Sunday Worship Service 5-3-20 - Luke 1:1-5 - Pain, Prayer, & Providence

Luke 1 Sermon B (5-25) – Announcing the Announcer. Intro: All of the Gospels start the Gospel not with Jesus but with John. Why? Every big event/big appearance requires an announcement. The bigger the event/person, the bigger the announcer/announcement. “And, now for your starting lineup.” “Ladies and gentlemen, the president of the United States.” “Apollo Creed’s entrances: The Dancing Destroyer, The King of Sting, The Count of Monte Fisto, The Prince of Punch, The Master of Disaster, The One and Only…” “Let’s get ready to rumble…” End: The announcer needed an announcer. The way preparer. And, he was none other that the greatest human being that has ever lived. And, that’s a bit of what we all are – announcers, and the more important the person, the more important the announcer … and we get to announce God. “Ladies and Gentlemen, … God.” Luke begins here to write in a style very different from the prologue, a style extremely reminiscent of the Septuagint translation of the OT, signaling that he is continuing that story. 5 In the days of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah, of the division of Abijah. And he had a wife from the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. 6 And they were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord. 7 But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and both were advanced in years. Background: Marc Antony/Herod the Great. Herod received his commission to rule from Mark Antony and the Roman senate in 40 B.C. (37BC-4BC) Zechariah the priest (Levite, Aaron?) Elizabeth a daughter of Aaron – this is highlighting the role of John a priest, one who carries God to the people and the people to God, one who ministers in the name of the Lord. The righteousness (V6) paired with the pain (V7) and the prayer (V13-17) of Zechariah/Elizabeth: Personal anguish, desire unfulfilled, Reproach of society. Sarah/Hagar (Hagar had contempt for Sarah). Rachel, Leah (child was foil to affliction). Wife of Manoah, Mother of Samson, another Nazirite connected with deliverance of God’s people, though Samson was the polar opposite of John. Hannah/Samuel (maybe read Hannah’s story, she was provoked continually and mercilessly by Penninah – Another who would precede and point others to the true, chosen, anointed King after God’s own heart … Punishment from God due to sin? Something wrong with me or something wrong with God. The pain of V7 makes the righteousness of V6 stand out all the more, the light in the darkness (V6) – “before God”, in a right relationship with God … think about your child that you’re proud of. God’s ordained wise plan to glorify Himself in and through us for our good and the good of all those who love Him. They heeded ALL the commandments and statues – they were full of obedience and didn’t slack off in any of the particulars, they didn’t just take the ones they liked and leave the ones they didn’t. It wasn’t a personally convenient, and personally defined righteousness. 8 Now while he was serving as priest before God when his division was on duty, 9 according to the custom of the priesthood, he was chosen by lot to enter the temple of the Lord and burn incense. 10 And the whole multitude of the people were praying outside at the hour of incense. 11 And there appeared to him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense. 12 And Zechariah was troubled when he saw him, and fear fell upon him.  Background: once in a lifetime, and probably not even that. (could only do it once), the apex of his personal history. This is beautiful: Primary clause: “He was chosen” … modified by: “by lot” … You have this subtle juxtaposition of the word chosen and then according to random chance. Think about their lives, their situations … You believe, you live a life of faithfulness, you suffer tragedy, extreme hardship, barrenness, and so you pray, and you pray, and the answer doesn’t come, and your belief comes to a point of crisis – your experience doesn’t line up with what you believe about God – Why God? – and so you have this tension in your life, your belief is in tension/friction/rubs up against your experience, which one wins out. Is God real, is this whole faith thing just therapy, just an opiate for the masses to keep total anarchy from taking over? If He is real, why is this happening? What is He doing, how is this a good plan, so many other better ways he could do this/glorify himself/love me. Maybe it’s just a random reality, just chance, “stuff happens”. So, your belief is still there, but it’s perhaps pushed back some, pushed down and backward into the background, and you live with the cast of the lot, stuff happens, that’s reality, that’s what’s real. You win some, you lose some, sometimes you’re the windshield, sometimes you’re the bug – and that’s life. So, was Zechariah “chosen” or was he just it just karma, just the fact that the roulette wheel keeps spinning and the ball had largely ignored him or teased him his whole life so it was just his due, just probability catching up with him, the odds being ever in his favor? In the background, people of the kind of faith/life of these two still stand on their faith and confess faith in God and make their lives still to serve His purpose, and they confess and believe this: Prov 16:33 The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the LORD. But, God enjoyed Himself thoroughly this day because He finally got to spill the beans about to this man, one of His true favorites. What beans? Some really great beans, the bean about the gift He had been storing up for them their whole lives long … and that would’ve been good enough to have a great day as God, but that’s just the smallest of tips of the largest of icebergs. It was the beginning of the spilling of the ultimate heavenly beans … He had been silent for 400 years, since Malachi spoke. And, so the gift he had stored up for this couple only serves as a miniature model of the gift he had been storing up for the whole world, the faithful sufferers who kept faith in Him that He is salvation, He is the Savior and King of Israel. The answer would come surprisingly but explicitly and unequivocally. Zechariah is not thinking of himself at this moment, but God is thinking of him. Zechariah is thinking of the multitude, the people, those praying outside and the whole of God’s people they represent – this is his job, this is what he’s called to do by God at this moment. This is what it was to burn incense, it was to enter into the presence of God in a unique special way that God himself had appointed, and the incense was the physical illustration of what was happening spiritually – the prayers of the people, carried especially by the prayer of the priest was rising up to God as a pleasant fragrance. So, he’s doing this, praying for the people. What is he praying for? Again, you just imagine Zechariah’s entire prayer life, how much of it in the early years, maybe the first 20 years of marriage, had been always dominated by the shadow of one request unanswered, but almost certainly now long forgotten, pushed back, away from the realm of hope so that it won’t have access to the realm of disappointment – not in the heart