Christmas - The faith of Simeon - Abiding in God
Who has ever been overlooked?
Parent that feels what you do for your kids goes unnoticed.
Student that feels your contribution to that project was unseen.
In that relationship, but your SO is constantly distracted and you feel overlooked.
Or maybe, you were the last pick in the Geography bee in 6th grade and you felt so overlooked that you vowed to study so you could destroy all of them in the competition and win it for your team. Yes, still one of my better accomplishments in my life.
Being overlooked is something that happens to all of us at some point in time. Today, we are going to look at a man who often gets overlooked in Luke 2 that we can learn a lot from. In case you don’t know, Luke 2 tells the birth story of Jesus. That is what most people know Luke 2 to be. But God, through Luke provides recounts of some extremely faithful people, and the one we are going to look at is Simeon.
Luke 2:25-26 NLT
at that time there was a man in Jerusalem named Simeon. He was righteous and devout and was eagerly waiting for the Messiah to come and rescue Israel. The Holy Spirit was upon him. And had revealed to him that he would not die until he had seen the Lord’s Messiah.
Luke, paints a beautiful picture of Simeon’s life
- Simeon is RIGHTEOUS
- Simeon is DEVOUT
- Simeon is EAGER & HOPEFUL
- Simeon has the HOLY SPIRIT UPON HIM.
Holy Spirit being UPON HIM (Simeon)
- Before Jesus died on Cross, HS didn’t live within people
- HS would TEMPORARILY dwell/lead people
- Ex. King Saul
- Simeon has the HS upon him. BIG DEAL
- Lots of names mentioned that never experienced this
- Simeon did!
I think its safe to say that Simeon knew how to ABIDE in the Lord.
ABIDE- To progressively remain in/with the Lord.
- To be in constant relationship
- To be prioritizing him above all else
- To be with God every chance we get
Simeon lived a life of Abiding. I believe this why he was blessed with the spirit being upon him.
Luke 2:27-28 NLT
That day the Spirit led him to the Temple. So when Mary and Joseph came to present the baby Jesus to the Lord as the law required, Simeon was there. He took the child in him arms and praised God
The promise that God made Simeon through the Holy Spirit was fulfilled. Simeon didn’t question God on if this would happen, he had great faith in him. Which leads to our first takeaway
ABIDING BUILDS GREAT FAITH
Now, notice I said BUILDS great faith. This is something Simeon day in and day out had to build through abiding with God.
“BUILDING” is tough for us as people. We live in a world of absolute convenience:
Social Media to cure boredom
We can order food and its at our house in 30 minutes.
Movies instantly with Netflix app.
We can order whatever we want, whenever we want it with just a few clicks.
Simeon lived a life of delayed gratification in our standards. H couldn’t go on Amazon and order Great Faith. It had to be BUILT, and it was built through abiding in God.
PERSONAL STORY: Anger Issues. I thought when I accepted Jesus they would be gone.Took years of abiding to get past them
IT’S THE SAME WAY WITH BUILDING GREAT FAITH. Our faith journey is a process. Day by day, abiding in God will build the great faith we see in Simeons life.
ABIDING PROVIDES GODLY WISDOM
Luke 2:28-32 NLT
Simeon was there. He took the child in his arms and praised God, saying “Sovereign Lord, now let your servant die in peace, as you have promised. I have seen your salvation, which you have prepared for all people. He is a light to reveal God to the NATIONS. And he is the glory of your people in Israel.
Imagine Simeon in this moment. Holding Jesus, holding the Messiah the savior of the world. I came across this quote. “How poor does this world look to one that has Christ in his arms, and salvation in his view” In this moment, nothing else mattered for Simeon. His promise had been fulfilled, he has seen the messiah and he begins to declare things that come only from GODLY WISDOM
Here is what I mean:
He declares Jesus is God’s salvation
He declares that Jesus is the glory of your people Israel
He declares that Jesus is the light to reveal God to ALL NATIONS
- HUGE DEAL. Jesus was coming for everyone.
- The Jewish faith was for JEWS, not anyone else,
- Jesus changed that
- Simeon declared in the temple, that the MESSIAH is for all. Not just Israel, but for the whole globe.
- BOLDNESS in the temple
Simeon was blessed with Godly Wisdom that came with constant abiding in God. No ordinary man just knows and SAYS those things in this time in that temple, only someone who is blessed with Godly Wisdom and direction does.
The final takeaway from Simeon’s life is:
ABIDING LEADS TO TOTAL SUBMISSION
I think this might be the hardest thing for us as people to do. We don’t like to be submitted to anything. But God calls us to be submitted to him. You can’t constantly abide and not be submitted to what God is wanting for your life. It is impossible.
So many of us as followers of Jesus want to have:
great faith
be healed
be blessed
Godly wisdom
but miss what God is calling us too and that is TOTAL SUBMISSION.
Simeon lived a life of total submission.
Highlighted by abiding
DEVOUT.
Blessed with the holy spirit being upon him.
BECAUSE HE TOTALLY SUBMITTED TO WHAT GOD WAS DOING IN HIS LIFE.
My mentor tells me all time “Jesus isn’t just our savior, he is ALSO our Lord.” I remember where I was, when I realized I was living with Jesus just as my savior, but not my Lord.
- Read when I felt like it (once a week)
- Pray when I was forced to (twice a week at youth group)
- Still tried to do things MY OWN WAY
PASSION 2020: right before COVID, Mercedes-Benz stadium in ATL. I was in the bottom bowl.
Pastor Louie Giglo speaking about ABIDING
Grabbed my attention
PEOPLE WILL TELL YOU THEY BELIEVE IN JESUS, BUT WON’T READ HIS WORD
PEOPLE WILL TELL YOU THEY BELIEVE IN JESUS, BUT DON’T TALK TO HIM
PEOPLE WILL TELL YOU THEY BELIEVE IN JESUS, BUT WON’T SUBMIT TO HIS WAY OF LIFE.
He was speaking to me. I believed in Jesus, but I sure didn’t submit to him as my Lord
When Louie closed, he had this massive bible like a 30 yards x 50 yards bible in on the field with him.
Still talking about abiding, and he said “If you want your life to change, you need to flip the pages in this book”
TON OF BRICKS:
I wasn’t abiding. I just viewed God as a way to be saved, not a way of life. In that moment, I said God, you are my Lord and i’m going to live life like that. I started abiding. Reading God’s word daily. Praying daily. Worshipping daily. Serving daily. Totally submitting DAILY.
Today, I can tell you I have never in my life had this strong of a faith until I started abiding, I have never in my life been blessed with so much Godly Wisdom until I started abiding, and I have never in my life experienced true, full, meaningful life until I started ABIDING.
If you want to have the best year of your life in 2025, START ABIDING. Let’s stop overlooking Simeon and take a page out of his book, live life with God as your Savior AND your Lord.
3 ways to begin abiding:
Read your bible for 2 minutes every morning
Before bed, thank God for 3 things he did that day
Watch a sermon
Abiding is journey, and all journeys have to start somewhere. So start abiding in and with God TODAY.