CALLED THROUGH THE GOSPELS to be FAITHFUL
Psalm 145: 1-8 & 17-21
2 THESSALONIANS 2: 13-17
November 9, 2025
About halfway through the week I realized that it is mighty strange to have named this sermon “Called through the Gospels to be Faithful.” It’s not that you pay a lot of attention to whatever name I give sermons but there it was Called through the Gospels to be Faithful’ and yet our Scripture readings for the day feature a Psalm, which is pretty typical of me, and a reading from one of Paul’s letters. Believe me I was not being neglectful, but I am using two of the Scripture lessons from the Common Lectionary.
Some of you know and I have mentioned before that the greater Christian church has a resource that was originally known as the Ordo Lectionum Missae but in 1983 an ecumenical group of Christian churches in the United States and Canada revised it as a cycle of biblical readings for Sundays and festivals. It was revised again in 1992 providing a daily reading of God’s Word usually featuring a Psalm, an Old Testatment reading, a Gospel reading and a reading from one of Paul’s letters. It offers a 3 year cycle through the Bible. It gets a little bit more complicated but English speaking Christian churches of many denominations use the Lectionary and that’s why when you travel and visit an Episcopal church or a Presbyterian church or a Roman Catholic Church there’s a good chance that you will hear some of the same Scriptures that we are reading here at St. Paul’s on that same Sunday. The Common Lectionary.
If I had included the Gospel reading from Luke’s Gospel we would have heard Jesus declare, “Moses clearly proves that the dead are raised to life. In the passage about the burning bush Moses speaks of the Lord as the God of Abraham, the God of Issac, and the God of Jacob. He is the God of the living, not of the dead, because to God all are alive.”
And, since we are all alive … we are all called, as people who have discovered Jesus Christ’s reality … as people who in just a few short weeks will celebrate the birth of Jesus amidst our Christmas parties, meals, and present opening experiences … people who have waved palms on Palm Sunday with great joy and perhaps joined me in a sense of sadness on Good Friday … we are definitely the people who proclaim with more frequency than some churches that celebrate Easter by affirming that Jesus Christ is Risen <<He is Risen Indeed>> … but then again most folks who call themselves Christian also remember Christmas, they might know about Palm Sunday and they definitely know all about the Easter bunny.
But we are called to be THE church … our celebration on Pentecost Sunday when this church is filled with bright red shirts and blouses and dresses with our Pentecost caps on our head … Pentecost reminds us of the prophet Joel’s message, “This is what I will do God says … I will pour out my Spirit on everyone. Your sons and daughters will see visions and your old men will dream dreams. I will pour out my Spirit in those days.” Ok, here’s where our focus needs to be … our reminder of our responsibility … all those baseball players adorned with Pentecost caps who we celebrate with their every at bat and pitch knowing they are wearing the symbol of the birth of the church … THE LORD GOD … CREATOR of the UNIVERSE … GOD who brought Jesus to the world out of love to teach us through THE GOSPELS what God’s expectations are … Jesus who took our sins to that awful despicable cross … he was put in the tomb … and then 3 days later the stone was rolled back … the women were the first witnesses … they ran to declare to the men, His disciples that yes, HE IS RISEN <<HE IS RISEN INDEED>> …
THAT GOD … OUR GOD … GOD WHO WE WORSHIP declared about those who have figured it out … who had aligned with God … been rescued through Jesus … that God said, “AND, THEY (They meaning us and others like us by the way) … God Declared cleared AND, THEY WILL PROCLAIM My MESSAGE!”
You know what, the last words of Jesus were almost the same … from the GOSPEL of MATTHEW, I knew I was going to sneak some GOSPEL GOOD NEWS into today’s message … the essential last words of the first Gospel are, “GO THEN to all people everywhere and make them my disciples. TEACH THEM TO” … ok, here’s the essence of my sermon’s title, CALLED THROUGH THE GOSPELS TO BE FAITHFUL, Jesus last words, “TEACH THEM TO OBEY EVERYTHING I HAVE COMMANDED TO YOU.” If you aren’t faithful or know the Gospels how can you do this? That there is Jesus speaking friends … oh, and he added an aside before ascending into heaven, “And, I will be with you always to the end of the age.”
Of course, I could have and will add Luke’s Good News from Acts … Luke’s Gospel in the first chapter of Acts … Again, Jesus speaking … church you do remember Jesus, right? You do hold Jesus to some higher standard than your every day talking head on TV or on a podcast, right. By the way just as a point of reference if you treasure each word that comes from some podcaster’s lips thinking wow they’re so great and wonderful and you allow them to direct your life’s decisions … right now there are more than 4.5 million podcasters with more than 487 thousand new shows launched in just the last 3 months.
