1 THE JOURNEY LEAVING SELF LUKE 1:26-38 NOVEMBER 29, 2015 FIRST SUNDAY IN ADVENT How many of you traveled to be with family for Thanksgiving? How many of you had family travel to be with you? And a bunch of people are still traveling on the road today. We made the journey to Denver to have Thanksgiving with Jill s family for the first time in years. It was a good and enjoyable visit. And we had a beautiful snowy Thanksgiving. (photo) I loved it. Of course, that meant our driving back to Texas on Friday started at 15 degrees and looked like this. (photo of snow-packed road with snow falling) As we traveled south through Monument we hit minus 1 degree, ice and snow everywhere. Jill had checked online and discovered there was black ice all around Amarillo and Lubbock, so we decided we d stay west of that and travel through New Mexico, through Roswell and Carlsbad. And I m glad we did, because this is what the roads there were like. (photo of more snow-packed road with snow falling) But as we slowly traveled south things changed, and it looked like this. (photo of more snow-packed road with snow falling) Finally we crossed the border into Texas and approached Pecos. 37 degrees and no more snow. By then, it was dark and raining all the way to San Antonio. We left Texas to go to Colorado and Jill s family. And we left the comfort and warmth of her sisters home to return to Texas. Every journey to some place new means leaving behind the old. And that can make it difficult, costly, even painful. And it may cause us to hesitate. As we begin our journey toward Christmas on this first Sunday in Advent, we smile at the decorations going up, we hit the gift shopping circuit (some with joy, others not so much), and children feel the excitement begin to build. But the realities of the first Christmas journey was fraught with difficulty, cost, and pain. It began with a young woman named Mary. She may have been around 16 years old. She was engaged to Joseph and looking forward to their wedding day. And then. LUKE 1:26-38 When we put this in a church play, we pick a pretty young Mary. We dress her in a nice, clean robe. We have her stand with her hands together as if in prayer, a devout virginal saint. She s honored to be chosen for such a wonderful task, excited about her role in what God is doing. A halo shines around her head.
Then there s the reality. She s only sixteen or so, not yet married, shocked, scared. The text of Luke doesn t tell us everything she felt or thought, but if she s real flesh and blood it s not hard to fill in the blanks. Whaaaa? A baby? But I m not married. I ve never been with a man. I ve tried to honor God by doing things in the right order, HIS order: Get married first, THEN on to other things. If I do this, who s going to believe I m still a virgin? That I didn t sleep with Joseph? Or someone else? If I do this, what will Joseph think? He ll KNOW the baby s not his. Will he still marry me? Why would he? He ll think I ve been unfaithful to him. What will the neighbors think? I ll be slut-shamed! I can hear it now: I guess true love DIDN T wait! If this is what it means to be favored by God, no thank you. To do what the angel was asking of her, what God was asking of her, would cost her dearly. How could God ask such a thing of her? Didn t God want her to be happy? But somehow Mary made the journey from fear to yes. She had to know the cost of this, the loss of her reputation, the possible loss of her future marriage, the moral shadow that would be over her, over Joseph, over their child. And yet she ended up saying, Yes. I am the Lord s servant. Let it be to me as you have said. Perhaps she was persuaded by the importance of what this baby would mean. The angel Gabriel said he would be named Jesus, which means Yahweh saves. But there had been other children named Jesus. Even back in the old days there was Joshua, which was the Hebrew form of the name Jesus. But it was a great name, so meaningful. Gabriel also said he would be called Son of the Most High. Now, that was something special. It was a title that had been given to the kings of Israel back in the old days. It was a title that was sometimes attached to the hoped-for messiah, the one who would come bringing God s salvation, 2
whatever that might look like. And the things Gabriel said connected with those hopes for messiah perfectly. God would give him the throne of King David. The throne. The kingdom. David had been a great warrior king who defeated all the enemies of Israel and inaugurated a time of peace and prosperity, the good old days. All those hopes for messiah No more fearing the sound of Roman boots tramping up the road. No more taxes extorted to pay for the hated occupation. No more compromising with those pagan gentiles just to survive. No more fear, no more hiding, no more tears. Ah, to be free again, prosperous, unafraid, blessed by God as his unique and chosen people. Those hopes had been around for generations. And they had been disappointed time and time again. But think of it. This child could be the one. The one who finally brings all those hopes to fulfillment. Maybe the fulfillment of that hope was bigger than Mary s concerns for herself. Maybe it was the dying ember of that hope being fanned into flame that caused her to leave herself behind and make the journey to Yes. Or perhaps she was persuaded simply because it was God who was doing the asking. After all, Mary would know that, God alone is God, and I m not him. All those things we say we believe about God, that he s the Creator of all things, that he sustains all things day by day, that he is the one and only savior, that he is King and Lord of the universe. It all means God is the one in charge of our lives and of all creation. So if he says, Do that, we ought to DO it. Not negotiate, not dicker and bargain, not even hesitate, but just do it. Maybe that was in Mary s head and heart. Simply faithful obedience to God. Maybe God s goal was not to make Mary happy, but to make her holy, faithful, obedient, and useful in his kingdom work. Could it be that straightforward? That she gave up her self simply because it was God? Is it ever that straightforward in your life? I d like to think that when I get a command from God, I m faithfully obedient. I know sometimes I am. Sometimes, though, I hesitate. Like when God called me to pastoral ministry, and I was just sure he d gotten a wrong number on that call. Actually, what I was sure of was: Pastoral ministry was not on my radar screen, not even a little bit. 3
