Sermon Tone Analysis

NOTE:

This is a manuscript, and not a transcript of this message.

The actual presentation of the message differed from the manuscript through the leading of the Holy Spirit.

Therefore, it is possible, and even likely that there is material in this manuscript that was not included in the live presentation and that there was additional material in the live presentation that is not included in this manuscript.

Engagement

Christmas is certainly a season of expectation isn’t it - especially if you’re a kid.

You are eagerly waiting for Christmas Eve or Christmas Day so that you can open up your presents and see what you’re going to get.

For those of us who are a little more advanced in years, our expectations have changed a bit and they tend to focus more on anticipating the joy and excitement of our kids or grandkids.

But this morning we’re going to focus on a different kind of expectation - the kind that can be much more difficult than waiting for our Christmas presents.

We live in a world where we constantly face difficulties and trials of all kinds.

Some of you are going through physical trials right now - some of them just due to the natural impacts of getting older and others because of sickness or injury.

Some of you are going through emotional trials right now.

I certainly know for those of you who have experienced the death of a loved one recently or have memories of someone who passed away during the holiday season, this can be a really hard time of year for you.

Some of you may be in the midst of some spiritual trials right now.

Maybe you’re dealing with doubts or you’re struggling with some recurring sin, or maybe it’s just a matter of feeling spiritually dry.

Tension

And then on top of that, we live in a world that is increasingly hostile to Jesus and the things of God.

So there is s natural tendency to just want God to remove us from all the pain and suffering and opposition.

For those of us who are disciples of Jesus, we are definitely called to look forward to the return of Jesus.

But my fear is that for many of us we do that not because we are genuinely looking forward to spending eternity in His presence, but rather because we view His return as an escape from the current difficulties of life.

But as we’re going to see today, there is a better way.

Today we’re going to wrap up our current sermon series - The First Songs of Christmas.

And the song we’ll look at this morning will help us to be better equipped to look forward to the return of Jesus with hope and anticipation and expectation of our glorious future with Jesus rather than just viewing that event as an escape from our current problems and difficulties.

Truth

As we’ve done throughout this series, we need to take some time to understand the background before we jump right into the song itself.

So go ahead and follow along as I begin reading in Luke chapter 2, verse 21:

There are three important aspects of the Old Testament Law that are fulfilled here by Mary and Joseph:

According to Leviticus 12, all male babies were to be circumcised on the eighth day.

That is what occurred in verse 21

Leviticus 12 also requires that a woman presents herself for purification in the temple 40 days after the birth of a male child.

That is what occured in verse 22, 33 days after Jesus was circumcised.

Finally Exodus 13 required that the mother and father present their firstborn son before the Lord and redeem him with a sacrifice.

That is what occurred in verses 23-24.

That appears to take place at the same time as Mary’s purification.

It’s very possible that the circumcision could have taken place in Bethlehem, but the purification and presentation of the firstborn had to take place at the Temple in Jerusalem.

As Mary and Joseph go the Temple, they encounter a man named Simeon.

We don’t know anything about him other than what is revealed in this passage.

He is not mentioned anywhere else in the Bible.

His name, Simeon, was quite common in Israel.

It means “God has heard”, which is certainly an appropriate name, given what we learn about him here.

Apparently he is an old man who has been waiting in the Temple day after day to get a glimpse of the promised Messiah.

Imagine what that must have been like for Simeon.

Every day he watched as couple after couple would bring their newborn sons into the Temple, wondering if today would be the day that God would reveal to him that one of those baby boys was the promised Messiah.

And it appears that he had constantly been doing that for a long time, never losing his sense of expectation and anticipation.

So there is a lot we can learn from his example.

Finally one day he entered the temple and saw a young couple who really didn’t look any different than any of the other families Simeon had seen there day after day.

The law provided that the parents were to sacrifice a one year old lamb when they dedicated the firstborn son, but it also allowed for the sacrifice of two turtledoves if they couldn’t afford a lamb.

So we know that Mary and Joseph certainly weren’t well off financially.

When Simeon saw Mary and Joseph dedicate their son, the Holy Spirit revealed that the child was the one he had been waiting for – the Messiah.

And when Mary and Joseph brought Jesus into the temple, he took the baby into his arms and blessed him.

I have to imagine that Joseph and Mary were a bit surprised when this old man approached them there in the temple, introduced himself and then took their baby into his arms.

