Father, you know how sometimes we're very afraid of questions.
Sometimes we're very afraid of our own questions.
You know, Father, that some of us are afraid to let people around us know that we follow Jesus.
Father, you know that some of us have problems with addictions or with bills
or just things in our life that make us very, very fearful.
Father, you know that some of us are just fearful about the way society is.
And Father, we give you thanks and praise that you know our fears.
And we ask that you would gently but deeply pour out your Holy Spirit upon us
so that your word, Father, might enter deep into us,
that we might be free and courageous as your word enters into us
and we might live not only in this city but to the ends of the earth,
free and full of courage to bring you glory.
And this we ask in the name of Jesus, your Son and our Savior. Amen.
Please be seated.
Some of you have been to my house over the years and for 14 and a half years
we've had a little, a tiny little white dog named Pixie,
only weighed about three and a half pounds.
We have two other dogs that are far bigger but we have this little dog, Pixie,
that we've had for 14 and a half years.
He's been part of our family and on Friday night he died.
She died, I should say.
Her name was Pixie and she died and it was very sad.
She has been sick for a couple of months and we could see her fading
and she'd probably become blind and probably become deaf and wasn't eating
but it's still very sad when she dies, when she died.
And yesterday my daughter Emma dug a hole in the backyard and we buried her.
And last night I had a dream.
And in my dream, and I wasn't always the biggest Pixie fan, by the way,
but in the dream, I had a dream about Pixie last night.
And in the dream it was like Pixie on steroids.
She wasn't three and a half pounds, she was at least 10 pounds or maybe even 11.
So quite big for Pixie and quite muscular and frisky and I had a dream about her.
And that's all very, ah.
But what on earth does that mean?
I mean, what does it mean?
So I had a dream about Pixie.
You know, if you think about it, on one hand, if we were to go to a party
and start telling people about our dreams and maybe what they mean and all of that type of stuff,
you know, our neighbors would actually think,
wow, you know, you Christians aren't quite as anal as I thought.
Like, you know, you have cool dreams and stuff and you talk about them.
On the other hand, like what's going on with this in the story?
Like if one of you was engaged to be married to somebody,
like I would, you know, you're engaged to be married to a woman,
you're a guy and you're engaged to be married to a woman,
and she's pregnant.
She gets pregnant after you're engaged,
and you know that the baby's not yours.
I mean, you probably wouldn't go ahead and marry her.
And if you told your buddies that you'd had a dream the night before
and because of the dream you were going to marry the woman,
they'd go, oh, come on, dude, bro.
Like, it's just a dream.
Like, the dream just means you like her.
It doesn't mean, it means you still have some feelings for her.
It doesn't mean you marry her.
I mean, she's pregnant with another guy's baby,
and she did that when she was engaged to you.
How on earth could you go ahead?
Like, the dream just doesn't cut it.
I mean, and the other thing about this story which we just read,
which is also very odd if you think about it,
like, what's going on with Joseph?
Like, I don't know.
Like, he never had a dream before in his life,
and this was a complete surprise, so he went ahead and did it.
Like, did he move every time he had a dream that told him to move?
Like, did he name every one of his kids, you know, like, after a dream?
Like, what's going on with Joseph?
Like, why on earth would he take a particular dream
and think that that means he has to do something like,
go against his own inclinations
and the inclinations of all of his friends and all of his family
and probably all of the village?
And like, why on earth, out of all the dreams,
would this particular dream be any type of significance for him?
Like, you know, apart from the fact
that there's sentimental attachments to this story,
it's like it's really odd and weird if you think about it.
So we're going to look at it.
Like, what was it that in this dream
that would have changed Joseph's complete and utter life?
So let's look.
If you have your Bibles, it's Matthew 1, verse 18.
If you don't have your Bibles, there's at least one Bible there.
We can get more as well.
If you'd like, you can just get up and get it.
And if you have a phone with data and you're on YouVersion,
you go to events, the notes and all are there as well
if you want to follow along.
But here's how it goes.
Just look.
Like, is there some hint or clue within the biblical narrative
as to why on earth Joseph did something which,
if we're frank, like if it was your brother,
if it was your best friend, if it was your son,
and he came and told you that it was because of a dream
that he was going to go ahead and marry the girl,
like, you'd give him a hard time, right?
So is there some hint in the biblical text about this
that helps us try to understand what's going on
so it's not just weird?
And so here's how it goes.
Matthew 1.18.
Now, the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way.
When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph,
and some of you, if you're a guest here
and you have never come to a Christmas service before,
in the ancient world, there were sort of two very formal events.
It's not like today, where basically the big thing
is just the wedding.
In Jesus' time, there was like a very formal ceremony
that made you engaged.
And it was so formal that if you broke the engagement,
you'd actually have to have a divorce procedure.
And it was so formal that if your fiancé died
after this ceremony, you'd actually be considered
a widow or a widower,
even though you hadn't actually been married.
So Mary and Joseph had the first solemn event,
but the second solemn event where they actually live together,
have sexual relations with each other,
where they're, you know, in a sense, in our sense, fully married,
that hasn't happened yet.
Okay?
So that's just a bit of background.
So we'll say it again.
When his mother Mary, in verse 18 still,
had been betrothed to Joseph,
before they came together,
she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit.
And just pause there again for a second.
There isn't, if you're wondering,
there's no ancient category of people claiming
to have children from the Holy Spirit.
Basically, it's a summary of what,
Matthew just giving a very short summary
of what Mary told him.
You can hear more about that if you read Luke.
But Mary has obviously,
she's probably about four months pregnant,
so she's starting to show.
And it can't be kept secret.
And she's come back to the village.
And she goes and she has what must have been
the world's most awkward meeting imaginable,
where she tells Joseph that she's four months pregnant,
or five months or whatever,
she's four or five months pregnant,
and that she'd never slept with another man,
and that in fact God had come to her
and asked her permission for him
to do a miracle of creation in her womb,
and in our language to put a fetus in her womb.
And that would have been a very, very awkward conversation.
And Matthew just very touches by saying
a child from the Holy Spirit.
And then we see in verse 19,
and her husband Joseph being a just man,
that means he was fair, he was just.
Everything that we take with this idea
of being a just person,
that also would include for us a sense of compassion.
That's how Joseph's described.
And unwilling to put her to shame,
resolved to divorce her quietly.
Now just sort of pause here for a second.
This is one of the things which is really important
for us to remember is just because Joseph
didn't have BuzzFeed in Instagram
doesn't mean he's stupid.
In fact, you could even say that
if you use too much Instagram in BuzzFeed,
it makes you stupid.
So he might have been smarter.
But just because he didn't use flush toilets
doesn't mean he's stupid.
Those are just technological things.
It doesn't mean they, you know,
it's very, very interesting.
If you go and try to read old books,
like if you go try to read Augustine
or older writing,
it's hard for us to read it.
And part of the reason it's hard for us to read it
is that they're so logical.
And they think so deeply upon
slight nuances in words.
And we don't realize it,
but in fact, we've lost something
that they were very smart.
And he knew how babies came about.
And basically he didn't buy it.
Yeah, right.
God came to you.
We're here in Nowheresville.
And you're nobody.
Your parents are nobodies.
Your grandparents are nobodies.
You're a nobody.
I'm a nobody.
We're in Nowheresville.
And God came and spoke to you
and said he was going to make
an act of creation in your womb
to make you pregnant.
And Joseph didn't believe it for a second
because he's not a dumb guy.
But he's a just guy.
I don't know what he was thinking.
And it doesn't tell you whether he ranted
and all that type of stuff privately
or how depressed he was.
Maybe he wanted to, I don't know,
whatever he wanted to hurt her.
But he comes to his senses
because fundamentally he's a just guy
and he decides I'm going to divorce her.
That's the right thing to do.
But I'm going to do it quietly
and to try to minimize her embarrassment and shame.
And then verse 20.
But as he considered these things,
behold, an angel of the Lord
appeared to him in a dream saying,
Joseph, son of David.
So this is with the angel.
This is Matthew's,
Joseph's summary
that Matthew would have learned much later.
Joseph, son of David,
do not fear to take Mary as your wife
for that which is conceived in her
is from the Holy Spirit.
