Let's read together Luke 1, beginning at verse 26, all the way down to verse 56. And it says, Now in the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city in Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the descendants of David, and the virgin's name was Mary. And coming in, he said to her, Greetings, favored one, the Lord is with you. But she was very perplexed at this statement and was pondering what kind of greeting this was. 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 give birth to a son, and you shall name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and his kingdom will have no end. But Mary said to the angel, How will this be, since I am a virgin? The angel answered and said to her, the Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. For that reason also, the Holy Child will be called the Son of God. And behold, even your relative Elizabeth herself has conceived a son in her old age, and she who was called infertile is now in her sixth month. For nothing will be impossible with God. And Mary said, Behold, the Lord's bond servant, may it be done to me according to your word. And the angel departed from her. Now at this time, Mary set out and went in a hurry to the hill country, to a city of Judah, and she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. And she cried out with a loud voice and said, Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And how has it happened to me that the mother of my Lord would come to me? For behold, when the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby leaped in my womb for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what had been spoken to her by the Lord. And Mary said, My soul exalts the Lord, and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior, for He has had regard for the humble estate of His bondservant. For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed, for the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is His name. And His mercy is to generation after generation toward those who fear Him. He has done mighty deeds with His arm. He has scattered those who are proud in the thought of their hearts. He has brought down rulers from their thrones, and He has exalted those who are humble. He has filled the hungry with good things and sent the rich away empty-handed. He has given help to his servant Israel in remembrance of his mercy, just as he spoke to our fathers, to Abram and his descendants forever. And Mary stayed with her about three months and then returned to her home. And we trust that God will add blessing to the reading of his precious word. Let's pray. Loving Father, again this morning as we come before you with the word of God open before us, Father, we give thanks for the precious gift of your holy inspired word. And father, we pray that you would speak to us from its pages, that we would understand the truth of these things, that father, we would be stirred up and spurred in our hearts to go on to pursue godliness, to live lives that are pleasing to you. Father, help us this morning to see the example of this young woman. And Father, to follow that example, to pursue godliness, to live Christ-like lives amongst those around us. And we ask you now for your help, in Jesus' name, amen. You could ask quickly, what is the text talking about? And you could say very easily, first of all, the text is talking about Jesus' birth announcement. And that usually gets all of our focus. But as I was working my way through and looking at this and studying and thinking about it and praying about it, I realized that what we have wrapped around that birth announcement is a very godly character displayed for us. You say, what does it say about Mary's godly character? Well, the text is saying that she received God's grace in verse 28 and verse 30. She was blessed with God's presence in verse 28. She believed God's word through Gabriel in verse 38. And if you look down in verses 46 and that great song series, sorry, Mary's Magnificat, you will see that she knew her Old Testament. She was one who knew and understood and believed the words of the Bible. She presented herself as the Lord's servant in verse number 38. She was humble before God. She worshipped the Lord. And I think you could wrap it all up in verse 50. She speaks about those who fear the Lord. And we can easily take those, just those statements and come to the conclusion, this is a very godly young lady. A godly young lady that God chose to use. And she is a great example for us. Now, we never wanna focus too much on mankind, on womankind. That's not the point. The point is to see her example and do as she did and pursue godliness and live a life that pleases the Lord. So what is Luke's purpose in those verses? It's to display God's grace and Mary's character. What's my purpose this morning? For all of us is to see Mary's godly character, to learn to follow Mary's example and to encourage you and me, all of us together, to pursue godliness. You say, who is this message