Rose
Sunday
We are halfway through Lent, or
close to it, 22 days down, 18 to go.
Many people do not realize that Lent has 40 days, as Sundays are not
counted. Sundays are not fast
days, as we celebrate every Sunday in remembrance of the glorious resurrection
of our Lord. Situated halfway
through Lent, this Sunday is often called Refreshment Sunday after the Gospel,
with the loaves and fishes. The
liturgical color lightens from purple to rose as a break in our fasting. It is also the time when English children
traditionally came home from boarding schools for Easter. It also is observed as Mother’s Day in
England for that very reason and also referred to as Mothering Sunday.
Propers
The Propers for today are found
on Page 130-132, with the Collect first:
The Fourth Sunday in Lent.
The
Collect.
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RANT, we
beseech thee, Almighty God, that we, who for our evil deeds do worthily deserve
to be punished, by the comfort of thy grace may mercifully be relieved; through
our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. 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.
Dru Arnold read the Epistle for
today, which came from the Fourth Chapter of Paul’s letter to the Galatians
beginning at the Twenty-First Verse.
Paul talks about the two sons of
Abraham, one of the bond, one of the free. These two, the bond under The Law and the free under The New
Covenant. The people of old are
the people of The Law, 613 laws by which they must abide. Perhaps more properly said in practice
that they must work around or evade those 613. Yet, they cannot comply with all the laws nor even work
around them. They are doomed to
failure with no help from God. As
people of The New Covenant, the original and real New Deal, we have only to comply with two laws or
rules; To love the Lord with all our hearts and to love our neighbor. Actually, those two are much harder to
fully comply with than avoiding the 613 laws of The Law. But, we have the key – Jesus Christ. He came to earth not only to lead us to
heaven, from the front; but to be a propitiation for our sins, to make us
account as perfect to God to allow us to come into His Land.
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ELL me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law?
For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other
by a freewoman. But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but
he of the freewoman was by promise. Which things are an allegory: for these are
the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage,
which is Agar. For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to
Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children. But Jerusalem
which is above is free, which is the mother of us all. For it is written,
Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not: break forth and cry, thou that
travailest not: for the desolate hath many more children than she which hath an
husband. Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise. But as
then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the
Spirit, even so it is now. Nevertheless what saith the scripture? Cast out the
bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the
son of the freewoman. So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman,
but of the free.
Hap Arnold read this morning’s
Gospel which comes from the Sixth Chapter of the Gospel of St. John beginning
at the First Verse.
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ESUS went over the sea of Galilee, which is the sea of Tiberias.
And a great multitude followed him, because they saw his miracles which he did
on them that were diseased. And Jesus went up into a mountain, and there he sat
with his disciples. And the passover, a feast of the Jews, was nigh. When Jesus
then lifted up his eyes, and saw a great company come unto him, he saith unto
Philip, Whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat? And this he said to
prove him: for he himself knew what he would do. Philip answered him, Two
hundred pennyworth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them
may take a little. One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, saith
unto him, There is a lad here, which hath five barley loaves, and two small
fishes: but what are they among so many? And Jesus said, Make the men sit down.
Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, in number about
five thousand. And Jesus took the loaves; and when he had given thanks, he
distributed to the disciples, and the disciples to them that were set down; and
likewise of the fishes as much as they would. When they were filled, he said
unto his disciples, Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost.
Therefore they gathered them together, and filled twelve baskets with the
fragments of the five barley loaves, which remained over and above unto them
that had eaten. Then those men, when they had seen the miracle that Jesus did,
said, This is of a truth that prophet that should come into the world.
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:
… we, who for our evil deeds do
worthily deserve to be punished, by the comfort of thy grace may mercifully be
relieved …
In the Collect, as is oft the case, we acknowledge to
God our sad state, our evil nature, and then ask God to grant us His Grace to
be relieved of being accounted as evil, rather accounted as perfect even though
we are so far from perfect.
Inasmuch as we are imperfect and
can only be accounted as perfect through God’s Grace of His Son, our Saviour,
Jesus Christ, Paul is right on point when he talks about the two sons of
Abraham, one of the bond, one of the free.
These two are representative of
the two covenants with God, the bond under The Law and the free under The New
Covenant.
