Luke 2 verses 22-14 this evening, it's on page 857 and 858.
!
I think I learned something that I didn't know before, and that is people learn much
more by observing models than they learn in the classroom.
Let me just say that again.
People learn much more by observing models than they learn in the classroom.
And to be honest, I've got to be dead, because it's pretty obvious, isn't it?
If you've played sport, you will know that you learn far more from models than you do
from your dad's coaching, right?
Or football, or rugby.
We learn more, don't we, from watching and seeing than we do from what they're saying.
I think that's true with eldership, isn't it?
It's why the characteristics of elders are so explicit.
Because you learn primarily from looking at the elders' lives.
It's certainly true in preaching, isn't it?
Normally, you can tell who someone's models are in their preaching quite easily by listening to them.
There was a time, wasn't it, I think Chris Roberts had stopped using the claw.
But my friends used to mock me, that you're the poor Levy claw, that you can turn the light bulb on off,
that I sometimes would be, he's over that now.
Because we like our models, aren't we?
We get like the people that we observe.
I think that's the teaching of the New Testament.
You watch, and you see, and you hear, you observe the model,
and you seek to emulate the model.
And I think that we learn far more from observing models than we do from listening.
So where can we find models for Christian living?
Where can you find a model for living life today as Christian people in the times that we live?
Well, Luke is writing to his patron, a man who is by the name of Theophilus.
Let's just come into chapter 1, verse 1.
Let's just get our bearings there, okay?
So Luke says, inasmuch as many people have undertaken to compile a narrative
of the things that have been accomplished among us,
what he's saying there is that Jesus is a fulfilment,
he is a fulfilment of what has been accomplished among us,
what's been fulfilled among us.
And then verse 2,
just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses,
that is, his source,
his eyewitness accounts,
that's where he got his information from.
And therefore, verse 3,
it seemed good to me also,
having followed all things closely for some time past,
to write an orderly account for you,
most excellent Theophilus.
In verse 3 there, Luke gives his,
really his research method.
I want you to know, Theophilus,
that I have investigated everything carefully
in order that I can write down an orderly account.
And so what you find in Luke is,
things are put next to each other,
very, very deliberate.
There's a very, very deliberate structure to Luke's gospel.
Now let me read to you the fourth verse,
literally.
It should read like this,
so that you may know the things which you've been taught.
Certainty.
So that you may know the things which you've been taught.
Certainty.
The last word of verse 4,
it's like an emphatic, emphatic,
underlined, bold printed word.
He wants you to have certainty.
He wants Theophilus' patron,
above all things,
in this orderly account,
which is based on eyewitness sources,
which has been researched thoroughly.
He wants Theophilus to be certain.
Certain of what?
Well then Luke gives us, doesn't he,
the fullest account in all the gospels
of the birth of Jesus Christ.
He wants us to be certain
about the fact of Jesus coming into the world.
So let's look at the marriage in chapter 1, verse 18.
Chapter 1, verse 18.
Here is the forerunner of the Lord Jesus.
Zechariah sends to the angel,
how can I know this?
For I am an old man,
and my wife is advanced in years.
The angel speaks to Zechariah,
and tells him that his aged wife,
Elizabeth, is about to give birth.
And Zechariah, well he's incredible,
he's in verse 18.
And sure enough, it turns out that
Elizabeth is the mother of John the Baptist,
and the wife of Zechariah becomes pregnant,
and in her sixth month of pregnancy,
the angel Gabriel comes to Mary,
look at verse 31.
Verse 31.
And says to Mary,
Behold, you will conceive in your womb,
and bear a son,
and you shall call his name Jesus.
Verse 32.
He will be great,
and will be called son of the most high God.
Verse 35.
And the angel answered here,
The Holy Spirit will come upon you,
and the power of the most high will overshadow you.
Therefore the child to be born
will be called holy,
the son of God.
In the Creed,
Sunday by Sunday,
we testify that our Lord Jesus
was born of the Virgin Mary.
An early Christian named Ignatius
said that he was both made,
that is of Mary,
and he is not made,
that is of the Holy Spirit.
He is of both,
both of Mary,
and he is of God.
And Matthew and Luke recount the Virgin birth,
but Matthew and Luke,
or Matthew and Mark on the other hand,
report that he is not the son of Joseph,
but he is the son of Mary.
The Bible says before you
that he is truly human,
born of Mary,
but he is truly divine,
he is not tainted by sin,
he is born of God.
And as such,
he can bridge the gap
between God and man,
because he is truly the God-man.
