WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:07.020 Let me add my word of welcome to Paul's. It's really great to see you tonight. It's good to have you with us. 00:00:07.240 --> 00:00:16.899 If I could just get you to flick back one page in the service sheet to the reading, which has in brackets next to it, to be read before the servant. 00:00:17.059 --> 00:00:22.679 So that's now. So we're going to read these three verses from Luke chapter 2. 00:00:23.120 --> 00:00:28.320 And I just want to help us to try and understand what Luke is saying here. 00:00:28.320 --> 00:00:31.260 So that's here and God's word. 00:00:32.340 --> 00:00:38.060 And there was a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel of the tribe of Asher. 00:00:38.679 --> 00:00:44.620 She was advanced in years, having lived with her husband seven years from when she was a virgin. 00:00:45.359 --> 00:00:47.840 And then as a widow until she was 84. 00:00:49.120 --> 00:00:54.920 She did not depart from the temple worshipping with fasting and prayer night and day. 00:00:54.920 --> 00:01:06.280 And coming up at that very hour, she began to give thanks to God and to speak of him to all who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem. 00:01:08.859 --> 00:01:11.960 If you keep that open in front of you, that would be really helpful. 00:01:11.959 --> 00:01:19.439 Looking back over this past year, we have all experienced one major thing, haven't we? 00:01:19.500 --> 00:01:27.500 The potential for life in this world to change really drastically. 00:01:28.819 --> 00:01:32.259 Can you even remember what life was like this time last year? 00:01:32.260 --> 00:01:38.380 If we could have looked into the future, we'd never have pictured it all, would we? 00:01:39.180 --> 00:01:49.600 There are things that I've said and heard and that we've seen in 2020 that would have baffled us in 2019 if we had future vision. 00:01:50.219 --> 00:01:53.640 Things I've said or heard this year in my own home. 00:01:54.000 --> 00:01:56.260 Darling, have you disinfected the bananas? 00:01:56.260 --> 00:02:01.920 Do you know, they wouldn't let me in the bank because I wasn't wearing a face mask. 00:02:03.100 --> 00:02:06.320 And that was such a beautiful wedding, wasn't it? 00:02:06.780 --> 00:02:07.580 A Zoom wedding. 00:02:09.300 --> 00:02:14.860 Of course, many of us have said and heard very, very sad things. 00:02:15.980 --> 00:02:21.719 We've seen very sad things that 12 months ago we never imagined, would have imagined that we would. 00:02:21.719 --> 00:02:31.180 Looking back, I wonder if we've learned not to base our expectations of the future on what we know of the present. 00:02:32.419 --> 00:02:39.659 That the present that we're so familiar with can change, just in a matter of moments. 00:02:41.460 --> 00:02:42.919 But do you know something this evening? 00:02:43.139 --> 00:02:48.460 God's people all through the Bible are counting on that being true. 00:02:48.460 --> 00:02:56.920 We are counting on a promise that things as they are, are not going to be the same forever. 00:02:58.240 --> 00:03:04.000 And we, in this church, have this hope that that really is the case. 00:03:05.120 --> 00:03:11.060 Now there are lots of people that we've been hearing about, haven't we, this evening, who were involved at the birth of Jesus Christ. 00:03:11.060 --> 00:03:19.080 And we're going to spend just a few moments looking at one person who features very briefly an elderly lady by the name of Anna. 00:03:20.219 --> 00:03:28.259 And Anna shows us, she teaches us what it means to expect change in our lives and in this world. 00:03:29.060 --> 00:03:31.780 I just want to highlight three things about her this evening. 