Word of Salvation – Vol.50 No.46 – December 2005

 

Accepting the Lord’s Way in Faith

An Advent Sermon by Rev Martin Geluk

on Luke 1:38

 

Scripture Readings:  Luke 1:26-38

Suggested Hymns:  BoW: 252:1,6,7; 336:1,4,5; 244; 150-a:1, 2

 

Dear Congregation.

We have in our text the words Mary spoke to the angel who informed her that she would be the mother of Jesus, the Son of God. She said, “May it be to me as you have said”, which can also be translated as “May it be to me according to your word.” Essentially Mary’s response was a response in faith, for she was in no way able to understand how all that the Lord would do with her was going to work out.

Our purpose in looking at Mary’s response is not only to focus on her but also on what our response might be when the Lord puts us in a situation that is also bewildering. Of course, our situations will never be anything like Mary’s, for what happened to her was unique. The Lord will never again have a believing woman experience what Mary experienced. The coming of God into the world through His Son, which essentially was God becoming flesh, was a once-off event in God’s plan of salvation, and Mary was simply God’s chosen instrument for Him to fulfil that part of His plan.

But even if our situation will never be exactly like Mary’s, it can still be bewildering to us. Take the apostle Paul, for example. God ended Paul’s career as a Pharisee and he was told to bring the gospel to the Gentiles. It completely changed his life. Whatever creature comforts he had as a Pharisee were all taken away. As an apostle he suffered physical abuse, trudged hundreds of kilometres along dangerous and difficult roads, experienced hunger and sleepless nights, and so on. When he knew that the enemies of Christ were going to kill him eventually, then he said, “I am ready to depart.” In other words, after his conversion, Paul’s whole life became what Mary said – may it be to me according to God’s will.

What if God called you to do something, or face something, that would be quite difficult? Something that would radically change your life? Could you say what Mary said? – may it be to me according to your word.

For example, people sometimes become disabled suddenly, like in a car accident, and their whole life changes. You may contract an illness that greatly affects your lifestyle and may shorten your life. Death takes away your marriage partner of many years. You dearly would like to have children but can’t. You have children and your husband or wife leaves you and you have to carry on as a single parent. We can easily put names alongside these examples. Yes, lots of bewildering and perplexing situations can turn your life upside down. But can you as a believer accept it from the Lord, who rules over all things, and say – may it be to me according to your will?

Let’s look at all this under the heading, ACCEPTING THE LORD’S WAY IN FAITH.

1. Accepting the Lord’s Word

The angel told Mary many things that were mysterious to her. She, a young woman, a virgin, not yet married, was going to become pregnant just like that. Furthermore, she was to give birth not just to any child, but to a special child who is the Son of God and who will be given the throne of David and will reign over a kingdom that is never ending. No wonder Mary’s head was spinning when she heard all that. But she heard the angel also say that nothing is impossible with God, and so she humbly and quietly accepted God’s way in all this. And she did so by faith.

Mary’s response – may it be to me as you have said – is the same as if she had said, ‘amen’. We say ‘amen’ after every prayer and it means, so shall it be. And when our prayer has a few requests, then we usually also say, like Jesus did in Gethsemane, ‘not my will but your will be done.’ The Lord, then, may have put us into a situation that we did not choose for ourselves. We may prefer not to be in that situation. Difficult demands are made on us. We’re not sure if we can cope. And do we have the time? Our comfort zone will no longer be what it was.

We know that the new situation did not happen by chance. Christians don’t believe in chance or luck. All things are ruled over by God. Even if our new situation is caused by decisions other people have made, then Christians still see God’s hand in it.

And so with a new situation facing us, Christians pray about it, and believingly, like Mary, we should end our prayer with, Lord, not my will, but your will be done, amen. So shall it be. May it be to me according to your Word, according to what you have said, Lord, according to your will for my life.

How much of what the angel told Mary was a complete surprise to her? Maybe not everything. When you look at the words of the song she sang a bit later on, then it’s obvious Mary was no stranger to the teachings of God’s Word. She said many things that only a believer in God would know. A believer who is familiar with the ways of God.

What was so mysterious to Mary was not so much the coming of the Messiah, for most believers in Old Testament times were expecting the Messiah. The prophets had foretold His coming many times. But what changed Mary’s life was the fact that God was going to use her womb to have Jesus come into the world. Like every other believer in God, Mary was aware that she, too, was part of God’s work of salvation. But what came as a surprise to her was her having to be the mother of the Saviour. But whatever the consequences, she humbly submitted to God’s will.

Christians like you and me know that the Lord is coming again to finally and fully complete every aspect of God’s plan of salvation. All things will be made new. Advent is not only about Christ’s first coming through Mary but also about His second coming on the clouds of heaven and with the sound of the trumpet of the archangel. Again, that the Lord will come is not new to us, but we do not know all the details of how He will come and what will happen when He comes.

