back to indexPeter Kim - Luke 2 22-28 Waiting On the Lord
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Luke chapter 2 verse 22 on we're looking at the whole section but I'll read up to 00:00:07.080 |
verse 32 but we're looking at the whole section up to verse 38 Luke chapter 2 00:00:12.440 |
verse 22 to 32 reading out the ESV is when the time came for their 00:00:21.120 |
purification according to the law of Moses they brought him up to Jerusalem 00:00:24.640 |
to present him to the Lord as it is written in the law of the Lord every 00:00:27.840 |
male who first opens a womb shall be called holy to the Lord and to offer a 00:00:31.960 |
sacrifice according to what is said in the law of the Lord a pair of turtle 00:00:35.840 |
doves or two young pigeons now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon 00:00:40.480 |
and this man was righteous and devout waiting for the consolation of Israel 00:00:43.920 |
and the Holy Spirit was upon him and it had been revealed to him by the Holy 00:00:48.160 |
Spirit that he would not see death until t death before he had seen the Lord 00:00:54.560 |
Christ and he came in the Spirit into the temple and when the parents brought 00:00:58.240 |
in the child Jesus to do for him according to the custom of the law he 00:01:02.240 |
took him up on his arms and blessed God and said Lord now you are letting your 00:01:06.400 |
servant depart in peace according to your word for my eyes have seen your 00:01:10.560 |
salvation that you have prepared in presence of all the peoples a light for 00:01:14.920 |
revelation to the Gentiles and the glory to your people Israel let's pray 00:01:21.520 |
Heavenly Father we thank you for your constant grace and love toward us but as 00:01:27.520 |
we ready ourselves Lord God for this Christmas season help us Lord not to be 00:01:32.760 |
caught up with the rest of this world just in the busyness Lord of buying 00:01:36.920 |
presents and getting together with families vacations that in the midst of 00:01:42.240 |
all of this Lord God that you would keep our heart pure and focused on you and 00:01:46.880 |
what this day symbolizes and represents for us that Christ in being very nature 00:01:52.240 |
God not considering equality with God something to be grasped but becoming 00:01:56.920 |
nothing like us help us for you God to glean from his sacrifice and to learn 00:02:03.400 |
father God what it means to be a eager participant of what you have done for us 00:02:08.680 |
and thank you in Jesus name we pray amen again as you as you know Christmas is 00:02:13.760 |
coming up in in a few weeks and I think every Christmas season we have things 00:02:19.840 |
that we're thinking about like what to get people you know what am I getting 00:02:23.000 |
maybe some of you guys are young enough or still where parents are have promised 00:02:26.800 |
certain things for you or maybe some of you guys ordered a iPhone or or your 00:02:31.720 |
phone and you're waiting eagerly waiting for that to come but I think a lot of 00:02:35.480 |
what Christmas symbolizes is waiting the concept of waiting for a Christian is a 00:02:41.040 |
very important part of what it means to be a follower of Christ because the 00:02:44.480 |
Bible repeated it says over and over to again to us to wait right Psalm 27 it 00:02:50.600 |
says wait for the Lord be strong and let your heart take courage wait for the 00:02:54.960 |
Lord again in Isaiah 40 31 there's a passage that you and I are very familiar 00:02:59.720 |
with he says but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength they 00:03:04.440 |
shall mount up with wings like eagles they shall run and not weary they shall 00:03:08.520 |
walk and not faint so in other words in Isaiah 40 the concept of what he's 00:03:13.120 |
saying is if you want to be strengthened if you want to be run and not grow weary 00:03:18.480 |
or faint so we have to wait right our typical type of thinking is not waiting 00:03:24.560 |
because especially in our culture waiting is not something that our 00:03:28.000 |
culture especially our generation is known for we're not good at waiting 00:03:31.680 |
right internet takes more than five seconds it's we need to we need to get 00:03:35.920 |
another phone you know what I mean you order something and it doesn't come on 00:03:39.280 |
time send it back it didn't come back come on time you order food doesn't come 00:03:43.080 |
timely you know again you messed up so our culture our generation is not good 00:03:48.720 |
at waiting so to come to the scripture where it keeps telling us that in order 00:03:53.600 |
to be strengthened you have to wait you have to be patient and over and over 00:03:58.960 |
again we are told this story well if you look at the text that we're looking at 00:04:03.360 |
obviously we have the larger picture of the redemptive history about the coming 00:04:07.840 |
of Christ and so we're going to be taking a closer look at that next week 00:04:11.640 |
but this week we're examining Luke at this particular part of it and when Luke 00:04:18.000 |
is presenting Christ at the temple you know the larger picture basically is 00:04:23.000 |
telling us that Jesus was an obedient disciple or obedient follower of the 00:04:28.920 |
Old Testament law just like any other faithful Jew so even from birth it over 00:04:34.000 |
over again it says in verse 22 and the time came for the purification 00:04:37.720 |
according to the law of Moses and that phrase is repeated about five or six 00:04:42.360 |
separate times that he came and and came to be circumcised according to the law 00:04:46.760 |
he came and was dedicated according to the law they made sacrifices of pigeons 00:04:50.440 |
according to the law and then according to the custom of the law they did all of 00:04:54.040 |
this so over and over again the central thing that Luke is trying to say is that 00:04:58.360 |
that here's this Jesus that from the beginning of his earthly life not only 00:05:05.280 |
he but even his parents were very focused on making sure that he was 00:05:10.000 |
obedient now this was extremely important to present because the whole 00:05:14.160 |
purpose of Jesus's existence was that he would qualify for what he ultimately 00:05:19.360 |
came to do to be a sacrifice for sinners now if he didn't obey the law of God he 00:05:25.100 |
would be disqualified that's why the first thing that we see when Jesus comes 00:05:30.040 |
onto the scene as a to do ministry he comes and gets baptized and so John the 00:05:36.040 |
Baptist says why do you why do I baptize you you're the one that I've been 00:05:39.800 |
preparing for you should baptize me remember what Jesus says he says no is 00:05:44.360 |
right for you to baptize me to fulfill all righteousness right again that Jesus 00:05:49.960 |
