How To Depart In Peace
Luke
2:21-35
by
Bro. Matt Perry, Pastor
Boone's
Creek Baptist Church, Lexington, KY
Sunday,
December 26, 2004
We have now entered
a time of year that tends to bring out the melancholy in all of us. It is the
last week of the year. Today is December 26th --- what many people
call the most depressing time of the year. Having anticipated this time of year
so much, having expended so much energy buying so many gifts for so many people, having eaten so very much from all the parties
and family get-togethers --- and now … it’s over, done, finished. The
adrenaline is gone, you’ve gained ten pounds, you’ve maxxed out your credit cards --- and for what?
And on top of it
all, it is the end of the year. 2004 will be done in six days, 2005 is around
the corner. For the optimist, it represents a new day, a second chance. For the pessimist and the reflective type of person, it is a time to reflect on how
the things you wanted to accomplish in 2004 may not have happened the way you wanted it.
Now, here we are talking
about the end of a year. What about when it comes to the end of your life? That’s really the question. And
really, this is the ultimate question of all --- when you come to the end of your life, will it be a peaceful time as you
get ready to ‘meet your Maker,’ as they say. For far too many people,
death is something to be feared, not welcomed. But it doesn’t have to be
that way.
We will be introduced
in a bit to a man named Simeon. Simeon was told some wonderful news about the
person of Jesus and it was simply because of Jesus that he would be able to depart from this life in peace. And friends, if you want to depart from not just this day, this week, this month, this year --- this life---
then it begins and ends with the person of Jesus Christ.
Let’s look at Luke
2:21-35, the sequel to the passage we looked at last week which talked about the True Christmas Story in Luke 2:1-20. The shepherds have gone, the angels have gone --- now the Baby Jesus is home with
His earthly parents and their life together has begun. And what a way to begin!
1.
We can depart in peace as we consider His compliance and obedience (Luke 2:21-24).
God always works things
out perfectly, doesn’t He? This is evident when God sent His Son to be
born into the home of Mary and Joseph. God didn’t just “luck out”
that Jesus was born to this young couple. God intentionally sent Him because
they were faithful and obedient in their day-to-day lives and would raise Him in a godly way.
This was evident
by their reaction to the angel’s message about the Christ-child’s coming.
In Matthew 1, we see Joseph described as a “just man” who obeyed God’s message in going through with
his marriage to Mary. We see in the days following that every time God told Joseph
to go somewhere or to do something, he did it immediately (Matthew 2:13-14, 19-21).
When the angel approached
Mary and told her that she would conceive and bear a son, even though she had never known a man, she said, “Behold,
I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word” (Luke 1:38).
In their young life, they demonstrated a great and strong faith in God --- making them wonderful parents to raise the
child Jesus.
Their obedience continued
even after Jesus was born. Yes, He was God in the flesh, but even though He was
the giver of the Law, He willingly put Himself in subjection to His earthly parents and to the Law of Moses. How?
His circumcision. In Genesis 17, God explains this to Abraham:
This is my covenant,
which you shall keep, between me and you and your offspring after you: Every male among you shall be circumcised. …
He who is eight days old among you shall be circumcised (Genesis 17:10, 12a).
Why keep this? Because this was an outward sign of an inward reality and relationship God established with His people. To not follow through with this meant that this boy would be cut off from the people
of God (Genesis 17:14). Mary and Joseph complied with the Law at this point.
His name. Mary and Joseph obeyed God’s messenger, Gabriel, when he said, “You shall call His name Jesus,
for he will save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21). God gave them
this message plainly because it had become a Jewish custom to name their child at the time of the mother’s purification
(which happens 40 days after the birth of a son) and they would pressure the parents to name the son after his father. But Mary and Joseph were obedient from the beginning and did not fall under the pressure
of family and friends. God said His name would be Jesus --- and His name was
Jesus!
His presentation to the
Lord. As the Scripture says, the firstborn male of every family will be considered
“holy to the Lord.” What is the reason for this? When Moses confronted Pharaoh about his enslavement of God’s people, one of the plagues that God
sent Egypt’s way to demonstrate His power was the plague of the firstborn. The people of Israel
were to sacrifice a spotless lamb and put the lamb’s blood over the doorway. The
angel of death would pass by. And every home that didn’t have the blood
of the lamb on the doorway would be struck by the killing of all the firstborn males --- humans, livestock, everything. By presenting the firstborn male to the Lord, we see how God established a ceremony
which would help His people remember His provision and protection.
