Christmas Series: The Gifts of Christmas
Title: The Impossible Gift
Text: Luke 1:5-38
Purpose: Dealing with the impossible situations in life
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Introduction
Question: What is the Impossible Gift?
- Is it someone who’s impossible to buy for?
- Is it a gift that seems impossible to wrap?
- Is it a toy that’s impossible to find?
It may be all three of these, if we’re just talking about Christmas and the things we need to get done.
Question: But what if the impossible gift was something more?
- An impossible situation you’ve been praying for?
- An impossible relationship that seems to be broken?
- An impossible financial situation that seems out of control?
- An impossible request or burden from God that seems unanswerable or unattainable?
Then what do we do?
Have you ever found yourself in a position like that?
TEXT: Luke 1:5-38 (emph. V. 37)
It’s the story of Zechariah and Elizabeth, and Mary. Two situations at the opposite ends of life. One barren and old, (1:7) and the other a young virgin. (1:27)
What could possibly happen to make the impossible possible?
Story #1: Zechariah and Elizabeth (1:5-25)
PERSON: Elizabeth
1. Husband: Zechariah
a. Member of the priestly order of Abijah (v.5)
b. Elizabeth: priestly order of Aaron
2. They were righteous in God’s eyes, carful to obey all of his commands. V. 6
3. They had no children because Elizabeth was barren and now old.
PLACE: Zechariah was serving in the Temple: v. 8
- It was his orders’ turn to serve that week
PRONOUNCEMENT: An angel of the Lord appeared. V.11
a. Zechariah was overwhelmed with fear
b. But the angel said, “don’t be afraid.”
c. Don’t be afraid, (WHY?) Because the Lord has heard your prayer.
Question: Do you ever feel like God doesn’t hear your prayer?
What did the angel tell him?
PLAN: V. 13
a. Your wife will bear a son
b. You are to name him John
PROMISE: V. 14
a. You will have great joy and many will rejoice
b. Your son will be great in the eyes of the Lord
c. He should never touch wine or hard liquor
d. He will be filled with the Holy Spirit even before birth
PURPOSE: V. 16-17
a. He will persuade many Israelites to turn to the Lord their God.
b. He will precede the coming of the Lord, preparing the people for his arrival.
c. He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and he will change disobedient minds to accept godly wisdom.
PROBLEM: v. 18
a. How can I know this will happen?
a. (I’m old and so is my wife)
b. His response was one of doubt
b. And because of his doubt, he was left speechless
v. 24: So after his wife became pregnant
PARTICIPATION:
a. Zechariah: v. 20 Speechless
b. Elizabeth: v. 25 “how kind the Lord is…He has taken away my disgrace of having no children.”
Summary: Zechariah and Elizabeth were faithful and obedient, but one thing nagged them, or concerned them…Elizabeth was barren all these years, and they still had no children and she felt disgraced.
Finally the Lord answers, and Zechariah’s response was one of doubt.
Story #2: Angel visits Mary v. 26-38
Jump now six months into the future
PLACE: v. 26
a. God sent the angel Gabriel to
a. Nazareth, a village in Galilee
b. One of the last places you’d look
PERSON: V. 27
a. Came to a young, virgin girl whose name was Mary.
b. Tradition tells us that she could have been as young as 12 or 14.
c. She was engaged to Joseph to be married.
a. In that culture, engagement was not quit marriage, but it was more than our modern engagement.
PRONOUNCEMENT: V. 28
a. Gabriel appeared to her and said, “Greetings, favored woman! The Lord is with you.”
b. Confused and disturbed, Mary tried to think what the angel could mean.
PROMISE: V. 30 “Don’t be frightened, Mary,” the angel told her, “for the Lord had decided to bless you.”
PLAN: V. 31
a. “You will become pregnant and have a son, and you are to name him Jesus.”
PURPOSE: V. 32
a. He will be very great and will be called the Son of the Most High
b. And the Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David
c. And he will reign over Israel forever; his Kingdom will never end.
PROBLEM: V. 34
a. Mary asked the angel, “But how can I have a baby? I am a virgin.”
Mary’s problem was not one of doubt, but one of assurance.
b. Angel said, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the baby born to you will be holy, and he will be called the Son of God.”
(SIDE TRACK: “…So the baby born to you will be holy,…)
This is no small statement here. This is what separates Jesus from all others. Because if he was born of both and earthly father and mother, then the sin of Adam would have been transferred to him as well, being born into sin. But in order for him to be the sacrifice for sin, and to be without sin, he needed to be conceived by the Holy Spirit.
This is the key issue for those in our society who question the deity of Christ, or the necessity of a virgin birth.
It’s the impossible becoming possible.
KEY VERSE: v. 36-37
“What’s more, your relative Elizabeth has become pregnant in her old age. People used to say she was barren, but she’s already in her sixth month. For nothing is impossible with God.”
PARTICIPATION: V. 38
a. Mary responded, “I am the Lord’s servant, and I am willing to accept whatever he wants. May everything you have said come true.”
TRANSITION:
PRACTICAL APPLICATION
Observations:
It’s interesting that God chooses to break his silence of 400 years, to begin a new fresh work to redeem mankind, by revealing the news that he was sending a forerunner of one who would come to take away the sins of the world.