I d never taught a Sunday school class. I was scared to death of the very idea of public speaking. I had no idea what was involved. It actually took a couple of months of arguing with God before I was finally persuaded this really was what God wanted for me and from me. Have you ever sensed God s leading in your life, and you pulled back because you were pretty sure you weren t up to it? A call to serve in hands-on ministry, paid or volunteer, a call to give sacrificially, a call to rearrange your life in some significant way? And you felt you were not capable of doing what he called you to do? The short answer is this: God does not call you to do something unless he also equips you to do it. But you won t know you are equipped until you step out in faith. Sometimes, though, I hear what might be God s call, but I m just not sure it s really God. I don t know about you, but there are more voices in my head than just the voice of God. Don t look at me that way. I know it s true of you, too. Voices that say, Ignore your critics. You re right. Forge ahead. Voices that say, Go ahead. You deserve a break today. Voices that say, Take the easy route. Voices that say, That would be nice. Voices that say, Don t risk too much. The voice that says, Boy, if I could only have that. And the voices that says, What s for lunch? Oh! The preacher s still talking. You ve got those voices, too. Voices that may express fear or doubt, a desire for pleasure or the avoidance of pain, the avoidance of conflict, the desire to please others. Voices that want to do good things. Voices that want to be recognized for doing those good things. A voice that want to love on your kid and a voice that wants to strangle them. A voice that wants to give a lavish gift and another voice that reminds you of your budget. And sometimes it s hard to sort through all that conversation to determine which voice is the voice of God. I d love for it to always be as clear as the angel Gabriel showing up and speaking to me, telling me where to go and what to do, like a voice on my map app. But often it s not like that. It takes time to learn to discern the voice of God from among the many voices. We have to get more acquainted with the Scriptures, because God will not contradict himself. There was a man who was sure God is leading him to a relationship with woman who was not his wife. He was badly mistaken. 4
The Bible is abundantly clear about how God feels about adultery and divorce. And even when a relationship is going through the doldrums, when it s mostly arguments and disagreements, when you re feeling neglected, even when you really don t like that other person, God does not surrender the ideal of lifelong commitment and faithfulness in marriage. The voice of God will not say, Go ahead, you deserve some happiness. The voice of God will be in unison with the Bible to say, Work at it. Love more deeply. Forgive more completely. Serve more selflessly. Get to know the Bible better, and know that God s voice will be in line with what he has revealed there. We have to spend regular time in prayer, talking to God and listening for God, so God s voice becomes more familiar to you. It s like when you re at a party, with lots of people talking, but you can pick out and hear the voice of your best friend, your husband or wife, because you ve spent so much time together over the years. Oh, it s not that you ll hear an audible voice as you pray and listen. But there will sometimes be small nudges, impressions, ideas that come into your mind. And with time, with practice at listening, that becomes more regular and more clearly God. More time in the Bible, more time in prayer. And, finally, it can be helpful to test what you think is the voice of God by sharing it with other believers who are spiritually growing. The wisdom found in the body of Christ can be very helpful in confirming a word from God, modifying it, or, when need be, putting on the brakes. Sometimes it s not easy to discern which voice in your head is really the voice of God. But sometimes, to be truthful, we hear God s call, we know it s God s call, but it just seems too hard, too much to ask, too much for us to give. This is where it becomes a real test of faith. Not faith in terms of praying a prayer for salvation, reciting a creed, or doing church stuff, but faith in terms of really trusting God enough that we obey God. When I ponder Mary s story, this is where I land. God asked so much of her, an incredible sacrifice. I would certainly understand why she might say, No thanks. But she didn t say that. She said, I am the Lord s servant. SERVANT. May it be to me as you have said. She essentially died to herself, to the future she had planned, to the good reputation she had, to the man she would marry. 5
6 She left herself out of the equation, Lord, I m just your servant. It s all about you. So I ll do what you want. Which sounds a lot like what Jesus calls US to. Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for my sake will save it. That s where Mary s journey toward Christmas began. Is it where yours begins? (Lk.9:23-24) SERMON NOTES: Mary s story Luke 1:26-38 Challenges in answering God s call: 1. Because I don t think I m capable of fulfilling his call. Answer: 2. Because I m not sure it s really the voice of God. Answer: 3. Because I think it s too much to ask of me. Answer: (Lk.9:23-24)