What to Give the God Who Created Everything

if you get tired of seeing my
face this morning. I count it to be a privilege
to be up here this, the Sunday before Christmas. It was also a shock to my daughter
who said, Mr. Frasco’s letting you up there
this week? Oh, thank you. To look at the Christmas account, we read Luke 2 a lot, but when
you come and try and decide what to preach about, there is so
much in this account of Jesus’ birth. You pray about it and you think,
okay, what would God have me look at? And what it came back
to was not the traditional Luke 2 passage, but just before that,
the account of conception of Jesus Christ. And as we look
through this morning, there’s so much. And as Trey I’m sure
knows, as Kevin knows, and after next week, you’re going to ask
Frank the same thing. How do you get through it all?
And especially, this is an announcement for next week, I’m really looking
forward to hearing Frank next week. I’m not trying to put pressure,
but what a blessing the Jeters have been to our church. And
I’m looking forward to hearing Frank. I’m pretty confident in
believing that many of you, I’m not going to say all, but many
of you have had or been in a situation where you’ve had to buy a gift
for someone who has everything. My parents can fall into that
category. And so, I remember one year,
and they’re not picky, They’re really not. But there is this
one year where we bought, Carol and I decided we were going to
splurge just a little bit because my mom had been talking about
a giant dollhouse. Now, I am no expert in dollhouses,
but it was, I mean, you tell me, it was about that wide and
about that big, that tall. So to me, that was big. And so
we, you know, she had talked about it, we were able to do
it that year, so we bought her this big dollhouse expecting
her to put those other dolls that she had that you don’t play
with around it, whatever you’re going to do with this dollhouse.
Part of it was also a peace offering because there was This one Halloween,
when I was probably 10, that the neighbor kids, we decided
we were going to have a haunted house in our garage, and I wanted
to contribute. I mean, people got dry eyes and
everything. And I was going to contribute,
so I took the head of this particular doll. Now, it was a Patty Play
Pal, and it was about that tall. Back then they made things, it
was like theater candy, you get the big boxes, and back then
they made big toys. And something about it being
a collector’s item, but I took the head off, I put
some ketchup on it, tied a rope around it, and put it in the
garage as my contribution. If you ever ask my mom, just
say, tell me about that Patty Play Pal thing. So what we did is we wrapped
this dollhouse and we put it in amongst the gifts, thought
we had done well. And she opened it and she was
surprised. And she said, wow, I mean, I said, well, that’s
what you were talking about, right, right, right. And what happened was that it
ended up out on their balcony outside where my kids, when they
were two, three, and four, would go and run their cars over it.
They’d climb on it and stuff like that. It was never used
for what I thought it was intended for. Sometimes we just try too
hard. Now I’ve learned that, and it’s
great to have kids, but a picture of the kids with their grandparents
with a note about how much they love them, why they love them,
is probably the best gift you can give. But there’s just sometimes
we just try too hard. At this time of year, we’re obviously
thinking of gifts. We read the Christmas story and
we think about the gift that God gave to us. Jesus Christ,
His Son, the greatest gift ever given. So what do we give God? There
is no way we can repay Him for what He has given us. What Jesus
Christ has done for us. What can we give Him? He’s got
everything. He created everything. He spoke
the worlds into existence out of nothing. What can we give
Him? When Jesus Christ was brought
into the world, God issued a call. And it was a general call to
all to repent and believe. Believe on what Jesus Christ
has done. As believers, we are called to certain things. First
and foremost, we’re called to be concerned about God’s glory.
After all, this was the primary reason He sent His Son to die
on a cross for our sins, to pay a penalty that we could never
pay. all to the glory of God. Yes, it was done out of His love
for us, but it was done to bring Him glory. We’re called also
to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, and mind.
