Worship Like the Parents
December 22/23, 2001 – Steve Simala Grant
Intro:
From Yancey (The Jesus I Never Knew, p. 43-44), quoting JB Phillips:
A senior angel is showing a very young angel around the splendors of the universe. They view whirling galaxies and blazing suns, and then flit across the infinite distances of space until at last they enter one particular galaxy of 500 billion stars.
As the two of them draw near to the star which we call our sun and to its circling planets, the senior angel pointed to a small and rather insignificant sphere turning very slowly on its axis. It looked as dull as a dirty tennis ball to the angel, whose mind was filled with the size and glory of what he had seen.
“I want you to watch that one particularly,” said the senior angel, pointing with his finger.
“Well, it looks very small and rather dirty to me,” said the little angel. “What’s special about that one?”
To the little angel, earth did not seem so impressive. He listened in stunned disbelief as the senior angel told him that this planet, small and insignificant and not overly clean, was the renowned Visited Planet.
“Do you mean that our great and glorious Prince … went down in Person to this fifth-rate little ball? Why should He do a thing like that?” …
The little angel’s face wrinkled in disgust. “Do you mean to tell me,” he said, “that He stooped so low as to become one of those creeping, crawling creatures of that floating ball?”
“I do, and I don’t think He would like you to call them ‘creeping, crawling creatures’ in that tone of voice. For, strange as it may seem to us, He loves them. He went down to visit them to lift them up to become like Him.”
The little angel looked blank. Such a thought was almost beyond his comprehension.
Context:
Are you ready? A common question this time of year. It is usually a question about whether the shopping is done, gifts wrapped, tree decorated, food organized, plans made. But I want to ask – Are you ready to worship? Are you prepared to concentrate not on the details of the celebration but on the reason for the celebration?
The day when we celebrate God becoming man is just around the corner. We’ve been walking towards this celebration by looking at how the people in the story worshiped the Christ child – beginning with the shepherds who were enthusiastic and shared the good news with everyone, and last week looking at the Magi who journeyed great distances so that they could bow before the King of the Jews and bring their gifts of worship. Today let’s look at the parents in the story – Zechariah and Elizabeth and Joseph and Mary. Let’s see what their journey was like and how they responded.
1. John’s Parents (Luke 1:5-80)
I had never realized prior to this week how much attention Luke pays to John’s parents. There are about 60 verses describing Zechariah and Elizabeth’s experience, and only about 55 verses describing Jesus’ birth. They are an important part of the story! How did God reveal Himself to them, and how did they respond? Perhaps you’ll see some similarities to how God has revealed Himself to you, and some ways you can respond.
Luke sets the context for us in vss. 5-7 (read). They were righteous, they had no children, and they were old. And then Luke tells us the story of Zechariah being chosen to bring the incense offering. Now, as a priest Zechariah would have been “on duty” at the temple twice per year for a week each time. One of the important duties was to present the offering of incense – something a priest was only able to do once in his life assuming he was chosen by lot (some never had the privilege). So it was an extremely important moment – possibly the most important in Zechariah’s entire life. The priests would enter the sanctuary together, then at the appointed time they would all leave except for the one bringing the incense offering. It is then that Zechariah meets the angel Gabriel, who tells him about the coming birth of his son John.
I find Zechariah’s response quite interesting. First he is terrified, overwhelmed with fear (vs. 12). But after the angel delivers the message (which, by the way, he specifically notes is in response to Zechariah’s prayer), there is quite a different response: he boldly demands a sign to prove this, and states the obvious fact that he and Elizabeth are far too old to start a family (vs. 18). We know that there was a resistance in Zechariah by Gabriel’s response: “you did not believe my words” (vs. 20).
The simple facts: Zechariah and Elizabeth had prayed for a miracle, an angel appeared and promised that God would answer, and Zechariah didn’t believe it. Does that sound familiar at all? Maybe age had something to do with it – they had been childless for a long time – probably at least 30 or more years. Things hadn’t changed in all that time, what makes them think they would change now? Have you had a similar experience, of praying and waiting for something for so long, that when it appears that it might happen you respond with disbelief – you say “well that sure would be nice, but I’ll believe it when (if) I see it…”
The point I want to make from this is that God still changes things. Even if we are old and have been praying and waiting our whole lives, God can still answer! Don’t give up hope, don’t stop praying, don’t stop believing that God can still change things. Maybe it is a relative needing to know Christ personally, maybe it is something like depression that has plagued you for years, maybe it is a sinful habit that you haven’t been able to break, maybe it is something else. Don’t stop believing that God can change things – Zechariah and Elizabeth teach us the opposite!