00:03:32.219 --> 00:03:34.900 The first thing is how she was looking for change. 00:03:35.699 --> 00:03:37.259 How she was looking for change. 00:03:37.259 --> 00:03:46.919 And we see, first of all, that she is very intent on a search for a different and a better future, isn't she? 00:03:47.859 --> 00:03:54.680 She's got an anticipation which is robust that things as they are are not going to stay the same. 00:03:55.399 --> 00:03:57.079 That one day things are going to be different. 00:03:58.519 --> 00:04:03.899 And something one day was about to happen that would actually transform life for the better. 00:04:03.900 --> 00:04:11.180 And she's part of a group that Luke describes in verse 38 as those waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem. 00:04:12.280 --> 00:04:15.020 She, like them, was waiting for a change. 00:04:16.000 --> 00:04:18.920 Some kind of release, some kind of freedom. 00:04:19.920 --> 00:04:22.220 And see how she waits. 00:04:22.899 --> 00:04:25.600 She's really focused on this change, isn't she? 00:04:25.780 --> 00:04:29.160 She's not just sort of cruising along in life just hoping for the best. 00:04:29.800 --> 00:04:32.399 But she waits expectantly and intently. 00:04:32.399 --> 00:04:40.199 We're told that she looks for change day and night with prayer and fasting and worship. 00:04:41.799 --> 00:04:47.399 And that was really admirable because looking around her, there was no reason at all to expect change. 00:04:49.319 --> 00:04:54.679 The normal way of life in Jerusalem where she lived was something very, very predictable. 00:04:54.680 --> 00:05:01.819 Jerusalem has known war after war and invasion and occupation and desecration. 00:05:02.360 --> 00:05:06.379 If you read through the Old Testament, you can see the history of Jerusalem. 00:05:06.379 --> 00:05:16.019 Under the Assyrians and occupation under the Babylonians and then the Persians and then the Greeks and then the Roman Caesars. 00:05:17.159 --> 00:05:24.939 But despite that pattern, century after century, she still thinks, no, things can change. 00:05:24.939 --> 00:05:34.800 So easy, isn't it, that if we don't get what we're longing for, before too long, we become pardoned to the longing. 00:05:35.899 --> 00:05:37.939 We give way to self-pity. 00:05:38.860 --> 00:05:45.220 Maybe we look at others and we envy what they have already got that we're still waiting for. 00:05:45.220 --> 00:05:47.520 But she doesn't do that. 00:05:48.520 --> 00:05:53.360 Even despite the signs that say, nothing's going to change. 00:05:54.660 --> 00:05:57.000 And it's pictured in her own personal life. 00:05:57.140 --> 00:06:05.200 We're told in verse 36, she was advanced in years and lived as a widow for most of her life until she was 84. 00:06:05.199 --> 00:06:15.360 The original Greek, which Luke wrote this in, it could actually mean that she was a widow for 84, which would make her 107 or thereabouts. 00:06:16.019 --> 00:06:27.399 But either way, personally, she is a lady who has felt and endured the pain of longing for change for a very, very long time. 00:06:27.399 --> 00:06:44.219 As a widow, more than likely of low means, having no great personal tragedy in her life, has persistently and tenaciously kept looking for something to happen that is going to make things better. 00:06:45.500 --> 00:06:52.259 And in a way, her life is a picture of the whole city of Jerusalem as it was at the time. 00:06:52.979 --> 00:06:54.359 One of widowhood. 00:06:54.919 --> 00:06:56.139 And what that meant. 00:06:56.139 --> 00:07:03.240 Where safety and security and love had long since departed that place. 00:07:04.139 --> 00:07:10.339 And Jerusalem had known war and death and invasion and slavery and desecration. 