Mission Impossible: A Barren Woman Conceives

Luke 1:5-25

Christmas is a time of surprises. There was a lady who was preparing her Christmas cookies. Suddenly there was a knock at her door. She opened the door to find a man, his clothes poor, obviously looking for some Christmas odd jobs. The man asked the lady if there was anything he could do. She said, "Can you paint?"

"Yes," he said. "I'm a rather good painter."

"Well," she said, "there are two gallons of green paint there and a brush, and there's a porch out back that needs to be painted. Please do a good job. I'll pay you what the job is worth."

The man said, "Fine. I'll be done quickly."

The lady went back to her cookie making and didn't think much more about it until there was a knock at the door. Again she opened the door to find the man standing there, paint all over his clothes.

She said, "Did you finish the job?"

He said, "Yes."

She asked, "Did you do a good job?"

He responded, "Yes. But lady, there's one thing I'd like to point out to you. That's not a Porsche back there. That's a Mercedes."

Christmas is full of surprises, some of them welcome, some of them unwelcome! As we prepare to celebrate the birth of Christ I want to talk with you about the God of surprises whom we serve. I want to talk with you about our God who surprises us by doing the impossible. The first story we are going to look at during this Advent season is the story of a barren woman who was enabled to conceive a child by the power of God. Her name was Elizabeth. Her husband's name was Zechariah. And the child that God gave them was John the Baptist, the one sent to prepare the way for the Messiah, our Lord Jesus. We read their story in Luke 1:5-25. Hear the Word of God.

What is your impossible problem? Zechariah and Elizabeth had an impossible problem; they were unable to have children. To be childless, in the Jewish culture of that time, was a great reproach. It was thought that barrenness was a sign of divine punishment. The Jewish Rabbis said that seven people were excommunicated from God and the list began, "A Jew who has no wife, or a Jew who has a wife and who has no child." Childlessness, in some circles, was thought to be a valid ground for divorce.

Luke tells us that Zechariah and Elizabeth were upright in the sight of God, observing all the Lord's commandments and regulations blamelessly. So we can be sure that Elizabeth's barrenness was not a sign of divine punishment. Yet, when we see good people suffering as Zechariah and Elizabeth suffered we ask, "Why?" As the story unfolds we see that the reason for Elizabeth's barrenness was so that God would have an opportunity to show forth His power.

As a pastor I have witnessed the great emotional pain of people unable to bear children. It is a comfort to look into the Bible and see real people with real problems. I am sure that Zechariah and Elizabeth felt the pain of their childlessness, just as much as any couple here who has struggled with the same problem. And the pain of Zechariah and Elizabeth was accentuated by the culture in which they lived. And it is an even greater comfort to know that we serve the God of the impossible. Perhaps God is allowing your impossible problem to exist so that He can show forth His limitless power in your life.

Missionary Ian Hall tells the story of a Romanian woman named Cristina Ardeleanu. In March 1992 Cristina was in the hospital with an ectopic pregnancy. Before she learned she was pregnant, the fetus died and began to decompose in her body. Cristina was not expected to live.

Ian and his wife Sheila went to the hospital to pray for Cristina and God healed her. Still, in their attempts to save her life, doctors removed most of her uterus and one ovary. They told her she would never bear a child.

Cristina's strength returned, and my May she was back in church. She and her husband Stefan came for prayer. They asked Ian, "Will you pray that God will give us a child?" Knowing Cristina's diagnosis the couple was hoping to adopt a child. However, Ian prayed that the couple would be able to give birth to their own child, to the astonishment of everyone gathered there.

In May 1993 Ian was back in Cristina's church in Romania. The pastor announced that a baby would be dedicated and informed Ian that he was to pray for the child. At first, Ian couldn't see anyone in the congregation with a baby. Then from the farthest corner of the church he saw Stefan and Cristina approaching, holding the son born to them 6 weeks earlier. As with Zechariah and Elizabeth, Stefan and Cristina had received a child by the miraculous work of God.

What is your impossible problem? Is it infertility? Is it cancer? Is it the loss of a job? Is it a problem in your marriage or family? This story does not guarantee that God will always remove infertility, or cancer, or give us the job that we want, or erase marriage and family problems. But this story does teach us that our God is one who likes to take on impossible situations and show us that all things are possible for Him.

This leads to the second point brought out by this story. That is that prayer is the solution to impossible problems. In verse 13 Gabriel says to Zechariah, "your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son." This suggests that Zechariah had prayed about their impossible problem. He had prayed that Elizabeth would bear a child.

Sometimes we are tempted to not bring our impossible problems before God. We are afraid that He won't answer or that He can't do anything about our problem. We may think He doesn't care about us. But this story teaches us that there is no problem too great for God's power and no person too small for His love.

Zechariah may have been tempted to think that he was not important to God. He was only one of 20,000 priests. The priests were divided into 24 sections. Within the sections all the duties were allocated by lot. Every morning and evening sacrifice was made for the whole nation. Before the morning sacrifice and after the evening sacrifice incense was burned on the altar of incense so that the sacrifices might go up to God wrapped, as it were, in an envelope of sweet-smelling incense. The incense was symbolic of the prayers of God's people. But with there being as many priests as there were, it was quite possible that many a priest would never have the privilege of burning incense all his life. If the lot did fall on any priest to burn incense that day was the greatest day in all his life.

So here was Zechariah, on the most thrilling day of his life, entering into God's presence in the temple, presenting the prayers of God's people, and he is met by an angel of the Lord. And that angel tells Zechariah: "Your prayer has been heard."

Can you imagine being Zechariah? Can you imagine receiving assurance from an angel, in person, that your prayers have been heard by God? What an affirmation! Maybe Zechariah did matter to God after all. God's Word assures us that each of us matter to God. Our prayers are heard by Him, if we pray according to His will. (1 John 5:14) Zechariah was probably less tempted in the future to think that his prayers were not heard by God, or to think that he did not matter to God.

Will you dare to pray about your impossible situation and receive in faith God's answer when it comes? John Newton, the author of that great hymn of the faith Amazing Grace once penned these lines,

Thou art coming to a King,

Large petitions with thee bring,

For His grace and power are such

None can ever ask too much.

Do you ever dare to pray big prayers to God? Shortly after Dallas Theological Seminary was founded in 1924, it almost came to the point of bankruptcy. All the creditors were going to foreclose at noon on a particular day. That morning they met for prayer in the president Louis Sperry Chafer's office. In that prayer meeting was a man by the name of Harry Ironside. When it was his turn to pray, he prayed in his characteristic manner: "Lord, we know that the cattle on a thousand hills are Yours. Please sell some of them and send us the money."

While they were praying, a tall Texan with boots on and an open collar stepped up to the business office and said, "I just sold two carloads of cattle in Ft. Worth. I've been trying to make a business deal but it fell through, and I feel compelled to give the money to the seminary. I don't know if you need it or not, but here's the check!"

