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As the old year-ends and the New Year begins this is a time when thinking about things we might like to accomplish or experience comes naturally to us.

I don’t have an actual list, but Jacob and I have talked about a few things that we would like to do together sometime as a father and son.  We want to attend a super bowl, a final four, a home run derby, a slam dunk contest, a world cup game, as you can see they pretty much all revolve around sports that we would like to see.

Well, today we are going to take a quick look at a couple of people from Scripture who had maybe a different kind of bucket list. Please turn with me in your Bibles to the Gospel of Luke, chapter 2.  So over the last few weeks we have been looking at different parts of the traditional nativity story from the Bible.  We looked at Mary’s magnificat, the story of the trip from Nazareth to Bethlehem and the birth of Jesus, and then also the visit of the Magi.  I mentioned last week that I have a little bit of a pet peeve when it comes to the presence of the Magi in our traditional nativity scenes, not because I don’t like the story, but because everything that we read in Scripture suggests that they most likely arrived later, potentially when Jesus was closer to two years old.  And yet many nativity scenes include the wise men with the shepherds at the manger with the baby Jesus.

Now as I mentioned last week, it is fine to consider them part of the nativity story, as long as we recognize the actual facts from Scripture compared to what we have made up over time.  But one thing that I find really interesting is that there are a couple of other people who were most likely present much closer to Jesus’ birth when Jesus was still a baby compared to when the Magi showed  up and yet while the Magi are included, these two people are not.

Simeon and Anna.  We find their story in Luke 2 right after the passage on the shepherds.  “22 And when the time came for their purification according to the Law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord 23 (as it is written in the Law of the Lord, “Every male who first opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord”) 24 and to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the Law of the Lord, “a pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons.” 25 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. 26 And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. 27 And he came in the Spirit into the temple, and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him according to the custom of the Law, 28 he took him up in his arms and blessed God and said, 29 “Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace, according to your word; 30 for my eyes have seen your salvation 31 that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, 32 a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel.” 33 And his father and his mother marveled at what was said about him. 34 And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, “Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is opposed 35 (and a sword will pierce through your own soul also), so that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed.” 36 And there was a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was advanced in years, having lived with her husband seven years from when she was a virgin, 37 and then as a widow until she was eighty-four. She did not depart from the temple, worshiping with fasting and prayer night and day. 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.”

So like I said, this story is from when Jesus was still a baby, most likely much closer to his actual birth than the story of the Magi.  Take a look at verse 22: “22 And when the time came for their purification according to the Law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord”

So this law is recorded for us in Leviticus 12 where it speaks of what to do after a woman conceives a child.  If the child is a boy, they are to wait 40 days and then bring him to the priest and offer a sacrifice.  The sacrifice is actually to be a lamb for a burnt offering and a pigeon or turtledove for a sin offering, although if they can’t afford the lamb, they can bring two pigeons or two turtledoves, which is what we see Mary and Joseph bringing here.  So this is taking place when Jesus is about six weeks old.  He is still a baby, which is why I think that Simeon and Anna kind of get the raw end of the deal being left out of most of our nativity story pictures.  But that is not my main point.

I have been working through the book of Luke lately in my devotions and I came across this passage, on December 22.  And so I just thought for a short devotional message today before our time of communion and sharing, it would be good to share something from my recent devotions.  The thing that really jumped out at me is the devotion of Simeon and Anna.

Let’s take another look at Simeon “25 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. 26 And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. 27 And he came in the Spirit into the temple, and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him according to the custom of the Law, 28 he took him up in his arms and blessed God and said, 29 “Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace, according to your word; 30 for my eyes have seen your salvation 31 that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples…”

The Holy Spirit has revealed to Simeon that he will not die until he lays eyes on the Messiah.  And he is perfectly content with that.  Then Joseph, Mary and Jesus show up and he has the opportunity to take the baby Messiah and hold him in his arms.  Imagine what that must have been like.  And then he says that now he can die in peace because he has seen God’s salvation.   God has fulfilled his promise and let him see the Messiah.  How cool is that?  He didn’t get to see Jesus grow up.  He never got to hear any of Jesus’ sermons or witness any of Jesus’ miracles.  He didn’t see Him die for the sins of mankind.  All he really got to do was hold a baby.  How did he know that this was the Messiah?  Only because the Holy Spirit inside of him was letting him know.  He was so in tune with God that he knew.

