HOLY MOMENTS: When God Interrupts Our Lives

Pastor Steven Osborne
Transcribed by DaVinci Resolve 18.6

Types of Interruptions

If you don’t like interruptions, don’t sign up to be a pastor. Your life is full of interruptions, and most of it is good. Not always convenient, right? But it’s interesting and the things that you have to try and say yes to.

There was a… I just signed up to be a volunteer chaplain at the Mayo Clinic in Fairmont, and it was winter, and I got this call from Sherburn, somebody in Sherburn with a nurse hospice, and they wanted me to drive in. So this is like two, three o’clock in the morning and a huge snowstorm. And I was like, man, what an interruption, right? And so you, it’s like, “How can I get out of this?” But pretty important interruption, worthy interruption, to go and be with the family, to get dressed and to go out.

Then you get annoying interruptions, right? Like just last winter we had a lot of snow to entertain ourselves with, right? A little different this year. And so Hailey and myself, we drove out to the Möllers, to their house, and we just started to make snowballs, right? And we just kind of threw it at their windows, and then Christopher and Emma’s there, they’re crying because they think the pastor is breaking their house, right? And so that’s an annoying interruption.

And then our lives are sometimes just full of small interruptions, and we don’t even realize that God is sometimes behind some of these interruptions, and that he wants to use that to teach us something. And sometimes it’s not even to teach us something but it is to make a difference in somebody else’s life. And I’ve been amazed over the years just looking at these, which can be sometimes looks like a frustrating interruption, and then it’s like, “Oh God, you are so good. You’re so good.” Right?

We Are Not In Control

There is a passage, Isaiah 55, says, “‘For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,’ declares the Lord. ‘As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.’” A lot of times I don’t like that because it just reminds me that I’m not in control. But it also gives me peace, and it gives me joy to say, “Okay God, I don’t have everything all clear, I don’t understand the full picture of this, but boy I’m just gonna trust you with this. I’m not sure exactly how this is all gonna play out, but you got this.” Amen?

But it is hard when you’re a planner and when you like to be in control, boy it’s tough when things don’t work out the way that you want them to work out, especially when you’ve planned everything and suddenly there’s an interruption. And it’s like, what do you do? Are you gonna just be stubborn? Are you gonna just stick with this and do your own thing? Are you gonna say, “Okay God, are you in the midst, maybe, of this interruption? Are you busy doing something?”

I had it this week, it was just a profound... in the moment I didn’t think it was a big interruption. Peg invited me to their Wednesday night gathering. So Peg’s got this mentor group, it’s ladies investing in some of our younger ladies, and they had a tea party, and I was way underdressed for this, so I kind of walked in, and there’s like all these fancy teacups, and it’s like, “Why do they want me there?” Right? And so it was Wednesday, I was trying to work on my sermon, and then I called Venessa—Hailey’s got driver’s ed, and it should be right around the time when I needed to go and pick her up—and so I asked Venessa, “Hey, can you go and pick Venessa up? Peg invited me to this tea thing.” And I, you know, was like, “Why even show up?” I was like, “I don’t know why they need me.” And so in any case I said yes. And so I showed up, and it was such a beautiful moment. The Holy Spirit was so present in just that moment, and I was able to ask them some questions, and just to hear what God’s been doing in their lives through these mentors, and how the mentees have been impacted, and how the mentors have been impacted, but I was just sitting there, and I was even sharing the story with my SAGE group the next day. There was just something that impacted my life, and I almost missed it just because of my busy schedule. And it’s like, “God, you are so good, I’m so impressed with how you’re working in the lives of these women.” And it truly impacted me.

Interrupting a “Normal” Life

Craig Groeschel reminds us, he says, “What feels like our worst interruptions may actually be God’s greatest invitation.” Can I hear an amen? It is easy to feel, “Oh my life is so normal.” And it’s kind of just a day-to-day boring stuff and just the day-to-day craziness of raising kids—right?—changing diapers, that doesn’t seem very exciting, and that can be overwhelming. You know, dealing with toddlers, talk about interruptions, like, man, I remember just Hailey as a two/three-year-old, and it’s like all that “Why?” questions, right? And it’s like, “Oh dad, come watch here!” You’re just busy doing something. “Dad, dad, dad, dad,” always wanted to show something, so talk about interruptions. And yet, sometimes in those normal moments, God can do something incredible in our lives. And it’s really my encouragement to you, even though you might feel today that your life feels so normal. It’s like, “God, what are you doing?” We just don’t know how he might show up and interrupt our lives in this month, in this year, in the next two years, because he’s always at work.

One of my favorite theologians and just author, Paul Tripp, says:

You and I don’t live in a series of big dramatic moments. We don’t careen from big decisions to big decisions. We all live in an endless series of little moments. The character of a life isn’t set in ten big moments. The character of life is set in ten thousand little moments of everyday life. It is the themes of struggles that emerge from those little moments that reveal what’s really going on in our hearts.

Isn’t that beautiful? Right? Most of us don’t have these major life events. But it is, it’s paying attention to the little interruptions in our lives that might be shaping us, that God might be using to develop faith and character in our lives.

