God's Fellow Workers

God’s Fellow Workers

Third in Lent

Collect of the Day: Almighty God, who seest that we have no power of ourselves to help ourselves; Keep us both outwardly in our bodies, and inwardly in our souls; that we may be defended from all adversities which may happen to the body, and from all evil thoughts which may assault and hurt the soul; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Epistle: 1 Corinthians 3

Homily: 1 Corinthians 3:1-9

3 And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. 2 I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able. 3 For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?4 For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal? 5 Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man? 6 I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. 7 So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase. 8 Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour.9 For we are labourers together with God: ye are God’s husbandry, ye are God’s building.

A young minister went to a country Baptist church. The first Sunday the church had dinner on the grounds. One of the deacons was asked to lead in prayer. He said, “Lord thank you for sending us a young, humble, and poor minster. He’s young and doesn’t have a lick of sense, so we won’t pay much attention to him. He’s humble, and we ask you to keep him humble, though we’ll do our part. And, Lord, he’s poor. You don’t need to worry about that. We can keep him that way ourselves.”

How should we think about ministers?

1. Paul’s Accusation

When you’re a teenager and and wanting nothing so much as to be an adult, there is no worse put-down than, “Why don’t you grow up!” It’s bad when an adult says it to you, but it’s worse when an older, cooler teengager says it.

Paul accurately accuses the Corinthians of being carnal, or fleshly rather than spiritual. Fleshliness is thinking and acting like a person who is not a Christian, whose life is not directed by the Holy Spirit. You’re not surprised when new converts think and act like non-believers. Their transformation has just begun. But you’re concerned when those who have been Christians a good while are still thinking and acting like unbelievers.

Paul says also that they are infants, or baby Christians. His proof is that he cannot feed them spiritual food but must give them spiritual milk. It is no worry at all that a baby takes only milk - that’s what you expect. But, when a child is 10 years old and till taking the bottle and no solid food, you know there is a problem. There is a health problem. Paul is concerned that the Corinthians, who are no longer chronologically baby Christians are still babies. He had spent a year and a half with them in the early 50s and now it is several years later.They have not been ready, and still are not ready for the spiritual food that nourishes growth.

If you read 1 Corinthians there is evidence everywhere of the extreme immaturity of the Christians of this church. There is a man in the church who is living in an illicit relationship with his mother-in-law, and the church has done not a thing about it. Some of them have taken others in the church before secular courts rather than resolving problems with the help of the church. Some have not come to terms with Christian sexual morality and are involved with prostitutes. The more wealthy members eat till they are full and drink till they’re intoxicated at the Lord’s Supper while the poorer members are embarrassed by how little they are able to bring. They have the gifts of the Spirit, but the way they use them creates chaos in worship. Some of them believe that the resurrection is spiritual, not physical, and has already happened. They are believers in Christ and the Holy Spirit lives in them, but think like unbelievers who do not have the Spirit.

In chapter 3 points to disunity as evidence of the churches fleshliness and immaturity. “For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way?” Where do jealousy and strife come from? Does the Holy Spirit produce these things? Of course not! These things come from the fleshly nature - from the nature that is not sanctified and guided by the Spirit but by the sinful nature. Wherever you see division among God’s people - if it is not required by God’s truth and righteousness, you can be sure it is not produced by the Holy Spirit but the sinful nature.

The evidence of their jealousy and strife is the way they think about and relate to those who have ministered the Gospel to them. Some say, “I follow Paul,” who had planted the church. Some say, “I follow Apollos, a very eloquent preacher who had ministered in Corinth after Paul. In chapter one Paul says that some also said, “I am a follower of Peter” who was one of the original Apostles who had traveled to Corinth. And some, who  tried to top all, said, “Why I don’t follow Paul or Apollos or Peter. I follow Christ!”

Mixed with all their fleshly thinking and acting was arrogance. Even their forming factions formed around Paul, Apollos, Peter, and Christ was an expression of arrogance.

It is a very serious thing to say to Christians, “You think and behave like non-believers. You are not guided by the Holy Spirit but by the old sinful nature. But this is exactly the accusation Paul makes against the Corinthians.

2. Explanation

To show the how absurd their way of thinking Paul asks a question: “What then is Paul? What is Apollos?” What is the role of a minister?

The answer is, “They are servants through whom you believed.” They are not leaders of factions or groups. They are servants. Servants of Christ. Christ called them to serve him by serving his church. They are men through whom you came to believe in Christ.

