We may believe God's Plan Even When we do not Undersand

INTRODUCTION

There are two great stumbling blocks to people's acceptance of the Gospel Message of Salvation. It involves supernatural beliefs, and it seems to be anchored to a remote and alien culture.

On the one hand, it is the greatest story ever told, and on the other hand, most of the world sees it as irrelevant to their lives. It would appear that Luke is writing to most twenty-first-century people who are living in a materialistic world, superstitious and, to some extent, gullible, and may belong to one of half a dozen different cultures but are not orthodox Jews.

Luke is rather in the position of the United Nations ambassador of some small nation which is the flash-point of a major crisis. What he has to say to the assembled delegates concerns a subject of worldwide importance.

But to understand it, they must first understand the local conditions which have given rise to the crisis. In all other respects they may ridicule and ignore his country; but is this respect if is central to the question, and must be taken into account.

Angels, predictions, and miracles are intrinsic parts of the gospel because it concerns a supernatural break-in to our world, as unexpected as the message to Zechariah and as staggering as the one to Mary.

We must be prepared for such supernaturalism: Christianity is meaningless without it. The Jewishness of the tale is likewise intrinsic to it because no other place or time has God ever broken into our world with the full message of salvation than in these events in first-century Palestine.

Luke 1:26–38 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. 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.” 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.

When we fail to Understand God’s Plan, we must Trust these Four Principles From the Advent Story.

1. He is the God Who Brings Significance to the Insignificant

This won’t come as a shock to anyone who knows me, but as a kid, I was often the last to be picked to play basketball. No matter how much I hustled, I couldn’t overcome the limitations of being the shortest guy in the class.

Whether you’re tall or short, I bet at some point in your life you’ve felt the same way—that feeling of being less than, of being insignificant. Spiritually, relationally, vocationally or otherwise—we feel we don’t measure up. Small. Overlooked. Invisible.

A few thousand years ago, you’d have said the same thing about Bethlehem in contrast to the surrounding towns and clans. It was the birthplace of the great King David, but that was its only claim to fame. And yet, of Bethlehem the prophet Micah wrote: Micah 5:2

Micah 5:2 ESV

2 But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days.

The fact that Jesus was to be born out of the house of David in Bethlehem a minor town in the scope of history brings to mind the way God chose David for his special task.

You will remember when Samuel came to Jesse's house to anoint the next king of Israel. Jesse didn’t even think to bring out his youngest son David, who was out tending the sheep.

Indeed, if God is the Captain choosing the best for His team, He’s not going for David, the boy who writes songs, plays his harp, and spends all his time with the sheep! What irony that the boy who was out protecting the sheep with his life would be the lineage that the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world would be born.

God’s plan was for a great king to arise out of humility. Paul later wrote that God takes the world's weak things to shame the wise. 1 Corinthians 1:27-29

1 Corinthians 1:27–29 ESV

27 But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; 28 God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, 29 so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.

God is not impressed with you and your achievement, talents, or boastings.

*God Raises Up People Who Will Only Boast in Him.

2 Corinthians 10:17 ESV

17 “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”

What is Pride

It is boasting in self and not the Lord

It is taking credit ourselves for only what God can do.

It is relying on self and not God.

It is feeling sufficiency in ourselves and not God.

It is the unwillingness to admit weakness that may accent the power of Christ.

Notice Mary was deeply troubled by the angel calling her the one favored by the Lord. She certainly did not react as one favored. She most likely felt insignificant and less than worthy of such an honor.

This caused her to be deeply troubled and perplexed by the message that was being delivered. There is not one person in scripture that we read of when, they are called by God feel worthy or up to the task.

She lived in this insignificant time, with most likely and arranged marriage, being very young and most likely feeling like she had no voice in her life.

He loves the heart that boasts in the Lord.

He loves the heart that gives Him the credit for what only He can do.

He loves the heart that relies on His power.

He loves the heart that wants Him to get the glory for all things.

We must look deeper into the story's vulnerable aspect. This ruler with worldwide authority and power will come from the most vulnerable place.

*Authority will Come from a Place of Vulnerability.

The world’s vision of authority emphasizes strength and power. Don’t you dare show weakness! Never concede. Never back down! The world looks for status in the luxurious life, not the meager manger.

