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 meanings, 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! We are creatures with free will and are not wont to exercise it for God or good. Imperfect creatures with free will is a very dangerous combination. We need His Help to go before and after us to guide us through life, doing what we need to do, not necessarily what we want to do. One of the harder lessons from Scriptures is that what we need to do is not usually as fun as what we want to do, but it is better for us in the end. More importantly, what we need to do is aligned with what God wants for us. So, we require His help if we are to do the things we need to do.
We tend to sometimes think we know ourselves better, however that is simply false. God designed and built each and every one of us. Do we truly think we know more than our Creator? That is the foolishness of our natural inclination talking. If we stop to think, we realize, with the help of the Holy Ghost, God truly knows what is best for us and it will be a lot better for us if we listen to him. If we follow what He wants for us, we are guaranteed to have good results in the long run. It does not mean we will not suffer in the short term; however it means if we follow God's will for us, then we will come out ahead in the end, in our eternal life. In the end will it be our will that is followed or God’s will?
As a matter of course, we will make mischief and or trouble, some of us more than others. God is the ever patient father who 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 correction. He seldom corrects us directly, but allows us to be corrected by our consequences of our bad decisions. If we never got to experience the natural results of our mistakes, we would never learn. 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 do because it was “too difficult.”
The other part of the collect talks about asking God to make us be continually given to do good works. This means to put His Will into our heart and give us a desire to continually do good works for others, by given, the collect means to put a desire into our hearts to do God’s Will here on Earth and part of doing His Will on Earth is performing good actions, otherwise known as good works. If we are followers of Christ, as a matter of course, we will perform such good works as those of which we are capable. However, we cannot perform these good works of our own accord; we need His guiding spirit, so we ask Him to shine and come into our hearts and help us have the mindset to do those good works for Him.
Through consequences of our sinful actions, we know that we shouldn’t do it again. We know, often very clearly, what we want; God knows, always very clearly, what we need. There is almost always a distinct difference between what we want and what we need. God knows what we want is usually not good for us. But what we need is always good for us.
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 we have to listen to what He says and once we listen, then act upon 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. Every day, every time, He will answer our questions, we just need to open our hearts, souls, minds and ears to Him, and after hearing His Answer, act upon it
So, what does Paul tell us in his letter to us? He is callings to a new life, different from our old life. He is calling us to reform and to turn a new leaf so to speak. 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, new everything. We throw off the manner in which we acted before, brashly and sinfully, and put on a new cloak, that of righteousness. 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, to desist from sinning and to do good things for people and for Him. The part about ceasing and desisting from sin is one of the most difficult aspects of putting aside one’s old life. But, it can be done. If Paul can do it, so can we.
This 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; 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.
When Luke relates the parable of the feast, it is more than just a seating 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 raise up his eyes to heaven. We have to be the publican in our dealings with not only God, but all people, 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 harder 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 only 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.
It is very possible to do the good deeds and have fun doing them. The time we spent in worship with the other ministers and their wives at the AOC Conventions in the past 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
[1] 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!
[2] “you all”, normally pronounced “ya’ll”, is clear proof Paul was from the South.
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