She will bear a son
and you shall call his name Jesus
for he will save his people
from their sins.
Now,
look again here how it says,
look at verse 20 again,
an angel of the Lord
appeared to him in a dream saying,
now it's,
you can sort of see it in English.
It's more obvious
in the original language.
But if you could put the first point up,
that would be very helpful.
Here's the point.
Joseph did not dream about an angel.
The angel of the Lord
took over Joseph's dream
and spoke to him by name.
Joseph did not dream about an angel.
The angel of the Lord
took over Joseph's dream
and spoke to him by name.
In the original language,
all of the language is passive.
It's not about Joseph
waking up the next day
and saying,
I had a dream
and in my dream,
I saw an angel
and in my dream,
I heard an angel say this.
Everything that mentions Joseph
is in the divine passive sense,
which is a tense
in the original language,
that something or another,
Joseph,
rather than being the dream
coming from Joseph's mind
or his unconscious
or his subconscious
and emerging out of it,
all of a sudden,
he becomes passive.
And the active person
in the dream
is the angel of the Lord.
The implication is
that Joseph isn't dreaming
of an angel.
The angel takes over
Joseph's dream.
Now, it doesn't describe
psychologically what that's like,
but it would be a little bit like
if you watch certain types
of movies,
of which I am prone to watch,
I must confess,
where there's a terrorist
or some evil criminal mastermind
who happens to have
an unbelievable computer hacker
who can effortlessly
take over systems
or it's an alien invasion.
And, you know,
you've seen those types of movies
that all of a sudden,
I don't know,
they're watching the NFL
or they're watching The Crown
on Netflix
or something like that.
You know,
maybe your wife's upstairs
watching The Crown
on Netflix,
you're downstairs
watching the NFL
and all of a sudden
you see some crazed
Russian megalomaniac
giving you some message
about how he's going
to destroy the society.
And you see that
in the NFL game
and your wife upstairs
watching The Crown
on Netflix,
she sees it as well
and then you kind of
change the channel
and every channel you go to,
just like in the movies,
all of a sudden
every single channel
it's the same guy.
And then you go
to turn the TV off
and you can't turn the TV off,
it's the same guy.
And this megalomaniac terrorist
has taken control
of your television
and every single
television channels
and even the internet feeds
that give you news flick
and you know,
and in the movies
they go,
it's on every channel.
And then you all
look panicked.
And of course,
there's some,
you know,
former loser,
drug addict,
alcoholic with his
nerdy buddy
who'll save the movie
at the end of the day.
But that's the movie.
Here's the real thing.
But the implication is,
right,
if you saw that TV,
you'd know that somebody
had taken over
the television
and taken over
all of the feeds.
Impossible in real life,
by the way,
but that's a separate thing.
In this thing,
the language is
that the angel
takes over Joseph's dream
and while it doesn't tell you
all the psychological
things about it,
I mean,
I'm sure he had all these
conversations with Mary
and his buddies about it,
the scriptures are very,
very sparse.
But the angel
takes over the dream.
And Joseph,
who's probably had
many,
many dreams,
hundreds,
thousands of dreams,
this is not like
any other dream,
all of a sudden
he's passive.
The angel
has taken over
the dream
and Joseph
knows it.
Why would Matthew
believe this,
do you think?
And why should you
and I maybe
believe this?
You know,
here's the thing
about Matthew.
Those of you
who are long-term
Christians
might know
a little bit
about it,
but Matthew,
he was a hard-headed
businessman.
He was a tax collector
and in those days
that meant
he would have
had staff,
he would have
had to work,
he would have
been literate
because he'd
have to read
financial documents
and he was
one who would
have gone around
to the different
people in the region
to collect the taxes
from them.
