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00:00 Our father in heaven, we ask that the Holy Spirit be our teacher this morning. As
00:07 we look into this passage from scripture from Luke chapter 1, we also ask of you to shape our mind and
00:14 our thoughts as we approach Christmas this year as we celebrate the birth of your son. For we pray this in Jesus
00:22 name. Amen. As I sometimes do at the start of my
00:27 sermon, I would like to show you a video clip which I think would serve as a good backdrop to this morning's message. Uh
00:35 next slide. I shall use this uh this video later. Uh I later the video later.
00:50 Oh, sorry. What you're going to watch is known as the Hallelujah chorus which is about
00:58 three and a half minutes long which is taken from a much longer concert piece
01:03 uh entitled Messiah. This was performed in 1999 in Rome by
01:09 the choir and the orchestra of this Italian uh academia national danta
01:16 chichilia. I hope I pronounce it correctly which is apparently one of the oldest uh musical institutions in the
01:22 world. What is more important to note is that Messiah this piece Messiah was
01:27 composed by one of the greatest composers of all time. His name is uh George Frederick Hendel, a German-born
01:35 British composer and Messiah. It is his best known composition which he
01:41 completed in 1741. When it was first performed in 1742,
01:48 the concert hall was so packed that the management had to plead with the ladies not to come with their hoops, you know,
01:55 those large conicle dresses in order to make room for more people to come in.
02:00 I know not many of you are into classical music, but you may change your mind after you listen to this Hallelujah
02:07 chorus from Handles Messiah. Even if I fail to convert you, um, you should at
02:14 least know that this piece of music is frequently performed in the US and UK
02:20 during Christmas season. The Smithsonian website has this to say about handles
02:25 Messiah. It says, "Woe to the concert hall in the United States or Britain
02:30 that fails to schedule this piece around Christmas." Now, in order for you to enjoy the video better, let me quickly
02:38 show you the lyrics uh to the Hallelujah chorus. It really consists of just a few
02:43 short phrases which you can easily remember. It starts with hallelujah
02:48 which is repeated again and again and again from the beginning to the end. And then you will hear for the Lord God
02:56 omnipotent reignth. For the Lord God omnipotent reignth. And you hear this a
03:03 few more times. And the next part says the kingdom of this world is become the
03:08 kingdom of the of our Lord and of his Christ. Okay, this part is a bit uh not
03:14 so loud. So it's not very clear. And then it says and he shall reign forever and ever. This part is powerful. You
03:20 hear it many times. And finally, king of kings and lord of lords forever and
03:26 ever. And this one again repeated many many times. So can you remember this simple few lines? Okay. So they can
03:32 enjoy uh the video. Can we have the video now?
03:57 Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah.
04:03 Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah.
04:10 Hallelujah. Yeah.
04:18 Heat.
04:28 Heat.
04:48 Heat.
04:55 King of all
05:08 is shall forever and ever
05:17 shall forever and
05:24 Forever
05:32 King of Kings.
05:57 Heat. Heat.
06:06 Heat. Heat.
06:16 Heat. Heat.
06:26 Heat.
06:33 Heat.
07:09 Okay, thank you. If you can avoid being too distracted by the overexpressive
07:15 conductor from Korea, then perhaps we can better appreciate the the energy and the majesty that
07:22 accompany this conversation. But I would like us to set aside this video for a while so that we can get on
07:28 with the main topic. Uh this video is just a backdrop to the message. We will come back to this hallelujah chorus later on in the sermon. Now I mentioned
07:36 to you just now that the canacle of Mary is often referred to as the manificate. Some of you may wonder why the word
07:43 manificate appears in the Latin text of Luke chapter 1 verse 46. The first verse
07:50 of our passage this morning. Now you can see the the entire Latin text here. Of
07:55 course we don't understand it. Notice the word manificate in the in verse 46
08:00 which I have highlighted in orange. The three words before this uh simply mean a
08:06 Mary said. And the Latin word manificate means to magnify.
