First given at the Lynnville (IL) UMC on December 22, 2002, the Scripture is from the 1rst Chapter of the Gospel of Luke, verses 26-38…
My ‘live’ video of it is at the end!
My mind is clearer now…at last…all too well…I can see where we all soon shall be.
If you strip away the myth from the man you will see where we all soon shall be.
Jesus, you’ve started to believe the things they say of you…
You really do believe this talk of God is true!
And all the good you’ve done will soon get swept away…
You’ve begun to matter more than the things you say!
With these words I began my very first Sunday morning sermon. In case you don’t recognize them, they are from the rock-opera Jesus Christ Superstar. I was fifteen years old and taking my first turn at the Church of Christ in Hartford.
We called it ‘mutual ministry’. What it meant was that each of us would take our turn leading the service and giving the sermon. It wasn’t that we couldn’t afford a preacher, but that our Elders didn’t see where one was called for in the scriptures. And the Church of Christ philosophy was that if the Bible doesn’t specifically tell you to do it, then don’t do it!
The way it worked was like this…the ‘leaders’ of our church were on a rotating, but flexible, schedule. Whoever’s name was up for that Sunday would be responsible for the day’s Services. He would take care of the greeting, news and announcements, either assign a song leader or pick out and lead the songs, line up people to help serve Communion (which we did every Sunday), ask for volunteers for prayers or lead them himself, and serve Communion. Then he would ask if anyone had anything prepared that they would like to share. Sometimes someone would get up and do the teaching. (I recall one very elderly gentleman, who always attended but never took part in anything, getting up one Sunday and taking the pulpit with a ‘prepared sermon’ from a magazine in his hand. He began to read, “It all started with the Beatles!…” and went on to decry rock music in particular, and young people in general. I can only imagine what he thought of my topic!) But on this particular Sunday I had asked in advance for an opportunity to speak and had worked some time on what I wanted to say.
After quoting those words, I stated where they were from and that, while I did not accept the entire opera, I felt that parts of it could be used for learning. I went on, then, to concentrate on some of the teachings of Jesus, the ‘Things that He said!’ I quoted a number of His teachings and wrapped up with these very words…
“I should be at peace with my fellowman because, if I love him, how can I fight Him?
“I should be at peace with myself because, if I am satisfied with what I’ve got, how can I want anything?
“I should be at peace with God because, if I love Him above all else, I will do as he directs.
How can you get more out of life?
Be at peace with yourself…
Be at peace with your brother…
Be at peace with God… through… LOVE!
Yes, friends, it was the late 60’s and I was standing in a Church of Christ pulpit and preaching about peace and love… can you dig it? Those who have listened to my more recent sermons or read any of my articles might be somewhat surprised to hear of me being so ‘radical’ back then! But the truth of the matter is, I believed just as strongly then in the basic truths of the Bible as I do today! And that means that I sometimes find myself at odds with what ‘current’ thought or tradition might be… I am very often not ‘politically correct’… because the teachings of Jesus should still mean the same thing today as they did when He first spoke them two-thousand-some years ago! My message today is a case-in-point.
There were two very strong men in the Hartford church as I was growing up, both of whom were Elders, who seemed to always be at odds with each other. I don’t recall ever hearing either of them say or teach anything that I couldn’t agree with, so I can’t say just where their differences lay. Looking back, I would guess that it was probably more about whether to direct the church’s energies outside of the church to strangers or inside to the congregation. Whatever it was, there seemed to be a ‘running battle’ between them, albeit a friendly one (generally). I can vividly recall one Sunday when the older of the two made the ‘offer of the pulpit’ to all present and seeing the other man crouching in his seat, but not rising. Upon hearing no volunteers, the first headed towards the pulpit. The moment he stepped behind it, the other man jumped up and made a big show of ‘driving’ him away to his seat. Everyone, including them, laughed, and he went on to give a very stirring lecture on the right and privilege that each of us has to stand behind that pulpit and express our ideas!
Both of these men taught me a lot over the years. The older man baptized me! But one of the more memorable things occurred one year when Christmas chanced to fall on a Sunday, and it was the younger man’s turn as leader. (They actually were very close in years. I am just using their age to differentiate them.)
On this Christmas Sunday morning, he talked about how all over the world people were celebrating the birth of our Lord, Jesus. Warriors talked of peace on this day. Enemies could lay down their weapons, at least for this one day, and shake hands. Families could be together. Differences could be overcome. Fences could be mended. The world was a different place on this one day…the day set aside to welcome the baby Jesus…our Lord…into this world.
And yet, as Christians, the birthday of Jesus really doesn’t mean anything. You see, it is not the BIRTH of Christ that saves us, but the DEATH of Christ on the cross.
