The Eighteenth Sunday after Trinity.
The Collect.
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ORD, we beseech thee, grant thy people grace to withstand the temptations of the world, the flesh, and the devil; and with pure hearts and minds to follow thee, the only God; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
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E sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: 9. Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world (1 Peter 5:8-9)
Collect
This Gelasian Collect[1] was translated by Archbishop Cranmer to say "grant us thy grace to avoid the temptations of the world, etc.’" but the learned revisers of the 1662 Book of Common Prayer made the seemingly small change to read: "grant us they grace to withstand the temptations of the world, etc". Though the change of a single word may seem trivial, it is not, for we shall certainly encounter the temptations of the world. They cannot be avoided and are often allowed by the Lord for our preparation as courageous people of God.
How do we "withstand the temptations of the world, the flesh, and the devil?" How do we withstand the several diseases of the physical world? First, and most desirable, is that we are inoculated to be immune from those diseases that threaten our physical health. Secondly, there are some diseases for which there is no vaccine and for which we must receive prompt attention. The temptations of the world to our souls are of a similar nature. The Devil seeks to infect us with the disease of sin. If he is successful, a diseased sinner becomes one who carries his contagion into the presence of all with whom he associates. Sin, like wild weeds, spreads across the landscape without cultivation or tillage. It is not the weeds, but the good grass, vegetables and fruits that need careful watering, fertilization, and tillage.
Is it possible to be immune to some of the Devil's temptations? By all means, it is possible! The best immunity is the avoidance of diseased environments. If we restrain from close familiarity with those who are constantly driven to lust and sinful inclinations, we shall avoid those direct temptations foisted upon those who do so associate with the friends of the world and of the Devil. But there are temptations that lie dormant deep in the heart of man that will emerge from time to time in spite of Godly love and zeal. How are these temptations confronted and defeated? By watchfulness in guarding the soul, and in constant prayerfulness, we may withstand those strong and ungodly temptations that arise in the heart of every Christian: And he cometh, and findeth them sleeping, and saith unto Peter, Simon, sleepest thou? couldest not thou watch one hour? Watch ye and pray, lest ye enter into temptation. The spirit truly is ready, but the flesh is weak. (Mark 14:37-38)
If we are strong in prayer, and watchful against that old Adversary of our souls, he will elect to bring his greater temptations to bear elsewhere. When Christ is the sole owner of our hearts, no other shall dare to invade those sacred chambers of the Temple of God. We shall be stronger than the Devil and all of his cunning traps if we have the One in our hearts who has handily defeated that old Dragon. When a strong man armed keepeth his palace, his goods are in peace: But when a stronger than he shall come upon him, and overcome him, he taketh from him all his armour wherein he trusted, and divideth his spoils. (Luke 11:21-22)
Sin is dirty. It changes our countenance of purity into a grimy image of filth. It makes us sick and we lose the energy to perform good service to God and man; and we gain a greater desire to go to the saloon of Satan for more of the "hair from the dog that bit us." We track our filth everywhere we go. One little `white' lie about a friend (or even a stranger) may circulate among the multitudes until that person's character and reputation are savaged. One promiscuous encounter can ruin a marriage and the lives of children. An aged parent, dishonored, carries that testimony directly to the face of Christ when he departs this life. Sin has consequences that are often irreparable.
Satan is not omniscient, but he does have a mind and the means of observation. He has learned the weaknesses in our defenses. He has watched intently as we have prepared our lines. He knows where the walls of our souls are weak and unprotected. It is at these points that he concentrates his forces and makes his assaults. If he is able to penetrate our defenses, even at the weak points, he gains command of the battlefield in rendering even our strong defense impotent. He has outmaneuvered our flanks and gained a tactical access to our innermost deployments of battle. When our lines are overrun, we have only the option to call upon our reserves – hidden and unseen to the enemy. If that reserve is God Almighty, He will expeditiously rout the unwelcome enemy from our ranks, strengthen our interior lines, and restore order on our outward defenses.
What one vaccine has the only effect in dispelling the sinful nature? With my whole heart have I sought thee: O let me not wander from thy commandments. Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee. (Psalm 119:10-11) We defeat the wiles of the Devil by seeking the Lord with our WHOLE HEART, then there remains no faculties free to contemplate sin. We hide God's Whole Counsel in our hearts which is a defense and a fortress against sin. A casual piety will not do – it is the whole being that must belong to God – the Heart, the Mind, the Soul! Is your faith a casual faith, or does God own your soul – lock, stock, and barrel, Friend?
If Christ is the SOVEREIGN of your heart, no enemy can take possession of it.
Is He?
Sermon
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UT when the Pharisees had heard that he had put the Sadducees to silence, they were gathered together. 35 Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying, 36 Master, which is the great commandment in the law? 37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. 40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. (Matthew 22:34-40)
Many Bible scholars of our day promote these two Commandments as new commandments instituted by Christ, but they are not. Christ is simply quoting the Old Testament Commandments of Moses day:
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ND thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. (Deut 6:5)
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ND now, Israel, what doth the LORD thy God require of thee, but to fear the LORD thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the LORD thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul, (Deut 10:12)
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F there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder, 2 And the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spake unto thee, saying, Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them; 3 Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the LORD your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul. 4 Ye shall walk after the LORD your God, and fear him, and keep his commandments, and obey his voice, and ye shall serve him, and cleave unto him. 5 And that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams, shall be put to death; because he hath spoken to turn you away from the LORD your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, to thrust thee out of the way which the LORD thy God commanded thee to walk in. So shalt thou put the evil away from the midst of thee. (Deut 13)
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HOU shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart: thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbour, and not suffer sin upon him. 18 Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the LORD. (Lev 19:17)
Silences the Pharisees about the Messiah
Christ was always the master of every crisis and every challenge:
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HEN went the Pharisees, and took counsel how they might entangle him in his talk. 16 And they sent out unto him their disciples with the Herodians, saying, Master, we know that thou art true, and teachest the way of God in truth, neither carest thou for any man: for thou regardest not the person of men. 17 Tell us therefore, What thinkest thou? Is it lawful to give tribute unto Caesar, or not? 18 But Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said, Why tempt ye me, ye hypocrites? 19 Shew me the tribute money. And they brought unto him a penny. 20 And he saith unto them, Whose is this image and superscription? 21 They say unto him, Caesar's. Then saith he unto them, Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and unto God the things that are God's. 22 When they had heard these words, they marvelled, and left him, and went their way. (Matthew 22:15)
This is one reason they (the Jewish rulers) literally hated Christ. He interfered with their money greed …… selling in the Temple…house of prayer, but a place of thieves.
