The Propers for today are found
on Page 171-172, with the Collect first:
The
Second Sunday after Easter.
The
Collect.
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LMIGHTY God, who hast given thine only Son to be unto us both
a sacrifice for sin, and also an ensample of godly life; Give us grace that we
may always most thankfully receive that his inestimable benefit, and also daily
endeavour ourselves to follow the blessed steps of his most holy life; through
the same thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Ryan Hopkins read this morning’s
Epistle from the First Epistle of St. Peter, beginning at the Nineteenth Verse
of the Second Chapter. The Epistle reminds us that Christ, who was completely
without sin or guile, not only died for our sins, but suffered humiliation and
torture without complaint for us.
Thus, if we, because we believe in God and our Lord Jesus, are subjected
to unfavorable comment, criticism or even persecution, we should bear this
gladly, as our Lord gave us his example.
If we want to benefit from the Lord’s sacrifice, then we need to try to
follow in his footsteps. We need
to look to His example to live our lives.
We are as sheep going astray who
have been returned to the flock by our Lord, the Shepherd and Bishop of our
souls.
We were asked the question, who
is this man Jesus? We answered, he
is the Son of God; are we following him?
In this Epistle again, we are admonished to follow our Lord.
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HIS is thankworthy, if a man for
conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully. For what glory is it,
if, when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently? but if,
when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable
with God. For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for
us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps: who did no sin,
neither was guile found in his mouth: who, when he was reviled, reviled not
again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that
judgeth righteously: who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the
tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose
stripes ye were healed. For ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned
unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls.
Deacon Striker Jack Arnold read today’s
Gospel which started in the Tenth Chapter of the Gospel according to St. John
beginning at the Eleventh Verse.
Using the words that give this Sunday its name, Jesus said: “I am the good
shepherd; the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.” He goes on to say He is not a hireling
who cares not for the flock, but rather the shepherd himself. He understands his job and puts it
first, before his desires. Jesus
knows each of His sheep and they know Him, even as He knows His Father and His
Father knows Him. Because we are
His sheep, He willingly laid down His life that we might live. Jesus also points out He is not here to
shepherd only the Jews, but all men, “And there are other sheep I have, which
are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and
there shall be one flock, and one shepherd.”
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ESUS said, I am the good
shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. But he that is an
hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf
coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth: and the wolf catcheth them, and
scattereth the sheep. The hireling fleeth, because he is an hireling, and
careth not for the sheep. I am the good shepherd; and know my sheep, and am
known of mine, even as the Father knoweth me, and I know the Father; and I lay
down my life for the sheep. And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold:
them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one
flock, and one shepherd.
Sermon – Time
and Action
Today’s sermon brought the Collect, Epistle and
Gospel together and is partly contained
in the forewords above.
We are in the Easter Season which consists of Easter
and the following four Sundays, until we get to Rogation Sunday. This is a time we should work on
centering our lives on the central figure in our religion, Jesus Christ.
Consider these words from the
Collect:
… who
hast given thine only Son to be unto us both a sacrifice for sin, and also an
ensample of godly life; Give us grace that we may always most thankfully
receive that his inestimable benefit, and also daily endeavour ourselves to
follow the blessed steps of his most holy life …
God sent Jesus to be The
Christ, The Messiah, The Savior, The Lamb to be sacrificed for our sin. He gave His earthly Life, He went down
into Hell, that we might be justified before God at our accounting. Not that we might be perfect, but that
we might be accounted perfect at our judgment day. Yet we are not made perfect. Thus we need an example to follow, a pattern for our
lives. God gave us that in His
Son.
Peter notes that throughout His
Life, our Lord gave nothing but good.
While He was not accepting of evil, when He was ill treated, He gave not
venom but healing in return.
Through His sacrifice, we are accounted as perfect, thus we need try our
best to be perfect following His Example.
Will we fail, for certain.
Should we thus be inclined to just give up, NEVER.
Jesus gave His Life for us
because we are HIS. We are of His
Flock, we are not strangers to Him nor Him to us. If God cared enough to send His Son to give His Life to
protect us from certain death, do we care enough for Him to follow His
Directions?
We have One Leader. He leads One Flock. His Way may not always seem the
easiest, but in the end it is for certain eternity.
Bishop Ogles’ Sermon
We are oft fortunate to get
copies of Bishop Jerry’s sermon notes.
Today is one of those Sundays.
Today we get a brilliant and inspiring sermon for the Easter season. I beg you; take the time to read this:
Sermon Notes
for Second Sunday after Easter
22 April 21012
Anno Domini
St Andrew's
Anglican Orthodox Church
The
Second Sunday after Easter.
The
Collect.
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LMIGHTY God, who hast given thine only Son to be unto us both
a sacrifice for sin, and also an ensample of godly life; Give us grace that we
may always most thankfully receive that his inestimable benefit, and also daily
endeavour ourselves to follow the blessed steps of his most holy life; through
the same thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
1 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by
the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a
thief and a robber. 2 But he
that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. 3 To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his
voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out. 4 And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth
before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice. 5 And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee
from him: for they know not the voice of strangers. 6 This
parable spake Jesus unto them: but they understood not what things they were
which he spake unto them. 7 Then said Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the
sheep. 8 All that ever came
before me are thieves and robbers: but the sheep did not hear them. 9 I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall
be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture. 10 The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to
kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might
have it more abundantly. 11 I am
the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep (John
10:1-11)
Though today's Gospel text ends with the 10th verse, I could
not bring myself to end there without adding the 11th which fully reveals this gracious Personage described as the Good
Shepherd.