In today’s verses we find the story of Gabriel bringing the news to Mary of how she will be the mother of God’s Son. It is a story that we are all very familiar with. We also all know of how Herod decreed an accounting of the people for tax purposes, which put Mary and Joseph in the city of Bethlehem, overcrowded from all of the others there for the same reason. So overcrowded, in fact, that the only room they could find was in a stable. So it was that when Mary gave birth to the baby Jesus that night, the Son of the Most High God was wrapped in swaddling clothes and placed in a manger. We know of these things, as well as the rest of the story, because Matthew and Luke elected to include them in their telling of the Gospel story. Why did they feel they were necessary? Because each of the things that led up to the birth of Christ and those that happened after were all foretold by the prophets…and these two writers wanted to make the point that by this birth, those prophecies were fulfilled…this was, indeed, the promised Messiah!
There is one other very important lesson we can garner from our story of Mary today. Let me read this from the Life Application Commentary…
Luke places the story of the announcement of Jesus’ birth right after the announcement of John’s birth. By doing so, he highlights the similarities and differences between the two births. The announcement of John the Baptist’s birth shows the Lord answering the prayer of an elderly couple by blessing the barren womb of Elizabeth with a healthy child. The announcement was public (in the temple), to an important official (the priest Zechariah), and an occasion for public rejoicing. In contrast, the announcement of Jesus’ birth was in private, to a person of low social station in ancient Israel (a young woman), and an occasion for Mary to recommit herself to God’s will. Where John the Baptist was described by Gabriel as “great in the eyes of the Lord,” Jesus was described as “very great,” “the Son of the Most High,” and an heir to an everlasting kingdom. Where John the Baptist’s birth was remarkable because of the advanced age of Zechariah and Elizabeth, Jesus’ birth was miraculous because Mary was a virgin (a fact Luke emphasized by describing Mary as (such) twice in this short passage).
The clearest contrast between the two narratives is the different ways Zechariah and Mary responded to the angel. Unlike Zechariah, Mary did not doubt the angel’s message. While Zechariah asked how he could be certain that his wife would bear a child, Mary simply believed and submitted herself to the Lord’s will with these words: “I am the Lord’s servant”. She not only took Gabriel’s statement “Nothing is impossible with God” as her confession of faith, she also anticipated the Lord working out his will in her life: “May everything you have said come true.” With these words, Mary committed herself to facing the hardships that obeying God would entail — the ridicule and disgrace she would inevitably face for carrying a baby whose father was unknown.
Unfortunately, believers often follow Zechariah’s example instead of Mary’s, doubting the truth of God’s Word, asking for proofs. (We should,) instead, follow Mary’s simple demonstration of faith. Believe in the God for whom nothing is impossible and humbly submitting to his will, even if it means facing hardship. Any hardship is worth enduring with God on your side.
What a beautiful thought… “Any hardship is worth enduring with God on your side.” This is part of what Luke, at least, wanted to get across to his readers. So… why, then, did Mark and John not include any of this? Because for them, all of the ‘proof’ they needed as to the identity of Jesus…was in the ministry of Jesus… ‘The things that He said… and did!’ Let me read these verses from the first chapter of Mark…
That evening after sunset the people brought to Jesus all the sick and demon-possessed. The whole town gathered at the door, and Jesus healed many who had various diseases. He also drove out many demons, but he would not let the demons speak because they knew who he was.
Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed. Simon and his companions went to look for him, and when they found him, they exclaimed: “Everyone is looking for you!”
Jesus replied, “Let us go somewhere else – to the nearby villages – so I can preach there also. That is why I have come.”
“That is why I have come!” Jesus knew why He was here… He knew who He was and what He was supposed to be doing…and He knew what the final cost was going to be!
I have often wondered just how Andrew Lloyd Webber intended for the world to take Jesus Christ, Superstar. Was it intended, as many people thought back then, to be sacrilegious… to make a mockery of the story of Christ? Or did he truly want more people to be exposed to the story and hopefully study more about it on their own? Why does it end with the death of Christ, and not the resurrection? Each person who has listened to it over the years has surely come away with their own opinion. And what about that line of Judas’ in the opening song, “You’ve begun to matter more than the things you say!”
It is true that in that Very Early sermon I wanted people to focus on the teachings of Jesus… for just that small moment I wanted them to ignore the fact that He was the Son of God… because what He taught while on this earth is the blue-print of a perfect society… a society where every man, woman and child can truly call any other man, woman or child… ‘brother’ or ‘sister’ and mean it! A society where ‘Peace on Earth’ and ‘Good will towards Men’ were not just catchwords spoken at a special time of year… but a philosophy of living! And yes, I STILL believe in the words of Jesus and in their power to transform us and empower us to transform the world!
But the fact remains that Jesus IS the Son of God…He was born of the virgin Mary in the City of Bethlehem and grew up as a human child among other humans …all in order to fulfill prophesy…and to better understand just what it means to BE human! The fact remains that He was crucified on a cross as a sacrifice for our sins… and that He conquered death and arose three days later as a further testament to His identity, and to the power of God, His father!
So celebrate the birth of our Lord! Let peace come to the world and to you and yours! Let the joy and happiness of the Season fill your soul to overflowing so that others might rejoice in your happiness as well. But never forget…that ‘God so loved the world (meaning you!) that He gave His only begotten Son (meaning Jesus), that whoever believes in Him (wholeheartedly) should not perish (die!) but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.
scluebbert 