This Will Be a Sign Unto You… (Luke 2:8-14)

Prepared and preached by Pastor Steve Rhodes for and at Bethel Friends Church in Poland, OH on December 24, 2024

I like to watch BBC television shows. More specifically, I like to watch shows about the royal line throughout the history of England. One thing I realized is that when the political climate shifted it was better off to be far away from the king. It was better to be ordinary. In Luke’s Gospel, the angels appeared to ordinary people. They came to common, ordinary people to tell about the Savior’s birth.

The shepherds were ordinary, but the angels came to them—let’s re-read the passage:

Luke 2:8–14 (ESV)

⁸ And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. ⁹ And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. ¹⁰ And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. ¹¹ For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. ¹² And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” ¹³ And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,

         ¹⁴       “Glory to God in the highest,

and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”

1. The extraordinary took on the ordinary.
   1. Timothy Keller quotes C.S. Lewis:
   2. S. Lewis, listen carefully. Listen very carefully to this one.
   3. He says, “… the power of the Higher, just in so far as it is truly Higher, to come down … to include the less. Thus solid bodies exemplify many truths of plane geometry, but plane figures no truths of solid geometry … Montaigne became kittenish with his kitten but she never talked philosophy to him. Everywhere the great enters the little—its power to do so is almost the test of its greatness.”
   4. Thus when I’m at peace and joy, I can enter into the hurt of someone who is angry and despondent. But when I’m angry and despondent, I cannot enter into joy and peace. Why? Because joy and peace are higher, greater. That’s why, I can add, Lincoln can understand Hitler, but Hitler will never be able to understand Lincoln. Why? Because Lincoln is greater.
   5. He is saying how do you know, therefore, something is really high and really great? Because it can come down. It can enter into the lesser. It can sympathize. It can humble itself. You’re strong enough to be weak. You’re secure enough to be vulnerable.[1]
   6. Why did the angels come to these shepherds?
   7. They announce the Savior has been born. They worship the Lord.
   8. The shepherds go to see the Lord.
   9. Why?
   10. Because we have a problem.
   11. God is holy and our sin violates His holiness.
   12. Jesus came to restore our relationship with Him.
   13. The whole Old Testament was pointing to a time when God would unite us with Him.
   14. So, in a nutshell Christmas is all about Jesus’ birth. God became a human being so that He could die for our sins. God brought events involving kings, common people, and shepherds in order to bring His Son into the world. Jesus lived among us for 33 years and then died in our place. He died for our sins.
   15. Do you believe that?
   16. In a talk Tim Keller gave on J.R.R. Tolkien back when The Lord of the Rings movies were new, he spoke about the uniqueness of the gospel story. I’ll recount what he said as it makes clear how we should see Christ entering the world to save us as the ultimate story.
   17. Tolkien and Lewis were having a conversation as they made their way around Addison’s Walk in Oxford. This is a paraphrase, but it captures accurately the essence of what Tim said:
   18. Tolkien asks:What moves you most? What gives your life meaning? 
   19. Lewis replies:The stories I love. When I’m done with a story I love, it inspires me. I’m ready to be better. They inspire me and move me. They give me meaning in life.
   20. Tolkien says:The reason that stories move you is they get in touch with some underlying reality. 
   21. Then Tim explained:All the good stories that move you … like Beauty and the Beast — love really can change people — point to an underlying reality. Even though the story isn’t true, it gets at some kind of underlying reality we identify with. 
   22. But here’s what I want you to know [and what Tolkien said to Lewis], the gospel story — the story of Jesus Christ being born in a manger, living his life here on earth, dying and being resurrected — is not one more story pointing to an underlying reality. The gospel story is the reality to which all the other stories point.
   23. Tolkien goes on to say to Lewis that the gospel story isn’t that good will triumph over evil. The gospel story is that the underlying reality came into this world to save us. It’s the ultimate story where victory is snatched from the jaws of defeat. Tolkien even coined a word for it: eucatastrophe. All good stories have elements of the gospel story woven into them if they end with eucatastrophe.[2]
2. Respond
   1. You cannot be indifferent to Jesus.
   2. Have you come to a point in your life where you have accepted Jesus into your heart for forgiveness of your sins. Jesus didn’t come to earth just to live with us; He came to instruct us and to die in our place.
   3. The Bible says that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). The Bible says that the penalty for sin is death (Romans 6:23). The Bible says that Jesus is the way the truth and the life and no one comes to the Father except by Him (John 14:6). The Bible teaches that sin separates us from God (Isaiah 59:2). The Bible says that God will not let the guilty go unpunished (2 Thess 1:8-9). Yet, the Bible teaches that God loves the people of the world (John 3:16). That is a dilemma. God can’t tell a lie, or He wouldn’t be God (Numbers 23:19). God doesn’t change His mind (1 Sam 15:29). That is why God sent Jesus. The guilty must go punished. Jesus took our punishment on the cross. The penalty of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus, who is the way, the truth and the life.
   4. One of the most exciting things that you can do while celebrating Jesus’ birthday is to make it your spiritual birthday as well. You can accept Jesus’ free gift of salvation right now.

1. God created us to be with him (Gen. 1-2).
2. Our sin separated us from God (Gen. 3).
3. Sins cannot be removed by good deeds (Gen. 4-Mal. 4).
4. Paying the price for sin, Jesus died and rose again (Matt. – Luke).
5. Everyone who trusts in him alone has eternal life (John – Jude).
6. Life that’s eternal means we will be with Jesus forever (Rev. 22:5).

Prayer

[1] ¹  Timothy J. Keller, The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive, 2012-2013 (New York: Redeemer Presbyterian Church, 2013).

