A sermon delivered to All Saints Anglican Church August 12, 2007 based on Hebrews 11:1-16
The Unfortunate Hiker
There was once a young man who decided to hike the length of the Appalachian Trail. He started out and all was going well until one day he met up with a hungry bear. The bear chased the unfortunate hiker, who ran to the edge of a hidden cliff. He was going too fast to stop himself and he toppled over the edge. On his way down, he called out “O God, help me!” Suddenly a bushy tree appeared and he was able to grab a branch and cling to safety. But as he was hanging there, he began to lose his grip and he called out again, “O God, help me!” At that very moment, a deep voice said, “Let go”. The hiker thought about it a moment, then cried out, “Is there anyone else up there I can talk to?!”
Needless to say, the young hiker was having a faith problem.
Now he started out well. He called out to God – and Heb. 11:6 tells us that whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that He rewards those who diligently seek Him. So far, so good. But now comes the difficult part – faith. Without Faith it is impossible to please God. So by calling out to someone else, the hiker was clearly showing that he lacked Faith. He lacked personal knowledge of the God he was calling out to, so he had no assurance that he could trust the directives he received. He had no conviction that the unseen voice could was trustworthy.
And here is the rub of our problem with Faith. In order for faith to be valid we must either have excellent references that the object of our faith is trustworthy, or we must have some personal experience with the object of our faith. Without one of these qualifications, our faith is Blind; faith in faith itself. Thankfully as Christians, our faith is not just based on some idea or wish, but on Someone. And this Someone has revealed Himself that we may know Him and in knowing Him, we may receive Salvation. (Jn. 20:31).
As Christians, our faith is based on Revelation. God has revealed himself to us both through the written Word, and the Living Word, Jesus. The written Word provides us key knowledge about our Creator God – His attributes, His likes and dislikes, etc. It also gives us a record of God’s interaction with his people through the centuries, thus providing us the references we need. The great Hall of Faith we read about in Hebrews Eleven also give us eloquent testimony to how key people have trusted God through the ages. There is Revelation, content to my faith; it’s not just wishful thinking or Blind Trust.
This faith is based on Jesus and upon a reward in another, heavenly country. As a result I have a basis for deferring or denying some gratifications in this life – even to the point of giving up this life because I believe that there is a firmer reality out ahead, that all the apparent charms of this life are worthless compared to the matchless value of knowing Christ and Him crucified.
That unseen, hidden reality is so much more real than the stuff of this life that I am even willing to forfeit this life for the sake of that hoped-for life.
Spiritual Positioning System
This past Thursday, I went to a conference on Fatherhood, sponsored by KISRA, the Kanawha Institute for Social Research and Action, which is the faith-based and community-serving initiative of Ferguson Memorial Baptist Church. I attended a session with Pastor Emmanuel Heyliger, who was talking about Faith and the Family. During his talk, he made refered to Faith as our SPS – Spiritual Positioning System.
Our SPS tells us where we start from and where we’re going. It also helps orient us so that we don’t’ get lost along the Way. The only caveat is that we have to heed its directions; we have to listen to the Voice when it tells us what to do, and not ask for some other direction when we encounter difficulty.
Types of Faith
Our SPS contains a couple of types of faith. Small ‘f’ faith can help us accomplish earthly goals: complete a report by a certain time, accomplish some short term goal. We may rightly speak of a certain faith in ourselves or in our dreams. Confidence might be a synonym. Julie Andrews playing Maria in the Sound of Music, sings a song about having ‘Confidence in me” as she makes her way from the convent to the Von Trapp residence. This type of confidence or faith is based largely on knowledge of ourselves and our abilities. Maria had confidence that she could play guitar and sing. She had enthusiasm and talent in music. She also thinks she can take the Captain’s children in hand and be a good governess to them. But in the movie, when she finally reaches her destination and takes a look at the imposing Von Trapp estate, the wind suddenly goes out of sails. Suddenly she is not so confident that she can meet the challenge of being a governess on her own. To her credit, she musters up her courage and goes to face the challenge head on.
Underneath her outward confidence, however, is something that the movie only hints at: Maria has a Big “F” faith based on her knowledge and experience of God. Her Spiritual Positioning System was based on knowledge of a Who not just a vague hope. As a result, Maria was able to launch out in obedience to her Mother Superior without complete understanding of what she was being asked to do. Paul tells us in Philippians 4:13, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” Our confidence is based on Someone bigger than me, outside of myself, who has demonstrated that He is powerful and trustworthy. Our SPS is powered by God!
Therefore, the saints of God have been willing to do all manner of apparently foolish things –leave their homes and go off to other countries, offer their sons in sacrifice to God, knowing that He is able to raise the dead, build ridiculously huge boats in the middle of a waterless plain, - even conceive children in advanced old age. They believed in a greater Reality out there who created all things, is over all things, and who upholds all things by the word of His power. They also believed that this same personal God loved them personally and particularly.
The Love Connection
This is where Faith goes hand in hand with Love. The knowledge of the God puts us in touch with the experience of His love – and this love is so compelling that I am willing to forego everything earthly to get it. My faith ties me to an other-worldly, but certain love, and that selfsame Love returns me to the things and people of earth and gives a mission to love other people in a New Way. Just as God so Loved the world that he gave His only begotten Son (Jn. 3:16) for the life of the world (Jn 6:51) so too, we as Believers have been given a mission to love and serve the world for Christ’s sake.
Our first priority in mission is to help people come to know Christ personally. But a funny thing happens along the way. Here let me return to Rev. Heyliger for an illustration. When he started his ministry at Ferguson Memorial Baptist Church in Dunbar 26 years ago, he began with services on Sundays and prayer meetings on Wednesdays, Sunday School and Vacation Bible Schools in the summer for the kids, etc. But in tying to teach the Bible to children and adults, he noticed that many of them couldn’t read – so he started a literacy program. Then he noticed that some of them were hungry and didn’t have adequate clothing – so he started a food bank and a thrift store. Then he noticed that some of his flock didn’t have jobs – so he started a job training program. Some didn’t have housing – so he started a program to help people buy houses, and another program to help them manage their money – and then finally another program to encourage responsible parenting. All these things came about as a result of a Faith in God that caused him and his church to reach out with the Love of God.
Our Mission
Like Emmanuel Heyliger and the folks at Ferguson Memorial Baptist Church, we at All Saints Anglican Church has been called to reach out to our world in Love. A big part of that mission right now revolves around Hope House. God has shown us a vision of how to reach out to a very broken part of our community and has given us many convincing proofs of His leadership and provision. We are certainly called as a body to accomplish this goal, even though we don’t know exactly how we are going to get there. Even now, there are many things happening behind the scenes to bring many people together to accomplish the goal, in ways none of could ever begin to imagine.
For instance, last night, I went out to at Camp Rocky Ledge in Milton to speak to a group of 100 squirming middle-school aged Girl Scouts about the tragedy of four teens dying because they got caught up in the world of drugs and violence. Believe me, greater love hath no man than he try to hold the attention of a bunch of bouncy girls… It was an unusual invitation, but an important connection was made with a group of young people who in many cases don’t have much contact with the world of church. Talking to the leaders of the troops I learned that there are 300 Girl Scouts in Huntington who need community service projects to complete. Many of them will now come to Hope House to do these projects! Amazing how our obedient faith results amazing actions.
As Christians, we have faith and love that the world does not and cannot know, but which it is attracted to and yearning to know. Our task then is to emulate, to be like these heroes of the faith who were so heavenly minded that they saved the world from itself. This is what we are called to – to live out our faith so as to become saints – heroes of the Faith.
We place our faith in God the Father and His son Jesus Christ. We walk by faith in his trustworthiness not by what we can see. And so we walk in love and we are able to give ourselves to the world – not for the sake of worldly gain, but fro the sake of God and because in His live, He wants to reach out to everyone in this sorry orb. Thus we have our Marching Orders. We believe in God for the sake of our soul’s salvation and we give out the love we receive on His behalf and for His sake. Amen.
Sunday, August 12, 2007
Sunday, July 08, 2007
Sowing and Reaping
A sermon delivered to All Saints Anglican Church on July 8, 2007, based on Galatians 6: 1-18 and Luke 10:1-12,16-20
Like many of you, my relatives were farmers. I remember spending time with my grandparents on their farm out on Mulberry ridge in Spencer. They raised cattle mostly, and baled hay for feed. And they always planted a big garden. I can recall several times ‘helping’ my grandfather plant beans and corn by dropping the seed into a handheld planter – a contraption that looked a little like a long bellows with handles you could push in and pull out, a place to drop in the seeds, and then a metal tip that you poked down into the ground to deposit the seed.
As a child of about six or seven, the process of planting fascinated me, but I couldn’t quite get a handle on what happened next. Grandpa and I spent a lot of time putting seeds in the earth and all we had to show for it was a barren piece of earth with little lumps in it. I had to come back several times during the summer to see the progress of the plants in order to realize that when you planted something it would grow and you would eventually have something good to eat.
You drop the little seeds (hold up Cheerios) in the ground and eventually you harvest a crop (hold up a Krispy Kreme donut). When you pick these babies off the plant and they’re fresh…mmm, mmm, there’s nothin’ better!
Farmers call this sowing and reaping. In our lesson today, we see this concept applied to our lives.
The Law of Sowing and Reaping
Now there is a Law of Sowing and Reaping, of cause and effect. There are rewards or consequences attached to our actions. “Whatever a man sows, that will he also reap,” says Paul in Gal. 6:6. There is no escape from this Law. And it is impersonal – like gravity. It is no respecter of persons and it is immutable, unchangeable. Our actions will always bring us a consequence, affecting us in every way.
But let’s quickly make a distinction: Sowing and Reaping is not the same thing as Karma. In Karma, the law of cause and effect is understood to impact the destiny of the next incarnation. If you do well, you may indeed come back as a higher, better person, and you may be able to continue the long, long upward climb through countless reincarnations of your soul, waiting for the time when you might, through your good efforts, achieve Nirvana. Thus, one escapes the endless cycle of suffering, death and reincarnation. Too much bad Karma, however, and you might actually go backwards – you might come back as a Frog!
Sowing and Reaping differs, then, from Karma. The writer of Hebrews tells us that, “It is appointed once for a person to die, then comes the judgment” (Heb. 9:27). We as Christians are going to Heaven, not into the vast impersonal cosmic consciousness.
Flesh and Spirit
According to the Apostle Paul, we either sow to the Spirit or to the Flesh. Sowing to the Spirit basically means giving of your self for the welfare and benefit of others: building relationships, making converts to the faith, building up one another in the faith, giving to the poor and needy, doing unselfish acts of kindness. These are some of the things that sow into the Spirit. They are things that contribute to building the Kingdom of God. They are done without the hope of reward per se.
By contrast, to sow to the flesh means that you do things from selfish motives, always asking, in effect, “What’s in it for me?!”. To act with this motive is to demand a short- term reward; it must make me immediately happy, distracted or amused. To sow with fleshly motives means to reap fleshly results: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies…and we might also throw in Pride, arrogance and using others for our own gratification (cf. Gal. 5:19-21). These are the results of sowing to the flesh, - in a word, Corruption. If we do things from selfish motives, we receive the sinful reward immediately; we do not reap a heavenly reward.
To sow to the Spirit results in the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness and self control – the very marks of Humility (Gal. 5:22-23). These are the fruits of Jesus, who although he existed in the form of god did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but humbled himself, taking upon himself the form a man, and became obedient even to death on the cross (Phil. 2:5-8). As a result he reaped eternal Joy, and the undying praise of every living creature. When we sow to the Spirit, we receive the spiritual reward plus the righteous physical reward.
Just as the farmer sows in anticipation of reaping a crop, there is an expectation of reaping a good reward from our actions. We can legitimately expect that as we follow the Lord in our lives, making him Lord of all, that He will bless us as we seek to put Him first. To some extent this is merely the result of practicing a good stable work ethic. They say that 80% of life is just showing up on time. If you plug along doing your work in a stable, workmanlike manner, you will indeed reap a benefit in time. Again, it’s the universal law at work. Consistent action will bring a reward in itself.
Caveats
But in the kingdom of God it’s not quite so simple. Sometimes we as Christians sow in faith that others may benefit. Indeed, even on a secular level, we can see from the history of our country that often the families who pioneered the westward frontier did not reap nearly as great reward as those who followed in their footsteps. This can perhaps be summed up in the old saying, “Nothing worth doing can be done in one life-time.” Big works inspired by big visions take big amounts of time to bring to fruition. . The cathedral at Canterbury, England took 300 years to build!
In regard to saving souls, there is also a team effort involved. One sows a seed, another waters, and another harvests. Sometimes, we only do part of the total effort needed to see a soul come into the Kingdom. Our vision must be long-term.
Just because we pioneer a new church, does not mean that we will experience all the benefits of attending a mature, fully functioning Church body within our lifetimes. Right now, we are sowing into God’s kingdom, so that we ourselves may enjoy the benefits of an orthodox and spiritually safe Anglican Church. But in many ways, we are building for the next generation of young Anglicans. Just as with the farmer, we don’t harvest first, we sow first, then we water, and tend, and then we reap. It’s the natural cycle of Sowing and Reaping.
This is where we look to the Lord to provide us the reward for our sowing. As Christians, we all look ahead to the time when we stand before God and he says to us, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of your master” (Mt. 25:21). But that’s up ahead in the future. How can we avoid becoming weary in well doing and eventually giving up? Paul tells us that in due season we will reap if we do not give up (Gal. 6:9). The reward will indeed come to us in if we continue to press on. We will see our prayers answered if we do not give up.
For the past 8 and one half months, we have sown into building a faith community. While we don’t enjoy great stability yet or have a beautiful building, we do enjoy the blessings of being able to worship in spirit and in truth, not having to contend with heretical leadership - with Bishops who are enemies of the Faith. That’s a Blessing! It’s a reward to be able to worship with people who actually believe in Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord!
Let’s look at some other specific rewards that are coming to us through our faithful actions. You will, I’m sure remember when we did the reverse offering – in which each person took a $1.00 bill out of the basket and combined it with some other dollars. We held up those dollars in faith believing that we were sowing a seed into God’s Kingdom. What happened? We got a crummy, cursed, run-down building out of it! Seriously folks, we took an initial seed offering of $235 and turned it into the purchase of a $10,000 building. But apart from that crude way of measuring reward, as we have sown into the families of the murdered teens, we have seen healing and reconciliation take place. As we have worked with the Mayor of Huntington and other ministers, we have we have been blessed to begin to see some early fruit from our labors -cooperation among the churches and a partial healing of the City of Huntington in regard to these murders.
No “Giving Back”
Now, another quick clarification: Christians don’t “Give back” to the community or the world, as this is understood popularly. Our giving is “as unto the Lord” (Col. 3:23), knowing that we will receive an inheritance as our reward. . We return thanks to Him from His abundance. We don’t give because we have become successful in our endeavors and now we ‘owe’ something back to the community – like some sort of unwritten civil code of conduct. We give as a regular part of our faith walk to demonstrate our dependence on God as our Creator and to acknowledge his Lordship over all of our lives.
The standard is that everything we have and all that we are belongs to the Lord by right. He has bought us with the Blood of Jesus Christ and now God owns us lock, stock and barrel. Whether or not we acknowledge being owned by God is, of course, another matter.
Overall, the general pattern in this life for being a disciple of Christ is found in Psalm 1. The first part of the pattern is Blessedness for things we do not do: ‘follow not the counsel of the wicked, nor linger in the way of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scorners…”
Rather, we “delight in the Law of the Lord and ponder His Word day and night.” (vv1,2). Then comes the temporal reward: “He shall be like a tree that is planted, beside the flowing waters, that yields its fruit in due season and whose leaves will never fade, And all that he does shall prosper…”
As we focus our lives on the stability that results from being a disciple of Jesus, we naturally prosper. John Wesley actually found this to be a problem. When people turned from a life of dissipation to the stability and productive life centered on Christ, financial stability followed – indeed was almost inevitable – even to the point that Wesley lamented that Christians’ newfound prosperity would pull them away from the Gospel.
This is where our financial giving comes in. We give 10% of our income to keep us aware that God is the source of all provision. Our giving goes to God, not to a church or para church ministry per se. Your checks are made out to All Saints Anglican Church, but God is the Recipient. As a church, we will do everything we can do to be financially responsible and to sow into other ministries as well. But again, it’s important to recognize that the recipient of our giving is God not the church, and that the money you give is not yours, but the Lord’s.
We are currently seeking to find an actual sanctuary to worship in.
We have a couple of prospects, but it appears that renting a church will cost more than the $75.00 per week we’ve been paying here for St. Hampton’s. One option would cost $125.00 per week. Are we up to the challenge of sowing more money into a meeting place so that we can perhaps attract more disenfranchised Anglicans? I think we are.
I’d like to challenge you to increase your financial sowing, by encouraging you to give in multiples of $125.00 if possible, thinking of it as sowing into God’s Kingdom one or two or twelve weeks of worship that the Lord is helping you to provide for your brothers and sisters. This sowing is an opportunity for faith building. If you sow generously, we will reap abundantly.
What we’re looking for is found in Psalm 3: The earth has yielded its fruit, for God, our God blesses us. May God still give us His blessing, till the ends of the earth revere Him. Amen.
