Faith Baptist Church of Hamilton, NJ
The Christmas Story pt.5
I read a story this week, JD Greerichords, that Joshua Bell, who is perhaps the world's most famous violinist, at 39 years old, he was called America's greatest classical musician. The kind of musician that would draw thousands upon thousands of people to Carnegie Hall at a minimum of $100 or more per ticket to see him play his $3.5 million stratovariest violin. There are only very few in the entire world. In 2007, Bell was in Washington, DC, and he was playing at a concert at the Library of Congress. And while he was there, he agreed to participate, and at that time was an unprecedented social and musical experiment. So the day after his concert was over, they had him go down anonymously to the Ellen Font Metro station in Washington, DC during Rush Hour. And he was down there and took out his $3.5 million violin, and he was going to play. He played for a little less than an hour, and the entire time he was playing, he put out his hat, as a lot of people do, asking for people to give him tips. Now mind you, the day before, he had played at the Library of Congress at over $100 a clip for thousands of people to come. But that day, he played, again, about 45 minutes, taking out his one-of-a-kind violin, played Bach in Brahms, all the things that he had played the concert. And the entire time, almost an hour, only six people even stopped to recognize him. And he got a total in his hat of $52.17. And that was including a $20 tip, who at the end of his 45 minutes, someone actually recognized who he was. It's impossible, J.D. Greer says, at the end of telling that story, it's possible to miss some of the greatest things in life, because your heart is not tuned to look for them. It's true, isn't it? Most people, during the first Christmas, if you have a close reading of the Bible story-- see, when Jesus Christ was born into the world, the greatest person of all time. See, there are a lot of people who missed him. They didn't recognize him, the greatest person of all time. And the reason was, they didn't have a heart that was tuned to be looking for him. You see, we could name people in the Christmas story, King Herod, Caesar, religious leaders, mind you. Caesar, Chironius, they all missed him. They all missed him. See, in contrast, there were a few people in the Bible story of Christmas that didn't miss him. In fact, they recognized him. You know why? Because their hearts were tuned to him, because they were looking for him. In fact, Luke wants us to see this. And I mentioned it briefly last week that that's how the gospel of Luke is bracketed. There are two stories, a man and a woman, and it says this. They were looking for the constellation of Israel. She was looking for the redemption of Jerusalem. In the end of the book, after Jesus' resurrection, I should say, before his resurrection, Joseph of Arimathea says he was looking for redemption. That's what he was looking for. He was looking for the kingdom. Oh, you see, those people understood and recognized Jesus when he first came. And the reason was, is they had a heart that was tuned and looking for him. They knew this. We needed a redeemer, and he's it. You see, that's what Christmas is all about. It's not all about just family gatherings and presents as good as all of those things are. But Christmas is all about recognizing Jesus as the redeemer that we all need. Can I say it more personally that you need? See, it's possible this past Christmas day has come and gone, and you missed him. What do you mean, Pastor Walker? Well, you passed by him all month long, like they did in the DC train station. So many times you passed by him. You heard him, but you never recognized him. See, there he was, not playing a 3.5 million stratovarius, but actually laying in a manger as the infinitely valuable Son of God. And you may have seen nativity, numerous ones, but you really didn't recognize him. See, there he was on display in the lives of believers, like Anna, pointing to him with the way that they were committed to him. But you didn't see it in their lives. There he was, for all of us to see, and all of us to hear in the Christmas carols that we sung, that were all about him, and we sang the songs like we do. But we didn't hear the beautiful music, not violin music, but spiritual music about who Jesus was. I wonder if it's true. I wonder if a lot of people went by Jesus. And there he was, and is it true that maybe only six even stopped? Could it be true that only one out of all those people recognized him? Can I tell you this? Anna didn't miss him. She already recognized him. You know why? Because she had a heart that was tuned to him. She was looking for a redeemer. And she demonstrated that in two things, which we want to look at today, in her life. We want to say she looked for a redeemer, and it was obvious. And she demonstrated in her life and in her lips the things that she did, and she behaved, and the way that she believed and shared it with others. Let's unpack them one at a time and see what that has to say for you and I, and what we're looking for this Christmas. Number one, Anna's life pointed to Jesus, particularly that he's the redeemer. There are a number of things that describe, if you look at the verses with me about Anna, but it's