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Christmas is the inspiration for many joyous songs about the birth of the Messiah, Jesus. But for Joseph, it was a time of crisis and confusion. Join our guest speaker, Reverend Timothy Chong, as he preaches his message entitled When God Breaks Into Our Routine.

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The Gospel reading is taken from the Gospel of Matthew chapter one verses eighteen to twenty five. And together we say Glory to Christ our Savior. Matthew chapter one eighteen to twenty five. 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 will 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 the 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 Emmanuel, which means God with us. When Joseph woke from his sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him. He took his wife, but he knew her not until she had given birth to a son, and he called his name Jesus. This is the gospel of Christ. Praise to Christ our Lord.

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Morning everyone. Very happy to be back to YCCA. I want to thank your vicar, Reverend Daniel Tio, for this kind uh invitation. And uh it's good to meet uh old friends and also to make uh new friends, right? So for this uh morning sermon, it is the fourth Sunday of Edmont, and I've entitled this uh morning's message as When God Breaks Into Our Routine. It's a very familiar story for all of us because we read this passage at least uh once or twice each year, especially in our advent season. And when we read this passage, we see the story of Joseph and Mary and how the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ is announced to the world. Sometimes God breaks into our routine, and all of us know that as we journey with God, and sometimes God has things for us to do, and he breaks into our routine in order for us uh to participate in his mission to the world, and as such, we when we look at uh Joseph and Mary, uh they are part and parcel of uh God's mission work in this world, chiefly Mary to be the mother of our Lord uh Jesus Christ. I got three points for this this morning. The first, when God breaks into our routine, it causes disruption into our lives, right? And we are looking at uh verses 18 to 19. 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, they did not want to expose her to public disgrace. He had in mind to divorce her quietly, and and so when we look at Joseph and being being uh the the would-be groom and Mary would be bride, the the scripture focused on this person of Joseph. They were living ordinary lives, like the rest of the villages, especially Nazareth. You know, they they are routine, right? They are their lives in a circle of life, and a circle of uh of birth, of growing up, working, marriage, children, aging, and then death. So it was all a routine procedure, and they were betrothed to one another, and they were expected to be married soon. So, in the Jewish culture, from the time of betrothal, the woman is already uh regarded as legally married, and uh, even though the couple had yet to uh begun living together or to consummate their marriage. So the crisis in Joseph's life was this Mary was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit, so but then Joseph did not know this matter yet. He only knew that Mary was pregnant, and what does it mean for Joseph? His world was turned upside down, his heart was broken for Joseph. It was both a personal and public shame because pregnancy before marriage could only mean unfaithfulness, isn't it? So it has an impact not only for themselves, but for their families and their community in Nazareth, and Nazareth at the time was a very small village, so everybody knows what was going on. But here Joseph in a passage was called a righteous man, a man that is faithful to the law, and he refused to expose Mary to shame and punishment, at the same time, he wants to uphold the law, and so he decided to divorce Mary quietly. This conception of Jesus brought a major disruption in the lives of Joseph and Mary, and when we think about Christmas, Jesus did not come in a very smooth way, right? He came in the environment of chaos because of Mary's pregnancy. So Joseph decided to do the best he could to manage that situation. And it was a great time of conflict for him. You know, there are times in our lives where being faithful to God seems to collide with heartbreak, with disappointment, or sometimes unanswered questions in our lives. So let's just call this uh Joseph moments, and we encounter situations, disasters that we cannot explain, but things happen to us. But sometimes during our situation of challenges, of disasters, of uh major things happening in our lives, God is at work. You see, God has a plan and a purpose for our lives, and sometimes He calls us to do His will. And sometimes things happen, right? When He calls us, when God breaks into our lives and we face crises one after another. But sometimes we have to stop and pause and pray through the situations in our lives. Because instead of being conflicted or worried or even being angry with the situation, we can pray for discernment. What is God doing in this situation in my life? And and that is necessary because we are called to participate in God's work here on earth. And sometimes he may want to put us in a situation where uh we fulfill his calling in our lives, but it may be happen through conflict situations. So sometimes when God breaks into our lives, it is disruptive, it disrupts our career plans, sometimes it disrupts our health, sometimes it disrupts our relationships, and sometimes it disrupts the church community. And these are Joseph moments where life seems to be out of control, but also we know that when life seems to be out of control, God may be most at work in our lives. If we read the early chapters of uh the gospel of Matthew, particularly in the announcement of the birth of Jesus and what happened to Joseph and Mary and the community and Mary being found pregnant, it looks like it looks like failure, doesn't it? But it's where God is working through things that seems like failures. So we need to bring our Joseph moments to God, and and so we we have to pray and and discern what God is doing in our lives. But after 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 to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit, and so she will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name of Jesus because he will save his people from their sins, and all this took place to fulfill what the Lord has said to the prophet. The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Emmanuel, which means God with us. So God sent a message to Joseph, and in his darkest moment, when the angel came to him, and when he when the angel declared the word of God to him, you know that his problems have not changed, right? Mary was still pregnant, Mary was uh still living in that context of conflict because of that public shame. So, what changed in Joseph's situation? The word of the Lord came, and the word of the Lord brings the truth into his life, and the command: do not fear to take Mary as your wife, points to Joseph that God is at work because her pregnancy is from the Holy Spirit, and there's nothing wrong with Mary. So God spoke into that situation, and in revealing the truth to Joseph, God