Twelfth Sunday after Trinity - Propers with explanation – Rev Jack’s Sermon – With Video

 

Rev Jack brings the Propers together today.    His sermon is below the propers and can be viewed on video HERE -> https://youtu.be/M7CeMnOezg8

 

In the Collect, for the first time in a long time, we acknowledge we are continually pray to God, asking Him for what WE want. Yet, how oft do we listen to Him when He responds with what we need?   Very much like in our society today, too many Jews only cared about not violating the Law, not about the spirit of the Law which was intended. People today have a tendency to want to be a law abiding citizen and not break any laws. They forget about the spirit of the laws. In the Gospel, Jesus helped a deaf man with an impediment of speech. It is a parable in of itself. The deaf man is a stand in for us. We who cannot seemingly hear God’s commands, or won’t.

The Propers for today are found on Page 206-207, with the Collect first:

 

The Twelfth Sunday after Trinity.

 

The Collect.

 

A

LMIGHTY and everlasting God, who art always more ready to hear than we to pray, and art wont to give more than either we desire or deserve; Pour down upon us the abundance of thy mercy; forgiving us those things whereof our conscience is afraid, and giving us those good things which we are not worthy to ask, but through the merits and mediation of Jesus Christ, thy Son, our Lord. Amen

 

The Epistle for today came from Paul’s Second Letter to the Corinthians, the Third Chapter beginning at the Fourth Verse.  Paul reminds  us through the Grace of God we can be able ministers of the new testament, on our own we can be in the end no good.  If we are able to completely follow the Law, with good intent, we can through that please God, but inasmuch as that is impossible we fall short.  The letter of the Law, which cannot be complied with is death.  But following the spirit of the Law gives life.  That is Jesus’ message, for in the Law is death and in the spirit life.  For if there is glory in administering the Law, how much more glory is there in the spirit of the Law, which is Jesus’ message?

 

S

UCH trust have we through Christ to God-ward: not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God; who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life. But if the ministration of death, written and engraven in stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance; which glory was to be done away: how shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather glorious? For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory.

 

Today’s Holy Gospel began in the Seventh Chapter of the Gospel according to St. Mark, beginning at the Thirty-First Verse. Jesus came in to the coast of Decapolis[1].   The people brought unto him a deaf mute. Jesus examined the man, put his fingers in his ears, touched his tongue and said “Ephphatha”[2], that is, “Be opened.”  What Jesus did here for the deaf mute physically is what he does for each of us spiritually.  Through Jesus, we hear the Word of God and are given the ability to speak it.  Conversely, there are none so deaf as those who will not hear and none so blind as those who will not see.  It is up to each of us to choose if we will remain blind, deaf and dumb or open our eyes to see, hear and speak the Word of God.  When we receive the gift of sight, hearing and speech we embark on a new life of freedom.

 

J

ESUS, departing from the coasts of Tyre and Sidon, came unto the sea of Galilee, through the midst of the coasts of Decapolis. And they bring unto him one that was deaf, and had an impediment in his speech; and they beseech him to put his hand upon him. And he took him aside from the multitude, and put his fingers into his ears, and he spit, and touched his tongue; and looking up to heaven, he sighed, and saith unto him, Ephphatha, that is, Be opened. And straightway his ears were opened, and the string of his tongue was loosed, and he spake plain. And he charged them that they should tell no man: but the more he charged them, so much the more a great deal they published it; and were beyond measure astonished, saying, He hath done all things well: he maketh both the deaf to hear, and the dumb to speak.

