The Glory of Interrupted Plans - Mary

Introduction

Play Video - The Glory of Christmas (Mary) by Skit Guys

Luke 1:26-38

Luke 1:26–38 ESV

In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin’s name was Mary. And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!” But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God. And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. For nothing will be impossible with God.” And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.

Tim Kimmel related the following heart breaking story in his book, Little House on the Freeway

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When you’re raised in the country, hunting is just a natural part of growing up. For years I enjoyed packing up my guns and some food to head off into the woods. Even more than the hunting itself, I enjoyed the way these trips always seemed to deepen my relationship with friends as we hunted during the day and talked late into the night around the campfire. When an old friend recently invited me to relive some of those days, I couldn’t pass up the chance.

For several weeks before the trip, I had taken the time to upgrade some of my equipment and sight in my rifle. When the day came, I was ready for the hunt. What I wasn’t ready for was what my close friend, Tom, shared with me the first night out on the trail.

I always enjoyed the time I spent with Tom. He had become a leader in his church and his warm and friendly manner had also taken him many steps along the path of business success. He had a lovely wife, and while I knew they had driven over some rocky roads in their marriage, things now seemed to be stable and growing. Tom’s kids, two daughters and a son, were struggling in junior high and high school with the normal problems of peer pressure and acceptance.

As we rode back into the mountains, I could tell that something big was eating away at Tom’s heart. His normal effervescent style was shrouded by an overwhelming inner hurt. Normally, Tom would attack problems with the same determination that had made him a success in business. Now, I saw him wrestling with something that seemed to have knocked him to the mat for the count. Silence has a way of speaking for itself. All day and on into the evening, Tom let his lack of words shout out his inner restlessness. Finally, around the first night’s campfire, he opened up. The scenario Tom painted was annoyingly familiar. I’d heard it many times before in many other people’s lives. But the details seemed such a contract to the life that Tom and his wife lived and the beliefs they embraced. His oldest daughter had become attached to a boy at school. Shortly after they started going together, they became sexually involved. Within two months, she was pregnant. Tom’s wife discovered the truth when a packet from Planned Parenthood came in the mail addressed to her daughter. When confronted with it, the girl admitted she had requested it when she went to the clinic to find out if she was pregnant. If we totaled up the number of girls who have gotten pregnant out of wedlock during the past two hundred years of our nation’s history, the total would be in the millions. Countless parents through the years have faced the devastating news. Being a member of such a large fraternity of history, however, does not soften the severity of the blow to your heart when you discover it’s your daughter.

Tom shared the humiliation he experienced when he realized that all of his teaching and example had been ignored. Years of spiritual training had been thrust aside. His stomach churned as he relived the emotional agony of knowing that the little girl he and his wife loved so much had made a choice that had permanently scarred her heart. I’m frequently confronted with these problems in my ministry and have found that dwelling on the promiscuous act only makes matters worse. I worship a God of forgiveness and solutions, and at that moment in our conversation I was anxious to turn toward hope and healing. I asked Tom what they had decided to do. Would they keep the baby, or put it up for adoption?

That’s when he delivered the blow. With the fire burning low, Tom paused for a long time before answering. And even when he spoke he wouldn’t look me in the eye. “We considered the alternatives, Tim. Weighed all the options.” He took a deep breath. “We finally made an appointment with the abortion clinic. I took her down there myself.”

I dropped the stick I’d been poking the coals with and stared at Tom. Except for the wind in the trees and the snapping of our fire it was quiet for a long time. I couldn’t believe this was the same man who for years had been so outspoken against abortion. He and his wife had even volunteered at a crisis pregnancy center in his city.

Heartsick, I pressed him about the decision. Tom then made a statement that captured the essence of his problem…and the problem many others have in entering into genuine rest. In a mechanical voice, he said “I know what I believe, Tim, but that’s different than what I had to do. I had to make a decision that had the least amount of consequences for the people involved.”

Just by the way he said it, I could tell my friend had rehearsed these lines over and over in his mind. And by the look in his eyes and the emptiness in his voice, I could tell his words sounded as hollow to him as they did to me.

Little House on the Freeway, Tim Kimmel, pp. 67-70

Our lives are filled with interrupted plans…OUR plans.

Things we never planned for. Things we never intended.

But things that happened nonetheless.

Yes, our lives are filled with interrupted plans.

