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Good morning. My name is Joseph David-son. In the world of the Bible
I was better known as "Joseph, Son of David." If you'd like,
you can just call me Joe.
I'm not exactly sure how I arrived here this morning - I understand it's
the year 2001, soon to be 2002. Unbelievable. A few hours ago I was in
my hometown Nazareth, in the year 30 A.D. So, somehow I've been transported
across 2000 years of time and history, to find myself here in a land called
the USA - in your nation's Capital. A very different world from Jerusalem!
Arriving here this morning - I saw strange sights all around me -- these
colorful metal chariots on wheels...!
Well - let me tell you a little about myself. I've been hanging around
Christmas for a long, long time - but many people don't give me much thought
at Christmas time. (It's sort of like the father of the bride - he doesn't
get a lot of attention at the wedding. There are, for example, a lot of
Christmas songs about Jesus and Mary and angels and shepherds and Bethlehem
and wise men. But how many Christmas songs do you sing about me?) And
that's OK with me - in fact, I like it that way.
But I do have a story to tell that I think you might want to hear. And
if you know me a little better, it might help you to know my boy Jesus
a little better.
Well, I happen to be a descendent of David, Israel's greatest King. That
really isn't much to boast about - because David lived thousand years
before I was born and by the time I came along, there were hundreds, even
thousands, of people who had been descended from David. Yet it was something
I was proud of, the same way that some of you are proud of your ancestors
or family heritage.
Grew up in Bethlehem - little town about 7 miles south of David's city
- Jerusalem. As a young man, would go up north to the Hill Country, and
visit friends in Nazareth. In fact there is a line in your scriptures
that talks about Nazareth. It says "Can anything good come out of
Nazareth...!" But I didn't settle in Nazareth because it was a great
city. I went there to work my trade. I was a carpenter.
Have to tell you - I'm a practical man. I like to work with things you
can handle and measure, cut a saw. I like working with wood... It is an
honest job that requires integrity, character and strength just like the
wood I work with.
It was in Nazareth that I met Mary. I was in my 20's; she was in her
teen-age years. I managed to get a dowry together to pay the betrothal
price. Mary was an amazing young woman. She pondered life and I dreamt
of sharing my life with her.
Strange, isn't it, how quickly, almost overnight, dreams can turn to
nightmares and your hopes can be shattered. We were engaged (betrothed)
- eagerly anticipating our upcoming marriage. It was then that Mary became
strangely silent and distant ... she seemed to shut me out. I wondered
what I had done to alienate her. She said she needed to have some time
away, to be with her old aunt and Uncle - Elizabeth and Zachariah, who
lived in Hebron, to the south. So, she left Nazareth.
After a few weeks, I couldn't bear the separation, so I went to Elizabeth's
house to find her. And it was there that she finally broke down and told
me: She had seen a messenger from God, an angel, who told here she was
to become the mother of Israel's Messiah. She said she was pregnant by
the Holy Spirit.
Now I am a practical man and I'm afraid it was too much for me to even
try to believe. I felt devastated. "So you're telling me you're going
be the Messiah's mother - God Himself," I asked? And she said "yes!"
At first I wanted to lash out and humiliate her. I thought of all I could
do to make retribution for this... She had been unfaithful to me. According
to the ancient Law, I could have taken her to Elders at the gate and have
her stoned for promiscuity. But finally decided that I would just walk
away - break everything off quietly and say as little as I could - I would
not humiliate her, and still be true to myself.
So I left Mary at Elizabeth's home - I left angry and confused, and went
back to Nazareth.
But I couldn't get this thing out of mind. I couldn't sleep at night.
One night I had a dream, the FIRST of FOUR DREAMS - each one changed the
course of my life. Matthew tells my story very well in his Gospel. Let
me read you his words - chapter 1:18-24.
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. Because
Joseph her husband was a righteous man and 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 be with child and will 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.
Matthew told it just as it happened. "Don't be afraid..." She
will have a son: Immanuel -- God with us.... This dream was so clear,
so convincing, so compelling, I knew it was more than a dream - it was
a word from God to me.
Sometimes the ways and will of God are easy and logical and
predictable, and fit right into our plans. We understand what God is doing
- or going to do.
