GPS -God Positioning System

Sermon preached at Lake City Presbyterian on December 28, 2014. 
Scripture is Luke 2:22-40.


GPS –God Positioning System

I am someone who is a little behind on technology:

I have no smart phone,
and it took me a little while to relent to needing a laptop,
(which I finally found was necessary in seminary.)

So I am a little behind on technology, which is fine…..

One thing I do have is a GPS
-a global positioning system,
Which has been very helpful when I travel and especially as I navigate Richmond. –it is a good thing.

A Global Positioning System tells you
-where you are,
-where you are going,
-and how to get there.
That is a wonderful thing!

But the GPS I want to talk about today is a little different…
How about the God Positioning System?

God getting you
-where you need to be,
-when you need to be there…….
That is amazing!

The traditional GPS, the one that gets you where you need to go, may occasionally lead you in the wrong direction.
I have accused mine of lying to me……
It will say turn left, when it means turn right…..
It will say destination ahead on right, when I actually passed it in the block behind me….

However, about a year ago, my GPS acted not as a Global Positioning System but as a God Positioning System.

I had a friend, a fellow seminary student, Shannel, who needed to get to the ER.
Another friend, Linda, drove and I grabbed my GPS to navigate.
We knew the large hospital downtown would be crowded and busy and so I looked up hospitals on the GPS…..
I chose one and started directing Linda where to go.

We had gone to one with an un-crowded ER,
We had gone to one where they took Shannel back immediately.
Later, we found out, we had gone to a hospital with one of the best neurosurgeons in Virginia.
We had gone to one that could help Shannel.

So that night,
I knew the GPS satellites that directed us were not in charge…..God was!    

And in our passage today from Luke,
You and I can see that again……
God putting
-the right people
-in the right place
-at the right time.

Mary and Joseph bring the baby Jesus to the temple where they meet Simeon and Anna.

Let us back up just a little, why had Mary and Joseph traveled to the temple in Jerusalem?

They had 2 purposes:
First to redeem Jesus, to present him to the Lord….
"…as it is written in the law of the Lord, "Every firstborn male shall be designated as holy to the Lord"
It was also the proper time for Mary’s purification, 40 days after giving birth, she can be made clean again.

These tasks were what was expected of them by the law of Moses;
Mary and Joseph were faithful Jews who observed these laws.
Jesus was nurtured in his Jewish tradition.
In this way, Jesus was prepared for his later life,
knowing the laws,
he was able to oppose flawed and hollowed practices in the name of the law of Moses.

In other words, think of the many times
Jesus was able to challenge the Pharisees and scribes because of his knowledge of scripture and law.

So, Mary and Joseph are in the temple doing what is prescribed by law.  This is when the unexpected happens:
"Guided by the Spirit, Simeon came into the temple…"
Simeon came by direction of the Spirit.

He is someone described as righteous and devout,
someone who can give honorable testimony.
Simeon recognizes Jesus as and witnesses to Jesus as the long awaited Messiah.

One commentary even suggests that Simeon may have been a priest and perhaps as he took Jesus in his arms,
he took part in the presentation of Jesus to the priests of the temple.
A happy introduction of the priests into acquaintance with the Savior.  

Simeon was not the only one to be placed in a position of witness that day.
There was also the prophetess Anna.

Anna was an elderly widow.
Varying theories says either 84 was her age or 84 years was the amount of time she had been a widow, this would put here at an age above 100;
Either way, Anna was elderly.

She was also pious, she fasted, prayed, and worshiped in the temple and she was knowledgeable in the scriptures,
perhaps even instructing younger women in the things of God.
She praised God and prayed to God,
always in hope of the ‘redemption of Jerusalem’.

Anna was not directed to the temple as Simeon had been; she was always at the temple.
However, she comes to the scene precisely
where and when Jesus is being presented.

Anna’s witness, her testimony is in harmony with that of Simeon’s,
They are both representatives of Israel at its best:
-devout and obedient,
-always in prayer,
-at home in the temple,
-longing and hoping for the fulfillment of God’s promises,
-and being willing to be led by the Holy Spirit.

These two aged saints’ testimonies are for all people to know Jesus.
A testimony from a man and a woman,
so both men and women are invited to believe and that they may be saved.

Simeon speaks of Jesus as not only for the Jews, but for the Gentiles as well:
     "for my eyes have seen your salvation,
       which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples,
       a light for revelation to the Gentiles and
       for glory to the people of Israel."
Jesus is for all people.
  
As minister Fred Cradock writes in his comentary on Luke, quote…
"Anna and Simeon are a portrait of the Israel
that accepted Jesus;
Those who rejected him misunderstood their own tradition and therefore were not capable of recognizing him
as the continuation of their own best memory and hope."   

For the Israelites hope is joined to memory and God keeping an old promise.
From Luke 24 verse 44, Jesus says
　"Then he said to them, "These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you—that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled."

God put Anna and Simeon where they needed to be, when they needed to be there,
to be able to be witnesses,
to be able to proclaim the good news.

Mary and Joseph were the right people at the right time as well.
They were devout Jews who raised Jesus in the tradions and following the laws of Moses.
Mary and Joseph were not wealthy
or important or powerful……
they returned to rural Nazareth and God’s plan continued:
"The child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favor of God was upon him."

God puts you and I
       where we need to be,      when we need to be there.
He knows the need:
whether it is to help, to witness, to proclaim….
God is in control.
You and I are part of God’s plan.

And that is true for this church.
Lake City Presbyterian Church is a blessed church.
In Sunday school this morning, several 'saints of the church' were mentioned.....
people who were part of this church family;
those people who God had placed into this fellowship,
to be here  -right place  -tight time,
for reasons to help,
                   to proclaim,
                   to witness.
And the joy of the journey of Lake City Presbyterian Church continues today.

As a faithful people you are going through a transition in searching for a new pastor.
There is hope and faith that God will lead the right person to this place at the right time for both them and for you.   

You are here at this place, at this time
for reasons only God knows……

We are all witnesses to the love of God.
You and I trust in the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
And we proclaim to others by sharing the joy
and spreading the good news of salvation that God brought to us in Jesus Christ.

So as Simeon and Anna were brought to the right place at the right time,
trust that the Holy Spirit is leading you,
with the remarkable God Positioning System.