Last week we looked at keeping the faith in the midst of disappointments and difficult circumstances, when it seems like God is far away. This past Monday my devotions took me to Psalm 77, which was written by a man, Asaph (one of several music leaders whose job it was to sing before the Lord in the tabernacle (1 Chr. 6:31-33)). It is obvious he was going through a very difficult time. He searched for the Lord and prayed, but still his situation didn’t change. He was so distressed he couldn’t sleep at night and he began to wonder about God, listen to these verses, 7 Has the Lord rejected me forever? Will he never again show me favor? 8 Is his unfailing love gone forever? Have his promises permanently failed? 9 Has God forgotten to be kind? Has he slammed the door on his compassion? This was a man obviously dealing with disappointment and unanswered prayer, God’s seeming failure to act on his behalf, all the things we talked about last week. But then about halfway through the Psalm he shifts gears from focusing on himself and his problems to reflecting on God and remembering what God had done in the past, his miracles, his displays of power, how God had saved his people. It just reinforced for me that when we face disappointments and our faith is challenged, we need to remember God’s mighty work on behalf of his people.
That’s what the Christmas story does for us. It helps us get the attention off of our problems, our disappointments, and refreshes our faith giving us hope as we remember what God has done. God hasn’t forgotten us, he remembers, he hears our prayers, and he will respond in his perfect timing, just as he answered the decades of prayers of Zechariah and Elizabeth for a child when they were in their old age. The Christmas story reminds us of God’s amazing love, a love so great he sent his one and only Son to earth, to be just like one of us, to save us from our sins as the angel Gabriel said. No, God has not forgotten us no matter what the circumstances seem like, he is working his perfect plan on his own timetable. We need to keep the faith because faith is what it’s all about.
These two Christmas stories about the angel Gabriel’s visitation to Zechariah and Mary remind us how important faith is to God, that God blesses or rewards those who remain faithful. Zechariah and Elizabeth trusted in faith that God would answer their prayer for a child. Even as the decades went by without an answer, and they grew old, they continued to believe, God finally rewarded and blessed them for their faithfulness with the pregnancy of John. Here in today’s story we can see glimpses of why God’s favor rested upon Mary, even though she was a young lady, perhaps only 13, 14, or 15 she was chosen by God to give birth to and raise the Messiah, the Son of God, the Savior of the world. Why would God choose her among the hundreds and thousands of other potential girls? I believe it was because of her faith. Even though she was poor, and lived in a remote village, God chose her because she demonstrated great faith.
1. Faith Is...
A. Believing that What God Says Will Happen Even Without Having All the Details
Perhaps it would be helpful to ask what is faith first? The Bible defines it for us in the book of Hebrews (NLT):
NRS Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. 2 Indeed, by faith our ancestors received approval.
We believe even though we do not have all the evidence in. When the angel Gabriel visited Mary and told her she would bear a son, who would be named Jesus (the Lord saves), he would be the Son of the Most High, and receive the throne of his father David and reign over the house of Jacob (Israel) forever, and his kingdom would never end. She had two responses. Her first response was a question, "how will this be, since I am a virgin?" That’s a valid question, the angel is telling her God is going to do something which is physically impossible. First, having a child without having been with Joseph or any other man yet, she was a virgin. And second, having the Son of God. How could a human woman bear God’s Son, a divine being? Impossible. Yet rather than punish her for questioning like he did for Zechariah. Gabriel answered her question. He told her that the Holy Spirit would come upon her and the power of the Most High would overshadow her. I’m a details kind of guy, and there’s not a whole lot of detail here. Gabriel didn’t spell out every detail he told Mary enough to make a decision. Mary’s second response was her step of faith, she said, "I am the Lord’s servant, may it be to me as you have said." Even though it was physically impossible, Mary believed that what God said would happen even though she didn’t have all the details and wouldn’t see the results for a while.
People say, "I can’t accept the virgin birth or the resurrection of Jesus." Why is that? "Because it’s impossible." Isn’t that the point, that God would do something miraculous, something so extraordinary that it would require faith? To which people respond, "that’s too far of a jump, I can’t step out in blind faith." No, it’s not blind faith, blind faith means there is no evidence which to base your belief. The faith we have is based on eye witness testimony. Which is why Luke starts his gospel account saying:
NIV Luke 1:1 Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us, 2 just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word. 3 Therefore, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, it seemed good also to me to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus,
Luke’s saying everything they’ve heard was from eyewitnesses, people who saw and heard for themselves, and he decided to investigate the truth for himself. He interviewed people himself and recorded his findings. Tradition tells us he interviewed Mary herself for his account. Faith is believing that what God said and did which was recorded by eye witness testimony is true. It is believing even though we did not see it for ourselves. When Mary went to visit her relative Elizabeth, who herself was pregnant with John (the Baptizer), the Holy Spirit came upon Elizabeth and even though she didn’t know Mary was pregnant she prophesied to Mary:
NIV Luke 1:45 Blessed is she who has believed that what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished!"
That is Faith! Believing that what the Lord has said will be accomplished, or that the Lord will do what he said he would do. That is the kind of faith God blesses or rewards. Jesus said the same thing to his disciple Thomas, after he was resurrected, you probably remember the story. Thomas wouldn’t believe Jesus rose from the dead until he touched his nail scarred hands and feet for himself. Yet once he did see Jesus and believed, Jesus responded.
NIV John 20:29, "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."
God’s blessing, his favor, his approval is upon those who have faith. "And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him."
