Trinity VIII Sermon 2025

O God whose never-failing providence ordereth all things
both in heaven and earth, we humbly beseech thee to put away
from us all hurtful things, and to give us those things that be
profitable for us…
(Collect: Trinity VIII)

We concluded last week’s sermon with an exhortation to zeal. Having learned that the Divine desire for all men is that they faint not but rather feed continually on the living Word of God, we opened our souls to the ongoing nutriment that overcomes sloth. With zeal, we prayed: graft in our hearts the love of thy name, increase in us true religion, nourish us with all goodness, and…keep us in the same. With zeal, we prayed that the providence that ordereth all things in heaven and in earth, might rule our hearts and souls.

But what is this never-failing providence that we pray should overcome things hurtful to our pious zeal? Providence comes to us from the Latin providentia, and it means looking for or seeing into. In former times the word was used to describe God’s knowledge of all things – past, present, and future – in the eternal now of His perfect vision. Some theologians used it to defend Divine Grace against the claims of free will. The doctrine of Divine providence insists that God knows everything in every age in His eternal now. Perhaps a simpler way of putting it is that nothing ever has or ever will escape His all-penetrating knowledge. Nothing escapes God’s knowing, because his never-failing providence orders all things in heaven and earth. Whether men acknowledge it or not, God’s knowledge is the cause of all created possibilities. What happens in the universe is always subject to God’s will. Even evil itself –a rejection of God’s Wisdom and Will, much to its own rage and resentment – is a product of the Divine Logic.

Now, to be sure, we might find this view of Divine Providence not a little bit disconcerting and intimidating. The all-seeing eye of God makes us nervous. And well it should. Postmodern, materialistic Christians are too apt to treat God like Santa Claus. They fancy that God’s chief role in the universe is to ensure earthly comfort. Of course, what they have forgotten is that God made things of the earth to better perfect our knowledge of and desire for heaven. Knowing what things are and for what purpose helps us see them as temporary means to an eternal end. Earthly comfort must never be our end.

Earthly temporal happiness is not what God intends for us to be consumed with in this life. God’s all-seeing eye knows the devices and desires of our own hearts, or our intentions and motives. Not only does He know, but He judges. What does He judge? He judges whom we love or what gods define our lives. God is nothing if not fair. St. Paul reminds us: Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. (Gal. vi. 7,8) What man sows means the seeds we plant and grow for our happiness. If we are bound by earthly happiness, we sow the seeds of temporary comfort. If we intend to reach heaven, we sow the seeds of eternal joy.

The choice is ours. It would be a pity if we neglected salvation for our own selfish desires. After all, Hell is forever. What we should be working on, then, is our knowledge and desire. What I mean is that we should discover what things are and how they might affect us. Next, we must learn how to use them appropriately. Put away from us all hurtful things and give us those things which are profitable for our salvation. Providence, again, is God’s Wisdom that reveals to us what created things are and for what purposes God intends for us to use them.

The Old Testament authors tell us that man best begin to open to Divine Providence through the fear of the Lord. All wisdom cometh from God and is with Him forever. (Ecclus. i. 1) We ought to fear God’s Wisdom or knowledge. This means that in awesome wonder, we ought to be reminded that God knows perfectly how created things can be used in His service or not. Air is necessary for ongoing life. Fire is made to rise and to heat. Water is made to nourish and fertilize or to cleanse and to purge. Man is made to know also that air can contaminate, fire can burn, and that water can drown. Knowledge of other things should give us reason for caution also. The fear of the Lord is that healthy virtue that puts created things to heavenly use. Whoso feareth the Lord, it shall go well with him at the last. (Ecclus. i.  14) The fear of the Lord is a salutary reminder that we ought to use the creation only in God’s service to better enable our souls to worship Him. God has made us for Himself. I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones. (Isaiah lvii. 15) The fear of the Lord engenders humility and lifts us into God’s presence. Humility of heart knows the truth and intends to will the best. The fear of the Lord is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate, [saith the Lord]. (Prov. viii. 13) Pride, arrogance, and evil ways disregard God’s role as judge of all we worship and do.

God’s providence is His Divine Wisdom. St. Thomas Aquinas, quoting Aristotle, sets it as man’s proper end. The name of the wise man is reserved for him whose consideration is directed to the end of the universe, which is also the origin of the universe. That is why, according to the Philosopher, it belongs to the wise man to consider the highest causes. (SCG i. 1) The wise man finds his beginning and end in God’s Wisdom. The wise man knows that it belongs to the gift of wisdom to judge according to the Divine Truth. (Eth. i. 3, ST, ii, ii, xlv. 1) Of course, the pattern and model of the wise man has been given to us in the life of our Jesus Christ. In Christ, we find the Divine Wisdom ordering human life perfectly. And God intends that His Wisdom should rule us also. He teaches us that we should be debtors not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. (Romans viii. 12). Rather, the Divine providence intends that we should be illuminated and liberated by Christ the power of God and the Wisdom of God. (1 Cor. i. 24), remembering that if we through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, we shall live. (Romans viii. 13) Wisdom intends that we should live for salvation. In this morning’s Gospel, the wise man is compared to a good tree that bringeth forth good fruit. (St. Matthew vii. 17) The good tree bears good fruit because we have welcomed the planting of God’s Word in our souls. God’s Word, or Wisdom, intends to bear fruit in our souls meet for salvation.

So, this morning we must ask ourselves some hard questions. Do I humble myself before the never-failing providence that orders all things in heaven and earth? If not, why not? Is my intention one with God’s intention for me? Do I want to be saved for eternal bliss and happiness? Do I remember that I was born to be a child of God forever? As many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. (Romans viii 14) Proverbs reminds us that the Spirit of Wisdom cries after us. How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? And fools hate knowledge? Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my Spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you. (Proverbs i. 21-23)

God’s Wisdom is a rebuke to our hellish designs. But as William Law never tired of writing, submission to Divine correction requires good intention. If you have not chosen the Kingdom of God first, it will in the end make no difference what you have chosen instead. We must intend to please God in all our lives. (A Serious Call…) Any difficulty with it must never dissuade us. Last week’s zeal must be adjusted to God’s Wisdom in Jesus Christ to give us courage with humility, because we intend to reach His Kingdom above all else.
Amen.
©wjsmartin