Unplanned plans

Who here has ever had plans that didn’t work out? Maybe you had planned on going to college and then changed your mind, or you went to college and changed your major. I started going to college for Electronic Engineering, then I changed to Criminal Justice, then I received an AAS. in Cybercrime Technology, and finally I received a Bachelors in Divinity.

Maybe you were planning on getting a raise and either didn’t get it or you did and it wasn’t what you had expected.

Did anybody plan to get married and then have kids? Maybe you got married and then wanted to wait until you were ready (like anybody is ever ready) to have kids. Did anybody get married and then find out surprise your having a kid?

Today we are going to look at a young couple that had plans. Plans that were majorly interrupted. These teenagers were engaged and planning to get married. Things were going great. Not a care in the World. Then everything changed.

Luke 1:26-33 26 In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, 27 to a virgin engaged, to a man named Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28 And the angel came to her and said, “Greetings, favored woman! The Lord is with you.” 29 But she was deeply troubled by this statement, wondering what kind of greeting this could be. 30 Then the angel told her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31 Now listen: You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David. 33 He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and his kingdom will have no end.”

Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2020), Lk 1:26–33.

Well, this is not going to be good. This was unplanned. Here is this teenage girl who is planning her wedding, going on with her daily life. She is probably out shopping and then this Angel appears. The Angel starts to speak to her and she is deeply troubled, in other words, huh what does this mean? Then the Angel says you are going to have a baby. What? How? Can you imagine the things going through her mind. What will I tell my family? What will people think? What am I going to tell my fiance? How do you explain this? “Well, honey you see there I was, out in the market minding my own business and then this Angel appeared out of nowhere and said I would become pregnant even though I had never been with a man. So, now I am pregnant....” Can you see the disbelief in Joseph’s face? I can imagine the eye roll or the silent stare. What did you say? This had to blow him away. What do you do now? Joseph was really a righteous man not wanting to shame Mary he decided to divorce her in secret. As the custom was at the time a males family would make an agreement with a female's family and they would become engaged, however an engagement at the time was considered a marriage, and then the groom would go back home and build an addition onto his father's house. So these 2 were committed to each other even if they had not consummated the marriage yet. Joseph could have told everybody that Mary was pregnant and the baby was not his, He could have completely shamed her and her family. This could have been a really bad situation. Thankfully he decided to sleep on it.

Mt 1:20-25 20 But after he had considered these things, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, don’t be afraid to take Mary as your wife, because what has been conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will give birth to a son, and you are to name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” 22 Now all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet: 23 See, the virgin will become pregnant and give birth to a son, and they will name him Immanuel, which is translated as “God is with us.” 24 When Joseph woke up, he did as the Lord’s angel had commanded him. He married her 25 but did not have sexual relations with her until she gave birth to a son. And he named him Jesus.

This was not anything that these two young teenagers had planned. First, these two had planned on getting married and were probably making plans for their lives. Building a life together, maybe waiting for a year to have kids, or maybe to get Joseph's carpentry business off the ground and be financially stable. I would almost be positive it was not to have a shotgun wedding because his fiance is pregnant. So Joseph and Mary had to secretly live together and act like a happily married couple until she gave birth to the baby Jesus.

So this is how it all begins. Remember it has been 400 years since there has been a prophet speaking and the Jewish people had been kind of left to their own accord. To us it is a page turn from Malachi to Matthew but to them, it was 4 centuries. For this Angel to appear to both of them had to be a shock. Even if they told anybody about the Angel they would be considered crazy.

So what if God comes to us and completely disrupts our plans? We have this plan for our life and know where we are going and then get a tug from God for something other than our own plans. How do we respond? Do we tell God I will do what you are asking but first I have things I want to do first. Maybe we say I feel like I should do something different, or we just ignore it and do our own thing.

