The following is an uncorrected transcript generated by a transcription service. Before quoting in print, please check the corresponding audio for accuracy.
00:01 And what an emotional roller coaster that period of nine months from the time
00:06 the angel first appeared to her with news that would change her life forever
00:12 up until the time that she gave birth to the son that the angel had promised. And then when the shepherds came proclaiming
00:20 a message they had heard from an angel that reconfirmed what the angel nine months earlier had told Mary that her
00:26 newborn son is the Messiah. the Savior, the Lord.
00:33 What an eventful, lifechanging, faithfilled nine months that had been
00:39 for Mary. No wonder that after the shepherds left that Mary paused to reflect on, to
00:47 ponder on all that she had seen and heard and experienced, not only on that
00:53 day and night, but also in the previous nine months. Now, as she meditated and
00:59 thought on these things, she treasured all these memories.
01:04 And undoubtedly, as she was thinking about these things, she was wondering what this would mean for her, for her
01:12 husband, for her son in the future, in the days, months, and years to come.
01:18 Luke records that after the shepherd's visit that Mary treasured up all these
01:23 things and pondered them in her heart. No doubt these past nine months for Mary
01:30 had truly been an emotional roller coaster with its ups and downs. She had
01:36 felt fear when the angel first appeared to her and probably also fear when she
01:42 was trying to decide how do I tell my parents? How do I tell my fiance that
01:49 I'm pregnant? She also experienced exuberant joy as
01:54 she realized how blessed she was that God had chosen her to be the mother of
02:00 the long- awaited Messiah Messiah. And that joy is expressed when she pours out a hymn of praise in chapter one that we
02:07 did not read, but where she exclaims, "My soul magnifies the Lord and my
02:13 spirit rejoices in God my savior." Mary also undoubtedly felt hurt, pain,
02:22 disappointment, especially when she was rejected by Joseph when he first heard the news of
02:30 her pregnancy. She had also experienced hope, a sense of encouragement when a relative
02:36 Elizabeth will commend her for her faith and hope again when Joseph
02:43 through the inspiration of God decides yes he will continue with the engagement and yes he will marry her.
02:51 Uncertainty she also would have experienced. How can I possibly be fit to be the
02:58 mother of the Messiah? What do I do? How do I act? I've had no experience being a
03:04 parent. These are probably just some of the emotions that Mary undoubtedly felt
03:10 during those nine months encompassed by the scripture passages we just read.
03:16 Now, I realize that the births of all babies can bring a flood of emotions. I
03:22 remember the joy and the excitement when our two babies were born and also almost
03:27 a year ago the joy and excitement when our first and to this point only grandson was born. And I realize all
03:35 babies are special at least to the mother and the father and the parents.
03:41 And as a father I would tell my daughters they were special and I would remind them that God had created them
03:47 special. But Mary's baby truly was special.
03:54 Special in a different way. And I'm sure Mary was thinking about that as she was treasuring up and
04:01 pondering all of these things that had recently happened to her. She had to be thinking about the fact that the birth
04:07 of her son was so vastly different from the birth of any other child. He truly
04:14 was a miracle baby unlike any other. no earthly father. Mary was still a virgin.
04:22 Yet, she was now a mother. Therefore, her son was different from
04:30 any other child. He truly was special. The angel Gabriel had told her that her
04:36 son would be great and that he would be called the son of the most high. Her son
04:42 was the long awaited savior, the promised deliverer, the Messiah.
04:48 So there was so much for Mary to treasure and so much for her to ponder
04:53 about, to think about, wonder about, and there was still so much more that she
04:59 would learn that she would experience as she continued walking with God.
05:04 Mary's heart and mind were undoubtedly very full that first Christmas night.
05:11 We can pretty well know some of the things that were in Mary's heart and in her mind, but it would be nice to know a
05:18 few more things that are not listed in the Bible. And if we could talk with Mary, what are some of the things we
05:24 might want to ask and find out? There's probably a lot of unanswered questions such as, "How did you break the news to
05:32 your parents? How did they respond?
05:37 What did you say to Joseph?" Now we know how he responded, but what
05:43 did he say? What was the look in his eyes?