People like Mary who were sure and certain of God’s promise even if they did not see evidence of it yet. Notice it says it is impossible to please God without faith. God continues to give his favor to those who have faith and trust in God’s promises today.
God gives us many promises in Scripture and they require faith:
NIV John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
Do you believe God loves you and sent his Son to give you eternal life?
Rom 10:9 That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.
Do you believe God raised Jesus from the dead and will one raise your soul to be with him?
NLT Romans 3:24 Yet now God in his gracious kindness declares us not guilty. He has done this through Christ Jesus, who has freed us by taking away our sins. 25 For God sent Jesus to take the punishment for our sins and to satisfy God’s anger against us. We are made right with God when we believe that Jesus shed his blood, sacrificing his life for us.
Do you believe Jesus shed his blood to take away your sins. That you are declared "not guilty"?
NIV Romans 8:28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
Do you believe God is working everything in your life for your good if you love him and follow his calling, even when things in your life at the moment seem to be going in the wrong direction, even when your prayers don’t seem to be answered?
Without faith it is impossible to please God. We must believe what God has said if we are to receive His promises.
B. Active -- Mary was willing to endure many things be a servant
But this story of Mary shows us that faith in God’s Word is more than just something we believe in our heart and mind is true. Faith impacts our whole life. Faith is active. Our actions should reflect what I believe. I must do things differently and behave differently because I believe that what God said is true.
I can believe that George Washington was the first president of the United States of America or that Abraham Lincoln wrote the Emancipation Proclamation (even though I wasn’t there), but this kind of faith probably doesn’t impact my life. It doesn’t make any demands upon me. Unfortunately we treat our faith in this way, if I believe in my head that something is true I have faith. To believe something is true in your head, and to act as though it is true are two different things, and yet faith incorporates both of these.
When the angel Gabriel told Mary she would miraculously bear a child from the Holy Spirit, not only did she believe it would happen, but she also adjusted her life with God’s. When Mary said "yes" to the angel, she was more than just believing it was true in her mind, she was willing to do whatever God wanted her to do, in this case she accepted the immense responsibility of bearing the Christ child and raising him in the ways of the Lord. Mary didn’t just believe the impossible could happen, she was willing to be the vessel through which God would accomplish his divine plan. I’m sure she didn’t understand everything it would entail, I’m sure Mary was scared, I’m sure Mary had her doubts about being able to do it, but she trusted that God would give her what she needed to make it possible.
Consider for a moment the ramifications of Mary’s response.
By her willingness to serve the Lord:
* Mary was trusting that her soon to be husband, Joseph, would believe her story of the visitation of an angel, and of a miraculous pregnancy which has never happened before in the history of the world. She was trusting that Joseph would not seek a divorce, forcing her to raise a child on her own in a society in which illegitimate children were looked up with particular disfavor, and not usually cared for. Or even worse, according to the OT Law, Joseph could have had Mary stoned to death at the city gates thus killing her and the Christ child within her, fortunately though Roman law forbade anyone to take justice in their own hands, rather the Romans were the only ones who could carry out a death sentence.
* Mary was willing to sacrifice her reputation, to be the gossip of the little town of Nazareth, thought to be less than 2,000 inhabitants some say as few as 300, because she was pregnant before marriage. It was a lose-lose situation because either she would have been ridiculed for being with Joseph during their engagement, or if Joseph divorced her, people would have accused her of adultery and compared her with a prostitute and shunned her, because it meant she had an affair during her betrothal to Joseph. Imagine the talk of the sleepy little town of Nazareth where everybody knew everybody.
No matter what way you slice it, it was going to be a rough road for Mary. Trusting God was going to cost her something, her reputation, possibly her spouse, and who knows what else. But she was willing to put her faith in action even if it meant being the shame of the community.
Does your faith cost you anything? Jesus once said, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me (Luke 9:23)."
I was once watching a special on the Niagara Falls. Back in the 1800’s there was a tightrope walker who decided he was going to stretch a tightrope over the falls and walk across. He was successful in his walk but soon it became routine and people lost interest so he decided to up the ante and try more difficult feats to get the attention of the crowds. On one occasion he took a wheelbarrow and pushed it across, once he was successful in that attempt he wanted to do something more impressive and so he asked someone in the crowd, do you believe I can go across this rope pushing a wheelbarrow with someone in it? To which the observer agreed, sure. So the tightrope walker invited the man to get in the wheelbarrow.
That’s the difference. Belief says ’yeah I’m sure you can push the wheelbarrow across.’ Faith says, ’I’ll get in the wheelbarrow.’ Belief says, ’I believe in Jesus.’ Faith says ’I’m going to love my God and other people." Am I living differently because of what I believe? Will I change my priorities so they are in line with God’s? Am I willing to allow God to change my character to be like his (honesty, integrity, not use bad language, )? Will I prioritize my time and money the way God wants me to? Will I love God and others by treating those around me like Jesus would including my spouse, my children, my coworkers, and neighbor? Being a willing servant may mean sacrifice. Are you willing to sacrifice your reputation because of your faith? In your work environment do you hide the fact that you are a Christian?
Our faith should affect our head, our heart, AND our hands. Our head, what we believe about God, about Jesus, about God’s promises and what is true. Our heart is the compassion and love we have toward God and others. Do we truly care about others, or do we only care about ourselves? Do we worship God? And our hands, what we do. How do we treat others? How do we provide for the needs of others? How do we give to God even when the economy looks tight?
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