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[1] Decapolis - ten cities=deka, ten, and polis, a city, a district on the east and south-east of the Sea of Galilee containing "ten cities, " which were chiefly inhabited by Greeks. It included a portion of Bashan and Gilead, and is mentioned three times in the New Testament (Matt. 4: 25; Mark 5: 20; 7: 31). These cities were Scythopolis, i. e., "city of the Scythians", (ancient Bethshean, the only one of the ten cities on the west of Jordan), Hippos, Gadara, Pella (to which the Christians fled just before the destruction of Jerusalem), Philadelphia (ancient Rabbath-ammon), Gerasa, Dion, Canatha, Raphana, and Damascus. When the Romans conquered Syria (B. C. 65) they rebuilt, and endowed with certain privileges, these "ten cities, " and the province connected with them they called "Decapolis. "

[2] Ephphatha the Greek form of a Syro-Chaldaic or Aramaic word, meaning "Be opened", uttered by Christ when healing the man who was deaf and dumb (Mark 7: 34). It is one of the characteristics of Mark that he uses the very Aramaic words which fell from our Lord's lips. (See 3: 17; 5: 41; 7: 11; 14: 36; 15: 34)

Sermon – Reverend Jack Arnold - Time and Action

Church of the Faithful Centurion

Descanso, California

Rev Jack brings the Propers together today.    His sermon can be viewed on video HERE ->https://youtu.be/M7CeMnOezg8

 

Today’s sermon tied the Collect, Epistle and Gospel together.  

 

Consider the words of the Collect, wherein we ask God who is … more ready to hear than we to pray, and art wont to give more than either we desire or deserve; Pour down upon us the abundance of thy mercy; forgiving us those things whereof our conscience is afraid, and giving us those good things which we are not worthy to ask …

 

For the first time in a long time, this collect acknowledges we are continually pray to God, asking Him for what WE want.  Yet, how oft do we listen to Him when He responds with what we need?[1]  If we will listen to Him and DO what He asks, He will give us more than we have need of, more than we ask for and more than we can even desire. The point of the collect is that He has unlimited resources for this and also able to forgive us for things of which are bearing on our conscience. Yet, it requires us to listen to Him, then ACT[2]on what we are told.  When we ask His forgiveness, when He gives it, we need to accept it and live it; if we live in the past, we never will benefit. The only place we can accept it is in the present, in the here and now.   

 

The Collect also acknowledges that God is more ready and more inclined to listen to us that we are to pray to Him. That is a sad but simple truth and it reflects His perfect nature versus our imperfect free will nature. We are called to pray to God more often and asking Him for what we need and not just what we want. Want and need are two different words, often used interchangeably which is incorrect. When we do pray to God, He will give us far better answers than we could have ever dreamed up ourselves and if we act upon His Words and take them to heart, the results will be more amazing and epic than we ever could have possibly imagined.

 

As we all know the past has already happened; it is unchangeable. It is set in stone.  The future has not yet happened, but can only be influenced through our actions in the present. This is why worrying about the future and past is pointless. We have to recognize these two facts and carry on with our lives with the lessons we learned from the past. We can’t change the past but we can learn from it. We also cannot change things that are undetermined to happen, We can only influence things in the present.  To use computer speak, the past and undetermined to happen events are read only and not read and write. The present is where we can read and write and make changes to our lives. Dwelling on the past does not help solve the problems of the present or future. We must take the lessons of the past, but then once learned, look no more back but forward to what we can do in the present, the only realm of time in which we can actually influence anything. 

 

How do we learn? Luckily for us God gives us guidance to learn through the Holy Ghost, if we will but accept it.  He gives us the power to act in the spirit of The Law.  The Law or actually 613 little laws turned out to be in of itself a death sentence.  The Jews could not, or would not, comply with the 613 Mosaic Laws, which brought them death.  The Law brought Death, but the New Testament of Jesus Christ brought to us Life, true everlasting life. 

 

Very much like in our society today, too many Jews only cared about not violating the Law, not about the spirit of the Law which was intended. People today have  a tendency  to want to be a law abiding citizen and not break any laws. They forget about the spirit of the laws. Following the letter of the Law does not save an individual, following the spirit of the Law is what counts. If you follow the spirit of the Law, you are following what the Law was meant for.  Jesus is the ultimate embodiment of the Law. As the embodiment of the Law, He gave us the important bits of the law, when He gave us the Summary of The Law, which through Him would bring life, everlasting life and happiness here on earth:

 

T

HOU shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets. 