Like many of you, my relatives were farmers. I remember spending time with my grandparents on their farm out on Mulberry ridge in Spencer. They raised cattle mostly, and baled hay for feed. And they always planted a big garden. I can recall several times ‘helping’ my grandfather plant beans and corn by dropping the seed into a handheld planter – a contraption that looked a little like a long bellows with handles you could push in and pull out, a place to drop in the seeds, and then a metal tip that you poked down into the ground to deposit the seed.
As a child of about six or seven, the process of planting fascinated me, but I couldn’t quite get a handle on what happened next. Grandpa and I spent a lot of time putting seeds in the earth and all we had to show for it was a barren piece of earth with little lumps in it. I had to come back several times during the summer to see the progress of the plants in order to realize that when you planted something it would grow and you would eventually have something good to eat.
You drop the little seeds (hold up Cheerios) in the ground and eventually you harvest a crop (hold up a Krispy Kreme donut). When you pick these babies off the plant and they’re fresh…mmm, mmm, there’s nothin’ better!
Farmers call this sowing and reaping. In our lesson today, we see this concept applied to our lives.
The Law of Sowing and Reaping
Now there is a Law of Sowing and Reaping, of cause and effect. There are rewards or consequences attached to our actions. “Whatever a man sows, that will he also reap,” says Paul in Gal. 6:6. There is no escape from this Law. And it is impersonal – like gravity. It is no respecter of persons and it is immutable, unchangeable. Our actions will always bring us a consequence, affecting us in every way.
But let’s quickly make a distinction: Sowing and Reaping is not the same thing as Karma. In Karma, the law of cause and effect is understood to impact the destiny of the next incarnation. If you do well, you may indeed come back as a higher, better person, and you may be able to continue the long, long upward climb through countless reincarnations of your soul, waiting for the time when you might, through your good efforts, achieve Nirvana. Thus, one escapes the endless cycle of suffering, death and reincarnation. Too much bad Karma, however, and you might actually go backwards – you might come back as a Frog!
Sowing and Reaping differs, then, from Karma. The writer of Hebrews tells us that, “It is appointed once for a person to die, then comes the judgment” (Heb. 9:27). We as Christians are going to Heaven, not into the vast impersonal cosmic consciousness.
Flesh and Spirit
According to the Apostle Paul, we either sow to the Spirit or to the Flesh. Sowing to the Spirit basically means giving of your self for the welfare and benefit of others: building relationships, making converts to the faith, building up one another in the faith, giving to the poor and needy, doing unselfish acts of kindness. These are some of the things that sow into the Spirit. They are things that contribute to building the Kingdom of God. They are done without the hope of reward per se.
By contrast, to sow to the flesh means that you do things from selfish motives, always asking, in effect, “What’s in it for me?!”. To act with this motive is to demand a short- term reward; it must make me immediately happy, distracted or amused. To sow with fleshly motives means to reap fleshly results: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies…and we might also throw in Pride, arrogance and using others for our own gratification (cf. Gal. 5:19-21). These are the results of sowing to the flesh, - in a word, Corruption. If we do things from selfish motives, we receive the sinful reward immediately; we do not reap a heavenly reward.
To sow to the Spirit results in the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness and self control – the very marks of Humility (Gal. 5:22-23). These are the fruits of Jesus, who although he existed in the form of god did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but humbled himself, taking upon himself the form a man, and became obedient even to death on the cross (Phil. 2:5-8). As a result he reaped eternal Joy, and the undying praise of every living creature. When we sow to the Spirit, we receive the spiritual reward plus the righteous physical reward.
Just as the farmer sows in anticipation of reaping a crop, there is an expectation of reaping a good reward from our actions. We can legitimately expect that as we follow the Lord in our lives, making him Lord of all, that He will bless us as we seek to put Him first. To some extent this is merely the result of practicing a good stable work ethic. They say that 80% of life is just showing up on time. If you plug along doing your work in a stable, workmanlike manner, you will indeed reap a benefit in time. Again, it’s the universal law at work. Consistent action will bring a reward in itself.
Caveats
But in the kingdom of God it’s not quite so simple. Sometimes we as Christians sow in faith that others may benefit. Indeed, even on a secular level, we can see from the history of our country that often the families who pioneered the westward frontier did not reap nearly as great reward as those who followed in their footsteps. This can perhaps be summed up in the old saying, “Nothing worth doing can be done in one life-time.” Big works inspired by big visions take big amounts of time to bring to fruition. . The cathedral at Canterbury, England took 300 years to build!
In regard to saving souls, there is also a team effort involved. One sows a seed, another waters, and another harvests. Sometimes, we only do part of the total effort needed to see a soul come into the Kingdom. Our vision must be long-term.
Just because we pioneer a new church, does not mean that we will experience all the benefits of attending a mature, fully functioning Church body within our lifetimes. Right now, we are sowing into God’s kingdom, so that we ourselves may enjoy the benefits of an orthodox and spiritually safe Anglican Church. But in many ways, we are building for the next generation of young Anglicans. Just as with the farmer, we don’t harvest first, we sow first, then we water, and tend, and then we reap. It’s the natural cycle of Sowing and Reaping.
This is where we look to the Lord to provide us the reward for our sowing. As Christians, we all look ahead to the time when we stand before God and he says to us, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of your master” (Mt. 25:21). But that’s up ahead in the future. How can we avoid becoming weary in well doing and eventually giving up? Paul tells us that in due season we will reap if we do not give up (Gal. 6:9). The reward will indeed come to us in if we continue to press on. We will see our prayers answered if we do not give up.
For the past 8 and one half months, we have sown into building a faith community. While we don’t enjoy great stability yet or have a beautiful building, we do enjoy the blessings of being able to worship in spirit and in truth, not having to contend with heretical leadership - with Bishops who are enemies of the Faith. That’s a Blessing! It’s a reward to be able to worship with people who actually believe in Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord!
Let’s look at some other specific rewards that are coming to us through our faithful actions. You will, I’m sure remember when we did the reverse offering – in which each person took a $1.00 bill out of the basket and combined it with some other dollars. We held up those dollars in faith believing that we were sowing a seed into God’s Kingdom. What happened? We got a crummy, cursed, run-down building out of it! Seriously folks, we took an initial seed offering of $235 and turned it into the purchase of a $10,000 building. But apart from that crude way of measuring reward, as we have sown into the families of the murdered teens, we have seen healing and reconciliation take place. As we have worked with the Mayor of Huntington and other ministers, we have we have been blessed to begin to see some early fruit from our labors -cooperation among the churches and a partial healing of the City of Huntington in regard to these murders.
No “Giving Back”
Now, another quick clarification: Christians don’t “Give back” to the community or the world, as this is understood popularly. Our giving is “as unto the Lord” (Col. 3:23), knowing that we will receive an inheritance as our reward. . We return thanks to Him from His abundance. We don’t give because we have become successful in our endeavors and now we ‘owe’ something back to the community – like some sort of unwritten civil code of conduct. We give as a regular part of our faith walk to demonstrate our dependence on God as our Creator and to acknowledge his Lordship over all of our lives.
The standard is that everything we have and all that we are belongs to the Lord by right. He has bought us with the Blood of Jesus Christ and now God owns us lock, stock and barrel. Whether or not we acknowledge being owned by God is, of course, another matter.
Overall, the general pattern in this life for being a disciple of Christ is found in Psalm 1. The first part of the pattern is Blessedness for things we do not do: ‘follow not the counsel of the wicked, nor linger in the way of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scorners…”
Rather, we “delight in the Law of the Lord and ponder His Word day and night.” (vv1,2). Then comes the temporal reward: “He shall be like a tree that is planted, beside the flowing waters, that yields its fruit in due season and whose leaves will never fade, And all that he does shall prosper…”
As we focus our lives on the stability that results from being a disciple of Jesus, we naturally prosper. John Wesley actually found this to be a problem. When people turned from a life of dissipation to the stability and productive life centered on Christ, financial stability followed – indeed was almost inevitable – even to the point that Wesley lamented that Christians’ newfound prosperity would pull them away from the Gospel.
This is where our financial giving comes in. We give 10% of our income to keep us aware that God is the source of all provision. Our giving goes to God, not to a church or para church ministry per se. Your checks are made out to All Saints Anglican Church, but God is the Recipient. As a church, we will do everything we can do to be financially responsible and to sow into other ministries as well. But again, it’s important to recognize that the recipient of our giving is God not the church, and that the money you give is not yours, but the Lord’s.
We are currently seeking to find an actual sanctuary to worship in.
We have a couple of prospects, but it appears that renting a church will cost more than the $75.00 per week we’ve been paying here for St. Hampton’s. One option would cost $125.00 per week. Are we up to the challenge of sowing more money into a meeting place so that we can perhaps attract more disenfranchised Anglicans? I think we are.
I’d like to challenge you to increase your financial sowing, by encouraging you to give in multiples of $125.00 if possible, thinking of it as sowing into God’s Kingdom one or two or twelve weeks of worship that the Lord is helping you to provide for your brothers and sisters. This sowing is an opportunity for faith building. If you sow generously, we will reap abundantly.
What we’re looking for is found in Psalm 3: The earth has yielded its fruit, for God, our God blesses us. May God still give us His blessing, till the ends of the earth revere Him. Amen.
Sunday, June 24, 2007
Saving and Losing
A Sermon delivered to All Saints Anglican Church on June 24, 2007 during our outdoor worship service, Barboursville City Park, Barboursville, WV, based on Luke 9:18-24
In 2006, the movie, End of the Spear, told the story of a group of missionaries who attempted to reach out to the Auca indians in Ecuador. Jim Elliot, Ed McCully, Roger Youderian, Peter Fleming, and their pilot, Nate Saint made contact with the violent tribe and were initially encouraged by a friendly response. But on January 8, 1956, during an attempt to reach the tribe, a group of 10 Aucas killed the four men.
Elliot and his friends became instantly known worldwide as martyrs, and Life Magazine published a ten-page article on their mission and death. While I was attending Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, we went to church with one of my professors, Walter Liefeld. His wife, Olive was the widow of Peter Fleming. On several occasions, we heard her tell about the events of that tragic day.
These families are credited with sparking an interest in Christian missions among the youth of their time and are still considered an encouragement to Christian missionaries working throughout the world. After her husband's death, Elisabeth Elliot and other missionaries began working among the Auca (Huaorani) Indians, where they had a profound impact and won many converts. She later published two books, Shadow of the Almighty: The Life and Testament of Jim Elliot and Through Gates of Splendor, which describe the life and death of her husband. In 2005, a documentary based on the story was released entitled Beyond the Gates of Splendor
Jim Elliot was a very single-minded individual. He was the kind of person who went to Wheaton College to prepare for the mission field, but didn’t do well in his studies because he thought that studying philosophy and other subjects took away from studying the Bible. His commitment to sharing the Gospel with the world was absolute – even more important than his own life. In his journal for October 28, 1949, he wrote the following sentence,
“He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.”
Jim Elliot was someone who lived out Jesus’ words that “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will save it.” Luke 9: 24.
Today, I’d like us to ask ourselves the question, “What am I saving and what am I losing?”
Paul writes in his second letter to Timothy, “…”in the last days, there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power” (2 Tim. 3:1-5).
He is describing people who are trying to ‘save’ their lives – trying to ‘go for all the gusto’ trying to die with the most toys. What they are actually doing, according to Jesus and Paul is simply dying. They are dead to God because they are practicing the presence of their own selves. They have no spiritual life because their only interest is themselves. As a result, they aren’t just content to eventually go to hell; they are actively creating it here on earth.
You probably know people like this. They’re no fun to be around. Their selfishness is like a black hole, sucking up everything that comes near it. The most graphic current example I can think of is – brace yourselves – Paris Hilton. Her life, as portrayed in the media is the icon of the self-seeking person, who becomes a pathetic embarrassment and a reproach to all associated with her.
Contrast her life of wanton pleasure-seeking with that of Jesus, who came into this world, not to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many (Mt. 20:28). Although he existed in the form of God, he did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant…humbling himself to the point of death, even death on a cross. (Phil. 2:6-8).
Paul uses the word ‘kenosis’ to describe how Jesus ‘emptied’ himself of his divine prerogatives in order to serve The Father in redeeming humanity. The result of this losing of his life was that “God highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Phil 2:9-11).
Jesus lost his earthly life for us that He might inherit eternal glory.
…“for the joy that was set before him [he] endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:2).
This is the epitome of losing in order to save. This is what we should be emulating in our lives. If then, we wish to follow Christ, how can we do likewise?
Martyrdom:
Here’s a quote from an Orthodox website:
“The idea of martyrdom had a central place in the spiritual outlook of the early Christians. They saw their Church as founded upon blood - not only the blood of Christ but the blood of those 'other Christs', the martyrs. In later centuries when the Church became 'established' and no longer suffered persecution, the idea of martyrdom did not disappear, but it took other forms: the monastic life, for example, is often regarded by Greek writers as an equivalent to martyrdom. The same approach is found also in the west: take, for instance, a Celtic text - an Irish homily of the seventh century - which likens the ascetic life to the way of the martyr”:”Now there are three kinds of martyrdom which are accounted as a Cross to a man, white martyrdom, green martyrdom, and red martyrdom. White martyrdom consists in a man's abandoning everything he loves for God's sake ... (Green martyrdom consists in this, that by means of fasting and labour he frees himself from his evil desires, or suffers toil in penance and repentance. Red martyrdom consists in the endurance of a Cross or death for Christ's sake.'”
(Orthodox Christian Information website: http://www.orthodoxinfo.com/general/history1.aspx#The%20First%20Persecutions%20and%20Martyrs )
The Celts, whom we remember in our liturgy today were very keen to exercise this kind of martyrdom. Many “left behind the comforts and pleasures of ordinary human society to live hermits' lives on mountaintops or lonely islands. … There they studied Scripture and communed with God after the example of the anchorites in the Egyptian desert. Ireland could not duplicate the barren terrain of the Egyptian desert; thus, this green martyrdom gave way to the more social life of monasticism.
St. Columba became an example of a “White Martyr”. “Born in 521, a prince with a title to kingship, he chose to become a monk. By age 41 he had founded 41 monasteries. Because Columba was held responsible for the Battle of Cuil Dremmed in which 3,000 men died, he became an exile. As penance he set out to save the same number of people as died in the battle. Columba, with 12 relatives, founded a monastery on Iona off the coast of Scotland that became famous throughout Europe. Monks from Iona in turn set out for what they called a white martyrdom: "[H]enceforth all who followed Columcille's lead were called to the white martyrdom, they who sailed into the white sky of morning, into the unknown, never to return." (Wikipedia: “Martyrdom”).
All of which is fine and inspiring, but what about us today? How do we take up our cross and follow Jesus daily?
For many of us, the most compelling example is family life. As parents, we are constantly called upon to give up our own desires and put the needs of our children ahead of ours. I clearly remember the contrast between being able to go somewhere with Cindy and spend four or five carefree hours – and having to think of the needs of a newborn when we went somewhere. A simple trip to the mall to shop for clothes became an all-day bivouac requiring the mind of a military quarter-master to manage all the stuff we had to take with us! And then when more children came along …well, you know what I mean. Successful parenting demands that we deny ourselves and put others ahead of ourselves.
Then too, marriage requires the giving of oneself to the other person in order to be successful. I sometimes say, only half-jokingly – that “Marriage is God’s divinely ordained institution for Cross-bearing!” And let me quickly add that your spouse is not your cross! No! Rather, we encounter our own selfishness as we interact with our spouses, and we must constantly fight back the demand to have things the way that we want it when we want it. Again, it’s the contrast between being Christ-like - giving ourselves for the sake of the other - and grasping for self-fulfillment. One leads to life and the other death.
Very few of us are called to actually give up our lives in Red Martyrdom like Jim Elliot and his companions, but we are all called to live a life of self-denial, of white and green martyrdom – of giving up our own fondest desires – even when they are good, in order to serve our Lord more perfectly.
This is a basic pattern of the Christian life, and indeed in nature itself. Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it cannot bear much fruit. (Jn. 12:24; I Cor 15:36). Unless you learn to die to your own selfish desires, you cannot please God. And pleasing Him is what it’s all about. It’s like a client of mine says, “If I miss Heaven, I miss everything”.
Friends, the way to follow Christ is to lay down your life for his sake. It’s a huge challenge to all who have dedicated our lives to Him. He demands everything of us but desires to give everything to us. If he demands death to ourselves, it’s only to replace it with His life, so that we may have that abundance that Jesus promises – good measure, tamped down and overflowing. (Jn. 10:10).
And if you’re out their trying to find a way to live a full life without Christ, I can only tell you that your efforts are in vain. Just as the Preacher says in Ecclesiates, “Vanity of Vanity, all is vanity.” (Eccl. 1:2). You can get all the toys you ever wanted and travel the world to your heart’s desire, but if you die without Christ, you’re just a dead person who left behind a passport and bunch of toys.
I invite you today to ‘cease striving”, to follow Jesus, to deny yourself, take up your cross daily and to make Christ the Lord of your life. If you do this you will live eternally and experience the joy of being reconciled with God.
Pray with me: “Jesus, I believe that you are the Messiah of God. I have tried to save my life and I’m losing it every day. Father, please forgive me my sins and save me from myself. Help me to give myself to you and to take up my cross and follow you daily. Make my life pleasing to you and give me the abundant life Jesus promised, for his sake, Amen.
In 2006, the movie, End of the Spear, told the story of a group of missionaries who attempted to reach out to the Auca indians in Ecuador. Jim Elliot, Ed McCully, Roger Youderian, Peter Fleming, and their pilot, Nate Saint made contact with the violent tribe and were initially encouraged by a friendly response. But on January 8, 1956, during an attempt to reach the tribe, a group of 10 Aucas killed the four men.
