Salvation is Here | Luke 1:26-38

It's so good to see you guys. If this is your first time ever at Watermark, welcome. Thanks for trusting us with your Sunday. I hope this place feels like home very quickly. I hope you had a great Thanksgiving. Did anyone spend their Thanksgiving sleeping on a mattress on the ground under their eighth-grade nephew's fish tank? No? Just me? Cool. Well, glad to hear that. Hey, do me a favor and turn to the person next to you and share one Christmas movie you have to watch every Christmas.

All right. Very good. So, here's the deal. The Ateek family is one and a half Christmas movies into the season. So far, we've knocked out Home Alone, and we are halfway through The Grinch. There are a handful of movies, at least, that if we don't make it through all of them every Christmas, the season feels incomplete. We have to get through at least the first two Home Alones, and we have to watch The Santa Clause and Elf and The Star, and there are others. I would imagine you have your list of the must-see Christmas movies.

What I've realized is that I look forward to them every year, and I still enjoy them just as much every single year. I know exactly what happens. I know exactly what's going to be said, yet I still laugh every time. I still get nervous every time. I still tear up every time. Yet, as I was preparing for this morning, knowing we were stepping into a familiar Christmas passage, I felt something different.

Something in me was like, "You know what? This morning we're looking at the story of the angel Gabriel coming to Mary to tell her she's going to have Jesus," and something in me was like, "How am I going to make this fresh? What do we need to do so that people actually appreciate it this year?" which is such a different experience.

Why is that? Why is it when it comes to watching Christmas movies, we can look forward to them with anticipation and enjoy them just as much, if not more, than the year before, but when it comes to the Christmas story, something in us has to work to strip the calluses off our hearts so we can hear it as if we've never heard it before?

My hope today, as we look at a familiar aspect or part of the Christmas story, is that Thanksgiving and Christmas would kind of collide. Right here on the Sunday after Thanksgiving and the first Sunday of the Christmas season, my hope is that a gratitude will well up in you for your Savior and the salvation he has come to give you in a new and fresh way.

I'll just be honest. As I studied this passage, God did a new and good work in my heart, and I saw something in this passage I had never seen before. I'm so excited to share it with you today. What we're going to see is the way the Savior is announced is actually going to show the way the Savior is to be received. So, the way we're going to see the angel Gabriel announce the Savior coming is actually going to show us the ingredients for how we are to receive that Savior. I hope it's going to be an encouragement to you today.

If you have a Bible, turn with me to Luke, chapter 1. We are looking at the announcement of the Savior and the salvation he came to bring. As we look at it, it's going to show us four things about salvation. I'll go ahead and give you those four things so you can look for them in the text as we read. Here's what we're going to see.

First, salvation is founded on God's grace. At the ground floor of our salvation is God's grace. Secondly, salvation centers on God's King. Thirdly, salvation is accomplished by God's power. And fourthly, salvation results in our full surrender. That's where we're going. Luke, chapter 1. Let me read you this familiar story, starting in verse 26.

"In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin's name was Mary. And he came to her and said, 'Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!' But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be.

And the angel said to her, 'Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.' And Mary said to the angel, 'How will this be, since I am a virgin?'

And the angel answered her, 'The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God. And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. For nothing will be impossible with God.' And Mary said, 'Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.' And the angel departed from her."

1) Salvation is founded on God's grace. Remember what we're going to see in this text. The way the Savior is announced shows the way the Savior is to be received. What we see first is salvation is founded on God's grace. The beauty of this text and the way to hear it as if you're hearing it for the first time is for us to excavate some of the details we might not have heard before.

Verse 26 says, "In the sixth month the angel Gabriel…" Who was Gabriel? Gabriel was one of God's most important angels. He was utilized by God to deliver important news to his people, but just seeing Gabriel was a terrifying sight. When Gabriel appeared to Daniel in the Old Testament, what was Daniel's response? He collapsed on the ground. He fell on his face because of how terrifying Gabriel was. This is a significant angelic being.

It says, "…the angel Gabriel was sent from God…" In the Greek, it implies that Gabriel is coming from the place of God. Gabriel is coming from heaven to earth on a mission from God. It says, "…the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee…" That's the region. "…named Nazareth…" That's the city. It's interesting that Luke, the author, includes the region and the city. Do you know why he does this? It's probably because of how insignificant Nazareth was.

