The Propers for today are found
on Page 128-130, with the Collect first:
The Third Sunday in Lent.
The
Collect.
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E beseech
thee, Almighty God, look upon the hearty desires of thy humble servants, and
stretch forth the right hand of thy Majesty, to be our defence against all our
enemies; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
And due to the rubric, the Collect for the Day is
followed by the Collect for Ash Wednesday, which is found on Page 124:
The first day of Lent, commonly called
Ash Wednesday.
Ash Wednesday.
The
Collect.
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LMIGHTY and
everlasting God, who hatest nothing that thou hast made, and dost forgive the
sins of all those who are penitent; Create and make in us new and contrite
hearts, that we, worthily lamenting our sins and acknowledging our
wretchedness, may obtain of thee, the God of all mercy, perfect remission and
forgiveness; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
¶ This Collect is to be said every day in Lent, after the
Collect appointed for the day, until Palm Sunday.
Ryan Hopkins read the Epistle for today, which came
from the Fifth Chapter of Paul’s letter to the Ephesians
beginning at the First Verse. He echoes the advice of St. James in his general epistle to be Christians,
not just claim to be followers of Christ, when James wrote, “But be ye doers of
the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.”
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E ye therefore followers of God, as dear children;
and walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us
an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savour. But
fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named
among you, as becometh saints; neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor
jesting, which are not convenient: but rather giving of thanks. For this ye
know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an
idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no man
deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of
God upon the children of disobedience. Be not ye therefore partakers with them.
For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as
children of light: (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and
righteousness and truth;) proving what is acceptable unto the Lord. And have no
fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. For
it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret.
But all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light: for whatsoever
doth make manifest is light. Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and
arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.
Deacon Striker Jack Arnold read this
morning’s Gospel which comes from the Eleventh Chapter of the Gospel of St.
Luke beginning at the Fourteenth Verse.
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ESUS was casting out a devil, and
it was dumb. And it came to pass, when the devil was gone out, the dumb spake;
and the people wondered. But some of them said, He casteth out devils through
Beelzebub the chief of the devils. And others, tempting him, sought of him a
sign from heaven. But he, knowing their thoughts, said unto them, Every kingdom
divided against itself is brought to desolation; and a house divided against a house
falleth. If Satan also be divided against himself, how shall his kingdom stand?
because ye say that I cast out devils through Beelzebub. And if I by Beelzebub
cast out devils, by whom do your sons cast them out? therefore shall they be
your judges. But if I with the finger of God cast out devils, no doubt the
kingdom of God is come upon you. When a strong man armed keepeth his palace,
his goods are in peace: but when a stronger than he shall come upon him, and
overcome him, he taketh from him all his armour wherein he trusted, and
divideth his spoils. He that is not with me is against me: and he that
gathereth not with me scattereth. When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man,
he walketh through dry places, seeking rest; and finding none, he saith, I will
return unto my house whence I came out. And when he cometh, he findeth it swept
and garnished. Then goeth he, and taketh to him seven other spirits more wicked
than himself; and they enter in, and dwell there: and the last state of that
man is worse than the first. And it came to pass, as he spake these things, a
certain woman of the company lifted up her voice, and said unto him, Blessed is
the womb that bare thee, and the paps which thou hast sucked. But he said, Yea
rather, blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it.
Sermon – Time
and Action
Today’s sermon brought the Collect, Epistle and
Gospel together and is partly contained in the forewords above.
Consider these words from the Collect:
… look upon the hearty desires
of thy humble servants, and stretch forth the right hand of thy Majesty, to be
our defence against all our enemies …
In the Collect, we ask God look in to our hearts, see
our desire to be His children and defend us against evil.
Today’s Epistle and Gospel share the same theme. You must walk the talk.
Thus, when Paul tell us to live our lives as we
represent our desires to God, he tells us to make our actions match out stated
desires. Actions!
Think about the Gospel.
