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Sermon - Rev
Jack Arnold
Church of the Faithful
Centurion - Descanso, California
Today’s sermon brought the Collect, Epistle and Gospel together and is
partly contained in the forewords above.
The
Twenty-Third Sunday after Trinity
The
Collect.
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O
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God, our refuge and strength, who art the author
of all godliness; Be ready we
beseech thee to hear the devout prayers of they Church; and grant that those
things which we ask faithfully we may obtain; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
The Collect says Our God is the author of all
perfection; we ask him to be ready, to hear our sincere prayers: He may answer
those things which are good for the Church and the world that we ask and that
from His Grace we may receive those things which are good for us.
In the Epistle, St. Paul tells the Philippians to
follow God and not be dependent on man, as so many in this country are now. The
problem he explains with many, who claim they are followers of Christ, but
don’t walk the walk, is they are selfish and only think of themselves. He warns
them will lead them onto a path of doom and destruction. And also, he talks about how the enemies of
Christ glory in our shame, but this will be their undoing in the end also. We are not to worry, but rather lean on Our
Lord, even in these times of trials and tribulations, some of which we have yet
to face. We realize that our citizenship is in heaven, from which we look to
Our Saviour. If we are on the side of righteousness, of the Lord, of godliness,
then who are we to fear?
Nobody; save a respectful fear of Our God.
We will not bow before the forces of darkness, but
rather stand tall, equipped with the armor of light, the shield of truth, and
the helmet of faith. We will give those in authority the respect that they are
due as tradition, but we will not be dependent upon them for our every need and
whim. We are to turn to God, if we are to be dependent on anything, it must be
God upon whom we are dependent, and not Man. Being dependent on man only leads
to eternal death for us, but being dependent on God leads to eternal life for
us. So, must we put our trust in God as our Eternal Navigator, our Guide
throughout the rocky path of life. Returning to him when we are lost, he will
always guide us back to the straight and narrow path.
Which brings us to the point of the Gospel, in which
Christ tells the Pharisees of how they are to deal with the problem of tribute
to Caesar. They have no love for the Roman Government, as we have very little
love for ours, I might confess at this moment in time. However, Christ reminds
them to separate their hatred of the government, and due the right thing. As we
must give God His due (our prayers), we must give the government their due
(taxes, etc.), but this does not mean that we treat the government as
demi-gods, to put it one way, like politicians often think of themselves. But rather that, we give them what they are
owed, no more and no less. The Pharisees
were trying to trick Christ to say that you must honor one or the other, when
you can do both. We should be serving
God and not man, however, that does not mean that we do not have to pay our
dues to the government that rules us. It is only through God’s grace that he
allows government to rule over man. The government we have was established with
recognition that it serves at His pleasure. Its constitution establishes that
people have rights endued them by their Creator, not the government. It is with
the authority of the people that the government serves. It must exist to serve
the people and God. It is not to be a self-licking ice cream cone. Jesus told
us to feed the poor people, not create laws that took money from other people
to do that purpose, of which he commanded us to do.
The Collect, Epistle and Gospel tie together, laying
out, detailing and reinforcing the same message, ultimately. We have to respect the authorities that
govern us, no matter how we disagree or dislike them, and conduct ourselves
like Christians. However, that does not mean that we replace the rule of God
with the rule of Man. Man’s laws should merely be a restatement of God’s laws,
not to replace God’s laws.
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
