Mary's Song

True Worship

Luke 1:46–47 NASB95

And Mary said: “My soul exalts the Lord, And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior.

Mary had been visiting her Aunt Elizabeth. When she walked in Elizabeth confirmed that Mary was going to be the mother of the Messiah. Luke 1:41-45

Luke 1:41–45 (NASB95)

When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. And she cried out with a loud voice and said, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! “And how has it happened to me, that the mother of my Lord would come to me? “For behold, when the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby leaped in my womb for joy. “And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what had been spoken to her by the Lord.”

This confirmation elicited worship from Mary. There are two things that I would like to point out about worship. The first is where it comes from and second who it is to. It comes from the soul and spirit and to the Lord and Savior.

Soul and Spirit

True worship comes from the soul and the Spirit. This means that it originates from the inside and is manifested on the outside. Mary said that her soul exalts and her spirit rejoiced. Both her soul and spirit are the central part of her being. It is where the will is. Mary knew God and that created a desire for her to worship. The proclamation and confirmation from her aunt Elizabeth brought out in her the worship that caused her to exalt the Lord and rejoice in God.

John 4:24 NASB95

“God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”

What this is saying is that the worship of God must be at the center of our being. One must have a relationship with the Lord in order to be able to worship. You must spend time with Him and know him in order to worship properly. This is why daily bible study and prayer is necessary to prepare us for Sunday worship. Spending time with God and experiencing Him all week will create a desire to worship Him.

It is like an athlete that has a championship game on Saturday. That athlete is going to do everything they can to get prepared for the game. They would not just sit around and do nothing and expect to compete well in the game on Saturday. The same is true when it comes to worship. We must prepare our souls for worship.

The way we prepare our souls is to experience God in our daily lives as we walk in obedience through the study of His word and prayer. We will experience Him in ways that deepen our relationship with Him. It requires faith to be obedient to the Lord.

Our souls are selfish by nature. They want to naturally worship ourselves. This is known as pride. We will discuss this shortly. When we exercise faith through the application of God’s Word and stepping into the activities that God calls us into our faith grows stronger and our will to worship grows bigger!

Often time a song that is sung or a message that is preached or a kind word that is said will elicit the worship that is within. I encourage you to prepare every week to worship! This is why I ask in my weekly news letter to read and meditate on the passage of scripture that I will be preaching from. It is not in the preaching of the message that is important but the heart prepared to receive it that is important.

Lord and Savior

The next thing that we see is that Mary calls her child Lord and Savior. This is essential to worship. These two descriptions are who Jesus was to Mary. Let’s look and see what this means.

First, I would like to discuss Savior. Many people believe that Mary was without sin. Some people even worship Mary and pray to her. Here in her own words she says that Jesus is her Savior. his means that she needed saving from her own sin. Mary is not to be worshipped, but is to be respected because God did choose her to be the mother of Jesus.

If we are to worship, Jesus must be our Savior. We must recognize our sin and what Jesus has done for us as our Savior. He has taken the penalty of shame, sin, and death away and reconciled us unto the Father. He affords us the opportunity to repent and receive forgiveness and salvation for our souls. 1 John 1:9

1 John 1:9 NASB95

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Not only did Mary proclaim that Jesus was her Savior but also her Lord. This is huge. Many people want Jesus as their Savior but not as their Lord. This was me from the age of 15 to 19. I didn’t want to go to hell so I walked an isle, said a prayer and got baptized. What I didn’t do was give my life to Jesus. I did nor make him Lord of my life. It wasn’t until age 19 that I gave my life to Jesus and made Him Lord of my life.

To make Jesus Lord of your life means that He has the right to call you into anything for His purpose and you must follow in obedience. If God calls you into something and you refuse then He is not your Lord. Luke 6:46

Luke 6:46 NASB95

“Why do you call Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?

To make Jesus Lord of your life you must walk in obedience to Him and follow Him. This is difficult because it requires two of the hardest things. Matt. 16:24

Matthew 16:24 NASB95

Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.

We must first deny our self. This means that we put our desires secondary to the Lord’s. This is difficult because we want what we want and we want it now. For example, to the degree that we mistreat anyone we are not denying ourselves. We are catering to our desire for revenge rather than giving forgiveness.

