Pastor Lim, Jung Suk (Daegu Pyunggang Church)
In the New Testament there are only two books that tell of the birth of Christ. These two books are Matthew and Luke.
Matthew, because he was a tax collector, his points of Jesus staying with the sinners were brought up more in his writings.
Luke, because he was a doctor, he wrote how Jesus was like man. Or he wrote of the supernatural powers of Jesus. This and more was told to us through out the book of Luke.
Even today’s scripture. At this point, Luke’s old job was a doctor. The event of the birth of Christ is such a special event. this was not a normal happening. This was more of a supernatural event in Luke’s eyes. And he also testified that this was a special event of God. This is shown really well through the honest conversation with God’s messenger, the angel Gabriel and the Virgin Mary.
Today the Supernatural event of God was something that was happening inside her own body. This message left her full of fear. But even though she was afraid, she accepted this by her faith. This faith of Mary we can see very clearly in today’s scripture.
Through this scene, we can see the meaning in the birth of Jesus. Also we can see that this event brought God to man. This special and unusual event which was accepted by her. It is the kind of faith Mary had, and through today’s scripture I can share this mercy with all of you.
First in today’s scripture, verse 26-28
26In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, 27to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin's name was Mary. 28The angel went to her and said, "Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you."
The first words, of in the sixth month, does not refer to the pregnancy of Mary. This refers to Elizabeth.She was six months pregnant with a child from John. When we see this, with Jesus and John the Baptist, they were only six months apart.
Anyway, about that time the angel Gabriel had the commandment from god, he sent this message to the Virgin Mary, and he said as in verse 28
Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.
At first, the Virgin Mary had to be quite surprised.
Then Mary though in verse 29,
29Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be.
The greeting is if given to anyone they would feel good about it. And anyone would usually live and receive this kind of greeting. And in their lives, they all have their glory in their lives. But to what level is this kind of greeting?
There were no others that could have received this very special greeting. You who are highly favored.
This means that she received a very special mercy of god. Not just at a normal level. and only you can receive this special mercy. To be highly favored by God. That special meaning.
Greetings, you who are highly favored! The lord is with you.
Actually, an angel coming to you would be a really great event all on its own but it would be a bit scary too. So the angel said first, “Greetings, you are highly favored! The lord is with you.
So I think this was what made Mary feel more comfortable with all this. But I think she was very curious about what this angel was going to tell her. At that, the angel said as in verse 31-33
31You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. 32He 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, 33and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end."
This message, to the Virgin Mary, it should have knocked her out.
In fact just as the angel knows, she was a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. But she hasn’t married yet and she hasn’t had a physical relation ship yet.But when she heard this message, that she was to give birth and have a son, and she couldn’t even choose her son’s name, his name had already been given. Jesus. More shocking to her the message was about how this.
32He 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, 33and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end."
I think this message to Mary had to be a huge surprise and a whole lot of pressure for her.
Even for a short moment, but her mind must have felt very complicated. Then she said this.
34"How will this be," Mary asked the angel, "since I am a virgin?"
This was a very honest reply. And this word was a very sudden and unbelievable event.
Yes it would be wonderful to give birth to son who would be great and called the son of the most high. But for a virgin to have a child in 9 months. this is very hard to believe. So I think she may have asked again. What will I do what do you mean?
Then Gabriel said this in verse 35
"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.
Gabriel as this happened it was not an event through a man and a woman. This event was to be that the Holy Spirit would come to her. And also, the most high will overshadow you. The angel told clearly of the special event to come.
Then the angel said, in verse 36-37:
36Even 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. 37For nothing is impossible with God."
At this time, Mary answered very quickly.
38"I am the Lord's servant," Mary answered. "May it be to me as you have said." Then the angel left her.
It was like this that this great event took place... God had come to the body of man. This was how this whole event worked out.
But this angel, Gabriel, through conversation with the Virgin Mary what we understand is that Mary was suddenly a very blessed woman. Because, she was going to receive mercy from god, but this was a huge and special mercy. this made her a very special woman.
When I began this sermon, I told you very briefly about this woman. All people are living in God’s mercy. Also our existence is from God’s mercy. To live right or wrong is by the mercy of God and by the love of God as he gives us sunlight, air and water. Everything that man needs to survive has been provided by God. That is why we are able to even exist. Everything that god is doing, the reason he provides all this is because all people to the lord are worshipers and give praise. That is why he gives these mercies to all.
