Introduction:
How to Live in the Joy of the Lord (Luke 1:39-56)
- Magnify the Lord. (Luke 1:46-47)
- Minimize myself. (Luke 1:48)
- Meditate on God's work. (Luke 1:49-55)
- Get Personal . (Luke 1:49)
- Get Hopeful . (Luke 1:50-53)
- Get Reflective . (Luke 1:54-55)
Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!
-
01:04-01:07
Open up your Bibles please to Luke 1.
01:09-01:10
Luke 1.
01:14-01:19
We're expecting this year at Harvest Bible Chapel.
01:22-01:23
We expect joy.
01:25-01:35
When I was in college, I worked as a magazine vendor, stocking magazines for Wal-Mart's and K-Mart's, It was not as glorious as I just made it sound just now.
01:36-01:40
But in this one magazine, I saw an advertisement for a watch.
01:42-01:44
And we have that picture we can put up there.
01:44-01:45
This wasn't the actual ad.
01:45-01:48
You know, I looked and looked and looked for the actual ad.
01:49-01:50
But that's the watch.
01:51-01:54
And the ad, it had a dark backdrop.
01:55-02:04
And the lighting on the watch was just so-- and it was much closer up-- that I was completely mesmerized with this watch.
02:04-02:09
And I'm not that, I'm just not the kind of guy that just buys stuff like this, right?
02:10-02:16
But I saw this watch, and I remember there was a, there was a little description by this ad for the watch.
02:17-02:34
And the description said something like, behold as gleaming pistons activate to elevate the stainless steel plate, revealing the shimmering time piece underneath.
02:35-02:40
I was like, "Ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho." And it was really close up.
02:40-02:45
So I had in my mind this watch and the description and everything.
02:46-02:50
I had in mind this big James Bond looking thing.
02:51-03:04
And I imagine the plate was as big as my hand and you push a button and it was like, "Vrooom!" And I'm like, "Ha, ha, ha, ha." Like Dick Tracy, eat your heart out, right?
03:06-03:07
And I couldn't resist.
03:08-03:13
Like I said, I don't normally, never normally did this, and I don't know if I've bought anything from a catalog since, but I just could not.
03:14-03:15
I was mesmerized with this watch.
03:15-03:16
Anybody else there?
03:16-03:17
Is that picture doing it for anybody else?
03:18-03:18
Just me?
03:18-03:20
Okay, all right, Mike, thank you.
03:20-03:22
I had to buy the watch.
03:23-03:25
And the day came, I got the watch in the mail.
03:26-03:28
And do you know I still have the watch to this day?
03:30-03:31
Do you want to see it?
03:32-03:33
Yeah, you do.
03:36-03:37
I'm glad you're all sitting down.
03:39-03:40
Watch.
03:42-03:43
(Laughter)
03:47-03:48
Do you want to see that again?
03:51-03:52
Do you know...
03:54-03:58
Do you know how much time I spent trying to convince myself that that was still pretty cool?
04:00-04:02
But it was nothing like I had it in my head, right?
04:04-04:05
It doesn't even work.
04:07-04:07
I try twice a day.
04:10-04:15
But the reality is this, church, my expectations were to the moon for this thing.
04:17-04:21
And the reality was a solid meh.
04:23-04:28
And we've all been disappointed at times with a gift.
04:30-04:33
Even one that you bought for yourself.
04:35-04:43
But you know what, the Lord, we expect things from God, but it's a little different with Him because He always over-delivers.
04:47-05:00
And the story of God becoming a man, As it unfolds in Luke 1, the story begins with two women who were miraculously expecting.
05:01-05:12
That's why we're calling this "We're Expecting." One of these women was an elderly and barren woman, and one was a young virgin.
05:14-05:22
And in this passage we're going to look at tonight, These two parallel stories come together.
05:22-05:29
Elizabeth was the mother of John the Baptist, and Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ.
05:30-05:39
Their stories are strikingly and intentionally similar in almost every way.
05:40-05:42
And these messages are on our website.
