The Mystery Of The Manger – 1 of 3

Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith.

Raising a family is a huge undertaking. For Joseph, the task was even more daunting in that one of the children in the family was the sinless Son of God. This man's obedience to God makes him a role model for all who face the long-term task of child rearing. Stay with us as we learn more about the family of Jesus.

From the Moody Church in Chicago, this is Running to Win with Dr. Erwin Lutzer, whose clear teaching helps us make it across the finish line. Pastor Lutzer, one has to wonder how much Joseph understood the gravity of his betrothed wife's calling from God. You know, Dave, that's a question I'd like to ask Joseph someday in heaven, because that actually has fascinated me. Another question that comes to mind is, as Jesus helped Joseph in the carpenter shop, did he ever saw a board too short?

These are the kinds of questions, of course, that we can only speculate about, but the reason it's important to think about these things is to remind ourselves that Jesus came as a human being, and that, of course, is what Christmas is all about. We're so thankful for the many of you who support the ministry of Running to Win, and we're making a resource available to you. It's entitled God's Best for My Life. It's a daily devotional, and today is December the 14th, and at the end of this message, I'm going to be telling you what you would be reading if you had this devotional in your home. Rebecca and I are going to be giving copies of this devotional to all of our children and grandchildren. It's a wonderful Christmas gift.

I'll give you contact info at the end of this message. Second thing that I know for sure Joseph would say is that if your dream is of God, it has to be thoroughly biblical. Now, interestingly, in his case, each of his dreams was a fulfillment of Scripture.

You can't go wrong there, can you? The first one, take Mary your wife that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken by the prophet Isaiah, behold, a virgin shall conceive. The second one, go into Egypt and take the baby there so that it might be fulfilled out of Egypt.

Have I called my son? God says, just like Israel came out of Egypt, I want my son also to come out of Egypt. So it was fulfilling that quotation from Hosea. And then the other one, that he might be a Nazarene, so go live in Nazareth. That is not a direct quotation from the Old Testament, by the way, but it captures the essence of Isaiah's prophecy.

So each was rooted in Scripture. Now, your dream and mine, of course, would not be the fulfillment of Scripture, but make sure that it is thoroughly, totally consistent with Scripture. And if you wonder about it, then talk to somebody who could give you some guidance as to whether or not your dream is really consistent with Scripture. You know, Muslims are coming to Christ today by the thousands, by the thousands because of dreams about Jesus. But I've explained to you before, but I need to say it again because it fits so well here, that the dreams themselves do not convert the Muslims to Jesus, but they have dreams about Jesus that lead them to the Word of God. Example, a number of years ago, I was up at Trinity Seminary in Deerfield, and I met a young man who was converted from the Muslim religion and is studying for the ministry and now is back in the Middle East.

I think he's studying and teaching, I should say, in Bethlehem. I said, how did you get converted? He said, I was brought up in Jerusalem. And he said, I was a Muslim and I was sleeping. And he said, I had this dream about Jesus and I was just paralyzed, just plastered against my bed.

I couldn't get up. And so I prayed and I said, Jesus, if you give me the strength to get out of bed, I'll find out about you. Well, with that, he was able to get out of bed.

And then what happens? He finds a missionary who gives him a Bible and he reads the Bible and is converted. So you see the dreams take someone or the one in, I know I had lunch with a man who goes to Baghdad, frequently goes to Iraq, even during the war. And he was telling me about all of the ways in which people are being converted there and more people are being saved there than you and I know about or ever hear about. But he said that a woman met him at a corner in Baghdad and she said to him, are you an American? And he said, yes. She said, can you tell me about Jesus? Well, how did she get that? She had a dream that she was to go to a certain corner in Baghdad and there she would meet an American and he would tell her about who Jesus was.

It was a dream from Jesus. You say, well, why doesn't that happen in this country? Two comments. First of all, it does.

And secondly, this country is different though. You can go into Walmart and you can buy a Bible. But there are many of these countries where there is no Bible. And the thing about these dreams that is so wonderful is that they become the means to drive people to the Bible to find out about Jesus. And you and I have a Bible, so we really don't need the dream, do we?

