Sermon for Trinity 20

Ephesians 5:15-21  +  Matthew 22:1-14

We turn our thoughts today to the election—the most important election of your life, or of anyone’s life. But in this election, my vote means nothing. Your vote means nothing. It’s only God’s vote, God’s choice that matters. And, as we’ll see in the end, God’s choice has nothing to do with how good or bad the candidates are. It has to do with something else.

The Bible teaches that God elected certain people, that is, “chose” certain people to spend eternity with Him in His heavenly kingdom. This election took place “before the foundations of the earth were laid,” that is, in eternity. And it took place, not at any voting convenience center, but in God’s own counsel and plan. Knowing full well that mankind would rebel against Him, turn against Him, and disqualify themselves for eternal life in God’s kingdom, God made a plan of salvation that’s sometimes referred to as “election” or “predestination.”

But how do we look into this secret election that took place in God’s counsel before the foundations of the earth were laid? Jesus teaches us that very simply in today’s Gospel. He teaches us to start, not at the beginning, but at the end, which is very different, by the way, from the way that John Calvin and the Reformed approach it. Their whole theology begins with God’s election in eternity, and most of their false teachings flow from that mistake. No, we need to begin where Jesus begins, at the end of things. We are to look at the wedding banquet in the parable, at the end of the parable, and we are to notice who the guests are who are there in the end. That’s where Jesus points us with His concluding words, for many are called, but few are chosen. Few are elected by God.

Who are the ones at the wedding banquet at the end of the story? They’re the ones who have been called or invited by the king’s messengers, the ones who accepted the invitation and were brought into the wedding hall, and the ones who are still wearing the wedding garment when the King steps in. Those are the chosen ones, the ones chosen by God to spend eternity at the heavenly wedding banquet that He is hosting for His beloved Son, who laid down His life for His bride, the Holy Christian Church, and is soon to be joined to her in an eternal marriage.

With that in mind—who the chosen-ones are—let’s walk through the parable and see how those guests ended up there.

Now, Matthew 22 takes us into Holy Week—the Tuesday of Holy Week, as far as we can tell. Jesus is telling this parable to the Jews, some of whom were about to kill Him, in three days’ time. He says, The kingdom of heaven is like a king who arranged a wedding banquet for his son. This “arranging” of a wedding banquet is what took place in eternity. God saw that the human race would fall into sin, so He planned to save fallen mankind. That plan revolved around the Son of God, who would take on our human flesh, be born as a man, live righteously in man’s place, suffer and die for our sins. That was the price of atonement. That was the price of our reconciliation with God. And Jesus Christ, the Son of the King, has successfully paid it.

And he sent his servants to call to the wedding those who had been invited. God sent His prophets in the Old Testament to invite the Jews to take part in Christ’s atoning sacrifice for the sins of the world. He told them about it ahead of time, and then, when Jesus was born, God began to tell the Jews that it was time to come in. As John the Baptist preached, and as Jesus Himself preached, “The kingdom of heaven is at hand! Repent and believe the Gospel!” In other words, “Come to the wedding!”

But they were unwilling to come. Some of the Jews believed in Jesus and came into His Church, to be sure. The chosen remnant of the Jews believed the Gospel. But the vast majority didn’t come—not because God didn’t truly invite them, not because it wasn’t intended for them, not because Jesus didn’t die for them, but simply because “they were unwilling.”

Again, he sent out other servants, saying, ‘Tell those who are invited, “See! I have prepared my dinner. My oxen and fattened cattle have been slaughtered, and all things are ready. Come to the wedding!”’ But they disregarded it and went away, one to his farm, another to his business. And the rest seized his servants, mistreated them, and killed them.

See how God, through His prophets, pleads with the people of Israel whom He has invited, whom He has called to the Holy Christian Church. Look at what I’ve done! Look at what I’ve prepared! I’ve sent My only-begotten Son to you. The Son of God has become the Son of Man, all for you, not because you deserved it, but because I want you to spend eternity with Me in My kingdom. So come to Him! Come into His Church! Come! Come! Come!