05:48 How did you feel? Did your faith falter for a brief period
05:54 of time? Now, we cannot interview Mary, and the Bible doesn't tell us everything we
06:00 might like to know just to satisfy our curiosity. But we do have in scripture the things
06:06 that God considered the most important for us to know. And we probably also
06:12 have in scripture the things that Mary herself would have considered to be the most important things to know because
06:18 more than likely Luke who wrote this gospel, he more than likely had an
06:23 interview with Mary there in Palestine after the crucifixion, resurrection, and
06:28 ascension of Jesus. And several more years had passed. So more than likely as we're reading Luke chapters 1 and
06:35 chapter 2, these are things that Mary herself had recounted to Luke who then
06:40 under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit recorded them for us to read.
06:46 So when we look at our text today about what it says about Mary, there's one
06:51 thing that really stands out to me and that's the faith that Mary had in God.
06:58 This nine months encompassed by our scripture from the time the angel first
07:03 appeared to her until she gave birth had truly been a walk of faith, an
07:09 adventurous walk with both ups and downs. But undoubtedly as she looked back over
07:16 and thought of these several months, she could see how her faith had been
07:21 strengthened, how she had grown in her faith, and how her relationship to God had grown closer. So more than likely on
07:28 that first Christmas, she remembered that answer of faith she first gave Gabriel back when he told her
07:37 that she as a virgin would become the mother of the Messiah. As she told
07:43 Gabriel in response to his words, "Behold,
07:48 I am the servant of the Lord. Let it be to me according to your word."
07:56 What a great expression of faith. So many things she didn't know.
08:01 No real time to stop and talk about it. Didn't go and ask her parents. Didn't go
08:07 and ask her fiance. Just humbly before God said, "God, do
08:13 with me. Take my life. Do with it as you will." So I think if today Mary could talk to
08:20 us about her faith, she would with very strong affirmation tell us God can be
08:26 trusted. And I'm sure she would encourage each one of us, trust God.
08:33 Mary had experienced God's faithfulness and she knew firsthand that God could be
08:38 trusted. Mary could testify that we can trust God
08:44 because God keeps his promises. also because God knows what he is doing.
08:51 His ways are higher than our ways. Mary could also show us how God provides.
08:58 And Mary would also encourage us to trust God because only God can bring
09:03 salvation. First of all, let's see that we can
09:08 trust God because God keeps his promises. Let's start with the specific problem
09:14 God made to Mary through the angel Gabriel. The angel Gabriel told Mary,
09:20 "Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his
09:25 name Jesus." Now, if Mary had been married, and if she had already had children, showing
09:32 that she was capable of bearing children, then this promise might not have been quite so mind-boggling,
09:40 not quite so unbelievable. But remember, Gabriel was speaking to a
09:45 virgin. The angel came and appeared to the virgin whose name was Mary.
09:52 So when this promise is made to Mary, this appears to her to be totally unbelievable. How could an angel of God
09:60 make such a promise? And so Mary responded with a question.
10:05 How can this be? I'm a virgin. Now, I do not think that this response
10:12 of Mary was showing a lack of faith on her part. I think it was an honest question. There are some things she
10:19 really needed to know. Now, Gabriel, are you talking about after Joseph and I get
10:24 married? If so, you know, no problem. Or are you talking about right away before we get
10:32 married? Mary may have thought, I'm sure there's a lot about the sexual relationship
10:38 between a husband and a wife that I don't know yet that I still need to learn. But I do know enough to know that
10:45 girls don't just get pregnant by themselves.
10:50 So if Gabriel is talking to her about being pregnant while she's still an
10:55 unmarried virgin, then she realizes there is something very unusual, totally
11:03 extraordinary about this because nothing like this had ever taken place in history before.
11:10 Mary probably knew some of the Old Testament scriptures that talked about women receiving promises from God to
11:17 have children. barren women receiving promises from God about having children.
11:23 But in each of those cases, a husband was involved and the child was born
11:29 through natural method of human conception. Now, earlier in chapter 1, which we'll
11:35 hear about next week, the priest Zachchariah was told by the same angel
11:41 Gabriel, that his wife, who was getting on up in years and passed the time of childbearing, that she was going to have
11:47 a baby. And Zechariah did express doubt, and he was rebuked by the angel for his
11:54 lack of faith. But there are differences between Zechariah's lack of faith and
11:59 Mary's honest question. one, Zechariah was older. He was more
12:05 experienced and he had a wife. He was also a priest and he knew the scriptures
12:11 and he knew how God had done miracles like had been promised to him in the past. But in contrast, Mary was young,
12:19 inexperienced, did not have the theological background or understanding of scripture that
12:24 Zachariah had. And more importantly, she was not married.
