A Song Breaks the Silence - Luke 1:57-80 - March, 13, 2022

 Luke 1:57-80 A Song Breaks the Silence

Good morning! I want to thank Elder Joel for bringing the Word last week, it was wonderful, you’re hired!

Let’s pray.

We are going back to the Gospel of Luke this morning. Turn with me to Luke 1:57-80, page 856 in the pew Bibles.

To bring us up to speed with the story so far, the angel Gabriel appeared to Zechariah and told him that he and his wife Elizabeth were going to have a baby boy in their old age and that they should name him John, Joanees in Greek.

Zechariah didn’t believe the angel and his doubt was rewarded with dumbness, he wasn’t able to speak, and, as we will see in our text, he may very well have been struck deaf as well. The same angel appeared to Mary and told her that she too would have a baby boy by the Holy Spirit. Instead of doubt, Mary responded in faith and humbly submitted to the Lord’s will. Mary then went to visit Elizabeth her relative. When Mary arrived and greeted Elizabeth the baby in Elizabeth’s womb leapt for joy and she was filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke a wonderful blessing on Mary and Mary responded with a song that we call the “Magnificat.” Mary stayed with Elizabeth and Zechariah for three months, presumably until the birth of their son, and that’s where we pick up the story in verse 57.

I want to look at this passage in two pieces, the actual birth of John the Baptist and then Zechariah’s response to it. The first part is one of the funniest passages in Scripture in my opinion.

Let’s look at verse 57.

57 Now the time came for Elizabeth to give birth, and she bore a son. 58 And her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown great mercy to her, and they rejoiced with her. 59 And on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child. And they would have called him Zechariah after his father, 60 but his mother answered, “No; he shall be called John.” 61 And they said to her, “None of your relatives is called by this name.” 62 And they made signs to his father, inquiring what he wanted him to be called. 63 And he asked for a writing tablet and wrote, “His name is John.” And they all wondered. 64 And immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue loosed, and he spoke, blessing God. 65 And fear came on all their neighbors. And all these things were talked about through all the hill country of Judea, 66 and all who heard them laid them up in their hearts, saying, “What then will this child be?” For the hand of the Lord was with him. 

So this really is a story of a miracle. Elizabeth and Zechariah were well beyond child bearing years and they had never been able to have kids. So when the time came for the baby to be born it drew a lot of attention from family and neighbors.

It was tradition to wait until baby boys were circumcised to name them, this was the case with John and would later be the same with Jesus. But when the time came there was disagreement about what the baby should be named.

This is where I think this story is funny. This committee of friends and relatives that showed up for the birth and circumcision ceremony decided amongst themselves to name the baby Zechariah after his father… This is the problem with committees. Who exactly did they think they were? Who names somebody else’s baby? 

Elizabeth speaks up and says, “No, his name is John.”

And like any reasonable committee they respond with, “Of course, you’re right, your baby, John it is! Yay John!” Nope.

“None of your relatives is called by this name.” That’s their response, who on earth do these people think they are?!

Finally they turn to Zechariah, the baby’s father, imagine that, to get his opinion on the baby’s name.

Now remember that Zechariah couldn’t speak, and verse 62 says, 62 And they made signs to his father, inquiring what he wanted him to be called. It’s this verse that suggests that Zechariah was also deaf. 

It’s also possible, according to my own experience, that because he couldn’t speak they just spoke really loud and made signs to make sure he got the message…

Zechariah asked for a writing tablet, which would have been a piece of wood with wax smeared on it, and wrote the words, “His name is John.”

And where Zechariah’s initial doubt about what the angel had told him was rewarded with dumbness, his eventual obedience to the instructions from the angel was rewarded with speech.

64 And immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue loosed, and he spoke, blessing God. 65 And fear came on all their neighbors. And all these things were talked about through all the hill country of Judea, 66 and all who heard them laid them up in their hearts, saying, “What then will this child be?” For the hand of the Lord was with him. 

