Simeon's Song

0:00 · Speaker 1 Morning, everyone. Peace on earth. Joy to the world. O come, let us adore him. Good news of great joy. Glory to God in the highest. Emmanuel, God is with us. And even our own services, a thrill of hope.

0:27 · Speaker 1 So they're all well-known phrases at Christmas. We find them on cards or in banners or on posters or whatever, but I bet you've never seen these ones on a Christmas card or anywhere else for that matter. This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel and to be a sign that will be spoken against. And a sword will pierce your own soul too. I can't see us lining up to buy Christmas cards with those words or using it as our theme to invite people to church next year at Christmas. And yet they are words contained in today's Christmas playlist in the words of Simeon. So let's watch the lumo of this part of Luke's gospel.

1:22 · Speaker 2 Joseph and Mary took him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord. As it is written in the law of the Lord, every firstborn male is to be consecrated to the Lord 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. 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. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord's Messiah. 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, Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying, Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you may now dismiss your servant in peace.

2:25 · Speaker 2 For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all nations, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and the glory of your people Israel. The child's father and mother marveled at what was said about him. 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 so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed and a sword will pierce your own soul too.

3:08 · Speaker 1 So Mary and Joseph have come to the temple 40 days after the birth of Jesus to carry out the requirements of the law for purification after childbirth. And to anyone watching, the main thing that they would notice is that this is a poor couple, because the sacrifice they made is the sacrifice that only poor people were expected to bring. So there was no outward sign of greatness. And anyhow, whilst they're in the temple, they're approached by this man, Simeon. We don't know anything about Simeon except what's written here in Luke's gospel. Tradition has it that he was very old, but we're just told that he was righteous and devout, faithfully keeping God's law and also treating other people right. The other thing that we're told about him is though that he was waiting for God to work in Israel. Many people in Israel were hoping for the Messiah and many longed for a military leader who would bring down the Romans and restore the nation to its former glory.

4:12 · Speaker 1 But for others, the hope was different. They were waiting for God to act in spiritual renewal. They were called the quiet in the land. They were looking for people who had lost their devotion to God to find it again and hoping that the hundreds of years of apparent silence from heaven would end. and it may be that Simeon was one of those people. Whatever the exact details, God had revealed himself to Simeon in a very special way. We don't know how. And told him that he wouldn't die until he saw Messiah with his own eyes.

4:53 · Speaker 1 And in these moments, Simeon somehow knew that God had kept his promise. That in the arms of this poor couple, lay the fulfillment of the promise. His wait was over. Messiah was come and he was ready to depart. It must have been the most incredible moment for him. And like others that we've been considering over Christmas, he breaks into words of praise. But he also has something very specific to share with Mary.

5:29 · Speaker 1 And I want us this morning to see what we might learn from just some of his words. There is so much in here, and we're just gonna pick out a few things. But what does he have to teach us about Messiah? Well, one of the things that Simeon said was this. He referred to Jesus as the glory of your people Israel. As I said, the Israelites lived in hope that Messiah was going to come and rescue them. They had a very sure sense of themselves as God's chosen people. And they continued to hope that the glory days of the past would return.

6:11 · Speaker 1 However, they'd also a long history of getting their priorities wrong and putting their trust in the wrong hopes. So if you think way back in Old Testament days, they'd got set up in their land with Jerusalem at the heart of the kingdom and at the center of Jerusalem, the temple. the dwelling place of God. This represented God's glory among them. Now, unfortunately, they started to view it almost like their magic charm, that it didn't matter how they behaved. They looked to the temple and thought it guaranteed God's blessing or God's approval. Didn't matter that idolatry was rampant or that they were ignoring God's commands, especially about they treated the poor and the foreigner, they reckoned the temple with the supposed presence of God was their guarantee against any harm. But they were in for a shock.

