Sermons
Pregnant with the Word
Matthew 1:18-25
INTRODUCTION
I have always been intrigued and amazed by the stories of women who are in the throes of labor, and the birth of the child is so immanent that they don't make it to the hospital. I heard about a six-year-old boy who helped his mother deliver her baby in the living-room floor. I've heard many accounts of police officers delivering babies in cars. I have even heard of babies being born in elevators, bathrooms, bedrooms and kitchens.
As on operating room technician in the Air Force, I have seen many babies born, including all my own children. To be so far along in the labor process that the baby says, in effect, "Look out world here I come," is an amazing sight. When the conception has been successful, and the unborn infant has been carefully nurtured, we can usually expect the delivery of a healthy baby. I say usually, because my own mother lost her first baby seven months into the pregnancy, and I know that there are parents here who have lost a child. Still, conception, pregnancy and delivery are part and parcel of the human existence.
In our text we see that Mary was pregnant, but it wasn't a normal pregnancy. She had never been with a man in any sexual situation, but she was pregnant. She was a virgin engaged to be married yet she had never been with the man who would be her husband, but she was pregnant. Now I have known of women or teenagers who have been by a man and didn't know they were pregnant. But Mary knew she was pregnant and also knew she had never been with a man. This was something altogether different.
We are told that the child was conceived within her by the power of the Holy Spirit. This was a special pregnancy for a special reason, to give birth to a special person. Who, or what was this that she carried in her womb? The angel told Joseph in a dream that this child was the product of the Holy Spirit at work in the life of his fiance. Furthermore, the child that she would bear would be the savior of his people from their sins. This is that which was prophesied by the prophet Isaiah who said, "The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel"-which means, "God with us."
Then in John's Gospel this child is identified further as The Word. "The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth."
Now I know that the birth of Christ was a unique one-time event in the course of human history. However, I also believe that it is God's will that every believer become pregnant with the Word and that the fruit of that conception be ready to burst forth from our lives on a regular basis.
I) THE WORD IS CONCEIVED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT
The baby that was conceived in the womb of Mary was the work of the Holy Spirit in bringing Divinity into humanity. It was not the work of the flesh, it was not the initiative of man, it was a work of the Spirit in the life and times of humanity.
Jesus is the Word made flesh, He was the incarnation of God into flesh. But the Bible, God’s Word, is also the conception of the Spirit in the written form. The Apostle Peter writes, “For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost†(2 Peter 1:21). Likewise, Paul writes to Timothy, “All Scripture is given by the inspiration of God . . .†(2 Tim. 3:16).
So the Word became flesh by the work of the Holy Spirit. The Word of God came in spoken form by the prophets of God as the Holy Spirit moved them. And the Word was penned in Scripture through the inspiration of God. But there is one more thing, the Word of God, when it is preached, is attended by the Holy Spirit who insures that it does not come back void, but accomplishes what God has purposed.
The Word of God is the seed that the Holy Spirit seeks to plant in the hearts and lives of man so that God can bring forth a harvest of Christlikeness in His Church. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word. He sent His Word and He healed them. Thy Word, is more precious than gold, yea, than much fine gold.
God’s Word seeks the fertile soil in order to bring forth a bountiful harvest. But it isn’t the persuasive power of man, or the talents and education of the preacher, that bring forth the conception of the seed into full-blown Word. It is the Holy Spirit that convicts and convinces men of sin. It is the Holy Spirit that takes the Word of God, whether it is the declared Word, or the written Word, and upon finding the receptive heart begins the process of conception, growth and birth. What went in as logos, as the Word found in the Written and revealed record of God, germinates within our soul until one day that logos produces rhema.
Now let me stop and tell you the difference between logos and rhema. There are some that make a big distinction and elevate rhema as though it some magical formula for health and wealth. The truth is that both words (logos and rhema) can be translated simply as, “word.†Furthermore, these two words are used interchangeably in Scripture as virtually synonymous. However, a close study in the Greek reveals a subtle difference, and this difference is significant.
The logos is the revealed Word of God as we have it in the life of Christ and in the written record that predicts His life and records His life. The whole Bible is about God in Christ reconciling the World to Himself. And everything we teach and believe is based upon the logos.
The rhema, however, is more personal and individual. It is the Word of God speaking directly to our situation, giving us direction as a specific person. For example, when the Word of God says, “Ask and ye shall receive.†That is logos, that is the Word of God giving all believers the invitation to ask God for the things we have need of. Rhema, however, is the Word that takes the logos and drives it home to the realization that God’s not just speaking in general terms, this is God’s invitation to ME to ask Him for the things I have need of. It is a subtle shift, but it is an important one.
It is one thing to say “Amen,†every time the pastor preaches on the topic of personal witnessing, but it is something else altogether when that logos becomes rhema and you hear God speaking to you about that person in the office that you’ve never shared the good news with. The logos is the seed that the Holy Spirit uses to produce the conception of rhema within us. And rhema, when allowed to mature to full-term, will come forth in the works of righteousness.
