The Lord’s Servant: Week 4
Sermon begins at about 29 minutes
Pastor Andrew continues our Advent series “The Lord’s Servant”, which is part of our “Year of the Lord” focus for 2024. In this sermon series, we will hear about people like Mary who chose to be the Lord’s servant. We’ll ask ourselves, “Am I the Lord’s Servant”? These week we focus on Joseph as well.
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Sermon Slide Notes:
Review of series
Being the Lord’s servant starts with God’s grace
“Rejoice, full of grace! The Lord is with you”
Being the Lord’s servant includes our response
“May your word to me be fulfilled”
Mary is the Lord’s servant
Elizabeth is the Lord’s servant
Gabriel is the Lord’s servant
Matthew 1:18-25
Joseph is the Lord’s servant
Joseph lived according to God’s Word by being faithful to God’s law (Matthew 1:19)
Joseph lived according to God’s Word by doing what the angel said in taking Mary to be his wife and in naming the baby Jesus. (Matthew 1:24-25)
Joseph did not consummate the marriage until after the baby was born.
It is easy to do the opposite and choose inconvenient commitment over immediate gratification.
Joseph, though seemingly betrayed by Mary, did not want to expose her but rather do things quietly.
It is easy to do the opposite and build a case against someone who has hurt us rather than put energy into doing what’s best for them.
Joseph sought to avoid publicly disgracing Mary and ended up show grace by sharing her disgrace.
It is easy to put other people down (disgrace them) as a way of making ourselves look better.
Are you the Lord’s servant?
When considering that we often live opposite than Joseph, we need to embrace the good news that Jesus saves his people from their sins (Matthew 1:21).
To be the Lord’s servant we need to embrace the grace Jesus offers us again and again.
