Grapevine Ministries
Messages from the bible to uplift and encourage those that need a word from the Lord, to strengthen their faith. Ps Phillip Barker is an itinerant pastor in Perth, Western Australia.
Grapevine Ministries
Mary's Journey and the Christmas Story's Deep Connections
With Christmas on the horizon, discover ways to enrich your celebrations by involving family in the spiritual journey. Encourage loved ones in need of guidance to join church gatherings, fostering a nurturing environment that honours Jesus' birth. Reflect on the parallels between Mary's significant role in the Christmas story and the impactful roles mothers play in our lives today. We warmly invite you to join us at Great Vine Ministries for a special holiday message, and wish all our listeners a joyful and blessed Christmas season.
Good morning, good afternoon, wherever you are in the world - Welcome to Grapevine Ministries.
So today, what I'm going to be speaking about is probably a little bit controversial, but it will make all of you, all of you that used to be Catholic and now are Christians. But leading up to Christmas, I think it's appropriate that we, somewhere along the lines, include Mary. I'm always glad when Christmas comes around because I finally have the opportunity to sing some of my favourite songs and it's only sung around Christmas card, and that's Hark the Herald Angels Sings. It's not only one of my favourite Christmas carols, but it's one of my very favourite all-time Christmas songs, and I think it's because a lot of people don't really understand the meaning or the purpose behind it. Back in 1872, and no, I wasn't still around the Church of England selected four of the greatest hymns in the English language, and Hark the Herald Angels was one of those hymns. I wouldn't say that I'm overly anxious or desperately waiting to get through the whole year so that I can sing that song, but it does come to me in a particular way because it's a tribute to our Lord and our Saviour, our Redeemer Jesus of Nazareth. It's one of the greatest treasures that the church has musically brought forward and it is a treasure to many people and the soul and mind of those that like to memorize the words to this hymn.
Speaker 1:It was originally hit. You know you probably don't want to know this, but I mean I like to show that there's a little bit of a background in some of the subject matters that I make. But strange enough, this was written in 1739 by Charles Wesley, who wrote it as a Christmas Day hymn. Fifteen years later, along came George Whitefield, a great preacher and a great evangelist, and he felt that the words needed a little bit more of editing. So he tweaked it a little bit, I suppose is the other way of saying it. And 15 years after the original work of Wesley, whitefield brought its lyrics into a familiar form that we sing today. It needed a tune and the years went by and Wesley had always said it needed to be something quite sombre, slow, but never really caught on with anybody had always said it needed to be something quite sombre, slow, but never really caught on with anybody. Now it just goes to show that things can improve with age. And about 100 years after Whitefield, in the mid-'80s, there was a famous German Jew who was baptized, a Christian baptized into the Christian faith, and this German Jew wrote in honor of Jones Guttenberg now we all know that name who invented the printing press, and in that time frame it was this amazing tune that had been around since the 1850s was Hark. The Herald Angels Sing and the German Jew was converted to Christ, and it goes on.
Speaker 1:So when you get to hear this song, just realize that it's come from a very, very solid foundation of people that were so into the scriptures that you just resonate, knowing the foundation of something like this and sometimes it's important to do that A lot of people overlook. When they're talking about Jesus, they talk about the fact that he is the foundation of the church and we are actually the church. So from a foundational purpose, you know, you need to always look at the foundation. It doesn't matter whether you're building a house, building a cubby house, whether you're singing a song, bringing a song to life. That is like an old hymn from way back. And you listen to some of the music today and you see that if you listen to the words and the depth of what is there, you will actually get the underlying foundation of that piece of music and then you are able to glorify our Lord and Saviour. I know, I know it's a bit sort of like out there when we're talking about something like this.