People might not have necessarily known where it was, so he shares the region. It's like you people who are from small Texas towns no one has ever heard of. What have you spent your life doing? You have spent your life putting it on the map by saying what part of the state it's in or what the nearest big city is to it, even though that big city is, like, two hours away from it. This is what Luke is doing. He's like, "Yeah, there's a town called Nazareth. Yeah, you don't know where that is. It's in the region of Galilee."

Nazareth was insignificant. It isn't mentioned once in the Old Testament. Did you know that? Nazareth isn't mentioned at all in ancient Jewish literature. Its population was probably somewhere around 400 to 500 people. When Nathanael found out Jesus was from Nazareth, what did he say? "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" (My dad is from Nazareth, so there are two good things: my dad and Jesus, at least, and there's more.)

What we are seeing here is this important angelic being, this significant angel, is being sent to an insignificant city. Not just that. It says, "In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin's name was Mary."

This significant angel appears to a teenage girl. We find out she's betrothed, which means she is in the first year of a two-year marriage process. At this point, she would have technically been the wife of Joseph, but she doesn't live with Joseph yet. That doesn't come until after two years. There is no physical intimacy between the two of them, and they don't live together.

So, what we find out is that she is a virgin and she's betrothed. Women could be betrothed as early as at the age of 12. Mary is somewhere between the ages of 13 and 18. This passage is screaming insignificance. You have a significant angel coming from the place of God on a mission from God to a place hardly anyone has heard of to a woman no one has heard of. Why?

Well, the text tells us. Verse 28: "And he came to her and said, 'Greetings, O favored one…'" That's the key. That's why Gabriel has come. "…O favored one, the Lord is with you!" We're going to unpack that in just a minute, but I want you to see the next two verses, because the idea of Mary being favored shows up a second time. It's actually repeated.

Here's her response. Verse 29: "But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be." If she's a 13- to 15-year-old teenage girl, she's right on course. Think about what you were like when you were 13. If an angel from God showed up and was like, "Hey, good news: God has chosen you," what would your response be?

Some of y'all grew up in really churchy homes, so you knew from a young age to pray for God to not send you as a missionary to Africa. If God showed up to you at 13 and was like, "Good news: you're the chosen one," you would be greatly troubled. Okay? So, Mary is right on track. She's trying to figure out what's going on.

Watch this. Verse 30: "And the angel said to her, 'Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.'" Why is a significant angel showing up to an insignificant girl in an insignificant town? Here's the reason: God's favor is upon her. That idea of favor… In the Greek, it emphasizes God's grace. What is God's grace? It is his unearned, undeserved favor.

Remember where we're starting. We are saying salvation is founded upon God's grace. At the foundational level of salvation is God's grace. God's grace is upon Mary. What's interesting is if you were to look through the Old Testament at the other Old Testament characters who are said to have found God's favor, do you know who they are? Noah, Moses, David, and Gideon.

Now you have this 13- to 18-year-old teenage girl lumped in with them. Why? Because God in his sovereignty has chosen to set his affection upon her. That's God's grace. That's where the Christmas story starts. It starts with God's unearned, undeserved favor. He sets his affection on Mary, and then he pours out his favor upon her.

How does God's favor manifest itself in Mary's life? Well, we saw in verse 28. What does it say? "Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!" God pours out his favor upon Mary in the form of his presence, and he shows up because he's going to do a miraculous work in Mary and through Mary.

Now I want you to think about what I just said, because if you look at Mary and what I just said, it's a microcosm of the gospel. God comes to Mary not because of who she is but because of who he is. God comes to humanity not because of who humanity is but because of who he is. God sets his affection upon humanity.

How does God's affection and favor manifest itself in humanity? In the presence of Jesus Christ. Jesus is Immanuel, which means God with us. Jesus has come, he has died, and he has conquered death to do a miraculous work in us and through us. Do you see the announcement of the Savior actually shows how we receive the Savior? It is displaying the gospel.

At the foundational level of our salvation is God's grace. To say you are a Christian is to know what Mary is experiencing in some way. To say you're a Christian is to say you have had a miraculous collision with the grace of God. It is to know personally that Santa and God have nothing in common. Why do I say that? I say that because Santa doesn't bring gifts; Santa brings rewards.

