Sermon 9th December 2012

Today, Gill Tayleur,  who is now our Assistant Minister, preaches based on the reading from Luke 1: 5 – 25.


Zechariah and Elizabeth 

Have you heard the joke about the woman who went to the doctor's office. She was seen by a new doctor, but after a few minutes with him, she burst out, screaming as she ran down the hall. An older doctor stopped & asked her what the problem was, and she told him. He had to tell her to sit down & calm down in another room.

The older doctor marched back to the new doctor and demanded, "What's the matter with you? Mrs. Terry is 63 years old, she has 4 grown children and 7 grandchildren, and you told her she was PREGNANT?"

The new doctor smiled smugly. "Cured her hiccups though, didn't it?"

This morning’s Bible reading is about 2 stories with 2 promises. A personal story, with a personal promise, and a universal story with a universal promise. One story is the story of an elderly childless couple to whom God promised a son. And the other is the story of

God’s promise of salvation, his plan to put the whole world to rights by sending His son Jesus. Let’s look at these 2 stories, the 2 promises and what we can learn from them.

First then, the personal story of Zechariah and Elizabeth. They had no children. In verse 7 we read, “they had no children because Elizabeth could not have any and she and Zechariah  were both very old.”

Zechariah and Elizabeth were childless. These days, for many couples, childlessness is a terrible heartache. When others get pregnant, they congratulate and smile on the outside, but are in agony on the inside. No doubt Zechariah & Elizabeth were like that too, but with the added social shame that was part of their culture. In those days, children were considered a blessing from God, and childlessness was seen as a curse. Children cared for their parents in their old age, and added to the family’s social and financial well being. Not to have children was a social disgrace, referred to in verse 25.

Elizabeth & Zechariah would have been humiliated by their childlessness.

Humiliated, and hopeless. Now they were both well on in years, so any slither of hope that one day it just might happen, was gone. No doubt they had prayed for a miracle baby, for years and years, but once they reached a certain stage of life, they had given up, or maybe accepted, their childless state, and the shame that went with it.

How awful for Zechariah & Elizabeth.

But, despite the humiliation and the hopelessness, Zechariah and Elizabeth carried on their lives faithfully serving God, regardless. In verse 6 we read, “they both lived good lives in God’s sight and obeyed fully all the Lord’s laws and commands.”

Biblical scholars agree that this doesn’t mean that Zechariah and Elizabeth were absolutely perfect and never did anything to sin against God. No, in the Bible, sometimes people were described as righteous or blameless because when they sinned they repented, came back to God and carried on living in his ways; that was the norm of their life. So we see Zechariah & Elizabeth were good & Godly people,

mostly going about their lives in service and obedience to God, despite the huge sorrow and disappointment of their childlessness. And part of that service to God

was Zechariah’s duties as a priest.

There were about 20,000 priests across the country of Israel, in 24 divisions, and each division took turns to serve in the temple in Jerusalem, on duty twice a year, for a week at a time. Morning and evening, a priest would enter the inner sanctuary and burn incense. When the people gathered outside saw the incense rise, they prayed, as the incense symbolised their prayers rising to God’s throne.

So in a year, in one division, there would have been just 28 opportunities for a priest to serve in this way, and about 1000 priests wanting to. So to have your name drawn by lot, as Zechariah’s was this time, was very exciting. And although the chances were minute, if your name was drawn twice in your lifetime, you weren’t allowed to serve twice, as many priests didn’t get to serve even once.

So on the day of our story, Zechariah had the enormous privilege of entering the inner sanctuary

to offer incense to God.

For him it was literally a

once in a lifetime opportunity,

1 of the greatest days of his entire life.

In that inner part of the temple,

on this marvellous occasion,

as he offered incense, Zechariah would have been praying fervently, and most likely praying for God to rescue his people, praying for him to send his promised Messiah.

This had been the prayer for centuries - 400 years had passed since the last of the great prophets, but still God’s people remembered he had promised to save them, to rescue them, to bring in a just rule, in the form of a new king, a saviour, or Messiah.

