Pastor Edgar Mayer; Living Grace Community Lutheran Church; Message on Luke 1:5-25; Date: 30 December 2007

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Your Prayer Has Been Heard

There was a young priest – Zechariah – and there was his young wife – Elizabeth – and they both desperately wanted children. They loved children but Elizabeth could not conceive. She could not fall pregnant. At first – the first few years – they were not too worried. “Just give it time,” they said but then all of their friends had babies and they were still on their own. “God, where are you?” All along they had been praying to God about this but now they began praying harder for a son or a daughter and there were tears mixed in with their prayers. “God, Father of all mercies, please give us a child. Please, make Elizabeth fall pregnant. Please.”

Yet, the years passed by and no child came. Then Zechariah’s hair turned grey. Elizabeth went through menopause and they both accomodated themselves to a life without children. They became old. The Bible says – Luke 1:7: “ … they were both well along in years.”

Those two – Zechariah and Elizabeth – did not get what they wanted and therefore, their story goes against the grain of what I suspect is on our hearts today. Tomorrow is New Year’s Eve. There is a new year coming – 2008 – and we have hopes for the new year. Maybe we also want a child or maybe someone to marry or a happier family life or a new job or become free of some old baggage or whatever else it may be. As a church we may have the desire to see more of God – greater faith, people healed, a city and nation transformed, … Anything seems possible in a new year. Therefore, who today would want to be reminded of Zechariah and Elizabeth and the many years that they had dared to hope on New Year’s Eve – only to give up on their dreams in the end?

In the light of those two what’s in the future for us? When Zechariah was old this happened. I read from the Bible – Luke 1:8-13: “Once when Zechariah’s division was on duty and he was serving as priest before God, he was chosen by lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to go into the temple of the Lord and burn incense. And when the time for the burning of incense came, all the assembled worshipers were praying outside. Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right side of the altar of incense. When Zechariah saw him, he was startled and gripped with fear. But the angel said to him: ‘Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard … ‘ … “

The angel declared: “Zechariah, your prayer has been heard.” What prayer? At this stage of his life Zechariah no longer thought about children. He had done his grieving and moved on. You cannot approach an old man, saying: “Your prayer has been answered,” and then expect him to make a connection with an almost forgotten wish for children. What prayer was the angel talking about? What had been answered?

The angel continued: “Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to give him the name John. He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from birth. Many of the people … will he bring back to the Lord their God. And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous – to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”

What a day in the temple for an old man. After all these years of praying and praying and no answers – heaven had seemed shut to his requests – after finally giving up on the whole idea of getting children, – suddenly – there is this angel and he said: “Your prayer has been heard,” – “Your prayer has been heard,” – and then he spelled out in detail how the prayers of long ago would be answered in an overwhelming way: “Elizabeth will bear a son. Give him the name John. He will be a joy and delight to you. He will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from birth. Many people he will bring back to the Lord … making ready a people prepared for the Lord.”

Wow! How was Zechariah to take this? Would he dance – shout for joy – hug the angel – sms Elizabeth? No. His reaction was rather surprising and disappointing especially for a priest. He replied to the angel: “How can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is well along in years.” How can he be sure of this? How can he be sure of this? Well – if you were to see an angel from heaven and speak to the angel and he knows you – at least the prayers that you prayed long ago – wouldn’t you just submit to him and his words. There you are experiencing the miracle of a heavenly messenger. Why would you question what he says?

The angel was not pleased and said: “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to tell you this good news. [The angel was forced to explain himself to Zechariah but then said:] And now you will be silent and not able to speak until the day this happens, because you did not believe my words, which will come true at their proper time.”

Why did God delay the answer to the prayers of Zechariah and Elizabeth and why does God so often seem to delay the answer to our prayers? Maybe here we have the answer. We are not ready. Zehchariah’s words are our words: “God, thanks for the angel, but how can I be sure of this?” We pray and pray again – to God – but deep within us there remains the strong desire to be in control ourselves. God should help – give a helping hand – but not interfere too much with the solutions and plans that we have set up. “God, by all means help us with this expensive fertility treatment but – please understand – this is what we are going to do and now we are too busy to pray much more.” Or – applying this to our church: “God, by all means make us grow in faith and numbers – bless our programs and the next study and the budget – but – please understand again – this is what we need to do and now – in your service – we are too busy to pray much more.”

Often the words we say are a little more subtle. Nevertheless we seem to struggle with being totally dependent on God – totally humbled before him – letting go – and therefore we keep asking the same question as Zechariah: “How can I be sure of this? God, how can I get a handle on this? Fill me in more. I need to know.”

Fact is: We don’t. We don’t need to know everything. It’s enough to know God and it’s enough to trust him alone. Somehow – and we better understand this – God is strongly motivated to challenge our self-reliance – which is a form of self-worship – because worship and honour and praise belong to no other than God himself and he is jealous about that. The very first commandment says – Exodus 20:2-3: “I am the Lord your God … Worship no other gods before me [and that includes your self-worship].” Then there are Bible passages like 1 Peter 2:9, saying: “You are a chosen people … a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him [not your own praises but the praises of him] who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.”

The pregnancy of Elizabeth needed to come distressingly late so that everyone would understand and acknowledge that God was at work here and that the stage was set for God to receive what was due to him: the worship of his name. And by the way, that is not selfish of God. He is God and loving him back with praise and adoration is only good for us.

