Almighty God, it is through your word that we hear your Son speak and can understand how the Holy Spirit works in our lives…We humbly ask that you would reveal more of its truth and power to us this morning…and that its beauty would capture our hearts and bring all our thoughts and hopes into captive obedience to Christ and to the joy of the  salvation He offers each of us…And now may the words of my mouth, and the meditations of our hearts, be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our Rock, and our Redeemer, amen.

Introduction

This has been a really busy week for me in terms of living life, trying to balance appointments…

v …and preparing everything for today as well as for our Christmas Eve service.

v But some how in the midst of all-of-this… God used Cindy to point me to an article…

• Ø  …that really speaks to today’s passage from the Gospel of St. Luke.

The article was written by a man named Russell Moore.

v He’s Dean at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky.

v Somehow he overheard a conversation between two young men in a bookstore…

• Ø  …that centered around how one of them doesn’t like Christmas music…
• Ø  …because it seldom focuses on what Christmas is about.

v Instead it’s about reindeer, mistletoe, and Dr. Seuss’ “Grinch.”

v Simply put…

• Ø  …this young man believes Christmas music is too sentimental and “holly-jolly” as he put it.

In his mind…Christmas music needs to have a certain tension to it.

v A tension that simultaneously addresses the tragedy and joy that live side-by-side…

• Ø  …and makes our world what it is…
• Ø  …while at the same time pointing us to Christ…
• Ø  …and the joy we experience because of His coming.

v As Cindy pointed out to me…

• Ø  …today’s reading from Luke gives us a picture of that tension.

v As well as providing a way to overcome those tensions…

• Ø  …and experience what Christmas is all about.

Hopefully…I can help us look at the words of St. Luke…

v …in a way that would make us see Mary’s song as a kind of Christmas carol…

• Ø  …that young man might appreciate.

v To do that I want to look at three key themes that Mary sings about:

• Ø  The first is faith, v.46-49
• Ø  The second is love, v.50-53 
• Ø  And the third is Hope, v.54-55

Main Points

Faith (v.46-49)

Let’s start with one of those real world tensions this young man wants in his Christmas carols.

v How would you feel if an unwed – but very pregnant – teenage niece or cousin…

• Ø  …unexpectedly showed up tonight…and in front of your whole family said,

“My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my savior, for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant.”

v Would you think it was an indication of her faith…

• Ø  …or some feeble excuse to explain her pregnancy?

Let’s be honest…we’d all have our doubts…even if we believed her.

v But maybe in Mary’s case it’s different.

v Maybe Mary recognizes…

• Ø  ….that something wonderful & incredibly important has just happened…
• Ø  …and that God is really behind it.

v Maybe it’s a divine declaration of independence.

v A public announcement…

• Ø  …that God is redeeming the world through the child she’s carrying.

At the same time though, maybe it’s a picture of Mary’s faith…and her complete trust in God.

v Why would I say that?

v It’s because there’s this inexplicable, and side-by-side..

• Ø  …mix of innocence, depth, and authenticity to what she’s saying and feeling.

v I mean honestly…here’s a very young women…

• Ø  …who all of sudden sounds like an Old Testament prophet.

v Someone probably young enough to hang out with our teenage members…

• Ø  …declaring that salvation isn’t found in what we do for God…
• Ø  …but what God is going to do for us.

v And it was that reality of what God was doing that absolutely overwhelmed her.

• Ø  She didn’t have any choice but to cry out.

v Even though she and Elizabeth were the only one’s there…God wanted it said.

• Ø  If she hadn’t…there’s a good chance that “the very stones would cry out” (Luke 19:40)

v She knew that this child was the messiah.

v And that the Old Testament’s message of a coming salvation was now a reality…

• Ø  …and that she had a role to play in it….despite the fact she was just some girl from Nazareth. 

What’s important for us to see is that this didn’t go to Mary’s head…

v …Instead she experienced this amazing sense of humility.

v … Every bone in her body wanted to honor God…

• Ø  …and proclaim what He was doing and why the world should rejoice with her.

 v At the same time though…Mary didn’t want the world to see her.

• Ø  She wanted the world to see God – and to see Jesus.
• Ø  And to understand how unbelievably powerful and loving God is.

 But Mary was also telling the world something else…

v Something equally as important.

 v Mary’s words made it clear…

• Ø  …that God’s love wasn’t simply tied to one people, one place, or one time in history.

v He wasn’t simply coming back for the Jews…

• Ø  …He was coming back for the whole world and everyone in it.

 Now imagine learning all of that from a teenage girl.

 v And then imagine the relationship she must have had with God…

• Ø  …if the angel Gabriel said to her “Blessed are you among women…”

 v Mary’s experience & words are a reminder and a challenge to each of us…

• Ø  …and they exemplify the dependent, servant-oriented trust…
• Ø  …that ought to characterize both our faith and how we live our lives.

 v Because more often than not…

• Ø  …we’re the only living example of that…and of the Gospel many people will ever see.

 Love (v.50-53)

 If a prophetic pregnant teenager…

 v …announcing the coming of the messiah doesn’t have enough tension for you…

• Ø  …then keep reading…because then she starts talking about…
• Ø  …how God’s love for us works its way out in life.

 “⁵⁰His mercy extends to those who fear him, from generation to generation.  ⁵¹He has performed mighty deeds with his arm; he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts.

⁵²He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble.  ⁵³He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty.”

The two things Mary doesn’t want us to lose sight of…

v …are that God’s love for us is an innate part of His sovereignty…

• Ø  …and that our circumstances aren’t a good measure of that love.

v So why do I say that?

