wk 51 - Mary's Song

The Holiday Songs of Christmas

Worship Set #1

What do the 4 candles in Advent represent?

There are four candles in the Advent Wreath.

1st Hope: The anticipation of the Messiah's coming.

2nd Peace: It reflects on the journey of Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem.

TODAY—we will Joy: The third candle, the Shepherd's Candle, is usually pink, representing joy. This week emphasizes joy at the coming of Jesus and the joy the shepherds felt upon hearing the news of his birth.

Luke 2:13–14 (NLT)

13 Suddenly, the angel was joined by a vast host of others—the armies of heaven—praising God and saying,

14 “Glory to God in highest heaven, and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased.”

So, let’s prepare our hearts for the Word of God by opening up our inner man to worship in song this babe, our Messiah—Jesus— that came to take away the sins of the world.

Dear Father...

WORSHIP SET 2

GENEROSITY

THANK YOU…for your OBEDIENCE IN generosity! Impacting our Community has to come from more than preaching and singing from this Platform!

Being involved in our neighborhood is huge. It is how Jesus came and brought great joy in that he moved into the neighborhood not just blew through it.

Senior Holiday Sacks is one way that we reach past our doors during the Christmas Season and bless others.

Your gifts make a Huge Difference. Food, financial blessing, and assembling the sacks.

This could be the tip of Love in Action that might pull someone back from the brink of depression and loneliness. A place for them to Hope Again!

Jesus came to make a difference for eternity...

SCRIPTURE:

John 1:14 (NLT)

14 So the Word became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son.

John 1:14 (MSG)

14 The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood. We saw the glory with our own eyes, the one-of-a-kind glory, like Father, like Son, Generous inside and out, true from start to finish.

PRAYER

UPDATE

Hispanic Church Today at 2pm

Wednesday Small Group WILL MEET to assemble Senior Sacks and then go 🎶Caroling.🎶

Senior Holiday Sacks will be delivered Thursday morning

Remember also… Christmas Eve Candlelight Service is Tuesday Dec. 24th at 6pm with Foursquare Hispanic Church!

[NO SERVICE ON CHRISTMAS DAY]

21 Days of Prayer

foursquareprayer.org

Our Christmastide Series of Advent— is a series is -- The Songs of Christmas.

INTRO

The Holiday Songs of Christmas

Luke 1:48-55

HISTORY SEEM ILLUSIVE TO ME IN MANY WAYS

ONCE IT HAPPENS YOU CAN LOOK BACK AND SEE WITH 20-20 VISION WHAT IT WAS ALL ABOUT!

The 18th-19th Century: The beginning of the Age of Revolution.

A period from the late-18th to the mid-19th centuries during which a number of significant revolutionary movements occurred in most of Europe and the Americas.

The period is noted for the change from absolutist monarchies to representative governments with a written constitution, and the creation of nation states.

The 20th Century: The Age of Revolution becomes personal.

It’s not only about Countries, but personal changes in our lives...

We have seen over the years a cultural revolution,

The sexual revolution,

Followed by the technological revolution.

Plus, we have also experienced a political revolution.

Consider some of these Amazing Events.

The Persian Gulf.

talk of World War III, Armageddon and the end of the world.

Outcomes in Kuwait, Iraq and Saddam Hussein

We have see eyes shifted to the Soviet Union from Gorbachev, Yeltsin, and Gladimer Putin.

Much has changed.

“Do Know What’s Going On?”

The focus was the Age Of AIDS

Do you recall what Newsweek magazine said in the early 1990’s about the AIDS crisis?

It said the 60s and 70s were the Age of Aquarius. But now the Age of Aquarius has given way to the Age of AIDS.

Then focus was COVID

Optimism has been replaced by pessimism, and

Confidence with fear, and

young people who used to be excited about the future are now filled with uncertainty.

Hopelessness

The world seems to be revolving on its moral axis, and

we’ve been given box seats to watch the moral, spiritual and cultural revolution going on all around us TODAY.

Have you forgotten what STARTED a World Shaking Revolution in A Stable 2000 years ago?

An unlikely place from which to begin a world-shaking revolution. But that’s where it all started—in a stable outside a forgotten village called Bethlehem.

The inn was full because weary travelers were making their way back home to register for the census.

No one took a second look at the young couple who appeared briefly at the door. The young man had an anguished look on his face, the woman was obviously very pregnant.