We’re called to love our neighbors as ourselves. We’re called to trust in the
Lord with all our hearts. We’re called not to be anxious,
but to pray. We’re called to walk in a manner
worthy of the Gospel. That list is not complete. But
we are also called to walk by faith. And this, this is what
God wants. What God desires is what no one
else can give Him. He wants your devotion and He
wants your heart. So this is what we can give to
God who created everything. So we look today at a passage,
two passages actually, one in Luke and one in Matthew. And
we’re going to be looking today at Joseph and Mary. How they responded to the call
of God in their life. Turn to Luke. Chapter 1, we’re
going to begin in verse 26. And I’m going to read the whole
passage. 26-56, Now in the sixth month,
the angel Gabriel was sent to God to a city in Galilee called
Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph,
of the descendants of David. And the virgin’s name was Mary.
And coming in, he said to her, Greetings, favored one. The Lord
is with you. But she was very perplexed at
this statement and kept pondering what kind of salutation this
was. 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 him Jesus. He will be great and will be
called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give him
the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house
of Jacob forever. And his kingdom will have no
end.” Mary said to the angel, “‘How can this be, since I am
a virgin?’ The angel answered and said to her, “‘The Holy Spirit
will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow
you. And for that reason, the Holy Child shall be called the
Son of God. And behold, even your relative
Elizabeth has also conceived a son in her old age, and she
who was called barren is now in her sixth month. For nothing
will be impossible with God.” And Mary said, “‘Behold, the
bondslave of the Lord, may it be done to me according to your
word.’ And the angel departed from her. Now at this time, Mary
arose and went in a hurry to the hill country, to a city of
Judah, and entered the house of Zacharias and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting,
the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with
the Holy Spirit. And she cried out with a loud
voice and said, Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the
fruit of your womb. And how it has happened to me
that the mother of my Lord would come to me. For behold, when
the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby leaped in my
womb for joy. And blessed is she who believed
that there would be a fulfillment of what had been spoken to her
by the Lord.” And Mary said, my soul exalts the Lord. And my spirit has rejoiced in
God my Savior, for He has regard for the humble state of His bondslave. For behold, from this time on,
all generations will count me blessed. For the Mighty One has
done great things for me, and holy is His name. And His mercy
is upon generation after generation, toward those who fear Him. He
has done mighty deeds with His arm. He has scattered those who
were proud in the thoughts of their heart. He has brought down
rulers from their thrones and has exalted those who were humble.
He has filled the hungry with good things and sent away the
rich empty-handed. He has given help to Israel,
His servant, in remembrance of his mercy as he spoke to our
fathers, to Abraham and his descendants forever. And Mary stayed with
her about three months and then returned home.” Let me give you a little background
on Joseph and Mary. First, the passage tells us that
Joseph and Mary are betrothed. Now, many will compare this to
an engagement similar But a betrothal is much more. Some of your versions
may even say that they were engaged. A betrothal is a binding legal
agreement. A betrothal would typically last
about nine to 15 months, during which the two parties live separately. One of the main reasons for the
long period was to prove the chasteness of each person involved. This is done primarily because
the ages of the people involved, the two parties, it was not uncommon
that they were in their early teens. Not uncommon for a young
lady to be between 13 and 15 years old and a young man around
15 to 18. Most of the men, the scholars
I read, put Mary in the 13 to 14 year old range and Joseph
16 to 18. The only way out of a betrothal
was a legal divorce. So as we look in Matthew, you
will see that Joseph is actually called the husband of Mary. This was before the actual marriage
ceremony. The only thing missing in a betrothal
was the formal wedding ceremony and the coming together of the
two parties and their living together. Mary and Joseph are
both from the line of David. Matthew, in his lineage of Jesus,
traces the line paternally. It’s through Joseph. Joseph coming
through David’s line through Solomon. Luke in chapter 3 chases
Jesus’ line maternally through Mary’s line. Mary is from the
line of David through Nathan. Now this lineage is extremely
important. Matthew wrote his Gospel to show
Jews that Jesus was rightfully the Messiah, that He was from
the right lineage. So don’t take that for granted.
Mary and Joseph are both from David’s line, which is what the
Messiah needed to be. Now, if you’re anything like
me, when we go through their response
to the call of God, I think you will be very impressed. and I
think because of their young age, I would be impressed if
they were much older. The first proper response that
we see in the Christmas account to the call of God is submission.
