Afraid Of What People Might Think of Me // The Story Of Christmas Week 2

All right, glad that you're here in church. Welcome to everybody that's online. Well, welcome. Hey, did the kids do a great job this morning? They did an awesome job. Great job, kids. And shout out to Pastor Brooke and the Kids Life team. They've been practicing for the last couple of months. It's a lot of work, so shout out to them. Hey, before we get started, I need to ask you to do something that I don't want you to think about at all. No regrets, just do it. When I say three and go, here's what I want you to do. I want you to turn to the person next to you, and I want you to make the most ridiculously funny, obnoxious face that you can make. Now, I'm not talking about just smiling and the little tongue, like that. That's what they did first service. I'm talking every part of your face scrunched, and anything that you can do, all right? On the count of three, don't think about it. Ready, one, two, three, go. Nice, nice. All right, not too bad, not too bad. A little better than first service. First service, everyone was like. Like, I was like, that's the best you got? Today, we're gonna jump right into this.

The message of today's sermon is afraid of what people might think of me, and it looks like you guys aren't too afraid, so that's good. I actually heard a quote the other day that said, you don't have to worry about everybody liking you because you're not pizza, so hopefully that's a load off for everybody. Wanted to show you guys a picture of someone who doesn't care what people think about him. He just cares about treats and belly rubs. This is my dog, Sully. He doesn't care about public opinion. He just wants to receive the treat that's being held in his hand, and he's goofy, but how many of you guys know that that might be cute in a puppy, but if a human was to do that, that's kind of weird, right? But the truth is, is that we all, in one way or another, we all struggle with image and approval, and we crave likes. There's a fear of being left out a lot of times, and maybe you've even stayed quiet about your faith in your job or in your school because you feared that maybe it would make things awkward for you, and the fear of people's opinions, if we're not careful, actually has the ability to trap us. It can shape our decisions, it can shape our identity, and it even has the ability to shape our faith,

and this isn't a new struggle here. We actually see this in the Bible. There's people that just wrestle with the pull of public opinion, and this morning, we're gonna take a look at this guy named Joseph. Maybe this is a familiar name to you, but Joseph, just to give you a little context, is engaged to Mary. Mary is the mother of Jesus, and Joseph has this choice to make between pleasing God or pleasing people, between obeying God's voice or protecting his own reputation, and if you ever struggled with being afraid of what people might think of you, I believe that Joseph's example will actually encourage you because obedience to God brings a peace, it brings a purpose, and a blessing that people's approval just can never bring you. Scripture today that we're looking at is in Matthew chapter one. If you have your Bibles, you're welcome to turn there. Matthew chapter one, we're going to verse 18. We're going to verse 25. It reads like this, verse 18 in Matthew chapter one. This is how the birth of Jesus, the Messiah, came about. His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit because Joseph, her husband, was faithful to the law

and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace. He had in mind to divorce her quietly, but after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid. Everybody say, do not be afraid. Oh, come on, you could say that a little bit better. Everybody say, do not be afraid. There you go. Do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son and you are to give him the name Jesus because he will save his people from their sins. All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet. The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son and they will call him Emmanuel, which means God with us. When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife, but he did not consummate their marriage until he gave birth to a son and he gave him the name Jesus. If everyone could bow your head, close your eyes, let's just take a moment to pray. Heavenly Father, we just ask one thing in this moment that the presence of Jesus would sit in this room. True. Holy Spirit, would you lead us?

Would you guide us? Would you open our ears and our hearts to what you have for us in Jesus' name? Everybody said? Amen. Three lessons that I wanna show you from Joseph's story this morning that I think can help us. Lesson number one, which is point number one, is the trap of people's approval, if you're taking notes. The trap of people's approval. And Joseph's story starts out full of hope. He's engaged, he's righteous, he's doing everything right. In his world, a betrothal, which means engagement, or similar to what it was back then, a betrothal wasn't just an engagement, though. It was a little bit different. It was actually a binding covenant back in the day. It was a legal agreement, and so to break this, which is what he was in with Mary at the time, to break this off, you didn't just return a ring to a store and then move on, you actually had to file for divorce. And so Joseph, he's in this moment where he's ready to build his life with Mary, and then it seems that everything begins to fall apart. Mary is pregnant, Joseph knows that the child isn't his. I mean, you can imagine in this moment the shock and the confusion and the pain that Joseph is feeling. And I'd like to note here,

