MCC Podcasts
Christmas Is Worship - Getting Quiet
I love Christmas. I love the Advent season and I love the Christmas story, I love everything about it. I love the lights and I love the kids and the jammies and I love the colors and I love the tree and I love the season, I love the smells, I love the food, I love the sense of peace, I love all of that about Christmas. I'm not a Christmas basher, I love Christmas. And this is why, because I think all that that we feel, all that wonder, even down to the great commercials, finally commercials are pretty decent at Christmastime. Because all of that is so close to the Kingdom of God because Christmas is worship. That sense that there's something richer and deeper and real and truer about life that something significant is happening, isn't it interesting in our culture today that we spend a month, a year with worship songs in the background at Target, isn't that kind of crazy? Because everybody knows there's something significant here. The wonder in a child, the presence, all of it is so close to the Kingdom of God. It's so sweet. I was talking to Lisa Bennett back in the season of Sound Booth this morning and she was saying that she said she walked into the mall or somewhere and she was overwhelmed because she heard like, "Hark the herald angels sing" and the words of the message of her salvation and her God who loves her and the good news of Jesus just came over her. She goes, "I was overwhelmed because I was fighting back tears. A month, a year, we get to have those messages out there." You guys, you know what Christmas is about worship. And that's going to be our three weeks here leading up to Christmas Eve is thinking this little sub-theme about Christmas being worship, we're so close to the Kingdom of God. When you start reading then and you get out of the presence in the Santa and all that kind of stuff and you get in and you start reading the gospel story, you see that they'll all of the people were people of worship. And so this becomes this journey of telling us about what it's like to be people of worship. The Christmas story, the events, the characters, the themes, all that kind of stuff, those, they teach us about being a worshiping people. And this morning we picked sort of as a prelude to the story, the birth of John the Baptist and his parent or the birth, the telling of the birth of John the Baptist and his parents Zechariah and Elizabeth and they are worshiping people in this story, the beginning of Luke chapter 1. And so my title this morning is We Worship. This is about following Zechariah's story here. We worship by getting with God and getting quiet. We worship getting with God and getting quiet and that's what happens in this. And I'm going to retell the story just a little bit to bring us back to it. It's so long. I hope you have your Bible in front of you. Luke chapter 1 starting in verse 5, but Zechariah and Elizabeth were the parents of John the Baptist. He was a priest. He was part of a rotation. There were 24 divisions of the priesthood. And so if there were 24 divisions that actually served at the temple twice a year for a week at a time. So every six months he'd get a call up and he'd go out to the temple and he would with his giant division of priests they would prepare for the sacrifices and they would do the sacrifices out on the altar and they would pray and they would do all these things that they would do as priests and they would serve these two weeks a year. And he was one of those priests and he's there and he gets chosen by lot to go into the temple and to burn incense on the behalf of the people during that daily sacrifice which is happening outside on the altar and in the sacrifice area. And when he's in the holy place burning incense for the people of God it was a huge honor. And I'll talk about more about that probably in a few moments if I remember but it's sort of a cool picture that he gets picked to go meet with God. In fact he could only do it once a lifetime. There were so many priests that when the lot was cast and your name came up you got to go be with God and offer incense which was a symbol of the prayers of God's people. He got to go be the priest for the people of God. So he goes in there and when he's in there an angel comes to him and it's Gabriel. Not an angel, he got an angel with an name. Gabriel only shows up twice in the scriptures once he talked to Daniel kind of about the unfolding of the end of things and the coming of the kingdom of God and Gabriel shows up here. He sees Gabriel he's startled of course and gripped with fear as we all would be when we run into the angels and the angel says to him your prayer has been heard. Love that phrase in that scriptures. He's standing there off to his right or I think he even says which side of the altar he's on in the scriptures. This is very detailed. An angel shows up, Zechariah is gripped with fear, the angel says don't be afraid. Your prayer has been heard and the word prayer there is a very specific word for prayer. It's not like your prayers have been heard. It's not like God sort of pays attention to all the prayers. It's, hey, Zechariah, God heard you, that sort of a sense. He got picked to go be with God and then God's messenger says you got picked. I heard your prayer, it's a very specific prayer. What was the prayer? The text tells us that Zechariah's wife Elizabeth was not able to have a child and so they of course were heartbroken in that time to be without children and that could have been his prayer, could have been his one longing especially