cMary Sermon – Mary Worship vs Mary’s worship
Good
morning, Calvary. It’s great to be here
with you once again, opening the Word. I
feel a bit like John the Baptist today….I get to help kick off the Advent
season & “prepare the way for the coming of the Lord” though our sermon
series much like John the Baptist did for the beginning of our Lord’s earthly
ministry. So that’s pretty exciting…Now,
if you will, let’s open up to Luke 1 & we’ll read about the precious &
miraculous gift given to Mary & Mankind, pray & dig in to our passage
together, we’ll be reading all of Luke 1: 26-56.
Birth of Jesus Foretold
26 In the sixth month the angel
Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, 27 to
a virgin (who was legally pledged to be married) 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 (meaning Yahweh Saves). 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 (even) 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.
Mary Visits Elizabeth
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.”
Mary's Song of Praise
46 And this caused Mary to say,
“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;
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.”
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 Elizabeth
about three months and returned to her home.
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Opening Prayer –
Let’s pray……Lord Almighty & Friend to
Sinners. Your understanding is
unsearchable & infinite, Your arm cannot be stayed, Your agency & power
extends through limitless space, & all works hang on Your care, & with
You time is an ever present now!
Holy is Your wisdom, power, mercy &
ways. How can we stand before You
with our numerous sins & aggravated offences? We have often loved darkness instead of light,
observed vanities, forsaken Your mercies, trampled underfoot the thought of
Your Son, mocked Your providences, & merely flattered You with our lips,
while breaking Your covenant, just as Israel was so oft to do.
Let us see today into Your secret ways, let
us recognize Your plan of mercy in our passage, Your way of salvation for
sinners in your Son, Your work carried out through the means of humble servants
willing to be used by You & may we be likewise willing, graced, called to
do some service for Your namesake; let us find contentment & fulfillment in
that service. And all of God’s people said, “Amen”.
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Body –
When
coming to our passage & the whole Advent season there is one word that can
describe it, it’s a theological word called the Incarnation. Incarnation is a Latin word meaning, “the act
of being made flesh.” Occasionally I
talk to people to whom theological terms are too….high-brow let’s say or boring
maybe & to them I say, hey you like chili right? And being a intelligent human being they will say,
well of course, I like chili, I have a heart beat ergo I like chili & so I
say well then you know as a chili fan there is 2 basic kinds of chili one is
the kind with just beans called “pointless chili”….& the other is called
“Chili Con Carne” which means….?
(Pause) Chili with meat,
correct. So basically the term Incarnation
is Deus con carne, or God + meat = Jesus, or more eloquently as John
puts it in John 1 “The Logos (the divine Word of God) was made flesh & dwelt
among us.”
And I began to think of what important themes
come up around this idea of the Incarnation.
Or as the Church Father Anselm once pondered, “Cur Deus Homo, or Why the
God-Man?” And we could spend weeks if
not months on just this facet of doctrine as it relates to Redemption & fixing
the rift created by Mankind’s treason against God in the Garden. Or Substitution
& how Jesus becomes the epitome of Israel taking their place & obeys
where Israel never did or how Jesus fulfills 1000s of years of an entire animal
sacrifice system by becoming the Shepherd of God’s sheep, the High Priest that
offers up the sacrifice & the spotless Sacrificial Lamb bears its
people’s sins, all of this & more is addressed in the Incarnation.
But where we start today is after 100s of
years of silence between God & His people, between the end of the OT &
the coming of the NT, before even the births of Jesus or John the Baptist we
have God at work slowly setting up the pieces on the chessboard of history ready
to make his move….a sort of checkmate against sin & Satan, a “King’s
Gambit” (an opening chess move) you might say of grace & mercy against both
of the enemies of the gospel not only lawless craven immorality but also
its counter-part moralism & self-righteousness.
And here today we find a young lady probably
somewhere in the vicinity of Emma Albert’s age (a girl really) whose trust in her
God & worshipful service shine out like beacons and examples even to us
some 2000 years later.
So what I’d like to do today is take a look with
you at this Hymn of Mary called the Magnificat. But first, we’ll briefly touch
on both the Angelic Annunciation & the Confirmation by the Holy Spirit
through Elizabeth for some setting & context & as we delve into the
Hymn of Mary. I want us to see how Mary
views God, how God works in the world, how she shapes this prayer of praise
& how she views herself in light of God & finally tying into the title
of this sermon we’ll look at a contrast between Mary Worship & Mary’s
Worship; as we look into this great chapter in Luke 1 that launches the story
of the coming of Christ, the Savior of the world.
