Rev. David Holwick ZO Baptism service
First Baptist Church (short sermon)
Ledgewood, New Jersey
December 17, 2000
Luke 1:46-55
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I. A real Top-Forty song.
A. If you were to write a letter to God, what would you say?
1) (My letter to a family member...)
2) Mary does better than a letter, she composes a song.
a) Formally known as the Magnificat.
b) Probably one of the most famous songs of the world.
(Even if it doesn't quite ring a bell for us.)
B. Immersed in the Bible.
1) There are approximately twenty references and allusions
to the Old Testament in this short passage.
2) Mary was obviously a woman who filled her mind with God's
word.
C. Militant.
1) Mary sings about big issues - miracles performed, tyrants
overthrown.
2) Her God is the ruler of the universe.
3) How big is YOUR God?
II. God saves.
A. Mary needed a Savior. 1:47
1) Personal - "my" savior.
2) Compare Roman Catholic doctrine of sinlessness of Mary.
B. God extends mercy. Very rich word. 1:50
1) The compassionate mercy of God.
The word (rahum) focuses on the aspects of God's mercy
that springs from His feelings of compassion for us.
Rahum may be derived from the Hebrew word for "womb."
If so, one might almost translate with the sense of
"mother feeling".
2) The sovereign mercy of God.
a) When God encountered Moses in the burning bush he also
used the word "hannum," which means grace or favor.
God's mercy is not only full of compassion and pity, it
is full of grace.
It focuses on the fact that God's mercy is not evoked by
any goodness or deservedness on our part.
It is purely of His own grace and goodness.
b) In the Roman arena, the defeated gladiator was killed by
the victor.
The loser's only hope was that the emperor would give
him the "thumbs up".
This was the sign that he was to be spared as an act of
imperial favor.
If we picture ourselves as a vanquished gladiator thrown
to the ground, with our opponent's sword poised over
our neck,
.. and if we imagine looking up in our despair and
seeing against all hope that imperial "thumbs up",
.. we may begin to understand the meaning of this
aspect of God's mercy.
Those times when we feel most keenly our unworthiness to
enter the presence of God are the times when we gain
the most insight into this aspect of God's mercy.
#1442
C. What God does, we should do also.
1) At Christmas he become one of us, that we might become
like him.
2) He has extended his mercy to you; whom can you extend it to?
a) This Christmas, think of someone you can forgive.
III. God does great things.
A. He is a Lord and Mighty One. 1:47,49
1) Mary didn't have a wimpy view of God.
2) Many do nowadays.
a) "Spirit of Christmas" is often water-down theology.
b) Get the real thing.
B. He performs mighty deeds. 1:49,51
1) Overthrows the rich and powerful. 1:51
a) We cannot hoard God's goodness.
b) We must pass it on to others, or the stream of his
giving will dry up.
2) Lifts up humble. 1:52
a) Social position more than personality trait.
b) Knows smallest details of our lives.
1> (He is aware of Mary's humble situation ) 1:47
3) Much about Christmas is unexpected like this.
Rev. William Willimon notes that we usually think of
Christmas as a time to set everything right.
Christmas is the time to come home, to return to that time
in our memories when all was warm, and good and right.
It is when everything that's come upside down in our lives
is set, at least for a couple of days in December,
right-side up.
Yet in the Bible, Christmas was that time when everything
was turned upside-down.
It wasn't about a loving, family-value mother caring for
a conventional child.
It was about Mary, an unwed mother, expectant in a most
unconventional, upside-down way.
The good news came not to the learned and the powerful;
shepherds working the night shift got the gospel first.
The babe whose birth we sing lay in a cattle feed trough,
not an expensive crib.
[0]
C. Food for hungry. 1:53
1) Some of God's greatest acts are the simplest.
2) "Give us this day our daily bread."
3) Mary knew she could trust her God for her personal needs.
IV. God keeps his word.
A. Allusion to covenant with Abraham. 1:54-55
1) Saved him before he did anything - circumcision, sacrifice
of son.
2) He believed, and instantly received righteousness.
3) When we believe, we share in his salvation.
B. God didn't forget Abraham, and he won't forget us.
V. God deserves our praise.
A. Mary's song begins with it.
B. Is your life an offering of praise to God?
C. (reference to faith of baptism candidates...)
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SOURCES FOR ILLUSTRATIONS USED IN THIS SERMON:
#0 "The Gift," sermon by Rev. William Willimon, Duke University
Chapel, given December 24, 1999. Sermon #2220 in the Holwick
Access 97 database.
#1442 "The Mercy of God," by Mike Treneer, in Discipleship Journal #36,
Nov-Dec 1986, page 18.
These and 16,500 others are part of a database that can be downloaded,
absolutely free, at http://www.holwick.com/database.html
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Summary of Psalm
I. Magnify the Lord.
A. He is our Savior. 1:47
B. He pays attention to us. 1:48
C. He has done great things for us. 1:49
D. He extends his mercy to us. 1:50
E. He lifts up humble (lowly). 1:52
F. He gives the hungry good things. 1:53
G. He remembers to be merciful. 1:54-55
1) To Abraham's descendants.
2) (those of faith)
II. Qualities of his followers.
A. Humble. 1:48
B. Fear God. 1:50
III. Those who oppose him.
A. Scattered. (proud) 1:51
B. Brought down. (rulers) 1:52
C. Send away empty. (rich) 1:53
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COMMENTARY SUMMARY:
Expositor's Commentary
I. This song can be divided into four strophes:
A. 46-48 praise God for what he has done for Mary, a theme
that continues into the first part of the next strophe.
B. 49-50 mention certain attributes of God -- power, holiness,
and mercy.
C. 51-53 show God's sovereign action in reversing certain
social conditions.
