Four
Chaplains Day – Seventy Years ago today
On the frigid night of 3 February
1943, the fully laden Allied ship USAT Dorchester, carrying 902 servicemen,
plowed through the dark waters near Greenland.
At 0100, a National Socialist
submarine fired a torpedo into the transport's flank, killing many in the
explosion and trapping others below deck.
It sank in 27 minutes. The
water temperature was 28°F, time of useful consciousness was measured in
seconds, not minutes. Everyone on
board knew that.
The two escort ships, Coast
Guard cutters Comanche & Escanaba, were able to rescue only 231 survivors.
In the chaos of fire, smoke, oil
and ammonia, four chaplains calmed the sailors and distributed lifejackets:
Lt. George L.
Fox, Methodist;
Lt. Clark V.
Poling, Dutch Reformed;
Lt. John P. Washington,
Roman Catholic;
Lt. Alexander
D. Goode, Jewish.
When there were no more
lifejackets, the four chaplains ripped off their own lifejackets and put them
on four young men.
As the ship went down, survivors
floating in rafts could see the four chaplains linking arms and bracing
themselves on the slanting deck.
They bowed their heads in prayer as they sank to their icy deaths.
Congress honored them by
declaring this "Four Chaplains Day."
On 7 February 1954, President
Dwight Eisenhower spoke from the White House in support of the American Legion
Back-to-God Program:
"
And we remember that, only a
decade ago, aboard the transport Dorchester, four chaplains of four faiths
together willingly sacrificed their lives so that four others might live.
In
the three centuries that separate the Pilgrims of the Mayflower from the chaplains
of the Dorchester, America's freedom, her courage, her strength, and her
progress have had their foundation in faith.
Today as then, there is need for
positive acts of renewed recognition that faith is our surest strength, our
greatest resource.
This “Back to God” movement is such a positive
act...
Whatever our individual church, whatever our personal creed, our common
faith in God is a common bond among us...
Together we thank the Power that has
made and preserved us a nation. By the millions, we speak prayers, we sing
hymns and no matter what their words may be, their spirit is the same-”In God
is Our Trust. As a former soldier,
I am delighted that our veterans are sponsoring a movement to increase our
awareness of God in our daily lives. In battle, they learned a great truth-that
there are no atheists in the foxholes."
Quite a distance from that time
and place to “Whatever we once were, we are no longer a Christian nation,” BH
Obama.
The
Sunday called Sexagesima, or the
second
Sunday before Lent.
The
Collect.
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LORD God, who seest that we put not
our trust in any thing that we do; Mercifully grant that by thy power we may be
defended against all adversity; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Dru Arnold read the Epistle, which came from the
Eleventh Chapter of Saint Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians beginning at
the Nineteenth Verse. Paul reminds
us salvation, honor and glory come not from what we do or have done, but rather
from God. Paul, who as Saul, had
been a super star on his way to being the number one rabbi in the Hebrew
nation, he was more learned, more vigorous in following the law, more vocal in
all things. When he “saw the
light” and converted, he took that same approach to Christianity. No one was more in any thing than
he. He had been the best of the
worst and the best of the best.
Now he was aware of how short he himself fell. More importantly, he was keenly aware of the saving perfection
of Christ.
No one did more than Paul, yet he counseled all to
take comfort and pride in God, not themselves. Do your best and look towards God.
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E suffer fools gladly, seeing ye yourselves are wise.
For ye suffer, if a man bring you into bondage, if a man devour you, if a man
take of you, if a man exalt himself, if a man smite you on the face. I speak as
concerning reproach, as though we had been weak. Howbeit whereinsoever any is
bold, (I speak foolishly,) I am bold also. Are they Hebrews? so am I. Are they
Israelites? so am I. Are they the seed of Abraham? so am I. Are they ministers
of Christ? (I speak as a fool) I am more; in labours more abundant, in stripes
above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft. Of the Jews five times
received I forty stripes save one. Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I
stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep;
in journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by
mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils
in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; in
weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in
fastings often, in cold and nakedness. Beside those things that are without,
that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches. Who is weak, and
I am not weak? who is offended, and I burn not? If I must needs glory, I will
glory of the things which concern mine infirmities. The God and Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ, which is blessed for evermore, knoweth that I lie not.