made three points to him, really theological points, right? So the first point is this that the child was conceived from the Holy Spirit, not of man, but it is the work of God. So it tells us that Jesus is both fully human and fully God, and the virgin conception of Jesus is the only way God the Son enters our world as one of us, and yet without sin. Because Jesus is sinless, he has the power to save us from our sins and to help us to overcome sins in our lives. So Christmas is not about a baby in a manger, but God's radical decision to share our flesh, to be one of us, to share in our vulnerability and even our mortality, because Jesus died for us. The second point that uh regarding this truth is this this child shall be called Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. So the naming of Jesus is important because Jesus means Yahweh saves in Hebrew. He he does not come to us as a teacher, as a moral example, or even a political liberator. Jesus came in order to reconcile us to God, in order that through his life, his death, his resurrection, we can have eternal life. Because that is the central problem with humanity, that our sin, our sin demands an atonement, and Jesus came to atone for our sin. So our problem is not economic or political or psychological uh areas, but the Bible tells us the root of sin is uh uh the root issue with us is sin because we are alienated from God. And so the manger points forward to the cross and the resurrection. And Christ's coming is to break sin's uh dominion in our hearts and to free us from the bondage of sin. And and the the third point about the coming of Jesus is this they shall call his name Emmanuel, which means God with us. And we see in the gospel of Matthew something very interesting because chapter one speaks about the coming of Jesus Christ as Emmanuel, God with us. And if you go to the last chapter, chapter 28 of Matthew, and Jesus says, Surely I'm with you always to the very end of the age. So Matthew wants us to know that this is the climax of the story. God has come to us and to bring this message of salvation to his life, to his uh death, to his resurrection, and then to be with us to the very end of the age. And therefore, the encouragement for us this morning is this in the midst of our troubles, our difficulties, our challenges, especially when God breaks into our routine, we have Jesus. God with us. And we know that we are not alone in this. We know that God with us, and God will meet our every need. God will be there for us, even when the situation is the darkest, and so we need to come back to the word of God. Because it's only through the word of God that we begin to listen to what God has to say in our lives, to hear Him. And it's important also to pray because in the time of our prayer, in our quiet time, we we struggle with God through our uh conflicts and challenges, and God will speak to us in the quiet moments of our hearts. Some of you here may not have received Jesus into your hearts, but you're in church, you want to find out more about Jesus. But the message of Christmas is that Christ has come to our world to die for the sins of mankind, and he's with you if you receive him into your heart forever. Because God has said to Jesus Christ that for God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. So important for us to return back to God, for us who are. Christians, and as we go through the challenges of life, the word of God becomes important to us. Times of prayer becomes important to us. My third point is this uh when God breaks into our routine, it requires obedience. Verses 24-25. 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 she gave birth to a son and gave him the name Jesus. After God has revealed the truth to Joseph, he awoke and he did what he was told. He obeyed God and he took Mary as his wife. And he obeyed God without fully understanding the entire situation. Because the problem was still there, right? Mary was still pregnant. But he took her as his wife. Maybe even the community did not approve of this. What about the families? But he obeyed God and took Mary as his wife. He needed no other explanation, he needed no guarantee that people would understand his situation. But God's word was sufficient for him. Obedience means trusting God as his word. And so the scripture tells us that he refrained from marital relationship until the birth of Jesus. To ensure that this conception is from God. And then he named the child Jesus. He publicly declared ownership as a father to this child and gave him the status of the line of David. So there's nothing spectacular about Joseph's obedience. It is quiet, it is costly, but it was pivotal in salvation history. So the kingdom of God advances through obedience, my friends. And God accomplishes his redemptive purposes through people who are willing to be misunderstood for his sake. So the key for us as we look at um uh the life of Joseph in Matthew, and then if you read uh the incarnation account in uh Luke, the gospel of Luke, you'll find that Mary too obeyed God. So obedience was a key for both Joseph and Mary, in spite of all that were coming to them, the misunderstandings and so forth, yet they obey God and participate in their salvation process for the world. So when God breaks into our routine, sometimes he calls us to serve him, sometimes he call us uh to to do something for him in our lives. And it may cause conflict, challenges, struggles. It may be the darkest period of your time. But when we come and listen to his word, listen from him, what he's doing in our lives, and we begin to respond in a in a in a way of obedience and we participate in God's plan for us. It doesn't mean that all we think will be resolved, but it means that we are uh walking faithfully with God. So I'd like to conclude um my sermon with uh a note of thank you for YCCA, because uh my time as a dean of Indonesia will will finish in six weeks' time, all right, the 31st January next year. So I will I will retire from the diocese in April of 2026. Uh as you may know, uh YCCA went to Kot Nana, uh formerly called Nikki Nikki, in 2014. I have a picture of our first uh visit to Quat Nana, and the picture on your right show the uh the land that we had, and then uh it was barren, right? But maybe trees and and and so forth. So we so we bought this piece of land in 2013, but we did not have uh permission to build a school there. The only thing that we could do was uh medical missions, so year after year, uh YCCA was faithful in doing medical missions in Kwadnana. And without fail, every year the church was there. And little did we know that the medical missions that were done there began to transform the spiritual climate of Kwadnana and uh the authorities of uh the region there and until uh 2019 when we begin to uh have a new uh region and then he gave permission for us to build. Today uh you see when you go there, um the buildings have been completed, it's a campus. We have uh classes from kindergarten up to uh a vocational high school in nursing, and uh we are also thinking of uh purchasing a piece of land next to the church, uh next to the school for the nursing academy. All these developments could not happen if not for the faithfulness of YCCA in doing medical missions each year without fail. So may the Lord bless all of you at YCCA and wishing you a blessed Christmas.