Okay, well, um, this past Sunday... night, I think, Pastor Will and I were discussing what I was going to be speaking about today, and we sort of commiserated over the difficulty of coming up with something unique or different to relate about the Christmas story. And he told me that one of his professors once advised him to just go for the jugular. Like, just keep the main thing the main thing, and don't worry about it. Everybody knows the Christmas story, but we all need to be reminded about it. And that is really good advice, I think, but I'm not going to take it. Not this year. 

And I promise I'm not going to give you a Christmas hot take or anything controversial, but I just wanted to highlight a part of the Christmas story that I think we tend to view as the prologue to the Christmas story. 

So if you have your Bible with you, turn to Luke chapter 1, and I'm going to read verses 5 through 25. 

There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judea, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the division of Abijah. His wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless. But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and they were both well advanced in years. 

So it was that while he was serving as priest before God in the order of his division, according to the custom of the priesthood, his lot fell to burn incense when he went into the temple of the Lord. And the whole multitude of the people was praying outside at the hour of incense. Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing on the right side of the altar of incense. And when Zechariah saw him, he was troubled, and fear fell upon him. 

But the angel said to him, do not be afraid, Zacharias, for your prayer is 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 in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink. He will also 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. He will also 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 a people prepared for the Lord. 

And Zacharias said to the angel, How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is well advanced in years. And the angel answered and said to him, I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God, and was sent to speak to you and bring you these glad tidings. But behold, you will be mute and not able to speak until the day these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their own time. 

And the people waited for Zacharias, and marveled that he lingered so long in the temple. But when he came out, he could not speak to them, and they perceived that he had seen a vision in the temple, for he beckoned to them and remained speechless. So it was, as soon as the days of his service were completed, that he departed to his own house. 

Now after those days his wife Elizabeth conceived, and she hid herself five months, saying, Thus the Lord has dealt with me in the days when he looked on me, to take away my reproach among people. So in this gospel, Luke, who is a very careful historian, begins his account of the life of Christ by telling us not about his parents, not about Jesus' parents, but about his aunt and uncle. It's an unusual approach to begin a history that way. But obviously, the story of Zacharias and Elizabeth are important for us to know. They're profitable for us and able to equip us for the Christian life. There's things that we can learn from them.

So Zacharias was a priest of the division of Abijah. Aaron, you may remember, had four sons, Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. And Nadab and Abihu were killed very, very early on after the tabernacle service began because they offered strange fire before the Lord. They offered incense on the altar of incense that was not appropriate. And so the Lord killed them. and Eleazar and Ithamar took their place serving the Lord in the tabernacle along with Aaron. And in the days of King David, the priesthood had expanded. There were 16 families of priests that descended from Eleazar and eight families of priests that descended from Ithamar. And so David and one priest from the line of Eleazar and one priest from the line of Ithamar spent time and divided up and organized the temple service among the priests. Each family would have one time a year where their family would come and offer service in the temple. The eighth lot, the eighth in the order, fell to a by just family. So each family priest had a set time to serve in the temple every year, and that schedule was maintained in some way after the exile. We don't know if it was maintained in exactly the same way, but that tradition still continued when the temple was rebuilt.

So we know that Zacharias is a descendant of Aaron and a descendant of Abijah, and therefore he did actually have a legitimate responsibility to serve in the temple. Not all of the priests did in this time, but he did. And we also know that Elizabeth, his wife, was a descendant of Aaron, though we don't know from whom. Other than that, we don't really know too much about these two people. They were just two ordinary people, relatively ordinary, living an ordinary life.

But there is something noteworthy that Luke highlights for us about them. Not from our perspective, because I don't think it's something that you would necessarily see if you just looked at them. But from God's perspective, there is something noteworthy about them. And that is that they were both righteous before him. They were walking in all of the commandments and all of the ordinances of the Lord. They were blameless before Him. That is a high commendation indeed. I was reminded as I was preparing this of Psalm 1-6 that the Lord knows the way of the righteous. He knew the ways of Elizabeth. He knew the ways of Zacharias. And because He knew them and they knew Him, they were fruitful and full of life, like trees planted by the rivers of water, as Psalm 1 says.

