The Satisfaction of Simeon (Luke 2:25-35)

Pastor Erwin McManus smashed a perfectly good radio to bits as he spoke at Bethel Seminary’s annual Transformational Church conference three years ago. I'll never forget the moment. Toward the end of his message, he picked up a nice, brand new desktop radio. He told us the little radio in his hand was an illustration of the uniquely created life each person on planet earth had been given by Almighty God. Our radio has all sorts of fancy switches, dials, antennas, a power supply and increasingly complex electronics. And we’re all just down here trying to get the thing to work somehow; we’re all feverishly trying to get music out of it. We’re trying to satisfy our desires for meaning, answers, entertainment, joy, and fulfillment from the thing. And so we fiddle with the volume and we play with the dials. We try all sorts of different batteries and fancy power supplies. We polish it all pretty and compare it to the radios of others. But we just can’t seem to get it to work right. The dumb thing just won’t pull in the stations we want. So we take it apart, put it back together, shake it around, bang it just a bit on the table top, we try every reasonable and sometimes not so reasonable solution we can think of but,…eventually, almost inevitably, many or maybe even most of us find ourselves standing over hopelessly smashed pieces of transistor, wire, battery and radio lying broken on the ground screaming at the top of our lungs…PLAY!!! PLAY!!! WHAT’S WRONG WITH YOU? PLAY!! WHY WON’T YOU PLAY?

And yet it won’t play. Eventually it might even get to the place where it will never play…

Does your radio play? Is your life making music? Is your life working? Have you found satisfaction or are you just one more of the completely numberless, nameless and increasingly numb people screaming down at the radio wreckage all over the floor? Does your radio play?

Open your Bibles to the second chapter of Luke’s gospel, verses 25-35. As we close our first year together this morning, I want to direct our attention to a very mysterious New Testament guy named Simeon we don’t know very much about. We don’t know who he really was. We don’t know anything about his family, education or economic status. We don’t know very much about what he did for a living. We don’t know what else he did in life before or after the incident we’re going to study today. We don’t know where he came from or where he went. Interestingly, this is the only place he appears in all of Scripture. And although scholars believe he was probably an older man, we don’t even know for a fact how old he really was at the time this incident took place. We don’t know hardly anything at all about this guy Simeon other than the fact that his radio worked well! Simeon was an enormously satisfied man, especially in the precious moment we’re going to study today. This mostly unknown, mostly anonymous, mostly insignificant and yet enormously faithful fellow Simeon absolutely found the satisfaction we’re all looking for.

For those of you unfamiliar with this particular biblical moment, please understand the baby Jesus has just been brought to the Temple to be officially redeemed by his parents in accordance with Jewish law. It is interesting to notice, by way of background, that humble Mary and Joseph made the sacrifice of the poor for their dear son Jesus; offering just two doves to redeem the Savior of the world. At first blush, this looks like a rather inauspicious and fairly forgettable moment in the young life of the Holy Family. But before they can even carry out the sacrifice, Mary, Joseph and the baby Jesus are greeted by a couple of mysterious, probably very old prophets; the first of which is our friend Simeon. Let’s pick up the story in verse 25…

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 upon him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord's Christ. Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the Law required, Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying: "Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you may now dismiss your servant in peace. For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all people, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel." The child's father and mother marveled at what was said about him. 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, so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too."

Glorious satisfaction and yet tremendous gravity. His radio plays. I have lots and lots of questions about this incident but, more than anything, I find myself enormously drawn to one particular moment in the story. As I’ve studied this passage over the years, it seems to me the moment driving the whole story is found in verse 29 where Simeon basically says, “Oh Lord, you have kept your promise to me and to us! My longing heart has now been satisfied! My eyes have seen your salvation! O Sovereign Lord, I am now satisfied enough to die in peace!”

I am now satisfied enough to die! Satisfied enough to die? Now assuming old Simeon wasn’t lying or exaggerating here, how much satisfaction do you suppose that sort of statement demands? Let’s quantify this comment. How satisfied does somebody have to be before they can honestly say something like that? When was the last time any of us felt so completely satisfied we could die and not resent God for ripping us off a few more years of life? When was the last time any of us honestly felt so satisfied we could “depart in peace?” I wonder, don’t you? Where does this sort of Simeon satisfaction come from? What does it take to get a radio to play this wonderfully? I see four lessons in Simeon’s behavior; four words to consider.

The first word is devoted. This guy was devoted. Verse 25 tells us this satisfied man Simeon was a righteous and devout fellow. Simeon was not a man who viewed his relationship with God as some sort of intellectual, religious ticket to be punched or argument to win. Simeon wasn’t just politely religious; he was profoundly righteous. He wasn’t just religious; he was living in relationship with God. He wasn’t interested in just doing minimal duties; he was devoted to His Lord. It may not be flashy, it shouldn’t be a new revelation to any of us, but I believe the first source of Simeon’s enormous, enduring satisfaction came from a lifetime of righteous devotion to God.