[2] Gospel In Life email. December 17, 2024

From Nazareth to Bethlehem (Luke 2:1-7)

Prepared and preached by Pastor Steve Rhodes for and at Bethel Friends Church in Poland, OH on December 22, 2024

I love this story from Swindoll:

I think it was my barber who told me several years ago what they used to do when their kids were small. He said, “We had the most curious kids in the world. And we knew no matter what we did, they would find the gifts. So we had a deal with our neighbors. We would keep all the neighbors’ presents in our closet, and we would give all of our gifts to the neighbors. Naturally the kids would peek, but we acted like we didn’t know about it. And then Christmas Eve, when all the kids were asleep, we would swap and wrap all the gifts.” And he said, “You should have seen my kids when they looked out in the street and saw bicycles being ridden they thought they were gonna get for their Christmas!”[1] [1] Charles R. Swindoll, The Tale of the Tardy Oxcart and 1501 Other Stories (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2016), 81–82.

Again from Swindoll:

If news networks had been invented in 1809, they would’ve covered one story: Napoleon sweeping across Austria like a wildfire. Napoleon was the talk of the world, on the move from Trafalgar to Waterloo. Everything was about Napoleon.

Now, at the same time, babies were being born, but who cared? Someone should have! Whole cadres of world-changers took their first breaths in 1809. Let’s take a trip back and see for ourselves.

Our first stop: Liverpool, where Baby William is meeting the world. No one has a clue he’s destined to become Great Britain’s Prime Minister—not once, not twice, not three times, but four times. William Gladstone, 1809.

Cross the Atlantic to Cambridge, and you’ll hear the cry of another baby named Oliver. A prodigy, Oliver enters Harvard at 16, graduates before 20, gets his medical degree, practices medicine, and begins teaching at Dartmouth and Harvard. Today, his legacy includes a long list of still-respected books. Oliver Wendell Holmes, 1809.

Travel up and cross the Charles River until you get to Boston, where another baby, Edgar, is being born. Edgar’s father quickly abandons him; soon after, his mother dies. A family named Allan take Edgar in, and he takes their last name as his middle. He becomes the father of the American short story. Edgar Allan Poe, 1809.

Back across the pond, journey to Shropshire, where a family welcomes their fifth child, a boy. Soon, they realize they have a young scientist on their hands. Before he dies, he’s spread his theory of evolution around the world. Charles Darwin, 1809.

Over in Lincolnshire, Baby Alfred takes his first breath. Before he’s buried, he becomes the poet laureate of Ireland and Great Britain, still among the most admired and prolific poets. Alfred Lord Tennyson, 1809.

We can’t leave out a one-room log cabin in Kentucky, where Thomas and Nancy are thrilled to welcome their second child, whom they name after his grandfather. They can little imagine their baby will lead the nation through civil war. Abraham Lincoln, 1809.

All these men born in 1809 . . . but who cared? Few historical buffs could name one of Napoleon’s campaigns! What seemed super-significant proved, ultimately, no more exciting than a Sunday-afternoon nap. What seemed totally insignificant was, in fact, the genesis of an era.

Let’s go back farther, to the first century. Rome captivated the world. Bordered by the Atlantic, the Euphrates, the Danube and the Rhine, and the burning sands of the Sahara, the Roman Empire was vast and vicious. Political intrigue, racial tension, rampant immorality, and enormous military might occupied everyone’s attention. All eyes were on Augustus—the Caesar who demanded a census.

No one cared about a couple making the 90-mile trip from Nazareth to Bethlehem. What could be more important than Caesar’s decisions in Rome?

Yet, mighty Augustus had unintentionally become a mere errand boy for the fulfillment of Micah’s prediction. While Rome was busy making history, God arrived. He pitched His fleshly tent on straw in a humble Bethlehem stable. Reeling from the wake of the Greats—Alexander, Herod, and Augustus—the world overlooked Jesus.

It still does. Many believers do too.

Our times aren’t altogether different than 1809 or even the first century. That list of Roman distractions sounds familiar, doesn’t it? Political intrigue. Racial tension. Rampant immorality. Enormous military might. To enhance our tunnel vision, we DO have news networks. Most of us have smartphones that alert us to every new development in (and friend’s opinion about) the “it” story. It’s easy to get sucked into the fear and anxiety.

Don’t misread me. The events flashing across our news channels matter. Some of them have deeply impacted you. They are not trivial. But make no mistake—Satan wants to distract you from the message of Christmas. It’s a message we need today as much as those who lived under the crushing weight of Rome’s heavy boot.

So, here it is: Immanuel—God with Us.

Christmas is about God’s coming down to live in this weary world with us. The long-awaited Messiah finally letting out His first cry. The Savior, the only Hope for a world that drowns Him out. The conquering King of Kings, who is coming again to make wrong right once and for all.

That King is OUR King!

As life rages around you, please pause. Feel the truth of God’s drawing near to you. Let His Word drive out your fear and let His hope bind your heart. Fix your eyes on Him and receive your King! [Dec. 5, 2017 article]

Another time and another place, I was visiting with one of our senior saints. I was talking about Christmas, and she said, “I don’t know how they had babies back then.” I said something like, “Yes, and to be traveling during the ninth month of pregnancy!” We continued our conversation, and I parted ways, but I have to imagine the travel for the first Christmas was very difficult.

But think about Christmas today. Our difficulty and even our busyness is of our own doing.

What do you have to get done for Christmas?

Shout some things out:

Bake cookies

More shopping

More decorating

Wrap gifts

Travel

Groceries

Etc.

These are all great things, but they are nothing compared to what Mary and Joseph went through. I do not mean to criticize anyone here, either.

Now, switch gears and think about a difficult time that ended okay… Maybe you did not know God would use it for good until later. Perhaps you were laid off for a while, but God gave you a better job. Maybe you were laid off but realized you didn’t need the job. Perhaps something else was taken from you…

I also believe that God can use our hard times.