05:42-05:45
If you want to go back and take a listen, go back and read the passages.
05:46-05:49
These two ladies' stories, they're almost identical.
05:50-05:53
Here's the ingredients in the story for both ladies.
05:53-05:54
We meet them.
05:54-05:57
We read of the obstacle to them getting pregnant.
05:57-06:01
And then Gabriel shows up, and there's a reaction to him.
06:01-06:03
And he makes a statement and gives a promise.
06:04-06:08
And then he describes the future life of this baby that's promised.
06:08-06:19
And then the human offers to Gabriel an objection to the pregnancy "Here's why it can't happen." And then Gabriel promises a sign.
06:21-06:33
And before we look at this account with the ladies' visit with each other, you need to keep in mind before they met, there was no Facebook, right?
06:34-06:42
It wasn't like Mary got on Facebook and said, "Oh, my relative Elizabeth's pregnant. Good to know." She found out through the angel.
06:43-06:48
But Elizabeth had no idea, to this point, what was happening with Mary.
06:51-06:59
So again, the angel told Mary that Elizabeth, that was going to be Mary's sign, that Mary was going to become miraculously pregnant.
07:02-07:04
And we talked about this on Sunday. Could you imagine?
07:06-07:11
If an angel showed up to you and said, "Hey, you know your 87-year-old Aunt Francine, you know her?
07:11-07:22
the one that never had children and always wanted children, you're like, "Oh yeah, I know old Aunt Francine." And the angel's like, "Yeah, she's pregnant." Like, "Whoa, you'd be like Mary." You'd be like, "I got to see this." Right?
07:22-07:26
And that's what Mary did. She went to see Elizabeth.
07:27-07:28
It was about an 80-mile trip.
07:29-07:32
All right? So look at verse 39 with me, Luke 1.
07:35-07:42
It says, "In those days, Mary arose and went with haste into the hill country to a town in Judah.
07:44-07:50
And she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth." Stop right there.
07:52-07:59
Understand that this is why the stories were almost exactly the same between Mary and Elizabeth.
08:02-08:02
Like, what do you mean?
08:07-08:09
Mary had never been with a man.
08:09-08:12
And she was told she was going to be pregnant, and Elizabeth was the sign.
08:14-08:15
Now let's be honest.
08:17-08:29
If your young teenage daughter came to you and said, "Hey, I'm pregnant, but don't worry, God's responsible for this." You're like, "Okay, I've heard them all, but this is a new one." It sounds crazy.
08:31-08:40
So Mary has to be thinking at this point, "Who in the world is going to believe this story?" So when she shows up to Elizabeth, They start swapping stories.
08:41-08:43
And Mary's like, "This is crazy, but an angel showed up.
08:43-08:46
And what would Elizabeth have said?" "That's what happened?
08:47-08:53
An angel showed up to my husband." And Mary's like, "Yeah, this angel's name was Gabriel." And Elizabeth's like, "You're not gonna believe this.
08:54-09:02
Gabriel showed up and talked to my husband." Yeah, and then they start swapping these stories and it's like, whoa, whoa, whoa, wait a second, wait a second.
09:04-09:09
Mary knows now that Elizabeth is going to believe her.
09:11-09:12
Look at verse 41.
09:14-09:18
It says, "When Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb.
09:20-09:23
And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.
09:24-09:36
And she exclaimed with a loud cry, 'Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.'" "And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me?
09:36-09:42
For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy.
09:45-10:01
And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord." John the Baptist leaped for joy in the womb.
10:02-10:11
And they're like, "Yeah, can you explain that?" And, "No, I cannot. I can't." But Elizabeth knew.
10:14-10:16
Right, moms? Because moms know.
10:17-10:21
That this wasn't normal baby movement, adjusting, shifting.
10:22-10:25
Elizabeth knew something was going on here.
10:28-10:34
Back in 1:15, John the Baptist was said filled with the Holy Spirit from the womb.
10:36-10:37
And understand that this is why.
10:40-10:44
Because John the Baptist's whole ministry was to point to the Messiah.
10:46-10:47
And this was his first announcement.
