Services | Obedience

Bulletin

Proclamation of the Word
Message by Pastor Joe
“Obedience”

Sermon Notes
Matthew 1:18-25
Acts 5:27-32
Romans 6:15-18
Romans 16:25-26
1 Peter 1:22

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Scritpures

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Transcript of Service

We tend to be very complex people, but in complexity, it is something that we know well when we're able to take that complex thing and make it simple. You probably know yourself better than anyone else. So I would suggest that you think about writing a few sentences, saying just exactly who you are and maybe a brief paragraph as to an event that typifies that. We're going to take a look at Joseph and an event in his life and a few sentences that describes exactly who he is. Who he is is describe who you are? Not what you've done, but who you are. And then take maybe one event in your life that would simplify that question, could you do it?

You might respond and say, "Well, Pastor Joe, you understand I'm a very complex individual." Well, I think we're all pretty complex. But as it is told that if you can reduce a very complex subject, like let's say astrophysics, into a simple discussion, then you really know your material.

And so what I'm asking, I don't think is too unreasonable for us to consider that.

The Scriptures give a very short explanation of who Joseph is. There's only a few verses that tell us anything about him. But what it does tell us about him is very significant and information that perhaps we should want to emulate as well.

Now we're not told that much more about Mary than Joseph.

But at the same token, it describes who these people are and why we should emulate them. And so if you have your Bibles, and you should, please turn to the Gospel of Matthew, chapter one, and we're going to start with verse 18. And it's going to describe in a few short sentences and in an event who Joseph is. And so it says this, "Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows, when his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph." I want to stop there. Then the betrothal relationship is different than we have in our culture today. In our culture, couples get engaged and they set a wedding date and then they solemnize the marriage and they're married. In that culture, you would have an agreement of marriage. There'd be a contract involved. And then after some period of time, the actual wedding ceremony would take place. For instance, Jesus performed his first miracle at the wedding celebration in Canaan, but the couple had been betrothed before that. So Mary and Joseph are in this legal marriage relationship, but they've not yet finalized it. And so they have this, again, legal relationship. So they're betrothed to Joseph. And before they came together, she was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit. So the scriptures tell us that the circumstances that before they consummated the relationship, before the final contractual arrangements had been done, Mary all of a sudden was found to be with child, but she was with child by the Holy Spirit. She wasn't unfaithful to Joseph.

And Joseph, her husband being a righteous man. So I want to stop there.

Joseph assumes certain facts.

Mary's pregnant.

He had not been the one to cause that. And so from his standpoint, she had been unfaithful to him. So it tells us that he was a righteous man.

Now being righteous in the scriptures doesn't necessarily mean that you're a holy person or that you do everything perfectly. To be righteous when it comes to the scriptures is to be a man of faith.

Romans tells us, "The righteous shall live by faith."

Even Abram, when he was told that he would have a child, that the scriptures tell us in Genesis that Abram believed God and it was accounted to him or reckoned to him as righteousness. So we first see that Joseph is a man of faith.

So he is this righteous man, this man of faith. And not wanting to disgrace her, plan to send her away secretly. Now we see something about Joseph as well.

Even though he's a righteous man, and even though it appeared that Mary had violated their sacred covenant of being faithful to one another, he believed that she wasn't. But he didn't want to cause her disgrace. He also didn't want to potentially cause her to lose her life or to be ostracized by society. Because since they had been technically married, her unfaithfulness would be adultery. And so he could have had her stoned or he could have put her away publicly and humiliated her. But we see that he didn't seek vengeance.

He didn't seek any of his rights per se. He didn't want to create a situation that would elevate the situation for Mary. So we see that he does so, not one who is vengeful. He didn't seek vengeance or retribution.

He still seemed to care about Mary and her situation, even though as one who might say, "I'm innocent. She committed adultery and therefore I want the whole world to see that I'm an innocent man." He decides that he wants to do this secretly. So he doesn't cause her more ostracism and he doesn't seek to self justify himself because he's a man of faith, but he's also one who seeks peace and not one who wants revenge. Because he could have said, "My name has been impacted," but he does not do that.

So we're told that the angel comes and says, "Joseph, I know the appearance is that Mary has been unfaithful to you, but she's not been. As a matter of fact, she has consented to be submissive to the Lord to bring about the birth of the Son of God and that this is the child that is going to be born. And you're going to name him Jesus, Yahshua, the Lord saves because he will save his people from their sins. You see, Joseph, there's a greater plan of God at work than you know. And so I'm here to tell you so that you are not going to be afraid to take Mary as your wife, that you can continue to do so because she's not been unfaithful, but been faithful to the Lord just as you are a man of faith." And he says, "Now all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet.

