“To Do What God Says” (Matthew 2:13-15, 19-23; 3:13-17)

Sunday, January, 2019

            It doesn’t matter what your job is.  Are you a student trying to graduate?  A young adult new in the workforce?  A professional, at the top of your game?  Or, has it been so rough, you’ve you given up on career ambitions?  Are you just trying to make ends meet and make it to retirement?  Or, are you into retirement?  Where we are in life - it doesn’t matter.  When we walk in the light, we are near God.  Being close to God, we have real joy and even if life is hard, we have grace and hope.  So, how do we have a close relationship with God?

            That’s the point of this series of sermons about walking in the light.  Last week’s truth: if we look for God, we’ll find him.  If we constantly seek, we will meet God in our everyday lives.  So, in 2019, commit to disciplines of awareness.  In a notebook write down every “God thought” you have throughout the day. At the end of each day, review what you’ve written, and pray.  Ask God to reveal himself to you in those moments.  Do this every day. 

Disciplines of awareness.  Carry the word “Grace” on a card everywhere you go.  When anger at another person rises up in you, whip that card out.  Look at it, hard.  Remember, God has given you grace.  Pray.  Ask God to help you give grace to the other.  At the end of each week, review moments when grace invaded your anger.  Meet God in those moments. 

Disciplines of awareness. Take pictures of things you see that make you think of God.  At the end of the week, go through the pictures slowly, praying as you look at them and remember where you saw God in your everyday life.  

When we see the light, we can step into it and walk in it.  That’s today’s discipline.  Walking in the light, we obey God throughout our lives.  God won’t force His will on us.  He lets us choose to be disciples and as we choose to live under His rule, he walks with us, blessing us.  Three specific decisions must be made by anyone that desires to walk in God’s light: first, we decide that God is the absolute authority of our lives.  Second, we decide to know what God says by reading the Bible and learning how to listen to the Holy Spirit.  Third, we decide life with God is worth the cost.

Joseph the earthly father of Jesus, John the Baptist, Jesus’ cousin and the prophet who paved the way for Him, and Jesus Himself each model the obedience of a life lived under God’s authority.  

When Joseph decided to stay with Mary and be her husband, he didn’t know a woman could become pregnant by the Holy Spirit.  He did not understand that she was carrying in her womb the son of God.  What he knew was God told him to marry her, and he did.  God told him there was danger and he had to flee to Egypt.  He didn’t know anyone in Egypt.  But, he packed up their recently acquired gold, frankincense, and myrrh, and took Mary and the baby Jesus to Egypt.  When God told him the danger was passed, he believed and returned to Israel. 

John modeled the same obedience as he preached fiery sermons that so enraged Herod, he imprisoned and then executed John.  John never wavered in the message because he knew he was saying what God had told him to say.  Jesus did not want to die on the cross.  But he knew God’s plan and went with it obediently.  That’s what obedience is: doing what God says even when we don’t understand or, worse, do understand it and know it will be hard and don’t want to obey.  But we do anyway.  Each of these heroes of faith decided to obey God.

 If we believe God’s authority is absolute, we need to know what God’s instructions are.  We can memorize the the 10 commandments, study the sermon on the Mount, and contemplate the fruit of the Spirit, found in Galatians 5.  We can carry the lists of virtues found in different places in Paul’s letters.  We can and should read everything Jesus says about caring for the poor in Matthew 25 and throughout the Gospel of Luke.  We must know the content of the work.  Knowing the Bible is a starting point for obedient living.

The rubber meets the road when we’ve studied and then in our in daily interactions with people, try to live by what we’ve read.  The Holy Spirit, the third member of the trinity, helps us.  Joseph was surely tempted to leave Mary when he found out she was pregnant and he wasn’t the father.  He was a decent man willing to reject her discreetly.  But gentle or not, the temptation was to push her away.  The Spirit helped Joseph obey the message of the angel and marry her.  

