Highly Favored, Deeply Troubled

If you would consider yourself a new attender. Someone who has been coming for a few weeks or a few months, I want to invite you to our new attender’s lunch called “Lunch On Us.” This is a chance for you to learn more about Bethel, get to know the leadership of the church, and some other new attender’s as well. Plus, I mean, lunch. “Lunch on us” will be hosted after the new year and you can sign up by scanning the QR code in the bulletin or by stopping by the Welcome Center after the service.

Invitation Cards:

Our Christmas eve service is coming. We want to leverage this opportunity to invite neighbors and friends to our service at 10 am on the 24th. We also have our pastries and hot drinks that morning starting at 9 am. Grab an invitation card by the door or at the welcome center after the service.

Children’s Christmas Program

Lastly, this morning at 11 am we will have our Children’s Christmas program. Our service will end a bit earlier than normal to allow time for them to get set up and ready to roll. Please stick around for the program whether you have children, grandchildren, or just like to hear kids sing songs.

Today we will be in week two of our series called “The Weary World Rejoices” for the Christmas season. If you are reading out of the Bibles in front of you, our passage can be found on page 855.

Intro

Every year, there is a popular Christmas song that makes it’s way to our ears. Mary Did You Know. And each year, I sort of answer the questions in my head as the song progresses:

Mary, did you know that your baby boy Would one day walk on water? “NO” Mary, did you know that your baby boy Would save our sons and daughters? “YES” Did you know that your baby boy Has come to make you new? “YES” This child that you delivered, will soon deliver you “YES”

So to save time, this is a theologically accurate list of everything mentioned in the song, what she knew, and didn’t know, in order.

No, yes, yes yes, no no no, yes, no, no, no, no, no, yes, yes, no, no.

There. That concludes our service for this morning.

The point of the song is to give the impression that Mary didn’t know anything, that she was totally in the dark as to who Jesus was and would do. But that isn’t true. In our passage this morning, we will briefly reflect on Mary’s encounter with the angel Gabriel, and we will see that Mary really did have a good grasp on what was happening.

Really when you think about it, Mary had something that many of us want from God: Clarity of the future.

Have you ever wanted God to simply tell you what to do? Or tell you what would happen?

When faced with a difficult decision, or the fact that the future is unknown may lead us to want this. “God, would you just tell me what to do or what will happen?” We think that would make our lives so much easier.

Perhaps.

Or perhaps, like Mary, God’s plan when clearly laid out, causes fear, unease, and a troubled heart.

Before we read from our passage, I want to give a bit of background on Mary and Joseph. They were engaged. This is what one scholar said about the process of being engaged in their time and culture:

Mary the virgin was pledged to be married to a man named Joseph. The language comes from Deuteronomy 22:23. It describes an engagement, the result of a public ceremony before witnesses by which a man and woman were legally considered married but did not live or sleep together. At this stage the bride price had already been paid to the woman’s family, and the man had legal responsibility for the woman. This engagement could be broken only through divorce. Engagement usually lasted about a year, with the girl living with her parents. Often the girl was only twelve to fourteen years old.11 Trent C. Butler, Luke, vol. 3, Holman New Testament Commentary (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2000), 11.

TRANS: As we go through our passage today, I want you to put yourself in Mary’s shoes as she encounters the angel Gabriel, and finds out that she would carry and give birth to the Messiah.

Mary and The Messenger

God’s Plan Can Trouble Us

Turn with me in your bibles to Luke 1:26 and follow along with me.

Luke 1:26–29 ESV

26 In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, 27 to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin’s name was Mary. 28 And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!” 29 But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be.

1:28. Mary is the highly favored one—the recipient of a special blessing from God. She has experienced God’s undeserved, unmerited grace in a special way. This does not change who Mary is or give her a status beyond other people. It singles her out as a special instrument whom God chose to use in his gracious plan of salvation. The grace Mary received was God’s presence with her.1

1 Trent C. Butler, Luke, vol. 3, Holman New Testament Commentary (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2000), 11.

But see in verse 29 her heart.

The highly favored becomes the greatly troubled. Luke uses [a particular greek word], the only appearance of the word in the New Testament. It describes something thoroughly stirred up, confused, and perplexed.11 Trent C. Butler, Luke, vol. 3, Holman New Testament Commentary (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2000), 11.

Imagine being in her shoes.

Have you ever felt troubled by something you were facing?

Sometimes knowing what is to come is not as great as it might seem.

TRANS: Mary is highly favored but deeply troubled. And God meets her there, and helps her. Watch what the Angel says next.

God Calms The Troubled

Luke 1:30–37 ESV

30 And 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 call his name Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” 34 And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” 35 And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God. 36 And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. 37 For nothing will be impossible with God.”

God supplies what is needed to be calmed, no matter your circumstance.

The angel says “do no be afraid” because of the favor (grace) that has been given to her. Conclusion: God’s grace overpowers fear.

Mary’s questions are faced with the greatness of God. A virgin birth is nothing to the God who created the universe from nothing and created humanity from dirt (to name a few).

