Luke 1:26-38
When God Has A Job For Us To Do
1. Does God have a job for you to do?
2. In Luke 1:26-38 God has a job for Mary to do. She did it!
Does God have a job for you to do?
I. IT’S GOD’S CHOICE, NOT OURS 1:26-29
It’s what He wants…where He wants…who He wants. It’s not about what we want…
where we want or who we want!
A nobody in a nothing town in the middle of nowhere going no place.
- The Place 26 God sent the angel Gabriel…He’s In Control!
- Gabriel ignored Jerusalem which was the religious center of a very religious world.
He ignored Judea which had been the heartland of God’s work for centuries. Galilee
was a mongrelized population.
- Gabriel came to Nazarethwhich was a non-place!
*Nazareth isn’t even mentioned in the Old Testament or in the writings of the Jewish historian Josephus.
*Nazareth was 70 miles NE of Jerusalem with 10-15,000 people. It was a soldiers headquarter, meaning it was full of Gentiles and Roman soldiers. It was a shoddy, corrupt, halfway stop between the port city of Tyre and Sidon.
*Nathaniel (John 1:46) “Can any good come out of Nazareth?”. It was a hot bed of moral corruption.
3. Where do you live? Where do you work? Where do you go to school? It may be an
unlikely place for God to send His messenger to give you a job to do…but He can!
- The Person 27
- Her Designation…a virgin espoused to Joseph She was a virgin. v. 34 give a further explanation of this verse…she knew not a man.
Espoused…she was betrothed to Joseph. This betrothal period usually lasted for one year. It took a bill of divorcement to cancel the agreement. There was no sexual contact, and usually the arrangement was made shortly after puberty. The book History of Joseph the Carpenter says she was 12. The Apocryphal book Gospel of the Birth of Mary says she was 14. She was most likely a young teenager.
- Her Distinction…Mary As a poor peasant girl she was most likely illiterate.
*Boys went to school from 5-12. Girls did not attend, but learned from their mothers. Her knowledge of Scripture would come from what she memorized from the synagogue.
*From all indicators, her life was not extraordinary. She would marry humbly, give birth to numerous poor children, never travel farther than a few miles from home.
3. Her Destiny (and that of her Son) Joseph of the house of David
*Jesus was the adopted son of Joseph. He called His name Jesus.
*Had the line from David continued, Joseph would have sat on the throne, and upon his
death Jesus would have been the rightful heir. Jerusalem was destroyed in 70 a.d.
along with the Temple and all the records. Jesus is the last one to prove His right to
throne. In v. 32 he is to be King!
- The Proclamation 28
The angel appears in a humble home of a peasant girl.
- Hail Mary, full of grace…the Catholic version led to many problems. It is God’s grace, not hers!
*She is not the dispenser of grace, resulting in prayer being offered to her.
*The Immaculate Conception dogma was initiated on Dec. 8, 1854 by Pope Pius IX which became Mary’s virgin birth not Jesus. It’s not her grace, it’s His!
*An example is Eph 1:6 His glorious grace is grace given to believers. Mary has found favor with God: she is the recipient of His grace (v. 28). She can therefore say in v. 47: “my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.” It’s all of grace!
2. The Lord is with thee…This is the dynamic power of God’s presence and the secret of
her and our success.
- Blessed art thou among women…She was chosen to be the mother of Jesus. It’s not
her choice! The Blessed Virgin Mary…she wasn’t sinless or perpetually without sexual relation: he knew her not until after she delivered.
- The Pondering 29
- She wasn’t troubled at his presence, but his greeting.
- She kept pondering the meaning of this greeting…what it would mean and what it would require of her. When God has a job for us to do…take time to reflect.
Does God have a job for you to do?
II. IT’S GOD’S CHARACTER, NOT OURS 1:30-33
It’s who He is, and not who we are…IT’S ABOUT HIM AND NOT ABOUT US!
- Know Who You Are 30-31a
- Fear Not…in and of herself, she was inadequate. She couldn’t pull it off.
- Favor…you are just the container...just the glove. It’s God’s grace!
- Future…behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring for a son…
*What does the Word of God say to you? What does it say about your situation?
*Lay hold of the promises of God. Base your life on God’s Word!
B. Know Who He Is 31b-33
1. The Greatness of His Mission 31b Thou shalt call His name Jesus. Matthew adds
(because it is a Gospel written to the Jews) the etymology of the word: for He shall
save His people from their sin. This baby didn’t come to decorate Christmas cards or
thrill merchants. This baby was God in the flesh, who came to die for our sins, so we could receive, believe and have eternal life!
2. The Greatness of His Majesty 32 He shall be great…this is heaven’s estimation. It
speaks of His holiness, power and influence.
*He shall be called the son of the highest…He is equal to Jehovah God. In Semitic
thought, a ‘son’ was a carbon copy of his father.
*The Lord God will give unto Him the throne of His father, David…He is the Messiah, King of the line of David. He is 100% God and 100% man.
3. The Greatness of His Might 33 He shall reign forever…His kingdom shall have no
end. He is eternal. In His 1st coming He offered the Kingdom, but it was rejected. One
day Jesus will come again as the conquering King. He will not come as a Lamb, but a
Lion!
Does God have a job for you to do?
III. IT’S GOD’S CAPABILITIES, NOT OURS 1:34-38
It’s what He can do, not what we can do!
- The Confusion 34 How shall these things be, seeing I know not a man?
- This is Mary’s own testimony. She had never had physical relations with a man.
- She interprets the angel’s message to mean that without the assistance of a husband she is about to conceive a son. How is this possible?
- With any job too big for us we ask: How? That illness…that family situation…that place of employment…with every job we must realize our inadequacy. IT’S NOT OUR STRENGTH, BUT HIS!
- The Conception 35 That holy thing which shall be born…he will be the very essence of God. God will keep Him from human contamination and sin!
- You can’t do it. God will do it through you.
- You are just the instrument!
- The Confirmation 36-37
- God has a track record of performing “How?”
- God is always working around us. Open your eyes and see what He’s doing in and through others.
- For with God nothing shall be impossible. You either have a BIG problem or a BIG God. The Bigger your God, the smaller your problem.
- The Consecration 38 Behold, the handmaid of the Lord…say, ‘Yes’ to God.
- Be it unto me according to thy Word…It’s not, ‘my will be done’, but ‘Thy will be done.’
- Availability…Abandonment…Absolute Surrender…it doesn’t mean we don’t think of the consequences. We trust Him to do what is best. Don’t expect to be filled or controlled by the Spirit if you are living in disobedience to God’s Word!
Does God have a job for you to do?
It’s what He wants…where He wants…with whom He wants.
It’s about Him, it’s not about us.It’s what He can do, not what we can do.
All we need to do is be available!