Peace Where There Is No Peace Series

PEACE WHERE THERE IS NO PEACE

LUKE 1:26–56

Introduction

Last week we began our series through the gospel of Luke by studying about the birth and life of John the Baptist - the Forerunner of Hope. Today we continue through Luke 1 and search out the theme of Peace. Which is strange - there is very little peace in this text. One young ladies life is disrupted in an eternal way! Life is interrupted in many different ways … death, disease, unhappy events, struggles within and with others. These anxiety producing events leave us struggling to find peace in a world that offers very little peace.

Mary’s world was interrupted with news we find thrilling and amazing, but it was life changing for her. She was expecting a baby, but not with her fiancé Joseph. She would be subject to gossip and criticism from the

community around her. She would have to accept the role she was given, to be the mother of the son of God! Parenting skills? Mary’s disposition of peace was present through all of the challenges of her life.

Read Luke 1:26-38 NIV

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. 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.” 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[a] 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.

We know very little about Mary, the mother of Jesus. Lottie Beth Hobbs wrote she, “holds a place apart from all other women of the world, a position never before known and one which will never again be filled. Who was the young woman selected by God to be the mother of the Messiah? ...Her parentage is not given. She was evidently of very humble station in life.” Likely around the age of fourteen, “as with all poor peasant girls, she was illiterate, her knowledge of the Scriptures being limited to what she had memorized at home and heard in the synagogue. From all indicators, her life would not be extraordinary…. The greatest news ever proclaimed in Israel came to the humblest of its people!” (Hughes). After ruminating over what Gabriel told her, she traveled to see Elizabeth. Instead of being full of doubt and anxiety, instead she expresses greatness of God, not panic!

1. We Find Peace in Praise (Luke 1:46-47)

Luke 1:46-47 And Mary said: "My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,"

How often do we turn to praise in difficult times? Craig Groeschel, in Winning the War in Your Mind, suggests that we begin to praise when our hearts are troubled… even if it is hard at first … or we struggle … but as we continue to offer praise, our hearts

begin to open to God.

Psalm 150:1-2 Praise the Lord. Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens. Praise him for his acts of power; praise him for his surpassing greatness.

Isaiah 57:18-19 I have seen their ways, but I will heal them; I will guide them and restore comfort to Israel’s mourners, creating praise on their lips. Peace, peace, to those far and near,” says the Lord. “And I will heal them.”

Mary joins others in the Scriptures who Praise the name of God in difficult times and finds peace.

2. We Find Peace in the Scriptures.

It is full of quotes from the Old Testament. Her song is made up of images and references to Scriptures from Genesis, from Job, from the Psalms, and from Isaiah. Mary’s song “draws heavily on and is patterned after the song of Hannah (1 Samuel 2:1-10).” Often we neglect to turn to the Scriptures when troubles come. Mary turns to them!