 

Only two laws to comply with, which though simpler, are harder:

 

1.     Love God

2.     Love your neighbor like yourself

 

There is no getting around these two moral laws; no loopholes in these two laws, they are very plain and very clear.  If you follow those two laws, there is not much other guidance. The Ten Commandments themselves spring from these two laws as a moral base. Loving God and loving your neighbor like yourself will greatly improve your life and others around if you consistently follow it. This is not something anybody can get around, you have to follow them exactly as written.  The Summary of the Law is the spirit of the New Testament, which is we are to love God and love our neighbors. These are both things seemingly contrary to our sinful nature, but with the help of the Holy Ghost, they can be overcome. And they are also both things that will greatly improve our lives here on Earth. If not in a monetary sense, most certainly our lives will be improved spiritually if we follow the Summary of the Law. If you understand the Big Picture, you know what to do on your part of the Little Picture to make your world line up with His World. Our problem is that like the Jews  we cannot perfectly line up our world with His. Because we come from the same common ancestor, Adam, we have the curse of free will. Luckily for us, we have the Holy Ghost. He can be so useful for us, inputting change of course corrections to us. We just need to listen to His input and then act upon it accordingly. 

 

In the Gospel, Jesus helped a deaf man with an impediment of speech. It is a parable in of itself. The deaf man is a stand in for us. We who cannot seemingly hear God’s commands, or won’t. Our speech impediment is that we have sin and that sin causes us to utter offensive or wrong things in our day to day lives. We are asking for Him to heal us of both spiritual impediments. Without His help, we cannot be cleared of our spiritual deafness and uncleanliness.  If we will allow Him into our hearts, Jesus Christ will remove that spiritual block that causes the spiritual deafness and uncleanliness.  We will transform from spiritually deaf creatures to spiritually aware.

 

 

The Holy Ghost is a large part of our spiritual lives. Without Him, we could not be considered one of Christ’s sheep. He is the one who communicates from God to us and how we are to act on this Earth. He helps guide our spiritual paths and advises us on the correct actions to be taken. We have to let Him into our hearts and lead the transforming and renewal of our minds. Without His help, we cannot adequately follow Him. In other words, we are doomed without the help of the Holy Ghost, which will give us His guidance and advice in conducting our church, professional and personal lives. 

 

When Jesus opened the ears and mouth of the deaf mute, He did for him what the Holy Ghost will do for us, if we will but let Him open first our ears to hear, then our mouths to testify, communicate and direct.  We must lead people to God, not try to push them.  Thus, we need to strive, each of us, to follow God more closely so we can pull on the lead rope.  Leading requires being in front of the people you are attempting to lead, having them follow your example towards an objective.  Study Jesus’ life, He is a perfect example of a leader.  We cannot ever be perfect, but we can strive for that perfection in our actions.

 

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

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[1] Herein lies another problem.  If we pray, it seems we continually pray for what we want and we oft want things that are contrary to our actual needs.  Imperfect creatures with free will, a bad combination in itself, we continually use and understand in our hearts two words: need and want, to mean the same thing; when in fact they often mean two diametrically opposed things.  Thus, amongst other things and perhaps before, we need to pray for the Holy Ghost to help us to understand the difference and ask for what we need.

[2] Here we are again, back to the old Action, not Diction, is what counts!

Eleventh Sunday after Trinity

 

Rev Jack brings the Propers together today.    His sermon is below the propers and can be viewed on video HERE -> https://youtu.be/-G8_Q_zixG0

 

Once again, this Collect is kind of a follow-on to the last few weeks’ Collects. First, we acknowledge God’s power which is manifested not in terror, but in mercy and pity on our failures. We should note God has chosen to grant kindness and mercy to us; not the punishment we truly deserve.  Paul writes to tell us we are all equal by virtue of the fact we are hopeless sinners without the saving grace and faith of Christ. It is only through His Faith we are saved. Not our faith, but the faith of Christ who dwells within us.  We need to make sure that our actions lead people towards God and Jesus and not away from them.  If that is not enough to turn your heart, consider the parable of the publican and the Pharisee related by Saint Luke. The man who was proud of his performance was not the example Jesus chose for the one justified, rather the one who acknowledged his failures and asked God for forgiveness and help.