The wise and learned teacher, in Ecclesiastes 3:11, reminds us Almighty God has written eternity on the hearts of the human race. God has uniquely created each of us as spiritual beings; designed to live our lives in a righteous and devoted manner. Many of us have heard A.W. Tozer’s famous comment that we all have a “God-shaped vacuum” inside us that only God can fill. Eternity has been written on our hearts – only a devotion to what is eternal matters.

A few weeks ago, I went away for a couple of days for my annual prayer and planning retreat. Diana Estes once told a cute story in the Christian Reader of one of her pastor’s prayer retreats. She said, “Our former pastor would occasionally go on a personal retreat to pray and seek God's direction for his ministry. During one retreat, someone called the church office and asked, "May I speak with the pastor?" The secretary replied, "I'm sorry, but he's gone to be with the Lord this week." There was a long, pregnant, somber silence on the other end. Then the secretary realized what she had just said. "Oh, but he'll be back next week.”

Others might not understand, but only by “going to be with the Lord” can we know the satisfaction of the Lord. Only by righteously devoting ourselves to Almighty God and His ways can any of us ever begin to discover the satisfaction in life we were created by God to enjoy. Devotion is the first step on the path to holy satisfaction. It is the first word we must know.

The second word is submitted. Verses 25-27 tell us Simeon was filled with the Spirit, listening to the Spirit and led by the Holy Spirit to go into the Temple. Simeon submitted his life to the presence, voice and leadership of the Spirit. Simeon was obediently submitted.

Obedient submission is the means by which all devotion is ultimately expressed. God doesn’t care what we say we believe; God cares what our behavior demonstrates we believe.

There is one truly amazing, almost incidental comment in this passage we should park on for a moment. In verse 26, Luke off-handedly mentions that “it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord's Christ.” Think about this for a moment; what sort of righteousness, devotion and submission to the Holy Spirit do you suppose it takes to get Almighty God to trust somebody enough to let them in on arguably the biggest secret in human history? Talk about “insider information!” What sort of devotion and spiritual submission allows Almighty God to share insider information like that? Who does God entrust His biggest secrets to in Scripture? Why do you suppose God would let Simeon know something like that? Why do you suppose God would tenderly and hopefully whisper in this particular man’s ear? And perhaps most importantly, applying these questions to our lives, what secrets has God ever shared with us? What promises is God whispering in our ears?

I can answer all of these questions very simply. Simeon got to see Jesus in the Temple largely because Simeon was in the Temple that day. When the Spirit prompted Simeon to go to the Temple yet again that morning, Simeon submitted to the Spirit and went to the Temple. When the Holy Spirit promised Simeon he would see the Savior before he died, Simeon started looking around for the Savior. Simeon didn’t just feel or hear the Spirit, he submitted to the Spirit. God was able to share secrets because God knew Simeon would act on those secrets.

Folks, we don’t have a knowledge problem, do we? Though it pains a bookworm and perennial student like me to admit, the amount of information we need to know in order to faithfully love and follow Jesus is relatively insignificant. Most of the stuff we need to know we could learn by reading the children’s bulletin! We don’t need more information. We don’t have an information problem. We have a submission problem. We have a rebellion problem. We have a disobedience problem. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Love your neighbor as yourself. Do not store up treasures for yourselves here on earth where moth and rust destroy. Let he who is without sin cast the first stone. Do not worry about tomorrow. Don’t even look at another person lustfully. Give generously; give as has been given to you. We almost always know what we’re supposed to be doing most of the time, don’t we?

Simeon got to see the Savior Jesus in the Temple because Simeon obediently submitted to the voice of the Spirit and went to the Temple. Simeon knew something about submission.

The third mighty word I find in Simeon’s satisfied life is expectant. In verse 25, we read that the righteous and devoted Simeon was “looking for the consolation of Israel.” Simeon wasn’t bemoaning the past. He wasn’t wishing for the former glory to be restored. He wasn’t wistfully or bitterly looking backwards at what was or what could have been. I believe Simeon found satisfaction in life at least partially because this faithful, Holy Spirit submitted Simeon was such an expectant, forward-looking guy hungry for the future satisfaction promised by God.

A few years ago at a Senior’s Retreat at Trout Lake, my friend Pastor John Anderson led us in a good discussion of the book of Ecclesiastes. One evening, we walked through the entire book highlighting verses we found striking and important to remember. One of the verses that stood out very startlingly to us all was Ecclesiastes 7:10, where the teacher adamantly said, “Do not say, "Why were the old days better than these?" For it is not wise to ask such questions.” I like how the New Living Translation puts it; “don’t long for “the good old days,” for you don’t know whether they were any better than today.” Do you suppose it is possible many of us never find the full satisfaction God intends for us in life because we’re just too blame focused on the old days? Instead of optimistically enjoying and expectantly looking forward for the satisfying consolations to come, instead of rejoicing in the ear-tingling new things God is doing around us every day, instead of allowing things to be whatever they are, we wish for what they once were. We waste our time longing for things that we cannot possibly resurrect. Instead of expectantly and excitedly asking God about what is next, we whine and wish for what is already past. What a foolish way to live! What a perfect way to guarantee misery and dissatisfaction!

