Sixteenth Sunday after Trinity

 

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, “…let thy continual pity cleanse and defend thy Church; and, because it cannot continue in safety without thy succour, preserve it evermore by thy help and goodness …”

 

When the Collect talks about the church, just like last week, it is not talking about buildings; it is talking about us.   Each of us; all of us and together.  We need God’s help (pity) to keep the group of us together following His Will, for without His Help (Holy Ghost) we are doomed to utter failure.  We can see this in the church today. The collect says we need His pity to cleanse our church of error and keep it on the straight and narrow. For without the cleansing effect of His pity and help of the Holy Ghost, error creeps in and corrupts the Church. We can see this today as many churches are leaving the Bible used for over 2,000 years and are adopting pagan doctrines in their services like the Episcopal Church and defying the main point of Scripture which is that Jesus is the Son of God and that He died for our sins. They are using ‘Bibles’ which no longer conform to the Holy Scriptures Christians have been using for the past two millennia, but are something influenced by man’s desires instead of God’s desires.  When they leave the theology Christ gave to us, they soon find they are on a broad easy path paved with pagan theology.  This corruption is not easy to spot unless you have the Holy Ghost within you and have read an actual translation of the Bible not a “Bible” that is copyrighted by Man. The copyrights are another way to tell the Bible is false. For the true Word of God is not copyrighted and owned by man, but is Gods word, free to use and spread around the world. 

 

The problem is Heaven is at the end of a hard and narrow uphill trail.  The easy downhill trail does not lead to the summit.  That seemingly easy way leads to The Pit. This proves the truth of this collect, that without His help, we are doomed. With His help, we are set for success for evermore.  He offers; do we accept?

 

Saint Paul points out if we will open our hearts to God, He will send the Holy Ghost to fill our hearts with Love, Courage, Inspiration, Tenacity and Confidence, all of the good traits that will help our character development. Once the Holy Ghost enters into us, we will know the full dimensions of Christ, the height, width and depth of His love for us, and this fullness will fill us to our content, and we will want to spread that Good News and Love of Him to others.  Without the Holy Ghost, we are doomed. But with the Holy Ghost acting in us, there is nothing that we cannot accomplish for Him. We have to recognize this and make the decision to allow Him into our hearts.

 

Allowing His love for us to enter into our hearts is part of the Good News. The Good News is that He died for us so we might have eternal life, a happier life here and a happier life after our life here.  But the key is we have to first open our hearts to God. We cannot have any of these positive characteristics if we do not allow Him in. We have to be humble and realize we cannot get through life without these characteristics, which means we cannot have a good and successful life without His Help. 

 

He offers all of these things for our benefit, so we will be successful for Him. We have to accept this offer by opening our hearts to Him.  One of my favorite cartoon strips Calvin and Hobbes, oft has great moral lessons.   Calvin’s dad so very often reminds Calvin that doing one’s duty in the face of adversity builds character.  It also strengths the soul building trust in God.  If we will open our hearts to Him, our ears will hear the command “… Arise.”  When we rise, we rise with the confidence of immortals and can conquer any obstacle. We will have died in our old sinful ways and be resurrected like our Lord in a new spirit and a new birth of everlasting freedom. But, without an open heart, our ears will never hear the command directed to our soul, “… Arise.”  We will be dead to eternity. There are none so deaf as those who will not hear. 

 

All Jesus asks is that we follow Him.  That is all follow Him.  But, words mean something; the word follow is very important.  We have to trust God is like a perfect CFI and if we follow his instructions at the right time, we will keep ourselves from physical and spiritual harm. Like the CFI he is here to keep us from mentally harming ourselves. If we will listen to His instructions, we will keep our mental selves intact and be a lot happier for it. 

 

We need recognize who has the ability, the power, the perfection in leadership and have that trust to say, "You lead; I'll follow." I believe that is what Jesus expects from us in regard to our entire life. We may get out of position or even go lost wingman on the odd occasion, but he expects us to Our very best to follow His lead and stay in position.  Hard to do if your eye is not padlocked on Him.

 

As ministers of our Lord, we have a similar responsibility to those who would follow us here on earth.  And we have to work even harder, for created by a perfect God, we are imperfect creatures with free will.  A problematic combination.  We have to strive to do better than most as we are in a position where people will be watching our actions more carefully than other people. We must strive for a correct attitude, heading, stability and predictability in our path so we can be followed towards that final destination marking a successful mission. We must always be checking our navigational instruments of the Holy Scriptures and our navigator the Holy Ghost, to ensure we are on the right heading. We have to be willing to do actions for Him to show that we truly do have faith and not just say that we have faith. It is a lot easier to say than do, that is for sure.  