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1st off what is the importance of
the Angelic Annunciation to Mary? It’s to
tell Mary of what God is doing, His salvific rescue plan & how she’ll be a
part.
“This day is the beginning of
our salvation, and the revelation of the eternal mystery! The Son of
God becomes the Son of the Virgin as Gabriel announces the coming of Grace
[personified]. Together
with him let us cry to the God-bearer. ‘Rejoice, O
Full of Grace one, the Lord is with you!’”
The annunciation story is a story
of singular beauty and wonder, yet its the setting that was a shock to
first-century Jews -- that the angel Gabriel would have ignored Judea, the
heartland of God's work through the centuries, and go instead to the region of
Galilee, a land of contempt because of its religious impurity. Even
more, that the angel would bypass the majestic city of Jerusalem for the lowly
village of Nazareth. Nazareth was basically a
"non-place" -- not even mentioned in the Old Testament. Nazareth was shoddy, a corrupt half-stop
between the port cities of Tyre and Sidon, overrun by Gentiles and Roman
soldiers. Nathaniel, Jesus' disciple, even exclaimed, "Can anything good come out of
Nazareth?" (John 1). Everybody knew Nazareth wasn't much.
And in the world's eyes, Mary
surely wasn't much either. She was too
young to have accomplished anything – scholars often guess around 13 years old,
a poor peasant girl in a no-place village. Yet it’s right to call her blessed…. Mary was the only woman out of
all the billions ever to live on our planet who was chosen to carry and nurse
God's Son. For that we must call her
"blessed." The Savior would come from her womb. The Savior’s face
could be seen in her features.
The impact of this Annunciation must
have been staggering. The child would be
God's own Son & Gabriel was telling Mary that she would mother the long-awaited
Messiah. And without a doubt Mary understood!
Gabriel was reciting messianic prophecy called the "Davidic Covenant"
-- the same prophetic words Mary and every devout Jew of the day had
heard time and again in the synagogue readings and longed to see fulfilled. God's answer to Mary’s question of how this
can be possible beautifully parallels the experience of all of us who have come
to be as John says born again or born from above, by the
miraculous, life-giving work of the Holy Spirit come upon them, transforming
them and bestowing life within them; Monergistically (without the aid of
Man).
Mary, of course, knew instinctively
that her story would be questioned, and indeed even Joseph himself doubted. She knew of the death penalty prescribed for
adultery in ancient Israel. But despite
these daunting realities, Mary's ringing response was, "Behold, I am the
servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your Word." Mary's
submission to her God was total and absolute. She was just a
young woman—a girl, really—but she reacted with the grace, wisdom, and
spiritual maturity of a seasoned saint. Mary
is a great reminder to us about willing obedience in light of God’s Word.
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Secondly why send Mary to Elizabeth? Confirmation of Angelic prophesy…..
Luke begins his gospel record with the story of two
conception miracles, two women who by all human standards shouldn’t have children.
The virgin Mary of course & Elizabeth, older & barren, past childbearing
years, and yet with her husband Zacharias conceived and carried in her womb the
great prophet, John the Baptist, the forerunner of the Messiah. Two
people, who became pregnant by the power of the Holy Spirit, the power of God creating
life in her womb.
They have both been chosen by God to be the human
instruments for the birth of two very important men: John the Baptist and Jesus.
And at this point God has injected
Himself miraculously into the otherwise non-miraculous course of history.
As I told you before, God hadn’t spoke in over 400 years. There hadn't been a
series of miracles in at least 500 years. Miracles simply didn't happen
anymore. God didn't speak. Angels didn't show up…until now. And it all begins with
these two amazing conceptions.
If you stop and think about it you can begin to
understand why Mary wanted to go and meet with Elizabeth as soon as she
could. I mean she had just been told something that was absolutely
humanly impossible, that she was going to be the mother of the Messiah.
She was going to be the mother of the Son of God. And all of this would
happen without a man's involvement. It would all be done by God; this
was... unimaginable.
Mary,
filled with joy, hurried to the hill country to visit her relative, Elizabeth. There’s no suggestion that Mary was fleeing
the shame of her pregnancy. It seems she
simply wanted a kindred spirit to share her pregnancy with. The angel had explicitly informed Mary about
Elizabeth’s pregnancy. So it was natural
for her to seek out a close relative who was both a strong believer and also
expecting her own son by a miraculous conception, announced by an angel (Luke 1:13–17). It was a perfect situation for the two women
to spend time rejoicing together in the Lord’s goodness to both of them.
Elizabeth’s
immediate response to the sound of Mary’s voice gave Mary independent
confirmation of all that the angel had told her; a way of testing the
spirits you could say.
