He Confounds The World Part 1

Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith. The world neither understood nor welcomed the arrival of Jesus.

The things He said caused bickering and strife among those opposed to changing their ways. Today, an amazing revelation given to His mother Mary. From the Moody Church in Chicago, this is Running to Win with Dr. Erwin Lutzer, whose clear teaching helps us make it across the finish line. Pastor Lutzer, today you will be taking us to Luke 1-46 for the song of Mary, a song set to music again and again as the Magnificat.

You know Dave, when I think about this I have to sit and smile. Mary had no idea that the words that she was going to speak would have such impact thousands of years later, at least 2,000 years later. Did you know that there were countries in the world that forbade the Magnificat because it talks about God toppling kings from their thrones? That dear woman, God bless her. As she stood there and said those words, the implications were far greater than she could have ever imagined, and that's the way our lives are too. We have more impact and influence than we ever know about. I want to thank the many of you who continue to support the ministry of Running to Win, by the way.

Thousands upon thousands of people listen to this broadcast because of people like you, and our impact is greater than we realize. Would you consider becoming an endurance partner? That's somebody who stands with us regularly with their prayers and their gifts. Let me give you the contact information. Go to RTWOffer.com. Click on the endurance partner button.

That's RTWOffer.com, or call us at 1-888-218-9337. And now let us open our Bibles and think about Mary, who would eventually give birth to the baby Jesus, God in the flesh. Because we're so familiar with the Christmas story, we forget the fact that it was an explosive event.

Just imagine God coming to earth in this great rescue effort that was successful. The fact that we find in Scripture, and the Word became flesh philosophically, religiously, and in every way this came as an explosion upon the world, and we celebrate it today. As a small slice of that particular story, I want to remind you of Merah, Mary. The root of the word Mary comes from Merah, which means bitter. She is the woman in the New Testament who said yes to both shame and to glory.

To shame because, after all, she was single and pregnant. But she also said yes to glory because she said, all generations will call me blessed, and so it is. You can take your Bibles and turn to Luke chapter 1. Luke chapter 1, and if you didn't bring your Bible in the seat in front of you, there is a Bible. There should be a Bible.

Or if you wish, you can indeed look upon your cell phone, as we have determined previously. And so it is that in Luke chapter 1, you have the angel coming to her, and the angel tells her that she's going to bear the Christ child. She's going to bear the king. And then the angel says in confirmation, go check with your cousin Elizabeth, because she's an old woman and she is pregnant as well. And so Mary goes to Elizabeth, and they have that encounter. And now what I'd like to do is to pick up the story in Luke chapter 1 at verse 46. Verse 46 in your Bible, very probably, it says the Magnificat. The reason it says that is that in the Latin translation of the New Testament, that is the opening word, because in Latin that means I magnify.

So because that's the opening word, the Latin is magnificat. We'll simply call it Mary's praise. This poem of praise is remarkable. First of all, remarkable because it contains at least 12 allusions or quotations from the Old Testament.

I don't have time today to show you all of those, but they are there. I mean, here is a young woman steeped in Old Testament prophecies and steeped in the Old Testament text. Imagine the care and the thought she gave to the Word of God as it was read in the synagogues in those days. And it's also revolutionary because it, in effect, confounds the world. It turns everything upside down.

And we shall see how revolutionary it really is as she begins. What I'd like to do is to point out two particular truths, two particular truths that are found in the magnificat. Let me read you, first of all, the opening verses. My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior. For he has looked on the humble estate 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, just that far for a moment. Notice first of all that God exalts the humble. She says in verse 48, he has looked upon my humble estate.

What estate, what situation is she speaking about? Well, there she is. She's growing up in Nazareth. She is an ordinary young woman.

In fact, in our day, we might actually just call her a girl because she might be 15 or 16 years old, but we'll call her a young woman. And who was she? Nazareth was a despised town, was not highly regarded. She was from the tribe of David, but then a lot of people were from the tribe of David.

No one would have ever known this young woman living there in obscurity. But what she does is she exalts God. She magnifies his name because she says he has done wondrous things for me. First of all, of course, he chose her to be the bearer of the Messiah, the bearer of the God-man. But also, he saved her from sin. You'll notice she says, I rejoice in God my Savior. That is in verse 46 and 47. Of course, she was a sinner like everyone else and she needed redemption. In Old Testament times before Jesus came, people were saved from their sin by looking forward to the Messiah.

After Jesus comes, we are now saved by looking back upon what Messiah has done and the work he accomplished in our behalf. But there she is. She is giving thanks to God her Savior. And furthermore, all generations, she said, will call me blessed.

