Mary 3

Luke 1:26-38

     Depending on one’s beliefs, either Jesus or Santa Claus is the main character of Christmas. (Now let me start out with this disclaimer.) Here are ten reasons why Jesus is better than Santa:

Santa lives at the North Pole

Jesus is everywhere.

Santa rides in a sleigh.

Jesus walks on water.

Satan comes but once a year.

Jesus is an ever present help.

You have to stand in line to see Santa.

Jesus is as close as the mention of His name.

Santa’s little helpers make toys.

Jesus makes new life, mends wounded hearts, and builds mansions in heaven.

Santa fills your stocking.

Jesus satisfies your soul.

Santa has a belly full of jelly.

Jesus has a heart full of love.

Santa says, “You better not cry.”

Jesus says, “Cast all your cares on me for I care for you.”

Santa comes down your chimney uninvited.

Jesus stands at your heart’s door and knocks.

Santa puts gifts under your tree.

Jesus became our gift and died on a tree.

     For the last four weeks we have been in this advent series I call the Cast of Christmas. Each week we have looked at the different characters of the Christmas story. We talked about the Prophets and how they looked forward to the coming of Christ into the world and how similar we are today as we wait for His return.

     We talked about the angels and how they announced to the shepherds, Peace on earth and good will toward man.” And in a similar way we are messengers of God’s good news to the world. Last week we talked about the Magi and how Jesus was born King of the Jews and was worthy of all of our worship.

    I don’t know if you realize it or not but the one common thread in each of these stories is that they are about Jesus. Each character of the Christmas story plays an important role but they all point to this amazing thing that God was doing in the world through the birth of His Son. Again, today, I titled the message Mary, and we are going to talk about her and the virgin birth, but, the main point of this story is that God can do the impossible in the world so, put our trust in Him.  Read Luke 1:26-38

              26        Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city in Galilee called Nazareth,

            27        to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the descendants of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary.

            28        And coming in, he said to her, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.”

            29        But she was very perplexed at this statement and kept pondering what kind of salutation this was.

            30        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 name Him Jesus.

            32        “He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David;

            33        and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end.”

            34        Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?”

            35        The angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy Child shall be called the Son of God.

            36        “And behold, even your relative Elizabeth has also conceived a son in her old age; and she who was called barren is now in her sixth month.

            37        “For nothing will be impossible with God.”

            38        And Mary said, “Behold, the bondslave of the Lord; may it be done to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her. (Pray)

     Our passage this morning, begins like any good book, movie or theatre play you will see. It begins by introducing us to the setting and the characters of the story. There is an angel Gabriel who is sent by God to visit a young girl. A virgin named Mary in a little village in the northern most part of Israel, called Nazareth.

     Then the plot thickens, and Mary is afraid because she doesn’t understand who this angel is or why he would come to her. Perhaps, Gabriel came to her in the form of a man like an angel would in the Old Testament. We don’t really know but either way, she was disturbed.

     Then the story reaches it’s climax and Gabriel informs Mary that she has been chosen by God to be apart of His plan for the salvation of the world. She is going to have a child but it is not going to be an ordinary child, but it will be the Son of God. The Savior of the world.

     And again, this doesn’t make sense to Mary, she has never been with as man, she knows she cannot possibly have a child. And really that is the whole point of the story. That is what Luke wants us to see;  God is able to do the impossible in the world and we should put our trust in Him.

     But, why should we put our trust in God who is able to do the impossible in the world? First, because of His Grace. Mary found grace in the eyes of God, and we see that in verses 28 and 30.

28        And coming in, he said to her, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.”

30        The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; for you have found favor with God.

The word “favor” in the Greek is the word “grace.” So, verse 28 could really say, Greetings gracious one, or you who are full of grace.

     This passage is where the Roman Catholic church developed the prayer of the rosery. They say, “Hail Mary full of grace, the Lord is with thee.” I don’t ever want to talk negative about other Christians or other denominations, or what they believe, but the Catholics use this verse for what they call the great assumption, and that is wrong. They believe this verse teaches that Mary is divine and was born sinless like Jesus.

     The Latin Vulgate written in the fourth Century renders this verse Hail Mary full of grace, and that is just not what this says. First of all, the New Testament was written in Greek not in Latin, and the original Greek is not Hail Mary but just Hello, or Greetings Mary. But, I want you to know that it absolutely says, she was full of grace.

     In the same way that any Christian would be full of the grace of God. And while I do believe Mary should be honored and not ignored because she was the mother of Christ, she also should not be worshipped or prayed too.

     The same word used to describe Mary here, was used of Noah, in Genesis 6:8, where it says Noah found grace in the eyes of God. And it is interesting how these two stories have so much in common. God used Noah to build an ark for the salvation of His people because the wickedness and sin had become so bad in the world, God decided to destroy it. And here in our story this morning God is going to use Mary to give birth to the Savior of the world, His Son, who will save people from their sin.

     When we read this story we might begin to think there was something very special about Mary that God would chose her. That God would use her in such a miraculous way. But that is what is so amazing about God, there wasn’t anything special about Mary. The same favor that Mary found in the eyes of God is the same grace that every believer receives when he comes to know Jesus.

     Ephesians 1:6 says, To the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted (bestowed), in the beloved. That word “accepted” or bestowed is the same word used to describe Mary’s favor or grace. So, there was nothing any different about Mary than there is about you or me. She was full of grace and we can be as well.

     The only way God’s grace stands out in a person’s life is when they appreciate the grace of God. When we appreciate God’s grace it can change our perspective. For a little bit of joy in your life, wake up in the morning and rather than complaining about what you don’t have, start with the grace of God. Start by thanking Him for what He has already done that we don’t deserve. There is an old Christian hymn that says,

“Count your blessings, name them one by one. Count your blessings see what God has done.