If you look up the definition of a gift, what is a gift? It is something that is given freely. It has nothing to do with performance. Santa comes to reward those who have made it onto the right side of the list. He comes to reward good performance. In God's eyes, when we understand the gospel, we understand we were all born on the naughty list. None of us are deserving of any rewards from God due to our performance, yet God has set his affection on us, not because of who we have been but because of who he is.

I'll explain it this way. When my two oldest kids were growing up… This was long before our third, Jake, came along, so I guess Jake kind of got the short end of things. I used to take my two older kids, just randomly on occasions, to Toys 'R' Us when that was still a thing. We'd walk in. It would be a Thursday or a Friday.

I would just pick them up from school. We would walk into Toys 'R' Us, and I'd say, "Hey, guys, you can pick out anything you want to buy in this price range, and the reason you get to do this is just because. It's just because you're my kids. It has nothing to do with what you've done. It has nothing to do with you earning this. This is just because."

See, that's what grace is. It's just because. Why did God set his affection on Mary? Because. Why did God set his affection on you? Because. It has nothing to do with who you are. It has nothing to do with what you have done for God. It has everything to do with who he is and what he has chosen in his unfathomable sovereign will to do for you and me.

That's why I say salvation is founded upon God's grace. If you're here just visiting church, if you're not too familiar with what Christianity is all about, I just want to be very clear. Christianity is not about trying harder to be better. See, if we're not careful, we buy into this lie that God is some glorified version of Santa Claus, and we believe things like, "God helps those who help themselves." No, he doesn't. God helps those who are helpless.

We believe things like, "You know what? God will meet you halfway." No, he won't. God came the entire way when there was no way for us to get to him. We believe things like, "You know what? If you do good, you will get good from God." That's not how it works, because in God's eyes there are none who do good, yet God in his grace has given us his good Son.

So, my hope this morning… If you've never experienced the grace of God, it's on the table for you today to know that when there was no way, God in his kindness made a way through the person of Jesus Christ. Then, if you're a Christian in here, if you've been walking with Jesus for a while, I don't have time to unpack what I'm about to say; I'm just going to say it and leave it and let the Spirit of God do with it what he wants in your life.

Let me just encourage you. If our salvation is founded upon God's grace, stop trying to earn what you already freely have in Christ. Whether it's his love, his acceptance, his approval, or his delight, stop trying to earn what you already freely have in Christ. So, that's where we have to start. Salvation is founded upon God's grace.

2) Salvation centers on God's King. Look at how the passage continues. Verse 31. Gabriel continues and says, "And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son…" He's saying, "You are supernaturally going to get pregnant." "…and you shall call his name Jesus." God already has a name picked out. He's a planner. Things are already embroidered.

There are not going to be these awkward first few hours where it's "Baby boy God." It's Jesus. That's the name. Jesus means the Lord saves. That's what Jesus was coming to do. He was coming on a mission from God to save the world. Verse 32. Now this is amazing. Don't miss it. Gabriel says, "He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High." Now don't just gloss right over what Gabriel just said when he said he will be great.

What Gabriel is doing there is he is making an absolute statement about Jesus' greatness. He's making the point that there has never been and will never be anyone like Jesus, that he is great, period. What's interesting is this passage we're looking at has a very strong connection to the passage that precedes it. We don't have time to look at it, but it's a passage where Gabriel shows up to this old, wrinkly couple named Zechariah and Elizabeth.

They're well beyond the years of having children, and they get pregnant with John the Baptist. What we find out is the text says John the Baptist will be great before the Lord. Jesus will just be great. Period. Meaning, he will be great in all realms of the universe. None will compare to him. What will make him so great? Well, the text tells us. "He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High." That's what makes him great. He will be the Son of the Most High.

Listen to that wording. God is referred to as the Most High. Meaning, there is no one with greater authority than him. He has authority over the entire universe. He is the ruler of all creation. Jesus is going to be the Son of that Most High. What does that mean? It means he's royalty. Jews would have heard that as he will be King.

If there was any question, just look at verses 32 and 33. "And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end." This is important. Gabriel is saying, "Do you want to know what is going to be so special about this kid? He will be an eternal King."

If you've been journeying with us all fall, you should connect the two verses we just read to everything we've been talking about with David. Some of y'all were here last week, and you heard that last week was the last week of The Life of David. You showed up and were like, "What's happening? It's time to be done."Well, we are no longer in the life of David. Now, today, we are looking at the line of David. Do you see how that works? Pretty impressive, right? Let's pray and get out of here. I just wanted to show y'all that.