That is a very high view of the ministry. Through ministers people become Christians. How does that happen? Primarily by their ministry of the Word and Sacraments. Paul puts the Word first because God is pleased by the foolishness of the preaching of a crucified Christ to save those who believe. Paul does not denigrate the sacraments, but because the Corinthians had formed rival groups based on who baptized them, Paul was thankful he had not baptized very many of them. Still God uses the Word and sacraments to bring people to salvation. Ministers are indispensable. They are servants through whom people believe and are saved.

Each minister carries out his particular ministry according to God’s assignment - because he is God’s servant. Paul pictures the church as a field that God’s owns and where God is growing crops. In the case of the church in Corinth, God, as were said to Paul, “Paul I want you to go plant that field with the seed of the Word.” Later he said to Apollos, “Apollos, I am sending you to the field that Paul planted. I want you to water it, so the crop will grow.”

That too is a very high view of the ministry. You might have a few stalks of corn come up volunteer. But, if you are going to plant and harvest a field, you have got to have workers. Seed has to be planted. Plants have to be cultivated. The crop has to be harvested. This is what ministers do in God’s field, the church.

But there is another factor to consider. Only God gives growth. No farmhand has ever produced so much kernel of corn. That is God’s work. God chooses to work through servants, his ministers. But no minister has ever caused the seed of the Word to germinate, grow, and produce a crop. That is entirely God’s work. Ministers must never forget that. Parishes must never forget.

All ministers who are called by God are involved in one work. The minister of a parish of 1000s is doing the same work as the minister of the parish of 10s. All are God’s fieldhands. All work in the same field, and it belongs to God. All will be rewarded by God in the world to come according to his evaluation. Some unimportant and obscure ministers may be rewarded more greatly by God than some important and prominent ones.  God’s evaluations are often different from man’s.

There are two mistakes that Christians and churches make about ministers.

One is to make too much of them - to attribute to them power and effectiveness that belong to God alone and to give them God’s glory and praise. This often happens today with the mega churches that have celebrity pastors. But it also can happen in a small parish where some may think that some minister is indispensable.

The other mistake is make too little to of them - to say, “Well ministers are good to have, but we have our Bibles, and the Holy Spirit lives in us, and we can make up our own minds, and our private relationship with God is much more important than anything we get from a minister.” Some treat ministers as dispensable, and they show it in way they respect and provide for them, and most important in not receiving with faith and submission the Word ministers proclaim.

But the biggest mistake we make is to think of the church as ours to do with as we please. The church is God’s and he does not transfer ownership to others. Fr. Rich and I are field hands. You are God’s field. And all is God’s.

Crumbs Are Enough

Crumbs Are Enough

Second in Lent

Collect of the Day: Almighty God, who seest that we have no power of ourselves to help ourselves; keep us both outwardly in our bodies, and inwardly in our souls; that we may be defended from all adversities which may happen to the body, and from all evil thoughts which may assault and hurt the soul; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Gospel: Matthew 15:21-28 (KJV)

21 Then Jesus went thence, and departed into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon.

22 And, behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil.

23 But he answered her not a word. And his disciples came and besought him, saying, Send her away; for she crieth after us.

24 But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

25 Then came she and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me.

26 But he answered and said, It is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it to dogs.

27 And she said, Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters' table.

28 Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour.

How far are you willing to go in humiliating yourself? It depends on two things: (1) how great your pride, and (2) how desperate your situation. Often the intensity of your desperation will weaken the strength of your pride so that you become willing to humble yourself.

We see this in today’s Gospel.

1. The Setting of the Story

1.1 Jesus was most recently in the northern part of Palestine called Galilee. He brought up the subject of what it means to be clean and unclean: “It is not what goes into a person that defiles him but what comes out of him.” This offended the Pharisees and confused the disciples, so Peter asked the Lord. Jesus answered, “Whatever goes into a person’s mouth is digested and expelled as waste. Whatever comes out of the mouth reveals the heart. What matters is not what goes in but what comes out. If what comes out is corrupt, then the heart is corrupt.

This marked another break with the Jews. Jesus knew (1) that the Jews’ hostility was growing, and (2) that the time appointed by his Father for him to die for our sins had not arrived, So Jesus temporarily withdrew from Jewish territory. He traveled north up the Mediterranean Coast to the region of two cities, Tyre and Sidon, both in modern day Lebanon. These two cities were often denounced by Old Testament prophets because they worshipped the pagan god, Baal. But Jesus went there planning on “laying low” for awhile.

