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Sermon – Reverend Jack Arnold - Time
and Action
Church of the Faithful Centurion -
Descanso, California
Today’s
sermon tied the Collect, Epistle and Gospel together
and talked, as is oft the case, of the need for action, not simply diction.
Consider the words of the
Collect, “… thy grace may always prevent
and follow us, and make us continually to be given to all good works …”
The first thing to consider when
you look at today’s Collect is a word: prevent. Prevent is a word that has many uses, and at least one has
fallen out of general usage as time has gone on. This is one of them.
In this case the word prevent means to
go before. Before you object
to archaic words, consider this is a current word, it just has a use you may
not have been aware of and now you are!
What a bonus for this week!
So, we ask God that His Grace,
His Love, His Power, His Help may go before and after us to protect us and
guide us that we might desire to do what He wants us to do. Pretty much a re-wording of a lot of
the Collects. Why would that be? Pretty simple, our biggest failing is
we are wont to do what we want!
This is a very common theme in the collects and lessons in the
lectionary, for a very good reason. It is is our sinful nature that we have
that causes us to want to do what we want. As we are creatures that have free
will and are not wont to exercise it for God or good. That is a very dangerous
combination, as my father says often.
That is not the same as doing what will provide us with the best result.
The difference is that God truly knows what is best
for us. And that if we follow what He wants for us, we are guaranteed to have
food results in the long run. It does not mean that we will not suffer in the
short term, however it means that if we follow God's will for us, then we will
come out ahead in the end, when we have eternal life. If we follow our
natural inclination, we will not like the end result,that is eternal separation
from God. We are like disobedient
children, and God is the ever patient Father. But, from time to time, we will
make mischief and or trouble, some of us more than others. God has to gently
warn us and allow us to experience the consequences of our inclination to sin,
in order to learn not to do it. This is His form of discipline in a way. When bad things happen as a result of our doing, it is not
His fault that's it happened, but our fault for not having done what we were
supposed to be doing because it was too difficult. Through consequences
of our sinful actions, we know that we shouldn’t do it again. We know, often
very clearly, what we want. For example, one morning I started to lead the
Order of Morning Prayer. My first inclination was to do it without looking at
the rubrics. But after thinking a moment, I realized that this was a mistake,
as the rubrics are there to guide the minister in leading the service. While I was studying for my WGU degrees, I found that if I
didn't adhere to the task rubrics when writing papers, I got my tasks sent back
revision. However, when I did follow them, I passed. So I ended up putting the
rubrics in a document and writing around them, to make sure I followed them. Like
the rubrics, God knows, always very clearly, what we need. But we do not often
know what God wants for us, so we have to first pray to Him to find out what He
wants, then the most critical step of the communications is that we have to
listen to What he says. He is
there, like the rubrics to guide us along our paths in our daily life. So, we need to ask God every day, every
time, for help to do our duty.
So, what does Paul tell us in his
letter to us? Once again, he calls us to a new life, different from our old
life. We shed our old clothes, as
it were, like reptiles shedding their old skin and put on the brand new armor
of light, new helmet, new boots and new everything. A life in which we act in a
manner worthy of the better life to which we have been called by Christ and for
which He gave His life. We are to act in accordance with the new way in which
life, to desist from sinning and to do good things for people and for Him. The
part about cease and desisting from sin is one of the most difficult aspects of
putting aside ones old life. But it can be done. Paul, formerly Saul did it,
and went on to become one of the greatest apostles that served the Lord. So if
he can do it, so can we. And it is made possible by the Holy Ghost, who is our
lifeline to God our Father. Paul, of all people, knows the importance of
setting aside your old life, as Saul did, so that as Paul he asks us to put God
first in our lives, to put ourselves last. He even changed his name to reflect his state as a new man
under Our Lord’s leadership. He reminds us, “There is one body, and one Spirit,
even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one
baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in
you all.” The key to a successful
life is to put the important things at the top of your To Do List. And,
notice it is a To Do List, not a To Think About or To Wait a While
List. It is not a I’ll Get a Round
To It List, or What I Don’t Want to Do List. What is more important than God? It is all about
prioritization, putting God ahead of your wants and desires. We have to make it
so that serving God is our want and desire, then and only then are our desires
aligned with His. We have to accept the Holy Ghost into our lives to do this,
then when we truly have faith, it will show in our actions. Action and not
diction is what truly counts in the end. It is a phase that shows up in the
sermons a lot, but that is only because it is very true.
When Luke relates the parable of
the feast, it is more than just a sitting diagram. I liken it to the tale of
the publican and the Pharisee. When Christ talks about the man who exalts
himself and sits too high at the wedding and thus must be abased. That would be
the Pharisee. When Christ then talks about the man who sits low, and is raised
to the higher station, I think of the publican, who smote his breast and would
not even look up his eyes to heaven. We have to be the publican in our dealings
with God, rather than our natural tendency of being the Pharisee. We should not
be one of those selfish individuals who always causes grief for others because
he is blind to his own faults and only thinks of himself. Again as with the
ceasing from sin, this is one of the hardest things we have to do. But it must
be done, no matter how we feel about it. So let us turn to our Lord to help
with it, because He alone can help us. He can truly
help us, if we are truly willing with our hearts, souls and minds. We have to
be willing to act and do actions, and not just say it. No other expert can help us, no
“theologian” or prosperity preacher can truly provide for our needs better than
Our Lord. If we do what God asks, we will not become like those people. If we
put God’s will before ours, the welfare of those we encounter before ours, if
we hold open the door as gentlepersons are wont to do for others, we will find
we are doing what God would have us do and enjoying it. And that is the best gift of all, the joy one gets from serving others
is true happiness.
It is very possible to do the
good deeds and have fun doing them. The week we spent in worship with the other
ministers and their wives at the AOC Convention proves this. Doing good things
for other people and being with other believers gives me some of the greatest
happiness I have ever felt. This comes from the Holy Ghost, from being inspired
by Him, around other believers. Wherever two or three or gathered, Christ is
there also. It is a wonderful feeling wherever He 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
