Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/Sermons/zz20121202.htm

CHRISTMAS INTERLUDE
God's 2012 Christmas Season Provisions
Part I: God's 2012 Christmas Season Job And Income Provision
(Matthew 2:11, 13 et al.)
    Introduction: (To show the need . . . )

    This Christmas season, we face a hard, frustrating economic environment not only due to the recession, but due to the constant threat of rising taxes amid political intrigue and tensions:

    (1) On November 26, 2012, the money.cnn.com web site ran Pat Regnier's story, "2 ways Obama's reelection will impact your finances" to warn of "January's . . . fiscal cliff -- the tax hikes and spending cuts that will kick in . . . if the White House can't cut a deal with . . . Congress before year-end." He claimed: "Come January, your paycheck may be smaller . . . [and the President is] willing to consider raising the Medicare age and changing the Social Security benefits formula . . ." Yet, Alan Fran's November 25, 2012 huffingtonpost.com story, "Fewer Moderates In Congress Could Make Deals Harder To Reach," put a damper on hope that a deal could be made.

    (2) However, adding political intrigue to all this, Newt Gingrich was reported by Katie Glueck on POLITICO.com ("Newt Gingrich: Fiscal cliff is an artificial invention,'" November 30, 2012) as saying, "I think this whole fiscal cliff language is designed to maximize a sense of fear that's nonsense . . . We're rushing towards a secret deal made in secret meetings where nobody will know what's going on . . ."

    (3) We face such pressures at the state level, too: State Senator Joe Markley, R-16th District, wrote an op-ed, "State teeters on edge of a fiscal cliff" in the November 26, 2012 Republican-American , p. 4A to assert: "(O)ur state is facing . . . deficits of more than $1 billion in each of the next two years . . ." Governor Malloy has reportedly said he will not raise taxes, but, no one knows for sure what will happen!

    (4) In striking contrast, The Wall Street Journal November 26, 2012 (p. A 16) printed Jason Becker's letter that supported Stephen Moore's November 16th op-ed, "Why Lower Tax Rates Are Good For Everyone" to note: "(W)henever tax rates dropped in recent decades, the share of income taxes paid by upper-income Americans went up and Washington's tax revenues went up as well . . ." Yet, Becker lamented, "(T)hat path" is "not persuasive to those who would get little or no immediate pocketbook benefit from lower tax rates . . .", so the threat of higher taxes keeps on looming ahead of us!



    Need: "In a hard era, how do we financially survive this Christmas?!"

