Sermon Tone Analysis

*Introduction* – Boxing great, Jake LaMotta, said of his old friend boxer Gerry Cooney: “There’s nothing I won’t do for him and nothing he won’t do for me.

So we go through life doing nothing for each other.”

Tragically, that’s the way we sometimes look at our responsibility to serve others.

Bishop James Lightfoot was a fine 19th century scholar whose commentaries on Paul’s epistles are classics.

He famously told his students as they prepared for ordination: “Forget me, forget the ordination services of tomorrow, forget the human questioner.

Transport yourselves in thought from the initial to the final inquiry. . . .

The Chief Shepherd, the universal bishop of souls is the questioner. . . .

The ‘Wilt thou’ of the ordination day is exchanged for the ‘Hast thou’ of the judgment day.”

That’s true for all of us.

Very shortly, the “will you,” of God’s call on our life, will become “did you?”

Not did you retire comfortably or get all the gusto you could – but did you fulfill your eternal purpose?

So, as we approach this wonderful passage of the Annunciation – the announcement to Mary of her eternal purpose, I would like to focus our attention on what service is all about.

Years ago, one of the finest pastors I ever met gave an unforgettable definition of service.

He said, “Service is little people, doing little things in a fine way for a great God.” That’s our outline for this passage, and we will also learn a lot about God’s character.

*I.

Little People*

We violate this principle of two ways.

First, some are proud – of abilities, accomplishments, position – whatever.

This attitude usually builds over time.

It’s what happened to Saul.

He started well, but in time he decided that the rules didn’t apply to him.

Not satisfied to be king, he took on the role of priest as well, offered sacrifices and thus lost his kingdom.

Uzziah, near the end of 55 good years, fell victim to the same malady.

The point is, if you’re a big shot in your own eyes, God can’t use you.

When we get to the point that any task is too small for us, then God’s blessing departs.

The other end of the spectrum – by far the more prominent – is those who claim inability.

They are not gifted enough, don’t have time, aren’t qualified.

Too small.

Filled with excuses.

Unacceptable excuses.

If that is you, God has an argument with you.

You are negating His gifts -- making His calling of no effect.

Those who are His long to express gratitude for His grace in their lives.

If you feel unqualified, you’re in!

God uses little people.

God could have sent His Son into any home in the world.

But He sent Him into a home that wasn’t even a home yet – to two of the poorest people on earth.

He sent Him to a humble carpenter and his 13 or 14 year old wife-to-be, Mary.

Let’s read beginning in Luke 1:26, “ In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, 27 to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David.

And the virgin’s name was Mary.

28 And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you! 29But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be.”

This announcement was a thunderbolt on many levels.

It was a Jewish girl as expected.

But everything else was wrong.

The Messiah is not coming to some elite family in Jerusalem.

He is coming to Nazareth?

You couldn’t get any more humble than that.

Nazareth was a small village, hidden away in the hills west of the Sea of Galilee, 65 miles north of Jerusalem.

It overlooked the Esdralon Valley to the South which contained a major east-to-west road.

Roman soldiers were housed there and it had a reputation for vice and immorality unequaled in Palestine.

But Jesus came to seek and to save the lost – and God chose a mother from Nazareth.

Mary would have been between 12 and 15 at the time of her betrothal.

The engagement was as binding as marriage and could be broken only by divorce even though the couple did not live together until the marriage was finalized – usually after about a year.

We know she was poor because according to Luke 2:24 when Joseph and Mary came to the temple in Jerusalem for the purification rites for Jesus they brought a sacrifice of either turtledoves or pigeons – a concession for those too poor to afford a lamb.

But we really see Mary’s mindset in Lu 1:28-29, “And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you! 29But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be.”

This incredible encounter left Mary very troubled.

Not because she was seeing an angel – but because he called her “favored”.

That just blew her away.

Mary had never been called a favored one.

This language was totally foreign to her.

She may be an icon to many today, but believe me, when God chose her she was an ordinary Jewish girl with nothing outwardly extraordinary to commend her.

She was a little person.

Learning was revered in ancient Palestine.

That’s why the Jerusalem elite had unmitigated contempt for the “hillbillies” from Galilee, and no place was more despised than Nazareth.

That is why when Nathaniel was told that Jesus came from Nazareth he commented in John 1:46, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?”

“You’re kidding, right?”

He was reflecting the attitude of his place and time.

So, imagine the reaction to the idea that the virginal mother of Messiah of Isa 7:14 would be a 14-year-old Galilean girl engaged to the town carpenter in Nazareth.

Some in Israel would have given up their faith rather than accepts such a scenario.

But, that’s exactly what happened because service involves little people – like Mary, you and me.

But little does not mean unqualified!

Though a little person in the world’s eyes, Mary was imminently qualified in two ways for her task.

First, she was qualified by physical birth.

Lu 1:27 says Gabriel appeared “to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David.”

It is probable that Joseph is the one who is described here as “of the house of David.”

But, in verse 32, Gabriel announces, “And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David.”

In the context, this would make sense only if Mary is also descended from David.

And in Lu 1:69, Zechariah prophesies that God “has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David.”

Thus the Bible establishes that both through Mary and through his legal father, Joseph, Jesus was descended from David.

Why was that important?

Because God had promised David in II Sam 7:16, “And your house and your kingdom shall be established forever before you.

Your throne shall be established forever.”

The Messiah had to be the greater descendant of David who would eventually occupy his throne forever – a qualification that Mary met.

Her place of birth, ethnic background, gender and lineage were all suited to the ministry God had in mind for her.

But guess what?

The same is true of all of us.

Psalm 139:15- 16 says, “My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth.

16) Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.”

This means that God formed each of us to be just what He knew we needed to be to accomplish His purpose for our life.

That’s big!

We don’t have time to develop this today, but it means that my height, build, looks, physical characteristics, mental capacity, innate abilities are all exactly what God intended to enable me to glorify Him.

Any failure to cooperate with or appreciate the package is a slap at Him. God has equipped me for an eternal purpose.

God told Jeremiah in 1:5, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.”

This is God saying to a flawed man, being born into a flawed universe, “Taking all that into account, you are uniquely suited to accomplish my purpose for you.”

I take it then that I am perfect for the ministry that God has for me.

But this really gets good at Mary’s second qualification.

Look at Lu 1:28, “And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!” Mary was also qualified spiritually.

She was favored, and the Lord was with her.

This is the greeting that threw Mary.

Her reaction is, “Who, me?