Naylor Community Christian Church
Naylor, Georgia
I. Introduction
-- turn in
Bibles to Luke 2:21-40
Luke 2:21 On the eighth day, when it was time to
circumcise the child, he was named Jesus, the name the angel had given him
before he was conceived.
22 When the time came for the purification rites
required by the Law of Moses, Joseph and Mary took him to Jerusalem to present
him to the Lord 23 (as it is written in the Law of the Lord, “Every firstborn
male is to be consecrated to the Lord”), 24 and to offer a sacrifice in keeping
with what is said in the Law of the Lord: “a pair of doves or two young
pigeons.”
25 Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who
was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the
Holy Spirit was on him. 26 It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that
he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. 27 Moved by the Spirit,
he went into the temple courts. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to
do for him what the custom of the Law required, 28 Simeon took him in his arms
and praised God, saying:
29 “Sovereign Lord, as you have promised,
you may now
dismiss your servant in peace.
30 For my eyes have seen your salvation,
31 which you
have prepared in the sight of all nations:
32 a light for revelation to the Gentiles,
and the glory
of your people Israel.”
33 The child’s father and mother marveled at what was
said about him. 34 Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother: “This
child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be
a sign that will be spoken against, 35 so that the thoughts of many hearts will
be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too.”
36 There was also a prophet, Anna, the daughter of
Penuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was very old; she had lived with her husband
seven years after her marriage, 37 and then was a widow until she was
eighty-four. She never left the temple but worshiped night and day, fasting and
praying. 38 Coming up to them at that very moment, she gave thanks to God and
spoke about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of
Jerusalem.
39 When Joseph and Mary had done everything required by
the Law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee to their own town of Nazareth. 40
And the child grew and became strong; he was filled with wisdom, and the grace
of God was on him.
-- this
week, several of us were talking about the movie, “Hook,” that starred Robin
Williams -- if you remember the start of the movie, Robin Williams plays the
character of Peter Banning, a successful lawyer in America who spends too much
time at work and too little time at home with his family -- on a visit to
London, his son is kidnapped by Captain Hook, and we learn that Peter Banning
is really Peter Pan, just all grown up -- something that Peter Banning had
forgotten until his memory is stirred in Neverland by the Lost Boys and
Tinkerbell
-- in talking about the movie, I
realized that this part of the movie was really one of the most important
parts, even though it’s not the part we remember when we think about it -- the
opening scenes portray something that all of us know, all too well -- when we
grow up, we forget what it is like to be a kid -- we forget who we were as kids
-- we all know that this happens
-- it’s part of growing up -- the Apostle Paul told us that in 1 Corinthians
13:11 where he wrote, “When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought
like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of
childhood behind me.”
-- so, as
adults, we are not the same people that we were as children -- we grow up and
we mature and we change from living like a child to living like an adult
-- but, if
we’re not careful, in that process, we can lose a valuable part of us that God
intended that we never lose -- a part of us that Jesus says we need to keep
alive if we are to know Him and experience Him as He intended -- in Matthew
18:3, Jesus said that unless we change and become like little children, we will
never enter the kingdom of heaven
-- Jesus was
referring to the child-like qualities of innocence -- honesty -- the
willingness to believe in miracles and the impossible without any doubt
whatsoever -- and a strong faith and trust in Jesus Himself, to the point where
we do not hesitate to follow Him or do what He commands
-- these are
all things that we tend to lose as we mature -- I know, because I see that in
my own life -- in talking with some of the younger folks I work with, they keep
calling me cynical and pessimistic because I have this approach to life like
Eeyore in Winnie the Pooh -- I tend to think things are going to turn out bad
because I have seen that in the past -- I have lived that in the past -- I’ve
been there, done that, and got the t-shirt -- and so, when events are happening
at work or in this world, I tend to expect the worst and to assume things are
going to go wrong while these younger people are more optimistic and more
filled with hope
-- this loss
of childlike honesty, faith, trust, and hope also occurs in our spiritual lives
-- that’s what Jesus was warning us about -- and I see it in adults especially
around Christmas with the way we approach Christmas now that we’re grown up
-- do you
remember what the Christmas season was like when you were a child? -- do you
remember the excitement you felt when you saw the first Christmas decorations
going up around town just after Thanksgiving? -- when you heard the first
strains of a Christmas carol ringing in the night? -- when you saw the first
Christmas trees up for sale?
