Luke 1:5-10 – When God Barges In – Bible study

Luke 1:5-10 When God Barges In We being this morning to think Scripturally about Christmas. In the last few days, my mind has gone back to the first Christmas, the time of Christs birth, and even beyond that, to John the Baptists inception. I have considered some thoughts that I have never had before. One of them became the topic of todays message. (The other may too – I noticed that with each blessing related to Christmas, there also came a hurt.) As I introduce the message, let me ask how many of you have ever had an unexpected guest just show up? Perhaps a family member? More than likely you have had a salesman or maybe even one of those pesky religious nuts. Some times, maybe most of the time, you just brush them off; but there may have been a time or two when, for whatever the reason, you let them in and turned out to be glad they came. Maybe someone barged in on you and before they left, they did you a great favor. The title of the message is – When God Barges In. I. Notice the conditions of life as God prepared the first Christmas. A. This was a time of status quo, meaning things just stayed as they were. 1. God had not spoken to Israel in over 400 years. a. The last Old Testament prophet was Malachi. b. His book was probably written about 445 BC. c. After Malachi, God may have sent prophets to preach but, if He did, their words are not recorded. d. \#Isa 9:1-6\ These are the days that Isaiah prophesied as "darkness." e. 400 plus years is a long time to go without hearing anything from God! 2. Even so, there were some righteous people in Israel. a. \#Luke 1:6\ Both Zacharias and Elizabeth were righteous. b. \#Luke 1:10\ A multitude of the people stood outside the temple as Zacharias performed the daily duties of the altar, praying. 3. The Bible does not say so in this text, but we can also be sure that there were some wicked people in Israel. a. Such is the lot of every generation. b. Certainly, so it was at this time as well. 4. And there were some who were waiting for the coming of Messiah. a. \#Luke 2:25-35\ will tell us of one old man, Simeon, who not only prayed for Messiah to come, but was told by God that he would not die until he saw Messiah. b. While few may have had this mans faith, I am certain others watched for the Lords coming. B. I suspect that those days were not all that different from today. 1. While some would disagree, I would say that we have no new revelation coming from God. a. In fact, I would say that the church has not had any new revelation since John and Paul closed out the New Testament. b. That was probably around 90 to 95 AD. c. That has been about 2,000 years of silence. 2. We still have some who are righteous, some who are wicked, and some who are looking for Jesus return. C. The danger of living in a status quo time period is that you get used to things being as they have been. 1. You tend to get comfortable with things. For example, one accepts the sinful as being normal. 2. If change comes, you resist it. II. Then would you notice that things suddenly changed. God barged in! A. Please understand, I do not mean this in a disrespectful way. 1. The truth is, when God enters the life of a human being, there is no small way for Him to do so. a. God is too big, too holy, too awesome to enter a human life in a small, unobtrusive way. b. God’s entrance must be noticeable, or He is not God! 2. I also note that just because God barges in, it does not means something bad must happen. a. In fact, it is quite the opposite. b. When God barges in, there is a great potential for sometime great and wonderful to happen. c. Trouble starts when we don’t respond well to God’s barging into our lives. d. The truth is, we would not have a Christmas at all if God had not barged in. 3. Let me give you some examples of God barging in. B. \#Luke 1:11-25\ God barged into Zacharias life. 1. \#Luke 1:11-12\ Gods interruption started with an angelic appearance. As Zacharias was doing his priestly duties, an angel appeared to him. 2. \#Luke 1:13-17\ It changed into a prophecy. The prophecy had several details. a. He and Elizabeth would conceive and bear a son. b. The child would be filled with the Holy Ghost from the womb. c. The child would be used of God to turn many to God. d. The child would be like an Elijah. e. In all fairness to Zacharias, the prophecy being given to him would have been hard enough to believe if all the angel had said was, "You and Elizabeth are going to have a child." It must have been even more difficult to believe their child would be used so greatly of God. 3. \#Luke 