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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 is partly contained in
the forewords above.
Today we
talk consider The Law and how it failed to solve the problems of the people it
was designed to help and think about how getting around technicalities is
different than doing what is right.
Consider
the words of the Collect, “…give unto us the increase of
faith, hope, and charity; and, that we may obtain that which thou dost promise,
make us to love that which thou dost command …”
The
Collects often are repetitive, in that we ask the same thing, week after week
in differing ways. Why is that? Sadly, we have the same needs and the same
failings week after week. We are WEAK,
we need God’s STRENGTH. Today, we ask
Him to help us, through the Holy Ghost, to increase our faith, to help us love
what He wants us to do, to make His Wishes our wishes. To make us want to follow Him that we might
gain the prize which He has promised us.
That prize is eternal life which begins when we accept it, not when we
die. A benefit of that eternal life is
that we live our lives here in far greater happiness than we would
otherwise. We have peace of mind, as
well as a better physical life. If we
can but just put our hearts in His Heart. We have to really do our best to do
this, as it is not an easy task. Luckily for us, we have the Holy Ghost who can
help us.
If we are
to follow Him we need that increase of faith, hope and love (charity is but
another word for love) in order to be able to stay on the course that God has
charted for us. By ourselves we cannot stay on course and would deviate to 180
degrees opposite from where God wants us to be. So that is why we are praying
for that increase of faith, hope and love, so we can maintain course guidance.
Of course, in order to have those, we need to listen to what He says and act
upon it. Not just listen to what He says then go off and do what we want to do.
This requires change on our part, modification of our behavior to follow Him.
It requires actual action.
We will
improve in all aspects of our life if we truly do our best to follow Him. They
key phrase is “do our best” and not just say that we are doing our best. There
is a difference, one is heartfelt and true and the other is just lip service.
So, let us truly do our best to follow Him. We will make mistakes, of course;
but we always have to remember to return to Him and correct our course
accordingly. And if we remember the benefits of the prize of following Him, it
will be easier for us to follow the path, maybe not much easier, but easier
enough to keep our eyes on the prize.
We often forget about the Holy Ghost, that Third God Guy. Without Him in our hearts, we are lost. With Him, we, like John Newton, are
found. He is a critical part of our
journey towards heaven. He will help guide us along the narrow uphill trail to
heaven. We will have that vision He gives to us in our lives and we will be
able to see the way God wants us to travel.
It will be
a very clear vision not blurry and distorted like the way of the World. It will
define and light up the path that we are to follow, and then all that will be
left is for us to actually move upon that path, closer to Him. It won’t be an
easy and quick path, but it will be a sure path nevertheless.
That brings
us right in to Paul’s Letter to the Galatians and us! We need to walk in God’s Word and in His
Spirit. We need to put aside the things
of this world which are not in accord with the Way of God. All of those things that He lists are not how
the Sons and Daughters of God should act. It is a list of behaviors and
attitudes that are not congruent with being a true Christian. They are things
we should be actively working on avoiding. These things are extremely
detrimental to our spiritual and physical health. If we are of God, then we
will act of God, only then will we be of God.
What is
important is not what you were born to, for we were all born to death. A king is born; a king dies. We are born into this world, our body will
die in this world. Yet through the grace
of the King, we live on. There is much conflict
in us, look at all those “fun” things Paul lists in the Epistle. Those “fun” things do not bring happiness,
they really just bring us closer to death.
We all struggle with fun and happiness, two words that often do not
mean the same thing. It is a concept people easily confuse. However there really
is a simple difference. Fun is a fleeting, temporary state and happiness will
last a lifetime. And Eternal Life is forever.
People all to easily get these concepts mixed up without thinking of
this simple difference. But it is a difference nevertheless. It is similar to
the need and want issue, two other words easily mixed up.
Yet, God
has the answer for us. He sent His Son
to bring it to us. Who will listen?
The only
people who listen are those who are in need, hurt, pain and despair. Often it is because they or one of their
loved ones are ill or injured, perhaps near death. Perhaps they are unemployed or undergoing
some family upheaval. Their situation is
less than perfect. They need help and
they know it. In their own mind, they
are the Samaritans of this world. It was
no accident Jesus oft cast Samaritans as the stars of his parables and
stories. It is also no accident Jesus
parables and stories center on actions, not words, thoughts and meditations. Actions are who you are. Actions show the
world who you follow God or Mammon. You cannot truly be a believer if you don’t
act for Him. Without action, there is nothing. The key driving principle behind
his parables are actions for Him, are those of goodness, not of evil. Those who believe on me keep my commandments.
Actions!
Yet, those
who turn to God in “need” are no different than each of us. To quote Paul, “None are perfect, all fall
short.” We, each and every one of us,
need God’s help. Perhaps some need it
more, none need it less.
When Luke
tells us of Jesus and the ten lepers whom He heals and only one expresses
thanks, do you think he is only telling of lepers?
In a sense
are we not all lepers, outcasts with unhealable conditions? In our case our unhealable condition is our
tendency to sin and turn astray. We ourselves cannot heal ourselves and nobody
else on this Earth can. We are outcasts
of this world so to speak, we only have God and our friends in Christ to help
us. The world cannot help us, but those in Christ and God can. We have an
incurable condition of sin, but with God’s help, it can be healed, though we
cannot heal it on our own. We cannot be healed by this world, yet there is One
who can heal us and will if only we appeal to Him, “Jesus, Master, have mercy
on us.” We pray to God in His Name every
day, He listens every day.
Through our
Lord, God is there for each of us if we will accept His help. When He gives that help, how do we
react? Frankly most of us just think it
our due. We oft fail to give thanks for
all that He gives us.
When we get
an answer we don’t expect, do we thank Him?
What if we get an answer? Do we
thank Him?
Like the
lepers only one in ten will show thanks for the mercy and help given them. Rarely do people give thanks for large
efforts done to help them. We must endeavor to be grateful for Him and for all
of those who strive hard to help us out in our times of need. In the case of the lepers, it was the Samaritan[1],
showing that fancy dress and rules are not as important as doing what is right
and being grateful for what we are given.
Are you
part of that 10 percent?
Remember,
it is Please and Thank You that are the magic words, not Please and I don’t have time
for you.
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.
[1] Samaritan - Of or pertaining to Samaria, in Palestine.
-- n. A native or inhabitant of Samaria; also, the language of Samaria. [1913
Webster]
Samaritans were descendants of
those who had stayed behind during the Captivity and had been separated for
many years from the body of Judaism.
They had not developed, nor did they subscribe to them, all the rules the
Jews managed to invent during their separation.
The main body of Jews viewed them as lesser peoples, not really Jews.
