Coffee and Catechism

No. God never tempts anyone, nor is he the cause of any sin; but he does allow me to be tested so that I may grow in faith and obedience. (Genesis 22:1–18; Job 1:6–12; Psalm 11:4–5; Proverbs 17:3; Matthew 4:1; James 1:12–15) Support the podcast here on Buy Me A Coffee (similar to Patreon)

Matt 3: 13 – Matt 4:1 (ESV)

13 kThen Jesus came lfrom Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. 14 mJohn would have prevented him, saying,“I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” 15 But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he consented. 16 And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, othe heavens were opened to him,3 and he psaw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; 17 and behold, qa voice from heaven said, r“This is my beloved Son,4 with whom I am well pleased.”  4:1 sThen Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness tto be tempted by the devil.

Then. When? After the descent of the Spirit, after the voice that was borne from above, and said, This is My Beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. And what was marvellous, it was of the Holy Spirit; for this, he here says, led Him up. For since with a view to our instruction He both did and underwent all things; He endures also to be led up there, and to wrestle against the devil: in order that each of those who are baptized, if after his baptism he have to endure greater temptations may not be troubled as if the result were unexpected, but may continue to endure all nobly, as though it were happening in the natural course of things. Yea, for therefore you took up arms, not to be idle, but to fight. For this cause neither does God hinder the temptations as they come on, first to teach you that you have become much stronger; next, that you may continue modest neither be exalted even by the greatness of your gifts, the temptations having power to repress you; moreover, in order that that wicked demon, who is for a while doubtful about your desertion of him, by the touchstone of temptations may be well assured that you have utterly forsaken and fallen from him; fourthly, that you may in this way be made stronger, and better tempered than any steel; fifthly, that you may obtain a clear demonstration of the treasures entrusted to you. For the devil would not have assailed you, unless he had seen you brought to greater honor. Hence, for example, from the beginning, he attacked Adam, because he saw him in the enjoyment of great dignity. For this reason he arrayed himself against Job, because he saw him crowned and proclaimed by the God of all. How then says He, Pray that you enter not into temptation. Matthew 26:41 For this cause he does not show you Jesus simply going up, but led up according to the principle of the Economy; signifying obscurely by this, that we ought not of ourselves to leap upon it, but being dragged thereto, to stand manfully. And see whither the Spirit led Him up, when He had taken Him; not into a city and forum, but into a wilderness. That is, He being minded to attract the devil, gives him a handle not only by His hunger, but also by the place. For then most especially does the devil assail, when he sees men left alone, and by themselves. Thus did he also set upon the woman in the beginning, having caught her alone, and found her apart from her husband. Just as when he sees us with others and banded together, he is not equally confident, and makes no attack. Wherefore we have the greatest need on this very account to be flocking together continually, that we may not be open to the devil’s attacks. 2. Having then found Him in the wilderness, and in a pathless wilderness (for that the wilderness was such, Mark has declared, saying, that He was with the wild beasts Mark 1:13), behold with how much craft he draws near, and wickedness; and for what sort of opportunity he watches. For not in his fast, but in his hunger he approaches Him; to instruct you how great a good fasting is, and how it is a most powerful shield against the devil, and that after the font, men should give themselves up, not to luxury and drunkenness, and a full table, but to fasting. For, for this cause even He fasted, not as needing it Himself, but to instruct us. Thus, since our sins before the font were brought in by serving the belly: much as if any one who had made a sick man whole were to forbid his doing those things, from which the distemper arose; so we see here likewise that He Himself after the font brought in fasting. For indeed both Adam by the incontinence of the belly was cast out of paradise; and the flood in Noah’s time, this produced; and this brought down the thunders on Sodom. For although there was also a charge of whoredom, nevertheless from this grew the root of each of those punishments; which Ezekiel also signified when he said, But this was the iniquity of Sodom, that she waxed wanton in pride and in fullness of bread, and in abundance of luxury. Ezekiel 16:49 Thus the Jews also per petrated the greatest wickedness, being driven upon transgression by their drunkenness and delicacy. Isaiah 5:11-12 On this account then even He too fasts forty days, pointing out to us the medicines of our salvation; yet proceeds no further, lest on the other hand, through the exceeding greatness of the miracle the truth of His Economy should be discredited. For as it is, this cannot be, seeing that both Moses and Elias, anticipating Him, could advance to so great a length of time, strengthened by the power of God. And if He had proceeded farther, from this among other things His assumption of our flesh would have seemed incredible to many.  