Except that, they weren't fruitful in the way that mattered most in that time. Really, in the way that matters most for most of history. They didn't have a child, much less have children, because Elizabeth was barren. To many people in their day, probably mostly people who didn't know them, more than casually, it would have been an evidence or a sign that maybe God wasn't best pleased with them. But we know that wasn't true. God viewed them as righteous. God viewed them as blameless in His sight. So Luke is careful to tell us that. They were barren, not through any fault of their own. They were both righteous in God's sight. But Elizabeth was barren, and at this point in their lives, it is even more unlikely that they would ever have a child, because both of them were well advanced in years. And I don't know how old that would make them. The Levites who served in the temple were only allowed to serve between the ages of 25 and 50. But I don't think that age restriction applied to the priests, so they very well could have been older than 50. But however old they were, fact remains, Elizabeth was barren, and she was past her childbearing years.

And it's at this point in their lives, childless, older, that Zacharias number gets called in a very specific way, quite literally. So it's the time of the priest from the line of Abijah to serve in the temple. And lots are cast to determine who will do what part of the service. And the lot is cast for Zacharias to offer incense on the altar of incense. Of course, that lot falling to him was not an accident. Proverbs 16, 33 tells us that the lot is cast into the lap, but it's every decision is from the Lord. And if you look at that proverb, you'll see that LORD there is in all caps. It's the word for Yahweh, God's covenant name. It's the name that indicates His faithful and His loyal love for His people. It indicates that even the seeming vagaries of chance are directed and ordered by Him in order to bless His people. And that is certainly going to prove true for Zacharias.

So Zacharias was chosen not really by lot, but by the Lord to offer incense on the altar on that particular day. And while he was carrying out his responsibilities, all of the people who had gathered to worship at the temple that day were offering up prayers outside the temple. And that's not an accident. The incense symbolizes in scripture the prayers of the people of God, both individually and corporately. read you just a couple verses that highlight that. So Psalm 141-2 says, let my prayer be set before you as incense, the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice. Or probably more famously, or what you might be more familiar with in the book of Revelation, chapter 5, verse 8. Now when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each having a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints." Or again in chapter 8, verses 3 and 4. Then another angel, having a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense that he should offer it with the prayers of all the saints, upon the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, ascended before God from the angel's hand."

So incense is offered as a pleasing aroma to the Lord, and so too our prayers are offered to him as a pleasing aroma. Our prayers please the Lord. That's something that we're going to come back to towards the end, so I want you to remember that. So here Zacharias is making the offering on the altar of incense as these prayers are being raised up to the Lord outside the temple. And as he's doing that, the angel of Gabriel appears to him. We don't know if anybody else was in the holy place at this time, if there were other priests there. carrying out responsibilities. But we know for sure that Zacharias saw Gabriel, and he was troubled, and he was afraid when he saw the angel. Luke says that fear fell upon him, which is the same language the Bible often uses for an enemy attacking somebody. It fell upon him and attacked him. And I can imagine how terrifying that would have been. Here you are as a priest doing something that is very out of the ordinary for you personally to be doing, knowing that way back when the temple service was initiated, the Lord had killed two men for doing it incorrectly. And this angel appears, this powerful, holy creature, I would be terrified, too, thinking, did I mess this up? Am I about to be struck dead like Nadab and Abihu was?

But Gabriel's message wasn't at all what Zacharias expected. He reassured Zacharias, don't be afraid. And then he made a stunning announcement. And I think we forget how stunning this would have been because we're so familiar with it. But he told Zacharias that his prayer was heard. His prayer was heard. The Lord heard Zacharias' prayer. And when the Lord hears prayer, he acts, he answers it, although not always in the way that we expect or that even we want. But when scripture declares that the Lord does not hear our prayers, it's always in response to the prayers of the wicked. Zacharias 7, 9 through 13 talks about that if you don't, or if you wanna look that up later. But the Lord heard Zacharias' prayer. He was righteous before God, and therefore the Lord heard his prayer.

