Moved to Submit

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Good morning Chapel family. I hope you had a great Thanksgiving celebration. I want to say a big Thank You to everyone who came down to Paterson last Tuesday night to serve at the Love Banquet. We had the privilege of serving food and clothing and just spending time with hundreds of great folks from the city of Paterson. We saw about ten people baptized that evening. One of the people who served with us emailed me the next day, and I want to read you a few lines…

My heart is still overflowing with love and joy. I had the opportunity to talk with and pray with so many beautiful people last night. Many of them expressed their gratitude for everything that was being done for them. For me, I was so grateful that for the few hours we were there I experienced what truly loving God and others looked like in a group of people that came from different backgrounds and life experiences…I pray that the light we experienced continues to shine within each one of us and to others in this rough world.

So God continues to build that 12-Mile Bridge partnership between here and Paterson, and we are just getting started. I also want to thank everyone who was part of the Chapel Thanksgiving Eve service on Wednesday night—it was just awesome to gather with this great Chapel family. So…happy Thanksgiving!

A few years ago there was a TV commercial that Norma Jean and I still quote. I think it was for Target. A family is celebrating Thanksgiving in their home, and at the end of the evening everyone leaves, and the wife says goodbye to the very last guest; she closes the front door and turns around, and her husband is standing there in a Christmas sweater; the house is suddenly all decorated for Christmas; he’s holding two cups in his hand, and he says to his wife, “Eggnog?” So anytime I surprise my wife with something fancy like that, she’ll say, “Eggnog?”

But the point is: Thanksgiving is over, and the Christmas season has begun! All over the world, Christians will be observing these next four Sundays to prepare their hearts to celebrate the birth of the Messiah. So welcome to the first Sunday of Advent.

For most of us, Christmas is associated with strong feelings. Nostalgia…family…traditions. Hopefully those are mostly good feelings for you. And sometimes all it takes is the melody of a beloved Christmas carol, or the scent of a fresh-cut Christmas tree, or the taste of rich eggnog—and all those feelings are stirred up. Right? And that’s a wonderful thing. But during this Advent series, I want to go beyond feelings. We’re going to put ourselves in the shoes of people who were hearing about Christmas for the first time. So there were no traditions. There was no nostalgia. For them, Christmas didn’t stir up their emotions; it actually did something more powerful: it moved them to action. Because when they heard this news, they realized it was so huge, they just couldn’t stay the way they were.

So during this series, we’re going to look at four main characters in the original Christmas story. We’re going to see how each of them was moved by Christmas to do things they never would have done otherwise. And my prayer is that God is going to use all of this to move us. Because I’m all for nostalgia and traditions! But I believe God wants this Christmas to be something more than that. The world we’re living in is so hurting and so desperate for hope, and I believe that if we let him, God will

use the message of Christmas to move us and change us and make us a blessing to the people around us. Amen?

So today let’s focus on the story of Mary. When Mary heard the news of Christmas, she was moved to submit. I think for some you, that word “submit” is a bad word. Because you associate it with being mistreated or walked on or forced to do something against your will. But that’s not what it means. Think of submit as willingly accepting and embracing what God has for you. So instead of resisting and closing yourself off to God, you’re saying “yes” to his will. That’s what I mean by “submit.” There’s probably something in your life right now where you have to decide whether to resist or submit…so let’s learn from the story of Mary. Luke chapter 1, verses 26 through 38. I invite you now to hear the Word of God…

26 In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, 27 to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28 The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”

29 Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. 30 But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. 31 You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”

34 “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”

35 The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. 36 Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. 37 For no word from God will ever fail.”

38 “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Then the angel left her. This is the Word of the Lord

Mary was faced with a crisis where she had to decide whether to submit herself to the will of God, and you and I face that same decision all the time. So let me set up this message with a question: Why should I submit to God’s plans? Why should I submit to God’s plans?

Here’s the first reason: He Chose You By His Grace. Why did God choose Mary? I mean, of all the people he could have picked to bring the Messiah into the world, why her? Was it because she was from Nazareth, and Nazareth was a powerful and influential city? Definitely not. We are so used to hearing “Jesus of Nazareth,” that to us, Nazareth is a famous place. Nazareth was not a famous place! I don’t know if you have this experience, but when I’m traveling outside New Jersey and someone asks me where I’m from, I usually say “near Morristown,” or “25 miles west of New York City.” Why? Because every time I’ve said “Pequannock” or “Lincoln Park,” I just get blank stares. Right? Nobody’s ever heard of these little towns. And that’s what Nazareth was like. It was off the beaten path. It was obscure. So the point is, Mary did not get this assignment because she was from an influential city.