08:12 The next word anima means soul. S O L from which we get the English word
08:18 animate which means to make lively. Next is mia which is the pronoun my. And the
08:25 last word dominum means the lord. So if your name is Dominic or Dominica then
08:32 you should know that your name comes from the Latin word dominicus which means of the lord which is related to
08:38 this word dominum and hence the first line of the canacle uh magnificate anima
08:44 dominum is translated as magnify soul my
08:50 the lord or my soul magnifies the lord
08:55 since I'm sure all of us are more comfortable with English. Let me show you the English text.
09:01 And I have preferred to take this from the King the New King James Version. Now, for centuries, this passage was
09:08 regarded to be a very important text in the Christian church. Mary sang this
09:14 canacle after she realized how privileged she was being the one chosen
09:19 to deliver the Messiah into this world. It was considered one of the most
09:24 beautiful songs of the Christian faith. Someone once wrote that there is loveliness in the canacle of Mary but in
09:32 that loveliness there is also dynamite and we shall see how this is so.
09:38 But did Mary actually sing this song? Strictly speaking we are not 100% sure
09:44 if she meant this to be a song whether she actually sang it. But because the
09:49 words are arranged in a song format, it is likely that the canacle of Mary was a
09:55 song, a song of worship like how Suzanne sang to us just now. But what was the
10:00 tune like at that time? Nobody knows. But for our purpose this morning, the tune is not as important as the words.
10:08 And this reminds me of the time when our son Jeremy was 8 years old and he went
10:13 caring for the first time. I think it was organized by Bobby and some officers from the boys brigade even though I
10:20 didn't think it was a very good idea. So I asked Jeremy what guarantees she he
10:25 could give to me that he wouldn't mess up other people's houses.
10:30 Lean suggested if we follow them in our car and our son got so annoyed he said don't
10:37 worry if I'm naughty the officers will make me do push-ups. And my next question was, "Boy, are you
10:43 sure you know how to sing?" And he left off a few carols and mostly out of tune.
10:49 And the other problem was the meaning of the of the lyrics. How do you explain to a two-year-old uh the two center two boy
10:57 uh let every heart prepare him room for example? In the end, I told him not to bother with the with the with the
11:03 meaning of the words, but to concentrate on the tune. But this morning is going to be the other way around. We are not
11:09 going to bother with the tune. you know if there's a tune and let's concentrate on the words in the canacle.
11:16 You might be interested to know that many consider this to be the first Christmas song before all the other
11:23 Christmas carols that we are so familiar with. In that sense, isn't it amazing that the first Christmas song was sung
11:30 about 9 months before the birth of Jesus? As a matter of fact, if we were to
11:36 survey the first two chapters of Luke, we find that Luke uh recorded for us not
11:42 just one but four Christmas songs in his gospel. Beside the besides the candacle
11:50 of Mary, which is the first one, we also have Zechariah's song, al also known as
11:55 the Benedictus, which you will find at the end of the chapter in verses 68 to
11:60 79. The third song is known as Gloria in Excelsius. Uh it's sung by the angelic
12:06 host to the shepherds in chapter 2:4 after they have announced the birth of
12:11 Jesus. And the last song also in chapter 2 is by this man named Simeon when he
12:17 encountered baby Jesus at the temple. Now if you put all these four songs side by side, you'll find a common thread.
12:26 The common thread linking these four songs is that of praise and worship.
12:31 four songs sung by four by living beings of uh of diverse backgrounds. We have
12:37 Mary, a peasant girl. We have Zechariah, a priest. And we even have the angels.
12:43 And yet they carry the same theme that is praising God for what he has done
12:48 through the birth of the Messiah. Four songs sung in different locations in
12:54 Zechariah's home, in the open field, and in the temple grounds. And yet they share the same focus that is exalting
13:02 God for his gift of salvation in the person of Jesus. But beyond their common
13:07 theme and focus, once again, if you put these four songs side by side, Mary's
13:13 song is clearly the most profound and the most outstanding and hence it is the
13:19 most highly regarded. As I said a while ago, the canacle of Mary was considered
13:24 a very important text in the Christian world for centuries. The reason could be
13:29 because the word seems the word seems to come from from deep within the heart of
13:34 a lowly peasant girl who was unexpectedly uh given a precious gift. Another reason
13:42 could be because it is really more than just a personal testimony of uh Mary. It
13:47 is also like a prophetic text. It has been said that the canacle of Mary represents the first clear picture of
13:54 how God is going to bring his bringing his long awaited uh kingdom. Throughout
14:01 the Old Testament, there has been lots of blurry images about the coming Messiah and his kingdom. And now
14:08 suddenly with this the canacle of Mary, the image starts to come into focus. And
14:13 this is happening about nine months before the birth of the Messiah.
14:19 Now for a proper understanding of any biblical text, it is always worthwhile for us to look into the context of the
14:26 passage. The canacle of Mary is no exception. We need to examine the sequence of events that led Mary to sing
14:34 this song. We want to know what happened before Luke 1:46
14:40 to step back for a larger view so that we can get a more complete picture.
14:45 May uh Luke begins his uh his story by introducing two couples.
14:51 First we have uh Zechariah and Elizabeth uh who if they were members of this
14:57 church were more than qualified to join the caris because they are rather elderly.
15:02 The other pair is uh Joseph and Mary who are much younger.
15:08 I took this from a children's nativity play. Zachchariah is a priest while Joseph is
15:15 a carpenter. And Elizabeth happens to be Mary's cousin. And so the two couples are
15:22 related. But Luke's focus is really on the two cousins, Elizabeth and Mary. One has
15:31 been married for years while the other is about to get married. One is old and
15:36 barren while the other is a young virgin. The contrast is quite interesting.
15:42 For Elizabeth, it would take a miracle for her to bear a child. On the other
15:48 hand, for Mary, it would be scandalous for her to bear a child. And yet,
15:53 through these two women and through these impossible situations, God is about to unfold his plan. God is going
16:01 to fulfill his promise. Throughout the Old Testament, time and again, God has
16:06 offered his promise of redemption and mercy and blessings to his people,
16:11 especially to Abraham. And Mary understood and Mary is aware that
16:16 through the child that he's she she's carrying, God is about to fulfill his promise. You can find that mentioned at
16:23 the end of the canacle in verses 54 and 55 where she said or she sang, "He has
16:30 helped his servant Israel in remembrance of his mercy as he spoke to our fathers
16:36 to Abraham and his seed forever." Now coming back to our story, we find
16:41 Zechariah performing his duties as a priest at the temple when suddenly the
16:48 angel Gabriel appears to him in chapter 1 11 to announce that his wife Elizabeth
16:55 would bear him a son. The old man's reaction is is one of shock and fear.
17:01 And this miracle child that Elizabeth will later give birth to is none none
17:06 other than John the Baptist who will be the Messiah's forerunner and who will pave the way for the Messiah. Now 6
17:14 months later the scene changed from here Jerusalem to a small town Nazareth up
17:20 north. And by today standards Nazareth is really just a small tiny village. And
17:27 here you can see the angel Gabriel uh now appearing to Mary in chapter 1 verse
17:32 28 to announce that she will soon be the favored one to bear the son of the most
17:38 high. Mary's reaction maybe not so uh clear here is a little different from
17:45 Zechariah's. Instead of being fearful she's more troubled and confused.
17:51 Mary is troubled because the announcement doesn't make sense to her. She's still a virgin engaged to be
17:57 married to Joseph, the wedding is still many months away. And how is she going
18:02 to conceive a child? Now, even if Mary accepts Gabriel's explanation that this
18:08 is no ordinary conception and that Jesus will be conceived inside her by the power of the Holy Spirit, even if she
18:14 accepts this explanation, there is another problem. What would her fiance think before I marry you and you're
18:21 already pregnant? There is an even more serious issue of what the law says about such things.
18:29 Under the Mosaic law, Mary could be stoned to death if she is found to have
18:34 been unfaithful to Joseph. Now, in our society today, engagement is taken
18:39 rather lightly, but not so in their time. For them, the engagement is as
18:44 binding as the marriage. You know, if the man dies during the engagement period before the wedding, the woman
18:52 will be considered a widow. If either party wants to break the engagement,
18:57 they will have to go through a divorce. Indeed, the engagement is so binding that if one party is unfaithful to the
19:04 other, he or she would be guilty of adultery and the punishment is death by
19:09 stoning. Now I'm painting you this picture so that you can imagine the the turbulent state of Mary's mind as the
19:16 angel Gabriel makes the announcement to her. If she accepts this privilege, she
19:22 runs the risk of not only losing her fiance, but she also runs the risk of
19:27 social disgrace and ridicule. Indeed, she also runs the risk of capital punishment.