It is very important to be unified in our worship and
mutual support; a team always beats individuals. That is not to take away from individuality, but rather to
note that we need to remember whose side we are on and work together with our
team mates.
There are two phrases particularly worth remembering,
“a house divided against a house falleth” and “He that is not with me is
against me.” Middle ground exists,
but it is quicksand. Any feeling
of safety there is illusory. We
must take sides. And, we cannot
keep with those who oppose the side we choose. We must decide who we will follow.
You must keep constant vigilance against backsliding,
for a fallen Christian is in worse shape than one who was never exposed to The
Word. The Epistle and Gospel both
talk about the curious dichotomy; you are saved by faith, your faith alone
saves you, not what you do; yet if you have faith, you must act on that
faith.
When you accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior
and repent of the sin of your former life, you are forgiven of your sins. But, you must understand, this is not a
signal to keep on sinning and keep on saying you repent.
Rather your acceptance of Jesus Christ as your savior
and your repentance is the beginning of your life as a New Man in Jesus.
Will you slip?
Without doubt. But, when
you do, will you again repent and continue to do your best to follow the Word
of God, the Light and the Truth?
Indeed, if you are a Christian that is what you must do. You are called to believe and act on
those beliefs to the best of your ability. If you do not, then prepared as you were for life, you will
so be prepared for the pit. As you
read Luke, remember the second half of the Book of Luke is The ACTS of the
Apostles, not thoughts, wishes, prayers or meditations.
For, “blessed are they that hear
the word of God, and keep it.”
ACT
It is by our actions we are known.
Bishop
Dennis Campbell’s Sunday Sermon
As
is oft the case, we are honored to present Bishop Dennis’ Sunday sermon
presented to his parish. Dennis
has an excellent command of scripture and is able to present it in a manner
which is completely understandable to the rest of us. This year’s sermons are being drawn from the book of
Psalms, or, as it is known by Anglicans, "The Psalter" which begins on page 343 of the Book of Common
Prayer. But, today he moved to
drawing the propers together in a far different sermon than Hap’s and adding in
the psalm for this Sunday, Psalm 34.
We think you will really enjoy it!
Our Gracious Lord
Ephesians 5:1-14, Luke
11:14-28, Psalm 34
Third Sunday in Lent
11 March 2012
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lessed Lord, who hast caused all holy Scriptures to be
written for our learning; Grant that we may in such wise hear them, read, mark,
learn, and inwardly digest them, that by patience and comfort of thy holy Word,
we may embrace, and ever hold fast, the blessed hope of everlasting life, which
thou hast given us in our Saviour Jesus Christ.[1]
Psalm 34. Benedicam
Dominum.
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WILL alway give thanks unto the Lord; * his praise shall
ever be in my mouth.
2 My soul shall make her boast in the Lord;* the humble
shall hear thereof, and be glad.
3 O praise the Lord with me, * and let us magnify his
Name together.
4 I sought the Lord, and he heard me; * yea, he delivered
me out of all my fear.
5 They had an eye unto him, and were lightened; * and
their faces were not ashamed.
6 Lo, the poor crieth, and the Lord heareth him; *
yea, and saveth him out of all his troubles.
7 The angel of the Lord tarrieth round about them that
fear him, * and delivereth them.
8 O taste, and see, how gracious the Lord is: *
blessed is the man that trusteth in him.
9 O fear the Lord, ye that are his saints; * for they
that fear him lack nothing.
10 The lions do lack, and suffer hunger; * but they
who seek the Lord shall want no manner of thing that is good. 11 Come, ye
children, and hearken unto me; * I will
teach you the fear of the Lord.
12 What man is he that lusteth to live, * and would
fain see good days?
13 Keep thy tongue from evil, * and thy lips, that
they speak no guile.
14 Eschew evil, and do good; * seek peace, and ensue
it. 15 The eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, * and his ears are open
unto their prayers.
16 The countenance of the Lord is against them that
do evil, * to root out the remembrance of them from
the earth.
