Christmas Through the Eyes of Humility
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[00:00:00] You can, and Mike had called me Friday and, uh, explained the situation and, and, um, and, uh, so I, I always look forward to the opportunity to, to serve the church body in this way. And so, um, as Matt said, just a little background, um, my wife is here with me. We have been married, what, 35 years and we have five kids.
Um, and oldest is 27. Our youngest two are nine, uh, 19. And then we have, um, two grand babies, one on the way. So we're very excited about that. And, and they're all home for Christmas. We have one, uh, one of our daughters, they all live in Spokane, but one of our daughters lives in Mexico. She's a missionary down there.
And, uh, so she was able to make it, make it up here for Christmas. She'll be here for a month with us. So we're really excited to, to have her and, uh, but it is a treat for me to be here this morning. Um. Mike said, you know, was very thankful for me coming up, and I told him, you know what? [00:01:00] And he was expressing just, you know, just the blessing that is.
But I told him, you know what, it's more of a blessing to me. So this is a gift from the Lord, from you all to our family. So thank you for, for, uh, for having us. So if you have your Bibles, uh, uh, turn to Luke chapter two. We're gonna be looking and, um, verses 36 to 38 this morning, and, um, looking at Christmas through the eyes of humility, mainly, uh, through the eyes of Anna.
So let me pray and then we will dive into God's word this morning. Father, we are so grateful for the privilege to, to gather this morning. And the privilege to be called your, your children, not because of anything good that we have done or any, um, merit that we've earned, but because you are a, a, a kind and merciful gracious God, and you demonstrated that grace towards us, that love towards us, while we were still sinners, Christ would die for us.
And so we thank you Christ for, uh, [00:02:00] the gift of salvation that you have purchased for us, the forgiveness that we have in you. The new life that we have in you. We thank you for the, um, the righteousness that have been clothed to us because of, of your saving death upon the cross. We thank you Holy Spirit, that you are the one who enables us to, to live out this righteousness.
And so as we come to your word this morning, we ask Holy Spirit, that you would open the eyes of our heart and help us to see the, the beauty and the, the wonder and the glory of Christ as we look at this story. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen. Well, he was known as the Desert Fox, a brilliant military strategist and a confidant of Adolf Hitler.
His name was Irwin Rahmel, and during the first week of June, 1944, he worked hard to strengthen the beaches of Western France. He was preparing for a, an imminent invasion. [00:03:00] The Allied forces were on its way against Hitler's Europe. And if the allies were to gain a foothold in France, the German war machine would have to be destroyed.
And Rahmel understood this for his years of experience, from his years of experience. And so he placed himself in the front line. He oversaw directly the effort to secure the readiness of the German forces. And as that first week of June ended and the weather across the Atlantic coast became bleak, Rommel was confident that he could take some time off for a few days.
It was his wife's birthday and he wanted to surprise her. He wanted to surprise her by giving her a present in person on the exact day, June 6th. So on June 5th, Rahmel left the front line. On the next day with Rommel in Berlin celebrating with his family, 1.1 million men landed on the shores of Normandy, accompanied by hundreds of thousands and tons of [00:04:00] material and, and ammunitions and 150,000 armored vehicles.
The combined British and American forces gained a toehold on the coast of France, and this in turn provided the opportunity to push on towards the Rhine River. Which would eventually lead to the destruction of the Third Reich. It was the greatest single military invasion in human history, and Ramel saw coming.
He had the vision to see it coming. He had the insight to prepare for its coming. He was waiting for it to happen, but when it did arrive because he was preoccupied with something else, he missed it. He missed something. He knew that was coming. Now. Well, you may have experienced something like this, but not, I'm not sure if of the same magnitude, but something significant for you that because you were distracted in some way because you [00:05:00] were preoccupied in something else, you missed it, you missed something of far greater importance.
