Sermon 18th December 2022 – 4th Sunday of Advent
Text: Matthew 1:18-25 – We are all needed by God
I’m the sort of person who believes if you want a job done
well you do it yourself. I’ve never been
that good at delegating. And I know a lot of people like that – that’s it’s
easier and quicker to do something yourself than to explain and oversee someone
else doing it. It’s probably something I should have worked on because it’s not
how God works. God breaks into human history bringing his plans to work through
ordinary people. And he doesn’t stand over us telling us what to do or, what we
call, micromanaging. Sometimes we get it wrong but God doesn’t take over. He
gently guides us back or rearranges things.
We see this pattern in the Bible. We have the patriarch
Abraham whom God used to bless the world. Now, Abraham didn’t always get it
right. Like having a child with Hagar, Ishmael, instead of trusting God’s
promise. In fact God honoured Abraham’s wrong decision by promising to bless
Ishmael and make him a mighty nation even though it was not part of God’s
original plan.
In choosing Israel’s King – God chose, seemingly, the wrong
person – Saul, who disobeyed God and was replaced by King David who during his
Kingship committed adultery and murder. God chose the persecutor of Christians,
Saul, who becomes the Apostle Paul to bring the Gospel to the Gentiles. God didn’t stop Saul’s earlier work but chose
him despite his previous persecution.
God used women like Deborah and Esther to bring hope and
freedom to his people. He also chose Mary Magdalene as a witness to the
Resurrection and then sent her to the apostles with the Good News. God chose a simple young woman, Mary, to bear
the Saviour of the world. God used Mary and Joseph in a plan that would turn
the world upside down. This is how God works. He uses ordinary people – he uses
people that get it wrong – he even allows people to get it wrong without
interfering or micromanaging. He guides and directs but at the end of the day
we have free will.
But we also see in our Gospel reading that God doesn’t just
leave us on our own to achieve his plan of salvation. No, he tells Joseph that
the child that Mary will give birth to will be called by a very special name –
Emmanuel – which means “God is with us”. At the end of Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus
affirms that promise when he says – behold, I am with you always, till the end
of the age. What we also find in our Gospel reading is that God sometimes
interrupts and challenges our plans in order to bring them in line with his
will.
Joseph is a person with hopes and dreams for his own life but
finds himself with a predicament. He is
engaged to Mary but learns that she is pregnant. Joseph plans to dismiss her quietly but God
uses a dream to change Joseph’s mind. We can sometimes have our own plans that
get interrupted by God. What we learn from Joseph is that despite having free
will to make our own decisions that we also need to be in tune with God to
listen to him. To pray about situations. To ensure we regularly read our Bible
to refresh our understanding of his will.
I think of the Old Testament again where Israel had gone way
of the track with their worship of false gods like Baal and Molech until King
Josiah found a copy of the Covenant in the temple and read it and realised how
far they had drifted away from God’s will. Joseph is often forgotten in the
important role he takes in the nativity.
Obviously God saw the important role that Joseph played. Otherwise
why would he send an angel to him to change his mind regarding the plan he had.
Without Joseph how would Mary have been supported? Her family would have been bound by the law
to reject her if Joseph had rejected her.
Mary’s baby would have been seen as illegitimate in their culture. And
importantly, Mary’s life, would have been in danger and without Jesus to
intercede as he did for the woman caught in adultery in John’s Gospel.
What this tells us is the role each of us has to play in
God’s plan for the world, even if we don’t see ourselves as important. Some
might say that Joseph has no role to play – after all, as we confess in the
creeds – Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary –
but no mention of Joseph. Maybe you don’t see your name up in lights. Maybe you
don’t see your name listed anywhere. But you are all vital to God’s plan of
salvation for the world. God has a plan for you just as he had a plan for
Joseph even though we don’t hear anything of him after the birth narrative.
Some might think, God doesn’t really need me. Look at me. But
God needs each and everyone of us regardless of the small insignificant role we
think we might play. Regardless of the accolades we don’t receive. How often
when a car breaks down that it’s a small minor part in the engine that has caused
the car to break down. We recently had our heater break down. The serviceman we
called in took one look at it and said it was unrepairable and quoted us $6,000
to replace it. I wasn’t comfortable with that and got a 2nd opinion. He looked
at it and said it needed a new thermistor – a $20 piece he reckoned that he had
one sitting in his car. Each part is significant and has a role to place. If a
$20 part breaks down it makes the entire unit broken even if the unit was worth
$6,000.
Likewise, without YOU our church body suffers. And sometimes
the smaller the part the more important function it has. Which is what Paul
says when he explains the human body as an example of the body of Christ. The
eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the
feet, “I don’t need you!” On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to
be weaker are indispensable, and the parts that we think are less honorable we
treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with
special modesty, while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God
has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it.
So to all you Joseph’s out there – thank you. Be encouraged. We
need you. I need you. But more importantly – God needs you.
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