Back to Reality

Rev Gideon Lee

It seems like it was just a few months ago I was looking forward to Christmas because it's the holidays. Parents will understand as you can sleep a little later instead of fetching your children to school. But Christmas is over so fast and school will start again soon. It's a little bit sad but we comfort ourselves that Chinese New Year is coming soon. 

Today we want to look Mary and Joseph. If we think we are busy and have no rest, just look at their lives. 

Matthew 2:13-23

The Escape to Egypt

13 When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.”

14 So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, 15 where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet:“Out of Egypt I called my son.”

16 When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi. 17 Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled:

18 “A voice is heard in Ramah,

weeping and great mourning,

Rachel weeping for her children

and refusing to be comforted,

because they are no more.”

The Return to Nazareth

19 After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt 20 and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to take the child’s life are dead.”

21 So he got up, took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. 22 But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning in Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. Having been warned in a dream, he withdrew to the district of Galilee, 23 and he went and lived in a town called Nazareth. So was fulfilled what was said through the prophets:“He will be called a Nazarene.”

Talk about after Christmas, we just read the story that Joseph and Mary had to flee after baby Jesus was born, right after Christmas. They had to flee to Egypt. Notice that in the passage in our encounter with Joseph, what he was told to do, there no reply from him. He just immediately does what the angel said. 

There's no record of him speaking at all. He is a man of action. He just responded to the message. The word said they travelled during the night. Egypt was a place of bondage and slavery for the Israelites but now it is a place of safety and refuge. God can change circumstances where the bad can be good. Herod had no jurisdiction in Egypt. Egypt was not nearby, they had to travel long distances. 

Later, the angel spoke again to Joseph. "Now you can go back" and Joseph just got up and moved to Nazareth. 

Herod was mad that the Magi tricked him and ordered the killing of all firstborn under 2. It fulfilled scripture. 

This couple never had a chance to rest but had to flee for their life. What we can learn from this right after Christmas is that life must go on after Christmas. We can learn a lot from this couple. 

What we can learn from Joseph is this. As we move on to 2014, we must trust God. When the angel spoke to him in a dream he just picked himself up and obeyed. How many of us will respond in obedience to a dream, to Egypt which is not a nice place. 

Once I shared about when we pass away what would we like to be written on our tombstone. Here lies... I think for Joseph, it would be said a man of faith, or a man of integrity. What did Abraham do when instructed. He never bargained with God but went where God called him to go and in the book of Hebrews, he was called a man of faith. Where God called him to go he obeyed. When God asked him to sacrifice his son, he obeyed. 

As we go into 2014, many of us are not very keen as signs are bad. Petrol increase. Electricity increase. House prices increase. But I pray that we enter 2014 trusting God. God is with us, Emmanuel, so we can trust God for 2014. 

The second thing we can learn is that we need to care for those we love. Look at Joseph and Mary. Did Joseph cared for Mary? First of all he married her in spite of knowing the child was not his. He could just divorce and leave her. How else? When they asked him to bring the family to Egypt, he did it. Jesus was not his biological son, so he could not have bothered. But he raised him like his own son. There was responsibility. We need to care for those we love, not just financially but also spiritually. 

On 2014, the world is changing as we need to love the ones close to us not just in words but in action. We need to connect with our children. We need to connect to them emotionally and most important spiritually. 

I am not ashamed to tell you this. I want to hold my family together to pray. Often I am so busy and tired that I feel I am spent after Sunday. But I make it a point every Sunday we take time to pray for one another. We need to connect with our family on a spiritual level. We need to show our children that prayer is important. When parents pray, there is great anointing. Set aside a time to pray for them. 

If you look at our sanctuary, our theme is up, Arise! Shine!  I will share more about this on watch night service. We must arise and shine. 

And the third thing we can learn is to care for the ones Jesus came for. He came for us. He came for the lost. Not only do we need to care for the ones we love but also those that matter to God. 

Some people come to me and said the church should do this and do that, but who is the church? The church is you and I. We do not have to wait for the church. We must care for the people that matters to God and we need to do it and not wait for the church. 2014 is going to be a year of trusting God. We need to trust God 100%. 

I am reminded of the story of reverend Jesse Jackson. He was giving a speech in South Mississippi. As he was speaking he noticed a basketball player who was 6'8". And beside him was a girl that was 3'3". He was very affectionate to this girl who was his sister. 

After his speech, the Reverend went up to him and asked why so many university would have offered him a place so why choose this university. He told the Reverend that he made a promise to care for his sister when his parents died and this university was the only one that offered his sister a scholarship even though other universities offered him scholarships. He then said, it is his responsibility to care for his loved ones. 

We need to connect with our children. I need to watch cartoons to know what they are watching. I read up on Taylor Swift and Miley Cyrus. Why? So that I know what they are doing. How else can we connect to them? We need to be involved with them. Facebook is out, what is the in thing? Instagram? How many of you know what's Instagram?

I close with this story. 

One day there was this pastor who decided to take a different route to walk home. He took the short cut which was a lonely road because he was tired. As he was walking he came to some trees and bushes and he heard a muffled scream. He heard some fighting and he was wondering something bad was happening. And he was wondering if he should get involved and to help. But then he felt tired and struggled whether he should or should not. Finally he decided he should go help as the sound got louder. He went behind the bushes and saw a man was trying to rape a girl. He then struggled with the man and finally the man ran off. It was  dark and he saw the girl was shivering at the corner and he told the girl not to worry, that the guy has left. Then the girl said "daddy"? It was his youngest daughter that was nearly raped. Can you imagine if he had not went to help. It would have been a tragedy. 

We need to care for those that God cares for. We never know how we are connected. We need to love. 

Sunday school students who are graduating to the youth led by Bro Joshua Teh and Sis Melissa Cheah.