Immanuel

Will Butterfield

Luke: The Person and Mission of Jesus • Sermon • Submitted a year ago

Virgin Birth of Jesus Christ

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God had promised Adam and Eve that one of their heirs would finally be able to break the curse of sin. Luke tells how God revealed to Mary that she would give birth to that heir. Jesus, the Son of God, would be her son. Mary believes and willingly offers herself to God.

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Good morning! I hope you guys had a great week!

Last week we started off this series by talking about God revealing His plan to Zechariah.

God was sending the “new Elijah” that the prophet Malachi prophesied about.

This man would be a voice in the wilderness preparing the way for the Messiah.

We spent a significant amount of time looking back at what God spoke through the Prophets Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi.

Specifically, the sins that Isreal was struggling with and God’s next step in the redemption plan.

Luke begins his gospel by telling of the moment that God put into motion this next step in His plan to redeem his people.

As we talked about the last few weeks, Luke’s goal in writing is to convince his readers that Jesus is the Son of God, the promised Messiah.

It is important for us to keep that perspective as we read this book.

Luke wants us to see the connections he is making to the old testament and to the work that God was doing in the past that laid the groundwork for what He is doing now.

This morning we are going to see Luke unfold what Mary was told about what was happening in her life and how God would use her in His redemption plan.

Let’s read Luke 1:26-38 together.

I was telling Carey yesterday it has been refreshing the last couple of weeks to think about these passages outside of the context of Christmas.

We always read them at that time, and our understanding is based on the feelings of that time of year.

I want to start us off this morning with some historical and cultural information that is going to change the way you think about this event.

In particular, we will discuss the nature of Mary and Joseph’s relationship.

Luke Luke 1:26–28

Betrothal in the ancient world was part of a two-stage marriage process. The initial phase, the betrothal, involved a formal, witnessed agreement to marry and the giving of a bridal price (Mal 2:14; m. Ketubot 4:4–5).

So, based on the passage, we see that Mary and Joseph are somewhere in the first year of the marriage process.

We know this because the union had not yet been consummated.

They are betrothed, or as we would say, engaged but not yet married.

Not only that, but Mary, specifically, was much younger than we commonly think.

Luke Luke 1:26–28

At this point the bride legally became the groom’s and could be called his wife. About a year later the actual marriage followed, and the husband took his wife home. In the first century betrothal could take place starting at the age of twelve. Mary’s age is unstated. It is during this betrothal stage that Gabriel breaks the news.

Let’s just consider for a moment what we just read.

It was normal and accepted for women to begin the betrothal and marriage process as early as twelve.

I don’t know about you, but for most of my life, when I thought about Mary and this event in her life, I pictured her in her early twenties.

Nope.

Mary was the same age as a junior high student.

She was approximately the same age my boys are now.

That changes how we understand what Luke is telling us, doesn’t it?

At the end of today, we are going to talk about Mary’s response to what she is being told and keep in mind that she was probably about thirteen.

How are we preparing/teaching our kids to hear God’s voice, and how does this scripture change our thoughts about how important it is for them to learn early?

We will talk more about the application in a few minutes, but I had to mention that while it was fresh.

First, I want us to think about the key markers in this story.

1. God sends an angel to tell Mary His plan.

What we see in Mary’s story is very similar to what we see in Zechariah’s.

This is not a coincidence.

Luke is intentionally writing about Zechariah’s experience and Mary’s experience so that we will naturally compare and contrast them.

What is the same?

God reveals his plans to both of them.

You’re going to have a baby.

He does it with the angel Gabriel.

Both are confused and afraid.

There is an angel talking to me! I must be about to die.

Both are reassured.

Don’t be afraid!

Both present a problem that would naturally prevent the said event from happening.

How is it possible? My wife is old. I’m a virgin.

Both are given a sign to show that this is really happening.

Zechariah is muted. Mary is told about Elizabeth.

