Friday, March 27, 2009
Episode 35: 3/27/09
Readings:
Psalm 107:1-32
Jeremiah 23:1-8
Romans 8:28-39
John 6:52-59
Sermon:
“Truly my soul waiteth upon God: from him cometh my salvation. He only is my rock and my salvation; he is my defence; I shall not be greatly moved. How long will ye imagine mischief against a man? ye shall be slain all of you: as a bowing wall shall ye be, and as a tottering fence. They only consult to cast him down from his excellency: they delight in lies: they bless with their mouth, but they curse inwardly. Selah. My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from him. He only is my rock and my salvation: he is my defence; I shall not be moved. ”
Psalm 62:1-6
Grace, mercy and peace from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Amen.
It is on a solid rock that we, in our faith, must find our foundation, knowing that there we will find our strength and our salvation, that, as the waters of this world rise and the tides beat against us, we may know that we will have our refuge, protected by the love, grace, and mercy of our Lord through the power of His Holy Spirit.
Let’s face it, the world around us, it’s never been a simple place, nor has it been easy for us to abide in, dwelling amidst its stumbling blocks, finding its constant barrage of temptations, seeing the iniquity of our sins and knowing that, though we try, each of us, each and every one of us, we miss the mark and fall short of the glory of God. It can be overwhelming, hard and harsh, full of trials and tribulations that weigh on our very soul, seeking to rob us of our peace and comfort, hoping that we do not endure the race.
It’s a tale as old as time itself…
Consider the story of Adam and Eve and that fall from Paradise as the temptations placed in front of them seemed so overwhelming that they abandoned their trust in God, searching not for His enlightenment or wisdom but rather the knowledge of this world and all the possibilities that they believed it held. Finding it easy to stumble and fall even when all that they needed was right there in front of them, provided to them by the Lord, they would trade His peace and His comfort somehow believing that there could be more out there for them, even when the truth was that all it did was cause them a world of hurt and pain.
Yet, even there, even amidst that first disobedience, God would offer unto them a foundation, a rock that they might anchor their souls to, showing that His grace and His mercy endures forever. Though His judgment through the law condemns, His justice is based in compassion and love, giving a path unto salvation to all who have fallen, never abandoning them, even when they, through their own acts, deserve nothing but the full sentence of His wrath.
Absolution and redemption are never far off within the love that the Lord has for all of us.
It would be a trust that Job would settle his soul amidst even as the turmoil of evil waged unrestricted war against his spirit. Nothing… nothing… whether in life or in death… could rob him of that salvation that he knew he would gain in the precious love of His Heavenly Father and the Redeemer, that Messiah prophesied of even at the time of the fall, who was to come. Come what may, come what must, that man from Uz would refuse to let himself be robbed of His salvation, of his redemption, knowing that though his body could be bruised and broken, though they might be able to take his goods, his possessions, his family, though they may be able to take all he had in this world, they would never be able to rob him of the love that God had for him.
And how much more should we see His miracles, His love, His mercy, His salvation in our own lives. After all, these are our days, not the far distant days of those saints who had come before; those prophets and apostles, those saints and men of God who would rise up in the stories we read of in the bible, according to His will and His design.
Yet, the simple truth of the matter is that we are always the last to see it. We look at our lives and we look at our condition thinking to ourselves this isn’t what I had planned or this isn’t the way that I thought things were going to be. We look around when things don’t seem to go right or when they don’t go the way we had hoped, and we say to ourselves where’s God in all of this? At times we even think He’s not there, either He was never there or He abandoned us to the world and all of the troubles of it.
It is then, in those moments though, that we, as the Psalmist once did, have to cling to the salvation we are given in the Lord through His Son Christ Jesus, it is then that we have to lay hold of the faith we called to in the Spirit with greater strength and vigor, drawing it closer to us as we struggle, knowing we have an ever faithful God who will always be our sure foundation, regardless of what may happen, regardless of what the world may throw at us and the troubles we may find ourselves amidst. That must always be our refuge, that must always be our shelter through the storm.
Just because we say God isn’t there or just because we may struggle doesn’t mean He loves us any less or that He’s not actually there for us. He never fails, nor does He forsake. So wait, holding fast to your faith in all that you are and all that you do, trusting in Him, knowing that He is always going to be there for you, and that when the road is at its worst, when the challenges seem to mount up, when the flood seems to be upon you, ready to wash you away, He is right there beside you to lift you up, to carry you along and to heal the wounded, broken places in your spirit and in your soul.
That, dear brothers and sisters, is our God, a Heavenly Father who loves each of His children, giving unto them the strength they need in their lives as that rock of ages that never erodes and never washes away. We are His and He is ours, and His mercy for us endures forever.
Now, may the peace of the Lord, that peace that transcends all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus even unto life everlasting, Amen.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Episode 34: 3/25/09
Readings:
Psalm 119:121-144
Jeremiah 18:1-11
Romans 8:1-11
John 6:27-40
Sermon:
Then Jesus declared, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.
John 6:35
Today’s Gospel reading continues the story of Jesus’ miraculous feeding of the 5000. The witnesses to this miracle correctly connect it to an earlier miracle in Israel’s history, God’s gift of manna to the wanderers in the desert. They mistakenly think, however, that Jesus has come to provide physical bread for them to eat daily, not realizing the spiritual significance behind the miracle.
It’s easy to see why they would be excited by this sign, and long for a Messiah who would never let them go hungry again. Throughout history, and to this day, bread is considered the “staff of life,” and the times of plenty are far outnumbered by the times of want. Whether because of war, or famine, or natural disaster, a majority of the world’s population finds nothing unusual in being hungry.
We, the fortunate ones, have seen the faces of starvation although we probably will never actually know a starving person. The images come at us through television, the internet, in magazines: the gaunt, shriveled children, their faces reflecting the emptiness of their stomachs. Even worse are the ones who show no expression at all, numb and hopeless. The worst are those of skeletal mothers trying in vain to feed their listless infants, too weak to suckle with cracked lips at the dry breasts that can offer no relief for their gnawing pain; the mother’s despair as she watches the fruit of her womb wither and die.
We see these images and instinctively want to help, and indeed, our government and humanitarian organizations spend billions of dollars every year to buy food for these unfortunate people. Aid workers risk kidnapping and murder to deliver it to hostile war zones and areas of incredible desolation and ruin. And yet it is never enough, the job is never done.
We, who have plenty, think we are immune from famine, that we will never hunger or thirst. And in a physical sense, we are probably correct. But there is another hunger, a hunger of the soul, that only the Bread of Life can fill.
We see it in the eyes of children desperate for love, their eyes reflecting the emptiness and longing of their souls. Even worse are those who are resigned to their fate, turning to drugs and violence to numb their hardened hearts. And worse yet are the mothers and fathers who themselves being spiritually starved their whole lives, have no comfort, no hope to offer their children; watching helplessly as their children’s spirits wither and die as surely as their own did.
This is the hunger that Our Lord came to fill, and which only He can fill. The Bread of Life, the Well of Living Water, is available to all who would eat and drink it. But just as aid workers risk their lives to bring comfort to the starving, missionaries often face incredible perils to bring the word of God to a lost and dying world. It seems like it will never be enough, the job will never be done, and indeed, until Christ comes again, whenever that may be, it won’t be.
But for most of us, we don’t have to risk kidnapping and murder to bring food to those in need. As Christians, we remember the days of our own hunger and the sweet relief of God’s grace. We can remember the joy of feeling our dry, hard hearts become tender and loving, maybe for the first time in our lives. And we can remember the comfort of being able to place our hope and trust in a Heavenly Father who will always be able to provide for His children, no matter how difficult the circumstances.
As we remember all this, let it fill our hearts with an overflowing love for a starving world, whether in foreign lands or in our neighborhoods or even in our own families. Let us offer them Jesus, the Living Bread, so they will never hunger and thirst again.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Psalm 119:121-144
Jeremiah 18:1-11
Romans 8:1-11
John 6:27-40
Sermon:
Then Jesus declared, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.