10:48-10:51
Obviously, he couldn't speak in the womb.
10:52-10:53
If he could, I don't think anybody would have heard him.
10:54-10:58
But the only way he could communicate was leaping within his mother.
10:59-11:00
And that's exactly what he did.
11:03-11:13
So Mary, in making this connection with Elizabeth, and comparing stories, and the whole baby jumping for joy in the womb, Mary breaks out in a psalm of praise.
11:13-11:15
All of these concepts come from the Old Testament.
11:16-11:18
Look at verse 46.
11:18-11:20
Mary's response to all this.
11:20-11:27
And Mary said, "My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.
11:28-11:31
For He has looked on the humble estate of His servant.
11:33-11:36
For behold, from now on, all generations will call Me blessed.
11:37-11:42
For He who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is His name.
11:43-11:48
And His mercy is for those who fear Him.
11:49-11:54
From generation to generation, He has shown strength with His arm.
11:54-11:57
He has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.
11:58-12:03
He has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate.
12:04-12:07
He has filled the hungry with good things and the richest in a way empty.
12:09-12:19
He has helped to serve in Israel in remembrance of His mercy, as He spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his offspring forever.
12:20-12:26
And Mary remained with her about three months and returned to her home.
12:29-12:34
Tonight, we're not going to look at the trees.
12:37-12:38
We're going to look at the whole forest.
12:39-12:47
Because if we were to go through every little ingredient of everything Mary said, this sermon would last some time until Easter.
12:48-12:51
We're not going to do that. We're going to look at some broad strokes.
12:52-13:09
And what you see bursting forth from Mary, as you step back and kind of take this all in, what you see bursting forth from this young teenage, suddenly announced that you're pregnant, but you're pregnant to give birth to the Messiah, what you see is joy.
13:12-13:13
And that's pretty amazing.
13:16-13:18
I want to talk about joy for a few minutes tonight.
13:22-13:26
Often joy is confused with happiness.
13:28-13:31
We use the two terms sort of interchangeably, but it really shouldn't be so.
13:31-13:36
Happiness is the warm, fuzzy feeling of the moment, right?
13:37-13:38
Happiness is a cookie.
13:40-13:43
Happiness is a Christmas party.
13:45-13:46
Happiness is new shoes.
13:48-13:51
And happiness sort of comes and goes with circumstances, right?
13:53-13:55
But joy, joy is much different.
13:57-14:07
Joy is the confident assurance that God is actively in control of every detail of my life.
14:09-14:16
It's the confident assurance that everything is going to be okay because God is on my side in Christ.
14:19-14:20
Joy is the fruit of the Spirit.
14:20-14:21
A fruit of the Spirit.
14:22-14:24
Which means joy is something supernatural.
14:26-14:30
And joy abides, despite circumstances.
14:33-14:45
And while Christmas can be a wonderful time of happiness, when you know Jesus Christ like John the Baptist in the womb, You can have way more than happiness.
14:47-14:47
You can have joy.
14:49-14:55
When you know the Lord, I mean, not just know about the Lord, but I mean know the Lord.
14:57-14:58
Like Mary obviously did.
15:00-15:01
You can have joy.
15:02-15:08
So if you're taking notes on your outline, I just want you to jot down three things that we all see from this song of Mary.
15:09-15:11
How to live in the joy of the Lord.
15:15-15:17
How do you live in the joy of the Lord?
15:17-15:20
Number one, magnify the Lord.
15:22-15:22
Magnify the Lord.
15:22-15:25
You see, that's what Mary came with right out of the gate.
15:25-15:32
She said, "My soul magnifies the Lord." What does it mean to magnify the Lord?
15:32-15:34
I mean, it's not like you can make God any bigger, right?
15:38-15:40
Well, it is about making Him bigger.
15:43-15:46
In your sight, you see.
15:46-15:46
In your heart.
15:47-15:48
In your mind.
15:50-16:02
Because let's be honest, what we normally do, what we usually do, and I have been so guilty of this, what we usually do is magnify our problems.
