A Mary Christmas
Chuck Sligh
December 13, 2015
A PowerPoint presentation of this sermon is available by emailing me at chucksligh@hotmail.com.
Adapted from from two sermons by the same title by T. Michael Crews and Jonathan McLeod on SermonCentral.com.
TEXT: Luke 1:26-38 (TO BE READ LATER)
INTRODUCTION
Mothers can teach us a lot if we’ll listen to them.
Illus. – I read recently a posting titled “11 Things Our Moms Taught Us”, some of which are the following wise truths from moms:
• It’s not the end of the world.
• If you can’t say something nice, you shouldn’t say anything at all.
• Time heals all wounds
• You should always leave everything better than you found it.
• Don’t take things for granted.
• Don’t overdo your makeup!
• Watching too much TV will damage your eyes.
I’m sure we all have our own list, but there’s no doubt about it, one of the reasons God has moms on this earth is to teach our kids lessons for life.
Now here’s a question you might have never considered: What did Jesus’ mother teach Him? Actually, no one knows the answer to that question. We know that Jesus grew up as any other child, for the Bible tells us that he grew in stature and wisdom just like any other child. The Bible doesn’t tell us what Mary may have taught Jesus, but what I want us to see is what Mary teaches US.
Today I want us to look at three lessons we can learn from, the mother of Jesus Christ, which are found in Luke 1:26-38. (OPEN IN PRAYER)
I. MARY TEACHES US IN VERSES 26-27 THAT NO MATTER WHO YOU ARE, GOD CAN USE YOU. – “And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, 27 To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary.
Illus. – Do you remember the last time you filled out a job application? You had to give all your personal data, and summarize your background, your education, your experience, and so forth. One question they often ask is, What is it that makes you uniquely qualified for this position? Now, how do you answer that question without coming off as a snob?
Employers assume your AVAILABILITY, but what they really want to find out is 1) your LIABILITIES—what would make you unsuited for the job, and 2) your ABILILITES—what skills and talents will help you do the job.
But God doesn’t operate this way. Mary teaches us that God isn’t as interested in your ABILITY as He is in your AVAILability. No matter who you are, God can use you!
Verses 26-27 paint a picture of an ordinary girl with some serious liabilities:
• She was YOUNG.
Remember that in that day, it was not unusual for girls to be betrothed, as young as 15 years of age (around the time of reaching puberty). Mary could well have been as young as 15 or 16 when Gabriel visited her. You and I might think this girl is too young for God to use her, but apparently God didn’t think so.
• But also, Mary was POOR.
We read in Luke 2:22-24 that Mary and Joseph took the baby Jesus to the temple to be circumcised. To do so, they were required to bring one of two offerings: either a lamb for a burnt offering or if the parents were too poor to bring a lamb, they could instead bring two doves or pigeons for a sin offering. Mary and Joseph brought two doves, indicating they couldn’t afford a lamb. You and I might have thought this family is too poor to provide for Jesus, the King of Heaven, but apparently God didn’t think so.
• Mary was young, and poor…but also she was FROM NAZARETH.
Nazareth was a town with a bad reputation. In John 1:46, when Nathanael learned that Jesus was from Nazareth he said, “…Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?”
You and I might have thought No way. No telling what this girl grew up seeing and hearing in a bad town like that. But apparently God didn’t take this into consideration in choosing Mary to be mother to the Son of God.
Mary was young, poor, and from Nazareth—all characteristics that we might have thought would make her seem unusable by God. But God chose Mary for one of the most important jobs He ever asked anyone to do. Through God’s choice of Mary, we see that NO MATTER WHO YOU ARE, THE LORD CAN USE YOU.
You might think you’re too young or that you don’t have enough money or talent or training or preparation for God to use you. You might think your background or past mistakes might make it impossible for God to use you.
Don’t limit God!—He CAN use you if you trust Him! Out of all the queens, princesses, and daughters of the wealthy and influential, God chose a poor teenager from a town with a bad reputation to be Jesus’ mother.
Mary had some negatives, but she had two things God looks for: humility and faith. She knew she wasn’t worthy of the honor God offered her, yet she still believed God could use her if she trusted Him.
Do you believe God can use you?—Or do you think you’re too small, too young, too poor or too weak to be used by Him?
Betty Reese wrote, “If you think you’re too small to be effective, you’ve never been in bed with a mosquito.”
Listen—God is searching for humble, fearless people to take part in His amazing plans. Mary teaches us that no matter who you are, God can use you.
