The Propers for today are found on Page 118-120, with the Collect first:
The Sunday called Septuagesima, or the
third Sunday before Lent.
The Collect.
O |
LORD, we beseech thee favourably to hear the prayers of thy people; that we, who are justly punished for our offences, may be mercifully delivered by thy goodness, for the glory of thy Name; through Jesus Christ our Saviour, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost ever, one God, world without end. Amen.
The Epistle for today came from the Ninth Chapter of the first letter of Saint Paul to the Corinthians beginning at the Twenty-Fourth Verse. Paul tells us that we must strive for mastery over ourselves so that we can gain the crown of eternal life offered us at great cost by our Lord Jesus Christ. We must each do our own personal best to control our own actions and behavior so we can follow God’s Plan for each of us. We must be bold and certain in our actions.
K |
NOW ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain. And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible. I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air: but I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection; lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.
The Holy Gospel for today came from the Twentieth Chapter of the Gospel of Saint Matthew beginning at the First Verse. Often quoted, this is the very important parable of the vineyard. While it appears to be principally directed towards Christians wanting to be “first” in importance and the like, it has a more direct meaning. It is a fine lesson in “buyer’s remorse” or coveting of jobs or similar concepts. If you got a good deal, it does not change because someone else got a “better” deal. Take what you got, go forth and be happy. Other meanings abound. For a very direct application, what this means is “cradle” Christians are no more likely to go to heaven than this morning’s convert. They just get to enjoy the Christian experience longer. One note, if you wait until the last minute to join the gang, your time here might end before you get around to it.
Sometimes people act like being a Christian is an unpleasant experience that they will do when they get a round tuit. It is not. Christians aren’t perfect, they just have more fun being imperfect and imperfectly trying to improve! Anyway, here is the Gospel according to Saint Matthew:
T |
HE kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which went out early in the morning to hire labourers into his vineyard. And when he had agreed with the labourers for a penny a day, he sent them into his vineyard. And he went out about the third hour, and saw others standing idle in the marketplace, and said unto them; Go ye also into the vineyard, and whatsoever is right I will give you. And they went their way. Again he went out about the sixth and ninth hour, and did likewise. And about the eleventh hour he went out, and found others standing idle, and saith unto them, Why stand ye here all the day idle? They say unto him, Because no man hath hired us. He saith unto them, Go ye also into the vineyard; and whatsoever is right, that shall ye receive. So when even was come, the lord of the vineyard saith unto his steward, Call the labourers, and give them their hire, beginning from the last unto the first. And when they came that were hired about the eleventh hour, they received every man a penny. But when the first came, they supposed that they should have received more; and they likewise received every man a penny. And when they had received it, they murmured against the goodman of the house, saying, These last have wrought but one hour, and thou hast made them equal unto us, which have borne the burden and heat of the day. But he answered one of them, and said, Friend, I do thee no wrong: didst not thou agree with me for a penny? Take that thine is, and go thy way: I will give unto this last, even as unto thee. Is it not lawful for me to do what will with mine own? Is thine eye evil, because I am good? So the last shall be first, and the first last: for many be called, but few chosen.
Sermon – Reverend Jack Arnold - Time and Action
Church of the Faithful Centurion, Descanso, California
Today’s sermon ties together the propers, that is to say the prayer and readings for this week. Consider these words from the Collect:
… we, who are justly punished for our offences, may be mercifully delivered by thy goodness …
In the Collect, we ask God who knows we should be “…justly punished for our offences, may
What Paul speaks of in his Epistle is the great reward we receive for holding steady to that course which God has set for us. For eternal salvation is the delivery promised to each of us by Jesus. This is our great hope that we can cling to whenever things on Earth look gloomy and this is the great reward for the race we run daily here on Earth. When things get hard here, we must always remember the Hope we have in Jesus and our reward we will gain when we compete the race that is set before us. God does not promise us an easy life here on Earth, there will be many trials and tribulations set before us. But the reward in the end will make undergoing all the trials and tribulations worth it.
