Sermon Text: Luke 1: 46-55
Mary’s Song
46 And Mary said: “My soul glorifies the Lord
47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
48 for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed,
49 for the Mighty One has done great things for me— holy is his name.
50 His mercy extends to those who fear him, from generation to generation.
51 He has performed mighty deeds with his arm; he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts.
52 He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble.
53 He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty.
54 He has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful
55 to Abraham and his descendants forever, just as he promised our ancestors.”
Morning Message:
On this fourth Sunday in Advent we are reminded of our faith in Jesus. Faith is so much more than a one-time belief in our Savior. Faith is meant to be a permanent part of the Christian life. Faith needs to be nurtured and grown from the infancy of its beginning to a mature state that glorifies God. If you listen closely to Mary’s song in today’s scripture reading you hear a mature faith. I believe that all too often we think of Mary as just the mother of Jesus. We see the beginning of her faith as being when she was told by the angel that she would give birth to the Savior of the world. The truth is, she could never have responded so faithfully unless she already had a strong faith and a deep trust in God. Mary is not a new convert to God’s rule over her life or His plan for his people. She trusted in God and believed in the coming Messiah long before she knew that she would carry him in her womb. Can we even imagine the faith that it took to surrender to God’s plan?
True faith requires surrender. Faith is having trust in a person or thing. When we accept Jesus as Lord and Savior of our lives, we are saying that we put our trust in him and his ways. We are given many opportunities every day to prove our trust in Jesus and to show others, by the way we live our lives, that we are people of faith; believers in Jesus. If we are really trying to live by our faith, we find that it is difficult because it requires surrender. We need to constantly remind ourselves of this because the world tries to convince us that we can have our faith and our own way too. There is no faith without surrender. To surrender means: to abandon or relinquish; to give oneself up. In our Advent devotional (The Fullness of Time, p. 18) we read this: “Surrender means letting go of our control—our plans, our opinions, our way. It means opening our minds to the plans and ways of another. It means trusting that we need God and that God is there. We no longer need to plan each step or insist on our way. Now we can let God breathe, speak, plan and act in us.” If we really listen to Mary, we hear someone whose faith is strong enough to surrender to God’s plan. Surrender builds faith, and faith gives you the ability to surrender.
I would never stand up here and tell you that surrendering to God’s will and ways is easy. It is not something that you can just decide to do overnight. Surrender is a process, and it is a choice. I would be willing to bet that there is something in every one of our lives that God is calling us to start surrendering. I know, I can hear your thoughts. God always wants something from me. Why do I always have to feel like I can’t keep anything that I want? If you walk with God on a regular basis surrendering will never feel like you are losing something. Actually, it’s just the opposite. Here is a secret that only the mature, Godly, Christian knows: surrender is peace. When we finally give things to God, we can stop worrying about them. When we surrender control and stop trying to control everything and everybody in our lives, we can find true peace. Jesus says to his disciples and to us, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives.” Jesus doesn’t promise us peace from war or conflict that this world is filled with; he doesn’t promise us that we will always have peace in our families; we know that families are filled with turmoil. Jesus promises us the kind of inward peace that comes from trusting him with your entire life. In our devotional there are three short sentences that caught my attention. “We are not alone. God is with us. Surrender is peace.”
This prayer is also in the devotional. I thought that maybe it might be a prayer that we can embrace and make our own. “Jesus, Redeemer, I surrender to you. I give myself to your will for me and my life. As I anticipate your coming, I am at peace in your embrace. You will take care of me. Amen”. Peace is a state of tranquility or serenity. That is what Jesus has promised we can have. When you live your faith to the point of surrender you find peace. If you really listen to Mary’s song you hear a peaceful spirit. Think about that for a moment. She had just been told that she was with child. She is single and basically alone, not knowing what her fiancé would think or do, not knowing if her family would accept or reject her, and she is peaceful and praising God. This hymn comes to mind: When peace, like a river, attendeth my way, when sorrows like sea billows roll – Whatever my lot, Thou has taught me to say, It is well, it is well with my soul. (It Is Well with My Soul by Horatio G. Spafford)
In Christ’s Love and Peace
Pastor Bob
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