2ND SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY

In Christ Jesus, dear hearers!

In general, people have absolutely false ideas about the Christian life, or the. life, lived according to the Gospel. Many think that the Christian life is something most sorrowful, for which one must deny himself even the most innocent things, renounce all joys in the world, and live in continual fear of hell, inrestlessness and pains of conscience. Therefore, those who wish to live a life committed completely to the Gospel are usually looked on as miserable, unhappy people, and because countless are of the opinion that Christians are like' that because of their own doings they never want to become Christians, or they postpone their conversion from day to day.

Nevertheless, there are not a few who think the very opposite. Many suppose that because the Gospel teaches that man is saved by grace through faith and not by good works nor by his own righteousness and holiness, it is unnecessary and foolish to be so earnest and strict in regard to his life. Christ has already won everything by his life, suffering, and death, and, therefore, a Christian need not especially exert himself; one sin more or less would scarcely count; and to exercise oneself in good works is up to the Christian's discretion.

However, if we search in Holy Scripture, we find that the first as. well as the second opinion of the Christian life is totally false. The life of a Christian is neither a life of slavish fear and constant anxiety nor a life in false, fleshly security. In God's Word the Christian life is presented as a life in peace and joy in the Holy Ghost, a walk before God in hearty, childlike confidence, a life full of comfort and hope; at the same time, we are also shown how narrow the way in which a Christian must go, that he is in a continual battle with flesh, world, and Satan; in fear and trembling he must work out his salvation, pursue sanctification, not live to himself but to God and his neighbor, and daily bring God the sacrifice of a contrite and repentant heart. The apostle places both points in juxtaposition when he says of the Christian, "As sorrowful, yet always rejoicing." 2 Cor 6:10.

My friends, the first error is as dangerous as the second. Salvation is missed, though one may swerve one way or the other on the way to heaven. It is, therefore, necessary to know both things: Christian freedom and its bounds, the Christian's glory and his assured victory and his conflicts and struggles, the Christian's rest and security in Christ and the dangers in which he still is on earth; the comfort as well as the warning and admonition which is given him. We find both in the Gospel of today. Let us therefore, ponder both in the fear of the Lord.

The text. Luke 14:16-24.

The Gospel just read is as rich in doctrine and comfort as it is in warning and reprimand. In the parable of the Great Supper which it contains God's infinite love toward men is portrayed as well as man's unthankfulness over the riches of divine grace. Let us therefore now ponder:

CHRIST'S PARABLE OF THE GREAT SUPPER

as it shows us,

I. God's Love and Earnest Will that All Men be Saved, and

II. Discloses the Reasons why so Many are Nevertheless Lost.

I.

There can be no doubt concerning the subject matter of the parable in our text: the nature of the kingdom which Christ had come into the world to found. And with what does he compare it? With a great supper. This immediately tells us that Christ himself wants us to have only the most lovely and wonderful ideas about his kingdom and the purpose of his coming into the world. Tell me yourself: could Christ have spoken to us in a more friendly and enticing manner than in the way he tells us why the heavenly Father sent him, in the words, "A certain man made a great supper, and bade many"? V. 16.

Should Christ without any purpose at all-have compared his entire work on earth to a great supper? No, Christ in this way really tells us how we should view it. So, Christ did not come into the world to preach God's wrath to us, as Hoses did, but as a person who invites guests to a supper does all this in order to show his love, so God also wanted to reveal through sending his dear Son his inexpressible love toward sinful men. Christ did not come to tell us, as Moses did, what God demands of us, but as the invitation to his supper demands no work of us but only prepares us to enjoy it, so Christ did not come to tell us what we must merit in God's eyes by our works but what God wants to give us and have us enjoy in time and in eternity. Christ did not come into the world to judge the world and foretell its death, but, as a costly supper is arranged only to refresh a person and to give strength to his life, so Christ came into the world only that the world might be saved through him, that he might redeem all from sin and death and earn for them eternal life.

