I Am The Lord’s Servant! Luke 1:26-38
Introduction
My three year old Sebastian is often a little mimic. Christina and I have to be careful what we say to or in front of him because he will quickly adopt it as his own. Of late I have been trying, with marginal success, to teach Sebastian a little bit of Marine Corps Discipline. I have been teaching him to say “yes sir” when I tell him to do something that he needs to do. It usually goes something like this, “Sebastian clean up your toys.” To which he normally replies, “Umm, daddy, I don’t think so, I’m pretty busy.” Sebastian what do you say when I tell you what to do?” “Umm… I say, Yes Sir!” “Alright then Sebastian,” I reply, “Clean up your toys.” Usually the reply at this point is something on the order of, “No daddy, you do it!” After few tries he usually will comply, at least to some extent!
I’ve also been trying to teach Sebastian and Ephram a sense of urgency. I have begun telling them to do something right now, because now is the time to do it. “Ok boys, let put on our shoes so we can go to the store.” The reply from the eldest of the dynamic duo, “Umm… I don’t think so daddy, we busy!” “No, you guys come right now.” Well Sebastian has begun to use this technique on us.
Sebastian is going to see his grandma at the end of the month in Florida. The other day he packed up his suitcase and said that he was heading to his grandmother’s house on his bike. I suppose he had grown weary of his parents. I said, “Sebastian you are going to grandma’s house in a couple of weeks.” To this his stiffened up pointed at me just as I have a habit of doing when I tell him to do something right now, and said, “Daddy I’m going to grandma’s house right now!”
I wish I had never tried to initiate daddy boot camp because rather than teaching Sebastian and Ephram the “instant willingness obedience to orders” which was instilled in me as a young Marine, I have managed to create a 36 inch drill instructor who tells me when it is time to do something, right now!
Transition
This morning we will examine the life of Mary as it is recorded in the Bible. We will focus on applying that same present tense – active faith in our lives. She was a woman with a present-tense trust in God. When confronted with God’s will for her life, she answered simply, “I am the Lord’s servant.”
At least two great presidents paid tribute to their mothers. John Quincy Adams said, “All that I am, my mother made me.” Abraham Lincoln said, “No man is poor who had a godly mother.” Today is Mother’s Day. It is the day when we celebrate our own mother’s influence in our lives. It is the day when we celebrate our wives and daughters, friends, and all of the moms in our lives. As such it is entirely fitting to take a look at the one who bore Christ in her womb to learn from perhaps the most virtuous mother in the Bible; Mary, the mother of Jesus.
Her trust in God was not theoretical, it was not hypothetical; it was right here, right now. If you send me, Lord I will go. If you call me, Lord I will answer. If this is your will for me right now today God, then I am your servant. We will do this by looking at her having learned from the past, longed for the promised, and lived in the present.
Exposition (Based on “Present-Tense Christianity” Sermon outlines for growing Christians)
Learn from the Past. Hebrews 3:7-8 says, “So, as the Holy Spirit says: “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion, during the time of testing in the desert.” (NIV) All of us, came to Christ out of a “past.”
1. A past is a hard thing to shake. It is something you are always trying to live up to or to live down.
2. Some of us are proud of our pasts, but many of us are prisoners to them. The only proper way to deal with the past is to learn from it.
1. You can try to live in the past or you can try to run from the past; but you can never truly forget the past.
2. Since we cannot leave the past behind, perhaps at least we can learn from it. This is exactly what the author tells us to do. “You are your fathers’ sons,” he says, “but you do not need to repeat your fathers’ sins.”
In the case of Mary, she had been a virtuous woman. The angel sent by God told Mary, “You have found favor with God.” Mary looked to her past and rather than being filled with shame over poor choices she had made, though she was certainly not perfect or sinless, she was a virtuous person who honored God and obeyed His commands in her life.
It is important that we remember that the wise person is not he or she who makes no mistakes but him or her who learns from the past. We also see in Mary the importance of the reality that today we are shaping tomorrow’s past.
It is imperative that if we do not want to be slaves to tomorrow’s past, we must make godly choices today. Today is tomorrow’s past, the past is behind us, we are called to choose today, this day, whom we will serve. Present –tense faith, the faith that Mary lived out, is about living in this moment for God, and now in this moment, and now in this moment; choosing to trust the will of God, not the whims of man; choosing to trust in God’s plan and will for our life, not in our own!