The people of old are the people
of The Law, 613 laws by which they must abide. Perhaps more properly said in practice that they must work
around or evade those 613. Yet, they
cannot comply with all the laws nor even work around them. They are doomed to failure with no help
from God. We can choose either to
be people of slavery, enslaved to sin and Satan, or to be free people, under
God and Jesus. We always have a choice, it is on us to choose and decide. But
we must pick a side. We cannot have one foot standing on the slavery side and
one foot on the free side. We cannot just be fence sitters, we must have our
feet planted on one side. From my
view, there is only one side that I can pick, and that is the side of freedom,
of the New Testament offered to us by Christ himself. As people of The New
Covenant, the original and real
New Deal, we have only to comply with two laws or rules; To love the Lord with
all our hearts and to love our neighbor.
Actually, those two are much harder to fully comply with than avoiding
the 613 laws of The Law. But, we
have the key – Jesus Christ. He
came to earth not only to lead us to heaven, from the front; but to be a
propitiation for our sins, to make us account as perfect to God to allow us to
come into His Land.
Now, think about the Gospel. When we need help, how about instead of
worry, we substitute trust and action?
Trust that God will give us what we need. And, then act based on what we can and should do, not what
we want to do. Acting on what we
should do gets results. And these
results may or not be obvious right away, but they will be soon enough. Whereas
if you never do anything, you’ll never see any results of your actions, for you
are doing exactly nothing. If one is disillusioned enough by the fact he does
not need to do anything, I suppose it probably doesn’t matter to that person.
But to us, who feel the acute need to do something, if we do nothing, we are
going to feel that lack of action. Therefore, we are compelled to act upon our
faith. Perhaps not what we want right at the time, but certainly what we need
then and in the eternal future. In
the middle of nowhere, two thousand years from the nearest McDonalds, the
disciples looked to Jesus to fill the needs of their congregation. Jesus took what they had and gave them
what they needed; “for he himself knew what he would do.” He acted to help them. Do ye likewise:
ACT
It is by our actions we are known.
Be of God - Live of God - Act of God
Guest Sermon – Rev Gummapu Anand Kummar
Rev Gummapu lives in the city
of Eluru, Andhra
Pradesh, India. He is 41 years old, married to Vijaya; they have one twelve year old
daughter. A Mechanical Engineer,
Rev Gummapu had been a government employee before he heard God’s call to "Go
in to all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation" Mark 16: 15. After three years of Theological Studies, he came to the
ministry in the Church of South India (CSI) in May of 2008.
We are happy to have his sermon for you:
CROSS AND THE SUFFERING HUMANITY
Jer: 8:18-22 Psalm:73
2 Cor 4:7-12 Mark 10:46-52
Ever since the beginning of Christianity, the cross has been the symbol of
shame and sufferings and following the death of Christ on the cross people have
venerated it in the church. After the crucifixion of Christ the cross has been
treated as the cure and panacea for all human sufferings. Cross gives us a new
meaning of sufferings and by bearing it we participate in the death and
sufferings of Jesus Christ. Cross is not an ornament to wear but an armament to
bear in our body (1 Peter 4:1). By bearing the cross, we bear the mind of
Christ for others. In the film called the “Passion of Christ” the cross stands
for the untold injuries and wounds made on the innocent body of Jesus by the
cruel and carnal enemies of Jesus. Even though it is a re-enactment of what
really happened 2013 years ago in Jerusalem, it is still happening again and
again in many countries where thousands of innocent people undergo mental
agonies and physical torture by the barbarian militants and terrorists.
Cross
also stands as symbol of Christ’s heart-felt passion for the salvation of the
whole mankind. It was the over whelming love for mankind that motivated and
inspired Jesus to take up the Cross and suffer for the sinners. He had a great
passion for people Jesus the Good Shephered came to this world to give fullness
of life for all (Jn 10:10) “No one should perish but have eternal life (Jn
3:16, Matt 18:14).
The
word passion is derived from the Greek Word “Pathein” which refers to the
sufferings and death of Jesus Christ-Acts 1:3, where as in Rom. 1:26, Colo.
3:5, 1Thess 4:5 the Greek word “Pathos” is translated as evil desire or lust in
a bad sense. But here we use the word passion with a meaning of overwhelming
desire for the salvation of human souls shown in the life and work and death of
Jesus Christ. As we go through the lessons we read today, we can see three
distinct areas of Christ’s passion.
