And self discipline as a quality is one where Joseph was the image of self-discipline and obedience and waiting until the birth of Jesus to become Mary’s husband in all ways.  Too often today it is claimed that abstinence is impossible for teenagers or others relating to sex, drinking or other yearnings.  “Give in to your desires,” our ads will say and the world says also.  But what harm is there?  The harm is the lost of self-discipline.  For Joseph and for Christians following as disciples, self-discipline is the most important thing in being obedient. 

            You see, it is God’s plan that we are rushing to accomplish.  It was God’s plan that Joseph and Mary weren’t just pawns but willing and open and loving participants desirous of being faithful and obedient to the One who had died Father of us all.  It says in Proverbs 19:21, “Many are the plans in a man’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.”  Mary could have been embarrassed, humiliated, even shunned by her family, but something—no it was someone spoke to her; she learned her purpose in life and her world was never the same.  Joseph had in his culture every right to turn away and leave her.  And at least with some compassion he planned to quietly turn his back.  But something, someone, spoke to him and he learned his purpose in life and the world has never been the same.   

            You see, Jesus Christ came in the form of a baby. God, Immanuel with us, but it took Mary and Joseph to make it possible by God’s plan.  God’s purpose is for us to be conquerors, not on our own strength, but to get up each time we fall because we see the greater purpose in life—the race to be finished, not always won, just finished in obedience, faithfulness, and justice, with discretion.  That we see ourselves not as judging others but standing solely in God’s grace. 

            Let us be like Joseph.  This message is not just for father’s today but for all of us.  It’s the qualities of Joseph that makes the disciple.  Let us remember that and celebrate it as a gift that God gives us in His word today.  Let us be like Joseph as we follow Jesus.  Let us join for a prayer, “Lord, thank you for the gift and the simplicity of your plan--simply asking us to hear and respond.  And even when we may fail in the world’s eyes, it’s the giving up and running again to complete the race.  Let us not quit what you call us to, but let us be like Joseph—simply, humbly faithful.  In the name of Christ our Lord we pray, Amen.”           

E-mail Comments to: Pastor Bob Coleman

[FrontPage Include Component]