Mary’s Song
The Original Christmas Songs
Christmas Song Bumper
Good morning MGCC!!!
WELL - it’s that time of year, where we are forced to listen to Christmas music whether we want to or not.
AND - it’s not just in church or in Christian bookstores, no, it’s everywhere… Every restaurant and every store…not just on the radio stations. I MEAN – you just can’t get away from it.
IN FACT – this past Thursday I was sitting in the lobby of my Dr Office from 4:30-5:30 and I had the opportunity to hear a bunch of different…um, eclectic Christmas songs being played…
THERE WAS…
• Walking in the winter wonderland
• Rudolph the red nose reindeer
• O come all ye faithful
• Happy holidays
• Jingle bells
• Jingle bell rock
• Feliz Navidad
And I am not sure but I think I may have even heard that Christmas classic, “Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer.”
SO - there are all kinds of Christmas music out there…
THIS WEEK - I did a google search on the top ten Christmas songs… I found many lists here is one of them.
10 Must Be Santa (Mitch Miller)
9 Jingle Bell Rock (Bobby Healms)
8 Baby It’s Cold Outside (Dean Martin)
7 It’s The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year (A Williams)
6 I saw momma kissing Santa Claus (The Jackson Five)
5 Feliz Navidad (Jose Feliciano)
4 Let Is Snow (Frank Sinatra)
3 White Christmas (Bing Crosby)
2 Silent Night (The Temptations)
1 The Christmas Song (Nate King Cole)
Hey let’s play a little Nate King Cole here…
NOW – you may or may not agree with the list…
That’s why I thought we would create our own…
And share the results next week…
Top 3 Christmas Songs (secular)
Top 3 Christmas Songs (church)
Connection card, Facebook, email,
twitter #mgccxmassongs
Now some of you may be a little uneasy that I used the term ‘xmas.’
Understand…
X = is the first letter in Christ’s name in Greek… and it has been was used as an abbreviation for the word Christ for centuries…
Not just Xmas, but Xtian and Xtianity…
Bottom line – it is not a modern day plot to
YOU KNOW – this week as I was working on this conversation and reflecting on this season of the year, I started to wonder… WHAT IF – some aliens in a galaxy far-far away, picked up our radio signals in the month of December and heard all of our Christmas music. I WONDER – what they would conclude that Christmas is all about…
• Snow
• Sleigh bells
• Reindeer
• elfs
• Snowmen
• Chestnuts roasting on an open fire
• Jack frost nipping at your nose
• a head on collision between a grandma and reindeer
AND – as these aliens listen to the songs, if any particular person rose to the top and seemed to be the main character in this celebration, it would probably be a jolly guy in a red suit named Santa Claus or Saint Nick…
YES…
I THINK – that for the most part… they would have no clue as to the real meaning of Christmas…
NOW – please don’t misunderstand me… I am not saying those songs are wrong or that we should not sing them or enjoy them… BUT NEVERTHELESS – they are not the real , the deeper meaning of Christmas.
IN FACT – if the real Saint Nick was around today, and saw how little attention Christ was getting during this time of year…
I THINK – he might just punch somebody out.
YOU SEE – Saint Nicholas, aka Santa Claus… is based on a real man who lived around 300 AD…
• he was the bishop of Myra (Modern day Turkey)
• he came from a wealthy family and was known for helping the poor
• one story has Nicholas upon hearing of a father who because of extreme poverty was about to sell his three daughters into prostitution, throwing a few bags of coins into his window (or down the chimney as some traditions say) thereby saving these girls from a life of misery.
• When the Roman Emperor Diocletian amped up the persecution of Christians throughout the Empire, Nicholas was arrested, tortured and imprisoned for his faith
• He spent many years in prison and was released when The Roman Emperor Constantine ordered all persecutions of Christians to end and all those in prison to be set free…
• On his release, Nicholas began where he left off helping the less fortunate…
NOW - my favorite story about Saint Nick… is about how during the Council of Nicea in 325 AD… he got into a heated debate with a dude name Arius who was teaching the Jesus did not always exist but was rather a created being…
I MEAN - this debate got really heated but suddenly ended when Nicholas punched out Arius… right in front of the Emperor.
SO - when you think of Santa Claus, here's something to think about: think of
• a godly Christian man
• who kept sharing the good news about Christ even though it meant torture and prison
• a guy who cared for the hurting, providing (support and defense) for children, the weak, the poor and the helpless.
• Think of someone with an unparalleled passion for making sure people knew who Jesus really is… for pointing people not to himself, but to Him.