16:04-16:05
We dwell on them.
16:05-16:06
We focus on them.
16:06-16:08
We think about them over and over.
16:08-16:10
And we talk to people about them.
16:10-16:14
And when we do that, we're magnifying our problems.
16:16-16:17
Anybody else been guilty of that?
16:18-16:20
I'll never get out of this financial mess.
16:20-16:22
I don't know how I'm going to do it.
16:22-16:24
I don't see a way out of this.
16:26-16:27
I'm never gonna get healthy.
16:27-16:33
And it just seems like every trip to the doctor, I get sicker and every medicine I take, I get sicker.
16:33-16:34
I'm never going to get healthy.
16:38-16:40
I'm never going to be able to save my marriage.
16:40-16:43
It's too far gone, and there's been too much hurt.
16:43-16:52
And when we get in that mode, that mindset, what we're doing is we're magnifying our problems.
16:53-16:58
And in the process, to us, God ends up looking small.
17:01-17:02
Like Mary.
17:03-17:05
You need to magnify Him instead of your problems.
17:08-17:09
Well, how do I do that?
17:10-17:11
Easy.
17:11-17:15
You do it the same way that you would have magnified your problems.
17:16-17:21
Dwell on Him, focus on Him, think about Him, talk to Him.
17:21-17:28
And the best way you can do that is the same way that Mary obviously did it, is by getting God's Word in your heart.
17:31-17:32
Because let's be honest.
17:33-17:39
You're like, "What does Mary know about stress?" Think about it.
17:41-17:47
From a human standpoint, she was facing the most stressful thing she possibly could have faced.
17:47-17:55
I'm young, I'm engaged, I'm pregnant, and ain't nobody going to believe what happened except for Elizabeth.
17:55-17:57
Nobody else is going to buy this story.
18:01-18:02
But you know what we don't see?
18:03-18:05
We don't see Mary stressing.
18:05-18:07
We don't see Mary getting defensive.
18:07-18:09
We don't see Mary panicking.
18:09-18:10
What do we see Mary doing?
18:10-18:11
We see her worshiping.
18:12-18:13
We see her rejoicing.
18:15-18:28
Because instead of magnifying all of the potential problems that she could have worried about, and there would have been a plethora of problems that she could have magnified, what are people gonna say?
18:28-18:29
What's Joseph gonna say?
18:29-18:30
What's his parents gonna say?
18:30-18:31
What's the town gonna say?
18:31-18:32
What are my neighbors gonna think?
18:32-18:39
And how is this going to affect She didn't do that. Her focus was on God, you see.
18:42-18:44
In church, you can make the same choice.
18:46-18:51
You can magnify your problems, or you can magnify the Lord, but you can't do both.
18:53-18:56
Because when you magnify one, it just automatically shrinks the other.
18:58-19:01
And if you think you have big problems, God's going to look small.
19:04-19:12
But if you think you have a big God, which you do, but if you think you have a big God, your problems are going to look small.
19:14-19:15
And that brings big joy.
19:18-19:20
Secondly, how to live in joy.
19:22-19:28
Not only do you want to magnify the Lord, you need to minimize myself.
19:30-19:48
as myself." Do you notice in verse 48, Mary said, "For He has looked on the humble estate of His servant." How many women in getting this news would have had the temptation to be proud?
19:49-19:50
To somehow think it was about them.
19:51-19:55
Like, "Yeah, I'm going to give birth to the Messiah, the promised one of Israel.
19:55-19:57
I can totally see why God picked me.
19:58-19:59
Totally get that God.
20:00-20:02
on the same page, I would have picked me too.
20:05-20:08
I certainly wouldn't have picked that witch that lives down the street.
20:11-20:12
I'm going to do this right.
20:15-20:17
Start thinking it's about them.
20:17-20:18
Mary, that just wasn't Mary.
20:20-20:20
She was humble.
20:21-20:24
And she recognized this was all grace.
20:28-20:32
Somehow we think we're going to be happy if we make more of ourselves.