We've got a sure word of prophecy, as the Bible says. Now, of course, if you have a dream that isn't consistent with scripture, then you know it's either just peace to gather by your own mind or it may come from another source. For example, if you have dreams like I've read about and I checked the Internet last night to read about some dreams and I was in this wonderful dream and Jesus came to me and he told me that all the different religions all lead to the same place. I'm sorry, but that dream is not from the Jesus of the Bible.

That's some other Jesus that the apostle Paul warns about. All dreams, if they are from God, must be consistent with that, with the scripture. Read another dream, he says, I was in a store and Jesus was helping me there in the store and then suddenly Jesus kind of walked away and I was following him and then my girlfriend woke me up.

Am I going too fast for you today here? Hey, my friend, if that dream was from God, it would be a dream of repentance, it seems to me, for your lifestyle. So don't, don't think that every time there's a vision of Jesus that it all has to be interpreted and come out as if to say it is from God. It must be tested by scripture. Thirdly, I think Joseph would say this, and I think this is very important, that the meaning or the intention of the dream should become clear, should become clear. You know, Joseph, of course, had the advantage of just hearing God speak. I mean, through the angel, it is the angel who says, Joseph, don't fear to take Mary or wife. Joseph, go into Egypt.

Joseph, come out of Egypt. That was a tremendous advantage because it wasn't just images. It was a clear message, but it was clear. Now, if you find that you've dreamt a dream that is unclear and you think it's somehow of God, that's fine, but don't obsess over it. If God wants to give you more light and more clarity, God is very capable of doing that. He knows your address.

He knows where you live and he can get you more light if he wants it. You know, if I were to communicate with one of my daughters and I were to do it in codes and then later on I'd blame her because she never understood the code, I don't think so. If I communicated in codes and she wasn't getting it, I'd help her get it if I wanted her to get the message. Don't spend a lot of time trying to figure out a mystery that is wrapped in an enigma.

Don't do that. Now, once you get an interpretation, you can bounce it off on somebody, but I have to tell you, and this is important to say, I don't have the gift of interpretation of dreams. I've had people come to me and say, pastor, I dreamed this dream. And it goes on and on and on. What do you think it means? My dear friend, I love you, but I have no idea what it means.

None. As far as I know, we don't have a Daniel on staff who can interpret it for you. Now, mind you, once you come up with an interpretation, you can bounce it off on somebody, but somebody who's wise. You remember that story about the farmer in Iowa? He was lying in the field one day and he was looking up in the clouds and he fell asleep. And in his dream, the clouds came together.

First of all, the letter P and then the letter C. All other clouds vanished. It was just P, C. And he thought to himself, what could that possible? Clearly it's from God. I mean, he said it must mean preach Christ. So he convinced his wife to sell the farm, that they should sell the farm and so forth, but he had no natural gifts. He had no church.

He had nothing. A wise man heard his dream and said, you know, I think you got the right initials, but you got the wrong words. I think what God was saying to you was plant corn.

So you can get some wisdom from that. God has many ways to communicate. When he wanted to communicate to the wise men, he used a star. When he wanted to communicate with Mary, it was the angel. And of course, when it was with Joseph, it was a dream and an angel just to make sure that he got the message and he got it clear.

Don't be worried about unclear dreams. Read the word, study the word, pray. And if God's trying to guide you, he's got all kinds of ways to do it. Now, if we talk to Joseph, I think he'd also give us some lessons about life. It'd be wonderful sometime in heaven to talk with him as perhaps we will have the opportunity to do. In fact, I'm sure. And you know what?

Take as much time as you want. I mean, when you're talking to Joseph, you want to spend six months with the guy, do it. We've got all of eternity.

And that is a long time. So I think Joseph would say this, that the most important things sometimes happen to the most unimportant people, the most important things. Or maybe I could say it this way, the most extraordinary things often happen to very, very ordinary people. Joseph wasn't walking around thinking to himself that he would like to be the legal father of the Messiah.

