Word of Salvation – Vol. 40 No.47 – December 1995
When God Takes Notice Of Us
– Christmas (or Advent) Sermon –
Sermon by Rev. M. P. Geluk on Luke 1:48a
Scripture Readings: Revelation 4:1-11; 5:9-14; Luke 1:46-55
Suggested Hymns: BoW 284; 271; 246; 331; 337; 265
Dear Congregation.
The church of Jesus Christ must celebrate the birth of the Saviour with deep humility. Christmas is not a time to be arrogant and boastful. We are remembering God’s coming to earth to save sinners like us.
When Mary heard that this greatest of all events was to take place through her, then she praised God in her song for taking notice of her and that He was not put off because of her humble state. God had regard for her humble state as a servant girl.
Mary was not enslaved to any human master, but even though she was a free woman she regarded herself as the property of God. She recognised that her life, her very being, was totally dependent on God. God was her Sovereign Lord, the covenant God of Israel of whom she was a part. Her roots and her past was what we know as the Old Testament. That was Israel’s history and therefore her history also. God’s covenant people came into being by God’s sovereign choice. He called His people to serve Him and He was now bringing them the Christ to take away their sin. And Mary was going to be one through whom God’s Son was to be born.
The angel Gabriel had brought her greetings from heaven and said she was highly favoured. To her great astonishment God had considered her, a lowly placed woman, above the highly born. God is high and exalted, so great and mighty. She was just an ordinary girl, needing salvation like any other sinner. But if God wanted her to be the means by which the Messiah was to enter humanity, then she would bow to that.
She had said to the angel that she didn’t quite understand how it could be done, for she was still a virgin and unmarried. Mary assumed that a husband was necessary, even for such a special child. But if God’s Son was to save His people from their sin, then He could not also be the son of a sinful father and neither would He share in the sinful nature of Mary the mother. He had to be perfect and holy, and therefore He was given a sinless human nature through the Holy Spirit coming upon Mary and the power of the Most High God overshadowing her.
Of course, it was all incomprehensible to Mary. Al miracles are. But Mary was a woman of faith and faith submits to God’s ways. She said: “May it be to me as you have said.” She was willing to be God’s servant in whatever He wanted to do through her. Mary’s sense of unworthiness and her corresponding humility flowed out of her faith and are therefore commendable.
And from her song that Luke has recorded for us in his gospel, it is obvious that Mary was familiar with the Old Testament. She knew of God’s promises to Abraham because she mentions him; and she knew the Psalms because she made some of their expressions her own. She also knew that God had revealed Himself as one who lifts up the humble but scatters the proud in their vain imaginations.
So, again, we see that Mary’s humility was not a put-on. Her kind of lowliness becomes a character trait which the Spirit of God works in the hearts of all those who have had frequent contact with God through His Word, and where this contact is responded to with a true worship of God.
Take Abraham, for example. Each time God appeared to him he humbled himself. He fell face down (Gen.17:3, 17), or bowed low to the ground (18:2) as God talked to Him, not considering himself worthy to look up to God as an equal. And when Abraham pleaded with God not to destroy the righteous along with the wicked in Sodom, notice his humble approach. He says: “I am nothing but dust and ashes” (18:27); “May the Lord not be angry, but let me speak just once more” (vs.32).
And consider the humility of Hannah. In her pleading for a child she counted herself as nothing, and threw herself on the mercy of the Lord. After Samuel had been born and later brought to the temple to serve the Lord, then in her song of thanksgiving Hannah glorified God and regarded herself as a humble servant of the Lord. And the song of Mary is much like the song of Hannah. Mary used Hannah’s words to express her own sense of unworthiness before the Lord. Consider also David. When the Lord told him he would be king over God’s covenant people, he said humbly: “Who am I, O sovereign Lord, and what is my family that you have brought me this far?” (2Sam.7:18).
In the Psalms we hear frequently how the Lord regards the humble. Listen to one or two expressions: “The Lord will respond to the prayer of the destitute, he will not despise their plea” (102:17). “He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap” (113:7). “The Lord remembers us in our low estate” (136:23). And here is one that is almost the same as one of Mary’s expressions in her song: “Though the Lord is on high, he looks upon the lowly but the proud he knows from afar” (138:6). Through Isaiah the prophet the Lord said: “This is the one I esteem: he who is humble and contrite in spirit, and trembles at my Word.”
In the New Testament the Lord explains why Christians should have that kind of attitude: “Think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential… But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise… the weak things of the world to shame the strong, the lowly things, the despised things” (1Cor.1:26-27). To which we add this, from James: “God has chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and inherit the kingdom” (James 2:5).
And then look at the Lord, Himself. He who is from all eternity and lives in the highest of heaven, He, when the time had fully come, humbled Himself and took on our sinful human nature in order to conquer the power of sin which we are quite unable to do by ourselves. Christ’s humble attitude stands out very clearly when He, being God in His very nature, was willing to empty Himself of His divine nature and He became obedient to His Father’s plan of salvation and He remained obedient even when this brought Him to His death on the cross. (Phil.2:1-11). For all this He was exalted and His Name became precious and is now above every name.
