Kentwood Heights Baptist Church

Luke 2:21-40

 

I don’t know about you, but when it comes to the Christmas story I have a tendency to think kind of narrow, and it usually centers around the story that the writer Luke tells.  It starts off with “In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree… and it ends with …“The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.” That’s it, Christmas story’s over, let’s get on with Jesus’ adult life. But there’s a little bit more to the story of Christmas, it’s just that we don’t see these characters in any nativity scene.  I guess you could say they’re in the final act of the Christmas drama. 

Luke 2:21-40 (PAGE 1015)

²¹ On the eighth day, when it was time to circumcise him, he was named Jesus, the name the angel had given him before he had been conceived.

     ²² When the time of their purification according to the Law of Moses had been completed, Joseph and Mary took him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord ²³ (as it is written in the Law of the Lord, “Every firstborn male is to be consecrated to the Lord”), ²⁴ and to offer a sacrifice in keeping with what is said in the Law of the Lord: “a pair of doves or two young pigeons.”

 This isn’t the main point of the message, but I think it’s worth pointing out that when it comes to Mary and Joseph, they knocked it out of the park when it came to parenting.  Here are two people that wanted to honor God in their household. The rite of circumcision was a sign of the covenant that was between the Lord and his people. This took place in Bethlehem. And then there was the rite of purification - after the birth of a son, a mother was considered unclean and had to wait 40 days before going to the temple to make a sacrifice for her purification.  But I want you to notice in verse 22 it says their purification. So what this tells me is that when it was time for Jesus to be born, Joseph wasn’t running around Bethlehem looking for a midwife - he was right there helping with the birth.  And then we see the presentation of Jesus to the Lord.  Joseph and Mary did all that they could in keeping with the Lord’s instruction.  I know that Jesus was fully God, but he was also fully human, a human who would need to have parents that modeled their faith.  I know this isn’t always the case, but more times than not, you show me a kid who’s following Christ, and I’ll show you at least one of the parents who’s doing the same.

 Let’s get on with the other Christmas characters

     ²⁵ Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. ²⁶ It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. ²⁷ Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the Law required, ²⁸ Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying:
²⁹ ”Sovereign Lord, as you have promised,
     you now dismiss your servant in peace.
³⁰ For my eyes have seen your salvation,
     ³¹ which you have prepared in the sight of all people,
     ³² a light for revelation to the Gentiles
     and for glory to your people Israel.”

     ³³ The child’s father and mother marveled at what was said about him. ³⁴ Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother: “This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, ³⁵ so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too.”

 Leave it to me to highlight the strange areas and Scripture, but let me ask you, how would you feel if a strange man came up to you and took from your arms your firstborn child who’s not even two months old yet? I imagine that all that Mary and Joseph encountered that year, I guess their confidence in God had grown so strong, may be there wasn’t anything to fear from this man.

 So here’s Simeon, a guy that we know is in touch with the heart of God because he knows that God was going to send the Messiah one day to comfort his people - Simeon was very much in touch with that promise and he’s waiting for that.  Not only was he waiting for that, but he lived his life in light of that promise because the Scripture tells us that he was both righteous and devout.

 And we don’t have time to go into all that Simeon says, but it’s peppered with both good news and not so good news.  Imagine overhearing someone say this about your kid “wow, this is the one I’ve been waiting for, your child, the one I’m looking at right now, is the one who all of us in Israel have been looking for, but it’s not just going to benefit us, we Jews have always thought that this salvation thing was solely for us, but this child is going to open up the door for everyone to have that relationship with God! But not everyone’s going to look favorably on your boy, people looking for a different kind of Messiah are going to be disappointed, and that’s going to be evident in the way they treat him. So mom, just to give you a warning, the things that you’re going to witness, are going to break your heart. That’s an awful lot to take in for new parents! 

 There was another Christmas character who was waiting:

     ³⁶ There was also a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was very old; she had lived with her husband seven years after her marriage, ³⁷ and then was a widow until she was eighty-four. She never left the temple but worshiped night and day, fasting and praying. ³⁸ Coming up to them at that very moment, she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem.

 Here’s Anna, looking for the same person that Simeon was, but instead of looking for comfort, Anna was looking forward to the forgiveness that Christ would bring.

 These 2 Christmas characters, that we really don’t give a lot of attention to, really give us some steps that we can take as we finish out this year and look forward to a new one. Steps that I think will help us experience God’s comfort and forgiveness.

