Mary

Scripture reading; Mark 1:1-8

Primary Sermon resources:

Cole, S. J. (2017). Christmas, (Galaxie Software).

Hughes, R, K, 1998, Luke Vol.1, Preaching the Word, Bible Commentary, (Crossway Books)

The Preachers Outline and Sermon Bible, 1996, The Gospel According to Luke, (Leadership Ministries Worldwide.)

Mary

Luke 1:26-38

The title of the message this morning is Mary. And I chose that title because it is simple. You see every year I try to come up with some kind of creative sermon series for advent.

For example, last year I called it the songs of Christmas, and the year before I called it the cast of Christmas characters. Well, this year I decided I wasn’t going to do that, because no matter how clever I think I am, or how hard I try, I can never do justice to the Christmas story.

In fact, there are millions of ministers all over the world who will be doing their very best to explain this story today, and we will all fall short.

The message is too enormous, and I am just going to apologize now because a month isn’t long enough to explain this. It is too incredible and I can only bow down and praise God for what He has done.

Last week we talked about the Magi and how Jesus was born the one true King who is worthy of all our worship. And this week we are going to talk about Mary and the virgin birth.

But make no mistake, this is a message about Jesus. This is a message about God’s plan of redemption for the world. What we learn from this story is; God had a plan for Mary’s life, and nothing is impossible for God. (Read Luke 1:26-38)

26 Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city in Galilee called Nazareth,

27 to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the descendants of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary.

28 And coming in, he said to her, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.”

29 But she was very perplexed at this statement and kept pondering what kind of salutation this was.

30 The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; for you have found favor with God.

31 “And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall 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 and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end.”

34 Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?”

35 The angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason, the holy Child shall be called the Son of God.

36 “And behold, even your relative Elizabeth has also conceived a son in her old age; and she who was called barren is now in her sixth month.

37 “For nothing will be impossible with God.”

38 And Mary said, “Behold, the bondslave of the Lord; may it be done to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her. (Pray)

In our passage this morning we have the beginning of the gospel story. This is the story of good news, that brings great joy to the hearts of people. It is a positive message the world needs now more than ever.

This is the story of God coming into the world and becoming a man. And all of that began with the birth of a child. When we think of the gospel we think of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus but all of that began on Christmas day when Jesus entered the world through the womb of Mary.

Jesus was born into the world that we might be born again. Jesus was born as the son of man that we might become the sons of God. Jesus came from heaven to earth that we might leave the earth and live in heaven forever.

This was God’s plan of redemption for mankind. And God sent His angel to Mary first, because He wanted to include her in that plan, and He wants to include you and me in His plan as well. That is what we learn from this story.

The first thing I want you to see in this passage is the setting of God’s plan, Vs. 26-27. Like any good book, movie or play, this story begins by introducing us to the plot and the characters of the story.

Notice Vs. 26 begins with the phrase, “Now in the sixth month.” Isn’t that an odd way to start the story? But we have to understand this is talking about the sixth month of the pregnancy of Elizabeth.

Just before our passage this morning we learn that Elizabeth, the wife of Zechariah, the cousin or aunt of Mary, we are not sure. We know they were related, and she was much older than Mary. But Elizabeth becomes pregnant with John the Baptist.

And she is in the sixth month of her pregnancy when this story begins. And that is fitting because Jesus and John’s lives were forever intertwined in the gospel story.

Then we are told there was an angel, sent from God to a city in Galilee called Nazareth. But this isn’t just any ordinary angel. This is a mighty angel of God. This is Gabriel, who we read about in the Old Testament coming to Daniel and interpreting visions, and dreams.

And God could have sent His message to Mary in the same way, through dreams and visions, but He didn’t because this message is too important. So, He sends His angel from heaven to earth to a little obscure village called Nazareth.

It is interesting to me; God didn’t send His angel to one of the important cities of the world. He didn’t send him to Rome, or to Babylon, or even to Jerusalem, but he sent His angel to one of the smallest most insignificant places on the planet, Nazareth.

