Christmas Lesson December 22, 2013

Every Christmas season I look forward to reading the account of the birth of Christ in Luke together as a family on Christmas morning. I’m amazed at Mary’s faith. What must have gone through her mind when Gabriel approached her? How did she process the news that she and Joseph were to raise the Son of God? What depths of sorrow did she endure while watching her Son die a horrific death on a cross?

In Luke 1:26-38, we have something that is very familiar- the conversation between Mary and the angel in which the angel announced to Mary that she would be the mother of the Christ child. It’s familiar, but for Mary it was the start of a very unfamiliar, unexpected journey. God is about ready to fulfill all the promises of the Old Testament. He’s ready to accomplish the most fundamental turning point in all of history.

Some groups within the Christian faith overemphasize Mary’s role in the gospel story, giving her more attention than Jesus. And then some of us have pushed her to the sidelines and don’t consider her at all. She is by the way more than just a mother.

There is a reason why God chose Mary and we should learn what it could mean for us.

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I. GOD CAN USE YOU – LUKE 1:26-27

26 In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, 27 to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary.




Mary was a chosen vessel of the Lord. If you are a child of God you have been chosen to be an instrument that God is using to fulfill His purposes too.

• Can you remember the last time you filled out a job application? You probably had to give them all your vital statistics, summarize your background, your education, and your experience. Many employers ask: What is it that makes you uniquely qualified for this position? They assume your availability, but what they really want to know are things that would make you unsuited for the job.

What are some things that you would think would make Mary unsuited for this job?

• She was young. Mary was pledged to be married. At that time, it was customary for girls to be engaged at 12-13 years of age (around the time of reaching puberty). One reason was to ensure girls maintained their virginity until marriage. It’s very possible that Mary could have been as young as 15- 16 years old when Gabriel visited her. You and I might think this girl is too young for God to use her, but apparently God didn’t think so.
• She was poor. We read Luke 2:22-24 that Mary and Joseph took baby Jesus to the temple to be circumcised. They were required to bring one of two offerings: either a lamb for a burnt offering and a dove or a pigeon for a sin offering. If a lamb was too expensive, the parents could bring a second dove or pigeon instead. Mary and Joseph brought the two doves, because they couldn’t afford a lamb. You and I might have thought this family is too poor to provide for Jesus but apparently God didn’t think so. Mary was young, and poor, but also
• She was from Nazareth. First century Nazareth was famous for only one thing – its sin. It was located just four miles from the Roman garrison at Sepphoris. When the boys in the army got a few days leave and some bonus pay, they went to Nazareth where they could find cheap wine and a red-light district where women would be waiting for them. Nazareth was a town with a bad reputation. Maybe that’s why Nathanael, when he learned that Jesus was from Nazareth, responded with the question, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” (John 1:46) You and I might have thought, “No way”. No telling what this girl grew up seeing and hearing and doing in a bad town like that. Apparently, God didn’t take this into consideration in choosing Mary to be mother to His Son.

Mary was young, poor, and from Nazareth—all characteristics that we might think make her unusable by God. But God doesn’t operate this way. But God chose Mary for one of the most important jobs He ever asked anyone to do. Through God’s choice of Mary, He teaches us: no matter who you are, God can use you.



What three characteristics of Mary do you think God was looking for?

1. Humility

2. Availability

3. Faith



She knew she wasn’t worthy of the honor God offered her. Yet she was available and believed God could use her, if she trusted Him.



Do you believe God can use you? Or do you think you’re too small—too young, too poor, too uneducated, too weak to be used by Him?
“If you think you are too small to be effective, you have never been in bed with a mosquito.” -Betty Reese





Mary teaches us no matter who you are, God can use you.





Next we read how important it is to know that The Lord is with You.

II. THE LORD IS WITH YOU – LUKE 1:28-33

28 The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.” 29 Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. 30 But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. 31 You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. 32 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, 33 and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”



Mary teaches us that no matter what problems you face, the Lord is with you.



The angel says in vs. 30, “Do not be afraid.” Well now, that’s a little hard to swallow given what an angel has just laid on her.



Why would Mary be afraid? What would be Mary’s fears as a result of her pregnancy?

• Possible divorce by Joseph. Joseph at first assumes that Mary has been unfaithful to him. What else would he have thought? How would he respond? Mary doesn’t know how all of that will work out. But she is assured that God will be with her, whatever Joseph does. Mary trusted in the Lord and waited on the His timing. A virgin, betrothed to be married, and she just had a visitation from an angel of the Lord telling her she is to give birth to the Son of God. How do you explain this one to Joseph? And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. Matthew 1:19-20 Mary didn’t take matters into her own hands but let the Lord change Joseph’s heart. How often do feel the need to change our husbands instead of letting the Lord do His work in them? We women are born controllers, but we need to learn to trust God and wait on Him.
• Possible rejection by her family. How would her parents react? Did Mary’s family believe her story that the baby growing inside her was the Son of God? Would you believe that if your daughter told you that story? We are never told anything about Mary’s parents’ reaction to her pregnancy. But it’s very possible that they didn’t believe her story. But Mary is assured that God will be with her, no matter how her parents may react.
• Certain rejection by her community. Imagine the gossip that must have circulated Nazareth. The people have Nazareth would have accused her of adultery—a sin that was not looked on lightly as it is today. It’s likely that Mary was shunned by those who had once been her friends. But Mary believes God is with her, even if her friends abandon her.