II. Long for the Promised. Revelation 21:4 says, “He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” (NIV) Just as Mary looked forward to the birth of Jesus as she awaited the fulfillment of the promise of God, so too we look forward to the imminent return of our savior when the world shall be restored.
1. There is a sense in which Christianity is a religion of the “by-and-by.”
2. Nothing is more basic to biblical Christianity than what it hopes for hereafter.
3. The second-coming, heaven, hell, punishment, reward—all are major tenets of a faith that proclaim, “This world is not my home.”
4. Christians live their lives expectantly, awaiting the fulfillment of God’s promises.
1. “Hope” and “trust” are future-tense verbs. By them we anticipate the promises of God.
2. For the Christian the past is forgiven and the present empowered by what is to come.
3. According to our author our labor for the Lord will be consummated by a “Sabbath rest.” The career of faith has an end of finished work, fulfilled hope, and realized destiny.
Mary hoped not in hope, but in the Lord. Her trust did not lie in the belief that belief was enough to satisfy. Mary did not adhere to the modern concept that faith is in and of itself satisfactory or a wise philosophy. Mary knew that faith must have an object.
Her object was the God of the promise and her faith was lived out in the moment, in the present-tense.
Hers was not a faith of what God used to do; it was a faith of what God is doing! Too many of us have stories of what God did in our lives. What is HE doing now?
What is He bringing to pass in our lives that require us to have faith, to trust, not only for what He is happening today, but for what that will bring tomorrow? God is an active God; our faith must likewise be active! It matters not whether you are 2 or 102; 5 or 55; God has a plan and purpose for your life!
III. Live in the Present. Hebrews 3:14-15 says, “We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first. As has just been said: “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion.” (NIV) The imperative word in this passage is “today!”
A. Ours is a faith of the present tense, a “here-and-now” religion of what is.
1. It is about conviction and conduct, believing and behaving in response to God’s call.
2. Christianity is a process. There is a sense in which we are ever “becoming” Christian.
B. God is concerned about more than what we have done for Him. He is concerned about what we have done for Him lately.
1. “Today,” insists our author, “today, if you will hear his voice do not harden your hearts.”
2. Refusing to let us “rest on our laurels,” God continually confronts us with some moment of truth to which we must respond. In our response we demonstrate our faithfulness to Him.
Far too often we rest on the faithfulness and provision of God from the past. So many local churches are like mausoleums to what God 50 or 100 years ago did. We surround ourselves with dust collecting icons of the good old days. I prefer to think that these are the good old days that the next generation will say so much about. We are building tomorrows past, so why should live in the past?
Tomorrow’s victories are today’s dreams. Yesterday’s failures are yesterday’s concern. Our concern is for what God wants to do in our lives today!
Conclusion
John Quincy Adams is the only one of two Presidents ever to have served as part of Congress after his having served as President. He was a contemporary to the founding fathers and left a lasting legacy on our government and way of life. Adams was a staunch abolitionist at a time when that position was incredibly unpopular. While serving in the House of Representatives for 8 terms, a total of 17 years, he brought before the Congress every Monday a bill for a three part plan to end slavery. It was very unpopular. The other Congressmen tried to censure him, made a house rule against his bringing the petitions of abolitionists, and generally attempted to silence him. They were unable to silence Adams and he continued to fight to end slavery from 1831 until his death in 1848. Interviewed by a reporter years earlier who asked he was discouraged by his lack of progress in converting people to his anti-slavery views, he said, “No. Our task is to do what is right. The results are in God’s hands.”
Adam’s only served out half of his last term in the house and died from a stroke while serving in the Congress building. The couch where he lay as he passed from this life is still present in fact; it is in an antechamber parlor for congresswomen. While in office Adams befriended and some say even mentored a young representative who had ran for office unsuccessfully more than once and then been elected and only served one term in Congress. He shared his three part plan to end slavery with the young congressman who was there at his death. And though the young man was never elected again to congress, he was later elected president and implemented Adam’s three part plan to end slavery. It was Abraham Lincoln.
Indeed, our task is to do what is right; the results are in God’s hands. Today, be reminded and encouraged by the present-tense faith of Mary who, when faced with the will of God for her life, answered only, “I am the Lord’s servant. Let it be as you have said.” Amen.