And as Zechariah was praying, suddenly the angel Gabriel appeared! As nearly always happens when an angel appears in the Bible, the first thing he said is, don’t be afraid –

not surprisingly seeing an angel is a pretty scary thing. And the angel Gabriel told Zechariah that he and Elizabeth were going to have a son. They were to call him John.

How glad and happy you will be! he said. Happy?! God was going to give Zechariah and Elizabeth a son – after all these years!

That was the personal promise, the promise of a son to this old barren couple. And this promise was fulfilled, it came true, and baby John was born about a year later.  How happy they were at his birth. We can read Zechariah’s song of praise at the end of chapter 2.

So in our first story, the personal story, God’s promise to Zechariah and Elizabeth was fulfilled. Wonderful.

Then there’s the other story, the universal story of salvation for all humankind. Let’s look a little more closely at what Gabriel said about this.

Gabriel told Zechariah that his son was going to bring people back to God, “to go ahead of the Lord” and make people ready for the Lord! Zechariah would have understood that to mean that his son would be the forerunner to the Messiah! And this is underlined by what Gabriel said, using language that echoed things from the Old Testament.

There’s the fact that John mustn’t drink alcohol. This was part of a Nazarite vow, given in the Old Testament, and taken by Samson among others.  The person took a special vow to behave in certain ways, including not drinking alcohol, as an act of consecration to God for his service.

Then there’s Gabriel’s reference to the prophet Elijah in verse 17, a quote from Malachi.

The Scriptures had foretold that the prophet Elijah would return one day to get the people ready for the arrival of God’s promised king and saviour. And Gabriel told Zechariah that this will be John’s task. In fact, the way John’s role is described is almost identical to that of an Old Testament prophet, to encourage people to turn away from sin and back to God.

What Gabriel said showed that what was going to happen wasn’t a strange new thing,

but taking place within a longstanding sequence of God’s purposes. The child to be born, to be called John, was to play a key role in God’s fulfilment of his promises.

We’re going to hear a lot more about God’s promise and fulfilment, of a Saviour, and what that means for us today, over the next 3 weeks. The headline is that Jesus was born a Saviour indeed, although not just the Saviour of Israel and not in the way they expected. Jesus the Saviour was born, to die, and his death & resurrection saved them and all people from sin and death, and brought forgiveness and peace with God,

for all humankind for all times. For us too, if we accept it! More about Jesus the Saviour

at Christmas.

This morning we’ve heard 2 stories about God’ promises, a personal story & promise,

and a universal story & promise. So what can we learn from these 2 stories? 3 things.

First and obviously, that God keeps his promises

and fulfils his purposes –

so we can trust him.

We can trust God

as a promise keeping God.

We thought about that in the context of Noah 2 weeks ago.

Whenever we see a rainbow,

we are reminded that God keeps his promises.

So we CAN believe and trust in God and his promises.

Zechariah doesn’t give us a very good example on this!

When Gabriel said you’re going to have a son, someone who would prepare God’s people for their Messiah, Zechariah said, “How shall I know IF this is so? I am an old man, and my wife is old also.”

Zechariah doubted Gabriel’s word. He said, yeah-right. He said he needed evidence!

He thought it literally in-credible that he and Elizabeth could conceive a son in their old age, and he practically demanded a sign! “How shall I know...?”

Well Zechariah got his sign alright, although not the sort he wanted! He was struck dumb, he couldn’t speak, and when he came out of the sacred place, he had to gesticulate to the gathered worshippers (who’d wondered why he was so long)

to try and explain what has happened. Zechariah remained dumb, and stayed that way when he went home at the end of the week, when his division’s duties in the temple were completed. And he was still unable to speak, there at home with Elizabeth. A little while later she conceived, and still Zechariah was dumb until after the baby’s birth 9 months after that. Zechariah could not speak for all that time because he had doubted Gabriel’s word. He’d demanded evidence for it.