Maybe a, a career possibility, maybe a, a financial pro prospect or a, a relational opportunity. If you miss things like these, they are significant, but this morning we're talking about something bigger. We're all surrounded by people who are living out this very experience right now. People who are missing a thing of eternal significance.
Perhaps a family member is missing it. Maybe a, a colleague at work is missing it, or a good friend or a neighbor is missing it. It might even be you. It may, it may be you missing this thing of eternal significance, and the symptoms of this are all around us, especially during this time of the year. I mean, you can hear it as you're walking through the malls.
As you're sitting in a dentist's chair. You can hear them [00:06:00] while you're driving along the freeway, the Universal Sound of Christmas music, and you can see them Christmas movies into theaters. Christmas specials on tv, Christmas on Netflix, Christmas on stage, and Christmas on ice. Christmas food, Christmas drinks, Christmas clothes, decorations, and of course Christmas gifts.
You know, I'm not a scrooge or anything fussing about, you know, what makes Christmas, Christmas in our culture, nor am I the grin Who wants to steal away Christmas? I love Christmas music playing in the background, and I love an entertaining Christmas party filled with games and laughter, and I love the lights.
And my question however, is will you miss Christmas this year? Will you miss something of eternal significance? And I'm not talking about the celebration that happens on December 25th, I'm talking about the event. The event that brings the power to transform [00:07:00] people beyond ways that they could imagine the event that brings a salvation to a soul that's separated from God.
Will you be among the many who missed Christmas? You see, many missed it on that first advent prior to the birth of of Christ, the people of God anticipated Messiah's coming. Isaiah. 700 years prior to the birth of Christ. He prophesied about it in Isaiah nine. For to us, a child is born to us, a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor.
Mighty God, everlasting Father, prince of Peace. Micah prophesied about this 750 years or so before the birth of Christ in Micah, chapter five, but you owe Bethlehem. You are too little to be among the clans of Judah. From you shall come forth from me. One who is to be the ruler in Israel [00:08:00] who's coming forth is from of old, from ancient of days for 400 years.
During the years between the old and the New Testament, the people of God anticipated the coming of the Messiah. People like Zacharia and Elizabeth. And Mary and Joseph, and Simeon and Anna, all of them, and, and people like, like them waited with great anticipation and expectation. And amazingly, when Jesus was born, so few people in Israel recognized him as the one who would bring hope into this dark world.
Few people recognized him as their Messiah, their anointed king. If it wasn't as if no one was watching for him or waiting for him, I mean, messianic expectations in the early first century were running at an all time high. In fact, in Matthew chapter two, when the wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, they came looking for one who would be born [00:09:00] King of the Jews.
Herod summoned the religious leaders and asked them where exactly the Messiah would be born. And these religious types were able to scroll through their, their scriptures. And they pointed to Micah, chapter five verse two, Luke chapter three, verse 15, records that when John the Baptist began his ministry, the people were in expectation and were all questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Christ.
And so Messianic expectations were high. But very few people recognized him when he came. The only people in Israel who recognized Jesus at his birth were humble, unremarkable, nobodies, Mary and Joseph the shepherds. Simeon recognized him. Anna recognized him. Were gonna learn about that today. And what did these Israelites have in common?
They were nobodies in the eyes of man. Okay. Only those who were humble [00:10:00] and contrite in spirit recognized him. And this is what it'll take for you and me to recognize Jesus as the son of God. Only those who are brought low will recognize him to be the one who brings redemption to this sinful, fallen world.
If you don't see Jesus through the eyes of humility. This season will be about trying to find something else that will bring meaning to your life. If only I had a spouse who met all my needs, if only I had children who didn't embarrass me with their life choices. If only I had a spouse, if only I had a different spouse, if only I had a better job, if only.
I wasn't so sick. If only I didn't have pimples. If only my body looked a certain way. If only I wasn't in financial debt. If only, if only, if only, [00:11:00] if only can't You see what God is doing? Perhaps he's bringing you to a place of brokenness or humility. Perhaps he's helping you get your eyes off yourself because looking at ourself doesn't have the power to redeem us.
