Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

On Christmas Eve, 1968 Captain Jim Lovell was aboard Apollo 8 heading for the first time in NASA’s history to the moon.

Their mission was to orbit around the moon and then safely return to the earth.

It was the first mission ever in which a manned spacecraft left earth’s lower orbit and the first time that the earth was photographed rising over the horizon of the moon.

(show picture)

Jim Lovell reflected on this moment of seeing the earth slowly rising over the moon’s horizon.

At one point he raised his hand against the window of the spacecraft and watched the entire planet disappear behind his thumb.

Later on he said,

“I realized how insignificant we all are if everything I’d ever known is behind my thumb,”

It was seven months later that Apollo 11 was launched and for the first time ever human beings stepped foot on the moon.

The first person to ever step on to the moon, Neil Armstrong, did exactly the same thing.

He looked at the earth slowly rising above the moon’s horizon and was struck with the same feeling of smallness and insignificance.

He recalled later:

“It suddenly struck me that that tiny pea, pretty and blue, was the Earth.

I put up my thumb and shut one eye, and my thumb blotted out the planet Earth.

I didn’t feel like a giant.

I felt very, very small.”

Problem

Human beings tend to often think too highly of themselves.

It’s easy to do when we only compare ourselves to others.

My particular favorite is the 7 foot 5 inch NBA player who dunks the basketball and then struts down the court like he’s big stuff.

Like, the guy guarding you was a foot shorter than you.

All you had to do was lift your hands and jump maybe two inches…but yeah, strut down the court because what you just did was impressive.

But every now and then we’re captivated by things within God’s creation which put things into a clearer perspective, a beautiful sunset, a powerful storm, a mountain view, the crashing waves of the ocean, and it’s there that we begin to see ourselves rightly, as very, very small and God for who he is - very, very large.

And this is good for us because only when we begin to see ourselves for who we truly are and God for who he truly is can we then begin to live as God has created us to live.

The text before us today paints a picture of a God who is high above all others (glory to God in the highest!) and yet, he is a God who cares for his people.

Yes, our God is holy, but at the same time he invites us into relationship with him.

We see a God who longs to be with his people.

The coming of Jesus into this world took away any doubt that God desires to be with us.

One of the songs we sang this morning asked a question, “What child is this?”

Who is this Jesus that we celebrate?

What makes him great?

What makes him significant?

What makes him worthy of our worship, worthy of our lives?

What is it about the coming of Jesus into the world that shows God’s longing for his people?

How do we see ourselves righty compared to Jesus?

What do we see from this interaction between Gabriel and Mary that shows God’s character and his care for his people?

Like Mary, we are small and insignificant when compared to a holy God.

But also, like Mary, we are loved and accepted through no work of our own but because God is full of love, mercy, and grace.

And this acceptance, this grace, this love for us from a holy God is ours only because of Jesus.

It’s because God came to us in the person of Jesus.

Big Idea

Though we are small and unworthy, Jesus is the great eternal King who has loved us and has come to bring us back to God.

Body

This is who Jesus is.

And this text today is opening wide and is revealing the nature and character of our God.

Let’s look within this text to see God’s greatness, but also his love for a people who are underserving, a people who are small and insignificant compared to the splendor and glory of a holy God.

But yet, a people who have been pursued not because of anything appealing within us, but because our God is love and full of grace and enjoys bringing beauty from ashes.

First thing we see is:

A God Most High has come to a people most low.

Look with me starting in verse 26.

Luke 1:26-27 “In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David.

And the virgin’s name was Mary.”

Luke here says that Gabriel came to Mary ‘in the sixth month.”

What does that mean?

Well, in the first half of chapter 1, Gabriel was sent to a priest, living in Jerusalem named Zechariah.

Zechariah was married to Elizabeth.

Both were advanced in years and towards the end of their life.

Neither of them had had children, though they desired children.

And it’s here, in an unlikely season of their life that God gives them a message through Gabriel that they will have a child and his name will be John.

And so, if you have an understanding of the Scriptures, you know then that this is referring to John the Baptist.

John would be the final prophet to come and speak before Jesus the Messiah stepped into the world.

And so, John’s arrival into the world was also a big deal.

And now it’s the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy where Gabriel comes to Mary with his announcement to her.

Zechariah and Elizabeth were finishing up their lives living in the city of Jerusalem.

Joseph and Mary were just beginning their lives together living in a backwater town with a bad reputation.

The differences between these two families couldn’t have been more noticeable.

And so, what do we see here?

Well, we see a God who is able to do whatever he desires in the world regardless of who we are, our ages, our hometowns, our upbringing.

God uses whomever he wills to accomplish his purpose.

We may be tempted when reading through the first chapter of Luke to think that God chose Zechariah because he was a priest and a righteous person before God.

We may think, well of course, he would be chosen.

He seems to fit the bill of success and importance.

But then the pendulum swings to Mary.

Who’s she? Really, a nobody who’s living in the sticks.

So, why Mary?

Verse 28,

Luke 1:28 “And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!””

This is a greeting of grace.

It’s revealing that God chose Mary solely as a matter of grace.

Meaning, she had done nothing to earn this honor.

She wasn’t placed on a path of success at a young age and if she kept with it then God would bestow upon her the honor of being the mother of Jesus.

No, God smiled upon her solely because he is a gracious and loving God.

Mary’s response to this greeting shows that this was unexpected.

Verse 29,

Luke 1:29 “But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be.”

Here’s what she’s saying, “I’m favored?” “You’re talking to me?” “Who am I that you’d even give me the time of day?”

Have you ever felt like that?

Like your life is too insignificant for God to notice or really give it a second thought?

I mean surely, there’re other more important issues in the world today, more important people that he is focusing on than little ole me who lives in a city called “Normal,” that’s surrounded by corn and beans.

I mean, could our cities’ name be any more blah?

And yet, what do we see here?

A God most high who cares for a people most low.

In fact, it goes much further than that.

We worship a God Most High who became most low.

God became flesh, and as the gospel of John opens up saying, “He dwelt among us.”

This is God with us, “Immanuel”.

Jesus, whose name means “salvation.”

We are a people lowly in nature but loved wholly and dearly by a Most High God.

A God who suffered.