The First Sunday After Christmas - Gal. iv

From the start, it was proclaimed that this child born to Mary was on a definite mission. The angels tell the shepherds that He that was born was a Saviour, and by an angel Joseph was told to name the child Jesus, for He was come to save His people from their sins. Thus it was that his cousin, John the Baptist, was sent to the Jews to call them to repentance. One cannot very well be saved from their sins if they are not willing to give them up! If the child’s mission was to be fulfilled, the people would have to repent.

Why Was He Born?

We are very strange people. We hate our sins, which cause us to mess up our lives, yet we also love them; we don’t want to give these things up that keeping ruining us. We are in a desperate condition of self-destruction. We need someone to save us. We need someone to come into our lives and change us from within, that we will hate our sins and be glad to be rid of them.

Thankfully, this is part of what Jesus does for us. To save us from our sins, He gives us a new heart, freely, by His grace. It is this newness in our lives that baptism is all about. We who were dead in trespasses and sins are now raised from the death of sin to live a new life in God’s Son. The Holy Spirit spiritually unites us to God’s Son and His life is now ours, forever. What a wonderful gift from God! What a wonderful Saviour was born to us. And because He fulfilled His mission, Peter was able to proclaim on Pentecost: “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost”; new life from heaven for those who will receive the Son.

Our Adoption

God, being so infinite in the abundance of His love and grace and mercy toward us miserable sinners, gives us this new life with a new privilege. He makes us His children. He gives us the life of His Son and He also gives us the title of sons, co-inheritors with His Son, of all the wonders of His glory forever. St. Paul tells us of this wonderful privilege in Galatians iv, our Epistle reading for this day. Paul says, “God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons” (iv.4,5). This too was part of the mission. Jesus came, not only to be our Saviour, but to be the One through Whom we might be adopted into the family of God. This is part of why Jesus came.

This standing of adopted children is meant to give us great encouragement as we seek to be faithful to our Lord in the midst of a crooked and perverse world. It is always threatening, in one way or another, to publicly identify with Jesus in our community. But we must do it; if we will not confess Him before men, He will not confess us on the judgement day. It has to be done. It is an amazing honour to be able to do it. But it can be scary. So, for the strengthening of our faith, the Lord gives us to know that we are His beloved children. That means we are safe. That means we are secure. We are the beloved delight of the Almighty, all-knowing God. There is no opposition to our faith in this world that He is not able and ready to overcome for His love for us. Though the world throw us its worst, we remain the children of God and in the end all will be well with us.

Sticks and stones may break our bones,
Words may hurt our feelings,
But we can stand and stand we will,
For our Father brings us healing.

We are His children and we never lose His love and He knows how to keep our hearts and at the last raise us up to share the victory Christ has won for us. “Be not afraid,” Jesus says, “for I have overcome the world.”

Why was this child born? To save us, to secure our adoption, to overcome every obstacle in our lives to the love of God for us.

How Was He Born?

It’s also helpful to consider how He was born. Paul tells us that “God sent forth His Son.” This shows us that the child came, commissioned by the Father. He did come, of course, of His own will. But He also came in obedience to the Father. God sent Him to us. Jesus would testify of this. He said, “I came not into the world to do my own will but the will of Him that sent me.” He would speak of how he had works that were given to Him to do; responsibilities for Him to fulfill. We thus see something here of the beauty of the communion that flourishes in the Trinity, the Godhead. As the persons of that Mysterious Unity love each other, they gladly share a delight in our salvation, each in their own way. The Father comissions His Son, the Son gladly obeys the will of the Father, and the Spirit brings into our lives the benefits of the Father’s gift and the Son’s obedience that we might know the love of God, have the love of God, live in the love of God, share in the divine nature of the love of God, and live out the love of God in our own obedience and adoration of the Trinity forever. Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God!

How was Jesus born? He was born as one sent by the Father. He was also born of a woman. He had to be born of a woman and not a married couple so that He could fulfill His saving mission. If He was descended from Adam like the rest of us, He would have been a sinner, too. He himself would have been under the curse and in need of a Saviour as well. But He was not. In the wisdom and by the power of God, He was born of a virgin. Thus this child was doubly unique. He was unique in that He was the incarnate Son of God; God become truly man, with a human body and a human soul. But He was also unique as a sinless man, standing as Adam stood before the Fall, without sin. Thus being truly human and without his own sin, He could do His mediating work between us and God, representing sinful humanity to God, standing in the place of sinful humanity before God, taking upon Himself the punishment of death due to us for our sins, that we might be saved from that very death.

