MARY - WOMAN OF GRACE
We have begun our holiday season. Thanksgiving through Christmas is a time when we get with family and friends to celebrate the joy of the holidays. During this time we are more conscious of the more meaningful things in life. This is the time when we are more thankful of the blessings of God, and we want to bless the lives of the people we know and love.
Teaching and preaching and celebrating the real Christmas story is important to me every year.
As we begin go through this Christmas season, I want to bring a message relating to the true story of how the first Christmas took place.
We should ask ourselves, "What is the significance of Christmas to me?"
Many of you will be:
• Experiencing a more sincere commitment to the Lord
• Wanting to love, honor and serve God with a deeper meaning
But some of you may be like a lot of Christians. You may look around and find few of your family or friends who have made a commitment to the Lord.
Listen carefully. In our relationship with Christ, we must be willing to be faithful to the Lord and be willing to stand on our own.
You see, we have Jesus as our very closest friend and confidant.
But sometimes we might not see others sharing with us in our Christian convictions. We may find ourselves alone with our faith & love for Christ.
I am hoping that as we begin to look at the story of Christmas, each of us will be able to answer two simple questions:
1. Why do I sometimes feel like I am alone while serving God?
We see so many people going to the mall to shop for Christmas toys, or hurrying to the next Christmas party. I have to wonder, how many people have the real meaning of Christmas in their hearts?
Many people get excited about the holiday season with the exchanging of gifts, and yet will neglect the real reason for Christmas.
2. How can I want to do more for the Lord when many of my friends and family are not interested in having a relationship with Christ?
We are human, and at times we may wonder if it is worth it all.
We do what we feel is our part in serving the Lord, but it often seems we are alone in our efforts.
The odd part about Christianity (I have found) is that there will be many times when we will have to do things without the encouragement of others.
It is then we will have to decide (for ourselves) that our relationship with Christ is what is most important.
Last Sunday night we looked at what it meant for us to become the "Perfect Man/Woman". The good news today is that we will find that our relationship with Christ is actually more meaningful to us when we find ourselves having to stand alone for Christ.
Oftentimes, your faith will begin to supernaturally grow when there is no one else to turn to but Jesus Christ.
Allow me to explain with the story of Mary, the WOMAN OF GRACE.......
Text: Luke 1:26 thru 35
Prayer:
Let me set the record straight about Mary before I get started.
We are not a church that practices a religion of "Mother Mary".
There is only one we know and worship as our God and King.
That is Jesus Christ, the living Son of God and Son of Man.
The intent of my message is not to elevate the story of Mary to the point of glorifying her in any way. We try not to glorify people around here much.
Mary was highly favored , not highly exalted. We are here to glorify Jesus.
I know of many preachers who have purposely avoided the story of Mary so as not to risk any confusion with the way the Catholic faith has elevated her.
Mary was not another god/goddess to worship, to chant to, to see visions of, and she certainly is not someone we should be praying to.
Due to this controversy among Christians, the story of Mary is seldom taught. And yet there is much to learn from what happened in her life.
I would like to (respectfully) refer to her as a Woman of FAVOR/GRACE.
We need to see what the Bible has reported about her.
The Angel Gabriel referred to her as being a "Woman of Grace."
We should notice what verse 28 has to say about this simple young woman. It says that Mary was "highly favored", and verse 30 says she "found favor".
Listen carefully: Both phrases are from the Greek word "charis", meaning there was grace found in Mary that had a divine influence on her heart.
The Bible clearly says that Mary was highly favored of the Lord.
Obviously, she lived her life much like other people of the New Testament.
I never have understood why people have become as attached as they have with this woman, Mary. Nevertheless, we can learn about God’s Grace from the life story of Mary.
Apparently, Mary had other children. According to scriptures, Jesus had four brothers-- James, Joses, Judas, and Simon-- and a few unnamed sisters
The Roman Catholic Church, however, claims that Mary remained a virgin and that these "brothers" and "sisters" were either Joseph’s children by an earlier marriage or were cousins of Jesus.
Historians tell us that legends about Mary began circulating as early as the fifth century, but there is no valid historical evidence for these legends.
In our day and time many thousands, if not millions of people are looking into the clouds and the sun for a vision of Mary. This is troubling.
Listen to what Mary says about herself in Luke 1:48,
For He has regarded the lowly state of His maidservant (Mary); for behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed.
I trust there are at least a few of us here this morning who consider themselves to be blessed. I can tell you that I am blessed, and you can call me blessed. In turn, I will call you blessed, but that doesn’t mean I will ever worship you. Or look for a vision of you in the sunlight, or the clouds.
Mary was not the only woman in the Bible who was called blessed.
Judg 5:24
"Most blessed among women is Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite; blessed is she among women..."
In this passage, Jael is recognized by a great woman of the Old Testament, Deborah, for killing an enemy by the name of Sisera. According to the Bible, Jael is considered the "Most blessed among women".
My point is many people have been considered by God to be blessed.
There was Noah, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, but we don’t find anyone wanting to worship these men.
Unfortunately in today’s world, there is a fixation with Mary. Mary is considered a saint in whom many pray to and believe in. Millions of people have made statues of her and have called her "Immaculate Mary".
