"My Dinner Guest"

Preached by Rev. Ed Brouwer at The Gathering Place, Osoyoos

Pulpit Series Volume 19 Issue 38 December 6, 2009

My Guest

Joseph: described by Matthew's gospel “a righteous man”.

I would ask him how he felt when he found out that the girl he was engaged to was pregnant by someone else.

· Was he humiliated? 

· Was he embarrassed? 

· Was he angry?

Did he have trouble believing Mary when she said God was the babies father?

The Bible says he loved both God and Mary, and it seems he really struggled with the decision of what to do.  

That he was truly a “good man” is seen in his decision to “divorce her quietly” rather than humiliate her publicly.

I admire his faith - come on think about it.  To believe the message of a dream... “that he should accept the baby in Mary's womb as the Son of God and share with her the humiliation and endure with her the small town gossip…..   take her into his home, protect her, care for her and her baby, and that he should raise “God's Son”, as his own child.”

Then I’d like to talk to him about the fact that their baby was born in an animal shelter because “there was no room for them in the inn”.

Why did he have to go to an inn in the first place?

After all, Bethlehem was Joseph's home town.  Why wouldn't he and Mary have been able to stay with family or friends?

What made them so unwelcome in their homes?    

· Was it because the scandal of Mary's pregnancy?

· Was it because Joseph continued to love and care for her?

It seems Christmas cost Joseph his family and friends.

Then the fact that they had to flee for their lives to Egypt leaving behind their home, business everything they had!  

Think of Joseph having to take his family into a foreign country where they didn't understand the language or the culture.

I really respect Joseph for being willing to pay the price of bringing Jesus into his world and for that matter into ours.

Joseph paid a price that actually relates to each of us as fellow believers.
                                                                                               Joseph cared for Mary while Christ was being formed in her.     

                                                                      

He set aside his ambitions and desires in order to nurture, train, and develop this young one, the child of God.
                                                                                                His greatest task and his real success was not in how many tables and chairs he built, but in nurturing and developing Jesus so that He could fulfill His mission.

When I look at Joseph’s life and very few people do, I see that none of us have been chosen to do our own thing,

but rather to develop the

Jesus-life in others.

Think about it, Joseph accepted the responsibility to care for, protect and nurture the life of God's Son.

Is that not to be our primary focus - our life the task of:

· Developing

· Discipling

· Influencing

· Training

· Protecting

· Nurturing

· Equipping

……. people for the kingdom of God.

Our life task is developing the

Jesus-life in those with

whose lives and futures

we’ve been entrusted.

In closing please consider the Cost of Christmas... 

· What will it cost you to bring Jesus into your world?

· What will it cost you to bring Jesus into your family, your workplace, your circle of friends and acquaintances?

It may not involve public humiliation or relocating to another country, but than again it might!       

                                                                                                                       

It may involve some misunderstanding, some discomfort, some sacrifice, some changes in your life.  

Certainly it will involve less of you

and more of God.

It may involve less of what you can do and achieve and more of what you can develop and nurture in others.

Once again,

God is looking for Josephs

to accept the responsibility for nurturing, discipling and developing

the life of Jesus in others,

even if it means

taking a less prominent role

for themselves.

I encourage you to do as Joseph did and give yourself to developing the Jesus life in others.

Blessings to you and your family this Christmas!

I HEARD the bells on Christmas Day
Their old, familiar carols play
And wild and sweet
The words repeat
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

And thought how, as the day had come
The belfries of all Christendom
Had rolled along
The unbroken song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

Till ringing, singing on its way,
The world revolved from night to day
A voice, a chime
A chant sublime
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

Then from each black, accursed mouth
The cannon thundered in the South,
And with the sound
The carols drowned
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

It was as if an earthquake rent
The hearth-stones of a continent
And made forlorn
The households born
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

And in despair I bowed my head
“There is no peace on earth,” I said
“For hate is strong,
And mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!”

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep
“God is not dead, nor doth He sleep”
The Wrong shall fail
The Right prevail
With peace on earth, good-will to men!