submitted himself to God's order right after he's baptized he's taken into the 00:05:54.500 |
wilderness in the wilderness as he is tempted every time he conquered the 00:05:59.920 |
temptation by saying it is written it's in the scripture in other words to 00:06:04.360 |
establish him as the perfect sacrifice that he is qualified to die for sins of 00:06:10.000 |
mankind that's why it was important for us that from the very beginning that all 00:06:14.080 |
the Gospels all the gospel writers present Jesus and that again he was 00:06:18.560 |
obedient in every way and that's again the larger picture of what Christmas 00:06:22.200 |
symbolizes that what we are to remember and to celebrate but within this larger 00:06:28.800 |
picture of redemptive history there are there are many stories right there there 00:06:34.480 |
are side characters that kind of we can personally relate to that we're not just 00:06:40.160 |
observance of this of this redemptive history we're just kind of sitting from 00:06:43.600 |
a distance and watching but God somehow brings in characters right sometimes 00:06:49.760 |
they're kings sometimes they're peasants sometimes they're very well educated 00:06:53.120 |
sometimes they're very normal average people just like the people that we see 00:06:57.800 |
here in this passage Simeon and Anna is introduced to us and we don't see them 00:07:04.400 |
again this is the only time where Simeon and Anna is mentioned so we don't know 00:07:08.320 |
anything about them before the scene we don't know anything about after this 00:07:12.440 |
scene they weren't kings they weren't noble people they weren't Pharisees we 00:07:17.920 |
don't know much about them they just all of a sudden appear and the central thing 00:07:22.080 |
that we are taught about them is that they were simply waiting they were 00:07:25.360 |
faithfully waiting for the Lord to come we see if you can look at the passage 00:07:30.800 |
with me in Luke chapter 225 this is how Simeon is introduced to us is that now 00:07:35.800 |
there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon even his very name it's a 00:07:40.120 |
very common name you'll see the name Simeon everywhere else in the scriptures 00:07:44.640 |
and they're not all the same people because it's like John Kim or Peter Kim 00:07:48.680 |
it's very common right every time I go to DMV I have to say Peter H Kim and 00:07:54.280 |
then I have a number 32 behind it because there's so many other Peter H 00:07:57.600 |
Kim's right Simeon is one of those names is a very common name right so even even 00:08:03.680 |
this is very name itself Anna again is a very common name right that every a lot 00:08:09.640 |
of females had the Simeon and this man was righteous and devout waiting for the 00:08:13.840 |
consolation of Israel and the Holy Spirit was upon him and it had been 00:08:17.920 |
revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had 00:08:22.480 |
seen the Lord's Christ what an awesome thing to have heard from the Holy 00:08:27.080 |
Spirit and say you're not gonna die until you see the Lord I mean that's 00:08:30.400 |
kind of like me wouldn't that free you to do whatever you wanted right if the 00:08:35.680 |
Lord said you're not gonna die until you see the Lord said well now I can go to 00:08:38.240 |
skydive I can go deep sea diving you know I can go tightrope walking I do 00:08:43.600 |
whatever because he said I'm not gonna die right maybe you'll get hurt but 00:08:47.480 |
you're not gonna you're not gonna die right God said to him again as he was 00:08:51.600 |
devoutly and faithfully waiting for the Lord and it's in that context where he 00:08:56.200 |
comes in encounters with the Messiah again we see this lady Anna in verse 36 00:09:03.160 |
they said there was a prophetess named Anna the daughter of Phinewel of the 00:09:07.760 |
tribe of Asher again we other than this we don't know much about her she was 00:09:11.760 |
advanced in years having lived with her husband seven years from when she was a 00:09:15.720 |
virgin and then as a widow she until she was 84 she did not depart from the 00:09:21.360 |
temple worshiping with fasting and prayer night and day in the ESV if you 00:09:28.760 |
look at your translation most of your translation will have some sort of 00:09:31.800 |
number or letter on it and they don't have some note on the bottom right so in 00:09:36.400 |
the ESV translation it just says she was 84 years old in some of your other 00:09:40.320 |
translations will say that she actually was widowed for 80 years 84 years 00:09:44.440 |
depending on how you translate it either way look at it whether it was 60 some 00:09:48.880 |
years or 80 some years she basically dedicated himself to serve God and said 00:09:55.320 |
night and day she was praying and she was waiting to this and then it wasn't 00:10:00.760 |
just that if you look at verse 38 it wasn't just them two there were many 00:10:04.280 |
other people in verse 38 and coming up at the very hour she began to give 00:10:08.480 |
thanks to God and to speak of him to all who are waiting for the redemption of 00:10:13.280 |
Israel so it wasn't just a man it wasn't just Anna it was a lot of people who are 00:10:20.000 |
eagerly waiting for the Messiah to come to deliver them and it's in this 00:10:23.960 |
context where Jesus shows up so it wasn't like there was no prophecy there 00:10:28.320 |
was nothing going on there was a group of people who was eagerly waiting for 00:10:33.600 |
him and now as we as I mentioned that concept of waiting in the Bible is 00:10:39.120 |
extremely important like as a Christian to wait upon the Lord like if you go and 00:10:43.640 |
Google and or if you have a Bible concordance look up wait I mean you'll 00:10:49.080 |
have hundreds and hundreds of that phrase being repeated over and over 00:10:52.640 |
again to tell us to wait wait wait right even the disciples before they were 00:10:58.200 |
gonna go out and preach the gospel what did you say wait wait until the Holy 00:11:02.320 |
Spirit comes upon you even now we are living he said our spiritual life as 00:11:07.640 |
we're preaching the gospel one of the key characteristics about our 00:11:11.640 |
sanctification or salvation is to wait wait for his second coming and everyone 00:11:17.000 |
who puts his hope in him will purify himself so this idea of waiting is a 00:11:21.880 |
central part of what it means to be a follower of Christ we a worshiper of 00:11:25.760 |
Yahweh but what does it mean what does the word wait mean how do we apply 00:11:31.560 |
practically apply this other than just kind of like okay we'll just sit here do 00:11:34.840 |
nothing right what is the Bible's concept of wait the most common word 00:11:40.800 |