It means he would
have been very,
very shrewd
in telling when
a person's giving
him a whole pile
of,
you know,
bull
and he would
be very,
very shrewd
at trying to look
at and figure out
just from the way
you were living
in your house
how much money
you had
and how many
crops you had
and be able
to get the right
taxes
and he would
have been able
to understand
that he had
to get a,
you know,
the more he could
get,
the more he would
pocket because he
just gives a lump
sum to the Romans
and that's Matthew
and in the Gospels
it never goes into
too much about
how it is
that Jesus,
there was just
something remarkable
about Jesus
that was so remarkable
that Matthew
was willing to
leave his tax
collector stuff
to follow Jesus
but then,
you know,
when it came time
at the end
when Jesus dies
upon the cross,
Matthew,
who's a shrewd
guy,
he knows how
the world works,
he knows how
money works,
he knows how
people work,
he's literate
but he doesn't
believe that Jesus
rose from the dead
and so Matthew
just like all
of the other
apostles,
he leaves Jesus,
it's the complete
end of all
of his dreams.
Matthew has taken
a sabbatical
from making his money,
he's probably thinking
I'm just going to
go back to making
money because I
thought Jesus
was special,
he was special,
there was something
real about him,
something that was
sane about him,
something that was
compassionate about him
and now he's dead
and what changed
Matthew is the
resurrection.
It changed Matthew
so much that the
records are that
Matthew never went
back to making
lots of money
and rather than
making lots of money
he spent the rest
of his life
telling people
that Jesus
came from God
and that Jesus
had died upon the
cross and he rose
and he defeated
death and not only
does Matthew do
this in Jerusalem
but he eventually
does it in what
we now call Iran
and he does it
in what we now
call Ethiopia
and it's in Ethiopia
that because of his
proclamation he's
murdered as a direct
order from the king
who didn't want him
disturbing their
pagan society.
What changes it for
Matthew is the
resurrection.
That's what should
change it for you
and me.
The resurrection
changes everything
and it's not just
that there's this
odd conjuring trick
with bones that's
done to the body
of Jesus but
the resurrection
Jesus tells us
that in his
all of the historical
documents record
how Jesus tells
people that he's
coming he's come
to earth to die
upon the cross
and after he dies
on the third day
he will rise from
that he tells his
disciples that he
tells people that
and it's not just
that there's this
odd conjuring
trick with bones
but it all takes
place Jesus said
he's fulfilling
what we call the
Old Testament and
Jewish people call
the Tanakh that it
fulfills the Tanakh
in other words that
it's not just some
idle prophecy that
just may it's not
like Jesus is some
type of David Blaine
but that there's
this there's thousands
hundreds centuries
and centuries of
stories and of
narrative and of
philosophy and of
theology and of
wisdom and of
insight and it's in
all of this context
that Jesus says he
comes to fulfill it
I'm going to die
on the cross I'm
going to rise from
the dead even though
the cross is a sign
of shame I'm going
to rise from the
dead and it vindicates
Jesus it vindicates
its message and it
means that Matthew is
willing to completely
and utterly turn his
life around because
he's an actual
witness on many
occasions of the
resurrected Jesus
and so these stories
that he would have
heard from his early
days of following
Jesus that Mary never
knew a man that God
did a work of a
miracle in Mary's
womb and now these
stories of Joseph of
how he was because
you know Matthew
would have said come
on dude why on earth
did you marry her when
she was pregnant and
Matthew would have
said I mean Joseph
would have said or
told people you know
and Matthew would have
heard eventually that
it was all you know
that the angel took
over my dream and he
spoke to me by name
and he told me what's
gone on
angel took over my
dream and Matthew
then would have
believed it
Matthew would have
believed it that's
that's in a sense why
why we can believe it
as well
now just one other
little thing here this
is really more of a
bit of a timeout I
just want to share
something with you
you know I one of the
things which is so
wonderful for this
story if you're a
Christian
when I get asked to
pray for somebody who
has dementia when I
get asked to pray for
somebody who's in a
coma and they're
unresponsive stories
like this give me so
much hope I can have
the people I can have
the family members and
I can say you know
what we cannot reach
this person but Jesus
can reach them wherever
wherever they are lost
in dementia lost in the
coma Jesus can speak to
them in their dreams so
why don't we pray we'll
pray for healing of the
body we'll pray for
healing of the mind we'll
pray for healing but let's
also pray that Jesus will
meet them where they are he
can do what we can't and I
find that a profound comfort