as a priest to have an offspring, to have a male offspring. It certainly was a woman in that culture's greatest desire is to be a mother and to give birth and so that could be what the prayer was. Either way John the Baptist was the answer to that prayer because she was able to have a child and because John the Baptist, oh, not either way, I was going to say the other thing it could have been. That could have been the prayer for birth, the other prayer could have been as a priest to go in and offer sacrifices or to offer incense on behalf of the people. Their prayer was for the Messiah to come. That's what the priest did. He went and prayed for the mercy of God, the salvation of God. Either way John the Baptist was the answer. He was Elizabeth's child and he was the forerunner, the one who was going to come and make people ready for Jesus and the message of Jesus. So Zachariah is like, how can this be true? He asks. It's sort of like his response of, can that be right? Angel shows up, says, heard your prayer and your wife's going to have a baby. And he's like, can that be right? How can that be true? How can what? How can I know what you're saying is true? And if you look at your text, it's so great. But Angel says something like, I'm Gabriel and I'm standing in the presence of God. It's sort of like he's saying, well, how can this be true? What? How is this going to happen? Can this really be true? And it's like, Gabriel goes, hang on just a sec. He wants to know if it's true. And he comes back and he goes, I'm right here. It's sort of like when you're in college and you called home and you talk to your mom and your dad, but you talk to your mom and your dad was right there, I'm standing right here. And he says it's going to be true. It's going to happen. And of course, he went home and then he goes, and so because it was hard for you to get your mind around that, why don't you go spend some time in quietness? And we know this is the story of Zechariah that we all remember. He got struck mute for nine months. And you're going to have a child. Really? How can I know this is true? Well, first of all, I'm talking to God, so it's true. And second of all, for you to reflect on that, you're going to spend nine months not being able to speak. Why don't you spend some time just reflecting on all that's happened here? And then of course, they go home, his wife becomes pregnant, a whole bunch of story between all those lines. Nine months later, he's been quiet. She gives birth. And when they sat around and talked about what his name was going to be, Elizabeth of course said, no, I think I've worked it out with my husband, his name's going to be John and they said, you're the woman, we need to see what the dad wants. And they went and said, what do you want? We should call him Zechariah after you, right? And he goes, give me something to write down. He'd been reflecting and in the presence of God and thinking about all that happened and he took on his little slate or however they did that little Middle East, ancient Middle East chalkboard and he wrote down his name will be John. He was on God's page. Nine months of reflecting gets you there. His name's going to be called John and they went, okay, his name's going to be John. And John the Baptist was born who in the spirit of Elijah became the front runner, the forerunner to prepare people for the messiahs here people, the good news has finally come. That's the story. Couple implications for us in just a few minutes before we come to the table and move on into worship. Couple implications this morning. Worship is about getting with God so that he can speak to us. Worship is about getting with God, getting in God's presence so he can speak to us. Zechariah like so many other people in the Christmas story became a worshipper. This thing started in worship, he was in the temple, it ended in worship because after his, he wrote down his name is going to be John. It said his mouth was freed, his tongue was loosed. And what did he do when his tongue was loosed? Okay, you don't have your Bibles open. I told you to open your Bibles. He worshiped. That's right. Then he just was going crazy in worship because he saw and reflected on all that God did. And when he was on God's page after nine months of quietness, he then his tongue was loosed and he began to worship. Worship is about us getting with God because so he can speak to us. And here's the reminder friends, we want to get with God because he wants to speak with us. He wants to speak with us. This is something we can take home for Christmas man, that's what these guys teach us about this Christmas story. This is what reminds us about being a worshipper, is worship is about getting near God so he can speak because he wants to speak. You guys, the Christmas story, when you go through it, you start realizing God keeps showing up for people. He keeps showing up revealing himself. He keeps wanting his plan and his good news to be told, he keeps wanting to reveal himself to people. He does it through angels. He wants to keep telling people all through this Christmas story that I'm here and I want you to know me and I'm going to reveal myself. And our worship is about getting with God so that we can hear him. Getting with God so that he can speak. Zachariah, Zachariah got with God, he went in the temple and God showed up and revealed himself to Zachariah in a big way. It's interesting too, Zachariah's name means God remembers, which is interesting because God was revealing himself to Zachariah and why that's so interesting is