"Joy to the World" - Doug Rehberg

This Sunday we transition from our series, “The Signature of Jesus”, to a new series entitled “Joy”, a study of the Book of Philippians.  Just as we have turned the calendar from one end of the year to a brand new year, so we turn the page from the loving kindness and justice of God to its fruit found in us.  Of all the texts to aid in our transition, none is better than Luke 2:22-35.  Here in the story of Simeon we find unbridled joy in the face of the revelation of Jesus Christ.  Who is Simeon?  Why is he at the temple at the precise time Mary and Joseph walk in to fulfill their responsibilities under the law?  What would prompt him to break into song?  What would cause him to say, “Lord, you are dismissing your servant in peace…”?  All of those questions, and more will be addressed this first Sunday of 2015 with a message entitled, “Joy to the World”.

The other day as I sat at home trying to get some relief from a bad cold, I turned to my favorite devotional, Morning and Evening, by Charles H. Spurgeon and began reading the evening selection for January 1^st.  He’s writing on the fourth verse of chapter 1 of the Song of Solomon where Solomon says to the Lord, “Draw me after you…we will rejoice and delight in you.”  Allow me to quote Spurgeon’s comments in their entirety:

We rejoice and delight in You.  We will not open the gates of the year to the dolorous notes of the lyre but to the sweet strains of the harp of joy and the high-sounding cymbals of gladness.  ‘Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our Salvation.’  We, the called, faithful, chosen, will drive away our griefs and set our banners of confidence in the name of God.  Let others lament over their troubles; we who have the sweetening tree to cast into Marah’s bitter pool will joyfully magnify the Lord.  Eternal Spirit, our effectual Comforter, we who are the temples in which You dwell will never cease from adoring and blessing the name of our Jesus.  We will, we are resolved about it, Jesus must have the crown of our heart’s delight; we will not dishonor our Bridegroom by mourning in His presence.  We are ordained to be the minstrels of the skies.  Let’s rehearse our everlasting anthem before we sing it in the halls of the New Jerusalem.  We will rejoice and delight:  two words with one sense, double bliss, blessedness upon blessedness.  Need there be any limit to our rejoicing in the Lord even now?  Don’t people of grace find their Lord to be camphor and spikenard, calamus and cinnamon even now, and what better fragrance do they have in heaven itself?  We will rejoice and delight in You.  That last word is the meat in the dish, the kernel of the nut, the soul of the text.  What heavens are laid up in Jesus!  What rivers of infinite bliss have their source and, yes, every drop of hteir fullness in Him!  Since, O sweet Jesus, You are the present portion of Your people.  Favor us this year with such a sense of your preciousness that, from its first to its last day, we may rejoice and delight in You.  Let January open with joy in the Lord, and December close with gladness in Jesus.

What a perfect transition from the Signature of Jesus to Joy, for that indeed is what we find in ever heart wherever His signature is boldly written.

In preparation for Sunday’s message you may wish to consider the following:

1.      Leviticus 12:1-8 offers the biblical backdrop for Mary and Joseph’s journey to the temple that day.

2.      How is Simeon’s response to the baby a fulfillment of message of the angel to the shepherds earlier in the chapter?

3.      How many divine birth announcements are there in the Bible?  Who are these announced babies?

4.      What is the significance of Jesus being the fifth?

5.      Is there a pattern to these announcements?

6.      How is the announcement of Jesus different from the others?

7.      What does Luke mean when he describes Simeon as “righteous and devout”?

8.      How is Simeon a perfect symbol of who Jesus is and what He’s come to do?

9.      How is Simeon’s song, verses 29-32, different from Mary’s in Luke 1:46-55?

10.  Where is the joy in Simeon’s address of God in verse 29?

See you Sunday!