The secretary took the check and, knowing how critical things were financially, she went to the president's door and tapped lightly. When she finally got a response, Dr. Chafer took the check out of her hand. It was exactly the amount of the debt! When he looked at the name he recognized the cattleman in Ft. Worth, and turning to Dr. Ironside he said, "Harry, God sold the cattle!"

Are you willing to ask God to solve your impossible problem? Keep in mind, that as Anne Lewis once wrote, "There are four ways God answers prayer: (1) No, not yet; (2) No, I love you too much; (3) Yes, I thought you'd never ask; (4) Yes, and here's more." Be open to the many ways God may answer your prayer. But don't be surprised when He does answer.

Zechariah was surprised when God answered his prayer. Perhaps he had prayed long ago that Elizabeth would be enabled by God to bear a child. But when the prayer seemingly went unanswered for so long, maybe Zechariah had given up praying. And now that Elizabeth and he were well along in years, perhaps Zechariah had even given up hoping that they would have a child of their own. Perhaps that is why Zechariah asked the angel, "How can I be sure of this?"

In response to Zechariah's question the angel struck him dumb. He was unable to speak until after John was born. I'll bet Zechariah learned not to be so surprised at God's answers to prayer after that experience!

A third thing you can learn from this passage is that God's answer to your impossible problem will bring joy to many. Gabriel told Zechariah, "He [John] will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth."

God gets great glory by working in impossible situations. When God works in your impossible situation it will not only bring you joy, but it will bring others joy as well.

Can you imagine the giddy joy that Zechariah and Elizabeth must have had, finally bearing a child in old age, after praying for so many years? They must have laughed at God's crazy answer, just as Abraham and Sarah laughed many years before in a similar situation. And we read in Luke 1:58 that when Elizabeth's neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown her great mercy, they shared her joy. What a party must have taken place in Elizabeth's town after John was born!

When George Friedrich Handel wrote the Hallelujah Chorus his health and his fortunes had reached the lowest possible ebb. His right side had become paralyzed, and all his money was gone. He was heavily in debt and threatened with imprisonment. He was tempted to give up the fight. The odds seemed entirely too great. And it was then he composed his greatest work-The Messiah.

God worked in the midst of Handel's impossible problems, and the work of art that God brought about has brought joy to many. Did you know that each year in Washington, D.C., someone rents a hall, hires an orchestra, and advertises a sing-along production of Handel's Messiah? People stand in line to get tickets. The choir numbers five thousand. People pay for the privilege and joy of singing The Messiah.

What is your impossible problem? Are you daring to present that problem before the Lord in prayer? Or are you going to deprive yourself and others of the joy of seeing God's answer to your impossible situation?

There is a pastor in Florida who used to have "Count it all joy" parties every now and then. His reason for the parties was based upon James 1:2-3 where it says, "Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance."

This pastor so believed in this verse, that when he would face a difficult situation, he would call his friends over to his house. He'd say, "I want you to come over to my house for a party." His friends would say, "Is it a birthday party?" "No," the pastor would say. "Uh, you got a promotion?" they'd continue. "No," he'd say. "What's the situation?" they would finally ask.

"Well," he'd say, "I'm going through this incredibly difficult crisis right now, and I'm having a "Count it all joy" party. We're going to celebrate this difficulty, because I know that this difficulty is going to bring something of value to my life. I don't know what it is yet, but I want you to come and count it all joy with me."

What a great way to face impossible problems in life! Count it all joy! Present your problems before the Lord in prayer. Get your friends praying and rejoicing with you in advance. And then when God's solution to your impossible problem comes, you and others will be filled with even greater joy because of our God who makes the impossible possible!

Mission Impossible: A Virgin Conceives

Luke 1:26-56

Late one evening a professor sat at his desk working on the next day's lectures. He shuffled through the papers and mail placed there by his housekeeper. He began to throw them in the wastebasket when one magazine-not even addressed to him but delivered to his office by mistake-caught his attention. It fell open to an article titled: The Needs of the Congo Mission.

The professor began reading it idly, but then he was intrigued by these words: "The need is great here. We have no one to work the northern province of Gabon in the central Congo. And it is my prayer as I write this article that God will lay His hand on one-one on whom, already, the Master's eyes have been cast-that he or she shall be called to this place to help us." The professor closed the magazine and wrote in his diary: "My search is over." He gave his life to go to the Congo.

The professor's name was Albert Schweitzer. That little article, hidden in a periodical intended for someone else, was placed "by accident" in Schweitzer's mailbox. "By chance" his housekeeper put the magazine on the professor's desk. "By chance" he noticed the title, which seemed to leap out at him. Dr. Schweitzer became one of the great figures of the 20th century in a humanitarian work nearly unmatched in human history. Was it chance? No, it was the providence of God.

By the providence of God you are here this morning. By the providence of God you have been born in a certain place, brought up in a certain family, been given certain abilities and certain opportunities. God, in his providence, has chosen you for a special work that only you can do. God, in his providence, chose a certain young girl, who lived 2,000 years ago, to be the human mother of his Son and our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. It is her story that we read this morning from Luke 1:26-56. Hear the Word of God. . . .

I want us to focus this morning on verse 37: "For nothing is impossible with God." And I want to talk with you about the impossible thing that God did in Mary's life.

First of all, the impossible thing that God did in Mary was a virgin conception. It is clear from the verses we have just read that what Luke insists happened to Mary is that God conceived in her womb a child without the aid of a human father.

Now, if you are having trouble believing in the virgin conception of Jesus I ask you to consider these points:

Point #1: Luke, who is reporting this story, was probably a medical doctor. Luke certainly understood about how babies are conceived. He knew that a virgin conception was a human impossibility. Yet, he reports it as true. Why? Because he obviously believed that, in the case of Jesus' conception, a miracle had taken place.

C. S. Lewis has written, "You will hear people say, ?The early Christians believed that Christ was the son of a virgin, but we know that this is a scientific impossibility.' Such people seem to have an idea that belief in miracles arose at a period when men were so ignorant of the cause of nature that they did not perceive a miracle to be contrary to it. A moment's thought shows this to be nonsense: and the story of the Virgin Birth is a particularly striking example. When St. Joseph discovered that his fiancee was going to have a baby, he not unnaturally decided to repudiate her. Why? Because he knew just as well as any modern gynaecologist that in the ordinary course of nature women do not have babies unless they have lain with men. No doubt the modern gynaecologist knows several things about birth and begetting which St. Joseph did not know. But those things do not concern the main point-that a virgin birth is contrary to the course of nature. And St. Joseph [and Luke, I may add] certainly knew that. . . . When St. Joseph finally accepted the view that his fiancee's pregnancy was due not to unchastity but to a miracle, he accepted the miracle as something contrary to the known order of nature. . . . Belief in miracles, far from depending on an ignorance of the laws of nature, is only possible in so far as those laws are known."

Point #2: Luke was a painstaking historian. He tells us that he had researched his story well (Luke 1:1-4). We don't know for certain where Luke got this story, but it is possible he got the story from Mary herself.  According to the Gospel of John, Mary was taken into the home of John after Jesus' death.  It is possible, and even likely, according to the book of Revelation and church tradition, that John lived, for a time, in Ephesus on the coast of Asia Minor.  Therefore it is possible that Mary lived there with John.  Furthermore, Paul was a visitor to Ephesus and Luke was a traveling companion of Paul.  Therefore it is possible, though not certain by any means, that Luke interviewed Mary in Ephesus. 

