Sermon X

Sermon for Trinity X

The readings today paint a picture, of many people today, within and outside the church.

With The Collect telling us that we are to 

“ask such things as shall please the Lord.

What do we, – you and I -, daily ask of God?

Are they things to satisfy our Will and Desires?

Or do we ask for His Will to be done?

This is fundamental to our Faith for we do pray “Thy Will Be Done.”

But often we live our lives seeking an allusion of things of “our Will.”

If we put not our Lord first, then our prayers are in vain; 

and actually sinful if we pray to God with lying lips.

If we seek not our Lord first, then what are we seeking?

Paul suggests that we will end up seeking and being carried away by dumb idols.

Things of our pleasures and of our wants.

Idols, which we told not to make, we end up not only making, but following.

Whether they be our work, our fun, our pleasure, our car, or an addiction.

Thus we end up following not what God desires; but, our own desires – often contrary to God’s laws.

This is the slippery slope, 

that so many walk, and often slip upon.

A slipping away from God occurs as we first 

Walk in the counsel (with) the ungodly,

And then we proudly Stand with sinners,

And then comfortably Sit with them amidst our newly found sinful nature.

This fact are we told, in the very first verse, Of the very first psalm.

So what happens when a people, or a nation, puts its desires above God’s desires, 

and what are the consequences?

Those who have ears, let them hear, 

and those with eyes,  let them see.

For Jesus speaks this morning of the consequences of our disobedience of His words:

So, listen and hear His Words,

as He laments over the city of His people, Jerusalem.

“AND when he was come near, 

he beheld the city, 

and wept over it, saying, 

If thou hadst known, 

even thou, 

at least in this thy day, 

the things which belong unto thy peace! 

but now they are hid from thine eyes.”

For His people had heard with their ears

And they had seen with their eyes.

How about us.

Do we see and hear or

Does Jesus have to weep over us, which I am sure He does, before we hear and see?

It was we We who caused him to suffer His Passion and Die His upon the Cross,

It is as if many today, around the world and within our nation who are trying to make him weep over us as we deny His Love once again?

History, yes history is important, for we are told what happened to the last people for whom He wept.

Their outcome was total and complete destruction.

Is that what we now demand – our complete and total destruction?  If we ask, He will give us what we desire.

These times are like times past, a war between good and evil.

We all must take our blinders off, and see His love.  

We must not deny Him, but rather invite Him into our Hearts 

and only then we will begin to see and hear the truth.

A hardened Heart is as a wall that will keep Him at a distance as we begin to distance ourselves from our Creator.

My brothers and sisters, as Christians we must always seek the Hope of His Glory which is only found in His ways and in His words.

If not, we like those in Jerusalem, will knowest not, 

We, like them, will miss the time of His visitation.

God is here with us today – His visitation is right in the midst of us.

In this world of tribulation, a time of apostasy, a renunciation, of the Christian faith,

The Church, and each one of us, must regain the Faith of our Fathers.

A time where right and wrong was understood as good and evil, of darkness and light.

A time where our laws reflect His laws.

A time where we stand as a Christian Family, not divided but united as one people. 

A people of many tongues, colors, nationalities, and yet a people of one flock, 

Whose One King who seats upon His Throne in Heaven with His enemies under His Footstool.

Jesus said “My house is the house of prayer: but ye have made it a den of thieves.”

This was the sin of His people, and we must never follow those who lead us astray from His Church’s foundation.

Those who strive to split His people by this dogma or that, 

Those who try to interfere with the Church’s mission trying to prevent its assembly together, do so at a great risk 

For it is His people whom yearn to partake of the  Love within His Church 

and of Her Sacraments.

So, do so, come and kneel before your Saviour 

and eat of His Body and drink of His Blood.

Let Him feed you and refresh you as you to come unto Him devoutly kneeling and confessing your sins.

If we do so, He will come unto us and and teach us and lead us daily within His house of prayer.

Let this time of chaos and uncertainty in which we are living become a time of His refreshing of our heart, soul, and mind.

Let us stand together as His people under His Kingship and no other.  

Let us see with His eyes, not ours, and act with His mind and our hands.

Let us do His work and not the work of this sinful world.