Eighth Sunday after Trinity

Rev’d. father, Marq Toombs+

There is a Calvin and Hobbes comic strip where Calvin takes a test. He sits at his desk, looks at the test, and says: “O good! A true or false test! At last some clarity. Every sentence is either pure sweet truth or a vile contemptible lie! One or the other. Nothing in between.”

When the test begins, he reads a few sentences but does not answer any. He just stares at the exam. Finally, he takes out a coin and flips it in the air.

Sadly, far too many professing Christians take Calvin’s approach when it comes to their spiritual life and formation.

Instead of doing the hard work of praying, purifying their lives, or participating in the life of the Church catholic, they take their chances, flip a coin, and hope for the best. They flippantly or stubbornly risk their souls and hope that it all works out – or that God won’t hold them accountable for whatever happens.

But I have much better things in mind for you.

Today, I want us to use the Collect to unlock the readings and show us how they fit and work together.

A Collect is simply a prayer meant to gather the intentions of the people and to guide their reading of God’s word and worship.

Like all Collects, this one has several parts: the Salutation (Invocation) – O God; the Adoration – whose never-failing providence ordereth all things both in heaven and earth; the Petitions – We humbly beseech thee to put away…and to give us; the Benediction – through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Let’s take a look at these parts one at a time.

SALUTATION: O GOD

Before we dare approach the throne of grace and start asking God this or that, we must first acknowledge who he is and adore him for all that he has done, is doing, and shall do for his glory and the good of his people.

God is not an impersonal force, a mythical genie, or a mechanical ATM that we can punch in whatever we want and get it. Our wish is not his command.

When we lift our hands to heaven and pray, who are we calling on?

We are calling on the true and living God. The Creator of all and Savior of the world. The eternal and personal-infinite Spirit. The Majestic One who is, and was, and ever shall be. The One and Only transcendent and immanent Being who hears us, sees us, and acts for us. One God, three Persons: the Father, the Son, the Holy Ghost.

ADORATION: WHOSE NEVER-FAILING PROVIDENCE ORDERETH ALL THINGS BOTH IN HEAVEN AND EARTH.

We have gathered here today to adore that God and to acknowledge that his never-failing providence orders all things. In good times, this is easier to acknowledge; in bad times, not so much. Why?

Because we have all been through some stuff that left us scratching our heads. We’ve all experienced traumatic things that jolted our hearts and gave us pause. The lack of money. The decline of health. The rejection of a child. The death of a mother or spouse.

In those miserable times, who hasn’t wondered if God blinked? Who hasn’t felt that Providence might have faltered or failed?

And yet, when our better angels prevail, we turn and trust that God’s never-failing providence orders all things; that God is always doing better things for us than we ask or imagine – even through the hard and scary times.

Now, before we move on to the petitions, I must point out something so vital that I would utterly fail you if I left it unnoticed.

There is a massive difference between God ordering all things and God ordaining all things.

Ordain gives the impression that God causes everything whatsoever that comes to pass. This feels more like a form of detached fatalism or determinism.

Order gives the impression that in Christ God controls and converts and cleans up everything whatsoever that comes to pass. This is more like engaged participation.

Can you tell the difference?

God is not the cause of all the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad things that you, your family, and friends experience. No! God is the one who changes darkness to light, chaos into order, converts despair into hope. God works all things together for his glory and our good for the sake of Jesus and his love.

Do you feel the difference?

Despite appearances to the contrary, by the never-failing Mystery of Providence, God is slowly and steadily conforming us into the image of his Son Jesus Christ.

Therefore, trusting in his grace and goodness towards us, in the good times and the bad, we draw near to his glorious throne of grace with bold petitions to change us if not the world.

PETITIONS: PUT AWAY + GIVE US

Put away from us all hurtful things.

We were born into a fallen world that has been wrecked and ruined by sin and was cursed by God. Our lives in this world are threatened, wounded, and scarred by so many harmful things.

The world is dangerous and hurtful. We know this by experience. But the most dangerous and hurtful things in the world are not always out there – they are often in here, in our own hearts, in the sins of our flesh. Sins that arise from our own desires and pride – from our own arrogance, ignorance, and obstinance.

True repentance and amendment of life start with prayer — asking God to help us put away from us all hurtful things: all the works of the flesh: greed, sexual immorality, animosity; jealousy, lust, power-grabbing; discontentment, substance abuse, manipulation; slothfulness and workaholism. These hurtful things need to be put away from us, and taken out of reach, so that we can’t access them and they can’t access us.

