The Kind of Woman God Chose

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This is a sermon about Mary the mother of Jesus. It attempts to describe the qualities of the woman God chose as the mother of the Messiah.

Written Excerpts:

Introduction: 

There was a little boy standing in front of his mother ready to give a report of some incident he had recently been involved with. He began with these words, “Before I tell you what happened, Mom, remember… the Lord will never give you more than you can handle.” I’m sure that most of us would agree that the calling of mother­hood often involves dealing with circumstances that seem to be more than what one can handle. Motherhood is a high calling, and it is often a difficult challenge.

About 1 ½ years ago, we had a guest speaker here for Sanctity of Human Life Sunday. His name was Brian Beal from Pro-Life of Mercer County. While he was here he mentioned the important connection between the incarnation of Jesus Christ and the sacredness of human life in the womb.

Many years earlier I too had considered the significance of God choosing to bring His Son into this world through the means of normal childbirth. When God the Father decided to send His only Son into our world, He did not send Him as a grown man to be a king, a ruler, etc. but He sent Him as a baby.  When God chose to enter human history He chose childbirth and Motherhood as the vehicle for that world-changing event. In thinking about this fact, I began to ponder the qualities of the woman God chose to be the mother of the Messiah.

Today, as we recite some of the implications in Scripture that describe the qualities of the Mother of Jesus, I hope that not only the mothers (and prospective mothers) in the audience, but every one of us will also seek to possess and develop these same qualities in our lives.

I am not presenting these qualities in any particular order, but simply listing several traits about Mary that I find in these verses.

I.  She was morally pure.  (v. 27, 34)

A. The virgin birth was necessary for redemption. 

Many theologians have emphasized the point that the Messiah could not be the son of Joseph or He would have inherited the sin nature that all humanity inherited from Adam. (Romans 5:12)

However, we still believe that it is important to remember that…

B. God puts a high premium on moral purity.

Much is said in the Scriptures about purity, virtue, and moral character.

We know that God, in His marvelous grace, at various times throughout biblical history, chose to override the sinfulness of mankind and use people who had not always been morally pure. However, whenever we read direct commands and instructions from God to man, we find that God always expects virtue and moral purity in His people.

When God looked for a young woman to be the mother of the Messiah, God chose a woman that was morally pure. God still seeks people who will exemplify His character by living a life that is virtuous, morally pure and full of integrity.

II. She was filled with humility. (Lk. 1:48, 51b-52)

The Bible makes it pretty clear that God did not choose a woman of public importance and prestige. He did not choose a woman that “had everything going for her.”

Mary’s attitude as expressed in her song of praise in Luke 1 indicates that she was a very humble person and as such, was grateful for God’s grace and favor. She never gave any indication that she thought she deserved the privilege and favor she had been shown.

The Lord is still looking for people who are humble enough for Him to use them and pour His grace and favor upon them.

“God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” James 4:6.

III.  She was committed to the sacredness of life.

I don’t recall anything in Scripture or in secular accounts that would indicate that abortion was common back in this time in Jewish history. In fact, with the exception of the periods of the Kings in the OT when many kings forsook the ways of God, the people of Israel would have stood out distinctly from the pagans around them in their respect for human life. So I imagine that a Jewish girl would not be pressured to “get rid of her problem” as we often hear today.

I realize that there are many young women today who have not compromised their conviction concerning the sanctity of human life.  But, I can’t help but think about how strong the pressure would be on a young woman to have an abortion if the incarnation were to have taken place in our society.

I believe that the woman God chose had a high regard for the sanctity of life, and so should we.

IV.  She was a woman who feared the Lord. (Lk. 1:50)

A.  A woman who fears the Lord (awe, reverence, respect) readily submits to the will of God.

Luke 1:38 (NKJV) Then Mary said, "Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word."

God is still seeking people who fear Him and are submissive to His will for their lives.

