29 November, 1998
INTRODUCTION
It seems that each year around this time I am reminded of how much time and effort we spend getting ready for Christmas and how it is basically all over in a couple of hours. You have probably thought about it too as you sat there around the tree in a mass of torn paper and ribbons and realized how fast it all came and went.
Most us start getting ready for Christmas right after Thanksgiving - some start even before then. My mom use to start her Christmas shopping in September and October and by Thanksgiving, all she had to do was put up a few decorations. Of course, that was after my brother and I had left home and my dad had gone home to be with the Lord.
But for most of us, we start getting preparing for Christmas around this time in the hopes that we will get everything done in time that we have some time to spare. Some of us are not ready until the last minute. And then some us, leave it up to others get things ready.
Preparation is certainly important. As a matter of fact, we should be preparing ourselves for this time of the year. The problem is, we often prepare ourselves in a way that causes us to miss so much of what we are supposed to be seeing during this time of the year.
And that's when it becomes "the holidays" rather than "Christmas." You see, it has a lot to do with where our hearts.
Background
God had been preparing His people for the coming of the Messiah since the beginning of time when He said to the serpent in the Garden of Eden: "And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel." (Gen 3:15 NIV) And ever since Jesus ascended back to the Father, God has been preparing His people for His second advent to this earth.
Here in the first chapter of Luke, we can see some final preparations taking place in the lives of God's people for the coming of the Christ child. And it is here in this chapter that I can see how we can also be prepared for His coming. I would like us to look at this chapter in light of being prepared to make the most of the Christmas season for that is what the advent season is all about - it is about preparation. But more importantly I would like us to look at this chapter in light of us being prepared for the second and final coming of our Lord Jesus Christ when He returns to this earth to bring all this chaos to an end.
I don't know how ready these individuals were that are reading about here for the coming of the Christ child but that was God's intention in what He was doing among them - He was preparing them for the arrival of His Son. Let's see how they were and we can be as prepared as possible.
1. Be Open to the Work of God in Your Life
Over and over again, we read in the narratives surrounding the birth of Christ, how the Holy Spirit was speaking, preparing and working in the lives of His people, preparing them all for the coming of the Messiah. God was preparing them for how He would use them.
We see how God sent His angel Gabriel to Zechariah and Mary and Joseph, telling them what was going to happen and preparing them for what and who was to come.
We see how the Holy Spirit came upon John the Baptist before he was ever referred to as "the Baptist" to prepare the people of his day for the coming of the Messiah. And these men and women were prepared for His coming because they were open to the work of God in their lives.
Though Zechariah doubted - He was open and available to how God wanted to use him.
Though Mary had her fears, she was willing to submit to God's plan for her life even though she did not fully understand how it was all going to work out. In simple obedience, she said to the angel of the Lord, "May it be to me as you have said."
Joseph was open and submissive to God's will in this matter even though he knew it was a great risk. All of these men and women were prepared for Messiah's coming because they were men and women who were submissive and open to the work of God in their lives.
As we anticipate the second advent of our Lord as Mary and Joseph anticipated his birth, we must be a people who are open to the work of God in our lives because God has a work He to do in our lives. And He uses plain simple people to accomplish His purpose in this world just like He did in the days when Christ was born. None of these men and women were all that great in the eyes of the culture in which they lived. But they were a people who were available to God and submissive to His will and work. They did not completely understand everything. They did not know how it was all going to work out. But they were open and available.
What about you? Are you really open to what God wants to do in your life? Are you really willing to go our on such a limb for God that some might think you are nuts? Are you willing to take such a step of faith for God that there is a chance you will sink? That's what is Joseph did. The people I see in the Bible who were mighty men and women of God were people who, more often than not, took that kind of a step of faith and obedience. They were a people who were completely available to God. And it was these people like this that God used to bring His Son into this world.
2. Don't Let Your Circumstances Destroy Your Faith - 1:18
When you read the account of God speaking to Zechariah, you kind of get the impression that he had all but given up on his hopes of being a dad. And His circumstances could have easily effected His faith in God. He and his wife Elizabeth were, in his own words, "old and well along in years." They probably figured that they were destined to go the grave without ever having any children. And these were serious circumstances for anyone in those days. It was actually a disgrace for a woman not to have children. Childlessness was actually grounds for divorce and even excommunication in those days because it was perceived that being barren was a punishment for some unknown sin. They had obviously been praying for this for so long and for so long their prayers had gone unanswered. And they could have easily given up. Maybe that is why Zechariah manifested so much doubt when the angel of the Lord told him what was about to happen. Zechariah and Elizabeth could have easily given up hope even in the midst of this promise that God had made to them. They could have allowed their circumstances to destroy their faith in what God said He was going to do.
