We Need Peace in Conflict

Good morning, everyone. Today, as Debbie mentioned, is the last Sunday of the year.

It's the last Sunday of the decade, the end of this 10-year period.

And as we start a new year, we're often thinking about New Year's resolutions.

You know, I want to be reading the Bible more. I want to get healthy. I want to lose weight. I want to get a new job.

But before we can get to our New Year's resolutions, I believe it's important for us to end the year well.

Not only that, but let's end this decade well.

I'm not sure for you, but the last 10 years has brought a number of different joys and pains for us.

I've lost a number of family members.

But there's also been significant joys.

In the last 10 years for us, I finished full-time work.

I went and became a full-time student at Moore College.

I started at St. Paul's. I left St. Paul's.

I worked somewhere and then I came back to St. Paul's.

We have had three children in 10 years.

Much has happened in that period of time.

Now, as we start looking at a new year and a new decade,

we can be thinking about all those things we want to achieve.

But we actually need to deal with this year first.

And all the baggage that it brings.

There's no point setting your sights really high on a new year

if you're dragging 10 years worth of baggage and pain and hurt and sin behind you.

Thinking that everything will change just because we've got a new calendar

doesn't really make any sense.

And thinking that we'll just have a better relationship with God

because I'm going to try harder for a January run

doesn't necessarily make sense either.

We need to be dealing with the baggage that we have at this point

to be able to go forward growing and following Jesus.

In a different time, an era was marked.

When Jesus was born, it has changed everything in our world.

So much so that our entire calendars function around when he was born.

But when Jesus was born, it's not just a matter of time being changed,

but of salvation.

God became man.

And this world will never be the same again.

And so today, as we head to the end of the year and the end of the decade,

we're going to see how two people respond when they meet this baby Jesus.

These two prophets, they're also going to challenge how we come before Jesus

and how he is preparing us for the next 10 years.

We meet these two characters, Anna and Simeon, and they're at the temple.

Jesus' parents had taken him to the temple to obey the law.

Please have your Bibles open with me.

We're in Luke chapter 2, finishing our series, looking at the infancy narrative.

Luke 2 · chapter mention

This is the end of the stories about Jesus as a baby.

He's eight days old at this point, and we're in verse 22 of chapter 2.

When the time came for the purification rites required by the law of Moses,

Joseph and Mary took him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord.

As it is written in the law of the Lord,

every firstborn male is to be consecrated to the Lord

and to offer a sacrifice in keeping with what is said in the law of the Lord,

a pair of doves or two young pigeons.

The law stated that there were purification ceremonies

that needed to happen after birth.

And here they come and they offer birds to be sacrificed for their corruption and sin.

After birth, Mary would have been ritually unclean.

But the focus is not on Mary here, but it is on Jesus.

And yet it seems strange that Jesus would need to be purified.

He was born without blemish or spot.

He doesn't need the death of birds to keep him in relationship with God.

He has no sin that needs to be forgiven.

And he's been with God for eternity.

And yet here, just like when Jesus is baptized,

he is identifying with us.

And it's a reminder of how contagious sin is.

We catch it from our mother and father in our birth.

Jesus here, even at the age of eight days old,

is directing us to God's grace.

The pollutions that we all come into the world with

are going to be washed away because of the birth of Jesus,

through the grace of God.

And as they come into this temple to do this ceremony,

they speak to two people, Anna the prophetess and Simeon.

Neither of these people have official roles.

They're not the Pharisee.

They're not the Sadducee.

They're not the high priest in the temple.

They're both described as old.

And culturally, that means that they're well-respected, reliable witnesses.

And there's a certain completeness that comes from having

both a male and a female witness to the fulfillment of Jesus.

And so we're going to briefly look at Anna,

who's at the end of the passage,

and then come back and spend some more time on Simeon.

Verse 36.

There was also a prophet, Anna,

the daughter of Penuel of the tribe of Asher.

She was very old.

She had lived with her husband seven years after her marriage.

And then was a widow until she was 84.

Now, it's not exactly clear whether Anna was 84 years old

or whether she had been a widow for 84 years.

But what is clear is this woman was a faithful follower of God.

Verse 37.

She never left the temple,

but worshipped night and day,

fasting and praying.

And she has finally seen what she has been fasting and praying for.

