WEBVTT 00:00:00.640 --> 00:00:03.120 We are in the fourth Sunday of Advent. 00:00:03.200 --> 00:00:06.080 So our text this morning is called the Annunciation. 00:00:06.160 --> 00:00:07.200 It's in Luke chapter 1. 00:00:07.360 --> 00:00:12.320 Last week we looked at what's called the magnificant, which is in the second part of Luke chapter 1. 00:00:12.480 --> 00:00:23.519 These two passages pair together the annunciation, that which is announced to Mary, and the magnificant, Mary's response to what is announced to her, and she sings. 00:00:23.600 --> 00:00:25.519 And that's what we talked about last week. 00:00:25.600 --> 00:00:31.519 So this week we're back in the part one of Luke chapter 1, the story, this annunciation. 00:00:31.679 --> 00:00:34.240 So Luke 1, start in verse 26. 00:00:35.280 --> 00:00:45.679 In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, the house of the house of David. 00:00:45.840 --> 00:00:47.439 And the virgin's name was Mary. 00:00:47.520 --> 00:00:51.600 And he came to her and said, Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you. 00:00:52.000 --> 00:00:56.799 But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. 00:00:57.039 --> 00:01:01.439 And the angel said to her, Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 00:01:02.079 --> 00:01:07.120 And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. 00:01:07.280 --> 00:01:18.560 He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and his kingdom there will be no end. 00:01:19.280 --> 00:01:26.000 Point number one is this the gospel is a good announcement long before it is good advice. 00:01:26.239 --> 00:01:31.040 The thing that leads in this story is Mary, you are favored. 00:01:31.920 --> 00:01:34.879 Last week, Christy and I went out to eat with some friends. 00:01:35.200 --> 00:01:37.120 I can be a little corona paranoid. 00:01:37.200 --> 00:01:39.200 I know we have like green light, yellow light, red light. 00:01:39.280 --> 00:01:39.760 Have you heard that? 00:01:39.840 --> 00:01:42.319 We should all just like wear colors of what where we're at with this. 00:01:42.400 --> 00:01:44.159 And I'm kind of like a yellow light guy at this point. 00:01:44.239 --> 00:01:48.079 I'm kind of like, yes, but maybe, not sure, kind of judging everything. 00:01:48.239 --> 00:01:49.200 So we're going out to eat. 00:01:49.280 --> 00:01:51.280 So I'm yes, but then I'm like, where are we going? 00:01:51.359 --> 00:01:52.400 What's that gonna look like? 00:01:52.560 --> 00:01:53.599 What's going on there? 00:01:53.760 --> 00:01:59.040 So we decide to go down to Atlanta because they'll just space you out completely down there when you go out to eat. 00:01:59.120 --> 00:02:04.719 So we go to Atlanta, we picked a restaurant we knew would be like a million miles from anybody else possible. 00:02:04.879 --> 00:02:11.360 And so we meet our friends down there, we get in the restaurant, they seat us, and sure enough, we're like a million miles from anybody else in the restaurant. 00:02:11.439 --> 00:02:13.120 It's like a private room at this point. 00:02:13.360 --> 00:02:18.240 And so we sit down, we order our drinks, uh, we're looking at the appetizers, right? 00:02:18.400 --> 00:02:19.520 Getting your game strategy. 00:02:19.599 --> 00:02:24.639 Like if you order that, I'll eat on that, you order this, I'll order this, we're getting that appetizer strategy going. 00:02:24.719 --> 00:02:31.360 And while we're doing that, three waitresses come out of the kitchen, each holding an appetizer in each hand. 00:02:31.439 --> 00:02:34.800 That's six appetizers, thank you for keeping keeping counting on the apps here. 00:02:35.039 --> 00:02:40.080 Six come out and they just load the table with these appetizers. 