Unexpected Moments
Hope - The Power of Memory
SERMON TRANSCRIPT
Sometimes you don't know the value of a moment until it becomes a memory. Any guesses on who that author might be? Any guesses? I don't know. Dr. Seuss. Dr. Seuss. That's what you were thinking? Yeah, you got it right. Sometimes you don't know the value of a moment until it becomes a memory. Sometimes we have moments in life that we know are big occasions. So maybe it's a wedding day or the day your child is born or maybe for work you've been working on a project for months or years and it comes to completion. And the natural pomp and circumstance of that moment means you will remember that. You know it, you're living in it, you're like, "This is a big moment." There's other times that you go through something and it's not till later that you recognize or realize that that moment was significant in your life. In the moment it was just a normal situation, maybe a difficult situation, and it's not till weeks, months, maybe years later that you look back and see that was significant in what God was doing in me, working, how I got here, where God brought me. Sometimes we don't know the value of a moment until it becomes a memory.
In our series Unexpected Moments we've covered several, a few unexpected moments. We started with the angel, the unexpected moment of the angel telling Mary that she would be the mother of the Messiah. And then we had the unexpected moment of Joseph, the angel telling Joseph to stick with Mary and his obedience in that moment. And then last week Pastor Lawrence shared about the angels descending on the shepherds. And that beautiful unexpected moment of the good news of Jesus going to very ordinary people. This is our concluding message of our series. And we're going to be back in Luke 2. We've been here before, but we're going to focus on one verse, but just to get the setting again. Starting in Luke 2:10, I don't know if we have it, but just follow along. It says, "But the angel said to them," this is to the shepherds, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all people. Today in the town of David, a savior has been born to you. He is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you. You will find a baby wrapped in claws and lying in a manger. And suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel praising God and saying glory to God in the highest heaven and on earth peace to those whom his favor rests."
And we know that afterwards, what do the shepherds do without hesitation? They go to Bethlehem, they visit the baby, and they're telling everyone the good news of the birth of the Messiah is being spread. It's like if today they were to get on like Instagram live or Facebook live or send out the mass text, they're just telling everyone and anyone this is what's happening. We just found out. I got to let everyone know. And everyone who heard was amazed. I love that response too that everyone who heard isn't just like, "Oh, there's some crazy shepherds going around." No, everyone who heard it was amazed. And this next verse is what we're going to focus on today. This little verse that's so important, verse 19, actually a little bit farther down in our passage, it says, "But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart." Again, sometimes you don't know the value of a moment until it becomes a memory. Today we're going to talk about the power of a memory and the hope that we have in Christ. Would you guys pray with me one more time?
God, thank you again for the time to gather. And in this Advent season, when we celebrate and await the birth of Christ and this moment in time that changes the world, God, I pray that you would help us to have our hearts to have a posture of waiting and ready to receive. And God, one that wants to glorify you, that's our goal, is to bring glory to you. And no matter where we're at this morning, caught up in the busyness of the season, or maybe it was just everything we had just to get here, God, I pray that you would meet us through your Spirit, through your Word, and that as we leave, we would be empowered and encouraged and uplifted and drawn near to you. So we pray this in your name. Amen.
So Mary treasured up all these things. She's treasuring up the angels' visit to her, the shepherds visiting, the crowds being amazed at the news of the birth of the Messiah, even maybe the miracle of Elizabeth, her relative, which we didn't cover this Advent season, but her relative in her old age becoming pregnant, that was its own miracle. And then Joseph being visited by the angels, she's treasuring up all these things, pondering them. You know that moment when something happens, you go through something and you know, like, that was probably pretty big. I don't know why it was so big. I don't know why it's so significant, but as time goes on, you look back and you're like, "Oh, I'm starting to understand more." I think that's what Mary knows, there's a lot happening right now. I can't fully grasp everything and what it means, but this is monumental. But Mary, as she treasures these things up and ponders them, what do we think Mary remembered? Well, we can't be certain, but we don't have her exact thoughts, but we can look at these experiences and the conversations that she's had and come to three things. She remembers, one, God's promises from the past, two, God's peace in the present, and thirdly, God's power in the future.
