Sermon for Dec. 15, 2019

This morning I'll be reading Luke chapter 1 verses 46 through 55.

And I'll be reading the Holman Christian Standard Bible.

In the verses just before this,,, Mary has been told by the angel Gabriel,,, that she would give birth to Jesus,,, and after receiving this news,,, has gone to visit Elizabeth who was pregnant with John the Baptist,,, the one who would proclaim that the Messiah was coming. These are Mary’s words after entering Elizabeth’s home.

46 And Mary said: My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord, 47 and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior, 48 because He has looked with favor on the humble condition of His slave. Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed, 49 because the Mighty One has done great things for me, and His name is holy. 50 His mercy is from generation to generation on those who fear Him. 51 He has done a mighty deed with His arm; He has scattered the proud because of the thoughts of their hearts; 52 He has toppled the mighty from their thrones and exalted the lowly. 53 He has satisfied the hungry with good things and sent the rich away empty. 54 He has helped His servant Israel, mindful of His mercy, 55 just as He spoke to our ancestors, to Abraham and his descendants forever.

God bless the reading and the hearing of your word this morning.

Let us pray:

Dear Lord, as we begin this morning, we ask that you open our ears to hear and our hearts and minds to receive the message that you have for us today,,, In Jesus' name I pray,,, Amen.

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This is the third Sunday of Advent and our reading focuses on "seeing joy" this morning.

This is the third Sunday of Advent and our reading focuses on "seeing joy" this morning.

Last Sunday's reading,,, which was the second Sunday of Advent,,, focused on "seeing peace".

Last Sunday's reading,,, which was the second Sunday of Advent,,, focused on "seeing peace".

The first Sunday of Advent reading focused on "seeing hope".

The ability to "see peace" all around us,,, even in the middle of so many things going wrong in the world today.

All of these readings combined with the fourth reading of "seeing love",,, are intended to help us each week to "see" the hope,,, peace,,, joy,,, and love that is available to us as we prepare ourselves to celebrate the birth of Jesus.

The peace that we have because we know that God is in control no matter what happens to us or around us.

Hopefully these readings will help us to see these things all year long as well.

The first Sunday of Advent reading focused on "seeing hope".

Hope as it's used here is a hope that is definite,,, not something that might happen.

It's something that we receive through faith in God.

The faith that we have,,, even though we don't deserve His faithfulness!

Our "Hope" is in Jesus Christ and everything that He accomplished here on earth for each one of us.

A "Hope" that no matter what happens here today,,, we know that God is working everything out for our good,,, for those of us that love God!

All of these readings combined with the fourth reading of "seeing love",,, are intended to help us each week to "see" the hope,,, peace,,, joy,,, and love that is available to us as we prepare ourselves to celebrate the birth of Jesus.

Hopefully these readings will help us to see these things all year long as well.

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Our reading for today focused on "seeing joy".

The joy that we as Christians experience because of Jesus Christ.

Mary was able to experience this joy because she accepted the plans that God had for her without question.

As you can see from the verses that I read a few minutes ago,,, Mary is expressing joy because God is answering the prayer of the Israelite people who have been watching for the Messiah to come.

She also expresses joy that God has chosen her to be the mother of Jesus.

Mary answers the angel,,, Gabriel,,, in that says: "I am the Lord's slave," said Mary, "May it be done to me according to your word." Then the angel left her.

Mary gives this answer even though she doesn't understand how or why this was going to happen.

This is something that is said to be medically impossible.

We have preachers today,,, according to polls,,, that are in the pulpit who confess that they don't believe this really happened!

I really don't know if this is true,,, I hope and pray that it's not true,,, but that's what the polls show.

Thankfully,,, I don't know of any that believe this.

But,,, I would like to ask them to explain how our God can speak,,, and this world and everything in it is produced out of nothing,,, but yet they have trouble believing in a virgin birth!

Gabriel tells Mary in - "For nothing will be impossible with God".

Mary's faith was outstanding because even though she was young,,, she still apparently understood how children were conceived.

But she accepts Gabriel's words as truth and agrees for God's will to be done!

(5:29)

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Now,,, after receiving this news,,, Mary sets out to visit Elizabeth who is expecting the child that Gabriel told her about.

As she enters the home of Elizabeth,,, at the sound of Mary's voice the baby inside Elizabeth's womb is said to jump for joy.

In it says - 44 For you see, when the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby leaped for joy inside me!

This type of greeting from Elizabeth is what triggered the response in song from Mary that I read in verses 46 - 55.

Also,,, despite being socially superior to Mary,,, by being a daughter of Aaron,,, the wife of a priest,,, and being older than Mary,,, Elizabeth not only humbly acknowledged Mary’s superior role,,, she “placed" herself in the servants role giving honor to Mary whom she now recognized as the Mother of the Lord.”

Elizabeth concluded by stating that Mary was blessed not only due to her being the “Mother” of He who would provide salvation to her people but also due to the fact that she wholeheartedly believed God keeps His word and is the foundation of all life.

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Verses 46 - 49 says: 46 And Mary said: My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord, 47 and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior, 48 because He has looked with favor on the humble condition of His slave. Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed, 49 because the Mighty One has done great things for me, and His name is holy.

In these verses Mary's soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord and her spirit rejoices because of the great things that He has done for her.

She is so thankful for everything that He is doing for her and His answer and faithfulness to the Israelite people.

For those of us that are Christians,,, we should be proclaiming the greatness of the Lord as well.

We shouldn't be able to be quiet about the things that God has done for us.

We know that God has done great things for us,,, not because of anything that we have done,,, but simply because He loves us.

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All throughout Luke,,, according to my Bible Knowledge Commentary,,, joy is often associated with salvation.

We experience joy today because of this salvation.

And Jesus made all of this possible for us.

(8:09)

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In verses 50 through 53 it says: 50 His mercy is from generation to generation on those who fear Him. 51 He has done a mighty deed with His arm; He has scattered the proud because of the thoughts of their hearts; 52 He has toppled the mighty from their thrones and exalted the lowly. 53 He has satisfied the hungry with good things and sent the rich away empty.

In these verses Mary is stating how marvelous God has been to them.

Even though they haven't deserved mercy,,, God has been faithful to them.

And looking forward,,, to Jesus' reign,,, all of these things will be fulfilled,,, including what's written in verses 54 & 55.

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In verses 54 & 55 it says: 54 He has helped His servant Israel, mindful of His mercy, 55 just as He spoke to our ancestors, to Abraham and his descendants forever.

Mary makes note of the fact that God is faithful in helping the Israelites,,, just as He promised to their ancestors.

It's the faithfulness of God that is recorded in the Bible,,, that makes our joy complete.

It covers many generations,,, some of them obeying God and others disobeying God in a terrible way,,, but through it all,,, God is true to His promise to Abraham.

You see,,, we have the written words in the Bible that testify that God's word is true and it's through these examples that we can celebrate with joy at Christmas time.

(9:53)