Why God Chose Mary Dr. Tom Berry
"Now in the sixth
month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named
Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of
the house of David. The virgin's name was Mary." Luke 1:26,
27, NKJV
Was God being arbitrary when He chose Mary to be
that special person who would bring His Son into the world? We are
forced to conclude that the answer is "no" because God makes His
choices based upon certain qualities he sees in the people He
chooses.
"For the eyes of
the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself
strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him." 2nd
Chronicles 16:9
There are many tasks God has purposed to
accomplish. At any given time there may be thousands of people who
have the natural talents, learned abilities and spiritual gifts to
accomplish these tasks…but the vast majority are not available to
God.
Some of you have been saying to yourself, "God
could never use me." If you are not useable, you are dead right no
matter how capable you are. If you are willing to make yourself
useable, you are dead wrong.
In this message I would like for us to learn from
Mary why God chose her above all other women to bring His Son into
the world.
First of all, it is important that we lay aside
some of the misconceptions about Mary. Not once does the Bible say
that Mary was sinless. In fact, Mary said that her spirit rejoiced
in God her Savior. (Luke 1:47). In so doing, she declared her need
of a Savior just as much as anyone else. Not once does the scripture
say that Mary was God or that we should worship her. We read that as
the church began the apostles "...these all continued with one
accord in prayer and supplication, with the women and Mary the
mother of Jesus, and with His brothers." They did
not pray to Mary, they prayed with her and she prayed
with them.
If we are going to learn from Mary how God can
use us, we must understand how God took an ordinary woman and used
her in an extraordinary way.
God did not use Mary because she was highly
educated. She was not. He did not choose her because she was
wealthy. She was poor. Why did God choose Mary?
Mary’s Initial Reaction Was Fear
"The angel, Gabriel, greeted Mary, "... the
angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor
with God. But when she saw him, she was troubled at his
saying..." Luke 1:28, 29. We can correctly understand the
meaning of "greatly troubled" by our English words of "petrified"
and "scared to death."
What kind of fears came up in Mary’s mind:
- The fear of criticism – "What are people going to think. I
haven’t been joined in marriage and I’ll be having a baby."
- The fear of uncertainty – "What are all the things that will
happen to me?"
- The fear of inadequacy – "Can I handle all of this?"
- The fear of change – "What changes will all this bring about?"
The same four fears can keep any one of us from
being used by God. Mary gives us an example of three qualities
that kept these things from controlling her and enabled her to be
used by God:
- The desire to do God’s will.
- The willingness to pay the cost
- The faith to trust God’s promise
GOD USES PEOPLE WHO DESIRE TO DO HIS WILL
We must want to do God’s will more than anything
else. God has a definite purpose for what He wants us to be and what
He wants us to do. But, He will not make us do it. If we do not have
a strong desire to do God’s will, we will miss the purpose He has
for our life. For that reason God will allow some very unpleasant
things to happen in our life to bring us to the place where we
desire to do His will.
God’s will for Mary.
One day the angel, Gabriel, shows up and says in
effect, "Mary, God has this fantastic plan. He’s going to come to
earth so people will know what God’s like. He’s going to use your
body to enter the human family. You are going to be the mother of
Jesus Christ." Many girls would have answered, "Can’t you get
somebody else. I’ve already got my plans and this whole things
really doesn’t fit in. I’ve really got to think of what’s best for
me." Instead, Mary answered "Behold the maidservant of the
Lord! Let it be to me according to your word." Mary was
willing to do what God wanted her to do.
There are three things about Mary that reveal she
earnestly desired to know and do God’s will.
- She was sensitive to finding out what God wanted her to do. In
Luke 2:19 we read, "Mary kept all these things and pondered
them in her heart." Whenever there was a clear
message from God, Mary would ask, "What is God saying and how does
it apply to me?" We get our clear messages from God from the
scriptures. Every day we ought to have a private time to read
God’s word and ask, "What is God saying and how does it apply to
me?" If we are truly sensitive to knowing God’s will He will show
it to us.
- She was joyful and enthusiastic about doing God’s will. Luke
1:46, 47, "And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior." Mary was not like some who say, "Well, I know
God wants me to do so and so. That’s not what I wanted to do, but
I guess I’ll have to just grin and bear it." Mary was joyful and
enthusiastic about doing God’s will.
- She was humble and yielded. "Behold the maidservant of the
Lord!". Luke 1:38. "...For He has regarded the lowly state
of His maidservant …" Luke 1:48 She didn’t think, "God is
sure lucky to get me! With my abilities I’m going to do a lot of
great things for Him." She was thankful that God was willing to
use her. Mary desired to do God’s will.
GOD USES PEOPLE WILLING TO PAY THE COST
After Gabriel explained to Mary that as a virgin
she would conceive and bear a son by the empowering of the Holy
Spirit, she answered, "…Let it be to me according to your
word."
Luke 1:38. Mary surely knew that doing God’s will was going to
cost her the loss of her reputation. She was only engaged to be
married and before long it would become obvious that she was
pregnant. In that close community of Nazareth everyone would know.
Mary could imagine herself explaining, "I’m still a virgin. I
conceived by the power of God and the son I’m giving birth to will
be the God/man by the name of Jesus. Mary could probably also
imagine everyone responding in sarcasm, "Right!".
And the questions probably rose fast in Mary’s
mind, "What will my family…my fiancée…my friends think!" "Will I
lose the man I love over this?" She also knew she could be stoned to
death.
Doing God’s will did cost Mary her reputation for
many years. Jesus would not begin His ministry of miracles that
would vindicate that He truly was the Son of God for thirty years.