So this mercy is a general mercy to all people. In this general mercy there are some separate special mercies. That is “salvation”.
So the bible says that the Christians will receive salvation by mercy. and also that we are workers of god, this is mercy. That we work for the church is by the lord’s mercy.
The apostle Paul said in:
1 Corinthians 15:10
10But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them--yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.
All of these things are God’s mercy. Mary is in this mercy and she was able to receive even more mercy. and other special mercies. She received the Highest of Mercies.
God came to her as man and gave her a baby. She received this mercy. And she gave birth after 9 months. She received this highly favored blessing from the lord. She was a blessed woman.
And Mary received more blessings than other people because the Lord was with her. She heard this word through the angel Gabriel. The lord is with you. She was truly a blessed woman.
Actually this word before Jesus returned to heaven this was one of the last promises to his disciples.
And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
This word and the words that Mary heard both have the same meaning, that god will stay with you always. This blessing of Immanuel. This is the blessing that Mary received.
So when we see the life of Mary, before and after the birth of Jesus her life was totally different. I don’t mean that her faith was good or bad; before she was with the child of Jesus she was a pretty good person of faith. But after the birth of Jesus her life was really in an Immanuel way of living. Her life was very blessed.
So, let’s take a minute to think about this point.
What kind of faith did Mary have that she was able to receive this special of a blessing?
Since she was born into this world had she been receiving these special blessings from god?
The bible gives an answer about this question that this is not the case. Because when the angel Gabriel comes to Mary, the angel said as in verse 30-33.
30But the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. 31You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. 32He 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, 33and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end."
When the angel gave her this message, she was frightened.
No, it cannot be. I am a virgin. How could this happen? Even if I received the mercy from God, how is it me that is going to give birth to the son of the highest? This could never happen.
If she would have rejected what the angel had told her, maybe the blessings would have moved to a different person.
If we look at this, that moment happened but Mary obeyed at the opportunity to do this service for God and used herself for God.
The obeying faith is what made this blessed woman.
This is very a very important principle. God created the world by god’s word. God can work in ways that are not through man. But he always takes joy in working through man.
So he called on man, and he teaches man, he disciplines man and then after he uses the man of the Lord.
Yes, even Jesus did things in the same way.
Mark 1:17
17"Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men."
People said yes to him every time they were called on. These people were all the workers of God. These were the disciples of Jesus.
Yes, of course not everyone said yes. There may have been many who did not say yes. Yes, each one has their own reasons. and even their reasons are with a good explanation.
But the sure thing is when God wants to use someone or something, the people that give a reason and avoid it; those people could not be workers of God.
Maybe even this Mary. She gave a reason for this and that. She made her excuses. Her excuses were very understandable if we think like man.
The Lord why did you choose me? I am a virgin. And then look at the other people. There are more healthy people than myself; there are many smarter than me. Why did you choose me? If she did say that, she would just kick away this blessing. So this faith of Mary had two points. First it was a faith of obedience.
Then Mary’s second point of faith was that all the words of God were believed without doubt. this was the kind of faith she kept.
This is shown very well in verse 37 and 38
37For nothing is impossible with God."
38"I am the Lord's servant," Mary answered. "May it be to me as you have said." Then the angel left her.
The angel Gabriel was just a messenger of God. If Mary would have said this would never happen and rejected it, then what would the angel have done? The angel couldn’t do anything about this, he would have only returned to God.When Gabriel spoke he wasn’t sure that he was going to get that correct reply, but her attitude seemed to be a very positive one. Gabriel told her what kind of baby this was to be and tells of the woman who cannot have a baby; Elizabeth will also be pregnant by the power of God.
37For nothing is impossible with God."
Then the angel waited for the final answer or reply from Mary.
Mary gave only one answer that tied everything all together.
38"I am the Lord's servant," Mary answered. "May it be to me as you have said." Then the angel left her.
A theology major found this word to be truly hard to say and understand. But Mary had complete trust in the power of God’s word. So this is how she was able to say this. The fact that she has trust is shown very well in this word.
The reason I can say that Mary was so full of trust in her faith was first because she said; I am the Lord’s servant. The servant is someone who obeys their master’s word. So she called her self a servant of the Lord. May it be to me as you have said. If we see all of this, Mary’s faith about the Lord was truly a great faith. The faith in the trust of the lord and the word of the Lord...
Here we come to another story. This is in the Old Testament, in Genesis 18.
Three men come to visit the very old Abraham. They came to Abraham and said,
“Sarah your wife will have a son." This is how it was told to Abraham.