Some people are puzzled by the fact that no reference is made to the virgin birth outside of Matthew and Luke's Gospels.  The reason the doctrine of the virgin birth does not appear in the letters of the New Testament was apparently because the fact of the virgin birth of Jesus was not known to the writers of the New Testament letters. The Gospels were written after most, if not all, of the letters were written. Luke and Matthew record the virgin birth because they got their stories, quite independently, from other sources, sources which in some way, most likely, went back to Jesus' immediate family. I imagine that Mary may not have recognized the importance of the virgin birth for the theology of the church. It was a fact about her son Jesus that she treasured in her own heart, until she was asked about it, then the story came out.

Point #3: the incarnation is a bigger miracle than the virgin birth. God becoming human is the greatest miracle of all. The virgin birth, as the vehicle for that incarnation, pales as a miracle by comparison to the incarnation. So if you believe in the incarnation then you should have no difficulty accepting the virgin conception of Jesus.

Point #4: nothing is impossible for the God who created the universe. If there is a God who created the far flung galaxies of outer space then certainly a virgin conception is not too hard a task for him to accomplish.

C. S. Lewis makes an important point in this regard. He writes, "No woman ever conceived a child, no mare a foal, without Him. But once, and for a special purpose, He dispensed with that long line which is His instrument: once His life-giving finger touched a woman without passing through the ages of interlocked events. Once the great glove of Nature was taken off His hand. His naked hand touched her. There was of course a unique reason for it. That time He was creating not simply a man but the Man who was to be Himself: was creating Man anew: was beginning, at this divine and human point, the New Creation of all things. The whole soiled and weary universe quivered at this direct injection of essential life-direct, uncontaminated, not drained through all the crowded history of Nature."

A virgin conception is not too hard a feat for a God who causes babies to be conceived every day. The specifics of how God accomplished the virgin conception of Jesus are not part of the story or the church doctrine about it. But the fact that Matthew and Luke teach that Jesus was born of a virgin is undisputed.

The second thing I want you to see about this impossible thing that God did in Mary is that it was not something Mary asked for.  Mary did not ask to be the human mother of the God-Man. I'm sure she had her own dreams and plans for a normal family with Joseph, her betrothed. But all of that was interrupted. Her plans were dashed to the ground. Certainly Mary must have had an inkling about what people would say if she conceived a child out of wedlock. They would say that she had been promiscuous. Joseph might decide not to marry her in the end. Her family might reject her and her father might kick her out of the house. Clearly, this situation was not something to be asked for or desired.

How do you handle God's interruptions in your life? Do you say, "O I wish such and such had never happened." Do you brood about it and mournfully ask God, "Why me?" Or do you accept God's interruptions in your life submissively and even joyfully?

W. Glyn Evans has written, "God must reserve for Himself the right of the initiative, the right to break into my life without question or explanation. That shattering phone call, that disturbing letter . . . may indeed be the first stage of God's interruption in my life. . . . Since God does the initiating He must be responsible for the consequences."

We see from this account how Mary reacted to God's interruption of her life. "I am the Lord's servant. May it be to me as you have said."  Instead of praying, "Thy will be changed." Mary prayed, "Thy will be done."

Ben Patterson has written, "Medieval artists often portrayed Mary in stained glass windows. Her pane would be the only one with no color on it. Clear glass. All the other windowpanes would filter the light of the sun through their own distinctive designs. Mary was clear, unfiltered. There was nothing of her to affect the light that came through. She could not advance herself and advance the work of God."

I think the medieval artists got it right. Mary was not putting any obstacle in God's way. She allowed God to have his way with her completely in this situation.

Ben Patterson goes on to say, "When we pray, we relinquish in a radical way our so-called sovereignty over the purposes of our lives. We subordinate our plans, schedules and life scenarios to the infinitely wiser and more joyful work of God's hands."

How do you respond to God's interruptions in your life? Oswald Chambers once wrote, "If you are a saint, God will continually upset your programme, and if you are wedded to your programme, you will become that most obnoxious creature under heaven, an irritable saint."  I'd rather not be an irritable saint.  How about you?

The fourth thing we need to see about the impossible thing that God did in Mary's life is that it was to be a mixed blessing. Mary was to know a joy like no other, she was to be the mother of the God-Man, the only perfect man who was also fully God. But she was also to see suffering like no other. Mary was the only person present at Jesus' birth who was also there for his horrific death. As Simeon was to prophesy about Mary's future, "And a sword will pierce your own soul too." (Luke 2:35)

If you knew what was going to happen in your life would you still sign up for the course? If you knew all the future pains as well as all the future joys you were going to experience, would you want to live even for another day? Perhaps that is why God only reveals to us as much as he knows we can handle. He knows that our knowing all of our future would be too much revelation for us to handle in a moment. So his usual program is to reveal only the next step we need to take. That's what he did in Mary's life and that probably enabled her to submit more willingly and joyfully to his will.

The conception of Jesus in Mary's womb was a mixed blessing in her life. All blessings from God in this life are mixed. No circumstance is totally hopeless if we are walking in a relationship with God through Christ. Yet no situation is perfect because we haven't reached heaven yet.

Eric Liddell, the Olympic runner about whom the movie Chariots of Fire was made, once said this, "Circumstances may appear to wreck our lives and God's plans, but God is not helpless among the ruins. Our broken lives are not lost or useless. God's love is still working. He comes in and takes the calamity and uses it victoriously, working out his wonderful plan of love."

Do you remember in Chariots of Fire how Eric Liddell refused to run on Sunday because it was the Sabbath? When he is on the boat crossing the English Channel, en route to Paris for the Olympic Games, he finds out that he is scheduled to run in a race on Sunday. He knows what he must do because of his commitment to keep Sunday as a holy day set apart for God. He must decline to run in the race and give up his dream of running in the Olympics. And yet God had other plans and arranged for Liddell to trade places with another athlete and run in a different race on a different day.

Eric Liddell went on to serve as a missionary in China where he later gave up his life for the cause of Christ. Was Eric Liddell's life ultimately a great defeat? Did God's cause fail? No, for today the church is growing in China probably more than anywhere else in the world, in spite of, and perhaps because of government persecution of and restrictions against Christian worship. And the testimony of Eric Liddell's life continues on. All of life in this world for the Christian is a mixed blessing.

Finally, we see that the impossible thing that God did in Mary was the start of a revolution.

First of all, the conception of Jesus was the beginning of a moral revolution. Mary said in her prayer which we know as the Magnificat: "he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts."

The conception of Jesus in a humble girl from Nazareth was the beginning of a moral revolution. William Barclay has said, "Christianity is the death of pride. Why? Because if a man sets his life beside that of Christ it tears the last vestiges of pride from him. . . . Christ enables a man to see himself. It is the deathblow to pride. The moral revolution has begun."

