Mary’s Song
#ctunes
Good morning MGCC… – ‘The King Is Among…’
AND – if you think about it, this is what Christmas is really about. THAT – the King is among us.
THAT - as John wrote…
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.
– John 1:14
AND – as Matthew wrote
Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel, which means ‘God is with us. – Matthew 1:23
Prayer
QUESTION – who here like’s Christmas music?
IF – you do when do you start listening to it?
BUT HEY - it’s that time of year, where we will be hearing a lot of Christmas music whether we want to or not.
AND LISTEN - it’s not just in church or in Christian bookstores, no, it’s everywhere… In every restaurant and every store…
I MEAN – you just can’t get away from it.
IN FACT – this past Tuesday we were at Sams and I was talking to Doris who was checking us out about Christmas music and she said that she was pretty much done with Christmas music, since they have been playing it since September…
SO - there are all kinds of Christmas music out there…
THIS WEEK - I went on youtube and searched ‘Top Ten Christmas Songs’ and I found this short video…
NOW – you may or may not agree with this list…
BUT – perhaps one of your favorites is on there…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SrZrk_0EFog
I don’t know if it works this way for you, but for me a lot of those songs can bring back some pretty strong memories from growing up.
Candle light services with my mom and dad, my mom loved Silent Night...
Singing jingle bells and Rudolph the red nose reindeer in the car as a family…
AND - those songs also bring back the memory of when I was probably 10 or 11 and a bunch of the kids in our neighborhood decided to go Christmas Caroling.
YOU SEE…
IT - was then, that I found out that was lacking in the singing department…
YEAH – I believe it was by the third house when one of the older girls (I can’t remember her name) looked at me and said, “Wow, Steve you can’t sing at all, you’re terrible – so monotone.”
Heartbreaking…
SO - Christmas music brings back Christmas memories.
AND LISTEN - Music has always been a part of the Christmas Story. IN FACT – I think we could say it this way… that songs may be our best response to the mystery of Christmas.
AND AGAIN – they have been a part of the Christmas Story - not just in recent years, but even in that first Christmas…
UNDERSTAND - if you read through Scripture, you find that oftentimes when someone is sharing the good news of Jesus coming to earth—or they’re hearing the good news of Jesus—that there is a song that is sung.
WHICH IS WHY - for the month of December we are doing a series of conversations that I am calling cTunes.
A SERIES - where we will be looking at the 4 original tunes of Christmas.
ON…
12/11 – Zechariah’s Song Of Thanksgiving
12/18 – Simeon’s Son Of Joy
12/25 – The Angel’s Son Of Salvation
AND THIS MORNING… Mary’s Song Of Praise
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. IS IT - about
• Snow
• Sleigh bells
• Reindeer
• Elves
• Snowmen
• Mama kissing some guy named Santa under the mistletoe
• Chestnuts roasting on an open fire
• Jack frost nipping at your nose
• OR a head on collision between a grandma and reindeer
AND UNDERSTAND – 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 be have clueless 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 He saw how little attention Christ was actually getting during this time of year…
I THINK – he might just punch somebody out.
Let me explain…
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…
• And 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 guy name Arius who was teaching that 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 Saint Nick (aka, Santa Claus), here's something to keep in mind, He was
• 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 Christ.
YEAH…
A persecuted, jailed, passionate gospel warrior, now that’s my kind of Santa….
NOW – interestingly during my research this week…
I made an amazing discovery…
I found Saint Nicholas facebook profile picture…
OKAY… now, that we have ‘the heretic punching’ Santa out of the way, let’s unpack Mary’s Song…
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…
HOWEVER- 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.
YOU KNOW – I can almost imagine what he felt as his pen danced across the page writing these words…
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
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.
NOW - 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 have 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, tiny 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)
SO – when you think of Mary think of a 14 year old girl, in 8th or 9th grade.
• And Mary is engaged to a guy named Joseph. A descendant of who? David. And why is David that important?
BECAUSE – God promised David that the Messiah would come from one of his descendants
NOW UNDERSTAND - this is probably an exciting time for Mary… She’s young. 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. AND - all is fine, all is normal, all is well. THAT IS 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 seriously crazy stuff for a 14 year old girl (for anyone to hear for that matter.
I MEAN – ladies, imagine being her.
“Hey, God has chosen you to give birth to His Son and His Kingdom will never end…”
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…
I MEAN – it even left Mary (confused and disturbed when she first heard it)…
BECAUSE - if there were 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 our world would completely overlook.
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?
• I MEAN- what was it that so marked her life that it invited God’s blessing?
BECAUSE - I know, that like me, you have a deep desire to have God’s favor, His blessing unleashed in your life.
I MEAN - who doesn’t want to…
• Live the kind of life that God blesses.
• Have the kind of family that God blesses.
• Be the kind of church that God blesses.
SO…
WHAT - was it about Mary that brought on the favor of God?
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 the 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 in a few moments…
AND WE SEE - a young lady who lived with an awareness of not only how small she was… BUT – of 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 like almost nothing else.
