Luke 1:39 - 56 ¡V When do we praise God?
Well here we are ¡V the last day of November. Tomorrow is the first of December and the wild run down to Christmas. Many call it the silly season for good reason I might add. We spend so much time worrying about what has to be done. Report cards at school to finish off for you teachers. For the rest of us, there is the Christmas tree to put up and the decorations to festoon the house with. There are all the presents to buy. The cards to write. The food to prepare. So much to do and so little time to do it in. These are often unnecessary distractions from the real meaning of Christmas ¡V the birth of the Savior of the world. Too often we get so busy with the preparations for the party, we forget to invite the birthday boy to join us ¡V Sad isn¡¦t it.
Tonight I wan to get us to pause and look at how Elizabeth and Mary prepared for that first Christmas. They didn¡¦t forget God or His soon to be born son Jesus. For them, this was the focus and in expectancy of what would happen, they praised God. Imagine that ¡V These two women, looked ahead to what God would bring to pass in their lives and praised him. What faith that must have taken ¡V incredible vision really. They believed what had been promised, they counted it as a fore-gone conclusion and praised God. The question I want to ask here tonight is ¡§When do we praise God?¡¨ A bit of a strange question I know, but the challenge I want us to take away from church this evening is that we need to praise God for things he has planned for the future, not just for the things he has done in the past. That isn¡¦t always easy to do, because we don¡¦t know what they are and we might not even like everything that God has in store for us ¡V but that shouldn¡¦t stop us praising him.
A Fortuneteller, gazing into her crystal ball, once said to her client, a frog: ¡§You are going to meet a beautiful young woman. From the moment she sets eyes on you she will have an insatiable desire to know all about you. She will be compelled to get close to you ¡V you¡¦ll fascinate her.¡¨
Rubbing his little webbed feet together, the frog questioned ¡V ¡§Where am I? At a singles club?¡¨
¡§No,¡¨ replied the fortune teller, ¡§Biology class.¡¨
The future might not be entirely rosy for us. We don¡¦t know what the future holds, but we know the one who holds the future in his hands. Can we trust him enough to praise him for it right now? I hope by this evening, you can say yes.
Let¡¦s pause and pray ¡K Pray
A couple of weeks ago, we continued our study of Luke¡¦s gospel by looking at the appearance of the angel Gabriel to Mary. We learned that God chose Mary, not because of any qualifications or skills, she had, but it was because of her attitude to him. She was a willing servant who dedicated herself to God¡¦s will. Despite what it would cost her, she was able to say in Luke 1:38 ¡§I am the Lord¡¦s servant, ¡K may it be to me as you have said.¡¨
Background - Mary¡¦s quest for reassurance
Please open up your Bibles to Luke 1:39 as we work through the next 18 verses. In verse 39, we are told that Immediately after the angel left her, Mary packed her bags and headed to the hill country of Judea to visit her cousin Elizabeth. If you¡¦ve been following the story up to now, you¡¦ll remember that Elizabeth, a childless woman past her child bearing years, miraculously became pregnant with a baby who would grow up to be John the Baptist. He would prepare the way for Jesus¡¦ coming.
The angel Gabriel had told Mary about Elizabeth¡¦s miracle to prove that nothing is too hard for God. In God¡¦s eyes, it was easy to implant in a young virgin the seed of the immortal God.
So Mary sets out on a journey that was between 80 and 100km. It would take her about 4 days to walk to Zechariah and Elizabeth¡¦s house. Why did she go? We¡¦re not told, but I¡¦d imagine that Mary was bursting at the seems with questions and complete and utter awe at what the angel had told her. 2B She needed someone who knew what miracles were about. Someone who would not doubt her story, but who could confirm that God was at work here.
It is a shame that when you talk with many Christians, that many do not expect great things from God. They know in their brains that God can do the impossible ¡V that¡¦s what they were taught in Sunday School. But most do not expect to see any miracles.
We¡¦re like a devout cowboy who lost his favorite Bible while he was mending fences out on the range. He¡¦d given up hope of ever seeing it again. But then, three weeks later a cow walked up to him carrying the Bible in its mouth.
