A Willing and Humble Servant

chapter 1 verse 46 in the verses leading up to

this Zechariah and Elizabeth were about to have

a child even though they had gone for some time

and were not able to conceive the Lord had revealed

to Zechariah that they would have a child and

Zechariah kind of questioned how is this going

to be and the Lord said well you're not going

to speak until the child is born and so When

John was eventually born, Zechariah was able

to speak again. But during the time of Elizabeth's

pregnancy, the angel appeared before Mary and

said, Mary, you are about to give birth to the

Son of God. Now, this was pretty big news. I

think maybe sometimes we've probably read these

scriptures and... And likely, if we've gone to

church our whole life, you can just count up

how many times you've heard it. If you're 40

years old, you've probably heard it 40 times

in your life. I mean, we hear this story so much,

and maybe with any story we hear or any song

that we sing, it becomes so familiar to us that

sometimes we just don't really comprehend or

think about. exactly what's taking place but

this would have been a pretty big deal i mean

mary would have been a young woman here she she

wouldn't have been very old some have suggested

a young teenage girl maybe 14 15 maybe a little

older uh but regardless of her age she was young

and this is pretty big news to get at any age

it wouldn't matter if you were 45 and an angel

of the lord came to you and said oh by the way

uh you're about to give birth to a child I mean,

that's a pretty amazing experience. If an angel

appears to you and don't say nothing, that in

and of itself is scary. And then when a message

like that is revealed to you, we can only imagine

how Mary must have felt. Of course, she said,

well, how is this going to be? I mean, I understand

how giving birth goes, and I haven't been with

a man, so how is this going to take place? And

it took place through the Holy Spirit. And she

conceived, and soon she would give birth to Jesus

Christ, the Savior of the world. And Mary says

one of the most beautiful lines, I think, in

all of Scripture. Back in verse 38, when the

angel tells her this, she responds with, I am

the Lord's slave. What a great response. I don't

know that the Lord will ever send an angel to

you to speak something to you. I won't say that

he will not. He may. I will say be careful. There's

a lot of false teachers in this world that would

say that God sent an angel to them and reveal

things to them. Of course, the things that they

say reveal to them do not go along with Scripture.

So I won't say that God cannot or does not send

angels to people. Perhaps he would. Regardless

of whether God sends an angel before us, I think

that there are times in our life that God does

speak to us, that God does want to use us. Maybe

not quite in the same way that he used Mary.

I mean, it's kind of a one -time thing, a pretty

big deal to give birth to the Savior of the world.

But nonetheless, God does want to use us in some

way sometimes. And it may be something as simple

as helping your neighbor down the road or helping

somebody you see that's in need. Or maybe it's

serving in some ministry capacity that God's

kind of tugging on you in that way. Whatever

it is, when God calls on us, what is our response?

Well, we probably make excuses. We're probably

more like Moses than we are Mary. We probably

say, well, God, I don't really speak good. God,

I'm not the man for the job. But God does call

us for jobs that we don't feel like we're equipped

for. But God equips us for those jobs. And God

knows what he's doing when he says, I want you

to do this or I want you to do that. So when

we feel those things kind of placed on our heart,

then we need to look at Mary's response. She

didn't make excuses, but she said, okay, God,

this is what you're saying. And as crazy as this

sounds, she said, God, I am your slave. I am

the Lord's slave. Elizabeth is already with child,

and that's the relative of Mary. Some suggest

cousin, perhaps. It doesn't matter. Maybe she

was a cousin. But in some way, they were related.

And Mary goes to visit Elizabeth in the verses

before the ones we're about to look at. And when

Mary arrives, Elizabeth, she says, the baby inside

of me is leaping for joy in my womb at the very

presence that the mother of the Savior of the

world has just entered. And so Mary is obviously

ready to take on this role as giving birth to

Jesus Christ. And listen to what she says in

verse 46. And Mary said, my soul proclaims the

greatness of the Lord and my spirit has rejoiced

in God my Savior. Because he has looked with

favor on the humble condition of his slave. Surely

from now on all generations will call me blessed.

Because the mighty one has done great things

for me. And his name is holy. His mercy is from

generation to generation on those who fear him.

Now, this is a very popular praise of Mary. refer

to it as the Magnificat. Mary's Magnificat. Perhaps

you've heard that term. You might even, this

section in your Bible might even have that title

before it. Some may do that. But this is Mary's

Magnificat. This is Mary's praise that God has

called on her, that God is going to use her.