because I think sometimes we get caught up in the Christmas stories that we hear, but Joseph isn't just a Bible character that's on a stage. This is a real man with real emotions experiencing all of these things, and in this moment, his life is completely flipped upside down. So legally, Joseph has every right to expose Mary. Doing so would clear his name, it would protect his reputation, but Joseph loves God and he cares for Mary, so he chooses what he thinks is the best option out of a bad situation, which was a quiet divorce. It was merciful, it was controlled, and honestly, it kept people's opinions manageable. But even Joseph's kind plan was rooted in fear. Fear of what people will think, fear of the whispers that might take place around the synagogue, fear of losing the image of being a righteous man, and he's not evil for this, he's just human, right? And like us, he feels this pull of approval, and then God steps in in verse 20, it says that this angel appears and says to Joseph, Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife. And I wanna stop right there, don't miss this phrase where the angel says to Joseph, do not be afraid. Afraid of what? Joseph wasn't afraid of Mary,

he was afraid of what obedience would look like in public. Afraid of the cost of doing God's will. And God is inviting Joseph into this plan, but that plan doesn't fit neatly into the community's expectations. Obedience to God, church, listen to this, meant Joseph would be misunderstood, it meant that he would be judged, it meant that he would be labeled and talked about for the rest of his life. And then verse 24 says that Joseph did what the angel of the Lord had commanded. Joseph didn't wait for clarity when the angel appeared to him, he didn't wait for clarity, he didn't go to social media and post a social poll asking what he should do in this situation, he didn't negotiate with God, he simply did what? He obeyed. Joseph made a choice, please God or please people, he couldn't do both. And the truth is, church, neither can we. Because if you follow Jesus, there will be moments when obedience puts you out of step with the crowd. People will question your decisions, they're gonna question your motives, they'll even maybe question your sanity, but Joseph teaches us this, that God's approval far outweighs public applause every single time.

And Paul actually echoes this statement in Galatians chapter one, verse 10, he says, if I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ. You can chase God's will, or you can chase God's approval. But you cannot chase both. And so let me ask you this, church, for everybody that's listening here in this room and online, are there places in your life where you know what God wants, but you're hesitating because of what people might think? Joseph reminds us God's voice has to be louder than the world's opinions. Pleasing God oftentimes means disappointing people, but that's not where the story ends. Here's the thing, doing what God wants is usually the easiest, sorry, doing what God wants isn't usually the easiest choice, it's oftentimes the most costly one. Which leads us to the second lesson, point number two, if you're taking notes, is the cost of obedience. See, following God isn't always comfortable. God rarely calls us to a life of convenience. He calls us to a life of conviction and conviction will cost you something. Joseph felt that cost. By saying yes to God, he was saying no to a quiet, predictable life. His obedience came with rumors,

it came with raised eyebrows and even sideways glances and you can almost hear the comments that are being made around Nazareth of like people looking at Joseph in a situation and they're like, really Joseph? Like really, like I've done the math, like Joseph was born how many months after you guys got married? Oh sure, the baby's from the Holy Spirit. These are the comments that Joseph is probably experiencing. His reputation takes a hit. His business likely suffers. Family gatherings all of a sudden become awkward. Obedience didn't make Joseph's life easier, it actually made it harder, but it made it holy. And scripture doesn't give us the town gossip, but knowing the culture, I think it's safe to assume that Joseph's life wasn't just some smooth, good feeling season that he was in. Obedience hurts sometimes. It can lead to misunderstanding, it can lead to criticism and distance from the very people that we actually want approval from. And Jesus actually warns about this in Luke chapter six. He says, woe to you when everyone speaks well of you. Why does Jesus say that? Because if everyone loves what you're doing, you might not be doing what God is asking. And here's the key, church. Obedience may cost you something,

but disobedience will cost you far more. I mean, imagine this moment that if Joseph, going through everything that he's going through, goes, whoa, whoa, it's like, stop, pause. This is too messy, God. Like, I'm not doing this, I'm not moving forward, I'm gonna stick to the, I like the plan that I have, I like what I have going on here, I'm not doing this. I mean, sure, maybe Joseph in that moment would have protected his reputation for a small period of time, but look what he would have forfeited. He would have forfeited being a part of God's redemption story. He would have forfeited witnessing the miraculous birth of Jesus and missing holding the Son of God in his own hands, raising the Messiah, Emmanuel, God, with us. If Joseph had stopped and not been obedient to God, he would have traded destiny for comfort, purpose for public approval. I mean, what a tragic exchange that would have been. And God's calling on your life, church, will sometimes require courage to walk a different path than those around you. And if you want to be used by God, you have to be willing to be misunderstood by people. And maybe you've felt this personally in your own life, your own situation. Maybe, you know, God has led you