Jack Arnold read the Holy Gospel for today which came
from the Eighth Chapter of the Gospel of St. Luke beginning at the Fourth Verse and tells the well known Parable of
the Sower, which might be better referred to as the Parable of the Four Soils,
for the seeds were all alike.
A sower scatters seed on to four different types of
soil.
·
Hard ground
·
Stony ground
·
Thorny ground
·
Good ground
Hard ground “by the way side” prevents the seed from
sprouting at all, and the seed becomes nothing more than bird food. Stony
ground provides enough soil for the seeds to germinate and begin to grow, but
because there is “no deepness of earth,” the plants do not take root and are
soon withered in the sun. Thorny ground allows the seed to grow, but competing
thorns choke the life out of the good plants. Good ground receives the seed and produces much fruit.
Jesus explains the seed is The Word.
Hard ground represents someone so hardened by sin
that though he hears he cannot understand the Word. Thus, Satan can pluck the message away, keeping the heart
dull and preventing the Word from making an impression.
Stony ground represents those who hear and express
delight in The Word, but do not change to live The Word. When trouble arises, they abandon their
faith.
Thorny ground represents one who hears and receives
The Word, but who does not connect to it and whose heart is full of riches,
pleasures, and lusts. The effort
that should by rights given The Word are given to the things of this world and
he has no time for The Word.
Good ground represents he who hears, understands, and
implements The Word. Thus, The
Word can work its wonders in his life and that person gains salvation.
The Word is there. We may hear it.
We may take it in our heart.
The benefit comes only when we take it in our heart and act on it. At that point, The Word is acting in
our lives and salvation is in hand.
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HEN much people were gathered together, and were come
to him out of every city, he spake by a parable: A sower went out to sow his
seed: and as he sowed, some fell by the way-side; and it was trodden down, and
the fowls of the air devoured it. And some fell upon a rock; and as soon as it
was sprung up, it withered away, because it lacked moisture. And some fell among
thorns; and the thorns sprang up with it, and choked it. And other fell on good
ground, and sprang up, and bare fruit an hundredfold. And when he had said
these things, he cried, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. And his
disciples asked him, saying, What might this parable be? And he said, Unto you
it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God: but to others in
parables; that seeing they might not see, and hearing they might not
understand. Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. Those by the
way-side are they that hear; then cometh the devil, and taketh away the word
out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved. They on the rock
are they, which, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no
root, which for a while believe, and in time of temptation fall away. And that
which fell among thorns are they, which, when they have heard, go forth, and
are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit
to perfection. But that on the good ground are they, which in an honest and
good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with
patience.
Sermon – Reverend Deacon Jack Arnold - 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:
…put not our trust in any thing
that we do; Mercifully grant that by thy power we may be defended against all
adversity …
In the Collect, we tell God we put our trust for
eternal life not in our actions, but in His Power. If we do this, then we must do as He asks us. For, to make trust in His Power
rational, we must follow His Direction. If we do not follow His Direction then
we are surely just going be as lost as before we accepted Him into our
hearts. We need Him as our
navigator to guide us along the rocky paths of life, so we don’t crash into the
rocks of Sin and Death! We need His directions if we are to proceed upon the
path to Heaven.
This squares with what Paul tells us, that is
salvation, honor and glory come not from what we do or have done, but rather
from God. By following His Word that is where the salvation, honor and glory
come from. Paul, who as Saul, had been a super star on his way to being the
number one rabbi in the Hebrew nation, he was more learned, more vigorous in
following the law, more vocal in all things. When he “saw the light” and converted, he took that same
approach to Christianity. No one
was more in any thing than he. He
had been the best of the worst and the best of the best. Now he was keenly aware of how short he
himself fell. But even more
importantly, he was keenly aware of the saving perfection of Christ. Because he
had been at rock bottom, he was able to recover to his high, so that he was
aware of the saving power of Christ. From this he could tell us of the
experience of the power of God first hand, using his life as an example of
that. He told us these things not to glory himself, but to show the glory and
honor that comes from on high, from following His Word. Thus he counseled all
to take comfort and pride in God, not themselves. Do your best and look towards God.