And again, I want to just point out, the Lord sent word of His answer to Zacharias' prayer as Zacharias is offering the incense, offering the symbol of the prayers of God's people. So it pleased the Lord to hear Zacharias' prayer, and it pleased Him to respond at this very particular moment in time. And the Lord's answer to Zacharias' prayer tells us what he prayed about. He wanted a son. That's what the Lord gave him. His wife, Elizabeth, would bear him a son, and his name would be called John.

If an angel were suddenly to appear before me and tell me that my prayer had been answered, I wouldn't think it would be something so ordinary. You know, of all the things that Zacharias and Elizabeth could have been praying about that the Lord decided to answer, this was a very ordinary thing. And I don't want to minimize it. I'm sure that Zacharias and Elizabeth both suffered greatly because of her barrenness.

But think about all the things that Zacharias could have been praying about at that time. The Jews were being oppressed again by a foreign power. He could have been praying for deliverance. There was civil unrest between those who wanted to fight Rome and those who wanted to just fit in, so he could have been praying for peace and unity among the nation. There was great corruption among the priests. He could have been praying for repentance and for righteousness to prevail. He could have even been praying about his own ministry among the people, that that would be magnified, not for his own glory, but so that they would be encouraged to follow the Lord and so that the Lord would be glorified.

And maybe he did pray for all of those things. Again, Zacharias was a righteous man and all of those requests would certainly be in keeping with God's character and with God's ways. But we know for certain that what Zacharias and Elizabeth too, I'm sure, were praying for was a child. And maybe they had even stopped praying that now that Elizabeth was past her childbearing years. But this ordinary prayer was the one that God chose to answer. And this prayer, this prayer for a child would bring them great joy if answered, but it isn't certainly, it's not one that would change the world. It would change their lives, but that would be it.

Except that in God's providence, His answer to their ordinary prayer would change the world.

Not only would Zacharias and Elizabeth rejoice in the birth of their son, but many would rejoice. And Gabriel's words there certainly did come true. Luke chapter 1, verses 57 and 58 say, Now Elizabeth's full time came for her to be delivered, and she brought forth a son. When her neighbors and relatives heard how the Lord had shown great mercy to her, they rejoiced with her. 

or dropping down to verses 65 and 66. Then fear came on all who dwelt around them, and all these sayings were discussed throughout all the hill country of Judea. And all those who heard them kept them in their hearts, saying, what kind of child will this be? And the hand of the Lord was with him. 

Rejoicing in the miracle of John's birth was not just because God had given Zacharias and Elizabeth a child, although that certainly would be reason enough. Gabriel also told Zacharias that his son would be great in the eyes of the Lord. And that very literally came true. 

You think of maybe the eyes of the Lord being anthropomorphic. God is spirit, he doesn't have eyes, except that Jesus came and was born as a human baby and looked on John with his very own eyes. Luke 7, 24 through 28a. When the messengers of John had departed, he began to speak, that is, Jesus began to speak to the multitudes concerning John. What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind? But what did you go out to see? A man clothed in soft garments? Indeed, those who are gorgeously appareled and live in luxury are in kings' courts. But what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I say to you, and more than a prophet, this is he of whom it is written, behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way before you. For I say to you, among those born of women, there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist. 

So he was great in the eyes of the Lord. Like Samson, John was called to be a Nazarite from birth, although unlike Samson, he actually did fulfill his vow. John would be filled with the Holy Spirit, even while in his mother's womb, Luke 1 41. And it happened when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary that the baby leaped in her womb and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. And verse 44, Elizabeth tells Mary, for indeed, as soon as the voice of your greeting sounded in my ears, the baby leaped in my womb for joy. 

