Three Things You Can Count On

Today I want to look with you at a Christmas story seldom told. At Christmas time we always focus on the Babe in the manger, Mary and Joseph, the shepherds, the wise men. But what happened to Jesus after he was born in Bethlehem?

Raymond Bakke wrote many years ago…

Jesus was a Palestinian refugee. As a matter of fact, Jesus was an Asian-born baby who became an African refugee. The Christmas story is about an Asian-born baby who becomes an international migrant.

Half of the babies born in the world are born in Asia, and Jesus was one of them. Half of the 18 million migrants in the world are Africans, and Jesus touched the African migrant experience. Twenty percent of the babies in developing nations died the first year from water-borne diseases; whole villages of babies died before Jesus had an opportunity to die for them on the cross.

Jesus was born in a borrowed barn and buried in a borrowed grave and was homeless most of his life. The authentic Gospel has enormous power for the whole world when we tell it the way it really is.

Today, I want to tell it to you the way it really is. I want us to look together at what happened to Jesus after he was born because I believe there are at least three lessons about our sovereign God that we can learn from Jesus’ early life, lessons that can make a difference right where we live today. Listen for God’s word to you from Matthew 2:12-23…

When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.”

So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called my son.”

When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi. Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled:

“A voice is heard in Ramah,
weeping and great mourning,
Rachel weeping for her children
and refusing to be comforted,
because they are no more.”

After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to take the child’s life are dead.”

So he got up, took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning in Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. Having been warned in a dream, he withdrew to the district of Galilee, and he went and lived in a town called Nazareth. So was fulfilled what was said through the prophets, that he would be called a Nazarene.

Lesson number one that I see in this passage is that God guides. In this story, God guides Joseph in at least three different ways.

One way God guided Joseph was through the voice of an angel who told Joseph: “Get up, take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.”

The wonderful thing about Joseph was that he listened to God’s guidance and obeyed. We read that in response to the angel’s message, Joseph “got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, where he stayed until the death of Herod.”

A second way that God guided Joseph was through dreams. We read that “After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to take the child’s life are dead.”

Once again, Joseph listened and obeyed. “So, he got up, took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel.”

We saw God using both these methods of guidance with Joseph in our text last Sunday. I believe God does guide us, even today, through angels and through dreams. Sometimes God guides through an angel without a dream, or a dream without an angel, or through both things together. That much is clear from Scripture.

A third way that I think God guided Joseph was through Joseph’s own common sense. We read that when Joseph “heard that Archelaus was reigning in Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there.”

It wouldn’t have required too much common sense in those days to realize that the Herod family was dangerous. Joseph realized this without having to think about it for very long. I imagine that Joseph, being a righteous man as Matthew told us in chapter 1, sought the Lord’s wisdom regarding what to do about Archelaus. And God spoke to Joseph once again in a dream. We read that “Having been warned in a dream, he [Joseph] withdrew to the district of Galilee, and he went and lived in a town called Nazareth.”

So, we see God guiding Joseph using at least three means in this story: angels, dreams, and Joseph’s own common sense. I believe that there are additional means that God uses to guide us today. I believe God uses the Bible, the wise counsel of trusted friends, Christian books, prayer, and circumstances to guide us.

One of my favorite illustrations of God’s guidance comes from Bob Mumford’s book, Take Another Look at Guidance. In that book, Mumford compares discovering God’s will with a sea captain’s docking procedure. He writes…

A certain harbor in Italy can be reached only by sailing up a narrow channel between dangerous rocks and shoals. Over the years, many ships have been wrecked, and navigation is hazardous. To guide the ships safely into port, three lights have been mounted on three huge poles in the harbor. When the three lights are perfectly lined up and seen as one, the ship can safely proceed up the narrow channel. If the pilot sees two or three lights, he knows he’s off course and in danger.

God has also provided three beacons to guide us. The same rules of navigation apply—the three lights must be lined up before it is safe for us to proceed. The three harbor lights of guidance are: the Word of God, the Holy Spirit, and circumstances. Together they assure us that the directions we’ve received are from God and will lead us safely along his way.

But I don’t think we should expect God to reveal his plan for our entire lives in one instant. That is not God’s usual way. God did not work that way with Joseph. God only told Joseph the next step. And Joseph obeyed.

Helen Roseveare once wrote,

As I came home from church one evening, I was struggling to recognize God’s guidance for my life. Suddenly, I drove into dense fog and could see nothing. Poking my head out the window, I noticed a tiny light from the road ahead. As I inched my car forward, it blinked out and another set of oncoming headlights took its place some yards ahead. I crawled along, following just the short distance I could see—one light after another—until the fog cleared. Then I realized that this is how God guides me. He shows me how far I need to go at any given moment. And step-by-step, I move from one light to the next. Confident of God’s guidance, I let go of the need to see his complete plan.

So, that’s one lesson I think we can learn from this passage. God guides. And I believe God usually guides us through a combination of the Bible, the Holy Spirit, and our circumstances.

A second lesson I see in this passage is that God protects. God guided Joseph to take his family to Egypt, and God guided Joseph exactly when and where to return, all for the purpose of protecting Jesus.

You say, “Well that’s nice, but what about all those grieving parents who lost their children to Herod’s violence? God surely wasn’t protecting them.”

I think there are a few points we need to note here. One is that God has given free will to human beings. We all tend to abuse that gift of free will from time to time. Herod abused God’s gift to him of free will and he committed great evil. But that was Herod’s fault, not God’s.

Secondly, if God withdrew his gift of free will every time that he knew we were going to commit some evil act, then that consistent withdrawal would void the gift of free will altogether. God chooses not to do that. God takes the risk of giving us free will and letting us run with it.

Why does God take the risk of giving us free will? I believe he does it because, while free will makes evil possible, it is also the only thing that makes love possible. If we were just a bunch of robots doing only what God wanted and allowed all the time, then we would not be capable of love.

Thirdly, we always need to remember what Paul says in Romans 8:28. “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” God is always working for the good of those who love him. That doesn’t mean that all things are good. But God works in all things for good.

And one more thing I think we can be sure of, that is that, as Jim Eliot once said, “Our lives are immortal until our job is done.” God was making sure that Jesus’ life was protected until Jesus’ job was done. I believe God does the same thing for each of us when we entrust our lives to him.

A third and final lesson I see in this passage is that God keeps his word. Over and again throughout his Gospel, Matthew says, “And so was fulfilled…” and then he quotes some Old Testament Scripture.

Whatever we may think of Matthew’s perspective on the Old Testament being fulfilled in Jesus, there is one thing that is certain. Matthew believed that God made promises in the Old Testament, promises that he would send a deliverer, a Messiah who would rescue his people. And Matthew believed that God had fulfilled all those promises in Jesus. Matthew believed that God keeps his word. And I believe it too.

Paul says in 2 Corinthians 1:10… “For no matter how many promises God has made, they are ‘Yes’ in Christ. And so, through him the ‘Amen’ is spoken by us to the glory of God.”

In his book, Markings, Dag Hammarskjold has this simple prayer…

For all that has been,
Thanks.
For all that is to be,
Yes!

Because I believe that God guides, God protects, and God keeps his word, I am learning to look back upon my life, even the most difficult parts, and say to God, “Thanks! You were there with me Lord, even in the darkness, guiding, protecting, and keeping your word.” And because I believe in these three everlasting realities of God’s guidance, protection, and faithfulness, I can also look to the future and say to the Lord, “For all that is to be…Yes!”