And in verse 38.
Mary said,
Behold, I am the servant of the Lord,
let it be to me
according to your word,
and the angel departed from her.
And I want you to notice her song,
in verses 52 to 53.
Do you see the song of Mary?
He has brought down the mighty
from their thrones,
and exalted those of humblest state.
He has filled the hungry with good things,
and the rich he has sent away empty.
The birth of this child,
who is the son of God,
the birth of this child,
who is conceived by the Holy Spirit,
in the womb of the Virgin Mary,
is going to be marked by
verses 52 and 53, humility.
If you come to chapter 2,
you will see that the Lord Jesus
is born in Bethlehem.
He's born in a stable.
And so chapter 2 in verse 10.
And the angel said to them,
Fear not, for behold,
I bring you good news
of great joy that will be for all people.
For unto you is born this day
in the city of David,
a Saviour who is Christ the Lord.
And this will be the sign to you,
you will find a baby
wrapped in swaddling clothes
and lying in a manger.
A manger.
The angel comes and announces
the birth to shepherds.
Shepherds were lowly people.
You don't worry too much
about shepherds.
They were people of no status.
So look at chapter 2 in verse 20.
And the shepherds returned
to glorify and praise God
for all they'd heard and seen
as they'd been told them.
Another early Christian said,
which is one of my favourite quotes,
says,
without ceasing to be
what he eternally was,
he became what he eternally was not.
Without ceasing to be
what he eternally was,
he became what he eternally was not.
God became flesh.
And Luke said,
I want you to get certainty about that.
Now let's follow what happened to Jesus.
He is circumcised,
can you see that?
On verse 22,
he is circumcised on the eighth day.
And on the 40th day,
he is brought for presentation.
Verse 21,
he's presented to Jerusalem.
The visit is timed by the law.
Circumcision on the eighth day,
that is the day
that vitamin K,
the blood-trotting agent,
is at its max.
It's a good day for circumcision.
And 14 days later,
he's presented at the temple.
Now there's nothing haphazard here.
The timetable has been set down
by God's law,
and this is no chance encounter.
So when he goes to Jerusalem,
verse 25,
he meets Simeon.
Now there was a man in Jerusalem
whose name was Simeon,
and this man was righteous and devout,
waiting for the consolation of Israel,
and the Holy Spirit was upon him.
It had been revealed to him
by the Holy Spirit,
that he would not see death
before he had seen the Lord's Christ.
It's been revealed to Simeon,
you will not die
until you see the Messiah.
So he has a conviction,
although he's getting on,
he would not die
until he'd seen the Christ of God.
And then he sees in verse 29,
and he says,
Lord, now let your servant depart in peace,
according to your word.
For my eyes have seen your salvation.
That you are prepared
in the presence of all peoples
a light for revelation to the Gentiles,
and for the glory to your people Israel.
Well, he's seen the Lord Christ.
He's seen Christ Jesus,
the Son of Mary,
the Son of God,
the second person of the Trinity.
Forty days old.
I've seen it.
I've seen him.
But I want you to notice
that the people were divided
in their response to this Lord Jesus.
Look at verse 30 or 4.
And Simeon blessed them.
And said to Mary, his mother,
Behold, this man is appointed
for the fall and the rising
of many in Israel,
and for a sign that is opposed.
And a sword will pierce
your own soul also,
so that thoughts from many hearts
may be revealed.
He will bring about division.
Do you see that?
There will be those who follow him.
There will be those who follow his Jesus,
but there will be those who will not follow him.
There will be those who recognize Jesus
for who he is,
but there will be those who refuse
to recognize him.
And a sword, Mary,
will pierce your heart.
There will be those for whom Christianity,
well, they don't give it a second thought.
It's unimportant for them.
There will be those for whom
Christianity is of infinite importance.
And for those whom Christianity
is of no importance.
As C.S. Lewis said,
the only thing that cannot be
is moderately important.
Now notice a prophet,
an old man,
a six-week-old,
fragile little baby.
But there's another prophet that day.
And her name is Anna.
In verse 36.
There's a prophetess, Anna.
And she is the daughter of Phanuel
of the tribe of Asher.
And she is very old.
Now, when you're young,
23 seems very old, doesn't it?
Ali said to me this week,
I, she's pointing at me,
you are very old.
But this lady is very old.
She's definitely 84.
There's a good argument
that she might be 101,
but you fall asleep
by the time I give it to you.
But she's 84.
She was widowed
after seven years' marriage.
And she's so devoted
that she virtually lives
at the temple.