Passion for Embalmment
The word
embalmment refers to the acts of reserving and preserving any substance from
decay and degeneration. Carnality and corruption creep into the spiritual and
political realm of our life like cancer and deteriorate the whole fabric of
state and society. Even the church is becoming a cold storage of Christians
whose conscience, moral and spiritual values and witnesses are highly frozen
forming a degraded crowd. In Jer 8:18-22 we find the prophet lamenting over the
pitiable conditions of the people of Israel who is suffering from her spiritual
sin and sickness. He doesn’t find any physician to heal her nor any balm to
embalm her wounds. Gilead produced a medicinal bam noted for its curative
power. But the sickness of Israel could not be cured by it because it was
spiritual not physical. It can be cured only by the precious blood of our Lord
Jesus Christ shed on the cross of Calvary.
“The blood of Jesus, His son cleanses us from every sin” 1John 1:7 Instead of
being a “Saved and saving community of believers in Christ”, our present church
is becoming more and more a “sick and sinking and shining community of nominal
Christians” with regard to our life and our life and witness in this world. The
cross on Calvary challenges us for a meaningful and radical spirituality by
renouncing all our idols of worship, announcing the gospel of the kingdom of
God and pronouncing the second coming of our great physician and savior of the
suffering humanity. It is the need of the hour that we should have a passion
for spiritual embalmment by which our spiritual and moral values and traditions
should be preserved from decay and degeneration for our coming generation.
Passion for empowerment
The Epistle lesson of 2Cori 4:7-12 reveals the truth that our Christian life is
a life of paradox in our weakness. Our human body is frail and fragile and it
is a perishable and breakable earthen vessel in which the great power and glory
of God is stored up like a bomb. When it breaks and explodes, the glory and power
of God is released and released and revealed. God’s reply to the plea and
prayer of St.Paul is that God’s grace is sufficient to him. “ God’s power shows
up best in weak people. When I am weak, then I am strong”-2 Cori 12:9,10.
Likewise when we suffer for the sake of Christ, we participate in his
sufferings, which make us strong and powerful to lead a meaningful life and
witness. The constant dangers, pressures and sufferings in our Christian life
give us constant opportunities to show forth the power of Jesus Christ within
our dying bodies. The crucified and risen Lord still shows his great passion
for our spiritual empowerment through undergoing the untold miseries and
sufferings for the cause of the kingdom of God.
Passion for Enlightenment.
Natural
blindness cannot always be considered as a result of personal or parental sin
but it is an opportunity to demonstrate and reveal the power and glory of the
great healer and savior Jesus Christ as we find in Jn 9:1-41. Where as
artificial blindness that is being blind, heaf and dumb to the needs of others
is a great sin. In the gospel reading of Mark 10:46-52. We find a blind beggar
called Barthimaeus sitting on the roadside of Jericho. When he cried to Jesus
for healing, the crowd rebuked him to shut up his mouth. But Jesus stopped at
his cry and asked him “What do you want me to do for you?” The blind man
replied, I want to see “ His blind faith in Jesus” healed Him. Jesus said ‘for
judgment I came in to this world that those who do not see may see, and those
who see may become blind” Jn. 9:39. Church of Christ should never be a crowd of
followers and worshippers who are blind, deaf and dumb to cries and needs of
the lpeople around but of real followers, true worshippers and living witnesses
of Christ whose eyes are open to behold the beauty of God, hearts are pure,
hands are clean and lives are washed and sanctified by the precious blood of
Jesus Christ. As we meditate upon the passion of Christ, let his Passion be our
passion for our spiritual embalmment, spiritual empowerment and spiritual
enlightenment so as to make the passion of Christ real and relevant to our
present world.
Motto: Christian life is living demonstration of Christ’s power and glory.
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
The Fourth Sunday
in Lent
10 March 2013,
Anno Domini
The Fourth Sunday in Lent.
The
Collect.
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RANT, we
beseech thee, Almighty God, that we, who for our evil deeds do worthily deserve
to be punished, by the comfort of thy grace may mercifully be relieved; through
our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. 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.
1 After
these things Jesus went over the sea of Galilee, which is the sea of Tiberias.