As you can see, there is a lot about these accounts that are similar.

Even though there is much that is similar, Luke very clearly shows that John and Jesus are not the same.

Luke Luke 1:26–38

The mighty work God has done in John the Baptist’s conception would be surpassed by an even greater miracle in the virginal conception of Jesus, God’s Son. The mighty work God foretold he would do through John the Baptist’s ministry would be surpassed by an even greater work through his Son’s ministry. Whereas John would be “great in the sight of the Lord” (1:15), Jesus would be great without qualification (1:32) and would be called the Son of God (1:35).

I point all this out because I want us to see that God is not afraid to give details about what He is doing in the lives of his people.

Specifically, God is not afraid to give you details about what He is doing in your life.

However, we also should not be so naive to think that just because God is doing something similar in someone else’s life, that He is doing the same thing in your own.

It is more important for us to listen to God than it is to compare your life with someone else’s.

There is something else important from this first part of this section that we need to learn from.

Last week we saw that Zechariah was punished for asking how it would happen, as Gabriel described.

Yet Mary asked a very similar question and Gabriel’s response is totally different.

Look at Luke 1:34-35

Many of the commentaries I have read about this passage describe this as a “mystery” of God.

It may be hard to reconcile why Zechariah was punished and Mary was not.

It isn’t all that mysterious to me.

Who/what was Zechariah?

He was a priest and an old one at that.

Who/what was Mary?

She was a middle schooler.

I think Zechariah was punished because he had enough knowledge and experience to know that God had done this kind of thing in the past.

Mary was a kid and she didn’t have any context for what was happening to her!

She didn’t have the knowledge or life experience that Zechariah had.

I think there are a couple of takeaways for us.

One, don’t think for a second that you are too young or inexperienced for God to speak to and use you.

I’m talking to you, Ami, Joshua, Luke, Sarah, David, Zoe, Jude, Mark, Emmaline...

God used Mary when she was about your age and God can use you too.

Knowing Jesus and making Him known isn’t just something for grownups.

Second, God’s intent is for us to draw on the things we have previously learned about God to inform what He is doing today.

This is not restricted to the big stuff.

The everyday interactions with God build up our faith and reveal Jesus to us.

All of God’s activity, no matter how small we perceive it to be, is building our foundation.

God wants us to know who He is and what He is up to.

In addition to God speaking, He is going to place people and circumstances in your life to help you discern what He is doing.

Look back for a moment at what Gabriel tells Mary.

Read Luke 1:31-33

2. God explains who Jesus is and what He is going to do.

He says, Mary, you are going to have a baby and you are going to name Him Jesus.

God says some specific things that, as Mary shared her experience, would draw people into what God was doing.

Allusion time again.

He will be Great...

If you remember from the previous passage, John, too, is going to be “great.” Luke 1:15.

Gabriel qualifies John’t greatness by saying, “in the eyes of the Lord.”

In contrast, Gabriel says that Jesus will be great, and he gives no qualifier.

John is great because of what He does, whereas Jesus is great because of who He is.

…called Son of the Most High...

This is just another way of saying the Son of God.

The fancy word for this is circumlocution.

That means using many words where a few will do.

Also, we will see in Luke 1:16-17 that John will be the servant of the Most High and send people to God.

Yet here, we see Jesus being called the Most High.

We also see Luke quoting Stephen in Acts 7:48.

In his sermon, Stephen uses the term “most high” when he quotes Solomon when he is building the temple for God. 1 Kings 8.27.

The name “the most high” doesn’t mean much to us, but to the original audience and to Mary, it would have been obvious that Gabriel was talking about God.

…(Sits) on the throne of his father David...

God gave the prophet Samuel a message for King David. 2 Samuel 7:12-13, 16.

Jesus is the descendant that God promised to David and to Isreal.

Jesus’ Davidic heritage was already alluded to in vs 27 where he calls him “a descendant of David”, but we will see that later in full detail as we look at Luke’s geological work of Jesus.

