INTRODUCTION
• Wow, we are closing in on another Christmas, and as we do, I want to take you on a journey for the next three weeks in a series called MARY CHRISTMAS.
• SLIDE #1
• During this time of the year, churches typically focus on the Christmas season, and at FCC, we will do the same.
• We are going to weave through some of the narrative of Luke 1:26-55 for this week and the next two weeks leading up to Christmas day.
• I want to us to view the narrative leading up to Christmas through the eyes and heart of Mary, the mother of our Lord Jesus Christ.
• Today we begin our trek by sitting next to Mary as she gives her response to God to her special calling from the Angel Gabriel.
• I hope we can sense the tension, the raw emotion that she is feeling as she is watching and listening to Gabriel speak with her.
• In our message today, we will sum up the emotional roller coaster that Mary will endure with four brief words.
• Obviously, Mary was given a special from mission from God; however, today, if you belong to Jesus, you too have been given a special mission. We are called to reach the lost for God.
• As we enter this journey with Mary, I think we will be able to see that whenever we serve the Lord, whenever we feel called to carry out His mission, we too will experience the same type of emotions that Mary felt as she was given her awesome task by Gabriel.
• I hope we can learn from Mary the best way to respond to God’s call in our life.
• Let’s being this morning by turning to Luke 1:26-30 as this passage will reveal the first of our four words that are a part of Mary’s emotional rollercoaster.
• SLIDE #2
• Luke 1:26–30 (HCSB) — 26 In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, 27 to a virgin engaged to a man named Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28 And the angel came to her and said, “Rejoice, favored woman! The Lord is with you.” 29 But she was deeply troubled by this statement, wondering what kind of greeting this could be. 30 Then the angel told her: Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.
• SLIDE #3
SERMON
I. Scared!
• O.k. The first word, SCARED! Why would we start with this word to begin our journey? Here are some reasons.
• Mary is approached by the Angel of the Lord Gabriel. That would be intimidating on its own.
• Here is a great CULTURAL reason for Mary to be fearful.
• She could be a young at 12 years of age, we are not told in the text; however, in that culture it would not be unusual or weird for her to be that young.
• From the narrative, we also find that she is engaged to a man named Joseph.
• That is sweet, she is going to be married. He engagement usually lasted 10 to 12 months, it is not like today where a couple moves in together and saying they are engaged for 10 years.
• During the engagement, the woman lives with friends and family and she her contact with her husband to be is chaperoned so they make sure she stays a virgin until they are married.
• Also, being engaged was legally almost the same as marriage.
• In our society people cheat on each other even before they are married, in Mary’s day if she had relations with another person during her engagement, she was subject to be put to death for committing adultery. WOW!
• Now realize her fear has not reached its apex because she has not found out about why Gabriel is speaking with her.
• Then she will need to explain this it Joseph at some point.
• Now, one would think that Mary would be ok as of now because Gabriel is telling her that she HAS FOUND FAVOR with God.
• In verse 28, Gabriel tells her to REJOICE because of this fact!
• You know Mary’s tension level is high because in verse 30 Gabriel tells her not to be afraid.
• We also see the phrase in verse 29 when we are told that SHE WAS DEEPLY TROUBLED by what the Gabriel was said.
• The phrase indicates her tension level was through the roof. The phrase can be translated TERRIFIED.
• The other thing to consider is that Mary has no indication this meeting is going to take place until it happens. She is minding her own business, living her life, and apparently, she is living a life that catches the eye of God.
• Scared. REMEMBER SHE COULD HAVE BEEN AS YOUNG AS 12.
• Can you relate to that? In no way, will I try to say what I do or what you do for the Lord is anywhere close to bearing the Son of God and parenting Him; but, when you give your life to Jesus, we are EXPECTED to serve Him.
• I know when I felt the call to go into ministry, the closer I got to leaving Square D, the more I started to let fear overtake me.
• I was going to leave a good paying, stable job, for a massive cut with no promise of future employment to serve the Lord.
• Do you feel scared when you think of simply sharing your faith with another person, or when you know you need to stand up for your faith in a hostile situation?
• When it comes time to serve the Lord, or when you feel called to an area of service, it is natural to be afraid.
• As I got closer to going into full-time ministry, the weight of the task was upon me. I started to question whether I could do it or not.
• Make no mistake about it, Mary was very scared. The next word in her emotional roller coaster is found in verse 31-34.
• SLIDE #4
• Luke 1:31–34 (HCSB) 31 Now listen: You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you will call His name Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. 33 He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end. 34 Mary asked the angel, “How can this be, since I have not been intimate with a man?”
• SLIDE #5
II. Stunned!
• Ok, now we will see Mary STUNNED!
• Listen to what she is being told.
• She is going to conceive and give birth to a son. That must be news to her since she was a virgin. Not only is she going to be pregnant, but she is going to have a son, and she is told this without an ultra sound!
• Now it gets better. Her son will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High!
