Christmas Day 2022
Notes
Transcript
Intro/Background
Good morning and Merry Christmas!
I’m thankful that you’ve chosen to join us to gather and worship this morning
The video we just showed got me thinking about how much we search for things online
Did you know that across the world, there are nearly 100,000 Google searches every single second
That translates to over 8.5 billion searches every day, or 3.1 trillion searches per year
Did you know that 16% of Google’s traffic comes from people Googling the term “Google”
84% of American adults perform an internet search 3 or more times per day
The most searched for thing in 2022 in the world?
Wordle
The second most searched thing was a cricket match between India & England - definitely shows America is in our own little bubble compared to the rest of the world
Internet searches have grown by 1000% percent (10-fold) in the last 10 years
Let’s be honest though, being able to look up anything at any time and anywhere has completely changed our conversations and our thinking
Debates we used to have with friends on different facts or past events are gone because we just look up the answer to prove everyone wrong
Those questions that hit you in the shower (How many teeth do turtle have?) - we can get immediate answers to now (0 is the answer in case you’re wondering, turtles don’t have teeth).
That tune that is stuck in your head that you just can’t pin down (What is that song??) - you can now hum it to Google and it will give you a result to satisfy that ear worm
But I think having the answer to every question in the world on one hand has helped immensely (how did we drive anywhere before map apps??), but it has also dumbed us down a bit
Many of our searches give us immediate answers that we never retain in our memories,
We can tend to not learn or grow our intelligence or wisdom by being reliant on the internet for every answer
I think we can also be less likely to experience life or experiment with something new and learn through fire by trial because we can just look it up
This morning, we’re going to read about 2 people who were searching, searching for something greater than what the world around them was looking for.
And they are going to find answers, real answers, that the crowds around them missed.
Verses 22-24
Last night we read the story of the birth of Jesus
This morning, we picked up just over a month after His birth
In Leviticus 12, the OT law required that a woman who gave birth to a son would need to come to the temple 40 days after the birth of her son to offer a sacrifice of purification
The law said that you were to bring a lamb and dove for this sacrifice, but it also gave a provision for the poor that the could bring just two birds as those cost much less than a lamb
It shows us the meager home that Jesus would come to and grow up in - Mary & Joseph didn’t have much money
Material blessings are not necessarily a sign of or reward for our faithfulness to the Lord
In addition to this purification sacrifice, Exodus 13 said that all firstborns belonged to Him
2 “Consecrate to Me all the firstborn, whatever opens the womb among the children of Israel, both of man and beast; it is Mine.”
God said to “consecrate” or “set apart” the firstborn for Him
He would allow the people to redeem the firstborn for 5 shekels according to Numbers 18, and instead He consecrated (or set apart) the entire tribe of Levi for His service in the priesthood.
So what you would do is bring 5 shekels and give that to one of the priests serving at the temple to redeem your firstborn.
It was typical to do that when you came to bring your purification sacrifice - knock it out all at once
You can think of this like doing a baby dedication today
We don’t believe in baptizing babies here at Calvary, we believe baptism is an outward sign/act that represents an inward change that has taken place in the heart of someone who have been born again and given their life to Christ
Instead parents can dedicate their kids to the Lord. Its them publically acknowledging that they want to raise their child in the ways of the Lord, and that they are dedicating that child in thankfulness to the Lord.
What I think is pretty cool is that Mary & Joseph chose to do this even though their Son was the Son of God
They could have said, “Eh, we’re good, we don’t need to do this, He’s God, I think He’s covered.”
But they show their devotion to the Lord and their heart to follow His word
It’s in this context of this family at the temple to make the purification sacrifice and to redeem their firstborn, this dedication of Jesus to the Lord, that we are going to meet 2 other people who are our searchers
Verses 25-26
We meet a man named Simeon here. We don’t know very much about his life.
Tradition tells us that he was older - maybe even as old and 100, and that he was a priest
Luke says nothing of that here, that’s just purely speculation
What we do know is that he was a just and devout man
Just speaks to his relationship with others - those relationships on the horizontal plane
He was just or righteous in his actions towards others
Devout speaks to his relationship with God - that relationship on the vertical plane
The original Greek word for devout literally means “to take hold of well”
He was a man that wasn’t lazy or sloppy in his faith, he was disciplined, his faith was real and he took the things of God seriously and devoutly
This was convicting to me - I can get sloppy in my faith sometimes
I miss a day (or 2 or 3) in my quiet times and go, “oh well!”. Or I’ll slack off in my prayer life
But not Simeon, he was devout, he did things well in his relationship with the Lord.