And I am a firm believer that we can too. It is so easy to let our circumstances destroy our faith in God and what He is doing in this world and in our lives. We look around at the world and it all looks hopeless. We look at our lives at all looks hopeless. Nothing seems to change except for the way things get worse. Our circumstances can literally rob us of the joy that God wants us to have. We pray and pray and nothing seems to happen. We call out to God and it seems God is not on speaking terms with us. The wait can seem like a lifetime - and for Zechariah and Elizabeth, it pretty much was.
I like what Matthew Henry says about this: "Prayers of faith are filed in heaven, and are not forgotten, though the thing prayed for is not presently given in. Prayers made when we were young and coming into the world may be answered when we are old and going out of the world."
As we spend the next month or so celebrating His coming and as we wait upon His final return to this earth, let's be careful how we allow our circumstances to destroy our faith. Let's be careful how we let our circumstances or anything or anyone rob us of our joy.
3. When God Speaks, Pay Attention - 1:11,19,34-38
Why were these men and women so prepared for the coming of the Messiah? Because God spoke to them of His coming and they paid attention. God had been speaking to His people through His holy prophets for hundreds of years. And it was the ones who really paid attention who were anywhere near being prepared. And even the ones who did listen were probably not ready for the way it all happened.
And all through this narrative we see God speaking to these men and women - Zechariah, Elizabeth, Mary, Joseph, the Wise Men, and the Shepherds. He told them everything they needed to know to prepare them for the day that Messiah would be born. God spoke to them about how all these things would take place and what it all meant. He told them what His purpose was. He did not tell them everything but He told them what they needed to know. And those who paid attention were as prepared as they could be.
The message of Christmas that we hear in so many different ways is a message of hope. It is the good news - that God came to us. He did not make us come to Him but He came to us to seek and to save the lost. Christmas is a time when we are reminded of how God came to rescue His people from sin and death. And it is one of the only times that many in this world literally hears or utters the name of Jesus in a way that is not irreverent or profane. The message we hear during this time of the year is a message of hope but it is a message that we so often miss because we are so busy and so pre-occupied with so many other things. We don't take time to stop and pay attention to what God is saying to us.
And what about this message we hear about when He is coming again. Have we been paying attention to what God has been telling us that we might be ready? The thing about it is - God has not stopped speaking to His people since Jesus set foot on this earth. Everytime you open the Bible and read it, it is God who is speaking. Everytime you read the pages of Scripture, you are reading God's message to us all. He speaks to us about many things and all are related to us being a people who are ready to meet Him face to face. The question is, are you paying attention to what God is saying.
Some people will never listen just as in the days when John the Baptist preached. But no one can say that it is because God has not spoken. If we are to be prepared for His arrival, we need to be paying careful attention to God's Word. Listening and obeying.
4. Rejoice in What God Has Done In Our Lives- 1:25
Elizabeth knew without a doubt that the miracle of life that was now forming in her womb was according to what God had allowed in her life. She knew that this was a miracle. Not in the same sense that Jesus was a miracle because John was not conceived by the Holy Spirit. But she knew that apart from a miraculous work of God, she would never have any children. Her and her husband had been praying and waiting for so long and now their prayers had been answered. It was bound to happen because it was all a part of His plan. And now she rejoices in what God had done in their lives.
And in these days, God has certainly shown His favor on us. He has shown His favor by sending His Son to this earth to seek and to save the lost. He has shown His favor by using people like you and me to be workers in His kingdom. He has shown His favor by providing for us in ways that we cannot provide for ourselves.
There are so many things in my own life that I can say as Elizabeth did when she said, "The Lord has done this for me. In these days he has shown his favor and taken away my disgrace..."
Yes, "the Lord has done this..." and for this, I will rejoice.
And as we celebrate the coming of our Savior, and as we await His return, maybe we should be rejoicing in what He has done in our lives - and in that way, be a people who are more than ready for His coming.
Conclusion
So are we ready for Christmas? More importantly, are we ready for His coming again? God had been preparing His people for the day that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem. I'm not sure just how ready they were when it all came to pass but He came just the same. And whether we are ready or not, He is coming again.
I hope we will be as ready as some people are for the Christmas season with their houses already decked out with decorations. I hope we will be as ready as some of us are for tomorrow's opening day of buck season. We need to be a people who are ready and waiting. We need to be a people who are about the work He has called us to do - a people who are prepared for the coming of our Lord.
Let me ask you again, are you ready? I don't mean, "Have you finished your shopping and decorating?" What I mean is, where is your heart? Because that is where we really need to be prepared.
ILL:One of the great preachers tells of a time when he went to the World's Fair and from a distance he saw a man pumping water with one of those old hand pumps. The water was really pouring out and he said as he looked, "That man is really pumping water." But when he got closer, he discovered that it was a wooden man connected to a pump that was powered by electricity. In reality the man was not pumping the water, the water was pumping the man. (Source unknown)