Well, good morning.
Welcome to the second Sunday in Advent.
We're Baptists.
We don't tend to pay attention to that very much.
But hey, it's a great thing to celebrate.
The remembrance of how God worked to send his son.
In fact, that's what Advent is, right?
Advent is meant to be an anticipatory celebration.
For those who walked through it the first time, they didn't always know what was going to come.
But for we who are able to look back on it, we are able to look at it and know that this anticipation has a fulfillment.
That what we're looking forward to on Christmas Day has already happened.
And what a good thing it is that we come together to celebrate Advent this morning.
What I want to ask you as we begin is, what stirs your heart to joyful praise this morning?
Some of you love the Christmas season.
And when the garlands come out and the lights go on and you've already been baking and you've already been decorating.
And there's just a joy to this season in the cultural expressions of how we celebrate it that just warms your heart.
Some of you have found great refuge in the Hallmark Channel's 25 movies leading up to Christmas.
And found great joy in that.
Some of you are looking forward to snow.
Maybe some of you for the first time if you're from another country or another part of the U.S.
where snow doesn't happen.
Even as we've sung this morning some of the great classic Christmas carols.
Maybe that brings back memories of Christmas's past with family and celebration.
There are lots of things in this season that can easily spark our hearts to joy and to praise.
It's also true that it may be that this season is hard for you.
It may be hard for you to have a joyful heart of praise.
Some of you students may be thinking,
I can't even think about that until I get over my exam period and get through my work.
Some of you, this season is a memory of a lost one more than a joyful celebration.
Maybe the Hallmark movies aren't very helpful for you because they picture happy endings.
And you are struggling with broken relationships, strains, and family.
Maybe some of you are facing great trials this year.
Financially, health-wise.
Or maybe it's that you're struggling with a sense of superficiality in the Christmas celebration that goes on around you.
You look at it and you think,
Really?
Is this what it looks like?
Frosty the Snowman?
Really?
Can't it get better than this?
And so you struggle with the superficiality and the sentimentality of our cultural expression.
And so it's hard.
Maybe it's hard for you this morning to have a joyful heart in this Advent season.
Well, my friends, whether you are loving this time of year and it's easy,
or whether this is a hard time of year for you and you are struggling,
this morning I want to point us to the fact that our hearts were made for joyful praise.
This is actually what we were created for.
We don't always know how to get there and we struggle to keep it up.
But this is what we were made for is joyful praise.
And that's why this season we are actually doing an Advent series on songs.
Songs from the Gospel of Luke, songs of praise in response to what people have seen God done.
We'll do Mary's song and Zechariah's song.
We'll do the angel's song.
We'll do the song of Simeon in the temple.
And we're going to look at these over the next four Sundays
to spark our hearts, we hope,
to a deep and abiding reason for us to have joy this season.
That our hearts might be turned to praise,
regardless of our circumstances.
We're going to look this morning at the first song,
the song of Mary in Luke chapter 1, verse 45 is where it begins.
It is somewhere in your pew Bible.
The bulletin gives you a number,
because I never forget to remember to write it down.
Anyone?
8.56.
There we go.
8.56 in your pew Bibles, if you want to look there.
We're going to look at that together,
and then we will consider how this song points us
to the things that may produce in us abiding joy and praise.
So let's look together at Luke.
I'm actually going to begin, I want to give it some context.
So we're going to go all the way back to verse 26,
because I want to get the run-up of the whole thing.
So verse 26 of chapter 1 is where we're going to start.
In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city in Galilee named Nazareth,
to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph of the house of David,
and the virgin's name was Mary.
And he came to her and said,
Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you.
But she was greatly troubled at this saying,
and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be.
And the angel said to her,
Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.
And behold, you will conceive in your womb,
and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus.
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.
And he will reign over the house of Jacob forever,
and of his kingdom there will be no end.
And Mary said to the angel,
How will this be, since I am a virgin?
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.
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.
For nothing will be impossible with God.
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.
In those days,
Mary arose and went with haste
into the hill country to a town in Judah.
