This sermon was delivered to St Oswald’s in Maybole,
Ayrshire, Scotland on the 23rd December 2012
(a Scottish Episcopal Church in the Dioceses of Glasgow and Dumfries).
Ezekiel 37:1-14 Romans 8:6-11 John 11:1-45 Psalm 130
Welcome
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Today is the forth Sunday of Advent and in Year C, and today we celebrate the Virgin Mary, the Madonna, the Mother of Christ and the theme of today's service is getting of attitude right before God. To start the service we will light the forth, the pink candle symbolising Joy and then we will have the peace.
We meet in Christ's name. Let us share his peace.
The Gospel Reading.
Hear the words of Our Lord Jesus Christ according to John 11 verses 1 verses 45. Glory to Christ our Saviour.
Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. ... ... ... and had seen what Jesus did, believed in him.
Give thanks to the Lord for his Glorious gospel. Praise to Christ our Lord.
“Please be seated, and join me in a short prayer.” Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of our hearts, be acceptable in your sight, O Lord. Amen. (Ps. 19:14)
Introduction
Yes it is nearly that time of year again, Christmas, you can not miss it. I mean, look at the build up to it; the expectation, the excitement and the great event itself; all promoted by the media and the shops.
And every year the message from Marketing is the same, and that is “what a wonderful Christmas this is going to be”, “make sure you stock up with everything, (preferable from us), as the more you buy, the more special it will be. The TV companies also like to get your attention in the hype, by showing all the great programs they will be broadcasting.
The reality for me is different. I normally work right up to Christmas Eve, and the next day is Christmas so I am still tired and I am still in work mode. Instead of it snowing outside, with everything white as on the Christmas card, it will be unusually mild, and most probably raining. Our presents are always agreed on long before December, to avoid that East Enders Christmas; so there is nothing special there for us.
I will usually get a row somewhere during the day for burning the Christmas dinner, and there will be plenty of left over’s that only the dog will want to eat; our dog loves Christmas. And then we settle to relax in front of the Television to watch one of the great movies they promised us; only to find it is a cartoon. I bought the DVD of the “Great Escape” years ago, but Christine will not let me watch it on Christmas day, but that is OK because I will not let her watch that Tom Cruise film; so forgive because I am a bit immune to the Christmas hype.
I still like Christmas though, but just before the birth of Jesus, there was also a hype; a similar sense of excitement and expectation; as the people felt something wonderful was about to happen; as the Scriptures had promised the coming of the Messiah, who would turn the world around, and deliver Israel from all her enemies.
And the rumours were rampant, that this would be very soon, but if those same people, who were so high with expectation, had gone to a backyard stable in the town of Bethlehem, they might have said, “Is that it? All that hype for this? A baby lying in a manger”?
But as you know, the reality turned out greater than the expectation. No one could have guessed how this child would change the world, nor the impact he would have on world history, and the change Jesus would make in people’s lives.
Not even Mary; who I am sure ... understood fully the difference her son would make. She did know he would be something special; for an angel had visited her and told her what was going to happen; and despite her fears, she said in Luke 1:38, “I am the Lord’s servant. May it be to me as you have said”?
She was obviously thinking about all of this for quite for a while, (and who wouldn’t be), because when she went to visit her cousin Elizabeth, her joy spilled into song.
I want us to look briefly this morning at this song, for there are three important truths I want to discuss; the three key statements Mary sang, the first was: “My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour”. Basically she begins by praising God for her salvation; and salvation means forgiveness.
Mary’s first response was to worship God for bringing forgiveness to the world. Mary’s song has been called The Magnificat from the Latin “My soul glorifies”, and this song is full of quotes from the Old Testament.
Now, scholars estimate that Mary was probably about thirteen years of age at this time, for betrothals commonly took place when a girl was thirteen, with the marriage taking place a year later. This being so, it shows Mary having an amazing maturity, and spiritual depth for her age, and this helps us to understand what kind of special person Mary was.
