Christmas Eve, the God Who Reunites

This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about. His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. Because Joseph was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly. You see, Mary and Joseph were real people. Young people, people like many of us are or have been, rather ordinary by most measurements. They were trusting people. This is how things were done. I mean, they had followed God's plan. Back then, in case you didn't know, the way it worked was a good Jewish family would raise a good Jewish son, and another good Jewish family would raise a good Jewish daughter, and the parents of the Jewish boy would go to the parents of the Jewish girl and say, we would like our son to marry your daughter. And the parents arranged the marriages back then. Could you imagine that? I used to think, well, how terrible that must have been. Now I'm a parent of three teenagers, and I'm thinking, well, you know. But you see, Joseph and Mary had trusted God's system. Here tonight, we caught a glimpse of a couple whose whole world of trust was turned upside down. Their trust in one another, to be sure, because of some incredible news, and even their trust in God had been tested to the limits. For just a few moments this evening, I want to talk about this matter of trust, because I think it's crucial to the Christmas story. It's a pivotal issue, wouldn't you say, in our culture. Trust. Where can you find it? George Bush thought he could win an election this year over the trust issue. He was wrong. Arnold Schwarzenegger tried to save the world in a movie and said, trust me, and he seemed to do that. Trust can be fractured in a moment of impact from an unexpected source, much the same way that the professional football player Dennis Bird saw his neck fractured instantaneously. Or over time, much like the stress fracture that Dave Johnson, the Olympian, experienced this last summer. Trust broken. Let's talk about that for a moment. You see, Joseph was a real person, living the way he was supposed to live, pledged to a woman that he wanted to marry, by all accounts, and one day she shows up and says to him, Joseph, I've got news for you, I'm pregnant. But let me explain, Joseph, it's not what you think. Now the problem was, Joseph was a pretty sharp guy, apparently. Now he was a construction worker and he did have some street smarts and he did know where babies came from. And he wasn't about to buy Mary's story of this thing, this God came upon me stuff. In fact, we know that that's the case because it says in verse 19 that he was looking for ways to quietly just separate himself from Mary so that he wouldn't have to publicly disgrace her. I want to submit to you that back in those days, Joseph had a crisis of broken trust. Trust in others and trust in God. And I want to ask you a question tonight, how about you? How many of you have had some trust busters in your life in 1992? How many are here tonight that have had someone betray them, some violation, some hurt, some pain that you didn't expect this last year? I wonder if you've thought about how much those breaches of trust affect your ability to give and receive love this Christmas of 1992. Trust is the keystone of love. Without trust, you can't really love. And as I reflect on this matter of trust, it seems that everything in our life seems to gravitate against trust, holding firm in our experiences. I can remember my life all the way back to when I was a child. One of my first recollections was going to church camp. I had one of my first trust-busting experiences when I went to Conakry. Anyone else go to Conakry up north here? And I remember going up there with a little trepidation, but all the campers were glad to see the new camper coming in for the week. And they made me feel real accepted. And so I trooped into my cabin. They said, oh, little Jay, take the bunk up here. So I went climbing up the ladder, jumped on the bunk, right down to the second building, right straight down. Someone had taken the slats and moved them out. And everyone in the cabin was laughing. And that was the first of a terrifically trust-busting week at church camp. I think I went to the ministry because of that, actually. I mean, even in our families, it seems that everything works against trust being built. I mean, I've been on the giving end of some trust-busting in my family, I have to admit. If you have a younger brother or sister, you might recall things like this. This is, as I remember it. I mean, we had that go-kart when I was growing up, and I remember once just wanting to have a little fun with my younger brother, who's here tonight, by the way. And I said, well, help me get this spark plug tightened. And he said, well, what should I do? He said, well, take these pliers and hold it. And I'll go ahead and try to start it and see what happens. And as he sat there and jangled them, and I just laughed. And he could tell a whole lot more than