#1 - Become a marveler. Both Simeon’s and Anna’s reactions, along with Mary and Joseph to what they were hearing being said about Jesus were equivalent to “wow!” I hope you didn’t get too caught up in the busyness of the season to experience the wonder and reality of what God has done. I hope you haven’t heard the Christmas story so much that it no longer amazes you. Maybe put yourself in one of the sandals of one of these characters in the story as they experienced it for the first time.

#2 - Become a Mover. Take a look at verse 27 - Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. Now, drop down to verse 38 - Coming up to them at that very moment, she gave thanks to God.

 Both Simeon and Anna were movers. When the Holy Spirit prompted them to move, they didn’t sit on their duff. Actually, every one of the Christmas characters responded when God directed them - Mary was ready to move when she said to the angel, “May it be to me as you have said.”

Joseph demonstrated that he was a mover when he woke up from his dream and “…did what the angel of the Lord had commanded and took Mary home as his wife.” The Shepherds were movers as well when they said, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened…” And, as we learned this past Sunday, the wise men saw the star and moved out of their comfort zone to find the King of Christmas.

 The lesson is pretty plain, when God gives a direction, we need to respond to that - for some it’s to move in his direction by beginning a relationship with Jesus Christ, maybe the Spirit is prompting you to reconcile with someone, it might be that God’s pushing you out there to get involved in some kind of service. It might also be that God’s prompting you to say some pretty tough truth to someone. I’m struck by what Simeon told Mary in verse 34. It must have taken her breath away. “This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel and to be a sign that will spoken against…”

That’s not really a joyful Christmas greeting, is it? Simeon is not saying, “Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.” Rather, he pauses, clears his throat and tells her that Christmas will never be merry and the New Year will never be happy until people get moving and surrender their lives to Christ. People need to know that a decision one way or the other needs to be made about him. And God’s moving everyone of us who are Christ followers to relay that message. Don’t procrastinate when God prompts you to do something.

Speaking of relaying a message to people, that’s step #3 and it relates to last week’s message: Be a messenger. Notice verse 38 again: “…she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem.”

People everywhere are longing for comfort and forgiveness. Unfortunately, they’re looking at the very things that make them long for comfort and peace even more!

Can you believe it, Christmas is almost here!  Man, does it have a way of sneaking up on you.  So, ready or not, here it comes!  We’ve been going through a series called Christmas traditions, and what we’re going to be talking about this morning isn’t one of your regular traditions, but for some people, they traditionally get caught up in this year after year - and it goes a little bit like this “if I only get this for Christmas, it’s going to change my world!”  Now, we may not phrase it just like that, but that’s our attitude - how many times have we got caught up thinking that if we just got a particular gift, we’d never ask for anything else, this is all I need, life is going to be great.

 

You’ve probably heard me mention this before, there are lots of gifts that I asked for in my life, but the one thing I wanted more than anything was a snare drum.  I thought that if I only had a snare drum, that would change everything.  Every year we would go down to Alabama for Christmas and it was always a tradition, after we hugged Nannie & Gra Gra, yeah that was their names, after we finished saying hey to them, all us guys would form a line from the car to the house and unload the car.  And then the presents from the car trunk would make their way down the line.  There was one in particular that caught my attention, mainly because it had my name on it.  I shook it, I tapped on it - you know what it was, it was the snare drum!

 

Christmas morning all of a sudden seemed like a million years away, I couldn’t wait to open it!  Long story short, I got my snare drum, and played the heck out of it.  The novelty of having a snare drum wore off when my dad found out that it made a great alarm clock in getting me up out of bed. And that’s the way it is with pretty much most of the stuff that you and I have gotten at Christmas, it does change your life, until it breaks, runs down, or something better comes along. But what if that’s not what Christmas is about?

 

The gift that God has given, that of Jesus Christ, has definitely changed our world, but we miss the whole point if it stops there.  God didn’t change our personal world just for our sake, he did that so that we would change the world around us.

 

This morning I want us to look at a story that really doesn’t have much to do with the Christmas story, but has everything to do with how the Christmas story impacts us and how we’re to impact the world around us. And before we begin let me say that the world is looking for something a little more fulfilling then what they’ve found in the world.  They won’t come out and say that, but everyone has this God sized hole, that can only be filled with the things of God.  And because the economy is going the way it is, people are a bit more open to the things of God right now.  So folks, we have an opportunity that we can’t let slide by.