The post E199 Q206 Does God lead you into temptation? appeared first on Amateur Anglican.

I ask God to increase my faith to trust him, enliven my conscience to fear him, soften my heart to love him, and strengthen my will to obey him, that I may resist evil and stand in the face of temptation. (Proverbs 2; Matthew 4:11; Luke 22:31–32; 1 Corinthians 10:12–14; James 4:5–10) Support the podcast here on Buy Me A Coffee (similar to Patreon)

Students of these revered writings (Proverbs) should be advised not only to learn the kinds of expressions in the holy Scriptures, to notice carefully how they are customarily expressed there, and to remember them but also to pray that they may understand them, and this is chiefly and especially necessary. Indeed, in these books which they are studying earnestly, they read that “the Lord gives wisdom; and out of his mouth comes prudence and knowledge.” It is from him that they have received that zeal for study, if it is endowed with piety. 

The post E198 Q205 What help do you seek from God in the face of temptation? appeared first on Amateur Anglican.

I am tempted by the false promises of the world, the selfish desires of my flesh, and the lies of the devil, all of which war against God and my spiritual well-being. (Genesis 3:1–8; Proverbs 30:7–9; Mark 7:15; James 1:13; 1 John 2:15–17) Support the podcast here on Buy Me A Coffee (similar to Patreon)

These three are they: lest haply any man say, The things that are in the world, God made: i.e. heaven and earth, the sea: the sun, the moon, the stars, all the garniture of the heavens. What is the garniture of the sea? All creeping things. What of the earth? animals, trees, flying creatures. These are ‘in the world,’ God made them. Why then am I not to love what God has made? Let the Spirit of God be in you, that you may see that all these things are good: but woe to you if you love the things made, and forsake the Maker of them! Fair are they to you: but how much fairer He that formed them! Mark well, beloved. For by similitudes you may be instructed: lest Satan steal upon you, saying what he is wont to say, Take your enjoyment in the creature of God; wherefore made He those things but for your enjoyment? And men drink themselves drunken, and perish, and forget their own Creator: while not temperately but lustfully they use the things created, the Creator is despised. Of such says the apostle: They worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator, Who is blessed for ever. Romans 1:25 God does not forbid you to love these things, howbeit, not to set your affections upon them for blessedness, but to approve and praise them to this end, that you may love your Creator. In the same manner, my brethren, as if a bridegroom should make a ring for his bride, and she having received the ring, should love it more than she loves the bridegroom who made the ring for her: would not her soul be found guilty of adultery in the very gift of the bridegroom, albeit she did but love what the bridegroom gave her? By all means let her love what the bridegroom gave: yet should she say, This ring is enough for me, I do not wish to see his face now: what sort of woman would she be? Who would not detest such folly? Who not pronounce her guilty of an adulterous mind? You love gold in place of the man, lovest a ring in place of the bridegroom: if this be in you, that you love a ring in place of your bridegroom, and hast no wish to see your bridegroom; that he has given you an earnest, serves not to pledge you to him, but to turn away your heart from him! For this the bridegroom gives earnest, that in his earnest he may himself be loved. Well then, God gave you all these things: love Him that made them. There is more that He would fain give you, that is, His very Self that made these things. But if you love these— what though God made them— and neglect the Creator and love the world; shall not your love be accounted adulterous? For the world is the appellation given not only to this fabric which God made heaven and earth, the sea, things visible and invisible: but the inhabitants of the world are called the world, just as we call a house both the walls and them that inhabit therein. And sometimes we praise a house, and find fault with the inhabitants. For we say, A good house; because it is marbled and beautifully ceiled: and in another sense we say, A good house: no man there suffers wrong, no acts of plunder, no acts of oppression, are done there. Now we praise not the building, but those who dwell within the building: yet we call it house, both this and that. For all lovers of the world, because by love they inhabit the world, just as those inhabit heaven, whose heart is on high while in the flesh they walk on earth: I say then, all lovers of the world are called the world. The same have only these three things, lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, vain glory of life. For they lust to eat, drink, cohabit: to use these pleasures. Not surely, that there is no allowed measure in these things, or that when it is said, Love not these things, it means that you are not to eat, or not to drink, or not to beget children? This is not the thing said. Only, let there be measure, because of the Creator, that these things may not bind you by your loving of them: lest you love that for enjoyment, which you ought to have for use. But you are not put to the proof except when two things are propounded to you, this or that: Will you righteousness or gains? I have not wherewithal to live, have not wherewithal to eat, have not wherewithal to drink. But what if you can not have these but by iniquity? Is it not better to love that which you lose not, than to lose yourself by iniquity? You see the gain of gold, the loss of faith you see not. This then, says he to us, is the lust of the flesh, i.e. the lusting after those things which pertain to the flesh, such as food, and carnal cohabitation, and all other such like. And the lust of the eyes: by the lust of the eyes, he means all curiosity. Now how wide is the scope of curiosity! This it is that works in spectacles, in theatres, in sacraments of the devil, in magical arts, in dealings with darkness: none other than curiosity. Sometimes it tempts even the servants of God, so that they wish as it were to work a miracle, to tempt God whether He will hear their prayers in working of miracles; it is curiosity: this is lust of the eyes; it is not of the Father. If God has given the power, do the miracle, for He has put it in your way to do it: for think not that those who have not done miracles shall not pertain to the kingdom of God. When the apostles were rejoicing that the demons were subject to them, what said the Lord to them? Rejoice not in this, but rejoice because your names are written in heaven. Luke 10:20 In that would He have the apostles to rejoice, wherein you also rejoice. Woe to you truly if your name be not written in heaven! Is it woe to you if you raise not the dead? Is it woe to you if you walk not on the sea? Is it woe to you if you cast not out demons? If you have received power to do them, use it humbly, not proudly. For even of certain false prophets the Lord has said that they shall do signs and prodigies. Matthew 24:24 Therefore let there be no ambition of the world: Ambitio sæculi, is Pride. The man wishes to make much of himself in his honors: he thinks himself great, whether because of riches, or because of some power.