B.  A woman who fears the Lord is committed to the task given her by God.  See Lk. 2: 40-41

These verses simply state that “the Child grew and became strong in spirit, filled with wisdom; and the grace of God was upon Him. ⁴¹  His parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover.

God gives grace and blesses those who are committed to serving Him in whatever responsibilities He may give them.

C.  A woman who fears the Lord is to be praised. 

Prov. 31:30 “Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that fears the Lord shall be praised.”

In Mary’s song of praise recorded in Luke 1:46ff, she mentions the fact that “all generations will call me blessed.” It certainly seems evident that God chose a woman that feared Him and because of that, she obeyed, submitted and faithfully carried out her assignment. Now, she is an example of the Proverb, she is praised for her example.

Let each of us fear the Lord and walk with Him in submission and obedience.

Conclusion:

In closing, I just want to encourage mothers to make sure you keep these qualities in the highest priority in your life.  They are things that I believe were important to God when He chose Motherhood.

I also would challenge the rest of us to make sure that we obey the instructions of God’s Word and “praise the woman who fears the Lord.” 

Whatever You Do

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This is a message based on Colossians 3:23. It was used for a sermon focusing on graduates and their plans for the future. It emphasizes the importance of finding something to do and do it for the Lord.

Written Excerpts:

Introduction:

Several days ago this passage was included in the daily devotional book that I am reading through this year. When I read it along with the comments provided by the book’s author, I immediately felt that it would provide a good text for today and our emphasis on honoring our graduates. My message today is primarily directed to our young people in the congregation and especially to the graduates. But I think that what God has laid on my heart will be good food for thought for the rest of you as well.

Now, I know that all of the graduates and other students here today have already heard plenty of speeches and lectures, not only this school year, but all of your lives. So I know I’m stretching your patience by asking you to listen to one more. I want you to know that I’ve discovered that preachers and professors or teachers have something very much in common…

W.H. Auden said, “A professor is a person who talks in someone else’s sleep.” I am sure this applies to preachers as well. In fact, I’ve seen it happen on many occasions during my years of ministry! J

For many graduates as well as those nearing graduation, the question most often asked of them is, “What are you going to do after you’re done with school?” Or, “What are you going to be?” We all presume that every child, experiencing normal growth and development, will reach the point in life when he or she will move from the period of preparation into the period of performance, and from simply receiving to contributing.

Most of us understand that one of the main points of education is for each of us to learn something that can enable us to make a living. Yet, we must also remember that God is not only concerned that we learn how to make a living, but that we learn how to live. For, as Theodore Roosevelt stated, “A man who has never gone to school may steal from a freight car; but if he has a university education, he may steal the whole railroad.”

For the next several minutes I want to direct your attention to the passage of Scripture found in Colossians 3:23 in order to discover some basic principles God has given us regarding our lives, our education and our work.

There are three simple principles that I see in this text. Find something to do. Do it with passion. Do it with purpose.

I. Find something to do.

As I have already indicated, it is assumed that every normal human being should be productive and provide some positive contribution to his/her family, community and society.

In various sermons that I have previously given I have tried to show from Scripture that our individual worth and value does not derive from our work or what we do. Our value and intrinsic worth is rooted in the fact that we are created in the image of God.

However, Scripture does promote the sanctity of work and labor. The Bible promotes the idea that every person must work to eat, unless, of course, there are mental/physical disabilities that prevent them. Work is something that God plans for all of us to do.

In this verse, we find the phrase, “Whatever you do…”

If you read the context of this passage, you will discover that the Apostle Paul is giving instructions for how people can demonstrate the grace of God in their relationships and behaviors. He discusses marriage relationships; family (parent-child) relationships; and work (servant/master; employer/employee) relationships. The specific phrase we are looking at appears in the verses that deal with servant-master relationships (which would parallel most closely with our modern employer-employee relationships).

Paul, in this context, is saying, “In your day-to-day labor, whatever you do…” The underlying assumption is that every one of his readers/hearers would be involved in some kind of productive activity.

So my first point to you today, especially young people, is find something to do. God has gifted you and provided you with unique talents, skills and abilities to be used for His glory. Recognize the fact now that God condemns sloth and laziness. God has a place for you to fill and a job for you to do. He never intended for your parents or your community or your government to take care of your every need for the rest of your life. There is dignity in work and in labor. Find something to do. Even if you can’t find the job of your dreams, or the salary you want, or all the fringe benefits you think you deserve.

It is amazing to me sometimes to observe the amount of effort and “work” that some people will expend trying to get out of work!

II. Do it with passion.

When you find something to do, do it with passion.

Paul said, “Whatever you do, do it heartily…”

“Do” – the second word “do” is different from the first one, and it primarily carries the idea of labor or working at something. Literally, “Whatever you do, work/labor at it heartily…”

“Heartily” – a compound word that can literally be translated, “out of your soul.” This seems to give the idea of doing something with everything in that is in us; with our whole being.

I must admit that I have not always found it easy to live up to this, but my parents and a host of other influential people in my life have often told me, “Anything worth doing at all is worth doing my best.” I’m sure I have failed to accomplish this goal at times. But that doesn’t reduce the truth of it.

Paul seems to be saying the same thing here. Whatever you do, do it heartily; do it with everything you’ve got; do it with your whole being.

I’ve already admitted that it’s not always easy to live up to this ideal. It’s not always easy to have the heart and soul to do our best in everything we set ourselves to do. But, the last phrase in this verse helps us in that regard.

III. Do it with purpose.

One of the reasons why it is sometimes difficult to do our best at whatever task we are doing is the fact that we can’t see the purpose in it. We sometimes can’t see the value of it or the good in it. In fact, I’ve often read stories and opinions regarding the fact that there are few things that can mentally and physically break a man down any quicker than giving him meaningless work to do; tasks that have no point or value or purpose.

Paul helps clear up that aspect by admonishing Christians to do their work “as to the Lord, and not to men.” This must have been a particularly great challenge to the servants to whom he was directing these comments. Paul was saying to them that they were to perform their duties as if they were doing them for the Lord, and not merely for men or for their masters.

I don’t have the time, nor is my purpose now, to discuss the issue of slavery or servitude that is taken for granted in this passage. That is a discussion better suited for a completely separate sermon or Bible study. But the point is that when a servant performs his / her duties, he / she must act as if they are doing it for the Lord and not for a man.

Having this kind of mindset while performing the tasks required gives the worker adequate purpose for his job. “My purpose in doing this task is to please Christ and glorify my Father in heaven.”

Illustration – I was being interviewed by a man one time for a position in his company. He told me right up front that most of the time he was not very thrilled to hear someone recommend a prospective employee by saying, “He is a good Christian man.” Why? He had known too many “good Christian people” who were not good workers.

I don’t know if any of you have ever had this experience or not, but there have been times in my life when I had a job to do that was not particularly inspiring or enjoyable. I remember sometimes when I was tempted to do my work half-heartedly or even shoddy. But then I would remember some scripture verse or I would hear the voice of the Spirit reminding me that the Lord was watching me and taking notice of my performance.

Example: Cleaning the kitchen as my work-hour assignment at Bible College. “He that knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.” Uh-oh. Now, all of the sudden, I’m not just cleaning to satisfy the campus work director or the head cook. Now I recognize that I am cleaning to satisfy the Lord! J

What Paul is saying is essentially this, “When you’re cleaning kitchens, you’re cleaning Jesus’ kitchen.” When you’re balancing ledgers, you’re balancing Jesus’ ledgers. When you’re laying cement blocks, you’re laying Jesus’ blocks.

Dear friends, young and old, we must remember that we serve the Lord in all areas of life. Everything we do is a service to the Lord. All we do is offered to God as a sacrifice of worship. Yes, we worship Him by singing and praying on Sunday morning, but we also worship Him by working Monday through Friday or Saturday, whatever the case may be.

