Sermon Summary for 1st Sunday in Advent, The Temple of God, 30 November 2025 Anno Domini, the Anglican Orthodox Communion Worldwide
“It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves.”
The Collect.
ALMIGHTY 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.
Perhaps the most difiicult concept for the lost sinner to comprehend is the unmerited grace of God. Many fail to answer the call sooner due to their doubts of being forgiven for their many sins. They resolve to ‘first, get their lives in order and then come to Christ.’ That is the absolute opposite approach. As our Collect points out, it is God’s unmerited grace than enables us to shed our souls of the works of darkness. We are granted by God all the accoutrements of battle - let us go forth conquering and to conquer in His Name.
Paul (in the Epistle) outlines an obvious end of Love, to keep the Law of God so as to do not harm to the object of love. He provides a brief summary of the second Table of the Law regarding our duties to one another and, then adds this enlightening remark: “ . . . and if there be any other commandment.” Well there happens to be one more Commandment than the Ten, and it was this Commandment the Lord Himself added: “A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.” (John 13:34) This, of course, is the most important Commandment because it gives meaning and depth to the other Ten. We cannot have our Maker as God unless we love Him. We cannot obey our obligations to others without that love we should have according to our Lord’s added Commandment.
Love fulfills all the obligations of the Law. When we walk in love, we walk in the Light of Christ. Darkness cannot comprehend that Light or that Love. While Light remains in our hearts, we must do the work the Lord has called us to purpose. The Light of Christ is our Armor and Sword.
In our Gospel text for today, we read of our Lord cleansing the Temple at the twilight of His earthly ministry in Matthew 21:12-13
“And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves, And said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves.”
But this was the second cleansing. The first was at the very beginning of His ministry in Gospel of St. John 2:13-16 “And the Jews' passover was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem, And found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers of money sitting: And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers' money, and overthrew the tables; And said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not my Father's house an house of merchandise.”
Unfortunately, many churches of our day have failed to comply with this last counsel of our Lord to their own detriment and to the detriment of their congregants.
So, what is the significance of cleansing the Temple at the beginning and end of His ministry?
Every Christian is reminded that they are the Temple of God: 1 Cor 3:16-17 “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.
Our Lord came to be a redeemer for our sins. When we came to a certain realization of our election in Christ, we realized that God had wiped our slate clean of sin - and the of the sin nature.
However, we still sin even if unawares. It is for this reason that we repeat the General Confession in the Reformation Churches, and our own Anglican Orthodox Church, so that we may be forgiven - not only for the sins of commission, but also those of omission in of charity which we have failed to do in service to God and out fellow man. We should do so daily, but the General confession will insure we do so at least once per week.
Though the Temple of our souls was first cleansed of sin when we answered the call of the blessed Holy Spirit, we must continue to repent of all subsequent sins committed. This is highly pleasing to God our Father.
When the Jewish leaders were disputing with Christ after His first cleansing of the Temple, He responded, “Then answered the Jews and said unto him, What sign shewest thou unto us, seeing that thou doest these things? Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days? But he spake of the temple of his body. When therefore he was risen from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this unto them; and they believed the scripture, and the word which Jesus had said.” John 2:18-22
Christ is, indeed, the Temple. Not only the Temple, but the Head thereof. When we are received into Christ, we, too, are that Temple.
No longer does the Temple of Stone represent the dwelling place of God, but our very bodies if we have received faith unto salvation.
Let us remember the two cleansings and realize that we must be in continual remorse for any sins carelessly committed.
IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER, AND OF THE SON, AND OF THE HOLY GHOST. AMEN