12:30 Plus, there's absolutely no precedent in scripture for what was getting ready to
12:36 take place in Mary's life. So, Mary's asking an honest question and the Gabriel answer that Gabriel gives
12:43 her is the Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the most high will
12:48 overshadow you. Therefore, the child to be born will be called holy, the son of
12:53 God. What a promise that is. Mary must have thought, can such a thing actually
13:00 happen? Will this promise of God really come true?
13:07 We don't know for sure when Mary found out that she was pregnant, but at the
13:13 latest by the time that she went to visit her cousin Elizabeth with her
13:18 husband Zachchariah. It appears that almost immediately after the angel appeared to Mary, that then Mary left to
13:26 go to visit her relatives with whom she stayed for three months. And as she arrived, she was greeted by her cousin
13:35 Elizabeth with these words. Mary, I mean, Elizabeth being filled with the Holy Spirit, exclaimed to Mary, "Blessed
13:43 are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And why is this granted to me that the
13:51 mother of my Lord should come to me?" If Mary had not been for sure that she
13:58 was pregnant yet, now she knew because there's no way in the world Elizabeth
14:04 would have known this news unless God had revealed it to her. No cell phones,
14:10 no internet, no email. The only way that Elizabeth would have known that Mary was
14:15 pregnant would be if God through the Holy Spirit had informed her. So now Mary hears this
14:22 word. Another confirmation from God. Yes. What God has said is true. God is
14:30 keeping his promises. The promise that God had made, you will
14:36 conceive in your womb even though you're a virgin. It was a miracle. It was
14:41 something that had never happened before and it never happened since. Parents
14:47 don't believe your daughter if they come up with a story like this. It was a one and only time.
14:55 And it was something that everybody considered to be absolutely impossible.
15:00 But no, it was possible as the angel told Mary, "Nothing is impossible with
15:08 God." Or as another translation expresses it, nothing is impossible with
15:15 respect to any of God's promises. So God kept his promise to Mary while
15:22 still an unmarried virgin. She conceived through the power of the Holy Spirit and
15:28 about nine months later gave birth to a son just as the angel of God had told
15:34 her. Yes, we can trust God. God keeps his promises even though they might be
15:41 difficult for us to understand and even though they might be hard for us to believe.
15:47 Now in addition to the promise that Mary experienced being fulfilled by God in
15:54 conceiving and bearing a son, there are many other promises in the scripture text that we read that are being
16:01 fulfilled. You see, for centuries, God had promised that he would send a Messiah who would deliver the people,
16:08 who would save the people from their sin, of whose kingdom there would be no end. And in the angel's word to Mary, we
16:16 see that Mary's son is this promised Messiah, the descendant of David, who
16:21 would reign forever. We see that in the angel's words in Luke 1:32, as the angel
16:27 is saying, "Your son will be the son of the most high. The Lord God will give
16:32 him the throne of his father David and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever and his kingdom will have no
16:39 end. Now this type of language is messianic language vocabulary related to the
16:47 promised Messiah. And the truth that Mary's son was indeed the Messiah that
16:53 God had promised for centuries was also reconfirmed by the message that God gave the shepherds. As the shepherds said, as
17:01 the angel told the shepherds, "Unto you is born this day in the city of David, a
17:06 Savior, who is Christ the Lord." About a thousand years earlier, God had promised
17:13 David that there would be a descendant of his that would reign forever. Back in 2
17:21 Samuel 7:es 8 and following, God's promising David that he will build him a
17:28 house, that he will give him a descendant, and his kingdom will have no
17:33 end. The throne will be established forever. This messianic prophecy is repeated many places in the prophets,
17:40 including this place in Isaiah. unto us a child is born, a son is given,
17:48 and he is the one that will reign on the throne of David forever.