17 The righteous cry, and the Lord heareth them, * and
delivereth them out of all their troubles.
18 The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a contrite
heart, * and will save such as be of an humble spirit.
19 Great are the troubles of the righteous;* but the Lord
delivereth him out of all.
20 He keepeth all his bones, * so that not one of them
is broken.
21 But misfortune shall slay the ungodly;* and they that
hate the righteous shall be desolate.
22 The Lord delivereth the souls of his servants; *
and all they that put their trust in him shall not be destitute.
The
emphasis of the Third Sunday in Lent is God our defender. We see this in
the Collect for the day, which asks God to defend us from our enemies.
Ephesians 5 shows many of our enemies, meaning the sins that place us under the
wrath of God and kill the soul. Luke 11 shows our great enemy the devil,
who holds the ungodly in prison in his house. He is the strong man armed,
but Christ is the One who is stronger than the devil, who conquers the devil
and releases his captives. Psalm 34 is about God's defense of David when
he was forced to seek safety in Philistia.
Psalm
34 is a preacher's dream because God has done all the work. All the preacher
has to do is follow the outline God has provided. That outline has two
major points, which can be stated clearly and grasped quickly. First, God
is worthy of our worship. Second, God blesses those who seek Him, while those
who reject Him reap desolation of the soul.
So
let's talk about how God is worthy of our worship. The Psalm begins with
a joyful statement of praise to God. "I will always give thanks unto the
Lord; his praise shall ever be in my mouth. My soul shall make her boast
in the Lord." When David wrote this Psalm he had already been
anointed to become the king of Israel. Yet Saul, the reigning king hated
David and sought to kill him. So David had to flee for his life and he
sought refuge in the land of one of Israel's most malevolent enemies, the
Philistines. The king of the Philistines would have killed David, but
David pretended to be crazy, so, instead of killing him, the Philistines just
sent him away. In this Psalm David is rejoicing and giving thanks to God
for delivering him out of the hands the kings of Israel and Philistia.
But the Psalm rises above the blessings of one man to express the gratitude of
all who recognize the grace of God in their lives. Instead of the
specific circumstances of David, the Psalm talks about the grace of God to all
His people, and invites us to join together in His love and worship.
"O praise the Lord with me, and let us magnify his Name together."
Why
would anyone want to "magnify," or, worship, God? First,
understand that by "worship" I do not merely refer to the things we
do together in church on Sunday. What we do here is important. It
is so vitally important that a person who habitually neglects worshiping in a
Biblical church on the Lord's Day has strong reason to seriously doubt the
validity of his faith. We are not to forsake the assembling, the meetings
of the Church for worship, commands Hebrews 10:25. Knowing this we think of
our Lord's words in John 14:15, "If ye love me, keep my
commandments," and the even more direct statement in John 14:21, "He
that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me."
By
worship I mean more than daily prayer and Bible reading. Encouraging
daily private and family worship is very important to me. It is my goal to have
every member of our parish joining our fellow Anglicans around the world, and
many who aren't Anglicans worshiping daily in the Prayers and the Scriptures. We Anglicans are blessed to have the
Lectionary of daily Bible readings and the services of Morning and Evening
Prayer, and I rejoice that many of you are already partaking of these
blessings. I rejoice because I know that, by them, your souls are fed daily by
the word of God; your knowledge and understanding of the Bible is increasing;
and you are being shaped in your innermost being by the things of God.
You are being built up and strengthened in Christ, and God, who is
worthy of all love and worship, is being honoured in your life and home.
But worship is bigger than this. The worship of which I speak is a total
life orientation that brings all of life together under the Lordship of Christ
and does all things to the glory of God. It is this kind of worship David
invites us to in this Psalm. And our reason for worship is the goodness
of God given unto us. For example, He hears our prayers. "I
sought the Lord and he heard me." Lo, the poor crieth, and the Lord
heareth him." "The righteous cry, and the Lord heareth
them." It ought to shock us to hear that the One who upholds Heaven
and earth, who created all things for His glory, cares about you, so much that
He is willing to give you His attention, and hear your prayers. And He
acts on your behalf. He answers prayer. "He delivered me out
of all my fear." "They who fear him lack nothing."
