Pastor Slaughter
Christmas 2
January 5, 2025
Text: Luke 1:68-79
The Wait Is Over!
Parents with children, Grandparents with grandchildren, children do you remember how excited you were to open presents on Christmas? There is just this something about watching children on Christmas. There is just so much build up to celebrating Christmas. Children hear how their parents have to go Christmas shopping. People ask children, “What do you want for Christmas?” You gradually see the presents pile up under the tree (or the anticipation of what will be under the tree on Christmas). The anticipation… the excitement builds. Then the wait is finally over. There is just this joy that just exudes from the children, opening their gifts, the parents and grandparents who gave them those gifts. What they have been waiting for is finally here.
Zechariah knew a thing or two about waiting. He was priest and a member of the nation of Israel which had been waiting for centuries for God to keep the covenant, the promise, he had made with Abraham, the father of their nation. He and his wife had waited years for God to bless them with children. But now, because of his lack of faith in the angel’s announcement that he and Elizabeth would have a son, Zechariah had to wait again. The angel had said, “Now listen, you will be silent and unable to speak until the day when these things happen, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled at the proper time” (Luke 1:20).
When the wait was over, that is when his son, John was born, is where our lesson takes place. I almost imagine this scene of Zechariah speaking again, with that same kind of joy and excitement that Children have on Christmas. However, I think the joy he felt was more than just being able to speak again. It was more then just the fact that he was going to have a son. What were the first words out of his mouth? It wasn’t thanking God for his son that comes at the end. It was “Blessed is the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has visited us and prepared redemption for his people.” Zechariah is praising God for what his son signified, that God has kept his promise…the wait is over!
One of the hardest things for us to do as human beings is wait, isn’t it? We go to a restaurant and have to wait a long time for our food, we lose patience. After going through the automated responses and clicking 1 more times then we can count to talk a person, we get angry that we have to wait. We want patience but we want it now type of thing. It’s so easy for us to begin to doubt God, to question God has the ability to act, to even become frustrated at God when we don’t see God fulfilling his promise in the way that we want him too or the time frame we want.
When we wrestle with our doubts regarding God’s promises, we need to go back and remember the promises that God made in the past, and look at those promises that were fulfilled, to encourage us, to motivate us to live for him. Because when we have seen what God has done for us in the past, keeping his promise, it strengthens our faith. Not only because the Holy Spirit works through his word, but we see that God does not make empty promises unlike how your friend who promises to help you tomorrow but never shows up.
God showed up. Zechariah recalls the promise God made in his song, v.72-73, “in order to show mercy to our fathers by remember his holy covenant, the oath which he swore to Abraham our father…” roughly 2000 years had past from the time God made the promise to Abraham that all nations of the earth would be blessed through him, to the time God fulfilled this promise.
God never forgot. Zechariah praises God, “Blessed is the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has visited us and prepared redemption for his people. He has raised up a horn of salvation in the house of his servant David, just as he said long ago through the mouth of his holy prophets.” 2000 years from Abraham to Jesus. 1000 years from David to Jesus. God kept his promise that he spoke through his prophets.
The wait is over. He has come! God, Jesus has come! He came to redeem us! He came as our salvation! What has Jesus redeem us from? A life of captivity to our enemies. Sin… death… the devil. This horn of salvation, Jesus, has redeemed us. He has freed us from a life where we are forced to serve sin and death.
The promise God kept, what Jesus did for us. Jesus paid the price of his own life to free us from slavery to sin keeping his promise he made 2000 years earlier. How can we not like Zechariah shout for joy? How can we not burst forth in song of praise to God? He has freed us. No, longer are we bound by the chains of sin, we are forgiven! No longer are we chained to death but have eternal life!
Because of what Jesus has done, we are now free to live in service to God. This service isn’t forced, as had been the case with our service to sin and death. But it is offered without fear and in holiness and righteousness. Zechariah says verses 74-75, “to grant deliverance to us from the hand of our enemies so that we are able to serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.”
I don’t know about you, but when I look at my service to God, it’s never as good as I want it to be. When I examine my service, my motivation at times, I fall short. I see the sin in my life tainting the good things I do. No matter how hard a strive, what I do, how much I work, I feel like it’s never enough because when I look at God’s law I see how I failed the standard of perfection God requires. And it’s a scary thought.
However, Zechariah says, “we are able to serve him without fear.” Our service to God, isn’t done out fear. It’s not like it might be at our jobs where we have a boss that is constantly looking over our shoulders, seeing if we did a good enough job. Looking for something to blame us for.
We can serve God without fear. Why? Zechariah goes on “we are able to serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.” We serve in holiness and righteousness! How is that even possible? It is because God kept his promise. It is because Jesus lived perfectly for you. It is because Jesus died for you. It is because Jesus gives us his perfect life, holy and righteous.
It’s a lot like a very young child working on a present for their parents. They are so excited. They want to show how much they love their momma. So they take out their markers or paint brushes and get to work. They work hard on their project and hand it to their momma. Do you like it? “Yes” she exclaims. And gives her child a big hug. Now if any other person would look at that art work, do you think they would buy it for their gallery? I am guessing not. It probably looks like a bunch of scribbles. But from a mothers eyes, it is most priceless painting.
The same is true with our good works. They may look like a bunch of scribbles but God says well done my good and faithful servant. Why? Because he looks at us through the eyes of the cross and sees Jesus’ perfect life. We are able to serve him without fear.
Isn’t it amazing that we have a God who keeps his promises? Isn’t it amazing we have a God who loves us so much to give us holiness and righteousness? Isn’t it amazing that when God looks at us he is pleased with us because of Jesus? When we look at these things, doesn’t that make us want to serve him more? To be the best father that we can be? By looking for ways to build each other up? By serving the sad and lonely, the hurting the grieving? The list can go on and on.
My family in Christ. The wait is over. Just like how children open presents on Christmas and are enjoying them now, we enjoy the benefits of God keeping his promise. Jesus has come and kept his promise to forgive us…to make us holy and righteous. Now let us show our thanks by looking for ways to serve him. Amen