Luke 1:46-52 What Mary Knew

Mary’s Song in the Context of Christmas and the Kids Program

Welcome to the podcast of Recast Church in Madawan, Michigan. If you'd like more information on Recast Church, please visit us on the web at www .recastchurch .com.

Good morning, welcome to Recast Church, and Merry Christmas to all of you. Only a couple more days now. Are any of you in the situation like I am where you're waiting for maybe just a couple more things to arrive by UPS, a handful of you?

Raise your hand if you're in that situation. You got a couple more things to get? Maybe you need a couple of you are making me feel better. The rest of you are kind of like, you're already done. That's awesome.

Good for you.

Notice, I noticed that everybody's sitting down here on the floor because you want to be close to the cuteness this morning, right? That's kind of a, you know what's going to happen here and the kids are going to be up.

Here.

And so everybody's going to push to the front. That's awesome. Thank you for taking the time. I know that the holiday is a busy time and so it's very, would be very easy for you to just kind of skip out or whatever, but I'm very grateful that you're here gathered together as recast church to worship our great and awesome God this morning.

I encourage you to take some time to fill out the connection card that you received when you walked in. You can fill that in and turn it in the black box at the table that's underneath the clock that's back there on the wall.

There's other kinds of information there. If you don't have a Bible, you can pick one of those up. And then if it's your first time with us and you fill out one of those connection cards and turn it in, then we'd ask that you do us a favor and take a free coffee mug back.

There.

Just our way of saying thank you for joining with us. You can have that for free. And again, just a way to say thanks. And then any offerings that you would choose to give, we don't pass an offering plate here.

We don't want anybody to feel that pressure. But I do just mention it just so that you know that it's available back there. That same black box where you turn in the connection cards is where offerings would.

Go.

You've been provided an envelope. You can recycle that envelope or use it, your call. And then if you mark on that, those of you that have been attending here for a while know that we're trying to raise funds towards a building and we've got a fund open for that.

And so if anything that's marked expansion fund, we'll go towards that goal of eventually building a building on the property that we've purchased out on East McGillan. So with all that out of the way, you know that this morning is a bit different.

You didn't really necessarily come to hear my voice. A lot of you are here because you want to hear grandkids or kids or whatever. And that's going to be coming. But we are going to be digging into God's word here for a little bit.

This morning is going to be a little bit more of like a short devotional rather than a full-on sermon, which you guys might be amazed to find that I actually could do that. And it is possible. But don't tempt me because we could go over if we wanted.

But the focus of the kids program is centered around the song or part of the kids program is centered around the song, Mary, Did You Know. How many of you are familiar with that song, Mary, Did You Know?

You've heard that. You've heard it on the radio. You're familiar with it. Some of you have even sang it. You sing along with it or whatever. And so I've decided in the midst of all of these questions, Mary, Did You Know?

And then you can fill in the blank with all of the questions that are asked in that song. I'm going to be highlighting in scripture a few things that Mary did know. Some things that the word of God tells us that she did actually have a grasp on.

How many of you knew that Mary knew some things? She was not just a bystander to the events of her life. She actually was living it. And an angel came and shared some things with her. And then she, in a song that she wrote, did you know Mary was, she's published as far as writing songs?

We have a song that she wrote in scripture and it's actually there for us. So it's not just the song that's written about her this time of the year, Mary, Did You Know? That's not the only song. She actually produced one that talked about what she did know.

So I believe that Mary serves as an excellent model for us in the way that God often reveals to us things that are going on in our lives. He calls us and he gives us the outline. He gives us the principles, but rarely does he give us the details.

Well the song Mary Did You Know is concerned with the details, but how many of you know that Mary had a big picture that God had revealed to her that was sufficient for her to step out in faith? It was sufficient for her to know the big picture of what God was doing.

She didn't have all the details figured out. I don't believe that God shared with her right then and there that, Mary, your son is going to die on a cross and you're going to be there and you're going to observe these things and it's going to be hard for you.