When the people of Israel escaped from slavery in Egypt, God led them into a hopeless situation. On the one side there was the pursuing Egyptian army and on the other side was the Red Sea. They were hemmed in but God explained to Moses – Exodus 14:4: “[Yes, that is true] … but I will gain glory for myself through Pharaoh and all his army, and the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord.” He said the same later on – Exodus 14:17: “ … I will gain glory through Pharaoh and all his army [by defeating them through the miracle of dividing the water of the sea for the Israelites and then drowning their persecutors in the same water].” The end result was this – Exodus 14:31: “And when the Israelites saw the great power of the Lord displayed against the Egyptians, the people feared the Lord and put their trust in him … “

That’s what needs to happen also for us. We need to see the great power of God so that we fear him and trust him and not ourselves – so that we worship him and do not become deceived in bowing down before false gods. Thus, when a son was born to Zechariah and Elizabeth in old age – past menopause – this happened so that the power of God was there to be recognized – so that everyone was released to put their trust in God – become free to praise him for his provisions.

There is another feature in the story that underlines what we have said so far. The angel said to Zechariah: “Elizabeth will bear a son, and you are to give him the name John.” Later – when the child was born, neighbours and relatives came and according to custom they wanted to name the child after his father Zechariah. Then his mother Elizabeth spoke up and said – Luke 1:60: “No, he is to be called John.” But they complained: “There is no one among your relatives who has that name.” Turning away from Elizabeth, they hoped that Zechariah would make more sense and therefore they asked him about the name of the child. But the Bible records – Luke 1:63-64: “Zechariah asked for a writing tablet, and to everyone’s astonishment he wrote, ‘His name is John.’ Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue was loosed, and he began to speak, praising God.”

God is naming the child. God is naming your circumstances – and God is naming my circumstances – and the name is new – not related to previous family history and experience – because God is capable and willing to do something new for you – and me – for our church and this city.

The good news is that when we only let God be God, then we may pray for a baby – a child for our own little family is all that we want – a little grace for our own little situation is all that we want (maybe a new job or a new friend) – to make our own little world complete – but then God decides to answer with abundance and God decides to grant our wish in such a way that everyone is blessed. “Elizabeth will bear a son. Give him the new name of John. He will be a joy and delight to you. He will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from birth. Many people he will bring back to the Lord … ”

What’s in the future for us? What will 2008 bring into our lives? Maybe it will be another year where we have to hang in there persevering and wondering why God seems to be so slow in answering our prayers. However, what happened to Zechariah can also happen to us. One day the words of the angel will also be spoken to us: “Your prayer has been heard.” “Your prayer has been heard.” “Your prayer has been heard.” And then – hallelujah – you and I – do what Zechariah should have done: dance – shout for joy – hug the angel – sms Elizabeth. God is answering you and at the same time he is doing something new – what only he can do – exceed your expectations. Therefore, keep praying and keep trusting God.

This is important. Keep praying and keep trusting God. For us there are practical ways of getting ready to receive God’s answer to our prayers. It is no accident that in the Bible story Zechariah and Elizabeth were introduced with these words – Luke 1:6: “Both of them were upright in the sight of God, observing all the Lord’s commandments and regulations blamelessly.” There is prayer power in holiness. There is power in being upright and obeying the commandments of God. The Bible says – James 5:16: “The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.” Then the Bible even speaks of “weapons of righteousness” – 2 Corinthians 6:4-7: “ … we commend ourselves in every way … in hard work, … in purity … in sincere love; in truthful speech and in the power of God; with weapons of righteousness in the right hand and in the left … “ Righteousness matters. One more Bible verse – 1 Samuel 26:23: “ … The Lord rewards every person for his righteousness and faithfulness … “

None of us can earn our way into heaven and by our own efforts none of us can attain the kind of righteousness that is completely undefiled by sin – we live by faith in Jesus Christ and his righteousness – his sacrifice on the cross for our sins – but – at the same time – what we do matters. We are to live what we have received – exercise the power of the Holy Spirit to obey God and be holy – righteous. Because this is getting us ready – this is positioning us – to receive God’s answer to our prayers.

One last observation. Another detail of the Bible story is significant. I read again one verse: “Once . Zechariah … was serving as priest before God … according to the custom of the priesthood … And when the time for the burning of incense came, all the assembled worshipers were praying outside. Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right side of the altar of incense … “

When Zechariah prayed, all of the assembled worshippers also prayed, then the angel of the Lord appeared. God responds to worship and he responds when people worship together. United worship – being in prayer together – moves God to answer our prayers. Again and again this is the case. For instance, at the dedication of the new temple in the time of Solomon, God responded to united worship with the coming of his glory. I read from the Bible – 2 Chronicles 5:13-14: “ … [they] joined in unison, as with one voice, to give praise and thanks to the Lord … they raised their voices in praise to the Lord … Then the temple of the Lord was filled with a cloud, and the priests could not perform their service because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled the temple of God.”

This is for us as a church. More and more we want to join in unison and, as with one voice, worship and go deeper into the things of God until we obtain what we ask for – all the promises of God. According to the Bible we together are God’s temple. Together we are the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, everyone here today in this worship building is important and how they worship together with the others is important. Sometimes we may not be so aware of this. We are not so aware that we depend on each other in coporate worship to release more of the Holy Spirit among us but the Bible leaves us in no doubt, saying – 2 Corinthians 3:16: “Don’t you know that you yourselves [together] are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you [together]?” Thus joined together properly in worship and prayer we become an ever more effective dwelling place of the Holy Spirit letting him have his way.

What will 2008 bring for us? When the time is right, anything can happen. In the meantime we want to get ready: let go of control and self-reliance and instead focus on God – learn about the prayer power that comes from obeying him in holiness and the prayer power that comes from worshipping him in unison, as with one voice. Then the time will come when God will speak to us: “Your prayer has been heard.” “Your prayer has been heard.” Amen.