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| One Nation, Under God will result in Liberty and Justice for all |
Friday we celebrated Independence Day, 4 July 2014, Anno Domini which
marked 238 years since the establishment of this country on the solid
foundation of Divine Providence.
That would be God.
There
is a marked tendency to think of the Fourth of July as just another holiday,
perhaps special because of the fireworks.
It is not. This day marks
the establishment of the only successful Republic the world has ever seen. It is a special country with special
relationship with God. It is not
that God is on our side, but rather we are on God’s side. If we lose that relationship, we lose
the special nature of our country.
We trust you and your families had the very best Independence
Day. While you were enjoying the
day, we hope you took the time remember the terrible cost of our freedom and
those who paid it for us.
I
commend to you Presiding Bishop Jerry L. Ogles’ Independence Day message:
Independence
Day – 4 July 2014, Anno Domini (the 238th year of American Independence)
And the LORD went before them by day in a
pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to
give them light; to go by day and night: He took not away the pillar of the
cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night, from before the people. (Exodus 13:21-22)
Enshrined in the Foundation Stones of our American Republic are the biblical
imperatives that gave our Founding Fathers the spiritual Light to found a
nation peculiar to all the nations of the earth for Liberty, Godliness, and
Union. The Light was not an `uncertain Light' but a sure and faithful Light of
Truth and Freedom under which nations might find the blessings and beneficence
of Divine Love. Our nation has been subject to many challenges and dangerous
wars, yet, we have always endured every challenge to come smiling through
unscathed and stronger than ever. It has been so because we have not forgotten
the God of Providence and Love that has given breath to our national being. There
has always been that luminous and glowing Light that has forever preceded us in
the day of battle, and trailed at our back during the nights of our hardships.
That Light is Christ!
On
the obverse side of the US One Dollar Bill, may be found the Great Seal and
escutcheon of our Nation. The symbolic nature of all depicted there has a
special significance to our reliance upon that Providential Hand that directed
our steps from the early days of our founding. There is depicted on our
National Seal a Great Eagle grasping, in his left talons, the thirteen
arrows (symbolizing the original
thirteen colonies and the essential power that sustains us). In the right
talons we see the olive branch consisting of thirteen leaves and thirteen
fruits demonstrating that a Godly peace and prosperity is forever preferred to
the resort to war which the arrows represent. Hovering over the depiction of
the Eagle is affixed what we call the "Glory Cloud." The "Glory'
is a luminous cloud containing thirteen stars that also represent the full
number of colonies at our founding. This Glory Cloud is the same as that cloud
which followed the Children of Israel at night in the Wilderness and gave the
Light essential to make their way known. That same Cloud preceded them by day
to lead them into the good path, and to defend against all aggressors. What
would have happened to our nation if we had not had the benefit of that Light
from 1776 to present? Suppose that Light were extinguished and the Cloud
dissipated? What light would we then follow? Has it not already become dim to
our eyes as we turn to the Malthusian philosophy over and above our primitive
faith in Christ?
On
the left side of that same Dollar bill is the Great Pyramid with the Capstone
floating above with the all-seeing Eye. This chief cornerstone represents the
"Stone that the Builders Rejected." It has become the
Chief Cornerstone of our Nation – Under God. (St. Matthew 21:42)
We
celebrate today what we WERE as a nation blessed of God. But we
must also observe this day what we have BECOME and as a time of prayerful
repentance to that Great and Divine Power that made us a nation most blessed
among all the nations of the earth. We have ceased to follow that Glory Cloud
that has attended our National Being from its inception. We have turned to gods
of flesh and of precious metal instead of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob. We have forbidden our children to enjoy that same freedom of
public prayer that most of us have enjoyed when in elementary and high school.
