Sunday's Message - I BELIEVE in Jesus Christ,...who was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary.

During the sermon series I Believe: Exploring the Apostle's Creed, the congregation of Sligo Presbyterian Church is using The Apostles Creed to discuss some basic Christian beliefs. We’ll also take those beliefs and apply them to our daily living. This includes talking about why they're important and how they might shape our thoughts, feelings and faith. Below are the topics we'll cover:

• August 10 - I BELIEVE in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth.
• August 17 - I BELIEVE in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord,
• August 24 - I BELIEVE in Jesus Christ,...who was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary.
• August 31 - I BELIEVE...he suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried;
• September 7 - I BELIEVE...he descended to hell. The third day he rose again from the dead.
• September 14 - I BELIEVE...he ascended to heaven and is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty.
• September 21 I BELIEVE...from there he will come to judge the living and the dead.
• September 28 - I BELIEVE in the Holy Spirit,
• October 5 - I BELIEVE in...the holy catholic church, the communion of saints,
• October 12 - I BELIEVE in...the forgiveness of sins,
• October 19 - I BELIEVE in...the resurrection of the body,
• October 26 - I BELIEVE in...and the life everlasting. Amen.

On Sunday, we continued this series by looking at the meaning and significance of saying, "I BELIEVE in Jesus Christ,...who was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary." Below is the text and a video presentation of the sermon. You can stream the service by going to the Sligo Presbyterian Church YouTube Channel on Sundays at 10:00 a.m. (EDT).  You can hear a podcast of the service at the Sligo Presbyterian Church YouTube Channel or the Sligo Presbyterian Spotify Page.

Now, as we all know, today is August 24, which means we have 123 days before Christmas. In other words, we’ve got a long row to hoe, before we need to start sweating about decking the halls. I mean, school has just started. And we’ve got another month before we officially enter Fall. And I’m not sure Walmart has even started to put out their Halloween stuff, much less Christmas. No, before anybody gets too excited, Santa hasn’t started loading his sleigh. 

Still, just a minute ago, we listened to a Christmas song, Mary Did You Know, but of course, the reason has little to do with December 25th and everything to do with where we stand in a sermon series we started a few weeks ago. You see, today we’re moving forward in our exploration of The Apostle’s Creed, and to this point, we’ve already talked about what it means to say, “I BELIEVE in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth.” And then last week, we discussed the significance of “I BELIEVE in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord...” And this morning, we’re moving on to the third little statement in the Creed: I BELIEVE in Jesus Christ,...who was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. Now, this is the first of five clauses that focus on some of the things that we believe Jesus did in the past and will do in the future. And since it involves his birth, well, that’s the reason we played the song.

But you know, it’s interesting; not only is the song directed to Mary herself, it starts with a question: Mary, did you know? As a matter of fact, through the course of the song, Mary is asked twelve questions all focused on whether or not she knew who Jesus was or what he would become. And even though it would be tempting for me to give “yes” or “no” answer based on my own assumptions and opinions, the only thing by which I can come to this conclusion is a very familiar Christmas passage from the Gospel of Luke:

One month later God sent the angel Gabriel to the town of Nazareth in Galilee with a message for a virgin named Mary. She was engaged to Joseph from the family of King David. The angel greeted Mary and said, “You are truly blessed! The Lord is with you.”

Mary was confused by the angel’s words and wondered what they meant. Then the angel told Mary, “Don’t be afraid! God is pleased with you, and you will have a son. His name will be Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of God Most High. The Lord God will make him king, as his ancestor David was. He will rule the people of Israel forever, and his kingdom will never end.”

Mary asked the angel, “How can this happen? I am not even married!”

The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come down to you, and God’s power will come over you. So your child will be called the holy Son of God. Your relative Elizabeth is also going to have a son, even though she is old. No one thought she could ever have a baby, but in three months she will have a son. Nothing is impossible for God!”

Mary said, “I am the Lord’s servant! Let it happen as you have said.” And the angel left her. [Luke 1:26-38, CEV]

Now, that’s really all we have to answer the musical question: Mary, did you know?