So all of this that Gabriel told Zacharias indicates that John was called and was set apart for a special purpose by God. He was a prophet who would turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God." And indeed, he did that. Matthew recounts some of the effects of John's ministry in Matthew chapter 3. Verses one and two say, in those days, John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea and saying, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. And then a little bit later, John himself was clothed in camel's hair with a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. Then Jerusalem, all Judea, and all the region around the Jordan went out to him and were baptized by him in the Jordan, confessing their sins. Moreover, Gabriel told Zacharias how John would accomplish this great work of turning hearts back towards the Lord. He would go before the Lord with the spirit and power of Elijah to turn the hearts of the fathers towards their children and to turn the hearts of the disobedient to the wisdom of the just in order to prepare them for the Lord.

Zacharias, being a good priest and a righteous man, probably recognized that Gabriel was quoting from Malachi, chapter 4, verses 5 and 6. So I think he probably did understand that what Gabriel told him was that the child that he had prayed for for all those years would be given to him in fulfillment of a prophecy given to God's people hundreds of years earlier, a promise that the Lord would come to save his people.

His simple prayer for a child, for a son, as heartfelt and sincere as it had been, was being answered far beyond his expectations and far beyond his willingness to believe it.

So we're all familiar with what happens next. Zacharias can't believe or won't believe what he is hearing. He cannot fathom that God would use his desire for a child would use his barren wife to bring a new prophet into the world. And not just any prophet, but the promised forerunner to the coming of the Lord to save his people.

Gabriel rebuked Zacharias for his lack of faith. He reminded him that his message is glad tidings, not just for Zacharias and for Elizabeth, but for the nation of Israel and even for the whole world. Gabriel reiterated again that his message was true and that in due time, John would be born. But Zacharias, the father of the prophet, sent to proclaim the coming of the Lord, would not be able to proclaim himself what he had heard until the promise had been fulfilled.

We know from later on in Luke chapter one that Zacharias is not given his voice back until John was circumcised and was made a visible member of the covenant between God and Israel. So Zacharias, after having received this wonderful promise that the Lord had heard his prayer and was answering it, was not able to tell the people gathered around the temple his good news, although they were able to tell from his demeanor that something had happened.

I don't know what, if anything, he was able to even communicate to Elizabeth about what he had been told. I'm sure she figured out something was up when she became pregnant. That would have been a clue. Something is going on. But she may not have known the fullness of the blessing she had been given until Zacharias could speak again. We just don't know.

Nevertheless, Elizabeth rejoiced in the answer to prayer that she had been given. Luke tells us that she hid herself for five months, not out of fear, not out of doubt, but out of gratitude and awe. She spent those five months praising the Lord for his grace to her and giving her a child.

And then, I didn't read this part of the continuing account, but when Elizabeth is six months into her pregnancy, Gabriel appears again, this time to her cousin Mary. And when Mary comes to visit her, Elizabeth's joy in her own child was magnified as she realized by the Holy Spirit that the Lord himself was coming soon, and in a way that no one had expected. That's a theme in the Christmas story.

So she rejoiced with Mary and she encouraged her to continue to believe the glad tidings that were given to her. Elizabeth, delighted in the answer to her prayer, spreads that joy to others and invited them to join and rejoice in God's work as well. And of course, Mary does so. We have the account of that wonderful song that she sang in praise to the Lord.

So how does the Christmas story begin? It doesn't begin with Gabriel appearing to Mary. It begins with the Lord answering the simple, earnest prayer of two people for a child. They didn't ask for something great. They didn't ask for some big miracle. But God was pleased, delighted even, to answer their prayer far beyond what they had asked for or what they had even thought would be possible.

So I hope you can see how this applies to you. None of us are going to be given John the Baptist in answer to our prayers. There's only one of him. But I want you to see six truths from this Christmas prologue.

And first, I want you to see that your prayers please the Lord. They are like a sweet-smelling aroma to Him. It pleases Him when you pray, and it pleases Him when you ask for the things that matter to you, whether those things are great or small. And it pleases Him not only to hear your prayers, but to answer them. It delights Him to act on your behalf to accomplish His will.