19:33 Any girl in the same situation would be asking, why me? Why choose me? Why not
19:40 someone else more qualified or more suitable? I am not qualified. Indeed, God has a way of doing things
19:47 that is often quite unexpected, even surprising from our human point of
19:52 view. In the end, Mary puts on a brave front and she decides to trust God. And
19:58 so, she says to the angel in chapter 1:38, "I'm the Lord's servant. May it be
20:03 to me as you have said an unqualified girl socially speaking chosen by God to
20:10 deliver the Messiah into this world. Now God's choice is is even more remarkable
20:16 if you consider the person of Mary from other aspects of her life. For example,
20:22 how old do you think Mary is when all this is happening? No, no, no. There are
20:27 many Renaissance paintings of Mary depicting her to be a fair uh beautiful
20:33 young lady uh in the 20s. In many Catholic churches today, you will find statues of of Mary cradling a baby from
20:41 which we get this idea of Mary as a white female uh between maybe 20 to 30.
20:48 In reality, no one really knows what Mary looked like. In fact, there is
20:54 evidence to support the more likely notion that the Hebrews were more dark skin than fair skin compared to today.
21:02 And Mary most likely would look more malay than Caucasian. In any case, her
21:08 skin color is not at all important. And Mary is nowhere near 20. 2,000 years
21:15 ago in Jewish society, the normal age for a girl to be engaged is about 13 to
21:21 14. And the wedding was normally take place one year later. So Mary is only a
21:28 teenage girl in Luke chapter 1. Not only is she just a teenage girl, she's a
21:33 lonely peasant girl born into a humble family. Now, not much is known about her
21:39 background, but we know that Nazareth was no more than just a poor rural
21:45 village consisting of peasants working the land and craftsmen uh supporting uh
21:51 their basic needs. Life is tough as these peasants struggle to survive under
21:57 the burden of triple taxation. They have to pay taxes to the temple. They have to pay taxes to King Herod. They have to
22:04 pay taxes to Rome. And Mary in all likelihood helps her parents ek out a
22:09 living. And like most other village girls at that time, she is most likely
22:14 illiterate. It is by appreciating her tender age and her low social status that we begin to
22:22 understand Mary's words in verse 47 and 48.
22:28 And my spirit has rejoiced in God my savior. po is for he has regarded the
22:33 lonely state of his maidervant. He has regarded the lonely state of his
22:40 maidervant. Mary hardly sees herself as somebody
22:46 before God. She's only a girl. She's only 13 or 14 and she's only a peasant,
22:52 a young humble peasant girl. And the key phrase in this verse is the lowly state.
22:59 the lowly state and the word made servant in verse 48 is also interesting
23:05 in the NIV in the New International Version says servant but these translations are sometimes not not very
23:11 clear in the original Greek the word used is dole
23:17 which means a female slave the masculine form is dulos which means a male slave
23:24 in Romans 1 verse1 Paul considers himself to be a dulos of Jesus Christ.
23:30 And so in verse 48 here and also earlier in verse 38, Mary refers to herself as a
23:38 slave. She adopts the status and attitude of a slave before God. Now the
23:45 Holman Christian Standard Bible translated this verse more accurately.
23:50 It says because he has looked with favor with favor on the humble condition of
23:55 his slave. You know, it's such a tragic irony
24:02 that many of Mary's devotees today want to elevate her to a status nearly equal
24:09 to Jesus Christ. When Mary herself saw herself so differently,
24:15 if you try to elevate a humble person who shies away from the limelight, he or
24:20 she would cringe in discomfort. If Mary were here today, she would be horrified
24:27 at the way people worship and adore her because as far as she's concerned, it is
24:32 the Lord who is to be magnified as we have read from the first verse of uh the
24:38 canacle. And hence by studying the background to the canacle, by looking into the context
24:45 of the passage, we now get a better picture of Mary's situation. In Luke chapter 1, we get this picture of a
24:51 poor, lonely, humble person who is only a teenager. We get this picture of a
24:58 person who is full of humility. She must be thinking, who am I to be offered such
25:04 a gift? That is the honor of bearing the son of the most high.
