Uncommon Faith

We have been looking at the people around the birth of Jesus and today is not exception, there is however something different about today. Up to today we have talked about people involved before the birth of Jesus. Even John the Baptist was born first and his ministry was before the ministry of Jesus but it was going on while Jesus was growing up and preparing for his own ministry.

Today I want to talk about a couple of people who appear after the birth of Jesus, just not long after his birth.

Luke 2:21–38 NASB95

And when eight days had passed, before His circumcision, His name was then called Jesus, the name given by the angel before He was conceived in the womb. And when the days for their purification according to the law of Moses were completed, they brought Him up to Jerusalem to present Him to the Lord (as it is written in the Law of the Lord, “Every firstborn male that opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord”), and to offer a sacrifice according to what was said in the Law of the Lord, “A pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons.” And there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon; and this man was righteous and devout, looking for the consolation of Israel; and the Holy Spirit was upon him. And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. And he came in the Spirit into the temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to carry out for Him the custom of the Law, then he took Him into his arms, and blessed God, and said, “Now Lord, You are releasing Your bond-servant to depart in peace, According to Your word; For my eyes have seen Your salvation, Which You have prepared in the presence of all peoples, A Light of revelation to the Gentiles, And the glory of Your people Israel.” And His father and mother were amazed at the things which were being said about Him. And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary His mother, “Behold, this Child is appointed for the fall and rise of many in Israel, and for a sign to be opposed— and a sword will pierce even your own soul—to the end that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed.” And there was a prophetess, Anna the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was advanced in years and had lived with her husband seven years after her marriage, and then as a widow to the age of eighty-four. She never left the temple, serving night and day with fastings and prayers. At that very moment she came up and began giving thanks to God, and continued to speak of Him to all those who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem.

I want you to notice something about this man Simeon. We don’t know what he did for a living or how old he was, we don’t know how he spent his days or if he had a family or was single. All we know is that he was a righteous and devout man who was looking for the messiah. He was waiting for a saviour and the holy spirit had promised him that he would see the saviour before he died.

Apparently whatever he was doing and wherever he was the holy spirit somehow communicated to him that he needed to drop what he was doing and go to the temple. When he saw the baby Jesus he immediately knew that this was the one he was looking for.

Apparently Jesus did not look any different than other babies being brought to the temple for circumcision because there was no crowd gathering and no big commotion around Jesus. It must have been that the holy spirit revealed to Simeon that this was the one he was looking for, this was the messiah.

So here is a guy going about his business when somehow, someway God prompts him through the holy spirit to go to the temple. He has been waiting and watching because God had previously promised him that he would live to see the saviour. So he gets the word to hurry to the temple and he is waiting and watching and searching.

Then he gets a nudge from the spirit that this particular baby is the one and there standing in front of him is a poor carpenter and his wife. They are from out of town and they have probably had a rough week with a new baby and making due with crude shelter. The baby is probably still wrapped in rags and it is obvious that this is a poor family.

There doesn’t appear to be anything special about them. The baby is just 8 days old, he hasn’t done anything yet or said anything yet. From all outward appearance he is just like any other baby. The only description we have of Jesus came from Isaiah the prophet

Isaiah 53:2 NASB95

For He grew up before Him like a tender shoot, And like a root out of parched ground; He has no stately form or majesty That we should look upon Him, Nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him.

Apparently he looked about average, there was nothing about his appearance that would make you think he was anything but ordinary. But Simeon knew, and he didn’t have a single doubt.

How did he know, he had been told by the holy spirit. He took the word of God as true and never doubted. All he had to go on was the fact that God said this was the Messiah. He had no proof and no evidence to rely on, only God’s word.

He had no evidence but the word of God and he had no doubt at all. In fact as soon as he had seen the baby, this baby who had not said a word or done anything to prove he was messiah, a baby who looked like any other baby, as soon as Simeon saw him and touched him he praised God for allowing him to see the messiah and stated than his life was now complete and he was ready to die. He had accomplished the purpose of his life, he had seen Jesus.

What a radical way to behave. He acted like nothing else mattered very much compared with seeing Jesus. He had seen the saviour and salvation had come to his people and that was enough for him. His life was complete.

What about us? The New Testament does tell us in Matthew 10:37

Matthew 10:37 NASB95

“He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.

If you had to choose between you family or Jesus who would you choose. There are people who convert to Christianity that are disowned by their parents, would you do that? Lets make it even harder. What if you lived in a place where Christians were not allowed to raise children, would you give up your faith or give up your kids, I thank God I never had to find out.