to a different career shift in your life and people just don't understand. Maybe your family doesn't fully understand, or maybe you choose integrity when there are shortcuts available where you could kind of bump up in your job. Or maybe it was even that you said no to certain environments or relationships that everyone else was a part of. And people question you, they don't understand. And in those moments, it stings and it hurts because obedience often does. But if I only obey when it's easy, convenient, socially acceptable, I'm not following Jesus, I'm asking Jesus to follow me. And true obedience means surrendering to God's plan even when it costs us something personal. And yes, there is a cost, church. It may cost you popularity, it may cost you opportunities, it may even cost you some relationships, but what you gain is infinitely greater. You gain peace, you gain purpose, you gain blessing, maybe not applause from the world, but the favor of God, an eternal reward. And think back to Joseph, his circumstances didn't suddenly become simple, but he had something better than approval. Joseph had peace. He had peace, he had purpose, raising the very one who came to save the world.

And he had blessing, a front row seat to God's promises coming true. I mean, no amount of approval from the Nazareth community could compare to that. Obedience may feel costly, but it's always worth it. Approval is cheap if it costs you your call. Don't trade your eternal purposes for temporary applause. What God has for you, church, is far greater than what others think of you. And here's where faith gets real, though. God's plan doesn't, it doesn't always make sense. You guys know that, right? God's plan doesn't always make sense, but the good thing is, is that we can trust Him because He's good, He's a good God. So even when it doesn't make sense, we can still trust Him, which leads us to point three, the third lesson that we can learn from Joseph's life, the freedom of living for God. And when the angel shows up to Joseph, the very first thing that he says to Joseph is, do not be afraid. And I love this moment because God doesn't show up to Joseph and say, you know, or show up to Joseph with a spreadsheet. He doesn't show up to Joseph with a five-step, five-year plan. He doesn't show up to Joseph and guarantee that nobody's going to talk poorly about him. He doesn't say, Joseph, don't worry.

Like, if you just listen to me, everyone's gonna understand. No, God simply says to Joseph, do not be afraid. Take Mary as your wife. And the truth is, church, that we wish following God worked differently, don't we? Like God, like we wish that God would say, if you obey me, every door will be open. Everyone's gonna love you. Everything is gonna be easy. But no, like God rarely makes obedience comfortable, at least at first. It requires faith. It requires courage. And courage isn't always loud. Sometimes courage is just the quiet yes to God, like Joseph. Sometimes courage looks like doing the right thing when nobody notices. Sometimes it looks like doing the right thing when nobody understands. And that's Joseph. The man that never says one word in scripture, but his words speak louder than any sermon that could be preached. He simply obeys. He marries Mary. He protects Jesus. He moves his family when God says to move his family. He raises the Messiah, even though he probably thought the entire time,

like God, I'm not qualified to be doing this. Joseph was afraid. And how could he not be afraid? But it was faith that kept pushing him forward. It was faith that kept pushing fear out of the way. And Joseph wakes up from this dream, and the decision is sitting there waiting for him that he now has to choose. What is he gonna do? And that's maybe where some of you are right now. You're standing in your own kind of tension. If you were to just take a moment and just internally reflect that, you would realize that maybe you've been holding on to control, or maybe you've been holding on to image or approval from others or safety or reputation in your life. You've been calculating the risks that it would take to be obedient to God. But what if, church, what if? God's calling you to step into something that's not comfortable. What if He's calling you to step into something that's not clear or popular, but it's Him? Has anyone ever seen the movie, "'The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe," part of the Narnia series? It's a book series, but also made into movies. In this series, it's written by C.S. Lewis,

and it's an allegory of the gospel. And there's a character in the story who is a lion, and the lion's name is Aslan. And in the story, Aslan represents Jesus. And there's this unforgettable scene that happens here. There's a few kids that are about to meet Aslan. Again, it's the lion that represents Jesus in the story. And these kids have heard about him. They're curious about meeting Aslan, and maybe a little afraid to meet him. And there's this conversation that these kids are having with Mr. and Mrs. Beaver. You gotta watch it to understand why there's a talking beaver. But they're having this conversation about meeting him, and Mrs. Beaver says this. She says, Aslan is the lion. She tells him that he's a lion, the lion, the great lion. And Susan, one of the girls, she speaks up. She goes, oh, totally startled. She says, oh, I thought Aslan was a man. Is he safe? I feel rather nervous meeting a lion. And Mr. Beaver kind of chuckles. He goes, safe? Who's safe? said anything about safe. Of course he isn't safe, he's a lion, but he's good and he's king. And church, that line hits me every time because we all want God to be safe, we all want a God that's predictable, we all want a God that's manageable and easy to explain to our friends, but he's not. He's not tame, he's not always comfortable, he doesn't always explain everything

