Withstand

The Eighteenth Sunday after Trinity

O Lord, my God, when I in awesome wonder
consider all the works thy hands hath made,
I see the stars, I hear the mighty thunder,
thy pow’r throughout the universe displayed;

Then sings my soul, my Savior-God, to thee:
How great thou art! How great thou art!
Then sings my soul, my Savior-God, to thee:
How great thou art! How great thou art!

Praise is our response to the wonder, the magnificence, and the holiness of God our Savior. The good and great Father Almighty, who created the heavens and earth merits praise for the unending grace bestowed upon us mere mortals. Fallen though we be, the Father hears our prayers for mercy and lavishes us sinners with the righteous Redeemer who sanctifies us in His Holy and life-giving Spirit.

St. Paul starts his first epistle to the Corinthian Church praising God for gifting His body, the Church. Paul tells the flock in Corinth, “I thank my God always on your behalf, for the grace of God which is given you by Jesus Christ.” (Epistle lesson, 1 Corinthians 1:4, KJV). Ultimately, every moment of this life is grace from God. It is bestowed upon us due to Jesus Christ, the Word of God, who enacted the Divine thought of the Father to create. Our gracious God did not merely make a watch and sit back to watch it work. Nor did our Father neglect and fail to fix His broken watch when it no longer worked. Our Father creates, redeems, and even now sustains through His Son every living being on the earth, the angelic host in heaven, and the wondrous stars and universe, which displays His handiwork.

When through the woods and forest glades I wander,
and hear the birds sing sweetly in the trees;
when I look down from lofty mountain grandeur
and hear the brook and feel the gentle breeze; [Refrain]

The deep grace of God speaks to us from the mountains that shed their green into autumn colors of amber, gold, and crimson. There is not an aspect of our individual lives, nor a single instance in the lives of the flora and fauna, that God is not sustaining in His garden. “[I]n every thing ye are enriched by him,” St. Paul tells us. (1 Corinthians 1:5). Every little thing, every little moment, every little day we are blessed by His presence and His grace. Have you considered, O Church, how “in all utterance, and in all knowledge” the Lord enriches you? You receive the Word of God preached through the spoken Word, and you may meditate day and night on the holy knowledge of His law and grace? This alone is worth praising Him. We are foolishly enriched by His grace; do not resort to looking for the world’s riches, lest you be sorely disappointed.

Do you feel impoverished in your walk with God? Be not discouraged but remember “the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you: so that ye come behind in no gift.” (1 Corinthians 1:6-7). Listen to His holy words to you this day and unwrap again the divine gift of the Living God’s words of love to you. It is all grace.

Yet some still seek to be made right by law. The world, the flesh, and Satan stand ready to accuse you for not being or doing enough; however, the Lord Jesus silences your critics, just as He silenced His own, starting with the Sadducees. (Gospel Lesson, Matthew 22:34, KJV). The Pharisees took a stab at attempting to humiliate Christ by sending a lawyer to question Jesus. The heart of this lawyer was not to inquire genuinely, but to tempt our Lord by asking, “Master, which is the great commandment in the law?” (Matthew 22:36). Our Lord did not hesitate in replying that God comes first, and the obedience He requires is a full-fledged love: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 38 This is the first and great commandment.” (Matthew 22:37-38).

Such an uncompromising love is far from us sinners, but it grows within our new Spirit-filled hearts as they are sanctified by faith in Christ, who loves us first. Yet our insufficient love, which grows daily more in the likeness of the Son is not limited to loving God. No, Christ gives us the answer to the question unasked by the lawyer, telling us, “And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.” (Matthew 22:39). Jesus loves not only the Father and Spirit completely and entirely, He also loves our neighbor. Jesus, who loves completely, wholly, and entirely as God and as man, explains such divine Love fulfills these two commandments upon which “hang all the law and the prophets.” (Matthew 22:40).

By nature, our hearts hate and do not love. But for God, He is Love itself. He loveth us so much, He bears our hate and kills it on the Cross. He rises from the grave and bestows upon us His heart so that we may now love as never before. Therefore, pay no heed to the enemy’s temptations, but instead withstand them by dwelling in Christ and He in you. Be indwelt by the Spirit of God, and allow Him to transfer your heart of stone into a beating heart of life and love. Learn to love Him, as He loves you, and learn to love your neighbor as much as the Savior who bled for them and you. “And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.” (1 John 4:16).

And when I think that God, his Son not sparing,
sent him to die, I scarce can take it in,
that on the cross my burden gladly bearing
he bled and died to take away my sin; [Refrain]

Listen to the Lord’s summary of the Law and meditate upon it. Allow the Lord to show you that although you cannot fulfill it, it has in fact been fulfilled by His merits in His life, death, and resurrection. Allow Him to show you that He is enough, and that He dwells within you by faith. Withstand the assaults of our enemies who wish to drag you down into hell’s pit and instead ascend upon the eagle’s wings of God’s great love for sinners. Lift up the collect, praying, “Lord, we beseech thee, grant thy people grace to withstand the temptations of the world, the flesh, and the devil.” (Collect of the Day).

Withstand.

Withstand in love by petitioning the Divine Author of Life and the Finisher of our Faith to grant us “with pure hearts and minds to follow thee, the only God, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.” (Collect of the Day).

Ye of little faith, despair not, for your faith has made you well. Do you trust in Jesus? Then you trust in more than “The Son of David,” you trust in the One whom “David in spirit call him Lord, saying, The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool?” (Matthew 22:42-44). Jesus silences the Sadducees, the Pharisees, and our enemies alike. (Matthew 22:46). Give no ear as the world tells you the God who made awesome wonders does not desire your love. Listen not when the flesh tempts you to withhold love from your neighbor. Stop up your ears when the devil twists the Word and claims that you must “love thyself” before you should love God and neighbor. In the Name of Jesus Christ, the Lamb whose blood was lovingly shed for you, withstand.

Anchor your hearts and minds on Christ and His love and let His love be sufficient. Sink yourself into the deep depths of Christ’s love and be refreshed in the living waters of His grace. Old Adam’s heart cannot love God and neighbor, but you were regenerated and born again by water and faith in the Spirit and gifted the New Adam’s heart. He has enough love for eternity and all of creation. Let that be enough for you to withstand the assaults of the enemies.

For the Day is coming when David’s son and God’s Son shall Advent. The change of the leaves and the cool of the breeze give warning; the season is changing. Fear not your enemies and their lies, look to the Son whose enemies are your enemies and the Lord has promised the Son to “make thine enemies thy footstool.” (Matthew 22:44).

While there is still light in this day, live in love and charity with your neighbor, praising God all the day long, “waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Corinthians 1:7). Fear not, O Church, that your faith is weak or small, for we serve the Lord God who grows the mustard seed. Instead, in love, trust the Lord, take comfort, and be of good cheer that God “shall also confirm you unto the end, that ye may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Corinthians 1:8). Withstand temptation’s storm, resting in the strong arms of your loving Savior. When the storm subsides, marvel aloud with saints militant and triumphant, rejoicing, “My God, how great thou art!”

When Christ shall come with shout of acclamation
and take me home, what joy shall fill my heart!
Then I shall bow in humble adoration
and there proclaim: “My God, how great thou art!”