Sermon -- Advent Vespers: Week 1 (November 30, 2022)

LUKE 1:5-25

THAT YOU MAY BE CERTAIN ABOUT THE THINGS YOU HAVE BEEN TAUGHT --Certain That God Means What He Says.

In the name + of Jesus.

     There was a priest named Zechariah.  Although his main job was to serve as an intercessor for the people of Israel, he would also have been a pastor.  Part of the duties of the priests was to teach the people according to the Law of Moses.  Zechariah would instruct people regarding the holy and the common, the clean and the unclean.  According to St. Luke, both Zechariah and his wife Elizabeth took God’s word seriously.  St. Luke recorded, “They were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord” (Luke 1:6). 

     If Zechariah and Elizabeth were righteous before God, that means they trusted the promises of God.  By faith, they stood justified before God.  If Zechariah and Elizabeth walked blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord, that means they were careful to avoid sin and to pursue godliness in their words and actions.  They not only took God’s promises seriously, they also took his commandments seriously.  God had preserved this couple in faithfulness their whole lives long.  Still, there was one blessing he had withheld from them.  Despite fervent and frequent prayers, “they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and both were advanced in years” (Luke 1:7).

     The Lord’s priests worked on a rotation basis. Each priest was to come to Jerusalem and serve in the temple for a month. During that month, the priests who were eligible were to present themselves for burning incense in the temple in the holy place. The lot was cast, and one priest was selected for what would almost certainly be a once in a lifetime privilege. The lot fell to Zechariah. He entered the holy place, most likely at the evening sacrifice, to serve before the Lord.

     What was an opportunity turned into an astounding encounter.  If burning incense was a once in a lifetime event, this encounter with an angel was unheard of perhaps since the days of Daniel, some 500 years.  “There appeared to him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense.  … The angel said to him, ‘Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John’” (Luke 1:11,13).  What must have been Zechariah’s reaction to this announcement?  “My prayer?!?  We accepted God’s answer to that years ago!  Now we shall have a son???  Why now?”

     The angel continued and answered such curiosity.  “Many will rejoice at his birth, for he will be great before the Lord.   … He will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, and he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared” (Luke 1:14-17).  In other words, John would be the fulfillment of God’s promise through Malachi.  It had been four hundred years since God made that promise, and then God went silent.  There were no more promises, no more prophets.  But now, because the time had fully come, God would keep his word.  St. Luke recorded this so that you can be certain that God takes his word seriously.

      Zechariah was skeptical.  He did not doubt that the angelic vision was real.  He did not wonder if he was in his right mind.  Rather, he engaged the angel in honest conversation.  “Zechariah said to the angel, ‘How shall I know this?  For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years’” (Luke 1:18). 

     I suppose we could give Zechariah a pass for his skepticism. After all, this vision and this message defied the natural order of things. Zechariah questioned God’s ability to carry out what he had promised. The angel assured Zechariah that God can do whatever pleases him. “The angel answered him, ‘I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I was sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news. And behold, you will be silent and unable to speak until the day that these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time’” (Luke 1:19-20).  Zechariah had asked for a sign: “How shall I know this” (Luke 1:18)? And Zechariah got a sign. Since he did not believe the word of the Lord, he would have no words to speak until God’s promises were fulfilled. Zechariah may have been uncertain about Gabriel’s message, but Gabriel made him certain that God takes his word seriously.

     If you have ever needed motivation to take God and his word seriously, then know that God sure does.  Every commandment is divine direction to love and to do good.  Now, no one will dispute that we are to love others and to do good to them.  But people do not take God seriously when he tells us what is good and what is not.  And people do not take God seriously when he tells us that love for his word is to guide the way we love other people.  Love does not give approval to whatever makes people happy.  Some people are happy to steal from you.  Some people are happy to gossip about you.  Some people are happy to cheat on their wives.  Love does not condone or celebrate them for finding what makes them happy. 