And she greeted the house of Zechariah,
and greeted,
entered the house of Zechariah,
and greeted Elizabeth.
And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary,
the baby leaped in her womb.
And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.
And she exclaimed with a loud cry,
Blessed are you among women,
and blessed is the fruit of your womb.
And why is this granted to me,
that the mother of my Lord should come to me?
For behold,
when the sound of your greeting came to my ears,
the baby in my womb leaped for joy.
And blessed is she who believes
that there would be a fulfillment
of what was spoken to her from the Lord.
And Mary said,
My soul magnifies the Lord,
and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
for he has looked upon the humble,
a state of his servant.
For behold,
from now on all generations will call me blessed.
For he who is mighty has done great things for me,
and holy is his name.
And his mercy is for those who fear him
from generation to generation.
He has shown strength with his arm.
He has scattered the proud
in the thoughts of their hearts.
He has brought down the mighty from their thrones
and exalted those of humble estate.
He has filled the hungry with good things,
and the rich he has sent away empty.
He has helped his servant Israel
in remembrance of his mercy,
as he spoke to our fathers,
to Abraham,
and to his offspring forever.
And Mary remained with her about three months
and returned to her home.
Friends, will you pray with me?
Lord, we thank you this morning for this text.
We thank you for your word that reveals to us
the kind of God that you are.
Lord, in your character and in your nature,
and also in your work in this world.
Lord, thank you for this song of praise.
Lord, we pray that as we look at it together this morning,
Lord, that you will help us,
help us to be those
who are filled with joyful praise
because of you.
Lord, I ask for your help this morning.
Lord, that as I proclaim your word,
Lord, that you would fill me with your spirit
and enable me.
Lord, I pray for all of us
that we would receive from you your word.
Lord, that you would use it this morning
to encourage our hearts.
And we pray this in Jesus' name.
Amen.
Friends, Mary's song of praise
points us to a great truth,
a great truth about who God is
and what he has done.
And as we consider it,
I pray that it will move us,
give us a deeper and an abiding grounds
for joyful praise in our lives.
We see in this passage
that God has come
in fulfillment of his promises
in unexpected ways
to save his people.
And that's what we're gonna do.
We're gonna walk through those three things.
God has come to fulfill his promises.
God has done it in unexpected ways.
And he has done it
so that he might save his people.
So that's what we're gonna do this morning.
So let's look at the first one.
God has come in fulfillment of his promises.
Now when we stop and we think about
the context in which Mary was,
she lived in Israel in the first century
or maybe a few years before.
Let's not get all hung up on that.
And she lived in a time
when Israel was under Roman rule.
Oh, there was a king, Herod,
who ruled over the nation of Israel,
but he was appointed by the Romans
and answerable to them.
And he was not the anointed king
from God Most High
to rule over his people.
And so the people of God,
the descendants of Abraham,
living as a nation,
were longing and crying out.
They were crying out for a savior.
They were crying out to be delivered
from this political and social oppression.
They were looking for freedom
from the Roman rule.
They were looking for a restoration
of the glory of God's kingdom
as they remembered back
to King David
and to Solomon
and the glory of the palace
and the temple
and the kingdom that extended
far further than it did
at the time of Mary's song.
People were longing
for that kind of deliverance,
that kind of ruler.
For those of you who know
the words of the hymn we sung earlier,
O Come, O Come, Emmanuel,
it's a beautiful expression
of the kinds of longings.
Come and free captive Israel.
And it's what they wanted.
It's what they longed for.
And when the angel comes to Mary
and announces,
you're going to have a child,
he then goes on
and he describes this child
in terms that for any Jew
of that time would have had
a resonance and a meaning
and an incredible thing.
First of all,
his name will be Jesus,
which means he saves.
And he will be a great man.
He will be called
the Son of the Most High.
And here's where the resonances
start to pick up
into these hopes.
He will sit on the throne
of his father David
and his kingdom
will last forever.
That's basically
what we see in verses 31
and following
as the angel comes
and announces
what God wants to do
and is planning to do
through Mary.
That this child
who will come
will be the fulfillment
of all of those hopes.
