Let It Be

Luke 1:26 In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, 27 to a virgin betrothed[b] to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin's name was Mary. 28 And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!”[c] 29 But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. 30 And 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 call his name Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”

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

35 And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born[e] will be called holy—the Son of God. 36 And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. 37 For nothing will be impossible with God.” 38 And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant[ of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.

I am the servant of the Lord let it be...

Think for a moment about the calling placed on Mary.

She is being told she will carry a child to term.

Unwed, faces the rejection of all. family. Joseph. Entire community. Potentially even death.

What would her response be to accusations of infedeilty?

“This child is conceived by the Spirit.” “Yeah, ok mary.”

The virgin birth has historically been rejected by many, it would be no different here.

She is looking out over the abyss of trial and suffering she faces, and she falls into the arms of God. A trust fall, if you will.

She gives up her hopes and dreams and desires. Her future. And she says “Let it be.”

True humility. True faith. True beauty. And truly feminine.

This is what the Bible is talking about when it says “a gentle and quiet spirit”

“Behold, I am the servant[ of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.”

1 Pet 3:3 Do not let your adorning be external—the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear— 4 but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God's sight is very precious.

This is not “don’t adorn yourself”

this is - don’t MERELY just adorn the external.

BUT RATHER adorn yourself with IMPERISHABLE BEAUTY

That’s the rub with beauty. It doesn’t last. Eventually we all age. Gravity takes it’s toll. The wrinkles form. The age spots come. Beauty always wanes.

But see our culture is obsessed with adorning the external. We spend tens of thousands of dollars on procedures to buy us a little more time, but God says for us to not worry with that.

Instead - he gives us imperishable beauty - which is what?

a gentle and quiet spirit. and this is what Mary has. This is what true femininity is.

God has defined beauty, and this is what it is. True feminine appeal. And shockingly it’s the opposite of the current cultural standards.

The root word of Comotology is Cosmos. Order.

and guess who ordered the cosmos. He knows what is beautiful, And has given us the secrets.

BUT WHAT IS GENTLE/QUIET?

to accomodate, to defer. a GENTLE MAN opens the door and lets others go in first.

When truth or principle is not on the line, the gentle let others have their way. Not assuming your rights or demanding them… but deferring.

Gentleness towards God is giving yourself to his will, his plan.

This is what Mary does with her statement - “I am your servent, let it be”

She is a model for us to follow - BUT NOT TO WORSHIP

SOME BELIEVE - that this statement “let it be”

Is a command. That she is commanding the incarnation of Jesus.

this is obviously false given the context - “I am the Lords servant” not command. example of what gentleness and quietness of spirit looks like.

Mary is not co-redeemer. Mary is not co-mediator. Mary is not sinless. Mary did not ascend into heaven. You cannot pray to mary. Mary is not the mediator between you and jesus. Mary is like you and me. She says clearly that jesus is her savior. And all this comes upon her not because she is sinless or because she is a perpetual virgin. These are false traditions that the RC adopted not very long ago.

Its not that complicated, she is a model for us, but all of this is upon her as grace. She is the highly favored one. None of this comes upon her because she deserves it. God gives grace to whom he wills. He is no egalitarian, he gives out his grace with discrimination according to his good pleasure, not according to anything in us or done by us. She is who she is because of one reason: the grace and favor of GOd. she will give birth to jesus and be found faithful in her hard calling for one reason: favor of God.

the same is true of you and I. we do nothing on our own. We have nothing that we did not receive. It is all of grace. It is all undeserved favor.

Mary’s let it be isn't a sign that she is our savior..its a sign that she was ready to receive her savior.

If you are to receive jesus as your savior you too must echo these words, let it be according to thy word...i am your servant...whatever the word says, let it be. If we, the church, are to be the BRIDE of Christ then....

Sexual relationships are for within the covenant of marriage: let it be.

My loved ones will die even perhaps my own child...and i will at some point feel great loneliness and sorrow..let it be.

I cannot use drugs to mask my sins or to fix my problems, i must deal with them in light of christ. I must change everything about my lifestyle if i'm going to follow jesus, let it be.

I may not be granted a husband or wife, or a child, or a new job, let it be.

It seems that i am not going to be healed….let it be.

I am going to have to bear a cross for a season that brings me great pain...let it be.

If I repent now and align my life completely with the Bible, casting off deep beliefs I formerly held, I’ll look foolish in front of everyone… Let it be.

Pastors are to be men. Let it be. Husbands are heads of households, let it be. God made me a man, let it be. Marriage is between man and woman, let it be. God shows mercy on whom he will, let it be.

if i reject mary as savior and pray instead to jesus…. if i accept that mary is just a sinner like me, but a willing sinner who turned to the lord...i will lose friends and family...how can i turn away from catholicism and not lose my family? I am your servant, let it be.

If i tithe, i may not have enough money to pay my bills...let it be according to thy word.

If I confess my sin, i will be exposed to much shame, let it be.

If I follow christ in the workplace, i will be removed from the social "in-crowd”, marginilzed and talked about...let it be.

If i join christ church my family is going to think ive lost my mind, let it be.

NOW! With all this talk of Gentleness and quietness - you might have gotten the wrong impression.

Roll Over, be quiet. noooooo...

See in this moment of absolute terror, Mary finds the courage and strength to dialogue with the angel. To even ask a question : But how?

She is courageous. She is a warrior. But she fights with the tools God has given her.

He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”

Think back to GEnesis. Who will crush the seed of the serpent?

The offspring of the woman.

Mary is going to fight, and she’s going to fight the way she’s been built to fight.

Why do you think Phaoroh went after babies?

herod?

The world today goes after babies, yours and others.

whether through abortion or through our pagan educational systems… why is that?

Because child birth - is warfare.

She knows who she’s carrying. She sings it.

Luke 1:51 He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts; 52 he has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate;

Her song is not just a pretty tune.

in fact, it was banned in europe during the renaissance. Why? Because it’s a song of war. It’s insurrection.

In the days of herod, a gentle and quiet girl joined the fight for the universe. It wasn't a revolution, it was the return of the king, the rightful heir to the throne, jesus christ. Through her gentleness and quiet submission to gods will, she played her part in the kingdoms advance...may we follow her lead this christmas and new year.

Church - we are at war. The weapons laid before us.

and the weapons we’ve seen today are gloriously feminine.

and our disposition to the Lord and his commands in this time must be - Let it be.

How? HOW DID MARY OPERATE THIS WAY?

FIRST - She knew who she was. “I am a servant of the Lord”

AND she knew who wins in the end “He will reigh over the house of Jacob, he has scattered the proud, he has brought down the mighty from their thrones, he has exalted the humble… and of his kingdom there will be no end.”

IN OTHER WORDS - Mary knows the GOspel. She knows the promises of God. And her ultimate rest and trust is THERE. and on nothing else.

not on her career. not on her happiness. not on her dreams. not on her reputation.

but on GOD and his promises alone.

where do we get that? Well, the Lord must do it.

tired of being afraid of losing your job? reputation? happiness?

instead look to God, and ask him for that gift of faith.

the gift to trust him above all else. The gift of courage and zealous faithfulness that he gave Mary.