Mary's Song

As we continue our time of worship, I'd encourage you to turn to the Gospel of Luke, chapter 1.

Luke 1 · chapter mention

We've been looking at the songs of Christmas, and we'll continue that this morning looking at Mary's song.

And so you can find in Luke chapter 1, verses 46 through 55.

Luke 1:46–55

You might find it if you don't have your own Bible, there should be a Bible there in front of you in the pew, and you can find it on page 856.

And I'd encourage you to turn there.

And if you don't own a Bible, please take that Bible home with you as our gift.

It's our joy and privilege to be able to give that to you.

And so if you don't own a Bible, please take that one that you're holding in your hands right now.

Looking at Luke chapter 1, beginning in verse 46.

Luke 1 · chapter mention

And Mary said, My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour, for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant.

For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed.

For he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name.

And his mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation.

He has shown strength with his arm, he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts, he has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate.

He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty.

He has helped his servant Israel in remembrance of his mercy, and he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham, and to his offspring forever.

And Mary remained with Elizabeth about three months and returned to her home.

This is God's word.

Songs often capture our moods and express our hearts.

We talked a few weeks ago, and we were reminded that singing is the overflow of a heart captivated by the gospel.

Music is a powerful medium.

It influences us, it influences our emotions, it affects our moods.

It can impact our hearts.

Just a few days ago, I was listening to an album that I hadn't listened to in probably 15 years, but as I was listening to it, it was very somber, mostly minor keys.

And as I was listening to it, even though I enjoyed that particular album, I realized how much it was affecting my mood and my emotions.

And music can be a powerful medium.

Sometimes we specifically pick music to reflect what's going on in our hearts.

And like so much else in life, the songs we sing often reveal the state of our hearts.

Music often expresses our thoughts and our emotions, and that's why music is such a powerful medium.

What is the song of your heart this morning?

What is the song of your heart?

I was imagining this week if they could create a machine that could capture our heart and turn it into music.

What would that song sound like?

What instruments would be played?

What words would be sung?

What is the song of your heart?

We've been looking at the songs of Christmas, and the song we're looking at this morning is Mary's song.

Her song of praise, often called the Magnificat.

How could a poor, uneducated teenage girl sing a song so profound and so amazing, so prophetic in what it says?

There's a sublime beauty and a depth of insight and a simple eloquence that surpasses our expectations for such a young woman.

It's clear in this passage that her mind was saturated with scripture.

We don't even know if she was able to read herself.

Oftentimes in that culture, young girls would not be taught necessarily how to read, but somehow she heard God's word enough that it had taken root in her heart so that she could sing from the depths of her soul.

A song of praise to God.

It's clear that she meditated on the excellencies of God.

She understood God's power.

She understood God's ability, that he could do all things, that he was almighty.

She understood his beauty and his mercy.

She was captivated by grace.

Putting it in context, immediately after the visit of Gabriel, announcing the conception of Jesus, she rose and went to Elizabeth's house.

We had noted that the journey would have taken probably three or four days and could have been anywhere from 80 miles or more.

And quite possibly she traveled it alone.

We don't know if anybody went with her because of the circumstances that she was in.

During that time, she would have had ample opportunity to reflect on her circumstances, reflect on what she had heard from the angel, and reflect on the person of God and to meditate on his goodness.

She allowed the grace of God to change her heart.

She could have resisted God's will, but realized that God was pouring out his grace to her in a unique way.

She was to be the mother of the Messiah.

She was to be the mother of the anointed one, the one who was to come, that was going to be the prophet, priest, and king, the one who was going to deliver his people from their sins.

And she submitted herself to God's will and allowed God's grace to move her heart.

In the previous passage, we looked at the graciousness of God's provision through human relationships and the work of his Holy Spirit and through the promises of his word.

And this morning we look at Mary's response.

How she responds with the song in her heart.

And we ask ourselves, what's the song in our hearts?

If it could come out in words and in music, what would it sound like today?

And where do we go to recapture that song that reflects God's grace?

Maybe we've lost the song in our hearts.

Perhaps you've allowed a different song to take its place.

And so this morning, as we listen to Mary's song of wonder, may it rekindle a song of grace in our own hearts.

In Mary's song, we first see a song of humble gratitude.

Secondly, we see a song of joyful adoration, and finally, we see a song of confident hope.

And may that be the song of our heart.

First of all, when we look at Mary's song, we see that the song of our heart should be a song of humble gratitude.

We looked at this passage previously, looking at the character of Mary as an example of God's grace, like Abraham or Isaac or Moses or David to be held up and looked at, an example of God's gracious work in a person's life.

But this morning I want to look at the song of her heart and the song of ours.

And the first thing we notice is humility.

When she says, My soul magnifies the Lord, my spirit rejoices in God, my Savior, for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant.

For behold, from now on, all generations will call me blessed.