John was undoubtedly tempted to fear Herod, but he in spite of the fear, he obeyed.  Letting fear guide us instead of faith is a real temptation.  A lot of people God calls to serve in missions don’t go because they’re afraid: afraid it is too expensive; or, afraid it is dangerous to travel to other countries.  If you feel in your gut God calling you to something and resist because you’re afraid, that’s disobedience.   John knew Herod would probably kill him for his preaching, yet he openly critiqued the king when the king’s marriage broke God’s law.  

Have you felt prompted by the Holy Spirit to talk to someone about faith in Christ?  Did you resist because you were afraid you’d look stupid or the person would reject you and maybe stop being a friend?  Walking in the light involves making the decision to risk speaking and looking like a fool or risk going, even to dangerous places, because we trust the nudge of the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit is God and living in a right relationship with God is more important than living safely or living an easy life. 

Maybe speaking out is easy.  You’ve already shared your faith with someone this and January is not even two weeks old.  Maybe you’re fearless.  You’ve already got your overseas mission trip for 2019 planned.  You may be tempted in some other way to disobey God.  Faith always has a cost. 

When I was young, I had a mixed record of obedience.  My idea of what a man should be led me to play high school and just a little bit of college football.  My idea of what a man should be led me to enlist in the army and go through infantry basic training.  Part of my commitment as a Christian was to stay a virgin outside of marriage.  I kept that commitment.  However, in the locker room and in the barracks guys were constantly bragging, usually in vulgar terms, about the women they had been with.  In those conversations, I stayed as quiet as I could, but inevitably, someone would look at me with a wry smile and ask, “What about you, Tennant?”  My  commitment to sexual purity wasn’t tempted.  My commitment to honesty was. 

Sometimes, I said, “I am Christian.  I am waiting for marriage.”  There might have some teasing, but usually when I made a statement like that, my teammates or fellow soldiers respected me.  Other times I was asked, “Tennant, you’re awfully quiet.  Have you been with a woman?”  And with the opportunity to speak about my faith, I lied.  I said, “Of course I have.”  Instead of representing Jesus, I thought lying would make things easier on me.  I broke of one of the 10!  Thou shalt not bear false witness.  

I had already decided God was my authority.  I made the first decision.  I knew the Bible and heard the Holy Spirit.  I had make the second decision.  But, when I lied, I didn’t make the third one.  I did not decide that life with God, in that moment, was worth the cost.  Since then, God has forgiven me of the sin of lying and the greater sin of ignoring the Holy Spirit.  God has given me additional chances to tell the truth and be a witness and I have done that.  It’s taken time and 2nd and 3rd and 100th chances from God, but I have since decided that the cost - I might get teased for being a 30-year-old virgin - was worth it.  

Of course I have been tempted in numerous other ways and succeeded to represent and obey God at times, and failed at other times.  And my decision to obey God’s teaching about sexual purity and about truth-telling is nothing next to Joseph’s life-or-death moments of obedience, or John and Jesus’ decisions to obey God to the point of death.  But God is not comparing me to Joseph or John or Jesus.  God is not comparing you to anyone.  God meets us in the midst of our obedience. 

I had shame when I lied about my experiences in order to fit in with other soldiers.  The Holy Spirit let me sit in that embarrassment, but was with me the entire time.  God gave me grace and additional opportunities.  When those opportunities arose, God emboldened me to be a truth-teller and to be someone more concerned with my identity in Christ than with what others thought of me.  Looking back on these times, I have gratitude. 

What matters most today is your story, your walk with God in 2019.   First, decide that God is God - the ultimate authority not just in the universe but in your life.  Second, decide to know what God says by reading the Bible and studying it with other believers.  Third, the hardest part, decide that whatever the cost, you’ll obey; you’ll live God’s way. 

The third decision is the hardest because of the ways we get tempted and what tempts me is different than what tempts you, but we all get tempted.  We don’t have the willpower to resist. We need the Holy Spirit’s help. 

I talked earlier about disciplines of awareness.  We also need disciplines of obedience.  You could think of many and should choose what works for you.  I offer one suggestion.  Bring to mind what tempts you.  What is it in life that leads you to forget about God and do things your own way?  Temptations are so powerful, you won’t even need to write this down.  But you do need to name it.  Name two temptations and imagine those specific places in your life these temptations come up.  

