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. How little we need other
guidance, if we but listen to what God tells us.
Consider these words from the Collect:
… the strength
of all those who put their trust in thee; … through the weakness of our mortal
nature, we can do no good thing without thee, grant us the help of thy grace,
that in keeping thy commandments we may please thee, both in will and deed…
This is a little longer Collect
than usual, but in it we acknowledge that God is the source of our strength, as
we are weak and cannot do any true good without His Help; thus we ask His help
or grace to do His Will in both in our thoughts and actions.
And, what is the first action we are to take? To love one another. Saint John pointed out if we do not
love our fellow creatures here on earth whom we have seen and touched, how then
can we claim to have love for God, whom not one of us have seen? We then cannot love God if we cannot
love our fellow humans, no matter how far they have strayed from His path, we
are still to love them and offer them help and help others. Jesus came to
serve, as the ultimate Servant, so must we be also.
We have to truly love individuals. This does not mean
approving of their acts which are sinful and harmful to their health. We would
not condone smoking or homosexual acts or abortion. Though we may know
individuals who do these things, we must despise the sin, but realize that
these people, no matter how truly fallen they may be (remember, some are worse
than others, but none are better. As St. Paul says, all fall short.), are
people created in the express image to God. It is our duty to attempt to shine
the light of Christ to them, that they might see their inner darkness and
return to Him.
However, if they are not receptive, then we must not force
it upon them, as do not cast your pearls before swine, but merely shake your
feet off and walk way. You never know what seeds you plant in your interactions
with unbelievers or lapsed Christians that may redirect them still towards God.
“Beloved, let
us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of
God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is
love.”
God loved us so much He sent His only Son to die for our
sins. That is true love. Not that we love Him, but that first He
loved us! So, if God first loved
us, ought we also not love each other?
No one has seen God at any time.
Yet, He loves us and we say we love Him. If we do love one another, then God is in us, the Holy
Ghost, and we are in Him. Be bold,
the world will end some time, for each of us it ends when we leave here. Fear not, trust in God and dread
naught.
Do not be afraid to love one another, regardless of what
any man says. Do not fear man, only fear God, the great Judge, and Jesus the
Advocate, and the Spirit, the Purifier, Guiding Light. Man can do nothing worse
to us than what God can do. And yet, God still loves us despite all our faults
and having been condemned to death since the beginning of creation with the
fall of Adam and Eve in the Garden. God and His love will keep fear and the damage it does at
bay. Love each other and act on
that love.
To love one another and act
on that love. To consider the ways
we might help others and then actually
help them. It is not a question of
giving, but helping. The rich man
could have helped Lazarus, but it never entered his head. The rich man, like
many of us sadly, only thought of himself. Jesus illustrates perfectly in this
parable what happens when we only think of ourselves and do not help others or
think of others even. The rich man could have thought of poor Lazarus and given
him a place to stay and food to eat and paid for it, like the Good Samaritan.
Instead, he just let him die, figuring that that was the end of him. It turns
out that he was wrong and soon the tables would be reversed. Lazarus was a rather disgusting feature
of his world and when he died, the rich man was pleased not to have to pass by
him. Yet, it never entered into
his head to help.
How is that possible?
Simple, his eye was not on the donut, but on the
hole. The rich man cared about all
the things that don’t count and never considered those that do. Which is as
said earlier, is a problem at that all of us face at one time or another due to
our very nature of being sinful beings. We tend to get caught up in school, work or pleasure and
everything in between and forget to tend to our spiritual health and as you
neglect a plant by not watering it and nurturing it, if you so neglect your
soul, you will have a horrible death. However, if you nurture it and water your
soul by the Scriptures and guided by the Holy Ghost, then you will have an
absolutely wonderful and epic afterlife.
Indeed, between heaven and hell there is a great gulf
fixed. But, you must understand,
the gulf is not of God’s making but ours.
It is us who keeps us from the heaven He offers freely, yet at a great
price.
Put your trust in God and dread naught. Love those around you and act on that love. It does not matter if they are the same
religion as you, but you still must love and act towards them all the
same. That does not mean baring
your throat to the Koran following Muslims; but it does mean treating them with
kindness and charity until you must act to defend you and your way of life from
them. They deserve pity, for as
they follow Allah, that is the Devil, as Christ said “They know not what they
do.” Think how you can help, not how you can “enjoy” life. Helping does not mean simply giving
money to those who don’t have it, no strings attached, although it might at
times. It never means supporting
those who do not feel like supporting themselves. For dependency breeds slothfulness and contempt. Dependency destroys the soul. What is does mean is facilitating a way
for those who do not have to earn what they need; to bring them the means of
acquiring those things which they need.
Those things are spiritual as well as physical. A hand up; not a hand out. You will find out the more you help,
the more you enjoy real life.
Whether it is helping somebody at the office, around the neighborhood or
a friend, I get immense pleasure in the result of helping that person, more
than if I had just concentrated on myself.
This is hard to do. We want to concentrate on what makes us feel good about
ourselves right here and right now.
We have to be coerced into staying on the narrow path upward and
inward. But that is where our home
is.
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
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