25:11 Now I've got I've gone at length to emphasize Mary's humble circumstances.
25:17 This is because I want to impress upon you the sharp contrast between the lowly
25:22 state of her position and the magnitude of the honor that God has bestowed upon
25:27 her which I now want to talk about. Now I suppose as she travels south from
25:34 Nazareth to Judea to visit her old older cousin uh Elizabeth, a journey that will
25:40 take her about 3 days, she must have thought long and deep about the whole thing. She must have played back
25:46 Gabriel's visit in her mind over and over again. And I believe the more she
25:51 thinks about it, the more she realizes the magnitude of this honor, which is related, of course, to the great value
25:58 of the gift from God. That explains why Mary bursts into this
26:04 song of praise and worship upon her arrival at Elizabeth's home. She can no
26:09 longer contain the sense of rejoicing welling up in her heart.
26:15 Now, in this African version of what might have been like, you know, when Mary arrived at uh Elizabeth's home, you
26:23 know, she was rejoicing. And notice the change in the language.
26:28 Earlier in in verse 38, she said to the angel, "May it be to me as you have
26:34 said." But now in verse 49 here, uh, she says, uh, notice what she says. She says
26:41 uh, in a different tone, for he who is mighty has done great things for me. For
26:46 he who is mighty has done great things for me. And notice that she now acknowledges the great value of the
26:53 gift. And by now Mary's heart is overflowing with uh praise and worship. It is
27:01 important for us to note the great contrast between her lowly state and the
27:06 great value of God's gift to her. Then only we can appreciate the intensity of
27:12 her worship. Now in order for us to understand this better, let me give you a silly analogy.
27:19 Now, not too long ago, we have uh some crafty politicians or more specifically
27:25 election candidates who were giving out bags of rice to voters in exchange for
27:30 their support. Now, you know this, okay? Well, now this worked very well, it seemed in
27:36 the poorer areas, but it will never work in a place like Sububanga or Bangsa.
27:44 Why is this so? Now it doesn't take a genius to know the reason why.
27:50 With a gift there is always a giver and a recipient. Of course the intended
27:56 recipient can refuse the gift from the giver or she may or he may receive it
28:01 and not treasure it or worse still he may throw it away. You see the condition or position of the
28:09 recipient of the gift is an important factor and depending on his condition of
28:15 position the other important factor is the perceived value of the gift on the
28:21 part of the recipient. Don't be surprised that there are people who refuse the gift as we shall see in a
28:28 short while. So with this in mind we are ready to discuss the next part of the canacle. I want to propose to you that
28:35 the canacle of Mary, especially the second half, can serve as a template for
28:40 us to understand the larger gift of salvation from God to mankind and their
28:45 response to this gift. Our text for today can also help us to shape our
28:50 attitude towards God's gift to us. Now, to see what I mean, if you examine the
28:57 canacle again, if you examine it carefully, you will notice two distin
29:02 distinct parts. The first four verses, verses 46 to 49, which is the first part, is essentially
29:09 Mary's personal testimony, God's personal gift to her. But from the
29:15 next four verses, verses 50 to 53, it is clear that the text now goes beyond
29:21 God's personal gift to her. And now the emphasis is now shifted to God's larger gift of salvation to mankind.
29:29 As for the last two verses, we have already dealt with them earlier on. The thing is even though God may offer
29:36 his gift of salvation to mankind but as I said a little while ago the intended
29:41 recipient can refuse the gift. Not only not everyone is like Mary who
29:48 humbly accepts the gift. Now on the other hand, we many of us here who are
29:53 seated here have accepted Jesus as our personal savior and we have accepted God's gift of salvation. And
29:60 furthermore, we can testify to the value to the high value of this gift. But as much as we have enjoyed this gift,
30:07 incredibly there are many people who will not receive God's gift. There are many
30:13 people who would decline or reject God's gift.
30:19 And who are these people? In the candacle of Mary, she describes
30:25 for us three groups of people who have little or no interest in God's gift.
30:32 They are number one, those who are proud, number two, those who are powerful, and number three, those who
30:40 are prosperous. And we shall look at them one by one.
