A Gift Worth Waiting For
Ecclesiastes 3:1-11; Luke 2:1-7; Galatians 4:4
December 16, 2001
Intro:
A. [Deliver Us from Failing, Citation: R.E. Lawrie, Rehoboth, Del. "Lite Fare," Christian Reader.]
During seminary, the professors always began their classes with prayer.
Before one final exam, a student timidly raised his hand.
"Yes, what is it?" the professor asked sternly.
"Sir, aren’t you forgetting one thing?"
"And just what would that be?"
"To pray for us," the student gulped.
1. "Lord, deliver us from failing" seems to be the extent of a lot of people’s understanding of the hand of God in their lives.
2. Asking God to simply keep us from failing is an sad view of the providence of God.
B. Is that the extent of God’s involvement in our lives?
1. Does God really care about what happens in our lives?
2. Does God care when people think and say bad things about us?
3. Does God care when circumstances aren’t going our way?
4. Does God care when things don’t look good for us?
5. Is God really involved in the details of our lives?
C. Today as we continue thinking about the indescribable gift that God has given us in Christmas, today we will think about A Gift Worth Waiting For.
I. There is a time for everything!
Ecclesiastes 3:1-11, There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven: 2 a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, 3 a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, 4 a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, 5 a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain, 6 a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away, 7 a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, 8 a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace. 9 What does the worker gain from his toil? 10 I have seen the burden God has laid on men. 11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end.
A. God has made everything beautiful in its time.
1. God knows everything!
2. God knows everything about our lives!
3. God knows all the details about our lives!
4. God knows when its time for us to be born and He knows when its time for us die.
5. God knows when we need to cry and when we need to laugh.
6. God knows when we need to mourn and when we need to dance.
7. God knows when we need to be silent and when we need to speak.
8. God knows everything about us!
9. God knows every moment and detail about our lives and He makes EVERYTHING beautiful in its time.
B. God has set eternity in our hearts.
1. God has placed in our hearts the knowledge that this is not all their is.
2. God has placed in our hearts that there was time before we were born and there will be time after we die.
3. God has placed in our hearts that there was something before the world began and there is something after the world will end.
4. God has set eternity in our hearts.
C. God has control of the beginning and the end.
1. God is in control of it all!
2. God was in control before time began and He will be in control long after time has ended!
3. God knows all the minute details of our lives and He also knows why everything happens.
4. God sees the little picture of the moments and the details of our lives and He also sees the big picture of how everything unfolds in the light of eternity.
5. We cannot understand what God has done from beginning to end, but God knows it all!
6. God saw the details and moments in Mary’s life and God also saw the big picture of the birth of the promised Messiah in light of eternity as well.
II. Sometimes the timing seems bad!
Luke 2:1-7, In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. 2 (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) 3 And everyone went to his own town to register. 4 So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. 5 He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. 6 While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, 7 and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.
A. Mary probably thought the timing was bad because her marriage an not yet been consummated.
1. Mary had gotten pregnant outside of wedlock—that was a bad cultural and religious issue in those days.
2. Mary was pregnant before she was married—no doubt, people thought and said bad things about her.
3. Mary gave birth before she had consummated her marriage.
4. That’s bad timing.
B. Mary probably thought the timing was bad because she wasn’t even at home.
1. Mary and Joseph had to leave town because of the census.
2. They had to go to a place that even thought Joseph’s family came from there, they themselves had probably never been before.
3. Giving birth in a strange place is not what most women dream about for the birth of their children.
4. Having to give birth while she was away from home was bad timing for Mary.
C. Mary probably thought the timing was bad because there were inadequate facilities.
1. I don’t know the details of the medical procedures that they used for giving birth in those days.
2. I don’t know if they had mid-wives or doctors or hospitals to go to.
3. But I am sure that the ideal situation was not to give birth in a stable full of animals.
4. Have you ever been accused of being born in a barn? Maybe we should start taking that as a compliment!
5. Imagine, the promised Messiah being born in a barn!
6. They tried to get a room in the inn, which would have been far better than a barn.
7. She had to lay her baby in an animal’s feeding trough.
8. This, again, is not how mothers dream about giving birth!
9. The timing was bad because of the inadequate facilitates.
10. The timing probably appeared bad to Mary, but God saw the big picture as well!
III. When the time fully comes, God comes in!
Galatians 4:4, But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son
A. The time had FULLY come because…
1. The timing was right in light of prophecy.
a. Genesis 3:15 first announced the Messiah: And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel."
b. Genesis 12:3 predicted that the Messiah would come from the nation of Israel: I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you."
c. Genesis 49:10 predicted the Messiah would come from the tribe of Judah: The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until he comes to whom it belongs and the obedience of the nations is his.
d. In 2 Samuel 7:12, 13, God predicted that the Messiah would come from the family of David: When your days are over and you rest with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, who will come from your own body, 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.
e. Isaiah 7:14 predicted that Christ would be born of a virgin: Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.
f. Jeremiah 31:15 predicted Herod’s decree to kill all the males under the age of two at the time of Christ’s birth: This is what the LORD says: "A voice is heard in Ramah, mourning and great weeping, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because her children are no more."
g. Micah 5:2 predicted the town where the Messiah would be born: "But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times."
h. The timing was right in light of prophecy!
