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Rom 12:6-14

The Holy Apostles Peter and Paul whom we remember today are called the leaders of the Apostles, however, they were very different men.  Peter was a one of the first of the Apostles and a simple, uneducated fisherman; Paul, on the other hand, was the last called of the Apostles and was a highly educated scholar of the Law and the Prophets.  They were united, however, by something greater than their differences.  They both were devoted to our Lord Jesus Christ and gave themselves to His service and brought with them the gifts that God had given them, diverse as they were from one another.  Peter brought an unmatched zeal and his simple bold and unwavering belief while Paul brought his understanding of the true purpose and meaning of the Law and his willingness to endure every hardship in order to proclaim the Gospel. They truly exhibited the truth of the words of the Apostle, “we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another, having gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us”

We are members of this same body and yet we have not the same gifts nor do we have the same office or function within that body.  Just as our natural bodies have many members, each acting according to its place in the body – the eye to see, the ear to hear, the fingers to feel and manipulate, the mouth to speak, the feet to walk and so on – so also in the body of Christ we each function according to our callings and the gifts of grace that are given to us.

The Apostle goes on to describe, in short, some of the gifts and functions in the body of Christ and so it would be good today to look at what he says about them. “whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith; or ministry, let us wait on our ministering: or he that teacheth, on teaching; or he that exhorteth, on exhortation: he that giveth, let him do it with simplicity; he that ruleth, with diligence; he that sheweth mercy, with cheerfulness.”  Now some of these gifts are esteemed and well known, while others may not even be thought of as gifts of grace.  But no matter what gifts we are given we should use them to their fullest extent.

Prophecy, or the gift of proclaiming the word of God, is one that many think of as one of the greatest of the gifts (but this is not so, for the Apostle also says elsewhere that the greatest gift is Love). The prophet, however, is given the task of proclaiming the word of God, whether by preaching or simply by making the word of God manifest in his life.  The prophet is called to prophesy according to the proportion of faith, therefore, we see that some prophets are mighty in word and deed while others simply put forth the simple daily truths that make up our regular lives.  The one with the gift of ministry is the one who reaches out and cares for others. The minister is called simply to wait on the ones for whom he cares to the best of his ability.  Some are called to minister to the physical needs of others and this can take an abundance of forms – parents are minsters to their children, nurses minister to the sick, some minister to those in prison, some to those who are poor, homeless, hungry or otherwise in need.  Some, however, are called to minister to the spiritual needs of others, to comfort the distressed, to reach out to the confused and lost, to relieve the burdens of those weighed down by their sins and so on.

There are those who given the gift of teaching – both secular subjects and spiritual truths.  In this case it is the clarification of those truths proclaimed by the prophets or of the facts provided to us by scientific observation or of the various aspects of culture and daily life.  Others are given the gift of exhortation which is the ability to encourage others to undertake and complete the tasks set in front of them.

Now we come to those gifts which are no less important, but which are more common among people.  The gift of giving, that is generosity, hospitality and the giving of alms, should be done “with simplicity”.  This means that one is not necessarily called to give gifts that are large and noteworthy, but rather for each to give simply, to share that which he has been given by God.  This kind of giving ranges from supporting the founding of churches, monasteries and hospitals on one hand to simply providing a cup of water to the thirsty on the other hand.  We give “simply”, out of the gifts that we have been given by God whatever they might be.  Remember the lesson of our Lord pointing out the widow who gave only a few pennies, it was a very simple gift, but it was counted of greater worth in the Kingdom of God than the ostentatious gifts of the wealthy.

The gift of ruling – who would have thought that being a ruler or governor of people is a gift from God, but it is.  In and of itself this is an important concept since it emphasizes that God gives the responsibility to rule and so expects the ruler to exercise that responsibility in a God-pleasing manner.  Those who rule are called to rule with diligence.  This means that they must be careful and guide the society they oversee to the benefit of all the people (not just the majority, but to all).  This requires a lack of self interest and instead to focus on the interest of the people who are under the ruler’s care.  This attitude is seen clearly in the life of the Royal Martyrs who set aside their own self interest to the point of sacrificing their lives on behalf of their people.

