Ever wondered about the role of humility in maintaining joy, especially in the face of divine favor? Drawing from the biblical story of Mary, mother of Jesus, we explore how she preserved her joy by maintaining an accurate view of herself- a humble servant of God. This candid conversation provides a fresh look at Mary's journey of humility and dependence upon God.
In this episode we unpack how humility impacts our daily lives and how it can be distorted by success. Through a light-hearted and sometimes humorous conversation, we explore the dichotomy between being a servant and expecting to be served. We also discuss the significance of acknowledging our own need for salvation. To cap it all, we draw a parallel between Mary's story and the distinction between religion and authentic Christianity. So, ready to dissect the power of joy, humility, and an accurate self-view? Tune in to this episode and let's unwrap these truths together.
It's finally old enough to vote. Welcome to episode number 18 of the Real Friends podcast Colin, the Advent series. Hopefully, the podcast votes with good virtues in mind.
Speaker 2:
Speaking of voting, be sure to review our podcast. That helps other people find our great content. What?
Speaker 1:
a super idea. We didn't even plan that. All right, so we have been talking about the theme of joy this particular week and now we are going to talk about another way to help maintain and build your joy. Last episode, number 17, we talked about keeping a right view of God and, specifically, how Mary did that. This episode, we're going to talk about how Mary kept her joy up by having an accurate view of self.
Speaker 2:
Indeed, it's interesting that Mary does not see herself as somebody deserving of God's goodness, his favor, his blessing. She sees herself as a humble servant. And so Tyler's going to read Luke 1, 38 and 48.
Speaker 3:
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 and 48, for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant. For behold, from now on all generations will call him me blessed. So Mary is just a common girl and she's humble. And God comes to her and gives her this great gift to carry our Savior. And even after that, you know, she doesn't get the big head. She stays humble through the whole thing. She doesn't think of herself as higher than anybody else or anything like it. You know, at times, even going through church I'm sure plenty of people have seen those pastors and whoever you know come in and they might call themselves a servant, but they, they just let all their success and everything get to their heads and their divas.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, they let everyone else serve them or expect it even it's like the prison.
Speaker 3:
it wrote in the time, you know, whenever they go places.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, Tyler, that's a great point, and I'll tell you what that gives me the impetus to say you know, pastor, I'm tired of carrying your cat, your coffee around, I'm not doing it anymore. No.
Speaker 2:
Pastor Chris is like that His job. What's that? That's.
Speaker 3:
Nikki's job. Oh, I have noticed that he's been drinking a whole lot of fancy or water lately.
Speaker 1:
Oh is that what you say, I just don't say it.
Speaker 2:
Okay, I don't know how, when Brock Ruppsum spoke at our church, I was drinking one in front of him. He goes. You know, can I get one of those? You know, I thought someday, someday, okay.
Speaker 1:
That's. That's funny, brock. Now that you've finished your last masters of divinity courses, I understand that you can have a perille water or whatever kind it is. You feel that you deserve Congratulations in all seriousness. All right.
Speaker 1:
So in addition to what Tyler was talking about, with Mary in her Acura view of self in terms of her humility, part of the song which is a song of joy is that she sees her own need for a savior. She acknowledges that in the song. Looking at 46 and 47 or trying to, it just scrolled away and Mary said my soul magnifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God, my savior. She doesn't not. So she knows that she needs a savior, which is not always, was not always, the case for all the people of the Jewish. You know persuasion. Back then they were expecting a different sort of you know governmental or military, you know leader to come. But she's joyful about it, she is happy about it, she seems to recognize who it is she's carrying and why the world's going to need him, and she is grateful for that of her own part. You know, pastor, you've preached on this, but I'll bring it up again. It's one can sort of draw a line from this to the difference between you know religion, and then how would you phrase the?
Speaker 2:
opposite of that relationship or true Christianity.
Speaker 1:
Oh, you're two hours. You're always going for that Eliteration, eliteration. Very good, you could be overly you know you're not overly religious necessarily but to be honed in on that and just focused on self, what do I need to keep doing to try to please the Lord, making it all about you instead of having a relationship with God? That would be the opposite, but a relationship that is focused on God we have got to.
Speaker 2:
Mary shows us we've got to have an accurate view of God and an accurate view of self. And I'm really convinced, just looking at the church today, that many people, even you, look at our worship songs. You know some of the new worship songs. It's really clear that I think we have at times too low of a view of God and too high of a view of self. It's almost like we want God to be our assistant. So I'm going to quote Keller for only the second time in 15 episodes. I believe that you're remembering Probably quoted him every episode.
Speaker 2:
So Tim Keller tells the story of a lady who had a profound impact on his life in the 70s. She spoke at a camp in Colorado and here's what she said. Quote if the distance between the earth and the sun 92 million miles was reduced to the thickness of a sheet of paper, then the distance between the earth and the nearest star would be a stack of paper 70 feet high and the diameter of the galaxy would be a stack of paper 310 miles high. She said that's how big the galaxy is. Yet the galaxy is nothing but a speck of dust virtually in the whole universe. She goes on to say the Bible says Jesus Christ holds the universe together with the words of his power.
Speaker 2:
Is this the kind of person you ask in your life to be your assistant? So many people today? It's like they want to sit on the throne of their lives and it's like God's there just to back them up. It's like no. If you want joy, you got to realize how much bigger God is than you, infinitely greater than we are, and so we've got to maintain an accurate view of God and an accurate view of self and, as we started with, we've also got to be obedient. So I hope that helps all of our listeners walk in Christian joy this holiday season.