When God Draws Near: Unusual Mission
Pastor Rollan Fisher
The Complexity of Purpose
Recognizing that which is of the Holy Spirit
Serving Immanuel
Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us). When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus.
-Matthew 1:18-25
The Complexity of Purpose
You need to realize that God’s plans may not be your plans.
Through the Eyes of Joseph
When you have a day like Joseph’s, receiving the news of Mary’s pregnancy, sometimes, platitudes like the following are not enough:
“The attitude you bring to the day is what the day will bring to you. Great attitude, great day.”
-unknown
Joseph’s entire concept of purpose was being shaken. We live in a culture where our sense of significance is attached to our feeling of individual achievement and purpose. It was expressed well in the existential musings of Saul Bellow’s Dangling Man:
“Of course, we suffer from bottomless avidity. Our lives are so precious to us, we are so watchful of waste. Or perhaps a better name for it would be the Sense of personal Destiny. Yes, I think that is better than avidity. Shall my life by one-thousandth of an inch fall short of its ultimate possibility? It is a different thing to value oneself, and to prize oneself crazily. And then there are our plans, idealizations. These are dangerous, too. They can consume us like parasites, eat us, drink us, and leave us lifelessly prostrate. And yet we are always inviting the parasite as if we were eager to he drained and eaten.
It is because we have been taught there is no limit to what we can do. Six hundred years ago, a man was what he was born to be. Satan and the Church, representing God, did battle over him. He, by reason of his choice, partially decided the outcome. But whether, after life, he went to hell or to heaven, his place among other men was given. It could not he contested. But, since, the stage has been reset and human beings only walk on it, and, under this revision, we have, instead, history to answer to. We were important enough then for our souls to be fought over. Now, each of us is responsible for his own salvation, which is in his greatness. And that, that greatness, is the rock our hearts are abraded on. Great minds, great beauties, great lovers and criminals surround us. From the great sadness and desperation of Werthers and Don Juans we went to the great ruling images of Napoleons; from these to murderers who had that right over victims because they were greater than the victims; to men who felt privileged to approach others with a whip; to schoolboys and clerks who roared like revolutionary lions, to those pimps and subway creatures, debaters in midnight cafeterias who believed they could he great in treachery and catch the throats of those they felt were sound and well in the lassos of their morbidity; to dreams of greatly beautiful shadows embracing on a flawless screen. Because of these things we hate immoderately and punish ourselves and one another immoderately. The fear of lagging pursues and maddens us. The fear lies in us like a cloud. It makes an inner climate of darkness. And occasionally there is a storm and hate and wounding rain out of us.”
-Saul Bellow, Dangling Man
Joseph was moving dutifully through the seemingly uninspired, but good, life responsibilities thrust upon every man of his day. He was making use of his skills of stone masonry for work, had an impending marriage and was preparing a home for a simple Jewish family.
*However, Joseph almost missed the call of God because the immaculate conception didn’t fit into his life plan and offended his sensibilities of how things ought to be done. Joseph could have said to himself, “It is not my plan to married to a woman who claims pregnancy by supernatural, undefined means. Nor do I plan on supporting this child that is not my own. It would definitely take a deep level of trust in God and those he’s put in my path for me to do this. I don’t want to deal with the ridicule of what it will mean to be associated with such a faith that will be misunderstood.”
We find ourselves in similar circumstances. Do you have ideas of how you should best spend your time - what type of experiences should fill the Instagram feeds of your life? What about your idea of what relationships you will or will not allow to be prioritized in your life? What about that to which your resources will go to supporting?
Recognizing that which is of the Holy Spirit
You need to be able to recognize that which is being birthed by the Holy Spirit.
The demands of faith are really answering the question, “How will I recognize that which God is trying to birth by the Holy Spirit in, around and through my life?”
You do this, in part, by responding to the relationships that will bring you into the unusual mission of God’s redemptive story.
What was significant about Joseph’s submitting to that which the Holy Spirit conceived:
It came through God’s unusual interaction with his betrothed. The immaculate conception seemingly sucked Joseph into God’s story indirectly, but his role became of vital importance.
The call to be the surrogate father of Jesus, the Son of God, rubbed his natural sensibilities. He had to overcome doubts and reasonable suspicion towards Mary.
What was conceived of the Holy Spirit was confirmed by God through his messenger (the angel). Who has been your messenger of confirmation calling you up into the purposes of God?
Serving Immanuel
Like Joseph, you need to realize that your life is ultimately about glorifying Jesus and supporting the story of Immanuel - how God draws near to both judge and save the world through His Christ.
The entire meta-narrative of creation is ultimately HiStory - His Story. This means it’s all about God the Father, sending his Son Jesus, conceived by the Holy Spirit to save a world broken and estranged from him. In many traditions, the second Sunday of Advent represents PEACE. Submitting to this reality is where you find true fulfillment and peace.
The sooner, like Joseph, we recognize that our purpose is to find our place in God’s redemptive storyline, the sooner we’ll stop trying to live for ourselves. Instead, we’ll come to the cross in repentance to receive forgiveness of sins through Jesus’ sacrificial death on the cross, burial, and resurrection from the dead. We’ll accept our place in serving God’s ultimate ends as we’re entrusted with the unusual mission of serving Immanuel.
Second City Church -When God Draws Near - Pastor Rollan Fisher 2019