God Encounters

Prayer

What if God showed up?

Key & Peele sketch about a group of Christians in a small group, praying earnestly to God on behalf of the poor and how they might serve them…and God shows up! A bright light appears and the voice of God declares to them that they should sell everything they own and give it to the poor.

After a few moments of awkward silence, not sure how to respond (everything, Lord?), one of them declares that the house must be haunted and as a group, they flee the house.

What if God really showed up in the midst of our prayers? That he manifested his presence in an undeniable way in right now, as we are here worshiping together? I hope our reaction wouldn’t be that extreme (all of us scrambling for the front door) but I don’t doubt that fear would be our first response. We would be scared.

That was Zechariah’s first response when the angel Gabriel came to visit him - and as we’ll see this morning, it was Mary’s initial reaction as well.

We are in the third week of Advent, in the midst of our series on the incarnation, Why Jesus Came, asking that exact question - why did Jesus come? Why did he come as a human being, why did he become one of us?

We’ve been relying on the wisdom of C.S Lewis to answer that question, The Son of God became a man to enable men to become sons of God.

In our first week we examined what it means to be a son of God, what exactly are we becoming? What does it mean to be a child of God? How God gives us a whole new sense of identity, a family identity, rooted in family relationships. We are adopted into the family of God, God becomes our father, we his beloved children.

Last week, started three-fold aspect of how it happens, this enabling, Jesus enabling us to become sons and daughters of God. And how that requires three essential spaces in our lives, spaces where we create room for God to work in us to become his children. Now, to be clear, we are already his children, what we’re talking about learning to think and act like true children of God, that we would bear the family resemblance. Like Father, like son. These three come courtesy of Lisa Johnson, ECO’s head of Leadership Development:

Started with the space of Public Teaching - face front. In this space we make ourselves available to learn, to be taught about who God is, what it means to know him and follow him. We gain the mind of Christ (learn to think the way he does). Rooted that conversation in the A.W. Tozer quote, What comes to our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.

Now next week we’ll look at the space of Transparent Forming, this being face to face with each other. The fact that community is an essential aspect of discipleship, as Paul writes in Ephesians 4, we are to build one another up in love and knowledge of Jesus Christ.

But today, the essential space of Divine Encounter, coming face to face with God. To be with God, to know him personally, experientially, to open ourselves to his power, his guidance, his correction, his healing work in us.

As we saw last week, Zechariah had such an encounter with God through the angel of Gabriel - and it certainly changed him! Today’s story is Luke 1:26-38, we’ll see another Divine Encounter, and that’s going to be our focus today, this idea of God Encounters.

God Encounters

The Angel Gabriel visits Mary

Luke 1:26-28, In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, 27 to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28 The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”

Six months into Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sends his angel Gabriel again, this time to a young woman by the name of Mary. What we learn about Mary here is important to note - she’s just an ordinary girl, likely in her teens, from a small town (Nazareth) in a rural part of Israel, Galilee. And she is betrothed, pledged to be married to a man named Joseph.

This pledge was a more serious commitment than the way we view engagement today - it required a divorce to break. Additionally, this meant that Mary was still a virgin, as she and Joseph had not yet come together in marriage.

But Gabriel greets her in such a way that goes far beyond her social status, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.” So, like Zechariah, Mary has a Divine Encounter - how will she respond?

Luke 1:29-33, Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. 30 But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. 31 You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”

Mary, like Zechariah, is a little freaked out. What the heck is going on here!? Which seems as normal a response as you can imagine. Angel speaks to her fear, “Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God.”

Then, even more shocking (as if this encounter wasn’t enough), is Gabriel’s announcement: Mary is going to conceive and give birth to a son (remember, she’s not married yet). She is to name him Jesus, which means, He saves, God saves.

But note who this Son will be - Gabriel is speaking in explicitly messianic terms. He will be great, he will be the Son of the Most High. He will be given the throne of his father David (King David) - he’s going to reign as king over Israel (Jacob’s descendants) and that reign will never end. This is not your ordinary baby announcement.

Luke 1:34-38, “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?” 35 The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. 36 Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. 37 For no word from God will ever fail.” 38 “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Then the angel left her.

