Episode 12: Four Marks of Biblical Faith in Acts 2:42

Andrewes discusses the various imaginations which have led men and women to stray from the positive, outward forms of worship approved by God.

June 11, 2024

Sermon II of Lancelot Andrewes Preached at Sundry Times upon Several Occasions

Preached in the Parish of St. Giles, Cripplegate on January 9, 1592.

Copies can be found in Lancelot Andrewes Works,

Sermons, Volume Five, or on The Project Canterbury Website.

Summary:

      Andrewes highlights a variety of ways we can be tempted to stray to the right or to the left (cf.Deut.17:11) of the biblical, historical model of Faith as handed down by the Apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in the breaking of bread and the prayers, opting rather for more attractive models produced by man’s fancy and imagination.

1. Introduction: The Biblical Model and The Origins of Contrary Imaginations

1. Biblical Worship in Acts 2:42 involved:

1. The Apostles’ Doctrine

1. Salvation is neither a system of legalism or licentiousness

1. The Apostles’ Doctrine is meant to bring us into the Apostles’ Fellowship

1. It’s the primary mark of the Apostles’ Fellowship to be practiced regularly

1. Invocation is the primary habit of those in the Apostles’ Fellowship

1. Inspiration comes from the Devil to stray outside the bounds of revelation. St. Augustine, “The devil, seeing the temples of the demons deserted, and the human race running to the name of the liberating Mediator, has moved the heretics under the Christian name to resist the Christian doctrine” (City of God, Ch.51).

1. Pharisees & Sadducees (16:12)

1. Simon Magus (a converted heathen philosopher),

1. The first heretic

1. Dualism of Spirit and Matter: Only inner Spirit matters, bodily sins do not

1. Dualism of Good/Light/God and Evil/Dark/Satan

1. Man’s will is completely free and able to keep God’s Law

1. Ebion (Acts 15)

1. 2nd heretic behind Simon Magus for “adoptionism” (Jesus is Son of God by adoption)

1. Perversions of the Apostles’ Doctrine (both its matter/substance, and its manner/ceremony)

1. Nicolas (Rev.2:6) & Carpocrates – attacked foundation

1. “Carnal-Gospellers” who say there is no need for “repentance” or faithfulness as long as a person believed the Gospel.

1. “Strict livers”/“civil Christians” who say “faith” is not mandatory

1. Cathari imagined that biblical worship involved being pure to the discipline and exact pattern of the Apostles

1. Keeping for example, love-feasts after the Sacrament, and

1. Some say no ceremony while others say every ceremony

1. Women covering heads (11:5)

1. Dumbed Down – no Latin or Greek, or need to think

1. Jesus instituted its Government to be of two Degrees (Andrewes expounds on this more in his A Summary View of The Government Both of The Old and New Testament: whereby The Episcopal Government of Christ’s Church is Vindicated):

1. The 12 (Apostles, now succeeded by bishops), and

1. They use 1Corinthians 12:28 (apostles, prophets, and teachers)

1. While St. Chrysostom maintained that some Priest/Elders/ Presbyters should only baptize while others taught, yet neither he, nor those before him, ever mention lay-elders as pastors and elders. He says, “For preaching the Gospel is a work perhaps for one or two; but baptizing, for everyone endowed with the priesthood… we commit this matter to the simpler sort of presbyters, but the word of doctrine unto the wiser… Wherefore [Paul] says himself (5:17), ‘Let the Elders who rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially they who labor in the word and in teaching.’” (St. Chrysostom on 1Corinthians 1:17)

1. Imaginations of the Church of Rome

1. In his day, some in the Church of Rome would omit the “fracture” contrary to 1Corinthians 10:16-18 where the Eucharist is essentially equated with the “peace-offering.”

1. Although Scripture says it is for covenant renewal (23:20)

1. Jesus’ command to the rich, you ruler: “Give to the poor” (10:21)

1. Some imagine it ought only to be done annually, whereas the Primitive Church did it 1 to 3 times a week.

1. Some imagine no need to use the “Our Father” although Jesus commanded it (Matt.6:9-13), and even St. Augustine said that the universal Church had always used it to begin and end her prayers.

1. No need to pray with the mind (14:14-15) but simply say the Latin prayers, or unmindfully recite rosaries and pray who psalters.

