Sermon Luke 1:26-38 The Lord Is With You

Rev. Jeffrey T. Howard

Pitts Creek and Beaver Dam Presbyterian Churches

Sermon Luke 1:26-38 The Lord Is With You

December 21, 2014

We have arrived at the fourth Sunday of Advent. And our wait for a savior is almost over. But as we will see the coming of the savior is dependent on one person's obedience to God. A young woman will be given an impossible task. Will she want do it? Will she be able to do it? Will she do it? We will see, but first let's pray.

Expectant God, Mary sings because she has new life in her, the promise of your salvation. Fill me with hope this day as I lift my life to you and seek to do your will. Look with favor on our world and all who are in need, that your love may be magnified as I follow humbly in your way. Amen.”¹

The story in Luke begins with an unexpected blessing. Elizabeth has wanted children all her life, but is now many years past the time when women get pregnant. But like Sarah and Hannah before her she becomes pregnant, a miracle from God. Her pregnancy is the sign that the savior is about to come. But first, an angel has an important question for a young woman. Let's listen again to the familiar story.

Luke 1”26 1 In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, 27 to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary.

What we see here is something really surprising. The God of the universe, the one who made and controls everything that is, is concerned about a particular person living at a particular place and a particular time. We normally think of God as above it all. He is transcendent, in heaven, a spirit, concerned with the totality of all creation. But at Christmas we celebrate the fact that God is with us and is concerned about us, in 2014, here in Pocomoke. This is what makes our faith unique. Other religions pray to God above. Only Christians pray to God with us. And that makes all the difference in the world.

I can remember the first time I experienced God speaking through his angel to me. I was driving to church one day and thinking about my life. My business was struggling. I didn't have a girlfriend. Everything seems hopeless. As I approached the church I began to pray. I let God know of my unhappiness. I prayed in anger. But God waited until I was in the sanctuary, surrounded by believers before he spoke to me.

God dispatched a messenger, an angel, to speak with a particular young woman at a particular place and time and this is what he said.

28 The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”

So God was not only with Mary in her house in Nazareth, but God has also chosen her for a very important mission. This is another distinctive of the Christian faith. The God of the universe has selected each one of us for a very specific purpose. God has already decided that he wants to do something with us, and will send messengers to tell us what that is. So we must listen for the voice of the angels who are trying to tell us what God wants us to do. All too often we fill our prayer times with words telling God what we want him to do. We need to spend more time listening for what God wants us to do. But, of course this will be frightening because we might not want to do what God asks us to do. So we keep talking in our prayers because if we listen we may not hear what we want.

As I sat in the sanctuary that day years ago in worship my prayers to God continued. After the prayer of confession we had an opportunity for silent prayer. At this time I stopped praying and started listening for God's response. I heard a verbal message from God. Ill tell you my reaction. But first, here is Mary's reaction as she listened to the angel.

29 Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be.

So Mary is concerned. She knows that an angel has come from God. And he is bearing an important message from God. But maybe she doesn't want to hear it. Maybe it would be better to just keep on living her ordinary life rather that listen to what God has to say. We have the same reaction. We are comfortable with lives we lead. And the last thing we need is for God to come and change things. The angel was ready for this.

30 But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. 31 You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”

Don't be afraid Mary. Everything is going to be ok. All you have to do is to bring the savior into this world. You will conceive and bear a son named Jesus, God Help Us. He will be the Son of God and the messiah the people of God have waited for, for so long. He will establish the eternal Kingdom of God. So there is nothing for you to worry about. Everything will be ok. How would we react if God asked us to do something big like this. Would we stand up and “let's go”? Or would we run away in fear? Maybe this is why we talk all time and rarely listen to God in our prayers. We really don't want to hear what God may say.

As I sat in the sanctuary that day I heard the voice of one of God's messengers. He told me, “It's in the book.” I looked down and saw a Bible in pew rack. I opened it and saw stories I remembered from my Sunday school teachers as a kid. But as an adult I had never read them. I didn't know what the Bible said. But according to God I would find the answers to my questions and complaints in scripture.

Mary considered all that the angel had told her for a moment and then replied.

34 “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”

It's impossible. What God is asking can't be done. This is the reaction we have if we take the time to listen for God. God will give us impossible things to do. God doesn't have to ask us to do the easy stuff. He only has to send a messenger to tell us to do the hard stuff, the impossible stuff, stuff we wouldn't every try to do. Mary's argument is a good one. Why would God ask us to do the impossible?

I knew that God wanted me to study the Bible. The church had many options for Christian education, but I had never taken advantage of any of them. I was comfortable just coming to church on Sundays and anonymously sitting near the back. I was a member of the church, but never got involved in anything. But after I heard from the angel I began to do what seemed impossible before. I started to come early on Sunday mornings for a class with the SOAR Singles group. And I came on Wednesday evenings to attend a Bethel Series class. My life completely changed.

Gabriel knew that Mary's life was about to completely change. Here is what he said.

35 The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. 36 Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. 37 For no word from God will ever fail.”

The reason God asked Mary to do the impossible was because he intended to give her the power to make the impossible possible. That is the promise for us. If we listen for God in our prayers and hear God tell us to do the impossible then we have the assurance that God will make the impossible possible so that we will succeed. God will give us whatever gifts we need to accomplish the task set before us.

As I attended Bible classes at church on Sundays and Wednesdays I began to sense a call from God to study and teach the Bible. I approached my pastor about being a part of a training class for teachers in the Bethel Program. I was accepted and met with this group for two years learning how to teach the Bible. Then I put together my own group and began teaching every Wednesday night. That's what I did. 

 What was Mary's response to her conversation with the angel?

38 “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Then the angel left her.

With the assurance that God will make the impossible possible, Mary has accepted her calling to bear the savior into the world. So too with all believers. If we listen for God's voice in our prayers and hear God tell us to do the impossible then filled with the assurance that God makes the impossible possible we will accept God's call on our lives.

After four years of teaching the Bethel Series I was ready for the next step. I approached my pastor about going to seminary. Under her guidance I selected Fuller Seminary in Pasadena California and went under care of National Capital Presbytery to become a pastor. That was in 2004. If you had asked me in 1994 if one day I would be a pastor, I would have told you that you were crazy. But after hearing from God about what he wanted me to do, I have, with his help, done the impossible and become a pastor.

This Wednesday we will gather at Beaver Dam Presbyterian Church to see what happens when Mary obeys God's call and does this impossible. And in the days, weeks, months, and years ahead we will see how each of us respond to God's call and do the impossible. Let's pray.

Father in heaven, help us to listen to the voice of your messengers. Let them speak to our hearts informing us of our calling. Help us to be like Mary and accept your call on our lives. Give us the power to do the impossible. This we pray in the name of the one coming to us at Christmas. Amen.

1Feasting on the Word Worship Companion: Liturgies for Year B, Volume 1 © 2014 Westminster John Knox Press p35.