that, I'm sure. And I won't let him up here, but it's amazing that he can trust anybody at this point in his life. But you know what I'm saying? You know, as things go along, it gets a lot more serious. And so one night, a 17-year-old girl parked in a car with a sort of hormone-intensive football player hears him say, trust me. Or a small businessman who can't seem to make his ends meet, can't get to the bottom line with any success, hears a bookkeeper that he hired on say, well, trust me, I'll make the books work. Or maybe it's like the couple that I know a couple of months ago. The husband had gotten home from a succession of business trips, and the wife one night was real restless. And he said, well, what's wrong? And she said, I just got to tell you. While you were gone this last time, I couldn't stand the loneliness anymore. I couldn't stand being by myself. Someone paid attention to me, and things got out of hand. And his marriage vows had been broken. You see, some of us have had trouble trusting because of parental relationships that never seem to come through. But many of us have had trust-busting kind of fractures in our life when we least expected them. Someone in our network of friends who doesn't come through for us. An employer who pulls the plug on our lives when we least expected it. A sweetheart who says so long when we were counting on a long-term relationship. A trusted friend who breaks the confidence. You know the kind of thing I'm talking about. These affect us all. These feelings can best be described as like taking a shot right in the stomach. Doesn't it really take your breath away sometimes? Those things hurt us so badly. You might be sitting here tonight thinking, yeah, it's Christmas Eve, and I want to feel all these warm fuzzies, and I want to feel all this love that you've sensed here tonight. But you know, you're sitting here with your arms folded thinking, but you don't know the way I've had my trust broken in the last year. The point is that Mary and Joseph were dealing with those same emotions, you see. After all, they tried to obey God, but it didn't seem like it was going the way it should. Joseph probably said to God one night, you know, I deserve better than this, Lord. I was faithful, and I have this woman that's been out there messing around. In verse 20, in fact, the Bible says, after he considered these things, the word for considered there is the word enthumano, from which we get enthusiasm, which is the word that means literally God thoughts. He was having God thoughts. I wonder tonight how many of us have had God thoughts in 1992, like, where were you, God? Or I called on you, God, and you didn't come through. Why did this happen to me, God? Or what is your will, God? I can't figure it out. But something happened in Joseph's life that I pray will happen in yours tonight. You see, Joseph is considering these thoughts, and then the Bible says, 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 of the Holy Spirit. And she'll give birth to a son in you to give him the name Jesus, because he will deliver the people from their sins. How can trust be built once it's been broken? Well, in Joseph's case, an angel appeared to him. How many of you would like to have an angel come and just tell you the solution to your problem? Ah, now we're getting some smiles. That'd be great, wouldn't it? Walk out to your car tonight, there's an angel kind of sitting on the hood. All right, let me tell you what. Well, listen carefully. The Scripture reads, you can read Matthew 1, verse 20. The Scripture says that an angel appeared to Joseph in a dream. And I don't know about you, but I've had lots of dreams in my life when I didn't know whether that was really the Lord or not. Do you get this? You know, Joseph could have awakened and said, Was that the Lord or was that the pizza I had last night? And Joseph had to do something that you and I will have to do frequently in our lives. He had to make a choice to obey the Lord. And verse 24 tells us that's exactly what he did. He woke up and did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. Dear ones, make no mistake. God will direct you. He will show you how to rebuild trust, but you must be the one that takes the step of action to begin that process. When trust has been broken, Joseph did what we would all do well to do. Listen, because what I see happening is just the opposite. Instead of reaching out toward the one with whom trust has been broken, what I tend to see is when we've been violated or hurt, when we feel like even God hasn't come through, we withdraw and we shut down and we stop communicating. And out of that context, relationships experience meltdown. Do you realize what might happen if when you experienced a trust buster, what might happen if you had the courage to go to the person and say, Hey, is this really what you intended? I wonder how many things could be fixed before they ever really got serious if we just went to the person, if we