I preached this sermon to illustrate the use (and abuse) of Holy Scripture this past Sunday.  Thought y'all might find it interesting in light of recent discussions.

Johann+

Romans 15:4    St. Luke 21:25
Unchanging Hope
I received prayer request from young lady the other day – basically asking for me to pray that God would reveal to her Rector whether or not she should be ordained to the holy priesthood – I replied that I would most certainly pray for her, but asked whether she had considered entering into the biblical, apostolic and historic order of Deaconess – her answer was emphatic (and I quote):  “No, because it’s not about what I want.  It’s about what the Lord has decided.  He has called me to be a priest.”  

Now this is a problem we have had to face in the past and we most certainly will have to face in the future as we continue to talk with some in the Network and the AAC and other orthodox (and, dare I say, heterodox) Anglican groups who do believe since the 1970’s in women’s ordination – those who believe that their Lord has decided that women are to be priests.

But to me it seems as if their Lord speaks with a different voice from that which the Church has heard for more than 2000 years…a different voice that no longer uses Scripture and its historic interpretation as the foundation upon which to base decisions concerning the Church’s faith and practice…a different voice that no longer speaks with the one collective voice of the Apostles and the Ecumenical Councils…a different voice that departs from the traditional practice of the Historic Church and now rather speaks from individual reason and experience…

And believe me, if ever there was an opportunity for the Church to introduce the novelty of women’s ordination it was when the Gospel first went out to those for whom, priestesses were not uncommon…when the Gospel went out to the pagan nations in the Early 1st Century.  Oh, but, the argument goes, things have changed so much since those times!  Things are different now in the 21st Century.  Society and, indeed, the Church is so much more advanced in what they accept as acceptable.  Indeed!  It seems to me that modern day society is becoming more and more like the Ancient Greeks and Romans, accepting just about anything as long as the rhetoric is eloquent.  But, dearest brethren, here’s the rub – if God now speaks with a voiced that differs from that with which He has spoken before, how then do we know what God has said?  Can He be trusted if He is that inconsistent?  Or is it up to us to decide which parts of Scripture are acceptable and which parts are not?  Is it up to us to render God’s Word obsolete and outdated when we think we have advanced beyond what it says about how we should behave?  Is this not the basis upon which the whole homosexual agenda in the modern church rests?  That God is now able to allow things that were taboo for centuries because finally society and the Church have caught up with what He wanted to say all along?  But, who then determines what is right and wrong?  God…or society…or perhaps various individuals who claim to hear God more clearly than all the saints of the Early and Ancient Church?  You know the line…you’ve heard before:  But the Holy Spirit told me so…the Holy Spirit is leading us in a new direction…but does the Holy Spirit contradict what He has already revealed before in Scripture – methinks not.  Our authority, dearest brethren, rests upon at least two things:  what the Holy Spirit has already revealed in Holy Scripture and what the Holy Spirit caused the Early Church to unanimously understand and interpret with regard to its meaning and its application in the practice of the Church.  Consequently, we today prove any and every new doctrine by testing it against Scripture and the traditions of the Early United Church.

Now, our Epistle reading for this 2nd Sunday in Advent addresses this dilemma – listen to what St. Paul wrote:  “Whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.”  And what did we pray in the Collect?  Here is the collective traditional understanding of the Church…listen carefully:
“Blessed Lord, Who hast caused all holy Scripture to be written for our learning; grant that we may in such wise hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them, that by patience and comfort of Thy Holy Word, we may embrace, and ever hold fast, the blessed hope of everlasting life, which Thou hast given us in our Savior Jesus Christ.”
It is Scripture, dearest brethren, holy Scripture that was written for our learning – and it is by hearing, reading, marking, learning and inwardly digesting (i.o.w. applying) holy Scripture to our lives that we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of eternal life in Christ.  It is through believing and applying Scripture – God’s holy Word - that we have hope…

Now, don’t get me wrong, I do not believe that there is no place for tradition or reason or even experience…rather I believe that all those good and sometimes necessary things are nonetheless subject to the best and primary thing, namely the Holy Word of our Lord God in which He has revealed His will for all mankind throughout all ages.  I do not believe that God only uses Scripture to guide the Church as there is much Holy Scripture does not address directly – yet neither do I believe that we rest on a three or even (as Wesley would have it) a four legged stool – rather I see it as a four runged ladder with all the lower rungs subject and answerable to the top rung, which is, in my humble opinion of course, Holy Scripture.

But I do not believe that I stand alone in this belief.  For example, note how St. Paul refers to Holy Scripture to back up the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  Look at verse 8:  “Now I say that Jesus Christ has become a servant to the circumcision for the truth of God, to…do what?… to confirm the promises made to the fathers” (he is referring to the promises of God made in the Old Testament that Jesus came to fulfill at His first coming – at His incarnation – that which we celebrate at Christmas time), and then he continues, “that the Gentiles might glorify God for His mercy, as it is written:” and then he quotes from the Old Testament Scriptures.  You see, the idea of an incarnate God suffering for the sins of mankind was a bitter pill for some to swallow…and it still is – the inclusion of the Gentiles was another difficulty many struggled with – but there it all was…written in the Scriptures…St. Paul could confidently back up his statements with God’s Word, the only source of hope and truth and life.  Again and again and again throughout his epistles the Apostle quotes from the Old Testament – it is written, it is written, it is written.  Jesus Himself quoted from the Old Testament to back up His teaching and the Gospel reading for today in which He predicted the destruction of Jerusalem within the lifetime of that generation is a very good example of how He used Scripture – just about the whole section is taken from the prophetic writings of the Old Testament – which kind of gives you an idea of how to read and interpret this passage – but we won’t go down that rabbit trail – at least not this morning!  But my point is, dearest brethren, that Jesus and the Apostles all relied heavily on the Scriptures to back up their teaching…and the Church has always done the same for more than two thousand years.

