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Holy Trinity Anglican Orthodox Church
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Second Sunday after Trinity |
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June 17, 2007 The Standard of Righteousness “Faith without works is dead.” These words of the Apostle James are some of the best known of the New Testament, but they are not among the most beloved. Martin Luther, for example, did not like them. He called the Book of James a “right strawy epistle” and actually wanted it taken out of the Bible. We can understand this, for Martin Luther lived for years under the burden of trying to justify himself to God by means of his own good works. He came to hate God because of this. His reasoning was that he could never tell when he had done enough to justify himself, or, earn forgiveness. If he was told by his priest to do five acts of penance, how could Luther know that was enough? If he gave $100 to feed the hungry, how can he know he didn’t need to give $200? But one day Luther read in the Bible that the just shall live by faith. He learned that it was not his good works that earned God’s forgiveness, rather, forgiveness is the free gift of the grace of God in Christ. All Luther had to do, all anyone has to do, is accept the gift of forgiveness by faith. In Luther’s mind, the Book of James contradicted the Bible’s message of free grace, so he wanted it removed from Scripture. Today we know James does not contradict that message, it simply reminds us of another very important fact, that faith results in works. True faith causes us to do good things, like our Master, who went about doing good. Good works can take many forms. James wrote about helping those in need. That is certainly an important type of good work. It is complicated, though, by the need to help without creating dependence, or, worse, indolence. After all, there are many who will gladly live off your hard work and generosity. Another form of good work is simply old fashioned obedience to God’s Commandments. Jesus said those who love Him keep His commandments, and, certainly, this is the place to start when measuring our progress as disciples of Christ. The Commandments are the standard of righteousness, and no person who ignores or rebels against them can honestly say he is a Christian. We can go so far as to say that the Commandments are God’s will for our lives. In this sense we are using the word Commandment as a synonym for the Law of God. There are three parts of this Law. First is the ceremonial law of the Old Testament. This is the law about sacrifices and the Temple. It is no longer binding upon the Christian. Second is the civil law. This is the law that governed Israel as a nation; it was the “Law of the Land.” This, too is not binding today, for we do not live in the Old Testament theocracy. Third is the moral law, which is summarized in the Ten Commandments, and In Christ’s words: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.” And: “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” So our Catechism is exactly correct when it says that in the Ten Commandments we learn our duty towards God and our duty towards our Neighbor. And our Catechism correctly summarizes the meaning of the Commandments. Look at page 579 of the Prayer Book and listen as I read. “My
duty towards God is To believe in him, to fear him, and to love him with
all my heart, with all my mind, and with all my soul, and with all my
strength: To worship him, to give him thanks: To put my whole trust in
him, to call upon him: To honour his holy Name and his word: and to serve
him truly all the days of my life.” Allow me to give another summary of the Ten Commandments. This was written by one of my favorite authors, W. H. Griffith-Thomas in a book he wrote to explain the Catechism first published in England in 1904, and titled, The Catholic Faith: a Manual of Instruction for Members of the Church of England. It was used in Confirmation classes throughout the world and has instructed countless numbers of people in the basic beliefs and practices of the Christian Faith. Dr. Griffith-Thomas wrote; “Reviewing
the whole of these Commandments, we may regard them as emphasizing the
following points in a positive way – 1.
Wholehearted devotion
6. Peace 2.
Spiritual worship 7. Purity. 3.
Deep reverence. 8.
Honesty. 4.
Consecrated time. 9.
Truth. 5.
Honour to authority.
10. Contentment. “In
the light of our Lord’s words and the Apostolic teaching on love as the
fulfillment of the law, we may say that love fulfills the Commandments
thus – 1.
Love to God will never tolerate a rival. 2.
Love to God will always worship in spirit and truth. 3.
Love to God will delight to reverence his name. 4.
Love to God will always acknowledge His claim on our time. 5.
Love to parents will always guarantee honour. 6.
Love to man will always respect h is life. 7.
Love to man will always respect sexual purity. 8.
Love to man will delight to give, not take away. 9.
Love to man will speak in truth and kindness. 10.
Love to man will seek to give, not to covet.” May God grant us grace to love and keep His Commandments. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen. The Rev. Dr. R. Dennis Campbell, Vicar, Holy Trinity Anglican Church,
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