Coming up to them at that very moment,

verse 38,

she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child

to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem.

The redemption of Jerusalem.

This is what she's been looking forward to.

And she makes this public expression of gratitude.

Gratitude.

This is a wonderful picture of an old and frail woman

who has been patiently waiting for the Lord.

And she meets Jesus.

And she goes off to all who are like her,

looking for God to act.

I think she is a wonderful challenge to us.

She was fasting and praying in the temple,

waiting to see God act.

Do we have that same kind of patience and persistence with God?

Fasting is a very helpful spiritual practice.

I've fasted before.

But what it helps someone to do is to focus on God

and focus on your dependence on God.

It's a reminder that God is the one who sustains and feeds.

It gives you more time,

because you're not doing things like preparing food and cleaning up.

It gives you more time to read the Bible,

more time to pray.

When you feel hungry, you pray.

And it's a wonderful discipline to do.

Let me know if you'd like to find out more

about the spiritual discipline of fasting.

And so Anna had been praying and fasting.

And Luke says she never left the temple.

Now, I'm not necessarily going to encourage you

to come in here.

You need to sit down in the front where Abby is.

You need to be fasting and praying every day of the week.

We don't need to go to a holy place anymore to do that.

But at this time, that's what Anna is doing.

She's been fasting and praying.

And finally, after 84 years, God has answered her prayer.

Now, I'm not sure what you're praying for.

I'm not sure what God is putting on your heart to be praying for.

But Anna is an encouragement for us to do two things.

Firstly, to pray and keep praying,

even when it's hard, even when our hearts give way.

But also, that God does answer our prayers.

It might not be in our timing.

But God does answer our prayers.

It might not be a yes.

It could be a yes.

It could be a no.

It could be a wait.

And Anna certainly waited 84 years.

But now she has seen Jesus.

She has seen the redemption of Jerusalem.

And what a huge prayer that is to ask.

I want to see your redemption in this country.

And she has gotten to see it.

But even then, to wait another 30 odd years to see his crucifixion and resurrection.

And even now, we are waiting to see Jesus return.

So let me encourage you to pray like Anna.

Pray with dependence on God brought about by fasting.

And be saturated in God's Word as you do it.

So that's Anna.

What a wonderful encouragement to pray and to be dependent on God.

And the second character we meet is a gentleman called Simeon.

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 on him.

It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit,

that he would not die before he had seen the Lord's Messiah.

Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts.

It's really interesting here that in these three verses,

it's mentioned three times that Simeon either has the Holy Spirit on him,

or is moved by the Holy Spirit.

This is in marked contrast to the entire Old Testament.

The Holy Spirit came on people sparingly.

But now, something has changed.

Jesus has been born, and God is pouring out his Holy Spirit just as he promised to do.

Not only is God with us, Emmanuel, in Jesus,

but he is dwelling inside people in the Holy Spirit,

in numbers that we just had not seen before.

And Simeon, like Anna, is waiting on God.

Waiting because he'd been promised that he would see God's Messiah.

Simeon, he's waiting for this Messiah.

He's waiting for God's chosen one.

Because faith in Jesus, it's the fulfillment of all of his hopes and expectations of his people.

And there's this beautiful moment when Joseph and Mary bring Jesus in,

and Simeon sees the baby Jesus.

He meets him, and he sings the last of these songs in the infancy narratives.

There's a number of songs all throughout these first two chapters.

This is the last of the songs, the shortest of them,

but it's still quite lovely.

Verse 28.

Simeon took him, that is Jesus, 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 nations,

a light for revelation to the Gentiles,

and the glory of your people Israel.

That's this lovely song.

I kind of feel like I should be singing these songs,

as we've been going through them.

But you can write a melody for me for next year.

But Simeon's emphasis is on God's timing.

Now I can die.

Now you may dismiss your servant in peace.

Now, because everything has changed.

Now a new era has begun.

Now, God, your story of salvation,

I can see it unfolding.

Simeon, he's a trusting servant,

and God is a faithful master.

And Simeon can say,

God, look, I'm ready to die now.

I hand myself over to you,

because I've seen your goodness,

I have seen your salvation for my people,

and for all of the world.

And then Simeon, full of the Holy Spirit,

prophesies about the work of Jesus.