that this comes at the end of the 400-year period of silence where the prophets had stopped prophesying, where God had stopped speaking to the nation of Israel and everybody wondered what God was up to and where he was in their lives and where he was going to show up and fulfill his promises. It was quiet and the first guy to get a word from God, his name was God remembers. He hasn't forgotten you and he's going to show up and start revealing himself and of course he's going to ultimately reveal himself in the Christ child. This story is full of God wanting to reveal himself. That's what the Christ is about. That's what the baby is God in flesh incarnate, come to earth. God's revealing himself. But he reveals himself to Zachariah and then he revealed himself to his wife Elizabeth because he came and said, "We need to go to bed because we're going to have a baby." You know? And she's like, "Alright." And then she did. And the next couple of verses, Mary's story, Gabriel shows up again, talks to Mary about what's going to happen with her, speaks to her, Joseph then, of course, God sort of revealed some stuff to Joseph about what he had to do there. You go through the shepherds, they get revealed, the angels proclaim to them stuff and you keep going and the magi, they saw in the stars and their tradition or whatever, they knew that they needed to go. I mean, everybody, God is a God who keeps showing up and wanting to speak. And as worshipers, we got to be in the place, we got to put ourselves in the place where we can hear God talk to us, where we're going to be in a place where God can reveal his heart and his plan and his truth. And Zachariah was in that place and God spoke through his messenger, a little side point about this idea to get in where God can speak to us because he wants to. Every time God showed up, everybody freaked out. Every time an angel showed up and the glimpse of the glory of God through the magnificence of the angels, every time that happened, people freaked out. They were startled with fear, they were gripped with fear, they were terrified. These kinds of words describe it. All the way through the scriptures, not just the Christmas story, whenever God showed up, people freaked out. And then the messenger always said, "Don't be afraid." Have you noticed this? It's the same pattern. Okay? The angel shows up, the person's like, "Baa!" and the angel goes, "Don't be afraid." See, if you don't notice that throughout the scriptures and we reflect on that a little bit, why is that, friends, because this God wants to speak, does this God wants to reveal himself to us? Here's why. Because of course you should be afraid when God shows up, when you glimpse the glory of God, even in a glorious glimpse somebody, an angel who's reflecting the glory of God, of course you should be terrified. They were Jewish people who grew up knowing that if they were to encounter face to face the glory of God, what would happen? They would die. They couldn't even handle it. It would be too big for them. And so when they started to see a glimpse of the glory, they thought, "Oh gosh, there's no way that in my brokenness and in my pitifulness that I can ever stand to be in the presence of an amazing and magnificent and holy and beautiful God. I'm going to die." And so they were terrified whenever God showed up, and rightly so. But here's the good news. Then the angel said, then the messenger says, "Don't be afraid." You see the good news in that? Don't be afraid. God is not going to kill you. He wants to be with you. Come on now, church. Somebody give me some love there. This story of Christmas, God's showing up because Emmanuel, God wants to be with us. God wants to be present and wants to reveal Himself and wants to speak to us. And we've got to put ourselves in that place where we can hear and see and have that God reveal Himself to us. That's what worshipers do. We say, "Here's a God who wants to speak." God, let me put myself near you so you can speak to me. You with me on that? We can come near. We can, listen to this, enter the holy place, not once in our lifetime. Not once a season during Christmas, the message is we get to go into the holy place. And for the whole world and for God's people and for myself and with my heart, we burn incense where the Lord goes, "I smell your prayers. I hear your prayer." Let me reveal myself to you. Is that not good news? Yes. It's like He won the, Zachariah won the lottery once in a lifetime, 24 divisions, huge divisions full of priests, cast lots, once in a lifetime a guy gets to go in. Can you imagine the day they cast lots, they're like, "Zachariah, you get to go be in the presence of God." They're like, "That's like all the videos we see of the power ball and the guys that, you know, security cameras and the 7/11, the guys were like, "That's us as worshipers every day." That's why it's called the Good News Church. Come on now. It's about getting with God so that He can speak to us. How do we do that? How do you do worship friends? How do you do church? How do you, it's every day, it's every Sunday. You come, you get into God's Word where His Word reveals His heart and His truth. You come, get in God's presence in prayer and clean and listening prayer where you sit and you wait for God to put impressions on your heart and to interact with your thoughts and to confirm that with the weight of His Holy Spirit, you learn to hear all that stuff. These are more sermons. This is a whole year of learning to walk and listen with God. You get with other people who when they speak, you