There is also a gift of showing mercy.  To be merciful is considered one of the characteristics of the spiritual man; he who is merciful towards others shall himself receive mercy from God.  Here, however, the Apostle instructs us to show mercy with cheerfulness. Elsewhere he says that God loves a cheerful giver and while there he speaks of monetary giving there, here the same thing applies to the giving of mercy.  Let us rejoice when we are merciful for this is a source of great joy and attracts to the giver the grace of God. To forgive, to show mercy is a gift which we all should ask of God so that we can indeed become merciful as God is merciful.

Having enumerated these various gifts (which do not really encompass the infinite aspects of God’s grace and His gifts to us), the Apostle then shifts to how we, who are members of the same body must relate to one another and to the world around us: “Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good. Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another; not slothful in business; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord; rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer; distributing to the necessity of saints; given to hospitality. Bless them which persecute you: bless, and curse not.”  Just to hear again this list of virtues and righteous actions is uplifting and inspiring.  It is to this kind of a life that we should aspire.  A life filled with love and affection for others, of turning away from evil and towards good. A life where we are generous and hospitable. A life filled with prayer, hope in the Lord and serving Him fervently imitating Him in every way.   This is the life to which we are called.

Make a note of what was read today (Rom 12:6-14) and every day for the next week, read it again meditating on it and making it a part of your mind and heart.  This is the common life to which we are called as members of the body of Christ.  This is the life exhibited for us by the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul and all the other Holy Apostles each in their own way, according to the variety of gifts that they were given.  Having completed this preparatory fast of the Apostles, now we embark upon the Apostolic life, living according to the various gifts of grace that we have been given.  Each of us are given a multitude of gifts of grace by God and it is our task, having received these riches of grace to use them according to our strength and ability.  So let us each embrace the apostolic injunction to go and preach by word and deed and every action of our lives the glory of God and His love for the world.

Romans 10:1-10

“If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved”  This the teaching of the Holy Apostle that we heard read today. When we think of all the things that we do according to the life of the Church to work out our salvation, this saying seems to tell us that all our activity is unnecessary.  Indeed it is quite simple on the surface, to simply “confess with your mouth” and “believe in your heart”.  So we have to ask ourselves, what does it mean to “confess” and to “believe”?

First we have to realize that these two things are connected – they cannot be separated if they are to lead us to salvation.  To confess something – that is to say it with our whole being – is meaningless, in fact a lie if we do not also believe it with our whole heart. The confession, that is the outward expression, must come “from the heart”, it must be a true account of the inward belief.  And if we believe something in our heart, but do not confess it, then it is something that has no effect, for it does not have any outward expression.  We must both believe and confess as a single whole.

An example of this is given to us today in the life of St Eusebius Bishop of Samosata.  St Eusebius was a well known and respected hierarch who during the Arian controversy was a staunch confessor of the Orthodox doctrine that Jesus Christ was indeed fully God and fully man.  As a senior hierarch of the Patriarchy of Antioch, when the patriarchal thone was vacant, St Eusebius was present at the council to elect a new patriarch.  He put forward the name of Meletius as the new Patriarch to which the whole council agreed.  There were many among the council who held to the errors of Ariansim, however, they were unaware of the firm Orthodox convictions of Meletius when they agreed to his election.  Along with electing a new patriarch, all the members of the council were required to sign a confession of faith which confirmed the decrees of the First Ecumenical Council condemning the error of Arius.  These men signed the confession with a false heart, not intending to follow their own words.  This is a confession of the true faith, but without the belief in the heart and so was a lie.  Their own erroneous belief, that Jesus Christ was not God incarnate, was a belief without expression and so could not truly uphold their actions.  This confession of faith, signed by all the heirarchs was given into the care of St Eusebius. Later when it became clear that Meletius was a true defender of the Orthodox Faith (his confession and  belief were the same), those Arian bishops drove him from the city and sought to retrieve the signed document from Eusebius.  The emperor (and Arian sympathizer) sent a soldier to demand the document from Eusebius to hide their dishonesty.  When the soldier threatened to cut off the right hand of Eusebius if he did not surrender the document, since he realized doing so would be a denial of the true faith, Eusebius held out both hands and told the soldier to cut them both off as he would not comply with the demand.  Here was an example of the unity of Eusebius’ confession and belief and his belief in the true belief of the Orthodox Church enabled him to confess his faith even if it resulted in the loss of both hands.  Both confession and belief together are necessary for either one to have an impact on the soul.