There had been a brief discussion, a strong plea from the exhausted father, but the innkeeper simply shook his head and turned away.

He wasn’t a hard man, or a harsh man, or an evil man. He was simply telling the truth. His inn was full that night.

The Last Census, It had been a long time since anything important had happened in Bethlehem—almost 1000 years in fact.

That’s how long it had been since David had been born there. Since then more than 30 generations had come and gone, and Bethlehem had become nothing more than another quiet little village in Judea.

Out behind the inn was a stable—really just an enclosure, a little cave dug out of the hillside.

That’s where Mary and Joseph went after the innkeeper turned them away. When Jesus was born, they put him in a feeding-trough meant for cattle or sheep.

No doubt Mary had to brush away the dirt and the leftover grain before she laid Jesus there.

It wasn’t a very comfortable place for a newborn baby to rest. Mary wrapped her young son in rough strips of cloth to keep him warm against the chill of the cold mid-winter’s night. The traditional term is “swaddling-clothes.”

Yes, Jesus come into the world—born in a forgotten village, to two teenage parents,

He was laid in a feeding-trough, unnoticed by the sleeping world. No, you wouldn’t expect a revolution to start here.

And if you were planning a grand entrance, this isn’t the way you would do it. But that’s the way it happened.

The greatest revolution in history started in a stable. And Christmas is about the birth of the greatest revolutionary of all time—Jesus Christ.

TODAY: Mary’s Song

Our story this morning isn’t really about Bethlehem.

Our focus is on Mary, herself, in those very early days when she first realizes that she has been chosen by God to give birth to the Messiah.

We pick up the story in Luke 1 when she goes to visit Elizabeth, who was herself pregnant with John the Baptist.

Let’s look at the text.

When Elizabeth saw Mary, she greeted her with those famous words,

Luke 1:42 NLT

42 Elizabeth gave a glad cry and exclaimed to Mary, “God has blessed you above all women, and your child is blessed.

When Mary heard those confirming words, she broke out into song. The words of her song are recorded in Luke 1:46-55.

Luke 1:46–48 (NLT)

46 Mary responded, “Oh, how my soul praises the Lord. 47 How my spirit rejoices in God my Savior! 48 For he took notice of his lowly servant girl, and from now on all generations will call me blessed.

Luke 1:49–50 (NLT)

49 For the Mighty One is holy, and he has done great things for me. 50 He shows mercy from generation to generation to all who fear him.

Luke 1:51–52 (NLT)

51 His mighty arm has done tremendous things! He has scattered the proud and haughty ones. 52 He has brought down princes from their thrones and exalted the humble.

Luke 1:53–54 (NLT)

53 He has filled the hungry with good things and sent the rich away with empty hands. 54 He has helped his servant Israel and remembered to be merciful.

Luke 1:55 (NLT)

55 For he made this promise to our ancestors, to Abraham and his children forever.”

The song itself has traditionally been called “The Magnificat”

from the first word of the Latin version. As such, it holds a very important place in church history.

For 2,000 years it has been sung by Christians all over the world.

In some places they sing this song every single Sunday.

Did Mary Really Say These Words?

Before we look at the song in detail, one observation is helpful:

Mary’s song is steeped in the Old Testament. As you read it, it sounds like one of the psalms of David.

When Mary says, “His mercy extends to those who fear him,” that sounds a lot like Psalm 103.

There is also a strong resemblance to the song of Hannah in I Samuel 2—a fact that should not surprise us since Hannah’s song was occasioned by the birth of her son Samuel.

As a side note,

When you read the Magnificat, you are reading the words of the Old Testament through the eyes of a young girl who has been chosen by God to bring the Messiah into the world.

ONE MORE point deserves mention.

Besides being the very first Christmas carol, besides being the very words of Mary, besides being steeped in the Old Testament, the Magnificat is one of the most revolutionary documents ever written according to Dr. E. Stanley Jones, the great Methodist scholar, author and evangelist.

Why? the Archbishop of Canterbury, instructed his missionaries to India never to read the Magnificat in public when unbelievers were present.

Why? Because in a country like India with all its poverty, this portion of Scripture, if taken out of context, would cause nothing but trouble.

Understanding The Structure

Our first step in understanding this song is to grasp its various parts.

Like most songs, the Magnificat may be easily divided into stanzas. When you look at it closely, you can see that it basically has two stanzas—

Stanza one comprising verses 46-50 and

stanza two consisting of verses 51-55.

