Faith of Mary

(Greeting). As I was praying Sunday night, and Monday morning, I clearly heard from the Lord in my Spirit, that while we’re still talking about what we believe as the Burlington Church of God, affiliated with the Church of God based out of Anderson, Indiana, He’s changed the schedule. For me, I just want to be obedient to the Lord’s calling. To serve Him foremost, and to serve this congregation. So, here’s the new plan, expecting that this is what the Lord wants, which is always preferable to the choices we make because we’re human.

Today we’re going to talk about the faith of Mary, understanding as we discussed last week, that without faith it is impossible to please God, or to come salvation through Jesus Christ. Next week we’ll talk about God’s only son, and on Christmas morning we’re going to have program featuring children and grandchildren that we’ve done in the past. At the same time my understanding is that previously some of us have gotten up to lead a worship song, or Christmas hymn. So, if you’re interested in sharing your gift on Christmas Eve morning, please let me know so I can plan out the service. My expectation is that with the moving of the Holy Spirit and you’re reaching out to invite others … well, we have room for more to join us and everyone is welcome.

I wonder how many of us can remember when we were around 12 to 14 years old. (SLIDE). On the upper left here my, my much smarter, seriously, much wiser brother William, sister Amy, top of the head of my disabled brother Christopher in my mother’s family. And my father and stepmother’s family in that same era. William on the left, dad, mom, my sister Shirley, brother Sam, and two of the 70 plus foster children that my parents cared for over the years. The reason I ask you to think about that, is because in the 1st century, in Palestine and Israel, which was generally the age that girls got married. Sometimes that was the age of the men as well, but the men may also be closer to 30.

Marriages were of course arranged, as in some cultures they still are today. Decided between the parents of the young couple when they were still children. The primary consideration for the marriage wasn’t location, or looks, or did they the young woman and man even know each other. It was the continuation of the family line and obedience to the law of God. Religious beliefs and family character were of primary importance. This is even more the case when it comes to Joseph and Mary, because both the Israelite priestly line, through Mary, and the royal line, through Joseph.

Both these Israelite family lines are important because the Priestly line, through Aaron was responsible for worship, prayers, and sacrifices to bridge the gap between a holy God, and a fallen humanity. The royal family line through King David is to remind us of our identities as sons and daughters of the Most -High God. God made covenants with Noah not to destroy the earth again, though we’re doing a pretty good job of that on our own. The covenant with Abraham that God would protect him, and all his descendants provided they followed the path God laid out for them. We know how that turned out as they ended up in slavery in Egypt.

So, God raises up Moses, the Israelites are freed from slavery and in the process, we get the Mosaic covenant to bless Israel if they follow the law and commandments. That also doesn’t turn out so well as historically they’re conquered, captured and dispersed. Fortunately for all humanity God is merciful and forgiving, and God makes a covenant with David that one of his descendants will rule as God establishes His kingdom forever.

(SLIDE) We talked about this back in September, when the Lord sent Nathan the prophet to David in 2 Samuel 7:12-16 12 When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. 13 He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. 14 I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. (SLIDE) When he commits iniquity, I will discipline him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men, 15 but my steadfast love will not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you. 16 And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever.’”

Just to be clear about something here. This is one of the reasons that I bring up the Hebrew and the Greek, because the English translations aren’t always the best way to understand the meaning. When we read 2nd Samuel 7 verse 14 here and it says “When He commits iniquity” that’s the Hebrew word Avah, a masculine verb from the word Avon, which can be translated as guilty, wrong, but also can be translated as “wronged” and “punishment”, as in Jesus was wronged, punished for our sins, that He didn’t commit.

Whenever you’re studying the word, and something doesn’t make sense to you. It could be that you’re not one with the Holy Spirit at the moment, because the Holy Spirit teaches all things of God and Christ. It also may mean that you’re not simply ready for some understandings, as must begin with milk, and bread before we’re mature enough for the meat, if you will of what God’s wants us to understand and walk in. Ok?

All of that is just to understand, that the lineage of Mary and Joseph, which is accurately listed in both Matthew and Luke. Matthew genealogy is legal, written more for a Jewish audience and traces Christ’s ancestry back to Abraham, right at the beginning of Chapter 1. Luke’s tracing of the Jesus lineage goes all the way back to Adam and doesn’t begin until Chapter 3. But let’s remember who Luke was, one, and who he was writing to for another.

(SLIDE) Luke 1:1-4 Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled (fully believed) among us, 2 just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word. 3 With this in mind, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, I too decided to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, 4 so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught.