Verse 27 says the angel came to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. In that culture, it was common for a girl to get betrothed—which was more serious than engagement—soon after puberty. So Mary was probably 13 to 15 years old. And she was betrothed to a guy named Joe who was a good guy—honest—hard-

working—but certainly no one out of the ordinary. He wasn’t studying to be a scholar or a rabbi. Just a regular, working class guy…engaged to a normal girl.

And of course we don’t know what Mary looked like, but there is a rich history of art that tries to capture the scene of the angel making this announcement to Mary. Here’s a famous work from Philippe de Champaigne from the 1600’s. It’s called The Annunciation. Beautiful painting, isn’t it? I’m not sure he captured the youthfulness of Mary as well as he could have.

Here’s another one—this is by Matteiss—from that same time period. And again, Mary looks kind of old.

This is from Henry Tanner, and it was done in 1898. And that may be a little more realistic. Don’t you think? Young girl, kind of shocked by the whole thing.

So—verse 28: The angel went to her and said, “Greetings…stop there for a minute. The Latin word for “greetings” is Ave—and that’s where the phrase, Ave Maria comes from—it means, “Greetings, Mary.” The old English word for “greetings” is the word hail—and that’s where the phrase “Hail, Mary” comes from. So this is the typical word for “greetings,” that you would use to greet anyone.

So the angel says: “Greetings, Mary…” you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.” And here’s the point that I want to make: it’s easy to look at those words and say, “Look how special Mary was! Look what the angel said—‘you’re highly favored!’ God would never say that about me, so obviously Mary is in a class by herself.”

Now, did Mary have a unique role to play? Of course. No one else in history has been asked to give birth to the Messiah. But—here’s the thing—Mary didn’t earn that role. Because the word for “favored” is the same root word as the word “grace.” Do you know what grace means? It’s one of my favorite words—it’s the Greek word charis. And that word can be translated “grace” or “favor” or “gift.” So grace always means something given—not earned; not deserved; it’s a gift. In two weeks, most us will be handed something, wrapped up, with a bow on top. And here’s what we will not say: “What do I owe you for that? Do you take cards, or just cash?” Because when it’s a gift, all you have to do is…what? Receive it and say thank you. And this encounter that Mary has with the angel is all about God’s grace to her.

In other words, God didn’t look around for the holiest person, and say, “Okay—Mary wins. She gets the job.” God chose Mary out of pure grace. And here’s the point: as God carries out his plans today, He operates by the same principle. It’s all grace.

Look at Mary’s response in verse 29: Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. You know what? That is a really good response to God’s grace. Because here’s how you can tell if someone has truly received the gospel: If they say to you, “Yeah—I’ve been a Christian all my life. I’ve always believed in Jesus, and God and all that. And I’m a good person—you know, I live a good Christian life.” You know what that means? They’ve never been amazed by grace. Because when you really encounter God’s grace, inwardly you will say, “What?” Just like Mary. “There must be some mistake. Do you realize how unworthy I am? All the dumb things I do; all my selfishness and anger and doubt? Me??” That’s when you know you get it.

“Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a…basically good guy?” How about ‘a wretch like me.’ By definition, grace is amazing.

So Mary’s initial response to God was spot on. Because she realized she was out of her league—like we all are when we encounter the grace of God.

So if you struggle with submitting to God’s plans because you think you’re not good enough…not holy enough…you don’t pray enough…don’t you see that God’s choice isn’t based on anything good in us? It’s purely by his grace. And if that’s the case, why not you?

Here’s the second reason you should submit to God’s plans: He Calls You To His Mission. He calls you to his mission. Verse 31—here’s the assignment: 31 You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.” Here’s the main thing I want us to see: God’s plan—which he had graciously chosen Mary to take part in—was not about Mary. Even though it involved Mary! It wasn’t about Mary. It was all about Jesus. Did you see what the angel said? He will be great. The Lord will give him the throne. He will reign. His kingdom will never end. I mean, from top to bottom, this plan was all about Jesus.