Examples from Scripture

And scripture is actually full of these examples of interruptions. Just think about Abram and Sarah. God interrupted their lives by promising them a son in their old age, Isaac, through whom the covenant would be fulfilled. I’m so glad they said yes in their old age, right? I’m not in my old age, I’m still very much a teenager at heart. I don’t always feel like that in the mornings when I roll out of bed. But it’s like in their old age, imagining have a kid in your old age, right? And this journey that the Lord had them on, it’s amazing. And we benefit from their interruption, right?

Let’s continue. Joseph. God interrupted Joseph’s life through dreams which eventually led to his rise to power in Egypt and the preservation of his family during a famine. Interruption.

David. God interrupted David’s life as a shepherd, anointing him through the prophet Samuel to become the future king of Israel. And again, it’s just like, in our minds, it’s like small. David is just out in the field, had no idea a prophet is on his way to anoint him as king, no idea how his life would change and how God would use his life.

Peter. Peter’s life was interrupted when Jesus called him to be a fisher of men. It’s just one day you’re fishing, life is good, right? On Lake Superior, Sea of Galilee, you’re living the dream. And then Jesus shows up. He says, “Follow me. Follow me.” It’s like, “But Jesus, I’m busy here.” He’s like, “Here’s my boat, my net. I’ve got this whole thing planned out.” And then Jesus is like, “Hey, follow me.” And Peter became a key leader in the early Christian church.

How about Moses? Man, he had it all figured out. He was living the dream in the palace. And then God had other plans for him after he had to leave Egypt in Exodus chapter three, look at this, “Now Moses was tending the flock.” There’s something about being a shepherd, being with sheep. I wanna encourage all of us to go and get sheep after this service, right? It’s like, it’s a special anointing.

Now, Moses was standing in the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire, it did not burn up. So Moses thought, “Well, I will go over and see this strange sight—why the bush does not burn up.”

Just tending sheep. Normal day. And then God shows up and invites him to this amazing purpose of leading his people to deliverance, leading his people out of Egypt. Who’d have imagined? There was no way that Moses woke up that morning and said, “Oh, I’m going to experience a burning bush. God is going to show up and then he’s gonna put this huge task in my life.” And obviously that was overwhelming. He’s like, “God, I can’t do it. I can’t even speak. Call my… you know, call Aaron.” But normal morning tending sheep.

God Interrupts the Shepherds

Now we get to our message this morning. If you have your Bible with you, I want to just show you again a normal evening. Luke chapter 2, we’ll read from verse 8.

And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the 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 the baby wrapped in cloths and laying in a manger.

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 on whom his favor rests. When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.” So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph and the baby who was laying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.

May God continue to bless his Word.

I had the opportunity now twice to go out to Bethlehem and to be in that Shepherds’ Field area, and I actually showed an image to the SAGE group—there is absolutely nothing special about that area. It’s actually, at least in their dry season, it’s quite ugly. And you think about these shepherds just doing their thing, just a normal day again. I mean, it is not a real exciting job, right? I can imagine, if you’re lazy and you don’t really want to be challenged, you say, “Man, sign me up to be a shepherd boy.” Now, you all know the stories that shepherds were really disliked in biblical culture, and wasn’t very smart, and they were really banned from religious rituals, right? They were seen as unclean. All the stories about you can’t trust them, and so that’s kind of their life. For most of us, we won’t make a big thing about shepherds, right? It’s like, as somebody you probably want to ignore, there’s probably many shepherds in our lives that we meet in our day-to-day life. And so it’s just kind of, that was my… the shepherd that’s in our lives, that people… that it’s so easy to overlook, and to forget that God’s got a plan and a dream for their lives as well. That he’s at work in their lives. God’s at work in your life.

You might even just be sitting here this morning and feel like, “Man, nobody sees me. Does my life actually count? Is there a purpose for my life?” And I want to just remind you this morning, yes, there is. You might feel like a shepherd this morning. You might feel like an outcast, and like, “Nobody cares.” And then, as they were just looking after their sheep—there’s some commentaries tell us that maybe that it was a season where there was gonna be lambs. That was maybe a busy time, they’re waiting for the sheep to give birth. It was an important time to make sure that they’re there to protect the little ones, that there’s not, you know, wild animals that will come and eat these things. And so they’re just sitting out there probably by a campfire, not expecting this huge, big, amazing interruption. And the next thing, there’s an angel, and it’s giving them this great, wonderful news. And then there’s the invitations like, “Man, go, go and see. Go and see,” right? And you can just… as I was standing in that field there in Shepherds’ Field, and just kind of pondering the night and what it all looked like, and here you have the angel, and he’s giving them the message about Jesus—he’s giving them actually the gospel message, when you go and look in the Greek there. And then, that’s not also, then they’re all freaked out. We can’t blame them. And then the next thing, there’s a host of angels. A host of angels. I wonder what the sky looked like that evening as they were sitting out there. I mean now, Jerusalem is pretty close by, it’s five, ten miles away from that specific area. Pretty close, right? And so Jerusalem is huge, and Bethlehem is a pretty busy, active town. But back then, maybe three, four hundred people in this little village, and so just quiet, you don’t have all of the light pollution, and you’re in the fields, and here’s first of all an angel, it’s like, “Man, I thought this was just going to be a normal night, a normal day, and here’s an angel.” It’s like, “Can you believe that?” But then that’s not the end. Suddenly there’s this host of angels, and praising, and declaring this amazing news of the birth of our Savior.

