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Sermon
- Rev Jack Arnold
Church of the Faithful Centurion
Descanso, California
We are in
the Easter Season which consists of Easter and the following four Sundays,
until we get to Rogation Sunday. This is
a time we should work on centering our lives on the central figure in our
religion, Jesus Christ.
Consider these
words from the Collect:
… who hast given thine only Son to
be unto us both a sacrifice for sin, and also an ensample of godly life; Give
us grace that we may always most thankfully receive that his inestimable
benefit, and also daily endeavour ourselves to follow the blessed steps of his
most holy life …
It
is critical to understand Jesus is the only
begotten Son (John
3:16) of God. He is also referred
to in places as The Word, the means
by which God is given to the world. But,
more than that, 1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and
the Word was God. 2 The same was in the
beginning with God. 3 All things were made
by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. (John 1:1-3) Though the
corrupted versions of the Bible (NIV, NKJV, RSV, etc) have attempted to erase
His Divine Status and the role He plays in our salvation, that does not change
the reality of who He Is. He is in simplest terms, the great I Am.
He was the one who brought light into this World. He has been there
since before the beginning of what we understand to be the Universe. He created this world, it is by rights His,
not the rightful belonging of the Prince of this World. He whom is begotten of the Father is who was
sent to give His earthly life that we might be accounted as perfect at our own
final accounting. In addition, as we
have a dire need of direction, our internal sense of right and wrong so oft
lacking, He came to earth to provide us with a perfect example of what to do,
while we, ourselves, so oft serve only as bad examples. The way He acted and conducted Himself on
this Earth was left as an example for all of us Christians to follow. He is the
ultimate role model for us, who we should strive to be more and more like every
day. As the Collect makes very clear, we
need the Holy Ghost in our hearts to more closely follow that perfect example
in our daily actions.
This
brings us to Peter’s point in the Epistle, Christ serves as a perfect example
for the conduct of our lives. If we are
wrong and suffer for it, there is little honor; for we were wrong. But, if we do right, that is follow God’s
Will, and suffer for it, there is in fact glory, laud and honor there. Jesus went to His earthly death on the Cross
for our failures that we might be accounted as perfect. He who is, was and always will be perfect
suffered great pain that we might live life eternal. If He did that for us, should we not follow His
example and follow His Direction, counting the cost only after the work is
done? He himself had to go through suffering so the miracle of His Resurrection
would occur; if we have to suffer, we can be at least rest assured that He
suffered too and He underwent far more pain and misery than we ever will in our
lifetime.
We
are after all much like sheep, following the lead of those around us; somewhat
like lemmings, it seems. We have great
need of a shepherd to lead us back from the edge of The Pit and to life, back
to those verdant pastures and still waters.
As
Peter referred to Jesus as a shepherd, so does John. There is a reason for this constant reference
to Jesus as the Good Shepherd; He is. He
leads us to green pastures and to beside the still waters. He restores and
comforts our souls, and drives the enemy from out of our souls and minds, if we
let Him. He is the ultimate protector and guide. He will lead us towards the
path to Heaven, we just have to make the conscious decision to follow His
Directions and etch them into our hearts.
In
order to follow His Directions, we have to let go of our pride, vanity and arrogance
and accept His Guidance and teachings of humbleness and humility into our
hearts. We have to realize that We cannot be saved without God’s influence in
our lives. And the best way to let Him in is to accept His Teachings and act
upon them. Continually reading the Scriptures and not only reading, but
learning and digesting is the best way to grow as a Christian. To digest means
to absorb.
If
we absorb His Teachings, we will be more prone to act upon them. Acting is the
key word here, not just talking about it, but acting. It isn’t good enough just
to read the Scriptures and go on our merry way and act like we did before we
read the Scriptures. We have to apply the key principles of the scriptures here
in our lives and shine the light of Christ to those around us.
The
Gospel notes the difference of ownership.
Our true owner will, and I might add, has, given His Life so we might be
protected from the ravening wolves of this world, the Prince of this World. We are cautioned to 8
Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion,
walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: (1 Peter 5:8)
But, sobriety only gets you so far; sheep do poorly against wolves and
lions. Make no mistake, we need the help
of that Good Shepherd. That Good
Shepherd calls to each of us, we need the Holy Ghost in our hearts to hear that
call. Regardless of what you have been
told by those of this world, there is only One God, One Lord, One Savior. Thus, there is only One Flock; there are many
ways to follow Scripture, but they must all have the same general plan. That is the reason for the creeds, the reason
we tell all to compare what is preached against what is in Scripture. We need to daily work towards doing a better
job of following God’s Will.
We
need help, He provides it, we need to accept it.
The
key is action, in this case our action.
We need to actually accept the offered help; like the life ring thrown
to a drowning person, we must grab God’s proffered help, else we profit
nothing.
For there
is much profit, joy and satisfaction to
be found in proper action.
When the
time comes, 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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