Stanza one, Mary is reflecting on what it means to her to be chosen to bear the Messiah. She is praising God for his great mercy to her personally. Her words are personal and her point of view is turned inward.

In stanza two, Mary seems to fade from view; she is praising God for the effects the coming of Christ will have on the world.

Her point of view is outward and her words are global in their scope.

Finally, we can observe the two stanzas by noting that each one ends with a reference to God’s mercy (vv. 50 & 54).

If God Had Wanted Wealth He would have done that!

In short, Mary is astounded that God would choose her of all people to bear the Messiah.

“Why me, O Lord, when you could have had one of the rich girls from Jerusalem?”

She’s just a poor Jewish girl—one among thousands. In all of Israel there was no one less likely.

Mary is overwhelmed by the thought that she has been chosen by God.

IF GOD....

—If God had wanted wealth for his Son, he could have arranged it.

—If God had wanted power for his Son, it would have been done.

—If God had wanted Jesus to be born in the lap of luxury, he had only to say the word.

—If God had wanted Jesus to be born in the upper class, he had hundreds of homes to choose from.

—If God had wanted education, or elite schooling, or the proper social connections, or any of the other things men usually associate with success, it would have been done.

God didn’t have to do it that way!

That’s the wonder of Christmas.

It is a statement about the sovereign grace of God.

Mary is really saying,

“Lord, there was no reason for you to choose me.”

Isn’t that just like God to choose the most unlikely girl for the greatest privilege any woman would ever know?

No wonder Mary says,

“From now on all generations will call me blessed.”

She didn’t know how true that statement was.

After 2000 years we are still talking about Mary.

Outside of Elizabeth, can you name even one other mother who lived in Israel in Mary’s day?

The rest are all forgotten, but Mary is remembered forever.

That’s the first stanza of the Magnificat.

He Turned The World Upside Down

In the second stanza the focus shifts away from Mary to the world around her.

As God has done great things by choosing such an unlikely person, he will now do great things in unlikely ways.

As you read verses 51-55, you not only notice a change in focus, but you also notice a change in tenses.

When Mary talks about herself, she uses the present tense; but when she talks about the world, she uses the past tense— “He has performed, He has scattered, He has brought down, he has filled.”

What’s going on here? When she says “He,” Mary is talking about Jesus Christ. When she says “has,” she is talking about what Christ will do. But at this point, the Lord Jesus is still growing inside her body.

How can she speak in the past about what Christ will do in the future?

She is so utterly convinced about what her Son, the Lord Jesus, will do when he comes, that she speaks of it as if it had already happened. In time, it is yet future; in Mary’s mind, it is an accomplished fact because God has willed it to happen.

In verses 51-53, Mary describes Three Revolutionary Changes that will happen on earth because of the birth of Jesus Christ:

1. His Birth Will Bring About a Moral Revolution.

“He has performed mighty deeds with his arm; he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts.” (51)

The coming of Christ means the end of all human boasting. It’s the end of vanity and outrageous ambition. His coming means an end to insatiable greed and uncontrolled lust for power. The mighty are brought down by the strong arm of the Lord.

So it has happened across the centuries. Proud and daring men lift their heads to challenge the Almighty, but he swats them down like flies. They come, they rise to power, and sooner or later, they disappear.

The coming of Jesus Christ means that God has set a moral revolution at work in the world, a revolution in which the workers of iniquity are eventually brought to justice.

“Tower of Babel.” That story tells us how God works. He lets the proud gather together and in their grandiose schemes, they plan to rise up to heaven. God watches for awhile, he waits, he seems even to ignore, and in their temporary success they congratulate each other on their cleverness.

But God scatters the proud, and he does so suddenly.

We can’t get out of this world alive and everything is temporal. Wood, hay and stumble.

2. His Birth Will Bring About a Social Revolution.

“He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble.” (52)

The coming of Christ brings about a great reversal of fortune in society. The proud are brought low and the humble are lifted up.

What men call luck, Mary calls the work of God.

The Bible says, “It is appointed unto man once to die, and after that the judgment.” (Hebrews 9:27)

But by raising the lowly to power, God triumphs over the world.

Those movements which seem to upset society are all regulated by God with unerring justice.