She obviously loved the Lord for he had done great things for her, and she understood in her humility, and that she did not deserve this special place of being the mother of the Messiah, for she said in Luke 1:48, “he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant”. Mary was a special person, but she herself still she needed a Saviour.
Now up until last week, I thought the story of Mary was quite simple and easily understood, but I was absolutely stunned when researching this sermon to find that many members of the Roman Catholic Church refer to the “immaculate conception,” as that of Mary. Please hear this one out as I had never heard this in a sermon before.
They are not talking about the conception of Jesus, as I thought they did, they believe that Mary herself was born without original sin, and therefore lived a sinless life; which explains why they hold her in such high esteem; and while we respect our Roman Catholic brothers and sisters in Christ, we ourselves believe that Mary needed a saviour just like us.
I was so disturbed in finding this out, that I went and spoke to some on my Catholic friends to enquire further, and yes they agreed on this doctrine, and said that it was decided so, following the reports that “Our Lady of Lourdes” had appeared to Bernadette on a total of eighteen occasions, and had told her herself, that she was “immaculately conceived”.
So if you think about this deeply, you will see we have a serious conflict as to who is correct. It still disturbs me, but as you know being an engineer, I will stick with logic, and the writings of the New Testament; including Paul and the writer of the Hebrews who fail to mention this, otherwise there would be many qualifications in their letters.
For example, Mary did not say, “My spirit rejoices in God the Saviour;” Mary said, “My spirit rejoices in God is my Saviour”. Do you see the difference; sinless people do not need a saviour.
I will give you another example, Romans 3:29 says, “for all have sinned and have fallen short of the glory of God”. If Mary was immaculately conceived then this verse would read “for all have sinned and have fallen short of the glory of God; except for Mary the mother of Jesus”; or something similar.
To me it is crystal clear that Mary was like the rest of us, (a son or daughter of Adam), and thereby needed a saviour in the same way that we need a saviour, the only difference being that Mary’s saviour was also her son. That in itself is an unparalleled privilege.
I know so many people who are not Christian, and who publically deny the church, religion and Jesus Christ; and through them, I not only see what they are missing, I can see the benefits of what we have in our saviour Jesus Christ.
It is a different way of looking at it, we have a personal saviour to forgive our sins, and sometimes we ourselves do not see it.
How do you get across to someone, that what-ever happens, that whenever we sin, we simply confess that sin to God and he forgives us? It sounds too good to be true, but you know, that is what 1 John 1:9 says: that “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness”.
It might be painful, or we would simply commit the same sins again, but we are cleansed from unrighteousness.
The second thing Mary sang was: “God has performed mighty deeds”, and the keyword here is victory. The mighty deeds that God was doing would overcome the world and turn the world up-side-down.
Mary sang about God scattering the proud. She said that he brought down rulers from their thrones and lifted up the humble. He fed the hungry, and sent the rich away with empty stomachs.
I watched a program on TV on Monday night there, Panorama, about the Barclay brothers, identical twin Billionaires, both knighted by the Queen, both respectable men of our society.
Yet it was instantly clear to me, that despite their great wealth, these men were not happy men. Yet in contrast, we in our humble capacities can worship God here this morning, and despites our problems and shortcomings, we can be at one with him, and at one with ourselves. What a difference a saviour can make!
Those Barclay brothers with all there billions, cannot buy the relationship we have with God. I am sure they have their problems the same as, but on a different scale, but they would benefit from knowing a God who loves them, just as we benefitted, and we need to be reminded of this for it is so easy for the world to get the better of us.
Through Jesus, God has turned the tables on the world. Those who were or are proud, those having power in this world to oppress others will be, and were scattered by God. Those who ruled with injustice will and have been pulled down from their thrones, and humble servants put in their place.
Those who used their wealth to oppress the poor will, and have lived in spiritual hunger, while those who are the poor of this world will, and have been filled with all the good things of God. You can see the beatitudes coming in here.