James 4.7 says, submit to God and resist the devil. Mary says
in her response, be it done to me according to your word. Submit. The word in the Greek is hypotasso. There’s a military term and a
non-military term. The non-military meaning says
this, the voluntary attitude of giving in, cooperating, assuming
responsibility, and carrying a burden. Spurgeon said this
about submitting to God. Should not the creature be submissive
to the Creator, to whom it owes its existence, without whom it
had never been, and without whose continuous good pleasure it would
at once cease to be. Our Creator is infinitely good. To submit to one who is too wise
to err, too good to be unkind, should not be hard. Therefore,
to resist him is to contend against one’s own advantage. Now when
we look at the passage, it begins, the visitation from Gabriel. Gabriel and Michael are the only
two angels that you will see identified. So Gabriel is here
visiting Mary. And it says it occurs in the
sixth month. And what this is, is the sixth
month after Elizabeth conceives her child, John the Baptist.
And that account precedes this one. Now we are told that Mary,
is visited by the angel Gabriel. And we’re not given a whole lot
of details about the account. But I’m not sure that how Gabriel
enters. It says Gabriel enters in. And
when you look it up, you find to basically walk into a house. So is it that Gabriel just walks
in? Was he let in? We don’t know.
Is there a sense that this is an angel? Is there a special
presence about Gabriel? I asked some resident scholars
and we just can’t be sure. There are times Zacharias in
chapter 1 was visited by an angel while he was burning incense
in the temple. And it says the angel appeared
by the altar. So that one, it seems like the
angel suddenly appeared. But here it says Gabriel walked
in. The passage says Gabriel is sent
to a virgin. We all know this is vital in
the birth of Jesus Christ, for Jesus had to become fully human
in order to accomplish what He came to accomplish. However,
in becoming human, He could not have our nature, our sinful nature. This was the only way He could
be sinless. So his father could not be a human. Gabriel greets Mary with greetings
favored one. The Lord is with you. What would
you do? Possibly the same thing that
Mary does. She’s trying to figure out what’s
going on. This person has come into our
house. We don’t know what kind of presence there is. I would
think there might be some special presence, but I can’t be sure.
It doesn’t say. But with this greeting, favored
one, the Lord is with you. As one commented, a normal response
and an appropriate one when confronted with a divine visitation is fear.
Now, it says Mary’s perplexed. The word in Greek for perplexed
is to trouble greatly. Although Luke doesn’t use the
word fear, the passage indicates that there is some indication
that Mary is a little frightened of what’s going on. However,
the angel tries to ease her mind by continuing with his message.
Here’s what he says. Do not fear, for you have found
favor with God. And behold, you will conceive
in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus.
He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give the
throne of his father David. And he will reign over the house
of Jacob forever. And his kingdom will have no
end.” Now, none of us… Confident in this also, none
of us has received news like this. Okay? But when you do get
a phone call, when you do get news, big news, whether good
or bad, what do you do? If you’re anything like me, there
are certain questions that come to mind. So I can probably assume
that if something like this had happened to me, I’d be going,
well, what do you mean with found favor with God? When you say
He’ll be great, how great? What do you mean, Son of the
Most High? I can just hear Gabriel saying, would you just be quiet
and let me finish. Because I would be filled, fine,
question after question. This is no ordinary announcement.
I would think it would bring a lot of questions. I mean, everyone
thinks their child is special. Look at my kids. They’re special.
They’re the greatest. But son of the Most High? Uh-uh. Reign over the house of Jacob?
Kingdom? Will have no end? Mary must have understood. that
this was to occur pretty quickly. Because as the passage indicates,
she asks one question. One question. And it’s not necessarily
a question of self-defense, wait a minute here, you’re telling
me something. No, it’s a question of amazement
and wonder. Some confusion. Because she says,
how can this be? since I am a virgin.” Now, if
she thought this was an announcement of the child that Joseph and
she would have after they were married, it wouldn’t be a question. It wouldn’t be an issue. But
the question shows she knew it was going to happen right away.
And the angel comes back with a more astonishing answer. The
Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High
will overshadow you. And for that reason, The Holy Child shall
be called the Son of God. And behold, even your cousin
or relative Elizabeth has also conceived a son in her old age.