He's going to come
to be a deliverer.
He's going to restore
the kingdom.
He's going to restore
God's rule
over God's people.
And you see it
even in Mary's song.
Turn with me.
Look at verses 40
or where is it?
So verses 51 and 52.
Right?
As Mary's looking forward,
she says,
he has shown strength
with his arm.
This is an Old Testament image
that God has given them
over and over again.
The strength of God's arm
is the strength
of a deliverer
and specifically
the strength of a deliverer
to deliver his people
in military battle,
in military conquest,
to overthrow the enemies
who would come
and try to attack
God's people.
And he has brought down
the mighty from,
not just the mighty
in society
or the mighty
in their own minds,
but he has brought them
down from their thrones.
There is a very clear
sociopolitical understanding
and Mary,
having grown-ups
from all accounts
as a fairly devout Jew,
knew these words
and these phrases
from the Psalms
and from the prophets.
And her song recognizes
all of those things.
And so Mary believed
that the baby,
she was starting
to make these connections.
What the angel told me
is that this baby
is going to be
this deliverer,
the hope that we've been
longing for for so long.
You look at the end
of Mary's song.
He has helped
his servant Israel
in remembrance
of his mercy
as he spoke to our fathers,
to Abraham,
and to his offspring forever.
Do you remember
the promise to Abraham?
Out of you,
I will make you
a great nation
and I will bless you
and I will make
your nation great
among all the nations
of the world
and I will make you
a blessing to the world
through it.
And if you were
a first century Jew,
you would think,
this isn't that.
Whatever we are,
we are not
that great nation
being a blessing
to the nations around us.
And so,
with this announcement
of this baby,
with this announcement
of this child
who would come
to do all of these things,
Mary sees it and says,
God is finally
fulfilling his promises.
God is finally doing
what we have longed
for him to do
and what he said
he would do.
And I'm not even sure
if Mary understood
the fullness of it
in this moment.
I think it's striking
when she says,
how can this be?
She's not thinking,
how could this be
that he will be
the son of the most high
and sit on the throne
of David forever?
She's thinking,
how can this be
because I've never been
with a man
and you're telling me
I'm going to have a baby.
I think that's what
Mary's surprised about.
And so,
I think it takes her
a while to get there.
But by the time
she sings this song,
I think she's recognized
a little bit more fully.
God is faithful
to his promises
and he will do
the thing that he said
he will do.
Friends,
I wonder if that
brings joy
to your heart
this morning.
Have you ever considered
how much you are
a part of
the same strain
and the same promises
and the same history
of redemption
that the Bible
talks about
from beginning to end?
That God has been
faithful to his promises
to provide
a deliverer
and a savior
for his people
and recognize
that we have
the privilege
of looking back
on the central event,
the central work,
the pinnacle
of what God
has done
to accomplish
that work
of redemption
to save a people
for himself
and for his glory.
We don't have to wonder
like the Old Testament saints
and to peer
into the future
and to hope
that we might understand
as Peter says
what these things
are about.
We can look back
and we can know them
with confidence.
friends,
I also hope
that you see
that
this is a
recognition
that the God
of the Bible
is a God
who sees you.
He sees you
in your circumstances
just as he saw
Israel,
just as he saw
Mary,
he sees you
in your circumstances
and his plan
is one of salvation.
I wonder
if
you've given up
hope of that.
I wonder
if you've given up
hope that God
can actually fulfill
his promises
to you.
I wonder
if you've settled
for
a kind
of Christianity
that
is going
through the motions
but has no hope
and no joy.
maybe your hearts
have been battered
through trials
and suffering.
Maybe your life
is so full
of good things
that it's been easy
to take him
for granted.
But friends,
remember,
God sees you
and he knows you
and he will be faithful
to all the promises.
Think of these promises.
I will never leave you
nor forsake you.
I will give them
eternal life
and they will never perish
and no one
will snatch them
out of my hand.
As the Father
has loved me,
so also I
have loved you.
Whoever believes
in me
shall not live
in darkness
nor die
but he shall live
and he shall live
forever.
