Sermon for May 29 and 30, 1999
Pentecost 1, Year A
The following
are the Scripture readings as scheduled in the "Revised Common
Lectionary," an ecumenical schedule of readings of Holy Scripture. Our
sermons are based on these readings.
Genesis
1:1-2:4a
Trinity Sunday, First Sunday after Pentecost, (Year A)
1:1 In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth,
1:2 the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep,
while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters.
1:3 Then God said, "Let there be light"; and there was light.
1:4 And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the
darkness.
1:5 God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was
evening and there was morning, the first day.
1:6 And God said, "Let there be a dome in the midst of the waters, and let
it separate the waters from the waters."
1:7 So God made the dome and separated the waters that were under the dome from
the waters that were above the dome. And it was so.
1:8 God called the dome Sky. And there was evening and there was morning, the
second day.
1:9 And God said, "Let the waters under the sky be gathered together into
one place, and let the dry land appear." And it was so.
1:10 God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together
he called Seas. And God saw that it was good.
1:11 Then God said, "Let the earth put forth vegetation: plants yielding
seed, and fruit trees of every kind on earth that bear fruit with the seed in
it." And it was so.
1:12 The earth brought forth vegetation: plants yielding seed of every kind,
and trees of every kind bearing fruit with the seed in it. And God saw that it
was good.
1:13 And there was evening and there was morning, the third day.
1:14 And God said, "Let there be lights in the dome of the sky to separate
the day from the night; and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days
and years,
1:15 and let them be lights in the dome of the sky to give light upon the
earth." And it was so.
1:16 God made the two great lights--the greater light to rule the day and the
lesser light to rule the night--and the stars.
1:17 God set them in the dome of the sky to give light upon the earth,
1:18 to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from
the darkness. And God saw that it was good.
1:19 And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day.
1:20 And God said, "Let the waters bring forth swarms of living creatures,
and let birds fly above the earth across the dome of the sky."
1:21 So God created the great sea monsters and every living creature that
moves, of every kind, with which the waters swarm, and every winged bird of
every kind. And God saw that it was good.
1:22 God blessed them, saying, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the
waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth."
1:23 And there was evening and there was morning, the fifth day.
1:24 And God said, "Let the earth bring forth living creatures of every
kind: cattle and creeping things and wild animals of the earth of every
kind." And it was so.
1:25 God made the wild animals of the earth of every kind, and the cattle of
every kind, and everything that creeps upon the ground of every kind. And God
saw that it was good.
1:26 Then God said, "Let us make humankind in our image, according to our
likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the
birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the wild animals of the
earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth."
1:27 So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created
them; male and female he created them.
1:28 God blessed them, and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply,
and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea
and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the
earth."
1:29 God said, "See, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is
upon the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit; you
shall have them for food.
1:30 And to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the air, and to
everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I
have given every green plant for food." And it was so.
1:31 God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good. And
there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.
2:1 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all their multitude.
2:2 And on the seventh day God finished the work that he had done, and he
rested on the seventh day from all the work that he had done.
2:3 So God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it, because on it God rested
from all the work that he had done in creation.
2:4 These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were
created.
This is the Word Of The Lord; Thanks Be To God.
Psalm 8
Trinity Sunday, (First Sunday after Pentecost), (Year A)
8:1 O LORD, our Sovereign, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have
set your glory above the heavens.
8:2 Out of the mouths of babes and infants you have founded a bulwark because
of your foes, to silence the enemy and the avenger.
8:3 When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the
stars that you have established;
8:4 what are human beings that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care
for them?
8:5 Yet you have made them a little lower than God, and crowned them with glory
and honor.
8:6 You have given them dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all
things under their feet,
8:7 all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field,
8:8 the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the
paths of the seas.
8:9 O LORD, our Sovereign, how majestic is your name in all the earth!
2 Corinthians 13:11-13
Trinity Sunday, (First Sunday after Pentecost), (Year A)
13:11 Finally, brothers and sisters, farewell. Put things in order, listen to
my appeal, agree with one another, live in peace; and the God of love and peace
will be with you.
13:12 Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the saints greet you.
13:13 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of
the Holy Spirit be with all of you.
This is the Word Of The Lord; Thanks Be To God.
