← Timothy Keller Sermons Podcast by Gospel in Life
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- [00:05]
Tim Keller
Thanks for listening to Gospel and Life. Today, Tim Keller is teaching on the surprising expectation, defying and surpassingly hopeful meaning of the Christmas story. After you listen, we invite you to go online to gospelandlife.com and sign up for email updates. Now. Here's Today's teaching from Dr. Keller.
- [00:29]
Narrator
The scripture this morning is from the book of of Matthew, chapter 1, verses 18 to 24. 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. 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. 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. 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. All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet. The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Emmanuel, which means God with us. When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. This is the word of the Lord.
- [02:19]
Tim Keller
Oh my, there's so much. But let me show you. There's much, of course, in here, but I would like you to consider one thing. Mary received Jesus Christ into her life in a rather unique way. And nobody else ever has or ever will receive him into their lives like she did. Joseph in some ways a little easier for us to identify with because you see, Jesus was coming into Joseph's life as well. And just as he was about to come in, Joseph at this point was standing right on the precipice and he was about to sweep away the coming Christ. He was about to take Jesus out of his life. Jesus was coming in and Joseph was just about to arrange things so that it wasn't going to happen. And notice the way Joseph thought of it was here's a woman who I'm engaged to be married to and during our engagement gets pregnant with somebody besides me. And so he's about to put her away. He's about to break. Divorce here meant breaking the engagement, because the engagement in those days in that place was a very, very binding thing. It wasn't as binding in marriage, but he was about to break the betrothal and you see, the reason he thought, in his mind, he said, because Joseph, her husband, was a righteous man. He thought he was being very big about this because he was not going to publicly disgrace her in the obvious and immediate that he would make this big public stand and say, I'm turning my back on her because she's pregnant, rather than he was going to do it quietly. And so he was telling himself, I'm a righteous man. I'm doing this because what she's done is wrong. It's against the law of God. Deuteronomy 22 very, very, very clearly says, no sex before marriage, even if you're betrothed. So I'm a just man, and I'm a righteous man. And I'm also a very kind man. Look, I'm willing to put her away very quietly. I'm going to. She's going to be disgraced, of course, but I can make it more gradual. I can put it off a little bit. But the angel comes to Joseph and says, you, problem is not that. You're just trying to do the right thing. What does the angel say? Your problem is? You're a coward. Do not be afraid. See, he doesn't think it's fear. He's just doing the right thing. But, see, the angel comes to Joseph and says, do not be afraid. Now, here's the point. This passage shows us that you can't be a Christian unless you have courage, or put it another way, that to let Jesus into your life, to receive Jesus into your life takes above all courage. Or another way to put it is, you will not receive Jesus into your life unless you have the courage to accept three other things. They're all here. Three things that Joseph had to accept. You see what they are. You can't receive Christ, and you can't unless you accept. You have the courage to accept these three things as well. The first thing is the world's disdain. You see, he thinks, oh, I'm just doing this. Well, nicely. But, you know, I'm being just, righteous and just. But the whole point is, Mary is. Look at the word. See, it's in verse 19. Disgraced. He's going to try to keep it from being too severe. But she's disgraced. Even if he marries her now, you see, if he marries her immediately, people aren't stupid. They're going to know. People do it today, don't they? They do a little arithmetic. Yeah. Married January 4th. You know, first child, May 5th. You see, in that day and in that time and in that traditional culture, Joseph realized that it was absolutely inevitable that Mary's life would be ruined. She would be cut off from her family to some degree, she would be socially marginalized to some degree. She was going to be disgraced. Her life was blown up. And here's the reason why. The reason why is because God coming into her life and impregnating her just does not fit the grid. The world would look at that. No matter what she says, it just doesn't fit the grid. And see, for Joseph to receive Christ into his life at this point, if he marries her, the disgrace will come to him too. The only way that he can be free, the only way he can be free is if he divorces her. Then it'll be clear that she's been unfaithful to him. But if he marries her and they have this child three or four months after they get married, then it'll be clear to the whole world that they've been unfaithful to God together. And so the only thing that Jake, what Joseph is saying is, I don't want this child in my life because if I bring this child in into my life, I will get the disdain of the world. I will be marginalized, I will be knocked away. My life will be ruined. And so the first thing we see is, that's true of every Christian. Oh, yes, it is. Listen, if you say, Jesus Christ has forgiven my sins and therefore I know him, I know the Lord, I know he loves me. I know I'm going to heaven. That doesn't fit into the world's grid. The world hears you say that. And the world says you must be arrogant. Because, you see, the world doesn't understand the gospel. By definition, the world says, if there is a God, the only people who would find God would be very good people. You Christians say, you know God, he loves you. You're going to heaven. That must mean you think you're better than all the rest of us. And we say, no, we don't think we're better than all the rest. We think we're sinners, see the world's grid. No matter what you say, you're going to sound arrogant. No matter what you see, no matter what Mary said, they're going to say, give me a break. And no matter what you say, the world will say, give me a break. When you become a Christian, you will have to. You cannot receive Christ in your life unless you are willing to accept to some degree the disdain of the world. Haven't you seen it? People who, before you became a Christian, thought So well of you now think you're just marginal, you know, you're still a nice person. I don't know what happened. Maybe he'll wake up. Maybe someday she'll come to her senses. People that before thought you were good spouse material and people that you thought were good spouse material. That whole map's been blown up. And your career, there's people on the insiders in your field of expertise. Now, there will always be a danger, a tremendous danger that you'll be cut out because of your position as a Christian. But dear friends, if you're scared, look at Mary and Joseph, two illiterate, impoverished teenagers who did receive into their lives Jesus Christ and therefore the disdain of the world. And as a result, look what's happened. All the people that disdain them. Have you ever heard of them? Do you know who they are? No. They're lost in the dust. But look what happens to two that just had the courage to do it. They just had the courage to do it.
