Well, good morning, everyone. As Grant might say, if I'm a new
face, my name is Allison and I love that I might be a new face
to many of you. Because I had the privilege.
Of serving as one of the. Pastors here for.
Seven years and in the year and a half since I stepped down, so
many new. Faces are.
Here among us, and I just love that, but one of my favorite
things that I got to do when I was on.
Staff was to be. Part of our preaching team.
You maybe heard Pastor Grant and Justin talk about this.
So three of us pastors. Would meet weekly.
We'd study the passage. Together in preparation for
whoever would be speaking that week.
And when I left staff, I knew that one of the things that I
would miss most was those times together and so.
I was really delighted. When Grant and Justin kindly let
me start tagging along with them, I've definitely had some
confused faces. When I tell people that.
They're like you do. What?
You volunteer to do something that you were once.
Paid to do. And I say Yep, and I'm the lucky
1. And there's a few reasons for
this, but the main one that I want to talk about today.
Is because of the story that we get.
To talk about in those times together.
I love stories. I have this image of me.
As a little girl that. Really stands out that I think
just kind of captures me as a child.
Do you have something like that? Maybe it's a photo or a memory
or maybe something that somebody.
Told you about yourself. Well, mine comes from a home
video. Now I know when we think home
videos today we think like this, but I'm talking suitcase cracked
open giant camcorder on the shoulder home video.
Now that I've lost everyone under 25, we'll continue.
So one of these old giant VHS tape home videos of me I think
I'm about. Four or five.
And I'm standing in the kitchen after dinner.
I've got a colander on top of my head and yellow rubber gloves up
to my elbows and very serious expression on my face, and I'm
deep into telling a story about Paddington Bear now, when the
camera inevitably veered away from my long story toward my
obnoxiously. Adorable.
Little brother, I would say. Daddy, listen to this story.
And the focus would come back and I'd continue.
I love stories. And though I know that.
We are all hardwired. And drawn to stories my
counselor one time told me. You are really.
Wired for stories and some good ways and some less helpful ways.
But I love telling stories. It's my favorite part of my
current. Job as a podcast producer, but
it's also. Why I hang out?
With these guys. Every Monday morning because in
the Bible we. Truly have the best stories.
Honestly, there's nothing. Like these stories, the depth,
the. Layers the meaning, the humor,
the power, the wonders, and the. Incredible God that they reveal
they are the best stories. And not only are.
They the best. Stories to begin with, but they
actually come alive. They're living stories.
Because of the Holy Spirit, The Holy Spirit highlights.
Things or says things that bring us new realizations or speaks
into these particular moments in our lives.
Through these stories. So we're talking about stories
again today. The best story, but.
Also about our stories. What happens when?
Our story gets sidetracked. When the happily ever after
doesn't come. When our stories do not feel.
Like the best stories? When we.
Wrestle with our stories. And struggle with the situations
that we find ourselves in. We're going to.
Revisit the story. From last week, so if you
weren't here I'd encourage. You to check out.
Last week's message, but we're also gonna take this story.
A little bit farther. Today, so I'd really encourage
you to. Pull out your Bible if you have.
It or a phone if that's what you.
Do or there's bibles at the back there?
Because I'd really love for you to be able to see this.
Story in its context. Today.
This Advent we are looking at stories from the Gospel of
Matthew. Matthew is one of the.
Biographies that tells the story of the life of Jesus.
And here's how Matthew, the author, introduces.
Our story for today. In Matthew chapter one, verse
18, that's where our story starts for today.
He says this is how the birth. Of Jesus the Messiah came about,
but we're actually gonna. Back up a little bit before.
Matthew actually has two versions of this birth
announcement. Two versions of how this.
Birth came about, so we're gonna.
Flip back a page. Or we're gonna scroll.
Up a little bit. And see how Matthew.
Starts off his book. So if you've done that, if
you've. Scrolled or flipped back?
You may be relieved to know that I won't be reading the long list
of names that you're seeing there, but I want us to pay
attention to a few things here, Matthew.
Starts his book, his gospel, his whole story.
About the person of Jesus by saying this is an account the
Genesis, the origin story of Jesus the Messiah, the son of
David, the son of Abraham, and then he spends.
The rest of this whole chapter. Helping us to understand how
Jesus came to be those things, the Messiah, the Son of David
and the son of Abraham. So the genealogy that you see
written there starts with Abraham, and it traces a line
through the ancestors, through names some of us may have.
Heard of through Isaac. And Jacob and King David through
this whole long list of names. But do you know?