Secondly, the virgin conception of Jesus was the beginning of a social revolution. Mary said, "He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble." Barclay says, "Christianity puts an end to the world's labels and prestige. . . .When we have realized what Christ did for all men, it is no longer possible to speak about a common man. The social grades are gone."

Thirdly, the virgin conception of Christ was the beginning of an economic revolution. "He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty." Barclay says, "A non-Christian society is an acquisitive society where each man is out to amass as much as he can get. A Christian society is a society where no man dares to have too much while others have too little, where every man must get only to give away."

A number of years ago I took one of my sons Christmas shopping for the first time in his life, to give him the chance to buy some presents for the rest of the family. The purpose of the trip from my perspective was to give my son the chance to learn that Christmas is about giving as well as receiving. My son had $5 saved from his allowance and we went to Eckerd's Drug Store with his $5 in change in a plastic bag. We found presents for the rest of our family, but you can't buy three presents for $5 even at Eckerd's. I had to chip in about $4 more. Then after we had paid for the presents I remembered that we needed to buy wrapping paper. It was then that my son realized we had spent all of his money on the gifts. He said to me, "Why didn't you tell me I was spending all of my money? I wanted to keep some of it for myself." I realized my son's teachable moment had arrived. I bent down and asked him, "Do you know what God gave us on Christmas?" Either he didn't know or didn't want to answer. So I said, "He gave us his Son Jesus. And his Son Jesus gave up everything in heaven to come and be born as a human baby and die for us on the cross. Do you think that since Jesus gave up everything for us that you can give up your money to buy presents for others at Christmas time?"

Maybe it was an unfair question for a father to ask his young son. But it is not an unfair question for me to ask you. Since God's Son gave up everything to be born as a human baby and die on the cross for your sin, what do you think you might give up for him and for others?

Jesus' coming to earth was the start of a moral, a social and an economic revolution. Since Jesus came to earth and died on the cross for our sins and rose again from the dead he has the power to enable us to live for him and for others rather than for ourselves. Christmas is the season when we give to others because God first gave his Son for us. And we can only give to others willingly and joyfully because he first gave his Son for us. I pray that the Lord will work his revolution in each of my children's hearts, and in my heart, and in your heart, not only during Christmas, but all throughout the year.

Mission Impossible: God Becomes Human

Luke 2:1-7

The most amazing, impossible thing that God did, which we celebrate at Christmas, is that he became a human being.

Not far from where I grew up in Southern California there is an observatory called Mount Palomar. In that observatory is one of the largest telescopes in the world. It can look out into the heavens and pick out light so far away that it takes one hour of focusing upon that light for it to make even the faintest impression on a photographic plate. That telescope has a tremendous capacity for focusing on distant objects. And yet, what that telescope on Mount Palomar can do is nothing compared to the way in which God focused himself in the God-Man, Jesus, the human baby whose birth we celebrate at Christmas.

J. B. Phillips once wrote, "Every day science discovers more and more of the complex wisdom of God. Anyone who uses his mind has a much bigger idea of God than our grandfathers, or even our fathers ever had. Yet God has been here on the planet in person. What we are celebrating . . . is not the feast of jolly old Father Christmas or good King Wenceslaus, or a beautiful fairy-tale. We are celebrating the visit of God."

That is the amazing, impossible thing that God did 2,000 years ago. He became a human being. And it is the birth of the God-Man Jesus Christ that we read about in Luke 2:1-7.

There are at least 3 other amazing things about Jesus' birth that we see in this passage. First of all, the Prince of Peace was born during the Pax Romana.

Luke tells us that Jesus was born in the days when Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. This statement anchors Jesus' birth firmly in history.

It was this same Caesar Augustus who ushered in the Pax Romana, or Roman peace. James Boice once wrote, "Prior to the reign of Augustus the empire had been in great turmoil. There had been the advance of Julius Caesar over the Rubicon, which led to the death of the Republic and in time to Caesar's own death by assassination. That was followed by the civil wars in which Antony and Octavius defeated Brutus and Cassius. Then there was war between Antony and the quickly ascending Augustus. In all there were twenty years of turmoil, and it was only at the end of that period that Augustus, now the sole ruler of the empire, established peace. Moreover, it was not only in civil war that Augustus proved victorious. He also conducted wars on the various borders of the empire against invaders and on the seas against pirates. He established the Pax Romana."

The reason I say that the Prince of Peace being born during the Pax Romana is amazing because it was the best time for Jesus to be born. The Pax Romana is significant to the birth of Christianity because it made possible the spread of the Gospel of Jesus Christ throughout the whole Roman Empire. Under the Pax Romana, instead of fighting wars, roads were built across the empire and it was safe to travel. This offered a unique opportunity in the ancient world for the birth and explosion of Christianity.

Because of the Pax Romana in the eastern Mediterranean Augustus was hailed as a savior and a god. A tribute to Augustus from that time reads: "[the birthday] of the god has marked the beginning of the good news through him for the world."

N. T. Wright has written, "But the point Luke is making is clear. The birth of this little boy is the beginning of a confrontation between the kingdom of God-in all its apparent weakness, insignificance and vulnerability-and the kingdoms of the world. Augustus never heard of Jesus of Nazareth. But within a century or so his successors in Rome had not only heard of him; they were taking steps to obliterate his followers. Within just over three centuries the Emperor himself became a Christian. When you see the manger on a card, or in a church, don't stop at the crib. See what it's pointing to. It is pointing to the explosive truth that the baby lying there is already being spoken of as the true king of the world."

The Bible tells us that the real bearer of peace is not Caesar Augustus but Jesus. Isaiah prophesied about the Messiah hundreds of years before Jesus' birth. And in Isaiah 9:6-7 we read,

6For to us a child is born,

to us a son is given,

and the government will be on his shoulders.

And he will be called

Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,

Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

7Of the increase of his government and peace

there will be no end.

He will reign on David's throne

and over his kingdom,

establishing and upholding it

with justice and righteousness

from that time on and forever.

The zeal of the Lord Almighty

will accomplish this.

The Prince of Peace, who is Jesus, is the only one who can bring lasting peace to our troubled world and to our disturbed souls.

A friend visited an elderly woman badly crippled by arthritis. When asked, "Do you suffer much?" she responded, "Yes, but there is no nail here," and she pointed to her hand. "He had the nails, I have the peace." She pointed to her head. "There are no thorns here. He had the thorns, I have the peace" She touched her side. "There is no spear here. He had the spear, I have the peace."

That is what God becoming human means for us. He became a human being, in part, so that he might die on a cross for our sins. We give him our sins and in exchange he gives us his peace that reigns in our souls. The problem is that we want peace without the Prince of Peace, and that is not possible.

The second amazing thing we see in this passage about the birth of Christ is that the Bread of Life was born in the House of Bread.

It is interesting to note that God used the actions of human rulers to insure that his Son would be born in Bethlehem. If it had not been for Caesar Augustus issuing his decree and Quirinius conducting the census, Joseph and Mary would probably have stayed in Nazareth and Jesus would have been born there. But in the Old Testament, in Micah 5:2 we read,

"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."