How does Zechariah’s response wanting evidence, compare with Mary’s response

when the angel Gabriel visited her? We can see this in the Bible passage that comes straight after the bit we’ve read this morning.

Zechariah and Mary were both visited by Gabriel, both were promised God would give them a child supernaturally, and that he was going to make that child great. But Zechariah and Mary responded quite differently. Zechariah asked for evidence, as we’ve heard: “How shall I know IF this is so?” But Mary asked for an explanation, “How WILL this be?” They’re subtly different. It is possible to demand too much evidence

before you’re willing to believe God’s promises. It’s not wrong to want evidence for our faith, our belief is not groundless, but we’re to do so in a way that’s humble and open hearted, not demanding. Mary goes on to say in real humility, “may it happen to me as you have said.”

It’s OK to want & ask for explanations when perplexed. Mary didn’t reject the possibility

in unbelief, she responded humbly and desired only to know how such an impossibility might be.

When our heart is right, God isn’t opposed to our seeking to understand his ways in history and in our own lives. Earnest longing to know more of God’s wisdom is a good thing, when it’s humble readiness to be taught something new.

So like Mary, we are to trust God, even with the humanly impossible. Let’s not proudly insist on more signs & understanding before we believe and trust. Do we do this?! Do we hold out on God, effectively saying, no I’m not yet adequately convinced to take the leap of faith. You have to prove it to me. You have to show me more clearly than this.

I need more than just what you’ve already shown, in my life and in the Bible.

Let’s not be like that. Let’s be appropriately humble and teachable before Almighty God, and believe and trust in him, even as we go on asking and exploring and deepening our understanding.

So the first thing we can learn from today’s stories is

to believe and trust

in God and his promises.

The second thing is, more briefly, that when we do

doubt God & his promises

as Zechariah did,

when we do fail him,

as we all do,

to quickly repent,

come back to God

and get going again.

Zechariah’s life before this incident was, as we’ve seen,

generally a life

of faithful service to God.

And straight after John’s birth as soon as he can speak again,  Zechariah is praising God. Before and after Zechariah’s doubt of God’s promise, was a life of godliness.

This was a temporary failing, and we all have those. The important thing is, not to despair over our lapses, and however frequent they may be, but to repent, to humbly come back to God, admitting our wrong, and accepting God’s love and forgiveness.

And to get going again. Get trusting again. Keeping on in faith in God and his promises.

Even if we have to wait a long time. In verse 20 Gabriel says to Zechariah, this will come true at the right time. If we are waiting for God to answer some request or fill some need, we need to remain patient and faithful. No matter how seemingly impossible, God’s promises will come true at the right time.

And the third thing I think we can learn from this morning’s stories, is that our lives can play a part in God’s great purposes in history. Bishop Tom Wright explains this beautifully

 in his commentary on this passage:

[This story of Zechariah and Elizabeth] “reminds us of something important. God regularly works through ordinary people, doing what they normally do, who with a mixture of half-faith and devotion are holding themselves ready for whatever God has in mind. This story is about much more than Zechariah’s joy at having a son at last, or Elizabeth’s exultation in being freed from the scorn of the mothers in the village. It is about the fulfilment of God’s promises and purposes. But the needs, hopes and fears of ordinary people are not forgotten in this larger story, precisely because of who Israel’s God is – the God of lavish, self giving love. When this God acts on the large scale, he takes care of smaller human concerns as well. The drama which now takes centre stage [– the birth of Jesus –] is truly the story of God, the world, and every ordinary human being who has ever lived in it.”

Our story, our lives, may be part of God’s much bigger story and purposes, who knows how?! So let us keep on living and serving God faithfully, trusting him day by day. And so let’s pray...

Sermon 2nd December 2012 ADVENT SUNDAY

Today, our Vicar, Cameron Barker, preaches based on the reading from Luke 21: verses 25-36

“The great Christian revolutions come not by the discovery of something that wasn’t known before. Great Christian revolutions happen when someone takes radically something that was always there”.