1. Finding fault with any liturgy, they opt for extemporaneous prayers, which still can be as unfruitful as Latin prayers

1. We will spend eternity with the one whose imaginations we follow: either God’s or rebel-man

1. Zion is ordered by God, and man there abides by His wishes.

Music & Sound Attributions:

Music in this episode by Blue Dot Sessions “Lost Shoe” (www.sessions.blue). Sounds used are as follows: “Beer Can Opening” recorded by Mike Koening found at (http://soundbible.com/216-Beer-Can-Opening.html) and “Pouring Drink” recorded by Mike Koenig found at (http://soundbible.com/2115-Pouring-Drink.html).

Who is this that cometh from Edom in Isaiah 63:1-3

Andrewes on the victorious return of Jesus, the blood-stained warrior, from His conquest against demons, death, and Hell on Resurrection Sunday.

July 19, 2022

Sermon XVII of Lancelot Andrewes’ Sermons on The Resurrection Preached upon Easter-Day before King James at Whitehall on April 13, 1623.

Copies can be found in Lancelot Andrewes Works, Sermons, Volume Three, or on The Project Canterbury Website.

Summary:

      Andrewes uses the imagery of winepresses in Isaiah 63:1-3 to, first, speak about Christ’s victory over the kingdom of demons and death (Edom), along with its capital city, Hell (Bozrah), by His Passion and Resurrection, and, then, to emphasize the benefits that Christ offers to His people who accept the great exchange He won – namely that of “God becoming man so man can be able to become god,” or in theological terms: man’s deification (qewsiV, theosis) by grace.

1. Introductory Remarks about Isaiah 63:1-3

1. Philip could have just as easily used this passage to teach the Ethiopian Eunuch about Christ

1. Isaiah 53:7-8 teaches about Jesus’ Passion (cf.Act.8:26-40)

1. Immediately before it, in Isa.62:11, we are told “Behold, here comes your savior,” and our passage says, “Who is this who comes?”

1. He was not left in hell (Ps.16:10) – in Bozrah

1. The Prophet asks, “Who is this?” And Christ answers:

1. The one who “speaks righteousness”

1. The winepress of redemption: “I have trodden alone”

1. The person responds that He had a conquest in Edom and a victory in Bozrah

1. As Jesus was never in Bozrah physically, we must look to the spiritual meaning and fulfilment (compare spiritual Sodom and Egypt where Jesus was crucified, Rev.11:8)

1. Historically, it was known for its notoriously wicked people who the LORD always had anger toward (cf.Mal.1:4)

1. As the strongest hold and city of the Kingdom of Edom

1. Geographically David conquered historical Edom and Bozrah

1. He did this in His Crucifixion, Death, and Resurrection

1. Both titles are fulfilled by Christ as the one who subdues and treads down death, hell, and all the powers of Satan.

1. His Word is truth

1. His work is salvation

1. The Radical Image of Yahweh drench in blood

1. If He is so mighty why are his garments red? Covered in blood.

1. “The poetry portrays Yahweh not as a triumphant gloating warrior, swaggering back from battle, unmoved by the enormity of what he has had to do, but as tiered and bloodstained, barely recognizable, as someone who knows what it is to suffer” (John Sawyer, “Radical Images of Yahweh in Isaiah 63,” JSOT supplement series 144, JSOT Press, 1993, p.80)

1. The First Press when the True Vine was pressed on our behalf to remove the cup of death and to offer us the Cup of the New Testament in His Blood.

1. At Gethsemane sweating blood

1. Blood from the lamb slain

1. The lamb slain wearing His own blood

1. He was forsaken even by his disciples and left alone

1. The Great Exchange: He that is most naturally associated with white, became red in order that we might become white.

1. Speaker of Righteousness: the color for doctors and priests

1. Only the Mighty to Save could tread down the enemies

1. The Two presses of Christ (the one for us and the other for the enemies) have happened, but the Third Winepress of the Day of the Lord is still to come.

