Do You See What Simeon Sees?

This week's sermon is from Luke 2 and focuses on Simeon's prophecy over Jesus. In studying Luke, chapters 1-2 there is a theme of peace that emerges in the songs and prophecies. There's the familiar song of the angels in chapter 2, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!” Then there's the less familiar prophecy by Zechariah concerning Jesus in chapter 1.

"76 And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High;
for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways,
77 to give knowledge of salvation to his people
in the forgiveness of their sins,
78 because of the tender mercy of our God,
whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high
79 to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,
to guide our feet into the way of peace.”

Next, we're introduced to Simeon, who, upon seeing Jesus proclaims, "Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace."

Just stop and think about it. He sees Jesus, lifts the baby up in his arms and prays, "Now I can die."

30 minutes on Sunday morning is not enough time to unpack the wealth and treasure of a passage like this, not to mention the prophecies that are the foundation of Simeon's expectations. So, you're reading a few introductory ramblings on the blog as a consequence.

Here are some things that struck me as important as I read this text.

1. Simeon finds joy and peace in "seeing" God's salvation accomplished in his own life.

He says in v. 29, “Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation."

In Jesus he sees the fulfillment of all his own longing. In Jesus he sees the pardoning of his iniquity and the consolation of Israel. The consolation or comfort of Israel had been long spoken of and long anticipated. By the time Simeon comes into the picture many Israelites had forgotten that this "consolation" or "comfort" was less about deliverance form foreign oppression and more about the forgiveness of sins.
But, Isaiah 40 is clear and Simeon seems to know it...
"Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.
Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
and cry to her
that her warfare is ended,
that her iniquity is pardoned,
that she has received from the Lord's hand
double for all her sins."

Isaiah 57 also has this theme of consolation and comfort for suffering Israel.
15 For thus says the One who is high and lifted up,
who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy:
“I dwell in the high and holy place,
and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit,
to revive the spirit of the lowly,
and to revive the heart of the contrite.

and again...
18 "I have seen his ways, but I will heal him;
I will lead him and restore comfort to him and his mourners,
19 creating the fruit of the lips.
Peace, peace, to the far and to the near,” says the Lord,
“and I will heal him."

This is why Simeon can say, "Now I can die in peace." Peace between men and God is going to be fulfilled by God's Messiah, Jesus Christ and Simeon looks with faith upon that day. Simeon is not looking for peace in a political personality or a change in national status. Simeon is not looking for peace at the bottom of a bottle or in the accumulation of wealth. Simeon is looking for God's salvation and he sees it in Jesus Christ and so he proclaims, "Now you are letting your servant depart in peace."

Wow. How did Simeon find peace? He looked at Jesus. That's it. He looked at Jesus. This is more practical than we might realize at first. How do we find peace? Quit looking at yourself and lift your eyes to God's salvation. What has God done? What has God accomplished? What is God like? What does God say?
This makes me think of a verse Pastor Paul reminded me of the other day, 2 Corinthians 3:18, 18 "And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit."

Paul and Simeon are transformed people because they behold the glory of the Lord in Jesus Christ, not just because they saw him, but because they saw him in the Scriptures by the leading of the Holy Spirit.

2. The Only Reason Simeon "Sees" Jesus is because of the Holy Spirit.

v. 25, "...and the Holy Spirit was upon him."
v. 26, "And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit..."
v. 27, "And he came in the Spirit into the temple..."

You think Luke is trying to tell us something? Yeah. Lots of people "saw" Jesus that day but Simeon (and later, Anna) is the only one who sees Jesus as the Christ, the Savior of the world, the consolation of Israel and the source of peace.

There's so much more to this passage than what's on the surface. From it we could talk about:
1. All the worthless ways we look for peace that fail
2. The irony of the fact that Simeon prophecies that Jesus will bring peace AND opposition (v. 34)
3. The joy that Simeon has at seeing the consolation of the Gentiles just as much as the Jews (v. 31, 32)
4. How the church should manage conflict by looking to Jesus and reflecting his character
And there's probably more...we'll see how many I can manage to talk about on Sunday.

Be praying that God gives me wisdom as I prepare.

To God Alone be the Glory!

*Painting: Simeon's Moment by Ron DiCianni. Copyright 2008. All Rights Reserved. Available HERE

Christmas Music Mix Part 4

The City On A Hill Collections are often quite good. These two tracks are no exception. I've heard Caedmon's Call before but have not really paid attention to Sara Groves. Maybe I should start.