that is translated for weight in the Old Testament the Hebrew word is kava and the 00:11:45.320 |
word kava is basically lit means to be bound together to be bound and when you 00:11:53.240 |
hear the word bound literally it means your bath like right you're not you 00:11:58.840 |
can't do that you're restricted from doing something and that's the idea of 00:12:02.200 |
this word to stay put to stay where you are in Psalm 37 7 says be still before 00:12:10.480 |
the Lord and wait patiently for him fret not yourself over the one who prospers 00:12:16.360 |
in his way over the man who carries out evil devices he says to be still again I 00:12:24.680 |
don't know about you but you know and I know I see some of our kids at our 00:12:29.040 |
church and I could totally relate to the to the more ADD you know what I mean 00:12:33.480 |
type of I would have if they had ADD medicine when I was younger I'm pretty 00:12:36.920 |
sure they would have popped it in my mouth you know as soon as I went to 00:12:39.600 |
school right waiting no one has ever accused me of being patient right and 00:12:44.600 |
especially in our generation being patient necessarily is not like a good 00:12:49.680 |
quality because we're taught to be problem solvers right we're taught we're 00:12:54.240 |
all taught to be problem solvers if you're good at problem solving you make 00:12:58.320 |
more money if you're in a company and you see here's some issues that aren't 00:13:03.080 |
working right here's a problem identify it well here's a solution how do we get 00:13:06.520 |
there step one step two step three and you you are good problem solver right 00:13:11.120 |
and that's kind of like the mentality of our generation's like what's the problem 00:13:15.760 |
solve it now if you live in a poor part of the world I remember you know we were 00:13:20.000 |
talking while we were on this compassion trip now how do you define poverty and 00:13:24.320 |
one of the pastors he was thinking about it so you know I think poverty means 00:13:27.760 |
lack of opportunities right lack of opportunity you don't have a choice 00:13:32.760 |
whatever is presented to you you have to make do with what you have but you don't 00:13:36.600 |
have opportunities that's not me and you you and I have finances you we have 00:13:40.960 |
freedom we can move we can change jobs we have all kinds of stuff because we 00:13:45.760 |
have we have you know physical blessing but along with that comes this idea or 00:13:52.320 |
this this paradigm that if we just apply ourselves more if we can just kind of 00:13:58.120 |
figure it out and do this and do that that we can make this work and and 00:14:02.120 |
sometimes we apply that very type of you know we can do it type of mentality even 00:14:07.280 |
in our walk with God and sometimes it's good at a lot of times it's detrimental 00:14:12.160 |
the first concept of being a follower of Jesus Christ to be a worshiper of God is 00:14:17.920 |
learning to wait upon the Lord Psalm 62 1 and 2 says for God alone my soul 00:14:23.840 |
waits in silence from him comes my salvation he only is my rock in my 00:14:29.200 |
salvation my fortress I shall not be greatly shaken see the whole nation of 00:14:34.840 |
Israel God promised them as they went into captivity if you look at the minor 00:14:40.000 |
prophets and the major prophets every time that God brought judgment upon the 00:14:43.960 |
nation of Israel he would always relent and then he would promise that even 00:14:48.680 |
though you're I'm taking you to judgment I will deliver you I will send the 00:14:52.280 |
Messiah and he's going to deliver you and and there's going to be a new 00:14:55.360 |
generation of of God's people going to worship him and so when they heard this 00:15:00.000 |
they said yes God is not going to forget about us but the trouble that the nation 00:15:06.280 |
of Israel got into was they began to will themselves for this to happen see 00:15:11.880 |
the Sadducees they they again saw the problem as the Romans you know the 00:15:18.600 |
political situation so their idea of deliverance was if we are politically 00:15:24.600 |
more influential if we had more money and if we were more clever that we can 00:15:28.960 |
somehow win the favor of the superpower and maybe that's how God may turn things 00:15:32.640 |
around for us and you had the zealots the zealots are the ones who are 00:15:37.720 |
military you know like by by military might that if we train ourselves and 00:15:43.200 |
have our knives sharpened enough and if we get enough people to come on board we 00:15:47.760 |
can fulfill the promise that God said the Messiah is going to come but we're 00:15:50.960 |
going to make this happen but I think the most subtle and the most dangerous 00:15:55.680 |
of them all were the Pharisees because the Pharisees thought to themselves that 00:16:00.720 |
if we just implement and obeyed the Sabbath if we obeyed the laws and that's 00:16:06.760 |
the reason why the why the Jews their ancestors got into trouble but if we 00:16:11.560 |
obeyed the law if we did this if we keep kept the Sabbath if we didn't go into 00:16:16.920 |
the Gentile homes if we ate the right things and not eat the wrong things that 00:16:21.600 |
somehow God is going to show us favor and that's how he's going to bring about 00:16:25.600 |
his promise on a surface it seems like well that sounds right if we just do the 00:16:33.880 |
right things God's gonna bless us and the danger of that type of thinking is 00:16:38.040 |
that it can easily become nothing more than superstition see if they thought 00:16:43.880 |
like well if we keep the Sabbath for so long that's God's gonna have to he's 00:16:48.240 |
gonna have to listen to us how that is suddenly it creeps into our thinking 00:16:54.600 |
creeps into our church is is you know I know a lot of you guys are studying for 00:16:57.960 |
finals right now a lot of you students and some of you are gonna take the test 00:17:02.080 |
and then you wake up next morning you blew it right you blew it I'm not saying 00:17:06.520 |
you you you will I'm saying some of you some of you might okay you're gonna wake 00:17:12.840 |
up and and then you say oh my gosh I didn't do it and then you're gonna start 00:17:15.520 |
thinking backtracking what could I have done maybe if I did my quiet time first 00:17:21.840 |
maybe if I did my quiet time the guy would have blessed me and I would have 00:17:25.480 |
remembered all this stuff maybe some of you are waiting for for a job right 00:17:31.800 |
you're waiting for you apply for jobs and you're waiting eagerly and and you 00:17:35.240 |
didn't get it and you start thinking to yourself I haven't been faithfully 00:17:38.600 |