“Count your blessings, name them one by one, and it will surprise you, What the Lord has done.”

     So, we put our trust in the God who can do the impossible, because of His grace. He is gracious to us. But we also put our trust in Him because of His promises. He keeps His promises. Vs. 31-33.

     “And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus. “He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David; and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end.”

     This child that would be born to Mary was the fulfillment of God’s promise to His people.  800 years before Christ was born He said in Isaiah 9:6 “unto us a child is born, Unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder, And His name will be called, Wonderful Councilor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”

     But you see the promises of God were not just to the nation of Israel, but His promise was to the world, Because from the beginning of time, after the fall of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. God said there would be one who would come from the seed of the woman who would crush the head of Satan, and that is who this child was.

     In verse 31 the angel tells Mary “you shall name Him Jesus.” The name Jesus is the English translation of the Greek “Joshua” which means “Jehovah saves.” Matthew 1:21 explains this more thoroughly. It says, “And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sin.” His purpose in the world was laid out for Him before He was ever born. He was going to be the Savior of the world.

     The implications of this verse are enormous. It tells us what we in the church already know; That man is a sinner in need of a Savior. That we have an inherited sin nature inside of every one of us. There is nothing we can do to save ourselves and be made right with God. Jesus would be born to be the mediator between man and God. He is God’s answer to the sin of the world.

     That’s why we as a church say that Jesus is exclusively the only way to heaven. Because He is the only begotten of the Father. He is the only one to die for our sin. He is the only one God sent onto the world exclusively for the salvation of man. Acts 4:12 says, “For there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” There is no other way other than Jesus.

     The lesson in this for us is that if you do not know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior if you have never surrendered your life to Him you are living in opposition to God. And it doesn’t matter how hard you try or how good you can be you are trying to reach heaven apart from God’s prescribed method which is Jesus Christ. And you need to ask Him for forgiveness.

     I heard a story this week about a father and a son who were trying to outrun a prairie fire. And the fire was catching up with them and it was going so fast that they were going to get caught by it. So, the father got out of the car and he dug a little ditch and set fire in a circle around them, and he burned a big space of land.

     When the raging fire came on them, the son yelled,

“Dad, we got to get out of here.”

No, son stand still.

But, Dad, the fire,

Son, trust me.

     How can I stand when I am surrounded by fire? Because son the place where we are standing has already been burned once all the fire can do is go around us it can’t touch us. There is nothing left to burn. In the same way, Jesus was burned once for us and if you stand on what Christ did on the cross you can’t get burned again. That’s what it means to be saved and that is God’s promise to us.

     So, we put our trust in God who can do the impossible in the world because He keeps His promises. He provided us with a Savior. But we can also trust Him because He is All Powerful. Vs. 34-37.

     Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” The angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy Child shall be called the Son of God. “And behold, even your relative Elizabeth has also conceived a son in her old age; and she who was called barren is now in her sixth month. “For nothing will be impossible with God.”

     Mary didn’t understand how this could be. She knew it wasn’t possible. So, Gabriel explains to her that not only is it possible, but God’s already done it.  He says, if you don’t believe me, go see your relative Elizabeth, who is in her old age and yet she is six months pregnant, because nothing is impossible for God, and truly that is the point of the whole story.

      Whatever you are going through no matter what is going on in the world around you, there is a God who created the world we live in and He can exist outside of the world He created, and He can intervene in the world He created. And He loves us and He wants what is best for our lives. Nothing is beyond His reach.

     There is a friend of mine named Don I used to work with who told me a story about his teenage daughter who got into a life of drugs and alcohol. And her parents did everything they could to get her help but she just kept messing up. She eventually quit school and ran away from home. And got into all kinds of trouble.

     Then she showed up again one night at Christmas more confused and depressed than ever. Her mother went into her room and told her how much she loved her and that she had been praying for her. And a little while later the girl got up and left the house again.

     The next morning her mother woke up to find her daughter making breakfast with a smile on her face and she looked like a completely different person. The girl told her she went for a long walk and when she came home she was going to commit suicide because she felt like such a failure.

     She said I sat there thinking about killing myself when I found this Christmas card with a picture of Mary and the story of Jesus and I just began to cry, and say, “yes to God.” And it was like everything began to change and I felt this peace come over me. I want you to know that Don told me that girl has never been the same since. And she has never gone back to a life of drugs and alcohol, they got their daughter back.

     If God can do that with prayer and a Christmas card imagine what He can do in a life that is totally surrendered to Him. And that is what we see in verse 38. Mary says, “Behold, the bondslave of the Lord; may it be done to me according to your word.”

     Mary shows us the character trait of this story that God wants us to emulate. Total surrender, total trust in God’s plan for her life. She says, I am a long for the ride! You have total control! I will serve you!

     Now, could Mary have said No to God and not given birth to Jesus? I have to believe that she could have. She didn’t have to say yes, God doesn’t force us to do anything. But He gives us a choice to make. He gives us an opportunity to choose Him and His will for our lives. The question is, what choice will you make this Christmas?

     So, we put our trust in God who can do the impossible in the world, because of His grace. There wasn’t anything special about Mary. She wasn’t any different from you or me. She just found favor in the eyes of God. She was full of grace. He chose her to do something so amazing and He can choose you to do the same.

     And we can put our trust in God because of His promises. He is a God of His Word and He proves it in this story. God’s promise was that He would provide a Savior who would redeem us from the sin in our life so that we could spend eternity in heaven. God always keeps His promises and He sent us Jesus.

     And we can put our trust in God because Of His power. He has the power to do more than we can ever ask or imagine.  All He asks from us is that we trust His plan, and that we chose Him, because nothing is impossible with God.