God With Us… In our weakness

Intro

We are starting off a new study series today!

We were supposed to start this last Sunday but the stomach bug hit my house..

..and I appreciate all the messages from yall checking on me and my family

But go ahead and be turning to Luke 1:5-24

….

When we get into the Christmas time, and actually take the time to slow down and think about things…

…we usually think about or even see depicted in movies or whatever…

..this sense of quiet beauty that night when Jesus was born

we have songs that depict this beautiful moment

you have the idea of this gentle light..

..this quiet wonder…

the angels singing…

..

and if you are someone that values the beauty of new life coming into the world…

…there is just a sense of peaceful awe and wonder and glory that follows the thought of the Saviors birth…

But when you consider the reality…

the wonder and glory of Christmas shines even brighter when we remember WHY He came…

…and WHO He came to save…

because… in reality…

…Christ didn’t come into a world of warmth… and welcome..

He came into a world of darkness, hostility, depravity, and desperate need…

We have to remember that the eternal Son did not put on flesh to “try out” humanity…

He didn’t humble himself to the image of His own creation to sit and “admire humanity”…

He became the incarnate God-man, to rescue humanity…

No matter where anyone is in any walk of life at any given point in time, one thing rings true about the nature of mankind…

We need a Savior

there is a deficiency that we cannot overcome on our own

and that deficiency plays itself out in many different forms of weakness…

so I want us to start this off by looking at this passage in Luke now

Bible Passage: Luke 1:5–24

stand - read - pray

Summary:

In Luke 1:5–24, we encounter the story of Zechariah and Elizabeth,

they were a couple who faced years of disappointment and longing for a child.

but Despite their older age and previous inability to have children…

… God intervenes, sending the angel Gabriel to announce that they will have a son, John the Baptist.

now, when you look at the passage, there is alot going on that we could dissect

but we are going to just hover a bit around the surface of this passage this morning …

…in order to understand a few things about the nature of man…

Something interesting that I want to point out right off the bat is in v 6…

6 And they were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord

now something that trips people up in this is the word righteous..

and they will dive too deeply into the word and equate that with sinlessness..

the problem with that comparison is that it contradicts the rest of scripture…

what is that scripture?

“None is righteous, no, not one;

11  no one understands; no one seeks for God.

12  All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.

Ro 3:10–12.

well that seems to be a problem..because Luke says they were RIGHTEOUS..

but Romans 3:23 says: “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”

so which is it?

well.. a word study would show us that the word righteous could have multiple meanings..

in some cases, like in our text in Romans 3 - Righteousness IS tied to a salvific nature..

but in Luke, it is speaking more toward the action of the individual..

and actual definition of the word in Luke would be that they were “doing things honorably, doing things the right way”..

..and that is actually supported by the rest of the text that speaks about how they were walking in the commandments and statutes of the Lord…

so the best way to look at this is not to equate their righteousness with sinlessness…

..but instead to faithfulness..

to obedience..

which this also would have meant that the two were aware of their own sinful tendencies..

..which might have been a reason for the trouble and fear that Zechariah felt when he entered the temple…

And it is even further shown that he was a man with sin…

because of his response questioning Gabriel

and the discipline he received for not believing his words…

and we also see Elizabeths words in Luke 1:25

Luke 1:25 ESV

“Thus the Lord has done for me in the days when he looked on me, to take away my reproach among people.”

which is the same thing that Rachel said when she conceived Joseph by the way after having envy toward her sister, and yelling at her husband …

which when you go and read that breakdown… there is clearly sin present…

So you are like “what is your point Stephen?”

My point is this..

when we consider our weakness…

…man, in his natural state, is not merely weak but spiritually dead—

unable to lift himself to God,

unable to desire Him,

unable even to see Him without the Spirit’s awakening

Our hearts, left to themselves, do not cry out for Emmanuel

they run from Him.

And even with that…, the Gospel begins with this amazing truth:

God came near anyway.

God with us—

not because we were worthy, but because we were helpless.

The incarnation is the announcement that the Holy One has stepped into human frailty.

think about it…

…Jesus didn’t enter the world at what we would see as the strongest thing the world has to offer…

…. but at its weakest—

in poverty, seemingly insignificantly even…, in the vulnerability of infancy

The King of Glory laid aside the visible splendor of His throne,

taking on real humanity, with real weakness,

to redeem a people who could never redeem themselves.

