December 1 & 2, 2001 Sermon

December 1 & 2, 2001

"Great Expectations"

Mike Slaughter

Luke 1:5-24
5: In the time of Herod king of Judea there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly division of Abijah; his wife Elizabeth was also a descendant of Aaron.
6: Both of them were upright in the sight of God, observing all the Lord's commandments and regulations blamelessly.
7: But they had no children, because Elizabeth was barren; and they were both well along in years.
8: Once when Zechariah's division was on duty and he was serving as priest before God,
9: he was chosen by lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to go into the temple of the Lord and burn incense.
10: And when the time for the burning of incense came, all the assembled worshipers were praying outside.
11: Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right side of the altar of incense.
12: When Zechariah saw him, he was startled and was gripped with fear.
13: But the angel said to him: "Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to give him the name John.
14: He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth,
15: for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from birth.
16: Many of the people of Israel will he bring back to the Lord their God.
17: And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous--to make ready a people prepared for the Lord."
18: Zechariah asked the angel, "How can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is well along in years."
19: The angel answered, "I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to tell you this good news.
20: And now you will be silent and not able to speak until the day this happens, because you did not believe my words, which will come true at their proper time."
21: Meanwhile, the people were waiting for Zechariah and wondering why he stayed so long in the temple.
22: When he came out, he could not speak to them. They realized he had seen a vision in the temple, for he kept making signs to them but remained unable to speak.
23: When his time of service was completed, he returned home.
24: After this his wife Elizabeth became pregnant and for five months remained in seclusion.

Advent - this Christmas season - is about expecting the unexpected. I am really excited because God has been teaching me a whole lot about faith. This past week, as I was reading the Bible, I was reminded that Jesus was not able to do many miracles in his hometown because of the unbelief of people and I began to wonder. What miracles are not being done in my life because of unbelief? What miracles are not being done in our lives because of negativity, cynicism or fear? What is keeping God's purpose from being birthed through our life? Great expectations.

Luke 1:5, 7
5: In the time of Herod king of Judea there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly division of Abijah; his wife Elizabeth was also a descendant of Aaron.
7: But they had no children, because Elizabeth was barren; and they were both well along in years.

I. Faithful but Not Fruitful
This month preceding Christmas we will be in the first chapter of Luke. We have just been introduced to Zechariah and Elizabeth. Zechariah had a vision when he was in the temple. This couple, who were more the age of grandparents, were going to have their first child. That child would be John the Baptist who would prepare the way for the Messiah, Jesus. Verse five, "In the days of King Herod of Judea there was a priest named Zechariah who belonged to the priestly order of Abijah; his wife was a descendent of Aaron and her name was Elizabeth." Everyone who was a descendent of Aaron was a priest, so by this time in history there were about 24,000 priests. More priests than you knew what to do with. More priests than anyone needed. "Both of them were righteous before God living blamelessly according to the commandments and regulations of the Lord. But they had no children because Elizabeth was barren and both of them were getting on in years." This passage shows us that we can be faithful but not fruitful. You can be faithful, you can love God, you can be committed to keeping the commandments of God but not bear the life of God for other people. Zechariah and Elizabeth were the kind of good people that always showed up when you needed them. This was a big temple. You could use about 1000 priests at a time but you couldn't use 24,000. So there weren't any full time priests at that time. It was like being in the army reserve. Two weeks a year you were called up to do your priestly duty at the temple. This was Zechariah's two weeks. He was called and showed up like so many faithful people I know. You are asked to teach and you teach. You are asked to be part of some kind of task group and you say yes. You are asked to give and you give. Notice in verse seven there is a spiritual barrenness, a spiritual infertility. You live by the laws of God, you love God, but you are not reproducing the life of God in other people. Why is this verse so important? This is what life is about. God wants to use your life as a womb of blessing for other people. God wants to use you to make ready a people who will be prepared for God. So God is looking for people who are willing to carry miracles full term for the sake of other people. God needs surrogate parents.
A lot of folks I know are faithful but they are not fruitful. Todd Carter makes video stories for us almost every week. Sometimes I don't know about these folks until I see the video. Like Leland Sprecher. Todd showed us that great story about how Leland fetches people and brings them here to worship. A few weeks ago Todd introduced us to Lisa and Paulette. Lisa is faithful and shows up every week to drive to Parkside, picks up brothers and sisters in Christ and brings them to church. Not only is she faithful, she is fruitful. Paulette was a sister who always had the desire to drive. God heard Paulette's prayers. God is looking for wombs of blessing who will be an answer to other people's prayers. Lisa was not only receptive to picking people up and bringing them to church but she was receptive to being a vehicle of God to help Paulette get her license. Then Lisa helped Paulette get a car. That is a surrogate parent for a miracle of God. Not only was she faithful she was fruitful.