when I have to pray for
somebody who's lost in
Alzheimer's or lost in a
coma that Jesus could speak
to Joseph the angel in a
sense could take over the
dream and speak let's pray
that God will do this for a
loved one but back to this
one of the problems that
many of us have with what
the angel said is that the
word saved is corny like you
don't think it's corny go to
an office party this week and
say hi I'm George I'm saved
the whole room would probably
stop talking everybody's
eyeballs would hit the top of
their right through the eyes
heads would all shake
chiropractors would have to
be visited within the next few
days because people would go
oh you're saved and if you
wanted to make sure that you
went to a party and nobody
talked to you for the rest of
the night just begin by
saying hi I'm George or
whatever your name is I'm
saved and you can have a
nice quiet party for the
rest of the evening because
nobody will talk to you
because it's corny it's the
sort of thing that if a comic
wants to get a laugh he can
talk about yeah I met this
guy at a party said he was
saved oh the whole room
laughs so it's corny so it's a
bit of a problem for us
Canadians if we're honest about
this language let's but you
know let's look look again at
this at the text and we'll see
what we can do with it look
again at verse 20 but as he
that's Joseph considered these
things behold an angel of the
Lord appeared to him in a dream
saying Joseph son of David do
not fear to take Mary as your
wife for that which is conceived
in her is from the Holy Spirit
she will bear a son and you
shall call his name Jesus and
Jesus by the way means God
saves for he will save his
people from their sins all this
took place to fulfill what the
Lord had spoken by the prophet in
the prophets Isaiah it's about
700 years earlier behold the
virgin shall conceive and bear a
son and they shall call his name
Emmanuel which means God with us
so part of that's what the angel
said and part of that's what
Matthew said right but here's the
first thing if you could put it up
Jesus alone I'm going to make it
worse for you okay I'm going to
make it weirder for you because the
Bible here doesn't actually leave us
any option Jesus alone saves me from
my sins and he alone saves you from
your sins Jesus alone saves me from
my sins and he alone saves you from
your sins he doesn't come along and
say I'm going to work with you as you
get saved from your sins he doesn't
say I'm going to help you get
saved from your sins he doesn't say
I'm going to inspire you to get saved
from your sins and he's not saying
I'm just going to help you get saved
from sin in general, as if somehow or another you're some noble soul trapped amongst a whole
group of idiots in the world, although you might feel like that day after day. He's not saying,
you're a noble soul trapped in a world filled with idiots, and I'm going to save you from it.
No, the message is very, very clear, very, very simple, very, very pointed, very, very angular,
and for us Canadians, very, very uncomfortable. But if it actually is God saying it,
and you see, that's the implication here. It's not just that there's some interesting spiritual
being called an angel. It's the angel of the Lord. The implication is that all the angel is
is God's mouthpiece to say what God wants to say to Joseph. And then Matthew makes it clear by saying
that God actually does the same thing through the prophet Isaiah and says something very,
very similar, that it's one God who speaks, that this is God. And the significance of it is that
it's God interpreting the meaning of the action that he has done. So the text is saying that God
is the one who does a miracle, a miracle of creation in the womb of Mary, so that Mary,
who has never known a man sexually, now she becomes pregnant. It's a miracle of creation
within the womb of Mary, that God does this. He does it completely. And then he gives the
interpretation, the meaning, the significance, what was going on in his mind, what was going on in his
heart, what is his understanding of why he did what he did. And he said, I'm doing this so that you,
George, will be saved not from sin in general, but from your sins.
Now, when I share about Jesus with people, I don't usually use the language of save from their sins,
because for many people, that's a bridge too far. It's too hard for them to understand.
But it, and when I became a Christian, when I was in grade 12 and I became a Christian,
what led me to becoming a Christian wasn't the sense of my sin, but it was a sense of,
in my case, it was a sense of profound emptiness and probably a large dose of despair.
And a sense that as I came to know some Christians, and as I came to understand more about Jesus,
that there was a type of fullness and wholeness that I needed,
that I could only get from Jesus. And that's what led me to go to give my faith to Jesus.
And so often when I talk to people, but here's why the language is so important for us.
