.png)
Last week we began looking at the message of the angels that we find throughout the Christmas Story. After not speaking directly to His people for 400 years, God sent an Angel to speak to Zechariah when he was serving as high priest in the Temple. From the Holy of Holies, the place where Israel believed God dwelled on earth, God’s message was heard. The angel said that Zechariah’s prayer had been heard. As the High Priest in the temple, Zechariah’s prayer would have been on behalf of the people, and he would have been praying for mercy and for the coming of the Messiah. The people had been longing for the Messiah and their prayer was that He would soon come to set them free. God told Zechariah that the peoples’ prayer had been heard. A Messiah was coming.
But there was another prayer in Zechariah's heart that day, a prayer he may have stopped praying out loud because he was old and beyond any real hope that it would happen, but it was the prayer for a child, a son. As a man, and a husband, Zechariah had long prayed for a child and that prayer had also been heard and was being answered because God said that Zechariah and his wife Elizabeth would have a son who would prepare the way for the Messiah.
After 400 years, God finally spoke. God broke the silence, and as Pastor David shared last week, God not only heard the prayers of His people, but He was keeping His promise and sending the Messiah. God spoke, but God wasn’t done speaking. There were more messages to come and we just heard the second message, but God didn’t speak these words in the Temple or even in Jerusalem.
This time, God spoke in an insignificant town about 60 miles north of Jerusalem, a town that no one really liked, the town of Nazareth. And this time God didn’t speak to a man of respect and standing who had lived a righteous life, or a man who was a priest or acting as the High Priest of God’s people, or even a man. This time God spoke to a woman that no one knew. And God didn’t speak during a time of worship or any kind of holy moment, God spoke… well, we don’t know exactly when God spoke. Luke doesn’t bother to tell us when because there was nothing special about it.
Some believe that Mary was drawing water when the angel came, and there is still a well in Nazareth where water has been flowing for over 2000 years. It could have been there that the angel visited Mary, or it could have been in her room at night, or as Mary walked along the road during the day. We don’t know the moment because it was just an ordinary moment. God spoke to an ordinary woman, in an ordinary town, at an ordinary moment. While we might think that God would only speak to righteous leaders in important places during times of worship, this message of the angel makes clear that God also speaks to ordinary people, in ordinary places, and during ordinary moments in life.
This is really good news for us because most of us probably think of ourselves as being pretty ordinary. Not that we aren’t special in the eyes of God or created with value and dignity and with gifts to share with others, but let’s face it, in the eyes of the world, we are pretty ordinary. We aren’t Billy Graham. Our faith doesn’t shape the decisions of world leaders. We aren’t well known political figures, musicians, actors, athletes, artists or social media influencers. We are ordinary. If we were to walk down the street of any city in America, no one would know us or notice us.
Like Mary, we are ordinary, and yet the message of this angel tells us that God speaks to ordinary people, and when God speaks, God says the same thing to us that He said to Mary. Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you. Luke 1:28
This is God’s message to us, today. God is with us and we have found favor with God. God is with you and me and you are loved by God. God is with you, and you have been chosen by God. We aren’t loved and chosen because we have done something special or righteous or holy, we are loved and chosen and favored because God chooses to love us. We are favored.
One of the things that makes our faith unique is that it is always God who loves and chooses His people. God chose Abram, an ordinary man, to be the father of His people. Abram hadn’t done anything extraordinary or special that made God choose him and if you read through Abram’s life, he made a ton of mistakes and at times didn’t trust God, but God still loved him. God reached out and chose him in love. God chose Moses, and while Moses had been raised in the household of Pharaoh and at one time been known as the Prince of Egypt, that wasn’t when God chose him. God chose Moses to lead His people after he had run away from God and was an ordinary shepherd working in the fields of his father-in-law. God chose David, the youngest son that no one paid any attention to, to be the king of Israel. God chose Mary and Joseph, unknown and ordinary people, to be the parents of the Messiah, and when Jesus chose as His disciples, He didn’t choose outstanding scholars or religious leaders, He chose ordinary people.