2 And a great multitude followed him, because they saw his miracles which
he did on them that were diseased. 3 And Jesus went up into a mountain,
and there he sat with his disciples. 4 And the passover, a feast of the
Jews, was nigh. 5 When Jesus then lifted up his eyes, and saw a great
company come unto him, he saith unto Philip, Whence
shall we buy bread, that these may eat? 6 And this he said to
prove him: for he himself knew what he would do. 7 Philip answered him,
Two hundred pennyworth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of
them may take a little. 8 One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's
brother, saith unto him, 9 There is a lad here, which hath five barley
loaves, and two small fishes: but what are they among so many? 10 And
Jesus said, Make the men sit down.
Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, in number about
five thousand. 11 And Jesus took the loaves; and when he had given thanks,
he distributed to the disciples, and the disciples to them that were set down;
and likewise of the fishes as much as they would. 12 When they were
filled, he said unto his disciples, Gather up
the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost. 13 Therefore
they gathered them together, and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the
five barley loaves, which remained over and above unto them that had eaten.
14 Then those men, when they had seen the miracle that Jesus did, said,
This is of a truth that prophet that should come into the world. (John 6:1-14)
Our Collect Prayer for today confesses that we are all sinners apart from the
saving Grace of God and deserve no mercy - though we have received mercy. The
only comfort we can take, as Children of God, is not in our good works, but His
mercy and Grace alone.
The Epistle, Galatians iv. 21-31, is my favorite of the Epistles: TELL me,
ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law? For it is written,
that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman. But
he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman
was by promise. Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants;
the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar. For
this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is,
and is in bondage with her children. But Jerusalem which is above is free,
which is the mother of us all. For it is written, Rejoice, thou barren that
bearest not: break forth and cry, thou that travailest not: for the desolate
hath many more children than she which hath an husband. Now we, brethren, as
Isaac was, are the children of promise. But as then he that was born after the
flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now.
Nevertheless what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for
the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman. So
then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free.
This Epistle should allay any growing fears that God’s people are chosen
because of the blood in their veins, but rather the hope and faith that is in
their hearts. Ishmael was the first born son of Abraham and, according to
Hebrew law, should have inherited the blessings of Abraham, but not according
to God’s Law. God had promised Sarah and Abraham a son which would be the
son of Promise. Though Sarah and Abraham attempted to accomplish the work of
God by their own hands (through Sarah’s innocent mistress – Hagar), God took
umbrage at their lack of faith. The Seed of Promise came exactly according to
the promises of God. Isaac was born to Sarah in her old age and his birth was
much like the coming of the True Seed of Promise in Jesus Christ who also came
by miraculous birth. Christ offered what the Law could not – Mercy and Grace.
Ishmael was born under the law and can only offer condemnation. His seed today
are the Muslims of Arabia who have not known a decade of peace since the
passing of Ishmael.
Our Gospel lesson, in my opinion, has a great relationship to the Lord’s
Supper, only offered to the multitudes that would later be left in the care and
oversight of the Apostles. The miraculous feeding of the five thousand men
(and, additionally, women and children) was a precursor to the Lord’s Supper
which Jesus would institute on the night of His betrayal.
I believe that we will all agree that bread itself is an important staple to
nourish and sustain the body. In a broad sense, and in the way that it figures
in today’s text, bread was the paramount nourishment for the disciples on that
mountaintop by the Galilean Sea. Even a morsel of bread, which comes from God,
was important to the Syros-Phoenician woman who pleaded only for the bread
crumbs that fell from the Master’s Table. Bread, and its thousands of
crushed grains (Archbishop Cranmer), represents the body of Christ on earth
today. We consider always that Christ is present when we partake of the Bread
from His Table, It brings us near to Him as we contemplate His promises: For
where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of
them. (Matt 18:20) I am with you
alway, even unto the end of the world. (Matt 28:20) The Bread
which Christ broke at the Supper in the Upper Room represents His complete Body
– even the multitudes that are drawn to Him on this mountain. It is not simply
for those who are appointed as clergy and apostles. His Real Presence is
not in the grains of wheat, but in the hearts of His people that make up His
earthly Body – the Temple of God. That true Bread of Heaven opens our eyes to
the mystery of Communion with Christ just as the eyes of the two men on the
Road to Emmaus were opened at the moment Christ broke, and offered, Bread.