Now, commit to praying every day for a minute or so specifically about this temptation.  In this daily prayer, name the temptation, confess to God that it’s hard to resist, then ask for help from the Holy Spirit in resisting.  Don’t miss a day. 

Finally, at some point every month, review.  Review the previous 30 days.  Identify moments in which you felt the temptation.  Be honest in your review.  If you gave into the temptation and disobeyed God, confess, receive grace, and repent.  If you succeeded, with the Spirit’s help in resisting the temptation, celebrate.  Thank God and praise God for God’s willingness to walk with you.  

God helps us obey.  We practice the spiritual disciplines in order to position ourselves so that that we’re ready and willing to receive the love and grace and help God has for us.  I can tell you from my own experience that deciding it’s worth it to obey God is hard sometimes, but brings great joy.  In those times I failed to obey, but then confessed, I received forgiveness.  And the life I have in Christ, is one I would not trade for anything.  There is no greater joy than the joy we have in the light of God.  God wants that joy for you. He holds it out to you because He loves you.  Make the decision today to follow Christ and walk in His light.

AMEN

Joy to Sorrow (Matthew 2:13-23)

Sunday, January 10, 2016

            Joseph’s calloused hands gingerly remove the apron.  He picks up his hammer and heads for the one-room hut he shares with Mary and the baby – Yeshua. 

Everything was so spectacular.  First, he was the nervous suitor, filled with joy when her father said, “Yes.”  He was found acceptable for Mary.  Then he was the enraged fiancé whose betrothed fooled around and got herself pregnant.  Compassion was being crowded out by something new and unwelcome – anger.

Then it got weird.  How did she get pregnant?  God did it, she said.  Right.  How desperate could she be?  Then he had a dream.  God did do it!  Don’t even tell anyone.  They would only ask, how desperate could he be?

Then the census:  with a pregnant wife carrying not his baby, but God’s, he had to travel the miles to his birthplace, Bethlehem.  There, the child was born in a barn.  OK he tells himself, ‘Joseph, you can handle this.’  Then in the middle of the night, a bunch of crazy shepherds show up.  How did they know she was pregnant?  There are strange lights in the sky.  They hear angel-song. 

That pep talk turned into self-evaluation.  He asks himself, ‘Joseph, can you handle this?’  When they have the baby dedicated at the temple, people prophesy, like prophets of old, and it is all about this baby.  ‘Really, Joseph, can you handle this?’

Finally, things settle down.  He has work and living quarters in Bethlehem.  It is modest, but a suitable roof over their heads.  The baby is healthy.  Mary is a wonderful mother.  With this job, he will make enough to feed them for a month. 

Twilight falls and he heads for the hut.  He’s tired and glad to be headed home.  But around the bend, he sees that the weirdness has come back.  Strangers on camels – rich men, foreign men – are outside the house.  What is this??

These stargazers have followed a star that has led them to his house.  Time for another pep talk.  ‘Joseph,’ he asks, knees trembling, ‘How do you talk to royalty?’  No answer comes.

He looks at the exotic visitors.  “Um, Shalom.  Hello.  Come on in.  Don’t know if you’ll all fit.”  It turns out, all he has to do is smile, nod, and stay out of the way as they parade in and drop gifts at Mary’s feet.  They worship – the baby.  Who is this child God has entrusted to Joseph’s care?

He latches the windows so no one can see in.  The last thing this poor man needs is for his poor neighbors to find out he’s suddenly gotten rich. 

The next day they leave.  He tells Mary not to let anyone in.  He goes to work, but is constantly looking around, glancing back over his shoulder.  ‘Joseph, what’s gotten into you?  You’re not yourself today.’  It is a long day.

Finally, he comes home.  Mary and the baby are still there.  They are well.  All the gold and the spices are still there. 

“Mary did anyone come today?”

“No.”

“Did you talk to anyone from the village?”

“I talked to Sarah and Hannah.”

“Mary!”

“Joseph, I had to draw to water.  Would you relax!  We are protected.”

