Breaking The Rules Of Law (Rulebreaker #2)
Channel: The Gathering Christian Church
Date: 2013-12-19

Speaker: Don Vanzant
Title: Breaking The Rules Of Law
Series: Rulebreaker, #2
Full Sermon or Excerpt (w/ Link): Full Sermon 
Subject: We see in Joseph a person who was willing to break the rules by overlooking his legal rights in order to marry the woman God had provided for him.
Date: December 15, 2013

Sermon Notes: 
* Being cheated by someone is a very frustrating experience, but experiencing betrayal in a relationship can make us angry and resentful.
* Joseph had every reason to believe that his fiancé Mary had cheated on him.
* At that time, engagement or betrothal, could only be broken by divorce.   The law said that adultery would break the engagement and Joseph should divorce Mary and receive back the money he had paid — the dowry.  Instead, he chose to end the engagement quietly, not wanting to hurt Mary.  He was hurt, but he didn't want to lash out in revenge and disgrace Mary.  He didn't want to shame her publicly just so he could recover his pride and his money. 
* Joseph demonstrated a scandalous love for Mary by believing an unbelievable story and marrying her anyway.   In that, he was like Jesus, who often challenged the laws, both secular and religious, to show the spirit of love behind the rules. 
* Sometimes  breaking the rules of law makes sense, because someone's rights are not the same as what's really right. 
* Christmas reminds us of what's really right.  We are not people who focus on doing what we can do. We do not test every limit of every possibility before us.  Instead, those of us who follow Christ are people who focus on doing what we should do.  
* This is an incredible foreshadowing of how Jesus enters into our sin, takes on the consequences that should be ours, and offers us salvation.     
 
Matthew 1:18--25 
 2 Corinthians 5:21 

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