not what you think. See, Anna's in the Christmas story, she gets three verses. We would say that she makes a cameo appearance in the Bible. She is not Moses, she is not Joseph, she is certainly not Mary, and she's none of those things. She gets three verses, that's all she gets. And her name is mentioned once. You know why? She's ordinary. Other than that, we have a little bit of background on her, and we don't know much about her life other than her age and some of the things that took place, but we don't know a lot of details. She's not influential, she's not known on the world scene. Her name is not on the marquee, she's none of those things. Why is she in the Christmas story? I can tell you why, because there was something different about her, but not something that the normal person in the world would catch onto. Now, she was different, not odd different. She was God different. The Bible says she was a prophetess, and I can tell you this in the scriptures, if you read them, it's very, very uncommon. In fact, there's only about seven of them in the scriptures, nine, if you count Philip's daughters, I guess, but there are not very many, and she was one of them. She was a person that God actually gave revelation to. She was unusual. That's what set her apart. It was her relationship with God. It was how God had worked in her, and God had worked through her. That was the difference that she made in people's lives. Her name was, the one mention of it, is Anna. It's the Greek form of the Hebrew word, Hannah. I don't know for sure because I read so many commentaries, and all the commentators say this about her name, her dad's name, the tribe mentioned, there are so many different reasons why people think these details will put in there. I'm just gonna give you my understanding. The Bible says, "Anna, it means graced, favored by God." I don't know if Luke wants us to remember the first Hannah, because there aren't many mentioned in the Bible. Remember the first Hannah she was favored by God? You know Hannah, in first, in fact, the one that we talked about with the baby dedication, right? So we have Hannah, and she's favored by God because she was barren, couldn't have children. She cried out to God, and God heard her, thus the name Samuel, and she named her boy that. Maybe God wants us to say this. You know what I love about Hannah, or Hannah? Perhaps this morning we could think of her. The Bible says she was married for a few years, became a widow for the rest of her life. It seems like she never had a child of her own, and here she is in some ways, re-enacting the dedication as Mary and Joseph are dedicating baby Jesus to the Lord. Here she comes, Anna does, and here's what she's favored. Here's why she's graced by God. She's graced by God because she gets to see Jesus. Simeon got to pick him up and hold him in his hands. Perhaps she did too. But here's what I know. You know where the grace and favor come? She had grace and favor, not because she was rich, not because she was powerful. You know what it was? It's because she was in tune with God, and would have a relationship with Jesus. That's her name, favored, graced. That's what redeemed people are. They're not people who are better than anybody else. They're not more righteous than anybody else. They are just more graced, favored than anyone else. And I think even her dad's name, she is the daughter of Fanul, which is unusual because any time you mention someone, it's usually, I hate to say it in that day, it was their sons, you're the son of so-and-so. But in her case, maybe her dad never had a son. But he had daughter of Fanul, and Fanul is the Hebrew word, penile, it's where Jacob wrestled with God, and Genesis 32, and it says this, he wrestled with God and saw him, what? Face to face. That's what Fanul, that's what penile means. And maybe even in her lineage, her own father pointed to Jesus as redeemer because we know this, you in the Old Testament cannot see God face to face and live. You can't until Jesus comes. Jesus is gonna come and he's gonna do the impossible. When you see Jesus, even he himself said this, you've seen God. You can see it, see only the redeemed people would understand, only redeemed people would know that. And we have a new intimacy that redemption brings, a new kind of relationship, a God who is not only transcendent and can do all the things out there that we can't even possibly imagine, but he's a God up close, a God imminent, a God who is personal in our lives. The last thing it mentions of her, she was at the tribe of Asher, and you go, I don't even know what that is, Pastor Walker. Well, there are 12 tribes in Israel, Jacob had 12 sons. Ten of them were in the north part of Israel, and one of those 10 northern tribes was Asher. And what you have to find out, what you know about Asher, is probably only one thing you really need to know about them. Like all the other 10 tribes, they were idolatrous, they rejected God, and God punished them severely. In fact, some people call them the 10 lost tribes because all their genealogies were lost. But see, she knows this, she's of the tribe of Asher. What do you say, Pastor Walker, what does that mean? Well, Asher's name actually is name means happiness. You know what she's found as a person who's looking for redemption in