What word is? Repeated on that page 39 times.
Father. So here it.
Is some of you know, I love to highlight and mark things up
when I'm studying. Don't worry about all the names,
but look at. All of that.
Father, father. Father.
Father.
It's actually 39 times. That we have this father.
But it's actually a more. Active.
Word than our English translation father.
It's more like fathered 39 times fathered Abraham fathered.
Isaac, Isaac, Father Jacob. Jacob, Father Judah.
And on and on. That's what we call a.
Pattern 39 times. And patterns are important
because we're supposed to notice two things.
First of all, we notice the pattern itself, but we also
notice any interruption to the pattern, when the pattern stops
being a pattern, when the pattern is broken.
And look what happens here. So we'll zoom in on the end.
Eliezer fathered Matthan, Matthan father Jacob and Jacob,
father Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born.
This train comes to a screeching halt.
Something different is happening.
Something is slicing into. History A.
Fresh story that is both new and part of the old story at the
same time. Joseph is introduced to us not
as the father of a son, but as the husband of Mary.
And when it comes to introducing this son, the text is careful
not to say Joseph. Fathered like.
The 39 times before rather, it says of whom Jesus was born.
Fathered, fathered, fathered. 39 times, and then Joseph, husband
of Mary, of whom Jesus was born. But this story, that long list
of 39 names, this tracing the generations the son of Abraham,
son of David. All the way to.
Joseph, husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born.
That story almost didn't happen. That's where we're gonna.
Pick up our story for today. Let's pray before we read
together. God, I thank you that you gave
Matthew vision to see. Who you are?
To remember the things that you said and did and the.
Story. Of how you, the Messiah came
about. I pray that just.
As Matthew wants to convince us. Of this truth that you would do
that. Work in our hearts that you
would open our eyes to see and our.
Ears to hear the. Truth.
About who you are. This morning and I.
Pray that that truth. Might continue to change us.
For your good and for your glory and your name we pray Jesus,
Amen. So Luke chapter 1 and we're
picking up at verse 18. 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.
I made a mistake, I told the sound booth, Luke 118.
That's on me. Good thing you all have your
Bibles and your phones out in front of you and we're going to
ignore the screen. Sorry, Clement.
My bad. How many months have we been in
Luke? A lot of months.
I forgot and wrote. Luke instead of Matthew.
So Bibles in front of you. Thank you, friends.
Sorry, sound booths. Matthew 118 to 25.
I'm going to start again. 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
his son and he gave him the name.
Jesus. Thank you, Clement.
You are fast back. There.
Did I mention we're talking about interruptions in our story
or things maybe not going quite as planned?
That was not intentional. So Messiah Matthew starts off
saying this. Is how the birth of?
Jesus the Messiah came about after telling us that larger.
Story that we looked. At at the beginning of chapter 1
of How This Came about through the Generations, we are now
zooming in way in on a particular couple in a specific
town at an exact time, and Matthew's job is to convince.
Us that this particular. Baby, this baby from Nazareth.
Is actually the savior of the world.
Messiah is the title that's given to Jesus.
Messiah is a Hebrew. Word meaning anointed 1 and
Christ. Is just the Greek.
Version of that both Messiah and Christ mean anointed 1 now.
This was a loaded. Term and one that would have
been very familiar. To the Jewish.
People at that time there was much anticipation for this
Anointed 1 to come and rescue them.
This term would have meant something, would have sent off
flashing alarms for the people listening.
New Testament scholar RT France puts it like.
This. The colourless translation Jesus
Christ in many English versions does not.
Do justice to the. Excitement in Matthew's
introduction of Jesus under the powerfully evocative title
Messiah, the long-awaited delivered of God's people in
whom their history has now come to its climax, and Matthew.
'S job, like we said, is. To convince his.
Readers, that baby Jesus. From Nazareth.
Really is. This anointed 1 this one in whom
their history has now come to its climax.
But there are some hurdles that Matthew has to overcome in
convincing his. Readers of this.
They knew some things already. They had some expectations about
this Messiah from the prophets. The Messiah is to be from the
line of David. That means the Messiah has to be
related to King David in some way.
Some. Great, great, great, great.
Great, great, great grandson 2nd.
The Messiah is supposed to come from Bethlehem.
Mary and Joseph live in a backwards town in Galilee.
There's no royal connection, and Galilee is certainly no place
for a Messiah to come from. But Matthews readers are not the
only ones that need to be convinced.
Joseph also needs to be convinced.