What matters is how we choose to respond to those plans.

I read two stories for you just now.

Two lives interrupted with things they did not plan for.

Two very different responses.

Listen...

Big Idea: When life interrupts our plans, we need to remember to look up; to trust the director of all our steps; and to respond in full obedience to His will.

Our plans my be interrupted…God’s never are.

Even with the freedom of choices he permits us to make; even with our sinful decision; His plans are never outmatched, detoured, or thwarted.

As we enter this Christmas season, over the next month, I want us to examine a series of texts that we are familiar with, a story that we are familiar with.

My goal and intent…to focus on a series of “meditations” if you will to reflect upon THE GLORY OF CHRISTMAS (A title taken from the Skit Guys videos I am using) and how that story affects our lives in the here and now, day to day.

Today, I want us to consider the glory of interrupted plans.

Outline

Big Idea: When life interrupts our plans, we need to remember to look up; to trust the director of all our steps; and to respond in full obedience to His will.

Life’s Interruptions

Look Up!

Trust!

Obey!

Sermon Body

Let’s look back at Mary’s life for a moment and her interrupted plans.

Life’s Interruptions

Mary’s Interruption

Think with me, for a moment, if you will, the weight of this moment for Mary and the announcement she received.

What plans do you think she had for her life? What plans do you think she and Joseph spoke about, laid out, and were excited for?

What does this announcement do to those plans? What cost to their carefully laid out and planned for schematic of life would this be?

The Cost they would pay

Forever marked as an adulteress. Who do you really think believed her story of Holy Spirit conception and virgin birth?

She would be marked as the adulteress woman and be branded with “The Scarlett Letter” all the days of her life.

Joseph would be marked as the one who overlooked her transgression and took her to be his wife anyway.

They would bear the shame and reproach all the day so their life.

Don’t believe me?

John 8:39-47

John 8:39–47 ESV

They answered him, “Abraham is our father.” Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would be doing the works Abraham did, but now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. This is not what Abraham did. You are doing the works your father did.” They said to him, “We were not born of sexual immorality. We have one Father—even God.” Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and I am here. I came not of my own accord, but he sent me. Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word. You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies. But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me. Which one of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me? Whoever is of God hears the words of God. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God.”

Notice this phrase in verse 41 - “We were not born of sexual immorality.

Note well what this is saying…

I am going to use word here and do not mean it as the swear word but as the legitimate use it was always intended to be before we turned it into profanity.

THEY WERE ACCUSING HIM OF BEING THE BASTARD SON....the illegitimate child.....the child of whoredom.

MARY AND JOSEPH knew FULL WELL what they were agreeing to when they accepted this commission to parent the Messiah.

They lived their entire lives, never escaping, the stigma of the religious community for their “alleged immorality.”

Mary was the adulteress who got pregnant while engaged/married to another man.

Joseph was the man who ignored that sin and disgrace and took her anyway.

AND THEIR FAMILIES would ALSO have born this shame.

Their decision would have cost their families as well.

AND THIS STATEMENT in John 8 PROVES that few in the religious community forgot that.

They called Jesus the bastard son.

Mary and Joseph’s plans for their live were interrupted by a higher plan, a greater calling.

Naomi was another who came to mind right away who endured life’s unplanned interruptions.

Naomi’s Interruption

Ruth 1:1-5

Ruth 1:1–5 ESV

In the days when the judges ruled there was a famine in the land, and a man of Bethlehem in Judah went to sojourn in the country of Moab, he and his wife and his two sons. The name of the man was Elimelech and the name of his wife Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Chilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem in Judah. They went into the country of Moab and remained there. But Elimelech, the husband of Naomi, died, and she was left with her two sons. These took Moabite wives; the name of the one was Orpah and the name of the other Ruth. They lived there about ten years, and both Mahlon and Chilion died, so that the woman was left without her two sons and her husband.

Bam. First 5 verses and we are already depressed reading this story, right?

Famine forces you out of your homeland

While in foreign land, your husband dies

Then BOTH your sons die

In a time when women were dependent on male relatives for provision, care, and inheritance.

She is left only with two daughters in law, not even Jewish, but Moabites.

Do you suspect that this was Noami’s plan for her life?

And yet, we know the outcome of this story....

Ruth, a non-Israelite, becomes the great grandmother of King David....through whom comes Jesus.

