Luke 1:26-45 Looking Forward to Christmas
Some 8 year old children were asked what love is: These were some of their responses.
"Love is when your puppy licks your face
even after you left him alone all day."
"When someone loves you, the way they say your name is different. You know
that your name is safe in their mouth."
"When you love somebody, your eyelashes go up and down and little stars
come out of you."
"You really shouldn't say 'I love you' unless you mean it. But if you mean
it, you should say it a lot. People forget."
“Love is what’s in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening presents and listen”
This morning I want us to stop and listen and
consider three lessons we can learn about love from Mary, the mother of Jesus
Christ, found in Luke 1:26-38.
1. No matter who you are, the Lord can use you
“In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God
sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, 27 to a
virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The
virgin’s name was Mary.” (Luke 1:26-27)
Remember the last time you filled out a job application? You listed your education, your skills, your work experience. Then you hit the final question: “What is it that makes you uniquely qualified for this position?” How do you answer without appearing arrogant? Employers assume your availability, but what they really want to know about is your liabilities. Most employers hire on the basis of competence. They look at your skill set and maybe your personality type. Only the enlightened ones care much about your character. But God doesn’t operate this way. Mary teaches us God is not as interested in your abilities as He is in your availability. No matter who you are, God can use you. Luke 1:26-27 describe an ordinary girl with some serious liabilities:
Mary
was young
She was pledged to be married. At that time, it was customary for girls to be
engaged at 12-13 years of age (around the time of reaching puberty). One reason
was to ensure girls maintained their virginity until marriage. It’s very
possible that Mary could have been as young as 12-13, or as old as 16 when
Gabriel visited her. You and I might think this girl is too young for God to
use her, but apparently God didn’t think so.
Mary was poor
We read Luke 2:22-24 that Mary and Joseph took baby Jesus to the temple to be
circumcised. They were required to bring one of two offerings: either a lamb
for a burnt offering and a dove or a pigeon for a sin offering. If a lamb was
too expensive, the parents could bring a second dove or pigeon instead.
Mary and Joseph brought the two doves, because they couldn’t afford a lamb. You and I might have thought this family is too poor to provide for Jesus but apparently God didn’t think so. Mary was young, and poor.
Mary was from Nazareth
Apparently, Mary was a young girl from the wrong side of the tracks. Nazareth
was a town with a bad reputation. Remember what Nathanael said when He learned
Jesus from Nazareth? “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” (John 1:46) No
telling what this girl grew up seeing and hearing and doing in a rough
community like that. Apparently, God didn’t take this into consideration in
choosing Mary to be mother to His Son.
Mary was young, poor, and from Nazareth—all characteristics make her seem
unusable by God. But God chose Mary for one of the most important jobs He ever
asked anyone to do. Through God’s choice of Mary, He teaches us: no matter who
you are, the Lord can use you.
You might think you are too young, that you don’t have enough money or talent
for God to use you. You might think your background or past mistakes might make
it impossible for God to use you. Don’t limit God. He can use you if you trust
Him. Out of all the queens, princesses, daughters of the wealthy and
influential, God chose a poor teenager from a town with a bad reputation to be
the mother of Jesus. She had two vital characteristics God looks for: humility
and faith.
She
knew she wasn’t worthy of the honour God offered her. Yet she was willing and
available if God could use her. Do you believe God can use you? Or do you think
you’re too small—too young, too poor, too weak to be used by Him? Mary teaches
us no matter who you are, God can use you. She also teaches us:
2. No matter what problems you face, the Lord is with you
The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.” 29 Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. 30 But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. 31 You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.” (Luke 1:28-33)
There are some thing you just don’t want to go through alone. Christmas, for instance. I don’t know of anybody who likes to spend Christmas all by themselves. I’m sure there are some, but most of us want to be share the celebration with people near and dear to us. We don’t like to go through trouble alone, either. If you get sick with nobody to sit up with you or comfort you, you’ll probably be more miserable. When you lose your job, or your spouse or your child, you need somebody with you to help you make it through. Mary teaches us that no matter what problems you face, the Lord is with you. The angel says “Do not be afraid.” (Luke 1:30) But we wouldn’t blame Mary if she were afraid. Imagine the fears she might experience as a result of her pregnancy:
Divorce by Joseph
Joseph at first assumes that Mary has been unfaithful to him. What else would he have thought? He decided to divorce her (which, according to their law, was necessary to end the engagement). Then he is told in a dream that Mary’s baby was, in fact, conceived by the Holy Spirit. But right now, Mary doesn’t know how all of that will work out. But she does know God will be with her, whatever Joseph does.
