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[Music] Welcome back to our study of Matthew chapter 1. This is day 4 of this
study. We're going to begin in verse 20 today, go down to verse 25, looking
again at the story of Joseph, looking again at how to live a life of genuine
relational obedience, not unthinking obedience, not ritualistic religious
obedience, but relational obedience.

As you look at the life of Joseph in Matthew chapter 1 and then all the way into
chapter 2, you see five secrets to living a life of obedience. And you see it in
the way that Joseph responded to five directions that he got from God. Now he
didn't have God's word like we do in the New Testament today, so he had an angel
come to him in a specific circumstance because it was an unusual circumstance
where God was bringing his son into the world and protecting his son in the
world.

So he gets these five directions, first to wed to marry Mary, second to keep her
a virgin, third to go to Egypt, fourth to go back to Israel, and fifth to live
in Nazareth. And in these specific circumstances, you see five ways that he
obeyed. He obeyed immediately, consistently, sacrificially, courageously, and
wisely.

We're going to see those over the next couple of weeks together. Let me read for
you beginning in verse 20. Remember, Joseph had had the angel come to him and
said, "This baby, it is the Savior who's come into the world.

" And so the Bible says in verse 20 again, "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. '" Remember, she's going to give birth to a son. His
name will be Jesus.

All this took place in verse 22 to fulfill what God had said to the prophet,
"The virgin will be with child. " But then I want you to notice verse 24
specifically this time. "When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord
had commanded him.

He took Mary home as his wife, but he had no union with her until she gave birth
to a son. " What do you learn about obedience from that one verse? A couple of
things.

First, he obeyed immediately, then he obeyed consistently. When I obey, what
does it mean? First, do it now.

That's what you learn from Joseph. Do it now. There's this refreshing immediacy
to Joseph's relationship with God.

God said it. He did it. He didn't try to mold God's will into his life.

He allowed the will of God to mold his life. To mold God's will into your life
is God says, "Do it," and you try to make it. You try to fit it in to what
you're doing.

It might take you weeks or months to try to fit it in instead of just doing it
and realizing God wants to mold your life in more beautiful ways than you can
imagine. Now, I know a lot of great men and women of faith in our day, and the
truth is they have different backgrounds. They have different personalities.

They have different struggles. But one thing in common that I see in their life,
both these men and women, is that they obey God. They obey him more immediately
than others do.

When they hear it, they act on it. Now, every time, no, they're not perfect
either, but more often than most people do. Do it now.

The Bible says in 1 John 5, 3, this is love for God, to obey his commands, and
his commands are not burdensome. I reminded you yesterday that obedience is a
relational quality, not a religious quality. This is love for God, to obey his
commands.

It's an outgrowth of our love for him, an expression of our love for him. And
then it says his commands are not burdensome. And we think, really?

Not burdensome? They sure feel burdensome sometimes. And there's many reasons
for that, but I would say for me, and you might check this with your life, one
of the reasons that they feel burdensome is I delay in doing what God is
directing.

I delay in doing what God is directing. And the burden, then, is not in the
command. It's in my delay.

It's in my procrastination. I get the burden because I just don't do it, and I
know I should do it, and the burden is there. Or I get the burden because if I'd
done it when God said to do it, it would have been the right time.

But now I'm trying to fit it into another time. Let me give you a picture of
this. Let's say you're a parent, and some of you are parents, and you've got a
child, and you're asking your child to take out the trash.

If you go in and you say they're watching a TV show or playing a game, "Hey,
could you take out the trash? " And they go, "Sure, Mom. Sure, Dad.

" They pop up. They take out the trash. It's done.

Done. They obey. No burden.

But what if instead, and let's just suppose this could happen in some families,
you said, "Could you take out the trash? " They said, "I don't want to do it. "
"Nope, you need to check.

" "Okay, okay, okay. " Ten minutes later, "Have you taken out the trash? " "No,
I haven't taken out the trash.

" Half an hour later, "Taken out the trash? " "No, I haven't taken out the
trash. " Two hours later, "Did you take out the trash?