Friends,
these are some
of just a few
of the precious promises
that God has given us.
In the words
of Jesus
to us,
these are the things
that God has done
for us.
And so,
like Mary,
I pray that you will not
lose hope
that God
can be faithful
to you
but I pray
that you will,
like Mary,
have joyful praise
in the thought
of a God
who is faithful.
And in his keeping
of his promises,
he produces for us
and gives us a ground
for joyful praise.
So that's the first thing
is that God
has done this
in keeping
with his promises.
The second thing
is that this God
has done it
in unexpected ways.
Think for a minute
about the narrative
that comes right
before this song.
Think of the absurdity
of it.
The fruit
of a barren womb
leaps with joy
for the fruit
of a virgin womb
to confirm
that God
is bringing
salvation to the world.
That's how we're
supposed to read that.
That's what we're
supposed to see
in the connection
between Mary
and Elizabeth
in those verses
39 to 45.
What is this
all about?
A God
who is doing
the impossible
is confirming
that by doing
another impossible
thing in order
to give us
confirmation
that what he
is actually
doing
is possible.
He made
a barren woman
Elizabeth
able to have
a child
so that that
child might
bear witness
to another
child who's
going to come
from a virgin
womb
one who had
never known
one who was
conceived
miraculously
by the work
of God
and the Holy
Spirit.
And the fruit
of this
is a Savior
who will
come and
save the
world.
And it's
helpful to
stop and
think because
Mary is
aware of
this that
God isn't
doing this
great work
in any
expected way.
It's not
through the
rich and
powerful.
It's not
through the
who's who
of first
century
Jerusalem.
It's not
even within
the proper
religious
structures
powers or
authorities.
Mary is
from an
obscure
town.
What good
can ever
come from
Nazareth?
And we
see this
beginning of
as we
continue to
see in
Luke and
one of the
great themes
of Luke is
this theme
of the
great reversal
that God
brings down
the high
and exalted
and raises
up the lowly
and the
neglected and
the overlooked.
This is a
pattern of
God's
kingdom.
This is a
way in
which God
is in
his character
and in
his works
that he
has special
care for
those that
we don't
have care
for in
our normal
humanness.
God does
this great
reversal in
the way that
he does it.
Look with me
for a few
minutes at
Mary's
language in
this song.
Look at
verse 48
with me for
a minute.
He has
looked on
the humble
estate of
his servant.
She
recognizes
who am
I?
Who am
I that
God would
choose me
to do
this?
I have
nothing to
commend
myself.
Verse 50
and 51
we see that
his mercy
is for
those who
fear him.
That is
for those
who recognize
how great
God is
and how
little we
are and
who submit
to him
as opposed
to the
proud
whom
he
scatters.
Verse 52
he's brought
down the
mighty from
their thrones
but he
has exalted
those
of humble
estate.
Those who
are nobodies
become
somebodies
because of
God.
Verse 53
he has
filled the
hungry with
good things
but the
rich he
has sent
away
empty.
In a
common
first century
understanding
being rich
and having
plenty
was a sign
of God's
blessing
and being
hungry
and being
needy
was a sign
of God's
cursing.
It was a
misunderstanding
of who God
really is
and when God
comes to do
this work
of salvation
when God
comes to do
this most
central work
in all of
history
he does it
in this
unexpected
way
to confound
all of
our
expectations
to confound
all of
our
the ways
that we
would have
thought
that he
would have
done it.
