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December 18, 2005
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God is With Us
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Pastor Brian Shimer
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"Simeon: I saw the Light!"
Luke 2: 1-35
- What a precious gift the children and youth have given to us today! What a delight to experience the "story of advent" as told through their voices and actions. I could tell you were blessed.
There is something precious about the opportunity to "tell the story" during this season. The story of Christmas is not just a tale but it is reality, so it is where we find hope and peace in the real entrance of God into our story, the coming of Jesus. God invites us to be included in His story and allows Jesus into our story day by day.
As we read on from where the children left us off, we see that Mary and Joseph had Jesus circumcised on the 8th day and gave him the name Jesus, the name given to him before he was conceived. Then, after the 40 days of purification, they took him to the temple to make the offering required by the law for the firstborn son. And in this time at the temple we meet with the character of Simeon.
Can you look with me at two aspects of this moment in Simeon's life?
First, Simeon is a listener for God. God has told him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die until he had seen the Messiah he was longing and praying would arrive. Simeon then is a man who knows that salvation rests upon God sending a savior, and knew that God would come as a baby, and wanted to see this child.
Now, it says in our text that "moved by the Holy Spirit" Simeon came to the temple courts that day. What does that mean?
Well, first it could mean that God spoke to him directly by the Spirit directing him to go to the temple. This is a possibility. God is able to and does speak.
We hear God's voice today - in the spirit, through the Word of God when a verse pops off the page and impacts our lives, through other Christians, through the word preached. Certainly, that is one way we hear and Simeon may have received such guidance from the Holy Spirit.
But there is another equally profound way that God guides our lives and this is through unseen direction - where we find ourselves at the right place at the right time in order to meet up with someone with whom we needed to speak or who needed to see us. These moments of "chance" meeting are times God orchestrates, how remains a mystery, and when we look back on them we have to admit: "God brought me here."
On Monday night this past week, the Administrative Council members were sitting around the table in the Parlor sharing out of the Luke 2 Christmas passage. The question they were answering was this: "As God spoke to people like the shepherds in the middle of their routines, when they were just going about their everyday lives, how has God spoken to you in the middle of your days?"
There were stories of God's intervention, emergency answers to prayer, and saved lives.
Others shared that God had spoken to them by arranging their days so that people were brought across their paths that they had to see or speak with, whom they had not expected to see. "I never see him," one said, "and there he was standing outside the bank."
Sometimes we say things in conversation that we are not planning to say which afterward we have to admit was of the Lord. This happened to me on December 4th.
I was serving communion to you wonderful people, and in 18 years of ministry I have never said anything like this. But our brother John Towne was coming forward and after handing him the bread and saying, "This is the body of Christ given for you," I leaned forward and said, "Don't worry, my hands are clean."
Now, that is not part of the rubrics nor regular words of communion. I just said it and was kind of surprised I did. And John looked even more surprised and then began to chuckle as he took from the cup and returned to his seat.
After church John said, "Brian, that was the Holy Spirit! About ten minutes before I came forward for communion, I got this worry going through in my head: 'I wonder if his hands are clean'? I was really developing a case of paranoia about it, and then you spoke.
I was astounded. That prompt to speak was not even a conscious thing, I just did it, but it was God's Holy Spirit giving peace to John.
- We can imagine but do not know how God directed Simeon into the temple on this day at this time. He was not a priest, he had no "business" at the temple, like Mary and Joseph did, but he was sent by God.
Was it that he just thought, "I think I will go to the temple" and then later realized God had brought him there? Was it in his retelling of what had happened to Luke when Luke was researching the writing of his Gospel, that Simeon could say as the text says, that he was "moved by the Spirit"?
Either way, God had led and Simeon had followed. The reason he followed God was because Simeon was already in a dynamic relationship with the living God. He trusted in God's faithfulness. He knew God would keep his promises. When God had spoken that Simeon would not die until he had seen God's salvation, Simeon believed God to the point that he was anticipating the day when that would happen.
So, all that is to say, that Simeon was listening.
His relationship with God was one of listening obedience. Simeon wanted to be ready for whatever God would show him, which is the second thing I wanted us to think about today with this guy. Not only were Simeon's ears ready to hear, his eyes were ready to see God's salvation.
- Moved by the Spirit, Simeon went to the temple that day, and saw God's salvation. We don't know what he expected to see. Perhaps God had shown Simeon in his heart who he was looking for, or perhaps he just walked into one of the eight gates into the Temple area (which was 35 football fields in size) and God brought him together with Mary, Joseph and the baby. However it happened, Simeon knew when he saw the child he was seeing God's salvation in human form.
(http://www.bible-history.com/jewishtemple /JEWISH_TEMPLEHerods_Temple00000006.htm)
The impossibility of this chance meeting happening without God's hand is staggering, but here out of thousands there, these four meet and God's promise to Simeon is fulfilled with what he sees.
Other people may have just seen a couple carrying a baby, but Simeon sees God's salvation, and Simeon says so. Jesus is the "light of revelation to the Nations and the glory of God's people Israel." The promises of God for thousands of years are fulfilled in this one child. How remarkable Simeon was there to see this and speak it forth! He saw the light of God's majesty displayed in Jesus.
- At Christmas I like to remember Simeon -- with ears and eyes who saw all God had planned for him to see for he was looking for it.
We all have ears and eyes. And through relationship with Jesus we have the ability to hear God and see God at work.
But sometimes the stresses of life and for many of us the stresses of this season can hinder our ability to listen and to see. We can be listening to so many other voices: the demands of the needs of people around us, the desires of family for special gifts, the requests for us to perform a certain way even at our jobs, and not be able to hear what God is speaking.
We can have God display his glory before us in many ways and miss it for our eyes are closed to what God may be doing.
We can be His beloved children and not see what He is doing.
So, this season what do we need to remember?
The best thing to fall back on is the character of God. God is the faithful God, so if faithful and trustworthy, then, we can rely upon Him.
With Zechariah we can stop and become aware of God's presence.
With Joseph we can accept the impossible mission God has given us, and trust Him.
With Jethro, the innkeeper, we can remember God is always working and open the door to his activity.
And with Simeon, we can live life alive to the possibility of seeing God's glory at any moment - we can expect God to work wonders before us, we can anticipate being placed in just the right places at the right times for God to use us for His light to shine.
May the Light of Jesus shine within and through you this Christmas.
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