We will look at Luke 2:1-7 and mainly focus on the journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem.

When we think about Mary and Joseph traveling, it was not in a car; they had no CD player or any other modern luxuries.

Think about it: they are traveling; Mary is in her ninth month of pregnancy. Mary could not have been enjoying this as a sightseeing journey. But God used this arduous journey to bring the Savior into the world.

Let me say right now that I greatly benefited in ideas as well as cultural and geographical information from Adam Hamilton’s book, The Journey.[1]

Theme:

Mary and Joseph had a difficult journey heading into Jesus’s birth. God was going to use this for the good.

Application:

Let God use difficult things you go through for His glory and purposes.

Let’s read the passage:

Luke 2:1–7 (ESV)

2 In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. ² This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria. ³ And all went to be registered, each to his own town. ⁴ And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, ⁵ to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. ⁶ And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. ⁷ And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.

1. Let’s start by talking about what led up to the journey.
   1. It is likely that while Mary was visiting her relative, Elizabeth, she went to see Joseph and tell him she was pregnant. During that time, she would have been in Ein Karem, which is close to Bethlehem, where Joseph is from. Of course, Joseph was likely upset, but then God spoke to him in a dream (Matthew 1:20-23), and he decided to stay by her.
   2. Following that, they likely talked to her parents and planned a wedding. We could call it eloping if we want. It is likely that they got married when she was about five months pregnant with our Lord.
   3. There could have been people questioning things; likely, there were.
   4. Likely, they traveled the 70-some miles back to Nazareth for the wedding.
   5. It was common in that day that there would be a formal engagement. Following the formal engagement, a husband would build a room in his father’s house. About a year later, he would marry the bride-to-be, and they would live at the father of the groom’s house until they could afford their own house and land.
   6. In this case, things are different. Maybe they planned to live at Joseph’s parents’ house after baby Jesus was born. However, they were in Nazareth before the census. It seems that they were planning to give birth in Nazareth. Nazareth would allow Mary to be close to her parents and maybe a midwife she would know.
   7. But then the census comes. The census meant that they would have to travel to Bethlehem. Bethlehem was Joseph’s hometown, and since Mary married him, she would have to register with him in Bethlehem.
   8. So, now they must travel.
   9. Mary is likely nine months pregnant; do you think she was excited to travel? What do you think?
   10. I think she might have been thinking, “This is not how it was supposed to be. Why am I going through this?” She likely was having a hard time.
   11. Sometimes, we are also in difficult situations, and we may be asking questions of the Lord. We may be going through cancer, the loss of a loved one, being out of work, or dealing with difficult children. We can be sure that God is with us. We can be sure that God can also use what we are going through for His glory and will.

• Let’s think about the travel.
  1. There is no mention of a donkey, though Joseph likely would have procured an animal for her to ride on. The apocryphal Gospel of James does mention a donkey.
  2. They would have a descent from the hills into the Jezreel Valley. This would have been the easiest part of the journey and may have taken the first two days.
  3. The Jezreel Valley was the location of so many of the ancient battles that it became synonymous with war and bloodshed. The writer of Revelation saw the final, apocalyptic battle between good and evil—the battle of Armageddon— taking place here (Armageddon means “hill of Megiddo,” with Megiddo being a city built upon a hill along the Jezreel Valley— see Revelation 16:16.).
  4. The child in Mary’s womb would be called the Prince of Peace, yet someday will return on a white horse to wage war against evil and ultimately to triumph over it (Rev. 19:11-16).
  5. The journey would become more difficult after several days, as it followed the ancient road, which curved back and forth as it ascended and descended the hills and mountains of central Israel.
  6. Mary and Joseph would have traveled up higher and higher hills.
  7. From Jerusalem, it would only be a few hour’s walk to Bethlehem across several miles of arid desert and some hills.
  8. Then they arrive at Bethlehem.

• But think about Jesus’s birth. If Joseph is from Bethlehem, why is there no place to stay?
  1. Think about a first-century home:
  2. Central room that served as a kitchen and living area,
  3. Sleeping quarters where parents slept,
  4. The guest room where children slept and yielded to guests when there was company,
  5. The children slept with their parents or in the living area when there were guests.
  6. There was also a stable or small barn either behind the home or, in the case of homes built around caves, beneath the home. The stable protected the animals from predators or animals at night.
  7. Assuming Joseph’s family was of modest income, they would have had one guest room. The guest room might hold bed mats for six people sleeping side by side. The main living room and kitchen could hold several more.
  8. How many of Joseph’s extended family were in Bethlehem because of the census?
  9. If Joseph had four or five siblings, each of them had family, it is easy to see why the guest room would have had no room.
  10. Imagine her sitting on the birthing stool, between contractions, choking back the tears, thinking this is not how it was supposed to be.

1. Some final applications:
   1. This was not a silent night.
   2. All was not calm and bright.
   3. It was a disappointing and depressing night. It was hard.
   4. He was born not in a hospital or guest room but in a stable.
   5. We all have difficult journeys:
   6. Jacob’s son, Joseph, was sold into slavery (Gen. 37).
   7. David fled Saul to the Philistines for a few years (1 Samuel 19ff and chapter 27) and wrote Psalms asking, “Why do You allow my enemies to prosper?” “When are You going to save me?” That was not the end of the story.
   8. Shadrach, Meshech, and Abednego were told to bow down and worship the king’s image, but they didn’t (Daniel 3). That was not the end of the story.
   9. The people of Israel were exiled for 400 years, but that was not the end.
   10. Now, the child born in a stable would walk to Calvary, but that was not the end of the story.

All of us take difficult journeys but God walks with us. God redeems the journeys, and that is not the end of the story.