Which by the way, Boaz, Ruth’s husband, was the son of Rahab the prostitute.

Our life interruptions are no obstacle to the sovereign hand of God accomplishing His good will.

In fact, they are often the desired means of God to accomplish HIS will so that HE remains the focus and gets all the glory!

What are your interruptions?

Cancer, sickness, death?

Loss of job.

Financial ruin?

Failed marriage? Struggling marriage? Unhappy marriage?

Rebellious teenager?

A broken and betrayed trust?

Dominating addiction?

Depression?

Anxiety?

Death?

Perhaps even, a Covid related detour? Loss of job over covid decisions? Loss of education, future over it?

When life interrupts your plans.....

Look Up

Listen to the following passages.

Luke 21:10-28

Luke 21:10–28 ESV

Then he said to them, “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and pestilences. And there will be terrors and great signs from heaven. But before all this they will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors for my name’s sake. This will be your opportunity to bear witness. Settle it therefore in your minds not to meditate beforehand how to answer, for I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which none of your adversaries will be able to withstand or contradict. You will be delivered up even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends, and some of you they will put to death. You will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But not a hair of your head will perish. By your endurance you will gain your lives. “But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation has come near. Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, and let those who are inside the city depart, and let not those who are out in the country enter it, for these are days of vengeance, to fulfill all that is written. Alas for women who are pregnant and for those who are nursing infants in those days! For there will be great distress upon the earth and wrath against this people. They will fall by the edge of the sword and be led captive among all nations, and Jerusalem will be trampled underfoot by the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled. “And there will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth distress of nations in perplexity because of the roaring of the sea and the waves, people fainting with fear and with foreboding of what is coming on the world. For the powers of the heavens will be shaken. And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. Now when these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”

Psalm 121:1-8

Psalm 121:1–8 ESV

I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade on your right hand. The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life. The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore.

Psalm 123:1-4

Psalm 123:1–4 ESV

To you I lift up my eyes, O you who are enthroned in the heavens! Behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their master, as the eyes of a maidservant to the hand of her mistress, so our eyes look to the Lord our God, till he has mercy upon us. Have mercy upon us, O Lord, have mercy upon us, for we have had more than enough of contempt. Our soul has had more than enough of the scorn of those who are at ease, of the contempt of the proud.

Psalm 8:1-9

Psalm 8:1–9 ESV

O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens. Out of the mouth of babies and infants, you have established strength because of your foes, to still the enemy and the avenger. When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him? Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the seas. O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!

When the world is marked with trial, tribulation, persecution, war, famine, hardship....UNPLANNED INTERRUPTIONS to our plans....

Look up!

When the world feels dank and dark

And I see the world in clouds, pointed and sharp

When I am tempted to cast down my eyes

Withdrawing them from the wonder of blue skies

When it feels that all hope is gone

And all joy has departed and withdrawn

Look Up!

The sun still shines a steady beam

Even when the clouds prevent it from being seen

The dark clouds have not destroyed the light

They have not overcome, plunging all into eternal night

They lie and deceive with their malice

Hardening our hearts like a harsh callus

Look Up!

The truth is much more delightful and real

Behind that cloud is the One whose Spirit is my seal

I have not been abandoned or cast away

The night may have temporarily hidden the day

But just because He cannot be seen

Doesn’t mean He is absent in this in between

Look up!

He is here. He is with us! He is with me!

Just as He promised always to be

That alone gives us abundance of reason

To be filled with hope and joy in this season

His is a shelter and a fortress from the cloud

A refuge and protection He has promised and vowed

Look up!

We have many more reasons for hope

In darkness we do not have to grope

We have more reasons for hope than despair

We have many more reasons than that of which we are even aware

The dark has shortened memory’s light

And robbed us of divine‘s eternal sight

Look up!

The sun still shines; it still remains

The Son still rules on high; His goodness reigns

We have more reason for hope than despair

We must look up to find it there

He is good and strong and kind

In Him is all the hope we ever need to find.

Look up!

When life interrupts your plans or conflicts with your idea of how life ought to be...

I did a quick search and it honestly surprised me, in even that quick search, how many times this phrase or idea of looking up showed up...

We need to be reminded to...

LOOK UP

and Behold the wonder, splendor, and glory of the God who made us and claimed us as His Own...

and TRUST...