00:02:40.400 --> 00:02:54.479 I mean, these are like fries with parmesan, like gourmet fries, not like you know, chick-fly waffle fries, like gourmet fries, deviled eggs with ham, mussels, ricotto toast, burrado. 00:02:54.719 --> 00:02:57.120 I mean, it's stuff I don't know the words, I don't know what it is. 00:02:57.199 --> 00:02:58.319 I'm like, what is this? 00:02:58.479 --> 00:03:01.840 But it's so good, and the table was just full. 00:03:02.080 --> 00:03:05.039 We didn't order it, it just showed up. 00:03:05.280 --> 00:03:11.840 And the waitress says, as she's leaving, like putting down the last plate, she says, This is the courtesy of Ryan. 00:03:12.240 --> 00:03:15.360 And I say, Do we know Ryan? 00:03:16.080 --> 00:03:21.599 And then my friend next to me, Katie, she looks at me and she says, Ryan's our friend. 00:03:21.840 --> 00:03:24.560 And he's the GM at the restaurant. 00:03:24.719 --> 00:03:31.680 And I'm like, oh, incredible! So by the favor of Ryan comes all of this food to us, right? 00:03:31.759 --> 00:03:34.319 Like, Ryan holds the power, right? 00:03:34.560 --> 00:03:42.319 Ryan holds the power, and because of relationship with Ryan, we get this feast. 00:03:42.479 --> 00:03:44.240 Now that's an objective word, right? 00:03:44.319 --> 00:03:49.199 That's an objective word to us in his restaurant because we didn't do anything. 00:03:49.360 --> 00:03:52.800 We're not gonna pay it back, we're not gonna pay for it, we didn't ask for it. 00:03:52.879 --> 00:04:01.520 It's just a gift, it's just a feast of favor from his Ryan's power and grace to us. 00:04:01.919 --> 00:04:04.960 And you know what happened in my heart because of this. 00:04:05.199 --> 00:04:06.560 Like I just loved Ryan. 00:04:06.719 --> 00:04:07.759 I didn't even know Ryan. 00:04:07.840 --> 00:04:16.959 But I just like automatically, just like because of the abundance given to me, just it just created, empowered inside of me, and created love. 00:04:18.079 --> 00:04:26.560 See, we always need a good announcement before good advice because that's that's what causes the transformation in our heart is this objective word of the gospel to us. 00:04:26.959 --> 00:04:29.279 See, God says to Mary, you're favored. 00:04:29.839 --> 00:04:32.000 This was probably a 14-year-old girl. 00:04:32.240 --> 00:04:36.800 She was not of the religious elite stature and society, she had no resume. 00:04:37.199 --> 00:04:41.120 And isn't that good news for those of us who feel like we have no resume? 00:04:42.480 --> 00:04:45.040 And God says to us, a good announcement in Jesus. 00:04:45.120 --> 00:04:49.040 And I was just this week, I was like, where's a good announcement to Jesus that we could just hear this morning? 00:04:49.120 --> 00:04:52.319 And I always go to Galatians 4, 3 through 7. 00:04:53.360 --> 00:04:59.439 In the same way, we also, when we were children, were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world. 00:04:59.839 --> 00:05:15.040 But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who are under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons, and we can say daughters, adoption as children. 00:05:15.199 --> 00:05:20.720 And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, Abba Father. 00:05:20.879 --> 00:05:24.000 So you are no longer a slave, but a son. 00:05:24.399 --> 00:05:28.079 And if a son, then an heir through God. 00:05:30.079 --> 00:05:34.800 So the announcement to us is the same as Mary, and it says, Don't be afraid. 00:05:34.959 --> 00:05:42.720 I mean, that'd be easy to be afraid to hear the voice of God to you because you don't quite know who this God is how does he regard me? 00:05:43.519 --> 00:05:52.000 And what God is telling us through the scriptures and the ark of the scripture, the story of the gospel, is God says, if you want to think of me, think of me as a heavenly father. 