Saint Paul’s Sermons

The Gospel we read today from Luke relates the parable Jesus taught of the rich man and Lazarus the beggar. As with the other parables Jesus taught, he makes stark points for our edification and admonition. There is life after death. Heaven and hell are real conditions into which we can fall for eternity. Our destination depends on our decisions during our life, on where our heart is, on where we place our trust. After we die there's no second chances. But if this sounds grim, and indeed it can be, for the Christian there is no condemnation, no need to fear an existence in hell because of Jesus Christ.

This Sunday is Trinity Sunday, when the church in worship, song, and scripture celebrates the mystery of the Trinity, the one God in three persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Father Dan Eddy gives an inspiring message about the truth of the Trinity and its importance as a doctrine of salvation.

Early in the Upper Room discourse recorded in John chapters 14-17, Jesus reassures his disciples that he is not abandoning them by returning to the Father. Rather, it is "better" for them because he and the Father will send another paraclete, the Holy Spirit!! The spirit of all truth, the comforter, the guide, the counselor, the teacher. The Holy Spirit is an active, personal spirit present with us as believers always.

In the upper room the night before his passion, Jesus reassured his disciples (and through them, we also) that after his ascension and return to the Father we would not be alone. And as we anticipate the day of Pentecost, we can rest assured that Jesus has provided for us, that we have the Holy Spirit as comforter, advocate, counselor and guide in our lives.

Jesus said, "Peace be with you," God's peace. We need to take that to heart and really mean it.

The Gospel accounts of the Resurrection of Jesus contain varied observations and details, just as we might expect from different witnesses whose perceptions and memories would not be identical. In a sense, this is actually verification of their verisimilitude. Four identical accounts would look cooked up rather than genuine.

The Resurrection of Jesus is one of the most thorughly atteseted events of the ancient world, with multiple eye witnesses and evidence of facts that are not in dispute. Jesus of Nazareth was a real person who was executed by the Romans, died on the cross, and was buried. The morning when several women went to the tomb to anoint his body they found it empty, Jesus was not there. Jesus's followers who had been cowering in fear went into the world boldly proclaiming he had risen from the dead and that hundreds of people had seen him. They stuck to this without wavering, even under pains of torture or death. People will sometimes believe things that are not true, but they will not go to their death for what they know to be a lie.

Saint Peter told us to be prepared at all times to give an answer, a defense, for the faith and the hope that we have in Christ (1 Pet 3:15). We do this with confidence, yet not defensively or aggressively, but with gentleness and respect. Our confidence lies with the trustworthiness of scripture, which gives us factual accounts of real people, places, and events. Almost like journalism, as C. S. Lewis observed.

Paul's sharp letter to the Galatian churches he planted, coming within a year or two of the first of his missionary journeys, was a pastoral rebuke for their drift away from the Gospel and back toward a system of religion aimed at obligating God rather than receiving the free gift of salvation in Jesus Christ. He used the analogy of the slave woman Hagar and her child, Ishmael, versus the free woman Sarah and hers, the child of the promise, Isaac. The tendency we have to rest on Christ "plus" something else for our position with God is an error serious enough for Paul to pronounce it a different Gospel and those holding such views as accursed. Article 18 of our Articles of Religion makes the point bluntly, "Those who presume to say that every person shall be saved by the rule of life, religion or sect that he professes, provided he makes diligent efforts to live by that rule and the light of nature, must be regarded as accursed. "

During Lent the Sunday collects provided by the church lead us through reflections on spiritual growth and our own spiritual condition preparing for Easter. Father Andrew lays out this rich history and insights from today's collect and the scriptures compiled for today's readings. God's will for us is our sanctification.

Matthew's account of the testing of Christ by Satan in the wilderness, just after the triumph of Jesus's baptism, gives a powerful message for us. Jesus turns to the word of God in scripture to rebuff and resist the temper.