7:12 · Speaker 1 Ezekiel the prophet was to say this. This is what the sovereign Lord says. I am about to desecrate my sanctuary, the stronghold in which you take pride, the delight of your eyes, the object of your affection, I will take away their stronghold, their joy and glory, the delight of their eyes, their hearts desire. They'd got it all wrong. God had chosen them as his people, but rather than understanding how it was an act of his grace and then living in loving obedience to him, they allowed it to become a source of pride and they assumed that they would always be special and the temple was the guarantee. but not so. Jeremiah, another prophet, was explicit in the word that God gave him. He said this, do not trust in deceptive words and say, this is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord.

8:16 · Speaker 1 And it all came crashing down. The glory they took from their past and their temple was not what God was looking for at all. God's glory wasn't to be seen in a temple amongst them. It was to be seen in lives of worship, devotion to him, obedience, care for others, and in their calling to represent God to the world around them. Instead, they'd become sectarian, thinking that God was just for them. and they'd made a huge mistake. And the promise of Messiah to be the true glory of Israel was not to restore the halcyon days of an earthly kingdom, but to reveal the true kingdom of God. This is what God is like.

9:15 · Speaker 1 And this is what he calls us to be. Jesus is the true fulfillment of what God is looking for in his people. In him, the glory of God is fully revealed. And in following him, his people start to reveal that glory. We get to see glimpses of it breaking through as we watch the earthly life of Jesus. How he taught, teaching very different values and priorities. reaching out to touch those in need, and even his engagement with those who weren't Israelites, already showing how God's purposes were for way beyond Israel. But sadly, religious Judaism had become mainly a matter of empty adherence to laws, best illustrated by the scribes and Pharisees, rituals, rules, and adherence to the system had taken the place of a living relationship with God.

10:25 · Speaker 1 Their glory was in their religion, in their system. Their glory wasn't the true presence of God among them. But before we're too quick to criticize them, that's been a regular problem for the people of God. things can start well a new realization of God and a vibrant relationship with him some kind of revival or reformation or new shoots of growth and it seems amazing but all too soon the focus can move and it becomes not about what God is doing but about our church or our system or our rules. It can even be motivated by what we think is a genuine desire to please God, but all too often, it's just a desire to protect our thing. And we replace God's commands with human regulations. We act with increasing hostility to or suspicion of those who are different.

11:41 · Speaker 1 We draw lines to exclude, not to include, because our way is better. We are right. Others are wrong. And the history of the church should warn us that we are all capable of falling into that trap. And like the people of old, we need to make sure that our glory is in Christ, that our desire is to please God, our hope is in what God has done and our lives centered on Jesus. Pretty sure we sang that earlier. And it's vital that we grasp all that that means because way too many people, Christians, place their confidence in believing what Jesus has done, giving assent to his sinless life, his death and resurrection as their hope for salvation. And then they think it's fine to live a life totally at odds with how Jesus showed us to live.

12:41 · Speaker 1 Angry, judging, graceless, selfish. Nothing like what we see in Jesus. Jesus is our glory. Not just in what he has done for us, but also the example that he has given us in how to live our lives. the glory of your people Israel. The second thing I want us to notice about Simeon's song is this and we've already hinted at it. He saw in this Messiah a light for revelation to the Gentiles. We don't know if this was a new realization for Simeon at this moment although I suspect the fact that he had a close relationship with God meant that he also knew God's plan was for way more than just Israel.

13:30 · Speaker 1 Israel had changed God's grace in choosing them into a source of pride in themselves. And instead of being a light to the world around to show the way to God, they had made it their business almost to stand aloof from others. And it's hard to understand how that happened. They have very short memories. If you think back to their founding father, as it were, Abraham and God's words to him when he called him and promised to make him into a great nation. This was part of the promise. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you, through your offspring. All nations on earth will be blessed.

14:12 · Speaker 1 Those aren't complicated words. They're pretty much as straightforward as they come. God's purpose has always been to bless all people. When he sets his love on us, it's not because we are special. It's because he has acted in grace and he then calls us to be his representatives to the world around. Listen to these words spoken through the prophet Isaiah. I, the Lord, have called you in righteousness. I will take hold of your hand.