To take up our cross means to crucify the old self or the old ways and put on Christ. Rom 6:5-7

Romans 6:5–7 (NASB95)

For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died is freed from sin.

To the degree that sin is still master over you, you have not fully taken up your cross. I know that there are area’s in my life that are still dying, they have not completely died. I am sure all of us in here are like this. However, as we follow Him through the things that we have put to death, the others will surely die.

Mary called Jesus her Savior and Lord. If we are to worship God then Jesus must be our Savior and Lord!

Humbleness

Luke 1:48–50 (NASB95)

“For He has had regard for the humble state of His bondslave; For behold, from this time on all generations will count me blessed. “For the Mighty One has done great things for me; And holy is His name. “And His mercy is upon generation after generation Toward those who fear Him.

Mary was just and ordinary peasant girl Jewish girl. In the world’s eyes she was an insignificant nobody. Just a normal girl from Nazareth. Nazareth was the hood of Israel. John 1:46

John 1:46 NASB95

Nathanael said to him, “Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.”

When Phillip encountered Jesus, he told his brother Nathaniel and this was his response. Nazareth was a place that people disrespected.

In the worlds eyes Mary was just a teenage girl from Nazareth. However in God’s eyes she was highly favored. Luke 1:28-29

Luke 1:28–29 (NASB95)

And coming in, he said to her, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.” But she was very perplexed at this statement, and kept pondering what kind of salutation this was.

There was nothing special about Mary except that the Lord chose her to bear the Son of God. It reminds me of a story of Muretus.

Muretus was a wandering scholar of the middle ages. He was poor. In an Italian town he became ill and was taken to a hospital for waifs and strays. The doctors were discussing his case in Latin, never dreaming he could understand. They suggested that since he was such a worthless wanderer they might use him for medical experiments. He looked up and answered them in their own learned tongue, ‘Call no man worthless for whom Christ died.’

When we have realized what Christ did for each and every one of us, it is no longer possible to regard anyone as being beneath us. The social grades are gone.

William Barclay, The Gospel of Luke, The New Daily Study Bible (Louisville, KY; London: Westminster John Knox Press, 2001), 19–20.

We too must realize that in and of ourselves we are ordinary at best. However if you are saved you are highly favored. It is God who defines you and puts value on you. The value he has for you is His only begotten Son. John 3:16

John 3:16 NASB95

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.

The fact that Mary would even be considered to be the mother of Jesus was tremendously humbling.

She even says that generations will call her blessed because of what the Lord has done for her. Notice that her blessedness doe not come from anything that she has done, but what the Lord what the Lord has done for her!

We too should recognize that we are special not because of the accomplishment we achieve, positions we hold, beauty we posses, Intellect we have or strength we have, but instead what the Lord has done for us.

Mary also praises the Lord the the things he has done for others. She proclaims that God’s mercy will be for every generation. God is an amazing God that does show mercy to every generation. Specifically those who make Jesus their Lord and Savior.

He Has!

Luke 1:51–55 (NASB95)

“He has done mighty deeds with His arm; He has scattered those who were proud in the thoughts of their heart. “He has brought down rulers from their thrones, And has exalted those who were humble. “He has filled the hungry with good things; And sent away the rich empty-handed. “He has given help to Israel His servant, In remembrance of His mercy, As He spoke to our fathers, To Abraham and his descendants forever.”

God has flipped the worlds economy. He scattered the proud. This means that those who think they have it all together and are better than others He will allow the chaos of their sin to dominate their life. He has brought down rulers from their throne. Remember Pharaoh, Nebuchadnezzar, Caesar, Stalin, Hitler, and many other kings that were evil. He exalted the mightiest humble King David. He took him from a sheep’s pen to the highest throne on earth.

He take care of those in need. Matt. 5:3-12

Matthew 5:3–12 (NASB95)

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. “Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth. “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. “Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. “Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. “Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Wee see here that God sees favor on those in need for Him. Are you needy for the Lord

Finally Mary says that the Lord has fulfilled his promise to Abraham. Jesus is the Messiah that all generations are blessed from. Jesus is the seed of Abraham.

We serve a mighty God that is more than we can ever imagine. During this Christmas season let us discover the Lord in ways perhaps we have not discovered Him. My prayer for us will be that in this discovery it will elicit worship.

It begins with a relationship with Him. Do you have that?