But then there are those times when the ways and will of God are so mysterious,
so incomprehensible, so unreasonable. Sometimes God just doesn't make
sense. Sometimes he cuts against the grain of conventional wisdom and
cultural reasoning.
What do you do when God's will cuts across your will - or the prevailing
winds of culture? What do you do when God's standards oppose yours or
the culture around you? You have two choices: You can do what you want
-- what feels right to you -- or Trust that God's way is the right way,
and obey.
NOTE: The pathway to joy is paved with the
stones of daily obedience.
A few days later Mary came back to Nazareth. And I went to her and apologized
about doubting her word. Several weeks later I took her as my wife, but
believe me we didn't know each other as husband and wife until after Jesus
was born. And of course, it didn't take little Nazareth long to see what
was happening. Mary was obviously pregnant and we had only been married
a few weeks. We were scorned, mocked, and ridiculed. But I stood by her
and she stood by me. And as painful as it was, there was a quiet joy in
our hearts because we knew we had said "yes" to God - Mary in
her way and me in mine.
The Birth: In her 9th month we had to make that 5-day trip to
Jerusalem to register for the census. When Jesus was to be born, time
and eternity intersected at that moment. I cut the cord and then held
eternity in my arms. Didn't make sense but it was wonderful!
Bethlehem - the House of Bread: And now the Bread of life was
being offered in an animal's feeding trough. This One who had spoken the
worlds into being lay there in a stable!
Majesty in midst of mundane: Holiness, framed by sheep manure
and
perspiration. Divinity entering the world on the floor of a stable, through
the womb of my sweetheart, in an obscure middle-Eastern village.
This baby, for all eternity, had overseen the universe. And now, the
omnipotent God -- larger than the universe -- in a millisecond, became
a microscopic cell in the womb of a woman. He who was in glory and grandeur
by choice was reduced to a tiny baby in a cradle.
He who was the Almighty became a nursing infant. He who was all-wise
took on the innocence of a newborn. He whom the heaven's couldn't contain
was enclosed in a woman's womb. He, before whom the angels had continually
cried, Holy Holy Holy, was born of a sinner into the world under the dominion
of sin. He who was unchanging, went through nine months of change to enter
our world of change. He who was all-knowing, had to communicate through
baby cries. He who was love -- was born outside a hotel because no one
had room for us in the inns. He who was the creator became a creature.
He who had always been spirit took on the frailty of a human body. He
who was eternal allowed himself to be bound by time. He was light was
entombed for nine months in warm blackness. He was holy lived under the
accusing shadow of being an illegitimate child. He was the sovereign God
became dependent upon a human man and woman for his food and clothing.
He who alone was self-sufficient -- had to be cleaned and nursed. He who
was life, was born with a death warrant around his neck.
Can there be a greater mystery; can there be a greater love?
And there He is -- lying in His cradle, and that cradle tells us something
so powerful and compelling and inviting: That God came to you and me --
not simply as our Savior, our Rescuer, Redeemer, but our Brother -- who
has tasted and experienced everything that makes life so full of meaning
-- and so full of misery.
After hectic time of census: We decided to stay in Bethlehem.
After all I couldn't go back permanently to Nazareth with all the gossip
flying there.
When our boy was a few months old some visitors from East came.
They brought gold and perfumes and spices. At the time, they didn't seem
like very practical gifts, we were ready for a couple of casseroles and
some fresh diapers. But these men -- with all their earthly wisdom --
told us that they had finally found Wisdom Incarnate in our little baby.
The SECOND DREAM: Matthew 2:13-14 tells the story accurately.
I was told to take child and go to Egypt. Why? His life is in danger in
Bethlehem didn't make sense to me. Why should the mighty Herod feel threatened
by a 6-month old baby? And to go to Egypt? Do you know what a good Jew
thinks of when He hears the word Egypt? Slavery, oppression, bondage,
cruelty. God delivered us FROM EGYPT, right?!
Lord, how will we live? We will be Aliens with not much money. "What
did the Magi bring you?" God asked. "Take it, and go; I"ll
provide for you!" We can get so comfortable so easily, so quickly...