00:07:10.959 --> 00:07:14.180 She, Jerusalem, had been downtrodden for so long. 00:07:15.079 --> 00:07:22.800 And the glory that she once knew as the city of God's blessing has been lost. 00:07:23.639 --> 00:07:25.979 And she feels abandoned and rejected. 00:07:26.139 --> 00:07:29.779 But she does not give up hope. 00:07:30.719 --> 00:07:35.819 That one day, the sorrows of the widow will be a thing of the past. 00:07:36.560 --> 00:07:38.839 And so that's how she was looking for change. 00:07:39.500 --> 00:07:42.240 But then, secondly, where she was looking for change. 00:07:43.459 --> 00:07:44.759 Where she was looking for it. 00:07:44.819 --> 00:07:48.060 Now, of course, we all want things to change for the better, don't we? 00:07:48.060 --> 00:07:51.639 None of us want things in this world to stay as they are. 00:07:51.699 --> 00:08:01.180 But as you look for change in your own life and in the world, do you know where to look for that? 00:08:01.180 --> 00:08:06.139 Do you know where real change is going to come from? 00:08:06.139 --> 00:08:15.180 Well, Anna goes to the place that is the last place on our minds to look for significant change. 00:08:15.819 --> 00:08:18.879 And do you see where she does her waiting in verse 37? 00:08:18.879 --> 00:08:25.560 For all this time, for all these years, she did not depart from the temple. 00:08:26.839 --> 00:08:28.259 Worshipping day and night. 00:08:28.259 --> 00:08:32.600 Where should we look for this big change that we need? 00:08:33.100 --> 00:08:34.980 I wonder how you would answer that tonight. 00:08:36.319 --> 00:08:43.460 We've been really sure over this last year that we've got a few places that we need to look, don't we, to make things better. 00:08:43.860 --> 00:08:45.379 A few particular places. 00:08:46.039 --> 00:08:50.159 We have needed to look to science to help us. 00:08:50.159 --> 00:08:57.699 Speaking to a parent outside the school gates just a couple of weeks ago, we were kind of moaning about the lockdown and what the rest of it. 00:08:58.199 --> 00:09:02.719 And she closed with the remarks, well, science will get us through, won't it? 00:09:03.939 --> 00:09:05.959 And we have needed to look to science. 00:09:06.259 --> 00:09:11.740 We've needed to look in the direction of our leaders and our experts and our professors, haven't we? 00:09:12.079 --> 00:09:15.679 Or to look to technology to keep us together. 00:09:15.679 --> 00:09:21.279 We've looked to our own remedies to solve our own ills. 00:09:22.319 --> 00:09:27.500 And many of those things have been wonderful things to look to and they've been wonderful helps. 00:09:27.919 --> 00:09:29.959 This vaccine is an amazing thing, isn't it? 00:09:31.419 --> 00:09:37.399 But I reckon most people would never have imagined to look where Anna looks. 00:09:38.959 --> 00:09:42.019 Where should you look, Anna, for this great change that we need? 00:09:42.759 --> 00:09:45.339 She anticipates it in the temple. 00:09:46.679 --> 00:09:53.859 She counts on change in the place of God with his people in worship and in prayer. 00:09:54.379 --> 00:09:56.159 And that is so weird, isn't it? 00:09:56.819 --> 00:09:57.859 To our ears. 00:09:58.979 --> 00:10:00.839 I just haven't thought of that, I don't know. 00:10:01.939 --> 00:10:05.219 Seeing from the outside, that just kind of seems quite dull. 00:10:05.399 --> 00:10:07.120 It seems religious and stuffy. 00:10:07.959 --> 00:10:10.879 It looks less like a vision of the future. 00:10:10.879 --> 00:10:15.419 And more of a sort of retrograde step into the past. 00:10:16.939 --> 00:10:21.860 When she longs for change, Anna goes to church. 00:10:21.860 --> 00:10:26.159 Where on earth would anyone want to go there? 00:10:27.539 --> 00:10:35.019 Well, as far as she's concerned, it is the only place on earth where real change is promised. 