This brings us right in to the well known Parable of
the Sower, which might be better referred to as the Parable of the Four Soils,
for the seeds were all alike.
Like the seed sown by the sower, The Word is spread
throughout the world for all to hear and act on:
·
Yet, some will not even hear The Word (Hard ground);
·
Others will hear, act quickly and abandon God’s
help at the first sign of adversity (Stony ground);
·
Still others will hear The Word, but The Word is
overtaken by the “pleasures” of this world and is choked out by them. Like the line from the Bible, where
your money is, that is your worldly effort, there is the evidence of your
heart. The temptation of this
world is great, the reward from God should be greater, but you have to look
long term;
·
Finally we come to those who accept and act on
The Word, like the one seed planted growing into a great plant bearing its
fruit, the rewards are manifold, though the effort is also great, the end
reward far greater. For the seed
to grow to full fruition and glory, with its manifold blessings, it must have
the ground prepared, carefully tended against encroachment of the evil weeds,
it must be continually watered by the life blood of those around it. There is much effort required on our
part, but the ultimate reward is so much greater.
While we are on the subject, consider the issue of
weeding. Is this not part of the
reason for the Church, that is to say the body of believers, to exist. We cannot often pull our own weeds, but
we can help others and they can help us.
Christianity is not a religion of hermits; it is a social religion where
we can help each other.
So, think about this, we need to understand eternal
life and indeed on a shorter term, happiness in our life here, comes not from
our self-directed actions, but those of God and our action following His
direction. If we follow our self-directed actions, we will find death and
misery awaiting us. However, if we put our trust in Him and follow His
commands, we will “live long and prosper” to quote Spock. Do your best and look
towards God for the Light to illuminate your path. If you prepare your heart, as the farmer prepares the field,
root out the forces of this world as the farmer roots out weeds, cultivate the
good given by God, water your heart with His Water, your life will be manifold.
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, and like always, it will
give you a lot to consider in your heart.
Sermon Notes
Sexagesima,
or the second Sunday before Lent
3 February
2013, Anno Domini
The
Sunday called Sexagesima, or the
second
Sunday before Lent.
The
Collect.
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LORD God, who seest that we put not
our trust in any thing that we do; Mercifully grant that by thy power we may be
defended against all adversity; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
4 And
when much people were gathered together, and were come to him out of every
city, he spake by a parable: 5 A
sower went out to sow his seed: and as he sowed, some fell by the way side; and
it was trodden down, and the fowls of the air devoured it. 6 And
some fell upon a rock; and as soon as it was sprung up, it withered away,
because it lacked moisture. 7 And
some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprang up with it, and choked it. 8 And
other fell on good ground, and sprang up, and bare fruit an hundredfold. And
when he had said these things, he cried, He that hath ears to hear, let him
hear. 9 And his disciples asked him, saying, What
might this parable be? 10 And he said, Unto
you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God: but to others in
parables; that seeing they might not see, and hearing they might not
understand. 11 Now the parable is this: The
seed is the word of God. 12 Those
by the way side are they that hear; then cometh the devil, and taketh away the
word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved. 13
They on the rock are they, which, when they hear, receive the
word with joy; and these have no root, which for a while believe, and in time
of temptation fall away. 14 And
that which fell among thorns are they, which, when they have heard, go forth,
and are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no
fruit to perfection. 15 But
that on the good ground are they, which in an honest and good heart, having
heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience. (Luke
8:4-15)
Our Collect which we have prayer today reminds us that we take no credit for
any good deed that we do but only for the evil deeds we may do. If we cannot
trust our own heart to avoid sin, how can we trust that heart to do only
righteousness? If we do not place our full trust in God, then we have nothing
at all to trust. Not unto us, O LORD, not unto us, but unto thy name give
glory, for thy mercy, and for thy truth's sake (Psalms 115:1) When I see
churches and shallow ministers taking credit for that they claim the Lord has
done in building elaborate sanctuaries to the exclusion of the orphan's table,
I know that this is the world church and not that of Christ. We are all alike
helpless in this world to defend against the forces of darkness. Darkness is
the prime feature of the world in which we live. But we can always call upon
the Lord for our main defense. He will stand with us, and He is Light. Where
Light is, there can be no darkness.