30:45 Verse 51 says, "He has scattered the proud in the
30:51 imaginations of their hearts." In the first group, we have those who are proud. If there is one sin that God
30:58 hates the most, it is the sin of pride. We all know the famous verse in Proverbs
31:03 16:18. Pride goes before destruction, a hotty spirit before a fall. You may say, "Oh,
31:11 I'm not a proud person at all. But wait a minute. Pride is when pride is there
31:18 when someone says I am in charge of my life. In the center of the word pride is
31:24 the letter I. We live in a culture where people tend to say I want to do what I want to do. I
31:34 want to have what I want to have. I want to be what I want to be. It is all about
31:40 me. And those who are proud have little need for God. The Psalmist says in Psalm
31:48 10:4, "In his pride, the wicked does not seek him.
31:54 In all his thoughts, there is no room for God." Because those who are proud believe in
32:00 themselves. They believe in their ability and they think they know everything. Please don't get me wrong.
32:07 I'm not against the pursuit of knowledge. It is the pride of knowledge that keeps us away from God.
32:15 The second group of people who are not inclined to receive God's gift are those who are powerful. Verse 52 in the
32:21 canacle says he has put down the mighty from their thrones. And these are people
32:27 in positions of power and authority. They may be in the government or in the corporate world. They are people whom
32:34 they are people to whom other people submit themselves. They are the decision makers, the politicians, the corporate
32:40 leaders and they can effect changes in people's life through the power and authority vested in them. I'm not saying
32:48 it is wrong to be in positions of power. I'm saying you must be very very careful.
32:54 The problem is that when you have the power to effect changes in the in the lives of other people, it may be
33:01 difficult for you to see the need for changes in your own life. When other people submit to you and bow
33:08 to you, it may be difficult for you to submit to God and bow to God.
33:14 Besides the proud and the powerful, the third group of people who are disincined
33:21 to receive God's gift are the prosperous. These are the people who are wealthy and
33:27 secured and comfortable. In verse 53 here in the canacle, it says, "And the
33:32 rich he has sent away empty." Now, please don't m misunderstand me.
33:39 I've said this many times. I'm not saying that it's wrong to be rich, but there is danger when you derive your
33:46 sense of security from your wealth and God becomes a mere accessory in your
33:52 life. The Bible doesn't say that money is the root of evil. But what it does say in 1
33:59 Timothy 6:10 is this. For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil.
34:05 Some people eager for money have wandered from the faith. The Bible also cites other warnings
34:13 concerning the danger of material wealth and earthly riches. Jesus says in Luke
34:18 chapter 6 verse 24 and 25, "But woe to you who are rich for for you have
34:25 already received your comfort. Woe to you who are wellfed now for you will go
34:31 hungry." Makes you think about a Christmas banquet. Okay.
34:38 So don't eat too much. If the proud and the powerful and the prosperous are not inclined to receive
34:44 God's gift, who then are more ready to receive it? By inference,
34:51 those who are more ready to receive God's gift are the humble, the helpless, and hungry. And I can back this up by
34:59 scripture. Job 5:1, the lowly he sets on high and those who
35:08 mourn are lifted to safety? The lowly, those who are humble, those who mourn,
35:14 those who are helpless. James verse 2 uh James 2:5, "Has not God
35:21 chose those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to
35:26 inherit the kingdom? those who are poor, the hungry.
35:32 You can better understand this by looking at needs. The proud, the powerful, and the prosperous, they are
35:37 not inclined to receive God's gift because they don't think they need it. Whereas the humble, the helpless and
35:44 hungry. Now, these are the people who really need the gift. Or perhaps it's something relative. The
35:51 proud, the powerful, and the prosperous. They have less need for Jesus compared to the humble, the helpless and the
35:59 hungry. Now for the second time, don't please don't get me wrong. I'm not suggesting
36:04 that there are two groups of people and the door of salvation is only open to one of them. There is no argument that
36:11 salvation is offered to all, offered freely to all. No one is excluded from
36:16 the offer. But the heart of the matter is the matter of the heart. It is really
36:22 a question of receptivity. If there's only one thing we can learn from the canacle, it is that the Lord
36:28 humbles the exalted but exalts the humble
36:33 because the humble is simply more receptive to his offer compared to the
36:39 exalted. And that is why the kacle is so profound because it embodies the the very nature
36:45 of God's salvation plan. And that is God humbles the exalted and he exalts the
36:52 humble. Now I need to dwell on this a little longer because it's so important.