This right here is massive. This is tying your Old and New Testament together. It's showing that Jesus is the point of your entire Bible.Do you remember what God said to David when he made an agreement, a promise, a commitment, to him known as the Davidic covenant all the way back in 2 Samuel, chapter 7? It says this in verse 16. God says to David, "And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever."

Remember, the story of the Bible is God's kingdom coming to earth. The kingdom of God is the rule and reign of God, and it has been God's intention, as the ruler of the universe, to rule his creation through a human agent. It started with Adam. Adam failed. He came to Abraham and said, "Kings are going to come from you. They're going to rule a nation, the nation of Israel. It's going to be through that nation and through those kings that all of the nations of the earth are going to be blessed."

No kings show up for 400 years. We get Saul. He's a mediocre king. He's rejected. Then we get David. God comes to David, and what we just saw in 2 Samuel 7:16 is God saying, "Look. There's going to be a king who comes from your line. There's going to be one of your descendants. He's going to sit on the throne forever. He is the King of God's kingdom. It is going to be through his rule that all of the nations of the earth are going to be blessed. It's going to be through that King of your line that God is going to accomplish all of his purposes."

What's interesting is all eyes are now on David's descendants, and we get Solomon. What does Solomon do? He fails. The nation of Israel fractures, and it just unravels from there to the point where the majority of the country is exiled. They live under the rule of Babylon, then Persia, then Syria, and now Rome. The nation of Israel goes 600 years without a king. The Old Testament ends without a king on the Davidic throne.

Then we look right here at the beginning of the New Testament, Luke, chapter 1, and what do we find out? God's plans are right on course. God's plans have never been held hostage to sinful kings. The true and perfect King is coming. It's Jesus Christ. He's the one through which God will establish his rule throughout the earth.

A day is coming where God's rule will be realized throughout all the earth in such a way that the earth will be new. Until then, God's rule and reign is manifesting itself in the hearts of his people as they surrender to Jesus Christ. Jesus is the King. That's what makes him so great. He's the King of God's kingdom.

So, if our salvation is centered on God's King, then I think it's good for us to evaluate right here at the beginning of the Christmas season…Is Jesus truly great in our lives, and are we responding to him as both Savior and King? Let's just deal with those questions separately. First, Gabriel says he will be great, absolutely great. None will compare to him. So, my question to you is…Is that true of Jesus in your life? Is he absolutely great in your life? Does Jesus take first place in your life? Are there any rivals to Jesus in your life?

I'll never forget. When I was in seventh grade, I started running cross-country, and I remember my first cross-country race. I ran my race, and then I was watching the eighth grader race. There were two guys from my team who were in first and second place, and they decided they both wanted to get first place. So, what they did was they held hands to cross the finish line as a display. "We're not going first and second; we're both first place."

Do you know what the problem was? They don't make multiple first place trophies. There was one first place trophy, and there was one second place trophy. So, the coordinators of the event gave those two guys the first place trophy and the second place trophy. I remember watching these two eighth grade boys kind of awkwardly stare at each other, like, "We didn't really think this through, did we? Only one of us is going home with the first place trophy, and then the other one… Who wants second?"

I remember watching the guy holding the first place trophy was just like, "See ya." Smart move. Do you know what the point is? There can only be one first place. There's only one first place. In your life, only one thing can take first place. Nothing can tie for first. The question is…Does Jesus have first place in your life? Or is it true that Jesus is great, but so is money? Jesus is great, but so is work. Jesus is great, but so is comfort. Fill in the blank. What is it for you? Jesus is great, but so is… What is it? What is it for you? Jesus is to be absolutely great.

Then, if you look at the text… Do you see it? At the exact same time, Jesus is revealed as both Savior and King. "His name will be Jesus," which means the Lord saves. He's the Savior of the world. "He'll be the one who sits on the throne of David." He's the King of God's kingdom, at the exact same time. So, the question is…Are you responding to Jesus as both Savior and King?

What do saviors do? Saviors save. What do kings do? Kings rule. How do you respond to a savior? With gratitude. How do you respond to a king? With surrender. This is the beautiful mixture of the Christian life. The Christian life is to be a mixture of gratitude and surrender. There is supposed to be grateful surrender. What we want to be careful of is that we don't live a life that declares we want salvation without surrender, where we want Jesus to be our Savior but don't want him to be our King.