We have opened the flood gates of immorality and enshrined the most egregious
sins in our public laws. How will God respond to our national arrogance and
depravity? Does He not always send forth warnings and lightnings from His Throne
preceding hard judgment? Has He not sent among our coastal and interior cities
the destroying wind and the whirlwind? Have enormous fires not destroyed much
wealth and caused many to flee their homes? Have ravages of sexual diseases not
brought many of our youth to the grave? Has He not spurred the hand of the
sorcerer to supply soul-destroying drugs to our youth? Have wars raged which
have depleted our national coffers and the lives of our best and brightest? Has
He not given us leadership that represents our own demented values? Have we not
ceased to be a Light and City on a Hill that is the envy of the world?
This
Independence Day, America, awaken from your spiritual stupor and look again to
the Lord that has been our Light. Remember the grandeur and righteousness of
our past years, and do not forget the depths of ruin to which we have sunk, and
are accelerating, in our present age. We might remember that hymn written so
long ago of the Kindly Light (John Newman):
Lead, kindly Light, amid th'encircling gloom,
lead Thou me on!
The night is dark, and I am far from home;
lead Thou me on!
Keep Thou my feet; I do not ask to see
The distant scene; one step enough for me.
I was not ever thus, nor prayed that Thou
shouldst lead me on;
I loved to choose and see my path; but now lead
Thou me on!
I loved the garish day, and, spite of fears,
Pride
ruled my will. Remember not past years!
So long Thy power hath blest me, sure it still
will lead me on.
O'er moor and fen,
o'er crag and torrent, till the night is gone,
And with the morn those angel faces smile,
which I
Have loved long since, and lost awhile!
Meantime, along the narrow rugged path, Thyself
hast trod,
Lead, Savior, lead me home in childlike faith,
home to my God.
To rest forever after earthly strife
In the calm light of everlasting life.
Please, America, remember today the God that delivered you from the hand of the
oppressor. Turn to Him in prayer that our moral sense and duty be restored in
the hearts of our people. Pray and fast. Repent and turn. The Light is fixed.
Only our own wanderings have made it appear more dimly lit.
The Anglican Church, being founded on the principal
of one nation, one church, holds patriotism and true love of country in great
regard. It is quite interesting
that the majority of the Founding Fathers were members of the Church of England
and transferred their national church identity to what became the Protestant
Episcopal Church of the United States.
Like Henry VIII and Thomas Cranmer, they saw the need for a national
church. Not a captive arm of the
government, but a link to God for the people of the nation.
We hold our Independence Day dear to our hearts and
it is one of our religious feasts or holidays. A proper Red Letter Day!
The Independence Day Propers are found on Page
263-264.
Independence
Day.
[July 4.]
The Collect.
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ETERNAL God, through
whose mighty power our fathers won their liberties of old; Grant, we beseech
thee, that we and all the people of this land may have grace to maintain these
liberties in righteousness and peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
The Epistle comes from the Tenth Chapter of the Book of Deuteronomy
beginning at the Seventeenth Verse:
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HE LORD your
God is God of gods, and Lord of lords, a great God, a mighty, and a terrible,
which regardeth not persons, nor taketh reward: he doth execute the judgment of
the fatherless and widow, and loveth the stranger, in giving him food and
raiment. Love ye therefore the stranger: for ye were strangers in the land of
Egypt. Thou shalt fear the LORD thy God; him shalt thou serve, and to him shalt
thou cleave, and swear by his name. He is thy praise, and he is thy God, that
hath done for thee these great and terrible things, which thine eyes have seen..
Today’s Gospel started in the Fifth Chapter of the
Gospel according to Saint Matthew beginning at the Forty-Third Verse:
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ESUS said, Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love
thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies,
bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them
which despitefully use you, and persecute you; that ye may be the children of
your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and
on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. For if ye love
them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same?
And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even
the publicans so? Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in
heaven is perfect.
Third Sunday after Trinity
Today we celebrated the Third
Sunday after Trinity Sunday.
Summer is here, but more pleasant than last week with a sunrise temperature
on Mount Olympus of 63°F, by the time church ended the mercury had climbed to 84°F,
all under clear skies.
