Magnify

Mary’s Song
Luke 1:46-55

"And Mary said:
My soul magnifies the Lord,
And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior.

For He has had regard for the humble state of His bondslave;
For behold, from this time on all generations will count me blessed.
For the Mighty One has done great things for me;

And holy is His name.

'And His mercy is upon generation after generation toward those who fear Him.'

He has done mighty deeds with His arm;
He has scattered those who were proud in the thoughts of their heart.
He has brought down rulers from their thrones,
And has exalted those who were humble.
'He has filled the hungry with good things';
And sent away the rich empty-handed.
He has given help to Israel His servant,
In remembrance of His mercy,
As He spoke to our fathers,
To Abraham and his descendants forever."


Intro

I love the symbol of Desiring God Ministries. Desiring God Ministries and Dr. John Piper have had an enormous impact on me. The book Desiring God is what God used to really change my life while I was in college. Their symbol or logo is four simple red arrows. If you simply see the four red arrows then you probably don’t get what they are trying to say, but if you purchase a DVD and see the arrows in motion then you get it. The meaning is found in bringing these four arrows from the four corners of the screen into the center and thus forming a cross in between the arrows. They are attempting to be Cross and Christ centered in all that they do.

That has been my heart this Christmas season. I have wanted to point believers to the person and work of Christ. I have felt called to focus not only on your blessings this year, but to focus more on the Blesser.

There is a portion of the Christmas story that you seldom see. I have never heard Linus from Charlie Brown quote this potion of the Luke Christmas story. It is Mary's Song found in Luke 1.

In it we see WHAT Mary did at the major crossroads of her life, during a significant season of her life. We then see WHY she did what she did. Basically we see Mary’s heart and where her joy and priorities rest. We see how we are to react to the Significant Season of Christmas.

Following Mary’s example we see that During Significant Seasons, we are to Magnify God.

Body

Luke is written by a Gentile believer to Gentile believers. It is a gospel not necessarily written to a Jewish audience like Matthew was, but more towards a Gentile audience. It announces that Christ has come to take away the sins of the world and reign on His throne forever.

In Luke 1 we see a very common and relatively poor Jewish girl (around the age of 13 or 14) who is chosen by God to bear the Christ child even though she is a virgin. God does this in is sovereign grace, but he chooses a pious young lady in Mary. Mel Gibson wonderfully captures the character of Mary in his movie The Passion of the Christ. She was probably my favorite part of the movie. She added such a powerful dimension to the film, a real emotional angle that I now understand better as a new father.

In Luke 1, she goes to see her pregnant cousin in the Judean countryside. This young woman travels to the countryside by her self, by all accounts! She is a strong, obedient, pious woman. She does what the Lord desires with such a positive, obedient, faithful spirit even though she does not fully understand what is going on.

Mary is at a major cross roads in her life. She is pregnant for the first time even though she has never been with a man. She is in a significant season of her life. In Luke 1:46-55, Mary writes a song of declarative praise to God in this significant season of her life. We never see Mary complain, doubt, or become self-centered in any way. We see exactly the opposite, we see Mary praise God in her significant season.

What do you do at your cross roads? We are in the Christmas season, a significant season, what do you do and why do you do it during Christmas? Let’s see what Mary did.

I. WHAT Mary does in her Significant Season (1:46-47)

Mary writes God a song of praise in her significant season. She is so filled with emotion that this illiterate Jewish peasant girl sings a song the source of her powerful emotion.

Her Soul --> Magnifies the Lord
Her Spirit --> Rejoices in God her Savior

Mary is filled with joy and happiness. Her soul and spirit are filled with powerful emotions and the source of this joy is God Himself. As a result Mary does the natural and appropriate thing, she praised him. The ancient Latin Christians simply called this psalm “Magnificant” because Mary was magnifying the Lord.

Magnification is trying to view something larger, not smaller. It is taking an image and making it as large as possible in order to see it better. Mary is declaring how great God is. She is trying to magnify God. She is declaring to the world the glory of God.

