Please Wait
Waiting . . .
Hurry up and wait, right? How much we love those words! Many of us have come to think of not being kept waiting as a human right and expectation. We live in a world that encourages us to have little patience with waiting. We often don't like to wait. We want it now. We have places to go, things to do, people to see. We are in a hurry. We think this is progress.
This is especially frustrating for us in our spiritual lives, because, frankly, God most often does not seem to be in a hurry. So we try to speed God up, force His hand, reconfigure our theology to find ways to get God to more quickly and efficiently act or respond. It is a silly game. God is not impressed, but fortunately, God is patient, even though we sometimes damage and distort things for ourselves and others when we are not willing to wait.
Great things in life do not happen quickly. Growth takes time. Relationships take time. Friendship takes time. Being with people long enough to know them and be shaped by them takes time. All the time we take with technology shapes us - often in unhelpful ways. Taking time with God, un-rushed and unhurried in His presence, recognizing His presence with us, is also necessary if we are going to be shaped by Him.
This is what the church is talking about when it talks about spiritual disciplines - which simply reflects our intentional choice to be with God so God can shape us. Just like exercise, being there matters. It takes time. But over time we change, we become healthier, we become more whole. They earn us nothing in terms of God's favor - that is a gift of grace, but rather reflect a thankful response to God's invitation to grow and heal. God invites us to wait, to wait with Him, to slow down, to listen, notice, and respond. God invites us to wait, abide, or as the passage to the right reminds us, to remain in Him.
This is what Pastor Jon invites us to reflect upon this morning. If you would like to listen to the sermon again, you can access our sermon library available on our website here. If you would like to view the entire church service, you can access it through livestream here.
See also Psalm 130 / Psalm 27
John 15
NIV
“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes[a] so that it will be even more fruitful. 3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.
5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.
9 “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10 If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. 11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. 12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.13 Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command. 15 I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. 17 This is my command: Love each other.