17:55 So God kept his promise. God sent a descendant of Mary, a
18:03 descendant of David to be the Messiah who would reign forever. You see, Mary
18:08 was a descendant of David. Joseph also was a descendant of David, although Joseph was not Jesus earthly father. But
18:17 yet the people in the community would consider Joseph to be the father and definitely he was the legal guardian. So
18:23 both Mary and Joseph being descendants of David, God is keeping his promise
18:29 that the Messiah will come through the lineage of David. And in verse 33, we also see reference
18:35 to the house of Jacob. God had promised about 1,500 years earlier back in the
18:41 time of Moses in the book of Numbers that a star would come out of Jacob. A scepter would rise from Israel, another
18:49 name for Jacob. Scepter pointing to a king, the Messiah. A king would come who
18:56 would reign over the house of Jacob. And we also see another promise of God being
19:02 fulfilled. The angels told the shepherds that the baby was born in the city of David, the
19:10 city of Bethlehem, which fulfilled the prophecy made about five or 6 hundred years earlier that out of Bethlehem
19:18 would come the one who would be ruler whose going forth is from old, from
19:23 ancient of days. Now, we don't know how many of these Old Testament scriptures Mary would have
19:28 known, but it was common knowledge among the Jewish people that the Messiah would
19:34 be a descendant of David. And since she and Joseph were both descendants of
19:40 David, she probably was aware that there was at least the possibility
19:45 that through them the Messiah could come. And it does appear that Mary had a
19:50 pretty good understanding of at least part of the Old Testament scriptures because we see in the song of praise
19:56 that song of praise that she expresses in chapter 1 which we did not read this morning. But in this song there's a big
20:03 parallel to the song that Hannah sang after she gave birth to Samuel. 1 Samuel
20:10 chapter 2. And in Mary's song, she also gives reference to the promise that God
20:16 made to Abraham. What was this promise? Well, about 2,000
20:22 years before the birth of Jesus, God had spoken to Abraham and he had promised him and said, "In your offspring
20:30 shall all the nations of the earth be blessed." And the offspring mentioned
20:35 here refer specifically to Jesus, son of Mary. So, as Mary is pondering over all the
20:42 things concerning the birth of Jesus, all the experiences she's had in the past nine months, she would definitely
20:50 say, "Yes, God keeps his promises. He kept his promise to me that I, a virgin,
20:57 would conceive. And he kept his promises to my people that he would indeed send
21:03 the Messiah in fulfillment of all of the prophecies."
21:09 That's true today that God keeps his promises. God keeps his promises to us
21:15 today. Now you might ask, what are some of these promises?
21:21 You can think of some. What promises come to your mind?
21:26 Here are a few I've thought of. God promises, I will never leave or forsake you.
21:34 Come to me all you who are laden, weary and heavy laden. I will give you rest.
21:40 We have the promise if we confess our sin, God is faithful and just to forgive us our sin and cleanse us from all
21:46 unrighteousness. We have the pro promise that if we confess, acknowledge Jesus as Lord and
21:53 believe in our heart that God has raised him from the dead, we will be saved. For
21:58 whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. We have the promise that when the Holy
22:05 Spirit comes upon us, we will receive power to be his witnesses to all peoples
22:11 to the ends of the earth. And a promise related to that command to
22:16 go to all peoples. I am with you. I am with you always, even to the end of the
22:23 age. We have God's promises that he will fill our hearts with joy, peace, love, that
22:30 he will give us strength to overcome temptation. That he will use us to make a difference
22:35 in the world. We have his promise of abundant life today and eternal life
22:42 tomorrow. Another of God's promises that we can trust is that in all situations, God is
22:50 working with us to bring about good. Romans 8:28 tells us that God is working
22:58 in all situations, even in the difficult ones. He's working with us to bring
23:04 about good. Those of us who love God, who have been called according to his purpose, can be
23:11 assured that God is working even in the difficult times to bring about good. So
23:17 that brings us to the next point. God knows what he's doing.
23:23 Now sometimes I hear people say God moves in mysterious ways.
23:30 And that's true. But I think sometimes we say that God moves in mysterious ways
23:36 because we don't have a clue what God's doing. In other words, they're saying, "I don't know what God's doing."
23:44 And sometimes we might think since I don't know what God's doing, maybe he
23:50 doesn't know what he's doing. What arrogance to think that
23:56 I may not know what God is doing, but I can rest assured that God does know what
24:02 he's doing. The scripture says, "Who can fathom, who can understand the mind of God?" The prophet Isaiah reminds us as
24:10 God is speaking and God says, "My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways. For as the
24:16 heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.
24:24 Yes, God's ways are different than our ways. But he can still be trusted.
24:31 God's ways are not our ways. Let's look at some of these some examples in the story of Mary.
24:38 At the beginning of our text today, Mary was a young girl. She was engaged,
24:44 probably in love, waiting with happy anticipation for the day of her wedding,
24:51 possibly her thoughts were preoccupied with the upcoming wedding and the upcoming marriage. And if we suppose
24:58 that the wedding feast was still a few months off, we can imagine that her thoughts might have centered on things
25:05 that prospective brides would think about everywhere. the guest list, the
25:11 decorations, the food, the music, what's she going to wear, where we house out of
25:17 town guests. There's a good possibility that Mary had never been happier in her life and that
25:24 this was the most exciting time of her life as she was looking forward to marriage. But right at that moment,
25:32 God breaks in and interrupts her life.