And she gives thanks to God.
And she praises God
for the child.
In verse 38.
And coming up
at that very hour,
she began to give thanks to God
and to speak of him
to all who are waiting
for the redemption of Jerusalem.
Now, simply notice
what you're seeing
in Luke's Gospel.
What have you seen before?
What have you seen already tonight?
You have seen that
the Gospel comes
to the humble.
Look at how Luke
gives prominence
to women.
It's unthinkable
in his day and age.
Elizabeth,
Mary,
Anna.
And it's not as though
he neglects the aged,
the aged Zechariah,
the aged Elizabeth,
the aged Simeon,
the aged Anna.
All of these are involved
in the coming of the Christ.
This Gospel is going to come,
this Christ is going to come,
and he's going to solve
the greatest problem
of humankind.
But he will not do it
in a way that pays
any concession
to our pride.
He will do it
in a way of humility.
And the people
who are involved in it,
they are women
and aged people.
Look at verse 39.
When they performed
everything according
to the law of the Lord,
they returned into Galilee
to their own town
of Nazareth.
And the child grew up
and became strong,
filled with wisdom
and the favour of God
was upon him.
Where is my model,
where is your model
for living the Christian life
today?
You go to the basic shops
in Oxford Street,
Westfield,
and you're confronted
by Santa,
and all the array
of consumables.
Who is your model?
My model is Simeon
and Anna.
And your model
is Simeon and Anna.
Simeon and Anna
give us a pattern
for living the Christian
life today.
And I cannot think
of anyone in the Bible
who is more of a pattern
for me today,
living the Christian life
today in 2016,
than Simeon and Anna
apart from the Lord Jesus
himself.
But look at them,
he's there.
Here is our mentor,
here is our pattern,
this is the pattern
for living,
Simeon and Anna.
Here they are in Jerusalem,
the city of God,
living in the shadow
of the great temple.
The huge religious
infrastructure is in its place,
isn't it?
The Pharisees
and the Sadducees
and the teachers
of the law.
The Sanhedrin.
And here are two
little people.
Two little people.
I don't know whether
you've ever been to
the Vatican
in Rome.
I went when I was 12
and at that point
the church that
we were part of
didn't have a building
and the only room
that we could get
was a massive
sixth home common room
that had iron maiden
and death leather
posters all over
the walls.
And it was in a place
called
Come Ready Caillou.
It's a great year,
isn't it?
And then we
left
there
to go on holiday
in Rome
when you visited
the Vatican.
I don't know
where there have been in it.
It is magnificent.
It's like a
multinational corporation.
It's so
impressive.
It's like we went
to a little corner shop
for church.
And Simeon and
Adam must have been
overwhelmed by this.
All the respective
religious structures
in place.
All of the glory
of the new temple.
The Sadducees,
the Pharisees,
the Sanhedrin.
And here are these
two little people
and Jesus is Fadja.
He is born of
wedlock.
He is born in
a school of Bethlehem.
He is born in a stable.
He is placed in an
animal's feet trough.
He is barely
six weeks old.
He comes to the
holy city and he is
an old man.
Here is an old man
who has received
a promise.
And here is a woman
who is 84 years of age
and they are very much
in the minority
but they are looking
for the Christ.
The religious
hierarchy is in place.
The elders
are meeting
and yet
they all seem to be
going through the motions
without any sense
of expectation.
Living without
expectation.
Well here are
a people
of expectation
living without
any expectation.
Here is a nation
of hope
but it is living
in hopelessness.
He comes to the world
but the world
does not recognise him
and it does not
receive him
but Simeon does
and Anna does.
And they are people
of hope
living with hope
surrounded by
a people of hope
living in hopelessness.
But I apologize
that is precisely
our situation today.
This week
we will have
Presbytery.
I look forward
to Presbytery.
I really enjoy it.
We will have
committee meetings.
We will have
discussions
about possible
church plans.
Decisions will be made.
Candidates for the
ministry will be interviewed.
People will be nominated
for office.
Reports will be received.
Budgets approved.
Trustees
consulted.
Votes cast.
But I think the danger
always
for church
courts
is that
there may well
be little
real expectation
of the coming
of Christ.
People
with hope
living as if
there is no hope.
If they were
here today
they would be
a little bit
quaint
oddities
Anna and Simeon.
Old people
barely holding
on to life.
kind of people
no one really
wants turning up
to a church
plant.
You know what I mean?
But they are
waiting.
They are waiting.
And this is
the authentic
Christian.