Folks, for better or for worse, today is a new day. Today God has something completely new and different to share with us, something new and different for us to do. Today there are people in our lives, people sitting here with us now, who weren’t a part of the experiences we may have enjoyed years ago. Today is a new day. Today is a different day. If we are not prepared to face each new day expectantly, if we do not know how to excitedly look forward for the coming consolation, we will not ever experience the satisfaction God wants us to enjoy.

Simeon lived his life expectantly.

The fourth, final word I have to share about Simeon is absolutely the most important. Simeon found satisfaction because of his devotion, his submission and his expectation. But infinitely more important than any of these things, Simeon found satisfaction in life because he recognized the Savior of Life. Devotion, submission, expectation and then, recognition. Simeon found satisfaction because he recognized the infant Jesus for exactly who and what He was.

I wonder if any of us can possibly understand what absolutely outrageous, absolutely dogmatic statements Simeon made. This old man Simeon, who has been hanging around the Temple for years looking for Messiah to come, suddenly grabs up the baby of some poor couple walking into the Temple. Some young girl is walking with her poor girl’s sacrificial doves, her working man husband and tiny baby into the Temple and suddenly Simeon goes crazy? I’m sure many people probably thought old, dreamy Simeon had finally flipped out! Although the Pharisees, Sadducees, scribes, scholars, and smart people, His home town synagogue and even members of His own family would go on to deny the Lordship of Jesus even as Jesus did miracles, shared wisdom and powerfully prophesied to the people, somehow this humble, devoted, submitted, joyously expectant old man Simeon in the Temple wasn’t bothered by the petty externals that didn’t quite add up. Isn’t it amazing Simeon found full satisfaction in the baby Jesus when almost everyone else wouldn’t even accept the grown man Jesus?

And do you notice the outrageous statements Simeon makes here? Simeon is not very tolerant of other religious perspectives and theological persuasions, is he? Simeon declared this Baby he held excitedly in his arms to be the source of ultimate satisfaction. He passionately declares this child to be the very salvation of the planet; the light to the Gentiles and the glory of the Jews. And yet strangely, even in the midst of his excitement, Simeon also prophesied this Baby would bring not only salvation but a great deal of pain. This cornerstone child would become the rock on which many would rebuild their lives and yet also the stone on which many would stumble. This glorious baby would become, for better or for worse, the revealer of every darkened, sinful human heart. Does any other person anywhere in Scripture proclaim these things about Jesus before His death and resurrection? Does anyone else find satisfaction in Christ like this before the resurrected Christ explained Himself? Simeon found satisfaction and joy in his recognition of the Savior Jesus. Simeon recognized His Lord in an amazing way.

Do we? Do we recognize Jesus as ultimately the only meaningful, enduring source of satisfaction and salvation available to us? The whole conversation boils down to this. There is no other name under heaven by which we can be saved or satisfied. Do we recognize Him?

Are we satisfied? Are we devoted, submitted, and expectant? Are we recognizing Jesus for the singular path to salvation He truly is?

And are we allowing Jesus to play the satisfying music He wants to play through our lives or are we still fiddling with the dials? Is our radio working or are we just screaming “PLAY!” at the wreckage along with everyone else?

May God help each one of us truly find satisfaction in the coming year!

Amen.

The Angelic Light (Luke 1-2)

Billy Graham told an exciting story, in his great, truly enduring book on angels published over 30 years ago now, of a missionary named John Paton, whose life was threatened by hostile tribal people in the area they were working at the time. One night, a group of hostile natives surrounded his mission headquarters, intent on burning the Patons out and killing them. John Paton and his wife prayed all during that terror-filled night for God to deliver them. When daylight came, they were amazed to see their attackers leaving. They joyously thanked God for delivering them. A year later, the chief of that hostile tribe became a follower of Jesus Christ. Mr. Paton, remembering what had happened to them the previous year, asked the chief what had kept he and his men from burning down the house and killing them. The cannibal chief replied in obvious surprise, “Because of those men! Who were those men you had with you there?” The missionary answered, “There were no men there; just my wife and I.” The chief responded that they had seen many men standing guard – hundreds of terrifying big men in shining garments with drawn swords so that the natives were afraid to attack!

What do we think of that? Do we believe in angels? Really? I know we’re technically supposed to believe in them, but have we ever truly seen or experienced one personally?

As we prepare to close our shining Advent season Wednesday by quietly lighting the white, the center, the Christ candle and remembering the birth of our LORD, I wonder if we truly understand the role angels play in the whole thing. I wonder if we really understand the shining role angels play in the on-going community of Christ. Let’s look at the angels today…

In the first chapter of Luke, the priest Zechariah was taking his turn serving in the temple when something shocking happened. “…an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right side of the altar of incense. When Zechariah saw him, he was startled and was gripped with fear. But the angel said to him: "Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to give him the name John. He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from birth. Many of the people of Israel will he bring back to the Lord their God. And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous--to make ready a people prepared for the Lord." Zechariah asked the angel, "How can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is well along in years." The angel answered, "I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to tell you this good news. And now you will be silent and not able to speak until the day this happens, because you did not believe my words, which will come true at their proper time.”