Make no mistake, like a marathon, this run requires frequent training in the Scriptures and acting upon the concepts in Scriptures. And like marathon runners, we receive a wonderful prize. However, it is a prize that has value beyond anything on Earth. The prize is for the promise of an eternal, unending life, to be spent with our Lord and Savior Jesus. It is for the promise of a world unaffected by the tarnish of sin, unblackened by the sinful deeds of imperfect beings. It is an unshadowed world. It shall be true happiness at last, to meet with our beloved family, our Christian heavenly family, friends and beloved pets.
Eternal salvation is a far more priceless treasure than anything we could acquire on Earth, truly priceless except for the death of our Saviour and resurrection. That is the only price involved with our eternal freedom. As the saying goes, there is no free lunch. Eternal life does not come to us without cost. The cost was Jesus’ one time sacrifice for all time for all mankind. Keep the eyes on the prize, as it were! And realize that that prize does not come free. We have to run the race set before us and follow Jesus in order to receive our prize of eternal life. We have to be constantly focusing on this fact.
When times get really hard, and it is tempting to give up sometimes; that is when we must redouble our efforts and focus our end goal, remaining on the path towards Heaven.. In order to stay focused on the path, we must always remember the end, the arrival in Heaven will outweigh all of the sacrifices, blood, sweat and tears we shed in this life. If we but stay the course, our time after this will be unfathomably wonderful.
Our eyes should be focused on the finish line, not our “competition.” The only thing which counts is that we each cross the finish line. It does not matter who our competition is, as we are not competing with anyone for our destination. We have only to concern ourselves with God’s will and focusing on getting ourselves towards the right destination. For only you have an input in which area you will go. Not the final input, but an input nonetheless.
So how do we run the race?
With our eyes focused tightly on the finish line, not on those around us, wondering are they doing better than we are? That is not a useful question. Christianity is not about competition, about being other people to the finish line. In fact, it is about helping others around us to the finish line to the best of our abilities and if they are willing to let us help them.
The useful question is, “Am I doing the best I can?” And we have to answer that question; if we are not doing our best, then we need to change it. Think of how we can do our best and then set our course to do that. And, we must remember this is a Team Effort. We have to want to win, and in order to win the race set before us; we have to perform actions. Action must first start with our neighbors and work our way outward. We cannot affect the whole world, but if we each work together on our part of the world and work for their, we can change the world. However, it must be a team effort, we cannot all do it alone. Each person in God’s Army has a specific talent and task assigned to them to complete their assigned mission here on Earth. We need support along the way, especially when things get tough, we need our Christian buddies to give us moral support and encouragement from the Word. We want the Christian Team to win. We need to give each team member all the help we can. And we need to be welcoming to each outsider who join the team, and treat them like the lifelong members of the Team. So, with that in mind, we must DO our best and not just say it, and we do that by acting upon the Word, not just reading it, but acting.
We are all so far from perfect that Holier than Thou is pretty damning praise. Don’t even go there. The best you can really do is not to be as evil as another, even that is pretty doubtful. But, we can do our best for our Lord; that is what really matters.
The Gospel for today, the very important parable of the vineyard, also gives us very good advice on the conduct of our daily lives and contains a crucial key to happiness. There is the lesson that the deathbed conversion gains the same prize of eternal life as the lifelong follower, but there is a lot more in it for everyday life. A person who comes to Christ late in life receives the same eternal benefits as a person who followed Christ from the age of reason.
It is a fine lesson in “buyer’s remorse” or coveting of jobs or similar concepts. If you got a good deal, it does not change because someone else got a “better” deal. Take what you got, go forth and be happy. Don’t complain because somebody else got the same deal as you did sooner. One meaning of this parable is that “cradle” Christians are no more likely to go to heaven than this morning’s convert. They just get to enjoy the Christian experience longer. However, you should not wait until the last minute to join the gang, your time here might end before you get around to it. So, don’t wait until tomorrow to act, do it today while you still have time!
Sometimes people act like being a Christian is an unpleasant experience that they will do when they get a round TUIT. It is not. Christians aren’t perfect, they just have more fun being imperfect and imperfectly trying to improve!
Christ gave us eternal life. But, we have to accept it. Once you accept it, start living as if you will live forever. You will and you will have to live with your actions forever! So, Act early and Act often!
There is but one way to heaven.
That easy to find, easy to follow, easy to hike path does not lead to the summit where eternal life in the real world awaits. Open your heart to the Holy Ghost, use His Power to follow our Lord to God who awaits in heaven.
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
