Sermon (24-Dec): "And What Shall We Call Him?" Luke 1:26-38

Bible Passage:

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.

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[b] 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.

Objective: (SLIDE)

The objective of this message is to embrace the deity of Christ today as we look ahead to Christmas

Introduction: “The Necessity of Christmas” (SLIDE)

-“Jesus--a simple name with so much power and meaning, but on that night so long ago, the tiny baby, wrapped by Mary in swaddling clothes, waving little arms, hungrily sucking a fist, was like any other newborn baby. He was helpless and dependent, and Mary was His hope of survival, His nourishment, His very lifeline. God entrusted His most priceless gift to a very human, very young, earthly mother. Why? Because God so loved--that He gave. He relinquished His hold on His Son and placed Him in fragile human arms.” - Janet Oke in Reflections on the Christmas Story. Christianity Today, Vol. 39, no. 14.

- Thousands of years in the making, since the Garden of Eden, all of creation have longed for Christmas

- Whether unconsciously or quite knowingly, there is our deep-down need for Christmas

- The first thought is that I am referring to the 6 foot tree at your home, the stringed lights on your home or those in front of your home

- In our Western culture, we are overwhelmed with the idea of trees, lights and the quantity or quality of gifts under the tree

- We seemingly go from the season of thanksgiving to the season of receiving

- But, at the very root of Christmas, God had something different in mind

- This is not to discourage the giving and receiving of gifts…I enjoy both as well both giving and receiving

- It’s more so to consciously place the emphasis on the foundation of the season

- Christmas doesn’t work without Christ—Christmas can’t be celebrated without the Savior

- The more mindful and intentional that we are about the origin and meaning; the more willing we become to embrace its necessity

- The gifts of the wise men/magi were brought to honor the one who is the King of the Jews

- The gifts weren’t the focus of the day—the One born in the manger—was and is the focus

- The fact that God Himself saw each of us as valuable and personally, directly intervened reminds me of what Christmas is about

- Every year, for at least a decade, we have always put out a Nativity scene—Jospeh, Mary, and the baby Jesus serves as a reminder that Christ is at the center

- It has always been about the importance of Christmas but I began to think about the necessity of Christmas

- Before there’s a Resurrection Day; there has to be a Christmas Day—a birth day

- Before Jesus’ death, there’s the necessity of His birth—the Necessity of Christmas

- The angel Gabriel delivers to Mary the most timely message that has impacted by every generation since

TRANSITION: And he doesn’t just announce that a baby will be born; there’s three key titles that He announces to Mary what shall we call Him

And What Shall We Call Him?:

- The Son of God (v.35)

- The Son of the Most High (v.32)

- Jesus (v.31)

1) The Son of God (v.35) (SLIDE)

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.

- Imagine if you can, a young teenage girl around the age of 14 is introduced to the presence of a majestical being, the arch angel Gabriel

- A young lady in the midst of learning who she is in the world

- Embedded in a culture that favors teenage brides and arranged marriages

- A culture that pushes family and responsibility

- And, here, you have Mary—one who is found to be highly favored and blessed of the Most High God

- The appearance of Gabriel himself must have been alarming…or at the least bewildering

- Early in the chapter, we are told of what happed with Zechariah and his encounter with Gabriel and now it’s Mary’s turn

- Zechariah, literally, left speechless from the encounter

- Mary was unaware of that encounter but, thankfully, we aren’t

- Mary’s just a young lady who’s receiving the world’s most important message from one of God’s elite messengers

- We become formally introduced to the Son of God, the 2nd Member of the Trinity, co-equal with God

- I’m just imagining Mary’s struggle to grasp what’s truly happening on such an ordinary day

- She had no idea when her day began that it would turn in this direction

- Perhaps she thought the day would be like every other day—one filled with serving her parents and preparing for marriage

- Little did she know that God would make Himself known both to her and in her

- Agitated by the news, she found herself pondering and wondering about the impossibility of it all

Luke 1:29 “Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be.”