Joseph nods.  He barely eats.  Then, he lays awake, staring out the window at the stars, listening to the normal night sounds of the village.  Occasionally he jumps up, looks out, and then lays back down. 

Finally, he nods off.  It gets weirder and it gets worse.  Someone is in the house, but Joseph does not feel the adrenalin infused fear as if there were an intruder.  He doesn’t fear this person. 

He fears the message.  “Get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you: for Herod is about to search for the child to kill him.”

Suddenly he’s awake.  Joseph sits straight up, sweating despite the chill in the night air.  Mary and Jesus are sound asleep.  He dresses quickly and goes to the home of Benaiah, the guy who raises horses. 

He vigorously knocks Benaiah, frazzled, opens the door.  “Ok, ok. Joseph, for heaven’s sake.  You’ll wake my whole family.  What do you want?”

“You were going to sell that cart to Abner today.”

“The new cart?”  Benaiah is confused and suspicious.  “What of it?” 

“I’ll buy it.  Right now.”

“You can’t afford it, Joseph.  You’ve been drinking.  Go home and go to bed.”

“How much will he pay you?”

“More than you can afford.”

“More than this is worth?”  Joseph opens the box with the myrrh. 

Benaiah’s eyes grow wide.  “Where did you get that?”

“Never mind.  You give that cart right now, and this is yours.”

For a minute, Benaiah just stares.  “Why are you coming in the middle of the night?”

“That’s my business.” 

“Will the temple police or the Romans come looking for this box of stolen spices?”

“No.  Now, do we have deal?”  Again, Benaiah stares.  Finally he agrees.  “And,” Joseph continues, “I’ll need a strong pack mule, and a horse.”  Benaiah’s stares again.  Joseph shows a gold.   

By sunrise, Joseph, Mary, the baby, and everything they own are 10 miles down the road headed toward Egypt.  Bethlehem does not notice their absence until they are long gone.

When Herod, the puppet King, the ruler who sat on a throne in Jerusalem but ruled at Rome’s pleasure, realized that the wise men would not be coming back, he was infuriated.  Throughout this story, everyone was seeing angels, following stars, and hearing from God in dreams.  Zechariah (the Father of John the Baptist), Mary, Joseph, the shepherds, the wise men – they all had direct encounters with the divine.  But not Herod.

He was hot with anger, boiling over.  He did not need God, he thought.  He had his power and wealth by his cunning and ruthlessness, he thought.  He would kill his own family members to protect his throne.  In fact he did just that.  He killed one of his own sons.  He had no problem killing God’s son.  And if he wasn’t sure which child in Bethlehem was the one, he’d kill them all.  Matthew writes that Herod had his soldiers kill all the boys in and around Bethlehem who were two years old or younger. 

In the anchor Bible commentary, W.F. Albright says such an act of cruelty and violence was typical of Herod.  It would not raise an eyebrow.  He called it a comparatively minor incident.  In two years, the kindergarten class at Bethlehem elementary would be all girls.  People in neighboring towns, where Herod killed twice as many, might count Bethlehem lucky that they weren’t hit even harder.  And no one would think to ask why.  This is the world into which Jesus was born.

This part of the story should be told in winter.  This is not for the warm, soft glow of Christmas candles.  God came as a baby who grew up in a world where it was not uncommon to have father come in and say, “Everyone, we’re leaving because someone wants to kill us.”  Herod’s troops.  Arab raiders.  Romans enforcing order.  Doesn’t matter.  Someone wants to kill us.  God stepped into this in order to deal with sin and the destruction it brings to his good earth. 

Surprised?  The death of the helpless is not part of our nativity sets.  But we put those last week.  Are we surprised that this death is a part of the story of salvation?

The only way this can make sense is when we read what Herod did as a part of the grand story of God’s plan to rescue the world from sin.  Why did God allow Joseph and Mary and Jesus to escape?  Why didn’t God rescue the other children from Herod?  These are fair questions.  I have no easy answers.