It was God's plan all along that his Son should be born in Bethlehem and this was probably the case for at least two reasons. First of all, Bethlehem was the town of David. So by causing Jesus to be born in Bethlehem God was telling us that Jesus was and is the long-awaited Messiah. Secondly, the name Bethlehem means "House of Bread." What better place for the Bread of Life to be born than in the House of Bread? Jesus was and is the Bread of Life as he later claimed in John 6:35, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty."

Read the label on the last loaf of bread you bought. More than likely you will discover that it has been filled with alien vitamins and preservatives. Bread is not the simple thing it once was. But how can anyone improve on the Bread of Life? The Bread of Life is unique. You can make physical bread from wheat, rye, rice, barley, corn, even from potatoes. The best bread for the soul can come only from one source: Jesus Christ.

A common expression to describe extreme conditions of poverty is to say that a person is on a diet of bread and water. Prisoners in solitary confinement have sometimes been given nothing more than that. Monks in their ascetic zeal have sometimes limited their diet to bread and water. Bread and water may not sound very nourishing. But spiritual bread and water is all we need to live a full, healthy spiritual life. Jesus is the bread of life, and he also said that he is the water of life. He is all that we need.

The third amazing thing we see in this passage about Jesus' birth is that there was no room in the inn for the one who makes room for us in heaven.

Caesar had no room for Jesus. James Boice once wrote, "There was no room for Him in the palaces of this world's kings. Caesar would not make room. The idea of the great Augustus making room for the humble carpenter from Nazareth and his pregnant companion Mary is preposterous."

Quirinius had no room for Jesus. He, like Caesar, probably had no knowledge even of Christ's existence. Charles Spurgeon once wrote, ". . . seldom is there room for Christ in palaces! How could the kings of earth receive the Lord? He is the Prince of Peace, and they delight in war! He breaks their bows and cuts their spears asunder; he burneth their war-chariots in the fire. How could kings accept the humble Savior? They love grandeur and pomp, and he is all simplicity and meekness. He is a carpenter's son, and the fisherman's companion. How can princes find room for the new-born monarch? Why he teaches us to do to others as we would that they should do to us, and this is a thing which kings would find very hard to reconcile with the knavish tricks of politics and the grasping designs of ambition."

The rich families of Bethlehem made no room for Jesus. Joseph Bayly once wrote the following Psalm for Christmas:

Lord we blame

the innkeeper

for only giving you the stable

when his inn was full

but what about

all the others

who lived in Bethlehem

that night

when you were born.

Why were

all their houses

that weren't full

of guests

fast closed

against the one

who contained you?

God bless

our little homes

this Christmastime

make them

big enough

to welcome you

contained in those

for whom the world

has no room

except

a cold and lonely

Christmas day.

The poor made no room for Jesus either. We often think it was the rich people who were staying in the inn in Bethlehem but it was not. Only the poor would stay in an inn in that time. The rich would stay in homes.

One Christmas season a teacher was teaching a group of first graders in public school. They were studying Christmas customs from around the world. So this particular teacher took the opportunity to tell the class the story of Mary and Joseph and the baby Jesus. She explained how Mary and Joseph had gone to Bethlehem to pay taxes. It was time for the baby Jesus to be born and they needed somewhere to spend the night. The teacher told her students that when they went to the inn, there were no empty rooms. She compared the inn to a modern-day hotel or motel. She was leading up to the stable when she asked, "What do you suppose they had behind the inn?"

One little boy, who had been listening intently, began to frantically wave his hand. His face was alight with knowledge. He said, "A swimming pool!"

Well, they didn't have a swimming pool behind the inn in Bethlehem because it was an inn for poor people. And none of them gave up their room for Mary and Joseph. None of them made room for the God-Man to be born in their midst.

Of course we all know that the innkeeper had no room for Jesus. But why did he have such difficulty in making room for this couple who obviously needed a clean place for their baby to be born? Author Frederick Buechner puts the following speech on the lips of the innkeeper,

The only place where there was room for Jesus was in a manger, a feeding trough for animals. Prince Philip, the husband of Queen Elizabeth II, was born a Greek prince, though there is no Greek blood in his veins. He is of German and Danish ancestry. As a baby he was smuggled out of Greece in a crate made from an orange box. A crate hardly befits a prince, and a manger hardly befits the infant King of Kings! How amazing that the one who was really bigger than the whole universe was contained for a time in a little, lowly manger.

How amazing too that though there was no room for Jesus, except in a manger, he is making room for us in heaven! In John 14:2 we read the words of Jesus, "In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you." He took our place in a manger and on a cross where he paid for our sins so that we could share his place in heaven. How amazing!

But if we want to share his place in heaven, then we have to make room for him in our hearts and lives here and now. Do you have room for the only one who can bring you peace and satisfy your spiritual hunger?

Bible teacher Harry Ironside used to tell the story of an old woman who was in distress because of her deep poverty. She was living in a little garret in London and was afraid that one day the police would come and arrest her because of her debts. It happened that a Christian minister heard of her situation and raised money to pay off her creditors. Then, with the receipt for the debt in his pocket and with provision for her present needs, he went to find her. The neighbors knew her only by the name "Old Betty." So when he got to the building where she lived, the minister asked, "Can you tell me where Old Betty lives?"

He was told to go up the stairs to a certain room. He went to the door and knocked. He waited, but there was no answer. He knocked again. No answer! He called, "Betty, are you in there?" Nothing.

At last he went back down the stairs and started to leave. But as he left, her neighbors asked him, "Did you find her?"

"No," he answered. "She is not in."

"Oh, she's in, all right. She's just not letting you in. She's afraid you are one of her creditors, and she is just not opening the door."

When he heard this the minister went back up the stairs to the room and called out, "Betty, let me in! I'm the minister, and I've come to see you."

"Oh," came the voice from inside. "I thought you were the police, and I was afraid to open the door." When the door finally opened, the minister told her that friends had raised money to cancel her debt, had paid it, and had sent him to tell her that, give her the receipt, and present her with an additional amount for her current needs. Betty was overwhelmed and embarrassed. "Just think," she said, "I locked and bolted the door against you. I was afraid to let you in."

You and I are like Betty. The minister is like Christ. We are often afraid to open our door to him. Yet he has undertaken to cancel the debt of our sin by his own death, and he has come to provide for us now. He is our best friend, yet we have kept him out. And in fact we will keep him out until the compulsion of his grace moves us to open the door to him and admit him into the deep recesses of our lives.

Jesus said in Revelation 3:20, "Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me."

Mission Impossible: Shepherds Celebrate His Birth

Luke 2:8-20

An interesting story on ABC News.com caught my eye this week.  The title was "Christmas Traditions Come at a Price".  The author, Bob Jamieson, talked about various hotels around the world where the wealthy might be spending their Christmas weekend.  A European style chateau in Yosemite National Park was offering a Christmas extravaganza for $600 a night.  A double room in the Austrian alps was going for $741 per night.  A family weekend in France was being offered for $2200 per room.  And a deluxe room at the Ritz in London was on offer for $4000.  The more I read the article the more it made me wonder: "Is this really the way to celebrate Christmas?"