But after all they had been through in the last year, perhaps they were getting rather accustomed to these kinds of surprises.

As Simeon took the baby Jesus into his arms he proclaimed the song that is the subject of the message this morning, Will you read that song out loud with me?

Here’s the main idea we’re going to develop from Simeon’s song this morning:

The song of Simeon is a call to unceasing expectation

For the Jews, the times in which Simeon lived were not all that much different from what Christians face in our culture today.

The Jews were living under the oppressive yoke of the Roman government.

They hadn’t heard from one of God’s prophets for over 400 years.

To a large degree the priesthood and the religious leadership had been hijacked by those who were using for their own power and self interest.

Sound familiar?

But in spite of that, we are called to follow Simeon’s example and live in a state of unceasing expectation as we await the return of Jesus.

So let’s see what we can learn from Simeon.

Application

HOW TO LIVE IN UNCEASING EXPECTATION OF JESUS’ RETURN

Be grounded in God’s Word

We see this first when Luke records that Simeon was “...waiting for the consolation of Israel...” That phrase – the consolation of Israel – was another term for the Messiah, which came primarily from Isaiah’s prophecy of the Messiah:

The Hebrew word for “comfort” used by Isaiah is the equivalent of the Greek word translated “consolation” in Luke 2. The idea here is that God would comfort His people by sending a Messiah who would end their warfare with God by providing a way for their sin to be pardoned.

We also see that Simeon was grounded in God’s Word in the lyrics to his song.

There we see that, unlike many of his fellow Jews, he had a correct understanding of the kind of salvation the Messiah was going to bring.

Many of his fellow Jews, including most of the religious leaders had their own pre-conceived about the kind of Messiah that Jesus was going to be.

But the Scriptures consistently revealed...

Two key aspects of salvation:

It is all God’s doing

Notice what Simeon declares in his song:

…my eyes have seen your salvation that you have prepared...”

He understands that salvation does not consist of man somehow earning his way to God but rather in God bringing His salvation down to earth completely apart from anything we can do.

Not surprisingly, we’ve seen that same idea expressed in the other songs we’ve looked at over the last three weeks.

It is available to all people

We’ve frequently talked about how most of the Jewish people, and especially the religious leaders, assumed that God’s salvation was only available for them, in spite of the fact that God had promised to bless all the nations of the earth through them.

Simeon obviously understands that because he proclaims that God’s salvation has been prepared in the presence of “all peoples” and that Jesus is going to be “a light for the Gentiles”.

Although there is much about the second coming of Jesus that it still a mystery, there are also some things about His return that are very clear in the Bible.

Most importantly we know for sure that when He returns He is coming as a judge and that it will be too late for those who have not already put their faith in Him.

That truth ought to be a great comfort to those of us who are disciples of Jesus because we know that no matter how messed up things are on this earth right now, Jesus is going to make things right when He returns.

It is that truth that makes is possible for us to endure trials of all kinds and wait expectantly for Jesus to return to this earth.

But that is also a sober warning to those who have not yet put their faith in Jesus.

It is a reminder that today is the day of salvation since no one knows when Jesus is going to return and it will be too late to become His disciple.

Be yielded to the Holy Spirit

There are three mentions of the work of the Holy Spirit in Simeon’s life in just these few short verses.

Simeon could wait expectantly because he listened to and believed the Holy Spirit as He ministered in Simeon’s life.

As we’ve talked about before, the Holy Spirit operated differently before the day of Pentecost than He does today.

In Simeon’s case the Holy Spirit came upon Him for a specific time for a specific purpose.

And that is certainly one of the things that separated Simeon from most of His fellow Jews.

The Holy Spirit helped him to understand the nature of the Messiah purely from the Scriptures without having His ideas about that Messiah being hindered by his own preconceived ideas.

Today every disciple of Jesus has the Holy Spirit dwelling permanently in our lives.

But He won’t force us to listen to His voice or to obey what we hear.

So we need to willingly yield our lives to His guidance.

And, because He is the author of the Bible, we need to allow Him to illuminate those Scriptures so that we see Jesus as He really is and not make Him into the Savior we want Him to be.

When we do that, then the Bible becomes a great source of encouragement for us as we eagerly await the return of Jesus.

Be humbled by God’s grace

Simeon is described as “righteous and devout.”