The virgin birth, contrary to the recent comment by the Archbishop of Canterbury, is no “take it or leave it” doctrine. It is at the heart of the gospel. Without it, Jesus could not have been our Saviour. Without it, we do not understand who Jesus is. Without it, we do not understand how He has saved us. While it is possible for a person to be regenerate without understanding these things – indeed we are all saved in some degree of ignorance – nevertheless we cannot be considered Christians unless we confess this Christ, born of the virgin Mary, as the Holy Spirit teaches us to believe.

Jesus came sent by God, born of the virgin, and He came as one made under the law. What law is this? Think of it in terms of the whole system of regulation given by God to Moses, which consisted of the civil, the ceremonial, and the moral laws of Israel. In terms of the history of the Church, corporately considered, Moses, in a particular sense, kept the Church from the adoption she now enjoys. For one thing, her members being sinners, she was constantly threatened by the condemnation which the law spoke against her for her sins. Her ceremonies, though they taught her about what Jesus would do for her, kept her from the fulfillment of that work until their time of use was past. Her civil laws kept her separate from the other nations, preventing her from extending her tent across the face of the whole earth to include all the nations of the world, thus fulfilling the promise to Abraham. So it was that Jesus came, not only as a true man, but as a true Jew, faithful to Moses, indeed, in fulfillment of all that was in Moses’ law. He did this so that in His death and resurrection, He might remove forever the condemnation of the law, fulfill all the ceremonies, thus removing their usefulness, and, in that His sacrifice was not just for the Jewish nation but the whole world, He might open the door of the Church to all humanity. Thus, those who were under the law could have the law removed from over them, become the adopted sons of God, and, through them, receive into their number any one in the world who would believe in Jesus. “For”, to quote Peter at Pentecost again, “the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.” What an amazing plan for His people! What a perfect Saviour was Jesus. “O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!”

How We Know These Things Are True About the Birth

Well, we have considered why Jesus came, how Jesus came, let me end by reminding us of how we know these things are true about Jesus. St. Paul tells us that those who are the adopted sons of God have a certain experience. Verse 6: “And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.” How do we know Jesus did these things? Whence comes our assurance that these things are so? Well, being people with western sentiments, it is important to recognise that there are objective matters to consider. We have reasonably reliable accounts behind all this. However - if you will remember my comments earlier about how we naturally love our sins – our hearts are so desperately deceitful that even if we had been there to see all of this with our own eyes, we would not have believed it – as was the case with many – except God had revealed these things to our hearts by His Holy Spirit. Our faith itself is a miracle. It is something born in us by God’s hand. It is a gift from God. We simply know. There is something in us that lifts our minds and hearts to heaven and instead of naturally refusing to believe, we naturally believe. We naturally know that God is our Father in heaven, for we have a new nature that answers to the presence of God in our world, and we have the Spirit of God Himself in our hearts as a witness to us. A great Someone Else affirms these things as true in our conscience with an authority that can only come from God Himself, the true Lord of the conscience.

And that witness is a witness of love; of a filial affection. It is the affectionate cry of the child to its parent; a cry that is a recognition of divine presence and love. God loves me and I love Him. This is the experience of all the adopted children of God. That is how we know the truth of Christmas. The truth is revealed to us, as it was revealed to the shepherds that night, not with so much heavenly ceremony, but with even more authority. For the revelation comes not from angels alone, but from the very Spirit of God Himself. O wonderful, friendly Witness! By this blessed Spirit, we already begin to know the joy of the family banquet that is ours when the Son of God returns. We begin to taste the love of the Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, for us miserable creatures. And so tasting, we cannot help but confess to our city and to the world: Jesus Christ is Lord!

Amen.

Thoughts on the Spiritual Life - XXXI - H. C. G. Moule

Chapter viii - Conclusion

I have quoted at the head of the chapter those words of the Psalmist which lead us up the River to its Source. “For with Thee is the fountain of Life”; with Thee, Jehovah; with Thee, Jehovah-Christ, for “in Thee is Life”; “he that that Thee hath life.”

Let that verse just remind us of the duty and the blessing of continual remembrance of Him as our reason and our rest. There is such a thing as studying even the “possibilities of grace” more than Him who is “the God of all grace.”

It is because of what He is that His people are, even for a moment, what He would have them be. And one deep secret of the development in them of what He would have there, is the contemplation of Him.

