DEC 15 2024 | Shopping for Hope…Finding Faith S1E3 | Living a Magnificat Life

Sea Change Church · DEC 15 2024 | Shopping for Hope...Finding Faith - S1E3: Living a Magnificat Life
Luke 1:38-56
Automated transcript. Not reviewed for accuracy.

God So much That you Gave your Son And son You chose To give Your life And now All those Who have Faith in Jesus Have the Spirit As a Counselor And we Just ask That your People can Be generous With Finances With Service With Prayers With Words of Encouragement And when We do That Let us Be able To see How you Use us And expand Your kingdom In Jesus Name Amen The gospel According to Luke Chapter 1 Verses 38 Through 56 And Mary Said Behold I am the Servant Of the Lord Let it Be to Me According To Your Word And the Angel Departed From her In those Days Mary Arose And went With haste Into the Hill Country To a Town In Judah And She Entered The House Of Zechariah And Greeted Elizabeth And when Elizabeth Heard The Greeting Of Mary The Baby Leaped In Her Womb And Elizabeth Was Filled With The Holy Spirit And She Exclaimed With A Loud Cry Blessed Are You Among Women And Blessed Is The Fruit Of Your Womb And Why Is This Granted To Me That The Mother Of My Lord Should Come To Me For Behold When The Sound Of Your Greeting !

And Mary Said My Soul Magnifies The Lord And My Spirit Rejoices In God My Savior For He Has Looked On The Humblest State 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 This Is The Word Of The Lord Good Morning Church Thank you Wonderful To See You Here This Morning My Apologies Immediately For Those Of You Who As Part Of Your Motivation To Be Here We're Here To Hear Pastor Adam Preach I Am Not Pastor Adam He Is Six Inches Taller Twenty Years Younger And With It Okay I'm Not Pastor Adam But He And His Family Are Beautifully Over In The UK Right Now Visiting Other Family There And Before We Do Anything Else May We Offer A Prayer For Them Before We Do Anything Else All Right Let's Do That Lord We Bow Before You Just As We Are Thank You That You Are The Lord Of The Heavens And The Earth They're Full Of Your Glory And We Pray A Very Special Prayer Lord This Morning For Adam And Carrie For Virginia For Lily And Lucy For Albie Over There Being Visited For This Family Lord That There Might Be Just A Special Blessing A Special Sense Of Your Presence A Special Joy That Trips Like This Are A Possibility Today And Lord Might You Strengthen Them As They Look Into Your Word As They Are In Your Spirit Even As We Ask Lord You Visit That Blessing !

Upon ! Today In Your Holy Name The Name Of The Father The Son The Holy Spirit Amen Just Feel A Need To Do That This Morning And Who Am I I Am Dr. Jim Smith I'm Associate Pastor Here Part Time At La Jolla Christian Fellowship And This Is One Of The Joys For My Wife And Linda And I This Is One Of The Joys Of Our Life Because Some Of You Will Know That I Came Here As Interim Pastor Here 11 Years Ago And There Were Things That The Lord Had I Thought I Would Be Here About A Year And In The Lord's Purpose It Was Then Some Things To Be Addressed Some Dear People To Come There About 50 People In The Church And We Prayed For The Right Person To Come And That Was Pastor Adam And Family And Others Have Come And Joined And Here We Are First Service And What A Joy It Is In The Heart To See The Lord Be So Fruitful In His Provision So With That Just To Say A Privilege To Be Asked To Look Into God's Word Here This Morning With That We Are In A Series Shopping For Hope And With That Also Underlines Part Of My Ministry And That Is To Have Conversations With People I So Next Week I With Children's Ministries And I Going To Dress Up In My Wise Man Outfits And The Gray Beard Does It And The Rest Of It And We'll Just Have A Good Time With Children I Love That And Long Time Joy With Miss Kim Now With Kalina And So We're Just Grateful And I Hope We're Praying For That Children's Ministry As Well Now, did something click, or is Joe about to hand me a mic?

It went back on. All right. So with that, may our prayers continue. Among the questions that I got the last couple weeks is, okay, what's hope? Now, I know that sounds way foundational, but in our notes today, I trust we all got sermon notes, I want to address a bit of that right at the beginning, and then how Mary is an example, one of the great examples of that hope and the song that she sings called the Magnificat by generations of Christians is one of the wonderful expressions of that.

There was a road to her getting to that point, and we're going to look at that road today. First of all, the issue of hope. Will you look with me? And here is a working hypothesis, all right? Varied Christian reflections suggest that it's different from what? It's different from optimism. Optimism. Optimism's a positive attitude, but too often it's bent into denying realities.

I keep my fingers crossed, and I'm optimistic. I'm a grandpa. I love doing this, right? I keep my fingers crossed. I'm optimistic that great things are going to happen, even if it denies certain realities. With my wife's permission, I want to mention this with deep, deep tenderness. She had a nephew, and I had a niece, both of whom were very optimistic and passed on because they denied the realities of their medical condition and said, well, I'm strong enough.

We'll get better. You hear what I'm saying? They denied realities. Were they optimistic? Both of them. Yes. Oh, yeah. It's going to break through. To the other side, we're going to do fine. It's going to work. I don't need to go to this doctor with a shingle. You know, I don't need that. And with my wife's permission, I'm mentioning that today. Okay. So optimism, that's fine as far as it goes, as a positive feeling, as a seeking of the best.

But when it denies some of the realities of a situation, it doesn't serve us well. A second. It's different than calculation. Calculation can be goal-centered. That's great. But too often, it claims control. If I just calculate and sometimes manipulate the situation enough, then it'll turn out the way I want it to turn out. It'll be primo. It'll be just what I had looked for.

If I can just calculate, arrange, plan and plan, and even, what was the word? Manipulate once in a while. And often, people are caught up in the manipulation of those who want a positive, strong outcome. But other people become its rather than people. They become chess pieces. So the suggestion this morning I want to make, and again, this springs out of conversations in the last two weeks about hope.

What is it? The suggestion is that hope is rather a confidence, confide, it means with faith, a confidence which affirms that in each season, God is faithfully pursuing a greater blessing. Or as one of my students has said before, a deeper yes. Whatever you see in that situation, God wants a deeper yes to a blessing, to a reality that he wants to bring.

And so waiting's not a desert, as my teacher at Harvard, Henry Nowen, used to say. Waiting is not a desert between where you are and where you'd like to be. Hmm? But we wait patiently, prayerfully, in expectation, engaging a common good. That's what we look for. That's what we see. That's hope. And hope may be, if I can use a couple simple examples, it may be Johnny Erickson Tada.

Anybody know her? She's amazing. Paralyzed. Quadriplegic. Crossed paths with her at a conference some years ago. Amazing woman. And still inspirational. And with her ministries. And at that point, she said, I will choose to hope in God. That out of my situation, there can come something that would not have come out of my situation as fruitfully, as well, had I not experienced this moment.

We had a gentleman who used to sit in that pew right there. Don't duck. His name was C.P. Martin. Anybody remember C.P.? 103 years old when he passed earlier this year. And with that, he was a veteran of D-Day, Omaha Beach. A hero. And what C.P. could say is, I'm not there because I'm optimistic. Man, those Nazis are all over the hill. And they're up in the air.

I'm not here because I'm optimistic. And I'm not here because I can calculate a victory. I'm just here because I'm hoping, and in his case, praying, that God, against all odds, would bring about a victory in that place and push back all the stuff that was going on. And the Lord answered those prayers. The Lord worked through that hope. Those are two examples.

I love good examples, don't you? I love somebody who doesn't teach me to make better excuses, but to be a better person. And so with that, that's what we're looking at today when we look at this marvelous, marvelous situation with the Blessed Virgin. I want to throw one more thing in there, too. I am hoping and praying for something wonderful this afternoon out there in the snow.

If we were only optimistic, we'd say, gee, it'd sure be nice if some snow fell out here. That'd be great. But some planning, faced with the realities of the scarcity of snow in La Jolla this time of year, some planning has gone into all this. I want to give it up, both for our worship team and our planners. This is beauty. That's awesome. Can we do that?

Thank you. Thank you. So with that, we are allowed to hope in that reality. And so optimism would have said, yeah, maybe there'll be snow. Or if you were somebody who is calculating, you'd say, gee, if we bring enough snow, that will automatically bring a blessing. No, it just brings snow. Right? What brings the blessing is the gift of God's grace through the people that gather there.