The plain truth is, if we do get serious about
knowing and doing the will of God, it will cost us our reputation in
some circles. There will be many who just will not understand. There
will be others who will flat out dislike what we are and strongly
disagree with what we do. We will be criticized and slandered.
Doing God’s will also cost Mary her comfort. Mary
and Joseph lived in Nazareth, but the prophet Micah prophesied that
Jesus would be born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2). Sure enough, the Roman
emperor decreed that everyone had to go to the city of their
ancestors to be enrolled for taxation. Here is Mary, eight months,
three and one half weeks pregnant and she has no choice but to make
the long journey on the back of a donkey. When she arrived in
Bethlehem there was no room available and she gave birth to Jesus in
an animal stable. After His birth, she and Joseph received word that
King Herod wanted to kill their baby, so they fled to Egypt until
they could safely return to Nazareth. When Jesus died on the cross
Mary felt like a sword had been driven through her heart.
Doing God’s will may cost us our comfort. This is
not accidental, but part of God’s plan. Jesus was right up front
about the cost of doing His will. He said "If anyone desires
to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily,
and follow Me." Luke 9:23. What did He mean? Our fleshly nature is
tainted with selfish desire in every area. To follow Jesus we have
to reckon it dead daily, because it has a resurrection every
morning. It sounds gruesome, but necessary to set our spiritual
nature free to "seek first His kingdom and His righteousness."
Matthew 6:33. Paul tells us this involves. "…For the kingdom
of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and
joy in the Holy Spirit." Romans 14:17 Paul, the apostle,
personally evaluated living in the spiritual nature instead of the
fleshly nature, "But what things were gain to me, these I have
counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for
the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I
have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish,
that I may gain Christ." (Example) We cry to
God to help us in our ministry, and when He does, our flesh wants to
take the credit.
To follow Christ every one of us will have to
give up some fleshly stuff. It may be some of our habits…some of our
relationships that are pulling us down…some of our dreams and
ambitions. Mary was willing to pay the cost and God used her in
fabulous way. He will do the same with us.
GOD USES PEOPLE WITH FAITH TO TRUST HIS PROMISES
Christians are saved by faith; live by faith and
walk by faith. The object of that faith is God and the basis of that
faith is God’s promises. "So then faith comes from hearing, and
hearing by the word of God" Romans 10:17.
When Gabriel told Mary what God was going to do
she had fear, but she did not have doubt. She did ask, "How shall
this thing be, seeing I know not a man?" But she was not
expressing doubt she was asking how such an awesome thing could take
place. Gabriel proceeded to tell her how it would take place
and added, "For with God nothing shall be impossible." And
Mary said, in effect, "Well, let’s get on with it." The promise from
God gave her faith to believe it would all come to pass. That faith
also gave her courage to face all the potential difficulties that
would lie ahead. Elizabeth said to Mary,
"And blessed is she who believed for there will be a fulfillment of
those things which were told her from the Lord. Luke
1:45
Over 40 years ago I became aware that there were
"experts" who said that certain things in the Bible were impossible.
I had to conclude that in the natural realm, they were correct in
many cases. At the same time I knew I had become a new creature in
Christ Jesus by faith. Painfully aware that my faith was pretty
flimsy, I exercised my faith on God’s promises. When I did I rose
above the natural into the realm of the supernatural. I made a
decision that no matter what any "experts" said, I would choose a
life of faith in God. I encourage you to do the same.
I remind you once again, if you desire to be used
of God you need the same qualities that Mary had:
- The desire to do His will
- Be willing to pay the cost
- The faith to trust His promises
Handout for sermon
Why God Chose Mary
"Now…the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a
city in Galilee, called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose
name was Joseph, of the descendants of David; and the virgin’s name
was Mary."
Luke 1:26, 27 NASB
. But she was greatly troubled at this statement…,
and kept pondering what kind of salutation this might be. And the
angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor
with God."" Luke 1:29, 30. NASB
What kind of fears came up in Mary’s mind:
- The fear of criticism – "What are people going to think. I
haven’t been joined in marriage and I’ll be having a baby."
- The fear of uncertainty – "What are all the things that will
happen to me?"
- The fear of inadequacy – "Can I handle all of this?"
- The fear of change – "What changes will all this bring about?"
THE TYPE OF PERSON GOD USES
1. GOD USES PEOPLE WHO DESIRE ________________________.
"Behold, the bondslave of the Lord; be it done to
me according to your word." Luke 1:38
Mary was ___________________________and yielded
to God’s will.
"And all who heart it wondered at the things
which were told them by the shepherds. But Mary treasured up all
these things, pondering them in her heart." Luke 2:18, 19.
Mary was ______________________________ to
learning God’s will
"My soul exalts the Lord, and my spirit rejoices
in God my Savior." Luke 1:46, 47
.
Mary was ______________________ and
___________________ about doing God’s will.
2. GOD USES PEOPLE WHO ARE
________________________.
God’s Plan: Luke 1:31 – 35
Mary’s Response
"…be it done to me according to your word." 1:38
The qualification to be a disciple of Jesus
"If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and
take up his cross daily, and follow Me." Luke 9:23
Our new spiritual nature must be set free from the hindrances
of the fleshly nature to follow Jesus fully.
- GOD USES PEOPLE WHO HAVE ______________________
"So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of God."
Romans 10:17
"And blessed is she who believed that there would be fulfillment
of what had been spoken to her by the Lord. Luke 1:45
Copyright © 2002 Thomas E Berry
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