WEBVTT 00:00:00.640 --> 00:00:01.360 Well, welcome. 00:00:01.520 --> 00:00:02.240 Merry Christmas. 00:00:02.399 --> 00:00:07.360 It's the third Sunday in Advent, those four Sundays that lead us to Christmas. 00:00:07.519 --> 00:00:12.160 Advent's the season of waiting and hoping and longing toward Christmas. 00:00:12.400 --> 00:00:14.240 Advent's made up of four Sundays. 00:00:14.320 --> 00:00:15.919 Here's an overview of the four Sundays. 00:00:16.079 --> 00:00:21.039 Advent Sunday one is about holy and hopeful longings. 00:00:21.199 --> 00:00:23.679 Advent Sunday two, repentance and preparation. 00:00:23.760 --> 00:00:24.480 That was last week. 00:00:24.640 --> 00:00:25.679 This week, this Sunday. 00:00:25.839 --> 00:00:28.640 We're in Advent Sunday three, and it's about joy. 00:00:28.879 --> 00:00:31.839 Joy interrupting our weariness. 00:00:32.079 --> 00:00:35.359 Advent four, Sunday four, love and incarnation. 00:00:35.520 --> 00:00:41.439 So these Sunday sermons build a liturgy, a path for us toward Christmas. 00:00:41.679 --> 00:00:47.280 And today, Advent Sunday three, joy Sunday, or Godet Sunday is what it's called. 00:00:47.359 --> 00:00:51.439 And that's the first word in the phrase, rejoice and the Lord always. 00:00:51.600 --> 00:00:57.200 The key idea is joy breaking into the waiting, joy breaking into the longing. 00:00:57.280 --> 00:01:01.920 That grace breaks into our weary worlds. 00:01:02.399 --> 00:01:05.200 Three weeks ago, sadly, my dog brother passed away. 00:01:05.280 --> 00:01:07.680 Our family dog, here's a picture of brother. 00:01:07.760 --> 00:01:18.879 He was a labradoodle, he was eight years old, and he had been losing weight for a few months, and then he suddenly stopped eating, and then he stopped drinking, and we discovered he had cancer all through his stomach and GI tract. 00:01:19.040 --> 00:01:22.640 So, in a matter of like two or three weeks, pretty quickly, we had to let him go. 00:01:22.799 --> 00:01:30.079 Our family gathered around him and loved on him at the vet and was surrounded him as we had to put him down. 00:01:30.159 --> 00:01:31.760 It was a horrible day. 00:01:31.920 --> 00:01:37.040 I mean, that was horrible to put your dog down, but then as well, it was cold and rainy. 00:01:37.280 --> 00:01:39.200 Like it was a horrible day. 00:01:39.439 --> 00:01:46.480 And then we got home, and as we were walking into our house, our friend Jake was walking out of the house, and he didn't say much. 00:01:46.560 --> 00:01:53.439 He just said, sorry, and he hugged all of us, and then when we got into the house, he had left dinner for us in our kitchen. 00:01:53.760 --> 00:02:04.239 A few minutes later, there was a knock at the door, and our student pastor Sam had sent crumble cookies to our girls, which I took and just ate away my grief. 00:02:04.400 --> 00:02:06.319 Just feed your grief. 00:02:07.120 --> 00:02:08.080 Just feed it up. 00:02:08.240 --> 00:02:10.479 It doesn't really work, but it's it's a lot of fun. 00:02:10.639 --> 00:02:11.840 I recommend it. 00:02:12.639 --> 00:02:14.240 That's God at Sunday. 00:02:14.400 --> 00:02:15.439 That's Joy Sunday. 00:02:15.680 --> 00:02:17.919 In the lowliness, joy breaks in. 00:02:18.240 --> 00:02:19.199 It interrupts. 00:02:19.280 --> 00:02:22.319 It's the meal of grace that arrives. 00:02:22.800 --> 00:02:24.960 Crumble cookies save the day. 00:02:25.280 --> 00:02:27.919 God's favor finding us while we're weary. 00:02:28.000 --> 00:02:29.599 So our text is Luke 1. 00:02:29.680 --> 00:02:31.439 It's known as the Magnificant. 00:02:31.759 --> 00:02:33.840 And we look at Mary, the mother of Jesus. 00:02:34.000 --> 00:02:35.599 Mary was a Jewish girl. 00:02:35.680 --> 00:02:40.800 She was probably a teenager, 13, 14 years old. 00:02:41.360 --> 00:02:46.080 And then she hears this message as a virgin girl engaged to Joseph. 00:02:46.319 --> 00:02:48.400 In the midst of that, a miracle happens. 