00:05:53.199 --> 00:05:54.480 Verse 34. 00:05:54.959 --> 00:05:57.839 And Mary said to the angel, How will this be? 00:05:59.199 --> 00:06:00.319 Since I am a virgin? 00:06:00.560 --> 00:06:05.439 And the angel answered her, The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. 00:06:05.600 --> 00:06:09.439 Therefore, the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God. 00:06:09.519 --> 00:06:13.759 And behold, your relative Elizabeth, in her old age, has also conceived a son. 00:06:13.920 --> 00:06:19.439 And this is the sixth month with her, who is called Baron, for nothing will be impossible with God. 00:06:19.600 --> 00:06:22.720 And Mary said, Behold, I am the servant of the Lord. 00:06:22.959 --> 00:06:25.120 Let it be to me according to your word. 00:06:25.759 --> 00:06:27.839 And the angel departed from her. 00:06:28.160 --> 00:06:30.480 So Mary says, How can it be? 00:06:30.720 --> 00:06:31.759 This doesn't add up. 00:06:31.839 --> 00:06:33.279 You know, like this doesn't work. 00:06:33.519 --> 00:06:36.399 And Gabriel says, For with God nothing will be impossible. 00:06:36.560 --> 00:06:42.399 Now these are almost the same words that an angel spoke to Sarah, Abraham's wife. 00:06:42.560 --> 00:06:58.959 Now, the interesting thing about that is this helps confirm to Mary and to us that covenant that was created with Abraham for the people of God, that covenant that this is the Son of God to fulfill that covenant. 00:06:59.279 --> 00:07:03.279 Now, all of that is a all that to say this. 00:07:03.920 --> 00:07:11.680 We have a loving, secure relationship with God based on his pursuit and relationship to us, his covenant to us. 00:07:12.160 --> 00:07:26.959 And point number two is this faith, so our faith, your faith, is loving, covenant, secure relationship with our Heavenly Father, not an insecure, anxious, manic relationship. 00:07:28.879 --> 00:07:39.279 In the New York Times last week, Ben Dolnick wrote a piece called Library Books: A Small Anecdote to a Life of Perpetual Dissatisfaction. 00:07:40.079 --> 00:07:41.040 So here's what it says. 00:07:41.120 --> 00:07:42.560 It's a little long, so hang with me. 00:07:42.639 --> 00:07:45.519 I think we'll have it on the screen so you can read through with me. 00:07:46.160 --> 00:07:54.800 In dispelling my fantasies of permanence, the library does more than save me the cost of a paperback. 00:07:55.040 --> 00:08:01.120 It provides me with a template for navigating the great sea of longing and disappointment that is life. 00:08:01.360 --> 00:08:14.720 The library, in addition to its many civic duties, can function as a great engine of personal clarity, of facing facts, of recognizing that life is not, in the main, a pristine hard cover with decal edges. 00:08:14.959 --> 00:08:24.959 It is a threadbare thing from a few decades ago whose binding is barely hanging on, and in which someone unstable once went to town with a lime green highlighter. 00:08:25.279 --> 00:08:46.159 Library-induced realism is a great thing, one that can do much to increase your happiness, because the world in which you are perpetually under the impression that the next book purchase, the next apartment, the next significant other will be the one that will finally deliver the goods is not a life of happiness. 