Watch Salvation Unfold!

4th Sunday in Advent, 12/20/20 Luke 1:26-38 Watch Salvation Unfold! I. A gracious choice II. A miraculous birth III. An astounding faith Some of you can recall a time when our viewing options were very limited. In fact, in some cases there weren’t any options available at all. What do I mean? Well, imagine watching a live sporting event on TV without instant replay being available. “What was that? Was it fair or foul? Did he step on the line or not? Was it a fumble? Was he safe or out?” Asking questions like those was almost pointless because you weren’t going to get the opportunity to see that play a second time and certainly not in slow motion. Or imagine not being able to enlarge a photo right on the spot. We do it digitally all the time today, but that wasn’t the case a few decades ago. Back then: Here’s the photo; if you can’t quite make something out, well, that’s the way it goes. Today marks the beginning of Christmas week, our celebration of the greatest birth in all of history. No doubt, if that birth had taken place here on this week in 2020, there would be videos of what occurred. Think about it. If you were Mary living in 2020 and Gabriel appeared to you, wouldn’t you have immediately grabbed your cell phone to record the event? Of course you would! But that didn’t occur. Instead of having digital footage of what occurred, we have the verbally inspired account from Luke. And, since this is the written word of God, we can pause and ponder it at any point we’d like. So, as we make final preparations to celebrate the birth of Christ, let’s do that. Let’s watch salvation unfold as we ponder this account of the angel Gabriel appearing to Mary to announce to her God’s plans for her. Watch it and be filled with wonder and amazement all over again! Part I. With fewer than two weeks left in 2020, selection committees are already busy doing their work. The college football playoff committee has been busy for weeks. But other committees will gather to discuss the best and the worst of 2020. And they’re going to have their work cut out for them because, as with everything else this year, COVID-19 will come into play. And yet the criteria these committees use to make their determinations won’t change. Just as in years past, this will be the all-encompassing factor: who deserves to be selected. That factor wasn’t at all on the mind of God as he made one of the most important choices in the history of his dealings with sinful human beings. We have before us the account of how God selected Mary to be the mother of the world’s only Savior from sin. But that selection had nothing to do with how deserving Mary was. Luke describes this astounding selection matter-of-factly. Listen again to the opening verses of our text, “In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, ‘Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.’” Certainly, Mary possessed the pre-requisites. Luke lays one of them before us when he declares that Mary was a descendant of King David. Perhaps you made the connection between what Luke tells us here and what God promised to King David in today’s first lesson from 2 Samuel. There God stated clearly that the Savior who would rule forever would be David’s descendant. Mary filled the bill. What’s more, as Luke and Mary both state, she was a virgin. That made it impossible for Joseph or any other male human being to be her Child’s father. This would be no ordinary Child. We’ll talk more about that in a minute. But surely there were other virgin, female descendants of King David alive at this time. Why did the Lord select Mary? Listen to Gabriel explain it once again. “You are highly favored.” Later he would add, “You have found favor with God.” God favored her. That’s God’s grace. Mary didn’t deserve to become the mother of the Savior. God chose her simply out of his undeserved favor. He chose her because of who he is and not because of who Mary was. That’s the only reason God deals favorably with any sinful person. He is gracious. Watch salvation unfold: a gracious choice. While this was an astounding choice, it’s not all that uncommon. In fact, God makes that choice every day this world exists. He chooses sinners to be his own not because they deserve it, but because he is gracious. That’s why he chose you to be one of his children, a member of his Church. He didn’t select you because he looked ahead into your life and saw what a fine Christian record you’d compile. The truth is, he saw your life exactly, and it’s no different from any other human’s—it a compilation of sinful days, an unbroken string of sinful days. But in his astounding love for you he chose you, brought you to faith in Jesus as your Savior, and destined you for eternal life with him in heaven. That’s your salvation story. Watch salvation unfold: a gracious choice. Part II. I mentioned selection committees and their work a minute ago. One or more of them will work on selecting the greatest events of 2020. If you were given the task of selecting the greatest event for this year, which would it be? Given how difficult this year has been, would you even be able to think of one worthy of the honor? Up until this point in history, this event described for us here in Luke 1 is the greatest event ever. After thousands of years of waiting, God was nearly at the point of bringing the Savior into the world. Gabriel told Mary, “You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High.” Those two sentences are filled with salvation information. Mary would give birth to a son. That would mean her child would be fully human, just as she was with one huge exception: he would not be born with a sinful nature inherited from Mary. Indeed, the Savior would be a physical descendant of King David as God had promised. Further, Mary was instructed to give him the name Jesus. An angel would later give Joseph the same instruction, with the added information, “He will save his people from their sins” (Mt. 1:21). The name “Jesus” means “the Lord saves.” That’s what this Child would do. But that wasn’t all. He would be “the Son of the Most High.” Jesus was not only fully human, he was also fully God. He was the Son of God in human flesh and blood. It’s what we call the Incarnation—God coming in the flesh. Finally, Gabriel informed Mary, “The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.” God had promised David a descendant who would rule forever, and now he fulfilled it. Jesus would establish a kingdom that would last forever, and he would rule over it. And by God’s grace, you are a member of that kingdom by faith in Jesus. Watch salvation unfold: a miraculous birth. This is the greatest news ever told. Tragically, people try to spin this news just as they do with other accounts. I’m sure you’ve heard the attempts already. They often come set to music. People try to spin what Christmas means. I’m confident you won’t do that with this tremendous portion of salvation history. But, given our current situation, you just might conclude that this Christmas wasn’t nearly what you had hoped it would be, as if Christmas depends on what you or others make it to be. God willing, this Thursday evening and this Friday morning we’ll listen again to the account of our Savior’s birth exactly as the Bible describes it. That’s what Christmas is—the birth of Jesus your Savior. Decide now to simply take that message to heart, pondering the truth that Jesus is exactly the Savior from sin that you need—one who is your holiness before God and one who takes the punishment for your sins away. One who gives you eternal life in heaven. Watch salvation unfold: a miraculous birth. Part III. There are times when we can’t believe the account being presented to us by the media or a friend. It’s simply unbelievable. So, what’s your reaction to this account? Let it be exactly like Mary’s. Listen again to her reaction, “I am the Lord’s servant. May it be to me as you have said.” Only someone with an amazing faith would reply as she did. Gabriel had just told her that God would do the impossible—cause a virgin to conceive. Unbelievable1! But Mary believed it. She not only believed it, she was also willing to do her part to make it happen. Even though this pregnancy rocked her world and even jeopardized her marriage to Joseph, she was willing to be the mother of the Savior. What a tremendous responsibility! Only God can create faith and nurture faith. He had worked in Mary an astounding faith. Watch salvation unfold: an astounding faith. God wants to work that same amazing faith in you and Christmas gives him another opportunity to do so. Don’t merely celebrate Christmas this year; ponder what it means to you. It’s God’s plan of salvation unfolding, and he has included you in that plan when he brought you to faith in the Child of Bethlehem as your Savior. Your reaction to Christmas is believing what Jesus has done to save you from sin. This Christmas is another opportunity for the Lord Jesus to bring you closer to him by faith. May it be just that! Amen.