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"Mary - Chosen by God" Luke 1: 26-38

By Clancy Nixon

December 19, 2004

Church of the Holy Spirit

Ashburn, Virginia

Imagine this scene with me. It's in Luke chapter 1, starting at verse 28, p. 1013 in

your blue Bibles. Imagine that you're in Nazareth a long time ago - two thousand years

ago. What's more, imagine that you are a 14 year old Jewish peasant girl. You are there.

A little while ago, your parents arranged your betrothal ceremony to an older man, the

carpenter Joseph. One fine day, you awaken from your bed to a strange light. You sit up

in bed, and brush your long hair from your eyes. You become aware that this light is

emanating from a bright large figure moving toward you. You are afraid, because this

stranger might want something from you. The man speaks to you, and he has a heavenly

voice, dulcet tones that you have never heard before. He says this: "Greetings, you who

are highly favored! The Lord is with you."

You fall to your knees, half fainting, greatly troubled. No one had ever addressed

you before like that. What could it mean? Then the man or angel says, "Don't be afraid,

Mary, you have found favor with God." All this favor, this grace, this God talk. What

could it mean? You're a 14 year old girl, for goodness sake! What kind of favor can he

mean?

Then comes the heart of the message. The angel continues: "You will be with

child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great

and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of

his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his Kingdom will

never end."

Whoa! How do you take that in - a message like that? Your head is spinning.

The messiah giving birth to him! He'll be a king! Somehow, you pull yourself together

enough to reply to this figure of light, "How can this be, since I am a Virgin?" The angel

tells you that the Holy Spirit will come upon you...for nothing is impossible with God.

In an instant, you think through what it will mean being pregnant out of

wedlock, the shame and the scorn and all the risks. But Mary, you know who you are,

and whose you are, so you reply, "I am the Lord's servant. Let it be to me as you have

spoken." That is such an awesome statement, I'd like us to repeat that aloud together: "I

am the Lord's servant. Let it be to me as you have spoken." [pause]

Mary's "Let it be" was about the joyful acceptance of God's will announced to

her by the Angel. Mary understood her identity as the servant of the Lord, one who

submits to the Lord's will. Her response in submitting to God's will flowed from her

self-understanding, and the great cost to herself was secondary.

For Mary to say "Yes" to God risked disaster for her. Think through the

consequences for Mary with me from the Life Application Bible. How risky it was for

her to say yes to God here! An unwed mother in those days, unless the father of the child

agreed to marry her, would almost certainly remain unmarried for life. If her own father

rejected her and banished her from her home, she could be forced into begging or

prostitution to earn a living. And Mary, with her story of being pregnant by the Holy

Spirit, risked being considered crazy as well. For Mary and us, Faith is spelled R-I-S-K.

Mary wanted to wear white like all the other virgins on her wedding day, but who

would believe that now? She wasn't worried about her wedding dress fitting just right.

Mary wasn't too concerned with externals not about her reputation, nor how she

looked, nor about praise from people; Mary cared about God's reputation, so God would

get the glory. God looks on the heart, not the externals.

In Mary's song found starting at Luke 1:46, Mary sings that: 1. God chose Mary

to praise his glory. This song is called the Magnificat, which is Latin for "She

magnifies" or "She glorifies." It is the Lord whom she glorifies she magnifies the name

of the Lord, singing of his great deeds for her. The mighty one has done great things for

her, but not for her only for all people, from generation to generation. God chose Mary,

not because of any great thing Mary had done. No; Mary was a humble servant girl.

Mary had no resume; she had no educational pedigree; no money or social status to speak

of. Gods' choice of Mary to be the mother of Jesus is an awesome picture for us of

Gods' grace in choosing us. Mary was chosen for three reasons: first, because of her

character she was humble enough to care more about God's glory than her own. She

had the integrity and self-control to be a virgin. Second, Mary was chosen because she

made herself available to the purposes of the Lord. She did not run away from the angel's

call because she didn't feel qualified or useable. Instead, she trusted God to equip her for

her calling. Where God calls, he also equips. Amen? There is no reason in the Scripture

to believe that Mary was any more virtuous than the average girl in her village. She had

integrity, and she was available. Third, God chose Mary because she and Joseph were in

the line of David, not because of anything she had done.

In the Spiderman movies, Uncle Ben gives this wisdom to his nephew Peter

Parker, alias Spiderman, like his life motto: "With great power comes great

responsibility." Friends, God has given you and me great power, too. You may not have

power to scale vertical walls, but you and I have the power to bless or to curse. We have

the power to live holy lives, and to shine the light of Christ to others, so they might be

saved into the circle of love. We also have the power to live selfish lives, and to hide our

light under a bushel. We have power to intercede before the Throne of Grace like

Abraham; to plead with God to change history; and bring healing to the lame, and sight to

the blind. We can choose to live life like Mary, singing of God's great love for us. God

showers us with blessings, food and friends.

