Scripture Luke
2:1-7
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INSTAGRAM #1 An Angel visits Mary
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INSTAGRAM #2 Mary visits Elizabeth
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INSTAGRAM #3 An Angel visits Joseph
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INSTAGRAM #4 Mary and Joseph visit Bethlehem
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INSTAGRAM #5 Jesus visits you
INSTAGRAM #1 An Angel visits Mary
Luke 1:26-38
In the sixth
month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin
pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The
virgin's name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, "Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with
you." Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind
of greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God.
You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the
name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The
Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over
the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end." "How will this be," Mary asked the angel,
"since I am a virgin?" The angel
answered, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you,
and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born
will be called the Son of God. Even
Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was
said to be barren is in her sixth month. For nothing is impossible with God."
"I am the Lord's servant," Mary
answered. "May it be to me as you have said."
Then the angel left her.
That is a true Instagram. No warning, no
preparation. Consider Samuel or John the
Baptist. They grew up with the parents
knowing they would be special servants of God.
Mary is a Jane Doe. She is not
known by anyone for anything - anymore than anyone else living in those
days. Known only by those in her family
and immediate community. She wasn’t prom
queen, head cheerleader or captain of the softball or debate team. She wasn’t a scholar or born in a wealthy
family. But let me ask you? Who is the most known woman in the history of
the world?
10 most famous
women of history
10. Frida Kahlo was a Mexican painter.
9. Mother Teresa of Calcutta went to
India to serve the poor in India.
8. Oprah Winfrey, talk show host, one
of America's most successful business people.
7. Joan of Arc burned at the stake after
she helped restore the King of France to his throne.
6. Emily Dickinson, revolutionized
poetry with her style of verse.
5. Diana, Princess of Wales captured
hearts around the world with her fairy-tale romance.
4. Anne Frank, young Jewish girl kept a
diary during the time she and her family were hiding from the Nazis.
3. Cleopatra, the last Pharaoh of
Egypt, had infamous liaisons with Julius Caesar and Mark Antony, while trying
to keep Egypt out of Rome's clutches.
2. Marilyn Monroe, actress who was
discovered while working in a World War II defense plant.
1. Madonna: singer and sometimes
actress is the number one woman of history searched for year after year on the
Net.
A Madonna is an artistic representation of Mary. The word is from Old
Italian ma donna (my lady). No image permeates Christian art as the image of
the Madonna and child. "The Madonna" in art terms is applied
specifically to an artwork in which Mary, with or without the infant Jesus, is
the focus, and central figure of the picture. The earliest such images date
from the Early Christian
Church and are found in the Catacombs of Rome. Representation of Mary became more common
after she was proclaimed "God-bearer at the Council of Ephesus
in 431. For over a thousand years, the Madonna was the
most often produced pictorial artwork.
Why did God choose this
average girl from an average town to be THE mother of God’s son? 1 Cor 1:27-31 God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose
the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of
this world and the despised things — and the things that are not — to nullify
the things that are, so that no one may boast before him. It is because of him
that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God — that is,
our righteousness, holiness and redemption.
Therefore, as it is written: "Let him who boasts boast in the Lord.
A picture of Mary is a
picture of the love and power of God – what an awesome Instagram.
INSTAGRAM #2 Mary visits Elizabeth
Luke 1:39 At
that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea,
where she entered Zechariah's home and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard
Mary's greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the
Holy Spirit. In a loud voice she exclaimed: "Blessed
are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! But why am I so
favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears,
the baby in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed is she who has believed that what
the Lord has said to her will be accomplished!" 46
And Mary said: "My soul glorifies the Lord and
my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has been mindful of the humble
state of his servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed, for the
Mighty One has done great things for me — holy is his name. His mercy extends
to those who fear him, from generation to generation. He has performed mighty
deeds with his arm; he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost
thoughts. He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the
humble. He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away
empty. He has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful to Abraham
and his descendants forever, even as he said to our fathers." 56 Mary stayed with Elizabeth for about three
months and then returned home.
God chose to confirm in Mary what he had revealed to
her. Once it was confirmed and she
realized that God was God no matter what any once believed or said – she
testified about and then was able to face Joseph and any consequences. Some people are afraid to share that Jesus is
in them – ask God to confirm it in you and see what God does in your life. In fact – infant baptism churches even call
their coming of age classes “Confirmation” We call it Holy Spirit making it
real to me!
INSTAGRAM #3 An Angel visits Joseph
Matt 1:18-25
This is how
the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married
to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child
through the Holy Spirit. Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did
not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her
quietly. But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him
in a dream and said, "Joseph son of David, do
not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her
is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him
the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins."
All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet:
"The virgin will be with child and
will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel-which means,
"God with us." When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the
Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. But he had no union with
her until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.