But God turns upside down all expectations. The Son of God became an infant. The One through whom and in whom and for whom the whole world was made and holds together submitted to the helplessness of infancy to demonstrate that His ways surpass the ways of the world.

God does not call you out of your strength and ability. He calls you in spite of yourselves.

The King of the Universe is going to come as a baby in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger. The seemingly insignificant and helpless baby. The baby that drools, cries, needs to be fed, needs his diaper changed, needs to learn to walk, and talk.

All of this is the grand part of God’s plan to redeem His people.

2. He is the God Who Brings Greatness from a Place of Humility

“You will Conceive and give birth to a son.” The shock of receiving such a revelation from an angel must have been an unbelievable reality. However, now, she receives the news of having a child who is the son of the living God..

Remember that the announcement of John’s greatness came with Qualifiers. The Birth of Jesus does not require a qualification.

What Makes this Birth So Great?

1). He is the Son of the most high God.

2). The Lord will give Him the Throne of the Most High God.

3). He will reign over the House of Jacob forever.

4). His Kingdom will have no end.

We read that Mary is called the woman who God favors.

What does it mean that Mary was a favored woman, or more specifically, a Woman favored by God? Mary was troubled because this statement did not make sense to her. What did the angel mean when she was described as the favored woman?

I’m sure Mary felt insignificant as a Jewish girl in a not-very-well-known town who was engaged and looking forward to her arranged marriage to Joseph. Later, again, the angel addresses Mary by stating that she has found favor from God. God chooses to use us, his flawed people, to carry out his greater, perfect plan.

So much controversy rests on the place of Mary in the scope of Christianity and religion. It has been a point of contention between Roman Catholics and Protestants.

I believe that people do one of two things. They either over play Mary’s place in the whole nativity story, or the underplay the significance of the favored woman of God and what makes her task so great.

But most Christians agree on the suitability of the title conferred upon Mary by the early church: ‘Mother of God’. The title in the Greek language is theotokos.

It did not call attention to her greatness, neither did it mean that Jesus derived his deity from her. It simply means that the child she bore is God incarnate. This woman had the most holy task of any woman in history.

Mary’s Fiat

The second part of verse 38 has been given a special name in some theological circles. It is called ‘Mary’s fiat’.

A fiat is a command. God created the world by divine fiat. Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead by the sheer power of his fiat. So the word fiat is used to show that Mary is giving a commandment. Those who exalt Mary to a degree of importance beyond what Protestant churches would grant, believe Mary’s fiat was necessary for Jesus to have been born.

Nothing could be further from the tone of Mary’s words. Mary was not giving orders to the angel. She was saying, ‘If this is what God wants, then I will do it.

You might think that there would be nothing greater in all the world than to be given the great task to carry the son of the living God for 9 months and they see the consolation of our greatest hope come into the world.

But can you imagine the awesome responsibility that had been placed on Mary? Do you realize the price this woman had to pay to become the mother of Jesus. Later we will read the promise that will come with the great blessing, that is a sword that will pierce her very soul.

How did Luke know of Mary’s reaction to Gabriel’s words? Where did he get his information?

In the Introduction, we saw that Luke was a careful historian who wanted to get his information from the earliest possible sources. Tradition teaches us that Luke got his information about these events from Mary herself. Although inspired by the Holy Spirit, we can be confident that this record was researched carefully.

Mary’s Question is similar to that of Zachariah’s:

“How can this be since I have not had sexual relations with a man.”

How is Mary’s response different from Zachariah’s? Remember that Zachariah asked, “How can this be since my wife and I are advanced in years? " This appears to be the heart with which the question was asked. Zachariah asked from unbelief, while the other asked from a place of Belief.

We know that God knows and searches the heart. This is why greatness comes from a place of Humility.

Jeremiah 17:10 ESV

10 “I the Lord search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.”

1 Samuel 16:7 ESV

7 But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.”

Proverbs 21:2 ESV

2 Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, but the Lord weighs the heart.

1 Chronicles 28:9 ESV

9 “And you, Solomon my son, know the God of your father and serve him with a whole heart and with a willing mind, for the Lord searches all hearts and understands every plan and thought. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will cast you off forever.