just took the time to seek to understand. Each of us have this little what I'll call trustometer near our hearts that kind of kicks off. You can hear it going, you know, when somebody says something that just kind of hurts a little bit or disappoints you. It just starts picking up in speed like a metal detector in a junkyard. And you know when something's happening that's starting to erode your trust. It's right then that you should go. Or go to the Lord and say, Lord, this doesn't make sense to me. What are you really saying here? The problem is we start believing rumors and lies and it escalates. I had a person call me several months ago and said, I heard you were going out west to join a TV ministry. Whoa, I checked my calendar. No, not this year. I said, well, that's the rumor that I heard. And I said, well, you know what? Thank you for calling me. It's not true. And I don't want that to get spread around in my church. But thanks for calling me. My heart tonight is that if you're here as one whose trust has been broken, whether by another person, or even if you perceive that God somehow didn't come through, I want you to know tonight that you can hear a message from God just like Joseph did. You can hear the messenger say, Joseph, son of David, be not afraid for God is with you. Put your name in there. Charles, Sally, Ross, Malcolm. Be not afraid. God is with you. And then you make the choice to move toward God or to withdraw and allow that broken trust to seethe and build bitterness and hurt in your life. God's heart for you tonight is to be reunited with Him. He wants you to draw near. I wish I could communicate how much God wants you to know His love, the closeness of the intimate fellowship of His Holy Spirit in your heart. This isn't about religion, dear one. This is about knowing God. Christmas is about trusting in Him. And once you've done that, you'll find the strength to love and trust others again. Finally, the third part is that once trust is starting to be built, there will come a moment when trust will be fully birthed in your life. There was a day, you know, when Mary and Joseph held that little baby in their arms. And it was that moment that Joseph realized that all that he'd been working through had indeed been from the Lord and that he could trust Mary again and that he had been relating to God who was faithful to His Word. Galatians 4.4 says, You see, there will come a moment, the fullness of time, when you will receive that full promise of God and you'll know that the Lord's been faithful to you as well. Joseph and Mary had no idea, I'm sure, that some 30 years later, that little baby son of theirs would walk the planet and his hands would reach out and touch with healing and his eyes would pierce and pour love into empty souls and his words would still storms and his teaching would draw people from around the planet because he spoke with authority. They had no idea that one day this little son would say, Let not your heart be troubled. Trust in God. Trust also in me. For in my Father's house there are many rooms. For were not so, I would not have told you. I am going to prepare a place for you and if I go, I will come back. But you might be with me. Dear ones, in the end, trust is what Christmas is all about. Trust in God in the middle of whatever you're facing, of disappointment or pain or violation or hurt. Trust in Him that He'll never fail you or forsake you and out of that trust, being able to trust again other people in your life. No story this year has moved me more than that of Dave and Jan Grivecchi. How many of you know the story of Dave Grivecchi? Know who that person is? Recognize the name? Dave was a starting pitcher, actually an all-star, for the San Francisco Giants. In 1988, he had some pain in his shoulder, went to see a doctor. The doctor said, Well, you know what, you have a tumor up here. And he's pitching on his left arm. He had to do surgery. He said, Well, you know, I guess I'll be fine, but I'll get back on. You don't know me, Doc. I'm a fighter. The doctor took the tumor out. One year later, Dave Grivecchi, after a lot of rehab, made a comeback. Tremendous ovation in the Giants stadium, banners being hung, people cheering. In the course of that game, Dave was pitching, brought his left hand up over his head and came down to throw the ball and heard, along with 50,000 other people, the crack of his arm and the cancer-weakened bone in his upper arm. He went back in the hospital. The doctor said, We can't save it. And after months and months of trying, Dave Grivecchi had his arm and shoulder amputated. In his second book, entitled When You Can't Come Back, here's what he writes about learning trust. He says, Looking back, we've learned that the wilderness is part of the landscape of faith and every bit as essential as the mountaintop. Isn't that beautiful? The wilderness is every bit as essential as the mountaintop. On the mountaintop, we're overwhelmed by God's presence, but in the