25:37 God interrupts her life and asks this unknown, insignificant teenage girl to
25:44 take part in something that is so shocking that it can't even be believed.
25:50 And what God asks Mary to do is going to change her life forever.
25:56 So why, we might ask, would God do this to somebody? Why would he interfere,
26:02 interrupt in somebody's life who's got it all planned out? Why burden this young girl with such a tremendous
26:09 responsibility? She's just a teenager. How can she handle this God?
26:15 We might think that's just too much of God to ask of somebody. Why did God do
26:22 that? But God's ways are not our ways. And he knows what he's doing.
26:29 And after that initial interruption and after the awkwardness of telling her parents and telling
26:36 Joseph and the people in the community finding out, I think Mary was very
26:41 grateful for this huge interruption in her life because what an honor it was to
26:47 be chosen to be the mother of the Messiah. So many Jewish girls would have loved to
26:54 have had that honor. And we see Mary's response in chapter 1 in the song she
26:59 sings where she says, "My soul magnifies the Lord. My spirit rejoices in God my
27:05 savior for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant. For behold, from
27:11 now on all generations will call me blessed."
27:17 God's ways in Mary's life. Were they an interruption?
27:23 Yes, they most definitely were. Did they change her plans? Yes, they surely did.
27:30 Were God's ways sometimes inconvenient, uncomfortable, difficult?
27:37 Yes, at many times they were. But God's ways brought so much joy and blessing to
27:44 Mary that she broke out in this song of praise. And God's ways have brought blessing to
27:51 all people who believe in Mary's son, accepting him as the Messiah, as the
27:57 Savior, as the Lord. Another way that we can see how God knew
28:03 what he was doing, but Mary might not have and we might not understand what he
28:09 did or why he did. question we might have is
28:14 why did God send the angel only to Mary?
28:20 Why not have a conference call? Include the parents. Include Joseph.
28:25 Now, I know the technology wasn't advanced, but hey, God's greater than our technology. He could have done it if
28:31 he had chosen to. He could have at least sent three angels to one to Mary, one to
28:37 Joseph, and then one to her parents. Or he could have chosen a family dinner when everybody was together, mother and
28:43 father, and they'd invited Joseph over and then the angel appears. If God had
28:49 done it that way, it would have been so much easier for Mary. Why did God make
28:54 it so difficult? I don't know.
29:01 God's ways are higher than our ways. But I imagine that as Mary was
29:07 treasuring in her heart the events of these past nine months, including those
29:13 difficult times in the last nine months, she was probably thinking about how much
29:18 her faith in God had grown. How much more she had learned that she
29:24 could trust God. and she had seen how she had gr grown closer to God
29:30 even through these difficult times. Those difficult conversations with her parents and with Joseph undoubtedly
29:38 strengthened her faith, her trust, her dependence on God.
29:44 And no doubt she also saw Joseph's faith grow as he came to understand God's plan
29:49 for his life and for Mary's life and for the son that Mary was bringing into the
29:55 world. Another thing in considering God's ways,
30:00 Mary might have been wondering, we probably also wonder why did God choose
30:06 to use the lowly, the poor, the weak?
30:11 Why a peasant girl from an insignificant village? Why use a manger that livestock eat out
30:19 of for the baby bed? Why did God not choose to have the Messiah born in a nice palace? Why not
30:27 choose a wealthy family with a socially important from a socially important
30:32 family? Why not have the Messiah born into a family that was powerful politically and military?
30:40 God's ways are not our ways, but he does know what he's doing.
30:46 Maybe God chose the lowly circumstances to give hope to the vast majority of the
30:52 people on the face of the earth both then and now who are not in the top 1%
30:57 not even in the top 10%. Possibly God used the lowly to show that
31:04 he resists the proud but he lifts up the humble. That's certainly expressed in
31:11 Mary's song in chapter one as she said, "God has shown strength with his arms.
