The Nineteenth Sunday
after Trinity.
The Collect.
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O
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GOD, forasmuch as without thee we are not
able to please thee; Mercifully grant that thy Holy Spirit may in all things
direct and rule our hearts; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
13.Thou art of
purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity …..(Habakkuk 1:13a)
There may appear a seeming impasse for imperfect children of God in this
prayer, but it is only apparent and not real. How can those imperfect
professors of Christ please God in their imperfections when God cannot look
upon the slightest sin and wickedness, especially in view of this fact: For
all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23) If we
had continued reading in Romans 3, we would have read that it is righteousness
by Faith in Jesus Christ by which we are all justified. God the Father views us
in light of the imputed righteousness of His Son, Jesus Christ! It is our faith
that brings us into that covering of Grace for all our sins.
O
GOD, forasmuch as without thee we are not able to please thee So,
apart from Christ, there can be no salvation. Without Christ, there is no
reconciliation of the sinner to the terms of justification and salvation to
God. We must have that nature and mind that was in Christ imparted to our own
natures and minds. Even the will to do good cannot exist in a heart that does
not belong to God. An high look, and a proud heart, and the plowing of
the wicked, is sin. (Proverbs 21:4) Though our pride and vanity are our
ancient stumbling blocks to keep us from righteousness, even the small things
of life that seem good are not so with God. Now, I am sure you will agree, the
plowing of a field seems to be commendable labor. It certainly is so in the
eyes of men, but to God, even that seeming good thing is sin when performed by
those who are not of the household of God and who harbor wickedness in their
hearts.
Doubt not! All who are depending upon their own righteousness are wicked. Every
heart born into the world needs a purifying and cleansing purge. That purge is
Christ and His shed blood! So the Collect opens with a profound truth upon
which the petition that follows in good order is contingent – we are not
good without the goodness of God. Our good works are not our own, but
His who died for us and MADE us into the sons and daughters of God.
Mercifully
grant that thy Holy Spirit may in all things direct and rule our hearts
Even our rudimentary petitions must start, not with our own worth, but MERCY –
and that mercy is of God to us. The very services that we perform out of love
to God and man are not ours, but result from that MERCY of God through the
efficacious workings of the Holy Spirit in our hearts. Why is this so? Because
even that love we demonstrate to others is borrowed and not our own – it
comes from God in His Mercy. Remember those Tables of Law written in Stone? Forasmuch
as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us,
written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of
stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart. And such trust have we through Christ
to God-ward: Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as
of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God; (2 Corinthians 3:3-5) This
is, indeed, good news to the saved. We are not perfect in our ways, and we KNOW
it! But God has imputed a love of righteousness in our hearts that causes us to
obey His Law of Love. We know that our righteousness falls far short of God's
standard, but our love of God, and His Son Jesus, will bring us to obedience in
the things of the law. Hatred stirreth up strifes: but love covereth all
sins. (Proverbs 10:12) How many sins will love cover? All sins!
Now
you may smugly satisfy your ego that you have such an abundance of love that
your sins are all covered, right? Wrong, it is not your own love that covers
all of your sins, but the Love of Christ that has covered all sins – and He
broadcasts that Love into the hearts of those who know Him as Lord and Savior.
Does this truth make the Law of none effect? Not at all, but it makes it a
greater joy to please and obey God out of our gift of Love than from the
uncompromising restraint of Law written on Tables of Stone.
We
see in the latter part of the petition of this Collect an acknowledgment that
our obedience and goodness are not native to the human heart, but directed by
the Holy Spirit that rules in every heart born of God.
Through
Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Were our petitions of imputed
righteousness based on any name other than that of the One who paid our
sin-debt, our prayer would fall on the bleak ground of our own helplessness. It
was Christ who bought us, and it is in Christ's name by which we ask the
blessing. Are you good? "There is none good but God!"