Like Mary, we are chosen and favored by God not because we have done extraordinary things, but because of God’s extraordinary love. The Bible says, this is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 1 John 4:10.
It is always God who first reaches out in love. In love God created the world. In love God created us. In love God chose to forgive us and save us from sin by sending Jesus into this world. John 3:16 says, For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. God is love and it is God’s love that reaches out to us ordinary people in ordinary moments to tell us that we are loved, and chosen. This is what God says to you today, you are highly favored. The Lord is with you.
40 years ago this October I had one of those ordinary moments when God spoke. I was sitting alone on a concrete bench under Beaumont Tower on the campus of MSU. I had been going through a difficult time in my life and wrestling with whether or not I really believed in God and what it meant for me to have faith in God and to follow Jesus. As I sat there, I heard God speak. There wasn’t an angel and there wasn’t an audible voice, but at the center of my very being, I heard God speak. God said, Andy, with me there is life. Without me there is death. The choice is yours.
It was an ordinary moment. I wasn’t expecting God to show up. I wasn’t expecting God to speak. I wasn’t expecting God to invite me into the fullness of life, but God did. And God still speaks. In ordinary moments, God still shows up and speaks. Have you had one of those ordinary moments? Have you had a moment when God showed up and spoke to you?
If you have, what did God say? Did you write it down and use that word to guide your life? Is that message still leading you? If God has spoken to you, if God has made His presence real to you in some way, I want to invite you to share that experience and that message in some way during this Advent season. Tell your family or friends. Share it with a small group, send it out in a Christmas card, write the message on a sugar cookie, I don’t know, but share it. Let God speak through you.
If you haven’t had this kind of a moment, or if like the people of Israel, you are longing to hear God speak, part of what this season of Advent is all about is asking God to come and be present with us. The word Advent means come. It’s during these 4 weeks that we remember and celebrate when Jesus came into this world as a baby born in Bethlehem. We also place our hope, not a wishful thinking kind of hope, but real hope in the knowledge that Christ will come again in glory. But Advent is also a time for us to ask God to come and be with us today, in the ordinary moments of our life.
If you are feeling overwhelmed because there is too much going on and too much to do as the holidays approach, you need to ask God to come and speak. In moments of anger or anguish, doubt or depression, frustration or failure, we need to ask God to come and speak. In moments when we feel forgotten or forsaken, ordinary or outcast, we need to ask God to come and speak. If we are feeling blessed and filled with love and joy and peace, we need to ask God to come and speak. If we ask God to speak, He will. God longs to speak to us and God still speaks to ordinary people in ordinary times and places.
This message of the angel, that God loves and chooses ordinary people, is a message the world needs to hear today. Too many people feel unworthy of God’s love. People may want to attend worship, but they feel they have fallen too far or made too many mistakes for God to want them here. This Christmas angel story is desperately needed in our world today because it tells us that we are all loved and favored and chosen by God. Maybe we can be the messenger, the angel, that can share this good news. One simple way to share is to invite people to worship. Invite people to worship with you on Christmas Eve or invite people to join you for Christmas Carols and Cocoa in the park.
When God spoke to Mary, He didn’t just tell her that she was loved, He also said that she had been chosen to be the mother of the Messiah. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. Luke 1:31.
The name is what tells us that the child would be the Messiah because the name Jesus means God saves. The child Mary was to bring into the world was going to bring salvation. He was going to be the Savior, the long-awaited Messiah, and Mary’s first response was, how can this be. Mary understood the importance of this job and she felt like she didn’t have what it would take to do it.
I can’t do this, Gabriel. I’m nobody. I’m ordinary. I’m not even married. I’m not enough. And this is how many of us feel when God speaks to us. Whether God speaks words of love and forgiveness, or words that give our life a purpose or plan, the first thought many of us have is, how can this be? I don’t have what it takes. I’m not good enough to be loved. I’m not smart enough or talented enough to serve God or make a difference for God in this world. I’m not enough. I’m too ordinary.