She didn't know all of that in advance, but there are things that she did know that was sufficient to give her strength to walk forward in the future and that's how God interacts with us, right? How many of you know what 2015 holds?

How many of you know what 2014 held? You know that, right? And so you know that there are some, how many of you could point to 2014 and say there was some faithfulness of God in 2014? There was some faithfulness of God towards me and so you can step out in what you know, now you don't know the future, but you can step out in what you know about God's faithful actions in the past to move forward into this next year with hope, with joy, with peace knowing that it's in His hands.

So as we ask, Mary, did you know, followed by specifics, we ask that question, but the things that Mary did know gave her the strength. And as we read this text, it's a song written by Mary, I want you to listen for the things that she knew.

So let's open our Bibles to Luke chapter 1, 46 through 55, if you have a Bible with you. If you don't have a Bible in your hand and you want one, just raise your hand and Mark is right here, he's bringing Bibles by and we do, we mean it sincerely that if you don't have a Bible at home, we want you to take one of those home with you, there's a stack of them back there on the table, but we want to follow along with God's word.

Luke chapter 1, verses 46 through 55, this song that, by the way, the context of this song I think is valuable for us to understand as I go into reading it. Mary has gone, she is pregnant, she hasn't had the baby yet and she's expecting and she goes to visit her relative, we don't know if it was cousin or not, the word that's there is a little bit, we're not positive whether it was cousin or aunt or something, but some type of relationship to Mary and she goes and visits and her aunt or her cousin is expecting at the time, Elizabeth, and Elizabeth says, when you approached me, the baby in my womb kicked, it kicked, it jumped, it leaped.

And she has this interaction that something is special about you, Mary, and this is what Mary says. And Mary said, my soul magnifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior. For he has looked on the humble estate 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.

Let's pray as the band comes to lead us in a couple of songs before the kids come in and do their awesome program with us. Father, I thank you that you don't give us all of the details of the future, but you give us a sufficient amount of information to place our trust in you for the future.

And as we see that modeled in Mary, we see her example, we rejoice. We rejoice most importantly in what all of this is swirling around, and that is the notion of you sending your son in flesh to be our Lord and Savior, to come in humility in that place, that lowly birth of no room in the inn, born among the animals, to be here with us, to be Emmanuel, God with us.

That we have a God, you, who relates to us, who understands what it is to walk in this incursed world. We thank you for Jesus, and I pray that all that we do this morning would center around him, not just this baby who was born 2 ,000 years ago, that we would move past that manger to the one who shouldered the sins of the world, and the one who is coming back to be triumphant in the end over sin and death.

We look forward to that day, but as we live now, I ask that you would give us faithfulness, that we have an opportunity to worship you, Father, that it would bring honor and glory and a smile to your face as we sing songs to you this morning, in Jesus' name, amen.

Well, I encourage you to get comfortable for the next few minutes as we cover a few things that Mary knew that God wants us to know as well, but just before I get started, I just think this might be an appropriate time to say some thanks, and I'm gonna be thanking some people that are not in the room, they're with the kids right now, but be sure just to kind of keep this in mind and give them thanks as well as you get a chance to interact.

With them.

Many of these people are working with our kids currently right now. I'd just like to thank Carrie Frohbeater and Steve Isham and Arlen Ryman for putting together our kids program. I'm very grateful for all that they did, and then we're very thankful for all of our Recast Kids volunteers.

If you're a volunteer in the room, I know I'm putting you on the spot, but I'd like you to just stand where you're at so we can all just say thank you to you. If you're volunteering in the registration, if you're helping with new kids, if you're helping with the youth ministries, middle school, up into high school, just give them.

A hand.

Thank you guys so much for working with our kids. Very, very grateful for all of you. The time and energy that you guys put in is beneficial, and just so that you know, on any given Sunday, we have almost as many kids down there as we have adults down here.

We run about 100 kids on average down there. Well, I mean, it's not exactly even, but we have a lot of kids down there that obviously you saw them up here, and that doesn't represent, I mean, some are out of town and things like that, and so there's a lot going on down there.

