For He Will Save His People From Their Sins: The Glorious Heart of the Christian Ministry

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I had a thought just in being here with you thus far through this ceremony. Dr. Manary mentioned this in his prayer. There are children here, and it is a part of my joy every time this ceremony is held to tell you how happy we are those children are here. I’ll admit, I had an odd thought this morning, and that is how quiet a Catholic seminary graduation must be. This is a highly reproductive class and according to the mandate of God, that is a glorious, glorious thing, and it is glorious just to be here together to look out at this sea of graduates, to look at the families that are here, the churches that are represented here, the mission fields that are represented here. How can this not make a believer’s heart happy? Furthermore, I’ll admit I find every single commencement ceremony and every one of these services to be just mountaintop experiences, but there’s something very special about a December graduation, when we’re singing these Christmas carols together, because they focus us so intently upon the very heart of the gospel and that is the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The word became flesh and dwelt among us. We beheld his glory. Glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. And so what a joy it is for us to get together, to bring ourselves together for a formal ceremony known as commencement, which upon reflection is itself a strange thing to call. Commencement in the English language refers to the beginning of something, but at least in terms of one sense of this session, this is the end of something. We are going to be awarding degrees and diplomas that have been prepared precisely because of the completion of incredibly profitable programs of study and scholarship for the service of the church of the Lord Jesus Christ and the work of the ministry. But there’s something very right about this event being called a commencement because the bigger theme is not what is just passed, but what is just beginning, and what is beginning anew.

And that is the ministries and the callings of this class as represented here. The church of the Lord Jesus Christ, day by day as well as year by year, and indeed by God’s grace, now millennium after millennium, requires a succession of godly ministers, a succession of godly teachers, a succession of those who are going to be the servants of the Word and the shepherds of Christ’s flock. Looking out in this full room and looking at this full class, how can our hearts be but happy and thankful? And so even as I speak to the class of this commencement, I also speak about this class, for the sake of the church of the Lord Jesus Christ.

When we speak in these terms, just like the churches had to learn how to speak correctly the doctrine revealed in Scripture how to say we say this, not that. We also understand that even when we speak about the ministry, even when we speak about the ministry, we have to be careful that we’re certain we know of which we speak. This is not a priesthood. These are not priestly men committed to a sacredotal ministry. These are men and women called by the Lord Jesus Christ to various roles of service in the church. Men called here to preach the Word of God, who will go out into the church, into the world, into the pulpits to teach and to preach the unsearchable riches of the Word of God.

There are men and women in this class who will serve in various capacities in the church and also in the world and especially on the mission field. Martin Luther, the great reformer in the 16th century who was also a theological educator, also taught at what we could call a seminary. He was very careful to say about those who were graduating from the seminary for the ministry, that number one, they were priests, but priests like all believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. It is the priesthood of believers that is being celebrated here. And so both in the center section here with these graduates and believers in the pews on either side this entire room by God’s grace and to Christ’s glory is made up of priests to each other. But Luther said there are ministers who are servants of the word, who are particularly called to teach and to preach the flock of God and to exercise the common priesthood in an uncommon way, and that’s what we celebrate this morning.

It’s not a priesthood that’s for all Christ’s sons and daughters, but it is a teaching office and it is the stewardship of the word and it is the fulfillment of the work of the ministry on behalf of the church and how can that but make us very happy. This morning I chose as the text from the Gospel of Matthew verses from chapter one beginning in verse 18. By the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Matthew tells us:
“Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place this way when his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph before they came together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit and her husband Joseph being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. But as he considered these things, behold an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream saying, ‘Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.’ All this took place to fulfill what the Lord has spoken by the prophet. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son and they shall call his name Immanuel, which means God with us. When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him, he took his wife but knew her not until she had given birth to a son and he called his name Jesus.”

Such an incredible passage and one of the issues we always have to face in the Christian Church is the truth that the familiar sometimes robs us of what we should see. So for example, in this passage, the familiar can become so familiar to us that we simply hear it without hearing it. And that’s certainly true here in Matthew chapter one. It’s certainly true of Matthew one, chapter 18 through verse 20, verse 18 through 25, we know the nativity story, but we should see that Matthew tells us that the birth of Jesus Christ took place this way. This is the way it took place. These are the events. This is space and time and history.