-- do you
remember how you felt when you saw the first signs of Christmas going up all
around you? -- when I was a kid, it seemed like the world slowed down from
Thanksgiving to Christmas -- and every day, I would get up and ask my parents
the same question, "How many more days until Christmas? -- I just couldn't
wait -- it just couldn't come fast enough
-- but
somewhere along the line I lost the excitement and anticipation and hope that
came with waiting for Christmas -- in fact, a lot of the time, I don’t even
remember those feelings -- for me, the Advent Season -- the season in the
church where we’re supposed to slow down and enjoy the anticipation of the
blessed hope of Christ’s coming into the world -- has turned into more of a
chore than a celebration -- a rush and whirlwind of activity -- for a lot of us adults, Christmas is just
another thing to crowd into an overly busy life -- and I feel that way especially
this year, with all the things we have been dealing with in this community and
in our personal lives
-- as an adult, I still ask the
question, "How many more days until Christmas?" -- but I do so with a
feeling of dread and impending doom rather than excitement and anticipation for
the day
-- in
growing up and maturing and living the hectic lives that we do, it occurred to
me that a lot of us have become like Peter Banning in Hook -- we have forgotten
who we were as children and what Christmas meant to us -- we’ve forgotten the
meaning of Christmas and the excitement of Christmas and the hope of Christmas
-- we’ve forgotten that Christmas is much more than just the decorating of our
homes and the giving of presents
-- Christmas
is the day of the coming of salvation -- the day that would change the history
of the world forever -- the day that would change time forever -- and it’s time
that we adults followed Peter Banning’s example in Hook as he became Peter Pan
again -- we need to seek to become like little children again and remember the
true meaning of Christmas so that we can look again with breathless excitement
and anticipation at the promised coming of the King who will save us from our
sins and who will redeem the world forever
-- this
morning, we are going to finish our series on the forgotten people in the
Christmas story -- those people who we tend to overlook as we tell the story of
Jesus every year in our churches and in our plays and in our hymns
-- hopefully,
this series has helped you learn to look for the hidden treasures of Christmas
and reminded you of what all of us adults have forgotten so that we can become
like children again and look forward to Christmas with the same childlike hope
and anticipation we once did
-- with
that, let’s move on in our study this morning
-- so far,
we have looked at three groups of people who had very different responses and
roles in the Christmas story
-- we talked
about the Holy Spirit -- who ushered in the coming of the Lord -- who quickened
the incarnation in the womb of Mary and made possible the birth of the Savior
Jesus
-- we talked
about the angels -- the messengers of God -- the first ones who proclaimed the
birth of the Messiah and who led the first worship of the newborn king on that
first Christmas night -- appearing to the shepherds in the fields to share the
message of the Savior
-- then we
talked about the chief priests and the teachers of the law who were indifferent
to the news of the Savior when they heard the story of the Magi -- the chief
priests and the teachers of the law represent those people in our world and in
our churches today who have a form of godliness but who deny the power of
Christ through their indifference and apathy -- those who profess to know
Christ but who live lives separately from the power and majesty of Jesus
-- today, we
are going to look at two people who never forgot the excitement of Christmas --
two people who spent their entire lives looking for the signs of Christmas --
two people who got up each morning and asked, "Is today the day?”, with
hearts filled with hope
-- this
morning we are going to look at the story of Simeon and Anna -- Simeon and Anna
represent God's faithful believers -- those people who have not forgotten what
it is like to be a child at Christmas waiting for Jesus to come -- those people
who remember the last time Jesus was here and who look forward to His coming
again in majesty
-- so, if
you would, let's look again at Luke 2 at the story of Simeon and Anna
II. Scripture
Lesson (Luke 2:21-40)
-- verse 21-24
Luke 2:21 On the eighth day, when it was time to
circumcise the child, he was named Jesus, the name the angel had given him
before he was conceived.
22 When the time came for the purification rites
required by the Law of Moses, Joseph and Mary took him to Jerusalem to present
him to the Lord 23 (as it is written in the Law of the Lord, “Every firstborn
male is to be consecrated to the Lord”), 24 and to offer a sacrifice in keeping
with what is said in the Law of the Lord: “a pair of doves or two young
pigeons.”