Very appreciative for them. And then also just thankful for the sound guys who were very flexible this morning in getting all of this stuff set up for them and stuff, and so grateful for you guys as well back there.

And if you're here and you're like thinking, you know, hey, I'd be interested, this would be a great time of the year to get plugged in to working with kids. We always have needs that are there from just people who are just willing to corral the kids and help out to teachers, and if that's your skill set and your giftings, come and talk with me, and I would love to get you plugged in.

That's it.

That's the end of the announcements. Let's dig into God's Word here. Make sure that you got your Bibles open to Luke chapter 1, verses 46 through 55, that text that I read earlier, and we're going to just cover three primary things that Mary did know, three things that she understood, and we talked about some of the things that you wondered.

Did she know that He would walk on water? Did she know that He was the Savior? Did she know that He was the Deliverer? I think she knew some of those things, I mean, the specifics of walking on water, the specifics of healing blind men, I mean, she could have been a student of the Old Testament and known some of the things that He would do, but again, as I alluded to in my introduction, I'm not sure that she knew all the specifics of everything He would do, but enough.

God Is Worthy of Worship

The first thing that Mary clearly understood from verses 46 and 47 of Luke chapter 1 is that God is worthy of worship. That's the first premise that when she writes her song, the first thing she does is she exalts in God, it says, And Mary said, My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.

For He has looked on the humble estate, and then on she goes. God is worthy of her worship. And in her soul, she was magnifying her Lord, and her spirit rejoiced in God. Magnifying the Lord, by the way, I mean, it's a word that you might use, you know, particularly in this text of thinking about magnifying God or whatever, but then when you start to think about how do we use that word, all of a sudden it strikes you that that's a word picture, right?

Magnifying, how many of you own a magnifying glass? Okay, some of you have a magnifying glass to be able to take, and the problem is, in our culture, what do you use a magnifying glass for? Well, you take small things and make them big.

Well, that would not exactly apply to God, would it? I mean, does that work for God, taking something small and making it larger? But what it does is it brings something into focus. It shows us in detail that which is obscure or unclear, and that's what it means to magnify.

The Lord.

It means making a big deal about Him with our lives, the way that we live magnifies God. As, have you ever thought about the way that you act at work, the way that you respond to your neighbors, the way that you roll in your family gatherings over Christmas has something to do with the way that others see God, the way that they see God through.

You?

How many of you have extended family you're going to get together with who are not believers, they are not followers of Jesus Christ, but they know that you are a follower of Jesus.

Christ?

Do you know what I'm talking about? And so, how many of you have ever felt them watching, you know, behind your back, they're watching you, you know that they're observing, and sometimes you have those conversations,.

Right?

It's not just them observing, but sometimes it actually enters into a conversation where they're asking you. Or, I mean, in some context, maybe they're even, like, derogatory towards.

You.

I mean, some of us have that kind of a situation going. You're a magnifying glass to bring to focus features of something that is not clearly seen to the world around us, namely, what God is like, and that's our call.

And Mary understood that. Mary knew that God is worthy of our focused attention, and she rejoiced in His salvation. She was grateful for Him. The second thing that Mary understood, spelled out in verses 48 through 54, this gets the lion's share of her message.

It's the primary focus of her song. Yeah, she understood that He was worthy of worship, but then she also recognized that God has a thing for the lowly, humble, and down and out. The crazy thing is that this concept of God loving the lowly is extremely common in Scripture.

If you start studying the Old Testament, you start reading through the way that Jesus rolled, the compassion that He had on people, and it was often the lowly, the down and out, the people who knew that they were in trouble, the people who knew that they had problems in their lives, the people who did not have much and, therefore, were needy in their soul and in their heart and even in their physical circumstances.

Mary understood this, by the way, according to the text, because of her own self-assessment. She was left in a position of saying, why me? I'm not worthy of this selection. I'm not worthy of your choosing.

You see how that led her to conclude in this song of rejoicing to God that He is one who lifts up the lowly and pushes down the proud. And is that a theme in Scripture? God exalts the humble, but puts down those who are full of pride.