20:35-20:43
And we live in a day, more than ever, that people are so focused on themselves.
20:46-20:46
That's just reality.
20:48-20:50
It's like, hey, check this out.
20:54-20:57
This picture is called a selfie.
21:00-21:01
Who took that picture?
21:02-21:03
I took it myself.
21:06-21:07
What's it a picture of?
21:09-21:10
It's a picture of myself.
21:12-21:14
And who's going to be looking at that?
21:15-21:17
I'll be looking at it myself.
21:20-21:21
True or false?
21:21-21:21
Do we not do that?
21:22-21:29
of ourselves for us to look at? Now look, look, look. There's nothing sinful about a selfie.
21:31-21:41
I hope that's not your big takeaway from tonight. There's nothing sinful about it, but can we just acknowledge that we live in a self-absorbed culture?
21:42-21:48
My rights, what offends me, how does it benefit me, gonna do what's best for me?
21:52-22:04
And when you are so self-focused and you're so concerned about making sure you get your piece of the pie and your fair share and what's coming to you, this self-focus has made people angry.
22:06-22:09
Everybody feels like life's unfair.
22:11-22:18
This self-focus means I turn every scenario that I see into grounds for drama.
22:20-22:22
Like, "Hey, Merry Christmas, Pastor Jeff.
22:23-22:24
What's that supposed to mean?
22:24-22:29
You call me a merry? You want to go?" We look for drama in everything.
22:32-22:36
And it all comes from being so stinking self-absorbed.
22:37-22:55
Let me ask you, this preoccupation that people have with themselves, this desire to magnify ourselves and put the spotlight on ourselves and draw the attention to ourselves, has it made people really feel more fulfilled in life?
22:56-22:56
Has it?
22:58-23:00
Do you think people are generally happier?
23:03-23:09
What I've found, the more self-focused you are, the less joy you have.
23:10-23:12
That's what I heard one person say a long time ago.
23:12-23:15
Say, "Joy." Right? J-O-Y.
23:15-23:15
Do you want to have joy?
23:16-23:18
J, you put Jesus first.
23:19-23:20
O, you put others second.
23:21-23:22
And Y, you put yourself last.
23:22-23:24
And boy, we have flipped that around.
23:28-23:28
But Mary got it.
23:31-23:48
And while there are some churches that have wrongly elevated her status, calling her the Queen of Heaven, calling her the dispenser of graces, You certainly don't see that from the Bible.
23:49-23:51
You obviously don't see that from Luke 1.
23:52-23:56
If you read Luke 1, you see Mary saying, "I'm just a servant.
23:58-24:02
Anything good in my life has come from God.
24:03-24:11
So you've got to minimize myself." And then finally, number three, meditate on God's work.
24:14-24:15
Meditate on God's work.
24:18-24:19
Meditate on God's work.
24:19-24:26
So the natural result - more of God, less of me.
24:27-24:33
The natural result - my eyes are open to the things that the Lord is doing, and for that I am thankful.
24:34-24:37
And if you want joy, you have to live in thanksgiving.
24:38-24:40
Like thankful for what exactly?
24:41-24:44
Well, Mary gives us three arenas to consider.
24:45-24:46
I'll jot these down quickly.
24:49-24:51
Thankful for what? Thankful where?
24:51-24:54
Thankful in what am I thanking God for?
24:54-24:56
Letter A, I would say first of all, get personal.
24:57-24:58
Get personal.
24:59-25:00
That's where Mary started.
25:00-25:01
Do you see that in verse 49?
25:02-25:07
"He who is mighty has done great things for me." Start there.
25:07-25:09
What is God doing in my life?
25:10-25:15
What are things happening right now in your life that can only be attributed to God?
25:17-25:19
I would encourage you to write them down.
25:19-25:22
Share them with your family. Share them in your small group.
25:23-25:26
Get personal and get specific and get current.
25:27-25:30
But get personal. What is God doing in your life right now?
25:31-25:31
Start there.
25:34-25:35
Letter B, get hopeful.
25:36-25:40
Get hopeful. Thanks isn't just for the past.