Speaker 1:Half the Herald Angels sings glory to the newborn King. Peace on earth and mercy, mild King. Peace on earth and mercy, mild. God and sinner reconciled. Joyful. All ye nations rise, join the trumpet of the skies with the angelic hosts proclaim Christ is born in Bethlehem heart. The herald angels sing Glory to the newborn King. Just those words alone highlights the importance of that birth and as we approach Christmas, I just want to let this resonate in with you for a little while. Christ by the highest heaven is adorned, christ, the everlasting Lord, late in time. Behold him. Come Him, come, offspring of the virgin's womb veiled in flesh. The Godhead sees Hail. The incarnate deity Pleased as man with men to dwell Jesus, our Emmanuel hark. The herald angels sing glory to the newborn king. Now I can go on and read through the whole lot, because I'm definitely not singing it, but I won't.
Speaker 1:Wesley and Whitefield instructed us concerning the person of Jesus Christ in this hymn. He is the newborn king, but he is also identified as the Prince of Peace, the Son of Righteousness, the everlasting Lord and, most of all, emmanuel, god with us. Emmanuel, god with us. It's an almost breathtaking Christology, if you could say it I don't even know whether that's a real word in this magnificent tribute by with a Christian faith foundation, knowing that he is the eternal son who left heaven. He came to earth as a baby, born to a woman miraculously without a human father, born to save the sons of the earth, born to give them their second birth.
Speaker 1:So let's go to the beginning of the book of Matthew and the very first chapter and we'll see how this leads through to the king. It says this Jesus asked the Jewish leaders about the Messiah, according to Matthew 22, he said those son, oh sorry, whose son is Messiah to be? And they replied immediately son of David, son of David royalty. They said to him A man born in the line of David. That is exactly what the Old Testament declares. Back in 2 Samuel, chapter 7, we are told that the greater son of David, the Messiah, will be establishing God's kingdom throughout the royal line of David.
Speaker 1:Whoever is the Messiah, whoever is God's anointed king, must be a descendant of David. That is why Matthew begins the way that it does, verse 1, the record of the genealogy of Jesus and the Messiah, the son of David. And they have a detailed genealogy, coming all the way to Joseph in verse 16, the husband of Mary, by whom Jesus was born, who was called Messiah. So it must be the son of David. Messiah is in David's line and the royal right passes right through Joseph. Let me hasten to say this Jesus was not related to Joseph by blood. But in Luke, chapter 1, there is the genealogy of Mary, and Mary also came from David's bloodline. Mary gave Jesus the royal bloodline, joseph gave him the royal bloodline. Joseph gave him the royal right, because the royal right also came from the Father. You see where I'm going with this.
Speaker 1:But it's more than just the son of David that the Messiah must be. He must be the son of David, he must have the bloodline of David coursing through his veins, and he did this through Mary. He must have the right to the throne, which he received through the fact that Joseph was his legal father in the earthly sense. But he had to be more than just that. He also had to be the son of God, and that is where the message that Matthew gives us starts in verse 18. That Matthew gives us starts in verse 18. Not only was he in the line of David, but he was divine, not just man, not just royal, but he is divine, he is the son of God. In verse 18, it says this Now, the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows when his mother, mary, had been betrothed to Joseph before they came together, she was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit and Joseph, her husband, being a righteous man, not wanting to disgrace her, planned to send her away secretly.
Speaker 1:But when he had considered this, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream saying Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child who has been conceived in her is the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son. Now, all of this took place to fulfill what had been spoken about by the Lord through the prophets. Behold, the virgin shall be with child and she shall bear a son, and they shall name him Immanuel, which translated, means God with us. And Joseph awoke from his sleep and did as the angel of the Lord commanded him and took Mary as his wife, but kept her a virgin until she gave birth to the son, and he called his name Jesus. Mary's son of God, with us. Mary's son is Emmanuel. With us, mary's son is Emmanuel.
Speaker 1:We are thus introduced to the incarnate God-man, the Lord Jesus Christ, here. This account of his birth is a very critical identifying mark that sets him apart from any other human being who has ever been born. He is the only one born of a virgin conceived by God in the womb and the God-man, fully divine and fully human. But Matthew focuses particularly on his kingship, on the royal right that he has the throne as God's anointed, and that's why he gives the royal genealogy at the very beginning, and then he gives this remarkable birth that added to his human royal line divinity. Matthew presents to us all through his Gospels Jesus as king.
