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The Eighteenth Sunday after Trinity.
The Collect.
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ORD, we beseech
thee, grant thy people grace to withstand the temptations of the world, the
flesh, and the devil; and with pure hearts and minds to follow thee, the only
God; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
I have included the Collect Prayer for today because of its striking relevance
in addressing the tepid and passionless spiritualism being taught in above 90%
of America's churches today. The preaching from America's pulpits fill the ears
of the worshippers with the false notion that God's Law is no longer in force
for he believer - that the Law of God was done away on the cross at Calvary.
This antinomian nonsense could not be further from the truth! It was the
PENALTY of the Law that was nailed to the cross for those who believe in truth
and spirit. Does that mean that we, as children of the King, may freely go
about disobeying the rules of our Father's House. If you do not love the Law of
God, you have no part with Him. The only reason that GRACE is so vital to our
interests is because the LAW does remain. Grace is absolution of violating
God's LAW. We can only havehearts that are pure by honoring God with our best
efforts at obedience and, knowing that when we fail, we have an Advocate with
the Father - our Lord Jesus Christ! Grace, as the Collect tells us rightly,
also emboldens us to obey the Lord our God. Parents who are too strict at
enforcing their laws upon the children, withoiut mercy, often raise rebellious
children.
34 But when the Pharisees had heard that he
had put the Sadducees to silence, they were gathered together. 35 Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked
him a question, tempting him, and saying, 36 Master, which is the great commandment in
the law? 37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy
soul, and with all thy mind. 38 This is the first and great
commandment. 39 And the second is like unto
it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. 40 On these two commandments hang
all the law and the prophets. (Matthew
22)
Many Bible scholars of our day promote these two Commandments as new
commandments instituted by Christ, but they are not. Christ is simply quoting
the Old Testament Commandments of Moses’ day:
And thou
shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and
with all thy might. (Deut 6:5)
And now,
Israel, what doth the LORD thy God require of thee, but to fear the LORD thy
God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the LORD thy God
with all thy heart and with all thy soul, (Deut 10:12)
1 If there arise among you a prophet, or a
dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder, 2 And the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spake unto thee,
saying, Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve
them; 3 Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of
that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the LORD your God proveth you, to
know whether ye love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your
soul. 4 Ye shall walk after the LORD your God, and
fear him, and keep his commandments, and obey his voice, and ye shall serve
him, and cleave unto him. 5 And that
prophet, or that dreamer of dreams, shall be put to death; because he hath
spoken to turn you away from the LORD your God, which brought you out of the
land of Egypt, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, to thrust thee out
of the way which the LORD thy God commanded thee to walk in. So shalt thou put
the evil away from the midst of thee. (Deut 13)
17 Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine
heart: thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbour, and not suffer sin upon
him. 18 Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge
against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as
thyself: I am the LORD. (Lev 19)
Silences
the Pharisees about the Messiah
Christ was always the master of every crisis and every challenge:
Then went
the Pharisees, and took counsel how they might entangle him in his talk. 16 And they sent out unto him their disciples with the Herodians, saying,
Master, we know that thou art true, and teachest the way of God in truth,
neither carest thou for any man: for thou regardest not the person of men. 17 Tell us therefore, What thinkest thou? Is it lawful to give tribute
unto Caesar, or not? 18 But Jesus perceived their wickedness, and
said, Why tempt ye me, ye hypocrites? 19 Shew me the tribute money. And they brought unto him a penny. 20 And he saith unto them, Whose is this
image and superscription? 21 They say
unto him, Caesar's. Then saith he unto them, Render
therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and unto God the things
that are God's. 22 When they had heard these words, they
marvelled, and left him, and went their way. (Matthew 22:15)
This is one reason they literally hated Christ. He interfered with their money
greed……selling in the Temple…house of prayer, but a place of thieves.
Who is my
Neighbor ….good Samaritan….etc
Now Jesus will also present them with a dilemma they should already have known
being Masters of the Pentateuch:
41 While the Pharisees were gathered together,
Jesus asked them, 42 Saying, What
think ye of Christ? whose son is he? They say unto him, The Son of
David. 43 He saith unto them, How
then doth David in spirit call him Lord, saying, 44 The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand,
till I make thine enemies thy footstool? 45 If David then call him Lord, how is he his son?
1 The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my
right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool. (Psalm 110:1)
David also said: Kiss the Son,
lest he be angry, and ye perish from
the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in
him. (Psalm
2:12)
Now these snails crawled away to plan how further they might have Him
put to death.