And she who was called barren is now in her sixth month, for
nothing will be impossible with God.” Here’s an answer to her
legitimate question that defies all logic. He tells her of a
conception of which no one could have ever come up with or anticipated. There had been miraculous births
before. We know Abraham and Sarah. We know about Hannah. Angel just
tells her about Elizabeth. But these were women who couldn’t
have children before. They were barren. But miraculously,
they conceived. But it was by natural means.
This news, however, is beyond comprehension. Appropriately,
the angel concludes with, for nothing will be impossible with
God. Wow. And Mary’s response is,
behold, the bondslave of the Lord, may it be done to me according
to your word. That’s all she says. Quick, immediate submission.
That amazing news and her immediate response shows total submission
to God’s will. One wrote, knowing the cost,
the scandal that awaited her, and weighing it against the immense
privilege of becoming the mother of the Christ, Mary surrendered
herself unconditionally. The scandal. She’s betrothed.
She would have the stigma of an unwed pregnancy. She would
be ridiculed. Her story would not be believed. You’re pregnant? How? Yeah, right, sure. Yet this young girl submits to
God fully to enter this monumental task. Now contrast this response
to another hero of the faith, one who’s mentioned in Hebrews
11. It’s Moses. And we see the account
in Exodus 3 and 4. Here’s an overview. We have God
appearing to Moses in a burning bush. God tells Moses about the
mission that He has for him. And Moses comes back with, who
am I that I should go to Pharaoh? That I should be the one to lead
Israel out of Egypt. Legitimate question. God responds
with words that should have led to the end of the questioning.
God says, surely, I will go with you. Then Moses says, well, who
shall I say sent me? And God says, I am who I am. There is no other you will need. Now, there’s tons in that answer
alone that would deserve at least a full morning. God lays out what will happen.
And Moses again raises an objection. What if they won’t listen to
me? Well, God just told you that they weren’t going to listen
to you. And then God proceeds to perform miracles right in
front of him. Turns the staff into a snake.
Tells him to put his hand into his cloak. Pulls it out. It’s
leprous. Put it back in. It’s healed. I don’t speak so well. You know,
I stutter. then Moses is finally blunt.
Can’t you send someone else? Five objections. Five objections. Mary asks one question and says,
may it be done to me according to Your Word. Is this what we
do? When God has made it clear to
us what to do, Do we put out fleece after fleece after fleece? Now, are you sure? God, I’m just
going to do this one more thing, and if this happens, then I’ll
know it’s you. Mary asks one question. Matthew Henry said of Mary, she
objects not to the danger of spoiling her marriage and blemishing
her reputation, but leaves the issue with God and submits entirely
to His will. The first proper response we
find in the Christmas account to God’s call is submission. The second proper response is
obedience. And for this, let’s turn to Matthew
1. We’re going to start in verse 18 and go to the end of the chapter.
Now, the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows. When his mother
Mary had been betrothed to Joseph before they came together, she
was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit. And Joseph,
her husband, being a righteous man and not wanting to disgrace
her, planned to send her away secretly. But when he had considered
this, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream,
saying, Joseph, son of David, Do not be afraid to take Mary
as your wife, for the child who has been conceived in her is
of the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you
shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from
their sins. Now all this took place to fulfill
what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet. Behold, the virgin
shall be with child. and shall bear a son, and they
shall call his name Immanuel, which translated means God with
us. And Joseph awoke from his sleep
and did as the angel of the Lord commanded him and took Mary as
his wife, but kept her a virgin until she gave birth to a son
and called his name Jesus. You can either call this number
two, as I have on the sheet, or you can call it You can call
Submission 1A, Obedience 1B, because I realize they are somewhat
the same thing. When I looked up the word submission
in the dictionary, one of the definitions was to obey. When I looked up obedience in
the dictionary, one of the definitions was to submit. So I hear you. They’re pretty much the same
thing. However, I’m making a distinction here between submission and obedience
because Mary is pregnant and she’s submitting to her situation. She’s not going to become un-pregnant. Joseph here is asked to do something. And so I’m making that determination
and calling Submission 1, Obedience 2. Notice here in verse 19, we see
Joseph called her husband, signifying that they are considered husband
and wife even though they haven’t had the formal ceremony. Also,