 

When Saint Luke relates the story of the Widow of Nain, it is more than just a simple miracle.  

 

In those days, a widow with only one son had little, a widow with no son was in deep trouble.  Jesus took compassion on her and also took the opportunity to make His power evident.  He came to the bier, and touched it saying, “Young man, I say unto thee, Arise.”  The young man arose and began to speak; whereupon Jesus brought him to his mother.  Not surprisingly, news of this event was spread “forth throughout all Judæa, and throughout all the region round about.”  Like the young man, we are dead to eternity until we hear the command “… Arise.”  If we hear and act on that command, we have eternal life, just like the young man, it starts right then! Eternal life doesn't start when you take your last breath, it starts when you take your first breath! Think through your life like it will be eternity and plan your actions accordingly.

 

Also, please take note Jesus ACTED.  He did not just tell the widow He was sorry, so very sorry; He actually did what He could to help her.  He can do more than we can, but we can do more than we do and we can certainly do more than just talk.  Words are very nice, but do not mean a whole lot unless they are backed by actions.

 

If we truly have faith, then we must follow Jesus’s example and live our life like He lived His, with action! We must have good actions that will follow with that faith. If we only speak with our lips and do not have good actions, then we do not have any faith. However, if we do truly have faith, then we will speak the right things and do the right things.

 

Action, not diction, is what counts in the end.

 

Heaven is at the end of a hard and narrow 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

Fifteenth Sunday after Trinity

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, “… Keep … thy Church with thy perpetual mercy; and … keep us ever by thy help from all things hurtful, and lead us to all things profitable to our salvation …”

 

When the Collect talks about the church, it is not talking about buildings; it is talking about us. The church is not a building, it is the army of believers following God. That is the church.  Each of us; all of us.  We need God’s Mercy and Grace to keep us from desiring those things that are bad for us and help us to see we really want those things that are good for us.

 

Speaking of things, just like the Jewish based Christians of Paul’s time, it often seems like everyone has secret rituals, handshakes or hoops they want you to jump through to be really IN.  Paul reminds us that all fall short, and special fancy diets, days or outfits do not change us.  We are all the same sinful human beings regardless of what special fancy days, diets our outfits we partake in. That does not change who we are. God does not require any sort of fancy diet, days or outfits to be IN with Him. In fact, they are rather counter productive to being IN with Him. They are just a distraction from following Him. All He asks is that we believe on Him and His Son Jesus and do our best to follow Him.  None of these fancy rituals churches have are keys to salvation. They are not needed. For the action that led to our salvation was Jesus’s death and resurrection and has already happened one time for all time for all mankind. 

 

Our salvation comes one way, through our Lord Jesus and by the Grace of God.  He is the Way, the Truth and the Life. Nobody comes to the Father but by Him. He is our salvation. He is the living embodiment of the Word of God. His faith has saved us and made us whole, not our faith. But we need to act for Him to show that we have faith in Him The whole Gospel is based upon is. This is the solid foundation, as Jesus Christ is the cornerstone of our faith. We do not identify ourselves by men whose theology we like but by the only man who was perfect Jesus Christ..  And if we follow Him, we have the gift of life as St. Paul explains For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 6:23 KJV)

 

The problem with the folks that identify themselves as something other than Christian, is they lose sight of the simple principles of Scripture and become more like the Pharisees in finding loopholes to get around and they find themselves going down the wide down hill path instead of the narrow sloping uphill path towards heaven. It is so easy to get lost in the ideas of the various theologians, even in that of John Calvin and Zwingli, that you forget that they were doing their best to be known as followers of Christ. They would frown upon those who identify themselves as Calvinists or Zwinglians, and not as Christians.

 

It does not matter whose theology you like the best, but what does matter in the end is that you follow Scripture and God and Jesus Christ. In the end that is what will matter, not whose ideas you liked the best. Neither Calvin’s ideas nor Luther’s ideas can save, only Christ and God’s actions and words can save us and heal our souls. We must be dependent on God and not man for our earthly guidance.

