A Covenant of Trust Mary and Joseph Summer Sermon Series: Love Secrets from Bible Marriages Matthew 1:18-25 Rev. Michael D. Halley August 31, 2014 Suffolk Christian Church Suffolk, Virginia Twelfth Sunday After Pentecost ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Matthew 1:18-25 New International Version (NIV) This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: 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. Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly. 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. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins. All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel (which means God with us ). When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. But he did not consummate their marriage until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the 1
Page 2 name Jesus. The Word of the Lord: Thanks be to God! We conclude today our series of sermons on biblical marriages with Mary and Joseph. Nazareth was a small village when Mary and Joseph lived there. It was so small that one spring supplied the water for all the residents. 1 Among the residents were the young girl Mary and the carpenter Joseph. When Mary was visited by the angel, as recorded in Luke 1:26-38, the account is a very moving story of Mary accepting the will of God for her. Because we know how the rest of the story, we are very impressed that this young lady would be so honored, chosen to bear Messiah, Jesus. But let s put ourselves in Mary s shoes for just a moment. When she announces to her family and to her friends that she is pregnant, will they believe her story of the conception? Would it not be more believable that she and Joseph had gone a bit too far in their engagement? Or worse, that Mary had a liaison with one of the Roman soldiers who periodically came through Nazareth? She must have been scared to death! And it came down, I think, to one central question for Mary: Can I trust God to work out every situation I will face if I do God s will? Will God walk with me through the tough days? Will God help me keep my head high when I walk through the village? Will God speak to my family and friends and help them understand this? It was a tall order for Mary, to trust God at his word. And trust in God is one of the building blocks of a good marriage.
Page 3 But there must also be trust between husband and wife. It is not clear from the Bible just when Joseph learned the news of Mary s pregnancy. You may recall that very soon after the angel visited her she left to go visit her cousin Elizabeth. By the time Mary returned to Nazareth it would be obvious that she was carrying a child. It is possible that this is when Joseph learned what happened. Joseph displayed both godliness and graciousness, being very considerate of Mary s feelings. He did not want to further embarrass Mary, so he was considering a quiet divorce, to avoid public scandal. But Joseph, too, was a person of faith. No doubt he spent much time praying over what he would do. And it was at that time that Joseph, too, was visited by the angel. However, notice that Joseph s visit was not like Mary s. Matthew is careful to tell us that the angel came to Joseph in a dream. There was no dialog, as with Mary s encounter with Gabriel. Can you trust a dream? Was Joseph s dream wishful thinking on his part, or was it truly a word from God? Joseph, I am sure, took a long time thinking about this dream, and more and more he became convinced it was truly a word from God. This decision by Joseph was probably the greatest act of trust ever exhibited between a man and woman. 2 I looked up the word trust. The dictionary says trust is a belief that someone or something is reliable, good, honest, effective, etc. 3 Isn t every marriage a covenant of trust? Think about our marriage vows for a moment. Although the exact wording may vary, basically we all promised to forsake all others, till death separates us. We also no doubt promised we would love each other whatever happened, for better for worse, richer or poorer, in sickness or in health. And we believed the words we heard from our spouse and we believed the words coming out of our own mouth, didn t we?
Page 4 That s where the covenant of trust was publically established. Trust is an essential foundation stone in a good marriage, and it should even grow stronger as the years go by. So how does this trust work out in our day-to-day living? It would mean that we can tell our spouse our very private thoughts and feelings, knowing that we will not be ridiculed or that our spouse will not use that information against us in any way, trusting that we will continue to be loved for honestly expressing those feelings. Trust is also believing our spouse when they tell us where they have been or what they are thinking, or when they explain what they really meant by what they said. When Carmen and I moved to San Diego for my first tour of duty in the Navy, we very quickly became members of a good church, First Baptist Church of National City. 4 That church family would prove to be a godsend to us, as I found out that our ship 5 would soon deploy and I would be away from home for six months. In preparation for this new experience, I sat down and carefully wrote out all of our budgetary expenses so that Carmen could take over that task. As letters were our only means of communication, there had to be a lot of trust between us, that I would do the right thing and that she would, too. I would not be there to help raise our sons. I would not be there to take out the garbage or do maintenance on our automobile or to pay the bills. While this deployment was a brand new experience for us at that time, the early 1970s, we soon learned this was normal for military families. Our covenant of trust got us through it, thanks to God. Without trust there is no relationship. We pray for strength to trust our mate and we pray for strength that we will be able to be trustworthy in the eyes of our mate. We have no other choice, do we? Please note two additional instances for trust between Mary and Joseph.
After the journey to Bethlehem and the birth of Jesus, they seemed to have settled there, maybe thinking of making Bethlehem their permanent home. Page 5 But then came the visit of the magi (MAY-ghai). 6 And we know that Herod got all stirred up and in a jealous rage proclaimed that he was going to take the life of all male children under the age of two. It was Joseph who received word from God that they must flee to Egypt. Mary could well have protested that decision, for the trip to Egypt would be especially arduous. Why couldn t they just go to Nazareth, their hometown? she might have asked. But Mary trusted Joseph. And she trusted him again when the decision was made to leave Egypt after Herod s death. We are only human, and our efforts at being trustworthy sometimes fail. When trust is broken, there is a lot of heartache and grief and it takes a long time to heal from that and begin to trust again. I encourage you to lean on God s promises that he won t take you somewhere and abandon you. God s trustworthy arms are always around us and we can lean on him. As the old hymn says, Trust Him when thy wants are many; Trust Him when thy friends are few; And the time of swift temptation Is the time to trust Him, too. Trust Him when thy soul is burdened With the sense of all its sin; He will speak the word of pardon, He will make thee clean within. Trust Him for the grace sufficient, Ever equal to thy need; Trust Him always for the answer, When in His dear name you plead.
Page 6 Trust Him when dark doubts assail thee, Trust Him when thy strength is small, Trust Him when to simply trust Him Seems the hardest thing of all. Trust Him; He is ever faithful; Trust Him, for His will is best; Trust Him, for the heart of Jesus Is the only place of rest. 7 Let us pray together: Dear Lord, once again we pray your divine blessing upon our marriages. We thank You for the example of your servants Mary and Joseph and covenant of trust in each other. May we, too, be trustworthy and trusting and accept Your will and Your plan for our lives. Yours, O God, is the honor and the glory forever and ever, as we pray this in the name of Christ, our Saviour and Lord. Amen All Scripture references are from New International Version, NIV, copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc., unless otherwise indicated. +==+==+==+==+==+==+ Sunday Sermons from Suffolk Christian Church are intended for the private devotional use of members and friends of the church. Please do not print or publish. Thank you. Suggestions for sermon topics are always welcome!
1. See the article, Nazareth, Nazarene, by Jerry W. Batson, in Holman Bible Dictionary, Trent C. Butler, Editor, www.studylight.org/dictionaries/hbd/view.cgi?n=45, c. 1991. 2. Do You Trust Me? The Story of Joseph and Mary, by the Rev. Richard L. Strauss, based on his book, Famous Couples in the Bible (Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., 1978), https://bible.org/seriespage/do-you-trust-me i-story-joseph-and-maryi 3. http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/trust 4. Unfortunately, this church does not have a website. We were members there from 1973 to 1975. 5. USS JOUETT (CG-29), www.ussjouett.com. 6. The magi were Eastern wise men, priests, and astrologers expert in interpreting dreams and other magic arts. See Magi, in Holman Bible Dictionary, cited above. 7. Trust Him When Thy Wants Are Many, text by Lucy A. Bennett (1850-1927), sung to the tune Lucerne, written by T. A. Willis, 1876. Page 7