Luke 1:8-10, 13
8: Once when Zechariah's division was on duty and he was serving as priest before God,
9: he was chosen by lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to go into the temple of the Lord and burn incense.
10: And when the time for the burning of incense came, all the assembled worshipers were praying outside.
13: But the angel said to him: "Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to give him the name John.

II. Participation Without Power
Here is what I am learning as God is teaching me about faith. I don't want to just be faithful, I want to be fruitful. I am also learning that if you have unbelief in your life you can be participating in the mission of God without knowing the power of God. Look at verse eight. "Once when he was serving as a priest before God and his division . . ." (There were 24 divisions of priests, each with 1000 priests. They needed one division a week so they called them up every 24 weeks to serve one week. Each priest served twice a year.) ". . . When his division was on duty he was chosen by lot according to the custom of the priesthood to enter the sanctuary of the Lord and offer the incense." All of the priests did not get to enter the sanctuary. Your chances in that week were 24 out of 1000. Not a very good chance. Most priests never had this opportunity in their entire lifetime. Some had it once in a lifetime. It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Zechariah had the opportunity to go into the temple of God but he had settled into a routine. He showed up when he was expected to show up but he really didn't expect God to show up. We also settle into routines. Week after week we come into worship and we expect the expected. We show up but we don't really expect God to show up in an incredible unexpected kind of way. In verse 13 he prayed but he really didn't expect to get an answer in such an extraordinary way. How do I know? This guy was frightened out of his socks! An angel said wait a minute, God has heard your prayer. Expecting the expected is an obstacle of faith. When we settle into routines it breeds unbelief. We can keep the laws of God, we can show up to serve God, and at the same time not believe the word of God.

Luke 1:18
18: Zechariah asked the angel, "How can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is well along in years."

Look at verse 18. Zechariah had settled into a routine. He had come to expect the expected. He showed up, not expecting God to show up. He prayed and did not expect answers to his prayers in extraordinary ways. So when God showed up he doubted God's word. In verse 18: "How can this be? I am an old man and my wife is getting there. This is not the time to have children." This is what happens in our lives when we settle into routines. We come here week after week and we expect the expected instead of expecting God to do the unexpected. We learn to set our perspective, our expectations, on the basis of our circumstances and experiences rather than the word of God. Sight looks at circumstance and faith looks to God. What Zechariah needed to do was elevate his expectations above what he saw.

Luke 1:20
20: And now you will be silent and not able to speak until the day this happens, because you did not believe my words, which will come true at their proper time."

We allow unbelief when we serve God and love God, but we doubt what God tells us. Notice the result in verse 20. "But now because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time . . ." Every promise of God is yes. Everything God says will come true in God's time, not our time. " . . . but because you did not believe my word, you will become mute, unable to speak, until the day these things occur." Doubt causes us to lose our voice. Doubt causes us to lose the power of our witness. We can continue to talk but nobody will listen. There are all kinds of people suffering from spiritual muteness in the church. There are a whole lot of people in America who are talking about God but nobody is listening. When God speaks it is like E. F. Hutton. When God speaks, people listen. But when you have unbelief in your life, no matter how loud you talk, people don't hear.

