Be Ready .... To Re-Enlist Series

Scripture: Luke 1:5-25; 39-45

Theme: Be Ready …. To Re-Enlist

Title: Elizabeth – A Woman of Grace

INTRO:

Grace and peace from God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit!

This month we have been looking at God Encounters with the theme of “BE READY …”.

-Be ready for God to do something amazing and unheard of in our life time.

-Be ready to be a part of God’s Plan of Salvation.

-Be ready for God to call people we would never have thought possible.

So far, we have looked at how God encountered Zachariah and Mary. Both were people who were on the outside very normal people. Zachariah of course, was a priest who had faithfully been doing his duty for the past 30+ years or more, Mary was a young lady who was anticipating the day of her wedding. Mary was just another Jewish maiden who was looking forward to a new life with her fiancé in the land of Israel.

Today, our story does not involve an encounter any with angels or dreams or visions. What we do encounter is a woman who had a miracle happen in her life and who allowed the Holy Spirit to move her. In fact, it could be said that the Holy Spirit kicked her. She is of course is the elder cousin of Mary called Elizabeth.

Her story is without a great deal of fanfare. For the past 30+ years she has faithfully been the wife of Zachariah. She has been a wife that he loved dearly. Zachariah and Elizabeth lived at a time when a man could divorce his wife for being barren; for being unable to have a child.

That may be a difficult concept for us to understand this morning. But at the time of our story, it was felt that any woman who could not bear a child must have something wrong with her soul and spirit. And therefore, if a man chooses to divorce her it wasn’t frowned upon. Israel was always in need of new priests and if Elizabeth could not have a child then Zachariah had “Temple permission” to put her to the side and get a younger woman who could bear a child.

Again, it might be hard for us to grasp such ideas but nonetheless that was the prevalent attitude of the day. One of the reasons why over the years this couple has become Bible favorites is the immense love they displayed for one another. Zachariah believed that marriage was a lifelong covenant. He believed that God had brought him and Elizabeth together.

Yes – Elizabeth was barren.

No – Zachariah was not going to divorce Elizabeth.

No – Zachariah was not going to replace Elizabeth.

They both believed in God’s mandate - one man and one woman – married until death do them part.

With that in mind let’s take a few moments to look at Elizabeth’s God encounters and how they reveal to us more about the LORD GOD ALMIGHTY, the Good God of Creation and Our Relationship to the LORD OUR GOD. Let’s look at how the Holy Spirit showed Elizabeth how she had to Be Ready …

I. Be ready … for God To Re-Enlist You

Have you ever had a day you felt useless?

Have you ever had a day or two that you began to feel your age?

Have you ever had a day or two that you felt completely worn out?

Have you ever had a day or two that you felt that you were no good for yourself or for anyone else?

Have you ever wondered why God has kept you around?

Well, we can all have such days whether we are 10, 20, 70 or 80+ years of age.

I am sure Elizabeth felt that way. She felt like a dead old stick. She felt like she was only good for keeping house, washing the clothes and fixing the meals.

While all the other priests’ wives had stories to tell of their children and grandchildren, Elizabeth could only stay quiet. When she went to synagogue and saw all the mothers taking care of their little ones she could only watch or hope that someone would ask her to help them.

And then came the day that Zachariah came home with the strangest of stories. He couldn’t talk so he had to write everything down. He wrote that while he was at the Temple the angel Gabriel had appeared and had told him that he and Elizabeth were going to have a baby.

Hmm… What some men will do to have a little loving time with their wives.

It had to make her laugh. She had never heard that line before – “I need to sleep with you because an angel from the very presence of God commanded it. God wants to give us old people a baby.”