If what you are thinking is that God couldn’t possibly choose you to do anything for Him, or that you don’t have enough of what it takes to serve God or answer His call, then hear what God said to Mary. The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Luke 1:35
God is not asking us to be or do anything on our own, God is asking us to allow Him to work in us and through us. Whatever God may be asking of you today, He will give you all that you need to do it. A new job, a new relationship, a new mission or ministry, a new way to serve, a new way to share your faith, a new way to worship - you can do it because God will be doing it through you.
I don’t need to tell you that this is a busy season. There are gifts to buy, cards to send, cookies to bake, family gatherings to plan, prepare for and attend, and we have to do all of this while we are finishing up at school or completing projects at work. We are busy and we begin to wonder if we have enough time, energy and money to get it all done.
And then we open the enews from the church or show up here on Sunday and hear about a dozen ways we are being invited to serve and give. There’s Breakfast with Santa. There’s helping setup and teardown at Talleyrand Park, and we can’t forget all the help needed for the Christmas dinner.
We don’t have enough time to do what we already have planned, how can we do more! And then there are opportunities to give an extra offering to help with the Christmas Dinner or the Christmas Offering to Raising Hope Ukraine. We don’t have enough money to buy gifts so how can we give more.
It’s overwhelming and you might feel like you don’t have enough to do any of this, but then God speaks and says, how about serving here? How about giving there? And our first response is, how can this be? I don’t have what it takes. I don’t have the time, the energy, the money, or the ability to do it. God I can’t. I’m not enough to do one more thing or to give in one more way. It’s ok to say this. God hears us when we say this just as God heard Mary.
God heard Mary’s concern, and God’s response to her is what God still says to us today. The Holy Spirit will come on you. The power of the Most High will overshadow you. In other words, don’t worry, I have it covered. In fact, I have you covered. I will give you the time, the energy, the money, the ability, and the strength you need to do what I ask you to do. The Holy Spirit will overshadow you. The Holy Spirit will give you all you need. I will do it, all you need to do is believe that I will do it. Do you believe God can do it? Will you take a step of faith and let God do it?
Mary knew she was ordinary and that in herself she didn’t have what it would take to bring the Messiah into the world, but she believed God and took God at His word. Mary said yes to God’s will and God’s plan without knowing how things would happen and that is what real faith looks like. Faith is saying yes when we don’t have all the answers. Faith is saying yes when we still don’t see how it can happen. Faith is saying yes because while we know that we aren’t enough - we know that God is more than enough.
Mary’s final answer to God is what faith looks like. I am the Lord’s servant. May your word to me be fulfilled. Faith isn’t about trusting in ourselves and thinking that we have what it takes to do it all, it’s about trusting in God’s love and power enough to say, I am yours God, I will do whatever you want me to do.
The message of the angel to Mary is still the message of God for us. You are known by God. You are loved by God. You have been chosen by God, and God has something in store for you that seems impossible, but with God - all things are possible. Like Mary, we can say yes to God and allow God to use us to bring the light of His love and grace and power into the darkness of our world we can say yes because God is with us and the power of the Holy Spirit will come upon us. .
Next Steps
The Message of the Angel to Mary
Read Luke 1:26-56
How does this story of God speaking through the angel differ from the story of Zechariah in the Temple? (Luke 1:5-25)
What does this tell us about who God speaks to today?
Why do we often feel God doesn’t speak to ordinary people?
Has God ever spoken to you? What did God say? How did God’s word impact your life? Can you share that message this week?
Advent is a time for us to ask God to come and speak to us.
● Take time to be quiet and ask God to speak.
● Ask God to open your ears and you heart so you can hear Him.
● When you hear God speak, write down what God says. Allow God’s word to give you direction and life.
How might God be asking you to step out in faith? Where is God calling you to give, serve and share His good news through Faith Church this Christmas Season?
● Breakfast with Santa
● Christmas Carols & Cocoa
● The Christmas Dinner
● Inviting a friend to Christmas Eve Worship
● Giving to the Christmas Offering and Raising Hope Ukraine.
How else is God calling you to worship, serve and give in this season?
Faith is the assurance of things hoped for and the conviction of things unseen. What assurance do you need to say yes to God? Ask God to speak those words to you today.