Elliot and his friends became instantly known worldwide as martyrs, and Life Magazine published a ten-page article on their mission and death. While I was attending Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, we went to church with one of my professors, Walter Liefeld. His wife, Olive was the widow of Peter Fleming. On several occasions, we heard her tell about the events of that tragic day.
These families are credited with sparking an interest in Christian missions among the youth of their time and are still considered an encouragement to Christian missionaries working throughout the world. After her husband's death, Elisabeth Elliot and other missionaries began working among the Auca (Huaorani) Indians, where they had a profound impact and won many converts. She later published two books, Shadow of the Almighty: The Life and Testament of Jim Elliot and Through Gates of Splendor, which describe the life and death of her husband. In 2005, a documentary based on the story was released entitled Beyond the Gates of Splendor
Jim Elliot was a very single-minded individual. He was the kind of person who went to Wheaton College to prepare for the mission field, but didn’t do well in his studies because he thought that studying philosophy and other subjects took away from studying the Bible. His commitment to sharing the Gospel with the world was absolute – even more important than his own life. In his journal for October 28, 1949, he wrote the following sentence,
“He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.”
Jim Elliot was someone who lived out Jesus’ words that “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will save it.” Luke 9: 24.
Today, I’d like us to ask ourselves the question, “What am I saving and what am I losing?”
Paul writes in his second letter to Timothy, “…”in the last days, there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power” (2 Tim. 3:1-5).
He is describing people who are trying to ‘save’ their lives – trying to ‘go for all the gusto’ trying to die with the most toys. What they are actually doing, according to Jesus and Paul is simply dying. They are dead to God because they are practicing the presence of their own selves. They have no spiritual life because their only interest is themselves. As a result, they aren’t just content to eventually go to hell; they are actively creating it here on earth.
You probably know people like this. They’re no fun to be around. Their selfishness is like a black hole, sucking up everything that comes near it. The most graphic current example I can think of is – brace yourselves – Paris Hilton. Her life, as portrayed in the media is the icon of the self-seeking person, who becomes a pathetic embarrassment and a reproach to all associated with her.
Contrast her life of wanton pleasure-seeking with that of Jesus, who came into this world, not to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many (Mt. 20:28). Although he existed in the form of God, he did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant…humbling himself to the point of death, even death on a cross. (Phil. 2:6-8).
Paul uses the word ‘kenosis’ to describe how Jesus ‘emptied’ himself of his divine prerogatives in order to serve The Father in redeeming humanity. The result of this losing of his life was that “God highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Phil 2:9-11).
Jesus lost his earthly life for us that He might inherit eternal glory.
…“for the joy that was set before him [he] endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:2).
This is the epitome of losing in order to save. This is what we should be emulating in our lives. If then, we wish to follow Christ, how can we do likewise?
Martyrdom:
Here’s a quote from an Orthodox website:
“The idea of martyrdom had a central place in the spiritual outlook of the early Christians. They saw their Church as founded upon blood - not only the blood of Christ but the blood of those 'other Christs', the martyrs. In later centuries when the Church became 'established' and no longer suffered persecution, the idea of martyrdom did not disappear, but it took other forms: the monastic life, for example, is often regarded by Greek writers as an equivalent to martyrdom. The same approach is found also in the west: take, for instance, a Celtic text - an Irish homily of the seventh century - which likens the ascetic life to the way of the martyr”:”Now there are three kinds of martyrdom which are accounted as a Cross to a man, white martyrdom, green martyrdom, and red martyrdom. White martyrdom consists in a man's abandoning everything he loves for God's sake ... (Green martyrdom consists in this, that by means of fasting and labour he frees himself from his evil desires, or suffers toil in penance and repentance. Red martyrdom consists in the endurance of a Cross or death for Christ's sake.'”
(Orthodox Christian Information website: http://www.orthodoxinfo.com/general/history1.aspx#The%20First%20Persecutions%20and%20Martyrs )
The Celts, whom we remember in our liturgy today were very keen to exercise this kind of martyrdom. Many “left behind the comforts and pleasures of ordinary human society to live hermits' lives on mountaintops or lonely islands. … There they studied Scripture and communed with God after the example of the anchorites in the Egyptian desert. Ireland could not duplicate the barren terrain of the Egyptian desert; thus, this green martyrdom gave way to the more social life of monasticism.
St. Columba became an example of a “White Martyr”. “Born in 521, a prince with a title to kingship, he chose to become a monk. By age 41 he had founded 41 monasteries. Because Columba was held responsible for the Battle of Cuil Dremmed in which 3,000 men died, he became an exile. As penance he set out to save the same number of people as died in the battle. Columba, with 12 relatives, founded a monastery on Iona off the coast of Scotland that became famous throughout Europe. Monks from Iona in turn set out for what they called a white martyrdom: "[H]enceforth all who followed Columcille's lead were called to the white martyrdom, they who sailed into the white sky of morning, into the unknown, never to return." (Wikipedia: “Martyrdom”).
All of which is fine and inspiring, but what about us today? How do we take up our cross and follow Jesus daily?
For many of us, the most compelling example is family life. As parents, we are constantly called upon to give up our own desires and put the needs of our children ahead of ours. I clearly remember the contrast between being able to go somewhere with Cindy and spend four or five carefree hours – and having to think of the needs of a newborn when we went somewhere. A simple trip to the mall to shop for clothes became an all-day bivouac requiring the mind of a military quarter-master to manage all the stuff we had to take with us! And then when more children came along …well, you know what I mean. Successful parenting demands that we deny ourselves and put others ahead of ourselves.
Then too, marriage requires the giving of oneself to the other person in order to be successful. I sometimes say, only half-jokingly – that “Marriage is God’s divinely ordained institution for Cross-bearing!” And let me quickly add that your spouse is not your cross! No! Rather, we encounter our own selfishness as we interact with our spouses, and we must constantly fight back the demand to have things the way that we want it when we want it. Again, it’s the contrast between being Christ-like - giving ourselves for the sake of the other - and grasping for self-fulfillment. One leads to life and the other death.
Very few of us are called to actually give up our lives in Red Martyrdom like Jim Elliot and his companions, but we are all called to live a life of self-denial, of white and green martyrdom – of giving up our own fondest desires – even when they are good, in order to serve our Lord more perfectly.
This is a basic pattern of the Christian life, and indeed in nature itself. Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it cannot bear much fruit. (Jn. 12:24; I Cor 15:36). Unless you learn to die to your own selfish desires, you cannot please God. And pleasing Him is what it’s all about. It’s like a client of mine says, “If I miss Heaven, I miss everything”.
Friends, the way to follow Christ is to lay down your life for his sake. It’s a huge challenge to all who have dedicated our lives to Him. He demands everything of us but desires to give everything to us. If he demands death to ourselves, it’s only to replace it with His life, so that we may have that abundance that Jesus promises – good measure, tamped down and overflowing. (Jn. 10:10).
And if you’re out their trying to find a way to live a full life without Christ, I can only tell you that your efforts are in vain. Just as the Preacher says in Ecclesiates, “Vanity of Vanity, all is vanity.” (Eccl. 1:2). You can get all the toys you ever wanted and travel the world to your heart’s desire, but if you die without Christ, you’re just a dead person who left behind a passport and bunch of toys.
I invite you today to ‘cease striving”, to follow Jesus, to deny yourself, take up your cross daily and to make Christ the Lord of your life. If you do this you will live eternally and experience the joy of being reconciled with God.
Pray with me: “Jesus, I believe that you are the Messiah of God. I have tried to save my life and I’m losing it every day. Father, please forgive me my sins and save me from myself. Help me to give myself to you and to take up my cross and follow you daily. Make my life pleasing to you and give me the abundant life Jesus promised, for his sake, Amen.
Saturday, June 16, 2007
Despising the Lord?
A Sermon delivered to All Saints Anglican Church on June 17, 2007, based on:
2 Samuel 11:26-12:10,13-15 Galatians 2:11-21, Luke 7:36-50 Psalm 32
There was once a young man who grew up in the country. He and his family were poor, but they made a decent living for themselves by raising livestock. The job of watching the sheep usually fell to the youngest son, who was diligent and did a good job tending the sheep and keeping them safe from predators. One day, the young man was out in the field playing his harp and uploading the files to his IPOD, when his brother came running to him and told him to come quickly, that there was a very important man at the house who was calling for him.
The young man came home and low and behold, there was a prophet of God, who took him and anointed him King. After much struggle the young man eventually ascended to the throne and became King. He became very weatlthy and powerful and had everything he could have wanted. But just when he was reaching the Zenith of his power, something disastrous happened.
In the spring of the year, when kings go out and wage war our young man, David, was at home taking care of the affairs of state - which seemed to amount to sunbathing on the roof and looking at the neighbors as they took baths. And as we all know, this course of action got David in trouble.
See if this quote doesn’t describe what happened to David:
“Each one is tempted when he is carried away by his own lust. Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished it brings forth death.” (James 1:15,16)
David was carried away by lust for Bathsheba and had an affair with her that resulted in the conception of a child. Then he plotted the murder of Uriah, Bathsheba’s husband. This was all evil in the sight of the Lord, and God sent Nathan the prophet to confront David about his sin, saying, “I anointed you king over Israel, and I rescued you from the hand of Saul; I gave you your master's house, and your master's wives into your bosom, and gave you the house of Israel and of Judah; and if that had been too little, I would have added as much more. Why have you despised the word of the LORD, to do what is evil in his sight?
David’s evil actions were the result of despising the word of the Lord! What an amazing thought! Do you think of your sins as the result of despising the word of the Lord? If not, remember what Adam and Eve did in the garden. Even though they were told very specifically what would happen if they ate of the tree of the knowledge of God and Evil, they went ahead and did it anyway. They despised the word of the Lord. And we do too.
For Sin is really a matter of deciding whose Word is more trustworthy- Mine or God’s. Here’s David lying on his chase lounge in the sun, and he sees a beautiful woman and asks himself, “What would be better, to obey God and enjoy my own harem of wives and concubines, live in luxury and prosper, or risk it all by pursuing something God told me not to do? After about a nanosecond, he decides his own idea would be better. Friends, this is craziness.
But we’re just the same as David. Our basic fault as humans is that we ignore and forget what we know about God. We despise his Word. Then when it all turns out badly, we try to cover it up. In Psalm 32 David describes what happened in his life when he tried this:
“I kept it secret and my frame was wasted. I groaned all day long. For night and day your hand was heavy upon me. Indeed my flesh was dried up, as by the summer’s heat.” (Ps 32: 3,4)
[“While I held my tongue, my bones withered away, because of my groaning all day long. For your hand was heavy upon me day and night; my moisture was dried up as in the heat of summer”]
Sin results in suffering and separation from God. It robs us of intimacy with God the Father and exposes us to disaster. Here is the judgment levied against David by Nathan:
“You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and have taken his wife to be your wife, and have killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. Now therefore the sword shall never depart from your house, for you have despised me, and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife." (2 Sam. 12:9, 10). His wives were also to be given to his enemy and publicly violated, for “you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel, says the Lord, (v. 12).
David’s sin was done in private, but it was publicly exposed. Just as the old saying goes, ‘Be sure your sin will find you out.’ But here’s where the story takes a turn. David confesses to Nathan, "I have sinned against the LORD." (Duh!). And Nathan replies: "Now the LORD has put away your sin; you shall not die. God responds immediately to David’s repentance and he is forgiven, but there is a consequence to bear. Nathan continues, “Nevertheless, because by this deed you have utterly scorned the LORD, the child that is born to you shall die." (v. 14). David’s choice to despise God’s word scorns the Lord and it results in judgment and death. The baby that Bathsheba bears to David dies as a result of David’s sin.
This certainly seems unfair from our vantage point. But remember – the primary offense is against God – God Almighty, El Shaddai, Maker of Heaven and Earth, the Holy One of Israel, Who dwells in Light Unapproachable, who cannot lie and who lives eternally, self-existent, non-contingent, Father Son and Holy Spirit. The One who is High and Lifted Up, Thrice Holy, to whom the 24 elders bow down and before whom they cast their crowns. This is the God whom David has offended. To not acknowledge this God and give Him the praise he is due is to be like an unintelligent beast who needs bridle and bit to be controlled (Ps. 32:9).
In contrast, the return to health and sanity begins with an acknowledgment that I have sinned:
“Then I acknowledged my sin to you, and did not conceal my guilt. I said," I will confess my transgressions to the LORD." Then you forgave me the guilt of my sin. (Ps. 32:5,6)
The result of this confession is blessedness:
“Happy are they whose transgressions are forgiven, and whose sin is put away!
Happy are they to whom the LORD imputes no guilt, and in whose spirit there is no guile!” (Ps. 32, vv.1,2)
And confidence in our God:
“Therefore all the faithful will make their prayers to you in time of trouble; when the great waters overflow, they shall not reach them. You are my hiding-place; you preserve me from trouble; you surround me with shouts of deliverance.” (Ps. 32, vv. 6, 7)
How then, do we get to this place of blessedness on a day-by-day basis? The Psalmist has God say to us:
"I will instruct you and teach you in the way that you should go; I will guide you with my eye.
(I will give you counsel with my eye upon you). (v. 10)
The counsel that has come down to us through the ages is that in order to experience the joy and the fellowship of the Lord, we must stay in close fellowship with him through confession of sin and submitting my will to His.
Paul says it this way in Galations 2:20: “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”
More specifically, it is the Holy Spirit who lives in me and empowers me to live the Christian Life. One of the ways that the Church has discovered to be empowered is to pray the “Jesus Prayer”: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” (cf. Luke 18:13).
This simple prayer covers all the necessary ground as we approach our God. It acknowledges the Lordship of Christ in our lives, recognizes that Jesus Christ is One with the Father, asks forgiveness for sin, and pleads for mercy. As we pray this pray, then Ps 32:11 becomes a reality for us. Instead of experiencing great tribulation because of our wickedness, …”mercy embraces those who trust in the LORD.” Being justified by God and righteous through the blood of Christ, we can “Be glad …and rejoice in the LORD; We can “shout for joy, all who are true of heart.”
(Ps. 32:12)
So let’s recite the Jesus Prayer together: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.”
Jesus encountered this spirit of repentance in a certain sinner woman who “brought an alabaster jar of ointment. She stood behind him at his feet, weeping, and began to bathe his feet with her tears and to dry them with her hair. Then she continued kissing his feet and anointing them with the ointment.” When she did this Jesus pronounced, “Therefore, I tell you, her sins, which were many, have been forgiven; hence she has shown great love. But the one to whom little is forgiven, loves little."
Friends, let us realize that we have been forgiven much. We are all Davids and sinner women at heart. Let us not despise the word of the Lord, but rather confess our sins so that we me hear Jesus say to us, as he said to the woman, "Your sins are forgiven.Your faith has saved you; go in peace." ( Luke 7:36-50) Amen.
2 Samuel 11:26-12:10,13-15 Galatians 2:11-21, Luke 7:36-50 Psalm 32
There was once a young man who grew up in the country. He and his family were poor, but they made a decent living for themselves by raising livestock. The job of watching the sheep usually fell to the youngest son, who was diligent and did a good job tending the sheep and keeping them safe from predators. One day, the young man was out in the field playing his harp and uploading the files to his IPOD, when his brother came running to him and told him to come quickly, that there was a very important man at the house who was calling for him.
The young man came home and low and behold, there was a prophet of God, who took him and anointed him King. After much struggle the young man eventually ascended to the throne and became King. He became very weatlthy and powerful and had everything he could have wanted. But just when he was reaching the Zenith of his power, something disastrous happened.
In the spring of the year, when kings go out and wage war our young man, David, was at home taking care of the affairs of state - which seemed to amount to sunbathing on the roof and looking at the neighbors as they took baths. And as we all know, this course of action got David in trouble.
See if this quote doesn’t describe what happened to David:
“Each one is tempted when he is carried away by his own lust. Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished it brings forth death.” (James 1:15,16)
David was carried away by lust for Bathsheba and had an affair with her that resulted in the conception of a child. Then he plotted the murder of Uriah, Bathsheba’s husband. This was all evil in the sight of the Lord, and God sent Nathan the prophet to confront David about his sin, saying, “I anointed you king over Israel, and I rescued you from the hand of Saul; I gave you your master's house, and your master's wives into your bosom, and gave you the house of Israel and of Judah; and if that had been too little, I would have added as much more. Why have you despised the word of the LORD, to do what is evil in his sight?
David’s evil actions were the result of despising the word of the Lord! What an amazing thought! Do you think of your sins as the result of despising the word of the Lord? If not, remember what Adam and Eve did in the garden. Even though they were told very specifically what would happen if they ate of the tree of the knowledge of God and Evil, they went ahead and did it anyway. They despised the word of the Lord. And we do too.
For Sin is really a matter of deciding whose Word is more trustworthy- Mine or God’s. Here’s David lying on his chase lounge in the sun, and he sees a beautiful woman and asks himself, “What would be better, to obey God and enjoy my own harem of wives and concubines, live in luxury and prosper, or risk it all by pursuing something God told me not to do? After about a nanosecond, he decides his own idea would be better. Friends, this is craziness.