Jesus? She has found this that even though my past, and even though my heritage is dark, full of brokenness, all I see in Jesus, the coming Redeemer, oh, he can turn that all around. He can take my tribe in the nations of Israel, their rejection, and turn it into redemption. He can take the brokenness and turn it into blessedness. See, that's pointing to Jesus. Everything in her life points to Jesus. But I had to ask, I don't know if you've ever, you looked at this passage very often, it's pretty obscure when it comes to Christmas stories. But then the Bible goes on to look at the text. It goes into all this chronology of her life. It says this, look at the text, verse 36. She was the prophetess and the daughter of Phanula tribe of Asher, and then it starts adding, she was advanced in years. It literally means this, many days. You maybe feel like that yourself this morning. Many days, it means that she was elderly. She was older. She had been married, it says, for seven years. Now back then they got married, she was probably maybe 13 or 14 when she got married. So if she got married then and was seven years, so somehow her husband died when she was about 20. And now she's 84, that means probably 64 years. She had been on her own, a widow. Let me tell you this, in the New Testament, in the Old Testament, if you become a widow, you don't stay a widow because it is almost impossible to make a living. The living was done through the husband and the sons that you had mainly. And if you didn't have any of that, it was considered one of the greatest tragedies. So she had barely, but she had scraped by, listen, for six decades plus, she had done that. See, why the chronology? Because she wasn't known for what she was as far as finances or money. In fact, if anything, she had a lot of difficulty in her life, a lot of grief and a lot of sorrow, a lot of long years by herself. But you know what the Bible teaches us about her? Listen, she was committed, she was dedicated even though the most difficult times. How could she do it? Because you, what you're looking for, will inform what you're living like. Do you see that? That's what her life tells us. See, if you're looking for redemption in Jesus, it changes your outlook on everything that comes into your life. Your history, your background, that was her past. But now even as a widow and all the difficulties in her present, it made a difference. But how did she do it? How did she stay so committed in the face of such problems? Here's how she did it, she was different on the inside. Things had changed, her life, God had changed her life. So the Bible says this, knowing all that about her, here's what it says. She did not depart from the temple. It doesn't mean that she lived there and stayed overnight, but I can tell you this, wherever she did sleep, the first chance she got it in the morning, she went to, can I say it this way, church. And she was at church all day long, worshiping, praising, giving sacrifices. This was her life. That's what she was at, Malachi 3-1. I don't know if she knew this text, but maybe she did, and maybe she was following it. It says this, and the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple. I don't know if she knew that text and said, listen, it's about time Messiah's going to come. I don't want to miss him. So I'm going to be here every day, day and night, all the time, when he comes, I'm waiting for him. And why, and that impacted her life? Because God was doing something inside of her, redeeming her, working through her life. The Bible says she didn't just go to church. She was committed to worship and fasting and prayer. Listen, why? Listen to Dr. Green who says this, fasting constitutes a form of protest, an assertion that all is not well. You know why we fast? Because we're asking God to do something in a very difficult time. She acknowledged it, listen, when you have the redemption and you're following Jesus and you're looking for him, it doesn't mean your whole life will be great and everything will turn on exactly how. But here's what it means, that God is still in control of your life, your history, your past, your present, your entire life. And she could be assured of that in her life. In fact, so much was he in control, that the Bible uses this phrase, that that day she went in the temple. And by the way, the exact day, eight days from Jesus' circumstance, circumcision, he was in the temple with his parents, Simeon had just saw him and at that very hour, that's the text's words, that very hour, she came up and saw Jesus. How God orchestrated everything. Can I tell you this? Why the chronology? I think it's because over all the 84 years of her life, everything, her past, her forefathers, her dad, her life, everything about her, even the husband that she loved, all of it brought her to the place where this was the most crucial moment of her life. This is what her life pointed to, it pointed to Jesus. I gotta ask you, 'cause I asked myself, and it's a hard question, is that true for you and me? Is that what your life points to? Is it your history, your life, your past, the life that you've made for yourself? Does it point to you, or does it point to him? Oh, you see, our world is, it's very difficult to even look at a life like Anna's. It's hard for people today