YEAH…
A persecuted, jailed, passionate gospel warrior, now that’s my kind of Santa….
NOW – interestingly during my research this week… I came across Saint Nicholas facebook profile picture…
OKAY… MGCC – now, that we have ‘the heretic punching’ Santa out of the way, let’s jump into our new series, that I am calling, ‘The Original Christmas Songs.’
YOU SEE – songs have been a part of Christmas from the very beginning… LUKE - records 4 of them in the first two chapters of his Gospel… AND WE – are going to look at one today, one next week, and one on Christmas Eve…
THIS MORNING – we will unpack ‘Mary’s Song.’
Prayer
NOW – there are 2 points in your notes this morning…
The ‘Writer’…. and ‘The Song.’
FIRST…
The Writer
QUESTION… have you ever found out something about the person who wrote a particular song… and instantly that song took on a deeper and more powerful meaning…
For example…
The Song, ‘Amazing Grace’ – is probably the most well known of all Christian songs…. I MEAN – who isn’t moved by it’s words…
BUT - it became even more powerful to me when I learned that it was written by a guy named John Newton, an x-slave trader who surrendered his life to Christ.
Amazing grace how sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me
I once was lost, but now I’m found
Was blind, but now I see
The Song, ‘It Is Well,’ – another powerful and moving song… THAT – took on an even deeper meaning to mean when I found out that it was written by a guy named
Horatio Spafford…
• A husband, a dad of 4 daughters
• A guy nearly lost everything in the great Chicago Fire of 1871
• A dad who he sent his wife and 4 daughters on a boat to Europe, to get away and get renewed
• The boat suffered a serious collision and his 4 little girls died
• This grieving dad, wrote the song, ‘it is well’ on a ship as he sailed across the Atlantic to be with his wife…
When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, Thou has taught me to say,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.
SO…
Let’s spend a little time getting to know Mary, before we unpack her song…
OKAY…
TURN IN - your bibles… or OPEN UP your bible app to Luke chapter 1 verse 26… (it will be on the screen as well)
In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a village in Galilee, to a virgin named Mary.
Nazareth was a small, insignificant town.
I MEAN GABRIEL - probably had to pull up Google Maps just to find it… IT - sat on about ten acres of land. There was a population of around three hundred people. About half of the population would’ve died at birth. The other half had a life expectancy of perhaps thirty something.
SO - you’ve got this small town—ten acres, three hundred people—insignificant, small, little town. Located in a country (Israel, that has been oppressed and occupied by foreign armies for centuries)… AND THAT’S - where Gabriel is sent.
She was engaged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of King David.
• NOW - in that time and culture a girl shortly after hitting her teen years would be engaged… (14 years old)
• And Mary is engaged to a guy named Joseph. A descendant of who? And why is that important?
• The engagement would last about one year and it was legally binding and could only be broken by death or divorce. YET sexual relations were not permitted until after the wedding.
UNDERSTAND - this is probably an exciting time for Mary…
She’s young. She’s a virgin. She’s engaged. AND SHE’S - looking forward to and planning her wedding day.
ANY - of you ladies ever been there, planning a wedding?
SO THAT’S - what Mary is thinking about… Counting the days until her wedding. All is fine. All is normal. All is well. UNTIL – Gabriel enters the picture with this remarkable, mind-blowing message.
Gabriel appeared to her and said, “Greetings, you are highly favored! The Lord is with you!”
Confused and disturbed, Mary tried to think what the angel could mean. “Don’t be afraid, Mary,” the angel told her, “for you have found favor with God!
You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be very great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David. And he will reign over Israel forever; his Kingdom will never end!” – Luke 1:26-33
Wow…
That is some crazy stuff for a 14 year old girl to hear. I MEAN – imagine being her.
NOW – did you notice that Gabriel made a point telling Mary, not once, but 2 times… Mary, you have found favor with God!
YOU KNOW - I think that’s a bit surprising, because if there are two words that would describe Mary from a human perspective, the words would not be “highly favored”… INSTEAD - the words would probably be more along the lines of “completely overlooked.”
BUT GOD (as He so often does) highly favors someone who the world would completely overlook.
(and God the Father, Son and The Spirit would say, ‘hey, that’s just how we roll…’)
SO – as we study Mary’s life, a question for us, I think, to consider is, “What was it about Mary that brought God’s favor? What was it that marked her life that invited God’s blessing?” BECAUSE - I know, like me, you have a deep desire to have God’s favor in your life.