I don’t know about you, but I want to be that in tune with the Holy Spirit inside of me that I know what God is saying and doing without having to see some kind of tangible evidence. Everyone else around them just saw Jesus as a baby, but Simeon recognized the Messiah.  That is pretty cool.  I want to be like Simeon.

There is a lot more we could probably get into here, but since this is just a devotional, I am going to skip over to Anna.  Take a look at verses 36-38: “36 And there was a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was advanced in years, having lived with her husband seven years from when she was a virgin, 37 and then as a widow until she was eighty-four. She did not depart from the temple, worshiping with fasting and prayer night and day. 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.”

So Anna is also an amazing character.  She is an elderly lady and has been a widow for quite some time.  We don’t know exactly when she got married, but many girls in that time got married as teenagers so she was probably pretty young when she became a widow.  And for who knows how long she has been basically living at the temple, worshipping, fasting, and praying night and day.

Anna maybe got some strange looks from passersby.  Even other church going passersby probably looked at Anna as pretty extreme.  You know those people in church who are so devout, so focused on God that they are maybe a little out of touch with the rest of the world?  Let’s be honest with ourselves right now.  How many of us have seen or known someone that seemed to be a little extra Jesus freaky in the church?  You know what I am talking about?  Like they seem kind of religiously kooky?  And so maybe sometimes we avoid them a little bit, or look at them a little bit strange? I bet she had many people who avoided her or didn’t know what to think about her.  But look at her now.  We can really see the hand of God with her in this passage.  And it makes me wonder if sometimes there are people that we pass by who seem a little religiously kooky to us and yet maybe we are missing out on their connection with God?

I guess this passage just shows off to me two amazing people who are often overlooked and yet God was at work in their lives in an amazing way.   Probably not very many people at that time noticed what was happening with Simeon and Anna as they met Jesus.  And sometimes even today we skip over their story to get to some more interesting ones.  But there is something really cool about Simeon and Anna.  I don’t think they probably had a bucket list, but I would imagine that if they did, seeing the Messiah would probably have been on the top of the list.  I think that God was more important to them than anything else in their lives.  They lived for him.  And it is great that we get to read their story, and be inspired by their devotion.

 

 

 

Please turn with me in your Bibles to the book of Isaiah, chapter 37. So throughout this year we have been having sermons that have come out of your questions. Today we will be addressing a question that someone had on learning how to pray. This is not the typical passage that we might turn to when considering how to pray. Usually when someone asks about prayer we have a tendency to go to a passage like Matthew 6 where we find the Lord’s Prayer. This one is a little bit different, but I think it is a good place for us to spend some time.

Now before we get to the passage itself, let me provide a little background. So the main character in our story today is a guy named Hezekiah. He was king during a time when the nation of Israel had been split in two. Hezekiah was the king of Judah. Shortly before his reign the northern kingdom of Israel was defeated and the people taken away into exile by the mighty Assyrian army, and by the time we arrive in the passage we are going to look at, Hezekiah has been king for about 14 years and now King Sennacherib of Assyria is threatening Judah.

Judah had been paying tribute to Assyria, but Hezekiah decided to stop that and made an alliance with Egypt to help him stand against Assyria. But this did not sit well with King Sennacherib of Assyria and he began making war against some of Judah’s fortified cities and began threatening King Hezekiah.

In chapter 36, verse 2 we find that Sennacherib sent the Rabshakeh, to Hezekiah. This is not a name of a person, but a title. Some have said that it referenced the chief cupbearer, but suggest that he was a high-ranking military official, which seems to make more sense to me.

Anyway, the Rabshakeh goes to Judah and he brings a message, let me share with you a little bit of his message, from verses 4 and 5 of Isaiah : “4 And the Rabshakeh said to them, “Say to Hezekiah, ‘Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria: On what do you rest this trust of yours? 5 Do you think that mere words are strategy and power for war? In whom do you now trust, that you have rebelled against me?”

The message goes on from there, but basically he says that they have no chance against the mighty Assyrian army, that they have no allies, that they can’t trust their leaders, that God is not going to defend them, that nobody has been able to stand against Assyria so far, so they should just surrender.

In the midst of that the leaders of Judah actually asked the Rabshekah to stop speaking in a language the people could understand, because they didn’t want the people there to hear this threatening message. But the Rabshekah responded with these words in verses 12-15: “12 “Has my master sent me to speak these words to your master and to you, and not to the men sitting on the wall, who are doomed with you to eat their own dung and drink their own urine?” 13 Then the Rabshakeh stood and called out in a loud voice in the language of Judah: “Hear the words of the great king, the king of Assyria! 14 Thus says the king: ‘Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he will not be able to deliver you. 15 Do not let Hezekiah make you trust in the Lord by saying, “The Lord will surely deliver us. This city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.”

