who are you? Luke 1:57-80

As we continue today in our ongoing study in the gospel of Luke, we come to the record of the birth of John the Baptist.  As the angel Gabriel had prophesied, John was born to Elizabeth and the priest Zacharias.  His father, you may remember, had been struck dumb by the angel because Zacharias had doubted the word of God.  So for nine months he has been silent, forced to write out on a tablet anything that he wanted to communicate, and it would seem that he had also become deaf, perhaps not totally deaf, but deaf enough so that people who knew him had to make signs to him in order to communicate.

Chances are by this time these two people were in their 70’s.  Zacharias may even have been older than that.  So finally the day comes that Elizabeth has her baby.  And it must have certainly been the talk of the town.  After all, they are known in Jerusalem because of Zacharias’ priestly service to the temple, and so this event would not be hidden.  The text tells us that Elizabeth’s neighbors and relatives came to rejoice with her.  It was a tremendous thing to have a first born male child under even normal circumstances in that culture, and considering their particular circumstances, it must have been the event of the year.

And so, as was the custom of the Jews, on the eighth day after John’s birth they came to circumcise  the child according to the law.  And these friends and neighbors and relatives the text says would have named him after his father Zacharias.  That would have been the custom.  But Elizabeth says no, his name shall be John.  That was the name given to Elizabeth by Gabriel.  It was the name God had selected for John.

Now names generally had meaning in those days.  Zacharias name meant, “remembered of Jehovah".  And I’m sure people thought that would have been a fitting name for the baby, because his parents had been remembered by God by  blessing them with a child even in their old age.  But both Zacharias and Elizabeth had each been told by the angel very specifically that the baby would be named John.

John’s name had a special meaning as well.  It meant "Jehovah is a gracious giver".  And I believe that this naming of John the Baptist has significance for us today as well.  However, we don’t usually name our children today the same way that they did then.  I’m not sure what means people use to come up with names today.  I like retired heavyweight boxing champion George Forman’s method.  He named one child George Junior, another George III, another George IV, another George V, another George VI and one of his daughters Georgette.  I’m surprised that’s even legal.

They have a website, by the way, that ranks children’s names by what is considered to be the most popular.  I guess if you want to help your kid become popular  then you name him a popular name.  According to the website  the most popular name for boys, by the way, is (1) Liam, (2) Noah (3) Mason, (4) Ethan (5) Jack (6) Jacob (7)Jackson (8) Lucas (9) Aiden (10) Logan.  And just to be fair, the 10 most popular girl’s names are number one, Emma, 2, Olivia, 3, Sophia, 4, Isabella, 5, Ava, 6, Mia, 7, Emily, 8, Charlotte, 9, Ella, 10, Lilly.

And all those names have some sort of traditional meaning, but most of our children are not named because of it’s meaning, but usually because we like the way the name sounds.  Or perhaps, as in George Forman’s case, because it is easy to remember.

But names in Jewish culture were significant because they indicated something about the personality or characteristic of the person.  And names are even more significant when God names a person.  And we see that happen a few times in the Bible.  Jesus was named by God before He was born.  The angel Gabriel announced that He would be called Jesus:  which meant “Jehovah is salvation.”  It’s interesting in these three names in this chapter, you see a progression;  Zacharias; remembered by Jehovah, John, given the grace of Jehovah, and Jesus, the salvation of Jehovah.

There are other names given by God in the Bible.  For instance, Jacob was named Israel which means God prevails, given to Jacob after he wrestled with God.  And throughout Israel’s history we see his descendents, the Israelites, wrestling with God, always rebelling against God.  But in the end, God will  prevail.  He will save a remnant and the Israelites will one day mourn when see Him who they pierced.

Peter is another name given by God to a man.  Simon was a disciple of Jesus, and Jesus changed his name to Peter, which meant stone or rock.  Jesus announced that “you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.”  God would change Peter from a turbulent, sometimes violent, conflicted man, into a living stone that God would found his church upon.  God sees the potential in Simon, and gives him a name that is a promise of what he will become.