Revelation 2:23 ESV

23 and I will strike her children dead. And all the churches will know that I am he who searches mind and heart, and I will give to each of you according to your works.

Yet Mary says to God, ‘If that is your will, then I’ll do it.’ The beginning of Jesus’ life is marked by a mother who submits to God's will.

The end of Jesus’ life is marked by the words: ‘Not my will, but yours be done.’

3. He is the God Who Brings Security Through the Power of God

The Holy Spirit will Come on You: The language sounds like the same thing people experienced at Pentecost. We read in Acts 1:8

Acts 1:8 (ESV)

8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

When God says the Holy Spirit “will come upon” Mary, he does not mean God impregnated Mary, as some Muslims slanderously believe of Christians.

What a blasphemous thought! “Come upon” brings to mind Genesis 1:2

Genesis 1:2 ESV

2 The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

Where the Holy Spirit was “hovering over” the face of the deep in creation. It’s what Jesus is quoted as saying in Hebrews 10:5: “as he was coming into the world, he said: ‘You did not desire sacrifice and offering, but you prepared a body for me.’ ” By the power of the Holy Spirit and the power of God the Father, a body was prepared for God the Son who would be brought forth by Mary.

“Overshadow”

We see this expression of the Holy Spirit used when the Spirit of God filled the tabernacle of God.

We also read of the Holy Spirit's overshadowing nature in all three accounts of the Transfiguration. Notice that in each account, a voice comes out of the cloud identifying Jesus as God’s son.

Hebrews 9:5

Hebrews 9:5 ESV

5 Above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat. Of these things we cannot now speak in detail.

It is possible in Hebrews 9:5 to regard the action of the cherubim as being one of protection, but it is also possible to regard this as an expression of overshadowing in view of the position of the cherubim whose wings covered the top of the Covenant Box.

“by the power of God”

The child whose life is engendered by the power of God, which power is identified as the Holy Spirit, is himself called by Gabriel “the holy one.”

Because of this connection with the Holy Spirit, and because of the ethical meaning of “holy” in v. 49, that word probably relates here to the purity of Jesus instead of relating to separation for a divine vocation.

Because Christ is fully God and fully man, he is perfect Savior. He needed to be God to supply the righteousness humans could not achieve.

He needed to be man to supply to God the sacrifice we owe. So he became the only mediator between God and man—the God-man, Christ Jesus. He is the only way for men to come to God.

Because the Messiah is fully God and fully man He did what humanity could not do in their weakened state. He took on flesh as the perfect sinless Lamb of God.

He who knew no sin but became sin for us that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Cor. 5:21).

I think it is crazy to think we can believe in the God who created all we see from nothing. The God who put the planets in their place but we struggle with the idea that God can cause the virgin Birth.

Remember what the writer of Hebrews writes in Hebrews 11:1-3

Hebrews 11:1–3 ESV

1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. 2 For by it the people of old received their commendation. 3 By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.

By faith we understand that the universe was made by the very word of God. He spoke and it all came into existence, “Exnihilo” out of nothing he made the things that are not visible, visible.

This is the same glorious Miracle God displayed using His humble servant Mary.

4. He is the God Who Makes the Impossible Possible

We do not have to stumble at Jesus's miraculous birth or His being fully God and man.

The impossible is not even in the vocabulary of God. When do we look at the seemingly impossible situation we find ourselves in doubting that God can handle our situation. There are still many people who struggle with incarnation of Christ. The fact that God would come in flesh is an impossibility.

The angel assures Mary and us that nothing is impossible for God. We often limit God by combining what He can and Will do. God can do all things; the bigger question is, what is His will to do?

*The moment you admit the existence of God, you must deny the impossible.

With God, it’s nothing that a barren woman and a virgin woman would both conceive. That’s just like God!

Before we assume that Mary is an unwilling participant in this whole immaculate conception consider her words. Mary did not understand the fullness of God’s plan but she trusted in what she could not perceive.

Mary Acknowledges the Impossible

Now, let’s look at Mary’s faith in action. Zachariah stumbled in unbelief while Mary yielded in faith. She sounds a lot like Isaiah in his vision of standing in the throne room of God. ( Isa. 6:8) (Isa. 6:8)

Isaiah declares, “Here I am, Lord, send me.”