If we remember this truth, it will give us a higher purpose for our work, our ministry and our service than we could ever get from any other source.

Conclusion:

My advice for our graduates, our young people and everyone in general is simply this: Find something to do; do it with passion; and do it with the purpose of pleasing God.

In order to do that, we need the guidance and direction that only comes from God through His Holy Spirit.

Keen Ears and Victorious Ending

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This is the final message in a series of sermons covering the messages from Christ to the seven churches in Asia, Revelation 2-3. The message discusses two phrases that Jesus repeats to each of the seven churches: "He who has ears, let him hear;" and "To him who overcomes I will...."

Written Excerpts:

We are wrapping up a series of messages that we have been doing for a few months. We started out with a couple of introductory messages from Revelation chapter one, then moved into the seven letters sent to the churches in Asia. These “letters” consisted of messages from the risen and glorified Christ to each of the seven churches that existed in the seven cities of the province of Asia (modern-day Turkey).

Last time we talked about the message to the seventh church – Laodicea. Now, today, I want to conclude the series by looking at a couple of phrases that appear in all seven messages.

The two phrases are these: “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” And, “To him who overcomes I will…”

I thought I would present these together for this concluding message since they appear in all seven of the messages that the Lord sends out to the churches.

With the help of God’s Spirit I want to talk to you today about the importance of and possibility of… hearing God’s voice and being victorious in our spiritual journey.

The two main thoughts I want to explore today are expressed in the title of the sermon are: I. Keen Ears and II. Victorious Ending

Let us talk first about the phrase that Jesus uses when he urges the readers to use their ears to hear the message they’ve received.

I. Keen Ears

The phrase, “He who has ears, let him hear…” is actually a very familiar phrase that Jesus used during his earthly ministry. The phrase appears a few times in the gospels. For example: Matthew 11:15 He who has ears to hear, let him hear! Matthew 13:9 "He who has ears, let him hear." Mark 4:23; 7:16

These phrases are talking about spiritual perception or spiritual hearing. Spiritual hearing (eyesight) is another way of referring to spiritual understanding. (See 1 Cor. 2:14 “The natural man receives not the things of the Spirit of God… neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned.”)

The phrase seems to be connected to the passage in Isaiah 6:9-10

The main point that stands out to me in all these texts is this: To the person who purposes or strives to hear and learn about God and spiritual truths, God will grant an ever-increasing ability to hear and understand spiritual truths. But, to the person who refuses or neglects to hear and learn about God’s truth or message, God will make his spiritual hearing even more dull and his spiritual understanding even more unenlightened.

The message to take away from this is simply that every one of us has an awesome responsibility regarding the messages that the Holy Spirit gives to us and we must earnestly seek to hear (understand) what God says to us through His Word and by His Spirit. God provides most of us with multiple opportunities to be exposed to truth and light, but what we do with each opportunity will determine the level of understanding God will open up to our minds in the future.

II. Victorious Ending

The second main thought I noticed in each of these messages stems from the phrase, “He who overcomes….”

I want you to notice that this phrase introduces promises made by the Lord to everyone who overcomes the obstacles, barriers, opposition and everything else they may face that would hinder their spiritual success. A couple of these congregations were not reproved for any wrong actions or attitudes, but they are encouraged with promises if they overcome the persecution and adversity that they were experiencing. The rest of the congregations were warned about the defects and deficiencies in the practice of their faith. They had some serious problems that needed direct attention or else. In all of these cases, they were promised certain advantages and blessings if they would overcome the blatant faults and return to a genuine obedience to the Word of God.

There are several different promises made by the Lord, but the main point I want to emphasize is the fact that Jesus is proclaiming the possibility of victory, even in the face of some alarming conditions. Never forget, dear friends, that God is able to give us the victory no matter what we are facing. Whether we are facing persecution and opposition from the enemies of the cross, or whether we are facing the deadly effects of compromise, worldliness and spiritual drift, we can overcome by the power of God and the blood of Christ. We can overcome by the supernatural presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives. God has given us everything we need to be victorious in the end. We need not fail; we need not lose.

