The silence is broken
Christmas 2018
Part 2
“Joy”
Last week we began a series on the silence of God
Or better yet the breaking of the silence
We studied how in the centuries before the Birth of Christ
God spoke in many ways to his people
But in the last days of what we know as the Old Testament period
He gave his final word
Through the prophet Malachi
And for the next 400 years he was silent
No prophets
No appearances of God
No miracles are recorded
No Angels
No burning bushes
Listen to me
A lot happened in the life of God’s people in those 400 years
I n God’s silence
Most moved farther from God
Relationship with God
Transformed into religion
And the hope that God’s people had
Faded just a bit
They still expected deliverance
They still were waiting on a Messiah
But
It appeared that God had left them
As I said last week
God never left
He was unfolding his plan all along
In the 400 years of silence
Hard times for the people
God made a path for the coming of Jesus Christ
As I said last week
I could preach for weeks on the silent times
But we must move on for now
Last week the silence was broken by the Angel Gabriel
To an Old priest named Zachariah and his wife Elizabeth
And in the breaking of the silence
Hope was restored
Hope for the future parents of John the Baptist
Who thought being parents was long gone
Hope for the world though the coming of the Savior
The Messiah
Jesus Christ
The last and final sacrifice needed
And hope for us
Individually
As we
Saw the plan of God in our own lives
Deliverance from the penalty of our sins
Restoration into a right relationship with God
And hope for our future eternity
Today we are going to look at the next words of God
Also spoken though the Angel Gabriel
Please open your bibles to Luke 1:26-37
In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a village in Galilee, 27 to a virgin named Mary. She was engaged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of King David. 28 Gabriel appeared to her and said, “Greetings,[a] favored woman! The Lord is with you![b]”
29 Confused and disturbed, Mary tried to think what the angel could mean. 30 “Don’t be afraid, Mary,” the angel told her, “for you have found favor with God! 31 You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus. 32 He will be very great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David. 33 And he will reign over Israel[c] forever; his Kingdom will never end!”
34 Mary asked the angel, “But how can this happen? I am a virgin.”
35 The angel replied, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the baby to be born will be holy, and he will be called the Son of God. 36 What’s more, your relative Elizabeth has become pregnant in her old age! People used to say she was barren, but she has conceived a son and is now in her sixth month. 37 For the word of God will never fail.[d
In this passage of scripture
God breaks his silence to Mary
If we look in Matthews account, we also see that the same Angel spoke to Joseph as well
18 This is how Jesus the Messiah was born. His mother, Mary, was engaged to be married to Joseph. But before the marriage took place, while she was still a virgin, she became pregnant through the power of the Holy Spirit. 19 Joseph, to whom she was engaged, was a righteous man and did not want to disgrace her publicly, so he decided to break the engagement[h] quietly.
20 As he considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream. “Joseph, son of David,” the angel said, “do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife. For the child within her was conceived by the Holy Spirit. 21 And she will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus,[i] for he will save his people from their sins.”
22 All of this occurred to fulfill the Lord’s message through his prophet:
23 “Look! The virgin will conceive a child!
She will give birth to a son,
and they will call him Immanuel,[j]
which means ‘God is with us.’”
24 When Joseph woke up, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded and took Mary as his wife. 25 But he did not have sexual relations with her until her son was born. And Joseph named him Jesus.
In this breaking of the silence
God though the Angel
Begins fulfilling the Old Testament prophesies
Verse 23 comes form the prophet Isaiah
Written years before
You see
God used the silent years to set his plan intro motion at just the right time
Just as he had planned from before the creation of the world
We all know the Christmas story
It has been told and retold
And even mis told
For 200 years
Today
I want to look at it from just a slightly different perspective
Image with me
Being a young man or woman with hopes and dreams
Your engaged to be married
You have plans for a house and kids
A career
And a happy life
Then something happens
It turns out to be wonderful
But in the moment
In the circumstance
It could easily go the other way
You are a young girl
Living in a society that takes
Sexual purity seriously
Deuteronomy 22:22
Tell s us the penalty for sexual impurity is death
You are engaged
In love
Ready to make a life
And suddenly your circumstances change
God shows up and your life is turned upside down
You are told that you will have a baby
Even though you have never been with a man
You are excited as the Angel tells you the Child is the son of God
But also confused
And concerned
Because you know how this will be perceived among your friends
And family
Now put yourself in Josephs shoes
Your plans were like that of Mary
Plans for a home and a future
And now the woman you are engaged to
Is pregnant and you know
That it is not your baby
This could have been the end of the dreams
The end of the plans
The end of life as you know it
But God had another plan
Listen to me
I have no doubt Joseph was not happy about the circumstances
They were not what he wanted or expected
And Mary despite her excitement
And her faithfulness
At first was also
What I like to call
Sitting in the dirt after getting bucked off a good horse moment
Wondering what just happened?
Plans
Hopes
Dreams
Abruptly changed
Now we know they were better plans
Better hopes
Better dreams
Because we know what Joseph and Mary did not know at the time
That Their Child would be the savior of the World
And with Him comes Hope
And Joy
But
I really like the response of both of them
In their lack of knowledge about the future
But abundance of faith
They said
Ok
God you’re in charge
We trust you
Mary’s words are called the Magnificat: Mary’s Song of Praise
Listen to her words
Luke 1 38 first
And them Luke 1:46-55
Verse 38
38 Mary responded, “I am the Lord’s servant. May everything you have said about me come true.” And then the angel left her.
