Lifting the Lowly

Goal: The mighty God stoops to look upon and lift up the humble

Scripture Introduction:

We’re going to be reading a NT psalms/songs today. Luke 1:39-56. It’s known as Mary’s Magnificat. And we read through Psalm 136 earlier because many think that even though Mary’s psalm of praise has much in common with that of Hannah in 1 Samuel 2 it actually follows this Psalm very well too.

But before we get to that psalm we have a little bit of a narrative story. Now let me set this up for you for a moment. Now we don’t know for sure how old Mary is, but she’s likely no more than 16…probably even younger. She’s just been told by an angel that something unbelievable is going to happen to her.

But an unbelievable story in this realm is incredibly dangerous, right. I’m going to have a baby—I’ve never been with a man—God is going to put a baby there. We learn from Matthew’s gospel that the guy she has been promised to, Joseph, is going to put her away quietly. He’s a good guy. He doesn’t want her to be killed but he doesn’t want to deal with this. And so Mary at this stage likely finds herself alone.

But if what that angel is saying is true it’s also massive news. She is the woman mentioned in Genesis 3—it will be her “offpsring” that will crush the head of the serpent. It will be her baby that will be the promised deliverer, the rescuer, the Savior, the redeemer, all of those things they’ve been waiting for is happening.

And the angel gives her a bit of a sign as well. She mentions Elizabeth. Her relative. Her relative that lives about 100 miles away. That something miraculous and unbelievable is happening to her as well. So Mary packs her bags and heads to visit Elizabeth...

That’d be a good place to read the text but we aren’t going to read it quite yet. I want to do something else for you. Let’s ask a question. You have all of these people in the biblical story here looking for redemption, for rescue, for God’s pleasure upon them, for God’s favor, for God’s blessing, for peace, for all things to be made right....how is that going to happen?

If you’re the religious leaders of the day you answer that by saying, “if our nation and our people will just believe the right things and do the right things and follow the Law THEN God will rescue us.

And their strategy isn’t crazy. Think about this. God is holy, right? He is powerful. He is mighty. He is a righteous King and Judge. What turns the head of such a mighty God? To whom will he look?

Maybe you’re asking that same question this morning…am I enough to turn God’s head? Does he care? Does he hear my cries and my prayers? Is he going to redeem somebody like me?

About 2000 years ago men were arguing about theology, condemning those in error, and finding fellowship in being right so as to bring about God’s pleasure and thus His kingdom.

But then we turn to Luke 2 and we see the one to whom the Lord looks...

Sermon Introduction:

Isaiah 66:2.

That’s really our one point this morning. The magnificent thing about God—His bigness, His holiness, His righteousness, His purity, all of those things that we think should KEEP us from God…is actually what causes God to stoop in order to rescue us. He lifts up the lowly. He exalts the humble. He heals the brokenhearted. This is our God.

Let’s turn now to the story...

v39-40…that’s about 100 miles.

v41. greeting of Mary. How did Mary know that she was pregnant? Filled w/Holy Spirit, that’s how. Note how pro-life this is. These babies have identity. John already filled with the Spirit. If you’re looking for verses to defend that life begins in the womb then this is a tremendous place to look.

And if you want a verse to help you know that God is able to get you through a difficult pregnancy then look no further than this young girl named, Mary. Think about what happens here with Elizabeth’s words upon Mary’s greeting.

It means that Elizabeth knows the story. Somehow it’s been revealed to her. Mary is believed. There is a TON of power in that, isn’t there. When somebody believes your story. When somebody listens. When somebody is there for you. That’s the grace of God for Mary in this moment.

v42-43. And Elizabeth also knows the identity of her baby. The same identity spoken of by the angel to Mary—again confirmed through the Holy Spirit. The “Mother of my Lord”. It shows us from the early pages of Luke the identity of Jesus. He is the Rescuer. He is the Lord. Now this is astounding. Jewish people didn’t talk this way. There wasn’t a frame work for the Christmas story—God taking upon human flesh. God Himself being the Suffering Servant.

I don’t know that Elizabeth or even Mary had a full understanding at this point. But what they did know was that this baby was going to be the rescuer. What that meant exactly in their minds we don’t know…but we do know that they identified Jesus as the promised one. The One they had been waiting for.