Here’s why that’s so important: we are surrounded by a lot of spiritual self-help talk. You hear preachers say, “God wants to give you a miracle! God wants you to fulfill your destiny! He wants to help you achieve your dreams! Why shouldn’t you have all those things you want? God wants to give them to you—you just have to believe!” And you have to see, that’s not at all what’s happening here.

The angel Gabriel did not come to Mary and say, “Greetings, Mary. How can God help you fulfill your dreams?” And Mary didn’t say, “Well, I was thinking if I could be the mother of the Messiah, that would be amazing. I’ve always dreamed of doing something great like that! And then maybe someday, people will sing Christmas carols about me, and they’ll put statues of me in their front yard, and they’ll name a football play after me: the Hail Mary.” That’s not how the conversation went. Because this had nothing to do with Mary’s goals or dreams or aspirations. It had everything to do with God’s.

In other words, listen: Mary’s job was not to somehow get God to fulfill her plans; Mary’s job was to submit her will to God’s plans. And that’s the way it always is when God calls us.

There’s something I notice here. When the angel brought God’s assignment to Mary, he wasn’t asking Mary if she was interested in doing this. He didn’t say, “Hey Mary, God was wondering if maybe you’d consider this assignment?” The angel says, “You will conceive and give birth to a son.” So this was happening; the only question was: would Mary embrace the plan and go along willingly, or would she be dragged along kicking and screaming? That’s really important. Because a lot of times, when God calls us to his mission, it’s the same way. He doesn’t ask us if we want to do something; he just drops it in our lap. And we have to decide whether to resist or submit.

God doesn’t ask expectant parents whether they’d like to have a child with special needs. He gives them that child and asks them to embrace that child as part of his plans. God doesn’t ask a young wife whether she’d like to lose her husband to a premature death. That death happens—and this is hard, I know—he calls that young wife to accept widowhood as part of his sovereign plan for that season of her life.

At the risk of talking about myself too much, God did not ask me if I’d like to go through cancer. “What do you think, Dave? Maybe take the next couple years and do a little radiation—maybe some surgery?” I was not presented with the option. I was simply given this assignment. I’m not saying God is the author of cancer—he’s not. He’s not the author of anything evil. But he’s in control. And in his sovereign plan, he orchestrates things to mysteriously work out his plan. So for reasons way bigger than I can understand, this is part of his plan for me now. The only question is: will I resist it with bitterness and anger or denial? Or will I submit to it as a way to grow closer to Christ and bring glory to God and better understand the suffering of other people? That’s a big decision.

See, at the end of the day, you have to decide whether you believe that God’s mission is actually better and wiser than any plan that you could come up with. And when you really believe that, the only thing that makes sense is to be all in. To submit.

One more thing: you should submit to God’s plan because He Empowers You With His Spirit. In verse 34, Mary says: “How will this be…since I am a virgin?” In other words, “Lord—this thing you’re calling me to do…I don’t meet the minimum requirements. I’m not qualified to do what you’re asking me to do. How will this be?”

Did you ever feel like that? Like God puts you in a situation, and He calls you to do something, and it’s so far out of your comfort zone, and you feel so unqualified, and you say, “How will this be?” It seems undoable. And God loves putting us in those positions.

And when we ask, “How will this be,” his answer is always the answer he gave to Mary in verse 35: “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. In other words, “Mary, this is going to be a completely supernatural thing. I’m not saying you have to try really hard to pull this off; I’m saying you have to allow God to work through you. Offer yourself to God. Yield yourself to Him.”

Richard Stearns, the former president of World Vision, said, “God’s plan for us does not rely on our greatness but on his. Whatever you face, he will see you through.”

Remember Jesus said, “Apart from me, you can do nothing. But if you abide in me—if you yield yourself to me—you will produce much fruit!” The character and the power of Christ will be produced through your life. Here’s how you and I are just like Mary: when the Holy Spirit overshadows and fills us, we’re able to conceive and give birth to supernatural things!

And of course, Mary was struggling with all of this. So the angel says, “Mary, if you’re having a hard time believing this is possible, look—verse 36—Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. So the angel uses the example of Elizabeth. He says, “Look! Nobody thought she could have a baby either—she’s way too old! But look at her! She’s six months along! Mary, if God did the impossible in her, don’t you see that He can do it in you?”