What does this have to
do with us? Believe it or not, everything.
You may remember a few weeks ago when we looked at Galatians 4:4-5 which said that “God sent forth His Son, born
of a woman, born under the law so that He might redeem those who were under the law.”
This means that Christ came, as Philippians 2 says, “taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness
of men” (Philippians 2:7). Christ, in order to save people from the clutches
of the law --- something that no one could keep, but they would still be held accountable for it --- He had to subject Himself
to the law in order to stand in our place and pay the penalty that we incurred by not keeping the law.
Something you need to
consider: Jesus never once fell short of any part of keeping God’s commands. An amazing thing. And consider also that
Jesus, though God, came as a baby and did all the things that babies end up doing. He
went from babyhood to toddlerhood to childhood to teenage-hood to manhood. And
as a baby, He could not tell His mother at eight days, “Mom, I think we need to go to the temple for my circumcision.” Or at forty days, “Mom, I think we need to go to the temple so you can present
Me to my Heavenly Father.” This was the responsibility of Mary and Joseph! We can praise God for His provision and His perfect will that accomplished all of
this right down to the most intricate detail.
2. We
can depart in peace as we consider His consolation (Luke 2:25-33)
Here we meet a man by
the name of Simeon. What do we know about Simeon?
All we know about him are the three things mentioned in this passage: He
was “righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel,
and the Holy Spirit was upon him” (v. 25). I want to tell you, friends,
that if nothing else could be said of me in all the world, this would be sufficient for me. This
would be all one needs to have said to have a full life that is pleasing to God.
His righteousness
and faithfulness displayed itself in this next phrase “waiting for the consolation of Israel.” Consolation obviously
has the root word ‘console’ which means to comfort or to soothe. Israel had been living under a great expectation for their Messiah --- their Deliverer, their
King, their Anointed One --- to establish a new Kingdom on earth and free them from the tyranny of Rome and all other nations seeking to do them in.
Simeon had a close
relationship with God, which was evident in the fact that “the Holy Spirit was upon him.” Simeon shows us a great truth: the closer you are to God,
the more you long to see His coming! And the reverse is true: the further away from God you are, the less you long to see His coming.
But with this obscure
man comes a rather pronounced truth --- there was a significant change and transition taking place. Again, notice all the times that Mary and Joseph did all these things “according to the Law of the
Lord.” People showed their obedience by obeying the Law. But with Simeon, who was devout and did obey the Law, we see how prominent the Holy Spirit was during this
time. Notice:
- The Holy Spirit was “upon him” (v. 25);
- The Holy Spirit “revealed to him” the truth of when His beloved Messiah would come (v. 26);
- The Holy Spirit led him to the Temple where He arranged
an encounter with the Messiah’s parents and the Messiah Himself (v. 27).
- The Holy Spirit spoke/sang through Him through a prophetic song about this Child (v. 29-32).
I believe this foreshadows
how God would have a relationship with His people. It would not be through them
trying to get to God by keeping His law, but that God would develop a relationship with Him through the Holy Spirit who would
write His law on our hearts (Jeremiah 31:33) so that we may have a helper, a Comforter, a Guide, a Teacher of the Law and
one who would help us and give us the strength to keep God’s commands.
Simeon sings a beautiful
song about this Messiah!
First, it was a song of
praise. Simeon worshiped and praised because God kept His promise --- Simeon
saw the Messiah --- and not only saw Him but was holding this Holy One in his hands!
Second, it was a
song of salvation! Simeon was ready to die because he had seen the salvation
that God had promised for His faithful. Warren Wiersbe tells us some of the implications
about the death of a Christian.
It means to release
a prisoner, to untie a ship and set sail, to take down a tent, and to unyoke a beast of burden. God’s people are not afraid of death because it only frees us from the burdens of this life and leads
into the blessings of the next life.
Lastly, it was also a
missions song! Simeon was a devout Jew, but the Spirit used him to say something
that may have even surprised Simeon! It was something that no regular faithful
Jew would ever say: “you have prepared in the presence of all peoples,
a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel”
(2:31-32). The Spirit of God was telling all those who were listening that God
would not simply reveal Himself and His salvation just to one group of people, but that all people everywhere would call upon
Him in faith and would commit their very lives to Him.
3. We
can depart in peace as we consider His commission (Luke 2:33-35).
