“Confessions of Christmas – Simeon” – Luke 2:21-35

I want you to go back in history with me for a few minutes.  I want you to think back through time to a very dark age; a time where political officials were corrupt, morals were almost non-existent, people seemed to have no regard for how their actions might impact other people and everybody was out to do what seemed right for them and had no care for others.  It was a time many years ago where selfishness and pride ruled men’s’ hearts and it seemed like God was almost silent as His Laws were trampled and He was deaf to the cries of His people.

 

How do you carry on?  How do you remain Godly in an ungodly world?  When violence and immorality are the norm, where do you, as a believer turn for consolation?  In fact, who or what could possibly console you at such a time? 

 

We are going to see the answer to that in the book of Luke this morning because while you may have thought I was talking about the dark days of just last week here in the United States, I was actually referring to the period between the Old Testament and the New Testament.  Approximately 400 years go by after the last writings and prophesies of the Old Testament and before the time of Jesus when the New Testament was written. 

 

It was a dark and difficult time for someone to be a believer in the one, true God, especially for a Jew in Israel.  The once great and powerful nation had been conquered and had a new king who was not in the line of David and their national pride had to be at an all-time low.  But when things were at their worst and it seemed as if a Jew had no where to turn for consolation, there comes, as it says, “a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel.”

 

Turn to Luke chapter 2 and we will continue with the 3^rd in our series of “Confessions of Christmas” and this week we hear the confession of a man named Simeon in Luke 2:21-35. 

²¹ On the eighth day, when it was time to circumcise the child, he was named Jesus, the name the angel had given him before he was conceived.²² When the time came for the purification rites required by the Law of Moses, 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.” 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 on him. ²⁶ It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. 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 may now dismiss your servant in peace. ³⁰ For my eyes have seen your salvation, ³¹ which you have prepared in the sight of all nations: ³² a light for revelation to the Gentiles,
and the glory of 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.”

I have to say that up until Friday I would have told you that this was a good past week.  I felt like I got a few things done.  I was encouraged by our worship last Sunday.  We had a real good Bible study Wednesday and I had a great time of worship Thursday with my biker buddies.  Even the weather seemed normal and right for December.  But by mid-morning Friday, you couldn’t turn around without hearing about the horrible shooting in Connecticut that left some 27 people dead including 20 small children.  Words just don’t cut it.

As if that wasn’t bad enough I started to think about other friends and loved ones I have lost; some right around Christmas and others this will be the first Christmas without them.  I watched the news about how the Republicans and the Democrats can’t see eye to eye and now we are all going to pay for it.  Thousands of innocent people in the Middle East are being killed every day.  Some guy in China slashed 22 kids with a knife and lawmakers in Chicago want to give you 6 months in jail for feeding the pigeons!  This place is crazy!  And it was about to make me crazy!

But then I read this passage over again.  And while it doesn’t make this nasty old world any easier to understand, I, like Simeon, found consolation.  I, like Simeon, found peace.  And I, like Simeon, owe it all to Jesus!  And that is my confession as we continue our look at the confessions of Christmas and we see that Simeon here makes actually 4 confessions surrounding the baby Jesus.  If you have a bulletin you should have an insert with an outline that shows those 4 confessions.  Let’s look at the first confession of Simeon that there was a promise.

To understand this promise, you first need to understand a little about Simeon; and that is all you are going to know is a little because that is all we are told.  But what we do know is that he was “righteous and devout”.  Evidently, his behavior with respect to men and God was the object of God’s approval.  We assume that Simeon was an elderly man, although it doesn’t say it.  It would just seem strange for a young man to say, “I can die in peace now.”

The other thing about Simeon that was remarkable was that he had been given a very rare and special blessing.  In some manner, even now before Pentecost, the Holy Spirit rested on him and he was constantly influenced by it.  That same Comforter had revealed to him that he would not die until he had seen the Lord’s Christ.  What a blessing that was to have a promise like that!