So, are you valuing the Gospels … Jesus … God … or do you rush to align with some human being on this planet because you like their hairdo, their tie, or were a fan of their since cancelled TV show? There are 8.2 billion people in the world … 340 million here in the United States … go ahead pick any one of us to bow down to and insist that that person is the one with your answers … but there is only one God … as Paul would write to Timohty, “there’s only one God and only one mediator between God and humans and it is Jesus Christ” and one Holy Spirit … and Jesus’ last words as recorded by Luke were similar to Matthew’s record of Jesus, “When the Holy Spirit comes upon you, you will be filled with power and YOU WILL BE MY WITNESSES.”
Now, how in the heck can we be Jesus’ witnesses if we don’t know the Gospels or even worse … think about this church … seriously consider this question at this moment in time … in the year 2025 … How can you or any of us be a witness for God and Jesus Christ, which is the final directive of the Son of God … if you live your life rejecting the teaching of Jesus? How in the world can you even begin to think that you are aligned with much less believe in God and with Christ if you support worldly realities that contradict the Gospels? Beginning with loving God and loving ALL of our neighbors.
I spoke with my Rabbi this week … yes, I have a rabbi, Rabbi Aaron Krauss from Beth El Synagogue. Aaron walked with Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Aaron has stood up for social justice and at 95 years of age he still preaches at the synagogue where he first preached in 1963. Together we formed Bridge of Faith with other faith leaders in the Atlantic City area. I asked Aaron on Thursday morning for a Scripture lesson. He said, he could share from the Talmud but “David,” he calls me David, “there are two lessons the first from the prophet Joel … “young men will see visions and old men dream dreams.” The same lesson Peter shared at Pentecost and we laughed about being old men with Aaron adding that he was slightly older than me. And, then he said to me “the essence of God is love. If God’s people only paid attention to God’s expectations. He then referenced Jesus and said, “Jesus understood the Torah. The Torah teaches, “if there are any in the towns who are in need DO NOT BE SELFISH and refuse to help them. Instead, be generous and give them as much as they need.” David, that’s the lesson of your Good Samaritan that Jesus spoke of.” I thanked my rabbi and he told me, the faithful need to be paying attention to God in these days we are living in. Then, I told him the name of this week’s sermon after he said that and we both laughed. One of my faith leaders and I am thankful to God for this wise man of faith.
So, here we are … maybe you understand a little bit as to why we are to be faithful to the Gospels. Today’s Psalm, from the Common Lectionary, that you heard earlier said “I will lift you up high, my God, THE TRUE KING. I will bless your name forever AND ALWAYS. The Lord is close to EVERYONE WHO CALLS OUT TO HIM SINCERELY.” Of course, there is that question of sincerity and priorities and oh those podcasters and world voices we like to align with … especially as soon as church is over.
We heard Paul’s words to the Thessalonians, “God called all of you through the GOOD NEWS so you could possess the honor or our Lord Jesus Christ. Stand firm and hold onto the traditions we taught you. Our Lord Jesus Christ and God our Father loved us through grace.” Paul’s words are carefully crafted … he’s saying we can possess the honor of Christ … we can but it is a choice isn’t it. A choice to make in life accepting God’s love and grace through Christ or rejecting the Gospels to endorse the world.
Just look at this growing CORNUCOPIA of food for strangers that we are building here at St. Paul’s. NO judgment as to who will receive the food … I think we all know that we are in a food crisis in the wealthiest nation in the world … a nation that the rest of the world is shaking their heads at as leaders actively try to stop food from reaching the hungry … it’s unbelievable as we consider the Torah and the Gospels and the entirety of God’s Word that directs and insists that we do all we can to feed the hungry in the world.
We are also caring for four families this week who Family Promised has rescued. Four families on the edge of homelessness who are getting their lives back together and you, the church family of St. Paul’s comes through four weeks out of the year to care for those families of strangers in need.
This church continues to do amazing things … helping so many hungry and broken people … you all come through time after time. We once again are facing the end of a budget year and right now we don’t have enough money to cover our expenses. Frankly, it always seems to be the reality of the church in November because people don’t give as much during the summer months. I am sending a Thanksgiving letter with an envelope designed to get more support for the church. I wish more people just did automatic giving so that we knew what we could count on. I am asking all of you especially those of you online to consider the support you can provide to our ministry over the next few weeks in particular so we can catch up on our bills. And then into next year.
We are the church together … we are called to follow Jesus and Jesus provides us with the directives that God has issued for believers to accept and adopt into our lives. Our Psalm from the Common Lectionary for today teaches, “the Lord protects all who love Him. My mouth will proclaims the Lord’s praise and every living thing will bless God’s Holy name forever and always.” May that be our reality together praising God and blessing God’s holy name by doing what the Gospels teach us to do. And, to finish this sermon whose title includes the Gospel I will instead quote Paul from today’s reading, “May God encourage your hearts and give you strength in every good thing you do or say.” He did write in every good thing … not in everything. So let’s do some GOOD STUFF from The Gospels … all about love! AMEN