Our life and walk, in a sense most practical, need be no intermittent stream of peace and of obedience. Why? Because He is no intermittent spring. Every winter, in modern Jerusalem, a remarkable phenomenon is observed. The channel of the Kedron, usually dry as the valley of dry bones, suddenly resounds with the music of waters. Whatever be the natural cause hidden in the geology of the ravine, for some for or five days the Kedron suddenly and abundantly springs and flows; or, to speak more exactly, it begins abundantly, shrinks somewhat on the second day, and ere long, failing day by day, it has retired into the dry rocks again. Strange and pathetic intermittency! True picture and parable of too many a Christian life and experience! But need it be? “For with Him is the fountain of Life”; “a spring shut up, a fountain sealed” (if we may borrow words of the Holy Song, though they are spoken directly not of Him but of His Bride); shut up, and sealed, as to all access outside of Him; but “a fountain opened,” not only for pardon, but for life and power, to all who are in Him.

Come then, let us come now and ever, to the waters. The eternal Rock is smitten, and is flowing; and where? In the desert, in the drought; to turn the sands into the oasis; to make “the wilderness and the solitary place glad” now.

It is written of the everlasting Canaan that “they shall thirst no more, for the Lamb shall shepherd them, and lead them to the living fountains of waters.” But it is also written of the pathway thither, that “they shall not thirst, for He that hath mercy on them shall lead them, even by the springs of water shall He guide them.” Let us ask Him to do it indeed. Then we “shall not be careful in the year of drought, nor cease from yielding fruit.”

Simeon Book

I have a paperback copy of sermon outlines, primarily by Charles Simeon, that I would like someone to have. 202 outlines, c. 500 pp.; Baker Book House, ISBN: 0801090024. If you want it, and are willing to pay the postage, send me an e-mail.

The next Moule installment should be up later today.

Ready for His Coming - Advent IV

My wife and I have been immersed in wedding traditions this year, with the marriage of our son. She read books on the subject, and got our son’s fiance reading about it as well. Our desire to learn from tradition was a significant factor in the simplicity of the wedding and in how well it went. While I was waiting for the wedding to begin, the other pastor who was there told me of some horrors he has had to go through at weddings with people who just didn’t have the right attitude about it or didn’t know what they were doing. One I remember vividly was the bride who was determined that her bridesmaids come down the isle in step with the music, which was very unfortunate, because it meant spending an enormous amount of time trying to get a couple of her friends to step to music when they had never been able to keep time to music one day in their lives. Some of this kind of thing is due to personality type, but some of it is due to the idolatrous value that some people give to the ceremony.

As I have reflected on the Advent season this year, I have been reminded of Jesus’ parable of the ten virgins who were awaiting the coming of the bridegroom for a wedding. It is another of his parables about the kingdom of heaven, that is, about how He manages the affairs of His kingdom, His redemptive rule over mankind. The parable makes better sense if you have some knowledge of the wedding traditions at that time. Their marriages were usually performed at night. The wedding would take place in the house of the bride. Her bridesmaids, the virgins in the parable, would keep watch for the appearance of the groom and his attendants. When he came into view, they would go out to meet him, with lamps lighted, to conduct him to the bride’s house. Once everyone was inside and the door shut, the wedding would begin.

Now let me read for you this parable of the wise and foolish bride’s maids: See Matthew 25:1-13

What do we make of this? As I have explained before, the way to understand Jesus’ parables is to simply pay attention to the main point and not get bogged down in symbolic meanings that our imaginations might find in the details. Thankfully, Jesus sometimes tells us what He intends and he does so in the last verse. The parable is about being watchful for the coming of our Bridegroom, Himself. This parable is part of a group of parables about Jesus’ coming, and it is helpful to survey them all about the several things Jesus tells us to do to be ready for Him.

In some of the other parables, He has mentioned such things as being careful to not be all taken up with the cares or pleasures of this life, being careful that we are not mean to each other, and being faithful in the tasks He has given us to do. So, let’s say I am a teenager. In light of these things, I could try to keep myself ready for the coming of the Lord by not worrying about my grades or how I look or whatever else I think might make me happy, being sure I was nice to my brother and sister, and doing my school work to the best of my ability for Jesus’ sake. The lovely thing about this is that, in doing these things, a teenager can find happiness. Happiness is never something to be sought; it is something that comes when we are seeking the pleasure of God. It is also something that never lasts in this life. Happiness is only full and permanent in the life to come; that’s one of the reasons we look forward to it so much.

