🕊️ Obedience: The Quiet Yes to God’s Call
The Sunday sermon on “The Obedience of Joseph” draws together the given scriptures to illustrate that true obedience is rooted in a quiet, intentional alignment of our thoughts, actions, and will with God’s. It emphasizes that this faithfulness, often exercised in hidden or difficult circumstances, is the path to experiencing God’s peace and becoming a channel for His greater purposes.
Joseph’s Exemplary Obedience (Matthew 1:16-25)
The central example is Joseph, the righteous man who demonstrated profound obedience to God in the face of scandal and confusion.
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Initial Righteousness: Upon learning his betrothed, Mary, was pregnant before they were married, Joseph, being a just and honorable man, decided to divorce her quietly to avoid public shame for her. This shows his initial desire to follow the law with compassion.
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Divine Redirection: An angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, commanding him not to fear taking Mary as his wife, because the child was conceived by the Holy Spirit.
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Immediate Faithfulness: Joseph’s defining act of obedience was his immediate and unquestioning response. “When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife” (v. 24). This act required him to surrender his own reputation, his personal plans, and his rational understanding to God’s supernatural will, thereby fulfilling prophecy and protecting the Messiah.
Cultivating an Obedient Heart
The other scriptures provide a blueprint for the inner life and spiritual power that enable Joseph-like obedience.
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Focus Your Mind (Philippians 4:8-9): This passage commands believers to actively direct their minds toward virtuous, honorable, true, just, pure, lovely, commendable, excellent, and praiseworthy things. Obedience begins in the mind; by focusing on God’s character and truth, we prepare ourselves to receive and act upon His commands. When we practice these things, the God of peace will be with us, providing the tranquility and assurance needed for faithful action.
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Walk by the Spirit (Galatians 5:16-26): Obedience requires constant reliance on the Holy Spirit to overcome the desires of the flesh (the sinful nature). The passage highlights the conflict between the flesh (works include enmity, jealousy, fits of anger, etc.) and the Spirit, urging believers to walk by the Spirit. Those who do so will naturally produce the Fruit of the Spirit (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control), which are the very qualities that empower a life of costly obedience.
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Respond to the Call (Isaiah 6:8): The prophet Isaiah’s response to God’s inquiry, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” is a powerful climax: “Here am I. Send me!” This verse represents the culmination of the process—an immediate, willing, and self-sacrificial posture of availability. It is a heart cleansed and prepared by God (as Isaiah was in the preceding verses) that readily volunteers for divine service, echoing Joseph’s ready “yes” to God’s difficult and uncertain call.
The sermon’s summary is that God’s call to obedience often asks us to set aside our own reputation, fears, and well-thought-out plans (Joseph’s quiet divorce plan) in favor of His greater, divine purpose. This kind of life is not born of striving but of focusing our minds on the virtuous (Philippians 4:8-9) and walking daily in the power of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:16-26), leading to a prepared heart ready to declare, “Here am I. Send me” (Isaiah 6:8), just as Joseph did in accepting his role as the earthly father of Jesus.