Faith like Mary

Scripture: Luke 1:26-38

Setting: So, the Angel Gabriel is sent to visit Mary in Nazareth [find out about Nazareth]. Mary is the daughter of a poor man and she is betrothed to Joseph (also a poor man) who is of the line of David. Mary was nobody of worldly importance, but the angel is sent to her to give her a message. Mary is a poor young woman from Nazareth, in Galilee who is betrothed to a man named Joseph. Betrothal in Mary’s time was meant that not only were they engaged but that they were legally married. They were not able to be alone but they were able to see each other and be together in family functions and in public. However, being legally married, if a woman had a child and it wasn’t your betrothed than you were in big trouble. It meant that you were adulterous and thus you could be stoned!

I. Mary was favored by the Lord (

A. Found Favor with the Lord (28,30)

Scripture: Luke 1:26–31 (ESV)- “26In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, 27to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin’s name was Mary. 28And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!” 29But she was greatly troubled at the saying and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. 30And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.

Principle: In v.28, the Angel declared to Mary, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!” The word that the Angel used for favor was the only time this word was used in Scripture. This word meant “to be grace-bestowed v. — to be or become the recipient of God’s freely bestowed, beneficent goodwill.”[1] Thus, God’s favor on Mary meant that God bestowed on Mary His special undeserved goodwill. This doesn’t mean that Mary deserved God’s grace in anyway, but the unprecedented honor that she received of being the earth mother of God Almighty was indeed special and specific! And. God’s undeserved favor was evidenced by the truth God was with her. However, I want you to notice what the Angel said to Mary in v.30, “you have found favor with God.” Now, this word “found” referred “to find for oneself, gain, procure, obtain.[2]” The Angel declared that Mary found the undeserved favor of God. Now the question is how could Mary who did not and could not deserve the favor of God, gain God’s favor? This seems like an oxymoron. How can one earn something that is unearnable? The answer is that Mary did not earn God’s favor, but she did seek His favor! Matthew 7:7–8 (ESV) - 7“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.”

Application: How can we apply this to the Christian life? In Christ, as believers, we have found great favor with God and it has nothing to do with our own efforts. God’s grace has been given to us only because has chosen to find favor with us! However, we are called to seek His favor and Jesus Himself promised us that if we seek God, we will find Him!

II. The identity of Mary’s baby (30-33)

Scripture:

Now we see that Mary is a virgin - she has not ever been with a man and she knows that she hasn’t been with a man.

A. Concerning the Baby

1. His Name is Jesus (32)

ð By naming the baby Jesus, God is declaring Him Savior!

2. He will Be Great (32)

ð Not only will he be our Savior but He also will be great! Mary is practically a nobody and here the angel is promising that her son will be Great – like David and the Prophets! What an encouragement to Mary this must have been!

3. He will Be called the Son of the Most High (32)

ð On top of being great, He will be the Son of the Most High. This keeps getting better and better. Mary being a Jew would not have missed the significance of this title. To call her “son of” the Most High was saying that He would be the “same as” the Most High! He is God!

4. He will be Given the Throne of David (32)

ð This baby will be the Messiah on whom all of Israel’s hopes rest!

5. He will Reign over the House of Jacob Forever (33)

ð Not only will this Jesus be the Messiah He will also reign over the House of Jacob (Israel) forever! He will not be a temporary savior like David or Moses or Joshua. His reign will be forever!

6. His Kingdom will Have No End (33)

7. He will be a Holy Child (35)

ð He will be a Holy Child. What does this mean? First of all, nobody starts out holy, right? What does that say to you then? Jesus will be born without sin!

8. He will be the Son of God (35)

ð The Angel repeats the announcement that because the child will be Holy He will be the Son of God! Why? Because only God is truly holy! Thus the baby will be God!

ð

She Will Name Him Jesus (31)

B. The Trinity will Work in Mary (35)

ð The angel promises that the Holy Spirit will come upon her and that Power of the Most- High will Overshadow Her. What is the Angel saying? First of all, that in order to conceive a son without a man the Lord will impregnate you Himself and it will be His power that will accomplish this impossible thing! Also, both the Holy Spirit and the father (the Most-High) are present in this act. Where then is the Son in this? He is the baby! Do you get it? All three Persons of the Trinity are at work here!!!

