Reformed Evangelical Synod of America

Archive for September, 2009

Jerome (born Eusebius Hieronymus Sophronius) studied in Rome and was baptized there. He traveled for a time, eventually settling down to live as an ascetic among fellow believers in Aquileia. In 374, he moved to Palestine where he learned Hebrew while living in the Syrian Desert. He was ordained as a presbyter and, working in a rock-hewn cell, he translated the Bible into Latin. While not without its faults, Jerome’s translation, commonly known as the Vulgate, was the standard scholarly translation for well over fifteen centuries. Jerome died on this date in the year 420, and was buried in the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem.

COLLECT
Lord God of truth, your Word is a lantern to our feet and a light upon our path. We give you thanks for your servant Jerome, and those who, following in his steps, have labored to render the Holy Scriptures in the language of the people; and we pray that your Holy Spirit will overshadow us as we read the written Word, and that the living Word will transform us according to your righteous will. We ask this through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

On the Feast of The Holy Angels, we give thanks for the many ways in which God’s loving care watches over us, both directly and indirectly, and we are reminded that the richness and variety of God’s creation far exceeds our knowledge of it.

What is the value to us of remembering the Holy Angels? Since they appear to excel us in both knowledge and power, they remind us that, even among created things, we humans are not the top of the heap. Since it is the common belief that demons are angels who have chosen to disobey God and to be his enemies rather than his willing servants, they remind us that the higher we are the lower we can fall. The greater our natural gifts and talents, the greater the damage if we turn them to bad ends. The more we have been given, the more will be expected of us. And, in the picture of God sending his angels to help and defend us, we are reminded that apparently God, instead of doing good things directly, often prefers to do them through his willing servants, enabling those who have accepted his love to show their love for one another.

COLLECT
Everlasting God, you have ordained and constituted in a wonderful order the ministries of angels and mortals. Mercifully grant that, as your holy angels always serve and worship you in heaven, so by your appointment they may help and defend us here on earth. We ask this through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.

READINGS
Daniel 10: 10-14; 12: 1-3
Psalm 103
Revelation 12: 7-12
Luke 10: 17-20 or Matthew 18: 1-10

Jesus Heals A Deaf Mute

A sermon from Mark 7:31-37.

It’s easy to come to one of the miracle stories of our Lord’s life and be jaded. If we’ve gone to church for a while, we’ve probably heard these stories a million times. So what? We’ve heard these miracle stories before you know. We’ve probably even prayed for miracles ourselves but nothing quite like what Jesus did has ever happened to us has it.

Familiarity breeds contempt, and unless we pay attention, familiarity with the stories of Jesus’ miracles can let us miss God’s message for us this morning. May God help us NOT to be so bored with His Word!

Jesus is travelling far from Jerusalem – you know the place where the “experts” were sent from to trap Him and where He would be ultimately crucified. He’s travelling in a land who knew they were under God’s judgment.  They’d sided with the enemies of God’s people after they had been blessed by the Lord through Solomon. What betrayal! What traitors! Hear what the prophet says in Jeremiah 47:4 – “The time has come for the Philistines to be destroyed, along with their allies from Tyre and Sidon. Yes, the LORD is destroying the remnant of the Philistines, those colonists from the island of Crete.” NLT

So where is Jesus? He is not where the those who felt they were sure of God’s blessing lived, that is, in Jerusalem. Jesus was performing His miracles amongst those who knew themselves to be cursed. He’s walking among the Ten Towns (Decapolis) where the Gentiles are so thick the Jews of that region were considered “second class” because they lived some place defiled.

Have you ever felt you were some place which was so bad that, for whatever reason, Jesus could not reach you there? Some place so hopeless that Jesus would never visit where you find yourself stuck? Our Jesus walks today in the hopeless places – and however much they seem “God forsaken” –those who will receive Him may be surprised just how frequently He visits there just as He visited Tyre and Sidon.

While there were many in Jerusalem who did not notice His visitation – and were thankful whenever the news of Jesus died down – there were people who were eager for Him to arrive and when they knew Jesus came to supposedly “God Forsaken” places, they cried out for Him to visit their friend, perhaps a family member, who was a deaf-mute.  They begged for a miracle!

“Draw near Jesus!” they asked. Communicate your blessing and healing power. Touch our friend in his brokenness and weakness. Remove his humiliation! Heal him!

Who is the person who healed this man that day?

He is the one who touched a man whom many others would look at and ask “Who sinned? This man or his parents?” (cf.  John 9:2) He’s the one who dares to touch you and I in our squalor and weakness.