Luke 6:20 “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh”; and the rest of the beatitudes of course.
Jesus is our Saviour who righted the wrongs of the world, and gave those who are downtrodden great reason to rejoice. Jesus came for everyone, regardless of their status in the world, including the Virgin Mary. The humble are valued by God, but God can also accept the arrogant if they approach him in humility; few seldom do.
We must to come to God on his terms rather than our own. We must humble ourselves, confess our weakness and turn from our sin, so that God can bless us in his wholeness.
Christ therefore brings forgiveness and victory, but Mary also sang of something else and that the third thing Mary sang was: “God has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful to Abraham and his descendants forever, even as he said to our fathers”
What Mary was referring to was God’s covenant with Israel, one of the most important concepts in the Scriptures. A covenant is important because it means that God keeps his promises; even when it looks like nothing is happening; God is constantly at work behind the scenes and those who were expecting the Messiah, and growing weary in their wait, were blessed as they saw the promise of God come true.
Being in a covenant with God; a covenant where blood was shed, the blood of Jesus; we are a part of something bigger than ourselves; because God has bound himself to us in a loving faithful relationship. We are bound to God, and he is bound to us. God has made a solemn unbreakable promise to us, in Mathew 28:20 that he “is with us, even unto the end of the world”.
Jeremiah 31:33 says, “‘This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time,’ declares the LORD. ‘I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.’”
God has committed himself to us with an immutable bond. He is on our side. He is for us, not against us and ... anyone who threatens us must ultimately deal with him. His love has committed him to us in ways which we cannot now fully comprehend.
Because of what God has done, we worship him for his forgiveness, his victory over the world and the covenant he has made with us.
Our response therefore should be patterned after Mary’s: “Lord, here is my life. I will do whatever you want me to do. I will go wherever you want me to go. Make me your servant.”
Amen
Let us Pray
Father we thank you for Jesus, we thank you he came to this earth to save us from ourselves and deliver us unto you. We thank you also this morning for his mother Mary, who was special in your heart.
Father we take comfort in knowing Mary was born of Adam, that she was not sinless, and that she needed a saviour just like us. In fact sometimes we forget just how much we need Jesus, particularly when the world closes in, and clouds our judgement.
Father help us today, to be more like Mary in her response to you.
1. Let us worship you in gratitude for forgiving our sins, and let our souls glorify you like Mary sang.
2. Let us praise you for the great victories you have performed in this world, your mighty deeds; deeds that included delivering us from the evil one, and placing us straight into your loving arms.
3. And finally, let us exalt you for the covenant you made with us, that you are with us forever, that we belong to you and you are watching over us at all time ... having our best interests at heart.
Father there is so much we can thank you for, if we only knew. Grant us this day, an insight into your working in our lives, lift our spirits, and show us how you are changing us to be more and more like you.
Father we ask in Jesus name, Amen.
Note to the reader:
If you have been blessed by this sermon, or any of my sermons, I would be greatly honoured to receive an e-mail from you saying so; I like so many others need encouragement.
I often feel that to deliver a sermon one time to my congregation is such a waste; where as many more could be blessed by its message, after all, it is not for my glory but for his. I would therefore like my sermons to bless more people, preferably internationally and not only in a small part, of a small country called Scotland.
Simply let me know where you are in the world … and any other information you may want to share or be prayed for. I would also take it as a compliment for you to use my sermons in order to bless others in his almighty name. I do not even need acknowledged, but he does, and I will receive a blessing directly from him.
Thank you for taking the time to read, and I wish you "all the best" as we say in Scotland … and I pray that your endeavours in the Lord are equally blessed. Yours in Christ, Gordon McCulloch, Scotland.
Compiled By: Gordon McCulloch (Worship Leader),
St Oswalds Episcopal Church,
Maybole. Ayrshire.
Scotland. UK
KA19 8KF
E-Mail: gccmcculloch @ aol.com or through Sermon Central