In the Epistle reading for today (2 Corinthians 11:19-31) Paul reminds us of
the many sufferings, hardships, and trials he has faced. He has been in the sea
for a day and a night, beaten with whips and rods, cold and naked, hungry! Yet
Paul, by the grace and protection of God, still stands. He has placed a trust
in God that is worthy of our emulation. Paul readily admits that these
sufferings came as a result of his own weakness, yet he gives God the glory for
sustaining and keeping him through all. God is glorified in the good works
which we do because all righteous works are of God.
Let us now turn to the very acts and Words of Christ in today's Gospel text
from Luke chapter 8.
There is a harmony in the Gospels on this parable. It is covered in Matthew,
Mark, and Luke; but I prefer, most thoroughly, the account in Matthew 13 for it
relates in perfect unison with the other parables of the Kingdom in Matthew 13
(also known as the Kingdom Chapter of Matthew).
We see, first of all, in the parable of Jesus, that the Word of God (Seed) must
be carried forth. It does no good to the lost soul for one to have a very
accomplished knowledge of the Word if that Word is not carried forth and
shared. Does the dust covered Bible on your mantle serve any Godly purpose? No,
it does not. Its only value is a promised value such as potential
energy. We need an active value of the Bible being dusted off, read carefully,
memorized, carried forth, and shared. This is the kinetic energy
that results in fulfillment of purpose.
Secondly, we may wonder who is this Sower that goes forth? We know the Sower
is, in the original, Jesus Christ. He brought the saving Gospel and was
Himself, that salvation. He taught the Apostles to be like-minded sowers of the
Word. The Apostles have sowed the Word so abundantly that we all have at least
tasted the fruits of that sowing. And no we are the sowers as well. If we
only consume the Seed upon our own lust, how can there ever be a profitable
increase. The Seed MUST be sowed in order that there will be a continual
harvest. We must not take our Seed as the one talent and bury it away, we must
invest the Seed by sowing and, in the process of time, we shall we receive
abundance. The more we share the Holy Word with others, the greater the harvest
of that Word in our hearts. What did the Sower do? A
sower went out to sow his seed So
must we go forth with the Seed.
Thirdly, we should note that there is only one Seed. It is not a variety of
Seed, but one constant and unchanging truth of God. There are no Seed that are
unwholesome or which do not contain in their hearts the power to produce more
fruit. The seed is the word (singular)
of God. God's Word does not change, and it
is always wholesome whether received in a wholesome heart or not. The Sower's
bag does not have diverse seeds – even seeds of bramble – in His bag; but only
the true and constant Seed of God's Word.
Fourthly, we must know that the four different kinds of soils represent four
different kinds of hearts. We know these hearts well. We have all had one of
each of these type hearts at times, but the cultivating Word of God has
prepared our hearts for the Seed – to receive that Seed into the hidden
chambers of our hearts. Perhaps that hidden chamber is the lowest chamber and
most humble part of our hearts. The lowest chamber is where the moisture of
life is most available that the Holy Ghost may nurture the Seed in thick
darkness as the germinated plant struggles to reach the sunlight of the
surface. Jesus, the Sower, does not differentiate between the types of soil
upon which He sows – He sows on all soils. That which is stony ground today may
become fertile soil tomorrow. The Sower does not distinguish between soils or
hearts. It is the condition of the heart that receives the Seed that will
determine whether that Seed shall bear fruit. But it is the Holy Ghost that
gives life to that Seed when the heart has been conditioned by God. "….some
fell by the way side; and it was trodden down, and the fowls of the air
devoured it. 6 And
some fell upon a rock; and as soon as it was sprung up, it withered away,
because it lacked moisture. 7 And
some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprang up with it, and choked it. 8 And
other fell on good ground, and sprang up, and bare fruit an hundredfold. And
when he had said these things, he cried, He that hath ears to hear, let him
hear. God does not cast His pearls before
swine. If there are deaf ears to His Word, then His Word will not germinate in
their hearts. They are simply UNABLE to receive it because of the externals
that they so highly value in the world. But remember, friends, the soils can
change. The brambles and briar may be burned away exposing good earth.