It may be true today that the crowds may follow Christian ministers for the
wrong reasons, just as the Galilean crowds had done, yet, if they receive the
true Bread of Heaven, they shall be healed in more than body and mind. We are
told that the multitudes followed Christ because of the healing miracles He had
wrought on them. It may be true that the work of God must proceed from the
labors of witnesses in feeding the hungry, healing the sick and despondent, and
living among the people by facing all of the heartaches and hardships that they
face in order to make them know the love of God is in our hearts. It is then
that their hearts will be moved to learn of the great Savior who has instilled
in us a love that surpasses their common understanding. It is to be hoped that
the multitudes went away with more than a full stomach after the miraculous
feeding – a heart that has been changed by the Love of God! 1 After
these things Jesus went over the sea of Galilee, which is the sea of Tiberias.
2 And a great multitude followed him, because they saw his miracles which
he did on them that were diseased. 3 And Jesus went up into a mountain,
and there he sat with his disciples.
John the Baptist, the
baptizer of Christ, has just been beheaded. This news must have hurt the tender
heart of our Lord. He was tired. He was weary of travel. He must have been sad.
So he sought a place of quiet and solace, yet, the multitude followed on. His
Heart of such loving compassion could not disregard the needs of those who
followed after Him even if their motives were amiss. Does our AOC church not
face the same circumstances daily? Many abroad, hurting for bread and
sustenance, follow us on the web and then appeal for funds even if they do not
know the Savior we serve.
The next verse seems parenthetical, but I do not believe that it is: 4 And
the passover, a feast of the Jews, was nigh. John felt it
necessary to add this particular detail. He says no more, but there is
obviously meaning attached to the fact of the Passover. It was the same event
that the Lord celebrated in the Upper Room. In fact, Jesus Himself became our
PASSOVER! So, on the eve of the Passover, Jesus here again will offer Bread to
the people.
I would imagine that Jesus had a slight gleam in His eye when He asked the next
question: 5 When Jesus then lifted up his eyes, and saw a great
company come unto him, he saith unto Philip, Whence
shall we buy bread, that these may eat? 6 And this
he said to prove him: for he himself knew what he would do. Here
Jesus and His disciples are gathered on a mountain overlooking the Sea of
Galilee. There are not nearby bakeries of places that sell foodstuffs. So Jesus
presents a testing challenge to His disciples. It was a great company, in fact
far more than five thousand, that approached. It appeared to the disciples as a
gathering army. How could they possible find food for so many; and, even if
they found a source, where would they find the enormous amount of money
required for the purchase?
We find in the response to Jesus query, three distinct responses: the first is
in the response of Philip who was counting on the meagerness of available
provision. He was counting on the LEAST of provisions. 7 Philip
answered him, Two hundred pennyworth of bread is not sufficient for them, that
every one of them may take a little. The people of God often
count the lack of provision rather than the abundance in Christ. Even the
crumbs are enough, why believe that crumbs cannot be made a feast in the hands
of the Lord! We must despise no blessing because of its size. The second
response is that of the disciples: 35 And when the day was now far
spent, his disciples came unto him, and said, This is a desert place, and now
the time is far passed: 36 Send them away, that they may go into the
country round about, and into the villages, and buy themselves bread: for they
have nothing to eat (Mark 6:35-36) When the obligation seems to
great to reach the lost, the church often simply desires to wash their hands of
these troubling poor by sending them away.
The third response is that of Andrew who is always seeking others for
Christ. You will recall that it was Andrew who, being called by Jesus, went
first to find his brother Peter to come and see Christ. 40 One of
the two which heard John speak, and followed him, was Andrew, Simon Peter's
brother. 41 He first findeth his own brother Simon, and saith unto him, We
have found the Messias, which is, being interpreted, the Christ. 42 And he
brought him to Jesus. And when Jesus beheld him, he said, Thou art Simon the son of Jona: thou shalt be called
Cephas, which is by interpretation, A stone. (John 1:39-42) We
named our little church in Enterprise, Alabama, St Andrews because we are to be
seekers for Christ. As rector, I brought none to the church – the youth went
out and invited their friends who came and stayed to hear about Jesus. I loved
them. So, Andrew, true to form, goes on a search the moment he realizes the
need for bread. He is not the kind of fellow to be discouraged at the meager proportions
for he knows that even crumbs, with the Lo9rd, will be made a sufficient
supply. 8 One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, saith
unto him, 9 There is a lad here, which hath five barley loaves, and two
small fishes: but what are they among so many?
