I'm dedicating this message to those of you who may be facing something that you didn't plan. Are you a planner? I know there are those who are facing something that you didn't plan. Maybe you’re job hunting at an unexpected time in your life or having a medical battle. Maybe life took a turn and you find yourself separated from a spouse or children at this time.
Whenever we face things that we didn't plan, for some it can really rattle their faith and cause them to wonder, “God, where are you? Why are you allowing this to happen, God? This isn't what I had planned, God.”
I want to talk about the mother and father of Jesus, people who had plans that did not work out the way they thought. Their names are Mary and Joseph, and if you're not familiar with the Bible, you can read more in Matthew 1 or in Luke 1-2. What you'll find is there are several paragraphs describing what took place over months and months. If you think about it, we know a little bit, but there are so many things that happened in the story that we don't know about, right?
Let’s explore and imagine. How did Mary and Joseph meet? We don't have that recorded in the Gospels, but they met somehow. If you use your imagination something like this may have happened. Maybe they met in youth group. She's a teenage girl and she loves God so that’s where she would've been. There was a youth leader teaching that night named Joey.. Are you with me? Joey is charismatic, he's passionate, he's teaching from the Book of Isaiah about the coming of the Messiah, and Mary and her friends are looking on, trying to focus on God, but Joey’s really cute. She's like, "Oh, he's amazing. I wonder what he's like."
They get to talk that night and again a few days later. She is wondering if he likes her and indeed, he does! In fact all week long he's praying and thinking about it and the next week he gets his nerve up. He puts on an extra couple of squirts of cologne and afterwards he asks her out for coffee. She wonders what it all means, but their time together goes well. Then one day, every love song on the radio starts to make sense. She can tell this is going somewhere. Next thing you know, he pops the question. Can you see this happening? Just imagine with me.
They're a young couple. We don't know the details, but we do know that they decided to wait before sharing intimacy until they were married. Then one day, Mary's off by herself and she has the most special and holy encounter with God of her whole life. An angel appears to Mary. The angel tells her, "You've been chosen. You're going to give birth to a son." She was like, "Ah, haven't you heard, Joey and I aren't, we're not married yet and we're not…" The angel says, "No, no, no, you will conceive this child by the Holy Spirit." This little girl loves God, is in love with Joseph, she's getting married and her God has chosen them to be a part of history.
She can’t wait to tell Joseph, “God has chosen us!” She tells Joseph she's pregnant. Now, let's take a vote. Is Joseph excited… or is he freaking out? He's a regular guy. He is freaking out. “Pregnant by the Holy Ghost? I'll kill him. Show me where this guy is!” These are real people and we don't know how it came about, but we know that between Matthew 1: 18 and 19, the polite way to say it is that everything hit the fan. Joseph is devastated. He's going to be so publicly humiliated, but worse than this is the fact that he loved her, he trusted her, he told her things that he never told anybody before. He believed that God had brought them together. He was saving himself for her and now she's done this, she's cheated. He's half mad and half torn. He cannot believe this.
If she were living today she would've said something like, "I love God with all my heart and I will do whatever He wants me to do." She said yes to what God asked. Now her life is totally over. She's pregnant without a husband. She's going to be a single mom in a culture where she can't get any type of a real job to support herself. She's going to be begging for the rest of her life, trying to raise this kid. You can only imagine the rumors. You know what she's thinking? “God, I said yes to you, I did everything you wanted me to do, God why are you allowing this to happen? God, I only tried to do what you asked. This isn't fair, God. This isn't what I had planned.” Right?
This is exactly where some of you are right now. You're in a situation that was not part of your plan. Maybe you were finally getting ahead financially and were going to have a great Christmas for your kids and then the car broke down. Maybe you poured your life into your kids, and now they're making decisions that are not all good! Some of you took a job with supporting your family in mind, but your company downsized and you were the last in and now you’re the first out. You were one of the casualties. The list could go on and on. You didn't plan on having migraines or battling depression. You didn't plan on losing your scholarship. “God, what are you doing? This isn't what I had planned.”
I told you at the beginning of the message that I was going to give you one thought, one big thought, one truth to embrace, and this is for every one of you who's had a change of plans. I hope you'll plant this truth in your heart, and that is this: You don't have to understand the plan to trust that God has a purpose. ”You can make many plans, but the Lord’s purpose will prevail“ (Proverbs 19:21 NLT).
God spoke to Joseph and let him know Mary was telling the truth. Joseph’’s saying, "Wait. Wait. Wait. You mean there is a purpose in the middle of my pain?" You can almost hear God whispering to him, "My thoughts are so much different than your thoughts and my ways are higher than your ways and even though you may not feel that I'm working in all things to bring about good to those who love me and are called according to my purpose, I am." You don't have to understand the plan to trust that God has a purpose.
Things did not go smoothly for Mary and Joseph and Jesus. Herod tried to kill Him as an infant, they spent time in hiding in Egypt, He was persecuted by those He came to save and then He was killed brutally. Mary stood at his crucifixion 33 years after his birth, a crown of thorns thrust into his skull. His face is so bruised and bloodied that He doesn't even look like a human being. Mary, who said "Yes," looks on and it's not recorded, but you know what she's thinking. “God, this isn't fair. He didn't do anything wrong. He did everything right. We did everything you asked us to do. Make it stop.” No mom should ever have to see what she saw.
What did Jesus do? They spit on Him and mocked Him. “You've saved others, so save yourself!” Jesus looked up to heaven and prayed, "Father, please forgive them, they don't even know what they're doing." Mary looked on at her son who is righteous in every way as He declared with faith and with passion, through the pain, through the agony, "It is finished."
He took his last breath and said, "Into your hands I commit my spirit." Boom! The earth went dark and everything shook. Let me tell you, I can imagine that Mary's legs could not contain the weight of her grief and she fell to the ground, wailing and sobbing, "No, my baby!" Right? Put yourself there. Real people. Real agony. This isn't what she had planned.
Mary and Joseph had a plan; God had a purpose. What was that purpose you ask? People say all the time that Jesus is the reason for the season. He is, but if you ask God what the reason for the season was in His heart, it was you. That was the reason Jesus came.
God so loved the world that He gave His one and only son. God so loved you that He became one of us. You couldn't make up the Christmas story. Man had a plan of how the Messiah would come. God had a purpose; He would be stripped of His righteousness in heaven and become a person in Jesus, who was born of a virgin. The virgin birth mattered because He didn't inherit the sin nature from an earthly father, but instead, He inherited the divine nature from a heavenly father, perfect in every way, never sinning. Matthew 1:21 (NLT) confirms this statement, ”And she will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”
Are you one of those who've had a change in plans? Are things are really difficult for you right now? I know your pain is real, and you just want to cry out, "God, what's going on?" I'm going to tell you right now, because of the goodness of God, because of who He is, you don't have to understand the plan to trust that God has a purpose. Many are the plans that are in a man's heart, but it's the Lord's purpose that prevails. On this Christmas, as we talk about the birth of Jesus, please understand Mary and Joseph were people just like you and me, who had a plan, but I thank God that He had a purpose for their lives and His purpose was you.
Father, today I pray especially for those who are hurting, confused and grieving, that we'll put our faith in you and recognize, God, you have a greater purpose than anything that we could ever imagine. We trust in you.