So what then does it mean to confess something, in this case to confess Jesus Christ?  To confess Christ is much more than to simply say that we believe in “one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God…” It also means that not only our words, but our actions as well make this confession.  Our entire outward life, beginning with our words but also encompassing our actions and choices and style of life must confess Christ. Hence we have the whole of our tradition of life within the Church, the things that we say, the things that we do, the choices we make, the discipline by which we deny ourselves by which we “confess the Lord Jesus Christ with our mouth”.

Not only do we confess these things outwardly, but we must also believe them in our heart.  We have to believe that Jesus Christ is indeed God incarnate, that He is our Lord and Master, that He rose from the dead and ascended to the right hand of the Father.  These beliefs are not just empty convictions, but they have to find expression in our lives.  If we believe that Jesus is indeed the “Way, the Truth and the Life” then we will seek out His commandments so that we might follow Him and give expression to our belief.  If we truly believe that His our Lord and our God, then we will express that belief by serving Him with our whole lives.

To confess our whole being and to believe with our whole heart is the essence of our Christian faith.  We cannot have one without the other and this combination is all encompassing, it effects every aspect of our lives both inner and outer.  If we believe with our hearts that Jesus is Lord, then that belief will invariably find its expression in our words and actions.  If we are truthful and speak and act in line with our beliefs then those outward actions will impact our whole being and have the effect of aligning us soul and body with Jesus Christ so that becoming like Him we too might ascend with Him to the right hand of the Father, there to glorify God throughout eternity.

Rom. 6:18-23; Matt. 8:5-13

We are slaves. But we are slaves with a very unique quality given to us by God.  He created us with a free will so that we can choose to whom we will enslave ourselves.  We can’t be truly free, for only God is truly free, but we can choose which master we wish to serve.  And so today, the Apostle asks us who we will serve: do we serve sin or do we serve righteousness?

Having been born into the slavery to sin, we were powerless to change our place, however, our Lord Jesus Christ, seeing our plight and desiring to save us, Himself took flesh and was born into our life in order to provide for us a way out.  In coming into the world, He opened for us the door to heaven.  By His life and His voluntary sacrifice on the cross, He destroyed the chains that bound us to sin, death and the devil. By His resurrection and bodily ascension into heaven, He leads us and shows us the way to heaven.  We now have a new choice – we can opt out of slavery to sin and choose instead to become slaves to righteousness.

When we were slaves to sin, the Apostle tells us, we were “free from righteousness”, that is we had no access to righteousness and the rewards thereof.  We had only sin and its wages (that is death).  Everything that we accumulated under the rule of sin was subject to death; it could not be translated into eternity, but was limited to this world and this life.  All these gains would end, all would die and cease to exist for us at the moment of our death.  The only thing that we could take with us was the eternal wages of sin, which is death itself – that is eternal death.

If we choose to become the slave of righteousness, we first have to enter into the life of Christ, for only through Him is this path available.  When we no longer live for ourselves but live according to His life, then we begin to accrue those things which are subject to life and which last beyond the death of this world and which are carried into eternity.  The joy and bliss of the life to come is now open to us and as we lay up for ourselves treasures in heaven by our labors for Christ, we constantly improve our place in the Kingdom of Heaven.

Now for all this to make any effect on our lives, we first and foremost have to recognize that this life in the world is only temporary and that we will leave it behind to enter into the eternal life.  In eternity, we will reap the rewards that we have piled up in this life on earth.   If we have chosen to serve righteousness in this life, then these fruits will continue with us in the next life.  We will live in the mansions of paradise (and here I must echo the words of the apostle “I speak in worldly terms” for those worldly terms, like “mansion” cannot come close to communicating the reality of the eternal life, still these are the only words we can actually understand in our limited state.)  We will enjoy the riches of righteousness. that we have acquired by our life in this world. 

Not only do we hold the Kingdom of heaven before as a goal, we also must hold the vision of death before our eyes as well so that we can avoid the pitfalls and traps which will result in falling back into the slavery to sin. Not only do we recall the bliss and joy of heaven, but we must also remember the torments and sufferings of hell.  We desire to be bathed in the brilliant heavenly light, but we must also remember the darkness of death.

