Willing Vessels of Honor

Luke 1:38 - ...then Mary said, "Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word." And the angel departed from her.

As I took my very early morning walk Monday, the thought came to me about Mary, the mother of Jesus. I thought about how God chose her to exact His plan of salvation. I thought about her willingness and the scripture that speaks of vessels to be used for God's service. 

...in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay, some for honor and some for dishonor. Therefore if anyone cleanses himself from the latter, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified and useful for the Master, prepared for every good work. (2Timothy 2:20-21)

Although God has used evil or unrighteous people to bring about a plan, if I wish to be used by God, I must be willing and set apart for His service. Gold and silver set apart from wood and clay. That means there needs to be a humility, willingness and obedience. It means being in tune with the Holy Spirit.

Mary was that willing vessel chosen by God. She called herself a maidservant. In looking into that word it means handmaiden. It means she chose to submit herself, humbly, to the will of God. She does not put herself on a level any greater than maidservant. She realized her standing with God. She also knew she was in need of a Savior as much as we do. In her case it would be her Son. The circumstances she would face demanded complete trust in God.

Those who are followers of Christ have also been chosen by God. They are called to be willing vessels for His service. In other verses the Bible talks about the Master Potter. As a child of His, He begins the task of molding and shaping us:

...O LORD, You are our Father; we are the clay, and You our potter; and all we are the work of Your hand. (Isaiah 64:8)

God asks each of His followers to be willing vessels and to humble ourselves, allow the Master Potter to mold and shape us into someone He would want to use. This is not some horrible thing. He makes us better than we think we are. We don't need to be perfect or know everything. He will use anyone in tune with His Holy Spirit and willing to be led. We are to fully trust in our God and our Lord to know what is right for us.

Like Mary, our circumstances may not be the greatest. It may seem to us, in our human nature, to be an embarrassing circumstance, but God knows. We may be scorned or rejected, like Mary. Hmmm, seems to me Jesus was too. That should be of great comfort.

If God calls us to be His child and we respond to the call, we need to stick with it, follow, and keep ourselves in that place. If He asks us to do something, we need to do it. Mary didn't draw attention to herself, neither should we. We are simply God's servants.

God chose us like He chose Mary. Mary is no greater than we are and we no greater than Mary. God/Jesus are the only ones worthy of such greatness. We are simply willing vessels...to honor God, bring glory to His name and reveal Christ through us for God and by God. The only One who should be on any pedestal is Jesus who is on the greatest pedestal, the Throne of God. No person can put themselves on even ground with Christ or with God. We can, however, put myself on even ground with His maidservant, Mary, as that willing vessel.  

Mary brought forth in birth Jesus as mankind's Savior (including hers). We are to bring forth the Word, Jesus, through His Word that others might meet that same Savior.

Lord, I used to pray every morning to be that willing vessel. I used to pray to be filled to overflowing that I might share what You have given me with others. Help me to remember to do that again. Cleanse me of that which is dishonorable to You. I pray that I would empty myself of who I think I am and fill myself with what You want me to be. Lord, You were lifted up that You would draw all men to You. Your death brings life and light. You drew me unto You. Thank You, Lord, for doing that. You use vessels. Use me. 

1Peter 2:9 - ...you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light...

I CAN'T DO IT!

Luke 10:39 - And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus’ feet and heard His word.

I was out walking the other morning. The thought crossed my mind, Gosh, I wish I was better at doing some things. There are times when you just can't do two things at once. For instance, I have tried on numerous occasions to listen to a sermon while I was doing something else like making supper, baking something or working on a project of some sort, even walking.

I got to thinking there are times, just like in the story of Mary and Martha, where devoting oneself to one thing was the best. Martha fussed over the fact that she was serving Jesus by herself as He visited them while her sister Mary sat at His feet, engrossed in what He spoke. She groused about her circumstance to Jesus. And Jesus answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.” (Luke 10:41-42)

Jesus told her Mary did the right thing. It reminded me of another scripture: In His own words Jesus said, "...just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.” (Matthew 20:28) Just like He did not come to redeem us because we think we have been "good" people or have done much serving to gain His approval. He came to serve us...He came and gave His life for us. That's a servant! 

Martha was all about the serving. Nothing wrong with that but in this circumstance He wasn't concerned with being served. He came to spend time with them. He wanted to serve them with His words. He has said it's not about the food which perishes...it's about the bread of life which saves. Physical vs. spiritual. He has shown us which is most important. He wants to serve us with His words. 

So, He has come that He might bring us life. Mary and Martha had a chance to take in some of His life-giving words. Mary was receiving while Martha was fussing! In order to receive that life we also must sit at His feet and receive the words of life He has to offer. No distractions, just Him, just His Word, words. We sit at His feet and partake in those words of life. He has much to tell us if we just sit and "listen."

I must be in total concentration to what I am reading or what is being preached or I just won't get it! That means stopping what I do...completely. Just an aside here, we must be careful who we listen to; this preacher had better be a solid man of God whose messages are right out of the Word, expressing His truth out of the power of the Holy Spirit. 