But we’re just the same as David. Our basic fault as humans is that we ignore and forget what we know about God. We despise his Word. Then when it all turns out badly, we try to cover it up. In Psalm 32 David describes what happened in his life when he tried this:
“I kept it secret and my frame was wasted. I groaned all day long. For night and day your hand was heavy upon me. Indeed my flesh was dried up, as by the summer’s heat.” (Ps 32: 3,4)
[“While I held my tongue, my bones withered away, because of my groaning all day long. For your hand was heavy upon me day and night; my moisture was dried up as in the heat of summer”]
Sin results in suffering and separation from God. It robs us of intimacy with God the Father and exposes us to disaster. Here is the judgment levied against David by Nathan:
“You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and have taken his wife to be your wife, and have killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. Now therefore the sword shall never depart from your house, for you have despised me, and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife." (2 Sam. 12:9, 10). His wives were also to be given to his enemy and publicly violated, for “you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel, says the Lord, (v. 12).
David’s sin was done in private, but it was publicly exposed. Just as the old saying goes, ‘Be sure your sin will find you out.’ But here’s where the story takes a turn. David confesses to Nathan, "I have sinned against the LORD." (Duh!). And Nathan replies: "Now the LORD has put away your sin; you shall not die. God responds immediately to David’s repentance and he is forgiven, but there is a consequence to bear. Nathan continues, “Nevertheless, because by this deed you have utterly scorned the LORD, the child that is born to you shall die." (v. 14). David’s choice to despise God’s word scorns the Lord and it results in judgment and death. The baby that Bathsheba bears to David dies as a result of David’s sin.
This certainly seems unfair from our vantage point. But remember – the primary offense is against God – God Almighty, El Shaddai, Maker of Heaven and Earth, the Holy One of Israel, Who dwells in Light Unapproachable, who cannot lie and who lives eternally, self-existent, non-contingent, Father Son and Holy Spirit. The One who is High and Lifted Up, Thrice Holy, to whom the 24 elders bow down and before whom they cast their crowns. This is the God whom David has offended. To not acknowledge this God and give Him the praise he is due is to be like an unintelligent beast who needs bridle and bit to be controlled (Ps. 32:9).
In contrast, the return to health and sanity begins with an acknowledgment that I have sinned:
“Then I acknowledged my sin to you, and did not conceal my guilt. I said," I will confess my transgressions to the LORD." Then you forgave me the guilt of my sin. (Ps. 32:5,6)
The result of this confession is blessedness:
“Happy are they whose transgressions are forgiven, and whose sin is put away!
Happy are they to whom the LORD imputes no guilt, and in whose spirit there is no guile!” (Ps. 32, vv.1,2)
And confidence in our God:
“Therefore all the faithful will make their prayers to you in time of trouble; when the great waters overflow, they shall not reach them. You are my hiding-place; you preserve me from trouble; you surround me with shouts of deliverance.” (Ps. 32, vv. 6, 7)
How then, do we get to this place of blessedness on a day-by-day basis? The Psalmist has God say to us:
"I will instruct you and teach you in the way that you should go; I will guide you with my eye.
(I will give you counsel with my eye upon you). (v. 10)
The counsel that has come down to us through the ages is that in order to experience the joy and the fellowship of the Lord, we must stay in close fellowship with him through confession of sin and submitting my will to His.
Paul says it this way in Galations 2:20: “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”
More specifically, it is the Holy Spirit who lives in me and empowers me to live the Christian Life. One of the ways that the Church has discovered to be empowered is to pray the “Jesus Prayer”: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” (cf. Luke 18:13).
This simple prayer covers all the necessary ground as we approach our God. It acknowledges the Lordship of Christ in our lives, recognizes that Jesus Christ is One with the Father, asks forgiveness for sin, and pleads for mercy. As we pray this pray, then Ps 32:11 becomes a reality for us. Instead of experiencing great tribulation because of our wickedness, …”mercy embraces those who trust in the LORD.” Being justified by God and righteous through the blood of Christ, we can “Be glad …and rejoice in the LORD; We can “shout for joy, all who are true of heart.”
(Ps. 32:12)
So let’s recite the Jesus Prayer together: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.”
Jesus encountered this spirit of repentance in a certain sinner woman who “brought an alabaster jar of ointment. She stood behind him at his feet, weeping, and began to bathe his feet with her tears and to dry them with her hair. Then she continued kissing his feet and anointing them with the ointment.” When she did this Jesus pronounced, “Therefore, I tell you, her sins, which were many, have been forgiven; hence she has shown great love. But the one to whom little is forgiven, loves little."
Friends, let us realize that we have been forgiven much. We are all Davids and sinner women at heart. Let us not despise the word of the Lord, but rather confess our sins so that we me hear Jesus say to us, as he said to the woman, "Your sins are forgiven.Your faith has saved you; go in peace." ( Luke 7:36-50) Amen.
Sunday, June 03, 2007
The Trinity and the Fight for Orthodoxy
A Sermon delivered to All Saints Anglican Church on Trinity Sunday, June 2, 2007
In the early 300’s AD, one man, Athanasius of Alexandria, Egypt, almost single-handedly stood up and fought for what we regard today as Orthodox Christianity. He was born in about 296 to an apparently well to do family and received a good education, later studying philosophy.
Alexandria was at that time the New York City of the ancient world. It was the most important trade center of its day as well as being the primary emporium for the exchange of ideas. It had an important Catechetical School, the breadth of which included many ‘secular’ subjects. Even pagan philosophers were a part of the company of scholars.
He was barely out of his teens when he wrote two very important books, Against the Gentiles and On the Incarnation. He was very impressed with monastic spirituality of the Desert Fathers and wrote The Life of St. Anthony. In his own spiritual practice he was so disciplined that he came to be known as an ascetic.
During his lifetime there were ‘giants’ in the land. A Libyan priest, Arius was living at that time, propounding his ideas about the ‘only human’ nature of Christ. Concerning the Word of God (John 1:1) he taught that "God begat him, and before he was begotten, he did not exist." Athanasius was at that time a newly ordained deacon, secretary to Bishop Alexander of Alexandria, and a member of his household. His reply to Arius was that the begetting, or uttering, of the Word by the Father is an eternal relation between Them, and not a temporal event. Arius was condemned by most of the bishops of Egypt and went to Nicomedia, from which he wrote letters to bishops throughout the world, stating his position. Arianism was perhaps as much a political intrigue as it was an ideology, but at the time, it was very divisive in the church and there was real threat of division. So it was in 325, that Emperor Constantine called together a council to meet in Nicea, in order to deal decisively with questions about the exact nature of Jesus Christ as God.
During these debates, Athanasius so distinguished himself that he was chosen by the ailing Alexander to be his successor as the next Bishop of Alexandria. He served as Primate for 46 years, during which time, he witnessed the triumph of the Trinitarian faith over Arianism. Athananius is also the first person to draw up the list of 27 New Testament books we regard as canonical today.
During his stand for orthodoxy, Athanasius had to contend with political intrigue whispered in the ear of the Emperor. He endured a two-year exile because of fabricated charges brought against him, but he returned to Alexandria after the death of Arius in 336 and Constantine in 337. His political troubles were not over, however, and he soon had to go into hiding to escape his enemies, ultimately traveling to Rome and appealing to Pope Julius for a fair hearing regarding the charges leveled against him. He was vindicated and after seven years returned to Alexandria.
Throughout most of his career, Athanasius would be haunted by various allegations of defiling an altar, selling Church grain that had been meant to feed the poor for his own personal gain, and for suppressing dissent through violence and murder. Nevertheless, he was uncompromising in his opposition to Arianism and other heresies, one of his famous treatises being an Oration versus Arius. Over a fifty year period, he lived to see the Arian controversy put down and the triumph of the Nicene Creed, with it’s statement that Jesus was of the ‘same substance’ (homoousios) as the Father.
Why was Athanasius so dogged in his opposition to a position that was widely known and variously accepted by many people? Athanasius writes in another place that the very salvation of people’s souls was at stake. He was standing for Orthodoxy because he honestly felt that if people did not have a true understanding and belief in the True faith they would be eternally lost. We’ll see this when we recite the Athanasian Creed together shortly.
So let’s relate this to our current situation. We, as a small body of people in this area have taken a stand over against those in the Episcopal Church who have adopted what Peter Toon calls the New Episcopal Religion. Below is a synopsis of the differences between the New and the Traditional Episcopal Religious beliefs:
A Synopis of the article: "Two Religions in One Family" by Peter Toon
The New Episcopal Religion (NER)
On the Nature of God:
Emphasis on Oneness, Pantheistic, Immanent
God and Cosmos influence one another
Both seen as evolving
"Trinity" symbolizes human community
God, Traditional Episcopal Religion (TER):
Trinitarian, Transcendent,
Wholly Other than Cosmos
Creation Ex Nihilo, God unchanging
Three Persons, One Being
On Jesus, NER:
The Supremely Human Being (avoids the word "Man")
Uniquely evolved to reflect and reveal God
Identifies with the poor, outcast, etc
Agenda: Peace and Justice
Stress on "Dignity of all persons"
Jesus, TER:
God Incarnate, a real man
Ministers on earth to poor, outcast, etc.
Substitutionary death atones for our sins
Resurrection is literal, glorious
Prophet, Priest and King
Intercessor with the Father
On the Holy Spirit, NER:
Power of Deity and Jesus
Wholly identified with NER mission:
In line with United Nations Millenium Goals
Holy Spirit, TER:
Descends personally from Father & Son
Continues work of Salvation & Redemption
On the Bible NER:
"First in a line of witnesses"
Authority lies in being first
Written record of God's visitation to Jews and Christians
Spirit continues to reveal God's mind
Contemporary Experience reveals God's will.
Bible does not stand alone
Continuing revelation must be consulted.
Bible, TER:
The Word of God written
God's inspired Self-revelation to man
Message of salvation from sin into eternal life
God's commands to his faithful people
Revelation is final and authoritative
Revelation cannot be changed
On Salvation, NER:
"Having a relationship with God"…
Personally and in community
Joining God's mission of peace & Justice in the world.
Following Jesus=imitating his care of the unloved
At death, one goes to be with God -
Absorption in God's divine being and unity.
Salvation, TER:
Faith in Christ saves us from condemnation
Repentance of ones sins is necessary
Personal relationship with God through Christ
Take the Gospel to the world, show mercy
At death we go to Heaven to live with God
Personal identity maintained eternally.
Considering all these differences between the Traditional and the New Episcopal Religion, one can only conclude that the New beliefs have taken the Episcopal church out of Christianity altogether. While it may be true that individuals who remain in TEC may hold on to their faith, they are clearly worshipping at the altar of a foreign religion. The only conclusion that may be drawn from this is that these dear folks, for whatever reasons they choose to remain within TEC are courting spiritual disaster.
TEC and its House of Bishops has clearly rejected the demands of the Orthodox Anglican Community. After September of this year, the ultimate date given for TEC to return to Christianity, no Christian has any business worshipping in an Episcopal Church, for it has long since ceased to be Christian.
Friends, that puts us in a similar position to Athanasius. We are in the midst of a fight for Orthodox Christian belief. This fight is not just about Anglicanism. The Episocpal Church is at the vanguard of the fight, but the Methodists and Presbyterians are close behind. Whatever happens in Anglicanism is sure to impact the rest of Christianity as well. I had breakfast on Friday morning with a Church of Christ pastor and he commented to me that this fight is even causing him to think about issues within his own church. So the fight is important and it’s worth the effort to leave the comforts of church buildings and friendships because people’s souls are at stake.
Remember the words of Jesus:
"If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his life? Matthew 16:24-26.
"I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6.
"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?' And then will I declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.' Matthew 7:21-23.
Let us pray to Almighty God that we are not among those who hope in vain. And let us pray for those who find themselves worshipping in a House of Heresy, that they may see the error of their ways and flee for their lives. Let us consider soberly the warnings and explicit faith of the Athanasian Creed.
The Creed of Saint Athanasius
Whosoever will be saved, before all things it is necessary that he hold the Catholic Faith. Which Faith except everyone do keep whole and undefiled, without doubt he shall perish everlastingly. And the Catholic Faith is this:
That we worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity, neither confounding the Persons, nor dividing the Substance. For there is one Person of the Father, another of the Son, and another of the Holy Ghost. But the Godhead of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, is all one, the Glory equal, the Majesty co-eternal. Such as the Father is, such is the Son, and such is the Holy Ghost. The Father uncreate, the Son uncreate, and the Holy Ghost uncreate. The Father incomprehensible, the Son incomprehensible, and the Holy Ghost incomprehensible.
The Father eternal, the Son eternal, and the Holy Ghost eternal. And yet they are not three eternals, but one eternal. As also there are not three incomprehensibles, nor three uncreated, but one uncreated, and one incomprehensible.
So likewise the Father is Almighty, the Son Almighty, and the Holy Ghost Almighty. And yet they are not three Almighties, but one Almighty. So the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Ghost is God. And yet they are not three Gods, but one God.
So likewise the Father is Lord, the Son Lord, and the Holy Ghost Lord. And yet not three Lords, but one Lord.
For like as we are compelled by the Christian verity to acknowledge every Person by himself to be both God and Lord, So are we forbidden by the Catholic Religion, to say, There be three Gods, or three Lords.
The Father is made of none, neither created, nor begotten.
The Son is of the Father alone, not made, nor created, but begotten. The Holy Ghost is of the Father and of the Son, neither made, nor created, nor begotten, but proceeding.
So there is one Father, not three Fathers; one Son, not three Sons; one Holy Ghost, not three Holy Ghosts.
And in this Trinity none is afore, or after other; none is greater, or less than another; But the whole three Persons are co-eternal together and co-equal. So that in all things, as is aforesaid, the Unity in Trinity and the Trinity in Unity is to be worshipped. He therefore that will be saved must thus think of the Trinity.
Furthermore, it is necessary to everlasting salvation that he also believe rightly the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ.
For the right Faith is, that we believe and confess, that our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is God and Man;
God, of the Substance of the Father, begotten before the worlds; and Man, of the Substance of his Mother, born in the world; Perfect God and perfect Man, of a reasonable soul and human flesh subsisting; Equal to the Father, as touching his Godhead; and inferior to the Father, as touching his Manhood. Who although he be God and Man, yet he is not two, but one Christ; One, not by conversion of the Godhead into flesh, but by taking of the Manhood into God;
One altogether; not by confusion of Substance, but by unity of Person.
For as the reasonable soul and flesh is one man, so God and Man is one Christ; Who suffered for our salvation, descended into hell, rose again the third day from the dead. He ascended into heaven, he sitteth on the right hand of the Father, God Almighty, from whence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead. At whose coming all men shall rise again with their bodies and shall give account for their own works. And they that have done good shall go into life everlasting; and they that have done evil into everlasting fire. This is the Catholic Faith, which except a man believe faithfully, he cannot be saved. Amen.
In the early 300’s AD, one man, Athanasius of Alexandria, Egypt, almost single-handedly stood up and fought for what we regard today as Orthodox Christianity. He was born in about 296 to an apparently well to do family and received a good education, later studying philosophy.
Alexandria was at that time the New York City of the ancient world. It was the most important trade center of its day as well as being the primary emporium for the exchange of ideas. It had an important Catechetical School, the breadth of which included many ‘secular’ subjects. Even pagan philosophers were a part of the company of scholars.
He was barely out of his teens when he wrote two very important books, Against the Gentiles and On the Incarnation. He was very impressed with monastic spirituality of the Desert Fathers and wrote The Life of St. Anthony. In his own spiritual practice he was so disciplined that he came to be known as an ascetic.
During his lifetime there were ‘giants’ in the land. A Libyan priest, Arius was living at that time, propounding his ideas about the ‘only human’ nature of Christ. Concerning the Word of God (John 1:1) he taught that "God begat him, and before he was begotten, he did not exist." Athanasius was at that time a newly ordained deacon, secretary to Bishop Alexander of Alexandria, and a member of his household. His reply to Arius was that the begetting, or uttering, of the Word by the Father is an eternal relation between Them, and not a temporal event. Arius was condemned by most of the bishops of Egypt and went to Nicomedia, from which he wrote letters to bishops throughout the world, stating his position. Arianism was perhaps as much a political intrigue as it was an ideology, but at the time, it was very divisive in the church and there was real threat of division. So it was in 325, that Emperor Constantine called together a council to meet in Nicea, in order to deal decisively with questions about the exact nature of Jesus Christ as God.
During these debates, Athanasius so distinguished himself that he was chosen by the ailing Alexander to be his successor as the next Bishop of Alexandria. He served as Primate for 46 years, during which time, he witnessed the triumph of the Trinitarian faith over Arianism. Athananius is also the first person to draw up the list of 27 New Testament books we regard as canonical today.
During his stand for orthodoxy, Athanasius had to contend with political intrigue whispered in the ear of the Emperor. He endured a two-year exile because of fabricated charges brought against him, but he returned to Alexandria after the death of Arius in 336 and Constantine in 337. His political troubles were not over, however, and he soon had to go into hiding to escape his enemies, ultimately traveling to Rome and appealing to Pope Julius for a fair hearing regarding the charges leveled against him. He was vindicated and after seven years returned to Alexandria.
Throughout most of his career, Athanasius would be haunted by various allegations of defiling an altar, selling Church grain that had been meant to feed the poor for his own personal gain, and for suppressing dissent through violence and murder. Nevertheless, he was uncompromising in his opposition to Arianism and other heresies, one of his famous treatises being an Oration versus Arius. Over a fifty year period, he lived to see the Arian controversy put down and the triumph of the Nicene Creed, with it’s statement that Jesus was of the ‘same substance’ (homoousios) as the Father.