The message from the angel totally changed Mary’s life. She was getting ready to be married and live a normal life. But now her life would be anything but normal.



How could she be calm and courageous as she faced all of the problems that her pregnancy might cause?

• She would cling to the words the angel spoke in vs. 28: “The Lord is with you.” The Lord would be with her. He would help her. He would give her the strength and courage to face anything.
• That same promise is given to each of us. Isaiah 41:10(NIV) So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you…One of the titles given to Jesus was “Immanuel,” which means “God with us.” One of the great themes of the Old Testament is the concept of God living with His people. Jesus is our Immanuel. He is “God with us.”

Jesus came to make God’s presence a conscious, living reality in your life. Whatever problems you are facing right now–whatever worries and fears are harassing your heart–don’t let them discourage you. No matter what your problems are, the Lord is with you. Bring those problems to Him and trust Him to work them out, and He will, just as surely as He worked them all out for Mary.


So two lessons from Mary so far:

1. No matter who you are, God can use you.

2. No matter what problems you face, God is with you.




And our closing verse let’s each of us know that God still works miracles.

III. GOD STILL WORKS MIRACLES – LUKE 1:34-38

34 “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?” 35 The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. 36 Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. 37 For no word from God will ever fail.” 38 “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Then the angel left her.




No matter how impossible it may seem, the Lord can STILL work miracles in your life.

• A little boy asked his mother where he came from, and also where she had come from as a baby. His mother gave him a tall tale about a beautiful white-feathered bird. The boy ran into the next room and asked his grandmother the same question and received a variation of that same bird story. He then went outside to one of his buddies and said, “You know, there hasn’t been a normal birth in our family for three generations.” The Bible records several instances where there was not a “normal birth.”
• Name some miracle births in the Bible. Isaac: God sent a son to Abraham and Sarah long after they thought having a baby was possible. Samson: In Judges 13, an angel of the Lord told Manoah and his barren wife that they would have a special son they would name Samson. John the Baptist’s: Elizabeth, was in her sixties or seventies when she gave birth to the prophet.

What made Jesus’ birth such a miracle?

• His birth was a virgin birth.
• When we talk about the virgin birth we mean that Jesus was conceived in the womb of His mother Mary by a miraculous work of the Holy Spirit and without a human father - now that doesn’t sound any more normal or possible back then than it would today.

What is so amazing about Mary’s reaction in verse 38? Didn’t Mary know that a virgin birth was impossible?

• Even though the angel’s news seemed unbelievable, she believed it. Mary knew that a virgin birth is impossible, but she also believed that “nothing is impossible with God.”

How many times do we hear or even think to ourselves things like:

• I will never get over this…
• I will never be able to trust again… to love again…
• I will never be able to forgive myself…
• I can’t get past what he/she did to me…
• I can’t dig myself out of this hole I’ve made…
• I will never get on top of this problem in my life…
• I will never get out of debt…
• I will never be able to straighten out the mess I’ve made…

The answer to this is Your Right! You Won’t, but God Can!

TRY GOD

• When troubles are deep and your world is dark, don’t give up hope- TRY GOD!
• When temptation comes knocking and you struggle with it so, don’t give up hope- TRY GOD!
• When fears stack up and you’re sure no one cares, don’t give up hope- TRY GOD!

Here’s the question: Do you really believe that “nothing is impossible with God”?

• Do you believe that God can work in you to work out the problems in your marriage?
• Do you believe God can turn around a wayward son or daughter?
• Do you believe that God can remove an addiction?
• Do you believe that God can change your negative, critical attitude?
• Do you believe God can give you the power to forgive?
• Do you believe that God can help you get out of debt for good?
• Do you believe God can save your loved one or friend who is far from God?

Mary’s response was “I don’t know exactly how God is going to do it but I trust God and give Him control of my life.”

• It has been well said, “Without faith, there is no submission: without submission, there is no real faith.”
• God wants us to trust Him to do wonders in our lives. Our God is the God who really can pull off the miraculous in our lives- if we put our faith in Him and submit our lives to whatever He wants to do, however He wants to do it.
• God can repair the brokenness, remove the bondage in our lives, replace the hurt with forgiveness and healing, replace our loss with comfort, restore marriages, and rework the bad into something good.

For nothing is impossible with God!
“All of our fears and worry are caused by calculating without God.”

Oswald Chambers



What are you facing that seems impossible? God is great at pulling off the impossible. He can work miracles in your life- if you trust Him.

Mary was quiet before the Lord and meditated on all He had done in her life.

• But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. Luke 2:19 How often are we truly quiet before the Lord, just pondering on what He has done and is doing in our lives? Do we take the time to meditate on His Word?

Prayer of Commitment

Loving God we wait for the world to change. We get impatient and wonder “Why don’t you do something about the mess we’ve made!” Help us remember that you gave us two hands. You gave us the greatest teacher the world has ever seen. We are now the hands and feet and eyes and heart and life of your Son. Help us to hold the baby in our arms, take his light into our hearts and let us show His love to the entire world. Amen.

Hope to see you on Sunday!

In His Love,

David & Susan