The Propers for today are found
on Page 204-205, with the Collect first:
The
Eleventh Sunday after Trinity.
The
Collect.
O
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GOD, who declarest thy
almighty power chiefly in showing mercy and pity; Mercifully grant unto us such
a measure of thy grace, that we, running the way of thy commandments, may
obtain thy gracious promises, and be made partakers of thy heavenly treasure;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Dru Arnold read the Epistle, which came
from Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians, the Fifteenth Chapter beginning at
the First Verse. Paul tells us he
is delivering the message he received, the Good News of the Saving Grace of God
through Jesus. He recounts the
death and resurrection of Jesus; noting the various witnesses to the
resurrection, including himself.
He goes on to say, if he, who he categorizes as the least of the
apostles, not even meet to be called an apostle due to his persecution of the
Church of God, can be forgiven and work the Work of God, who cannot?
B
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rethern, I declare unto you the
gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye
stand; by which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto
you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all
that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the
scriptures; and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day
according to the scriptures: and that he was seen of Cephas, then of the
twelve: after that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom
the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep. After
that, he was seen of James; then of all the apostles. And last of all he was
seen of me also, as of one born out of due time. For I am the least of the
apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the
church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was
bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all:
yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me. Therefore whether it were I
or they, so we preach, and so ye believed.”
Deacon Striker Jack Arnold read today’s
Holy Gospel which started in the Eighteenth Chapter of the Gospel according to
St. Luke, beginning at the Ninth Verse.
Jesus tells a parable to an audience which apparently consisted of some
self-righteous people, which likely fits each of us. The parable is that of a Pharisee[1]
and a publican[2]
both of whom pray in the temple.
While the Pharisee might well have been a “better” man than the
publican, he clearly was not the man he thought he was, for he “prayed thus
with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners,
unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I
possess.” Quite the holy
fellow. The publican, quite aware
of how much he fell shot of God’s perfection stood “afar off, would not lift up
so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be
merciful to me a sinner.” Jesus
told his audience, “this man went down to his house justified rather than the
other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that
humbleth himself shall be exalted.”
None of us is truly good, we can only strive to be better and look to
our Lord to help us. Only through
Christ will we be accounted as just before God.
J
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esus spake this parable unto
certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised
others: Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the
other a publican. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank
thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even
as this publican. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I
possess. And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his
eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a
sinner. I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the
other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that
humbleth himself shall be exalted.
Sermon
– Time and Action
Today’s sermon tied the Collect, Epistle and Gospel
together and is mainly contained in the forewords above.
Consider the words from the Collect, wherein we ask
God … who declarest thy almighty power chiefly in showing mercy and pity;
Mercifully grant unto us such a measure of thy grace, that we, running the way
of thy commandments, may obtain thy gracious promises, and be made partakers of
thy heavenly treasure; …
Once again, this Collect is kind of a follow-on to
the last few weeks’ Collects.
First, we acknowledge God’s power which is manifested not in terror but
in mercy and pity on our failures.
We go on to ask help in following His Commandments that we might gain
the good that comes from that following.
As imperfect creatures of free will, the norm is to
choose what we want, not what we need and come to calamity. We are each grievous sinners, some
worse than others, none better.
Yet, we come before God all equal.
In equally big trouble, some more, none less. It is only through faith we are saved.
Our faith?
Partly, but not chiefly and not first.
We are saved by the perfect faith of Christ, our only
mediator and advocate before the Father.
The perfect faith of Christ allowed a single sacrifice to be made at one
time, to right the account the sins of all mankind for all time. This is the faith that saves us and our
faith in Him allows Him to operate in us.
One of Paul’s points in today’s Epistle was that if he, the previous
Chief Persecutor of the church could be saved by Jesus’ that option was
available to each of us. All we
need to do is repent and follow.
Thus, we need to Lead, Follow or Get out of the Way towards Christ and
God’s grace.
The other point is that Jesus is real, He is Who He says He IS. He is not a fictional character, he is not a great teacher. He is THE SON OF GOD and He came to save us, body, heart, mind and soul. Just as we are real sinners, He is a real Savior.
If that is not enough to turn your heart, consider
the parable of the publican and the Pharisee related by Saint Luke. The man who was proud of his
performance was not the example Jesus chose for the one justified, rather the
one who acknowledged his failures and asked God for forgiveness and help.
Let us ask God for the help we need to follow His
Will.
Be of God - Live of God -
Act of God.
Bishop Ogles’
Sermon
We are oft fortunate to get
copies of Bishop Jerry’s sermon notes.
Today is one of those Sundays.
Today’s sermon starts off with the collect. It will give you a lot to consider in your heart.
Sermon Notes
Eleventh
Sunday after Trinity
19 August
2012, Anno Domini
The
Eleventh Sunday after Trinity.
The
Collect.
