Celebrating A God Who Is There | Prepare The Way

Sermon Transcript:

(transcribed with AI)

Good morning. If you haven't met me, my name's Rich Kopanke. I served as an elder here at Promontory. And I'm excited about this morning. I'm excited about the joy and privilege of being able to talk with you this morning about Christmas. I mean, what else are we gonna talk about? But at the same time to allow this ancient story to remind us of what it really means and the significance in our lives and actually what Christmas can do in each one of us.

The US Declaration of Independence states:

We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Pretty lofty words, aren't they? And Americans aren't the only ones who are chasing after that goal. Ever since the beginning, people have pursued happiness. A French philosopher observes the whole world is on a mad quest for security and happiness. A Texas multi-millionaire complains, I thought money could buy happiness. I had, I've been miserable and disillusioned. A famous movie star questions, I have money, I have beauty, I have glamour, I have popularity, I should be the happiest woman in the world, but I'm miserable, why?

Why indeed. I mean, maybe you've tried a quest for things. After all, he who dies with most toys. I guess still dies anyway I mean, we're still empty, even no matter how much we have around us. Maybe the thought of being popular in school drove you on. That was gonna bring happiness in your life, but it hasn't. Maybe you were sure that marriage and children were gonna settle you down. And you're still restless.

Where do you find peace and happiness? How do you live a life of joy and contentment? Well again this morning as we continue our Christmas series that's the question that we're asking we're gonna explore that and we're gonna discover an answer as we go back in time to an event that occurred several months before Christmas.

Now the setting. 2000 years ago Not a whole lot different than what we have today. People are asking the same question. Historians tell us that the time surrounding the birth of Christ was a time of tremendous discouragement of hopelessness in the ancient Middle East. Rome ruled with an iron fist. Freedom, self-expression were squashed, emptiness and frustration were prevalent in the writings of that time. People wondered. Was there an answer? How do we find hope? where do, is there any real reason for peace in this world?

And then God stepped onto the stage in the form of a little baby. And at last An answer to humanity's quest. Friends, this morning as we read some events leading up to the Christmas morning, we're gonna learn. We're gonna learn about why this baby meant so much, and we're going to discover what we need to do about it.

Zachariah, a very old man. Who has served his entire life as a priest in the Jewish temple is gonna talk to us. And he's gonna tell us something tremendous that happened in his life. And in so doing, as he rejoices in becoming a father for the very first time at an age when honestly most people would be rocking in a rocking chair. Zachariah is gonna look past his own son. He's going to talk to you and me about a source of joy and hope that's bigger than even his personal circumstances.

So let's stand. Let's stand as we honor God's word and as Zachariah speaks to us about a God who is there for us, and as he does, I'd like you to just try to picture in your mind this old guy standing there holding a newborn son, marveling in awe at the grace of God. We begin reading verse 67 of Luke chapter 1, and his father, that's the little baby's father Zechariah, was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesized, saying,

Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David. As he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old. That we should be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us, to show the mercy promised to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant, the oath that he swore to our father Abraham to grant us that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies, might serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.

And then Zachariah kind of looks down at this little baby in his arms, and

you, child. You 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 in the forgiveness of their sins. Because of the tender mercy of our God, whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.

Please be seated.

Blessed be the Lord God of Israel. I mean, try to get yourself in the sandals of the senior citizen. I mean, as far as we can tell, life had been pretty good for him. He seemed to have a pretty good loving wife. I mean, they grew old together. He's had a rewarding career. He was a priest in the temple. I mean, things couldn't have been really much better than that, except for one thing. We read in verse 7.

But they had no child because Elizabeth was barren and both were advanced in years.

But now Through a literally divine miracle, here is Zachariah holding an infant son celebrating what God has done. I mean, put yourself in his sandals, OK? You would be Facebooking everyone on your list with the exciting news. You would be texting your friends pictures of your little boy. What does that do? He breaks out in a song of praise. And, but not just for the miracle of him having a son in his old age. Zach sees beyond his own blessing to even a greater miracle, a world rocking divine proportions.

Blessed be to the Lord God of Israel. Why? I mean, because Zach finally gets to hear himself being called daddy. Because nobody bothered to warn him about diapers and sleepless nights. Because a miracle happened which brought tremendous joy to his wife Elizabeth in her old age. I mean, any of those would be reason enough for. But for Zachariah, there's something even more.

Their child who would later be known as John the Baptist. Would serve a very important role in preparing the people of Israel for the ministry and the message of Jesus. You see, back there in that first century. There was change in the wind. A new day was dawning on humanity. That deadly grip of hopelessness and frustration would soon be broken. God was up to something earth shattering, tremendous.