Behold, the virgin shall be with child and shall bear a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel," which translated means God with us. And so the messenger of God says, "Joseph, this is what has taken place, but I'm going to also share with you scripture that justifies and foretells what is happening, that this isn't just some happenstance, but that God had foretold this long ago, and that this is what God is doing, even though he revealed it by his prophets beforehand, now God is taking action, and this is what's to happen. So you can be confident that Mary has been faithful and that you're to continue to take her as your wife, and you are to name the child Jesus or Yahshua because he is Emmanuel, God with us.

And now we see another thing. We find out that Joseph was a man of faith, and Joseph was one who didn't seek retribution or vengeance. But now we also see, "And Joseph awoke from his sleep, and did as the angel of the Lord commanded him, and took Mary as his wife." So we see that Joseph follows the commands of God. He does exactly what the angel does, and he does all that the angel does. So he's going to take Mary as his wife. He's going to name the child Jesus. He's going to be that guardian of the Son of God for as long as required of him, because he's going to do what the angel commanded.

But he kept her a virgin until she gave birth to the Son, and he called his name Jesus. So he follows up and does exactly what the angel has commanded him.

Oh, that we would be like Joseph, that we would be men and women of faith, that we would be people who seek peace, not vengeance or retribution, and that we follow the commands of the Lord, that we do all that he commands. Now there are things that he commands us to do that we may think are difficult. He tells us that we are to love one another, or to love our brothers and sisters in Christ, as he has loved us and gave himself for us. He doesn't say, "We're the love those who love us." He says, "We're to love like Christ's love." So these are the commands, and there are other commands. We're to believe in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. We are to rejoice always. We are to pray without ceasing. We are to seek the will of God. All of these things we are told to do, and all too often we do it when it's convenient.

Joseph did it because he was commanded, and we should be like Joseph and do what the Lord commands.

We are also told in the Scriptures that the apostles, the disciples, decided that they were going to preach the gospel after the resurrection.

And they had preached the gospel, and they had been arrested, and they had been beaten, and they were told they were not to testify of Jesus anymore.

And after having been released, they continued on doing what they had done. They continued to testify that Jesus had been crucified, that he was buried, and that on the third day he rose again according to the Scriptures. And they testified about it, and they re-arrested them and were not understanding why they didn't do what they had been commanded and instructed to do. And the disciples' response is this, "And when they had brought them, they stood them before the council, and the high priest questioned them, saying, "We gave you strict orders not to continue teaching in his name, and yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching

and intend to bring this man's blood upon us." But Peter and the apostles answered, "We must obey God rather than men." Their response is, "Yes, you told us what to do, but there's a conflict. You've told us not to preach. We have been told by God to preach. We must not that it's preference. No, we must obey God rather than men." And they were willing to suffer the consequence to obey God. All too often we're willing to obey God as long as it doesn't cause us consequence. But the apostles then said, "No, no, we're going to. We must obey God rather than men."

The God of our fathers raised Jesus, whom you have put to death, by hanging him on a cross.

He is the one whom God exalted to his right hand as a prince and a savior to grant repentance through Israel and the forgiveness of sins. And we are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey him.

Not only they are told not to preach and teach, they preach and teach to the very council who is telling them not to. So it's not just enough to say, "We must obey God," but in our obedience to God, we're going to even tell you what God has told us to do.

So they obey.

Paul also talks about obedience.

And people who quite don't understand what grace is, and grace is the unmerited favor

that God bestows. Unmerited means you don't deserve it. No one who's ever received grace deserves grace. It's unmerited. But because of that, a lot of people will say, "Well, then, doesn't that mean that you can sin all the while because God is just going to forgive and forgive and forgive?" And Paul answers that very question by saying, "What then shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace?" And his response is, "May it never be. We should not take the grace that God gives us as an opportunity to sin against Him." As a matter of fact, we are to be obedient in faith. And so he goes on to say, "Do you not know that when you are present yourselves or someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death or of obedience resulting in righteousness?"

Paul says, "There are two masters. There isn't a master of sin and a master of God, and somehow you're neutral in between. No, no, you either are a slave to God or you're a slave to sin. If you're not a slave to God, then you are, in essence, a slave to sin." And so Paul says, "You are not an independent actor. You have this sense of slavery." So he goes, "If you obey God, then you will be obedient to God, which will result in righteousness. But if you obey sin, then you will continue to be in your sin.

But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you are committed."

So he's saying, "Not only have we been set free from slavery and to the obedience of faith, which results in righteousness, because of the teaching, we are that because of our heart. We want to obey because we want to obey. We don't obey because we're supposed to. We obey because it is our nature. It is who we are. It is our desire to be." And so what Paul is arguing is saying, "Yeah, you could say, well, we are saved by grace and therefore I can sin." And Paul is going, "No, once you understand the teachings, your heart is going to be changed to not wanting to sin, but wanting to be obedient to God and to follow His teachings, to being from the heart.

And having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.

You've been committed that I am going to do righteousness because I'm bound to do righteousness,

not because again, I'm supposed to, but because my heart and my desire is to be pleasing to God."