Notice Elizabeth’s humility. For six months the big excitement in her life had been her own pregnancy. But rather than thinking of her own good news, she immediately praised God for what he had done for Mary. She was not jealous, but honored Mary as the mother of her Lord—the most blessed woman in the world. Like the angel Gabriel, she said that Mary was favored by God’s grace.

That’s going to be a characteristic that her son picks up too. It’s something the Holy Spirit imparts. Not being about yourself, focused on yourself, etc. But always pointing to another. Ultimately, shining a spotlight on Jesus. But ALSO this type of love is a love that thinks about and empowers others.

We see in verse 44 that it’s not only these two women who know the identity of the baby. The baby in Elizabeth’s womb knew as well.

v44. John knew it was Jesus. And isn’t this amazing that already from the womb John is pointing to another. He leaps for joy because the Spirit within him affirms that the Lamb of God who will take away the sin of the world is right there.

v45. Some have interpreted this as a little jab at her now deaf and mute husband, Z. I don’t know that it is. Because he didn’t believe that word. He didn’t really believe that God was answering prayers but he doubted. It could be, but I don’t think it has to be. It’s probably more about lifting up the faith of this young virgin girl than it is a shot at her hubby.

v46 Now Mary is astounded. All the promise is true. She’s getting confirmation here. She’s getting encouragement and she bursts out into psalm.

There is a ton of connection here between the prayer of Hannah in 1 Samuel 2:1-5

1 Samuel 2:1–5 ESV

And Hannah prayed and said, “My heart exults in the Lord; my horn is exalted in the Lord. My mouth derides my enemies, because I rejoice in your salvation. “There is none holy like the Lord: for there is none besides you; there is no rock like our God. Talk no more so very proudly, let not arrogance come from your mouth; for the Lord is a God of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed. The bows of the mighty are broken, but the feeble bind on strength. Those who were full have hired themselves out for bread, but those who were hungry have ceased to hunger. The barren has borne seven, but she who has many children is forlorn.

But there is also a connection to what we read earlier in Psalm 136. The Lord’s love endures forever. The story there the narrative flow of Psalm 136—lifting up the lowly, bringing down the lofty and prideful. That’s very much connected with Mary here.

But what I really think we need to see from this is how steeped in the Scriptures Mary seems to be. Her language here is very Old Testament. She clearly knew her Psalms. She knew the stories. She’s the epitome here of all the great women in the Old Testament.

Let’s look now at what Mary says. We see first that Mary is looking at God’s favor upon her. It’s one thing to look out and see that God is at work in our world, that God generally exalts the lowly and brings down the powerful. But what happens when God does something in YOUR life. What happens when you see He is fighting for YOU?

It’s one thing to see that Jesus is a generic Savior for humanity. It’s quite another to see that He is YOUR Savior. So also here. Mary says he is looking upon ME…his humble servant. Why should he look upon me. He is mighty. He is marvelous.

What do mighty people in our world tend to do? They tend to use their power for themselves. Oh, they might give a little here and there. Throw out a few breadcrumbs, but at the end of the day they aren’t going to ultimately stoop. But that’s not the case with God.

The mighty one looks upon this young girl and says, “you’re the one. You’re the one from Genesis 3. You’re going to be blessed. You’re going down in history.

This is different really than what you’d expect. It’s different than most other religions.

In most religions a meeting with God requires the low to ascend high, sinners to become saints. The Magnificat reverses all protocol and expectations: God who is high becomes low. He sees human need and initiates a revolution that reorders reality: the transcendent God intercedes on behalf of a lowly young woman and calls her blessed; the Almighty gives mercy to those who fear him and scatters the strong, proud, and rich, while filling the hungry and needy with all good things. The reversal of expectations announced in the Magnificat will reappear throughout Luke-Acts.

There’s another word there too that I want us to look at. “Holy is his name”. Holy. Other. Without spot. Without stain. Doesn’t look upon sin. And so what might we think? It’s what happens so often we talk to people about Jesus. We look at our stain, our sin, our brokenness, our hurts, our fallenness, our rebellion, what we’ve become, all of that…we look there and say, “I’ve got to clean myself up. I’ve got to make something of myself before I can appear before this great and holy God.” But notice the note that Mary is stressing about this holy God. His holiness stoops. And we’re going to see this throughout the gospel account with Jesus.

