Expository Sermon on Luke 1
Bellevue SDA Church 12/15/2018
©2018 by Maylan Schurch
(To hear the audio for this sermon, click the triangular “play” button on the line below.)
Please open your Bibles again to Luke chapter 1.
I spend almost every Tuesday of the school year volunteering at our two local Adventist schools. And this past Tuesday I was there again, grading papers for the teachers, and reading picture books to the younger children, and teaching the sixth graders something about public speaking.
But at 10:05 a.m. on Tuesdays my assignment was to read and show picture-books to the kids in one of the classrooms. I always do my best to arrive a couple of minutes early, so I rolled in at 10 a.m. I went to the chair in front of a big piece of carpet with squares printed on it, because in a couple of minutes the kids would come in and sit on their designated squares.
I glanced up at the clock on the wall above the whiteboard, and was startled to see that it read 9:00, not 10:00. I figured that if necessary I could get something to stand on, and take that clock down and adjust it.
So I mentioned this to the teacher, and she chuckled. She said, “That’s one of those clocks that’s supposed to adjust itself. Once a day its hands spin madly around for a while. But it always ends up at the wrong time.” And then she said something I got a kick of, something that sums up not only the clock’s issues, but humanity’s issues as well.
She said, “It knows it’s wrong, but it doesn’t know what to do about it.”
That’s really the whole point of what nowadays we call the Christmas story, isn’t it? Genesis 1:26 tells us that God is our Creator, and that He created us in His image. Sin has separated us from Him, but since we came from God, it’s natural that when we’re not on the same page with Him, we sense that something is wrong, even though we may not know what to call it, or what to do about it.
That clock on that schoolroom wall is from a good company, LaCrosse Technologies. I have a LaCrosse clock on my home office wall, and it’s a quality product. The schoolroom clock simply needs a bit of tech support.
And so do we. There are many Bible texts that say that we are so ruined by sin—which at its root is chronic selfishness—that we cannot adjust ourselves. We cannot save ourselves. Psychiatry can’t deal with our deep spiritual problem. Doctors can’t help us there. Philosophers can’t help us. We need outside intervention.
And that’s the story of the Bible. Left to our sinful selves, we have ended up in turmoil, fighting each other, trying to outdo each other, assuming that we are the masters of our fate, we are the captains of our soul.
Here in Luke 1, God is about to perform the most dramatic and astonishing intervention in the history of the universe. And before He does this, He decides to announce it. And to announce it, God sends angels.
The word “angels” comes from the Greek word angelos, which means a “messenger.” In fact, the word “evangelism” has “angel” in it. Evangelism literally means a good message, or good news.
As I was reading Luke 1 this week, I thought to myself, “Well, if God sent angels to get His message across to Zechariah, and Mary, and shepherds, maybe we should listen in on those messages to find out more about the One who sent them. What did God want these people to know, and what does He want us to know? What can I learn from these messages, and what should I do once I learned them?
I found this really fascinating. Let me show you what I mean. Let’s start with Luke one, verse five.
Luke 1:5 – 11 [NKJV]: There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judea, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the division of Abijah. His wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless. But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and they were both well advanced in years. So it was, that while he was serving as priest before God in the order of his division, according to the custom of the priesthood, his lot fell to burn incense when he went into the temple of the Lord. And the whole multitude of the people was praying outside at the hour of incense. Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing on the right side of the altar of incense.
Now, the Bible doesn’t tell us what this angel looked like. In fact, I can’t remember any Bible description of what an angel looks like, except maybe for the angels who appeared at Jesus’ tomb after His resurrection, and the ones who talk to the disciples after He had ascended to heaven. It says that these angels were dressed in white clothing.
So maybe the angel that showed up in the temple had white clothing two. Whatever he looked like, the old priest had an emotional reaction.
Verse 12: And when Zacharias saw him, he was troubled, and fear fell upon him.
And that is a natural reaction when angels show up in the Bible. Later, this same angel will visit Mary, and Mary will be troubled. Still later, an angel – maybe this same one – will visit some shepherds, and they will also be afraid.
But in each of these three cases, the angel who arrives says the same thing.
Verse 13: But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zacharias, . . .
“Fear not.” This is reassuring news. Because Matthew 24 and other Bible passages tell us that one of these days the entire sky is going to be thick with angels, probably dressed in brilliant white clothing, rushing toward this planet blowing trumpets.