Actually these three men were angels of the Lord. When Sarah heard this from outside the tent it made her laugh.
Now Sarah was listening at the entrance to the tent, which was behind him.
She listened behind the tent and laughed to herself.
12So Sarah laughed to herself as she thought, "After I am worn out and my master is old, will I now have this pleasure?"
At that time the lord said to Abraham.
13Then the LORD said to Abraham, "Why did Sarah laugh and say, `Will I really have a child, now that I am old?'14Is anything too hard for the LORD? I will return to you at the appointed time next year and Sarah will have a son."
Then after the bible say like this.
Genesis 21:1-2
1Now the LORD was gracious to Sarah as he had said, and the LORD did for Sarah what he had promised. 2Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the very time God had promised him.
What does this word mean?
For nothing is impossible with God.
This word to Mary is something that she completely believed. Just as Abraham did. This is the faith of Mary.
In closing, loving fellow Christians:
Today is the second Sunday of the Advent season.
This Advent season is when god comes to man in this world for me. That season is a season of deep meditation. Like today’s scripture, when God comes to man, that moment is truly and amazing moment. The offering of self by faith and obedience to the service of God our Lord. Mary and the faith of Mary we should meditate deeply on this during this season.
2000 years ago Mary had completely obeyed, without any outside consideration. When she heard the message from this angel that god wanted to use her.
Actually this is a very important center point. This is today, to us, a gift in the message. To us the message is this event. 2000 years ago the Lord came to man. This event comes today. It is only possible to completely and absolutely obey if we are like Mary. When we are like Mary and completely obey, then and only then is it possible.
Even today, when God says to us like this. He says to me,
Can you offer your time for me? And can you offer your body for me?
To us, God’s word is a little bit lighter than what he said to Mary. But we are what the Lord has said to us.
Yes, I will obey. I will obey your word. May it be to me as you have said.?
Mostly our answers are not in this same way. First we give our own reasons and excuses.
Yea, I can do it later. we procrastinate. Or I can do it when my health is better or when I am more comfortable. This is how we answer.
So, because of this we don’t have the obedience like Mary had. Because we always have an excuse or reason, this event does not come to us just like it happened to Mary when the Lord comes to man.
Amen, Let us pray
In the New Testament there are only two books that tell of the birth of Christ. These two books are Matthew and Luke.
Matthew, because he was a tax collector, his points of Jesus staying with the sinners were brought up more in his writings.
Luke, because he was a doctor, he wrote how Jesus was like man. Or he wrote of the supernatural powers of Jesus. This and more was told to us through out the book of Luke.
Even today’s scripture. At this point, Luke’s old job was a doctor. The event of the birth of Christ is such a special event. this was not a normal happening. This was more of a supernatural event in Luke’s eyes. And he also testified that this was a special event of God. This is shown really well through the honest conversation with God’s messenger, the angel Gabriel and the Virgin Mary.
Today the Supernatural event of God was something that was happening inside her own body. This message left her full of fear. But even though she was afraid, she accepted this by her faith. This faith of Mary we can see very clearly in today’s scripture.
Through this scene, we can see the meaning in the birth of Jesus. Also we can see that this event brought God to man. This special and unusual event which was accepted by her. It is the kind of faith Mary had, and through today’s scripture I can share this mercy with all of you.
First in today’s scripture, verse 26-28
26In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, 27to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin's name was Mary. 28The angel went to her and said, "Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you."
The first words, of in the sixth month, does not refer to the pregnancy of Mary. This refers to Elizabeth.She was six months pregnant with a child from John. When we see this, with Jesus and John the Baptist, they were only six months apart.
Anyway, about that time the angel Gabriel had the commandment from god, he sent this message to the Virgin Mary, and he said as in verse 28
Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.
At first, the Virgin Mary had to be quite surprised.
Then Mary though in verse 29,
29Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be.
The greeting is if given to anyone they would feel good about it. And anyone would usually live and receive this kind of greeting. And in their lives, they all have their glory in their lives. But to what level is this kind of greeting?
There were no others that could have received this very special greeting. You who are highly favored.
This means that she received a very special mercy of god. Not just at a normal level. and only you can receive this special mercy. To be highly favored by God. That special meaning.
Greetings, you who are highly favored! The lord is with you.
Actually, an angel coming to you would be a really great event all on its own but it would be a bit scary too. So the angel said first, “Greetings, you are highly favored! The lord is with you.