00:08:46.320 --> 00:08:53.360 It is a life of perpetual dissatisfaction, a life of thin and sugary highs followed by long and unlightening lows. 00:08:53.440 --> 00:09:04.799 The library is, with its care worn and temporary offerings, as lovely and as poignant a reminder of our actual human condition as the tides or a forest in fall. 00:09:05.039 --> 00:09:10.559 To quote Penelope Fitzgerald, our lives are only lent to us. 00:09:11.279 --> 00:09:16.480 Now that nails me because I have 19 books on my desk right now. 00:09:16.639 --> 00:09:21.360 There's 19 books on my desk right now, many of which I have not read. 00:09:21.759 --> 00:09:24.320 But I'm so hoping that they will make me whole. 00:09:24.399 --> 00:09:25.519 Like it'll be the next one. 00:09:25.679 --> 00:09:27.679 I'll order more before I even read these, right? 00:09:27.759 --> 00:09:33.759 Like that's just what I do because it's gonna be, I'm pretty sure it's gonna be the next book that's gonna do it for me. 00:09:34.000 --> 00:09:36.879 Or we're thinking about some new lamps in our den. 00:09:37.279 --> 00:09:40.320 And I'm pretty sure perhaps some new lamps could do it. 00:09:40.399 --> 00:09:45.440 Like that's gonna finally fulfill me and help me be at peace in my life, right? 00:09:45.519 --> 00:09:46.960 That's so easy to do. 00:09:47.120 --> 00:09:53.360 I just pulled two books off of my desk this morning, and this was one I bought last week. 00:09:53.679 --> 00:10:01.519 Pristine, hardback, perfect, nothing's marked, deckle, edges, everything is perfect, right? 00:10:01.679 --> 00:10:05.120 You've ordered a book like this, a hardback, and it's so lovely. 00:10:05.200 --> 00:10:07.440 And then I pulled off my bookshelf this. 00:10:07.600 --> 00:10:15.519 This is an old prayer book here, and I ordered it off of a used, it was Amazon, it was used, it showed up with paper clips inside of it. 00:10:15.679 --> 00:10:21.919 They're still there, paper clips, and people have been writing in it for years, and the bindings all worn and the edges are worn. 00:10:22.080 --> 00:10:26.159 Now, I I I think I can be this. 00:10:26.480 --> 00:10:33.120 Like I want my life to feel like this, but the re the reality is I'm a lot more worn than that. 00:10:34.240 --> 00:10:34.639 Right? 00:10:34.960 --> 00:10:38.639 The reality is I'm uh I'm a worn paperback. 00:10:39.279 --> 00:10:47.679 Now, at first that can feel offensive, it can feel offensive to your potential, but man, it's freeing. 00:10:48.399 --> 00:10:55.919 If you can come into the reality that you are not the supremacy of the world, and you are not the supremacy of your world. 00:10:57.519 --> 00:11:05.519 It's always freeing to come into the grace of Jesus and the supremacy of God over the story of the world and over your story. 00:11:07.039 --> 00:11:14.480 And what this means is it means our seeking of God or any transformation we might have in our lives, that's inside of the grace of God. 00:11:15.519 --> 00:11:16.799 And his seeking of us. 00:11:16.960 --> 00:11:22.240 Point number three is this our singing to God comes after God's announcement to us. 00:11:22.399 --> 00:11:24.559 That's the structure of Luke chapter 1. 00:11:24.799 --> 00:11:26.480 That's the structure that we have here. 00:11:26.639 --> 00:11:27.279 This good news. 00:11:27.440 --> 00:11:30.320 God's pursuit of us is before our pursuit of Him. 00:11:31.039 --> 00:11:34.480 And this is where Mary becomes for us a gospel example. 00:11:34.720 --> 00:11:43.840 Not a moral example, not something that we have to strive to be, but an example of how does gospel transformation change happen in our lives. 00:11:45.120 --> 00:11:53.120 And what we see is Mary being announced upon, that is, she's favored, and in response out of gratitude, she sings. 00:11:55.039 --> 00:11:56.080 Here's what we get. 00:11:56.240 --> 00:11:56.720 Two things. 00:11:56.879 --> 00:12:02.000 Number one is we get that she pauses and sings, we get to pause and sing. 00:12:02.559 --> 00:12:05.919 That's part of that's part of our response to the gospel. 