"Significance of The Insignificance" Rev. Marla Hawkins

0:01 Good morning, Alfred Street. Good morning. I greet you in the matchless, the marvelous, and the majestic name of Jesus the Christ. I ask that you would stand with me. As we look at the scripture found in Luke chapter 2, verses 36 through 38. And it reads like this in the NRSB version. There was also a prophet. Anna, the daughter of Phanuyel, of the tribe of Asher. She was of a great age, having lived with her husband seven years after her marriage, and then as a widow to the age of 84.

1:09 She never left the temple, but worshipped there with fasting and prayer night and day. At that moment, she came and began to praise God and to speak about the child to all who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem. Before you go to your seats, I want to center your thoughts this morning around the significance of the insignificant. And I want you to turn to your neighbor and say, God responds to human devotion. You may be seated in the presence of the Lord.

2:12 In the tradition of prayer as our theme for the month of January, I want us to look at a woman who prayed and fasted day in and day out. This story takes place along the conclusion of Jesus's birth narrative. For Simeon announces that the Lord Christ has arrived. He's in the temple and there's a celebration for Mary and Joseph have brought their baby to the noc dimittis, which is simply the blessing of the child.

3:17 Anna proclaims that salvation has come to all people, the world. And happening in the wake of all of this is the slaughter of the innocents and the fight of the Holy Family to go now to Egypt. All revealed to Simeon and Anna was revealed not because they were witnessing history at this time, but because of their devotion and work of the Holy Spirit in them. Will you pray with me? Come now, Lord, thy people bless.

4:15 Come and give thy word success. Holy Spirit, on us descend. Now Anna, the prophetess of 84 years old, had been widowed after seven years of marriage. Now I don't know about you, but when you look at a young woman who's widowed after seven years, you might not find her around the temple morning, noon, and night. You might find her in places where she would be noticed, in places where she possibly could get another husband. You might find her inquiring upon her friends, is there anybody available that you know?

5:24 You might find her taking invitations to social events where she might just be found. But Anna had a different ending to this seven years of marriage. Anna could be found fasting and in prayer in the temple. She was a member of the lost tribe of Israel, Asher. For this happened after the Assyrian conquest. and it rendered this tribe socially insignificant.

6:24 Anna wore a shield of this lost secular society since she was widowed and she was now without covering. She began to be known as the daughter of Fenuel. Since she has no covering, she becomes her father's child and is referred to as such. In other words, she loses her particular identity. She moves from significance to insignificant, broken, left alone. However, even in the name Fenuel, you find that Anna has taken hold to what her father's name means.

7:40 It means face of God. And then she takes hold to Asher, that tribe that although was considered lost and of no significance, she takes hold to its meaning, which is happy. So then Anna is then happy in the face of God. You see, God can take even what has now become significant and make it significant in your life. Now, the essentials of Judaism is the praise of God. And Anna chose to live out these essentials.

8:41 Listen to what they are. That God is to be honored upon your rising. That God is to be honored upon your lying down. That God is to be honored on your going out and your coming in. Now this one will get all of us. And God is to be honored in how we dress.

9:10 And this will get us even further. and God is to be honored in what we eat. Now, Anna is an example of living out these requirements. You see, she meets the morning with gratitude.

9:32 She celebrates the goodness of having food. See, sometimes you, like me, are so worried about what the food is that we forget to give thanks that the food is there. You know, from a child I grew up, I don't know if I like this, I don't know if I want that, you know. But we must come to the point where we celebrate the goodness of having food.

10:12 She also celebrates the goodness of her place in God. Now she could lament, oh God has dealt unfavorably with me. I have no husband after seven years. I have no family. I am alone. But instead, she comes into his house, and she gathers in his name, and she worships him, and she celebrates. it's all right because this is the good place that God has placed me. She recognizes the mystery of beauty for she sees with her heart rather than her eyes.

11:11 She looks in the mirror of God's goodness and not just a place where she is. She sees the most insignificant as a blessing. I can tell you while working to bring this message to you, I can tell you what God can do. For in the midst of that, I received a text from Theron that encouraged me to keep on keeping on and digging and digging to get here today.

12:00 Not only does she give the sweet, sweet sound to my ears, but she ministered to my heart. I wasn't expecting it. I didn't know anything about it. And I usually pay no attention to text all day. But something about that ding on the phone on the kitchen table signaled to me reinforcement. meant. And so what was most insignificant to me most of the time became significant to me at that time. And mainly, Anna does not depart from having purity of heart in the love of God and her neighbor. Now, Anna is confident in her beliefs that God reveals himself to those who do not depart from him.

13:16 that those who may be excluded from social structures are always included at God's table. I love Communion Sunday because I'm reminded that I can come to the table, that I don't have to be looking any kind of way. I don't have to be in the best of spirits, but I can come to the table. And not only can I come to the table, but I can be blessed at the table.

13:57 Not only will I be blessed, but I will be given sustenance. I will be given the symbol of his blood. I will be given the symbol of his body that was broken for me. That's significant.

14:24 And my little insignificance is of no matter. For I can come to his table. Anna believed that God has comfort and blessings to those whose shame is from some failure. You see, there's no failure in God. And so you see, she knows that even though the people around her say, isn't she pitiful? She has no husband. She has no family. She's just a little old figure that sits in the church and prays all the time. And fast.

