Today's church sermon by Pastor Richard Chiu was on the passage where James and John asked Jesus to sit them on his left and right when Jesus' glory comes. Pastor Chiu talks about how such a request by the disciples were misplaced. Despite having known Jesus and followed him for a long time, they still had the prevailing mentality catered towards worldly desires of being accomplished and being placed in important positions. What was interesting in the sermon was Pastor Chiu's highlighting of the significance of Jesus' words when he said “Can you drink the cup I drink or be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with?”, and James and John quite foolishly replied that they could. The drink, in biblical allusion, is a reference to God's wrath, and Jesus' cup to drink is the suffering that he has to bear.
Pastor Chiu talks about how we request from God of things to fulfill our personal desires, and he included two examples of such request which rings with an intimate semblance to what I actually ask for - As a student, I have asked of God to help me get A's for the examinations. And in my approach towards relationship, I have asked of God to make certain girls I am attracted to to like me. I know, it sounds like silly prayers, in part perhaps manipulative of the free will of other human beings. And when I prayed such prayers, I asked of God that he would gently correct me if I am praying foolish prayers. I suppose the words of Pastor Chiu today is a very direct message from God that I am indeed praying foolish prayers. Pastor Chiu points out the way Jesus taught his disciples to pray in the Lord's prayer, which was a supplication simply for one's sustenance and that the Lord's will be done. Even Jesus, who is one with the Father, submits himself to the Father's will before the cross. I do feel that God is speaking to me in today's sermon message by Pastor Chiu because I have been pretty much making such request for the past few months when I pray to God. And since the sermon message speaks so directly to me that what I am doing is wrong, I suppose I shall not pray such prayers? I suppose I shall simply pray such prayers as the Lord's prayer, asking for being provided for my daily needs and that God's will be done.
The take-home message from today's sermon is that even though God can do all things, that doesn't mean that he will indulge all our requests. And Pastor Chiu says that as Christians, we can expect to suffer for our faith in this life.
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