Recently, my oldest son and I watched the old Spider-Man movies, the Tobey Maguire Spider-Man movies, the "CGI was lacking" Spider-Man movies. I remember this part in the second one where Mary Jane is talking to Peter, and she is declaring to him, "I want you." She realizes she can't have Peter without having Spider-Man.

They come together. You can't divorce the two. If she's going to have Peter, she's going to have Spider-Man. If she's going to have Spider-Man, she's going to have all of the risks associated with being the girlfriend of the superhero, which means all of the villains will target her, but she believes it's worth it. It's worth it to have both than to have neither.

The same is true with Jesus. If Jesus is Savior and King, you can't have one without the other. You can't divorce Jesus being Savior from being King. You can't just say, "I want him as Savior, but I don't want him as King. I want salvation, but I don't want surrender." Jesus is Savior and King. So, where have we gone so far? We've established salvation is founded upon God's grace. Secondly, salvation centers on God's King.

3) Salvation is accomplished by God's power. Look at verse 34. "And Mary said to the angel, 'How will this be, since I am a virgin?'" That's a valid question. Good question. She knows where babies come from. She knows it's more than just a stork dropping the kid off on the front porch. So, how is God going to work it out? What's he going to do? Verse 35: "And the angel answered her, 'The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God.'"

What's his point? The point is, "Mary, I'm not even going to try to explain it to you. The Holy Spirit is going to overshadow you. What does that mean? It means it's going to be mysterious. It's going to be unimaginable, but most importantly, it will be supernatural. You are going to get pregnant in a supernatural way, and because it's going to be supernatural, that is going to make that child holy." What does it mean for Jesus to be holy? It means he's set apart. He's unique. There's no one like him. He's completely pure, sinless from birth.

What's interesting is Gabriel throws in another bit of information in verse 36. He says, "And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. For nothing will be impossible with God." Here's what Gabriel is doing. He's like, "Look. You're like 13, so I get it. This is probably a lot to digest. An angel from heaven has come to you and said, 'You're going to miraculously get pregnant, and you are going to carry the Savior of the world.' That's a lot. So you might be wondering, 'Is that really possible?'"

Well, what does he do? He says, "Hey, let me just tell you the latest addition to God's résumé.You know your relative Elizabeth, the one your family has worried about because she and Zechariah have been barren for all of your life? Childlessness in this society is a sign of a curse. Children are supposed to take care of their parents in old age, so you've probably worried about Elizabeth, yet she's on the start of her third trimester and doing great. So, you know how it's miraculous that she got pregnant? Something even greater is at work in you. The Spirit of God is doing a miraculous work in you."

Do you know what's really interesting? If you look at this text, what is the only command given to Mary? What is her only responsibility in all this? It's to name the baby Jesus. That's it. Everything else is accomplished by God. It's all his work. That's why I say salvation is accomplished by God's power. Specifically, the power of the Holy Spirit.

What's amazing to think about is that the same Spirit who is seen hovering over the waters in Genesis 1:2 as the life-giving power at creation is the same life-giving power that hovers over Mary to bring forth the holy Son of God. But not just that. It doesn't stop there. The Spirit at creation is the same Spirit at Jesus' conception, which is the same Spirit responsible for our regeneration and our sanctification. Those are two big, churchy words.

What's regeneration? Wayne Grudem defines regeneration as a secret act of God in which he imparts new spiritual life to us. It's the idea that we weren't just bad people who have been made good; we were physically alive but spiritually dead, incapable of doing anything to earn God's love. Spiritually dead. And what has the Spirit of God done? He has come and given us life. He has made us alive to God.

But not just that. It's not just by the power of the Spirit that we have been made alive; it's by the power of the Spirit that we are sanctified. Meaning, we are made more and more like Jesus and less and less like the world. Our salvation, from the day we believed till the day we go home to be with God, from start to finish, is the work of God by the power of the Holy Spirit. Our responsibility in our salvation is to enjoy our salvation.