Another dangerous and hurtful thing we encounter is the false teachers and false teachings that flood the airwaves and fill the interwebs. They’re dangerous because they often seem so harmless and helpful. They have sleek websites, and large fan-bases, and visible platforms, and dynamic ministries, and charismatic personalities, and designer clothes, and book deals, and trending podcasts.

They speak just enough truth to sound plausible. But they love to question authority and tradition. They love to foster doubts and destabilize faith and ask, “Did God really say?” They love to ignore the past and innovate the future: “That was then, This is now.”

They might look and feel like the real thing – even better than the real thing – but watch out! Even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light to cover his serpentine intentions and demonic appearance.

So how can we know who’s true and who’s false? Flip a coin, right?!

Reformed theologian John Murray said, “the difference between truth and error is not a chasm but a razor’s edge.”

And Charles Spurgeon said that “Discernment is not a matter of simply telling the difference between what is right and wrong; rather, it is telling the difference between right and almost right.”

Jesus said, “By their fruit you will know them.” By their fruit he meant their produce, what they make, the results of their activities.

Their life and doctrine might sprout up and grow and look promising at first, but give it enough time and it will produce thorns and thistles. These are the same harmful and painful things produced by the serpent and his false teaching in the Garden of Eden. Like their serpent-master, all false teachers and false teachings produce fruit that betrays them and gives them away. Thorns and thistles are signs of cursing not blessing. These things poke and prick the soul. They are harmful and hurtful for the false teachers and for their hearers.

Now, if we want the Lord to deliver us from evil and put away from us all such hurtful things, we must pray for discernment and do whatever it takes to distance ourselves from false teachers and false teaching – and devote ourselves to teachers and teachings that are true, good, and beautiful.

We must become so familiar with the truth that any and all counterfeits will be identified and exposed and rejected.

That brings us to the next petition.

Give us those things which are profitable to us

It’s not enough to curse the darkness, one must also light a lamp.

Likewise, we must drive away hurtful things and unclean spirits. And we must fill the void left behind with all true, beautiful, and good things – things helpful and healthful.

As baptized Christians we have been born anew into Christ and the Church. We still commit sins, but we are no longer slaves to sin, indebted to the flesh, obligated to slake its passions and pleasures.

As baptized Christians, born from above, we are no longer degenerate by the flesh but regenerate by the Spirit. Long before we knew what we needed or what to ask for, God gave us the most profitable and helpful gift of all – the gift of the Holy Spirit.

The Spirit is not a passive guest in our hearts. He is an active resident in our lives. He is a profitable and helpful gift for us.

Since the Spirit dwells in us, we can defeat sin and death.

Since the Spirit leads us in grace and truth, we can live without fear of the world, the flesh, and the devil.

Since the Spirit bears witness that we are God’s children, we can bear with all things, whether sorrows or joys, comforts or sufferings, pressures and rest.

Since the Spirit loves us, we can love the Father and his children – and lean on them in times of need.

The Spirit guides the Church into all truth and helps us discern the spirits. For

All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost. (Tolkien)

Another profitable and helpful gift that God has given us is the precious Body and Blood of his Son Jesus Christ. As it is written:

Now the righteousness of God is revealed by means of the faith of Jesus Christ for all believers, for there is no difference:

For all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God: all who believe are being justified freely – declared guiltless and innocent – by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:

God put him forward to be the propitiation, the sacrifice of atonement, the one who takes away our sins and turns away God’s wrath:

God put him forward to demonstrate his righteousness, his goodness, his kindness, his faithfulness for the remission of sins through faith in his blood.

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.// (a midrash on Rom. 3:23-26; 6:23)

All these profitable and helpful gifts of God for the people of God are set forth in the Word and Sacraments of the Gospel.

Which leads us to yet another gift of God.

We have already touched on Holy Baptism. Now let us turn our attention to Holy Communion.

Like baptism, the Eucharist is another gift that signs and seals Christ’s love for his Church, including you.

In Holy Communion Jesus embodies the profitable gift we pray for.

In love, he sacrifices himself in service for his Church; in love, he shares his Body and Blood with us by the Spirit, under the sensible forms of bread and wine.

In the Eucharist Jesus freely gives himself to us: My life for yours. And in the Eucharist he reminds us that he hears our prayers: that he will put away from us all hurtful things, and that he will give us those things which are profitable for us.

Truly, the Lord takes away and gives back.

Jesus Christ is the gift that keeps on healing the wounded and keeps on giving help to the needy.

BENEDICTION: THROUGH JESUS CHRIST OUR LORD.

May all these blessings be yours through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Now let us prepare ourselves to participate in Holy Communion.