In order to become pregnant with the Word we have to have the logos and the Spirit, and we must be receptive to what God wants to give birth to in our lives.
II) BIRTHING COMES THROUGH SUFFERING
Now I spoke about women who gave birth before reaching a comfortable place. Jesus, for example, was born in a manger, a stable for animals. However, even when the process happens suddenly, I know from observation that giving birth is a painful process. There is a little something called “labor.†It is a process that causes suffering, often tears, or screams. My office in the operating room suite was across the hall from the delivery room and almost every day I would hear women screaming in pain as they pushed the baby out of the womb and into the world.
I remember holding my wife’s hand during the birth of each of our three children and her fingernails dug into the back of my hand with every contraction. I stood there feeling guilty. I felt bad for her having to go through this process to give birth to our child. But I couldn’t do it for her. This was a role that only she could fulfill.
In our Christian walk we have been forewarned. In the world ye shall have tribulation. They that live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. Jesus said, “If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you.†Giving birth to the Word made flesh, giving birth to the ministry into which God is thrusting you, pushing out the miracle that God intends for you to be, is painful. Sometimes we cry. Sometimes we scream. Sometimes we complain. Sometimes we hurt the ones who are trying to hold our hand. But if we will allow the logos and the Spirit to continue to work in us, the urge to push will become almost overwhelming and though it come through much pain and difficulty, we will determine to give birth the rhema that will form us and direct us in our walk as a disciple of Christ. And no one else can do it for us.
To this point in the process, in order to prevent a miscarriage of the rhema that has been conceived within us, we will have pay attention to what God wants to do in us. When my wife was pregnant she had to give up some things she liked. She had to stop drinking coffee, and she had to adjust her diet and lifestyle, so that nothing she did would harm the baby. And frankly, that’s the way it is with Word. We must tend to the Word. We must be willing to give up anything contrary to the Word. We must be willing to adjust our lifestyle, if necessary, to insure the birth in our life of new life.
III) PUSH OUT THE MIRACLE
What is it that the Word gives birth to? What does rhema look like when it is birthed in us? It looks like a new life. It looks like a life that is living in harmony with the will of God. It looks like the life which produced the conception. For example, a grain of corn gives birth to corn. One grain of wheat produces one plant that has thousands of grains of wheat. Word gives birth to more Word. When we are pregnant with the Word we will give birth to Word.
Let me explain the process. We came to church and the Spirit planted the Word in our spirit. That Word gave birth to a new life, we were Born Again, we not longer live, but the life that we now live, we live in Christ Jesus. It is Christ in us, the hope of glory. Then we, in turn, take Word and speak it into the lives of others. In the marketplace, in the workplace, in the school, in our home, everywhere we go, we are now people of the Word and the harvest of that one conception of Word within us, gives birth to Word in the lives of others that we come in contact with.
God doesn’t want the harvest to die with us. God doesn’t want the harvest to die with this generation, but God wants us to continue the process, to plant the seed, to water the seed, and to insure the harvest in the next generation so that when the Son of man returns, He will find faith.
I was the family namesake. My grandmother gave birth to two sons and a daughter. My uncle and my father each had one son and a daughter that lived. My cousin had three daughters and called it quits. Then there was me.
If the Hardgrove line of my grandfather Henry Hardgrove, Sr. was to continue, it was up to me. My grandmother was always anxious to know if I was dating. When I was going to get married. And then, when I planned to have children. My first child was my oldest son Timothy. He was nine months old when she died and we had not yet been able to visit her, so she died without having ever held in her arms the family namesake. When we went to Indiana for the funeral I found Timothy’s baby picture on her table. I was told me that grandma showed it to everyone who came to her house.
CONCLUSION
God is depending on you, and upon me, to produce Word in the lives of others��"our children, our friends, our neighbors, our workmates and everyone we have the opportunity to talk to. If God’s Word found fertile soil in your spirit, then it is time for you to give birth to Word through your life. We ought to walking around like a woman about to give birth at any moment. It may be in a taxi that we’re witnessing to a stranger, but what they didn’t know was that we are full-term and about push out Word. It may be in an elevator, it may be waiting in line at Wal-Mart, it may be sitting on the bleachers watching our children play ball, but wherever we are, we are pregnant with the Word and we’re in labor so that when we open our mouths the Word that brings life goes forth in the power and demonstration of the Holy Spirit.
What about it? Are you pregnant today? Are you someone God can count on to provide His namesake? Can you feel the pangs of birth when you are talking with a sinner? Can you feel the urge to push out a miracle and touch the lives of others? Or has your life been barren too long? Maybe there need to be a conception of Word by the power of the Spirit in your life. Maybe you need to yield to what the Spirit wants to do in you right now.