Friday after the Third Sunday after Trinity Sunday
Posted on June 30, 2023 by under
Scripture: St. Luke 16:16-17 (NKJV)
16:16 “The law and the prophets were until John. Since that time the kingdom of God has been preached, and everyone is pressing into it. 17 And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one tittle of the law to fail.”
Devotion
False teachers disconnect God’s Law from His Gospel. They teach one while twisting or suppressing the other. On the one hand, there are those who emphasize man’s work and efforts, saying wrongly that our works or decisions bring about our righteousness. But no one can say Jesus Christ is Lord except by the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 12:3). Our salvation is only by God’s work. On the other hand, there are those who emphasize a corrupted gospel that ignores or reduces God’s Law. They proclaim, “Peace, love, forgiveness, mercy!!!” But they justify or ignore sin and rebellion. There are entire religious bodies that act according to these two categories. They insist they are faithful, but they refuse to consider that they are serving their own sinful bellies.
There is a time and a place to rebuke such false teaching. Our Lord did it, sometimes using rather harsh statements. Our faithful fathers did it at the time of the Reformation. All earthly fellowships need to do it because men sin and lose their way. But as we heard yesterday, our Lord desires mercy and not sacrifice. He desires that discipline be done so that good order and faithful work is restored. The Church is not focused on self-will or manipulative control. It seeks harmony according to God’s commands and good fruit borne according to His established vocations. Both the Law and the Gospel are good and holy blessings from God that serve His holy purpose.
Prayer: O God, the Protector of all that trust in Thee, without Whom nothing is strong, nothing is holy: Increase and multiply upon us Thy mercy; that Thou being our Ruler and Guide, we may so pass through things temporal. that we finally lose not the things eternal; through Jesus Christ, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