And he continued to threaten them, trying to get them to be frightened and to doubt God and to give up.

So Hezekiah’s response was to tear his clothes, cover himself with sackcloth and go to the temple where he called for Isaiah the prophet to join him and he called on the people to pray. So Isaiah arrived and gave him some encouraging words from God that he was going to take care of Assyria.

But then Sennahcerib, king of Assyria, sent a threatening letter to Hezekiah, challenging him to not trust in God, because other nations had trusted in their gods to protect them from Assyria but Assyria destroyed them anyway, and so he said trusting in God wasn’t going to work for Judah.

That provides the context for the passage we are going to look at today. I would imagine that he felt a pretty heavy weight on his shoulders, not just fear for his own life, but for his entire kingdom. This was a mighty, scary army and they were making some really serious threats.

With that in mind, let’s take a look at what Hezekiah does when he gets this letter. Look at verses 14-15: “14 Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it; and Hezekiah went up to the house of the Lord, and spread it before the Lord. 15 And Hezekiah prayed to the Lord:”

So like we said, this was a dangerous, scary, intense situation. It basically was the very real threat of death for himself and many of his people. How he handled it is a beautiful picture of what we are supposed to do in difficult situations.

But it is not just instructions for what to do, it is more like an image to grab hold of as we see Hezekiah going up to the Lord and spreading this letter out before him. It is literally laying our situation out before the Lord and saying will you take care of this. This is a visual image for us of how to pray.

But we have more details, because the following verses contain what he prayed and it is a beautiful example that informs us about what our prayers can be like.

Let’s take a look at how he prays: “16 “O Lord of hosts, God of Israel, enthroned above the cherubim, you are the God, you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; you have made heaven and earth. 17 Incline your ear, O Lord, and hear; open your eyes, O Lord, and see; and hear all the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to mock the living God. 18 Truly, O Lord, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the nations and their lands, 19 and have cast their gods into the fire. For they were no gods, but the work of men’s hands, wood and stone. Therefore they were destroyed. 20 So now, O Lord our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone are the Lord.”

I want to point out two things that Hezekiah does in this prayer, that I think sometimes we maybe forget. The first thing Hezekiah does is to get his perspective right. Remember, what Hezekiah was facing was a really big deal and while we may not identify with his exact situation, we do know what it is like to face difficult things in our own lives.

When we are faced with tough times, our problems become so large, so consuming that we can’t hardly see anything else and in the midst of that it can be easy to lose sight of God.

Hezekiah begins by getting his perspective right. He starts with a right recognition of who God is and his own complete dependence on Him. He prays, “Lord of hosts, God of Israel, enthroned above the cherubim, you are God alone, the creator of Heaven and earth.” What are some things you might remember about God that would help you get your perspective right? His infinite power. His justice. His mercy? That He hears us?

 

This is the right place to start with prayer. This step helps us take our eyes off of ourselves and our needs and recognize that we are actually praying to a God who can do something about our situation. When we refocus on the Creator of the Universe we are reminded that He is able to do immeasurably more than all we could ever ask and think.

When we take the time to do that, it can help us remember that no matter how big our problem is, God is still bigger. This also involves realizing that He is in control, that He knows what He is doing, that He hears us when we pray, that He knows our needs even before we ask Him, that He loves us and cares about what we are going through, and all the other lessons we have learned about God so far in our lives. Prayer should begin with getting our perspective right.

Then Hezekiah moves on to lay out his problem before the Lord in verses 17-19. He is open and honest and real with God about what is going on. In these verses I see Hezekiah’s concerns, I can imagine his fear and his discouragement.

Second thing that I want to point out is that Hezekiah doesn’t just emotionally barf on God, as if he is complaining about his lot in life. He specifically asks God to intervene and save them in verse 20. God doesn’t want us to just complain or whine about our lives, He wants us to ask Him to work. He wants us to invite Him to get involved in our lives.

It is important for us to take this step and ask for God to work, because we are inviting Him in. And then when God steps in and works, He receives the glory, and we can’t just chalk it up to coincidence. And notice that Hezekiah also sees the bigger picture and that ultimately God wants the whole world to know him

This is a beautiful prayer and a good reminder for how we can pray about the problems we face. I love the image of him laying out the letter before the Lord.