The post E197 Q204 What are the sources of temptation? appeared first on Amateur Anglican.

Temptation is any enticement to turn from faith in God and to violate his commandments. (Proverbs 1:8–19; James 1:14–15) Support the podcast here on Buy Me A Coffee (similar to Patreon)

8  iHear, my son, your father’s instruction, and forsake not your mother’s teaching, 9  for they are ja graceful garland for your head and kpendants for your neck.10  My son, if sinners lentice you, do not consent. 11  If they say, “Come with us, mlet us lie in wait for blood; nlet us ambush the innocent without reason; 12  like Sheol let us oswallow them alive, and whole, like pthose who go down to the pit; 13  we shall find all precious goods, we shall fill our houses with plunder; 14  throw in your lot among us; we will all have one purse”—15  my son, qdo not walk in the way with them; rhold back your foot from their paths, 16  for stheir feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed blood. 17  tFor in vain is a net spread in the sight of any bird, 18  but these men ulie in wait for their own blood; they uset an ambush for their own lives. 19  vSuch are the ways of everyone who is wgreedy for unjust gain; xit takes away the life of its possessors.

There is one text in Proverbs so far from being obscure that its relationship to Christ and his possession, the church, can be grasped without any such trouble. Wicked men are speaking: “Let us unjustly hide away in the earth the just man, let us swallow him up alive like hell. Let us abolish his memory from the earth, let us lay hands upon his precious possession.” This is very like what the Lord Jesus himself, in one of the Gospel parables, puts into the mouths of the wicked vinedressers: “This is the heir; come let us kill him, and we shall have his inheritance.”

