Faith Alive Advent Service 1 - God's Messengers

December 3, 2003, 8:00, 9:30, 11:00 AM

Rev. Ronald Burcham

Typed from audio transcript

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

What would the Christmas account be like if there were no angels? Think of the critical role that angels play in that historic birth. What would it have been like if there was no angel to talk to Zechariah, to tell him that his son would be the one who would prepare the way for the coming Savior, to tell him to name his son John? What would have happened if no angel had appeared to Mary? How could she have explained the fact that, all of a sudden, she was with child? Think of what would have happened if no angel would have came to Joseph in a dream. He probably would have quietly left Mary alone, would have never married her. Think about how different things would have been if not for the angels that were in the story. How about even the shepherds? The shepherds could have stayed out by their flocks all night long. They never would have known about the historic birth. In fact, all the people of Bethlehem wouldn't have heard about it because they wouldn't be there to tell them. The Christmas account would be so much different if there were no angels, if there were no messengers from God to come down and tell His people the good news that He wanted to share with them. If there were no angels, the account of Christmas, the birth of Jesus wouldn't have been the same.

Angels play a critical role in God's plan, because angels are God's messengers. So, tonight, let's spend just a few minutes understanding these messengers of God. What is it that the angels do? What is their charge?

Well, the first thing we find out about angels is that angels speak for God. They don't speak on their own. They haven't come up with a message on their own. They only speak what God tells them to say. We saw that in the story of Zechariah. When Zechariah says, "You know, I'm just not sure about this," that's when Gabriel announces his name. He says, "I'm Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God. This is what God has to say to you, Zechariah. This isn't just what I, Gabriel, have to say but this is God's message that I'm bringing to you." You see, angels only go where they're told to go, and they only say what God tells them to say. That means any message from an angel is a message from God.

The message of the angels is that of good news. You look throughout the whole Christmas account, each time an angel appears, it's because they want to share good news with someone. Think about Zechariah and Elizabeth. Zechariah and Elizabeth are righteous people and, yet, they're well along in years and they don't have any children. Now that's bad enough; but, in that culture, if you didn't have children, it was thought that somehow you were cursed by God. So here he is a priest in God's temple and, yet, the stigma against him, since he has no children, is that somehow he's been cursed by God. Can you think about the elation he has when the angel says to him, "Listen, Zech, you're going to have a baby boy. Go home and tell the missus. She's not going to believe it. What great news! And beyond that, this baby boy you're going to have is going to walk in the favor of God. He's going to play a special role in God's plan. That's great news."

Think about the good news to Mary. When the angel appears to Mary and tells her that she's going to give birth to the Son of God. Now I'm not sure how you handle news like that, when somebody tells you that you're going to bear God's Son; but, after it sinks in, as she thinks back to generation upon generation waiting for God's Messiah, waiting for God's deliverance, it is incredible news that's spoken to her, that she's going to bear the Messiah.

How about Joseph? How about Joseph who is sitting there at night on the edge of his bed wondering how in the world does he tell Mary that this just can't work, that he just can't hardly believe the outlandish story about how she's now with child through the Holy Spirit and all of that, that he doesn't understand. The best thing to do is just quietly let her go off on his own. Joseph is heartbroken, as now he no longer has his betrothed, he no longer is going to have a wife. And then, when he goes to sleep and the angel comes to him, the angel says in essence, "Joseph, Mary hasn't been unfaithful. You don't have to worry about her. She's the same Mary that you loved yesterday. She'll be the same Mary tomorrow. In fact, she's the chosen servant of God." What a relief to Joseph that this woman that he loves has not been unfaithful to him, that the woman he loves he's now commanded to take her as his wife and, beyond all of that, she's going to give birth to the Messiah, that this is how God is going to redeem his people. The angels come with incredible news. That's the job of angels to deliver good news.

The other job angels have is to challenge people. They challenge people to step out in faith. Think about each one of the accounts. The people that the angels were talking to had to step out in faith. Zechariah is the first one, and he kind of falls apart at it because the angel tells him what's going to happen, tells him now in faith believe what's going to happen and instead Zechariah says, "Whew, I'm too old to have kids. I don't understand this. Are you positive?" And the angel closes his mouth. But if we were to read on in the gospel, we'd find out that true faith, when it's time to circumcise the boy and name him, all of a sudden Zechariah writes down, "His name is John," just as the angel said. He stepped out in faith and named him John, and his mouth was open and he sang praises to God.

How about Mary? "Step out in faith, Mary. You're going to be with child. You're not going to be able to explain it. It's going to be uncomfortable. It's going to be embarrassing, but step out in faith and know that the child within you is God's Son." What does she say? "I'm the Lord's servant."