The Eleventh Sunday after Trinity.

 

The Collect.

 

O

 GOD, who declarest thy almighty power chiefly in showing mercy and pity; Mercifully grant unto us such a measure of thy grace, that we, running the way of thy commandments, may obtain thy gracious promises, and be made partakers of thy heavenly treasure; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

 

The Epistle came from Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians, the Fifteenth Chapter beginning at the First Verse.  Paul tells us he is delivering the message he received, the Good News of the Saving Grace of God through Jesus.  He recounts the death and resurrection of Jesus; noting the various witnesses to the resurrection, including himself.  He goes on to say, if he, who he categorizes as the least of the apostles, not even meet to be called an apostle due to his persecution of the Church of God, can be forgiven and work the Work of God, who cannot? It also explains the willingness of the apostles and those around them to follow Jesus unto death.   He was real, not a historical imaginary figure, but a real man, the real God, whose Word was truth and light.

 

B

RETHERN, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; by which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures: and that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve: after that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep. After that, he was seen of James; then of all the apostles. And last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time. For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me. Therefore whether it were I or they, so we preach, and so ye believed.”

 

Today’s Holy Gospel started in the Eighteenth Chapter of the Gospel according to St. Luke, beginning at the Ninth Verse.  Jesus tells a parable to an audience which apparently consisted of some self-righteous people, which likely fits each of us.  The parable is that of a Pharisee[1] and a publican[2] both of whom pray in the temple.  While the Pharisee might well have been a “better” man than the publican, he clearly was not the man he thought he was, for he “prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican.  I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess.”  Quite the holy fellow.  The publican, quite aware of how much he fell shot of God’s perfection stood “afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.”  Jesus told his audience, “this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.”  None of us is truly good, we can only strive to be better and look to our Lord to help us.  Only through Christ will we be accounted as just before God.

 

J

ESUS spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess. And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.

 

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[1] Pharisee - One of a sect or party among the Jews, noted for a strict and formal observance of rites and ceremonies and of the traditions of the elders, and whose pretensions to superior sanctity led them to separate themselves from the other Jews.

[2] Publican 1. (Rom. Antiq.) A farmer of the taxes and public revenues; hence, a collector of toll or tribute. The inferior officers of this class were often oppressive in their exactions, and were regarded with great detestation.

 

Literally a Publican  is one who farmed the taxes (e. g., Zacchaeus, Luke 19: 2) to be levied from a town or  district, and thus undertook to pay to the supreme government a certain amount. In order to collect the taxes, the publicans employed subordinates (5: 27; 15: 1; 18: 10), who, for their own ends, were often guilty of extortion and peculation (defrauding the public by appropriating to one's own use the money or goods intrusted to one's care for management or disbursement; embezzlement). In New Te
stament times these taxes were paid to the Romans, and hence were regarded by the Jews as a very heavy burden, and hence also the collectors of taxes, who were frequently Jews, were hated, and were usually spoken of in very opprobrious terms. Jesus was accused of being a "friend of publicans and sinners" (Luke 7: 34).