God Empowers The Fearful

Luke 1:38 ESV

38 And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.

After the angel had shared this with her, he departed, and Mary found in herself the strength she needed to walk in God’s plan. Calling herself “a servant of the Lord” meant she was willingly taking on the massive responsibility she had been given. This was a huge turn of events from the initial fear she experienced.

I want you to know something about how God works: He does not often remove fear; he gives courage.

Mary had lots of reasons to be afraid, even after what the angel said. It’s a matter of what she is focusing on, where she puts her attention. Is she going to trust in the Lord? Or will she fixate on her circumstances? Because nothing that was about to happen was in her control, she had to totally trust in the word of the Lord that it would all turn out ok. That what was happening was truly a blessing and not a curse.

It is that trust that leads to courage. God supplies what we need when we trust in Him as our source, and not on ourselves.

Response

Magnify the Lord

Luke 1:46–55 ESV

46 And Mary said, “My soul magnifies the Lord, 47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, 48 for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant. For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed; 49 for he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name. 50 And his mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation. 51 He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts; 52 he has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate; 53 he has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty. 54 He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, 55 as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his offspring forever.”

You might think, “What does Magnifying the Lord have to do with anything? Why is that an application?” It’s true, we often think that worshipping God is a lame or shallow step. “Give me something challenging” you might say.

Let me suggest to you that there is nothing deeper than this application. And it is what moved Mary from deeply troubled to delight.

I want you to see this connection, because it is buried into the narrative of the text. You might miss it unless you pay close attention:

Worship of God leads to overcoming fear.

Worship of God leads to rejoicing in His plan.

Worship of God leads to seeing your part in his larger plan.

How do we overcome struggles, temptations, or fear? … it is worship of the Lord!

When we worship our good God regardless of our circumstances, no matter what He is calling us to do or be, we have joy. Joy that on the soul level.

English Standard Version (Psalm 34)

2 My soul makes its boast in the LORD;

let the humble hear and be glad.

3 Oh, magnify the LORD with me,

and let us exalt his name together!

Over 20 years ago, a student worship band in Daytona Beach, FL started writing songs. They were not looking to make it big, just to write authentic songs about the Christian life. While they were writing, a friend of the lead singer was going through something awful; her daughter was diagnosed with cancer. It is one thing to say “worship God” when things are good, it’s another to say that when we receive life-altering news. This lead singer wrote a song about what he learned in walking with that friend. He said he learned a lot about worship during that time, and though his heart cried out “why God, why?” the song he wrote echoed the prayer of Mary.

The lyrics go like this:

“And I'll praise You in this storm And I will lift my hands For You are who You are No matter where I am And every tear I've cried You hold in Your hand You never left my side And though my heart is torn I will praise You in this storm”

That song was #1 on the Christian charts for 7 weeks in 2005 on Casting Crown’s debut album. I believe it was so successful because they touched on something we all experience: it’s hard to want to worship God in the storm. Yet, that is where we find strength and peace.

I have found myself, as I have prayed with people this week, a reoccurring theme. I have prayed over and over for various people over many issues that the Lord would be the anchor of their soul.

Mary’s reputation was about to go completely down the toilet, knowing that people would assume she got pregnant out of wedlock. It would be possible that her soon-to-be husband would leave her, and her family would receive shame from her community. Yet she trusted in God’s plan in the storm. And even more, she rejoiced in God’s plan.

Closing

It’s about the cross Closing

Christmas reminds us of God’s wonderful plan to rescue us. God’s people had been waiting for hundreds of years for the promised one to come. This rescuer, this messiah, would come to save people from their sins.

Why do we need saving?

When I was a child, I played with legos (because they’re the best). And with that I had a special ability: to take legos out but never put them away. Therefore, my room was always a mess.

I remember at night when my mom or dad would tuck me and my brother in to bed, rather than cleaning up my toys, I would create a path that was lego-free from the door to the bunkbed. No one likes stepping on legos.

Here was my problem, I wasn’t cleaning the mess, I was just moving it around.

See Jesus was born to clean up our mess. We, like the legos when I was a kid, have a huge mess in our heart: one that we cannot clean up on our own. This mess is called sin. And sin separates us from God.

God is light, God is perfect. Sin is darkness, it is missing the mark. Because of our sin, God needed to make the way for forgiveness. The problem is that God could not simply forgive and forget, because the wages of sin is death. We deserve the penalty for our sin, and that is eternal separation from God. Someone had to pay the price for our sin.

This is where Jesus comes in.

People thought that Jesus was coming to fix their problems here on earth, but Jesus came to fix a far bigger problem: Eternity. The reason why it’s all about the cross is because that’s why he came. He died on the cross for our sins, he took the penalty that we deserved to pay, so that by his grace we can be forgiven.

Now when we think of Christmas, we think of God coming to earth who took on flesh, so that we might be healed. That is why he came. It was to restore our relationship with God so we can be with him forever: as we were made to do.

So when we think of Baby Jesus during this Christmas season, we rejoice that he came because we know why he came: to save us. To “clean up the mess in our heart” so to speak. Which is something we cannot do on our own. It is only something God does when we, by faith in jesus, receive a new heart that loves Him.

The question is, do you believe that? Receive Jesus Christ as your savior this Christmas, because this is why he came.

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