The unlikely soils, or different types of hearts, are capable of being changed.
The hardened wayside may be broken up, the rocky ground cleared of stones, and
the thorns pulled up by the roots or burned by fire. These grounds may be
prepared by God through His workers of the vineyard. We may, through our
examples of obedience to God and contentment, become a hoe, or a plough, to
break up the hardened soil so that the Seed may flourish there. Have you done
this, friends, with the hardened soils about you?
Shall we discover the Fountain of Life and hide its existence from our
families, from our friends, from our neighbors, and from the stranger that
passes by. Would we not suffer from want of our sons and daughters, our
wives, mothers and fathers, neighbors, etc. in an Eternity of Life alone with
God? When the scroll of Heaven parts and time is no more, shall we go
empty-handed before God because we selfishly guarded the secret of His Gospel?
What defense can we utter at that time when our only son or daughter, or our
postman, druggist, or merchant precedes us in judgment and tells the Lord,
"I never knew because no one ever told me?" Then to feel, as did
Peter the night of the Passion, the eyes of Christ turn upon us with that Great
Question in His Face. Perhaps there would be bitter tears, even in Heaven?
The Church has sat silent far too long. It is time to serve as the salt of the
earth – to speak out against the evils of our day. If the professing church in
America would rise up with that One Voice of Christ, in condemning the murder
of innocents in their mother's wombs; the adulteration of the institution of
marriage and its perversions away from the Creation model; the promiscuity, the
pornographic sex education in schools; the forced elimination of prayer in
school – if the Church were to stand up courageously and not cringe in
political corners, then would there be change, but not until. What about you,
friend: Do you leave your Christian faith at the door of the voting precinct?
Do you prefer to remain silent in caving to public pressure to hide your faith
always? If told to remove your lapel cross, do you brazenly remove the symbol
of the One who died for you? Do you believe that changing times have changed
the Sower's Seed? Really? Is truth relative, or is truth ALWAYS truth? Wake up
church, and smell the poison in the cup of the world that you have preferred to
that of the Cup from which our Lord drank….NOW!
In the Name of the Father,
and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost
Bishop
Dennis Campbell’s Sermon
Bishop Dennis is a brilliant
speaker. He is able to take
biblical precepts and make them perfectly understandable, even to me. Oft he provides the text of his sermons
and I take the utmost pleasure in passing them on:
The Misery of Sin
Psalm 71, Genesis 3
Sexagesima
3 February 2013
If you talk to contemporary people about the misery
of sin, you will probably receive shocked looks, and maybe even anger and
hostility. "Who are you to tell me what is right for me?" they
will say. And they will accuse you of being ignorant, backwards, even a
criminal on the same level as mass murderers and dictators. There is a
very active movement that says Christianity is oppressive, faith is mental
illness, and what the Bible calls sin is actually liberation and freedom.
But let's briefly look at the results of
non-Christian views in history. Think of the mass murders in the French
Revolution, the Bolshevik revolution, and the rise of communism in Asia, and
Europe. Millions of people died in these movements for "freedom."
Let's look at the deaths in America due to the decline of respect for faith,
morality, and human life. I know that the "church" has been
guilty of crimes as well, but everyone knows they are are the result of
corrupting and deviating from Biblical faith, not from believing and following
it. In reality, sin is misery, and, going toward Lent we begin to think
about that misery, because, unless we understand it and its cause, we will
never understand God and His mercy.
A major part of the misery of sin is seen in our
relationship to the Creation. We were formed from the dust of the earth,
and, at first, we lived in harmony with it. But in the Fall that harmony
was ruptured. Yes, the earth still brings forth its fruit, the sun still
shines and the rains still fall. But the earth also brings forth briers
and poisonous plants, and droughts and floods. Many, believing they have
silenced Christians, proclaim they could never believe in a God who allows
tornadoes and earthquakes and suffering. And many Christians ask
themselves why these things happen. The answer is found in Genesis
3:17-19, "cursed is the ground for thy sake... in sorrow shalt thou eat of
it... thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth... in the sweat of thy face
shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground... for dust thou art,
and unto dust shalt thou return."
Simply put, when we, by sin, became enemies of God,
we also became enemies of nature. And nature has turned against us.