Mary could not see that the angels would be rejoicing. She could not see that we would be reading the story two thousand years later.  However, we are.

R. C. Sproul shares:

Every time I hear the prohibition “Don’t be afraid,” I think of my days teaching nineteenth-century philosophy and teaching the writings of Friedrich Nietzsche, the existential nihilist. Nietzsche said that there is no meaning to life, that everything is an exercise in futility. All there is at the end of the day is nothingness. At the same time, Nietzsche called for the superman, the Übermensch, to demonstrate what he called “dialectical courage.” He said: “The superman is the man who builds his house on the slope of Vesuvius. He sends his ship into uncharted seas.” He’s afraid of nothing. He’s defiant. He challenges this meaningless world in “which he lives, and he lives his life with a spirit of courage.

What is dialectical courage? What Nietzsche meant is contradictory courage, irrational courage. He called on people to be courageous, even though their courage is equally meaningless. That is, he could give no sound reason for calling anyone to be courageous or to be fearless. In the New Testament, Jesus says to His followers, “Take heart,” and He gives a reason for that command. “Take heart,” Jesus says. “I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). Years before, the angel said, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord” (vv. 10–11).

The shepherds likely understood that the word Christ was the Greek translation of the Hebrew word Messiah, or “anointed one,” and this was an announcement that the long-awaited Savior had come into the world.[1]

[1] Excerpt From. Luke. R.C. Sproul
https://books.apple.com/us/book/luke/id1534659946
This material may be protected by copyright.

Prayer

God created us to be with him (Gen. 1-2).

Our sin separated us from God (Gen. 3).

Sins cannot be removed by good deeds (Gen. 4-Mal 4).

Paying the price for sin, Jesus died and rose again (Matt. – Luke).

Everyone who trusts in him alone has eternal life (John – Jude).

Life that’s eternal means we will be with Jesus forever (Rev. 22:5).

[1] Rev 2:20-23

Hamilton, Adam (2011-09-01). The Journey: Walking the Road to Bethlehem. Abingdon Press. Kindle Edition.

The American storyteller Garrison Keillor recently claimed that you don’t have to believe in Jesus to have a great Christmas. Keillor said,

Although you may decide that instead of Christmas carols you are going to hold hands and breathe in unison, Christmas will still live deep in the cockles of your heart—or actually in your neo-cortex, stored as zillions of neuron impulses … It’s [your brain] that sends tears to your eyes when you smell the saffron cookies that your grandma used to make or you sing Silent Night. So Christmas is: number one lights, number two food, number three song, number four being with people you like. You need no more.

Tim Keller comments on Keillor’s quote:

Keillor is saying that it doesn’t matter whether you believe in God or not. You can still hold hands, you can still breathe in unison. All the good feelings of Christmas are just a reaction in our brain. But here’s why that doesn’t work. I know enough about Garrison Keillor to know that he is very upset with cruelty and prejudice. But if it’s really true that there is no God, if there is no supernatural or miracles, and if everything is a function of natural causes—if that is all true, then it is also true that love, and joy, and even cruelty and prejudice are just all chemical reactions stored in our brain. Keillor is against cruelty and prejudice, but if it’s true that everything is just chemistry, then how in the world can you say there’s a moral difference between love and cruelty, between kissing someone or killing someone? They’re both nothing but neuro-chemical responses. So if there is no God, and if Christmas is all about lights, songs, and being with nice people and your neo-cortex going crazy about it, then I don’t see how Keillor can stand up and say that there is something wrong with cruelty and prejudice. He can’t do it. Without the theology behind Christmas, you lose the core meaning of Christmas.[1]

So, as we move towards Christmas, remember the importance of what is happening. Remember the reality and the truth of what is happening. Next, we see specific values in Mary’s Magnificat to get closer to today’s message. We see particular values addressed. The Magnificat is addressing injustice. We’ll look at that briefly, but let’s look at the bigger picture. The Gospel is addressing injustice. Somehow, we know and believe in morality. Somehow, we think certain things are wrong, and others are right. Somehow, we believe in love. We believe in joy. We get these values somewhere. The Bible teaches that we get these values from God (Romans 1:18-19; 2:15). Even more than that, we believe that certain things are wrong. If we believe certain things are wrong, like murder, stealing, telling lies, and just being mean, which the Bible calls sin, how do we make it right? Jesus’s death and resurrection take care of our sins.

So, Mary is pregnant with Jesus. She is likely a little bit down. She doesn’t know how she is going to handle everything coming her way, but her relative, Elizabeth, encourages her. Have you ever been encouraged?

Have you ever thought you had more coming your way than you could handle?

Who encouraged you?

Who motivated you?

Let’s look at the passage.

Let’s read Luke 1:39-45:

Luke 1:39–45 (ESV)

³⁹ In those days Mary arose and went with haste into the hill country, to a town in Judah, ⁴⁰ and she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. ⁴¹ And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, ⁴² and she exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! ⁴³ And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? ⁴⁴ For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. ⁴⁵ And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord.”

Theme: Mary visits Elizabeth, and she is encouraged.

Applications: Kneel before Jesus as Lord and be used by God to encourage others.