 

For the Holy Ghost would never have us listen to the ideas of man and not God. So, we must take care and review what the leaders of the church say, for there are many who are not listening to God, but only care to please Men to get them to come into their churches. These men are the false prophets Christ has spoken of who disguise themselves as sheep to infiltrate the Church. As the times march on, there will be more of these false Prophets. In the end, people will have to choose who they want to serve, God or Man.

 

Christanity is about prioritization, putting God’s will for us above our own selfish desires and translating God’s will into action in our lives. This is a continual learning process that will occur for the rest of our earthly lives. We need the help of the Holy Ghost if we are to accomplish this. Prioritization can be as simple as making sure you are rested enough for church on Sunday and making sure you are at home on time for that worship. It is about putting what is important (in this case God’s will) ahead of what is not important.

 

Throughout the Bible we are exhorted to respect God, be honorable, work hard and take care of our families.  If we do these things, following God’s Will, our fiscal standing here on earth will be sound.  Follow these precepts, you will never be lacking, but you will never be inordinately wealthy, “Bill Gates rich” so to speak.  For to do that requires reprioritization to wealth in the first place.  

 

The last part of this reading is the one we often have the most trouble with.   We are far too ready to borrow trouble from tomorrow.  Every day, I pray at least twice for help with this.  It is getting better; I am confident on one thoughtful level no good comes of worry, yet I have such a hard time acting on that thought. It is a very difficult thing not to worry, but it is something that needs to be done nonetheless. I find as I trust God more and act upon His will more, I worry less. There is a correlation there I believe. It is a very hard thing to do, but it must be done, to ensure our success in spreading the Gospel and being an effective minister of God. Plus, worrying less will provide other benefits as well, and help us to lead happier lives. When we do what God asks, doing our best and not just saying it, there is not a lot to worry about. Even if there is, we can relax, knowing God has everything under control and He will always give us guidance on how to proceed.

 

God wants you to be happy; He knows what will make you happy.  God does not mind if you have fun along the way, but never pursue fun confusing it with happiness.  In the end, you won’t find either.

 

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

---

^[1] Mammon - a Chaldee or Syriac word meaning "wealth" or "riches" (Luke 16:9-11); also, by personification, the god of riches (Matt. 6:24; Luke 16:9-11).

1: wealth regarded as an evil influence

2: (New Testament) a personification of wealth and avarice as an evil spirit.

Fourteenth Sunday after Trinity

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 is partly contained in the forewords above. 

Today we talk consider The Law and how it failed to solve the problems of the people it was designed to help and think about how getting around technicalities is different than doing what is right.

Consider the words of the Collect, “…give unto us the increase of faith, hope, and charity; and, that we may obtain that which thou dost promise, make us to love that which thou dost command …”

The Collects often are repetitive, in that we pretty much ask the same thing week after week.  Why is that?  We have the same failings and frailty week after week. We are asking Him to make us want to follow Him that we might gain the prize which He has promised us.  That prize is eternal life which begins when we accept it, not when we die. We need to realize this fact and adjust our lives accordingly. We have to shift our focus from the short term to the ultra long term (i.e, eternal) view of our actions. This will help us to become better spiritual stewards of the gifts which God has bestowed upon us.

We are praying for that increase of faith, hope and love, so we can maintain that course guidance.  Just like Paul says, if we do not have these qualities in us, it is impossible for us to stay on course. And we do not obtain these qualities from ourselves, but from the Holy Ghost. We need to listen to Him in order to stay on course. Not just listen to what He says then go off and do what we want to do. He is our infallible navigation aid. He will never fail us. The problem lies more in us failing Him. But with His Help and Guidance we will succeed. To succeed, there must be change on our part, modification of our behavior to follow Him. It requires actual action. This is the constant of Christian living that is unavoidable. 

In order to perform action actions to serve Him, we need the Holy Ghost. However, the question is who will listen to the Holy Ghost? The only people who listen are those who are in need, hurt, pain and despair. Often it is because they, or one of their loved ones, are ill or injured, perhaps near death.  Perhaps they are unemployed or undergoing some family upheaval.  Their situation is less than perfect.  They need help and they know it.  In their own mind, they are the Samaritans of this world. It is no accident Jesus’ parables and stories center on actions, not words, thoughts and meditations.  We need to retrain ourselves to ask for His Help before we are in need, pain or despair. The Holy Ghost can help us retrain ourselves, if we will but let Him in. Actions show who you truly are. Actions show the world who you follow, God or Mammon. You are not truly be a believer if you don’t act for Him. Without action, there is nothing. The key driving principle behind his parables are actions for Him, are those of goodness, not of evil.  Those who believe on me keep my commandments.  