I mean, just think about the task that is before him. By the way, have you ever thought of what it would have been like to raise Jesus? And the Bible says that Jesus has both brothers and sisters. They'd be half brothers and half sisters.

We're going to point this out next time. Whatever you do, don't miss next week when we talk about his broader family. But I mean, just imagine one of them, his name is Simon. The Bible says in the book of Mark that was one of Jesus Christ's half brothers. So Simon and the other is Joseph. And you can imagine Joseph is trying to administer discipline.

All right, who stole that cookie? I think Jesus did. No, dad, I guess he didn't. Jesus just doesn't do those things. Can you imagine living with an elder brother who's Messiah, never sins?

Some of you say, well, I have a brother who thinks he doesn't, but this is the real deal. Now, I'm not saying that Jesus cut every board in the carpenter shop to the right length. But there was no question but that morally and spiritually he did not sin. And Joseph has to raise this boy. And as he looks across the breakfast table and they're eating their bagel, there's no way that he can look into that boy's face and notice his own image. Nobody ever said, oh, Joseph, Jesus looks just like you.

And he's got to adopt this boy and raise him. He wasn't equipped to do that. But like a friend of mine sometimes says, sometimes Jesus doesn't call the equipped.

Sometimes he equips the called. And Jesus comes along to you and to me, very ordinary people, very ordinary. In fact, I shouldn't really say this, but I will.

One day I was, there were some people lined up and they wanted me to autograph a book and things for them. And my daughter said later, dad, why do people come and talk to you? You're so ordinary.

And I thought, yeah, exactly. Uh, you know, we, we excel in ordinariness. Jesus loves to take ordinary people and give them something very extraordinary to do. Oh, we'll never be asked to raise Jesus for sure. But think of the areas of ministry. Think of the gifting. Think of the calling of God upon your life and how you fit into Moody church.

I took today. I was sitting beside a couple that's been coming here for six months. Where do they fit in? Where do you fit in?

Where do us all fit in? In terms of the scheme of God, you have no idea how God may use the words that you say to someone at Christmas and bring them to a concert or an advent service. You have no idea of how extraordinary that might sometimes be because we never get to see that which is the extraordinary or seldom we do. God seldom allows any of us to know how much we are being used. Joseph would say sometimes the most ordinary person is given an extraordinary responsibility and an extraordinary privilege.

So if you're ordinary today, you qualify. Secondly, I think Joseph would say this, that one of the things he learned is that the son that he had to raise from the legal standpoint of being his father, that somebody had to raise is always dividing people. You know, I mean, here he is, he goes into Egypt and what does Herod do?

He kills these 20, maybe as many as 60 boys. He kills them all because of Jesus. And, you know, Mary and Joseph had to live with that. They knew that this massacre was because of their son. What in the world is it with this child that should make Herod be so fearful and get him so rattled and all Jerusalem with him?

I mean, who in the world is afraid of a baby? But Herod was so insecure and so evil that he thought if someone was born King of the Jews, he wanted to wipe him out. Interestingly, when Jesus was crucified, Pilate, who had his ear to the ground and Pilate had a good sense of human nature, he says that it was for envy, actually, that they delivered him. That's what the Bible says. Pilate says it was for envy. The thing about Jesus that irked people was that he had a following and was able to do some wonderful things that made other people look bad.

And for that they wanted to rub them out. But Jesus always divides people. He divides people today. You say, oh, no, no, no, he unifies people. At Christmas, everybody is pro-Jesus.

Everybody says he's wonderful. You know why they say that? It's because they've created in their minds an image of Jesus that does not really exist. They've created another Jesus, a Jesus who just loved people, who tolerated everything.

Doesn't matter what you believe, doesn't matter what you belong to. Jesus is just loving and accepting everybody. I'm sorry, that's not the Jesus of the New Testament.

He was loving. But he also divided people because he said that your eternal destiny is determined by your relationship with me. I mean, imagine standing there and saying to the disciples, who do men say that I am? And then Peter, of course, comes out and says, you're the son of the living God. And then Jesus, having the nerve to say to people, he who believes on me has everlasting life.

