Sixth Sunday after Trinity

The Propers for today are found on Page 197-198, with the Collect first:

The Sixth Sunday after Trinity.

The Collect.

O

GOD, who hast prepared for those who love thee such good things as pass man’s understanding; Pour into our hearts such love toward thee, that we, loving thee above all things, may obtain thy promises, which exceed all that we can desire; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Ryan Hopkins read the Epistle, which came from the Paul’s letter to the Romans, beginning at the First Verse of the Sixth Chapter. Paul tells us that as we were baptized unto Jesus in life, so we are baptized unto his death. We share His death on the Cross for our sins and by His death, our sin is dead; then as He was raised up, so are we. It is intended the death we die unto sin is to be permanent and that we go forth and sin no more. Yet, as long as we live here on earth, we sin. Yet, as long as we live in Christ, we live. Thus, we reckon ourselves “to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

K

NOW ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin. Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him: knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him. For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Deacon Striker Jack Arnold read today’s Holy Gospel which started in the Fifth Chapter of the Gospel according to St. Matthew, beginning at the Twentieth Verse. Jesus tells his disciples, “Except your righteousness exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.” Very worrisome indeed! Scribes and Pharisees spent their entire lives acting the epitome of righteousness. There is no way mere mortals could exceed their righteousness, or so it would seem. Jesus goes on to tell us that not only would we not go to heaven if we commit murder, but we are in danger of the same judgment of we are angry without just cause. If that were not worrisome enough, we are in danger of hell-fire if we call one another a fool! Let not the night fall on discord with your family and friends, your neighbors in the Christian sense of The Word. The text following asks us to do our best to follow Jesus and in return, his sacrifice will serve to set aside the just judgment and we shall be accounted as righteous before God.

J

ESUS said unto his disciples, Except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven. Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt do no murder; and whosoever murdereth shall be in danger of the judgment: but I say unto you, that whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell-fire. Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee; leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift. Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him; lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison. Verily I say unto thee, Thou shalt by no means come out thence, till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing.

Sermon – Time and Action

Today’s sermon tied the Epistle and Gospel together.

We are imperfect creatures, created with free will by a Perfect Being; to get into heaven’s gate, we need be accounted as perfect before the Judge. That requires a bit of an accounting irregularity, to get imperfection accounted as perfection. Jesus is that accounting irregularity. By His Sacrifice, made one time, for all mankind, for all time, we are accounted as perfect by His Faith and action. Thus, through His Faith and His Action, we attain life everlasting. Starting today, you don’t have to wait until you die to benefit from your immortality. In fact, God would prefer you to start acting like you will live forever right now. Thus, decisions you make, actions you take will be with the long term view of eternity!

As imperfect creatures, immortal or not, we make mistakes. One to avoid is being “mad” at ones fellow creatures, particularly family and friends. We pick the most illogical reasons to be mad, the word chosen rather than angry. Looked at logically, as God does, we need to solve the issue, kiss and make up, and do it before the sun sets on our anger. Never part in anger. One of you may not come back.

When Jesus gave His Life for us, He did it knowing we would fail to follow in perfection, but fully aware some would follow to the best of their ability. That is all He asks, do your best. That is not the same as saying you are doing your best.

Gospel – Bishop Jerry Ogles

Bishop Jerry Ogles sent out this wonderful discussion of today’s gospel which is more than well worth your time. I cannot encourage you enough to take the time out of your day to read this.

Devotion for 6^th Sunday after Trinity 31 July 2011 Anno Domini

20 For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven. ²¹ Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment: ²² But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire. ²³ Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee; ²⁴ Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift. ²⁵ Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him; lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison. ²⁶ Verily I say unto thee, Thou shalt by no means come out thence, till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing.

(Matt 5:20-26)

All religions of the world, except Christianity, are works based religions. Islam is strictly legalistic. Buddhism requires much meditation in order to become part of the great universal self (whatever that is), and Hinduism requires the adherent to satisfy the whims of many, many different gods and goddesses.

But the religion of Christ is not works based. It is not what you DO that will gain heaven. It is what you have believed and accepted, through Grace, that will get you there.

Our own personal conduct will never be righteous enough to spend eternity in the presence of a Holy God. Men and governments have proven time and again to be incapable of a sustaining righteousness.

Blaise Pascall: Frenchman (died 1662) who was the greatest physicist and mathematician ever to live. He later became a priest.

Pascall offered a wager (bet) called Pascall's Wager, in which he argued that it was foolish and unreasonable to believe there was no God. His Wager became the first contribution to decision and probability theory in history.

Here is his wager:

1) If you do not believe in God and there is no God, you have lost nothing.

2) If you do not believe in God, and there IS a God, you have lost everything.

3) If you believe there is a God and there is no God, you have lost nothing.

4) If you believe there is a God, and there truly is a God, you have gained all.

There is no possibility to win if you do not believe in God – at best you would break even if there were no God.

There is no possibility to lose if you believe in God and there IS a God. The worst possible outcome would be to break even if there is no God.

