MARY, THE MOTHER OF JESUS
CHRISTMAS SERVICE
DR. JIM DIXON
LUKE 1:26-38
DECEMBER 16, 1990
There are many Marys mentioned in the Bible. There’s Mary of Magdala, most often referred to as Mary Magdalene, possessed by seven demons. She was healed by the loving power of Jesus Christ. Then there’s Mary of Bethany, the sister of Lazarus, the sister of Martha, devoted to Christ. Then there is Mary the mother of James. She saw the crucifixion from afar. She saw the empty tomb. She saw Jesus Christ resurrected and alive. Then there is Mary the mother of John Mark, the early church met in her home in the city of Jerusalem as recorded in the Book of Acts. But the most famous Mary by far in the pages of scripture and in the hearts of people in this world is Mary the mother of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. In our passage of scripture for today, we see two qualities of Mary’s life and character. First of all, we see Mary’s virginity. Mary was a virgin.
Now, the state of Virginia was given its name by Sir Walter Raleigh. He named the state after Queen Elizabeth I, who was called the Virgin Queen. She was called the Virgin Queen because she never married. She was assumed to be a perpetual virgin. The Virgin Islands were given their name by Christopher Columbus in 1493 when he saw the untouched beauty of those islands. He called them the Virgin Islands thinking of St. Ursula and her 11,000 virgins or maidens. And of course, the order of St. Ursula, the Roman Catholic order of nuns. Nuns are not married and they are expected to be perpetual virgins.
Now in our passage of scripture for today, the word that is used for Mary’s virginity is the word “parthenos.” This word is the word from which we get the word Parthenon. The Parthenon on the Acropolis in the city of Athens in the country of Greece is built on this word parthenos, which means virgin. The Parthenon was dedicated to Athena, who in Greek mythology was the virgin goddess assumed to be a perpetual virgin. But you see this word parthenos didn’t have to refer to perpetual virginity. In point of fact, Mary was not a perpetual virgin. The Roman Catholic Church tells us that Mary was a perpetual virgin. But the Bible, the Bible tells us clearly that Mary took Joseph as her husband and she knew him intimately and ultimately she gave birth to many sons and many daughters.
You see this word parthenos is capable of describing a virginity that occurs up to a point in time. Mary was a virgin until she took Joseph as her husband. When Christ was conceived in Mary’s womb, even then, Mary was a virgin. Now, what does the virginity of Mary mean? I mean, what’s its significance to you that Mary was a virgin?
Of course, children oftentimes do not understand the meaning of the word virgin. And I read recently the story of some children at a Christian elementary school in Southern California, and they were asked to list all the virgins in the Bible. Their first choice was virgin Mary. Their second choice was the King James Virgin. Now, when it comes to the virginity of Mary, sometimes adults are just as confused. I mean, sometimes adults really don’t understand the meaning of Mary’s virginity.
Just recently a woman named Uta Ranke-Heinemann has written a book called Eunuchs for the Kingdom of Heaven. Uta Ranke-Heinemann is a Roman Catholic theologian. Her most recent book is reviewed in Time Magazine, the most recent issue of Time Magazine. She is a source of great controversy in the Roman Catholic Church because she denies that Mary was a virgin when Jesus Christ was conceived in her womb. She denies the virgin birth. In fact, she says that the virgin birth is a doctrine that has been created by the Roman Catholic Church to substantiate their view of sex as dirty. She’s wrong.
The doctrine of the virgin birth was not created by the Roman Catholic Church. It is taught in the Bible and the Bible doesn’t teach that sex is dirty. In fact, the Bible teaches that sex is a beautiful gift given by God, meant to be opened within the context of marriage and meant to be enjoyed within the context of marriage; the highest expression of physical union meant to be linked to the emotional and spiritual union that is marriage. The Bible indicates that whenever sex is taken out of this context, and whenever this beautiful gift is opened outside of marriage, it becomes fornication. It becomes fornication, and it is sin.