1. Kneel before Jesus as Lord.
   1. We need to notice who the first person to call Jesus Lord was. If you look at this passage, you will see that it was Elizabeth.
   2. Let me put this in context. The angel Gabriel visits Mary and tells her she will be pregnant with the Messiah. That happens in Luke 1:26-38. That passage ends with Mary saying, “I am the Lord’s servant…” Then Mary leaves and goes to visit her relative, Elizabeth. This was likely an 8–9-day journey through mountains and rough land. She is going from Nazareth to Ein Karem, which is the traditional location of Elizabeth and Zachariah’s home.
   3. Adam Hamilton believes that another reason for Mary to visit Elizabeth would be the proximity of her home to the home of Joseph. Tradition says that her home would have been in Ein Karem just about an hour walk and a few miles from the Temple mount in Jerusalem. Ein Karem is mentioned in Jeremiah 6:1 and Nehemiah 3:14 as “Beth-Haccherem” Ein Karem is 80 miles from Mary’s home in Nazareth. This may have taken 8-9 days and she would not have traveled alone. Mary stayed with Elizabeth until the end of the pregnancy.[2]
   4. Mary enters Elizabeth’s house and says, “Elizabeth, it’s me!” Then the baby in Elizabeth’s womb, John the Baptizer, leaped in her womb. Verse 41 says that Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. Understand that is a fantastic statement. In the Old Testament, only prophets and certain kings received the Holy Spirit. So, in Psalm 51:11, King David laments: “Take not the Holy Spirit from me.” There was a fear of losing the Holy Spirit.
   5. It was once said, “I wonder what it was like for Moses to talk to God as he did.” Yet Moses could have thought, “What is it like to have God with you?” We receive the Holy Spirit when we commit to Christ (John 14-17). We have God with us. (2 Cor. 6:16) Don’t take this lightly.
   6. Now, having the Holy Spirit, Elizabeth encourages Mary.
   7. She says in verse 42: “Blessed are you among women and blessed is the child that you bear.”
   8. Imagine Mary being down and struggling with this task and now her relative is saying, “You are blessed.” “You are really blessed.”
   9. But verse 43: “But why am I so favored that the mother of my Lord should come to me?”
   10. Catch this: Elizabeth is ordinary, and God calls her to do something extraordinary. She is bearing John the Baptizer. She is encouraging Mary. She is saying, “Who am I?” But then she calls Jesus “Lord.”
   11. How would she know? She is filled with the Holy Spirit and is the first to call Jesus Lord.
   12. In verses 39-45, 3 times, the word “blessed” is used. Twice, it refers to Mary and once to Jesus.
2. Be an encourager.
   1. Mary is likely 10 days pregnant at this point. She has not been pregnant long.
   2. She needs encouragement, and Elizabeth gave her that encouragement.
   3. Everyone needs an encourager. Let me jump to mentors. Elizabeth is an older woman, not Mary’s mom, who can voice wisdom in her life. I have often heard that everyone should have a mentor, be mentoring someone else, and have a peer they can connect with. How are you doing in this area?
   4. I heard about a church that decided to take this mentoring seriously, so on all of their committees; they chose to have one-third of the participants be fifty-five and older, one-third is to be thirty-five through fifty-five years old-, and one-third of the members are to be thirty-five and younger. What an excellent idea for mentoring.
3. The Gospel is counter-cultural, let’s look at the Magnificat.
   56. Mary’s Magnificat is in verses 46-56.
   57. Magnificat comes from the Latin: “magnify” or “praise.” This is based on how Mary began her Psalm: “My soul magnifies the Lord” (Luke 1:46).
   58. Mary was from a small town that could barely be a dot on a map. Joseph was a carpenter whose net worth could fit in a toolbox.
   59. He scatters the proud and pulls down the mighty from their thrones (verses 51-52).
   60. Compare this with what Jesus will later say:
   61. Jesus had said, “The first shall be last, and the last shall be first” (Matthew 20:16)
   62. Jesus said, “If you really want to be great, you will be the servant of others” (Matthew 20:26)
   63. Jesus said, “If you are invited to a wedding banquet, take the lower seat” (Luke 14:8).
   64. Jesus said through James, “Humble yourself in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up” (James 4:10).
   65. In Mary’s Magnificat, we find a picture of a God who is for the underdog and is for people who have been made to feel like nobodies. Those are the ones He lifts. That is the character of the God proclaimed in the Scriptures. That is the character of His Son.
   66. The Magnificat says that “He has filled the hungry with good things and sent the rich away empty-handed” (verse 53).
   67. This is an opportunity for the rich to humble themselves and be used of God.
   68. The Magnificat is counter cultural. The Magnificat is about how God uses ordinary people for extraordinary things.

So, review:

Mary and Elizabeth are two ordinary people who God used to do the extraordinary.

Theme: Mary visits Elizabeth, and she is encouraged.

Applications: Kneel before Jesus as Lord and be used by God to encourage others.

Do you know Jesus?

God created us to be with him (Genesis 1-2).

Our sin separated us from God (Genesis 3).

Sins cannot be removed by good deeds (Gen. 4-Mal. 4).

Paying the price for sin, Jesus died and rose again (Matthew – Luke).

Everyone who trusts in him alone has eternal life (John – Jude).

Life that’s eternal means we will be with Jesus forever (Revelation 22:5).

Pray

[1] Adapted from Tim Keller, “God with Us: Conversations with Tim Keller about Christmas”

[2] Hamilton, Adam (2011-09-01). The Journey: Walking the Road to Bethlehem. Abingdon Press. Kindle Edition.

Okay, let’s have a Christmas pageant. Let’s just pretend for a moment:

Who wants to be the innkeeper? Raise your hand

Who wants to be Joseph? Raise your hand; someone is Joseph.

Who wants to be the camel? Ha, come on, someone play a camel.

Who wants to be the wise man? Raise your hand.

Who else do we need? Who wants to be shepherds? We need several raise your hands.

Who wants to be the doctor? The doctor? She was having a baby; do you think there was a doctor there? No, there was not. Who wants to be the nurse? Who wants to be the mother of Mary?

No nurse.

No doctor.

No Mother.

Who wants to be Mary? Someone raise your hand.

Do you think Mary wanted to be Mary?

Have you ever been asked to do a difficult, honorable, or noble task, but you did not know that you could do it? Have you been there?