Easy to kind of just read through that, but let that just hit your heart this morning as we think about this amazing news. The heaven is all excited about all of the prophecies, all of life’s purpose, everything that God has planned for the Messiah, for the Savior, suddenly it’s now at the heart, here it is, everything is gonna change. Our lives will never be the same again, and so you can imagine that heaven was praising for what was happening in that moment. I have seen some amazing choirs in my life, beautiful choirs, different things on TV, and things, and it’s like—but I don’t think anything could beat that moment of that angels. And you can just imagine the light. I wish we had a photo of that moment. High-definition photo of that moment.

And then they make this decision—I don’t know if they’re just leaving everything behind, but it doesn’t tell us that they’re taking all of their sheep with them—and so again here’s their priority, this is their day-to-day job. The reason that they’re in their fields there is to look after these sheep, and maybe little ones coming, and some of the excitement and their responsibility, and there’s an angel saying, “Hey, go and see,” and for somehow for them to trust this angel to say, “We are willing to leave everything behind. We don’t know if there will be sheep when we get back.”

And again, story after story, we see that God, sometimes in normal moments, interrupts our lives, and He says, “Follow Me. Come and see.” And in that moment we have a big decision: Are we going to allow Him to interrupt our lives? It’s like, “God, I’ve got it all figured out. I’m very comfortable right now. I am just staying in this field.” I have wondered—we don’t know, right?—how many shepherds exactly were there. Was there some shepherds there that stayed? That didn’t go? I don’t know. But you can imagine them staying behind and then hearing later on this incredible sight that they missed—the birth of Jesus Christ. I’ve wondered in my own life with interruptions sometimes where I have said no to God’s interruptions. It’s like, what did I miss out on?

The Divine Purpose

Every time that there’s a divine interruption in our lives, we gotta know that there’s a divine purpose. God may interrupt our lives to fulfill a higher divine purpose. God’s plans are always higher and bigger, and most of the time there’s other people involved in the bigger scheme of things too. So when we say yes to divine interruptions, we never know how God might be using this interruption to impact other people as well.

God is giving us an open invitation to join forces with Him. It’s not just about hearing something; it’s about being part of something big that God is doing. I believe with all of my heart that God is calling all of us—on an individual level and as a corporate level, as a church—God is interrupting us, calling us to godly interruptions to be part of something big. And will we go, and will we say yes?

Building Faith

Here’s what I know, kind of when it comes to divine interruptions: God may interrupt our lives to strengthen our faith. Uncertainties and challenges often require us to rely on God’s guidance. The shepherds had to trust, say, “Okay we’re gonna leave the sheep, we don’t know if they’re gonna be there.” David had to trust. Esther had to trust. Moses had to trust. It will always call us to a sense of faith. We cannot do this Christian journey, this Christian walk, without a measure of faith, really giving over trusting God’s journey and plans for our lives. God’s interruptions will always require faith, surrender, and action. There’s absolutely no way around it. Faith, surrender and action. I wonder for all of us this Advent season, where is God calling us to an area of faith? Where is God calling us to an area to surrender and to action?

Share What God is Doing

And then it closes. I like this image of just the shepherds—their whole night was interrupted, and they experienced this amazing miracle, and the angels, and here’s Jesus—I’m sure that they didn’t even really have the revelation of exactly what was all going on. Maybe they did, I don’t know. But they believed, and then they went out and they shared what they have experienced with great joy. And again, even this morning and this Advent season with maybe different interruptions, different things that’s going into our lives, God is calling us again to just to believe Him, to have faith in Him, to come and see, to trust Him, to surrender. And He’s always faithful. Always faithful. And then here’s the big call on our lives even this Advent season is to go and to share what God has been doing in our lives. The shepherds didn’t stay quiet. The angels didn’t stay quiet. They went out (the shepherds) and they shared what they experienced. I always so appreciate it when there’s new believers in a church, when there’s somebody that just gave their life to Christ, you know, they are people that are very passionate to share the gospel. That’s something I really enjoyed teaching at Minnesota Teen Challenge, because here you have guys that are being set free, they’re being delivered, they’re experiencing the power of the gospel and what Jesus Christ did in their lives, and just every opportunity that they get to share the gospel, they do it. And then, you know, just like most of us sometimes when we have been in church for a long time, and it’s kind been in church for a long time and it’s kind of getting old news, we somehow lose our passion and our excitement to share the incredible story of the gospel. May we stay excited this Advent season to just again declare God’s goodness, to declare the beauty of this wonderful and amazing Advent season. Amen?