The silence of unbelief was exchanged with a song of praise.

After nine months of silence Zechariah speaks. He doesn’t speak words of complaint about his condition, he doesn’t chastise the committee for trying to name his kid the wrong name, he doesn’t shake his fist at God lamenting why a loving God would do something so terrible to him.

Instead he sings a song of praise that gives us a wonderful outline of how Old Testament believers understood Messiah. The scholars call this, “Old Testament Christology,” Old Testament study of Christ, of Messiah.

67 And his father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied, saying,

 68 “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people 69 and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David, 70 as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old, 71 that we should be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us; 72 to show the mercy promised to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant, 73 the oath that he swore to our father Abraham, to grant us 74 that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies, might serve him without fear, 75 in holiness and righteousness before him all our days. 76 And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, 77 to give knowledge of salvation to his people in the forgiveness of their sins, 78 because of the tender mercy of our God, whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high 79 to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.” 

80 And the child [John the Baptist] grew and became strong in spirit, and he was in the wilderness until the day of his public appearance to Israel.

Warren Wiersbe breaks this song down into four parts, the opening of a prison door, the winning of a battle, the canceling of a debt, and the dawning of a new day.

Verse 68 describes the opening of a prison door. Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people…

The Greek word translated, “visited,” means to “be present to help,” or, “to be on hand to aid.” As Psalm 54:4 says, “Behold, God is my helper: the Lord is the upholder of my life.”

Yahweh is the helper of His people, and He has also redeemed them. The word, to redeem, means to set free, to liberate, to deliver. Easton’s Bible dictionary says redemption is to purchase something back that was lost by the payment of a ransom.

Make no mistake, as Joel reminded us last week, mankind is under the curse of sin. Since the fall of Man in the Garden we have been prisoners of sin, but God, the Lord God of Israel is present to help and has paid the ransom so that the prison door could be opened and people could be set free from sin and its penalty.

Verses 69-75 describe the winning of a battle.

[He] has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David, (a horn is a symbol of strength in the Bible) 70 as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old, 71 that we should be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us; 72 to show the mercy promised to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant, 73 the oath that he swore to our father Abraham, to grant us 74 that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies, might serve him without fear, 75 in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.

“To be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us,” can easily be misunderstood and mistaken for a political or social statement. What I mean is, if you read this and are Ukrainian, you might think it’s about the Russians, if you are conservative you might think it’s about the liberals, if you’re liberal you might think it’s about the conservatives, and so on and so on.

Zechariah’s statement was not political nor social, it was spiritual. We only have one enemy and he is not people, people are not our enemy, Satan is our enemy. He tries to trick us with sin that promises joy and life but only leads to the grave. He wants to destroy us, to destroy people, to get people to deny Jesus Christ, to turn away from faith in Him and die.

The devil and his demons are the ones that we are at war with. Paul wrote in Ephesians 6:12, For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

Resisting temptation and praying for the release of the captives of Satan are how we fight. Telling the other prisoners about freedom through faith in Jesus is how we win. 74 that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies, might serve him without fear, 75 in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.

Verses 76-77 speak of canceling a debt.

76 And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, 77 to give knowledge of salvation to his people in the forgiveness of their sins,

The ministry of John the Baptist was to go before the Lord Jesus and prepare the way for Him and His ministry, John called people to repentance, to turn away from their sin, where Jesus called people to faith to be forgiven of their sin.

Jesus spoke of sin as a debt in Luke chapter seven which we will get to later. JP Lange wrote, “[There is] no salvation without forgiveness of sins; no forgiveness of sins without the knowledge of the truth…”

Jesus came to give the knowledge of the truth, so that people could have their sins forgiven and their debt erased, so that they could have salvation. John 19:30 records Jesus’ last word from the cross was the word, “tetelastai.” We translate that to, “it is finished,” but more accurately it means, “the debt is paid.” Jesus’ death of the cross paid our debt and he paid it in full.

And finally, verses 78-79 speak of the dawning of a new day.