And isn't that true? And today we call her blessed. The very fact that I'm preaching this message is a further fulfillment of her prediction known around the world today as Mary, the most popular name given to women in the world, Mary. Now I need to tell you that throughout history, after the time of Jesus, after the time of Jesus and a couple of hundred years, various traditions developed about Mary. For example, it was believed that she could actually hear the prayers offered to her. There's no evidence in the Bible that she is able to hear anyone's prayer. And furthermore, it was believed that she could somehow be a mediator, a mediator to those who would call on her because she could get to Jesus.

All of those, of course, are traditions found nowhere in Scripture. Here what you find is Mary is giving glory to God. She is blessed. There's nothing in the text to suggest that she is going to become the means or the benefactor of blessing for others. Furthermore, throughout the New Testament, when anyone wanted to exalt Mary, Jesus intervened to make sure that she would not be exalted above what she rightfully should be, how she rightfully should be exalted. Let me give you a passage of Scripture.

Don't turn to it now, but you can write down the reference and look at it later. Luke chapter 11, verses 27 and 28. Jesus is teaching and there's a woman in the crowd that shouts and says, blessed are you and blessed is the womb who bore you and blessed is your mother who nursed you.

Now what that woman said was true. She was blessed because she was the mother of the Christ child. But Jesus replied instantly and said, rather be blessed. Blessed is the person who hears the word of God and does it.

Jesus wanted to make sure that his mother would not be highly exalted. Yes, she was blessed, but as we shall see in a moment, others were blessed as well. But the bottom line is Mary says, I exalt God because he has given me this great blessing and I have a lowly estate. God loves to bless the lowly. He loves to bless those who are marginalized, those who do not even feel worthy of a blessing. God always seeks out the most needy.

And as you are listening here today, if you say today, Sir Lutzer, my needs are great, you are a candidate for the special blessing of God. There's a second point that is made here, and that is that God humbles the proud. God humbles the proud. I want you to see it there in the text where Jesus continues as he speaks. I should say as Mary continues as he speaks.

I'm, for example, in verse 51. He has shown strength with his arm and 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.

Wow. There are three categories of people whom God does not accept, and that is listed here. She says that he scatters the proud. Not sure exactly what Mary was thinking of, but maybe she was thinking of the Tower of Babel in the Old Testament where they said, we're going to build a tower to heaven and we're going to end up worshiping the stars and God scattered them. But furthermore, maybe she's speaking about the fact that God scatters the proud in their own hearts and what they have built their lives upon falls apart and dissipates even in their lifetime and not if in their lifetime, in the lifetime to come. We know that God, the Bible says, is at war with the proud but gives grace to the humble. So Mary says he scatters the proud. He makes everything that they have lived for come to naught. All of the attention that they wanted, all of the things that they valued so highly is brought to nothing because God honors the lowly. Secondly, you'll notice that she says, and the mighty he cast down from their thrones. This is in verse 52. By the way, this was used during the revolution, some of the revolutions in South America as a justification for revolution.

Well, whether or not there's justification for revolution, it's really not based on this text because the Bible is talking about what God does and not our responsibility to topple those who are upon thrones, though that might be part of a project at some point. My point is simply this, that Mary is saying that God is the one who rules and he is the one that takes even kings and he dethrones them. In Germany, there is a church with a sarcophagus. A sarcophagus is actually an above ground tomb, usually hewn of rock. Above the sarcophagus is the image of the king ruling. So he's up there reminding us that he was a ruler, he was a king.

But now here is the sarcophagus, here's the coffin, and on it are various reptiles to represent the fact that the body decays. And the idea that is being conveyed is simply this, that no matter how high you are in this life, eventually death will come and in death, whether it is king or pauper, whether it is rich or poor, we all end up alike, finally, when we die. Jesus Christ is the one, ultimately, who topples kings.

In fact, even in this context, as Mary is speaking, it is true that none other than Herod is going to be toppled, the very man who was so threatened by the birth of Jesus as given in the book of Matthew. So he topples them and the rich, the rich he has sent away empty. That is, those who depend upon their riches. Now, if you're rich, you know that you can go anywhere you want. You can get any tickets for whatever it is that you want.

You can go to any event, you'll be honored, especially if you're a contributor to that particular organization. You'll be looked at as special because in your riches, there will also be a huge temptation, and that is to depend upon riches. Because remember, money makes all of the same promises that God does. Money says, I'll be with you in sickness and in health. I'll be with you when health care works. When health care doesn't work, I'll be with you. You'll be able to buy anything that you want.

You'll be able to go wherever you want to go. And as a result of that, it is very difficult, not impossible, but very difficult for true worshipers to be developed in a society that is affluent. If you want to find those who oftentimes worship God with a sense of purity, what you do is you go to underdeveloped countries and there you see people already longing for heaven.

