Associate Pastor: Cole Parleir
Focus: When we see God’s humility in Jesus Christ as his majestic love for humanity, we will be healed.
Today we will see how The Majesty of Christ was revealed in humility to some but remained hidden to others. We will look at how and why God chose to reveal himself to the humble, weak and despised.
Hidden Majesty
Majestic Partnerships
Majesty Incarnate
Hidden Majesty
God’s majesty is hidden in humility.
“Majesty”
Greek
megalósuné. (divine) majesty, greatness.
From megas; greatness This is where we get the word MEGA.
Hebrew
gaah. To rise up. (Redemption), majesty, pomp, pride, proud, *swelling.
The advent is the seed of God’s majesty. This gospel in seed form will continue to swell and grow bringing eternal redemption to those who receive it by faith.
This is majestic love.
This is the only way that God’s beloved can know his majestic and redeeming love for them. For we can not ascend to him for he is holy. He must descend to us in order to raise us up with him.
Only God can give true love.
We humans need love, yet only God can give it purely because only he has no needs he is trying to fill. This allows him to truly suffer, which is to truly love.
He does for us what we cannot do for ourselves.
1 Corinthians 13:4-7 ESV
“Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”
Majestic Partnerships
The Majestic God partners with the humble to bring his majesty to the world. He heals those he partners with in the process.
Luke 1:5-25 ESV (Birth Of John The Baptist Foretold)
“In the days of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah, of the division of Abijah. And he had a wife from the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. And they were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord.
But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and both were advanced in years. Now while he was serving as priest before God when his division was on duty, according to the custom of the priesthood, he was chosen by lot to enter the temple of the Lord and burn incense. And the whole multitude of the people were praying outside at the hour of incense. And there appeared to him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense. And Zechariah was troubled when he saw him, and fear fell upon him.
But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John. And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, for he will be great before the Lord. And he must not drink wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb. And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, and he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared.”
And Zechariah said to the angel, “How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years.” And the angel answered him, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I was sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news. And behold, you will be silent and unable to speak until the day that these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time.”
And the people were waiting for Zechariah, and they were wondering at his delay in the temple. And when he came out, he was unable to speak to them, and they realized that he had seen a vision in the temple. And he kept making signs to them and remained mute. And when his time of service was ended, he went to his home. After these days his wife Elizabeth conceived, and for five months she kept herself hidden, saying, “Thus the Lord has done for me in the days when he looked on me, to take away my reproach among people.””
Observations of the above scripture:
Zechariah and Elizabeth were faithful to God’s word nationally and personally though God had not spoken in more than 400 years as evidenced by the date of the last Old Testament prophetic writing of Malachi.
They were both blameless in God’s sight and were qualified to receive all the promised blessings…including children.
Zechariah as a priest had prayed consistently for the fulfillment of God’s promise to send a Messiah to save their people from oppression. He as a husband had prayed for children as well, with a clear conscience as evidenced by his status as blameless.
The world says ‘The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results.” God says that this is the definition of faithfulness when done in expectation of his promises.
God’s delay in answering the prayer for a child while they were young was because he wanted to use the child not only to bring joy and gladness to them personally but to move forward his plan of redemption for all people.
When God delays his personal promise to you, it is because he’s partnering with you to bring out his promise of redemption to the whole world.
“The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.” - 2 Peter 3:9 ESV
Why did God choose Zechariah and Elizabeth?
It was his sovereign choice, but here are some observations we can glean from if we want to be used by God in his plan of redemption:
Be faithful to God and obey him in the circumstance you find yourself born into or that you become responsible for. (Zechariah was a Levite and Elizabeth was of the house of Arron meaning temple service was a family obligation as well are lawful obedience that he did not forsake)
If you’re married, love your spouse in their ‘barrenness’ and ‘reproach’ (whether physical or spiritual) as Christ loves the persecuted and hurting church. What started with Elizabeth’s barrenness and shame became Zechariah’s as he stayed committed to one wife, sharing in her shame until God healed her.
Make yourself available to serve him when your ‘lot’ is chosen. This could mean stay in fellowship with brothers and sisters in Christ in worship while waiting so you know what the needs are when they arise.
Question:
*What’s the “BUT” that keeps you up at night, as barrenness did Elizabeth?
You’ve tried to walk blameless, yet there’s a legitimate BUT in your life that keeps you from fully enjoying or trusting God. This BUT may even be a cause for shame among others (Psalm 127:3-5).
God uses BUTS to fulfill his big picture prophetic fulfillment in bringing Christ to those around us. What is your BUT? Singleness? Perceived lack of education? Income? Family affairs thrusted upon you? Barrenness? Children you didn’t ask for? God has a big plan and uses intimate details in our lives to bring it about.
*God transforms BUTS into Blessings that overflow onto those around us.
Regarding the angel telling Zechariah “the child will bring joy and gladness"
- What was your duty, will become your delight and will cause others to rejoice in God.
- God took away Elizabeth’s reproach, giving her joy for sadness, as he moved forward his plan of bringing redemption to the world through her.
Majestic Manger
The majesty came at a time that was unexpected and will come back in the same way.
The majesty came at night, in a stable, and rested in a feeding trough.
Question: Have you recognized the majesty of Christ? Have you made room for him in your heart and life? When he comes back or calls us to account, will you be prepared?
Majesty revealed to those in darkness.
When we recognize the majesty of God we will overflow with worship.
Luke 1:46-56 ESV
The Magnificat: Mary’s Song Of Praise
“And Mary said, “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant. For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed; for he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name. And his mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation. He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts; he has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate; he has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty. He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his offspring forever.” And Mary remained with her about three months and returned to her home.”
Born To Die
For you and I, the Majesty was born to die.
We must remember that because of his great love for a lost, weary and Hell bound world, he humbly came as a baby for the express purpose of dying the death of a sinner though he alone was righteous.
In his majestic power and love, he would put death to death and shame to shame through an open display of his suffering love for his beloved on a Roman cross.
Ephesians 2:4-10 ESV
“But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”
Yet, because of sinful pride of the human heart (the opposite of humility) the world has despised the majesty of the cross.
1 Corinthians 1:18-25 ESV
“For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.” Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.”
This Christmas, may the Holy Spirit magnify the excellencies of Christ Jesus as we see the humility of his birth and shame of the cross he chose in love so that our sin and shame could be removed for all eternity.
Gloria in excelsis Deo (Glory to God in the highest)
Pray and Act
Majestic Heavenly Father, you alone are worthy of my devotion and love. You alone are holy. You alone redeem me from sin, death, and shame. Please forgive my pride today. Open my eyes to see your humility and love for the world and I in Jesus Christ this Christmas. In Jesus name. Amen.
Second City Church - Associate Pastor: Cole Parleir 2021