I mean, as Zach stands there holding his infant son, the Holy Spirit prompts him to speak, and as he does, he talks about things that go way beyond his own situation. His reason for joy will go well beyond his own generation, or his own culture as it even touches your life and mine today. And the first of these reasons. Reasons for hope that can change a person's life even today. The first of those reasons is a fact God has not forgotten us.

I mean, God is not like some absentee landlord. He didn't just create this world and then go off to do something else. Now I realized for some of you that's not really a big surprise. I mean you wake up every morning aware of God and how he is there in your life. You sense his presence with you all day long. You lean on him repeatedly during the day and send up some of those SOS prayers when things aren't going the right way and you need wisdom or guidance or strength or protection.

But let me tell you, 2000 years ago, this fear that God had forgotten them was very real for these 1st century Jews. You see, the Old Testament was filled with stories of men and women whom God used in powerful ways to communicate to God's people. You know, there were leaders like Moses and Joshua who followed God's direct verbal commands, and big time miracles happen. There were prophets like Isaiah and Jeremiah who spoke authoritatively on God's behalf, and there was no question that God was speaking to them. There were statesmen like Daniel and Joseph, with whom God communicated through visions and dreams, and people knew what to expect next. Even when the message they got from God was unpleasant. Well, at least there was comfort in knowing that God was still speaking to them.

But now, for the past 400 years, it seems that God had been giving them the silent treatment, a cold shoulder. For 4 centuries, there were no prophets going through the land, declaring, Thus saith the Lord. Rome, that foreign power was still in control of Jerusalem, a tragedy to these Jews to whom God was their leader. The worship of God continued. I mean, Zach was still a priest. But it had taken on this dull monotony of routine. Ho hum, another Sabbath. People are wondering, where was God? Why wasn't he speaking to us? Had he forgotten us?

OK, let's get personal for a minute. Maybe go ahead, pull out a mirror, take a look at yourself. Do you ever wonder where God is? Do you ever echo the feeling of one Ugandan Christian who survived the sadistic terror of the Idi Amin rule some years ago? Who explained,

I stopped going to church. Because I thought God had forgotten us.

I mean, when tears fill your eyes. When prayers seemed to bounce off the ceiling, when setbacks piled up and threatened to bury you. When frustration fills you with worry and fear, when questions loom large and there's no one there to answer them. Where's God? I mean, does God even remember who I am?

And here we've got Zach Telling us God's still there. I mean, just take a look now at the next several verses and the emphasis that Zach places on what he, God is doing. Verse 68, let's read the whole verse this time.

Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people.

And this word redeems talked about to rescue someone at a high price. That's a pretty accurate picture of what God was doing in sending his son to the earth and ultimately to the cross. You see, guys, without What happened on Christmas? You and I would have pretty good reason to be filled with hopelessness. Scripture tells us Personal experience bears it out quite clearly. That if you're not serving God. You know what? Then you're a slave to sin. And Satan is a very cruel master. His goal is to utterly destroy you. To steal away any hope he might have for a better tomorrow. That's why Jesus tells us later on in his life in John 10,

the thief, that's Satan comes only to steal and kill and destroy.

And that's what we're up against, guys. But it's also what Jesus came to rescue us from.

But I came that they may have life. And have it abundantly.

With the birth of Zachariah's son John. And about 6 months or so later, Mary's son Jesus. A divine chain of events got into motion. Culminating in the death and resurrection of Jesus. Satan's hold over us was broken, broken forever at the cross. That means that now we have freedom to live our lives with meaning and joy and purpose.

Look again verse 68.

Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David, as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old, that we should be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us.

I mean, why would God do this? Why? Let's keep going verse 72

to show the mercy promised to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant, the oath that he swore to our father Abraham to grant us that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies, might serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness before Him all our days.

At last Guys, finally. Because of this soon to be born baby. We can live the kind of life that deep down inside we know we really should be living. And it's all because God hasn't forgotten us.

And I want you to notice something in what we just read. All of this isn't some kind of a last minute plan on God's part because, you know, kind of a knee jerk reaction because he kind of forgot about things and didn't see this coming. I mean, all these amazing events are part of something that God had started long ago. Did you see that in verse 70?

As he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old.

Well over 300 prophecies in the Old Testament speak of the coming of Jesus. I mean Jesus has always been God's solution to our problem of sin. You see, God's been there all along. Things were never out of control. We're told here in God's time a horn of salvation would be raised up in the house of his servant David. That phrase uses an ancient Jewish word picture of a ram's horn representing strength, speaks of Jesus coming from the line of David as foretold in the prophecies. Jesus is the focal point. He is the culmination of God's redemptive plan. Here is where all the events of these past centuries have been leading up to.

