Matthew 1:18-25, 2:13-15
If you were sitting here at RIC one year ago, which of the events of 2011 would you have predicted? There had already been two weeks of demonstrations in Tunisia, but would you have predicted there would be a regime change in not only Tunisia, but also Egypt and Libya? Or would you have predicted that Syria, Yemen and Bahrain would have large demonstrations, shaking those regimes? There was even unrest in Saudi Arabia and here in Morocco that caused the leaders of these countries to dramatically increase subsidies and make other changes to forestall large demonstrations. Who would have guessed?
Would you have predicted the deaths of Osama bin Laden, Muammar Gaddafi and Kim Jong-il?
You might have predicted there would be earthquakes. This is always a safe prediction. But the March 11 earthquake and tsunami in Japan was not predictable. There were 155 earthquakes in 2011 greater than a magnitude of 6.0. Nineteen of these were of a magnitude greater than 7.0. The biggest, of course, was the 9.0 in Japan in March. Our students from Fiji may remember the 7.3 earthquake in September.
As we move into 2012, what will be the major news events of this coming year? There will certainly be more earthquakes, but when and where? (This morning Japan had a 7.0 earthquake, the first big one of the year.) The effects of global warming are making themselves felt with flooding and drought and famine. In 2011 Thailand had its worst flooding in 60 years. The Phillippines have been hit hard by storms with an estimated 1,500 people killed by the flooding. East Africa is again caught up in a drought and with the political climate, is causing the deaths of an estimated 750,000 people. Where will the hardest hit parts of the world be in 2012?
The financial markets in the world are in a precarious position as the European Union is being threatened by countries unable to control their spending. The United States is also in a dangerous position as the Congress and the people seem unable and unwilling to reduce spending and raise taxes. This threatens to produce a prolonged, world-wide recession. Will the world economy improve or degrade in 2012?
Churches in Nigeria were bombed on Christmas Day. Will there be a resurgence of terrorism this coming year?
There is a new leader in North Korea and the world is uncertain about who will be in power. Pakistan is increasingly belligerent. As countries with nuclear weapons transition, the uncertainty of how their nuclear technology will be used is unsettling. Iran is moving forward with the development of nuclear technology and with a president who has a goal of setting off a nuclear apocalypse, that is just a bit disturbing. Will this year bring an attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities?
Iran is threatening to cut off the supply of 1/6 of the world’s oil that passes through the Strait of Hormuz. If there is a serious disruption to the world’s oil supply, one consequence will be that world food prices will rise and this will lead to riots around the world.
The US has largely pulled out of Iraq and that country is already disintegrating into Sunni/Shiite conflict. In fact, tensions between Sunnis and Shiites are creating much of the tension in the Gulf states and the Middle East.
This past year, Oti Kingsley, a Gahanian student in our church, died in January. He was a bright young man, well liked. His death came as a real shock to us. Will we be shocked by the death of someone in our church community this year? I hope not.
I would love to predict that 2012 will be a year of peace with no major disasters and no wars, no conflicts and no deaths, but that is just not going to happen.
I talked with a couple people whose walk with Jesus I very much respect and was surprised to hear them tell me that they approach 2012 with fear. It is not that they fear any one thing, but that they fear the unknowable.
At the end of our service we will sing Blessed Be Your Name which has the chorus:
You give and take away
You give and take away
My heart will choose to say
Lord blessed be your name.
That is not easy for all of us to sing because the song embraces both the good and the bad. We are happy to embrace the good but want to keep our distance from the bad. But I love this song because it speaks such powerful truth. It stands against those who want to hear nothing but positive news and proclaims God’s love and sovereignty even when the news is tragic. It is a song of unshakeable faith.
I could stand here this morning and tell you 2012 will be a year of unprecedented blessing and encourage you to look forward to a year with only good news, but that does not reflect the reality of the world. I want you to look forward to 2012 with a firm grasp on reality, not a superficial hold on wishful thinking.
I do believe we can look forward to this year and that we can look forward to great blessing in our lives in this coming year. How do we enter into 2012 without fear?
The uncertainty of the future is obviously not something new, so this morning I want to look at Joseph, the husband of Mary and father of Jesus. As he looked across the road in Nazareth and saw the young teenage Mary walking along, he wanted to move into the future with her as his wife. He had no idea what he was getting into.