78because of the tender mercy of our God, whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high 79 to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.”

That sounds a lot like the words of Isaiah 9:2 that we read every Christmas, The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone.

Those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death are those who do not know Jesus yet. Once that was us! And now we have the light of Jesus to guide our feet into the way of peace.

The way of peace is the way of peace with God through faith in Jesus, who is the only way to peace with God. Paul described living that way of peace in Titus 2:12-14:

11 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, 12 training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, 13 waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, 14 who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.

Amen.

The Struggle - Romans 7 and 8 - March 6, 2022

Sermon by Elder Joel Brown 

The Struggle – From Genesis to Regeneration to Glory

Good morning! I am excited to dive into the Word with you all today. My prayer is that it will bring the light of the Gospel to those who are lost in sin and a renewed hope to all of us who still struggle against it. We're going to zoom out to see the big picture of the human condition, then observe the various transformations that take place throughout the life of a believer in Christ, and finally zoom in to focus on the heart of the Christian struggle. I believe that understanding our history and the different parts at play will better equip us in the fight and will give us hope for victory both now in our daily lives and for the final victory in eternity.

My goal today is to look at what Paul has to say about this in Romans chapters 7-8, which is a big bite all on its own, but as we will see, Romans is one big run on sentence which needs to be understood as a whole, and then the whole of Romans can only be understood in the context of the rest of Scripture. 

Before we get started, Let's Pray

If you were to scan through Romans, you would see that most of the chapters begin with a phrase that contains the word “then” or “therefore”. So what do we have to do? We have to keep going backwards to see what happened before and what the “therefore” is there for! So I want to briefly summarize Romans 1-6 in a minute, but first we need to go back just a little farther. Back to Genesis, the creation and the fall.

“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth...” Most of us know the story. In 6 days, all of creation was spoken into existence by the Word of God, which is Jesus, the Son. In the book of John it says, “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, and the Word was God...by Him and through Him all things were created in heaven and on earth.” So, out of nothing came light and darkness, the Heavens, land and sea, vegetation and trees, the sun, moon and stars, and all the living creatures to inhabit the sky, the sea, and the land. All of this He called good! Then last of all God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.”

I think that is so special! I mean, the creation of the world part is mind blowing and all, but to be created in the image of our Creator! To have His likeness! He didn't do that for any other part of creation, which He created out of nothing. He purposefully made us to resemble Himself, and He did that in part by giving us a spirit. Ecclesiastes 12:7 sheds light on this by describing what happens to us when we die. “...and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.” God gave us each a unique spirit in addition to our flesh, which gives us an awareness of things beyond this material world. We have the ability to know our Creator! 

Another key element of being an image-bearer of God is that He has inscribed His moral law on the hearts of all humans. This gives us the ability to distinguish between right and wrong and points us to God’s perfect standard. Paul alludes to this fact in Romans 2:14. He says that when the gentiles “by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law”. The words “by nature” point to how they were created in the image of God and intuitively know God’s laws. How is this possible? Because, as in verse 15, “They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts.” 

So, God created Man in His image. Male and female He created them. And He called them “Very good.” And they were. By nature, at their creation, Adam and Eve were sinless. They were free to enjoy walking in the glory of God's presence and their hearts’ desires were for Him. They had no knowledge or awareness of sin. They were perfectly happy and content with what God gave them.

We read about the first commandment God ever made to man in chapter 2 of Genesis. He said, “You may surely eat of every tree of the Garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” This was as if to say, “I know what is good and what is evil and I desire to spare you from the burden of that knowledge. Trust me and obey this commandment and you will have life eternal, but if you do not, you will get what you desire and it will kill you.” It was a good law intended for blessing and initially there was no indication that they would want to disobey.

