The Twenty-Third Sunday after Trinity, 2019
Pastor Gregory L. Jackson
The Hymn #246 Holy, Holy, Holy
The Confession of Sins
The Absolution
The Introit p. 16
The Gloria Patri
The Kyrie p. 17
The Gloria in Excelsis
The Salutation and Collect p. 19
The Epistle and Gradual
The Gospel
Glory be to Thee, O Lord!
Praise be to Thee, O Christ!
The Nicene Creed p. 22
The Sermon Hymn #334 Let Me Be Thine Forever
The Righteousness of Faith - Paul's Lesson
The Communion Hymn #316 O Living Bread
The Preface p. 24
The Sanctus p. 26
The Lord's Prayer p. 27
The Words of Institution
The Agnus Dei p. 28
The Nunc Dimittis p. 29
The Benediction p. 31
The Hymn # 309 O Jesus Blessed Lord
In Our Prayers
- Carl Roper and his wife Lynda.
- Pastor and Mrs. Jim Shrader
- Pastor K and Doc Lito Cruz - dealing with diabetes.
- Those looking for work and a better income.
- Our media ministries - Alec Satin, Norma Boeckler, Travis and Lauren Cartee, Pastor Jordan Palangyos.
- Army Ranger Bob gave the flowers on the altar in honor of Pastor and Mrs. Jackson's 50th wedding anniversary.
- Thanksgiving Eve Service, 7 PM Central Standard.
KJV Philippians 3:17 Brethren, be followers together of me, and mark them which walk so as ye have us for an ensample. 18 (For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: 19 Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.) 20 For our conversation [ πολιτευμα, citizenship ] is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: 21 Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.
KJV Matthew 22:15 Then went the Pharisees, and took counsel how they might entangle him in his talk. 16 And they sent out unto him their disciples with the Herodians, saying, Master, we know that thou art true, and teachest the way of God in truth, neither carest thou for any man: for thou regardest not the person of men. 17 Tell us therefore, What thinkest thou? Is it lawful to give tribute unto Caesar, or not? 18 But Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said, Why tempt ye me, ye hypocrites? 19 Shew me the tribute money. And they brought unto him a penny. 20 And he saith unto them, Whose is this image and superscription? 21 They say unto him, Caesar's. Then saith he unto them, Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and unto God the things that are God's. 22 When they had heard these words, they marvelled, and left him, and went their way.
Twenty-Third Sunday After Trinity
Lord God, heavenly Father: we thank Thee that Thou hast hitherto granted us peace and graciously spared us from war and foreign dominion: We pray Thee, graciously let us continue to live in Thy fear according to Thy will, giving no cause for wars or other punishment; govern and direct our magistrates, that they may not hinder the obedience due to Thee, but maintain righteousness, that we may enjoy happiness and blessing under their government, through our Lord Jesus Christ, who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, one true God, world without end. Amen.
Background for the Sermon on Philippians 3:17-23
The context for today's Epistle is the the righteousness of faith -
Philippians 3:6 Concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless. 7 But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. 8 Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, 9 And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: 10 That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;11 If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.12 Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:
αλλα την δια πιστεως χριστου την εκ θεου δικαιοσυνην επι τη πιστει
First of all, people tend to think of Biblical righteousness as the righteousness of the Law, which Paul practiced to perfection. However, that is not the Gospel and can never obtain eternal life. The true righteousness is the righteousness of the faith of Christ. In several places, here and also Romans 3, Paul writes about the faith of Christ, widely ignored.
If we truly understand the Two Natures in Christ, human and divine, we can see what Paul meant and the Holy Spirit inspired. The Gospel begins with The Faith of Christ. Because of His human nature, He could be tempted (Matthew 4) but He did not sin - because of His divine nature. He wanted the cup of sorrows, torture and crucifixion taken from Him, but in faith He prayed, "Not My will, Father, but Yours."