"Be willing to stay, but be ready to leave."
So we went to Egypt. It was hard there. No friends, strange customs,
weird hair styles; a language we didn't know. We heard reports that King
Herod was seeking out and slaughtering hundreds of young infant boys.
Then it began to make sense. There we found the joy of the Lord. The
pathway to joy is paved with the stones of daily obedience.
After two years I had a THIRD DREAM: As our friend Matthew says
in Chapter 2:19-21, God told us to go back to Israel. Questions came to
my mind: Life in Egypt had been good for us. We'd just begun to settle
in and now we get a call to return to Israel. Lord, is it really safe?
What if? What about the talk -- all the gossip and accusations against
us in Nazareth? So I decided we'd go back to Bethlehem.
So we began the journey for Bethlehem. What joy there was going back
to our own nation. The pathway to joy is paved
with the stones of daily obedience.
Then we got the FOURTH DREAM: As Matthew says in Chapter 2:22-23:
God told us to go back to Galilee, back to Nazareth! The very place where
people laughed at us. The place where there were a lot of bad memories.
Lord, Why? (Because I need to fulfill the prophecy, he told us.)
So there we settled. I began to pour my life -- everything I knew about
life and carpentry and about God -- into this little foster son of mine
named Jesus. For the next 28 years we had the most incredible, indescribable
relationship as father and son.
There was a lot about him that seemed so ordinary. You sing that song,
"The little Lord Jesus no crying He makes" I don't know where
they got that from. He cried a lot. He kept us up at nights. He fell down
and skinned his little knees, and He bled. I held him on my lap every
night and told him stories. And he fell asleep. No miracles, no halos
of light over His head. But there was something about Him that made me
know He was no ordinary child.
Mary and I had other children -- loved them all so deeply -- But Jesus
-- what do you say when you're the stepfather of Immanuel -- God with
Us?
I taught him day by day - but then there were those painful moments when
He would teach me: Like at age 12 when we found him in the Temple -- Oh
the pain, anguish that comes to a Father's soul.
Looking around this room, I imagine most of you here have had children.
Let me say this -- next to your calling to be a follower of Jesus, there
is no higher calling than to be a parent. I was a foster parent - but
it didn't matter. Jesus was my boy. I left my thumbprint on his life,
and if you're a parent today -- you've done the same in the life of your
children. For good or for bad -- you've left your mark.
During those 30 years when I watched him grow from a baby to a boy to
a young man to a man -- I kept learning that lesson, and I tried to teach
Him, as well. The pathway to joy is paved with
the stones of obedience.
Then came the year that my boy turned 30. I was in my 50's, weak and
in poor health. One day Jesus came to me: "Father, it's time."
"For what?" I asked.)
"To die for you, and mom, and all of Israel, and all the world. For
this purpose I came into the world!"
He said I needed a Savior, and that three years later he would hang on
a Roman cross for my sins. I didn't understand that at all. He had talked
about being Lamb of God!
My job was done; my life calling was complete. He turned, walked away
and I stood in door of carpentry shop and said "good-bye!" I
guess left my thumb print on His hands; He left His thumb print on my
heart.
Well friends, that's my story. A pregnant fiancee, who claimed she was
still a virgin -- carrying the Son of God -- God's instructions not to
leave her -- to take her as my wife, and raise that little boy she's carrying.
Take my new bride and child into Egypt; go back to Nazareth. God's assignments
for me weren't easy. But I walked with God by faith, and learned to obey.
I'm just a simple man who heard the voice and call of God many times
in my life -- and each time wrestled with it. I don't think Mary wrestled
the way I did; she seemed to be able to accept God's call more simply,
more freely than I. But you need to hear from her!
 Mary
Speaks...
TRUST AND SURRENDER are the two words that have been the guiding lights
of my life.
Trusting in the goodness and bigness of God: "With God nothing is
impossible"
Surrendering my thoughts and my ways to His thoughts and His ways.
"For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher
than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts." Is 55:9
I dearly loved Yahweh and His gracious love for me had a great impact
on my heart and life even as a young women. I worshipped Him in the quietness
of my heart and tried to please him as I went about my life in the village.