25:42-25:44
You can actually pay thanks ahead.
25:46-26:10
In other words, you say, "God, I thank You, not just for what You're doing in my life now, but God, I thank You for what You've promised You will do, because I know that You will do it." Specifically here in Mary's song, She said that someday, God is going to flip everything upside down.
26:10-26:11
He's going to turn it.
26:12-26:18
Someday, God's going to make everything turn 180 degrees.
26:19-26:21
Did you see that? Look at it again with me quickly.
26:21-26:28
She says, verse 51, "He has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.
26:29-26:33
He has brought down the mighty from their thrones, and exalted those of humble estate.
26:34-26:44
He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich He has sent away empty." That day is coming.
26:46-26:46
That day is coming.
26:47-26:54
The people who choose to humble themselves, to minimize themselves, are going to be exalted.
26:55-26:57
The proud are going to be brought down.
26:59-27:01
The hungry are going to be filled up.
27:02-27:04
The rich are going to be bankrupt.
27:07-27:12
Can you just imagine how awesome that day is going to be?
27:13-27:14
Think about it.
27:15-27:21
Every arrogant politician, everyone, kicked off their throat.
27:24-27:30
Every greedy person that made their wealth by taking advantage of other people.
27:33-27:34
Their day is coming.
27:35-27:37
Cast down and sent home broke.
27:39-27:44
But everyone who has magnified the Lord and minimized themselves, the day of exaltation is coming.
27:47-27:59
That's why I would encourage you to make this part of your regular prayer routine, as I have, to say, "Thank you God, You have promised things will not always be as they are now.
28:00-28:02
It's not going to be like this forever.
28:03-28:05
I'm so thankful for that.
28:06-28:06
Get hopeful.
28:08-28:09
And finally, get reflective.
28:11-28:12
You see, God has this track record.
28:15-28:17
Maybe right now you're in a hard season.
28:19-28:21
Maybe right now you're discouraged.
28:22-28:27
And you're having a hard time being thankful for what's happening today.
28:27-28:28
Look, I get that.
28:31-28:32
But I want to encourage you to look back.
28:33-28:34
That's what Mary did.
28:35-28:37
She went all the way back to Abraham.
28:38-28:40
Say, "God, You have this awesome track record.
28:40-28:43
You always keep Your Word. You always come through.
28:43-28:59
You always fulfill Your promise. God, You're always good." And I want to encourage you, especially again, And if you're going through a hard time right now, as Christmas has a way of escalating some of those things, look back.
29:01-29:02
Look back where?
29:05-29:06
Look back right here.
29:08-29:11
By right here, I mean right here.
29:12-29:14
What's happening right here?
29:14-29:16
I want you to look back here.
29:18-29:19
Look at what we're celebrating tonight.
29:23-29:29
God became a man for the purpose of laying down His life on the cross.
29:32-29:42
So that everyone who acknowledges that they are a sinner in need of His grace can be forgiven.
29:42-29:44
You're going to have eternal life.
29:46-29:47
You're going to have the promise of heaven.
29:50-29:57
So within the next week, the family will be going home.
29:59-30:00
Your toys will break.
30:04-30:10
And the tree will go back into the box.
30:11-30:19
into the fire, and the happiness sort of fades away.
30:19-30:29
But, you can expect joy that's going to take you well into 2020 and beyond.
30:31-30:39
magnify the Lord, and minimize yourself, and meditate on the things that God is doing.
30:41-30:46
We're going to invite you to stand as the worship team makes their way forward, and the ushers make their way forward.
30:46-30:54
We're going to close with worship and candlelight as we close our time here tonight with worship.
Small Group Discussion
Read Luke 1:39-56
What was your big “take-away” from this passage / message?
You want joy? Give thanks like Mary did in Luke 1:49-55!
List 1-3 things from each category.
Things I am thankful for:
I am thankful right now God is _____________.
I am thankful God promised to _____________.
I am thankful that in the past, God has _____________.
Breakout
Pray for one another. Merry Christmas!