But I digress. The parable of the wise and foolish virgins is a parable about a spiritual attitude. We must be watchful in order to be ready. Some people put the emphasis on understanding this parable upon some symbolism they think is intended by the oil in the lamps. Now, to be sure, oil is symbolic in the Scriptures for certain things, and there’s nothing wrong with wondering if Jesus had such things in mind. But the oil is simply part of the circumstances of the overall story that help it to work. The lesson is in the story itself and the lesson is watchfulness.

The Jews of Jesus’ day were not being watchful as they needed to be for His coming to them. John the Baptist had been sent by Him to prepare for His coming by telling them they needed to be watchful over their lives, that they repent of their sins and seek to live in a godly, righteous, and sober manner. By being watchful over their hearts and lives they were to be ready for the coming of the Bridegroom. While many did do this, many did not and thus the Lord foresaw His next coming to them. This would be a coming in judgement of their rejection of Him, which was a violation of their covenantal relationship with Him.

These comings of the Lord, which are the subject of these chapters in St. Matthew, have already taken place. What then do they have to do with us? Well, the Lord has other ways of coming in judgment, has He not? There is, of course, His final coming, which all the saints of all the ages need to be ready for. There is also His coming to us at our deaths, which is another kind of judgment. Let me refer us to Bishop Wright, who makes an excellent observation. Since the parable is about the coming of the Bridegroom, the bridegroom idea reminds us of Jesus’ role as the Messiah in the life of the whole Church, in that time and through all the ages. He was the Bridegroom of Israel in that day, but He is also our Bridegroom today. This is, after all, a kingdom parable, and He established His kingdom in the history of that time and it persists unto our own day, and will persist forever. The parable is about how His kingdom works. He comes to His people in various ways, for judgment, and we are to be watchful that we might be ready. So Wright says: “…in this new era, no less than in the unique time of Jesus and his first followers, we need as much as ever the warning… to be watchful.” And what does Wright say that this watchfulness means for us? He says the watchfulness of this story “…simply means being ready for the key moment … being prepared; being wise; thinking ahead, realizing that a crisis is coming sooner or later and that if you don’t make preparations now, and keep them in good shape in the meantime, you’ll wish you had.”

And what is the crisis? Well, there is always the crisis of Jesus’ second coming to consider. But, as I have already stated, there is also the crisis of our death, should the Lord tarry. Our death is a kind of coming of the Lord for our judgment. How is that? The Bible says that it is appointed unto man once to die, and after that, the judgment. When we die, all our opportunity to make ourselves ready for the Judgment Day are over. We have no other chance to repent and place our hope of eternal life in God’s only Saviour. We have no chance left to watch, to be faithful, to lay up treasure in heaven, to love our neighbour, to serve our Lord in this life. We now await the judgment, and we never know when this crisis will come.

I just finished reading a biography of Dorothy L. Sayers. In December of 1957, a few days after one of the most joyous occasions of her life, which was to become the godmother of the child of one of her close, life-long friends, she finished up her Christmas shopping, made arrangements for their delivery, and went home to her house in London. She went upstairs to put up her hat and coat, came down stairs, and, while in the hallway, she had a stroke, which killed her instantly. I’m sure that was the last thing in the world she thought would happen that day, but that is the way of mankind: we never know when this crisis will come. But come it will, and we must be watchful and ready.

What disturbs us who care about such things is the sense we have of our own weakness in being ready. It is this matter that brings me to our collect for this day and the conclusion of my sermon. The collect is a prayer for God to exercise His great power in our lives. For what purpose? To succour us. The word succour, of course, means to give someone help in their time of need. Well, our time of need is now, for it is now that we must be able to watch and pray and be ready for our Lord’s coming. But, as the collect confesses, we are “sore let and hindered in running” this race of faithfulness set before us, because of our sins and wickedness. We are our own worst enemies in all of this, for we shoot ourselves in the foot every day with our guilty stupidity and wrong doing. We need help, desperately. And so, the prayer, having already asked the Lord to “come among us”, not in judgment but in delivering power – which is another kind of coming of the Lord – it goes on to ask for God to put forth His bountiful grace and mercy to succour and deliver us; to pity us and to give us that which we do not deserve. So, in this prayer, we are reminded that God has wonderful saving power, He is able to help us and deliver us from what hinders us from being watchful, and He has abundant grace and mercy to which we may appeal. But why should He do this for us? Why help us so? As the prayer concludes, He has such mercies toward us through His Son, Jesus Christ.

