Sermon Tone Analysis

Searching for Comfort

Searching for Comfort

People are constantly in search of things.

I did a Google search to find out how many Google searches people did per day in 2019.

According to Google, there are over 2 trillion Google searches per day.

According to the 2015 census there are more than 7.2 billion people in the world.

Do you know how many searches that is per person per day?

If there were only 7.2 billion people… then that would mean that each person on the face of the earth would have to perform about 277 Google searches per day!

That is amazing.

As a human race… we are constantly searching for something….

Opening illustration: ...

In the US, the phrase “Disney +” was the most searched term in 2019.

Around the world the top searches for 2019 were iPhone 11, Cameron Boyce, Facebook, Amazon, and many searches related to sports championships.

When we think about Christmas images of trees & presents, family & friends, warm food and good fellowship all come to mind.

When we think about Christmas… images of trees & presents, family & friends, warm food and good fellowship all come to mind.

Those are all very comforting things.

Those are comforts that people all over the world look forward to all year.

People search their whole lives for a comfort that will last.

It is amazing how celebrating Christmas brings many people a moment of comfort that not many other life events provide.

And just think about it… the source of the comfort that all the world seeks is found in a baby that was born over 2000 years ago.

Jesus’ miraculous birth, heralded by angels, witnessed by shepherds, and celebrated by heaven itself!

Heaven and Earth were witnesses to the once in a lifetime event… God … was born in the likeness of man….

and he would be obedient to the Father… even to the point of death.

Amazing!… Jesus’ miraculous birth… heralded by angels… witnessed by shepherds… and celebrated by heaven itself!

Heaven and Earth were witnesses to the once in a lifetime event… God … was born in the likeness of man….

and in order to provide a comfort that would never end… he would be obedient to the Father… even to the point of death.

As we conclude our study of these Christmas Cousins, we are going to pick up our study today in .

(Invite to open bibles)

tells us the details about Jesus’ birth… about Mary and Josephs’ journey to Bethlehem and the humble beginnings of Jesus’ life…

Luke also tells us about what happened after the angels have stopped singing and the shepherds have returned to the fields to watch over their flocks.

Once the angelic fanfare stopped and reality set in… Mary and Joseph are left with a child to raise.

Verse 21 tells us that they did what every faithful Jew would do… they took their firstborn son to the temp to be circumcised on the eight day, and as was the custom the baby boy’s name was officially recorded as….

Jesus.

Jesus’ name had already been revealed back in chapter 1:31.

Jesus = Jehovah (Yahweh) is my Salvation… and suggests deliverance… He is my Deliverance!

It carries the idea of our being delivered by heroic action from the bondage of sin (cf.

, “Mighty God”).

The name Jesus... shouts to the world the heroics of the Incarnation and the cross.

Mary and Joseph do their best to be faithful to the Lord and follow the Law as they raise Jesus.

They will do their best to keep all of the ceremonial requirements related with having children.

God was using Mary and Joseph’s faithfulness to ensure that later in Jesus’ life, it could be said that he kept … or fulfilled the law in all points…

In the words of the apostle Paul in , Jesus was “born of a woman, born under the Law”.

Jesus’ circumcision served to “fulfill all righteousness” just like when Jesus was Baptized.

In , when John pushes back a little at the thought of baptizing Jesus, Jesus says that he should be baptized in order to “fulfill all righteousness”.

Jesus would echo David’s comments from , “I delight to do Your will, O my God; Your Law is within my heart”… and He alone kept God’s law perfectly throughout His life.

Only because He did so, could His righteousness be credited to those who believe.

— At the cross... God treated Jesus as if He had lived our sinful lives.

God is, therefore, able to treat those of us who have responded in faith to Him, as if we had lived Jesus’ perfectly righteous life.

When you look at this passage of Scripture, verses 21-24 tell of a normal event that took place in the life of Jesus that was according to Jewish law and custom.