In what circumstance do you need to LOOK UP today?

It is not enough to just look up. When we do, we are called to trust.

Trust

Proverbs 3:5-6

Proverbs 3:5–6 ESV

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.

This was one of the earliest verses I remember memorizing as a child. So much so, I always thought this was a standard verse that all parents made their kids memorize. So deeply engrained in my mind is this verse that I am sometimes caught by surprise when people seem aware of it.

God promises to lead and guide us when we surrender to, submit to, and trust Him.

James 1:5

James 1:5 ESV

If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.

Does it amaze you that God makes himself available to us at any time that we seek it?

It should! SERIOUSLY!

The problem is not lack of access to truth and wisdom.

The problem is our failure to go OR accept that truth and wisdom.

When life interrupts....LOOK UP and TRUST...

Listen, fight it all you will…it is God who directs our steps anyway....

Proverbs 16:9

Proverbs 16:9 ESV

The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.

Proverbs 19:21

Proverbs 19:21 ESV

Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand.

And glorious are his plans for us....

1 Corinthians 2:9

1 Corinthians 2:9 ESV

But, as it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him”—

We may not be fully aware of what he plans....

Those plans may be different than we think...

They may be different than we want in the flesh....

I DO NOT take Jeremiah 29:11 as for us because it is a specific promise to Israel

HE WOULD restore them to their homeland

HE WOULD restore their wealthy and prosperity

BUT THAT is not for us...

But 1 Corinthians 2:9 is...

and GOD DOES have good plans for us.

BUT it may involve suffering and hardship. IT MAY involve interrupted plans

But God has nothing BUT GOOD planned for his children....if we but trust him to set the boundaries of that which is good.

What is God asking you to trust Him with today?

This trust will PRODUCE obedience.

Obey

1 Samuel 15:22-23 (Give context before reading text)

Context...

God sent Saul to destroy the Amalekites for their wickedness against Israel and others.

Saul was told to devote THEM ALL to destruction.

Saul disobeyed and spared the king and the best of the sheep, oxen, calves, lambs, and all else that was good. Instead of destroying it, they plundered it.

For this reason, God goes to Samuel and tells Samuel that he has rejected Saul as king. His heart was rebellious and proud, unsubmissive and so God rejected him.

Samuel goes to confront him

As he nears, Saul’s rebellion becomes even more apparent...

Saul BLAMES the people for the rebellion. Samuel’s point…God’s point.....YOU ARE THE KING…You have authority to address this rebellion IF that were true. You didn’t. You are just a guilty.

Then Samuel tells him this...

1 Samuel 15:22–23 ESV

And Samuel said, “Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of divination, and presumption is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, he has also rejected you from being king.”

Obedience is better than sacrifice.

Why?

Because obedience is about a posture of the heart in submission, trust, and faith.

God is calling us to TRUST

AND

OBEY

Obedience is the FRUIT of trust.

Notice Mary

Luke 1:38

Luke 1:38 ESV

And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.

Let it be to me according to your word...

Unhesitating, unquestioning, willful obedience BECAUSE SHE TRUSTED.

In what way(s) is God calling you to obey today? What does your lack of obedience reveal about the nature of your trust?

Conclusion

Big Idea: When life interrupts our plans, we need to remember to look up; to trust the director of all our steps; and to respond in full obedience to His will.

Life’s Interruptions

Look Up!

Trust!

Obey!

Mary and Joseph faced a choice....one that would alter their plans, interrupt their idea of what life would be for them, and one that would cost them.

May we not be like the father who compromised when faced with an unplanned interrupted.

May we be like Joseph and Mary whose faith, humility, and trust led to joyful, willing obedience, no matter the cast.

The Glory of Christmas is seen in their humility, trust, and obedience through which God worked to bring His VERY SON into human flesh....to live a perfect life....to die an innocent death…and to rise again three days later to satisfy His own holy and just wrath against our sin so that....

Galatians 4:4-7

Galatians 4:4–7 ESV

But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.

And all God’s people said.....

Application and Discussion Questions

What interruptions are you experiencing in life right now? How challenges, trials, hardships are you enduring?

What specific truth/promise do you need to look up and be reminded of/see?

What steps can you take to strengthen you trust in God today?

What specific actions of obedience is calling you to? How can the body help?

Take time to pray about the things in small group today.