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LUKE SERIES: CHAPTER 1- LITTLE PEOPLE; BIG MOVES INTRODUCTION An invitation over the next year to try a new routine- “Hear and read”
The first chapter of Luke is like the setting up of a chess game. God is moving; He’s putting all the pieces in place. John the Baptist is about to be born. He’ll make way for the Messiah. And a few months behind him, the Messiah will come. God is about to make some big moves that no human being on earth realizes yet. -But He’s about to let a few key people in on it.
Question: What does it look like when God moves? If God were about to move in a big way in here; what might we expect? -One reliable way to know, is to look at His movement in the past? Luke 1 5. My story begins with a Jewish priest, Zacharias, who lived when Herod was king of Judea. Zacharias was a member of the Abijah division of the Temple service corps. (His wife Elizabeth was, like himself, a member of the priest tribe of the Jews, a descendant of Aaron.) 6. Zacharias and Elizabeth were godly folk, careful to obey all of God's laws in spirit as well as in letter.
The story of John and Jesus is the story of Zacharias and Elizabeth; and Mary and Joseph. When we look at their lives, the first thing we learn is this: God moves when God moves. He can’t be manipulated, rushed or slowed down. And often, even those close to Him have no idea what He’s about to do.
A LITTLE BACKGROUND ON ZACHARIAS Every son of the Levites was a priest by default. By the time of Jesus’ birth, 36 generations had passed since the days of Aaron and Moses. Needless to say, there were a lot of priests; about 24000 to be exact. And all the priests were divided into 24 sections for ministry in the temple. The math is easy enough; there were 1000 priests to each division.
Each week, a different division was privileged to burn incense and lead the morning and evening service. Since they didn’t need a thousand priests to do this, the section would draw lots to see who served. It was a tremendous highlight in a priest’s life. Some would go their entire lives without ever having served.
Zacharias drew the lot. So the story begins at the highlight of Zacharias’ career. But God’s move is yet to come.
Question: What kind of people does God use when He moves in big ways? Zacharias is our example today, so what do we know about him?
So, the big day arrives and Zacharias gets to serve. How does it go? 11. Zacharias was in the sanctuary when suddenly an angel appeared, standing to the right of the altar of incense! Zacharias was startled and terrified. 13. But the angel said, ``Don't be afraid, Zacharias! For I have come to tell you that God has heard your prayer, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son! And you are to name him John. … 17. He will be a man of rugged spirit and power like Elijah, the prophet of old; and he will precede the coming of the Messiah, preparing the people for his arrival. He will soften adult hearts to become like little children's, and will change disobedient minds to the wisdom of faith.''
Zacharias is a faithful, Godly man. God is answering his most urgent prayer. The one he’s prayed all his adult life. So how does he respond? 18. Zacharias said to the angel, ``But this is impossible! I'm an old man now, and my wife is also well along in years.''
Here’s how it worked for Zacharias: His lifestyle and his prayer converged with God’s great plan and the result was a huge miracle in his life. That’s great! But his response isn’t quite what we’d expect. Instead of rejoicing, he was frightened, confused, and in denial- when God answers.
But, we shouldn’t beat up on poor old Zacharias, because he represents the best of us. He was chosen by God because his character and life were saturated with God. And yet, here he stumbles when God moves.
We’re happy when God does human-sized things; things we’d expect. It’s Ok when God blesses us with a sunny day to come to church. But when God moves in God-sized ways, it scares the pants off us!
What if He wanted to use us to start a sister church, or a school, or reach our entire community, or revolutionize the Christian approach to the world? That would make us very nervous. …But you know what; it’s Ok to be scared.
God didn’t drop Zacharias from His plans because he was frightened. Luke 1:26-38 documents Mary going through the same kind of event. When she is told she would give birth to the Christ, she was scared. Being scared is allowed. It’s even wise.
Well, if it’s Ok to be frightened, where did Zacharias go wrong? 19. Then the angel said, ``I am Gabriel! I stand in the very presence of God. It was he who sent me to you with this good news! 20. And now, because you haven't believed me, you are to be stricken silent, unable to speak until the child is born. For my words will certainly come true at the proper time.''
When Zacharias was given the greatest news in the world to that day, ironically, he’s bound up in silence. Compare that to Mary. When Mary was blessed, her news inspired a historic piece of poetry. Luke 1:46 to 56 is known as Mary’s Song, and it has been read by countless people around the world for 2000 years. –Why the difference?
Both Zacharias and Mary were confused and frightened. But only Zacharias was convinced in his heart, and communicated to God: it was impossible for God to move in this way.
Given a great news but struck silent; is a weird situation! (Imagine Zacharias’s hand motions when he came out of the Holy of Holies!) …But isn’t it much like our churches today; even here? This church has been blessed in profound ways. God has changed lives here. He has healed here. We’ve even heard testimonies of miracles. And yet, we still struggle with sharing the news out there. Thankfully, there’s a positive momentum; but still, it propels us outside our comfort zone- why is this that?
Somehow, Mary quickly grasped it wasn’t about her. God was about to do something that was much bigger than her… bigger than her life, bigger than her ambitions, bigger than her understanding. But check out her response: 38. Mary said, ``I am the Lord's servant, and I am willing to do whatever he wants. May everything you said come true.'' And then the angel disappeared. Mary was about to conceive a child outside of marriage. That’s some commitment in a culture that enforced the death penalty for adultery!
We might say the big difference between Mary and Zacharias (or us) was God-given blind faith. But personally, I can’t go along with that. Nothing in Scripture convinces me that we are endowed with a mindless instinct to follow God; or we are not.
I would say it is faith, as the result of TRUST. People will do some amazing things when they trust. The average person will voluntarily go into a big metal can and allow themselves to be lifted up to 30,000 feet. Why? -Because we trust the aviation industry. We will go to sleep while a person with a very sharp knife is waiting to cut us. Why? -Because we trust the medical profession.
Question: What makes us trust? …Trust in anyone or anything… For some, previous experience is the key. Or, it might be intimate connection. For others, it may be reason that is seasoned with years of reflection.
I’m not here this morning to tell you how to trust. You have your own mind. You know what makes you tick. I am here simply to share this principle- we all must trust.
To experience the movement of God in ways so huge, they are frightening and exciting at the same time- we must be able to trust God.
This week; read through this chapter. Think it out for yourself. It is when we learn the power of trust; we experience the movement of God.
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