Now, in Romans, he continues to say that, "Now to Him who is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery which has been kept secret for long ages past, he's saying, I've been preaching, but I'm not preaching something that's brand new. This is something that has been according to the revelation of Jesus and according to those things that have been prophesied by the prophets. So these things are been told to us. They're not a brand new experience.

Manau is manifested and by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment

of the eternal God has been made known to all the nations, leading to obedience of faith." Once we follow the scriptures, once we understand who God is, and once we understand what that

freedom has from freedom of being a child of God, from being a slave to sin, that we are now slaves of His, the scriptures lead us to that obedience of faith.

Again, obedience because it is our desire to do so, not because we're supposed to do so.

Peter, in 1 Peter chapter, verse 22 of 1 Peter 1, it says this, "Since you have an obedience to the truth, purified your souls for a sincere love of the brethren, fervently love one another from the heart."

Peter is telling us when we are obedient to God, that obedience to that truth causes us to be changed, that our souls are made purified, we become sanctified, we become holy in our souls.

And as a result of that purification, we then have a result that we have a sincere love

of our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. We do so, we don't love, and then purify our souls.

Purifying our souls causes us to love because all of a sudden we start understanding that it's not just about me.

Just as God so loved the world that He gave Jesus, now I understand that because of His love towards me, I purified my soul so that I'm no longer narcissistic and desiring only my thoughts, but that it's purified my soul so that I might have a sincere, not a hypocritical love.

And then it's fervently love one another from the heart.

There are times that we do what we're supposed to do because we're supposed to do it, but we don't do it from the heart.

When somebody does something from the heart, you can tell that it's more sincere. So for instance, when a child or someone says, "I'm sorry," because they've been told to do and their voice, in essence, they're being compelled to do it, yeah, they say the words, but you can tell that there's no meaning, there's no sincerity in it. But when somebody is truly sorry, when they are truly wanting forgiveness, you can tell when they say, "I'm sorry," it's genuine because it's from the heart.

The best way I can kind of describe this is that we're in the Christmas season and people give gifts and fortunately, unfortunately, because of courtesy and things, we give gifts because we're supposed to. You know, there's somebody in our family or somebody, our friend, we know they're going to give us something, so we're supposed to give something in return because that's what we're supposed to do. That's obeying because that's what we're supposed to do.

But there's also gifting because you really want to. And the best way I can describe this is the first year that my wife and I experienced Christmas, we were engaged, and I wasn't rich by any means, I had a job and I was going to school, and my wife's family was not as well off as I was, so I wasn't that well off for my family, so she had less. But because I loved her and because I wanted to give to her, and I got several different gifts because it's what I wanted to do, to express the love. And so I bought gifts maybe more generous than you might do, but it's because I wanted to do, not because, "Oh, we're engaged and she's expecting it." As a matter of fact, that's kind of some of my most fondest memories, is when we gave gifts to one another when we really didn't have much.

Now later in life, when Christmas comes, and it's almost like, "Well, what do you want for Christmas?" "Well, I don't know, what do you want?" It's most of the stuff that you get, you could have got anyway.

And so yeah, the gifting was there, and again, it was out of love mostly, but again, there's a certain obligation. But that first year before we were married, there was that sense of, "I really want to show you how much I love you. So I want to give you these gifts, not expecting that you're going to give me something even equivalent. What you're giving me is irrelevant to the fact that I want to give you something."

And that should be the way we are with God when He gives us commandments.

When He tells us to love one another, when He tells us to rejoice always, to pray without ceasing and everything give thanks, we should be responsive in that, not because we're supposed to, not because He told us to, but because we love Him. And we want to give these gifts out of love, out of that sincerity of that love.

Now God doesn't need anything.

As the scripture says, the cattle on a thousand hills, there is nothing that I can give Him. As a matter of fact, everything that I have is a gift from God. Even the breath that I breathe is a gift from God. So there's nothing I can give Him that expresses that fact because He doesn't need anything. So it's not a matter of, "I have something, I'm going to give it to you because you need it." I want to give Him the obedience of faith because I love Him.

And I'm desiring to show that love in response because He loved me first.

Joseph was a man of faith.

We should be people of faith.

Joseph was one who didn't seek vengeance or retribution.

He sought peace and the betterment of others.

And He did all that the Lord commanded.

And He did so not for a day. It was like, well, He took Mary as His wife and a few months later she delivered a child and then, no, no, He was the guardian of the Son of God.

He protected Him.

They moved according to the, because of the census and the taxing from Nazareth to Bethlehem. Jesus is born. They stayed in Bethlehem for a while until again, the angel tells them to go to Egypt because they're those who are seeking Jesus's life. And He does that. And then He takes the family when He's told that it's okay and He moves back to Nazareth. He does all that the Lord has commanded Him because He is one who is obedient to all that the Lord commands.

And may we emulate Joseph and do all that the Lord commands, not just today, not just tomorrow, not just for a week or for a month, but may we be obedient to God from the heart for the rest of our lives