Would you risk losing your job for your faith, what if finding another job would be almost impossible once you were branded a christian? Would you confess Jesus before your friends even if they made fun of you or laughed at you?

It is easy to say yes to Jesus here in church where there is no real pressure but what about when the pressure is really on?

To make it even more challenging what if you had a lousy job and lousy marriage and your kids misbehaved and your parents shunned you but you knew that you were saved and that Jesus loved you would that be enough, or would you be unable to be happy. Would the love o Jesus outweigh every possible problem and misery in your life? Is Jesus really enough. Does he make your life complete.

If you lived in a country where the government hated and oppressed Christians, where you could be arrested for praying or reading the bible and killed for trying to convert someone to Christianity would you still pay your taxes and obey all the laws that did not conflict with the scriptures? Would you still honor those appointed over your or would you become bitter and hateful? Would Jesus be king enough for you if your own government didn’t do it very well?

If your dad was a drunkard who didn’t work and spent all of the families money on alcohol and you had to do without things you needed and go hungry, if he took his anger and frustration out on you and cursed you every day would you grow up hating him and cursing him back? If your parents did not deserve your respect would you honor your father and mother as Jesus commanded, after all he didn’t say only if they deserved it. If your father was not a father would your father in heaven be enough for you, could you still obey him and even honor your earthly father who did not deserve it because of your heavenly father who does?

If your spouse put you down in front of your friends and ridiculed you in public. If they didn’t show you any real love or respect, if they blew money right and left and made your life miserable could you love them anyway. After all Jesus told us that God hates divorce and that if an unsaved spouse would agree to stay with their Christian mate then the Christian should stay and win them over with their love.

1 Corinthians 7:14–16 NASB95

For the unbelieving husband is sanctified through his wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified through her believing husband; for otherwise your children are unclean, but now they are holy. Yet if the unbelieving one leaves, let him leave; the brother or the sister is not under bondage in such cases, but God has called us to peace. For how do you know, O wife, whether you will save your husband? Or how do you know, O husband, whether you will save your wife?

If your spouse was not a christian and treated you badly could you love them enough for Jesus sake to stay and try to love them into salvation, would Jesus be enough for your marriage.

When Simeon saw Jesus he had not done one miraculous thing or saved anyone, nothing in Simeon’s life had changed, his life had not gotten any better or worse, he had not seen the salvation of God only the promise of that salvation. And yet for Simeon that was enough. He was satisfied with the promise of God that the Messiah had arrived. Simeon was content. His life was complete just because Jesus was born.

What about your life. Is Jesus enough for you or do you also require a good job, good parents, good kids, friends, loving family, or some other thing to bring you joy? Of course we would all like to have all of these things and probably a lot more, many of us get some or all of these in our lives.

My question today is If your life was missing one of these things would it destroy your life or would Jesus be sufficient to make up for the missing part of your life? What if you were missing two of these things, would Jesus still be enough? What if you were missing all of these things in your life would Jesus be enough?

What do you actually need to have joy, what do you need to live a complete life? What in your life could fall apart and not destroy you, I am not saying that you would not struggle or would not have troubles but would Jesus be enough? Is Jesus sufficient for you and for your life. If he was all that you had would Jesus be enough? He was for Simeon, what about you?

There was one other person we know of that recognized Jesus as the messiah that day

Luke 2:36–38 NASB95

And there was a prophetess, Anna the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was advanced in years and had lived with her husband seven years after her marriage, and then as a widow to the age of eighty-four. She never left the temple, serving night and day with fastings and prayers. At that very moment she came up and began giving thanks to God, and continued to speak of Him to all those who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem.

Here is a devout woman who had dedicated her life to serving God and she immediately began to tell everyone that the redeemer of Israel was here, again Jesus was 8 days old, he had not done a thing to redeem anyone yet, but Anna trusted God and believed that the redeemer lived and told everyone who would listen to her.

Without seeing any change in their lives or in the world around them both of these people believed in Jesus and praised God for salvation even though nothing else in their life had changed except they had met a baby that God said was the saviour. Jesus was enough for them, no matter what else did or did not happen around them, Is Jesus enough for you? Is he enough for you no matter your circumstances, is he enough for you even when things go wrong, what else do you have to have in your life to feel joy?

Philippians 4:19 NASB95

And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.

Jesus is sufficient in any and every circumstance, is he sufficient in your life?