Title: What were you expecting?
Text: Luke 1.5-25
MP: We need to expect God everywhere.
Intro:
Sadly, I just couldn’t find this story on the Internet, but I remember one of those “human interest” news stories from a few years back. It seems that a tourist from somewhere in Eastern Europe had flown to New York City with dreams of seeing the Washington Monument and the Capitol here in DC. Being from Europe, where frankly everything is just a lot closer together, he assumed he could take a train or some other way to “drop by” Washington on his trip.
When he asked the taxi cab driver, however, the taxi cab driver knew he had a mark. He decided to take advantage of the situation, and commiserated with the poor foreigner about the sad state of public transportation in the United States. It would be easier, he admitted, if there were train lines that connected New York and Washington, or even busses – but the only way to get to DC from NY was a taxi cab. Not knowing any better, he got in, and nearly $2000 later arrived in DC. Nearly a life’s savings not exactly swindled, but I think you’d have a hard time justifying the cabbie too.
From the foreigner’s standpoint, he had just assumed that all the stories about how expensive America was were right. Only when he approached his embassy with a sob story about his inability to get back to NY did he realize he’d been taken. America had, for better or for worse, met all of his expectations.
Christmastime is all about expectations. WalMart and Target are already reporting whether or not Christmas sales have met their sales expectations; Kids are all expectant about the new PlayStation 3 they asked for; and Adults are either in fear or anticipation of the preparations for the holiday. But, at the risk of sounding like a bad Christmas special, it’s easy to miss out on the best expectation of all – the expectation of Jesus’ incarnation.
It reminds me of a story I heard about a store in which the manager had placed a sign: “Make this season the best Christmas ever.” Underneath, somebody had penciled in the words, “Kind of hard to top the first one, no?”
Well if you feel like I do – that expectations fatigue, then this morning’s text is for you.
You see, for hundreds of years, Israel had built up an expectation. They knew the prophecies about a King – a King of Kings who was going to deliver them. But for nearly 600 years, they had simply passed from one empire to another. It was understandable – you can only wait so long before you start wondering. What am I really expecting? At what point does genuine hope become nothing but simple ritual?
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I’m calling this Advent series “Christmas Songs,” because between now and Christmas, I want to look at the songs Luke records to announce Jesus’ birth. But this first reaction is a song of a different kind – the one that can not or will not be sung – because it does not take God at his Word.
Zechariah is a priest. His name means “God remembers.” Elisabeth is his wife and her name means “My God is faithful.” To the very essence of their identities, they were supposed a couple who knew that when God makes a promise, he keeps it. So, when this priest, this leader of worship, replaces worship with doubt, that’s a problem.
You see, a failure to believe that God is going to fulfill his promise – doubt when expectation is required – is taking what you expect of people and apply it to God. Let me put that another way. Whether or not other people live up to their promises is one thing. People will fail you. But God never will. Don’t mix the two up!
In Zechariah’s case, the consequence was pretty harsh – he couldn’t speak for nearly 6 months. He was literally speechless.
It’s almost as if the angel was asking, “If you aren’t going to believe that God when he says he has heard your prayer, why did you bother asking it in the first place?”
Especially at this time of year when it’s so easy to mix up what we expect of God and what we expect of our fellow man, we must remember that God hears us when we pray. I want to suggest three implications of that for us this morning.
1. We’ve touched on the first one – Expect that God will hear you when you pray. If you’re just mouthing the words, then of course God isn’t going to answer.
Now, let me briefly just state something that I think should be obvious here. I’m not saying that just because you believe your prayer strongly somehow you have obligated God to do your will. Sometimes you’ll hear the phrase “Name it and claim it!” I’m not suggesting that – because there is a world of difference between expecting and demanding. Every Christmas, I expected gift from my parents, but trust me, I knew what I would have gotten if I demanded it.
2. The second implication of Zechariah’s story has to do with our worship. Expect that God is hearing your worship.
Between now and Christmas, I suspect you will hear a lot of Christmas songs. I suspect pretty soon they’ll either fade into the background or else they’ll drive you crazy. I actually remember a few years back an Austrian Department Store faced a workers’ strike if they didn’t turn off the Muzak at least 3 hours a day!
But no matter how familiar these things become, remember that they are offerings before God. Did you notice where Zechariah’s encounter with this angel takes place? It was in the Holy of Holies, the center of the Temple, the one place where you were supposed to expect God to always be! It was like they were at Church amazed and surprised that God would show up!
By now, you guys know how I tend to open us up in prayer. When I pray, “Lord, open our eyes so that we can see you,” it’s because I honestly believe that the Lord is always with us, everywhere we go. What is special about this hour and this place is not that it is somehow different than the rest of our lives, but rather we are different because we expect to see God here. We take the time to look for him here. That’s what church is all about.
Now, I know that we know people who say, “Oh, I don’t need church. I can find God on my own.” Well, they’re right in one sense. They could find God without a church. But it’s so much harder. One way or another if you would find God, you need to set aside time for your own sake. There’s a lot of distraction. Here we have set aside time very intentionally to turn our hearts towards him.
That’s worship. Frankly, I need you guys to keep me in the Scriptures sometimes. It’s nice to know that if I slack off in reading this book, you guys will call me on it. I’m here to encourage you to get into this book too. That’s one way in which we can and should be church, expecting God to be faithful to his word.
3. Finally, we need to expect that God is coming back soon.
Too often, we think that the only time God ever intervened in human history is back in Bible days. We forget that ‘Bible days’ covers nearly 4000 years. Sometimes we also forget that Jesus is telling us he’s coming back – and soon. The question is, will we be ready when he returns?
We’re supposed to be living in expectation of our Lord’s return to see the end of days, right? But let me ask you, which one of these statements are you more likely to say: “It could be today!” or “People have been saying it’s the end for nearly 2000 years.”