Why was Athanasius so dogged in his opposition to a position that was widely known and variously accepted by many people? Athanasius writes in another place that the very salvation of people’s souls was at stake. He was standing for Orthodoxy because he honestly felt that if people did not have a true understanding and belief in the True faith they would be eternally lost. We’ll see this when we recite the Athanasian Creed together shortly.
So let’s relate this to our current situation. We, as a small body of people in this area have taken a stand over against those in the Episcopal Church who have adopted what Peter Toon calls the New Episcopal Religion. Below is a synopsis of the differences between the New and the Traditional Episcopal Religious beliefs:
A Synopis of the article: "Two Religions in One Family" by Peter Toon
The New Episcopal Religion (NER)
On the Nature of God:
Emphasis on Oneness, Pantheistic, Immanent
God and Cosmos influence one another
Both seen as evolving
"Trinity" symbolizes human community
God, Traditional Episcopal Religion (TER):
Trinitarian, Transcendent,
Wholly Other than Cosmos
Creation Ex Nihilo, God unchanging
Three Persons, One Being
On Jesus, NER:
The Supremely Human Being (avoids the word "Man")
Uniquely evolved to reflect and reveal God
Identifies with the poor, outcast, etc
Agenda: Peace and Justice
Stress on "Dignity of all persons"
Jesus, TER:
God Incarnate, a real man
Ministers on earth to poor, outcast, etc.
Substitutionary death atones for our sins
Resurrection is literal, glorious
Prophet, Priest and King
Intercessor with the Father
On the Holy Spirit, NER:
Power of Deity and Jesus
Wholly identified with NER mission:
In line with United Nations Millenium Goals
Holy Spirit, TER:
Descends personally from Father & Son
Continues work of Salvation & Redemption
On the Bible NER:
"First in a line of witnesses"
Authority lies in being first
Written record of God's visitation to Jews and Christians
Spirit continues to reveal God's mind
Contemporary Experience reveals God's will.
Bible does not stand alone
Continuing revelation must be consulted.
Bible, TER:
The Word of God written
God's inspired Self-revelation to man
Message of salvation from sin into eternal life
God's commands to his faithful people
Revelation is final and authoritative
Revelation cannot be changed
On Salvation, NER:
"Having a relationship with God"…
Personally and in community
Joining God's mission of peace & Justice in the world.
Following Jesus=imitating his care of the unloved
At death, one goes to be with God -
Absorption in God's divine being and unity.
Salvation, TER:
Faith in Christ saves us from condemnation
Repentance of ones sins is necessary
Personal relationship with God through Christ
Take the Gospel to the world, show mercy
At death we go to Heaven to live with God
Personal identity maintained eternally.
Considering all these differences between the Traditional and the New Episcopal Religion, one can only conclude that the New beliefs have taken the Episcopal church out of Christianity altogether. While it may be true that individuals who remain in TEC may hold on to their faith, they are clearly worshipping at the altar of a foreign religion. The only conclusion that may be drawn from this is that these dear folks, for whatever reasons they choose to remain within TEC are courting spiritual disaster.
TEC and its House of Bishops has clearly rejected the demands of the Orthodox Anglican Community. After September of this year, the ultimate date given for TEC to return to Christianity, no Christian has any business worshipping in an Episcopal Church, for it has long since ceased to be Christian.
Friends, that puts us in a similar position to Athanasius. We are in the midst of a fight for Orthodox Christian belief. This fight is not just about Anglicanism. The Episocpal Church is at the vanguard of the fight, but the Methodists and Presbyterians are close behind. Whatever happens in Anglicanism is sure to impact the rest of Christianity as well. I had breakfast on Friday morning with a Church of Christ pastor and he commented to me that this fight is even causing him to think about issues within his own church. So the fight is important and it’s worth the effort to leave the comforts of church buildings and friendships because people’s souls are at stake.
Remember the words of Jesus:
"If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his life? Matthew 16:24-26.
"I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6.
"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?' And then will I declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.' Matthew 7:21-23.
Let us pray to Almighty God that we are not among those who hope in vain. And let us pray for those who find themselves worshipping in a House of Heresy, that they may see the error of their ways and flee for their lives. Let us consider soberly the warnings and explicit faith of the Athanasian Creed.
The Creed of Saint Athanasius
Whosoever will be saved, before all things it is necessary that he hold the Catholic Faith. Which Faith except everyone do keep whole and undefiled, without doubt he shall perish everlastingly. And the Catholic Faith is this:
That we worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity, neither confounding the Persons, nor dividing the Substance. For there is one Person of the Father, another of the Son, and another of the Holy Ghost. But the Godhead of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, is all one, the Glory equal, the Majesty co-eternal. Such as the Father is, such is the Son, and such is the Holy Ghost. The Father uncreate, the Son uncreate, and the Holy Ghost uncreate. The Father incomprehensible, the Son incomprehensible, and the Holy Ghost incomprehensible.
The Father eternal, the Son eternal, and the Holy Ghost eternal. And yet they are not three eternals, but one eternal. As also there are not three incomprehensibles, nor three uncreated, but one uncreated, and one incomprehensible.
So likewise the Father is Almighty, the Son Almighty, and the Holy Ghost Almighty. And yet they are not three Almighties, but one Almighty. So the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Ghost is God. And yet they are not three Gods, but one God.
So likewise the Father is Lord, the Son Lord, and the Holy Ghost Lord. And yet not three Lords, but one Lord.
For like as we are compelled by the Christian verity to acknowledge every Person by himself to be both God and Lord, So are we forbidden by the Catholic Religion, to say, There be three Gods, or three Lords.
The Father is made of none, neither created, nor begotten.
The Son is of the Father alone, not made, nor created, but begotten. The Holy Ghost is of the Father and of the Son, neither made, nor created, nor begotten, but proceeding.
So there is one Father, not three Fathers; one Son, not three Sons; one Holy Ghost, not three Holy Ghosts.
And in this Trinity none is afore, or after other; none is greater, or less than another; But the whole three Persons are co-eternal together and co-equal. So that in all things, as is aforesaid, the Unity in Trinity and the Trinity in Unity is to be worshipped. He therefore that will be saved must thus think of the Trinity.
Furthermore, it is necessary to everlasting salvation that he also believe rightly the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ.
For the right Faith is, that we believe and confess, that our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is God and Man;
God, of the Substance of the Father, begotten before the worlds; and Man, of the Substance of his Mother, born in the world; Perfect God and perfect Man, of a reasonable soul and human flesh subsisting; Equal to the Father, as touching his Godhead; and inferior to the Father, as touching his Manhood. Who although he be God and Man, yet he is not two, but one Christ; One, not by conversion of the Godhead into flesh, but by taking of the Manhood into God;
One altogether; not by confusion of Substance, but by unity of Person.
For as the reasonable soul and flesh is one man, so God and Man is one Christ; Who suffered for our salvation, descended into hell, rose again the third day from the dead. He ascended into heaven, he sitteth on the right hand of the Father, God Almighty, from whence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead. At whose coming all men shall rise again with their bodies and shall give account for their own works. And they that have done good shall go into life everlasting; and they that have done evil into everlasting fire. This is the Catholic Faith, which except a man believe faithfully, he cannot be saved. Amen.
Sunday, May 13, 2007
Another Helper
A Sermon based on John 14:23 -29, delivered to All Saints Anglican Church on May 13, 2007 at the Hampton Inn, Barboursville, WV.
Let’s have a little quiz as we start today:
How many of us think that the Bible is easy to understand? Raise your hands…
How many of us think that it’s no trouble to love your neighbor as yourself? …To forgive those who sin against us?
How many think that it’s a piece of cake to maintain perfect spiritual peace all the time?
If you’re like me, you didn’t answer affirmative to any of these questions – or to any of the other myriad of things that Christ taught us to do in the Sermon on the Mount. Frankly, the Christian life is impossible to live - on one’s own steam that is. Like Paul says is Romans 7, with my mind I agree with the law of God, but I find another principle at work within me, that is in my flesh. The good that I wish to do I don’t do, and the evil I don’t wish, I do. …Oh wretched man that I am who will deliver me from this body of death?!
But then of course, he goes on to give thanks to God for Jesus Christ and for the salvation that comes through Him. Jesus Christ has paid the penalty for our sins and He is our righteousness and advocate before God. However, it’s perfectly obvious to us all that Jesus is not walking around in bodily form any more. He is with the Father and we are here. Distressingly, he says to us in Jn. 14:23 that “If anyone loves me – he will keep my word”.
Already from the git-go, we’re in trouble! I don’t know about you, but I think I can keep His word for about a minute or two without thinking something rotten. If the standard of faithfulness is Jesus – and it is – then there is no way really to live a truly Christian Life. So, as Christians, we are in a real quandary. We really need someone to help us and to advocate for us. In the providence of God, He knew this and in our lesson today, Jesus explains how this dilemma is going to be resolved: He will send us a Helper.
Now the word helper in Greek is Parakletos, and it has a legal meaning: a lawyer or assistant in a legal question. In a broader sense, it simply means someone who encourages, counsels and strengthens another in a time of need. This is what we need: someone to help us.
This helper is ‘just like Jesus”. He is the third person of the Trinity and is in complete unity with the Father and the Son. He has a personality unique to Himself, yet at one with the Father and the Son.
Jesus says, in v. 26, The Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name… Jesus asks the Father and the Father sends the Spirit – will come to us and take up residence within us, will dwell with us (v. 23). This is what we call the Procession or “Spiration” of the Holy Spirit. In our Nicene Creed, we say that the Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son. This phrase, and the son, is called the “filioque clause” and is what caused such a division between the churches. The clause was actually added to the creed in 589 at the Council of Toledo. The East says that the Holy Spirit proceeds only from the Father. Affirming anything less denigrates the majesty and mastery of the Father.
The West looks at passages like this one today and sees cooperation: the Son asks the Father, and the Father sends the Spirit. In Jn. 16: 7, Jesus says, “I will send him to you”. So this is the basis of the conflict – and we in the west live under the understanding that the Spirit comes from the Father and the Son. (May God bless our Orthodox brothers and sisters).
So here we have the resolution of our basic dilemma. If we love God and desire to do His will, that is, if we profess Christ as Lord of our Lives, God, Himself in the person of the Holy Spirit comes to make his home in us. Jesus tells the disciples to expect this before time, so that when it happens, they will believe in Him (v. 29).
And I’m just so sure that the disciples said, “Great! This is excellent! Can’t wait! They were probably totally confused. Face it, this is amazing: The Creator of the Universe, the Eternal One, all powerful and self-existent has chosen to take up residence in his Creatures in an act of Incarnation that is really shocking when you get right down to it. Indeed, there are some people who think this is the reason why Lucifer rebelled initially. He could not stand the idea that the Holy god, would so humble Himself as to disrespect the Pure Spirit that He would breathe life into dirt and then chose to have a relationship with it. Appalling! Unfathomable!
Nevertheless, the Pure Spirit God has been sent to us to live within us – and this is actually one of the ways that a person knows they are a Christian – they have what Paul calls the “internal witness of the Holy Spirit. …The Spirit Himself bears witness to our spirits that we are indeed born again. God himself tells us we are His. We have received a spirit of adoption, by which we cry out, Abba, Father. Again, this is bound up in what we refer to as Incarnation Reality. The Holy Spirit lives in us, making us alive and giving us Help.
The Help he gives us is varied and we will only focus on three aspects today: Teacher, Memory Enhancer and Peace-Giver.
I grew up in the church and heard the bible stories and sermons all my life. The narrative of the Gospel was part of my consciousness. As a teen, I would occasionally try to read the Bible on my own. But I would cover about three verses before getting completely stuck! It just didn’t make much sense to me. Amazingly, immediately after becoming a Christian, I went down to the local Bible Book Store, bought a bible and went home and started reading it. Amazing! It actually made sense. I could read whole books at one sitting – even several books if they were short enough. I was riveted by what I was reading and transformed by it. This is the illuminating work of the Holy Spirit, teaching us and helping us to understand God’s Word.
An example from the life of Christ is where Jesus is walking with the disciples and as he walks, he systematically expounds the Scriptures from Genesis to Malachi, revealing to them all things concerning Himself. When Jesus broke the bread, the disciples’ eyes were opened and they realized that it was Jesus – and suddenly everything came flooding back to them – and it all made sense. John 16:13: When the Spirit of Truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth…” The Spirit helps us understand the Word.
Remembrance: one of the things people object to about the Scriptures is the aspect of oral Tradition. From our written word perspective today, we think that unless something isn’t written down as it occurs that it must not be accurate. Here in verse 26, we have a specific word from Jesus that God is involved in helping the disciples to remember the events of the past, to report them accurately and to pass them on correctly. This oral tradition is what Paul refers to as Tradition with a capitol T. This is what I received, this is what I am passing along to you. It is a faithful transmission of Truth – and it is enabled and powered by the Holy Spirit. This should help us to have confidence in the Bible and in the Apostles teaching as it has been handed down to us.
Then finally, God demonstrates his pastoral care over us in that he wants us to have Peace – the peace of God that passes all understanding (Phil 4:7). We are also told in Galatians 5:22, that the fruit of the Spirit includes Peace. If we are full of the Holy Spirit, this is, if we are directed by and controlled by the Holy Spirit, then we will experience peace even in the midst of the roughest storms.
This peace, however, is bound up in being in Harmony with Gods’ will. We learn from 1 Cor. 3:12 that we can be fleshy or carnal – and that being carnally minded prevents us from understanding spiritual things. We are called to be filled with the Holy Spirit. It is the “new natural” for Christians. If you’re not full of the Holy Spirit as a Christian, there is something wrong with you. You’re not receiving all that God has for you, and you’re not able to give out all that God want to do for the world through you.
The remedy for being carnal or fleshly is simply to confess your sins (I John 1:9) and then to ask God to fill you with his Spirit according to Ephesians 5:18. In so doing, you will experience the:
Teaching illuminating work of the Holy Spirit.
The Remembrance of all that you have learned in God.
The Peace of God that surpasses all understanding.
You will be helped personally and equipped for ministry to others.
Today as we confess our sins to God, I’d like us to pay special attention to the possibility of asking god to fill us with the Holy Spirit. After our Confession, let’s take a moment to do just that so that we might be truly Spiritual Christians full of the Spirit, just as Jesus was. AMEN.
Let’s have a little quiz as we start today:
How many of us think that the Bible is easy to understand? Raise your hands…
How many of us think that it’s no trouble to love your neighbor as yourself? …To forgive those who sin against us?
How many think that it’s a piece of cake to maintain perfect spiritual peace all the time?
If you’re like me, you didn’t answer affirmative to any of these questions – or to any of the other myriad of things that Christ taught us to do in the Sermon on the Mount. Frankly, the Christian life is impossible to live - on one’s own steam that is. Like Paul says is Romans 7, with my mind I agree with the law of God, but I find another principle at work within me, that is in my flesh. The good that I wish to do I don’t do, and the evil I don’t wish, I do. …Oh wretched man that I am who will deliver me from this body of death?!
But then of course, he goes on to give thanks to God for Jesus Christ and for the salvation that comes through Him. Jesus Christ has paid the penalty for our sins and He is our righteousness and advocate before God. However, it’s perfectly obvious to us all that Jesus is not walking around in bodily form any more. He is with the Father and we are here. Distressingly, he says to us in Jn. 14:23 that “If anyone loves me – he will keep my word”.
Already from the git-go, we’re in trouble! I don’t know about you, but I think I can keep His word for about a minute or two without thinking something rotten. If the standard of faithfulness is Jesus – and it is – then there is no way really to live a truly Christian Life. So, as Christians, we are in a real quandary. We really need someone to help us and to advocate for us. In the providence of God, He knew this and in our lesson today, Jesus explains how this dilemma is going to be resolved: He will send us a Helper.
Now the word helper in Greek is Parakletos, and it has a legal meaning: a lawyer or assistant in a legal question. In a broader sense, it simply means someone who encourages, counsels and strengthens another in a time of need. This is what we need: someone to help us.
This helper is ‘just like Jesus”. He is the third person of the Trinity and is in complete unity with the Father and the Son. He has a personality unique to Himself, yet at one with the Father and the Son.
Jesus says, in v. 26, The Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name… Jesus asks the Father and the Father sends the Spirit – will come to us and take up residence within us, will dwell with us (v. 23). This is what we call the Procession or “Spiration” of the Holy Spirit. In our Nicene Creed, we say that the Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son. This phrase, and the son, is called the “filioque clause” and is what caused such a division between the churches. The clause was actually added to the creed in 589 at the Council of Toledo. The East says that the Holy Spirit proceeds only from the Father. Affirming anything less denigrates the majesty and mastery of the Father.
The West looks at passages like this one today and sees cooperation: the Son asks the Father, and the Father sends the Spirit. In Jn. 16: 7, Jesus says, “I will send him to you”. So this is the basis of the conflict – and we in the west live under the understanding that the Spirit comes from the Father and the Son. (May God bless our Orthodox brothers and sisters).
So here we have the resolution of our basic dilemma. If we love God and desire to do His will, that is, if we profess Christ as Lord of our Lives, God, Himself in the person of the Holy Spirit comes to make his home in us. Jesus tells the disciples to expect this before time, so that when it happens, they will believe in Him (v. 29).