I just mentioned a coming on the clouds of heaven and with the trumpet sound. But we really have little idea of how that will be. Nor do we know much about everything changing in the twinkling of an eye. Nor about this present earth being destroyed by fire. Nor about believers who are still living at Jesus’ coming being taken up to meet the Lord in the air. Nor about all people of all time appearing before God’s judgment throne. Nor about all believers receiving their resurrection body. Nor about the conditions on the new earth. Here are a whole lot of things about which we don’t know a great deal. It will be as mysterious as the things the angel told Mary.

But if we are as believing and trusting as Mary was, having a faith and a trust that is based on what God had said in His Word, then we can be as accepting of the Lord’s Word as Mary was. We read about the second coming in the New Testament and whatever miraculous and mysterious things will happen to the church and to us as individual believers, we may believingly say, may it be as the Lord has said. Amen. So shall it be.

In fact, every believer who faces death, will need to have this humble submission to God’s will. Do we really know the details of what happens when we die? Yes, we know from God’s Word that believers have the righteousness of Christ and therefore God will receive us into heaven. But how exactly God will work that out is as unknown to us as it was unknown to Mary how she as a virgin was going to conceive. But somehow God helps His saved children when they die to trust that they will always be with the Lord. We just accept the Lord’s Word in faith.

Now such a faith as the Lord has given us is not a faith that speaks for itself. Mary’s faith was not a faith that speaks for itself. A faith that speaks for itself is hardly a faith anymore. For when we face something that speaks for itself then we can see how it works. We can work out what the result will be. When a husband and wife are having a baby then they know how that came about. From their sexual union they can work out that a pregnancy can be the result. Their believing that this may happen speaks for itself. But Mary’s faith in accepting the Lord’s mysterious way for her was not a faith that speaks for itself. Neither is our faith in the Lord’s coming again a faith that speaks for itself.

Mary’s faith and ours is a faith in the supernatural and miraculous ways of God. Both the first and second comings of Christ are supernatural and miraculous. We cannot explain these things. We wonder about them. Sometimes we find it difficult to believe God’s ways, especially when they are mysterious to us. Mary was troubled when she experienced the angel visiting her and saying, “Greetings, you who are highly favoured! The Lord is with you” (vs 29). She couldn’t work it out. When the angel continued and told her she would be with child, she said, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” (vs 34). After Jesus was born and the shepherds visited her and Joseph, and told them what God had said to them concerning the Christ-child, then Mary pondered their words in her heart (2:19).

In other words, faith is not a sudden impulse. Faith doesn’t all of a sudden pop in your heart. It’s not like something becoming clear to you all of a sudden. God’s ways are often unclear to us. Like God creating everything from nothing, Christ’s virgin birth, His resurrection from the dead, His ascension into heaven, His coming again, yes, Christ dying for our sins and giving us God’s righteousness, all that and more of God’s ways are not fully explained by logical, rational explanation. That’s why Mary was troubled and why sometimes we doubt. We ponder about these things. But by looking at the ways of God, how He saves His church, how He saves us, by seeing how His plan of salvation unfolds, we find ourselves believing God and accepting His ways in faith. And if God in His good and perfect will presents us, too, with bewildering and perplexing situations, then like Mary, we also must say, may it be to me according to your word.

2. Accepting the Lord’s will

Notice that Mary’s humble acceptance of the Lord’s way was quite passive. She said, “Let it be to me…”. Let it happen to me, Lord, as you decide. There is no selfish thinking about herself. She does not insist on her will, but allows God’s will to shape the present and the future for her.

Let’s imagine for a moment what Mary might have done if she lived in our time. And let’s assume for a moment she thought the way the world thinks. Such a Mary would have considered having an abortion. If Mary were not planning on having a baby then she would have had many reasons for not wanting a baby. She and Joseph might have planned a few years without children. Then maybe just one or two children could come later on. Maybe none. Children need a lot of time and they have to be fed, clothed and looked after, also when they’re sick. If Mary was a modern girl then she has a career to think of. There are also plans to travel a bit, see the world, and have a look around. There’s a house to build or bought, and it has to have things in it, nice things that you see in the shops. Having a baby can upset all that. It can be quite inconvenient. Yes, instead of biblical Mary saying, “Let it be to me…”, a modern Mary would say, wait a moment, it’s my body, and it’s my choice.

Why do we have an aging society? Why are there more elderly people and less younger people and children? Why are people marrying later? And why are there more first-time mothers in their late twenties and early thirties than in their early twenties? Has it not got a lot to do with modern people no longer wanting to be like the biblical Mary, who said to God, “Let it be to me…” ?

The modern Mary’s way of thinking has no submission to God’s will in it. In the days of the biblical Mary, abortion was not an option. The Mary whom God caused to miraculously conceive and give birth to Jesus did not even consider any other option. She might have been troubled as to how it was all going to work out, but she accepted the Lord’s will in faith.

And not only was Jesus precious from the moment of conception because He became our Saviour, but all children are precious from the moment of conception. Children in the womb cannot defend themselves. They need grown-ups who accept God’s will for life to defend them. Jesus welcomes children from the moment they come into being. He once said, “whoever welcomes this little child in my name welcomes me” (Lk 9:48).