This is the
authentic
Christian experience.
We are
anticipatory
people.
We are
looking to
the future.
God has
promised me
that in life
I will have
sex experiences.
six experiences.
Number one
I was born.
Number two
by his grace
I was born
again.
What are the
other four to
come?
Death
resurrection
judgment
and entering
into the new
heaven and
the new earth.
Do you see
that?
I was born
and by his
grace I have
been reborn.
I have been
born again.
But death,
resurrection,
judgment and
entering into
the new
heavens and
the new
earth are
all still
to come.
We have
had two
and there
are four
to come.
Don't you
think we
should be
like Simeon
and Anna?
We live
in anticipation
with a
future
focused
mindset.
Look at
chapter 2
verse 25.
There was a
man in
Jerusalem
whose name
was Simeon
and this
man was
righteous
and devout
waiting for
the consolation
of Israel
and the
Holy Spirit
was upon
him.
Chapter 2
verse 38.
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.
Listen to
the song
of Simeon
and if you
grew up in
the church
you've been
in a prayer
book service
it comes
up every
morning and
every evening
every single
evening.
Listen to
these words.
Now let
your sermon
depart in
peace according
to your
word for
my eyes
have seen
your salvation
which you
prepared before
the face of
all people
to be a
light to
lighten the
Gentiles and
to the glory
of your
people Israel.
And it's a
constant reminder
isn't it?
Cranwell wrote
that in the
prayer book
that Simeon
is our
model and
that Anna
is our
model.
That we
are looking
for the day
it's a
weekly
reminder
that we
do not
live for
the day
today
but we
live for
the day
which is
coming.
And we
allow our
hope to
spur us
on.
How are we
to live
holy and
godly lives
as we
wait for
the day?
How are we
to live?
We wait for
the blessed
hope.
That's how
we do it.
We say no
to ungodliness.
We live
godly and
upright lives
as we wait
for the
blessed
hope.
So here
is Charles
Simeon.
Charles
Simeon was
an Anglican
director for
50 years
at Cambridge
University.
His church
is opposite
King's College
Chapel and
Simeon laboured
there in a
remarkable
ministry.
He saw
young men
and women
converted and
one of those
young men was
a young man
by the name
of Henry
Martin.
And Henry
Martin had a
wonderful career
ahead of him as
a linguist but
when he came to
Christ he turned
his back on that
and he went to
India and
Persia and
modern day Iran
and he began to
translate the
scriptures in
those places.
At the age of
31 Henry
Martin went to
Turkey and he
died.
At the age of
31.
And Charles
Simeon had
placed in his
drawer room a
portrait of
Henry Martin.
And every
morning one
biographer said
Simeon would
come past that
portrait and
stop and he
would look into
the face of the
painted Henry
Martin.
And he would
say be
serious.
Be earnest.
Don't trifle.
I won't
trifle.
That's living for
the day.
Be serious.
Be earnest.
Don't trifle.
I won't
trifle.
Simeon and
Anna were
expectant
waiters for
the day.
Oh the first
day has come.
The first
advent and it
is great fun
and we should
enjoy it.
But the
second advent
is coming.
I reread this
and you can
ask him why
Bishop Frank
Ratief.
Bishop Frank
Ratief was
evangelical
minister in
South Africa
and in 1993
four men
broke into
his church
in the evening
service.
They took
automatic weapons
and they
killed 11
members of
his congregation.
There were
58 people
wounded as a
result of that
break-in.
Frank
Ratief said
this.
As a result
of that I
formulated my
five minute
rule.
And my
five minute
rule is
this.
Whatever is
causing the
anxiety and
worry right
now, imagine
I was to die
and go to
heaven in
five minutes.
Or the
Lord Jesus
was to come
again in
five minutes.
Now how
does the
issue look
in the
light of my
five minute
rule?
Till my
death or
the coming
Lord Jesus?
And Frank
Ratief says
that he
formulated the
five minute
rule not
to live for
now, but
to live in
the light of
the imminence
of eternity.
And that's
how Samir and
Anna lived.
They had a
promise.
Anna was
looking every
day, 84
years of age,
but she did
not lose that
sense of
expectation.
What about
you?
Will you
live today
and tomorrow
by the five
minute rule?
He is
coming and
it could
be at
any
moment.
And how
does that
which causes
so much
anxiety look
in the
light of
his return?
Simeon and
Anna are
examples,
are models,
are pattern,
are mentors.
Be serious,
be earnest,
don't trifle.
let's pray.
Let's pray.
Thank you.