Mary chose to sit at the feet of Jesus and spend time with Him, listening to him, learning from just being with Him. Martha didn't take the time to learn At this moment. I presume this was a lesson for her. It should be a lesson for us all.

When we are in relationship with Christ do we find ourselves too distracted to listen to Him? Let's take the time to sit at His feet and learn, take in life-giving, eternal words...preferably from His Word! 

John 6:27 - Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him.” 

An Ordinary Mother

Luke 1:46-48 - And Mary said: My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior. For He has regarded the lowly state of His maidservant; For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed. 

Okay, so Mary, mother of Jesus wasn't exactly ordinary. I mean, come on, conception by the Holy Spirit? How often does that happen?

However, what we know of her shows her to be not of an elevated status, but a typical girl from a typical, simple family in Nazareth. I did a little research on what Nazareth would have been like. There is not much mention of this town so one can conclude that it was not a prominent town or village. One account stated it could have been between 480 and 2,000 people. Mary was considered a humble peasant girl, so I am assuming all of Nazareth was comprised of people of humble means, yet not necessarily all humble spirits.

John 1:46 states, Can anything good come out of Nazareth? I'm guessing the town did not have the greatest reputation. If you recall Jesus returned after His ministry began and was rejected, most likely because He was only the Son of Mary, a peasant girl, and Joseph, a carpenter. I'm guessing the people really wondered at the way Mary conceived since who had ever heard of this. Oh, the skepticism. Can't we all be like that at times?

The other night we had a women's dinner at church for the Christmas season. It was called An Extraordinary Night. The speaker, Sandy Bradford, spoke on the things we don't often think about regarding what Mary went through as being chosen, conceiving and giving birth on that extraordinary night to this Son who was the Son of God. Bradford asked the women who had children to imagine all the feelings, thoughts, concerns Mary might have had.

I'm not going to reiterate all her thoughts. One thing is clear, Mary was ordinary...yet not. A peasant girl suddenly to become the mother of the Son of God...all in nine months' time. She didn't even have time to prepare for this. Only God could have given her the strength and more importantly the faith and trust she would need. The point I'm making is that it had nothing at all to do with anything she determined to do, apart from trusting, which alone is a huge thing.

God purposely chose Mary. Part of this purpose is to show how He uses ordinary people in life to achieve His purposes. We all know that Jesus, God, came down from His throne to live among us sinners. He walked and talked with the basest of people at times...prostitutes, thieves, liars, the proud and arrogant. He chose His disciples not from the elite class but the humble. He Himself, despite being the King of kings was humble. Isn't that just the perfect example of what we are to be?

What makes any of us think we are so great? Remember yesterday I mentioned Mitch's comment: But I realized that night that I'm not better or smarter than anyone. We are told that we are not to worship the creation but the Creator. And we are to worship nothing other than Jesus Christ.

Mary herself said these things about her own Son:
My soul magnifies the Lord and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior...For He who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is His name. (Luke 1:46-47,49)

She understood. She understood she was ordinary put into extraordinary circumstances. Imagine all she had to go through beyond just His birth. She was the mother of God yet she had the same feelings about her Son as we would have about our children...frustration, fear, sadness, joy, hope, pride, ending in abject grief. She learned first hand that she could not tell Him what to do...He was in His Father's house when she complained about His not telling them where He was going to be and His time had not yet come when she asked Him to do a miracle at a wedding.

Mary endured His comings and goings as His ministry took, literally, legs and sent Him all over the countryside. He claims to not have had a place to call home. He exclaimed, My mother and brothers are those who hear God's word and put it into practice, when told she and his brothers wanted to see Him. Imagine how she might have felt. And the worst feeling of all was the helplessness of being a mother seeing her Son whipped and beaten for telling the truth about Who He was, and then led to His crucifixion.

She was an ordinary woman then. She had no power or strength of her own to change the situation. She may have even found it difficult to trust in God during this time. She also knew that her salvation came through her own Son! I imagine what it was like after He arose and returned for a period of time. Was the sadness removed? Was the joy resurrected in her life? Did she fully understand now all He had to have gone through?

We are all ordinary people. We might think otherwise, but we still are. We only elevate ourselves with our sinful, prideful natures. We might learn a lesson from both Mary and her Son about humility. As Mary honored Jesus, as Jesus honored His heavenly Father over His earthly parents, so should we honor the Man who came to an ordinary woman and humbled Himself for all us sin filled people that we might all receive His free gift of salvation.

Our pastor, Rory Grooters, this morning asked us also to imagine what her life was like. Here was the gist of it, in my own words! She was the actual first temple of God, carrying Christ in her, having the very God within her, going through the difficult days when people didn't understand what she was going through and how it all happened, all the flapping gums and gossip, just like we go through because we have Christ in us...and doesn't that make us different? BUT what did she do? She delivered that Baby, the Baby that was to be all for us. And we are to deliver Christ in the same way to those around us, that they might also have the power of God within them.

