"Ordinary Miracles: Mary and the Shepherds"

Let me tell you the part of the Christmas story I enjoy the most.It's who gets to hear the good news of Jesus' birth first.Read Luke 2:6-20.

Now - let me tell you why that's my favorite scene in the story.because God chose shepherds to spread the news - ordinary, blue collar, poor, hard working shepherds.I mean, think about it - these guys could have grown up on a farm outside of Archerwill, SK.And history tells us that the unwritten story is even more bizarre.Historians tell us that shepherding was often a very lonely and lowly job - one that people wouldn't look too hard at a resume for - A job where no one would worry about references.So often guys with pretty tough pasts or shady backgrounds became shepherds.People trying to just hold down a job and restart their lives.and amazingly, that's who God chose to tell first the news that Jesus, His Son, the Savior of the world, had been born.

Amazing.See - when I hear that, it gives me hope. Lots of hope..because if God valued those lowly shepherds that much that they would carry His message, then it must bet rue that God values me and you very much as well..It must be true that just like God worked a miracle in the lives of those star-gazing shepherds, He can work a miracle in us as well.And look at their response and reaction in vs. 16-18 and 20. Amazing.they were so excited.so thrilled that God had touched them.They would never be the same.

Can't you see them - sitting around a campfire 10 years later..and all somebody had to say was Do you remember?.and the miracle again would be alive in their lives.

The next story is about a girl named Mary. Here's how the Bible tells the story.."God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a village in Galilee, to a virgin named Mary. She was engaged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of King David. Gabriel appeared to her and said, 'Greetings, favored woman! The Lord is with you!' Confused and disturbed, Mary tried to think what the angel could mean. 'Don't be frightened, Mary,' the angel told her, 'for God has decided to bless you! You will become pregnant and have a son, and you are to name him Jesus. He will be very great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David. And he will reign over Israel forever; his Kingdom will never end!' Mary asked the angel, 'But how can I have a baby? I am a virgin.' The angel replied, 'The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the baby born to you will be holy, and he will be called the Son of God.For nothing is impossible with God.' Mary responded, 'I am the Lord's servant, and I am willing to accept whatever he wants. May everything you have said come true.' And then the angel left." Luke 1:26b-35,37,&38.

Here we see a very ordinary girl being blessed greatly by God in a very extraordinary way.Let's talk about this for a few minutes...

Over the last 20 centuries Christmas tradition and history have created a somewhat romanticized picture of who Mary is..Christmas cards and figurines paint her with mystical expressions and halos of light around her head...She is pure and perfect and beautiful in every picture we see..Now I'm not here to crush anyone's Christmas..but I want you to see clearly who Mary was and why God chose her.....

In reality Joseph and Mary were common folks..Ordinary..Joseph was a carpenter and Mary was a young girl from a very simple background - poor and hardworking....and if you looked at them from an outside perspective before that heavenly visit - you would call them regular - normal - everyday ordinary - plain and simple folks....(But God chose them)..

In all likelihood Mary was very young - probably in her teens - because marriages in that culture tended to be arranged at a young age..Betrothals often occurred when girls were as young as twelve or thirteen...Now as we'll see in a moment, her response to this call on her life was pretty mature..so maybe she was a little older - late teens perhaps...

But Mary was young, poor and female....Think about that..and what that means even in our culture - a pretty uphill battle for significance. But in that day in that culture and in Jewish circles, being young, poor and female would make her seem unusable by God for any major task or assignment - that's just the way it was..But God chose her for one of the most important acts of obedience He has ever demanded of anyone....Now why is that?

First, I think Scripture is very clear that she was an exceptionally virtuous and godly young woman..When an angel appeared she was shaken and taken aback (which makes sense - it doesn't happen every day!). But she was not surprised - she knew what the presence of God felt like..She simply listened and then responded by faith...

I love how clear the Bible is on details as well...3 times in this passage it reminds us that Mary was a virgin - There is no lack of clarity....Mary was pure and virtuous - a good young Jewish girl..

but not just culturally Jewish, she loved the Lord and understood her faith..Listen to her response....She said "'I am the Lord's servant..and I am willing to accept whatever He wants - may everything you have said come true..'" Luke 1:38.

The simplicity of Mary's faith is remarkable given the circumstances. You gotta remember there was an angel in the room with her..But her response gives us insight into her character - quietly, modestly, submissively, she saw her role as a simple servant of the Lord..She might have been tempted to either boast about, or rebel against this message..but she did neither..Certainly - her response shows deep and mature faith...

Someone in our culture probably would have said - "Joseph, I had this weird dream...this strange thing happened to me last night...I need to go see a counselor.."

But Mary simply submitted to God's plan for her...Luke 1:46-55 records her response to God for blessing her..This prayer of hers is known as the Magnificat -

"'Oh, how I praise the Lord. How I rejoice in God my Savior! For he took notice of his lowly servant girl, and now generation after generation will call me blessed. For he, the Mighty One, is holy, and he has done great things for me. His mercy goes on from generation to generation, to all who fear him.'" Luke 1:46-50.

Those words reveal a singular faith - there was no questioning in her mind...no doubt - no misgivings - no fear - no demanding to understand - only an instant submission and confidence - that this was, in fact, God's truth for her life..and she simply praised Him for His blessing in her life...One writer puts it like this.."A charming simplicity continually flows from the narrative where Mary is involved - She simply lets God do what only He is able to do in her life."

