Nineteenth Sunday After Trinity, October 22nd, 2017

Nineteenth Sunday after Trinity, October 22nd, 2017

". . . that yet henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk" (Ephesians 4:17 ff)

Have you ever been to a restaurant that you have never been to before but you heard rave reviews about it?  Now these rave reviews could have been from critics on the local TV news program or it could have been a published review in the local newspaper or it could have been by word of mouth from your friends or coworkers.  And so you decide to go there simply because you have heard so many great things about the food.  And then once you go there for yourself you decide that it certainly didn't live up to the hype.  It was OK, you say to yourself, but it wasn't any different from any other restaurant.  This could be said of a TV show or a movie as well for that matter.  We read fantastic reviews and hear great things and then we go see it for ourselves and it just doesn't do anything for us.   It was OK, we tell ourselves but it just wasn't any different from the previous ten westerns we saw.  . . or the ten previous romances we saw .  . . . etc.  There are certain things that stand apart from all the rest.  Whether they be great sports teams or great restaurants . . .  . it could be great movies . . . . or great companies to work for . . . .. Even certain "days" will stand out from others.  Holidays such as Christmas or Thanksgiving stand out from the Monday of an ordinary work week, for example.   Your graduation day, . . . the day you were married . . . . Again, these are days that stand out from the rest.

We could go on and on but I think it's clear by now the point that I'm trying to make:  Certain things stand out . . . they are different . . . . they are not like the rest.  Christianity is like that.  Or it is supposed to be like that.  It should be different, St. Paul is writing to the Ephesians.  Now, St. Paul is focusing on the fact that once you become a Christian, you are a new person.  You are a changed person.  You are not as you were previously.  You are a new creature!   "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature; old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new."  (II Corinthians 5:17)  When we have Christ in our life, we are new creatures!   It is not the "same old thing."   We view life differently.  We see people differently.  We do not see the world as we previously did.  We see the world now as Christ would have us view the world.   Now let me point out something very important before I go any further.  This is not to say that Christians consider themselves better than anyone else.  St. Paul was not saying that and neither am I.  Christ came to serve and He is calling us to do likewise.  This is certainly part of what sets us apart from the world.  While the rest of the world is focusing on what they can obtain:  power and riches that only the world can offer.  The Christian is focusing on how to do the will of God.   We are called as Christians to stand apart from the world . . .  to be different from the world . . . Christians live in the world, yes, but they are not of the world.  There is certainly a difference between the two:  "living in the world" and "being of the world."   This is why Christians are viewed as hypocrites by their critics when they see Christians acting one way in church and when they get outside of church, they are acting just like everybody else.   "And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness."  (Ephesians 4:24)  We are new.   God has made us new.  Through our baptism, God has washed away our sins.   He has made us a new creature.  We are new in Him!  So many people in the world are simply reflections of the world.  They want to be like everyone else by wearing the same thing . . . the same shoes . . . . the same jeans.  They want to think the same way as everyone else . . . do the same thing as everyone else.  As Christians, we want to do what Christ would do.   We want to reflect the love of God to the world  . . . . not reflect the world in our lives!  People should look at us and tell that we are different.  "Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them." (St. Matthew 7:20)

Join us on Sunday morning as we gather together to worship Our Blessed Saviour as family.  St. Margaret Church meets every Sunday morning at 9:30 AM.  We worship at the beautiful Chapel at Marquette Manor, located at 8140 N. Township Line Road on the Northwest side of Indianapolis.   Join us as we listen to the Word of God found in the King James Version of the Bible and the 1928 Book of Common Prayer.  Join us as we receive the Precious Body and Blood of Christ at Communion time.