1. The mighty think they are secure.

2. The poor despair of their fate.

3. God delights to reverse their fortunes.

3. The Birth of Christ Brings an Economic Revolution.

“He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty.” (53)

This is the most revolutionary part of Mary’s song.

Not only does the coming of Christ upset the proud of this world, not only does it lift up the humble, but it actually means that the hungry are fed and the rich go away empty.

Do you know what this means?

It means that in Jesus Christ there is no such thing as a “common man” or a “common woman.”

Sometimes we use those terms derisively to refer to the working men and women, to the blue collar people who drive the trucks and deliver the produce.

We contrast the “common man” with the “upper class” and we all like to feel we’re a little bit better than being just a “working man” or a “working woman.”

After all, it’s part of human nature to look down your nose just a little bit at people who have less than you do.

But in Jesus Christ there is no such thing as a common man. God doesn’t know any “common” men or any “common” women.

Romans 8:16–17 NLT

16 For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children. 17 And since we are his children, we are his heirs. In fact, together with Christ we are heirs of God’s glory. But if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering.

If you were the son or the daughter of a billionaire, it would probably stand to reason that you would receive a large inheritance.

But you have a father who is wealthier than any billionaire—richer than even King Solomon. Your heavenly Father has prepared an inheritance for you as one of his children.

so, how dare you call anyone common for whom Christ died.

Poor folks usually make up the first church in any culture.

Why?

Because the poor have nothing in which to trust, so when they hear the gospel they embrace it as truly good news. But the rich don’t see their need of Christ, so they ignore the gospel.

Do you remember what John the Baptist did when he was thrown into prison?

He had heard about Jesus and his miracles and wondered if Christ was indeed the promised Messiah.

So he sent his disciples to Christ with one simple question:

“Are you the One we are waiting for, or should we look for another?”

Christ answered with these words:

“Go back and tell John what you have seen. The sick are healed, the deaf hear, the blind receive their sight, the dead are raised, and the poor have the gospel preached to them.”

At first glance, that last phrase may seem out of place. But not to Jesus. There were many miracles that proved his Messiahship—among them the miracle that the poor were hearing and responding to the gospel message.

That is the genius of the Christian faith—that it goes out first to the poor of the world. First to the hungry, first to the hurting, first to the needy, first to the homeless, first to the forgotten classes of mankind.

The Gospel Makes Better People

Better People Make A Better World

Here’s an additional fact you may not know. Whenever the gospel has entered a society and made an impact on a significant group of people, it has always had the effect of lifting those people up economically. Whenever the gospel goes in to the poor, it raises that group up in society. That happened in England. That happened in Brazil. That is happening in Africa and Latin America. It’s happening in India and Indonesia. It’s happening right now all over the world.

How does it happen?

It changes from the inside out.

The gospel not only works an inner transformation; it also works an outward transformation that literally changes the way people think and talk and act. And in the process it produces the qualities that tend toward economic progress.

The GOSPEL is the only hope for mankind—

not only for his soul but also for his body, not only for the church but also for the world, not only for the individual but also for society.

We’ve tended to privatize the gospel so much that we don’t see this truth.

We talk about “asking Jesus into your heart” but we never talk about “asking Jesus into your boardroom.”

We want to have Jesus and still spend what we want, wear what we want, do what we want. And we’d rather not have to worry about the poor at all.

But if the Bible teaches anything—and if the story of Christmas means anything—it is that God is on the side of the poor. He’s not the God of the rich; he’s the God of the poor.

He’s on their side because nobody else is.

He lavishes special attention on them because the rest of the world neglects them.

The same is true for the hungry, the hurting, the homeless, the discouraged, the depressed, the handicapped and the lonely.

God is on their side too, because if he doesn’t stick up for them, who will?

Mary’s heart is filled with praise, because she knows the world will be a different place because Christ has come. He will pull down the proud. He will lift up the humble. He will fill the hungry. And the rich will be sent away empty. This is the ultimate reversal of fortune.

He Remembered To Be Merciful

Verses 54-55 bring us to the end of Mary’s song. She concludes by praising God that in sending Jesus Christ into the world, God is keeping his ancient promises to Abraham.

Now after all these years,

Mary is seeing the fulfillment of what her ancestors only dreamed about. Her heart is so full that she cannot contain herself: “You did it, Lord. You kept your promise. It’s been 2,000 years but you remembered mercy.”

In short, Mary is praising God that when Jesus comes he’s going to start a revolution of love and reconciliation and forgiveness that will eventually spread to the ends of the earth.