1.2 In this area Jesus encountered a woman. Matthew calls her a Canaanite. The Canaanites were the wicked pagans who inhabited the land God had promised Abraham. When Israel went into the land, the Canaanites’ cup of iniquity was overflowing, and the day of their judgment had come. The Lord told Israel to displace and destroy them. This woman was a Gentile, not included in the Lord’s covenant of salvation with Israel. She had no claims to God’s mercy.

She had a desperate problem. Her daughter was “grievously vexed by a devil” – she was afflicted by a demon. In Jesus’ time demons manifested themselves in various ways, spiritual, psychological, and physical. Matthew does not tell us how the demon tormented the woman’s daughter. We do know that the devil is always full of hate and malice. What a tragedy for a mother to have a daughter she loved whose life was filled with affliction by a demon.

Two lives intersected near Tyre and Sidon. Jesus was seeking respite from the hostility of the Jews. A Canaanite woman was desperately seeking help for her daughter.

2. The Woman’s First Approach to Jesus

2.1 This woman knew something about Jesus. Perhaps she had heard from travelers about a prophet who went about Galilee preaching, teaching, and doing powerful works, including casting out demons. She called him Lord, which may have been just a title of respect, similar to “Sir.” But she also called him the “son of David,” a title for the Jewish Messiah. This tells us she knew something about a Messiah promised to the Jews and that there was speculation Jesus might be the Messiah.

However much or little she knew and believed about Jesus, she thought he could help her, And so she spoke the words expressing the most basic human need, words often repeated in our Prayer Book, “Have mercy on me.” The person who says, “Have mercy,” knows he is in trouble, that he is suffering, that he cannot help himself, and that he will be delivered only if someone intervenes to help. Nobody who asks for mercy feels self-sufficient or is filled with pride. Asking for mercy comes from a humble, dependent heart.

We know already why this woman asked for mercy – her daughter was grievously vexed by a demon.

2.2 How did Jesus respond? He didn’t. It appears he just kept on walking as though she had said nothing. Jesus did not say a word. But apparently that did not stop her – she was desperate. So she followed Jesus crying for mercy.

That bothered the disciples. Perhaps she irritated them. Perhaps she embarrassed them. She was making a spectacle. Jesus came to this territory to avoid attention. So they did what any good Christian would do. They said, “Make her go away for she is crying after us.”

Jesus did not respond to the woman’s cries nor to the request of his disciples. He made a declaration: “I am not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” Jesus’ purpose is not to reach the Gentiles, but to seek, find, and bring home the lost sheep of Israel. God has a plan of salvation that God works out in history. He had promised Abraham that one day all the nations of the earth would be blessed through him. But throughout the Old Testament God worked exclusively among and through the Jews. He promised a Messiah who would come from the line of King David. Salvation would come from the Jews.

Jesus was a Jew; he was sent by the Father to the Jews to call them to repentance and faith. The time to reach the Gentiles would not come till after the resurrection.

So Jesus’ statement was, “My assignment is not to reach the Gentiles. My Father sent me to seek and to save the lost sheep of Israel.”

That could have been the end of the matter. Jesus seemed to be saying, “This woman’s need is not my concern, not my assignment, not my business. This is not why the Father sent me into this world.”

3. The Woman’s Second Approach to Jesus

3.1 But the woman did not give up. She approached Jesus, bowed before him, and said, “Lord, help me.” That is even more poignant than “Have mercy.” She does not know what more she can say, so she says to him, “Help me.” She needs help. She believes Jesus can help. Nothing she has said or done so far has moved him to show mercy. She’s down to her last plea: “Lord, help me.”

Jesus’ response is not encouraging: “It is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to dogs.” There were two forms of the word “dog” in the language of the New Testament. One form meant “wild dogs.” Jews sometimes called Gentiles “Gentile dogs.” The other form meant “pet dogs.”

Jesus uses the second word to refer to the woman. When she asks for help, Jesus says, “It is not right to take the food that is for the children and give it to the pets.” It’s another refusal.

3.2 But the woman does not let that discourage her. She sees the door of hope cracked open. She says, “That’s right, Lord, but even the dogs get to eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.” She was saying, “Lord, I’m not asking much. If the Jews are God’s children sitting at his table, and I’m just a dog, the crumbs that fall from the table are enough for me.”

Hearing that, Jesus responded: “O woman, your faith is great! May you receive what you desire.” At that very moment her daughter was delivered from demonic affliction. The woman’s faith received what the woman needed. By faith she received mercy for herself and her daughter.

3.3 What is going on in this story? Jesus seems indifferent, rude, unwilling to help this woman because she was a Gentile. Let’s consider several things.