I MEAN…
YOU WANT - to live the kind of life that God blesses.
YOU WANT - to have the kind of family that God blesses.
WE WANT – to be the kind of church that God blesses.
SO…
WHAT - was it about Mary that brought the favor of God?
NOW…
In my studies for this message, I came across an article in Forbes Magazine, (November of 2011) where they had their list of ‘The World’s Most Powerful People.’
YOU KNOW – the kind of list that usually makes us feel real good about ourselves…
CHECK OUT – the opening sentence of the article…
“There are seven billion people in the world. These are the seventy that matter.”
No I didn’t see your name (or my name) on that list…
AND WHEN - ranking the people who really matter in our world, there were four things that Forbes took into consideration.
1. How many people does the person have power over?
2. What financial resources do they control?
3. Does the person have influence in more than one arena or sphere?
4. How actively do the candidates wield their power?
SO THAT’S - the four criteria used in our culture… according to Forbes Magazine…to say, “Here’s who makes the list of the most powerful, the most influential people, the people who matter.”
QUESTION - if we take Forbes standards and put Mary up against them, how does she measure up?
I MEAN - because you would think that these would important things for God to consider, right?. I MEAN - after all, God, the Creator of the Universe…this is His one chance. He’s sending His Son to earth in the form of a baby (to save the entire world), so what’s He looking for?
Well, as far as power goes, Mary had none. She was not a person of influence. She held no political position. She was an authority over exactly zero people.
What about financial resources?
She was dirt poor.
I MEAN - Mary and Joseph were so poor that when they take Jesus to the temple to dedicate Him… The Levitical Law required them to buy a lamb to sacrifice for their new son, but they were so poor they couldn’t afford the lamb and had to sacrifice two birds instead.
How’s that for ironic? Jesus mom and Step-dad couldn’t afford ‘a’ sacrificial lamb for ‘the’ Sacrificial Lamb.
AND LISTEN – Mary had nothing on her resume that would have been noticed. No impressive accomplishments. No special schooling. AND SHE WAS - engaged to be married to a man who was not gonna be a king, who was not gonna be a ruler. He was just a simple carpenter.
NO - Mary would not have made the Forbes list of “Most Powerful People.” HOWEVER - if there was a list of the least powerful people, she might have had a chance.
BUT…
HERE’S - the thing: She makes God’s list. She makes God’s list of the highly favored… MARY – is one of the people who mattered to God!
SO…
WHAT - was it about her?
WHAT - is God’s criteria?
NOW - there are number of characteristics that we could point to as we study Scripture… BUT - I think there are 2 qualities about Mary that rise to the top… and unleash he favor of God on her life, more than anything else.
AND – the first is… her humble spirit.
A Humble Spirit
UNDERSTAND – as we look at the life of Mary.
AS WE – hear her song.
WE SEE - a young lady who lived with an awareness of not only how small was… BUT – how huge God is!
SO - here’s what I would say.
HUMILITY – is one of the qualities that opens the door to God’s favor in our lives.
These are the ones I look on with favor: those who are humble and contrite in spirit, and who tremble at my word.
– Isaiah 66:2
Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.
– James 4:10
UNDERSTAND…
WHEN, we humbly take a knee (before The Lord)and say,
• God, I need Your help.
• God, I’ve made a mess of things. I can’t fix it on my own.
• God, my marriage is in a million broken pieces, but God, You are the One who can put it back together.”
• God, I’ve blown it with my kids, but You, God, are the One who can redeem anything.
• God, I’ve made some mistakes in my past. I’m not proud of them. I know everyone has given up on me, but God, I believe that You…You can put things back together and You can make my path straight once again.
• God, I can’t do it, I can’t overcome it, I can’t stand up under - I need Your help.
• God, I’ve got nothing to offer, but whatever I have is Yours.
AND LISTEN – whenever God encounters a person with that kind of humble spirit… HE – with great joy pours out his favor!
OKAY - let’s continue on in Luke to find the second quality of Mary’s that led to God pouring out his favor on her…
Mary asked the angel, “But how can this happen? I am a virgin.”
The angel replied, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the baby to be born will be holy, and he will be called the Son of God. 36
What’s more, your relative Elizabeth has become pregnant in her old age! People used to say she was barren, but she has conceived a son and is now in her sixth month. For nothing is impossible with God.”
It’s never too late to be used by God!
MGCC - our God can…. Nothing is impossible with Him.
Our God can..
• create everything out of nothing.