ð Now we go from the announcement to Mary to how Mary responds to this announcement.

III. Mary’s Response to the Impossible (29-38)

A. Mary Ponders the Situation even in her Fear (29)

ð Now, the angel speaks to her telling her that she, Mary is favored by God and that the Lord is with her! Now, if that were any of us, what would we do? If an angel came and visited me I would be deathly afraid and then secondly my ego would probably get puffed up for being favored by God! However, Mary doesn’t do this. Her response is different than anyone else in the bible that I have come across. Mary is afraid, we know this by v.30, but more that, in v.29 she is perplexed! Perplexed! And she is pondering what it means to be greeted by the angel in such a manner.

ð Illustration: Abigail and I like to cook (she is better at it than I am) but one of the lessons that I have learned in cooking is that you don’t just put the spices or flavoring in one area of the dish and expect the spices will permeate the entire dish. It won’t! You have stir the spices around to let the spices mix in and permeate the entire dish! This is what Mary is doing when she is pondering over truths of God. You know it is interesting that Mary goes through her life pondering the truths of God, she doesn’t understand them so she ponders and dwells upon them, meditates on the truths. This is a good lesson for us to ponder on the Word of God and its truths and let the truth permeate our lives.

According to Earon James, Pastor of Relevant Life Church in Pace, Florida, “God’s blessings upon his people do not mean that we won’t have to endure pain, suffering, and loss in this life. When Mary was greeted by the angel, she was called favored. The Lord chose Mary as a vessel to give birth to the promised Messiah. This great honor was not without struggle. Mary’s integrity was called into question and Joseph came close to divorcing her. God called her favored, and yet from a human perspective, it looked as if she had been unfaithful.”[3]

B. Mary Asks a Question (34)

ð Not only does Mary ponder the nature of the Angel’s visit and greeting to her but she also asks the angel a question. There is no question of disbelief, Mary believes God, but she just doesn’t understand! Who would, right? So she asks a very legitimate question. “How is this going to happen?” And, the angel honors her question with an answer – it doesn’t explain a whole lot, but for God it is an answer! Compare Zacharias’ question and angel’s response to Zecharias.

C. Mary Believed God

ð Mary one hundred percent believed God, she didn’t understand, but that did not matter! God told her that she would have a baby without a man, then it will happen! God told her that she would be the mother of God with God as the Father and that child will be the Messiah – she believed that it would happen regardless of how ridiculous it sounded! Mary had real faith!

D. Mary Declares Herself God’s Bond-slave (38)

ð What Mary has done when she declares herself to be a bond-slave of the Lord, she is giving up her rights over herself and her baby. Normally, we believe we have rights, but Mary understood rightly that she belonged to God including her body and all she was.

q Illustration:

E. Mary Makes Herself Available to God (38)

ð By believing God and accepting His will for her life she is making herself available to God. The lesson we can learn from Mary here is that we do not need to be perfect or good at everything or have a lot of talent to do God’s work. We only need to be available and God will do the work through us.

Central Theme and Conclusion: Just as God did the impossible with the coach in Facing the Giants and that coach had faith that God was a big God, Mary Believes the Lord even when the Angel’s Announcement Seems Impossible.

Even though everything was in the way of belief, the impossible was asked her, Mary had faith that God would do what He promised he would do. I think this is very powerful message for us as we are dealing with death, lives torn apart by addictions and sin, broken relationships but we can believe His promises. Because He has fulfilled His promises! Mary did conceive and Her Son was Jesus the Messiah and God and He was born, lived and died so that we may have life in Him and our sins forgiven! Every one of His promises was fulfilled and we can believe Him and what He asks for us to do. Question: Do you have a little faith in a little God or do you a big faith in a big God? Believe the Lord and do what He asks – just like Mary!

[1] Faithlife Corporation. (2020). to be grace-bestowed (Version 8.17 SR-1) [Computer software]. Logos Bible Software Bible Sense Lexicon. Bellingham, WA: Faithlife Corporation. Retrieved from https://ref.ly/logos4/Senses?KeyId=ws.be+gracebestowed.v.01

[2] Zodhiates, S. (2000). The complete word study dictionary: New Testament (electronic ed.). Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers.

[3] https://thewitnessbcc.com/blessed-and-highly-favored/