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.

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