Now we learned. That, Joseph, is a faithful
rule. Following Jewish man who's
engaged to a wonderful young woman named Mary.
They have their whole. Life ahead of them.
They've entered into engagement, which is actually a much more
serious arrangement than than what we think of with
engagement. They would have entered into a
binding legal contract in front of witnesses.
Engagement was a legal arrangement, not just a
relational commitment. So they've entered into this
engagement and are in the midst of waiting.
Usually about a year. Making preparations for their
life ahead and after this year's time, they would have then had a
public ceremony, a coming together where Mary.
Would leave her father's. Home and go and live with
Joseph. And it's in the midst of this
anticipation and preparation. For their life together, the
Joseph's world. Comes to a screeching halt.
Everything changes in a moment and the.
Rug is pulled out. From beneath him.
His whole. World comes crashing down.
Marry His bride is pregnant and he knows he is not the.
Father this. Seemingly ultimate betrayal
ruins the plans and the hopes. He has for their life together.
What is Joseph to do? Even though they're not living
together and have not completed the marriage, they have already
entered into this legal arrangement.
As RT France explains, this binding contract can only be
terminated. By death.
Which would leave the woman as a.
Widow or by divorce? As if for a full marriage,
however, sexual infidelity during the engagement.
Was actually a basis for divorce.
And more than that. The law actually required.
The termination of the engagement in the.
Case of adultery. And the way that this was done,
this termination of the engagement.
Was through a public. Trial, as France explains.
As a law. Abiding man, Joseph.
Would be expected to repudiate his.
Errant fiancee publicly in a. Trial for adultery.
She would be made an example of. Joseph is between a rock and a
hard. Place.
But what about Mary as a woman at that time who could not own?
Property, but was the property. Of a man.
Either her father. Or a husband her.
Options were dire. After being humiliated and
ostracized in a public. Trial her best hope.
Would be for her family to have pity and take her in and allow
her to continue. To be part of their household.
Her prospects for another. Marriage or traditional future?
Were slim to none. What is Joseph to do?
In order to follow the law, he thinks he must divorce Mary, but
he doesn't want to inflict the shame of a public trial on her.
There was a possible. Allowance for divorce in front
of just two witnesses. And perhaps this is what he was
considering, but again, after a public and legal engagement,
even if he did not subject her to the shame of a big trial, a
quiet and. Discreet divorce was hardly.
Possible, but looking at what seemed to be the facts in front
of him, he can't think of another way.
Mary is pregnant, He knows how babies are made and he knows
he's not the father. What is he to do?
This is not. The story.
He had in mind. His story has veered way off
the. Road and into a.
Ditch. Do you ever feel like that?
Have you had any interruptions in your story?
Things not going as planned, assumptions you've.
Made about how things. Will go that you didn't even
realize were assumptions until they were no longer your
reality. I've had a number of
interruptions in my story, and one particular interruption that
as many of you know. I've really wrestled with.
So I wanna. Take you back.
For a second. To high school.
Do you remember superlatives? Those are those things that are
like most likely to be a millionaire.
Or best dressed. Or most.
Likely to succeed. Or those kind of things.
That's a superlative. So when I was in high school, I
was voted most likely to have more than 10 kids.
I loved. Stories of big families.
When I was 16, I thought that sounded really.
Cool, Fast forward. A bunch of years.
Some unnamed number of years since high school, and like I
said, some of. You have walked this story
really closely with us, but we. Have one daughter, Zoe now.
Zoe is incredible. She's, she really is.
She's funny. She's creative, she's
thoughtful. She's kind, she's compassionate.
She's athletic. I could.
Go on and on. Every.
Day, I am grateful. For her.
She's amazing, but most of us who took any level of math know
that one. Is not more than 10.
That. Story didn't play out for me,
and even if I'd long gotten over the 10 kids, Story 1 was never
the. Story I would.
Have written What's the interruption in your?
Story What grief are you? Experiencing because.
Part of your life. Isn't going the way that you
wanted. Maybe you didn't get into that
school program, or maybe you didn't get.
The job or lost the job? Maybe the relationship you?
Desperately hoped. For didn't pan out.
Maybe a diagnosis changed everything in your story.
Maybe the? Rug has been pulled out from
beneath what once felt stable and dependable, and you don't
know which end is up. There are infinite ways our
stories are interrupted. In Joseph and Mary's story,
their stories are interrupted in such a drastic and shocking way.
That they both. Actually get their own angelic
announcement to help them understand that.
The bigger story. That God is writing and
unfolding literally inside them. Mary's story is highlighted more
in the Gospel. Of Luke.