to comprehend that you can give your life and everything in it to point to someone else. That just not, again, that goes against the grain of our culture, our selfie culture, our social media, our expressive individualistic culture, because what's most important today in our world and our culture in America is you. You point to you, your feelings, your desires, your wants. I'll see, to have a life that points to someone else it's unheard of. See, that's why she was there on that day. Her life, unlike most people, especially today, she pointed not to herself, but to God. I'll see, what about your life? Can I tell you this, if you're looking for Jesus to come, you'd be living a little differently. Anna was good like that because Anna pointed to the Redeemer with her life, but she also did it with, listen, with her lips. The Bible says as soon as she saw Jesus, here's the immediate response. She started speaking, look at verse 38, speaking to everybody else who was also waiting for the redemption. She couldn't keep it to ourselves. So with her wife and with her lips, she started saying, hey, this is the one we've been waiting for. And she went and told anyone and everyone who would listen to her. But let me tell you this, as great as Anna was, she had a shortcoming, if I can use that word. She wasn't the only one. I think just about everyone had this problem. Can I say it that way? She was waiting for Jesus as a Redeemer, but she didn't know what that meant. She was waiting, verse 38 says, that Jesus would come and be the Redeemer of Jerusalem. At the end of the Book of Luke, Joseph of Arimathea said that he was waiting. And then on the Emmaus Road, there are two people, Cleopas, chapter 24, verse Luke, if you wanna turn there, 24, verse 21. It says this, they were walking down the road and some traveler came by. They didn't know what it was Jesus. They were walking with him and they were talking with him and they were very sad and he begins to ask them why. And they say, where have you been? Are you the only one who doesn't know all the events taking place here recently? And they begin to talk to him and they said, but we were hoping, even though he's been crucified, before that we were hoping that it was he who was going to listen, Redeem Israel. Oh, see that concept, redemption comes out of Anna's mouth at the beginning and through Cleopas mouth at the end. Because here's what Luke's gospel is, between those two brackets, all the verses, all the chapters, all the stories, all the miraculous things, all the parables. You know what the purpose is to show you? This is what kind of Redeemer Jesus really is. This is why he came, but isn't it astounding that after a whole life of Jesus, they didn't understand the answer to that question. They didn't understand what kind of Redeemer that he was going to be. In chapter 24 and verse 16, if you're in Luke's gospel, 24, 16 says this, but their eyes were kept from recognizing him. They're walking down the road, they're talking to Jesus and they don't know him. They had seen him before, they had been with him before. The remainder of the text makes it obvious, but they could see him, why? Because it's a passive verb, God was doing it. God wanted to teach them a truth and as a result, us, can I tell you? Listen, you will never see Jesus for who he really is until you can understand what he has said about redemption. Do you understand that? You can't understand it. It says this in verse 31, and he opened their eyes. You know what it takes to really see Jesus. Listen, you can come to church your whole life. You can do this and do that and read the Bible and go to church and do religious things. But if God, through Jesus, doesn't open your eyes to why he came and why he died on the cross, you will never truly recognize him. It took divine revelation of a star and scriptures to get the Magi to Jesus and know who he was. It took angels from heaven giving messengers to the shepherds to get them to come to see Jesus and who he was. For Simon, Simeon, it took revelation. For Anna, it took revelation. And so here repeatedly at the end of Luke's Gospel, he opened up their eyes. He opened up the scripture. He opened up their minds over and over again. Here's why, because he had to reverse the curse. One of the first stories in the Bible in Genesis 3, Adam and Eve listened to Satan instead of God. And it says this in Genesis 3, 7, and their eyes were opened. And they saw all of life differently because Satan opened their eyes. They had lost a relationship with God. But Jesus came to redeem. He came to reverse the curse. And in this instance, completely the opposite of Genesis 3, Jesus this time, not Satan, opens their eyes. And for the first time, their eyes are restored and they can finally see who he is. Oh, it's so crucial, isn't it? They didn't understand why he came and what kind of redemption that they needed. Oh, see, redemption means this. To release or deliver by paying the price. Most often in the Bible, redemption is used for this reason. To tell you about a slave that was paid for and delivered and given freedom by someone else who paid the price. That's the normal use of it. In first century, Jews used it to talk about their national situation. They were slaves to the Romans. And here's what everyone, including