It is amazing how things we go through can prepare us for things we have to deal with later. Some of these things are simple, some are much bigger and grander. We go to school and learn to read, write and do math and therefore we find ourselves able to participate in things in the world that we just wouldn’t be able to do otherwise. Learning to read was difficult for me when I started out. I was low in my class for many years and struggled with it greatly. But my teachers and my parents worked with me and eventually I got it, and found that I loved it. And struggling through trying to learn how to read allowed me to do things that are important for me. I was able to follow God’s call on my life and go to seminary, something that I would not have been able to do if I hadn’t struggled with reading as a young child. This is a simple example but there are much more difficult ones. What if we lose something or someone close to us? How does this prepare us for life later? Does this help us to be there for others when they struggle with loss? Or what if we face a trial that we barely can make it through? Does this teach us how to rely on God and trust in him instead of ourselves?
The secret to looking at this and understanding it is not to ask whether what you are going through was done to you on purpose by a malicious God, but rather what is it that I can do with what I have been given. How can I learn from what I have gone through? How can I allow this to be something that strengthens me and opens me up to those around me who need my help? Does my difficulty allow me to be able to be there for someone who is going through something similar? Does my pain help me to understand the pain of those around me? Am I going to let the difficulties of this world close me up and pull into myself or am I going to learn from them, use them, and see where God is working in each of them? Am I going to believe that God has a purpose in the midst of all I am going through? And am I going to do my best to make sure that that purpose is not wasted?
I. Believing and Serving
This advent season we are talking about what it means to believe. We have focused on belief in God and his promises. We have reminded ourselves that belief is more than just accepting a group of facts about him as being true. Belief is trusting God. It is changing the way you live because you trust God. It is accepting his word and his promises at face value. Belief is living the life of trust and the life of hope. Belief is remembering the joy that comes when we rely on God and not on ourselves.
But there is something else that happens when we truly believe God; when we believe that there is a God who works in this world; when we believe that there is a God who touches this world. If we believe that God works in this world, we believe that he works in us; and we begin to believe new things about ourselves. We believe that we can follow. We believe that we can grow. We believe that God has a purpose for our lives, a reason for our being. Not only are we supposed to believe something unusual about God. We are called and gifted to believe something unusual about ourselves. We have a purpose. We have a mission. There is a reason for who we are and what we do. God is very clear with some of us about what this purpose, what this mission is. And for some of us it is a little more difficult to see where God is guiding.
Zechariah is probably someone who spent most of his life with it being more hazy, more difficult to see where God was guiding him. But then he had an experience where God’s leadership and God’s purpose for him and his wife became very clear. And when this happened, Zechariah didn’t know exactly what to do.
Zechariah was a priest. It wasn’t a job he chose, but one that was chosen for him. At the time, the priests were born into their positions, and this is true for him. We know he took his work, his mission seriously. We are told in verse six that Zechariah and his wife lived holy and upright lives. They observed the commandments and regulations blamelessly. They were good people who wanted a child, but couldn’t have one. And so Zechariah served. He believed. He followed. But his service was one filled with fear and it was one filled with disappointment. He followed, he believed, but his life wasn’t fulfilled. And without him believing and without him serving, none of what followed would have happened.
It’s easy to believe when an angel appears before you. It’s much harder to believe when you don’t see the obvious signs. And, truthfully, most of us spend most of our lives believing and serving without ever seeing anything hugely clear. Oh, we get that glimpse of truth, we get that flash that tell us that we’re on the right track. But these fade, and we may even begin to wonder if we made them up in our head.
When I was in high school we had a prayer group and powerful stuff was happening during that prayer time. And I was in touch with the spiritual in a way that I haven’t been since. It was a very emotional and powerful experience for me. I could feel the spiritual world in my soul. I didn’t have to believe because the spiritual world was so clear to me. It was fact. I was turning into a Pentecostal. But then these things went away and I haven’t had an experience of the supernatural in the same way since. And since that time I have even questioned at times whether that was real or if it was my mind and heart playing tricks on me. Oh, I know it was real. I believe it was real. But it is something else to follow Christ when you don’t feel close to him. This is what Zechariah’s life was. This is what most of our lives are. This is difficult, but it is life and it is what it means to follow Christ. And the way we are able to do it is to believe that God has a purpose for us, a reason for who we are and where we are.