John 6:35
Today’s Gospel reading continues the story of Jesus’ miraculous feeding of the 5000. The witnesses to this miracle correctly connect it to an earlier miracle in Israel’s history, God’s gift of manna to the wanderers in the desert. They mistakenly think, however, that Jesus has come to provide physical bread for them to eat daily, not realizing the spiritual significance behind the miracle.
It’s easy to see why they would be excited by this sign, and long for a Messiah who would never let them go hungry again. Throughout history, and to this day, bread is considered the “staff of life,” and the times of plenty are far outnumbered by the times of want. Whether because of war, or famine, or natural disaster, a majority of the world’s population finds nothing unusual in being hungry.
We, the fortunate ones, have seen the faces of starvation although we probably will never actually know a starving person. The images come at us through television, the internet, in magazines: the gaunt, shriveled children, their faces reflecting the emptiness of their stomachs. Even worse are the ones who show no expression at all, numb and hopeless. The worst are those of skeletal mothers trying in vain to feed their listless infants, too weak to suckle with cracked lips at the dry breasts that can offer no relief for their gnawing pain; the mother’s despair as she watches the fruit of her womb wither and die.
We see these images and instinctively want to help, and indeed, our government and humanitarian organizations spend billions of dollars every year to buy food for these unfortunate people. Aid workers risk kidnapping and murder to deliver it to hostile war zones and areas of incredible desolation and ruin. And yet it is never enough, the job is never done.
We, who have plenty, think we are immune from famine, that we will never hunger or thirst. And in a physical sense, we are probably correct. But there is another hunger, a hunger of the soul, that only the Bread of Life can fill.
We see it in the eyes of children desperate for love, their eyes reflecting the emptiness and longing of their souls. Even worse are those who are resigned to their fate, turning to drugs and violence to numb their hardened hearts. And worse yet are the mothers and fathers who themselves being spiritually starved their whole lives, have no comfort, no hope to offer their children; watching helplessly as their children’s spirits wither and die as surely as their own did.
This is the hunger that Our Lord came to fill, and which only He can fill. The Bread of Life, the Well of Living Water, is available to all who would eat and drink it. But just as aid workers risk their lives to bring comfort to the starving, missionaries often face incredible perils to bring the word of God to a lost and dying world. It seems like it will never be enough, the job will never be done, and indeed, until Christ comes again, whenever that may be, it won’t be.
But for most of us, we don’t have to risk kidnapping and murder to bring food to those in need. As Christians, we remember the days of our own hunger and the sweet relief of God’s grace. We can remember the joy of feeling our dry, hard hearts become tender and loving, maybe for the first time in our lives. And we can remember the comfort of being able to place our hope and trust in a Heavenly Father who will always be able to provide for His children, no matter how difficult the circumstances.
As we remember all this, let it fill our hearts with an overflowing love for a starving world, whether in foreign lands or in our neighborhoods or even in our own families. Let us offer them Jesus, the Living Bread, so they will never hunger and thirst again.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Monday, March 23, 2009
Episode 33: 3/23/09
Readings:
Psalm 89:1-18
Jeremiah 16:10-21
Romans 7:1-12
John 6:1-15
Sermon:
“As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby: If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious.”
First Peter 2:2 and 3
Grace, mercy and peace from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Amen.
For them he had so much work to do, so much work left to do…
As the word of his miracles spread from place to place the crowds would grow, people would come from far and wide, in multitudes that seemed to be just beyond comprehension, to touch his robes, to lay their hands upon him, to have him touch them and feel the power of his healing overtake them. For a simple teacher of the word, it seemed incomprehensible. His work, it just never seemed to be done, there was always one more.
Willingly Christ would give of himself, willingly he would sacrifice of himself, always placing those needs of those people at the forefront of his thoughts, offering unto those who came before him, the healing that they so longed for, granting them the peace and the comfort that so often seem to allude them. He would go to their homes, he would make his way through the crowds, all to find that one person who needed a miracle that would come to encompass their lives, and he would grant it unto them, making the lame walk, raising the dead, showing love to those who had lived their lives met with nothing but scorn and contempt. He would give until the average person could not have given any more and still he would offer a little bit more of himself.
Protective of him, his disciples would try to spare him from what they considered to be needless wastes of his time, realizing just how demanding everything had to have been for him.
So when the children would come to Christ, when they would line up to see him, to be with him for even a moment, the disciples would turn them away, telling them that the Savior, he did not have time for childish things, he did not have the time to spend with them, there was so much more that he could do and needed to do, there were just better uses of his time.
Yet hearing this Christ would admonish them, telling them to bring the children unto him, and then, with his voice of wisdom he would teach them a little bit more about faith. “2And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them, And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 18:2-4)
Throughout the bible and, in our text today, we are given the same imagery… children…
Why though?
Faith is a mystical thing, it is beyond description, beyond most human understanding, it is a force in this world that us to a greater awareness and appreciation of God’s great love for us. After all, In the Epistle to the Hebrews we are told “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1) How can we then put a human definition to it?
Yet as we grow older, as age and time seems to catch up on us, we need to understand, we need to comprehend, we need to just get it. Those things that we can’t quite seem to grasp or that seem to be beyond logic and reason we tend to dismiss or make light of, pretending as if it doesn’t quite matter. After all, we outgrew leprechauns and unicorns and mystical beings when we were still children. Many times we put faith and God in that same category, those things that we have outgrown. We can’t look upon it with those same eyes or with that same heart, too much of the world has revealed itself to us and it has opened our eyes far too wide, there we just can’t see things like we once did.
But God… God doesn’t reveal Himself like that to us. Ever present, He is everywhere around us, shining forth in the miracle of all creation but He only reveals Himself in certain ways and in certain places within our lives. Often times it’s in ways that we perhaps don’t see at first or that don’t make a lot of sense to us to begin with but with time and faith it reveals itself unto us to show us the fullness of His divine plan within our lives. We then have to put the wisdom of this world, the knowledge of this world, aside and find ourselves abiding in a deeper sense of trust in Him.
The faith of a child…
Children may not understand all of things of this world, looking upon it with fresh eyes, with new eyes that are opened for the first time, they see things as miracles. They don’t necessarily know how their needs will be met but they do know that they will be and that they will be provided for. They believe because it’s natural for them to believe, because they are inclined to see the wonders of all creation for what they are… wondrous and astounding, amazing and marvelous. They don’t try to explain away that which has no explanation nor do they seek to use the wisdom of this world to define that which transcends this world.
No, they just marvel and belief.
When Christ tells the disciples to bring the little children unto him, when St. Peter tells us to desire the word of the Lord as the babe desires the milk of his mother that it may make us strong they say it unto us so that we can understand that our faith, it must be seen as miraculous, it must be understood as something that rises above the wisdom of this world and that will provide for us always the sustenance that we need to survive and to live our lives. We are told this so that we can see the signs and the wonders for what they truly are, and for what they can and will do in our lives, so that we don’t just live in a cold world where everything has to be placed in a box and labeled, then put on its right shelf for us to take down when we want or when we need or when we are seeking an explanation.
The faith of a child dwells in a deep and lasting sense of trust and so to must our faith abide in the same if we truly are to be the children of God.
Therefore seek not the wisdom of this world to define you or to define your knowledge or your reason, seek instead that unchanging, unwavering, inalienable love of God that grants peace and comfort, assurance and security to even the most hurt and the most wounded of souls. Trust in the healing power of Christ to grant the contentment that often times seems so elusive in this world around us, knowing that through it all he will be there for you, seeking to draw you closer to him. Know that the Spirit of the Lord is there for you always as that ever existing, ever comforting presence that calls you to the true wisdom, the true knowledge that unlocks the keys to the mysteries of life.
Lord, grant this trust unto us all.
Now may the peace of the Lord, that peace that transcends all human understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus even unto life everlasting, Amen.
Psalm 89:1-18
Jeremiah 16:10-21
Romans 7:1-12
John 6:1-15
Sermon:
“As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby: If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious.”
