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Holy Trinity Anglican Orthodox Church
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Profitable and Unprofitable |
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Matthew
7:15 Eighth
Sunday after Trinity July
25, 2010 We
have all suffered through the agonising experience of watching someone we
love self-destruct. We try to
talk to them, try to get them to change their ways, but they continue in
the same ruinous ideas and behaviours, destroying their own lives, and
bringing horrible pain to our hearts. Imagine, then, how it must be for
God to watch us fall, again and again into the same old pits, the same old
traps, the same old attitudes, the same old sins that destroy our own
lives, and the lives of those around us.
In our Collect for this Eighth Sunday after Trinity we have asked
God to keep us from these things; to "put away from us all hurtful
things," and to "give us things which are profitable for
us." The
Scripture readings for today express the same idea. The Epistle, Romans 8:12-17, reminds us that some actions
lead to death. This
"death" is a spiritual condition toward God, which Romans
describes in other places as being under God's wrath and condemned to
suffer for sin forever. Other actions lead to life, which is also a
spiritual condition meaning "peace with God." The Gospel,
Matthew 7:15 and following, warns us that ideas can also lead us to life
or death. False doctrine
kills, while truth brings life. It
follows then that, if God is going to put away from us all hurtful things,
some of the first things that will have to go are things we have taken
into ourselves by our own free choice, and that these things will include
both actions and ideas. It
also follows that the profitable things God will give us will also be
things of both thought and deed. We
know about the bad things. We
know how they kill souls and destroy lives.
If we do not understand this we cannot call ourselves Christians.
If we do not understand the wickedness of sin, especially our own
sin, we must admit that we are outside of Christ and still in our sin.
For one of the distinguishing character traits of a true Christian
is the recognition of the sinfulness of sin and its devastating effects.
This understanding results in a holy hatred of our own sin.
The true Christian "acknowledges and bewails" his
"manifold sins and wickedness," and is "heartily sorry for
these our misdoings." "The remembrance of them is grievous unto us; the burden
of them is intolerable." The
person who is not a Christian has a very different attitude toward sin.
He may be indifferent to it. He
may adamantly insist that it is not sin.
He may even have a genuine regret for the moral decline of the
country, and for some of his own actions.
But to hate sin as God hates it; to root it out of his life like
weeds in a garden, to "earnestly repent" this he cannot and will
not do. The
true Christian loves God above all things, even above his own life.
Today, in addition to being the Eighth Sunday after Trinity, is
also the Feast of Saint James. I
don't talk about "Saints" much, because some might get the idea
that we in the Anglican Orthodox Church venerate saints, or pray to them,
or think they somehow mediate for us with God.
We don't venerate them, and they don't mediate for us.
Christ is our mediator, why would we bother with anyone less than
Christ when He has given Himself for us and ever liveth to intercede?
Besides, a "saint" in the Bible is anyone who is a true
believer and true Christian. So
it is proper to talk about the Gospel according to St. John, or an Epistle
of St. Paul. But it is also
proper to talk about all the rest of us as saints, and we see the Bible
doing just that in many places. Sainthood
is not an office granted by the Church, it is a condition of the soul
purchased for us by the sacrificial life, death, and resurrection of
Christ, and received by us through Biblical faith.
To be "saved," is to be a saint.
St. James was one of the first martyrs.
He was killed for the "crime" of being a Christian, and
the reason the Anglican Church still talks about such people is that they
are good examples of faithful, Christian living. They loved Christ more
than life. They wanted God
more than they wanted anything else, and they were willing to turn away
from everything that impeded their communion with Him.
The lesson here is this; death is not a hurtful thing, hell is a
hurtful thing. Life that is
empty of meaning and hope is a hurtful thing.
Life that has no purpose higher than the pleasures of the world and
the flesh is a hurtful thing. Life
that is controlled by attitudes, thoughts, and actions that are
self-destructive or bring sorrow to the marital relationship, the familial
relationship, and other relationships all the way from the innerpersonal
to interpersonal to international relationships, are hurtful things.
And anything that disrupts the relationship with God is a hurtful
thing. May God truly
"put away from us" these things.
And, may He "give us those things which are profitable for
us." Let
me talk for a moment about just what we are praying for in this Collect,
for this is the emphasis of this week in our cycle of prayer. What are
these profitable things? First we are praying for holy living. We are praying for some good, old fashioned Godliness.
We're not talking about thrills and chills, or smells and bells, or
happy clappy times in Church. We are not talking about health and wealth and popularity in
the world. We are talking
about loving God with all our heart, soul, and mind, and loving our
neighbor as ourselves. We are
talking about love for God that goes far beyond mere emotions; love that
is expressed more in actions than in feelings, love that leads us to keep
His commandments, not in order that we may earn His favour or escape His
wrath, but for the sheer joy of pleasing Him. Second,
we are asking God to give us right understanding, or, right doctrine.
Yes, I know people don't want to hear about doctrine anymore.
They want to "experience God" and they want
"practical" sermons about dealing with stress and achieving
their dreams. But notice how
different this is from the teachings of Jesus and the Apostles in
Scripture. They majored on
doctrine, and Christ Himself warned us against false prophets and false
teaching. Right doctrine
builds up God's people. Right
understanding of God leads to right understanding of self and world, and
life. But more importantly,
right understanding teaches us to seek first the Kingdom of God and His
righteousness. "O
God, whose never failing providence ordereth all things both in heaven and
earth; we humbly beseech thee to put away from us all hurtful things, and
to give us those things which are profitable for us; through Jesus Christ
our Lord. Amen."
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