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
AND – believe me when I tell you, the Lord can give us some serious lift!
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 and unleashes 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.
What’s more, your relative Elizabeth has become pregnant in her old age! People used to say she was barren…
(people used top say she was too old, people used to say a lot of things about her)
…but she has conceived a son and is now in her sixth month. For nothing is impossible with God.
MGCC - our God can…. UNDERSTAND - nothing is impossible with Him.
Our God can..
• create everything out of nothing.
• Rain down manna from heaven
• Walk on water
• Part seas
• Move mountains
• Raise the dead
• Cause a virgin to give birth to His son
• Move powerfully in the life of anyone no matter how old (Elizabeth) or how young (Mary)!
B/S - 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, and why we sing and pray because our God is a God of the impossible. A God who can take nobodies from nowhere and do 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 14 year old girl… From a simple town with a simple faith, BUT LISTEN - it’s a sincere faith.
Mary 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).
BUT 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,” AND - 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 – knows 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 wherever he calls.”
AND SO – what is the second quality that Mary had that unleashed God’s favor?
She had – a faith in God that was w/o borders!
A Faith Without Borders
BECAUSE – she actually trusted in the God of the impossible
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 – so 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 believed that the Lord would do what He said
OKAY – now we are ready to unpack Mary’s song….
The Song
NOW - in your bible you may have this heading…
The Magnificat: Mary’s Song of Praise…
Magnificat is a Latin word meaning “to praise, to glorify, to exalt, to enlarge, to amplify.”
AND B/S - that’s exactly what Mary does in her song –
she magnifies, she exalts, she glorifies the Lord…
[let’s stand]
Mary responded, “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.
For the Mighty One is holy,
and he has done great things for me.
He shows mercy from generation to generation
to all who fear him.
His mighty arm has done tremendous things!
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.
He has helped his servant Israel
and remembered to be merciful.
For he made this promise to our ancestors,
to Abraham and his children forever.”
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…
NOW – Mary said that her spirit rejoices…. Why?
BECAUSE – The Lord, her God and Savior took notice of her….
The NIV words it this way…
He has been mindful of the humble state of His servant
AND LISTEN – that word ‘mindful’ immediately takes me back to those words that Joseph’s 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,
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 totally blown away…
R U kidding me!
B/S – God is mindful of you.
How precious are your thoughts about me, O God. They cannot be numbered! I can’t even count them; they outnumber the grains of sand! – Psalm 139:17,18
How my spirit rejoices in God my Savior! For he took notice of his lowly servant girl…
UNDERSTAND – the original Christmas Song…. Sings the story of God who sees, who cares, who notices, who pays attention… WHO - is concerned about us.
GET IT?
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 has forgotten them)…
“I care, I notice, I am paying attention…
Listen you and your situation, where you are and what you’ve been through, what you are facing… ARE - on my mind, I care and I am concerned…”
It’s true, He is!”
IN THE NEXT MOVEMENT – Mary’s talks about 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 great things for Mary and for His people!
MG – the good news of Christmas is that… not only is God great… but he is good!
UNDERSTAND B/S - God constantly uses His Greatness for our good!
AGAIN MARY SAYS – He ‘has done’ great things for me!
AND – this week I asked myself , ‘what great things?’
I MEAN – think about it, not a lot has really changed in her life at this point….
• She is still from a small insignificant town
• She is still poor
• Her country is still occupied
• And she is about to have (as she begins to show) a very unique – hard to explain (get ready to be gossiped about_ pregnancy.
BUT UNDERSTAND – to Mary there was nothing greater…
THAN KNOWING - that her God and Savior, her Lord is mindful and has taken notice of her.
BECAUSE NOW – she can fully (in faith), rest in His greatness and goodness!
And btw so can we?
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 God’ 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 with mercy…
WOW!
What an awesome God, that is growing inside of that 14 year old girl!
NOW - I love what the prophet Micah (the Savior is coming from Bethlehem prophet) 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
QUESTION – aren’t you glad that He does?
AND UNDERSTAND – it was not just Mary and Israel who needed God’s mercy… It was me. And 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 sooo awesome and sooo unpredictable!
He does not do they things we would expect….
YEAH – I think the words Isaiah penned in 55:8,9 are a huge understatement…
”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 a child of slaves
• Gideon the least member of the smallest clan in the smallest tribe.
• A war orphan named Esther.
• David the youngest and least likely.
• Elizabeth and elderly woman
• Mary a young 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
UNDERSTAND…
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!
All of God’s promises have been fulfilled in Christ with a resounding “Yes!” – 2 Corinthians 1:20
YES – ‘the song’ of that first Christmas is the good news that God promises have been fulfilled…
• The true king has come,
• His kingdom is at hand
FOR…
• Deliverance
• Freedom, and
• Redemption was literally growing inside of a 14 year old girl and would soon be born!
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 tunes 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!
Merry, Merry Christmas!