That is why we have killer storms and devastating floods. It is why we
have illness and suffering and death. It is why nature often destroys
what we build. It is why building crumble, cars rust, and our physical
bodies wear out.
A second part of the misery of sin is found in our
relationship with other people. At the very beginning we see Adam and Eve
in perfect love and harmony. But after the Fall we see him blaming Eve
for his sin. It wasn't Eve's fault that Adam ate the fruit. It was
his. Before the Fall he would not have accused her before God. He
would have defended her, for his love for her had been perfect. But, now,
being a sinner, and being corrupted in his nature, he is alienated from his
wife. Their perfect love is now defective and polluted with self love, so
he blames her for what is obviously his fault. God Himself pronounces
that this will continue, telling Eve her husband will rule over her and she
will desire her husband's authority (Gen. 3:16). Sin has ruptured their
relationship.
It did not end there. Cain murdered Abel, and it
wasn't until the time of Enos, Seth's son, that people began to seek God
again. And the Fall continued to wreck human relationships. The
mighty men of Genesis 6:4 are warriors. Their presence shows that mankind
was already forming armies to kill one another. Genesis 6:11 says, "The
earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with
violence." It became so bad "it repented the Lord that He had
made man upon the earth, and it grieved Him at His heart" (Gen. 6:6).
Have things improved? Has education, revolution
wealth redistribution, the United Nations, constitutions, kings, parliaments,
presidents, congresses, treaties, technology, or even religion changed
things? I think not. I think the words of Moses in Genesis 6:5 are as
true today as when he wrote them nearly four thousand years ago, "the
wickedness of mas was great in the earth... the thoughts of his heart was only
evil continually." I think of the words of James in the fourth
chapter and first verse of his book, "From whence come wars and fightings
among you? come they not hence, even of your own lusts that war in your
members? Ye lust, and have not: ye kill and desire to have, and cannot
obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not."
I agree with Thomas Jefferson that all men are
created equal, and are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable
rights. I agree that these are self evident truths, but there is another
truth I consider more self evident than these. Simply stated, that truth
is, all are sinners. All have neglected much of the good they ought to
have done, and have done much evil they ought not to have done. And no
where is this sin more evident than in our ruptured relationships with other
people.
A third part of the misery of sin is found in our
ruptured relationship with God.Frankly stated, we have become God's
enemies. Notice I did not say God has become our enemy. It is we
who have turned against God, not God who has turned against us.
The result of this rupture is the alienation and
emptiness of the soul that often grips us. We have lost our identity, we
have lost our meaning, we have lost our purpose, because we have lost our
God. Young people used to spend much time and effort trying to "find"
themselves. I don't see that much any more. Today's youth spend their
efforts inventing themselves. If they don't like the identity they
create, they simply re-invent themselves. And they keep re-inventing
themselves whenever they want to change. But it is not only young people
who do this. People of all ages re-invent themselves many time during
their lives. Part of this is thrust upon us as we go from children
to adults, to parents and grand parents. But part of it is simply because
we don't know who we are in the first place. We don't know we are created
in the image of God to know, love and enjoy Him. Therefore we are
constantly trying to re-invent ourselves according to other images. This
is all part of our ruptured relationship with God. In short, we have
rejected God's call and purpose for us, and have invented our own. But
our own cannot fulfill our need to be right with God, and so we are miserable.
But there are worse consequences of this ruptured
relationship. We have come under God's justice. We have been measure
by the standard of God's perfect righteousness, and we have been found
wanting. We have become criminals against His righteous law, and are
liable for the penalty our crimes deserve. We have become children of
wrath, and the wages of sin is death.
Fortunately sin is not the end of the story.
Grace is. We see fallen humanity and we learn that we need a
Saviour. We look at Christ, and we see that we have one. By grace
nature will be restored to its original state. It will become our friend
again. The storms will cease. Disasters will end, as will hunger,
illness, and death. It will become Paradise again, restored by the power
and grace of God.
By grace human relationships will be restored.
