“TRINITY 15”
Saint Matthew 6: 24-34
15th Sunday after Trinity: 17 September Anno Domini 2023
Fr Jay Watson, SSP
No man can serve two masters. The Word of The Lord. Thanks be to God.
Here the Law of God: “No man can serve two masters.” “Thou shalt have no other Gods before Me.” What does this mean? “We should fear, love, and trust in God above all things.” The Hebrew means you will have no other gods before The Lord’s face—in His sight—anywhere near His omnipresence.
Many sermons given this morning on this God-breathed Holy Spirit inspired lection of Saint Matthew (recording our Lord’s discourse) will probably try and make it relevant (in a good way, I guess) to your lives, this time, this place, this setting, and society. Okay. This pastor has done the same in years past; and a whole lot in SounDoctrine class.
So yes, you can turn anything that is not God, that is part of His creation, into your false god, your actual daily master. Don’t do it. Stop it.
Christians are usually quite good and not letting mere money, wealth in all of its monetary forms (and the things it buys and secures), be a master. You are all so well catechized and fortified by The Word of God that you know wealth in all of its 1st Article (The Creed) manifestations is fleeting. “Change and decay in all around I see.” “The grass withereth, the flower fadeth” [Is. 408].
You’ve also been lectured (I call it preaching God truth in the Law) about not letting your families become your gods and masters. Spouses, children, siblings, best friends must all be let go of when they clash, conflict, and prove to be a stumbling block to The Lord and His will for you. “Let the dead bury the dead” said The Christ. That is, let those dead to The Faith, to The Grace of God, do what they do, but you follow Him on The Path. He is your Master your only Master! THE Truth is simply speaking The truth: “for from henceforth there shall be five in one house divided, three against two, and two against three. The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against the father; the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother; the mother-in-law against her daughter in law, and the daughter in law against her mother-in- law” [Lk. 12. 52-53].
And after The Satanic government and its minions abused you, the Nation, the culture, and the Church, during the scamdemic of 2020 and onwards, you need not be warned against making The State or even its sclerotic and rotting corpses of the “constitution” and the “bill of rights” into your Master. You believe, teach, and confess Christ Crucified is your Master. Period.
Master is used 87 times in the New Testament; mostly referring to Jesus. And yes, the Greek word is KURIOS, which also means Lord, and now for all The Church it means God. Kyrie eleison, Lord, or Master, have mercy on us. Forgive us our sins and our sin.
So now the point. Jesus is your Master, and only Him should you follow with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength [Mk. 12.30].
He masters, commands, has dominion and sovereignty over all creation. The Lord, The Word, mastered matter when He created it and the universe “ex nihilo” in Genesis 1. After you and your first parents sought a different master, The Lord gave the promise, the Gospel in His Word to Eve in chapter 3.15. The Lord was the master over the godless and false masters in the time of Noah. He mastered His creation by His flood and by the restoration of His Church in The Ark and family of Noah. The same mastery was demonstrated by Him on the Sea of Galilee. The Son of God mastered the evils of all political and military authority when He overthrew Pharaoh and the Egyptian (the plagues). He mastered the Hebrew’s physical delivery and redemption by freeing them during The Exodus.
And most importantly, Christ Jesus is the Master over sin, death, and the power of the devil. He mastered sin (your sins and sin) by never sinning. This perfect 2nd Adam was blameless in His flesh even as He carried all of your guilt, shame, and trespasses to the cross and let them pierce Him and fill Him. He conquered and Satan by rising from the tomb on Easter morning—forever crushing the skull of the old ancient foe. He was recognized by His own, first one Easter evening, and then a week later when Saint Thomas made your confession “My Master, i.e., My Lord and my God.”
And He masters time and space this morning, forgiveness of sins, life, and immortality, as He unites with bread and wine to feed you His real and true, and veritable, Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity.
He is the Master of His table and His Holy Altar.
But yes, there is relevance. Jesus your Master does bring it all back into your face as He constrains you to walk The Path, His Path. He masters your fallen state. The ultimate battle you wage every moment is between the false “master” of glory—your old nature—your ego—your corrupt will; and the True Master—The Cross. You will suffer much. You will suffer with Him in your own individual “cruciform” because a servant is not greater than his Master.
You are His children, His dear lambs.
The Apostle speaks: “…and if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us” [Rom. 8.17-18].
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of The Holy Ghost
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