Verses 46-55
46 Mary responded,
“Oh, how my soul praises the Lord.
47 How my spirit rejoices in God my Savior!
48 For he took notice of his lowly servant girl,
and from now on all generations will call me blessed.
49 For the Mighty One is holy,
and he has done great things for me.
50 He shows mercy from generation to generation
to all who fear him.
51 His mighty arm has done tremendous things!
He has scattered the proud and haughty ones.
52 He has brought down princes from their thrones
and exalted the humble.
53 He has filled the hungry with good things
and sent the rich away with empty hands.
54 He has helped his servant Israel
and remembered to be merciful.
55 For he made this promise to our ancestors,
to Abraham and his children forever.”
Let’s look at Josephs reaction to the change of plans
The new circumstances
Matthew 1:24-25
When Joseph woke up, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded and took Mary as his wife. 25 But he did not have sexual relations with her until her son was born. And Joseph named him Jesus
From the words of God
Thorough Gabriel
Life for Mary and Joseph changed
They had mixed feeling of Joy and maybe even despair
Nothing was going as They had planned
But
God showed up
And their lives went for common to uncommon
Mary was by many accounts unusable by God
She was a woman
Not highly valued in biblical times
I don’t hold this opinion
But in that time women were a lower class of human
Not someone used by God
She we common I n the fact that she was not from a wealthy family
God’s word does not go into the details about her family’s finical situation
But we know she lived in Nazareth which was the home of working-class people
Not know for wealth or prestige
An area even despised by other Jews
She was also very young
I have heard from some as young as 12 or 13
Which certainly would not have been uncommon in the day
By many as I said
She seemed unusable by God
Joseph
Was also a common man?
He made his living with his hands
Not rich
Not famous
Just a common man
Who I n the eyes of the world
Also, of not much use to God
But hang on tight
Here comes our first lesson from these passages
From these stories
From the lives of Mary and Joseph
When God shows up
Common lives
Become uncommon
God can use
And will use
Anyone and Everyone that allows him to
They can become part of the plan
Part of the plan that was laid out before the creation of the world
In the lives of Mary and Joseph
And in the lives
Of all who will
Ordinary lives are transformed into extraordinary lives
As God’s word says
With God al things are possible
God; word will never fail
The next lesson from the life of Joseph and Mary is this
Circumstances in our lives change
Often very quickly
We can go from riding high
To sitting in the dirt in just a millisecond
Things don’t go as we planned
Life does not tur out as we imagined
You may be saying
This is not what I expected
This is not what I wanted
Not what I dreamed of
And the circumstances have stolen your Joy
First let me say this
Joy comes only from the Lord
So, the circumstance may have stolen your happiness
But Joy is a gift from God
That can and will Transend the circumstances
That is one of the greatest gifts from God
To be able to hold onto Joy
In the storms and wrecks
In the hard times and the really hard times
You see
The gift of God
In the breaking of the silence
In the birth of Jesus
Is this
He is Good
All the time
He loves you
He loves you
He loves you
And he is with you in all circumstances
Good and bad
Listen to me
I am sure that at one-point Mary wasn’t real excited about he new plan for her life
I know Joseph wasn’t’ he wanted to put Mary away quietly
Which simply means break the engagement and move on with his life
But both of them
Rode though the storm
They held tight to their faith
They believed the promises
And they found true Joy
We can do the same thing
Listen
None of us are going to be parents to the savior
That job is taken
But Know this
God has a purpose and a plan for your life
And the story of Mary and Joseph are a shadow of that plan
Jesus left heaven
And came to earth
As a baby in manger
Born to a virgin
To rescue us
To redeem us
To restore our purpose
Which is to know God and make him known
He loves us
He dies for us
He gives us Joy in all circumstances
And this is part of the gift of Christmas
The Gift of Christ
Despite the circumstances
Even when you don’t feel joy
You can as Mary did
Cry out
Oh, how my soul praises the Lord
How my spirit rejoices in my savior
My soul magnifies the Lord because he is Good
Because the circumstances are good? No not always
But because he is good in spite of the circumstances
Here is the gift
One has come to recuse our soul from death
His name is Jesus
He has come to redeem your future
He has come to give you eternal life
He has come to transform your life from common to uncommon
From ordinary to extraordinary
Listen to me the gift
Is this
God is not limited by what the world thinks of us
Or even what we think of ourselves
We are of great value and have great potential in his eyes
And here is the meat
We can have Joy in spite of the circumstances
Because
A savior was born in a manger to a virgin
In a place called Bethlehem
He lived a perfect life
Died a horrible death
He was placed in a grace
Rose again and ascended into heaven
And is coming back one day soon
And he did this to redeem you and me
He did this to restore our purpose
He did this to give us hope and a future
He did this to allow us to be part of the plan
And that
That
Is something to be Joyful about
And that is the gift
Thank Gid for the gift
That God that he has broken the silence
Close from the heart
Pray
