“Just What I Wanted”
Christmas Through Their Eyes Series
Luke 2:21-38
Intro:
What is the perfect gift in your eyes?
For many, it usually it is something you really, really want.
Maybe that new TV, or a new car.
Perhaps it might be a long awaited trip or just a quiet evening alone.
Whatever the case, you open it and say, “This is just what I wanted!”
What is even better though, is when you get the perfect gift and you didn’t really realize what it was.
Example: Back in 2001 (I think), we were in Cincinnati with Brigitte’s family on Christmas eve for our traditional Christmas get together.
We were busy opening gifts, mostly for the kids, and just having a good old time.
A box came to me and it said to me from Brigitte and it felt pretty heavy…I wasn’t real sure what it was.
I opened it up and wasn’t sure what to expect, and inside was a brand new pair of Sonoma boots!
Yeah, boots…just what I wanted; OK, maybe not.
Brigitte sat there with a big old smile on her face, and I was thinking, “Baby, its boots, don’t be that excited.”
I put the box down and got back to taking pictures and Brigitte said, “Well, what do you think?” and I swallowed and said, “I like them…” while she sat there with an even bigger smile.
Finally she said, “Did you look in the box?” and I thought to myself, “Hello…boots! What is there to see?” but said, “Yes, I like them” instead.
And then she said something along the lines of “Do they fit?”…obviously wanting to get my then shoe salesmen urge to check sizes going, so I opened the box and check the size.
Weirdest thing, I checked the sizes and inside one of the shoes was a piece of paper, which didn’t seem right to me but made my wife smile a little bigger.
As I pulled it out she was now grinning from ear to ear and much to my surprise I found the print out proof of purchase for 2 tickets to see the Colorado Avalanche, my favorite hockey team, playing the Nashville Predators down at the Gaylord Entertainment Center.
It was the perfect gift, and I didn’t even expect it.
Transition:
This morning as we continue looking at Christmas through eyes of the characters we read about in Scripture, I want us to step into Simeon’s shoes.
Simeon, as we shall see, was the temple worker who had the privilege of dedicating a Jewish baby named Jesus.
The thing about this event was that it wasn’t just an accident or by chance that Simeon was there that day…in fact it was a Christmas gift for him that had promised to him and he had been waiting for.
In fact, it was the gift that Simeon always wanted.
Read Luke 2:21-38 and pray.
8 days after the first Jewish son was born he was to be presented for circumcision at the temple where he was to be dedicated by his parents to God.
The mother of the child was considered unclean for 7 days after giving birth according to the Law of Moses, so the 8th day was the first chance she had to enter into the temple.
A sacrifice was also required of the parents, a blood sacrifice or redemption, typically of a young bull or a lamb…but a poor couple could instead offer two young birds in exchange; and that is what Joseph and Mary brought that day.
The young carpenter and his bride had an ordeal in bringing their Son into this world, the whole manger in a barn situation that we all know about.
The trip to Bethlehem was probably also costly for them, and having barely more than nothing to begin with made this sacrifice a literal sacrifice for them
What they didn’t realize though was that God’s hand was still involved.
At the temple that day was Simeon and his wife Anna.
At this time the roster of temple workers in the priesthood was so long that nearly all of them had one opportunity to work only once in their life time…some more, some less.
Simeon was not a typical temple worker though because he had received a promise from God.
Read vs. 25-26.
God had promised Simeon a gift, the gift of seeing the Messiah…and you have got to believe that has he aged and was now called into his time of service, he had to doubt a little.
I know I would have.
But notice what it says in vs. 27-29.
The same Holy Spirit that revealed God’s promise to Simeon was now revealing the fulfillment of that promise to him as he held that Child up in dedication.
And I can imagine Simeon saying to himself, “This is just what I wanted!”
Transition:
Simeon waited his entire life for the “perfect gift” and God did give him his heart’s desire. The good news for us is that this was the gift that keeps on giving!
That is what I want us to consider this morning as we look together at Simeon’s prayer of dedication and see what was involved in the gift.
First of all, there is the gift of…
1. Salvation, vs. 30.
When Simeon held up this child and called out His name, he wasn’t speaking in English like we use…he was either praying in Hebrew or speaking in Aramaic.
In either case, he didn’t say “Jesus”…he would have instead probably have said the Hebrew, “Yeshua.”
That name Yeshua literally means “Jehovah is salvation”.
Simeon realized this and said, “For my eyes have seen Your salvation.”
The Greek word used there is soterion, which means “saving, bringing salvation; he who embodies this salvation, or through whom God is about to achieve it; the hope of (future) salvation”
This was not just any salvation either.
It was not the geo-political leader that many in Roman occupied Jerusalem was hoping for…but for real and true salvation.