The revolution he starts will be greater than anything the world has ever seen.

What started 2,000 years ago is still going on TODAY.

It’s been an amazing year in many ways.

We’ve seen some shocking things happen all around us.

I think even the most hardened observer would concede that these are truly revolutionary times.

But the greatest revolution is not one you’ll read about on ABC or CBS or NBC. The greatest revolution—is Jesus!

1. The Birth of Jesus Marks the Beginning of the Greatest Revolution in Human History.

What God began in Bethlehem is far greater in impact than any other revolution in history.

What God started in Bethlehem was a spiritual and moral and economic revolutions whose effects are still being felt today.

Nothing in all history can match what God did when he sent his Son to the earth.

Do you know what Christmas really is? Christmas is the anniversary of the revolution.

Do you know what you are doing when you set up a manger scene on a table in your living room?

You’re setting up a revolutionary symbol.

Every time you sing a Christmas carol, you are singing a revolutionary anthem.

Every time you send out a Christmas card—if it makes any reference to Jesus at all—you are sending out revolutionary literature.

When you celebrate Christmas, you are turning the secular values of the world upside down—just like Mary talked about in the Magnificat.

Far too many of us think of Christmas as just another religious holiday. Christmas is Celebrating the revolution of all times.

To us Christmas is a warm and fuzzy time of the year. But there was nothing warm and fuzzy about the first Christmas, because there is nothing warm and fuzzy about the beginning of a revolution.

It’s bayonets and bugles and the call to arms.

2. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is Therefore the Greatest and Most Revolutionary Message the World Has Ever Known.

Through the gospel of Jesus Christ, there is a moral revolution let loose in the world.

Men who are outcasts are suddenly made welcome.

Races of people that cannot get along suddenly become friends.

The hungry are fed, the sick are healed, the lonely are encouraged, the lepers are cleansed, and hurting people are helped.

All of that and much more comes through the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Again, our problem is that we’ve heard this so often that the gospel has lost its power to move us.

We say “Ho-Hum” and go on wrapping presents.

But the people out there—outside these sacred walls—the people out there intuitively realize the power of the gospel, even if they can’t articulate it completely.

3. That Means That Jesus Christ Himself is the Greatest Revolutionary of All Time.

All the great human leaders pale before his record.

Name them all—Julius Caesar, Alexander the Great, Charlemagne, Napoleon, George Washington, Abraham Lincoln—who among them can be compared to Jesus Christ?

Which of them would you mention in the same breath with his name?

The impact of the Man from Bethlehem is who I’m betting on.

One Solitary Life

Many years ago someone wrote a very famous essay about the impact of Jesus’ life. It goes like this:

Here is a man who was born in an obscure village, the child of a peasant woman. He grew up in another village. He worked in a carpenter shop until he was thirty, and then for three years he was an itinerant preacher. He never owned a home. He never wrote a book. He never held an office. He never had a family. He never went to college. He never put his foot inside a big city. He never traveled two hundred miles from the place where he was born. He never did one of the things that usually accompany greatness. He had no credentials but himself.

While still a young man, the tide of popular opinion turned against him. His friends ran away. One of them denied him. He was turned over to his enemies. He went through the mockery of a trial. He was nailed upon a cross between two thieves. While he was dying, his executers gambled for the only piece of property he had on earth—his coat. When he was dead, he was taken down and laid in a borrowed tomb, through the pity of a friend.

Twenty long centuries have come and gone and today he is the centerpiece of the human race … in the twenty-first century.... all the parliaments that ever sat and all the kings that ever reigned, put together, have not affected the life of man upon this earth as powerfully as has that one solitary life. (Evidence That Demands a Verdict, p. 140 by Josh McDowell)

Come Join The Revolution

It is his birthday that we celebrate at Christmastime—the birth of Jesus the revolutionary.

He came to change the world.

Since he came, the world has never been the same.

He started a revolution that continues across the centuries to this very day.

His followers have continued the revolution in his name.

Outside these doors at Christmastime the battle is raging. Jesus started a war against Satan and his kingdom, a war that goes on all around us day and night, a war in which men and women are the spoils of battle.

This year and every year our Commander in Chief seeks volunteers who will rally to his cause, take up his banner and fight in his name.

Today and every day his call is the same:

“Come join the revolution and let’s change the world together.