tithing I haven't been faithfully doing this and I missed too many Bible studies 00:17:42.720 |
you start to backtrack and thinking maybe God is punishing me disciplining 00:17:46.160 |
me because I didn't do this and then and then you start to train yourself to 00:17:49.360 |
think that if I do the right things that somehow God is gonna that's all gonna 00:17:53.600 |
add up and God's gonna say okay now you twist my arms since you obey me I'm 00:17:57.400 |
gonna listen to you and then suddenly what begins to happen is we start to we 00:18:03.080 |
start to have this idea of superstition and Christianity becomes nothing more 00:18:08.960 |
than superstition that if we do this if we step on the crack you're gonna break 00:18:13.840 |
your mama's back if you don't read your Bible God doesn't give you a good home 00:18:18.000 |
right well the Pharisees had this kind of mentality was teaching the people 00:18:23.880 |
that if you obey the law that everything is gonna be alright if you just do what 00:18:28.360 |
we told you to do see what the whole gospel the whole gospel begins with all 00:18:34.720 |
have sin and fall short of the glory of God those who have the law are condemned 00:18:38.480 |
without the law with the law those who don't have the law are condemned without 00:18:41.880 |
the law and so there's nothing you can do to stack up and get closer to God so 00:18:49.360 |
the first act of when we come to God the first thing that he tells us to do is to 00:18:53.920 |
wait to wait upon the Lord to sit still and recognize there's nothing that you 00:18:59.720 |
can do and I can do to hurry up what God has intended again I don't know about 00:19:06.520 |
you but you know God always that's one aspect of my life my character that I 00:19:10.880 |
always just challenging me like to be patient to be patient and he surrounds 00:19:15.040 |
me with people that that forces me to be patient you know I I have a tendency to 00:19:21.400 |
go a hundred miles per hour and Esther goes about five five point five you know 00:19:25.640 |
what I mean so whenever we go places I'm always walking in ahead of her and some 00:19:30.920 |
people think all of that male chauvinist you putting his wife behind this no 00:19:35.920 |
because she just walks slower so whenever we talk like a lot of times I 00:19:41.480 |
end up finishing her sentences not because all we're so in love we're so 00:19:45.560 |
connected because I want her to finish her sentence she's not talking fast 00:19:50.080 |
enough you know pastor mark is the same way there are times when we get into a 00:19:57.040 |
conversation and I'll ask him a question about something and it'd be dead silence 00:20:00.680 |
because he's on the other side so I said oh okay I guess we're done so I would go 00:20:05.200 |
back to work and the five minutes later he was like hmm so the whole time he was 00:20:11.480 |
thinking about what to say I like I moved on I'm already doing Bible study 00:20:15.760 |
and doing other stuff to be patient you know it's not my second nature and I 00:20:22.760 |
think again as a as a generation as a whole are when the Bible says become be 00:20:28.600 |
like wait wait upon the Lord we don't naturally say okay we know what to do 00:20:33.520 |
because we're problem solvers you have to be problem solvers right to get good 00:20:38.680 |
grades you have to be problem solvers at work in order to advance but he says to 00:20:43.960 |
wait the word for wait again there's another word the one is to be bound the 00:20:48.240 |
other one the mom it literally means to be silent or rest and in some some of 00:20:55.120 |
the Bible dictionaries it says to be dumb right obviously literally it 00:20:59.400 |
doesn't mean like lower your IQ right it means to rest it isn't just simply 00:21:06.120 |
waiting and saying I'm gonna sit here I'm just gonna cook off my mind and just 00:21:09.440 |
kind of just wait until something happened well that's not the idea of 00:21:12.600 |
wait the way the as the Bible teaches us is to rest knowing that the answer is 00:21:20.400 |
found in him to rest not to immediately think well here's a problem if we 00:21:26.160 |
implement these three things would have solve it and so much of our frustration 00:21:30.360 |
and anxiety comes because we think like why don't they implement this why don't 00:21:36.120 |
I do this why don't is he do that and we want our husband to change we want our 00:21:39.920 |
wives to change we want our churches to change and then when it doesn't happen 00:21:42.920 |
we're frustrated when the Bible continually reminds us the first and 00:21:47.680 |
foremost to wait upon the Lord see this Simeon we don't know how old he is but 00:21:53.680 |
we know that he've been patiently waiting and God rewards him Anna for 60 00:21:58.320 |
70 80 years just quietly serving the Lord and in that context God reveals 00:22:03.600 |
himself to her to her and to the rest of the nation of Israel you know whenever 00:22:08.080 |
we think of the Jews we think of the Pharisees Sadducees and all these people 00:22:11.480 |
who kind of missed Christ but not everyone missed him and we're gonna look 00:22:15.520 |
at that next week about the various people who came to Christ but there were 00:22:20.200 |
people who were faithfully waiting and as a result of that God revealed himself 00:22:23.560 |
to them you know when I was younger and people would come and ask for counseling 00:22:30.200 |
it would drive me nuts because I feel like you know I felt so and if there was 00:22:34.280 |
any part of ministry where I felt the most inadequate was counseling because 00:22:38.560 |
all kinds of people are coming to me with all kinds of problems and I know 00:22:41.520 |
what to do up on the pulpit because it's just me right I just need to prepare and 00:22:46.560 |
I need to speak I know what to do in Bible study because I need to prepare 00:22:49.720 |
and and to present it to you and if if it you know if you're learning and 00:22:54.040 |
you're growing I know what to do when people come to me with counseling have 00:22:57.120 |
all kinds of issues marriage issues you have your family issues you have your 00:23:02.280 |
work issues and and interpersonal relationship issues and and some things 00:23:06.360 |
are pretty obvious right some things I've dealt with so long when I say don't 00:23:11.480 |
do it you know I mean it's pretty obvious I'm not gonna say what it is 00:23:14.520 |
all right but there's some things are obvious but there's a lot of stuff that 00:23:17.400 |
that are brought up I really don't have any answer and I remember that used to 00:23:21.760 |
drive me nuts because like man maybe I need to go get biblical counseling you 00:23:26.680 |
know maybe I need to get more training maybe if I did this maybe if I did that 00:23:30.040 |
maybe I'm just not good at this maybe I'm just maybe I'm doing something I'm 00:23:34.240 |
just never gonna be good at because in my mind my first inclination is I got to 00:23:39.400 |
solve this problem right how many of you guys get into problems because your wife 00:23:44.040 |
tells you something and you had you think like huh do this and then your 00:23:50.680 |
problem is solved right and she says thank you 00:23:54.280 |
yeah you're laughing because that doesn't work right now because our 00:23:59.960 |
natural instinct especially as a guy is we think like we have we have to solve 00:24:04.120 |
this if I'm gonna help you we have to solve this and that's basically what I 00:24:08.080 |
was thinking and one of the most important things that I realized about 00:24:12.320 |
being a pastor is sometimes there's no answer there's no human answer and the 00:24:19.920 |
answer is wait for the Lord you don't have to do anything you don't have to 00:24:26.840 |
find a solution I don't have to give you a solution for every problem I don't 00:24:31.040 |
have it I know he does and so the greatest advice I realized that I can 00:24:36.720 |
give is to give you Christ to explain Christ who he is and how much he loves 00:24:43.280 |
me how much he loves you and it may not directly apply or at least we can't 00:24:47.000 |
connect it to it but it says wait for the Lord because it is in his time 00:24:51.240 |
see Ecclesiastes 3 1 through 4 says for everything there is season and a time 00:24:56.000 |
for every matter under heaven a time to be born and a time to die a time to 00:25:00.680 |
plant and a time to pluck pluck up what is planted at a time to kill and a time 00:25:04.880 |
to heal a time to break down and a time to build up a time to weep and a time to 00:25:09.160 |
laugh a time to mourn and a time to dance and it goes on and on basically 00:25:14.240 |
mean God has ordained certain seasons for certain things to happen in our life 00:25:17.840 |
for a particular purpose it's when it's time to build when we are breaking down 00:25:23.120 |
where we have the problem when God has ordained a time to mourn and we're 00:25:27.860 |
dancing and it's time to weep and we're laughing because we think that oh here's 00:25:33.360 |
a situation and we need to fix it first and foremost he says to wait remember 00:25:40.280 |
the disciples when they were on the boat and the storm came I could totally relate 00:25:45.440 |
with the disciples because Jesus was so fatigued again you know don't forget 00:25:50.440 |
that Jesus Christ is 100% God and so he was out laboring and working he was so 00:25:55.960 |
tired he said the Son of Man does not have a place to rest his head meaning he 00:25:59.480 |
was tired you know on to as long as he's doing ministry there's nowhere for him 00:26:03.920 |
to go so if you're gonna follow me thinking that somehow I'm gonna lead you 00:26:06.960 |
to a nice home like don't follow me because the Son of Man has nowhere to 00:26:12.560 |
rest his head and he was genuinely tired fatigue he was so fatigued the storm 00:26:18.600 |
started coming and you have to imagine these are professional fishermen I think 00:26:24.320 |
before they woke him up they tried everything right what does he know he's 00:26:28.200 |
a carpenter right if we need a chair we'll wake him up right but we're in the 00:26:33.360 |
middle of a sea and we're about to die so I think that they he probably 00:26:38.160 |
probably implemented everything that they possibly know bring out the row you 00:26:41.840 |
know everybody laid on the left side they started rowing you know they put 00:26:44.800 |
the sail up put it down you know throw off these every you know the heavy 00:26:48.240 |
weights everybody go to the left go on there go up they probably tried 00:26:51.080 |
everything and nothing was working they were absolutely desperate and again 00:26:56.720 |
sometimes God allows us to get to that point of desperation because we don't 00:27:01.640 |
listen until we're at that point right until we've exhausted we come to the 00:27:06.280 |
point where we surrender we don't listen it's like oh what about God you know 00:27:10.800 |
what do you know about this we don't say that right but that's how we behave 00:27:15.120 |
sometimes so by the time they wake up Jesus remember what they say they don't 00:27:20.120 |
say hey Jesus Jesus there's some we have some problem can you help us he doesn't 00:27:23.520 |
say that remember how the disciples come Jesus don't you care that we're gonna 00:27:29.760 |
die they're already angry they've tried everything they saw the problem they 00:27:37.840 |
try to fix it they couldn't fix it and they're watching Jesus just sleeping 00:27:42.120 |
right so they're annoyed they're angry they come to him Jesus how come you 00:27:46.920 |
don't care right Jesus does Jesus wake up like oh shoot oh so sorry everybody 00:27:53.720 |
calm down calm down boom let's go back to sleep is that what happens no Jesus 00:27:59.840 |
wakes up and he said why did you not believe why did you not believe what do 00:28:05.520 |
you mean by that because on the surface I can relate with the disciples because 00:28:11.360 |
I think every single one of us look at that situation we would have done 00:28:14.360 |
exactly the same thing right I mean they're about to die they're fishermen 00:28:18.640 |
and they can't fix this problem what are you doing right what did Jesus mean by 00:28:23.800 |
that you have to remember when Jesus said come follow me I will make you 00:28:28.560 |
fishers of men what was his primary thing that he was trying to teach the 00:28:31.780 |
disciples he was trying to reveal himself to them right yes he taught them 00:28:37.520 |
how to evangelize he taught how to cast out demons but in the midst of all of 00:28:41.560 |
that the greatest thing that Jesus had to reveal to them was himself who he was 00:28:46.360 |
so remember at John chapter 6 when all these people were falling out he turns 00:28:51.360 |
to them he's are you gonna leave to remember what the disciples say you're 00:28:55.120 |
the Son of God you have the words of life where are we gonna go in other words 00:29:00.040 |
we believe you so what was Jesus saying when he said why did you not believe all 00:29:07.760 |
this time that you were with me you were safe did you believe that you heard me 00:29:12.720 |
say I'm the author of life and you believe it you have the words of life 00:29:15.800 |
where are we gonna go you believe it do you think that somehow because of this 00:29:19.960 |
little storm that I just slipped for a second that somehow you were actually 00:29:24.240 |
gonna die that all of a sudden he forgot he took your eyes off for you for a 00:29:27.600 |
second that somehow he forgot about his power and he forgot that he loved you 00:29:32.320 |
and that you're gonna sink you're with me as long as you're with me if you die 00:29:39.160 |
it's because I let it and if you don't die is because I won't let it so when he 00:29:44.360 |
said how come you didn't believe he wasn't just speaking generically he's 00:29:48.700 |
talking about do you not know who I am said in the context of them trying to 00:29:53.360 |
fix all of this stuff in the context of them trying to run around and and making 00:29:59.160 |
sure that we're okay that you forgot the very thing that causes your life to be 00:30:04.000 |
stable is me that the author of life everything was made by him and for him 00:30:09.720 |
that he sustains life that I'm on this ship I'm with you it's not because you're 00:30:17.120 |
a fisherman it's not because of this or that that's what he meant so when the 00:30:22.000 |
scripture says first and foremost be still and know that I am God to wait 00:30:28.560 |
upon the Lord it's the first and foremost for us to have peace and rest 00:30:33.080 |
that he's the answer that would not mean like okay I gotta figure this out what 00:30:38.240 |
do I do how do I how do I change this what do I do what do I implement where 00:30:42.840 |
the first and foremost is to wait for him to fulfill what he has ordained 00:30:47.640 |
that's why you know when the scripture says that at the fullness of time God 00:30:52.560 |
came Jesus came fullness of time so when Simeon was praying and was revealed to 00:30:58.880 |
him the Son of God was gonna come it was a fullness of time Anna 60 70 80 years 00:31:04.320 |
it was because the fullness of time was God's ordained time there's nothing that 00:31:07.680 |
they could have done to speed this up or maybe if we went out and and made better 00:31:13.360 |
roads and a lot of you know in some sense was every time we talk about 00:31:16.560 |
fullness of time we say all the Romans came in and built the roads right yes 00:31:21.040 |
they built the roads and it made the access a lot easier but couldn't God 00:31:25.200 |
have done that did God have to wait until way way wait it's not time because 00:31:29.880 |
I'm waiting for the Romans to conquer Alexander and we have to wait right 00:31:35.280 |
couldn't God have just said couldn't have just made the roads right oh we 00:31:43.320 |
didn't wait until the the language is all unified and they all spoke Greek so 00:31:47.480 |
when Paul went and preached that they could understand each other true all of 00:31:51.000 |
that was a huge help but he's the one who divided them in the first place the 00:31:57.160 |
reason why they couldn't understand each other is because he said boom you know 00:32:01.520 |
you guys get together speak the same language and look what you do with it 00:32:04.120 |
right you become arrogant proud want to become like me so he's the one who 00:32:07.720 |
confused him so couldn't he have just and then all of a sudden everybody's 00:32:12.360 |
like hey like I we understand each other right Google Translate could have 00:32:17.800 |
happened thousands of years ago if you want it right so yes all of these things 00:32:23.440 |
were helpful but I think when the Bible says the fullness of time when the Bible 00:32:28.560 |
says God gave the law and the purpose of the law was to make it make sure that 00:32:34.720 |
sin became utterly sinful that the law had to take its natural course kind of 00:32:41.880 |
like a drowning man and if you probably heard this illustration before a 00:32:45.000 |
drowning man the way they train to jump into the pool is that don't jump in jump 00:32:49.120 |
to save that person until he is helpless because a drowning man who's reaching 00:32:55.160 |
and scratching when you jump in they're gonna grab you and you're gonna sink 00:32:58.240 |
together so what they do is they wait until their helpers and they run out of 00:33:02.680 |
fight and then you can go grab that person and then bring them back well 00:33:08.160 |
that's basically what the law was was here to do was to reveal sin and to make 00:33:13.280 |
it utterly sinful so they'd have to take his natural course where people are 00:33:17.880 |
fighting and scratching and I'm gonna do this I'm gonna do that and then when 00:33:22.360 |
they get to a point like nothing has worked nothing has worked and then if 00:33:28.840 |
you look at Jesus's ministry the three on from a human perspective for three 00:33:33.960 |
years he poured himself out in this three particular cities right near 00:33:38.560 |
Galilee and at the end of it what does he say to them if the same things were 00:33:43.200 |
performed to tire and sight and they would have repented long ago so after 00:33:48.120 |
three years stirring and fatigue they reject him and by the time he's he's on 00:33:55.440 |
the cross humanly speaking if he was successful you would think that there 00:33:58.680 |
would be a mob running and say you can't crucify him instead at the end of his 00:34:03.840 |
life the mobs are saying crucify him crucify him so in every way humanly 00:34:08.880 |
speaking it was an utter failure if the purpose of Jesus's ministry was to 00:34:14.760 |
gather a large crowd and to and to go out with a bang then it was an utter 00:34:21.280 |
failure see what Jesus's ministry was an extension an intensified extension of 00:34:29.920 |
what God was doing through the nation of Israel with the law they failed again 00:34:36.040 |
and again and again and again absolutely helpless and then Jesus comes and if you 00:34:40.800 |
look at his ministry instead of people's passion for God growing the very few 00:34:47.120 |
people who he came to love end up crucifying him on the cross it was one 00:34:52.160 |
thing for people from a distance hearing saying you know what we reject God's law 00:34:55.720 |
we reject the prophets but as another thing when the Son of God himself comes 00:35:00.640 |
and he's face to face in his and then they say we reject him so if you're 00:35:05.520 |
talking about when Israel was at its darkest in his history was when Jesus 00:35:10.640 |
was headed to the cross every possible opportunity was given to them and they 00:35:15.560 |
said no it was in that darkness Jesus reveals himself now when the scripture 00:35:22.960 |
says that he demonstrates his own love toward us in that while we were yet 00:35:26.120 |
sinners and that's what we need to come to understand when he said while we were 00:35:30.360 |
yet sinners we weren't passive sinners we were actively actively backs 00:35:36.200 |
blaspheming him actively rejecting him and is in that context where it says the 00:35:40.720 |
fullness of time the fullness of time meant the sin became utterly sinful and 00:35:45.840 |
mankind was absolutely helpless it brings us to a point where we throw our 00:35:51.480 |
hands up is I can't do this it is not me see every single one of us there's a 00:35:56.560 |
part of us that thinks there's a part of us that thinks that we can do it right 00:36:01.800 |
there's a part of us maybe not preaching maybe not evangelizing but there's 00:36:07.040 |
certain things that you're good at if you happen to be you know a lawyer you 00:36:12.000 |
know and your job is to argue and argue you know and you don't that's you that's 00:36:17.240 |
your expertise so in that area in that area we think I can do this remember 00:36:25.600 |
after the resurrection Jesus meets the fishermen he meets his disciples and 00:36:30.640 |
they're fishing all night they caught nothing right and Jesus says throw the 00:36:34.960 |
net in remember what the disciples said it's like we've been fishing all night 00:36:38.880 |
we've been fishing all night we're professional fishermen and we've been 00:36:43.120 |
fishing all night and we caught nothing and you a carpenter I know you're the 00:36:48.360 |
Messiah you know even after he was resurrected from the dead I know you 00:36:52.800 |
resurrected from the dead and the only reason why we're gonna do is because 00:36:56.360 |
you're telling us but we're fishermen we're perfect we know how to catch fish 00:37:01.280 |
right you know how to preach you know how to heal people but we know how to 00:37:05.600 |
catch fish but because you said so we're gonna do it so remember what happens 00:37:10.160 |
they put it in they catch so much fish they can't even pull it up by themselves 00:37:13.720 |
and Peters they're actually counting and I heard a funny story that people said 00:37:18.360 |
that maybe maybe they counted because Matthew the tax collector was with them 00:37:22.600 |
and he was counting because that was his habit and I mean he counted it so you 00:37:26.440 |
owe me and then they say oh shoot forgot I'm a disciple now I'm no longer a tax 00:37:30.800 |
collector right see that's a tendency for all of us because whatever every 00:37:36.160 |
single one of us there's an area that we're not good at there's an area that 00:37:39.240 |
we're good at and the things that we're good at we have a tendency to think I 00:37:41.720 |
can fix it first and foremost is to come and rest in him to recognize that when 00:37:50.000 |
it comes to this matter of following Christ and knowing him our salvation 00:37:53.200 |
every single one of us is absolutely helpless and but to be helpless doesn't 00:37:59.280 |
mean okay now since I'm helpless I do nothing I just I just sit here and let 00:38:03.040 |
God do whatever he wants there's actually the word that is used here say 00:38:07.000 |
where Simon Simeon waited for the Lord the word here waited is that in the New 00:38:13.120 |
Testament the Greek word is pros decamite and the pros decamite means to 00:38:18.240 |
actively search that's that's the word that is used for weight in the New 00:38:23.040 |
Testament so again when you put it all together it means to be bound it means 00:38:28.240 |
to rest in him but in this binding in this resting we are apt actively seeking 00:38:35.040 |
that's the word that is used in Luke chapter 12 36 or 37 when we are told is 00:38:40.520 |
that be like men who are waiting for their master to come home from the 00:38:44.320 |
wedding feast the word waiting here is pros decamite the same word that is used 00:38:49.560 |
to describe Simeon's waiting that he wasn't just at the temple he wasn't just 00:38:53.760 |
at home kind of like huh when is this gonna happen he actively sought the Lord 00:38:58.520 |
that was the biblical waiting and that's why he says when we are waiting for his 00:39:03.760 |
second coming we are not to sit passively and say well he didn't come 00:39:07.920 |
today just like Anna at the temple actively praying and fasting seeking and 00:39:14.480 |
being ready who knows when he's gonna come who knows what God's gonna do when 00:39:18.520 |
he's gonna do it and so they actively sought him out in lamentations 325 that 00:39:24.420 |
Lord is good to those who wait for him to the soul who seeks him it is good 00:39:29.000 |
that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord and let me again 00:39:35.360 |
wrap up with this in Jeremiah 29 13 says you will seek me and find me when you 00:39:40.360 |
seek me with all your heart are we waiting for the Lord I know that in a 00:39:48.240 |
week and a half we're gonna be celebrating Christmas we're gonna be 00:39:50.360 |
talking about you know a lot of things then you know I don't know if it's as 00:39:54.440 |
controversial as it is this year as it was in the previous years in the 00:39:58.180 |
previous years the big fight was what we can't say Christmas right and everybody 00:40:02.800 |
was so angry we can't say hey target won't let us say Christmas don't go to 00:40:06.400 |
Target anymore right Costco won't say to they'll say Mary happy something but no 00:40:12.360 |
Christmas and we're all creed we're all offended right and I think there's a 00:40:17.920 |
place you know we live in a free country we could speak right we can vote and 00:40:22.480 |
these are our rights we guess I don't think there's anything wrong with that 00:40:25.280 |
but in the end so what so what if we get to say Christmas or not to say 00:40:30.360 |
Christmas what is that how does that change our eternity how does that change 00:40:35.560 |
the eternity of of souls who are lost because they say in fact it kind of 00:40:40.560 |
gives a false sense of security somehow like we're winning the battle because we 00:40:44.880 |
get to say Christmas that we get to pray you know at mayoral you know 00:40:50.720 |
inaugurations or at the you know at football games we can we can say in 00:40:54.800 |
Jesus names I guess we can do it now right in the end what is that what does 00:41:01.320 |
that change in eternity in fact gives us a false sense of security that somehow 00:41:05.720 |
we are winning this battle and that's actually more dangerous because in the 00:41:14.240 |
end all it has done is just put up more superficial religious legalism it means 00:41:21.920 |
nothing has no power in the kingdom of God our fight is not against flesh and 00:41:27.280 |
blood it is not by our might nor by our power he says by his spirit and we can't 00:41:34.160 |
force that we can't will that you can't have enough money to do that you can't 00:41:40.160 |
be talented enough to have that so that's why first and foremost he says 00:41:45.760 |
wait upon the Lord wait upon the Lord the consolation of Israel it's not a 00:41:51.200 |
interesting word consolation of Israel the Savior the King the Messiah but here 00:41:56.800 |
he said he's the consolation of Israel now if you look at in the context of 00:42:00.040 |
book of Luke Luke is trying to present a human side of Christ and so Luke 00:42:06.400 |
presents Jesus as the consolation the comforter and over over again the Bible 00:42:10.600 |
describes God as our ultimate comforter he's our counselor you know the 00:42:17.600 |
difference between sympathy and empathy and again those are you're gonna 00:42:21.360 |
question me so I already looked it up you can look it up yourself okay empathy 00:42:25.040 |
basically is to from a distance like I I didn't walk in your shoes but I feel for 00:42:29.880 |
you right so I don't know what you're going I don't I can't relate to what 00:42:33.480 |
you're going through but I feel for you that's empathy sympathy is somebody who's 00:42:36.960 |
able to step in your shoes like you've been there so if you're a doctor or 00:42:41.080 |
whatever field you're in somebody is in those shoes I can I can understand so 00:42:44.880 |
some of you stay-at-home moms you'll sit and talk to other stay-at-home moms and 00:42:48.640 |
immediately there's a connection because you can sympathize with each other right 00:42:51.880 |
I talked to other pastor friends who are wrestling with the same thing and and we 00:42:55.600 |
can sympathize with each other so there's empathy from a distance and 00:42:58.880 |
sympathy because they walk their shoes walked in the same shoes well the 00:43:03.880 |
scripture says in Hebrews 415 that we have a high priest who was able to 00:43:07.640 |
sympathize with our weaknesses because he drew near to us he walked in our 00:43:13.680 |
shoes so that we have a we have a mediator who sympathized because he was 00:43:18.880 |
there and yet without sin therefore he says he's opened the throne of grace with 00:43:22.640 |
to enter it with confidence to find in grace and mercy in times of trouble he 00:43:29.680 |
says those doors have been opened so that you can come in seek him and to 00:43:33.720 |
know him to wait for him and that's what they were waiting for and finally as a 00:43:38.720 |
result of meeting him this is what Simeon prays in Luke 2 29 Lord now you 00:43:44.080 |
are letting your servant depart in peace according to your word for my eyes have 00:43:49.240 |
seen your salvation to put it in modern English not that this isn't modern 00:43:54.760 |
English but to make it more modern right what he means by that is now I can die 00:43:59.280 |
in other words this was it this is what I've been waiting for this was my hope 00:44:05.840 |
this was my passion now I can die you know I meet people every once around say 00:44:10.440 |
you know I don't want Jesus to come yet because I'm not married I need to be 00:44:16.640 |
married that's one thing that I like that and that's the passion in life like 00:44:20.800 |
I gotta get married he can't come now right well I don't have children he 00:44:25.840 |
can't come now I just started a business he can't come now you know I put all I've 00:44:30.760 |
been saving up my vacation to go to Europe he can't come now whatever it is 00:44:35.960 |
that we have treasured in our heart and that's what we're waiting for that's 00:44:39.800 |
what's gonna be in your mind it's gonna be in your heart wherever you wherever 00:44:43.200 |
you put your treasure that's where your hearts gonna be so if you're eagerly 00:44:47.360 |
anticipating and your hope is in your next iPhone that I mean you know again I 00:44:56.160 |
got a new galaxy note 4 so I'm not you know what I mean I'm not judging you 00:45:00.520 |
right I'm just saying if that becomes our treasure if these silly little 00:45:10.760 |
things becomes our treasure and then we get together we could tell right away 00:45:13.960 |
what we are passionate about you know this is coming it's not here yet but 00:45:19.440 |
what kind of apps what's the best app for this thing and you're always looking 00:45:23.880 |
up like what's what's the best case for this what's the best case you know what 00:45:27.880 |
I mean what can you do well look at the quality of the picture and you're just 00:45:31.560 |
like this is it this is it and these trivial things we get entangled with it 00:45:37.680 |
we know we know it's trivial we have so many things that we we kind of get 00:45:42.880 |
entangled within and then we just kind of go from one gadget to a next one 00:45:46.520 |
event to a next one thing to the next and we find out that our heart is not 00:45:51.200 |
waiting for him at all if Christ came would you say now I can die that this is 00:46:00.080 |
what I've been praying for this is what I've been waiting for so our challenge 00:46:04.680 |
through our Christmas season is the world is gonna be busy buying presents 00:46:09.040 |
getting together they're gonna all this stuff is happening but it's a great 00:46:12.000 |
opportunity if there's any period in the year where you can openly talk about 00:46:17.080 |
your faith is during Christmas talk about I'm going to church a Christmas 00:46:21.880 |
service you know it's Christmas Merry Christmas right so what do you mean by 00:46:27.000 |
that you can share the gospel if there's any time where you can take advantage of 00:46:30.960 |
the of the culture that we live in it's Christmas but in order to do that we 00:46:36.240 |
have to wait for the Lord we have to be rested in the Lord if we're anxiously 00:46:42.760 |
running around to fix things and not recognize the author of life is with us 00:46:50.000 |
that we have access to him then all this opportunity that we have we're just 00:46:53.480 |
gonna blow it so my prayer is again as Christmas is coming up in the midst of 00:46:58.360 |
busyness in the midst of all the things that that we're involved with that we 00:47:03.680 |
take some time to step back and recognize what it is that got crisis 00:47:07.720 |
given and that we can honestly say Lord we are waiting on you would you take a 00:47:14.200 |
minute to pray with us as we invite the praise team to come up let's pray that 00:47:21.600 |
God would help us to use the time that we have use a Christmas season to redeem 00:47:26.120 |
it for for him redeem it for ourselves that we can use this opportunity the 00:47:30.720 |
vacation time that's coming up you know not just to be busy we're running around 00:47:35.080 |
with families in buying presents but really take some time to meditate and 00:47:37.960 |
think upon what his incarnation means to us how should that affect my family my 00:47:43.720 |
life my future who are the people around us that would be a great opportunity to 00:47:49.080 |
share the gospel with and to use that opportunity so let's take a few minutes