Sermon Title: Christmas is Pregnant with Promise Sermon Text: Luke 1:5-25, 57-80 December 13, 2009 Introduction: Today we take another step in the story of Christmas as the Bible lays it out for us. I am calling this series the Voices of Christmas. So far, we have listened to the voice of the Prophet Isaiah who looked forward to Christmas announcing in advance the HOPE that would be realized at Christmas. The HOPE Isaiah announced 700 years before its fulfillment was so sure that his prophecy was delivered in the past tense. The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death, a light has dawned. Life disconnected from God and in resistance of God is lived in spiritual darkness, distressing and absent of hope; Nevertheless, God declares that there is reason for hope he will provide light. It doesn t matter the size or complexity of the challenges you face in your life. It may feel overwhelming and hopeless; Nevertheless, God promises light insight, help. With God we always have hope! Last week we listened to the voice of Mary. Mary s journey from anxiety to acceptance to adoration taught us that we can make that same journey when we face completely unexpected challenges in life. Though we may start out being greatly troubled as Mary was, we can move from anxiety to acceptance of God s way to adoration. This is no call for the power of positive thinking. This is a call to trust in God s FAITHFULNESS. He has been faithful in the past. He has never once been unfaithful. And he always remembers to be merciful. He does not change so you can trust him to be faithful today. Today, we have just listened to the voices of Zechariah and Elizabeth. And the message that gets repeated throughout their experience in the Christmas story is the message I want to ring in our ears this week as we continue to ready ourselves for a soul engaging celebration of Christmas. The main idea to is: Christmas is pregnant with PROMISE. And I submit to you that Christmas wasn t just pregnant with promise for those who looked forward to it originally or who were a part of that first Christmas. Christmas is pregnant with promise for you and for me today. Now, for Children, young and old, certainly Christmas is pregnant with promise because there is the excitement and anticipation over the presents that will be given or the presents that will be received. There s the promise of toys and no clothes for the younger ones and the promise of clothes and no toys for the older ones. There is the promise of gadgets for Dad and the thoughtful, practical gifts for mom. Few of the most popular gifts for this year..[pictures] But at some point in our lives, the promise of Christmas on that surface level runs its course. It no longer sustains our motivation for celebration. We need a deeper meaning. We need something more substantive, more soul engaging. At some point each of us feels the need to
look deeper into the real, life-orienting promise of Christmas. What s at the core of it? What lasting memorable response is contained in Christmas? Today Zechariah and Elizabeth actually reveal a cluster of promises in that first Christmas that give way to the fulfillment of God s greatest promise of Christmas. The first promise revealed to Zechariah and Elizabeth was a son promised to them. A son is promised to Zechariah and Elizabeth (Luke 1:5-25) The story of this promised son to Zechariah and Elizabeth runs parallel to and in confirmation of the promised son to Mary and Joseph which we looked at last week. The promised son John was a different kind of miracle than the promised son Jesus, but a miracle nonetheless. Let s just say, Zechariah had lost his fire. And on top of that, Elizabeth had been barren for years. Now God says, Guess what? You re going to be parents. Can you imagine the buzz around the seniors ministry social in their day? Elizabeth and Zechariah are pregnant at this point in their lives? What are they thinking? I m glad I m not them. Or maybe, just shoot me. But, in that day to be pregnant was a tangible and visible confirmation of the blessing of God in your life. To be barren was a huge curse which brought on all sorts of ridicule. To be barren brought on all sorts of disgraceful feelings and feelings of worthlessness. God was judging you for something. If you were barren you only fit in on the island of misfit toys. You were broken, you didn t work; you couldn t do what you were created to do. Your purpose in life was completely frustrated. Getting pregnant, having offspring and carrying on the family name was hopeless for Zech and Lizzy from the human perspective; nevertheless God promises to make the impossible, possible! Folks, don t forget; that s the grand and hope-filled truth we learned from the voice of the prophet Isaiah a few weeks ago. The promise of a son given by the angel seems so farfetched that Zechariah does the faith stutter step and asks for a sign. God says, Here s you sign and Zechariah takes a forced vow of silence. But, I imagine Zechariah had some of the most intimate communion with God during that season of silence because it declared loud and clear to Zechariah that God was on the move, fulfilling his promise. I imagine Zechariah rehearsed the angel s words in his mind a hundred times a day. His name is to be John which literally means, Jehovah is a gracious giver. He will bring joy and delight to you and many others. He will be great in the sight of the Lord. He ll be filled with the H.S. from birth. He ll bring many Jewish people back to God and I bet the one that stood out to Zechariah the most was this one he ll go before the Lord in spirit and power of Elijah. In other words, his life s purpose will be to prepare the people of Israel for the coming Messiah. He will be the promised prophet who prepares they way for the Christ (Mal 4:5-6, Mt 11:14, Isa 40:3-5). I imagine that Zechariah incubated and cherished these descriptions given to him about his promised son, because they indicated that God was not simply on the move fulfilling his promise to Zechariah and his bride. These descriptions pointed to a much more profound, long-awaited
promise being fulfilled. These descriptions indicated that God was on the move fulfilling his greatest promise ever, given to all peoples and spoken of by the prophets for generations. Verse 25 tells us Elizabeth cherished this promised son in her heart as well. God s grace had removed Elizabeth s very public disgrace. Again, God remembered! He remembered to be merciful to her, removing her shame, even after she had probably given up all hope. Her praise would prove to be the praise of many as their hearts were filled with awe, recognizing that the fulfillment of this promise meant the fulfillment of a God s grander promise. Read Luke 1:57-66 The promised son is born to Zechariah and Elizabeth (Luke 1:57-66) Nine months later just as the angel promised, on the day John was born, Elizabeth names him and Zechariah gives written agreement, astonishing everyone, and his season of silence is broken. He praised God! John s birth brought joy and delight, just as the angel promised. The neighbors were filled with awe and the entire region was a buzz about this promise fulfilled by God. Everyone s curiosity was peaked now. God s hand was on this little miracle baby. God was on the move. They all wondered, What then is the child going to be? Zechariah had been silently reflecting on all this for 9 months. His wife was pregnant with his son, and Zechariah was pregnant with understanding about what all this meant. And now his song is born, his prophecy about what all this means is given. Zechariah praises God for the grander significance of this promised son. Read again verses 67-79. God s greatest promise to us is fulfilled at Christmas (Luke 1:67-80) Notice, Zechariah praises God for his promised son, but he clearly understands that his son is only the forerunner of another, more significant promised son. Zechariah had waited 9 months for his promised son to arrive but John is only the promised son who puts everyone on notice that a greater promised son is on the way. Zechariah s voice declares that God s greatest promise to us is fulfilled at Christmas. He alerts us to the truth that this is a promised son that has been gestating for generations and promised through the prophets of long ago. The Promise Whispered: Genesis 3:1-19 The moment sin shattered the close connection God had with humankind, he made a suitable covering to cover their sin and shame. The reason for the promised son coming into this world is the mercy of God in response to our sin. Sin is the problem. The promised son is the ultimate and the eternally effective solution. The Promise Promised: Genesis 12:1-3 God made a covenant with Abraham and promised that all peoples of the earth will be blessed through him. His physical offspring (the promised son) will produce spiritual offspring from all peoples on earth through faith in him.