The last lines of Malachi 4:5-6 “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet. Before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. And he will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers. Lest I come to strike the earth with a curse.
Luke begins precisely at the place where the prophet Malachi left off.
In using the story lines of Zechariah and Elizabeth, who had been childless for so many years, now was expecting this new life, indicates that God has renewed his work among his people.
Principle #1 Live righteous lives in spite of disappointments
- Elizabeth was childless, but how did she respond? In spite of her personal disappointment, she faithfully served God.
- Even when the child did come, she did not forget about God, but rejoiced in what he had done to renew her.
- For Zechariah, we learn something about walking with God. We see how we must listen and trust him, in the everyday routine of living right.
Our pain may not be that we are childless, but there are other examples of disappointments.
a. Marriage didn’t turn out the way you thought
b. Children were a disappointment
c. Financially things came up expectantly
d. Job situation is unstable.
The one thing that they did not succumb to was, bitterness, even though Elisabeth felt disgraced.
How easy it is to become bitter, while trying to serve the Lord, and disappointments come so that we lose our focus on living a righteous life for him, rather than setting our personal agenda.
Sometimes the answer to our disappointments are not clear. And God asks us to rely on him more. Whether it be the loss of a child to premature death, a financial collapse, dealing with a child who falls into sin, or an unfortunate accident, the hard times are not always self-explanatory.
God never guarantees that life will come without pain and disappointment. The central issue is how we handle it.
Principle #2: Allow God to place you in a position to hear from him.
Sometimes we are so busy, even trying to serve him, that we miss the opportunity to see God at work.
Mary was an ordinary women with an extraordinary purpose. She brings nothing on her resume’ other than her availability and willingness to serve.
Conversely, in spite of Zechariah’s godliness, his obedience to the law and a lifetime of service in the ministry, his faith was weak when it came to believing such a promise of his wife was to have a son. Zechariah says, “how can I be sure?”
How interesting, because most of figure, “God if you would just show me a sign, send an angel, something like that, I’ll never doubt again.” But here is Zechariah and he receives all of that and still it is not enough.
The humble setting of Jesus’ birth not only reveals the nature of God’s plan, it also reveals the character of God’s heart. God loves those who are humble in Spirit.
Spiritual greatness is not a matter of social class, monetary clout, or degreed background, it is a function of the heart.
Principle #3 Road blocks are not necessarily dead ends, but rather can be fresh turns in the road.
- God’s delays are not denials.
- Never confuse a “wait” with a “no”
- God may be saying that you will have to wait. When faced with a “wait” we can either allow it to cause doubt or we can use the time to growing our spiritual walk.
- When God does choose to intervene it is always for his glory and our good. God may not answer your prayer in the way that you expected, but you can be assured that God’s way is best.
Principle #4 Age is not a determining factor in the maturing of faith and obedience.
- Notice that these two stories happen at opposite periods of time.
- Your physical age is not the same as your spiritual maturity.
Principle #5: Don’t give up praying (1:13)
- “But the angel said, ‘Don’t be afraid, Zechariah! For God has heard your prayer, and your wife, Elizabeth, will bear you a son! And you are to name him John.” (1:13)
God knows where you are. Whether it is in the Temple serving God, or in a small town next to nowhere. God knows right where you are. And he will calm your fears.
What is the impossible gift? It is the gift God uses to reveal his glory in an impossible situation.
Conclusion:
A number of years ago a couple traveled to the offices of an Adoption Society in England to receive a baby. They had been on the waiting list a long time. They had been interviewed and carefully scrutinized. Now at last their dreams were to be fulfilled. But their day of happiness was another's pain.
Arriving at the offices of the Society they were led up a flight of stairs to a waiting room. After a few minutes they heard someone else climbing the stairs. It was the young student mother whose baby was to be adopted. She was met by the lady responsible for the adoption arrangements and taken into another room. The young couple heard a muffled conversation and a few minutes later footsteps on the stairs as the young mother left. They heard her convulsive sobbing until the front door of the office was closed. Then, there was silence.
The lady in charge then conducted them next door. In a little crib was a six week old baby boy. On a chair beside it was a brown paper bag containing a change of clothes and two letters. One of these, addressed to the new parents, thanked them for providing a home for her baby and acknowledged that under the terms of the adoption each would never know the other's identity. Then the young mother added one request. Would they allow her little son to read the other letter on his eighteenth birthday? She assured them that she had not included any information about her identity. The couple entrusted that letter to a lawyer and one day the young man will read the message which his mother wrote on the day, when with breaking heart, she parted with him.
I wonder what she wrote? If I had to condense all I feel about life and love into a few precious words what would I say? I would have no time for trivia. I would not be concerned about economics, politics, the weather, the size of house or the type of car. At such a time I would want to dwell on what life was all about and what things were absolutely essential.
I wonder what Mary told Jesus? Maybe she explained the impossible gift. Of how God made the impossible, possible.
Scripture: Philippians 4:13 "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."
Mark 10:27 Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.”
Joshua 1:5 No one will be able to stand against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you.
(Add any other scripture necessary)