in verse 19, we get a little glimpse of what kind of man Joseph
is. Now, we don’t know a whole lot
about Joseph. After the birth here, there’s
like three or four accounts when he brings Jesus to the temple
to be dedicated. in a couple other instances,
but then that’s it. We don’t see Joseph at the cross
when Jesus is being crucified. In fact, Jesus gives Mary into
the care of John. So it’s possible that Joseph
died fairly early before the crucifixion of Jesus. We just
don’t know. There’s no more mention of him
shortly after this birth. But we see what kind of man he
is. He’s described as a righteous man. And this would mean that
he’s a true believer in God. One who would know and respect
the law of God. We are also told of Joseph’s
intentions. Not wanting to disgrace her,
he planned to send her away secretly. This send her away is the term
used for divorce. So here we know that Joseph has
obviously found out what’s happened. Mary has been unfaithful. This would mean that he can’t
go through with the marriage. And the only way to end it is
a legal proceeding, a divorce. And often this was done publicly in order to disgrace the offender. Now, if you have an ESV, it says
to shame her. One wrote, to punish by way as
an example to others, to deter them from sinning. However, Joseph
didn’t want to do this. He knew he needed to divorce
her, but he did not want to humiliate her. This is in direct contrast
to our mindset of today. What happens today when we are
wronged? We immediately go to our family
and our friends and we say, look. Look what Mary did. Joseph doesn’t
do this. He naturally assumes that Mary
has been unfaithful. But yet, he wants to do it in
a way that won’t bring shame to her. Ephesians 4.31-32 says,
“…let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander
be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another,
tenderhearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ
also forgave you.” This is what Joseph does. This is not necessarily
the mindset of today. How do we react when we are wronged?
Do we react according to Scripture, like Joseph? Or do we let our
pride reign, get in the way, and cause us to rush into sin
and do what we think should happen? We take matters into our own
hands. We do to the others what we think
should be done to them. J.C. Ryle said, it’s a beautiful
example of godly wisdom and tender consideration for others. He
saw the appearance of evil in her who was his espoused wife,
but he did nothing rashly. He waited patiently to have the
lines of duty made clear. Now, this situation was probably
consuming Joseph’s thoughts. When you’re in something like
this, he knows the situation. He wants to figure out a way
he can remedy it in a quiet way. When you’re in something like
this, a lot of times, you get exhausted. It’s draining. Because it says here, when he
had considered this, the angel came to him in a dream. Now,
it could be that he was just exhausted and he fell asleep.
It could have been that it was just time to go to bed. And as
you lay there, What happens? Your mind goes back to the situation. Whatever it was, he fell asleep
as he was considering the situation. But then the angel comes to him
in a dream. When he had considered this,
behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream saying,
Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your
wife for the child who has been conceived in her is of the Holy
Spirit. She will bear a son and you shall call his name Emmanuel. You shall call his name Jesus,
sorry, for he will save his people from their sins. Now, all this
took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the
prophet. Behold, The Virgin shall be with child and shall bear
a son and they shall call his name Emmanuel, meaning God with
us. So Joseph gets up immediately
and does what he’s told. Actually, this is probably a
huge relief for him because it’s not that he wanted to divorce
her, but now he could marry her and he would have the privilege.
A godly man would have the privilege of becoming part of raising God’s
son. Joseph was asked to do something
and he did it immediately. Spurgeon wrote, continuous delay
of duty is a continuous sin. This is not the only instance
of Joseph’s immediate obedience. Later on, after Jesus was born,
Herod issues an edict that all children or male children under
two years of age shall be killed. See, he didn’t want the competition
of a king. And he didn’t know where this
child was, so he issued this edict. And while he was sleeping,
Joseph got another visitation and says, get up, take your family
to Egypt, and go. And he did it in the middle of
the night. Once again, Spurgeon commented,
oh, that we were, most of all, earnest to render personal obedience
It is very easy to offer unto God a sort of other people’s
obedience, to fancy that we are serving God when we are finding
fault with our neighbors and lamenting that they are not so
godly as they ought to be. Truly, we cannot help seeing
their shortcomings, but we should do well to be less observant
of them than we are. Let us turn our magnifying glasses
upon ourselves. It is not so much our business
to be weeding other people’s gardens as to keep our own vineyard.