And in that regard, we too have been given a new name.  Did you know that when you are born again as a child of God He gives you a new name? Rev 2:17 says “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, to him I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, and a new name written on the stone which no one knows but he who receives it.”  This new name is the family name of God that is given to the children of God. Rev. 3:12 “He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he will not go out from it anymore; and I will write on him the name of My God, and the name of the city of My God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God, and My new name.”  God declares that our name has been written in the Lamb’s book of life since before the foundation of the world.

So as we consider this text today, I want to focus on the question that the friends and relatives of Elizabeth asked, which is found in vs. 66, they said, “"What then will this child turn out to be?"  And I would like to use this question to ask you today as well, “Who are you?”  What kind of person in Christ will you turn out to be?  Considering that this incredible phenomenon that we call salvation has come down to us, to those of us that have followed Jesus in faith and received His righteousness by grace and are written in the Lamb’s book of life, considering how marvelous all this is, and by what kind of miracle we have been born again, then what kind of person will you turn out to be?  Who are you in Christ?  What is your name?  What is your purpose?

We know that up until the point that John the Baptist was declared by Jesus in Luke 7:28 that there was no man born of a woman who was greater than John, yet Jesus adds to that statement something even more remarkable.  He adds the promise that yet he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than John. In other words, he that is born of the Spirit is greater than he that is born of the flesh.  That promise is for you and for me.  John came preaching the kingdom of heaven.  Jesus came bringing the kingdom of heaven.  And God has given by his grace the kingdom of heaven to us as an inheritance.  And so we that are nothing in this life, are promised greatness in the kingdom of heaven.  You have a name which is known by God, given by God according not to what you have done, but according to what God wants to do through you.  What God wants to accomplish in you.  So then, it behooves us to find out what God’s calling for us be, what God’s plans are for us, so that we might become all that we are designed and destined to be in Christ.

And I think there are some clues to understanding God’s purpose for us here in this passage today as we look at the birth of John. The first thing we need to see in this text is that we should not allow our friends and relatives to define us according to the traditions of man.  Note that in verse 59 these friends and relatives were rejoicing with Elizabeth, and they wanted to name the baby according to tradition,  but they were acting in ignorance of the Word of God which Elizabeth and Zacharias had benefited from.  Even when Elizabeth said no, his name is John, they still argued.  Vs.61 “And they said to her, "There is no one among your relatives who is called by that name."  They even made signs to Zacharias to see if he would offer up a different name.  But Zacharias remembered the Word of God which told him that the baby’s name was to be John.

And notice something else here that I think is very instructive for us as well.  Zacharias has been dumb for 9 months.  He was struck dumb because he didn’t believe God’s Word.  He had questioned God, doubted God’s word, and God struck him dumb.  But note that God is just waiting for him to repent to bring about deliverance from his chastisement.  Sometimes, God chastises us when we are in rebellion.  And sometimes it’s hard to know whether or not a trial you are going through is due to your rebellion or a trial brought about by the devil to tempt you or test you.  But in this case, we know Zacharias is being disciplined by God.  And I believe God will make the difference known to you if you desire to know it.  But God is always waiting for us to repent.  He is like the father in the story of the prodigal son, looking down the road, watching and waiting for our return.  Ready to forgive.

And so when Zacharias makes this statement through his tablet, confirming the prophecy of God, agreeing with the Word of God, then God is there to release him. Vs. 64 “And at once his mouth was opened and his tongue loosed, and he began to speak in praise of God.”  You know, you can’t praise God when you are in rebellion against God.  You can’t praise Him when you’re in sin.  God will not accept your sacrifices, your offerings, your songs, your lip service, when your heart is not right before Him.  God said in Isaiah 1:13 “I cannot endure iniquity and the solemn assembly.”  Don’t think you are pacifying God by coming to church with a rebellious heart.  Get your heart right first, then come to church and God will accept your offering.

I think it’s obvious that Zacharias had come to a place of real repentance.  And I think that is born out by what he did when he was finally able to speak.  I wonder what the first words you or I might speak if we had been struck dumb for 9 months? I heard a story once that every ten years, monks living in a certain monastery are allowed to break their vow of silence to speak two words. Ten years go by and it's one monk's first chance. He thinks for a second before saying, "Food bad." Ten years later, he says, "Bed hard." It's the big day, a decade later. He gives the head monk a long stare and says, "I quit." "I'm not surprised," says the head monk. "You've been complaining ever since you got here."