Matthew
28:16-20
Proper 5 (10), (Year A)
28:16 Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus
had directed them.
28:17 When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted.
28:18 And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on
earth has been given to me.
28:19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the
name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
28:20 and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And
remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age."
Reader: This is the Gospel of the Lord; Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
Brother Benedict, Sermon 176
Pentecost 1A, 1999
Genesis 1:1-2:4a
Psalm 8
2 Corinthians 13:11-13
Matthew 28:16-20
This week we celebrate yet another Doctrine of Faith, Trinity Sunday. Perhaps
placing this celebration the week after Pentecost may be to help us realize the
tremendous gift we have in the fullness of the Divine Trinity living with us
and living in us. There is no greater gift to humanity than Divine presence.
God is with you, Christ is with you, and the Holy Spirit is with you. What else
could we possibly need?
The Gospel reading today is Matthew 28:16-20. These verses have often been
named "The Great Commission." Ray Of Hope Church was once asked by
our former District Coordinator what our commission was, what our mission was.
We wrote back and said we were not aware of any more appropriate commissioning
or mission statement than the "Great Commission" found in Matthew 28.
We wrote back and said our whole purpose was related to that section of Scripture
in one way or another. Today I read those verses and something else jumps out
at me. Today I am moved by the words of Jesus; "All authority in heaven
and earth has been given to me." (Matt. 28:18)
All authority.... I want to stop and invite you drink in the deep, eternal
meaning of that concept. All authority has been given to Jesus. Our world is
constantly defining authority. People are constantly seeking authority and
power. We look for power and authority in military strength, economic strength,
political strength, intellectual strength, professional achievement, and many
other ways. In many ways some people define the success of their lives by how
much power, ownership, and control over their own situation they were able to
achieve.
Satan is always imitating God, and God’s plan for us. The examples I just gave
of the world’s definition of authority are all corruptible, all fading away,
all wilt with the passage of time. Military strength, economic strength,
political strength, intellectual strength, professional achievement, and the
other endless examples we could list, are very, very fragile. There is nothing
permanent about any of them. While God may help us achieve some of these
examples of worldly authority, it would only be in cooperation with God’s desire
for us in the first place.
So is there an authority that is not corruptible? Is there an authority that is
always trustworthy, always truthful, always interested in our well-being? Yes
there is.
Our glorious and fully resurrected Lord Jesus Christ, the Only Begotten Son of
God, Jesus the only way to reconciliation with God for humanity. God did not
give some authority to Jesus. God did not share authority between
Jesus and some other person. In fact God gave all authority to Christ.
This is awesome and difficult for us to perceive. Our frantic search for
authority, security, peace of mind, stability, and direction reaches its
conclusion in Christ.
Christ accomplished our reconciliation to God. Having done the greatest
missionary effort of all time successfully, God turned over all the authority
of the universe to Jesus. Realize how close we are then to the wisdom of God,
the mind of God, the heart of God, the way of God. All we need is ask and God
is as close to us as Christ is to us.
How close is Christ to us? In His own words today in the Gospel, we read;
"I am with you always, to the end of the age." (Matt. 28:20) We are
not alone, we are not left to wander and wonder where we are, who we are, or
what we are doing. We are the Ambassadors of Christ. We are sent to this world,
this region of Central New York, at this time to tell these people about this
Gospel, this Christ, this God, this Way, this eternal life, this universal plan
for all creation. It is Christ Himself who compels us to continually proclaim
the tremendous plan of God for creation.
The reason Jesus sends us out to baptize all nations in the Name of the Father,
and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit is God knows the only way to survive the
challenge of sin is through total saturation into the person, into the real
presence of God. Sin exhausts the natural body. Tension, stress, failure,
injury, meanness, jealousy, selfishness, etc. Are all exhausting on our bodies.
Satan is determined to wear us down through sin, grief, fatigue, and failure.