Luke 1:22, 17
22: When he came out, he could not speak to them. They realized he had seen a vision in the temple, for he kept making signs to them but remained unable to speak.
17: And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous--to make ready a people prepared for the Lord."

Look at verse 22. Zechariah was so frustrated he tried to talk longer and louder but people were still not getting it. They didn't hear. Here is the sad part about spiritual muteness. When we have unbelief in our life, we can talk all we want about God but people are not going to hear, especially our children. In the largest churches in America the generation ages 35 and under is strangely absent. Many times the harder we try to convince our children the farther away they become. This is one of the reasons. Because they look at you and me and fail to see the power of faith in us, our children have become deaf to our words about God. When the Spirit of God is activated in our lives through faith, verse 17 says, "The heart of the parents will be turned towards the children so that the children will be turned on to God." That is what faith does in your life. I have a purpose in my life, to turn my kids, both of them, into revolutionaries for the Lord Jesus Christ. That is my first purpose after loving God. When the Spirit is activated in our life, it will turn the heart of the parent toward the children for the purpose of turning their children on to God.
There are many ways to lose our voice. One of those ways is to lower our expectations. Parents, we come to accept that our children are not going to be radical for Jesus. They don't attend youth group and we accept that. That is one of the ways we become mute. We lower our expectations. Here is another one. I have seen God work in such powerful ways in churches and then people in the church start becoming critical about something in the church. I have seen churches split. Or parents you will go home and, in front of your children, begin to say something negative about people in the church. That is how evil works. We become spiritually mute and no matter how much we try to convince our kids about the power of God they fail to see the power of faith in our own lives.