Now there is a fourth type of person in the crowd that is not described above.
It is this one response that melts my heart – the little lad who had only five
barley loaves and two fishes, but was willing to share that small provision
with such an immense number. He must have had a heart touched by the loving
hand of God from his mother’s womb. This innocent young knew his bread
and fishes would only be a drop in the bucket to feed so many. He also knew
that there would be scarcely a crumb left for his own hunger; yet, he had seen
and heard Jesus. He placed his innocent confidence in this warm and
compassionate Teacher. So he offered ALL that he had to satisfy the immense
crowd who surrounded Christ. This is the kind of son every parent should long
to have.
Without a further thought, upon hearing of the small provision available,
Christ took action: 10 And Jesus said, Make the men sit down. Now there was much grass
in the place. So the men sat down, in number about five thousand.
Jesus does not make us anxious in feeding us. He prefers that we be comforted
always by His Bread. He has the men sit down as guest do in any home. He also
expects that those about to receive the Bread of Life should do so in good
order, thus we observe a liturgical form of worship. There was a mixture of
men, boys, women and children present, yet there were five thousand men in all
plus those other persons. The Word of God is able to feed all who will come to
be served without limit.
Do you remember that our Lord was baptized in like manner that we should be? In
all, we should follow Him. He also gave thanks for the provision given by the
Hand of His Father in Heaven. 11 And Jesus took the loaves; and
when he had given thanks, he distributed to the disciples, and the disciples to
them that were set down; and likewise of the fishes as much as they would.
Herein lies an important lesson. That which God has given you, you must also
share with others. Jesus gives us the privilege and high honor to be His
servants to the people. Not masters, but SERVANTS. All clergy are servants to
God’s people. When they cease to be servants, they cease to be ministers. Note
also that from the small provision, every one of the thousands seated about took
as much as they wanted. God’s Word is always sufficient for thee. “….My grace is sufficient for thee ….” (2 Cor
12:9)
Quite often, that which comes at no cost to us is easily wasted, but the Bread
of Life comes at an immense cost to God the Father – it cost Him the life of
His only Begotten Son! None of the Lord’s provision should be wasted. 12 When
they were filled, he said unto his disciples, Gather
up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost. Every
soul is precious to God. He will have us lose nothing that He places in our
hand. This is the security we have in Christ. If our hearts belong to Him, He
will never lose them. 13 Therefore they gathered them together,
and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves, which
remained over and above unto them that had eaten. Have you ever
gone out and befriended some hungered stranger? Have you noticed that you may
have approached the fellow with a reluctant love? But do you remember the
heart, brimming with love, with which you departed from him after answering the
needs of his soul. That is the LOVE of god. The more you serve, the greater the
reservoir remaining. This defies the law of physics, doesn’t it; but this is
not a natural, but a spiritual, law.
What result does the labors of Christ and His servants have upon the hearts of
men? 14 Then those men, when they had seen the miracle that Jesus
did, said, This is of a truth that prophet that should come into the world.
That is the result! Faith! When people see what Jesus is able to do through
your own life, they will know Him to be “that prophet that should come!”
Though we may take good counsel from the examples given of the disciple Philip,
those other disciples about Jesus, and of Andrew who sought when the need was
revealed, the greater lesson – in my view – is from the little boy who gave all
in spite of hunger, to Jesus for the feeding of others. He surrendered fully
His all. And he did not go away hungry for, when you give your all to Christ,
you cannot lose. Have you done?
Bishop Garth Neel
– AOC Canada
Today Bishop Dennis
Campbell passed on a sermon from Bishop Garth Neel, of the AOC in Canada. I am confident you will enjoy it:
Only Two Religions in the Whole World
This is a true saying and
worthy of all men to be received, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save
sinners. 1 Timothy
1:15
There are only two
religions in the world. One is that religion that wants to convince you that
you are basically okay. The other is that religion that wants to convince you
that, if left to yourself, you are entirely lost.