As a result of his disbelief, Gabriel makes Zechariah mute until the day that all these things happen – Zechariah got his sign! Does it seem a little harsh? The lesson is we better believe God’s words to us. It was probably nine months that Zechariah couldn’t talk.
During that time, the story shifts to Elizabeth. (vss. 24-25). We don’t have a lot of information, but we do get a glimpse of the pain she had been through by feeling the rejection of her people. So her journey begins in pain – in the agony of rejection. We don’t know exactly why she chose to remain in seclusion for 5 months, but this pain of rejection I think gives us a clue. Note Elizabeth’s focus on the goodness of God meeting her need and taking away her disgrace.
As the story continues we find Mary coming to visit. Read vss. 39-45. There are a couple of things that stick out to me – the first is her attitude. She immediately recognizes that the child Mary carries is superior to her own, and she recognizes Mary as “blessed” and as “the mother of my Lord.” Elizabeth had received a pretty big miracle of her own, but there is no comparison, no sense that Elizabeth wanted to jealously guard what God had done for her and not let someone else steal the spotlight.
I see this as a mark of true spiritual maturity in Elizabeth. She was able to recognize what God was doing in other people without any competitiveness – she just celebrated. No sense of jealousy or self-centeredness or “oh yah well the angel said my baby would…” She just celebrates what God is doing around her. That is often a tough thing for us to do – to see what God is doing in other places and not be jealous, not wonder why God isn’t doing the same thing with us, not get impatient with how He is leading and growing us. Elizabeth shows us where the focus needs to be – on Jesus – and not on ourselves.
The second thing I noticed in Elizabeth’s response was that it was loud (vs. 42). We have this wonderful piece of poetic utterance, blessing Mary and recognizing her child as the Lord. Well the text says that Elizabeth shouted this poem! Here is an old woman – we don’t know her age, but she could easily have been 60 or 70 – who is pregnant of all things – yelling! I love this – in her exuberance at what God was doing she didn’t hold back, she genuinely expressed her feelings in “a loud cry”.
The worship lesson there for me is that we shouldn’t hold back. When God has done something marvelous, we should express ourselves with abandon and without reservation. Even if that means that we do so loudly!!
So John’s parents’ journey began in the pain of childlessness, went through a time of disbelief and silence, to an end point of praising God. We saw that in Elizabeth, and Zechariah gets to the same place also. (Set context of naming of John…) Vs. 64 tells us that when his mouth was opened, after nine long months of silence, his immediate reaction was to praise God. Verses 68-79 record his beautiful prophecy for us, and is well worth studying, but for now we’ll leave Elizabeth and Zechariah simply noticing that through their journey of pain and then finally God’s answer, they come to the point of praising God.
2. Jesus’ parents:
A. Joseph – Matt. 1:18-25
Joseph is a quite character in the Biblical record – we don’t know a whole lot about him. Matthew tells us he was a righteous man (19), he planned to divorce Mary quietly rather than publicly, which shows he was somewhat sensitive to Mary and didn’t want to disgrace her, and it tells us he had a dream. Quite an incredible dream, actually, if you think about what the angel told him.
And from there, scripture simply tells us that he obeyed (vs. 24) – he got up and did what the angel had told him.
Now, we saw how Zechariah responded to the angel with disbelief, and we’ll see in just a moment that Mary had a question also. But not Joseph. He just got up and did it. And he did the same thing a chapter later after the Magi appeared and he had another dream urging him to take his family and flee to Egypt (2:13-18). That time he actually got everybody up in the middle of the night and off they went.
Other than those few facts, we don’t really know much about him. But that is enough for me to picture him as a strong, quiet man. Eager to do the right thing, regardless of the cost to himself or his reputation, even if it meant raising a child that was not his own. I don’t read a whole lot of emotion in how Joseph is described, just a man of faith and of facts. Mary’s pregnant. The angel said the child was from the Holy Spirit, and that I should marry her anyways. So OK, that’s the way it will be.
