chapter 1 verse 46 in the verses leading up to
this Zechariah and Elizabeth were about to have
a child even though they had gone for some time
and were not able to conceive the Lord had revealed
to Zechariah that they would have a child and
Zechariah kind of questioned how is this going
to be and the Lord said well you're not going
to speak until the child is born and so When
John was eventually born, Zechariah was able
to speak again. But during the time of Elizabeth's
pregnancy, the angel appeared before Mary and
said, Mary, you are about to give birth to the
Son of God. Now, this was pretty big news. I
think maybe sometimes we've probably read these
scriptures and... And likely, if we've gone to
church our whole life, you can just count up
how many times you've heard it. If you're 40
years old, you've probably heard it 40 times
in your life. I mean, we hear this story so much,
and maybe with any story we hear or any song
that we sing, it becomes so familiar to us that
sometimes we just don't really comprehend or
think about. exactly what's taking place but
this would have been a pretty big deal i mean
mary would have been a young woman here she she
wouldn't have been very old some have suggested
a young teenage girl maybe 14 15 maybe a little
older uh but regardless of her age she was young
and this is pretty big news to get at any age
it wouldn't matter if you were 45 and an angel
of the lord came to you and said oh by the way
uh you're about to give birth to a child I mean,
that's a pretty amazing experience. If an angel
appears to you and don't say nothing, that in
and of itself is scary. And then when a message
like that is revealed to you, we can only imagine
how Mary must have felt. Of course, she said,
well, how is this going to be? I mean, I understand
how giving birth goes, and I haven't been with
a man, so how is this going to take place? And
it took place through the Holy Spirit. And she
conceived, and soon she would give birth to Jesus
Christ, the Savior of the world. And Mary says
one of the most beautiful lines, I think, in
all of Scripture. Back in verse 38, when the
angel tells her this, she responds with, I am
the Lord's slave. What a great response. I don't
know that the Lord will ever send an angel to
you to speak something to you. I won't say that
he will not. He may. I will say be careful. There's
a lot of false teachers in this world that would
say that God sent an angel to them and reveal
things to them. Of course, the things that they
say reveal to them do not go along with Scripture.
So I won't say that God cannot or does not send
angels to people. Perhaps he would. Regardless
of whether God sends an angel before us, I think
that there are times in our life that God does
speak to us, that God does want to use us. Maybe
not quite in the same way that he used Mary.
I mean, it's kind of a one -time thing, a pretty
big deal to give birth to the Savior of the world.
But nonetheless, God does want to use us in some
way sometimes. And it may be something as simple
as helping your neighbor down the road or helping
somebody you see that's in need. Or maybe it's
serving in some ministry capacity that God's
kind of tugging on you in that way. Whatever
it is, when God calls on us, what is our response?
Well, we probably make excuses. We're probably
more like Moses than we are Mary. We probably
say, well, God, I don't really speak good. God,
I'm not the man for the job. But God does call
us for jobs that we don't feel like we're equipped
for. But God equips us for those jobs. And God
knows what he's doing when he says, I want you
to do this or I want you to do that. So when
we feel those things kind of placed on our heart,
then we need to look at Mary's response. She
didn't make excuses, but she said, okay, God,
this is what you're saying. And as crazy as this
sounds, she said, God, I am your slave. I am
the Lord's slave. Elizabeth is already with child,
and that's the relative of Mary. Some suggest
cousin, perhaps. It doesn't matter. Maybe she
was a cousin. But in some way, they were related.
And Mary goes to visit Elizabeth in the verses
before the ones we're about to look at. And when
Mary arrives, Elizabeth, she says, the baby inside
of me is leaping for joy in my womb at the very
presence that the mother of the Savior of the
world has just entered. And so Mary is obviously
ready to take on this role as giving birth to
Jesus Christ. And listen to what she says in
verse 46. And Mary said, my soul proclaims the
greatness of the Lord and my spirit has rejoiced
in God my Savior. Because he has looked with
favor on the humble condition of his slave. Surely
from now on all generations will call me blessed.
Because the mighty one has done great things
for me. And his name is holy. His mercy is from
generation to generation on those who fear him.
Now, this is a very popular praise of Mary. refer
to it as the Magnificat. Mary's Magnificat. Perhaps
you've heard that term. You might even, this
section in your Bible might even have that title
before it. Some may do that. But this is Mary's
Magnificat. This is Mary's praise that God has
called on her, that God is going to use her.
