Where Do We Go From Here?

Here is my sermon from 10/9/11. This sermon is sort of a kick off at Mt. Moriah. I am ready to move our church from going to church into being the church. You'll see the "call to action" at the end. As always, this is not exactly as delivered. And I welcome any feedback.

Imagine you have a daughter or a son who is getting married. You plan a wedding to be followed by a full-blown dinner and reception. You make all of the plans, you send out invitations and get back RSVPs from most of those invited. Now you know how much food to order, you know how many guests to expect. The day of the wedding arrives and no one shows up. It would be upsetting.

That’s the gist of the next parable Jesus tells the temple leaders. The priests and elders.

Matthew 22:1-14

Jesus is still responding to the temple priests and elders. We’re continuing a conversation between Jesus and these priests. Jesus returned to the temple the day after running off the merchants and money changers. When he approached, the priests confronted him and asked what gave him the right to do such things. In response Jesus told a couple of parables that put the priests in their place. First he told a story of 2 sons. One told his father he wouldn’t work the vineyard, then changed his mind and did. The second said he would go, but did not. Jesus told the priests that they were like the second son. Promising to be faithful, but not doing so. Then he told them of a vineyard owner who leased his land to a group of sharecroppers. They worked the land, but refused to pay their rent. They killed those the owner sent to collect. Even his son. Again, Jesus tells the priests something they do not want to hear. You’re tenants. The kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to others who will produce fruit. Now he tells them yet another unflattering story. This one is very similar to the previous story. This time, though we have a wedding banquet instead of a vineyard. And people who won’t show up instead of people who won’t leave. This time, though Jesus never tells them, “You are this person or that group.” I guess they get it by now. You were called. You didn’t answer. After this story they simply leave and begin plotting to kill Jesus.

Back to that wedding you planned. No one shows up. It’s time to start and the church is empty. So you start working the phones. Calling everyone who RSVPed. “You said you were coming! Where are you?” They tell you, “Oh, was that today? Yeah, I can’t make it.” So you send the caterer out to track them down and bring them. They still won’t come, and some of them are terribly rude to the caterer. Cursing, throwing things, slam the door in their faces. Now you’re fed up. Your friends aren’t coming and you’ve got 200 plates of grilled pork chops that are going to go to waste. But before the caterer throws them away, you tell them to wait. “Go out into the streets and get some people. Tell them we’re having a wedding and a reception. Tell them to put on their wedding clothes and be here in an hour. Just invite everyone.”

That’s a fun story, right? Well, sort of. But it’s a story with a happy ending. The invited didn’t come, so the host invited everyone else. And many came. The good and the bad. All were welcomed.

The parable Jesus tells is quite a bit darker, though. First when the invited guests don’t come, some of them kill the servants sent to collect them. Then the king not only has them killed, his troops also lay waste to their city.

Then the king sends his servants to invite everyone they find to the banquet. And they do. They invite everyone. The good and the bad. It is, at least in this last part, a wonderful story about grace. The guests who come to the banquet did nothing to deserve their invitation. They were simply in the streets when the invitation came. And now they enjoy a banquet fit for a king! Grace!

And it’s easy to parallel that story to our own salvation. We are all offered the gift of salvation. Everyone. The good and the bad. Most, if not all, of us have accepted that gift. We have accepted Jesus as our savior and we are redeemed. We are made righteous in the sight of God. End of story. Amen.

Or not. The parable Jesus tells doesn’t end there.

The king is enjoying the party. The people his servants invited went home and changed into their wedding robes. Their celebration clothes. The king is happy. These people who didn’t even know him respected him enough to go home and change clothes, to dress appropriately for the banquet.

Except this one guy. The king finds one guy who is not wearing his wedding robe. So he goes to ask him why not. “Friend, where is your wedding robe?” The man had no answer. No excuse.

So the king has his servants throw him out into the cold, dark night. But before that he tells them to bind him hand and foot. Then throw him out.

Seems like a harsh punishment, doesn’t it? Why is this man not dressed for the occasion and why is his punishment so severe? Probably an even better question is, what does this tell us about God? That he cares so much about what we wear that to wear the wrong thing means eternal damnation? No, that’s silly. It makes me wonder, though if this has ever been interpreted as a reason to dress up to go to church. I think that sorely misses the point. And what about the closing statement, “Many are called, but few are chosen.” That seems to contradict the story. Many were called. Everyone was invited. Only one was thrown out. Weren’t the rest chosen? If so, why were they chosen and not the man without his wedding robe?

And the most important question is this: What does this mean for us? What does this story say to Jesus’ disciples in the 21^st century?

What if we look at the wearing of a wedding robe as an act of obedience? If being invited to the party is grace, what if wearing the robe is obedience? What does that say about God? What does it say about grace? What does it say about how we are to live as disciples of Jesus?

I think this parable has a lot to say about cheap grace. What does that mean? Cheap grace? That Is the idea that we are saved simply because Jesus died on the cross for our sins and God offers us justification through the actions of Jesus. Because of Jesus, your sins are forgiven no matter what. Sounds good so far, right? But there is more to grace than simply being forgiven.

German theologian Dietrich Bonheoffer taught about “Cheap” grace. He defined it this way: “cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline. Communion without confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ." He also put it this way the attitude of cheap grace is one that says, “Of course you have sinned, but now everything is forgiven, so you can stay as you are and enjoy the consolations of forgiveness.” Grace is not cheap. Bonheoffer spoke of costly grace. It requires repentance. It requires change. IT also requires work. When we accept God’s grace, we enter into a covenant. A covenant is a two way agreement, it requires action from both parties.

What’s our part then? God’s part we know. Our sins are forgiven. We are made righteous in God’s sight because of our acceptance of Jesus’ sacrifice as the only means by which we can be saved. What then is our part of the covenant?

We agree to live as God’s people. And living as God’s people comes with certain responsibilities. I’ve used these things in a few different sermons. I bet you know them by now. “Go make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the son, and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey all I have commanded you.” And “What-ever you did to the least of these, you did to me.” Water for the thirsty, food for the hungry, help the poor & sick, visit the prisoner.

We are called to action. I know you’re thinking, “We’ve heard this.” I know that because as I was writing this I was thinking, “I’ve said this.” So now it’s time to stop talking. It’s time to start doing.

Starting this week, I have homework for all of you. Pray. I want everyone to pray about what we can do as a church to reach out to our community. I’m going to pray every day. I ask you to do the same thing. Pray with an open mind, an open heart, and open ears. What needs are just outside those doors? Just down the street? What need is not being met? What can we do to accept God’s invitation to do the work of the kingdom? We’re going to pray. Every day for the next 3 weeks. Then we’re going to act.