Who is my Neighbor …Good Samaritan….etc
Now Jesus will also present them with a dilemma they should already have known being Masters of the Pentateuch:
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HILE the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, 42 Saying, What think ye of Christ? whose son is he? They say unto him, The Son of David. 43 He saith unto them, How then doth David in spirit call him Lord, saying, 44 The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool? 45 If David then call him Lord, how is he his son?
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HE LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool. (Psalm 110:1)
David also said:
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ISS the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him. (Psalm 2:12)
Now these snails crawled away to plan how further they might have Him put to death.
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ET them melt away as waters which run continually: when he bendeth his bow to shoot his arrows, let them be as cut in pieces. 8 As a snail which melteth, let every one of them pass away: like the untimely birth of a woman, that they may not see the sun. 9 Before your pots can feel the thorns, he shall take them away as with a whirlwind, both living, and in his wrath. 10 The righteous shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeance: he shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked. 11 So that a man shall say, Verily there is a reward for the righteous: verily he is a God that judgeth in the earth. (Psalm 58)
Snails love darkness. They hate Light. They also hate salt.
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E are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men. 14 Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. (Matthew 5)
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ND no man was able to answer him a word, neither durst any man from that day forth ask him any more questions.
A common enemy always unites various sects and interests together against it.
Jesus was a common enemy to the superstitions and power struggles of the Times, just as He is a common enemy of the political and economic structures of our time. Though politics and financial interests are not found in the same common bed in normal circumstances, they both ally themselves against the True Gospel of Christ.
Text books promote evolution. News outlets say we must respect the religious faith of Moslems, Buddhist, and Hindus, yet, with one voice, they press for condemnation of Christian Faith in our society.
Those who accept the biblical authority that condemns adultery, homosexuality, drunkenness, are considered smug and made to look ridiculous in movies and news specials. Nothing has changed in the world’s contempt for Christ since He first ministered as a boy in the Temple at Jerusalem.
HERODIANS, Sadducees, Pharisees, who were constantly at war with each other, made temporary peace alliances with each other in order to destroy the Man, Jesus. He was both Man and God. Instinctively, these culprits recognized this from their study of ancient biblical texts, and the testimony of His works. Yet, they found Him contemptible to their world of power and money. They all hated Him alike.
They cunningly contrived questions to entangle Him in His speech and in His knowledge, however, they always lost.
The last of the three questions put to Jesus, and the one question with which He turned the tables and silenced His questioners, are our subject. In the former, Jesus declares the essence of the law or of religion; in the latter, He brings to light the essential loftiness of the Messiah.
As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. Our Love for God crowns our love nature. The underside of that love is love for our fellow man. The Pharisees remained ‘gathered together,’ and may have been preparing another question, but Jesus had been long enough interrogated. It was not fitting that He should be catechized only. His questions teach. He does not seek to ‘entangle’ the Pharisees ‘in their speech,’ nor to make them contradict themselves, but brings them full up against a difficulty, that they may open their eyes to the great truth which is its only solution. His first question, ‘What think ye of the Christ?’ is simply preparatory to the second. The answer which He anticipated was given, — as, of course, it would be, for the Davidic descent of the Messiah was a commonplace knowledge and universally accepted.
One can fancy the Pharisees smiled complacently at the attempt to puzzle them with such an elementary question, but the smile vanished when the next one came.
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HAT think ye of Christ? whose son is he? They say unto him, The Son of David. 43 He saith unto them, How then doth David in spirit call him Lord, saying, 44 The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool? 45 If David then call him Lord, how is he his son?
Why do teachers often ask questions?
If they ask a question, and you know not the answer, why does a teacher often ask you another question?
The reason is to provide a guided discussion to help you discover the answer which is already a part of your knowledge.
How are Snails like sinners? Both hate Salt and Light. They both love darkness, and eat from the labours of others.
Here is the new commandment Christ gave:
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NEW commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. 35 By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another. (John 13:34-35)
These are important words and an identifying command to us.
He gave it the night He was taken in the Garden to be crucified. It is the only new commandment.
But it is not written on tables of stone, but on the soft sinews of our hearts.
Love will release us from condemnation:
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ATRED stirreth up strifes: but love covereth all sins. (Proverbs 10:12)
Do not try to argue away your sins and wickedness as the Pharisees. It is easy to love when we have compassion. And when we feed love in our hearts, hate will die of starvation, and our sins will cease.
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UT this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34 And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more. (Jeremiah 31:33)
Do you love God and His Word? Do you agree to follow Christ in all things.If so, be richly blessed now and forever!
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gelasian_Sacramentary - The so-called Gelasian Sacramentary (Latin: Sacramentarium Gelasianum) is a book of Christian Liturgy, containing the priest's part in celebrating the Eucharist. It is the second oldest western liturgical book that has survived: only the Verona Sacramentary is older.