The Universe is a closed system as every student of astronomy will admit as
scientific fact. Heaven, too, is separate and distinct from the physical
universe and is also, itself, a closed system (much like a simple Sheep Fold)
and the abode of God. Just as the Universe is a place prepared of God for our
temporal existence, so Heaven is a place prepared for the spiritual existence
of those who cling to Him as lambs and children. There is an old saying that
"nothing happens by accident" and I believe that saying is true as
regards the Universe and the heavenlies.
Far greater faith is required to believe that the intricacies of the Universe,
of the great organization of galaxies and star systems, of the perfect balance
existing upon earth for the support of life, for the amazing structure and
continually working intellect that is evident in the human body. To believe
that the tiny cell, much less the complex organization of millions of cells of
the human body, could happen by accident of nature requires a faith that can
only be identified as ridiculous. Of course there is, as even Einstein
admitted, a great Intellect behind the perfect balance and structure of the
universe – and of life itself. – and that Intellect is God!
In today's text, Christ makes reference to that closed system of Heaven – the
Sheep Fold. The Mind that conceived the organization of interstellar space also
is the same Mind that created the natural world as we know it. He created every
rose of crimson beauty, and every lily of purest white splendor, the tiny
creatures that are unseen to man, the lambs and bears, lions and elephants, and
you and me. His Mind is Macro in its enormity to consider the whole
Universe and Micro in its meticulous awareness of the tender baby sucking at
its mother's breast. The Divine Creator has endowed man with a special glory
and privilege and made him the crowning achievement of His Creative genius. We
are compelled to say, along with the psalmist: When I consider thy heavens,
the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast
ordained; What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man,
that thou visitest him? For thou hast made him a little lower than the
angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour. Thou madest him to
have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his
feet: 7 All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the
field; The fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever
passeth through the paths of the seas. O LORD our Lord, how excellent is
thy name in all the earth! (Psalms 8:3-9)
Our God is a God, not only of this one-time life on earth, but the God of the
Resurrection. Life is continually being resurrected, even in this world of woe,
from death. Every stalk of wheat derives its being from that first grain of
wheat that fell into the earth at Eden and sprang into newness of life. Every
cell of our bodies can trace its primitive DNA back to that of the first man –
Adam. So God, even in the temporal, has place seeds of the eternal. There is,
however, a known end to the ways of the world and its supporting planetary
accoutrements. This system of death and life is not that which God approves for
those He loves. He has sent His only Begotten into the world to redeem us out
of that sin of Adam (and our own) which has interrupted His creative plan for
eternal life in all things.
As a great and all-knowing scientist speaking to children of the Manse, He
leaves off the references that cannot possibly be conceived by a child, and
uses vocabulary that is simply, pictorial and imaginative in revealing the
great mysteries of the closed system of His Heaven. He speaks of sheep and
shepherds, of porters and strangers, of doors and thieves. These mental
pictures we can grasp and know. Being the greatest teacher ever to open His
mouth, Christ employs the fundamental principle of teaching, known today, as
teaching from the KNOWN to the UNKNOWN. Teaching cannot be
accomplished in any other way. Unfortunately, the technique used in many of
today's university classrooms is that of teaching from the UNKNOWN to the
IMPOSSIBLE!
1 Verily, verily, I say
unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up
some other way, the same is a thief and a robber Christ begins with the negative – those who
attempt to enter "some other way" – precisely because this is the
manner in which most will attempt to gain heaven. The loose theologies of
man-made truth has crept into churches and corrupted the simplicity and truth
of the Gospel. The leaven of the Pharisees is far more prevalent than the pure
unleavened Bread of Heaven served in most churches today. How is it that ye do not understand that I spake it not
to you concerning bread, that ye should beware of the leaven of the Pharisees
and of the Sadducees? Then understood they how that he bade them
not beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and of
the Sadducees. (Matt 16:11-12) Our theology of today is more of the
WALMART variety than that of Treasures of Heaven.
2 But he that entereth in by the door is
the shepherd of the sheep. Christ is our Door to Heaven. He is
"the Way, the Truth, and the Life" and "no one cometh
unto the Father but by Him." We may come up with every self-enriching
scheme and call it exalted faith; we may labor our fingers to the bone in doing
good; we may sacrifice every of our livestock on the altar of benevolence; but
still stands in the foreground and brilliance of Light the single means by
which we may enter Heave n – the Lord Jesus Christ. It is He who keeps getting
in the way of the builders of a human paradise. If the secular humanists, the
Communists, the totalitarians of every stripe could only vanquish this shining
figure in the midst, they could then complete their human utopia. But "the
Stone that the builders rejected has become the chief Corner-Stone of the
building thereof." When they have near-completed their structure, they
then may note the troublesome stone at the base around which they had to labor
in building their building. It kept getting in the way and causing them to
stumble. Now they recognize, after all, that is it is the Chief Corner Stone –
but too late. As they try to lift it to the crown of their hand-made building,
it tumbles back upon them and crushes them to dust.
