Oh the Wonder of it All
Notes
Transcript
Good morning! Here we are week 2 of Advent and this morning our focus is JOY!
Joy to the World the Lord has come!
As I was preparing for this morning I was thinking of the chorus - Oh the Wonder of it all just to think that God loves me.
In preparing our hearts for Christmas it is overwhelming to think about the amount of love our Heavenly Father had for us to execute this plan with such perfection and precision.
Take a look at Luke 1:26-38 keep your Bible open to that reference. This morning the Slaney family read this passage for us and lit the Joy candle. Our texts talks about Mary & Joseph and what happened to them and how we can experience such joy in our hearts to with the anticipation of the coming Messiah.
Prayer: God let the things that we plan be put to one side and let your way or direction be our desire and hearts cry.
Joyous Facts
Joyous Facts
Take a look at verses 26-28
In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a village in Galilee, to a virgin named Mary. She was engaged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of King David. Gabriel appeared to her and said, “Greetings, favored woman! The Lord is with you!”
The announcement comes 6 months after Elizabeth is told she will have a son named John the Baptist, Mary is told she will have a child. Mary is young, she is engaged, she is also a virgin. Mary is set to marry Joseph and often its the custom to wait a full year before they marry. So they are in the waiting period.
An angel appears to Mary with this news. He tells Mary she is highly favored. She has been chosen by God. In my head I think I would have said I guess I have been doing something right afterall especially to receive this honor.
Mary is told this news by the same angel messenger who told Elizabeth of her pregnancy.
Joseph is Mary’s fiance and he is related to the high priest Aaron from the tribe of Levi. He is the descendant of Israel’s greatest King - this fulfilled the OT prophecy that the Messiah would come from the Davidic Lineage.
Out of the stump of David’s family will grow a shoot—
yes, a new Branch bearing fruit from the old root.
“For the time is coming,”
says the Lord,
“when I will raise up a righteous descendant
from King David’s line.
He will be a King who rules with wisdom.
He will do what is just and right throughout the land.
And this will be his name:
‘The Lord Is Our Righteousness.’
In that day Judah will be saved,
and Israel will live in safety.
Well you may say Mary is the mother she is the bloodline. Well let’s look at her also.
Why was Mary chosen you may ask?
Mary’s ancestory - We know that Mary's relative Elizabeth was a descendent of the original high priest, Aaron, of the tribe of Levi (1:5). But Mary also may be a descendent herself of David of the tribe of Judah on her father's side (1:32), and Luke's genealogy (3:23-38) may actually trace Mary's lineage.
These are the facts of the birth of Christ and how it was foretold. Of course to hear of a precious baby coming into the world is joyous! But there is also another kind of emotion that is at play here fear. Fear of the unknown, fear of reactions, fear of how it will all turn out.
Joyous Fear
Joyous Fear
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!
Can you imagine how Mary felt after being told this news? Talk about information overload. Then reality set in and lots of times that is acoompanied by fear.
I remember when I told my husband that we were going to have our first baby he just went white as a sheet. Although we had planned and prayed for her when the news came it was like wow this is really happening!
Was Mary in shock or fear or both?
Mary is told “Do not be afraid” when I read that sentence all I kept thinking was here she is having a supernatural experience and it is awesome yet not something that happens everyday so of course she is going to be startled. This does not mean she is lacking faith.
What would be your reaction?
Do not be afraid?
Mary is taken back by the angel’s words.
Fear often controls us. Especially when God asks us to do something for Him. Yes it is exciting to find favor in Him and to be called yet often when God calls us to do something for Him it means we will be out of our comfort zone, everything won’t make sense to us and we take this discomfort and uncertainty and fear comes in.
When we let fear live in us we become warped to what we should do and often stall and run in the other direction. Don’t let that happen. Work through the fear and let it be replaced with faith.
Fear is a breeding ground for unbelief and we need to respond to it with faith.
Mary accepted the angel’s fear not with faith! We see this in her response.
Joyous Wonder
Joyous Wonder
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!”
Mary asked the angel, “But how can this happen? I am a virgin.”
As time went on the angel was clear on what was going to happen. There was so much going on but wonder must have filled her heart that I am a vessel that will bring the son of God - the Messiah into this world!
How will this happen? She must have thought I am a virgin! I am not yet married! How will this all come about?
Some people say we should not question God but I believe that God allows these questions to come to help us work out our faith.
Mary may have asked how? and other questions but at the end of the day she still went ahead.
I believe that her question came because of her faith.
How would you respond in this situation?
Joyous Submission
Joyous Submission
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, but she has conceived a son and is now in her sixth month. For the word of God will never fail.”
Mary responded, “I am the Lord’s servant. May everything you have said about me come true.” And then the angel left her.
These verses answer Mary’s question of how it will all come to pass?
She was told the Holy Spirit would come upon her. This child was conceived by the Holy Spirit and was not fathered by a human otherwise the penalty for sin would not be satisfied because we as humans are sinful at birth. Therefore someone without sin needed to come to bring salvation - HOPE
The Holy Spirit would come upon Mary and she would be with child and the Holy One would be called the Son of God.
Mary’s response was joyous submission!
I am the Lord’s servant!
Would this be your response?
Mary faced rejection. Mary faced shame. Mary faced deep personal embarrassment.
Think about it.
She was unwed
She was engaged yes but not yet married
She was young
pregnant outside of wedlock
no one would believe she was pregnant due to spiritual duty
She could loose her fiance, family and friends
But yet she agreed despite the potential consequences.
She responds I am the Lord’s servant that is bedrock faith!
Conclusion:
Great turmoil turns into great submission. Mary’s response was faith - I am the Lord’s servant.
This morning when God calls you to do something would this be your response?
Are you willing to listen to his voice?
Sometimes we get stuck in the success of the pass and fail to see God is calling us in new directions. Instead of longing for the past let’s leap towards the call ofthe future.
Help me count it an honor to serve not to make things look like the past. Trust the new process and agree to submit and serve together.
Help is to be servants who submit and be proud of the work we do in His name.
Mary responded, “I am the Lord’s servant. May everything you have said about me come true.” And then the angel left her.
As we come together around the Lord’s table let’s remember where we are now and as we examine our hearts before Him let His saving hope and Joy towards what is ahead for us as a church family be the driving force that keeps us poised to leap and work together!
Come now is the time to Worship