First, Jesus really is following the Father’s plan. This is the time to reach the Jewish people with whom God established his ancient covenant. Soon the Gospel and its salvation will spread to the whole world – every people, tribe, tongue, and nation.

Second, Jesus is resisting people explaining his ministry as sent to be the “Helper in Chief.” He did not come to heal as many sick as possible, to relieve as much suffering as possible. The vast majority of sick and suffering people were not helped by Jesus. Jesus’ miracles were evidence that the kingdom of God had come, that he was going to deal with sin, and eventually remove the curse and restore wholeness to man and all his creation. The miracles were subservient to his mission to die on the cross for our sins and to secure our complete and eternal salvation.

Third, Jesus drew out this woman’s faith to full expression. There was much she did not know and did not understand, but she believed what she knew about Jesus and that Jesus could help. Her faith grew and persisted till it obtained the help of Jesus.

But here is the most important thing: The crumbs that fall from Jesus’ table are better than the finest foods on any other table. Crumbs from any other table are just crumbs. Crumbs from Jesus’ table are a feast.

We pray at Communion, “We are not worthy so much as to gather up the crumbs under thy Table…But that we may enjoy the best food and drink there is – by faith to eat Christ’s body and drink Christ’s blood so that our sinful bodies may be made clean by his body and our souls washed by his most precious blood.

Just crumbs. But the crumbs that nourish us for eternal salvation.

God Alone

God Alone

First in Lent

Collect of the Day

O LORD, who for our sake didst fast forty days and forty nights; Give us grace to use such abstinence, that, our flesh being subdued to the Spirit, we may ever obey thy godly motions in righteousness, and true holiness, to thy honour and glory, who livest and reignest with the Father and the Holy Ghost, one God, world without end. Amen.

Psalm 62 (ESV)

1For God alone my soul waits in silence;
    from him comes my salvation.
2 He alone is my rock and my salvation,
    my fortress; I shall not be greatly shaken.

3 How long will all of you attack a man
    to batter him,
    like a leaning wall, a tottering fence?
4 They only plan to thrust him down from his high position.
    They take pleasure in falsehood.
They bless with their mouths,
    but inwardly they curse. Selah

5 For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence,
    for my hope is from him.
6 He only is my rock and my salvation,
    my fortress; I shall not be shaken.
7 On God rests my salvation and my glory;
    my mighty rock, my refuge is God.

8 Trust in him at all times, O people;
    pour out your heart before him;
    God is a refuge for us. Selah

9 Those of low estate are but a breath;
    those of high estate are a delusion;
in the balances they go up;
    they are together lighter than a breath.
10 Put no trust in extortion;
    set no vain hopes on robbery;
    if riches increase, set not your heart on them.

11 Once God has spoken;
      twice have I heard this:
     that power belongs to God,
12  and that to you, O Lord, belongs steadfast love.
For you will render to a man
   according to his work.

Homily Text: Psalm 62:1-7

Adversity forces us to face our weakness and ask, “Where do I turn now?” When David wrote Psalm 62 some were conspiring to depose him and take the throne. But Psalm 62 is not just for politically vulnerable kings. David’s Psalm is for all of us who find troubles overwhelming us.

1. David speaks about himself (1, 2).

1.1. The Psalm begins with David expressing his trust in the Lord.

For God alone my soul waits in silence;

from him comes my salvation.

He alone is my rock and my salvation,

my fortress; I shall not be greatly shaken.

1.1a Some of the Psalms were written when God’s deliverance had already come and the danger had danger had passed. Psalm 116 was written after deliverance from death: “I love the LORD because he has heard my voice and my pleas for mercy.” But in this Psalm the crisis is on ongoing; no deliverance has come. There are those trying to depose David as king. He could lose his throne and his life. It is not uncommon for God’s people to be in trouble, needing help from the Lord, with no deliverance in sight.

1.1b Though he doesn’t see deliverance on the way, David says, “For God alone my soul waits in silence.” Why does he wait in silence? Perhaps because he does not know what to say. There are times when we do not know what to ask of the Lord. When we can’t form clear ideas of what to ask, we struggle with finding any words for our prayers, except perhaps, “Thy will be done.” Or it may be that David waits in silence because he has said all there is to say and now he must wait in silence to see what God will do.

1.1c Though he is silent he waits for God alone, because he knows that no one but God can deliver him. Sometimes we put on people a weight they cannot bear - we want them to do what they cannot do, to be God. We look to them to deliver us from all our troubles, to solve all our problems, to soothe all our wounds and hurts, to fill the emptiness in our lives. We make them our god, and we get mad at them when they cannot do what God alone can do. David knows better. He waits on God alone.