On
Point
Someone asked, where do the quotes come
from? The answer is from the
people who uttered them. But, how
did you find them? Oh, that. Some from Bishop Jerry, many from Rev
Bryan Dabney, a few from other places, some from Rev Geordie Menzies-Grierson,
but overall mostly from Bryan. He
always has some great ones to share.
On to the On Point quotes –
On love
There are
two kinds of love: we love wise and kind and beautiful people because we need
them, but we love (or try to love) stupid and disagreeable people because they
need us. This second kind is the more divine because that is how God loves us:
not because we are lovable but because He is love, not because He needs to
receive but He delights to give.
Jack Lewis
The
Collected Letters of C.S. Lewis, Volume III
On Sin
[The demon Screwtape writes:] Even of
his sins the Enemy does not want him to think too much: once they are repented,
the sooner the man turns his attention outward, the better the Enemy is
pleased.
Jack Lewis
The
Screwtape Letters
Love thy Neighbor
[One of the
most unpopular of the Christian virtues] is laid down in the Christian rule,
‘Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.’ Because in Christian morals ‘thy
neighbour’ includes ‘thy enemy’, and so we come up against this terrible duty
of forgiving our enemies.
Every one
says forgiveness is a lovely idea, until they have something to forgive, as we
had during the war. And then, to mention the subject at all is to be greeted
with howls of anger. It is not that people think this too high and difficult a
virtue: it is that they think it hateful and contemptible. ‘That sort of talk
makes them sick,’ they say. And half of you already want to ask me, ‘I wonder
how you’d feel about forgiving the Gestapo if you were a Pole or a Jew?’
So do I. I
wonder very much. Just as when Christianity tells me that I must not deny my
religion even to save myself from death by torture, I wonder very much what I
should do when it came to the point. I am not trying to tell you in this book
what I could do—I can do precious little—I am telling you what Christianity is.
I did not invent it. And there, right in the middle of it, I find ‘Forgive us
our sins as we forgive those that sin against us.’ There is no slightest
suggestion that we are offered forgiveness on any other terms.
Jack Lewis
Mere
Christianity
A great
many people want to bring their faith, their works, their good deeds to Him for
salvation. Bring your sins, and He will bear them away into the wilderness of
forgetfulness, and you will never see them again.
Moody's
Anecdotes and Illustrations
As a
shepherd seeketh out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are
scattered; so will I seek out my sheep, and will deliver them out of the all
places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day.
Ezekiel 34:12
Wherefore
ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are children of them which killed the
prophets.
St. Matthew 23:31
Remember
[a] ship is like the Church. It is made for the sea just as the church is made
to be in the world. But when the sea begins to get into the ship, and the world
into the church, the resulting shipwreck will be tragic.
Jerry L. Ogles
20th
and 21st Presiding Bishop Anglican Orthodox Communion Worldwide
Men who are
confident of the future can bear more easily and less painfully their present
troubles; but when they are outraged even by the government what befalls them
is naturally all the more grievous, and by the failing of all hope of redress
they are turned to utter despair.
Procopius
6th
century Anno Domino Byzantine official and historian
I am
concerned for the security of our great nation; not so much because of any
threat from without, but because of the insidious forces working from within.
Douglas MacArthur
20th
century American general officer and war hero
Propers
Each Sunday there are Propers:
special prayers and readings from the Bible. There is a Collect for the Day; that is a single thought
prayer, most written either before the re-founding of the Church of England in
the 1540s or written by Bishop Thomas Cranmer, the first Archbishop of
Canterbury after the re-founding.
The Collect for the Day is to be
read on Sunday and during Morning and Evening Prayer until the next Sunday. The
Epistle is normally a reading from one of the various Epistles, or letters, in
the New Testament. The Gospel is a
reading from one of the Holy Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. The Collect is said by the minister as
a prayer, the Epistle can be read by either a designated reader (as we do in
our church) or by one of the ministers and the Holy Gospel, which during the
service in our church is read by an ordained minister.