The first religion wants
to tell you that, yes, there is God, but that all that he requires of you is
that you should be a decent person. In other words, this religion says,
"If you do this" or "If you do that", or "If you are
just a good person", God will accept you. This religion takes many forms.
But it is simply the religion of human nature. It comes quite naturally to us.
We find it very easy to think that we are not so bad as all that, and that,
yes, if we are just decent, upright, law-abiding people, God will accept us in
the end.
This religion, therefore,
is basically a religion of LAW. It emphasizes obedience, what we must DO on our
own, and what we are CAPABLE of DOING on our own. It flatters us by making us
think that we can, in fact, win heaven by our own efforts. It flatters us by
making us think that we have the power to do all that is required of us. This
is the religion of human works.
The other religion, which
is the religion of the Bible, seems at first to be similiar. It tells us that,
yes, there is God and it does not deny that His followers are to be good. But
it goes on to tell us that this one, true God is a holy God, and indeed,
perfectly so. That He requires not just a general obedience to His LAW, to His
commandments, but absolute and perfect obedience to them, each and every one of
them. And then this religion tells us, much to our irritation, that we are now
incapable of that perfect obedience and will find it far beyond our reach.
This religion, the
religion of the Bible, does not flatter us. Nor does it come naturally to us.
In fact, in our natural state, we shall always find it most distasteful.
Because, of course, it tells us that God will NOT accept us if we just try to
be good, if we are just decent, law-abiding folks. Rather, it tells us that
even the best things we do are tainted by something inside us that spoils all
we do.
This religion is so far
from flattering us with what we can do on our own, that it tells us that we entirely
incapable of saving ourselves on account of the radical sinfulness, that moral
infection of nature, that lies within us. It tells us that if any saving is
going to get done, if any rescuing is going to get done, it is going to have to
be done by God Himself. This is a terrible blow to our pride. But then, this
religion is not for the proud.
Thankfully, this religion,
the religion of the Bible, goes on to tell us that, even though we are
incapable of making ourselves acceptable to a holy God, that same God has made
a way of doing just that. Rather than leaving us in our sins, which would have
been a perfectly just act on His part, He has chosen to save, out of a fallen
race, a great multitude of every kindred and tongue and people and nation. And
He has chosen to save them through their faith in His own Son, the Lord Jesus
Christ, who became a perfect sacrifice for them, fulfilling all the demands of
the LAW on their behalf. By grace, through faith, all that Christ has done is
reckoned over to us. Although even the faith by which we receive the gift of
the righteousness of Christ, is itself a gift.
This is the religion that
says not what you must DO, but rather what has been DONE for you. To the world
it is foolishness. To us, it is the highest wisdom.
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 Fourth Sunday in Lent
In the very first verse of Genesis we are presented with a most sublime
statement regarding the creative power of God. Some years ago I heard it
referred to as In-Your-Face Theology because within that verse God has provided
the reader with two choices: either to accept God’s word as truth, or reject it
as fantasy. If a person cannot accept Genesis 1:1, he or she likely will not
accept the other miracles found within the pages of the Bible.
In St. John 6:5-14, our Lord exercised, on a smaller scale, that same
power of creation as found in Genesis. He took five barley loaves and two small
fish and fed a multitude with food to spare. Events such as this one stand as
testimonies which confirm that God’s provision exceeds necessity. It is more
than a mere subsistence. In the 23rd Psalm we read: The Lord is my shepherd, I
shall not want...my cup runneth over.
Upon every occasion for our worship as a congregation, we offer up to
God our praise and thanksgiving for the many blessings which we have received
at his hands. We accept Genesis 1:1 as truth because it speaks of the creative
power of our good and gracious God. And from that point on, all other
supernatural events do proceed. In that same book we are informed that God made
man in his image and after his likeness. We further understand from the story
of creation all things were made by him. And because of that, we have been
given material items as well as spiritual gifts— whether it is bread and fish,
or the gift of grace. Yes, everything from the clothes we wear, to the jobs we
hold, to the education we have received, it all came from our good and loving
God. Thus it is meet and right that we offer up to him thanks and praise, not
only for what we are and what we have; but for what we will yet receive through
the atoning work of our Saviour, Jesus Christ. What joy there will be for us in
God’s heavenly kingdom, for we have his assurance that he has prepared a place
for us there. That ought to stir our hearts and bring us to our knees in
tearful praise to him who suffered so that we might live with him forever.