If you remember when Philip called his brother Nathaniel and told him he had found the Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth, Nathaniel said, “can anything good come out of Nazareth?” The Jewish people didn’t think very highly of Nazareth.

That is important because it is just like God to carry out this extraordinary plan for the world in an unknown place. But, not only in an unknown place, but with an unknown teenage girl named Mary. But you see that is the way that God operates.

That’s what Paul teaches us in 1 Corinthians 1:26-29 “For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are, so that no man may boast before God.”

That teaches us, it brings glory to God to do extraordinary things in the lives of ordinary people. Why? so we know the power comes from Him and not from us.

And that is what we see in the story of Mary, because not only does God send His angel to an unlikely place and to an unlikely person, but she is engaged to a carpenter named Joseph.

He wasn’t a scribe or a Pharisee. He wasn’t a Sadducee. He was an ordinary man who didn’t take part in any of the religious institutions or traditions of the people.

I love that because that teaches us you do not have to be special to be used by God. You can be someone like me. You can be a nobody, because God chooses the runts of the litter to have an impact on the world.

I mean consider the fact that Jesus chose twelve men who were social outcasts to be His disciples. He chose fisherman, tax collectors, and a zealot. And He used them to change the world.

Think about how He could use you to make a difference in the lives of your family, your neighbor's, and your friends. There is nothing impossible for God when we commit our lives to Him.

The next thing I want you to see in this passage is God’s plan revealed, Vs. 28-33 It all begins with a surprising visit by Gabriel, an angel of the Lord, who comes into the room of Mary where were told he says, “Greetings, favored one, the Lord is with you.”

He catches Mary by surprise, and look at her reaction in Verse 29, it says she was perplexed. In other words, she was astonished and couldn’t believe what she was seeing.

Some people have suggested this means Mary was humbled by the visit. She didn’t understand what was going on because she didn’t think she was worthy of being visited by an angel. I don’t see that here, I think she was terrified, I know I would be, if an angel showed up and visited me.

And Gabriel makes it clear in Vs. 30 He says, “Do not be afraid Mary, you have found favor with God.” The word “favor” in the Greek is the word “grace.” So, verse 28 could literally say, Greetings gracious one, or greetings, you who are full of grace.

That tells us a lot about Mary. That tells us that even though she was a young girl, she already had a relationship with God. She was living in divine favor. God’s grace was all over her life.

The same word was used to describe Noah, in Genesis 6:8, where it says Noah found grace in the eyes of God. Isn’t it interesting how these two stories have so much in common.

God used Noah to build an ark for the salvation of His people. And God used Mary to give birth to the Savior of the world. In both accounts God is at work providing a way to save His people from their sins.

Now, when we read this story, we might begin to think there was something very special about Mary that God would choose her. But that is what is so amazing about God, there wasn’t anything special about Mary. The same favor that Mary found in the eyes of God is the same favor that every believer finds when they come to know Jesus.

Vs. 28 says, “The Lord was with her.”In other words, God was at work in her life. I want you to know that God is at work in your life as well, and He can do the impossible when we are surrendered to Him.

The Bible says, “If God is fore us who can be against you? And no weapon formed against us can prosper” So, Mary plus God was ready to take on the world, and you plus God can overcome anything.

When it comes to Mary, people go to two different extremes. On the one hand people worship her as deity like the Catholics do, and on the other hand people will completely ignore her like the charismatics do. And I don’t think either one of these approaches is right.

We are not supposed to worship Mary because our worship is for God alone. The Ten Commandments tell us to have no God’s before Him.

But we can’t ignore Mary either. She is the mother of the Savior of the world, and she deserves honor and respect. She deserves to be held in high regard, but she doesn’t deserve to be worshipped.

The emphasis in this passage is not on how great Mary is, but on how great Jesus is. Notice Vs.31 says, “Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus.”

The fact that Mary was going to give birth to a son, speaks of the humanity of Christ. He was as much of a man as He was God. He was as much of a man as any man that ever walked the earth. Because He was born through the womb of Mary.

