PHIL

Dennis Miller tickles me.  He has said "we need to have a talk about free speech".

Of course, the Phil Robertson/A&E "dust-up" IS a freedom of speech issue.  But speaking candidly, does anyone believe that's the heart of it?

We all sense that Phil has pulled out a silver bullet.

So regarding the larger issue of morality, it doesn't matter what I think.  Or what you think.  Or even what Phil thinks.  It matters what God thinks.

It's pretty ironic how people with little Bible knowledge tie themselves up in a knot trying to explain how Phil is unChristian...while quoting Scripture.  They are ripping their britches and don't even know it.

We will all answer to THE Authority who has already written His position paper on the subject.  We might instead be about figuring out what He says.

Listen, Friends.  We all tell our teens "the guardrails are there to protect you".  And so it is with us.  God is FOR US just as you are for your kids.  You don't offer them drugs or destructive behaviors because you love them.  We all either live self-determined lives, or submitted lives that believe the Way set out the best way.

There will be peacemakers with a twisting stomach who read this and they wish we didn't have things that divided us into camps.  Jesus tells us to choose.  And he says something interesting in the book of John.  "If anyone hears my words and does not obey them, I do not judge him.  For I have not come to judge the world, but to save the world.  The one who rejects me and does not accept my words HAS A JUDGE; the word I have spoken will judge him on the last day."

God wants our best and we should want that, too.

NOTES FROM THE MAGNIFICAT

Yesterday we loved a Mark Henry sermon on a favorite passage of Scripture (Luke 1:46-55).  Here are some thoughts from the notes.

Christmas has birthed many songs.  From majestic pieces such as Handel's Messiah and Bach...down to the 2013 season's offering ("Duck the Halls") from the bearded Robertson's.

Songs can be found for every style, but no one sings sweeter than Mary.

Mary responds to God in her magnificat after her pregnancy is acknowledged by cousin Elizabeth.  Luke gives us a look into this young girl's heart as Mary sings thanks for her unique assignment.  This is an ordinary girl from an ordinary village...with extraordinary faith.

*EVERYONE'S SOUL MAGNIFIES SOMETHING; MARY'S SOUL MAGNIFIES THE LORD.  To magnify something is to give it far more than usual space in my life so that my desires are shaped around it, resulting in joy or sadness.  For example, if I am materialistic, my happiness comes in acquiring a pile of "things" and my sadness comes if I can't have things.  The same is true for a workaholic or alcoholic or someone on a power trip or any number of placeholders.

I ask myself...am I magnifying anything above God in my life?

*MARY IS STRUCK WITH THE RICHNESS OF GOD'S GRACE TO HER.  Mary is a poor maiden, chosen from all the women in the world to bear the Messiah.  That gives her a moment much like believers have at salvation.  They look down at their sinfulness and up at God's holiness and feel most unworthy.  And so did Mary.  She wondered how a holy God could use her to accomplish His purposes.  

In verses 46 and 47, Mary says "My soul exalts the Lord, and my spirit has begun to rejoice in God, my Savior, because he has looked upon the humble state of his servant."

Mary calls God her Savior and is blown away by His goodness to her.  Am I doing the same?

*MARY HAS AN EXALTED VIEW OF GOD, NOT OF HERSELF.  From verse 48, Mary marvels that generations will call her "blessed".  Still, the statement is not self-focused because the very next verse she doesn't say "mighty is my name".  Instead, Mary shows her grasp of Scripture by going into great detail about God, describing HIM as mighty.

"He who is mighty has done great things for me and holy is His name.  He is merciful from generation to generation to those who fear Him.  He has demonstrated power with His arm; He has scattered those whose pride wells up from the sheer arrogance of their hearts.  He has brought down the mighty from their thrones and has lifted up those of lowly position; He has filled the hungry with good things, and has sent the rich away empty.  He has helped His servant Israel, remembering His mercy, as He promised to our ancestors, to Abraham and to his descendants forever."

Am I making more of Him and less of me?

MARY SUFFERED FOR THE MESSIAH LONG BEFORE HE SUFFERED FOR HER.  Don't you know as Mary protested her innocence and said she was pregnant by God...the villagers must have rumored about her?  Isn't that how small towns are?  "She's such a liar!" "How promiscuous...who does she think she's kidding?"

Mary was probably 15 years old.  What would it be like if everyone in town was whispering about you?  

Have I run to God in full embrace of His purpose and glory in my life?  

MARY SINGS OF GOD'S GRACE TO THE DISGRACED.  From verse 50, Mary says God gives mercy to those who fear His name.  And living such a God-respecting life brings good from God, but disgrace from the world.  Ever hear the term "fanatic" or "judgmental" or "right-wing fundamentalist"?  

According to verses 51-53, God challenges and defies and overthrows the systems of this world, scattering the proud and arrogant and bringing down the mighty from their thrones.  His "Great Reversal" lifts up those of lowly position as He says "the last shall be first".  He takes those whom the world views as of little value and gives His grace, filling the hungry with good things, but sending the rich away empty.  He lifted Mary and she worships Him because He gives grace to the disgraced.

Am I willing to suffer the world's disgrace for His name?

From verses 54,55 MARY PUTS GOD'S PROMISES TO ISRAEL IN VIEW.  She remembers the promise of Genesis 12:3 that God made to her ancestor Abram that He would bless the world through Abram's seed.  

Mary was saying that the same salvation was being brought to pass in her and would be spoken of for generations to come.  And while God's greatest saving purpose would be brought to fruition at the cross, we are graciously included in Israel's blessing by the Messiah's coming.

Am I believing what God has promised?

Here's a closing thought that we liked.  If you put a bug under a microscope, something small gets bigger.  But if you put a planet into a telescope, a large thing becomes even larger.  We want to be telescopes that bring God into view for others.  

Mary believed God and was such a telescope for Him as she sang her song of praise.  She wasn't singing about herself, but about God's promised grace and mercy from the Christmas Child.  Have you found that grace?