But here in Matthew. It's Joseph that.
Is in the. Spotlight for a.
Brief moment. God wants Mary and Joseph to
know that what seems on the surface like interruptions like.
Impossibilities like betrayals like.
Humiliation and even death. Is actually part of the bigger
story. That he is writing even the
parts that seem messy, even the parts that don't make sense.
A Messiah from Nazareth. We haven't got there yet, but
many may remember the. Baby will actually.
Be born in Bethlehem. Just as was prophesied.
Of the line of David. Well, that's where.
Joseph and his family line come in conception without
intercourse. A baby from the Holy.
Spirit. Now that part might seem like
the most miraculous of all, and. Indeed it is, but perhaps we
should be less. Surprised than we are.
The Holy. Spirit has actually been an
agent in creation and giving life through.
All of history as told by the old.
Testament Scriptures at the time of creation.
The Spirit of God hovered over the waters.
And then in places, in Psalms and Ezekiel and others, they
bear witness to the life generating power.
Of the Spirit. As part of his plan to convince.
Us, the reader. That Jesus is the Messiah, the
anointed One, Jesus reminds. Us that this.
Shocking news of virgin pregnant.
Was actually. Foretold.
It should not. Be a surprise.
He links this situation with what was promised in Isaiah 714.
Therefore the Lord Himself. Will.
Give you a sign the Virgin will conceive and give birth.
To a. Story and will call him Emmanuel
and so Joseph. Has a choice.
He has two stories. In front of him.
Two sets of facts, 2 perspectives to choose.
Between he can dismiss the dream, the angels announcement,
the prophecy, and hang on to what he is known to.
Be true for his. Decades of living that babies
come in a certain way and that a Messiah surely won't come from
Nazareth. Or.
He can suspend all he knows of how things work and instead
cling to the God he has been. Faithful, true and trust God is
being faithful to him. He can believe that what seems
impossible just might be true, and there's only all in OR.
All out here. There's no room for middle
ground. The angelic messenger asked.
Two things of Joseph Don't be afraid to take Mary.
As your wife. And name the child.
Jesus. So what's Joseph gonna do?
Well, as we know from reading it, he.
Chooses. All in.
He lets go of his old story of his hopes.
And plans and trades it for a new story.
A story full of. Questions and unknowns.
Out with the predictable. And control in with uncertainty
and dependence a small. Story for a big one.
And Joseph follows through. He takes Mary as his wife, and
the word is more than takes. He welcomes her as his wife,
welcomes her into his home, as his wife aligns himself with her
and whatever social disgrace that may entail.
He makes a family with her and together they welcome a child, a
son. RT France tells us that in that
culture it was the responsibility of the father to
name the child. It was actually a legal.
Act that ensures the official status of the son and heir, and
so by naming him. Jesus.
Joseph Legally. And.
Wholeheartedly adopts the child and says he is.
His son and. So the child Jesus.
Through the line of Joseph is now also a son of David.
Just as the prophets for tools. The father names the child, but
notice who is involved in the naming.
Of this child. Yes, Joseph.
Legally names him Jesus and so adopts him as son.
But it was. God the Father.
Through his angelic messenger and.
Through the Holy Spirit as told by the.
Prophet Isaiah that names this child, he's named by Joseph, but
he's only named by Joseph as he was.
Instructed to do so by God. God is active.
In naming this child and therefore claiming him as his
son, Joseph naming Jesus. As instructed by God.
Points. To this child's earthly.
And heavenly parentage. And just as Joseph names this
child Jesus and so adopts him as Son the Prophet.
Isaiah tells us God. Does the same for us.
Isaiah 43 one. I have called.
You by name, you are mine. I've called you by name.
Not only are you known to me, but when I call you by name, I'm
claiming you as mine. I'm adopting you and making you
my daughter and son. I have called you by name.
You are mine. For.
Joseph's choosing this story. Is a costly path.
He steps outside social norms, beyond the ordinary, the safe,
the comfortable, and into the extraordinary, but in his
obedience and costly faithfulness.
Look what he gets to be part of. Think what he might have missed
out on. He gets to be part of the story
of all stories. The story that makes sense.
Of our stories, the best story. Now a careful.
Reader may have noticed that there are.
Actually two names given for the child.
The Prophet says he will be called.
Emmanuel, but the Angel tells Joseph to name him Jesus.
Let's take a closer look at. These two names.
Jesus is the Greek. Form of the name Joshua and
Joshua means Jehovah is salvation.
Or God saves or God to the rescue?