CVCC Update Meeting

In case you missed our most recent Update Meeting, here's a summary of what was discussed. We had a lot of feedback, a lot of good questions and some fantastic encouragement from CVCC'ers. Please consider reading carefully and sharing the information with anyone that wasn't present.

1. The Purpose of having quarterly update meetings.
Better communication is the goal. This is always difficult with large groups of people with 100 different schedules and so our hope is that these meetings are one more way to release information that keeps the congregation up to speed.Some other ways we regularly communicate important information have been/are:

i. The release of our budget 2 months prior to our annual praise and mission meeting.
ii. An informative e-mail from Pastor Chris every two weeks and a newsletter article every month containing what the
elders are talking about when we meet.
iii. E-mail updates from our office manager, Kaleb.
iv. The blog

2. Financial Update...Here are the facts:
Bad News First
i. We have been running in the red for most of 2009.
*Note: Two reasons for inflated costs have been construction upstairs and unexpected startup costs when moving into the building.

ii. Building Payments (interest only right now) have been coming out of the Building Fund and only 50,000 more
dollars are officially pledged to come in.

iii. The offering amount needed each week to meet our current budget (excluding the building payment) is $3211.00. This
means we're currently $19,000.00 behind in 2009.

Here's the Good news:
i. Next year there will be no construction expenses.
ii. We have under spent in our general ministry budget all year.
iii. The potential for giving has not been met and can be met, in Pastor Chris' words, “We are able to do this.”

What do we do in light of this Information?
i. Teach on giving biblically (by God's grace and plan we landed in I Corinthians 16 right as these issues needed to be
confronted and Chris has preached three fantastic sermons on the subject from I Corinthians...LISTEN HERE).

ii. If giving does not increase in 6 months a second "trigger" budget will be proposed consisting of significant cost cutting
(staff being one example among many).
*Note: We feel this is a way to not only rely on God to supply our ministry needs but also be responsible with our funds or lack thereof.

iii. Take personal, individual responsibility for challenging one another to commit and be involved in ministry at CVCC.

How do we change this situation?

i. Realize that there are aspects of situations like this we do not control. Pray that our hearts will, together, be moved
to give and commit to ministry at CVCC.
ii. Small personal sacrifices can make all the difference. If every giving unit in the church, simply decided, simultaneously, to give 10.00 more dollars every week we would surpass our budget by thousands of dollars. This is why we KNOW we can do this!
iii. Take personal responsibility for reaching out and sharing the vision at CVCC
iv. Take personal responsibility for encouraging people to attend informational and annual meetings, small group bible studies, Sunday school and Sunday morning worship.

Caution:
"Let us not make finances THE conversation at church every week. Let us remember to behold the glory of the Lord in his Word and in his people so that our hearts are in the right place.

2. The Associate Pastor Position
Be in prayer and in consultation with the pastors and elders about hiring Pastor Cory as the full time Associate pastor. If you would like more information about why Pastor Chris and the elders feel like this position is necessary please contact any of the elders, Pastor Chris or Pastor Cory. A job description is also available for review.

3. Crooks Church Plant
Be in prayer for David and Kathryn Glader. David is the Church Planter in Crooks and needs our support. The foremost need is prayer and the second is finances. David was kind enough to give us a quick update with the follow tidbits:
i. The harvest is plentiful and ripe.
ii. Significant ministry has happened by simply going door to door in the community.
iii. God is opening more and more doors for a church plant to be one of the defining marks in the community of Crooks.

Christmas Music Mix Part 3

Stille Nacht (Silent Night) by the St. Thomas Boys Choir.

Christmas Music Mix Part 2

O Holy Night is, hands down, without question or hesitation, my absolute favorite Christmas song. I've always enjoyed it, but two years ago we were singing it in church and since that time I have appreciated it all the more. We were in the midst of our sermon series on Revelation and had been spending considerable time dwelling on chapters 4 and 5 which describe the throne of God, the worship around the throne and the Lamb that stands, looking as if he had been slain. Again and again we returned to the theme of the total authority, sovereignty, and rule of Jesus Christ, the conquering King. The pictures, symbols, and images of Christ that Revelation portrays are staggering in and of themselves, but that morning we sang O Holy Night and I noticed a verse I had never noticed before. One of the reasons I think I had never noticed this verse is that it is not all that often sung. Whether for the sake of time or personal preference, skipping this verse is a real shame.
The verse reads as follows...