00:02:48.639 --> 00:02:49.919 Luke 1:30. 00:02:50.000 --> 00:02:51.280 She hears this from an angel. 00:02:51.360 --> 00:02:52.240 I'm paraphrasing. 00:02:52.400 --> 00:02:53.199 Don't be afraid. 00:02:53.280 --> 00:02:54.319 You're favored by God. 00:02:54.400 --> 00:02:59.759 You're going to have a baby, the Messiah, your people have been waiting for who comes to love and save all sinners. 00:03:00.240 --> 00:03:01.919 And this would have been shocking. 00:03:02.080 --> 00:03:02.960 She's a virgin. 00:03:03.199 --> 00:03:03.759 Scary. 00:03:04.000 --> 00:03:06.400 She lived in a patriarchal ancient society. 00:03:06.479 --> 00:03:10.479 There would have been huge persecution for a single pregnant woman. 00:03:10.719 --> 00:03:14.800 And to that, Mary says, I'm a servant of the Lord. 00:03:14.879 --> 00:03:17.199 Let it be to me according to your word. 00:03:18.000 --> 00:03:20.560 Mary then goes and visits her cousin Elizabeth. 00:03:20.719 --> 00:03:28.240 While she's with Elizabeth, she breaks out in a song, and that's our passage, this Luke 1, 46 through 55. 00:03:28.319 --> 00:03:29.199 Let me read it again. 00:03:29.280 --> 00:03:39.199 And Mary said, My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God, my Savior, for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant. 00:03:39.360 --> 00:03:40.400 She's talking about herself. 00:03:40.560 --> 00:03:43.520 Listen how she talks about herself and how she talks about God. 00:03:43.759 --> 00:03:56.159 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. 00:03:56.319 --> 00:03:58.080 He has shown strength with his arm. 00:03:58.240 --> 00:04:00.800 He has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. 00:04:00.960 --> 00:04:05.439 He has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate. 00:04:05.680 --> 00:04:10.240 He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty. 00:04:10.479 --> 00:04:17.920 He has helped his servant Israel in remembrance of his mercy, as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham, and to his offspring forever. 00:04:18.079 --> 00:04:21.519 Point number one is this God loyally favors us. 00:04:21.680 --> 00:04:27.439 He loyally favors you as we are weak and weary. 00:04:27.839 --> 00:04:35.839 This term humble estate appears twice in our passages, speaking of our inner poverty, our inner need. 00:04:36.959 --> 00:04:42.079 The first home that Christy and I bought in Atlanta was a little shotgun house in Grant Park, a two-bedroom, one bath. 00:04:42.160 --> 00:04:42.879 Here's a picture of it. 00:04:43.040 --> 00:04:44.720 This is a picture of it after it was fixed up. 00:04:44.800 --> 00:04:46.720 It was a real dump when we moved in. 00:04:46.800 --> 00:04:49.600 And we renovated that thing bit by bit by bit. 00:04:49.759 --> 00:04:50.800 We loved that house. 00:04:50.959 --> 00:04:54.959 We poured ourselves into that tiny little shotgun house. 00:04:55.120 --> 00:04:59.279 We poured money into that little house and we got it shaped up. 00:04:59.759 --> 00:05:03.360 It was a lovely estate, you know, quite an estate home. 00:05:03.600 --> 00:05:07.040 I mean, really, it was quite a humble estate, isn't it? 00:05:07.199 --> 00:05:10.560 Now, last month, the most expensive home in Atlanta went up for sale. 00:05:10.800 --> 00:05:13.120 $25 million, 17 acres. 00:05:13.199 --> 00:05:13.839 It's available. 00:05:14.000 --> 00:05:16.000 It's available if anybody's looking. 00:05:16.240 --> 00:05:19.199 17 acres in the city, lavish gardens. 00:05:19.279 --> 00:05:20.079 It's precise. 00:05:20.240 --> 00:05:20.959 It's beautiful. 00:05:21.040 --> 00:05:22.560 It's extravagant. 00:05:22.879 --> 00:05:27.759 I love to think of myself like that. 00:05:28.560 --> 00:05:31.600 Like I, that's my ideal version of myself. 00:05:31.680 --> 00:05:33.759 I'm going to get myself together that much. 00:05:33.839 --> 00:05:35.759 I'm going to be that successful in the world. 