- [09:50]
The biblical meaning of Christmas is historical and life changing because it's the moment that God entered the world as a man born to save us, bringing lasting joy and unshakable peace to those who believe in him. The true story of Christmas is the amazing free gift of God's grace given to us in his son. Kathy Keller has recorded a special Christmas message highlighting the free gift of salvation that is possible because of Jesus birth. In this special video message, Kathy and her son Jonathan present a brief encouragement about the grace and salvation found in the story of Christmas. You can watch Kathy's Christmas message@gospelandlife.com Christmas that's gospelandlife.com Christmas here at Gospel and Life, we want to extend greetings to everyone listening. May you know joy and peace this Christmas as you celebrate the birth of our Savior with family and friends.
- [10:46]
That's the first thing. The second thing, the second thing that. See the Joseph, that was the thing he was saying, no, no, no, I'm being right. I'm doing the right thing. After all, look at what she's done. I'm following the law. That's what Deuteronomy 22 says I ought to do. And the angel comes and says, no, you're a coward. Do not be afraid to take Mary. You're afraid. Secondly, the second thing, you're not going to accept Christ in your life unless you have the courage not just to accept the world's disdain, but to accept the adventure of his lordship. Now, what does that mean? Do you know? One of the most striking things about this passage is the angel says to Joseph, don't you name him? Let me tell you what you name him, you name him Jesus, don't you name him. Now my dear friends, parents have the right to name their children. You know why? See, especially back then, naming was not labeling. Naming was a sign of superiority and authority. You only have the authority to name something that you own. Basically, you only have the authority to name something that's under your management, right? You invent it, you name it. You start the company, you name it. You have a child, you name it. Why? The child's under your management. But the angel warns and says, if you want to receive this child into your life, this child does not come under your management, you will be under his. You may not name him, he will be naming you. And this is the second reason why a lot of. Listen, this is the second reason. I've been in New York for about eight and a half years and all these reasons, I've heard them, I've heard them, people don't know it. People are scared to come to Christ. And the first reason is people will laugh at me. And the second reason is they say, if I become a Christian, will I be able to do this, will I be able to do that? Will I still be able to do this or will he help me do that? And Jesus Christ comes in saying, you have no idea what I'm going to tell you to do. The point is you have to say to me, whatever you tell me to do, since you're a king, I will do. And unless you say that to him, he doesn't come in at all. He doesn't tell you what things he's gonna say. How can you possibly know all that? And that's the reason why people stand back. He's not a tame lion, he's not a daytimer sized savior. He doesn't come in just to do. Exactly. See, when you say, will he let me do this, Will he let me do this? I wouldn't want to become a Christian if he doesn't let me do this. You're trying to name him, he comes in to name you. You don't even know who you are. How could you possibly know who you are until he comes into your life? How could you know? How can you have your conditions and say, well, I'm not going to become a Christian unless he lets me do this and that? How do you know that you should be doing that? How do you know that that's who you are? How can you know? And the second reason that people don't have Christ in their life is because they're just scared of the adventure. They're cowards when it comes to adventure. Jesus Christ coming into your life, his savior, somebody who's gonna help you here. And there's. That's totally predictable. Jesus coming into your life as Lord, as king, not to be named, but to name. That was the second thing Joseph had to face. And the third thing. You can't have Jesus in your life unless you have the courage to accept the disdain of the world, the adventure of his lordship, and last of all, the courage to admit that you're a sinner. The angel says he will save his people from their sins. And you see, listen, this is the most scary thing of all. You can't be a Christian if you say, lord, come into my. Over the years, I'll tell you, many, many, many conservative churches say, ask Jesus into your life. And poor people do it, not knowing what that means. Generally, what it means is I'm going to really try very hard now. I'm really going to reach my goals because you're going to be in my life empowering me. Now, the. The courage you need is to admit that God owes you nothing, that you are a helpless sinner, that you cannot save yourself, you cannot live the life you should, that you can't possibly live up to his standards. This is the greatest courage of all. Do you have the courage to admit that you need to be saved? You need to be rescued, you