What if Mary would have said no? If we say no we don’t stop God’s plans but we really miss out on being involved with the greatest plans in the World. She could have said I am just a kid and not ready for this kind of commitment, She never protested at all. She only asks how is it going to happen and then once the Angel explains to her she doesn't say no or what are you talking about, she just accepts it.

Luke 1:38 38 “See, I am the Lord’s servant,” said Mary. “May it happen to me as you have said.” Then the angel left her.

Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2020), Lk 1:38.

How many times have we said God whatever your will is I am happy to do it. Maybe God asks us to get down in the trenches with lost people, what if He wants us to show God’s love to the hopeless, or maybe He wants us to do something that may completely ruin our reputation, change the way that everybody looks at us, or put a lot of pressure on our family and change the way that they see us. That is the chance that Mary took when she said I am the Lord’s servant, let it be. Instead, we so often think but I am just one person, or I do not have the experience, or there is no way that I can do this. I am sure Mary and Joseph probably thought the same thing. After all they were teenagers about to bring the King of the Universe into this world and raise him as their child. I’m sure they were thinking “what does this look like, what do we do, are there rules to raising the King of the Universe, Is there a handbook?

Here is the challenge for us, what can we do to serve, how does God want to use us? We all have been given spiritual gifts, some teachers, evangelists, prophets, or shepherds. How are we using these gifts? Are we using them to glorify God or are we tucking them away and waiting? God wants to use us in amazing ways but in order to do that we have to say “ok” God I am ready “may it happen to me as you have said.” WHEW that is a hard task to just hand over everything and blindly follow in Faith. But that is exactly what God is asking us to do.

We are starting here as a new Church, but God planned for this to happen. These doors were about to close and then God said “But wait, there is more.” (sorry late-night infomercials kicking in).

God has plans in the works long before we ever get involved. We do not surprise Him with our reactions. He knows our answer before He even asks us. He knew the answer before the angel even appeared to Mary. So what do you think would have happened if Mary and Joseph said no? How many of God’s plans are slowed down when we say no?

You see at Christmas we give gifts to loved ones. So what is a gift? It is something that we give someone without expecting anything in return. Why do we give this gift? We don’t do it because we have to, we do it because we want to. We do it out of love. That is what Christmas is all about, the gift. God gave us the greatest gift of all. We couldn’t earn it and we definitely do not deserve it. God did not have to give it out of obligation. He did it out of love, He gave us the gift of His beloved Son in order to take away the sin of the World. The birth of Jesus that we are getting ready to celebrate was the greatest gift that we could ever receive.

If Mary and Joseph had rejected this plan or not obeyed God's plans, the entire world would have missed out on this gift. What has God asked for you to do? I guess not a virgin birth but how has He asked you to serve? What did you say? Did you say maybe later? Right now I have some other things to do. Or did you answer as the teenager Mary said “Let it be as you say Lord”? God gave Mary and Joseph the greatest gift in the world. The privilege of bringing the Son of God, the King of the World, and the savior of the World into the world, and getting to raise Him and care for Him. Can you imagine being able to live with the King of the World for all of those years? This is why we give gifts at this time of year. To remember the gift that God gave to all of us through these 2 teenagers so long ago. Let's thank God for His gift and we need to say I am ready. I am ready to accept your will and do my part to further God’s kingdom.

We do not celebrate Christmas on December 25 because that is the exact date of Jesus birth, rather we celebrate it in remembrance of the gift that was given to us.

In that fashion, we will also remember the reason Jesus came in the first place.

Lord, we praise you for the gift of your Son Christ Jesus who died upon the cross. We do not presume to come to your table trusting in our own righteousness but in your mercy. Forgive our transgressions, cleanse our hearts, and put a new spirit within us. Make us aware of our living Lord, in whose name we pray. Amen

1 Corinthians 11:23–26“For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: On the night when he was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, and said, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.”

John 6:35 ““I am the bread of life,” Jesus told them. “No one who comes to me will ever be hungry, and no one who believes in me will ever be thirsty again.”