SERIES: Advent
TEXT: Luke 2:21-40
MESSAGE: “Our Distracted World”
“When we spend hours surfing and scrolling, we consume huge quantities of meaningless data, negative news, and perfectly retouched photos of friends and celebrities that make us feel inadequate. Trying to absorb and cope with massive amounts of content creates mental fatigue. And that can lead to a drop in motivation, focus, productivity, and energy over time…” — The Newport Institute
Are you and I too distracted to recognize & rejoice in Jesus?
“…while there are many events that are not willed by any human (and in that sense they are accidents), nevertheless there are no events not willed in some sense by God who controls all things. That means there is divine meaning…if we could only see it. Usually we can’t since now we see in a glass darkly. But sometimes in unusual cases of coincidence, with the help of God’s Word, we can pierce through to God’s meaning. There is such a coincidence here in Luke 1 and 2. Why is it that Elizabeth, Zechariah (John the Baptist’s parents), Simeon, and Anna are all very old? Why did God ordain that the parents of the last prophet be aged and that the parents of the Messiah be young? Why are the two witnesses Simeon and Anna on the point of death when they see Jesus and testify to him?” — John Piper
Q: Are we able to see God’s meaning in today’s text and ultimately our lives…or are we too distracted?
TEXT: Luke 2:21-40
“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.” — Luke 2:21-24
“That Mary offered a dove as a sin offering (Lev 12:6) for her purification indicates that the mother of God’s Son also needed the forgiveness and redemption that her son brought.” — Robert Stein
What can we learn from today’s text about recognizing Jesus? We learn three ways it happens…(1. Revealed 2. Realized 3. Remembered)
1. Revealed (v. 25-27a; 34-35)
“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…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.”
“Reality, in fact, is usually something you could not have guessed. That is one of the reasons I believe Christianity. It is a religion that you could not have guessed. If it offered us just the kind of universe we had always expected, I should feel we were making it up. But, in fact, it is not the sort of thing anyone would have made up.” — C.S. Lewis
“There is a great refusal just as there is a great acceptance. He will be the cause whereby many will rise. Long ago Seneca said that what men needed about all was a hand down to lift them up. It is the hand of Jesus which lifts a man out of the old life and into the new, out of the sin into the goodness, out of the shame into the glory. He will meet with much opposition. Towards Jesus Christ there can be no neutrality.” — William Barclay
2. Realized (v. 27b-31)
“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.”
“God is always doing 10,000 things in your life, and you may be aware of three of them.” — John Piper
3. Remembered (v. 36-38)
“There was also a prophet, Anna, the daughter of Penuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was very old; she had lived with her husband seven years after her marriage, 37 and then was a widow until she was eighty-four. She never left the temple but worshiped night and day, fasting and praying. 38 Coming up to them at that very moment, she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem.”
“When Moses writes of the Lord “remembering,” he does not mean God forgot…Our Creator knows all and never loses His perfect apprehension of the facts (Heb. 4:13). When God “remembers,” it means that He acts according to His covenant promises, especially in a way evident to His people. The Lord commences His work of redemption after He recalls His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in Exodus 2:24.” — Ligonier
“Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. 6 And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction.” — Malachi 4:5-6
“In the case of Simeon and Anna, Luke stressed that they were devout temple-goers and cherished the hope of the OT prophets. Simeon, he says, is “looking for the consolation of Israel” (2:25). And Anna is “looking for the redemption of Jerusalem” (2:38). In other words, these were model OT saints who kept the law of Moses and looked with eagerness toward the hope of the prophets…Up until John the Baptist’s coming, the word and the rule of God had been proclaimed through the law and the prophets (Luke 16:16), but now with the arrival of Jesus the King and his forerunner John, the word and rule of God is proclaimed and encountered in a new way. Jesus is the Word; Jesus is the King; the long awaited kingdom has now arrived (at least partially). For those who believe in Jesus, a tremendous shift occurs: no longer do we live merely in the era of promise with the law and the prophets awaiting the consolation of Israel. Now we live in the era of fulfillment when the kingdom of God is preached as present and powerful, albeit not yet consummated.” — John Piper
TAKEAWAYS: How can we recognize HIM?
Listen long enough to marvel at Jesus
v. 33 “The child’s father and mother marveled at what was said about him.”
“Sometimes God has to quiet us so we can hear him. Sometimes we have to be still so we can see him move.” — Daniel Darling
Declutter enough to embrace simplicity with Jesus
v. 39-40 “When Joseph and Mary had done everything required by the Law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee to their own town of Nazareth. 40 And the child grew and became strong; he was filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was on him.”