Sermon Tone Analysis

Today we are looking at the dilemma Mary faced in saying, “Yes” to the Lord.

Why a series called, “The Christmas Dilemma?”

Typically we refer to Christmas a the most wonderful time of the year.

We even sing songs with that theme.

Our culture places a great emphasis on Christmas as the greatest time of year in many ways.

There is an expectation of great things from the aspects of getting together with family, traditions, feasting on food, cookies and treats, presents and more!

It is a great time of year with emphasis spent on humanitarian aid, and thinking of how to bless others.

In all these ways and more, our culture at large views Christmas as the greatest season of the year!

From the perspective of Christians this is also the greatest time of the year!

Christians believe that Jesus, the Son of God, who is himself God, and is in closest relation to the Father who is God, came to earth to be born as a man.

We Christians celebrate because the reason He came makes it great!

He came in a body like ours to identify with us in this world of sin and suffering.

He came to be tempted like we are, and yet get through it all without sin.

He came to be our savior!

He came to offer eternal life to all who would receive Him! Thus, the coming of Jesus into the world to bring us eternal life, makes Christmas one of the two greatest seasons of the year; the other being Easter when we celebrate Jesus’ death for our sin, and resurrection to bring us new, righteous life!

Since Christmas is the greatest time of the year, when we see our culture at large actually being more humanitarian and caring, and we as Christians are celebrating the coming of our savior, then why are we talking about a Christmas Dilemma?

Why will we be talking about a Christmas Dilemma from different aspects over the coming weeks?

Isn’t a dilemma a bad thing?

Well, typically, we do use it that way.

In fact Webster’s defines as we are using it this way...

Read 2 a and b

2 a: a usually undesirable or unpleasant choice 〈faces this dilemma: raise interest rates and slow the economy or lower them and risk serious inflation〉

b: a situation involving such a choice 〈here am I brought to a very pretty dilemma; I must commit murder or commit matrimony—George Farquhar〉 broadly: PREDICAMENT 〈lords and bailiffs were in a terrible dilemma—G.

M. Trevelyan〉

3 a: a problem involving a difficult choice 〈the dilemma of “liberty versus order”—J.

M. Burns〉

What could possibly be the dilemma at this wonderful time of year?

Actually, life if full of dilemmas—situations in which we have to make a difficult choice.

Even a wonderful season like Christmas is not immune from dilemmas.

Has anyone been experiencing, or has anyone experienced dilemmas in Christmas’s past?

Yes, Christmas, as wonderful as it is, does not eliminate the dilemmas of life.

In fact, if we really think through the ramifications of Christmas—the ramifications of Jesus, God the Son, coming to earth as our King and Savior — there are some dilemmas that Christmas brings into our lives.

for example, if He is our Savior, we must be in some dilemma requiring Him to save us.

There are other dilemmas as well.

That is what we will be looking at over the coming weeks.

To consider our dilemmas biblically, we will look at the historical account of what took place leading up to, and at the first Christmas.

Today we are considering The Dilemma of Saying “Yes,” to God, as seen in the account of Mary.

Let’s read it together.

This historical account is recorded for us in Luke 1:26-38.

The Dilemma of Saying “Yes”

Prayer

Mary faced a dilemma when the angel came to her, the dilemma of saying “yes” to God.

How so?

Let’s dig into the passage and see, and then see how it applies to us today.

This verse begins with the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy.

The background for this is found in the earlier portion of Luke 1.

God had sent His angel to announce to a priest named Zechariah, that after 400+ years of silence—a time when God stopped sending prophets to Israel because of their rebellion—He was now going to send the prophet who would go before the Messiah to prepare people to receive him.

That prophet who would prepare the people for the Messiah was going to be born to Zechariah and his wife, Elizabeth.

You can read more about that in the homework this week.

Well, it was after God sent His angel to Zechariah, and Elizabeth had been pregnant for 6 months, that He then sent the angel to Mary.

The rest of the background is that Mary was a virgin, who was betrothed to Joseph.

In their culture, they were married, though it looked different than our marriages today.

Their marriage began with the arrangement that they would be husband and wife.

There was a bride price given to her father, and the deal was done.

However, Joseph had to go and prepare a place for them to live.

So, they would not come together as man and wife, until he was finished.

At this point, Mary was married to Joseph, but they had not yet come together as a man and wife.

Troubled at his words?

Why would she be troubled by what the angel said?

Look again at the words of the angel.

“Greetings, you who are highly favored!”

The word here for highly favored is used only one other time in the Bible, Ephesians 1:6.

The phrase, “glorious grace” is the same word used in Luke 1:28 for “highly favored”.

Literally, “Greetings you who are given great grace!”

Some traditions have turned this into, “Mary, full of grace.”

She was full of grace — not meaning that Mary was a perfect person and gracious to all.

She was full of grace, because God GAVE her grace.

That is what Grace is.

The very meaning of Grace is giving something to someone when they do not deserve it.

I believe this is why Mary was greatly troubled at the angels words.

Mary was troubled because she knew she was undeserving.

She was a sinner just like every other human because there has been no descendent of Adam, other than Jesus, who was without sin.

The Bible is clear that all people sin.

Psalm 14:2-3, 53:1-3 and Ecclesiastes 7:20 are just a few of the verses which speak to this issue.

And like so many others who saw the Angel of the Lord, or any other angel, Mary was fully aware of her sin when in the presence of a Holy One.

Mary had to be wondering, “Why would God give me a special, undeserved gift?” “How could the Lord be with me?”

In the past the Lord made His presence known in the Tabernacle, and then the Temple.

Only the priest could approach the Lord.

She was no priest.

She was a woman.

She was from Nazareth, a town considered unclean and no good to Jews, because the Jews living there were in close proximity with unclean Gentiles.

How could the Lord be with her?

And, if a Holy God was with her, what would He do?

I don’t doubt her thoughts were like the thoughts of the Israelites, or Gideon, or Samson’s parents, or even the prophet Isaiah who said, “Woe is me!

I am unclean!”

But the Lord gave the angel the very words she needed to hear...

There is no need to be afraid.

God is giving you grace.

He knows you are undeserving, but He is giving you favor, a special blessing anyway!

God is going to be with you, not because you are deserving, but because He is gracious.

Just what is God going to do for her?

The undeserved gift God is giving Mary is that she will bear a son, who will be none other than, Jesus (which means God saves).

She is going to give birth to the savior she, and everyone else, so desperately needs.

This savior will be:

Son of the Most High

He will be the eternal King!

This is fantastic news!

This is tremendous favor from God that she would have the honor to give birth to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords!

But here is a dilemma...

First Dilemma: I cannot do this!