The Gift of Christmas
Part 4
“Remembering the Reason after the Season”
Luke 2:21-38
Today we are going to wrap up our Christmas series with a final sermon from the gift of Christmas
We started this series a few weeks before Christmas
With a sermon called What Mary did not know
And saw in that sermon how Mary
With just a small piece of the plan
Accepted God’s plan
Rejoiced in God’s plan
And became such a huge part of that plan
Later that night it was my honor to be able to preach at the Grand Saline Community service at the Nazarene church
And for part 2 of our series
With a sermon titled “the star”
We thanked God for the
Birth
Life
Ministry
Death and resurrection
And eternity of
Jesus Christ
The next week we looked at Josephs part and perspective on God plan
With a sermon titled
“What a strange way to save the world”
And saw how we should use Joseph as a role model when we don’t understand God’s plans
How we must
Think before we speak or react
Respond with the same mercy we have received
Never let the circumstances of our lives dictate our actions or rule us
Respond with faith – even when we can’t see or don’t understand
And obey
Just step up and step out
Then we followed up with a Candle light service on Christmas eve morning
And came together to worship and praise our savior through the singing of songs and scripture reading
I think this year
From a pastor’s perspective
Has been the best Christmas ever
I have felt and heard the love
That is the light of Jesus
But
Now Christmas is over
Well almost
Dick said Wednesday night, that in his mind Christmas is not over until New Year’s Day
And I tend to agree with him
But in the eyes of the world
Christmas ends when the last present is opened
The last piece of pretty paper is bagged up and thrown out
And many in this world begin packing it all up
To place back into storage until next year
Patti and I were in Wal Mart, I think the day after Christmas or maybe the next
Ans already the Christmas stuff was on clearance or gone
Valentines day gifts were already on display
And in every main isle of the store
There were stacks of boxes
Like this one
And it seemed every buggy in the place
Ours included
Held at least one storage box
Today it is my desire to challenge you to extent the feelings
The joy
The love of Christmas into the months to come
Just box it up
And go about life as usual
Or unusual until about next December
Let’s continue with the Christmas story from scripture this morning
Many of you have read the rest of the story
Some have not
But it is a story that is seldom preached
Often as preachers
We box up Christmas
And start thinking about the New Year
About the coming budget meetings
The series we know we must preach on giving
And
Praying and planning next year’s lessons
So today
I want to pull back on the reins a bit
And not let Christmas just turn into just a memory
Not just yet
Please open your bibles to Luke chapter 2
Throw your bulletins in there as we will go back here several times this morning
I am going to read first for you Verses 21-24
And then like always we will come back and break it down and apply it to our lives
Luke 2:21-38
21 Eight days later, when the baby was circumcised, he was named Jesus, the name given him by the angel even before he was conceived.
22 Then it was time for their purification offering, as required by the law of Moses after the birth of a child; so his parents took him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord. 23 The law of the Lord says, “If a woman’s first child is a boy, he must be dedicated to the LORD.”[a] 24 So they offered the sacrifice required in the law of the Lord—“either a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons.”[b]
You see the Christmas story
The nativity does not end in the manger
When he was 8 days old
Jesus’ parents took him to be circumcised and at that time he was officially given the name
Jesus, which means “ The Lord is salvation”
The name that Gabriel told them to give him
In those days
You did not have a name
Officially until that time
And then after a total of 40 days
The time required for ceremonial purification of the Mom
The first-born baby was to be presented to God at the temple
And offer a sacrifice made to buy him back
The sacrifice was typically a lamb and a dove or pigeon
But poor folks could use 2 doves or two pigeons if they could not afford a lamb
That was the case with Jesus’ family
Here is where I wanted to get to
When they got to the temple
Mary
Joseph
And the now 40-day old Jesus
Were met by two people
A man named Simeon
And an
Elderly widow named Anna
And it is their response to Jesus
That I want to deal with today
Let’s read about Simeon first
Luke 2:25-33
25 At that time there was a man in Jerusalem named Simeon. He was righteous and devout and was eagerly waiting for the Messiah to come and rescue Israel. The Holy Spirit was upon him 26 and had revealed to him that he would not die until he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. 27 That day the Spirit led him to the Temple. So when Mary and Joseph came to present the baby Jesus to the Lord as the law required, 28 Simeon was there. He took the child in his arms and praised God, saying,
29 “Sovereign Lord, now let your servant die in peace,
as you have promised.
30 I have seen your salvation,
31 which you have prepared for all people.
32 He is a light to reveal God to the nations,
and he is the glory of your people Israel!”
33 Jesus’ parents were amazed at what was being said about him. 34 Then Simeon blessed them, and he said to Mary, the baby’s mother, “This child is destined to cause many in Israel to fall, and many others to rise. He has been sent as a sign from God, but many will oppose him. 35 As a result, the deepest thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your very soul.”
Simeon
A righteous man
A devout man
And old man
A man waiting patiently on The Messiah
Was suddenly face to face with that Messiah just as God had promised
We are going to look at his response in a few moments
But for now
Let’s get to know Anna
Luke 2:36-38
36 Anna, a prophet, was also there in the Temple. She was the daughter of Phanuel from the tribe of Asher, and she was very old. Her husband died when they had been married only seven years. 37 Then she lived as a widow to the age of eighty-four.[c] She never left the Temple but stayed there day and night, worshiping God with fasting and prayer. 38 She came along just as Simeon was talking with Mary and Joseph, and she began praising God. She talked about the child to everyone who had been waiting expectantly for God to rescue Jerusalem.