Sometimes
I'm afraid
to quote
this
because I'm
afraid
you're
going to
think
this is
a good
the musical
Jesus Christ
superstar
which is
beautiful
in its
music
blasphemous
in its
portrayal
of Jesus
but
absolutely
fascinating
in its
portrayal
of the
disciples
and their
confusion
so did I
qualify that
well enough
okay here
we go
so Judas
has this
great song
Jesus
why did
you come
at this
time
to this
plan
every time
I look
at you
I don't
understand
why you
chose
such a
backward
time
and such
a great
land
if you'd
come
today
in the
1970s
when it
was written
you would
have swept
the whole
nation
Israel
in 4 BC
had no
mass
communication
don't you
get me
wrong
anyway I
can sing
it to you
I grew
up on it
it's
part of
my
childhood
but it's
fascinating
to think
about
this is
a modern
person
thinking
about the
birth of
Jesus
and looking
at it
and saying
why in
the world
would God
ever do
it this
way
why would
he ever
pick
a backward
place
a small
town
in the
middle
of the
big
Roman
empire
why would
he ever
pick
someone like
Mary
why would
he ever
do any
of these
things
one part
of it is
because that's
the kind
of God
that he
is
when we
read from
Micah
earlier
O Beth
you who
are
lowly
you who
are
a nothing
town
out of
you will
come
a great
thing
God
doesn't
come
with
pomp
and
circumstance
in the
ways that
we expect
but he
comes in
quietly
he
comes in
humbly
the
God
of the
universe
takes on
human
flesh
and
almost
inconceivably
if you'll
excuse the
pun
he becomes
an embryo
within
a woman's
body
and this
is how
God is
going to
save the
world
he does
this of
course
because
he knows
our frame
and he
knows
that we
need a
God
we need
a salvation
that will
come
to us
and identify
with us
there are
some of us
who might
in our
arrogance
and pride
think
well yeah
I'm good
enough
God
should
save me
because
I'm
really
great
but most
of us
know
that we're
not
most of
us
when we
really
honestly
think
about it
we know
at the
core
of our
being
that we
are not
that
and we
need a
savior
who will
come
and identify
with us
not in
our
greatness
but in
our
weakness
this is
the good
news of
the gospel
that God
has come
for the
humble
for the
downtrodden
for the
forgotten
for the
outsiders
for the
ragamuffins
who say
who cry
out who
me
not in
despair
but in
grateful
joy
you would
actually
care about
me
you
would
come
to
save
me
you
would
come
and
allow
me
to
be
a
part
of
your
kingdom
you've
come
to make
me
a part
of
your
family
this is
what
Mary
is
overwhelmed
with
joy
about
that
God
would
choose
someone
like
her
she
knows
she's
not
special
she
knows
she's
not
unique
she
knows
that
she
doesn't
have
any
claim
to
God
or
any
particular
moral
standing
before
God
that
God
would
choose
her
rather
than
someone
else
but
God
has
come
for her
and God
has
come
for us
to
deliver
us
from
our
wretchedness
there
is
a
sting
in
the
tail
for
those
of
us
who
do
trust
in
ourselves
for
those
of
us
who
are
uncomfortable
when
we
have
to
depend
on
others
for
those
of
us
when
it
is
scary
to
admit
our
weakness
our
inability
or
our
failure
for
those
who
expect
to
have
a
good
life
because
we
have
worked
hard
and
done
right
for
those
who
have
become
too
accustomed
to
this
Christmas
story
and
have
forgotten
the
wonder
of
grace
Jesus
has
come
for
you
too
but
he
will
come
in
a
way
that
will
humble
you
will
call
you
to
forsake
those
places
those
positions
for
Jesus
came
not
for
the
healthy
but
for
the
sick
not
for
the
self
righteous
but
for
sinners
and
this
is
this
is
what
Mary
sees
even
in
even
in
a
kernel
of
it
and
so
Jesus
has
come
in
fulfillment
of
God's
promises
in
this
unexpected
way
which
leads
us
of
course
to
the
third
part
he
has
come
to
save
us
this
is
what
Mary
knew
from
the
very
beginning
when
she
knew
that
her
son
was
to
be
called
Jesus