We will be delivered from our sinful lusts, to live in perfect love and
harmony. There will be no more crime, strife, or hate. We will
finally be able to beat our swords into plowshares and our spears into pruning
hooks, and study war no more. We who are in Christ already live in the
restoration. It is not complete yet. It will never be complete in
this present age in which sin and violence prevails. But we have the hope
of peace and we have the taste of peace. Our natures are being
transformed by God through the means of grace. So we are able to live among
each other in a way that approaches the way we shall live in that great day of
Peace.
By grace our relationship with God is restored.
Our sins are forgiven. His anger is appeased, and we are turned to Him to
love and serve Him in joy forever.
The misery of sin is great. There is not one
problem or sorrow of this life that cannot be found to be the result of
sin. But the grace of God is greater than our sin. His grace will
win.
--
+Dennis
Campbell
Bishop,
Anglican Orthodox Church Diocese of Virginia
Rector, Holy
Trinity Anglican Orthodox Church
Powhatan,
Virginia
Rev Bryan Dabney
of Saint John’s Sunday Sermon
We are fortunate to
have Bryan’s Sunday Sermon. If you
want people to come to The Truth, you have to speak the truth, expouse the
truth and live the truth. This is really a good piece and I
commend it to your careful reading.
Sermon for Sexagesima
In Daniel 3:8-26, we read where Daniel’s three friends, Hananiah,
Mishael and Azariah (a.k.a. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego) would not worship
the great statue that Nebuchadnezzar had erected on the plain of Dura. Upon
hearing that they had not done so, he called on the men to worship the image as
his other officials had done. They, however, continued steadfast in their
faithfulness to the LORD and refused the king’s command. Angered by their
resistance, the king threatened them saying, but if ye worship not, ye shall be
cast the same hour into the midst of a burning fiery furnace, and who is that
God that shall deliver you out of my hands (v.15)? Undeterred, the men
responded, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter. If it be so, our
God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he
will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. But if not, be it known unto thee, O
king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou
hast set up (vv.16-18).
We know that God did indeed deliver them from the effects of the
furnace much to the amazement of Nebuchadnezzar and his officials. The power of
God is greater than any other in either the heavens, or on the earth. That
should be of great comfort to us for even though God may permit us to go
through difficult times, we know that he is with us. Consider the words of the
23rd Psalm: The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want... Yea though
I walk through valley of the shadow of death, thou are with me. It was likely
that Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah had heard those words before, but their
faithfulness in keeping the commandments of God remained for them first and
foremost. The Second Commandment clearly rejects all forms of idolatry. And so,
when faced with either obeying the pronouncements of an earthly ruler, or the
commandments of the one true and living God, there was no question with whom
they would side.
The Rev. Matthew Henry once wrote concerning this event by saying, “The
worshippers of false gods are not wont to mind charges in settings up images and
worshipping them. Strong convictions often came short of a sound conversion.
Many in a pang have owned the absurdity and dangerousness of sin, and yet have
gone on in it.” In other words, those who worship such things are often
oblivious to the sound doctrines of God. Even Christians are not immune from
idolatry. Any image, artifact (relic), icon, or statue which is worshipped and
venerated is just as devoid of scriptural acceptance as any image or idol of
pagan antiquity. Godly obedience requires us to be stalwart and implacable in
our adherence to our Lord’s commandments.
Now the Devil is smooth in his deception. C. S. Lewis once expressed
the nature of seductive evil in this way in his Screwtape Letters: “If they
must be Christians let them at least be Christians with a difference.
Substitute for the faith itself some Fashion with a Christian colouring...”
Satan has always been about corrupting the faith all the while giving his “amendments”
a good daubing of untempered mortar, or a “whitewashing”, so that those who
have fallen under his influence will not question his changes to the very word
and commandments of God.
The Rev. E. M. Bounds noted that, “The Devil does a big business on
earth. He is a prince and a leader. Men and devils are his agents. The elements
of nature are often corrupted by him from their beneficial purposes and forced
to destroy. He is busy tempting men to do evil... By his schemes, sin seems to
lose its sinfulness, the world is clothed with double charms, and self is given
twice the force. He turns faith into fanaticism and love into hate. A spiritual
character can work through other agencies or directly on the human spirit.