Do we think Jesus tells us to be watchful for His coming, but is ignorant of how hard that is for us? Not at all! He tells us to watch, and then He redeems us with His blood and makes us the beloved children of His heavenly Father, encouraging us of His everlasting love for us and His readiness to answer prayers just like this for us, every day. Ask, and ye shall receive, Jesus says, that your joy may be full. Ask that you may find that happiness you need and desire. Ask that you may be faithful in running your race of faithfulness and watchfulness and your heavenly Father will give you all you need. Indeed, in Jesus Christ, says the apostle, we already have all we need for life and godliness. We simply ask for that which God has already told us is ours.

Here is great encouragement for our faith. Our hope is in the LORD. We may be sinful and weak, but He is strong and forgiving. Let us keep our hope in Jesus, Who is the author and finisher of our faith. What He has begun in us, He will complete, until the day He returns. He is coming, yes, He is coming in His judgment. But let us not be afraid. Let us never forget that He also comes, even in this very hour, in friendly, almighty power, to keep us, to help us, to bless us. We have in Him more than we weak finite creatures will ever need.

Amen.

All quotations from N. T. Wright are in loco from his Everyman series.

The Archbishop of Canterbury's Comments on Christmas

A lot of people are talking about the Archbishop's comments on Christmas in his interview with Simon Mayo of BBC Radio 5 on Sunday. Even Rush Limbaugh today spoke of it. He complained about Williams denying the virgin birth. While I thought Limbaugh's complaint about "liberals" denying the basic tenets of Christianity while still calling themselves Christians was correct, the Archbishop did not deny the virgin birth. The conversation was about the typical "Nativity scene" depictions and what is or is not historic about them. When it came to the virgin birth, Williams said that he is "committed to it", but that belief in it was a process in his life.

What concerns me was his further comment that he did not think that belief in the virgin birth was a hurdle that people should have to jump in order for them to be "signed up" in the Church. I have to disagree with that. While I believe it is certainly possible for people to come to faith in Christ as the only Saviour without being convinced of his virgin birth, I cannot see how it is possible for anyone to be baptized and accepted into the membership of the Church without it. After all, the foundational creeds of our Church include the virgin birth and they themselves began as baptismal formularies.

Williams did say that he believed that people who came to faith in Christ would (I'm not sure how inevitably in his mind) eventually come to believe in the virgin birth, as he did. I would concur with this, because the Holy Spirit would lead them to this conviction, as He does in all our belief. What is critical about Williams' "hurdle" comment is that he makes the virgin birth less important for the Christian faith than it is. This is not good at all.

Some people will probably be concerned about his comments that the wise men in the story were not historical. The title of Rev. Jennings' review of the interview in the Times is very unfortunate: "It’s all a Christmas tall story." That is not what Williams said. Jennings does get it right when he writes that Williams said no more than what many others, including conservatives, have said on the historic issues. It is important to remember the context of this particular portion of the interview. The typical Nativity scene does indeed falsely portray three Eastern kings as being at Jesus' manger with the shepherds. This did not happen and the Gospels themselves concur. The Magi arrived later, and they were Magi, not kings. The presence of the three kings at the stable that night in the typical Nativity scene is indeed a "conflation" as Williams says.

As for the miracle of the star, Williams said, "I don't know." I agree with him that there may be more to the story than is mentioned; constellation alignments, for example. However, the account in the New Testament is plain. Williams' "I don't know" is a denial of the historical reliability of the account. It is such overly critical dealing with the Scriptures that opens the door to doubting them in other areas, such as ethics.

The interview as a whole is worth listening to. He talks about a number of issues and has some good things to say. The idea of going over the typical Nativity scene in light of biblical history is worthwhile. It is just sad that the Anglican Communion should have a representative who cannot stand for the truth "once delivered to the saints" any better than this, and at this time of year at that.

New Website for Common Cause

The Common Cause Partnership has a new website: www.united-anglicans.org . Our church is affiliated with Common Cause through the EMC's membership in the Federation of Anglican Churches in America and in our own membership in Forward in Faith.

Priests Among the Priesthood

Yesterday being the 3rd Sunday in Advent, my sermon was on the gospel ministry. At several points, I referred to a sermon by Dr. Robert Rayburn of Faith Presbyterian (PCA), Tacoma, Washington. In this sermon, he explains the tension in Scripture between the doctrine of the ministry and the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers. He especially emphasises the importance of the preaching of the Word for the health of the Church; a message that Episcopalians have desperately needed. You can read his sermon here.

Once a Bishop, Always a Bishop?

