Today is the second Sunday of Advent
The whole reason for the Advent was to initiate the new covenant and to save the lost.
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[This next segment is a promo for an upcoming Christmas Dinner Drama]
But before we get into the story of the Advent let’s take a look at
1 Corinthians 9:19-22
“Though I am free and belong to no one, I have made myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews.
“To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law.
“To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law.
“To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some.”
That’s the same reason for the upcoming drama.
The purpose of this dinner drama is not for our own benefit.
It’s not because we were bored and looking for something else to do.
It’s not because we think we are great actors.
Here is why were putting this dinner drama on.
Every born again believer in this church knows people who are not born again. People who are, at this very moment, in grave danger of an eternity without Jesus, lost in outer darkness.
Many of these people will not come to a church service.
Perhaps, just perhaps, one of them would come to a dinner drama where they could see the story of Christ coming into the world.
Perhaps they would understand the message of salvation given at the end of the drama.
Perhaps they might take one step closer to faith in Christ.
You may not like dramas in church.
You may say we never did this in the past.
You may have some reason or other for not wanting to participate but my question to you is this; are you willing to do whatever it takes so that, like Paul you can say, “I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some.”
Will you ever get a chance to invite that unsaved person to an event like this again?
Please make this a matter of urgent prayer and ask the Lord to guide you to the person He would have you to ask and then ask them to come with you.
[End of Promo segment]
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Now, as we spoke about before, today is the second Sunday of Advent and the whole reason for the Advent was to save the lost.
You won’t believe some of the things people who claim to be Biblical scholars say about the birth of Jesus. One of the most amazing “facts” I came across this week was the “fact” that Jesus most likely was NOT born in a stable or cave that housed animals. The reasoning was that the Scriptures only say that Jesus was placed in a manger after being born and was found there by the shepherds. Now, I ask you, where else would a person find a manger but in a stable or barn or some other equivalent place where animals are kept? This guy thought that He was probably born in the home of a relative and apparently taken out to the stable to sleep. Makes you wonder doesn’t it?
This is exactly why we confine our “facts” to what is in the Bible and not on what we think or imagine.
Anyway, let’s take a look at the Scripture for today …
Luke 1:26-38
“In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary.
“The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.” Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be.
“But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. You will conceive and give birth to a Son, and you are to call him Jesus. 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, and He will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; His kingdom will never end.”
“‘How will this be,’ Mary asked the angel, ‘since I am a virgin?’ 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 the Son of God.’
“‘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. For no word from God will ever fail.’
“‘I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.’ Then the angel left her.”
Wow! What a story! What a shock! What a plan!
So, let’s backtrack and take another look at the first two verses of this passage:
“In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary.” - Luke 1:26-27
Here is the beginning of an amazing encounter. An encounter which will eventually result in the implementation of the new covenant between God and man.
First we see that God initiates the action at a predetermined, specific time - in the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy.
We tend to think of this passage being about Mary and her encounter with Gabriel but it’s actually about God the Father initiating a plan to send God the Son into the world in human form. He, God the Father, initiating the action and He, God the Incarnate Son, is the result of the action.
I don’t mean to minimalize the actions and contributions made in this passage by Gabriel and Mary but this whole event is about God the Son becoming the Son of God, meaning Jesus the God-man.
This is the proper hierarchy within the Bible. It is all about God. It is all about God’s plan to save a helpless, un-self-savable race of created beings.
We must always be on guard to protect this truth!
Whenever you see God working through someone in the Bible it is an amazing event, but, when that person starts to think that it is all about them and not about God, you can be sure that disaster is close at hand.
Here we see God directing Gabriel to deliver a message to Mary.
Now, angels are only created beings. Yes, they are powerful by our standards but they live only to serve God.
As Gabriel said to Zechariah when Zechariah doubted the message sent to him by God, he replied, “I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news.”
But, angels are not to be worshiped or praised or exalted.
And, Mary was only a created being. Yes, she was a righteous person to be sure and yes, she had lived a sexually pure life and yes, she was obedient to the message given to her, but, she is not to be worshiped or venerated.
It is when we get the order of importance mixed up and the story becomes about the person and not about God that we come up with doctrines or dogmas that are full of error such as Mary being a source of grace, or Mary being a mediator between God and man, or that Mary lived a celibate, sinless life, or that Mary ascended into heaven like Christ after the resurrection.
We do not embrace these beliefs because none of these beliefs have any basis whatsoever in the Bible and they only serve to cloud the great truths of preeminence of God and the singularity of the work of God alone in our salvation.
This is what happens when we see any other being beside God Himself as the epicenter of the great truths in the Bible.
“To God be the glory, great things He hath done, so loved He the world that He gave us His Son!”
Let’s try to see what this means to us …
In a very generalized sense we in the western culture consciously or subconsciously believe ourselves to be the center of the universe. The world is here to please me. In the 1980’s the phrase was “looking out for number one …” meaning me. I’m number one!
For instance if someone cuts you off in traffic they are usually treated to a horn honk and some descriptive words indicating your assessment of their IQ or even worse.
However, if you cut someone off in traffic and they honk at you and make hand gestures you might make a comment like, “Man, they need to relax” or, “They need to get a life.”
The difference is that it’s you being cut off in the first instance and it’s you cutting them off in the second. All a matter of perspective.
With that in mind we seem to take on an attitude of Mary being the center of this event.
Do you remember last week when part of our Scripture was from Galatians 4:4 and it said, “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son ….”
What was that fullness of time?
You see, if we were to make Mary the object of the Scripture from Luke 1 that would mean that God the Father had to wait around for Mary to be born and for her to mature so that he could send God the Son into humanity through her specifically.
But, is that reality? Is that really what God the Father was waiting for?
This is exactly the kind of confusion we run into when we replace God as the center of truth with any lesser being whether angelic or human.
This is also the same problem we run into in all of life when we make anyone or anything the highest object of our affections and trust.
You see, the thrust of this entire passage from verse 26 through verse 38 is God and God alone initiating His incredible plan of salvation! The focus is and should always be God and God alone!
Steve Green said it this way in one of his songs,
“God and God alone is fit to take the universe's throne
Let everything that lives reserve it's truest praise
for God and God alone.”
Let’s watch this video of Steve Green singing this Song
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXv5VVCizMQ
embedded into PPT slide
Let’ us pray
1Timothy 1:17
“Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen.”