Maybe you are here today and you feel the weight of the world on your shoulders. Maybe your future hangs in the balance and this problem you are facing is consuming you completely. I get that. We’ve all been there, and we will be again.

And just as a little further encouragement, let me share with you what happens next. At the end of this chapter in verses 36-38 we read this: “And the angel of the Lord went out and struck down 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians. And when people arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies. 37 Then Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and returned home and lived at Nineveh. 38 And as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, Adrammelech and Sharezer, his sons, struck him down with the sword.”

I would imagine that as word of this spread, God was indeed glorified.

I want to leave you with one main thing from this sermon today.

Hezekiah laid out his problems before the Lord, and God intervened in a miraculous way. He laid out his problem and the problem was taken care of. Assyria was defeated. But all those other countries had gods too, and their gods did not save them.

The difference is our God is real. All the other countries were destroyed by Assyria. When we pray, we are praying to a God who is really God. He alone is God. And He can do some amazing things. When we pray, we are praying to a God who is actually able to do something about our requests. I think sometimes we forget that. I think sometimes we pray, because we think we are supposed to pray, but we don’t really expect anything to happen. I don’t know if it is because we don’t think God can fix our problem? Or maybe it is that we just don’t think He will? Or maybe we are just scared to get our hopes up? I don’t know.

So overall, I hope you remember the image of Hezekiah laying out his problem before God. And I hope that you are reminded of having a right perspective and inviting God to work in your life. But what I really want to make sure we get today, is that when we have a problem we have the opportunity to pray to a God who is actually able to do something about that problem. He can work miracles. Let’s never forget that. So let’s ask boldly for God to intervene in our lives and work in ways that are beyond our imagination, and then let’s really expect Him to do something.

According to Wikipedia, Mr. Magoo was a wealthy, short-statured retiree who gets into a series of comical situations as a result of his nearsightedness, compounded by his stubborn refusal to admit the problem. However, through uncanny streaks of luck, the situation always seems to work itself out for him, leaving him no worse than before.

I didn’t really remember much, so I went online and looked it up and watched the opening scene which is him driving in his car and he winds up on the railroad track, then crashing through a barn, then knocking over a fire hydrant, then his car is picked up by a crane, and he lands on a roller coaster then drives off of that onto some power lines. Basically he is so nearsighted that he is can’t see anything and it gets him into wacky mishaps.

Well, today we are going to talk about how to not be like a spiritual version of Mr. Magoo. Please turn with me in your Bibles to the book of 2 Peter, chapter 1. So throughout this year we have been looking at passages brought on by questions from people in our congregation. Some of the questions have been with regard to a specific topic, but this question is simply wanting to hear a sermon on 2 Peter 1:3-11.

In this letter Peter seems to be writing to a general audience of believers. He writes about a few things, but one of them is about growing in Christ. With that in mind, let’s break this down, beginning with verses 3-4: “3 His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, 4 by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.”

Peter talks about several different ideas in this passage so let’s break it down a little bit. What does he mean when he says “his divine power?” God’s work and His might. God is able to do more than we could ever ask or imagine. That is the power we are talking about.

And by that power, he has given us: all things that pertain to life and godliness. This means that he gives us what we need to know and follow him. So not only salvation itself, but also the power to grow as Christians comes from God. When we become Christians, not only are we brought back to a right relationship with God, we are also empowered to live for him and grow in him, through our knowledge of Christ. He has given us everything we need.

And the knowledge that Peter is talking about here is not just referring to us hearing about Jesus and believing that what we heard is true. This is referring to an intimate knowledge of Christ, where we know him personally as we have encountered him.

Then Peter refers to precious and very great promises, through which we become partakers of the divine nature. He is talking about the things God has done for us. We have been redeemed or bought with a price. We have been adopted as sons and daughters of God. We have received grace and mercy. We have been declared righteous and justified. We have been cleansed or forgiven of our sin and given new life in Christ. We have been made new creations. We have been given the Holy Spirit and look forward to an eternity in Heaven.   All of that happens in us from God through Christ.

And notice Peter points out escaping the corruption of sin. It is interesting that he uses the word escape. For me one of the things that came to mind was like Indiana Jones escaping from that huge rolling rock that was tumbling down after him during the opening part of Raiders of the Lost Ark. But this is talking about how we escape sin and the effects of sin, through Christ and we are reborn, given a new spiritual life in him.