Satan is convincing our society that we are innately, intrinsically lonely,
abandoned, wicked to the core, desirous of violence, destined for poverty,
rejected; Satan is convincing society that this is Hell on earth. Why do so
many in society lack self-esteem? Why are our elderly cast aside and made to
feel completely alone, useless, worthless? Why are our streets filling up with
more unemployed people? Why are our children learning less and less in schools
and truancy on the increase everywhere? Where are they going when they leave
the school building during the day? Why is there a new teenage pregnancy, which
also usually means outside of marriage, every thirty seconds in America? Why
are kids shooting kids? Why is unprotected sex on the rise with our teens and
college age people? Why is it our teens do not realize a person does not become
pregnant unless they are engaging in sexual practices are the highest risk of
HIV infection? Why are suffering the increase of hate crimes? Why are so many
people pretending to be Christian so that they can manipulate the words of the
Holy Bible for their personal campaign of hatred towards every person who is
different than themselves? Why do leaders in the so-called churches cooperate
with non-spiritual people in pursuit of money, power, worldly greed and worldly
status? Why does the Church of Jesus Christ decrease in membership on a daily
and even an hourly basis?
Could it be because we have not recognized who is in charge? Could it be
related to our failing to accept the authority of God in our lives? God gave
Christ all authority. Could our problems, all of them, be related to our
failure to place ourselves under the appointed authority of God, Jesus Christ?
If Christ has been given all authority, there is no authority apart from Him.
He is the seat of all wisdom, all knowledge, all goodness, all esteem, He is
God’s vessel of everything that is God’s Will. Jesus expressed this Doctrine
when He said: "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the
Father except by me." (John 8:12) The Christ whom God invested with all
authority in heaven and earth said that! How dare we take any other position
than Amen, I will obey.
In the Thursday night Bible study we were discussing how obedience follows the
love of true faith. One wants to obey out of love for Christ. Our faith in
Christ sets our hearts on fire and then we want to please God, we want to do
God’s Will, we want to obey the Will of God, we do not want to sadden the Holy
Spirit. We do not want to break the heart of God. We have indescribable desire
to follow the plan of God and place ourselves happily under God’s authority.
Once a person is Spirit-filled we have a burning love that compels us to seek
out the authority of God over our lives.
If we stop and momentarily consider people we know who are not believers, who
are not born again in the Holy Spirit, they also do not seek God’s authority in
their lives. So many people outwardly reject the covering of Christ’s God-given
authority in their lives. So many will boldly declare that Jesus is nothing to
them. When a person takes this position they are wandering through life without
the owner’s manual!
Aimless wandering seems to be overtaking our society by ever increasing numbers
of people. People seem to have fewer and fewer goals. The answer is turn to
Jesus because He alone has the authority over all creation.
The ever-present Christ calls us to love as He loves, to respect as He
respects, to do the same works He does and even greater ones. What does this call
us to in reference to the created planet we love on?
All of creation belongs to God and for that reason alone deserves our total and
utmost respect. We reject the concept of human superiority that supposedly
gives the human race divine permission to use and abuse the planet bringing
about its eventual destruction. All of God’s creation shares with us the Divine
Presence of the Trinity. Therefore, all of creation should be reverenced and
respected in such a was as is fitting for any gift from God.
This respect for all created things brings our brief thoughts on these readings
to a close. In the second reading Paul is teaching his congregation with
admonition to them for right behavior. He wrote; ".. agree with one
another, live in peace, and the God of love and peace will be with you. Greet
one another with a holy kiss..." (1 Cor. 13:11-13) Being under the
authority of God in Christ, we are expected to live in the world as witnesses
to God’s plan for humanity. When there is fighting in the Church there is
injury to the Body of Christ. When there is dishonesty, and all the other
typical sins we see in church and society, there is no life, only death. Paul
is exhorting the Church to be the example to society by showing society how
humanity should be living in harmony with each other, harmony with creation,
and harmony with the One Triune God.
As this season of Pentecost begins we are asking everyone to spend time alone
with God in prayer. Express your desire to be obedient to the authority of God
made known in Christ. Expect a season of growth. Expect to develop a desire for
obedience, a desire for discipline. Expect results from the Holy Spirit in your
lives. Then, once firmly under the total authority of God, ask God for
understanding so that you can know the Will Of God and accept full authority
from God in your life. This will give each of us such perfect peace of mind,
solid self-esteem, firm sense of direction, and the desire to carry out the
Great Commission, to immerse everyone we know in the Real Presence of Christ,
the Way, the Truth and the Life.
. May Almighty God bless all of us, in the Name of the Father, the Son, and the
Holy Spirit, Amen.
