The Time of
Christmas, IV
“Living Prophetically”
By Dr. Joseph B. Fuiten,
We have three Christmas Eve services this
week.
We could use some car donations to Mechanics
Ministry.
We received a $44,000 donation this past week
for the General Fund.
Text: Luke 1:26-38 Page 723
26 In the sixth month, God
sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to
be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin's name was
Mary. 28 The angel went to her and said, "Greetings, you who are highly
favored! The Lord is with you." 29 Mary was greatly troubled at his words
and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. 30 But the angel said to her,
"Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him
the name Jesus. He will be great and
will be called the Son of the Most High.
The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will
reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end." 34
"How will this be," Mary asked the angel, "since I am a
virgin?" 35 The angel answered,
"The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will
overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the
Son of God. Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child
in her old age, and she who was said to be barren is in her sixth month. For nothing is impossible with God." 38
"I am the Lord's servant," Mary answered. "May it be to me as
you have said." Then the angel left her.
One idea has captured my heart this Christmas
season. All the prophecies that were
fulfilled in the birth of Jesus demonstrate that God knows both the beginning
and the end of the all things. Because
he lives outside of time, being eternal in both directions, he alone has this
ability. I would like to consider the
birth story as an illustration of this idea.
Hopefully, we will see the similarity between Mary’s situation, which
was the work that she had to do, and our own situations, the work we have to
do.
This passage is the prophecy to Mary about the birth of
Jesus. We call it the “Annunciation.” Several
things are prophesied to Mary.
First, she would be pregnant.
Second, she would give birth to a son.
Third, this son will be great and be called the Son of the Most
High. Fourth, he will rule over the Jews
and a never-ending kingdom. These were
all very clear and measurable prophecies.
Consider the conflict with which Mary was confronted. It is one thing to believe in prophecy as an
abstract spiritual concept. It is
another to be the subject of prophecy and have to live it out. By its very nature, prophecy pre-supposes a
conflict. There is a conflict between
what now is, and what has been prophesied.
There are all sorts of problems that she faced. They pose no stress for us now because we are
well passed the event and we know how it turns out (just as God has no anxiety
about our situation because he also knows how it will turn out.)
The first challenge in
living prophetically is getting a right perspective on who
you are. The answer
is, with only a few exceptions, you are probably not much. That was certainly the case with Mary and
Joseph. They were really no one from
nowhere.
I would like for you to think about yourself in that
light. Even though you may not have the
abilities that someone else might have, that does not indicate what your
ultimate role will be. We know that God
has good works, prepared in advance, for each of us to do.[1]
What we bring to the situation is not the key factor. The
key is what God brings to it. For
example, I bet that I could beat any two of you in two on two basketball if my partner was one of the Sonics that I might
choose. I really don’t have to be that
good. My partner would carry the
day. The key line in this whole thing
was “The Lord is with you.”
At some point in our lives we need to discover that we
were not born to create computer programs, raise kids, win cases, teach school,
or go on vacation. We were born to do
the will of God. God’s will may involve those things but it is much more.
The second challenge to
living prophetically is to understand that the present situation does not
determine the final outcome. Again, that is the very nature of
prophecy. What is,
is not what will be.
There are a few sub-points here. We need to hear a
word of peace. Verse 29 is so human, so us. “Mary was greatly troubled at his words
and wondered what kind of greeting this might be.” The word “troubled” means agitated and
alarmed. Add the adjective “greatly” and
you have someone that is very nervous.
In our world, when the gap between what is and what we believe it should
be is wide, it is alarming. If you could
truly hear God this morning, you would hear him speaking what the angel said to
Mary in Verse 30. "Do not be afraid!”
Today we would say, “Relax, everything is going to be fine.” It is so hard for us to live prophetically. We are so caught up in now, that we cannot
hear God speaking to us about the outcome of the present situation.
Our
present lack of insight into how the situation can change does not determine
the outcome. Mary’s legitimate
concern, so to speak, was expressed in verse 34 "How will this be,"
Mary asked the angel, "since I am a
virgin?" If I was a guided missile
with a pre-programmed, hard-wired direction, I would have a problem. I might be a guided missile, but I am
receiving directions during the whole flight, not just at the start. That on-going guidance is what gets me to the
target. All I need to know is how to fly
at the moment. I don’t even need the
final destination.
It is not
helpful to be problem centered. Her
question, “How will this be?” was appropriate.
I am not sure she knew more when her question was answered than she did
when she asked it. The angel answered
her (in verse 35) "The Holy Spirit
will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.” I
have no idea what that means. A good
friend often emails me on Saturday night about his sermon the next
morning. He had two questions last
night. He wanted any historic views on, What was
the role of the Spirit in the conception of Christ, and how did Mary conceive? I sent him a few quotes from
church fathers, but they didn’t know, I don’t know, and Mary didn’t know.
A problem-centered person
would be stopped cold in their tracks.
Everything else would fade into oblivion. Only the problem would be visible in their
mind. I don’t know,
has this ever happened before? What if
something goes wrong? What if we run out
of money? What if somebody gets
sick? What if they never change? What if the economy turns bad? I love
Proverbs 22:13 “The
sluggard says, "There is a lion outside!" or, "I will be
murdered in the streets!" Give
such a person one minute in front of the mirror and they will find a wrinkle or
a blackhead, depending on their age.
Mary was clearly not a problem-centered
person. She didn’t know how it would
happen, she didn’t know the ultimate outcome, she had no idea of what she would
have to face along the journey, but she knew what the Lord had said.
Finally, in order to live
prophetically, we will need a miracle from time to time. The birth of Christ was not only
prophetic. It was miraculous! This is one of the things I love about God’s
work. I am witness to so many
miracles. I have seen marriages come
together where there was no hope. I have
seen people reconciled who were sworn enemies.
I have seen people that were supposed to die outlive the doctors who
predicted it. I have seen money come
from unexpected sources and in unexpected quantities to meet the need in the
nick of time. I have seen people get
saved who cursed God and Christians. I
have seen babies born to couples that were infertile. I have seen addicts set free. I have seen so much, for so long, I am almost ready to believe the angel who said, “nothing is impossible with God."
I am thrilled
to be able to say with Mary, "I am the Lord's
servant," I am asking God for the confidence that Mary showed
when she answered, "May it be to me as you
have said." I want that kind of peace and that kind of
surrender. I want to be able to say to
the Lord, let’s go and let it be exactly as you said when you planned these
good works for me to do.
Today, God can speak the word of peace. He can affirm our value in his kingdom. He can inspire us with faith to live a prophetic life, a life more in tune with what God has said than with the present circumstances.
[1] Eph 2:10 For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. (NIV)