To the Lord each one should cry, Lord, what wilt thou have me
do?” So the first proper response is submission. The second proper
response is obedience. The third proper response is
faith. And I put an asterisk there because
faith, even though it’s point three, is number one on the priority. Because without faith, you can’t
do the other two. Faith brings the correct attitude
to our submission and obedience and makes it submission and obedience. Otherwise, it’s just duty. Faith
is what caused Mary to respond with such submission. Faith is
what caused Joseph to act in obedience. Faith is what we need
for us to be able to give back to God what pleases Him. Our
heart, devotion, submission, and obedience. One wrote, only
a reigning faith will make us subject to its power so as to
be in all things obedient to the Lord.” And we get this from
Luke. Back in Luke. I’m not going to
read the full passage. I’m just going to read the verse
I’m keen on here. It’s verse 45. Mary comes to
Elizabeth. filled with the Holy Spirit,
speaks out and ends with, and blessed is she who believed that
there would be a fulfillment of what had been spoken to her
by the Lord. Mary exercised faith and Elizabeth,
filled with the Holy Spirit, commends her for it. Now, as
we talk about faith, there’s three facts about faith. The
first one is without faith, we cannot please God. We know that.
Scripture says it. Hebrews 11.6. But the verse goes on to say,
for he who comes to God must believe that he is and that he
is a rewarder of those who seek him. This is not a natural faith. This is not the faith that we
exercise when we go into our car, put the key into the ignition
and turn it. We have faith that that car will
now be turned on. This is not that kind. This is a supernatural faith.
And we see the definition in Hebrews 11, verses 1 and 2. Faith is the assurance of things
hoped for, the convictions of things not seen. For by it, the
men of old gain approval. Faith is the assurance of things
hoped for. Assurance is a foundation that
a building is set upon. It is solid. It is sure. It is
not faith that wishes or hopes, but it is certain. that what
God has said will happen. And that assurance leads to conviction.
The conviction of things not seen. It’s something you live
by. It’s what defines us. Habakkuk
2.4 says, the righteous shall live by faith. It’s a life that
is completely devoted to God based on who He is. It’s a life
based on complete trust. This is the faith that pleases
God because it acts on the belief that God is going to do it because
He said it. Because God is who He is. Mary called herself a bond slave
of the Lord. In Greek, it’s doulos. It’s a
willing servant. James identified himself as it.
Paul identified himself as it. Jude identified himself as it. It’s a willing slave, willing
to submit, because I know what God says He will do. So faith is the way to please
God. The second fact of faith is that faith is a gift. For
by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of
yourselves. It is the gift of God, not as
a result of works, so that no one may boast. Maybe you’ve heard someone use
the phrase when they’re giving their testimony, I came to faith
at such and such a time. I think a more accurate statement
would be, faith came to me at such and such a time. We’re not able to come to faith
on our own. Remember, we were dead, unable to respond. As one wrote, no amount of CPR
could bring us back to life. only by God through the Holy
Spirit regenerating us were we able to come to faith. On Wednesday in the Institute,
we were looking at Mark 15. And Kevin was looking at the
characteristics of Christ and he made the comment as Jesus
was hanging on the cross and those down on the ground were
saying, save yourself. Come save yourself and then we’ll
believe. You’ve shown the obedience, the patience of Christ. But the
truth is, even if Jesus had come down from the cross, without
the intervention of the Holy Spirit, they wouldn’t have believed.
He had been performing miracles all through His ministry. All
they wanted was more miracles. They didn’t believe. Mark 4, 11-12, Jesus was saying
to them, to you has been given the mystery of the Kingdom of
God, but those who are outside get everything in parables so
that while seeing, They may not perceive and while hearing, they
may hear and not understand. Otherwise, they might return
and be forgiven. Faith is a gift generously given
by God to be used, which leads us to the third fact of faith. Faith requires action. James
to 17, even so without works, if it had even so without works,
if it has no works, faith without works is dead, being by itself. It’s dead or useless. Just so
we’re clear here, we’re not saying that works save. Works are a
result of salvation. They are not the cause of salvation.