As we all know, the angelic involvement continues in verse 26, where Dr. Luke informs us that “in the sixth month [of Elizabeth’s pregnancy], God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin's name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, "Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you." Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end." "How will this be," Mary asked the angel, "since I am a virgin?" The angel answered, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be barren is in her sixth month. For nothing is impossible with God." "I am the Lord's servant," Mary answered. "May it be to me as you have said." Then the angel left her.”

Then, in chapter 2, about nine months later outside Bethlehem, “there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger." Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests." When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about."

I see some glowing truths about angels in these verses. I’ll confess I usually don’t think much about the angels. Other parts of the story are much more thought-provoking. But that’s my mistake – God allowed the light of these shining angels for very good reasons.

First of all, angels give human beings a true glimpse of reality. We live in a material world in which it is often easy to forget the spiritual, supernatural world. Zechariah was just puttering around the Temple doing his every day work, Mary was just a simple girl looking forward to her wedding day and the shepherds were just trying to make sure wolves and thieves didn’t swipe their flocks. Abraham and Sarah were just an old couple waiting to die, Moses was a well-bred failure in the wilderness, Gideon was a kid sneaking around hiding grain from his enemies and the boring, superficial earthly contexts go on. All these biblical people were just minding their own business when, out of the clear blue sky, angels showed up and gave them a shining glimpse of reality. Angels entered their lives for a moment and reminded them there is ever so much more to this life than what we normally see on the surface.

How ironic that angels help people perceive reality! Angels pull back the curtain for just a moment and help us remember there is much more to this world than just the material.

A second angelic function is also a great blessing. Angels remind people Almighty God remembers and values them. When a special, angelic messenger shows up from Almighty God, there can be little doubt in our minds God notices and values us. When Hagar was cast aside by Abraham and Sarah in Genesis 16 and an angel from God came to care for and encourage her, do you know what she said about the whole experience? She said, “I have now seen the One who sees me.” When an angel shows up, it reminds us God has noticed us! God sees us.

Thirdly, there is the annunciation role. Throughout Scripture, Gods’ angels are almost constantly running around announcing the plans and purposes of Almighty God. These guys are the supernatural bicycle messengers of God! And of course this is their primary function in the Christmas story. They made personal announcements to almost every player in the story; even some shepherds Almighty God decided ought to be players. And how cool is that?

But a fourth quality I dearly love about angels is the staggering, frequently terrifying power they bring to bear on any pitiful situation they enter. I believe this powerful quality is the most neglected in our truly angel blind culture today. Most folks today live their lives as if angels don’t exist or, if we grudgingly admit they do exist, we don’t see or understand them for the powerful beings they are. We see them as cute, cuddly, gorgeous or some other strange and superficial thing. But we almost never imagine them as terrifyingly powerful. Think about it; when was the last time you saw a powerfully frightening depiction of an angel? Can most of us even conceive of encountering a spiritual being so obviously powerful we are left quivering on the floor in abject terror? No teddy bear with wings is going to make me do that!

Tell me something. How many angels did it take to kill 185,000 of evil Sennacharib’s Assyrians in one night during the reign of King Hezekiah? One! How many angels did it take to break the seal and roll away the heavy stone on Jesus’ tomb? One! And how many angels will it take to snatch our enemy Satan up like a bug, bind him in chains and store him away in a pit somewhere for a thousand years? One! Just one powerful angel! When the Apostle Paul was encouraging oppressed friends talking about the Day of the LORD in 2 Thessalonians, he said justice will be done “when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels.” And the word used to describe those angels is the same word from which we today derive the word “dynamite.” These angels are the explosive, powerful dynamite of God!

As children of God, we are not in a fair fight! Angels are not cute teddy bears with wings; they’re powerful beings wielding the staggering, awesome, sometimes even terrifying power of God Himself and, sooner or later, in one way or another, the entire world is going to see that power on display. Sooner or later, in one way or another, we will all get to see them.

But I don’t understand angels much right now. They are wildly mysterious beings.

And perhaps the single, biggest reason angels will almost always remain mysterious relates to the important issue of our proper spiritual focus.

I don’t mean to be a Christmas downer or discouragement here, but chances are very good you’re never going to see an angel in your lifetime, at least in any sort of dramatic or obvious way you’ll recognize. And do you know why that is? We’re probably not going to see them because usually we’re not supposed to see them. And we’re not supposed to be wasting time looking for them. While God will sometimes allow us to see angels for very special reasons at very special times, most of the time we’re not going to see them because we’re not supposed to be seeing them. Angels aren’t the point of the story! The angels weren’t ever supposed to be the focus of the Christmas Eve story. Angels simply provide the punctuation marks in the story – it is The WORD in every sentence that matters. The Word made flesh is our focus.