When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph before they came together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. There’s so much embedded just in those few words. And so we have Mary and we have Joseph and Mary has been betrothed to Joseph, and before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. Now it’s very interesting when you look at that verse and just for the sake of time we’re going to have to look quickly, but when you look at that verse, it tells us that the discovery was that Mary was great with child, she is with child, but Matthew quickly tells us from the Holy Spirit. And so we know from the very beginning in the statement that this young woman is with child, that this child is of the Holy Spirit, but we now know this. We know this before Joseph knows this in the sequence of this passage. So we know this because it’s been revealed to us.

A betrothal, as you know is far more than an engagement when a couple in the Jewish context of this time was betrothed, they were considered to be married in a certain sense usually for a period of about a year we believe, and this is before they establish a whole soul together before they come together. And to dissolve a betrothal requires the equivalent of divorce. And if a man seeks this against his wife, he is putting her away, and he has to put her away for a cause, and that cause is going to bring great shame. So in a community such as this, a development such as this is something that’s going to have to require a lot of explanation right now. And that’s exactly what we are given. And again, I believe the Holy Spirit wants us to know this before we even know that Joseph knows this and her husband Joseph, look at how he’s described here “being a just man.”

It is simply true that we don’t know that much about Joseph. We know his occupation, but here we also know something else. We know his love for his betrothed Mary, and we know something very important about his moral character. He’s a just man, the one who would serve in earthly terms to raise him as his father, his earthly father in this sense, the husband of his mother, Mary. Isn’t it good to know that he’s a just man? He’s such a just man that when it is discovered that Mary is with child, he understands he has to put her away. It’s inconceivable in that context that he could continue through to the marriage, but he doesn’t want to humiliate her. He doesn’t want to shame her. He intends to dissolve the marriage privately.

Now, something else is in this text that we might not notice because we are told Joseph’s plan in verse 19. But notice while verse 20 begins, in verse 20 we read: “But as he considered these things, behold an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream.” I think what we often miss there is Matthew’s statement that he was considering these things. How could he not consider these things? Imagine how heavily this rested upon his heart. He cannot get away from this thing. This is the central thing that now defines his life. He had planned this long life with Mary and no doubt had anticipated children and they do come, but not yet. He has this discovery that has been made as a just man. He decides to put Mary away privately, but he’s still considering these things. It rests upon his heart so heavily and in that context, the Lord appears to him in a dream.

Indeed it’s an angel of the Lord, a messenger of the Lord who appears to him in a dream and with a message: “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife.” Don’t fear to take Mary as your wife. Go ahead and take Mary as your wife. Do what you had intended to do even before you made the discovery of the pregnancy. Do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. So what we were told even in verse 17 is now revealed to Joseph who’s been considering these things. And again, we aren’t given a lot more information about Joseph, except we do know this. He does exactly what the angel of the Lord told him to do and he doesn’t just do it in terms of his actions. He clearly does it in the interior life of his heart.

He will take Mary as his wife, and that’s made very clear in verse 24, where we are told that he did as the angel, the Lord commanded him. This is a command by the way. This isn’t just information submitted for his consideration. The Lord doesn’t appear in a dream by an angel in order to submit something for our consideration. The word command is here. He did as the Lord commanded him. He took his wife, but he did not know her until she had given birth to a son. Okay, that’s the framework of the text. But I want us to look at a couple of dimensions of it as we think about ministry. I want us to note that there is an unusual threefold pattern in this passage and you can see it when you look at the text directly. When the angel of the Lord appears to Joseph in verse 21, the angel says she will bear a son and you shall call his name Jesus.