     Many would reply, “Yeah, well those things hurt other people.  That’s why they are bad.  What about things that don’t hurt anyone else?  Why are they bad?”  But this line of thinking already shows that people do not take God’s word seriously.  For example, Jesus taught, “Blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it” (Luke 11:28)!  Jesus did not say, “Blessed are you as long as you don’t hurt other people.”  His blessing rests on those who hear his word, take it seriously, and follow it—whether other people are watching or not.  If you are nice to your fellow man but despise God and his word, how can God’s blessing rest upon you?  God takes his word seriously, which first and foremost means: “You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only you shall serve” (Luke 4:8).

     God directs us to what is good, and love holds fast to that.  Love will also move us to call people to repent who defy God’s word because we do not want people to fall under God’s wrath for their sins.  We do nobody favors by letting them think that their happiness is the highest good when they defy God’s word.  Now, some people will refuse to take God’s word seriously no matter how much we implore them to do so.  You can’t stop everyone from sinning.  You can’t make everyone take God’s word seriously.  But you: Be certain that God does take his word seriously so that you do not suffer the judgment that proves it.

      Zechariah sinned against God by questioning if God could do what he promised. Sometimes, we sin by insisting that God will do something he did not promise.  This is a confusion about what God can do versus what God will do.  The Psalms remind us, “Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases” (Psalm 115:3).  So, God can do whatever he wants.  God can put an end to all gun violence.  God can put an end to cancer.  God can make you a millionaire.  God could make it rain M&M’s if he wanted to.  But that does not mean he will do it.  So, when we fault God because he does not do something he can do, we are not taking his word seriously. 

     When Zechariah questioned that Elizabeth would conceive and bear a son, Zechariah challenged a clear word of God.  God not only could cause Elizabeth to get pregnant, he said he would do it.  We recognize that God can bring about amazing events and bring an end to terrible events.  But unless God tells us that he will do it, we dare not fault God for failing to do it.  We do not understand why God does what he does.  He often does not tell us why he does what he does, and he does not owe us an answer.  What God does promise us is this: “We know that for those who love God all things work together for good” (Romans 8:28).  That does not mean we will know how it is good or that it will feel good.  We simply trust that whatever God is doing, he is doing it for our eternal welfare, even when it is painful or costly.  Faith is being certain that God takes his word seriously even when evidence suggests otherwise.

     “The people were waiting for Zechariah, and they were wondering at his delay in the temple.  And when he came out, he was unable to speak to them, and they realized that he had seen a vision in the temple.  And he kept making signs to them and remained mute” (Luke 1:21-22).  You can imagine the confusion of the worshipers who were waiting a little long for Zechariah to complete his duties.  When he finally exited the temple, he was unable to proclaim the Lord’s blessing upon the people because he was mute.  Yes, God had taken his word seriously.  He wanted Zechariah and all the people certain that he does.  Zechariah was a sign to them that God is serious when he says something.

     The son to be born to Zechariah and Elizabeth was to be named John.  It means, “The Lord is gracious.”  John would come to prepare people for God’s gracious salvation.  The Lord himself would come in human flesh to deliver people out of their sins.  Jesus would make himself the sacrifice which atones for the times we have challenged God’s love, questioned God’s wisdom, or did not take his word seriously enough to follow it.  Jesus would come to pay for all sins—everything from us finding fault with God to all the faults God finds in us. 

     While it is true that God is serious about everything he says and God is serious about the judgment against all who defy him, God is equally serious about your salvation.  God is serious enough about your salvation that he comes in person to achieve it.  After all, that is what was promised.  And God is serious about what he says.  So that you may be certain of the things you have been taught, St. Luke and the other Gospel writers record what Jesus said and did to fulfill everything.  In this way, you are not merely certain about the historical events as they unfolded, you are also certain about the forgiveness of your sins, the resurrection of your body, and the everlasting glory that Jesus is preparing for you.

     The day will come when God will put an end to all pain, all toil, all sorrow, all loss and all death.  He will make everything new and keep everything perfect.  This will not happen because we think it is a good idea; it will happen because God has promised it.  God is serious about what he says, and he says it so that you can be certain of it, confident in it, and comforted by it.

In the name of the Father and of the Son + and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.