• Rain down manna
• Walk on water
• Part seas
• Move mountains
•
•
• Move powerfully in the life of someone no matter how old or young!
Maple Grove, nothing is impossible with God, it’s not.
He can, He is able, He is God
AND THAT - is why we’re happy and hopeful, this is why we sing and pray because our God is a God of the impossible. A God who take nobodies from nowhere and does great things…
Mary responded, “I am the Lord’s servant. May it be to me as you have said.” And then the angel left her.
I love it… I MEAN…
HERE’S THIS - simple 14 year old girl… From a simple town with a simple faith, BUT LISTEN - it’s a sincere faith.
She knows very little.
She’s not been formally educated.
She doesn’t have the bible on her smart phone.
She only has bits and pieces of Scripture that she treasures in her heart.
BUT…. HERE’S - what she has, faith (sure it may only be the size of a mustard seed). MARY - actually believes what God says.
LOOK UP – most of us in this room, have far more information than her and far less faith in it. We think, “I need to learn a lot more,” maybe we do…
BUT - first things first,
• let’s believe what we’ve already been taught.
• let’s live out, and stand… on what we already know
YES MARY – know very little… BUT SHE - trusts it all. It’s amazing… She actually trusts God, takes him at his word. And she responds and says,
“I’m the Lord’s servant, whatever he wants, that’s what I want, I am His, I belong to Him… I will do whatever he says… go whereever he calls.”
AND SO – what is the second quality that Mary had that unleashed God’s favor…. In her life…? She had – a nothing is impossible with God, Faith w/o borders!
A Faith Without Borders
A few days later Mary hurried to the hill country of Judea, to the town 40 where Zechariah lived. She entered the house and greeted Elizabeth. 41 At the sound of Mary’s greeting, Elizabeth’s child leaped within her, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.
42 Elizabeth gave a glad cry and exclaimed to Mary, “God has blessed you above all women, and your child is blessed. 43 Why am I so honored, that the mother of my Lord should visit me? 44 When I heard your greeting, the baby in my womb jumped for joy. 45 You are blessed because you believed that the Lord would do what he said.” - Luke 1:39-45
OKAY – that’s the writer
• A young girl
• From a small insignificant town
• In an enemy occupied country
• With a humble spirit and a faith without borders…
WHO - breaks out into a song of praise, the original Christmas song… right after her cousin Elizabeth says,
Why am I so honored, that the mother of my Lord should visit me? 44 When I heard your greeting, the baby in my womb jumped for joy. 45 You are blessed because you believed that the Lord would do what he said.”
NOW – let’s take a few minutes to unpack Mary’s song…. The original Christmas song!
The Song
In your bible you may have this heading…
The Magnificat: Mary’s Song of Praise…
The Magnificat is a Latin word meaning “to praise, to glorify, to exalt, to enlarge, to amplify.”
AND - that’s exactly what Mary does in her song, she magnifies the Lord.
46 Mary responded, “Oh, how my soul magnifies the Lord.
47 How my spirit rejoices in God my Savior!
48 For he took notice of his lowly servant girl,
and from now on all generations will call me blessed.
49 For the Mighty One is holy,
and he has done great things for me.
50 He shows mercy from generation to generation
to all who fear him.
51 His mighty arm has done tremendous things!
He has scattered the proud and haughty ones.
52 He has brought down princes from their thrones
and exalted the humble.
53 He has filled the hungry with good things
and sent the rich away with empty hands.
54 He has helped his servant Israel
and remembered to be merciful.
55 For he made this promise to our ancestors,
to Abraham and his children forever.”
56 Mary stayed with Elizabeth about three months and then went back to her own home.
NOW – as I studied and reflected on Mary’s Song this week…
I saw 5 main movements in this song where Mary Magnifies the Lord…
The first is…
God’s Care
Oh, how my soul magnifies the Lord. How my spirit rejoices in God my Savior! For he took notice of his lowly servant girl,
and from now on all generations will call me blessed… he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant.
NOW – Mary said that her spirit rejoices…. Why?
BECAUSE – The Lord, her God and Savior too notice of her….
The NIV words it this way…
He has been mindful of the humble state of His servant
AND – that word ‘mindful’ immediately takes me back to those words that Joseph ancestor David, spoke 1000 years earlier…
When I consider your heavens,
the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
which you have set in place,
4 what is mankind that you are mindful of them,
human beings that you care for them? - Psalm 8:3,4
GOD – when I consider how great you are…. AND THEN – consider the fact that YOU are mindful of me, I am blown away… R U kidding me!