But old Zacharias didn’t start complaining.  He is the picture of true repentance.  The first words out of his mouth after 9 months is praise to God.  Look at his words starting in vs. 68.  Some have said that this is a song of Zacharias.  Some have called it the Benedictus. But this song of praise has two stanzas.  And the first, vs. 68-75 is about Jesus Christ.  Not until the second stanza does he mention John, his child who he was undoubtedly holding in his arms, but even then he only mentions him in context to what he was in Jesus Christ.

So, not only is Zacharias a picture of repentance, but he is a picture of how we should see our purpose in Christ as well.  Who are you?  Who am I?  What Zacharias is telling us here two thousand years later is that who you really are is not determined by what kind of work you do, or what kind of education you have, or what kind of accomplishments you may have listed on your resume, but who you are only matters in relation to who you are in Christ.  The Bible says the flesh profits nothing.  But as  Gabriel told Mary just a few verses earlier in vs. 37, “nothing will be impossible with God."  God is able to take someone who is nothing in the flesh, and give him new birth through the Holy Spirit, and make it possible for that which was nothing to become something useful for the kingdom.

I shared with some of you last Wednesday night at our Bible study that while I was in California I decided that I was going to quit writing a newspaper article on surfing that I had been writing every week for the last 10 years.  It worked out that it was basically 10 years to the week.  520 articles.  And there were a couple of contributing reasons that I quit.  One of which the pay was really, really bad and I had never received a raise in 10 years. (I sound like the monk!) But really, pay had very little to do with it.  The real reason that I quit was as I stated publicly in my last article, was that 10 years ago I thought of myself as a surfer, first and foremost.  I never considered myself a good surfer, but I was a stoked surfer and I wanted to share surfing with this community.  I even started a ministry based on surfing.  I took kids on mission trips, camping trips, taught surf lessons, got involved in surf contests.  I defined myself by surfing.  But over the last few years as God has been working in me and calling me and confirming me in this ministry, I began to understand that surfing is just something that I do.  It’s not who I am.  And so I said in my article that actually, who I am today is a pastor, first and foremost.  I believe God has called me to preach the gospel in this community, and to feed his sheep.  And though I hope to still be surfing 10 years from now, I no longer want to be defined as a surfer.  I have a higher calling than that.  And I want to give first place to that calling.  I want to be defined as  preacher of the gospel.

Folks, I may have been called to be  a preacher, but I would say to you today that you also have a calling from God.  You have a name given to you by God.  He has a purpose for your life. He has a plan that must come first if you are going to realize your true potential in Christ.  So many people see God as an addendum to a successful career, or a happy life, to a good marriage.  They think when I  am done sowing my wild oats and I settle down, and I get married, and I have a nice job and house and family, then one day I will add God to my life and I’ll have everything I need.  But I am here today to tell you that what God wants of you is not a little bit at the end, but like John to be all that we are designed to be from the beginning.

Zacharias said in vs. 68 "Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, For He has visited us and accomplished redemption for His people,  And has raised up a horn of salvation for us In the house of David His servant.”  He is singing of redemption.  Of salvation.  God remembered his promises to the patriarchs Abraham and David, the promise of salvation and blessing that would come through their loins.  And 2000 years later we have been singled out for this great salvation, this unbelievable redemption from our former, futile way of life.

