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Holy Trinity Anglican Orthodox Church
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That Your Joy May Be Full |
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John
16:23-33 Rogation
Sunday May
9, 2010 Christ
is with His disciples in the Upper Room.
The Passover meal has been eaten, the Lord's Supper has been
instituted, Judas has left to betray Him, and, in the few precious hours
before He is taken, Christ is preparing the disciples for what lays ahead.
His words strike unspeakable fear into the depths of their souls.
He tells them not of glories, luxuries, and ease, but of sorrows and
dangers that await them. "They
will put you out of the synagogues; yea the time cometh, that whosoever
killeth you will think that he doeth God service" (Jn. 16:2).
"Ye shall weep and lament ... ye
shall be full of sorrows" (Jn. 16:20). "In the world ye shall
have tribulation" (Jn. 16:33). Yet
Christ does not allow them to fall into despair. He also tells them,
"your joy may be full" (Jn. 16:24), and "ye might have
peace" (Jn. 16:33). At
first glance this seems contradictory.
How can a person be full of sorrows, and, at the same time, have
complete joy? How can one have tribulation, and yet have peace?
But Christ's words are not contradictory; for it is quite obvious
He means we are to have joy in the midst of our sorrows, and peace in the midst of our tribulations. These
words to the disciples, and through them to us, recall a passage well
beloved and often quoted by people around the world in every age, "The
Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green
pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.
He restoreth my soul"
(Ps. 23:1-3). Clearly
the green pastures and still waters of this Psalm are not those reserved
for us in Heaven. They are
for the here and now, not the hereafter.
They are for those who live in the shadow of death and in the
presence of their enemies. In
John 16, Christ, the Good Shepherd shows to us the source of blessings in
this life even in the midst of sorrows and tribulations.
They are two. First,
prayer, "ask and ye shall receive."
Second, grace, Christ has "overcome the world."
This being Rogation Sunday, we will concentrate on prayer. "Ask,
and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full" (Jn. 16:24).
When it comes to prayer we must establish three important facts in
our minds. First, prayer,
like worship, is first and foremost about God. To many people, prayer is
simply a wish list they recite to God over and over.
"God give me health. God
give me money. God give me happiness. God
give me love. God, let my
favourite team win the game today."
Those prayers are all about "me," and we can easily see
the self centeredness of them. But real prayer is about God first.
One of the most wonderful things about our Prayer Book is that it
puts God first in prayer. Many have noticed that Biblical worship flows naturally
through a pattern that can be easily traced.
It begins with the recognition of the glory and grace of God.
It moves to the recognition and confession of our sin.
Next comes willing and attentive hearing the Word of God in
Scripture, followed by doing the Word by worshiping Him in prayer,
offerings and obedient love. We
easily see this flow of worship in the Prayer Book services of Morning and
Evening Prayer. But let us not be so captured by the flow of these services
that we forget their essence, which is honouring God. The service of prayer is God centered. It begins with God; "The Lord is in his holy temple: let
all the earth keep silence before Him."
It continues in God through the confession, "Almighty and most
merciful Father, we have erred and strayed from thy ways like lost
sheep." It stays with God in the absolution; "Almighty God...
who desireth not the death of a sinner... pardoneth and absolveth all
those who truly repent, and unfeignedly believe His holy Gospel." It
is still centered on God as we unite our voices in the Lord's Prayer,
"Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed by thy Name."
It is still about God as it moves reverently into the Scriptures,
giving thanks to Him after each reading. And it is still about God as it
moves into the confession of faith, prayers, offerings, and thanksgivings. The heart of the Prayer Book service is summarised in the Te
Deum laudamus, "We praise thee, O God; we acknowledge thee to be
the Lord." Second,
prayer is not a way to get whatever we think we want from God.
We know God gives good gifts to His children, and He would not give
us a serpent if we ask for a fish. But
what is God to do when we ask for foolish or harmful things?
If a two year old child asks to pet the nice kitties at the zoo,
would you put him in the lions' den? If we, then, withhold things for the
benefit of our children can we not also expect God to withhold things from
us, for our benefit? Think
of the chaos God would unleash if He gave everyone everything we ask for.
Imagine, for a small example, a small town where two godly and
faithful ladies have spent the day working in their gardens.
One has planted vegetables and flowers; the other has set out
chairs and tables in preparation for a garden party for the ladies of the
church on the following day. That night, both seek God in prayer.
One asks God to send rain to nourish the soil and grow the seeds
and plants. The other prays for sunshine and clear skies.
What is God to do? Should
He make it rain on one garden and not the other?
What if a man in Richmond asks God to turn his townhouse into a 500
acre cattle farm? Should we
expect God to grant his prayer? Now,
I admit, that's a silly example, but I wonder if sometimes the things we
pray for are equally silly in the eyes of God.
I wonder if God withholds things from us because granting every
request would mean chaos for the world. Third,
even in prayer we must always remember that we are servants, not masters
of God. All the promises God
makes about prayer never turn Him into a servant.
Our wishes never become His commands.
In prayer we commend ourselves to His loving care.
We confess our faith in His wisdom, good will, and providential
care. In prayer we lay hold
of the promises of God, by faith. We
do not in anyway become God's commander. What,
then, does it mean, "ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be
full" (Jn. 16:24)? It
means God answers prayer by giving that which makes our joy full. The
catch is; He defines joy. When
God says "joy" He does not mean pleasure, nor does He mean an
emotional state of euphoria. He
means the well-being of your soul. In
this sense joy is very similar to the peace Jesus spoke of when He said,
"my peace give I unto you," and "in me ye might have
peace." Quite simply, Biblical prayer asks and trusts God to give to
us the things that create spiritual well-being in us.
The things that create well-being in the soul are not always
pleasant things. No one is
going to create well-being in his body by spending his life on the couch
eating milk cake, and no one is going to find spiritual well-being by
having all his desires indulged. We have all known overindulged children.
We call them, "spoiled," and we know the parents are not
acting in the children's best interests.
God has no intention of spoiling His children, and we should not
think of prayer as a spoiled child thinks of demanding things from his
parents. Let
us close with the Collect for the Fourth Sunday after Easter, on page 174
of the Book of Common Prayer. "O
Almighty God, who alone canst order the unruly will and affections of
sinful men; Grant unto thy people, that they may love the thing which thou
commandest, and desire that which thou dost promise; that so, among the
sundry and manifold changes of the world, our hearts may surely there be
fixed, where true joys are to be found; through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen"
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