know that they've leaned into God and you go, "That sounds like God to me." And then you let that impression sit and you interact with them in deep and rich ways and small groups and spiritual friendships where you hear God speak to you. Friends, this isn't just about showing up to church during the Christmas season. It isn't about just coming on a Sunday morning, but it is about Sunday mornings. It's about being a worshipper on Sundays and in every day where in His Word and in prayer and with His Holy Spirit between us in relationships, we learn to actually hear God because He wants to talk to us. Does that sort of description sound like your life? Our lives because of the good news are about being in God's presence and Him speaking and being our Lord. So when do we get in that place so God can speak to us? Maybe just this Christmas season, there's sort of this metric for you where you go, "Okay, this Christmas I'm going to get in God's presence and let Him speak. I'm going to be in His Word." It's about getting with God so He can speak and then the second reflection here before I quit is apparently getting quiet helps us. Getting in His presence so God can speak and then us getting quiet so we can hear Him. Do you hear that? Being in His presence so He can speak and then us being quiet so that we can hear Him. So that we can hear what God's trying to say. Zachariah heard from God through the angel, but then it's hard to hear what God's trying to say. Zachariah Himself and it's very normal apparently for you to go, "Did I hear you right?" Hello. Does anybody have that experience with God? Wait, is that you? That's the hard part, right? Wait, is that what you're saying to me? Did I hear God? Did I hear God right? Do I even believe if I think I heard God right that He can do what it is that He's telling me that we should do or that I should do or that He's going to do like, "Did I hear that right?" And it's so great because it's sort of like the authority of God as the angel in that place is like I'm standing right here with Him and He's like, "Yes." But there's that encounter and then that fear and then the don't be afraid and then the questioning and then God coming and going, "Yeah, man." Now, listen, I want you to see this story maybe a little bit differently. The angel's like, "Yeah, no, I get it. You get quiet. You try to hear God and then you're like, "Is that really God?" And it's like God and the angel conspired and said, "Spend some more time quietly and reflect on this. I want you to see this text. I don't think this is a rebuke. I don't think it's like because you didn't believe this punishment. I think God said, "No, I totally get that crazy stuff. Why don't you spend some time quietly reflecting on me, reflecting on this, watching for me, listening, wondering what it's about that I'm doing. Watch your wife's abdomen grow." And by the end of that quiet time, I bet you and I are going to be on the same page. I think that's what's happened here. We get with God because He wants us so he can speak, but we get quiet so that we can hear Him. If you have that experience, life seems to be out of control. You don't know which way to go. You feel burdened by all of the loose ends of what's going on. And finally, you think to yourself, "Have I prayed about this? And I'm going to get along with God. And for a few days in a row, you just wait on God, often we're at our wits end." And so we say, "God, come. I don't know what to do," and slowly but surely you start to feel the sense that God's got it and that He's opening up a direction and that He's with you and that He's strong and that He's for you and that He's not condemning you. Hello, have you had this experience? And you come out of a couple of days after deciding just to meet with God on it and you go, "Oh my gosh, God's spoken and I've heard it and everything is different." That's how it works, friends, and maybe this Christmas, not only do you find a way to get along with God, but you find a way to get quiet. I don't want God to have to make me quiet, but I think God wants us to be quiet. And there's this practical kind of thing of going, "All right, how in Christmas? When do I get quiet? When do I stop? Not just Christmas anytime. When do we get quiet?" Like no one is famous for saying, "Mission is catalyzed by hearing the voice of God." So when do we listen? And lives for God are catalyzed by hearing God's direction. So when do we listen? Can we come to God? We're talking. We're spinning. We're controlling. Our voices are a symbol here and I think in all of our lives for self-determination, for self-effort, for self-definition. This is what could happen. This is what will happen. I'm going to be prepared. I'm going to be... Got contingency plans. I got this. Maybe I'll do that. I'm going to try this. I'm going to try that. Shh, let me just see what God's got. Where are you in this Jesus? Maybe Christmas for you as crazy as it sounds. 12 days of Christmas, the three weeks left of Advent where you have a discipline in your life of stopping and being quiet, getting with God so he can speak and getting quiet so you can hear him and see how that opens up an authenticity to God actually working in our lives and actually speaking to us. Christmas is worship and we worship by getting with God and we worship by getting quiet. May that characterize your Advent season, your crazy Christmas stuff, your Christmas eve and your Christmas morning and your vacation days. Being with the God who speaks and wants to and wants you to hear. Let's be God's people.