The Best is Yet to Come
Notes
Transcript
For 400 years the people of Israel waited for something, anything, from their God to show them that they were not destined to stay this way forever. Now they had suffered generations of waiting before…
…400 years of Slavery in Egypt, 40 years in the wilderness, 70 years exiled in Babylon…
But this time it seemed like living life under the thumb of empire after empire was just going to be the way of life forever for the people that God had once promised to bless the world through.
Have you ever had those seasons in your life? Like God I don’t know what you’re up to, but things down here, things in here in my heart, they aren’t doing so good man. So it would be nice if you could like show up and give me a sign. Show me that you’re up to something in all of this. Show me the way.
Today we begin a long journey through the book of Luke, but we are breaking it up into smaller series of sermons. And this first one is called “Prepare the Way” where we will be seeing how God goes before us to prepare the way for us to live out a life of ministry to him and to our world.
So we begin at the very onset of Luke’s Gospel. Now the cool thing about Luke is that he is the only non-Jewish author of scripture. And that’s really cool because it gives him a unique perspective on the story of Jesus and unique insights into the Jewish and non-Jewish world that Jesus lived in… because while Jesus did most of his ministry in what we call Israel, that entire territory was under the control of the Roman Empire. To Rome, Israel was kind of a no-name place. They were a bit of a burden to be honest, but they sat at the cross roads between important parts of the extended empire, so Rome put up with them and their rather distinct religious identity and way of life.
And one of the most important things that Luke does, which distinguishes his Story of Jesus from the other stories of Jesus, is that he starts his with the birth of a man named John.
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 descendant of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth.
Both of them were righteous before God, living blamelessly according to all the commandments and regulations of the Lord.
But they had no children, because Elizabeth was barren, and both were getting on in years.
So right here we’ve got 2 very important details about these two people:
These people are from the priestly tribe of Israel. They are descended from Moses’s brother Aaron who is the first High Priest of Israel. A priest was a person who spoke to God on behalf of the people and who ordered the religious life of the people. So, these folks are uniquely qualified to have a child who fulfills this role.
They are old, and Elizabeth has been barren for her whole life thus far. And she’s not the first person in Israel’s story to suffer from this condition… Sarah — wife of the first ancestor of Israel Abraham was also barren in her old age.
So immediately Luke is like “hey, people of Israel… this is super important. Pay attention.” And he continues on…
Once when he was serving as priest before God and his section was on duty,
he was chosen by lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to enter the sanctuary of the Lord and offer incense.
Now at the time of the incense offering, the whole assembly of the people was praying outside.
Then there appeared to him an angel of the Lord, standing at the right side of the altar of incense.
When Zechariah saw him, he was terrified; and fear overwhelmed him.
But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will name him John.
You will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth,
for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He must never drink wine or strong drink; even before his birth he will be filled with the Holy Spirit.
He will turn many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God.
With the spirit and power of Elijah he will go before him, to turn the hearts of parents to their children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”
So an angel visits Zechariah and is like listen here’s the deal. You’re having a son, you’re naming him John, and he is going to be a priest and a prophet like none other has been. He is going to prepare the people of Israel for the work of God that they have been so desperately waiting for all of these 400 years. He is going to prepare the way for the one who is going to come. The best is yet to come Zechariah.
To which Zechariah says… I don’t think so man. Have you met my wife? She’s too old, I’m too old for this. So the angel is like well, because you doubt God I’m making it so you can’t speak until these things have occured.
Then Elizabeth conceives. Meanwhile in a town not so far away, Elizabeth’s young cousin Mary is visited by an angel who tells her that she’s going to have a baby in her young age and that he will be named Jesus, the Son of God.
Mary makes the journey to go visit Elizabeth and they have this impossible pregnancy family reunion — a barren old woman and an unwed virgin — and the stage is set for what will be a story of two men who will change the world forever. Two boys, from an impossible starting point, who come to prepare the way for a new era in human history.
When John was born, Zechariah’s ability to speak returned. The people were amazed that a woman so old, a woman who was likely looked down on for not bearing children, could have a child.
Fear came over all their neighbors, and all these things were talked about throughout the entire hill country of Judea.