Doesn’t she sound a lot like Esther. (Esth. 4:16)

If I Perish, I Perish

Doesn’t she sound a lot like what Ruth said to Naomi. (Ruth 1:16)

Your people will be my people, and your God my God.

It reminds me of Jobs response. (Job 3:15)

Even if He kills me, He kills me. I will hope in Him.

It reminds me of Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane.

Father not my will but yours be done.

This is how faithful people respond to God’s plan even when they do not understand what He is doing.

What must Mary have thought about God’s plan. The only way someone can truly embrace Mary’s plan is to say that His plan is so much better than our plan. His way’s are better than our ways, His thoughts are better than our thoughts.

Mary’s response in faith meant her facing potential public shame. She faces the prospect of a divorce or broken betrothal and never being able to marry again.

She would likely wear the scarlet letter of her day that would follow her the rest of her day’s and most likely force her from her land and her people. Forced to be a wanderer destitute and alone.

Mary would face what many women today face with unfaithful men who abandon them. Statistically, a woman ends up in poverty. Their lives are doubly hard. This is why we brothers must care for our women and children. Even if it breaks us, never let us forsake them.

*We cannot be servants of Christ unless we accept His plan

We remember Jesus' final Journey to Jerusalem before his death after the rich young ruler left Jesus because He was not willing to follow Jesus' seemingly impossible plan.

The disciples asked Jesus how anyone could enter the kingdom of God. Remember what Jesus said?

Matthew 19:26 ESV

26 But Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

CONCLUSION

For the three-plus years of Jesus' ministry, the most significant stumbling block for the Jewish Religious establishment was believing in the God of the impossible.

Even though they had heard the tales of the Red Sea crossing and all the victories, God had led the nation of Israel throughout their history. They continued to struggle with God’s plan for His suffering servant to be born in a stable, not a palace, to bleed out on a rugged cross for the sins of the world.

Jesus' words to the disciples on the day of the rich young ruler's visit showed the way to the seemingly impossible.

Jesus presented the key to salvation. In and of themselves, humans do not have what it takes to enter the kingdom of heaven. A person may possess every earthly blessing but remains powerless to save himself. Salvation is God’s gift alone (Romans 5:15–16).

Riches tend to make us self-reliant, self-centered, and distracted by worldly pursuits. We put too much confidence in ourselves and our wealth and lose our childlike trust and reliance on the goodness and mercy of God.

Nonetheless, it is humanly impossible to earn our way or work our way into heaven: “But—When God our Savior revealed his kindness and love, he saved us, not because of the righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy.

He washed away our sins, giving us a new birth and new life through the Holy Spirit. He generously poured out the Spirit upon us through Jesus Christ our Savior. Because of his grace he made us right in his sight and gave us confidence that we will inherit eternal life”

When Jesus said, "With men, this is impossible," He was reaffirming the complete miracle of His birth. God has done what we could not do for ourselves.

Belief in Jesus changes what is humanly impossible into unlimited possibilities with God. Through faith in Jesus Christ, mere mortals receive “the right to become children of God—children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God”

With men, this is impossible, which means there’s no place in God’s kingdom for boasting about our own righteousness (Romans 3:27–30; 1 Corinthians 1:28–31). The apostle Paul expounded, “I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

With men, this is impossible, affirming that any form of self-justification is useless. We can’t buy our way into heaven or work our way into God’s kingdom. The believer’s only hope of salvation—his only confidence in drawing near to God—is in God Himself, with whom all things are possible.

The Question for you this Morning is, Do You Believe This?

Mary Believed this, and soon John’s Father Zacharia would believe this.

Even though Jesus's disciples still did not fully understand God’s plan for their Salvation, they soon would when, 3 days later, Jesus walked out of the tomb, securing the victory of sin and death, fulfilling the purpose of His coming to be born of a virgin by the power of the Spirit of God to be the Sacrificial Lamb for the Sin’s of the World.

Do You Believe This? If so how are you trusting in the God of the Impossible?

How should your response mirror Mary’s?

“Let it Be According to Your Word.”

Or Jesus Response?

“Not My Will but Your’s be Done.”