14:50 · Speaker 1 I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people and a light for the Gentiles. To open eyes that are blind, to free captives from prison and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness. That was God's calling for his people, but it was going to have to be fulfilled in Jesus. You can hear Simeon's words in there, in those words of Isaiah, a light for the Gentiles. But if you know something of the New Testament and the Gospels, you'll also recognize similar words that Jesus read in the synagogue from Isaiah 61. When Jesus read, he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners. Those same words as earlier in Isaiah. And before he sat down, he said, today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.

15:50 · Speaker 1 Israel were supposed to be a light to the Gentiles to carry God's goodness and God's good news to all. But Jesus came and fulfilled that calling. As he said himself, I am the light of the world, not just the light for Israel. And this still comes to us as a challenge today because God's model of working remains the same. He blesses some to ensure others are blessed. Although Jesus said he was the light of the world, he also gave that commission to his people. He said, you are the light of the world.

16:38 · Speaker 1 And his last earthly words to his disciples, you shall be my witnesses. We have to care about this. We can't stop with, God has shown himself to us and we're okay and we're set for eternity. We can't stop there. And we certainly can't take it as a reason to be proud, as if we're better than others or as if we deserved God's love more than others, God's purposes for his people haven't changed. If we are blessed, it's so that we can be a blessing and reveal him to those around us. But I need to touch on one more thing from Simeon.

17:30 · Speaker 1 Not so much from his song, But from his follow-up words to Mary, and that's where we go back to the words I quoted at the start. This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel and to be a sign that will be spoken against. And a sword will pierce your own soul too. They are not words that fit our normal Christmas vibe. And yet they are just as much truth about Jesus as all the other things said about him. And just as important as him being the glory of Israel and the light for the Gentiles. Because the truth is this, Jesus brings division. And faithfulness to him may not always be plain sailing.

18:27 · Speaker 1 Throughout his earthly life, you could see that Jesus caused people to have to make a choice. The religious leaders mostly rejected him. He didn't fit their system. But those with great needs embraced him. Those who knew they were in trouble accepted him. Whilst those who thought they were good enough rejected him. some left everything to follow him others said the price was too high Herod wanted to kill him the magi wanted to worship him

19:14 · Speaker 1 Peter repented when he failed him but Judas killed himself Pilate tried to wash his hands but the centurion said surely this was the son of God. One thief cursed him and another believed in him. From the beginning of his life to the very end, Jesus divided the human race. And never mind Simeon knowing that in advance. Jesus himself at one point said this, do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division. In fact, back in our Messiah teaching series, we noticed Jesus saying that even families would be divided because of him. And that may well be one of the biggest challenges we face as Christians.

20:13 · Speaker 1 What do we do when family loyalties collide with what God is asking of us? How do we be faithful to Jesus without disappointing our family? Or do we make our families or our children the idol to which we sacrifice our loyalty to the Lord? And as Simeon told Mary how great her hurt would be in days to come, many Christians know what it is to face the hurt of being loyal to Jesus in the face of family expectations. Just one caution though, when we talk about Jesus bringing division, it's one thing our loyalty to Jesus bringing pain and division. It's another thing altogether being a divisive person. With the family issues where it causes pain, it can't be that we delight in those divisions. It's just that our loyalty to Jesus comes far ahead.

21:26 · Speaker 1 Or even thinking of what we talked about earlier, if our glory is in our system, our theology, or our rules, the strife that that causes is often just caused because we're being divisive. We may kid ourselves that we're being persecuted in some way or other, but usually we're not. We're usually just behaving really badly. Jesus was never guilty of that. Whatever made people have very different responses to him, it wasn't his arrogance or his obnoxiousness or his divisiveness. But he does divide still. And either we surrender to him as Lord and Savior, or we put ourselves against him. Simeon's words are still true.

22:25 · Speaker 1 Many people sit on the fence regarding Jesus. They admire his example. They think his moral teaching is great. But Simeon says, we can't do that. Either he is the son of God or he's not. If he's not, then he's the greatest fraud in human history and we are wasting our time being here today. But if he is who he claimed to be, then the only possible response is Simeon's response.