We need to set our eyes on something beyond ourselves, something beyond our selfish pleasures. We need to see Jesus. We need to see his glory. We need to see his power to save. We need to see Jesus and his power to to conform us into his image. Will you miss Christmas this year? Will you miss the person of Christ?
And the only way to not miss Jesus this Christmas is to see him through the eyes of humility. And if we're gonna see Jesus for the first time, or if we're gonna see Jesus again and again in God's word, in the life of the church and in the circumstances that's [00:12:00] before you, we need to see him through the eyes of humility.
Anna didn't miss Jesus because she saw him with humble eyes. Only those humbled by God will see Jesus. That's our big idea this morning. That's a main idea. That's where we're headed this morning. Only those humbled by God will see Jesus. And God wants to humble us this morning because he wants us to see Jesus.
And so let's look at the three ways in this passage from this passage that God humbles us so that we might. See Jesus. He humbles us with his faithfulness. He humbles us with his sovereignty and he humbles us with his calling. That's where we're headed. So let's look at the first way he humbles Anna. He humbled her with his faithfulness.
Verse 36. There was a prophet and there was a prophetess Anna, the daughter of, fan of the tribe of Asher. Now Asher. [00:13:00] Was the eighth son of Jacob. The tribe of Asher was one of the tribes of Israel. They were located in the most northern part of Israel. And this is the tribe of Israel that Anna came from.
Later during the the history of the Kings of Israel, we learned something else about the tribe of Asher. And if you remember your Old Testament history, you know that Israel split into two kingdoms after King Solomon's reign. The 10 tribes in the north formed an independent nation, and thus they had their own king, a king who was not the rightful heir to King David's throne.
And from then on in the Old Testament, the name Israel applied to the apostate Northern Kingdom. It applied to the kingdom that drifted away from God. They would continue in their rebellion against God, despite all the warnings that they had received from various prophets. They had been warned by the prophets that unless they turned from their [00:14:00] wickedness, God would judge them by sending one of the nations to destroy them.
And it happened in 7 22 bc. That was the year the Assyrians conquered the 10 Northern tribes and they took most of the people into captivity. The northern tribe as an independent nation never returned to Israel after being exiled. Apostate is Israel built new places of worship and they established a different priesthood.
They led to that led to the total corruption of the Jewish religion in the Northern Kingdom. The tribe of Asher was one of the northern tribes taken into captivity, and Anna of course, comes onto the stage long after 7 22 bc. She comes on the scene about eight centuries later. And so how did this happen if the nor entire northern tribe was wiped out?
How did that happen? In Second Chronicles chapter [00:15:00] 30, we read this, listen, chapter 30 verse six. So couriers went throughout all Israel and Judah with letters from the king and his princes as the king had commanded, saying, oh, people of Israel return to the Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, that he may turn again to the remnant of you who have escaped from the hand of the kings of Assyria.
And then in second Chronicles 30 verse 10, 11 few verses down later says, so the couriers went from city to city through this country of Efram and Manas. And as far as zein. These were the tribes of the north, but they laughed them to scorn and mock them. However, some men of Asher, of Manassa and of Zebulon humbled themselves and came to Jerusalem.
Did you catch that? They humbled themselves and they came to j. And this means before the Assyrian takeover in 7 22, there was a steady migration [00:16:00] of people from the north to the south. This was a remnant of believing Jews from the north who wanted to be part of the temple in Jerusalem. They wanted to be part of worshiping God.
Individual families from all 10 tribes humbled themselves and migrated south. And we also know from history that something happens later to the Southern kingdom. In 5 86 BC the Southern Kingdom, Judah was conquered by the Babylonians and they were exiled to Babylon, and this was God's punishment on them for their pride and their idolatry.