00:10:35.019 --> 00:10:37.139 And is going to happen. 00:10:37.699 --> 00:10:42.519 The place where God is going to do things with his people and for them. 00:10:43.199 --> 00:10:45.319 Where he is going to meet with his people. 00:10:45.799 --> 00:10:49.419 And where he will begin to transform the world as we know it. 00:10:49.419 --> 00:10:52.659 And so she hopes against hope. 00:10:53.240 --> 00:10:56.360 And she keeps believing and she keeps looking for change. 00:10:56.360 --> 00:10:58.959 Not because she's some hopeless optimist. 00:10:59.039 --> 00:11:01.899 Or she's just got a kind of visionary personality. 00:11:01.899 --> 00:11:05.879 But because in the temple she meets with. 00:11:06.679 --> 00:11:10.480 And hears from a God who makes grand promises. 00:11:12.139 --> 00:11:15.579 Where God says, I will change things. 00:11:16.740 --> 00:11:18.039 Look to me. 00:11:20.179 --> 00:11:22.620 We've heard some of those promises tonight. 00:11:22.799 --> 00:11:24.779 The same promises that Anna would have heard. 00:11:25.720 --> 00:11:27.159 Like from Isaiah. 00:11:28.000 --> 00:11:30.579 Of people walking in darkness. 00:11:30.580 --> 00:11:31.700 And now one day. 00:11:32.040 --> 00:11:34.300 Being able to see a great light. 00:11:36.420 --> 00:11:39.560 Perhaps we've given up hope of anything changing really. 00:11:39.900 --> 00:11:41.920 No wonders to transform the world. 00:11:42.040 --> 00:11:46.240 No grand and clear answers to the mess of the world that we're in. 00:11:46.980 --> 00:11:48.500 And we might dream of those things. 00:11:48.580 --> 00:11:50.420 But we don't really expect them, do we? 00:11:50.660 --> 00:11:51.660 But Anna tells us. 00:11:51.740 --> 00:11:54.340 It's not that those things don't happen and can't happen. 00:11:55.379 --> 00:11:57.340 But it's about where we're looking. 00:11:58.220 --> 00:11:59.720 To see those things happening. 00:11:59.720 --> 00:12:05.019 It's about where you need to look for the change that you need in your life. 00:12:05.759 --> 00:12:09.600 Above which horizon God is going to appear. 00:12:09.720 --> 00:12:10.779 And those two ideas. 00:12:11.180 --> 00:12:14.060 At that very hour, she gave thanks to God. 00:12:14.180 --> 00:12:15.180 The waiting is over. 00:12:15.360 --> 00:12:17.660 And began to speak of him. 00:12:17.899 --> 00:12:18.779 That's Jesus. 00:12:19.320 --> 00:12:20.960 To all who were waiting. 00:12:20.960 --> 00:12:26.540 The change the world longs for in its mess. 00:12:27.300 --> 00:12:29.879 The change that you long for. 00:12:30.519 --> 00:12:34.960 Anna tells you it's really more about who you're looking for tonight. 00:12:34.960 --> 00:12:37.940 You're looking for him. 00:12:39.460 --> 00:12:40.620 Why is that? 00:12:42.019 --> 00:12:47.200 In Luke's Gospel, Luke bookends the life of Jesus with this mention of an hour. 00:12:47.940 --> 00:12:48.660 It's interesting. 00:12:49.379 --> 00:12:51.940 There's this hour here at his birth. 00:12:52.340 --> 00:12:54.360 Where he appears in the temple. 00:12:54.360 --> 00:12:56.600 And there is an hour. 00:12:56.820 --> 00:12:58.279 If you go to the end of the Gospel. 00:12:58.779 --> 00:13:00.500 That marks his death. 00:13:01.240 --> 00:13:02.159 In Luke 22. 00:13:03.000 --> 00:13:05.379 Jesus is arrested by the authorities. 00:13:06.399 --> 00:13:08.220 And taken to his crucifixion. 00:13:08.480 --> 00:13:11.039 And like the Lord that he is. 00:13:11.100 --> 00:13:12.980 He explains to his killers. 00:13:12.980 --> 00:13:15.360 And why he is about to die. 00:13:16.480 --> 00:13:17.120 He says. 00:13:17.420 --> 00:13:19.620 When I was with you day after day in the temple. 