Joseph trusted in God Matthew 1:18-25

On this father’s day, we would be looking and learning from Joseph, the silent person in the Christmas story. God is our heaven Father from who Joseph loved, trusted, obeyed and was counted as righteousness unto him. He showed great integrity and thought Jesus what it meant to fear the Lord…

God is a Father to all but I understand the frustration for some because of the absence of their earthly father not shouldering their responsibilities. Some may have been ill treated by the very fathers who should have been their protector and teacher…

Let me reassure us all that God our Heavenly Father loves us more than anyone love us (that includes ourselves) because Christ love us more than we love ourselves. Today we would be learning from Joseph’s story. Joseph carried out his fatherly role very well, bring harmony to the family unit, and his action teaches us to trust in the Lord.

According to Jewish custom, a betrothal signified much more than engagement of today. Their marriages consisted in three different steps. First of which is both families agreed to the union, second a public announcement was made; at this point the couple was pledged. This stage was a legally binding contract and could only be broken by a formal process of divorce. The third step was the couple fully married and began to live together.

Joseph had done the second step of his union to Mary, before he could even think about the final step, his bride was pregnant. But Joseph a man of integrity was unwilling to put his lover to shame, why? Because, according to the Jewish law then Marry would have been stoned to death for unfaithfulness. However, Joseph resolved in his heart to divorce Mary quietly (verse 19). But everything we learn about him tells us that Joseph was a sincere child of God, he had a wholehearted relationship with God.

Both Roman and Jewish law demanded that Joseph divorce Mary but Joseph took account on how Mary’s chances of ever getting married again was about to get ruined, so Joseph trusted God and showed that justice is not merely a matter of shame but also a matter of mercy.

As Joseph was pondering these things in his heart, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream asking him to not be afraid to take Mary home as his wife. Thank God. Here Joseph teaches us about obeying God i.e. he demonstrated righteousness and a complete devotion to God.

It was not uncommon for sons to follow in the footsteps of their fathers. Since Joseph was Christ earthly father, Jesus learned from Joseph and followed on Joseph’s steps and He became a carpenter by trade. Jesus carried the lessons He had learnt from Joseph to the cross of Calvary; the lesson of humility, compassion, forgiveness and above all the lesson of doing the God’s will.

I once read a story about a father & his son climbing a mountain. At one point during their ascending, it became very difficult & extremely dangerous. The father stopped for a moment to consider the best way forward, then he heard his son behind saying ‘Dad choose the good path; for I am coming behind you’. Please Dads pause and think about this!!!

Dad’s, the lesson here is that, your children are coming behind you and they are going to walk on your footsteps so choose your life path wisely.

Joseph was very committed to obeying God in every area, this may echo the same attitude of another dad called David who in all his living acknowledged God by saying ‘it’s the Lord’s doing and its marvellous in our eyes’ Ps 118:23. Like Joseph, many at times when we go through stuffs in life, we may not understand that which God is doing, and we may not understand how God is glorifying Himself for our ultimate good. But we must continue to trust that God in His faithfulness is at work in our lives, because, only in His due season that we will see the wonderful words of Ecc 3:11 ‘He makes everything beautiful in His time’ been fulfil for us as a testimony.

Joseph stayed true to God’s will, portraying a great role model for Jesus to follow. And we see that Jesus’ supreme desire was to do God’s will. Fathers your children will copy your ways oh; think about your dealings carefully…

Fathers are teachers: Fathers be mindful on how you walk yourself because you will impact your children’s life for good or for bad. In Acts 7, just before Stephen’s execution, his testimony was for the great purpose of God. Stephen’s biblical review tells the story of other Old Testament fathers, he reminds us of some of the great lessons all fathers are to teach their young ones.

Stephen begins with Abraham as an example of what true faith looks like. Abraham left a legacy of faith & courage in the Lord, a lesson for all God’s children. What this means is that, life is an opportunity that must be lived with courage in the Lord. This echo the words of God to Joshua saying, ‘be strong and courageous…’ Joshua 1:9.

Fathers, the only problem is this; if we don’t know or have faith in God, how can we teach our children about The Heavenly Father who created all things. Note, unless there is an element of risk in our exploits for God, there is no need for faith…

Our heaven Father loves unconditionally, He is extremely patience with each one of us, He bears our deep pain and He self-sacrifice for us as shown on the cross as well as He is a nurturing caring Father. As God’s people, especially the fathers ought to adopt these characteristics.

Fathers since God has place you as a head of your households, this role comes with great responsibilities for which one would need to ask some questions like, what’s God like? Such question only leads one to open God’s words to see the answer. In the bible, particularly the parables have answers to what God’s like and how His kingdom is really like.

In Luke 15:11, we see that God is approachable, in the same way fathers ought to be approachable. Fathers because you are the head, you are not to be a tyrant that people are so afraid to approach you. If a father or a parent is approachable, their children will see them as friends and as such they will be open to share their life story/journey with them. Note that if a child can’t trust you because they are afraid of you, they will hide important things from you. But note there is a different between been respectful to someone and doing things because you are afraid of someone. Respect, is loving while, been afraid is pleasing.

Joseph was a father and a leader of a good brand. According to Ps128:1-2 it says ‘Blessed is every one that fearth the Lord; that walketh in His ways… Joseph thought Jesus as a little boy the fear of the Lord. The Bible says ‘the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom’ Proverb 9:10.

Joseph was a committed father; therefore it is very important that fathers of today needs to be committed in the things of God so that they can teach their families. But too often some fathers are absence, some uninvolved while others irresponsible.

Our Heavenly Father has set some rules and he expects earthly fathers to be like him by copying His characteristics. Here are five ways God wants fathers to really follow:

• Fathers are kings of their homes: what did the King of kings do; He served. Earthly fathers you are to serve your families

• Fathers are priest in their houses: priest are not bullies; they are encouragers, they stand alongside others and they care

• Fathers are men: by their nature; a man ought to protect those of his household. If he must correct them, then he ought to correct in gentleness. Fathers must be selfless to their families just as Christ the head of His church was selfless.

• Fathers are to be fathers to their children: i.e. they ought to be approachable. His family must not find it difficult to talk to him about any subject.

• Fathers are to be caring husbands to their partners: A woman ought to find a soul-mate in her husband.

Fathers, remember that God loves you (Eph 2:4), God longs for us to have a relationship with Him. Therefore, brothers remove from your mind the thoughts that God is there just to get us/you. However, what God wants is for man to truly love Him from the heart. We are told that ‘we love God because He first love us’ (1John 4:19).

Friends because He had love us first, the more reason why He wants to resolve the fellowship that was lost in the Garden of Eden.

Happy Father’s day and God bless you in Jesus name Amen.