This is a very natural and appropriate thing for Mary to do. It is natural because her soul and spirit are filled with these rejoicing emotions. It is appropriate because it is true. God is to be magnified and we are to rejoice in God because He is our Savior. There is nothing greater than God, and thus there is nothing that we should magnify more, and rejoice in more than God Himself.

Like Mary, our ultimate joy is to be in God Himself, the Blesser not simply the blessings. Mary was very God centered in her crossroads of life, her significant season. Are you focused upon magnifying God in this Christmas season? Does you soul and spirit well up with joy and rejoicing for God this Christmas? How can you rejoice in the Blesser this Christmas?

II. WHY Mary does what she does in her Significant Season (1:48-55)

In the following verses (1:48-55) we see not what Mary does (she magnifies and rejoices God in 1:46-47), but now we see WHY she magnifies and rejoices God. We see the “because” of her singing.

1. Because

In verses 1:48-50 we see three reasons why she rejoices God, three “becauses”.

a. God has blessed me (1:48-49a)

First, she magnifies Him and rejoices in Him because he has blessed her. Mary could not have understood everything about this child, but she knew that he was the Savior the ultimate Savior; not a Savior but THE Savior. He was not simply a picture of what was to come (like Abraham, Moses, or David), He was THE promised one. This was it and she knew it.

Because of who Christ was and what He was going to do she knew she was blessed. Her happiness and joy were all wrapped up in the person and work of Christ. Because of Christ she knew that all generations would call her blessed. The Mighty One had done a great thing for her.

b. God is HOLY (1:49b)

Second, she praises him simply because he is holy. The simple statement in 1:49b is so theologically accurate and so simple yet so wonderfully great. Yeah, “wonderfully great”, that is the best a simply guy from Texas can do. God is holy. He is perfect in all that he does. He is perfectly righteous. Everything he says and does can be trusted because he is holy. Nothing else is holy.

c. God has Mercy on all generations that fear Him (1:50)

Third, she praises him because through Christ the covenant has been fulfilled and all generations from that day forward will be shown mercy. Like the Old Testament covenant, it was for those who feared the Lord, who keep their end of the covenant. Psalm 103:17-18 says that God will show loving kindness for eternity to those who keep His covenant. For us in the dispensation of grace, our end of the deal is to simply place our faith in the person and work of Christ. Ephesians 2:8-9 says that we are saved by the Savior by His grace through faith in Him not ourselves or our own works. God will show mercy upon those who fear him and place their faith in him.

If you were to write a song or poem to God, why would you magnify him? What “becauses” would you include? I want to challenge you this Christmas season to sit down and write a poem or song to God this year. Even if you have never done something like that I want to challenge you to get out of your box and attempt to magnify God as Mary did.

2. And He Has

Mary concludes her song with a list of things he has done that are mighty and great. Before she is very personal in her praises, now she gets out of the box of her own life and praises him for all the mighty things he has done throughout the ages.

a. Done Mighty Deeds (1:51a)

From verses 1:51, Mary compiles a list of praise for her mighty Savior God. He has:

- Scattered the proud (1:51b)
- Brought down rulers (1:52a)
- Exalted the humble (1:52b)
- Filled the hungry (1:53a)
- Sent away the rich (1:53b)
- Shown Mercy to Israel (1:54a-55)

Conclusion

As you work on your poem or song this week, I want you to not only praise Him for what He has done for you personally. I want you to also praise Him for what He has done throughout the ages for all peoples. I want you to think through your knowledge of the Bible and praise Him for His works. I also want you to think through History and praise Him for his mighty deeds. I want you to think through your understanding of Science and the Natural Order and then praise Him for His marvelous plan and creations.

What are some things that we can praise Him for this morning? What are some things in the Bible that are worthy of praise? What are some things from history that are worthy of praise? What are some things from the natural world that are worthy of His praise?

This Christmas season do as Mary and During Significant Seasons, Magnify God.