A survey, also on ABC News.com, asked people to identify what Christmas was all about.  I was happy to discover that most people still recognize Christmas is about the birth of Jesus.  But a strong rival to this was the thought that Christmas is about spending time with family and friends.  As wonderful as family and friends can be, if they crowd Christ out of Christmas then we are no better off than the people spending thousands of dollars on their Christmas weekend.

I believe we learn best how to celebrate Christmas from some common shepherds who lived 2000 years ago in Bethlehem. Let's see what the shepherd's story has to teach us from Luke 2:8-20. . . .

What can we learn from the shepherds about celebrating Christmas? First of all, if we are to celebrate Christmas as the shepherds did, we must hear the Good News. The angel said to the shepherds, "I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord."

The good news we need to hear is that a savior has been born for us who is Christ the Lord. How is Jesus a savior? What was he born to save us from?

C. S. Lewis answers those questions by telling a story:

That's the good news of the Gospel. One tin soldier has come fully, splendidly alive. And we can share in that new life if we get close enough to him to catch his "good infection" as C. S. Lewis calls it.

The second thing we need to do in order to celebrate Christmas like the shepherds is to go and see. We read that, "When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, ?Let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.'" (Luke 2:15)

How can we go and see the new-born Christ child? How can we get close enough to him to catch his "good infection", the infection of righteousness? As the Russian proverb says, "He who has this disease called Jesus will never be cured." But how do we get close to him to catch this "disease"? Jesus is not being born again every year in Bethlehem like he was born that first Christmas.

The way we get close to Jesus today is by reading his Word in the Bible which tells of his birth, his life, his death for our sins, his resurrection from the dead, and his instructions for us on how to live for him. The way we can communicate with Jesus is not by traveling to Bethlehem and talking to the little baby in the manger, but by speaking to Jesus in heaven through prayer.

The thing is, if we want to go and see God in Christ, we better be ready for the kind of God we are going to meet. H.G. Wells, who was no friend of the church, wrote an interesting story years ago in the New Yorker. He told a story about an Episcopalian clergyman. This Episcopal bishop was the kind of man who was always saying pious things to people. When people in trouble came to him with their problems he would say things like, "Have you prayed about that?" This bishop found that if he said that, in just the right way, it would sort of settle things for people.

The bishop didn't pray much himself. After all, his life was going along just fine. But one day the bishop found himself overwhelmed by problems. It occurred to him that he ought to take some of his own advice. So, one Saturday afternoon he entered the cathedral, he went to the front and knelt on the crimson rug. He folded his hands before the altar and he began to pray, "O God . . ."

Suddenly there was a voice. It was crisp, businesslike. The voice said, "Well, what is it?"

The next day when the worshipers came to Sunday services, they found the bishop sprawled face down on the crimson carpet. When they turned him over they discovered he was dead. Lines of horror were etched upon his face.

What H.G. Wells was saying in that story is simply this: there are people who talk a lot about God who would be scared to death if they saw him face to face.

If we are going to go and see God in Christ, by looking into the Bible and by praying, we better be prepared for the God we are going to meet. He will not be the gentle Jesus, meek and mild of the cradle. For the Christ of the cradle has gone to the cross for our sins and he now wears a crown in heaven. He is the Lord of glory. He is an awesome God. But he is also our merciful Savior who longs to hear a word from us and longs to reveal himself to us in love.

A third thing we can do to celebrate Christmas like the shepherds is to spread the word. We read about the shepherds that, "When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child." (Luke 2:17)

How could the shepherds have kept from spreading the word about the baby Jesus? They had just seen God incarnate lying in a manger. They had heard the angel hosts of heaven announcing the Savior's birth. In short, they had just witnessed the most stupendous thing ever to happen in human history, and perhaps, in the history of the universe.

There was a little boy who was in his first Christmas pageant. He was five years old. He was one of the shepherds-you know, the ones that wear their bathrobes and their sandals and carry cardboard crooks-not a lead shepherd, just a common shepherd standing in the back. But when it came time for the baby Jesus to be born, he crowded around to the front so that he could see. Then, having seen, he stepped to the footlights and, looking out, cried out to his parents, "Mommy! Daddy! Mary had her baby, and it's a boy!"

I think that little five year old bath-robed shepherd caught the enthusiasm of those first shepherds in Bethlehem. It is the same enthusiasm we need to catch that will propel us to share the good news of Christ with others.

A fourth thing we need to do to celebrate Christmas in the best way is to be amazed. We read that all who heard the shepherd's report "were amazed at what the shepherds said to them." (Luke 2:18)

When it comes to Christmas we need to recover the wonder of children. Not that their wonder is a spiritual wonder necessarily, but children's wonder and amazement at Christmas gives us a picture of the wonder and amazement we ought to have toward the Lord.

One Christmas when our boys were younger it was such a joy to see Joshua crawling and reaching out for the ornaments on the lowest branches of our Christmas tree. Oh yes, it meant more work for Mom and Dad to keep the tree in tact. But it was worth it, I think, to see the wonder in his eyes.

Then there was Jonathan's amazement at Santa Claus. At that point in time he still didn't like to get too close to Santa, but he loved to stare in wonder at him from afar.

And there was Jamie's fascination with presents that kept building and building. Every day he would check to see if there was another present for him under the tree. Some evenings he would lay right next to the tree and stare at those presents in wonder.

We need to become more like our children when it comes to the true meaning of Christmas. We should be reaching out and trying to grasp a hold of it, though the meaning of Christmas, God become man, is too big for us to grasp. We should look in wonder at the chief character of Christmas, not Santa Claus, but the Lord Jesus Christ, and marvel at his Person and his Works. We should revel in the gift that God has given to us through Christmas, the gift of eternal life, and we should wait with longing for the full unwrapping of that gift that will only come with Christ's return to earth.

A fifth thing we can do to celebrate Christmas in the best way is to treasure and ponder these things in our hearts. When Mary heard the shepherd's story she "treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart." (Luke 2:19)

In one Dennis the Menace comic strip Dennis asks his father, "Why can't Christmas ever go into overtime?" Christmas can go into overtime as we treasure and ponder the truth of the Incarnation all year round.

How do we do that? First, we remember the event of God becoming a man. Second, we can remember the moment when this event became something real and personal to us. We remember when we first realized that Jesus was born for us, to save us from our sin. That will stir up our affections towards Christ. And third, we need to think about these things and allow God to teach us more about himself. This involves reading Scripture and reading other Christian writings that deal with the Incarnation. (For those of you who like to use the Internet you can go to my web log at http://willvaus.blogspot.com and you can read some daily meditations on the Incarnation from the pen of C. S. Lewis. I have been including one meditation for each day of Advent.)