Anna was looking for, that there would be a deliverer, i.e. they thought Jesus, who would come into the world. And here's what he would do to redeem them. He would get rid of what they thought was their greatest problem. And their greatest problem was Rome. Political and national freedom. Listen, listen, that's what they thought was their greatest need. Their thought was their greatest need. They needed a political and military leader. So they couldn't understand why Jesus was born in Bethlehem. It should have been Jerusalem. They couldn't understand why he wasn't born in a palace. Instead, it was a manger. They couldn't understand why he spent his whole life in ministry, not training soldiers, but training disciples. It doesn't make any sense, not to them. You know why? Because they had missed him. They didn't recognize them. And here's why. Ask yourself that this is you. See, they had the right vocabulary, Redeemer, but wrong dictionary. They filled in the meaning of that with, hey, a Redeemer who will do this and this for me on the outside. All my external circumstances and situations. See, that's what kind of Redeemer I want. I want him to come and change things. See, maybe you've missed Jesus because you wanted him to be a different kind of Redeemer. The one that you're looking for, i.e., I want a Redeemer who delivers me from my marriage problems that's on the rocks. It may not last. Why doesn't he come in and deliver me from that? I want a Redeemer who will deliver me from my financial debt. If he knew the problems I'm facing and the situation, financial, I admit, why doesn't he come and deliver me from that? I want a Redeemer who will deliver me from my cancer. Great needs, not the greatest needs. I want a Redeemer who will deliver me from my anxiety and my depression and my loneliness and my emptiness. All great needs. But the problem is, even those not our greatest, and that's it, isn't it? That's the problem we have. We don't recognize Jesus as our Redeemer because we haven't recognized our greatest need. See, we see Jesus through our circumstances. Instead of letting our seeing Jesus through our, we should opposite. We see our circumstances through Jesus, not Jesus through our circumstances. We've got it backwards. We look at our life and say, oh, this is my greatest need, so this is the kind of Redeemer I should have. But it's really the opposite. Justin was a guy, when I worked downtown Trenton, who was in gangs, had been arrested in jail, was part of the crips. And I asked him, what's your greatest problem, Justin? He said, the gangs want to have me killed. I stole money, I didn't pay it back, and they want to kill me. I said, you know what, it isn't your greatest problem. That's a great problem, not your greatest problem. It's not the gangs you need to fear most, it's the Lord. Your greatest problem is your sin that got you into all of these things. Bill Zoller came, a lost person, actually an atheist, and said to me, pastor, I don't believe in God, but I want you to help me with my marriage. Could you teach me how to be a better husband and father? And so we spent time together, even though I told him, at the end, I get to talk to you about Jesus after I talk about marriage, he said fine. It took me five weeks to tell a convinced Bill that his greatest problem wasn't how he treated his wife, even though that needed a lot of help. His greatest problem was his sin. And that atheist, in that office, got on his knees and put his faith in trust in Jesus Christ. You know why? Because he realized he needed a redeemer and he recognized it was Jesus because he came finally to the recognition in his life, the revelation that his greatest need was his sin. Jesus is the redeemer that you should be looking for. Can I tell you this, and I'll close? You'll never come to that realization either if you think that you can redeem yourself. That's what it meant. Remember, pay the price. People think that they can pay the price for their greatest need, that they can work it out. See, they can be redeemed by their religion. So they try to say, you know, I am Presbyterian, I'm Episcopal, I am this, I am that, can I tell you this? Did you know that you can't redeem yourself even if you're a Baptist? Baptist won't do it. You can't be redeemed by religion. You can't be redeemed by righteousness, your own. Well, Pastor, I'm doing the best I can and I try to do this and I'm more moral and look at them, but look at me. This isn't a comparison between you and them. This is a comparison between you and a holy God. You can't pay the price by hoping someday my good stuff outweighs my bad when I stand before God. You can't be redeemed by reformation, meaning this, well, this year I'm gonna be different. I'm gonna turn over a new leaf. I'm really gonna try this year to be better. It's not you notching it up a couple of not. It's not that at all. It's not by what you do. It's what he has done. You can't be redeemed by rituals. Baptism won't do it. Taking the Lord's supper won't do it. And any other rituals that you go to where your church is. You aren't redeemed by doing religious things. You are redeemed only through Jesus. Now listen, on the Emmaus Road, here's what they thought. We had hoped it was Jesus, but you know why they stopped hoping in him? Because failed