Let’s move on to verses 5-8: “5 For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, 6 and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, 7 and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. 8 For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

 We need to begin with the understanding that the salvation we receive is freely given and that grace is received simply by faith. Peter has just finished talking about these precious and so great promises and that we have been given all things. It is not based on anything we do. God works in us through Christ to accomplish these precious and very great promises. But here we also begin to see that there is something that we participate in after conversion. Notice that Peter says to make every effort.   That suggests that what he is talking about is not just us sitting back and waiting for something to happen, but actually making an effort.

So we could have never earned our salvation, but after coming to know Christ, we are supposed to make an effort to grow. He is calling us to active Christianity. And specifically we see that we are to add things to our faith.

We are supposed to add virtue, which means moral excellence. We are to add knowledge. Then comes self-control, which is mastery over our desires, impulses, and temptation. And steadfastness, which would be like perseverance or patience. Standing in the face of adversity. And then we have godliness which gets back to our devotion to God. Actually it is the main word from which we get the word religion. It means having a right attitude toward God and toward others. And then Peter mentions brotherly affection and then love. Brotherly affection is specifically dealing with family members. It is the word philadephia, which here in America is the city of brotherly love. It is talking about our relationship with one another within the church. But the next word that is translated here, as love is the word agape, which refers to a self sacrificing kind of love.     Seeking the highest good for others, putting others first.

Peter then says that if these qualities are ours in increasing measure then we will be less likely to be ineffective and unfruitful. I want to point out the idea of these things being ours in increasing measure. We are to be continually growing in these things. It is not that we add one of them to our lives and then we are good in that area, we are constantly growing in each of these areas and it suggests that there will always be room for growth.

Coming to know Christ is the beginning of a journey with him. And on that journey we are supposed to be growing. That is what being a disciple is all about. We are to be becoming like Christ.

How we do in these areas is not going to determine our salvation, but if we are not growing in these areas, then it might be indicative of a problem in our Christian walk.

But I am not going to be giving you 10 ways to increase your self-control or things like that today. I think there is something else for us to get out of this passage.

Take a look at verses 9-11: “9 For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. 10 Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall. 11 For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”

 Here is where the Mr. Magoo analogy comes into play. Peter calls them nearsighted because they have forgotten that they have been cleansed from their sins.   They forget what had happened to them and so they don’t continue to grow. This tracks back to what we were talking about earlier with all of the great and precious things that have been done for us through Christ and what it means to know him.

So if we flip this around, then it suggests that if we really understand the so great and precious things that God has done for us through Christ, then we will make the effort to grow in Christ.

Now I want to make two extremely important points here. First of all, it is Christ who works in us to help us grow. Remember as we talked about the opening part of this passage, God has given us everything we need for life and godliness. We can’t grow like this on our own. We rely on His work in our lives, like a branch remaining in the vine.

But also notice that we are not just passive either. This suggests an effort made by us. Verse 10 points out a diligence on our part. It means not neglecting our responsibility. We have a role to play in this, even though it is actually Christ at work in us helping us to grow, we are to make the effort.

But my focus today is not even on making the effort; I think there is something that needs to happen first.

There is an amazing reward that is awaiting us in the future; one that has been supplied or provided for us. We didn’t deserve it. It has been freely given.

No wonder someone who misses this is nearsighted and blind. They have failed to recognize how amazing it is that they have been provided for. And they have become stagnant and barren unfruitful Christians, because they have not made any effort to grow in their faith. They have been given this precious gift and rather than tending to it and helping it flourish, they have ignored it and let it just sit there.

So, I want us to realize that we have a part to play. We are to make an effort to grow. It means making the time to build our walk with the Lord. Getting to know Him, seeking Him, and choosing to go His way rather than running after other things.

So my challenge is for us to not be like Mr. Magoo. Let’s not be so nearsighted that we are blind. You know a nearsighted person would be only able to focus on what is right in front of them. It would lead to a very self-centered existence.

I am calling us to lift up our eyes and see the one who has given us these so very great and precious promises. Let’s realize the amazing things that God has given us through Christ and the incredible future we have in store for us. And let’s that move us to action, let that be the motivation we need to put in the effort to grow. All the while, let’s also recognize that even the growth itself is something that Christ will be accomplishing in us.

 

 

Deb Cherico and her husband John were part of The River for several years before we sent them out two years ago to pastor the church in Arlington, MN. About a week ago Deb lost her battle with cancer and her Memorial service was yesterday. I know that Deb had a big impact on many people in this congregation and she will be dearly missed. This passage is a good reminder for us in the midst of grief over loved ones we have lost.

Continue reading “Christ Our Coming King Part II”