00:13:19.779 --> 00:13:21.300 You didn't lay hands on me. 00:13:22.200 --> 00:13:24.539 But this is your hour. 00:13:25.399 --> 00:13:26.960 And the power of darkness. 00:13:28.399 --> 00:13:29.899 Jesus is saying there, isn't he? 00:13:29.899 --> 00:13:32.039 I am in control of this death. 00:13:32.120 --> 00:13:34.120 I am in control of what is about to happen. 00:13:35.560 --> 00:13:38.420 I'm not the victim of things getting out of control. 00:13:39.360 --> 00:13:41.159 But I am going to die. 00:13:41.159 --> 00:13:44.319 Because I am about to face the powers of darkness. 00:13:45.779 --> 00:13:47.839 And darkness and death. 00:13:48.480 --> 00:13:50.100 Are going to have their hour. 00:13:51.000 --> 00:13:51.659 With me. 00:13:52.759 --> 00:13:54.360 They're going to have their time. 00:13:55.899 --> 00:13:57.779 So when you rewind the story. 00:13:57.980 --> 00:14:01.159 It turns out that Anna's hour of redemption here. 00:14:02.100 --> 00:14:05.039 Comes because of Jesus' hour of rejection. 00:14:06.339 --> 00:14:07.899 In Anna's hour. 00:14:08.139 --> 00:14:10.419 She gives thanks for new life. 00:14:11.159 --> 00:14:12.879 Because in his hour. 00:14:13.559 --> 00:14:16.019 He gives himself to the pains of death. 00:14:16.779 --> 00:14:17.299 Darkness. 00:14:18.899 --> 00:14:22.459 And that is why Jesus is the one that you are waiting for. 00:14:24.059 --> 00:14:27.699 It's not that Jesus is going to make all of your problems go away tonight. 00:14:28.039 --> 00:14:28.659 It's not, is he? 00:14:29.319 --> 00:14:31.079 And Anna was still a widow. 00:14:31.080 --> 00:14:33.220 When she left the temple. 00:14:33.220 --> 00:14:34.379 That day. 00:14:34.379 --> 00:14:38.120 And Jerusalem was still a very troubled place to live in. 00:14:39.160 --> 00:14:46.500 But what Anna sees is that the redemption given in Jesus goes much, much deeper than what we see around us. 00:14:46.600 --> 00:14:50.620 The change is much bigger and much more significant. 00:14:50.620 --> 00:14:57.379 And she recognises along with the shepherds and the magi and Mary and Joseph. 00:14:57.379 --> 00:15:01.879 And she recognises along with the shepherds and the magi and the magi and the magi and the magi and the magi and the magi. 00:15:01.879 --> 00:15:02.279 And it's not that you are going to be able to do it. 00:15:02.279 --> 00:15:02.980 And it's not that you are going to be able to do it. 00:15:02.980 --> 00:15:06.259 Because he will save me from my sins. 00:15:06.259 --> 00:15:11.919 And this year has been both awful, hasn't it? 00:15:12.019 --> 00:15:15.240 And it's been amazing in places at the same time. 00:15:16.379 --> 00:15:19.559 Awful things have happened this year. 00:15:21.139 --> 00:15:27.899 But can I say, we shouldn't make those awful things bigger than they are. 00:15:29.159 --> 00:15:34.379 We shouldn't demonise those awful things that are so firmly in our memories. 00:15:34.379 --> 00:15:36.679 As bad as they have been. 00:15:37.179 --> 00:15:43.899 As if those things alone are bad enough to explain all the mess that this world is in. 00:15:45.480 --> 00:15:50.059 The virus does not explain it all, does it? 00:15:51.100 --> 00:15:55.919 Because even when it's gone, this world will still be in a mess. 00:15:57.039 --> 00:16:00.759 And next year will have its problems just the same as this year. 00:16:00.759 --> 00:16:05.039 And yet amazing things have happened too, haven't they? 00:16:06.299 --> 00:16:06.919 A vaccine. 00:16:08.120 --> 00:16:11.559 Seeing people loving one another and serving one another. 00:16:11.659 --> 00:16:12.580 It has been amazing. 00:16:13.980 --> 00:16:20.419 But at the same time, those things, as good as they are, we shouldn't idolise those things. 