It was a joyful time as I prepared for my wedding to my beloved Joseph.
It never occurred to me that the Creator of the Universe would be so
interested in the affairs of man. It continually amazed me that He really
does know each one of us intimately and cares deeply for us, His children.
My peaceful, simple ordinary life as a teenager, living in the obscure
village of Nazareth was suddenly interrupted by His divine messenger,
Gabriel, who stands in His presence. Yahweh, the King of the Universe
sent his messenger to me, a young ordinary women. It is still hard to
comprehend it even now.
Gabriel's words to me are found in the book Luke wrote (Luke 1:28-33).
"Highly favored! Found favor with God." (Remember
that I was favored AMONG women - NOT ABOVE WOMEN.) Yes, I needed
a Savior from my sin; we all do. God is love and He looks upon His trusting
children with delight. He is the gracious One, I simply responded to His
goodness and mercy in my heart and my life as best as I could as a child
and young women. He saw and it pleased Him! Amazing!
Gabriel was a brilliant light and his presence startled me. Then his
proclamation alarmed me! I, a virgin, who never knew a man, shall bring
forth a son, and call his name, Jesus! Son of the most High?
Gabriel's response was even more astonishing: "The Holy Spirit will
come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So
the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God! For with God nothing
is impossible."
In all of my confusion and amazement, I surrendered to the living God,
my Yahweh. "Behold, the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according
to thy word."
I surrendered (let go) my thoughts and my ways, my life! Isa 55:8-12
8 "For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD.
9 "As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
10 As the rain and the snow come down from heaven,
and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud
and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the
eater,
11 so is my word that goes out from my mouth:
It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and
achieve the purpose for which I sent it.
12 You will go out in joy and be led forth in
peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you..
I voluntarily yielded my to my Lord, and was enveloped in a brilliance,
not fully knowing what my future held! but I did know the One who held
my future.
I surrender my ways and my thoughts and my dreams. I let go.
I hurried to Elizabeth, my dear older relative, who had been barren for
so long and now was also miraculously with child, according to Gabriel...
I hurriedly made preparations for the long journey to her. Someone to
share with, both of us set apart for something very special and planned
by God Himself.
Elizabeth greeted me with such joy and delight and she spoke loudly such
old words: "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child
you will bear! But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should
come to me? My baby, in my womb has leaped for joy! Blessed is she who
has believed that what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished!"
God gave me the grace to believe. He gives each of us the grace to believe
as we let go and surrender to Him. Whoever believes -- out of his innermost
being shall flow rivers of living water.
I was also bursting with joy and excitement and responded with a flood
of praise to our gracious Heavenly Father: My soul does magnify the Lord,
and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior! He has regarded me a simple
young woman.
Trust and Surrender (in midst of the challenges and trials of life) bring
forth uncontainable rivers of joy and peace.
Graciously God spoke to my husband to be and he believe and trusted God
and kept me as his betrothed, even though I was with child. I am so thankful
for him, a wonderful blessing from God!
We traveled to Bethlehem: over 70 miles from Nazareth. The donkey ride
was long and difficult and cold and rainy. I didn't feel much like the
mother of the Son of God. We stopped often with me being so great with
child. As a result, we were later than most arriving to Bethlehem and
there was no room in any of the inns. I was very weary and even though
they were crowded with noisy people and animals, we wondered what will
we do? We couldn't sleep outside.
There was a kind man who felt compassion for us and offered a cave of
his that had sheltered his animals. We took a clean bale of hay and gave
some to our donkey and Joseph spread the rest on the dirt floor. It was
not what I expected, but I was thankful to be out of the cold and the
rain and a quiet place to rest. It turned out to be the only private,
quiet place for me to birth my first child with Joseph's help. I wrapped
him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a stone manger to keep him warm
and off the damp ground.
I pondered as I lovingly gazed upon Him how: "Long ago, God spoke
the stars into being and my life was just a thought in His mind. He might
have even smiled upon my childhood, with a twinkle in His eye, and plans
too sacred to be uttered.
Now God a newborn? Emmanuel -- God with us. With wide-eyed wonder He
gazes up at me -- His creation. His hand that hurled the world, now holds
tightly to my finger. Holy light fills my heart as I ponder it all awed
by the reality that I now hold the One who for so long held me."