31:17 He has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. He has brought down the mighty from their thrones and
31:24 he has exalted those of humble estate. He has filled the hungry with good
31:29 things and the rich he has sent away empty." And I think God was also showing us that
31:35 the throne that Jesus would reign on eternally is not the throne of an earthly kingdom. The Messiah is not
31:43 coming as a political or military leader. As Jesus himself would declare
31:48 about 33 years later before Pilate, "My kingdom is not of this earth." The
31:55 Messiah's kingdom was not to be spread by human might, not by human force, not
32:01 by army, not by the government forcing you to accept him.
32:07 The kingdom of the Messiah is spread by the power of the spirit of God through
32:14 those who bow before Jesus acknowledging him as the rightful Lord and Master of
32:19 their life and then share with other people.
32:25 Why did God choose the lowly? God's ways are not our ways. They're
32:32 higher than our ways. And God knows what he is doing.
32:37 That's true in our world today. It's true in each one of our lives. I could
32:43 give a couple of examples of how God's ways are not our ways or at least not our preferred ways.
32:50 Some years back when we lived in Germany, there was a meeting connected with the Baptist World Alliance that
32:55 took place in the city of Berlin. And I was asked to interpret for one of
33:01 the sessions where a pastor from a I won't mention the name of the country but he was coming from a country where Christians are pretty severely
33:07 persecuted and he was going to come and speak in English and I was asked to then
33:12 interpret into German for the crowd of people that did not know English. And as I was translating this man's
33:19 message I came to a point where I thought did I fall asleep? Did I miss
33:25 something? Now, if you zone out during a sentence or two of a sermon, you can catch up. But if you're translating, you
33:32 got to be there every second. And I'm thinking, did I hear him correctly? But I translated what I thought he said.
33:40 He said something I'd never heard of before. He said, "In his country, Christians
33:46 rejoiced when they received persecution."
33:51 I thought, "How can this be?" But he kept going and I kept translating. And he said, ' Because we've noticed
33:58 that when there's no persecution, the gospel is not spreading. Christians
34:04 are not growing. But when there's persecution, based on the past history, we have seen
34:10 that that's when God is working and that's when the church grows the most and that's when Christians grow the
34:17 most. God's ways are not our ways, but we would prefer other methods.
34:24 Another example, shortly after we found out my wife had
34:30 cancer, we were in the US and we had dinner with some friends of ours that we had not seen in a couple of years. And
34:36 during that two-year time frame that we had not seen them, this man's wife had
34:43 been diagnosed with cancer, very similar to my wife's cancer, and she had undergone treatment. And as we were
34:50 talking, the man told me, "Surprisingly enough, I think my wife's cancer has helped our
34:58 marriage to grow stronger. Not necessarily the cancer itself, but
35:03 the experience that they were sharing together, going through this difficult time, their marriage was stronger."
35:10 And I told him, "Same thing's happening with us.
35:18 God uses terrible things sometimes to bring about good. No, I'm not blaming
35:25 God on the bad things that happen. But what I am saying is that God will work
35:32 in our lives. And he will work in all situations to bring about good. And it's
35:37 during these difficult times that our faith can grow. We can come closer to
35:42 God. times when we can grow in our trust to God,
35:48 being confident of what he is doing, being confident that he is working with us to bring about good in all situations
35:57 to those of us who love him and are called according to his purpose. Mary knew that God could be trusted
36:05 because God keeps his promises and because God knows what he's doing even when we cannot see or understand.
36:14 As Mary on that first Christmas was meditating on the things she was treasuring in her heart, what else might
36:21 have filled her thoughts? I think she may have been reflecting on the reality that she had experienced so
36:27 often that God provides. Looking over the past nine months of
36:33 this faith adventure, Mary could show us many examples of how God had met her
36:39 needs. At the beginning of this journey nine months earlier, Mary had received encouragement and strength from the
36:45 angel with words from God himself. The angel told her, "Don't be afraid. You
36:51 have found favor with God." Mary was a recipient of God's grace.
36:56 What an encouragement because it would be quite an unnerving experience to come
37:02 face to face with an angel. And there is biblical precedent of angels appearing in judgment.
37:09 So here we have words of encouragement from God to Mary and later when Mary
37:16 visited her relative Elizabeth,
37:21 we have the sign that God had given to her that Elizabeth would have a child
37:26 and then the promise from God that nothing is impossible with God. So God's
37:32 word strengthened her and God's word through her cousin Elizabeth through the
37:38 Holy Spirit's inspiration strengthened Mary as Elizabeth
37:43 professes that Mary has faith. Blessed are you, you have believed, you
37:49 have faith. So undoubtedly these words from Elizabeth strengthened Mary's faith and helped her to face the days ahead.