That first one, let's start there, God's promises from the past. Mary has just given birth to a baby, the son of God in a stable, with no epidural by the way, just a miracle, that's amazing. And what could be more memorable than giving birth? She's a new mom, it's been chaotic. The shepherds were there. They finally go, as great as that is, I bet she was looking forward to like, "Okay, I would love to just rest a little bit." She gets a moment to reflect. We know she remembers the encounter with the angel. I don't know if she did this exactly, but how cool would it be if she was able to, in that moment, or maybe over time, just connect some of the promises and prophecies from God over the past centuries about the coming Messiah, about her and her son? Like maybe Micah 5:2, that was prophesied 700 years before, that says, "But you, Bethlehem, Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come from me, one who will be a ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times." See, even them being in Bethlehem speaks to God's promise from the past. You see, at that time, there was a census that had to be taken, so everyone had to go back to their hometown. And Mary is nine months pregnant at this point, and so on top of dealing with pregnancy, they have to move temporarily. They were living in Nazareth, and they had to go to Bethlehem. That is a hundred-mile journey. That's like going from here in Rocklin to San Francisco or Reno, Nevada, on foot over ten days. That's a long, nine months pregnant. There's no in-and-out or Chick-fil-A along the way to make it better. There's no DVD player on the back of the donkey to pass the time. In fact, traveling even had its elements of danger, right? It was winter, and so there might have been some weather elements that they had to face. There's criminals and thieves along the road, also wild animals. It's a very different time than when we think of, "Hey, let's go on a road trip." And so Mary could see that God took them to Bethlehem, and that was fulfilling a promise that God had made pertaining to her. Or maybe she thought of Isaiah 7:14 that says, "Therefore, the Lord Himself will give you a sign. The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Emmanuel." Mary was holding Emmanuel. God is with us. And the truth is that He's with us today every single moment, every step we take, every day and through the night. The truth of Jesus on that night when Mary gave birth is true for us today, that God is with us. I want you to know that today. I just want to stop for a moment. And sometimes we need to do this in our lives, in our days or in our weeks. We just need to stop and ponder and know and remember that God is with us. He is always with us. Mary stopped and she treasured up all these things. She pondered first God's promises from the past.
Secondly, she ponders God's peace in the present. We see that she pondered what was happening in this moment. All these things. And she needed to do that to give her peace. As she did it, it gave her peace. She knows that she was blessed to become the mother of Jesus, but that doesn't mean that life was going to be easy. There's potential for her life to still be chaotic and to still experience the unexpected. We talked about this in the first week, that Mary, upon hearing the news of becoming the mother of Jesus, had some anxiety. But by the end of that conversation with the angel, she was given peace. From chaos to something divine. Despite earthly unknowns, there's a heavenly peace. A peace that surpasses understanding. Whenever she needed to, Mary could pause and be comforted to know that God was presently giving her what she needed to get through each moment. And to go from unexpected moment to unexpected moment with confidence that God was going to be with her through it all. Mary and Joseph would continue to experience unexpected moments and God would continue to give them answers and ways forward and peace amidst the initial chaos. A little bit later in their lives, the wise men visited. It didn't happen that night, despite what every nativity scene looks like. It happened later. And maybe this was God's provision. You know, Joseph was a carpenter. That's not the most money-making career back in that time. And what did the wise men bring? They bring frankincense, myrrh, and gold. It also says in that passage in Matthew 2, it says, "When they had gone, the wise men, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. Get up, he said. Take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him." King Herod at that time had heard from the wise men of this king being born. And obviously as present king, he doesn't like that that's a threat. And so he's trying to, he plays it off like, "Oh yeah, I'd love to go worship the new king." When really he wants to go end that threat. And God miraculously comes and tells Joseph and Mary, "You guys need to leave." God gave them a plan and provided for them in that moment. And in so doing that, he gave them peace, that they were going to be okay. In the middle of chaos, God gave peace. Peace beyond understanding. Or how about later in life when Jesus is 12 years old and gets left behind at the temple. Many of you know this story, that Mary and Joseph leave after being at the temple and their days journeys away. And we all think like, "How can you forget a child?" But they leave Jesus behind at the temple and so they have to go back.
And Luke 2:48 says, "When his parents saw him, they were astonished. His mother said, 'Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you.' 'Why are you searching for me?' he asked. 'Didn't you know I had to be in my father's house?'" It's a 12 year old by the way. "But they did not understand what he was saying to them. Then he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. And for the second time in scripture we hear, 'But his mother treasured all these things in her heart.' And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and man." So Mary knows that this is a child unlike any other. And it's so interesting, we can get into one day just that dynamic of child and parent relationship but it's Jesus as a 12 year old kid. But she had a habit of treasuring up these unexpected moments that happened. These unexpected moments that turned into holy moments for her. Whenever we see Mary face a moment of chaos, anxiety, uncertainty, we also see God give her peace. And then we see her treasure up all those things in her heart. It's those moments of chaos that we would have never chosen for ourselves. It's not what we really wanted. But when we stop and look back at those moments, we can see how God used them for our good.