He will reign over the house of Jacob forever...

The “house of Jacob” was the traditional term to describe Israel, and we see that in Exodus 19:3.

...His kingdom will have no end.

This is an allusion to Isaiah 9.6-7 and/or Daniel 7:14.

God, through Gabriel, is making it clear that Jesus is not just another prophet.

He will not be like anything the world has seen or experienced before.

Jesus is the foretold Messiah.

He is the one who will concur sin and death and, by doing so, will redeem the world back to its intended purpose.

That is a lot to take in all at once.

Imagine you are thirteen, there is an angel telling you all this, and, by the way, you are also going to have this child that the angel is talking about.

Can you imagine what that must have been like?

How would you respond?

What is your typical response to God speaking that you are to do something that seems impossible or outrageous?

To help Mary to process this, Gabriel shares with her a sign that God is doing all this. Luke 1:35-37

We are going to see what happens next week when Mary goes to confirm all of this by visiting Elizabeth.

But even before the confirmation of the sign she is given, we are told how she responds.

3. Mary believes what she is told and willingly offers herself.

Luke 1:38

I just can’t get over the fact, and I can’t impress it enough on you guys that she was 12,13,14 years old.

At that age, to hear something so outrageous and to simply believe.

How many grown people do you know that hear God speak and then just blow Him off?

Maybe that has been you?

Church, Luke makes it painfully obvious that there is nothing special about Mary.

In most translations, it says in verse 28 that Gabriel says, “Greetings, favored women,” but that isn’t a great translation.

The Greek word that is translated as “favor” literally means “to be grace-bestowed.”

Mary didn’t do anything; God bestowed this upon her.

Obviously, we see through her response that she possessed faith, but Luke doesn’t call it out as anything but ordinary.

Here’s my point, God can work in your life with just as much power as He did in Mary’s life.

It doesn’t matter how old you are, how much faith you have, your social status, or where you are from, God can speak to you and God can use you.

I know I have shared my call to ministry with you guys before and so I won’t go through the whole story, but I will remind you that God called me to ministry when I was barely 15 years old.

I can tell you with absolute certainty, there was no doubt in my mind from that point forward that God spoke.

From that moment forward, my life had a new purpose, and I never wavered in that.

Not because i’m special, but because when God speaks to you, and you respond with even the tiniest faith, God begins working, and through that activity, He removes doubt.

I could share many stories from my life when God has told me to do things that sounded crazy to all the “rational” people in my life.

But today isn’t about me.

It is about seeing that God did something absolutely incredible in Mary’s life.

Not only did God work with that much power back then, but God wants you to know, right now, today, that He wants to do something incredible through your life too.

It won’t look the same as Mary’s experience, but if God is doing it, it is no less important.

God’s goal is for us to know Him and to make Him known.

Jesus came and was born through Mary so that the world could be redeemed.

God accomplished His work through Jesus, but we are still in the process until He returns.

God chose Mary to play an incredibly important role in the redemption of the world.

Here is my question for myself and for you.

What is the role that God wants you to play in this redemption process?

God wants to use you in his redeeming work of the world.

Adults, that could be a teacher in Sunday School, a volunteer in NexGen ministry, a deacon, an elder, a good friend, a coworker, someone’s perceived enemy, and the list could go on and on.

Kids, that could be by making new friends, showing kindness to someone who isn’t kind to you, helping your parents in their ministry, participating in worship, or setting up for other ministry activities.

There is literally no limit to what God can use you to do if you will make yourself available to Him.

God sent his son, Immanuel, which means God with us.

God is still with us and dwells inside every believer.

Let God speak into your life, pay attention so that you hear Him, walk in obedience through faith, and show the world that Jesus is still Immanuel, God with us.

Respond like Mary did. “I am the Lord’s servant… may it happen to me as you have said.”