Never Forget What God Has Done (Luke 2:19)
Notes
Transcript
Handout
CPT: Mary treasured the miracles around her and stored them in her heart. (Luke 2:19; 51).
Purpose: To teach the church a proper understanding of Mary, keeping in balance her faith and her need for salvation.
CPS: Never forget what God has done.
Introduction
Attention
We are in our Characters of Christmas series, and today we will talk about the most famous woman in the Christmas story, and one of the most misunderstood women in the story: Mary, the mother of Jesus.
An older woman I knew was on her death bed. She had been a Catholic her whole life, but some of her family were evangelicals. Well, at her bed side, the Catholic priest came and gave last rites. Than someone from her evangelical side of the family came and prayed with her. She did a salvation prayer with him and accepted Christ. That night she went to be with the Lord.
Well, there was quite some confusion at the funeral. One side of the family wanted to do the Hail Mary prayer, and the other did not. They ended up working it out, but it was a divisive part in the funeral.
Now, Mary was a godly woman. There is much that we can learn from her. But the Mary of the Bible would not want us to pray to her. She prays to the same God that we can all pray to. She was a sinner saved by God’s grace.
Mary was a godly woman, a woman that we can learn from. What can we learn from Mary’s life? We will start in Luke 1, starting in verse 26.
Scripture Reading
26 In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth,
27 to a virgin engaged to a man named Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary.
28 And the angel came to her and said, “Greetings, favored woman! The Lord is with you.”
29 But she was deeply troubled by this statement, wondering what kind of greeting this could be.
30 Then the angel told her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.
31 Now listen: You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus.
32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David.
33 He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and his kingdom will have no end.”
34 Mary asked the angel, “How can this be, since I have not had sexual relations with a man?”
35 The angel replied to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore, the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.
36 And consider your relative Elizabeth—even she has conceived a son in her old age, and this is the sixth month for her who was called childless.
37 For nothing will be impossible with God.”
38 “See, I am the Lord’s servant,” said Mary. “May it happen to me as you have said.” Then the angel left her.
These verses give us some context into Mary. There are two main verses about Mary that we will focus on today, which are in chapter 2 of Luke.
19 But Mary was treasuring up all these things in her heart and meditating on them.
and
51 Then he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was obedient to them. His mother kept all these things in her heart.
Let us pray.
Pray
Mary never forgot the things that God had done for her. There are three main areas of her life that the Scripture says she held on to in her heart.
Transition
Never forget God’s miracles in your life.
Never forget God’s miracles in your life.
State the point; Anchor the point; Validate the point; Explain the point
Text:
Filler.
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Mary was in a season of a whirlwind of miracles
If there was ever a woman in the middle of a whirlwind of miracles, it was this young lady named Mary. Mary was greeted by the angel Gabriel.
The angel Gabriel shows up two times in Scripture. We saw the angel Gabriel during our series in the book of Daniel. Both times in the Bible, in Daniel and here in Luke, the angel Gabriel appears announcing the coming of the Messiah.
Miracle of the angel
In Luke 1, the first miracle for Mary is this vision of an angel, a messenger from God. The Bible says she was deeply troubled in seeing the angel. Mary was confused at what was happening.
Miracle of her own virgin birth
Next, what the angel will tell her is even more confusing. The angel tells her:
31 Now listen: You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus.
This is deeply confusing for Mary. Mary is a virgin, and has never had an intimate relationship with a man. Now, if she knew me, she might say that’s as likely as Jason Soto getting drafted to the NBA and dunking a ball on Lebron. It’s not possible.
Yet, the angel tells her that it will be a miracle. Take a look at Luke 1:35:
35 The angel replied to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore, the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.
Mary, this birth will be a miraculous birth. The Holy Spirit will do a miracle within your own body to bring forth a son, who will be called the Son of God.
Miracle of her relative Elizabeth’s birth
To convince Mary of this miracle, the angel Gabriel points to another miracle. Mary had an older relative, who’s name was Elizabeth. This was a woman who was beyond years where she could give birth.
God delights to work in the impossible. Look at how Gabriel describes this miraculous birth.
36 And consider your relative Elizabeth—even she has conceived a son in her old age, and this is the sixth month for her who was called childless.