The name is “the Lord saves” you shall call his name “The Lord saves” for he will save his people from their sins. You shall call his name. The Lord saves Jesus for he shall save his people from their sins. Now again, just for the sake of time, let’s just remind ourselves that the Messianic expectation of the Jewish people at this time was not entirely wrong, but it was certainly not entirely right. They were looking forward to one who would lead the nation to overthrow the oppressor They were looking for the one, the anointed one, the divinely sent one who would save Israel from its distress. But Joseph, just Joseph who’s in this period of turmoil considering what to do with his wife, an angel, the Lord appears to him and says, you shall call his name Jesus. The Lord saves. For He will save his people from their sins.

That is not the messianic expectation, but it is the messianic promise. He will save his people from their sins. It’s in his name, his name declares it and then took place in the passage something we need to note because we’re told that all this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet. And of course this is Isaiah. Isaiah chapter seven, verse 14. “Behold the virgin shall conceive and bear a son and they shall call his name Immanuel.” So here the first statement is “you shall call his name Jesus for he shall save his people from their sins.” And now we are told that this is to fulfill the prophecy of Isaiah and they shall call his name Immanuel, God with us. So here we have two statements. The Lord saves and God with us as the name of this baby, the Holy Spirit is conceived within Mary.

It’s like an entire biblical theology just in these words. It’s an entire message in these words, it is the declaration that salvation has come because God is coming to be with his people. This is far beyond the expectation of the age and frankly it’s far beyond the imagination of most people. As they think of Christmas and they think of a celebration and they think of family and they think of warm things and they think of a baby Jesus, their imagination may go to a nativity scene, but our imagination has to go far further than that. It has to go backward to the prophets. Indeed, our imagination has to go backward to Genesis three and the fall. Our imagination has to go back to understand the most basic human problem is that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Israel desperately needed salvation from an oppressor, but humanity, all humanity, is in desperate need of salvation, liberation from sin.

And the one who does this is not just the one who is sent to save, but the one who does this is also Immanuel, God with us. I said this a threefold pattern and that’s because we see she shall bear a son and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins, and they shall call his name Immanuel. And then notice how the chapter ends. The Holy Spirit’s inspiration of Matthew here is so sweet and so clear. The obedience is demonstrated with crystal clarity. The last words of Matthew chapter one, and he called his name Jesus. You shall call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins and they shall call his name Immanuel, which means God with us. And he called his name Jesus. Okay? Just understand this. This is something that’s often missing from the understanding of the Christmas story.

Mary bears this child and gives birth to this child of the Holy Ghost when this child is born, Joseph names him. Joseph does have a very important role in salvation history. It’s an instrumental role in salvation history. It is the faithfulness of Mary that we celebrate in submitting herself to the will of the Lord. But to no lesser degree did Joseph submit himself to the direction and the command of the Lord Jesus bears this baby who is born Jesus, Immanuel God with us. And when he is born, Joseph takes his wife and he calls the son Immanuel. He calls his name Jesus, the Lord saves. So we have here this threefold pattern which directs us in our attention to understand you shall call his name Jesus, and he called his name Jesus, Emmanuel there in the midst of this, the entirety of a biblical theology displayed for us just in this passage. But there’s something else here.
The graduates of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary arrayed before us. And even as you represent such hope for the church and you represent such promise for the gospel and you represent such commitment to the faith once for all delivered to the saints, and we celebrate that it’s what makes our hearts most happy. This institution exists for this moment, well, in one sense it exists for every moment until Jesus comes. But what I mean is it exists for this moment because we do not exist to receive students but rather to receive them and to teach them and then to send them out. And that’s what we’re celebrating today. This is the sending out and we’re not sending them out saying it would be wise for you to come up with something to say. you might want to give some thought to what you think you’re doing here.

