{"id":1034,"date":"2022-12-24T11:14:02","date_gmt":"2022-12-24T19:14:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/1thingmatters.com\/?p=1034"},"modified":"2023-01-22T20:14:30","modified_gmt":"2023-01-23T04:14:30","slug":"come-lord-jesus-as-immanuel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/1thingmatters.com\/?p=1034","title":{"rendered":"Come, Lord Jesus! – as Immanuel"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

(Matthew 1:18-25)<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the concept of karma has no basis in Scripture and therefore is not covered in any lessons in our Bible Basics class, the idea of it has certainly crept into our American way of thinking. We may rather flippantly comment on karma playing a role when someone pretty universally considered to be a jerk has a stroke of bad luck. Our usage of karma tends to be more negative than positive – that when bad things happen to bad people, it\u2019s karma coming back to get them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the flip side, maybe the slightly twisted Christianized version of karma is this: \u201cDo the right thing, and everything will work out.\u201d Sure, there may be a few detours or unexpected potholes along the way, but generally speaking, when we do the right thing, everything works out. That\u2019s why we have the Ten Commandments after all, right? Follow those pretty closely, and things will go our way. Be nice to people, tell the truth, don\u2019t take what isn\u2019t yours – do those kinds of things and generally speaking, everything works out.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I wonder if that\u2019s why we\u2019re so drawn to a guy like Joseph in the Christmas account. Here is a good guy that the Bible always describes as doing the right thing. The verse today tells us he was \u201cfaithful to the law,\u201d (Mt. 1:19)<\/em><\/strong>, which used to be translated simply as \u201crighteous.\u201d He did the right things. Even after the angelic explanation for what was going on, we see Joseph doing the right thing. \u201cWhen Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him.\u201d (v.24)<\/em><\/strong>. And later, after Jesus\u2019 birth, Joseph again follows an angelic mandate to take his family to Egypt to avoid Herod\u2019s wrath. We don\u2019t see Joseph dismissing or disregarding what he is told to do. We don\u2019t see him calling an audible and changing the game plan to what he thinks might be a better option or solution. We see him faithfully following orders – a good guy just doing the right thing.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet, look what this good guy had to go through! The quiet, humble, do-gooder Joseph was going about everything the right way in his relationship with Mary. He had been faithfully honoring the period of engagement before marriage, which could have been a rather lengthy time as the families negotiated the details of the marriage, and then the bombshell dropped: she was pregnant, and Joseph was definitely not<\/em> the father. So much for \u201cdo the right thing, and everything will work out,\u201d huh?!?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s happened to you, too, hasn\u2019t it? You did all the right things, but still, look what happened. You\u2019ve been prudent and disciplined with your finances, budgeting wisely and refusing to get caught up in a buy everything and buy it right now culture, but still cannot seem to get things into the black. You\u2019re the model employee, following company policy and always getting your stuff done in a timely manner, and no one ever takes notice. You take care of your things far better than your negligent neighbor, and yet you\u2019re the one who always has car trouble or the leaky roof. You really felt you were doing all the right things as a parent, but your heavy heart questions it as you watch your child\u2019s life continue to crumble in one part of life after another. You\u2019re doing the right thing, but everything is definitely not<\/em> working out!\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That carries over into our spiritual lives, too, doesn\u2019t it? You\u2019re doing the right things God calls you to in your marriage but the burdens are far outnumbering the blessings. You\u2019ve been much more deliberate about being active and engaged at church, but your problems persist. You\u2019ve been reading your Bible, but rather than experiencing clarity, confusion continues. You committed to the three-month challenge of increasing your giving over the final quarter of the year, but it\u2019s been much more difficult than you thought it would be. You\u2019re doing the right thing, but everything is definitely not<\/em> working out!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It gets more troubling as we get more personal. I\u2019m talking about trying to do the right thing after you\u2019ve done the wrong thing – that internal scale that we try to balance inside our own minds. Our history of exploding in a fit of sinful rage has resulted in physical damage or scathing words more times than we can count. Therefore, we work really hard at being more patient\u2026 only to inevitably lose control again. The next morning we tell ourselves last night was the last time we\u2019re ever going on that website\u2026 and then after visiting it again the very next weekend we have to establish a new \u201clast time we\u2019re ever going to visit it.\u201d Your dismal financial situation, caused by credit card debt racked up through your unnecessary purchases leaves you feeling ashamed and guilty, so you end up making it worse by trying to escape the guilt with more buying. You know you should forgive the person who sinned against you as readily as Jesus forgives your sins, but\u2026 you just can\u2019t. You\u2019re trying to do the right thing – even when trying to balance the scales because you\u2019re<\/em> the one who\u2019s done the wrong thing, but it is definitely not working out!