Ecclesia Princeton
Ecclesia Princeton
And He Shall Be Called….Mighty God- Lydia Andres: Luke 1vv67-79
Lydia Andres continues our advent teaching series exploring the surprising expression of the might of God in Jesus and how it confounds our expectations.
I would like to invite our scripture reader forward this morning to start us off by hearing from the words from the book that we love, found in Luke, chapter 1, verses 68 through 80.
Speaker 2:His father, zechariah, was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has come to his people and redeemed them.
Speaker 2:He has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David, as he said through his holy prophets of long ago Salvation from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us. To show mercy to our ancestors and to remember his holy covenant, the oath he swore to our father, abraham, to rescue us from the hand of our enemies and to enable us to serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him all our days. And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High, for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him to give his people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God, by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven to shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace. And the child grew and became strong in the spirit and he lived in the wilderness until he appeared publicly to Israel. The word of the Lord.
Speaker 1:Thank you. Have you ever experienced disappointment from an experience or an expectation that was different from how you imagined it would be? I know that I've experienced this disappointment. I just graduated from high school and was about to head off to college, and I made a very last-minute decision that I was going to attend a summer worship camp that I had attended the past three summers in Kansas City past three summers in Kansas City. A key feature to this camp was that we were not only learning about prayer and worship in lectures and in the practice rooms, but we were also spending time learning by observing and participating in prayer and worship in their main prayer gathering room. On this particular night, we were joining the prayer room in what they called the night watch. It was 2 am and the whole week I had hoped and prayed that the Lord would speak to me by prompting one of the leaders to come and pray over me. And finally, on this particular night, my moment came.
Speaker 1:I remember standing up and walking into the aisle, hopeful and excited to receive this long-awaited for prayer, and the prayer fell so flat and no matter how hard I tried to look at this prayer, there was nothing that resonated in it with me, and as I listened I went from a place of excitement to a place of sorrow. Truthfully, I don't remember what was said to me anymore. I didn't know what to tell the person who had prayed for me, so I offered them a polite smile and sat down to process my immediate and overwhelming disappointment. And yet I'm sure I'm not the only one who has a story like this, a story of great expectation and immediate and sorrowful disappointment. Maybe it's a disappointment of not getting the job, not getting the raise, a relationship that didn't end the way that you wanted it to, or maybe an event that you were really looking forward to that got canceled. Or you made plans with a friend and they fell through. Maybe even the disappointment was that God didn't show up the way you expected him to. Perhaps you feel like God has been quiet lately, or the friend with cancer that you've been praying for for years suddenly passed away, that there was no hand of healing of God over them. Or maybe you've been seeking clarity over a situation and have gotten none, and feel that you are left to make the decision all by yourself. Or maybe you praised God over an answered prayer, only to see that thing ripped from your hands by unforeseen circumstances. As someone who's currently feeling the sting of that last disappointment, you're not alone, and I recognize that these disappointments may feel stronger in this season of Advent, as we gather with friends and family to celebrate, but all you can think about is the sorrow of that expectation and hope that was not met. I want to offer you this morning that you are not alone in that sorrow. In fact, you're in great company. While this season is the season of Advent, where we celebrate Jesus as the wonderful counselor, mighty God, everlasting Father and Prince of Peace, we also hold the tension of the disappointment of those who waited and never saw the promised Savior.
Speaker 1:Our passage this morning comes at the end of a story of a couple who had their expected reality suddenly changed on them. What happens before our passage is the foretelling of the birth of John the Baptist. We'll spend most of our recap on John and his parents, zachariah and Elizabeth. Now, zachariah and his wife Elizabeth had struggled for years to have a baby and at this point they had given up. As the scripture says, they were both getting along in years, and Zachariah was a priest. He was in the temple fulfilling his allotted priestly duties to offer incense to the Lord. And this is when an angel appeared and declared that even in their old years, they would have a son who would be filled with the Holy Spirit and prepare the way for the coming Lord. Now, zachariah did not believe these things, and so the angel that appeared made him unable to speak until the baby would arrive. And, sure enough, the baby is born, and when people ask him to name the baby, zachariah writes down the name John, even though the tradition was to name the baby after a family member and they had no relatives named John, even though the tradition was to name the baby after a family member and they had no relatives named John. It's immediately after naming John that Zachariah is able to speak again, and he bursts out in this prophetic word our passage this morning that seems to recall the mighty ways that God has worked in the past and blesses his son to be the prophet of the Most High.
Speaker 1:Zachariah and Elizabeth lived their later years expecting to never have a child, and this expectation was broken by suddenly having one. Even though it was a beautiful thing, it would still have created a breaking of set expectations, and the first thing that comes out of Zachariah's mouth is this proclamation about a Messiah that exceeds expectations. Perhaps this proclamation is coming from his own disappointments and expectations being bursted open in the birth of his son. This prophetic utterance starts by remembering the ways that God had previously met and redeemed God's people, and in that remembrance it remembers a promise made to raise up a mighty savior or, in some translations, to raise up a horn of salvation for the people. And just like Zachariah and Elizabeth had expectations for how their life would go, and just like we have expectations for ours, the Israelite people had an expectation of who they thought the Messiah would be. They expected this Messiah to come with physical power to bring salvation. They probably held on to a hope that their mighty king would come and destroy the people who held power over them. They expected a mighty king would come and destroy the people who held power over them. They expected a mighty king to come, but what they really needed and received was an almighty savior.