Mary welcomed the Child she was going to have, and in so doing she welcomed the Saviour who had come to save His people from their sins. Yes, children are a big responsibility and they need to be fed, clothed and cared for. For many years children cannot do these things for themselves. Parents have to do it. And one day when Jesus comes again, He is going to judge people about the way they cared for those who needed help.

These are not just adults who were hungry and needed food; thirsty and needed a drink; a stranger and needed to be invited in; needing clothes and things to wear; sick and needed looking after, or in prison and needed a visit. They can also be children, yes, even the unborn children in the womb. When you care for them, then Jesus says that it’s like caring for Him. So what will the modern Marys and modern Josephs say to God on that day when He asks what they did for the children He gave them? Did you welcome them, care for them, love them? Or did you abort them, not want them, postpone them, because it was inconvenient to have them?

Accepting the Lord’s will in faith – it’s what Mary did. And it’s what the Lord Jesus did when in Gethsemane He was faced with suffering and death for others. It troubled Him deeply, He sweated drops of blood. Yet He prayed, “Father, not my will but your will be done” (Mt 26:39). Christ faced the most difficult choice but He submitted Himself to His Father’s will. He could see ahead to His resurrection and that His dying and rising would bring many to heavenly glory. But the way to it was the way of the cross.

What will it be for us when the Lord puts us in bewildering situations where difficult demands and burdens are placed upon us? Will it be the way of self, what we want, our choice, our comfort, or the way of the cross? Will it be the way of what suits us, or the way of obedience and submission and self-denial? How we decide will be made easier when we remember that in difficult times God’s church often prospers spiritually. The salvation of sinners is more likely to happen when people have to rely on God more and less on themselves.

3. Accepting the Lord’s work

Mary said in faith, “I am the Lord’s servant.” The nature of a servant is to do the work the master wants done. The servant obeys the master’s will and goes ahead and does it. God asked Mary to serve Him by being His instrument in bringing Jesus into the world, so that He could work among sinners and save the lost. And Mary accepted the Lord’s work and said, I am your servant. God wants this attitude in us as He goes about His work.

Servanthood for Mary was not straightforward and may not be for us either. Mind you, there are those in our day who often present the Lord’s work as being always pleasant, a kind of a fun thing. They say that you don’t have to change much from what you are. You can stay as you are and do the Lord’s work as it suits your situation. But most times it is not like that. Accepting the Lord’s work has always meant forsaking the ways of the world, for the two are not compatible. Accepting the Lord’s work more often than not calls for sacrifices and self-denial. It’s not that the Lord deliberately wants to give His children a hard time. It’s just that God’s way is so different from man’s way.

In Mary’s case, she would have realised from the moment the angel’s message had sunk in, that she would be in a very difficult situation. Who was going to believe her that the child she had conceived was the work of God’s Spirit? Not only would people not believe her, but they would also be angry with her for trying to explain it with such pious talk. Yes, Mary could see clearly that Joseph would immediately conclude that she had been unfaithful. And her relatives would probably think the same. Yes, the immediate consequences of her pregnancy were shame and humiliation.

Yet Mary sacrificed herself for God. She said, “I am the Lord’s servant” and my womb, my body, my life, my honour, I place it all in your hands, O Lord. Do we still make sacrifices in order for the Lord to do His work in His church? Or do we think about ourselves first, whether we have the time, the staying power, the inconvenience, whether we can cope with the consequences?

Of course we must count the cost before we accept another task in the Lord’s work for His church and kingdom. Of course we need to consider our other duties as Christians, like being a father and husband. And you have to consider your health and if you are able to serve the Lord in the task put before you. And there are only so many hours in the day. A responsible ‘no’ to another request for helping out can be made in good conscience before God after seeking His guidance in prayer.

And yet the church today is struggling to find enough helpers to do the Lord’s work, in spite of all kinds of programmes and ministries being set up. Most congregations are struggling every year to fill the offices of elder and deacons. And our denomination is facing a shortage of ministers. Students are more interested in the short courses, but the church needs men to do the full study course of five years and serve the Lord with a lifetime of preaching and pastoral work in the church.

Why is it not happening? Are the demands for serving the Lord too great? Do we see too many difficulties ahead that we would rather not face? Perhaps we are not accepting the Lord’s work as readily as Mary did? Maybe we are not prepared to make the necessary sacrifices? Maybe we are putting other things first, things important to us. We do know that when we look to Christ, then we always see that He fully gave Himself to the work of His Father. He lived to do His Father’s will.

We have thought about “Accepting the Lord’s way in faith” and have seen that it involves accepting His Word, His will and His work. And that this accepting requires a trust in our heavenly Father that He will supply our every need. Serving Him may well involve having to make sacrifices for Him. But there are many blessings along the way. Ministering the Lord’s Word to His people. Bringing the riches of Christ to the lost. Loving others the way the Lord loves us. Having compassion for those who have no helper but God.

May the Lord guide us and bless us as we ponder these things.

Amen.