We know he was waiting for the Consolation of Israel
That’s another way to say that he was waiting for the coming of the Messiah
He knew that the OT, starting all the way back in Genesis 3, promised that a Messiah, a Savior, would be sent to the children of Israel.
The word for “waiting” gives this idea of confidence, he was expectantly waiting. He knew that the Messiah was coming, he wasn’t searching aimlessly or hopelessly, but in strong belief that he was going to see his Savior
He had been promised by the Holy Spirit that he would get to see the Christ (which is another word for Messiah)
His belief that the Lord was coming soon caused his life to be just & devout.
We know that Jesus is coming back again soon. It is a promise that we’ve been given in scripture.
In fact, at a time of year when we read about the prophecies of His first coming, do you know that there are even more passages about His second coming?
If we believe that, and we should because it is a promise of God, that should change how we live and cause us to live just and devout
And as Simeon expectantly waited for the coming of the Lord, it shows us what his heart really longed for.
He didn’t put his hope or expectation in this world, because we know the world will fail us and let us down.
He didn’t put his hope or expectation in himself, because we know we’re going to fail. Try as we may, we’ll never be good enough or perfect enough, we’re flawed.
But he put his hope in his Messiah, his Savior, and because of that, he was a man that had a full heart.
We also know that he was a man filled with the Holy Spirit
We see it in vs 25 & 26, we’re going to read about the Holy Spirit leading him in the upcoming verses
Now this was kind of unusual for this time because this was before the cross and the resurrection. The Helper, God’s Holy Spirit, is what Jesus promised would be given to us who put our faith in Him as a sign, or a seal, that we belong to Him.
So when we put our faith in Christ and surrender our lives to Him, His Spirit takes up residence in our hearts. The Spirit is in us
We can also be supernaturally empowered by the Spirit, where God is using you or giving you those tools that you don’t have naturally to do His will. We would say the Spirit is upon you at that time.
As a believe, the Spirit is always in you, but the upon part comes and goes as we either tap into the Lord or stray into sin
But that was all promised after the resurrection. Before Jesus came, it was rare that the Holy Spirit would come upon someone
You see if a few times in the OT where the Spirit comes upon those like Joshua, or David, or even king Saul.
But that was rare. Here though, we see the Holy Spirit was upon Simeon.
He was sensitive to the Spirit speaking to his heart. He listened to the prompting of the Spirit leading him
What a great example for us. We need to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit’s leading. Listening to that still small voice speaking to your heart, prompting you to do or say different things.
When we pray, we should be seeking the guidance of the Spirit in our lives.
So Simeon is there in Jerusalem the same day as Mary & Joseph are there with baby Jesus
Verses 27-33
Here we see that example of Simeon being sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit
He felt a prompt on his heart to go to the temple that day.
As he trusted and waited on the Lord, the Spirit led him
5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; 6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.
Sometimes people will think that being a Christian is boring, but really it is the most exciting way to live. Because if you live your life being sensitive to and led by the Holy Spirit, you never know what each day is going to bring
If you expectantly wait for the Lord to lead you, you’re asking God to show you and teach you things you need to hear, to lead you to opportunities to serve Him and to serve others, you’re going to find that it’s incredible how the Spirit will speak to you and lead and how He’ll use you
You’ll feel a tug at your heart, “go over here, give them a call and tell them you’re praying for them. Send them a Bible verse. Go give them a meal or a gift card” and when we are obedient, God will use us in such great ways.
Maybe you’ve had a “Holy Spirit moment” where you do something that you feel led to do and you’re not sure why, but God does this amazing, amazing thing out of it. That’s the Holy Spirit!
Simeon is led by the Spirit, he obeys that leading, and ends up being brought to the One who he has been promised.
He gets to meet his Savior face to face
I imagine what Simeon might be thinking as he is led to go to the temple that morning. Maybe he’s not sure why, but he listens and just goes to the house of the Lord. And as he’s there, this young couple walk by with a baby
They’re probably like any brand new parents. They’re tired, they’re stressed out. They have no clue what they’re doing.