"It is true that a king undertakes to be bound by the actions of his representatives. It is true also that we must humbly believe that Christ accepts as His own the actions of those who act on His behalf; otherwise what minister would ever venture to celebrate the Eucharist in the name of Christ? But this acceptance can never be unconditional. It depends on the minister being true to his trust, and acting only within the terms of his commission. Granted that the Bishop is the holder of a commission direct from Christ, and that ordinarily his actions in the Church may be accepted as the acts of Christ. What is to happen if the minister proves unfaithful, betrays his trust, and acts outside the terms of his commission? This is not a hypothetical case; it is one that has arisen time and again in the history of the Church. The answer of the Fathers is clear and unequivocal. The teaching of both Irenaeus and Cyprian is that if a bishop departs from the apostolic doctrine it is the duty of the Christian people to separate themselves from him. It is specially the duty of the Christian plebs, through its part in the election of bishops, to make sure that only fit and suitable persons should be chosen.... The bishop is by virtue of his consecration, indeed an alter Christus; but so is every Christian by virtue of his baptism; the whole Christian body is priestly, and cannot abandon or delegate finally to others its Christian responsibility. The bishop acts within the Church, and not for it. This is still the doctrine of the Orthodox Churches. In the remarkable synodical letter sent out by the Eastern patriarchs in 1824, the position of the whole Christian body as guardian of the faith is clearly set forth. No doctrine of the episcopate which disregards this element can be accepted as adequate or complete."

The Right Rev. Bishop Stephen Neill, M.A., The Ministry of the Church, Canterbury Press, 1947, pp. 16-17.

Pleasing Others - Sermon for Advent II

My sermon yesterday, based upon the Epistle reading for The Second Sunday in Advent, Romans xv, 4f.

I don’t know about your family, but my sister and I just could not get along. While it is especially hard to examine your motivations from 50 years distance, I am nevertheless certain that I was not without my own guilt in our relationship. Indeed, I can remember doing and saying things that could not have been very well received by my sister, and I have since apologised to her for it.

It is very sad that brothers and sisters in our families have such problems getting along with one another. It is not a complicated thing. The Christian life is simple enough for a child to live. One need only love Jesus enough to follow the Golden Rule; to think about how to make others happy instead of only thinking about whether others are making you happy. That goes a long way in any relationship. A child that can wake up in the morning and start thinking about how to please his brother or sister, or his mother or father, has indeed started to become an adult, spiritually if not physically. How many grown-up Christians rise from their own beds each day and think that way, or go to their work places or come to church, considering how they may please others instead of themselves? I do not know, but one has to wonder at times.

The thing is that this is very important, for it strikes at the very heart of the gospel of Christ itself. If we say we believe the gospel, then we know we should live according to the gospel. And, as I’ve stated above, it’s not that complicated. Even a child can do it. Having received Christ into our hearts by faith, we begin to live like He did, by the power of His Spirit within us. And how did He live? Well, the passage we read in the Epistle earlier in our service tells us. The Epistle actually starts in verse 4 of chapter 15 of Romans, but let me read for you verses 1-4 and then lead us into reflection upon the rest of the Epistle. St. Paul writes:

1: We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves.
2: Let every one of us please his neighbour for his good to edification.
3: For even Christ pleased not himself; but, as it is written, The reproaches of them that reproached thee fell on me.
4: For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.

Now what do we learn about Jesus here? Well, for one thing, we learn that He lived according to what the Old Testament said would be true about Him. He lived as it was written about Him. The reason this Epistle and the Gospel are read on the Second Sunday in Advent is that they remind us of the importance of the Bible for Christian faith. The second Sunday in Advent is called “Bible Sunday”, for we remember on this day that the whole Bible, both Old and New Testaments, are the basis of our belief. Jesus came as it was written of Him. In both testaments we learn of who Jesus was and what He has done for us and how we are to receive Him by faith and give our lives wholly to His worship and service. It is fitting for us to consider such things at Advent as we seek to examine our hearts and prepare to celebrate His coming.

But the particular thing we learn about Jesus in this Epistle is that He did not please Himself. The Old Testament had said that He would come doing things that would be unpleasant for Him, even the suffering of death, so that we might be redeemed and have eternal life. Therefore, when He rose from His bed each day, He did so thinking of others. Indeed, it was written that He would come as the Servant of the LORD, serving the people of the LORD, meeting those needs that only He could meet. As Paul says later in the passage, you will recall,

8: Now I say that Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God….