Christ could say the same thing as Mary did in her song. God, His Father, had been mindful of the humble state of His servant. And Christ became a servant for our sake. He never once failed in doing the will of His Father. The Son humbled Himself time and again.
He knelt before His Father and praised Him for all His mighty works. He asked for strength to endure the suffering and death set before Him. He pleaded with God and there was anguish and tears as He learned obedience. As He emptied Himself, the Father could do His will in His Son. In fact, it was the Son’s only real wish and desire to do the will of Him who had sent Him. The Son had a perfect faith! Faith submits to God.
What now does all this teach us? Well, obviously we have to be like Christ and say to God what Mary said: The Lord has been mindful of me, of my humble state. I rejoice to be His slave, His servant. I acknowledge total dependence on God my Saviour. I am unworthy of His coming to me. But today I celebrate the Saviour’s birth because I may believe that He has been merciful to me, saving me from my sin. In myself I am no good. I am weak, sinful and foolish. Why God has a regard for me is incomprehensible but it fills me with deep thanksgiving and great joy that the Lord has taken note of me, His lowly servant.
Now if that is the way the Christian should be before God, then we need to reflect that in our worship of God. When many believers worship the Lord together, which is what the church does regularly, then a sense of unworthiness and a deep humility should characterise our worship. There can be great rejoicing as well because the Lord has rescued us from the power of sin and death. But as we know the Lord through His Word, then we are taught by the Spirit to be humble before God like Mary. Yes, like Abraham, like Hannah, like David and the Psalmists. And above all, to be as humble as Jesus was. We remember the New Testament teaching as to what we were before the Lord took hold of us and made us His people. Once we were not a people, but now we are God’s people. Once we were darkness, now we are light.
Now every year we have this tradition of Carols by Candlelight all over Australia. Some are better than others. But a number of the ones you and I have attended have shown a terrible lack of this humble attitude that we have been speaking about. Carols singing was originally organised by Christians. They took to the public parks in order to share their joy about the Saviour’s birth with whoever cared to join. Gradually the format of Carol singing has changed, and not for the better.
Famous people of the world were invited to make a contribution to what should have remained a humble celebration by Christians. Dragging in the secular VIPs attracted more unbelievers than believers for the wrong reasons. The large percentage of non-Christians, or maybe it was the worldly thinking of Christians, further caused the Carols evenings to become entertainment shows and worldly; silly songs about Santa Claus, Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer and Jingle Bells were sung alongside meaningful and well-known Christian hymns about Christ’s birth.
Understandably, more and more Christians withdrew from these Carols evenings because they became secular entertainment nights with TV stars making their appearances. Even Humphrey Bear showed up. Not that Christians have anything against Humphrey Bear as such but they loathed to sing about the Saviour of the world with Humphrey prancing around on the stage.
Why is this happening? What causes some people to shout for Jesus the same way as people do for their sports heroes in the arena? Where in Scripture are Christians encouraged to congratulate themselves and God? Why are performers doing their items and entertaining the crowd? When we seek answers to the questions we’re asking, then it becomes increasingly clear that the things we see the world doing are being copied by Christians. Here and there, supposedly Christian words are added, deeming this to now praise the Lord.
Some Carols evenings have dancers on the stage, supposedly to express biblical themes. But the people present can’t help focussing their minds on the body movements of the dancers, taking their minds away from the meaning of Jesus’ coming into the world. The actual singing of carols is reduced and the peoples’ voices, when they are singing, are lost in the overpowering volume of the musical instruments and the solo performers.
The humble rejoicing like that of Mary has sadly gone missing. In the world we are used to people putting themselves in the centre, like you see with the presentations of the Oscars in the film industry, or the Emmy Awards in the TV industry. We are now starting to see Christians and churches putting themselves in the centre of their worship practices and they are congratulating themselves on account of their own performances. In order to attract a good crowd into the church buildings and to various events, Christians invite well-known and dynamic personalities who may not even be Christian.
Some churches celebrate Christ’s birth with Father Christmas putting in an appearance, just to make the non-Christian who may be present feel at home. Christians are starting to market their praise and worship like the world does its products. So where has the humble dependence on God gone to? Why are Christians seeking the help of non-Christians to serve the Lord better and bigger? Where has the true worship of the Sovereign Lord gone to? Where is the realisation that before a holy God we are unworthy? Where is the dignified and God-honouring praise from a people who are conscious of their need to be sanctified through Christ?
We need to look at Mary’s style of humble worship of God and remind the church of what God says: “The Lord looks upon the lowly but the proud He knows from afar.” And “This is the one I esteem: he who is humble and contrite in spirit, and trembles at my Word.” The Lord took notice of Mary. She trembled at His mighty Word.
When does the Lord take notice of us? Not when we are proud? Not when we are on ourselves? Not when we do all sorts of things in the worship service except to respectfully join in with the singing, praying, giving and listening to the Word of the Most High God. The Lord takes no notice of us when our lives are worldly lives. Not when our minds and hearts are arrogant. Not when we refuse to obey His will and try to do the things of the Lord in our own way. Not when we take His Name in vain and use words that are the swear words of the world.