We obtain this heavenly life and these riches of righteousness by faith in Christ.  In the Gospel reading today the meaning of this faith is described for us.  It is easy enough to say that we believe, but like the centurion it is also necessary to act on that faith.  First and foremost, like the centurion we must reach out to the giver of life, to our Lord Jesus Christ and ask for His help.  The centurion was a man of power and authority in the world – he could make almost anything happen simply by applying the force of arms available to him as a military commander.  But he had to recognize that with all his worldly might, he was helpless before Christ and could not even begin to accomplish those things which are offered by faith in Christ.  In this world, we too can have the illusion of power and might; especially in this society we grow up with the idea that we can influence the conditions of our lives, that we can improve ourselves, that we can accomplish all kinds of things.  But when it comes to eternity, we have to set aside that illusion of power and admit our weakness and even complete powerlessness.  When we come to Christ we come, as He Himself said, like a small child, with no resources, no ability, no assets, no skills. We come to Christ with nothing, or perhaps with less than nothing.  We have been given this life by God that we might serve Him and we have wasted it and therefore owe an unpayable debt.  Only Jesus Christ can lift us out of that debt and raise us up to the place where we can begin to accumulate the riches of righteousness that we will offer to God as the fruit of our lives.

Having realized our own powerlessness, we must then like the centurion, recognize Christ as the only One Who can help us.  We come to Him alone asking for His mercy and help.  And then when our Lord, through His compassionate loving kindness stretches out His hand to help us, like the centurion we put our confidence in His ability, His wisdom, and His guidance. Without even seeing the results of His action we believe that He has accomplished for us what we have been unable to accomplish for ourselves.  The centurion did not require proofs: he did not need to see Jesus in action; he did not require outward words and rituals to indicate the action of Christ.  Rather he recognized that Jesus Christ had the power and authority to do what he requested and needed only the consent of Christ to help him.  Knowing that Jesus would help, the centurion then immediately continued on his way, confident in the efficacy of Christ’s word.  This is the action of faith.

We too, coming to Christ, must have this same faith and act on it.  We must believe that Jesus is the Way the Truth and the Life and that He will lead us, without fail, into the presence of the Father.  And so we follow Him without looking to the right or to the left but concentrating only on the One who is leading us in order that we might follow Him.  We do not look to the right or left to see there the great dangers that await us if we stray.  We do not look behind at what we have left there and we do not look ahead as if we could predict the steps in advance.  Instead we focus all our attention on Christ and do as He instructs without trying to insert our own will or understanding.  We simply follow Him step by step on the path of salvation into the Kingdom of Heaven.

Our former masters, the devil and his demons, will try to distract us from this path.  They create for us illusions of joy, comfort, pleasure and riches – but these illusions are linked to death and are only real in this dying world and will die with it. They try to tempt us away from the eternal joys, comforts, pleasures and riches promised to us by Christ with these dead imitations.  But for us, we follow Christ no matter what else seems to appeal to us.  The more we focus on Christ, the less appeal these worldly lures have for us.  Even if we seem to suffer in this world, we know that this suffering on the path of Christ is given to us as the means by which eternal riches are bestowed upon us.  The martyrs knew this well for they were eager to suffer all manner of torment and even death in the world that they might in return obtain the heavenly crowns and rewards that awaited them in the Kingdom of God.

So here we have the choice set before us by the Apostle – to continue in this world as slaves to sin or to follow Christ as slaves of righteousness.  If we are slaves to sin, then all our efforts and labors will bring us only the wages of sin and that is death.  If however, we follow Christ and are slaves of righteousness, all our labors and efforts will bring to us the free gift of God which is eternal life.  Who then will we serve?

Matthew 6:22-33

We have many cares in this world; we worry about many things.  We worry about our health, paying the bills, having a place to live, having a job, what to wear, what we will eat, how much we get paid.  We worry about what people think of us, our reputation, our resume, our place in the world.  We worry about our families, our spouse, our children, our parents.  We worry about the future, about what might happen to us tomorrow, what we will do next, if there is money in the bank, our legacy in the world and so on.  We worry about these things because when it comes down to it, we are the ones who have to do something about it.  Anxiety has become for us a way of life; a way of life that is taught to us from childhood that we have to be responsible for ourselves, that we have to take care of ourselves, that we have to take care of others. 

This way of life – the worries, the cares, the anxiety – is the result of our sinfulness. When God created our first parents, they had none of these worries or cares or anxiety because they were content to be totally dependent upon God for all their needs.  They were created, in fact, without many of these needs that we experience and what needs they did have were provided by God.  But then our first parents sinned; they did so by stepping outside of God’s provision for them and attempting to take their lives into their own hands.  Falling to the temptation of the serpent, they rejected God’s provision for them and instead tried to provide for themselves.  As a result of their sin, they then became subject to all of these cares that we experience today, because they became subject to corruption and to the decree of God that “in the sweat of thy face thou shalt eat thy bread.” When our first parents sinned by rejecting the provision of God and trying to provide for themselves, God gave to them just what they wanted.  Now we experience that condition that is the result of our sinfulness in a life of cares, of worries and of anxiety.