1. Those who hear the voice of the One Speaking Righteousness

A Word about the word “hell”

      Typically, when preachers or evangelist today speak about “hell,” they describe something far more closely related to the “lake of fire” mentioned in the Book of Revelation (see Rev.21:14-15), instead of anything the Bible calls “hell.” So, consequently, when we hear that Jesus descended into “hell” our imaginations often visualize Him entering a place much different than what the Bible describes. So, often times, when discussing Jesus’ descent, debellation, and harrowing of “hell,” it can be helpful to look up the actual Biblical words, which we use the English word “hell” to translate. They are:

• “Gehenna” (the “place of burning” where children were sacrificed by passing through the fire, and a later-day garbage heap, in the Valley of Hinnom) – see 2Kng.23:10; Jer.7:32; Mrk.9:42-48; Matt.10:28

And while the Bible does not refer to it as “hell,” but since we have already mentioned it:

• “The Lake of Fire” (experienced at the second death and is the place which was originally prepared for the Devil and all his angels) – see Matt.25:41; and again Rev.21:14-15

For when we do this, we can see how the Bible clearly, or at least poetically, describes roughly four different places, yet in our imagination, we often hear only one location, which we call “hell.” Furthermore, this is complicated by the fact that we then attach our definition of “hell” (i.e., “the place of final retribution for the unrepentant”) to each of these Biblical references.

      Now, if we come to the Bible and hear it on its terms, we see that when Jesus was put to death (the First Winepress) he was made alive in the spirit (for the Second Winepress) whereupon He descended into Sheol/Hades(cf.1Pet.3:18; Ps.16:10; Act.2:27-31). Once there, 1st His Presence made Sheol/Hades into Paradise for St. Dismas, the penitent thief (cf.Lk.23:43), and all others who have, or will, die loving the Lord (cf.2Cor.5:6-8; Phil.1:21-23; Ps.139:8). 2nd In line with that, He thus brought His people out of the experience of Sheol/Hades – those in Abraham’s bosom, if you will – into His Paradise completing the perfection begun in the spirits of the Old Testament faithful (cf.Heb.12:23), all of which we now refer to as the “Harrowing of Hell.” Then, finally, 3rd He went into the deepest part of the underworld, Tartarus, and made proclamation of His victory over all the plots and ploys of the fallen angels who tried to destroy His creation with forbidden wisdom and demonic offspring (cf.1Pet.3:19). With that work completed, He then rose again from the dead by a bodily resurrection.

      “But,” you might still be asking, “what about those who die now, on this side of Jesus’ death, burial, descent, and resurrection?” Well, it all boils down to whether or not a person believes the Gospel of the Kingdom and discovers that God is as good as Jesus demonstrated Him to be. If they do, this naturally changes the directory of their lives as God increasingly becomes their greatest treasure and they long to be in His unfiltered presence. Upon death, they will be usured into the paradise of God’s presence in heaven where they will be preserved, perfected, and made to participate in the continued establishment of the coming kingdom, which upon completion they will be bodily resurrected to work and keep the new earth under the new heavens. As for those who do not come to believe the Gospel and therefore never develop a love and desire for God, He will allow them to exist in the place furthest from His presence where they will continue in their anger and sadness (“weeping and gnashing their teeth”) toward Him. However, when God’s kingdom is fully established on earth, they too will experience the resurrection, but only into the second death – The Lake of Fire.

Music & Sound Attributions:

Music in this episode by Blue Dot Sessions “Lost Shoe” (www.sessions.blue). Sounds used are as follows: “Beer Can Opening” recorded by Mike Koening found at (http://soundbible.com/216-Beer-Can-Opening.html) and “Pouring Drink” recorded by Mike Koenig found at (http://soundbible.com/2115-Pouring-Drink.html).

When we are not drinking brews with Andrewes and discussing his sermons, we are often preaching ourselves. Here is Fr. Allen’s sermon from Trinity XIII 2022

"When Law and Sacrifice Don't Help"

September 11, 2022

     We have contained here in this well known, and well-beloved, parable of The Good Samaritan, a picture of nearly the whole story of the Bible, which is not only super convenient because very few of us today make time to read the whole story of the Bible, but also because, let’s face it, we are all visual learners, and we all love a good story.

    So, in our text today when this expert in Biblical law comes and asks Jesus about living the eternal kind of life, Jesus could have told Him to go reread Genesis, Exodus, and Leviticus, but no, He says let met paint a picture for you (and we are all forever grateful).

    There was a man who once dwelt in the city of peace, but then one day he fell into the hands of one who came to steal, kill, and destroy, and was left for dead in his fallen condition. The first sign of hope for him was when the Law (symbolized by the pharisee) was given, but then it was unable to restore him to life (Gal.3:21). The next chance for help came when the Levitical priesthood (symbolized by the Levite) was established, but alas as we know the blood of bulls and goats could not restore man from the condition he had fallen into (Heb.9:13-10:18). Yet then, when it seemed that all hope was lost, salvation came for the man in a form least expected (symbolized by the Samaritan) – who moved with compassion, bound his wounds for healing, carried him into a caring community, and left the resources necessary for man’s full restoration until He returns. Are you beginning to see the answer?