The first part of the answer I do offer is God is committed to human freedom.  God is sovereign – all powerful.  We see this in God’s absolute authority in creation.  Yet the highlight of God’s creative act is the formation of human beings in God’s image. To be in God’ image, we cannot be robots.  We cannot live by pre-programming or blind instinct.  We cannot merely exist by natural selection.

We have consciences.  We have self-awareness.  We ask, why are we here?  Where are we going?  Self-awareness is the sign that we are God’s image bearers.  But, inevitably, with free choice each and every one of us at some point chooses our own way instead of God’s.  Collective sin is the history of humanity choosing the way opposite of God’s – the way of suffering and death. 

Were God to erase all the painful effects of sin, the image of God would be wiped out in the process.  God’s salvation comes in the midst of human evil.  Maybe God could achieve salvation in other ways.  I don’t know.  This is how God did it. 

Children, murdered by Herod; first-graders, gunned down in Newtown, Connecticut; unarmed young men killed in altercations with the police; my answer about why God allows it all – human freedom – my answer does not feel satisfactory.  I bring up the Sandy Hook the plague of deaths across our country, especially of black young men, not to indict police or to lay blame or be overly political.  That’s not my point.  My point is evil lurks and heartbreak follows.  In the days of Jesus, it was seen in the capricious acts of a murderous tyrant.  In our day evil speaks through systemic racism and rampant violence. 

In the midst of Herod’s evil, God spoke.  Matthew quoted the passage of the wailing in Ramah in verse 18 because when children die, there should be widespread, demonstrative grief.  It is not enough to say Joseph, Mary, and Jesus got out OK.  God had to stop and weep.  We do too.

In the midst of today’s evil, God is bringing salvation.  God also stops to weep.  If we want to be where God is when evil hits, we call it evil.  We weep.  And we work for justice, comfort, reconciliation, and healing because those things are marks of God’s kingdom.

It’s been a few years since the move.  Joseph and family are in Egypt.  He is making horse carts in Alexandria.  After a long day and a find meal, he plays with the 4-year-old child he’s adopted.  Little Jesus is a joy. Joseph’s heart melts when the child calls him “Daddy.”  Mary thinks she’s pregnant.  If she has a boy, they will name him James.  A girl will be Elizabeth.

He lays down to sleep.  Someone is in the house.  Joseph knows him.  It is the same guy who told him Mary was pregnant by the Holy Spirit.  It is the same guy who warned him and Mary to move to Egypt.  ‘O no,’ Joseph thinks. ‘What now?’

“Yes, Lord?”  He says.

“Get up Joseph.  Take the child and his mother, and go to land of Israel, for those who were seeking the child’s life are dead.”

‘Things are starting to look up for me here in Alexandria.’  That’s what he wants to say.  But he doesn’t.  He nods in humility.

The next morning, loads that cart he bought from Benaiah.  They head back. 

The first night back in Bethlehem, that guy shows up in his dream again!  “Joseph.”

‘Criminy.’

“Yes Lord.” 

“Joseph, Herod’s son Archelaus is now king.  He is as bad as Herod.”

‘I am not going back to Egypt.  The money from the gifts the wise men gave is nearly out.  And I don’t want to travel across the desert again.  I am a carpenter, not a tradesman.’  That’s what he wants to say to this angel.  But he doesn’t.

            He exhales.  In humility, he says, “What do we do?”

            “Go to Galilee.  Raise the child there.  You won’t see me anymore.”

            Joseph mutters, ‘If I did, I’d never go to sleep again.’

            The angel squints at Joseph.  “I didn’t catch that.”

            Joseph catches himself and straightens himself up.  “Galilee. Yes Lord.  Galilee.  We’ll leave in the morning.”

            God shows up in the real places of life; sometimes in the darkest places.  Search your heart,. That’s where God wants to meet you.  Look for God into your own story. 

            I titled this talk “Joy to Sorrow.”  Sin leads everyone to sorrow.  That’s why salvation is needed.  In Jesus salvation has come and nothing – not Herod or the cross or the evils of today – can stop God’s salvation plan.  So, turn to him.  Turn to the Lord.  From the depths your real life turn to God and embrace his love for you.  When we do that, sorrow gives way to hope.

AMEN