I’m going to be very honest: there are times when God puts something on my plate. And I feel very unqualified. I feel scared. And one of the things that really helps is to look at the “Elizabeths” around me. Does that make sense? To look at the examples of how God is using other unqualified, scared people to do great things.

For example, I look at my friend Jeremy—he grew up in Bayonne and went to college in Michigan to get away from New Jersey, but God put this burden on his heart for inner city kids, and he submitted to that calling. So now directs this amazing ministry called New City Kids, that mentors at-risk children in Paterson. They just opened their second Paterson location this fall, and it’s thriving. They’re making a huge difference. He’s one of my Elizabeths.

Or I look at my friend John, who was serving as a youth pastor right up the road in Wyckoff, but he had a background in construction and a burden to make a difference in urban areas. So he started this ministry called Servant’s Heart, which pulls together volunteer contractors to do free construction jobs for needy people (that’s John in the middle). They’ve done some amazing work. And just recently, they started a free trade school in Paterson. It’s called “Workmanship Program,” and they are training dozens of inner-city kids to be carpenters and electricians and welders, all in a Christian context. He submitted to God’s calling, and the impact is snowballing. He’s definitely one of my Elizabeths.

Or I look at my friend Paul, who retired from his job early, and he was actively praying that God would use him. And he heard about this ministry called Prison Fellowship, and he couldn’t stop thinking about it. He had never set foot in a prison in his life, but he submitted to God’s call, and now he goes regularly to Bergen County Jail and Otisville State Prison, and he leads Bible studies with the inmates. They’re not allowed to take pictures, but he gave me this aerial shot of Otisville Prison. And he can tell you story after story of the inmates he’s had the privilege to influence. Paul is one of my Elizabeths.

Or I think of a couple from our church, Mike and Dawn. God blessed them with beautiful triplet boys who are now in their mid-teens, and all of them have cerebral palsy. You’ve probably seen them around The Chapel. Tyler and Zack are quadriplegics; Matt has a less severe form. Zack is currently receiving some special treatments down in Delaware, and when I called Mike, the father, last week to ask if I could mention them in the sermon, he was on his way driving down there to tag team with Dawn and trade places. They are a remarkable couple and a remarkable family. Back when they were newlyweds, if you told them they would face these kinds of challenges, they probably would have said, “I don’t think we could handle that.” But they have, and they are. They’re submitting to God’s call and they’re doing it with joy. The Chapel family is so much richer because they are part of it. I count them among my Elizabeths.

The angel said to Mary, “If you need evidence that God does amazing things through regular people, look at Elizabeth!” And all these people are Elizabeths in my life. Just like the Holy Spirit came upon Elizabeth and Mary, the Spirit has moved in each of these people, and enabled them to do things they weren’t capable of themselves. So when my faith gets weak, I remember them. Do you have any Elizabeths in your life? You can borrow mine, if you want. They won’t mind.

So after some initial shock and pushback, Mary was convinced. And her response in verse 38 is just awesome: "I am the Lord's servant," Mary answered. "May your word to me be fulfilled."

So here’s the question for you: What is the situation in your life where God is calling you to submit? Where you need to say: “Lord, I don’t know exactly how this is going to work, but I know you’ve put me here and called me to this. And I’m not going to run away from it; I’m not going to take the easy way out. So my answer is ‘Yes.’ I’m your servant. Use me however you want.”

And I feel like I need to emphasize this: it could be that for you, God’s calling for this season of your life isn’t something dramatic or sensational. He’s not calling you to start a new ministry or work on the streets or go to prisons. He’s calling you to do something much more quiet and under-the-radar—like parenting a child with special needs. Or caring for your own parent, whose health is failing. Those might not seem like spectacular ministries. But it could be exactly what God is calling you to do. And through his Spirit in you, He’ll give you supernatural strength to do it.

When Mary heard the announcement of Christmas, she was moved to submit. Was she an ordinary person? Yes! Chosen completely by God’s grace; scared to death of the whole thing. Very human! But she decided to submit herself to God’s will, and the world has never been the same. And when we follow her example, it opens the door for God to do awesome things through us.