And I’m just so sure that the disciples said, “Great! This is excellent! Can’t wait! They were probably totally confused. Face it, this is amazing: The Creator of the Universe, the Eternal One, all powerful and self-existent has chosen to take up residence in his Creatures in an act of Incarnation that is really shocking when you get right down to it. Indeed, there are some people who think this is the reason why Lucifer rebelled initially. He could not stand the idea that the Holy god, would so humble Himself as to disrespect the Pure Spirit that He would breathe life into dirt and then chose to have a relationship with it. Appalling! Unfathomable!
Nevertheless, the Pure Spirit God has been sent to us to live within us – and this is actually one of the ways that a person knows they are a Christian – they have what Paul calls the “internal witness of the Holy Spirit. …The Spirit Himself bears witness to our spirits that we are indeed born again. God himself tells us we are His. We have received a spirit of adoption, by which we cry out, Abba, Father. Again, this is bound up in what we refer to as Incarnation Reality. The Holy Spirit lives in us, making us alive and giving us Help.
The Help he gives us is varied and we will only focus on three aspects today: Teacher, Memory Enhancer and Peace-Giver.
I grew up in the church and heard the bible stories and sermons all my life. The narrative of the Gospel was part of my consciousness. As a teen, I would occasionally try to read the Bible on my own. But I would cover about three verses before getting completely stuck! It just didn’t make much sense to me. Amazingly, immediately after becoming a Christian, I went down to the local Bible Book Store, bought a bible and went home and started reading it. Amazing! It actually made sense. I could read whole books at one sitting – even several books if they were short enough. I was riveted by what I was reading and transformed by it. This is the illuminating work of the Holy Spirit, teaching us and helping us to understand God’s Word.
An example from the life of Christ is where Jesus is walking with the disciples and as he walks, he systematically expounds the Scriptures from Genesis to Malachi, revealing to them all things concerning Himself. When Jesus broke the bread, the disciples’ eyes were opened and they realized that it was Jesus – and suddenly everything came flooding back to them – and it all made sense. John 16:13: When the Spirit of Truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth…” The Spirit helps us understand the Word.
Remembrance: one of the things people object to about the Scriptures is the aspect of oral Tradition. From our written word perspective today, we think that unless something isn’t written down as it occurs that it must not be accurate. Here in verse 26, we have a specific word from Jesus that God is involved in helping the disciples to remember the events of the past, to report them accurately and to pass them on correctly. This oral tradition is what Paul refers to as Tradition with a capitol T. This is what I received, this is what I am passing along to you. It is a faithful transmission of Truth – and it is enabled and powered by the Holy Spirit. This should help us to have confidence in the Bible and in the Apostles teaching as it has been handed down to us.
Then finally, God demonstrates his pastoral care over us in that he wants us to have Peace – the peace of God that passes all understanding (Phil 4:7). We are also told in Galatians 5:22, that the fruit of the Spirit includes Peace. If we are full of the Holy Spirit, this is, if we are directed by and controlled by the Holy Spirit, then we will experience peace even in the midst of the roughest storms.
This peace, however, is bound up in being in Harmony with Gods’ will. We learn from 1 Cor. 3:12 that we can be fleshy or carnal – and that being carnally minded prevents us from understanding spiritual things. We are called to be filled with the Holy Spirit. It is the “new natural” for Christians. If you’re not full of the Holy Spirit as a Christian, there is something wrong with you. You’re not receiving all that God has for you, and you’re not able to give out all that God want to do for the world through you.
The remedy for being carnal or fleshly is simply to confess your sins (I John 1:9) and then to ask God to fill you with his Spirit according to Ephesians 5:18. In so doing, you will experience the:
Teaching illuminating work of the Holy Spirit.
The Remembrance of all that you have learned in God.
The Peace of God that surpasses all understanding.
You will be helped personally and equipped for ministry to others.
Today as we confess our sins to God, I’d like us to pay special attention to the possibility of asking god to fill us with the Holy Spirit. After our Confession, let’s take a moment to do just that so that we might be truly Spiritual Christians full of the Spirit, just as Jesus was. AMEN.
Monday, May 07, 2007
Remembering is a Fight
A Sermon delivered at the annual Memorial to Murdered Victims, Parents of Murdered Children, Northern Kentucky Chapter, New Beginnings Celebration Center, Grayson KY.
May 7, 2007
On May 22, 2005, Donte Ward, Eddrick Clark, Michael Dillon and Megan Posten were gunned down by an unknown person or persons in an act of wanton violence that shocked the community of Huntington. My wife and I happened to be away from town that night, but when we returned the next day, we were horrified to learn from our daughters that this terrible thing had occurred right around the corner from our home. I didn’t know any of the kids, but our neighbor, Molly did. In a town the size of Huntington, there are only about 2 degrees of separation from anyone else in the area.
A few days after the murders, we attended a prayer service at 1410 Charleston Avenue. There were some 200 people there, as well as many of the media outlets. It was a sad and heartbreaking event; bittersweet because of the large turnout of support from the community, but support that was noticed across the nations for something tragic.
Over the next few months, people in the area generously gave to set up a reward fund for information leading to the successful prosecution of the crime’s perpetrators. A memorial service for the Victims of Crime was held later that year, and in 2006, a second annual memorial service took place – and all the while, the murders of these four teens remained unsolved, an open, unhealed wound for the families and the community at large.
The days rolled on and with their successive passage, time threatened to erase the memory of four lives, full of youthful potential. Even living around the corner, my own awareness of the event began to fade in the midst of the day-in, day-out busy-ness of life. That is, until one morning, driving to work, I noticed a For Sale sign in the front yard. I saw the sign out of the corner of my eye and did a double-take. I slowed down and pulled off to the side of the road – and in that moment, it was as if an arrow pierced my heart with a sudden conviction that it would be a tragedy indeed if the deaths of these four teems were forgotten, snuffed out by means of a callous real-estate transaction. What a shame and reproach to the whole community it would be if the site of bloody death were to be given a once-over and rented out to indifferent parties unmoved by our pain.
At that moment, I believe God planted a vision within me to see the house at 1410 Charleston Avenue transformed into a place of hope and healing. Really, it was more than a vision; it was more like an order: “Do this!” So, with a sense of dazed astonishment, I pondered this mandate, and wondered how in the world such a vision could come to pass.
I began asking questions, and soon learned that the house was listed for $38,900. The zoning was such that it could be used as a multi-family dwelling, personal care home, group home or religious facility. I learned that the City had a crying need for a crisis center for teens and that a local pastors group was interested in supporting a Mentoring program being promoted by Rev. Matthew Watts from Charleston.
The city of Huntington also had a ‘YouthBuild” program that trained young people in construction trades and might be available to help with renovations.
On September 18, 2006, I wrote to Rev. Watts, suggesting that the house on Charleston Avenue, could be turned into a memorial to the victims of this and other violent crimes, and that a center for teen mentoring could be established – ‘that they shall not have died in vain.” Matthew responded that this was a good idea, but that he was consumed with getting his mentoring program up and running. He didn’t have much time to devote to this project. Nor did I!
On October 1st, another very different series of events culminated in me becoming the pastor of a newly forming church – All Saints Anglican. If a memorial were going to come into existence, it was going to be a fight to find the time and the resources to do it. And this is the main idea I want to impart to you today: “Remembering is a fight!”
In the natural course of life, time erodes memory and inertia swallows up good intentions to act – that is to say, other peoples’ intention to act. Just like me, people get busy and their focus shifts to the pressing needs of their lives. Without an intentional fight to remind ourselves and our communities of horror, and our ongoing love for our fallen family members, other people forget.
So we are gathered here tonight to Remember. But this remembering is not just a simple recalling of person or events. It’s much more like what Jesus meant when he said, “do this in Remembrance of Me”. In Greek, the word Remembrance is ‘anamnesis’. It’s the special kind of memory that we have for our loved ones, in which you don’t just recall who they were – you feel them close by your side. They may not be bodily present, but sometimes you can almost touch them, they feel so close. That’s anamnesis – a kind of remembering in which the past actively lives in the present. That’s the kind of memory we have for our loved ones. But that’s precisely what other people don’t have. Without anamnesis, other people forget. And when communities forget, they allow injustice to go on and wrong to be unrighted. That’s why Remembering is a fight!
In Chronicles 14:11 we read ”Then Asa called to the LORD his God and said, "LORD, there is no one besides You to help in the battle between the powerful and those who have no strength; so help us, O LORD our God, for we trust in You, and in Your name have come against this multitude. O LORD, You are our God; let not man prevail against You.” The Battle belongs to the Lord! You’re not alone in your fight! In Genesis 4:10, the Lord say to Cain, “The blood of your brother Able cries out to me from the ground.”
God himself hears the witness of the blood crying out to him from the earth. He is the righteous judge who will one day bring complete and total justice to the world. And the very earth itself is witness against the wickedness of those who willfully take the life of another.
But this final reckoning is yet to come. In the meantime, we live with our pain and grief, and our challenge is to take up our mantle as agents of God on the earth and to work for justice and reconciliation here and now. The fight to remember is not just about families expressing their own pain, however. Rather there is a divine mandate to Do Justice (Malachi 6:8) as we attempt to walk humbly with our God. This is a good fight, and God is with us in it, empowering us for it !
In November of last year, after challenging my little church to give seed money for the purchase of 1410 Charleston avenue, I called the realtor to check on the status of the house. The price had dropped to $17,900, but now it was under contract to an investment firm from Oregon! All I knew to do at that time was to pray. And that’s what we did. We gathered on the lawn of the house on Fridays at 3:30 every week and cried out to God for Justice and Mercy. We never had more than 7 or 8 people present, sometimes just 3 or 4. But God regarded our prayers, and in January of this year, when I called the realtor again to check the status of the house, I learned that the pending deal had fallen through! I told him we were definitely interested in buying the property, and that we had the money for the down payment. He checked with Fannie Mae, which had repossessed the property, and amazingly the price had now dropped to $10,000!
We quickly organized ourselves and put down $1,000 earnest money. Over the next six weeks, we raised the remainder of the money from our own funds and others from the community – and on February 23, 2007, we signed the papers and the house was ours!
Imagine! - All Saints Anglican Church is a group of about 25 people! Somehow, God helped us to raise about $7,000 ourselves, $3500 from the community at large – and still pay our bills! Do you really think we did this on our own strength? No! God is with us in the fight! Perhaps we should really say God fights and we get to help. This battle belongs to the Lord!
But every time we gather to actively remember our loved ones, every time we use our pain to advocate for justice, every time we cry out to God for others because of our own suffering, we are fighting the good fight! We’re not using the weapons of the world, but the divine weapons of love and faith and prayer.
What we do in remembering family is an active prayer to our God for the redress of wrongs, the punishment of the guilty and the comfort of the sorrowing. Our God hears this prayer and He does answer –primarily with His own dear Presence, but also through people we don’t even know advocating on our behalf.
The crime scene at 1410 Charleston Avenue will be transformed into Hope House – a place of remembering and of Life. In the near future, teens will come to this house to receive mentoring and instruction in life skills. The deaths of four teens will not be in vain, but will buy life for countless others of their peers.
I invite you to come and join us Saturday, May 19 @ 1pm to dedicate Hope House to this mission. The fight to restore the house has just begun – and it will take months to finish. But we know it will come to pass with God’s help.
Friends, tonight as you remember your fallen loved ones; know that we are with you practicing their Anamnesis. We’re in the fight together, and with God’s help we will triumph. Amen.
May 7, 2007
On May 22, 2005, Donte Ward, Eddrick Clark, Michael Dillon and Megan Posten were gunned down by an unknown person or persons in an act of wanton violence that shocked the community of Huntington. My wife and I happened to be away from town that night, but when we returned the next day, we were horrified to learn from our daughters that this terrible thing had occurred right around the corner from our home. I didn’t know any of the kids, but our neighbor, Molly did. In a town the size of Huntington, there are only about 2 degrees of separation from anyone else in the area.
A few days after the murders, we attended a prayer service at 1410 Charleston Avenue. There were some 200 people there, as well as many of the media outlets. It was a sad and heartbreaking event; bittersweet because of the large turnout of support from the community, but support that was noticed across the nations for something tragic.
Over the next few months, people in the area generously gave to set up a reward fund for information leading to the successful prosecution of the crime’s perpetrators. A memorial service for the Victims of Crime was held later that year, and in 2006, a second annual memorial service took place – and all the while, the murders of these four teens remained unsolved, an open, unhealed wound for the families and the community at large.
The days rolled on and with their successive passage, time threatened to erase the memory of four lives, full of youthful potential. Even living around the corner, my own awareness of the event began to fade in the midst of the day-in, day-out busy-ness of life. That is, until one morning, driving to work, I noticed a For Sale sign in the front yard. I saw the sign out of the corner of my eye and did a double-take. I slowed down and pulled off to the side of the road – and in that moment, it was as if an arrow pierced my heart with a sudden conviction that it would be a tragedy indeed if the deaths of these four teems were forgotten, snuffed out by means of a callous real-estate transaction. What a shame and reproach to the whole community it would be if the site of bloody death were to be given a once-over and rented out to indifferent parties unmoved by our pain.
At that moment, I believe God planted a vision within me to see the house at 1410 Charleston Avenue transformed into a place of hope and healing. Really, it was more than a vision; it was more like an order: “Do this!” So, with a sense of dazed astonishment, I pondered this mandate, and wondered how in the world such a vision could come to pass.
I began asking questions, and soon learned that the house was listed for $38,900. The zoning was such that it could be used as a multi-family dwelling, personal care home, group home or religious facility. I learned that the City had a crying need for a crisis center for teens and that a local pastors group was interested in supporting a Mentoring program being promoted by Rev. Matthew Watts from Charleston.
The city of Huntington also had a ‘YouthBuild” program that trained young people in construction trades and might be available to help with renovations.
On September 18, 2006, I wrote to Rev. Watts, suggesting that the house on Charleston Avenue, could be turned into a memorial to the victims of this and other violent crimes, and that a center for teen mentoring could be established – ‘that they shall not have died in vain.” Matthew responded that this was a good idea, but that he was consumed with getting his mentoring program up and running. He didn’t have much time to devote to this project. Nor did I!
On October 1st, another very different series of events culminated in me becoming the pastor of a newly forming church – All Saints Anglican. If a memorial were going to come into existence, it was going to be a fight to find the time and the resources to do it. And this is the main idea I want to impart to you today: “Remembering is a fight!”
In the natural course of life, time erodes memory and inertia swallows up good intentions to act – that is to say, other peoples’ intention to act. Just like me, people get busy and their focus shifts to the pressing needs of their lives. Without an intentional fight to remind ourselves and our communities of horror, and our ongoing love for our fallen family members, other people forget.
So we are gathered here tonight to Remember. But this remembering is not just a simple recalling of person or events. It’s much more like what Jesus meant when he said, “do this in Remembrance of Me”. In Greek, the word Remembrance is ‘anamnesis’. It’s the special kind of memory that we have for our loved ones, in which you don’t just recall who they were – you feel them close by your side. They may not be bodily present, but sometimes you can almost touch them, they feel so close. That’s anamnesis – a kind of remembering in which the past actively lives in the present. That’s the kind of memory we have for our loved ones. But that’s precisely what other people don’t have. Without anamnesis, other people forget. And when communities forget, they allow injustice to go on and wrong to be unrighted. That’s why Remembering is a fight!
In Chronicles 14:11 we read ”Then Asa called to the LORD his God and said, "LORD, there is no one besides You to help in the battle between the powerful and those who have no strength; so help us, O LORD our God, for we trust in You, and in Your name have come against this multitude. O LORD, You are our God; let not man prevail against You.” The Battle belongs to the Lord! You’re not alone in your fight! In Genesis 4:10, the Lord say to Cain, “The blood of your brother Able cries out to me from the ground.”
God himself hears the witness of the blood crying out to him from the earth. He is the righteous judge who will one day bring complete and total justice to the world. And the very earth itself is witness against the wickedness of those who willfully take the life of another.
But this final reckoning is yet to come. In the meantime, we live with our pain and grief, and our challenge is to take up our mantle as agents of God on the earth and to work for justice and reconciliation here and now. The fight to remember is not just about families expressing their own pain, however. Rather there is a divine mandate to Do Justice (Malachi 6:8) as we attempt to walk humbly with our God. This is a good fight, and God is with us in it, empowering us for it !
In November of last year, after challenging my little church to give seed money for the purchase of 1410 Charleston avenue, I called the realtor to check on the status of the house. The price had dropped to $17,900, but now it was under contract to an investment firm from Oregon! All I knew to do at that time was to pray. And that’s what we did. We gathered on the lawn of the house on Fridays at 3:30 every week and cried out to God for Justice and Mercy. We never had more than 7 or 8 people present, sometimes just 3 or 4. But God regarded our prayers, and in January of this year, when I called the realtor again to check the status of the house, I learned that the pending deal had fallen through! I told him we were definitely interested in buying the property, and that we had the money for the down payment. He checked with Fannie Mae, which had repossessed the property, and amazingly the price had now dropped to $10,000!
We quickly organized ourselves and put down $1,000 earnest money. Over the next six weeks, we raised the remainder of the money from our own funds and others from the community – and on February 23, 2007, we signed the papers and the house was ours!
Imagine! - All Saints Anglican Church is a group of about 25 people! Somehow, God helped us to raise about $7,000 ourselves, $3500 from the community at large – and still pay our bills! Do you really think we did this on our own strength? No! God is with us in the fight! Perhaps we should really say God fights and we get to help. This battle belongs to the Lord!