Speaker 1:But hold on a second. Let's not brush past those two words there, for almighty and mighty are two very different words and the word used in both the Luke and Isaiah passage is mighty. Luke stating blessed be the Lord, god of Israel, for he has looked favorably upon his people and redeemed them. He has raised up a mighty savior for us in the house of his servant, david and Isaiah. In giving the titles we speak so often in this Advent season wonderful counselor, mighty God, everlasting father and prince of peace here, in both passages, we see the word is mighty. In fact, these two words, mighty and almighty, are two different words in the Hebrew. In Hebrew, the word mighty is gabor, which means to become strong or mighty, to prevail. It's often used alongside words like warrior, hero and strength, whereas the word Shaddai, which denotes one's infinite sufficiency for themselves and all other beings.
Speaker 1:The connotation that regularly comes with the word Shaddai is the idea of the Almighty as God, as Yahweh, the Lord Master, and not just a human, and so it would make sense in the minds of the people that they would think that the coming king would be this great warrior, this great Gabor, who would prevail over the people that had caused them pain. They would have a very particular image in their mind of what they thought this coming savior, this horn of salvation, would be based upon prior promises, and so you can imagine their surprise when Jesus shows up, claiming to be this long-awaited horn of salvation, the mighty one, their savior. But he comes not swinging a sword, acting all heroic like the kings of old, but comes as a baby, eating at the table with sinners, healing the sick and walking through the fields with his disciples as he teaches them. This is not what they had in mind. You can see now why so many might have questioned Jesus as being the Son of God.
Speaker 1:Jesus shows up as the Almighty the Shaddai, the one who is sufficient unto themselves. The Lord, god, yahweh the Almighty is a larger title that encompasses the Almighty Gabor, the prevailing hero. But the Almighty Shaddai is a fuller term for God. Though these images of Jesus take time to develop as the story continues, these words and connotations of these words take their final frames as we read of the witness of Jesus upon the cross doing what we deemed impossible death for our sins. And there is the Almighty the Shaddai, the all-sufficient God, taking the sins that only God can bear.
Speaker 1:And three days later we read of the mightiness the Gabor, the prevailing hero, story where the hero has not only defeated sin and death but also risen again, just like he said he would. And so we see that God has raised up an anointed instrument of salvation for the people that will come out of the house of David. This is the Almighty God whose Gabor greatness is encompassed by the Shaddai. The Almighty, this is the anointed one who would bring salvation to the people, is the anointed one who would bring salvation to the people. So then, we've found that Jesus, there is not what the people expected, but something greater, and we're still left to grapple with the reality of what Jesus, the Almighty Savior, came as, and Zachariah's prophecy gives us a good foreshadowing of the ministry that Jesus would have. Jesus would, according to verses 77 to 79, bring salvation to his people by the forgiveness of sins. By the tender mercy of God, the dawn from on high will break upon us to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, guide our feet into the way of peace.
Speaker 1:We see several realities that would have looked different from the original expectation. As we look at these verses, I want to compare the expected reality the mighty God of physical power to the actual reality an almighty God who showed up as an infant who would later take on our sins. The first expectation that people would have was that the promised mighty Savior would come to bring physical salvation to the people. This expectation was that the Savior would come with this physical salvation through the destruction of their enemies. They expected that all of their enemies would be slaughtered or driven out and that there would be no more oppression from the Roman people. This expectation would have been in their minds, would have been set as an example from the kings of old and the prophets who had led the people into peace from their enemies by driving them out or eliminating them. They thought that salvation would mean no longer living under oppression and some other ruler's reign. They were looking for physical freedom and, as the people were expecting physical salvation, they were also assuming that God would be wrathful towards their enemies. They expected a mighty wrath as a sign of physical power.
Speaker 1:As I mentioned, with physical salvation, the examples that the people would have had in mind were the examples of the kings who had reigned and they praised them. Maybe, with those kings in mind, they would have been drawn to think about the characteristics and the stories of the great kings and how they acted under the favor of God Kings like David, for example and maybe they thought that the king that would one day come would act in the manner similar to how David acted as king, a king who was just and fair to his people, but to his enemies, ruthless and powerful, subjecting them to war and to destruction. War and to destruction. And this probably would have come with some appeal to the people of the day, as they themselves were living under the oppression of the Roman rule. They were looking for a physical salvation, and they probably held onto the hope that their saving king would come and destroy people who held power over them. They expected a mighty and wrathful savior, them. They expected a mighty and wrathful savior.