But it’s key to remember that the Bible says that when Jesus comes back, some people will be delighted and other people will be fearful. And in what we’ve already read, we get a clue about how not to be overcome with fear when those angels will show up.
You see, we’ve read that both Zacharias and his wife Elizabeth were very faithful believers. They were honest in heart. And if you’re taking sermon notes, I’d like to make this Sermon Point One. What does God want us to know if heaven should come close to us?
When heaven comes close, the honest-hearted need not fear.
Not everybody in the Bible who had a supernatural experience was a well-informed Jewish believer. Those wise men from the East saw a star, and followed it, and came to Bethlehem. But when the king tried to manipulate them to pinpoint the location of the baby who might threaten his throne, God warned the wise men in a dream to get out of the country. These men were honest in heart, and decided that they would seek for truth, and follow wherever the truth led them.
Heaven came close to the Samaritan woman Jesus spoke to at a well at high noon. At that point, this woman didn’t know or practice all of the truth Jesus wanted her to know, but she was honest in heart.
Heaven came close to Saul of Tarsus, who had devoted his career to persecuting and exterminating believers in the Bethlehem baby. When Jesus appeared in a blaze of light, Saul was tremendously frightened and puzzled, but he was honest in heart, and three days later he had become a converted Christian.
Some people are worried about what God thinks of them. They would rather stay as far away from everything having to do with Him or people who claim to worship Him. But when heaven comes close to us, we need not be afraid. Sure, there’ll probably be initial surprise and maybe even fear, but the honest-hearted need not fear.
So what should I do, now that I know this? It certainly proper to be filled with awe when we think about God. A little over a week ago I was working with a paper cutter in my home office, and I cut my right thumb. I didn’t cut it on a blade that comes down, but on the sharp metal edge where the blade slices the paper on.
As it turns out, I’m taking blood-thinner medication, so I hurried to the bathroom sink to get this little wound closed up. It bled quite freely for a bit, and I watched the blood run into the sink. And it was beautiful, such a bright red. (Don’t try this at home, by the way.) As I bandaged myself up, a sense of awe filled me, deep respect at the wisdom of my Creator. Out on a trail near our home, I can look at a beetle walking across the path in front of me, and feel that same emotion. It’s actually almost a tingle of fear. Who is this mighty intelligence who could create such wonders, large and small?
So, what should I do now that I know that the honest-hearted need not fear Heaven coming close?
Well, I need to be honest in heart. I need to be willing to search for truth, and be humble enough to recognize it as truth and adjust my life to fit it. How do I find truth? In His John 17 prayer, Jesus prayed to His Father, “Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.” Jesus insists that the most important source of truth is the Word of God.
But back to the story of Zacharias. The angel appears to him, and the old priest is at first frightened. Then the angel tells him that he doesn’t have to be afraid. Notice what else he tells him, again, something you and I need to know and live by.
Luke 1:13: But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zacharias, for your prayer is heard; . . . .
Here comes Sermon Point Two. What else did this angel communicate from heaven to this honest-in-heart man?
Not only do the honest-hearted not need to fear when Heaven comes close, but they can be sure that their prayers are listened to.
I wonder how long Elizabeth and Zacharias had been praying for a baby. Back in those days, in that culture, having children was very important. Decade after decade, this faithful, honest-in-heart couple did their best to follow God’s revealed will, but they must have wondered if their prayers were doing any good.
Had they stopped praying? They probably had. I mean, after a certain point, they must’ve figured that having a baby wasn’t God’s plan for them. But neither of them seems to have been bitter about that long disappointment. Maybe sad, but not bitter. They still remain faithful to God, assuming that He knew best.
And now along comes the angel, insisting not only that their prayers had been heard, but that those prayers were about to be answered.
I’ve been a pastor for right around 35 years. One of my greatest joys is listening to people who are absolutely certain that God answered their prayers. And equally powerful is hearing people whose prayers aren’t answered express equally fervent faith in God. God listens to our prayers. And whether or not He always answers them in the way we wish, we know that He hears.
How long have you been praying for something, or someone, or yourself? I don’t know God’s plans for you, but we have it from the mouth of a heavenly angel that God listens to prayers.