D. 54-55 recall God's mercy to Israel.
II. Mary acknowledges her need for a savior; only sinners need a savior.
A. Humble state - low social position.
B. 51-55 The main verbs in the next two strophes are in the
past or aorist tense. The use of the aorist tense could be
gnomic (somewhat like a proverb, e.g., v. 53: "God always
fills the hungry"). If not gnomic, the aorists could recall
the specific times in the OT when God acted (vv. 51-52). We
must not, however, overlook the fact that Mary's references
to the acts of God relate to the coming of the Messiah and
indicate, as mentioned above, radical social reversals.
Also, use of the past tenses here could actually be
predictive (as in Isa 53:19), though general in content.
C. Mary recalls God's covenant (vv. 54-55). The words
translated "forever" (eis ton aiona) occur emphatically as
the final words in the original text of the song. To avoid
the impression that "to Abraham and his descendants" are
indirect objects of "as he said" (as though parallel with
"to our fathers"), NIV reverses v. 55a and 55b (cf. Notes).
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Discipleship Journal #60, Nov-Dec 1990
The Place Of Acceptance
How is it possible to find joy in the midst of tragedy?
By Helen Grace Lescheid
A SUPERNATURAL PERSPECTIVE
There are many examples of this kind of acceptance in the Bible, but for me, that of Mary, the mother of Jesus, excels. To be chosen as the mother of the promised Messiah was a tremendous privilege. No doubt many young women carried this hope. Why was Mary chosen? I believe the answer lies in her simple response to the angel's message: "I am the Lord's servant. May it be to me as you have said" (Luke 1:38). How did she come to have this point of view?
First, MARY UNDERSTOOD THE SOURCE OF TRUE JOY. In Luke 1:46-47 she says, "My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior." Her joy bubbled out of a vital union with the Lord. She understood who God is and who she was in relationship to Him. God was Lord and she was His servant. Many of us today, in our independence-oriented society, struggle with these roles.
To Mary, God was the "Mighty One, holy is his name." He could act severely, scattering the proud and bringing down the rulers from their thrones. He could also act lovingly, lifting up the humble and filling the hungry with good things (Luke 1:48-55).
Many of us have been conditioned to think of God as a doting Parent whose function is to shield us from unpleasant circumstances. No wonder we're disappointed. The Bible clearly teaches that God sometimes acts in severity toward His children. "I am the LORD, and there is no other. I form the light and create darkness, I bring prosperity and create disaster; I, the LORD, do all these things" (Isaiah 45:6-7). "For you, O God, tested us; you refined us like silver. You brought us into prison and laid burdens on our backs. You let men ride over our heads; we went through fire and water, but you brought us to a place of abundance" (Psalm 66:10-12). "The LORD binds up the bruises of his people and heals the wounds he inflicted" (Isaiah 30:26). C.S. Lewis describes these actions of God as "His severe mercy."
I find great comfort in this balanced view of God: He is a Parent who is wiser than I am (Isaiah 55:8); He is a God who cannot be manipulated by me or anyone else (Job 42:2). He loves me, and His loving plan will be carried out no matter what life may throw at me.
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Discipleship Journal #22, July-Aug 1984
Refreshment From Above
The Christian life is filled with struggles. Sometimes we win, sometimes we lose. God receives and loves us anyway, and offers us encouragement that His grace is sufficient. By David Jackman
CONFIDENCE IN GOD'S MERCY
First, we will have confidence in God's mercy. "Therefore, since through God's mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart" (2 Cor. 4:1). The ministry of the Christian is a ministry of the Spirit. In 2 Cor. 3 Paul tells us it is a ministry of life, of righteousness, of liberty and glory. When we see the transforming power of the gospel (2 Cor. 3:18), we do not lose heart.
But that gospel is entirely dependent, Paul says, on the mercy of God. It stands on grace alone. Paul knew himself to be a guilty sinner, condemned by God's righteousness, hopeless as to any human way in which he could make himself acceptable to God. All the glories of the new covenant depend utterly on God's mercy. We bring before God's judgment only what we have received from Him.
Mary sang in her great song, "The Magnificat" (Luke 1:46-55), "He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty." God loves to meet people who come to Him with open hands, and grants them His mercy.
Paul says every ministry in which we are involved is a ministry of mercy. This confidence is Paul's underlying foundation for continuing in service. He knows that God's mercy and grace can reach any man, anywhere, anytime.
We must never write people off. We must never say, "These people might come to faith, but not those." The Body of Christ is a collection of the most unlikely people to become Christians. Never limit the grace of God. His mercy can reach anybody.
If we try in our own strength to serve God, we will give up easily. We will be swamped by our little trials. It is not so much a sign that we are weak-we all know that-but that we need a deeper sense of what we are in Christ, of the sheer mercy of God that we can never repay.
So the first mark of someone who is serving the Lord because of God's grace is that his will be a ministry of mercy. He will be so taken up with the glory of Christ and of the gospel, so thrilled with what Jesus has done for him, that he will communicate mercy and love to all he knows. He will not grow lax and lose courage, but will have a sense of the privilege he has received to be a channel of mercy. God always gives us blessings so we can pass them on to others, and as we pass on the blessing of the gospel to others, we become channels through which grace flows to them.
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HELEN CRAWFORD
Over the years I've been challenged by the example of Mary, who - when she was pregnant with Jesus-spoke a stream of praise for God's plan for the ages (Luke 1:46-55). There are approximately twenty references and allusions to the Old Testament in this short passage. Mary was obviously a woman who filled her mind with God's word, and I believe this allowed her to praise God for his redemptive plan in history and for the events of her life. This has become one of my life goals-that praise for God might spring readily from my mouth.
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