Sermon – Reverend Jack Arnold - Time and Action

Church of the Faithful Centurion

Descanso, California

Rev Jack brings the Propers together today.    His sermon can be viewed on video HERE ->https://youtu.be/jsnC100D6mU

 

Today’s sermon tied the Collect, Epistle and Gospel together.  Consider the words from the Collect, wherein we ask God … who declarest thy almighty power chiefly in showing mercy and pity; Mercifully grant unto us such a measure of thy grace, that we, running the way of thy commandments, may obtain thy gracious promises, and be made partakers of thy heavenly treasure; …

 

Once again, this Collect is kind of a follow-on to the last few weeks’ Collects.  First, we acknowledge God’s power which is manifested not in terror, but in mercy and pity on our failures. We should note God has chosen to grant kindness and mercy to us; not the punishment we truly deserve.  In this mercy, He shows His Almighty Power. It is important to note; with all the power in and of the universe, God manifests His Power by showing infinite mercy and kindness to us, not in causing us more tears. He does not act like an imperfect human would in his position. Most humans are not capable of showing such mercy and kindness to others, not without the help of God and the Holy Ghost.  He is far kinder to us than we could ever possibly deserve. He provides the ultimate example of how we should act when great power and responsibility is given to us to handle. Like the servant of Matthew 18:23, we too often we act irresponsibly with said power and responsibility.  Given our fallen nature we choose to cause misery rather than kindness. We must resist this choice and choose to show kindness to others rather than misery. However, if we truly are following God’s will then we must choose to be kind rather than evil, and do good deeds with the help of the Holy Ghost, and resist our fallen nature. This leads into the Collect. 

 

Thus, the Collect goes on to ask His Help in following His Commandments so we might gain the good which comes from following His Will. This is a unifying theme found throughout all of the collects for a good reason. In order to get the good which comes from following Him, we first need to follow Him. We cannot achieve good results if we do not follow Him. Following requires active action as opposed to passive action. Action, not just diction as the tag line to many of my sermons go.  We should recognize the good which comes from acting and choose to continue to act for Him as opposed to our natural tendency to go astray. Following His Commandments is a sure way to stay on the course set for us, if we follow the Scriptures and His Commandments and take them to heart. 

 

We have to not just talk the talk, but actually walk the walk. It can be extremely difficult; but  this is what God has called us to do. He calls us to perform actions in alignment with His Word, in order to spread His Word. We cannot effectively spread His Word if we are not in alignment with His Word.  The reason we have trouble with this is that we are imperfect creatures with not just free will, but manifold, perhaps rampant free will, the norm is to choose what we want, not what we need, then we come to calamity.  We are each grievous sinners, some worse than others, none better.  Yet, we all come before God equal in our sinful state.  In equally big trouble, some more, none less. We are all equal by virtue of the fact we are hopeless sinners without the saving grace and faith of Christ.  It is only through His Faith we are saved.  Not our faith, but the faith of Christ who dwells within us.

 

This is the point Saint Paul is making when he says that first he gave unto us[1] that understanding he got directly from God as to the role of Jesus Christ.  He recounts some of the factual information about Jesus’ time here on earth after the crucifixion, the descent into hell and the resurrection. He confirms the story of the Gospel as told to him. He notes the various witnesses, still alive or recently passed away.  He makes the point we must propagate the Gospel so others might believe. In order to truly spread the Gospel, he infers our actions must be congruent with Scripture. He tells us we are saved by faith alone.  The point is that we need to make sure that our actions lead people towards God and Jesus and not away from them.

 

Our faith?  Partly, but not chiefly and not first. Then, by whose faith are we saved?

 

We are saved by the perfect faith of Christ, our only mediator and advocate before the Father.  It is not by our faith, but the faith of Him who dwells within us, that of Christ. Without Christ, we could not have any faith to begin with. The perfect faith of Christ allowed a single sacrifice to be made one time, to cook the books and account for the sins of all mankind for all time.  His is the faith which saves us and our faith in Him allows Him to operate in us. 

 

Because of their refusal to allow Him in, those who do not have the Holy Ghost in them do not believe in Him. The Holy Ghost will not enter into those who disavow Him. God will not force His Way in. We have to first ask Him to enter, then only then will He enter. God does not force His Way on people and neither should we.  If people refuse, then we should to paraphrase Jesus, shake the dust off our shoes and let them be. We are not called to force our beliefs on those who do not want to hear them. That would be contrary to His Message.