I'll explain it like this. We went to my in-laws for Thanksgiving, and my mother-in-law is an amazing cook. Every Thanksgiving, she just crushes it. I think this Thanksgiving meal was the best one yet. She usually has four or five sides, and the turkey is amazing. The whole meal is fantastic, and she does all of it. There is a reason Kat's family has never asked me to be in charge of any of the meals. They know what they would get. I can use a microwave well, but they chose to go with the home-cooked deal. That's fine.

We were sitting at our Thanksgiving meal, and everyone was complimenting my mother-in-law. Around the table, everyone was like, "This is so good. It's delicious. You did a great job, Ann. This is amazing. Thank you so much." Right there, as everyone was complimenting her, here's what I did. I went, "I set out the drinks." That was a joke. That was my way of saying, "I did nothing." Putting out the drinks is not a thing. My responsibility was to enjoy someone else's work.

The same is true in the spiritual realm. We can develop this pride in us. Part of us feels responsible for our salvation. It's like, "You know what? When I found God…" You didn't find God; he found you. "You know what? I've tried hard to live a good life." It has not been good enough. Our responsibility in salvation is to enjoy the work of another. Period. Our salvation is solely the result of the power of God through the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives for us to understand all that Jesus has done for us.

4) Salvation results in our full surrender. Look at Mary's response in verse 38. "And Mary said, 'Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.' And the angel departed from her." Do you see what Mary says? She says, "Behold, I am the servant of the Lord." That word servant is the Greek word doule, which comes from doulos, which means bondservant. It's the idea that Mary views herself as wholly given over to the disposal of God. God can literally do whatever he wants with her life, in her life, or through her life.

Just think about what Mary is saying. She's saying, "Look. It doesn't matter how this appears to society. It doesn't matter it's going to look like I committed adultery. It doesn't matter that the penalty for adultery is death. It doesn't matter what Joseph is going to think, and I guarantee you he is going to be confused. It doesn't matter. If this is God's will, then my answer is 'Yes.'" Mary is fully surrendered to God and his certain plans.

See, this is what happens when God's grace, God's King, and God's power all work together in your life. God's grace, God's King, and God's power lead to our full surrender. Nothing else makes sense. For Jesus to be Savior but not King doesn't make sense. For us to just play church, where we come in here and don't get anything out of it, and we disengage and text on our phones, but we go to all the work in the rain to park a mile away and walk in here and sit for an hour and 20 minutes… What are we doing? It doesn't make sense. Jesus is the King, and we live fully surrendered to him.

What's fitting is that by living fully surrendered to God and his certain plans, Mary was reflecting exactly what we would see in her son Jesus. My favorite passage, possibly, when it comes to Christmas is Philippians, chapter 2. I don't know if you think of Philippians, chapter 2, when you think of Christmas, but it is Christmas packed in. Listen to what it says, starting in verse 5.

"Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant…" It's the same word as was used in reference to Mary. "…being born in the likeness of men." There's Christmas. "And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross."

The message of Christmas is that Jesus became a servant. He fully surrendered to the will of God. He fully surrendered to the certain plans of God. And what were God's certain plans? For Jesus Christ to be born, to take on flesh. But not just that…to become obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Jesus came to be born in order to die so we could live and know the beauty of what happens when God's grace, God's King, and God's power all collide together in our lives.

So, here's my hope as we're watching Christmas movies this year. As we find ourselves laughing just as much, crying just as much, and anxious just as much as we watch these Christmas movies, my hope in such a greater way, as we begin to walk through the Christmas story here at Watermark, is there would be a depth of gratitude and a depth of surrender we have yet to experience because we understand in a fresh way that Jesus Christ was born to die so we might live.

Starting next week, we're starting a series called Born, and each week we're going to talk about what the Scripture says about why Jesus was born. He was born to die. He was born to rule. He was born to destroy the works of the Devil. He was born to seek and save that which is lost. Until then, my hope is that God's grace, God's King, and God's power would result in our full surrender this week. Let's pray.

Lord Jesus, I pray that you would have your way in our lives. God, where we are asleep to the good news, I pray you would wake us up. God, I pray that not one person would leave here believing that the gospel is "Try harder" or that God helps those who help themselves. God, I pray we would be people who know that when we could do nothing, you did everything.

You are not just Savior; you are the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, and kings reign. Would you rule and reign in every part of our lives? Would you continue to make us look more like Jesus by the power of your Spirit, and would you show us more and more what it looks like to respond to you fully surrendered to your will? We love you. In Jesus' name, amen.