Last week we noted, If you want to experience this glorious God, find out what He is doing then join Him! In our passage today, we will also note that because God’s plan is perfect, God’s plan will always happen at the right time! A question: How fast is life moving today?
If there was no speed limit on the highway, how fast would you drive??
What do we have in our homes to make life faster??
How fast can we communicate with people or get information?
In a split second, we can get a million facts…
Our lives are on “electron” speed today and we all crave for it!
There is a popular saying, “Stop and smell the roses!” No one really knows the origin of this saying but it is good advice because it is similar to God’s command for us in Psalm 46:10, “Be still and know God"!
How fast are we living our lives today? Is it too fast that we forget about God? Remember what our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ said in Matthew 11:28-30, “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." How often do we think about the yoke of Jesus Christ in comparison to the time we spend on the Internet or on our cellphones? We need to live our lives based on God’s perfect time rather than trying to speed Him up!
God’s plan will always happen at the right time! Find out what God is doing and what He will be doing and join Him at His schedule! Let us learn from what God did about 2000 years ago and how perfect God’s timing was!
Open your Bibles now to the Gospel of Luke Chapter 2. Before reading, let us pray with sincere hearts our commitment to God’s word before reading…..
Read along with me Luke 2:1-14……
Why do you think God put verses 1-3 in Luke Chapter 2? Why not just say that Jesus the Savior was born to Mary and Joseph? What’s significant about the first 3 verses of Luke 2??
God tells us specifically what time it was for the birth of the Messiah!
Is there anything in the history books outside of the Bible about Caesar Augustus, the Roman Empire Census, or Quirinius? Now I could go to the Encyclopedia Brittanica books or even sit down with history professors and learn about Augustus, the Roman Empire and Quirinius; but guess what I did to learn more about these subjects??
Yup, I “googled” them!
Is it wrong for me to go to the Internet? Of course not! Although technology can speed up our lives so fast that we can forget about God, God has allowed an increase in technology for us. Here is the point, we can use whatever God has allowed for His glory. Master things like technology for God’s glory, not allow it whatever it maybe, to master you! Everything happens in God’s timing, use whatever is happening for God’s glory!
We do find in history records that Caesar Augustus indeed ruled the Roman Empire from 27 BC to AD 14, about 2000 years ago! (show picture) The Roman Empire controlled the entire Mideast, most of Europe and parts of Africa! The census was done by the Roman Empire so that they could tax the people. The people in the Empire were not only under Roman rules but they also had to give money to the Empire! Now, if you lived in your home country with a lifestyle you grew up with and all of a sudden another country and another lifestyle takes over and you have to pay taxes to them, how would you feel??
This of course was the situation for Israel and the Jews when Rome took over their country and society! 2000 years ago, Israel was ready for the promised Messiah, the Savior! Sadly, the Jews were looking for a savior from Roman rule instead of a Savior from the rule from their sins!
And with regards to Quirinius? Through the mentioning of Quirinius, God gives us an even more specific timeframe. The Savior, Messiah Jesus Christ was born 2000 years ago! Early Christian historians stated that if you want to know about Joseph and Mary, the parents of Jesus Christ, go to the records of the Roman Empire!
God’s plan will always happen at the right time! And you know what else, as a side note to Luke 2:1-3? The Bible is historical correct because it is God’s truth!
And what can we note from v4-5? God tells us the family lineage of David and Mary, the parents to be of Jesus Christ. 3 things significant about this:
a. God’s plan happens at the right time and at the right place! Through God’s prophets, the birth of the Savior Messiah through the lineage of King David and where were foretold thousands of years ago! We can read this in Gen. 49:10, 2 Samuel 7:1-17, Isaiah 7:14, and Micah 5:2.
b. God shares His plans! God does not keep us in the dark. God tells us what we need to know. God provides for us what we need. And again, God will accomplish His plans at the right time! And all is accomplished through Jesus Christ! We read in 2 Peter 1:3 “His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.”
Do you want to God’s plans? – Know Jesus Christ!
Do you want to live in God’s time? – Walk with Jesus Christ!
c. God will use secular circumstances for His divine and glorious plan! What do you think was in the mind of that Roman Leader who required the census??
You don’t think that Roman Leader who thought of the census was thinking of fulfilling the prophecies about the Savior of mankind?
God allowed the Roman Empire to become powerful and force a census. As I stated earlier, like with technology, we can use what God has allowed in our lives and in the world for His glory.
God’s plan happens at the right time and at the right place! God shares His plans! God will use circumstances for His divine and glorious plan! Are you trusting and following this God of the Bible?
Now, look again at v5………. Someone can come around, and the people of Nazareth actually asked the question, “Couldn’t Joseph biologically fathered the child Jesus?” How do we know that Joseph didn’t father the child?
Luke 1:35 tells us how God did it! And nothing is impossible with God! And of course, God’s Word the Bible tells us; here are some examples, Matthew 1:20-21 and v47-49 of Luke 2. What’s the point here? God will do the miraculous but will involve people! God not only used a teenager named Mary to birth the Savior to the world, God called a simple carpenter named Joseph to be Dad to the Savior and Lord!
And from v6-7 we can note that Bethlehem was crowded with people (significance? The birth of Jesus was not a secret!) And again God foretold the circumstances of the birth of the Messiah; and we put v6-7 in connection with v12.. God will also use circumstances for His glorious purpose! The manger was key to locating the Savior for the shepherds!
And shepherds are what type of people?? Shepherds were common ordinary people doing their common ordinary jobs! But what did God do through these ordinary people? Aahh, this will be our topic for next Sunday! Stay tuned!
Before we close, let us note v13-14…….. There is great praising and celebration when God’s plan is realized at the right time!
God’s plan happens at the right time and at the right place! God shares His plans! God will use circumstances for His divine and glorious plan!
I actually noted earlier what we need to do in applying these truths to our lives. The bottom line is this: God has a plan which will happen at the right time. And since we are living a life at this time, the question for all of us is, “How is my life involved in God’s plan right now?” Let us do three things:
1. Fully trust and follow the God of the Bible!
Before we take our Offering, we will all take a quiet time to think about this; each one of us has a few things that we need to yield to the Lord. Each one of us has to go to our Creator God for His instructions.
Before we take our quiet time with the Lord, we need to also note that since everything happens in God’s timing, we are to,
2. Use whatever is happening in our lives for God’s glory!
There is of course our personal lives;
a. what is going on in our personal lives which we can use for God’s glory? Again during our quiet time with the Lord, ask God how your personal circumstances can be used for God’s glory.
b.there are circumstances going on in the world which can be used for God’s glory. What are they?
3. We are to live lives based on God’s perfect time rather than trying to speed Him up! Our Scripture of the Week really should be Matthew 11:28-30…….
Daily walk with Jesus at His pace not our own!