Any faithful Jewish family would have gone through the same process.

The male child would have been circumcised the 8th day after birth and about a month later would have been presented at the temple to be pronounced ceremonially clean and presented to the Lord.

Whether rich or poor, this process would have been followed.

There were considerations and provisions made for both.

Then, if you skip down to verses 39-40, we are given a normal report of events about what happened once the ceremonial circumcision and cleansing were completed.

There were considerations and provisions made for both.

Then, verses 39-40 give a normal contextual commentary about what happened once the ceremonial circumisison and

As we are given the details about Jesus’ birth, infancy, and presentation at the temple, verses 25-38 stand out to me as something more.

Verses 25 - 38 almost seem to serve as a prophetic pause in the storyline of Jesus’ life.

… it is almost as if someone hits the pause button on the life of Jesus and time stands still for just a moment…

God seems to pause the narrative just long enough for those who have been waiting and watching for God’s promises to be fulfilled… those people who have been searching .... are able to find exactly what they have been looking for!

Verses 25 - 38 are like a prophetic pause… it is almost as if someone hits the pause button on the life of Jesus and time seems to stand still for just a moment… while those who have been waiting and watching for God’s promises to be fulfilled… those who have been looking for true Comfort, find exactly what they have been looking for!

God could have had Luke skip verses 25-38 and the narrative would have seemed normal.

But, He didn’t.

God has given us verses 25-38 to help us recognize Jesus….

these verses are here to help those who are searching for comfort….

find it in the only place where it truly exists…. in Jesus…

In verses 25-38 we are presented with three elements that highlight who Jesus is.... and why we should seek Him.

We are given a Song and a Blessing by a man named Simeon, and a Proclamation by a woman named Anna.

Let’s first look at the song given to us in verses 25-32.

I.

A Song (25-32) Let’s read this together…

Here in verse 25 we are introduced to a man who lived in Jerusalem named Simeon.

We are told that Simeon was a righteous and devout man who was waiting for the consolation of Israel… and the Holy Spirit was upon him.

Verses 21-24 & 39-40 serve as bookends highlighting the

What is the Consolation of Israel that Simeon had been waiting for?

The word used here for “consolation” also appears in the Greek Old Testament translation of Isaiah in verses that refer to the Messiah, such as

and

Those searching for “the consolation of Israel” are those who were living with Messianic expectation… they were actively searching for true Comfort that would only come with the Lord’s Christ appeared.

The phrase is used in the Bible to call attention to the Jewish hope of the coming of the Messiah.

Those Jews who have groaned in times of bondage, wept in times of exile, who now were oppressed under the heaven burden of the tyranny of Rome, looked to heaven for their release from suffering.

The phrase is used in the Bible to call attention to the Jewish hope of the coming of the Messiah.

Those Jews who have groaned in times of bondage, wept in times of exile, who now were oppressed under the heaven burden of the tyranny of Rome, looked to heaven for their release from suffering.

[Those who experience constant suffering, grief, and frustration are also those who want to be consoled and are in search of comfort.

]

The consolation of Israel.’

The phrase is used in the Bible to call attention to the Jewish hope of the coming of the Messiah.

Those Jews who have groaned in times of bondage, wept in times of exile, who now were oppressed under the heavy burden of the tyranny of Rome, looked to heaven for their release from suffering.

You see, it is people who experience consistent grief, frustration and pain who want to be consoled.

We are also told that God had revealed to Simeon that he would not die until he had seen the Messiah… Somehow Simeon had received revelation from God stating that he would not see death until he had seen the Lord’s Christ with his own eyes.

How long had he been waiting?

Days… months… years???

We don’t know… But… we can be almost certain that he would have been waiting and searching with joyous anticipation… coming to the temple… looking.... searching for the consolation of Isreal.... searching for comfort.

One author said… When I think of Simeon, I think of this old saint, who spent his days in the temple.

He would come into the temple each morning.