15:14 And she is often passed by and not even spoken to. You see, Anna believed even though others may not know, but there is no outcast in God. There is mercy for the lost, dispossessed, and the bereft. Now Anna, though considered to be insignificant, marginal, and having a tragic existence, is still dedicated to prayer and fasting. I read a story about some ladies in China called the Damas. They are usually middle-aged to elderly, and they invest in the stock market.

16:19 They are viewed in the Chinese society as those that don't know what they're doing, and they're often the subject of jokes. They dance in the public squares en masse. They're not fashionable. They're uneducated. They're dowdy and they're unhip. However, these damas provide gifts to their home villages and can be counted on by the children to receive chocolates. Nonetheless, when the Dhammas come to the village, smiles come to the people.

17:14 Now the Dhammas are considered insignificant members of Chinese society. But I submit to you this morning that the diamonds are God's blessing to God's people. Now then, what do we learn from honor?

17:36 Well, I learned that we ought to be people of purpose. We ought to seek to do what God wants us to do. I think the biggest gripe we have in life is that we are not doing what God wants us to do. We're doing what we want to do. And we never even ask him what he wants us to do. I think we need to ask God, what would you have me do? honor teaches us to concentrate on God's promises rather than our conditions you see aches and pains will come and go they're just a condition age is just a number but I can tell you that God's promises are forever God's promises will see us through.

18:46 Honor teaches us that know that God has a plan for you that might not look like his plan for your neighbor. But nonetheless, it's your specific plan. I think that's a wonderful God that he has a specific plan. Being an only child, a specific plan is real great. Because see, you don't know anything in the house but just you. You're the only grandchild and the only child. And so, to have a God who gives us all that position, all of us are his onlys.

19:34 All of us have our only plan. And if you will avail yourself to God's use, your circumstances will not prevent you from any participation in anything he sets your hand to do. If you just avail yourself to him, Don't worry about how you feel, how you look, and where you are. Just go with God. Fast and pray. Be committed, for God responds to those who refuse to quit, no matter how long it takes. Trust God enough to be patient.

20:31 to wait on him, to be like one who said, I won't let go till you bless me. Trust God enough to wait on him and listen and follow his instructions. Now, what conclusions can we make from all of this? God has a plan for you. He is working it out in your life. And God will never leave you. I don't know about you, but that's a sobering thought. That no matter how low I can go, God will never leave me. No matter how many friends I lose, gain, or don't have, God will never leave me.

21:35 For he says, I know the plans I have for you. Plans to prosper you and not to harm you. plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. Have you ever heard these words? This isn't the place for you.

22:12 You don't have the training for this position. You are not equipped to handle the job. If you have heard those words, how did you respond? Did you let insecurities direct your response? Or do you believe that God will equip you for what is purposed for you? Do you believe that you are equally valued in God's kingdom? The challenge then of modern Christianity today is to find God's presence in the insignificant. Jesus was born to us to proclaim that there are no outsiders in God's kingdom.

23:13 The insignificant are indeed significant. Judith Wong, a Harvard professor wrote, We are of every race and nation, every socioeconomic class. We may not look significant. We may look silly. or our outlook too otherworldly to hope for such a grand and infinite thing as salvation in the world. Well, as I look back over this message, I find that God has witnesses that the insignificant are indeed significant. So, I want you to ask Joseph, who was sold into an unknown culture.

24:19 He went from significance to insignificance. But yet, God orchestrated the salvation of his family, who had turned their backs on him. He orchestrated the salvation of Joseph's family through him, the insignificant who became significant enough to feed his people in a famine. I want you to ask Ruth, a Moabite woman, exiled with her mother-in-law in a culture that considered her to be insignificant. Yet, in all of this, her mother-in-law and Boaz are blessed and salvation comes to a family about to be made extinct.

25:28 I want you to ask Mary of Magdala, who was considered crazy when she took expensive oil and washed Jesus' feet. And she could have been feeding some of the hungry, said the disciples. yet she determined worshiping Jesus was greater than all the price of the oil. I want you to ask Daniel, who refused to adapt to the requirements of the king and was saved from harm when the Lord showed up in the lion's den. when he showed up in the fiery furnace. I want you to know that there's also those among us who might have been motherless at 15, yet moved on to go to Yale and to study Hebrew, and her name is Dr. Judy.

26:47 You see, God takes what we think is insignificant and makes it significant. Now, he sent his son, Jesus, born in a stable, sitting there in a trough where you feed animals. insignificant. No room in the hotel. Just go to the stable. But yet that same Jesus came down through 40 and two generations just to save you and me. He took that character of insignificance and he created significance in all of our lives.

27:50 For we now know the significance of the insignificant. We now know that we don't have anything to brag about. We all know that there's nothing that we do that he doesn't make it possible for us to do. That he is the author of every good and perfect gift. That he made himself insignificant enough to be nailed to a cross. he made himself insignificant enough to hang there and die for you and for me. He made himself insignificant enough to go to the depths of hell and take away the keys that Satan kept in his presence.

28:58 And he came back insignificant enough to bring us the victory. I don't know about you, but I'm happy this morning. I'm happy to be God's insignificant. I'm happy that he thought that insignificance was the key to his significance. And so, as I close, I hope today when you leave, you will not feel badly about what others may see as insignificant. significant but you will go out knowing that in God I move I have my being and I am his significance