But we know what happened next. The Fall. In Genesis 3:1-7 it describes how Satan craftily distorted God’s words to tempt Adam and Eve to distrust God’s motives. They were deceived by the sinful influence of Satan and Adam and Eve coveted what God told them they could not have. They chose to not trust God’s plan for them, and ultimately made the choice which corrupted the goodness of their nature. Man's nature became totally depraved, making him unable to please God and enslaved to sin.

From then on humanity was burdened with this problem of sin. It took what was holy and righteous and good, and permanently tainted it. Humanity was still made in the image of God, but it no longer perfectly reflected Him anymore. And the morality that was written on their hearts became clouded, causing everyone to do what was right “in his own eyes” and not in the eyes of God.

This is why humanity needed a Savior. It needed intervention. It needed regeneration.

The fallen human condition sets the stage for the gospel. You can't appreciate the good news without fully understanding the bad news. Which brings us back to Romans. I want to now provide a brief summary of Romans 1-6 to give the context we need to understand 7-8. So here we go!

Paul's aim in Romans was to preach the gospel which was the good news of salvation to everyone who receives it by faith. God can be and is known by man because He has revealed Himself through creation and man is without excuse. But man suppresses the truth about God because of unrighteousness and his darkened heart. Choosing instead to desire the things of the flesh rather than the things of God.

 All people are held accountable to God by His law, which He has written on their hearts, and the doers of the law will be justified, but the wrath of God is reserved for those who sin under it. The bad news is that no one is righteous, not even one. All have sinned and have fallen short of the glory of God.

Obedience to the law is a matter of the heart, which means inward reform is needed and not merely outward change in behavior or appearance. Due to our sinfulness, the law is not able to save us, but serves to reveal our unrighteousness.

The good news is that the law also points to the one who is righteous, Jesus Christ and that through faith in Him we can be justified and reconciled to God. This is a gracious gift that was purchased for us by the blood of Jesus and can only be received by faith alone. Because of this, we have no grounds for boasting in ourselves, but only in Him.

In the same way, Abraham’s obedience to the law didn’t earn his righteousness, rather his faith in God’s promise, which came first, was counted to him as righteousness. This was essential for the promise to be guaranteed to all his offspring (including us), because it must rest solely on God’s grace, and not on the law. 

So, therefore our faith is also counted to us as righteousness when we believe that God is able to do what he said he would do through Jesus.

 Now we rejoice in the hope of future glory, but we also rejoice in our current struggle with sin because through it we are being further transformed by the Holy Spirit. Should we continue to sin now that we have grace? No! Jesus died and was raised in order that our bondage to our sin might be put to death and that we might walk in newness of life. This is our regeneration. Our second birth. We are no longer spiritually dead, but alive to God. We are no longer slaves to sin, which leads to death, but are free to obey a new Master who gives eternal life. Free to serve in the new way of the Spirit.

Hallelujah! This is the Gospel. I pray that there are people listening today who heard this good news and found salvation from their sins and can join with us in the Spirit’s renewal.

As it says in 2 Corinthians 3:15–18:

“15 Yes, to this day whenever Moses [the law] is read a veil lies over their hearts. 16 But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. 17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18 And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.”

Well, we finally arrived at chapter 7. This is where “the struggle” gets real. But with all of this wonderful truth still fresh in our minds, let's dive in. I am going to start by reading verses 7-12, and as I do, try to imagine them in the context of Adam after the fall.

“What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.” 8 But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. For apart from the law, sin lies dead. 9 I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin came alive and I died. 10 The very commandment that promised life proved to be death to me. 11 For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me. 12 So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.”

Could you hear Adam possibly saying these words? Adam had no consciousness of sin in the garden before God commanded not to eat of the tree. But as soon as the commandment came, temptation was quick to follow. In their case though, not being by nature sinful, the influence of sin came externally through the tempter – Satan. As Eve said in Genesis 3:13, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

The commandment that God had given promised life, but when sin came alive in them it proved to be death, just as God had warned. What was holy and righteous and good in them had died.