Does it sound like the King wanted these invited guests to come? Does it sound like God wanted the Jews to come into His Holy Christian Church? Of course it does! Because of course He did! Their ultimate exclusion from God’s election wasn’t because He didn’t want them in His house. Wasn’t because He failed to give His Son into death for their sins, wasn’t because He failed to invite them. It’s because, when they were invited, they didn’t want to come. And so they not only found better things to do. Some of them went so far as to kill the prophets, including John the Baptist, including the Son of God Himself, including many of the apostles whom He continued to send to the Jews, for a time.

But that time eventually ran out. Now, when the king heard about it, he was angry. And he sent his armies and destroyed those murderers and burned up their city. What a terrible foreshadowing this was of the eventual destruction of Jerusalem, when the Romans came in and burned up the city of the people who had not only initially turned down God’s invitation into Christ’s Church, who had not only killed the Christ, but who had stubbornly continued to turn down the invitation even after they had killed the Christ, just as it remains to this day. Which is why you shouldn’t let anyone deceive you, telling you that the modern Jewish state is the chosen people of God. The very idea that God’s chosen people could stubbornly reject God’s beloved Son Jesus as their Savior from sin and death is not only absurd. It’s demonic.

But that wasn’t the end of God’s plan of salvation. Not by a long shot. Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding banquet is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy. Let’s pause again for a moment and remember why they weren’t worthy. It had nothing to do with their sinfulness, with how decent or indecent they were. The unworthiness of the Jews was in their declining of God’s free invitation to seek and to find His acceptance in Christ Jesus.

Therefore go into the streets and invite to the wedding whomever you find. So those servants went out into the streets and gathered together all whom they found, both bad and good, and the banquet tables were filled with guests. God’s plan of salvation (His plan of election) included the going out of the Gospel invitation into all the world, to invite anyone and everyone, Jews and Gentiles, bad and good, to the wedding banquet in the Holy Christian Church. Jesus told His apostles, Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. Proclaim God’s promise to forgive and to accept everyone through His beloved Son, through faith in Jesus Christ. And, as you know, people from every nation, tribe, language, and people have believed, have been baptized, and have entered the Holy Christian Church.

But not everyone who is outwardly a member of the Christian Church is a member inwardly. Not everyone who has been baptized remains a believer throughout their life. And that’s the sad reality Jesus depicts for us at the end of the parable. But when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man who was not wearing a wedding garment. And he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless.

When God performs the final accounting on the Day of Judgment, He will not just look at which people are holding membership in a Christian Church on earth. He will be looking for faith in the heart, for genuine trust in the Lord Jesus and in His atoning sacrifice for our sins—for the faith by which a person is clothed with Christ Jesus, as with a robe of righteousness. That is the wedding garment that the guest in Jesus’ parable failed to wear.

Where God doesn’t find such a garment, such a living faith, it will be no better for that unbeliever inside the Church than it will be for any of the unbelievers outside of the Church. Then the king said to the servants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ For many are called, but few are chosen.

So who, again, are the chosen? They’re the ones who have been called or invited by the king’s messengers, the ones who accepted the invitation and were brought into the wedding hall, and are still wearing the wedding garment when the King steps in. These are the ones whom God foresaw and foreknew in eternity, the ones whom He elected to inherit eternal life. But the decree itself of election included all the steps that were needed along the way. It included God’s intention of saving the whole human race. It included the sending of Jesus to pay for the sins of all. It included the going out of the Gospel invitation, and the work of God’s own Spirit to work faith in people’s hearts through the preaching of His Word. It included the justification in time of all who believe. It included the Spirit’s ongoing sanctifying work in the hearts and lives of believers. It included God’s continued care for the saints in His Church through the ministry of Word and Sacrament throughout this earthly life. And it included God’s commitment to give strength, comfort, and help to His children throughout this life, so that nothing can separate us from the love of Christ Jesus. All of that was included in God’s decree of election.

So you can see why this is truly the most important election of your life, far more important than any earthly election. And it already took place, long before anyone was born. What you can do now, to “make your calling and election sure,” is to see to it that you do not decline God’s invitation into the Church of His beloved Son. If you haven’t been baptized, if you haven’t entered into the fellowship of God’s holy Church, don’t put it off. Now is the time. If you have done those things, then wearing that wedding garment of faith is your daily task. And having put on faith, put on love as well, living as those who are rehearsing for the King’s entrance into the banquet hall, not as those who are rehearsing for hell. Many are called, but few are chosen. Few are elected. If you heed God’s call and use the help He has promised, you will be counted among the blessed few. Amen.