Peter said since we know that “you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ” (1Peter 1:18) “what sort of what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness!” (2 Peter 3:11)

Know this folks.  John the Baptist was great only because he served the Lord as a prophet and forerunner of the Lord. From an human perspective, he was an absolute failure. His ministry lasted only a year or two and then he was put to death. But in the sight of God he was great.  And you will only find your true purpose in life, only really accomplish anything meaningful in God’s eyes,  as you submit yourself completely and humbly to the service of God above all else.  Your service to Jesus Christ must come first and foremost and everything else must be secondary to that purpose.  You need to commit yourself to the Lord first, and find the place you want to live only as it fits into that commitment to Christ’s ministry.  You need to commit to the Lord first, and then find a wife or husband only as they fit into that commitment to Christ’s ministry.  You need to commit to the Lord first, and then find a job only as it relates to Christ’s ministry.  I know of so many lives that are upside down.  So called Christian men and women who are going to be ashamed on that day when they are called to give an account of their stewardship, because they have subverted Gods’ plan of redemption in their lives to their own plan for a career, for a husband, for a wife, for a business, for a retirement condo in Florida.  We somehow think that grace means that we can do whatever we want and God will be ok with it.  Folks, that is just flat out wrong.  The greatest commandment has never changed one iota; “"You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.” (Duet. 6:5)

So Zacharias, which means remembered by Jehovah, recounts the promises that God remembered which He had given to the fathers.  Vs. 72, “To show mercy toward our fathers, And to remember His holy covenant, The oath which He swore to Abraham our father…” that is the promise of redemption for his people.  Then Zacharias tells what should be our response to this great salvation.  Vs. 74 “To grant us that we, being rescued from the hand of our enemies, Might serve Him without fear, In holiness and righteousness before Him all our days.”  We that are born again of the Spirit, like the name of John indicates, receive grace from Jehovah, and that having received grace we might serve Jehovah.  We can serve Him without fear because we have been redeemed from the condemnation of sin.  This service to the Kingdom is what we were made for.  This is what Christ died for.  That we who were nothing, might become sons and daughters of God, serving with Christ to bring salvation to the world.  That we might declare the name of Jesus;  Jehovah is salvation.

And so we hear Zacharias then say to his newborn son, “You child, “ finally his attention comes to his baby boy, “you child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; For you will go on BEFORE THE LORD TO PREPARE HIS WAYS; To give to His people the knowledge of salvation By the forgiveness of their sins, Because of the tender mercy of our God, With which the Sunrise from on high will visit us, TO SHINE UPON THOSE WHO SIT IN DARKNESS AND THE SHADOW OF DEATH, To guide our feet into the way of peace."

Listen, you may not have been called to be a prophet with a capital P, or a preacher with a capital P, but every child of God has been called to be a preacher in the true sense of the word, a voice proclaiming the gospel of salvation to the world, to your world, the world you live and move in.  To give people the knowledge of salvation, to share with them the good news that there is forgiveness of sins for those that repent.  And every child of God is called to be a light unto the world, shining in a dark place. Phil. 2:15 “so that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life.”

So the question today is not who John the Baptist was.  We have the benefit of history that has answered that question. The question today is who are you?  Where are you in relation to God’s plan?  What is God doing in your life, and through your life?  John the Baptist humbled himself before the plan and purpose of God.  He said regarding Christ, “He must increase, but I must decrease.”  Have you submitted your plans to God’s plans?  Can you say that God’s purposes are your purposes?

1Cor. 1:26 tells us to “consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are, so that no man may boast before God.”

God has given you a name that is written over with His name.  He has redeemed you with the precious blood of Jesus Christ that you might live in righteousness and holiness, serving God with fear of punishment.  He has a plan and a purpose for your life.  I hope that you will not be found in rebellion against the Word of God as Zacharias was and have God chastise you.  I hope that if you are being chastised today for rebellion that you will repent and confess that God’s plan is good and that you will commit to live the life that God has called you to live.

It may not be an easy life.  Verse 80 says that John lived his life in the wilderness until the day of his public appearance to Israel.  More than likely his parents died when he was still fairly young.  He didn’t enjoy all the accomplishments and possessions and refinements of civilizations like the rest of the world.  But in the eyes of God there was no one greater born among women.  Folks, if you know the Lord as your Savior, then you have been born of the Spirit.  How much greater is God’s plan and purpose for your life having been born of the Spirit as opposed to one born of women?  I hope that you will seek to commit your life to live for God and serve him for the rest of your days.  That you will continue to grow strong in spirit, being faithful to perform that which God has called you to do, until God calls you home to be with Him.