The cowboy couldn¡¦t believe his eyes. He took the precious book out of the cow¡¦s mouth, raised his eyes heavenward and exclaimed, ¡§It¡¦s a miracle!¡¨
To which the cow replied ¡§Not really. Your name is written on the inside cover.¡¨
If Mary lived in 2003. Would she come to your house to talk about what God was doing in her life? Would you laugh at her and tell her to get off the drugs? Or do you believe in miracles. Christmas time is the time of year when we need to be reminded that God is the God of miracles ¡V He can do more than what we can think or dream of. So let¡¦s start praising him and expecting those miracles.
Elizabeth¡¦s Blessing
The moment Mary turned up on the doorstep and called out her greeting, 3 special things happened ¡V read it with me in vs 41¡K
¡§the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. In a loud voice she exclaimed¡¨
John was to be filled with the Holy Spirit from his Mother¡¦s womb (vs 15). I suggest that even at 6 months, he had the Holy Spirit indwelling him now. He recognized Mary as the mother of the Messiah and gave an extraordinary leap. It wasn¡¦t just a normal stretch, this was a leap of joy, expectation and praise.
Elizabeth was also filled with the Holy Spirit at this time and began to praise God through some amazing prophetic words. These were words filled with excitement also. They were exclaimed with a loud voice. Read them (vs 42)
¡§Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! 43 But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? 44 As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. 45 Blessed is she who has believed that what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished!¡¨
How did Elizabeth know that Mary was pregnant? How did Elizabeth know that she was carrying the Messiah? It was through the Holy Spirit¡¦s revelation.
Notice something really beautiful about these words. There is not one ounce of jealousy in them. Elizabeth could have been completely wrapped up in her own joyful news, but she wasn¡¦t. Have you ever met anyone who was completely absorbed in themselves. All they ever want to talk about is there problems, their successes. What they did last week. They can¡¦t bear for the conversation to be about anyone else but them. Elizabeth wasn¡¦t like this. She recognized that although God blessed her in an incredible way, Mary¡¦s blessing was greater. And she began to praise God for that.
I wonder how many of us are happy for people who have been blessed more than us. Do we rejoice with those who seem to be gifted more than us? Or are we jealous of what God has given them ¡V always comparing their gifts with ours and feeling that somehow we¡¦ve been hard done by? Do we celebrate with those through whom God is working in incredible ways? Or are we filled with regret that that isn¡¦t us reaping the fruit? Christmas time is a time to rejoice in the blessings God has given others. Elizabeth was a lovely gracious lady, who knew that all blessings come from God. He gives to those who he chooses not because of who they are, but because of who He is. Because of this her words bring praise to God, the one who has promised to do great things in her.
In vs 42, she acknowledged that Mary would be blessed among all women. The word for blessed here comes from the same word which we get our word euology from. At a funeral, the euology is usually filled with nice or complementary things about the person about which it is said. What Elizabeth is saying is that people will speak well of or praise Mary and her baby ¡V Jesus.
In vs 45, Elizabeth acknowledged that Mary would be blessed because of her belief. This isn¡¦t the same word used in vs 42, but is the word ƒÝƒÑƒÛƒÑƒâƒÙƒÑƒnƒnwhich talks about God¡¦s favour. Not only would people look favourably on her, but God would be pleased because of her faith. How does God view you. Are we blessed in God¡¦s eyes because of our unwavering faith? Do we live out our faith by praising God in advance for his blessiongs? If we trust that God will bring about what he has promised, we can praise him now. We don¡¦t have to wait for those things to be completed. We can praise God now for heaven. We can praise God now for bring people from every nation to a saving knowledge of him. If we have faith, we can praise him for his mighty work in and through this church next year.
For Elizabeth, there was no doubt that God would bring to pass what he had promised. For her ¡V God was a faithful God and worthy of praise for the things he would bring to pass. Do we have the same view of God?
Mary¡¦s Response
Mary¡¦s response was one of complete and utter praise. Mary knew what it meant to praise God now for what he was going to achieve in the future. Her response is actually a song sung by Mary. It is absolutely saturated with Old Testament concepts and phrases which shows that although Mary was probably only 14 or 15, she knew her bible well. The song has 3 parts. The first is vs 46-50. Mary begins by giving praise to God. Listen ¡K
vs 46 And Mary said:
¡§My soul glorifies the Lord 47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, 48 for he has been mindful
of the humble state of his servant.
