Morning Prayer: Psalm 116 * Job
19:21-27a * John 12:44-50
Holy Communion: James 1:17-21 * John 16:5-14
From
today's Scripture readings we may learn that God is the author of our
salvation, that it was all his plan, and that it is his gracious will that
sustains us throughout this life, and guarantees the joy of eternal life in
Christ. None of these good things were our idea, nor were they a grudging
benefit in answer to our pleading. Our entire inheritance given to us in
Christ's Testament, the New Covenant, has been the will of God the Father and
the Son and the Holy Spirit from all eternity. In that long discourse after
supper, recorded by John, Jesus spoke words beyond the understanding of the
disciples, words that demonstrated how fully, how detailed, is the counsel of
God's will (Eph.1:11). Jesus said to them just enough, in that discourse, for
them to remember later, at the time when the Holy Spirit would be with them as
the other Comforter, the other paraklētos,
and as the Spirit of Truth.
When that time would arrive, the Day of
Pentecost, when they would be baptized with the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:5), they
would begin to be the voice of God in the earth, the messengers by whom the
Holy Spirit would convict the world of sin, and of righteousness and of
judgment. They would know the truth and be able to teach it to all generations
that have followed. This plan from eternity, the eternal counsel of God's will,
has meaning for us as the Church, and for each one of you as a member of the
Body of Christ.
To begin with, based on the promise
made here by the Lord Jesus Christ, you may believe the teaching that has been
handed down throughout the centuries. "Howbeit when he, the Spirit of
truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth," is not spoken to any of
you as an individual. You cannot decide the truth, in this sense, for yourself.
The truth has been revealed; and so, from earliest times, the Church has heard
the voice of the Lord above all in the books set apart as Holy Scripture, the
New Testament books recognized very much as we have them in our Canon alongside
the books of the Law, and of the Prophets and Sages of Israel who had spoken
before of the coming of Christ, all quoted as having special authority by the
earliest Christian writers. In spite of popular fiction to the contrary, the
New Testament was recognized by the Church, it was a vox populi recognition-
yes, with a few questions raised about II Peter and Revelation, and a few
people who believed in a book called The Shepherd of Hermes. But, the
overwhelming consensus throughout the Church was that the voice of God was
recognized clearly in the Twenty-Seven books of the New Testament, as that same
Voice had been recognized in the Old Testament all along. No one imposed any of
it, certainly not an emperor.
And, even with its human imperfections
and sins, the Church has been what St.
Paul
The old phrase from what we call the
Vincentian Canon is not true literally; but is true with poetic license. The
phrase translates into English as "That which has been believed
everywhere, always and by all." In absolutely literal fact, nothing has
been "believed everywhere, always and by all." But, using poetic
license, it tells us that from earliest times the Church was guided by pastors
and teachers who received the teaching of the Apostles and understood the
Scriptures with a like mind. The poetic license by which we say "That
which has been believed everywhere, always and by all," is, in fact, that
they heard their Master's voice in the words of the Apostles and Prophets, and
so they preserved that same doctrine in the Scriptures, which they understood.
What makes us catholic people is that we receive not only the books they
believed in, but we receive those books as they understood them, not with some
novel interpretation. As Anglicans, everyone of you is encouraged to read the
Scriptures yourselves. We, among the clergy, ought never to teach the whims of
human beings, the doctrines merely of men, hoping that we may rely on your
ignorance, so as not to be discovered. We teach the plain meaning of Scripture
relying on you, that reading it daily yourselves, you may glean the truth from
what we say, however imperfectly we may express it.
Be like the noble Bereans, and search
the Scriptures daily to see if what we say is so. (Acts 17:11) And, be guided
by the wisdom of the Church from its earliest generations. Let me make this
simple; if someone's teaching and preaching does not agree with that Creed we
said, you may be confident that it does not agree with Scripture; and that means
that it contradicts what the Spirit of Truth revealed to the Church. By the
way, the Holy Spirit does not grow in His understanding, He does not learn new
things, and He does not change His mind. His wisdom is perfect and eternal.