The propers are the same each
year, except if a Red Letter Feast, that is one with propers in the prayerbook,
falls on a Sunday, then those propers are to be read instead, except in a White
Season, where it is put off. Red
Letter Feasts, so called because in the Altar Prayerbooks the titles are in
red, are special days. Most of the
Red Letter Feasts are dedicated to early saints instrumental in the development
of the church, others to special events.
Some days are particularly special and the Collect for that day is to be
used for an octave (eight days) or an entire season, like Advent or Lent.
The
Propers for today are found on Page 192-193, with the Collect first:
Third Sunday after Trinity.
The Collect.
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LORD, we beseech thee mercifully to
hear us; and grant that we, to whom thou hast given an hearty desire to pray,
may, by thy mighty aid, be defended and comforted in all dangers and
adversities; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
The
Epistle came from the Fifth Chapter of St. Peter‘s First Epistle, beginning at
the Fifth Verse. Peter tells us to
not be proud of what we have been given, rather to use those gifts to the
benefit of those around us. We
should ask God to carry our concerns and worries so that we might to the tasks
set before us.
We
must pay attention to the world around us and take care not to fall prey to the
devil, for he is constantly looking for ways to help us drift off our path
towards heaven. You must
understand that other Christians come from the same pool you do, humanity, they
have the same frailties and problems you do. Hang in there and do your very best, God will take care of
you in the end. There are none so
poor as cannot purchase a noble death.
Never forget that.
Trust
in God and dread naught.
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LL
of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God
resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble. Humble yourselves
therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time:
casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you. Be sober, be vigilant;
because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking
whom he may devour: whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same
afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world. But the
God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus,
after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen,
settle you. To him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.
Today’s
Gospel started in the Fifteenth Chapter of the Gospel according to St. Luke, beginning
at the First Verse. This is a
story of Jesus, rather than one of his stories. The Pharisees were appalled that those who were particularly
sinners in their very qualified eyes were attracted to Jesus and even worse, he
talked to them, even breaking bread with them. To the Pharisees, Jesus told the story of the shepherd who
loses a sheep and searches for it.
When he finds it he carries it back to the flock on his shoulders. He goes on to tell the story of the
woman who loses a piece of silver and turns her house inside out to find
it. That story ends in a very
interesting word play in English, “Rejoice with me; for I have found the piece
(peace) which I had lost.” Jesus
ends the story with, “there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over
one sinner that repenteth.” Having
said that, there is also joy when we do not sin, but choose God’s way. And we enjoy it more also.
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HEN
drew near unto him all the publicans and sinners for to hear him. And the
Pharisees and scribes murmured, saying, This man receiveth sinners, and eateth
with them. And he spake this parable unto them saying, What man of you, having
an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in
the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it? And when he
hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he cometh
home, he calleth together his friends and neighbours, saying unto them, Rejoice
with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost. I say unto you, that
likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over
ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance. Either what woman
having ten pieces of silver, if she lose one piece, doth not light a candle,
and sweep the house, and seek diligently till she find it? And when she hath
found it, she calleth her friends and her neighbours together, saying, Rejoice
with me; for I have found the piece which I had lost. Likewise, I say unto you,
there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that
repenteth.
Sermon – Reverend Jack Arnold - Time and
Action
Church of the Faithful Centurion - Descanso, California
Today’s sermon brought the Collect, Epistle and
Gospel together and is partly contained
in the forewords above.
Consider these words from the
Collect:
… hear us; and
grant that we, to whom thou hast given an hearty desire to pray, may, by thy
mighty aid, be defended and comforted in all dangers and adversities …
The Collect starts as they often do by asking God to
hear us. It seems to me that this
is rather odd a thing to ask as He hears us all the time; the problem is that
when we need His Help we so rarely ask, then when He answers, we will not hear
Him. That being said, when we do
accept the Holy Ghost’s Help to pray, we can expect to receive spiritual, mental
and physical comfort from God.