Have you ever had a friend
or a co-worker come up to you and say, “Now, do you want the good news or the bad news first?” Like many of you, I’m sure, I always want the bad news first --- that way things can only get better.
Mary and Joseph ‘marveled
at what was said about him’ --- and no doubt brought them delight. Nothing
is greater than seeing the work of the Lord Jesus in someone’s life. In
fact, that is what motivates us to share Jesus with others is the fact that He is at work in people’s hearts and is
bringing people all over this world to salvation. He changes hearts and lives
and gives hope and peace like none other. He saves us from ourselves, our sin,
and from hell itself!
But there is another
side to the coin, isn’t there? Yes.
In fact, not everyone will accept Him as Lord and Savior. Truth is, most
will reject Him. Maybe that’s where you are right now --- you have rejected
Him and are continually turning your back on His grace, His hope, His peace, His forgiveness.
Simeon warns Mary about
this in three ways:
First, he says that the
Christ will be a stone which will cause “the fall and rise of many in Israel.” Scripture in numerous places tells us what this stone will be. Psalm 118:22, we read that “The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone.” When building a house, especially in
ancient times, you would look for good solid stones and rocks in order to have a good solid home to dwell in. Rocks that seem unsteady are thrown to the side. The prize
rock is the cornerstone. When the cornerstone is set in place, it is used as
the starting point to measure and align the other stones so the frame and structure of the house will hold up.
For those who do not believe,
Jesus is a “rejected stone,” --- a stumbling block --- thrown aside
because they do not want Him as part of their ‘house,’ if you will. They
want to build their houses with anything else but Jesus. Jesus is a stumbling
stone that offends them. But to the believer, Jesus is the cornerstone that is
set first and foremost --- and all other ‘stone’ that are used to build their house must be aligned with Jesus
the cornerstone so their house is spiritually strong. The rocks that are rejected
are the ones that do not align truly to Jesus.
Secondly, Jesus is a sign
that is opposed. All through Scripture, God gave many signs and wonders to His
people to reveal Himself and His ways. But Jesus Christ is the ‘sign’
to Israel that would truly point the way
to God. He is their Messiah. And
even though He is the sign from God, they even rejected this!
Lastly, we see a sword
that would go through Mary’s heart. The ultimate sign of rejection was
the crowd at Jesus’ sentencing where they shouted “Crucify Him, crucify Him!” --- although He had done nothing to deserve this. Mary as
His mother saw all the rejections and was present at Jesus’ crucifixion. The
sorrow that she felt watching helplessly as her own Son was crucified, writhing in agony, like a common criminal --- this
may have been what the Spirit meant. This was the bad news about Jesus coming
--- so many would reject and persecute, to their own destruction.
But what was the reason
for all this:
“So that the thoughts
of many hearts may be revealed.” Make no mistake about it --- no longer
can people keep up a pretense by looking outwardly moral, outwardly righteous, outwardly spiritual. In fact, there once was a man who made free use of Christian vocabulary. He talked about the blessing of
the Almighty and the Christian confessions which would become the pillars of the new government. He assumed the earnestness
of a man weighed down by historic responsibility. He handed out pious stories to the press, especially to the church papers.
He showed his tattered Bible and declared that he drew the strength for his great work from it as scores of pious people welcomed
him as a man sent from God. Indeed, Adolf Hitler was a master of outward religiosity--with no inward reality!
No more. Jesus too is a sword as the Word of God who cuts through all the pretense, all the show, all the pride
of those whose piety only extends as far as making sure others believe they are religious --- all the while they go through
their private life with little or no regard to living a life of true, sincere obedience toward God.
Conclusion
If your thoughts,
your dreams, your desires, and what makes you tick were all revealed for all to see, what would they show? The way to depart in peace is to do what the Apostle Paul demands: “Take every thought captive to
Christ.” He is the cornerstone of our life.
If there is anything in your thoughts, your words, or your actions that do not conform to the pattern of Jesus Christ,
then it must go.
Are you willing
to live a radical life of obedience toward Him? Christ is our example and our
strength through His obedience. You want to be holy, then be obedient. You want to grow and have a victorious life in Christ? Then
be obedient. Be real before God and before others. Throw out those masks that show one thing about your life, but hide those selfish and sinful thoughts,
deeds, and words.
Christ came to reveal
the thoughts of many hearts. Has He revealed the condition of your hearts? How does it look? Do you need to be made
clean? Do you need to be transformed? Christ
can and will do that if you will just come! Come and confess that sin, come trust
in all that He is. Come!
