Christmas 1
– Series C
December 30, 2018
Luke 2:25-40
"Would
You Recognize Christ If You Saw Him?"
Would you recognize Christ if you saw Him?
After all, what is one baby among so many? Don’t they all look alike? If nobody
told you who the baby was or who the parents were, would you know this child?
Here is the marvel and miracle of Simeon. The baby Jesus, according to Luke’s
account, is only forty days old. Simeon had never met the baby’s parents. Yet,
in this baby Simeon recognized the Messiah. How many see Jesus as the Christ,
the Son of God, and the Savior? What does one have to have to recognize the
Christ in this child Jesus? That my friends, is the question we will consider
this morning.
To recognize
the Christ in Jesus there are three things that are necessary.
1. To recognize the Christ we must first
look for Him in hope. “Now there was
in Jerusalem a man called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting
for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him…"
Simeon had
looked for the Savior’s coming for many a year. We have witnessed His coming
and we anticipate His Second Coming on the last great day. Like Simeon we need
to look for Him in a hope that He will come at just the right time. As He came
the first time at just the right time he will also come again in glory at just
the right time. There is still a time for us to wait for Jesus. It is not in
the anticipation of the celebration at Christmas but rather it is in living in
anxious expectation for Him to return at just the right time to take us to be
with Him in glory. Like Simeon Live in that hope.
This Jesus
took your flesh. He became one of us, so that He might understand you all the
better, share in the same experiences that you had, live out life like you do.
For if He had not become human flesh. He could not redeem human flesh. For that
which He cannot touch, He cannot heal. And if He cannot heal it. He cannot
redeem it. [Gregory of Nazianzus] [1]
2. To recognize the Christ we must live
close to God. Luke tells us something about Simeon’s character. He was
"…righteous and devout…"
(v.25)
Isaiah
45:22-25 tells us to "turn" (v.22) This is a common
word in the Old Testament. Often it is used as "return". It means to
repent, to change one’s mind, and make an about face from serving Satan to
serving God. To turn indicates that a person has sinned by going away from God,
by being faithless in serving false gods and rebelling against the true God. To
turn means grace. God asks us to come back to Him and if we do, there is forgiveness
and acceptance. Simeon remains for us an excellent role model of what it means
to remain faithful. It does not mean that one remains perfect in every respect
but rather that we see in Christ the reason for our salvation and then in
repentance and faith we turn to Him for life. That’s what it means to be
devout. That’s what it means to live close to God. To have our focus on Christ
is what is needed today.
3. To recognize the Christ we must be led
of the Spirit. "Moved by the
Spirit, he went to the temple courts…and took the child in his arms…"
Simeon was a
Spirit possessed man. He did not have to wait until Pentecost to get the
Spirit. This reminds us that the Spirit is as old as God is, for the Spirit is
God Himself. When and how Simeon received the Spirit, we do not know. It is
enough that we see that the spirit possessed Simeon, for the Holy Spirit gave
him the revelation that the baby Jesus was the Christ.
It was the
Holy Spirit that inspired him to enter the temple at just the right time to see
and behold Jesus. Likewise the same Spirit has directed you to behold this baby
and for you to recognize Him as the Christ.
This is the
last worship service in the year of our Lord 2018. What can we say? Man has
been wounded. Christ has come to heal. Man has been lost. Christ has come to
find and return. Man’s greatest enemy is death. Christ has come to conquer
it. Christ, the Divine, stooped to be
human, and when he stood back up, He raised us up too.
Having seen
the Christ Simeon was now ready to depart from this world in peace. For Simeon,
death had no terror because, having seen Christ, Simeon was sure of his
salvation. You have seen the Lord’s salvation. The future has no terror because
we have seen the Lord’s Christ and thus we too are assured of our salvation.
May the prayer of Simeon be your prayer too as we say farewell to 2018 and
hello to another New Year. Having witnessed Christ we are now free to face the
future with the same assurance as Simeon. You can be at peace. For Christ is at
peace. He is the Prince of peace.
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