II. Believing and Hearing
Zechariah held on to his faith. He followed and he trusted and he believed and he served. And then the miraculous happened. He was visited by the angel Gabriel and a son was promised to him. The angel promised that Zechariah’s prayers would be heard. Gabriel gave Zechariah the good news that all his service and all his belief had a purpose. And Gabriel gave Zechariah some instructions, fairly basic ones: he is to name his son John; his son is to not take wine or fermented drink. The avoidance of alcohol was to set John apart as a prophet and so was his name.
Now, here’s the crazy part of the story. Zechariah, who remained faithful throughout his life, who believed without seeing, who served God faithfully at home and in his work, had an experience that is so great and so holy and at this point he begins to doubt. In verse 18 we see Zechariah question Gabriel. We see him wonder at the possibility of what is being promised. What does this tell us? It tells us that Zechariah is quite a bit like us. You see, we feel that it is fairly easy to believe in God. We are even willing to believe that God worked in the world 2000 years ago. We’re even willing to accept the virgin birth and the resurrection from the dead. But we don’t expect God to do something through us. We don’t expect him to work miraculously in our lives. That era is over, we think. The people back then needed the miraculous, we don’t. We’ve advanced and can take care of ourselves. It’s easy to talk about him doing it then, but now?
Zechariah could believe in God, but he couldn’t believe that God had a purpose for him, even when an angel appeared to share that purpose with him. And so, Zechariah is struck mute by that angel, because he did not believe. Now, we tend to look at things like this and think of them as punishments. Zechariah is being punished for his disbelief. And it’s kind of an arbitrary punishment. But God’s punishments are never just punishment, they also have an aspect of teaching in them. God never punishes just to punish, he punishes to teach, to help people know him and themselves better. And so, I truly believe that Zechariah going mute was something that was for his own good. And I believe, for Zechariah, it was to teach him to listen.
III. Believing and Obeying
And so, Zechariah spent nine months listening. He spent nine months not able to speak. And then his baby was born. And at this point Zechariah was given a choice. Was he going to follow the angel’s instructions? Was he going to accept the purpose that God had given him, the purpose that God had given his son? Of course, Zechariah was a man of faith and of belief. And so, though the friends unknowingly tried to lead him astray, he followed the instructions that he had been given and he named his son John.
It was in obedience that Zechariah proved his faith. It was in following his purpose that Zechariah found his meaning. Zechariah had an important job. He worked in the temple, he served before God. This was a holy endeavor that he was to perform. It made him special. Not many priests had the opportunity to do what he did. He was a man of ministry, serving before God. You would think that this, his job, was his purpose… but God had a greater purpose for him; God had a greater opportunity for him. God’s purpose for Zechariah was something that he had been prepared for. And it was a great purpose: to have a son; to raise that son to be faithful to God; to prepare that son for a difficult life of ministry. This was not a purpose that Zechariah expected, especially as late in life as he was. It was a purpose that God had prepared him for.
God has a purpose for each of us as well. For some of us, he may have revealed it already. For others, it might still be coming. God may be preparing you for a new purpose, one which might grow out of your old one. Things in your life may not make sense, they may not be understandable, but God has a purpose for them and God has a purpose for you.
Now this is not to say that there is one thing that God has set up for you to do. Our purposes change and they are changed. When I was in high school, I felt invulnerable. I knew that nothing could happen to me because God had a purpose for me. I knew that I hadn’t made a difference in enough lives for my mission to be done. Then I spent a summer working for Child Evangelism Fellowship. I taught children about God’s love for them and was used by the Holy Spirit to bring a number of kids to Christ. Now, did this mean that my purpose had been met? That everything I was meant to do had been done? Of course not. It was my purpose at the time, but God had other things set up for me later. So, whatever season of your life you are in, look at how God can use you. Don’t think that he is just going to do the same thing with you that he has been doing. Be ready to hear the angel that just may tell you that God has a new and wonderful purpose for you. Be ready to discover that all you have gone through has just been preparing you for a new step, a wonderful step. A step that you can follow if you live the life of belief.
So, yes, believe in God. Believe the Bible. Believe that God did miracles 2000 years ago. But believe that God is also working today, in this world. And believe that God is working in you. Live the life of trust. Live the life of obedience. Live the life of service. And when God makes known to you your purpose, hear him, trust him and follow where he leads. Amen.
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