Gabriel's Good News -- December 6, 2009

In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin's name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, "Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you."

Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. 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, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end."

"How will this be," Mary asked the angel, "since I am a virgin?"

The angel answered, "The Holy Spirit will come upon 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. Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be barren is in her sixth month. For nothing is impossible with God."

"I am the Lord's servant," Mary answered. "May it be to me as you have said." Then the angel left her.

(Luke 1:26-38)

Do you know what I love about our Bible passage this morning? This is a story about how God's awesome significance transforms the seemingly insignificant life of a young girl in Nazareth -- with world-transforming effect. And in a very real sense, this is a story about you and me and God.

Let me try to explain: While a lot of us are very, very familiar with this famous Christmas story, the truth of the matter is that back then, at that time, everything about Mary and her situation pretty much screamed insignificance. Nazareth was a small, insignificant little town. Mary was a young girl, probably around 14 or 15 years old, who lived in a time and place where woman were not allowed to even speak, unless spoken to. And where women were valued merely for the work they could do in the home and in rearing families.

So it's into this situation that a messenger from God Himself, an angel named Gabriel, comes with a very special message for Mary in this back-water town called Nazareth. And one of the first things out of Gabriel's mouth to Mary is: "...you are highly favored! The Lord is with you."

He says it here in vs.28, and he tells her again in verse 30: "You, Mary, have found favor with God."

Now, believe it or not, this is where this story can actually intersect with our own. Many people down throughout the ages have made the assumption that Mary is "highly favored" of God because she is the one and only very special girl to bear Jesus, the incarnate Son of God. And that's true! But many make the assumption that it was because Mary was herself worthy of that favor -- that because she was somehow so good, so pure, she earned the right to be the Mary, "full of grace" as our Catholic friends call her.

But that's a misunderstanding of this word "favor" here in Luke or it's wider use in the New Testament. You see, Mary isn't some source of grace herself -- no, God's grace simply rested on her. The same words used here in Luke, where Gabriel tells Mary: "Greetings, you who are highly favored!" are very similar to those found in Ephesians 1:6 where Paul describes God's grace to us all. There Paul writes: "to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely favored us in the One he loves." The KJV puts this verse beautifully when it says: "wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved."

God's grace -- God's favor -- isn't just for Mary. It's for us all! And in and through Jesus, as we have place our faith, our trust in Him, God makes us accepted in the beloved, accepted in Jesus. That's why Mary was highly favored!

She was about to have the marvelous experience of Jesus, God's Son, the Incarnate One, living right inside her tummy! She was about to be with child, even though she's never been with a man, even though she's a virgin, and that little Child is going to be Jesus Himself! She was about to house the Son of the Most High!

Here's the amazing thing, here's where our lives intersect or parallel Mary's in a most amazing way: Jesus lived, and died, and rose again for you and I, so that we, too, may be recipients of God's grace, God's favor! And as we come to belief in Him, Colossians 1:27 indicates that an amazing thing happens: Jesus Himself, comes to indwell us by faith!

Colossians 1:27 says: "To them God has chosen to make known among (the nations) the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory."

What Mary knew through physical reality, we can know by faith: That Jesus, the Savior, can actually indwell our lives! Do you know what that means? That means that regardless how you and I may feel about our lives, regardless of how we may see our own individual lives or situations, our lives are wonderfully fraught with meaning and significance! Because Jesus now lives in us, and He's got some pretty serious work to do through us! That's grace, my friends, but it's grace with a purpose.

That's the major point of our message this morning: If you are in earshot of my voice today, you are nowhere near insignificant, in fact, you are tremendously significant because Christ lives in you, or at least has the potential to live in you if you haven't already made that step of faith, and because of that alone, God's got stuff for us to do!

That's our first point: "It's all about grace, baby", God's grace, through Mary's baby, Jesus -- Who now lives in us who believe!

But now then, notice this: Since Jesus indwells us who believe by faith, then nothing is impossible with God. Nothing is impossible with God. That's Gabriel's message to Mary in vs.37. Gabriel gave Mary the whole enchilada, "You've found favor with God, you'll be with child and give birth to a son; you're to call him Jesus; He'll be Son of the Most High with kingly credentials; the Most High will overshadow you."