When the Gospel moves us to welcome this message of forgiveness and salvation, it begins with the righteousness of Christ and His faith, so that His faith moves us to faith in Him and His righteousness. Unlike the righteousness of the Law, which is never enough and never satisfied, the righteousness of faith in Jesus is enough and takes away all sins.
The Righteousness of Faith - Paul's Lesson
KJV Philippians 3:17 Brethren, be followers together of me, and mark them which walk so as ye have us for an ensample.
Perhaps so many are misled today by their shallow view of the Scriptures. The reason is that there is a vast amount to learn in seminary, just to cover the basic information about the Biblical books. This is watered down by all kinds of synodical trivia, rules and regulations, and Calvinistic methods for manufacturing big, booming successes by manufacturing disciples.
It is easy to exhaust this supply of superficial knowledge (when was Romans written) and not take the time to study in depth. Modern seminaries have watered everything down. Gettysburg (ELCA, failing) Seminary - - once taught Hebrew, Greek, homiletics (preaching), and that was it - except for one other ancient language. They had few books to own, so they concentrated on those and their training, which eventually lifted them out of union with Calvinism and the gimmicks of revivalism. However, in the 20th century, they relapsed.
When we start at Philippians 3:17, we have to take note of what goes immediately before it. That passage, quoted above, is Paul's great example of accomplishing all righteousness in the Law, but surrendering those honors for the faith of Jesus, Who alone fulfilled the Law.
So Paul is not asking the Philippians to take him as an example of Law-righteousness but an example of repudiating all of that false righteousness for the righteousness of faith.
Lenski, Philippians, p. 839
It is the quality of righteousness that is produced by the divine verdict which pronounces the sinner righteous "on the basis of his faith," this very "faith in Christ" who expiated our curse on the cross (2:8; Gal. 3:13). This verdict is pronounced on be lievers only (Rom. 3:22), the verdict pronounced on all others is damnation (Mark 16:16; John 3:18b).
"Mark them" means to carefully observe them who follow the example of faith. In the same way, he warned them to carefully observe the false teachers in Romans 16:17. Paul is the example of giving up the honors so loved by the world, for the Pharisees were highly respected, and following the Faith instead, which could only bring the cross. What the world abhors, God loves. What the world loves, God abhors. That is even more true today.
18 (For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ:
People, especially the academics, make a great game of identifying exactly who those enemies of the cross are. The truly affected (in a bad way) like to toss around long words to dazzle their audiences (Docetists, Gnostics, Monothelites, Libertines, etc).
We should consider this group all enemies of the cross. And there are two clear lessons in this verse.
- First of all, with all the apostolic witnesses of the resurrection, and the teaching of the Apostles, people still veered away from the Faith of Jesus and fashioned their own, gathering followers.
- Secondly, in spite of the horrible effects - shame, persecution, hardship, slander, betrayal - the true Church continued. Therefore, we should not be rocked by being the minority, since that was the beginning of the Church. We are now in the new Roman Empire, as many have noticed, degenerate-pagan-occult-ruthless-treating babies as nothing. Actually we are worse, because the Romans gave unwanted babies a chance to survive, exposing them to the elements, and many were raised (illegally!) by Christians who rescued them.
The enemies of the cross come in many forms today, but the most pernicious are the ones who speak of the cross, supposedly teach the Gospel, but harbor a hatred for the Word and for the Faith of Jesus. They have a philosophy above and beyond Christianity and they use their credentials (often laughable) to browbeat seminarians and pastors into their cult of demi-semi-quasi-Paganism.
19 Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.)
The first phrase should warn everyone and comfort the faithful. No matter how much earthly power they may have, the enemies of the cross walk ever closer to destruction. I mentioned to librarians that the famous philosopher, Bertrand Russel - an atheist, seemed to be living forever. One said, "Of course, he has nowhere to go." He met his end later. He was an expert in logic but said, "I am not anti-American. Two of my wives are American!"