This salvation was redemption, a purchase made in blood, for the hearts and souls of men.
This salvation wasn’t going to just free them from the chains of political captivity but would release them from the chains of original sin.
This promise went all the way back to Genesis.
Give background and read Genesis 3:14-21.
This promise from about 4000 years earlier when the first Adam and his bride violated God’s law for the first time and sin entered into the picture.
The promise of salvation that was made to them with the first sacrifice to temporarily cover their sins was becoming a permanent fix.
This gift of salvation, which covers our sins though they are like scarlet and washes them whiter than snow is available to us by faith.
No work is needed on our part because God has done all that was necessary.
He sent His Son, a 2nd Adam, to bring salvation to all who is willing to accept this gift that keeps on giving.
And it is a gift for everyone, vs. 31.
Once again, this is part of a promise of God…going back to Revelation again.
2000 years before Christ, Read Gen. 12:1-3, and 15:5-6.
God promised to give Abraham an offspring, and not just an offspring, but a great nation, and not just a great nation…but descendents that are as numerous as the stars in the sky.
Anyone try counting the stars in the sky?
Not possible is it?
Innumerable.
More than he could even imagine.
Listen to how you and I fit into this by our faith in Christ:
Gal. 3:27-29.
By faith, salvation is available to anyone and everyone as a gift.
No work is done by you and no sacrifice is needed because He is our sacrifice.
It was exactly what Simeon hoped for, and what we need rather we realize it or not.
A second part of this gift is…
2. Revelation, vs. 31
A light of revelation for the gentiles…this is huge for us because we are gentiles.
This revelation that God has given us is the revelation of Himself.
This comes in two ways:
1. The Incarnate Word (logos)…John 1.
2. The Written Word (rhema)…Matt. 4:4
And in reality, they are one in the same.
We can celebrate because we have the Revelation of God in person and in pen.
Here is the beauty of the word of God for us.
We know Christ by the Word of God which reveals Him to us.
But we also measure the written word of God by what has been revealed to us in Christ.
For those of us in the Body of Christ, we cannot and should never separate one from another.
Read Acts 10:44, “rhema” used first, “logos” is message.
Do you realize what a great gift we have in the word of God?
What do you do with this gift that you have received?
Do you spend time in it getting to know its author?
It is how we know God, by reading this book that is all about Him.
Or does it get Sunday morning use and rest of the week…well, lets just say we have to remember where we left it on Sunday.
ILLUS: I’m rough on my Bibles, but I try to stick with one particular Bible until I wear it out, lose it or it is stolen…and that has happened at least once.
A few weeks ago I got into my office and my Bible wasn’t in my backpack…so I looked all around the office, and couldn’t find it.
Since I sometimes used my personal Bible study Bible on Sunday nights I went into the sanctuary to see if I left in there the night before…it wasn’t there.
So I went home and looked in the usual spots, on the breakfast bar in the kitchen, on the kitchen table, on the dining room table…I even checked non-typical places like the bedrooms and yes, even the bathroom (my wife calls it my other office).
All day I couldn’t think because with every thought was “Where was my Bible?”
I think it was the next morning I finally found it, one of those obvious places where I should have looked but didn’t…but my crisis had ended.
I’m not saying this as a braggard, but as someone who says this is the reaction we should have when we don’t have our Bibles with us.
I do believe it should make us feel like it is a crisis to think we don’t have God’s word in our hand because it is in that word (rhema) that we find the Word (logos).
This revelation to us, is truly a gift…and one that keeps on giving.
And that takes us to the final part of the gift Simeon received on that first Christmas.
Not only was there salvation and revelation, but there was also…
3. Glorification, vs. 32b.
The glorification of Israel…the glory of the people of God was God Himself.
And God’s glory was being revealed
Go back to the original Christmas message: vs. 13-14.
What is the glorification of God?
The revelation of Christ, the one who is our salvation.
His work in your life that comes by grace through faith alone, set into motion in the Garden of Eden, entered into our reality through a manger and a baby and fulfilled on a cross called Calvary.
And when you give God your life in faith by grace alone, God is glorified.
And when you live day by day by that same faith, God is glorified.
And as that message of salvation is proclaimed God is glorified.
And this too is truly a gift that keeps on giving.
Closing: This is the last Sunday before Christmas.
In just 4 days we’ll get up, for many of us open gifts and celebrate a great day with family and friends.
The sad thing is many of you have a gift from God that remains unopened.
Its part of a promise that begins with Salvation, comes by way of revelation and ends with glorification…and it is a relationship with Jesus Christ.
If you have not accepted God’s free gift: ABC.
If you have already received this incredible gift…is it still giving?
