“Guidelines for Christmas: Fill It Up”
Isaiah 9:1-7; Luke 1:26-38
In a radio broadcast on September 2, the day after he accepted the Japanese surrender, General Douglas MacArthur said, “Today the guns are silent. A great victory has been won. The skies no longer rain death; the seas bear only commerce; people everywhere walk upright in sunlight. We have had our last chance (for survival). If we do not now devise some great and more equitable system, Armageddon will be at our door. The problem basically is theological and involves a spiritual recrudescence and improvement of human character that will synchronize with our almost matchless advance in science, art, literature, and all material and cultural developments of the past two thousand years. It must be of the spirit if we are to save the flesh.” Peace is first and foremost a spiritual issue; it is an issue of the heart – of my heart and your heart. It is rooted in our relationship to the Prince of Peace.
We see this exemplified in Mary’s response to her visit from the angel. “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” (Lk. 1:38) Mary’s heart was filled with peace. But how, in the midst of such overwhelming, unbelievable, miraculous, confusing news could Mary be at peace?
Like Mary, our hearts will be filled with peace through ACCEPTANCE OF GOD’S WAYS. “I am the Lord’s servant…” Mary accepted her divine assignment in life. The angel revealed God’s purpose for Mary, and she accepted it. She accepted it because she trusted her faithful God. Mary knew of the promise God made to David in 2 Samuel 7. David had been successful as a leader and had led the Israelites to new heights. There was a time of peace and David felt the urge to build a temple for God, yet God ultimately said “No.”. But along with the denial came this promise from God (2 Sam. 7:11-13), “‘The LORD declares to you that the LORD himself will establish a house for you: 12 When your days are over and you rest with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, your own flesh and blood, and I will establish his kingdom. 13 He is the one who will build a house for my Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.” David accepted his assignment; he did not argue or complain. Rather he made all the preparations for the temple to be built. With that promise written indelibly in her mind, Mary heard the words of the angel Gabriel (30-33): “You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.” Knowing the promise of God to David, Mary trusted also that God was at work – as unbelievable and impossible as it sounded. Mary was surprised, not so much by the announcement that a king was coming as by how he was coming. She asked Gabriel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” In response, Gabriel gave Mary – and us – a reason to trust. “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you…For nothing is impossible with God.” Since JESUS IS ON THE THRONE, AND HE HAS ALL POWER AND AUTHORITY, THEN HE IS IN CONTROL. He determines history, not humans or governments. Nothing is impossible with God. What a statement! Nothing is impossible with God.
Mary could accept it because she KNEW WHO GOD WAS AND SHE KNEW WHO SHE WAS; He was Almighty and she was His servant. “I am the Lord’s servant…” So whatever He assigned she could accept. What God assigns and allows, so be it!
Remember Joseph – not Mary’s future husband but the Old Testament Joseph? Betrayed by his brothers, separated cruelly from them and his father, twice placed unjustly in prison – yet he rose to be the second most powerful person in the kingdom. When he finally met up again with his brothers, Joseph did not seek revenge, because he was at peace. He accepted what God had assigned (Gen. 45:5-8 GNT): “Now do not be upset or blame yourselves because you sold me here. It was really God who sent me ahead of you to save people's lives… 7 God sent me ahead of you to rescue you in this amazing way and to make sure that you and your descendants survive. 8 So it was not really you who sent me here, but God.” (50:20) “You plotted evil against me, but God turned it into good, in order to preserve the lives of many people who are alive today because of what happened.” …“I am the Lord’s servant…”
Consider Jesus. On the very evening of His betrayal He was in an upper room with His disciples. John records it (Jn. 13:1-5): “It was just before the Passover Festival. Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. 2 The evening meal was in progress, and the devil had already prompted Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus. 3 Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; 4 so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. 5 After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.” He knew where He was from and where He was going and accepted His assignment in the present. He was at peace, even knowing He was headed to death on the cross. “I am the Lord’s servant…”
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was filled with sorrow at the tragic death of his wife in a fire in 1861. The Civil War broke out that same year, and it seemed this was an additional punishment. Two years later, Longfellow was again saddened to hear his own son had been seriously wounded as a lieutenant in the Army of the Potomac. Sitting down to his desk one Christmas day, he heard the church bells ringing and ringing. It was in this setting he wrote: (1)
“I heard the bells on Christmas Day Their old familiar carols play
And wild and sweet the words repeat Of peace on earth, good will to men.