She recognizes her humble estate.

She was poor, she was uneducated, she had nothing to offer God.

There was nothing that she had that she could give in exchange for what God was doing in her life.

She realized everything that she had was a gift.

Every aspect of her life and what God was doing was a gift of his grace.

She recognized her need for a savior.

And a humble heart sees his or her lowly estate and the goodness of God.

She says, My spirit rejoices in God, my Savior.

We magnify God when we revel in the gospel.

Mary rejoices in God her savior.

And if you want to magnify God, look at Jesus in your life.

We see that a humble heart is overwhelmed by grace.

Mary stands in awe of her Savior.

She realized that she was a sinner.

As I was reflecting on these words, I thought of the words of amazing grace and the line that says, Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me.

And I thought, do I have the awe of the gospel in my heart?

Do I look at the cross?

We've just celebrated the Lord's table.

We thought about his death, his shedding of his blood, his giving of his life for us.

Mary realized that she was a sinner.

Do I look at my heart and see the depths of my sin that I was rescued from?

Do I meditate and recognize all that I've done that has offended God?

I think so often I just see the tip of the iceberg.

If I think of sin as the things that I do that that go against God's word are the things that I don't do that I should.

And I begin to reflect on that.

I begin to contemplate it.

And slowly the scales fall off my eyes, and I realize how much of a sinner I am.

The fact that sin has affected every area of who I am, that sin has tainted every part of me, that there is nothing that I do that isn't tainted by sin.

Even in my best moments with my best intentions, there are no pure motives.

They're tainted by sin.

And so I'm just this bundle of sin.

And that God loved me so much that he sent his son.

Knowing the mess that I'd be, knowing the sins that I commit, knowing the sins that I don't even know about because I haven't committed them yet.

But God in his great love sent his son, and Jesus said, I will take all of your penalty for all of your sins upon myself.

I will absorb the wrath of God in my body for you, so that you can be released from all of your sins, from the guilt, from the consequence, from the eternal penalty that you deserve.

I will take all of that and I will give you my righteousness.

So that you stand before God, pure and righteous and holy in the beloved, that you are the object of his love, that there is no anger left for you.

Do you revel in the gospel?

Have you lost your awe in the gospel?

Mary, her life is a testimony of God's grace, but so is each one of ours.

Everything about Mary was God's grace.

It was nothing about Mary, and we shouldn't venerate Mary any more than we should venerate any other human being.

Everything about her was an expression of God's grace, and she recognizes that.

And everything about us that glorifies God and is good is an expression of his grace.

Everything that we have is a gift of God's grace.

Every accomplishment that we do, if we do them in his strength for his glory, all of that redounds to him.

It is all a gift of his grace.

We've done nothing.

If someone comes to Christ through your witness, it's God's grace.

If there's a ministry that takes off, it's God's grace.

We recognize it's all from God.

Mary here recognizes the goodness and the grace of God in her life.

And she responds with humble gratitude.

We talked about that in Thanksgiving.

That we are the blessed of God.

Every day is Thanksgiving day when we recognize God's grace in our lives.

And we rehearse the gospel in our lives over and over again, day by day, because we need forgiveness.

We need to know God's acceptance and his love.

We need to know that we stand before God not because of our performance, not because of how well we perform today.

That is in no way why God accepts you today.

It isn't because you're here this morning or you had devotions or you were nice to your family, you pet the dog.

That isn't why you're here.

That isn't why you stand before God accepted.

You stand before God accepted for one reason and one reason only, and that is because Jesus Christ died and rose and gave you his righteousness.

And we are the blessed of God.

And that was the song of Mary's heart that reflected in humble gratitude.

And that should be the song of our hearts too.

Secondly, the song of our heart should be a song of joyful adoration.

Mary's worship focused on the greatness of God.

It focused on he who is mighty.

It focused on his holiness.

Holy is his name.

The song of her heart focused on his mercy, and his mercy is for those who fear him.

It focused on his strength.

He has shown strength with his arm.

The song of our hearts should be a song of joyful adoration.

It says, He who is mighty, talking about the strength of God, his mighty works, and Mary would know that because she was carrying the Messiah.

The Holy Spirit had come upon her.

She who was a virgin who had never been with a man was pregnant by God's power and the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit.

She knew the power of God at work in her life.

That he is mighty in salvation, that God is the mighty one who is strong to save.

That this child to be born is to be the savior of the world, that God was fulfilling his plan of redemption, and that nothing was going to stop him.

Do you really believe that God is the mighty one?

Do you believe that God is able to do all things?

We saw Mary's faith, and just because you can't see how God can do it, you should believe that God can do it.

What seems impossible from our eyes on the horizontal, nothing is impossible with God.

And I think so often in our circumstances, we look around with, not with eyes of faith, but but we look around and we see the circumstances around us, and we look, we lose confidence in God's goodness and his power.