Rejection by her family
Did Mary’s family believe her story that the baby growing inside her was the Son of God? Would you believe that if your daughter told you that story? We are never told anything about Mary’s parents’ reaction to her pregnancy. But it’s very possible that they didn’t believe her story. Imagine the gossip that must have circulated Nazareth. The people of Nazareth would have accused her of adultery—a sin that was not looked on lightly as it is today. It’s likely that Mary was shunned by those who had once been her family and friends. But Mary believes God is with her, even if those closest to her abandon her.
Death by stoning
According to the law, this was the penalty for adultery. By New Testament times
stoning was rare, but it was still a possibility. The message from the angel
totally changed Mary’s life. She was getting ready to be married and live a
normal life. But now her life would be anything but normal. How could she be
calm and courageous as she faced all of the problems that her pregnancy might
cause? She would cling to the words the angel spoke “The Lord is with you.” (Luke
1:28)
The Lord would indeed be with her. He would help her. He would give her the strength and courage to face anything. That no matter what problems you face, the Lord is with you. Mary faced the possibility of rejection from Joseph, from her family, and her community and even the possibility of being stoned, but she knew that the Lord would never abandon her.
One of the titles given to Jesus was “Immanuel,” which means “God with us.” One
of the great themes of the Old Testament is the concept of God living with His
people. Jesus is our Immanuel. He is “God with us.” Ingrid Trobisch writes “If
we can live one day with Jesus, we can live every day with Him, each one as it
comes.” Immanuel, a name for Christ, means "God with us." Human life
was meant to be dynamic. We are meant to be God-inhabited. Jesus came to make
God’s presence a conscious, living reality in your life. Whatever problems you
are facing right now--whatever worries and fears are harassing your
heart--don’t let them discourage you. No matter what your problems, the Lord is
with you. Give your problems to Him and trust Him to work them out, and He
will, just as surely as He worked them all out for Mary. Two lessons from Mary:
First: No matter who you are, God can use you. Second: No matter what problems
you face, God is with you. There’s one more lesson:
3. No matter what the Lord promises, he will do it
“How will this
be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?” 35 The angel
answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High
will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.
36 Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old
age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. 37
For no word from God will ever fail.” 38 “I am the Lord’s servant,”
Mary answered. “May it be to me according to your word.” Then the angel left
her.” (Luke 1:34-38)
The Bible records several instances where there was not a “normal birth.” God sent a son to Abraham and Sarah long after they thought having a baby was possible. In Judges 13, an angel of the Lord told Manoah and his barren wife that they would have a special son they would name Samson.
Samuel, the first prophet, final judge, and anointer of kings was the answer to the faithful, persevering prayers of his godly mother, Hannah. John the Baptist’s mother, Elizabeth, was in her sixties or seventies when she gave birth to the prophet. But none of those special births was as amazing as the birth of Jesus Christ. His birth was the result of a supernatural conception. When we talk about the virgin birth we mean that Jesus was conceived in the womb of His mother Mary by a miraculous work of the Holy Spirit and without a human father.
Now that doesn’t sound any more normal or possible back then than it does today. So lets address the question some ask today: Why is the virgin birth so important? In yesterday’s Times newspaper, the Archbishop of Canterbury is reported as saying, “he was not too fussed with the literal truth of the … Virgin Birth. But as time went on he developed a “deeper sense” of what the Virgin Birth was all about.”
The two are not mutually exclusive. The “deeper sense” follows from meditating on the “literal truth” You can’t have one without the other. Why is the virgin birth so important? Because it shows,
Salvation is God’s sovereign initiative
The virgin birth of Christ is an unmistakable reminder that salvation is the work of God Himself. Our salvation only comes about through the supernatural work of God, and this is his sovereign initiative. And this is evident at the very beginning of Jesus’ life when He was conceived by the Holy Spirit, not by a man.
Salvation is possible because Jesus is God and Man
Jesus was both fully human and fully divine. He had to be in order to be our Saviour. He had to be human because only a human being like us could be a ransom sacrifice to pay the price for our sins; He had to be divine because only God is perfect enough to pay for our sins and not his own. In other words, through the virgin birth Jesus is revealed to be both the Son of God, and the Son of Man.
