This advent season we are doing a special series on “The Character and Carols of Christmas.” This Sunday, Pastor Leonard examines Joseph. We are told in Matthew 1:19 that Joseph “was a righteous man.” It is not a descriptor often used of people today. We learn that “righteousness is a gift to be received rather than a standard to be achieved.” We have an allergic reaction to self-righteous religious persons. Leonard looks at five fruits of self-righteousness: 1) pride, 2) contempt, 3) compassionless, 4) hypocrisy, and 5) murder. Those who are genuinely righteous are givers of life, not death. They have the fruit of 1) humility, 2) encouragement, 3) compassions, 4) integrity, and 5) life. The purpose of the law is to change our character, not our behavior, to make us people that resemble God. These are the characteristics we see in the life of Joseph.