Works, that James mentions, can be those that are mentioned in
the verses previous to that. When he mentions, if a brother
or sister is without clothing and in need of food, and one
of you says to them, go in peace, be warm, be filled, And yet you
do not give them what is necessary for their body. What use is that?
They are practical works that care and serve others. But there are also acts of obedience
and trust. Those that Mary and Joseph exercise
are those kind. The group that lowered the paralytic
down through the roof exercised faith. We are called to exercise that
faith. So the first proper response
we find in the Christmas account is submission. The second is
obedience. The third is faith. And fourth
is worship. Worship is what we do. Worship
is what we were made to do. We worship. Our soul was made
to worship. Chief end of man is to glorify
God and enjoy Him forever. But there’s a battle for our
worship. There are distractions. There’s time. Things are put
in front of us. Thoughts given to us. There’s
money. There’s sports. There’s hobbies. They all battle for our attention.
They all battle for our worship. One said worship is our response.
Talking about Christians, worship is our response both individually
and corporately to who God is and what He has done. It’s a
natural thing. And this is what happens to Mary
in verse 46. And Mary said, My soul exalts
the Lord, and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior, for He has
regarded the humble state of His bondslave. For behold, from
this time on, all generations will count me blessed. For the
Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is His name.”
She goes on to exalt the Lord and praise Him. J.C. Ryle wrote, it is evident
that the Virgin Mary was stored with Scripture. She was familiar,
whether by reading or hearing, with the Old Testament. The first
line is echoed from Hannah’s hymn of praise. Her hymn of praise also shows
that she would be appalled at the prominence and worship that
she has given in the Catholic Church. John MacArthur wrote in his book,
Twelve Extraordinary Women. He wrote this about Mary and
on the worship, the veneration of Mary. It’s a little long,
but those who channel their religious energies into the veneration
of Mary would do well to learn from the example of Mary herself.
God is the only one she magnified. Notice how she praised the glory
and majesty of God while repeatedly acknowledging her own lowliness.
She took no credit for anything good in herself, but she praised
the Lord for her attributes. She freely confessed God is the
one who had done great things for her and not vice versa. The
song is all about God’s greatness, His glory, the strength of His
arm, and His faithfulness across all generations. Her worship
was clearly from the heart. She was consumed by the wonder
of His grace to her. Worship is about value. What
do you place value in? Mary placed it in her Lord. In the beginning, listed several
things that the Christian, the believer, is called to. One of
those I didn’t mention before was to be like Christ. Christ
was a primary example of obedience and submission. We see his obedience
on the cross. We see it in his ministry. I
came to do the will of my Father. We see it in the garden as he
prayed, Lord, not my will, but your will be done. You shall
call his name Jesus. for He will save His people from
their sins. He will be great and will be
called Son of the Most High. Just as the Son of Man did not
come to be served, but to serve and to give His life a ransom
for many. Mary was told that the Lord will
give Him the throne of His father David and He will reign over
the house of Jacob. forever and his kingdom will
have no end. Second Corinthians we read, he
made him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf so that we
might become the righteousness of God in him. What situation are you in? Is
there an area where you are having trouble submitting? Is there
an issue that you’re having trouble obeying when it’s clear what
God wants you to do. Where is your worship? What do
you spend your time doing when you’re not here? What does your life say you value
most? We will never be able to repay
God for the gift of His Son. But we can please Him by living
and exercising yet another gift, and that gift of faith. Father,
we thank You for the gift of Your Son. And we thank You for
all that that brings to us. It brings forgiveness. And it brings reconciliation
to You, the Father. Father, I pray that You would
help us to be a people that will please
You in the way we live with our faith, with our submission, with
our obedience. Lord, help us to live a life
of conviction, knowing that You are who You are. And may it extend
to every area of our life. When we see things crumbling
around us, our government and country in
disarray. May we cling to You and live
a life of faith in God, knowing that You are sovereign and that
You are in control. For this is what pleases You.
We thank You for that gift of faith. May we live to exercise
that in a way that honors and pleases You. In Your name, Amen. I love you. I’m