So I think this was what made Mary feel more comfortable with all this. But I think she was very curious about what this angel was going to tell her. At that, the angel said as in verse 31-33
31You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. 32He 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, 33and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end."
This message, to the Virgin Mary, it should have knocked her out.
In fact just as the angel knows, she was a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. But she hasn’t married yet and she hasn’t had a physical relation ship yet.But when she heard this message, that she was to give birth and have a son, and she couldn’t even choose her son’s name, his name had already been given. Jesus. More shocking to her the message was about how this.
32He 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, 33and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end."
I think this message to Mary had to be a huge surprise and a whole lot of pressure for her.
Even for a short moment, but her mind must have felt very complicated. Then she said this.
34"How will this be," Mary asked the angel, "since I am a virgin?"
This was a very honest reply. And this word was a very sudden and unbelievable event.
Yes it would be wonderful to give birth to son who would be great and called the son of the most high. But for a virgin to have a child in 9 months. this is very hard to believe. So I think she may have asked again. What will I do what do you mean?
Then Gabriel said this in verse 35
"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.
Gabriel as this happened it was not an event through a man and a woman. This event was to be that the Holy Spirit would come to her. And also, the most high will overshadow you. The angel told clearly of the special event to come.
Then the angel said, in verse 36-37:
36Even 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. 37For nothing is impossible with God."
At this time, Mary answered very quickly.
38"I am the Lord's servant," Mary answered. "May it be to me as you have said." Then the angel left her.
It was like this that this great event took place... God had come to the body of man. This was how this whole event worked out.
But this angel, Gabriel, through conversation with the Virgin Mary what we understand is that Mary was suddenly a very blessed woman. Because, she was going to receive mercy from god, but this was a huge and special mercy. this made her a very special woman.
When I began this sermon, I told you very briefly about this woman. All people are living in God’s mercy. Also our existence is from God’s mercy. To live right or wrong is by the mercy of God and by the love of God as he gives us sunlight, air and water. Everything that man needs to survive has been provided by God. That is why we are able to even exist. Everything that god is doing, the reason he provides all this is because all people to the lord are worshipers and give praise. That is why he gives these mercies to all.
So this mercy is a general mercy to all people. In this general mercy there are some separate special mercies. That is “salvation”.
So the bible says that the Christians will receive salvation by mercy. and also that we are workers of god, this is mercy. That we work for the church is by the lord’s mercy.
The apostle Paul said in:
1 Corinthians 15:10
10But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them--yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.
All of these things are God’s mercy. Mary is in this mercy and she was able to receive even more mercy. and other special mercies. She received the Highest of Mercies.
God came to her as man and gave her a baby. She received this mercy. And she gave birth after 9 months. She received this highly favored blessing from the lord. She was a blessed woman.
And Mary received more blessings than other people because the Lord was with her. She heard this word through the angel Gabriel. The lord is with you. She was truly a blessed woman.
Actually this word before Jesus returned to heaven this was one of the last promises to his disciples.
And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
This word and the words that Mary heard both have the same meaning, that god will stay with you always. This blessing of Immanuel. This is the blessing that Mary received.
So when we see the life of Mary, before and after the birth of Jesus her life was totally different. I don’t mean that her faith was good or bad; before she was with the child of Jesus she was a pretty good person of faith. But after the birth of Jesus her life was really in an Immanuel way of living. Her life was very blessed.
So, let’s take a minute to think about this point.
What kind of faith did Mary have that she was able to receive this special of a blessing?
Since she was born into this world had she been receiving these special blessings from god?
The bible gives an answer about this question that this is not the case. Because when the angel Gabriel comes to Mary, the angel said as in verse 30-33.
30But the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. 31You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. 32He 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, 33and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end."
When the angel gave her this message, she was frightened.
No, it cannot be. I am a virgin. How could this happen? Even if I received the mercy from God, how is it me that is going to give birth to the son of the highest? This could never happen.
If she would have rejected what the angel had told her, maybe the blessings would have moved to a different person.
If we look at this, that moment happened but Mary obeyed at the opportunity to do this service for God and used herself for God.
The obeying faith is what made this blessed woman.
This is very a very important principle. God created the world by god’s word. God can work in ways that are not through man. But he always takes joy in working through man.
So he called on man, and he teaches man, he disciplines man and then after he uses the man of the Lord.
Yes, even Jesus did things in the same way.
Mark 1:17
17"Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men."