"They who seek the Lord shall want no manner of thing that is
good." "The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a contrite heart,
and will save such as be of an humble spirit." There are many
reasons to worship God, but these are certainly among the best.
The
second point of this Psalm is the contrast between the worldly and eternal
situations of those who worship God, and those who don't. Let's look at
those who don't first. Two verses express their fate. They are
short, but they speak volumes. Verse 16 says, "The
countenance of the Lord is against them that do evil, to root out the
remembrance of them from the earth." We have all seen
weeds in gardens and lawns, and we all know people who spend much time and
energy rooting them out. Picture their efforts, and see God doing the
same to rid His creation of those who do evil. God is digging down into the
earth and pulling out the wicked by their roots. That is the meaning of
this verse.
Then,
verse 21 tells us, "misfortune shall slay the ungodly."
Misfortune refers to the natural forces of life. Sickness guilt, grief,
loss, loneliness, sorrow, and the natural wear and tear on the body brought
about by ungodly living will accompany them throughout this life, and finally
bring them to an end. It would be bad enough if that were all, but the
Bible talks about an eternal living death; an eternal existence in a place of
everlasting suffering, a place where all the problems and natural consequences
of life are multiplied and suffered forever. It is to dwell in a place
where you keep on sinning and keep on reaping sin's bitter fruit.
Now
let us turn to the condition of those who seek God. I am compelled to say
at the start, that seeking God means seeking God His way, which means according
to His revelation and teaching in the Bible. There are many ways to seek
God, but only one way to find Him. In fact, finding Him means to give up
on all your own ideas and attempts to find and define God, and to accept His
Way. Those who do this are the ones of whom the Bible speaks when it
says, "seek and ye shall find."
One
of my favorite verses in the Psalms is Psalm 19:11, "in keeping of them
there is great reward." It refers to the law of God as the
revelation of the way to live a harmonious, peaceful, and happy life. The
harmonious, peaceful and happy life is simply the result of living life God's
way. I know we live in a fallen world and people hurt us, economies go bust,
illness strikes us, and death stalks us every day. Even this Psalm
recognizes that troubles come to us. It was persecution, not justice,
that forced David to flee for his life. Many things are beyond our control and
we just have to trust God with them. But if we put what we can control under
the Lordship of Christ, we find that the more closely we approximate life by
His commandments, the better life is, and the further we get away from them the
worse life is. That is the point being made in Psalm 34:12, if you want
to live and see good days, if you want to live in a way that brings rewards and
joys and avoids many of life's heartaches and sorrows, live for God. Keep
your tongue from evil. Let your words build people up rather than cut
them down. Speak truth instead of lies. Put away evil and do good.
Wage peace. This kind of life is its own reward.
But
God is not merely helping us get through this world. God is using this
world to prepare us for Heaven. Thus verse 21 says, "The Lord
delivereth the souls of his servants." There is a land that is far
more glorious than we can imagine. It is so glorious even the Bible can
only describe it in images like streets of gold and a house full of mansions.
But the Bible doesn't have to use images to tell us we are going there,
if we are Christ's in Biblical faith. "I go to prepare a place for
you," our Lord said in John 14, and, "if I go to prepare a place for
you, I will come again and receive you unto myself that where I am there ye may
be also." This is what God is about in the lives of His
people. This is what God wants for you. This is what He gives to
all who "truly repent and unfeignedly believe His holy Gospel."
Truly the Lord is gracious, and "blessed is the man that trusteth in
him."
--
+Dennis Campbell
Bishop,
Anglican Orthodox Church Diocese of Virginia
Rector,
Holy Trinity Anglican Orthodox Church
Powhatan,
Virginia
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