He that doesn't believe on me shall be damned. That's the Jesus that we worship. But that's not the Jesus that the world in general worships or adores at Christmas. No, he's a helpless little baby who touches everybody's heart. Imagine that verse in Second Thessalonians that someday he will come in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the glory of his power.

Wow. Just imagine that Jesus. No wonder, it says in the Gospel of John a number of times. And there was a division among them. Whenever it confronted with Christ, there's a division among them. And Joseph would say, yeah, my son, my son was one who divided people. You're either for him or you were against them. And so it is still today. You may be here today as one whom Jesus has redeemed, but you also may be here today as one whom he has not redeemed because your relationship with him is not personal.

Your relationship with him is a relationship that is based upon what you know and what you admire. But you've never received him as your redeemer and your savior. Could I end this message with the words of the angel to Joseph in the first dream? He shall be called Jesus because he shall save his people from their sins. You come today to church as a sinner. By the way, it was the only kind of people we allow in here. If you're not a sinner, you don't belong.

Come and see us and we'll find some other place for you. This is for a sinner. And he came to redeem you and to save you, to forgive your sins, to reconcile you to God.

But it isn't indiscriminate to everybody. It's given to those who believe and those who say, Jesus be my savior, be my savior. The child that Joseph and Mary raised was a baby, but is king of kings, Lord of lords, God of all gods. And in the end, everyone will worship him as king and as God. Will you join me as we pray? Our father, we ask in Jesus' name that during this Christmas season, you might help us to appreciate, to adore and to worship Jesus. Thank you for Joseph. Thank you for his silence, but thank you also for his obedience as over and over again, it says, and he got up and he did what you told him.

Make us that willing to be obedient. And for those who have never trusted Christ as savior, if they are here today and they've never believed on him, would they do that right now? And now I'm speaking to you, my friend. If you've never trusted Christ, would you say right even where you are seated or maybe you're watching on the internet or listening on the radio, would you say, Lord Jesus, I receive you at this moment? Father, we are dependent on the Holy Spirit to do your work because we sure can. Redeem your people, save your people from their sins in Jesus' name. Amen.

Amen. We here at Running to Win are deeply committed to getting the gospel of Jesus Christ to as many people as we possibly can. And we're thankful that because of technology, this ministry extends around the world. And we also want to thank the many of you who support this ministry. Now, Christmas is around the corner, but so is the brand new year. Have you prepared spiritually?

One way that you can do that is to have a devotional that you read every single morning. It's one that Rebecca and I have used. It's entitled God's Best for My Life by Lloyd John Ogilvy.

Now, today happens to be December 14th. If you were reading it, you would discover it has to do with courage in our Christian life. And the writer uses the life of Nehemiah as an example of courage.

He would not bow down despite the opposition of his enemies. If you were to read this, you'd be encouraged. This is a great devotional for you, for your family members. Here's what you do. Go to RTWOffer.com.

That's RTWOffer.com or call us at 1-888-218-9337. Now, a moment ago I emphasized the need to be spiritually prepared as we enter the new year. And we want to thank the many of you also, as I've mentioned, who support this ministry. Thank you so much for helping us.

Even as we anticipate the ministry of Running to Win continuing after the first of the year, we're glad to report it continues to expand. We're so grateful for you. But we want you to have this resource so that you will be spiritually prepared, at least in this regard, by having a devotional that you can read every single day of the new year.

It's entitled, God's Best for My Life. And here, once again, is the contact info. Go to RTWOffer.com.

That's RTWOffer.com or call us at 1-888-218-9337. Thank you in advance for helping us, and God bless you as you think about the future. You can write to us at Running to Win, 1635 N. LaSalle Boulevard, Chicago, IL 60614.

Since Joseph was only the legal father of Jesus and not the source of the seed that brought him into the world, his relationship to Jesus was more like an adoption. Next time on Running to Win, we'll explore this unique connection and what it means for all of us who become members of the family of God through faith in His Son. Make plans to join us. This is Dave McAllister. Running to Win is sponsored by the Moody Church.