From now on all generations will call me blessed, 49 for the Mighty One has done great things for me¡X holy is his name. 50 His mercy extends to those who fear him, from generation to generation.
Mary was under no illusions of her value. She was a servant girl with nothing to offer God. She was the one who needed help ¡V she recognized in vs 47 her need of a savior. But she was chosen for a most blessed of tasks. Imagine ¡V being responsible for caring for God ¡V her savior ¡V Absolutely incredible concept isn¡¦t it. Mary caring for God, the one who would save her.
Mary is humble in and through it all. She concedes though that all generations would call her blessed, but not because of who she is. She deflects the blessing to God. She would only be called blessed, because the Mighty One has done great things in her life. I wonder how often we deflect the praise of others to God. He is the source of all our blessings, so why don¡¦t we praise him for them. I was encouraged in this regard last week by David Colville. I complemented him last Sunday night about his worship leading and he immediately deflected the praise to God ¡V That¡¦s how it should be all the time.
The second part of the song is in Vs 51 - 53. It is composed of 6 statements in the aorist tense. This is the tense which refers to a single action completed in the past. Listen to see if you can find the 6 things that God has accomplished ¡K
vs 51 He has performed mighty deeds with his arm;
He has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts.
vs 52 He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble.
vs 53 He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty.
These are things God has already done. They may refer to historical events, but they are pretty revolutionary - look at them. Scattering the proud. Bringing down rulers and lifting up the humble. Filling the hungry, but sending the rich away without any blessings. While these may possibly be historic events, they are more likely prophetic. They sound like Jesus¡¦ teaching. They sound like the kingdom which God is going to initiate through his Son. Some might say that Jesus was going to turn the world upside down, but I think that Jesus was actually going to turn the world up the right way. On Jan 5, 2000, a young pilot in a Cessna 172 was flying at night over an ocean. He ended up crashing into the ocean. Why. He was an inexperienced pilot who wasn¡¦t trained at using his instruments for night flying. He ended up getting spatially disorientated, which means he was flying upside down and eventually ended up flying into the ground. He somehow had become disorientated and was unaware that the plane had been flying upside down. This world is like that plane, we are flying upside down in our values, priorities and actions. We are so comfortable, we don¡¦t even realize it. People are crashing around about us all the time, and we can¡¦t figure it out. But Jesus knows why ¡V we are living life upside down. Jesus came to turn us up the right way.
Mary saw these things coming, but because they were in God¡¦s plan, she viewed them with certainty. To Mary, they were as certain as recorded history. Mary can praise God for what he will accomplish as if it has already happened. Why? - because he the Mighty One who has done great things for me.
Even though she is only days pregnant ¡V and probably physically can not even feel the changes that are beginning in her body. She is able to praise God for what he will do through her son ¡V the Savior. I want to ask you ¡V what is Mary¡¦s praise based on? It is based on God¡¦s promises and who he is. Can we trust God to complete those things he has promised? ¡V We sure can ¡V because he is faithful and trustworthy. Mary knew this and was able to praise him ahead of time for what he would do through her life. Do we praise God for future events? Have we got enough faith to make this happen?
The last part of the song is in Vs 54-55
54 He has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful 55 to Abraham and his descendants forever, even as he said to our fathers.¡¨
56 Mary stayed with Elizabeth for about three months and then returned home.
God is a merciful God who keeps his promise. Mary remembers back to the covenant God made with Abraham. He is going to fulfill this covenant in Jesus. He hasn¡¦t done it yet, but will do it in and through this baby who will be born and so Mary praises him.
Incredible isn¡¦t it. John, Elizabeth and Mary praise God for the things he is yet to do. They count them as certainties because God is involved. I opened with the question ¡K
¡§Can we praise God for the future?¡¨
¡§Can we praise him for what he will do through us, his servants?¡¨
¡§Can we praise him for what he will do for us?¡¨
¡§Can we praise him for what he will do, despite us?¡¨
Praise like that Mary offered only comes through a faith grounded in the promises of God. Let¡¦s hold onto those promises in faith so that we too can praise God in advance ¡V expecting Him to use us mightily.