In our home, a couple days ago, we had a strange visitor, too: a stray puppy on

our doorstep Sam named Miracle. It is a busy season, and I didn't really have time to care

for a stray dog. But Miracle brought us joy, in spite of ourselves. Choose to live like

Mary. Like Mary we can leave complaining aside and can live for the praise of his glory.

Sometimes I get so overwhelmed by God's love and mercy, I just have to sing Mary's

song and make a joyful noise. "You have done great things! You have done great

things! You have DONE great things. The Lord has done great things for us! And we are

filled with joy we are filled with joy." With Mary, we can all say, the Lord has done

great things for us! Amen?

2. God comes near to bless you. Elizabeth tells her cousin Mary that she is

blessed. We're familiar with it from the "Hail Mary" our Roman Catholic friends say

found partly in verse 42: "Hail Mary, full of grace. the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou

among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus!" First, the angel came near

to Mary. Then, the Holy Spirit came near to overshadow her and impregnate her. What

an awesome thing that must have been for Mary. As Christians, we have it even better

than Mary. If you have received Christ as your Savior and Lord, then God the Holy Spirit

lives inside of you. God doesn't just come near to us; he is in us. He's not in us for nine

months; he's in us for eternity. God is closer than hands to us; more intimate than

breathing. Look at your hand. God is closer to your spirit than that. We know this, but I

am convinced that many of us don't act like it. God in us, God with us is basic Christian

doctrine, but how many of us act on this truth every day? It means that God is accessible

to us at every moment. God wants to bless you.

I access the Holy Spirit in a variety of ways. One way is just to close my eyes. I

invite you to do that now. Close your eyes with me. The Holy Spirit is inside you.

Believe that! The Holy Spirit is inside you. With my eyes closed, I can sense his

presence more. Can you? [pause] As we block out all visual inputs, and focus on God

inside, we can more easily sense His presence. Say, thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Lord!

Receive the truth that God wants to bless you, that he loves you. I don't know about you,

but right now I am overwhelmed by the presence of God! Our God is not only a God far

off, but a God who is so near. Brother Lawrence said that we can learn how to take the

sense of his presence with us from our quiet times into the hurly-burly of our lives, even

of pots and pans in the kitchen. You can close your eyes any time. You can whisper

"Thank you Jesus!" any time. God comes near us to bless us. If you are ready, you can

open your eyes up again.

3. God chose Mary; God chose you; and God chose me. Yes, God chose Mary,

but he also chose you. Chosen for what? Every Christian has a general calling on his or

her life. We are all chosen to do something similar to what Mary did. We are all to be

pregnant with Christ, in that we carry Christ's spirit with us. We bear his presence with

us in our bodies. Christ is in you, the hope of glory! How do you hear Christ in your

body? Alison Gallo, our dancer today, worships God with her whole body, mind and

spirit. Carol Whitmer's smile is just lit up with Christ! She is aglow with Christ. Bear

the presence of Christ in your body. Like Mary, we carry Christ to people who don't

know him. You are the only Bible many people will ever read. Like Mary, we are all to

be vessels for Christ, the bride of Christ, wedded to Him, to his purposes for our lives.

God is calling us to give birth, not to get Jesus out of us, but to be so filled up with Jesus

that his presence spills out of us onto others. We overflow with love and grace and

mercy and truth, and when we do that friends, when we do that, then Christ multiplies

in others. That is how we make disciples, by loving on them, and telling them the truth

about who God is, by singing his praises.

God chose you, and God chose me. Repeat that with me. "God chose you, and

God chose me." Turn to someone near you and say that to them. Go ahead, tell them that

God chose you, and God chose me. You can say that and mean it, if you believe what we

said earlier: "I am the Lord's servant. Let it be to me as you have spoken."

Maybe you are here today, but you don't feel chosen by God. Maybe you are in

your times of trouble, and God seems very far away to you. It may be that you need to go

to one of our prayer teams at the back of the gym, so they can pray for you. You might

sense that maybe God has chosen you, but you don't have an assurance of that, you don't

have the joy of your salvation. Maybe someone here has not yet received Jesus as their

Lord and Savior. It's not hard, it's simple. All you need to do is repent, believe, confess

and receive. Repent means to turn away from your old life, the life where you don't say,

"Thy will be done," but instead, you have been saying, "My will be done." Believe that

Jesus died for your sins, and lives today. Confess your sins, and tell someone about your

faith in Christ. Finally, receive. Receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, God in you. And

your joy will overflow to the heavens.

If you would like to do that now, to receive assurance of your salvation, just

repeat this simple prayer with me. Repeat after me the words on the screen, either silently

or aloud. Let's pray: "God, I admit that I am a sinner in need of your grace. [pause**] I

now turn away from everything I know is wrong. ** I believe that you sent your son

Jesus to die for me, ** and to show me how to live; ** Please be the Lord of my life, my

boss. ** Send your Holy Spirit to guide me, and to give me power to live a holy life. **

In Jesus' Name I pray. ** Amen!

Let's stand, and sing the praises of God's glory.