Christmas Like Joseph: Welcoming Jesus When Doubt Creeps In

Introduction

How are you welcoming Christmas this year? Has joy really risen in your heart, or is it more like worry, the pressure of the family meal, or even doubt that's still taking up a lot of space? In this message given at Momentum church two weeks before Christmas, Yan opens Matthew 1:18-25 to look at how God prepares Joseph, the earthly father of Jesus, to celebrate his coming. The entry point is unusual: fresh back from a trip to Morocco, Yan shares how the question of Jesus' virgin birth is a major stumbling block for many Muslims, and he shows that this stumbling block isn't new. Joseph, first of all, struggled to believe what Mary was telling him. The good news: God himself came to lift Joseph's fear. And he wants to do the same for you.

Message outline

1. The problem raised in Matthew 1:18: an apparent scandal

• Matthew doesn't dodge the difficulty. Right from verse 18: "Now the birth of Jesus Christ was like this: for after his mother, Mary, was engaged to Joseph, before they came together, she was found pregnant by the Holy Spirit." No unnecessary detail, no described emotion, just a fact, and it's troubling.
• At the time, betrothal was a public commitment, with a marriage contract already signed. To break it off, there was only one option: divorce. That's far more serious than it is today.
• From Joseph's point of view, the situation is brutal: Mary is pregnant, and he's not the father. Humanly speaking, there's only one rational explanation, and it's a painful one.
• This birth has always been a sticking point, then as now. For many Muslims in particular, the idea that God would have a son is unthinkable, and the idea of a physical union between a woman and God is unacceptable. The Bible confronts this difficulty head-on.

2. The first solution: Joseph's, righteous but blind

• "Joseph, her husband, being a righteous man, and not willing to make her a public example, intended to put her away secretly" (Matthew 1:19). Joseph is honorable and respectable.
• He doesn't want to destroy Mary out of anger. He respects her, he seeks to show her grace and to limit the damage. As a man who is righteous according to the law, he thinks he must declare a divorce, but quietly.
• The text doesn't criticize Joseph: he's trying to do what's right in keeping with God's law. He doesn't want to take justice into his own hands by publicly dragging Mary in front of others.
• A question for you: how do you act when you learn something that dishonors God? Are you moved, like Joseph, by great compassion, love, and humility, or do you rely too much on your own righteousness rather than God's?
• Joseph hasn't rejected God, he hasn't despised Mary. He's simply still blind to the situation. His solution is the best of the bad human solutions, but it isn't yet God's solution.

3. The second solution: God's, who chooses revelation

• "But when he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, 'Joseph, son of David, don't be afraid to take to yourself Mary, your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit'" (Matthew 1:20).
• Everything seemed lost for Joseph. But God chooses to speak to him through an angel, in a dream. God takes the initiative to go and speak to Joseph and reveal his work to him.
• The angel calls him by his royal identity: "son of David." As if to say: you, Joseph, are part of humanity's plan of salvation. What's happening was planned.
• He doesn't avoid the problem. He confronts the fear head-on: "Don't be afraid to take Mary as your wife. Don't be afraid of the scandal. Don't be afraid to marry her." Go for it, because the child is from the Holy Spirit.
• Do you let yourself be surprised by God? Yan shares: "The last message I gave here, I was hit square in the face with the fact that God wanted me to trust him as I preached. It was hard to go through. But God surprised me and I felt his presence with me."
• God still speaks. He speaks through the Bible, through brothers and sisters, sometimes through dreams. But when you think you're receiving something from God, hold it up to the light of his Word, because there are too many strange things being passed off as God when they aren't.
• "Today, if you will hear his voice, don't harden your hearts" (Psalm 95:7-8; Hebrews 3:15). Don't let yourself be overtaken by doubt: God reveals himself to those who seek him.

4. "Nothing is impossible with God": the miracle of the virgin conception

• Do you sincerely believe that God is able to bring forth Jesus in Mary by the Holy Spirit? Do you believe he's able to raise Jesus from the dead? Do you believe that all the miracles Jesus did, he truly did?
• Jesus himself said to a father whose daughter was dying: "Don't be afraid, only believe" (Mark 5:36). And the girl was healed.
• "For nothing spoken by God is impossible" (Luke 1:37). This verse comes from that very same story: in the Gospel of Luke, the angel announces it to Mary. The God who created the universe, who created each of our bodies as a living miracle, that God is able to conceive Jesus in Mary's womb.
• Let's also reassure our Muslim friends on one point: the text is clear, there is no unlawful act. The conception happens directly by the Holy Spirit, without any sexual act. Otherwise, Joseph would have divorced her. It's a miracle, and the Jews of that time knew God was capable of such a miracle.
• To understand this, we need to look at the Trinity: one God, in three persons, the Father, the Son (the Word made flesh), and the Spirit. God the Father conceives, by the Spirit, the one who is the Word made flesh. The whole will of the triune God is involved to save us. The Father sends, the Son agrees to become man, the Spirit works tirelessly to make it possible.

5. "You shall call his name Jesus": God saves his people from their sins

• "She shall give birth to a son. You shall call his name Jesus, for it is he who shall save his people from their sins" (Matthew 1:21). Jesus (Yeshua) means "God saves."
• Sin is serious: it separates us from a holy God. It's a debt that we owe to God and that we're incapable of paying off. Someone has to die to pay that debt.
• Who can save from sins, if not someone perfect? Who can die in a sufficient way, if not God himself? This is where Christianity stands apart: God forgives by coming himself to carry sin in Jesus, his Son, who chooses to die on the cross while innocent, holy, and without fault.
• Christmas isn't us climbing up toward God, it's God coming down to share what makes us human. Jesus is fully human and fully God.
• "For the Son of Man also came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many" (Mark 10:45).

6. Immanuel: God with us, yesterday, today, and forever

• "Now all this has happened that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying, 'Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and shall give birth to a son. They shall call his name Immanuel,' which is, being interpreted, 'God with us'" (Matthew 1:22-23, quoting Isaiah 7:14).
• Jesus isn't literally named Immanuel, but he is Immanuel. That's the very essence of who he is. Jesus is God; if he's with us, then God is with us.
• The promise of Christmas is that Jesus has come, and that he's still alive. "For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there I am in their midst" (Matthew 18:20). "Behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age" (Matthew 28:20).
• If God is sovereign, if he prophesied things that were fulfilled in Jesus' time, then every promise he still makes to you today will come to pass. Don't be afraid. Believe the promises God has for your life.

7. Joseph's response: immediate obedience

• "Joseph arose from his sleep, and did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him, and took his wife to himself; and didn't know her sexually until she had given birth to her firstborn son. He named him Jesus" (Matthew 1:24-25).
• No delay between waking up and obeying. Joseph immediately accepts the personal cost: his fear vanishes, his doubt is lifted, he's at peace, and he takes action.
• He goes forward with two tasks. The first: to publicly stand by Mary and Jesus, accepting the judging looks of his community. The second: to name the child Jesus. God had asked the same thing of Mary, but naming the child was the father's responsibility in Jewish tradition. He isn't the biological father, but he legally adopts him, welcoming him into his line as a father.
• Joseph takes what's happening so much to heart that he chooses not to sleep with Mary before the birth. The promise had to be fulfilled: the child is born of a virgin, even though Mary is married by the time of the birth.

Key takeaways

• Matthew doesn't dodge the apparent scandal: he looks the facts in the face in order to reveal God's glory. The Christian faith doesn't sidestep hard questions, it answers them.
• Joseph needed God himself to come and lift his fear. Our doubts aren't dispelled by our own reasoning, they're dispelled when God reveals himself to us through his Word and his Spirit.
• Nothing is impossible with God. The Creator God who keeps your body alive every second is perfectly capable of the virgin conception, the resurrection, and keeping every promise he's made for your life.
• Jesus means "God saves." His mission is precise: to save his people from their sins. His people are those who recognize themselves as sinners and who need a savior (Matthew 9:13).
• Immanuel means "God with us." Christmas isn't us climbing up toward God, it's God coming down to us. And he stays with us every day until the end of the age.
• The Christian response to God's revelation is immediate obedience, even when it costs socially, as it did for Joseph.

Personal application

• How am I welcoming Christmas this year: with joy, or more with worry, the pressure of the family meal, or doubt?
• Do I respond like Joseph, with compassion and humility, when I learn something that dishonors God, or do I take justice into my own hands?
• Do I still let myself be surprised by God, or have I locked my life so tightly into my own reasoning that I no longer see him at work?
• Do I truly believe that nothing is impossible with God, in my health, in my family, in a situation that feels stuck?
• Am I still negotiating with my sin, or am I accepting God's forgiveness and living in the peace of salvation in Jesus?
• When God reveals something to me, do I obey immediately like Joseph, or do I let it drag on?

Verses cited

• Matthew 1:18-25 (WEB) · The account of Jesus' birth announced to Joseph.
• Mark 5:36 (WEB) · "Don't be afraid, only believe."
• Luke 1:34-37 (WEB) · "For nothing spoken by God is impossible."
• Isaiah 7:14 (WEB) · "The virgin shall be with child... they shall call his name Immanuel."
• Matthew 9:13 (WEB) · "I came not to call the righteous, but sinners."
• Matthew 18:20 (WEB) · "For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there I am in their midst."
• Matthew 28:20 (WEB) · "I am with you always, even to the end of the age."
• Mark 10:45 (WEB) · "The Son of Man came to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."
• Psalm 95:7-8 (WEB) · "Today, if you will hear his voice, don't harden your hearts."
• Hebrews 3:15 (WEB) · Quoted again in the letter to the Hebrews.

FAQ

Why did Joseph first want to divorce Mary?

Because he didn't yet know the supernatural origin of the pregnancy. In the first-century Jewish context, betrothal was a public commitment with a marriage contract already signed, and a pregnancy outside marriage was a serious scandal. Joseph, described as "righteous," chooses the least bad of the human solutions available: breaking off the betrothal quietly to protect Mary from public shame. This isn't rage or rejection, it's the best thing he can do as long as God hasn't spoken to him.

Why does Jesus' virgin conception matter?

Because it confirms that Jesus is truly the Son of God and not just a great prophet. The text is clear: "that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit" (Matthew 1:20). Without a supernatural conception, Jesus would be a man like any other, marked by inherited sin and unable to save anyone from their sins. Conception by the Spirit means the one who is born is both fully man (through Mary) and fully God (through the Spirit), the only one able to pay sin's debt in our place.

What does "Immanuel, God with us" mean practically for a Christian today?

That Jesus didn't stay a baby in a manger two thousand years ago. He died, rose again, and sent his Holy Spirit to live in those who believe in him. Practically, God is with you every day (Matthew 28:20), he's present when two or three gather in his name (Matthew 18:20), and he gives you his peace in situations where the world can give you nothing. Christmas isn't a memory: it's the starting point of a presence that lasts until the end of the age.