That word “minister” in the KJV is the word translated elsewhere “servant;” we know it as the word “deacon.” As He said of Himself, “The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”

Now this is the gospel that we profess that we believe and that we proclaim to the world. If we do not live according to it ourselves, as Jesus’ disciples, then we deny the faith and we disqualify our worship. Yes, we Anglicans, that are so thankful for our wonderful liturgy, make it a mockery if we do not live to please others; if we do not follow our Lord in a life of service for one another. Let me read verses 5 through 7 again:

5: Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be likeminded one toward another according to Christ Jesus:
6: That ye may with one mind and one mouth glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
7: Wherefore receive ye one another, as Christ also received us to the glory of God.

Paul does not mean in verse 5, where He wishes for the Lord to make us likeminded, that we are to always agree about everything. We should be growing together in our understanding of the Scriptures so that we are increasingly becoming more and more in like mind about its teachings, but this is not the main point here. Paul wants us to have the same mind toward one another according to the way Jesus was minded toward us. We are to receive each other in the same way Jesus received us. And how did He do so? He received us as rotten, ungodly, and ignorant sinners. He received us at our worst, as those who nailed Him upon the cross. Oh what love! Oh what a servant! Can we not, with His Spirit in our hearts, receive one another and seek to please one another, if He did this for us?

Beside that, we are not even as bad as we once were anymore. The very image of our God is renewed in us. We don’t even have to receive each other the way Jesus received us; it should be an even easier thing to do. But we are still bad enough to be a trial to each other at times. Nevertheless, if we would be forgiven, we must forgive. If we would profess this Jesus as our Lord and Saviour, we must follow Him and receive each other as He has received us. This is what we are to be likeminded about. We are to be mutually convinced that we must be loving and merciful to each other. We must be persuaded together of the imperative of Christian unity, so that, when we do gather to worship, we may do so with one mind and voice. Only thus may we truly glorify our God in life and worship.

It is our calling, as Gentiles, to bring glory to God in our worship because of what Jesus has done for us. The Bible also contains prophecies about us! Paul lists some of these, remember?

8: Now I say that Jesus Christ was a minister… to confirm the promises made unto the fathers:
9: And that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy; as it is written, For this cause I will confess to thee among the Gentiles, and sing unto thy name.
10: And again he saith, Rejoice, ye Gentiles, with his people.
11: And again, Praise the Lord, all ye Gentiles; and laud him, all ye people.
12: And again, Esaias saith, There shall be a root of Jesse, and he that shall rise to reign over the Gentiles; in him shall the Gentiles trust.

One of the main reasons we have been saved, one of the main reasons Jesus has served us and received us is so that we, even here today, may glorify God in our confession, in our praise, in our songs, and in our joy for our redemption in Christ. We must seek a charitable attitude toward each other if we are to do this, for we cannot worship God together if we are all out of sorts with each other because of differing opinions, or irritating habits, or because we hold grudges against each other over the petty affairs of our lives. God forbid! Our salvation is too great, our God too great, the promises of the Holy Scriptures too great to so trivialize and defile our lives and our worship.

Yet, unless God has mercy on us and is gracious to us, we will fail. In spite of all He has done for us, in spite of all the wonderful promises of Scripture fulfilled in His Son and in us, we will be grumpy, self-pitying, disgruntled people, at odds with each other. St. Paul, being one of us, knowing our temptations in his own experience, therefore twice, in this passage, writes a benediction. In verse 5, he says,

Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be likeminded one toward another, and in verse 13, at the close of this passage, he says, Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.

God must give us that heart-disposition to live as Jesus lived, not pleasing Himself, but pleasing others; not rejecting people, but receiving them. We do not live according to the gospel because we are not filled with the blessing of the gospel in our hearts and minds. We need God to give us the patience and consolation that helps us be likeminded toward each other. We need Him to fill us with His joy and peace and hope so that, having tasted it, we may wish it for others. Thank God, Paul does not write these benedictions in vain! This is the very purpose of God for us!

As I recently told you, we are to believe that these things are indeed ours and then act accordingly. At that time, I was emphasising how we are to believe the Word of God and live out the life He works in us, knowing, whether we feel like He is or not, that He is indeed doing so. As we thus live, trusting Him to fulfill His Word and obeying Him as He has commanded us, we will find ourselves enabled to be and do all that we are called to be and do.

