The Comfort of the Christian Faith
Freely Justified, Holy Sanctified, and Waiting to be Glorified
GRANT to us, Lord, we beseech thee, the spirit to think and do
always such things as are right; that we, who cannot do any thing
that is good without thee, may by thee be enabled to live according
to thy will; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
1789 Prayer Book, Ninth Sunday after Trinity
The collect appointed for the Ninth Sunday after Trinity Sunday is one that was adopted from the early church (Rome ca 600) by one of the Reformers... Thomas
Cranmer, Archbishop of England. It has fallen on this particular Sunday since medieval times. It is also one that men like Robert E. Lee prayed all his life
in this season - and which affected all he did. It is because of prayers like this one, and a theology our ancestor's embraced of Grace, that they were able to go into the breach time and again never fearing their destiny.
A few weeks ago I made a trip home from my duties in support of our Nation's Warriors, and took the opportunity to mark the grave of my Great Grandmother,
Ailey Amburgey. She was the sister of Private John J. Amburgey, and the first wife of Private Russell Cornett, both of Company B, Caudill's Army. Our
Camp historian, Faron Sparkman (a cousin to Ailey) had kindly had a stone engraved and delivered for the memorial.
Ailey's second husband, SJ Shelton Dennis, lies next to her along "Meeting House Creek" Shelton was a minister and no doubt had the meeting house along this creek. He is the great grandfather of another camp member (honorary), Henrietta McKinney. As I
set the stone for Ailey, I could not help but to contemplate the inscription on Shelton's stone. It read:
FREELY JUSTIFIED
HOLY SANCTIFIED AND
WAITING TO BE GLORIFIED
Shelton's epitaph is a homily that has been preached to visitors to this little cemetery for over 100 years, and so now is preached to all who visit this page. Let us look for a minute at this belief that so comforted our ancestors, and continues to comfort those who know Christ as their personal savior.
FREELY JUSTIFIED: Our justification is a free gift of God to us. It was bought by our Lord Jesus and his sacrifice on Calvary. We stand before God Justified by the merits of his Son. We do not merit Justification by our works, but only through faith in the blood of Christ. Justification is a one time event. It comes when we receive Christ in our hearts as our savior. That is all. There are no works to perform. There is no further requirement for justification - Faith alone justifies without any cost or labor. We are adopted by God as his sons, Jesus Christ being the first fruits, and as our Father he clothes us in righteousness... not our own... but that of his Son. This event is marked in the Church in the sacrament of Baptism, where we are cleansed by God of our sins, and are marked as his own - forever.
HOLY SANCTIFIED: As the children of God through faith, God seals us from the day of our baptism until the resurrection with his Holy Ghost. We have within us God's Holy Spirit that works to Sanctify us. He comforts us. He confronts us in our sin and chastises us. He prays for us in groanings known only to God for those things we truly need. He sanctifies us. This is very much what today's prayer recognizes. We are unable to do anything that pleases God without his Holy Ghost preceding us, and it is only through his Grace that we may live in faith to please him. This is a life-long blessing. The Church marks this Christian growth through the Spirit with the sacrament of Holy Communion. We as a people of faith come before the Throne of Grace to hear Christ speak to us through his word, to dwell together in fellowhip, and to join him at his table in communion where we are fed both literally and spiritually.
WAITING TO BE GLORIFIED: Scripture, and early belief of the Church, taught that there will be a Second Coming of Christ to this world, and that those who have "fallen asleep in Jesus" will "rest in peace" and will be raised up first upon the Lord's Day. Those who are still alive will be raised up to meet them and ascend into heaven together with all the saints from every age unto everlasting life. All men, both good and evil, will stand before the judgment seat on that awful day. All will be judged, and those that are the sons of God are already justified. They that are justified shall be Glorified in Heaven where they stand with all the saints and cast their crowns before God Almighty in never-ending praise.
I pray, reader, that you have the assurance of God's free Justification for yourself, personally. I pray that you have a saving faith in our Lord. I pray you sense within you the working of the Holy Ghost who Sanctifies you, and most of all, I pray to see you on that last great day, Glorified before our God.
Amen
Deo vindice
The Reverend
Mark Carroll,
Colonel
Ben Caudill Camp -
The Ninth Sunday after Trinity - the Year of Our Lord 2007