My Soul Magnifies the Lord

Intro

Over the next 5 weeks we are going to go through a series I have called “Oh Come Let Us Adore Him.” We will be looking at the Christmas story found in Matthew and Luke..... My hope, prayer and purpose of this series is for us to see how this true Christmas story may awaken our hearts to a deeper worship of God.

So..... this is not “Put Christ back in Christmas..... or Jesus is the Reason for the Season”.... I am not trying to from the Scripture to prove to you why Jesus is the main point of Christmas..... instead, I want us to see how the Christmas story speaks directly to our hearts and our response to God in our lives in Worship.

What is worship..... because I may have a definition that you may not have.....

Worship is giving proper worth to God..... The old english word that we know now as worship comes from the word “worthship”..... So God is worthy of our worship..... Our worship is the focus and response of our hearts ascribing to God his worth. We worship God because he created us, we worship God because in our sin, he loved us by sending Jesus to be BORN (hello Christmas), live a perfect life, die on a Cross for our sins, rise again, and ascended to heaven and will return..... WE RESPOND TO GOD BECAUSE HE LOVES US.... SO WE LOVE IN RETURN!

We do that inwardly that leads to outwardly - or as Jesus says in Spirit and in truth

You may be thinking that worship just means singing… or what takes place for an hour on Sunday morning.... and I would say yes it does include that, but it must include the inward belief in God for who He is, what He has done, and what He is doing, and What he will do!......

Jesus makes it clear that its not about the songs we sing or the words of our prayers or the action of us in church.....So our outward actions must have an inward reality in our hearts!

Matthew 15:8–9 ESV

8 “ ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; 9 in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ ”

We Worship as Jesus says in Spirit and in truth John 4

What better time for us to be talking about worship.... than Christmas!

On Average, the American family will spend just shy of $1000 this month on this holiday

Family traditions become more frequent..... and getting closer to family is both positive....or negative

There is the anxiety and stress of getting the perfect presents or creating the perfect Christmas Moments

There is increased social expectations of parties, celebrations, etc.

The list can go on and on...... But what better time than the Christmas season to do a heart check.... to do a worship check..... What is the focus of my heart and actions..... is it God, or something else!

From the interaction of Mary, the angel Gabriel, and Elizabeth.... we are going to see these two points this morning.....

Belief leads to Worship

How we worship reveals what we believe

Luke 1:26–45 ESV

26 In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, 27 to a virgin betrothed 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!” 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 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. 39 In those days Mary arose and went with haste into the hill country, to a town in Judah, 40 and she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. 41 And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, 42 and she exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! 43 And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? 44 For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. 45 And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord.”

1. Belief leads to Worship

This morning I want to look at Mary’s response to the Angel..... We could find a lot of theological nuggets hidden within this narrative, but I want to focus in on her response..... It is belief!

Luke 1:45 ESV

45 And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord.”

Mary..... believes God......

Mary believes the promises of God

The names of Jesus, the lineage of David, the house of Jacob, and the never-ending kingdom!

Mary Believes in the Power of God

The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the POWER of the most high will do this! There is nothing that is impossible for God!

Mary believes in the Plan of God

A 14 year old AT MOST young girl, to be used in the redemptive plan of Israel..... mostly unnoticed in a town of 1500 people.... and she says, “I am the servant of the Lord..... let is be as your word has said!”

Mary’s belief lead her to Worship

Luke 1:46 ESV

46 And Mary said, “My soul magnifies the Lord,

Mary’s response is to sing..... and her word in her song is that her soul magnifies the Lord .....

Worship of God is like a telescope and not a microscope (John Piper’s illustration)..... When you hear the word magnify you can think of a microscope that takes something small and zooms in to make it larger.... You take a telescope and look into the vast night sky to see the array and granduer of the stars and galaxies..... Mary is not taking God and putting him in the microscrope.... She is taking God and with telescope like wonder bringing praise and honor to Him in all of his granduer and greatness!

Mary’s Belief leads to Worship!

2. Worship reveals Belief

There is a reason that the first commandments of the 10 commandments deal with our relationship with God.... They all have an impact on our hearts worship of God.

No other gods before me.

No graven images or likenesses.

Not take the LORD's name in vain.

Remember the sabbath day.

What we worship..... reveals what we believe.....

Listen to Mary’s Words here...... What does she believe? What is most important to her? These words will show it!

Luke 1:46–56 ESV

46 And Mary said, “My soul magnifies the Lord, 47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, 48 for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant. For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed; 49 for he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name. 50 And his mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation. 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; 53 he has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty. 54 He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, 55 as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his offspring forever.” 56 And Mary remained with her about three months and returned to her home.

The most important this in Mary’s life..... The thing that she most certainly did know......

God is her Savior

God is MIGHTY

God is Holy

God is Strong to deliver his people

God is Merciful

God is a Covenant Keeping God

What is on Mary’s heart..... why is she singing...... Not for herself.... the theme of her worship is God!

How she worships reveals what she believes!

Conclusion

Let’s take an inventory of our heart this morning.......

What is your heart focussing on this Christmas season?

We are not Mary.... An Angel hasn’t popped into your kitchen this week and given you a rundown of redemptive history that will take place in you...... BUT

Do you have right belief in God? then it leads to right worship of God! I think this equation is easy to understand..... We see it as a simple formula.... 1+1 = 2.... I need to believe the right things about God and it will lead to the right responses to God. I believe so I pray.... I believe to I sing.

This morning, the heart inventory that is most challenging is to think about your outward responses to your life in this Christmas season...... what are you worshippping? What has your attention.... your hearts focus? Because that reveals what you are truly believing...... Like the Grinch who stole Christmas..... if someone were to remove all of the external good things of Christmas, would your heart remain steadfast in it’s worship of Jesus? Because there is a real grinch.... his name is Satan, and he wants to decieve you and trick you into believing that Christmas and this life is just about getting what you want, what you can consume....and not about worshipping, believing and following Jesus Christ.

Believe leads to Worship and Worship reveals belief. Mary has shown us that this morning, may we apply it to our lives this Christmas.

Believe and be baptized

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Examine your heart of worship today and this month!