But, as the old radio talk show personality Bruce Williams was fond of
saying, “If you don’t ask, you don’t get.” So, ask. And don’t be afraid to ask, as God can help us with
whatever difficulties we happen to be facing. No problem is too big to help,
with God’s help, that is.
When we ask for help and get it, we get great
results. But, when we get those
results, who should really get the credit? As Peter tells us in his epistle, we should not spend or
time being proud of what we have been given, rather we should use those gifts
to the benefit of those around us.
It is a waste of our talent to be bragging about it, but to effectively
use our talents, we should just use it to God’s glory and not waste time with
boastful statements. We could use the time we spend bragging about our talents
more productively, such as using them to further His Glory and Word in this
world. And, when we have troubles, we should bring them to God and ask Him to
carry our concerns and worries so that we might tend to the tasks set before
us. We cannot do this mission
alone, we desperately need His help at all times, which is something everybody
struggles with. But we must ask His help and be willing to listen to what he
says. Often times He answers and we do not hear, due to our selfishness, we
must clear our ears and be able and willing to listen to His response to us.
That is critical if we are to follow the principles our Lord has set forth for
us. The biggest message in the Bible, which repeats, is that actions have more
meaning than mere words. We must try to have our actions fit our words of
belief.
We must pay attention to the
world around us and take care not to fall prey to the devil, for he is
constantly looking for ways to help us drift off our path towards heaven. We must keep situational awareness at
all times, so we do not fall into any of his traps that he has laid out for us.
You must understand that other Christians come from the same pool you do,
humanity, they have the same frailties and problems you do. We all are the
sinful creatures in the pattern of Adam. The word pictures painted of “your
adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may
devour” is both vivid and true! It
is not enough to just not follow the devil and look to him for help. We must actively turn away his so
called help and look to God for Guidance, Help and Comfort.
Hang in there and do your very
best, God will take care of you in the end. There are none so poor as cannot purchase a noble
death. Never ever forget that.
Trust in God and dread naught.
For there are sufficient evils to the day thereof, as Christ said (Matthew 6:34
KJV)
When Saint Luke tells that Jesus not only talked to
“sinners” but broke bread and ate with them, he related a story that was a
particular concern to the Pharisees.
They were quite appalled that those who were particularly sinners in their
very qualified eyes were attracted to Jesus. They knew a sinner when they saw one (except in the mirror)
and were quite certain sinners would never get in to heaven. But, not only did Jesus appeal to the
sinners, He even talked to them.
My goodness, He went so far as to break bread with them and engage them
in conversation at meat!
This really bothered the the Pharisees who thought
they knew everything there was to know about the Law. They counted upon the Law
saving them. They were wrong, as it is Our Lord Jesus who saves, and the fact
he talks and engages the sinners, meant that He cares for each person in this
World deeply, and loves them enough to die for them. All they have to do is
accept Him and follow Him. The Pharisees just could not grasp this.
With a clear view of the inner most thoughts of their
hearts, Jesus the Pharisees the story of the shepherd who loses a sheep and
searches for it. When he finds it
he carries it back to the flock on his shoulders. He goes on to tell the story of the woman who loses a piece
of silver and turns her house inside out to find it. That story ends in a very interesting word play in English,
“Rejoice with me; for I have found the piece (peace) which I had lost.” Jesus ends the story with, “there is
joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth.”
The
moral of the parable is that Jesus is all about saving the sinners, not those
who are already “righteous.” But for us, there are none who are already
“righteous.” I liken the church as a hospital for sinners. And all of the
saints were sinners in the past too, to paraphrase my mother. Having said that,
there is also joy when we do not sin, but choose God’s way. And we enjoy it more also. So it is
preferable if we do not sin in the first place, but if we can’t do that, then
God finds joy when we truly repent and turn back to Him and ask for His help
and be willing to listen.