wilderness, we're overwhelmed by His absence. Both places should bring us to our knees. The mountaintop, in awe. The wilderness, in utter dependence. It was in the wilderness that Jan and I learned to trust God, even though at times every visible trace of Him had vanished. The spiritual starkness of the wilderness was what was so difficult to deal with. But we finally came to the point that Habakkuk the prophet did when he prayed this. And I close with this quote. Though the fig tree does not bud, and there are no grapes in the vines, though the olive crop fails and fields produce no fruit, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will trust in the Lord, and I will be joyful in God. The sovereign Lord, He. Can you trust again? Do you trust the Lord? For God so loved the world that He sent His only Son, that whosoever trusted in Him would not perish, but have eternal life. Do you trust Him tonight? Let's stand and pray. Great. When you're far more serious, it's not one robbing another. Who's being robbed here? Almighty God. Almighty God. He's being robbed. And He takes a verse, He says, He said, Will you rob me? How? Look at verse 8. Will you rob me in your tithes and offerings? And then the verse begins with the other solution. Now, I want to talk about tithes and offerings. I'm not going to do a full-blown teaching on this before. But tithe is the foundation of an economic relationship with God. It's the foundation. And by definition, it's not. The calculator of economics, by definition, a tithe is simply 10%. That's what the word means. When you say tithe, you don't mean 5%. The word means a 10. That's what it means. And when you tithe, you invest the first 10% of your income in the purposes of tithe through the context of the local storehouse. There's two points of dispute when it comes to the scope of it. The first point of dispute about tithe usually is, well, how much is in here? Hide on the neck or hide on the grove. Well, look what the Lord said. Verse 10. Bring, say it. Bring the whole tithe. All right. Did you say that? Bring the what? The whole tithe into your storehouse. The Lord says, I'm worthy of it all. It belongs to me. It's holy to me. In case you're thinking, well, no, that's a great, true goal for me. You know what? That is the beginning point. It's the kindergarten of wanting to give to God. It's not a sacrifice. How many of you believe in things at least that much? On his hobby of recreation, or his entertainment, or his greed, or on his alcoholism? How many? Okay. Looking around at people, I think that's probably conservative. This is the very beginning point of giving to God. And you know what? He says, well, that's an awful lot. You know what? Whatever. It could be. In other words, bring the first percent in. What would you say? No. No? Could he do that? Yes. Of course he could. Right away. Tithing isn't tithing. No, no, no. It's a statement of dependence and gratitude upon me. And it's a commitment. Saying to that person, Lord, I'm going to pursue you. And I'm going to go beyond my own personal peace, my own prosperity. Every time we write that, we're saying, God, you are my supplier, my provider. You know, understand, money is something in our culture, isn't it? Money basically creates the needs of people. What we own, people's eyes oftentimes tell us what we are. I don't believe that, but that's what people often say. So if someone drives a $100,000 Mercedes convertible, ooh, very, you know, and sometimes very cheap, you know, it isn't just for transportation. You can drive around in a $10,000 Jeep and still get some money. But it doesn't make a statement. In the Kingdom of God, money will be a notice. The spiritual condition of a person can be measured by how she relates to money. And God gives us money to really take the motives of our heart and to feel how we are responding to God's worship in our life. You know what? Tell you what. You want to make a commentary on this spirituality? I'll teach you how to do it. I'll show you really what it's about. People who are secretive about real uptight, who's looking, to me, they're usually the person who's somehow resisting God. You know. I want to kind of keep away from that because they know that it was really known what they were doing. They'd probably be embarrassed about it. See, targeting is not as simple as that. You know, I'm talking about people who, like, God does not want you to be poor. Let me make it clear. Poverty is not equivalent for God in this. God's not saying, just give it all up, and move out, and survive on cash. No. Neither is this a prosperity kind of thing. You know, give in order to get. But targeting is a way of our quest for God. And that's why the Lord said, you know, do you love me? And I'm going to ask you a question. How many of you tonight, have spent God's money? We're like underfigured ties. In this terminology. It was, oh God, it was you. They took the first 10%, off the top, and got back to us. You're spending