37 For nothing will be impossible with God.”
It’s interesting how God uses impossible situations to show his power and for people to know that there is no way this could have happened without God.
Has anyone here seen God work in an impossible way? It’s sometimes when we think there is no way, that God then comes through and says, “Now they will know that I am who I say I am.” There is nothing impossible for God.
Miracle of angels pointing shepherds to her son Jesus
Mary had this miracle of the vision of the angel. She had the miracle of the virgin conception. She has the miracle of her older relative being with child. What others miracles does Mary see?
Later in Luke 2, Luke tells us about shepherds out watching over sheep in a field. All of a sudden, angels come to announce to them about the coming Messiah, and direct them straight to Mary and Joseph with their baby Jesus in the manger.
Mary was amazed, and it says in Luke 2:19:
19 But Mary was treasuring up all these things in her heart and meditating on them.
There were more miracles for Mary to treasure.
Miracle of Simeon in the temple
Later on, there is a man named SImeon, who was waiting around in the Temple for the Messiah. The Bible says this about Simeon:
26 It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he saw the Lord’s Messiah.
Guided by the Holy Spirit, the Spirit led Simeon to the Temple on the day Mary and Joseph brought Jesus there for what was customary under the law.
It says Simeon took the baby up in his arms, and he says in Luke 2:30, “For my eyes have seen your salvation.” Here was the Messiah, just as the Spirit promised Simeon that he would see.
It says in Luke 2:33: “His father and mother were amazed at what was being said of him.” Mary saw miracle after miracle after miracle in her life.
What does it say about all that she was seeing in Luke 2:19: “Mary was treasuring up all these things in her heart and meditating on them.” Mary was careful not to forget all of the miracles of God that she had seen in her life.
Never forget the miracles in your own life
We need to remember never to forget the miracles of God in our own life. It can get easy to go along on our day to day, and get caught up in the responsibilities and challenges that we face, and forget the amazing miracles that have happened in our life and happen in our day to day existence.
Every day we wake up with this amazing miracle of existence. We wake up with our hearts beating and our mind clear, maybe after a cup of coffee, but we wake up in this reality and just call it an ordinary day.
Or what about the miracle of our own salvation? Think of all that God had to do get you to come to him. God is a persistent God. Every life that is changed by Christ is an absolute miracle.
Heading: What would it look like if we were to remember the miracles of God in our life? I remember this story of a guy who, when he was young, he did like a lot of young people do, he went and got some tattoos. One of the tattoos was a picture of a naked lady.
Then he went to Vietnam, and he prayed while there were bombs going off around him. He felt like something told him to leave the building he was in. He left the building, and minutes later, the building was bombed.
That man gave his life to Christ while in Vietnam. But he started to feel convicted about that tattoo. So what did he do? He went to a tattoo artist and said, can you tattoo some clothes on this lady? So the tattoo artist tattooed clothes on that lady on his arm.
In a way, that tattoo became a symbol for him remembering the change and the miracles of God in his life. There was an old life that he had. There was a miracle of God to rescue and restore him. And now, he is clothed with the righteousness of Christ.
Never forget God’s miracles in your life.
Second,
Never forget your position as someone in need of God’s grace.
Never forget your position as someone in need of God’s grace.
State the point; Anchor the point; Validate the point; Explain the point
Text:
Filler.
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Mary was a woman in need of the grace of God. She was a sinner needing salvation. I’ll show you that in a couple of ways.
The angel described Mary as someone under God’s grace
First, look at the way that Gabriel greets her. He tells her this in Luke 1:28:
28 And the angel came to her and said, “Greetings, favored woman! The Lord is with you.”
Now, what does it mean that Mary was a “favored woman”? The term for “favored” is a Greek word charitoō which means “To be grace-bestowed.” In other words, God has freely bestowed his grace upon Mary.
Grace is a term that means an undeserved favor. It is given from one of a higher position to a lower position. There is nothing that the person can do to deserve it. It is based only on God’s goodwill.
It was only upon God’s sovereign choosing that he chose to use Mary to bring about the Messiah.
Mary realized her own need for a savior
Take a look at what Mary says about herself. Mary goes to visit her older relative Elizabeth. They have this wonderful conversation about the miracles of birth that are happening to Elizabeth and Mary.