The single most important role angels serve in this world is to help us all focus ourselves on what and WHO truly matters. Angels quietly do all they do with eternity’s values and focus in view. They are interested in keeping us closer to and focused on God and nothing else!

Even though I absolutely and excitedly believe in angels, even though I absolutely do believe a lot of the angel stories you and I get to hear, even though I know I probably have been and am now personally blessed by angelic ministry, even though I do profoundly believe there are angels joyously filling this room at this very moment, it is not the angels we’re looking for today. It is not the angel candle we’re preparing ourselves to light on Wednesday night.

If I can share just one more of Billy Graham’s wonderful angel stories this morning, as a veteran, I particularly enjoy an old story from one of Billy’s visits to some American troops during the Korean War. A small group of American Marines from the First Division found themselves trapped behind enemy lines in the north. With the temperature at twenty below zero, they were coming close to freezing to death. And they had nothing to eat for six days. Surrendering to the Chinese seemed to be their only option. But one of the Christians in the group read some Scriptures and encouraged the men to praise God anyway. Following this they heard a crashing noise, and turned to see a wild boar rushing toward them. As they tried to jump out of his way, the boar suddenly stopped in his tracks. One of the soldiers raised a rifle to shoot it, but before he could fire, the boar inexplicably toppled over dead. That night they feasted on meat, and began to regain their strength. The next morning, just as the sun was rising, they heard another noise. Their fear that a Chinese patrol had finally discovered them vanished as they found themselves face to face with a South Korean who could speak English. He said, “I’ll show you the way out.” He led them through the forest and mountains to safety behind their own lines again. When they looked up to thank him, he was gone!

I don’t know what to do with a story like that. I wasn’t there. I didn’t see any of it. We hear angel stories like that all the time, many of which turn out to be nothing. Anybody with an e-mail address these days knows stories like this are a dime a dozen. All I can tell you, of a certainty this morning, is that I don’t believe in angels because I’m naïve and love talking about weirdness. I believe in angels because angels shine all over the Christmas story and all over the Bible leading up to it. Though I will never pretend to understand them, I believe in angels because the Bible believes in angels. And the Bible says angels help show me the way out…

And so I’m going to let my angel friends point me toward the white candle again this Christmas. I’m going to remember what they told those humble shepherds all those years ago and I’m going to run to Bethlehem to see and celebrate the Baby. I’m going to join the lovely angel songs coming out of the old stable. And I’m going to pray that the lovely, powerful light of the angels will help each one of us run ever faster toward our Savior!

AMEN.

The Shepherd Light (Luke 2:8-20)

And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger." Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests." When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about." So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.

I absolutely adore this well lit part of the Christmas story! Every year I agonize over this precious Scripture text, trying to think of betters way of bringing it to life. I’ve preached it from the first person perspective of a superficial advertising executive trying unsuccessfully to sell a glitzy Christmas marketing strategy to God. I’ve explored what it meant to be these outcast shepherds whom, interestingly enough (contrary to our stereotypical ideas), may well have been young women. I’ve looked at this passage from all sorts of angles over the years. I’ve tried everything I can think of to make the glorious, gorgeous, staggering significance of this shining, shepherd moment more real, relevant and powerful. This moment defines our faith. This is truly a shining moment to meditate on. I am powerfully struck by several rays of light…

First of all, I am struck by the fact that the most important angelic announcement in all human history was made to normal people. There was nothing fancy, complex or special about these folks. We don’t even know their names. We don’t know anything about them. We don’t know where they came from or what happened to them later. They are just plain, simple folks.

While the light of Bethlehem last week reminded us how much God truly cares about all places, the shepherd light carries things much further along. Here we learn God cares about all places because He cares about all people. These are just folks. These are people like us.

That is perhaps the biggest point of the story...

But there are also rays of genuine fear in this moment. When human frailty comes into any sort of contact (even reflected or radiant), with the breath-taking holiness and perfection of Holy God, there will always be some fear involved. Scripture is filled with the stories of people melting in fear as they encounter the LORD or His messengers. Our sin just can’t stand in the presence of holiness without seeing itself for what it is. If any of us have never experienced the fear of the LORD, then I would question whether we have truly experienced the LORD.

Yet there is good news here also. The fear is not allowed to remain for very long. As always, the LORD’s angelic messengers intervened to calm fears and replace those fears with joy, just as we too replace fear with shining Good News. We are always, always, always to be about the business of calming sinful fears and sharing hope. There must constantly be joyous, good news shining brightly around here or we are not functioning as the body of Christ.

There is inspired worship in this story. God is gloriously praised in this shepherd story. There is joy, worship and wonder in this Christmas story. There is falling on our knees beside the manger in this story. There is wonderful worship and praise! There will always be hearts shining full of worship in the community of Christmas our LORD is building in this place. Not weekly ritual, stale liturgy or dead religion, but genuine, full-throated, soul-baring worship.