Now, when we look at the life of Mary, we see someone beautifully devoted to God. She kept herself for marriage and she was a virgin in conformity to the word of God, as indeed all Christians should be. You know and I know that we live in a world where virginity is rare. Very few men and very few women save themselves for the marriage unions and honeymoons are not so special anymore. Newsweek, Newsweek Magazine tells us that 80% of the teenagers in the United States have sex before their teenage years are over. Newsweek Magazine, over 80% of the boys and girls in the United States of America have sexual intercourse before their teenage years are older. In the United States of America, the percentage of those who have had sexual intercourse prior to marriage is still higher. This is a tragic manifestation of the fallenness of our culture because God’s Word doesn’t change. What God says to us today as Christians is the exact same thing that God has always said in every generation. His Word does not change. Though the world, calling itself enlightened, is really in darkness, and though the world say, though the world tell us that sex is merely recreational, as Christians we should base all of our morals and ethics squarely on the Word of God.
So, how’s it going with you? Are you submitting your life to the teachings of scripture no matter what the cost? No matter how painful the rebuke, no matter how great the temptation? Mary, consecrated to the Lord, does any wonder that she found favor with God?
Now, the virginity of Mary has still greater importance. I mean, her virginity has special importance because through the virgin birth, God brought the Son of God into the world. The virgin birth was the means by which the Father accomplished the incarnation. Jesus Christ is deity, is Emanuel, He is God with us. He is fully man and He is fully God. Had He been born of a normal birth of Joseph and Mary, He would have been a normal man. But God used this supernatural means, conceiving Christ in Mary’s womb by the power of the Holy Spirit, to accomplish this extraordinary miracle whereby the Son of God took our flesh upon Himself and we behold His glory.
The virgin birth, the virginity of Mary also points to Christ’s holiness, not simply His deity, but His holiness. You see, we are conceived in sin. The Bible says we’re born in sin, not because sex is sinful, but because we’re sinful. We are born with sinful natures and we sin. Jesus Christ was born in perfect holiness and He never sinned and He never will sin, the holy one of God. And as indeed He is holy, so His birth reflects this. So the angel of God, the angel Gabriel, said to Mary, “Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son and you’ll call His name Jesus and He will be great, and He shall be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord will give to Him the throne of His father David. He shall rule over the house of Jacob forever and of His kingdom there shall be no end. Mary said, “How can this be since I have no husband?” Because Joseph was not yet her husband. She was betrothed to Joseph, and in the Jewish world, betrothal is greater than our engagement. Betrothal could not be broken except by divorce, but still a person was expected to be a virgin through the one-year betrothal and not enter into sexual union until the marriage union is established as husband and wife. So the angel said to Mary, “the Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High shall overshadow you. Therefore, the child to be born shall be called holy, the Son of God.”
You see the special significance of her virginity and of the virgin birth as it points to Christ’s holiness and ultimately His atonement as the perfect sacrifice. It points to His deity and His incarnation because He is Emmanuel, He is God with us, born of a virgin. If you reject the virgin birth of Christ, be careful. His very deity, His very incarnation, His very holiness, His very atonement for our sin is tied to this doctrine, the virgin birth.
How strange it is that some people can accept a supernatural God who by His power created a universe 15 to 20 billion light years across, a supernatural God who resurrected Jesus Christ from the dead and yet have so much difficulty embracing a supernatural birth. We look at Mary and we see her virginity, but we also see, when we look at Mary, her humility. Mary was a humble person. Now, humility is an elusive virtue. In the moment we begin to think that maybe we’re humble, that’s the moment we’re in trouble.
I read recently a true story of Dr. Merton Rice, who was the pastor of the Metropolitan Methodist Church in Detroit, Michigan. He had been in the pastorate for many years. Dr. Rice had kind of entered into a spiritual desert and he didn’t feel the joy and the life in Christ that once he had felt, and he was concerned about this. Dr. Rice greatly respected an episcopal bishop named Bishop Quail. So at a clergy gathering, Dr. Rice approached Bishop Quail and said, “You know, I noticed you have such joy in your life, such love for Jesus Christ. I wondered, you know, if you could explain to me something of the source of your vitality?” Dr. Quail or Bishop Quail said, “Well, you know, it’s really no secret and I really only do what I really believe all Christians are expected to do, I spend time in the Word of God every day and I pray every day. Sometimes I pray long and sometimes I pray hard. And I have Christian fellowship. I meet regularly with other Christians and I enter into volunteer acts of service for Christ’s kingdom.