But because of the faithfulness of God, the people of Judah returned to Jerusalem beginning in 5 38 bc and they were led there by Abel, Ezra, and Nehemiah. They reestablished a temple, they reestablished a priesthood, and therefore the people of God once more. Came to worship their God and the tribe of Asher was with that group that returned to Jerusalem.
Now, if you were [00:17:00] Anna's ancestors, you would've remained, you would've reminded each generation of the faithfulness of God to your tribe. For eight centuries, this was passed down all the way to Anna. And Anna as a recipient of God's faithfulness to choose a is a recipient of God's faithfulness to choose a people for himself.
I mean, you can imagine her gratitude, knowing that many from her very own tribe was wiped out, but God preserved her. She had the privilege of being recognized as a child of God. And so this means. She is included among the people of God mentioned in Deuteronomy seven. It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord said is love on you and chose you for you were the fewest of all peoples.
But it is because the Lord loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers, that the Lord has brought you [00:18:00] out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. Know therefore that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations.
If you are a child of God. If you belong to God through your faith in Jesus Christ. Paul says in Romans 11 that you are grafted into the promises of God and all the promises of God. Find their yes and amen in Christ. Second Corinthians chapter one, verse seven. And that's not because of our doing. That's not because of your doing.
It's because God chose to set his love and his affection upon you. God acted in faithfulness on your behalf. One Corinthians 1 26 to 28, consider your calling. Not many of you were wise according to worldly standards. Not many were [00:19:00] powerful. Not many were of noble birth, but God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise.
God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong God chose what is low and despised in the world. If you recognize Jesus for who he is, it's not because of your doing. It is because God is faithful. He's faithful to his children because he can't be unfaithful to himself. His promise to make Abraham a great nation came to pass.
His promise to bring Israel out of, uh, Egypt came to pass his promise to send a, a deliverer to came to pass. Just as he had said, his promise to deliver us from sin through the saving work of Christ has come to pass, and it will fully come to pass when God makes all things new. And this body of sin that we still have will be done away with in heaven forever.
His promise to complete the good work he's done in us will come to pass when Christ [00:20:00] returns and Christ will certainly return. There will be a second advent on a day still future. The Savior will return seated on a white horse bearing what name, faithful and true. According to Revelation 19, and therefore the author of Hebrews says in Hebrews 10, let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering for he who promise is faithful.
If the faithfulness of God should humble us, we don't deserve God to be faithful to us. And when we think of Christmas, our mind should be drawn to the faithfulness of Christ, his faithfulness, to leave the glories of heaven. To willingly set aside his rights as God to be born as a baby in the likeness of sinful flesh, to be wrapped in rough cloth, to suffer cold and hunger, to be schemed against and betrayed, and finally to humble himself to the point of death, even death on a cross defiled by our sin.[00:21:00]
Having not committed one act of sin and thus bear the weight of God's holy punishment against sin so that you and I might be clothed with his righteousness and hence be fit to be near God in heaven forever. Oh, that is what the faithfulness of purchased for us. When you see the faithfulness of God in Jesus, it means you're viewing Christmas through the eyes of humility.
And if you don't see Jesus this Christmas, if you miss him, if you fail to recognize him, if your heart is not thrilled to see him and read of him, it's not because of God. It's because you think there's something better than Jesus. It means you think that because God is faithful, then he owes me something.
God's faithfulness does not guarantee. We'll get everything that we want in this world, [00:22:00] there's only two things. The faithfulness of God guarantees. It guarantees that he will free you from the penalty of sin if you put your faith in Christ, and his faithfulness guarantees that you will be condemned in hell forever if you reject the offer of his son.
God's faithfulness should humble us. He will do what he promises. The second way God humbles Anna is through his sovereignty and he humbles us by his sovereignty over our lives. What does Luke tell us about Anna? Look at verses 36 and 37. She was advanced in years, having lived with her husband seven years from when she was a virgin, and then as a widow until she was 84.