There is passionate obedience in this shepherd story. These shepherds were never told to go to the Bethlehem stable to see the baby Jesus. It was simply assumed they would go. And they did go! Going is just what they were supposed to do! It seems they went because they simply couldn’t stop themselves from doing so. They obeyed the LORD and did all the right things in this story because they wanted to. They left their sheep behind for a moment and risked looking foolish because they felt compelled. They were excited to obey and so they did obey. That is what obedience should look like in the genuinely Christmas community.

There is also some wonderful storytelling in this shepherd story. These shepherds had absolutely no interest in keeping this shining Christmas stuff as some sort of religious secret to themselves. Luke makes it abundantly clear these shepherds apparently told everybody they met what happened that night. Without benefit of Bible school or seminary, they became early church evangelists without even knowing the full word or learning some slick system of spiritual laws. There is always story telling and happy testimony shining from the community of Christ.

And then they returned to work. There is honest responsibility in this shepherd story. They didn’t wander off into some religious fantasy, some pipedream; too spiritual and too important to continue to serve as they always had. These simple folks returned to the same job they were doing before, bringing their story with them as they went. They responsibly took their Christmas experiences right back to their workplace, talking and praising God the whole way. And that is exactly what we are all supposed to be doing with our Christmas experience.

These shepherds were normal folks with normal fears. They heard the Good News and participated in some inspired worship. They were passionately obedient and they faithfully told their story to everyone they met as they responsibly went right back to the workplace God had found them in and called them to. These things are the stuff and substance of every healthy Body of Christ. I adore these shepherds and this story because of these stunning things.

But there is something more important and more transcendent than all of this. There is one shining Christmas truth woven deeply into this shepherd story that absolutely drives all the other truths. Folks, these wonderful shepherds personified all these wonderful qualities of any good, Christmas community only because they had an experience of God. Everything good in this shepherd moment occurred only because somebody genuinely experienced God.

Think about it! The angels never really told the shepherds to do anything. They didn’t tell them to be properly fearful, didn’t tell them to risk leaving their costly sheep behind to go see the baby, didn’t tell them to worship and rejoice, didn’t tell them to share their story with everyone they met as they responsibly went back to work. All that glorious stuff was assumed! That stuff was assumed because of the glowing experience of God the shepherds enjoyed!

I can preach for years about how God invites normal people like you and me to the Banquet. I can give all sorts of good illustrations of a healthy and holy fear of God. I can explain the Good News in hundreds of different ways. We can work hard to produce the most inspirational worship imaginable. I can explain the countless, rational reasons for obedience and good story-telling as we faithfully return to whatever work we’ve been called by God to do. I can polish it all up and present it to you in the most interesting, passionate way I know how.

But until you and I have a genuine, life-changing experience of God, until it becomes personal for us, we’re never going to become the shining, brilliant Christians God intends for us to become. Until we see God show up in some noticeable way in our lives, until we have our own burning bush or shepherd hillside moments, we’re simply never going to properly become all we were born and brought together here to become. It is the vivid experience of God in the story that matters more than anything! It is our experience of God that always matters!

Do you see? I can brag about these wonderful, humble shepherds all day, but the little shepherds aren’t the story! Almighty God is! God Incarnate is the story. Until you and I get to see the glorious angels like they did, until we have our own vivid, angelic moments with God, we’re never going to live up to their brilliantly shining, exemplary behavior. Until we experience Almighty God for ourselves, we’re never going to shine forth the Gospel as wonderfully as God helped these shepherds shine. We must have our own experience of God.

So how do we do that? Realizing we need an experience of God is everything is only the first step – having one is what matters. How do we do that? It’s actually pretty simple…

As we begin our second year together as a community, it is my passionate hope we will all embrace one simple, important promise our LORD made to us. In James 4:8, the dear letter writer James told his early church friends to “come near to God and he will come near to you.” The most wonderful secret of this entire conversation is that Almighty God longs for each of us to experience Him! Come near to His Word! Come near to His people! Come near in prayer!

Come near to God and He will come near to you! He really will!

The best news of all, from this shepherd moment of the Christmas story, is that our LORD does give these humble shepherds an experience of Him. An experience of God is not “easier said than done!” It really isn’t! Almighty God longs to reveal Himself to us! Our LORD wants us to experience Him! If we will genuinely come near to Him, He will come near to us!

As I close, I remember something old Billy Graham once said about all this experiencing God stuff. It is a constantly lingering thought I think I’ve shared with you before. He said, “It could easily be said that one of the greatest hindrances to evangelism today is the poverty of our own experience.” Amen, my brother! We aren’t lousy evangelists or mediocre, lukewarm Christians because we’re stupid, rotten, lazy or lousy people. The biggest reason any of us are weak in any area of our Christian lives always boils down to the simple fact that we just haven’t experienced enough of God ourselves! When shepherds like us truly experience the Living God, when Light shines on our hillside, we know exactly what we’re supposed to do.

Come near to God and He will come near to you!