Returning to our gospel lesson, we find that our Lord fed the people
both physically and spiritually. They had come into a desolate region to hear
his words of truth and he had compassion on them for their apparent lack of
sustenance. God does not lead his people into the wilderness to die. He
provides for his own. Psalm 37:23-25 affirms this:
The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD: and he delighteth in
his way. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the LORD
upholdeth him with his hand. I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not
seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread. The spiritual aspect
of our feeding comes in our hearing of God’s word written. As our Lord replied
to the devil during his temptation in the wilderness, It is written, Man shall
not live by bread alone; but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of
God (St. Matthew 4:4).
Christ came to bring his own more than the bread of physical
sustenance. He came to make us whole spiritually that we might be redeemed:
cleansed from all unrighteousness and made fit members of his body and joint
heirs with him in God’s heavenly kingdom. Thus by our being baptized of the
Holy Ghost, we are assured of our salvation via God’s gift of grace (see Romans
8:1-17).
The church was established to provide for the spiritual and material
well- being of those who have been born-again in Christ Jesus. Think for a
moment about the work and witness of St. Paul. He had been sent on an
evangelical mission to physically establish and spiritually feed the various
flocks of our Lord within the Roman Empire under the guidance of the Holy
Ghost. Generally, though not always, he came, he set in order, he followed up
as an overseer of the faith and he appointed just men to serve in like capacity
prior to his departure for another locale. And those churches which he
established were not left spiritually impoverished when the apostle moved on
because they were nourished and enriched by the teaching and instruction of
those whom the Lord had called into his service.
God sustains. God strengthens. God increases. It is all due to his
efforts, his will, his choosing. We are but his servants whom he has called out
of darkness into the glorious light of his gospel. And our duty is to serve,
not to be served. We are to work within the church to materially assist any
member of the body of Christ whom God has brought to our attention for such
ministration. It is the church’s duty to look after its own, not the state, and
certainly not the unregenerate of this world. Hear now the word of God, What
doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works?
Can faith save him? If a brother or a sister be naked, and destitute of daily
food, and one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed, and filled:
notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body;
what doth it profit? Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone
(St. James 2:14-17).
And let no man say that he can lay back and become a burden on others,
being able-bodied for it is also written ...this we commanded you, that if any
would not work, neither should he eat (II Thessalonians 3:10). There is no room
in Christ’s church for the slothful, the lazy and the unregenerate in spirit.
If that seems harsh, it is not my word but that of the Holy Ghost via St. Paul
for in the closing of his second epistle to the Thessalonians he said, And if
any man obey not our word by this epistle, note that man, and have no company
with him, that he may be ashamed. God’s sufficiency is for his own first and
then afterward as the Holy Spirit leads you, contribute to those who are of the
unregenerate that the Lord might call them too to salvation through your works.
So, when we consider our lesson today, we find that our God is our
Creator, and Sustainer as well as our Redeemer. He will not lead us into a
permanent state of privation and want, but into provision and abundance. And
though at times we will experience those conditions as part of our training, or
to teach us a lesson that we needed to learn; nevertheless, we know that God
will see us through those times and will lead us to green pastures and still
waters. He will turn our hunger into satisfaction and our lack into more than
what we could ask or imagine, and all because he loves us. But we cannot know
the fullness of his grace and the height and depth of his love without our
being obedient to his word. Ask him to turn your hearts and minds today unto
him to keep his word and commandment that you too might experience the peace
that only he can give, the love which is beyond all else, and the joy of the
LORD which comes with that blessed assurance of salvation unto eternal life
with him in his heavenly kingdom. Please make that your prayer today and every
day.
Let us pray,
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G
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racious and loving God, who sent thine only begotten
Son into the world to serve as a propitiation for the sins of the whole world;
accept our prayers of thanksgiving for the blessings which you have bestowed
upon us, and give us also minds and hearts that are fixed upon thee; for this
we beg in the name of Jesus Christ, our Saviour, Redeemer and Friend. Amen.
Have a blessed week, Bryan+
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