Worthy of our Trust

As I was planning this advent season and what I was going to preach on, I couldn’t shake this word from my spirit: worthy. Jesus is worthy! Worthy of our affections, our worship, our attention, and our trust during this holiday season. Advent, for those that don’t know, simply means this: the coming or arrival of someone important of note. Christ has come, and is coming again! And he is worthy of our worship and our attention.

I had a friend who means a great deal to me come with his wife to our house for dinner this week. So what did we do? We cleaned our house like we were trying to list it for sale and made a special dinner. We put together a nice meal and made some special things to make it a special night. I am sure that most of you did the same thing this past week on Thursday for Thanksgiving. A few repairs around the house finally got done before so before someone came into town, right?

Jesus Christ is coming back, and I believe he is coming soon. During this special season of the year, we get to celebrate and honor his first return, when Jesus came as a baby. We get to celebrate his decision of love to come into the mess of our making as a humble human, to die on a cross for our sin.

As we now look forward to his second coming, what is he worthy of? That is what this series will consist of. We will look at some truths from the Christmas story that teach us how to worship this great and coming King. Jesus is alive, and he is coming again! And his birth narrative teaches us some powerful truths about his worthiness.

Worthy of Our Trust: Matthew 1:18-25

Today, we are going to look at a guy that I think doesn’t get a lot of attention this time of year: Joseph. A man that although at first didn’t see all God was doing, trusted him anyway. A man who loved his wife, honored God, and raised the Son of God. A man I believe we can learn from.

Trust is born in difficult circumstances

Now I don’t mean to be rude, but if my betrothed wife became pregnant and I didn’t have anything to do with it, the whole “I got pregnant by the Holy Spirit” story isn’t going to fly with me… I may be only 31, but I wasn’t born yesterday.

Let’s just get some context for us since some of us don’t fully understand how it worked back then. A pledge to marry was a legally binding act. Only a divorce writ could break it. So infidelity at this stage was considered adultery, which was punishable by death. This formal time period was before the husband moved in with his wife, but before any kind of intimacy.

Now if you are in this situation, in this long waiting period before your official marriage, and your spouse, whom you love and are excited to marry, was suddenly pregnant… it is a difficult circumstance! To say the least.

But difficulty is where God is at work. How many know that God works mightily in difficulty? Difficult circumstances have a way of nudging us towards the things of God. Sometimes we are pushed to the point where we have no other place to turn. Sometimes life knocks us flat on our back and helps us to look in the direction most beneficial for us to look… up.

When we are placed in difficult circumstances, God has an opportunity to build trust with us in ways we otherwise couldn’t. You don’t learn to trust unless you are in a place where trust must be exercised.

When lifting weights for example, what you actually do when performing a lift is cause thousands of little tiny micro tears in your muscle. When your muscle heals, it grows. This is how God builds our faith. We are put into positions that feel tough and difficult, and might even hurt a bit, to experience growth.

This is exactly where Joseph finds himself. This is a wonderful, wonderful place to be. Imagine how our circumstances would appear different to us if we only would trust. Imagine what God could do, imagine how different our mental health would be!

Joseph trusted in God. His character of believing in God is what led to this building of trust, which is my next point:

Trust is built by belief

Joseph didn’t chalk up this crazy dream to the hummus and matza he ate the night before, he believed God. He didn’t doubt the word of the Lord! We must follow this powerful example. What is God saying to you? What has he said in the past to you that you might have stopped believing?

This passage tells us that this was what was prophesied long ago right here in verse 22 and 23: “All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel.” It was promised that God would be with us. And Joseph believed that.

Another powerful example of this, who also experienced a miraculous birth was Abraham, who believed in God and it was credited to him as righteousness. He left his family and his home, the comforts of life to pursue God. Everything he had ever trusted and came to believe as valuable he left behind to follow after a God who knew him by name.

Then God did a miraculous birth in the life of him and his wife. Isaac was born, and the promises of God were finally seen. But how were they seen? By the belief that Abraham had in God. All the circumstances pointed to God not holding his end of the bargain! Abraham was old, he had another son through another woman, and all had seemed lost in the physical. But Abraham believed God anyway, just like Joseph did.

We can only trust God when we believe in God and his promises. What are you believing today? Do you believe what God says about you? Do you believe what God says about your situation and the world? Despite what you see in the physical, are you believing in what God has said? Are you holding onto his promises and walking in his truth?

Joseph believed in God and his word. I think it is so powerful that verses 22 and 23 quote scripture! Do you want to believe in God and his word? Quote scripture! Know scripture. Let it be the foundation of your belief and the root of what you trust. Believe in the word of God, and watch it come to life in you and your family.

Trust is cultivate by action

Joseph gets up and what does he do? “He did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him.” The only way that you can actually build trust is by taking action steps. When was the last time God asked you to step outside of your comfort zone, or shift from a certain lifestyle you were accustomed to, or changed your mindset to his… and you did it? God is calling us to action!

He is worthy of our trust through our actions today, why? Because God’s word is true. Because God is a God of action. How do I know that? Because he sent his son in this story we read today to come and to save you. God didn’t just sit on his throne and think about how to save you from your sins, he sent his son to actively go and do it!

We need to follow the example of our savior and take action and trust in God. He has called us all to something, and we need to make that move. We need to move towards him and towards his will so that we can be the people that God has called us to be.

We need to back the trust that we say that we have with action, just like the men of the Bible did, and just like your God did and continues to do today. Just because you don’t see God working doesn’t mean he isn’t working in the background. He is doing what we can’t even see! When we close our eyes at night and slip off into sleep, God is at work. All around the world, all around our situations, God is at work.

Trust him with actions. Trust him with your mental health by inviting him into your thought life. Trust him with your finances by tithing and giving to God’s house and his work. Trust him with your relationships by honoring your first and foremost relationship with him first, and watch that flow into every other relationship you have. Trust with action and see God move in kind.

Conclusion

We are called to trust him. We are called to live out lives of trust. Even when it doesn’t make sense. Even when all available data says that something is wrong. We need to trust.

First, we talked about trust being born in difficult circumstances. Your difficult moments are opportunities for God to instill trust in your relationship with him. Without the opportunity to trust, it cannot be born.

Second, we said trust is built by belief. Just like a muscle, without resistance training we cannot grow strong in the Lord. It is precisely in the moments of difficulty that our trust is strengthened and honed into a tremendous weapon called faith. And this weapon, faith, is the lifeblood of the believer, the conduit through which God’s power is at work.

Third, trust is cultivated by action. It is one thing to say a bunch of words and yak a bunch of talk. But it is an entirely different thing to put those words to action. In our actions we confirm the trust that we declare that we have.

What are you trusting him for today? A wayward child? A spouse? A job? Your marriage? Direction for your life? Freedom from sin? The future? The economy? Your kids?

He is worthy of our trust because of who he is and what he has accomplished for us. God loves us and gave everything for us, and we should do the same.