3 To
him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own
sheep by name, and leadeth them out. The porter is very like the
true ministers of God who open the Door to Christ to his hearers. While living
in Iran, the sheep were led out during the warmer part of day from the stone
enclosures called sheepfolds in the mountain heights. These were usually
semi-caves in the mountainside with a large stone fence erected in an arch
around the front. There was an opening that was always guarded by the Shepherd
to keep the sheep from escaping into the dangers of winter and the
predator-infested mountain slopes. There were often different shepherds whose
sheep were sheltered in the fold. The Shepherd would make a unique sound with
his voice and his sheep would immediately respond by following him out of the
fold. The others would not respond. I found this remarkable and in complete
accord with the Words of our Lord. Christ calls out today and many do not heed
His Voice because they are not of His Fold.
4 And when he putteth
forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they
know his voice. If we know
the Shepherd's Voice, we will follow Him everywhere, for everywhere He leads
will be a place of security – green pastures and still waters. If danger lies
ahead, the Shepherd is first to address the danger and will even lay down His
life for the sheep.
5 And a stranger will they
not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers.
We have many who profess Christ today who are following strangers. If they
truly knew Christ, they would not recognize and follow a stranger's
voice. I recently drew several hundred dollars from a bank in which I
have a savings account and went to deposit that money in another bank where my
personal checking account is maintained. The teller took the bills and ran them
through a machine. They all passed muster. She then marked each with a special
pen to verify their authenticity. They all passed this test. She then took one
of the bills and held it up to the light for quite a while. She then told me
that this particular one hundred dollar bill was actually a five dollar bill.
Well, I thought this ridiculous for it was clearly a one hundred dollar bill.
She told me to hold the bill up to the light and see whose visage was inscribed
in the watermark on the right side. It was Lincoln when it should have been
Franklin! She told me that a skilled counterfeiter had bleached out a five, and
over-stamped with the one hundred. This is why the bank device could not
recognize the fake – the paper was Federal stock. Neither would the pen. But
the skilled eye of the teller could catch the phony because she was so very
familiar with the true money. We may appear to be genuine Christians, and our
lifestyles may be moral and above reproach, but what of the watermark that is
INSIDE our hearts. Will that expose us as imposters to the knowing eye of the
Lord? 6 This parable spake Jesus unto them: but they understood not
what things they were which he spake unto them. He often speaks
to us in such simple words that we, too, do not understand. We expect words of
greater sophistication and profundity perhaps.
7 Then said Jesus unto them again, Verily,
verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep. When we simply do not `get it', Jesus will
speak to us in more direct ways. Many local Christians of the Baptist
persuasion wonder why I commit idolatry by displaying the cross and candles
above the Lord's Table. I explain, usually in vain, that the cross is a
reminder of who Christ is to us and what He did. I explain that Christ used
metaphors to point to Himself. The Cross is one such example of who Christ is
and what He did. The candles, I explain, represent both the Light of the
Gospels and that of the Epistles which go out to the World in giving Light. I
explain that Christ tells us in the second chapter of Revelations (2:5) to the church
at Ephesus that if that church forgets from whence they have fallen, Christ
will remove their candlestick. I then remind them that the Anglican Church
still has its candlestick. This usually ends the dialogue….(*___~) Christ is
our DOOR. He meets every specification for a DOOR. He is the only entrance
available.
8 All that ever came
before me are thieves and robbers: but the sheep did not hear them.
Those false prophets who deceived and misled the people are the thieves and
robbers. Their kin still dominate the world of theology today. They change
biblical meanings and words for profit. They build up the esteem of man, and
minimize the truth of God. But those who truly belong to the Shepherd will
recognize the phonies, just as the bank teller mentioned.
9 I am the door: by me if any man
enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture. We have a perfect liberty IN Christ. Outside
of Christ, there is only bondage and whimpering servitude. The same is true of nations
that honor Christ. Those whose constitutions and morality adhere to Christian
faith are free and her people live without bondage.
10 The thief cometh not,
but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have
life, and that they might have it more abundantly. The thief
never announces his intentions ahead. His success is due to his cunning and
secrecy. Modern false teachers are never going to pronounce that they have no
faith at all in God the Father, or His Son Jesus. They begin, as the Serpent in
the Garden, with a half-truth and proceed, step-by-step, with a full
denunciation of Truth. Lies led to death at Eden, and lies lead to death in the
church. But in Christ, we have Life, and that life we have, even on earth, is
full, abundant and heavenly.
11 I
am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep
What other shepherd, bent on profitable gain, will lay down his life
for the sheep? But there is One Shepherd, who is the Owner of the Sheep, who
does not view them out of a prospect for profit, but loves them fundamentally
with a heart love of warmth and kindly beneficence. He loves them as His own
family (which they are) and will lay down His very life for the sheep so that
THEY may have life. Do you know this Shepherd, and do you hear His Voice today?
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