She did not depart from the temple worshiping with fasting and prayer. Night and day when we're introduced to Anna in Luke chapter two, we [00:23:00] see a woman who waited with eager expectation for the coming of Christ. Uh, think about some of the specifics that Luke mentions here. It's not very detailed, but you can conclude some of these things.
You can conclude that she lived a rather painful life, that, that she hadn't enjoyed an easy life, and that she was a widow for a long time. See in that culture, women generally married very young, so she was probably somewhere around 13, 14, maybe 16, and after seven years of marriage, her husband dies and she remained single the rest of her life.
Some say she was a widow for 64 years, others say 84, regardless of the years. It was long. She was a widow for a long time. And widowhood in that society was extremely difficult. They didn't have things like life insurance policies. They didn't have [00:24:00] government programs to take care of those in financial hardships.
And these are things that we're familiar with in our American culture, but not them. If you were a widow in that society, you were vulnerable. Remember Naomi in the book of Ruth, her husband dies, two son die. And she took this to mean that the Lord was dealing harshly with her. She understood that her life would be destined for hardship and pain, and so she became filled with bitterness.
And if you're a widow in that culture, you were guaranteed to live a life of extreme poverty. And this is why the early church, the Apostle Paul urged young widows to remarry in one Timothy five. It would be difficult for them to make it, and it would overly burden the church because they would do.
Everything they could to support widows. Notice also that there's no children mentioned, and so we can assume that she didn't have children. And for a widow to [00:25:00] survive in a society like that, they would need their children. Children could provide financial and practical support for their, their widowed mother.
And then, and then Anna. So then Anna probably lived on charity, or she supported herself out of whatever she may have received from. A family's inheritance. Either way, she must have led a very frugal, chaste, and sober life. And add to all this, the loneliness that widowhood brings to an individual. And this is what God had purpose for her life.
She had to come to grips with the reality of God's sovereignty over her life. We don't know why God had this kind of life for her to live, but we do know that in all of life's circumstances, God is sovereign over such things. Even in the trials when when we say that God is sovereign, we're saying that he's in control of all things.[00:26:00]
Control lies at the heart of what we must understand. When we speak of the sovereignty of God, how much of our circumstances does God control? Job 42 verse two. I know that you can do all things and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted. Psalm 33 11. The Council of the Lord stands forever, the plans of his heart to all generations.
In one Peter chapter one, verse six, regarding trials and the testing of our faith, Peter says, if necessary, you have been grieved. By various trials, who decides if trials are necessary and what kinds of trials are necessary? God does. The Bible makes the bold and repeated claim that there are no limits, that what God controls, he's completely free to act to [00:27:00] what he decrees, and he requires permission from no one.
Anna understood and believed that the life given to her was given to her by God. Now, this doesn't mean that she didn't experience the pain of loss, nor does it mean that she didn't feel the, the, the effects of unmet expectations. Expectations, right? Job was a faithful worshiper of God. God in his sovereignty, allowed for Satan to take everything from him except his life.
He lost his wealth, his children, his health. And how did he respond? Initially, he cursed the day of his birth. When life doesn't go as we expect it to go, it can potentially lead us to bitterness. It can lead us to doubt the goodness of God. It can lead us to believe that we're not loved by God, or it could lead us to abandon [00:28:00] the faith.
We know that that didn't happen to Anna because her life. Was devoted to serving the Lord. Embracing the sovereignty of God is humbling because it reminds us that we're not in control, and often the way God shows us that we aren't in control is in our circumstances. Is the life you're currently living, the one you always wanted?
Do you feel like your gifts are being wasted or do you dream about doing something different? See, the reality is that all of us can imagine something better for ourselves than our circumstances today. I mean, no doubt questions would've come to Anna's mind from time to time. Am am I where I thought I would be at this age?
How come my husband died so early in our marriage? And see, the great reality for Anna was that as long as she was [00:29:00] looking for the one who would bring salvation to her. Then she was free to live in what God had purpose for her. She was looking to the one who would redeem her from her sin. She was looking to the one who would take sins curse for her and experience the wrath of God for her.