And the name He was given was prophetic. It speaks of His mission and His ministry on earth. The name Jesus is the English translation of the Greek “Joshua” which means “Jehovah saves.”

Matthew 1:21 explains this more thoroughly. It says, “And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sin.” His purpose in the world was laid out before He was ever born. He was going to be the Savior of the world.

So, while Vs 30 speaks of His humanity, Vs. 31 speaks of His divinity. It says, “He will be called the Son of the Most High.” The Most High is a reference to God the father because that’s what He was called in the Old Testament. And as the Son of the Most High, that means Jesus is equal to Father. He is fully man and yet fully God.

He came into the world to bridge the gap between man and God. Isaiah 9:6 says, “unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder, And His name will be called, Wonderful Councilor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” So, this child, born to Mary, would be God in the flesh.

These verses teach us what we as believers already know, there is no other way to heaven other than Jesus Christ. He is the only begotten of the Father. He is the only one to die for our sin. He is the only one God sent onto the world for the salvation of man. Acts 4:12 says, “For there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

There is no other way other than Jesus. The lesson in this for us is that if you do not know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior you are living apart from God, and there is no amount of human effort or good works that will get you to heaven.

I heard a story this week about a guide who was hired to lead a group of missionaries across the Sahara Desert in Africa. When the missionaries arrived at the edge of the desert and began to look ahead, they saw that there was nothing but sand, not even a single footprint or path that marked the way.

And they turned to the guide stunned and said where is the road? But the guide wasn’t even surprised by their reaction and without even a glance he said, “I’m the road.”

Well, the same thing is true of Jesus Christ. He is the road where there is no road. He is the way where no way is possible, but you have to be willing to trust Him and allow Him to be the guide of your life.

The next thing I want you to see in this passage is God’s plan explained, Vs. 34-37 because none of this made sense to Mary until it was explained.

“Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” The angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason, the holy Child shall be called the Son of God. “And behold, even your relative Elizabeth has also conceived a son in her old age; and she who was called barren is now in her sixth month. “For nothing will be impossible with God.”

Mary didn’t understand how this could be. She knew it wasn’t possible. Her question is a valid question. She isn’t questioning God out of unbelief. She isn’t questioning God and making excuses not to be a part of His plan. She knew she had never been with a man and knew this wasn’t possible.

So, Gabriel explains to her that not only is it possible, but God’s already done it. He says, if you don’t believe me, go see your relative Elizabeth, who is in her old age and yet she is six months pregnant, because nothing is impossible for God, and truly that is the point of the whole story.

Whatever you are going through no matter what is going on in your life there is a God who created the world we live in, and He exists outside of the world He created, and He can intervene in the world He created. And He loves us, and He wants what is best for our lives. Nothing is beyond His reach.

Mary believed that, and she accepted God’s plan for her life. Notice Vs. 38, , “Behold, the bondslave of the Lord; may it be done to me according to your word.”

Mary’s response needs to be our response. She said, here I am Lord, carry out your will for my life. I am surrendered to you. She was ready to accept whatever God had in store for her life.

We cannot fathom how costly this was for her. She could be killed. At the very least she was going to be publicly humiliated, because she was pregnant and unmarried. She had no qualifications to do what God wanted her to do but yet she had no reservations.

Now, could Mary have said No to God? Of course, she could have. She didn’t have to say yes, God doesn’t force us to do anything. But He gives us a choice.

He gives us an opportunity to choose His will for our lives. The question is, will you be like Mary? Will you trust God and let Him do the impossible in your life?

What we learn from this passage is God uses ordinary people to do extraordinary things. And just like God had a plan for the life of Mary there is something God wants to accomplish in your life as well.

The Bible says, “we are God’s workmanship created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God has prepared beforehand that we should walk in.”

It is God’s plan you have a relationship with Him through Jesus Christ. That was God’s plan from the beginning, That’s why He sent His Son into the world to die for your sins. To provide a way for you to know Him and be known by Him. So that together we can participate in God’s plan for the world. And He can do that in your life no matter who you are because nothing is impossible for God.