Speaker 1:Let me give you a little bit more to look at. First of all, matthew shows us that the king is revealed. The person of Jesus Christ is always painted in royal colours. His ancestry, as we saw, is traced through the royal line. His birth is dragged by the rival king. He hated it. The wise men offered him royal gifts. His herald, john the Baptist, declared that he is the king and that his kingdom is at hand. His temptation reaches its climax when he justifiably offered the kingdom to the entire world. His great sermon on the Mount is the manifesto of the king, setting forth the standards of his kingdom. His miracles are his royal credentials. His parables are called the mysteries of the kingdom. He is hailed as son of David, but also son of God. He claims freedom from paying tribute to earthly kings because he himself is the son of the great king and he himself a king. He makes a royal entry into Jerusalem where he declares himself to be the king and while facing the cross, he predicts that he will rise again and he will establish his future reign.
Speaker 1:Now I'm not going to go any further than that, because that brings us into Easter, but what I thought was prevalent here is to get a real, foundational understanding of just. You know how important it was for Jesus to come into the world the way he did and how important it was. Like I said last week, out of something small and insignificant comes the greatest thing that man has ever been bestowed upon the earth, even as a child. He is hurried away into obscurity in Egypt for a while, and then he returns and he comes back to Nazarene and once again he comes into an obscure town where he stays in obscurity until his 30th year. See, god had it all planned out, but in order for doing that. He had to make sure that everything lined up. Have you ever had a project that you've been doing and you wanted to make sure that all your you know? My dad used to say cross all your T's and dot all your I's? God was very aware of what he was doing and how he was doing it.
Speaker 1:Now the facts are very, very clear and they are found throughout scriptures, both Old and New Testament. You saw that Joseph and Mary were engaged. They were betrothed, not yet officially married, and yet, having consummated that union, joseph knew Mary was pregnant and he knew that it was not his child. We are then told that the child was conceived by the Holy Spirit in the womb of Mary, and then Joseph is commanded to marry her and name the child who is God with us Emmanuel. Those are the simple facts of the understated, massive divine work of the version, conception and the birth of the Son of God.
Speaker 1:Now, I could go so much deeper into this, but it's not a teaching. What I want to really do is make sure that teaching. What I want to really do is make sure that you know not overstating this too much and not understating it too much either but a lot of born-again Christians who have come from the, you know, baptist background, the Pentecostal background and even the Catholic backgrounds. Right, they've had a tendency to focus too much on Mary, mary being the I don't want to offend anybody here, but I mean it's just the way that it is. I don't want to offend anybody here, but I mean it's just the way that it is especially a lot of, you know, people that have come out of the background of Catholicism. The fact remains, even though throughout history, that's the only Christiannity I suppose you can call it, that have actually focused so much on Mary. Everything else focuses on Jesus and everything else focuses on the cross, and that's where it was finished.
Speaker 1:And they talk about Jesus' journey. His entire ministry was three and a half years, but as a child and even up until he became a man, there was very little spoken about him because he was kept sort of like under the wraps, so to speak. But I must admit that after he was born, I mean, can you just imagine if you were one of Mary's other children that were born through the union of her and Joseph? And as young kids they're like playing around and Jesus is the oldest out of the family, and Mary turns around and says oh James, why can't you be more like your brother Jesus? What a what a what a way to feel so, so demoralized in your, in your childhood, that think that the man is both man and God and he is perfect in every way and he never done anything wrong, because that's who he was and how he came to be. But can you just imagine the look on people's faces? Why can't you be more like your brother? Which one? Jesus, of course? Oh, no, not him again. How can we stand up to that?
Speaker 1:Now, getting back to Mary, all right, we know about her character, which is what is most important, because in Luke, chapter 1, in verse 38, mary says, in response to being told by Gabriel, the archangel, that she was going to be the mother of the most holy child, the son of God, she says, says behold the slave of the Lord. May it be done to me, according to your word, this is a 13-year-old girl, or so. It sees herself as a slave of the Lord and willing and lovingly a slave of the Lord and wanting to do whatever the Lord has asked you. She is a worshipper Over. In verse 46,. In response to this, my soul exalts the Lord, my spirit has rejoiced in God, my Saviour, for he has had regard for the humble state of his slave. For behold, from this time on, all generations will count me. Blessed, for the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name. And she goes on to quote old testament passages in that beautiful magnificence.