 

Mark 6, beginning with verse 34:

 

“When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things. By this time it was late in the day, so his disciples came to him. ‘This is a remote place’, they said, ‘and it’s already very late. Send the people away so they can go to the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat.’”

 

Let’s stop there, because we already have the first step needed for us to begin changing the world around us - and that is to see the need.  The disciples looked at the crowd and recognized that something had to be done.  So what did they do?  They did what all of us need to do, they went to the Lord about this.  So we need to see the need, and see the need for God to do something.

 

There are tons of needs right in our community.  There are people that frequently call our church with a need for groceries or paying a light bill.  There’s habitat for humanity who’s in need of people willing to put in a few hours towards building a couple of houses that they’re starting in January (give a few more examples)

 

But then comes the second step. The Bible says that after the disciples saw the need and then they mentioned it to Jesus and also brought up how they thought the need should be solved, Jesus went in a direction that they never would have thought of. And he said, “You give them something to eat!” The disciples not only had to see the need for God’s intervention, but they had to be willing to personally step up to the plate. That is an awfully important thing to know. You know, when it comes to us changing the world around us, and I know that many of you have tremendous needs in your life right now - when it comes to this, many of us just wait around for God to do something for us. But more often than not God is not wanting to do something for us, but do something through us. Big difference. So this is the second step and preparing to be a world changer - be willing and open to allow God to do something through you.

Whenever I see a need, more often than not my first reaction is, “boy, I sure hope somebody shows up to do something about it!” “You know, somebody/they need to do something about it.” And then I realize, they is me.

 

And the disciples reacted the same way. Listen to how they responded to Jesus, “That would take eight months of a man’s wages! Are we to go and spend that much on bread and give it to them to eat?” In other words… you’ve gotta be kidding! We can’t do that, I mean, sure, they’re hungry, but this isn’t a need that we can tackle.

 

Humanly, physically and financially they thought that what Jesus was asking them to do was impossible. And they were right, it was impossible, but when it comes to God doing something big through us, or even something small, that is what God often asks us to do… the impossible. You wanna know why? Because that’s how we mature in our faith. In fact, I want you to hear how John wrote about this in his gospel - “Jesus asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do.”

 

So, the disciples seeing the need, brought that need to Jesus, Jesus then turned around and told them they were to let God work through them to address the need, and they responded by saying that what Jesus was asking them was impossible. Which brings us to the third step that seemed to prepare the way for the miracle that Jesus performed. Take a look at the way Jesus responded, “How many loaves do you have? In Matthew’s gospel, the disciples respond, “we have here only five loaves of bread and 2 fish”. Jesus answered, “Bring them here to me.”

 

To prepare for a miracle, you’ve got to bring to the Lord whatever you have. And these disciples didn’t have a whole lot to work with. From John’s Gospel, we understand that the only reason they had this food was because a boy was willing to give it up. Now I want to ask you something, do you think for a minute that out of 5000 + people, this kid was the only one who had brought food? I’m kinda inclined to believe not. But he was willing to give it up. That is the kind of giving that sparks miracles! Understand this, God didn’t need this kid’s bread, He doesn’t need what you and I can give, but you and I need to give it, because the real issue has to do with our heart, and what it represents.

 

And I believe that the one thing that heads the list as to what God wants us to give Him right now, is our absolute trust in Him. To say, “God, I don’t have the full picture of all that you’re wanting to do through Kentwood, but let me just say, and act like I believe this…you’re God, and I’m not! And so I don’t want to attempt to do something that only you can pull off. But I want to be a part of something that’s bigger than myself and can only be pulled off because you’re in it!” I think God would love to hear that, not only from your heart, but that your heart would move toward an active way of telling Him that you want to see Him do a miracle. Like that little boy in the story, “God, this is what I’ve got to offer, ain’t much, but then again, you sure can make a little bit go a long ways.”

 

Believe me, you and I already have what it takes to impact the world, we just need to recognize that what we have isn’t just for us, but for us to use to impact others.  Helping out with physical resources is a start, but the main thing that doesn’t just have an impact, but an eternal impact is sharing Christ that is deeply embedded in us.  If we were to go back to the Christmas story in the book of Luke, take a look at the impact that the shepherds made. 2:17 says “When they had seen him (meaning, Jesus) they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who herded were amazed at what the shepherds said to them.”

