The Confession of Faith

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 (Luke 1:34-38).

Mary’s life was disrupted by God’s plan. Next, her doubt was confronted by God’s truth. She placed her reservations on the table with a very reasonable question… “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” This was her way of raising the most obvious and impossible problem with God’s plan in the presence of God’s messenger, Gabriel. The angel responded by confronting Mary’s doubt with God’s truth and her life was changed as she exchanged her concession of doubt with the confession of faith.

Gabriel revealed the truth that God will do it. God’s messenger angel foretold how the power of the Most High will be released when the Holy Spirit comes upon Mary. All she had to do was wait and surrender to the Spirit. Gabriel confronted Mary’s doubt with the truth that if she believed and surrendered to the Holy Spirit, God will do the work.

Gabriel revealed the truth that God has done it. Gabriel reported how Elizabeth, her cousin has also conceived a son. She who was too old and barren to have a child had conceived and was already in her sixth month of pregnancy. That conception was through her husband Zechariah, but it was also the result of the supernatural work of God. Gabriel confronted Mary’s doubt with a testimony that confirmed the truth that if she surrendered to the Holy Spirit and believed the word of the Lord, God will accomplish this work because God has done it.

Can you imagine for a moment what the Church might be like if every professing Christian had the kind of confessing faith that Mary had? How might your life be different if you could live every day in the same confessing faith that transformed Mary from humble virgin to mother of a King? Mary’s doubt was confronted and crushed by truth from Heaven. In the light of God’s compelling truth Mary no longer saw herself as too young or too virgin to be the mother of God’s Son. In the light of God’s truth Mary saw herself as she really was. She was the servant of the Lord and she could believe according to your word. The Holy Spirit reveals two indispensable ingredients of the life changing confession of faith here.

The confession of faith requires agreement with God’s truth about ourselves. The world strives to convince us we are feeble, frail, and fatal. God’s Word says we are created and saved to part of His eternal work… “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10). God’s Word says His Spirit will empower us to accomplish His work… “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8). Effective disciples like Mary, believe we are God’s servants, according to His Word.

The confession of faith expresses agreement with God’s truth revealed in His word. The world seeks to immerse and immobilize us with deceptive and foolish philosophy. Jesus taught the truth that sets us apart from the world and makes us available for God’s work is found in His Word… “Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth” (John 17:17). He identified true disciples as those who were freed from the world’s deception by being fully immersed in His Word… “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:31-32). Effective disciples like Mary overcome doubt by abiding in the truth of God’s Word.

As we grow up into Christ His truth confronts our doubt and we are transformed by…

The Confession of Faith.