A little later in the Zacharias story, the angel will introduce himself by name. This is Gabriel, an angel who stands in the presence of God. And back in Daniel chapter 9, Daniel begins to pray a fervent prayer which is 610 words long. It takes about four minutes to say out loud, and while that old prophet was still praying, this same Gabriel arrived from beyond the galaxies to give Daniel some answers to his prayer.
So God is listening. Keep praying. In celebrations and concerns time each week, or in your Sabbath school class, listen carefully to the stories people tell about God’s faithfulness and how He listens. Because he does.
Let’s look at just one more message we can learn when heaven comes close, in this case, by the arrival of an angel. Let’s start with verse 13.
Verses 13 – 20: But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zacharias, for your prayer is heard; and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John. And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth. For he will be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink. He will also be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb. And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God. He will also go before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, ‘to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children,’ and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.” And Zacharias said to the angel, “How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is well advanced in years.” And the angel answered and said to him, “I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God, and was sent to speak to you and bring you these glad tidings. But behold, you will be mute and not able to speak until the day these things take place, because you did not believe my words which will be fulfilled in their own time.”
Was Gabriel being a bit hard on Zacharias here? It seems like it, but I believe that Gabriel was trying to make a point.
I mean, there they are, standing near the altar of incense in the temple’s holy place. Zacharias is burning the incense. The angel suddenly appears, and Zacharias knows that it is truly an angel from God. That’s why he’s afraid.
So the angel starts to tell Zacharias about the good news that the old man is going to become a father. Here’s an angel talking, an angel of God, an angel who stands in the very presence of God. Zacharias is listening. But as the holy angel speaks these holy words, these divinely inspired words, they come up against what Zacharias knows are the unyielding facts of life. Beyond a certain time of life, the average couple just can’t have children. Impossible.
And I don’t mean to say, of course, that all the senior couples in this room should start praying to have children. Normally, in the Bible, the children to which elderly couples miraculously gave birth played some important role in the advancement of God’s plan. Isaac was born to the barren Sarah. Samuel was born to the barren Hannah. Joseph was born to the barren Rachel. And now John the Baptist, the one who would proclaim the Messiah’s arrival, was born to the barren Elizabeth. We know the names of these babies (and give their names to our kids) because they had important parts to play in God’s plan.
But the key thing to remember is that God does listen to prayers. God does answer those prayers with a “yes” if that would be best.
And that’s a perfect cue for the last sermon point. What do we need to remember from the story of Zacharias and how heaven came close?
Not only do the honest-hearted not need to fear when Heaven comes close, and not only can they be sure that their prayers are listened to, but when Heaven comes close, they need to get ready to be surprised.
I once knew a man who, before he was married, and before he even had a girlfriend, he had planned out his future wedding in detail. According to his plan, bridesmaids and groomsmen would all be singers, as he and his bride – and both of them would be singers to – walk down the aisle singing back at them. And this man had already written all the music.
Well, this man did eventually become married – and I believe happily so – but I don’t think any of his wedding plans came off the way he wanted them to. Instead, the Lord had other ideas, and they were better ideas.
This week I heard a report that scientists who study the planets have been watching with interest the information that is coming back from the satellite Juno, which is orbiting Jupiter. Juno was launched in, I think, August of 2011, and finally reached Jupiter in 2016. It’s been sending back photographs and other scientific data ever since, and its mission will end in 2021.
And from everything I heard, the scientists have been intensely surprised at what they are learning about that gigantic gas planet. They’re hoping that Jupiter can help them understand how the solar system came into being, and I’m sure they’ll find more and more surprises as they go along.
Actually, we need to keep in mind that everything God does is a miraculous surprise. We take for granted so many things that came into existence because the Bible says He simply spoke. But in another surprise, the Bible says that He did not speak humanity into existence. Instead, He knelt down in the dirt and actually sculpted the human form, and then came close and breathed life into Adam.
So get ready for surprises. Every time I read a Bible passage, I learn something new, and often surprising. Every time I go back and read those Bible stories which maybe I haven’t read since I was a child, I discovered that there is much more that I could never have picked up when I was that age.
But let’s all remember, especially as our planet rotates us into the new year, that God wants to come close. The miracle he told Mary about was perhaps the greatest surprise of all. God joined Jesus to humanity in a supremely wonderful Christmas present. For 2000 years, Jesus has become one of us. Jesus is human and divine. Jesus sacrificed his life so that you and I could get free entrance into heaven itself, if that’s what we want.
That’s what I want. How about you?