O
|
GOD, who declarest thy
almighty power chiefly in showing mercy and pity; Mercifully grant unto us such
a measure of thy grace, that we, running the way of thy commandments, may
obtain thy gracious promises, and be made partakers of thy heavenly treasure;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
9 And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in
themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: 10 Two men went up
into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. 11 The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I
thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers,
or even as this publican. 12 I
fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess. 13 And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so
much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be
merciful to me a sinner. 14 I
tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for
every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself
shall be exalted. (Luke 18:9-14)
Though this text has been recently covered, it is being addressed today again
in sermon form. The amazing beauty of Holy Scripture is its multi-dimensional
meaning when held up to the light. This parable given by Jesus conveys the
disdain that God has for exalted pride, and the favor He holds for humble
faith. Pride is only about SELF; humility puts self down and lifts up the
object of its affection and awe. One object of the Parable is to rebuke
self-righteousness; but another would be to exalt the hope of the poor in
spirit – the meek and humble of heart.
We read of how proudly the Pharisee prayed “with himself” – not to God. He
prayed that others might hear his boastful words. The contrary is true of the
publican who felt himself unworthy to come so near the Temple. He did not lay
claim to ANY GOODNESS, or righteous deeds, in his life but only sought mercy
upon himself as a sinner.
Please observe the manner in which God looks upon the heart and not the outward
appearance. The Pharisees dressed in lavish robes and commanded the respect of
the people for his position; but the publican was despised by the people and
had no office to commend him for respect. Unlike the self-righteous heart of
the Pharisee, the publican had a heart that KNEW it needed mercy as a sinner.
God can get entrance into a heart that admits its own worthlessness. But the
proud, self-righteous heart bars the way for amendment.
We see also that the boastful works of the Pharisee gained him no favor at all
with God, but rather God’s disdain. The Pharisee cannot be justified by his own
righteousness. The publican KNEW this, but the publican went away lost and
ignorant despite his learning.
We see, too, that justification can only be gained through the mercy of God. If
we do not know that we need mercy, how shall we be justified? Justification
comes as an act of Grace (from God) and not acts of righteousness by us.
Let us
examine the characteristics, first, of the Pharisee:
1)
He was a liar! Though he claimed
otherwise, he was precisely as other men are – a sinner. (Romans 3:23)
2)
He was an extortioner. (Matthew
23:14, Mark 12:40)
3)
He was unjust. His very attitude
and self-opinion of himself proved this.
4)
He was a worse man than the
publican for the publican realized his need to which the Pharisee was blinded
of his own.
5)
He did not fast to satisfy a
Godly purpose but only for the purpose of show and boasting.
6)
He did not tithe of all he had
for he kept his heart from God by not surrendering it to Him. (Luke 20:25)
7)
He had a religious zeal, but not
according to the Bible. “….they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge.
For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish
their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness
of God. (Romans 10:2-3)
Now the
Publican:
1)
The publican knew who he was – a
lost sinner and condemned.
2)
The publican knew his place with
God without mercy – at a distance!
3)
The publican knew how he felt –
guilty, ashamed and needing mercy.
4)
He knew WHAT he needed – MERCY.
5)
He knew how to attain mercy –
repent, confess, and call upon the Lord.
6)
He knew of his salvation – went
down to his house justified.
There is a great secret revealed, too, in this Parable – sin causes a great
separation from man and God. The only means to bridge that separation is
repentance and confession of sins. When we have betrayed or hurt a close
friend, do we not avoid looking them in the eye until we have reconciled
ourselves to that friend? We may not speak to that friend for months due to our
guilt. The friend may not even be aware of our guilt, BUT WE ARE! When we
forget God, we live according to our own prerogatives. This free will always
leads to sin. That sin raises a wall between us and God. Suddenly, we are
ashamed as was Adam in the Garden. We cannot tear down that wall with our good
deeds, but only by our tearful cries for mercy!
Do we mark our offering envelopes at church with large letters to show our
great tithing? Do we embellish our prayers with beautiful words that do not
come from the heart, but from a proud mind? Do we attempt to seem so close to
God that publicans cannot approach Him? Do we admit our unworthiness apart from
God’s grace? Have we known that the very moment we feel that we are “good enough”
is the very moment that we are NOT? Do not be a pharisaical hypocrite, but be a
humble sinner who lays claim to grace and mercy in God.
[1]
Pharisee - One of a
sect or party among the Jews, noted for a strict and formal observance of rites
and ceremonies and of the traditions of the elders, and whose pretensions to
superior sanctity led them to separate themselves from the other Jews.
[2] Publican 1. (Rom. Antiq.) A
farmer of the taxes and public revenues; hence, a collector of toll or tribute.
The inferior officers of this class were often oppressive in their exactions,
and were regarded with great detestation.
Literally a Publican is one who farmed the taxes (e. g., Zacchaeus, Luke 19: 2)
to be levied from a town or district,
and thus undertook to pay to the supreme government a certain amount. In order
to collect the taxes, the publicans employed subordinates (5: 27; 15: 1; 18:
10), who, for their own ends, were often guilty of extortion and peculation
(defrauding the public by appropriating to one's own use the money or goods
intrusted to one's care for management or disbursement; embezzlement). In New
Testament times these taxes were paid to the Romans, and hence were regarded by
the Jews as a very heavy burden, and hence also the collectors of taxes, who
were frequently Jews, were hated, and were usually spoken of in very
opprobrious terms. Jesus was accused of being a "friend of publicans and
sinners" (Luke 7: 34).
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