see, not helped, not a helping hand. Rescued because you're a sinner. Do you have the courage to say, God owes me nothing without his sheer mercy? He could just cut me off and he would be absolutely just. Do you have the courage to say that until you have the courage to say those three disdain of the world? I accept the adventure of lordship. I accept and to repent. Many people think, oh, Christians, how obsequious, how lowly. They're always talking about how sinful they are, how weak that is. Absolutely not. It takes nobility. It takes courage. It takes poise. It takes courage. Now, how did he get. How did he get the courage to do these three things? There's one more thing. I'm not totally sure, but you see, Joseph woke up and something happened to him, and I'm not totally sure what, but he acted like Jesus. My guess is that to some very, very low degree, he got wind of the fact that Mary really had received this into her life, knowing that it would blow up her life forever. And that must have moved Joseph, because you Know what I think what had happened? Joseph realized that Mary had blown up her life to save him from his sins. And as a result, Joseph looked at Mary. Mary was in her weakness. Inevitably, Mary was in her weakness. Unavoidably, Joseph could have escaped. For Joseph, it was voluntary. But Joseph voluntarily identified with Mary so that her weakness and her disgrace became his. And if he hadn't, do you know what would happen? Do you know what would happen to a single, teenage, pregnant, unwed mother in that culture? Do you know Deuteronomy 22 says the betrothed woman, or the man, by the way, who breaks the engagement through sex is to be killed. And that even though the Romans didn't allow Jews to do that anymore, the historians will tell you sometimes it happened. Do you know that if she would have been out there, no one would have ever married her. A woman couldn't go out and get a job in that culture. She would have been on the verge of starvation the rest of her life. The only way for her to be saved was for Joseph to give up his life. The only way for him to be saved was for Mary to give up hers. That's what it means to be a Christian. You know how you're gonna get the courage you have to see that, like Mary, we were in our weakness, inevitably, unavoidably, and Jesus was not. And Jesus did not have to come mild. He lays his glory by. You know what mild means? It means it wasn't violent, it wasn't coerced, it wasn't forced, voluntarily, happily, freely. He laid his glory by. He didn't have to. We're like Mary. We had to. We were going. And the only way we could be saved is if Jesus did what Joseph did. He identified with us. He laid his life down. What's that mean? What's it mean? If you look at him, Joseph looked at Mary losing her life for him, and he was able to lose his life for her. If you look at Jesus losing your life for him, you'll be able to face all these things. And I tell you, Oh, I tell you, you're not really giving up your life because Jesus will give you back so much more than you ever lost. And it means if you're a Christian, anybody else around you will. You'll look at the hurting, you'll look at the broken, you'll look at the poor, you'll look at just the weird. And you will never again look at them the same. Because you will say, I'm like that. And you'll identify and you will Give your life. And if you are like that, if you are broken, if you are poor, if you tonight are a single woman who's pregnant and you're tempted to be ashamed, why do you think the mother of God was a single, pregnant, unwed mother? Because this is God's way of saying, I don't care what you are or what you've done. If your hearts condemn you, I'm greater than your heart in Jesus Christ. You're a beauty to me. Do not be afraid to take him. Let's pray. Our Father, as we come to your table, we only ask that you would help us to get the courage. And what is courage? Courage isn't strength. Oh, no, it's the willingness to be weak. It's the willingness to be vulnerable. Lord. Christmas means that you became breakable and vulnerable. Christmas means that the impervious and impregnable God became breakable and vulnerable. And now we ask that you would help us to have Jesus into our life more deeply than ever, because we will become breakable and vulnerable. Vulnerable enough to confess our sins, to give you the lordship in a new way, and to accept any shame that the world would throw on us for the sake of the incredible honor that you will put on our heads. We pray now that you would help us to be like your son, looking at his example and through the Lord's supper, melt us more into his likeness. We pray in Jesus name. Amen.
- [20:14]
Thanks for listening to Tim Keller on the Gospel Podcast. If you found today's teaching helpful and something you'd like more people to hear, we invite you to consider becoming a Gospel and Life Monthly partner. Your partnership helps more people discover the hope and joy of Christ's love. Just visit gospelandlife.com partner to learn more. Today's sermon was preached in 1997. The sermons and talks you hear on the Gospel in Life podcast were preached from 1989 to 2017 while Dr. Keller was senior pastor at Redeemer Presbyterian.