In fact, Elizabeth speaks highly of Mary. Elizabeth says in Luke 1:42-45:
42 Then she exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and your child will be blessed!
43 How could this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?
44 For you see, when the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby leaped for joy inside me.
45 Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill what he has spoken to her!”
Now, the next section is sometimes separated in your Bible, because they like to put a heading here. They’ll put something like “Mary’s Praise,” or “Mary’s Song of Praise,” but they cut it in the middle like it’s not part of the same conversation.
But it comes right after this comment from Elizabeth, and it’s Mary’s response to Elizabeth’s comment about her. Look at what she says in response in Luke 1:46-47:
46 And Mary said: My soul magnifies the Lord,
47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
She says, “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.” What does it mean to magnify the Lord? Her soul praises God, exalts him, glorifies him, magnifies him, and why is she so filled inside?
Why does her soul respond this way? It is because there is joy inside of her from her salvation. God has saved her. He has rescued her. It is the same rescuing that God has done in our lives. It the same rescue that we say every week in our doxology from Jude 25: “to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Mary needed the same salvation that we all need in Jesus Christ.
Jesus said God’s blessings were not just for Mary, but for all who believe
While I was researching Mary, I came across an interesting story that happens quickly in Luke’s Gospel of a woman who attempts to magnify the mother of Jesus, Mary. This is an interesting part, and you may miss it if you’re reading quickly through Luke, but it’s in Luke 11:27-28:
27 As he was saying these things, a woman from the crowd raised her voice and said to him, “Blessed is the womb that bore you and the one who nursed you!”
28 He said, “Rather, blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it.”
This stood out to me this week. Here is this woman. She was impressed by Jesus, and certainly she felt like, who is his mother? His mother must be incredibly blessed. I’m going to magnify and glorify his mother, because that will impress him.
Jesus says, “No. Rather,” don’t miss this, “blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it.” What is Jesus saying? God’s blessings aren’t for one particular person. God doesn’t look at one particular person and say, “This person really deserves it. I’m going to bless this person, and everyone else is out of luck.” No. God’s blessings are for all who believe God’s word. God’s blessings are for all who believe in Jesus Christ.
All believers in Jesus are under God’s grace
The biggest blessing anyone could ever get is to be under the grace of God. Mary was a recipient of God’s grace. She certainly was a godly woman. She never forgot all that God had done in her life, and she didn’t forget her position as a person in need of God’s grace in her life.
The Bible says that the same grace she experienced in her life is for all believers. It says in John 1:16-17:
16 Indeed, we have all received grace upon grace from his fullness,
17 for the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
What is that saying? When we put our faith in Jesus Christ, we all receive the undeserved favor of God. We are all people in need of the mercy and grace of God. You can be someone, like Mary, who’s soul rejoices in God your Savior because of the grace of God in your life.
Heading: Grace can be difficult to picture because it is so undeserved. Perhaps it is the picture of the courtroom that comes the closest. You are standing before a judge. In this scenario, there is no jury. It is you and the judge.
You are caught dead to rights. You did the crime. They have you on video at the crime scene committing the crime. You are in the court room with the same clothes that you committed the crime in. You have the weapon in your hand. The judge in front of you owns the property where you did the crime. There is every reason for the judge to hold you to the law.
Yet, the judge finds a way to pay the price for your crime himself. That way, justice is done, and you receive the undeserved favor of the judge.
That was a source of joy for Mary, and it should be a source of joy for us all. Mary never forgot the good things of God in her life. She never forgot that she was someone in need of God’s grace.
Never forget God’s miracles in your life.
Never forget your position as someone in need of God’s grace.
Last,
Never forget to treasure the things of God in your heart.
Never forget to treasure the things of God in your heart.
State the point; Anchor the point; Validate the point; Explain the point
Text:
Filler.
=======
Luke mentions twice in his gospel that Mary treasured the things of God in her heart
Luke wrote his Gospel by interviewing people who knew Jesus. He was a companion of Paul and was in the company of original disciples of Jesus. Luke writes in the beginning of his Gospel that he has “carefully investigated everything from the very first” (Luke 1:3).
One of the people that scholars believe he spoke to was Mary. It is in the Gospel of Luke that we learn some of the details of what Mary experienced. It is in the Gospel of Acts, another book that Luke wrote, where we see Mary last. In Acts 1:14 we last see “Mary the mother of Jesus” “united in prayer” with the other disciples.
