Mary's Magnificat

Sermon from CCM Fallowfield
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LISTEN

This sermon was preached by Eleisha Barrow at the Fallowfield site of Christ Church Manchester on Sunday 1st December 2019.

SERIES

 

This message was part of the ‘Who needs Jesus?’ series, preached at Christ Church Manchester’s church in Fallowfield in autumn 2019. The full series included the following sermons:

 

BIBLE VERSES

This sermon was based on Luke 1:46-55.

Mary’s Song of Praise: The Magnificat

46 And Mary said,

“My soul magnifies the Lord,
47     and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
48 for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant.
    For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
49 for he who is mighty has done great things for me,
    and holy is his name.
50 And his mercy is for those who fear him
    from generation to generation.
51 He has shown strength with his arm;
    he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts;
52 he has brought down the mighty from their thrones
    and exalted those of humble estate;
53 he has filled the hungry with good things,
    and the rich he has sent away empty.
54 He has helped his servant Israel,
    in remembrance of his mercy,
55 as he spoke to our fathers,
    to Abraham and to his offspring forever.”

KEY POINTS

 

 

 

What Mary Feels – What we Should Feel

  • Mary feels is something of thanksgiving and rejoicing and glorifying the Lord – yet she is a single woman who is having a baby and will be ostrasized by her community!
  • What Mary expresses is rejoicing in a time where it could be so easy for her to despair and be fearful and this shows how we should be in constant praise and joy of God.
  • If we follow Mary’s example we humbly accept God and how much greater he is than us, how much hope he has brought through Jesus. We rejoice in him and praise, even in times of suffering because of that hope he brings.

 

What He Has Done for Mary – We Should See it in Our Lives

  • To blindly ask ourselves to praise God in all circumstances is easier said than done, Mary expresses why she praises God and it’s a good enough reason for us to do so as well!
  • What is it that she really understands that brings her to praise God in such a precarious time? Mary’s song – someone is coming to give her value; this is the root of what Jesus does for us; Jesus gives us value to be in a relationship with a Holy God.
  • What we have to rejoice in is how God has blessed us. He has turned us from sinners to saints.
  • Through Christ we can rejoice always, be always in connection with God, and have reason to give thanks in all circumstances.

 

What He Has Done – We Should Carry to Others

  • Why do we rejoice? Because of the freedom Jesus gives. What do we do we do with this understanding? Give it others!
  • Many people around us are quite literally trapped in situations that need freedom – whether it be slavery, addiction, persecution, discrimination, etc. – the way that God chose Mary, someone who would have be considered low in her time, to bear the son of God show’s God’s reverence and love for those who are considered less in our society.
  • This is a call to action, that once we realise the freedom and the gift that Jesus is for us, we cannot keep it to ourselves – we have to bring to life those verses, just as Jesus was the light when he was alive, we are now his light.
  • Mary’s words of Jesus’s freedom have the power to show people who aren’t in freedom what their freedom should be like.
  • When Jesus comes he will right the wrong and restore the world but until then we work as Jesus’s hands and feet!

 

MORE SERMONS

 

To see more sermons from Christ Church Manchester, you can visit our sermons page, or why not consider subscribing on iTunes.