The two sets of parents met and agreed to the marriage and negotiated the price to be paid to Mary’s father. Then a public announcement was made. At this point Mary and Joseph were pledged, betrothed. This is a bit like a modern engagement, except that it was much more binding. The betrothal could be broken only by death or divorce. Sexual relations were not yet permitted. For one year, Mary and Joseph were expected to live separately, each with their own families. This waiting period would demonstrate Mary’s purity. If it was discovered she was pregnant during this time, the marriage could be annulled. At the end of the year, then they could be married and begin living together.
But then Mary had her visitation from Gabriel and her world turned upside down. She apparently did not tell anyone about this but went to spend three months with her cousin Elizabeth. When she came back Matthew says, (Matthew 1:18)
she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit.
A majority of women begin to show at three to four months of pregnancy. Mary was probably past her morning sickness, if she had that, so when she returned to Nazareth, three to four months pregnant, with the loose fitting clothes she likely wore, I don’t think it was obvious as she walked through the streets of Nazareth that she was pregnant. But then maybe her mother saw her in the house when she was wearing less clothing and noticed the little bump.
This was a serious problem. It brought shame to Mary’s family and meant she would be rejected by Joseph. The marriage would be annulled. The law said the penalty for her unchastity was death by stoning, although this was rare at the time.
How did Joseph find out about this? Perhaps Mary’s parents went to tell Joseph’s parents. It was not a secret that was going to stay hidden so it was better to deal with it sooner rather than later.
We skim over this story but the emotional pain of the discovery that Mary was pregnant must have been enormous. Mary’s world turned upside down when Gabriel came to her, but the world of her family and Joseph and his family also turned upside down with this discovery.
When God searched for a mother for Jesus, he searched also for a father for Jesus. There may have been other women who would have been a good mother for Jesus, but they were not betrothed to a man like Joseph. God chose Mary and Joseph to be the parents for Jesus and the character of Joseph is revealed in his response to the news of Mary’s pregnancy.
And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly.
Marrying her was out of the question. He had no idea who she had met or how it had happened, but she had been unfaithful to him, as hard as that was to believe.
Did Mary tell anyone about the visitation of Gabriel?
If she had, what would they have thought? I go back and forth on this. Did she tell her parents? She had told her cousin Elizabeth so maybe she did tell her parents. Did she tell Joseph? Was she even alone with him so she could tell him, or was she always in the presence of her parents and his parents? If she did tell them, they must have thought she was crazy or an inventor of very creative lies to cover her deceit.
At any rate, while Joseph was considering how to divorce her quietly,
behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”
Joseph had a choice. Even with this dream, the easiest thing to do would be to divorce Mary quietly and get on with his life. There would be no scandal associated with him. He had been honorable. He would still be able to make a good marriage and have a good life.
But Joseph was an exceptional man and stepped into an uncertain future. He took upon himself the scandal of Mary’s pregnancy. A year had not passed, and when they married, everyone would know something was wrong. The people of Nazareth would probably assume that Mary and Joseph had not been able to resist the temptation to have sexual relations and so had to get married early. Joseph, as well as Mary would no longer be viewed as an honorable man.
Joseph took the more difficult path and he did it because he had heard from the angel. He knew this was the right thing to do and he was willing to step into what the future would bring.
Then Mary and Joseph went to Bethlehem where she gave birth. We know this story. Time passed, perhaps a year, and by then they were living in a house when the wise men came with their gifts. Herod had used the wise men to find a potential threat to his throne and when the wise men did not return, he began making plans to kill all the baby boys in Bethlehem under the age of two.
Joseph and Mary knew none of this. After Jesus was born, they began to find a way to make a living. Perhaps they did not want to go back to Nazareth and face the scandal of an early marriage and birth. Maybe Joseph began to use his skills as a carpenter. They made new friends, people who did not know their betrothal history. Maybe they decided this would be a good place to live.
But then came the wise men and Joseph had a second dream. (Matthew 2:13–15)
Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.” 14 And he rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed to Egypt 15 and remained there until the death of Herod.
Joseph found he and his family in a dangerous present with a very uncertain future. He acted immediately and gathered their few things and fled. The expensive gifts were undoubtedly quite helpful as they traveled to Egypt and made a new life there, but this was still a difficult journey that lasted about two weeks.