So said the 20^th Century American theologian, Richard Niebuhr. He wasn’t talking specifically about Advent Sunday, but rather about the nature of the Christian life in general. So hopefully that statement is one that is true for you personally. Haven’t the biggest advances in your Christian life happened when something that you already knew suddenly hit you between the eyes – and changed your life for ever?

Either way, that quote also reminded me of what another American once said. The Old Testament scholar Walter Bruggeman has said that the key task of preachers is not to find new ways to preach old truths. Rather he urges preachers to go on presenting the old truths in the old ways. He says that we need to keep on doing that, until those we preach to have learned the lesson of those old truths well enough to live them out.

This preacher finds those two quotes very encouraging! If you’re a regular church-goer, you will probably have heard a sermon about the return of Jesus every Advent Sunday. If you have attended here long enough, it’s possible that 6 of those have been from me! Wherever you’ve been, by now you should know that Advent marks the start of the Christmas season. Everyone knows that at Christmas we think about the birth of Jesus. And you’ll then likely know that on this day we begin to think about his first coming by reminding ourselves of Jesus’ sure promise to return some day.

Well, the good news then is that I don’t have to say something new, about any of this. All I have to do today is to preach again about the fact, that Jesus will return, so that this old truth hits you between the eyes and changes your life. And this is a truth that really ought to change everyone’s life, radically. The fact that Jesus is coming back should affect our every thought, word and action. The certainty of his return should provide the ultimate perspective for our lives – but does it? Or do we still need the kind of revolution that comes from each one of us taking this old truth that we already know, and applying it radically to our own lives?

Well, the only evidence that people have learnt any truth is that they will be living it out. I’m not convinced that we have learned the truth of Advent yet, based on what I see. That’s no big surprise: to be ready for Jesus’ return is, in effect, to be ready for our own death. And most of us are not good at facing death – least of all our own. Generally, most of us assume that we will have time to get ready for that: when we’re older; when we’re less busy; when there is less pressure – i.e. any time but now! But the season of Advent won’t let us get away with that. On these next four Sundays until Christmas we are meant to reflect on the four Last Things – death; hell; judgement; and heaven.

That’s a process that begins today. And this year it’s Jesus’ words from near the end of his life as recorded by Luke that help us do that. You’ll doubtless have worked out that we picked them up mid-stream, as it were. This conversation between Jesus and his disciples actually began back in 21:5. They were sitting outside the Temple in Jerusalem. History tells us that it was a magnificent building; but Jesus said that soon it would be reduced to rubble! His disciples, not surprisingly, wanted Jesus to tell them when that would happen. But by the time we get to this part of passage, most scholars are agreed that Jesus had moved on to a different topic.

There are huge debates over just what Jesus meant, in all parts of his reply. As before, I won’t explore all those arguments today, because the short answer is that nobody knows for sure! I still think that to engage in those debates means that we are likely to miss the main issue. I base that on the fact that what the disciples asked for in Greek were ‘signs’. They wanted Jesus to tell them what to look for, so they could know for sure when all this would happen. In his reply the one word that Jesus conspicuously avoided using was the Greek word for ‘signs’. The only times that he used it were to warn the disciples not to trust anybody who pointed them to signs.

Jesus’ concern throughout his reply was that his disciples should know what to do when the various things he spoke of happened. He did want them to know what was going to happen, because forewarned is forearmed. But what Jesus didn’t do was give a timetable, or sequence of events that they should look for. He refused to give any signs, except in a very vague way – because that wasn’t his main point. And it’s crucial we get this right: Jesus’ main concern was to stress the fact that he was going to come back – and that his followers should be ready for him whenever he does so.

This is about how Christians are to live now. So as we think about death, hell, judgement, and heaven, the only truly important question, then, is if we are ready for them? No, Jesus didn’t say that the terrifying events that will happen before his return are meant to make us ask ourselves that question. But there is nothing quite like a disaster to focus the mind on what matters in life! How much more true is that if we know that the disaster marks the end of the world as we know it? What would you want to do, or stop, or put right if you knew your life was about to end? What preparation would you want to make, before you faced God on the day of judgement? That’s the big question, for each of us, on this Advent Sunday: are you living ready for Jesus’ return?