She was looking to the one who would willingly die in her place so that she might live with God forever. She was looking to Jesus just like every Old Testament saint who walked by faith. According to Hebrews chapter 11, the greater reality for you and me is this. If you love and follow Jesus, God always writes a better story for you than you would write for yourself.
Romans 8 32. He who did not spare his own son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? How will he not also write a better story than one you could write for yourself? His story. Has in [00:30:00] mind conforming you into the image of Christ, how much better is that than one that we could write for ourselves?
His story concludes with Jesus wiping away every tear from your eyes. His story concludes with normal, no more pain or mourning or suffering. His story concludes with the former things passing away. If your aim in life is to attempt to write your own story, you will miss Jesus. When we reach for control, what are we announcing?
We are announcing that we know more than the all knowing, all seeing, all powerful, infinitely good, and loving and merciful God. We're announcing that we can govern the universe and our own life better than he can. If the devotion of your life is to figure out a way to have all your expectations met, you will [00:31:00] miss Jesus.
If your objective in life is to have all the what if questions answered, you'll miss Jesus. Jesus himself is the best, most satisfying thing that you could ever have or experience. And therefore, fullness of life is ultimately found not in any earthly success or relationship or accomplishment. Fullness of life is found in your proximity to God through faith.
In Christ. So then do we have control over anything? Our thoughts? We can take our thoughts captive by the power of the Holy Spirit, and if we take our thoughts captive, we will control our attitude towards the circumstances of our life and those who, who take their thoughts captive will embrace the sovereignty of God and thus be humbled by it.
They will trust the uncertainties of life to the one who works all things [00:32:00] according to the council of his will. Ephesians one 11, they will step away from the throne acknowledging that they are utterly unqualified to fill it. So how long? How long will we seek the highest place? Well, let me answer this.
Let me answer that by saying this. Jesus Christ went to the lowest place. And because he went to the lowest place for us, God highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name. And because he went to the lowest place for us, he has made it his aim to bring those who place in trust to him, to glory, humble yourself under the sovereign purposes of God over your life, and you'll see Jesus and you will see His glory and you won't miss him.
Only those humbled by God will see Jesus. The third way God [00:33:00] humbles us is with his calling on our life. Look at verses 37 to 38. She did not depart from the temple worshiping with fasting and prayer night and day and coming up at that very hour, she began to give thanks to God and to speak of him to all who are waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem.
So after only seven years of marriage, God called her to be a widow. Was she interested in remarrying? I, I'm sure she was, and it would've been the primary way for her to be cared for, but that didn't happen. Instead, God called her to a life of service at the temple. God called her to the simplest kind of life.
She lived on the temple grounds in modest chambers, and these chambers were primarily used as temporary dwelling places for priests. But because of her long lasting faithfulness and her [00:34:00] steadfast devotion to the Lord and her constant commitment to her ministry of prayer fasting, the temple officials had given her a small chamber, and this is what the Lord called her to.
God had graciously provided her a place. In his house, and this allowed for her to be completely devoted in her service and worship of the Lord. She served God by offering him her praise. She participated in public worship, never missing a service. Her praying was accompanied by fasting, which speaks of her own self-denial and sincerity.
Fasting per se, has no mystical effect on anything spiritual but fasting with prayer. Reveals a heart that's consumed with praying. She was so eager to receive the blessing being sought that she simply had no interest in eating unless it wasn't otherwise. I mean, it was more the priority. It was praying [00:35:00] as opposed to the eating.
And apparently she had done this as a pattern for 64 years, perhaps even longer. She had a special calling to pray. And she fulfilled her calling without ceasing, and the more she faithfully carried out her calling, the more her heart hungered for God night and day. Her daily habits strengthened through the years of faithful practice was to be with God without distraction.