Joseph saw the young teenage Mary walking the streets of Nazareth and wanted her to be part of his future. He did not know he would have to take on her shame and flee from the king who wanted to kill his newborn son. Would he have pursued marriage with Mary if he had known what the future would bring? I don’t think so.
In one of the Puritan prayers we read this morning, there is a line:
I thank you that you have veiled my eyes to the waters ahead.
There is grace in that. A knowledge of the future events in our lives might be unbearable. It is fortunate that we do not know the future. We move forward, trusting that God will help us face whatever comes.
In the second Puritan prayer in our service this morning, which we will read after taking communion, there is this line:
I launch my vessel on the unknown waters of this year,
with you, O Father, as my harbor,
you, O Son, as my helm,
you, O Holy Spirit, filling my sails.
We head into 2012 without knowing what will happen. There is grace in this. But we move forward with God’s presence. So I believe we can head into 2012 and whatever it brings with confidence and assurance. We do not need to fear what will come. And we can learn three lessons from Joseph that will help us with this.
First, Joseph was directed by God.
God entered into humanity in the fragile form of a baby. There were so many threats to the life of this new baby of which the least expected was the murderous actions of Herod. But God was not going to allow his purposes to be thwarted. He sent an angel to speak to Joseph to preserve the life of Jesus.
This has been the ongoing action of God throughout the ages. He speaks to men and women, girls and boys, to direct them so his purposes will be accomplished. Amidst the chaos of life, God patiently and consistently acts to direct us so people are brought into his kingdom.
Let me point out that while God directs through dreams, this is not his normal or usual way of directing us. Dreams are concentrated in the Bible in just three places: in Genesis with Joseph, in Daniel with Daniel and in Matthew with the birth of Jesus. These were extraordinary times and called for extraordinary communication.
God’s primary means of directing us comes from our reading of the Bible. This does not rule out God speaking to us in dreams, but that will be exceptional, not usual. We can also be led by the still small voice of the Holy Spirit, by circumstances, by the wise counsel of friends and through the common sense God gave us. But God does and will direct us into the path he knows is best for us.
God will direct you in 2012. He has a path for you to take and he will speak to you to help you take that path.
God directed and then secondly, Joseph listened to God. If God speaks to us but we are not listening, we will go on our merry way and miss out on what God has planned for us. We have to be in a relationship with God that includes a desire to hear him speak to us. We can keep the Bible on the shelf collecting dust. Or we can pick it up, read a few verses without really paying attention to what we read, put it down and say we have done our duty by having a devotional time. Neither of these are the action of someone who wants to hear God speak. Another way we can miss out on listening to God is to be so set on what we want out of life that we do not pay attention to what we read in the Bible or to circumstances or to the wise advice of our friends.
To listen means that we live in submission to God, always ready to hear what he has to say to us. Joseph was this kind of man.
God gave Joseph direction, he listened and then thirdly, Joseph demonstrated his obedience to what God said.
Joseph could have taken the information from the angel about Mary’s pregnancy and pushed it away, taking the easier path. But despite the cost to himself, he obeyed. When he received the dream and an angel told him to get up and flee to Egypt, he obeyed. He did not take a few days to think about it, his obedience was instantaneous.
It does us no good to listen and hear God speak to us but then be unwilling to obey because we do not like what he said.
As we enter into 2012, we can do so with confidence because God will continue to direct us, as he has done in the past. We may not receive spectacular revelations, but God will direct us. It is up to us to cultivate our relationship with God so that we are open to hear what he has to say to us. When we open the Bible to read, we need to pray and consciously state our desire to hear God speak to us. And then when we sense God’s direction, we need to be willing to obey, even if our obedience will be difficult or costly.
There is no guarantee that 2012 will be an easy year. Despite the angels speaking to Joseph, his life took some hard and difficult turns. We need to be reminded that God does not promise us an easy life. His love for us is not measured by how comfortable a life we live.
There was a lot of pain and suffering in 2011. Did God not care about those around the world who suffered? Did God not care about Oti who died in January?
Think about the parents of the baby boys in Bethlehem. Why did God not speak to their fathers and tell them to flee so the lives of those boys would have been spared? Did God care about Jesus but not about the other boys?
Of course God cares. Why else would he come to earth to die for us? His death for us is proof of his great love for us.