II. SHE ALSO TEACHES US THAT NO MATTER WHAT PROBLEMS YOU FACE AS A BELIEVER, THE LORD IS WITH YOU. – Verses 28-33 – “And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favored, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women. 29 And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be. 30 And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favor with God. 31 And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS. 32 He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: 33 And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.”
• There are some things you just don’t want to go through alone.
Christmas, for instance. I don’t know of anybody who likes to spend Christmas all by themselves. It’s natural to want to share the celebration with people near and dear to us.
• But we don’t like to go through TROUBLE alone, either.
If you get sick with nobody to comfort you, you’ll probably be more miserable. When you lose your job, or your spouse or your child, you need somebody with you to help you make it through.
The one Person you need more than anybody else when you face problems is the Lord. Mary teaches us that no matter what problems you face, if you are one of God’s children, God is with you. The angel says in verse 30, “Be not afraid”—but we wouldn’t blame her if she were!
Imagine the fears she must have experienced as a result of her unplanned pregnancy:
• First was the very real possibility that Joseph might DIVORCE her.
Joseph and Mary were actually “betrothed,” which was as legally binding as marriage itself and could only be dissolved by a bill of divorcement. Joseph at first assumed that Mary had been unfaithful to him.
I mean, really…what else WOULD he have thought?— She’s pregnant, right?—And Joseph knew HE wasn’t the father! So he decided to divorce her quietly before he was told in a dream that Mary’s baby was, in fact, conceived by the Holy Spirit.
But at this point, Mary doesn’t yet know how all of that will play out, but she is assured by God that He will be with her, whatever Joseph does.
• Then there was no doubt the fear of possible REJECTION by her family.
Did Mary’s family believe her story that the baby inside her was the Messiah?—Or that she had conceived by the Holy Spirit without a man? Would YOU believe it if your daughter told you that story? We’re never told anything about Mary’s parents’ reaction to her pregnancy, but I can imagine that they didn’t believe a word of her story! But Mary believes God is with her, no matter how her parents may react.
• Then I’m sure she had a legitimate fear of certain RIDICULE by her community.
Imagine the gossip that must have circulated in a little town like Nazareth with only about 1800 inhabitants at that time! The people of Nazareth would have automatically assumed she had been guilty of adultery—a sin that was not looked on lightly as it is today. It’s likely that Mary was shunned by those who had once been her friends. But Mary believed God was with her, even if her friends abandoned her.
• She even might have feared possible DEATH by stoning.
According to the law, this was the penalty for adultery. Actually in Bible times stoning was exceedingly rare, yet it was still a possibility.
So Mary’s fears were well grounded. You see, the message from the angel totally changed her life. She was getting ready to be married and live a normal life, but her life would never be the same again!
How could she be calm and courageous as she faced all of the problems her unplanned, unexplainable pregnancy might cause? She must have clung to Gabriel’s words in verse 28: “The Lord is with you.” The Lord would BE WITH her; He would HELP her; He would give her the strength and courage to face anything.
The same Lord makes that same promise to you and to me.
• In Psalms 118:6 the Psalmist declared, “The LORD is on my side; I will not fear: what can man do unto me?”
• God promises in Hebrews 13:5: “I will never leave thee nor forsake thee.”
Mary’s story teaches us that no matter what problems you face, the Lord is with you. Mary faced all these scary things—but she knew that the Lord would never abandon her.
One of the titles given to Jesus was “Immanuel,” which means “God WITH us.” One of the great themes of the Old Testament is that of God living with His people. Jesus is our “Immanuel”—He is “God WITH us.”
Ingrid Trobisch said, “Immanuel, a name for Christ, means ‘God with us.’ Human life was meant to be dramatic. We are meant to be God-inhabited. Our religion is not organized around keeping God at a distance. It allows us to go see him when we want. If I really want God to be with me, then my life will be extremely different from ordinary human life.”
I like that: “…we are meant to be GOD-INHABITED.” Jesus came to make God’s presence a conscious, living REALITY in your life. Whatever the PROBLEMS you’re facing right now—whatever WORRIES and FEARS are harassing your heart—if you know that Christ is your Savior, DON’T let your problems and worries and fears discourage and defeat you. No matter what your problems, the LORD IS WITH YOU! Bring those problems to Him and trust Him to work them out—and He WILL, just as surely as He worked them all out for Mary.
The story of Mary reminds us that no matter who you are, God can use you and no matter what problems you face, God is with you.
III. FINALLY, HER STORY TEACHES US THAT NO MATTER WHAT HE PROMISES, THE LORD CAN DO IT! – Verses 34-38 – Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man? 35 And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. 36 And, behold, thy cousin Elisabeth, she hath also conceived a son in her old age: and this is the sixth month with her, who was called barren. 37 For with God nothing shall be impossible. 38 And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word. And the angel departed from her.”
