Scott Freeman

Now That I’ve Held Him In My Arms

For two of the last three Sundays inclement weather has canceled our Sunday services. Here is what I would have preached yesterday morning had we met.

May this bless you this Christmas season.

Now That I’ve Held Him in My Arms
Luke 2:25—35
December 23, 2007

Advent is about hope and expectancy. But it is mired in waiting.
Cassie’s Birth delay—we wanted so badly to hold her in our arms. Then all would be right. It was frustrating to wait.
But when we held her, when we brought her into our home then all was brought to right. We were complete at that point and time.
For a thousand years the people of Israel have awaited the Messiah. And out of that humble, unlikely birth would come all that we have hoped and waited for.

When Jesus was 8 days old he was circumcised according to Jewish customs.

(Luke 2:21)
When he was 40 days old he was taken to the temple for purification purposes.

(2:22-24)

Mary would be considered unclean for 40 days after giving birth to a son. At the end of those 40 days she was to go to the temple and provide a purification offering. If it was a girl it would be 66 days.
As a part of that, since he was the firstborn, they would have to pay a five shekel redemption fee. In another of the great ironies of the Creator God becoming creation the Redeemer was initially redeemed.
The fact that they brought two pigeons or turtle doves instead of a lamb is an indication of their poverty. But instead they brought the Lamb!
A man meets them in the temple, a man who is described as righteous and holy. His name is Simeon. Although Scripture never tells us with any degree of certainty, tradition holds that he was an old man. Some tradition states that he was 113 years old.
He had been promised that he would not die before he saw the fulfillment of all of Israel’s hope.

(2:25-28a)

In the person of Simeon we see all of the hope, expectancy, meaning and import fully illustrated. Simeon has been directed by the leading of the Holy Spirit to the temple.
And Simeon takes that child and pronounces a tremendous blessing:

(2:28b—35)

This morning I want us to see the Messiah through the person of Simeon and learn some valuable lessons in the process.

1. He Waited
He waited patiently for God to fulfill his promise, what is mentioned in verse 25 as the consolation of Israel, the coming of the Messiah.
Simeon waited in faith and expectancy. Just as we do this time of year. He patiently waited for God to act, to step into this world.
And we too must learn to wait upon the Lord. And I think many of us have failed to understand fully what it means to wait on the Lord.
I think too often we think in terms of passivity. That waiting on God is to stand around and do nothing, to dream nothing to risk nothing. But waiting on God is not passivity, it is activity. You take the initiative.
Back in the day when a young man would be courting a young lady it was said that he was “waiting on her.” That meant active pursuit.
To wait on God means at least 3 things
a. It means to long for God. (Psalm 62:1). It’s an active desire for communion and relationship.
b. It means to listen to God (Proverbs 8:34) Waiting means that we give God room to work and move through our being still. He can’t speak if we won’t listen.
c. It means to live for God. (Proverbs 27:18) To keep a fig tree means that you actively keep it alive: pruning, watering, nurturing, fertilizing. Whatever you must do to keep it healthy and fruitful. Then you can eat of the tree. To wait on God means to serve Him. Waiters and waitresses don’t stand around. They serve.
So waiting on God means to long for relationship with Him, to listen to Him and to live for Him.
Much talk will be done in the coming months about the future direction of Agape. We must be willing to wait, to actively wait upon God’s leading and wait for changes to grow and blossom into great ministry.

Kester Brewin in his book “Signs of Emergence” says:

We must stop and wait, and allow newness to emerge among us. And when it does we must treat it just as Mary did Christ, must as we would any other newborn. We must nurture it gently and feed it carefully. We must not demand it to act like an adult, but allow it to be a child. We must understand again that new growth will take a long time and will require a lot of long-term support. There are no speedy revolutions in the process of gestation and development; only slow, sure, stable growth.
May we be like Simeon and wait on the Lord and make sure that our sight is firmly upon him.

2. He Accepted the Unexpected
Picture Simeon. He has been promised that he will not see death until he sees the Messiah. The coming King. The one who would overthrow the evil Roman Empire and set up a mighty Kingdom.
What do you think he is looking for in the temple that day? Probably not a 40 day old illegitimate child. Instead he is probably looking for a strong majestic figure. For there to be no mistake.
But a young teenage couple walks in with an infant in their arms. And the verse says the Spirit moves Simeon toward the child.
“Are you serious, Lord? This is what I have been waiting for. This baby is the Messiah? But how will he defeat the Romans? They can’t even afford a lamb, how will he finance the uprising? How can they produce a king?

In his book The Jesus I Never Knew, Philip Yancey recounts an episode of the TV show Thirtysomething in which Hope, a Christian, argues with her husband Michael, a Jew, about the holidays. “Why do you even bother with Hanukkah?” she asks. “Do you really believe a handful of Jews held off a huge army by using a bunch of lamps that miraculously wouldn’t run out of oil?” Michael explodes, “Oh, and Christmas makes more sense? Do you really believe an angel appeared to some teenage girl who then got pregnant without ever having had sex and traveled on horseback to Bethlehem where she spent the night in a barn and had a baby who turned out to be the Savior of the world?”

But it is true. As unexpected and unbelievable as it sounds, this child was the King. It was such a strange way to save the world. Simeon knew that and he accepted the unexpected. How many times has God worked and moved in your life and it turned out to be completely different than the way you would have done it? That is the incarnation. Everything turned upside down.

God often works and moves in ways that we would never anticipate. Too often we try to force God in our owl little box of our wants and desires and end up limiting what he can do in our lives. Think of what we could accomplish in our lives, in this church if we were to step back and allow God to truly work. Not to try and change things when they don’t go our way but prayerfully ask God to move and not to want to intervene when He does.
Simeon accepted that everything had changed in the person of the newborn Jesus. Despite how it appeared.

3. He Was Available
Simeon blessed the newborn Jesus. He blessed God. Simeon was the one that God had orchestrated to bring the proper Hebrew blessing up on the infant Messiah. What a task that is. What a responsibility for just an ordinary man.
God can use you to do phenomenal things. It does not matter whether or not you think you are good enough or have just the right talents. God can use you no matter what kind of person you are as one of my favorite illustrations attests:

• Abraham lied.
• Sarah laughed at God’s promises.
• Moses stuttered.
• David’s armor didn’t fit.
• John Mark was rejected by Paul.
• Timothy had ulcers.
• Hosea’s wife was a prostitute.
• Amos’ only training was in the pruning of figs.
• Jacob was a liar.
• David had an affair.
• Solomon was too rich.
• Jesus was too poor.
• Abraham was too old.
• David was too young.
• Peter was afraid of death.
• Lazarus was dead.
• John was self-righteous.
• Naomi was a widow.
• Paul was a murderer.
• So was Moses.
• Jonah ran from God.
• Miriam was a gossip.
• Gideon and Thomas both doubted.
• Jeremiah was depressed and suicidal.
• Elijah was burned out.
• John the Baptist was a loudmouth.
• Martha was a worry-wort.
• Mary may have been lazy.
• Samson had long hair.
• Noah got drunk.
• Did I mention Moses had a short fuse?
• So did Peter, Paul and lots of folks.

Allow God to use you. Don’t worry about what you can do. God is concerned more with your availability than your ability.

4. He Embraced Hope
In essence, Simeon says “Now that I’ve held him in my arms, My life can come to an end.” (Michael Card)
He embraced hope.
In the 1992 election campaign, Bill Clinton adopted a slogan that has long resonated with me: I still believe in a place called hope.
Regardless of your political leanings that is a beautiful sentiment. I still believe in a place called hope.
Simeon knew that in this child rested the hope and deliverance of all mankind. Clinton’s slogan prompted Babbie Mason to write this chorus:

I believe in a place called hope
A place of perfect peace for every heart and soul
Where every broken spirit can be made whole
I still believe in a place called hope

And hope is exactly what each of us have. Hope in a world that transcends the feeble existence we have here. It was poignant for Simeon to pray as he did in verse 28.
“I have held hope. Now I can die in peace.”
And in many ways that is exactly what happens. For when one embraces the Savior, the old self dies and a new one is born. Simeon know that now everything had changed. Hope was alive and in the heart of a small child. He knew that the little baby he was holding in his arms was the One who would hold him for eternity.
Simeon waited, he accepted, he was available and through that he was able to embrace hope.
Hold the child of hope. Embrace Him this morning.