So why do we tell these stories? Here's why.This whole Christmas season we're gonna focus on ordinary miracles - what happens when ordinary people are touched by an extraordinary God..Because, you see folks - we too are very ordinary people...with a God who longs to touch our lives in an extraordinary way this Christmas...

We are ordinary people with ordinary careers and ordinary families...We live in a very ordinary city and province. In fact, if we knew how people in Alberta talked about how ordinary Saskatchewan was - we'd probably get upset...

But you know what? That just kinda gets me going...Because what I see when I read the Bible is not the ordinariness of life and people. I see what God does when He touches ordinary people and places...and it is powerful and miraculous - it's anything but ordinary when God touches our lives.

So, when I think about my life - a poor farm kid from Archerwill, Saskatchewan...pretty ordinary..(or a bit below ordinary)..but what God can do is anything but ordinary. Or how about you - maybe a single mom with a couple kids and barely making it go - pretty ordinary or worse...but what God can do in your life...extraordinary. Or how about Lakeview Church? A few 100 people in Saskatoon with some faith-filled dreams..pretty blue collar - pretty normal. Really - we're pretty ordinary. And that's fine with me - 'cause what God can do with ordinary is amazing. He changes the world through the ordinary..

Let me give you a transition thought or two and then some practical application for your life.Mary's response was all about faith, not reason.

Here's a thought - sometimes what God calls us to, or when He shows us His plan..it isn't too reasonable..but He still calls us..

Here's my thinking - (had Mary been full of reason, there would have been no room for the child..) If she would have said - OK wait - let me figure this out. Let me add this up - let me make sure all the T's are crossed and the I's are dotted...let me make sure this makes sense...In fact, let's have a committee meeting to make sure it makes sense..If she would have done that, there's no way she would have gone through with it. Instead, she responded by faith - a reasonable faith - a faith that said, "God, I will submit to your authority in my life..believing you will take care of me - and all the details."

So folks, let's learn from this. When God calls for you, how do you respond? By reason or with a reasonable faith? God will not call us to a place where He won't hold us and help us..When God calls you to walk more closely and more disciplined with Him, how do you respond? (Quickly & submissively?) When God calls you to help out a family in need near you.how do you respond? By thinking about all the reasons why not to? They may not really need our help..I see they're driving a pretty nice car - maybe they don't need help.Their life seems so different than ours - maybe they like to be poor.There's lots of good places I could give money - they probably will get some from someone else.Or do we respond by faith and simply show them love and kindness in some very practical way?

People, giving money is a big deal, because it hits us right where we live and breathe.it's so personal that we rarely even connect our faith with it.Did you know that Jesus talked about money and it's control over us more than anything else recorded in the Bible? Why? Because He knew the hold it has on us, and how it stops us from responding by faith.

Here's a real practical example of this...Money in this church (letter this week). Right now we are significantly behind in our giving to meet our year end operational budget expenses. Now I have a couple responses I can lead you folks in..

First I can react with reason alone and say this is terrible - and there's no chance we can come up with the money in 30 days. We've never been able to before and the church must be wasting money anyway. So we should begin right now to cut back and slow down and downsize for next year..And I probably shouldn't give sacrificially to a church that only 50% of the people that attend give to..That's a fairly reasonable response, and I've had those discussions and thoughts about it..

So how do I lead you? Well the trouble with leading with reason alone is that it doesn't add in faith..A reasonable faith response could be more like this..

God has helped us for 10 solid years as we have increased our budget to meet the needs of a growing church - and just last year He did a miracle in us as many of us gave sacrificially to meet our 2000 budget and exceed it

..God has placed a group of godly leaders in place that set the budget for 2001 believing He led us to this place of need..and he has also allowed our ministry directors to underspend that budget to the tune of $60,000..

So..what does my faith say? My faith says reasonably - God must have a plan in this - God must know that the money He has given to each of us is enough and more for us, so that we can give generously to see this work of His go on in the lives of people and friends and family here at Lakeview Church..and so I'm sitting in my office early Friday morning praying this prayer.

God - help me to be full of faith and God I know we have holes in our administration that we're trying to fill, and we have significant growing pains organizationally as a church. But God I believe You supply our every need - and I believe you bless people specifically, financially, and that You call them for times like these - Lord, help me lead Your people to be generous and not just in crises - but all year long as we give of what You have given us...

So that's it folks. Our money is attached to our faith..And if you're waiting to hear a voice tell you it makes sense to do something like give money away to God's work - I'm not sure you'll hear that - but hear this voice - God supplies every need we have and He blesses us as we give..So go and listen to Him and what He says about this need and then respond by faith - not by guilt - not by reason - but by faith. OK..enough about that.

So what have we said? That God touches the lives of ordinary people in extraordinary ways - when they respond to His call by faith - miraculous things happen...Life-changing, world-changing things..

Here's how we might be able to apply this..

1. Ask God to work a miracle in you this Christmas.

2. Ask God to show you someone you could be a miracle to.

Now - again - I wanted to make this very practical - so I was thinking of a way that we could have God meet us in a special way here. So hear me out. The Bible says where two or three of my followers gather together, I am there with them in their midst.God with us.Then I got thinking about the name the Old Testament prophets gave Jesus hundreds of years before His birth - Emmanuel - which means God with us. People, Christmas is all about Emmanuel - God is with us individually and when we gather together as a community.

So here's what I want us to do so we can be a miracle to one another. I want us to pray for each other. I know we tried this a while ago, and again, there's no pressure. It's not a bad thing. It was a good stretch for us spiritually. So, let's take these words of God seriously..Where 2 or 3 or 4 are gathered together, there I am in the midst of them.