-- Luke gives us these verses to
lay out the context of the passage for us -- in the first part of Chapter 2, we
read of the birth of Jesus in a manger in Bethlehem -- we read how the angels
led the shepherds in worship -- and how the shepherds were the first
evangelists of the newborn Messiah -- sharing the good news that a Savior had
been born in the town of David
-- so, as
this passage opens, we know that Jesus has been born -- His birth has been
announced by the angels and the shepherds -- and the faithful are spreading the
news to those who still have ears to hear and hearts to receive the good news
-- having
proclaimed the birth of the Messiah, God now points us to the purpose of the
coming of Christ -- to the reason why Jesus came in the first place -- by
referring back to the law of Moses in relation to the birth of Jesus
-- real
briefly, let me explain -- in Leviticus Chapter 12, God said that a woman who
was pregnant and gave birth to a son would be ceremonially unclean for 7 days
-- in the same way, we are unclean because we are sinners -- before Christ, we
could not come before God -- we could not approach His holy presence because of
sin in our lives
-- that’s why Isaiah cried out
when he was carried before the throne of God in a vision, "Woe to me, for
I am a man of unclean lips and I live among a people of unclean lips" --
Isaiah was speaking for all of us, because all of us are born sinners -- we are
born unclean and cannot come into the presence of God until atonement is made
for our sins
-- so,
according to the Law of Moses, Mary was considered ceremonially unclean for 7
days -- on the eighth day, the law commanded that the boy be circumcised --
circumcision was a physical sign of the covenant that God made with Abraham --
it pointed to the fulfillment of the promises that God made to Abraham
-- the next
day after the circumcision is the 8th day, and marks the start of a 33-day
period of purification for the mother -- this is the time that parents were to
carry their first-born sons to the temple to present him to the Lord as a
symbolic offering to God -- as Beth Moore writes, "When Jewish parents
presented their firstborn son to the Lord, they were symbolizing the act of
giving him up by saying, 'He is yours and we give him back to You' -- then,
they would immediately redeem him or, in effect, buy him back through their
offering"
-- the
reason we are reading about this in Luke 2 is because God is showing us what is
to come -- that this purification act prescribed in the Law, which has been
repeated time and time again since Abraham, was to find its fulfillment in the
person of Christ -- not in 33 days, but in 33 years
-- as our Messiah and Redeemer,
Jesus offered Himself up on the cross of Calvary as a sacrifice in our place 33
years after his birth -- offering His own body as payment to redeem us from a
life of sin and death and to adopt us into God's family as heirs to the promise
of Abraham
-- Jesus' death on the cross
caused a change in our lives -- purifying us -- making what was unclean, clean
-- making what was unholy, holy
-- it was
the fulfillment of this promise from God that true believers waited for and
hoped for and trusted in -- they looked forward to the coming of the Messiah
with the same breathless hope and anticipation that children look forward to
Christmas -- with the same hope and anticipation that should fill our hearts as
we look for the coming of Jesus again
-- verse 25-33
Luke 2:25 Now there was a man in Jerusalem called
Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of
Israel, and the Holy Spirit was on him. 26 It had been revealed to him by the
Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. 27
Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. When the parents brought
in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the Law required, 28 Simeon
took him in his arms and praised God, saying:
29 “Sovereign Lord, as you have promised,
you may now
dismiss your servant in peace.
30 For my eyes have seen your salvation,
31 which you
have prepared in the sight of all nations:
32 a light for revelation to the Gentiles,
and the glory
of your people Israel.”
33 The child’s father and mother marveled at what was
said about him.
-- in these verses, we are
introduced to Simeon, one of the forgotten in the Christmas story, but someone
who represents God's faithful believers in our day -- there are several
important things here that we read about Simeon that we need to consider in our
own lives
-- first,
Luke tells us in verse 25 that Simeon was righteous -- the word
"righteous" means that you are in a right relationship with someone
else -- in this case, Simeon was in a right relationship with God -- it also
means that you are living right -- that you are following the commands of God
-- that you are doing what He wants you to do and living as He wants you to
live
-- to be
righteous is to have a heart that longs for the coming of Christ -- that gets
up each morning and asks, "Is this the day?"