Elizabeth’s
message was prophetic and Mary instantly understood that. Mary had learned from the angel about
Elizabeth’s pregnancy. However nothing
indicates that Mary had sent word of her own pregnancy ahead to Elizabeth. Indeed, Mary’s sudden arrival had all the
hallmarks of a surprise & Elizabeth’s knowledge of Mary’s pregnancy
therefore seems to have come to her by Divine revelation—in the prophecy she
uttered when the Holy Spirit suddenly filled her. Mary is
a great reminder to us about faith in the power, providence & provision of
God.
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Mary’s
Psalm of Praise
At
this Mary replied with prophetic words of her own. Her saying is known as the Magnificat
(Latin for the first word of Mary’s outpouring of praise). It is really a hymn about the Incarnation. Without question, it is a song of unspeakable
joy and a magnificent psalm of worship. It is the equal of any Old Testament
psalm. It is filled with messianic hope,
scriptural references & the language of the Abrahamic covenant. It’s clear that Mary’s young heart and mind
were already thoroughly saturated with the Word of God. She included not only echoes of two of
Hannah’s prayers (from 1 Samuel), but also several other allusions to the Law,
the Psalms, and the Prophets. Mary is a great reminder to us to be as
thoroughly saturated with scripture as her prayer was.
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Today we’ll look briefly at what she
says in her prayer. First, there is Mary's expression of what she feels in
her heart (verses 46 and 47), namely, joy. Second,
she mentions what God has done specifically for her as an individual (verses 48
and 49): that He undeservedly did great
things for her, and thus gave her an enduring reputation for being blessed. Third,
she spends most of the time describing the way God is in general (vs. 50-55). Its this general characterization of God that accounts
for why he has treated her the way he has in her humbleness and thus
leads her to rejoice and magnify the Lord.
We'll look at these three sections in reverse
order.
A Holy God Helps the Lowly
In the second half of verse 49 Mary makes the
general statement that God is holy. Meaning he is separate from and exalted above
the world. All his attributes are
perfect, and they unify in a perfect harmony called holiness.
But what Mary stresses is the way His holiness
expresses itself. Luke & Mary are
want to say, don’t 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; just the opposite. God often exalts
the humble and humbles the proud.
Look to the Words Calvary! What fills Mary's heart with joy is that God
loves to undertake for the underdog who calls on his mercy. She mentions this three times: verse 50,
"He has mercy on those who fear him"; verse 52, "He has exalted
those of low degree"; verse 53, "He has filled the hungry with good
things." That's one side of God's holiness. The other side is that God humbles the proud. Mary mentions this three times also: verse 51,
"He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts";
verse 52, "He has put down the mighty from their thrones"; verse 53,
"The rich he has sent away empty."
God is not partial to the rich, the
powerful, or the proud. How could God be partial to the things, which in our
world are sooo often substitutes for God rather than pointers to Him? So Mary's Magnificat is not just recorded out
mere historicity. There is a word of warning and message of salvation here. Luke is saying Theophilus/friends, look at
what God is really like. He is not the least impressed by any of your pride,
power, or opulence. He has mercy on
those who fear him, who humble themselves and turn to Him. This is the way God is; therefore you must
humble yourself like Mary. There
should be great fear in strutting like a peacock before a Holy God, but
fearlessness in humble repentance & faith.
A Holy God Blesses Mary
Now we move back to the second section, verses
48–49a. Here Mary simply sees in her own
experiences an example of the way God is. God does a great thing for her: he makes her
the mother of God! It is such a singular
and unimaginable blessing that all generations from that time on have
acknowledged Mary's blessedness.
Many
today do grave insult to Mary & her God when in error we venerate
her instead of her Lord. Those who
channel their religious energies into the veneration of Mary would do well to
learn from the example of Mary herself. God is the only one she
magnified. Notice how she praised the
glory and majesty of God while repeatedly acknowledging her own lowliness. She took no credit for anything good in
herself. But she praised the Lord for
His attributes, naming some of the chief ones specifically, including His
power, His mercy, and His holiness. She
freely confessed God as the one who had done a great thing for her, and not
vice versa. This song of Mary is all
about God’s greatness, His glory, the strength of His arm, and His
faithfulness across the generations to bring about the Messiah, the Savior.