Along that same line, today, I exhort us to consider this: if God wills all of us to have lives of love, joy, peace and hope, then let us live in such a way that we encourage love, joy, peace, and hope in each other. Let us not be so mindful of our own joy and peace but the joy and peace of others. Let us not rise from our beds each day thinking of whether we are going to be joyful or peaceful, but, instead, thinking of how we may help others to know and enjoy the love and peace of God in their own lives. Let us not only pray that the Lord will fulfill these benedictions of Paul’s in our lives, but let us also pray that He will do so in the lives of those around us and then get up and do what we can to work with God in the fulfilling of our prayers. Let us do what Paul says in verse 2: Let every one of us please his neighbour for his good to edification. Let us build each other up in the faith by doing practical things that tend to their Christian edification. Let us not be stumbling blocks, irritating them, being selfish toward them, expecting them to please us. Let us instead be encouragers by following Christ in our own hearts. Refusing to think only about our own happiness, let us pursue the happiness and spiritual wellbeing of others.

If we do this, likemindedness about all we have in common in the gospel will thrive. Our joy and peace will grow. We will find it rather easy to gather together in worship, and, with one heart and voice, glorify God for the incredible love He has for us and has poured into our hearts, according to His promises declared in His Holy Word concerning Jesus Christ.

Amen.

J. I. Packer on Anglicanism and Reallignment

GLOBAL REALIGNMENT; WHO WE ARE AND WHERE WE STAND: J.I. Packer; on the Anglican Mainstream website, 23 Nov. - in case you have not seen it.

Thoughts on the Spiritual Life - XXX - H. C. G. Moule

Chapter viii, continued.

Our verse delightfully negatives the thought of grace as a something to be stored up in our own hands on occasions; a limited supply, to be economized and managed, and made to last, till it runs dry, or almost dry, and must be replenished by some new means. Here it flows for us, by us, in us, for evermore; ever passing, ever abiding, "new every morning, failing not,” for the soul which is in contact with the eternal source.

Let us go forth in peace, in the peace which is itself a power, in great peace, while peace most humble, recollecting this truth, into the “changes and chances of this mortal life.” No two days and hours are quite alike; no two hearts and lives. On this we have already dwelt, as we considered* the manifoldness of need. But here is the heavenly antidote to the trials of succession, as we saw it above to the trials of multiplicity. For the succession in us there is this divine succession in our Lord. For the struggles of yesterday He was present with the needed fulness. That fulness is not attenuated by the “out-going” of the “virtue” then; for it comes to us in this unwearying exchange and newness. It is full, in the same channel but a new flood, for the struggles of to-day. And to-morrow it shall be the same.

What is your special need? Is it some great sorrow of loss – loss of strength, of wealth, of affection, of beloved ones who lighted up your life? Is it some great problem of action, duty new and momentous, accumulations of demand upon your narrow hours? Is it the perplexity of wandering thoughts in the hour of hearing God’s Word, or of prayer? Is it some other need altogether internal, defilements in the inmost world of imagination and desire, stirrings of corruption far within? Is it need markedly external, temptation to principle, to patience, coming upon you from without? Is it the agonies of perplexity** about some mystery of the Word and Ways of God? Is it the need implied in a life of toil, or that which comes with leisure, the solemn trust of hours with which you "may do what you will”? Is it pangs of memory, or of anticipation – present griefs, though not caused by the present? Of the pangs of memory, is it one of the worst – recollection of a time when a peace and joy in Jesus Christ were yours which are not yours to-day? Of the pangs of anticipation is it one of the most wearing – expectation of future failure in your life and service for your Lord?

It is need for need, weakness for weakness. Yes, but behold also grace for grace; not for yesterday, but for to-day; and for to-morrow when to-morrow is to-day. Be sure of this, that your Lord and Life will never, no, not for an hour, or for a minute, leave you with an inadequate supply of “Himself working in you, to will and to do” – to begin again, or to go on again, willing and doing – “for His good pleasure’s sake.”

Do not fear the certainty of perpetual needs. Do not fear the fact that the Enemy will attempt you to the last, and that to the last “in your flesh” will “dwell no good thing.” Do not be disheartened by the longest retrospect of failures. Look, and see for this moment the moment’s divine succession of supply in Jesus Christ. And be perfectly sure that neither for this moment nor any other is there “fulness” anywhere else.

* Ch. VII.

** How different are such pains from the unhappy complacency of a mind vain of its doubts, or proud in them! When Asaph (Psal. lxxiii.) was brought to rest, by the simplest looking off to God, he did not say, “How intellectual I am!” but “So foolish was I, and ignorant.” But what a dire conflict it was while it lasted, before he be-thought him of carrying it into “the sanctuary”!