Paul knew the story of Adam and the Fall, of course, and he saw the same story play out throughout the history of our race, including himself. Paul wanted to be sure that his readers understood, though, that it wasn't the law itself that brought about death, if that were the case God would have been the source. But in reality, it was sin that produced death through the law.

Now at last, we have arrived at the very heart of what I wanted to share today. Let's continue reading. Romans 7:14-25,

“14 For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin. 15 For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. 16 Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. 17 So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. 18 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.

21 So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. 22 For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, 23 but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members.”

Paul is being vulnerable here, he is sharing something personal. He probably knew that the Christians reading his words would be able to relate to this conflict. Can you relate? I know I can. He wanted them to know that they were not alone, and that it is a law, a reality, to go through this. It is common across all believers.

Paul used the word “law” in this passage many times, but they have different meanings and connotations. Obviously the “law of God” is the one we are to obey, the one written on our hearts. But when he says, “I find it to be a law”, it is the same way the word is used in the “law of gravity”. It is a fact, a reality, something that is proven. And then there is the war between the “law of my mind” (which is our conscience) and the “law of sin” (which is our fallen nature).

This tension we all feel, this struggling, is a direct result of the “already, but not yet” state of being a believer. We are already justified by the blood of Jesus, already reconciled to God the Father, and already regenerated by the indwelling of His Spirit, but we are not yet glorified in our flesh. The battle with the desires of our sinful flesh still rages on. We are not yet freed from sin's influence, but thank God we are free to struggle!

I think that too often we get stuck in the mire. We feel discouraged with our struggle against sin, and it feels hopeless, like we are always failing. Paul echoes this frustration by exclaiming in verse 24, “24 Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?" But he doesn't stop there. He brings his focus back onto the One who can. “25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!”

Paul wanted his readers to have hope. And that's why he shares this most amazingly encouraging truth in Romans 8,

“8 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. 3 For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.”

No condemnation! We must let those words change our perspective of ourselves. Yes, we still sin, but by His grace we are released from its bondage and need not fear it's wages. What God has required of us by His law, He has fulfilled in us through Jesus! He began the work, and He will finish it!  And so now our focus needs to shift from the things of the flesh to the things of the Spirit. Let's not dwell on our sinfulness and feel condemned or even doubtful of our salvation (this is Satan's weapon against the believer), but instead let’s be convicted of sin and let that motivate us to constantly strive in the Spirit for righteousness.

Like Paul said, “Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means!” So obviously our aim is righteousness. We must struggle. And the Spirit is here to help! He has opened our eyes to the truth. He convicts us of sin and causes repentance. He is our seal of salvation. He regenerates our hearts and renews the image of God in us. He is continually sanctifying us to be more Christ-like. He unveils our clouded morality and quickens our conscience. He is our guide. He enables us to understand the Word of God and reveals to us what is the will of God. He assists and intercedes for us in prayer. He gives us strength in our weakness. He frees us to struggle! Amen!

Paul completes his encouragement in verses 14-25 by reminding his reader of their hope for future glory,

“14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. 15 For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” 16 The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.

18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. 19 For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. 23 And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.”

Amen! This is our hope. This is our future. The struggles and sufferings in this life will cease, the redemption of our sinful flesh and the glory will be eternal! 

But while we wait, remember, our struggle against sin is not a curse, it is a gift of grace, something we did not have the ability to do before we were saved and that there is no condemnation in Christ when we still fail in our own strength. God doesn't leave us to do it on our own! His own Spirit dwells in us to motivate and empower our efforts and leads us through the knowledge of His Word which informs our conscious. He told us to love Him with all our heart, soul, mind and strength and to love our neighbors as ourselves. With His help we can win the daily battles until at last we are glorified with Him in heaven. Paul says at the end of Chapter 8 that in all these things we are more than conquerors through Christ Jesus our Lord and nothing will separate us from His love. Be encouraged, hope in Jesus, draw strength from His Spirit, and struggle while he completes the work He began in you, from one degree of glory to another.