III. Expect the Unexpected
The other week I shared with you that I was let go from my last job at my last church 22 years ago. Four weeks ago they had me back to speak. It was a fun thing to do on a Sunday night. I noticed Kristen when I announced that we were fired from our last church. She looked at Carolyn and said, "You were?" Until then I had never told anybody because we were really popular in that church. Half the attendance of that church was kids from our youth program. If we had told people in the church that the pastor was letting us go it would have bred negativity and cynicism. It would not have blessed God and it would not have blessed people. I didn't have permission until 22 years later to share that and then only to give hope to those people who have been let go from their jobs. Twenty-two years ago it would not have blessed God and it would not have blessed people. That is how we lose our voice when we speak out of negativity, fear, and a critical, bitter spirit. Someone might say, "Weren't you offended?" It is not about me. I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me. If I have died what do I have to be offended about? Some of you right now are dealing with fear with your loss of job and income. If you are dead you can't be afraid. It is Christ who lives in you who will fulfill his purpose for the kingdom of God. Isn't it exciting that God is teaching us about faith and great expectations? Every day when I get out of bed, God is telling me that I need to expect the unexpected, not expect the expected. People of faith, every day get out of bed and expect miracles. Every day.
If you go to our coffee shop, check this out. I couldn't believe it. Flowers are blooming right now. It is December. It has never been my experience in fifty years to see flowers blooming in Ohio in December. God is always speaking. Some people say they don't hear God. But God never quits speaking. What do I hear God saying through this? 'Mike, don't live by what you see. Don't set your expectations by your fifty years of experiences or circumstances. Elevate your expectations above what you see.' It is not about what you see, it is about what God wants to do. What God wants to do is bigger than the picture you have for your life. Most of us here have good expectations. You wouldn't be here if you didn't have good expectations but God has great expectations.
The problem was that Zechariah and Elizabeth lowered their expectation. They came to accept their barrenness. Faith is not about accepting your circumstance. Faith is about expecting the extraordinary that God is going to do. We come to accept that our children are not walking with God, that they are not a part of the youth group. We come to accept lukewarm marriages instead of expecting marriages that are going to demonstrate the fruit of God's love. We come to accept that we have chosen careers that are less than fulfilling instead of expecting God to do something extraordinary. It is not about the picture you have for your life. It is about God's picture. It is not even about what you believe God can do through you. It is about what God wants to do through you. It is not about what you believe that God can give through you. It is about what God wants to give through you.
God keeps amazing me. Carolyn and I are really faithful in what we give to the Lord. We see a need and I may not be able to picture a way to give any more money. We have a tuition bill and a wedding coming up in December. You clap and that is exciting, but a wedding can set you back. God always wants to give bigger through our lives so here is what Carolyn and I did. We refinanced our house. We will save thousands and thousands of dollars. God showed us the thousands of dollars extra now we have to give to the church because of refinancing. I have died and it is no longer I who live. The life that I now live is not my own but it is Christ that lives in me. It is not what you believe you can give. It is what God wants to give through you. Faith is elevating your expectations above what you see. God wants to do an even bigger thing in my life than I have envisioned for his purpose. I got so excited this week I jumped up and shouted in my office because I dream pretty big, but God wants to do an even bigger thing than I have envisioned.
How many of you have been called by Phone Care from the church? I pray for those needs on Saturday afternoon, so this afternoon I was praying. There was a mother with four kids - a single mom working full time at the Exxon gas station and having trouble financially. I was praying this afternoon for a lot of financial needs. I noticed trouble in some relationships. I will spend Saturday afternoon praying for your requests, so get me your prayer requests, please. Wherever you are, whatever difficulty you might be experiencing right now, you need to elevate your perspective. You need to elevate your expectation above the circumstance that you see. For faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
People my age will relate to this. You saw me at the gym last night and said, "We lost a good one today." Who was he talking about? George Harrison. Half of the Beatles are gone. It is a reminder of our mortality - my generation's mortality. I love a quote of Harrison's that he repeated many times. "Everything in life can wait except our search for God cannot wait."
I am going to lay it on you. It is called being born again. Jesus said in John 3:3, you're never going to find God in that search, you will never see what God is doing, you will always live by your circumstances and what you see unless you are born from above. I want to tell you something about faith struggles I have. I never have faith struggles that come from outside the church. All of my faith struggles come from what I see inside the church. We are supposed to be mean, lean loving machines and I see pettiness, bickering, and backbiting. I see people who are selfish and not giving. I see lukewarmness. Then I realize what the problem is. There are a whole lot of people who are faithfully following Jesus in the church who have never been born again. A lot of people have been resuscitated by Jesus. Jesus is not in the business of resuscitation. Jesus is in the business of resurrection. There is a difference between resuscitation and resurrection. When you are resuscitated you never died. In Luke 7:6 Jesus said, "Whatever is born of the flesh is flesh and whatever is born of the Spirit is spirit." In order to be born of the Spirit a death has to take place - a death to self. If you have never truly died to self, you have only been resuscitated. This is why I don't believe in revivals. We don't need to hold revivals because you need to keep doing it every year. All it does is build a little temporary enthusiasm. We don't need to hold revivals. We need to hold resurrections. If you have never died, then you always will be of the flesh. You can be faithful to the law of God, you can love God, but you will never be fruitful. You can show up and you can participate but you will never know the power. There is a difference between being resuscitated, awakened by Jesus, and being resurrected. You have to die before you can be resurrected. I am in Dayton, Ohio, and a lot of you are conservative people. I want to tell you something. There is nothing conservative about faith. A lot of people can have conservative belief but faith is radical - you have to die. It costs you everything. I know no better thing than to come to this table of the Lord Jesus Christ and to say, 'Jesus, wow, we are like Zechariah and Elizabeth. We show up and we serve but we don't really expect you to show up. We pray and we give, but we don't really expect you to answer our prayers. I know no better time than the night we light the first Advent candle and come to this table for each of us to say that we want to go way beyond resuscitation to resurrection. Put me to death in this place that I may truly live.
Let's pray together. Lord, we ask you to be with us, in us, through us and about us. We want to hear you. We want to see you. We thank you so much for this time together to be in your place, at your table, experiencing these moments that you have prepared for us so long ago. Thank you for coming around us. Amen.