Answering the Question and Simple Obedience...Matthew 1:18-25

 


I look for crosses everywhere.  I saw one on the side of a mountain the other day.  I should have taken a picture of that.  This cross is behind the church I am serving in Colorado.  I look forward to sitting beneath this cross and spending some time in prayer after a little more snow melts.  I will have to take a picture of what I see from that vantage point.  I can guarantee you there will be some mountains.

Our study of the Gospel of Matthew will take us to the most important cross, the one Jesus hung on, the one that really matters.  We are at the start of that journey.  Jesus is coming in this passage by divine intervention, "of the Holy Spirit."  Joseph accepts the explanation and fulfills the commands Father God gave to him through the angel who met him in the dream.  It is an important point that Joseph is described prior to this big news from the angel as a "just" man, a "righteous" man, "an observer of divine laws."  Joseph was already going to God's word to understand what to do with the news that his betrothed wife Mary was found to be with child before they had come together.  Option #1 was to have Mary stoned.  Option #2 was to give Mary a certificate of divorce.  He had settled on option #2 and then God gives Joseph another option in the form of 3 commands.

Command #1 - Take Mary as your wife.  It is time to retrieve your bride.

Command #2 - Call the Son's name Jesus.

Command #3 - Fulfill the words of God.  The prophet said...

Joseph fulfills command #1 and took Mary as his wife and brought her into his home.

Joseph fulfills command #2 and called the Son's name Jesus, 8 days after the birth at the circumcision.

Joseph fulfills command #3 and fulfilled God's words and kept Mary, his wife, a virgin to conceive the Christ child as it says in Isaiah 7:14.

Simple obedience is so necessary in the life of a Christian.  When the big event comes in your life, will you be ready to be an observer of divine laws?   What prepares you for that moment is simple obedience in the little events of life.  Don't be waiting for the big moments to be obedient because if you haven't been obedient in the little moments you most likely won't be obedient in the big moment.  You will probably be torn by other voices creeping in giving you different options than the one that God has for you.  

I am thankful that when Joseph went to God's word for what to do that God gave him instruction on what to do.  It is so with us.  If you come to God genuinely seeking His way even after wandering down your own path, He will give you and me some simple commands to be in obedience to follow.  Let's be like Joseph and follow our God in simple obedience every day.

Adam



A simple man serving a great God and the local pastor of Stillwater Community Chapel (stillwater-chapel.org). We are in our 38th year of full time ministry. God directed us to this local body of believers on the Western Range of the Rockies to grow with them in mission and mindedness of Christ.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Galatians #15 - Galatians 6:11-18 - "On The Road Again..."

Image
  Another week closer and it involves some more travel for the Wolfgangs.  I feel like the Willy Nelson song, " On the road again... "  I don't know if I agree with the next line though. " ...I can't wait to get on the road again. " One of the members of the church in Wisconsin calculated that I will travel well over 10,000 miles to make this transition.  Traveling mercies prayers please. Last Sunday we will look at Paul's final words to the churches in Galatia.  He brought them the gospel (good news) message of Jesus and what resulted were churches forming throughout the region.  The letter is to defend that message that our salvation comes from and is in Christ alone.  Christ's sacrifice on the cross was sufficient for the forgiveness of our sins.  The summary statement of the letter is found in  Galatians 6:15 (LSB) .  " For neither is circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation. "  Translated another way earlier in  Ga
Read more

God gave us a good weather window to travel...yeah God!!!

Image
  Berthoud Pass Here we are at the top of Berthoud Pass.  It was a whirlwind week to conduct a " hand off " service in Wisconsin on 3/17 and then preach a Palm Sunday sermon in Colorado on 3/24.  We give God all the glory for this happening.  So there are two video links at the bottom of this blog.  One is for the Wisconsin service and the other is for the Colorado service.  I racked up over 12,000 in the last 7 weeks.   I love to take these pictures sitting from the front row of chairs and listening to the one God has provided for the church I had been serving for 20 months.  I now have 3 and I am so thankful for the opportunity God gave us to serve Him in this type of ministry over the last 5 years.  It has been great to add to our daily prayer list Zach in Maine, Chris in Ohio and now Stephen in Wisconsin. This was our set up for the 2000+ mile trip.  No " hiccups " except for the strong eastern winds in Kansas.  Of course everything was quite a bit dirtier when
Read more

Resurrection Sunday in a new space...Matthew 27.62-28.20

Image
  Resurrection Sunday has come and gone but it was a sweet day to be with the gathered saints of the Stillwater Community Chapel .  We are venturing through the Gospel of Matthew and this Sunday will take us back to Matthew 1.1 but last Sunday we were in Matthew 27.62-28.20.  It was a lot to cover so the white board was truly a help to keep me on track.  This year in my Resurrection Sunday message, I focused on the contrast of the cover-up story of the disciples stealing the body of Jesus fueled by a bride and the commission of speaking of a risen Lord fueled by boldness . After the service upstairs, we ventured downstairs to the lower level and had a great meal together.  The conversations around the tables allowed us to continue to talk about the passage of Scripture we covered upstairs.  Maybe this is a very informal picture of what happens at the  Waushara Community Church called the " Going Deeper " classes of the Come For More hour following the Sunday morning worshi
Read more