Does that sound like you? Just give me the facts, show me what the right thing to do is, and I’ll do it. Regardless of whether it means I’ll lose my job or lose a friend or lose some money, it doesn’t matter – what matters is integrity.
So how did Joseph worship? We don’t read of him kneeling, bringing gifts, yelling loudly with excitement. We just read of him being obedient. Doing what God told him to. That was his act of worship – he obeyed. If Joseph sounds like you, then worship by obeying.
B. Mary (Luke 1:26-38; 2:19)
So how about Mary? As with Joseph, the Scriptures don’t tell us all that much about her. Let’s read Luke 1:26-38; 2:19.
Just like Zechariah, Mary had a visit from Gabriel, who had some unbelievable news. Her initial response was the same as Zechariah’s, and actually the same as the shepherds also. She was terrified, and yet was thoughtful at the same time. Curious almost. I can see her mind racing, trying to understand what was going on, why she was being visited by this angel who was telling her all sorts of things. It didn’t make sense to her, and so she asks a question – “How can this be?” But unlike Zechariah, we don’t get the feeling that this question came from unbelief. She wasn’t rejecting the message, wasn’t saying “yah right I know that is impossible.”
The angel speaks again, explains how things will happen, and Mary’s next answer reveals a lot: (vs. 38). She accepts the message, offers herself, submits to God’s will. She knew that by becoming pregnant the very best she could expect was a quiet divorce and a life of disgrace and poverty. And yet she believed Gabriel that this child would be the Messiah, and so willingly submitted herself to God’s will. This response is likely one of the primary reasons why Mary is so loved by many Christians – her humble, willing acceptance of God’s will.
One other phrase is revealing – at the end of the shepherd story we read that Mary “treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart.” This phrase, as well as the ones before, reveal a contemplative heart. They show us a young woman who was deeply thoughtful, almost meditative.
We see a glimpse of how Mary responded in worship in her famous poem in Luke 1:47-55). We aren’t going to take the time to look at it in detail (that is a whole sermon in itself!), but the first verse kind of sets the tone for the whole thing (read). We don’t know exactly what happened here, whether Mary just opened her mouth and these words came out like a prophetic utterance, or whether she had thought long and hard and composed the poem on her journey. I think the latter – I think Mary probably was mulling all these things over in her mind, contemplating all that God had done for her and for His people throughout the history of Israel, and this is the response she came up with. I think she worked hard on it. And she captured the true expression of her joy and gratitude. The poem reveals a thankful heart focused on God, on all that He had done and was doing, and on many of His great qualities like mercy and holiness.
Does that sound like you? When God speaks to you, is your desire to sit quietly in your chair, cup of coffee in hand, and simply think through and enjoy what God has said? Are you the type of person who enjoys long walks, car rides without the radio or any other noise, just so you have the time to mull over what God is saying and doing in your life? Or maybe it is a long, quiet conversation with a friend that can meander in and out of all the different strands that God is weaving together in your life. If so, then I think that you are like Mary. I think your journey parallels her journey. And if you can see yourself in her, I encourage you to submit like she did – to welcome and accept all that God has for you with open arms, enjoy his voice speaking to you, meditate on all that He is doing in and around you. And worship like Mary did.
Conclusion:
God made each of us different. Some are loud and exuberant, like the shepherds. Others are determined and persistent like the Magi. Perhaps Zechariah and Elizabeth, who were surprised by God finally answering a prayer in their old age remind you of how God has worked in your life. Maybe you are like Joseph – ok Lord, just tell me what to do and I’ll obey. Or maybe you see yourself in Mary, contemplative and quiet and obedient. Wherever you see yourself in the Christmas story, be encouraged: God made you with the personality you have, and He has you on the journey you are on. And both are for a reason. So worship the way God made you. Enjoy the journey, hold tight to Him at the difficult parts, and trust that He is in control and working all things for good.
Worship truly is the goal. We cannot lose sight of the incredible truth that God became flesh – that Jesus came to earth as an infant, that He became one of us in every way. That is the amazing truth of Christmas – that is why we celebrate and make such a big deal of this season. And it really is worth celebrating – God came near. God became human. All because of His incredible love for us. I encourage you to wade through the clutter of the season and kneel at the manger, to look past the commercialism and culturalisms and worship the Christ child. And to do that in whatever way God has made you.