And in despair I bowed my head There is no peace on earth I said
For hate is strong and mocks the song Of peace on earth, good will to men.
Then pealed the bells more loud and deep, God is not dead, nor doth he sleep.
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail With peace on earth, good will to men.”
God is not dead, He does not sleep. What God assigns and allows, so be it! WHAT GOD PROMISES, HE CAN BE TRUSTED TO FULFILL. So be it! “I am the Lord’s servant…” Be at peace.
A friend visited an elderly woman who was badly crippled by arthritis. When asked, “Do you suffer much?” she responded. “Yes, but there is no nail here,” and she pointed to her hand. “He had the nails, I have the peace.” She pointed to her head. “There are no thorns here,. He had the thorns, I have the peace.” She touched her side, “There is no spear here. He had the spear, I have the peace.” (2) What God assigns and allows, so be it! What God promises, He can be trusted to fulfill. So be it! “I am the Lord’s servant…” Be at peace.
Nick Vujicic (Voy-a-chich) was born without arms or legs. In his inspiring book Life Without Limits he shared how, at age 10, he tried to commit suicide. He failed. In reflecting upon the situation he wrote, “In time I came to understand that even though I didn’t take my life that dark day, God did. He took my life and gave it more meaning and more purpose and more joy than a ten-year-old boy could ever have understood…If I had remained facedown in six inches of water back in 1993, I might have ended my temporary pain, but at what cost? That despairing child could not possibly have foreseen the joyful man swimming with great sea turtles off the Hawaiian coast, surfing in California, or scuba diving in Colombia. Even more important than those adventures are the many lives I might not have have touched.” (3) What God assigns and allows, so be it! What God promises, He can be trusted to fulfill. So be it! “I am the Lord’s servant…” Be at peace.
Perhaps you feel like your life so far has drawn a blank – God can give you a reason for living. Maybe you’re in a blind alley with your faith – God can show you the way. It might be that your faith is dead – God can bring the dead to life. Or are you facing something you’ve deemed impossible? God can do the impossible. Do you feel trapped? God can part the waters before you. Are you facing giants in your future? God has prepared the land and the place; you can win. As someone once wrote, “When God is going to do something wonderful, He begins with difficulty. If it is going to be something very wonderful, He begins with impossibility!” The truth is, with God, nothing – no thing – is impossible. Nothing – no thing – is too hard for the Lord. Peace begins with acceptance of God’s ways. What God assigns and allows, so be it! What God promises, He can be trusted to fulfill. So be it! “I am the Lord’s servant…” Be at peace.
Peace is also rooted in SUBMISSION TO GOD’S WILL. Mary said, “May your word to me be fulfilled.” I prefer the New King James translation which puts it, “Let it be to me according to your word.” Mary made A CONSCIOUS DECISION to be the mother of Jesus. Gabriel was announcing God’s plan and purpose for Mary but Mary needed to move beyond mere acceptance to willingness. The plan had to move from acceptance in her mind to action in her life.
Certainly Mary had questions about the message of the angel. Certainly she wondered about all the ramifications of being virgin yet bearing a child. Certainly she anticipated that people would not understand. Mary needed to be willing to endure the scorn of family, friends, and society. She needed to be willing to live with the unbelievable, unexplainable truth of her divine pregnancy. But she released everything to God: “LET IT BE TO ME ACCORDING TO YOUR WORD.” Isn’t that what we so often pray? “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth – in me – as it is in heaven.” It’s certainly what Jesus prayed just before his arrest and crucifixion. Kneeling in the Garden of Gethsemane, sweating drops of blood, he passionately prayed, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.”
