Sermon – December 20

Text: Luke 1:46-55
And Mary said: “My soul magnifies the Lord, 47 And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior. 48 For He has regarded the lowly state of His maidservant; For behold, henceforth 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 on those who fear Him From generation to generation. 51 He has shown strength with His arm; He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. 52 He has put down the mighty from their thrones, And exalted the lowly. 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 seed forever.”

Join Mary in Magnifying the Lord

In the name of Jesus our great God and Savior, dear fellow redeemed:

Even though we are nearly a year away from the election, we are full bore in the middle of election campaigns. In the course of our history some candidates have seemed larger than life – military heroes like George Washington, statesmen like Abraham Lincoln, charismatic visionaries like John Kennedy. I wonder how those men would have survived today’s 24/7 news cycle and introspection. Today candidates are built up by their campaign managers, their supporters, and the media, but can be very quickly torn down when they are put under the microscope. All too often a closer look does more harm than good.

Today we are considering the words of Mary as inspired by the Spirit. She said, My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior. She wanted the spotlight shone upon her Lord because of the great things that He had done, particularly in giving her a Savior. The more we look at God the better it gets. We can spend our whole lives zooming in on Him and come upon new mercies every day. Today then, we wish to have our souls join Mary in making God large for the benefit of our hearts and for others to hear as well. May the Holy Spirit open our hearts to receive His message.

1. Because He is a personal God and Savior

The fact that Mary was chosen to be the mother of Jesus was not by chance or some roll of the dice. The Lord deliberately picked her among the millions of women. This was a choice of grace because she was a nobody. For He has regarded the lowly state of His maidservant. This lowliness did not have to do with humility, but with the fact that she lived in lowliness, most likely poverty, and certainly anonymity. God overlooked all of that because He wanted her to have this blessing. It was purely out of His fatherly goodness and mercy.

Mary rejoiced in this and was correct in saying that all generations would call her blessed. Despite her lowly state she was called upon to nurse and change the Creator of the world. Not only that but she would teach and raise Him. What an honor! Only one person in the world had this assignment. Her words are fulfilled. To this day we mention her name in our confession of faith – Jesus was born of the virgin Mary, and we recognize that God did indeed heap a tremendous blessing on this young woman.

Mary rejoiced in the fact that God took a personal interest in her. For He who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is His name. When God looks down upon the people of this earth, it is not like when a human views an ant colony. We see hundreds of ants and can’t distinguish one from another. We might even think of a large city or a populous country and just think of a teeming mass of people. We can’t hardly think of individuals.

But God knows each and every one of us. He has a personal relationship with each one of His children. The One who is mighty has done great things for you personally. Yes, Jesus came to die for all people, but then the Lord sought out individuals to bring to saving faith personally. Then He keeps you in that faith. Just as a personal trainer crafts a workout for to specifically help an individual, so also the Lord has a workout for you to keep you in the one, true faith so that you end up with Him in heaven. And His mercy is on those who fear Him from generation to generation. That personal relationship that you have with your Lord is a reason to make Him large in your life of praise.

2. Because He is the Uplifter of the lowly

We also wish to be like Mary in praising God because He makes things right. He uplifts the lowly when no one else will. Normally when someone attains a position of power they take advantage of it and become oppressive. This can be seen throughout history with dictators. Even in our country we find that when people go to Washington even with the best of intentions to be a voice of the people, they become bogged down in doing favors for special interest groups and many become corrupt. It is human nature to be kind and help those that we think can help us, or those that we feel are deserving of our attention. Listen to how our Lord is different: He has shown strength with His arm; He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. He has put down the mighty from their thrones, and exalted the lowly. He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich He has sent away empty.

Some examples from the Bible come to mind in a hurry. At the tower of Babel He easily scattered those who defied God’s order to fill the earth and instead wanted to build a great city. When Nebuchadnezzar got too big for his britches, the Lord caused him to lose his mind so that he was down on all fours eating grass like an animal. The Lord turns the world upside down. Those who appear to mighty and able to achieve whatever they want will be cast down, if they rely on that pride when it comes to their spirituality. Those who believe that they call their shots and determine their spiritual fate will be thrown to the ground. Those that the world viewed as insignificant because their faith was in Christ alone are exalted. There is only room for Christ in humble hearts.

Now when I read verses 51-53, in which group did you place yourself? It is likely that all of us associated ourselves with the lowly and the hungry. But just a word of caution. It does not take long for the sin of pride to infiltrate the heart of a person. It was the downfall of Satan and Eve. It will trip you up if you are not always vigilant. We find it all too easy to look down on others and elevate ourselves. It is too easy to take pride and rely on ourselves rather than on our Lord. But the Lord does not receive those who do not feel that they need Him.

Jesus brought a heavenly dynamic into the world in which mightiness is found in His arm alone. Rejoice and let people see how large and mighty the Lord is by your praise to Him rather than yourself. He does deserve it for the great things that He has done.

3. Because He is the Keeper of promises

Mary also recognized that God was fulfilling a long standing promise in the birth of His Son. He has helped His servant Israel, in remembrance of His mercy, As He spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his seed forever. The Lord had outlined and structured the entire Old Testament period over the promise of a Savior. Despite the spiritual infidelity of His people, He did not destroy them because He is a Keeper of promises. He followed through because He cannot do anything else. He always tells the truth.

And so Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. Those tiny infant hands would grow to receive the nails of the cross. That smooth baby’s back would grown into that of an adult who would be scourged. That innocent soul would be cursed by His Father on the cross because God had promised salvation to His people and this was the only way that it could happen. God is large and deserves praise because the promise of salvation was kept despite the cost.

Rejoice in that promise kept and look forward to the promise of Jesus’ second coming in glory. That also will surely happen just as the birth of Jesus occurred when the time was right. Certainly there are times that we might feel that God has forgotten, just as there were times like that throughout the four thousand years of the Old Testament. But God does not forget. He cannot forget His people. He keeps His promises, and that promise of everlasting life in heaven is certain to come to pass for all those that are His.

Mary exemplifies what all Christians can be doing when pondering the birth of Jesus. Magnify your Lord. Throw the spotlight on Him and make Him large. There is no need to exaggerate or lie or spin the truth. The truth is so remarkable that it cannot be topped. It just needs to be said, For unto to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior who is Christ the Lord. Amen.