that, you're spending God's money. We're coming before us as people, Well, you're being idealistic here. I'm not under the law anymore. I'm under grace. I give as I am. I'm a New Testament believer. It amazes me how many people led, under grace, less, than they would under the law. And by the way, you know, in fact, did you know that today, the Israelites had ties to God? The first 10% for the house of the Lord, the second 10% for the sacred festival, and the third 10% for the people. Now, they didn't have a taxation system. So that was for the people and so on. So yeah, well, why don't they give a whole lot more? No you wouldn't. You have to commit struggle. Well, in the Old Testament, I don't see anything. Jesus, blessed the Pharisees, and they were putting him to the test. And they talked about what they would do. And in a moment, the Lord catches them, and they're talking about the tithing, the detail of the mint. And Jesus said, you know, you should have tied those, but also not neglected the weightier matters, the righteousness. In a moment, he refused to leave out. He said, you know, that's over. He didn't do that. In fact, affirmed it. And by the way, I believe Jesus built a house for human tithing. Of course he did. He was a family man. You know, when people say, well, you know, I can afford the tithe. You know, I don't have enough. I have another question for you. Can you afford to love God? Tell me how you're going to do that. Well, you know, God doesn't send you a girl. But you know what? He will allow you to be cursed. But the question is, you are under a curse. It's not the whole nation of you because you love him. The whole nation of you. There is a prison. This whole matter is very heavy because I understand most of it is budgeted, budgeted maxim. But God says to us, if you choose to live there, don't then say that we don't have enough to give God. Do it. Because if you do, what you'll find is the stuff that you spend your money on, keeping up, God can easily replace, He can take care of you. He can easily provide in that way. But you know what? Do it. Because, you know, I hear all kinds of excuses, valid excuses. The Bible simply says, this is the beginning and the end. And if you don't, you're opening yourself. Don't do a season after season. I mean, I didn't ask us to stop. I didn't know that by this season we're going to make it five into nine. But what a great illustration. What, maybe, the group of 40 good times came out of this again? No way. They were at the bottom of the barrel. But they came to realize they could not afford to walk down. The second point, by the way, that people, well, what do I mean by that? Well, since you've been here a whole time, into this storehouse, every major scholar and commentator, a scripture that I know of, every one of them, relates to people of the Old Testament, to the local church community. I have to say to you, if you find yourself among these 10%, if you kind of control it, you'll be out here and there in a few bucks. You're not alone. What you do, hold on. But I know a lot of you I want to meet. Well, here are some. Bring your tie, as the Lord prompts you, and offer it to me. You say, I'd like to kind of control it. Well, that's kind of the problem, the point of it all. You see, it's to let it go. God, you see, I entrust this to you. Now, to God, God says, why should we do it? People would say, there may be food in my house, halfway through the week. What if I say, that as we bring the ties into the local church, that there's ministry that's happening. There's ministry that you heard about tonight. There's ministry to watch children. There's ministry on Monday night to keep people in dysfunctional families. There's ministry right now to missionaries all throughout the world. There's ministry happening. There's Bible teaching. There's prayer in angelic hands. There's vision being kept. There's ministry. And I say, God, you tell me, what could be more fulfilling than knowing where the ties are bringing about a person's serious lives is what you're talking about. I don't know if it may be in the notes, I think it might be in the back. It says, 80 people. Thanks, Dave. 80 people. There were 80 people. Young people that were trying to give their heart and strength. And if you're, if you're, and many of you, if I can, if you can celebrate the fruit of your ministry, let alone what we heard tonight, you know, you know, what's more fulfilling? How many of you feel the same way? I was here today and I saw somebody who was flying. You know, it was crazy. I was in Iraq. I mean, you can't, you can't put an ice, you know, you know, cigarette, you know, here's a billion dollars in this airport. By the way, you put some, you know, I know, I think, you know, you've got, you know, people, just a place, you know, to connect. You know, put your ashes. How much more fulfilling is that? Because, we can, every time that significant thing happens, I'm a white person. Every time somebody's