She wasn't itching to hurry on to something more exciting. Here's a woman with a history of aloneness. She was advanced in, in age, and she was perhaps weary of her unfulfilled dreams. I mean, if we were to fast forward her situation into our day, I mean, what might this look like in terms of what might this person be groping for?
What this, what might this person be preoccupied with? [00:36:00] Well, she might be become someone who spent one mindless evening after another on Netflix. Or perhaps someone who poured forth the woe is me, details of her doctor visits to whoever might listen, or she may, she may have become someone who assumed her church didn't really need her anymore, except maybe to fill a seat every Sunday morning.
But that's not how Anna responded to her circumstances. She humbly received God's call in her life, which was to spend countless hours in prayer, and these hours in prayer became the fabric of her life. It made her watchful. It made her expectant. It made her vigilant for Messiah's coming. And it didn't happen overnight.
It was fashioned over a lifetime, a lifetime of loving him, a lifetime of fearing God, and trusting him a lifetime of savoring his goodness. And so whatever else may have completed competed to [00:37:00] occupy her time and attention. She found her fullness by continually engaging. In fulfilling God's calling on her life.
When her husband died, the first question that may have popped into her mind was, okay, God, what do you want me to do now? How should I take care of myself and is my life doomed? I mean, these are logical questions. Given her situations, I mean, I would do that. You would do that. We would all do that right in the middle of a, of a difficult situation that's come upon us.
And maybe you're faced with a difficult situation right now. And, and so the natural question that comes to our mind is, Lord, what do you want me to do now? And perhaps you've meditated on a Psalm or a, a story in the gospels and you ask, God, show me how this, this speaks to my current dilemma. And perhaps you've heard nothing.
God hasn't answered what you should do. And so what do you [00:38:00] think Anna had been praying about? And I'm sure she prayed about a lot of things, but there's no doubt that if her praying initially was God, what do you want me to do? At some point, at some point, the emphasis of her prayer changed. As evidenced by what she devoted her life to.
She wasn't just camping out for long periods of time at the temple. She became a woman devoted to fasting and prayer because she wanted to be in constant communion with God, and I believe the emphasis of per prayer went from God. What do you want me to do to God? Who do you want me to be? The two questions aren't unrelated, but the order in which we ask them.
It matters. I mean, think about it. What good is it for me to choose the right job if I'm still consumed with myself? And what good is it for me to choose the right home or the [00:39:00] right spouse if I'm still eaten up with covetousness? What would it have benefited Anna to make the right choice if she was still the wrong person?
And so she started praying, God, who should I be? And God answered her. I want you to be like me. I want you to be holy. I want you to be loving. I want you to be merciful. I want you to be compassionate. I want you to be faithful. I want you to be humble. And the more God conformed her to his likeness, the more she became concerned about the things of God, namely the consolation of Israel and the redemption of this fallen world.
So she began to long for the things God longs for, like the seed who would crush the serpent's head, the seed of Abraham, who would [00:40:00] bless all the nations of the world. She started longing for God to, to send the promise, deliver. She became more concerned about her manner of life being worthy. Of God's calling.
She became more concerned about adorning the characteristics of God. She was more concerned about what God wanted her to be. This is a calling God has for every single one of us. Namely that our lives would display the characteristics of God in the gospel. We are called first and foremost to display the character of God in our faithfulness in how we show mercy.
In how we love, in our extension of grace and compassion, God wants us to be less concerned about changing the world and more concerned about our lives being conformed into his image. Because the more we are like God, the more we will see him and the more we are like God, the more we will long for the things that [00:41:00] he longs for.
And this is why Anna didn't miss. The first Christmas, because only those humbled by God will see Jesus. And we're when? When we're humbled by God's faithfulness, when we're humbled by his sovereignty, when we're humbled by his call on our life, we will see Jesus. I mean, think about the blessing poured out on Anna because she was humbled by God.