00:05:35.920 --> 00:05:38.000 I'm going to be that great of a Christian. 00:05:38.079 --> 00:05:41.759 I'm going to be that extravagant and put together and precise. 00:05:42.480 --> 00:05:49.519 The reality is, is most days I feel like, and I really am just that humble Grant Park house. 00:05:50.079 --> 00:05:54.240 We don't feel all that beautiful or put together, do we? 00:05:54.879 --> 00:06:01.120 When it comes to matters of the heart, we are all the humble estate. 00:06:01.360 --> 00:06:07.439 We want to be the lavish estate, but we're much more the humble estate in heart. 00:06:08.240 --> 00:06:10.240 But we're lavishly loved. 00:06:10.879 --> 00:06:17.199 And that's why Mary says, I am of humble estate, yet I am greatly favored. 00:06:17.680 --> 00:06:19.199 What a powerful statement. 00:06:19.360 --> 00:06:20.560 A confession. 00:06:20.720 --> 00:06:22.000 I'm a sinner. 00:06:22.399 --> 00:06:28.000 I've sinned in my motive and my thought and my judgment toward others and my behaviors. 00:06:28.160 --> 00:06:31.279 And yet God's grace for me is enough. 00:06:31.360 --> 00:06:34.560 And yet I am favored, and yet I'm loved. 00:06:35.120 --> 00:06:42.639 Martin Luther, he reminds us to focus not on the humble estate, but on God's regard of us. 00:06:44.000 --> 00:06:46.240 I love this commentary on this passage. 00:06:46.399 --> 00:06:47.600 Here's what Luther wrote. 00:06:52.319 --> 00:06:56.240 Mary's lowestate is not to be praised, but God's regard. 00:06:56.959 --> 00:07:04.560 As when a prince gives his hand to a beggar, the meanness of the beggar is not to be praised, but the graciousness and the goodness of the prince. 00:07:05.040 --> 00:07:12.399 You must not only think and speak of lowliness, but come into it, sink into it, utterly helpless, that God alone may save you. 00:07:12.639 --> 00:07:16.879 Or at any rate, should it not happen, you should at least desire it, not shrink. 00:07:17.120 --> 00:07:28.959 For this reason we are Christians, and have the gospel, that we may fall into distress and lowliness, and that God thereby may have his work in us. 00:07:29.759 --> 00:07:35.439 Point number two is this God's unmerited favor awakens in us a song of praise. 00:07:35.839 --> 00:07:43.439 God's unmerited favor to us, it awakens, it empowers, it animates love and gratitude back toward him. 00:07:43.920 --> 00:07:49.839 We could say our hearts respond in worship when we come to know grace without conditions. 00:07:50.160 --> 00:07:52.000 I mean, look at Mary's song. 00:07:52.079 --> 00:07:54.959 She's responding to how great and good God is. 00:07:55.439 --> 00:07:56.800 She's just describing him. 00:07:56.959 --> 00:07:58.160 She's rejoicing in him. 00:07:58.399 --> 00:08:00.240 Verse 47, God my Savior. 00:08:00.480 --> 00:08:02.160 48, he has looked on me. 00:08:02.399 --> 00:08:03.839 49, he is mighty. 00:08:04.000 --> 00:08:04.879 Holy's his name. 00:08:05.040 --> 00:08:06.160 50, his mercy. 00:08:06.319 --> 00:08:07.920 51, he's shown strength. 00:08:08.079 --> 00:08:09.439 52, he humbled the proud. 00:08:09.600 --> 00:08:11.199 53, he filled the hungry. 00:08:11.360 --> 00:08:12.959 54, he helped his people. 00:08:13.120 --> 00:08:15.279 55, he spoke to us. 00:08:16.399 --> 00:08:19.439 Now we're not always joy-filled and praising. 00:08:19.680 --> 00:08:22.160 I mean, sometimes I can be a real pill. 00:08:22.319 --> 00:08:25.279 Like specifically on Mondays in the month of January. 00:08:25.360 --> 00:08:29.120 Don't ever evaluate your life on Mondays or the month of January. 00:08:30.160 --> 00:08:33.519 You're still human in a broken world and you have disappointments. 00:08:33.679 --> 00:08:35.039 Life has not cooperated. 00:08:35.120 --> 00:08:36.720 It can be tiring, it can be disappointing. 00:08:36.799 --> 00:08:37.679 You can be tiring. 00:08:37.759 --> 00:08:39.120 You can be disappointing. 