She understood that as her own situation. She saw herself as lowly. She didn't think she was worthy to be chosen to be the mother of God's Son. Now imagine if she was like, I mean, imagine the flip side of that.

We take that for granted at Christmastime, but imagine how, if Mary was an American, the average American, I kind of expect something more like, it's about time I got recognized for how awesome I am. Do you know, I mean, you know what I'm talking about?

The way that we roll, the way that individualism, the way that pride sets in, the way that we have this fight to get ahead mentality in our culture and our society around us. Anybody recognize that? Is there a bit of that in your workplace?

Is there a bit of that in, you know, the place that you're working in? Your own heart, is there a bit of that in there? I think we all can recognize that. So, you know, imagine a Mary who says, it's about time someone recognized me, or I knew that all that time practicing for greatness would pay off, just waiting for the angel to show up.

It makes total sense that He came to me. I get it, I mean, who wouldn't, right? I mean, select me to be the mother of the Son of God. But Mary understood that God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.

The rich, anybody get a little bit, you get a little shifty when scripture talks about the rich?

Anybody?

I think that if you were to take, you know, and what does rich mean and how do you define that and global standards and all that stuff and now I'm supposed to, I mean, now is it my job to keep guilt on us for having much?

How many of you would say that you've got sufficient to meet your needs where you're.

At?

I think all of us, to a large degree, have sufficient means to meet our needs, certainly our basic needs, but then there are other things that we want and many of those are met if we're honest as well.

So when scripture starts talking about giving to the poor or how God has a thing for the poor and is that talking about, uh-oh, uh-oh, if you're rich then you can't be in a relationship.

With God.

Well, that's, most of us in the room then, right, we're rich and it's like, what is he saying to us? Well, I don't believe that it's necessarily strictly about finances, it's not about literal wealth, although I do believe that those things that hinder, have you ever noticed that in the times when the bank account is full and the times when you're banking away for your retirement and things are going well, have any of you noticed a bit of a distance that can form between you and God, a bit of dependence that kind of starts to diminish?

Do you know what I'm talking about? And yet here, I think he's talking more, using that as an illustration for spiritually, saying that there is a hunger, a recognition of our neediness before God that comes more naturally to those who don't have a lot.

Are you getting what I'm saying in that? Now could a person who is poor be far from God? It doesn't mean that you're necessarily close to God just because you're poor, it doesn't mean that you're necessarily far from God just because you're rich, but the tendencies.

Are there.

Are you getting what I'm saying in this? This is what Mary was understanding, this is what Mary knew. She said, God is a God who wants you to come to Him with need, to recognize your dependency upon Him.

Are you guys tracking with that? To recognize our neediness before Him. He brings the mighty down from thrones and He exalts the humble. One of the reasons that we keep things fairly low key here at Recast is because of this reality about how God rolls, the types of things that God likes.

We believe that we can come to God just as we are. We don't need to dress up in fine clothes, that's okay, that's fine if you choose to do so, but you don't need to. You don't need to shine out your riches to get God's attention, we don't need to be dressed up in fine clothes and fashion to show Him that we love Him, but Mary understood that God had singled her out for a privilege that she was unworthy of, and that is the reality of salvation for all of us.

God didn't choose us because we were an awesome bargain. He chose us because of our, He didn't choose us because of our wealth or even our skills, He has done great things for us for His holy name. And Mary knew that what she was chosen for, it was a big deal in history.

She got it. In verse 48 she even acknowledges that all generations in the future would call her blessed even though she was just a humble servant. She knew that, she understood that generations, that we would be sitting here talking about.

Her.

Can you imagine that? She had that revealed to her in some sense that she says generations from now they're going to be pointing to me. How significant did she understand that this baby was that she was carrying?

She got it. She knew He was the one, and that's going to be clear from the last thing. By the way, that she knows that this is a big deal and doesn't let it go to her head shows something of God's work in her character, right?