And among them, there are those who've come to know Christ and they are God lovers. When the text says that he sends the rich away empty, it doesn't mean that he takes away their money. It is just that their riches reveal their own emptiness. And the fact that at the end of the day, their money does not satisfy them. Spiritually, they leave empty-handed. They are like a frog in a well without water. There they are in this dried well, trying to find out what life is all about, trying to find its significance.

Their confidence is in their wealth and so they leave empty-handed. What a wonderful illustration of the fact that God takes those who are proud and conceited. Those who are so concerned about what others think about them and who look at the values of this world and they are inverted, those values are topsy-turvy in the presence of Jesus and the presence of eternity. And Mary sees that and she gives God praise. Now she also at the end of her poem gives thanks to God for the fact that in his goodness, he has visited the nation because of his promise to Abraham. And in the last message, we talked about the Abrahamic Covenant, how God indicated that it would be fulfilled, and now here we see the fulfillment of God's ultimate promise.

No other child has ever been born with these many predictions made about him long before he was born, as you see the storyline of the Bible develop in the Old Testament. Now, what I'd like to do is to step back and ask ourselves, why should our lives be changed forever? Why should our lives be changed forever because we've gathered together today and we have read this poem, we have meditated upon it?

How does this change us? I want to give you several statements that will help us, I believe. And the first statement is simply this, that Mary's blessings—and listen to this very carefully—Mary's spiritual blessings are our spiritual blessings. Mary's spiritual blessings are our spiritual blessings.

Yes, and the reason that God gives us those spiritual blessings is so that we can pass them along to others. I have to tell you that a number of years ago I flew to Arizona to speak in a church, and in that church I met a woman who said that she herds cows out in the pasture, and she listens to the ministry of running to win, and she does so—if I remember correctly, it was on a transistor radio or some kind of a gadget like that—but I thought to myself, the ministry of radio goes way beyond what we ever realize or know about. Would you consider helping us here at Running to Win?

Would you consider becoming an endurance partner, somebody who stands with us regularly with their prayers and their gifts? Here is what you do. You go to RTWOffer.com. RTWOffer.com.

Click on the endurance partner button and there you'll receive the information that you need, or if you prefer, call us at 1-888-218-9337. Let me give you that phone number again, 1-888-218-9337. Time now for another chance for you to ask Pastor Lutzer a question about the Bible or the Christian life. Where should believers buy the necessities of life?

In Chicago, Yoshi hears us on WMBI and likes seafood. She asks, our fish suppliers are part of a cult. Should we still purchase from them?

Where should we draw the line on boycotting different industries or people? You've asked an excellent question, and I think I have an answer for you directly from the Bible. In 1 Corinthians chapter 8, the Apostle Paul was discussing with the Corinthian church the question of whether or not they should eat meat that had been offered to idols. So this meat, in effect, was consecrated over to the devil.

And this is what he says. Now I'm in chapter 8 and I'm beginning at verse 4 of 1 Corinthians. Therefore, as to the eating of food offered to idols, we know that an idol has no real existence and there is no God but one. And he goes on, and you can read this passage for yourself, so let me simply summarize it. What he says is, if you can eat this in faith, understanding that even though it was given to idols, ultimately it belongs to God, and you have that knowledge and you have that confidence.

Go ahead and eat it. However, he says, among you there may be those who have a weak conscience, the kind of people who, if they eat this meat, may actually end up once again worshipping the idol out of which they were converted. They were converted out of that lifestyle. So the Apostle Paul ends by saying, therefore, if food makes my brother to stumble, I will never eat meat, lest I make my brother to stumble. Bottom line, if you can eat this fish in faith, knowing that you folks have given it over to God, I would certainly say, go ahead and eat the meat. You know, the fact that your suppliers might be part of a cult is not going to affect that meat if you can eat it in faith, and I believe that you can. You know, in answer to your question, what should we boycott? Well, we have no idea. We could be eating in a restaurant when the people who are serving our food, they could belong to a cult or they could be part of some demonic organization.

There's just no way as we live in the world that we can sort all this out. So what we have to do is to eat in faith, asking God to bless our food, committing it to him, and believing that it is going to do us good and not harm. Some wise words from Dr. Erwin Lutzer. Thank you, Dr. Lutzer. If you'd like to hear your question answered, go to our website at rtwoffer.com and click on Ask Pastor Lutzer, or call us at 1-888-218-9337.

That's 1-888-218-9337. You can write to us at Running to Win, 1635 North LaSalle Boulevard, Chicago, IL 60614. Running to Win is all about helping you find God's roadmap for your race of life. The words of Jesus confounded the people of his day. His mother Mary had insight into the effect her son would have and spoke about this in her Magnificat. Next time on Running to Win, more from her song, as found in Luke chapter 1. For Dr. Erwin Lutzer, this is Dave McAllister. Running to Win is sponsored by the Moody Church.