You see, eventually we need to be gripped with this language, even though it's something that
would cause people to mock us. The thing about sin, which is significant, is it specifically entails God.
You see, I might be very conscious of the different ways that I've wronged my wife,
or the different ways that I've wronged my children. And I might think that I've done something wrong.
I might say that I've done something bad, and I might feel guilty about it, but it's very easy for me
to go through life feeling bad about things that I've done, but God is still completely and utterly absent.
It's entirely a universe of me thinking I've done things wrong, or me thinking I've done things right,
but it's an universe where there is no God, or if there is a God, he's very distant,
he has no particular views on anything. But the language of sin specifically entails God.
It's the language of saying that there are things that I do that either cause me to turn my back on God,
or ignore God, or push God away, or resent God, or just continually live my life as if God does not exist.
And the language of sin encompasses that, and that's why it's so important for us to keep it,
even if it becomes something that it's hard for us to share with another person trying to become a Christian,
but it's important for us to always keep that before ourselves,
that we don't live in a universe where God doesn't exist.
We don't live in a universe where God is off on a vacation, and everything is running on its own.
We live in a universe where God created all things, and where God sustains every single atom,
every single molecule, every single planet. God sustains everything in existence.
He keeps it going. It's ordered, and it's not closed to him.
And that's why he can speak through angels, and that's why he can speak through his word,
and that's why in this universe that he keeps ordered, he can do acts of creation within it.
It's how he has to come to do something to save us.
Why do I have to be saved?
I'm not just being saved because I live in a world filled with idiots.
I mean, you're saying that about me, right?
I mean, you know, just, you know.
It's that I live my life in such a way that my posture towards God
means that I am in the greatest possible danger,
and I cannot do anything to deliver myself from that greatest possible danger,
and that God needs to do everything that's required to be done
for me to be delivered from the grave danger that I personally am in.
And that's what the angel says.
That's why Jesus is coming into this world
to do what only God can do,
because Jesus is also God.
See, that's why some of you say,
I've heard people say to me, you know,
when I talk to people in coffee shops and stuff like that,
you know, the Bible is so full of contradictions, George.
Like, you know, I was in church, like, last Christmas,
and they say, yeah, and you shall call his name Emmanuel,
and then he named him Jesus.
Like, is there some way in Greek or something
that Jesus and Emmanuel are the same thing?
Like, and then they'll say, you know,
gosh, you religious people and spiritual people can be so annoying.
You don't even notice contradictions, you know?
But just look at it again.
Look at it again.
What does it say?
Verse 21,
She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus,
for he will save his people from their sins.
That's the end of the angels thing.
And then Matthew starts speaking.
All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet.
Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
and they shall call his name Emmanuel.
It actually says not that Joseph's going to call him Emmanuel.
Notice that?
It's what people will say.
And what does Emmanuel mean?
It means God with us.
I mean, that's going to be what leads Matthew
to leave making piles of money.
And he would have had to not only,
if he didn't already know,
he probably would have already known Greek and probably Latin,
but he would have gone to Persia,
and he would have been,
probably like good missionaries today,
he would have learned what Persians speak
so he could speak their heart language.
And then he would have been felt,
led by God to leave there
and go to what we now know of as Ethiopia
and to not only speak Greek,
but to learn their heart language,
to tell people that the one God
who created all things,
that God in the person of his Son
came and walked with us,
that he's with us,
that he is not against us,
that he doesn't hate us,
that he hasn't abandoned us,
but that he's with us,
and he came to be with us,
and because he's with us for us,
he died for us.
He died for you in Ethiopia.
He died for you in Persia.
Can you put up the next thing?
Jesus is God with us
to justify, sanctify, and glorify.
Jesus is God with us
to justify,
that sort of theological language for me,
make you and me right with God,
to give us new life,
to be spiritually reborn,
so that we're now God's child.
Sanctify means that he's with us
as we do our day,
to become more holy,
to start to live a life
that's more pleasing to him,
where we don't keep him at a distance,
but we recognize that Jesus
redeems us,
and then we live our lives,
our 24-7 lives with him.
And glorify means
that Jesus,
who comes into our life
to be the Savior,
to reconcile us to God,
and then he walks with us
throughout the life,
and then when we come to the valley
of the shadow of death,
and we enter into death,
that he's the one who glorifies us,
that it's all Jesus.