In his Gospel, there is something that stands out to Luke. I know it stands out to him because he mentions it twice as if to say, “Look, this really stands out about Mary.”
It says in Luke 2:19, after the story of the shepherds seeing Jesus in the manger:
19 But Mary was treasuring up all these things in her heart and meditating on them.
Later on, Luke is sharing a story of Jesus at twelve years old, the only story we have of Jesus after his time as a baby and before his three-year ministry. Look at what stands out about Mary again in Luke 2:51:
51 Then he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was obedient to them. His mother kept all these things in her heart.
Mary never forgot what God had done in her life, and she treasured those things in her heart.
To treasure means to preserve
To treasure means:
To keep in safety
To protect from harm, decay, loss, or destruction
To store up mentally - to preserve knowledge or memories for later use
Mary never forgot the amazing work God did in her life. She made a habit of thinking back and remembering. It even describes what she would do to remember. It says in verse 19 that she would meditate on what God did in her life.
There is such a thing as biblical meditation, but it is quite different than what you might here in a new age type of meditation. In biblical meditation, you don’t empty your mind. Rather, what you do is you fill your mind by thinking and remembering what God has done in your life.
Other versions describe this as “pondering” or “thinking about” what God has done.
The Bible’s talks about meditating
The Bible is clear that we should take time to meditate on the instruction of the Lord in our life. The Psalmist says in Psalm 1:2-3
2 Instead, his delight is in the Lord’s instruction, and he meditates on it day and night.
3 He is like a tree planted beside flowing streams that bears its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.
I like how the Psalmist says it in Psalm 143:5:
5 I remember the days of old; I meditate on all you have done; I reflect on the work of your hands.
Mary is someone who would take time to meditate on all that God had done for her in her life. She would treasure God’s work and God’s love in her life.
How can we treasure the things of God in our heart?
How can we learn to treasure the things of God in our heart? We can learn from Mary’s example, and think back on all that God has done in our life.
We can take time to meditate on Scripture, to fill our mind with God’s instruction for our life. Often times, you go to God’s Word and there is a reminder of what God has done for you.
Heading: I am a believer in Scripture memorization. I once set up a group with some men from the church, and we set out to read Scripture together, journal, and memorize the Sermon on the Mount.
There’s one part in the Sermon on the Mount in chapter 5 where Jesus talks about letting your light shine. When you have a light in a house, you don’t put it under a basket, or hide it away. No, you put the light out, and let it shine so that it fills up the whole house. Then he says to let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.
Well, I can’t tell you how much filling my mind with those verses helped me this year. Through all the transition, my goal for our church is that we would be a light in this community. That God hasn’t put our church in this community to hide in a building, but to reach out to others and let our light shine in this community.
I have seen miracles this year. Each one of you is a miracle. There are miracles of changed lives that I’ve seen. There are miracles of people coming to know Jesus. Every time one person comes to the Lord, that is a miracle. I have seen this church come alive, not because of me but because of Jesus.
And as I take time and meditate on all that God has done, never forgetting what God has brought us through, it gives me courage to know that God will get us through whatever we will face. Never forget what God has done in your life.
Conclusion
Never forget God’s miracles in your life.
Never forget your position as someone in need of God’s grace.
Never forget to treasure the things of God in your heart.
Some of you may feel like you need a miracle. You feel like there is something right now that you need God to get you through. You may be in a season where you need to see the miracles of God in your life.
This Christmas season can be a new start for you. God is always ready to do a new work in your life. Trust and believe in Jesus Christ, and he will make you a new person. Let us pray.
Have you heard the message today and realized that you need Jesus? Are you ready to put your faith in Jesus? We want to pray with you, and celebrate your new life. Please see one of our pastors after the service.
Blanks:
Prayer
Communion:
Last Song
Doxology
24 “May the Lord bless you and protect you;
25 may the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you;
26 may the Lord look with favor on you and give you peace.” ’
24 Now to him who is able to protect you from stumbling and to make you stand in the presence of his glory, without blemish and with great joy,
25 to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, power, and authority before all time, now and forever. Amen.
You are dismissed. Have a great week in the Lord!
