We come to the final message in our series, “Waiting On The World To
Change.” We have been following a trail of blood from the fall of man to the
coming of the Savior. The Bible says that without the shedding of blood there is
no forgiveness of sin. So, as far back as Genesis, God implemented a sacrificial
system to remind man of the bloody consequences of our sin. For centuries God’s
people shed the blood of animals in an attempt to counteract the consequences of
their sin. In every generation there was a rumor that, one day, a sacrifice
would be offered once and for all to redeem God’s people from their bondage to
sin and consequently their bondage to this gruesome blood-letting.
In Luke 2 we read about the fulfillment of God’s promise to deliver the
ultimate sacrifice “the lamb of God who will take away the sin of the world.” As
you turn there, I want to remind you that we are kicking off 2008 with a series
titled, “The Journey.” The first six weeks of the new year the Sunday morning
message will be taken from Matthew’s Gospel as we join together to read through
the entire NT next year. If you have not “joined the journey” it’s not too late.
You can sign up and join 800 other members of our church family who have already
joined. Each weekday you will be emailed a devotional by someone who attends
Fellowship as they comment on the particular passage for that day. We will be
forming new small groups for that period of time.
This morning I have called upon two old friends to help us celebrate and
contemplate Christmas. Their names are Anna and Simeon and I think of them every
year at this time. They are two of my favorite people and I think you will see
why as we read Lk. 2:25-38…the elderly Simeon tenderly takes the baby Jesus into
his arms his old eyes filled with tears. Anna who is “advanced in days” shuffles
up beside him and stands silently in awe of what she sees. This is the gift they
have been waiting for. Mark and Carla McClanahan know what they felt. I sat down
with them this past week and listened as they talked about the precious gift
they had been waiting for a long time. I want you to hear their
story…
What a precious gift. The best gifts can’t be wrapped and placed under
the tree. The shiny packages we see everywhere this time of year are just
symbols of greater gifts that we receive from the Eternal Gift Giver who gave
the greatest gift of all. There are three gifts that God gave Anna and Simeon.
These three gifts are available today to all who receive the gift of God’s Son.
I hope you will receive them.
The Gift of Hope: One thing Anna and Simeon had in common
was an eager anticipation, a single-minded devotion to the promises of God. The
sun was setting on their lives and they had been waiting on the world to change
for a long time but they wouldn’t give up. Simeon was “righteous and devout
looking for the consolation of Israel.” Verse
37 says, “She (Anna) never left the
Temple but
stayed there day and night, worshiping God with fasting and prayer.”
2:37
We don’t know how long they had been waiting for this moment but we do
know that waiting slows time way down. How long is a minute? The correct answer
is, of course, sixty seconds. But in another sense the answer is, “it depends.”
It depends on who you are and what you’re doing. For example, if you tell a
child, “wait a minute,” they may crumble to the ground in a heap and complain,
“No, now.” To an old man sitting outside the country store on a warm spring day,
a minute is minute. Sixty seconds is a long time if you are holding your breath
but a minute is way too short if you are saying good bye to a loved one. It’s so
hard to wait.
God’s people had been waiting for a long time. Every year the people
of Israel would make the
annual pilgrimage to Jerusalem to make their bloody offerings and
ask God to cover their sins. As they went up to the temple mount they sang some
songs that have been labeled “songs of ascent.” Psalm 130:5-8 says,
“I wait for the LORD, my soul
does wait, And in His word do I hope. My soul waits for the Lord More than the watchmen
for the morning; Indeed, more than the watchmen for the morning. O
Israel, hope in the LORD; For with the LORD there is lovingkindness, And with
Him is abundant redemption. And He will redeem Israel
From all his iniquities.”
The people were following a trail of blood up the mountain. From Adam and
Eve down through Abraham and Moses; the kings and the prophets, they were
waiting in hope, in eager anticipation that God would send a deliverer, a
Messiah, to deliver them.
Simeon and Anna were representatives of those who believe when others
have given up on believing. They hoped when hope was all but lost. They never
gave up but kept watching for the fulfillment of the promise. They are flesh and
blood examples to us of the kind of people to whom Christ comes. His coming was
announced not to priests and professors but to some poor shepherds doing what
shepherds do. When God chose the family that would care for the Lord of glory He
did not choose a wealthy influential couple who could give the child everything
there was to give but a poor carpenter and his young wife. When God chooses to
reveal the Son to those in Jerusalem, it is not to the High Priest or the
Roman Governor but to the elderly Anna and Simeon. The pattern is obvious; these
were people who were profoundly empty yet profoundly full. The child would grow
up to teach us that “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness
for they will be satisfied.” In a self-sufficient world it is good to remember
that God comes to us in our insufficiency. In a world that worships wealth and
power God visits us in our poverty. I WISH YOU HOPE THIS CHRISTMAS.
The Gift of
Joy: Listen to Anna’s joyful proclamation. “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.” v. 38 I don’t know who said it
but I have my favorite definition of joy is, “Joy is the flag that flies over
the castle signaling that the King is in residence.” Wherever Jesus went there
was great joy:
John the Baptist jumps
for joy in his mother’s womb…Luke 1:44 44 "For behold, when the sound
of your greeting reached my ears, the baby leaped in my womb for joy.
