Extraordinary
Notes
Transcript
Does anyone remember this group of guys?
For those of you who do not know this is the 2018 US mens olympic curling team
And if you remember these guys you probably remember that overnight these guys became huge!
Because they entered the Olympics as part-time athletes since curling is not popular in the US
but also they do not look like Olympians
intact no one expected them to win
But whats amazing is this unexpected group of guys ended up getting the gold medal
And at first people were making jokes
Some said they looked like a group of Dads in a movie that had a fun night out and some how ended up winning the Olympics
Others said it was a fluke
But whats amazing is regardless of what you think about these guys, they actually revolutionized the the sport of curling in the US
Because they won it went from being an invisible sport to a noticeable one
Not just that but Curling has become more popular where even from last year the amount of curlers in the US went up by 18%
And most of the US Olymic curlers are full time.
So its a happy ending right?
So why am I telling you this?
I am telling you this because they were a seemingly ordinary group of guys who unexpectently did somthing extraordinary that changed their sport.
And really today we are talking about a seemingly ordinary ordinary person who God used to do something extraordinary that changed the world.
And so we are in Luke 1:26-38 and this passage takes place right after where we were last week and we will just be starting in verses 26-27 because this sets up the story for us today.
It says this:
26 In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, 27 to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary.
So look what this tells us because we are introduced to this women named Mary
And Mary betrothed (which is very similar to our version of engaged) to a man named Joseph
And this passage does not tell us a ton more about Mary, but scholars believe she was young
In fact in this culture they would enter this engagement period anywhere from the age of 12-16
They also believe that Mary was poor
The town Mary lived in was small and insignificant
And ultimately you get this picture of Mary being this person that was pretty insignificant in the grand scheme of things
In fact I love this quote from Kent Hughes because He says “From all indicators her life would not be extraordinary. She would marry humbly, give birth to numerous poor children, never travel further than a few miles from her home, and one day die like thousands of others before her— a nobody in a nothing town in the middle of nowhere”
But here is the thing because there is one thing that sets Mary apart, where God ends up using her to accomplish something huge.
And that is that from everything we can tell Mary was a righteous woman who that followed God.
And you know this morning you may feel like you have a pretty ordinary life
Some of us would say I am not Mother Teressa or we may say I am stuck at this job that seems purposeless, I feel like I am not making a huge impact
But heres the thing: God does not look at the external things we look at, but he looks at the heart.
He is not saying wow that persons resume doesen’t have 5 years of experiance
or wow that person doesn’t seem to have an important job
But the qualifications that God has for someone to be used by Him are not your skill set, but a heart that says “yes”
“Yes, God I will do it!”
Well look at this next part in verses 28-33 because we find out just how God is going to use Mary. It says this:
28 The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.” 29 Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. 30 But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. 31 You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”
So the angel comes to Mary and he says “Greeting, oh favored one, the Lord is with you!”
And its kind of odd because you think Mary would be excited about that greeting. (an angel saying you are favoured and that God is with you)
But whats interesting is it says Mary is troubled at what the angels greeting (it was normal for people in the Bible to be troubled by the angel, but not by what it says)
But heres whats happening because if you look at the Old Testament of the Bible a lot of times when God called someone to do something big an angel would come to that person and say almost that exact same phrase
And you can picture Mary growing up hearing these stories and then having an angel come to her and realizing God is about to have her do something big.
And she may have had a second of excitement, but also she probably had the feeling of unworthiness
Who am I to do something like this for God?
I am no where close to these heros God used in the past.
You know it would almost be like if I got a call from the head coach of the Green Bay packers and he said Brendan we have keeping our eye on you and we want you to take Aaron Rodgers place as quarterback.
I would probably feel a little unworthy (if it was the Detroit Lions, I would feel over qualified)
But I would say you realize I never played football growing up
And not only that, but there was a reason I swam. I am uncoordinated
And I imagine in a weird sense this is how Mary might feel, unqualified and even unworthy
And you know I imagine there may be some of us who may feel a little unworthy to do what God is calling us to do.