This brings us to the Epistle we heard,
the words of St. James, that with God there is "no variableness, neither
shadow of turning." In fact, we have two phrases from that Epistle that
can cause problems to modern ears. This phrase, "no variableness, neither
shadow of turning," sounds so grand and musical that we may fail to think
about it. The other is, "superfluity of naughtiness," because it
makes sin sound trivial. Today we think of "naughtiness" merely as
childish misbehavior, and it suggests innocence. The Third Millennium Bible is
almost word for word the King James, but with a few differences. It says
"superfluity of wickedness." We need to understand both of these
phrases, and to understand them in context.
First of all, however, notice that
James affirms what I told you, that our salvation is God's gracious will in
eternity. It was all his initiative. "Of his own will begat he us with the
word of truth," says James. That means that everything that happened in
Christ's coming, when the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us (John 1:14),
was the plan of God in eternity, the one will of the Trinity. It was God's will
to beget us again, that we would be born again unto eternal life, delivered
from sin and death. Christ delivered us from sin and the consequences of sin by
his cross.
This was not Jesus coming to pacify His
angry Father, as some have accused us of teaching. This was God satisfying the
just requirements of His own holiness, acting in His own love, and also healing
the conscience of each person who repents. God saved us in that terrible way,
by the cross, because our condition of sin was truly terrible, as St. Paul wrote: "To declare, I say, at this time his
righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth
in Jesus (Rom. 3:26).” God's love turned on His own holiness and perfect
righteousness, and His own holiness and perfect righteousness turned on His
love, so that God Himself, in the Person of the Son, Jesus who is the Word
incarnate, took the full weight of human sin on Himself and bore it unto death.
This was the will of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, the
eternal counsel of God's will. Therefore, God justifies sinners, and is also
just in doing so; for on the cross He took away the sin of the world. This is
the greatest love story of all.
He conquered death also, which is what
this season of Easter is all about. His resurrection will be our resurrection
when He comes again in glory; and as He cannot die again, (Rom.
So, that phrase, that sounds so grand
we may fail to hear its meaning, ought to comfort us greatly: "The Father
of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning." The
word for this in academic theology is "Impassibility." It means,
simply, God does not change. He does not change His mind, He does not change His
nature, He does not change His will, He does not change at all. In all eternity
God is perfect in three Persons. He has no need of learning, He does not need
to gain wisdom (certainly not from puny creatures), He does not need to mature,
and nothing has ever created a change in God. He is perfect in all eternity.
The cross and resurrection did not change God; they changed us.
The impassible God, the God who does
not change, will not forget you.
"But Zion
In some religious circles it is popular
to promise that everyone who has faith, that is real deep faith, will be
healed of all earthly sickness, will be in perfect health, will be rich, and
live in victory over all things all the time. By twisting the Scriptures and
wrenching Bible verses violently from their context, they present this
burdensome, impossible, and dangerous doctrine, and often extract great sums of
money from people looking to escape from desperate poverty by what actually
constitutes a practice of attempted magic. But, these "faith and
prosperity" preachers will get old themselves, and they will die the death
of all men.
Real faith carries with it trust. If
God overtly hears your prayers and grants you what you ask of Him, it is
because of His love and wisdom. But, if He seems never to hear a word you
utter, and does not appear to grant your prayers (as you understand your needs),
and if often it seems He is far away, that too is because of His love and
wisdom. He need not prove His love. He proved His love for you already on the
cross, and calls you His friend from the cross. It is the same love and the
same Fatherly wisdom from God who does not change. You may have faith enough,
for a grain of mustard seed is enough, and yet have a share of suffering that
seems impossible to bear. Another may hate God and seem to have all his heart's
desire. What matters for you is that God knows what is best for each of his children,
and so you may trust His love and wisdom, the love of the one who has the scars
in his hands and feet, with the wound of the spear in his side. You may trust Him
whether you have prosperity and healing, or whether you have a share of
suffering for a time.
Only one thing can stand between you
and the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord, and it is not a created thing,
that is, it is not a thing that God made (Rom. 8: 38,39): That one thing is
unrepentant willful sin, or, as James calls it, "superfluity of
wickedness." Remove all such barriers, if they are in your life, and you
may trust that whatever comes is, ultimately, in the hands of the One you may
trust absolutely. Then we have
only one thing left to do, and that is to give thanks. In the words of today's
Psalm from Morning Prayer:
What reward shall I give unto the LORD * for all the benefits that he hath
done unto me? * I will receive the cup of salvation, * and call upon the Name
of the LORD.
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