Trust
Are We There Yet? • Sermon • Submitted
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We are nearing the end of our Advent journey. We can see the destination through the windshield of the vehicle. It is only a few moments and then journey ends. Then our GPS tells us to turn right. Our first thought is one of doubt. We say, but that is not the direction I need to go. Instead of following our instinct, we follow the GPS because it has not failed us before. We make the right turn and then a left turn, then right again. Slowly we begin to realize that we are heading away from our destination because we trusted our electronic device’s directions.
This seemed to be part of my life for a number of years. Many of you know that my previous career included route sales with a couple different companies. Well, one of those companies covered all of North GA and while I knew the main roads, I did not know the smaller side roads so we got a TomTom GPS unit. As I used the GPS unit I realized that in metro Atlanta it worked well but the further out I got, it was not as accurate and would sometimes take me to the wrong place. The GPS would take me down dirt roads that were not suitable for the vehicles I drove. I began to question my GPS after that and stopped trusting almost completely.
Shortly after this, Google produced their google maps app for smart phones and this app became my new GPS and was very accurate. This was followed by an app called Waze which allowed users to share traffic information but was not as accurate as Google maps until Google purchased Waze and Waze became the GPS app that most people were using. I trusted this app as the best source of directions and getting me around traffic and to my destination up until two weeks ago. I have learned how to get around Carrollton and Villa Rica fairly well but there are some areas that I still need help, like getting to a house in the Fairfield subdivision.
On this occasion I learned that there are two roads in Villa Rica with the same name. As I traveled and listened to the directions, I thought, this is going the wrong way. But, I had never entered Fairfield at the back entrance so I thought, “Waze has never failed me so keep going.” A couple more turns later and I said this isn’t right just turn off Waze and figure it out yourself. Instead I made a phone call and found out about the two streets with the same name and Waze took me to the other street.
What does trusting a GPS have to do with our journey through Advent, especially this close to the end? Well, let’s turn to our Gospel text for the day. I invite you to grab your Bible, a pew Bible, or open your favorite Bible app and turn with me to Matthew chapter 1 verses 18-25. Now hear the words recorded in the Gospel.
This is how the birth of Jesus Christ took place. When Mary his mother was engaged to Joseph, before they were married, she became pregnant by the Holy Spirit. Joseph her husband was a righteous man. Because he didn’t want to humiliate her, he decided to call off their engagement quietly. As he was thinking about this, an angel from the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, don’t be afraid to take Mary as your wife, because the child she carries was conceived by the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you will call him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” Now all of this took place so that what the Lord had spoken through the prophet would be fulfilled:
Look! A virgin will become pregnant and
give birth to a son,
And they will call him, Emmanuel.
(Emmanuel means “God with us.”)
When Joseph woke up, he did just as an angel from God commanded and took Mary as his wife. But he didn’t have sexual relations with her until she gave birth to a son. Joseph called him Jesus.
I’m pretty sure you know what is happening in the text this morning. Many of us have heard this story so often we can almost repeat it from memory without any help. Joseph has learned that Mary is pregnant with and is upset and decides to call off the marriage and to do it without humiliating Mary. Interesting thing about this is Joseph is called righteous, during Biblical times this would be talking about someone who follows the law. Yet Joseph is deciding to break the law by sending Mary away quietly. Instead an angel comes to Joseph in a dream and tells him to do just the opposite.
With a story this familiar we tend to miss the details that lie underneath the text itself. Joseph had every right to walk away from Mary and even embarrass her and her family but instead he trusted. Joseph trusted in the message the angel delivered him through his dream. He trusted the Lord would not only deliver the promise he from his dream but would deliver him and Mary from persecution. Joseph trusted did not cheat on him but had in fact been impregnated by the Holy Spirit. Joseph had a lot of trust in the angels message, enough so that he even named the babe Emmanuel.
Joseph could have decided to go his own way. He could have ignored the GPS and used the “force” like a Jedi knight. But he knew that would not turn out well. Joseph did the opposite of King Ahaz. Isaiah told Ahaz to ask for a sign from the Lord and Ahaz said “No.” It wasn’t that Ahaz worried about asking for a sign but it was Ahaz did not trust in the Lord. Ahaz trusted himself and his decisions. He saw the armies and nations surrounding and thought he could handle it based on his experience. He did not think he needed any help outside of his own.
These are two different responses to God’s message to these individuals. One trusts in the Lord’s word and follows the direction. While the other responds with disbelief and trusts in themself over God. It would be like putting in the address into the GPS and pulling up the directions and never listen to them. We just go about our journey without trusting in the GPS to get us to our destination. While we do not know where we are going we trust that our sense of direction can get us there.
Our society is one that tells us we should do things on our own. All around us we hear people say I don’t need help. I can do it on my own. You need to look out for yourself first then worry about others. You don’t need someone offering you a hand. You and you alone can accomplish it. Society is all about self and not about listening to directions or help from others. How many of you have felt this way? How many have even thought these things? I mean be honest, Ahaz was. God gave him a sign to look for even though Ahaz did not ask for one.
Friends, the message of the Gospel and of Christianity is, you cannot do it all by yourself, we need God. When our goals are focused on us and not God’s desires then they become harder to accomplish. If we stop and listen to God’s message for us then we find that our goals are focused on growth through God’s Kingdom. This means we will accomplish theses goals and glorify God at the same time. Isaiah trusted God and the words he was given enough so that he delivered them with passion and to people that could put him to death. Joseph trusted God in the birth of Jesus so much that he risked losing everything verses following the law of the time.
To this day, I trust my GPS. If I am traveling somewhere, even if I know where I am going, I turn on Waze. At times a may make a different turn than suggested but I have it on. I trust the reports of traffic, accidents, and police officers ahead. I trust it take me around traffic. Sometimes it may take me the wrong way but I know I can still get to where I am going if I trust the directions given. The same can be said about our journey with God. Sometimes we may think God is crazy. Sometimes we may think God is taking us the wrong way. But, if we trust in the wisdom and understanding of God, great things will be accomplished for the Kingdom. So, I challenge you today and as we begin our celebration of Christ’s birth, to trust God and the fact that God said Jesus would return and on that day we will know pain, suffering, and sorrow no more. But until that day trust God like Joseph trusted God leading up to and after Christ’s birth.