for? Well, today is Mother's Day. You could say, maybe this is just a message for mothers and all the fathers and husbands and young men can sort of sit back and think, well, I can dodge a bullet this morning. No, this message is for all of us. For those who have believing godly mothers, to give thanks to God for those mothers, and to give thanks to them for their godly example. for the young mums, mums of every age in this day, to encourage you to not only that you've begun pursuing godliness, but to carry on, to pursue it with zeal to the very end of your days. We have two women given to us, Mary, who is very young, and Elizabeth, who is known to be quite old, and both of them give us a godly example of godliness. So pursue that godliness, mums. for sons and daughters, and that really wraps up, because that's everybody here, for sons and daughters to pray for our mothers, to pray for those who do not know the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior, that they will indeed come to know Christ as Savior, and they will begin to pursue godliness and live a life that pleases the Lord. for those who do have moms, to encourage them to continue pursuing it. So the message really indeed is for all of us. I don't know what you plan to get your mother for Mother's Day. Maybe you've got breakfast in bed or chocolates or a lunch out or a dinner out. This year I actually remembered to buy a Mother's Day gift, so I'm one ahead than most years that this comes around. But whatever you might be giving your mother this Mother's Day, Here is the greatest gift of all that you can give your mother. It is a life dedicated to pursuing godliness. The Bible says in Proverbs 31, I considered preaching this text this morning, but the Bible says in Proverbs 31 and verse 30, charm is deceitful and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised. Now that's written in the context of a son praising his mother or a husband praising his wife. But for all of us, we can look and say for the young women who don't put all their effort and all their time into beauty and charm and all of that, but put their time and effort into godliness, to pursuing godliness, they will have the blessing of the Lord's praise. They will have the blessing of their husband's praise and their children's praise. The Bible says in 1 Timothy 6 and verse 11, but flee from these things, you man of God, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance, and gentleness. Pursue godliness. It is a call of God on all our lives, whether you're a mother or a husband or a father or a child, whatever your situation, that is God's call on your life. The Bible also says in Proverbs 10 verse one and 15 verse 20, a wise son makes a father glad. Now, if you read the book of Proverbs, one of the things you'll discover is that wisdom is equated with godliness and foolishness is equated with unbelief and folly. Well, it is folly. And so a wise son, and I could easily say, I think with great, with no problem, that a wise young woman, a godly young woman makes her parents glad when they see their young lady pursuing godliness, not getting caught up in all the snares and distractions of this world. Well, as I thought about Mary's life throughout the week, I thought, you know, she was a very much a misunderstood woman. You read the story of what happened and you discover that you realize quickly she knew the truth of her situation. She knew exactly what Gabriel had told her. She knew exactly what was going on in her body. She knew without a shadow of a doubt that she had not sinned against God. She had not committed fornication or adultery. Her pregnancy was as a result of the Spirit of God overshadowing her, the power of God at work in her life. She knew that without a shadow of a doubt. But you read the story about Jesus, and you'll discover in John 8, verse 41, the Jews who are attacking him make a very sarcastic and snide comment, while we know who our father was, we weren't born of fornication. And they were just needling him, trying to get a rise out of him. Because it was assumed, widely assumed, that Mary had committed fornication or adultery and Jesus was an illegitimate son. And no doubt through most of her life, as she knew the truth about her situation, she carried the stigma of that with her and she was misunderstood by all those people around her. And brothers and sisters in Christ, there is a lesson for us in this. If we have a desire to pursue godliness, to live our lives for the Lord, to live our lives to please him, one thing is for sure, the world and those around us will misunderstand us. The world will mock us as foolish, old-fashioned, crude. They'll ridicule us because we're pursuing a God of the Bible. Nobody reads the Bible anymore. They'll misunderstand what we're doing. I'll tell you this, too. Those within the church who are less than committed to the Lord Jesus Christ and not pursuing godliness in their own life will quickly begin to ridicule and comment about your, you're too zealous. Oh, you need balance. You need to slow down. You need to get to adjust your life, to live life more balanced in all these things. Don't let it become an obsession with you. And which the scriptures would argue the exact opposite. No, pursue godliness. All that thrills my soul is Jesus. I didn't pick that song for this sermon, but how well it fits. What encouragement to all of us to make the Lord Jesus Christ the focus of our soul, to make him the delight of our soul. For Mary, my soul exalts the Lord. My spirit is rejoicing in God, my Savior. For her, God was everything in her life. you'll be misunderstood. Mary also knew what it was to deal with great pain and sorrow. In Mark chapter three, she comes with some of his brothers to rescue Jesus because of all that's going on, all his teaching, the crowds are so mocking around, flocking around him. They can't even get close to him. And they're wondering what's going on, and they're fearful that he has lost his mind. Mary, who has endured so much and gone through all that, that she might have this child, and now he's out there preaching and teaching and healing and doing all kinds of great things, and they're thinking he's lost his mind. What a struggle for a young woman, a young mom. to think that her child has lost his mind. She also had an experience that none of us, by God's grace, have ever had. She stood at the foot of the cross with the disciple John beside her, and she watched her son dying. I was in the room when dear sister Helen passed away, and her sons were there, and dear brother Noel was there. And just the sorrow, the struggle, the grief they were going through. and you're trying to give comfort, trying to say something that will just ease the pain a little. And there Mary is, she stands at the foot of the cross, and Jesus is on the cross, and he's not dying a gentle, painkiller-assisted death, slowly slipping away. He's dying in writhing agony. And those around Mary are not sitting there trying to comfort her and help her through this and help him through this. No, they're mocking, they're jeering him. for who he is and what he has done. Mary knew an unbearable unbreaking of her heart in that moment. She knew great sorrow and great pain, but she also knew tremendous joy, because at the end of her life, at the very end, when Jesus was resurrected and ascended and exalted to God's right hand, she knew the joy that her human son, truly human and truly God, was now her savior. She trusted in him and knew what it was to be saved. Listen, beloved, pursuing godliness will mean misunderstanding for our lives. It means great pain and difficulty and sorrow. Godliness does not happen in the comfort and ease of a living room couch. Godliness happens in the fire. Godliness happens when the anvil is being beaten on, and we feel like we're being beaten up. And for Mary, no doubt, as she began this journey, she's probably 15 or 16 years of age. And for her life, she knew those struggles, and yet she was a godly woman. Brothers and sisters, learn from Mary's example and pursue godliness. Because at the end of the day, all the struggle, all the misunderstanding that she went through was nothing compared to the joy she had in knowing what God had done through her and knowing that she was truly saved. That the one that she had born was no ordinary man. He was the living son of God. Truly God and truly man. The one who died to save us. I want you to notice, secondly, she was a recipient of God's grace. You can see it in verse 27. He comes in, sorry, verse 28, and he says, greetings favored one. A little checking on that word. The word favored one means one who has been shown God's grace. And he repeats it because she's kind of wondering what in the world is this greeting? What does all this mean? Mary had found grace and favor in God's sight. It's a very similar statement comes up in Genesis chapter six and verse eight, and Noah found grace or found favor in the Lord's eyes. In Exodus 33 and verse 12, the Bible says that Moses found favor or grace in God's sight. And Gideon, Gideon, the fearful judge of God who was busy threshing his wheat in a wine press, which is not where you're supposed to thresh wheat, by the way, and God comes to him and says, you found grace, you found favor in God's sight. Godliness begins with God's grace being experienced. You can try and live a godly life. You can try and live all of the routines. You can try and practice all of the practical things about godliness, reading your Bible, praying and all that, but without God's grace at work in your life, without an experience of God's grace, you cannot live a godly life. You say, how will I know that I've experienced God's grace? Well, the gospel is the great explanation of that. You say, what's the gospel? The gospel is that God created all things. We've been studying on Wednesday and Tuesday nights about God's attributes. But how God created all things. God is the eternal God, unchanging, all-powerful, all-knowing. He created everything in existence. He created man in his own image and likeness that we might display God's glory to all of the creation around us. And very shortly after we, or man, was created, the serpent entered the garden. and deceived the woman and she took of the forbidden fruit and ate in rebellion and disobedience to God. And mankind fell into sin, and the penalty for that sin was death. But God in grace came in that moment and clothed her with garments of skin, clothed both of them. God in grace promised a Savior would come. God in grace, all through the Old Testament stories, promises again and again and again that a Savior would come. And one day the Savior came, and his name is Jesus. He's the one that's being talked about here, that Mary will give birth to. He came. He lived this life. of absolute holiness and sinlessness. He lived in perfect obedience to his father. He went to the cross and there he displayed his love for God and he displayed his obedience to God and he displayed the reality of the law that had to be fulfilled perfectly. He died in love for you and I that we would know forgiveness of sin. And my friend, this morning, godliness must begin as a recipient of God's grace. The gospel message is for you, it's for everybody. And my first question to you this morning, as you come here on Mother's Day morning, and maybe you've come with family and friends to celebrate Mother's Day, and you're looking forward in a few minutes to going out for lunch together and enjoying just a day of celebrating mom. Well, this day can also be a day for a new life for you as you trust in Jesus to be your savior, as you experience the grace of God at work in your life. And that grace is a call. It's a call not just to turn away from sin and believe in God. It's also a call to repent and pursue godliness, to pursue Christ, to follow him, to walk after him in the way that he has commanded. So first of all, she was a recipient of God's grace. Godliness begins with God's grace and godliness continues with God's grace because the reality is we cannot live this life of godliness apart from God's grace at working us every single day. It's God's grace at working us as he wills within us, sorry, he works within us both to will and to do for his good pleasure. So brother and sister in Christ this morning, I urge you, learn from Mary's example. To those outside the faith, learn from Mary's example and receive the grace of God for salvation and forgiveness, and then pursue godliness with the rest of your life. Thirdly, she was a young woman. Sometimes we get the idea, I think, that godliness is restricted to older people. As you get older, you get wiser, you get more used to the Bible, you've read the Bible more, and all of a sudden godliness sort of happens as you get older and older and older in age. And the reality is that the biblical way is that the older godly people, that's why they're called elders, not youngers, the older godly ones set the example and teach and train and encourage and work with the sheep to bring them up, to grow them in godliness. But that, I'm sorry, this lady here, this Mary, you look at her life and look at all the things that says about her, you can see right away that she is the product of godly influence in her life. The way she speaks, her knowledge of scripture at such a young age, her response to the angel, all of it shows the influence of godly parents working in her life. But godliness is not restricted to the older. Godliness must happen in younger as well. You say, does the Bible have other examples? Yeah, it does. In 1 Samuel 2, verse 18, young Samuel ministered before the Lord. In 1 Samuel 17, verse 33, young David, you know, he comes to Saul and he says, hey, I'll fight Goliath. And what's Saul say? You are but a youth. David tries on Saul's armor and it doesn't fit. He takes the stones and the sling. And he goes out to fight against Goliath. And young David fights against Goliath that moment. God, in his grace, raised up a young man who was a godly man, a man who had spent his time on the backside of the hills and valleys of Bethlehem, looking after his father's sheep, learning the songs and singing the songs of praise to God, learning about how it is that a young man lives for God. God was teaching him all through that, and when the right moment came, God raised him up and used him. He was a young man. What about Daniel? In Daniel 1, verses 3-8, young Daniel with the other captives. A couple of them together resolve together that they will not defile themselves with the King's food. And young Daniel is there. And young Daniel decides he will not partake of what has been offered to idols. And God uses a godly young man to set an example for others to follow as well. Listen, young people. Godliness is not restricted to older age. You know the Lord, you love the Lord, then my plea with you is to pursue godliness all through your days. Start now. You say, wait a minute, I'm an older person. I look at my life and I don't see much godliness. Is it too late for me? And the answer is no, of course not. A late, sorry, an early start is better than a late start, but a late start is better than no start at all. Start now. Resolve from this day forward that looking at the example of Mary, looking all through the scriptures and seeing the examples of men who lived their lives for God, women who lived their lives for God. Resolve in your heart to follow that example, to pursue godliness. Young people, you can do it. You say, will it cost me something? And the answer is yes, it will. They'll cost you a lot. One of the sad things about our age, and as I get older, and I have to admit that I'm getting older, I look back and I see lives that are spent, wasted time all over. I'm not gonna pick on anybody's activity, but you all know in your own experience where your time is being spent and how it could be spent better, but I guarantee you this much, if you would be godly, it will cost you. It will cost you time spent in worthless pursuits It'll cost you time spent trying to amass fortunes for yourself. The world we live in is driven by the idea that you have to be wealthy in order to be happy. And sadly, so many in the Christian circles are buying into that lie. But she was a young man, young man, she was a young woman, she was probably 15 or 16 years of age. She knew what it was to be godly, even at that age. You can see it as she speaks and responds to Gabriel, and she responds at the end in worship to God. But listen, I want to say something else here. Godliness is not just knowledge. Some of us have the idea that because I know all these arguments, because I know all these facts, because I know all this theology, I must be godly. And the answer is that's not the case. Godliness is far more than mere knowledge. Godliness is experience, experiential knowledge that produces love and faith and humility and reverent obedience to God. You know what Paul said? The goal of our instruction is, anybody know? It starts with L. Love. I think somehow we get the idea in the back of our heads that the goal of our instruction, excuse me, is a whole heap of knowledge built up in the back of our heads. An understanding of all the theological arguments and debates. Is there anything wrong with knowledge? No, there's not. But brother and sister, watch out. Beware that the pursuit of knowledge without the experience of walking in humility and faith in the Lord will produce conceit and arrogance and pride. It's dangerous. Study and learn scripture to know the Lord. Study and learn scripture to build up that understanding of God. Walk with the Lord, looking for God's working in your life in every step you take so that the things that you are learning in the word of God can be applied to the life that you live. Because the reality is godliness is not pride or arrogance. Godliness is a humility, a humbleness before God. Godliness can and must begin at any age. Godliness is developed through a life of experience with God, and we can learn from Mary's example where she is already shows already years of walking with the Lord. God was preparing her for this great day. And by the way, that's how God works. He prepares in obscurity and he brings out in a moment to use you greatly at that right moment. Think about Moses. He was a nephew to the king, basically. And God took him out of Egypt and put him in the backside of a desert. And for 40 long years, he shepherded sheep away from Egypt, away from the Israelites, away by himself. And God taught him and trained him in shepherding and leading a nation. God raised, trained him in obscurity. What about David? We just talked about him. All those years looking after his sheep, his father's sheep, God was training him and using him in obscurity, getting him ready for that moment when God would use him greatly in the life of the nation of Israel. And God will take you and put you aside and train you in obscurity and use you when he's ready, just like he's doing here. Godliness can and must begin at any age. Godliness is developed through a life experience with God. We learn from Mary's example, and I urge you, I plead with you as your pastor and your friend, pursue godliness. Pursue faith and righteousness and holiness. Notice also, firstly, she was a pure woman. She was a virgin, meaning she was pure. And one of the things that highlights to me is the necessity in godliness for holiness of life and character. In 2 Timothy 2, verse 19, Paul writes, everyone who names the name of the Lord is to abstain from wickedness. A call of this life that we are in as Christians is to leave behind the world of filth and evil, leave behind the world of wickedness and pursue godliness. Paul Washer made this great observation. He said, you take a picture of a young lady from a Christian family going to the beach today, and you look at what she is wearing, and you go back 100 years ago, and that same young lady would be arrested and thrown into jail for gross moral indecency and probably questionable mental acuity. That's a sad thing. You see how far down our ideas of what is morally pure, what is sexually pure. This young lady was a virgin. She was engaged to be married. She was young. And you say, well, back then it was different. It didn't happen back then, really? The Old Testament law, if you go right back to Sodom and Gomorrah, homosexuality was happening back then. You go back to the law, the law made provision and allowance for, not allowance, provision for dealing with sexual sin. And one of the things that we've noticed is just how much in the church age things have declined and what was once completely unacceptable is now accepted almost without question, even inside Christian church families. Young men, young women, yeah, this message is very much for you. Young men and young women, resolve to live your lives in sexual purity. You say, what if it's already too late for me? What if I've gone too far? Well, the reality is that there is grace for forgiveness. We can come to cry out to God for forgiveness, but I will add this too. There's also the dealing with consequences. To be brutally honest, I had to discover that in my own life. Not something I really wanted to share, but I think maybe in this moment it's appropriate. But God is gracious. And God can indeed restore the years the locusts have eaten, to use that phrase out of the book of Joel. And the call on all of us is to pursue godly, holy lives. In 1 Peter 1 verses 15 and 16, Peter writes, And the call on all of us as people of God, young and old, men and women, mothers and fathers, husbands, all of us, is for a holy life. Listen, pastor, elders, and deacons, The one thing our church, not the one thing, one of the main things that our church needs from us is holiness of life and character. A resolve that we will not defile ourselves with the things of the world. Husbands, wives, parents, the thing that your kid needs from you more than anything else is a life of holiness and godliness. Pursuing godliness and living a life that is morally pure. Whether anybody's watching or not. Young people, please, resolve in your hearts that you will live lives that are morally pure before the Lord. Yes, there is grace for forgiveness, but there is also consequences over actions. And God is gracious and God will forgive, but there are scars that you will carry for the rest of your life as a result. I plead with you. See Mary's example and pursue godliness in holiness of character. Fifthly, she was a humble servant of the Lord. Gabriel told his message all about Jesus' birth. Mary asked one simple question, how will this be? She's not refusing and not disbelieving. She's simply asking, how can it be since she is a virgin? How's it gonna work itself out? I don't understand. And so he gives her a simple answer. The spirit of God will overshadow you, will come upon you in power. And the spirit of God who created all creation will bring about the conception of a child within your womb. And the moment of conception, the divine nature of the Son of God was fastened irrevocably to the human nature of Jesus the man. And the son born from her womb was called the Holy Child and the Son of God. And she heard all that, and she asked how it could be, and Gabriel gave her Elizabeth as evidence, and he makes this great statement, sorry, verse 37, for nothing will be impossible with God. Listen, here's one little great lesson for us. Everything that God calls us to do in ministry and service for him is impossible in our own strength. If you think you can do what God has called you to do, you've misunderstood your calling or you've misunderstood completely your own capacity and ability. This godly young woman was used by God and she was a humble, humble servant. She recognized it was impossible within her capacity. She asks how it will be. She's given a response. And look what she says in verse 38, this one ought to knock your socks off. And Mary said, behold, the Lord's bond servant, may it be done to me according to your word. And the angel departed from her. Mary's response to Gabriel is like Isaiah, here am I, send me. It was not like Moses who said, Lord, here am I, send somebody else. It was, here am I, send me, behold, I am the bondservant. Literally, I am the slave of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word. That's submission. But it's more than that. I did a little study on the word behold, and it comes from the Greek, as I understand it. It do. And it means behold, or indeed, or surely. So in a sense, what she's saying is, surely, or indeed, the Lord's servant is here. Here I am. I am willing. I'm eager. I'm able to go and serve. I will go and serve. She didn't say able. She could do it in God's strength, not her own. But she was willing. Mary's humble commitment to serve was as a slave. And immediately reminded me of Jesus' words in Luke 22. He said, not my will, but thine be done. He was the servant of the Lord. In Romans 12, we saw last week, present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable, reasonable, a reasonable service of worship. Listen, what God had called her to do in that moment as she, in a sense, stepped forward and said, behold, look, Indeed, I am the Lord's bondservant. She's saying, listen, I present my life to you. I'm giving it up. It was for his glory and his use. But you know what? One of the neat things about the way that she lived and what the scriptures promise. She was a humble servant of the Lord. She put herself at the lowest possible spot. You know what the Bible tells us? In Isaiah 66 in verse two, to this one I will look. He who is contrite and humble and trembles at my word. Mary understood to some extent what was coming. Mary understood the difficulty, I think, a little bit of what was coming. And she was humble before the Lord and she knew the Lord's grace and she knew the Lord's presence. And brother and sister in Christ, when we humble ourselves before the Lord and resolve to live a godly life before the Lord, his face is turned toward us. And the idea is grace and help and compassion and strength. I love the fact that she's willing. Behold the Lord's bond servant. May it be done to me. She's willing to go and serve. One of the marks of godliness in all of us is a willingness to serve regardless of the profile or the circumstances. whether you're washing dishes, or vacuuming the floor, or preaching a sermon, or cleaning up the garbage, or looking after grace, or teaching a Bible study, whatever it is, if your willingness to serve is there, God can greatly use you. Godliness is marked by a willingness, and Godliness is also, it's not a grudging service. If you make your service for the Lord a grudging thing, you really don't want to do it. You'd really rather be anywhere else but in this. You really don't want to get messy with the little kids or messy with all the adults you try to serve. You really just want to pull back and hide and run away. A grudging service will become a drudgery in service, but a joyful service will become a joyful worship before the living God. It's what we missed last week in Romans 12, verse 1. Present your bodies a living sacrifice, wholly acceptable, a reasonable service of worship. When our willingness to serve the Lord is what overrides, when our joy in serving the Lord overrides, then it becomes a service of worship. You say, yeah, I can worship teaching and grace. Yes, I can worship helping out by washing dishes. Yes, washing dishes is a service of worship when it's done with the right attitude and the right desire to please the Lord. Godliness results in a humble, willing service for God. We look at Mary's example, we learn from her example, and we pursue godliness. We are to pursue godliness in humble service for him. She was also a believing woman of faith. She heard Gabriel's message. She responded, may it be done to me according to your word. The idea of may it be done in the Greek is a desire for the promise to be fulfilled. She believed his words. But look what else she did. She immediately hurries to see the evidence of the words in the life of Elizabeth. Faith reinforced by evidence, faith followed by action. She heard what the angel said and she immediately began to act upon it. She went to see what was happening in Elizabeth's life to show, to understand more, to realize more what was going on. And as she did, she heard the blessing of Elizabeth. It wasn't even, she just greeted Elizabeth and Elizabeth starts to speak and blesses her. She was a believing woman of faith. I could say so much more, but I want us to skip to the end because of the sake of time here. Look down at verse 46. We could say that she was a woman of faith and we did, but she was also a woman of worship. And I love as you read her, her magnificat, her worship of the Lord, her focus is on the Lord. As a true godly servant of the Lord, her focus is on the Lord, not on herself. She says, my soul exalts the Lord and my spirit has rejoiced in God, my savior, for he has had regard for the humble estate of his bondservant. And yes, she talks here about how they'll call her blessed and so on. But look at verse 49, for the mighty one has done great things for me. She recognizes God's hand in all that's happening in her life. Brother and sister in Christ, do you see the hand of God at work in your life? As you go from day to day and all the things that you do, all the service that you do for God, do you see God's hand at work behind it all? Because God's hand is at work behind every last little bit of it. And she sought to worship the Lord. For the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is His name. His mercy is to generation after generation towards those who fear Him. In verse 51, He has done mighty deeds with His arm. He's scattered those who are proud in the thoughts of their hearts. He has brought down rulers. She's just exalting the Lord and worshiping the Lord for all that He has done in her life. We could go on and say more, but for the sake of time, Oh, brother and sister in Christ, listen, pursue godliness. Look at the life of this young woman, the mother of the Lord, a misunderstood life. The reality is if we pursue godliness in our lives, we will live misunderstood lives by those around us. They'll look at us and wonder why we're doing what we're doing. Sadly, even those inside the church will do that. Consider and pursue the godliness that she displayed. Wives and mothers, pursue godliness for the sake of yourself and your kids and your husband. Sons and daughters, pursue godliness for the glory of God for yourselves and for those around you. Husbands and fathers, pursue godliness. I'll say it again. Pastor, elders, and deacons, pursue godliness for what this church needs is godly leadership. I'll take a few more minutes. You look back and I've heard story after story of churches that have gone into trouble. And you know what the problem happens? It's so sad. Elderships and leaderships that have not lived godly lives. I have in my experience, in my own friends, four, four men. One who lost his ministry because of financial misdealings. Two who lost their ministry through sexual sin. And a fourth who lost his ministry because of financial misdealings. They put aside godliness for other things. Leadership in this church. If you have a goal to be in leadership in this church, what's your first step? is to pursue godliness, is to pursue purity, pursue holiness. This is what Robert Murray McShane said, my church's greatest need for me is my personal holiness. Brother and sister, brother in Christ, the leadership in this church, pursue godliness because that's what the church needs from us. Don't worry about organizational skills and all that other stuff. Godliness first and foremost. The other stuff will take care of itself as we pursue godliness. But godliness is first and foremost. Pursue godliness knowing you'll be misunderstood and ridiculed. Pursue godliness because you have found favor and grace from God. Pursue godliness whether you're young or you're old. It's never too late to begin. A late start is better than no start at all. Pursue godliness and holiness without which no one will see the Lord. Pursue godliness displayed by genuine humility before the Lord. It's not how much you know. It's your love for God. It's your faith in God. It's your desire to please God. Pursue godliness with a willingness and an eagerness to serve the Lord regardless of the profile or the circumstances. pursue godliness with the ultimate goal that our lives will worship and honor the Lord God above all else. Does that make sense? Why don't you stand with me and we'll pray, and then we'll be finished for the morning. Our gracious God and heavenly Father, we give thanks again for the life of this young woman. Father, we recognize that she was a simple woman. There was nothing special or unusual about her. But Father, we see in another sense that she was a godly young woman, a pure young woman, a humble servant of the Lord with a willingness and an eagerness to serve you, a woman who lived her life to please you and gave one of the greatest expressions of praise in the Bible. Father, we give thanks for her steadfastness despite all of the stigma that she bore because of the Lord Jesus. Father, we give thanks for the example that she set. And Father, we would not overemphasize her life. Father, far beyond her example, we give thanks, O God, for the example of the Lord Jesus Christ, who lived his life in sinless obedience before you. Father, we thank you for the call on our lives to live as godly men and women before you. And Father, this morning from a somewhat scrambled and scattered presentation, Father, we pray that your spirit would speak to each of us. Lord, you know each of us in our hearts before you where we struggle the most, where these things need to be attended to. Father, we pray that you would work in each of us, oh God, to challenge us, to move us, to equip us and build us up, to live lives that please you. Father, we ask you for your blessing. We give thanks again, O God, for this day of worship. We thank you, Father, for godly mothers. I thank you, O God, for my godly mother and seek your blessing for her. And Father, for those in this room, for the mums here, Lord, we give thanks for them and we pray, O God, for your blessing on them. We pray, O God, For those young mums here, those who are looking to be mums in times to come, Father, we pray that their goal, their desire as they prepare to be a mother is to pursue godliness, that they might raise those kids for the Lord in a way that pleases you. Loving Father, we give thanks. We thank you most of all for the Lord Jesus Christ who died on a cross to save us. Father, we thank you for his life of obedience. Thank you, Father, for his death. We thank you, O God, for his resurrection. And Lord, we just give thanks for this day together, and we ask you for your blessing. In Jesus' name, amen and amen. We are done.