7 Let them melt away as waters which run
continually: when he bendeth his bow to shoot his arrows, let them be as cut in
pieces. 8 As a snail which melteth, let every one of
them pass away: like the untimely birth of a woman, that they may not see the
sun. 9 Before your pots can feel the thorns, he
shall take them away as with a whirlwind, both living, and in his wrath. 10 The righteous shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeance: he shall wash
his feet in the blood of the wicked. 11 So that
a man shall say, Verily there is a reward for the righteous: verily he is a God
that judgeth in the earth. (Psalm 58)
Snails love darkness. They hate Light. They also hate salt.
13 Ye are the salt
of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be
salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be
trodden under foot of men. 14 Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill
cannot be hid. (Matthew 5)
46 And no man was able to answer him a word,
neither durst any man from that day forth ask him any more questions.
A common enemy always unites various sects and interest together against it.
Jesus was a common enemy to the superstitions and power struggles of the Times,
just as He is a common enemy of the political and economic structures of our
time. Though politics and financial interests are not found in the same
common bed in normal circumstances, they both ally themselves against the True
Gospel of Christ.
Textbooks promote evolution. News outlets say we must respect the religious
faith of Moslems, Buddhist, and Hindus, yet, with one voice, they press for
condemnation of Christian Faith in out society.
Those who accept the biblical authority that condemns adultery,
homosexuality, drunkenness, are considered smug and made to look ridiculous in
movies and news specials.
Nothing has changed in the world’s contempt for Christ since He first
ministered as a boy in the Temple at Jerusalem.
HERODIANS, Sadducees, Pharisees, who were constantly at war with each other,
made temporary peace alliances with each other in order to destroy the Man,
Jesus. He was both Man and God. Instinctively, these cul;prits rcognized this
from their study of ancient biblical texts, and the testimony of His works.
Yet, they found Him contemptible to their world of power and money. They all
hated Him alike.
They cunningly contrived questions to entangle Him in His speech and in
His knowledge, however, they always lost.
The last of the three questions put to Jesus, and the one question with which
He turned the tables and silenced His questioners, are our subject. In the
former, Jesus declares the essence of the law or of religion; in the latter, He
brings to light the essential loftiness of the Messiah.
As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. Our Love for God crowns our
love-nature. The underside of that love is love for our fellow man. The
Pharisees remained ‘gathered together,’ and may have been preparing
another question, but Jesus had been long enough interrogated. It was not
fitting that He should be catechised only. His questions teach. He does not
seek to ‘entangle’ the Pharisees ‘in their speech,’ nor to make them contradict
themselves, but brings them full up against a difficulty, that they may open
their eyes to the great truth which is its only solution. His first question,
‘What think ye of the Christ?’ is simply preparatory to the second. The answer
which He anticipated was given, — as, of course, it would be, for the Davidic
descent of the Messiah was a commonplace universally accepted.
One can fancy that the Pharisees smiled complacently at the attempt to puzzle
them with such an elementary question, but the smile vanished when the next
one:
What think ye of Christ? whose
son is he?
They say unto him, The Son of David. 43 He saith unto them, How
then doth David in spirit call him Lord, saying, 44 The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till I
make thine enemies thy footstool? 45 If David then call him Lord, how is he his son?
Why do
teachers often ask questions?
If they ask a question, and you know not the answer, why does a teacher often
ask you another question?
The reason is guided discussion helps you discover the answer which is
already a part of your knowledge.
How are Snails like sinners? Salt- light, darkness, eat from labours of
others.
Here is the new commandment Christ gave:
34 A new commandment I give
unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one
another. 35 By this shall all men know that
ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another. (John 13)
These are important words and an identifying command to us. He gave it
the night He was taken in the Garden to be crucified. It is the only new
commandment. But it is not written on tables of stone, but on the soft sinews
of our hearts.
Love will release us from condemnation:
Hatred
stirreth up strifes: but love covereth all sins. (Proverbs 10:12)
Do not try to argue away your sins and wickedness as the Pharisees. It is easy
to love when we have compassion. And when we feed love in our hearts, hate will
die of starvation, and our sins will cease.
But this
shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those
days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in
their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34 And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man
his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least
of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their
iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more. (Jeremiah 31:33)
Do you love God and His Word? Do you agree to follow Christ in all
things.
Be richly blessed now and forever!