" "Oh, I haven't taken out the trash. " All of a sudden, what could have been
easy has become a relational burden. Now, the question is, how often do I have
that kind of interaction with God?

Where God says, "Do it," and I just delay, I procrastinate, and all of a sudden,
what could have been a refreshing moment in my relationship with God becomes a
relational burden. Once you take the step to say, "I'll do it, God," the most
amazing burst of freedom comes into your life. It's an awesome thing.

And now I'm not talking about taking out the trash. I'm talking about you and I
obeying God, hearing him, and learning from Joseph. How can I be more immediate?

I want to be that kind of person. I want that part of the story of his life to
become part of the story of my life. Do it now.

That's part of obedience. The second thing we learn from Joseph is keep on
trusting. You obey immediately, but then you obey consistently.

The truth is, I've noticed in looking at people, looking at my own life, some
people are better at the immediate, others are better at the consistent. Some
can just do the same thing, the right thing again, and again, and again for
years, but they're not so good at when God first says to do it. They tend to go,
"Oh, I don't know.

I've got to think this through and work it through. " There's other people,
they'll obey God immediately, but to keep doing it day after day, year after
year, that's their struggle point. The great thing about Joseph is he did both.

Here's this young man getting married and God says, "No honeymoon, no sex for
months leading up to the child's birth. " And Joseph says, "Yes, Joseph obeys. "
That's obedience.

That's everyday obedience in his life. There was a lot of things that Joseph
didn't understand. He didn't understand the significance of the virgin birth
because he did not yet know fully that Jesus would be God in human flesh.

He didn't understand what God was asking, but he chose to trust and to keep on
trusting. And so he exercised discipline, the discipline of obedience by keeping
her a virgin until she gave birth to Jesus. Now, this discipline, it was a
God-motivated discipline.

It was motivated not by a desire for selfish gain or external pressures, but by
God. But I want you to know that this discipline was also a God-empowered
discipline. You see, we don't have the ability to live the disciplined life that
God asks of us, but he offers us the power to live that life if we'll accept it.

Do not try to live a life of obedience on your own power. You weren't made to.
It's a relational quality.

It comes out of your love for God. So you live a life of obedience in
relationship with God, asking for his power. The power to live a disciplined,
obedient life comes from our living in a sustained relationship with God.

That's what happens with prayer and Bible study, times with the Lord. It brings
out that relational quality in our lives. So here's Joseph, this example of a
man who obeyed immediately and consistently.

In chapter two, we're going to get to some of the other qualities, the three
other qualities that we talked about. But here, let's focus on these two,
immediate and consistent, this perfect balance. As I said, some are good at the
immediate, some are good at the consistent.

Whichever one you happen to be better at, how could you strengthen the one
you're good at, but also strengthen the one that you struggle with? What are you
better at? Obeying God immediately, he says to do it, or obeying God
consistently?

Who could you learn from that could help you to obey God more immediately if you
struggle in that area? Who could you learn from to help you to obey God more
consistently if you struggle in that area? We start with Joseph, we can learn
from him, but who is there in your life that could help you to learn and to
grow?

Let's take a minute to pray together. Our Father, help us to grow in obedience.
And if we happen to be one of those people who's good at doing exactly what you
say spontaneously, help us to also learn how to be more consistent.

And if we happen to be consistent, but we resist the spontaneity, the immediacy
that you ask for sometimes, help us to learn to be more immediate in our
responsible obedience. Lord, put people in our lives that we can learn from. And
those who are different from us, help us instead of seeing in their differences
something to resist, help us to see in their differences something we can learn
from.

Help us to learn from each other, to grow in faith. Lord, thank you that you
love us. And thank you that out of that love that we have for you, we can be
obedient.

And I pray for myself, I pray for every one of us, that our responsible
obedience would always be a response that grows out of our love, a response that
grows out of a relationship with you. Father, we thank you for the life of
Joseph, how he teaches us to live the life you've given us to live. Give us a
heart of obedience today, we pray.

In Jesus' name, amen. Well, tomorrow we're going to look together at what to do
with the disappointments of life.