    In this short story, Jesus gives us the perfect answer for how we can receive and live the eternal kind of life (not just a lawful, religious kind of one) by retelling the story of man’s fall, the law’s inability to help man out of his fallen condition, and the insufficiency of the Levitical priesthood to restore man from his fallen condition. He then shows that humanity’s only hope of salvation, rests in the saving mercy and care of a despised and dismissed Savior.

    But, the story doesn’t end there. We can’t simply pray a prayer for Him to get us out of our spiritual ditch and then go about our business like before. Unlike the law and the Levitical priesthood, Jesus doesn’t leave us where and how we were before He found us.

    We see this in our parable because it not only gives us a survey of salvation history, but also a clearer picture of how Jesus’ salvation both restores us to life and then enables us to live it by helping others who have fallen victim to the world, the flesh, and the devil.

    First, He binds up the man’s wounds wounds. The reason Jesus can do what the law and Levitical system could not, is because He became what the law and Levitical system could not. He took on flesh to condemn our lawlessness in the flesh (Rom.8:3), so that by His wounds we could be healed (Is.53:5). And in offering His own blood, as compared to that of goats and bulls he secured for us eternal life with God, not just annual life that had to be renewed by more sacrifices (Heb.9:11-14). Furthermore, in being put to death he was able to destroy the one who has the power of death, who used that power to steal, kill, and destroy, enslaving people to the ditches he left them for dead in (Heb.2:14-15; Wisd.2:24).

    Then He brings him to an inn to care for him. He carries those He saves to the house He stays at when He visits to find healing and recovery. And in the story, the Samaritan leaves two denarii for further care until His return, but the recourses Jesus leaves to provide for our full recovery with His Church – His Holy Ghost, His Sacraments, and, of course, His instructions (the Bible), and this is where He brings those whom He saves.

    Here in His house, we are spiritually strengthened and renewed. This is why we are about to receive the Eucharist: “Unless you eat the flesh of the son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you” (Jhn.6:53). And then in experiencing the fresh influx of His life we will find the strength to “go and do likewise.” The hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the father seeketh such to worship him.

When we are not drinking brews with Andrewes and discussing his sermons, we are often preaching ourselves. Here is Fr. Allen’s sermon from Trinity X 2022

"Be Not Ignorant: Batteries Not Included"

August 21, 2022

    We all know what it is like to be ignorant of those little words: “Batteries not included.” And we all know that Wendy’s struck gold back in the day when they came up with the slogan: “Where’s the beef?” Because, you know as well as I, that it’s easy to make a product that looks like the real thing, smells like the real thing, and has the perfect packaging, only to realize what seems to be promised is missing.

    In the case of burgers, it is a decent sized beef patty, and when it comes to faith, Scripture tells us, “You better make sure these are included: lives of holiness, spiritual mindsets, and a keen awareness of God’s Presence in the places where He has promised to be found.

    In our Epistle Reading, we hear St. Paul for the second week in a row, tell us about something things we sometimes can be ignorant about, or ingredients that are easy to overlook and will be missing in imitation-faith. Last week, he gave us the example of the imitation-faith of the wilderness generation: the missing ingredient was a personal walk with God which progressed in holiness in their everyday lives. They had all been baptized, they regularly communed with spiritual food, but yet they did not walk with the Lord. Instead, they fought him every day of their life (in the categories of how they should worship, who they could sleep with, and what life was all about). And because of this, Paul warns us that it is possible to have Holy Sacraments, but if you’re missing the ingredient of a holy life, on Judgment Day, the angels are going to ask, “where’s the real thing?”

    Similarly, this week tells us to not be ignorant of the purpose of spiritual gifts, gifts after all which are to be pursued by every believer (v.31). Because, if all we have are the spiritual gifts, without a spiritual mind – that is: having a mind for using them to seek the good of others – we will still be missing the real thing. The gifts are given to nurture the life which has been planted within us at Baptism and quickened in Confirmation, so that we, and the world around us can experience the blessings of Jesus’ kingdom. Without this life, gifts are just emotional excitement, or efforts to feel important, only having the “appearance of godliness but missing its power” (2Tim.3:5). It might look like Jesus, but it is only an imitation for it because it does not have the mind of Jesus, which seeks and serves others.