That is what Mary felt. Mary was a world changer. She changed the world as the mother of Jesus. We would not be here if it were not for Mary. Think about this: We have a mission statement from Matthew 28:19–20 (ESV)

¹⁹ Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

This could not have happened without Mary. Mary gave birth to the One who gave that commission.

Let’s look at Mary’s commissioning:

Luke 1:26–38 (ESV)

²⁶ In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, ²⁷ to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin’s name was Mary. ²⁸ And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!” ²⁹ But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. ³⁰ And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. ³¹ And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall 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 to him the throne of his father David, ³³ and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”

³⁴ And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?”

³⁵ And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God. ³⁶ And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. ³⁷ For nothing will be impossible with God.” ³⁸ And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.

Theme:

Mary was highly favored for a difficult task, which she humbly accepted.

Application:

Sometimes, God’s call is not easy. Accept the call as Mary did.

1. I want to focus on one word: “Highly Favored.”
   1. This word is the word for “grace.”
   2. It is only used in this way in Ephesians 1:6 having to do with God giving us His grace.
   3. This verse is saying that Mary has received God’s grace or God’s favor.
   4. This is Gabriel’s greeting to Mary. Gabriel says, “The Lord is with you.”
   5. She is twice told that she has received grace or favor, in verse 28 and verse 30: ³⁰ And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.
   6. As one writes about grace: Grace is at the center of what God was doing in Christmas. The child to be born of Mary would embody and incarnate grace. His message would be a message of grace. His life would demonstrate grace to sinners, tax collectors, and prostitutes. They had been taught that there was no place for them in the synagogue, that God’s judgment and wrath was upon them; Jesus devoted his life to showing them that it was God’s love, mercy, and kindness that were offered to them. Jesus showed them grace.[1]
   7. Do we realize who she would be the mother to?
   8. Those who wrote the great hymns of Christmas know it.  They’ve always known it.  Our carols celebrate it.  “Joy to the world, the Lord is come.”  “Yea, Lord, we great Thee, born this happy morning,” “Come adore on bended knee Christ the Lord,” “Christ by highest heaven adored, Christ the everlasting Lord,” “Veiled in flesh the Godhead see, hail the Incarnate Deity.”  “Jesus, our Immanuel.”  “Yet in the dark street shineth the everlasting light.”  “Oh come with us, abide with us, our Lord, Immanuel.”  The carol says, “Jesus, Lord at Thy birth,” “Incense owns a Deity nigh,” “The virgin’s sweet boy is the Lord of the earth,”  “Word of the Father now in flesh appearing,”  “How that in Bethlehem was born the Son of God by name,”  “God with man is now residing, suddenly the Lord descending.”  The carol says, “Thou didst leave Thy throne and Thy kingly crown when Thou camest to earth for me.”  “And the Father gave His Son, gave His own beloved One.”  Son of the Most High, Son of God, God in human flesh; this amazing child is God come down. Grace has power. When you show kindness, compassion, goodness, or love to someone who does not deserve it, the act of grace has the power to change hearts, to heal broken relationships, and to reconcile people and even nations. Grace changes the one who receives it, but it also changes the one who gives it.[2]
   9. She certainly is the mother of God; she raised Jesus.
   10. Do you think she was happy for this task?
2. Let’s talk more about Mary.
   1. Mary was from a tiny town called Nazareth.
   2. Nazareth would not even make it on a list of cities. It was just a tiny little village.
   3. We would think if God were going to send His Son into the world, He would pick a woman from Rome or Jerusalem, but He didn’t.
   4. I believe God wanted to show that He chooses the nobodies.
   5. Mary was likely 13 years old. Think about that.
   6. She was from humble beginnings.
   7. She was likely uneducated.
   8. She was likely raised to be very devoted to God.
   9. Mary is told how things will happen. The power of God, the Most High, will overshadow her. Mary is not told exactly what is going to happen, but if God did not cause her to conceive, then Jesus would be a clone of her. People have lacked faith in the virgin birth in the past, but with all of the science these days and how we can artificially inseminate, do we need to doubt God?
   10. So, Mary is told precisely what will happen.
   11. Again, I return to the question: Do you think Mary wanted to be Mary?
   12. Do you think Mary wanted to go and tell Joseph she was pregnant? Do you think Mary was scared? Do you think Mary was concerned to talk to her parents? Having a baby was scary back then, but all these responsibilities and the great humility also.
   13. As a brief aside think of how confounding it is that God became a man.
   14. Look at verses 34-35:
   15. Luke 1:34–35 (ESV)
   16. ³⁴ And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?”
   17. ³⁵ And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God.
   18. God became a man!
   19. This comes from Timothy Keller:
   20. For example, all relationships (certainly marriages but all relationships) … Certainly parent and child, all of this always happens. Sometimes you get into conversations that go roughly like this:
   21. “You’re to blame.”
   22. “Oh, no. You’re to blame.”
   23. “Oh, no, no. It’s you.”
   24. “Oh, no, no, no, no, no. It’s not me. It’s you.”
   25. “No, it’s you.”
   26. “No, it’s you.”

