BY GRACE
Rev. Bernt P. Tweit
Epistle Lesson;
Romans 16:25-27
Old Testament Lesson;
2 Samuel 7:1-16
Sermon Text;
Luke 1:26-38
As I as preparing for this service, I wanted everything to show forth God’s grace. In leading up to this service, just recently, the Wednesday, mid-morning Bible study group finished a study on the book of Hosea. In that book there is a wonderful illustration of the marriage of the author of that book Hosea, with his wife Gomer. Gomer was unfaithful, and Hosea was the faithful. And yet, God told Hosea to go and marry Gomer even though she was going to be unfaithful to him.
You see, just as Gomer was unfaithful to Hosea, so also we have been unfaithful to God. And just as Hosea was faithful to his wife Gomer, so God, by His grace has been faithful to us.
Really that is what our sermon text has before us. It is the account of the annunciation of the angel Gabriel to Mary that she would be the mother of the Son of God. Throughout the text, I really feel God’s grace shines through.
Knowing that, let us look at our sermon text for today. It is taken from Luke, chapter 1:26-38.
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."
Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. 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. 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."
"How will this be," Mary asked the angel, "since I am a virgin?"
The angel answered, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be barren is in her sixth month. For nothing is impossible with God."
"I am the Lord’s servant," Mary answered. "May it be to me as you have said." Then the angel left her.
These are your words, Heavenly Father. Lead us in the way of truth. Your word is truth. Amen.
One of the ways God’s grace shines through is in God choosing Mary to be the mother of the Son of God. Think about that for a moment. Mary was no different than the other young maidens in Nazareth, in Galilee. There was no quality in Mary that was better than anybody else, no better than we are. Mary, herself, was a sinner. And yet, God, by grace, came to her and chose her to be the mother of His Son. We even see the miraculous means God was going to go about doing in verse 27, as Luke repeats one word. He repeats the word ‘virgin’, reminding us of the miraculous means in which God’s Son would be born.
The angel comes to Mary and says, "Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you." Another way of translating that phrase from the Greek, into English, is, "Greetings, (however, instead of saying, you who are highly favored) you who are full of grace." It was simply by grace that God chose Mary to be the mother of His Son.
Now, in keeping with any time an angel appears in scripture, (as it would be for us too, if an angel would appear to us, we would need to be calmed down and have the angel tell us not to be afraid), the angel does that with Mary, here too. "Do not be afraid, Mary."
God, by His grace, chose a poor and lowly virgin from Nazareth, in Galilee, to be the mother of His Son.
God, by grace, also fulfilled all of His prophecies and His promises that He had made in the Old Testament, concerning this child to be born. Take for example our Old Testament reading for today. It was King David who wanted to build a house for the LORD. David was resting from all of his enemies. He had defeated them. He had built a palace for himself and now he wanted to build a house or a temple for the LORD. Initially the prophet Nathan says he should go ahead and do what he had in mind. But later, God came to the prophet Nathan and told him to go to David and say, ‘you are not the one to build a house for me. That is going to be one of your descendants.’ As a matter of a fact, it was Solomon who ended up building the temple for the LORD. But, the very last verse in our Old Testament lesson wasn’t fulfilled in Solomon. There, God prophesied, "Your house and your kingdom will endure forever." We know that Solomon, or his descendants, didn’t sit on that earthly throne forever. As a matter of a fact, the temple in which Solomon built was destroyed twice. Once in 586 BC and another time after Jesus lived in 70 AD. That prophesy, "Your house and your kingdom will endure forever," was fulfilled in our sermon text for today, when the angel came to Mary and announced to her that she would be the mother of the Son of God, because it is through Jesus that David’s throne and his kingdom would endure forever – not an earthly kingdom, but an eternal Heavenly Kingdom.
Other passages in the Old Testament that are fulfilled in our text, as God had promised, are from the Psalms. In the Psalms, God says about the Son to be born to Mary,
"He will be called the Son of God."
In the Psalms it says,
"I will appoint Him my first born (which Jesus was)
and the most exalted of the kings of the earth."
A few prophesies from Isaiah were fulfilled when Isaiah, 700 years before Jesus was born, prophesied,
"The virgin will be with child,
and give birth to a son.
You are to give Him the name Immanuel,
which means God with us."
That was fulfilled in our scripture reading. And as Isaiah says to us,
"A child is born.
To us a Son is given.
The government will be on His shoulders.
He will be called wonderful councilor,
the mighty God,
the everlasting Father,
the Prince of Peace."
By grace, all of those prophesies, which God had promised in the Old Testament, came true.