God has not forgotten us.

Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people.

But OK, let's pause again. Pull out that mirror. Take a look at yourself. Are you celebrating that redemption this morning? I mean, has this been a yawn so far, or is it stirring your soul a little bit? I mean, is it personal? Has the death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ broken the hold of sin in your life? Do you have hope and joy even when things aren't going the way you planned? Because you know that the God of this universe has redeemed you and that you are one of his?

Guys, this is what God has done. He has not forgotten us. But then there's more. That goes on and he says God has not condemned us. He hasn't just written us off as hopeless failures. You know, since the 17th century, certain military courts practiced a custom of drumming out of the service those who were dishonorably discharged. After the sentence had been passed, the bareheaded disgraced outcast would slowly trudge past his peers and a drum playing mockingly in the background. As that shamed soldier passed each platoon, men would turn from him, expressing their rejection. Drummed out of the service.

Is that maybe the way you feel God would act towards you? When you fail, I think a lot of people in our world look that way and think that way and we're all aware of the ways that we blow it morally. Spiritually, ethically? We feel the guilt maybe over how we've treated our family or we live with the remorse of some moral lapse and the shame of our sin. There's regret and embarrassment hounding us daily. We can scarcely look at ourselves in that mirror, sure that God considers us as scum, total failures, ready to be drummed out of His presence.

I mean, in the light of this, consider how amazing Zach's words are as he talks to us about his infant son's role in ushering in Jesus' ministry. Verse 76,

you child will be called the prophet of the Most High. You will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, to give knowledge of salvation to his people and the forgiveness of their sins.

For centuries The people of Israel had lived with a system of rituals. I mean, given to them by God. By which they dealt with their failures. Desperately, you know, they would observe holy days, they would, they like the Day of Atonement, they would have sacrificing that they'd sacrifice animals on the altar in acknowledgement of their failures. Desperately they were seeking freedom. I mean freedom from that cruel monster of guilt. And yet even the best, the very best of these sacrifices and ceremonies had to be repeated again and again. There was never a once and for all in this.

And it wasn't just the ancient Israelites who wrestled here. I mean, people of every generation. You and I probably included. Desire a clean conscience. And whether it's sacrifices and ceremonies or trying to outweigh our bad goods, bad deeds with good deeds. The religions of our world are filled with attempts to clean up our failures and soothe our conscience.

And here finally. With the dawning of a new age, forgiveness comes. But notice not only forgiveness, also salvation. We're not only set free of the stranglehold of guilt, we're also getting eternal life, a relationship with God Himself. Here's why we can know that God has not condemned us. He isn't waiting to drum us out in shame and disgrace. No matter how many times you fail, how awful your failures might be, God stands ready. Ready with open arms to receive you, to forgive you, to wipe that slate clean. To begin a personal relationship with you.

You doubt it? Sound too good to be true? Well, listen as God invites you. In Isaiah chapter one,

come now. Let us reason together, says the Lord. Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.

Because of Christmas. Friends, because of the birth of Jesus, we know that God has not condemned us, nor has he forgotten us. And there's still more. Listen next to what Zechariahs says as he tells us God has not left us in the dark. He doesn't leave us clueless about what's going on or about how we're supposed to respond. Look at verse 78,

because of the tender mercy of our God, whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet to the way of peace.

You know that word picture there. Can be that of a traveler who's stranded on after dark on a pitch black road. I mean, have you ever been out there in the middle of the night, no stars, no moon? The sun has set. There's no house in sight. He doesn't know where he is. He can't see where he's going. Every night noise gets amplified 1000 times by his imagination as he huddles in the dark. The threat of wild animals or bandits fills them with fear. But then After what seems like an eternity, the sun appears in the east. Light invades darkness and he can see again, and now everything's OK.

Guys, that's a picture, a picture of what it's like without Christ and the difference that he can make in our lives. Without Jesus, no matter how good we're doing in life, there's something missing inside. It's like we're sitting in darkness and in the shadow of death. We may try to hide those feelings, we may try to cover up that gnawing emptiness. We may seek after wealth or pleasure to fill the void inside of us, but it's still there. It doesn't go away.

But then the sunrise shall visit us from on high. We encounter God. Maybe through a Christian friend, maybe someone who invited you to come to church this morning. Maybe through a sermon you heard on the radio or a book that you read, whatever it was that God used, we come face to face with the truth of His love for us. That he will shine on those sitting in darkness and in the shadow of death. That the light will go on in your heart that you may know how much God loves you and what he's done to give you hope and salvation.