2. The timing was right in light of history.
a. The Diaspora: the dispersing of the Jews planted the seeds for the spreading of the gospel throughout the Roman Empire.
b. The legal environment: The Romans had conquered many different types of people and they were very tolerant of their customs, beliefs, and religions. The were so tolerant that they eventually allowed the Jews an exemption from having to acknowledge Caesar as God. All of a sudden the Jewish people do not have to acknowledge Caesar as God and here come baby Jesus and for the first 70 years the Romans did not distinguish between Jews and Christians.
c. The cultural climate: Language was the same for the first time since the Tower of Babel. Because of the world conquering of Alexander the Great, everyone spoke Greek. Therefore sermons could be preached in a single language, every letter written by Paul could be written in a single language, every book of the NT could be written in a single language and everyone could understand it because of the common language.
d. The philosophical environment: Even philosophically, they were ready for Christ. They had all of those Greek philosophers like Plateau and Aristotle and all they did was raise questions in everyone’s minds and then Christ came along with all the answers! The philosophers plowed the fields, but Christ planted the seeds.
e. The timing was right in light of history!
3. God’s timing was EXACTLY right; God’s timing was PERFECT!
4. But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son!
B. God’s timing is always right! God knows the beginning and the end.
1. Christopher Columbus Discouraged one day, Columbus walked into a monastery and asked for a drink. He sat down and told an old monk his story of how he wanted to go on an expedition to another land that he believed the Bible spoke of. The monk listened to his story and when he was through, Columbus went on his way. But the monk was a personal friend of the Queen and he was the one who convinced her to finance the expedition of Christopher Columbus. The discovery of America came about through a drink of water. Circumstances? Coincidence?
2. Abraham Lincoln Lincoln didn’t start out as president, in fact he wasn’t even in politics. He had his own business. And one day he was out in the back of his store and he was rummaging through an old barrel. Down in the bottom of that old barrel he felt a couple of books in his hand. He pulled them up and when he pulled them up, he saw that they were Blackstone’s Commentaries, which detail the Biblical basis for law and were the inspiration for the US Founding Fathers in setting up this great nation. Something happened to Abraham Lincoln that day as he read those books and he became a lawyer and later President of the US. It all started with rummaging through an old barrel. Circumstances? Coincidence?
3. John Calvin Calvin was going down to Italy. War broke out and the road he was on was blocked, so he went to Geneva instead. In Geneva his life was changed by the power of God and he has influenced a lot of Christian theology. It all started with a blocked road. Circumstances? Coincidence?
4. George Whitfield George Whifield was a bartender in a bar in England that was owned by his brother. George could not get along with his brother’s wife, so he left. He went to Oxford and eventually became apart of the Holy Club with John Wesley. That Holy Club started a tremendous revival in England. It all started with a personality conflict. Circumstances? Coincidence?
5. My coming to Somerset I had planned to spend my life in youth ministry. A good friend and mentor named Jim Kruse felt I should go into preaching. I was not interested. The church I was in got into a big squabble and they fired the preacher. The church lost 100 people. They could no longer afford me and the church gave me two months’ severance pay. I looked for another youth ministry or associate ministry. I preached once at Somerset and then a second time. They voted to hire me. They asked me to start the Sunday after the two months’ severance pay ended. Circumstances? Coincidence?
6. Mary Caesar August had issued a decree that all should go to their homeland and be counted. While there, Mary delivered here child, the long-awaited Messiah! She probably thought it was all bad timing. But after the shepherds’ visit, that thought was long gone because Luke 2:19 tells us that she treasured all these things in her heart. And when Christ was 12 and He had confounded the teachers of the law in the temple, again Luke 2:51 tells us that Mary treasured all these things in her heart. It all began with an unwelcome decree. Bad timing? Circumstances? Coincidence?
7. Psalms 37:23-24, If the LORD delights in a man’s way, he makes his steps firm; 24 though he stumble, he will not fall, for the LORD upholds him with his hand.
8. God’s timing is always right! God knows the beginning and the end.
9. Galatians 4:4, But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son
10. Ecclesiastes 3:11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end.
Conclusion:
A. [God and Truth Relieve Agony, Citation: Lloyd John Ogilvie, "Pastoring the Powerful," Leadership (Fall 2000)]
Lloyd John Ogilvie, chaplain of the United States Senate, recalls:
Senator Max Cleland, who lost both of his legs and his right hand in Vietnam, came to the Bible study withdrawn and tired. Another senator said, "Max, are you all right?"
"Not really," he said. "I’ve been having the same dream for 30 years. I accidentally drop that grenade, and I leap on it, and it explodes and blows my legs off."
That night, the study group gathered around Max and prayed that the Lord would heal that memory.
Two days later the History Channel broadcast his story just as he remembered it. A man from Annapolis saw it and phoned Max: "Senator, you have the story all wrong. That wasn’t your grenade. It was a young recruit behind you who had opened the pins on his grenades before jumping out of the helicopter. One of them popped out of the belt and rolled on the ground. You leaped on it to save us all. I wrapped you up myself and got you to the hospital. I was on the helicopter; I know how it happened."
Max came to the next Bible study a new man. He said a gigantic load had been lifted off his shoulders.
The study group had been studying Romans 8:28, where in the Greek, God (not "all things") is the subject of the sentence: "God works all things together for good." So now, when Senator Cleland is hurrying around in his wheelchair, he’ll call out to the Senate Chaplain, "Remember, things don’t work out; God works out things."
B. Friends do you understand this?
1. God works out the THINGS in your life!
2. God works them out for the good!
3. God works them out in His way!
4. God works them out for the best!
5. God works them out in His time!
6. God makes all things beautiful in His time!
7. He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end.
8. Galatians 4:4, But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son
9. Psalms 37:23-24, If the LORD delights in a man’s way, he makes his steps firm; 24 though he stumble, he will not fall, for the LORD upholds him with his hand.
C. Jesus Christ, the Messiah, the Savior, the grace of God—now that’s a gift worth waiting for!
1. How do you need to respond today?
2. Please come to God as we stand and sing "In His Time."