• “No, it’s you.”
• What’s happening? The relationship is falling apart because neither side will budge an inch. Neither side will take any blame. Neither side will make any concession. Neither side will admit. Neither side will drop the defenses. You are defending yourself at every point where the other person is accusing you or charging you. At every point! As long as those defenses are up, your relationship is going away, and on it goes. Sometimes this happens:
• “No, no. It’s you.”
• “No, no. It’s you.”
• “No, no, no, no. It’s you.”
• “Okay, it’s me.”
• “No, no … Yeah!” Now what happens there? Sometimes it’s:
• “It’s you.”
• “No, it’s you.”
• “No, it’s you.”
• “No, it’s you.”
• “No, it’s you.”
• “Yes, it’s me.”
• “Yes, it’s you. Yes, it’s you!”
• Sometimes the piling on happens for a while, but I’ll tell you what begins to happen immediately. The relationship starts to heal. Sometimes it starts to deepen. It starts to come back. Why? Because one of you dropped defenses. I mean, certainly it goes like this. You know, even if you feel like the other person is 80 percent wrong, exaggerating, throwing in a lot of fabrications, almost always the person is at least 20 person right. You know it.
• The relationship starts to come back because you take that 20 percent, and you admit it. You say, “Yeah, it’s me. Yes, I am to blame. I am to blame here. I am willing to do that.” You make yourself vulnerable, and you drop your defenses. It can hurt! It’s very hard, because very often the other person keeps piling on for a while. In general, it won’t be long before not only the relationship is restored, but very often it’s deeper than it’s ever been before. It’s more intimate than it’s ever been before.
• Why would you do that? Because in the midst of all the yelling and all the hostility, one of you decides, in spite of how distorted that other person is right now and how distorted we are both because of our anger, “I want that person back. I want the person I love back.” The only way to do that is you take down your shield somewhere, and you let one of the verbal blows land. You say, “Yes, it’s true. It’s me. I’m wrong. I admit it.”

• It hurts, but it’s the only way. In fact, almost always it works, and the relationship begins to at least come back. At least it stops deteriorating. Later on, it might actually get better. In many, many cases, it gets deeper than it ever was before because you have done a costly act of redemption for the relationship. You let your defenses down.
• Why does that work? Do you know why that works? It works because you are made in the image of the One who gave the ultimate expression of this part of his own nature at Christmas, because at Christmas when the unassailable God, the omnipotent God, became a baby, we have the ultimate example of letting your defenses down.^[3]
• C. S. Lewis years ago very famously put it something like this: “If you want your heart to never be broken, give it no one. If you don’t want your heart to be broken, if you don’t want to be vulnerable, if you don’t want your heart to be broken, then don’t give it to anyone.” He says, in that little casket of self-centeredness, your heart will not be broken. It will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable.

• Because, you see, there’s absolutely no way to have a relationship without becoming vulnerable. There’s no way to get back a relationship or deepen a relationship or get it more intimate without becoming vulnerable and hurt. Here’s what Christmas tells you. There is no other religion that even tells you this about God. No other religion even claims it. Secularism says the incarnation is a miracle. It’s impossible. Judaism and Islam say it’s impossible for God to become a baby. Eastern religions say it’s impossible.
• Only Christianity says God became breakable. God literally became breakable. God became fragile. God became breakable. God became someone we could hurt. Why? To get us back. To get you back! Jesus Christ became utterly fragile. God became utterly breakable and died on the cross to pay for our sins and to reconcile to himself anyone who was willing to admit they need that extreme a salvation.^[4]
• Martin Luther, in one of his nativity sermons, put it like this. He said are you afraid of God? He places before you a Babe with whom you may take refuge. You cannot fear a Babe, for nothing is more appealing to the human heart than a baby.
• “To me there is no greater consolation given to mankind than this, that Christ became man, a child, a babe, playing in the lap … of his most gracious mother.” You see, the consuming fire, the whirlwind, became a baby in order to become someone who could be hurt. Why? Why? To have intimacy, a relationship. He did all of that to get near us. If you know that, if this isn’t just a metaphor, this isn’t just a sweet symbol, if you know it, blessed are you if you know it was really accomplished.^[5]
• Mary would tell her relatives and Joseph. Mary goes to visit Elizabeth, and then we have the Magnificat.