Source: Sermons

Sermon for Trinity 20

Ephesians 5:15-21  +  Matthew 22:1-14

Once again the Church’s lectionary, our annual schedule of weekly Scripture readings, is very relevant to what’s going on around us. Jesus’ parable of the wedding banquet teaches a powerful lesson, for example, about the things going on today in Israel. But not only in Israel. It has a powerful lesson for everyone in this room. In His grace, God prepared a wedding banquet for His Son, and He invited the people of Israel to attend, but they didn’t want to come. Now He sends out invitations to all people. Who will come to the wedding? And who will be properly dressed for it, so that they are allowed to stay? May the Holy Spirit open our hearts to understand and to heed His message: It’s baptized believers in Christ who are the chosen people of God.

Jesus told the parable of the wedding banquet during Holy Week, just days before He would be crucified. He was teaching some final lessons to the people in Jerusalem’s temple. And included in those lessons were also some stern warnings, because He knew what the Jews were about to do to Him, and why. So He tells the parable of the wedding banquet.

A certain man, a king, arranged a wedding banquet for His Son. This is God the Father, who arranged from eternity to send His Son into human flesh, to redeem fallen mankind by giving His Son as the perfect sacrifice for the world’s sins. True God, true Man, the perfect Substitute for mankind, the perfect Mediator between God and man, the perfect Savior, who makes all who believe in Him heirs of eternal life, fit to live with God forever in the new heavens and the new earth after this earth is destroyed in judgment.

Ever since Adam and Eve fell into sin, God had been sending out invitations to celebrate the future arrival of His Son into the world. But eventually, after practically all mankind had become corrupt and unbelieving, after the nations all went their own ways after the flood and the tower of Babel, God focused on one nation in particular, one people: on Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and their descendants who became the people of Israel. And God cultivated them as His people and trained them and taught them and sent His prophets to them to give them His Word, not only orally, but also in writing. They were the guests whom God invited beforehand, before He sent His Son into the world.

Then, finally, He sent His Son into the world. The Savior had been born! And the servants of the king—the shepherds of Bethlehem, Simeon and Anna, and the wise men, among others, were sent out to call the invited guests to the feast. “Jerusalem, this is your time, the time of your visitation!” But few paid attention. Still, the king had it proclaimed again, Tell those who are invited, “See! I have prepared my dinner. My oxen and fattened cattle have been slaughtered, and all things are ready. Come to the wedding!” For three years or so that message kept going out in the land of Israel. The promised Savior stood among them and taught among them. John the Baptist, Jesus’ disciples, Jesus Himself kept on announcing that the kingdom of heaven was at hand!

But they disregarded it and went away, one to his farm, another to his business. And the rest seized his servants, mistreated them, and killed them. That was how Israel, as a whole, reacted to the preaching of the Gospel. John the Baptist was imprisoned and then beheaded. Jesus was crucified. Stephen was stoned to death. James, the brother of John, was killed by the sword. St. Paul himself was, at one time, responsible for persecuting the servants of the King, and then, after his conversion, Paul and the other Christians were persecuted constantly by the Jews who refused to acknowledge Jesus as the Christ, to the point that, in the book of Revelation, Jesus refers to the Jewish synagogue as the “synagogue of Satan.”

And so, when the king heard about it, he was angry. And he sent his armies and destroyed those murderers and burned up their city. The Father had given His greatest gift to Israel, and had prepared them for it in advance, and Israel stubbornly rejected it. Not all of them, of course, but the nation as a whole. And so, as Jesus predicted, because Jerusalem was not willing to come to the banquet of God’s salvation in Christ, Jerusalem was eventually burned up and destroyed by the Roman armies. The previously invited guests missed their chance to come to the banquet.

So please don’t let anyone convince you that the modern city of Jerusalem belongs to any people by divine right. God had that city burned down long ago as the capital of His Old Testament people Israel, and as far as their rejection of Christ goes, nothing has changed since that time. That doesn’t justify the horrific atrocities being committed against those who seek peace, atrocities which are being committed, by the way, by people who are just as Christ-less and lost as the unbelieving Jews. But the punishments God sends against any nation are meant to serve not only as punishments, but as calls to repentance, because for the Jews, for the Muslims, and for the American unbelievers, too, it isn’t too late, yet, to repent! It isn’t too late to come to the wedding!