    Then, in our Gospel reading today where Jesus cleanses the Temple, we see yet another ingredient, which will be missing in some imitation-faiths.  Despite what you might have been told about the temple, it was dedicated to presenting the gospel - the good news of Yahweh’s salvation - through the celebrations of annual feasts and instructing God’s people to live their lives according to those realities.

    Every Spring they led people in celebrating their great salvation out of their bondage and slavery in Egypt by the blood of the lamb with Passover, Unleavened Bread, and First Fruits. And then the new relationship they were saved into was celebrated with Pentecost.  And then in the Fall, they led people in celebrating Trumpets, Atonement, and Booths, the annual times in which worshippers were called to examine their lives and faithfulness thereof, to look to God to cleanse them and their land of their sins, and to remember God’s provisions for them in their salvation.

    And, yet even with all of this we are led to ask what good is the proclamation of the Gospel, if it turns into nothing more than a money maker and doesn’t lead its participants into recognizing the God of the gospel when He shows up. It’s like churches today where people will leave saying they got nothing out of it. Even though Jesus promises He is present when two or three gather in His name (Matt.18:20), when people commune of His flesh (Jhn.6:53,56), and when His word is submitted to (Jhn.14:23), they have missed those moments of visitation like Temple of Jesus’ day as they look for and settle with imitations.

Today, we ought not to settle for any imitation, and I am not talking about knock-off burgers with big buns, great toppings, and no meat. I am talking about knock-off Christianitys, which try to hide the fact that they have no desire for holiness in life, no mind-of-Christ to serve, and no awareness of the Jesus’ supernatural Presences with us and for us. So, come and eat with the real Jesus and find the real thing.

“The hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the father seeketh such to worship him.”

Episode Ten: Remembering Lot’s Wife in Luke 17:32

Andrewes on the requisite intentions for spiritual growth

and the lifelong perseverance that marks

the lives of true believers.

May 30, 2022

Sermon IV of Lancelot Andrewes’ Sermons Preached in Lent

Preached before Queen Elizabeth on March 6, 1594.

Copies can be found in Lancelot Andrewes Works,

Sermons, Volume Two, or on The Project Canterbury Website.

Summary:

      Andrewes teaches on the sobering example of Lot’s wife, which Jesus commanded His followers to remember in Luke 17:32.

1. Introductory Remarks

1. This verse is short so there is no excuse for not memorizing and learning its lesson.

1. The lake of Sodom – a punishment for resolute sin

1. For sins of commission – a judgment against those in a state of sin

1. For sins of omission – a judgement against those in a state of grace

1. In regards to religion

1. Her story is for old-timers, not new converts

1. As breasts complete the work of the womb, or a healthy regiment completes the work of the physician, so remembering her story completes our first faith

1. Like Israelites wanting to go back to Egypt

1. By the office of preaching reminding us of the fragility of life and dark days to come

1. We are to hold our actions up in comparison to the actions seen in these stories

1. Two kinds of “remembering”

1. Remembering examples to follow

1. What Lot’s wife did – “she drew back, or looked back

1. She did not head the angel’s warning (Gen.19:17) as if there was no peril

1. A wavering Mind with the Sin of Unbelief – She did not keep the Angel’s charge but believed her sons-in-law knew better.

1. She fell away and looked back after 30 long years of hard faithfulness

1. Judged for forgetting all of God’s past mercies to her

1. A Sudden Death – “back she looked, and never looked forward again”

1. This evil is turned to good if we learn by its example

1. God makes use of both Good and Bad examples

1. Perseverance – the Queen and preserver of virtue

1. Just because one is being led does not mean that one is safe

1. Remember so that we do not think this can’t happen to us

Beverages of Choice:

Guinness Draught Stout by Guinness Ltd.

Sweet Baby Jesus Chocolate Peanut Butter Porter by DuClaw Brewing

SeaQuench Ale Session Sour by Dogfish Head Brewing 

Cayman Jack Margarita 

Music & Sound Attributions:

Music in this episode by Blue Dot Sessions “Lost Shoe” (www.sessions.blue). Sounds used are as follows: “Beer Can Opening” recorded by Mike Koening found at (http://soundbible.com/216-Beer-Can-Opening.html) and “Pouring Drink” recorded by Mike Koenig found at (http://soundbible.com/2115-Pouring-Drink.html).