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In this series we have been examining the five
promises we make to each other (and to God) as we become part of the
church. The general premise is that what
we do now (in this life) as a church and as individuals is important, because
it determines what kind of church Jesus will wed when he comes back. That of course is New Testament imagery which
Jesus himself gave us. He is the
bridegroom and we (the church) are his bride.
So, this series
appropriately has a title, The Bride He Will Wed, and it is the
outcome of those five promises – our development as His witness, presence,
gifts, prayers and service in His kingdom – is the way we are developing as His
bride!
The promises we have seen so
far are “witness” and “presence”. Next
week we will finish with “service”, but this morning we look at the prayers and stewardship in Mary’s song, the Magnificat. Her prayer is a model for stewardship, and
her stewardship is a model of prayer lived-out!
A Prayer of Humble Praise
Mary responded, “Oh, how my soul praises the
Lord. How my spirit rejoices in God my
Savior! For he took notice of his lowly
servant girl, and from now on all generations will call me blessed. For the Mighty One is holy, and he has done
great things for me. He shows mercy from
generation to generation to all who fear him.
Luke 1:46-50(NLT)
Mary understood that the
child growing in her womb was God’s gift, and not only to her, but to
everyone. This prayer was a spontaneous
song of praise for God’s goodness and mercy.
Now that seems like a
no-brainer until you recall that this gift was also quite dangerous. Israel was a slave vassal of Rome, and any
talk about the Jews having their own king was dangerous. For Mary in particular, giving birth to such
a child painted a bullseye on her back.
The danger didn’t end there;
Mary was pregnant without being married.
Under ancient Jewish law her family had the right to have her stoned for
committing fornication. And, as for her fiancé
Joseph, the unexplained baby bump didn’t bode well for their
relationship.
But Mary looked on this with
Godly perspective; she knew God to be merciful to those who fear or reverence
Him. (See v.50)
Mary’s prayer acknowledged merciful
God as her Savior, and this gift was a privilege for her to bear. She described the Lord as “holy” and she said
this baby was a great blessing to her life.
Mary’s prayer was without
doubt an overflow of praise from a heart that knew God and saw things with
spiritual eyes. What seems to us a
dangerous complication of Mary’s life, she accepted as God’s merciful intervention
– something to be treasured as a gift for all humanity.
Now this is a prayer we need
to emulate as part of the body of Christ in this century. The prayers we often pray are simply shopping
lists of what we want – healing, financial blessing, obedience from our kids,
kindness from the boss and a good grade on that math test next week.
In the church we promise our
prayers for each other and for needs around the world. But how often do we raise a prayer of
thanksgiving for the complications and hard tasks with which God entrusts
us? How often do we spontaneously lift
up our hearts and hands and reverently bless the name of Jesus for counting us
worthy to suffer, or endure hardship?
The Stewardship of a Servant Heart
His
mighty arm has done tremendous things! He
has scattered the proud and haughty ones.
He has brought down princes from their thrones and exalted the humble. He has filled the hungry with good things and
sent the rich away with empty hands.
Luke 1:51-53(NLT)
When Gabriel, God’s angel
visited Mary to inform her she would bear the Christ child, Mary had questions
(wouldn’t you?).
But her answer (Luke
1:38) revealed her servant’s heart:
“…I am the LORD’s servant. May everything you have said about me come
true.”
Mary meant what she said; a
true servant’s heart doesn’t have mixed motives. Sometimes our generosity comes from mixed
motives. It seems that some vandals had
cut down six royal palms along Miami’s Flagler Street. Since the palms were very expensive, Dade
County authorities weren’t sure if they could replace them very soon. But then someone donated six more and even had
them planted. The old ones had been
about fifteen feet tall and provided a nice foreground for a “Fly Delta”
billboard. The new palms are thirty-five
feet tall—completely hiding the sign. The
new donor: Eastern Airlines.[2]
Mary’s sense of being god’s
steward, or manager of this gift in her womb, stemmed from her view of God as
mighty AND merciful.
This is how a servant’s heart works!
Our culture is more like the
last three verses, full of pride, selfishness, and self-proclaimed rulers and
princes. The Greek word for “princes” is
the same word we use for “dynasty” and “power” (as in dynamite). Yet God deals with so-called powerful
people as He wills.
A great example of this is
what we have seen in the Middle East over the last years, with the dethroning
of rulers in Iraq, Egypt, Libya, and with all likelihood more to come in places
like Syria. These rulers who killed
hundreds of thousands of their own citizens and thumbed their noses at the rest
of the world, (as well as God), thought they were invincible masters; they
crumbled when God’s hand moved in the hearts of his servants, the people.
By contrast with the fate of
despotic earthly kings, whose hands were full and God emptied…are the poor and
hungry whose hands and mouths God fills.
The acknowledgement that God has blessed fills your life with expectations
of answering with a loving servant’s heart to be a faithful steward.
This was Mary’s response;
her womb held the deposit of God’s trust, and Mary cooperated with the blessing
using all she possessed so God would receive the glory.
In our promise to God of our
gifts we mostly think of the offering plate; Mary’s stewardship was more “up
close and personal.”
But the offering plate is
included.
Billy Graham once said, God has given us two hands—one to receive
with and the other to give with. We are not cisterns made for hoarding; we are
channels made for sharing.[3]
As a church and as individuals
our call to be stewards who are found faithful, (1
Corinthians 4:2) begins in the heart to commit to being a servant.
I have found over and over
that a person may generously give without being a committed servant; the giving
is done for a variety of reasons, and generally selfish. But someone with a genuine “servant’s heart”
gives without strings, conditions or demands, simply because he or she is
giving to the Master whom they love.
Heart stewardship is always
superior!
Author Barbara Brown Taylor
once wrote:
On the one hand [Mary] was
just a girl, an immature and frightened girl who had the good sense to believe
what an angel told her in what seemed like a dream. On the other hand, she was the mother of the
Son of God, with faith enough to move mountains, to sing about the victories of
her son as if he were already at the right hand of his father instead of a
dollop of cells in her womb …. When we allow God to be born in us, there is no
telling, no telling at all, what will come out.[4]
You have an invitation
before you to live out the call to be a prayerfully faithful steward of all God
has given; what will you do with it?
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