 

Another thing to consider is Jesus is real, He is Who He says He IS.  He is not a fictional character, he is not a great teacher.  He is THE SON OF GOD and He came to save us: body, heart, mind and soul.  There is no other way to view Him that makes as perfect sense as this[2].

 

If that is not enough to turn your heart, consider the parable of the publican and the Pharisee related by Saint Luke.  The man who was proud of his performance was not the example Jesus chose for the one justified, rather the one who acknowledged his failures and asked God for forgiveness and help. This is to point us as an example of who we should be like.  It can be said with confidence it is not the Pharisee. Think of these examples and who would we rather be like, the publican, or the Pharisee?  Remember, the Pharisee’s job consisted of finding clever ways around the 613 Mosaic Laws.  The publican was looking for help in actually following two: 

 

Hear what our Lord Jesus Christ saith.

 

T

HOU shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.    BCP Page 69

 

And, just as importantly, he was not looking for ways around those two laws, he was looking for help to follow God and forgiveness when he fell short.   In our day to day lives, let us strive to be more like the publican and less like the Pharisee. Let us follow the publican’s example and look for help to follow God and ask for His Forgiveness when we inevitably fall short.

 

Let us ask God for the help we need to follow His Will.  For we must have His Help to act as we must here on earth!

 

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

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[1] Though Paul was writing to the people of Corinth, the information is just as applicable to us, perhaps more so now than ever before.

[2] This is the Trilemma of Jack Lewis in Mere Christianity - I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to. 

Tenth Sunday after Trinity

Rev Jack brings the Propers together today.    His sermon is below the propers and can be viewed on video HERE -> https://youtu.be/VULitOjWCtc

 

Once again, this Collect is kind of a restatement of many of the Collects. First, we ask God to hear our prayers, funny in that He always listens intently to us when we pray and we very seldom listen to Him when He answers. It is an odd paradox, He listens; we never seem to listen.  aul reminds us though each believer is different, be in in personality, size, shape or color, in Christ’s church those distinctions are nearly meaningless. In the Church we each have our own differing talents that we can use to further his mission on this Earth. When Luke wrote of the sales in the temple, he had a point. The point was not to preclude jumble sales at church. He is not against the sales. However, what He is against is the cheating in the name of God.  There is more.  Having trouble visualizing it all coming together?  Read or listen to Rev Jack’s sermon.

The Propers for today are found on Page 203-204, with the Collect first:

 

The Tenth Sunday after Trinity.

 

The Collect.

 

L

ET thy merciful ears, O Lord, be open to the prayers of thy humble servants; and, that they may obtain their petitions, make them to ask such things as shall please thee; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

 

The Epistle came from Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians, the Twelfth Chapter beginning at the First Verse. Paul starts off by telling us that no man who “speaketh by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed: and that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost.”  He goes on to say, “Now there are diversities of gifts, but by the same Spirit.” “…it is the same God which worketh all in all.”  Every one is gifted in one manner or another by God, the question really is not do you have a gift from God, but will you use it?  Our gifts are so different in their character that we sometimes fail to recognize them for what they are, gifts from God, meant to be used, not ignored.

 

C

ONCERNING spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant. Ye know that ye were Gentiles, carried away unto these dumb idols, even as ye were led.  Wherefore I give you to understand, that no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed: and that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost. Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all. But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal. For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; to another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit; to another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues: but all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will.

 

Today’s Holy Gospel started in the Nineteenth Chapter of the Gospel according to St. Luke, beginning at the Forty-First Verse. 

 

The Gospel tell of Jesus’ time in the temple wherein he sees the people selling their wares having made the temple a den of thieves rather than a house of prayer and cast them out.  He also predicts the fall of the temple saying it shall be laid “even with the ground, … they shall not leave one stone upon another,” because the people of the temple had rejected Jesus.  The message to those who accept Jesus and his teaching is clear, their temple shall not fall.  The message to those who will not hear his message will never be heard, let alone clear, their first indication of a problem will be when their temple falls.