We just mentioned that they’re poor, so they’re struggling to make ends meet and now they have an extra mouth to feed and to have to buy clothes for
So he sees this couple and God speaks to his heart, “There He is, that’s the One I’ve been promising you. That’s the Messiah”
And maybe his heart goes, “that baby?” Maybe he was expecting something different, but it didn’t matter, because the Lord spoke to his heart, and his heart was overflowing at that point.
He was searching for the Messiah, expectantly waiting, and when God revealed that Savior, that gift to all mankind to him, his heart was filled with love and with joy.
So he walks over, takes the baby up in his arms and blesses the Lord
Us meeting our Savior, accepting that gift that was given to us in the form of a baby, should cause us to embrace Him and to praise the Lord for how good He is
He says, “now You are letting Your servant depart in peace, for my eyes have seen Your salvation”
The fear of death left him in that moment, because he saw the salvation of the Lord.
He recognized the greatness of this salvation
This baby would be a light to the entire world - both to Israel and to the Gentiles
This was a remarkable statement, and probably one of the reasons why Mary & Joseph were marveling about the things Simeon said
The Jews took pride in thinking that the Messiah would be theirs and theirs alone. That God would send it to them b/c they were His chosen people.
They didn’t trust and didn’t like the Gentiles. They had only experienced heartache b/c of the Gentiles, either being led into idol worship because of them, or being conquered or ruled by them.
They were currently under Roman occupation, and the people hated that.
Many Jews hated Gentiles, so for Simeon to say that Jesus would save not only Israel, but the whole world, was incredible.
It’s also kind of incredible that Mary & Joseph marveled at what Simeon was saying. This might have been nothing compared to all that they had experienced in their lives
Think of the things they had seen in the last year
The angel Gabriel showed up to both of them to tell them that Mary would miraculously conceive by the Holy Spirit and give birth to the Messiah
They would see the shepherds show up to worship Him the night of His birth, and hear the story of the angels appearing to them in all of their glory.
They had seen and experienced so many miraculous things, yet seeing Jesus touch the heart of this man, seeing him filled with such love and such joy, also made them marvel
I never get tired of seeing people come alive to the gospel, or get saved. Or start to take off in their faith. It brings that same sort of wonder and awe to me that Mary & Joseph had
Being filled with the Spirit, Simeon then gives them a prophecy about this child
Verses 34-35
Simeon prophecies a few things about Jesus
He was destined for the fall and rising of many in Israel
Think about all those lives that would be impacted based on their decisions on who Jesus is
Those like Judas, or many of the Pharisees, would fall or stumble because of Him
Others like the disciples, or Nicodemus, or Mary Magdalene, the woman at the well, the Roman centurion whose servant was healed, and many more, would have their lives transformed as they met with and came to trust in Jesus
He would be a sign which will be spoken against
He would be a target to shoot at. The religious leaders would come against Him instead of embracing Him as their Savior
The thoughts of many hearts will be revealed
What we do with Jesus reveals the state of each of our hearts and minds
Do we embrace Him as Lord of lords and King of kings? Do we serve Him out of our love for Him?
Or do we hold Him far off, or not trust Him with our lives, or follow Him in lip service only, not really believing that He is THE way, THE truth, and THE life?
Finally, His life will end up bringing a cost to Mary - Simeon says a sword will piece through your own soul
Verse 34 tells us that Simeon speaks these things directly to Mary
Most Bible teachers think that Joseph would die before Jesus started His public ministry around the age of 30
We see him mentioned later in this chapter when Jesus is a boy and goes missing at the temple when He was 12 years old
But we don’t see him mentioned again. Interesting as you add another item to the humble way Jesus came to this world. He grew up in a house experiencing the loss of a parent, having only a single mom to raise Him and His siblings.
And as the oldest child, He would probably end up working very early in life to support the family. That’s why He was known as a carpenter, because He had to work as a teenager to provide for the family.