“Listen, my son, to the discipline of your father, and do not reject your mother’s law.” Thus far, it argues proverbially from each side. From here on, it begins assiduously to admonish whoever is faithful that he prefer the discipline of the divine law to the flatteries of the reprobate, for eternal death surely follows their crimes, while a crown is given to those who keep the law. Hence, it rightly calls him son whom the father was careful to instruct with solicitude. This statement can be accepted as coming from the person of God the Father but in the name of mother church, who was then called the synagogue, I understand. Observe also that it commands us to listen to the father’s instruction that we not reject the mother’s law for any reason. For it is not adequate that anyone claims to love God and to comply with his precepts if he does not also pursue the unity of the church with fraternal charity, or if he denies that the mother herself receives any of the grace of God whereby we are saved. Even among the Hebrews the spirit that grants grace is known by the feminine gender. 

The post E196 Q203 What is temptation? appeared first on Amateur Anglican.

The sixth petition is “And lead us not into temptation.” (Matthew 6:13; Luke 11:4) Support the podcast here on Buy Me A Coffee (similar to Patreon)

13  And olead us not into temptation,but pdeliver us from qevil.4

Jesus here calls the devil “the wicked one,” commanding us to wage against him a war that knows no truce. Yet he is not evil by nature, for evil is not something derived from any nature as created but is what has been added to nature by choice. The devil is the prototypically evil one, because of the excess of his evil choices and because he who in no respect was injured by us wages against us an implacable war. Thus we do not pray “deliver us from the wicked ones” in the plural but “from the wicked one.” The Gospel of Matthew, Homily

The post E195 Q202 What is the sixth petition? appeared first on Amateur Anglican.

No. Though my decision and desire to forgive may not result in my neighbor’s repentance or our reconciliation, I am still called to forgive. (Matthew 18:15–35; Romans 12:17–21) Support the podcast here on Buy Me A Coffee (similar to Patreon)

For, since He had used vehement language against them that cause offense, and on every hand had moved them to fear; in order that the offended might not in this way on the other hand become supine, neither supposing all to be cast upon others, should be led on to another vice, soften in themselves, and desiring to be humored in everything, and run upon the shoal of pride; do you see how He again checks them also, and commands the telling of the faults to be between the two alone, lest by the testimony of the many he should render his accusation heavier, and the other, become excited to opposition, should continue incorrigible. Wherefore He says, Between you and him alone, and, If he shall hear you, you have gained your brother. What is, If he shall hear you? If he shall condemn himself, if he shall be persuaded that he has done wrong. You have gained your brother. He did not say, You have a sufficient revenge, but, You have gained your brother, to show that there is a common loss from the enmity. For He said not, He has gained himself only, but, thou too hast gained him, whereby He showed that both the one and the other were losers before this, the one of his brother, the other of his own salvation. This, when He sat on the mount also, He advised; at one time bringing him who has given the pain to him that had been pained, and saying, Be reconciled to your brother, and at another commanding him that had been wronged to forgive his neighbor. For He taught men to say, Forgive us our debts, like as we forgive our debtors. Matthew 6:12 But here He is devising another mode. For not him that gave the pain, does He now call upon, but him that was pained He brings to this one. For because this who has done the wrong would not easily come to make excuse, out of shame, and confusion of face, He draws that other to him, and not merely so, but in such way as also to correct what has been done. And He says not, Accuse, nor Charge him, nor Demand satisfaction, and an account, but, Tell him of his fault, says He. For he is held in a kind of stupor through anger and shame with which he is intoxicated; and thou, who art in health, must go your way to him that is ill, and make the tribunal private, and the remedy such as may be readily received. For to say, Tell him of his fault, is nothing else than Remind him of his error, tell him what you have suffered at his hand, which very thing, if it be done as it ought, is the part of one making excuse for him, and drawing him over earnestly to a reconciliation.

The post E194 Q201 Will your forgiveness of others always result in reconciliation? appeared first on Amateur Anglican.