Or maybe the most crucial one is Joseph. Joseph has no proof. He has nothing to go on, only the word of an angel in a dream. He could have passed it off as indigestion. He could have passed it off as a bad dream but, instead, he steps out in faith and he takes Mary to be his wife.

Angels call upon us to step out in faith. And how different it would be if they didn't step out in faith, if they would have done something different. Angels are critical to God's plan. They're critical as God's messengers to us.

Tonight I want you to consider this: Angels are not the only messengers from God. As critical a role as angels play in God's plan, angels are not the only messengers that God uses. Angels are not the only ones who play a critical role in God's plan. God has messengers and messages that come to us from all sorts of different places and all different kinds of avenues. We may not have an angel appear to us in a dream tonight, but I guarantee you that God sends His messengers and God delivers His message to us just as much today as He did 2,000 years ago.

Consider this: God's messengers. They come in all shapes, sizes, and even ages. For an example, two weeks ago, one of those warm days we had. We decided we were going to put the lights up on the house. Actually, Michelle decided we were going to put the lights up on the house. I came in at the tail end of that, and it was getting around dinnertime. So we're putting up the last string of lights and out there playing in the driveway is Madison, 4, and Mackenzie, 3. They're watching Mom and Dad and everything, and pretty soon Madison comes up and she's looking all around and she says, "Dad, where's Mary, Joseph, and Baby Jesus?" And I said, "Well, we're not going to put them out right now." And she says, "Oh, okay." Well, to that, Mackenzie steps up with her typical question at least 100 times a day, "Why?" Now as I start to formulate my answer to tell Mackenzie that we're not going to do it right now because, frankly, it's getting dark out, it's time for dinner, I'm not sure where the nativity set is, and I don't know if the lights work; so we're just going to wait until a different day." But before I can give this long, reasonable explanation of why we're not going to do it, Madison pops up to give the answer and she says, "Mackenzie, you can't have Christmas without Mary, Joseph, and Baby Jesus." Oh. I was thinking about dinner. She was thinking about Jesus. Message received. Message understood, God. You can't have Christmas without Mary, Joseph, and Baby Jesus.

God's messengers come in all shapes, sizes, and ages. If we open up our eyes and open up our hearts this time of year, God has messages for us. And just like the angels back 2,000 years ago called the people back to faith, God's messengers and messages today want to call us back to our faith, want to call us back to the reality of what all this hype is about, that it's not just about putting lights up on the house, it's not just worrying about dinner and trying to find the nativity set. It's not just about shopping lists and trying to decipher your calendar and make all the commitments and all the celebrations you want to go to, but He wants to call us back to the reality that this season is about Mary, Joseph, and Baby Jesus and without them, you can't have Christmas.

This time of year, open up your hearts and open up your ears to the subtle and sometimes not so subtle messages that God's going to send your way. Maybe it's going to be through the voice of a child reminding you what Christmas is all about. Maybe it will be through the majestic voices of the choir as they lift up their praises and, once again, they bring us back into reality of what we're celebrating. Maybe it's just going to be a friendly handshake and a warm smile from someone you didn't anticipate because they have the joy and the love of God in their heart, but God has messengers and messages for us when we open up our ears and our eyes and our hearts.

And then consider this: If God uses more than just angels as His messengers, are you one of God's messengers? Is God going to use you to deliver His message this Christmas season to someone? You know, we don't have to worry about it. The message is not ours, just like the angels. The message comes from God. It's only the angels that deliver it. The message we have to share with people, it doesn't come from you, it comes from God. We just need to share it. Do you know how critical it is that we share the true joy of this season? Most people assume that at Christmastime everybody's happy, that everybody has family, and everybody's caught up in the joy of everything that's happening. The reality is there are thousands, millions of people who detest Christmas, not because they detest God but because Christmas just brings back bad memories, because Christmas is a hurtful time, because Christmas is a lonely time. It seems that everyone has family, but they don't. Everyone else is happy, but they're not. That good news that God wants to share through His messengers, could He share that through you?

I'd be willing to guess that each one of us knows someone who's hurting right now, someone who's lonely. Maybe it's at school, maybe it's at work, maybe it's the next-door neighbor. Could you be God's messenger this year? Could it be a friendly smile on your face? Could it be the fact that you don't even have to say a word, but you simply open up your ears and let them talk to you and let them know you care? Could it be that you offer to bring them to Christmas Eve service so they can share in the true joy about what's happening? Could it be that you invite them over to your home? Could it be that you make some small token to them to let them know that they're not forgotten, there are people that care about them, more important, God cares about them? In fact, God cares so much about them, that's what Christmas is about because God cared so much that He sent His Son.

Are you one of God's messengers this year? I believe you are. And just as much as the first Christmas would not have been the same without God's messengers, the angels, Christmas for someone you know won't be the same without you as God's messenger. Amen.

Copyright 2003 Gloria Dei Lutheran Church