It may be we just feel like we are not gifted enough
It might be because of our past mistakes
but what I love is that word for “favored” in verse 28 is actually related the the word “grace” in the Bible’s original language
And so heres the thing:
You might feel unworthy to do God’s work
Some of us might even say we feel unworthy to be in a relationship with God
And this is a little bit of bad news but you are right
If we looked at what we have done by ourselves its not enough.
Its almost like as a kid my parents built this litle pond in our backyard and it was really pretty.
But I remember there was one time the pond had a tear in the liner and its a pretty big issue
Because you can put as much water as you want in this thing but it will never be enough!
Because the water will leak out and you will find yourself filling it again in a few hours.
The only way to fill it is to fix the problem.
And in our lives we have the issue of sin in our life and we can do good things we can come to church, we can live an amazing life, but if we do not fix the issue of sin in our life we are still unworthy.
But whats amazing is we are made worthy not through what we do, but whats been done for us.
We are made worthy through the grace that God gives.
Because His grace does not just fill us with water, but it fixes the root problem of sin in our life.
We can only be made worthy through Him.
Well look at this last section verses 34-38 because it says this:
34 “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?” 35 The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. 36 Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. 37 For no word from God will ever fail.” 38 “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Then the angel left her.
So whats amazing is Mary heres this news and from the context she does not doubt that God can make it happen, but she does ask the angel, how is this going to happen?
Because God has made her Holy, but she is thinking I am still a virgin and its impossible to get pregnant…
I mean think about it if God told me Brendan I am going to make you a millionaire (i don’t think God would give a divine call to be a millionare, but lets say He did), First off I would be excited, but secondly I would want to know how is this going to happen.
Because at the moment I do not see a good path for that.
But God tells Mary it is through His spirit that this will happen (and I need to clarify that Mary is a little unique because this was a onetime thing)
But really it is amazing how when God ask us to do something and it seems impossible
It is amazing what can happen when God’s Spirit is in the situation.
Because we can see God tear down the wall of a thing that seems impossible.
And I love what the angel tells Mary because he tells Mary go to your relative Elizabeth (who we talked about last week)
And if you were here last week we found out that Elizebth actually had a Miricle pregnancy, not with the Messiah, but the one who prepared the way for the Messiah (John the Baptist)
And this is a small part of this passage that would be easy to skip over, but the angel tells her to go see Elizebeth as a way of connecting her to someone who has also had a miracle pregnancy
And like I said this is small but important, but really I imagine the angel tells Mary this because Mary will see what God has already done.
You know there is a certain way that when someone shares something they have been through it impacts our life.
You know I think all of us have heard Michel Jordans story of growing up and not making his high school basketball team.
And we love it. why? because it inspires us
And really something thats neat is that when God moves in our life and we share that with someone.
It shows them that God can move in their life in the same way.
I love it because when we share how God is moving in our lives it allows people to heal from hurts, to be encoraged, and to take steps of faith
And I want to end on part of the last verse that we already read (verse 38) And I want to read it out loud because this is Mary’s responsce to this entire encounter
“I am the Lord’s servant… May Your word to me be fulfilled”
You know I love Mary’s response, but its safe to assume that Mary still had fears
I mean her Fiancee could divorce her
Her family could disown her
Not only that but in this culture she could be stoned because people would think she cheated on her fiancee
But despite this she said “behold I am a servant of the Lord; let it be according to your word”
You know I just want to finish by asking is God calling you to do something that seems big? Something you feel unworthy to do? Something maybe that puts you in a place of risk?
What would it look like to have your response be the same as Mary’s: “behold I am a servant of the Lord; let it be according to your word”
Because its not your qualifications, skill set or experience, but what you need is what Mary had the willingness to say “Yes”
Are you willing to say yes to what God is calling you to today? and what would it look like?