With a word of faith in, hope that, love for. Right? I like those prepositions. Don't you? Faith in, hope that, love for. That's what brings, as instruments of the Lord, a blessing. And so we're looking forward to that. I brought, by the way, my staff. Somebody say, you don't have a staff. Well, yes I do. Dear person on the way down the hill, from where I was parking, up in a different area code, was, I came in with this, and they said, oh, you brought your staff.

And I said, yeah, this is all the staff that I have. Made this over the weekend, and, you know, don't be, don't be surprised that not all the shepherds bought their stuff at Hobby Lobby. Okay? It's not all smooth and slick, but this does the job. And so I carved this out of a tree down the hill from where we live and adjoining where our son and his wife and kids live.

He is here this morning. I will not embarrass him. Heck of a good guy. Love him always. All right? Shepherd staff. All right? We'll be there this afternoon in an outfit Linda made for me 35 years ago, and it still fits. Enough of the miracle. So with that, one of the great biblical examples of hope that we have is in Mary. And her song is a treasure. Her song is here and calls us to the main point this morning.

God calls us, like Mary, to live a magnificat life. Okay? To live a magnificat life. Now, if I was going to speak simply in human terms, I'd say, well, I can be a star. I can be a pro. I can do all kinds of different things, and I'll be magnificent. Or if I really get into the calculation, I can be maleficent. Okay? Some of you know that character from some other dramas floating around out there.

No. This is the magnificat life. Where does that word come from? In your sheets. What is the magnificat? It is the traditional title of Mary's praise song in Luke 1, 46 to 55. Where does that come from? Magnificat. After Christianity's legalization by Rome, we think we've got challenges. We do. But life as Christians under the Roman Empire, which for centuries killed Christians, martyred them.

Boy, in 405, when it became legal, Jerome, a scholar, translated the Bible into common Latin. And echoing Israel's King David word, Psalm 34, the Old Testament, Gadal, Mary opens her song with New Testament, Megaluno, the Greek, my soul magnifies the Lord. Magnificat anima mea dominum. That's as much Latin as I'll throw this morning. Sorry. Doctorate in church history from Harvard.

Okay? Still teach. But in this word, magnificat anima, my soul magnifies the Lord. Translators of the King James Version in 1611, which was the standard English translation for 250 years. We utilize the ESV most commonly here, the English standard. But it was translated, my soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior. 1611. That was an era of scientific development of what?

Do you see it in your notes? What? Lenses. Lenses. That's when lenses were being developed. Anybody here besides me? I've got my grandpa glasses. Anybody else here use a few lenses? Got some lenses here? Anybody with lenses? Okay. This is an era in which they are experimenting, ah, experimenting with lenses. And that has to do with several different elements.

Look, if you will, in an era of scientific development of lenses, the object wasn't to make God bigger. Okay? Inconceivable! Anybody know the movie? What's the movie? Princess Bride. All right. Princess Bride 211. Inconceivable! Right? No. The object is not when Mary says, my soul magnifies the Lord. Or David says in Psalm 34, verse 3, oh, magnify the Lord with me.

Let us exalt his name together. The object there is not to make God bigger. That's inconceivable! What is clear is that our object in the notes is for each believer's life to be a lens helping others to see God up close. Right? He's not just, can I do a Bette Midler? Can I do a Bette Midler? He's not just, from a distance. Right? That's not our God. Is that okay?

That's right. You guys got the voices. I can just croak. It's not from a distance. It's not what we're talking about. It is in our lives to make it clear to people that God's just out there, not out there, just grading us. Hmm? But God loves us and so loved the world that He, what? Gave His one and only Son. He loved us this much through Jesus. And so with that, our lives are to be a lens, magnificat, life, through which people can sense God's not just from a distance, but He's up close.

He's reaching out to us. He's drawing by what some call provenient grace. A grace, pervenir, sorry, some Spanish. A grace that comes before the changes in our lives to grow. Mas profundo, to go deeper with the Lord. Sorry, lapse into Spanish. With that, there is this sense of God who is present and cares and loves. So we become, in some sense, a telescope through which people can see the lens of our life and that God is for real and up close.

And we're also, may I say at times, what's the next part? It's a pair of glasses. It makes the word legible and credible. In other words, it can say, God so loves the world that He gave His one and only Son. And He did. You know, my doctorate's in church history. You want to talk church history? Is all this on the level? Yep. But through the glasses,