00:12:07.679 --> 00:12:14.720 A question to you would be is this Christmas, what would it mean for your heart to find greater space to pause and sing? 00:12:17.360 --> 00:12:25.120 It could be a Bible study, it could be a walk, it could be to sit quietly on your porch, it could be to drive down I-75 differently than before. 00:12:26.000 --> 00:12:29.600 Number two is this Mary lives in surrender and stewardship. 00:12:29.759 --> 00:12:32.639 That's what we see when she says, Behold, I'm the servant. 00:12:33.200 --> 00:12:37.759 Have your way, I'll have that baby, I'll be a part of this story. 00:12:40.159 --> 00:12:48.480 Another question: this Christmas, what would it mean for your heart to embrace humility enough to live in stewardship? 00:12:49.360 --> 00:12:52.240 Stewardship to be able to say, Behold, I'm the servant. 00:12:53.600 --> 00:13:01.600 Whatever, whatever I have will be unto stewarding to you my resources, my opportunities, time, energy, money, gifts. 00:13:02.159 --> 00:13:06.159 What freedom to know is God's children, so we don't have to hoard those things. 00:13:07.120 --> 00:13:11.919 Last Saturday, our little one was outside and she's playing all day. 00:13:12.240 --> 00:13:12.799 All day. 00:13:12.960 --> 00:13:14.000 She didn't come in for lunch. 00:13:14.159 --> 00:13:16.559 We think maybe she had a bag of potato chips for lunch. 00:13:16.639 --> 00:13:17.200 We're not sure. 00:13:17.279 --> 00:13:20.080 That's the kind of parenting that was going on that day. 00:13:20.320 --> 00:13:22.000 Finally, it was late in the evening. 00:13:22.240 --> 00:13:35.440 Dinner was coming soon, it had gotten dark, they were all out on the trampoline, and our girls and some other girls from the neighborhood, a whole bunch of them were out on the trampoline, and she comes in and she was upset because it was it was late in the day. 00:13:35.519 --> 00:13:38.639 I mean, she'd been out all day just playing and playing and playing. 00:13:38.720 --> 00:13:40.799 One bag of potato chips was all she had, right? 00:13:40.879 --> 00:13:45.279 Like there's nothing left, and she comes in and she's upset, and you know, I'm like, what's going on? 00:13:45.440 --> 00:13:46.399 There's no blood, okay? 00:13:46.480 --> 00:13:46.799 No blood. 00:13:46.879 --> 00:13:48.399 Okay, so we're in good shape, okay. 00:13:48.480 --> 00:13:49.440 So what's going on? 00:13:49.679 --> 00:13:52.879 And she tells me, you know, they were playing Dead Man on the trampoline. 00:13:53.039 --> 00:13:54.000 Don't know if you're familiar with Dead Man. 00:13:54.080 --> 00:13:56.399 I learned Dead Man yesterday on the trampoline with my girls. 00:13:56.559 --> 00:14:02.480 And so it's a game where one person lays in the middle, and then you run around, the dead man tries to touch the other people. 00:14:02.639 --> 00:14:04.720 Anyways, somebody sat on her head, right? 00:14:04.799 --> 00:14:09.279 Like, and that's just that's funny unless you're the one who gets sat on, and it's not funny. 00:14:09.360 --> 00:14:12.559 That's when you cry because nobody likes their head to be sat on. 00:14:12.639 --> 00:14:14.960 And so I'm teetering as a parent. 00:14:15.279 --> 00:14:16.720 Tough love, gentle love, right? 00:14:16.799 --> 00:14:24.080 Like that's the teetering you're going here, but like there's a fragile state going on here, and finally she just sweetly says, I just want someone to love me. 00:14:25.200 --> 00:14:25.519 Right? 00:14:25.679 --> 00:14:30.720 Like, just in that, like that's just like that childlike honesty and faith that we all need. 00:14:32.799 --> 00:14:34.960 So I went over and I sat on her head. 00:14:35.120 --> 00:14:35.600 No, I didn't. 00:14:35.919 --> 00:14:38.080 I went over and I went over. 00:14:38.159 --> 00:14:39.120 Of course I didn't, right? 