 

So if you’re in the habit of traditionally thinking that a gift that you open up on Christmas morning is going to change your life, I want you to look behind all of that, I want you to be reminded of a life that was changed because of the gift of Jesus Christ and the difference he’s made in your life, and ask yourself, how can I take that gift and use that to impact the lives of others?  That’s the mission of the church, that’s the personal mission that God has given to everyone who has trusted him for salvation.

 

And I love the ending of the story of the feeding of the 5000.  In verse 42-43 it tells us that they all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up 12 basketfuls of broken pieces of bread and fish.  There were 12 disciples which tells me that each disciple was handed a little memento of what God is able to do when it comes to impact in the world.  Every single one of us here has some kind of memento of what God is capable of doing - a marriage that was going down the tubes, and God through his intervention, salvaged it.  That check that came in the mail at just the right time.  Everyone has that reminder of God’s power and what he’s able to do, whether it’s through a little boys sack lunch, or what ever it is that you have.

Christmas Traditions 2

 

We’re going through a series called Christmas Traditions and we’re looking behind the meaning of these traditions in a way to reveal the real Jesus.

 

With Christmas coming up, I asked my wife what she wanted and she said, “Oh, I don’t know just give me something with lots of diamonds in it.”

 

I bought her a deck of cards.

 

Gift giving has been a long standing tradition for Christmas. I got a question, can you tell about a person by the gift they give? I dunno, maybe. Can you tell about a person by the gifts they receive?

 

(Possibly asked about worst gift they received)

 

This morning we’re going to be looking at the wise men or the Magi, but not really focusing on them as much as the gifts they brought. And I’ll tell ya, what they brought shows that they knew more about Jesus than probably most people.

 

 

  ¹ After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, (Bethlehem means “House of Bread - next time your on a game show) during the time of King Herod, , Magi from the east came to Jerusalem ² and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him.”

     ³ When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. (King Herod is the antagonist of the story.  When he hears about another king, he’s very threatened.  He’s thinking you should have come to worship me) ⁴ When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Christ was to be born. ⁵ ”In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written:
⁶ ”‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
     are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for out of you will come a ruler
     who will be the shepherd of my people Israel.’ ”  all these years Israel was looking for a ruler, someone that would help them overthrow the government and free them from oppression.  They were looking for a ruler, they weren’t necessarily looking for a Shepherd.

     ⁷ Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. ⁸ He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and make a careful search for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.”

     ⁹ After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. ¹⁰ When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. ¹¹ On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, (something that we mention frequently at Christmas, notice that they came to the house and when they arrived, Jesus was a child.  Many people believe that this is probably a couple of years after the birth.  Jesus did have visitors at his birth, who were they?  The shepherds, which represented the lowest class of society.  But now in Jesus is being visited by folks that were high up in the ranks.  You know what this tells me - Jesus is for everybody. No matter where you find yourself, God considers you equal.) and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh. ¹² And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.

 

So let’s take a look at these gifts. You know, it was a long journey for the wise men, and one of the things that was overheard in their conversations, was “okay, we have gold, frankincense, and myrrh, do you think we should’ve included something a little more practical, like diapers?” Each of these gifts give us a picture of who Jesus is.  So the answer to the question can we tell about a person by the gifts they receive, in the case of Jesus, I believe that’s true. And each of these gifts paint for us a picture of Jesus as our Redeemer, and this is important to us, because of our sin we are alienated from God and need to be redeemed, or bought back, from our alienation from God. We sang the song “oh come oh come, Emmanuel” in which the first verse says “and ransom captive Israel.” And that is what Jesus has done, he has ransomed us out of slavery.

 

So the first gift we look at is gold (PowerPoint).  I was hoping to use some real samples from Tim’s journey to Alaska, but will have to settle for a picture.  And as we see the gold, we’re reminded that this was a gift that was presented to Jesus as king. Remember the question the wise men asked when they got to Jerusalem? Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews?  And the point I want to make is that this Christmas, this coming year, that should be the place that Jesus has in our life - that he is our King.  It’s interesting, Jesus was just a helpless child, he had done nothing for them, and yet they give him the most priceless gift possible.  Not only that, they had come a long ways to worship him and give them their best.  I think what that says to us is that since Jesus is our king, we need to give our best to him - our best time, and that time with him when you’re at your best.  We are to give him our best when it comes to money.  Don’t wait to give him leftovers at the end of the month, because there never is any leftover. We give Jesus our best.

 

And so what I want to invite you to do is just to worship Jesus as King.  If any time during the message you want to just come and pray here at the front, you go right ahead. And I want to make sure that this Christmas, you take time to worship Him. to give him a your best, what would that look like for you this week?