 

Often people take this Gospel to preclude jumble sales at church.  It does not preclude that.  It does literally preclude cheating people at those jumble sales!  You must understand that the “perfect” sacrificial offerings to God the temple hawkers were selling were perfectly defective “sacrificial lambs” which would be recycled over and over.  Those buying were likely for the most part honest in their attempt to offer unto God that due Him, yet their effort was being diverted and redirected by those “in charge”, the priests and hawkers.  In their very successful effort to make money they were defrauding the people and insulting God in His own House.  It should also be pointed out that a church should be a place of worship.  It may be a Prophet Center, but not a Profit Center[1].  If the building needs constant commercial enterprise, then perhaps the emphasis is on the wrong center.  A church should be funded for its needs by its members and its wants should come much later, if not in fact unheeded.  A church is about Him, not about IT.

 

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ND when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it, saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes. For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side, and shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation. And he went into the temple, and began to cast out them that sold therein, and them that bought; saying unto them, It is written, My house is the house of prayer: but ye have made it a den of thieves. And he taught daily in the temple.

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[1] A fine set of very apropos terms I first heard from Bishop Dennis Campbell in 2011.

Sermon – Reverend Jack Arnold - Time and Action

Church of the Faithful Centurion

Descanso, California

Rev Jack brings the Propers together today.    His sermon can be viewed on video HERE ->https://youtu.be/VULitOjWCtc

 

Today’s sermon tied the Collect, Epistle and Gospel together.  Consider the words from the Collect, wherein we ask God to make us … be open to the prayers of thy humble servants; and, that they may obtain their petitions, make them to ask such things as shall please thee …

Once again, this Collect is kind of a restatement of many of the Collects.  First, we ask God to hear our prayers, funny in that He always listens intently to us when we pray and we very seldom listen to Him when He answers.  It is an odd paradox, He listens; we never seem to listen.  This is why the theme is constant through ought all of the Collects. It seems as if at times we should pray that we should listen; not Him, as He always listens! Nonetheless, we ask His help to ask for those things we need, not those things we want and are bad for us.  We need to be humble when we ask. 

 

What does that word mean?  

 

According to the dictionary, to be HUMBLE means to be:

 

·      Modest

·      Respectful

·      Lowly

Modest - unassuming in attitude and behavior

Respectful - feeling or showing respect and deference toward other people

Lowly - relatively low in rank and without pretensions

 

These are three characteristics we cannot possess in our imperfect state. We otherwise might be like the Pharisees who would make a show of praying in public to appear pious when they were anything but. This perfectly shows why we need the help of the Holy Spirit in our lives in order to follow God’s will! Without the help of the Holy Spirit, we are doomed to complete failure. With the help of the Holy Ghost, we will be set up for much epic success.  To avoid being like the Pharisees, we must recognize that when we ask for His Help that we must recognize the difference between our desires (our wants) and our needs and realize that they are not the same thing. What we need is what God wants for us, the things that will help us and not hurt us. We have to realize what God wants for us is far more important than the things that we selfishly want. And that in the long run what God wants for us will be healthier for our physical, mental and spiritual selves than what we want. Wanting is fine, as long as you are willing to work hard and do it and it is something that is not against God’s will for us. We just have to keep our desires in check and make sure we are not negating our needs for our own selfish wants. We have to balance our desires out with what God wants for us.

 

Paul reminds us though each believer is different, be in in personality, size, shape or color, in Christ’s church those distinctions are nearly meaningless. In the Church we each have our own differing talents that we can use to further his mission on this Earth. He points out that we also have each our own unique role to play in the Church. Each role is necessary for the successful operation of the Church here on Earth. There is not one role that is not important. They are all critical in their own way to the Church’s ministry. Without any one of the role in place, the whole operation falls apart. They are each key to spreading the Gospel to those who need it here on Earth. God has given us each of us excellent talents for a good reason, let us put those talents to use for Him!  If we do not care who gets the credit, then all will be well. If we spend that time instead focusing on getting the job done, we will find that we can get a lot more done than if we spend time worrying who will get the credit in the end. The good results are all what matters in the end and not so much who did what at a certain time. If we remember this, all will be well with our souls. For there is nothing the Church cannot accomplish if we unite through the Holy Ghost and work on furthering God’s cause here on Earth. Our Heavenly Father has given each of us unique talents to be used to further His Mission. Together, our talents can help us as the Body of Christ serve and glorify Him on Earth. 