First Peter 2:2 and 3
Grace, mercy and peace from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Amen.
For them he had so much work to do, so much work left to do…
As the word of his miracles spread from place to place the crowds would grow, people would come from far and wide, in multitudes that seemed to be just beyond comprehension, to touch his robes, to lay their hands upon him, to have him touch them and feel the power of his healing overtake them. For a simple teacher of the word, it seemed incomprehensible. His work, it just never seemed to be done, there was always one more.
Willingly Christ would give of himself, willingly he would sacrifice of himself, always placing those needs of those people at the forefront of his thoughts, offering unto those who came before him, the healing that they so longed for, granting them the peace and the comfort that so often seem to allude them. He would go to their homes, he would make his way through the crowds, all to find that one person who needed a miracle that would come to encompass their lives, and he would grant it unto them, making the lame walk, raising the dead, showing love to those who had lived their lives met with nothing but scorn and contempt. He would give until the average person could not have given any more and still he would offer a little bit more of himself.
Protective of him, his disciples would try to spare him from what they considered to be needless wastes of his time, realizing just how demanding everything had to have been for him.
So when the children would come to Christ, when they would line up to see him, to be with him for even a moment, the disciples would turn them away, telling them that the Savior, he did not have time for childish things, he did not have the time to spend with them, there was so much more that he could do and needed to do, there were just better uses of his time.
Yet hearing this Christ would admonish them, telling them to bring the children unto him, and then, with his voice of wisdom he would teach them a little bit more about faith. “2And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them, And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 18:2-4)
Throughout the bible and, in our text today, we are given the same imagery… children…
Why though?
Faith is a mystical thing, it is beyond description, beyond most human understanding, it is a force in this world that us to a greater awareness and appreciation of God’s great love for us. After all, In the Epistle to the Hebrews we are told “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1) How can we then put a human definition to it?
Yet as we grow older, as age and time seems to catch up on us, we need to understand, we need to comprehend, we need to just get it. Those things that we can’t quite seem to grasp or that seem to be beyond logic and reason we tend to dismiss or make light of, pretending as if it doesn’t quite matter. After all, we outgrew leprechauns and unicorns and mystical beings when we were still children. Many times we put faith and God in that same category, those things that we have outgrown. We can’t look upon it with those same eyes or with that same heart, too much of the world has revealed itself to us and it has opened our eyes far too wide, there we just can’t see things like we once did.
But God… God doesn’t reveal Himself like that to us. Ever present, He is everywhere around us, shining forth in the miracle of all creation but He only reveals Himself in certain ways and in certain places within our lives. Often times it’s in ways that we perhaps don’t see at first or that don’t make a lot of sense to us to begin with but with time and faith it reveals itself unto us to show us the fullness of His divine plan within our lives. We then have to put the wisdom of this world, the knowledge of this world, aside and find ourselves abiding in a deeper sense of trust in Him.
The faith of a child…
Children may not understand all of things of this world, looking upon it with fresh eyes, with new eyes that are opened for the first time, they see things as miracles. They don’t necessarily know how their needs will be met but they do know that they will be and that they will be provided for. They believe because it’s natural for them to believe, because they are inclined to see the wonders of all creation for what they are… wondrous and astounding, amazing and marvelous. They don’t try to explain away that which has no explanation nor do they seek to use the wisdom of this world to define that which transcends this world.
No, they just marvel and belief.
When Christ tells the disciples to bring the little children unto him, when St. Peter tells us to desire the word of the Lord as the babe desires the milk of his mother that it may make us strong they say it unto us so that we can understand that our faith, it must be seen as miraculous, it must be understood as something that rises above the wisdom of this world and that will provide for us always the sustenance that we need to survive and to live our lives. We are told this so that we can see the signs and the wonders for what they truly are, and for what they can and will do in our lives, so that we don’t just live in a cold world where everything has to be placed in a box and labeled, then put on its right shelf for us to take down when we want or when we need or when we are seeking an explanation.
The faith of a child dwells in a deep and lasting sense of trust and so to must our faith abide in the same if we truly are to be the children of God.
Therefore seek not the wisdom of this world to define you or to define your knowledge or your reason, seek instead that unchanging, unwavering, inalienable love of God that grants peace and comfort, assurance and security to even the most hurt and the most wounded of souls. Trust in the healing power of Christ to grant the contentment that often times seems so elusive in this world around us, knowing that through it all he will be there for you, seeking to draw you closer to him. Know that the Spirit of the Lord is there for you always as that ever existing, ever comforting presence that calls you to the true wisdom, the true knowledge that unlocks the keys to the mysteries of life.
Lord, grant this trust unto us all.
Now may the peace of the Lord, that peace that transcends all human understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus even unto life everlasting, Amen.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Episode 32: 3/18/09
Readings:
Psalm 82
Jeremiah 8:18-9:6
Romans 5:1-11
John 8:12-20
Sermon:
“But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.”
Matthew 15:9
Grace, Mercy and Peace from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Amen.
It’s the law… more than gospel, more than God’s divine mercy, more than Christ’s encompassing sacrifice, it is the law that appeals to our nature and to our flesh…
It’s perhaps a bit difficult for us to believe or for us to even understand and yet, it’s what our temperament and our disposition are most inclined to. Even from a young age it’s the environment that we are raised in, it’s the way we have been taught to think, it’s been what we’ve been told to believe of ourselves and our lives. After all, it’s the wisdom of this world that tells to us that each person, they are the masters of their own destiny, they are responsible for their own lives and, when it comes right down to it, only they can lay hold of their own fates.
And, in many instances, it’s the truth. Amidst the successes and the failures of this world, of this life, of this existence, the onus lies squarely on our shoulders as we feel the triumph of victory or the burden of defeat. Living in freedom we have the opportunities to live our lives according to our dreams, no matter how big or how small they may perhaps seem. It’s easy then to transfer that mentality to our salvation, believing that we can earn it, that it is our deeds, our works, our actions, our own righteousness that will pay the price, offering propitiation in the eyes of the Lord.
Even within an entitlement based mentality it just seems to fit. After all, we deserve the blessings that have been given to us, they are owed to us.
And there… well there, we have a tendency to look to ourselves as the authors and the finishers of our salvation, as those who set the terms of our own faith, bring ourselves to it, rather than being brought to it by the power of the Spirit, rather than by the mercy of God. In that we look for rules and guidelines, we look for law despite being freed from the power of the law, placing our faith not in Christ or in God but in the works of our own hands that we might be saved.
For generations men have used this mentality to oppress and to subjugate other men in the name of Christ. It has been used to add teachings to the bible that never were intended for it, offering the wisdom of the world, the wisdom of man, as the wisdom of God, masquerading it as something divine and inerrant that must be observed in order that one may find for themselves salvation. Never bore from the Gospel, always finding itself amidst the Law, understand that the Gospel, it sets each of us free, liberating us from Covenant of the Law that can overshadow our lives, it dictates to us that if we do this and that, if we conform to this rule or comply with this rule, then we are saved.
Yet each of us, though we admonished to contend for faith, to dwell amidst it, shining the salvation of Christ forth from our lives. It is, after all, the fool who, in being granted that redemption in Christ, allows for it to fall idle within their lives (Jude 1:3). It is then through our works that we are told to show our faith, understanding that though our salvation is a gift from God through the Spirit, though we are saved by grace through faith and not by our works (Ephesians 2:8 and 9), “faith without works is dead” (James 2:23). We are free from sin, not free to sin, finding that Christian liberty, it liberates us from the power the law and yet still calling us to be better, to do better, understanding that we are all accountable for our words and deeds, for our thoughts and our actions and that each of us is convicted by it to show us exactly why it is that we need the Gospel, why it is that we need Christ.
There, it is ever important to remember the words of St. Paul in his Epistle to the Galatians “But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed. Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.” (Galatians 3:23-24).
It must be ours to be vigilant against those who teach unto us the commandments of men, asking us to observe the doctrine of work righteousness that would tell us that for our salvation we are compelled to follow this rule or that rule, that we must comply with this ordinance or that ordinance in the belief that somehow that will bring us to a real and sincere faith, that that will somehow offer unto us salvation. God’s love, our reconciliation to the Heavenly Father is not reliant on what we can or cannot do, it is not dependant on the laws that we observe, rather it is based solely on Christ and that all encompassing sacrifice that he made at that lonely cross on Calvary’s height, paying the ultimate price for us and for our sins.
We must, through all things, remember that “For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. No man hath seen God at any time, the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.” (John 1:17 and 18)
There will always be men who shall come to us preaching other Gospels, preaching unto us other messages of salvation, and many times it is going to appeal to who we are and what our nature dictates to us. After all, if it was a message that didn’t sell they wouldn’t be bound to it, for they serve not the Lord nor Christ, but their own needs and wants and desires through their doctrine and their tongues (Romans 16:18). Ours must be to carefully guard ourselves from the commandments of men, turning our gazes to the cross, to the sacrifice of Christ, to the mercy of the Lord, to the works of the Spirit, placing our trust in God’s plan, in God’s divine love for each and every one of us. It is a freeing love, one that seeks to break the chains that bind us, never trying to tie us down or tie us tighter, never playing off the weaker places in us or on our sense of guilt. Rather it tells us to lay hold of our salvation, obtaining there our release from captivity.
Trust therefore in the Lord and His plans for your lives, trust in the Lord and His plan of salvation, knowing that none shall ever be confounded when, on Him, their trust they have built. Reject the commandments of men in all its forms, in all places, through all things, letting God’s love overtake you through the power of the Spirit, bringing you to that divine reconciliation that only comes from the Gospel of Christ, never through the laws of man.
It is then that we know, that we shall always know, that we do not worship in vain.
Lord, grant this unto us all.
Now may the peace of the Lord, that peace that transcends all human understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus even unto life everlasting, Amen.
Psalm 82
Jeremiah 8:18-9:6
Romans 5:1-11
John 8:12-20
Sermon:
“But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.”
Matthew 15:9
Grace, Mercy and Peace from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Amen.
It’s the law… more than gospel, more than God’s divine mercy, more than Christ’s encompassing sacrifice, it is the law that appeals to our nature and to our flesh…
It’s perhaps a bit difficult for us to believe or for us to even understand and yet, it’s what our temperament and our disposition are most inclined to. Even from a young age it’s the environment that we are raised in, it’s the way we have been taught to think, it’s been what we’ve been told to believe of ourselves and our lives. After all, it’s the wisdom of this world that tells to us that each person, they are the masters of their own destiny, they are responsible for their own lives and, when it comes right down to it, only they can lay hold of their own fates.
And, in many instances, it’s the truth. Amidst the successes and the failures of this world, of this life, of this existence, the onus lies squarely on our shoulders as we feel the triumph of victory or the burden of defeat. Living in freedom we have the opportunities to live our lives according to our dreams, no matter how big or how small they may perhaps seem. It’s easy then to transfer that mentality to our salvation, believing that we can earn it, that it is our deeds, our works, our actions, our own righteousness that will pay the price, offering propitiation in the eyes of the Lord.
Even within an entitlement based mentality it just seems to fit. After all, we deserve the blessings that have been given to us, they are owed to us.
And there… well there, we have a tendency to look to ourselves as the authors and the finishers of our salvation, as those who set the terms of our own faith, bring ourselves to it, rather than being brought to it by the power of the Spirit, rather than by the mercy of God. In that we look for rules and guidelines, we look for law despite being freed from the power of the law, placing our faith not in Christ or in God but in the works of our own hands that we might be saved.
For generations men have used this mentality to oppress and to subjugate other men in the name of Christ. It has been used to add teachings to the bible that never were intended for it, offering the wisdom of the world, the wisdom of man, as the wisdom of God, masquerading it as something divine and inerrant that must be observed in order that one may find for themselves salvation. Never bore from the Gospel, always finding itself amidst the Law, understand that the Gospel, it sets each of us free, liberating us from Covenant of the Law that can overshadow our lives, it dictates to us that if we do this and that, if we conform to this rule or comply with this rule, then we are saved.
Yet each of us, though we admonished to contend for faith, to dwell amidst it, shining the salvation of Christ forth from our lives. It is, after all, the fool who, in being granted that redemption in Christ, allows for it to fall idle within their lives (Jude 1:3). It is then through our works that we are told to show our faith, understanding that though our salvation is a gift from God through the Spirit, though we are saved by grace through faith and not by our works (Ephesians 2:8 and 9), “faith without works is dead” (James 2:23). We are free from sin, not free to sin, finding that Christian liberty, it liberates us from the power the law and yet still calling us to be better, to do better, understanding that we are all accountable for our words and deeds, for our thoughts and our actions and that each of us is convicted by it to show us exactly why it is that we need the Gospel, why it is that we need Christ.
There, it is ever important to remember the words of St. Paul in his Epistle to the Galatians “But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed. Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.” (Galatians 3:23-24).
It must be ours to be vigilant against those who teach unto us the commandments of men, asking us to observe the doctrine of work righteousness that would tell us that for our salvation we are compelled to follow this rule or that rule, that we must comply with this ordinance or that ordinance in the belief that somehow that will bring us to a real and sincere faith, that that will somehow offer unto us salvation. God’s love, our reconciliation to the Heavenly Father is not reliant on what we can or cannot do, it is not dependant on the laws that we observe, rather it is based solely on Christ and that all encompassing sacrifice that he made at that lonely cross on Calvary’s height, paying the ultimate price for us and for our sins.
We must, through all things, remember that “For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. No man hath seen God at any time, the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.” (John 1:17 and 18)
There will always be men who shall come to us preaching other Gospels, preaching unto us other messages of salvation, and many times it is going to appeal to who we are and what our nature dictates to us. After all, if it was a message that didn’t sell they wouldn’t be bound to it, for they serve not the Lord nor Christ, but their own needs and wants and desires through their doctrine and their tongues (Romans 16:18). Ours must be to carefully guard ourselves from the commandments of men, turning our gazes to the cross, to the sacrifice of Christ, to the mercy of the Lord, to the works of the Spirit, placing our trust in God’s plan, in God’s divine love for each and every one of us. It is a freeing love, one that seeks to break the chains that bind us, never trying to tie us down or tie us tighter, never playing off the weaker places in us or on our sense of guilt. Rather it tells us to lay hold of our salvation, obtaining there our release from captivity.
Trust therefore in the Lord and His plans for your lives, trust in the Lord and His plan of salvation, knowing that none shall ever be confounded when, on Him, their trust they have built. Reject the commandments of men in all its forms, in all places, through all things, letting God’s love overtake you through the power of the Spirit, bringing you to that divine reconciliation that only comes from the Gospel of Christ, never through the laws of man.
It is then that we know, that we shall always know, that we do not worship in vain.
Lord, grant this unto us all.
Now may the peace of the Lord, that peace that transcends all human understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus even unto life everlasting, Amen.
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Episode 31: 3/11/09
Readings:
Psalm 72
Jeremiah 3:6-18
Romans 1:28-2:11
John 5:1-18
Sermon:
“This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not hold the truth: But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.”
The First Epistle of St. John, Chapter 1, Verses 5 through 7
Grace, mercy and peace from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Amen.
It would be Christ himself who would explain it the best…
Questioned by the Pharisees and the Sadducees about the commandments of God, it would be asked of him which was the greatest of the laws handed down by the Lord. Perhaps they expected a certain answer or a certain response from the Savior. After all, they had spent their entire lives in pursuit of that perfection demanded of them by the Mosaic Covenant handed down to the children of Israel through the prophet at Mount Sinai so many generations before. To them there were varying degrees of condemnation and judgment carried by disobedience, and so fearful were they of it that they would not even speak the proper name of God, referring to Him as Adonai, that they might refrain from even accidentally using His name in vain thus violating the ten commandments.