1:18-20\ It turned into trouble. a. There is little doubt that Zacharias and Elizabeth would have wanted a child. (1) Having the child was not the trouble. (2) All Jews wanted children. (3) Every Jewish coupled wanted to birth the Messiah. b. The troubled started in how Zacharias handled Gods interruption.. (1) He wanted a sign as proof that God would really do what He had said. (2) In other words, he doubted what God had told him. (a) Things has been the same way for so long, Zacharias first response to God barging in on his life was, "Prove it." (b) Zacharias had fallen into the snare of status quo. c. He got what he wanted – a sign! (1) Zacharias would be mute, unable to speak, for the next nine or more months. (2) If there was ever a father who was rooting for an early delivery, it was Zacharias. d. We need to understand what happened here. (1) God, unexpectedly, barged into Zacharias life. (2) What God was giving was and desirable, but still it was unexpected. (3) Zacharias and Elizabeth were both old, well past the time to conceive children. (4) When God barged into their lives, Zacharias responded with DOUBT, and for doing that, he received a measure of trouble. (5) Im going to go out on a limb and say that doubt is not the best way to respond to Gods barging in. 4. \#Luke 1:23-24\ Gods interruption grew into a pregnancy. a. Elizabeth did get pregnant. b. She and Zacharias birthed John the Baptist, the great fore- runner to Jesus Christ. c. Regardless how good this event was to Zacharias and Elizabeth, you have to admit, having a baby in your old age would be considered a major intrusion into your life. d. God barged in. C. God barged into Marys life. 1. \#Luke 1:26-33\ Marys godly interruption also started with an angelic appearance. a. Mary was a young, single, virgin girl. (1) \#Luke 1:27\ The Scripture tells us that she was a virgin. a. If you have a book that says "young girl," throw it away. b. The Greek word is PAR-THEN-OS. c. Strongs defines it to mean: a virgin, a marriageable maiden, a woman who has never had sexual intercourse with a man. (2) \#Luke 1:34\ Mary tells us that she was a virgin. b. Even though Mary was young, single, and pure, God had some unusual plans for her. 2. \#Luke 1:31\ It also turns into a prophecy. a. Mary is to conceive a Child. Considering what we have already said about Mary, that is pretty amazing, but it gets more astounding. (1) \#Luke 1:32\ This Child is Gods Son (the Highest). (2) \#Luke 1:32-33\ He is to reign over Israel as King, but His throne is to be an eternal throne. b. To anyone who knew anything about the Old Testament, this Child would have to be Messiah. c. The angel just told Mary that she would conceive and deliver Messiah. d. This is likewise great news. (1) I have already mentioned every Jew wanted to be the vessel through which the Messiah was born. (2) Since Isaiahs day, the Jews understood that Messiah would be born into Israel. Isaiah 7:14 Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. (3) That verse also told them that Messiah would be born to a single, virgin woman. e. However, as much of an intrusion as it would have been for two old people to have a baby, can you imagine how much of an intrusion it would have been for a single girl to have a Baby? (1) I dare say in this rather liberal day, you and I can not imagine would it would have been like to be single, engaged, and pregnant. (2) God barged into Marys life in a big way. 3. \#Luke 1:34\ Mary also asks a question of the angel. a. However, I dont think hers was as much a question of doubt as it was of necessary information. b. This single, virgin girl wanted to know how this was going to happen. (1) I suspect she was wondering what she was supposed to do? (2) \#Luke 1:35\ The answer came back, "You dont do any- thing. God is going to do it." 4. So here we have God barging into the life of a young woman, one who was engaged and had plans of her own; yet, God barged in a major way! a. This woman, in this small country setting, knew she would never be able to go back to the life she had again. b. (The Bible says she was virgin, not stupid!) c. How will she respond to Gods interruption? Luke 1:38 And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word. And the angel departed from her. 5. Mary responded with humility and obedience. a. What a great way to respond to God barging in! b. Mary knew she would probably be shunned and be an outcast. c. She probably supposed her husband to be, Joseph, would have nothing to do with her. d. And yet, she is content to let God do with her whatever He desired. D. \#Matt 1:18-25\ God barged into Josephs life. 1. Josephs encounter with God was different from both Zacharias and Marys. a. God barged into Josephs life BEFORE He told Joseph that He was going to do so. b. Both Zacharias and Mary had some time to prepare for it. c. Perhaps they even had a choice. (Who knows what God would have done if either of them had said, "No. Thank you"? d. Josephs interruption from God occurred when he found out his fiance was pregnant! (1) Nobody warned Joseph. (2) Nobody asked Joseph. (3) Nobody gave Joseph a choice. (4) Mary just came back from a three month visit to Elizabeth s house and BOOM! she was pregnant. 