 

If you will but read the Bible, what God wants you to do will be clear.  It may be hard sometimes, but you will know it is the course of action that you must take. Nothing worth doing is ever easy. If we just focus on what God wants us to do, rather than what we want to do, we will find that our journey in the end will be far easier than if we ignored God and did what we want to do. Let us let the Holy Spirit in and guide us up that narrow up hill path towards heaven.  If you do your best to do His Will all will be well with you.  Death is a pretty hollow threat if you do your duty. If you have done your best, that is at the end of the day, you have done your best to follow Him, then truly you have nothing to fear. Contrast this with the people of Jerusalem. They could or would not see what God wanted for them or now for us.  In 70AD, what had been so hard earlier seemed pretty easy compared to the fix they were in, but by then it was too late.  By then they were left with only “There are none so poor as cannot purchase a noble death.”  But, for most of them by that time they had no will.  It left when they failed to follow God’s Will. 

 

The example of them is a good object lesson for us, to do what we can in the here and now and not worry about tomorrow. It is a good lesson in not putting off tomorrow what we can do today and not to ignore God when he tells us we should do or not do something. We shouldn’t complain if it is too hard for us, because being on God’s side, nothing is too hard for us. There will be a lot of times where we just feel like giving up and that it is too hard. But keeping going is easier than if we just give up. We can’t change the past that is fixed and done, but we can change the future through our actions in the present. So let our actions be good ones, that help the Church on Earth and change the future in a positive manner.

 

When Luke wrote of the sales in the temple, he had a point.  The point was not to preclude jumble sales at church.  He is not against the sales. However, what He is against is the cheating in the name of God.  That is pretty clear. You must understand the temple hawkers were selling perfect defective “sacrificial lambs” which would be recycled over and over[1].  In their very successful effort to make money they were defrauding the people and insulting God in His own House. I think in a way this can be pointed at those who are cheating people in the name of God in our own time, such as Joel Osteen and the like. 

 

To paraphrase Christ, where their treasure is, there will their heart be also.  It should also be pointed out a church should be a place of worship.  It may be a Prophet Center, but not a Profit Center[2].  Similar sounding words, but a totally different meaning for the church.  If the building needs constant commercial enterprise, then perhaps the emphasis is on the wrong center. All of these churches that emphasize quantity over quality should be suspect. It does not matter the quantity, as long as you have a base of quality believers who serve the One Triune God. We need to be concerned more about the spreading of His Word, the constant truth, then focusing on how many people we can attract, and how the message can be changed to suit them. These are both problems with the modern churches today. A church should be funded for its needs by its members and its wants should come much later, if not in fact unheeded.  A church is about Him, not about IT.

 

Do what you are supposed to do when you are supposed to do it.  That is duty.  It does not matter how you “feel” about black or white.  Black is black; White is white.  Do your duty. Work as hard as you can, do the best you can, trust in the Lord.  By the way, cheat no one.  If you follow that, you won’t need to be told, “Particularly in God’s House.”

 

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

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[1] The concept of being truthful in the efforts we make to spread The Word is not a separate subject by any means, but would take more time to talk about than we have time for here.  Suffice it to say that we must take every care to spread The Truth and not what our audience, whoever that may be, would like to hear.  When we bring our “sacrifice” to the “temple” we need make certain it is in fact as perfect as we can make it.  This is so hard that one of the recurring themes of the Collects is asking for guidance to ask for the right things.

[2] A term I first heard from Bishop Dennis Campbell in 2011.  It was a great thought then and a great thought now!