What did the king do after ordering his servants to burn down the city of those who murdered his servants? He said to his servants, ‘The wedding is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy. Therefore go into the streets and invite to the wedding whomever you find. So those servants went out into the streets and gathered together all whom they found, both bad and good, and the banquet tables were filled with guests.

God still desires that all people should be saved. He gave His Son into death for all sinners, that all should come to repentance, believe in Christ Jesus, and receive the forgiveness of all their sins. After Jesus’ suffering, death, and resurrection, the same Lord Christ sent out His apostles into all the world, to preach the Gospel to all nations. No longer was His invitation sent out to Israel only, as it essentially was in the Old Testament, but now His invitation goes out to every creature, to every ethnicity, to every person: Come to the wedding! That is, Repent and believe in Jesus, the Christ who was crucified and died in payment for your sins! Be baptized for the forgiveness of your sins! Come into the Holy Christian Church that Jesus is still in the process of building! The call goes out to both Jews and non-Jews, to anyone and everyone, to “the good and the bad,” Jesus said in the parable. Here is the forgiveness of sins! Here is life! Here is salvation! Here at the wedding! Here in Christ Jesus!

The invitation has been going out for 2,000 years and will continue to go out until the Church (which is the new Israel, the spiritual Israel) is finished being built. The wedding hall, the Christian Church, is filling up, and only God knows when it will be full, and then the Last Day will come, and Christ will return to take His beloved Church to Himself.

But Jesus adds an important detail to this parable that we shouldn’t overlook. But when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man who was not wearing a wedding garment. And he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless. Then the king said to the servants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and throw him into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

What does this wedding garment represent? Why is it so important for the guests to be wearing it, so important that, if they’re not wearing it, they don’t get to stay at the banquet, they get tossed out into the darkness? Well, remember, the king didn’t require good works of anyone in order for them to be invited to the feast. What is the thing He requires? St. Paul writes to the Galatians: For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.

See how St. Paul ties together faith and baptism. You are sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. You put on Christ when you were baptized into Christ. You were clothed with the robe of Christ and His perfect righteousness through Baptism, where God held it out to you, and through faith, where you, by God’s power, put it on. But faith can’t just be put on once and then you’re automatically wearing it for the rest of your life. Faith in Christ, trusting in Christ Jesus, is a continual thing. It has to be. Church membership without faith in Christ is worthless. Calling yourself a Christian without faith is dishonest. When the King comes in to inspect the guests, He will not ask who your pastor was, or which church you or your family belonged to, or how many offerings you gave. He will look to see if you’re still clinging to His beloved Son in faith. And where He doesn’t find that, a person won’t be allowed to stay.

But God will provide everything you need to sustain your faith! Faith still comes by hearing. He’ll keep sending out His ministers to preach His word and administer His Sacraments! He’ll keep calling you to repentance when you go astray, and He’ll keep forgiving you your sins when you repent. Because He wants you there, in His wedding hall. He wants you to be among His chosen people—which is not the physical nation of Israel, but the number of those who believe in Christ Jesus and thereby escape the condemnation that is coming on this wicked world.

Many are called, but few are chosen. That’s how Jesus summarizes the lesson in the parable of the wedding banquet. Many have heard the Gospel invitation, and God sincerely wants the many who hear to believe and be saved. He wanted it for the Old Testament Jews. He wants it for all who hear. But “the chosen people,” the elect, are those who actually enter into His Christian Church by holy Baptism and who remain true members of the Church by faith in Christ Jesus. That means that you, who believe in Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the Living God, are the chosen people of God. Now continue in that faith, wearing the robe of the righteousness of Christ every day. And, as those who already wear Christ by faith, do as St. Paul said to the Ephesian believers in today’s Epistle. Watch carefully how you walk, not as unwise, but as wise. Make the most of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is. Do not be drunk with wine, which leads to reckless behavior, but be filled with the Spirit. Speak to one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making music in your heart to the Lord. Give thanks always for all things to our God and Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Source: Sermons