• Let’s look at Mary’s response.
  1. And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her (Verse 38).
  2. Sometimes, the Lord’s calling is difficult, but we must follow through.
  3. We must follow through like Mary did and just respond, I am the servant of the Lord…
  4. There’s a place where Martin Luther in one of his nativity sermons says something like, “Do you know what a stable smells like?” Now I’m paraphrasing, but this is Luther, and this is the way he was. He said something like, “Do you know what a stable smells like? Do you know what that family would have smelled like after the birth and they went out into the city? If they were standing next to you, how would you have felt about them? How would you have regarded them?^[6]
  5. Verse 29: ²⁹ But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be.^[7]
  6. I like what Timothy Keller shares:
  7. Literally it says, the word wondered is the word dialogizomai, which means to logic through something, to rationally think. Dialogizomai. You can see it (logic). To think through. To furiously analyze. Then it says to furiously analyze what kind of greeting this might be. What that means is she is sitting there saying, “Is this a hallucination, or is this a dream, or is this the real thing?”
  8. She is going through categories of possibilities, and she is saying, “Am I seeing things?” Now this isn’t the way you write a legend. No, if you’re going to write a legend that’s supposed to promote the piety of the faithful, you don’t say, “And the angel appeared unto Mary and said, ‘Greetings! Hail!’ ” Then usually what happens is Mary says immediately, “I am the Lord’s servant.” Right?
  9. That’s how you write a legend, but that’s not what happens. Here’s what Luke tells you what happened. The angel appeared, and Mary sat there and said, “Am I seeing things? Are you real? What’s going on here? I can’t be seeing this. What’s the matter? This is weird.” In other words, Mary is reacting just the way you would react.
  10. There are a lot of people maybe in this room and a lot of people who would say, “Well, I’m a modern skeptical person. Back then, people were primitive. They believed in these things, but I’m different.” No, you’re not. Not at all. Don’t you dare hide behind that. Mary is reacting exactly like you would have. She is dialogizomai. She is trying to think logically through it. She is trying to figure out, “What in the world? How do I account for this? How do I account for this? Am I dreaming? Did I eat something? Is this a flashback? What is going on here?”
  11. Let me show you how it works. Let me show you. Let’s enter in here. Let me help you do the same thing. How do you account for this? That’s what she is saying. She is saying, “How do I account for this data?” See? She did not have a grid. She did not have a worldview that included angels and visions and things like that happening to her. Okay, now let’s do it with us ourselves.
  12. How do you account for the fact that Mary … or maybe let’s just say Luke … these early Christians believed God had become flesh and the one he had become, a human being, Jesus Christ, needed to be worshiped? How do you account for that? Would you think with me? Think through it. Was this a kind of development, you know, a trend out of Greek thinking? No. There was absolutely nothing about Greco-Roman thinking at the time.
  13. Everything about their worldview said, “Matter is bad. The physical is bad.” They mean nothing. Nothing! There was no trend. There was nothing in that culture that would ever lead anybody to believe the creator God would become human. Oh, okay. Eastern religions. Is this sort of a development, an extension of Eastern religions? No. Eastern religions believe matter and the physical is an illusion, that it’s going to pass away eventually.
  14. Well, the Jews. Oh, yeah. But listen. In other words, as much as we can say Eastern and Western religion and philosophy were completely against … totally against … the whole concept, there was absolutely no way this developed out of there (the concept of the incarnation). The last people in the whole world who would ever believe some human being should be worshiped would be the Jews, who didn’t even speak God’s name, don’t even write God’s name, even to this day.^[8]
  15. S. Lewis used to say something like, “The reason I believe in Christianity is because nobody is brilliant enough or crazy enough to have thought this up.”^[9]
  16. Later Mary says, “I am the Lord’s servant…”
  17. Can we respond this way? Can we respond to God’s Word and honorably say.
  18. “I am the Lord’s servant, and I will follow the rules.”
  19. “I am the Lord’s servant I will walk in integrity.”
  20. “I am the Lord’s servant and will not spread that rumor.”
  21. “I am the Lord’s servant and will not gossip on Facebook.”
  22. “I am the Lord’s servant, and I won’t look at that website.”
  23. “I am the Lord’s servant, and I will not have road rage.”
  24. “I am the Lord’s servant, and I will apologize for my behavior.”
  25. “I am the Lord’s servant, and I will treat people with respect.”
  26. “I am the Lord’s servant. I will share the Gospel with people, pray, read the Bible, work at the food pantry, help someone with a meal, and give someone grace.”
  27. I am the Lord’s servant… we must pray about it and live like Mary.

Remember grace and favor; it is such a gift. That was such a privilege for Mary. Give people grace this week. Give people favor this week.

Dorothy Sayers says, “[The incarnation] means … that for whatever reason God chose to make man as he is—limited and suffering and subject to sorrows and death—he [God] had the honesty and courage to take his own medicine. […] He can exact nothing from man that he has not exacted from himself.

He has himself gone through the whole of human experience, from the trivial irritations of family life and the cramping restrictions of hard work and lack of money to the worst horrors of pain and humiliation, defeat, despair, and death. […] He was born in poverty and died in disgrace and thought it well worthwhile.” So in the package, there’s a unique resource for suffering.^[10]

Timothy Keller:

If you believe in Christmas, you’re also in this unique spot. No other religion … whether it’s secularism, Greco-Roman paganism, Eastern religions, Judaism, or Islam … no religion believes God became breakable. No religion, no view, believes God suffered. Thirdly, none of them believe God has a body. Eastern religions believe the physical is an illusion. Greek and Romans at the time believed the physical was bad. Judaism and Islam don’t believe God would do such a thing.

Christianity, Christmas, teaches God is not just concerned about the spiritual because he is not just a spirit anymore. This is so outrageous. He has a body! Because he has a body, he knows what it’s like to be poor. He knows what it’s like to be a refugee running away from persecution, having to go to Egypt. He knows what it’s like to be hungry. He knows what it’s like to be beaten. He knows what it’s like to be stabbed. He knows what it’s like to be speared. He knows what it’s like to be dead. He knows what it’s like.

Therefore, if you put the doctrine of the incarnation and Christmas together with the doctrine of the resurrection … In other words, if you put Christmas and Easter together, here’s what you have. We have a God who is not just concerned about the spirit but also the body. He created body and spirit. He is going to redeem body and spirit. Christianity is the one religion (Christmas, in particular) that leads us to be able to talk about redeeming people from guilt and unbelief and creating safe streets and warm, affordable housing for the poor in the same breath.^[11]

Be encouraged. We have all received God’s grace.

So, would you want to be Mary? But remember Mary’s response; we can respond in the same way.

Pray

[1] Hamilton, Adam (2011-09-01). The Journey: Walking the Road to Bethlehem (Kindle Locations 238-242). Abingdon Press. Kindle Edition.

[2] http://www.gty.org/resources/sermons/42-7/the-greatest-child-ever-born

^[3] Timothy J. Keller, The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive (New York City: Redeemer Presbyterian Church, 2013).

^[4] Timothy J. Keller, The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive (New York City: Redeemer Presbyterian Church, 2013).

^[5] Timothy J. Keller, The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive (New York City: Redeemer Presbyterian Church, 2013).

^[6] Timothy J. Keller, The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive (New York City: Redeemer Presbyterian Church, 2013).

^[7] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Lk 1:29.

^[8] Timothy J. Keller, The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive (New York City: Redeemer Presbyterian Church, 2013).

^[9] Timothy J. Keller, The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive (New York City: Redeemer Presbyterian Church, 2013).

^[10] Timothy J. Keller, The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive (New York City: Redeemer Presbyterian Church, 2013).

^[11] Timothy J. Keller, The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive (New York City: Redeemer Presbyterian Church, 2013).