We lose confidence in God's ability to change circumstances, to do beyond what we could ask or imagine.

Recently I heard a comment, and it was this.

Holy is his name.

God is highly exalted, high and lifted up.

And he is the God who is merciful.

Mercy is pity for those who are weak, desperate, and powerless.

And God is compassionate, moving towards those who are hurting and helpless.

God shows mercy to those who are his.

Could juggle.

I mean, she would put Ringling Brothers to shame.

And it's just amazing to see all of the different things that she can keep in the air.

And if somebody comes to her, no matter how many things are on her plate and how many notes that she has on different notepads and post-it notes, it's like you go to her and it's consider it done.

And Mary looks at the things of God, things that God hasn't done yet.

Things that God had promised to do, things that God was going to do through the Messiah that she was carrying.

And she looked at them and she said, you know what?

Consider it done.

As far as I'm concerned, I can talk about it as if it has already happened because I'm so confident that God is going to do exactly what he said he was going to do.

I love the wording.

There's a children's storybook Bible.

I think it's by Sally Lloyd Jones, and it talks about God's secret rescue plan.

And it puts the gospel into these words for children to understand, but uh there really is an eloquence and a beauty to one of the passages that's written in this storybook Bible.

And it talks about the redemption plan as God's secret rescue plan.

And this is what it says it says, it's the secret rescue plan we made from before the beginning of the world.

It's the only way to get you back.

But he won't stay dead.

I will make him alive again.

And one day when he comes back to rule forever, the mountains and trees will dance and sing for joy.

The earth will shout out loud.

His fame will fill the whole earth, his waters cover the sea.

Everything sad will come untrue.

Even death is going to die, and he will wipe away every tear from every eye.

Yes, the rescuer will come.

Look for him, watch for him, wait for him.

He will come, I promise.

And the coming of Jesus in the gospel demonstrates the reversal of fortunes.

Everything sad will come untrue.

In verses 51 and 52, the proud are brought down and the humble are lifted up, from Pharaoh to Nebuchadnezzar, from Agrippa to Hitler.

We see it over and over again.

God is at work coming to the end.

When every knee will bow, and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.

There is only one Lord, there is only one King.

And Mary, as she sings this song, talks about how the mighty are brought down from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate.

Verse 53 the rich are empty and the hungry are filled with good things.

Those satisfied with the things of the world now find themselves ultimately empty.

And those who hunger and thirst for righteousness find a satisfaction in Jesus that this world can't offer.

And one of the things when we find our satisfaction in Christ is it creates a hunger for more.

We pursue Christ and we find our satisfaction in Christ, but the very reality, when we taste and see that the Lord is good, we we long for more of that and more and more, so we're satisfied and hungry, and satisfied and hungry.

And the more satisfied we are, the hungrier we are, the more we long for Jesus.

And one day that hunger will be filled completely when we see him face to face and when we live with him forever.

The coming of Jesus in the gospel demonstrates the fulfillment of the promises of God.

God will finish his work and accomplish his purpose.

Mary talks about that at the end with Israel.

He's helped his servant Israel in remembrance of his mercy.

God told Abraham that in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.

And what an amazing promise that flows down through Abraham and Isaac, through Jesus to us.

And by faith, Paul writes that we've become children of Abraham.

He says this, and if you are Christ, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to the promise.

And so that we become recipients of God's grace, the promises that He gave years ago fulfilled in Christ, flow through Christ to us.

What's the song of your heart?

Is it a song of worry?

A song of unhappiness?

A song of fear?

A song of disappointment?

A song of frustration?

A song of anger?

A song of bitterness?

A song of loneliness?

How can we change that song?

Like Mary, we saturate our minds with scripture, we remind ourselves over and over, rehearsing the goodness of God in the gospel.

We meditate on the greatness of God, of who He is, of seeing the faithfulness of this mighty God working over and over again.

And we allow the grace of God to transform our hearts.

Singing is the overflow of a heart captured by the gospel.

What is the song of your heart?

Let's pray.

Father, we know we can't change the state of our hearts.

We can't will ourselves to be different from who we are.

We can't change and transform ourselves by ourselves, but we can run to you.

We can cry out to Jesus.

We can preach the gospel to ourselves.

We can look at the cross and see your goodness.

We can pray for your Holy Spirit to open our eyes and soften our hearts, to turn us and incline us towards you.

We can cry out to you to convict us of our sin, to repent.

Lord, we can't change our hearts, but we know the one who can and does and will, and we know that because we see the cross.

We see Jesus.

And so, Father, I pray that we will not try to leave and reform ourselves in some superficial way, but that we'll see the depths of our poverty, of our powerlessness, and we'll run to you, we'll run to Jesus, we'll cry out for mercy, we'll look at the cross.

And so, Father, we pray that you will rekindle in our hearts a song of praise that we ask in Jesus' name.

Amen.