Matthew 1:18-25 18 This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. 19 Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, HE HAD IN MIND TO DIVORCE HER QUIETLY. 20 But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” 22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: 23 “The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel”–which means, “God with us.” 24 When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. 25 But he had no union with her until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.
Joseph had a plan in mind. He was going to call things off, but when a sign came from God, when the angel appeared to him in a dream and he woke up, he stood down. He surrendered his plan and embraced God’s plan. Here is point one:
To to be led by God you have to be willing to let go of your plans.
God tells us in that His ways are always higher than our ways. Is. 55:8-9 God’s plans are always bigger than yours. It would have been easy for Joseph wake up and say, “That was just a dream. That was just a figment of my imagination.” He could have shook it off as something strange instead of something supernatural. Too many people try to explain away the workings of God instead of being willing to consider what God is attempting to communicate.
Well, after Jesus was born, and King Herod had heard of the birth of the King of the Jews, he attempted to have Jesus killed. So, the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream again and said in Matthew 2:13, “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.” 14 So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, 15 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.”
That’s a big ask, isn’t it? To have God tell you to leave your friends and family after you have had a baby, to move to another country where you don’t know anyone? I mean, the nursery was ready. They had already made plans to welcome their baby into their home. They couldn’t swing back by their place and pick up the gifts from the baby shower. They just had to run. Hadn’t God disrupted his and Mary’s lives enough at this point? Was this just the start of a series of requests? How different would their lives be? Would there ever be a normal day for Joseph, Mary and Jesus? The second conclusion I draw from this scene in the Holy Family’s life is this:
To to be led by God you have to be willing to move beyond your comfort zone.
Joseph obeyed, and he and Mary learned that God will take you beyond where you imagine you can go on your own.
The Magi were wise and learned men. Led by a star, they were in search of truth. They made a tireless journey to see the infant-king for themselves. There are some things that can be learned from reading or watching a You Tube tutorial, but there are others that can only be learned by experiencing them firsthand. To have true understanding about the birth of the Messiah, they were going to have to see Him for themselves. Point three is simply this:
To be led by God you have to be willing to admit there is more to know.
Perhaps we would simply take a huge and dazzling star as intriguing or beautiful, but they saw it as a sign. Here were grown men, willing to be led by a star. The wise men’s journey helps us understand that God will teach you what cannot be learned through human methods if you will be open to the reality that there is still more to know.
The shepherds saw a few signs, didn’t they? Luke 2:8-18 8 And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. 12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”
Verse 15:15 When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.” 16 So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. 17 When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, 18 and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them.
The shepherds remind us that God gives signs to us in the midst of an ordinary day. They were just doing their thing. They were at work watching the sheep, and God broke in. Do we believe God still wants to break into our daily, everyday, ordinary lives?
The last point is this:
To be led you have to be open to Divine Disruptions.
Notice that verse 16 of Luke 2 tells us the shepherds hurried off to find the Christ-child. We’re going to miss the miracle of the Divine if we delay, if we keep putting off following the signs we have been given. God wants our immediate obedience.
So that’s it. Are you open to God’s work in your lives? Are the characteristics of those who are willing to be led on display in your life? God is speaking. God is working. Is He speaking to you? Is He working through you? Is He prompting you to come and see or to go and tell? Are you willing to follow the signs?