23:01 · Speaker 1 We should worship him. We've got to close. And like we did when we were looking at Zacharias' song, I want us to move beyond the song and just have a brief glimpse at the singer of the song. We don't know much about Simeon, but one thing we do know is that he was faithful, no matter how long it took for God to do what he had promised to do. I came across this phrase from the most surprising of sources, and it applies to Simeon. He exhibited long obedience in the same direction. that was a quote from Friedrich Nietzsche, the philosopher who famously declared God is dead. Here's his full quote.

24:00 · Speaker 1 The essential thing in heaven and in earth is apparently that there should be long obedience in the same direction. There thereby results something which has made life worth living. For instance, virtue, art, music, dancing, reason, spirituality, anything whatever that is transfiguring, refined, foolish, or divine. I guess our musicians know what that's like. They play like they play because of long commitment in the same direction to practicing. And those of us who took lessons when we were young and don't play like this now, it's because we didn't. Now, Nietzsche went on to say that long obedience suffocates the spirit, so he didn't view it positively. But I look at Simeon, whose life was characterized by long obedience.

25:00 · Speaker 1 And I don't see someone whose spirit was suffocated. I see someone whose life was fulfilled, who realized that patient faithfulness and obedience was well worth the wait. And I'm encouraged by that. I'm encouraged when I think of the situations where I really long to see God at work. It encourages me not to give up hope, to keep trusting, to keep praying, to keep believing that God will still work his good promises in those situations. And I'm also encouraged to take it to heart as I consider just our culture and how things are. We live in an age where instant gratification is the order of the day. How many times have you been online the last week looking for next day delivery?

26:05 · Speaker 1 Or deliveroo, 20 minute delivery. I don't know how that works, but hey-ho. No waiting. Just get what you want right now. Or an age where we're encouraged to go our own way. To make our own rules. Don't follow anybody else's plans or instructions. Oh yeah, by all means have a God.

26:26 · Speaker 1 But make sure your God serves you. And not vice versa. And all the while as we follow that, we become prisoners of what we hoped would make us happy. Simeon encourages me not to go down that road. And I'm also encouraged by this. When Simeon took the baby Jesus in his arms, he said, "Lord, I'm ready to go home now. "I can die in peace." And I'm conscious, apparently it's my birthday today, but I'm conscious that it's another digit on the number, and I'm much closer to the earthly end of my life than I am to the beginning.

27:16 · Speaker 1 and seeing Jesus through the eyes of faith is where I anchor my hope. No one is ready to die until they have seen Jesus Christ with the eyes of faith. But once we have seen him, death is no longer an enemy. I look at Simeon and I'm reminded that in obedience and faithfulness to the God of heaven is where I find my freedom. my meaning, my joy, and my glory. The life of long obedience is well more than worth it. And that in the end, God will keep his promise. As we sang, he will not leave me in the grave.

28:10 · Speaker 1 I will rise. He will call me home. Because the Lord is my salvation. God's promised that the Messiah who came once as a baby will come again to make all things new. And he will reward those who have been faithfully waiting. The life of long obedience will be more than worth it. Let's pray. Lord God thank you for what the song of Simeon teaches us thank you for the hope that it brings us thank you for the example he leaves us to see the Christ through eyes of faith to embrace his purposes for us and to know the surety of your promise that one day this same Jesus will return and take us home.

29:19 · Speaker 1 Lord, wherever we happen to be in our relationship with you right now, would you at the end of this year reveal yourself to us? Help us all to see who this Jesus really is. Help us to put our hope in him. Help us to follow him even in those difficult situations. Help us to glory in him, not in our own stuff or our own ideas. Help us to be a light to others who badly need to experience the love that you have for them. And help us, Father, when the days are tough, to lift our eyes, to keep on the road of long obedience and know that it will be well more than worth it. And we pray it in the name of the risen Christ.

30:23 · Speaker 1 Amen. Amen.