00:08:39.759 --> 00:08:43.039 You're not as put together at your age that you thought you would be. 00:08:43.200 --> 00:08:43.919 I promise that. 00:08:44.080 --> 00:08:44.480 I'm not. 00:08:44.720 --> 00:08:45.279 46. 00:08:45.440 --> 00:08:47.360 Thought I'd be a lot further along. 00:08:48.799 --> 00:08:50.480 And my hip hurts. 00:08:51.759 --> 00:08:55.679 And the front of my left shoulder started hurting this week. 00:08:55.919 --> 00:08:58.080 I was watching rotator cuff videos. 00:08:58.159 --> 00:09:00.720 It's like, maybe, maybe, I don't know. 00:09:01.679 --> 00:09:07.679 But we have a source of peace and hope and joy that interrupts all of that. 00:09:08.399 --> 00:09:11.679 And it's more profound than circumstances. 00:09:12.960 --> 00:09:16.080 It's more secure than our abilities. 00:09:16.480 --> 00:09:21.919 And it's not because you've earned it or because life has finally cooperated with you. 00:09:22.480 --> 00:09:29.279 It's just because we're favored and loved by God and Jesus to us exactly in our place of need. 00:09:29.440 --> 00:09:33.519 Listen to these few verses of God's unmerited favor of you. 00:09:34.320 --> 00:09:36.000 Psalm 103.10. 00:09:36.399 --> 00:09:43.679 He does not deal with us according to our sins or repay us according to our iniquities. 00:09:45.200 --> 00:09:47.360 That's a big deal if you've messed up. 00:09:49.120 --> 00:09:50.879 Titus 3, 4 and 5. 00:09:51.360 --> 00:09:56.559 But when the goodness and loving kindness of God, our Savior, appeared, he saved us. 00:09:57.200 --> 00:10:02.080 Not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy. 00:10:03.360 --> 00:10:04.799 1 John 3, 1. 00:10:05.039 --> 00:10:08.000 See what kind of love the Father has given to us. 00:10:08.480 --> 00:10:10.799 That we should be called children of God. 00:10:11.279 --> 00:10:12.559 And so we are. 00:11:03.120 --> 00:11:06.480 It's enough to know what you say about me. 00:11:06.639 --> 00:11:07.759 That I'm yours. 00:11:08.000 --> 00:11:09.120 That I'm forgiven. 00:11:09.360 --> 00:11:13.120 That I'm righteous in you, that nothing can separate me from your love. 00:11:13.519 --> 00:11:15.120 And that's point number three. 00:11:15.279 --> 00:11:21.919 Christ, God's word to you, is the secure announcement of favor our hearts need. 00:11:22.240 --> 00:11:30.480 If you're wondering what God thinks about you and how he feels about you, you need only to look to Jesus. 00:11:31.440 --> 00:11:33.600 Christ's secure announcement. 00:11:33.919 --> 00:11:39.919 In 1939, Robert May, while working for a department store, he wrote a story as a promotion. 00:11:40.159 --> 00:11:42.399 Here's the book of that story. 00:11:42.639 --> 00:11:46.639 Rudolph, he wrote this, and in 1939 he handed this out in the department store. 00:11:46.799 --> 00:11:50.639 You can buy that book for$500 on eBay, quite a deal. 00:11:51.519 --> 00:11:53.679 And then 10 years later, it was turned into a song. 00:11:53.759 --> 00:11:56.480 In 1964, we get the cartoon movie, right? 00:11:56.639 --> 00:11:57.519 Poor little Rudolph. 00:11:57.600 --> 00:11:59.279 He didn't play the reindeer games. 00:11:59.440 --> 00:12:00.240 He was mocked. 00:12:00.320 --> 00:12:01.200 He has a defect. 00:12:01.279 --> 00:12:02.480 His nose lights up. 00:12:02.559 --> 00:12:06.639 And then one night Santa needs that, and Santa chooses him, right? 00:12:06.879 --> 00:12:07.200 Remember this? 00:12:07.360 --> 00:12:07.840 Part of the song? 00:12:08.000 --> 00:12:10.000 Rudolph with your nose so bright. 00:12:10.320 --> 00:12:11.039 Won't you? 00:12:12.559 --> 00:12:12.799 Very good. 00:12:12.960 --> 00:12:14.399 First service didn't do that. 00:12:14.720 --> 00:12:17.120 Just left me hanging, just left me hanging. 00:12:19.279 --> 00:12:22.720 For almost a hundred years, we have loved this story. 00:12:23.519 --> 00:12:24.799 Why do we love this story? 00:12:24.879 --> 00:12:26.559 Why is it so enduring? 