2. I am sure Mary told Joseph what had happened. a. And I am equally certain Joseph did not believe her. b. Zacharias saw an angel and doubted that God could make it possible for two older people to have a child the old-fashioned way. c. I dont think it is a stretch to say Joseph had doubts when he had not seen an angel and was being told Mary got pregnant some new-fangled way, that is, without the aid of a man. d. To be honest, if I were Joseph, I believe I would need an angel to confirm Marys story to me too. 3. So what we have here is God barging in on Joseph UNANNOUNCED. a. By the way, that is how God will do it most of the time. (1) an automobile accident, a grouchy co-worker, a late appointment, a sick child (2) They may not seem as spectacular as birthing the Son of God, but that is how God barges into our lives on a daily basis. (3) It is gods UNANNOUNCED interruptions that will usually get our goat b. How did Joseph respond to this UNANNOUNCED interruption. (1) I believe Joseph was grieved. (2) He did not believe Mary; he felt betrayed. (3) I imagine he was broken-hearted. (4) I am not going to criticize Joseph. (5) Personally, I feel that is that was Josephs worst reaction, he did pretty good. (6) Being a short-tempered person, I wish that I could grow in the Lord so much that my only reaction to Gods barging into my life was to be a bit disappointed. III. So what is the sum of what we have here? We have several important truths. A. We learn that God can barge into our lives any time He chooses. 1. God is God and God has that right. 2. It does not matter if His intrusion interfere or even destroys our plans. God has that right. B. We learn that God does not have to warn us that He is barging into our lives. 1. God often tests His people. 2. Some tests are unannounced. You get no warning for them. C. Even more, God barge into our life and we be totally unaware of it! Hebrews 13:2 Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. 1. It is possible that some stranger we met was an angel. 2. Imagine that! God may have put an angel in our path and dressed them like a stranger just to see how we would respond. 3. Something like that may have happened to you several times, and you still dont know it! 4. So what you and I thought was an aggravation or a problem might have been one of Gods interruptions into our life. D. I notice that, in all three of these accounts, even though God barged in, He left something good in the life of all those He interrupted. 1. He left Zacharias and Elizabeth with a son named John. 2. He left Mary with Son named Jesus. 3. He left Joseph with a wife named Mary and a Son named Jesus. 4. Granted, it is rare in this world that someone barges into your life and does you a favor, but what I am seeing is that when God barges into your life, whether it looks like it or not, God leaves something God in the wake of His interruption. 5. If you are a saved person, God barged into your life. a. Perhaps He barged in one Sunday while you sat in church. b. Perhaps He barged in to stack the circumstances of your life against you, leaving you no place to look but up. c. I don’t know how God barged into your life, but if you are saved, I know He did. 6. If you are not saved, but God has used circumstances to bring you here this morning, you should quit resisting God and let Him do what He desires. a. He desires to save you. b. If you respond correctly, you will find peace and joy. c. Trust God and see. E. We learn that the correct way to respond to Gods barging in is with humility and obedience. 1. We certainly should not greet Gods interruption with doubt. 2. And it would be best if we could even get past the place of grieving over it. 3. It really looks like no matter what happens in our days, we should determine to greet it with humility and obedience to God. Has God barged into your life lately? He probably has and He probably will again very soon. You might want to decide now how you will respond to it.