(Song - "Fear No More" - Building 249)
That might be you this morning. You didn’t choose to be situated quite like you are this morning. Things haven’t turned out just like you’d hoped. And here you are. If the future is anything like much of the past, it’s looking pretty scary. But there’s a certain comfort to be found when you give up trying to be in control and instead trust that God is truly in control.
That fits well on a Jewish priest in Luke 1 named Zechariah. We don’t have much information about him, except for 3 verses which are a common starting place for reading about the Christmas story. We know that he and his wife Elizabeth were descendants of families of priests. They’re described as being righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord. They were also childless and “advanced in years.”
Now, after that description, you may have already concluded that you and Zechariah have very little in common. Let me help you with that: if you’ve ever asked God for something and were confused or let down about His response to you, then Zechariah’s story may actually hit home with you very well.
I have a few goals for this message today:
1. Introduce this series “Unafraid” which will run through this Christmas season right to Christmas Eve.
With all the warm fuzzies and fond feelings of Christmas, there are also a whole sleigh full of worries, stresses, and fears. But when I study through the Christmas story in the Bible, I keep running across this simple instruction: “Fear Not” or “Don’t be afraid.”
It’s almost as if the Lord means for the story of Christmas to help alleviate our fears! This series may have the potential to help you have your first fear-free Christmas!
2. A more biblical understanding of prayer
I mean the kind of understanding that will prevent anyone from saying, “Prayer works!” You may be guilty of that. I am. I’m guessing that if you’ll look at that more carefully, you’ll change the way you say what you’re meaning.
A person who grows tomatoes might buy some Miracle Grow plant food and have a great tomato year with it and say, “Hey, it works!”
Prayer isn’t something like fertilizer. It just doesn’t fit into a category of things that either “work or “don’t work.” I’ve been praying for over 50 years and I’ve reached the conclusion that you just can’t speak about it by saying, “It works!” when the thing you prayed for happens or “It doesn’t work!” when the thing you prayed for didn’t happen. We need to use Bible words for Bible things as much as possible.
3. Comfort that comes from being confident that God does “hear” our prayers.
I noticed that ET made it back onto a TV commercial this year. Remember how ET sent a message out into space, just in the hopes that someone on the other end might hear it and might care?
Too many people feel like they’re just sending some signal out there in the hopes that somewhere, someone might be listening and might respond. Is that what prayer is? Like a random radio message shot into space?
Wouldn’t it be great instead to be confident that God listens to you?
First of all, it should be amazing that He even bothers to care about us at all. But beyond that, we have good reason to understand today that God does hear us - which is even more amazing! For instance, just look at a few of the Psalms:
Psalm 4:3 But know that the LORD has set apart the godly for himself; the LORD hears when I call to him.
Psalm 6:8-9 Depart from me, all you workers of evil, for the LORD has heard the sound of my weeping. The LORD has heard my plea; the LORD accepts my prayer.
Psalm 34:17
When the righteous cry for help, the LORD hears and delivers them out of all their troubles.
Psalm 69:33
For the LORD hears the needy and does not despise his own people who are prisoners.
Let’s go back inside the holy place of the temple in Luke 1. Zechariah is there, offering incense. It’s a big day for him, because this is probably a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for him personally. He is there to throw incense onto the altar, bow, and then get out. But standing to the right of the altar of incense is a cute little naked baby with wings, no wait, that’s not right…a beautiful woman with long hair and wings, no wait, that’s not right either! Standing to the right of the altar is Gabriel, the archangel of God - a being whose appearance is so overwhelming it consistently evokes the same response from every human who sees him. Luke uses 2 words - one for being stirred up on the inside, and the other common word for “fear.” That’s why the angel tells Zechariah, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard…”
Sometime in his past, Zechariah and his wife had tried to have children, but she was not able. No doubt, they both had prayed for a child - probably for years. But evidence here indicates that Zechariah had given up on that prayer. Both of them were too old now - probably past 60. Zechariah knew the OT stories of God enabling women to bear children, even when they were old like Sarah who was 90. But he didn’t understand that Elizabeth could bear a son. So, at some point, Zechariah must have given up his plea for a child. God hadn’t listened, it seemed.
Today, Zechariah would learn that God had listened. Gabriel was there concerning the answer to his prayer. And we get to see how sometimes, when the answer to our prayers arrives, it’s scary!
That evening, Zechariah probably tweeted: Prayed for a child! Had a terrifying visit by an angel to announce it’s going to happen now. #Didn’t expect that!
Here’s the point: God’s responses to our prayers don’t always fit within our expectations.
True story - during a particularly challenging time while I was in Bible college, living in a dorm, I was really tired. I remember going to bed that night, asking the Lord to help me sleep; to give me some good rest before tomorrow morning’s 7am class. Sure enough the next morning I woke up to find I had overslept more than an hour and totally missed class!
So, the next night, as I was getting ready for bed, I remember specifically asking the Lord to help me wake up the next morning, in time, so that I’d be ready for and present in my early class. That next morning, I got up, showered, dressed, and as I was getting my shoes on to leave, looked at the clock, which said something like 4am!
There’s a difference between God doing exactly what we ask and God hearing our prayers.
Zechariah had petitioned God for a child. Look at how that prayer was answered, in God’s way, in God’s timing:
v13 - your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John. And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth,
OK. That’s pretty normal. This was much later than they had expected, but that’s OK. John. That’s a common name. Lots of joy - That’s probably a big part of what Zechariah had asked and hoped for when he prayed. But there was more…
v15 - for he will be great before the Lord. And he must not drink wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb.
