CHRISTIAN EXPECTATION*
‘Watch unto prayer.’
Of old, certain Sundays in the Church’s year were known by particular names or titles, and in some measure this practice is still kept up. The ancient title by which the Sunday after Ascension Day was known was Expectation Sunday, and the title gradually extended itself to the whole week, and even sometimes the concluding days of the previous one, so that the whole interval between Ascension Day and Whit-Sunday was stamped with this mark of expectation or waiting. That this idea is prominent in the passage selected as the Epistle is evident from the opening words of the text, ‘The end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer,’ or, as the Revised Version has it, ‘Be ye therefore of sound mind, and be sober unto prayer.’ No doubt the thought that was prominent in the Apostle’s mind when he penned these words was, the second coming of his ascended Lord. That was the end of all things, and was the daily expectation of the primitive Church. Nor ought it to be otherwise with the faithful Christian to-day. The one chief delight of his heart should be the prospect of meeting the Lord Who has loved him and given Himself for him. For that great event he should be waiting with hope, with joy, with sober joy watching thereunto with prayer.
I. The expectation of the Power.—But the choice of this passage for the Epistle at this season transfers the idea of watching and waiting for the Christ’s second coming, to the similar attitude which the Apostles must have adopted at this time in expectation of the fulfilment of our Lord’s promise that He would send the Comforter to them. His instruction to them was, that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father. We are not left in doubt as to how they carried out that instruction. St. Luke, both in his Gospel and in the Acts of the Apostles, tells us this specifically. In the one he tells us that they were continually in the Temple praising and blessing God, in the other that they continued with one accord in prayer and supplication. Two points are specially observable here, the union and peace that reigned in the body of early believers and the manifestation of their unity of purpose in joining in devotions, whether in public or private. They watched unto prayer and they did this with one accord. They watched and prayed, their waiting was thus consecrated by prayer, and so when He did come He found them in a state of fitness to welcome Him.
II. God’s promises not unconditional.—Our Lord, Who by His death hath led captivity captive, and by His ascension hath given gifts to men, has promised them unto us in fullest measure, if we are ready to receive them, for we must not forget that God’s promises are not unconditional. He will not help those who do not feel the need of His assistance. He will not bless those who care not for His blessing. They are to hunger and thirst after righteousness who are to be filled. The rich, self-satisfied, who are conscious of no need and are quite content with their condition, these are sent empty away, and so there must be this strong and fervent desire for something better and higher than ourselves. We must realise what we mean by the spiritual life, and what is implied in spiritual gifts. We are apt to use these expressions without due consideration or sufficient thought. There is a great danger of unreality in our language as also in our conceptions. The great majority of men seem disposed to ignore the very existence of the spiritual world, the presence and actions of the Holy Ghost upon the souls of men. They are engrossed with earthly matters. If we pause and reflect and prove our own hearts and endeavour to find out the truth of the matter, we shall be obliged to confess that it is not so much the time for the highest pursuits that is wanting as the inclination.
III. This desire after spiritual growth will not come naturally and unsought for.—We shall have to get our hearts into a receptive frame for the gifts. We cannot expect that they will be thrust upon us without our being ready, willing, and able, and anxious to receive them. Here we may learn from the example of the Apostles already alluded to. Their watching unto prayer fitted them in a remarkable degree for the coming of the Holy Spirit when He came. They were setting their affections on things above. Their treasure was in heaven, for their Lord had ascended thither and their heart was there also. And so when the Comforter came He found a ready access. We may say, then, without hesitation that if we are to have any full measure of spiritual gifts, if there is to be any real growth of spiritual life within us, we must watch and pray, we must be men of prayer.
IV. The greatest hindrance to spiritual life is scantiness of devotion.—Prayer is the great spiritual act of our life. It is spirit communing with spirit. The spiritual life can no more grow without devotion than the bodily life can exist without breathing. So we have always found that the most spiritually minded men were the most devotional. We have known this possibly in our own experience. We certainly may see it in the lives of those worthies of former generations. Those who were most saintly in their lives, most fully endowed with all spiritual gifts, were those who in public and private were most earnest, most regular, most persevering, in their prayers and devotion. Would you have their graces, their gifts? Would you grow in the spiritual life as they did, would you advance in personal holiness day by day to this excellence which would make your character more like your Divine Master, and more meet for the inheritance of the saints in light, then you must watch unto prayer. You must be men of prayer.
—Archdeacon Barber.
Illustration
‘To him that believeth all things are possible. But to make this possibility a fact, we need, and we all know sadly that we need, the fresh conviction of a Spiritual Presence in our troubled world, and spiritual fellowship with the unseen realised through the fulness of our humanity. Many seek it in strange, unhallowed ways, and all the while the blessing is offered to us by the Spirit sent in Christ’s name.’