Waiting Without Worry
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Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations 7548 Waiting for next Crowing
In his house in Chelsea in London they show you the soundproof chamber, a sort of vaulted apartment, which Carlyle had built in his house so that all the noise of the street would be shut out and he could do his work in unbroken silence. One of his neighbors, however, kept a cock that several times in the night and in the early morning gave way to vigorous self-expression.
When Carlyle protested to the owner of the cock, the man pointed out to him that the cock crowed only three times in the night, and that after all that could not be such a terrible annoyance. “But,” Carlyle said to him, “if you only knew what I suffer waiting for that cock to crow!”
—C. E. Macartney
Lord God, bless Your Word wherever it is proclaimed. Make it a Word of power and peace to convert those not yet Your own and to confirm those who have come to saving faith. May Your Word pass from the ear to the heart, from the heart to the lip, and from the lip to the life that, as You have promised, Your Word may achieve the purpose for which You send it, through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.
Historian and philosopher Thomas Carlyle (4 December 1795 – 5 February 1881), hit upon one of the biggest problems that we face in life - dealing with the unknown. I have a saying, I don’t know from whence it came: “It isn’t what we know, but what we don’t know, that gets us in trouble.” On of the apparent ironies of life is that the famous writer, Mark Twain, is quoted as saying the exact opposite: "What gets us into trouble is not what we don't know. It's what we know for sure that just ain't so." Ironically, there is no record that he actually did say that!
There is a narrow area that lies between “what we know” and “what we know for sure.” God’s revealed will lies in that area. The 11th Chapter of Hebrews gives a series of statements regarding events that God revealed to us in Scripture, each of which begins with the words, “By faith, we know...”. To some people, those words imply that we take God’s statements on blind credulity because we lack what we believe to be a better explanation. They are wrong, because they don’t understand what a solid, biblical faith in God’s exceedingly great and precious promises is. Once you have obtained to that precious faith, God’s Word and your life are experienced completely differently.
25 Now there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. 26 And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ.
We don’t know much about Simeon. We generally think of him as being an old man, even though we have no descriptions that present him as such, unlike that which accompanies Anna the prophetess who comes into the temple at the same hour. We do see that God had given Simeon a promise - that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. The important thing about Simeon is not how long he lived, but what he was living for.
Simeon was living in the light of God’s promise to him. Because of that promise, Simeon was “waiting for the consolation of Israel.” While there were other things that were a part of his life; things like taking care of his bodily needs, being attentive to God’s Instruction, and living in such a way that he was a blessing to his neighbor, all things that are contained in the words, “this man was righteous and devout,” the foundation of Simeon’s life, his purpose, if you will, was rooted in this promise.
The baptized Christian has a promise that should be the light in which he or she should live as well. It is a promise that God makes in response to our discovery of the one problem that stands between us and perfect peace - sin. Acts 2:37-39 presents us with the people of Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost, over thirty years after the day that Simeon enters the story of Jesus.
37 Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” 38 And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.”
Maggie Lene Jarrett had received that promise, and November 7, 1982, she was confirmed in the same precious faith in God’s promise of salvation in the Lord’s Christ. She had been baptized before then, I don’t know exactly when, but I do know that when she had finished her studies with Pastor Norman Brandt, she knew “the certainty of the things which she had been taught.” For over 50 years until her passing on November 23rd of this year, Mother Maggie worshipped the Lord along with her husband, Charles, and together they trained up their children, Joyce, Charlene, Darryl & Emily. When she could, she joined her brothers and sisters at St. John’s Evangelical Lutheran Church to receive God’s gifts of comfort and forgiveness through the Divine Service. When she couldn’t, she and Charles enjoyed our visits together as we prayed, heard Christ’s Word, and shared His true Body and Blood for the forgiveness of sins. She encouraged me, her pastor, so much so that I do not know who benefitted more from my pastoral calls on their family. As confirmed Christians should do, she took her Confirmation verse to heart:
1 The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?
We now live in a time of great fear. We fear those who live around us, whether they will prove to be good neighbors like the Samaritan in Jesus’ parable, or whether they will be robbers, murderers, and thieves, like the ones in that same parable. Between those extremes are those people who, like the priest and the Levite, look upon, but do not engage with, the sorrows and sufferings of those near to them, because they have something else that they choose to prefer.
We fear, in addition to human threats, a virus that comes unseen, strikes without warning, and kills debilitates without mercy. Because of this virus, we are limited to small gatherings, our faces are hidden from one another, and our lives have been upended, and we have no idea when this current situation will change and our lives will be restored to what we knew before.
We know that our lives cannot possibly have purpose if we see no further than the current moment and our focus extends no further than the surface of our skins. The Gospel of Jesus Christ that declares to us that Christ died for our sins, thus freeing us from the curse and penalty of the Law, is not proclaimed simply so that we can live comfortably with living selfish, sinful lives. Instead, God send messengers of this Good News so that we can be free in Christ to love and serve one another; “we are blessed to be a blessing” to one another.
People will tell you that one of their chief disappointments with the church, as they understand it, is that they see so many who do not live up to the example that they understand Jesus Christ to have set. It is true that we do not, if the example to which they refer is of the sinless, spotless Son of God. We can’t, I sadly admit, for unlike us, Christ was born without sin. Instead of inheriting, as we do, the sin nature that Adam obtained through his disobedience, Jesus, who existed eternally as the Word of God, “took flesh and dwelt among us.” he who lived in eternity entered into time, and the Sinless One “became sin for us.” We were broken by sin, sin that ruined us, no matter how we tried to beautify our external appearance with clothes, jewelry, makeup and plastic smiles. But “with His stripes, we are healed.” The Bible tells us that the example that Christ set for us is not the perfection of our deeds, but the richness of our love for God and one another. The mind of Christ is the mind of service to one another; whatever we do in word and deed to the least of these His brothers and sister, we do it to Christ.
Simeon had been told by the Holy Spirit that he would see the Lord’s Anointed One - His Christ.
27 And he came in the Spirit into the temple, and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him according to the custom of the Law, 28 he took him up in his arms and blessed God and said, 29 “Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace, according to your word; 30 for my eyes have seen your salvation 31 that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, 32 a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel.”
“My eyes have seen Your salvation” - Simeon looked at the bundle in his arms, and saw more than a month-old baby surrounded by two poor anxious parents. He saw the One who would bring revelation to the nations, the One who brought glory to the people whom God had chosen, His people Israel. God had kept His promise, made so long ago in the Garden of Eden, to Adam and his wife whom he would later name Eve because of the words that were a prophetic judgment upon Satan and a promise to mankind (Gen 3:15)
“he shall bruise your head,
and you shall bruise his heel.”
It would be centuries before that prophecy would be fulfilled, but Simeon saw both the pain and the promise in this Baby as it was revealed by the Spirit:
34 And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, “Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is opposed 35 (and a sword will pierce through your own soul also), so that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed.”
Our response to the Gospel of Christ, whether we resist the Spirit of Grace as He works through the Word to birth and strengthen faith in Christ in us, or whether we receive the grace of God unto eternal life, determines whether we walk in the darkness of sin or the light of His salvation. Life in Christ is a simple thing: faith comes by hearing, and hearing from the Word of Christ. As we confess,
The Book of Concord Article IV: Concerning Justification
[IV. Concerning Justification]
[1] Furthermore, it is taught that we cannot obtain forgiveness of sin and righteousness before God through our merit, work, or satisfactions, but that we receive forgiveness of sin and become righteous before God out of grace for Christ’s sake through faith [2] when we believe that Christ has suffered for us and that for his sake our sin is forgiven and righteousness and eternal life are given to us. [3] For God will regard and reckon this faith as righteousness in his sight, as St. Paul says in Romans 3[:21–26*] and 4[:5*].
Maggie believed, and so she spoke, to her family, to her customers, to her neighbors and friends, and to me. She talked about her faith in Christ, and she believed that He did more than give her a good conversation, as we also confess:
The Book of Concord Article VI: Concerning the New Obedience
[VI. Concerning the New Obedience]
[1] It is also taught that such faith should yield good fruit and good works and that a person must do such good works as God has commanded for God’s sake but not place trust in them as if thereby to earn grace before God. [2] For we receive forgiveness of sin and righteousness through faith in Christ, as Christ himself says [Luke 17:10*]: “When you have done all [things] …, say, ‘We are worthless slaves.’ ” [3] The Fathers also teach the same thing. For Ambrose says: “It is determined by God that whoever believes in Christ shall be saved and have forgiveness of sins, not through works but through faith alone, without merit.”
Eight days ago, Maggie was received by her Lord in to His everlasting arms. Like Paul the apostle wrote to Timothy as he prepared for what might be his impending death, Maggie could say as she entered into the joy of her Lord,
6 For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. 7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 8 Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.
Maggie loved His appearing. Now she is a part of that exceeding great cloud of witnesses. She has obtained the promise.
“We who are alive and remain” can either look at her life in the light of God’s Word and follow her as she followed Christ, or we can look at her life in the light of the world’s rebelliousness and dismiss her as an old lady that had no significance outside of the relatively few who knew and loved her. Those who know that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God, the Savior of the World, know that we will see Maggie along with all those who loved Christ at His appearing. We do not mourn as do those who have no hope. We invite those who have not trusted in Christ, to hear Him today. Listen to His exceeding great and precious promises, and you can also escape the corruption that is in the world through lusts. Repent, and if you have not done so, be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins. If you were baptized, remember your baptism, cling anew to His life-giving promise, and reclaim your identity in Christ, be restored in the joy of your salvation, and be refreshed by the conversation and consolation of brothers and sisters.
And let the peace of God, that passes all understanding, guard your hearts and minds, through Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.