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Sermon
– Reverend Jack Arnold - Time and Action
Church of the Faithful
Centurion - Descanso, California
Today’s sermon
tied the Collect, Epistle and Gospel together and talked, as
is oft the case, of the need for action, not simply diction.
Consider the words of the Collect, “… thy grace may always prevent
and follow us, and make us continually to be given to all good works
…”
The first thing to consider when you look at today’s
Collect is a word: prevent. Prevent is a
word that has many uses, and at least one has fallen out of general usage as time
has gone on. This is one of them. In this case the word prevent means to go before. Before
you object to archaic words, consider this is a current word, it just has a use
you may not have been aware of and now you are!
What a bonus for this week!
So, we ask God that His Grace, His Love, His Power,
His Help may go before and after us to protect us and guide us that we might
desire to do what He wants us to do.
Pretty much a re-wording of a lot of the Collects. Why would that be? Pretty simple, our biggest failing is we are
wont to do what we want! This is a very
common theme in the collects and lessons in the lectionary, for a very good
reason. It is our sinful nature we have which causes us to want to do what we
want. As we are creatures that have free will and are not wont to exercise it
for God or good. That is a very dangerous combination, as my father says
often. That is not the same as doing
what will provide us with the best result.
The difference is God
truly knows what is best for us. If we
follow what He wants for us, we are guaranteed to have good results in the long
run. It does not mean that we will not suffer in the short term, however it
means that if we follow God's will for us, then we will come out ahead in the
end, when we have eternal life. If we follow our natural
inclination, we will not like the end result, that is eternal separation from
God. In the end will it be our will that
is followed or God’s will? The people that desire eternity with God and follow
that desire by doing their best to follow him will get that eternity with God,
but the people that want to be separated from God for all eternity with their
actions and desire not to follow His Commandments will be separated for all
eternity. The latter choice is if we follow our natural inclination, the former
is if we fight our natural inclination with the help of the Holy Ghost.
We are like disobedient children, and God is the ever
patient Father. But, from time to time, we will make mischief and or trouble,
some of us more than others. God has to gently warn us and allow us to
experience the consequences of our inclination to sin, in order to learn not to
do it. This is His form of discipline in a way. When bad things happen as a result of our doing, it is not
His fault that's it happened, but our fault for not having done what we were
supposed to be doing because it was “too difficult.”
The other part of the
collect talks about asking God to make us be continually given to do good
works. This means to put His Will into our heart and give us a desire to
continually do good works for others, by given, the collect means to put a
desire into our hearts to do God’s Will here on Earth and part of doing His
Will on Earth is performing good actions or otherwise known as good works. If we are to be followers of Christ, we need
to show that we do believe on Him by performing these good works. However, we
cannot perform these good works of our own accord; we need His guiding spirit,
so we ask Him to shine and come into our hearts and help us have the mindset to
do those good works for Him.
Through consequences of our sinful actions, we know
that we shouldn’t do it again. We know, often very clearly, what we want. For
example, while I was studying for
my WGU degrees, I found if I didn’t read the textbooks and study, I did not do
as well on the tests as if I did read the texts and study for the test passed. Like the rubrics, God knows,
always very clearly, what we need. But we do not often know what God wants for
us, so we have to first pray to Him to find out what He wants, then the most
critical step of the communications is that we have to listen to what He
says. He is there, like the rubrics to
guide us along our paths in our daily life.
So, we need to ask God every day, every time, for help to do our duty.
And every day, every time, He will answer our questions, we just need to open
our hearts, souls, minds and ears to Him, and after hearing His Answer, then
acting upon it.
So, what does Paul tell us in his letter to us? Once
again, he calls us to a new life, different from our old life. We shed our old clothes, as it were, like
reptiles shedding their old skin and put on the brand new armor of light, new
helmet, new boots and new everything. A life in which we act in a manner worthy
of the better life to which we have been called by Christ and for which He gave
His life. We are to act in accordance with the new way in which life, to desist
from sinning and to do good things for people and for Him. The part about cease
and desisting from sin is one of the most difficult aspects of putting aside
one’s old life. But it can be done. Paul, formerly Saul, did it and went on to
become one of the greatest apostles that served the Lord. So if he can do it,
so can we.
This is made possible by the Holy Ghost, who is our
lifeline to God our Father. Paul, of all people, knows the importance of
setting aside your old life, as Saul did; as Paul he asks us to put God first
in our lives, to put ourselves last. He
even changed his name to reflect his state as a new man under Our Lord’s
leadership. He reminds us, “There is one body, and one
Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith,
one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and
in you all.” The key to a
successful life is to put the important things at the top of your To Do
List. And, notice it is a To Do List, not a To Think About or To Wait a
While List. It is not a I’ll Get a Round
To It List, or What I Don’t Want to Do List.
What is more important than God? It is all about prioritization, putting
God ahead of your wants and desires. We have to make it so that serving God is
our want and desire, then and only then are our desires aligned with His. We
have to accept the Holy Ghost into our lives to do this, then when we truly
have faith, it will show in our actions. Action and not diction is what truly
counts in the end. It is a phase that shows up in the sermons a lot, but that
is only because it is very true.
When Luke relates the parable of the feast, it is more
than just a seating diagram. I liken it to the tale of the publican and the
Pharisee. When Christ talks about the man who exalts himself and sits too high
at the wedding and thus must be abased. That would be the Pharisee. When Christ
then talks about the man who sits low, and is raised to the higher station, I
think of the publican, who smote his breast and would not even look up his eyes
to heaven. We have to be the publican in our dealings with God, rather than our
natural tendency of being the Pharisee. We should not be one of those selfish
individuals who always causes grief for others because he is blind to his own
faults and only thinks of himself. Again as with the ceasing from sin, this is
one of the hardest things we have to do. But it must be done, no matter how we
feel about it. So let us turn to our Lord to help with it, because He alone can
help us. He can truly help us, if
we are truly willing with our hearts, souls and minds. We have to be willing to
act and do actions, and not just say it. No other expert can help us, no “theologian”
or prosperity preacher can truly provide for our needs better than Our Lord. If
we do what God asks, we will not become like those people. If we put God’s will
before ours, the welfare of those we encounter before ours, if we hold open the
door as gentlepersons are wont to do for others, we will find we are doing what
God would have us do and enjoying it. And that is the best gift of all, the joy one gets from serving others
is true happiness.
It is very possible to do the good deeds and have fun
doing them. The time we spent in worship with the other ministers and their
wives at the AOC Convention proves this. Doing good things for other people and
being with other believers gives me some of the greatest happiness I have ever
felt. This comes from the Holy Ghost, from being inspired by Him, around other
believers. Wherever two or three or gathered, Christ is there also. It is a
wonderful feeling wherever He is.
Heaven is at the end of an uphill trail. The easy downhill trail does not lead to the
summit.
The time is now, not tomorrow. The time has come, indeed. How will you ACT?
It is by our actions we are known.
Be of God - Live of God - Act of God
