Text: Luke 1:39-56 | Listen to Message

Grace For The Humble And The Hungry

 

If Jesus were like other kings, he’d favor people with connections, positions, and money – and who knew how to leverage their assets to get stuff done.

If Jesus were like other kings, he’d feed the grand delusion that the proud, the powerful, and the prosperous are actually in control of their lives – and that any problem can be fixed by simply manipulating the right resources.

If Jesus were like other kings, he’d side with the “haves” against the “have nots” and perpetuate the lie that a person’s value is tied to his or her influence.

But Jesus isn’t like other kings. Before he was even born, he laid aside his glory and associated with the lowly: an elderly woman, an unborn child, and a young teenage girl who was pregnant out of wedlock. The last of these wrote a famous praise song – The Magnificat – in which she said Jesus would turn the world upside-down: in his kingdom, the humble would be exalted and the hungry would be satisfied, but the self-reliant would come to nothing.

Mary got it – and she sang a song about it! Jesus is the author of The Great Reversal. And it goes something like this:

Stop thinking you’re something because of how powerful, wealthy, influential, or even righteous you are. God’s not impressed. You have a sin problem that cannot be fixed by your money, your power, your network of friends, or your obedience to a law you’ve already broken. Only God can fix your problem – and He has fixed your problem … through the life, death, and resurrection of His Son, Jesus.

Because of The Great Reversal, the only thing God needs from you is nothing – which, of course, is the hardest thing to give a King. Nothing is a “gift” that only the poor in spirit can bring. So come humble. Come hungry. Give Jesus your nothing in exchange for his everything.

Sermon Notes & Application Questions