It's important for us to understand some of the differences that come about in the four gospels, because those who are not walking in the Holy Spirit, those who are not spiritual, won’t understand. Matthew and Luke write to different people. Matthew is writing from his eyewitness perspective and is more in line with a male dominated perspective. Understanding he was a tax collector for the Romans, so an outcast from Jewish society, until He follows Jesus and becomes one of the disciples.

Luke, referred to by Paul as a physician, is considered by scholars to be a gentile, in part based on how Paul refers to him in Colossians 4. Luke is considered to have written in the tradition of Greek historiography that tracked historical events. So, in preparing his letter for Theophilus, because Luke’s not writing the bible. Luke spent time talking to witnesses, and the writing down what he’d been told after coming to salvation under Paul and interviewing others, so that, note “Most excellent Theophilus”, which is term of deference to someone of authority, could fully comprehend and make sense of all the things that he’d heard or been told by others about Jesus Christ. (SLIDE)

Kind of like us before we come to a personal knowledge of Jesus, repenting of our sins, confessing Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and believing in our hearts that God raised Him from the dead. We hear lots of stories about Jesus, the bible, the history of the Israelites, and they don’t always make a lot of sense to us. I tell you this because, it’s not just my belief in my heart, but we should expect that Luke spent time with Mary, the mother of Jesus. Part of the reason for that is how much attention Mary is given in the Gospel of Luke. In comparison we can see on this chart, and we’ll look at some, not all. (Chart SLIDE) Overview.

(SLIDE) Isaiah, a prophet of the southern kingdom, was called by God to share His message with the people in 740 B.C.—the year that King Uzziah died. This was a critical period in the history of the southern kingdom of Judah. Uzziah was known as one of the best kings Judah had; his rule marked a time of great prosperity for the kingdom. But as prosperity boomed, the divide between the rich and poor in the kingdom grew wider, and all the while the threat of invasion from Assyria was mounting. Isaiah was written during the Eighth Century BCE, prior to the Assyrian invasion and well before the Babylonian exile and captivity.

(SLIDE) Isaiah 7:13-15 13 Then Isaiah said, “Hear now, you house of David! Is it not enough to try the patience of humans? Will you try the patience of my God also? 14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son and will call him Immanuel. 15 He will be eating curds and honey when he knows enough to reject the wrong and choose the right,

The Hebrew word used for “you” here is plural, so the the Lord giving “you” a sign was not just for Ahaz. It is for all humanity. That’s 700 years before the birth of Christ. The Lord is promising the coming Messiah and bringing Him into the world through Mary. (SLIDE - Chart) Matthew only mentions Mary as he’s talking about Joseph, again fitting that Jewish male dominated tax collector mentality.

Matthew 1:18-25 18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. 19 And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. We’re not going to spend a lot of time on Joseph today. Joseph, the carpenter (Matthew 13:55), was a "just man" (Matthew 1:19 in the King James Version, who belonged to Nazareth (Luke 2:4). He was of Davidic descent (Matthew 1:20; Luke 2:4), the son in law of Heli (Luke 3:23) or Jacob (Matthew 1:16), the husband of Mary (Matthew 1:16), and the earthly father of Jesus (Matthew 13:55; Luke 3:23; 4:22; John 1:45; 6:42). Now, how many of us would have accepted that? You are engaged to be married. The date is set, and your fiancé comes to you and says: “An Angel spoke to me, and I’m pregnant with God’s child.” Even though as a descendant of David, and a man who worshiped the Lord, that’s a level of faith most of us don’t have. So, he doubts her integrity and makes his plans. God knows what’s in our hearts, so we continue. (SLIDE)

20 But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” 22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet:

(SLIDE) 23 “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us). 24 When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, 25 but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus. Again, I don’t want to spend a lot of time on Joseph but for all of us, men and women alike. Do we go to bed at night praying the bedtime Shema?

Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the universe, who brings sleep to my eyes, slumber to my eyelids. May it be Your will, Lord my God and God of my ancestors, that I lie down in peace and that I arise in peace. Let my sleep be undisturbed by troubling thoughts, bad dreams, and wicked schemes. May I have a night of tranquil slumber. May I awaken to the light of a new day, that my eyes may behold the splendor of Your light. Praised are You, Lord whose glory gives light to the entire world. That’s from Deuteronomy 6 and 11. Do we recognize the glory and righteousness of God as we go to sleep, that we might hear from Him during the night? Do we wake with enough faith and strength in the Holy Spirit that we know when we’ve heard from God, and when it was something else?