Perhaps it was that they had expected that he would answer that there was no greatest commandment, there was no greatest of laws. After all the wages of sin are death, a fate none can escape, and each sin is deserving of eternal condemnation and damnation at the hands of a vengeful, wrathful God. There, if the price of our transgressions against God earn the same punishment there can be no greater iniquity than another.
Except though that for Christ, the Lord was not about the law. Yes, He gave the law unto the people to live by, and yet, amidst that there comes the greater spiritual truth. If all sin and fall short of the glory of God, and our flesh is weak, so prone to the temptations of this world, then none can escape God’s justice.
But God… God did not give the law that all may be damned. Rather it was to point to why we needed His love and His mercy, His divine compassion, more than anything else. It was given that it could point to the Gospel message of Salvation, of that coming Redeemer who would rescue the captive people from the powers of sin, death and the Devil.
For Christ the greatest of God’s commandments was love. Love for the Lord, love for your neighbor, love for your fellow man, a love that transcended the nature of our flesh and that sought to draw us closer to the God who loved us first.
“Jesus said unto him, Thou 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 neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” (Matthew 22:37-40)
To walk with God is to abide in His commands, realizing that though we are sinful, though our spirit may be willing, still our flesh is weak; though we transgress against His laws, that through Christ the old man is washed away and we are born again in the water and the word by the power of the Holy Spirit. There each Christian, grafted on to the tree of life is called to be an imitator of Christ, to walk in His footsteps, seeking to be as He was. To walk on that path of righteousness is to walk in the light… the light that has been shined upon us by God as that great pillar of fire that will lead us through the wilderness of this world to the Promised Land of our Salvation.
But none, not one, can walk in the light if there is hatred in their heart, if they show contempt to their fellow man in thought, word or deed, by what they have done or left undone.
Why? Because to love God is to love His creation and to love His Gospel Message given through Christ. That Gospel message is a message for all people in all places, through all things. Each of us, reconciled to the Lord through the blood of the Lamb, is called to spread that message to all the nations. How can we abide in a message of love, how can we spread a message of love if there is hatred or spite in our hearts?
We can’t, because God is love and love is light. There God cannot dwell in those places were evil reigns, where darkness encompasses, and those places in our soul where we find it so easy abide in hatred, to deal in hatred, the Holy Spirit of our Lord cannot find itself.
It isn’t to say that we should not detest sin, we are taught over and over again to throughout the Word of the Lord, to look upon it with a repulsion that rejects its very nature, that rejects it to the very core of our being. But there we cannot mistake the sinner for the sin, choosing instead to hate the person rather than the acts that they do, rejecting there our Christian duty to call all people to a sincere repentance out of a deep sense of compassion and devotion that we feel towards them. The deep sense of compassion and devotion that Christ showed us.
Ours must be to draw closer to God and to our fellow man through a spirit of love and kindness, through a willingness to accept others, while rejecting the evils of this world in all of its forms. This is the message that Christ and the Apostles have taught to us throughout time, that even when it is hard, even when there are those who would seek to do us harm or to cause us grave injury, ours must be to forever deal in love with them. Each of us, are called to be as St. Stephen, never raising harsh words even as the world persecutes and punishes us for our faith, never condemning people for the iniquity of their sins, but always calling on God that through His Holy Spirit they may be convicted and called to a faith of love and charity to their fellow man.
It’s hard, and without a doubt we will stumble even when the path seems paved and without challenge, yet God has, in each of us, through our faith, created a new heart within us if we trust in Him and love Him, understanding He will give us the patience that we perhaps seem to be lacking at times.
As we celebrate this season of Lent, a season where we remember the sacrifice of Christ, we too must remember that it is a season of love, for what was that sacrifice except an undeserved love that sought to reconcile all to God even when we were lost and should have been deemed so unworthy of it?
Love therefore as Christ loved and as God so loves us, showing that divine Spirit unto all people, even when it seems hard or difficult, even when it seems as if it was impossible, knowing that to live in that love is to live in God, and there is no greater commandment than that.
Lord, grant this unto us all.
Now may the peace of the Lord, that peace that transcends all human understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus even unto life everlasting, Amen.
Psalm 72
Jeremiah 3:6-18
Romans 1:28-2:11
John 5:1-18
Sermon:
“This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not hold the truth: But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.”
The First Epistle of St. John, Chapter 1, Verses 5 through 7
Grace, mercy and peace from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Amen.
It would be Christ himself who would explain it the best…
Questioned by the Pharisees and the Sadducees about the commandments of God, it would be asked of him which was the greatest of the laws handed down by the Lord. Perhaps they expected a certain answer or a certain response from the Savior. After all, they had spent their entire lives in pursuit of that perfection demanded of them by the Mosaic Covenant handed down to the children of Israel through the prophet at Mount Sinai so many generations before. To them there were varying degrees of condemnation and judgment carried by disobedience, and so fearful were they of it that they would not even speak the proper name of God, referring to Him as Adonai, that they might refrain from even accidentally using His name in vain thus violating the ten commandments.
Perhaps it was that they had expected that he would answer that there was no greatest commandment, there was no greatest of laws. After all the wages of sin are death, a fate none can escape, and each sin is deserving of eternal condemnation and damnation at the hands of a vengeful, wrathful God. There, if the price of our transgressions against God earn the same punishment there can be no greater iniquity than another.
Except though that for Christ, the Lord was not about the law. Yes, He gave the law unto the people to live by, and yet, amidst that there comes the greater spiritual truth. If all sin and fall short of the glory of God, and our flesh is weak, so prone to the temptations of this world, then none can escape God’s justice.
But God… God did not give the law that all may be damned. Rather it was to point to why we needed His love and His mercy, His divine compassion, more than anything else. It was given that it could point to the Gospel message of Salvation, of that coming Redeemer who would rescue the captive people from the powers of sin, death and the Devil.
For Christ the greatest of God’s commandments was love. Love for the Lord, love for your neighbor, love for your fellow man, a love that transcended the nature of our flesh and that sought to draw us closer to the God who loved us first.
“Jesus said unto him, Thou 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 neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” (Matthew 22:37-40)
To walk with God is to abide in His commands, realizing that though we are sinful, though our spirit may be willing, still our flesh is weak; though we transgress against His laws, that through Christ the old man is washed away and we are born again in the water and the word by the power of the Holy Spirit. There each Christian, grafted on to the tree of life is called to be an imitator of Christ, to walk in His footsteps, seeking to be as He was. To walk on that path of righteousness is to walk in the light… the light that has been shined upon us by God as that great pillar of fire that will lead us through the wilderness of this world to the Promised Land of our Salvation.
But none, not one, can walk in the light if there is hatred in their heart, if they show contempt to their fellow man in thought, word or deed, by what they have done or left undone.
Why? Because to love God is to love His creation and to love His Gospel Message given through Christ. That Gospel message is a message for all people in all places, through all things. Each of us, reconciled to the Lord through the blood of the Lamb, is called to spread that message to all the nations. How can we abide in a message of love, how can we spread a message of love if there is hatred or spite in our hearts?
We can’t, because God is love and love is light. There God cannot dwell in those places were evil reigns, where darkness encompasses, and those places in our soul where we find it so easy abide in hatred, to deal in hatred, the Holy Spirit of our Lord cannot find itself.
It isn’t to say that we should not detest sin, we are taught over and over again to throughout the Word of the Lord, to look upon it with a repulsion that rejects its very nature, that rejects it to the very core of our being. But there we cannot mistake the sinner for the sin, choosing instead to hate the person rather than the acts that they do, rejecting there our Christian duty to call all people to a sincere repentance out of a deep sense of compassion and devotion that we feel towards them. The deep sense of compassion and devotion that Christ showed us.
Ours must be to draw closer to God and to our fellow man through a spirit of love and kindness, through a willingness to accept others, while rejecting the evils of this world in all of its forms. This is the message that Christ and the Apostles have taught to us throughout time, that even when it is hard, even when there are those who would seek to do us harm or to cause us grave injury, ours must be to forever deal in love with them. Each of us, are called to be as St. Stephen, never raising harsh words even as the world persecutes and punishes us for our faith, never condemning people for the iniquity of their sins, but always calling on God that through His Holy Spirit they may be convicted and called to a faith of love and charity to their fellow man.