Jesus is the one who looks to heaven and beseeches the Heavenly Father to pour out blessing and healing in a land considered by the nice religious people as pagan to say the least. He is the one who at the Father’s right hand prays for us in our plight as well. That is why scripture tells us to consider this one who looks to heaven and intercedes for the broken and urges us to realize that He prays for us too: “Therefore [Hebrews says] He is able, once and forever, to save those who come to God through Him. He lives forever to intercede with God on their behalf.” Heb 7:25 NLT

Jesus is the one who sighed as he draws near this pitiful man. Jesus groaned with the groaning all creation cries out with until the curse is removed (Rom 8:23; 2 Cor 5:2,4). He sighs for this man just as he wept for his friend Lazarus (John 11:35).

This one who weeps over sinners will weep over your plight, your struggles, your heart break when you cry out to Him.

Jesus commanded “Be Opened” and this man’s ears were open. A miracle happened at Jesus’ word.

And today when people cry out to this Jesus who said “Be opened” and the Deaf-Mute could hear and speak – this Jesus comes to shattered places and shattered lives and does amazing things for people who know they have no other option and they turn to Him!

Note the response of the people – when others will crucify Him, these people

They can’t stay quiet!

They acclaim Him as the one who fulfills Isaiah’s messianic promise:

Say to those who have an anxious heart, “Be strong; fear not! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God. He will come and save you.” Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then shall the lame man leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute sing for joy. Isa 35:4-5 ESV

And guess what – It’s no fluke! In Acts 3:1-10 we read about a man who saw the Apostles and thought “money”.  Instead this lame man was healed.

That healing shows the messianic promise fulfilled in Jesus, persists wherever, whenever, and however Jesus wishes it to in order to spread His kingdom.

It’s no fluke, the One who drew near to hopeless people in a hopeless “God-forsaken” place did not die, nor did His power. He rose again and lives at the Father’s right hand interceding, praying and caring for all those who come to God through Him.

It’s no fluke, the One who drew near a hopeless man draws near to all the hopeless who cry out to Him!

He sighs over our tears and our plight.

He is waiting for us to stop seeking silver and gold as that lame man learned and He is waiting for us to seek His Name!

How do we pray in light of this truth?

How do we praise in light of this truth?

How do we witness in light of this truth?

There are some people who never get healed in this life. There are martyrs – like most of the Apostles – who died for their Christian Faith. And there are those who struggle in many different ways.

But just because these things are true, we must never forget who Jesus is and the mercy and love He delights to show those who will put their trust in Him.

Our problem, for the most part, is not that we trust Jesus too much. Overwhelmingly our problem is that we trust Jesus too little. We have preconceived notions about our lives and we have a view of Jesus that demands He conform to our will.

The mercy of Jesus though is no fluke. The greatest need in our lives each day – and the greatest need of those we encounter – is to learn to entrust ourselves expectantly, in childlike trust, to the One who touches the despairing in their squalor and restores them by to power of God  so that we become part of eternity’ s chorus of souls who will give Him praise!

Will you praise Him? Will you bow? His mercy is no fluke. Why do we daily treat is as such?

Here’s an audio version of this sermon preached at St. Andrew’s Church.

John Wesley preaching at his father's grave

For a deacon in formation for the presbyterate…

Preaching is a divine enterprise and impossible apart from the Holy Spirit. Pray as Luke 11:13 encourages for the Father’s most amazing gift – the help, anointing and empowering of the Holy Spirit so that you and those who hear will increasingly grow in the grace of Christ through the Word. I have always sensed a great burden to be faithful to what I believed the text to be saying to me and those listening. I do not try to amaze myself or the listeners with too many big words, obscure quotes, or pretend to be some original language expert who says “The Greek means…” to the point that people do not trust their English language bibles to communicate the Word of God. I am a “big picture” guy who sees everything – and particular texts no less – through the sweep of Holy Scripture and therefore I aim not to declare them as individual “loose ends” but as parts of God’s great revelation and the unfolding of His plan. I preach the integrity and interrelatedness of Holy Scripture and defy those who consider themselves wise in the wisdom of this age to refute it. A resource like Alvin Schmidt’s “How Christianity Changed The World” will aid you in this task of explaining the wonders of what Jesus our Lord has done through His Body the Church concretely and objectively in history, not simply in the fond imaginations of the pious.

I remind myself and the people from time to time why the color of my stole matches the color of the paraments. As the minister of the Word I am not my own but am part of the furniture in God’s house. I as a preacher exist as a living stone in God’s Temple to declare the Word of God as Christ’s servant and not in my own service. That is why I am a man in clerical uniform – I am like any mechanic, fireman, or other person whose vocation is primarily a service instead of a “profession” per se. My service is not primarily to people but to God as the bearer of His Word for the people He providentially sends.