But every time we gather to actively remember our loved ones, every time we use our pain to advocate for justice, every time we cry out to God for others because of our own suffering, we are fighting the good fight! We’re not using the weapons of the world, but the divine weapons of love and faith and prayer.
What we do in remembering family is an active prayer to our God for the redress of wrongs, the punishment of the guilty and the comfort of the sorrowing. Our God hears this prayer and He does answer –primarily with His own dear Presence, but also through people we don’t even know advocating on our behalf.
The crime scene at 1410 Charleston Avenue will be transformed into Hope House – a place of remembering and of Life. In the near future, teens will come to this house to receive mentoring and instruction in life skills. The deaths of four teens will not be in vain, but will buy life for countless others of their peers.
I invite you to come and join us Saturday, May 19 @ 1pm to dedicate Hope House to this mission. The fight to restore the house has just begun – and it will take months to finish. But we know it will come to pass with God’s help.
Friends, tonight as you remember your fallen loved ones; know that we are with you practicing their Anamnesis. We’re in the fight together, and with God’s help we will triumph. Amen.
Sunday, April 29, 2007
The Good Shepherd
A Sermon delivered to All Saints Anglican Church, Barboursville ( AM)
and Anglican Church of the Risen Lord, Charleston, 9PM).
Based on: John 10:22-39
As we begin talking about our passage today I’d just like to set the context for us. In John chapter 9, Jesus had healed a man born blind, whom the Pharisees promptly tossed out of the Synagogue, thus showing themselves to be very poor shepherds of the sheep of Israel indeed. It’s like the old Hymn we sing, “Beating up the Sheep, Beating up the Sheep. We shall come rejoicing, beating up the sheep.”
Now, in John chapter 10, Jesus is contrasting himself with the Pharisees. They are thieves, who try to come in the sheepfold by the side door to steal. Jesus is the Good Shepherd, who faithfully leads the sheep, even to the point of giving up his life for them. While the Pharisees are interested in power and control, Jesus says “I came that they might have life and might have it abundantly” (Jn. 10:10). His focus is totally other-directed and service oriented.
In using this metaphor of the Good Shepherd, Jesus is employing an image that the Pharisees would certainly have known well. Psalm 100 says, “we are His people and the sheep of His pasture… v. 3. And there is Psalm 23: The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want… to name just a couple.
In using this language, Jesus is making an implicit claim to be God, and is also harshly criticizing the Pharisees. In verses 4 and 5, he says “…he goes before them and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. A stranger they will not follow”. (This is reiterated in verse 27: “My sheep hear my voice and I know them, and they follow me.)
Then Jesus starts talking about laying down his life and taking it up on his own authority (v. 18). The Pharisees are really divided now, and they start accusing Jesus of having a demon or being insane. So they ask Him pointedly, “if you are the Christ, tell us plainly.” (v. 24). However, this question is not asked from faith, but as a ploy to catch him in a miscue and so enable them to condemn Jesus.
But Jesus gives them no satisfaction. He rebuffs them and basically tells them that they aren’t of His flock, that God doesn’t know them, and they’re goin’ to hell. He wraps it up with a definitive statement, “I and the Father are One.” And the Jews take up stones to kill him because “he made himself out to be God. (v. 33). They know blasphemy when they hear it. They do not believe Jesus is just a harmless good teacher. No! They are furious because he is making a clear claim to Deity.
And here, let’s point out that as you witness to those who do not know Christ, this is a key passage. Is shows very clearly that Jesus understood himself to be at one with God, not just in some generic sense, but so specifically that the Jews try to kill him on account of Blasphemy.
Now notice that Jesus says, I give them eternal life (v.28). He didn’t claim to have been enlightened like the Buddha. He didn’t go sit under a tree and achieve Nirvana through a life-long quest for spiritual breakthrough. No, he is claiming Ontological unity with a personal God – the Father Creator – and asserting that He, the Son, is at One with the Father and that Eternal Life is found in Him! Now that is a tall claim! Jesus gives us eternal life.
Not only that , but the passage today shows us Gods’ personal, individual interest in us . Verse 29: “My Father, who has given them to me is greater than all and no one is able to snatch them from my hands. “
We call this the Perseverance of the Saints. In Romans 8:38 and 39 we read: “Nothing shall be able to separate us from the love of God.” God will persevere with us and keep us in His love because He loved us and chose us for salvation. This in turn points us to the doctrine of Predestination. Article 27 of the 39 articles of Religion, The Book of Common Prayer, page 871, says:
“Predestination to Life is the everlasting purpose of God, whereby (before the foundations of the world were laid) he hath constantly decreed by his counsel secret to us, to deliver from curse and damnation those whom he hath chosen in Christ out of mankind, and to bring them by Christ to everlasting salvation, as vessels made to honour. Wherefore, they which be endued with so excellent a benefit of God, be called according to God’s purpose by his Spirit working in due season: they through Grace obey the calling: they be justified freely: they be made sons of God by adoption: they be made like the image of his only-begotten Son Jesus Christ: they walk religiously in good works, and at length, by God’s mercy, they attain to everlasting felicity…”
We are called according to God’s purpose (Romans 8:28,29), which is to conform us to the Image of Christ; God foreknew us before the foundation of the word. This means that he loved us particularly. Foreknew …”means ‘whom he set regard upon’ or ‘whom he knew from eternity with distinguishing affection and delight’, and is virtually equivalent to ‘whom he foreloved” (emphasis added) (The Five Points of Calvinism: The Meaning of Foreknew in Romans 8:29. ed. Steele and Thomas).
We were marked, ordained by God for salvation. It’s not that God simply knew who would respond to the offer of salvation ahead of time, but that there is a continuum of God’s action (v. 29). ‘Those he foreknew, he also predestined, to be conformed to the image of his son…v. 30 and those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.”
Notice that all these verbs are in the past tense. God’s sees it all as having already been accomplished. Since he stands outside of Time, he can look at all the moments of our life at once and see them all as if they had already happened. He sees the beginning and the end at once. Its’ already done.
Now what about Free-Will? Here’ what Article 10 of the 39 Articles says about Free Will:
X. Of Free-Will.
“The condition of Man after the fall of Adam is such, that he cannot turn and prepare himself, by his own natural strength and good works, to faith, and calling upon God. Wherefore we have no power to do good works pleasant and acceptable to God, without
the grace of God by Christ preventing us, that we may have a good will, and working with us, when we have that good will.”
Our natural will is bound to choose death, but somehow, God gives us the grace and freedom to choose Life. God sees it all and knows it, is Sovereign over it all at once. In His Sovereignty, he actively chooses us individually to receive the gift of faith, to be saved and to be kept against the day of Christ’s return.
I really believe that God is the Author of Salvation. He calls us to believe and He gives us the grace to believe. This means that he gives us the actual freedom to choose him. Without this grace, our natural inclination keep us away from God. We don’t know who he has chosen unto salvation, but we do know He wants to use as channels of saving grace for other people. Our job is to share the Good News, so that others might respond to it and be saved. This is the mechanism of salvation: God saves us by His righteous right hand and he keeps us in His love. Knowing this should give us great comfort.
Okay, so God is the author of salvation: He chooses us to come to faith and He keeps us in the faith…but “what about those who fall away from the faith? Jesus did say that not everyone who came to him saying, Lord, Lord would be saved – even those who did miracles in Jesus’ Name. Paul also complains that some of his fellows have fallen away. “Demas has loved the world…
Two Answers:
One: not everyone who professes faith, is actually a Christian. You can say you believe, but never have actually made the commitment.
Two: It’s also true that we can chose how obedient or close we want to be to Him. As sheep, we can wander off, causing the Good shepherd to come looking for us. We can be inattentive and not listen very closely to His voice. We can be disobedient and luke-warm, or even hard-hearted. We can choose to love buildings and traditions and comfort more than Jesus. We can be bad sheep.
Article X of the 39 Articles:
XVI. Of Sin after Baptism.
“Not every deadly sin willingly committed after Baptism is sin against the Holy Ghost, and unpardonable. Wherefore the grant of repentance is not to be denied to such as fall into sin after Baptism. After we have received the Holy Ghost, we may depart from grace given, and fall into sin, and by the grace of God we may arise again, and amend our lives. And therefore they are to be condemned, which say, they can no more sin as long as they live
here, or deny the place of forgiveness to such as truly repent.”
The latter sentence is a response to those who say that Christians never fall into sin. Just because you’re a Christian doesn’t mean that you never sin, nor that God won’t forgive you. You can choose to sin even though you are a Christian.
But I think everything depends upon God’s Sovereign Action in our lives.
I believe that if He did not keep me, I would fall away quickly. It’s hard enough to be obedient and close to God when we’re really trying, much less when we are bent on our own will! I need Jesus to hold on to me!
My own response to God’s love is important and determines the level of closeness I attain with Christ. You can chose how intimate you want to be with God. And the key to being close to Christ is to listen to His voice. Are we listening? Do you know Him well enough to discern His voice from your own voice – or even form the Devil’s? Do you know the difference between something you really want and the thing that God wants?
This requires closeness with the Shepherd, which we develop through spending time listening to Him closely: reading His Word, being quiet before him, praying, and receiving counsel from other godly Christians. These are all ways that we begin to know the shepherd’s voice. Make it your life’s ambition to know the Shepherd’s Voice!
Brothers and sisters, Listen to the Shepherd. He is good. He loves you. He will faithfully guide you because He is God. Follow his voice and He will protect you, and no one will be able to snatch you out of His hand. Amen.
and Anglican Church of the Risen Lord, Charleston, 9PM).
Based on: John 10:22-39
As we begin talking about our passage today I’d just like to set the context for us. In John chapter 9, Jesus had healed a man born blind, whom the Pharisees promptly tossed out of the Synagogue, thus showing themselves to be very poor shepherds of the sheep of Israel indeed. It’s like the old Hymn we sing, “Beating up the Sheep, Beating up the Sheep. We shall come rejoicing, beating up the sheep.”
Now, in John chapter 10, Jesus is contrasting himself with the Pharisees. They are thieves, who try to come in the sheepfold by the side door to steal. Jesus is the Good Shepherd, who faithfully leads the sheep, even to the point of giving up his life for them. While the Pharisees are interested in power and control, Jesus says “I came that they might have life and might have it abundantly” (Jn. 10:10). His focus is totally other-directed and service oriented.
In using this metaphor of the Good Shepherd, Jesus is employing an image that the Pharisees would certainly have known well. Psalm 100 says, “we are His people and the sheep of His pasture… v. 3. And there is Psalm 23: The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want… to name just a couple.
In using this language, Jesus is making an implicit claim to be God, and is also harshly criticizing the Pharisees. In verses 4 and 5, he says “…he goes before them and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. A stranger they will not follow”. (This is reiterated in verse 27: “My sheep hear my voice and I know them, and they follow me.)
Then Jesus starts talking about laying down his life and taking it up on his own authority (v. 18). The Pharisees are really divided now, and they start accusing Jesus of having a demon or being insane. So they ask Him pointedly, “if you are the Christ, tell us plainly.” (v. 24). However, this question is not asked from faith, but as a ploy to catch him in a miscue and so enable them to condemn Jesus.
But Jesus gives them no satisfaction. He rebuffs them and basically tells them that they aren’t of His flock, that God doesn’t know them, and they’re goin’ to hell. He wraps it up with a definitive statement, “I and the Father are One.” And the Jews take up stones to kill him because “he made himself out to be God. (v. 33). They know blasphemy when they hear it. They do not believe Jesus is just a harmless good teacher. No! They are furious because he is making a clear claim to Deity.
And here, let’s point out that as you witness to those who do not know Christ, this is a key passage. Is shows very clearly that Jesus understood himself to be at one with God, not just in some generic sense, but so specifically that the Jews try to kill him on account of Blasphemy.
Now notice that Jesus says, I give them eternal life (v.28). He didn’t claim to have been enlightened like the Buddha. He didn’t go sit under a tree and achieve Nirvana through a life-long quest for spiritual breakthrough. No, he is claiming Ontological unity with a personal God – the Father Creator – and asserting that He, the Son, is at One with the Father and that Eternal Life is found in Him! Now that is a tall claim! Jesus gives us eternal life.
Not only that , but the passage today shows us Gods’ personal, individual interest in us . Verse 29: “My Father, who has given them to me is greater than all and no one is able to snatch them from my hands. “
We call this the Perseverance of the Saints. In Romans 8:38 and 39 we read: “Nothing shall be able to separate us from the love of God.” God will persevere with us and keep us in His love because He loved us and chose us for salvation. This in turn points us to the doctrine of Predestination. Article 27 of the 39 articles of Religion, The Book of Common Prayer, page 871, says:
“Predestination to Life is the everlasting purpose of God, whereby (before the foundations of the world were laid) he hath constantly decreed by his counsel secret to us, to deliver from curse and damnation those whom he hath chosen in Christ out of mankind, and to bring them by Christ to everlasting salvation, as vessels made to honour. Wherefore, they which be endued with so excellent a benefit of God, be called according to God’s purpose by his Spirit working in due season: they through Grace obey the calling: they be justified freely: they be made sons of God by adoption: they be made like the image of his only-begotten Son Jesus Christ: they walk religiously in good works, and at length, by God’s mercy, they attain to everlasting felicity…”
We are called according to God’s purpose (Romans 8:28,29), which is to conform us to the Image of Christ; God foreknew us before the foundation of the word. This means that he loved us particularly. Foreknew …”means ‘whom he set regard upon’ or ‘whom he knew from eternity with distinguishing affection and delight’, and is virtually equivalent to ‘whom he foreloved” (emphasis added) (The Five Points of Calvinism: The Meaning of Foreknew in Romans 8:29. ed. Steele and Thomas).
We were marked, ordained by God for salvation. It’s not that God simply knew who would respond to the offer of salvation ahead of time, but that there is a continuum of God’s action (v. 29). ‘Those he foreknew, he also predestined, to be conformed to the image of his son…v. 30 and those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.”
Notice that all these verbs are in the past tense. God’s sees it all as having already been accomplished. Since he stands outside of Time, he can look at all the moments of our life at once and see them all as if they had already happened. He sees the beginning and the end at once. Its’ already done.
Now what about Free-Will? Here’ what Article 10 of the 39 Articles says about Free Will:
X. Of Free-Will.
“The condition of Man after the fall of Adam is such, that he cannot turn and prepare himself, by his own natural strength and good works, to faith, and calling upon God. Wherefore we have no power to do good works pleasant and acceptable to God, without
the grace of God by Christ preventing us, that we may have a good will, and working with us, when we have that good will.”
Our natural will is bound to choose death, but somehow, God gives us the grace and freedom to choose Life. God sees it all and knows it, is Sovereign over it all at once. In His Sovereignty, he actively chooses us individually to receive the gift of faith, to be saved and to be kept against the day of Christ’s return.
I really believe that God is the Author of Salvation. He calls us to believe and He gives us the grace to believe. This means that he gives us the actual freedom to choose him. Without this grace, our natural inclination keep us away from God. We don’t know who he has chosen unto salvation, but we do know He wants to use as channels of saving grace for other people. Our job is to share the Good News, so that others might respond to it and be saved. This is the mechanism of salvation: God saves us by His righteous right hand and he keeps us in His love. Knowing this should give us great comfort.
Okay, so God is the author of salvation: He chooses us to come to faith and He keeps us in the faith…but “what about those who fall away from the faith? Jesus did say that not everyone who came to him saying, Lord, Lord would be saved – even those who did miracles in Jesus’ Name. Paul also complains that some of his fellows have fallen away. “Demas has loved the world…
Two Answers:
One: not everyone who professes faith, is actually a Christian. You can say you believe, but never have actually made the commitment.
Two: It’s also true that we can chose how obedient or close we want to be to Him. As sheep, we can wander off, causing the Good shepherd to come looking for us. We can be inattentive and not listen very closely to His voice. We can be disobedient and luke-warm, or even hard-hearted. We can choose to love buildings and traditions and comfort more than Jesus. We can be bad sheep.
Article X of the 39 Articles:
XVI. Of Sin after Baptism.
“Not every deadly sin willingly committed after Baptism is sin against the Holy Ghost, and unpardonable. Wherefore the grant of repentance is not to be denied to such as fall into sin after Baptism. After we have received the Holy Ghost, we may depart from grace given, and fall into sin, and by the grace of God we may arise again, and amend our lives. And therefore they are to be condemned, which say, they can no more sin as long as they live
here, or deny the place of forgiveness to such as truly repent.”
The latter sentence is a response to those who say that Christians never fall into sin. Just because you’re a Christian doesn’t mean that you never sin, nor that God won’t forgive you. You can choose to sin even though you are a Christian.
But I think everything depends upon God’s Sovereign Action in our lives.
I believe that if He did not keep me, I would fall away quickly. It’s hard enough to be obedient and close to God when we’re really trying, much less when we are bent on our own will! I need Jesus to hold on to me!
My own response to God’s love is important and determines the level of closeness I attain with Christ. You can chose how intimate you want to be with God. And the key to being close to Christ is to listen to His voice. Are we listening? Do you know Him well enough to discern His voice from your own voice – or even form the Devil’s? Do you know the difference between something you really want and the thing that God wants?
This requires closeness with the Shepherd, which we develop through spending time listening to Him closely: reading His Word, being quiet before him, praying, and receiving counsel from other godly Christians. These are all ways that we begin to know the shepherd’s voice. Make it your life’s ambition to know the Shepherd’s Voice!
