The Episcopal Church of the Incarnation
The Sixth Sunday after Pentecost [Proper 7](A)
Genesis 21.8-21
Psalm 86.1-10, 16-17 Romans
6.1b-11 Matthew 10.24-39
May the Lord be in my mind, on my lips, and in my heart, that
I may rightly and truly proclaim His holy Word. Amen.
Outline of a
Sermon Delivered Extemporaneously
1) “Gentle Jesus, meek and mild.” NOT!
a) Consider what our Lord teaches in today’s Gospel:
i) Denying Jesus in this world will lead to our being denied before the Father.
(1) Which leads to the destruction of both the body and soul in Hell.
ii) Our Lord has come not to bring peace, but a sword; even to set the dearest family relationships aside.
(1) Those who may oppose our testimony to the Lord may include our own dearest kin.
iii) We must take up the cross to follow Jesus, failing which we are not worthy of Him.
b) Does any of this sound “meek and mild” or just part of the “Golden Rule” of loving others?
2) There’s no way to soft-peddle this. Denying that Jesus is Lord is to imperil our very souls to damnation.
a) There’s no way to soft-peddle this, but soft-peddling is exactly what we have done for many years in the Church.
i) We have made the faith more about how we feel and less about what we believe and what we do about that belief.
3) Let’s focus first on how we testify that Jesus is Lord, before we worry about the dimensions of denial.
a) We testify by word and by action.
i) We testify by word when we tell others why we believe in God, and why they should.
(1) Which means we need to know more about our faith, to be able to answer questions and attacks.
ii) We testify by action when we are seen to do God’s work:
(1) When we are seen to gather in worship in our Lord’s Name.
(2) When we are seen to refrain from evil.
(3) When we are seen to seek and serve Christ in all persons.
b) In other words, we are seen to “acknowledge [Jesus] before all men”.
4) What about denial? Well, overt denial is common enough in our world, but not common amongst those who gather on Sunday’s to offer praise and thanksgiving to God.
a) You don’t come to church on a Sunday of your own will if you say in your heart that Jesus in not Lord.
b) Denial is much more subtle, and in its subtlety it leads to division within church families and blood families.
i) Denial involves drawing a distinction in our minds between the idea of God and the idea of Jesus as a teacher.
5) Jesus is very much a teacher; He very much instructs us in how to live.
a) But the risen Lord is much, much more than a teacher of right-living.
b) As disciples (“learners”) we are to be life-long students of Jesus.
i) But where a student normally learns what there is to be learned from a teacher and then moves on to another teacher or subject, we are not to move on, for “a disciple is not above his teacher”.
(1) Discipleship is life-long.
(2) Discipleship involves relationship; it involves:
(a) Knowing the Lord and doing His will.
(b) Not just learning.
(c) In other words, both trust and assent, the two sides of faith.
(3) And when we know our Lord and do His will we do not pick and choose what we like in His teaching, and ignore the rest.
6) You see, if we make Jesus just a teacher, we say that there is some other standard by which we may establish whether or not to follow any given aspect of His teaching.
a) A standard other than recognizing His authority as Lord.
i) I.e., a standard which denies Jesus as Lord.
b) And this doesn’t even make sense, logically:
i) For either Jesus was and is God, or He was a fraud or a lunatic.
(1) If He was and is God, we very much will want to pay attention to what He commands.
(2) And if He was a fraud or lunatic, why should we pay any attention to what He had to say?
7) You see, we can’t just say, “I like what Jesus has to teach about loving others,” and then ignore what He has to teach about salvation and damnation.
a) When we pick and choose our only real criterion is what suits us and pleases us.
i) Which ignores the teaching “... whoever does not take up his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.”
ii) Which ignores: “He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for my sake will find it.”
(1) A disciple is not above his teacher.
(2) As disciples we testify that Jesus is Lord.
(a) Which means that we are to treat Him as Lord (to trust in Him) and to assent to–not to pick from–His Holy Word.
8) Discussion of GAFCON and Lambeth Conference issues and developments, and closing prayer.
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.