A final thing we can do to celebrate Christmas the way the shepherds did is to glorify and praise God. We read that "The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told." (Luke 2:20)

To glorify someone means to acknowledge his true worth. To glorify God is to worship him by words. It is to reflect back to him accurately who he is.

For example, the moon reflects the light of the sun. The moon has no light of its own. When there is a full moon it shines so brightly and even lights up the earth, but only because it is reflecting the light of the sun. In the same way, we have no glory of our own. The only light we have, spiritually speaking, is the light of Christ. We are called to reflect his light, to accurately reflect back to him who he is. That is what we ought to live for: to bask in his radiance, to reflect it, and bring it to the world around us, not for our own sake, but for his sake.

One way that we can glorify and praise God is through singing. And the best songs to sing are the ones that most accurately reflect who he is and what he has done for us. Singing praise to God is not just something to do in church. It is something we can do while sitting at home, driving in the car, or walking through the woods.

Isn't it amazing how the joy of the Christmas season causes people to sing carols in all sorts of places? People go from house to house singing carols. They stroll through malls humming Christmas tunes while they shop.

The joy of the Savior need not be confined to the Christmas season. If we would but ponder the truth of Christ all year round then we would be so filled with his presence that it would naturally overflow into praise seven days a week.

What this all comes down to is the fact that Christmas demands a response. The event of Christmas, God becoming human, is not something that anyone can afford to ignore.

Larry Walters was a 33-year-old man who decided he wanted to see his neighborhood from a new perspective. He went down to the local army surplus store one morning and bought forty-five used weather balloons. That afternoon he strapped himself into a lawn chair, to which several of his friends tied the now helium-filled balloons. He took along a six-pack of beer, a peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwich, and a BB gun, figuring he could shoot the balloons one at a time when he was ready to land.

Walters, who assumed the balloons would lift him about 100 feet in the air, was caught off guard when the chair soared more than 11,000 feet into the sky-smack into the middle of the air traffic pattern of Los Angeles International Airport. Too frightened to shoot any of the balloons, he stayed airborne for more than two hours, forcing the airport to shut down its runways for much of the afternoon, causing long delays in flights from across the country.

Soon after he was safely grounded and cited by the police, reporters asked him three questions:

"Were you scared?"

"Yes."

"Would you do it again?"

"No."

"Why did you do it?"

"Because," he said, "you can't just sit there."

When it comes to the good news of Christmas you can't just sit there. Christmas demands a response. What is your response?

Mission Impossible: How to Enter a New Year

Luke 2:21-40

Today we are concluding our series entitled Mission Impossible from the opening chapters of Luke's Gospel. So far we have looked at how God did the impossible by causing a barren woman, Elizabeth, to conceive a baby. We have seen God doing the impossible again in the life of Mary, a virgin, by causing her to conceive Jesus in her womb. We have examined the grand miracle of the Incarnation, God becoming a human being. And now we look at another minor miracle, how God moved two elderly people, Simeon and Anna, to be in the right place (the Temple in Jerusalem) at the right time (when the baby Jesus was being presented) in order that they could see God's salvation and talk about it to others.

Around the time of Jesus' birth there was some heightened messianic expectation. Many people in Israel were hoping and expecting the Messiah to come in their lifetime. Many were hoping that the Messiah would come and deliver them from the clutches of Roman rule. Some sought to bring this about through revolution. But there were others, known as the Quiet in the Land who had no dreams of violence, of power-grabbing and armies with banners. These quiet people believed in a life of constant prayer and watchfulness until the Messiah should come. All their lives they waited quietly and patiently for God to send this Messiah to Israel. Simeon and Anna were among these Quiet People of the Land.

I think that in many ways the days of Simeon and Anna are similar to our own. Simeon and Anna lived on the verge of a new era in world history. Today we are poised on the brink of a new year with perennial expectation for positive change and, on the other hand, concern for possible world catastrophe of one sort or another. How are we to enter this new year in a godly fashion? That is a question that the lives of Simeon and Anna have an answer to. Let's look at their answer together in Luke 2:21-40. Hear the Word of God:

The first thing we can learn from Simeon about how to enter a new year is to wait. We read of Simeon in verse 25 that: "He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him."

We gather from the fact that Simeon prayed to the Lord, "You may now dismiss your servant in peace," that he was an old man. He had been waiting all his life for the Messiah to come. The coming of the Messiah is what would bring consolation, or comfort, to Israel, God's people.

Last week I read to you these fictional words of the innkeeper at Bethlehem written by Frederick Buechner: "All your life long, you wait for your own true love to come-we all of us do-our destiny, our joy, our heart's desire. So how am I to say it, gentleman? When he came, I missed him."

The innkeeper at Bethlehem missed the Messiah, even though Jesus was right under his nose. And many people seem to miss a relationship with Jesus Christ even though he is very close to all of us. But Simeon didn't miss Jesus. By God's providence he found him in the temple after waiting a lifetime to see him.

No one really knows what this new year will bring. No one knows for sure what problems may come or what worldwide catastrophe may eclipse all of our present problems. Likewise we do not know what great good may come in the new year. A cure for cancer or the Second Coming of the Messiah. We all just have to wait and see.

But waiting is not something most of us do very well. Have you ever watched people in a waiting room? Many are nervous. Many don't know what to do while they are waiting so they may look distractedly at old magazines. Kids fidget and so do adults. People in waiting rooms get mad and throw tantrums if they think their wait is lasting too long. I've done that, and you probably have too. Everyone in the waiting room is happy when their name is called and the waiting is over.

Yet waiting can be a spiritual activity. The Bible talks about waiting many times. It talks about ordinary sorts of waiting like waiting in a waiting room. It talks about Job waiting through his horrendous sickness. The Psalms talk about waiting on the Lord. Psalm 27:14 says, "Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord." In other words, there are times in life when we need to act and there are other times when we need to wait for God to act. How hard that is to do!

The Bible promises great things to those who wait for the Lord. Isaiah 64:4 says, "Since ancient times no one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen any God besides you, who acts on behalf of those who wait for him." Wow!

One of my favorite verses is Habakkuk 2:3, "For the revelation awaits an appointed time; it speaks of the end and will not prove false. Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay." Has God given you a vision for some task that will bring him honor and glory? But does it seem that the dream will never be realized? If it is God's will, it will happen. Wait for him. Trust him to make it happen.

The New Testament talks repeatedly about waiting for the second coming of Christ. Just as Simeon had to wait his whole life for the first coming of Christ, and the Jews waited 400 years in silence between the end of the Old Testament and the first coming of Christ, so too, we are now waiting, and have been waiting for 2000 years, for the second coming of Christ.

Paul says, ". . . we groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies." (Romans 8:23) We long to put on our resurrected bodies which will never get sick, never grow old and never die. But that is not going to happen until Christ returns to the earth and sets up his eternal kingdom. Jude 1:21 says, "Keep yourselves in God's love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life."

Ben Patterson has written, "Waiting is not just the thing we have to do until we get what we hope for. Waiting is part of the process of becoming what we hope for."

Ben illustrates this in the following story.

Waiting on the Lord is the first thing we need to do to enter this new year in a godly fashion. The second thing we need to do is closely associated with waiting; we need to watch.