Actions!

Yet, those who turn to God in “need” are no different than each of us.  To quote Paul, “None are perfect, all fall short.”  We, each and every one of us, need God’s help.  Perhaps some need it more, none need it less.

When Luke tells us of Jesus and the ten lepers whom He heals and only one expresses thanks, do you think he is only telling of lepers? It is a metaphor for us. All too often, when God assists us, we do not turn back to Him in thanks, but merely go on our way and credit ourselves for being so smart. One of the lessons is that when God helps us in our lives, we should always take the time to give thanks to Him who helped us and created us.

Through our Lord, God is there for each of us if we will accept His help.  When He gives that help, how do we react?  Frankly most of us just think it our due.  We oft fail to give thanks for all that He gives us.

When we get an answer we don’t expect, do we thank Him?  What if we get an answer?  Do we thank Him?

Like the lepers only one in ten will show thanks for the mercy and help given them.  Rarely do people give thanks for large efforts done to help them. We must endeavor to be grateful for Him and for all of those who strive hard to help us out in our times of need.  In the case of the lepers, it was the Samaritan[1], showing that fancy dress and rules are not as important as doing what is right and being grateful for what we are given.

Are you part of that 10 percent?

Remember, it is Please and Thank You that are the magic words, not Please and I don’t have time for you. 

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

---

[1] Samaritan - Of or pertaining to Samaria, in Palestine. -- n. A native or inhabitant of Samaria; also, the language of Samaria. [1913 Webster]

Samaritans were descendants of those who had stayed behind during the Captivity and had been separated for many years from the body of Judaism.  They had not developed, nor did they subscribe to them, all the rules the Jews managed to invent during their separation.  The main body of Jews viewed them as lesser peoples, not really Jews.

---

[1] Samaritan - Of or pertaining to Samaria, in Palestine. -- n. A native or inhabitant of Samaria; also, the language of Samaria. [1913 Webster]

. 

[2] Samaritans were descendants of those who had stayed behind during the Captivity and had been separated for many years from the body of Judaism.  They had not developed, nor did they subscribe to them, all the rules the Jews managed to invent during their separation.  The main body of Jews viewed them as lesser peoples, not really Jews

Thirteenth Sunday after Trinity

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:  “…whose only gift it cometh that thy faithful people do unto thee true and laudable service; Grant, we beseech thee, that we may so faithfully serve thee in this life, that we fail not finally to attain thy heavenly promises…”

In our prayer to God, we acknowledge that His greatest gift is that we are, through Him, able to give Him true service.  For, it must be understood the only way we can really be happy is when we align our being with His Being.  We must be truly aligned, not trying to get around by using loopholes.  There is a big difference.  We are trying to live by the Big Picture and not worry about little things. Sometimes that is easier said than done.   But it must be done nevertheless. How do we accomplish this? First, we must trust God in our hearts, souls and minds. Then, we can love Him with all our hearts souls and minds, this creates a solid foundation for serving Him laudably throughout the rest of our days. This is the Summary of the Law.

If we are to follow Him truly, we have to truly love Him with all our hearts, souls and minds and to “love thy neighbor as thyself.”  This is the first step to following Him. This is a follow on to last week’s message. This is because the Bible echoes itself at various points, especially in the New Testament. There are many repeating themes in the New Testament; this is one of them. And the gift that the collect speaks of is the Holy Ghost. We need His help if we are to truly love Him with all of our hearts souls and minds. Then, you have to act upon your trust in Him. If you trust Him as a spiritual parent, then just like with your earthly parents, you will take His advice into consideration when acting. 

If we do what we should do, we will follow the little rules as a matter of course.  If we get the important things, the little things will follow soon after. The only rules that are important really come from:

1.     Love thy God with all thy heart and soul and mind;

2.     Love they neighbor as thyself. 

As Jesus says, “On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” He means all of the moral laws and preaching of prophets past can be traced back to these laws, which comprise the basis for all of the laws that would follow thereafter, especially the Ten Commandments.  The 613 Mosaic Laws can call be traced back to these two commandments. They are the basics of the Christian faith; there is no way to get around these two and be within the spirit or the intent of the Law.

The Law failed not because of God but because of the frailty of man. The people spent their time thinking about how to get around technicalities which is different than doing what is right.  In fact people still try to do this with laws of man to this very day. It is inherent in our fallen  nature. Complying with the Law is a different matter than finding loopholes around the Law. The Pharisees did the latter, and we should do the former.