37:57 Mary also had no doubt about that God had provided for her in the relationship
38:03 with Joseph. Joseph had first rejected her and that had not been easy. She had
38:09 sensed his hurt. She had experienced the pain of not of him not believing her story and she knew what it was like to
38:17 be rejected. She probably had many questions about her future. How can I be a single mom
38:23 and raise the Messiah? But just when the situation seemed bleak and hopeless,
38:30 God came through and he sent an angel to Joseph. And Mary was able to experience
38:36 God's provision for her. God's provision of a caring husband who would walk with
38:42 her through this experience. And on the long difficult journey to Bethlehem and even in the giving of
38:49 birth to a baby there in a manger made for animals,
38:55 Mary experienced God's provision. Now you might ask, how did Mary
39:00 experience God's provision there? There was no miracle. Why didn't God provide a five-star hotel? Why didn't he provide a
39:08 clean hospital room with a clean bed? He didn't even provide room in a crowded
39:15 one-star or less inn. But yet, I'm sure if we talked to Mary,
39:21 Mary would say, "God did provide." The relative quiet of that stable was
39:27 probably better than a noisy, overcrowded in. And as Mary gave birth, undoubtedly she
39:35 experienced God's presence. She experienced God's peace, his love,
39:41 his joy in a very powerful way. Now, the wise men had not yet arrived at this
39:48 time, but after they came, Mary and Joseph had to quickly flee to Egypt to
39:53 escape the murderous wrath and jealousy of the evil king Herod. And at that
39:59 time, Mary once again experienced God's provision in that through the gifts of the wise men, they could pay for all of
40:06 their expenses for their trip and their stay in Egypt. So Mary would tell us,
40:12 "Yes, God can be trusted. He provides."
40:18 What does God provide? One good example is the Apostle Paul in
40:24 Philippians chapter 4. He says, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." Now, sometimes we take
40:30 that verse out of context and we apply it to athletic events or academic achievement.
40:37 No, I can't do everything. I can't go downtown and jump over the Twin Towers. That's not what the verse means. But
40:44 Paul is saying, "God has called me to be faithful to him. God has called me to share the gospel. And God is providing
40:52 all I need. He strengthens me so I can do everything
40:58 he asks me to do. And that's how God provides for us. He
41:04 makes it possible for us to be faithful to him to do what he has asked us to do.
41:10 And we too can experience the provision of God. Sometimes God will do something
41:15 miraculous, but that's not every day. Just by the definition of the word miracle, that is
41:21 something extraordinary, something that is not an everyday occurrence. But occasionally we do experience something
41:29 supernatural. Sometimes God will speak to us through his word like he spoke to Mary through
41:34 the angel Gabriel. Sometimes God will speak to us and encourage us and help us through the actions of other people like
41:42 Elizabeth's words strengthened Mary. And like the gifts of the wise men provided
41:48 for their needs. And there sometimes it seems like God is doing nothing, at least no big miracle,
41:54 but God is still providing for us in our lives. Like Mary, we can experience
41:60 God's presence, his love, his peace, his joy. like the apostle Paul
42:07 in those difficult times we can say trusting in God that yes God your grace
42:16 is sufficient. The fourth thing that Mary was probably meditating on that night was that God
42:23 brings salvation. Now Mary knew she needed a savior. We
42:28 see that clearly in the song that she sang in chapter 1 as she says, "My spirit rejoices in God, my savior."
42:36 Mary like all of us needed God's grace, his mercy, his forgiveness because like
42:43 all of us, she sinned. The scripture says, "All have sinned and fall short of
42:49 the glory of God." All includes Mary. It also includes each one of us.
42:56 Mary was undoubtedly an exemplary person, lived a good life, was devoted
43:01 to the Lord, otherwise God would not have chosen her. But the fact that Mary acknowledged that
43:07 she too needed a savior, shows us that even good people, even people who live
43:13 exemplary lives, we're not perfect. All sin, all need God's forgiveness, all
43:20 need a savior. We need Jesus. We need the one whom the angel said he will save
43:27 his people from their sin. And Mary was one of his people who needed to be saved
43:35 from their sin. Now, there's a false teaching that's circulating in some areas of Christianity that talk about
43:41 Mary being a co-redemptress, as if Jesus couldn't handle redemption by himself.
43:48 In the town where my father lived before he passed away, there was a large church in seminary. And walking past that,
43:54 there was a big sign saying that this was dedicated to Mary the co-redeemer.