 

The second gift is frankincense, or incense (PowerPoint).  Gold, we can understand, but frankincense - doesn’t make any sense! It’s not like you hear someone say, “wow, I got Frankincense for Christmas!” Frankincense is a clear yellow resin that comes from a tree in the Middle East and when sold it would come in irregular lumps, kind of like you see on the screen.  Frankincense was used in worship in the tabernacle in the wilderness and at the temple and was very fragrant when it’s burned.

 

The meaning behind frankincense is that it represents the divinity of Jesus. When the wise men presented their gifts to Jesus, they were giving gifts to God himself.

 

It was Christmas eve in the midwest. There was a man who had been in a family where his wife and his children were Christians but he was not. And he rejected it. He sat home that Christmas eve in front of the fire. It was cold out and the snow was blowing. His wife and the little children had gone to the chapel in the nearby village for a Christmas eve service to honor the Christ they loved. He sat by the fire reading the paper.

   All of a sudden he heard a loud and repeated thumping. He thought someone was banging on the door. He went to the door and opened it but found no one was there. By the time he got settled back into his chair, he heard it again and again. And he was bewildered as to what was causing it until he realized that something seemed to be smashing against the window. And so he went to the drapes and he pulled the drapes aside and to his amazement, a flock of birds was flying into the window. A snowstorm, you see, had blown in. And the birds had been caught away from their shelter and they couldn’t find their way back.  They couldn’t fight the wind. They saw the lighted window and the warmth of the light had attracted them. And they were literally flying into the glass trying to get to the light to get warm. They would freeze to death, you see, if they didn’t find some shelter.

   Well, the man who had refused to go with his family to the Christmas eve service because he had no interest in the Christ of Christmas was all of a sudden very compassionate for these poor birds.  And so he wondered how he could help them. And so he opened the door and went out in the cold and tried to chase them away so that they wouldn’t kill themselves against the window. And then he ran to the barn and he threw the doors open and he whistled and he shooed them and did everything he could to get them to fly to the barn, they wouldn’t do it. He even went so far as to take some corn and some bread and make a big trail from the window to the barn. And they wouldn’t follow it.

   In frustration, he said to himself, “If I could just communicate with them. If I could just tell them that I don’t want to hurt them, that there’s warmth and there’s shelter and that they’d need to stop beating themselves to death against the glass. But I’m a man and they’re birds and we don’t speak the same language. Oh, if I could just become a bird, I think I could tell them.”

   And then it hit him. And in that moment, said Paul Harvey, the whole meaning of Christmas dawned on that man. Mankind had been beating itself to death against the barrier that kept him from the warmth of God’s love until somebody became a man and told us the way.

   That’s the Christmas story. He who was fully God, did not cling to His privileges but laid them aside, became a servant and approached a sinful people.

 

This Jesus is so worthy of our worship, he was not just fully human, but he was fully God, fully divine. The gift of frankincense reminds us of who it was that was laying in that feed trough about 2000 years ago.

 

The third gift was myrrh (PowerPoint).  Like frankincense it is also who this sap from a tree that is heartened and then used. Unlike frankincense which is sweet, myrrh has a bitter taste to it.  And what myrrh points to - is it that Jesus is my sacrifice.  I know many people don’t want to hear that around Christmas, let’s just stick to the manger scene, but it’s important that we see the real Jesus.  Myrrh has a medicinal quality to it and we see it come up in Scripture in the book of Mark, Jesus is hanging on the cross, and that the soldiers offer him some wine mixed with myrrh, which would be used to deaden the pain, Jesus refused to take it.

 

Another use for myrrh was to embalm the dead.  We see in John chapter 20 where Nicodemus brings myrrh and other spices to the tomb of Jesus after he had been crucified. And so myrrh points to the fact that Jesus is our sacrifice, he is the savior who takes away the sin of the world.

 

I think back to the Christmas story in the book of Luke, where the angel appears to the shepherds, “today in the town of David a savior has been born to you.” You know what my encouragement to you is?  Scratch through that word you and insert your name.  Today in the town of David a savior has been born to Dave.

 

I don’t want you to leave here this morning thinking that we’ve just talked about abstract stuff, Jesus as my King, He’s fully God, and that He’s my sacrifice.  But I want you to see that each of these is personal to you - is he your king; is he your Savior? Make that decision and celebrate that this Christmas.

 

LORD’S SUPPER