This is why I also preach from a lectionary. I know its inadequacies. I know that from time to time it is required that we change the text to address an urgent situation in the congregation or society. I know that other opportunities should be provided for indepth study of the text. But the most urgent need before us – the need that never departs from day to day, from age to age, in tumult and in alleged peace – is for we and those who hear us to be continually immersed into Jesus Christ. The Epistles exist to explain what this means to be sure and they must not be neglected. But study the epistles however we will, we cannot know the meaning they intend without continually reflecting on our Lord as He is revealed in the Gospels as the fulfillment of all God the Father’s promises to revealed from Adam onward. Those who would occupy the Lord’s Day mornings with extended expositions of the Torah or who preach for years through an Epistle in the name of expository preaching often claim Calvin as their guide in this. But even he, though he eschewed the lectionary, confined himself to preaching the Gospels and Acts on the Lord’s Day. How do lesser men dare to rob the Lord’s people of the Life of Christ and assume they know it as it should be known? God forgive us the horrible mischief that has been done by our reducing the Gospel to abstractions ripped from the narrative of our Lord’s life and presented as cold dogma!

Systematic theology has it’s place in preaching. Last week’s homily (in printed form at least) alluded to both Luther’s catechism and the Heidelberg Catechism. That is because they summarized a point I considered necessary to be addressed in the exposition of the text in question. Never forget that our confessions and our systematic theology must emerge from our reflection and submission to the written Word of God. Our “systems” and confessions aim to crystallize the thrilling revelation of the Saving Christ who unites us to Himself and ushers in a New Creation through His Cross, Resurrection and Ascension. We systematize in order to communicate but our systematics must never become an ax by which we chop the scriptures in pieces to conform either to our pride or our prejudice. When we do so, we have become hirelings who have attempted to master God and bend His ways to our convenience. God deliver us from that and forgive our ignorance and discipline our pride.

As you know, our lectionary covers the life of our Lord annually via the respective “Synoptic” Gospels with flourishes courtesy of St. John. Our other readings attempt to form a thematic unit to inform and expand upon the Gospel portion by way of cross reference, parallel, and biblical – theological continuity. These can be useful keys or preaching tools at times when you wonder “what should I say”? Other biblical-theological connections can be found readily in modern resources unavailable just a few years ago. For instance, Carson & Beale’s Commentary on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament will allow you to discern the proper connections between the testaments. You will learn that the Septuagint (LXX) is a fine bridge between the Hebrew and the NT Greek and that our New Testament is a Greek fundamentally shaped and informed by the Hebrew Scriptures mediated through the LXX.

Note these things now. I trust they will come alive for you as you engage in the act of studying and preaching. It’s hard when you don’t have a large congregation. But as my wife told me – preach as if you were preaching to a full cathedral. She’s absolutely right! Your audience of one deserves your full attention, because for them in that hour, you are God’s appointed messenger! The same goes for those who hear you online and those who may read your homilies on line.

The following reflection (based on a sermon preached at the Chapel of Wishard Hospital in Indianapolis today) is based on 1 Timothy 5: 1-16.

In our reading today from First Timothy, we are reminded of the solemn duty to respect our Christian brothers and sisters, especially those who are not only a part of our family of faith but those who are a part of our lineal family as well. While general precepts make up the first two verses of our reading, the following fourteen deal with regulations regarding widows. While the application is narrow in the Biblical narrative, its application for today has far reaching implications.

The ancient Church recognized her responsibility to those among her number who were unable to properly care for themselves. From early in her life in Jerusalem the Church practice voluntary giving – to the extent of living a communal lifestyle (see Acts 4:32 – 5:10) for the benefit of all. This voluntary arrangement ensured that every believer, no matter their station in life, had their basic needs met.

In our own era, it is difficult for us to meet our own basic needs, let alone the needs of others. When our checkbooks are low and our wallets thin, we tend to gravitate towards providing for ourselves, even if it means that our charitable contributions to the less-fortunate take second place.

And yet in the midst of persecution and hardship, the earliest believers were known because of their love and compassion for one another. Their voluntary ’socialism’ worked far better than any civil form ever could for one key reason – people entered into it willingly and under the soveregnty of God. They implicitly trusted him for their well-being, and did not stop to count the cost when ensuring that their brothers and sisters had their basic needs met.

At the same time, the Church did not suffer deception gladly, as Paul’s strong words of advice to Timothy display. The first and foremost responsibility in Timothy’s community was for the family of a widow to assist in meeting her needs. Of course, that requires that families remain intact and strong in their love for one another. In our era, far too many families find themselves divided, without strong leadership, without godly submission, and without provision for the needs of everyone in the family unit.