So that is the biggest thing we need to understand..

When we think about Christmas..

there are so many things that go through our head..

And its ok to have traditions and make memories with your family ..

I think about the fact that the day after thanksgiving every year, my dad HAD to watch a Christmas Story…

..so you know what movie i have to watch every year? - the same

Since Kelsey and I have been married and had kids …

..we have this little dancing santa that we first pulled out with Eli and he loved it..

then solomon..

then issac..

then Nora Joy…

they all love it..

as a matter of fact… they went to bed friday night and i stayed up late decorating the living room and put out the dancing santa..

the next day, i wasn’t even out of bed yet and i heard it going off with its little song and them all gathered around it giggling their heads off…

so its ok to have these thoughts and memories around Christmas time but at the core of it..

we should remember that:

Christmas is proof that Christ came for us while we were still yet sinners…

and He came in the lowliest of ways…

and in doing so He drew even nearer to us..

And this nearness of God is not only the beginning of our salvation..

its the foundation of our entire Christian life…

because the One who came to save us also does something else..

He sanctifies us..

and He does that despite our other weaknesses…

In salvation He defeated our hopeless weakness of sin and death…

but in sanctification…

He grows us to look more like Christ even despite our struggles…

and sometimes that struggle is the ongoing temptation to sin..

sometimes its a struggle of another nature..

And lets be honest..

if we are in a time of struggle..

we usually get this feeling that God is distant..

that He is too quiet..

we even might find ourselves crying out.. and not seeming to receive any answer…

But just as God worked through the literal physical silence that He induced in Zechariah to bring about this beautiful plan in His Timing..

we need to remember to embrace the truth that God is present even in our struggles,

let the example that we see here with Zechariah be a reminder that silence does not equate to absence.

but instead.. we need to trust in God's timing and plan

and I would say especially so when we are facing the struggles of life..

and those times of what feel like unanswered prayers

You know.. I mentioned Rachel and Jospeh earlier..

just look at His life as an example of Gods plan being played out in HIS perfect timing..

I’m sure Joseph would have liked to be in that high position the moment immediately after His dream..

but God used His timing to not only build a Christ like forgiving character into Joseph..

..but to save countless numbers of people from a future famine in the land…

so the next time you are struggling in weakness..

think about how God might be using that time to produce something in you that He plans on using in the future to help countless others..

and its with this mindset..

a mindset that says… God is with me… and God is working in my weakness..

…that the process of sanctification really starts taking shape..

It’s an eternal mindset…

..that is less focused on your temporary displeasure..

and more focused on looking like Christ for the Glory of the Lord..

that will motivate you to work out your faith with fear and trembling…

It’s this mindset that reminds us…

… that God's actions are often preceded by silence

but this silence should not lead to more despair

but we should see more clearly a divine orchestration that works in our weaknesses and uncertainties

showing that miracles often arise from barren places.

But even with this mindset..

there will still be times that are more rough..

…maybe.. too rough… in a sense…

and this is when we need to remember the other way God is with us in our weakness…

and that is through perseverance..

a lot of the time we think about perseverance as something WE do..

but we need to understand just who it is that perseveres for us..

Our perseverance isnt grounded in our own strength but simply in HIS presence..

and what i mean by that is that

Emmanuel, didn’t just simply come once to be among us..

He remains with us by His Spirit..

And it is through the Spirit that we find sustaining faith, the producing of holiness through sanctification, and preserving to the end..

What God has attained, God will keep..

Jesus says in John 6:37

John 6:37 ESV

All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.

and in v 39 Jesus says “that i should lose NOTHING of all that He has given me, but raise it up on the last day..

So hear me this morning, if you are a weary Christian..

if you are walking through the muck of your weakness..

and you feel like God has been distant and silent for way to long..

God is not distant..

God is near

And God may be silent..

But silence does not equate to stillness…

God is at Work..

God is producing something in you..

And He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion…

How do I know that?

Because God is with us..

…not because we are strong, but because He is merciful.

…Not because we reached for Him, but because He came for us.

….Not because we hold on to Him, but because He holds on to us.

God is intimately present in our weaknesses, orchestrating His divine plan all for His glory.. and our own good…

pray