Satan infuses thoughts and makes suggestions, and he does it so deftly that we
do not know their origin.” Think of how Satan got Nebuchadnezzar to justify in
his mind the setting up of that statue on the plain of Dura. Think about how he
organized the worship and the music. It thus becomes readily apparent that such
a powerful man as Nebuchadnezzar believed himself to be the originator and
author of this pious fraud. The Devil took the vision which the king had
received from God (Daniel 2), and which had been interpreted by Daniel, and
turned it into an opportunity for idolatry. How mere thoughts and dreams can be
fashioned by the evil one into blasphemy and degradation.
The Rev. Dr. Merrill Unger once noted that, “Satan and evil spirits are
untiring and ceaseless in their prosecution of enterprises of deception and
wickedness... [they] imperil man’s well-being by subjecting him to
temptation... [Satan] not only takes away the good seed, but sows the tares.
Assuredly this power of temptation is possessed by Satan’s many subordinate
evil spirits, through whose instrumentality he accomplishes his nefarious
purposes.” Still, it is very hard for many Christians to come to grips with the
notion that pure personal evil exists, and that he hates mankind because we are
made in God’s image.
Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah understood what the LORD wanted them to
do in the face of this deception. They knew the commandments of God were
designed to set forth the proper course of conduct for the faithful even as
those around them are falling into Satan’s traps. The word of God is the truth.
It is that moral compass which points us away from evil and keeps us squarely
on the road to God’s eternal kingdom. Our Lord commanded us to, Enter ye in at
the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to
destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: because strait is the gate,
and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it (St.
Matthew 7:13-14). And our Lord also said, No man can serve two masters: for he
will hate the one, and love the other... (St. Matthew 6:24a). The Devil will
seek to divert us from the true path of Christ into the broad way that leads to
Antichrist. The statue at Dura was just ersatz version of God. It was the
insinuated musings of the father of lies who was attempting to turn even God’s
people into his servants via a false or pretended worship of the divine.
Are there plains of Dura in your life? Are there golden idols which
look impressive and have the appearance of deity that you bow before? Are there
things that shine for you in this life other than the living God? Do you
worship mammon? Do you venerate people or institutions as one would venerate
the Lord of all life? Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah were in positions of power
and influence within the court of Nebuchadnezzar. They along with Daniel were
his favorite advisors. But even their earthly positions did not matter when it
came to being obedient to God rather than some temporal ruler. Are you ready to
stand for God’s word written against the temporal rulers in this life? Are you
seeking to do the will of our Lord in opposition to all else? May the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ keep you in all extremity so that you might
stand, and having done all to stand in these evil days.
Let us pray,
|
L
|
ORD, deliver us from all false doctrine, all
idolatry and all deception of the evil one; that we might better serve thee
in this life, so that at the last we might be received into thine everlasting
kingdom; for this we ask in the name of our Lord and Saviour, even Jesus
Christ. Amen.
Have a blessed week,
Bryan+
What is Sexagesima?
Sexagesima, or, in full, Sexagesima Sunday, is the
name for the second Sunday before Ash Wednesday in the Catholic (Universal or Whole)
Church Calendar.
The name "Sexagesima" is derived from the
Latin sexagesimus, meaning "sixtieth," and appears to be a
back-formation of Quinquagesima, the term formerly used to denote the last
Sunday before Lent (the latter name alluding to the fact that there are fifty
days between that Sunday and Easter, if one counts both days themselves in the
total). Through the same process, the Sunday before Sexagesima Sunday is known
as Septuagesima Sunday, and marks the start of the Pre-Lenten Season, which
eventually became the time for carnival celebrations throughout Europe, this
custom being later exported to places settled and/or colonized by Europeans.
While Quinquagesima (50th day) is mathematically correct (allowing for the
inclusive counting), Sexagesima and Septuagesima are only approximations (the
exact number of days is 57 and 64 respectively). The earliest Sexagesima can
occur is January 25 and the latest is February 28 (or February 29 in a leap
year).
The 17-day period beginning on Septuagesima Sunday
spanning Sexuagesima and Quinquagesima Sundays was intended to be observed as a
preparation for the season of Lent, which is itself a period of spiritual
preparation (for Easter). In many countries, however, Septuagesima Sunday marks
the start of the carnival season, culminating on Shrove Tuesday, more commonly
known as Mardi Gras.
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