Notes
So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!”
2 Corinthians 5:20
God speaks into us so that we can speak to others on His behalf. He wants us to be blessings to others - we have the answer to the world’s problems! Elizabeth was the mother of John the Baptist, the forerunner of Jesus. She became a solution to the world because she was blessable. In order for us to be God’s ambassadors, there are three things we need to learn to do:
1) Learn to believe God over the world around you
While Zechariah was in the sanctuary, an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing to the right of the incense altar. Zechariah was shaken and overwhelmed with fear when he saw him. But the angel said, “Don’t be afraid, Zechariah! God has heard your prayer. Your wife, Elizabeth, will give you a son, and you are to name him John. You will have great joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, for he will be great in the eyes of the Lord…
Luke 1:11-15a
When Zechariah’s week of service in the Temple was over, he returned home. Soon afterward his wife, Elizabeth, became pregnant and went into seclusion for five months. “How kind the Lord is!” she exclaimed. “He has taken away my disgrace of having no children.” … What’s more, your relative Elizabeth has become pregnant in her old age! People used to say she was barren, but she has conceived a son and is now in her sixth month. For the word of God will never fail
Luke 1:23-25, 36-37
In their society, Elizabeth was seen as a disgrace because she was old and had not had a child. She might have been talked about or made fun of, and people may have thought she had done something to deserve the disgrace she felt. But regardless of what her culture said, Elizabeth kept on believing that God was for her.
Many people think that God can’t use them because of something they have done in their past. But God is into transformation! He saves us so He can call us to a purpose greater than ourselves. Our past is something God can build upon, and we can use our pasts to grow and help others to grow, but He doesn’t use it against us.
2) Learn to celebrate that God is using others
A few days later Mary hurried to the hill country of Judea, to the town where Zechariah lived. She entered the house and greeted Elizabeth. At the sound of Mary’s greeting, Elizabeth’s child leaped within her, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.
Elizabeth gave a glad cry and exclaimed to Mary, “God has blessed you above all women, and your child is blessed. Why am I so honored, that the mother of my Lord should visit me? When I heard your greeting, the baby in my womb jumped for joy. You are blessed because you believed that the Lord would do what he said.”
Luke 1:39-45
What leaps inside of you when someone else receives a blessing? It would’ve been understandable for Elizabeth to be annoyed with Mary - here was this teenager early in her pregnancy, and who was about to give birth to the Messiah,, when Elizabeth was an older woman entering her third trimester. And even though Mary had a blessing that could be perceived as greater, instead of being jealous, Elizabeth celebrated!
Don’t get so focused on someone else’s gift that you miss your own. Jealousy is a blessing-blocker. The Church should celebrate each other’s victories, and lift each other up.
3) Learn to share what you have
Mary stayed with Elizabeth about three months and then went back to her own home.
Luke 1:56
Sharing what we have instead of worrying about what we don’t have gives us a mindset shift. Elizabeth was a solution because she was willing to share. Sometimes we get too busy hoarding or holding on to what we have been given. But living life with a generous hand opens us up to receive God’s blessings.
Group Questions
- What does it mean that Christians are God’s ambassadors?
- Who are some people from the Bible who God used despite their pasts?
- Why is jealousy dangerous?
- What does it look like to share the gifts we have been given?
Prayer
Thank you for blessing us so that we can be blessings. It is your love that transforms us so that we can be a part of your plan.