anymore. But, Zechariah did not replace that desire with corruption or cynicism or … Instead, he put his focus on God’s kingdom, an eschatological salvation that would include the hopes of him and Elizabeth, where all wrongs are made right, the salvation of the Lord (Perhaps Jesus thought of Zechariah and Elizabeth and others when he said this: And he said to them, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or wife or brothersb or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, 30who will not receive many times more in this time, and in the age to come eternal life.”) “There appeared to him an angel of the Lord” … not just “There was an angel” of the Lord, but “there appeared to him”. So, one, it’s as if to say, there always are angels, but not always apparent to us. God opened the eyes of the servant boy with Elijah (and John would be in the Spirit of Elijah) so that he could see the vast armies of the Lord surrounding them, fighting for them, and he allowed Zechariah to see the unseen, what is ordinarily unseen. So, it’s for Zechariah’s sake. But, Zechariah is scared, which is the norm for encountering heaven … the angel Gabriel who said he stands in the presence of God, like Moses when God passed by him, still shined too brightly with that derived glory that the people of Israel couldn’t look on him with their eyes. 13 But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John. 14 And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, 15 for he will be great before the Lord. And he must not drink wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother's womb. 16 And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, 17 and he will 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 for the Lord a people prepared.” And, the response of the heavenly representative here is also typical for one who is faithful to God and called by God – don’t be afraid. Why? Your prayer has been heard. The angel makes sure to call Zechariah by his name here, to make stronger the point of what is happening. The name Zechariah means “God has again remembered…” – the magnificent mercy of God to remember over and over again (cycles of judges, exile, etc) – and this time in an ultimate way. (the order of Abijah means the order of the son of God/Yahweh, Elizabeth was also the name of Aaron’s wife, and the name means “my God is the one by whom I swear OR my God is fortune). John means God has been gracious. (Zechariah’s prayers: himself and others, his salvation, his desire/fulfillment is bound up in that of others/the people). According to Malachi, God said, “Behold, I send my messenger and he will prepare the way before me. And the LORD whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming” (Mal. 3:1). He also said, “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes. And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers” (Mal. 4:5–6). 18 And Zechariah said to the angel, “How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years.” 19 And the angel answered him, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I was sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news. 20 And behold, you will be silent and unable to speak until the day that these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time.”  Zechariah looked at his age, his gray hair, his body that had lost its strength. He looked at his wife’s sterility, and he refused to accept on faith what the angel revealed would come to pass.” (John Chrysostom) Zechariah prays like an atheist, like me. Yet, the name Gabriel means “God is the hero”. And, that is shown here, Zechariah, good a man as he is, he is not the hero – even a good man can doubt, even a good man can have a lapse in judgement/faith. But, our hope does not rest on man to be the hero, but on God – He is the hero. 21 And the people were waiting for Zechariah, and they were wondering at his delay in the temple. 22 And when he came out, he was unable to speak to them, and they realized that he had seen a vision in the temple. And he kept making signs to them and remained mute. 23 And when his time of service was ended, he went to his home. The sovereignty of God here is remarkable – Zechariah’s doubt led to this sign/discipline, which then led to Zechariah’s faith and also led to the people to believe, to realize something happened in there to this man, he’s not making this up, look at his suffering and zeal. This is perhaps even humorous at this point to imagine – how do you play charades with the visitation of an angel, prophecy of a miraculous child, and what the purpose and message of that child would be? The immediate fulfillment of the angel’s prophecy has occurred. This account of Zechariah and the angel serves at least two purposes in Luke’s writing – one, Luke’s is a gospel written to provide exactly what Zechariah lacked – recognizing the certainty, stability, safety, security in the Word, purpose, power, and love of God. We read this about the angel of the Lord speaking these words to Zechariah in 4 BC, and we say, “How can he not believe this? He was given the Word of God by an angel, it was miraculous, it’s what he was praying for and he didn’t believe it when God answered.” And, so Luke says to his reader/Theophilus, in AD60 “Will you believe this, the question is put to you as it was to Zechariah, and it it confirmed by a more sure word than that of an angel, but by the very Son of God, and the miracle of the resurrection – this is more than you even imagined praying for. This is God’s ultimate and final answer. How will you respond?” And, this becomes the Holy Spirit’s Word to us in AD2020. Another aspect is the humor of believing and NOT being able to tell though it would burst forth from you if you could only talk. What about me – I’m given an even more full message of good news than Zechariah – what will I do – has my mouth been stopped, am I struck mute – what will I do with this message with MY voice? See the absurdity of silence. Luke says, “As for me, I received this, and I must give it – thus the book you hold in your hands.” 24 After these days his wife Elizabeth conceived, and for five months she kept herself hidden, saying, 25 “Thus the Lord has done for me in the days when he looked on me, to take away my reproach among people.” What the angel said is fulfilled in its time. Here is what Luke does for us – it will show us a grand picture of a storyline of Jesus’ saving work and the Gospel of this salvation going to the nations … BUT, he also doesn’t miss the trees for the forest – for the nations are composed of individuals and Luke gives us vignettes of what the God does in the story of the Gospel to heal the broken, to comfort the one who is hurting, to bring certainty to the one who needs it, to show himself faithful to the one who has remained faithful to Him despite her pain. And, Elizabeth preaches this message to herself and to us – she speaks the truth (better than her husband) “It is not random, it’s not just “stuff happens”, The LORD has done for me … these days he looked on me (he sees me) … and he vindicates me – my pain is gone, my life will count, God is my hero. The Lord is My Salvation OR My Chains Are Gone Extra: Elijah/Elisha – John/Jesus … “He must increase, I must decrease.”