Pharisees. “If this man knew who was eating with him....a sinner....” Holiness cannot touch evil because then it’ll be stained and no longer holiness. But there is an overpowering holiness in Jesus. This is the God-ward holiness where when he touches something He DOESN’T GET STAINED but the thing he touches becomes holy. I like how Piper states this:

But what Mary stresses is the way this holiness expresses itself. And her words are a warning to Theophilus and to us not to make the common mistake that because God is great, he is partial to great men, or because God is exalted, he favors what is exalted among men. Just the opposite is the case. God's holiness has expressed itself and will express itself by exalting the lowly and abasing the haughty.

You might be thinking, well that’s great for Mary. But what about me. Does this mean the same thing for me as well? You better believe it. Look at verse 50.

This is who God is for all time. From generation to generation. What does it mean to fear him? To reverence him. To look to him. Not to lift yourself up. Not to clean yourself up. But to place yourself in His hands. I’m trusting you, dad. That’s what it means.

We’re going to see this through the rest of her story. God brings down those who are in power and lift up those of lowly estate. He’s flipping the script. “Can anything good come from Nazareth.”

Though he might say things a bit more strongly than I would I appreciate these words of MLJ:

When the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords came into this world, he came into a stable. If you do not feel a sense of holy laughter within you, I do not see that you have a right to think that you are a Christian. Thank God, this is gospel, this is salvation. God turning upside down, reversing everything we have ever thought, everything we have taken pride in. The mighty? Why, he will pull them down from their seats. He has been doing so. He is still doing so. Let any man arise and say he is going to govern, to be the god of the whole world; you need not be afraid—he will be put down. Every dictator has gone down; they all do. Finally, the devil and all that belong to him will go down to the lake of fire and will be destroyed for ever. The Son of God has come into the world to do that.

But he doesn’t just bring low the proud. He also feeds the hungry. With good things. Ultimately with himself. This will be what Jesus says in a few weeks when we get to the Beatitudes. Blessed are the poor, blessed are the meek. It’s that great reversal again.

God feeds the hungry. But he doesn’t those who have plates full. Think of it that way.

There is something that I believe every child has done. Made “soup” or something like that for someone they love. My grandmother passed away at a little younger age than we had hoped. I think it might have been in part from all of the “soups” I fed her. I would put some of the weirdest stuff in those things. Things that just do not belong together. And my poor grandmother would eat them with a smile. “Oh, that’s really good, honey”.

So here’s the picture. Picture you gathering all these ingredients that you can muster. Getting a soup put together of your finest ingredients like mud, hay, honey, sugar, biscuits, alpo, cayenne pepper, chili beans, gravy, Frosted flakes, and of course orange juice. And you go into the kitchen and my wife is in there---who is absolutely amazing at making soups. Seriously, great soups. And I’ve got my bowl of “soup” and she says, “would you like some soup?” Well, sure pour it on in.

You fill your bowl, you fill you plate with your creation and you get stuck on that…and you get obsessed with that…and you make that your identity…and you reject the good soup. Nah, man. Dump that stuff out. You can’t eat good while your hanging onto your gruel.

If I come to God with a full on plate---filled with all my goodness, all my accomplishments, all my stuff. And say, “here, there’s a little corner on my plate here somewhere—would you fill that with yourself and your goodness and your might and your holiness.” How ignorant is that? How ignorant.

God fills the hungry. He fills those who have empty plates.

Now here’s the deal, though, every single one of us…we aren’t Mary in this story. Apart from grace Mary isn’t even Mary in this story. That’s what you see in verses 54-55. God rescues Israel, he keeps His promise, not b/c they were amazing but b/c God put his affection upon them and kept his promise to them.

That is what this depends upon. Not a one of us is humble. But God humbles us. God helps us to see that our gruel isn’t going to cut it. And he says, “dump out your bowl…and get some good soup”.

Isaiah 66:2 ESV

All these things my hand has made, and so all these things came to be, declares the Lord. But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word.

I like this:

The proud, those who exalt themselves and take no account of God, He puts down—beaten by His mighty arm. The powers that be, oppressors who tyrannize the poor and lowly, are deprived of their power and high standing, while those who are truly humble are exalted to great things. The hungry, those who realize their own need and yearn for spiritual food, are blessed. But the rich, those who are self-satisfied and proud, are shamed in the imagination of their hearts.

What are we striving for?

Father delights to give the kingdom. Come with an empty plate. Don’t just shove a little corner...

Or all our striving and efforts.

Only what comes from your hand will do.

Turn to Jesus for the first time.

Striving for your own stuff.

Be overwhelmed by God’s grace! He fills your plate!