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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 Second Sunday in Advent
The Collect.
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LESSED
Lord, who hast caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning; Grant
that we may in such wise hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest
them, that by patience and comfort of thy holy Word, we may embrace, and ever
hold fast, the blessed hope of everlasting life, which thou hast given us in
our Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.
The First Sunday in Advent
The Collect.
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LMIGHTY
God, give us grace that we may cast away the works of darkness, and put upon us
the armour of light, now in the time of this mortal life, in which thy Son
Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility; that in the last day, when he
shall come again in his glorious majesty to judge both the quick and the dead,
we may rise to the life immortal, through him who liveth and reigneth with thee
and the Holy Ghost, now and ever. Amen.
¶ This Collect is to be repeated every day, after the other
Collects in Advent, until Christmas Day.
The Collect and the Epistle and the Gospel all tell us
we are to learn from Scripture and to place our hope and trust in God, not man.
They tell us God provided Scripture so that we might learn from the history of
old believers in the Old and New testament. As the saying goes, if we do not
learn from history we are doomed to repeat it. It is the same with Scripture;
for much of Scripture is history.
We are to use Scripture for our learning so we might
become wiser through the Holy Spirit, whose guidance as we read and study
Scripture will allow us to come to a fuller understanding of the meaning it
should have in our daily lives. The guidance of the Holy Spirit is necessary to
help us implement the concepts found in Scripture in our day to day lives.
If we try to live our lives, or for that matter write
our sermons, without the guidance of the Holy Ghost, we will be for naught. We
have to understand what we are preaching; to live what we are preaching, in
order for our faith to have any meaning.
We have to live what we preach, other wise we become hypocrites. There
are too many preachers out there who preach a nice message but ultimately they
do not live that message which they preach.
If we do not have understanding or act upon our
preaching, how can we ask others to follow God, when we ourselves are not? We must strive to avoid hypocrisy, to
live a geniune live following His commandments He has set for us and to be a
beacon to guide others to Him. We are not an icon or image of Him, but merely
pathfinders, and once we have found the path, we guide others to Him. We do not
posess any special powers as ministers of the Lord, except as we have the Holy
Ghost within us, directing us. And that special power is not of our own to
claim, but He who sent Him. We are merely being allowed to have Him within us
and we should not boast of any deeds done with His Inspiration, but must simply
point back to the source who sent Him. He works not only in ministers, but in
each and every member of the church.
For, each of us is an emissary of Christ to the world.
He gives each of us in His Church special talents, so
members of the Church may use these talents in conjunction with one another to
bring people to Christ. As in a professional workplace, each member of the
Church has a special talent, that used in conjunction with other people with
each of their own talents, can be used together to bring people to Christ. If
we all work together, with the help of the Holy Spirit, there is not much
beyond our capability. We become an unstoppable spiritual force, with the Holy
Ghost within each and every one of us, working for the glory of the Father here
on Earth. For the Church is a team, each and everyone in it, the clergy and the
lay people all having the common goals of spreading the Gospel to those who are
in need of it and tending to those who need help. This is all done with reading
and applying the precepts of Scripture with the help of the Holy Ghost.
We must act upon the words of Scripture and the
sermons we hear, so our faith will be manifest to all of those watching
us. We will make mistakes and sin,
as we are imperfect beings; if we admit our wrongdoings to God, and come back
to Him, all shall be forgiven and we shall have another fresh slate, on which
to start anew.
In the Epistle, Paul tells us Scripture was written
that we might have hope, even in times of darkness. Times like these with unbelievers in high places doing their
best to defile and ridicule our faith can try our souls. We must treat others as Christ taught
us, with respect and humility, no matter our personal feelings/opinion on them
and how they conduct their lives. If we are kind to them, we may plant a seed
in their lives for the better, causing perhaps a change for the better in them.
We do not know what impact our actions may have in the future; we can only hope
they may influence an individual for the better. It takes a while for seeds to
germinate and grow into large and
wondrous trees, it is the same with the seeds we plant spiritually. We have no
idea what our actions will inspire others to do. That is also why we need to be
extremely careful in how our actions influence others. We want to be a positive
influence, rather than a negative one.
This is where applying the love thy neighbor as thyself concept plays a big part. For if
we follow Christ’s Summary of the Law, then our actions are more likely to
cause a positive impact on others around us, rather than if we follow ourselves
instead of the Holy Ghost, wherein we are more likely to cause a negative
impact to others around us.
Turning to the Gospel, Saint Luke describes the signs
of the Second Coming and how we are to prepare for it. We are not to be caught unaware of the
signs; if we read the signs, then we shall be prepared to meet our Lord and
Saviour Jesus Christ. At the same
time remember Christ’s words in Matthew 24:36 - But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no,
not the angels of heaven, but my Father only. This means every day we have to be
active in our faith, and not brain and faith dead like so many around us today.
We have to be spritually aware of our spiritual surroundings, much as a good
and safe driver/motorcyclist must be aware of the cars around him and possible
hazards in the road at all times.
We have to use the tools given to us by God;
Scripture, our faith and our friends in the faith to combat the evils of this
world. We must do our best to make
this world the best place we can.
If we study, digest and use Scripture in faith, we will have hope in
these times of darkness; we will go forth and spread Good News, which will give
us satisfaction and hope for people, therefore renewing our spirit and vigor
and the knowledge that in the end we will triumph, will fill our hungry
spirits. It will renew our sense of purpose and redirect our focus outward
instead of inward.
Our hungry spirits will be satisified by God’s
Goodness and His Word and His Love, of which He has infinite capacity; nobody
is stealing anybody else’s share, as God has more than plenty to go around for
all of us! In fact, the more of
God’s Love you take, the more there is for others! So we must concentrate then on sharing the Gospel and God’s
love, so others might finally find true happiness, as we find ours, in serving
the Lord for the rest of our days. We also have to concentrate on living a
genuine Christian life and not a shallow Christian life; showing the way to
Christ for others to see and follow.
The common theme through the Collect, Epistle and
Gospel is that if we have hope and trust in God, we must dread naught, and
carry on, empowered through them in our daily lives here on Earth until we are
called to our heavenly home.
These are actions we must take not mere thoughts or words, actual
actions!
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