It’s hard, and without a doubt we will stumble even when the path seems paved and without challenge, yet God has, in each of us, through our faith, created a new heart within us if we trust in Him and love Him, understanding He will give us the patience that we perhaps seem to be lacking at times.
As we celebrate this season of Lent, a season where we remember the sacrifice of Christ, we too must remember that it is a season of love, for what was that sacrifice except an undeserved love that sought to reconcile all to God even when we were lost and should have been deemed so unworthy of it?
Love therefore as Christ loved and as God so loves us, showing that divine Spirit unto all people, even when it seems hard or difficult, even when it seems as if it was impossible, knowing that to live in that love is to live in God, and there is no greater commandment than that.
Lord, grant this unto us all.
Now may the peace of the Lord, that peace that transcends all human understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus even unto life everlasting, Amen.
Monday, March 9, 2009
Episode 30: 3/09/09
Readings:
Psalm 64
Jeremiah 1:11-19
Romans 1:1-15
John 4:27-42
Sermon:
Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman's testimony, "He told me everything I ever did."
John 4:39
In today’s Gospel reading we see the aftermath of Jesus’ conversation with the Samaritan woman at the well, in which He sorted through her tangled relationship history and offered her the cup of Living Water. This so impressed the woman that she not only came to believe in Jesus as the promised Messiah, but she then ran to tell her friends, who also came to believe.
In the passage prior to today’s reading, we see the woman reacting defensively to Our Lord’s request for a drink of water, a seemingly simple encounter, but one which violated deeply rooted social and religious conventions: a Jewish man speaking to a Samaritan woman at a time when Samaritans were looked down upon as dogs, and women as even lower. Though we would find nothing scandalous in this innocent interaction, it is worth noting that in some parts of the world today, such “improper mingling” is punishable by prison and flogging.
While the woman makes excuses why she cannot fulfill Jesus’s request, Our Lord listens patiently to her objections, but refuses to argue point by point, instead using the occasion to illustrate a deeper point. While she may not fully understand His teaching, it is enough for her to step out in faith that He is indeed the Messiah who has been promised, and to spread the good news to her neighbors.
In this chance encounter, we see several points which should encourage us in our efforts to spread the Gospel message among our friends and neighbors. How many times do we see someone who obviously needs the good news in their lives, but we are reluctant to speak? Maybe we look down on them as someone unworthy of our attention, or on the other hand, maybe we are intimidated by their status or position in society. Our Lord made no such distinctions, offering the same invitation to both rich young rulers and hard-living Samaritan women. To Him, the only distinction is between those who answer His call to follow Him, and those who refuse.
We also see that the Samaritan woman correctly assumed that the good news Jesus gave her was something of immediate interest and value to her neighbors. We often think that the Gospel message is too personal to share with others, that while we are thankful for the salvation given to us by Our Lord, that it would be somehow imposing to tell someone else. Just think for a minute of all the other kinds of good news we love to tell our friends about: our romantic relationships, our favorite recipes, movies, music. We join social networks so we can make sure that not one detail of our personal life is kept secret from our friends, and yet we may hide the most important detail of all, our relationship with the Living God.
Of course all the preaching in the world is useless unless our friends can see evidence of a changed life that bears witness to this relationship. We need not be perfect, but we should be thankful for the presence of Christ in our lives and show it by the growth and ripening of the fruits of the Spirit. Our love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control speak much louder than our words, and create an atmosphere in which our words are more likely to listened to and heeded. As St. Francis of Assisi famously said, “Preach the Gospel always, and use words if necessary.” May the words of our mouths and the testimony of our transformed lives draw all those near us to the spring of Living Water, so that they may drink and never thirst again.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Psalm 64
Jeremiah 1:11-19
Romans 1:1-15
John 4:27-42
Sermon:
Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman's testimony, "He told me everything I ever did."
John 4:39
In today’s Gospel reading we see the aftermath of Jesus’ conversation with the Samaritan woman at the well, in which He sorted through her tangled relationship history and offered her the cup of Living Water. This so impressed the woman that she not only came to believe in Jesus as the promised Messiah, but she then ran to tell her friends, who also came to believe.
In the passage prior to today’s reading, we see the woman reacting defensively to Our Lord’s request for a drink of water, a seemingly simple encounter, but one which violated deeply rooted social and religious conventions: a Jewish man speaking to a Samaritan woman at a time when Samaritans were looked down upon as dogs, and women as even lower. Though we would find nothing scandalous in this innocent interaction, it is worth noting that in some parts of the world today, such “improper mingling” is punishable by prison and flogging.
While the woman makes excuses why she cannot fulfill Jesus’s request, Our Lord listens patiently to her objections, but refuses to argue point by point, instead using the occasion to illustrate a deeper point. While she may not fully understand His teaching, it is enough for her to step out in faith that He is indeed the Messiah who has been promised, and to spread the good news to her neighbors.
In this chance encounter, we see several points which should encourage us in our efforts to spread the Gospel message among our friends and neighbors. How many times do we see someone who obviously needs the good news in their lives, but we are reluctant to speak? Maybe we look down on them as someone unworthy of our attention, or on the other hand, maybe we are intimidated by their status or position in society. Our Lord made no such distinctions, offering the same invitation to both rich young rulers and hard-living Samaritan women. To Him, the only distinction is between those who answer His call to follow Him, and those who refuse.
We also see that the Samaritan woman correctly assumed that the good news Jesus gave her was something of immediate interest and value to her neighbors. We often think that the Gospel message is too personal to share with others, that while we are thankful for the salvation given to us by Our Lord, that it would be somehow imposing to tell someone else. Just think for a minute of all the other kinds of good news we love to tell our friends about: our romantic relationships, our favorite recipes, movies, music. We join social networks so we can make sure that not one detail of our personal life is kept secret from our friends, and yet we may hide the most important detail of all, our relationship with the Living God.
Of course all the preaching in the world is useless unless our friends can see evidence of a changed life that bears witness to this relationship. We need not be perfect, but we should be thankful for the presence of Christ in our lives and show it by the growth and ripening of the fruits of the Spirit. Our love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control speak much louder than our words, and create an atmosphere in which our words are more likely to listened to and heeded. As St. Francis of Assisi famously said, “Preach the Gospel always, and use words if necessary.” May the words of our mouths and the testimony of our transformed lives draw all those near us to the spring of Living Water, so that they may drink and never thirst again.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Episode 29: 3/04/09
Readings:
Psalm 49
Deuteronomy 9:13-21
Hebrews 3:12-19
John 2:23-3:15
Sermon:
“Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”
James 4:7
Grace, mercy and peace from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Amen.
How do we submit ourselves to the Lord?
Lent is a time of submission, a time when each and every child of the Heavenly Father is called to look upon the life, death and resurrection of Christ, to look upon that great sacrifice he would make in his suffering on this earth and in taking up the cross, shedding his innocent blood for the sake of humanity and all of its sin. The believer is called upon to look at their own lives and the iniquity of their sins with a contrite heart humbled by the price that was paid for our salvation.
Within that love each of us must come to realize that there was mercy and there was love in that atonement. After all, the wages of sin, they are death (Romans 6:23) and if left to our devices, to our own nature, each of us would find us deserving of eternal damnation. Condemnation from the justice of God. There is none, not one, who is deemed, by the law to be considered righteous by their own works, by their own hands (Romans 3:10). But, in that, God through His only begotten son, would reconcile Himself to us even as we found ourselves lost amidst a world of pain and suffering and sorrow.
There would be freedom that would come in that sacrifice, a liberation of the soul that would blot out the darkness that would stain our souls as we found ourselves giving in to the temptations of this world.
