Luke 2:25-35
Dec 28/14
Intro – you’re about to see something that I have never attempted in my entire ministry career…a live demonstration using my own dog Mitzi…(one of these is my dog…)
-her one and only trick: “…waiting for a treat…”
I have here one of Mitzi’s favorite treats: ground pork, beef and cat! Actually little piece of cheese…
-if she won’t do it, I’ve got a video that proves she actually can…
** show video…
Mitzi has learned to wait…to have patience…respond to the commands of her master…to go when she’s told to go…she’s learned that she’ll get the reward if she waits…she does all of this because she trusts me…
I did that today because I want to talk to you about waiting…patient waiting…during this week between Christmas and New Years, it can be kind of a lull, a fuzzy in-between time…a kind of waiting time between the big celebration of Christmas and the start of a new year in which we rev it up again and get back into our busy lives…
But that kind of waiting symbolizes what many of us are doing in our spiritual lives right now…we feel like we’re in a waiting period, waiting for God to do something…to move, act, answer a prayer, to give us direction…and for some it seems like God has stalled, or He isn’t responding right now…and all we can do is sit there and wait for Him…
-some of you have been waiting for years…to see a loved one come back to Christ…to see God heal that physical condition…to find that right job…to find that right life partner…waiting for something to happen…in your life, in our church, in your family…
-it’s like the cry of the Psalmist…”How long, Lord…”
-and like Mitzi you’re standing still, waiting for the Master to say “OK”…so you can move forward…
Waiting is not our favorite thing to do in our busy world…I dislike waiting…I do not like long line-ups for anything…Audrey always says that in heaven I will be told to stand in the longest line-up so I can learn patience…but since it’s heaven it won’t bother me anyway!…
…we want things now…on demand…in our technological society there isn’t much we have to wait for…it bothers us to see that little circle spinning around on our computer as we wait for the connection to be made…we’re satisfied with nothing less than “high speed” you name it…
But waiting is actually more the norm Biblically than are quick results…the Bible is full of stories of people who had to wait, some a very long time, for God to act, move, deliver on His promises…God is never in a hurry…
eg. Abraham, Moses, Joseph, David, Job…
…and in the case of today’s sermon, Simeon. I want us to look at one of those “Biblical waiters” whose story we find in Luke 2:25-35…(open Bibles…)
…Prayer…read…
Simeon
We don’t know a lot about this Simeon guy…we assume he’s older, been waiting a long time to see the promised Messiah…
We know Simeon had a strong sense of faith, hope and expectancy… certain that he was going to see the promised Messiah… Simeon was a person on the lookout for the Messiah…waiting, watching, hoping, longing, anticipating…
…v. 25 “waiting for the consolation of Israel…
…v. 26 “had been revealed to him by the HS that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah”.
-imagine having a promise that specific from God and then waiting years for it to be fulfilled…
How long would you and I wait? How long would we stay in the temple, looking, hoping, asking God “Is that Him – is that the Messiah?” I’m certain it wouldn’t take me long to give up and go find something else to do…
But Simeon waited long and he waited patiently…It's as if Simeon was saying, "I believe God is doing something wonderful in this world, and I want to see it. I believe there is something tremendous going on, and God is the one behind it, and I want to watch it…but more than watch it, I would love somehow to be a part of it."
That is being a “biblical waiter” because we know we are not in control of this world… even our own lives… so we are all in the waiting business. We are to remain faithful and patient even when we do not yet have what we want.
One key for Simeon to help him wait was that he was present to God, attentive…listening, alert to the Spirit’s voice…so when at long last the moment came that he had been expecting for a long time…then he knew that this is the One…
Another key for Simeon was that He had complete confidence in the character of God…knew He was trustworthy, dependable…wasn’t going to put the treat down, say wait and then take it away…if He promised something, He would come through…
And that is what is key to our successful waiting as well…that we are tuned in to hear the voice of God and the promptings of His Spirit so that we do not give in to the other voices of doubt, despair and defeat…
…that we trust the heart and character of God…that He is not out to harm us…but to bless us and prove His faithfulness over and over again…even when all looks hopeles
The Big Question
So the big question is not “Have I gotten everything I'm waiting for?” I never will, not in this life, not in this world.
** Instead, the big question is: What kind of person am I becoming while I wait? While I wait with patience and faithfulness and hope? While I wait on the Lord to do what He promised to do?
The Hidden Value of Waiting
God’s word says that waiting is a good thing…
Prov. 8:34 “Blessed are those who listen to me, watching daily at my doors, waiting at my doorway.”
Is. 30:18 “Yet the LORD longs to be gracious to you; therefore he will rise up to show you compassion. For the LORD is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him!”
Is 64:4 “No eye has seen any God besides you who acts on behalf of those who wait for Him…”
Rom. 8:25 But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.
It is in the waiting that God does some of His best work in the deepest part of our character…refines, shapes, transforms…it is the difficulty, suffering and hardship the waiting creates that God uses to produce godly character…
1 Pet 1:6-7 “…now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.”
-so, what kind of person are you becoming as you wait?
Rebeccah’s Story
-many of you know Rebeccah and Adam Gmeinwesser, their family…have been attending Northgate for about a 1½ yr.
-you likely remember her story from praying for her during her recent brain surgery…
Rebeccah was first diagnosed with a condition called “trigeminal neuralgia” about 4 years ago…that is a compression of a nerve in the brain causing immense pain…in Rebeccah’s case it was blood vessels that were compressing the nerve in the brainstem area…
-Rebeccah’s condition was worsening…because of the pain she had trouble eating, sleeping and caring for her children…
-in Jan of this past year, she agreed to surgery, which normally takes up to 6 months to get, but in her case, the date was moved up considerably… the surgery date was scheduled for the end of March…and the day before it was to take place…it was cancelled!… Rebeccah was devastated…
-she endured 9 more difficult weeks of worsening health and increasing pain, until May 14, when she finally had her surgery…
-essentially the doctor drilled a hole in her skull and separated the blood vessels from the trigeminal nerve. Here’s what happened in Rebeccah’s own words…
I awoke in the recovery room to attacks of trigeminal pain more violent than ever. Doubling up on anti-convulsants soon brought the pain under control but over the next couple of months the pain broke through many times.
Summer 2014: My surgeon confirmed to me what I already knew: that my surgery had been unsuccessful. After another MRI we made the decision to repeat the surgery and once again I began to wait.
October 8, 2014: I underwent a second surgery.( And we prayed again.) I woke up and there was no pain. The surgeon was pleased as he found many more places of nerve compression.
October to present: I continue to be free of trigeminal pain.
I also continue to wait as we will not know for sure if the surgery has been a success until I am off of all medications (a long process as any abrupt cessation of anti-convulsants may bring on seizures)
What a story! I don’t know how many of us could handle that level of struggle with the kind of faith and peace that I have seen in Rebeccah… it also raises the question of why did God allow the first surgery to fail…and why would He allow her to suffer in such pain for so long? I have no answer to that…
But here’s the best part:
Things I have learned while waiting:
· God is faithful while I wait. When situations seem impossible God gives me the strength and encouragement to carry on.
· God provides for me while I am waiting. He puts people around me that help and support and PRAY.
· Though at times painfully, I am learning to trust and submit to God’s sovreignty through these times of waiting. If everything had happened at lightening speed just as I wanted it to then I would have missed some of this struggling that I feel was necessary to bring me to a place of really trusting.
· While I am waiting in circumstances that are painful and frightening I find my delight in God’s presence. I have joy and it is a joy that doesn’t change with situations or with my fleeting emotions. I am so thankful.
-and I am so thankful for Rebeccah…by the way, one of the great results of waiting is God is helping you develop a testimony…which can be used to give people hope and point them to Jesus…
Conclusion
Billy Graham's wife, Ruth, is known for a number of things…one is her famous quote when asked about her marriage to Billy if she had ever considered divorce and she answered, “Divorce no; murder yes.”
Something you may not know about her is that when she died in 2007, she chose to have an interesting phrase engraved on her gravestone…it may surprise you…has nothing to do with her remarkable achievements or being married to Billy. It has to do with the fact that as long as we are alive, God will be working on us, and we wait.
She had been driving one day along a highway through a construction site, and there were miles of detours and cautionary signs and machinery and equipment.
She came to the final sign which read,
"End of construction. Thank you for your patience."
That's what is written over Ruth Graham's grave.
"End of construction. Thank you for your patience."
So, my dear fellow waiters…as we stand at the threshold of a new year…unknown future, uncertain and challenging days ahead perhaps…certainly both good and difficult…
…may God help us be Biblical waiters…embracing His purposes for our waiting instead of resenting it…knowing that God is using everything that is happening to us for His good and for His glory…while He produces in us the character of Jesus Christ and a faith that will bring great honor to Him…
Prayer…Worship…