Verse 34.

Can you imagine being Mary at this point,

hearing this?

Her little eight-day-old baby

was going to cause people to rise and to fall,

to cause a sword to pierce her heart,

her soul.

Simeon is saying that Jesus is going to be

a tool of division.

He would cause division amongst people,

two different types of division.

He would divide those who follow him

and those who don't,

and he would divide people's hearts

so that their hearts would be revealed.

Jesus is going to come and divide people

into those who follow and don't follow,

and for those who follow,

their very hearts are going to be divided

and revealed.

When we are confronted by Jesus,

we can't remain neutral.

We can't have no opinion of him.

He will either confront our need for God

and lead us to faith in him,

or we will push against Jesus

and reject him.

Simeon's prophecy points to Jesus' dividing nature.

He will split families,

some believing, some not,

brother against brother,

sister against mother,

because you can't remain neutral to Jesus.

He pierces to the very heart

and reveals what is within.

And when we are confronted with who we are,

we can admit our fault

and our need for God,

or we can flee.

Simeon says that Jesus has come

so that the thoughts of many hearts

would be revealed

and a sword would pierce Mary's soul too.

Now,

the heart in the ancient world,

that was the place where the thoughts

and the feelings and the desires

and the attitudes dwelt.

You know,

it's fairly similar for us.

We might think things,

but we feel things.

This is the location of our heart.

Maybe we might even say in our gut,

a little further down.

But in the ancient world,

it was the heart

where the thoughts

and the feelings

and the attitudes,

the hidden things,

were.

And the Bible as a whole

presents Jesus

as the Word of God

and the Word is like a sword.

So a little later in Hebrews,

it says that the Word of God is,

again, like a sword,

sharper than any double-edged sword.

It penetrates even to dividing

soul and spirit,

joint and marrow,

and it judges the thoughts

and attitudes of the heart.

Jesus is going to function

like a double-edged sword.

It's interesting that

in Simeon's prophecy,

he uses this idea of a sword

piercing to the heart.

Now, in the ancient world,

in the Roman world in particular,

there were two types of main swords

that they used.

They used a sword called the makara

and the gladius.

The makara was a single-bladed

hacking weapon.

I have the Chinese version here

because, you know,

props are always good.

So this is the Chinese dao.

So this,

similar type of weapon

to the makara,

it's a good hacking weapon, okay?

You know, think about a rider

on the top of a horse

hacking down.

You don't need both sides

to be sharp.

It has a single focus.

And the other was the gladius.

The gladius was a double-edged weapon.

So this is the Chinese jen.

The gladius was shorter,

but also double-edged.

These weapons are used

not for hacking,

these are used for piercing.

This tool was a much more

delicate weapon.

You don't hack

because you'll break the blade.

You try and pierce armor

and go between the ribs

to get to organs.

That's the function

of a double-edged weapon.

That's what it does.

It's designed to pierce.

So there's a nice little

weapon lesson.

Jesus, as the word of God,

is the double-edged sword.

He's not a hacking tool.

He comes to penetrate

to our inmost being.

He gets through

all of our defenses

that we have made.

The feelings of security

in our job,

our feelings of happiness

in life that we have made,

the idea that we're

good people generally

and God should love me

and God should bless me.

He cuts through

all of that to the heart

and He judges our thoughts

and our attitudes.

Have you ever had that moment

sitting in church

or maybe reading the Bible

at home thinking,

He's talking to me right now.

He's talking to me.

Why is He picking on me

out of all these people?

When that happens,

when we feel like

the preacher

or the Bible reading

is targeting us,

that is the word of God.

That is Jesus Himself

piercing our defenses,

cutting between them all

and getting to our very soul.

Simeon is prophesying

that Jesus would come

and He would cut people

to the heart.

He would divide

their very thoughts

and feelings

and attitudes

and souls

and when that mess

is revealed,

people will be divided.

I think our hearts

can be like this plastic bottle.

I've got lots of props

today actually.

I think our hearts

can be like this plastic bottle.

There's a little bit of oil

and mainly food dye in there.

But I think this is

what our hearts are like.

All throughout the last decade

in particular,

it's been filled

with all kinds of things.