Brothers and sisters, Listen to the Shepherd. He is good. He loves you. He will faithfully guide you because He is God. Follow his voice and He will protect you, and no one will be able to snatch you out of His hand. Amen.
Sunday, April 22, 2007
Goin' Fishin'
A Sermon delivered at All Saints Anglican Church, April 2, 2007, Year C, and based on John 21:1-14
They say that a bad day fishing is better than a good day in the office.
Apparently, Peter must have had the same philosophy, because shortly after the resurrection, he announces ( KJV) “ I go a-fishing.” Or, in the closely-linked Appalachian version” I’m a goin’ fishin’. His buddies Thomas, Nathaniel, James, John and two others quickly decide to join in. They climb in the boat, and head out to fish all night – and come up with nothin’. Zip, Zilch, Nada, Nothin’.
Now, it’s unlikely that Peter et al were going back to the fishing trade on a permanent basis, but they probably did need something to keep body and soul together. Jesus had Risen and appeared to them, but over a forty day period, these appearances were sporadic. So, whether out of boredom, or just simple financial need, they go back to the familiar trade for a night. What was really happening though was that Jesus was setting them up for a reprise of their initial call to become fishers of men.
God really does have a sense of humor – perhaps even verging on being a practical joker. Here these poor guys are out there all night, with nothing to show for their efforts – not even one little minnow! And Jesus tells them to let down their nets on the right side for a catch. This is an object lesson of the Christian faith.
To mix a metaphor, John 15: 1 ff tells us that Jesus is the Vine and we are the branches. If we stay connected to him, we bear much fruit, for apart from him, we can do nothing. (v.5). The disciples found out how this verse applies to fishing that night. We may understand that in their own wisdom and strength, they tried to do what they knew to do. It wasn’t sin, but it wasn’t the result of specifically abiding in the vine. As a result, there was no result. This is the way it is in the Christian life: You can take a notion to do something that seems right and reasonable, but if it’s not the result of being led by the Lord, you will have no fruit.
Instead, we are to ‘fish on the right side of the boat”. That is, we are to do what Jesus tells us. Remember the story of Mary asking Jesus for wine at the wedding of Cana – and how she tells the servants to “do whatever he tells you”… That’s a simple formula for leading a successful Christian life.
But we might quickly point out that in order to ‘do what he tells you’, you must be listening! And for all their lack of success fishing, the disciples were listening. We can only imagine what they must have been thinking as Jesus tells them to put down their nets on the other side of the boat. But they obeyed and as a result, they pulled up a multitude of fish – so much so that the boat was ready to capsize.
And in an odd detail, we are told that there are 153 fish to be precise. We accept this by faith, even though fishermen are known to exaggerate… Another allegorical note: the net held. Jesus intends for us to keep the fish we catch!
Now Peter realizes it is the Lord directing the catch, and he grabs his outer garment and plunges into the sea, swimming the 100 yards to shore. He finds Jesus making breakfast, fish and bread. Christ feeds the disciples and then he is suddenly gone.
This story illustrates graphically what we as the Lord’s disciples are to do: we are to be fishers of men, winners of souls, makers of disciples. We are to multiply our efforts! 2 Tim. 2:2 tells us the pattern: “what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men [and women] who will be able to teach others also.”
Most churches in America today are not into addition, not multiplication. Most of the growth in churches comes from transfers, not from making new believers. That is not what Jesus told us to do! We are to win new believers and to make disciples, who will in turn go out and make new converts and disciples. If we were really being faithful to this pattern, we would grow geometrically, not just one by one.
Admittedly, this is a harder task than just transferring Christians from other churches. But it’s vital that we do so! There are still 75,000 people in the immediate area who are literally going to Hell in a handbasket without the Lord. If we don’t fish for them, part of the responsibility for their souls will rest on us.
But how do we win them? Largely through relationship building. While it’s true that many people are saved in revivals and evangelistic campaigns, it’s a demonstrated fact that most people come to church because they were invited by a friend – someone they have history with, someone whom they trust enough to respond to. Are we developing this type of relationship with any non-believers? Do we invite them to church or to small group? Do we pray with them, or have bible study with them? Do we believe what John wrote about his Gospel? – “these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name” (Jn. 20:31).
Friends, Jesus is Life. Without Jesus, there is no true Life. Let me urge you to meditate on this truth and to ask God to open up opportunities for you to share this life with your friends and loved ones. If we can get into a habit of thinking this way, we will grow – not just additively, but geometrically. Not just for the sake of having a big church, but for the sake of winning the world for Christ.
Let’s Pray: Father, we know that apart from you we can do nothing. We also know that in You is life and the Life is the Light of Men. Help us, O God, to be faithful witnesses of the Life. Please direct us to help those who do not know you to find you. Assist us with the power of your Holy Spirit to be your witnesses. Bring in new souls to your Kingdom through us for the Glory of your Name, and the life of the World. We ask it all through the wonderful Name of Jesus. Amen.
They say that a bad day fishing is better than a good day in the office.
Apparently, Peter must have had the same philosophy, because shortly after the resurrection, he announces ( KJV) “ I go a-fishing.” Or, in the closely-linked Appalachian version” I’m a goin’ fishin’. His buddies Thomas, Nathaniel, James, John and two others quickly decide to join in. They climb in the boat, and head out to fish all night – and come up with nothin’. Zip, Zilch, Nada, Nothin’.
Now, it’s unlikely that Peter et al were going back to the fishing trade on a permanent basis, but they probably did need something to keep body and soul together. Jesus had Risen and appeared to them, but over a forty day period, these appearances were sporadic. So, whether out of boredom, or just simple financial need, they go back to the familiar trade for a night. What was really happening though was that Jesus was setting them up for a reprise of their initial call to become fishers of men.
God really does have a sense of humor – perhaps even verging on being a practical joker. Here these poor guys are out there all night, with nothing to show for their efforts – not even one little minnow! And Jesus tells them to let down their nets on the right side for a catch. This is an object lesson of the Christian faith.
To mix a metaphor, John 15: 1 ff tells us that Jesus is the Vine and we are the branches. If we stay connected to him, we bear much fruit, for apart from him, we can do nothing. (v.5). The disciples found out how this verse applies to fishing that night. We may understand that in their own wisdom and strength, they tried to do what they knew to do. It wasn’t sin, but it wasn’t the result of specifically abiding in the vine. As a result, there was no result. This is the way it is in the Christian life: You can take a notion to do something that seems right and reasonable, but if it’s not the result of being led by the Lord, you will have no fruit.
Instead, we are to ‘fish on the right side of the boat”. That is, we are to do what Jesus tells us. Remember the story of Mary asking Jesus for wine at the wedding of Cana – and how she tells the servants to “do whatever he tells you”… That’s a simple formula for leading a successful Christian life.
But we might quickly point out that in order to ‘do what he tells you’, you must be listening! And for all their lack of success fishing, the disciples were listening. We can only imagine what they must have been thinking as Jesus tells them to put down their nets on the other side of the boat. But they obeyed and as a result, they pulled up a multitude of fish – so much so that the boat was ready to capsize.
And in an odd detail, we are told that there are 153 fish to be precise. We accept this by faith, even though fishermen are known to exaggerate… Another allegorical note: the net held. Jesus intends for us to keep the fish we catch!
Now Peter realizes it is the Lord directing the catch, and he grabs his outer garment and plunges into the sea, swimming the 100 yards to shore. He finds Jesus making breakfast, fish and bread. Christ feeds the disciples and then he is suddenly gone.
This story illustrates graphically what we as the Lord’s disciples are to do: we are to be fishers of men, winners of souls, makers of disciples. We are to multiply our efforts! 2 Tim. 2:2 tells us the pattern: “what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men [and women] who will be able to teach others also.”
Most churches in America today are not into addition, not multiplication. Most of the growth in churches comes from transfers, not from making new believers. That is not what Jesus told us to do! We are to win new believers and to make disciples, who will in turn go out and make new converts and disciples. If we were really being faithful to this pattern, we would grow geometrically, not just one by one.
Admittedly, this is a harder task than just transferring Christians from other churches. But it’s vital that we do so! There are still 75,000 people in the immediate area who are literally going to Hell in a handbasket without the Lord. If we don’t fish for them, part of the responsibility for their souls will rest on us.
But how do we win them? Largely through relationship building. While it’s true that many people are saved in revivals and evangelistic campaigns, it’s a demonstrated fact that most people come to church because they were invited by a friend – someone they have history with, someone whom they trust enough to respond to. Are we developing this type of relationship with any non-believers? Do we invite them to church or to small group? Do we pray with them, or have bible study with them? Do we believe what John wrote about his Gospel? – “these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name” (Jn. 20:31).
Friends, Jesus is Life. Without Jesus, there is no true Life. Let me urge you to meditate on this truth and to ask God to open up opportunities for you to share this life with your friends and loved ones. If we can get into a habit of thinking this way, we will grow – not just additively, but geometrically. Not just for the sake of having a big church, but for the sake of winning the world for Christ.
Let’s Pray: Father, we know that apart from you we can do nothing. We also know that in You is life and the Life is the Light of Men. Help us, O God, to be faithful witnesses of the Life. Please direct us to help those who do not know you to find you. Assist us with the power of your Holy Spirit to be your witnesses. Bring in new souls to your Kingdom through us for the Glory of your Name, and the life of the World. We ask it all through the wonderful Name of Jesus. Amen.
Thursday, April 12, 2007
On Seeing my first Post-Feminist Movie
Normally, I’m not a fan of Will Ferrell. The most charitable adjective I can use to describe his chosen roles to date is ‘painful’. So, it was with a sense of real trepidation that I agreed to watch Ferrell’s new movie, “Stranger than Fiction”. Here’s the blurb from the back of the case:
“…Harold Crick [is] a lonely IRS agent whose mundane existence is transformed when he hears a mysterious voice narrating his life. With the help of Professor Jules Hilbert, Harold discovers he’s the main character in a novel-in-progress and that the voice belongs to Karen Eiffel, an eccentric author famous for killing her main characters in creative ways. Harold must quickly track down Eiffel and stop her before she conjures up a way to finish him off.”
When Harold begins hearing Eiffel’s voice narrating his life, it quickly drives him to distraction. He consults with a psychiatrist, who diagnoses schizophrenia and recommends medication. Harold refuses the meds, but asks the shrink what she would do if she actually were hearing a narration and wasn’t crazy. “Well, I suppose one would consult with a professor of literature,” she opines.
So Hilbert, the literature professor, rather than the shrink, becomes Harold’s mentor as he tries to negotiate through his ordeal. The implicit message is that Psychiatry doesn’t have the answers. Our lives are mytho-poetic, not medical in nature. Therefore, we need wisdom, not pills to guide us. It’s reminiscent of C.S. Lewis’ old professor in his Chronicles of Narnia series.
At any rate, author Karen Eiffel narrates Harold out of his obsessive compulsive lifestyle and into a love affair with a hostile but attractive young woman he is sent to audit. While finding love Harold also finds Eiffel and reads her novel about his life. Everything she has typed has come to pass. The ending, however, is handwritten and has not yet happened. Harold discovers how he will die and much to Eiffel’s surprise and consternation comes back to her saying that he loves her book. He even agrees that there is no other way for it to end.
Fearfully, Eiffel types in the ending, except for the word ‘dead’. She has consigned Harold to dashing in front of a bus in order to save a young boy who has wandered into the path of the oncoming vehicle. Harold is hit by the bus, and lies there suspended between life and death while Eiffel agonizes over what she has done. She decides to forego killing Harold, later explaining to Professor Hilbert that she just couldn’t do it. All her other characters, she says, die without knowing their fate. Harold, by contrast, knows his fate, but walks into it willingly. “We kind of need more men like that…” she says.
As far as I can tell, this is the first real Post-Feminist movie. The Feminist project started out with rejecting the power of white males, especially dead white male authors (including God). It continued with exorcising men out of women’s lives and thrust women into all the power positions that men have traditionally occupied. In the process, women were forced to ‘do it all’: have a career, be a wife and a mother, keep house, and be sexy to boot. The only problem was that it all got too overwhelming, and men didn’t respond as much as they should have. They kept on being men! And women kept on wanting them despite their recalcitrance! It seemed like a hopeless muddle.
But in this movie, the whole dilemma is resolved and women discover what kind of man they want to have around – one who willingly sacrifices himself for the life of others. The author, Karen Eiffel, is impressed enough to let Harold live, and Harold’s girlfriend is ecstatic when she learns what he has done. The implication is that if a man will sacrifice himself for a total stranger, a woman can trust him to provide for her and be a good father. This is the key to successful family life and the roles men and women play within it.
A man must be strong enough to become a successful provider. But without love, his whole life becomes a string of obsessive-compulsive rituals. In discovering love, a man ties his labor to the success of the family, not just his own glory, and thus redeems or justifies his striving to succeed in the world. A woman who believes her man is both strong and self-sacrificing is willing to entrust herself to her husband and give of herself to bear progeny. Both woman and man may enter the marketplace to obtain income and meaningful work, but what ties their efforts together and helps them live together constructively is their mutual love and willingness to sacrifice themselves for the sake of the family.
I think the makers of this movie have unconsciously stumbled on to a message of hope. Unsurprisingly, it’s also the biblical pattern for family life. The only thing missing from Stranger than Fiction is the realization that even with mutual love and self-sacrifice, a lifestyle devoid of commitment to God is incomplete. I am hopeful, however, that Ferrell et al have found the way back from the Precipice and that pop culture may rediscover that God, Family and Country are in fact primal values that work for both men and women.
“…Harold Crick [is] a lonely IRS agent whose mundane existence is transformed when he hears a mysterious voice narrating his life. With the help of Professor Jules Hilbert, Harold discovers he’s the main character in a novel-in-progress and that the voice belongs to Karen Eiffel, an eccentric author famous for killing her main characters in creative ways. Harold must quickly track down Eiffel and stop her before she conjures up a way to finish him off.”
When Harold begins hearing Eiffel’s voice narrating his life, it quickly drives him to distraction. He consults with a psychiatrist, who diagnoses schizophrenia and recommends medication. Harold refuses the meds, but asks the shrink what she would do if she actually were hearing a narration and wasn’t crazy. “Well, I suppose one would consult with a professor of literature,” she opines.
So Hilbert, the literature professor, rather than the shrink, becomes Harold’s mentor as he tries to negotiate through his ordeal. The implicit message is that Psychiatry doesn’t have the answers. Our lives are mytho-poetic, not medical in nature. Therefore, we need wisdom, not pills to guide us. It’s reminiscent of C.S. Lewis’ old professor in his Chronicles of Narnia series.
At any rate, author Karen Eiffel narrates Harold out of his obsessive compulsive lifestyle and into a love affair with a hostile but attractive young woman he is sent to audit. While finding love Harold also finds Eiffel and reads her novel about his life. Everything she has typed has come to pass. The ending, however, is handwritten and has not yet happened. Harold discovers how he will die and much to Eiffel’s surprise and consternation comes back to her saying that he loves her book. He even agrees that there is no other way for it to end.
Fearfully, Eiffel types in the ending, except for the word ‘dead’. She has consigned Harold to dashing in front of a bus in order to save a young boy who has wandered into the path of the oncoming vehicle. Harold is hit by the bus, and lies there suspended between life and death while Eiffel agonizes over what she has done. She decides to forego killing Harold, later explaining to Professor Hilbert that she just couldn’t do it. All her other characters, she says, die without knowing their fate. Harold, by contrast, knows his fate, but walks into it willingly. “We kind of need more men like that…” she says.
As far as I can tell, this is the first real Post-Feminist movie. The Feminist project started out with rejecting the power of white males, especially dead white male authors (including God). It continued with exorcising men out of women’s lives and thrust women into all the power positions that men have traditionally occupied. In the process, women were forced to ‘do it all’: have a career, be a wife and a mother, keep house, and be sexy to boot. The only problem was that it all got too overwhelming, and men didn’t respond as much as they should have. They kept on being men! And women kept on wanting them despite their recalcitrance! It seemed like a hopeless muddle.
But in this movie, the whole dilemma is resolved and women discover what kind of man they want to have around – one who willingly sacrifices himself for the life of others. The author, Karen Eiffel, is impressed enough to let Harold live, and Harold’s girlfriend is ecstatic when she learns what he has done. The implication is that if a man will sacrifice himself for a total stranger, a woman can trust him to provide for her and be a good father. This is the key to successful family life and the roles men and women play within it.
A man must be strong enough to become a successful provider. But without love, his whole life becomes a string of obsessive-compulsive rituals. In discovering love, a man ties his labor to the success of the family, not just his own glory, and thus redeems or justifies his striving to succeed in the world. A woman who believes her man is both strong and self-sacrificing is willing to entrust herself to her husband and give of herself to bear progeny. Both woman and man may enter the marketplace to obtain income and meaningful work, but what ties their efforts together and helps them live together constructively is their mutual love and willingness to sacrifice themselves for the sake of the family.
I think the makers of this movie have unconsciously stumbled on to a message of hope. Unsurprisingly, it’s also the biblical pattern for family life. The only thing missing from Stranger than Fiction is the realization that even with mutual love and self-sacrifice, a lifestyle devoid of commitment to God is incomplete. I am hopeful, however, that Ferrell et al have found the way back from the Precipice and that pop culture may rediscover that God, Family and Country are in fact primal values that work for both men and women.
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