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This is the audio from the December 3, 2023 sermon, “Good News of Christmas: TIME”, shared by Tom Lemler at the Deer Run Church of Christ.

Text: Luke 1:1-25

Today I continued a series from the gospel of Luke as we gaze deeply into God’s Word to find the good news of Jesus shared with us by Luke the physician.  Throughout the month of December we will continue our Good News series with a look at The Good News of Christmas as found in the first tow chapters of Luke.  Luke makes it clear that his goal in writing is to set forth an orderly account of the story of Jesus.  In the fullness of time God sent His Son to be the fulfillment of His law and prophecies.  While many had grown tired, and some had even quit looking, Luke records for us the good news that the time had come and that announcement first makes its way to a couple who needed to hear the good news of time!  As we consider the Christmas story, we find the good news of  . . .

• Trust: — (Luke 1:1-7)

  • When things don’t happen according to our timetable, our doubt can grow to the point where we eventually lose hope in the desired outcome ever taking place.  In our text, Zechariah and Elizabeth lived at a time when people had become skeptical concerning the promised Messiah and they had also lived to an old age without having any children.  While there were likely many claiming God had forgotten them, they remained steadfast in their trust of Him no matter what.  Our trust in God isn’t about experiencing everything we want when we want it, rather it is believing that God knows best and we learn to trust in His plan and timing.  The good news of trust says that I will believe God even when I don’t understand.

• Incense: — (Luke 1:8-12; Revelation 5:8, 8:3-4))

  • It was a privilege and special responsibility to be chosen as a priest of God to burn incense before the Lord in His temple.  It was in this fullness of time that Zechariah was chosen by God through the casting of lots so the he would carry out the task of going before the altar of the Lord to burn incense.  When you consider the altar of the Lord was a place of sacrifice where the blood of bulls and goats was brought in to temporarily pay the penalty for the people’s sin, the burning of incense by God’s direction was meant to make the offering a sweet aroma before the Lord.  In the book of Revelation we find that the incense being offered to God is the prayers of God’s people.  Even in our text, as Zechariah is burning the incense before the Lord, it is taking place in tandem with the prayers of the people who were outside worshiping God.  The good news of incense says that my prayers carry a sweet aroma before God which is pleasing to Him.

• Meaning: — (Luke 1:13-17)

  • As Zechariah is fulfilling His responsibility before the Lord, an angel comes and stands before him to announce that his prayers had been heard.  I suspect that if an angel would appear to any one of us announcing that our prayers had been heard, we would want some clarity as to what exactly was meant.  For Zechariah, the first level of meaning to having his prayers heard was that he and Elizabeth would have a son even in their old age.  But I suspect that Zechariah, as one who was considered by God to be upright and blameless, had been praying for much more than a son.  In fact, the angel goes on to say that the meaning of this birth announcement was that this child would be the one to prepare the way for the Lord.  The good news for us is that each of us have meaning and value because we were knit together in our mother’s womb and called into being by God.  The good news of meaning says that God knows what He is doing and He knows when He is doing it so that His work in us and through us always has purpose.

• Encouragement: — (Luke 1:18-25)

  • Because God operates on a timetable that we generally don’t understand, we must rely on Him for the encouragement necessary to continually live with the faith He desires to find in us.  Zechariah had doubts and was made to be unable to speak as a sign to him that God was indeed in the midst of this.  While the silence may not sound very encouraging to us, when Elizabeth became pregnant the silence of Zechariah was a continual reminder that God was in the midst of this.  When we live with a focus on what God is doing, it is our sharing of that with others that encourages both us and them.  Especially when the working of God comes at a time we least expect, we discover His faithfulness in helping our trust and obedience be an encouragement to others.  The good news of encouragement is that God desires to use each one of us in ways that not only build us up individually, but also in ways that builds up and encourages the body of Christ.

Today, what will you do with the good news of TIME?