This wasn’t so common. This boy would be what’s called a Nazarite (Numbers 6). Basically, he’d be set apart for special use by God, much like Samson was. There was another miracle child named Samuel who was wholly given over for the Lord many years before. But there was even more…
v16 - And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, and he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared.
This boy wasn’t just going to be given over for special service to God. He was going to become the fulfillment of OT prophecies and prepare the way for Jesus to arrive on earth. He would be the voice of one crying in the wilderness, “Make ready a way for the Lord!” He would be the Elijah, promised in the last verses of the OT, to get people ready for the entrance of Jesus.
Zechariah didn’t pray for these things. He asked for a child. God answered in a way he didn’t anticipate - He went way beyond it. It was an answer filled with a much broader purpose and vision than just what Zechariah asked for. What can we learn from that?
When you pray…
1. Expect surprises
It may not start with an angel delivering a message to you straight from Heaven. When we pray, we ought to watch for answers, but we should also expect to be surprised.
How many times have you asked God to do something and He far exceeded what you asked of Him? How many special offerings have we had in the past 5 years where the goal we set was exceeded? The simple answer is “every time”!
The surprise may be so extreme that the first thing God has to do is calm you down.
2. Seek to align yourself with God’s plans and desires.
I notice this pattern in Scripture: the prayer that is most likely to be answered just like it’s requested is the prayer that isn’t self-focused or man-sized. Our prayers should first be a search for what God is seeking to do. You can be sure that it’s always going to be bigger and greater than we come up with on our own.
James wrote,
James 4:2-3
You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.
John added,
1 John 5:14b-15
…if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.
You might say that prayer isn’t about getting God to do what I want. It has more to do with God getting my heart and my will in line with what He wants first.
3. Understand what “answer” means.
I’ve heard it before - “I prayed, and God didn’t answer.” I’ve been there before.
I imagine that Zechariah may have said that very thing…for years. Turns out it was wrong. It turns out that God had heard his prayer and God had answered his prayer.
His first answer was “Wait. I’ve got something in mind here.”
I’ve had some prayers answered that way. I’ve also been there when the answer that God gives isn’t the one we asked for or were expecting. The answer was, “No. I have something else in mind here.”
There’s an old bit of writing, usually attributed to an unknown Confederate soldier:
I asked for strength that I might achieve;
I was made weak that I might learn humbly to obey.
I asked for health that I might do greater things;
I was given infirmity that I might do better things.
I asked for riches that I might be happy;
I was given poverty that I might be wise.
I asked for power that I might have the praise of men;
I was given weakness that I might feel the need of God.
I asked for all things that I might enjoy life;
I was given life that I might enjoy all things.
I got nothing that I had asked for,
but everything that I had hoped for.
Almost despite myself my unspoken prayers were answered;
I am, among all men, most richly blessed.
I read the book Answered Prayers by George Müller a couple years ago. George Müller was born in Prussia in 1805, but is most remembered for his life’s work in Bristol, England. Müller saw a need and determined to help care for the orphaned children of his area. But from the beginning he determined that it would all be done on God’s terms and in God’s time. So he never once published how much was needed nor asked anyone to give toward the need. Instead he fervently, expectantly prayed for it, and it would always show up. Sometimes, it showed up as late as children all gathered around the breakfast table where there was no food, and someone shows up at the door with a donation of food, and the milk wagon was broken down outside too! They were often living right on the edge of nothingness, but needs were always met. The ministry grew into several orphan houses, and Müller continued his practice of never asking for funds. In his lifetime, he cared for over 10,000 orphans. He established 117 schools that offered Christian education for more than 120,000 students. His last 17 years, beginning at the age of 70, were spent doing traveling missionary work overseas.
4. Make sure your prayers include an appropriate fear of God
Zechariah’s disbelief shows up in the words “How shall I know this?” He was wise when it came to discussing his wife’s age. Did you notice it in v18? I am an old man, my wife is advanced in years. But he wasn’t as wise when it came to responding to an amazing thing happening in his life.
Zechariah was out of line here. And Gabriel is like he’s indignant. “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I was sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news.”
So, Zechariah was struck mute. Maybe a better way to put this would be “When God answers your prayer, and you don’t know what to say, the other option is to keep your mouth shut.” It was strange to me that a message that started with the words “Fear not” ended with a message that basically says, “You should fear God!” But actually, that’s not so strange.
But that’s really going to be the on-going message of the whole Christmas story. The real answer to the things that cause us to be afraid is to fear the Lord.
Conclusion:
Don’t be afraid. God has heard your prayer. Fear God & nothing else.
This year, this Christmas that you’re facing without your loved one for the first time;
This difficult season in your marriage when you and your spouse can’t seem to get it together.
This hard time when you’re taking care of your aging parent;
This time of unanswered questions and confusion about the future;
This painful time of waiting, when it seems like it’s already too late;
Whatever challenge you’re facing, the problem isn’t that God can’t hear you.
Here’s another wonderful promise from God today: everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. It was written by the prophet Joel, it was quoted on the day the Church began, it was repeated in Paul’s letter to the Romans.
If you’re someone outside of relationship with Jesus today, you can call on the name of the Lord and be saved. If you’re afraid of the uncertainty of life, afraid of being unprepared to stand before God almighty, there’s only way to deal with that fear - to call upon the name of the Lord.
Here’s what that looks like:
Acts 2:37-41 (ESV)
37 Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” 38 And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.” 40 And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation.” 41 So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.