And she recognizes, to some degree at least,
the significance to this. She says, all generations
are going to call me blessed. God has looked
down on the humble, not just on Mary, but on
all who are poor and lowly and who are needy.
God has looked down on us in our sinfulness.
God has looked down on us in our weakness. God
has chosen... us to spread the gospel of Jesus
Christ, to help grow the kingdom of God. Now,
we don't give birth to the Messiah, but if we
know Jesus Christ, God calls those who are in
Christ to be his hands and feet and to do the
work of God. So even still today, God is calling
on the weak and the powerless and the humble.
God wants to use us today. Will we be as willing
as Mary was? Well, we rejoice in the same way
that Mary did. My soul proclaims the greatness
of the Lord. The Lord said, I want to use you
to do this great thing. I want to work through
you, Mary. And Mary praises him. What about you
and I? When God wants to use us to do something.
great thing. And you say, what's a great thing?
Well, I don't know. Maybe we're thinking about
a great thing as just something really big and
wonderful that everybody in the world sees. But
maybe a great thing is just going to check on
your neighbor and saying, I haven't seen you
in a while. How you doing? Maybe a great thing
is going to that person at Christmas that doesn't
have any family, that's going to be home all
alone. They're not going to be eating a big meal.
They're not going to be opening a gift. Maybe
a great thing is knocking on their door saying,
hey, we got some turkey and dressing here and
my wife made some cookies. Merry Christmas. Maybe
that's a great thing. It's a great thing for
somebody who can't get out of the house, who
doesn't have any family left. And so God calls
us to do great things. And sometimes we overlook
the great things. And we think they're the insignificant
things. Or, oh, there's nothing to that. That's
no big deal. That wasn't nothing. But it is something.
It may not be nothing for you to go see somebody
for five minutes, but it may be everything to
them. So when the Lord calls us to do great things,
then we need to rejoice in the Lord and we need
to proclaim the greatness of the Lord and say,
thank you, God, for this opportunity. And how
many opportunities are before us and we say,
boy, I should do that. I should do that. I've
got to do that. I need to do that. And we don't
ever do that. And the greatness of the Lord that
he wants to use us for, we just push it back.
And Mary proclaims the greatness of the Lord.
I'm the Lord's slave. Here I am, Lord. I'm your
slave. I'm ready to do what you've called me
to do. Are we ready to do what God calls us to
do? Hopefully we are, but maybe we're not. Maybe
there are some things on your list. Maybe tomorrow
is a good time to do them. Not this weekend.
Maybe tomorrow is a good time to do them. Maybe
it's a good time to take that five minutes. Maybe
tomorrow is a good time to make that phone call,
to reach out to that person, to reach out to
that family member. Maybe it's somebody that
ain't answered your phone call in 20 years. Call
them again. Maybe they'll answer this time. Maybe
they won't. But maybe there's something that
we can do. Maybe there's something that's on
our heart. Maybe there's some way that God wants
to use us. Maybe there's somebody we can go visit
this Christmas season. And maybe we can keep
visiting them on into the new year. Maybe we
can visit them every month, every week. Maybe
we can give them a phone call. Maybe there's
some way that God wants to use you. Maybe God's
calling you to serve in this church in some capacity.
Whatever it may be. It may not be that God came
to your room last night and at the foot of your
bed stood the bright and shimmering glowing angel
before you saying, here I am, here's what I want
you to do. Maybe God doesn't speak to you in
that way. But I think the Holy Spirit speaks
to our heart. And sometimes we just get that
feeling, man, I should do this. I should help
that person. I should buy them a meal. I should
pay for their groceries. I should go see them.
I should give them a call. Maybe it's nothing.
But then again, maybe it's God. Maybe it's something.
So maybe God's calling you today. Maybe he wants
to use you in some way. Just as he used Mary
in some way. Pretty major way. But you never
know in the way that God wants to use you. You
never know how it might change somebody's life.
Let's pray. God, we come to you. We thank you
for these good words. We thank you for Mary.
And we thank you even more so for Jesus Christ
for sending him into the world. And we thank
you for the example of Mary for being one who
was ready to serve, dear Lord, and just humble
herself before you as our slave. And I pray,
God, that we would do so tonight, that we would
do so tomorrow, that maybe there are some ways
that you've been wanting to use us, some things
that even now, God, that you're just kind of
saying you need to do it. So, God, If you're
saying that to us tonight, I pray that we just
say, God, I'm your slave. I'm ready to serve.
And that we would go and do and be used by you
in the way that you want to use us, dear Lord.
And I ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen.