Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - Sharing Good News | Christmas | Luke 1:39-45

Episode Date: November 23, 2021

When you have good news to share, who do you go to first? How do you react when someone shares good news with you? While this can be complicated for many reasons, https://twitter.com/TanyaWillmeth (Tanya) looks at https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+1%3A39-45&version=NIV (Luke 1:39-45) to describe how your reaction to good news can be indicative of your relationship with God. Like this content? Make sure to leave us a rating and share it with others, so others can find it too. Use #asktmbt to connect with us, ask questions, and suggest topics. We'd love to hear from you! To learn more, visit our https://www.thecrossingchurch.com/ (website) and follow us on https://www.facebook.com/TenMinuteBibleTalks (Facebook), https://www.instagram.com/thecrossingcomo/ (Instagram), and https://twitter.com/tmbtpodcast (Twitter) @TheCrossingCOMO and @TenMinuteBibleTalks. Social Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TenMinuteBibleTalks (https://www.facebook.com/TenMinuteBibleTalks) Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thecrossingcomo/ (https://www.instagram.com/thecrossingcomo/) Twitter: https://twitter.com/tmbtpodcast (https://twitter.com/tmbtpodcast) Passages https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+1%3A39-45&version=NIV (Luke 1:39-45) Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now.

Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks where we connect the Bible to your life in the time it takes to get to work. I'm Tanya Wilmeth. I'm Keith Simon. And I'm Patrick Miller. Right now, we're in our Christmas series. We're exploring the stories around Jesus' birth and the prophecies pointing forward to it. If you had amazing news to share, who would you want to tell first? Who would be the first to hear if you got into the grad school you wanted or got a job you wanted or found out you were having a baby?

Okay. now, who would run to you to share their amazing news? In Luke's gospel, when God sent his angel Gabriel to Mary to deliver the news that she would have a baby, born of the Holy Spirit, the angel also told her that her cousin, Elizabeth, was with child. Now, both pregnancies were special. Mary had probably given up hope for her cousin to conceive because Elizabeth and her husband were both past the normal age of childbearing. And Mary certainly wasn't looking for any news of her own pregnancy as she was a virgin. So as Mary heard and processed and believed what the angel said, the words God delivered, she must have been dying to talk to someone.

That she chose to run to Elizabeth first confirms she believed what the angel said. As the one who was much younger and less pregnant at this point, it made sense for Mary to be the one to run to Elizabeth's side. Elizabeth was older and more advanced in her pregnancy. She was already in her six months. And Elizabeth's husband was unable to speak because he'd been silenced by God for doubt. So just add that into the mix as you're picturing this story. So it made sense for Mary to be the one to travel to find Elizabeth and share this amazing and complicated news to make the four-day journey to

Elizabeth's house. Mary must have been craving the fellowship of this older woman she loved dearly, this woman who would understand her even more than ever. And after living with a muted husband, Elizabeth must have been ready to receive her younger cousin and her news like a sponge that soaks up water. You know, sometimes hearing someone else's good news is complicated because, well, relationships are complicated. Sometimes the news means the relationship is going to change, or maybe it already has and the news just confirms what's already happened. Sometimes hearing someone's good news is hard because we just don't really want it for them, because it makes us feel differently about ourselves. The beauty of Mary running to share her news with Elizabeth is that

both are excited to hear and receive. When Mary approaches Elizabeth's house, Luke talks about how when Elizabeth heard Mary's voice greeting, Zachariah the baby in Elizabeth's womb leapt for joy, and when Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and started pouring blessings upon Mary. She called her Blessed among women and Blessed for the fruit of her womb and blessed for her faith and says, who am I to receive the mother of our Savior? The reason this fellowship is so beautiful is because of who it's about. Elizabeth's blessings emphasize the real reason behind their joy, the child, who the angel called the son of man, and the privilege they have to know him, and the joy that comes with believing he is the true savior of the universe.

Luke is a beautifully descriptive writer, and he shares this infancy story through the lenses of these women, and they must have shared this with him and passed it down for him to be able to write about it with such detail. And the fellowship of these women is truly amazing, and something we hope to have with our own friends and family. But Luke and Mary and Elizabeth, and their account of this infancy narrative, show us the reason we have beautiful fellowship in the first place. And that's because we were able to image the triune God. God the Father, God the Spirit, and God the Son are present in the New Testament and in this birth narrative, just as the triune God was present at creation. We weren't created because God needed fellowship

with us, but we are able to image and experience the fellowship of our creator when we believe him and make him the center of our story. I've heard that you can't be a caring friend or neighbor if you're a comparing friend or neighbor. In other words, you can't do both at the same time. We don't see evidence of comparing between Mary and Elizabeth in this interaction. Elizabeth is truly humbled to be in the presence of Mary, who is caring the one Elizabeth calls her savior. and Mary isn't so focused on her own story that she doesn't want to celebrate the excitement that Elizabeth is finally having a baby. Each woman is taking God at his word. We might call this the pregnancy glow, but what we see in Mary and Elizabeth is each woman being fully themselves

and how God created them. A young and agile virgin, Mary runs to Elizabeth's side for the support and encouragement she needs to live out God's story for her life. And older and sees a woman who's faced mockery and rejection because she's been unable to have a child, Elizabeth receives young Mary with grace and truth and pure joy and excitement. They believe that God's word is true and that He is the center of their story. When we believe that God's story is true and about him, we can care more fully for others. When our own stories and agendas aren't taking up the center of our attention, we can be more present in the lives of others and share their concerns and joys in a way that truly images God.

So back to that question, where would you run with your good news? And who would run to you? If you can think of someone who would be excited to hear your news, it's probably because they truly care about you, and they've shown that in the way they listen to you and remember you. And who would share their news with you? Who would come running to tell you about something their kiddo has done or something they've published or an idea they were excited to put into action?

When we take God for His Word, we believe that we are already such an important part of God's eternal story that we don't need to make it all about us all the time. When we believe God's bigger story, we understand that it is for us, but not all about us. It's all about him. And when we believe that and act in accordance to that, we are able to have truer, better relationships with others. We're freed to listen to them and care about them in a way that makes them feel known. we're free to root for them and cheer for them because we're safe and sure in our status with God.

We're free to want more for them because we want to experience God's goodness through what he does for them, in them. If you don't have an Elizabeth or Mary in your mind an older or younger person to share good news to encourage and be encouraged, maybe you need to think less about yourself. Maybe you need to talk less and ask more questions. maybe you could ask someone how you could help them and work alongside them and learn from them while forming a friendship. Maybe you could notice where you're comparing and make an active choice to care for them instead. Bob sends me emails on Tuesdays.

He would probably send them to you if you wanted them. Bob Goff, that is. And in my inbox today is a picture of two teenage boys, one with an arm around another, and a quote from Bob that says, the more beauty we find in another's journey, the less will want to compare it to our own. We were creative for relationships because that's how we experience more fully the beauty of our Lord. Our horizontal relationships with one another reflect what we believe about God.

Taking him at his word and believing what he says for us and to us is at the core of our ability to love others well and be fully present in what he created us to do. When we have fellowship with God at the center of our priorities, our fellowship, Shapir will glow with the excitement and security of living out his plans for us and for our neighbors. Thanks for listening. If you've enjoyed this content, please subscribe and give us a rating. That helps others find this podcast more easily. Also ask yourself who you could share this podcast with. Texting an episode to a friend or family member is a great way to help them grow spiritually. If you want to go deeper, check out our show notes for book recommendations.