Speaker 1:Now, the thing is, she's very aware of the genealogy and everything. Now, trust me, I know what it was like when my daughter was 13. And my Lord, they were challenging times, and we see here why Mary was chosen. She is very theologically attuned. She knows God, she knows the attributes of God, she knows the Old Testament. All that she says is drawn right out of the Old Testament. She is a righteous young girl, a slave to the Lord who believes that the Lord says and wants only to do what he has asked her to do. She is a godly young girl. This is why I sometimes find it challenging when people talk about Mary. It's almost like they're saying, oh yeah, but she wasn't really that important. She was just the vessel that carried our Lord and Saviour. Just the vessel that carried our Lord and Saviour. But I remember when she was told that she was going to be if you go back to, let's go. I don't want to take up too much time here. Hang on. Okay, let's go.
Speaker 1:When she knew she was pregnant how did she know? In Luke 1.26, because the angel Gabriel came to her when they were back in Nazarene and said Behold, don't be afraid, mary, you have found favour with God. Verse 30 and 31. Behold, you will conceive in your womb, bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus. He will be great and he will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father, david. He will reign over the throne of Jacob forever and his kingdom will have no end. He is the king. And Mary responded by saying how can this be, since I am a virgin? And the angel answered and said to her the Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you, and for that reason the Holy Child shall be called the Son of God, shall be called the Son of God. Nothing will be impossible with God. So she knew, she knew, but apparently she knew before Joseph knew, and maybe she was just trying to figure out how to explain that, since they had never had it happen before Now. Obviously, they knew that there would be some challenges with Joseph understanding this.
Speaker 1:That's why this Christmas, when you look at your nativity scene, there is purpose behind them. If you've got the right configuration Of everything was laid out in a purposeful manner. There was Mary, the Virgin Mary, carrying the child, there was Joseph, her husband-to-be, and there was the manger in a small, non-significant town in Bethlehem and they were in a stable and all of these things had a divine purpose behind it. But so many people neglect to go into the depths of these things because they're worried about being politically correct. It's got to be all about Jesus, or it's all got to be about the Old Testament, or it's got to be about the Gospels, or is it the Book of Acts, or is it the book of Acts? But they all go together. They have to go together in unity and one accord.
Speaker 1:I think it is vitally important and one of the things, the full depth and the you know the ramifications of the Word of God. Everything has its place and everything has its purpose and remember, everything in the New Testament is a type and shadow of the old and vice versa. When Jesus was in the synagogue and he read from the book of Isaiah and he said I have found myself here. He is reading about the prophecy of who he would be and how he would actually end up on the cross. Don't leave Mary out. When you look at our Lord and Saviour, she had a purpose, not only with the birth, but also with his death and resurrection. So just remember her when you remember Christmas and what it really is Christ in us or Christ in him. Everything has a plan and a purpose.
Speaker 1:Jeremiah 29.11 says I know the plans I have for you, the plans to prosper. You have you in good health. If he knows the plans that he has for you that's my listeners right now then he knows the plans that he had for every single living breathing person on this earth, no matter where they are in their journey, whether they have a relationship with Jesus Christ being their Lord and Saviour, or whether they have not yet come to pass. Have this as an opportunity.
Speaker 1:If there are members in your family that need Jesus in their life, this is the perfect and safest environment to do that. Invite them to your local church. Most churches will have a Christmas message and you have to wait till next week to get mine message and you have to wait till next week to get mine. But go along and join in a family celebration in recognizing and glorifying the birth of our lord and savior, and do not leave mary out. Mary out, because Mary played a significant role and if you look at any mother you'll see the importance of their role in the foundation and the future of their children. All right, god bless for now. We'll see you next week on Great Vine Ministries and please enjoy. And we'll round things up next week with our Christmas message and we'll talk to you then. Bye for now.