Mary asks the obvious question, how’s this going to work, since I’m not married yet, I’m a virgin? I want to point out that this is a very different response from Zechariah. He responded with doubt, couldn’t believe God could do what Gabriel was telling him. This is a question of puzzlement - Mary knows how biology works, so she wants to understand how she is to conceive a son if she is not yet married.

Answer comes in a way that she would have never guessed - by the power of the Holy Spirit, who will overshadow her. This child will be absolutely unique, holy, set apart in a way that Mary can’t even begin to imagine now, God himself becoming human, taking on human flesh.

Angel reminds her of the faithfulness of God, how sure his promises are, God speaks truth. No word from God will ever fail. That’s an amazing statement, let that sink in for a moment (this is one of those things - what comes to mind when you think about God), that his word never fails. God’s word is. If it comes from God’s mouth, it is true, reality, it will be. And Gabriel gives her the example of her relative, Elizabeth, six months into her miraculous pregnancy.

Don’t miss this, this is so good here - Mary’s beautiful, beautiful response. How this must have warmed God’s heart, it could not have been more perfect (Mary did not go running out of the room thinking the house was haunted). “I am the Lord’s servant, may your word to me be fulfilled.” Let it be exactly as you say, I’m willing, I’m open, I’m ready to obey. Absolutely beautiful.

Encountering God - Two thoughts

Mary’s response is such a beautiful example of what a surrendered, willing spirit looks like, her willingness to put herself, her life absolutely and totally in God’s hands, what he has for her.

Which was not going to be easy - a young woman, unmarried, suddenly pregnant. Who would believe her story? There’s no doubt she’s going to face social stigma, rejection. And how would Joseph respond? Would he end the engagement? Her family? Her community? Would she become an outcast?

And yet, to be the vessel, the woman from among all woman, to bear the Messiah - it’s hard to grasp what an honor, a privilege this must have been for her, among all the women in Israelite history she would bear the promised one. And what a responsibility! Lord, why me? How can I? How can I not?

So, what can we learn from Mary about Encountering the Divine - and why this is such an essential space for us in becoming his true children, like Jesus? And this is where what we talked about last week is so important - about our learning, what we think about God (Tozer quote, what comes to mind when you think about God is the most important thing about you).

First is expectation. Do we expect to encounter God, to actually be able to meet with God, face to face? To be able to hear his voice, him speaking to us, personally? To experience his love and goodness ourselves?

Now, to be sure, I don’t think we should expect what Zechariah and Mary experienced - a visit from an angel. That’s a rare, rare occurence in the Bible, reserved for very unique occasions. And these two visits are the only ones where we’re given the name of the angel. These were unique and extraordinary moments - the announcement of the birth of the Messiah and of the one who was to come before and announce the coming of the Messiah - pretty huge!

But - we should expect to be able to encounter God, to know him, to hear from him, to experience his presence with us.

This was a primary reason for Jesus coming to us - we looked at this verse last week, John 1:18, No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son…has made him known.

When Jesus preaches, his primary message is that the Kingdom of God is at hand. Which is to say it’s right here, now, available, to you. You can enter in, you can experience coming in under the reign of God. Life with him, under his rule, under his guidance. Jesus is inviting us to be with God and to know him. As Dallas Willard says, what Jesus is proclaiming is that the kingdom - and all its blessings - is available now to us through personal relationship with Jesus.

Then there’s the promise of the Holy Spirit, the spirit of Christ living in us. One of the names given the Holy Spirit in the Bible is the paraclete, which is often translated as the encourager, the comforter. It literally means the one who comes alongside. The Spirit comes alongside to lead us into all truth (John 16), the Spirit gives visions, dreams (Acts 2), the Spirit empowers us.

The underlying assumption of life as a follower of Jesus is that we can and will encounter God himself. That’s implicit in the relationship language, God is our Father, Abba, Father, we are his children. Is this what comes to your mind when we think about God? God will meet me. God will show himself to me. God will speak his word to me. (And I want that!).

When we think this way about God, when we trust this is true, of course we’ll engage in Spiritual Disciplines - because we will want to experience God in our day to day lives! It will impact how we approach them, with a readiness, an expectation that God is right here with us now, always, attentive, working, strengthening, teaching.

Now, it may be that we don’t want to encounter God - we’ll talk about that in a moment. But assuming we do, if this is how I think about God, when I sit down to read the Bible, not just a bunch of old stories, or I’m reading this because as a Christian it’s what I’m supposed to do (or at least that’s what they tell me), I sit down because I expect God to reveal himself to me, to teach me, to correct me, to equip me. And if I sit in stillness, if I am attentive, I will see God’s glory all around me. If I take the time to do so, and I’m attentive, I can and will encounter God in my day to day life - which is an amazing thought.

Now the second thing we can learn here from Mary in regards to encountering the Divine, why what we think about God is so important - because it will directly impact our willingness to open ourselves to him in a spirit of humble submission, ready to receive whatever it is he might have for us as we encounter him.

That we know God to be good. To be faithful. To genuinely and thoroughly love us, that he really is for our good in all things. That this would be what comes to our minds when we think about God.

So vital - if you remember, in both encounters, Zechariah and Mary, the first, initial reaction when the angel appeared was fear. Uh oh! That instinctive - am I in danger? Is something bad going to happen to me?

Both times, Gabriel speaks words of comfort - don’t be afraid. There’s no reason to be afraid -our God is good. I’m coming from him and I’m coming to you to bring you good news. Zechariah, the Lord has heard your prayers - he’s answering them - in ways you would never have dreamed of, because that’s who our God is! And Mary, you who are highly favored. Then he tells her exactly how highly favored she is.

As we know our Father to be our good Father, trustworthy in all things, and ourselves as his beloved children, more willing we are not just to come before him in expectation, but to do so openly, to receive whatever he has for us. And this is so, so important - because not everything, especially in the way God does things - is going to seem that good (Lord, is there an easier way?!)

Zechariah and Elizabeth had to wait a long, long time to be blessed with their child. Zechariah had to endure nine long months of not being able to speak.

Mary - pregnant and unmarried - wasn’t easy. Indeed, painful at times. It cost her. In fact, shortly after Jesus’ birth, a man by the name of Simeon spoke a prophetic word to her, Luke 2:34-35, Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother: “This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, 35 so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too.” Ouch!

To have this willing spirit, that same beautiful openness that Mary had - I am the Lord’s servant, let it be to me according to her word. I’m yours, Lord, whatever you say. This is not an easy thing. Because many of things God is going to be bring into our lives are going to be painful. They will cost us.

To love someone who’s difficult to love - to keep loving them - because God wants to use you in their life. The way God may bring about change in us - requires facing honestly some of these deeply ingrained sinful habits within us, and how we have wounded others. That’s not very fun. Freeing, but not fun. For Jesus to bring healing into our hearts may require revisiting wounds we buried long ago, thought were long gone. To teach us lessons - of compassion, of generosity, humility, patience, taking us into deeper faith in him - all those things can easily involve sacrifice, suffering. In the Key & Peele sketch, that’s what they were running from - didn’t want to sell everything!

But what amazing good will be birthed in us - or through us. To know God more deeply, greater taste of his love, to have our hearts more fully healed, to see God’s work in another person because of us - we got to play a role! To be more of the person God made us to be - people we want to be, like Jesus. Well worth the price. Of course the willingness to engage God, to seek divine encounter, to make that space in our lives - and to do so with an open spirit, a surrendered heart is absolutely worth it.

Spiritual Disciplines - these are absolutely central to Divine Encounter, of coming face to face with God. Why we’ve been talking about them week after week. Are you creating space in your life to encounter God, to be with him?

So many wonderful practices here: Keeping Sabbath…Discipline of Silence…Solitude, daily time alone with God. Fasting. Meditating on Scripture. Prayer. Make a commitment to one of these. Make it a priority of your schedule.

To do so with the two things we talked about this morning - expectation and a desire to encounter God. Invite the Holy Spirit to be with you. Read the Bible attentive to the word, phrase, image God is giving you for that day.

And then to do the practice with a heart of surrender, willingness to obey. When I do time of silence - Lord, I give your love and your will full access to my heart. Express your openness to God in prayer as you begin any of these practices - Sabbath), time of solitude (Lord, I’m coming to be with you…).

Finish with this thought from Dallas Willard: No doubt God wants us to see him. That is a part of the nature as outpouring love. Love always wants to be known.