00:12:27.120 --> 00:12:31.440 Well, if you're like me, you feel a little bit like Rudolph. 00:12:31.759 --> 00:12:33.679 You feel a little defective. 00:12:33.919 --> 00:12:40.240 Maybe you're too tall or too short or too wide or too this or too that, or at least on the inside you feel whatever. 00:12:41.519 --> 00:12:45.039 And into that need we're chosen. 00:12:45.600 --> 00:12:47.279 It's a shocking act of favor. 00:12:48.240 --> 00:12:49.840 I choose you. 00:12:51.840 --> 00:12:53.519 It changes everything else. 00:12:53.919 --> 00:13:02.080 The entire story changes because the person in power sets love and attention on the person in need. 00:13:03.519 --> 00:13:06.399 We spend a lot of energy grasping for favor. 00:13:08.960 --> 00:13:09.919 Am I okay? 00:13:10.080 --> 00:13:11.279 Am I enough? 00:13:12.159 --> 00:13:13.440 Can I get it from other people? 00:13:13.600 --> 00:13:14.559 Will you favor me? 00:13:14.720 --> 00:13:15.600 Will you favor me? 00:13:15.679 --> 00:13:16.720 Will you favor me? 00:13:17.279 --> 00:13:18.399 That's tiring. 00:13:19.039 --> 00:13:20.080 Does God favor me? 00:13:20.240 --> 00:13:21.200 Does God favor me? 00:13:21.440 --> 00:13:22.559 That's tiring. 00:13:23.360 --> 00:13:27.759 We do it how we look or how we dress or what we drive or who we know or what we've done or where we've been. 00:13:27.919 --> 00:13:31.600 And God steps into all that self-justification, self-righteousness. 00:13:32.080 --> 00:13:34.559 I will justify you through Jesus. 00:13:34.720 --> 00:13:37.120 I will make you righteous through Jesus. 00:13:37.279 --> 00:13:43.039 Into our humble estate, he says, In Christ I forever favor you. 00:13:44.159 --> 00:13:48.159 In 1481, Sandro Botticelli he painted this work. 00:13:48.320 --> 00:13:49.840 This is the magnificant. 00:13:50.080 --> 00:13:53.120 This is Luke 1 and 2 compressed in time. 00:13:53.279 --> 00:13:54.720 So it's not linear in time. 00:13:54.799 --> 00:13:58.320 You got Luke chapter 1 and Luke chapter 2 all compressed into this image. 00:13:58.399 --> 00:14:03.200 And you know that because you got baby Jesus there while she writes the magnificant. 00:14:03.519 --> 00:14:06.240 She's sitting at the center, surrounded by five angels. 00:14:06.399 --> 00:14:07.759 They're attending to her. 00:14:08.000 --> 00:14:12.320 They're offering her crowns while she writes, My soul magnifies the Lord. 00:14:12.480 --> 00:14:17.440 See, Mary's favor does not come from her achievement, it's coming from God's mercy. 00:14:17.759 --> 00:14:26.320 And the point of the painting and the point of the passage is God's grace crowns the lowly. 00:14:28.159 --> 00:14:32.240 In Christ and the gospel, our sins put upon him on the cross were fully forgiven. 00:14:32.480 --> 00:14:35.120 God's grace crowns the lowly. 00:14:35.840 --> 00:14:38.799 We are of humble estate, but we're lavishly loved. 00:14:39.759 --> 00:14:40.320 Favored. 00:14:41.120 --> 00:14:42.960 And this is what we have in Jesus. 00:14:43.120 --> 00:14:47.440 Let's close with a historic prayer written for this third week of Advent. 00:14:47.919 --> 00:14:50.240 And you can close your eyes, you can receive this prayer. 00:14:50.320 --> 00:14:51.440 We're gonna have it on the screen. 00:14:51.519 --> 00:14:53.600 You can kind of read along if you want to. 00:14:53.840 --> 00:14:55.200 But let's close together. 00:14:55.279 --> 00:15:00.639 Let's receive this joy that interrupts our weariness and our need. 00:15:01.279 --> 00:15:09.039 Heavenly Father, we come before you, stir up your power, O Lord, and with great might come among us. 00:15:10.159 --> 00:15:17.440 And because we are sorely hindered by our sins, let your bountiful grace and mercy speedily help and deliver us. 00:15:18.480 --> 00:15:25.679 Through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom with you and the Holy Spirit be honor and glory now and forever. 00:15:25.919 --> 00:15:26.399 Amen.