The Gospel is an entirely different teaching than the moral teachings of the heathen or the Law. The ethics of the heathen show us how a person should live in order to be a useful member of society; the Law of Moses demands of all men a perfect holiness of heart and life and, therefore, reveals to all men their sins and announces the curse, death, and eternal damnation to them. The Gospel of Christ, on the other hand, is the blessed message to men, "Come, for all things are now ready." V. 17. Hence, the Gospel does not show us how we should help ourselves, but how God has had mercy upon us and helped us; how God out of love and grace let his dear Son become a man and suffer and die for our sins, that he has redeemed us from sin, death, and hell, reconciled us with God and again prepared the way of salvation which was lost. Briefly, the Gospel is nothing else but the invitation to the great heavenly feast at which God, the heavenly householder, gives us to eat and to drink with the best that he has, namely his grace, forgiveness of sins, adoption as children, eternal righteousness, eternal life, eternal joy and blessedness, yes, Christ his very own dear Son.

Oh, what a dear sweet teaching the Gospel is! If God would demand merely a little bit by which we were to merit our own salvation, no one could be really

certain, whether he has done that little bit, whether he would be saved or lost. But no, the Gospel says nothing, absolutely nothing of our works, but rather excludes them completely and merely says, "Come, come; for ALL things are now ready!" When any person on this world hears such a teaching, where is the person who could not trust God and could still doubt that he also could be saved? For the moment a person asks, What must I do? today's Gospel answers: You can and should do nothing of yourself; for what had to be done for your salvation Jesus Christ hasalready done. Do you want God's grace? Here it is. Do you want divine righteousness? Here it is all ready. Do you want heaven? If is open. Only come and believe; just accept it.

Yes, the Gospel accuses all those who want to slave and labor and run and chase for themselves in order to gain some merit by themselves and says, Cease all your strivings; that is not the way to receive what has already been dearly won and bought for you through the blood of God's Son; it does not depend upon your wishing or chasing. We find this sweet Gospel even in the Old Covenant, for thus we read, Is 55:1-3, "Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labor for that which satisfieth not? hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness. Incline your ear, and come unto me; hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David."

And Christ explains his parable of the great supper in still greater detail in our Gospel. He says not only that God's grace has already prepared everything, but that God also invited all men without exception, that he is not ashamed of a single person and has caused the poor, the lame, the holt, the blind, and those on the highways and byways to be invited to his table, yes, that God becomes angry if people do not want to come, and that he has commanded his servants even to compel the miserable to come in, so that his house would be full.

See, that is the Gospel; it pictures God as burning with great inexpressible love to all sinners, his whole heart being moved with longing, no person remaining outside so that even the most wretched and greatest of sinners should come and accept and enjoy what he has prepared for them.

My friends, tell me yourself, is that not a blessed doctrine? Is that not a doctrine which poor, fallen, helpless mankind needs, that he merely has to accept God's help? Could one not say: Oh, blessed, eternally blessed are all men who hear this Gospel, for why should such a person not be saved, since nothing, absolutely nothing is demanded of him?

Alas! many thousands and millions of people who hear this teaching, have heard it often and still are eternally lost. Whence does that come? How can a person ever die of hunger if every day he is urgently invited to a wonderful meal? Can a person be damned whom God has commanded, to be admonished, besought, and begged through his messengers: Accept salvation; come, come; all things are now ready!? Who would ever think that? And yet it happens. The reasons are disclosed in our today's Gospel.

II.

My friends, the reason is not that many have sinned too greatly, so that there is no grace and salvation for them; this we see clearly from our Gospel. It tells us that there is room for all, even for the lame, even for the greatest and most wretched sinner. The only reason why so many do not come to the supper

of God's kingdom is indicated in our Gospel; it is despising the love of him who commanded that they be invited. Of none we are told that they should not be called and, therefore, excluded, but of all we are told: they were invited but they did not want to come nor accept the invitation. This is nothing else than: they did not want to believe.

Of course, it might appear as. though entirely different reasons were given in our Gospel; the one had bought a field, another five yoke of oxen, and the third had just married a wife; but all this is not given as the reason why they were excluded, from the meal but as the reason they themselves despised the precious meal. To buy a field or a yoke of oxen or to take a wife is not a sin; but Christ means to say that most let these things hinder them from accepting the precious Gospel.

