Sermon Tone Analysis

HOW TO SING AT CHRISTMAS

Advent 1992—December 6, 1992

Luke 1:46–55

46 And Mary said:

“My soul glorifies the Lord

47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,

48 for he has been mindful

of the humble state of his servant.

From now on all generations will call me blessed,

49 for the Mighty One has done great things for me—

holy is his name.

50 His mercy extends to those who fear him,

from generation to generation.

51 He has performed mighty deeds with his arm;

he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts.

52 He has brought down rulers from their thrones

but has lifted up the humble.

53 He has filled the hungry with good things

but has sent the rich away empty.

54 He has helped his servant Israel,

remembering to be merciful

55 to Abraham and his descendants forever,

even as he said to our fathers.”

Today I’d like to speak to you about the gospel reading that has already been read to you.

It’s really, in a sense, the first Christmas carol, Mary’s song, the Magnificat.

“And Mary said: ‘My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior …’ ” and so on.

At Christmas, people do a lot of singing.

The churches are filled with more songs than usual, more music than usual.

People sing Christmas carols, but how do they sing them?

The reason I ask the question today is because a year ago today we looked at this very same passage, and I think it’s time to come back to look at it again in a slightly different aspect.

It should astonish us all that Mary, in a sense, is the first Christian.

She’s not the first person saved, not the first believer in God, but she’s the first Christian in that she’s the first person who actually finds her life changed by the Christmas message, by the message God is becoming a human being.

The Christmas message is God’s only child became humanity so humans might become God’s children.

That’s the Christmas message.

We said last year there’s a sense in which Mary is a great model for us today because when she hears the Christmas message, she’s changed; she’s totally changed.

She, therefore, is a model for us.

How do you know you’re a Christian?

Look at Mary and you’ll see what happened to her.

When she first heard the gospel earlier in the chapter (not the part that just got read, but earlier), Gabriel the angel comes and announces God’s great plan.

“Mary, you’re going to be overshadowed and a holy thing will be born out of your womb.

God’s own Son is coming.

God himself is becoming human flesh.”

Of course, Mary at first can’t understand, she can’t comprehend it, she can’t really accept it.

Then at verse 46, we suddenly see she’s changed and she says, “My soul, my spirit.”

What’s happened is she is being changed by the Christmas message in her very center, in her very depths.

She doesn’t say, “I sense an improvement.”

She doesn’t say, “I’ve discovered a new technique for overcoming negative thoughts.”

Instead she says, “My soul, my spirit.

I have been moved to the depths.

I have been changed.”

What she’s saying is, “I’ve never experienced anything that has moved me like this, that has gripped me like this.

I’ve never been so emptied and then so filled.

I’ve never been so stripped naked and then so clothed by this message.”

Every Christian who is a real Christian understands what she’s talking about.

Any Christian knows Christianity is not something you decide upon.

It’s almost like something from the outside comes and decides upon you.

You sense a power from the outside intervening in your life.

You sense a power from the outside coming in and shaking you to your depths.

“My soul, my spirit.”

What that means is, “My very being, my very center, my foundations.”

That, we say (we looked at that last year, actually, in some detail), is what every Christian feels like.

Having said that, what is it that brings about this great change?

The answer is the truths Mary is singing about.

“My soul doth magnify.

My spirit rejoices in God my Savior.”

What’s brought about this cataclysmic change in her life?

Then she goes on.

In verse 48, the word for means (this is very important) because.

“My soul, my spirit.

I’ve been changed like this all because I see these truths.”

When Mary sang the first Christmas carol, she was transported and totally changed.

When you and I sing Christmas carols, all we get is a “slurpy,” warm, sentimental feeling.

We think of chestnuts roasting on an open fire.

Mary is completely revolutionized.

What’s the difference?

I’ll tell you what the difference is.

She knows what she’s singing about.

She rejoices and she thinks and she grasps and, therefore, she’s gripped by the truths of the Christian message.

What I want to just do today is show you what she’s singing about … what are these truths she allows to come and grab her … so you will know how to sing every Christmas carol?

Not every Christmas carol.

Certainly not Jingle Bells, and there are a few others.

The sort of carols and Christmas hymns and anthems and so on you would sing in church services.

Going to hear “Messiah,” singing during the “Messiah” sing-along, or singing “Hark, the Herald Angels Sing,” or “Joy to the World,” and so on.

If you look, you’ll see the carols are really talking about great truths.

It doesn’t say, “Joy to the world, because it’s good for your mental and physical health.”

It says:

Joy to the world, the Savior reigns!

He rules the world with truth and grace,

and makes the nations prove

the glories of his righteousness.

The point is, the things Mary sings about are the things you’re going to be singing about for the next four weeks.

Regardless of whether you’re a Christian or whether you’re not or whether you don’t know (which is the only three kinds of people there are in the world, I guess: people who know they are, the people who know they’re not, and the people who don’t know what they are), you will not find yourself just changed to the depths like Mary, transported and revolutionized by these truths, unless you know what you’re singing about.

If you know what you’re singing about, anything is possible for you.

That’s the message of the Magnificat.

Let me show you what she sings about and how she sings and what she’s thinking when she sings so you can do the same thing and you can know these same great benefits and privileges and blessings.

She sings about three things in here.

She understands the message of Christmas, and so she’s singing about it.

She sings about God’s nature, his purposes, and then about his adequacy.

I’m not sure those are memorable points, but I’m going to try to make them that way so you remember them.

1.

His nature