Notice Jesus’ actions when He finds a lost sheep, He
carries it back to the flock on His shoulders with a smile on His face. He
rejoices in each lost soul saved. This is what the Church is about, bringing
lost souls to Our Sheppard of Souls, Our Savior, Our Advocate, Jesus Christ, to
His Kingdom of Heavenly Joys.
Heaven is at the end of an
uphill trail. The easy downhill
trail does not lead to the summit.
The time is now, not tomorrow. The time has come, indeed. How will you ACT?
It is by our actions we are known.
Be of God - Live of God - Act of God
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 Bible and Life Healing
Romans 12:2
Third Sunday after Trinity
July 6, 2014
“Be not conformed to this world, but be ye
transformed by the renewing of your mind.”
Romans 12:2
I have been talking about healing in the human
soul. By that I mean healing of
the inner person that affects the direction and quality of the whole person and
the whole life. I am talking about
healing lives from the inside out.
Last Sunday I said all real healing begins with the atonement of
Christ. He forgives our sins and
puts us on a new path in life that leads to wholeness and wellness of
life. I also said deciding to
follow Christ is the beginning of healing, not the end. There are many surgeries and therapies
and medications yet to come. And,
just as in physical healing, we must take our treatments in order to get well.
We all have a natural tendency to adopt behaviours
that are self-destructive. We
allow these behaviours to become habits, and we allow these habits to become
life-styles. Sometimes, when we
get so deep in them we grow weary of their destructive influence and results,
we want to change. We want to heal
our lives. We think healing is
simply a matter of changing our behaviour. But we find our behaviour doesn’t
change until we change our minds about that behaviour. I am talking about life changes here. I am not talking about just not drinking
coffee before bed so you can sleep better. I am talking about much more serious things. And before we can make radical changes
in our lives we have to make radical changes in our minds. We have to change the way we
think. We have to change what we
think about. We have to change our
values and goals and hopes.
Otherwise we will continue to fall back into the same old patterns of
life that tear our lives apart and make us sick in our souls.
So I am making a claim that a major part of God’s
treatments for healing lives is mental.
It involves changing the way we think, and what we think about. When we let God change our minds, our
lives will follow and we will begin to experience wholeness and wellness in
life.
I need to make clear here that I am not saying God
wants to heal every physical disease.
I am not saying He wants to make you wealthy in the goods of this
world. I am not saying He is going
to avert the hard things of life so you will never experience sorrows and
trials and tribulations that are a natural part of life. In fact, it is because others preach
such things that I have decided to attempt to counter their claims with
Biblical truth. That is one of the
purposes of this series of sermons.
But the other purpose is to show that there is help in God in this
life. There is hope for change and
healing in our beings, our souls.
And there is hope and help for living a better life that leads us way
from destructive ideas and actions and replaces them with edifying and
constructive thoughts and behaviours.
Much of this life healing begins with the way we
think. We can easily see this in
the relationship between doctrine and practice in church. If you adopt the doctrine that
Christianity is a feeling, you are going to adopt practices designed to work
feelings in you. We see this in
much of the contemporary church movement, but it is nothing new. It was a major problem in the Apostolic
era, as we see in the New Testament books of First and Second Corinthians. If we think Christianity is all about
getting our miracles from God, we are going to spend our time praying for
miracles instead of doing the things that promote faith and holiness of life. A person whose marriage is drifting
will simply pray for a miracle to bring it back together instead of doing the
things that strengthen the marital bonds.
A person whose faith is weak will pray for a miracle from God to infuse
faith into him rather than doing the things that cause faith to grow.
So, if we want to see our lives changed, if we want
to see our lives healed, different, better, we need to know that healing begins
in our minds. Romans 12:2 tells
us, “be ye transformed by the renewing of your minds.” And this renewing of your mind is
primarily accomplished by spending time in the Bible.