No, we’re sending them out with the message of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Just a few quick thoughts. Number one, the Christian ministry exists because of the incarnation. It’s because of the incarnation that we are here. It’s because of the incarnation that we send out these graduates. The Nicene Creed puts it this way. Speaking of Christ, ““the only son of God, begotten from the Father before all ages, God from God, light from light, true God from true God begotten, not made of the same essence as the Father. Through him all things were made, for us and for our salvation. He came down from heaven and became incarnate by the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary and was made human.” And it is because of Christ’s obedience to the Father all the way to the cross where he died for our sins all the way to the resurrection where the Lord raised him from the dead all the way until when Jesus commissioned his church to take the gospel into the ends of the earth. The Christian ministry only exists because of the incarnation of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Secondly, the Christian ministry exists only because of divine revelation. We only know these things because the holy Scriptures exist. We only know these things because the Holy Spirit led Matthew to tell us these things. Without this, we wouldn’t know these things and frankly, we wouldn’t even know how to speak of Jesus. We wouldn’t know how to preach Jesus. We wouldn’t know how to even speak the gospel. It’s all by revelation. The Christian ministry exists only by the Word of God. Third, the Christian ministry declares the salvation of God’s people from their sins. This is the purpose. This is the name of Jesus. The Lord saves. And we are told here, even in this passage, and in the beginning of the gospel, before we know anything else, we have to know this Jesus didn’t come except that Jesus came to save. And he didn’t come to save people in some psychotherapeutic sense, and he didn’t come to save in some political sense. He will come to reign and his kingdom will know no end. But in this coming, as the word became flesh, and as this baby was conceived within Mary and then born and then named Jesus, this is to save his people from their sins. And thus when we speak of these ministers being sent out, they are not merely ministers of the word as if merely would even calculate there, they’re ministers of the Word of God for the sake of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Fourth, the Christian ministry proclaims the name of Jesus. It’s so central in this passage. Again, it brackets that first statement. And you shall call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. And then the last, and he called his name Jesus. So that’s why we need to speak constantly of Jesus. What is the message of the gospel?

You have to begin and end with Jesus. What is the good news of Christmas? You have to begin and end with Jesus. And of course we speak of that baby who was put in a manger. But far beyond that, we speak of the one who before the creation of the world was with God and was God and through whom all things were made, we speak of him who went to the cross as our substitute dying in our place for our sins, we speak of the one whom the Father raised from the dead. We speak of the one who’s now ascended to the Father. We speak of the soon and coming king. We speak constantly of Jesus. And finally, the Christian ministry is propelled only by the presence of Christ. And there’s something else here that is often missed. You will soon not be with us and you need to move right along.

There are others soon coming to take your place. You know the spirit in which I say that, It’s a spirit of great joy. Thankfully the Lord calls a succession of preachers and the church even right now needs an even greater succession of Godly gospel ministers. There will be a time, quite quickly, when you are not in the presence of each other. This class is gathered together one time. This is a picture in one instant in the history of the Christian Church. And even though by God’s grace we shall be gathered together one day in that great assembly before the throne of God, it is virtually impossible that this exact grouping of people will be in any room again until Jesus comes. And that adds a historical moment to what we see here. So you won’t be with each other.
You know what? You’re not also going to be with this faculty. To have been taught is such an intimate thing. This godly, faithful, convictional faculty exists to teach those who are going to teach the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. And there is a reciprocity of love in that such that you will be missed and you will miss being here in proximity to these teachers. It’s the way the Christian ministry works. “Let good and kindred go, this mortal life also.” We’re called to give all things to Christ. But here’s the thing. Christian ministry exists only because of the abiding presence of Christ. You will not be present with each other. You will not always be present with your family. You will not always be in the proximity to your friends. You will not always be in the reach of this faculty, but you will never be outside the presence of Christ.

And I just want you to note something in conclusion. There in the middle between you shall call his name Jesus and he called his name Jesus, is this statement from the prophet Isaiah, and they shall call his name Immanuel, which means God with us. Here’s my exhortation and my good news to you. God is with us and God is with you, and you will never be outside His presence. That’s the beginning of the Gospel of Matthew. I want us to note as I conclude, it is also the end. Jesus says to his disciples, “all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.” And what are the final words of the Gospel of Matthew? “You shall call his name Immanuel, which means God with us.” And Jesus says, and “behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” How wonderful is that?

Let’s pray.
Father, we praise your name. We praise the name of Jesus. We thank you for the unspeakable gift of Immanuel, God with us. Father, we pray for these graduates as they go out because even as they are apart, in one sense, they are never apart from the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray this to the praise of the one true living God. We pray this in the name of Jesus. Amen.

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