466. Friday after Twenty-seventh Sunday after Trinity.
The Lord liveth;
and blessed be my rock,
and exalted be the God
of the rock of my salvation.
Hebrews 12, 1-11. Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who, for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds. Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin. And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: for whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons. Furthermore, we have had fathers of our flesh, which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness. Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless, afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.
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We are yet in the field of battle; but above and about us is a cloud of blessed witnesses, who have fought and won, and who now by their example and presence are to give us strength to strive lawfully and to hold out until we stand in their ranks as victors. Let us, then, “lay aside every weight” which impairs our strength. “All things are lawful for me; but all things are not expedient.” Cast from you whatsoever weighs you down and is a hindrance to you, or clogs your feet. “No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life,” says the apostle; “and if a man also strive for masteries, yet is he not crowned, except he strive lawfully.” Those witnesses must give your faith good testimony. You are not as yet free from sin itself; purge yourself of it continually; for it continually seeks to ensnare you. Do not tolerate it in any way; or you may easily experience the truth of the saying: “Give Satan an inch, and he will take an ell.” — The faithful Lord God shall graciously help you with his fatherly chastisement; but shall not rebuke you otherwise than as a father rebukes his children. When you are chastised and suffer as a Christian, you become like unto Christ. To be free from suffering and chastisement is to be outside of his kingdom; for all his people bear the cross. But you must remain with him; and you must above all things look to him in order to become strong in the fight. He saw before him at the end of his suffering our salvation as his joy and the prize of his victory; us there awaits at the end of our weary way an imperishable crown from his hand. Thus he became the author of faith, and is gone before us; thus he is its finisher also, and gives us strength. For his suffering is ours; and his victory, ours. It was in our stead, for our sin, he suffered, and it was our enemy whom he vanquished; and we are united with him as the members of his body. To look unto the cloud of witnesses about us makes us strong; but to look unto him, the author and finisher of our faith, Jesus, with the victory and salvation in his name, makes us invincible. What is all our suffering as compared with his; and what is all our tribulation as compared with the glory of “seeing him as he is”? Blessed be thy name, Lord Jesus! Let me truly experience the power of thy resurrection and the fellowship of thy suffering; and make me to keep my eyes fixed on thee always, even as thou, faithful Savior, dost keep me ever in thine eye and heart. Amen.*
Lord, thou art my rock of strength,
And my home is in thine arms.
Thou wilt send me help at length,
And I feel no wild alarms.
Sin nor death can pierce the shield
Thy defense has o’er me thrown:
Up to thee myself I yield,
And my sorrows are thine own.
[Church Book 423; listen here]
* Here the head of the family says a short morning or evening prayer in his own words, and closes with the Lord’s Prayer and the Benediction. This is to be done every day. If the stanzas are not sung, they may be read in their proper place before the impromptu petition and the Lord’s Prayer.