00:14:39.200 --> 00:14:46.000 Like, I'm not a perfect father, but I'm reasonable in the you know range of reasonableness, and I went over and I hugged her, right? 00:14:46.960 --> 00:14:49.679 And you remember the prodigal story, the prodigal son? 00:14:51.200 --> 00:14:58.960 That reckless boy comes home, he's worn and beaten like a paperback, not a perfect hardcover. 00:14:59.279 --> 00:15:00.960 The father wraps him up. 00:15:01.360 --> 00:15:04.639 Jean Veneer, a philosopher and theologian, he said this. 00:15:05.600 --> 00:15:14.720 I do not believe we can truly enter into our own inner pain and wounds and open our hearts to others unless we have had an experience of God. 00:15:15.360 --> 00:15:17.279 Unless we have been touched by God. 00:15:17.600 --> 00:15:26.000 We must be touched by the Father in order to experience, as the prodigal son did, that no matter how wounded we may be, we are loved. 00:15:26.320 --> 00:15:30.240 And not only are we loved, but we too are called to heal and to liberate. 00:15:30.799 --> 00:15:37.759 This healing power in us will not come from our capacities and our riches, but in and through our poverty. 00:15:38.000 --> 00:15:44.960 We are called to discover that God can bring peace, compassion, and love through our wounds. 00:15:45.759 --> 00:15:53.840 So veneer is saying exactly Mary's story and our story, that we are loved and favored in our poverty of wounds. 00:15:53.919 --> 00:16:00.399 And that is the wounds caused by our sin and the wounds caused by others' people's sin into us or on us. 00:16:02.000 --> 00:16:12.080 And what we have in Jesus, in our poverty, what we have in Jesus is God moving toward us in this covenant promise to love us and redeem us. 00:16:12.240 --> 00:16:16.960 Our sin put upon Jesus on the cross, his righteousness given to us, so we're forever beloved. 00:16:17.279 --> 00:16:18.559 That's the promise we have. 00:16:18.720 --> 00:16:25.759 So what we have in Jesus is we have an objective word from outside of our condition and outside of our emotion. 00:16:25.919 --> 00:16:29.600 It's like the favor of Ryan bringing the appetizers, right? 00:16:29.679 --> 00:16:43.440 Like it was outside of us and given to us is an objective word, and we have an experience of presence inside of our condition and our emotions. 00:16:44.000 --> 00:16:44.720 And you know what? 00:16:44.799 --> 00:16:45.840 I need both. 00:16:46.159 --> 00:16:47.440 You need both. 00:16:48.639 --> 00:16:56.639 We need the security of the promise, objectively, as our emotions and anxiety and craziness is all over the place. 00:16:56.799 --> 00:17:03.360 We need the security of the covenant promise of God to us in Jesus, and we also need the experience of the presence. 00:17:04.000 --> 00:17:05.599 And promise and presence. 00:17:05.759 --> 00:17:10.799 That's the feast of the favor that we have in this Jesus. 00:17:11.759 --> 00:17:17.920 My brothers and sisters, in Jesus, you are favored and you are loved by promise and my presence. 00:17:18.240 --> 00:17:19.599 Let's pray together. 00:17:20.079 --> 00:17:22.480 God, thank you for your good news to us. 00:17:22.799 --> 00:17:30.240 That is good news before it's good advice, but it's such powerful good news that it transforms our hearts and our lives. 00:17:31.839 --> 00:17:35.839 For so many of us here, help our hearts to hear it in a greater way. 00:17:37.200 --> 00:17:41.200 That we would be moved into places of being astonished by your love for us. 00:17:45.359 --> 00:17:51.680 That you look at us and you call us children, and may we look in response and call you Abba, Father. 00:17:51.920 --> 00:17:53.759 In Jesus' name we pray. 00:17:54.079 --> 00:17:54.720 Amen.