The Miraculous Moment

Title: The Miracle of the Moment Scripture: Galatians 4:4ff

Type: Advent Where: GNBC 12-5-23

Intro: Today is the 1st Sunday of Advent, 2023. There are now only 22 days until Christmas! That’s only 528 hrs! Or, it is 31,600 minutes! And you have to buy X# of presents for # of people, so quit wasting your time listening to me and run for it!!! Time and timing are everything. You wouldn’t plant tomatoes in Iowa in January but they do really well in August! Timing affects financial analysists. It affects musicians. Sports are often a matter of timing…not just the duration of the match, but think about the activities within the various sports. When Caitlin Clark pops a 3 pointer from Iowa Ave. it’s a matter of timing. When a batter times it just right to hit a 96 mph fastball or a curve, it’s timing. In football, when a center snaps the ball on signal, the holder catches, and places the ball while the kicker is already in motion and nails it through the uprights, its all a matter of timing. Think of the difference a few minutes can make. Illust: Christmas 1991 came up to Iowa. Flew into Chicago. Carol’s parents came and got us. Driving back through snowstorm on I-80. Dark and low visibility. A minivan passed us. Thirty seconds later a semi. Less than 5 minutes later both vehicles were in the ditch and the truck had run over the top of the van. Several members of the family in the minivan were dead. Timing matters.

Prop: In Galatians 4 we’’ notice 3 Important Lessons Concerning the Miracle of the Moment.

BG: 1. Some of you may be wondering: “An Advent message from Galatians 4?” Yup, from Galatians 4. Honestly, I think one could preach an Advent message about any NT passage, because Christ is the WOG.

2. As said, today first Sunday of Advent, “Coming of Christ”. Beautiful time of year.

3.

Prop: Would you look with me today at Gal. 4 as we attempt to understand 3 Important Lessons Concerning the First Coming of Christ.

I. Realize Christ Came at the Right Moment. V. 4

A. The Son of God Made His 1st Advent in a Specific Moment in Time.

1. Advent Recognizes the Historical Fact of Christ’s Incarnation.

a. Illust: One of the most popular Christmas movies of all times is “The Miracle on 34th Street” It is a wonderful, magical tale about an old man named Kris Kringle who believes he is Santa Claus and wants others to believe in him as well. Was it just by chance or coincidence that Kris Kringle was there at the parade that day? No! That represents the miracle of the moment. At just the right time, Kris Kringle showed up at the parade and rescued not only the parade, but the jobs of Ms. Walker and countless others. Ms. Walker failed to recognize the miracle of the moment. She failed to realize the significance of hiring Kris Kringle to be the store Santa at the time.

b. “Fullness” – pleroma – completion. To fill up to the point of fullness. Illust – When pumping gas in cars nowadays we have something to “idiot” proof them. Virtually everyone pumps own gas today. People are distracted and used to waste a lot of gas. Sensor in the pumps that when gasoline reaches a certain level, pump clicks and shuts off. Then must manually fill beyond that point. At one moment you are filling gas and the next moment, “Click” and stops! Your tank is full! (Mostly!) At the fullness of God’s redemptive story, Christ entered into His creation to save it!

2. God’s Timing in Christ’s Advent was Perfect Timing.

a. The “fullness of time” was planned from eternity past. God has an eternal calendar, a schedule for redemptive history. Man turns a blind eye to God’s plan of redemption. Adam and Eve rejected the bliss of Eden. Israel disregarded the covenant relationship they enjoyed with Jehovah. This “fullness” was first revealed in Gen. 3:15, that Christ would come at just the right time to perform just the right work to insure the redemption of God’s elect.

b. Illust: “Sometimes unplanned events occur that you can’t possibly schedule. Cliff Barrows served as Billy Graham’s lifelong associate and crusade song leader. In 1945, before he met Billy Graham, Cliff and his fiancée, Billie, had scraped together enough money for a simple wedding and two train tickets to a resort. On arrival, however, they found the hotel shut down. Stranded in an unfamiliar city with little money, they thumbed a ride. A sympathetic driver took them to a grocery store, owned by a woman he knew, where the newlyweds spent their first night in a room above the store. The next day, when the lady overheard Cliff playing Christian songs on his trombone, she arranged for them to spend the rest of their honeymoon at a friend’s house. Several days later the host invited them to attend a youth rally where a young evangelist was speaking. The song leader that night was sick, and Cliff was asked to take charge of the music for the service. The young evangelist, of course, was Billy Graham and the two became lifelong partners. You can’t schedule such unplanned events.” (Roger Pascoe – Gal. 4)