THE DEDICATION OF MARY

We have officially entered into the Christmas Season and for the next four weeks our new series is called Emmanuel -The Greatest Gift. In this series, we are looking at the events and people who were vital to humanity receiving the greatest gift that there will ever be and what our response is to God’s calling as believers.

The Christmas season celebrates the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

I want to bring to your attention that there is no scripture or command in the Bible to celebrate the birth of Jesus. The early church did not celebrate the birth of Christ. It wasn’t until the fourth century that church officials decided to institute the birth of Christ as a holiday. Now you also need to know that the Bible does not mention the exact date for Jesus’ birth. However, some evidence suggests that His birth had occurred in the spring. Pope Julius was the one who chose December 25. It is commonly believed that the church adopted this date to sway the traditions of the pagan Saturnalia festival. In Rome, Saturnalia was a holiday in honor of Saturn, the god of agriculture. The custom of Christmas spread to Egypt by 432 and to England by the end of the sixth century. By the end of the eighth century, the celebration of Christmas had spread to Scandinavia. Today, in the Greek and Russian orthodox churches, Christmas is celebrated 13 days after the 25th, which is also referred to as the Epiphany or Three Kings Day. This is the day it is believed that the three wise men finally found Jesus.

We still today celebrate the winter solace by celebrating the Birth of Christ.

As we begin to look into Jesus’ Birth, we have to start from the beginning and work our way forward.

The beginning of the Birth of Christ came as a prophecy from the Old Testament the prophet ISAIAH, he said in chapter 7, verse 14, “Therefore, the Lord Himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive, have a Son, and name Him Immanuel.”

The significance of this passage is threefold; first, God the Father was going to give mankind a sign. This sign is what the scribes, the Pharisee, and the Sadducees studied, they went to school for it and devoted their lives to knowing the Old Testament Law, yet they did not want to believe that Christ was the Messiah.

Second, the sign was the virgin conception. The importance of the virgin birth bearing the Son has to do with the transferring of sin. The Book of Exodus 34:7 tells us the man is the transferring power of the Inequity- in Hebrew term is “AVOWN” which is the inside sin- Exodus goes on to say “Bringing the consequences (THIS WORD IS TRANSLATED AS INIQUITIES”) of the fathers’ wrongdoing on the children and grandchildren to the third and fourth generation.”

Male and female had sin, but according to the scripture, this inequity (SIN) is only is transferred through the father to his offspring. Therefore, Mary did not become pregnant from a man. Thus sin is not transferred to the Son, therefore making Christ without sin.

Third, God declared the name of His Son to be Immanuel. The name Immanuel means “God with us.” Therefore, the Son is proclaimed as God by God hundreds of years before the birth from the virgin Mary ever happened. And through His name, we would know that the very presence of God is with us.

Then the ninth chapter, he says: “For a child will be born for us, a Son will be given to us, and the government will be on His shoulders. He will be named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.”

These prophecies took place 700 years before the birth of Christ. The Old Testament prophet Isaiah prophesied the most incredible event in the history of mankind, the birth of Jesus Christ, and we find that prophecy becoming fulfilled in Luke’s Gospel by a young Jewish girl by the name of Mary.

If you have your Bibles with you today and I hope that you do. Open your Bible with me to the New Testament book of Luke. Luke is the third book in the New Testament – Matthew – Mark, then Luke. Luke chapter 1.

Luke tells us at the beginning of this Gospel that he has carefully investigated everything from the beginning. He has spoken to those eyewitnesses from the Birth of Christ to His death, resurrection, and ascension to heaven.

Because of this account, we can safely assume that Luke spoke directly to Mary, the mother of Jesus, and received this account of His birth.

If you are there in Luke Chapter 1, follow along with me, beginning at verse 26.

This is the Word of God, and it begins like this.

Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by 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. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28 And having come in, the angel said to her, “Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!”

29 But when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and considered what manner of greeting this was. 30 Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31 And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name JESUS. 32 He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. 33 And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.”

Matthew 1:21 added that Jesus would “save His people from their sins”

34 Then Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I do not know a man?”

35 And the angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God. 36 Now indeed, Elizabeth your relative has also conceived a son in her old age; and this is now the sixth month for her who was called barren. 37 For with God nothing will be impossible.”

38 Then Mary said, “Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her”.

This is the greatest historical event for mankind, and it is also the greatest prophecy that has been fulfilled. Why do I call this story the greatest event and the greatest prophecy fulfilled? Because without this significant event happening, without this prophecy fulfilled then the “Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.” would not have been born nine months later.

I love this story because it is about an unsuspecting young girl who is approached to change her life when her life is just getting started.

I mean, I can connect with that; I don’t know about you? Have you ever been on track to do something in your life, and then something stops you, and now you are on a different path than you planned?

Maybe it was getting pregnant, or it’s an illness, perhaps something happened financially, a divorce, a loss of a job or even an early retirement, a death in your family, for me, a call to ministry. These are things that can help us relate to what Mary is going through.

In Gayle's and my lives, significant events moved us from our will to God’s will.