Let’s go back to the Book of Exodus.

v To the early part…where the Jews were still Pharaoh’s slaves…

• Ø  …and Moses had to confront him again and again and again about letting them go.

v What did God tell Moses…

• Ø  …each time before He sent him to demand that Pharaoh release the Jews?

“I have hardened Pharaoh’s heart…”

v Which was God’s way of warning Moses and the Israelites…

• Ø  …that things were going to get a lot worse before they got better.
• Ø  …and they shouldn’t judge His love for them based on their circumstances.
• Ø  Because circumstances don’t always reveal…
• Ø  …what He wants to accomplish in – or through – them.

v Admittedly that’s difficult to deal with.

• Ø  But that’s why St. Paul told the Corinthian church, as well as each of us,

“¹⁶Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. ¹⁷For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. ¹⁸So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”

(2 Corinthians 4:16-18)

It’s probably that same tension between the seen and unseen…

v …that filled Mary’s heart and why her song is filled with different contrasts…

• Ø  …showing God’s mercy and grace on one hand…
• Ø  …and His willingness to humble us on the other.

v That’s because God’s love should fill us with a sort of divine discontent …

• Ø  …over the reality that the world isn’t the way it’s supposed to be…
• Ø  …and to recognize that only God can fix it.

And that’s exactly why the Gospel is so important – because it points people to that reality…

v …and helps them understand that without experiencing God’s love…

• Ø  …and the real change Christ and the cross makes on our lives…
• Ø  …we’ll always be indifferent toward people and toward God.

v And we’ll never experience the sense of community & connection with God we long for.

v By showing us these contrasts…and challenging how we look at them…

• Ø  …Mary’s reminding each of us – as well as the young man in the bookstore…
• Ø  …that just as God’s love for us is symbolized
• Ø  …by how Jesus poured out His life on the cross…
• Ø  …Our love for God and for the people we live with and work alongside of…
• Ø  …should be characterized by an authentic Christ-like humility…
• Ø  …as well a willingness to sacrifice our lives in a kingdom-oriented way.

Hope (v.54-55)

The final theme we need to look at is Hope…

v …because it’s the Hope we have in God’s promises 

• Ø  …that keeps drawing us to God in spite of life’s ugliness.

v Which is exactly what Mary subtly points out in the last two verses. ,

“⁵⁴He has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful⁵⁵to Abraham and his descendants for ever, just as he promised our ancestors.”

Besides pointing out the need for faith & how much God loves us…

v …Mary’s song also reveals that she’s aware of God’s role in day-to-day life…

• Ø  …as well as the broader scope of history.

v And what that meant for both her and the people of her time…

• Ø  …along with everyone after them.

v That’s because just like the Old Testament prophets…

• Ø  …Mary understood the tension between God making the promise…
• Ø  …and our having to wait for that place in time when He chooses to honor it.

That’s one of the reasons Mary was so full of joy…

v …because she knew God was honoring all the promises made…

• Ø  …to Noah, Abraham, David, and Moses…as well as the prophet Jeremiah.

v Listen to what God told him,

“’³¹The days are coming,’ declares the Lord, ‘when I will make a new covenant
with the people of Israel
and with the people of Judah.  ³²It will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors
when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt,
because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them,’ declares the Lord.’”

“’³³This is the covenant that I will make with the people of Israel after that time,’ declares the Lord.
‘I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts.
I will be their God, and they will be my people. ³⁴No longer will they teach their neighbor, or say to one another, “Know the Lord,”
because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,’
declares the Lord.
‘For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.’”

(Jeremiah 31:31-34)

Before anyone else on earth did…Mary got to see that come true…and to hear the Gospel.

v And the unimaginable and eternal importance…

• Ø  …of all those Old Testament prophecies welled up inside of her…
• Ø  …and made it impossible to contain her excitement.

v At that moment…before any Pharisee or Sadducee had a clue about this…

• Ø  …a Palestinian teenager knew that Satan’s absolute hold on the world was over…
• Ø  …and nothing was going to come between God and His children any longer.

Conclusion

So why is all of this important for us two days before Christmas?

v Two days before we get together with friends & family to open presents and have dinner.

v Think about it for minute.

• Ø  While everyone else in the world is out buying things…
• Ø  …and making final preparations for everything that will happen on Tuesday…
• Ø  …you got to hear the Gospel…and before anyone else did…just like Mary.

v But that also means…you get to spend the next two days…

• Ø  …dealing with the tension between experiencing the “holly jolly”…
• Ø  …and what Christmas is really about.

  The question is, what are you going to do about it?

• Ø  Are you going to keep the news to yourself?
• Ø  Or are you going to let the reality of Christmas overwhelm you…
• Ø  …so that just like Mary…you excitedly tell the world,

 “My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed, for the Mighty One has done great things for me –
holy is his name.”

v Let us pray.

Prayer

Heavenly Father – your word is a witness to the truth of the Gospel and an amazingly rich food that nourishes our souls and strengthens our faith…But beyond that it is also a testimony to the mercy & grace we experience in our lives each and every day…As Christmas draws closer, send your Holy Spirit to soften our hearts and to grasp the timeless importance of that…and then like Mary, to openly declare to the world the blessing of salvation and redemption we have in Christ.

We ask all this in Jesus’ precious name, amen.

Terry Burns is a PCA minister and member of the Presbytery of the Blue Ridge. He is ministering WAY out-of-bounds as the Pastor of the independent Nicosia Community Church in Cyprus. He writes an occasional “Dispatch from Cyprus’ for the folks back home which appears here on The Aquila Report. Email him at [email protected]