We have to understand that God takes the long view and wants to bring us safe into heaven with a strong faith, the only thing we take from this world when we die. What happens in the short-term, in the years of our earthly life is not nearly as important.
We need to understand that our earthly life is not all there is. We are born for eternity, not for this earthly life. But we evaluate a good life by earthly standards. If someone lives to be 90 years old and dies surrounded by children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, then we say this person lived a good life. But what makes this life better than the life of someone who dies at the age of 5?
The five year old misses out on all the experiences of this world, but as the five year old stands in eternity with Jesus, do you really think she or he will have any regrets?
Nothing can be taken away from us that we won’t eventually lose anyway. Our health, our wealth, these will all be left behind when we die. This may happen in 2012 or in 2052, it is only a question of timing.
God promises to be present with us but he has never promised that we will not suffer. In fact the Bible says we should rejoice when trials and tribulations come. (We will come to that teaching in our series of sermons from James that will begin next week.)
This life, to use the image of C. S. Lewis, is just the preface of the book of our life. When we die we begin Chapter One. This life is just a preliminary heat, a quiz, a snack. Our real life begins when we die.
We are visitors on this planet and looking forward to going home. Paul wrote about this desire in 2 Corinthians 5:1–5 (The Message)
For instance, we know that when these bodies of ours are taken down like tents and folded away, they will be replaced by resurrection bodies in heaven—God-made, not hand-made—and we’ll never have to relocate our “tents” again. Sometimes we can hardly wait to move—and so we cry out in frustration. Compared to what’s coming, living conditions around here seem like a stopover in an unfurnished shack, and we’re tired of it! We’ve been given a glimpse of the real thing, our true home, our resurrection bodies! The Spirit of God whets our appetite by giving us a taste of what’s ahead. He puts a little of heaven in our hearts so that we’ll never settle for less.
We need to live with an awareness of heaven and with a longing for our eternal state but this does not mean that our earthly life is without meaning. The joys and sorrows of this earthly life are real and valuable. They are important. But they must be viewed in light of our eternal home.
We can move into 2012 with eager anticipation because we know God will be present with us. This is his promise to us.
If 2012 proves to be a difficult year for us, we will grieve and mourn. We will feel the pain of the suffering and loss, but we will not be alone. God will be present with us. He will take us safely through 2012 and keep us safe until he brings us into his eternal kingdom.
When we submit to God and decide we will live for Jesus, then we can expect there will be blessings ahead for us in 2012. When we cling to Jesus, especially though the difficult times, he will grow our faith and we will come out of the year with a stronger faith, a deeper certainty, a brighter hope.
2010 was a very difficult year for me, perhaps the worst year of my life. The parents of the children at the Village of Hope were abruptly taken away and deported. The children have not seen the only parents they ever knew in the one year and nine months since then. My faith was shaken to the core and yet, as I look back on it, 2010 was a great year because when I clung to Jesus through all the pain and uncertainty, my faith grew. I came out of 2010 with a deeper, more profound faith and from an eternal viewpoint, that is a great blessing.
So as you enter into 2012, hold on to Jesus. No matter what, hold on to Jesus. There will be times of great joy in 2012 and if there are times of great sorrow, do not let go. Grieve, weep, express your anger and whatever other emotions you have and know Jesus is present with you. He will never leave you or forsake you. Hold on to him.
Let me read from the Puritan prayer we prayed earlier:
If you have appointed storms of tribulation, you will be with me in them;
If I have to pass through tempests of persecution and temptation, I shall not drown;
If I am to die, I shall see your face sooner;
If a painful end is to be my lot, grant me grace that my faith will not fail;
If I am to be cast aside from the life I love, I can make no stipulation;
Only glorify yourself in me whether in comfort or in trial,
as a chosen vessel suitable always for your use.
This is a great prayer of trust and submission.
We step out into 2012 with confidence because we will have the presence of God. In the words of the second Puritan prayer,
I launch my vessel on the unknown waters of this year,
with you, O Father, as my harbor,
you, O Son, as my helm,
you, O Holy Spirit, filling my sails.
This is a world filled with unjustness. What we see in the world is not the way it is supposed to be. What we see is not how it will be in our eternal home. Hold on to Jesus. He will help you in times of blessing and in times of sorrow and keep you safe all the way to your permanent home in heaven.