Mary's Song - Luke 1:46-56 - February 27, 2022

 Luke 1:46-56 Mary’s Song

Good morning! Turn with me in your Bibles to Luke chapter one, verse 46, page 856 in the pew Bibles.

We are picking up where we left off with Mary and Elizabeth in the home of Zechariah and Elizabeth in the hill country of Judah. If you remember from last week, after the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary and announced the good news to her that she would bear a Son by the Holy Spirit even though she was a virgin, she went to see her relative Elizabeth who was the mother of John the Baptist.

When Mary arrived, the baby in Elizabeth’s belly jumped for joy and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke a wonderful blessing to Mary and we pick up in verse 46 with Mary’s response.

46 And Mary said, “My soul magnifies the Lord, 47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, 48 for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant. For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed; 49 for he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name. 50 And his mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation. 51 He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts; 52 he has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate; 53 he has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty. 54 He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, 55 as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his offspring forever.” 

56 And Mary remained with her about three months and returned to her home.

Let’s pray.

The Catholic church makes much of Mary, too much in fact. Yet they completely ignore Mary’s own thoughts about herself and God’s work in and through her. There is a lot we can learn through Mary’s song here in Luke one.

You may have heard this song of Mary called “the Magnificat.” In fact, the pew Bibles have this passage labeled that. “Magnificat,” is just the first word in this passage in Latin, the word we have here translated, “magnifies.”

The other curiosity we have here is that this is a song even though the text doesn’t say: “And Mary sang,” it says, “And Mary said”… The scholars believe that this was a song based on the original language’s metre and potential rhyming. Any time you see a section printed out this way in the Bible it means that the scholars believed that it may very well have been a song. I’m going to treat it that way anyway.

Mary’s song has three verses all praising the mindfulness, the might, and the mercy of God. And each verse Mary focuses on a different group of people that have experienced those three attributes of God, herself, the faithful, and the nation of Israel.

So let’s look at the three verses of Mary’s song.

First, in verses 46-49a, Mary sings of God’s mindfulness, might, and mercy on herself.

  46 And Mary said, “My soul magnifies the Lord, 47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, 48 for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant. For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed; 49 for he who is mighty has done great things for me,

The English language is always evolving, and that can get really annoying when you’re trying to translate the Bible from a language with set rules that don’t change into the messy form of always changing, hard to pin down, gobblety-gook that we speak.

We often read the words in the Bible, “soul,” and, “spirit,” and, “mind,” and, “spirit,” and kind of lump theme together in the same category and assign them all the same meaning, as if the author was just trying to express the same thought in multiple different ways for emphasis. 

And when we do that we are wrong. When we do that we miss out on some of the richness and depth of meaning that is expressed just because we are lazy, and then we have the nerve to say that reading the Bible is boring.

When Mary says, “My soul magnifies the Lord,” she is speaking of the depth and center of her feelings, as if she is saying, “my very emotions praise the greatness of the Lord.”

And then she sings, “My spirit rejoices in God my Savior…” If the soul encompasses how we feel, the spirit, as Mary uses it, is how we think. “All of my thoughts experience great joy and gladness because of God my Deliverer, the source of eternal salvation.”

Mary was expressing the Great Commandment, found in Deuteronomy 6:5, and later quoted by Jesus in Matthew 22:37, loving the Lord her God with all her heart, soul, mind, and strength. 

“My soul magnifies the Lord, 47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, 48 for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant. For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed; 49 for he who is mighty has done great things for me,

You’ll notice that Mary doesn’t say a word about what she has done to deserve the honor that was hers, she only praises the work of God the Father.

She points out her humble estate, her low estate, just a nobody from nowhere, and in doing so contrasts her lowness to God’s excellence and her unworthiness to God’s grace.

I think it’s important to point out again the difference between mercy and grace. These words are often used interchangeably, mostly because we need them to rhyme in our songs, but they don’t mean the same thing.

Simply put, grace is getting something that we do not deserve. We do not deserve God’s love because we are sinners and have fallen short of His glory, but by His grace He loved us enough to send His only Son Jesus for us.