UNDERSTAND – the original Christmas Song…. Sings the story of God who sees, who cares, who notices, who pays attention… AND WHO - is concerned about us.
AND…
DO YOU – know what?
I AM CONVINCED – that this is exactly what God wants to say to a few people in this room (who like Mary, may have felt like God had forgotten her)…
I care, I notice, I am paying attention… I am concerned about you and about what you have been through, and are going through…
THE NEXT MOVEMENT – in Mary’s song takes us to God’s Might…
God’s Might
For the Mighty One is holy, and he has done great things for me… His mighty arm has done tremendous things!
CIRCLE… Mighty One, great, mighty arm, tremendous
UNDERSTAND – this God who sees and who cares…
ALSO - acts!
MARY – says not only ‘is HE’ mighty, not only ‘can HE’ do great and tremendous things… ‘but HE’ – already has done graet things for Mary and for His people!
Great is the LORD! He is most worthy of praise! No one can measure his greatness. – Psalm 145:3
MG – the good news of Christmas is that…
IS – that not only is God great… but he is good!
YES - God constantly uses His Greatness for our good!
MARY SAYS – He ‘has done’ great things for me!
WHAT – great things?
I MEAN – think about it, not a lot has really changed in her life at this point….
• She is still for a small insignificant town
• She is still poor
• Her country is still occupied
• Though pregnant a week or so she is not even showing yet…
UNDERSTAND – to Mary there was nothing GREATER than God her Savior taking notice of her! Because then she could ‘fully’ in faith rest in His greatness and goodness..
The 3rd movement in Mary’s son take us to…
God’s Mercy
He shows mercy from generation to generation
to all who fear him.
QUESTION – what is mercy….
NOT – getting what we deserve.
UNDERSTAND – as Mary considers the history of her people… AND AS SHE – looks at her own life she praises God for His mercy…
SHE – ‘magnifies Him’ for not treating the nation or her, as they both deserve…. YOU SEE – ‘even though’ they had turned their back on Him again and again and again… God did not abandon His people, but instead showed them mercy…
WOW! What an awesome God is was, that was growing inside of that 14 year old girl!
I love what the prophet Micah says about God and His mercy…
There is no God like you.
You forgive those who are guilty of sin…
You do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy.
– Micah 7:18
MGCC – are that He does?
I MEAN – it was not just Mary and Israel who needed God’s mercy… It was me. It was you.
As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.
All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. 4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved…
- Ephesians 2:1-4
THE – 4th movement…
God’s Way
He has scattered the proud and haughty ones. He has brought down princes from their thrones and exalted the humble.
He has filled the hungry with good things and sent the rich away with empty hands.
I love it… Our God is awesome!
He does not do they things we would expect….
I MEAN – Isaiah 55:8,9 are so right…
“My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord.
“And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine.
I MEAN – who but God would do the things that He has done and use the people that he has used?
Moses a murderer and the child of a slave
Gideon the least guy, for the least clan in the smallest tribe
A war orphan named Esther
David the youngest and least likely
Elizabeth and older lady and Mary a teenage girl
For just as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts. – Isaiah 55:8,9
God is always on the side of the humble, the hurting and the hungry. He’s cheering on the orphan and the widow. He’s for the preborn and the elderly, the poor, the disabled, the deaf, the blind and the feeble. God often uses the most unlikely people to help unfold His extraordinary purposes.
AND – the final movement in Mary’s song is…
God’s Promises
He has helped his servant, the people of Israel,
remembering to show them mercy
as he promised to our ancestors,
to Abraham and to his children forever…
UNDERSTAND…
AS MARY – sings the original Christmas song
SHE KNOWS that the life that is growing inside of her, is the fulfillment of all of God’s promise to His people.
YEAH – they had waited a long time… AND YES – the road got steep and rocky at times… BUT GOD – did as He always does, he kept His promises!
YES – ‘the song’ of that first Christmas is the good news that God keeps His promises!
The true king has come, His kingdom has come
ULTIMATE…
• Deliverance
• Freedom
• Redemption
Was literally growing inside of a 14 year old girl and about to be birthed!
I rejoice in your promise, as if I have found a great treasure.
- Psalm 119:162
SO… Mary’s Song…
One of the original xmas songs is about…
• A great and all powerful God
• Who delights in showing mercy
• Who champions the cause of the weak and uses the ordinary, who have a humble spirit and a faith without borders to unfold his plan and purposes
• Who keeps his promise
• And is always watchful and mindful, taking notice of us!