So if, as followers of Christ, God chooses us for something, are we prepared as ordinary people? We may not think so but He has given us all we need to do what He desires. We are His ordinary people whom He has chosen to become in Christ, or better yet, have Him in us. He has given us talents and life experiences. All ordinary things. Coupled with trust and faith in Him we are able to do. It's all about Him. We are as ordinary as Mary. We are as ordinary as the fishermen, the prostitutes, the thieves and liars. He changes us. He takes the ordinary and makes them extraordinary...all to glorify Him.

Will you humble yourself as Jesus did? Will you come down from whatever place you're at, like Jesus did? Make no mistake, you are ordinary! Let Him make you extraordinary. Mary understood that. The mother of the Son of God...ordinary to extraordinary...all by the hand of God.

James 4:10 - Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.

Highly Exalted One

1Chronicles 29:11 - Yours, O LORD, is the greatness, the power and the glory, the victory and the majesty; for all that is in heaven and in earth is Yours; Yours is the kingdom, O LORD, and You are exalted as head over all. 

I was saddened in my spirit one day as I was lunching with a couple of newfound friends I had delightfully golfed with. I have no idea how we got on the subject of religion but we did. Seems to be a subject in Phoenix that is not, surprisingly, avoided. I'm all for it...

We discussed where each of us attended church in the area. Somehow Easter was brought up and one woman said she could not watch the movie the Passion of the Christ because it was just too hard to view. I attempted to explain it was to show the torment Christ went through for all our sins and how we need to understand this.

The subject did a quick turn that was totally unexpected for me when she said, "And the torment of His mother, Mary." I agreed it would have been difficult for her...for any mother...to see their son go through something as horrific as what Jesus went through.  Then she quickly said, "You know I still have my statue of Mary decorated in honor of her."

How sad I was to hear this. She had/has missed the whole point of Easter. It was not about Mary; it was all about Him. Surely she bore Him, raised Him as an earthly mother, considered Him for a time as her earthly Son, taught Him, but it was His Heavenly Father who Jesus ultimately listened to. As with other conversations we were having, they became disjointed or interrupted, yielding to unfinished discussions, which was frustrating for me. So my thoughts ended up only in this blog.

More on Jesus and Mary: I recall Jesus' words to her at the wedding in Cana when she approached Him to bring about the miracle of the wine: Dear Woman, it is not yet my time. Woman! Sounds harsh, but it really was a term used then, one spoken with the utmost tenderness and affection. He would never have spoken disrespectfully to His mother. He needed her to realize that He was no longer of an age where He was still under her authority. He listened and obeyed His Father in Heaven. Her response to the servants at the wedding was "Do whatever He tells you." An understanding, humble answer.

We're called to do that ourselves today. Whatever He tells us. We are to seek Him out for His gift of salvation, a gift only He can give us. No one else is worthy to give this gift. His work on the cross is what counts, nothing anyone else, including Mary, has done.

Yes, Mary grieved. We should grieve too...that we are all sinners in this world and that Jesus had to...and willingly chose to...die for us...even for His mother.

There was another time Mary was expecting more than she got. She and her other sons (who did not believe Jesus was the Son of God) were seeking Him out. Here is what ensued: Mark 3:31-35 - Then His brothers and His mother came, and standing outside they sent to Him, calling Him. And a multitude was sitting around Him; and they said to Him, "Look, Your mother and Your brothers  are outside seeking You." But He answered them, saying, "Who is My mother, or My brothers?" And He looked around in a circle at those who sat about Him, and said, "Here are My mother and My brothers! For whoever does the will of God is My brother and My sister and mother."

Here is Jesus pointing out that those who followed Him, were His true spiritual family. It was not all about His earthly family, as hard as that sounds. It's about what He came to earth to do. He had to come as a person who came from heaven to earth and lived and went through the pain like our everyday life's pain. He had to be a real person, yet set apart, to everyone, including His mother. He was showing everyone that He is the ONLY way, truth and life and ONLY by Him was anyone to get to the Father. Even His dear, sweet mother, Mary, needed ONLY what He could give. She, too, had to give her life to the Lord, even if He was her Son.

We are born into this world naturally, but it is our spiritual nature that is important. The only way that spiritual nature is satisfied is our turning to Jesus as our Savior. Mary cannot do that, nor can anyone else. ONLY by the name of Jesus.

Mary was an excellent example of purity in a woman, strength, sacrifice...and of letting her Son be who He needed to be. She followed Him but did not excel Him. She was the very willing vessel God used to bring about this miracle birth. She was God's earthly servant (Luke 1:38). She was her Son's earthly servant...just as we who have received Christ are to be.

Yes, she was called blessed. The Proverbs 31 woman is called blessed. I can say I'm blessed too. We both have known and know the Son. She would have felt the same pain any other mother would losing a child. She learned from Him, in time, to allow Jesus to do what she by now she saw He had to do. But she is not a saint to be worshiped over her Son. ONLY the name above all names is to be worshiped. All praise, honor and glory be to Him ONLY who sits on the Heavenly Throne at the right hand of God, His Father. 

Philippians 2:9-11 - Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.