Mercy, on the other hand, is NOT getting what we DO deserve. We deserve God’s wrath because of our sin, we deserve to be destroyed, but, in His mercy He withholds His wrath until the judgment so that people may come to faith in Jesus and be forgiven.

By calling herself low, Mary is displaying God’s grace, she doesn’t deserve the honor that He bestowed on her. This isn’t false humility, this is honesty.

In His mercy God doesn’t exercise His wrath, instead He exercises His blessing, a mercy that will be remembered forever as people forever will call Mary blessed.

Verse 49a ends the first verse of Mary’s song, praising the Lord in His grace and power for doing great things for her. The word translated, “great,” can also be translated, “surprising.” I’m sure Mary was surprised at what the Lord was doing, and how often are we surprised when God does exactly what He said He would do?

Verse 49b starts the second verse of Mary’s song, where she celebrates the power and judgments, and mercy of God in more general terms, she moves on from God’s work in herself to God’s work for the faithful.

and holy is his name. 50 And his mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation. 51 He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts; 52 he has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate; 53 he has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty.

Holy is His Name.

It is an unfortunate tragedy that the Name of the Lord has been brought so low in our day, the Name of our Savior Jesus Christ used as a curse word, and calling on the Name of God gets thrown around like garbage.

His Name is holy. His Name is entitled to the highest reverence because He is entitled to the highest reverence.

And His mercy is for those who fear Him from generation to generation. God’s mercy is perpetual. John Calvin said, “He will always be like Himself.” I love that, never failing, never changing, always merciful to those who fear Him.

But what does it mean to fear God? This is not fear that’s associated with terror or fright, this is profound reverence and awe and respect. This is the basis of godliness and religion, and it all finds its basis in faith.

His mercy is perpetual for those who have faith in Him. His mercy, not getting what we do deserve, also known as eternal destruction, is reserved for those, by God’s grace, fear Him. 

This isn’t a result of nationality or birthright, as is the belief of some, but on the basis of grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone.

51 He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts; 52 he has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate; 53 he has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty.

God the father has performed miracles by His own power, that is what Mary means by “showing the strength of His arm.” God has performed miracles specifically in and through and on behalf of the lowly contrary to the estimation of the proud, and the mighty, and the rich.

God’s kingdom is an upside down kingdom. Though Jesus is God He humbled Himself and took on the form of a servant, the Son of man had no place to lay His head, no pillow, no bed, no palace. 

He chose fisherman, and tax collectors, and persecutors to be His Disciples and through them changed the world.

The world’s system exalts the powerful and privileged, the proud, the mighty, the rich,but God’s sytem is not regulated by man’s standards.

Calvin wrote, “The great, and rich, and powerful, lifted up by their abundance, ascribe all the praise to themselves, and leave nothing to God. We ought therefore to be scrupulously on our guard against being carried away by prosperity, and against a vain satisfaction of the flesh lest God suddenly deprive us of what we enjoy.”

Paul also wrote in 1 Corinthians 1:26-31,

26 For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; 28 God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, 29 so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. 30 And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, 31 so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”

Mary’s final verse praises the Father for His faithfulness to His promise to Israel.

54 He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, 55 as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his offspring forever.” 

In His mercy God preserved Israel as He promised. Mary is referencing God’s promise to Abraham from Genesis 12:1-3.

Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. 2 And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

In remembrance of His mercy God helped His servant Israel. The word translated, “helped,” means to provide what is needed. What Israel needed was a Savior and God supplied one in His only begotten Son, Jesus.

That same Savior who was sent by God to help Israel was also sent for us that whoever would believe in Him would not perish but would have everlasting life.

“My soul magnifies the Lord, 47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, 48 for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant. For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed; 49 for he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name. 50 And his mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation. 51 He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts; 52 he has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate; 53 he has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty. 54 He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, 55 as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his offspring forever.” 

Amen.