Popular pastor and author Lloyd Ogilvie once said something very similar about all this. He said, “The institutional church in America today is filled with good, religious people who desperately need an experience of the living, holy, forgiving and gracious God.” Just like the humble shepherds all those years ago, we need to experience the living, holy, forgiving and gracious God for ourselves. Come near to Him and He will come near to you!

May we experience God! May God give us our own shining shepherd stories to tell! May the shepherd Light shine gloriously on us! May Almighty God make Himself very real to each one of us in some perfectly precious and unique way this Christmas!

Amen.

The National Anthem

Another video from a friend...

In light of everything going on in our world and in our country right now, for some reason I find myself getting weepy when I listen to this. Somehow the idea of two six year olds, two seven year olds and an eight year old girl able to perform the National Anthem at this level moves me enormously. This was filmed at a Texas Tech Basketball game; perhaps everyone has seen it but me.

Give these girls a listen!

p.s. Just discovered this video is from months ago and the girls are known as the Cactus Cuties. I still like it.

The Light of Bethlehem (Micah 5:2)

Almost exactly one year ago today, on a very snowy Sunday, December 9th of 2007, I sadly announced my resignation as Senior Pastor of the Ely Baptist Church. Although I sensed God’s very clear, exciting and powerfully guiding hand, it was a difficult moment for all sorts of reasons. But perhaps the biggest reason it was so difficult relates to something clearly taught us in our Scripture passage this morning.

As I mentioned in our prophecy conversation last week, one of the clearest and very most startling prophecies relating to the birth, life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is an obscure little prophetic comment in Micah 5:2, which announced to the world exactly where the coming Messiah would be born. “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.” The Messiah would be born in the town of David; Israel’s once most glorious king. The Messiah, the very Bread of Life, would be born in Bethlehem, a word quite literally translated as “the house of bread.” It is a lovely prophecy for all sorts of reasons, not the least of which is that it is prophecy come literally and historically true.

But the part of the Bethlehem prophecy most startling, important and moving to me has always been the stunning smallness of it. “Though you are small among the clans of Judah.” Almighty God made a point of choosing Bethlehem at least partially because it was a small, mostly insignificant place in the eyes of the world. This ancient prophecy and its Advent fulfillment shine a wonderful light! This intentionally tiny, Bethlehem birthplace of our LORD Jesus loudly declares to the world that all places, even small places, matter enormously to God.

It was hard to say goodbye to my friends in Ely because I had come to fully understand how very much that small place way up there at the cold end of the road matters to God!

All places matter to God. There is no place on earth too small or insignificant for God to ignore. As the Psalmist put it so beautifully in Psalm 139, “Where can we go from your Spirit?” There is no place on earth too small, too insignificant or too ugly for Jesus to love. The Advent Light of the World we celebrate today is a gorgeously loving, tender and tiny Bethlehem light.

Do we honestly believe that? Do we believe all places truly matter?

I got a beautiful, four-page, frost-bitten email this week from an old friend of mine now living in the Alaskan bush country. She told the story of a long 18 mile snowmobile ride she took to the nearest town of Emmonak, Alaska to get supplies before a winter storm came in. After encountering three enormous moose “much larger than those moose in Minnesota,” she reported feeling like a toddler standing “next to a fleeing Clydesdale.” The ground was shaking. Once she and her snow machine friend finally arrived at the store, they found it surrounded by other snow machines. Her description of the place was wonderful. She said, “The store was crowded. There are four check outs and each one has a long line...one for cash, two for check cards, one for both. I spot Matt right away for he is the only white guy working at the store. I have talked with him several times when ordering over the phone and he is always so accommodating. He is about 30 years old with long hair. I wonder what he is doing way up here...what his story is. Every white person up here has a story. After all, one comes to these places deliberately. This is not a stop-over place by any means.” This is a deliberate place.

After long, gorgeous descriptions of the people, danger, cold and unique situations she encountered on her way home last week, she closed her letter in gratitude saying, “Tomorrow is Thanksgiving. I am thankful; thankful not that I am home, though that is a good thing, but thankful God has brought me again full circle in my life...thankful to be in yet another place where I have been before...grateful...so grateful for this gift He gave me: life.”

My dear friend was grateful for life this Thanksgiving weekend because my dear friend does have a long, difficult and very deliberate story. My friend’s story used to be filled with methamphetamine abuse, violence, low-income housing, broken relationships, anger, tears and sadness. She has come to her precious wilderness place up there in Alaska very deliberately. One always comes to some places in life deliberately. Some places are definitely not stopovers.

Does God care about those places? Would Jesus ever be born in back country Alaska? Would Jesus ever come to a bunch of cold, simple Inuit people racing home against the storm?

Do those places matter?

On Thursday afternoon, I had a long conversation with a woman from Edison High School about a struggling young Hispanic family in our neighborhood; a single mother with four children who uses almost half her income every month to pay rent on a small apartment above a bakery Monica and I enjoy on Central Avenue. Understandably, this scared, young mother is not making it very well and Christmas is coming. And the Edison staffer was wondering if there was anything we could do to at least help give this little family a Christmas.

Does God care about a small apartment that always smells like bread and pastries?