She knew that it was a big deal and she didn't let it, let it just, no I'm awesome. But the third thing, so Mary knew that God is worthy, she knew He shows grace to the humble, and lastly Mary understood that God never gives up on a promise.

In verses 54 through 55 Mary demonstrates a significant understanding of her situation in light of the Old Testament, this entire scope and reach of the Old Testament. God had helped Israel in the Old Testament due to His remembrance of His mercy.

When God remembers His mercy towards the people that is a beautiful thing. How many of you have experienced the mercy of God? That is, that you are not getting what you deserve? That I'm standing here right now in front of you is a mercy from God that I have not received what I deserve from His hand?

God helped His Old Testament people in that regard and she highlights that. But then Mary goes all the way in her final verse, all the way back to the promise of God to Abraham, the father of the Jewish nation.

And look at what she says, verse 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. She brings Abraham into the picture, the ancient father of the Jewish people, of that people who she was a part of and she focused in on that one promise that God would give him a member of his offspring who would be an eternal blessing to all nations.

When you think of Abraham you can just think simply, when you see Abraham mentioned it's almost always in reference to a promise that God met with him, interacted with him way back in Genesis chapter 12, singled him out.

If you read the scope of the book of Genesis, if you were to read it in one sitting, which I've done a couple of times, if you read the whole thing in one sitting, by the time that chapter 12 comes around you're waiting for a change, you're hungry for something different.

Because all that it's been is man, sin, man, sin, man, sin and it's tough and it's the flood and it's the Tower of Babel and it's the brokenness and he meets with Abraham, God meets with Abraham and singles out a man and says you're the one and I'm going to create from you a great nation and in that nation I'm going to preserve that nation through a great land, the nation of Israel, Old Testament promise.

And one, the reason for preserving your people is that one is going to be born from your line who's going to be the one who crushes the head of the serpent. He is the one who is going to bring healing to the nations.

He is the one who is going to bring forgiveness of sins. He is Emmanuel, God with us, God in flesh, who can both touch God and touch fallen humanity and be the true mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus.

And she got quite a bit by appealing to Abraham saying, what is in my womb is that which was promised to Abraham. How many of you think she had some pretty significant understanding when you ask, Mary did you know she had what she needed?

God has sent his Messiah through me and is bringing a complete change to this world and is fulfilling his promise to the nations, not just to Israel, not just to Abraham, but that one would be born of Abraham who would save all of the people.

Mary knew that God was a God who keeps his promise. So Mary didn't know every detail about the future. God didn't give her complete disclosure, but he gave her enough to establish her trust firmly in him.

Mary knew that God was worthy of praise. Mary knew that God raises up the humble and Mary knew that God keeps his promises. So as we come to Christmas this year, let's take on a perspective like Mary.

Let's worship him. Let's magnify our Savior as we have an opportunity to get together with all different kinds of people that we don't see normally throughout the year and family and parties and all of that stuff.

Let's magnify our Savior. Ask yourself, does your life bring him into focus more?

How about humility?

Are you working hard to try to impress God? Are you working hard to try to impress others? Let me suggest to you that when we work hard to impress him, it would take an awful lot to impress God and I don't think you can do it.

You're not going to impress him with your behavior, with your obediences, with the amount of money you gave to the Salvation Army bell ringer out in front of a store. Those who think they have what God needs are not in a position to receive what God has.

To offer.

The correct posture this season to come to God is to say, I need your grace. I need your mercy. I can't do it on my own, but I need a Savior. I need somebody to take care of the messes that I've made in life.

I've tried.

I know you've made some messes, just being honest. I have my hands up for real, not just to demonstrate that. We've made some messes that we recognize, how many of you have tried to clean up those messes on your own?

And it just doesn't go away. You know, you try to, it's from one rug to the other, just sweeping it under the rug and it just keeps showing up again and again and it gets bigger and bigger and bigger.

We need God to come in and break into our lives and transform that and change that.

Humility.

Those who are humble and weak, that come to God for help, He is glad to lift you up. He will exalt you.

He will be happy to forgive you.