The word waiting in verse 25 can also mean to look for or expect. The same word is used in verse 38 where Luke says that Anna spoke about Jesus to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem.

As I said before, in the time of Simeon and Anna there was a heightened expectation for the Messiah to come. And yet different groups of people in Israel were looking for different things. The Zealots, like Judas Iscariot, were looking for a revolutionary Messiah to deliver them from the political power of Rome and set up a worldly kingdom of God. The Pharisees, who were the strict religionists of their day, were looking for a rule-keeping Messiah. The Essenes, who were an ascetic community of monks, were looking for an ascetic Messiah who would practice fasting and the like. They did not expect the Messiah to be like Jesus - eating, drinking and attending parties. Then there were the Sadducees, the religious liberals of the day. They weren't looking for anything. They didn't expect the Messiah to literally be a person who would come to earth and deliver them as the Old Testament had prophesied. They were probably tempted to spiritualize all the teachings of the Old Testament about the Messiah.

In the midst of this scene Simeon and Anna recognized the Messiah in a little baby in the Temple in Jerusalem. How were they able to do that? They were able to recognize the Messiah when he came because they were both walking in a close relationship with God. They were looking out for, they were watching and listening for, the Messiah that God had promised in the Old Testament. They were sensitive to the nudges of the Holy Spirit. So they sensed the Spirit telling them that this baby was indeed the Messiah. And they didn't question God when he told them who the Messiah really was.

In the same way, the Lord wants us as Christians, entering the year 2007, to be watching diligently for the second coming of the Messiah, our Lord Jesus.

Jesus said this about his second coming,

There was a little boy who desperately wanted a certain present for Christmas. The present he wanted was a very special wrist-watch that he had seen in an advertisement on television. And so the little boy kept reminding his parents of what he wanted for Christmas, as only little boys can do. Finally, the parents were tired of being reminded so they told their son, "If you mention that present one more time, you will be sure not to get it." That made the little boy quiet down quick.

At last Christmas was approaching, just a few days away. The family had a practice of family devotions around the dinner table. Each person would pray and each child could read a Scripture passage of his or her choice. This little boy's turn came to pick the Scripture passage and so he picked Mark 13:37, reading it with great enthusiasm: "What I say to you, I say to everyone: ?Watch!'"

"Watch" was a very important word in Jesus' discourse about his Second Coming. He tells us that none of us can know the future. We do not know when he is going to return to earth. He tells us that he doesn't even know, only the Father knows. He could return in the year 2007, or he could return before I have finished preaching this message, or he could return 100 years from now. Therefore we need to keep watch for him. And as we keep watch we need to be about the tasks he has assigned to us.

Are you a mother or a father? Then you need to fulfill your tasks well as you wait for the Lord Jesus to return to earth. Are you a businessman or businesswoman? Then you need to do your job well as unto the Lord. Are you a son or daughter? Then you need to obey your parents. Are you a student? If so you need to do your very best in school and so please the Lord. When Jesus returns to earth he doesn't want to find any of us loafing about. He wants to find us doing the things he has assigned for us to do.

A third thing we can do to enter the new year in a godly fashion is to worship the Lord. We read about Anna that, "She never left the temple but worshiped night and day, fasting and praying."

Now we should not suppose that Anna literally slept in the Temple and spent every waking moment there. Luke is simply trying to make the point, in an exaggerated fashion, that Anna spent a lot of time worshiping the Lord in the Temple. The phrase is similar to one we have for people who are very active in the church. We say that they are at the church "whenever the doors are open."

Anna had a lot of time to spend at the Temple. She had been a widow most of her life. We are not told what she did to support herself financially. But if she had a job, I'm sure she did it well. Or, as a widow, she may have been supported by her extended family or the Jewish community at large.

Not all of us have the same opportunities that Anna had. Some of us have more time than others that we can devote to worshiping the Lord on a daily basis. And the Lord doesn't want us to give up our rightful responsibilities of parenting or earning a living just so we can worship him more often.

I think what the Lord does want those of us to do, who have less time on our hands, is he wants us to "practice his presence". In other words, he wants us to get into the habit of talking to him on a moment by moment basis. Get in the habit of lifting up quick prayers to the Lord all during the day. Talk to him when you get out of bed. Talk to him at meal times. Talk to him while you are driving in your car; you don't have to close your eyes! Talk to him while you are at work. Talk to him when you go to bed at night. Just carry on a running conversation with the Lord.

C. S. Lewis says, "We may ignore, but we can nowhere evade, the presence of God. The world is crowded with Him. He walks everywhere incognito." Lewis goes on to say that he has tried to make every pleasure a channel for adoration of God. "If I could always be what I aim at being, no pleasure would be too ordinary or too usual for such reception; from the first taste of the air when I look out of the window-one's whole cheek becomes a sort of palate-down to one's soft slippers at bed-time."

Try it out and see if it doesn't help you to worship God throughout the day. Thank God for each little pleasure, then pause for just a moment to consider what kind of God we must serve who would give us the joy of so many little pleasures crowded into the everyday.

So much for how we can worship God everyday. But wouldn't it be good to follow Anna's example and set aside some special time to worship God as we each enter into this new year? You might take a day this week and fast. Skip a few meals just so that you can take the time while you would have been eating to focus on God. (And it isn't a bad plan after the binging of the holiday!) Set aside some special time to pray to God. Ask his forgiveness for the failings of the year past and ask him to help you enter the new year with a fresh perspective on your life in him.

A final thing we can do to enter the new year in a godly fashion is to witness. We read about Anna that she "spoke about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem."

Do you spend time speaking about Jesus to others? If not, could it be because you have not spent enough time with Jesus himself? Could it be that you don't talk about him because you haven't really met him as Anna did.

Anna met the infant Savior in the temple and she could not conceal her delight. If we have truly met the Savior and if we are spending time worshiping him on a daily basis, then we will not be able to conceal our relationship with him.

Richard Halverson once wrote,

If we have truly encountered Jesus Christ as Anna did then it should be evident to others. As Lloyd Ogilvie has said,

As we enter a new year some people are scared of what the future will bring. Others are riding high but finding that money truly cannot buy peace and contentment. Many have just celebrated Christmas but they do not know the joy of a personal relationship with the one whose birthday we celebrate. How are they to find comfort? How are they to find peace? How are they to discover the joy of a personal relationship with Jesus Christ? The only way they will discover Christ is if they see him in our lives and if we tell about him with our lips. We are the only Bible some people will ever read.

If you are like me, then you are probably not very good at doing any of these things. I'm not good at waiting. Often I am not watching for Christ to return; I would rather get on with my own plans. I do not always worship him on a daily basis. I am often too preoccupied with myself and my problems. And as a result I know no living Lord whom I can share with others. So if you are like me then you need to ask for the forgiveness of Christ for the times when you haven't done these things during the past year. And you need to ask for the power of the Holy Spirit to do these things better as we enter into a new year. Let's talk to God now and ask him for the forgiveness and the power that we need.