Forgiveness is a decision of my will and an attitude of my heart that seeks the good of my neighbor, and chooses not to hold against them the damage they have inflicted. I forgive whether they have asked for forgiveness or not. (Exodus 23:4; Leviticus 19:17–18; Matthew 5:38–48; Luke 17:3–4; 23:34; Acts 7:60; Romans 12:14, 17–21; James 5:9; 1 Peter 3:9) Support the podcast here on Buy Me A Coffee (similar to Patreon)

A reputation for nobility follows the refusal to remember ills and leads to the cessation of hostility. From this we become disposed to concord, and concord leads to happiness. If you catch anyone you regard as a traditional enemy acting stupidly and irrationally out of desire or temper, turn him toward good behavior.

The post E193 Q200 How do you forgive others? appeared first on Amateur Anglican.

I should forgive others because, while I was still a sinner, God forgave me through Jesus Christ. Failing to forgive impedes God’s work in my life and gives opportunity to the evil one. (Genesis 50:15–21; Psalm 133; Matthew 18:21–35; Luke 23:34; Ephesians 4:30–32; Colossians 3:12–13) Support the podcast here on Buy Me A Coffee (similar to Patreon)

All this bitterness is not merely to be cleansed but to be “put away” altogether. Why should anyone try to contain it or hold it in? Why keep the beast of anger around so as to have to watch it constantly? It is possible to banish it, to expel it and drive it off to some mountain place. .

https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/230116.htm

He shows the easiness of virtue, so that they might both possess it continually, and use it as the greatest ornament. The exhortation is accompanied also with praise, for then its force is greatest. For they had been before  holy, but not elect; but now both elect, and holy, and beloved.

A heart of compassion. He said not mercy, but with greater emphasis used the two words. And he said not, that it should be as towards brethren, but, as fathers towards children. For tell me not that he sinned, therefore he said a heart. And he said not compassion, lest he should place them in light estimation, but a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; forbearing one another, and forgiving each other, if any man have a complaint against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.

Again, he speaks after the class, and he always does it; for from kindness comes humbleness of mind, and from this, longsuffering. Forbearing, he says, one another, that is, passing things over. And see, how he has shown it to be nothing, by calling it a complaint, and saying, even as Christ forgave you.Great is the example! And thus he always does; he exhorts them after Christ. Complaint, he calls it. In these words indeed he showed it to be a petty matter; but when he has set before us the example, he has persuaded us that even if we had serious charges to bring, we ought to forgive. For the expression, Even as Christ, signifies this, and not this only, but also with all the heart; and not this alone, but that they ought even to love. For Christ being brought into the midst, brings in all these things, both that even if the matters be great, and even if we have not been the first to injure, even if we be of great, they of small account, even if they are sure to insult us afterwards, we ought to lay down our lives for them, (for the words, even as, demand this;) and that not even at death only ought one to stop, but if possible, to go on even after death.

Homily 8 on Colossians. 

The post E192 Q199 Why should you forgive others? appeared first on Amateur Anglican.

Yes. In Christ, God freely forgives the sins of all, including me, who sincerely repent and in true faith turn to him. (Leviticus 16:29–34; Psalm 103:8–14; Isaiah 55:6–9; Jeremiah 31:31–34; Matthew 6:14–15; Hebrews 10:11–18; 1 John 1:9–10) Support the podcast here on Buy Me A Coffee (similar to Patreon)

The post E191 Q198 Does God forgive your sins? appeared first on Amateur Anglican.

I ask God our loving Father to forgive me through his Son, Jesus Christ, who bore my sins upon the Cross, so that through faith and Baptism I can receive his righteousness. (Isaiah 53:4–12; Daniel 9:16–19; Luke 18:9–14; Acts 2:38; 13:38–39; Romans 5:17; He­brews 9:11–26) Support the podcast here on Buy Me A Coffee (similar to Patreon)

 17 For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness ereign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.

Paul speaks of an abundance of grace to show that what we have received is not just a medicine sufficient to heal the wound of sin, but also health and beauty and honor, and glory and dignity far transcending our natural state. Each of these in itself would have been enough to do away with death, but when they are all put together in one there is not a trace of death left, nor can any shadow of it be seen, so entirely has it been done away with.

The post E190 Q197 On what basis do you ask forgiveness? appeared first on Amateur Anglican.