00:16:20.779 --> 00:16:25.819 As if those things have enough power to get us out of the mess. 00:16:25.820 --> 00:16:28.900 In themselves, they do not. 00:16:30.500 --> 00:16:41.560 The deeper problem of which they are all symptoms is the darkness and the slavery due to our turning away from God who made us. 00:16:42.600 --> 00:16:43.820 That's what sin is. 00:16:43.820 --> 00:16:50.940 And few people admit that that is the real problem in our own lives and in the world. 00:16:51.879 --> 00:16:56.000 And that's why few people think to look where ammo looks for change. 00:16:56.879 --> 00:16:58.920 Change that is big enough to deal with it. 00:16:58.919 --> 00:17:05.460 But as you look to the place where God comes to meet with humanity in Jesus the man, 00:17:06.159 --> 00:17:12.079 you find there in him there is nothing that you fear that is in the darkness. 00:17:13.599 --> 00:17:19.000 Nothing that you fear in death and facing God with your shame. 00:17:19.000 --> 00:17:25.740 There is nothing there that he has not dealt with as he faces his hour. 00:17:26.200 --> 00:17:27.700 The hour of darkness. 00:17:28.819 --> 00:17:35.359 And there is no shame, there is no condemnation from God if you look to him. 00:17:36.559 --> 00:17:37.400 Only peace. 00:17:39.440 --> 00:17:47.720 Perhaps tonight you're aware that like Hannah, like Jerusalem, you're the rest of this supreme love. 00:17:47.720 --> 00:17:51.660 That maybe you've once enjoyed a love and security. 00:17:52.900 --> 00:17:54.779 Maybe it's been for too long. 00:17:55.900 --> 00:18:00.279 Like the city of Jerusalem, you've long forgotten God's blessings to you. 00:18:00.380 --> 00:18:01.440 Maybe that's you tonight. 00:18:02.839 --> 00:18:06.180 Well, learn from Hannah and don't give up hope. 00:18:08.279 --> 00:18:12.860 Look for change intently and prayerfully, day and night. 00:18:14.039 --> 00:18:15.680 And learn where to look. 00:18:15.680 --> 00:18:18.120 Not at what's around you. 00:18:18.980 --> 00:18:21.500 Not at your own remedies for your own ills. 00:18:22.240 --> 00:18:26.120 But look to the God who has come to be with his people in Jesus. 00:18:27.340 --> 00:18:30.400 Like Hannah, come to church. 00:18:30.400 --> 00:18:36.360 It is the best place to see how God is going to bring change through Jesus. 00:18:37.000 --> 00:18:38.640 For you and for the world. 00:18:39.440 --> 00:18:45.700 And we would be really, really delighted to welcome you here to join with us in hearing more of him. 00:18:45.700 --> 00:18:49.840 Let me close this evening by saying one more thing to you. 00:18:51.360 --> 00:18:53.660 Things can change for you tonight. 00:18:55.259 --> 00:18:56.900 At this very hour. 00:18:56.900 --> 00:19:01.960 God has come to you in Jesus. 00:19:01.960 --> 00:19:06.720 He has come to bring the change that you most need. 00:19:07.340 --> 00:19:09.180 To be right with him. 00:19:09.880 --> 00:19:10.880 To know him forever. 00:19:12.360 --> 00:19:18.940 And so please tonight, don't base your expectations of the future on what you know now. 00:19:18.940 --> 00:19:22.100 Things can change. 00:19:23.380 --> 00:19:24.940 And only with Jesus. 00:19:25.160 --> 00:19:26.259 Only with him. 00:19:27.259 --> 00:19:28.660 You can count on that. 00:19:29.700 --> 00:19:31.920 Don't let this hour pass you by. 00:19:32.340 --> 00:19:33.860 Don't let him pass you by. 00:19:33.859 --> 00:19:38.279 Because it's not what you're looking for tonight that matters, is it? 00:19:39.679 --> 00:19:41.219 It is who you're looking for. 00:19:43.299 --> 00:19:45.799 And so I'm going to lead us in a prayer now. 00:19:45.919 --> 00:19:50.019 And I'll invite you to pray this quietly in your hearts with me. 00:19:50.459 --> 00:19:51.419 As a response. 00:19:51.859 --> 00:19:52.500 Let's pray. 00:19:52.500 --> 00:19:52.539 Let's pray.