People said yes to him every time they were called on. These people were all the workers of God. These were the disciples of Jesus.
Yes, of course not everyone said yes. There may have been many who did not say yes. Yes, each one has their own reasons. and even their reasons are with a good explanation.
But the sure thing is when God wants to use someone or something, the people that give a reason and avoid it; those people could not be workers of God.
Maybe even this Mary. She gave a reason for this and that. She made her excuses. Her excuses were very understandable if we think like man.
The Lord why did you choose me? I am a virgin. And then look at the other people. There are more healthy people than myself; there are many smarter than me. Why did you choose me? If she did say that, she would just kick away this blessing. So this faith of Mary had two points. First it was a faith of obedience.
Then Mary’s second point of faith was that all the words of God were believed without doubt. this was the kind of faith she kept.
This is shown very well in verse 37 and 38
37For nothing is impossible with God."
38"I am the Lord's servant," Mary answered. "May it be to me as you have said." Then the angel left her.
The angel Gabriel was just a messenger of God. If Mary would have said this would never happen and rejected it, then what would the angel have done? The angel couldn’t do anything about this, he would have only returned to God.When Gabriel spoke he wasn’t sure that he was going to get that correct reply, but her attitude seemed to be a very positive one. Gabriel told her what kind of baby this was to be and tells of the woman who cannot have a baby; Elizabeth will also be pregnant by the power of God.
37For nothing is impossible with God."
Then the angel waited for the final answer or reply from Mary.
Mary gave only one answer that tied everything all together.
38"I am the Lord's servant," Mary answered. "May it be to me as you have said." Then the angel left her.
A theology major found this word to be truly hard to say and understand. But Mary had complete trust in the power of God’s word. So this is how she was able to say this. The fact that she has trust is shown very well in this word.
The reason I can say that Mary was so full of trust in her faith was first because she said; I am the Lord’s servant. The servant is someone who obeys their master’s word. So she called her self a servant of the Lord. May it be to me as you have said. If we see all of this, Mary’s faith about the Lord was truly a great faith. The faith in the trust of the lord and the word of the Lord...
Here we come to another story. This is in the Old Testament, in Genesis 18.
Three men come to visit the very old Abraham. They came to Abraham and said,
“Sarah your wife will have a son." This is how it was told to Abraham.
Actually these three men were angels of the Lord. When Sarah heard this from outside the tent it made her laugh.
Now Sarah was listening at the entrance to the tent, which was behind him.
She listened behind the tent and laughed to herself.
12So Sarah laughed to herself as she thought, "After I am worn out and my master is old, will I now have this pleasure?"
At that time the lord said to Abraham.
13Then the LORD said to Abraham, "Why did Sarah laugh and say, `Will I really have a child, now that I am old?'14Is anything too hard for the LORD? I will return to you at the appointed time next year and Sarah will have a son."
Then after the bible say like this.
Genesis 21:1-2
1Now the LORD was gracious to Sarah as he had said, and the LORD did for Sarah what he had promised. 2Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the very time God had promised him.
What does this word mean?
For nothing is impossible with God.
This word to Mary is something that she completely believed. Just as Abraham did. This is the faith of Mary.
In closing, loving fellow Christians:
Today is the second Sunday of the Advent season.
This Advent season is when god comes to man in this world for me. That season is a season of deep meditation. Like today’s scripture, when God comes to man, that moment is truly and amazing moment. The offering of self by faith and obedience to the service of God our Lord. Mary and the faith of Mary we should meditate deeply on this during this season.
2000 years ago Mary had completely obeyed, without any outside consideration. When she heard the message from this angel that god wanted to use her.
Actually this is a very important center point. This is today, to us, a gift in the message. To us the message is this event. 2000 years ago the Lord came to man. This event comes today. It is only possible to completely and absolutely obey if we are like Mary. When we are like Mary and completely obey, then and only then is it possible.
Even today, when God says to us like this. He says to me,
Can you offer your time for me? And can you offer your body for me?
To us, God’s word is a little bit lighter than what he said to Mary. But we are what the Lord has said to us.
Yes, I will obey. I will obey your word. May it be to me as you have said.?
Mostly our answers are not in this same way. First we give our own reasons and excuses.
Yea, I can do it later. we procrastinate. Or I can do it when my health is better or when I am more comfortable. This is how we answer.
So, because of this we don’t have the obedience like Mary had. Because we always have an excuse or reason, this event does not come to us just like it happened to Mary when the Lord comes to man.
Amen, Let us pray