Oswald Chambers stated it poignantly: “God is not concerned about our aims. He does not say, ‘Do you want to go through this bereavement, this upset?’ He allows these things for His own purpose. We may say what we like, but God does allow the devil, He does allow sin, He does allow bad men to triumph and tyrants to rule, and these things either make us friends or they make us saints, it depends entirely on our relationship with God. If we say, ‘Your will be done,’ we get the tremendous consolation of knowing that our Father is working everything according to His own wisdom. If we understand what God is after, we shall be saved from being mean and cynical.” (4) “Let it be to me according to your word.”
Vance Havner once explained submission by saying, “Suppose I try to run a store. I know nothing about it, I get the books mixed up, I do not know how to buy or sell, things are in a dreadful mess. I turn the whole business over to another to own and manage and I become only a clerk in the same store I used to run. Mind you, I am as busy as ever but I have changed my responsibility. The care, the upkeep, the management, all that now is the owner’s concern; my part is just to be a faithful clerk. “This Christ life is simply turning the little shop of life, so woefully perplexing, over to another. Christ becomes owner, manager, overseer; his is the responsibility, the upkeep. Your part is to BE A FAITHFUL CLERK, STEWARD OF THE GRACE OF GOD… “And one day, if you have been faithful over a few things, he will give you a heavenly shop in the city of the King!” (5) “Let it be to me according to your word.”
A Cambodian has shared his story of acceptance and submission. Under the Pol Pot regime he was held in a concentration camp. Believing he had little time to live, he wanted to spend time each day with God, preparing for death. “Even more that deprivation of food, even more than the torture, I resented having no time to meet with God. Always guards were yelling at us, forcing us to work, work, work.” Finally he noticed that the guards could get no one to clean out the cesspits. He volunteered for the wretched job. “No one ever interrupted me, and I could do my work at a leisurely pace. Even in those stinking depths, I could look up and see blue sky. I could praise God that I survived another day. I could commune with God undisturbed, and pray for my friends and relatives all around me. That became for me a glorious time of meeting with God.” (6) “Let it be to me according to your word.”
What is the issue for you this morning? What’s the burden, the care, the worry, the temptation, the load, the situation, the relationship, or the issue that has become your impossibility? What is the need that you are convinced will never be met? What is the hope you’ve abandoned? To what have you said, “That’s impossible?” “It will never happen.” What assignment have you refused to accept? Where and in what have you decided to limit God? It is God who can provide your every need. Nothing – no thing – is impossible or too hard for God. Nothing can defeat Him. I invite you now to come to the manger; it lies at the foot of the cross. Come – and yield your life to Jesus. Bring Him your impossibility. Release it to Him. Fill your life up with the Holy Spirit. So be it! (That’s what ‘Amen’ really means!) Amen! Tell God you will do what He wants, go where He wants. Tell Him you want Him to use you. Accept his assignments. “I am the Lord’s servant. Let it be to me according to your word.”
(1) Preaching Now – Dec. 11, 2007
(2) Ralph Turnbull, If I Only had One Sermon To Preach, from an illustration journal
(3) Nick Vujicic, Life Without Limits, Doubleday, © 2010 by Nicholas James Vujicic, p.52
(4) Oswald Chambers, p. 283 of Utmost Daily Bible
(5) Vance Havner, Consider Jesus (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1987), 51. Morgan, Robert J.: Nelson's Complete Book of Stories, Illustrations, and Quotes. electronic ed. Nashville : Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2000, S. 353
(6) Philip Yancey, Reaching for the Invisible God, Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, MI, © 2000 by The Zondervan Corporation, p. 207-208