Christians must stop looking to the civil government to meet their needs. Social Security, Medicare, and other federal programs have a place, but in the end it is the Christian charity rooted in the home and in the Church that must rise to the challenge of meeting the needs of those who have nobody else to care for them.

May God give us the courage to reach out to help others sacrifically, not counting the cost, to ensure that our families and the less fortunate among our brotherhood are cared for. In doing so, we will continually strengthen them with the witness of a grace-empowerd faith, and through our works will reinforce the Gospel message to one and all. May our non-believing friends be enabled to say, “See how they love one another,” and recognize the transforming power of the Gospel in our lives.

For further reflection: Isaiah 55: 1-3 

Matthew, a former tax collector (also known as Levi) was called from his civil duties to become an apostle of our Lord. Despised as tax collectors were, his selection was accompanied by no small amount of controversy – at least on the part of some who questioned Jesus’ approach to ministry.

His apostolic activity after Pentecost was at first restricted to the communities of Palestine. Nothing definite is known about his later life. There is a tradition that points to Ethiopia as his field of labor; other traditions mention of Parthia and Persia. It is uncertain whether he died a natural death or received the crown of martyrdom.

Matthew’s Gospel is written from a strongly Jewish viewpoint, and may well have originally been written in Aramaic, the common Semitic dialect of Palestine during Jesus’ lifetime.

COLLECT
We thank you, heavenly Father, for the witness of your apostle and evangelist Matthew to the Gospel of your Son our Savior; and we pray that, following his example, we may with ready wills and hearts obey the calling of to follow our Lord Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

READINGS
Ezekiel 2:8 – 3:11
Psalm 119a
Ephesians 2: 4-10
Matthew 9: 9-13

Scripture Readings for the Lord’s Day from the Provisional Book of Common Prayer RESA:

Deuteronomy 4:1-9
Psalm 119:97-104
James 1:17-27
Mark 7:1-23

In our Gospel reading today, our Lord ignores a trivial complaint, unfolds the self-deceptions of our legalism and man-made “spirituality”, and identifies our ultimate problem – our sinful hearts. In our last three Lord’s Days, John 6 has reminded us of the absolute necessity of our union with Christ to translate us from death to life, from ‘in Adam’ to ‘in Christ’, from darkness to light, and from death to life itself because He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

As Jesus’ ministry threatens the power of the establishment leaders and they cannot dispute that true miracles have been done, experts from Jerusalem are seemingly brought in to consult how best to halt our Lord’s progress and make clear how He and His ministry cannot be of God. So they attack the disciples for failing at the point of failing to comply with one of a myriad of traditions that had been created to help the people of God obey God’s law but which had become a law unto themselves… and a system, Jesus shows, that helped corrupt hearts evade the intent of God’s Law.

The real issue is their pseudo-spirituality and pretense of godliness when their hearts are wicked. They want to appear pious. Jesus condemns them because they rejoice in practices like the practice of “Corban” which let them evade God’s will while deluding themselves and others about their hearts’ true condition. Corban was the practice of giving something to God to be held in trust. Resources that might have been used to obey the command to help frail parents were enjoyed by children instead under the pretense of Corban.

The problem is not ultimately the food from outside. In light of Christ, we realize that all food is “clean” in the sense that it cannot truly defile the soul. These “traditions” are but a symptom of our true problem – that our hearts, to paraphrase Calvin, into factories which ceaselessly generate idols. We are corrupted from the inside out and straining at gnats while swallowing camels is our favorite method for denying our corruption and seeking to look good. The world’s greatest modern thief, Bernie Madoff, was known before his arrest as a “generous philanthropist”. Like him we are thieves with smiles pretending our good will before God. Our only hope is to be incorporated into Christ as Question & Answer 20 of the Heidelberg Catechism remind us: Our need is not for a change of opinion or for new mental furniture. Our need is to be grafted into Christ and to receive his benefits! Jesus Christ is the only cure for the sickness of our sick hearts. We must be delivered by the One whom God has appointed to be for us our wisdom, righteousness (justification), sanctification and redemption (1 Cor 1:30). Luther’s Small Catechism makes the same point in its discussion of the sacrament of initiation into Christ, baptism, when it says: What does such baptizing with water signify?–Answer. It signifies that the old Adam in us should, by daily contrition and repentance, be drowned and die with all sins and evil lusts, and, again, a new man daily come forth and arise; who shall live before God in righteousness and purity forever.

