It Is True!!!
Matt 1:18-25 NIV
Purpose: Know
that the real and permanent fulfillment just and only comes from God.
18 This is how
the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about[a]: His mother Mary was pledged to be married
to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through
the Holy Spirit.
19 Because
Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet[b] did not want to expose her to public
disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.
20 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.
21 She will
give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus,[c] because he will save his people from their
sins.”
22 All this
took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet:
23 “The virgin
will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel”[d] (which means “God with us”).
24 When Joseph woke up, he did what the
angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife.
25 But he did not consummate their
marriage until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.
Footnotes:
- Matthew 1:18 Or The
origin of Jesus the Messiah was like this
- Matthew 1:19 Or was
a righteous man and
- Matthew 1:21 Jesus
is the Greek form of Joshua, which means the Lord saves.
- Matthew 1:23 Isaiah
7:14
This is the Word of
God,
for the people of
God.
Praise be to God,
Amen.
It Is True!!!
Matt 1:18-25 NIV
Purpose: Know
that the real and permanent fulfillment just and only comes from God.
Outline
I. Introduction
II. Our own
goals versus God's goals and real lasting fulfillment
III. Explanation
of the text
IV. Real and
committed love toward God shows in obedience to His Will.
V. Conclusion[s]
VI. Prayer
It Is True!!!
Matt 1:18-25 NIV
Purpose: Know
that the real and permanent fulfillment just and only comes from God.
What does give meaning to a
human life??? What does give meaning to our lives??? Have you ever pondered
about this question??? The answer can be so broad. The answer depends of the
person's values and beliefs. In my case, to have a meaningful life is equal to
how many of my life goals I have reached. I have discovered that my goals are
very significant in my life, because they mirror my inner self with my good, my
bad, and my ugly.
Since,
I have memory, I really enjoy making plans for my future. I like to plan. I
like to dream. And, I like to accomplish them, give a sense, a feeling of
fulfillment. It is true. I usually spent a lot one time and effort thinking and
planning the future. For example, I wanted to have a business, my own business. One day, I had
the opportunity to start selling clothes with my older sister. We were very
successful and we made a lot of money, until people started being behind in
their payments. We couldn't afford to give credit for more than one month. A
lot of our clients took more than one month to pay us for the product. So, we
went out of market.
Have you carefully and
cautiously planned your goals in life??? Many, many times, we have planned for
our lives, for our future, for the lives of our children, and their future and
here comes God and He just changes everything. It seems like God messes up our
already and well thought plans. Very often, we have reached the point that with
words or just with our body language says to Him, "No, God. You don't
understand that I spent a great amount of time thinking, planning, and
deciding. And, now I am moving toward my goals in life. I cannot approach life
in other way God. I cannot hear You. I cannot understand You," It is true.
We react and act in this way toward God!!! We resist the Will of God for our
lives.
Once, we have though, we
have decided, and we have planned our goals nothing stops us. We keep pushing
ourselves and fighting toward our goals, and even suffering in order to reach
them. Actually, we have a mental or written secret list of goals:
1) good gob, check it
2) a car with purple leather interior and pink outside, check it
3) a brick nice house, ranch style with nice neighbors and a cat waiting
for me in the front porch
4) a good retirement account because I want to live well
[Climax of the sermon]
The goals in our lists seem
like they are escalating in difficulty. Have you noticed that each goal in our
lists leads to a major one??? you know why our goals escalate??? Because the
fulfillment that they give us is NOT permanent and enough. It is true!!!
Do we think that Joseph
didn't have personal goals for his life??? Human nature has not change or has
changed so little. Surely, Joseph had personal goals for his life. I am sure
that he also had goals for his marriage with Mary. Joseph had dreams, plans,
important and meaningful things for him that he wanted to accomplish!!! Joseph
was not just sitting and waiting to be married with Mary.
We all love to make our own
goals, to make our own plans, to have our own dreams. But, surprise, here comes
God telling Joseph what is going to be his major and main goal in life, take
Mary as a wife and become the earthly father of Jesus Christ!!!
In some sense and at one
point, Joseph, a very good man, had to be frustrated, disoriented, and
confused. Even if you are a very good person, you still human. I am pretty sure
that Joseph was even upset, very upset. Just think for a moment, (1) his wife
according to Jewish Law was pregnant already and not for him; (2) his goals in
life just vanish, disappear, go away; (3) now, he has a very specific and clear
goal in his life, a goal that he didn't choose.
On
the other hand, Joseph knew the meaning of real love. Have you ever thought how
to love another person, how to love well, how to love God??? Because God knows
how to love us, and the main point here is to know how to love well God. One thing for sure is that we are
imperfect and our human tendency is to be selfish. Actually, God has been very
clear through the entire Bible. In the case of Joseph for sure, he knew very
well the Hebrew Scripture. It was there that Joseph understood
that love for God means obedience to His Will and commandments. Love equals
surrender obedience. Love that is able to replace one's own goals and dreams
for God's goals and dreams.
Joseph surrendered his own
plans for his life as a husband and as a father. Now, he had to rise a very
special boy, the Messiah. Joseph had to discipline Him, to show Him about life,
and to love Him. I am sure that once in a while, he asked, God why me??? why
me??? However, when we really love someone, when we
deeply love someone, for who the person is, then we care for the person, we want
to please, and we want to make the person happy. It was what happened to Joseph
toward God. Joseph deeply loved God that he replaced his life goals for God's
goals. Here we are talking of something really big. To exchange your plans for
God's plans is not easy. In the beginning it is a sacrifice,
sacrifice means to give up something that we want to obtain in order to help
others. In this case, Joseph sacrifice his personal goals for the good of the
Jewish community.
When I was growing up, after
I finished high school, I really did not want to keep studying. I didn't want
to go to college. Wile every one of my classmates was looking for and applying
to different colleges, I was killing the time going around and letting my dad
assuming that I was seeking for a college to start my studies. My dad wanted me
to go to college and get a degree. It was one of his main goals for each one of
his children.
Well, one day I was reading
in the living room of home, when my dad
was just coming to the house after a long day of working. He left the house
around 7:00 a.m. it was 8:30 p.m. I remembered he looked very tired. It was the
first time that I realized how much he was doing for me and my family.
Well, this night, I decided
to start looking for a college to get in and star my studies. It was late on
time, because the majority of the colleges I liked the dead line had passed
already, but I got in one which was good enough to challenge me the next 4 1/2
years. For my surprise, I started enjoying college very soon. I started seeing
the positive. The time passed so fast. I really enjoyed my college time, all
these friends and the good times I had with them. When I was attending college,
I was so happy, my life was full. The fulfillment of going to college has been
with me since then. The fulfillment has not disappeared like in another cases.
Also, years later, God used my degreed to save me time, here in America. was
able to star very soon my seminary studies because I had my college degree
already.
Now,
if I was able to be honestly happy and fulfill exchanging my goal for my
father's goal. How much better is going to be if we exchange our earthly goals
for the divine goals of God in our lives.
Let us pray,
Dear Father
Thank You so much for let us know what
Your goals are. Thank You so much for Your eternal and perfect love for us,
Your church. Thank You so much for the example of Joseph, the earthly father of
Jesus Christ, who sacrifice his own goals in his life and took Yours. Help us
to exchange our own goals for Yours, in this way we are going to show You that
we really love You and find permanent and lasting fulfillment for our lives.
In Jesus Christ,
we pray.
Amen.
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