All who heard them pondered them and said, “What then will this child become?” For, indeed, the hand of the Lord was with him.
Then his father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke this prophecy:
“Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has looked favorably on his people and redeemed them.
He has raised up a mighty savior for us in the house of his servant David,
as he spoke through the mouth of his holy prophets from of old,
that we would be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us.
Thus he has shown the mercy promised to our ancestors, and has remembered his holy covenant,
the oath that he swore to our ancestor Abraham, to grant us
that we, being rescued from the hands of our enemies, might serve him without fear,
in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.
And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways,
to give knowledge of salvation to his people by the forgiveness of their sins.
By the tender mercy of our God, the dawn from on high will break upon us,
to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.”
The child grew and became strong in spirit, and he was in the wilderness until the day he appeared publicly to Israel.
Zechariah’s words remind us of the great mercy and love that God sent Jesus to bring to this world. But they also point us to a most curious and important point — God chose to have the way prepared for Jesus.
And I don’t think that this is a fact that we can just overlook, because Jesus — the God of the Universe made flesh — did not need to have his way prepared by anyone. Yet, there is this humble truth that we encounter when we consider the fact that the greatest minister that the world has ever seen… the man with the ministry that changed the world forever… had someone going before him and preparing the way for his message of salvation.
As people called Methodists, we believe that the activity and grace of God goes before us, preparing the way before we even know what God is up to. We believe that God is at work in our lives, and that God prepares our way through the people who guide, mentor, and love us.
This past two weeks I spent time in Kenya, observing and experiencing the work of an organization called Zoe Empowers. Zoe Empowers exists to help the most vulnerable people in society — Orphans — overcome their circumstances and live full and meaningful lives.
What I heard was story after story of children who were orphaned and left to provide for their younger siblings. These kids from age 13-20 were handed an almost unsurmountable challenge in life. They were hungry, had to pull their siblings from school because of their poverty, and generally lived with little to no hope.
What none of them knew was that God was preparing the way for them. Through the efforts of an incredible and compassionate organization and partnerships with people sitting in pews all over the world — including these pews here today — something would change in the lives of these children forever.
Every single story that I heard had a turning point — then I heard about Zoe and I was accepted into the group. Zoe gave us food to eat. Zoe allowed me to buy my siblings school uniforms so they could go back to school. I learned about hygiene and then my siblings and I weren’t sick any more. I learned how to farm and we had our own food to sell and eat. I bought livestock. I got business and vocational training and started my own business. I have plans and dreams.
But perhaps the most incredible thing about these children was that they all understood that there was a higher purpose in all of this. The Zoe model taught them to care for one another and to care for their community. They shared about how they served the less fortunate, the elderly, and their community at large. They shared how they build houses for their members who were without shelter. They shared how they brought in and cared for other young orphans who had no older siblings to look after them.
This life that they have found themselves benefitting from is a life of ministry. And it’s a ministry that was prepared beforehand by people who believed that God can do the improbable and the impossible with the people you would least expect. It was prepared by this church, who invested in a group of kids 8000 miles away that you’d never met.
God did the improbable and the impossible through the children of a barren old woman and a virgin from Nazareth. God can do the improbable and the impossible through you too.
So maybe you’re in a place like Israel was 2000 years ago, like Zoe participants were just a few short years ago. Maybe you’re waiting and wondering… God what are you up to. Things down here in my world and in my heart just aren’t good. I’m here to tell you… God is going before you. God is preparing a way. The best is yet to come.
You’re looking around this world like… God what are you up to. Things around here aren’t good. This world is suffering. You seem farther off than ever. God is going before us. God is preparing a way.
In our homes and in our schools, God is preparing the way — the best is yet to come.
In our businesses and in our governments, God is preparing the way — the best is yet to come.
In our hearts and in our hands, God is preparing the way — the best is yet to come.
It may seem improbable. It may seem down right impossible. But we believe in a God that takes the improbable and the impossible and does the incredible. Today it’s our job to just open our eyes and our hearts to the possibilities before us, because I promise you, God is preparing the way — the best is yet to come.