Some may remember the famous. Hebrew leader Joshua, who led
the Israelites. Out of the wilderness and into
the promised land, fulfilling his name, that God did indeed
save and. Rescue his people.
And in honor. Of this beloved leader.
Many Jewish boys were named. Jesus.
It was a common name, but let's not confuse common for
insignificance. The Angel actually highlights.
The significance of the name and saying.
You. Are to call him.
Jesus, for he will save. His people from their sins and
yes, rescue from the things that we've done wrong, from the ways
that we've missed the mark. But it's not just rescue from
our sins, but also from the consequences of sin itself,
rescue from the ramifications of sin, from all the ways that the
world is not as God intended. This rescue as the Jesus
Storybook Bible describes. Is making all the sad things
come untrue. And how is this?
Possible. How could that ever be?
How will this be accomplished? Well, that's in the second name
that's given Emmanuel. God with us, God.
Will rescue the entire world from the sin and the
consequences of sin, the very things that separate us from God
and the life that He intended by sending God Himself.
God into the world God. Into our lives, God Into the
Mass, God into the way things were not as they were meant to
be. God into the disorder.
God right here in the pain, the heartache, the brokenness.
The despair. God himself sent to rescue and
make all the sad things come untrue.
Hard things happen, Emmanuel. God is with us.
Hard things happen. Jesus, God is at work.
Rescuing and redeeming the hard things when we chose to know.
Best to be. Independent to not need God when
we made a mess. Of our lives, a gap was created.
Between us and God came into. That gap.
He stepped into the distance and to.
Draw us back to. Himself once again back to him
and the life we were intended to live.
Because that is life. With him and so Jesus of
Nazareth, Son. Of David.
Is. Indeed, Jesus, God rescues.
And he rescues because he is Emmanuel, God coming.
To be with us. And that does indeed make him
the Messiah, the anointed one, the one we've been waiting for.
The savior of the world. But whatever ways.
They have been waiting for rescue.
He is more. Whatever ways we.
Need rescue? Whatever mess we are in, he is
more. He enters in and does far more
than we can ask or imagine. He is at work.
Redeeming all things. Making this sad things come
untrue, Making things right again when I finally.
Realized that the very. Things I struggled with were the
very things that ultimately. God was at work.
Redeeming, making right, Everything changed for me.
All. The sad things we experience,
infertility and cancer and car accidents and broken
relationships and disease and addictions and idols and death,
were not what was intended and are in fact.
What will be abolished? With the fullness of his Kingdom
coming and this. Is why we say let your.
Kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven.
Let Earth. Look like heaven.
Let it be the. Same here.
As it is there. And so I find great comfort in
rooting my story within God's bigger.
Story. To know that even though I may
not see the outcomes I've been hoping for on this side of
heaven, even though we likely will not have more children,
infertility won't. Be part of God's.
Story in the end. It doesn't get the last word.
And yes, my ultimate hope is in the not yet in the future coming
of the fullness of His Kingdom, but it also changes the now.
I get to see how God takes this story.
I find myself in and make it. A good story.
Make it a story. Of hope, A story of life.
Of mothering, of new life. And have joy.
The good news is good news for what will ultimately one day be
true. But it's also good news for now.
What's your story? How has your?
Story gone off. The rails how has.
The plan been interrupted. What is the mess you find
yourself in? It doesn't matter if it's the
consequences. Of choices.
You've made or things beyond your control.
Jesus, Emmanuel. Jesus, God rescues.
Emmanuel. He rescues.
By entering in by closing the gap.
God rescues. By being.
God with us. And he takes the story we find
ourselves in, and he shows. Us how it's part of his big
story. His big story of redeeming the.
Whole world. And if we let him, he makes our
story into. A really good story.
Let's pray. God, we thank you and we stand
in wonder that you are indeed making all the sad things come
untrue, the things that are not as you intended.
Not what? You would have had.
That you are ultimately writing that bigger story in the end,
but we thank. You, Jesus, that you.
Also enter in now that you can change and redeem our story now.
I pray that you would give us the courage to let.
Go where we need to. To trust you with our stories.
And I pray that you would meet us in that, and that you would.
Fill us with your spirit, with your.
Joy and your peace as we know what it means to experience life
in you. For we ask this in your name,
Jesus, Amen. Friends, we are going to
continue worshipping now by celebrating communion.
And communion is a meal that Christians for generations have
been gathering to celebrate, sometimes in large groups and
gatherings and church services during worship, and sometimes in
their homes in smaller groups with friends and family, but
always to remember.