Now, here’s the question.  If this is how Jesus, the Apostles and the Church viewed Scripture, should we today not view it the same way – should we not also use Scripture to test any teaching or doctrine or philosophy or experience or whatever new trend society brings our way?  Is God’s Word not our touchstone?  If it is not, dearest brethren, then what is?  Human reason?  Human experience?  Surely not…ah but, you might object, what if your interpretation of Holy Scripture differs from their interpretation of Holy Scripture?  That is a good objection, but one that brings up the obvious question:  How does one know which interpretation is the correct interpretation?  Well after all the good and necessary hermeneutic principles have been applied, such as interpreting Scripture with Scripture, allowing the context to govern the understanding of the passage, and always looking for continuity rather than discontinuity…then I believe…no I am convinced, the traditional and historical interpretation of the saints through the ages must decide which interpretation is correct and which is spurious.  We must simply ask ourselves:  How has the collective Church, through the illuminating direction of the Holy Spirit, traditionally understood this or that portion of Scripture?  And surely the collective witness of the Early United Church is far, far better than my puny little opinion…or even the opinion or one or more denominations?

Now, don’t get misunderstand me – not all things new are necessarily wrong – things aren’t right simply because they’ve always been done that way – there are new ways things can be done and should be done if they are better – but they should never, ever be done if they are either directly in conflict with Scripture, or if Scripture has to be stretched to limits unknown to Church throughout the Ages to accommodate whatever it is that someone wants to do, or if flies in the face of what the Holy Spirit directed Church has hashed out before in the Ecumenical Councils.  

So, I can pray for the young lady seeking ordination…I can pray for her, but I simply cannot buy her statement that God has called her to be a priest when there is absolutely no indication in God’s Holy Word or in more than 2000 years worth of tradition (not to mention the centuries before the Advent of Christ) that could ever make such a statement even remotely reasonable.  No, I do not think an obscure verse mention a certain Junia who was of note among the Apostles is a convincing argument… nor do I think an alternative translation of 1 Timothy 3:11 compels me to accept women Deacons…the practice of the Early Church rules out this novel understanding.  And believe me, this has absolutely nothing to do with male chauvinism or with the inability of women to do the work of men.  I can support her if she entered into the Ancient order of Deaconesses…there at least I have biblical and traditional and historic precedence.  I can support her if she taught as a lay-person in the church.  After all, Phoebe was leading a church in Cenchrea and Priscilla taught Appollos (granted together with her husband, but she taught him nonetheless).  I can even support her if she prophesied (the New Testament speaks of prophetesses, but does not call them priests) or saw visions or dreamed dreams, as Joel predicted would happen in the New Covenant – all of which would be subject to Holy Scripture of course.  I can support her in any of those things, but I simply cannot get past the fact that if her statement that God has called her to be a priest is true, then the Church has been false – the Church has been mistaken for more than 2000 years and I, for one, am simply not that arrogant as to make that claim.  So, my only alternative is to say that somehow, God must have changed His mind and that all that the Church has believed before must be reexamined in the light of the innovations of modern society…and that, I must say, I cannot do either.

So, actually I have no alternative – I have no alternative but to stand squarely on God’s Holy Scriptures, firmly believing that if we…we in the Anglican Communion…we in the Anglican Network…we in the Anglican Covenant – call it what you will…we in the Christian Church…if we are to be likeminded toward one another according to Christ Jesus, and if we are to glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ with one mind and one mouth, then our unity must be founded upon His one unchanging Word…and upon that which agrees and supports that one unchanging Word.

Brethren, everything I do, everything I believe in, everything I am, and everything I am not is because of Holy Scripture – the way I live I live because His Word tells me to live that way – the things I do not do, I do not do because the Word tells me not to do those things (regardless of whether I want to do them or not or whether they seem like a good idea to me or to others) – everything I know about God I know from the Scriptures – to ask me to accept something that is foreign to those Scriptures is to ask me to cut myself off from everything that makes me who I am and what I am…this is me, dearest brethren, this is your priest – I simply cannot be anyone else.

As I approach the Lord’s Table, I approach the God Who has shown me in His Word that I am a sinner in need of redemption…I approach a God Who has shown me in His Word that He has redeemed me because He loves me, even though I certainly do not deserve it…I approach a God Who has shown me in His Word that in Him I have confidence and hope because regardless of the many changes in this life He remains constant and He will therefore never ever change toward me…I approach a God Who is the same, yesterday, today and forever – a God Who is trustworthy, because He is not swayed by the fashions or opinions of man.  And as I partake of Him – of His Body and His Blood in the Holy Sacrament – I know that I am accepted in the beloved, because His Word tells me I am.  His Word is the foundation upon which my life and my faith and my hope is built and I simply cannot budge without forsaking it all…so help me God.

©  Johann W. Vanderbijl III    2006