The shepherds heard
the news about Jesus and rejoiced…Luke 2:10-11 0 But the angel said to them,
"Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people; 11 for today in the city of
David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the
Lord.
The women at the empty
tomb rejoiced…Matthew 28:8 8 And they left the tomb
quickly with fear and great joy and ran
to report it to His disciples.
The early church
rejoiced at the good news of Paul and Barnabas…Acts 15:3 3 Therefore, being sent on
their way by the church, they were passing through both Phoenicia and Samaria, describing in detail the conversion of
the Gentiles, and were bringing great joy to all the
brethren.
The angels rejoice
when someone decides to follow Jesus…Luke 15:10 I
tell you, there is joy in the presence
of the angels of God over one sinner who
repents."
Joy is the response
of those who find God in this godless world. Last week I attended a memorial
service for Kelly James who lost his life on Mt. Hood. In preparing for that service I
found a quote from George Mallory, a mountain climber whose 1924 assault
on Mount Everest ended in disaster. Mallory and
his companion never returned from that trip. We’ll never know if he reached the
summit? If he did it would have been 30 years before the famous climb of Sir
Edmund Hillary who is known as the first man to reach the top of Everest. In
1999 Mallory’s body was discovered on the North Face.
Before his death George Mallory was often asked a number of mundane
questions like “Is it cold on Mt. Everest?” Once he became frustrated when
asked, “Why do you want to climb it?” His famous words were, “Because it is
there.” However he eventually gave a fuller reply.
“The first question which you will ask and which I must try to answer is,
‘What is the use of climbing Mount Everest?’
and my answer must at once be, ‘It is no use.’ There is not the slightest
prospect of any gain whatsoever…We shall not bring back a single bit of gold or
silver, not a gem, nor any coal or iron. We shall not find a single foot of
earth that can be planted with crops to raise food. It’s no use. So, if you
cannot understand that there is something in a man which responds to the
challenge of this mountain and goes out to meet it, that the struggle is the
struggle of life itself upward and forever upward, then you won’t see why we go.
What we get from this adventure is just sheer joy. And joy is, after all, the
end of life.” George Mallory, 1922
I WISH YOU JOY AS YOU WITNESS THE WONDER OF GOD’S HANDIWORK THIS
CHRISTMAS.
The Gift of
Peace: Luke 2:29-32 29 "Now Lord, You are
releasing Your bond-servant to depart in peace, according to Your word…”
There are few experiences in life as satisfying as finally getting what
you have been waiting for, hoping for, and praying for. This peace was not the
absence of conflict but the presence of shalom. Shalom is a Hebrew word which
means more than peace. Shalom comes to those who experience life as God intended
it. Simeon knew that Jesus was the ultimate sacrifice who would solve our sin
problem once and for all. Sin is a violation of Shalom and Simeon knew that the
conflict had not ceased…vv. 34-35. But he also knew that the problem of sin had
been solved.
What are you waiting for? What are you hoping for? It is
good to wait. Lamentations 3:25-26
5 The LORD is good to those
who wait for Him, To the person who seeks Him. 26 It is good that he
waits silently For the salvation of the
LORD.
In Jesus, Anna and Simeon received everything they had been waiting for.
In this one child they received hope and joy and peace. Jesus did not come to
earth to be the poster child for generosity or the sentimental mascot of the
biggest commercial holiday of the year. He came to fulfill the eternal purpose
of God, to rescue us from bondage to sin by becoming a sacrificial substitute.
He came to set us free by delivering us from slavery to sin. He came to grant us
true, lasting, peace. Those who have Jesus will live life full of hope, and joy,
and peace.
Steve McQueen led a life as tough as the ones he
portrayed on the screen. Success had left him empty. In his despair he attended
a crusade led by one of Billy Graham’s associates. The "King of Cool" was born
again. Shortly after his decision to follow Christ he was diagnosed with cancer.
Because of his influence upon his life, McQueen asked to speak with Billy
Graham. A connecting flight in Los
Angeles allowed Dr. Graham to spend a couple of hours
with Mr. McQueen in the actor’s limousine. The great evangelist shared numerous
scriptures in his quest to give spiritual hope and confidence. Steve McQueen
struggled with the thought of God giving eternal life to a man who had such a
checkered past. In Titus 1:2, Steve McQueen found his hope - “the hope of
eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised long ages ago.” He requested
something to write down the verse but Billy Graham gave McQueen his Bible
instead. McQueen died in Mexico while seeking experimental
treatment for his terminal cancer. He died with his Bible opened to Titus 1 and
his finger resting on verse 2.
No matter what your past may be God’s gift to you is the
hope of eternal life in Jesus. At just the right time He reached down into this
messed up, wacked-out world and delivered a savior. To know Him is to know joy
and peace and you can’t get those gifts at the mall.
1 John 5:11-13
11 And the testimony is this,
that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. 12 He who has the Son has the
life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life. 13 These things I have
written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know
that you have eternal life.
If you would like to know more, Starting Point is a ten-week small group
experience for those who are curious about God, Jesus, the Bible, or
Christianity, those who are new to their relationship with Jesus Christ. Maybe
you have some church experience, but you
have been away for a while. Starting Point is designed to lead people in
a growing
relationship with Jesus Christ by creating a safe, conversational
environment where
you can explore the faith and experience community. Sign
up…