- She’s pure, unmarried, chaste; there’s no way this could ever be

- One of the most liberating sayings comes into play, “But God…”

- Only God can make the impossibility possible

- Only God can change a brick wall into an open door

- Only God can come in the flesh to redeem humankind and show the necessity of Christmas

- God often shows the impossible is possible when we question His omnipotence

- God has shown out way too many times in my life to count

- And, yet, He still astounds me

- The Son of God—the divine nature of God clothing Himself in humanity

- When it seemed as if all hope was lost for our way back to God, what shall we call Him…the Son of God

Transition: Still, we shouldn’t just call Him the Son of God we should also call Him …

2) The Son of the Most High (v.32) (SLIDE)

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…

- Stop me if you’ve heard this before…He came from Heaven to Earth to show the way, from the Earth to the cross—our debt to pay—from the cross to the grave from the grave to the sky

- Lord, we lift Your Name on High

- Pastor Alistair Begg (Senior Pastor, Parkside Church) once put it this way,

“the Bible tells us that when the time was fulfilled at the exact purposeful, proper moment in history, God sent forth His Son.” – Pastor Alistair Begg, “It is HIStory!”

- I think we can all agree that God is great

- In the same respect, the Son is exactly the same

- The qualities we attribute to God, we can attribute to Jesus

- This passage as a whole talks about the Advent of Christ—His First Coming and Second Coming

- Gabriel as one who is always in the presence of God is letting Mary know that her child, her son, is God’s Son

- Picture that, in essence, God’s greatness would be showcased in her day to day life

- The very One who Paul says (Phil 2:9),

“…God has also highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every other name.”

- I believe that Mary just as she wondered at this moment;

- Luke 2:19 says, 19 But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.

- The conception, Jesus’ birth and miracles; they never left her memory or heart

- And, just like a mother knows her child, Mary was no different

- Jesus’ life was wrapped up in hers and she came to know what the big picture meant—

- She knew that Jesus’ life was intertwined in the greatness of God

- Pastor John MacArthur (Senior Pastor, Grace Community Church) mentions it this way,

“Since a son bears his father’s qualities, calling a person someone else’s ‘son’ was a way of signifying equality. Here the angel was telling Mary that her Son would be equal to the Most High God” – MacArthur Study Bible

- All the divinity of the Father wrapped up in the Son

- 100% God and 100% humanity

Transition: He is the Son of God and the Son of the Most High; and we call Him…

3) Call Him Jesus (v.31) (SLIDE)

31 You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus.

- If there is one name that connects us to God directly and intimately; it’s Jesus

- Jesus, Yeshua, or God with us reminds us that we are not forsaken nor forgotten

- Sometimes, as believers as Christians, we tend to lean to one side, we talk about the First Advent and neglect the Second (meaning His return) or vice versa

- It’s not that either is wrong…just incomplete

- Jesus the Christ is God incarnate both the Light of the World and the Savior of it

A) Jesus is the Light of World

-- It was no coincidence that night in the manger, the brightest star in the sky led the wise men to Jesus

-- In the midst of a dark world, God sent His Son for the sake of humanity

-- Humanity’s only hope was in God Himself—in Christ

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

B) Jesus is the Savior of the World

-- The prophet Isaiah writes (Isa 9:6),

6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

-- It was the Samaritan people (John 4:42) who called Him to be what we know Him to be today

-- I mentioned this before but I believe it’s worth mentioning again

- It’s been estimated that more than 2 billion people in more than 160 countries celebrate Christmas

- What’s even more amazing is that 9 out of 10 celebrate the holiday even if they do not identify as a Christian

CLOSING: As I begin to close, what shall we call Him?

- Gabriel gives Mary and us a glimpse into the importance of Jesus

- He wasn’t just another baby

- He is the Son of God

- He is the Son of the Most High

- Yet, what we are most familiar with is we call Him Jesus

- We need Him to be the Son of God and the Most High…

- We also need Him to be Jesus…Emmanuel, God With Us

- Will you pray with me?