I've told this story before, but I also have, I mean just like you, I have some of these moments in life, these unexpected moments. And it's true of how I became a pastor. Full of unexpected moments. I graduated, well my senior year of high school I was ready to be a doctor. I did an internship at Kaiser and I was like going to college, I'm going to be a doctor. And then I struggled my freshman year in science classes. I was working really hard. I wasn't a bad student. And I was working really hard to get C's in my science classes. And I was like God, I don't think I can do four more years of this. Slash after that in the med school, I don't think this is my future. And I was taking that as a sign that God was changing my direction but I didn't know where. And at that time, my freshman year, I was getting involved in a nonprofit and I discovered I loved being a voice for those who didn't have a voice. I served as the director of social justice on that campus for a year. And again, just it grew a love for me to be able to help other people. And so I changed my major to intercultural studies thinking that at the end of my time in college I was going to serve overseas. I was going to work for something like World Vision and go help people who didn't have a voice around the world and provide sustainable ways for them to grow and progress in ways that appreciated their culture. And so I spent the next few summers overseas in preparation for a lifetime of being a missionary. By the time my senior year of college rolled around, I again was left in this place of I don't think this is where I'm going. A lot of people who were in my major had countries that they felt God was calling them to. And I was like I don't know where, I don't think I'm going overseas. And then I was faced with this moment of did I just waste my whole college experience, like you know, all that money and all those years and all those hours studying and I'm not even going to go overseas. I was not good. It was a very pressure situation. And then I remember Christmas of my senior year, I came back home for Christmas break and I had a dinner with my pastor at the BJ's over by the Galleria here. And it's a conversation that changed my life. Where he asked if I would become the youth pastor at the church that I grew up in. There was another unexpected moment. And I look back and there were some more unexpected moments after that too.
But I look back and I see through all the circumstances with all the disappointments really too. Not becoming a doctor, changing my major and then not entering the field in which I studied for. Through all of that, God was faithful. God was at work and he was giving me peace through it that even though I didn't know, I knew I was going to be okay. That God was still with me. And God used all that to bring me here now today with you, Spring Valley Church. I love it. Yes. Praise God. To answer a calling, a gradual calling, one that I feel confident in now, I'm so thankful for. And all those memories, I think back, I tell that story to you and I'm thankful for all of them. In the moment I was like, God, can you please change this? This is the worst. But now I'm thankful to have them, to see them and see how God works in my life. And that way I can look forward and know that he's going to continue to do the same. The power of a memory. I'll say it one more time. Sometimes we don't realize the value of a moment until it becomes a memory. If you were to look back at certain moments in your life, do you have those memories where God gave you peace in that present moment, even though it may have been chaotic, it may have been difficult, it may have been full of unknowns? And are they moments that are you treasuring them up? Are you pondering them? Are you carrying them with you? If you look at your life, I think you'll see that God has been faithful to you. Always present. And that can be monumental in us knowing that he has the power to help us in the future.
So thirdly, we think of God's power in the future. Going back to our story, the birth of Jesus, just eight days after Jesus was born, Mary and Joseph take Jesus to the temple to be dedicated. And they meet a prophet, Simeon, who takes Jesus into his arms and starts praising God, recognizing that Jesus is the Messiah, the bringer of salvation, the glory of Israel. Just imagine as a parent bringing your child there and someone else is prophesying over the life that your child is going to have. That's the first proud parent moment right there. Luke 2:33 through 35 says, "The child's father and mother marveled at what was said about him. Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother, 'This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel and to be a sign that will be spoken against so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed and a sword will pierce your own soul too.'" That's a promise that no parent, no one ever wants to hear, a promise of future pain and future heartache. And even with this prophecy and Mary knowing that something challenging was up ahead, there's no way she could have known that the world's greatest blessing in Jesus Christ would be her greatest breaking in her life. That years later, she would be standing at the cross, seeing her son, her innocent son, suffering and dying on the cross. Mary who served and walked with Jesus for years, who knew before anyone else who this child was and the life that he would lead. And at that cross, she knows that he's been faithful. She looks in the past. She knows that he is good up on that cross, dying a death that he didn't deserve. And she knows that she can trust him with her future. And as she does that, just three days after her son died, God raised him from the dead. And I believe just as she had been doing since Jesus came into her life, she was trusting in God, looking back, feeling peace in the present, and then looking forward with even more hope after that moment. Hope and trusting in the power of God. It was the power to raise life from the dead, to overcome sin. In every unexpected moment that she faced, God gave her peace. And that peace gives her hope. Every unexpected moment that we face, however big or small, we can learn from Mary to slow down and reflect and ponder on what God has done and is doing in our lives. So I want to do some of that for us right now. If we could just reflect. Let's first, let's take the past. I want you to look back and think about the work that God has done in your life.
