As always, you may read the transcript below
Luke 1:26-37
26 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.28 The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.” 29 Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be.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.” 34 “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?” 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 nothing is impossible with God.”
Luke 1:26-37 SERVING WITH HOPE
Springford Baptist Church: November 29, 2020.
FIRST SUNDAY IN ADVENT: HOPE
I was making dough for ginger cookies and as I was pouring the molasses into the measuring cup, I was noticing how slowly it was coming out. I needed to wait. When we are waiting there are things for us to notice.
This is our First Sunday in Advent. And these 4 Sundays leading up to Christmas are a time of waiting. Each Sunday we will light another candle and move closer to the celebration of Jesus’ birth at Christmas. When I was younger, we had an Advent calendar that we would open each of the days of Advent leading up to Christmas. There are, as you know, Advent calendars that have verses to read or brief reflections to consider. There are Advent calendars that have chocolate treats for each of the days before Christmas.
Whatever the traditions followed during Advent, it is a time of waiting. We cannot rush the days, we must live each one while we wait. What are the things that God wants us to notice while we wait? What are the things that God wants us to notice this Christmas season of 2020 when many things are different than our usual Christmas activities?
Today, in particular, we want to consider what God wants us to notice about HOPE, as we are waiting.
When we read again the account of the angel Gabriel visiting Mary to give her the remarkable news that she was going to have a child, a Son who would be, the Son of the Most High, there is a powerful message of HOPE here! This child would be the One and Only Son of God.
Do we realize how this incredible news changed everything in history then and now?
When God, according to his careful plans, chose and arranged to enter our world, at that moment in time, the reality of HOPE, unlike any other, was born.
When we are praying and hoping for God to provide an answer, of course we find it difficult to wait.
Something I had not thought of quite from this angle before is that, as the time was near for Jesus to be born, God was waiting. God had known all along that this miracle of sending His Son to be our Saviour would occur, but there was waiting until the time was right. God waited with HOPE and anticipation. God knew that this miracle of Jesus’ birth and ultimately His death and resurrection (being raised back to life) would save us. This would be the means of us being reconciled to God, brought back into close relationship with Him.
When we have a gift that we know will be ideal, just what someone needs, sometimes we can’t wait for the person to receive and open the gift. I wonder if God felt like that all those centuries and years and months and days that He waited until it was time for Jesus, His Son to be born.
God waited with Divine HOPE and insight into what the birth of Jesus would mean.
In the careful details of God’s amazing plan, we read in Luke 1 that, “God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph… The virgin’s name was Mary.” (Luke 1:26,27)
God sent the angel because now, finally, it was time for the HOPE of the Promised One, the Messiah, to arrive.
Those who held on to the HOPE of God’s promise had continued to pray and wonder when God would act to keep his promise.
Mary, as a faith filled young Jewish woman would have prayed those prayers and longed for God to carry out His plan to send a Saviour. She had no idea that she would be the chosen one to carry and to bear the Son of God, HOPE for all the world.
When the angel appeared to Mary and said, “Greetings you who are highly favoured! The Lord is with you.” (Luke 1:28)
Mary didn’t know what to think. She was, “greatly troubled at his words.” (Luke 1:29). Sometimes when God initiates the way that He is going to answer the prayers we have been praying and hoping over, we too are surprised and unsettled. Perhaps, we did not expect the way God would bring HOPE through answered prayers. Perhaps, we, like Mary, did not think that we would have a part in those prayers being answered.
The angel immediately reassures Mary and says, “Do not be afraid” (Luke 1:30) Fear interferes with HOPE, doesn’t it?
Our fear causes us to doubt that something good will happen. Instead, when fear takes over, we expect the worst.
God has a plan here for the best news ever, God Himself entering our sinful world to bring us a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord.
The
angel Gabriel explains to Mary,
“You will be with child and give birth to a Son, and you are to
give Him the name Jesus.” (Luke 1:31)
Jesus
means “the LORD saves”.
On this Advent Sunday of HOPE, this is where the HOPE resides. Our HOPE is always to be found in Jesus, who alone can save us!
There is profound HOPE in the message of the angel that Jesus’, “kingdom will never end.” (Luke 1:33b)
This is not a temporary measure to soothe the agony of harsh things that life brings. Jesus entering our pain filled world, signals the establishment of a kingdom that will never end, an everlasting kingdom of HOPE!
How do you hear the question that Mary asks the angel, “How will this be…”? (Luke 1:34). It is not a response of disbelief, but rather a practical question of how will this happen because she is a virgin, yet believes that she is going to have a holy child as the angel says.
God knew that Mary was the one to be the mother of Jesus because He knew that she had already demonstrated HOPE and trust in Him. She had found favour with God.
AS God has waited with HOPE, Mary has been recognized as the one who will bring Jesus into the world.
In Luke 1:45, we read what Elizabeth said to Mary, “Blessed is she who has believed that what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished.”
The angel carefully and tenderly explains to Mary, not just asking her to HOPE without any explanation. Gabriel says, “The Holy Spirit will come upon 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.” (Luke 1:35)
And here is the essential truth of what God wants us to notice about HOPE while we wait, whatever the waiting means for us: “For nothing is impossible with God.” (Luke 1:37)
HOPE while we wait is only possible as we remember that nothing is impossible with God.
We have recognized that God also knows what it is to wait with HOPE until the time is right for what He has planned.
He also waits with longing for each of us to discover that Jesus wants to be our personal Saviour.
There is a gospel song with these words, “The Saviour is waiting to enter your heart. Why don’t you let Him come in? There’s nothing in this world to keep you apart. What is your answer to Him?… Time after time He has waited before and now He is waiting again, to see if you’re willing to open the door. Oh, how He wants to come in.”
Throughout this year, our theme at Springford Baptist Church has been SERVING.
While we wait, will we, like Mary, be willing to serve in whatever way God wants to use us to bring His miraculous HOPE, the saving HOPE of Jesus, to our world?
Will we serve with deep and renewed HOPE in God in this time of Advent? We can have HOPE, as we approach this Christmas of 2020. We have HOPE because of Jesus!
ADVENT CANDLE OF HOPE – Nov. 29, 2020.
Lola: Today, on this first Sunday in Advent, we want to celebrate the HOPE that has come into our world because of Jesus. When Jesus was born, God was keeping His promise to give our world HOPE. Sometimes we have to wait a long time to see our prayers answered and for HOPE to appear. As we wait, we can look to Jesus for HOPE and Christmas reminds us again to turn to Jesus and to find our HOPE in Him!
Everyone: When Jesus brings HOPE to us, He reminds us that He can bring HOPE when there seems to be no hope. This past year, we have been praying and looking for hope in the very unusual times of this pandemic. We want to keep remembering and reassuring each other that Jesus brings HOPE. When we carry the weight of waiting, we can turn to Jesus for HOPE and then we can serve others with our HOPE in Jesus made stronger.
Lola: Today we light this candle of HOPE knowing and having experienced that Jesus brings HOPE! We want to come closer to Jesus. We want to serve God with our HOPE centered in Jesus. (Lighting of the candle of HOPE)
Everyone: We will pray together, “Thank you God for the HOPE we have because Jesus has come into our world. Thank you that the HOPE that Jesus gives is not just for Christmas, but for every day. Today we have lit this candle of HOPE, believing that Jesus brings HOPE! We pray that we will hold on to our HOPE in Jesus and share this HOPE with others, as we serve You with HOPE. All for Jesus.” AMEN.