As we read Matthew, he doesn’t tell Mary’s side of the story. Neither did Mark or John. Mark mentions her as only Jesus’ mother and brothers come to see him while he’s teaching. You may remember that Jesus says any of us that do God’s will are his brothers, sisters and mother. John mentions her twice again not by name, but as Jesus’ mother. First in the wedding at Cana where they ran out of wine, and then not again until Jesus is hanging on the cross. Now Paul mentions Mary in Galatians describing Jesus as being born of a woman, and some believe that the woman clothed with the sun in Revelations 12 as referring to Mary as the mother of Christ as well but it’s really only in Luke that we have a better understanding.

Quick background. After Luke introduces his writing as we read earlier, he talks about Elizabeth and Zechariah, the Jewish priest, who had been unable to have children and although their specific ages aren’t know, it’s expected they were between 60 and 70. Elizabeth is also from the priestly line, and becomes pregnant with John the Baptist. Mary, betrothed to marry Joseph, lives in Nazareth, which at that time was between the size of Burlington, and Union City. Only 200 to 400 people tucked in the hillside in this image. It’s about 90 miles from Jerusalem and had been inhabited with terraced farms going back to the 10th century. It’s a few hundred years before Isaiah prophesied about Mary. But what we’re about to read can really only have some from Luke spending time with Mary and asking her to share her story with him. With us.

(SLIDE) Luke 1:26-38 26 In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, 27 to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28 The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.” 29 Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. So, before we go any further, we already know that Mary is an incredible woman of faith in the Lord. Because although she’s troubled at Gabriel’s words, she wonders what kind of greeting this might be. Which means this is not the first time that she’s heard from the Lord. Otherwise, most of us would be running away in fear at seeing and hearing an angel of the Lord. Yes? We can also see how strong Mary’s faith in God is as Luke continues.

(SLIDE) 30 But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. 31 You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.” 34 “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?” 35 The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. 36 Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. 37 For no word from God will ever fail.” 38 “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Then the angel left her.

(SLIDE) All of us may have family members who might say something like, “When you can prove to me there was a virgin birth, I’ll believe in your God.” Now to me, the faith that Mary has in the Lord is beyond compare. Whatever age she is, she’s engaged to be married. How would your future spouse, let alone your parents, family members, this small community of only 200 to 400 people you grew up in and live in react to you suddenly being pregnant? “Oh, the Lord gave you a miracle pregnancy?” Right, how does that work now? The Holy Spirit? Do you fully understand how much faith Mary has to have for the Lord to have found favor with her? How much faith it takes to accept the calling to your life that changes everything. It changes everything for Mary, for Joseph, and it changes everything for all humanity. Forever.

I am floored, but Mary’s faith, and strength to not only accept God’s calling on her life, but the consequences that come about. She tells Joseph, but then Mary goes to see Elizabeth and stays for three months. So, she’s left her immediate family and community. We’ll talk about that and more next week, but to answer that relative that’s hung up on the idea of the Holy Spirit moving to create Jesus in her womb. I’d say two things.

The first is, how was the universe created? They might say, well that was the “big bang”. Right, but you can’t get something, or everything from nothing. God, miraculously, created the universe and everything thing that is within it. So, if we understand that everything that exists came about in an instant, there has to be a God. We talked about that weeks ago. If God can create the entire universe, the ability to miraculously create Jesus. That’s not a big leap at all.

But here’s the second thing. As much as I am in awe of both Mary and Joseph, to accept God’s will and be obedient to the task He’s given them, my belief in God doesn’t come from Mary and Joseph. My belief in God comes in part from what He’s done in my life. My choosing to ask Jesus Christ to take over my life as my personal Lord and Savior comes from the historical fact that two thousand years ago, He gave himself as an atonement for the sins of all mankind.

He hung up on the cross, when you and I should have been there being crucified instead. And died. And the disciples and his followers scattered in fear of their lives and believing that it was all over. And historically, three days later, Jesus rose from the grave. And our resurrected savior was witnessed by the disciples, by family, by more than 500 people. No. My faith in God. My faith in Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit don’t rest on a virgin pregnancy. But my faith in the Word of God, and what the Holy Spirit testifies in my heart, mind and soul, is that Mary’s trust in God, and the Virgin birth, are also historical fact. But until someone takes Jesus as their Lord and Savior, scriptural, and spiritual things do not make sense to those who are not filled with the Holy Spirit.

I don’t know if I could have the faith of Joseph, or the faith of Mary. I can only hope to be obedient and faithful to the calling God has put on my life. No matter the age at which that path in obedience begins. I hope and pray that you can feel, no matter what age you are, His calling, His miraculous calling and love for you as well.

Related Media

Related Sermons