which
means
he
saves
and
it
is
at
the
very
title
it
is
the
header
to
her
song
look
with
me
again
verse
47
my
soul
magnifies
the
Lord
and
my
spirit
rejoices
in
God
my
savior
she
knew
somehow
Mary
knew
that
this
baby
would
be
the
means
by
which
she
would
be
delivered
he
would
not
come
in
privilege
or
power
but
he
would
come
in
humble
estate
and
out
of
obscurity
he
would
not
come
riding
on a
white
horse
with
an
army
in
his
back
to
free
his
people
from
oppression
but
he
would
surround
himself
with
12
smelly
fishermen
he
would
not
be
a
mover
or
shaker
in
the
corridors
of
power
he
would
never
hold
an
office
either
political
or
religious
but
by
the
power
of
an
indestructible
by
love
and
obedience
to
his
father
he
would
wield
an
influence
beyond
all
other
his
salvation
did
not
come
in
freedom
from
Roman
oppression
but
he
knew
and
looked
at
the
depth
of
the
human
soul
and
saw
that
the
greatest
oppression
and
the
greatest
captivity
of
the
human
heart
is
that
of
sin
and
of
death
Jesus
came
and
he
saw
that
was
actually
the
great
enemy
that
needed
to
be
overthrown
and
so
he
did
he
defeated
the
power
of
sin
and
death
not
by
combat
but
by
sacrifice
rather
than
overcoming
he
offered
himself
up
he
offered
himself
up
on
the
cross
to
die
in
our
place
to
take
the
penalty
for
our
sins
to
bear
the
wrath
of
God
against
our
unrighteousness
he
was hung
between
two
thieves
scorned
by the
crowds
and as
he
went
to
the
very
place
of
his
glory
was
the
greatest
place
of
his
humiliation
salvation
and this
is the
kind of
God
that we
serve
a
God
who
comes
to
save
us
in
this
way
he
humbled
himself
unto
death
even
death
on a
cross
for
us
so that
having
raised
from
the
dead
having
been
raised
from
the
dead
and
having
defeated
the
power
of sin
and
death
and
having
been
raised
to
eternal
life
he
is
now
able
to
give
to
all
who
call
on
him
forgiveness
of sin
a new
birth
a new
life
freedom
from the
power
of sin
in our
lives
freedom
from
despair
freedom
from
wondering
whether
there's
a God
who will
help
us
for
because
he
has
come
and
saved
us
in
the
way
that
he
has
we
know
the
answer
to
all
these
things
and
friends
when we
know
this
it's
joy
it's
joy
to
know
these
things
all
the
glitter
and
all
the
tinsel
and
all
the
hallmark
movies
can't
begin
to
plumb
the
depths
of
the
joy
that
is
possible
from
knowing
that
God
has
done
this
for
us
in
Christ
and
that
as
we
trust
and
believe
in
him
as
we
receive
him
as
our
savior
as
our
lord
as
our
deliverer
this
is
the
great
joy
that
is
unshakable
this
is
the
great
promise
that
leads
us
to
praise
even
in
the
darkest
moments
this
is
the
joy
that
cannot
be
snuffed
out
by
superficiality
and
sentimentality
my
soul
magnifies
the
lord
and
my
spirit
rejoices
in
god
my
savior
let's
pray
together
lord
we
thank you
for
this
song
and
for
how
it
reminds
us
of
your
faithfulness
to
your
promise
of
your
upside
down
nature
of
the
way
that
you
save
us
that
you
would
do
so
in
a
way
that
humbles
us
before
you
and
brings
down
our
pride
and
our
self
lord
and
makes
us
nothing
before
you
yet
lord
in
that
very
place
is
where
we
see
lord
our
savior
for
that's
what
he
did
for
us
lord
i
pray
for
those
this
morning
lord
who
may
be
wondering
lord
if
this
if
this
is
all
real
if
this
is
all
true
god
i
pray
for
them
this
morning
i
pray
that
they
would
see
the
glory
of
jesus
and i
pray
that
you
would
bring
them
to
a
place
of
faith
that
they
would
choose
christ
today
lord
i
pray
for
those
of
us
this
morning
who
have
already
made
that
decision
and
who
have
chosen
christ
lord
i
pray
that
we
would
meditate
on
your
faithfulness
and
on
the
remarkable
way
that
you
worked
your
salvation
for
our
good
lord
in
that
in
meditating
on
these
things
lord
you
fill
our
hearts
with
joyful
praise
we
pray
these
things
in
jesus
name
amen