What a disappointment and frustration this must be to Jesus. But we cannot allow this controversy to interfere (or distract us) with our learning more about the good things of God from the life of Mary .
We will see this morning that this person, Mary, was a willing and obedient vessel of the sovereign plan of God. As we all should be. But she was nothing more than just that. She was highly favored of God.
What we do know is that Mary was the mother of Jesus, as recorded many times in the New Testament.
What we don’t know is anything about Mary’s background other than that she was a peasant and a resident of Nazareth, a city in Galilee.
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It is thought that she must have been of the tribe of Judah, and that made her a direct descendant of David. This is recorded in verse 32 of our text.
We also know that Mary had a cousin named Elizabeth (the mother of John the Baptist.) Mary was just an average person, just like you and I.
What is important here is that we need (from God) what Mary had. We need that kind of grace. We must allow God’s grace to have that "charis" affect on us. That "divine influence on our heart". I need that kind of influence today.
Can you see Grace on those around you? I can.
Mary - Woman of Grace - Sis. Becca’ - Woman of Grace - Bro. Elbert - Man of Grace
This is the only kind of grace that is out there. This kind of grace cannot be given except by Father God or His Son, Jesus. Listen carefully. This "divine influence" Mary had was not a special personality of her’s. She didn’t get this "divine influence" on her own.
The favor, that is the "charis", the grace found in Mary was not something she found anywhere else. Grace was simply given to her by God. Freely given to a woman of the Old Testament.
Likewise, God’s Grace is freely given to each of us.
Mary hadn’t done anything to deserve God’s Grace. Grace was simply found in Mary. And that is the way God chooses to give His grace! Freely! Whether you are a:
peasant or a princess
pauper or a prince
Consider this: Mary was a simple young lady.
She was surprised that God chose her to bear the Son of God. As well, Mary may have had many good friends. She may have come from a good sized family. Mary was engaged to be married to a man named Joseph.
She may have had such wonderful plans for the wedding, and the life that her and Joseph were to share. It was an important time in Mary’s life.
We can only imagine that she was like most young Jewish girls.
And then it happened. Her life is suddenly and dramatically changed. Not because she deserved anything special from God. As a result of God’s plan for Mary’s life, she would now be the mother to the Savior of the world. Amazing isn’t it?
There is something else I see about this "Woman of Grace". She must have had to live her life separated from others.
In her first encounter with the Lord, we find a very young teenage girl alone and having to be obedient to Word from God. In order to have Jesus living inside of her, Mary would have to set aside everything that was important to her.
What the Lord had told her would require her to be content with trusting only His voice and His will for her life. This would not be easy.
Mary was living in a culture of Jewish customs. Mary being with child and not married could cause her to be stoned to death. Mary had given up her rights so that Jesus would live inside of her.
I want us to remember God’s Word to us today. It is found in Galatians 2:20
"It is no longer I that liveth, but Christ that liveth in me..."
Mary would have to forsake all of the plans she had made for her life. This commitment to the Lord would more than likely cost her the friends that were looking forward to her wedding. Perhaps this commitment would cost her (her) family. Maybe her husband. Could we be that obedient to the voice of God? The Word of God?
Mary would give it all up for the Lord’s command. Now that Jesus was living inside of Mary, her life would never be the same again.
She had given up all her rights in order for God’s will to be perfected in her. Along with the blessing of mothering the Son of God, Mary would now face many new unexpected challenges. Mary would have to deal with the misunderstandings surrounding her relationship with her husband to be. Mary would live a life of obscurity so as to protect her firstborn child.
And later on in her life, she would be challenged with the tremendous responsibility of watching young Jesus grow into maturity. I doubt this was the life she had planned out the day Gabriel came to see her.
Likewise, it is only fitting that any of our lives can and will change dramatically when God chooses to bring His grace to our lives. Instead of the excitement of courtship with Joseph, or a beautiful wedding, she would experience a bond/union with God that no other woman had.
Mary would now have to make other arrangements to fulfill God’s plan. Instead of having family and friends near her when her child is born, she and Joseph would travel to another town and have the baby in a humble manger.
Mary defines for us what serving God can be like at times. We may not have some of our old friends, but we will always have the Lord. He has said that He will never leave us or forsake us.
QUESTION: What about the times when you might have to make a stand for Jesus on your own?
There will be times when we all will have to make our stand on our own. We simply must be strong and faithful with what God has given each of us.
Although there is great fellowship with other Christians, there will times when we all will have to make a stand for Christ on our own.
Jesus stood on His own (alone) for you when:
• He faced the betrayal of his friend Judas Iscariot
• He listened to Peter deny knowing Him 3 times in one night
• He faced the Sanhedrin Court, Pontious Pilate, and the mockery of a
trial and condemnation
• The Roman guards beat Him, spat in His face, and gave Him a crown
of thorns
And could we ever forget the time He hung on an old rugged cross alone for you and faced the pain, the torture and death itself?
Like Mary, you have been chosen to represent Christ with your life. You sir, you maam have been "highly favored...(rejoice) the Lord is with you...blessed are you among women....(or) blessed are you among men...(or) blessed are you among your friends at school.
