Every year during the Advent season, advertisers and retailers will frequently used the expression, “The magic of Christmas.” Well, the kind of Christmas magic that they're talking about is a trick that retailers play on us that makes our money disappear. The true Christmas is not about magic. It is about miracles and I want to read to you how that miracle took place. I'm going to be reading from Luke chapter 1, beginning at verse 26, through verse 38.
In the sixth month of Elizabeth pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David, the virgin his name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, greetings you are highly favored. The Lord is with you.
Mary was greatly troubled at his words, and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God, you will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus, 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, and He will reign over Jacob's descendants forever, his kingdom will never end. How will this be Mary asked the angel, since I'm yet a virgin, the angel answered, the Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So, the Holy One to be born in you will be called the Son of God. Even Elizabeth, your relative, is going to have a child in her old age. And she who is said to be barren, is now in her sixth month, for nothing is impossible with God. I am the Lord servant, Mary answered, may it be to me, as you have said, Then the angel left her.
When was the last time you experienced a miracle? I'm not talking about the miracle of a beautiful sunrise. I'm talking about the kind of event where there is absolutely no doubt in your mind whatsoever that God's hand has been at work, and that God did something that only he could do. You might have to think about that for a moment and that's okay, I'll come back to it at the end.
You see, miracles happen when the natural world and the supernatural world intersect with each other. And I want to use the Christmas story as a springboard to show you how miracles happen. An angel comes to Mary and says you will have a child and not just any child, it's going to be the Son of God. And she says How can this be since I'm yet a virgin, and the angel tells her well, the power of the Most High will overshadow your humaneness. So, what is to be born in you will be called the Son of God. You see the natural world and supernatural world intersected and, in that moment, God made his will known, and Mary chose to cooperate with God's will. That friends, is the miracle of Christmas. You see, faith is living with a knowledge that God's supernatural power is always at work around us. And we choose to cooperate with that. Miracles happen when God the Father makes us aware of his will. And we cooperate. That's precisely what Mary did. Once she understood what God's will for her was, what did she say? I am the Lord servant may have been to me as you have said, and a miracle happened. Her husband, Joseph, when he was told about the pregnancy, he didn't believe the story. He was ready to call things off. But an angel of the Lord came to him in a dream and said, Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit, she will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus because he will save his people from their sins. God made his will known to Joseph, Joseph cooperated with it and once again, miracles began to happened. We even see this in the side characters of the Christmas story, the shepherds when they were informed of Christ's birth and were told to go and seek him out.
The natural world and the supernatural world intersected. God made his will known and they cooperated with it.
We see this same principle at work throughout the Bible. With the parting of the Red Sea. Moses had to cooperate with God by raising his arms. The very first miracle that Jesus performed which was turning water into wine, the servants had to cooperate and fill the vessels with water.
Sometimes we get confused and we try to take the miraculous power of God and turn it into magic. And friends, miracles and magic are polar opposites of one another. Magic is when we try to conjure up the supernatural, make our wills known, and then expect God to cooperate with our will. I see this kind of magical thinking at work in the minds of people, everywhere, even among people in the church. Often times, somebody will have an important need in their life, and they'll come to me, and they'll ask for counsel and asked me to pray for their concern. That is a great privilege and a tremendous responsibility. But then they will say something to the effect of, well, you have a direct line to God. That's magical thinking at work, because they're making the assumption that somehow, I can conjure up the presence of God and His supernatural ability and get God to cooperate with them.
To conjure means to call forth. And I don't do conjuring, I am not a witch doctor. In worship, we are not conjuring up the presence of God, we're not calling God out of his box, and then say, Okay, now cooperate with me and do this. If that's your assumption, when you pray, or when you worship, or when you asked me to pray for you, then friends, you're not practicing faith. Instead, you're practicing sorcery.
Mary did not decide that she wanted to give birth to the Son of God, and then conjure God up and get him to cooperate with it. No, God came to her made his will known and she cooperated. Joseph did not conjure up the presence of God. Instead, God came to him, made his will known, and he cooperated with it and miracles began to happen.
So, friends, when was the last time you experienced a miracle? Well, try to think back. When was the last time that God made his will known to you and you cooperated with it? Do you need a miracle today? Find out what God's will is for that matter that you're facing and then cooperate with it and you will see miracles begin to flow. Amen.