But within that freedom that we would find there would come a truth that cannot be avoided. Though Christ would come to free us from sin, he would not free us to sin. Instead our lives would be turned over to God through him that the old flesh, the old human nature would be set to flight as the new man would encompass our being. Yes, we would still sin and fall short of the glory of God, and yet, in humble submission to the Lord we would all be called upon, as imitators of Christ to sincere repentance and to walk in the path of righteousness paved by the Savior.
Yet it still begs of each believer the same question, how do we submit ourselves to the Lord?
In St. Paul’s Epistle to the Ephesians we read the words of the Disciple teaching to the believers in Ephesus a doctrine that rejects works righteousness in all of its forms, that belief that somehow believes that if we are somehow good enough, if we do enough good things then we can find our own salvation, not through Christ but by our hands. “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.” (Ephesians 2:8 and 9)
With his words the Christian is rightly called to understand that it is never by their works that they find their salvation. After all, if to compare the good works that we do to the iniquity of our sins then the simple truth is that one would find that it is a completely one sided equation. And more than that it breeds in and of itself that same self righteous spirit that would overtake the Pharisees that would look at themselves as pure, overlooking their transgressions, while finding the occasion to condemn their fellow man with a judgmental heart devoid of the love and mercy of God.
But even as we find that our salvation is not reliant on our works, we also find that our faith does not mean that we need not produce good works.
Earlier in that same Epistle of St. James we read that “Faith without works is dead” (James 2:17). Why? Well because as we read throughout the Gospel and in the Epistle to the Romans, each believer is grafted on to the Tree of Life. There, they produce the fruits of the spirit, those works that done that edify and uplift, that nourish the body of believers. To find that the fruits are not produced then one has to assume that the branch, so carefully nurtured by the vine keeper, has withered and died.
And there we learn of the true nature of the submission to the Lord God Almighty.
It is when we, as taught to us in the Word, turn ourselves over to God, the Father, seeking to be as Imitators of Christ, allowing for Him to graft us on that Tree of Life so that we might produce the fruits of the Spirit that we are called to. It is when we strive to live by His commandments in service of Him and our fellow man not out of a feeling of obligation but in a spirit of love and kindness, compassion and mercy. It is when we, in hearing the call of the Holy Spirit, turn our lives over to Him that we might be lead down the path of righteousness, letting Him mold us and remold us according to His divine plan and His divine will.
Our submission to the Lord comes when we, in that deeper understanding as to the nature of our salvation look to all that has been given to us with a humble heart and strive to hear the call of God that we, like the prophet, may say “Here I am Lord, send me” (Isaiah 6:8), even when we know that the road ahead will be tough and wrought with challenges, but still placing our faith in God, our Father, that He will always care for us and provide for us, never leading His children to be like Lambs unto the slaughter.
Submission to the Lord, dear brothers and sisters, never means forced servitude or slavery. God never uses force, seeking to make us follow Him. God does not want or need robots, or empty, hollow vessels with no heart or thought or mind of their own, with no personality that belongs to them. If that had been what it meant that would have been how He created us, how He breathed life into our lungs. But that was never what He intended. What it does mean is a further extension of that liberation that He grants unto all of us in the redemption found through Jesus Christ. By saying unto the Lord, our God, that this is my life, it is Yours, I am yours, save me, we are saying provide for us, make us instruments of Your divine will and Your divine plan, knowing that You will never fail us or forsake us (Joshua 1:5). Submission to the Lord means that we pray to God, our Father, for the strength and the courage to faithfully adhere to His word that, through His divine revelation, His plan for our lives will be made manifest so that we may serve Him in all that we are and all that we hope to be.
When we submit ourselves unto the Lord God Almighty we there come to realize that nothing… absolutely nothing in this world or of this world can be as freeing as to find ourselves walking in the gracious, loving precepts of the Lord, bondservants and yet freemen of Christ.
Lord, grant this understanding unto us all.
Now may the peace of the Lord, that peace that transcends all Human understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus even unto life everlasting. Amen.
Psalm 49
Deuteronomy 9:13-21
Hebrews 3:12-19
John 2:23-3:15
Sermon:
“Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”
James 4:7
Grace, mercy and peace from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Amen.
How do we submit ourselves to the Lord?
Lent is a time of submission, a time when each and every child of the Heavenly Father is called to look upon the life, death and resurrection of Christ, to look upon that great sacrifice he would make in his suffering on this earth and in taking up the cross, shedding his innocent blood for the sake of humanity and all of its sin. The believer is called upon to look at their own lives and the iniquity of their sins with a contrite heart humbled by the price that was paid for our salvation.
Within that love each of us must come to realize that there was mercy and there was love in that atonement. After all, the wages of sin, they are death (Romans 6:23) and if left to our devices, to our own nature, each of us would find us deserving of eternal damnation. Condemnation from the justice of God. There is none, not one, who is deemed, by the law to be considered righteous by their own works, by their own hands (Romans 3:10). But, in that, God through His only begotten son, would reconcile Himself to us even as we found ourselves lost amidst a world of pain and suffering and sorrow.
There would be freedom that would come in that sacrifice, a liberation of the soul that would blot out the darkness that would stain our souls as we found ourselves giving in to the temptations of this world.
But within that freedom that we would find there would come a truth that cannot be avoided. Though Christ would come to free us from sin, he would not free us to sin. Instead our lives would be turned over to God through him that the old flesh, the old human nature would be set to flight as the new man would encompass our being. Yes, we would still sin and fall short of the glory of God, and yet, in humble submission to the Lord we would all be called upon, as imitators of Christ to sincere repentance and to walk in the path of righteousness paved by the Savior.
Yet it still begs of each believer the same question, how do we submit ourselves to the Lord?
In St. Paul’s Epistle to the Ephesians we read the words of the Disciple teaching to the believers in Ephesus a doctrine that rejects works righteousness in all of its forms, that belief that somehow believes that if we are somehow good enough, if we do enough good things then we can find our own salvation, not through Christ but by our hands. “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.” (Ephesians 2:8 and 9)
With his words the Christian is rightly called to understand that it is never by their works that they find their salvation. After all, if to compare the good works that we do to the iniquity of our sins then the simple truth is that one would find that it is a completely one sided equation. And more than that it breeds in and of itself that same self righteous spirit that would overtake the Pharisees that would look at themselves as pure, overlooking their transgressions, while finding the occasion to condemn their fellow man with a judgmental heart devoid of the love and mercy of God.
But even as we find that our salvation is not reliant on our works, we also find that our faith does not mean that we need not produce good works.
Earlier in that same Epistle of St. James we read that “Faith without works is dead” (James 2:17). Why? Well because as we read throughout the Gospel and in the Epistle to the Romans, each believer is grafted on to the Tree of Life. There, they produce the fruits of the spirit, those works that done that edify and uplift, that nourish the body of believers. To find that the fruits are not produced then one has to assume that the branch, so carefully nurtured by the vine keeper, has withered and died.
And there we learn of the true nature of the submission to the Lord God Almighty.
It is when we, as taught to us in the Word, turn ourselves over to God, the Father, seeking to be as Imitators of Christ, allowing for Him to graft us on that Tree of Life so that we might produce the fruits of the Spirit that we are called to. It is when we strive to live by His commandments in service of Him and our fellow man not out of a feeling of obligation but in a spirit of love and kindness, compassion and mercy. It is when we, in hearing the call of the Holy Spirit, turn our lives over to Him that we might be lead down the path of righteousness, letting Him mold us and remold us according to His divine plan and His divine will.
Our submission to the Lord comes when we, in that deeper understanding as to the nature of our salvation look to all that has been given to us with a humble heart and strive to hear the call of God that we, like the prophet, may say “Here I am Lord, send me” (Isaiah 6:8), even when we know that the road ahead will be tough and wrought with challenges, but still placing our faith in God, our Father, that He will always care for us and provide for us, never leading His children to be like Lambs unto the slaughter.