It was specifically the issue of being ready that was uppermost in Jesus’ mind in the closing part of this passage. In the first part of it Jesus spoke about what’ll happen beforehand – events that aren’t easy to miss. Strange things will happen in the sky and on the earth, such that people will faint with fear, Jesus said. But that’s nothing compared to what’ll happen. Then the Son of Man, Jesus, will appear, in person, with great power and glory; and that will surely be the most awe-inspiring event of all time.

Those events that precede Jesus’ return should alert us to what’s about to happen. Even as we are scared and confused Christians are supposed to stand, lift our heads – because we know: the waiting is almost over! It’s already been almost 2 000 years – which may not be too long in God’s sight, but it certainly is for us. Only God knows if it will happen in our time. But, if it does, we are to be ready to greet that moment with joy, because it’s what we have been waiting for.

Jesus told his disciples how not to be caught unawares by his return. He warned them – and, so, us too – not to get too wrapped up in this life. It is easy to think that whatever is consuming our attention right now is the be-all and end-all. But in this perspective, of Jesus’ sure return, none of that matters at all. For Christians, this life is far from all there is. It could end at any point. So, if it was over today, or tomorrow, would that catch you unawares?

If this truth has hit you between the eyes today, then think G A P. It’s an acronym that I’ve used here before, as an alternative to WAG, or the ABC of Advent. GAP stands for: Guard; Alert; and Pray. It’s easier to see them in Good News Bible than New International Version, but it’s clear in the original Greek. What matters, though, is that it tells us what to do so we’re not caught out by Jesus’ return.

First, Christians need to be on our GUARD: about how we live, about what we value. We are to live in the light of the fact that Jesus is coming back, and that it could be today. The acid test is to ask if you would want Jesus to see what you were doing, or know what you were thinking. If the answer is ‘No’, then that’s probably your answer about if that’s good thing to do or think! Be on your guard about how you live and about what you value – because it does matter. Don’t get caught up in what ultimately are trivialities. And if you do need to make changes, it’s definitely best to do that today: there just might not be a tomorrow.

G is for Guard. A is for ALERT. If you are a Christian, be alert to the facts. Notice what’s going on around you: are there any events that suggest Jesus is going to come back soon? Is it time to stand, raise your head? Is the fullness of your salvation about to become reality? Always be alert to the ultimate fact – which is that Jesus is going to come back. It’s not a case of if, just when he does – and that’s just as true for those who don’t believe it. Believe it or not, ready or not, Jesus is coming back: so be alert.

G’s for Guard; A is for Alert; and P is for PRAY. That’s the third key piece of advice that Jesus gave for his followers to be ready for his return. Pray; always. Jesus told his followers to pray for two things. First, we’re to pray for strength to endure all that happens before his return. Life isn’t easy if we are on our guard about how we live, and are on the alert for Jesus’ return. We need God’s strength to live that kind of a life – always being waiting, and ready for something that might not happen. So we are to pray for strength to live like that, and to stay faithful to God through these terrifying events. And, second, we are to pray to be able to stand before the Son of Man when he returns.

So, revolutionise your life on the basis of this old truth, and think GAP, then. Think: GUARD; ALERT; and PRAY. Think it especially today because it is Advent Sunday. But think it tomorrow too – if tomorrow comes. Think it the next time there’s a major event: does that mean the time is almost here? Jesus said that such things are going to happen, so don’t be surprised. Is this the time to stand up, lift your head? Think it too when you next have a major life decision to make. Is it what you’d want Jesus to find you doing when he comes back? Would you be able to stand before him on that day?

Be alert to the fact that Jesus is coming back – and that you don’t know when that will be. And pray, always. Pray for strength to go through all that will happen before Jesus returns. And pray that you will be able to stand before him when he does. The king is coming back. Are you ready for that? Well, be ready: think GAP; and now let’s pray …