Monday, December 24, 2018 – Christmas Eve Service - Luke 1:39-45; 2:1-20
Our Response to God’s Word in Faith Must be Done with Haste, Zeal,
and Diligence,
Grace Fellowship Church
Pastor/Teacher, Jim Rickard
Luke 1:39, “Now at this time Mary
arose and went with haste (in a
hurry) to the hill country, to a city of Judah.”
In Luke 1:39, “haste” is the descriptive Genitive Noun
SPOUDE, σπουδή that means, “haste, speed, zeal, effort, earnestness, diligence,
eagerness, etc.” It describes external action, “to hurry or to be quick,” to
fulfill a task. But, it can also describe an internal attitude or response, “to
be eager, earnest, or diligent.” In our application, the external action is in
view due to the internal joy and excitement Mary had in faithful response to
the Word of God given to her. It describes something that is done.
Luke
2:16, “And they came in haste (having
hurried) and found their way to Mary and Joseph, and the baby as He lay in
the manger.”
Here, the word “haste”
is the Aorist, Active, Participle, Nominative, Plural of the Verb SPEUDO, σπεύδω
that means, “to hurry, hasten, desire earnestly, strive (for).” It is only used
three times in Luke, twice in Acts, (which was also authored by Luke), and once
in 2 Peter 3:12. It describes the
way in which the shepherds went to see the babe.
These words are telling us that God’s Word and messages are
important and should be treated as such with urgency and diligence in response.
His Word should not be taken lightly, but must be acted on immediately and
without hesitation. These words are also used by Luke to portray the kind of
commitment expected of all Christians in virtually every aspect of our lives,
cf. Rom 12:1-2, Heb 4:11; 6:11; 2 Peter
1:5-7, 10; 2:15; 3:14.
Rom 12:1-2, “Therefore I urge you,
brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy
sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. 2And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed
by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is,
that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”
Rom 12:11, “Not lagging behind in
diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord.”
Heb 4:11, “Therefore let us be
diligent to enter that rest, so that no one will fall, through following the
same example of disobedience.”
Heb 6:11, “And we desire that each one
of you show the same diligence so as to realize the full assurance of hope
until the end.”
2 Peter 1:5-7, “Now for this very
reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and
in your moral excellence, knowledge, 6and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control,
perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, 7and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your
brotherly kindness, love.”
2 Peter 1:10, “Therefore, brethren, be
all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you; for
as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble.”
2 Tim 2:15, “Be diligent to present
yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed,
accurately handling the word of truth.”
2 Peter 3:14, “Therefore, beloved,
since you look for these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace,
spotless and blameless.”
This is another Lukan theme found in his text, i.e., that God’s
Word, (especially the messages regarding the giving of the Savior), always
carries with it a challenge to respond in faith.
Notice that
neither Mary, nor the shepherds, stop to ponder about their earthly
responsibilities, relationships, wealth, etc., but immediately got up and went
in haste to serve the Lord. This is how faithful people respond to God’s Word
and Plan, even when they may not fully understand it.
The only way
a person can genuinely do and say what they did, (Mary in Luke 1:38-39, the shepherds in Luke
2:15-17), is to apply faith with immediate action in their life, believing
that God’s plan is better than their plan for themselves.
In both
instances, they willingly and graciously submitted to the will of God,
especially in Mary’s believing response, as she surrendered herself to God as
His willing “bondservant,” being
ready to “have done to her according to
God’s Word.”
They
experienced the grace of God, Luke 1:30,
and believed the Word of God, and therefore, they could be used by the Spirit
to accomplish the will of God, as Mary belonged totally to the Lord, body, Luke 1:38, soul, Luke 1:46, and spirit, Luke
1:47.
Even while
not fully understanding all the particulars, they responded with immediate
belief, complete submission, and total trust in their Lord. Luke also records
no hesitation from Elizabeth in believing the Lord could accomplish a miracle.
Mary, Elizabeth, and the shepherds all lived in the horizontal dimension, but
they never forgot the vertical. They gave vertical praise to God and affirmed
the horizontal effect of His grace. They lived in the realities of a broken,
sinful world, but they remained open to the intervention of God’s grace.
So, from
these stories we are reminded of two things:
1. Respond
immediately to opportunities God gives you. Do not wait for special occasions
to talk about the Lord. Speak up whenever the opportunity arises. You do not
have to be obnoxious by forcing a conversation, but remain continually
transparent about your relationship with Christ. Watch for open doors. Do not
hesitate; speak freely.
2. Share your
experience with others. God did not call these people to teach or preach. They
had neither the training nor the skills. Instead, the Lord charged them with
the responsibility to share what they had seen and heard, to describe their
experience.
Remember, you
do not need formal training to tell others about Jesus Christ, any more than
you need medical training to tell a friend about a good doctor. If you are a
believer, you have a “before-and-after” story of your experience with Jesus
Christ. Before you placed your faith in Christ, your life looked one way. After
trusting in Him, your life changed. Your “testimony” is simply a description of
the before-and-after change you experienced. Therefore, respond immediately to
opportunities and share your experience, because faith is nothing more than
responding to God’s grace in your life. If two lowly women and a group of lowly
shepherds could do it, so can you.
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