It's all grace.
It's all something that he does.
And so there's no contradiction here.
There's this just wonderful,
God comes among us
to save us.
He's with us.
He doesn't despise us.
He doesn't hope we fail.
He knows us because he's with us,
and he's with us.
Just one thing now
in closing,
a question to you and me.
Are you brave enough
to be a Christian?
Am I brave enough
to be a Christian?
You know,
the reason many people
don't give their lives
to Jesus,
and if you're here
and you're not a follower of Jesus,
I really don't,
I mean,
you might have lots
of very, very good objections
and questions
and stuff that you need
to be answered,
and hopefully there's Christians
in your life
who are never afraid
of questions
and will answer them
and will love you,
but you know what?
It's very countercultural
to say that you're going
to give your life
to Jesus,
and a lot of people,
the problem they have
in becoming Christians
is they lack the courage
because they're afraid
of being mocked.
Is that you?
Look what happens
to Joseph in the dream.
Verse 22,
and all this took place
to fulfill what the Lord
had spoken by the prophet.
Behold,
the virgin shall conceive
and bear a son,
and they shall call
his name Emmanuel,
which means God with us.
When Joseph woke from sleep,
he did as the angel
of the Lord commanded him.
He took his wife,
but knew her not
until she had given birth
to a son,
and he called his name Jesus.
The very way
that the angel opens
is in verse 21.
Joseph, son of David,
do not fear
to take Mary as your wife.
But often what keeps us
from giving our lives
to Jesus is we're afraid.
We're afraid
of looking
like we're stupid,
like we're corny.
We're afraid
that if we say to somebody,
I've become a Christian,
they're going to say,
oh, are you saved?
And you're worried
about how red
you'd get
and how embarrassed
you'd be.
Jesus died for you.
He will be with you.
And he will be with you
to walk towards your fear.
And just as Joseph found,
even though it didn't necessarily
make him richer
or happier,
definitely didn't make Matthew
richer or happier,
but it was worth it.
It was worth it.
Because Jesus is real.
He really did die.
He really did rise
from the dead.
He really can be the one
to reconcile you to God
and he really will
do your day with you.
And for those of us
who are seekers,
there's nothing you've done
in your life
that will make Jesus
want to turn
his face away from you
because he is with you.
He loves you.
Give your life to Jesus.
Don't be afraid.
And for Christians
who are here,
for many of us Christians,
we live in fear.
We live in fear
that people will find out
that we give our lives
to Jesus.
We live in fear
of other types of things
that we have to face
with economics
or maybe things within us.
We're very, very fragile
and we get hurt
very, very easily.
And this is the profound
message of the gospel.
You don't have to do
your life on your own strength.
The weight of the world
is not resting
on your shoulders.
Jesus is with you.
He wants to make you
courageous and brave
and free
to walk towards
those things
that you need to deal with
because he is Emmanuel.
He is with you.
Can you put up
the final slide, please?
And could you all
stand, please?
This is a form
of a prayer.
Lord, please make me
brave and courageous.
The text is asking us
to pray this.
God wants you to pray
to be brave and courageous.
If you have not given
your life to Jesus,
this is a great prayer
to give your life to Jesus.
To begin by saying,
Lord, please make me
brave and courageous.
Make me a disciple of Jesus,
gripped by the gospel,
growing in freedom
and courage
as I live for your glory.
as the gospel grips us,
as we're aware
of what Jesus did
to save us,
it grows freedom in us.
As we're gripped
by what Jesus did
for us on the cross,
it will grow,
it should grow,
it will grow courage
in you
and a desire
like Matthew
to no longer live
for his own enrichment
but to be willing
to go to the ends
of the earth
for the glory of God.
I invite you to pray
it with me in closing.
Lord,
please make me
brave and courageous.
Make me a disciple
of Jesus,
gripped by the gospel,
growing in freedom
and courage
as I live for your glory.
In Jesus' name, amen.
Father, pour out
your Holy Spirit upon us.
In Jesus' name we pray,
amen.
Amen.