Speaker 1:So we've seen that the people expecting this mighty savior who would come bringing physical salvation by inflicting wrath upon people, and they expected this, they wanted this relief. But the king that they expected would only bring a sense of temporary hope and relief, nothing of the permanent nature, and an earthly king would bring a whole lot of death with them as they overturned another earthly kingdom. They were people looking for their immediate burdens and worries to be relieved, and so they wished for a savior who would take those things away for them in the immediate moment. But what we see is not this mighty God, but an almighty savior who does not act in the physical power that the people expected. No, he acts in a long-term manner that often does not make sense. The almighty comes with a spiritual power that brings healing. The Almighty comes with a spiritual power that brings healing.
Speaker 1:So where we see, people desire physical salvation by a mighty God, but that is not what is followed by the rest of the line in Luke 1, verse 77, which says that he will bring salvation to his people by the forgiveness of their sins, to his people by the forgiveness of their sins. The people expected a physical salvation and instead salvation came through the forgiveness of sins, a greater and seemingly more impossible work than the first. The reality is that Jesus, the almighty Savior, brings spiritual salvation to the people, and the people expected a mighty God who would come bringing a mighty and wrathful fist to end their oppression and bring them peace. Yet what we observe is a God who is merciful, healing the sick, meeting and eating with sinners, and he is not quick to cast people away, even those whom society deems to be the worst. He calls them to gather around the table with him, and there are no moments of calling down death upon the Roman people, but instead there's only the call to love your neighbor as yourself, and God shows the most tender mercy by voluntarily taking our sins upon the cross, with the promise that there is now no more condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
Speaker 1:And in all these expectations, the people longed for a sense of relief. And while the people expected this relief to be temporary, we see that Jesus comes bringing more than a temporary relief. Jesus brings the promise of hope, and in verse 79, it says to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death. There is no earthly ruler who can bring light to those who sit in despair or the shadow that hangs closely after death, but Jesus comes with the promise of something else. Jesus came as this promise of hope, and there is no darkness that is too dark that we cannot be found. There is no corner in this world where we cannot be found. There is this love that knows no bounds, for there is no greater love than one who would give up his life for a friend. And Jesus, our great and almighty friend, did that, defeating the shadow of death and ripping the divide between us and God and promising the hope of the new life and light in Christ. There is still hope.
Speaker 1:Advent is a season of hope, of remembering the sorrows the world carried as the promise of the world stepped in and the final promise from our passage is to guide our feet in the way of peace. I want to believe that this is what the people wanted, just as I want to believe that we all want peace deep down, that somewhere in the middle of our hectic and overfilled lives, we want peace. But again, the peace that Jesus brought looks different than what the people expected it to. You see, the history of the Israelite people, which is far too extensive to get into this morning, is a complex one, freckled with moments of peace, moments of war and moments of opposition, as they run through cycles of trusting or turning from God. Peace on earth is what they wanted or turning from God. Peace on earth is what they wanted. But Jesus came with something better, a peace that would be for all eternity, while still offering a peace for right now. As John 14, 27 says Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. This peace is from having the Holy Spirit. That is a peace that we have access to ourselves. But this peace is a topic for another week as we move through Advent. I would like to invite the worship team forward as I finish my story before I close. Forward as I finish my story before I close.
Speaker 1:Nevertheless, it is too easy to look back at people who have missed what we can now see and cast judgment on them. Here are people who waited and missed the Savior who came. He didn't match their expectations, but we too create expectations of how we think God will act. Expectations can be large and often we find that things do not live up to our expectations. We can be disappointed as the reality of what we dreamed up is not the reality that is set before us. And though we see that Jesus is the Savior that was promised, we also live with the expectation that God shows up in more than one way. We have a tendency to forget that God is far bigger than how we could have ever imagined God to be.
Speaker 1:And this is the same truth I experienced that day in Kansas City, for as I sat there wrestling with my own disappointments, I felt the Lord moving and speaking in my heart, reminding me that God can speak directly to me and that I don't need someone to speak. God to me right now. And God laid it thickly upon my heart that I had to get up and go and pray over a friend who had sprained her ankle two days ago. I walked over to her questioning this prompting on my heart and fumbled through my explanation that I had to pray over her ankle and felt that she needed to take the wrapping off. And the Lord used me that day as her ankle was healed and the rest of the night was turned into a bunch of crazy teenagers low on sleep having a dance party celebrating what we had seen the Lord do. God moved in a way that I had not expected him to. He spoke directly to my heart that so desperately longed to hear his voice, and not through a leader, like I had expected it to come through, but through the encouragement that he can speak directly to me from the prompting to move with the wholeness that his voice had filled my heart with.
Speaker 1:We all live with expectations of what we think life should look like. I have an expectation of what I think the food this afternoon should taste like. This expectation is not limited to life, and we have this expectation in our minds of what we think God will act like or should act like or do. And we're not alone in those assumptions, for, like the people waiting for a mighty savior to come and save them, we too can be all too quick to create expectations on how God must show up in our lives, ruling out the creativity and pleasant surprises of how God does show up. And that's not to say that God will never show up the way we think God will. That's not at all what I'm saying. Instead, I'm inviting you to ask the question how am I expecting God to show up in my life? God is far more creative and complex than our brains, no matter how big or smart. So I invite you to broaden your assumptions of how God can work in your life in almighty ways.