But Simeon tells Mary that a sword will pierce her own soul
This is speaking of the cross. We know that Mary would be at the foot of the cross, watching it all, and I can only image what seeing that did to her
The word for sword is a broadsword or longsword, a big one that was 3 or 4 ft long, not a little dagger
This giant sword would pierce her soul as she watched her Son, her baby, suffer and die on the cross
This salvation that Simeon promised, it came at a cost
The miracle and joy of the Christmas story, had a greater, costly mission behind it
All of this, the manger, the angels, the shepherds, it was all for the cross
To offer up salvation to the world, for Jesus to be a light to all mankind, the peace and goodwill offered to men, the only way for Him to be the Messiah/our Savior, was for Him to pay the price of our sin, and trade His life for ours.
Taking the punishment we deserved on that cross, so that He could offer us salvation.
We now turn our focus a bit and meet our second searcher, a woman named Anna
Verses 36-38
As Mary & Joseph are there with Simeon, a woman named Anna shows up at the temple and sees what’s going on
Dr. Luke records more information about Anna than we learned about Simeon
We see that she was a prophetess
A prophet is someone who speaks on behalf of God
There are 4 women mentioned by name in the OT who were prophetesses
Miriam (Moses’ sister), Deborah (one of the judges), Huldah (2 Kings 22), and the unnamed wife of Isaiah.
The NT also mentions a few prophetesses
Anna, and the 4 daughters of Philip in Acts 21.
It’s interesting that at this time, there had not been a prophet in Israel in 400 years
Malachi was the last prophet that the Lord had sent to His people. And yet here we find that leading up to the coming of the Messiah, God had raised up this woman speak forth His word to His people
She was of the tribe of Asher and the daughter of Phanuel
There’s a heritage, a lineage here
She was from the tribe of Asher
The name Asher means “happy” or “blessed”
They were a tribe that had a lot of ups and down.
When the entered into the promised land with Joshua, they received some of the best, most fertile land along the Mediterranean coast
But they failed to drive out the Canaanites in the land and instead mingled with them, compromising their faith to live with the world
At times they would show up valiantly for battle - as they did with Gideon and David
Other times they wouldn’t fight for their brethren and ignored the call of Deborah in Judges 5.
Her father was Phanuel
His name means “The face of God”
Another way to translate that name is Penuel, which is the name that Jacob gave to the place that he wrestled with God
Remember he was about to meet his brother Esau for the first time in many years, he thought Esau was going to kill him because of Jacob’s deceitfulness the last time they saw each other, and that night God shows up and wrestles with Jacob.
And as the sun starts to come up, God touches Jacob’s hip and makes it go out of socket.
Jacob realizes that he had not been wrestling with an ordinary man, but with God Himself. He was amazed that he had seen God face to face and graciously been allowed to live.
So he called that place Penuel, or “the face of God” to remember that struggle, that God had touched his life and given him a new name (Israel - “governed by God”)
Anna’s name means grace
And we see this heritage in the description of her
She is full of grace, overflowing with it. She was happy/blessed b/c she was constantly in the house and presence of the Lord where she would meet with God, be touched by Him, see His face in a spiritual way
She had been through a long life of ups and downs, but she was still faithful to the Lord
She had been married for 7 years, but then her husband died
Instead of getting bitter about it, she drew closer to the Lord in her heartache, and did not depart from the temple and worshipping and praying
She had been widowed for 84 years
Translators aren’t quite sure if this means she was widowed for 84 years (if she got married at 13, which was common at that time, that means she was 104), or if she was a widow until she was 84
Either way she was very old and had spend the majority of her time serving the Lord
In her devotion, in her coming to church day after day, in searching for the Lord and His will in prayer and fasting, God gives her this incredible blessing
She got to meet her Savior
She sees baby Jesus with Mary & Joseph and immediately breaks out in worship
She is someone who is filled with the Holy Spirit too - God spoke to her heart, “this is the One”
After searching for the Lord, finding Him, and worshipping Him, she then goes and talks about Him to all who would listen
She becomes one of the first evangelists telling the people that their long awaited Messiah had finally come.
She had seen her salvation and she shared that good news
Closing
This morning, as we are here on the day we celebrate the birth of our Savior, I pray that lives of these two searchers would encourage you
We can celebrate that our Savior, the light to us, has come.
He has come to give us His grace. To fill our hearts with joy and love. To die and take our place so that He can offer us forgiveness
Worship Him. Be thankful for that today. Don’t let all the other things that happen on Christmas take your focus off of what this day is really about.
May God bless you and fill you with His love today.
Pray