Does a small, insignificant place like that matter?

Would Jesus ever agree to be born there? Could a noisy, little apartment possibly be a Bethlehem of sorts? Could the light and life of Bethlehem ever possibly shine out of that place?

Or what about our place? Many church growth experts would tell us our church is a place long past its prime and potential. Church planting is the way to go, right? Forget trying to work through all the complicated historical and theological issues; just chuck it all and start over, right? Yet this is a deliberate place, isn’t it? This is a place people choose to be. This place is not a stopover. This church made prayerful, deliberate choices not to move away when other church folks did. This church is trying to figure out ways to be more diverse, not more homogenous and that’s always a recipe for conflict and difficulty. This is a place where we want to intentionally value the gifts and abilities of all people, without any regard to gender, age, race or other often divisive factors and that too can be a challenge. And with our Hope Avenue ministry, this church is even trying hard to help give a place in this world to people who quite literally have no place to call their own. In spite of all the difficulties, I believe this is a church longing to be deeply connected to its place…and yet when Christianity Today profiled some Twin Cities area churches recently, somehow our place didn’t get profiled among the superstars. My friend Pastor Ron Saari from Central in St. Paul called to joke with me about it.

Does God care about this place? I sure think so…I see the light of Bethlehem here.

And what about other places?

We have all seen the unbelievable Somalia piracy stories in the news in recent months. The most recent travel advisory from the State Department warns U.S. citizens of the risks of travel to Somalia and recommends American citizens avoid all travel there. On October 29, 2008, terrorists launched several coordinated and near-simultaneous attacks involving multiple car bombs against local and international targets in the regions of Somaliland and Puntland. Terrorist operatives and armed groups in Somalia have demonstrated their intent and capability to attack air operations at Mogadishu International Airport. Kidnapping, murder, illegal roadblocks, banditry, other violent incidents and threats to U.S. citizens and other foreigners can occur in many regions. Inter-clan and inter-factional fighting flares up with little or no warning. Unpredictable armed conflicts among rival militias are prevalent in southern Somalia, particularly in and around Mogadishu. This has resulted in the deaths of hundreds of Somali nationals and the displacement of nearly one million people. U.S. citizens also are urged to use extreme caution when sailing near the coast of Somalia. Merchant vessels, fishing boats, and recreational craft all risk seizure by pirates and having their crews held for ransom in the waters off the Horn of Africa, most especially in the international waters near Somalia. There have been numerous such incidents, highlighting the continuing danger of maritime travel near the Horn of Africa. If transit around the Horn of Africa is necessary, it is strongly recommended that vessels travel in convoys, and maintain good communications contact at all times.

Oh my goodness! What an open sewer; what an absolutely worthless place!

Does God care about that place? Would Jesus ever agree to be born in Mogadishu?

My friends Randy and Donna Weets have been missionaries in Panama for nearly 20 years. Randy is the pastor of Iglesia Biblica Amistad (Friendship Bible Church) in Panama City, Panama which ministers in several different languages. They are also involved in a Christian School ministry, camp ministries, Bible studies, and a building project. We met Randy and Donna shortly after they moved from Colon City (on the Atlantic coast) to Panama City (on the Pacific side of the isthmus). Interestingly, while living in Colon, their home was burglarized so many times (22 to be precise!) they eventually stopped replacing any valuable things. Yet, as testament to their commitment, they continued because they dearly love that place.

This fall, while briefly back in the states, Randy and Donna were asked about the challenges they would face on their return. In an email to me this week, Randy listed four of his primary concerns. He is concerned about those Christians that easily abandon ship or take church attendance lightly. He is concerned about church rent going up again the first of the year making it almost impossible to stay where they are, and yet they have no where else to go. He is concerned about lives in constant struggle. And he is troubled by the constant tension between what God is legitimately doing and the effort it consumes to be faithful.

Why should my friends bother being faithful in such a place?

Why should Randy and Donna Weets care so much about their problematic place of ministry? Why bother? For that matter, why in the world should our Pam Isenhower be so hungry to return to her precious place in Indonesia? Why do Chris and Leslie Smith bother to do what they do way over in Nepal – why in the world should anyone go through all the hassle to love these places? Why hasn’t Tony Weedor given up on Liberia as so many others have? Why has God even allowed a miserable place like Somalia to remain on the map?

Do these places honestly matter?

I believe Bethlehem says they all do. In spite of everything the world tries to tell us about the relative value of real estate, in spite of the “location, location, location” arguments, our humble Bethlehem announces to the world that all places matter to our God! Though you may well be very small indeed among even the small clans of Judah, though you may well find yourself sleeping under a bridge tonight, though you may live in a place forgotten by the world, the Light of Bethlehem shines out gloriously on you today and on the entire world, declaring to us all how very much Almighty God loves and notices us, no matter where we are in the world.

Your place matters. Your workplace matters. This place matters.

All places matter.

May the gorgeously humble light of Bethlehem help us love and value all the places God allows us to be wherever they may be!

Amen.