Perceive, Know, Fulfill

The first Sunday that follows the Feast of the Epiphany of Our Lord always causes a slight struggle within me. The struggle is this. What should be observed on that Sunday: The First Sunday after Epiphany or The Feast of the Baptism of Our Lord? I have typically gone with the Baptism of Our Lord. But when I do, I always cringe at not having this collect:

O Lord, mercifully receive the prayers of Your people who call upon You and grant that they both perceive and know what things they ought to do and also may have grace and power faithfully to fulfill the same; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

This collect, I think, should be our prayer every day . It is always needed, and it seems, is needed all the more these days as we witness the turmoil in our nation and culture.

Actually, it seems that in this prayer we are asking God to rest His hand upon us and our environs so that we actually begin, not just to ask Him to open our eyes, but that we begin asking ourselves along with asking Him: what is it actually that we need to perceive and know and then faithfully fulfill. We are praying that He would enlighten us to our lack of perception and knowledge, to highlight that we are in need, and to give us His grace and power to begin fulfilling those things, perhaps even being filled with those things.

So what might those things be? What are the things that we ought to perceive and to know, and upon receiving that perception and knowledge to fulfill them by God’s grace and power? This is the fundamental question, isn’t it? To what shall we be committed toward those ends?

First, I think that we should perceive and know that we are in a war. I’m not talking specifically about the events leading up to and following the events of November 3rd (though I do think these events are revelatory in shaping what’s going on). I’m talking about the fact that we must remember we are the church militant, the fighting church. Our enemies are not of the flesh, as St. Paul says:

12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. – Ephesians 6:12

and again,

3 For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. 4 For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. 5 We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, 6 being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete. – 2 Corinthians 10:3–6

So we are in a war. But we are not waging a war of flesh and blood. But let’s not spiritualize this too much. We are still waging a war in the flesh. We are embodied souls, enfleshed spirits. We are living and breathing, flesh and blood creatures. And while it’s true that the way in which we wage this warfare is not according to the flesh, we are still waging it in the flesh. We still do, act, speak, argue. We do that to topple every stronghold of the enemy, to destroy every argument and highfalutin opinion that is raised against the knowledge of God. And we do that by taking every thought – ours and theirs – captive to the obedience of Christ.

And this raises the second point: How do we do that? How do we bring every thought captive to the obedience of Christ? This includes two types of thoughts: our thoughts and others’ thoughts. So the first stronghold to topple is the stronghold of our own hearts and minds. And, having done that, then the second stronghold to topple is the hearts and minds of others. Jesus tells us to be careful about doing eye surgery on others when our own sight is obstructed:

3 Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? 4 Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye. – Matthew 7:3–5

We must begin with ourselves. We must first get our own house in order. Otherwise, we are just raising Cain. This is done by the sweat of your brow. It is done by diligent study of the Scriptures, by reading and wrestling with our doctrine in the Confessions, engaging Luther, Chemnitz, Gerhard, and Walther. It’s done by reading good books in general. But I also think it must be done by manual labor. We must work with our hands, create things, fix things, work with material things and not live in our heads. We cannot be perennial walking and talking examples of the Dunning Kruger effect. There is no better way to realize your own failings and blindspots than working with your hands, building and fixing things. And doing that you begin to learn what actually works, what actually can be done, etc.

Weekly attendance at the Divine Service is paramount too. This is the place where we not only receive all the blessings of what Christ won for us by His Cross and Passion, but it is a place where we learn humility by being humble. There we confess our sins. There we submit to the teaching of another: God’s teaching through another man. But it’s there where we also learn to listen and to speak, how to listen and how to speak. By listening to the Word read out loud and preached, we’re being taught to perceive and know what we are to do, and then give grace and power to fulfill the same. We’re given a voice to speak the excellencies of His who called us out of darkness into His marvelous light. Those excellencies are not simply that God loves us and forgives us in Christ. Those excellencies are that we are actually, in flesh and blood, a new creation (weak though we may be, but new nonetheless). And that light enlightens us not just to the fact that we belong to God and are forgiven our debts, but a light that enlightens a path to live and walk in that our sin-darkened eyes, minds, and hearts would otherwise miss.

That means a brutal honesty about our sin. Consider, I mean it, consider your life in light of the Ten Commandments.

Have you been disobedient, unfaithful, or lazy? Have you been hot-tempered, rude, or quarrelsome? Have you hurt someone by your words or deeds? Have you stolen, been negligent, wasted anything, or done any harm? – Small Catechism on Confession

Really consider it. Are you lazy? Are you negligent? Are you wasteful? Do an accounting of your day. Really, do it. Cast those deeds against God’s Word and see if it’s shattered or crushed.

We have all been put in specific places by God, that is, we all have a calling from God in family, church, and society (and by society, I am not referring to global or national politics. I mean local, where you actually live, your community, your neighbors, those with whom you share a fence and property line, those you shop for groceries, etc). We must focus on these local things: the local church, the immediate family, the local society/community. It’s here where you stand your ground, so to speak. It’s here where you are on guard duty (Ephesians 6:10–20). For it is there, where you have been given an opportunity take down the strongholds of others who also walk in the flesh. It’s there where you have been put, commanded, exhorted to do this.

What do you do for them? You draw near to them; you be a neighbor to them (Luke 10:25–37). Or as the author of the Book of Hebrews puts it:

2 Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. – Hebrews 13:2

Here you do human things. You converse over the fence. You have them over for supper. You pray with them when they tell you something is not going well. You give gifts, you share the bounty of the garden or the hunt. You tell them the truth when the truth needs to be said. You are always ready to give a defense for what you believe with a spirit of gentleness. You do human things for and with those for whom Christ died.

We are in a war. We are walking in the flesh. But we do not wage the war according to the flesh. The weapons we employ are mighty. They are the weapons our Lord employed in His every interaction while in the flesh – teaching, arguing, serving, praying, healing/caring, hospitality, forgiving, and dying. He knew what must be done. He told us what must be done. And He did it. May we always, following His example, by God’s grace and power perceive and know what we ought to do and by that same grace and power fulfill the same.