messiahs are crucified. So when Jesus died on the cross, they said our hopes are gone now. He's dead. But what they didn't realize is that he had also conquered the grave. He's alive. Oh, see, that's the redeemer that you should be looking for. That's the one, the one that conquers death and therefore can conquer anything else that comes your way. I say you won't look for a redemption until you understand what it means for Jesus to be the redeemer. Because he came to solve your greatest problem, my greatest problem, it is our sin. I was talking to Orban before the service 'cause I've heard this story before. But a few years ago, Orban went into the hospital for what I'm gonna call a lesser problem. He had blood poisoning, or I should say food poisoning. Which is bad, but not life threatening, usually. So he went in there for food poisoning and they took a blood sample and they asked him, "Hey Orban, do you have heart issues?" No, yeah, you do. He went in for a lesser set, thought this right now is my greatest need. But you know what, he came to realization when he went into the hospital? That's not my greatest need. In fact, that's nothing compared to the fact that I have to have five blockages removed in my heart. Oh, you see, isn't that us? Oh, so we come to church and we say, "Oh, you know, okay, "I've got some food poisoning, sin." But it's not to you really recognize what the scripture teaches that you realize, "Oh my, my real problem is a heart problem." One and only Jesus through a dimmer can solve. I'll see, Jesus is the redeemer that you should be looking for because he alone, as the Son of God, can pay the price to free you from that sin of yours, that slavery of sin that you have in your life and mind. He's the only one, and he did when he died on the cross to pay the price for your sin and rose again. He's our only hope. Do you know him? Have you ever really recognized him? Have you ever believed that he is your redeemer? He alone can pay the price for your sin. If not today, you can put your faith in trust in him. If you're a Christian here today and you've done that, is your life in 2025, is it gonna point to him or to you? Those are decisions that we need by his grace to make for his glory. Will you do that today? Let's close in prayer. With every head bowed and every eye closed and no one looking around. Faith Baptist Church, we don't believe in accidents, only appointments, which means this. It's no accident that you're here today. It's appointed by God that you came here for whatever reason God wanted you to hear this truth, that you need to look for a redeemer. That's what Christmas means. That's why he came and he's the only redeemer that can pay the price for your greatest need, your sin. Perhaps you're here this morning and you say, "Pastor, I don't have that confidence." If I were to die, I don't know what would happen. I don't know where I'd go because I'm not sure my greatest need has ever been handled, taken care of, forgiven, and that is my sin. But I recognize today none of those things other than Jesus can possibly redeem me. I want to put my faith in trust in him alone. I want to give my life to him. I want him to be my redeemer that his cross death and resurrection has paid the price for my sins, not my church, not myself. Him, I want to put my trust in him alone that I could have forgiveness of sins. If that's the desire of your heart is God through the Spirit, works through his word, in your heart today, we'd say, please Pastor Walker, pray for me. I want Jesus to be my redeemer. Main floor about Kani, would you just slip your hand up and I'll close in prayer and pray for you? Thank you, sir. Anyone else? Anyone else? I need Jesus Christ as my redeemer. I put my trust in a false hope for far too long. I need Jesus. Perhaps you're here this morning and you're a Christian. You know that redeemer in Jesus and what he's done for you, but you say, Pastor Walker, I'm ashamed to say it a little bit, but I can tell you this, my life doesn't point to him like it should. It really should. My life should be more devoted, more committed to pointing to Jesus with my life and my lips like Anna. Please pray for me as a believer that that would be more true in 2025 for me. Would you slip your hand up and I'll pray for you too as well? Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. All many, many places I don't want to miss anybody, but numerous. Oh, Father, thank you for a redeemer. There is a redeemer, Jesus Christ, God's Son. Precious lamb, Messiah, holy one. I pray for the one in others who didn't raise their hand, but yet need you as their redeemer to trust in you, repenting of their sins, calling on you to forgive them through your cross-death and resurrection. I pray for this one in others who need you as their redeemer, that you might by your grace, bring them to true happiness and you by faith. And for the ones who raise their hand as Christians today, whose lives are not pointing to you as you deserve, Father, may the redemption and the price you pay move their hearts to make a difference in the way that they live and how they speak for you. Do all of this for your great glory alone, we ask for Christ's sake, amen.
Faith Baptist Church in Hamilton, NJ. Lance Walker is the Lead Pastor. Visit us at www.fbcchurch.org