touched me, I, I, no better place to invest your money. I want to affirm that I'm getting regular time. I'm getting regular time. I'm getting I'm getting regular time. I'm getting I'm getting regular time. I'm getting regular time. I'm getting regular time. I'm getting regular time. I'm getting regular time. I'm getting regular time. I'm getting regular time. regular time. I'm getting regular time. I'm getting regular time. Your è e dot dot dot dot dot dot Dot Dot Dot Dak Dot Dot Document Nor does it bring about happiness. I mean, listen to some of the greatest, wealthiest people of all time. I've made millions of dollars and brought no happiness. Of course, as I was happy, I was a mechanic. I mean, is that real? Yes. I've made a few million dollars enough to kill anyone. It's my dream. I mean, look, I'm not trying to be cool. A millionaire's smile is a triumph. I'm not trying to be cool. Listen, of all this, get dark and set. I want you to take a verse from the Gospels. Take a verse from the Gospels. Bring the whole country to your house and give me the kingdom of heaven. Bring the whole country. In this, thank you, Lord Almighty. In this, thank you. Wait a minute now. This is amazing stuff. I would meet with a person, every time the Bible was written, I would meet with a person. It's almost like saying, hey, I dare you to try this, and see if I can open the front door. So throw open the windows and pull out some of the things that you're not able to pull out. People come up down here and say, hey, you can't do it. You've created garbage. Unless you can open the windows. You know what I say? Open the windows. Don't open the front door. Yeah. Throw open the windows. Yeah. Yeah. Then we start blessing. The time. Like the Lord's up there saying, come on, come on, come on. You know what I mean? Do it. You do it. I'll show you. By the way, at the next night, you get to tell God what's going to be behind the window. Like Jeopardy. Right? It's not like making a big shot. Take window number two. It's like you've got some of the greatest, you've got everything. It's just a further revelation. But I'll say this. The nation of God is glorious. But I have to say this. In fact, so much is going to happen. The nations are going to recognize that God is taking care of them. That's how it is. Never-ending. The challenge is this. I don't think there's much of it. It's the Bible. It's clear. The question is, do we obey the word of God? That's what it comes down to. This isn't some impossible goal. But if I didn't have enough to crave, you know what? God, you told me to try to provide enough for me. Thank you. I challenge you here. Draw back. If you have to take a couple of steps to get there, do it. Get down in the direction of God. Get there. Now, you have to perform the one few tasks. Number one, remember this. The first one you perform. I want you to know this. It begins tonight. You don't need to leave here and say, No, just obey the word of God. Obey the word of God. You don't have to do anything. Just do it. Do it. I'm talking to you now. Check out. Get a little sneaky. Come down in your chair. Laugh a little. Another laughter. That's all there is to it. I'm just going to say this about it all. Very, very, very simple response to you today. If you've been disobedient, Ivan, then you can't do it. If you're a fierce person tonight, then you can't do it. If you're a mean person, then you have to feel it. And the worst thing is, you can't do it. And the thing is, Mike, there may be a few veterans out here, 10, 15 years in the war, and you've been hiding all along. You're kind of used to it. You're a little more used to it. I'm right, man. You're in the eye of the beholder. What do you do? What do you do? You're thinking about a thing you can say to me. Come on. Say one thing that I haven't said to you. Let me say something. That's what the people can't. No. You've gotten lazy. There's no faith in you. You should be on the road to being a regular, in your mouth, regular person. No, God will still honor His word to you. That's all it is. You just want to comfort them. Start to speak to them. You say, John, I know people are getting 25, 30, people are saying, you know, how do they do it? Bless me. I can do it. Myself, I mean, this week, you know, thank the Lord that we're looking into some of these things. Well, you know what? After this campaign, there'll be another campaign, another one. Because I can't get comfortable in your picture. Why? You've got the best book I've ever read on the subject. It's called, Money, Money, and I know it well. By Randy Alcorn. It's the best. And I've read it twice. And I want to quote from there. I think it's, I stand before God, and given a time that day, I do not want to have to explain why in the world with the Holy Spirit, the most extreme nation in existence, of those who do not have growing spills, far left spills, I don't want to give an account, but everyone does a great job, and we'll walk it like that.