Sharing Christmas Joy, Luke 1:18-25, 57-66

A sermon preached on December 13, 2009 at Hebron Baptist Church, Denham Springs, Louisiana by Pastor Joe Alain.

Scripture Reading: Luke 1:18-25, 57-66

The birth of a child brings great joy, it is a joyful event that you want to share with others. But imagine not being able to share your joy? Imagine having been blessed with such good news but you were unable to share your great joy.

Because of unbelief, Zechariah was unable to share his joy in the news that his wife was going to have a son, he would become a father! Zechariah’s privilege of sharing his joy was postponed. Unbelief, fear, doubt, robbed him of the blessing of accepting God’s plan and sharing his good news. Unbelief causes us to miss out on what God is doing in our lives and the blessings of joy that He has for us. On the other hand, trust in Christ and in God’s Word enables us to participate in God’s plans for our life and to share the “Good News” that He’s at work in our world. Faith in Jesus frees us to live a life of purpose, gratitude, and praise.

Jesus and John – Comparison and Contrast
When you look at how Luke unfolds the story of Jesus in these opening chapters, he obviously wants his readers to compare and contrast Jesus and John the Baptist. When you compare the two, we see that both children are announced in advance by the angel Gabriel (1:11, 28). Both births are unnatural or miraculous (Elizabeth is past child-bearing age and Mary is a virgin). And in both cases the angel tells what the name of the child should be (1:13, 31).

But there are also contrasts made between John and Jesus. John was born to an aged woman who was barren, Jesus was born to a young virgin. John was given a name which means “God is gracious,” Jesus was given a name which means “Savior.” John was to prepare the way of the Lord, Jesus was the Lord!

God broke 400 years of silence when the angel Gabriel came to Zechariah and promised that his wife Elizabeth would bear a son (v.13). Zechariah, although a devout believer (v.6) doubted that God would bring this promise to pass. You see his skepticism in verse 18 when he says, “How shall I know this? For I am an old man.” Zechariah is looking at things from the human viewpoint. Zechariah is saying, “from where I am standing, this is impossible, things like this don’t happen.” But from God’s viewpoint, “nothing is impossible” (1:37). And of course, if you noticed Zechariah being a gentleman referred to his wife as “well advanced in years” not an old woman! In that respect, he obviously was a very wise man.

Zechariah and Mary – Evidence Vs Explanation
John Piper reminds us that there is one more contrast, between the announcement of John and Jesus’ birth that is worth noting; that is, how each of them responded to the angel’s message. How did Mary respond to the angel when she first heard the news? Mary said, “How can this be, since I have no husband?” (v.34). Do you see the contrast? Zechariah says, How can I know this – Mary says, How can this be? Zechariah is essentially asking for more evidence, Mary is asking for an explanation. Zechariah says “I cannot be sure;” Mary says “I cannot understand.” There’s a difference between the two responses. God does honor the humble and sincere plea for understanding. It’s not wrong to want evidence for our faith, but Jesus tells us that there is an evil in demanding signs beyond what sincere hearts would require (see Luke 11:29).

It was not that Zechariah “could not” believe, he “would not” believe the good news that Gabriel had brought, although he should have believed considering the fact that Gabriel came straight from God Himself! “I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God” (1:19). It’s almost as if Gabriel cannot believe that Zechariah cannot believe. You can almost hear Gabriel saying, “Did you not pray for a child? Your answer is hear.”

Zechariah is experiencing a crisis of faith. Would he believe God or not? He and Elizabeth had prayed for a child, now would he completely trust God to bring it to pass, even if it did not happen as he might have thought it would. When you pray, it is not always the “asking” that takes faith, it is the “receiving.” Why is this? Because God gives us the answer often in a different form than what we would have come up with. They prayed for a child and figured that God would answer them in the usual manner. But God often answers our prayers in a way that stretches and tests our faith. His answers to our prayers come in unlikely ways.

Why does God do that? Why surprise us? For one thing, I think God has a better sense of humor that we do. Zechariah and Elizabeth had to wonder, “you’re kidding, right?” Why surprise us? It’s more than the fact that God does indeed have a sense of humor, who do you think created humor? He does things like give senior saints a baby because he is more interested in making us like Himself for eternity rather than simply satisfying our immediate needs. Remember, his answered prayers are always related to His kingdom purposes. He answers prayer in a way that is always consistent with His purposes and not necessarily ours. God often asks us to simply believe, to trust Him to do the humanly impossible. He wants us to learn to trust Him and live by faith (Heb. 11:1). And the story of Zechariah and Elizabeth reminds us that you never outgrow the need to learn the lessons of living by faith.

From Faithless to Speechless
Because of his unbelief, his stalling for more evidence (v.20), Zechariah would be struck “speechless,” silent, unable to speak, unable to share a word of testimony concerning what God was doing. Think about it. The 400 years of prophetic silence were broken with this revelation to Zechariah (see Mal. 4:4-6), but the good news that the silence was broken would have to wait 9 more months.

Zechariah’s judgement corresponded to his sin. God’s plan and promise was one of great joy (v.14) – you’re going to have a son! But now, because of unbelief, he is unable to share the one thing that means the most to him right now – the incredible news that he is going to have a son, he’s going to be a dad. I think that part of his judgement is that he must watch while others do the rejoicing. Who is doing the praising, the sharing, the rejoicing? It is the neighbors, not Zechariah. He’s missing out on being able to share his joyful good news.

There is a warning to us in this passage, a warning to not demand too much evidence before we will believe God’s promises, because if we do, we might just miss out on God’s blessings. We too need to remember that “With God nothing is impossible” (1:37). God wants us to completely trust Him.

From Speechless to Ceaseless
The judgement would not remain on Zechariah forever. Nine months later, true to God’s promise, Elizabeth brought forth a son (v.57). In Palestine the birth of a boy was an occasion of great joy. When the time of the birth was near at hand, friends and local musicians gathered near the house (v.58). It was customary to name the son after the father (v.59), so the neighbors were amazed when both Elizabeth and Zechariah said that his name will be John (v.61-62). On the supplied writing tablet, Zechariah confirmed Elizabeth’s words when he said, “His name is John” (v.63), which means “Jehovah’s Gift” or “God is gracious.”

Immediately, Zechariah was able to speak, and what did he say? Praise was the first thing that came out of his mouth. His joy that had been bottled up now explodes into praise to God (v.64). Unbelief had kept Zechariah bound up and silent, faith had freed him to praise God. When we believe God’s Word for our lives, we are able to participate fully in God’s plans and to share the “Good News” that He’s at work in our world.

The people were in awe of the events that were taking place (v.65). “What will this child turn out to be?” the neighbors wondered (v.66). The people knew that this miraculous birth was the work of the sovereign God, and that God was up to something special.

Trust in Christ and in God’s Word really does enable us to participate in God’s plans for our life and to share the “Good News” that He’s at work in our world. Do we have preconceived ideas that hinder us from receiving God’s good news? Do we live thinking “this could never happen to me?” Our we open to God’s surprises? Will we believe God for the humanly impossible to occur in our lives? Our family? Our church? Our country? Our world? Faith in Jesus frees us to live a life of purpose, gratitude, and praise. I think you and I have some extraordinary Christmas joy to share this season!

For His Glory!
Pastor Joe