And she recognizes, to some degree at least,

the significance to this. She says, all generations

are going to call me blessed. God has looked

down on the humble, not just on Mary, but on

all who are poor and lowly and who are needy.

God has looked down on us in our sinfulness.

God has looked down on us in our weakness. God

has chosen... us to spread the gospel of Jesus

Christ, to help grow the kingdom of God. Now,

we don't give birth to the Messiah, but if we

know Jesus Christ, God calls those who are in

Christ to be his hands and feet and to do the

work of God. So even still today, God is calling

on the weak and the powerless and the humble.

God wants to use us today. Will we be as willing

as Mary was? Well, we rejoice in the same way

that Mary did. My soul proclaims the greatness

of the Lord. The Lord said, I want to use you

to do this great thing. I want to work through

you, Mary. And Mary praises him. What about you

and I? When God wants to use us to do something.

great thing. And you say, what's a great thing?

Well, I don't know. Maybe we're thinking about

a great thing as just something really big and

wonderful that everybody in the world sees. But

maybe a great thing is just going to check on

your neighbor and saying, I haven't seen you

in a while. How you doing? Maybe a great thing

is going to that person at Christmas that doesn't

have any family, that's going to be home all

alone. They're not going to be eating a big meal.

They're not going to be opening a gift. Maybe

a great thing is knocking on their door saying,

hey, we got some turkey and dressing here and

my wife made some cookies. Merry Christmas. Maybe

that's a great thing. It's a great thing for

somebody who can't get out of the house, who

doesn't have any family left. And so God calls

us to do great things. And sometimes we overlook

the great things. And we think they're the insignificant

things. Or, oh, there's nothing to that. That's

no big deal. That wasn't nothing. But it is something.

It may not be nothing for you to go see somebody

for five minutes, but it may be everything to

them. So when the Lord calls us to do great things,

then we need to rejoice in the Lord and we need

to proclaim the greatness of the Lord and say,

thank you, God, for this opportunity. And how

many opportunities are before us and we say,

boy, I should do that. I should do that. I've

got to do that. I need to do that. And we don't

ever do that. And the greatness of the Lord that

he wants to use us for, we just push it back.

And Mary proclaims the greatness of the Lord.

I'm the Lord's slave. Here I am, Lord. I'm your

slave. I'm ready to do what you've called me

to do. Are we ready to do what God calls us to

do? Hopefully we are, but maybe we're not. Maybe

there are some things on your list. Maybe tomorrow

is a good time to do them. Not this weekend.

Maybe tomorrow is a good time to do them. Maybe

it's a good time to take that five minutes. Maybe

tomorrow is a good time to make that phone call,

to reach out to that person, to reach out to

that family member. Maybe it's somebody that

ain't answered your phone call in 20 years. Call

them again. Maybe they'll answer this time. Maybe

they won't. But maybe there's something that

we can do. Maybe there's something that's on

our heart. Maybe there's some way that God wants

to use us. Maybe there's somebody we can go visit

this Christmas season. And maybe we can keep

visiting them on into the new year. Maybe we

can visit them every month, every week. Maybe

we can give them a phone call. Maybe there's

some way that God wants to use you. Maybe God's

calling you to serve in this church in some capacity.

Whatever it may be. It may not be that God came

to your room last night and at the foot of your

bed stood the bright and shimmering glowing angel

before you saying, here I am, here's what I want

you to do. Maybe God doesn't speak to you in

that way. But I think the Holy Spirit speaks

to our heart. And sometimes we just get that

feeling, man, I should do this. I should help

that person. I should buy them a meal. I should

pay for their groceries. I should go see them.

I should give them a call. Maybe it's nothing.

But then again, maybe it's God. Maybe it's something.

So maybe God's calling you today. Maybe he wants

to use you in some way. Just as he used Mary

in some way. Pretty major way. But you never

know in the way that God wants to use you. You

never know how it might change somebody's life.

Let's pray. God, we come to you. We thank you

for these good words. We thank you for Mary.

And we thank you even more so for Jesus Christ

for sending him into the world. And we thank

you for the example of Mary for being one who

was ready to serve, dear Lord, and just humble

herself before you as our slave. And I pray,

God, that we would do so tonight, that we would

do so tomorrow, that maybe there are some ways

that you've been wanting to use us, some things

that even now, God, that you're just kind of

saying you need to do it. So, God, If you're

saying that to us tonight, I pray that we just

say, God, I'm your slave. I'm ready to serve.

And that we would go and do and be used by you

in the way that you want to use us, dear Lord.

And I ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen.