Wait upon the Lord Christian patience Morning Worship, Lord s Day 25 January 2009, 9.30am Rev D. Rudi Schwartz 1 Bible Readings New Testament: James 5:7 11 Old Testament: Psalm 27 Hymns/Songs Main Points 1. Approach: Lord Jesus when your people meet 2. Forgiveness of sins: Today Your mercy calls us 3. Thanksgiving: O how blest the hour 4. Response: Have you not known 1. Introduction 2. Patience and perseverance (clock) 3. Living hope (binoculars) 4. Security of inheritance (rope) 5. Conclusion 1. Introduction My dear brethren, I have printed on the pew sheets pulpit three objects: a clock, a pair of binoculars, and also a piece of rope. In some way these three objects have something in common. But first of all, let s ask the children if they know the different meanings of this word tarry. I dare to say that we have lost the art of waiting. We are always in a hurry, just to go and waste time somewhere else. Patience is not high on our agenda. We are driven by the clock and the minutes just can t tick over too quickly! It ruins our lives, and it wrecks our spiritual lives. Of quite time and quality time with God we don t know much. And because we want results, we don t have the patience for God to unfold his plans and purposes. Someone prayed: God give my patience, but I need it now! Part of the fruit of the Holy Spirit in our lives is patience: But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 1 Feel free to copy, quote or duplicate this document.
gentleness and self control. (Galatians 5:22 23) We need to once again learn to discover the blessing and serenity of waiting upon God. To wait upon God is a command, not only good advice. In our day and age we find it difficult to wait. We have no patience, because we want to be masters of our own destiny. We want to go ahead of God and make Him follow us. 2. Patience and perseverance (the clock) David, who for the best part of his life was a refugee, hiding in caves and rock cliffs, dodging the spears and army of Saul, and even knowing the pain of a rebellious son who sought to kill his father prayed in Psalm 27:13 14: I am still confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord. (Psalm 27:13 14) The root of the word wait means to look for with eager expectation. It does not carry the notion of doing nothing or slipping into some pessimistic determinism, singing Que sera, sera! What will be, will be, the future s not ours to see. At Southampton s fashionable St. Andrew s Dune Church, after a week of steaming hot weather, guest minister Rev. William Henry Wagner told the congregation he would preach the shortest sermon ever. He did, too. The sermon consisted of the following words: If you think it s hot here just wait! This is not what David says in Psalm 27:14. The Biblical wait is to confidently trust because we know Who to trust. I think there must be a connection between being patient and being a patient. A patient in hospital must wait: for food, drink, nursing, the visit of the doctor; some even have to wait to be moved. They can get upset about this, but it doesn t really help. And when they make peace with their circumstances, they learn from it. The outstanding characteristics of the great New England preacher Phillips Brooks were dignity and coolness. His intimate friends, however, knew that at times he suffered moments of frustration and touchiness. One day a friend saw him pacing the floor like a caged lion. What is the trouble, Dr. Brooks? asked the friend. The trouble is that I m in a hurry, but God isn t! But waiting upon God is a form of faithfulness and endurance. It is the other side of seeking Him. To wait upon God is understand that God is God and we are mere humans. To wait upon God is to be blessed by God who by grace sets his rule over us and in Christ we then become patient and obedient to be ruled by Him in his own time to work out his purposes and plans as He planned it. He is sovereign in his decree and plan, immutable in his Person and wholly perfect in his timing. If He was not, He would not be God, and He could not be trusted. The Christian, who cannot wait upon God, is disobedient because it shows distrust in God. Waiting with steadfast endurance is a great expression of faith. It means enduring patiently in confident hope that God will decisively act for the salvation of his people. In Psalm 130 David sings: I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I put my hope. (Psalm 130:5) Those who wait in true faith are renewed in strength so that they can continue to serve the
Lord while looking for his saving work. In English the Olympic motto reads: Swifter, higher, stronger. Interestingly, the Bible also has an Olympic text. It is Isaiah 40:31 They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk and not faint. There will come a time when all that God has promised will be realized and fulfilled. In the meantime the believer survives by means of his integrity and uprightness as he trusts in God s grace and power. His faith is strengthened through his testings, and his character is further developed. Israel is encouraged to hold fast to love and justice, i.e. they are to follow the law faithfully and maintain consistently the standards of justice, at the same time preserving an attitude of godly love: The apostle Peter writes: Wait for the Lord and keep his way. He will exalt you to inherit the land; when the wicked are cut off, you will see it. (Psalm 37:34) For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self control; and to self control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.2 Pe 1:5 8 During times of visitation and judgment, the righteous must exercise great faith. Thus Isa confidently asserts: 3. Living hope (Binoculars) I will wait for the Lord, who is hiding his face from the house of Jacob, and I will hope in him (Isa 8:17). With the binoculars we can stand here and look into a distance and still see the detail. Binoculars are like hope to the Christian. The Bible defines faith with these words: Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. (Hebrews 11:1) Hope has an eternal home in man s heart. As long as there is a future, there is hope; and as long there is hope, there is a future. But only the believer can really express his hope in the future, for it belongs to the Lord alone. And God supplies wisdom to insure that future and to substantiate hope. The wisdom of Proverbs teaches: Know also that wisdom is sweet to your soul; if you find it, there is a future hope for you, and your hope will not be cut off. (Proverbs 24:14) The wicked have no such future: Do not fret because of evil men or be envious of the wicked, for the evil man has no future hope, and the lamp of the wicked will be snuffed out. (Proverbs 24:19 20) God is the source of hope for his people, and he has promised them a future and a hope: For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. (Jeremiah 29:11) Jeremiah says to besieged Judah, There is hope for your future (31:17). Zechariah calls God s people, prisoners of hope. And he summons them to look forward to experiencing God s restoration (Zech 9:12). Therefore, the Lord Himself is called the hope of Israel.
Because of the Lord s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him. The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; (Lamentations 3:22 25) 4. Eternal inheritance (the rope) The rope was a measuring instrument. The very word for wait in the Old Testament holds the idea of our trust, our waiting upon the Lord and our hoping in Him because He has the full control over whatever befalls us. Our days are measured, our hours are measured, our trails are measured and our inheritance is measured. There is also the idea of a cord or line. Yahweh described his creation of the earth as stretching out a line over it (Job 38:5) i.e. everything about the earth s constitution was subject to his exact specifications. Zechariah speaks about the rebuilding of Jerusalem, the measuring line shall be stretched out over Jerusalem (Zech 1:16; cf. Isa 34:17). No doubt he means the city will be zoned for construction projects once again. There will be a restoration of the inheritance. There is hope, there was reason to wait upon God! In this sense David writes in Psalm 16:6 The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance. (Psalm 16:6) About this wonderful doctrine our Westminster Confession of Faith states the following: They, whom God has accepted in His Beloved [Son, Jesus Christ], effectually called, and sanctified by His Spirit, can neither totally nor finally fall away from the state of grace, but shall certainly persevere therein to the end, and be eternally saved. Let s hear the Word of God in this regard: [I am] confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. (Philippians 1:6) Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. (1 Peter 1:3 5) My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father s hand. I and the Father are one. (John 10:27 30) With all this in mind we here the message of James 5 Be patient, then, brothers, until the Lord s coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop and how patient he is for the autumn and spring rains. You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord s coming is near. (James 5:7 8) Paul helps us to understand that God wants us to hopefully wait upon Him: we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. (Romans 5:3 4)
5. Conclusion Someone wrote this poem: Waiting! Yes, patiently waiting! Till next steps made plain shall be; To hear, with the inner hearing, The Voice that will call for me. Waiting! Yes, quietly waiting! No need for an anxious dread; Shall He not assuredly guide me, Who giveth me daily bread? Waiting! Yes, hopefully waiting! With hope that needn t grow dim; The Master is pledged to guide me, And my eyes are unto Him. Waiting! Yes, expectantly waiting! Perhaps it may be today The Master will quickly open The gate to my future way. Waiting! Yes, trustfully waiting! I know, though I ve waited long, That, while He withholds His purpose, His waiting cannot be wrong. Waiting! Yes, waiting, Still waiting! The Master will not be late; He knoweth that I am waiting For Him to unlatch the gate. May God give us the faith to trust Him, because his timing is always right; may He give us obedience to wait upon Him to work out his purposes; may He teach us contentment knowing that our eternal inheritance is already measured out. God s timing is not our timing. It took thousands of years for the promise God made to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David and others to be filled on the day God determined from all eternity for the Messiah, our Saviour to be born. He died on the right time; His Spirit was poured out on the right time, and on the exact moment God has determined He will return again. The trumpet call will be heard and those who waited upon Him with faith in Christ will be taken to be with Him where no waiting will be necessary because time and space as we know it will not exist. Gory be to God. AMEN.