Anna
Also, a devout woman
Also, someone waiting on the Messiah
Was also Now face to face with God’s promised Messiah
Let’ look at the response of both people
To their encounter with Jesus
And see how we can
Strengthen our relationship
By following their examples
First Simeon
Look at verse 28b with me
“He took the child in his arms and praised God”
Simeon met Jesus
Face to face
He recognized him
He embraced him and praised God for him
This should be our response
When we come face to face with Jesus
The right response is to
First recognize him
It is my true belief that every person ever created
Will have the opportunity to meet Jesus
He came to seek and to save the lost
He does not want any to perish
But many in this world don’t recognize him when he comes
The don’t recognize him because the are not expecting him
Remember Simeon was waiting on the Messiah
They don’t recognize him because he is not what they expected
Remember the Jews were expecting a Messiah
But Jesus was not who they were expecting
They wanted a warrior
They got a servant
They expected a charging white stallion
They got a little dinky donkey instead
Many are waiting for a huge miracle
A flash of lightning
Show us a sign they say
And we will believe
So they don’t recognize what is right in front of their face
Simeon recognized Jesus
Then he embraced Jesus
Verse
“He took the child in his arms”
He embraced the Lord
Listen
Jesus is waiting patiently for you to come to him
He is standing
Arms stretched with open
Desperately longing for his children to accept his embrace
So many people in todays world
Miss out on the good stuff
They know about Jesus
But they don’t know Jesus
They stand off the distance and look in
But never embrace him as Lord of their lives
Then He praised God for him
Verse 28
“He took the child in his arms and praised God”
He praised God
I think often times we don’t praise God enough
In this busy dog eat dog world
We forget
Or maybe don’t even know
That God owns everything
That everything we get is a gift from God
That the very life in our bodies
The air in our lungs is a gift
And often we forget about the gift of Christ
The gift of salvation
We take it for granted
We come to be comfortable in our lives
And we forget to praise him
Jesus Christ
His sacrifice
His birth
His life
His death
His resurrection
His promised return is worthy of our praise
We must praise
But how
How do we praise?
Back to Simeon
Verses 29-32
“Sovereign Lord, now let your servant die in peace,
as you have promised.
30 I have seen your salvation,
31 which you have prepared for all people.
32 He is a light to reveal God to the nations,
and he is the glory of your people Israel!”
I can die now in peace he says
I have seen your salvation
He is the light
He is the glory
He is Emmanuel
God with us
The great I am
This is how we should praise
We should sing it to the mountains
Shout it to the seas
Proclaim his name to the nations
Verses33-35
33 Jesus’ parents were amazed at what was being said about him. 34 Then Simeon blessed them, and he said to Mary, the baby’s mother, “This child is destined to cause many in Israel to fall, and many others to rise. He has been sent as a sign from God, but many will oppose him. 35 As a result, the deepest thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your very soul.”
Key on verse 34 -35 here
I will come back here as we begin to close
“This child is destined to cause many in Israel to fall, and many others to rise. He has been sent as a sign from God, but many will oppose him. 35 As a result, the deepest thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your very soul.”
Now let’s look at Anna’s response to Jesus
The Messiah
And her face to face meeting with him
Verses 36-38
36 Anna, a prophet, was also there in the Temple. She was the daughter of Phanuel from the tribe of Asher, and she was very old. Her husband died when they had been married only seven years. 37 Then she lived as a widow to the age of eighty-four.[c] She never left the Temple but stayed there day and night, worshiping God with fasting and prayer. 38 She came along just as Simeon was talking with Mary and Joseph, and she began praising God. She talked about the child to everyone who had been waiting expectantly for God to rescue Jerusalem.
Key on verse 38 with me
Verse 38
38 She came along just as Simeon was talking with Mary and Joseph, and she began praising God. She talked about the child to everyone who had been waiting expectantly for God to rescue Jerusalem.
Anna
Like Simeon
Like we should be doing
Came face to face with Jesus
And she praises God
And then
She tells everybody
She shouts it form the mountains
She proclaims
Jesus
The savior to all who will listen
To all who will hear
So ,we are here today
Christmas is over
The stores have out the valentine’s hearts
The Paper is long since been thrown out with the trash
The tree is packed up
Presents are forgotten
The decorations are back in the box
Back in the garage
The closet
Back in storage
And we are left with
The reason for the season
What do we do now?
Go back to Luke 2 with me for just a moment
Luke 2
Verses 34-35
“This child is destined to cause many in Israel to fall, and many others to rise. He has been sent as a sign from God, but many will oppose him. 35 As a result, the deepest thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your very soul.”
Every person will have the chance at a face to face with Jesus
Every person will have to make a choice
This is what Simeon is saying
Jesus Christ will be the savior to all who will
All who will recognize him
Accept and embrace him
Praise him
Tell the world about him
He will be the bright morning star
He will be Emmanuel – God with Us
But to those who won’t see
Those who won’t recognize
Those who won’t accept and embrace
Those who won’t worship
Praise
And proclaim him
To those who oppose him
Those who reject him
He will be
A stumbling block
For those there is a fall coming
So, my question for you today – Play song
Is what will you do with Jesus?
Will you put him back in the box?
Back in storage
Until next year
Will you continue to reject him?
Only pull him out when you need him
Only cry out to him when the wheels are falling off your life
Or will you see him?
What are you going to do with Jesus now that Christmas is over?
Will, you recognize him?
Embrace him
Praise God for him
Proclaim his name
Or will you put him in a box
Along with the other decorations?
Listen
I am talking to the lost and to the saved here
We all must come face to face with Jesus
First for salvation
We all must make a choice
Will, you accept or reject him
Then for spiritual growth
Listen even believers can put him back in the box when Christmas is over
How you may ask
By not being obedient
By not letting his light shine in you
By not responding to his call
By not ---By Not- by Not----
You fill in the blanks
What are you going to do with the reason?
Now that the season is over?
Close from the heart
pray