up front, but he is good and he's king. And that's the moment that Joseph faces. God shows up to Joseph in a dream and flips Joseph's world completely upside down. The woman that he thought had betrayed him, she's carrying the Messiah. The marriage that he was about to end quietly, God's calling him to step into it fully. And the quiet life that Joseph had planned for himself, well that's off the table now. He's being called into scandal, he's being called into the whispers, he's being called into obedience that maybe looks like disobedience to everyone around him. And it's in that moment that Joseph has to decide, do I live safe or do I live faithful? Do I follow fear or do I follow God? And this wasn't an easy decision for Joseph. Scripture says that the angel shows up and simply says to him, do not be afraid. Why? Because he was afraid, just like some of us. And church, maybe you're here today and you say, we believe in God, we love Jesus, but when obedience costs us something, it's a relationship or a reputation or a comfort zone. It's easy for us to take a step back and go, whoa, is this safe? No, but he is good. He's king. And hear me church, fear always asks, what will this cost me? But faith asks, what is God asking of me? God's greatest works often begin quietly, supernaturally, and in ways that disrupt our expectations. Joseph didn't ask for this assignment. He didn't plan for it. He didn't understand it at first, but he said yes. And it was that yes that changed the world. And church, listen, there are assignments that the Lord places in your hands that will feel costly. They may feel confusing and they may even feel a little bit inconvenient, but the spirit will whisper to you, do not be afraid to embrace what I have birthed. And like Joseph, your calling is to guard, to nurture, to obey God. Even when other people don't see the full story, Emmanuel, God with us. He is your strength. He is your validation, your security, and your identity. It's not your output. It's not people's opinions. It's not your own confidence. Jesus is the one who saves us from our sins. Would you let his presence be enough for you? Would you let his name, the name of Jesus, be an anchor in your soul? Would you let his calling be your yes? Church, everyone just close your eyes in this moment. I want to just pray for you. Maybe you're here today and the Holy Spirit's just nudging you, tugging on your heart, saying, you know, you've been holding on to fear, trying to control outcomes, trying to play it safe with your faith. But today, church, I want to just encourage you that the Holy Spirit is prompting us,

that he's calling us to take that step of faith out of fear, just like Joseph. Just like Joseph, your obedience might not make sense to other people, but it does make all the difference. One step of obedience can change your legacy. One yes can open the door to his purpose. And one moment of surrender can bring peace that approval could never bring. Father, I pray in this holy moment, God, for every person that is in this room, every single person that is watching online, God, we pray in the mighty name of Jesus for a mighty increase of faith in your people. God, we pray for obedience out of the love, Lord, that we have for you out of what you've done for us, Jesus, on that cross. God, I pray that you would give us the ability to take that step, even when it doesn't make sense, even when we don't fully understand, trusting that you're a good God, that you're in full control, and that you're king. Father, would you as you raise the faith in this room. For everybody that's here in this room, anybody that hasn't made Jesus the Lord of your life, or maybe you're watching online and you've never made Jesus your Savior, your Lord and Savior, just give you a moment to respond in this way. Following Jesus is the greatest decision that you will ever make. It may not be the easiest, but it will be the greatest. And so here's the gospel message, as clear and as simple as I can give it to you. You were made by God for God to walk in relationship with Him. But there's this thing that is called sin. The Bible says that none of us are able to escape it. We all have fallen short. And sin has broken that relationship with God. And there's no amount of good behavior. There's no amount of image management

that has the ability to fix it. And so God sends his son, Jesus, to step in. Jesus, the son of God, born of a virgin, lived without sin, died on a cross in your place. He took your shame, church. He took your failure. He takes your fear. And he rose again with victory over death. Why? So that you could fully live, that you could be fully alive, fully free, and fully forgiven, not just from something, but for something. And this is the moment where you can respond if you'd like to make Jesus the Lord and Savior of your life in this moment, if that's you, with every eye bowed, or eye closed, head bowed, just in this moment, go ahead and raise your hand. Father, you see the hearts. You see the lives, Lord. You see these hands. God, we just ask in this holy moment, Lord, that these individuals, Lord, here in this room and maybe at home, God, that you would just speak to them, God, that they would just sense the overwhelming love of God, the presence of Jesus. God, that you're calling them in. Holy Spirit, would you just do what you need to do in this moment, Lord?

Give us the recognition of our sin, the repentance of our sin, recognizing, Jesus, what it is that you've done for us, Lord, on that cross, the work of the cross, taking all of that. So, God, we pray for every person in this room online, Lord, that maybe is responding in this moment. Holy Spirit, would you do what you need to do? In their lives, Lord, call them home, call them into relationship with you, God. May they just sense your peace, your purpose, and your belonging in their life. In Jesus' name, in Jesus' name, amen.