\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you are frustrated or discouraged by this struggle, the Bible provides some insight to help explain what\u2019s going on. \u201cThere is a way that appears to be right, but in the end it\u00a0leads\u00a0to\u00a0death\u201d (Proverbs 16:25)<\/em><\/strong>. \u201cBy the works of the law no one will be justified\u201d (Galatians 2:16). <\/em><\/strong>That\u2019s pretty sobering news for those hoping to make progress by taking the \u201cdo the right thing and everything will work out\u201d approach. It won\u2019t work out. It doesn\u2019t work out. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That misses the whole point of God\u2019s law, which is really summed up by \u201cdo the right thing.\u201d Or, to put it another way, love perfectly at all times. That isn\u2019t just a tall order; it\u2019s an impossible one. And that\u2019s what God needs us to realize. Even guys like Joseph, guys we\u2019d prefer to look up to and emulate as \u201cgood guys\u201d – they are never good enough. We\u2019ll never prove ourselves worthy or free from guilt by getting to the point of good, because it\u2019s an unattainable goal.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So what did Joseph do when that bombshell of Mary\u2019s pregnancy dropped? Well, since he was the kinda guy who did the right thing, that\u2019s exactly what he stuck with – he did the right thing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But there\u2019s a monumental difference between doing the right thing in hopes of satisfying God and doing the right thing once you find out God\u2019s more interested in satisfying you. That, after all, was what was revealed to Joseph in his dream. The angel explained the significance of Mary\u2019s pregnancy and birth. \u201cShe will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus,\u00a0because he will save his people from their sins\u201d (Mt. 1:21)<\/em><\/strong>. “Joseph, did you hear that? You don\u2019t have to be good enough! You don\u2019t have to try harder! You don\u2019t have to live in limbo, wondering if you\u2019ve done the right thing so that everything will work out eternally. The Son born to Mary would take care of all of that. He will save people – including you, Joseph – from their sins!”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brothers and sisters in Christ, did you hear that? You don\u2019t have to be good enough! You don\u2019t have to try harder! You don\u2019t have to live in limbo, wondering if you\u2019ve done the right thing so that everything will work out eternally. The Son born to Mary would take care of all of that. He will save people – including you – from their sins!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And he wouldn\u2019t leave us wondering where we stood by remaining in heaven and barking out directions or to-do\u2019s that could we could follow to be saved from our sins. He had to do it, and not from heaven, but here on earth. Matthew connected the dots for his readers to no one would miss that Mary\u2019s Son would be God\u2019s Son, the Savior who, just as Isaiah had promised, would come to be with us: \u201cAll this took place to fulfill\u00a0what the Lord had said through the prophet:\u00a0\u201cThe virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel\u201d\u00a0(which means \u201cGod with us\u201d)\u201d (v.22-23)<\/em><\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Immanuel, \u201cGod with us,\u201d is not just the stuff of nostalgia; it\u2019s the stuff of necessity. In Christ, God came to be what Joseph couldn\u2019t be, what we couldn\u2019t be, what no one could be: both perfection and payment. Jesus was the good we all strive so unsuccessfully to be. Jesus was the perfect that we\u2019ll never pacify. Jesus was the payment we could never make.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Christmas is Christmas because it had to be. Out of necessity. I need that child born on Christmas Day. You need that child born on Christmas Day. You love that child and you love Christmas when you are emptied of the notion that you can just do the right thing and everything will work out. It won\u2019t. So God had to fix what we couldn\u2019t, what we can\u2019t, what we will never on our own be able to fix: ourselves. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For all of his righteousness, his faithfulness to the law, his doing the right thing, Joseph still needed Jesus. So do we. Good news: on Christmas, we celebrate that God gave us just what we needed: Immanuel.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(Matthew 1:18-25) While the concept of karma has no basis in Scripture and therefore is not covered in any lessons in our Bible Basics class, the idea of it has certainly crept into our American way of thinking. We may rather flippantly comment on karma playing a role when someone pretty universally considered to be… Continue reading Come, Lord Jesus! – as Immanuel<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[262,65,1],"tags":[184,4,264,5,36,108],"class_list":["post-1034","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-come-lord-jesus","category-sermons","category-uncategorized","tag-advent","tag-christmas","tag-immanuel","tag-jesus","tag-sermon","tag-teaching"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p842FN-gG","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/1thingmatters.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1034","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/1thingmatters.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/1thingmatters.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1thingmatters.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1thingmatters.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1034"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/1thingmatters.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1034\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1046,"href":"https:\/\/1thingmatters.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1034\/revisions\/1046"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/1thingmatters.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1034"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1thingmatters.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1034"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1thingmatters.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1034"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}