She recognized infant Messiah instantly. He was wrapped in a little bundle in Simeon's arms, and just as Simeon was about to give a prophetic word, verse 38 says, and coming up at that very hour, she began to give thanks to God and to speak of him to all who are waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem.
At the very moment, Simeon was uttering his words. His prophecy. She hears him utter these words. In verses 29 to 32, she hears Simeon pronounce the blessing on the [00:42:00] infant Christ as his earthly and his earthly parents. Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace according to your word. For my eyes.
Have seen your salvation that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people. She also heard Simeon's blessing to m and Joseph. Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rise of many in Israel and for a sign that is opposed.
She heard all of that and now keep in mind, Herod's Temple is massive. I mean, there's thousands of people milling around in the temple courtyard every day, and God in his Providence directs Joseph and Mary to Simeon, who's identified as the one who wouldn't die until he saw the Messiah. And I'm sure Anna knew Simeon at least knew about him.
Simeon [00:43:00] launches into this great testimony of the baby, and at that very moment, the spirit of God powerfully moved Anna into the presence of Joseph Mary, baby Jesus, and Simeon. And verse 38 says that just when Simeon pronounced his prophetic blessing on the infant Christ and his earthly parents, in that instance, she came along.
And she hears Simeon, she sees the baby, and immediately she recognizes him as the Christ. And it was at that same moment, God answered the question, the question, what do you want me to do? Was finally answered. She became a mouthpiece for God. And suddenly Anna's prophetic giftedness came boldly to the forefront.
Verse 38, she began to give thanks to God and to speak of him to all who are waiting for redemption of Jerusalem. That verb tense [00:44:00] indicates that she did this continually. This became her one message for the rest of her life. Her mission in life was to point people to Jesus. We don't know what happened to Anne after all this.
She was no doubt in heaven. By the time Christ began his public ministry, some 30 years later, the day of his dedication was probably her one O and only glimpse of him. But it was enough for her. It was enough for her that she didn't miss Jesus, and because she saw him, she could not stop talking about him.
You see, when you see Jesus. And it doesn't matter how old you are or how young you are or how in between you are, everything changes. When you see him, your life becomes centered on him. When you see him leave the glories of heaven to be born in [00:45:00] humility, when you see him ridiculed and mocked, when you see him die on the cross for your sins, when you see him absorb the wrath of God for you.
When you see him forgiving you of all your sins, when you see him clothing, you in his very own righteousness, when you see him buried in the tomb and when you see him raised from the dead three days later when you see him as. Sending to the right hand of God the father. When you see him coming back a second time to make all things new, when you see him wiping away every tear from your eyes, when you see him worshiped by the angelic codes, with cries of worthy as the lamb who is slain, when you see him bringing you near to God, that will be enough for you.
When you see him, you'll begin to live not for yourself, but for him who died for you and was raised for you. And that's the eyes Anna saw him [00:46:00] with that first Christmas. Is there something keeping you from seeing Jesus this Christmas? And if so, I bid for you to ask God to help you see him through the eyes of humility.
Are you so preoccupied with less significant things in comparison to to Christ that you can't see him humbly? Ask God to reveal the Lord Jesus Christ to you humbly. Ask God to grant you a greater desire for Christ. Humbly. Ask God to shrink your desire for the pleasures of this world. Do you need to be rekindled in your love for Christ?
Humbly, ask God to give you a fresh view of Christ with humble eyes as you read his word, and as you listen to his word preached, he will answer that prayer. God wants to answer that prayer because only those humbled by [00:47:00] God will see Jesus. Let's pray. Oh, father, thank you for your word. It is so rich. And we thank you that everything in scripture points us to the all glorious one.
Jesus Christ, who died for our sins, who was raised so that we could have new life with him who has clothed us with his very righteousness. Thank you for your spirit who enables us to see him for who he is, and I pray that we would continually see him. Again and again, not just this Christmas, but from for every day, from this day forward, in Jesus' name, amen.