36:57 You It means that you need to humble yourselves before God can exalt you.
37:04 You need to be lowly first before he can lift you up. You need to be empty before
37:11 he can fill you up. You need to be broken down before he can make you whole
37:16 again. You need to say, "I'm weak." before he
37:21 can empower you. In fact, if we if we examine the circumstances surrounding the birth of
37:27 Jesus, if you study the manner of Jesus' ministry on earth, you will not you will not just find traces of humility in his
37:34 life. Indeed, humility is the hallmark of Jesus' life on earth. His place of
37:39 birth was not the capital Jerusalem but in a little lonely town of Bethlehem. He
37:46 was not he was not born in a majestic palace but in a smelly stable. His birth
37:52 was not greeted by by royalties and VIPs but by poor shepherds from the field.
37:57 And when he called his disciples, he wasn't looking for those who were educated and enlightened. Instead, he
38:03 roped in fishermans who had to to struggle day in and day out. And when he
38:08 died for you and me, he didn't die in a glorious way, in a battle, so to say. Instead, he died as a common criminal.
38:16 The birth of Jesus, his life on earth, his brief ministry on earth, they all marked by humility and loneliness. Even
38:23 though he is the king of kings and lord of lords. The people he ministered to
38:29 are the peasants and the prostitutes, the sick and the sinners. They are people of lowly state like Mary who are
38:36 simply more receptive to his message. In conclusion, what lessons can we take
38:42 home from the can from the canacle of Mary as we approach this Christmas season?
38:49 The lesson is twofold. Firstly, I pray that we will all celebrate Christmas with much humility
38:55 as we realize that we have none we have done nothing absolutely nothing to deserve what God has done for us. And
39:02 just like Mary, we are not qualified to receive God's gift. And yet he gave us
39:08 the wonderful gift of Christmas. It says in Isaiah 62:2,
39:16 God says this, "Has not my hand made all these things?" And so they came into being, declares the Lord. And this is
39:23 the one I esteem, he who is humble and contrite in spirit.
39:30 This is the one I esteem. He who is humble and contrite in spirit. The Lord
39:36 delights in those who are humble. So we need to lower ourselves and remove all traces of pride and self-sufficiency.
39:45 Although God's gift of salvation is offered to all without exception, but appeal of the gospel is not impartial.
39:53 The gospel is especially appealing to those who cry out, "Lord, I need you."
39:60 Let us not be found outside the kingdom of God as a result of our pride, our power, or prosperity. Let us be found
40:08 humble, helpless, and hungry before the Lord. Secondly, as we humble ourselves, as we
40:15 realize the great value of God's gift to us, in fact is a gift of incalculable
40:20 value, let us responds respond with an attitude like Mary's. I pray that our
40:26 soul will magnify the Lord for he has done great things for us just as Mary
40:33 sang at the beginning of a canacle. I pray that we will lead worshipful lives
40:38 to God's glory. I pray that we will invite Jesus to sit at the thrones of our lives. It is for this reason that I
40:46 wanted to you to listen to the hallelujah chorus at the start of the sermon which is to prepare you or
40:52 prepare your mind for Christmas. It is said that when Handel was composing this
40:58 masterpiece in the summer of 1741, his assistant found him in tears and crying
41:05 and this is what he said. I think I did see heaven open up and I saw the very
41:12 face of God. Let us celebrate this Christmas. Nay, let us celebrate every
41:17 Christmas with a sense of awe and with trembling
41:22 hearts. Shall we close in prayer?
41:29 of what in heaven even though we seldom talk about Mary but today we see her in a lowly state and we learn about her
41:36 humble circumstances cause us to examine ourselves to see if there is any shred of pride or
41:42 self-sufficiency in us and as we celebrate the birth of your son later this week help us to appreciate the
41:48 magnitude of your gift of salvation the great value of this gift so that this
41:54 Christmas season will be especially meaningful to us as our soul magnifies
41:59 you. For we ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.
42:11 You are magnificent, eternally wonderful.
