The Sunday called
Septuagesima, or the third Sunday before Lent.
Psalm 19. Cæli enarrant.
THE heavens declare the glory of God; * and the
firmament showeth his handy-work.
2 One day telleth another; * and one night
certifieth another.
3 There is neither speech nor language; * but their
voices are heard among them.
4 Their sound is gone out into all lands; * and
their words into the ends of the world.
5 In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun; *
which cometh forth as a bridegroom out of his chamber, and rejoiceth as a giant
to run his course.
6 It goeth forth from the uttermost part of the
heaven, and runneth about unto the end of it again; * and there is nothing hid
from the heat thereof.
7 The law of the Lord is an undefiled law,
converting the soul; * the testimony of the Lord is sure, and giveth wisdom
unto the simple.
8 The statutes of the Lord are right, and rejoice
the heart; * the commandment of the Lord is pure, and giveth light unto the
eyes.
9 The fear of the Lord is clean, and endureth for
ever; *
the judgments of the Lord are true, and righteous
altogether.
10 More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than
much fine gold; * sweeter also than honey, and the honey- comb.
11 Moreover, by them is thy servant taught; * and
in keeping of them there is great reward.
12 Who can tell how oft he offendeth? * O cleanse
thou me from my secret faults.
13 Keep thy servant also from presumptuous sins,
lest they get the dominion over me; * so shall I be undefiled, and innocent
from the great offence.
14 Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of
my heart, be alway acceptable in thy sight, * O Lord, my strength and my
redeemer.
Glory be to the Father, and
to the Son * and to the Holy Ghost;
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be * world without end. Amen.
The Collect.
O LORD, we beseech thee favourably to hear the prayers of thy people; that we, who are justly punished for our offences, may be mercifully delivered by thy goodness, for the glory of thy Name; through Jesus Christ our Saviour, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen.
Old
Testament Reading: Joshua 1.1-9
Psalter:
Psalm 8, 148 | 104
Epistle
Reading:1 Corinthians 9.24-27
Gospel Reading: St. Matthew 20.1-16
This was what I wrote to my congregation this past week – “Criterion”:
This
morning, during my morning devotions, I was reading 1 John 4. Something in
4:1-6 caught my attention. It has to do with the divine criterion given to us
to distinguish between the spirit of error and the Spirit of truth, and there’s
a delightful promised attached to it, as well. Here’s the passage:
[1] Beloved, do
not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from
God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. [2] By this you know
the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in
the flesh is from God, [3] and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not
from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and
now is in the world already. [4] Little children, you are from God and have
overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. [5]
They are from the world; therefore they speak from the world, and the world
listens to them. [6] We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever
is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and
the spirit of error. (1 John 4:1-6)
First, in John’s day (as in ours) there is a particular spirit that is running loose: the spirit of error, the spirit of antichrist. These are “from the world; therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them.” They do not confess the Lord Jesus, that as eternal Son of God he has also become fully human, and “so was, and continueth to be, God and man in two distinct natures, and one person, forever” (Westminster Shorter Catechism 21). They might say lots of things about Jesus that are partly true, even mostly true, but in the end that can’t go all the way with Jesus.
Secondly, John gives us the divine criterion of confession and communion by which we can guage who is giving heed to the spirit of error, etc. (1) “By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God.” Those born of, guided by, the Spirit of God will confess the truth about Jesus, the eternal Son of God who has also become fully human, and “so was, and continueth to be, God and man in two distinct natures, and one person, forever” (Westminster Shorter Catechism 21). The Spirit of truth will bring people to acknowledge that Jesus is more than just a good man, a prophet, one who obtained some kind of divine consciousness, or whatever else you may hear bandied about through podcasts, social media, news broadcasts, talk shows, etc. The Spirit of truth leads us to submit to, and rely on, Jesus, the eternal Son of God who has become fully human, for us and for our salvation.
Then, (2) is the importance of hearing and heeding the apostles, Jesus’ handpicked ambassadors. It’s in v.6 were he writes, “We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us.” The “We” in this passage was presented at the beginning of chapter one, where he describes the legitimacy of the apostolic eyewitness testimony, and says, “that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ” (1:3). The “we” are the apostles, and to have fellowship/partnership/communion with the apostles is to have fellowship/communion with the Father and the Son. Therefore, as John writes 4:6, he is pointing out that the apostolic eyewitnesses are from God, and those born of God hear them, heed them, are guided and directed by them. Whereas, those guided by the spirits of error and antichrist, though they may quote the apostles at times, yet they do not embrace their testimony and direction. And this two-fold criterion of confession and communion brings John to say, “By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error.”
Inside this criterion is a delightful promise, that gives us hopeful confidence: “Little children, you are from God and have overcome them [the spirit of error, spirit of antichrist, and the world who listens to them], for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world” (4:4). Who is it that is in us? Who is it that graciously makes us able to overcome the tumultuous, antichrist-influenced-spirit-of-error-inclined world? Who is it that is greater than the antichrist and spirit of error in the world? John tells us a bit later: “By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God” (4:13-15). The Father and the Spirit!
Dear friends, good news! God has not left us to guess who are his and who are not. He has not left us to our own clouded perceptions to try and figure out who is speaking from, and submitting to, the spirit or error, the spirit of antichrist, and who is speaking from, and submitting to, the Spirit of truth who is the Spirit of God. He has given us the two-fold criterion of confession and communion, and he has given us himself and the Spirit, that will always bring us to Jesus, and stimulate us to hear and heed the Apostles. And by God’s grace alone, proclaimed in the Scriptures alone, that comes through Christ alone, and is received by faith alone, we are promised that we are overcoming the spirit of error, the spirit of antichrist, and the world that listens to them. Employ this two-fold criterion, but also rejoice in the promised presence and aid of God.
To the glory of God, alone!
Pastor Mike
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