44:00 But Mary never made such claims. She acknowledged her need of a savior. The Bible says absolutely nothing about
44:07 this. All need a savior. And the news of great
44:12 joy that the angel proclaimed to the shepherds on that first Christmas night was that there's good news for all
44:20 people because a savior has indeed come into the world. He is the Christ, the
44:25 Messiah. He is the Lord. So Jesus came to save Mary. He also came
44:32 to save each one of us. Mary probably did not have a clear idea
44:38 at that time of everything this would entail. She probably did not realize that her son would be a suffering
44:45 servant. Like most of the people, she probably assumed that he would be a strong
44:51 political leader. But yet she did have some idea that things would be different. He wouldn't
44:58 be exactly like King David because his birth was totally different than the birth of David.
45:05 She didn't know exactly what would be involved, but more than likely she did not yet realize that her son would
45:12 suffer and be nailed to a cross in order to make it possible for us to have
45:18 forgiveness of sin. But that understanding would come with time. This faith journey that Mary had
45:24 embarked on only nine months early earlier was still relatively new and she
45:29 had a lot more to learn, a lot more to experience. But as Mary was treasuring these words
45:36 in her heart, thinking about all of these things, she
45:42 would tell us that yes, God can be trusted. Trust him.
45:48 This morning, we've tried to look at Christmas through the eyes of Mary. There's so much more we'd like to know.
45:55 What's it like to give? What's it like to give birth in a barn and put your baby in a manger? What's it like to have
46:01 a bunch of smelly shepherds come and disturb your rest shortly after you've gone through childbirth?
46:08 We don't know all these details about the Christmas story. We don't know enough to satisfy all of our curiosity.
46:15 But that's not the purpose of the Christmas narratives to satisfy our curiosity.
46:21 The purpose of the narratives are help us understand who Jesus is and to place
46:26 our faith in him. And while we do not know all the curious details, we do know
46:34 enough to be able to make the same commitment of faith that Mary made with
46:40 such limited knowledge when Mary responded, "Behold, I am the servant of
46:47 the Lord. Let it be done to me according to your word."
46:53 As a matter of fact, we're really in much better position to make such a commitment of faith than
46:59 Mary was because we know so much more than Mary did. We know so much more
47:06 about Jesus than Mary did. We have not only the birth narratives, we have the
47:13 rest of the New Testament. And we know that Jesus lived a perfect life. We've heard his wonderful teachings that
47:19 reveal God and God's will. We know about the miracles Jesus performed showing he had power over sickness, power over the
47:26 forces of nature, power over demons and the forces of evil, even power over
47:31 death. And we know that Jesus did pay the penalty for our sins by sacrificing
47:37 his life for us as he was nailed to the cross. We know of his resurrection from
47:43 the dead. We know of his ascension to be with God the Father and that he's coming back to judge the world. And we know
47:50 that when we respond to him in repentance and faith, we will be saved.
47:55 Yes, we are in an even better position than Mary was when the angel met her to
48:01 respond in faith to God. Behold, I'm your servant. Take my life. Do with me
48:08 what you will. We can make such a commitment because we know that God can be trusted.
48:17 God will keep his promises. We can trust that he knows what he's doing even when we don't understand it.
48:25 We can commit our lives to God because we know God will provide. And we see
48:30 that through God and him alone, salvation can come.
48:36 This morning, if you have never received God's gift of salvation, you can today
48:41 come to him in repentance and in faith. Offer him your life as you confess your
48:46 sin. Entrust your life into his care, asking him to take control of your life.
48:53 And those of us who have begun this journey of faith, let's continue walking in faith as Mary did, experiencing God's
49:02 presence, experiencing God's answers to prayer, answers to his promises,
49:07 experiencing God's provision in our life. Let's pray together.
49:13 Father God, I do thank you for this wonderful Christmas message. We thank you that you sent your son to come to
49:20 earth that he came not only to be born as a baby, but to live and then to offer
49:27 his life as a sacrifice for our sin. So, Father God, I pray that if there's anyone here this morning that has not
49:34 yet come to you in faith, that they would do that today. And for those of us who have already
49:39 made that decision, I pray that you would help us to continue walking close to you, that you would strengthen our
49:45 faith, that you would help us to grow in our relationship to you. As we trust you with our lives, even when we're not sure
49:52 what you're doing, we know that we can have faith in you. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.