Think about the promises that he has made to you. And if you're saying, I have never heard a promise audible from God, let me point you to scripture. The promise of the Savior is for you. And Paul's words in Philippians 1:6 say, "Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry out to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." Those words are for you. That the work that Jesus starts in you, he will finish. And he is going to keep working in your life until that work is complete when you are in heaven. So take note of your past moments that God has, where God has provided for you, where he has been faithful to you. And see and connect the dots that that is part of the work that he is doing in your life. Some of the hardest moments that you have endured. And I know you have all endured some very, very difficult moments. God is not absent in those moments. He's present. He was present with you. And he's still present with you. Ponder them and treasure them. Next, think of your present situation right now. Whatever season you're going through, know that the peace of God and the peace that is Christ is with you. Emmanuel, God is with us. We know, pastors, Chris, Pastor Lauren, myself, we know that so many of you here at church that it's been a very tough year. It's been a year of upheaval, of loss, of chaos, of pain, of a lot of unexpected moments. But in the midst of it, it has been so good to hear from so many of you that in the midst of it, you felt peace. You felt God being present with you. In some moment, big or small, God showed up. Whether through someone else, through his word, or just you felt his presence with you in the toughest of moments.
And I want you to remember that. Treasure those up in your heart because they're going to mean something in the future. You're going to need those moments to look back on. It may not seem significant now, but the memories from this present situation may be valuable for you in the future. And now I want you to think of the future. 2025 is just around the corner and the years to come. Some of you are looking to the future with anxiety and worry. It's hard not to. We don't know what the future holds. All of us, guaranteed, will face difficulties, challenges. Some of them will completely disrupt our lives. But we have hope. We have hope that is found in the person of Christ. In Christ, we have all hope to endure all things. For those who believe, we too, all that we face will be temporary. We will share a glorious future with him in heaven. Your afflictions, whether now or in the future, however hard and gut-wrenching they are, however heartbreaking they are, in church I know that they can seem impossible to overcome. But they are nothing compared to God's power and what God will do for you and the good that he is working. God has it. It's under his control. He is sovereign over all. And in the person of Christ, we have hope, true hope that is only found in him. This world will tell you of a lot of things that may give you hope, but they all fall short. And they are nothing compared to God and his power and his love for you. So this Christmas, I just want to end. I want to close with this. I want to remind you of who Jesus is, your Savior and your Messiah. When you're hurting, he is your comforter. When we're afraid, we need help, when you're in times of trouble or feeling weak or overwhelmed, he is our strength. When we're feeling rejected and alone, isolated, he is our friend and he will never leave you. He's always present with you. When you're facing financial struggles, he is your provider. When you're facing sickness, he is your healer. And when you are dealing with the sin in your life, he is your Savior. He loves you and he is working good in your life. And he's with you now. Ponder it, embrace it, remember it and treasure it. Even in this moment, he is Emmanuel. He is with us. Amen.
Let's pray. God, we can't do this life without you. And your Son is truly a gift, Jesus Christ. And we need him every moment of every day. And God, as we look back and we think of our lives and all the unexpected moments we faced, I hope that we can see how you have been present in those moments. And as we look at our present situation and we think of all that we're going through, whether it's a season of joy or it's a season of distress, God, I pray that you would give us peace and help us endure. And God, as we look to the future, again, full of unknowns, I pray that you would give us hope, that you would be our anchor, that we can move forward with all confidence that even if we don't know how anything will work at all, you do and you are with us. God, give us your peace this Christmas season. We are so excited to celebrate you. We pray this in your name. Amen.