Sin,

resentment,

anger,

sexual temptation,

lust,

frustration,

frustration and pain

because I didn't get the job,

anger because I can't afford

the house I want,

lust is damaging

my relationships

with other people.

And as we look

into the new year

and to the new decade,

we have a heart like this.

And one of my favorite

new sayings is

new year,

new me.

Have you heard this saying?

New year,

new me.

And we think,

oh, it's a new year.

It'll be a new me.

But we are carrying

a heart that is like this.

And what we do

is we just think,

oh, I'm just going to try

really hard

at the start of the year.

I'm going to give it

a good shake.

And this year's going

to be totally different.

Everything's going

to be totally different.

Look,

I've tried really hard

all throughout January

and it's

still the exact same.

And we wonder

why when it comes

to February,

nothing has changed.

What we need

is

a puncture wound.

What we need

is a sword

to pierce us.

I don't know.

I don't want to damage

one of my swords

but I do have

a Stanley knife.

What we actually need

is a sword

to come in.

Let's not make

too much mess.

We need a sword

to come in

and

get the gunk out.

We actually need

it

to be released.

Otherwise,

we're just going

to keep pretending

that everything

is fine.

We're going

to keep pretending

that we've got

this rotten heart

but we're going

to ignore it

and we're going

to think,

I can go into

this new year

and everything

will change

and I'm going

to be the best

Christian next year.

We need that

sword of Jesus.

Miami,

you're looking

very stressed there.

We need that

sword of Jesus

to pierce

our hearts

and let the gunk,

let the horrible

sin out.

Jesus comes

to pierce us.

He is sharper

than any

double-edged sword.

He comes

to divide

our hearts

and our thoughts

and our attitudes.

Without that

sword piercing us,

we could trick

ourselves into

thinking that

everything was fine

but we actually

need this

so it reveals

who we are

but let me tell

you what,

this is not fun.

You know,

stabbing that bottle,

you know,

if that bottle

could scream,

it probably would have.

A little while ago

I had some sin

pointed out to me

and it was like

a stab wound

straight between

the ribs.

It was really

painful

being confronted

with what

had been

a hidden sin.

A sin that

had been

filling up

within me

for years.

And I very much

wanted to keep

this sin hidden.

It wasn't until

it was pointed out

and lanced

like a boil,

like a stab wound

into a plastic bottle

filled with food

colouring,

did the gunk

start pouring out

the secretiveness,

the evasiveness.

But it took

that initial

stab wound

and confrontation

with what was

inside.

I need Jesus

to keep piercing

my soul,

getting between

my ribs,

my armour

that I set up

to pretend

that I'm actually

a good guy

so that I can

be made

more like Jesus.

God's work

when it

pierces

causes a

response.

You can't

stay indifferent

to Jesus

at that moment.

You will either

fall on your

knees and

repent

for what is

coming out

or you're

going to

slap sticky

tape on it.

You're going

to build

bandages

around yourself.

You're going

to build

walls

to try

and protect

yourself.

But we

don't need

to protect

ourselves

because we

have a

God who

has died

to protect

us.

As we

come to

the end

of the

decade,

the 2010s

are closing

out,

it is important

to take a

moment and

stop,

to spend

some time

doing business

with God

and seeing

what our

hearts are

like and not

just assuming

that everything

will be fine.

There's no

point going

into the 2020s

with a

heart full

of arrogance

and sin

and sexual

immorality

and selfishness.

Book some

time over

the next

couple of

days to

do some

business with

God.

It's likely

that a lot

of us have

time before

Sydney kicks

back in.

I want to

congratulate you

all on

remembering what

day it was

to come to

church today.

It's often

hard between

Christmas and

New Year's to

remember what

day it is.

But it's

likely that we've

got a little

bit of time.

Go and spend

some time

with God.

Ask him,

God,

pierce my

soul.

Let me

know how

I need to

change.

Ask for

help from

a friend.

If you

invite a

friend,

they will

tell you.

Ask God

and ask

your friend,

God,

what is the

one biggest

sin that I

need to

confront to

leave in

this decade

before I

start 2020?

take a

look at

your sin,

own it

and acknowledge

that it's

yours and

that Jesus

came to

get rid of

it so

that we

could have

peace,

trusting in

him and

peace with

him because

he loves us

and he died

for us.

Let me pray

for us.

with

peace

of

him

too