And then we're told he will guide your feet. Into the path of peace. As you explore those claims of Christianity, you will find answers that you're looking for. The love and acceptance that you long for, the peace and the joy that has eluded you for so long. All of this, all of this is God at work for in your life, not leaving you in the dark spiritually, but turning on the light so you can see what he has done for you. Bringing you to the point where you can make a decision about what you will do with him.

God has not left us in the dark. He's done everything that he can to shine the light of forgiveness and salvation and hope into our lives. God has not condemned us. He's refused to write us off despite our failures. His heart is filled with tender mercy toward you, and that word it talks about a gut level compassion. God has not forgotten us, even when he seems to be silent, he's still there. And he's still at work in our lives whether we realize it or not.

Guys, all of this Is what God has done for you and me. But now here comes the question. What are you doing with it? How will you respond to a God like this?

One day A paratrooper was asked how many jumps he had to his credit, and proudly he boasted 25. But then his conscience got the better of him. And sheepishly confessed, well,

To be totally honest, I only jumped once. The other 24 times I had to be pushed out of the plane.

Guys, it's not my intention this morning to push anyone into doing anything. And yet I do believe that there's a response that we need to make as a result of Zachariah's words here in Luke.

Maybe for some of you, that response is saying thank you to God from the bottom of your heart. I mean you've been living with the knowledge of God's love for a long time, for many years you have basked in the glow of his tender mercy. Guilt is no longer a constant companion. God has given you a deep seated peace. All the wonderful things that Zach talks about here have been part of your life. You understand it. But maybe over the years you've begun to take it for granted. I mean, these truths are so much a part of you, they no longer stir your soul to awe and thanksgiving.

And maybe this morning it's time to pause. To think again of where you would be if it wasn't for what God has done. And to truly give thanks. Wouldn't that be a great way to respond? To spend some time this afternoon by yourself just thinking about what God has done in your life and the many blessings he's given you and responding. Is gratitude With worship

And then possibly you are thankful you do celebrate what God's done. But maybe Maybe you're kind of keeping it all to yourself. Guys, this news is too good for us not to share. There are people around each one of us who need to hear about a God like this. They need to see the difference God can make in their life by seeing the difference he's made in your life. They need to understand how they can have a relationship with God as well. Are you pointing people to Jesus? Are the people in your world understanding better about how great and loving God is because of you?

You know, that little baby in Zachariah's arms, John the Baptist, he was given his job description for life even before he was born. Prepare people for Jesus' ministry in their lives. It's 2000 years later and your name may not be John. But can I tell you something? God has the same job for you. To point people towards Jesus. Through your words. Through your prayers, through your daily example of godliness, to help your friends, your neighbors, your own kids. To encounter a God who can change your lives. Are you doing it? Or might that be the best response to what we've heard this morning?

And then for others, possibly what you've heard this morning has spoken to a specific need in your life. You don't have this loving, growing, living personal relationship with God. And maybe at one time it was there, but it's cooled off or maybe you've never stepped across that line of faith and put your trust in Jesus as your Lord and Savior. Either way, is it time for a change? Is there a light going on in your heart as you begin to realize how much God loves you? Are you begin to understand that he is ready to forgive and restore you? Are you ready to invite him into your life?

You know, as we wrap up, I honestly don't know what you, how you need to respond to Zachariah's words here from 2000 years ago. What you need to do with a God who doesn't forget us, doesn't condemn us, doesn't leave us in the dark. I don't know But friends, I know that God does. And I know that that's why he brought you here this morning. So I'm gonna encourage each one of us, let's ask him what comes next. And then in his strength, let's do what he shows us.

Let's pray. Father, here we are this morning. Looking back at a story from 2000 years ago. And hearing about you coming to this earth. As the baby in a manger. And showing through that and everything that happened since your love for us, your. Desire to have a relationship with us. Your desire for us to share that with others. Father, how do we respond? We're here because you brought us here. Show us what we need to do next. Put on our hearts, maybe somebody that we need to speak to about Jesus. Maybe fill our hearts, give us that time that this afternoon, may we carve out that time to spend with you as we just revel in the awareness of all that you've done in our lives. Maybe, Lord, give us the courage. To take that step across that line of faith, to put our trust in you this morning as our Lord and Savior from this day forward. To live for you. Lord, show us how to respond. Give us the courage and wisdom to do it. Thank you, Lord, for all that you've done in Jesus' name, Amen.