And
while Marian worship is of the devil himself as it twists glory due God
& focuses it on a creature, Mary’s worship by contrast was clearly
from the Holy Spirit. She was plainly
consumed by the wonder of His grace to her. She seemed amazed that an absolutely holy God
would do such great things for undeserving her. This was not the prayer of one who claimed to
be conceived immaculately, without the corruption of original sin. It was, on the contrary, its the glad
rejoicing of one who knew God intimately as her own personal Savior. She could celebrate the fact that God’s mercy
is on those who fear Him, because she herself feared God and had
received this Saving mercy. And she
knew firsthand how God exalts the lowly and fills the hungry with good things,
because she herself was a humble sinner who had hungered and thirsted after
righteousness, and was thus filled by God.
A holy heart exalts a Holy God
Finally back to the first
section – And here
let’s not let the excesses of the Catholic tradition keep us from sharing the in
the admiration for Mary that Luke sooo obviously had. Her spiritual beauty reaches its emotional
peak in the very first part of her song where she responds from the heart to
all God has done for her, "My soul magnifies the Lord, and my
spirit rejoices in God my Savior."
How does a soul magnify God? A mouth magnifies God by saying,
"God is magnificent," by speaking his praises. But no one hears a soul. No one but you and God alone. I think her soul
feels yearns after the greatness and holiness and mercy of God her heart
cries out in worship. And the feeling is
primarily one of joy. "My spirit
rejoices in God!" This is good news
to learn that we magnify God by rejoicing in him. It's good news because we are commanded
to glorify or magnify God (1 Corinthians 10:33; Romans 1:20f.), and this command could be
a terrible burden if we weren't told that the only way to fulfill it is to
relax and be happy & satiated in the mercy of God. That is what magnifies God the most; to
completely rely on & to trust in him & him alone.
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Closing application – What is Mary’s Legacy?
Mary
herself never claimed or pretended to be anything more than a humble handmaiden
of the Lord. She was
extraordinary because God used her in an extraordinary way. She clearly thought of herself as perfectly
ordinary. She is portrayed in Scripture only
as an instrument whom God used in the fulfillment of His plan. She herself never made any pretense of being
an administrator of a divine agenda, and she never gave anyone any
encouragement to regard her as a mediatrix
in the dispensing divine graces. The
perspective reflected in Mary’s Magnificat is the same simple spirit of
humility that colored all her life and character.
It is
truly regrettable that religious superstition has in effect turned Mary into
the thing she’d hate, an idol. She
is certainly a worthy woman to emulate, but Mary herself would undoubtedly be
appalled to think anyone would pray to her, venerate images of
her, or burn candles in effigy to her. Her life and her testimony point us
consistently to her Son & to her Lord. He was the object of her worship. He was the one she recognized. He
was the one she trusted for everything. Mary’s
own example, seen in the pure light of Scripture, teaches us to do the same.
She teaches us to rely on the mercies of God, to be a humble, a willing
servant. To be a deacon or deaconess, if
you will, of His agenda & not our own, to be worshipful & faithful.
Finally
before we close we’ve made a lot of parallels between the passages of Luke
& John & I’d like to wrap up by closing on the purpose of both from
John 20:31 – What’s is written (including this Incarnation miracle) is so that
you may believe Jesus is more than just a good man, a great leader, a spiritual
guru. He is the Christ, the Son of God
& that by believing in Him you to can be born a new & have new life in
His name.
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Closing prayer –
Let’s pray……God, You have given us a
fixed disposition to go forth and spend our lives for you;
If it be Your will, let us proceed in this task; if not, then revoke our own intentions. All we should want in life is such circumstances as may best enable us to serve You in the world;
To this end leave all our concerns in Your hand, but let us not be discouraged, for this hinders our spiritual fervency; enable us to undertake some task for You, for this refreshes and animates a Christians’ souls, so that we could endure all hardships and labors, and willingly suffer if need be for Your name.
If it be Your will, let us proceed in this task; if not, then revoke our own intentions. All we should want in life is such circumstances as may best enable us to serve You in the world;
To this end leave all our concerns in Your hand, but let us not be discouraged, for this hinders our spiritual fervency; enable us to undertake some task for You, for this refreshes and animates a Christians’ souls, so that we could endure all hardships and labors, and willingly suffer if need be for Your name.
Lord, you have shown us a picture of Love
in your revealed Word today, a model of willing obedience, faithfulness & worship.
Let us be as Mary was willing….to face
any obstacle, to be found praising God, to be given grace and divine favor; to
be used by You, for Your plan & in your work of Salvation. Let us look forward to finally look upon the
face of our Lord, as an expectant mother longs to one-day look on the face of
her newborn child. Let us find
motivation in Mary, an example in Elizabeth, zeal in Zachariah & trust
solely in Jesus for our own justification.
AMEN.
c