It’s just as well that we can’t teach ourselves to be humble before God. If we could, we would take courses in how to be humble and unworthy. But it would be false and fake.
God humbles us when He confronts us by the revelation of Himself through His mighty Word. When we see God’s majesty, then we have a sense of our own unworthiness. When we take serious note of God’s sovereignty over all things and His power to do with us as He wills, then we are made to feel small. When we realise our responsibility to obey His commands but our inability to serve Him as we should, then we begin to see our need for His grace.
Abraham, Hannah, David, the psalmists, the New Testament believers, they all saw their own inadequacy before God and they fell into the dust before Him. God has come to us in the Saviour Jesus Christ, but when we fail to respond to His deep love for sinners and scorn His willingness to save us on His terms, then He will take no notice of us.
Let me ask you: do you want God to take notice of you? Most people love to be noticed by someone. Some want the rich and the powerful to take notice of them, but only because they want to use these people to further their own cause. Others just want to be loved by someone who really shows genuine concern and interest. We ourselves can be so awfully selfish and our love for others is so imperfect.
But God showed His love for us who are ungodly in that He brought Christ into the world to make us into a new people. His love never fails. We may return to Him again and again when we worship Christ and bow at His feet and believe Him as God and as the Saviour. God showed His love for us in that He loved us first and His love can change us in ways nothing else can.
When we have seen something of God’s greatness, when we have understood something of the lengths Christ went to in order to break in us the power of evil and disobedience, then we will be humble before Him, like Mary. When we remember that, in ourselves, we are sinful human creatures, then we are also aware of our unworthiness before Him, the Holy One. Our performances, our impressive items, our ability to do this or that – it all means nothing to God if there is no faith in Him, if there is no knowing and trusting Him as He is.
And the longer we serve God the greater He becomes and the less we are taken in by ourselves. Look at the scene in heaven before God’s throne where the saints bow down before Him in worship. It is given to us several times in the book Revelation. Those saints have been perfected by Christ. They have reached the goal of their salvation, their redemption is complete. And what are they doing? They are not congratulating themselves. They are not telling God that He has done a good job. They dare not use their own measure by which to judge their own and God’s performance. No, time and again, that heavenly multitude bows before God’s holy majesty and says: “You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honour and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being” (Rev.4:11).
And the same respectful words of praise are given to the Lamb who was slain but is now standing next to Him who is seated on the throne. Again and again God is praised for His wisdom, power and strength. In heaven they all know that God is worthy of honour because of what He is in Himself and of what He has accomplished in Christ. The saints were sinners once and deserving God’s wrath but they have been made holy and complete. They now only worship God.
Christians who are still on the earth must learn to worship God and not themselves. When believers can see the beauty and richness of God, then they don’t want anything else. Abraham was prepared to sacrifice his only son, Isaac – his only child, on whom the fulfilment of God’s promises rested. It was incomprehensible to him that God wanted Isaac back, yet because it was God who asked this of him, Abraham could give the Lord that sacrifice.
Abraham believed God to be all-sufficient for him. It would be hard to give up Isaac, the child he loved, but he could still go on living with God without Isaac; but he could not go on living with Isaac without God.
It was the same with the psalmist. When he had finally discovered that all that really mattered was to have God, then he could say: “Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you” (Psalm 73:25).
It has to be the same with us if we are going to honour God as He deserves. The Lord Jesus said: “Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it” (Mat.10:37-39).
When we want God to take notice of us, then we will have to think of Him so highly and love Him so deeply that we are willing to live only with Him. All the other things or people we may also love will have to be less important to us than God. Why the worship of God today has become so controversial in the church is because people do not know the richness and beauty of God well enough to want only Him. They also want the entertainment, the music, the singers, the testimonies, and the stories and experiences of themselves and other people. But that’s what happens when people do not know God well enough to be satisfied with Him alone.
And when we don’t know God then we will not have a sense of unworthiness either. Nor will we have a humble dependence on Him. And neither will we grieve about our imperfect obedience to God’s perfect will. There is too much of ourselves in the centre. It’s inevitable. When we cannot see that God is all-sufficient for us, then we will place Him on the edge, on the perimeter of our lives, and the centre of our lives will be filled up with ourselves.
It’s then that people begin to congratulate themselves. There is no humility before God anymore. They are full of themselves. They have no eye for God’s full and wonderful being. They have more eyes for themselves. They notice themselves and they want others to notice them. And when one day they discover that God has stopped taking notice of them, then they are confused, angry and disappointed with God. A humble repentance and a laying in the dust before God will restore their fellowship with God, but if they can no longer throw themselves at God’s feet and worship only Him, then they depart from God for they have become spiritually empty.
Yes, anything the Christian church does which puts the Christian in the centre, is taking away from the glory and honour of God. And God, who is holy, will simply not stand for it. He will take His presence away from us. The only way God takes notice of us is when we honour Him alone for what He is and for what He has done in Christ. And that is what the praise of God ought to be all about.
And now you can understand also why many Christians are deeply unhappy when, at gatherings organised by Christians, they see more of the world than of God.
Amen.