The Promise Foreshadowed: Genesis 22:1-19 - Abraham's almost-sacrifice of Isaac showed that God s promised son at Christmas is born out of his loving heart, would come through the birth of a son to a barren woman, would required sacrifice, and offered a blessing to the whole world. The Promise Modeled: Exodus 12 The angel of death passing over those who sought refuge behind the blood of the lamb on the doorpost of their homes in Egypt modeled the refuge promised behind the blood of Jesus born at Christmas; the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world The Promise Proclaimed: Isaiah 9:1 7 - The promise of Christmas is a child born for us, a Son given to us. He is the light of God who comes to shine into your life enabling you to break free from sin and serve the living God. The Promise Proclaimed: Isaiah 11:1-9 - The Promised son of Christmas will ultimately restore a peaceful rest to all of creation and rule over it with unparalleled Godly leadership. The only hope you and I have of ever seeing the injustices in our world sufficiently punished and completely resolved is through the rule and reign of Jesus, the Promise of Christmas. The son born at Christmas, Jesus, the Promised Messiah: Matthew 1:21, She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins. John 1:1-18 - The Promise of Christmas is revealed in Jesus the eternal Son of God, the Word made flesh.
Conclusion: You see when you stop long enough to think about it, Christmas is pregnant with promise on so many levels. Sometimes in our culture it is easy to raise skeptical eye toward promises. We ve had so many promises go un-kept in our lives. Politicians make promise they don t keep. Employers, employees make promise they don t keep. Manufacturers and retailers make promise they don t keep. I wonder if we ve lost the power of promises. We all know that promises are only as promising as the dependability of the promiser. Promises to be on time made by someone habitually late mean nothing to us. But, promises made by a dependable person who is a person of their word. That means something. It is estimated that God makes over 3000 promises in the Bible. There were over 300 promises or prophecies made regarding the Messiah and Jesus fulfilled every last one of them. 2 Corinthians 1:19-20, 19For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by me and Silas[a] and Timothy, was not "Yes" and "No," but in him it has always been "Yes." 20For no matter how many promises God has made, they are "Yes" in Christ. And so through him the "Amen" is spoken by us to the glory of God. Joshua 23:14, You know with all your heart and soul that not one of all the good promises the LORD your God gave you has failed. Every promise has been fulfilled; not one has failed. I submit to you what was true in the promise for Elizabeth, is true for us. The birth of the promised son Jesus at Christmas means that God s grace has taken away our disgrace. You and I are powerless to reverse the effects of sin in our lives. We can t be good enough for God. We can t erase the things we ve done in the past. We can t be perfect people. Try as we might to be good people, we blow it. But, God s grace can take away our disgrace. How does that happen? When you and I surrender our lives to Jesus, he comes in and reverses the effects of sin. He forgives our sin and cleanses our conscience. He applies his righteousness to our lives making us fit for close connection with God and qualifying us for heaven. This is why the birth of Jesus was the fulfillment of the greatest promise God ever made: to provide a savior who can save us from the consequences of our sin. God s grace takes away our disgrace. Elizabeth s neighbors celebrated the promise of Christmas and it ought to be our celebration as well. Her neighbors and family declared that the birth of the promised son is God showing us his great and tender mercy. Were it not for God s grace and mercy we would be left to our own demise. The coming of Jesus at Christmas is God going way out of his way to extend to us in our helpless condition, demonstrate his love for us in a tangible way and remembering to be merciful. Born out of his mercy he brings his power and strength and all the resources of heaven to bear on your life right now. The promise of Christmas is for you today. It s for you in every battle and struggle you face. Zechariah captures it perfectly in his song: The birth of Jesus is God remembering his holy covenant to rescue us and forgive our sins enabling us to serve him in holiness and righteousness all our days. Plain and simple, that s the promise of Christmas that s worth celebrating year after year. Don t settle for the shallow celebration of Christmas. Ask God to
open your eyes to the core of Christmas which is pregnant with promise for our lives today and our lives in eternity.