Illus. – A little boy asked his mother where he came from. His mother gave him a tall tale about a beautiful white-feathered stork.
The boy ran into the next room and asked his grandmother where his mom had come from and received a variation on the stork story.
“How about you, Grandma?”—and he got the same answer again.
He then scurried outside to his playmate and said, “You know, there hasn’t been a normal birth in our family for three generations.”
The Bible records several instances of out-of-the-ordinary births.
• God sent a son to Abraham and Sarah long after normal childbearing age. (She was 90 and he was 100!)
• In Judges 13, an angel of the Lord told Manoah and his childless wife that they would have a special son they would name Samson.
• Samuel, the first prophet and last of the judges was the answer to the faithful, persevering prayers of his godly mother, Hannah—well beyond child-bearing age.
• John the Baptist’s mother, Elizabeth, was in her sixties or seventies when she gave birth to the prophet.
But NONE of those special births was as amazing as the birth of Jesus Christ! His birth was a VIRGIN birth! In other words, Jesus was conceived in the womb of His mother Mary by a miraculous work of the Holy Spirit without sexual relations with a human father.
Now that didn’t sound any more usual or likely back then than it does today! But look at Mary’s reaction in verse 38 – “And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word.”
Even though the angel’s news was UNbelievable, she BELIEVED it! Mary didn’t UNDERSTAND it, but she also DIDN’T DOUBT it. She believed that no matter what God promised, GOD CAN DO IT!
Even after all these centuries, Jesus’ miraculous conception remains impossible to understand by human reason alone. God chose not to explain the details of it to us. The real issue is NOT whether a virgin can conceive; but whether ANYTHING is impossible for God.
But why was Jesus virgin-born to begin with?—Only through the virgin birth was it possible for God to dwell with mankind as a human being Himself and pay the penalty for our sin. The virgin birth made possible the uniting of full DEITY and full HUMANITY in one person.
Illus. – The well-known talk show host Larry King was once asked, “If you could select any one person across all of history to interview, who would it be?”
Mr. King answered that he would like to interview Jesus Christ.
The questioner followed with, “What would you like to ask him?”
King replied, “I’d like to ask him if he was indeed virgin-born. The answer to that question would define history for me.”
He’s right.—The virgin birth of Christ is tied both to who He is and what He came to do.
As Malcolm Muggeridge put it, “[As] man alone, Jesus could not have saved us; as God alone he WOULD not. Incarnate, he could and did.”
Mary knew that a virgin birth is impossible in the natural course of events, but she also believed that “nothing is impossible with God.” Whatever God promises, He delivers; no matter what He promises, He will do it.
Every promise in the Bible has two parts: 1) a condition for you to obey and 2) the promise of what God will do in response to your obedience. In other words, there’s your part; and God’s part, and be assured that God ALWAYS follows through with His part.
When Gabriel told Mary what was going on, her answer was obedience: ”be it unto me according to thy word.”
What promises of God are you tempted to doubt?
• Maybe it’s Jesus’s salvation promise in John 11:26 – “And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?”
• Or Paul’s statement in Romans 8:28 – “…all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”
• Or God’s promise about tithing in Malachi 3:10 – “Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse…and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.”
• Or maybe it’s 1 John 5:14 – “And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us.”
Do you ever read promises like these and say, “Yeah, right! Like THAT’S gonna’ happen!”? But those promises are made by GOD and the Bible teaches that if you meet the conditions of these promises, God WILL fulfill HIS part of the bargain.
Whatever the promise is, it doesn’t matter how IMPOSSIBLE it may seem—there’s nothing, nothing, NOTHING impossible with God. WHATEVER He promises, He ALWAYS does—WITHOUT FAIL! What you have to do is what Mary did: BELIEVE GOD’S WORDS! Say to Him, “Let it be to me according to Your Word, O Lord.”
Someone has said, “LITTLE faith will bring your soul to heaven, but GREAT faith will bring heaven to your soul.” That’s how it worked for Mary, and how it’ll work for you, IF you’ll believe and obey.
CONCLUSION
We really don’t know what Jesus learned from His mother. We don’t know the impact of her life on His, or how much of Who He grew up to be was a reflection of the love and character of His mother.
But God has left the record of what this young mother named Mary can teach you and me:
• No matter who you are, the Lord can use you.
• No matter what problems you face, if you belong to the Lord, He will be with you.
• No mater what He has promised, the Lord can do it.
May God burn these truths into our hearts this Christmas.