Here are the seven promises God gives to the seven churches. (Most of these interpretations have been borrowed from William Barclay)

A. Eat from the Tree of Life. (2:7)

Appears to be an obvious comparison and analogy with the tree of life mentioned in Genesis. Adam and Eve were banished from the Garden of Eden to be prevented from eating of this tree (Gen. 3:22). A benefit denied because of sin will be restored because of salvation.

B. Not be hurt by second death. (2:11)

The second death is defined in Revelation 20:14 (NKJV)
¹⁴  Then Death and Hades [hell, KJV] were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.

Revelation 21:8 (NKJV)
⁸  But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death."

C. Given hidden manna, a white stone, and a new name. (2:17)

The Jews had a common idea that the Messiah would discover a pot of hidden manna that, according to legend, had been in Solomon’s Temple, but hidden by the prophet Jeremiah when the temple was destroyed. So to them, “eating of the hidden manna” meant to enjoy the blessings of the Messianic age. (Barclay)

Stone; name – many, many interpretations have been suggested.

Someone [Barclay] has stated that perhaps the most meaningful way to understand it is to remember that the color white is very significant in Revelation. For example, white garments (3:5), white robes (7:9), white linens (19:8, 14), and white throne (20:11). 

In the OT and NT people who had significant encounters with God were given new names to represent the change in their characters and their lives. So, here Christ may be indicating to these people that the white stone and new name represent the new heavenly life, cleansed from all earthly stain and a new status as a member of the heavenly throng.

D. Given authority to rule and “morning star.” (2:26-28)

Authority to rule – this resembles some of the statements that Jesus made to the disciples during his earthly ministry. There are other references near the end of Revelation that speaks of the saints ruling. It seems to imply that the people of God who overcome will in some form or fashion be given responsibilities to oversee, rule or govern certain portions/ aspects of God’s creation.

Morning star – this is a name given to Jesus himself (22:16). Some seem to think the phrase is a reference to the overcoming believers coming to “full possession” of Christ without any of the hindrances of earth.

E. Clothed in white, name not blotted from book, and name confessed before the Father and the angels. (3:5)

White clothing in various contexts or settings can represent festivity, victory and purity. All of these are characteristics of the believers in Jesus who have remained true to the end.

Book of Life - Revelation 20:12, 15 (NKJV) ¹²  And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books. ¹⁵  And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.      Revelation 21:27 (NKJV) ²⁷  But there shall by no means enter it anything that defiles, or causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb's Book of Life.

It is a way of assuring the victorious Christian that Christ will personally ensure that they are included in the congregation of the redeemed and assured a place in heaven.

Name confessed before angels – During his earthly ministry, Jesus stated that whoever confessed Him before men, he would confess before His father. It means He agrees, Yes, this one is mine!

F. Made a pillar in temple, name of God and name of city written on them. (3:12)

Pillar – seems to be a reference to a position of honor. We are told that there was a practice among the pagans in Philadelphia to honor the priests who served the temples by writing their names on the pillars of the temple after they died.

Name of God – implying identity, ownership or possession.

Name of city – implying citizenship in the heavenly city.

G. Sit on throne with Christ. (3:21)

Another reference to the previous point “D” above (2:26-28). The overcomers will be granted some type of authority in the new order.

Conclusion:

Hear the words of Jesus, “To him who overcomes…”

Christ emphatically believes in the possibility of overcoming. He holds out the possibility to these first century congregations, and He still offers it to us.

Believers all over the world are overcoming tremendous opposition and obstacles.

I want us to leave the service today with two great truths ringing in our hearts:

1 - We must diligently train our ears to listen for the voice of the Spirit, and

2 - We must press on to victory. We must overcome everything that Satan tries to use against us whether it be opposition and persecution or compromise and errors.

Let’s close our service by singing a great song of victory: Victory in Jesus, # 353.