Mary gave birth to Jesus – but Joseph gave him his
name / Immanuel = God with us -
Jesus = Salvation. What a great
picture. Because of his faith, he was
the first human to speak the name of the son of God!
INSTAGRAM #4 Mary and Joseph visit Bethlehem
Luke 2:1-7
In those days
Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire
Roman world. (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was
governor of Syria.) And everyone went to
his own town to register. So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in
Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the
house and line of David. He went there
to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a
child. While they were there, the time
came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She
wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for
them in the inn.
This is the picture of ALL pictures. I would guess that no picture in human
history has been drawn, painted, sculpted, built, dramatized – professionally
or done by little children more than the scene of Mary, Joseph and the baby
Jesus. These few verses of scripture
have created world history’s most popular Instagram. As it should be – this is the picture of John
1:14 & John 3:16.
If
our greatest need had been information, God would have sent us an educator; If
our greatest need had been technology, God would have sent us a scientist; If
our greatest need had been money, God would have sent us an economist; If our
greatest need had been pleasure, God would have sent us an entertainer; But our
greatest need was forgiveness, so God sent us a Savior.
Nice Pictures: So What?
INSTAGRAM #1 An Angel visits Mary, INSTAGRAM #2 Mary visits Elizabeth
INSTAGRAM #3 An Angel visits Joseph, INSTAGRAM #4 Mary and Joseph visit Bethlehem, NEXT
INSTRAGRAM? INSTAGRAM #5 Jesus visits you
Immanuel = God with us. Rev
3:20 Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and
opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.
BILLY JOEL
SURPRIZE
On her 12th birthday she was in New York City, and the
pop musician was in Los Angeles. He phoned her that morning, apologizing for
his absence, but told her to expect the delivery of a large package before the
end of the day. The daughter answered the doorbell that evening to find a
seven-foot-tall, brightly wrapped box. She tore it open, and out stepped her
father, fresh off the plane from the West Coast. Can you imagine her surprise?
THE CHRISTMAS STORM
"Here is a story about a modern man, one of us,
not a scrooge, but a kind, decent, mostly good man, generous to his family,
upright in his dealings with others. But he did not believe in all that
incarnation stuff that the Churches proclaim at Christmas time. It just didn’t
make sense to him and he was too honest to pretend otherwise. He just could not
swallow the Jesus story about God coming to earth as man. I’m truly sorry to
distress you, he told his wife, but I’m not going with you to church this Christmas
Eve. He said he’d feel like a hypocrite. That he would much rather stay home,
but that he would wait up for them. He stayed, they went.
Shortly after the family drove away in the car, snow
began to fall. He went to the window to watch the flurries getting heavier and
heavier, then went back to his fireside chair and began to read his newspaper.
Minutes later he was startled by a thudding sound. Then another and another.
At first he thought someone must be throwing snowballs
against his living room window. Well, when he went to the front door, he found
a flock of birds huddled miserably in the snow. They had been caught in the
storm and in a desperate search for shelter they had tried to fly through his
large landscape window. Well, he couldn’t let the poor creatures lie there and
freeze. He remembered the barn where his children stabled their pony. That
would provide a warm shelter -- if he could direct the birds to it. He quickly
put on his coat and galoshes, trampled through the deepening snow to the barn,
opened the door wide, and turned on a light.
But the birds did not come in. He figured food would
entice them in and he hurried back to the house, fetched bread crumbs,
sprinkled them on the snow making a trail to the yellow lighted wide open
doorway of the stable, but to his dismay the birds ignored the bread crumbs,
and continued to flap around helplessly in the snow. He tried catching them, he
tried shooing them into the barn by walking around them waving his arms --
instead they scattered in every direction except into the warm lighted barn.
Then
he realized they were afraid of him. To them, he reasoned, I am a strange and
terrifying creature, if only I could think of some way to let them know they
can trust me. That I’m not trying to hurt them, but to help them. How? Any move
he made tended to frighten them, confuse them. They just would not follow. They
would not be led or shooed because they feared him. If only be a bird myself he
thought. If only I could be a bird and mingle with them and speak their
language, and tell them not to be afraid, and show them the way to the safe,
warm barn. But I'd have to be one of them, so they could see and hear and
understand.
At that moment the church bells began to ring. The
sound reached his ears above the sound of the wind.
He stood there listening to the bells. Adeste Fideles.
Listening to the bells pealing the glad tidings of Christmas. And he sank to
his knees in the snow.
What does your incarnational Christmas
Instagram look like? How is Jesus real
in your life right now? You, like Mary are an average person, like Mary with
Elizabeth can have your faith confirmed, like Joseph you can walk in that faith
and experience amazing things, like Mary and Joseph you get to see the birth of
Jesus in a humble place – your heart.
How does that picture look in your life?
What are you waiting for – it is time to post your Instagram – not for all
the world – but you’re your OIKOS – your family and friends to see.
