JOINING GOD

Every person must make the choice. It will be revisited in every act of the common day, but it is the foundational choice. All the decisions and issues that face us reveal the decision we have made and will determine the daily and eternal course of our lives (and even affect the lives of others).

Who is the final authority for my life? Me or my Creator?

EXHIBIT A

The beginning pages of the New Testament unfold the story of God’s messenger appearing to a young virgin named Mary, telling her that she has been chosen to carry and give birth to the prophesied Messiah.

She was afraid, but after assurances by the angel, her choice became simple: would she let God be in charge?

Thankfully, young Mary believed and completely surrendered her body for God’s use. She felt honored and favored to do so. She did not resist God’s activity but joined it. She gladly saw herself as a “bond-slave of the Lord” so she humbly and immediately said, “Be it done to me according to Your will.”

Think of what she experienced in the next nine months and beyond. The intimacy that only a mother and child know. The glory of the birth of the Savior. The days and years that followed raising this One who was “tempted in all points, yet without sin.” The precious knowledge that she alone first carried of who this was and what He had come to do … and her watching the unfolding activity of God through her son.

Because she had settled the issue, Mary not a mere spectator but a vital, glad participant in the greatest story in human history.

EXHIBIT B

In the next order of things, we read this verse …

“And Joseph” (Matthew 1:19)

Someone else was to be involved and was necessary to God’s work in this unfolding plan that had been foretold since the beginning of time.

Joseph was a good, “righteous man” but he had a problem. His fiancé was pregnant, and not by him. This was utterly unacceptable and disgraceful to both of them.

So, Joseph did what any respectable, honorable man would do. In his human logic he decided two things: 1) I will break off this engagement, and, 2) I will send her away from public eyes to have this baby, so she won’t suffer disgrace for what has happened.

It made perfect sense to everyone … except God.

God knows that we need to hear from Him if we are to believe Him. “Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.” And so, God intervened by sending his angel in a dream to Joseph. He explained to this young fiancé that the child in Mary was “conceived of the Holy Spirit,” and then he gave Joseph two instructions.

1.    Take her to be your wife.

2.    Name the child (which was always the father’s responsibility), and name Him “Jesus.”

The name “Jesus” had very clear meaning. “Jesus” (“Joshua” in Hebrew) means “Salvation from God” or “Savior.” “Name Him Jesus,” the angel said to Jesus, “for He will save His people from their sins” (Vs. 21).

The next moments would test and reveal what kind of man Joseph would be. Joseph had to decide who was the final authority in his life. Would it be society? Would Joseph’s desire to be accepted by others determine how Mary was to be treated? Would it be Joseph Himself … doing the logical, seemingly right thing based on his own best thinking? (Surely this made sense?)

Would Joseph be a believer in God or not? Would He join God or resist Him?

Would Joseph be a man who lived by “every word that proceeds from the mouth of God?” A God-man, who, regardless of the world’s opinions and even his best thinking, listened to the Lord and joined God in His activity?

The proof of a man’s decisions is always seen in his actions. And so, we read this beautiful travelogue in the story.

And Joseph awoke from his sleep and did as the angel of the Lord commanded him, and took Mary as his wife, but kept her a virgin until she gave birth to a Son; and he called His name Jesus. (Matthew 1:24-25)

Joseph did, precisely and immediately, the two things God asked him to do. His next steps revealed that he had settled the issue. He was a believer, and the proof of his faith was his instant obedience to the promptings of the Spirit and the illumination of God’s Word.

EXIBIT C

… is you. The story is recorded in just this way so you may read it and understand your choice. What is the final authority for your life? As you are faced with the call of God upon your life to follow Him, submissively, obediently, what will you do? Your actions will indicate what you have fundamentally decided and whether or not you will get in on what God’s up to. Whether you will join God in this magnificent adventure He created you for … or limp along on the sidelines with the broad mass of humanity, vainly trying to make a life determined by the world, the flesh, and the devil … and head to the sure results of that choice (a life separated from God and His followers for all eternity).

Mary and Joseph believed in God and chose to follow Him. All who would come after and be saved by the great Savior were affected by their choice. In fact, their decision and what the Savior in Mary’s womb would provide, saved even them.

What will it be for you?