But I’ll tell you, although I’m not sure about how much she knew, as we think about the passage and that affirmation, I believe there are three things that we do know happened when Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, our Lord came into our world as Mary’s son. And that’s what we’re going to talk about this morning.

For example, first, because Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary, I think we can better understand God. In other words, we can better understand who and what God is and why this is important for us. You see, in a very real sense, I believe God revealed his very nature to us through Jesus Christ. And I’ll tell you, this is something we can see right at the beginning of the Gospel of John. I mean, after offering his own origin story, this was what the Evangelist wrote:

The Word became

a human being

    and lived here with us.

We saw his true glory,

the glory of the only Son

    of the Father.

From him the complete gifts

of undeserved grace and truth

    have come down to us.

Because of all that the Son is, we have been given one blessing after another. The Law was given by Moses, but Jesus Christ brought us undeserved kindness and truth. No one has ever seen God. The only Son, who is truly God and is closest to the Father, has shown us what God is like. [John 1:14, 16-18, CEV]

You see, it was through his only Son that God revealed himself. And he did it in a way that we could understand. For example, it’s through the Son that we can understand God’s authority. I mean, when he fed the crowds and stilled the storm and walked on the water, Mary’s son showed that God has the power to meet our needs and to help us through our problems and pain and even to calm the chaos that, from time to time, might seem to be all around us, pulling us down into a pretty dark place. I mean, over and over again, throughout his life, Jesus showed the authority of God. But that’s not all, he also displayed God’s incredible love. My goodness, every time he healed the sick and touched the unclean, every time he announced forgiveness and proclaimed good news, my gosh, every time he went to those who needed him most, and I’m talking about sinners and tax collectors, man, he was demonstrating the grace and compassion and mercy of God. You see, just like he did with authority, in his life, Jesus showed God’s inexhaustible love.

And I’ll tell you, I think that’s something we need to remember. I mean, we need to remember this when we feel, as they used to say in Montana, “ridden hard and put away wet,” and I’m talking about times when the problems seem bigger than anything we can handle and the pain feels greater than anything we can bear. Man, we need to remember that God has authority and that he also feels love. But I’ll tell you, I think we also need to remember this when we’re looking at others, and I’m talking about our brothers and sisters who are dealing with the same kind of stuff that could affect us if we’d been born in a different place and if we’d been forced to face different challenges. You see, instead of pointing our fingers or shrugging our shoulders, because, through Jesus Christ, we know who God is, we might want to do what Jesus did, in other words, to serve as instruments of God’s authority and love. And this is something we can decide to do, because we can better understand God. And that’s the first thing that will happen when we affirm what it says in the Creed, but that’s not all.

You see, second, because Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary, I think God can better understand us. Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that God isn’t omniscient, you know, all knowing. Still, I believe there’s a difference between intellectually comprehending the effects of pain and feeling pain itself. And you know, I think the writer of the letter to the Hebrews saw a difference too, and that’s why he wrote this:

We have a great high priest, who has gone into heaven, and he is Jesus the Son of God. This is why we must hold on to what we have said about him. Jesus understands every weakness of ours, because he was tempted in every way that we are. But he did not sin! So whenever we are in need, we should come bravely before the throne of our merciful God. There we will be treated with undeserved grace, and we will find help. [Hebrews 4:14-16, CEV]

You see, because God became human, our humanity became part of God. In other words, God himself knows what it’s like to be hungry and tired and weak. And he knows what it’s like to be betrayed and denied and abandoned. And he sure knows what it’s like to feel anger and loneliness and doubt. I believe that, as the writer of Hebrews reminds us, when he rejoined his Father, Jesus brought all this and more into God himself. 