And lastly, have you considered how Christmas is all about God keeping His promise to humanity? From the very beginning, God promised to send a descendant of Abraham who would be a blessing to all the nations.

He would crush the head of the serpent. He would take care of sins for humanity. And so we come to communion this morning as a reminder of what Jesus did for us. As if stepping out of heaven and submitting to a life in the sin-cursed place wasn't enough, Jesus faced the worst of humanity, taking our sin on His shoulders on the cross.

He didn't remain that cute little baby in a manger that we celebrate this time of the year, you know, in a feeding trough, but He grew up to shoulder the weight of the sins of a broken and corrupt world by dying on the cross for our sins.

So if you've put your trust in Christ for salvation, if you've asked Him to be your leader, you've asked Him to save you, then come to one of the tables in the four corners of the room this morning as the band comes to play and take the cup that reminds you of His blood that was shed for you.

Take a cracker to remind you of His body that was broken for you. It's always a bit of a mix for me, like around Christmas time, I'm like, well, there's this joy, there's this awesome glory and beauty in the birth of Jesus.

And how many of you, how many of you have had, at least, it's some Christmas in the last couple, you've had a breakthrough where it's like you just are reminded once again, like that fresh reality of awe has settled on you.

Have you had that before? Sometimes when I, I'm singing that song that we have a king, did you, have you ever thought about the fact that you have a king, we have a president, you have a governor over you, you have a mayor over your town or whatever, but you have a king, a real king, like not just like some, like, like fairytale kind of, you know, imagination.

We have a king that we worship and serve and bow the knee to, but he's a benevolent king who loves us and is kind to us. He didn't remain a baby, we know that, he didn't remain a baby, but he grew up.

To demonstrate to us what humility and sacrifice looks like, he went to the cross actually saving those who are his. He will come back as a reigning and ruling king one day, and that's who we're talking about as we come to communion, the one who bore our sins on the cross.

If you've asked him to be your leader, then, then come to communion with that mindset, but if you've never asked Jesus Christ to save you, why not let today be a day of fresh starts for you? God is giving you right here, right now, an opportunity to accept the greatest gift of all this Christmas, which is a new life to be forgiven and to be made whole and a fresh start through Jesus Christ.

If that's you, if you're here and you're kind of like, yeah, this is kind of new to me and the idea of God making this promise in the Old Testament that's carried forward and that there is a king that I should bow the knee before, I'd like to know more about that, I'd like to know more about how to get a fresh start and get some of those messes cleaned up in my life and give those back over to God and ask for his forgiveness.

Come and talk with me at the end of the service, I'll be standing out by the front door, but I'd love to just get pulled out of line and talk with you if you want to talk more about.

That.

But let's pray as we come to communion and contemplate this awesome sacrifice of Jesus.

Christ.

Father, I rejoice just in the way that you worked in history and even just that we have this model song of Mary that demonstrates her understanding, that informs us that you are indeed worthy of our worship and that's just fundamental to our lives that first and foremost the foundation of a life that's lived well is one that worships and honors you.

We worship you in humility. We worship you recognizing that we are not what it's all about. It really is deeply all about you and your glory and your honor and your salvation provided.

For us.

And then we see as the song concludes that Mary was talking very clearly in terms of a promise kept, an eternal ancient promise given to Abraham that is fulfilled in the birth of your son Jesus Christ, carried forward to the cross in which we receive the greatest.

Blessing.

And we celebrate that now, recognizing that without the sacrifice of Jesus Christ we would be left in darkness without hope. Father, if there are any here this morning who have not yet asked you to be their king, have not asked you to save them, Father, I pray that this morning might be a day of salvation for some.

And Father, for those of us that are in with you, that today would be a renewal of that recognition that this glorious reality is that we have a king who loves us and cares for us and at the same time has some things that you desire for us to follow.

And so, Father, I pray that you go with us throughout this next week as we celebrate in our families and we have an opportunity with all the hustle and bustle of things and getting the last minute preparations in order, Father, that we would not lose sight of this awesome, awesome gift that you've given to us in your son Jesus.

And it's in his name that I pray.