Peter reminds us that God is not slow in keeping his promises as some understand slowness to be. Keep a watch out; Don’t lose heart. Remember that a thousand years is with him as a day, and a day is as a thousand years. [Reminds me of the kid who prayed, “Lord, is it true that a million dollars is like a penny to you? Can I have a penny?” Sure, the Lord says, just give me a day.]
I’m looking forward to the day when Jesus Christ comes back on a white stallion leading the charge into battle and taking those of us who believe with him. I know it’s going to happen. But, as Mark Twain once said, “A thing long expected takes the form of the unexpected when at last it comes.”
Those of us who read the Word understand that Jesus comes to us every day, too. In the homeless, the hungry, the broken hearted. Our simple acts of ministry – that word literally means ‘serving’– is worship that can never be taken lightly.
We pay lip service to the idea of incarnation – that God is with us “Immanuel.” But we must remember that God is with us 365 days a year. That’s what he expects.
That guy who got taken by the cab driver? His expectations of America hurt him, but he didn’t count on one other thing – the generosity of Americans. When the story made the headlines, donations poured in, and several mayors paid for the man to see “the real America.” People pitched in to show that while there are bad apples in our midst, we try to look out for each other too. We know that Jesus is watching and waiting.
Expect that. Ain’t no doubt.
Would you pray with me?
Cab Driver & the foreigner
Implications of Expectation
Expect that God will hear you when you pray.
Expect that God is hearing your worship.
Expect that God is coming back soon.
Mark Twain:
A thing long expected takes the form of the unexpected when at last it comes.
Expectations are hard thing. Especially as we enter into a time of preparation for Christmas, there is this mixture of anticipation and dread. We know that we are supposed to eagerly await Christmas, but let’s face it, is this year really going to be any different.
I know when we read the Nativity stories around this time of year, we know we’re supposed to put on this happy face, this “O let’s get into the Christmas spirit” frame of mind, but I want to suggest to you there is a lesson this morning if we’ll let the story speak for itself.
Just to give you a head’s up, between now and Christmas, we’ll be looking at the songs which greeted our Lord’s birth in Luke 1 & 2. But, I need to start where Luke does, with the birth of John the Baptist.
His mom & dad were a pair named Zechariah and Elisabeth and the Scripture tells us they were good people. Zechariah was a priest. Once a year…
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Long Branch Baptist Church
Halfway, Virginia; est. 1786
Sunday, December 3rd, 2006
Enter to Worship
Prelude the Birthday Boy
Meditation Psalm 50
Invocation
*Opening Hymn #78
“O Come, O Come Emmanuel”
Welcome & Announcements
Morning Prayer [See Insert]
*Hymn [See Insert]
“Sing We Now of Christmas”
*Advent Litany [See Right]
*Hymns of Christmas (3 – 1st stanzas only)
Offertory Mr. Witt
*Doxology
Praise God from whom all blessings flow / Praise Him all creatures here below
Praise him above, ye heavenly host / Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Amen.
*Scripture Luke 1:5-25
Sermon
“What were you expecting?”
Invitation Hymn #79
“Come Thou Long Expected Jesus”
*Benediction
*Congregational Response
May the grace of Christ of Savior / And the Father’s boundless love
With the Holy Spirit’s favor / Rest upon us from above. Amen.
* Congregation, please stand.
Depart To Serve
Advent Litany
Light and peace to you through our Lord Jesus Christ!
Grace and peace be unto you!
Why do we light this candle?
We come together eagerly expecting the birth of our Lord.
He is Light, in him there is no darkness.
We light this candle to tell the world that he is coming. And when he comes, all will be revealed. He is Light from Light, God from God, firstborn of all creation. We worship him and eagerly anticipate his return.
V The Candle of Prophecy is Lit
The Lord delivered this to us long ago:
See, I am sending my messenger to prepare the way before me, and the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple. The messenger of the covenant in whom you delight—indeed, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears?
For he is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap; he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the descendants of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, until they present offerings to the Lord in righteousness. Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord as in the days of old and as in former years.
All praise to our God, the revealer of mysteries, the healer of the nations. What he has declared clean is clean indeed!
Morning Prayer
Our King and Savior draws nigh: O come, let us adore him. Merciful God, who sent your messengers the prophets to preach repentance and prepare the way for our salvation: Give us grace to heed their warnings and forsake our sins, that we may greet with joy the coming of Jesus Christ our Redeemer.
V Pray for forgiveness of your sin
Immanuel. You, O God are with us.
Lord, we know your bountiful provision, and we thank you for it. We thank you for health, we thank you for safety, we thank you for shelter, we thank you for our families, and the family that you have adopted us into. We thank you that we have had the chance to serve you this year, and pray you would continually call us to you. Lord, for those for whom it has gotten more difficult, we praise you but ask you to bring to healing and sustain to Cory, Warren, Susan, Martha, Irene, Lee, Mark, and these too we pray.
V Pray for your neighbors
Immanuel. You, O God are with us.
Lord, we ask that you would show us your leading in our land, in our community, and in our hearts. Be the God who is with us in the halls of our government. Guide, inform, and call to justice our President, our Governor, our Court, our Congress, and our employers. Bless our work and let it be worthy of you. Bless those whom we serve, and bless those who serve us, in the shopping malls and the restaurants and wherever we walk. Guide our Church, we pray, and lead us in the way you would go.
V Pray for your country and church
Immanuel. You, O God are with us.
Lord be with us even in our worship. Place your hope in hearts and teach us to see you as we pray: Our Father …
Announcements
It’s not too late to see David & Susan – 12/3 3pm @ Emmanuel
Don’t forget! Saturday 12/9 6pm at Long Branch – Annual Dinner and Gift Card Exchange.
