Sermons in Brief - Mini Messages from Pastor Harmon
"Submissive Servanthood" - Luke 1:38 - First Sunday of Advent
Pastor: Mary is an example of Submissive Servanthood. Today we light the first Advent candle to remind us of the example she has set for us. We are told the angel left her at that time. But what if there had been more to the conversation?
Angel: Are you sure Mary? Consecration at the beginning demands commitment to the end. What about HARDSHIPS? What about the stigma of being an unwed mother? What will you say to your fiancé Joseph? What if I were to tell you of long, hard journeys? What if I were to tell you your baby will be in danger and you will have to flee for your lives?
Mary: "I am the Lord's servant. May it be to me as you have said."
Angel: Are you sure Mary? Consecration at the beginning demands commitment to the end. What about CHALLENGES? What if I were to tell you this is really going to be an unique child? What if I were to tell you he will certainly march to the beat of a different drummer?
Mary: "I am the Lord's servant. May it be to me as you have said."
Angel: Are you sure Mary? Consecration at the beginning demands commitment to the end. What about DISAPPOINTMENT? What if I were to tell you that this child will become an itinerant Rabbi? His time will be invested in others. What if I were to tell you that he will become so busy teaching, healing, and giving of himself that there will be occasions that he will have no time for you
Mary: "I am the Lord's servant. May it be to me as you have said."
Angel: Are you sure Mary? Consecration at the beginning demands commitment to the end. What about HEARTACHES? What if I were to tell you that you will see your son misunderstood, misrepresented and mistreated? And to this he will say "Not My will, but God's will be done?" What if I were to tell you that he will be arrested, tried, beaten, tortured and killed before your very eyes?
Mary: "I am the Lord's servant. May it be to me as you have said."
THE CANDLE OF SUBMISSIVE SERVANTHOOD IS LIGHTED
Three scenes which Mary the Mother of our Lord plays a starring role will be our guide during these Sundays of Advent. In these scenes Mary offers us an example of a Christmas attitude which, if adopted, could change our entire Advent season! I believe if we adopted her Christmas attitude it would transform our very lives!
The first scene is found in Luke chapter 1 where Mary is startled by the angel Gabriel. Even more, she is startled by what he proceeded to tell her: Hers would be the womb that will carry the Messiah, the Son of the Most High. She is the favored one who would give birth to One who is the answer to all the promises of the Old Testament. She was startled by the announcement that Miracle of Miracles she would be overshadowed by the Holy Spirit of God. The baby to whom she would give birth will be called the Son of God. What was her response to all of this? What was the reaction of this little girl who someone described as "not even old enough to get a driver's license"?
"I am the Lord's servant," Mary answered. "May it be to me as you have said."
That response, that Christmas Attitude Contains the posture that if adopted could change our Christmases and transform our lives. Mary is a powerful example of:
1. A person SUBMITTING to God's will
"May it be to me as you have said."
This is a major request angel making. Pregnancy without benefit of marriage. What is her family going to say? What does this do to her marriage? Will she be married after this happens? What will the neighbors say? And how heavy will be the weight of mothering long awaited Messiah? Can I shoulder the burden of responsibility? At the end of all questions careening through her mind like so many chariots in the stadium, she says "yes." Mary is willing to put aside her fears and SUBMIT to this incredible message from God.
One day Jesus spoke to his disciples and said: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self? If anyone is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels." I wonder if he thought. . ."I've seen this kind of submission first hand. I've witnessed this kind of devotion first hand." My mother is this kind of God follower.
Many Christians are reluctant to submit what they know God wants of them. It may be a Lifestyle issue, a favorite sin in which they indulge like box of chocolates. It may be an attitude or a task, duty, or assignment. It is only is submissive surrender that we will ever find Peace. . .Holiness. . . Growth. . .Maturity.
Soren Kierkegaard, the Danish philosopher and theologian, writes of the reluctance of Christians to submit to the Word of God and the way of Jesus. He explains, "The matter is quite simple. The Bible is very easy to understand. But we Christians are a bunch of scheming swindlers. We pretend to be unable to understand it because we know very well that the minute we understand we are obliged to act accordingly. My God, you will say, if I do that my whole life will be ruined. (We wish to be) be good Christians without the Bible coming too close. Dreadful it is to fall into the hands of the living God. Yes, it is even dreadful to be alone with the New Testament"
Mary refused to be a swindler or a cheat. "May it be to me as you have said." She could have refused or fought against the way of life asked of her. Instead she relinquished control over her life and submitted it into the hands of the living God. "May it be to me as you have said."
2. A Person SURRENDERING Self
"I am the Lord's servant"
In Mary we further observe her example of a surrendered self. "I am the Lord's servant." "Behold the handmaid of the Lord." A handmaid was the lowest form of female servant in that day and age. Mary says I belong totally, unreservedly to the Lord - my authority, my Master.
William Borden was heir to the Borden Dairy Estate. In 1904 he graduated from a Chicago high school. His graduation present was a trip around the world. Traveling through Asia, the Middle East, and Africa. Borden was really stricken by all the poverty and hunger he saw. Writing home, he said, "I'm going to give my life to prepare for the mission field." One friend saw it as "throwing himself away as a missionary." When he made this decision, he wrote in the back of his Bible two words: No Reserves. He graduated from Yale University. after starting Campus Bible studies, working with students at risk, Working in compassionate ministries with Alcoholics, the homeless, handicapped, and hungry. Turning down high-paying job offers, he enrolled at Princeton Seminary. At this time, he entered two more words in his Bible: No Retreats. Completing studies at Princeton Seminary, Borden�s missions call was to -Muslim Kansu people in China. He sailed for China to work with Muslims, stopping first in Egypt for language study in Arabic. While there he was stricken with spinal meningitis. Within a month, 25-year-old William Borden was dead. Most people said, "What a waste." Even Borden's parents thought this until they paged through his Bible. In his Bible, underneath the words No Reserves and No Retreats, he had written the words, No Regrets.
Later, one of college friends wrote: "He came to college far ahead, spiritually, of any of us. He had already given his heart in full surrender to Christ and had really done it. We who were his classmates learned to lean on him and find in him a strength that was solid as a rock, just because of this settled purpose and consecration." During his college years, Bill Borden made one entry in his personal journal that defined what his classmates were seeing in him. That entry said simply: "Say 'no' to self and 'yes' to Jesus every time."
"I am the Lord's servant" Mary said. She did not know what lie ahead. She did not know about Bethlehem or giving birth in a filthy cow stall. She did not know of King Herod's paranoia ord that he would try to kill the child because Wise men labeled him "King of the Jews." She did not know of their escape to Egypt. She did not know the challenges of raising such a child. She did not know she would have to share him with the world. Did not know about the cross. "I am the Lord's servant" covered all she did not know. She had surrendered self and in that surrender was her secret. NO RESERVES. NO RETREATS. NO REGRETS.
I fear we 21st century believers have lost sight of fact that God still requires a surrendered self. William Booth was the founder Salvation Army. He was often asked the secret of his success, power, and achievements. HE SAID: "I will tell you the secret: God has had all that there was of me. There have been men with greater brains than I, even with greater opportunities, but from the day I got the poor of London on my heart and caught a vision of what Jesus Christ could do with me and them, on that day I made up my mind that God should have all of William Booth there was. And if there is anything of power in the Salvation Army, it is because God has had all the adoration of my heart, all the power of my will, and all the influence of my life." "I am the Lord's servant" Mary said.
3. A Person SETTING ASIDE fears about the future
"Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God."
When Mary was first greeted by angel Gabriel the Bible says she was greatly troubled, meaning agitated. Submission to the will of God, Surrender of the sel to God requires laying aside our fearsand trusting God. Consecration requires us to lay aside our fears with a commitment to see the commitment through to end.
You're afraid to completely trust God. You're afraid to completely submit to his will and desire for you. You're afraid to completely make a total surrender and an all out commitment to Him. We can live in fear of what God might require, or what we might miss, or what we might have to give up, or what we may be expected to change. Or we can lay aside the fears as Mary did and become the channel, the conduit, the instrument of bringing something extraordinary into the world.
Our holiness forefathers and mothers spoke of the "unknown bundle." The idea/concept has fallen into disrepute lately. It has been mocked, made fun of, maligned. Spiritual counsel for surrendering self and making complete Consecration (Submitting to God) used to be that one should lay everything we know and have before him: th "known bundle." All we are and have of time, talents, treasure should be laid befor the Lord. But also one ought to lay before him the "unknown bundle": all we do not know, all that might lie ahead, all we cannot foresee. Some mock that advice and malign the concept today. They find fault with its simplicity. Mary, Mother of our Lord, faced the surrendering of her fears. When she did she could say "Yes, I see it all now: I'm the Lord's maid, ready to serve. Let it be with me just as you say. That is an example of Submissive Servanthood.
I imagine ther are some here this morning who are hungry to be all God's, all the time, but afraid of what that might require. I want to urge you as we sing "Make Me A Servant" to bundle up those unknowns, those fears, that nameless dread and surrender that bundle along with your self. "Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God."