In the Epistle, we are reminded God chose Abraham not because he complied with The Law, for the Law was far into the future.  God chose Abraham because he had faith, put his trust in God and desired to follow Him. This is to be a pattern for us. Like Abraham, we need to have faith and put your trust in God and desire to follow Him to the best of your abilities.   The Law was an aid to man to help him be better when he had difficulty following God’s Will.  

If we do the same and put our trust in God, we will be able to perform the laudable service He so desires for the rest of our days. We have to keep this continuous process of faith and trust going. The best way to do that is to learn and absorb the Scriptures as a whole, to see the large picture of what He wants for us. The Law is a small part of the large picture, when we see how it ties into the New Testament, we have a far better understanding of what God wants in our lives, as individuals. 

However, not everyone on the globe will follow Him, and they will not be truly happy as a result. An example of this are the Pharisees; religious lawyers who specialized in the 613 Mosaic Laws, which brought them death, not life.  Their job was to help people not break The Law without unduly interfering with their lives by forcing them to embrace the intent of The Law.

When the Pharisee of the Gospel asked Jesus what he should do to gain eternal life, the Pharisee correctly summarized The Law: Love God; Love your neighbor.  He would have been fine had he stopped there.  But, he had to show the Son how smart he was.  In doing so, the lawyer was about to learn the first lesson of lawyering, ‘Never ask a question to which you don’t know the answer.’  So, he asked, ‘Who is my neighbor?’  The answer, of course, is everyone but you; the rest of humanity.  But, as was often the case, Jesus presented the story of the injured man helped by the Samaritan, then asked, Who was neighbor to the injured man?

The priest and the Levite would not see the injured man; there are none so blind as those who will not see.  They could or would not follow the second commandment of the Summary of the Law, of loving they neighbor as thyself. Whatever the reason it ended in the same result, they turned their heads away and walked by not even thinking of the injured man and his suffering. They were too prideful to see the truth of loving they neighbor. They were too wrapped up in the riches and cares of this world. 

The material things of this world are temporary and they have blinded and ensnared many. Many of churches (like the Roman Church for example) today have fallen into this trap, caring about their position on Earth more than following God’s clearly stated will.  Focusing on this world, which is only a temporary state, is a foolish and fleeting thing. Things on this earth will corrupt and rust and pass away; but things in Heaven and life in Heaven will never corrupt and pass away. We should focus on things eternal, not on things temporary.  What they should focus on is their eternal life. While they claim to know the concept of Heaven, they truly do not know it or believe in it per se.  For it is action that demonstrates and validates claimed belief.

Those Jews cared only about not breaking The Law on Earth and hoping that flawed concept would bring them salvation. No matter how they followed it, they could not obtain salvation on their own. The missing link to their solution was one that has been here since The Creation: Jesus Christ. They are searching for Him, but they cannot find Him, as He is right under their noses. He is right in front of them, but they will not see Him as their Messiah. So, they are doomed to always looking for Him, but never being able to find Him until they open up their spiritual senses. This is the problem with the World as well. They search for the answers He provides, but they will not acknowledge Him or His solutions.

The world would be better off if they learned the lesson the lawyer learned in today’s Gospel. You will also note the Samaritan, one of those separated from the chosen mass of Judaism, did his duty.  When he left the injured man at the inn, having given the innkeeper roughly two days wages, he said, “Do what need be done, if I owe more I will pay when I pass by next.”  You will note, he put no limit on his duty, he just committed to doing what needed to be done, regardless of cost. 

The lawyer to his credit answered honestly, “He that shewed mercy on him.”  Jesus told him, Go, and do thou likewise.

Right is not a matter of quantum; it is not a matter of majority rules or public opinion; actions speak louder than words. 

Action counts.  For by their actions ye shall know them.  

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

---

^[1] Samaritan - Of or pertaining to Samaria, in Palestine. -- n. A native or inhabitant of Samaria; also, the language of Samaria. [1913 Webster]

Samaritans were descendants of those who had stayed behind during the Captivity and had been separated for many years from the body of Judaism.  They had not developed, nor did they subscribe to them, all the rules the Jews managed to invent during their separation.  The main body of Jews viewed them as lesser peoples, not really Jews. 

[2] Good Samaritan n : a person who voluntarily offers help or sympathy in times of trouble [syn: {Samaritan}]