This Wager proposition is the first application in history of probability and decision theory.

Pascall could have added more detail to make his theory complete. Simple belief that God exists is not enough, one must believe on all the attributes of God (Father, Son, and Holy Ghost) And he must accept the authority of God in his life.

Now we will come to today's devotion from the Gospel of St Matthew which is a selection from His Sermon on the Mount –

"For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven." The scribes and Pharisees attempted to keep the letter of the law. This they attributed to righteousness, however, their hearts were dark with envy, power, and intrigue. Their so called righteousness was not of a good character, but of the outward appearance. True righteousness springs from a heart devoted to God and full of love for Him and His Creatures.

Our righteous works are nothing apart from our love in Christ. Of our own strength, we could never attain to the righteousness of God. The righteousness of a Christian is not his own, but is the imputed righteousness of Christ which accounts him righteous before God.

Christ is now about to a stricter interpretation of the law than previously considered or understood: "Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment." This penalty of the law is still in force as are all the other Commandments of God, however, Christ adds a new dimension: "But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire." First note the authority with which Christ speaks as the Judge and Lawgiver! He explains the deeper application of the law:

It is the heart that is judged and not the outward appearance. Only God can see the deep chambers of our hearts. Even we, ourselves, are often oblivious to what evil lurks in our heart – but God sees and He knows the means by which our hearts can be made clean and righteous. Our intent to kill is the same as the action itself in the eyes of God. Hate is our hearts is synonymous with murder! Christ provides three examples of progressive judgmental authority: 1) the judgment (lowest and first level of judgment at the time in Jewish courts). 2) the Council which was the Sanhedrin which sat at Jerusalem, and 3) Hell fire relates to the valley of Hinnom, a valley in which the Jews in time past had sacrificed their sons and daughters to the fiery arms of Molech by placing them in his red-hot arms until they fell into the hot fire beneath the idle. God has warned not to allow our children to pass through the fire to Molech. In later days, some records indicate that a continual fire was allowed to burn in this valley to consume the waste and carrion of Jerusalem. This reference by Christ to hell fire represents the final and full judgment of the wicked.

"Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee, Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift." Therefore, or in view of, the previous statement, Christ issues this serious counsel. There is not room in the heart for both hate and love, for righteousness and unrighteousness. Therefore, when you give your alms to God, or His creatures, do so with a clear conscience. If any man has a grievance against you, settle that first, and then go with your gift to the altar. It is much more possible to be reconciled to God when we are reconciled to our neighbors.

"Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him; lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison." Be prompt to settle disputes with others before they escalate into more serious offences. This applies as well to the confession of sins. Do not go to bed on your anger, and confess promptly to God your sins lest you perish prematurely and have no resort but hell. Confession removes walls between a man and heaven, and it is a continual process. Failure to confess a forgotten sin will not necessarily condemn a person to hell, but it will obscure our vision and service to God.

Many Christians may forget that, although sins are freely forgiven, there remains a scar which our sins may cause. David suffered the death of Bathsheba's firstborn because of sin. Our sins hurt ones we love, and even after God has forgiven them, the image of hurt remains.

"Verily I say unto thee, Thou shalt by no means come out thence, till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing." Here Christ is revealing that, though there may exist a wrong between man and man, there is always a third and higher authority than any earthly court of law, involved. God will exact a penalty for all sin. "The wages of sin is death." This would be a terminal indictment against man were it not for the sentence which follows: "For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." (Romans 6:23)

So, if the wages of sin is death, and we have ALL sinned, how may we pay the sin debt? We cannot! But Someone else did! Jesus Christ died in our stead on the cross for us to pay the debt we owe. "1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. 3 For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: 4 That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. (Romans 8:1-4)

JC Ryle on the Low Church

Last, but not least, I say that Evangelical Religion does not undervalue Christian holiness and self-denial. It is not true to say that we do. We desire as much as any to promote habitual spirituality of heart and life in Christians. We give place to none in exalting humility, charity, meekness, gentleness, temperance, purity, self-denial, good works, and separation from the world. With all our defects, we are second to no section of Christ s Church in attaching the utmost importance to private prayer, private Bible-reading, and private communion with God.

But we steadily deny that true holiness consists in calling everything " holy" in religion, and thrusting forward the word "holy" with sickening frequency at every turn. We will not allow that it is really promoted by an ostentatious observance of Lent, by keeping Ecclesiastical fasts and saints days, by frequent communion, by joining Houses of mercy, by doing penance, by going to confession, by wearing peculiar dresses, by decorating our persons with enormous crosses, by frequent gestures, and postures expressive of humility, in public worship, by walking in procession and the like. We believe, on the contrary, that such holiness (so-called) too often begins from the outside, and is a complete delusion. It has a "show of wisdom" and may satisfy silly young women and brainless young men, who like to compound for races and dance balls one part of their week, by asceticism and will-worship at another. But, we utterly deny that it is the holiness recommended by St. Paul and St. Peter, St. James and St. John.

~ J.C. Ryle