Salvation is possible because Jesus is our Saviour
The virgin birth therefore reveals that Jesus Christ is qualified to be our Saviour. He laid aside his majesty to freely choose to be born a human being. Think about it: “To get ready for Christmas, God undressed. God stripped off his finery and appeared –naked on the day he was born.”
The
virgin birth of Christ is tied both to who He is and what He came to do. As Man
alone, Jesus could not have saved us – he would have deserved to die for his
own sin; as God alone he would not have been able to. Incarnate, son of Man,
son of God, he could and did. The virgin birth shows that salvation is God’s
sovereign initiative, that Jesus is divine, that Jesus is our saviour. Now lets
look at Mary’s reaction: “I am the Lord’s
servant,” Mary answered. “May it be to me according to your word.” Then the
angel left her.” (Luke 1:38)
Even though the angel’s news was unbelievable, she believed it. Mary didn’t understand it, but she also didn’t doubt it. She believed that no matter what He has promised, the Lord could do it. All these centuries later, Jesus’ miraculous conception hasn’t got any easier to understand. God chose not to reveal the scientific details to us. The real issue is not whether a virgin can conceive; the real issue is whether anything is impossible for God. Mary knew that a virgin birth is impossible, but she also believed that “nothing is impossible with God.” Whatever God promises, He delivers. No matter what He promises, He will do it. What promises of God are you tempted to doubt? The same Lord makes that same promise to you as he did to Mary.
“The LORD is on my side; I will not fear. What can man do to me?” (Psalm 118:6)
“For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” (Hebrews
13:5)
Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?” (John 11:25-26)
The Apostle John wrote, “This is the confidence
we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he
hears us. 15 And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know
that we have what we asked of him.” (1 John 5:14-15)
Do you ever read promises like these and say, “Yes right. But not for me, not
now, not after all I’ve done.” But those promises are made by God. It doesn’t
matter how impossible they seem—there is nothing, nothing, nothing impossible
with God. Whatever He promises, He always does, without fail. Our response must
be the same as Mary’s, “May it be to me according to your word.” (Luke 1:38)
Mary may have been very young. She may have been quite poor. She may have come
from a rough community.
As we close and summarise, there are four things we can learn from Mary.
Mary surrendered her life to God
Mary did not take thought of the difficulties and inconveniences that would come
her way as she would be with child out of wedlock and then giving birth to the
Messiah.
Being already engaged to Joseph, I’m sure that she already had her own dreams, goals and wishes for her own life. But, Mary was willing to lay aside what she willed for her life to surrender to what God had planned for her life - “I am the Lord’s servant. May it be to me according to your word.” (Luke 1:38)
Mary Praised Almighty God
Her words overflow with reverence and adoration or loving worship for God.
God’s name was precious and sacred - “the Mighty One has done great things for
me, holy is His name.” (Luke 1:49)
Mary memorised the Word of God
Now we come to a characteristic that may explain why Mary possessed faith,
godly reverence and a willingness to surrender herself to the Lord - Mary knew
the Scriptures. Not only did she know of the promises made to the Jewish
“fathers” or Patriarchs (Luke 1:55), but she actually quotes word-for-word from
Psalms 103 & 107. Mary knew the Scriptures, reverenced the Scriptures,
quoted the Scriptures. She memorized portions of the Scriptures which, no
doubt, shaped her inward and outward life.
Mary knew she needed a Saviour from God
Some churches teach that Mary was born sinless. Mary knew otherwise. She knew
her need for salvation.
In her song to Elizabeth, Mary sings, “My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour” (Luke 1:47). Mary’s child was her Saviour and ours. As Jesus said, "For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost." (Luke 19:10). The baby boy she would deliver on that 1st Christmas would one day on the cross deliver her. Mary knew she needed a saviour. Can you speak of Jesus as ‘my Saviour’? You cannot unless you recognise you need a saviour from God. You cannot unless you confess Jesus to be the Son of God. You cannot unless you surrender to the will of God. And there is no better time to find your Saviour than Christmas when he came to find you. We don’t know what Jesus learned from His mother. We don’t know the impact of her life on His, but God has left the record of what this young mother named Mary can teach you and I:
No matter who you are, the Lord can use you.
No matter what problems you face, the Lord is with you.
No matter what He has promised, the Lord can do it.
This Christmas, when you are opening your presents, stop and listen. Love is in the room.
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With grateful thanks to T. Michael Crews, Scott Coltrain, Jonathan McLeod and Chuck Swindoll for some of the ideas and illustrations used in this sermon