  1. Joseph and Mary committed themselves to heed God's will that first Christmas, with Joseph agreeing to take Mary as his wife though she was with child, the Messiah, and Mary agreeing to bear Him though she was a virgin, Matthew 1:18-25 and Luke 1:26-38.
  2. Thus, God supplied their every need so they could fulfill His will, including His meeting their financial needs in a hard economic era:
    1. That first Christmas, Joseph faced hard, frustrating financial burdens:
      1. Joseph's income was hit hard due to oppressive regional taxes:
        1. First century historian, Josephus wrote that almost everyone in Galilee was in some way involved with farming, Jean-Pierre Isbouts, The Biblical World: An Illustrated Atlas , 2009, p. 276.
        2. In line with this, Luke 2:4 with Matthew 2:23 and 13:55 reveal Joseph was a Galilean carpenter, and Early Church Father Justin (d. 165 A. D.; U. B. S. Grk. N. T., 1966, p. xxxii) held that Jesus, trained in Joseph's trade, first worked "as a carpenter . . . making ploughs and yokes.'" (Z. P. E. B., v. One, p. 757)
        3. Well, Galilean farmers violently revolted against king Herod's heavy taxes in April, 4 B. C. months after Jesus' December 25, 5 B. C. birth (Ibid., Isbouts; Harold Hoehner, Chron. Aspects of the Life of Christ, 1979, p. 27), so Joseph would have earned less than usual since his customers were financially oppressed.
        4. Also, though Jesus' December birth occurred soon after the November plowing season when Joseph would make his best income of the year (Ibid., Z. P. E. B., p. 75), he was still poor as seen by Mary's offering turtledoves or pigeons for her ritual cleansing after Jesus' birth, which offering was that of the poor, Lev. 12:6-8; Ryrie Study Bible, KJV, 1978, ftn. to Luke 2:24.
      2. Joseph was also hit by Caesar's empire-wide Luke 2:1 census as it was taken to gain data in order to levy taxes, Ibid., Hoehner, p. 13.
      3. On top of all this, after Jesus' birth, God's angel told Joseph in a dream to take the newborn Jesus and His mother, Mary and flee into Egypt, and stay there until he told him to return, Matt. 2:13.
    2. Humanly, this would all seem financially overwhelming for Joseph: (1) not only had he been unable to earn much due to Herod's heavy taxes on his regional farming customers, (2) not only did he need to pay taxes re: Caesar's empire-wide census, (3) he also had to take his family 200 miles into Egypt (Ibid., Ryrie, Map 1: "The Biblical World of the Patriarchs") and (4) stay there for an indefinite period of time, a seemingly unbearable cost for his already depleted pocketbook!
    3. However, Matthew 2:11 states the magi gave Jesus gold, frankincense and myrrh, and in the historical context, this meant Joseph's financial state would be so improved, he could easily meet his livelihood needs:
      1. Ancient records show that king Seleucus II Callinicus offered gold, frankincense and myrrh to a god at the temple of Miletus in 243 B. C., what the magi gave Jesus. (biblicalarchaeology.org, "Why Did the Magi Bring Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh?", 12/16/2011)
      2. Now, such magi were "Persian-Parthian king makers" (Ibid., Z. P. E. B., v. Four, p. 33-34), so their gifts were fit for kings, meaning the value of their gold gift alone would leave Joseph wealthy in relation to his peers, easily equipping him to support his family:
        1. Gold was a medium of exchange throughout the ancient world (The New Bible Dict., 1973, p. 824-825), so Joseph could use it to support his family's approximate six-week stay in Egypt until Herod's March-April 4 B. C. death (Ibid., Hoehner, p. 143) when God had Joseph return to live in Nazareth, Matt. 2:19-23.
        2. It could also give him a great boost in his farming implement business once Joseph returned to his work in Nazareth!
    4. In addition, God provided for Joseph's future livelihood needs:
      1. Two violent Galilean farmer tax revolts by the time Jesus was 12 years old led Roman soldiers from Syria to destroy many Galilean farms and poison their wells, leaving "many farmers . . . desperate to find employment elsewhere," Ibid., Isbouts, p. 276-278.
      2. However, just then, Herod Antipas, Herod's son and Galilee's new ruler upon Herod's death, hired craftsmen to rebuild the city of Sepphoris just miles from Nazareth that had been destroyed in the first tax revolt! This big construction project gave Joseph with his carpentry skills opportunity for a job to support his growing family until the farming industry revived, Ibid., p. 278; Matt. 13:55-56!
Application: May we heed God's call to (1) trust in Christ as our Savior from sin, Acts 17:30; John 3:16. (2) Then, may we commit ourselves to perform God's Biblical assignments for us, (3) and see Him meet our emergency financial needs and (4) give opportunity for adequate, long-term income so we can fulfill His calling.

Conclusion: (To illustrate the message . . . )

(1) On Tuesday morning as I was typing up the introduction and text parts of this message, I got a call from the Toyota dealership repair shop where our 2000 Toyota Camry was being repaired. It was ready for me to pick up! I filled up the gas tank of the pricey 2012 Toyota Corolla rental we had and drove it back to the shop, bracing myself to face the stiff cost of not only the repair, but of the rental car!

This shop had not been our first choice due to the proverbial higher costs of dealer repair shops, but we needed to use it since it could take our car immediately, and its nearness to our house in view of the mechanical emergency faced required that we not drive the car!

Surprisingly, since I had picked up the rental on Friday, and the shop was closed Saturday and Sunday, the people at the front desk did not charge us for Saturday, Sunday or even for the part of Tuesday I had needed it to drive to the office, but only for Friday and Monday!

I saw an immediate application to this sermon! We had rented the 2012 Toyota Corolla because we needed transportation over the weekend to minister at this Church. Yet, to fulfill that ministry, God had arranged for us to have the rental at no charge for the days of that ministry, and He even threw in as free that part of Tuesday I needed the car to drive here to type up these notes! It illustrated this sermon, that if we choose to do God's will, He makes it financially feasible!

(2) In addition, the technician overseeing our car's repair told me, "This car has obviously been well maintained, and the body is still good, so you're good to go even at 207,000 miles!" This is some word from a repairman at a Toyota dealership that likes to sell new Toyotas!

This news was insightful on two fronts: (a) When I had taken our car into the shop, since it is 12 years old, my wife and I had wondered if the repair costs were going to be so great, we would have to put out a lot money to buy another car. However, God arranged for a Toyota dealership mechanic to suggest we keep our car, saving us a lot money in an economic era where that is a great blessing!

(b) This also gave me even more confidence in the Rindflesh's repair shop we have used for years for our car's upkeep. If a Toyota dealership's repair technician compliments how a Toyota Camry has been maintained elsewhere, it speaks highly of that shop's work.

May we commit to doing God's will, be it in a repair shop, a pastorate or any other calling, and see Him financially provide!