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Leadings and Voices

Preached at St. Barnabas Church, Bellville, TX

Twentieth Sunday after Trinity, 2008

by The Rev. Stephen E. Stults

Eph 5:15-16 See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools,
but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil.

This thought, profound as it may be, is not new, or even original with St. Paul. Every age from the time of Socrates on up has been considered evil by men and women of thought, sound moral orientation and spiritual discernment. The fact is, every age has been bad, because of the essential corruption and self-centeredness of mankind. This of course, helps explain why the human race keeps falling into violence, crime, depravity and death, despite all the reasons we should do otherwise. Despite all our education, despite all our multiplicity of laws, and despite what our consciences tell us to do, we still seek those things that align with our fallen nature. We can learn, we can develop, even improve ourselves, up to the point where we run into our fallen selves again. For example, if education alone were the key to perfection, wouldn’t we be well on the way to achieving that goal by now?

Ultimately, by own strength alone, we can and must return to the morass of human sinfulness in which we wallow until God’s Grace calls us out. When this happens and we follow the call of grace, we will begin to bear “fruits worthy of repentance”. This leads us to realize our full potential as children of God as our process of sanctification occurs, until we take our place as heirs of salvation. If not, turning away from God, we will reap what we have sown and realize our potential as sons of perdition and the children of wrath. The sad fact is that, yes, some people will go to hell. Some people will indeed forfeit eternal bliss and all the unspeakable glories thereof. But, the good news is: not for the faithful people in this room. You, who have been led by God’s call, who are sealed unto salvation through Holy Baptism, who hear the Word of God faithfully preached, and who receive the sacrament of Holy Communion, taking Jesus Christ by faith as your Lord and Savior, are saved You are the children of God and inheritors of glory.

However, you might ask, is it possible for a person who has received the sign and seal of baptism to fail to attain to eternal life? In fact, is it possible to sin after baptism? The answer to both questions is surely, “yes.” In fact, this question was pondered by the early church and even spawned a heresy called the Donatists. In the medieval church, it was widely held that baptism equaled not only regeneration but salvation. Spiritual regeneration meant the washing away of original and actual sin and made one worthy of salvation. If one’s earthly pilgrimage was less than acceptable, well, one had the doctrine of Purgatory to fall back on. After a few hundred or even thousand years in Purgatory, one’s sins were considered sufficiently purged to merit entrance into Heaven. While I am grossly oversimplifying the concept, it does at its base invalidate the complete Atonement of Christ. In that system of theology, Christ was necessary but not essential. It also weakened the doctrine of justification by faith and downplayed the necessity of a covenantal relationship with Jesus Christ.

The Reformation happily corrected the erroneous concept of salvation solely through baptism and the meritorious redemption of souls through time spent in Purgatory. It brought the Church back to a scriptural standard of salvation and a good understanding of Baptism. While one cannot be saved without it, because baptism not only washes away original sin, it also makes one a member of God’s Family and thus eligible to enter into a covenantal relationship with God. Through the benefits of baptism, one can receive the promises of salvation and redemption though faith in Jesus Christ our Lord. Remember, there is no salvation outside Jesus Christ. Baptism is the entrance rite to that reality.

Returning to our other question, is it then possible to sin after baptism, even to the point of eternal death? The answer is again, “yes: We need only to look to our own experience to answer the first question and then logically extend it in order to answer the second. One of the Reformation documents, called the Westminster Confession of Faith, speaks to this question. Drawn up by a select group of Anglican divines in 1647, it tells us that even though we have received the sign and seal of baptism, our old nature still exists and fights daily with the regenerate man within. We still sin, daily, because we are not yet perfected and glorified. Yet, we are to fight a daily battle against the unholy trinity of the World, the Flesh and the Devil. The ones who continue to seek the face of God through repentance of sin and confession of faith, will persevere to eternal life.

Does this mean that we are earning our salvation through good works, coupled with confession and absolution of sin? Absolutely not, because One, Jesus Christ our Lord, has already accomplished that. We are merely acknowledging our sinful nature and the means to escape the consequences of who we are, through a saving relationship with Jesus Christ. In doing this, we develop and maintain a healthy spiritual life with God through Christ, meeting with Him In prayer and worship to strengthen our convenantal life. In so doing, we will persevere and be saved through God’s Grace to eternal life.

St. Paul tells us to “walk circumspectly, redeeming the time” What? Does he mean us to pick our way through life, avoiding all contact with the base, the unseemly and the profane? Actually, yes, that is exactly what he means in this respect: we are to walk “circumspectly” with Christ. He will guide our steps, strengthen us, help us and prepare us to come home with Him. In so doing, we will have salvation, “Not though works, lest any man should boast” (Eph. 2:9) but through the saving grace of Jes us Christ.

In the process, we have a helper. We have a helpmeet that will enable us to follow St. Paul’s injunction in Eph 5:17 ”Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is.” Who is this helper? It is the same one who meets us when we are young in Holy Baptism, that helps us to make an “adult” confession of faith in Confirmation and who blesses our earthly union with wife or husband in Holy Matrimony. This helpmeet gives us food for our earthly journey, prays for us when we are sick and even blesses our final journey to life everlasting.

By now, you know who this helper is. It is the Church. An orthodox Church is truly our “ark of salvation”, carrying us through the stormy waters of this life into the loving arms of Christ in the next. The true historic Church also defends us against error and heresy through creeds and sound doctrine, always held up against Holy Scripture as the final authority. Holy Scripture is after all, the “norma non normata”, or the standard that cannot be standardized. Thus, one of the roles of the Church is to be the guardian of Holy Writ.

It is grievous today to see the so-called “Bible” churches and others who, in their desire to return to a “primitive” Christianity, have abandoned the historic creeds, the historic liturgy and the good traditions of the Church, “No creed but Christ” they say. However, in so doing, they have opened themselves up to various heresies and errors. To their own peril, they are realizing the various consequences of trying to “go it alone.” Without the historic creeds to shape their confessions of faith, they are experiencing many of the old heresies re-birthed. Often, their teaching is not necessarily incorrect so much as it is incomplete. In fact, many of the these churches are practicing what Dr. Crenshaw, the Dean of Instruction at Cranmer Theological House calls “autonomous arrogance.” This occurs because they ignore what God has taught His Church over the last 2000 years.

Not to be smug or arrogant ourselves, but rather to the giving of thanks, we Anglicans are blessed. We have the historic benefit of correct Reformational theology coupled with a sound and beautiful liturgy. We balance this with sound preaching, and with beautiful, glorious music taken from the richness of history. We succeed in keeping the worship of Almighty God in stately, but joyous balance.

All of this will help us in our Christian walk. Buttressed by historic, orthodox faith, supported by the Sacraments and always led by the Word of God, we can accomplish a joyful journey with our Lord. Filled with the Spirit, we should be speaking to ourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, giving thanks always to God, the Father of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. This is the way of sanctification. This is understanding what the will of the Lord is.

“See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil.”

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