Whose God is their belly - This applies to all who use the cross to assure themselves of money, luxuries, extravagant food daily (like the rich man and Lazarus), who brag and laugh about how they deceive, trick, and betray people. Their cares are only about their own reputations, their financial security, their possessions.
Most laity do not realize that the apostate leaders (ELCA-WELS-LCMS-ELS-CLC sic) revel in their dishonesty and manipulation of others. I have been around enough of them to have heard them laughing about their tricks and lies. If the laity and typical pastors are relatively honest and trusting on one side, it is no great accomplishment for the leaders to act holy and faithful while arranging matters for their own gain. If the apostates get their way, they laugh about their cleverness. If their deceptions are exposed (as in ELCA Exposed blogs and Ichabod), they are furious and work hard to get even. Honest communication is never their goal, and they draw the ambitious or love-hungry into their nefarious actions. They love weak, alcoholic, adulterous pastors because those people have to be propped up and will do anything to maintain their undeserved offices.
20 For our conversation [ πολιτευμα, citizenship ] is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ:
Conversation - The old word comes from olde English, but the Greek base is from polis, city, citizenship or commonwealth. One is either an American citizen or not. There are people born in American possessions who are still not citizens (the rules vary). Paul held his Roman citizenship very highly and it protected him from being treated as a nobody. Here he is using the term to say, believers are already citizens in heaven, and we look forward to that day when we are with Him forever.
What looks appealing on the outside (fame, honor, goods, wealth, the esteem of others) is not so appealing when it means giving up our citizenship for a stake in perdition.
To say our citizenship is in heaven means we are united with all believers in the world, all of us on the doorstep to eternal life. Jesus said, "In my Father's House are many condos. If it were not so, I would have told you. I am going to prepare a place for you."
When we are younger, we look at material gains, naturally when seeking to support our families and anxious about the future. Some things work out; others do not. When we are older, we see that many favorite objects - even books - have a short life ahead, so we want others to enjoy them. When the move is made from a larger house to a smaller one, some objects become something to stack up or trip over. And we might wonder - who wants old printed photographs. There is a business or businesses just for digitalizing everything. When I looked at the ancient relatives photos, while living at home, 50 years ago, I did not even know them by name or by face.
Citizenship in heaven is entirely different, because the gate was opened by the teaching, suffering, death and resurrection of Christ. Whatever may be said about all the pitfalls, the false teachers, the greedy wolves, the effect on human history has been powerful and miraculous.
21 Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.
We should not say this, but when we have diseases and maladies, we know how fragile, vile, and easily broken our bodies are. Everything has to be in perfect balance to continue with any reliability, and that is unlikely. A physical chemist in our congregation decades ago always called his body his donkey body, stubborn and refusing to work well.
Our donkey bodies are a foreshadowing of God's glory, which is beyond comprehension. This is our neighbor's birthday - Janette. She had scleroderma, one of those DNA shortages that cannot be cured. So she slowly became weaker and died, becoming a Christian and confessing Justification by Faith, receiving baptism. She was like Lazarus, carried to Father Abraham by God's angels. And there she is, united with those who cast their golden crowns around the glassy sea.
Citizenship
A writer has made the point that America developed into a democratic Republic because of the high level of literacy and the Christian worship of the Colonies. They knew what they wanted and what they abhorred, so the U. S. Constitution was drawn up to avoid the weaknesses before 1789 and the servitude to the British Empire and its Romanizing kings (the Stuarts "left an indelible bad impression").Our citizens today face a new revolution, away from the corruption of drug and human trafficking, away from using tax dollars to support that system and reward the most evil in our country. The crimes being committed are too terrible to name, one by one. If those who love America stand firm and fight for the truth, we will emerge from a second Dark Ages and lead the world into new and better times.
It is no accident that Christians are leading the way again and that the Scriptures are the best guide for what to do.