1.1d God is his rock, fortress, and salvation. In David’s time, kings looked for rock formations that could serve as fortresses. They would pull their troops into these fortresses and defend themselves against enemy attacks. But David knows that his safety and salvation are in God alone.

Because God is his rock, fortress, and salvation David will not be greatly moved. He may be moved, but he will not be greatly moved. He will not be overrun by his enemies. When we are facing troubles of every kind, we may feel we are in danger of being overrun by our adversities, but if we anchor our faith in the Lord, we will not be greatly moved. The Lord is our fortress, and in him we will find safety and security.

2.1 David speaks about his enemies (3, 4).

2.1a David pictures his enemies as present so he can ask them a question.

Sometimes the Psalmists say to the Lord, “How long, O Lord?” They ask, “How long till you deliver me? How long till you show me favor?”

But this time David asks his enemies:

How long will all of you attack a man

    to batter him,

    like a leaning wall, a tottering fence?

“You see me as a leaning wall that is about to collapse, a tottering fence that will soon fall. You press your advantage against my vulnerability and weakness. You continue to batter me in anticipation that I will soon be completely defeated.” David’s enemies show him no mercy.

2.1b David knows the character and aims of his enemies.

They only plan to thrust him down from his

    high position.

    They take pleasure in falsehood.

   They bless with their mouths,

   but inwardly they curse.

They are focused on David’s high position, sitting on the throne of Israel, and their one goal is to thrust him down and take his kingship. They are liars, who take pleasure in falsehood. They are hypocrites, who bless with their mouths while inwardly they curse. They are the sort of person who smiles, holds out the right hand in fellowship, and speaks words of goodwill, but inwardly is full of malice and ill will. They may say, “Long live the king!” but in their hearts they are thinking, “May the king be pulled off this throne and killed.”

There are times when we will feel like leaning walls and tottering fences. We may be battered by friends who betray us, and ask, “How long will you kick a man when he’s down?” Or we may be pounded by the blows of one disappointment or trouble after another, so that we ask, “How long can this go on? How much more can I take?”

3.1 David speaks to himself.

3.1a David began by describing himself as waiting on the Lord in silence. But then he turned his attention to his enemies and, as so often happens when we focus on our troubles, it seems his peace was disturbed.

You know how you hate it when someone quotes your own words back to you? You say, “As soon as a get a free Saturday, I’m going to clean out the garage. The next free Saturday you are relaxing watching sports on TV and your wife says, “What was that you said about cleaning out the garage?”

In this case with his peace disturbed David has the good sense to quote his words back to himself and turns them into an exhortation.

For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence,

    for my hope is from him.

He only is my rock and my salvation,

   my fortress; I shall not be shaken.

On God rests my salvation and my glory;

    my mighty rock, my refuge is God.

3.1b Sometimes we have to preach to ourselves what we know from God’s Word is true. When doubts and fears threaten us, we confess the truth of our faith.

Missionary and author Elisabeth Elliot lost two husbands. Jim Elliot was martyred in Ecuador by the Auca Indians he was trying to reach so he translated the Scripture into their language. Her second husband Addison Leitch, a seminary professor died of cancer. She wrote about how devastating her loss was, how overwhelming the grief. She wrote poignantly of losing her second husband and of how little things like seeing the foot pattern in a pair of slippers or cooking one egg rather than two, would stir her grief. She also tells us how she worked her way through the loss, loneliness, and grief. She quoted the Apostles’ Creed to herself line by line, and said, “Not one word of this has been changed by the death of my husband.”

Sometimes we have to say to ourselves, “Trust in the Lord and him alone.” You know him.

• You know he has promised never to leave you or forsake you.
• You know that your God is a mighty fortress, a bulwark never failing.
• You know that he has promised to work all things together for your good.
• You know that if did not spare his own Son but delivered him up for us all, he will with Christ freely give you all things necessary for your salvation.
• You know that in heaven Christ is your High Priest who understands your weaknesses and who promises not only to hear sympathetically but to help.
• You know the Holy Spirit lives within you to search your hearts in those times you don’t know how to pray, and to pray for you.
• You know that nothing whatsoever can separate you from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus your Lord.

There is no one so trustworthy. There is no one else who will never let you down. There is no one so powerful as he. He has all the power needed to keep all his promises to you. There no one so loving as he. He loves you more than you can comprehend and has purposed good things for you his power will fulfill. Trust in him alone. Make him your fortress of security.