Pastor Joe Fuiten, March 23, 2003

 

Here is an irony in the current Gulf War that has no real meaning.  The American effort in Iraq is being led by General Franks.  That is the term the crusaders used to be known by.  They were called Franks.

 

Text:  Luke 1:26-38 Page 724 in the Pew Bible

26 In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin's name was Mary. 28 The angel went to her and said, "Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you." 29 Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. 30 But the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God.   You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus.   He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High.  The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end." 34 "How will this be," Mary asked the angel, "since I am a virgin?"  35 The angel answered, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be barren is in her sixth month.  For nothing is impossible with God." 38 "I am the Lord's servant," Mary answered. "May it be to me as you have said." Then the angel left her.

 

           

 

We can tell something of the importance that God attaches to this announcement based upon the angel who delivers the message.  This is none other than the Archangel Gabriel.  This same Archangel was sent by God to tell Daniel about the events of the end of time.  When Jesus returns, an archangel will announce his coming again.  That will probably be Gabriel.  The very presence of Gabriel signals this as an important event of the highest magnitude.

           

This was Jesus in the Womb,  “who being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.”  (Ephesians 2:6-7)

God did not just announce the birth of Jesus, he announced the conception.  Our theme sentence for this Sunday is this:  “Jesus was Jesus from the moment of conception, not just the moment of birth.”

 

            The Jonathan Wyman story as told by Mike Wyman.

First Key Idea:  Jesus is the prototype of humanity.  He was fully human, illustrating our own lives.  If Jesus was Jesus from the moment of conception, then you were you. 

I was Joe Fuiten from the moment of conception.  They hadn’t yet given me my name, but it was still me.  That somebody who was kicking was me.  From the moment of conception, it was me.  I had all my own DNA and it was different from my mother’s.  Although I was within her body, I had my own body with my own DNA, my own personality, my own purposes to fulfill, my own destiny.  You can see that I am different from my mother.  Alike in some ways, but clearly quite different. 

If someone had said back then that I was my mother’s body, I would have to beg to differ.  I’m a male.  She’s a female.  That is fairly different.  Just because I am riding in a car doesn’t make me a car.  Even if I sleep in the garage every night, I am still not a car.  Even if I don’t come out of the garage for nine months, I’m still not a car.

            When people say that a woman should be able to decide the fate of the person within her because its her body, they are confusing the car with the garage.  It is not her body!  It is somebody else.  Every one of us in this room are proof that it wasn’t her body.  Later on, many of us parents deny there was every any connection.  We say, “I don’t know where this kid came from.  Must have been somebody else’s body.”

 

Second Key Idea:  God’s answers often emerge slowly.  This is the story of Jesus.  For nine months in the womb, he wasn’t much.  Indeed, even after he emerged from the womb he was virtually useless.  What good was he?  Absolutely none!  He couldn’t help anybody.  He could not speak.  He was barely conscious a good part of the time.  He really had nothing to offer other than his potential. 

            Even though he had no immediate value, we know this was the king of glory and the only means by which I can be saved.  Yet that would not be apparent for a long time.  God is willing for answers to emerge slowly.  When that happens, it almost surely means there will be a period of frustration.  The old system was still in place.  There revelation of God had not been realized.

            We want to get it done now.  Let’s move.  Let’s make this thing happen.  That is often not God’s way.  The very best things take time AND there is enough time for the best things.  It is frustrating not to have enough money to do what needs to be done.  It is frustrating not to have the influence to change the way things are.  We often feel powerless and unable.

            If we will remind ourselves about Jesus it will help us.  If you will be faithful to God and take the steps today that are before you to take, God will see to the destination of the journey.  If we take care of today, God will take care of our tomorrows. This applies to so many different areas of life including raising kids, nourishing relationships, changing society and building a church.

            That feeling of not being powerful to make a difference right now is nearly universal.  Those who don’t feel this way scare me a little.  Because the feeling is so universal, God has made one of the important ideas of his kingdom to remember those who are weak.  He wants us to remember the poor, the alien among us, the widow, and the fatherless.  In each case, they are another category of those who lack strength.  We are to treat them this way, because this is how God treats us.  When we are weak and powerless, unable to save ourselves, he saves us.  Psalm 103:13-14 “As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him; for he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust.”  (NIV)

 

Third Key Idea:  Even though we are small, we are known to God.

Psalm 139   (Page 444)  1 O LORD, you have searched me and you know me. 2 You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. 3 You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. 4 Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O LORD. 5 You hem me in-- behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me. 6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain. 7 Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? 8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. 9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, 10 even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. 11 If I say, "Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me," 12 even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you. 13 For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. 14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. 15 My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, 16 your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. 17 How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! 18 Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand. When I awake, I am still with you. 19 If only you would slay the wicked, O God! Away from me, you bloodthirsty men! 20 They speak of you with evil intent; your adversaries misuse your name. 21 Do I not hate those who hate you, O LORD, and abhor those who rise up against you? 22 I have nothing but hatred for them; I count them my enemies. 23 Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. 24 See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. (NIV)

 

In this passage there is a progression of ideas relating to the knowledge of God directed toward us.  In verse 1, God knows me.  In Verse 5, God has laid his hand upon me.   In verse 10, the hand of God will guide me.  In verse 13 I know why God knows me.  It is because he knit me together in my mother’s womb.  In verse 17, the thoughts of God toward me are so vast.  In verse 19 I erupt with indignation against anyone who cannot appreciate such a God.  In verse 24, I ask God to again turn his thoughts to me to root out any offensive way and guide me in the way everlasting.