I know people who have listened to pop music daily
for decades. They know pop. They can tell you who wrote the songs,
what bands performed them, and what years they were produced. And, of course, they have memorised
every word. They know them so
well, they can recognize a song if you play only a few notes of it. They are immersed in pop music.
Do Christians know our Bibles that well? There is an old joke about a minister
who announced the sermon for the day was about the sin of lying. He then said, “Raise your hand if you
have read the Old Testament book of Second Hezekiah.” Of course many in the congregation raised their hands, and
the preacher said, “You are the ones I want to talk to. There is no Second Hezekiah in the
Bible.”
I am suggesting that we need to immerse our minds in
the Bible the way some have immersed theirs in pop music or football or
literature or art. There was a
time when young children memorised the book of Psalms by singing them
daily. There was a time when the
supposedly illiterate common man memorised vast portions of the Bible, including whole books such as the
Gospel of John. Some, of course
did this because they were forced to, but others did it because they loved the
Bible and they wanted it to shape their thoughts and attitudes and way of
life. Those who let the Bible
shape their thoughts found that it also shaped their lives. It made them whole and strong in the
soul, and that wholeness made them strong in life. It enabled them to develop healthy, constructive
life-styles. It enabled them to
face the trials of life with faith and hope rather than despair and
depression. If you want healing
and wholeness in life, if you want to overcome destructive thoughts and behaviours,
if you want to replace them with constructive thoughts that turn into healthy
lives, turn to the Bible. Spend
time in the Bible. Do it every
Sunday. Do it every day. It is the primary means of life
healing.
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.
Third Sunday after Trinity
In our gospel today (St. Luke 15:1-10),
our Lord reminded the scribes and Pharisees that God desires all to come to
true repentance and be regenerated. It does not matter what a person did before
this new birth, only that one accept Jesus Christ as Lord and confess his or
her sins to God in his name. If such a confession is made, then God will accept
that person as his own child and love him as he loves every other regenerate
person. Afterward, said regenerated person must seek daily to obey God’s
commandments.
With that in mind, why was
it so hard for the teachers of the law to understand these parables? Weren’t
they the children of Jacob? Did not the Saviour come to seek and save the lost
of the house of Israel? Important questions no doubt, and Scripture has the
answers for all who will listen.
First, let us consider the
following charge by our Lord, If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I
proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me.
Why do ye not understand my speech? Even because ye cannot hear my word. Ye are
of your father the devil (St.
John 8:42-44). The Bible plainly states that we are involved in a great
spiritual war and that we have to take a side. Unlike warfare in our earthly
sphere, there is no middle or neutral ground. You will either be in God’s camp,
or you will— by default— be counted within the camp of the Satan. Down through
the ages, God has called on those who are his to come out from among the
heathen and be separate (see
Deuteronomy 28:1- 68; II Corinthians 6:14-18).
Secondly, consider the
mindset of the scribes and Pharisees. They looked upon their fleshly connection
to Abraham as a sort of free pass into God’s kingdom. They also believed that
sinners and publicans were outside the love of God. They spoke of those hapless
folk as if they no other recourse but to sin: that once in their sins, they
would remain in their sins. Our Lord spoke of their arrogance when he said, The
scribes and Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat: all therefore whatsoever they bid you
observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works: for they say and
do not... all their works they do for to be seen of men... whosoever shall
exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be
exalted (St. Matthew
23:1-12). He then pronounced a series of stinging indictments upon them
as well as their ancestors when he said, But woe unto you , scribes and
Pharisees, hypocrites! for you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for
ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go
in... for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the
weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith... you are like unto
whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full
of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness. Even so ye outwardly appear
righteous... but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity... Ye serpents,
ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell (St. Matthew 23:13- 39)?
It would seem that their
slavish devotion to their tradition along with their lack of humility before
God prevented them from realizing that their Saviour—God robed in flesh— was
rebuking them for their extra-biblical notions and their lack of faith.
Scripture advises us to, Study to shew thyself approved unto God... (II St. Timothy 2:15).