Well, Dr. Rice said, “All of these things I do too, and yet I don’t seem to have your joy. Is there, is there anything you do that’s kind of special? I mean, is there any special quality to your devotional life?” And Bishop Quail said, “Well, you know, it’s kind of embarrassing. There is something that is I think kind of unusual. I love to walk in the rain. When it rains, I go out and I walk in the rain and I throw my head back and I just let the rain fall on my face. And for me, it’s kind of a mystical experience and it’s like I really feel close to the Lord and I hear him speak to me.” Well, Dr. Rice thought this was strange, but he thought he’d give it a try. A month later, he met Bishop Quail again at a clergy gathering and he said, “You know, I tried what you suggested. It rained about a week ago. And I went out into the rain and I began to walk and I threw my head back. I let the rain fall on my face and you know, the rain ran down my shirt and I felt soaked. There was no revelation, and I felt like a fool. And Bishop Quail said, “Well, what greater revelation could you have than that?”
Now the Bible tells us that the wisdom of man is foolishness in God’s sight. There’s a certain humility that we must bring before God if we are to draw near to God at all. We can’t begin to experience God’s life and God’s joy unless we come to Him in humility. And certainly, Mary came to God with complete humility. Mary said, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord,” and she chose the word “doul?,” which means slave girl. Behold I am the slave girl of the Lord. Humility, contrite, obedient, clay in the hands of the potter. She said, “Be it done to me in accordance with Thy word.”
This was not easy for Mary. What God was asking her to do was a great sacrifice. Truly she was expected, as we have already seen, to be a virgin during the time of her betrothal. To be pregnant, Joseph could have divorced her. In fact, we’re told in Matthew, chapter 1, that Joseph thought about divorcing her when he found out she was pregnant. But the angel of the Lord came to Joseph and revealed to him the supernatural nature of what was going on in Mary. Then too, Mary knew that she could have been accused of adultery and the penalty for adultery in Jewish law in accordance with Deuteronomy, chapter 22; the penalty was death by stoning. It’s true that this penalty was rarely carried out. Nevertheless, it was theoretically possible. Mary was actually confronted by way of this angelic announcement. She was actually confronted with the possibility of divorce and even death. Yet, she said, “Behold, I am the slave girl of the Lord. Be it done to me in accordance with Thy word.” That’s humility.
God wants us to be a humble people. I think sometimes we misunderstand humility. You know, when Warren G. Harding was president of the United States, he always attended while he lived in Washington D.C. the Calvary Baptist Church in Washington. It’s the same church Jimmy Carter went to when he was president. But Warren Harding never went to church when it was communion. If he went to the Calvary Baptist Church, as was his custom, and he saw that they were having communion, he would just turn around and walk away. He told Dr. William Abernathy, who at that time was the pastor of this Calvary Baptist Church in Washington D.C. He said, “You know, I’ll never take communion. I’ll never take communion because I will never feel worthy.” Well that sounds very humble, but it’s a misguided humility.
You see, the Bible tells us if we’re truly humble, if we’re truly humble, we embrace God’s grace and we embrace His mercy. If we’re truly humble, truly humble, we come in repentance before Christ and we confess our sin and we accept His forgiveness by His mercy and His grace. Then if we’re truly humble, we commit ourselves anew to obedience to His Word. Did you know that in the Bible, the primary manifestation of humility is obedience and the primary manifestation of pride is disobedience? Disobedience, if not to the letter of the law, then at least to the spirit of the law. If you’re really humble, then having accepted His forgiveness by grace and mercy, you then commit yourself if you’re humble to obey His Word. Have you done that? And do you do that every day?
When you look at the word of God and you see anything in the imperative tenses, when you see any command of Christ, do you submit to it? I mean, we live in a culture and a society where people take the name Christian, but they don’t submit to God’s. They don’t submit to Christ’s Word. How about you?
In Poor Richard’s Almanack, Benjamin Franklin wrote, “How many observed Christ’s birthday and how few obey Christ’s word?” Franklin said, “I observe that it is easier to keep holidays than commandments.” Certainly true of the Christian culture in America.
Well, perhaps as a church we need to humble ourselves. Now I’m not sure that we’re a particularly humble church. I mean, I don’t know that we view ourselves as better than other churches. I don’t know why we would. Whatever blessings we have come only from Christ. But I wonder sometimes if we are a particularly humble congregation and sometimes I think we are not. Because you see humility is reflected primarily in obedience. And how obedient are we? I don’t know every detail of your life and you don’t know all the details of mine. They are known only to God. He sees us in our private moments. I do know that we are not humble in our stewardship and we’re not humble in our giving, in our tithes and our offerings because we do not obey. And by our own confession, as reported in our congregational survey, we do not tithe.
In the Bible, God says, “Will men rob God? You are robbing me, all of you. And you say, how are we robbing you? In your tithes and in your offerings, you are robbing me. Bring the full tithes into my house, put me to the test. See if I will not open up the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you an overflowing blessing.” Are we contrite enough, broken enough to obey? These are critical times, critical times for our church.
A session has just completed, through the diligent work of the finance committee, the proposed general operating budget for 1991. It will be presented to the congregation by way of recommendation in the month of January. In its general operating budget, the senior staff and the department heads are asked to take less income than we took in 1990. There’ll be no raises and no bonuses. Perhaps that’s right. Many of you are in economic situations with companies and corporations where you’ve been asked to take cuts in pay or you’ll have no raise this year. Should be no less true of us.
The tragedy is we’re having to cut ministry. You see, that’s the tragedy. A year ago, we had 210 activities every month, ministry activities every month in this facility. The last few months we’ve had 380 ministry activities every month in this facility. But now we’re going to have to cut back. Through these ministries, lives are changed and transformed and many of these ministries are unknown to you, but precious to those who are blessed by them. It’s clear to me God wants us to dig a little deeper, deepen our commitment, our brokenness before Him. We might faithfully respond to the needs of this ministry, consider some special gifts. If we’re not tithing, tithe. If we are tithing, but greatly blessed, consider going beyond tithing as my wife and I have been led to do. I would never ask you to do what we as a staff do not do.
These are critical times and as you all know, just this last month, our session felt unanimously led of God to recommend to the congregation that we build a new facility at a new site. I got to tell you, all the elders are a little bit afraid. They feel led, but afraid. Clearly it seems inopportune, the timing, struggling with a general operating budget to then also feel led to build and expand and all at a time where our national economy, at least allegedly, appears to be slipping. Perhaps you’re sitting there and you’re thinking, “Well it’s all impossible. We just can’t do it.” But it isn’t true. We can do it. God’s given us the means and God’s given us the resources and each and every one of us can give more than we give, myself included. We can deepen our commitment for Christ’s sake and His kingdom’s sake. I got to tell you, our session has a vision and it’s come from God and it’s a vision to reach children and a vision to reach youth and a vision to reach adults. This vision offers an exciting concept of ministry for the city of Denver in the decades to come. It’ll never happen, never happen unless we can say, “Behold, I am a slave of the Lord according to Thy word. Be it done with me.”
Now people say to me, “Well Jim, you know, if the vision is meant to happen, it’ll happen.” That’s garbage. That’s very poor theology. There have been countless, countless events and realities in recorded history that did not conform with the will of God. God is sovereign, yes, but in His sovereignty, He has granted us freedom. He has power to impose His will in this age of the world. He rarely does. I can promise you the children of Israel would’ve entered the promised land immediately had they been able to say, “Behold, I am the slave of God. Be it done to me in accordance with Thy will.” But that generation never entered His rest because of their unbelief and their lack of faithfulness.
So it was a great challenge set before us. A call is great, the time is critical. We are able by God’s power. A great miracle took place through Mary. The angel said to Mary, “With God, all things are possible. With God, nothing is impossible.” And the greatest miracle and the history of the world took place in her and through her as she was able to say, “Behold, I am the slave girl of the Lord. Be it done to me in accordance with I will.” I promise you, God wants to work a miracle through this church. He wants to work a miracle through you, but it’ll only happen as you’re able to say, “Behold, I am a slave of the Lord.” Let’s close with a word of prayer.