The Thirteenth Sunday after Trinity.
The Collect.
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LMIGHTY and merciful God, of whose only gift it cometh that thy
faithful people do unto thee true and laudable service; Grant, we beseech thee,
that we may so faithfully serve thee in this life, that we fail not finally to
attain thy heavenly promises; through the merits of Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
27 Labour
not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto
everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God
the Father sealed. 28 Then said they unto him, What shall we do,
that we might work the works of God? 29 Jesus answered and said unto them,
This is the work of God, that ye believe on him
whom he hath sent. (John 6:27-29)
Blessed is the man that endureth temptation:
for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath
promised to them that love him. (James 1:12)
This
powerful and lovely Collect was altered only in one respect by Archbishop
Cranmer from its original form offered in the Sacramentary of Leo. He added the
word ONLY before gift for he knew
that even our tithes and offerings are not truly gifts we have gotten, but
merely returning a portion of our increase that came from God in the first
place.
REVIEW: Do you remember the parts of Collects as given in our first lesson on
the Collects: 1) the Address, 2) the Acknowledgement,
3) the Petition, 4) the Aspiration, and 5) the Pleading.
As you read through this Collect again, can you separate the Collect into its
constituent parts?
ALMIGHTY
and merciful God Every Collect opens with the invocation addressed to the
Father. (John 16:23) God is both Almighty, and He is merciful, else we
would have no hope of salvation. He has the POWER to grant forgiveness and
salvation; and He is inclined, by His great mercy, to do so. That is His
nature. We are nothing apart from God, our very being is given by Him.
I heard a minister tell the story years ago of a debate that took place between
God and Satan: I can do ANYTHING you can do, God, or at least make it very
similar “Is that so?” responded God. Can you make a man? “Sure,” responded Satan, as he reached
down to get a handful of dirt. “Not so fast, you old Deceiver,” said God, you’ve
got to use your own dirt! Even the dirt that comprise our bodies was
made by God. So what can you give One who owns every atomic particle in
Creation and even your own body?
“whose
only gift it cometh that thy faithful people do unto thee true and laudable
service” If you are feeling generous one day, what will you give
to God with which you have not been blessed by Him? Your tithe and free will
offerings are no gift, for He provided you the means of getting all of your
wealth. Your labors and services of good works are no gift for He can
accomplish every good thing without your anemic efforts. Your preaching
and testimonies are not gifts for these are your bounden duties. In the
very last instance, what can you give to God that He has not given? So what
good thing can you do that will be of favor in the eyes of God? This
is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent. Actually,
there is NOTHING that you can do for God since your good works are His own. This
is the WORK of God! What could the thief on the cross return to
God that would be pleasing? He had not a penny to his name, not a single free
hand to perform any good work? He gave His HEART. That is ALL that He could
give. In a sense, the Holy Ghost even drew that heart to Christ. Doth he thank that servant because he did the things that
were commanded him? I trow not. So likewise ye, when ye shall have done
all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we
have done that which was our duty to do. (Luke 17:9-10)
Obedience is the duty we Owe God and it pleases Him as a father who is pleased
with an obedient child; but the obedience is expected.
“Grant,
we beseech thee, that we may so faithfully serve thee in this life¡±
You will observe that even our faithful obedience is a grant from God. We plead
for that grace from God to be obedient in our lives. It becomes more and more
obvious that all of our good works and faith are not ours, but those of God
working in and through us. We dare not boast of anything in Christ.
What
is the measure of faith and belief? “that we fail not finally to attain
thy heavenly promises” God never reneges on a promise, so how could we
fail of those promises if we have faith and believe? Our Christian lives and
testimonies are ample proof that we have believed unto saving faith from the
beginning. A woman taken in adultery does not believe, repent, and turn to God
only to return to her wicked ways afterwards. Heed the words of the Savior, Go and sin no more! But we all do sin
more, don’t we, even after we have believed Christ? So what remedy is there for
our sins after baptism? My little children, these things write I unto
you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father,
Jesus Christ the righteous: And he is the propitiation for our sins: and
not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. And hereby we do
know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. He that saith, I know
him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But
whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know
we that we are in him. He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also
so to walk, even as he walked. (1 John 2:1-6)
“through
the merits of Jesus Christ our Lord” Do you see that all we have asked, we have
not asked on behalf of our own merits, but those of Jesus Christ. Christ is the
only One upon whose claims and merits we are justified in basing our hopes, our
prayers, and our faith. He does ALL things well, and we fail more often than
succeed. He hath done all things well: he maketh both the deaf to
hear, and the dumb to speak. (Mark 7:37) You may not realize it, but
you, too, were as deaf and dumb to God’s voice as Lazarus as he lay in the
stone-cold tomb of Bethany. It was the Holy Spirit of God that penetrated those
dead tissues of the heart, the ears, the tongue, and the mind that called you
forth into newness of life. Walk in that newness. Know ye not, that so
many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death Therefore
we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up
from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in
newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of
his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: Knowing
this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be
destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead
is freed from sin. Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also
live with him: Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more;
death hath no more dominion over him. For in that he died, he died unto
sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. (Romans 6:3-10) Do
you?__._,_.___