And now, by grace, God leads Mary to believe this promise. Mary questioned that at first. And probably rightly so, as she asked the question, "How will this be, since I am a virgin?"
But the angel reassured her and said, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you." The holy One to be born to you will be the Son of God. Mary, by grace, the Holy Spirit is going to come upon you. There is going to be a holy One coming from you!
Now, ever since the fall into sin, we have been born in sin. That includes us. That includes the virgin Mary. And yet, Jesus, Himself, through the virgin birth would be the holy One. Not only would Jesus be born perfectly, but also He would live His life perfectly. And, He would take the perfect life that He lived for you and for me, and He would take that to the cross, where He would suffer and die, as our brother, for you and me, to forgive us of all of our sin. To which Mary replied, or responded, "I am the Lord’s servant. May it be to me, as you have said."
I wish all of us would be able to say those words. And yet, how often don’t we reply with something quite different. As sickness comes into our family, how often don’t we grumble and complain, saying, "Why is this happening to me?" Instead of saying, "May it be to me, as you have said."
Or, as death comes into our family, as we grumble and complain and say, "God, why are you doing this to me and my family?" Instead of saying, with Mary, "Lord, may it be to me, as you have said."
The angel reassures Mary with a very specific sign. He says, "Mary this is going to happen, just as your relative Elizabeth, who was barren, is going to have a child." Elizabeth, being old in age, past menopause, not able to have children anymore, Elizabeth, her relative, was going to have a child. He is going to be the forerunner of the Savior.
Mary, "nothing is impossible with God." God is almighty. He is all-powerful. And, when God puts His mind to something, and He says it, that is going to be fulfilled.
By grace, not only did God chose Mary to be the mother of the Savior of the world, not only by grace did God fulfill all of His prophesies in the Old Testament, but God, by grace, led Mary to believe that promise.
As you look at our worship guide, you see that here at Holy Cross, the Holy Cross string instrumentalists played today. They played for the pre-service, for the offering, and some of the postlude, as well. The director of the Holy Cross string group is Grace Bartel. It is not very often that I mention some one’s name in a sermon, and yet it was very fitting, because Grace Bartel oftentimes wears a tee shirt that says, "BY GRACE." She wears it proudly. Under those big letters, BY GRACE, Ephesians 2:8-9 are quoted, where it says, "For by grace are you saved, through faith, and this not of yourselves, it is a gift of God, not by works, so that no one can boast."
We are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus, to do good works prepared in advance for us to do. That same grace that God gave to Mary is very same grace that God also gives to us.
I love it when everything comes together for a sermon.
Today I am going to close with a poem that you may have heard. It completes our service perfectly, including the string group that played here at Holy Cross.
The Touch of the Master’s Hand
By Myra Brooks Welch
‘Twas battered and scared, and the auctioneer
Thought it scarcely worth his while
To waste much time on the old violin,
But he held it up with a smile.
"What am I bidden, good folks," he cried,
"Who’ll start the bidding for me?"
"A dollar, a dollar. Then two! Only two?
Two dollars, and who’ll make it three?"
"Three dollars once; three dollars, twice;
Going for three…" But no,
From the room, far back, a grey-haired man
Came forward and picked up the bow;
Then wiping the dust from the old violin,
And tightening the loosened strings,
He played a melody pure and sweet,
As a caroling angel sings.
The music ceased, and the auctioneer,
With a voice that was quiet and low
Said: "What am I bid for the old violin?"
And he held it up with the bow.
"A thousand dollars, and who’ll make it two?
Two thousand! And who’ll make it three?
Three thousand, once; three thousand, twice,
And going and gone," said he.
The people cheered, but some of them cried,
"We do not quite understand.
What changed its worth?" Swift came the reply:
"The touch of the Master’s hand."
And many a man, with life out of tune,
And battered and scarred with sin,
Is auctioned cheep to the thoughtless crowd,
Much like the old violin.
Ruined and running from God we go.
And madness, to hell headlong.
We are "going" once, and "going" twice,
We are "going" and almost "gone".
But the Master comes, and the foolish crowd
Never can quite understand
The worth of a soul and the change that is wrought
By the touch of the Master’s hand.
You see, my dear Christian friends, we are just like that old violin. Being battered and scarred with sin, we are the ones who were going to hell, headlong. But the Master’s hand has touched us. And God, by His grace, has come to us who are poor, worthless, sinful beings. And through the birth of His Son, through the perfect life that He lived for us, through the death that He endured on the cross for us, we are forgiven. And a soul that was once worthless is now very precious in His sight. We can now live under Him in His Kingdom, and serve Him in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness.
Because by grace are you saved, through faith.
Amen.
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