God, however, does not desire that any man should perish in his sinfulness, but desires that we are all saved and come again to the knowledge of the truth.  He reaches out to us and again invites us into that care-free life of complete dependence upon Himself. We heard that invitation today in the reading of the Gospel, “Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? … Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?  … for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” He invites us to again enter into that life of complete dependence upon Him.  He does not make us so that we have no needs, nor does He even guarantee that we will not experience want or suffering or deprivation.  What He does promise is that He will provide for us all that we need.  Our only task in this is to “seek first the Kingdom of God and its righteousness”.  Instead of spending all our energy trying to acquire and accumulate worldly goods, we must instead put our priorities upon acquiring the Kingdom of God.  God will take care of the rest.

As a youth, St Tikhon the bishop of Amathus (the patron saint of St Tikhon of Zadonsk), demonstrated this dependence upon God.  His father was a baker by trade and when he would leave the youth in charge of the business, St Tikhon would freely give bread to the poor.  His father reproached him for doing this and so he prayed to God.  Taking his father to the storehouse for their grain, they discovered that it was so full that the door could only be opened with great effort.  In this manner the saint demonstrated to his father the truth of this saying, “Seek first the kingdom of God and all these things will be added unto you.”

When we trust in God’s providence; when we depend upon Him and not on ourselves for all of our needs, then God abundantly provides what we need.  In the Gospel parable of the talents, the master gives to the servants who used the money entrusted to them wisely more money that they might continue to do so.  In the same way we see time and time again in the lives of the saints that those who used the money and other worldly goods that they had wisely, that is to fulfill the work of God, then there was never any shortage.  The Elder Moses, as the superior of Optina monastery, was constantly spending the monastery funds for building this or that, expanding and improving the monastery.  He did this not as a means of aggrandizing the monastery or himself, but rather to provide for those who needed the work.   He would even buy from the poor items that were worn out or overpay for simple handcrafts.  He would pay the children to “catch moles” in the garden and “scare crows” from the fruit trees.  In all of this, though there were times when the money would run out and no income was anticipated, God would provide everything that was needed, just when it was needed.  No one ever went without or was turned away – God gave the saint an abundance of money and other goods so that he could in turn continue to use it for the glory of God.  Another saint that demonstrated the abundant provision of God is St John of Kronstadt who worked diligently for the welfare of the poor of his city.  He would receive large sums of money in one hand from benefactors and without even pausing would give that same money away with the other hand.  At times he would not even open the packet to see what he had been given, but would simply turn and hand it to someone in need trusting in God that all would receive according to their needs.  He was given much because all that he received he gave back to God and was fully content with whatever God provided for his own needs.

Even today there are those who strive to give back to God what He has given them.  There are families of my own acquaintance who carefully set aside a portion of everything they receive to give to God (to give to the Church, to give to the poor, etc).  They do this without regard for their own needs, but separate these funds first before everything else.  In many cases these families experience times of need, times of struggle, times when it seems foolish to set aside much needed money for the service of God rather than to provide one’s own needs.  But due to their faithfulness, they have always received that which they needed, never has God disappointed them.  Always He has provided for these families all that they needed.  They may not have many luxuries or a wealth of possessions or a life of ease – but God does provide all their needs because they trust Him and give back to Him what they receive.

God has given all of us here great wealth (at least in comparison to the majority of the rest of the world) and now the question is what will we do with it.  Will we use what He has given us to provide our own needs, thereby increasing our cares, our worries and our anxieties?  Or perhaps we will freely give what God has given us back to Him and use it for His glory, trusting His provision for all that we need and so casting all our cares upon Him and returning to the state of our first parents of complete and total dependence upon God. 

Therefore my brothers and sisters, I ask you, “Do you worry? Do you have an abundance of cares? Are you anxious about many things?”  If so then you are repeating the sin of our forefather Adam and trying to take your life into your own hands rather than relying upon God for everything.  Return to the state of dependence upon God.  Take as your own the promise of the Gospel: “Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and all these things shall be added unto you.”

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