This amazing transformation is beyond our power. It comes only from the One who has died for sinners, risen to the Father’s right hand, and poured out His Holy Spirit to fit a people for eternal life. When confronted with the corruption of our hearts, when our deceitful legalisms are exposed for what they are, and when all human hope is lost – we are, by the grace of God, finally ready to receive Him who is all mercy and grace, the One able to transform us and give us eternal life, Jesus the Christ.

Here’s an audio version of this sermon as preached at St. Andrew’s Church

Why would an ecclesiastical community bearing names like reformed and evangelical seek to practice the historic episcopate? Isn’t that Roman Catholic? In a new article available on our resource page, Father Robert Lyons, a presbyter of our Synod, explores the meaning of the historic episcopate in our fellowship.

You may directly link to this resource by following this link.

Januarius, the bishop of Naples, died in 305 during the Diocletian persecution. He was imprisoned while visiting incarcerated deacons at the sulphur mines of Puteoli. After many tortures, including being thrown to lions in the town’s Amphitheater, he was beheaded at Solfatara, along with his companions, including the deacon Festus, the lector Sossus, and his friends Proculus, Acuitus, and Euticius.

COLLECT
Almighty and everlasting God, you planted in the hearts of Januarius and his companions a burden for those imprisoned on account of your Son’s holy name. Grant us a deep awareness of the suffering of our brothers and sisters who are in chains on account of their faith, and, if it be your blessed will, lead us to engage in works which may encourage them in their suffering – even when such works may require us to sacrifice our freedom or our lives. We ask this through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

The Vincentian Canon discusses what we call the Consensus Fidelium or the “Consensus of Faithful Christians”. It refers to what has been believed by the large body of Christians in all places and at all times. Defining that is not an exact science but the task has it’s benefits in my opinion.

In our era, the American Church is primarily known for it’s herd mentality and penchant for following the latest fads. To some, the word “Evangelical” means “the church of what’s happening now” – a full dose of zeitgeist covered with a thin scriptural veneer to attempt religious respectability. The emphasis, however, is on doing what we feel is right.

A body – synod or congregation – heeding the consensus fidelium will take a different tack. They will ask “what is essentially Christian?” and to derive their answer they will begin with the study of scripture but seek to check their conclusions against the conclusions of others whom the Holy Spirit has called before us to the task of discerning God’s will. In our age that’s so suspicious of the “traditions of men” (our own favorite mindless traditions excluded of course!), seeking to learn the consensus fidelium on a matter is nothing other than a form of “historical and transcultural humility”.

Thomas Oden’s Systematic Theology “Classic Christianity” is helpful in that regard. A former worshiper of every innovation however destructive offered by “progressive Christianity”, he was converted to “paleo orthodoxy” when his experiments with theology left him cold. His advice?

“What I needed to do was listen. But I could not listen because I found my modern presuppositions constantly tyrannizing my listening. I realized that I must listen intently, actively, without reservation. Listen in such a way that my whole life depended upon hearing. Listen in such a way that I could see telescopically beyond my modern myopia, to break through walls of my modern prison, and actually hear voices from the past with different assumptions entirely about the world and time and human culture. Then I began reading the decisions of the ancient Ecumenical Councils. Only then in my forties did I begin to become a theologian.”

The day for theological experimentation at the expense of human souls is over. The day for theological restatement and the reinvigoration of the life of the Church is upon us. Our text is, of course, the whole of Holy Scripture. But with a new historical humility, our pathway to the prophetic word of the hour is through the central tradition of the Church and consistent with the prophetic word before. The day for engagement in mission is upon us as well. It is here that experimentation is called for as we seize the day and live out the Word of God afresh, yet in a way consistent with the consensus fidelium. In the first century, Christians did so by rescuing infants left to die from exposure and wild animals. In this century, Christians may accomplish the same thing by embracing in any number of ways those facing unexpected pregnancies. The times have changed but the calling remains the same.

As Reformed and Evangelical people, we emerge from the Reformation and cherish its affirmation of the “five solas”. Embracing the heritage of the Reformation is not a calling distinct from pursuing the consensus fidelium. In an age when some consider anything resembling a “denominational” term passe, we embrace the name. We recognize that our fathers in the faith affirmed these “solas” precisely because they were confronted by a schismatic hegemony that had seriously compromised the testimony of the Body of Christ. How? By departing from the ancient consensus fidelium! In pursuing a faithful restatement of the Reformed, Evangelical, Protestant, and, yes, Catholic faith for today we simply live our our calling as Reformed and Evangelical people. Because our roots run deep into history and through the historic church, that means we likewise pursue the consensus fidelium. Will you join us as we do?