When I retired from the Army, when my government job was being cut in Saint Louis, Receiving the blessing of another job, our grandson had brain cancer. I quit my job with the government a few years ago. These are all significant events in our lives that moved us from where we were to where God wanted us to be. And the truth is there will be more events that will take place in all of our lives.

God’s word paints this great picture of what happened to Mary, but it also shows the process of dedicating our lives to God’s plan as well. And that is what the birth of Christ shows us. It teaches us that although we have plans for our lives, God’s plans should supersede them.

Which brings us to our Take-Home Truth today:

Our Take-Home Truth is:

MARY BECAME DEDICATED TO GODS PLAN WHEN SHE PUT HER PLANS ASIDE.

Have you ever had to give up something that you planned, maybe it was a trip, a family vacation, something that meant something to you? A few years ago there was a storm that came in during thanksgiving it left thousands of people stranded. There also was fire in Texas, people in a two-mile radius had to leave their homes.

You see, every one of those people had other plans, yet they couldn’t do what they had planned due to circumstances beyond their control.

This is Mary. Look back at verses 26-27:

“Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by 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. The virgin’s name was Mary.”

What do we know about Mary? She is young, and some people believe that she was very young, as early as 11 or 12, but I believe that she is 15 or 16 years old. She lived in Nazareth. She loved God and wanted to serve Him. She was a decedent of David, and her cousins’ husband was Eli, a High Priest. She was a virgin, and she was engaged to marry.

Now some people are romantics and think that Mary was head over heels for Joseph. But the truth is during this time, arranged marriages were the preferred method of marriage. This was probably an arranged marriage, but we don’t know.

What we do know is that the family was in preparation. She was preparing to get married. She might have dreamed about what it would be like as a married woman, possibly daydreaming about having her first child. Her life was planned out. She was committed to this new life that she was going to have. Joseph also was preparing to accept His new bride. In this state of engagement during this time, they were as good as being married, but the ceremony had not taken place, so they did not live together. Joseph had plans as well as Mary.

But God had other plans for them. Have you ever heard the term let go and let God? She would indeed become the mother of the baby Jesus and Joseph the stepfather. But for her to change her plans for God’s plan, she would have to leave her plans and become devoted to God’s plan.

There are times that if we are going to devote ourselves to God’s plan that often, like Mary, we must set aside our plans.

God wants us to dedicate ourselves to His plans and His purposes.

I get it. I know what it is like.

You know, God wants people to become dedicated, but some people don’t want to get closer to Him because it will mean that they will have to change. They are comfortable where they are right now, and they don’t want to change, but God calls all of us to get closer. I mean, after all, Jesus is called “Emmanuel” – this name means GOD WITH US. He is with us, and He wants us to become dedicated to His plans and purpose for our lives and the Kingdom of God.

In this biblical account between Mary and the Angel Gabriel, we find that her struggles are the same for us.

There are three natural steps that Mary had to take to become dedicated to God’s plans.

Are you ready for them?

You know these steps are the exact steps I had to take when I was called by God to be a pastor, to step out on faith.

Step one, And by the way, they are the three steps that are involved in any major decision of our lives.

Three steps to Mary’s dedication to God.

THE FIRST STEP MARY TOOK TO BE DEDICATED TO GOD’S PLAN IS: SHE HAD TO OVERCOME FEAR.

You think you are scared about doing God’s will. Imagine the fear of Mary. Notice verses 29 and 30 with me “But when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and considered what manner of greeting this was. 30 Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God”.

I want you to notice these three important facts about this:

1. The Angel of the Lord is standing before her. Angels in the Bible are towering, majestic warriors for God. They had to say- don’t be afraid or else people would be very afraid.

2. She was deeply troubled.

3. Gabriel said, “Do not be Afraid.”

But there was more to this. In biblical times, sexual purity was integral to both personal and family honor. Scholar Darrel Bock writes: “In ancient culture, virginity was an honored state, a badge of self-control and moral faithfulness.” Mary would appear to have conceived a child out of wedlock; it would have ruined her and her family's name. Let me ask you; wouldn’t you would be terrified?

I remember when God called me to be a pastor- I could not get back to sleep. I paced and paced. I did not tell anyone for two weeks. I was scared. I was confused. Everywhere else I served, I was confident; I knew what I was doing, but when that voice woke me up it troubled me.

Now I want you to know that there are good fears and bad fears. Good fears save your life, bad fear can paralyze and destroy it.

Have you ever been scared to do something? People fear death, fear of a spouse leaving, fear of sickness, fear they won’t be able to pay their bills. When fear lives in us, instead of being a momentary reaction to something new, we become warped. We respond to situations out of fear rather than out of our faith. It can be scary when God calls us to do something because we are stepping out of your comfort zone.

But here is what you need to know, when you know that God is calling you to do something, the fear that you have you can overcome. Notice verse 30 “Then the angel told her: Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.”

I want you to know that if God has called us, no matter what it is, to teach, evangelize, share the Gospel with others, and serve in an area that we may not familiar with we have favor with God. Because He is the one who called us, and often, we are held back because that fear paralyzes us that we cannot do the work. But when you have God’s favor, you have the power to overcome the fear to change. Just like Mary.

