EPIPHANY I

January 10, 2010

St. Augustine Anglican Church

“And be not conformed to this world.”

The Rev. Gerald Parks +

          I came across an interesting passage the other day while reading Morning Prayer.  It comes from the First Epistle of St. John, and although I have read it at other times, its significance has before this reading always escaped my notice.  This time, though, its meaning seemed to jump right off the page: “I have not written unto you because ye know not the truth, but because ye know it, and that no lie is of the truth. Who is a liar but he that denieth Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist that denieth the Father and the Son. Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father: [but] he that acknowedgeth the Son, hath the Father also.” (1 John 2: 21-23)

          What this means to me is that a lot of people in this world need to seriously question what they are being taught.  We have all heard the nonsense that poses as religion being prattled about in some circles today, that Jesus was a good and holy man, and certainly worthy of our respect and imitation, but that He is only one of many equally good ways of coming to God.  We may call that nonsense, but St. John was more direct: he called such ideas and people “antichrist.”  Their aim is to create a world religion where all beliefs are treated as being equally true, and it is surely, in spite of its claim to fairness and equality, inclusion run amuck.

          To be fair, we must admit that those who preach such a worldwide religious structure are not necessarily bad people; the same as we should not say that those who jettisoned the 1928 Book of Common Prayer in favor of its weak and worldly 1979 stepsister are bad people.  However, we can and should say that even the most closely held and passionately defended and politically correct views of the world are just that – “of the world” – and cannot in any way successfully be relied on to reveal or express the will of God.  Scripture tells us that we are “fearfully and wonderfully made” (Psalm 139: 14), and that we have been given dominion over all of God’s creation.  But that does not mean we are somehow given license to set aside the truth of God, as revealed in Jesus Christ, to more closely conform God’s truth to whatever we would like it to be or think it should be.  When we do so we deny God in Christ and, in St. John’s words, have neither the Son nor the Father.  In our efforts to become God (or at least godlike) we show ourselves to be liars and “antichrist.”

           St. Paul, writing in today’s Epistle (Rom. 12: 1-5), makes a statement that seems particularly appropriate to our “me first” society: “For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think.” (Rom. 12: 3)  Could it be possible, as some seem to believe, that mankind has progressed to the point where God has become superfluous to our society, and His truth become a hindrance to our further enlightenment?  In the eyes of a lot of people, that certainly seems to be the case; and in much of the world the concept is warmly embraced.  The idea of God being personally involved in the affairs of men, and holding them to account for their behavior, as odious as this may be to those who find such an idea restrictive and oppressive, is precisely what our Lord’s Epiphany, His “showing forth” to the Gentiles is all about.  Through our Lord’s birth and Epiphany, the world was forever changed and a connection made between heaven and earth.  To be sure, some in the world – those who think of themselves more highly that they ought to think – may chafe under the knowledge of the truth of God, and not understand that His Truth has the power, not to enslave them as they think, but the power to set them free from the burden of sin. 

          St. Paul tells us, “And be not conformed to this world,” (Rom. 12: 2) but we have only to look as far as many of our churches, “mainline” and otherwise, to find the world firmly entrenched in them.  They are losing members at an alarming rate, because by becoming more like the world to attract members, they have found rejection instead.  It is as St. John said, “no lie is of the truth,” and if what is being taught is not true, then no amount of worldly sugarcoating can elevate it above what it is: a lie, and a damnable one at that.

          During the last century and before it, there began is this country a form of tent meeting known by the popular name of “revival.”  Evangelical and fundamentalist in nature, they were not what most of us would recognize as being worship at all; but they had a point: to revive the Christian faith in those who, for whatever reason, had become spiritually “lukewarm.”  We may debate the motives of some of the preachers involved and the methods they used, but they had in essence the same idea as that expressed by St. Paul in his Epistle to the Romans: “but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” (Rom. 12: 2) 

          What is needed in the Church today (and I speak in general terms of the Body of Christ) is not more talk.  We have had more than enough talk and novel ideas, as to what God’s word and truth really means.  What is needed is a return to the faith we have been given, a renewal and transformation of our hearts and souls by the only thing that can save us, the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  The purpose and great cause of this congregation, and of all who still hold the faith, needs to be the renewal of traditional faith and practice in whatever way we can, and among as many of the still faithful as will listen to us.  We know that “no lie is of the truth,” and we need to be making others see it also, that the Truth of God cannot be disproved or replaced by a lie, or a whole series of them, as has become so popular in our world.  In short, we must not be conformed to this world, as St. Paul tells us, but just as importantly, we must work to see that the world is not successful in its attempt to conform God to itself.