It also tells us that a wise man rebuked and instructed in the word will
increase in knowledge, for he will recognize his error and turn away from it to
righteousness (Proverbs 9:8- 9). Our Lord sought to convict his critics in
their hearts, but they would not turn unto him in godly wisdom. They had
already been overtaken by Satan, who snatched the words of truth from their
hearts at the moment it was communicated (St. Matthew 13:19).
Thirdly, we need to
understand that Satan blinds men’s minds to the truth of God all the while
offering a false sense of security to his charges. We have expressions here in
the South such as: “he (or she) has a skeleton in the closet;” “don’t air your
dirty linen in public;” “people who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw
stones;” and “it’s a dirty bird that dirties in its own nest,” are just a few
of those which have been passed down from generation to generation. Those
expressions have their foundation in the universality of mankind’s propensity
for sin as everyone has done things which they, to a greater or lesser degree,
have come to regret. Only the arrogant and the prideful would attempt to “sweep
such remembrances under the rug” without some form of contrition, or act of
expiation. Many count time itself as an ally. For with its passage, the memory
of their errors seems to fade and are of no real importance to them. How often
have the unregenerate sought to apply their faulty reasoning to God thinking
that he does not see what they have done, or are now doing? So when our Lord
preached to the sinners and publicans of our gospel lesson, they responded to
him by repenting of their evil deeds. They knew they were unclean as did the
scribes and Pharisees. But the real difference between the former and latter
was that former recognized their sins and sought a remedy, while the latter did
not recognize that they too were sinners: as much if not more so than those
whom they had labeled sinners and publicans.
In our epistle today (I St. Peter 5:5-6),
the apostle wrote, All of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with
humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble. Humble
yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due
time. Our gospel lesson clearly illustrates that point. Those sheep that
appeared to have no need of God’s salvation did not realize that they too
needed the shepherd. They thought they were safe. The same might be said of the
nine pieces of silver that technically were in hand. While the scribes and
Pharisees believed they were the safe sheep or secure coins, the reality of
their spiritual states was quite different. The prophet Isaiah (53:6) once
admonished, All we like sheep have gone astray; and we have turned every one to
his own way... And St. Paul advised the Roman Christians (3:10-12), As it is
written, there is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that
understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of
the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good,
no, not one. If the scribes and Pharisees had been godly persons, they would
have heard the words of Christ and recognized that they themselves were lost
sheep and lost coins as well.
God’s only begotten Son came
to seek and save the lost. And we were lost before we received the gift of
grace through faith in Christ, who has paid our debt with his own blood,
freeing us from the bondage of sin and death. We are therefore found: redeemed
unto life eternal as saints of the Most High God. It was nothing that we did
ourselves. Our salvation was accomplished in toto by our Lord’s finished work
at the cross.
The scribes and Pharisees
were not looking for a personal Saviour of their souls, especially one who
would embrace sinners and publicans. They were looking for a conquering Messiah
and a collective redemption based upon their kinship to the Patriarchs. They
did not reflect upon the law of Moses except to point out the deficiencies of
others, but not themselves. Their hardheartedness and lack of humility
reflected their true spiritual natures. Without a doubt, those who were lost
were those who believed they had no need of a Saviour. The prophet Micah gave
us God’s expectation on this matter when he said (Micah 6:8): He hath shewed thee, O man, what
is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love
mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God? Let us close with the first verse from
the hymn Amazing Grace: “Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a
wretch like me. I once was lost but now am found, was blind but now I see.” May
our good and gracious God open your eyes to see yourselves as you really are
and to turn your hearts to true repentance in the name of his only begotten
Son.
Let us pray,
|
H
|
oly Father, assist us
as we carry the gospel to those around us; that such as will hear might also
turn unto thee and be saved; for this we ask in the name of him who came to
seek and save the lost, even our Good Shepherd, Jesus Christ. Amen.
Have a blessed week, Bryan+
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