Submission to the Lord, dear brothers and sisters, never means forced servitude or slavery. God never uses force, seeking to make us follow Him. God does not want or need robots, or empty, hollow vessels with no heart or thought or mind of their own, with no personality that belongs to them. If that had been what it meant that would have been how He created us, how He breathed life into our lungs. But that was never what He intended. What it does mean is a further extension of that liberation that He grants unto all of us in the redemption found through Jesus Christ. By saying unto the Lord, our God, that this is my life, it is Yours, I am yours, save me, we are saying provide for us, make us instruments of Your divine will and Your divine plan, knowing that You will never fail us or forsake us (Joshua 1:5). Submission to the Lord means that we pray to God, our Father, for the strength and the courage to faithfully adhere to His word that, through His divine revelation, His plan for our lives will be made manifest so that we may serve Him in all that we are and all that we hope to be.
When we submit ourselves unto the Lord God Almighty we there come to realize that nothing… absolutely nothing in this world or of this world can be as freeing as to find ourselves walking in the gracious, loving precepts of the Lord, bondservants and yet freemen of Christ.
Lord, grant this understanding unto us all.
Now may the peace of the Lord, that peace that transcends all Human understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus even unto life everlasting. Amen.
Monday, March 2, 2009
Episode 28: 3/02/09
Readings:
Psalm 44
Deuteronomy 8:11-20
Hebrews 2:11-18
John 2:1-12
Sermon:
In the Old Testament reading today we see Moses warning the people of Israel of the day when they would “forget the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. He led you through the vast and dreadful desert, that thirsty and waterless land, with its venomous snakes and scorpions. He brought you water out of hard rock. He gave you manna to eat in the desert, something your fathers had never known, to humble and to test you so that in the end it might go well with you.” (Deuteronomy 8:14-16)
It’s hard to imagine a much more desperate time of need for a people than the time of the Exodus: leaving the land they had lived in with nothing more than what they could carry, as they fled from a pursuing army. In times like these, it is easy to cry out to God for help, and indeed, He protected them and provided for their every need, despite their doubt and lack of trust that eventually led them to be condemned to forty years of wandering in the desert. Even then, when God would have been justified in abandoning them to their own devices, He continued to comfort and provide for them until at last their children were able to enter the Promised Land.
As Moses addressed this second generation, about to cross over to the land promised to their forefathers, he warned them of becoming comfortable and complacent, failing to thank God for the good things in their lives, thinking in their pride that it was their own efforts that brought about their prosperity, rather than God’s continuing provision. It’s hard to imagine that a people who had grown up wandering the desert because of the sins of their parents would ever fall into this faulty way of thinking, but human nature being what it is, Moses’ prophecy soon came true, and the people of Israel found themselves time and time again being brought to their knees until they were forced to cry out to God and remind Him of His covenant with their ancestors.
In today’s Psalm we hear the lament of a people who are conscious of a glorious past but who are now “rejected and humbled” (Ps. 44 v. 9), a reproach to their neighbors, who scorn and deride them (v. 13). They have heard how God provided for their fathers, but they see no evidence of that in their present circumstances. Yet despite their fear that they have been rejected forever, they cling to the hope that God will once more redeem them because of His unfailing love.
How often do we find ourselves in this position, where we call on God only as a last resort, when we fail, through pride to thank Him for the daily provisions of our lives until we must fall on our faces and beg for Him to sustain us in our hour of desperation? We tell ourselves that God doesn’t sweat the small stuff, forgetting that all good gifts come from Him, both large and small.
In today’s Gospel reading we see Jesus, along with His mother and disciples, attending a joyous event, a wedding feast, possibly for a friend or family member. It is here that Our Lord performs His first public miracle, changing water into wine, and more importantly, changing His disciples from casual followers into dedicated believers who had witnessed the glory of God.
It is interesting that Jesus chooses this happy occasion to begin His ministry of miracle working. More spectacular miracles would come later: the feeding of the 5000; the driving out of demons; the healing of the blind, the lame, and the lepers; and the raising of the dead. There Our Lord demonstrated His power over life and death, over sickness and suffering. There He would show that no problem was too big for God to handle. But here, He would demonstrate something equally valuable to His followers: that there is no problem too small for God to take notice of, and that He is happy to provide all we need, in good times as well as bad.
We can also note that the wine that Jesus created from the jars of water was far superior to the wine that was originally provided at the feast. It is a happy fact that when God provides for us, He gives us gifts that are much better than what we can even think of asking for. We should never disdain or fear to ask for His provision, for ourselves or our friends and loved ones in need. Our Lord’s love is plentiful and cannot be exhausted. Jesus did not reject His mother’s request, nor will He reject ours. May we, like the disciples, be strengthened in our faith by the realization that we are witnessing the glory of God, even in the smallest of everyday miracles.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Psalm 44
Deuteronomy 8:11-20
Hebrews 2:11-18
John 2:1-12
Sermon:
In the Old Testament reading today we see Moses warning the people of Israel of the day when they would “forget the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. He led you through the vast and dreadful desert, that thirsty and waterless land, with its venomous snakes and scorpions. He brought you water out of hard rock. He gave you manna to eat in the desert, something your fathers had never known, to humble and to test you so that in the end it might go well with you.” (Deuteronomy 8:14-16)
It’s hard to imagine a much more desperate time of need for a people than the time of the Exodus: leaving the land they had lived in with nothing more than what they could carry, as they fled from a pursuing army. In times like these, it is easy to cry out to God for help, and indeed, He protected them and provided for their every need, despite their doubt and lack of trust that eventually led them to be condemned to forty years of wandering in the desert. Even then, when God would have been justified in abandoning them to their own devices, He continued to comfort and provide for them until at last their children were able to enter the Promised Land.
As Moses addressed this second generation, about to cross over to the land promised to their forefathers, he warned them of becoming comfortable and complacent, failing to thank God for the good things in their lives, thinking in their pride that it was their own efforts that brought about their prosperity, rather than God’s continuing provision. It’s hard to imagine that a people who had grown up wandering the desert because of the sins of their parents would ever fall into this faulty way of thinking, but human nature being what it is, Moses’ prophecy soon came true, and the people of Israel found themselves time and time again being brought to their knees until they were forced to cry out to God and remind Him of His covenant with their ancestors.
In today’s Psalm we hear the lament of a people who are conscious of a glorious past but who are now “rejected and humbled” (Ps. 44 v. 9), a reproach to their neighbors, who scorn and deride them (v. 13). They have heard how God provided for their fathers, but they see no evidence of that in their present circumstances. Yet despite their fear that they have been rejected forever, they cling to the hope that God will once more redeem them because of His unfailing love.
How often do we find ourselves in this position, where we call on God only as a last resort, when we fail, through pride to thank Him for the daily provisions of our lives until we must fall on our faces and beg for Him to sustain us in our hour of desperation? We tell ourselves that God doesn’t sweat the small stuff, forgetting that all good gifts come from Him, both large and small.
In today’s Gospel reading we see Jesus, along with His mother and disciples, attending a joyous event, a wedding feast, possibly for a friend or family member. It is here that Our Lord performs His first public miracle, changing water into wine, and more importantly, changing His disciples from casual followers into dedicated believers who had witnessed the glory of God.
It is interesting that Jesus chooses this happy occasion to begin His ministry of miracle working. More spectacular miracles would come later: the feeding of the 5000; the driving out of demons; the healing of the blind, the lame, and the lepers; and the raising of the dead. There Our Lord demonstrated His power over life and death, over sickness and suffering. There He would show that no problem was too big for God to handle. But here, He would demonstrate something equally valuable to His followers: that there is no problem too small for God to take notice of, and that He is happy to provide all we need, in good times as well as bad.
We can also note that the wine that Jesus created from the jars of water was far superior to the wine that was originally provided at the feast. It is a happy fact that when God provides for us, He gives us gifts that are much better than what we can even think of asking for. We should never disdain or fear to ask for His provision, for ourselves or our friends and loved ones in need. Our Lord’s love is plentiful and cannot be exhausted. Jesus did not reject His mother’s request, nor will He reject ours. May we, like the disciples, be strengthened in our faith by the realization that we are witnessing the glory of God, even in the smallest of everyday miracles.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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