Second, your prayers accomplish much more than you ask for. We see here in Luke 1, as well as in other places in scripture, that the Lord gives abundantly. He loves to lavish His grace on us. Often, we ask for small things, I think, because our view of God's graciousness is small. But He is a cheerful giver. He doesn't withhold good things from us, even when we fail to ask for them.

Third, your prayers accomplish more than you ask. They also accomplish more than you see. God revealed to Zechariah how much his son would change the world, but that is unusual. God doesn't usually announce to us all the ways in which the answers to our prayer are going to affect the world. But because he did reveal that to Zacharias, I think we can learn that God's answers to our prayers also have widespread effects. We may not know how His answers to our prayers will accomplish His larger purposes, but we can be confident that they do, and that should encourage us to pray all the more.

Fourth, your prayers for ordinary things brings about God's extraordinary acts of wonder. Zacharias prayed for a son and got a prophet, not just any prophet, but the one who would prepare the people for the coming Messiah. Like Zacharias and Elizabeth, we live in turbulent times. Our prayers can reflect that. We pray for our children to be safe and healthy and to turn to the Lord, for our church to stand firm in the truth, for the salvation of our neighbors. Maybe we pray for bigger things, too, like peace in our nation or for righteousness to flourish instead of sin. God can answer all those prayers, and he does answer all those prayers to bring about great things.

Fifth, it's better to rejoice in God's providence, by which I mean his ways with his people, especially as he answers our prayers, is better to rejoice in his providence than it is to doubt him. Having hearts filled with gratitude and praise for all the ways in which God has answered our prayers is not only right, but it enables and empowers us to serve him more fully.

And so that brings me to the sixth and final truth. that your response to God's answers to your prayers enables you to minister to others. Don't be like Zacharias, struck dumb and unable to offer praise and encourage others to believe because you don't believe in God's promises to you. Be more like Elizabeth. Just as she ministered to Mary, we are called to minister to one another. Elizabeth's heart of thanksgiving and joy overflowed into encouragement and called forth Mary's own thanksgiving and joy, expressed in praise to the Lord for all that he was doing. That's a wonderful example for us of how we ought to be towards one another. 

It's been on my heart and on my mind in the last year that we women should be reaching out to one another and ministering more to one another in this way. The men have their men's prayer meeting, but we don't have anything like that for the ladies. So I would like to start up a prayer partnering ministry here at Trinity. I don't want it to be anything terribly formal, but I think it would be wonderful if we could pair off or maybe form groups of three that could be in contact throughout the week to be praying for one another and for the needs of the church and to encourage one another as we see God answering our prayers and see how He is working among us. 

Each pair, each group could arrange the how and the when and the where, what best works for each one, whether it's texting with one another daily, whether it's checking in by phone a couple times a week, meeting weekly for coffee. Whatever you think could work for you, I think that's great, however you'd want to do it. But I think it would be a wonderful way for us to start reaching out. and ministering to one another and maybe ministering to people that we wouldn't otherwise have a lot of contact with throughout our weeks. 

So I think I'd like to get that started in the new year in January. It will give us some time to sort of put people together and for us to connect with one another to make arrangements. I did make a sign-up sheet so that if people want to participate but aren't quite sure how, we can make connections. So if you would like to participate, I hope you will, and I hope you'll sign up. 

But regardless whether or not you do that, I hope that this Christmas season and going forward, you will be encouraged in your prayer life by remembering that God began his great work of salvation, the amazing work. Jesus became a man, was born as a baby, lived a full life, died for our sins, and rose again on the third day. That all began with God answering the ordinary prayer of an ordinary couple for a son. 

Let's pray. 

Dear Heavenly Father, I just thank you that you do love us and that you hear our prayers, that you look on us with favor, and that you act on our behalf. And we know that you did that, or that you do that because of the work of your Son on our behalf. So we thank you for Him. We thank you for this yearly reminder we have of his birth, of his coming in humility in order to save us from our sins. So as we go forward from here, Lord, I just ask that we would be encouraged to continue to offer our prayers to you, knowing that you hear us and that you do wonderful and mighty things far beyond all that we can ask and think. In Jesus' name, I pray. Amen.