-- to be
righteous as Simeon was described as means that you have been brought before
the cross of Christ and have been justified through His grace -- in other
words, you believe and know in your heart that Jesus is God -- that He died for
our sins on the cross and that our only hope for forgiveness is through His
death
-- it means
that you understand that you can't get to heaven on your own -- that you can't
be holy enough -- or do enough good works -- or to do anything on your own to
save yourself -- it means that you put all your faith and trust in Jesus and
believe that His death was enough to pay the cost of your sins and to give you
eternal life with Him -- to be righteous means that you have accepted Jesus as
your Lord and Savior and you are now redeemed by His blood
-- next,
Luke tells us that Simeon was devout -- he was devoted to God -- and we must do
the same -- that means more than just coming to church on Sunday or coming to
Bible Study during the week -- this means that God's sanctifying grace is
working in your life -- that you are allowing the Holy Spirit to work in you
and through you to change you from the inside out
-- that you
are devoted to God -- that you are actively growing in your relationship with
Him -- that you are spending time with Him every day -- that you are reading
your Bible -- praying -- walking with Him daily -- obeying His commands --
living a life of righteousness and holiness -- that is who Simeon was -- and
that is who we are to be, as well
-- verse 25
tells us that Simeon was "waiting for the consolation of Israel" --
that word "consolation" is interesting -- it tells us that the nation
of Israel was in mourning -- they were grieving -- they were sad and needed to
be consoled -- they needed to be comforted
-- why was
the nation grieving? -- why was it mourning? -- because the world was not
righteous as God demanded -- because the world was filled with sinners --
because the world was not living for God -- the nation of Israel looked around
and saw the sorry state of their own souls and of the world around them and
realized that they were far from God and there was nothing that they could do
to save themselves
-- they needed something --
someone else -- who would come and replace their mourning with laughter --
their grieving and sadness with joy -- Luke terms this person as the
"consolation" of Israel -- but we know Him better as Jesus
-- this
description of Simeon begs the question of us, "Are we grieving over the
state of this world? -- Are we grieving over the condition of the souls around
us? -- Are we waiting and anticipating the consolation of the Israel -- the
coming of the Risen Christ who will set all things right -- who will make all
things new?"
-- as the
people of Christ -- as righteous and devout people -- that is part of our
calling -- that is part of our mission -- to grieve and intercede on behalf of
those around us and to point them to the only One who can improve their lot in
eternity
-- skip down
to verse 36-38
Luke 2:36 There was also a prophet, Anna, the daughter
of Penuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was very old; she had lived with her
husband seven years after her marriage, 37 and then was a widow until she was
eighty-four. She never left the temple but worshiped night and day, fasting and
praying. 38 Coming up to them at that very moment, she gave thanks to God and
spoke about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of
Jerusalem.
-- here we read of the second person
in the temple who is often forgotten at Christmas -- the prophetess Anna from
the tribe of Asher -- the name "Asher" means, "happy" or
"blessing" -- and it points to the life that Anna lived
-- for
decades -- maybe even for over 80 years -- Anna had been waiting for the coming
of the consolation of Israel just like Simeon -- she had been waiting for the
coming of Christ -- for the coming of the One who would be a blessing to Israel
and to the whole world -- who would bring happiness through the fulfillment of
the promises of God
-- although
Luke doesn't describe her in this way, we see that Anna was like Simeon in her
faith and obedience to God -- righteous and devout -- extremely devout --
devoting her whole life to the coming of the Messiah
-- what are
you devoting your life to? -- what are you putting all of your energy and
effort into? -- at the end of your life, when people gather to reflect on who
you were and what you did, what will they say about you?
-- will they
say you were righteous and devout and waited before the Lord like Simeon and
Anna? -- will they say you counted the days until Christmas? -- or will they
say that you spent your whole life focused on this life and the things of this
world with no thought of your future eternity?
III. Closing
-- the lives
of Simeon and Anna were characterized by faithful waiting -- by anticipation of
the coming of Christ -- they were in a right relationship with God -- they knew
Him intimately and personally -- they lived life as a reflection of His
holiness -- and they faithfully waited and anticipated the day that Jesus would
be born -- every day, they got up and asked themselves, "Is this the day
of the coming of the Lord?"
-- they
never got tired of Christmas -- they never got so rushed and so busy that they
forgot to count the days -- they never got so caught up with this life that
they forgot their next -- and they never got overwhelmed with the state of
their world
-- every
morning, they each got up and wiped the sleep from their eyes and said,
"This could be the day! -- This could be the day when God comes and makes
everything right! -- This could be the day of God's salvation!" -- and
then they rushed to the temple to see
-- as Christians
who have experienced the presence of the Christ who came at Christmas, we
should be getting up every morning in the same way -- we should be breathlessly
awaiting the coming of Jesus again -- His second coming when He will come in
power and majesty to set up His kingdom on earth
-- every
morning for us should be like Christmas morning to a child -- because we know
that this could be the day that we see the redemption of the world
-- to do
that, we must prepare our hearts -- we have to be living for God -- we have to
be in a right relationship with Him -- living holy and devout lives of
faithfulness -- and we have to be ready for His coming
-- so, on
this last Sunday before Christmas -- as we prepare to celebrate again the
coming of Jesus -- let us prepare our hearts to receive Him anew -- let us look
forward to His coming with anticipation and excitement -- and let us commit to
living lives of righteousness and faithfulness for Him today and all the days
to come
-- let us
pray
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