To become dedicated to God’s plan, we must overcome fear by knowing that God is with us and we have God’s favor to do His work.

THE SECOND STEP MARY HAD TO TAKE WAS TO:

OVERCOME DOUBT.

Listen to the conversation from verses 31-35

“And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name JESUS. 32 He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. 33 And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.”

34 Then Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I do not know a man?”

So, the angel gives Mary the rundown on what will take place, but then Mary’s question is a question of doubt. Because in her eyes, the only way to get pregnant was with a man, and she probably thinking that virgins don’t have babies.

We all have doubts in our lives. The day before we left for a trip to Uganda, those doubts came into my head. Should I go? Will we be effective? We are the first Americans to live in the bush in that area, will there be trouble? Doubt troubles us all, especially when we are going to be doing God’s work.

Have you ever doubted something that prevented you from accomplishing it, and today you wished you had done it?

What do we say? If I knew when I was younger what I know today. But it doesn't work that way, does it?

You should know that there are two kinds of doubts. One kind grows out of disbelief, and it is defiant and proud. The other grows out of humble wonder. We will call them Good and Bad doubts. Bad doubts are closed-minded; they refuse to consider the possibilities and power beyond our own comprehension. This doubt comes from the lens of the world. This is the kind of doubt that the enemy uses against us.

Good doubts, however, lead us to ask questions and see the possibilities and power through the lens of God.

For Mary, her cultural worth was in her virginity, so her value and honor would be gone if she became an unmarried pregnant girl to the culture around her. She would be worth nothing as a women, and men would not want her.

So, Mary asked a humble question, “How can this be, since I do not know a man?” Notice with me she did not question God, nor God’s motives, but rather it was a question of vulnerability and understanding.

How can we overcome the doubt that prevents us from being dedicated to God?

We can overcome doubt by looking at God’s plans and purpose for us through His lens, not the world. When we look at what God wants us to do through His lens, our faith is multiplied, and we can be dedicated because we know that the possibilities and power comes from God. When we pray, when we study, when we worship, when we write, we begin to see from the lens of God, and it will not only cast our fears away, but it will cast our doubt away as well.

To successfully set aside our plans to be dedicated to God, we must overcome the fear and overcome the doubt.

THEN 3RD MARY HAD TO ACCEPT GOD’S PLAN

Look at those last few verses 36-38

“36 Now indeed, Elizabeth your relative has also conceived a son in her old age; and this is now the sixth month for her who was called barren. 37 For with God nothing will be impossible.”

38 Then Mary said, “Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.”

The angel of the Lord gave a contrast to Mary, and it was her relative Elizabeth, who was older and could not have children. The Bible calls her barren. Gabriel speaks of his visit to her and that she is now six months pregnancy, and then he said to her verse 37, “For nothing will be impossible with God.”

Do you believe that nothing is impossible with God? Say that with me.

“For nothing will be impossible with God.”

Mary, at that moment, made the most unpopular decision a young girl could make in her life. She set aside her marriage to Joseph, bringing shame to her and her family, possibly becoming an outcast in her community. Her life would never be the same again. When in verse 38, she said, “Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.” Other version say “I am the Lord’s slave,”

We need this lesson because, too many times in life, our decisions are based on what everyone else thinks about us rather than how God sees us. Mary’s primary goal was to accept God’s plan even though it meant giving up hers and possibly losing her future all together.

I want you to know today that when you decide to set your life aside for God and accept His plan for your life, it is not for your own personal revelation, His goal is not just for you, but for all the people who will be affected because of it.

No matter if you serve, give enormously, teach children or adults, weather you hold a sign up to encourage others, its not for you, but for all those around you.

Verse 31-33 “You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you will call His name Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. 33 He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end.”

Mary was faithful to God, but she became a dedicated servant of God, and through her accepting God’s plan, some 33 years later Jesus died and rose again for the world's sins. He defeated death once and for all; therefore, all have been atoned, and those who believe will have eternal life with God.

Your dedication to God may not be as extreme, but it is just as important because many will benefit from your dedication to God.

What does the story of Mary teach us this Christmas?

To successfully give up our plans to be dedicated to God’s plan, we must overcome the initial fear and doubt. once we have reasoned through them. Then we can ACCEPT GOD’S PLAN and help others receive the greatest gift ever, Emmanuel.

God came as near to Mary as he possibly could, literally living inside her. The fact that he would go near to Mary shows just how much value she had. Understand, this is what the celebration of Christmas means for us. It means that God has come near. God came into our world to live among us. He came to us in the midst of our ordinary lives, our brokenness, our loneliness, our confusion, and our chaos, our sin.

He came to be the greatest gift, Emmanuel. That is something to celebrate this Christmas!

You may be wondering whats God’s plan for my life is? What is my purpose?

Today His plan is for you to accept Christ Jesus by faith, to turn from your worldly ways that are against Him and turn towards Him. That was the purpose of the virgin birth.

Give God a gift that would bless God’s heart this Christmas, say to Him those words of Mary Behold the servant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.”

What is this Christmas about?

Emmanuel; The Greatest Gift.

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