Mary's finding all this a little too much to swallow, so she asks how this all could be, and as proof that it's going to happen, Gabe tells her that Elizabeth, her relative, is in the sixth month of her pregnancy, and she's an old lady, for nothing is impossible with God. And I think we find that line a little too much to swallow, because we forget the with God part. It's not just, "nothing is impossible".

That'd be ridiculous. The sports and shoe company Adidas once had a campaign that had as its slogan "impossible is nothing". And that's just mindless hype. If impossible is nothing, I should really look into being the starting point guard for the Raptors because impossible is nothing, it'll just be a piece of cake. But, of course, that'll never happen. It isn't just nothing's impossible or even impossible is nothing.

But listen: nothing is impossible WITH GOD. That's what Gabriel told Mary. Nothing is impossible WITH GOD. Do we believe that? Do we truly believe nothing is impossible with God?

WITH GOD healing is possible. WITH GOD this place can have 500 on Sunday mornings not fifty. WITH GOD you can share the great hope we have in Jesus with your friends, family and co-workers, by your words and the way you live. WITH GOD Jesus can transform your life like you've never thought possible from the inside/out. WITH GOD you're life and mine can have a significance and power we could never dream possible without Him to make this world a more compassionate, more giving, more hopeful place!

WITH GOD personal holiness is possible!! FOR NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE WITH GOD!!!

But there's a catch. There's a hitch. To experience the "with God" part in all of its unimaginable fullness, to fully realize the significance of our lives, we must marry our obedience with His grace. We must marry our obedience with His grace. The point is crucial: I am a staunch, staunch believer in His grace. It's all Jesus.

There's nothing I can or could do to merit His love, His acceptance, His grace. That deal was signed, sealed and delivered at the Cross -- of that, I am convinced. But to realize His significance in my life, I need to marry my obedience with His grace.

Just look at Mary's words in vs.38, what a godly, powerful girl Mary was! " 'I am the Lord's servant,' Mary answered. 'May it be to me as you have said.'"

That's marrying obedience with His grace. I wonder, do we have the faith and courage to say that? To say as young Mary said, in our own personal lives? ...In our giving?

"I am the Lord's servant... may it be to me as you have said"? ...In our thought-lives?

"I am the Lord's servant... may it be to me as you have said"? ...In our prayer or devotional lives?

"I am the Lord's servant... may it be to me as you have said"? ...In our ministry lives here at this church or out where the Lord has planted us?

"I am the Lord's servant... may it be to me as you have said"? ... In ... well, I think you're getting the picture,... in every facet of our lives, I am the Lord's servant, may it be to me as you have said?

I believe we are all deeply significant in God's eyes. It's all Him, it's all grace, baby. But I believe our significance grows exponentially as we marry our obedience with His grace. Without joining our obedience with His grace our maturity gets stunted and our experience of His power is limited.

I love the way Max Lucado describes Mary. He writes:

"She looks into the face of the baby. Her son. Her Lord. His majesty. At this point in history, the human being who best understands who God is and what he is doing is a teenage girl in a smelly stable. She can't take her eyes off him. Somehow Mary knows she is holding God. So this is he. She remembers the words of the angel. 'His kingdom will never end.'

"He looks like anything but a king. His face is prunish and red. His cry, strong and healthy, is still the helpless and piercing cry of a baby. And he is absolutely dependent on Mary for his well-being.

"Majesty in the midst of the mundane. Holiness in the filth of sheep manure and sweat. Divinity entering the world on the floor of a stable, through the womb of a teenager and in the presence of a carpenter." (quoted in The Book of Jesus, pg.113)

It's all about grace, baby! You are significant to God! So much so that He sent us Jesus. But if we want to multiply that significance, we need to marry our obedience with His grace.

Ray Stedman once said, "My life changed when I realized God was for me." But it was Fred Smith Sr. who put it best when he said, "God will not do for you what you can do for yourself, but He will not let you do for yourself what only He can do." (Fred Smith Sr., Breakfast with Fred, pg.44)

What is it that only He can do? Only He can love us like He does. Only He can justify us. Only He can save us. Only He can make us holy. But for that to happen, we need to marry our obedience with His grace -- just like Mary, we can know the mystery and the marvel of Christ within.