Skip to main content

Celebrating Advent - December 15

By

Sing: Angels We Have Heard On High

Reading: Luke 1:46-56

And Mary said,

 “My soul magnifies the Lord,
and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant.
For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
for he who is mighty has done great things for me,
and holy is his name.
And his mercy is for those who fear him
from generation to generation.
He has shown strength with his arm;
he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts;
he has brought down the mighty from their thrones
and exalted those of humble estate;
he has filled the hungry with good things,
and the rich he has sent away empty.
He has helped his servant Israel,
in remembrance of his mercy,
as he spoke to our fathers,
to Abraham and to his offspring forever.”

 And Mary remained with her about three months and returned to her home.

Summary (for your preparation): Consider this insight from John MacArthur:


"Mary replied with prophetic words of her own. Her saying is known as the Magnificat (Latin for the first word of Mary’s outpouring of praise). It is really a hymn about the incarnation. Without question, it is a song of unspeakable joy and the most magnificent psalm of worship in the New Testament. It is the equal of any Old Testament psalm, and it bears a strong resemblance to Hannah’s famous hymn of praise for the birth of Samuel. It is filled with messianic hope, scriptural language, and references to the Abrahamic covenant"

Interestingly, Catholics so illogically revere Mary when she is one of the greatest Scriptural examples of what it looks like to worship God. If we truly understand Mary she would teach us that all glory belongs to God and God alone. Her song of praise is shot through with Old Testament language, proving Mary was a woman who truly knew and understood God's Word. While it may be the most complete Psalm of the New Testament, it bears striking resemblance to Hannah's song of praise in 1 Samuel 2:1-10. 

Teaching Tip: If your children are old enough and they are aware of way Mary is worshipped within Catholicism, you can use this song of hers to help them understand why we do not worship Mary. Help them to see the character of Mary (humble, reverent, understanding of the Scriptures). More importantly, help them to see the character of God (faithful, merciful, everlasting, just, etc). Children need to see that God alone is worthy to be worshipped and Mary's response of praise is fitting worship for how she rejoices in him.

Questions/Responses:

Can you imagine what it would be like to be Mary? What are some of the most incredible things that have happened to her already? An angel talked to her, Elizabeth got pregnant, she got pregnant, she is carrying the long expected Savior, Jesus, in her belly!

 How do you think this would make you feel? Scared, excited, nervous, happy, maybe a little bit of everything? ...

 Do you think Mary understands how special this is? How can we know? Yes, she sings a song of praise and worships God with her whole heart.

 What does Magnificat mean? Mary's outpouring of praise.

 What are some things we learn about Mary's character? She loves God, she knows his Word, she had been waiting for the Savior that Israel had been waiting for as well!

 Does Mary get proud and show off and tell everyone that she is carrying the Messiah in her belly? No, she is humble and she gives God praise for what he has done!

 What are some things we learn about God's character? God is faithful from generation to generation, he is merciful and just, he favors the humble and stands against the proud, he works for those who put their trust in him and punishes those who are against him.

 What can we learn from Mary? We can learn that God is worthy of our praise and he alone is to be worshipped for what he has done!

Prayer and Ending

Prayer: Father in heaven, thank you for this awesome story about how you chose someone like Mary to carry the Savior of the World. Oh God, you are not impressed with the strongest and the smartest, but you give favor to those who trust you and know you through your Holy Word. May we come to know your plan of salvation in Christ so that we will worship you with all of our heart, just like Mary did. AMEN!

 Sources Quoted: Blog with John MacArthur: "Mary's Magnificat."

http://www.gty.org/blog/B141205/marys-magnificat

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Secret of all Failure is our Failure in Secret Prayer

By
“We may be assured of this—the secret of all failure is our failure in secret prayer” (12). So writes the anonymous author of the classic little book on prayer entitled, The Kneeling Christian (Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids: 1971). He means that the reason we so often fall into sin or live in discouragement or fail to bear fruit is because we do not cling to God in Christ above all things. We do not diligently seek him or lean on him or plead with him or draw on his strength. We give ourselves to busyness over communion with God and in this way we seek to accomplish in our flesh what can only be accomplished in the power of the Spirit.  Giving first place to what our dear author calls “secret prayer” is indeed a key to the Spirit-filled life but let’s be clear: prayer is not magic, rather, it’s a relationship. It’s not as if we simply have to file requests with God, being careful to use just the right words so that we can get him to respond as we wish. God is not a vending m
Post a Comment
Read more

Deacons - How They Serve and Strengthen the Church (Part 1)

By
  One of the next important priorities for GCF is to establish deacons in the life of the church. On March 14, 2021 we were able to establish an elder team. Currently, we have a team of four elders overseeing the congregation of GCF.  However, there is more work to be done. I have come to see that establishing an elder team was the bare minimum that needed to happen for GCF to survive. I believe GCF now needs to turn our attention to raising up a team of qualified and willing deacons to serve the congregation so that it will not only survive but thrive.   I would like to begin a series of blogs on deacons to help us understand who they are and what they do in the life of the church.  In this blog let me provide three reasons why I think deacons should be near our top priority.  Number 1: It is Biblical. Paul instructs Timothy to install elders who will help him pastor the church. For whatever reason, it seems the churches in our circles treat the installment of elders as non-negotiable
Post a Comment
Read more

Does the Doctrine Divide? by Patience Griswold

By Anonymous
“Oh, I try not to talk about doctrine. It’s so divisive.” This is a sentiment that I’ve heard expressed, as well as implied, on many occasions, and one that raises the question, does doctrine divide? In answering this question, we must keep in mind a very important truth and that is that everyone holds to some sort of doctrine . “Doctrine” is defined as “a belief or set of beliefs held and taught by a church, political party, or other group.” Regardless of whether or not someone publicly holds to a statement of beliefs from a particular church, every Christian, by definition, holds to a particular set of beliefs. As Carl Trueman observes in his book The Creedal Imperative ,       [W]hile Christianity cannot be reduced to doctrine, to mere teaching, it cannot be meaningfully separated from it, either. Even the most basic claims, such as “Jesus is Lord,” carry clear doctrinal content that needs to be explicated in a world where, as we have noted before, every heretic has his text and n
Post a Comment
Read more