And there in verse 29 Simeon confesses that promise had been fulfilled.  We had a fascinating Bible study last Wednesday night discussing what the Bible says about the Holy Spirit and we talked about all the ways that Spirit, also known as the Comforter or Guide helps us.  We know that because of our relationship with God the Father, through His Son Jesus, we are given the gift of the Holy Spirit, the third part of the Trinity, to guide us and give us wisdom and to prompt us to do God’s will.  John 14:26 promises us that the Holy Spirit will teach us all things and remind us of what Jesus said. And that would be good enough if that was all the promise we were ever made was to receive the Holy Spirit to guide us here on this earth.

But we are promised so much more.  For starters, we, like Simeon, are promised, as believers, that we will someday see the Messiah!  I Thessalonians 4:13-18 says, “¹³ Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. ¹⁴ For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. ¹⁵ According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. ¹⁶ For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. ¹⁷ After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. ¹⁸ Therefore encourage one another with these words.”

How are you not encouraged by those words?!  If that doesn’t do it then how about from the mouth of Jesus Himself in John chapter 14 where he tells us that He is going to prepare a place for us and that He is going to come back and take us to be with Him.  That’s a promise that we, like Simeon, can claim.  The Bible is full of God’s promises and while that one in John is tops, let me read just a couple of others.

 

2 Peter 1:4 And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires.

Matthew 11:28-29 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

Philippians 4:19 And this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus.

John 14:27 “I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid.

The second verse of the old Hymn “Standing on the Promises” goes like this:  Standing on the promises that cannot fail,
When the howling storms of doubt and fear assail,
By the living Word of God I shall prevail,
Standing on the promises of God.

I could have just preached on the promises of God this morning.  There are many more and like the song implies and that last verse I read from John says, those promises bring peace.  Don’t they?  I want you to say it.  “Because of God’s promises I have peace.”  Simeon knew it and he confesses it also in verse 29.

He tells God, “you now dismiss your servant in peace.”  According to my concordance, that original Greek word for peace is “eirene” i-ray-nay.  It means to have a harmonious relationship with God and others manifested in friendliness, rest and quietness.  Friendliness, rest and quietness.  Does that describe you?  It should.  2 quotes:

I have been very rich, very beautiful, much adulated, very famous…and very unhappy. Brigitte Bardot

I remember one day sitting at the pool and suddenly the tears were streaming down my cheeks. Why was I so unhappy? I had success. I had security. But it wasn't enough. I was exploding inside. Ingrid Bergman

How much is peace worth to you?  How much would you pay to be truthfully described using the words, “friendliness, rest and quietness”?  We spend billions of dollars every year trying to find the right product that we can consume to bring us peace and yet what happens when our circumstances are not in our favor?

Loudly*  You can’t do that!  That’s not right!  I’m calling the cops.  I’m writing my congressman.  I’m calling the Better Business Bureau.

Now, think about Simeon.  Seeing the baby Jesus didn’t change his immediate circumstances one bit.  Seeing baby Jesus didn’t give him any more money or power or freedom or respect or anything we think we have to have to have peace so what was it about Jesus that brought him that i-ray-nay, that peace?  It is the same thing that brings us peace here today as we fellowship with Jesus.  It is realizing that through a harmonious relationship with God through His Son that everything is going to be ok.  Whatever that means!  It’s going to be ok.

It is having faith that God is not going to put more on you than you can handle.  It is knowing that your sins are forgiven.  It is knowing that God loves you and He hears you and He wants the best for you.  It is knowing that this nasty old place is not our home but that we will spend eternity with Him.  And how do we know those things?  Because they are God’s promises!

God promised Simeon that he would not die until he saw the Messiah.  And when that happened, Simeon knew that everything was ultimately going to be ok.  He had peace because he knew that the little baby he held in his hands would change everything.  His circumstances might stay the same for now but the outcome was going to be radically different. 

2 Tim. 1:12 says, “That is why I am suffering as I am. Yet I am not ashamed, because I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him for that day.”

Paul was going through difficult circumstances and yet he had i-ray-nay, peace - friendliness, rest and quietness.  You can too all because of that little baby born so many years ago so far away from here.  You can have peace in this nasty old world where pride and greed are the norm and it is hard to see or hear God in all of the hustle and bustle.

Because God had proven Himself trustworthy to Simeon, he had peace and because God has proven Himself trustworthy to us, we can too.

I obviously don’t have time to preach the other two points this morning so come back tonight to hear Simeon confess the preparation and prophecy.