Truly he taught us to love one another
His law is love and his gospel is peace
Chains shall he break
For the slave is our brother
And in his name all oppression shall cease
Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we
Let all within us praise his holy name
Christ is the Lord!
Then ever, ever praise we,
His power and glory ever more proclaim!
His power and glory ever more proclaim!

Today I began looking into the origins of the song and my proverbial Christmas socks were knocked clean off. The original version is French and was based on a Christmas poem called "Minuit, chrétiens" (Midnight, Christians). The English version, therefore, is not a direct, word for word translation of the original.

Check out the word for word translation of the verse above...

The Redeemer has overcome every obstacle:
The Earth is free, and Heaven is open.
He sees a brother where there was only a slave,
Love unites those that iron had chained.
Who will tell Him of our gratitude,
It's for all of us that He is born,
That He suffers and dies.
People stand up! Sing of your deliverance,
Christmas, Christmas, sing of the Redeemer,
Christmas, Christmas, sing of the Redeemer!

It seems each year I notice something about O Holy Night that makes it deeper and richer.
I think Josh Groban has pretty much the best version of this song right now. It doesn't have all the lyrics that should be sung, but he doesn't try to do anything with it that's ridiculously inventive. It's very traditional and skillfully performed. Sorry this isn't the best audio for the song either, but it's all I've got right now. Enjoy!

Christmas Music Mix

After my post last week about Mars Hill Church's Christmas music project I went off on an enthusiastic search for Christmas music with a fresh arrangement to it. I decided that for the next few weeks I'll occasionally be featuring some of the music I find and like. Before the end of December I'll post a master list in case you decide to track down each of the songs yourself.

This week...

SILENT NIGHT by SIXPENCE NONE THE RICHER featuring Dan Haseltine of Jars of Clay.

Sixpence None The Richer's Christmas Album is called The Dawn of Grace. Their version of Silent Night is even available FOR FREE in Amazon's MP3 store HERE.

Tis the Season for Boycotts!

The Christmas season has begun and with it comes the music, the sales, the trees, the smells and the frantic pace of holiday events. I've noticed in the last few years, along with all these things, another curious trend has become increasingly popular. The good 'ol fashioned boycott of retailers who greet customers and advertise their products without ever actually using the word "Christmas".

Focus on the Family in fact has put a lot of effort towards alerting Christians as to what stores are "Christmas Friendly" and those that are not. Let's be clear from the start, I don't resent Focus on the Family at all. Several of the links on this blog are for FOTF resources that I highly recommend.

However, perhaps we are missing the point of Christmas when we expect OLD NAVY, for instance, to say Merry Christmas instead of Happy Holidays and if they don't say what we want them to say we're not going to buy their fleece and we're going to encourage Christians all over the world to not buy their fleece. What have we then accomplished (other than missing out on quality fleece)?

Consider this:
"Is OLD NAVY honoring Christ more if they're required, under threat of a Christian boycott, to say Merry Christmas instead of Happy Holidays?"
Let's put it another way:
"Would Christ be honored by OLD NAVY'S begrudging submission to cultural Christian demands?"
Let's put it another way still:
"Is Christ primarily honored by Christian retail spending AT ALL?"

Allow me to propose an alternative. This Christmas season, do all your shopping in as few locations as possible (Christmas friendly or not) and, as far as is possible allow the same employees to assist you each time. This Christmas season, allow that employee to see you, over and over again exhibit the character of Christ as you try to steward your money well. Allow that employee to see the character of Christ as you treat them respectfully and lovingly. Allow that employee to see the character of Christ as you do everything within your power to help make their job easier and more delightful. Then, when the holiday season is winding down, and if the opportunity presents itself, tell them you are thankful for their service and help. Tell them they have been a blessing to your holiday season and then tell them about the greatest blessing that you're reminded of this season - Jesus Christ.

I hope this is a far more appealing alternative to you. After all, boycotting OLD NAVY certainly doesn't give you a chance to spread the aroma of Christ in OLD NAVY.

Let's spread the aroma of Christ together this Christmas season by actually making a difference in someone's heart (and don't forget about that Rockin' Fleece!)