Sermon Tone Analysis
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Good Morning!
This has already been a wonderful weekend.
We got to celebrate with Paul and Rachel last night as they were reunited in marriage.
On behalf of Paul and Rachel, I want to say thank you to all that have supported them and who helped make yesterday happen!
Today, worship and testimony were wonderful, and now we get to dive back into Luke’s narrative.
We are going to be looking at Luke 1:39-45 today, so you can go ahead and flip there now.
Last week we covered Mary’s experience when Gabriel appeared and told her that God had chosen her to carry Jesus in her womb.
I want to recover a few details of that story because today is the continuation of that work in her life.
Mary, who was about thirteen years old, is visited by the angel Gabriel who tells her that God has chosen her to give birth to the long awaited Messiah.
Gabriel tells Mary who this baby will be and what He is going to do for the world.
He is the Son of God, the savior of the world, the continuation of the line of David, the fulfillment of God’s promise to redeem the world.
In response to this overwhelming moment and news, Mary responds in faith.
She believes Gabriel and offers herself to God’s service.
Luke includes this part of the story to show that Jesus is not just another prophet.
He is the Son of God, and we can know that because Jesus is the fulfillment of many promises that God made through the prophets.
Isaiah and Jeremiah, to name a few.
The details that Luke covers in that story are vital to understand because they prove the nature of God, the glory of this birth, and the claims that Jesus eventually makes of Himself.
We were reminded last week that God wants to work with the same kind of power in our lives.
God is not limited by our lack of anything whether that be faith, age, knowledge, etc.
All that is required for us to experience God work is simple obedience to what He has asked us to do.
We are going to see that kind of simple obedience in today’s passage.
Mary has this interaction with the angel, hears about what God is doing in her life, and what God has done in her relative Elizabeth’s life.
We pick up today right after Mary chooses to be used by God and the angel leaves.
Let’s pick up where we left off last week in Luke 1:39-45
Have you ever noticed that sometimes when you learn something it becomes such a part of who you are that you don’t even notice it anymore?
Friday night I went and bought some bales of hay for our horses.
When I got home the boys came to help me unload it.
Luke was having trouble picking up the bales and I was reminded of being his size when I was his age.
It isn’t the weight that Luke struggles with because he easily packs 50lb bags of feed and the hay weighs about half that much.
I was telling Luke that I struggled the same way when I was his age.
At the same time in my life, I was learning to calf rope and part of that process is running down the rope, and flanking the calf so that you can tie it’s legs.
I learned how to use my body weight as leverage to flank calves that were twice my size.
You use your knee as a fulcrum point, pull with your arms while leaning back, and you can easily lift the calf.
I began using that same technique to lift bales of hay.
As I’m thinking through all of this I realize that I still pick hay up that way.
I’m twice the size I was at 13 and I’m significantly stronger, but my technique is still the same.
It has become so ingrained in my muscle memory that I do it without even thinking about it.
The point I making is that when we truly learn something, it moves into our subconscious and it just becomes part of us.
So Saturday morning I sat down to start writing the sermon and as I reviewed my notes and outline from my writing retreat I realized that I had subconsciously out lined this story in a very particular way.
The points that I had written down are the milestones in the abiding cycles that are happening in the narrative.
Seeing that pattern has become part of who I am.
I didn’t sit down with the intention of seeing those milestones and calling them out.
I simply looked at the story and those are the things that stood out to me.
This is significant because Luke’s intention is to show that the person of Jesus is the actual son of God.
As I read this story, I see God’s activity in Mary and Elizabeth’s life , and it is the proof.
This is the purpose of this whole passage.
Luke tells this part of the story because it is Elizabeth and Mary’s personal testimony of what God did.
Look at this with me.
The first part of the cycle, God speaking happened in last weeks passage.
God speaking through Gabriel is the first milestone in this abiding cycle.
We talked about this at length last week so let’s keep moving.
Milestone two is...
Mary submits to God’s will and goes to see Elizabeth.
Mary immediately obeyed God and she was blessed by it.
Mary moves forward in obedience by going to see Elizabeth.
Look back at Luke 1:36 where Gabriel tells Mary about Elizabeth.
In the CSB it says “consider”, but other translations use the word “behold.”
Gabriel isn’t just giving her news, he is telling her to go and see Elizabeth.
You can’t “behold” something from 90 miles away.
That’s about how far Mary, who was a teenager, traveled to go see Elizabeth.
To make a journey like this, was no simple feat, and Mary isn’t just shrugging God off and saying she believes.
Mary express her faith through action.
She believes God to the degree that she is willing to undertake this long journey.
And what did she find when she got there?
Sure enough, Elizabeth is exactly as Gabriel described.
She is well into her pregnancy.
This is another theme that we are going to see Luke revealing all through this book.
Theme: God always does what He says He will do.
Not only is Elizabeth pregnant, but look at what happens when Mary enters the house.
Luke 1:40-41.
Elizabeth is filled with the Holy Spirit upon hearing Mary’s voice.
Mary’s obedience became a blessing to Mary and the catalyst for Elizabeth to see more God exclusive activity.
Do you remember what Gabriel told Zechariah would happen?
Look back with me at the second half of Luke 1:15.
Once again, we see that God did exactly what He said he would do.
Elizabeth was told that John would be filled with the Holy Spirit while still in the womb and it happened just as she was told.
Consider for a moment what it does for a person, perhaps for you, when God gives you a series of promises and then the first one happens just like He said.
We talk about this in abiding.
As we step out in faith and then experience God’s activity, it builds our faith.
If you are here today and are still waiting on the fulfillment of a promise, I would ask that you simply have faith and patience.
God has shown Himself, time and time again, to be true to His word.
This is how it works in abiding.
We obey, God acts, and we come to know Him better.
As we abide, not only do we come to know God better, but our friends and family do as well.
We don’t talk about this aspect of abiding as often, but we see it happen in a couple of different ways in this part of Luke’s gospel.
Look at the completion of this particular cycle.
God speaks to Mary, Mary obeys by going to see Elizabeth, Elizabeth experiences the fulfillment of her promise, Elizabeth praises God.
Elizabeth praises God for what He has done in her life.
Next week we are going to talk about Mary’s response.
But for today, notice that...
Their experience (ginosko) of the Holy Spirit revealed God’s character to them.
Both Mary and Elizabeth know God better now because of their combined obedience.
I can’t say this enough, so I’m going to say it again.
Your abiding helps other people to experience God.
This week as I prepared for Paul and Rachel’s wedding, I was thinking of all the things that God has done in their life to bring them to this point.
I read part of this passage in their wedding and it is applicable to our message this morning.
God uses us, fragile jars of clay, to carry and reveal His light to the world.
In us is a treasure (the Holy Spirit), and God put that treasure in us so that it would be obvious that God is the one that is sustaining us.
This is how God was working in Elizabeth and Mary’s life.
Not only were they women, whose value, at that time, was placed in their ability to carry children.
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