Christmas calls us to give more of ourselves as an act of worship that impacts others...

During these days that lead up to Christmas, we are spending our time together in a sermon series entitled the advent conspiracy. During this series, we are looking at an account of the Christmas story that is recorded for us in our Bibles called the gospel of Luke. This week, we are looking at the response of Mary to the announcement of her pregnancy with Jesus.

Wednesday, we saw the Angel Gabriel, announce to a Jr. High virgin named Mary that she would give birth in a supernatural and creative way to God who would be entering into humanity. Just as God would bring forth life from that which had been unable to bring forth life, God was going bring forth life from what had previously never attempted to bring forth life. Today, we will see Luke record Mary’s response in Luke 1:38: 

And Mary said, "Behold, the bondslave of the Lord; may it be done to me according to your word." And the angel departed from her.

When Mary uses the word bondslave, this word was used to refer to a female slave. Mary is saying “the Lord is large and in charge, I am willing to do whatever God desires me to do and go through. I place my trust in God and embrace the role that He has given me”.  Now, when we read Mary’s words here, a natural reaction is to say “well of course she would say that. I mean what a privilege. Look at the blessings that she is going to experience to be the mother of Jesus”. So I want to take a minute to look at all the blessings that Mary would have been thinking about and would have experienced as a result of being the mother of Jesus.

First off, let’s imagine the blessings that Mary experienced as she explained to those in the small rural town that she lived in how she became pregnant. Imagine yourself as Mary attempting to explain your pregnancy as a 12-13 year old Jr. High girl:  “How did I become pregnant? Oh, you would not believe what happened. An angel named Gabriel showed up one night and explained that I was pregnant by the Holy Spirit and that I was going to deliver the Messiah”. Can you imagine the response she received: “Yah, sure, isn’t that great. Holy Spirit, Messiah”. “Sinner, Scarlet Letter”.

Second, imagine the blessings that Mary experienced as she explained her pregnancy to Joseph. In another account of Jesus life that is recorded in the Bible called the book of Matthew, we discover that Joseph, being a righteous man, was just going to divorce her quietly instead of having her stoned, as the Law allowed. That is until he had his own encounter with the angel of the Lord.

Third, imagine all the blessings that come from living a life that will be stigmatized and dramatically altered forever as a result of this pregnancy. Imagine trying to have a marriage that is surrounded by the gossip, slander, and rejection. We know that to be the case because later in life, self righteous religious people actual confronted Jesus by stating “we were not born of fornication”. In other words they were saying “at least we know who our dad is; at least we are not a bastard child”.

And fourth, imagine the blessings that Mary experienced as she watched her first born son grow up to be rejected, despised, and suffer the most humiliating and painful death possible, which was crucifixion. So do we really think that Mary was counting all her blessings as she received this message from God? Yet Mary’s response was to say “Lord, you are large and in charge, I am willing to do whatever You desire me to do and go through.” A few verses later, we see the full extent of Mary’s response to God’s message through the Angel Gabriel in Luke 1:46:

And Mary said: "My soul exalts the Lord, And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior. "For He has had regard for the humble state of His bondslave; For behold, from this time on all generations will count me blessed. "For the Mighty One has done great things for me; And holy is His name. "AND HIS MERCY IS UPON GENERATION AFTER GENERATION TOWARD THOSE WHO FEAR HIM. "He has done mighty deeds with His arm; He has scattered those who were proud in the thoughts of their heart. "He has brought down rulers from their thrones, And has exalted those who were humble. "HE HAS FILLED THE HUNGRY WITH GOOD THINGS; And sent away the rich empty-handed. "He has given help to Israel His servant, In remembrance of His mercy, As He spoke to our fathers, To Abraham and his descendants forever."

Mary’s response to God’s message was one of worship. And her response of worship resulted in her giving her life to the role that she had been given in God’s kingdom mission. All of the plans that she had when it came to how she and Joseph were going to spend their lives together were suddenly and radically changed forever. Instead of spending her life for her mission, she gave her life for that advancement of God’s mission in a way that would radically impact all of humanity.

And it is in this story that we see what Christmas calls us to. It is in the response of Mary that we see what the countdown to Christmas is all about. You see, Advent, the countdown to Christmas calls us to give more of ourselves as an act of worship that impacts others. Where we can get off track, however, is when we lose sight of what happened that first Christmas.

The first Christmas was marked by giving, not spending. Instead of spending, Mary spent that first Christmas taking the first steps along a journey of giving her life for the advancement of God’s mission by giving birth to God in a supernatural and unique way that would radically impact all of humanity. Instead of spending, Jesus spent that first Christmas taking His first breathes as God in a bod that would lead Him to give His life by allowing Himself to be treated as though He lived our selfish and sinful lives, so that God the father could treat us as though we lived Jesus perfect life. However, we can find ourselves getting off track by focusing on the culture’s call to spend more during the countdown to Christmas.

Instead of spending more, what would happen if we spent the countdown to Christmas by giving more of ourselves as an act of worship that impacts others? What would happen if instead of spending more money that we do not have in order to impress people with gifts that they probably won’t even remember, we gave more of the time, talents, and treasure that we do have to impact the lives of others?

Now you might be wondering “What are you talking about? What do you mean spend less and give more? Who or what am I supposed to give more to in order to impact more?” If that question is running through your mind, let me give you three practical ways that you can spend less and give more during the countdown to Christmas. The first way is by adopting a child or family through the Angel Tree program. Angel Tree because provides a practical way to give more to local families who are suffering as a result of the incarceration of a family member in a way that provides the opportunity to develop an ongoing relationship that can impact that family.

A second way is by partnering with Living Water International in its efforts to end the clean water crisis. With more than a billion people lacking access to clean water and sanitation, the need to support those who are bringing new hope to these communities by drilling wells is both apparent and critical. A third way is by partnering with International Justice Mission in its efforts to bring rescue to victims of slavery, sexual exploitation and other forms of violent oppression.

So here is the challenge for us as individuals and as a church during this countdown to Christmas. This Christmas season, would you become a part of the Advent conspiracy by giving more of yourself as an act of worship that impacts others? Would you spend less and give more by leveraging your time, talents, and treasure to one of these efforts?