• Imagine Mary at the playground with the other mothers.
• My kid walked at 4 months, my kid could do Calculus at 6 months. Mary, my son is the Son of the Most High. DROP THE MIC!
• I ALMOST FORGOT. THE Lord will give Him the throne of His father David.
• He will reign over the house of Jacob forever and ONE MORE THING, HIS KINGDOM WILL HAVE NO END.
• The phrase the throne of his father David reminds the reader and Mary of the words of Nathan in 2 Samuel 7:12–13 which promise David a future dynasty (since the reader also recalls from 1:27 that Joseph is a descendant of David).
• Luke could scarcely find a more emphatic way to disclose that Jesus is to be Messiah, king of Israel, than this phrase and the next two statements: “He will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.”
• As Mary is listening to this her anxiety level had to be rising.
• Think about what she is hearing and put that in the context of her society.
• Plus, how many of you were intimidated by the fact you were going to have a child ot raise.
• Imagine the pressure of raising THE SON OF GOD!
• We know she is stunned by verse 34 when she says, “How can this be, since I have not been intimate with a man?”
• When Mary asks this question, she is not asking for proof that is was going to happen as Zacharias did in Matthew 1:18 when Gabriel told him his aged wife Elizabeth was going to birth John The Baptist, she is inquiring as to the method of accomplishment.
• Mary has been to those 5th grade birds and bees class so she knew how conception worked, and since she has not been with a man, she wanted to know how this was going to happen.
• When we start to think about the enormity of our task to serve the Lord, we can be stunned by what God wants us to do. In my own life, I was stunned that I was called to ministry, especially since I had a hard time standing in front of people.
• STUNNED. REMEMBER MARY COULD HAVE BEEN AS YOUNG AS 12!
• When you start to think about what God has called you to do, when we realize we may be the only chance to help someone be saved for eternity, we can be stunned and paralyzed. But the next word will show us what God will do for us during our fears and being stunned by the enormity of the task.
• SLIDE #6
• Luke 1:35–37 (HCSB) 35 The angel replied to her: “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore, the holy One to be born will be called the Son of God. 36 And consider your relative Elizabeth—even she has conceived a son in her old age, and this is the sixth month for her who was called childless. 37 For nothing will be impossible with God.”
• SLIDE #7
III. Supported!
• Gabriel offers to some support to Mary by way of answering her question as to HOW this was going to happen considering that no male was involved.
• We know Mary was not questioning IF but HOW it would happen.
• Gabriel struck Zacharias blind until the birth of John because Zacharias questioned IF the event of John’s birth would happen.
• So Gabriel explains HOW this event WOULD happen and he also offers up her relative, the wife of Zacharias, Elizabeth as an example of how God can do wonders.
• He caps off the support by reminding Mary that NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE WITH GOD.
• Mary was going to face a colossal task, and God knows it and offers her some support and encouragement.
• When you are faced with a task or mission from God, while you are riding a roller coaster of emotions, remember that God will be there to support you as you carry out His mission.
• God will not leave you alone, He will be walking with you.
• There are times when God will lay the plan before us, and other times when He will simply remind us that with Him nothing is impossible.
• When God is calling you, He will equip you, God will stretch you to do thing you never thought possible.
• What God was going to do with Mary would have been IMPOSSIBLE for Mary to do on her own. She could not conceive ANY child ALONE, much less the Son of God.
• She would need God to make happen what she could not make happen on her own.
• What God has called you to do, you cannot do it on your own, you need God to supply what you cannot do!
• This leads to our final word.
• SLIDE #8
• Luke 1:38 (HCSB) “I am the Lord’s slave,” said Mary. “May it be done to me according to your word.” Then the angel left her.
• SLIDE #9
IV. Sparked!
• If you do not understand the context of this conversation, it would be easy to think it says, OK GOD I AM A PASSIVE SLAVE IN THIS PLAN, SO I GUESS IT IS GOING TO HAPPEN NO MATTER HOW I FEEL!
• Mary is sparked by the encouragement to embrace the calling of her God.
• When we realize how great our God is, we too will be sparked to serve Him.
• Mary is not resigned to carry out the task,, she is excited by what God is going to do with her.
• When you are tasked by God, it should be exciting to follow Him.
• I know in ministry; it is EXCITING to serve the Lord each day.
• When you serve the Lord, it is exciting to know that through Him you will do things you could never do on your own, that God will be with you.
CONCLUSION
• When we consider the Christmas narrative, we need to remember Mary, she was a young girl, she was an ordinary person who came from an ordinary family, who lived in an a less than ordinary town, whom God chose to use as the mother of His one and only begotten Son.
• The example of Mary shows us that God can and will use ANYONE of us at any time.
• What was special about Mary was her response, in the face of all her questions, you was ready to carry out her calling because she served an amazing God whom she trusted fully to do what He said He would do.
• When God calls you, how will you respond?