Yes, it is and remains true, that faith in Christ makes us most certainly righteous and saves us, but my friends, faith is not the idle, empty thought that there is a heaven and a Reconciler; it is nothing else than a real eating and drinking and enjoying Jesus Christ the gracious; it is a coming to the supper of his kingdom of grace. One does not believe when one praises Christ's works or the table of grace which he has prepared, but one believes when he sits down at that table and refreshes and strengthens himself.

You see, as little as the guests in our Gospel could come to the great supper when they, after receiving the invitation, went to see their fields, their oxen, and celebrate their marriage, so little can they in faith enjoy Christ's grace with their heart whose heart still clings to something else. Everyone whose heart still clings to some temporal thing says to Christ's messengers who preach the Gospel, if not in words yet in deeds: I pray thee have me excused; I must be busy with other things, that is why I cannot come. They deceive themselves greatly when they suppose that because they praise the preaching of the Gospel, they still are secure in the true, saving faith, whilst their heart clings to honor, temporal things, or the lust of the world. Of a truth, that is no faith. Those things by which one satisfies his soul, wherein he finds his only pleasure and joy, his honor and his comfort, those are the things he believes in. If he satisfies his heart with the husks of this world, he has clearly declined Christ's heavenly invitation to his supper and excludes himself by his unbelief.

Where there is true faith, there the heart lets go of field, oxen, and wife, that is, of honor, worldly things, and the lust of the world, and eats Christ as his precious food. As long as a person still hungers after the world, he has no faith, for faith is seating oneself in hunger at Jesus Christ's heavenly table furnished with grace, righteousness, and all the blessings of heaven.

Yes, Christ intentionally speaks not only of a meal but of a supper, indicating: Christ feeds those who were wounded by the day's burden and heat and seek strength and refreshment. Tired, exhausted consciences, frightened at God's wrath, at sin, death, and hell are the soil in which alone true faith takes root.

Of what value to you is the sweet teaching of the Gospel which cries out: Come to the great supper; all things are now ready! if you who hunger and thirst for something altogether different? Oh my dear hearers, do not wilfully lose your soul's salvation; tear your heart free from the miserable things of this world and come to Christ's meal. You build homes, you expand your business, you marry and are given in marriage, and all that is not sin; but if you cling to these things with your heart, if your thinking and seeking consists of

such things, if you seek your joy, honor, and delight in these things, you still are among those who ask to be excused because they could not come to Christ.

Christ clearly explains his parable to his disciples when he says immediately after our text, "If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple," v.26; that is, whoever does not tear his heart free even from those things he regards most dear and does not seek his rest and salvation alone in Christ's blessings is not fit for God's kingdom.

Alas, it is a common experience: wherever the pure Gospel of grace in Christ is preached to men, there very many at first rejoice in this lovely teaching, but soon a satiety, a contempt, a nausea arises amongst the hearers. They again begin to give themselves up the more to temporal things and to pursue greed, the vanities and the lusts of the world. Because they hear that the way to salvation is so easy, they think that no harm will come to them if they do not go the easy, wonderful way.

Oh that this were not the case also among us! But is it not so? Have not many of us again come to love the world? Do not the hearts of very many cling to temporal things? Do not very many think that because they hear the gracious Gospel every Sunday and praise it, they have also most certainly accepted it in faith, whilst their heart still clings to entirely different things?

Oh, hear you earthly minded people, hear your condemnation in our today's Gospel and be afraid! Christ says that the man who had caused the invitation to be extended became angry and finally exclaimed, "For I say unto you, That none of those men which were bidden shall taste of my supper." V. 24.

If you do not want to have this terrible threat be fulfilled in you, then tear your heart free from the love of earthly things; perceive your danger, learn to be frightened over your sins and God's great wrath. Come to the supper of the Lord here in time. Let Christ's grace be your riches, your honor, and your pleasure, and you will also some day seat yourselves at the heavenly banquet table; there you will have fullness of joy and pleasures at God's right hand forever more. Amen.

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