My soul does magnify the Lord, and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior!
Excited shouting in the streets and suddenly the temple shepherds rushed
to our cave's entrance, breathless and bursting with awe and excitement!
(Shepherds had been watching over the temple sheep - who were raised to
be sacrificed. The temple lambs who were soon to be sacrificed -- maybe
they came to behold the Lamb of God who would take away the sin of the
world. They share the incredible news of and Angel telling them: Today
in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.
This will be a sign to you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and
lying in a manger. Then suddenly there
were hundreds of angels singing: "Glory to God in the highest and
on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests."
After they left stillness once again and I treasured all these things
and pondered them in my heart. Lord, you know that we are here in this
cave and that I placed your child, Your only-begotten Son in an animal's
trough. You planned this, for us to have some peace and some privacy in
this noisy, busy town, as we take in these supernatural events. From Heaven,
you really do see all things, and you know all things, whatever we do
even in small, sheltered caves.
I am awed by your ways, Yahweh, and what ever the future holds for your
Son, help me to trust you always.
Lord, Help me to trust you and to surrender to you each day. Your favor,
your grace, your goodness is for all those who trust and believe as they
surrender their lives, their circumstances. With God, nothing is impossible.
I give you my life, my child, my all. Behold, the handmaid of the Lord,
be it unto me according to thy word."
 Joseph
Concludes...
Those words seem to sum up Mary's heart before God. In our own way, we
both learned what Paul would write many years later!
I urge you therefore, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a
living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your service of
worship. And do not be conformed. Be transformed by the renewing of your
mind, that you may prove what the will of God is-- the will of God which
is good, and acceptable, and perfect. (Rom 12:1,2) I know one thing. The
will of God is always GOOD & PERFECT, but many times it's not easy.
Not comfortable, not logical, not popular.
Some of you here today are wrestling with God in your lives. I know what
it is to wrestle. After all, there were a lot in my life when God just
DIDN'T MAKE SENSE... He still doesn't. There were so many times when I
believed my doubts, and doubted my beliefs. But I somehow came down on
the side of obeying God. I learned to say YES to God. When conventional
wisdom was screaming -- "do it your way, Joseph; God's way is too
hard, too uncertain, too costly!" I had to learn to walk by God's
wisdom, and not the world's.
What are your struggles today? With a relationship, habit, your health,
attitude, guilty conscience? Deep within you can hear the voice of God
speaking to you: bring that area to Me, share this struggle with another
Christian friend, talk to someone about it, be vulnerable, confess, repent!
God spoke to Mary and me in dreams or angelic messengers -- because we
lived before the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. I knew about the Holy
Spirit, but I didn't have Him living inside me. What a great advantage
you have. You have the power and presence of the Holy Spirit WITHIN YOU
to strengthen and sustain you, and give you the power to obey God's call
on your life. You have one another! And greatest thing of all -- you have
the words of Jesus and His apostles in a part of the Bible I didn't have
-- the New Testament. You have the full Word of God. Read it, study it,
memorize it, believe it, obey it!!.
But it's still not easy, I know. Trusting and obeying God never has been
easy. So simple, but not easy. But I found it's the only way to knowing
a peace that the world can't give, and that the world can't take away...
Mary would echo those words with me! The pathway
to joy is paved with the stones of daily obedience.
Trust and obey, for there's no other way to be happy in Jesus than to
trust and obey. That's what our life was all about. Hearing the call of
God, wrestling with the call of God -- and doing all we could to trust
and obey. Sure we had doubts and questions. But we learned that God's
ways were a lot better than our own. So we held on in the midst of our
apprehensions and doubts, and by faith we followed Him, and I learned
to say a little more each day, "Yes, Lord -- I choose Your will,
I choose Your way; I'll follow where You lead."
That's all I could do. That's all Mary could do. And that's all you can
do. And at the end of the day, that's all God asks you to do.
©2001 - Coleman Tyler
and the New Life Series - All Rights Reserved -
In order to receive permission to duplicate any portion of this presentation
please contact the The New Life
Series
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