And I’ll tell you, that’s the reason we can approach God openly. We don’t have to hide behind a lot of spiritual sounding words so that we can convince God that we’re better than we are. Instead, we can be honest as we share with this great high priest our most intense fears and frustrations and our most overwhelming problems and pain and our most debilitating sadness and grief, man, we can do that, because whatever we’ve felt and whatever we’ve faced and whatever we’ve endured, God has felt and faced and endured it too. And so we can be open. Just like we can also be hopeful, because remember, when we lay before God those things that for us are intense and overwhelming and debilitating, not only does God have authority to do something about them, he also loves us, reminding us that what we face right now is, at worst, temporary. And that the time will come when God’s going to redeem his entire creation and lead us into a new heaven and new earth, a reality in which, using the words John of Patmos wrote his Revelation, “[God] will wipe all tears from [our] eyes, and there will be no more death, suffering, crying, or pain. These things of the past [will be] gone forever.” [Revelation 21:4, CEV] You see, this we can trust, because through Jesus Christ, God better understands us. And that’s the second thing that will happen when we affirm this statement in the Creed. 

And third, because Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary, I think we can also better understand ourselves, and I’m talking about who we are in relationship with God and what we’re able to do in response. And I think we can see this by looking at Mary herself, both at what she did but also what she said after her encounter with the angel. You see, right after she heard Gabriel’s promise and while she was visiting her cousin Elizabeth, 

Mary said:

With all my heart

    I praise the Lord,

and I am glad

    because of God my Savior.

God cares for me,

    his humble servant.

From now on,

all people will say

    God has blessed me.

God All-Powerful has done

great things for me,

    and his name is holy.

He always shows mercy

to everyone

    who worships him.

The Lord has used

    his powerful arm

to scatter those

    who are proud.

God drags strong rulers

    from their thrones

and puts humble people

    in places of power.

God gives the hungry

    good things to eat,

and sends the rich away

    with nothing.

God helps his servant Israel

and is always merciful

    to his people.

The Lord made this promise

    to our ancestors,

to Abraham and his family

    forever!  [Luke 1:46-55, CEV] 

You see, as a result of her encounter, Mary’s relationship with God deepened. I mean, not only did she display an intense sense of humility as she offered thanks and praise to the Lord, she also showed a profound appreciation of who God is and how God works and what God does. I mean, according to Mary, God is the one who balances the scales. He’s the one who works to bring justice and equity to his creation. In other words, he’s the one who scatters and unites, who drags down the powerful and lifts up the lowly, and as Jesus will say later in the Gospel of Luke, who ultimately blesses the poor and the hungry, the mourning and the persecuted. You see, this was the God Mary was going to serve, and she knew it.

And brothers and sisters, so can we, so can we as we follow her example. I mean, like her, we can humbly praise God for his care, for his power and his mercy and his love, in other words, the kind of things that we can see all around us if we open our eyes to look. And like her, we can boldly participate in what she believed would happen. I mean, let’s get real, thanks to Mary, we also know who God is and how God works and what God does. And so, right here and right now, let’s decide to claim and live what Mary knew. I mean, let’s live the kind of lives that show to the world around us that we’re glad that God is our savior and that he cares for us, his humble servants. And let’s intentionally thank God for everything he’s done for us in the past and is doing for us in the present and will do for us in future. And then let’s free ourselves from some of those structures that the world tells us are absolute and unchangeable and let’s recognize that the Kingdom of God really is like a mustard seed in the soil or yeast in some dough, that even though it’s hard to see right now, it’s changing everything and then let’s get ready for the time when God finally turns the tables and when he finally rewinds the clock and when he finally shows us exactly what Paul had in mind when he wrote to Corinthians, “Anyone who belongs to Christ is a new person. The past is forgotten, and everything is new.” [2 Corinthians 5:17, CEV] I’m telling you, this is the way we can go, because through Jesus Christ, we can better understand ourselves. And that’s the third thing this affirmation does. 

Now as y’all remember, a little while ago, we listened to Carrie Underwood sing, Mary, Did You Know? And to tell y’all truth, based on scripture, I just can’t say whether she knew or she didn’t. I mean, speaking for myself, I just don’t know. But when Jesus entered our time space, I do believe three things happened. You see, because Jesus came, first, I believe that we can better understand God. And second, I believe God can better understand us. And third, I believe we can actually better understand ourselves. And even though we now have 123 days to go before Christmas, that’s why I think it’s important for us to consider, on August 24, what it means to say: I BELIEVE in Jesus Christ, ...who was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary.