The article of election drives us back to the Word of invitation

Posted on October 6, 2013 by Rev. Paul Rydecki

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Sermon for Trinity 20

Isaiah 65:1-2  +  Ephesians 5:15-21  +  Matthew 22:1-14

Many are called, but few are chosen.  So Jesus closes the parable of the wedding banquet. The word “chosen” is the same as the word “elect.” We’re talking here about that difficult article of doctrine called “election” or “predestination” — that God, in eternity, before the foundations of the world were laid, graciously chose the individuals who would feast at the heavenly wedding banquet of His Son, Jesus Christ.  It’s a difficult teaching because our human reason wants more information than God reveals in Holy Scripture.

And since what God has revealed doesn’t satisfy our human reason, people throughout the centuries have fallen into grave errors trying to fill in the blanks.  They figure that, since God predestined some to salvation, He must have predestined the others to condemnation, like some horrible game of eenie, meenie, miney, mo.  They try to pry into the ‘hidden will’ of God and figure out why He chose some and not others, looking for some sort of goodness in the elect or some sort of special badness in the non-elect.  Either that, or they totally mess up the doctrine and end up, either in what we call carnal security or in despair.  In other words, they either figure, “Hey, I must be one of the elect.  I belong to a church! So I can sin as much as I want and I’ll still be in heaven.” Or they figure, “I can never be sure if I’m one of the elect, so it doesn’t matter that I believe in Jesus.  If I’m not among the elect, I still won’t be saved!”

In fact, recently a member told me about an interaction he had with a friend who gave this reason for not wanting to come to church (something like this):  God knows everything already.  He already knows who’s going to be in heaven and who’s going to be in hell.  So it doesn’t matter what I do, or if I go to church or not.

Doesn’t matter?!? Is that what Jesus teaches us about election in today’s Gospel? That God’s gracious wedding invitation doesn’t matter, or that it doesn’t matter how you respond to it?  On the contrary, Jesus both warns us and comforts us in this Gospel by putting an end to our idle speculation about what God hasn’t revealed to us about His will, and urges us to focus on what God has revealed to us about His gracious will.  And His gracious will is that those who are called to the wedding banquet should go!

Let’s look at the parable again. The King who gave a wedding feast for His Son is God.  The Son, the Bridegroom, is Christ.  The marriage is between Christ and the Bride, His holy Church—holy, not because her members have led sinless lives, but holy because Christ loved her “and gave Himself up for her that He might make her holy, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the Word,” as Paul says to the Ephesians.  The wedding feast is the kingdom of God, which came to earth when Christ came to the earth in humility and finds it fulfillment when He comes again in glory, as our catechism students are memorizing this week:

Thy kingdom come. What does this mean? The kingdom of God certainly comes by itself without our prayer, but we pray in this petition that it may come to us also. How does God’s kingdom come? God’s kingdom comes when our heavenly Father gives us His Holy Spirit, so that by His grace we believe His holy Word and lead godly lives here in time and there in eternity.

Those who had been invited to the wedding feast ahead of time were the Jews.  The King had sent forth His servants, the prophets to tell them beforehand about this feast that was being prepared, the coming of the Messiah to make atonement for the sins of the world.  Then, when Christ finally came into the world, angels announced His birth, and Simeon sang his song, but the Jews didn’t come to the feast, didn’t pay any attention to Jesus.

The King sent out other servants,  John the Baptist, Christ Himself, and the Apostles.  And this was their commission: “Tell those who are invited, “See, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding feast.”  Come to Me, Jesus said, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. But the Jews, for the most part, despised the Word of Christ.  They “made light” of the invitation.  They “went their ways,” one to his farm, that is, to his own works, trying to please God by them; another to his business, that is, to the worries and cares of this life, more interested into living in their sin than in repentance and faith in Christ.  Still others seized His servants, treated them spitefully, and killed them, as they did with John the Baptist, Christ Himself and the holy Apostles.

Now, was there something defective in the invitation to the Jews?  Was it that God wasn’t serious about His invitation?  Was it somehow God’s fault that they didn’t repent and believe in Christ?  Of course not!  God pleaded with them; His Spirit called out to them through God’s Word.  In the very next chapter of Matthew, Jesus mourns over Jerusalem: O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!

“You were not willing.”  There is where the fault lies. You didn’t want Jesus for a Savior.  You didn’t care.  You preferred your own works or your own sins to the invitation God sent out.

And see how forcefully the King responds: When the king heard about it, he was furious. And he sent out his armies, destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city.  See, those who claim that God is the one who, from eternity, predestined some people to condemnation run into a big problem here.  If God Himself determined that these people could never be saved, if God Himself made them so that they could never believe in His Son, then how does God become angry with them for doing what He supposedly predestined them to do?  How does God blame them for rejecting His invitation, if He was never serious about it in the first place?  No, God was serious, and His Holy Spirit was active in the Gospel call, working through it to create faith in them, too.  He wanted them to believe and be saved.  It was their fault that they didn’t want to come.

So Jesus’ warning rings out still today.  If this Gospel invitation is spoken within your hearing, you can know for certain that God intends for you to take it to heart, to repent of your sins and come into His kingdom through faith in Christ who paid for all sins with His holy, precious blood and His innocent sufferings and death. You don’t have to worry about God’s election in eternity.  Hear His Words now.  Listen to His call now.  He wants you to be saved.

You know that, because what did the King do next?  He said to his servants, ‘The wedding is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy. Therefore go into the highways, and as many as you find, invite to the wedding.’ So those servants went out into the highways and gathered together all whom they found, both bad and good. And the wedding hall was filled with guests.  See, He wants His wedding hall to be filled with whomever His servants find with the Word.  His servants—ministers of the Gospel—still go forth and call everyone to repentance and faith in Christ.  They find “both bad and good” and call them in, because your place in the kingdom of God has nothing to do with how bad or good you are.  It’s about leaving your works behind entirely, hearing the preaching of the Gospel, and coming to Jesus for mercy, for forgiveness, and for eternal life.

But we still have the last portion of the parable to consider.  But when the king came in to see the guests, he saw a man there who did not have on a wedding garment. At the end of time, when Jesus comes in glory, then the King Himself will come in to see the Church, no longer through pastors and preachers, but in Person.  And unlike pastors and preachers, the King can see the heart.  This “wedding garment” was a special garment that the rich host would provide for His guests.  They didn’t have to go out and spend $10,000 on a nice suit or dress.  The King provided it.  So to come into the wedding hall and not wear the wedding garment provided by the King was a great insult.

The wedding garment is nothing but Christ and His righteousness and the faith that puts Him on.  God provides faith through the Means of Grace.  He provides this garment already in Holy Baptism.  And part of His decree of election in eternity is that He will continue to provide the Word and Sacrament to keep His elect people in faith, to protect them from the devil, the world and the sinful flesh, to sustain them in their great weakness and to lift them up when they fall, and to strengthen and comfort them under the cross.  What great comfort for us in every trial, that not only has God chosen us in eternity, not only has He planned out the time and place when we would hear His Gospel and be baptized into His kingdom, but He has also provided everything necessary to keep us in His grace and to bring us at last to everlasting life.

But if someone comes into the Church and then stops listening to God’s Word, distances him or herself from the Sacrament, becomes lazy in prayer and stops being concerned with things like repentance and leading a holy life of faith toward God and love toward the neighbor, then that’s like taking off the wedding garment you were given.  That’s falling away from the faith, even though you’re still technically here within the visible Church.

What does the King do with such a one when He comes?  So 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, take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ So, does the Gospel invitation matter?  Of course it does!  Does Baptism and coming into the Church matter?  Of course it does!  Does the continual hearing of the Word and receiving of the Sacrament matter?  Of course it does!  Does prayer matter?  Of course it does!  Does daily repentance and fleeing in faith to Christ for mercy matter?  It matters more than anything in this world.

So this “faith thing” is a serious matter and the Holy Spirit’s always-sincere call in the Gospel is urgent, and is truly intended for all who hear it.  And in the midst of it all is the doctrine of election.  Its purpose isn’t to lead us either to idle speculation, or to carnal security or to despair.  Its purpose is to direct us constantly back to God’s invitation, right here, right now in the Gospel, so that we take it heart, trust in Christ, and never imagine for a moment that we’re safe in this world without God’s faithful and continual care.  That’s how you know you’re one of the elect, one of the chosen.  Once you get that, then the true purpose of the doctrine of election is fulfilled, to comfort the saints of God—believers in Christ—with the knowledge that, in eternity, God graciously and individually planned everything necessary for your eternal salvation, and that God has carried it out in time, and will continue to carry it out until the doors of the wedding hall are closed, and you are safely feasting at His heavenly wedding banquet forever. Amen.

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Propers for Trinity 20

Posted on October 1, 2013 by Rev. Paul Rydecki

INTROIT              Prayer of Azariah 1:4a, 7b, 20b, 19b; Psalm 48:1

(Antiphon) THE LORD, our God, is righteous in all His works toward us, *
For we have not obeyed His commandments.
Glorify Your Name, O Lord: *
And deal with us according to Your great mercy.

Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised *
In the city of our God, in His holy mountain.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

COLLECT

Merciful Lord, we beseech You, grant to Your faithful people pardon and peace, that they may be cleansed from all their sins and serve You with a quiet mind; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, Who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

OLD TESTAMENT READING          Isaiah 65:1-2

1 “I was sought by those who did not ask for Me; I was found by those who did not seek Me. I said, ‘Here I am, here I am,’ To a nation that was not called by My name. 2 I have stretched out My hands all day long to a rebellious people, Who walk in a way that is not good, According to their own thoughts;”   (NKJV)

GRADUAL            Psalm 145:15-16

The eyes of all look expectantly to You, O Lord, – *
And You give them their food in due sea- son.
You open Your hand, – *
And satisfy the desire of every living thing.

EPISTLE READING             Ephesians 5:15-21

15 See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, 16 redeeming the time, because the days are evil. 17 Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is. 18 And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit, 19 speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, 20 giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, 21 submitting to one another in the fear of God.    (NKJV) 

VERSE   Ps. 130:1-2a

Alleluia. Alleluia. Out of the depths I have cried to You, O Lord; – *
Lord, hear my voice!  Alleluia.

HOLY GOSPEL    Matthew 22:1-14

1 And Jesus answered and spoke to them again by parables and said: 2 “The kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who arranged a marriage for his son, 3 and sent out his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding; and they were not willing to come. 4 Again, he sent out other servants, saying, ‘Tell those who are invited, “See, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and fatted cattle are killed, and all things are ready. Come to the wedding.” ’ 5 But they made light of it and went their ways, one to his own farm, another to his business. 6 And the rest seized his servants, treated them spitefully, and killed them. 7 But when the king heard about it, he was furious. And he sent out his armies, destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city. 8 Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy. 9 Therefore go into the highways, and as many as you find, invite to the wedding.’ 10 So those servants went out into the highways and gathered together all whom they found, both bad and good. And the wedding hall was filled with guests. 11 “But when the king came in to see the guests, he saw a man there who did not have on a wedding garment. 12 So he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless. 13 Then the king said to the servants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ 14 For many are called, but few are chosen.” (NKJV)

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Those who are with us

Posted on September 29, 2013 by Rev. Paul Rydecki

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Sermon for St. Michael and All Angels

Genesis 28:10-22  +  Revelation 12:7-12  +  Matthew 18:1-11

There’s an interesting story in 2 Kings 6, a story of a remarkable act of divine deliverance.  The king of Syria was trying to make war against Israel.  He would plan an ambush in a certain place.  But every time he chose the place for the ambush, the prophet Elisha would warn the king of Israel ahead of time so that Israel never went near the place where the Syrians were waiting.  The king of Syria became angry, thinking that one of his servants was giving this inside information to Israel, but no, they informed the king that it was Elisha the prophet who had miraculous access to the king’s plans.

So the king of Syria decided he had to get rid of Elisha.  He sent horses and chariots and a great army to the city where Elisha was, and they came by night and surrounded the city. And when the servant of the man of God arose early and went out, there was an army, surrounding the city with horses and chariots. And his servant said to him, “Alas, my master! What shall we do?” So he answered, “Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” And Elisha prayed, and said, “LORD, I pray, open his eyes that he may see.” Then the LORD opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw. And behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.

Those horses and chariots of fire that were with Elisha were a division of the angel armies of God.  Yes, angel “armies.” We shouldn’t think of angels as little children with wings, sitting around playing harps in the clouds.  We should think of them as powerful warriors in the army of the Lord of hosts.  “Lord of hosts” (or from the Hebrew, “Lord of Sabaoth,” as we sing in some of our hymns) is a common Old Testament name for God.  It means “Lord of armies” and it refers to the angel armies under His command.

September 29th was set aside many centuries ago by the Church as a day on which we are to learn about and give thanks for the holy angels.  The purpose of this day is not to worship or venerate the angels; only God is to be worshiped (and the angels are in full agreement with that).  Nor should we pray to the angels for help, for they serve under the command of the Commander to whom we are to pray—Christ Jesus Himself.  But God has revealed many things about the angels in His holy Word, and we do well to pay attention, because there is a battle raging all around us, and there are unseen, powerful enemies who seek to harm us.  But those who are with us are more than those who are with them.

First, we should know where the angels came from and what they are.  The word “angel” comes from a Greek word that means “messenger.”  The Old Testament Hebrew word for angel essentially means “worker.”  When we speak about “the angels,” we’re referring to those special messengers or workers of God that were created as spirit-creatures in the beginning, sometime during the six days of creation.  They are not eternal or almighty, like God.  They are not flesh and blood like us.  And people do not turn into angels when they die.  Angels are spirits—powerful spirits created to serve God by ministering to man. Scripture says that, by Christ all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. 

In fact, there you hear some of the titles given to angels.  “Thrones, dominions, principalities, powers.”  Those titles seem to be describing different ranks among the angels in the angel armies, but what exactly those ranks are we don’t know. Other words used in Scripture to describe angels are cherubim (when they appear in physical form) and seraphim (when they appear with flames or fire).  We know the names of only two, possibly three angels.  Michael is mentioned a few times in Scripture, and he is called a “chief” angel or an “archangel,” which is why this day in the Church year bears his name.  Gabriel is mentioned, the one who appeared to Zechariah and Mary before the birth of John the Baptist and Jesus.  The Old Testament apocryphal book Tobit has the angel Raphael as one of the main characters.

As I mentioned, the angels were created to serve God by ministering to man, and were given places of authority in the heavenly realms.  They were created holy and righteous and good, like God.  But soon after their creation, as Jude tells us, some of them did not keep their proper domain, but left their own abode; these God has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day.  Some of the angels rebelled against God; the leader of the rebellion has now received the name “Satan,” which means “Adversary.” So now there remain many good angels—holy angels.  But there are also a good number of evil angels—devils or demons.  They are at war with one another.  And you and I and the rest of mankind are what they’re fighting over.

The evil angels may be “reserved in everlasting chains under darkness,” but that doesn’t mean they’re locked up and immobilized.  On the contrary, they wage war against mankind, and especially against believers in Christ.  This world is a battle zone, and we don’t even give it a thought as we go about our day to day business, do we?

We should.  Because Paul says in Eph. 2 that the devil, the “prince of the power of the air, the spirit now works in the sons of disobedience.”  The devil has unbounded influence over unbelievers.  He is at work in them.  He works through them.  That doesn’t mean they’re possessed by demons, although possessions haven taken place, especially at the time of Christ.  It does mean the devil has his way them and wreaks havoc on the earth through them.  To be outside of Christ’s Church is to be at the mercy of the demons, and the demons have no mercy.

On the other hand, the devil is not the adversary of unbelievers, but of believers, so Peter warns us urgently: Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.

He is at work in the Church, sowing discord and strife, trying to turn believers away from the Word and against one another.  St. Paul tells Timothy that much of the false doctrine that rises up in the Church is the doctrine of demons.  And when some inside the Church start believing unscriptural things, it shouldn’t surprise us, because Paul writes to the Thessalonians that the devil is at work, even using powerful signs and delusions, to turn Christians away from the truth.

The evil angels are also at work in the state.  Again, that doesn’t mean that government leaders are possessed by demons, or that Hitler was the devil (or any other world leader, for that matter).  But the devils influence the world governments to spread evil and wickedness in the earth and to snuff out the light of the Gospel.  When we see great, inhuman wickedness like unjust wars or the toleration and even approval of something so horrific as abortion, when we see homosexuality heralded as normal or even beneficial, when we see Christians being oppressed and the truth being suppressed, we shouldn’t imagine that human wickedness alone is to blame.  There are demonic influences behind all these things.

The evil angels are partially to blame, too, for the wickedness that invades the home as the devil wars against our race, as pornography and sexual sins, drugs and drunkenness take hold more and more in this world.  Temptation is everywhere, from the big temptations to burst out in anger or to commit adultery, to the seemingly small temptations to neglect God’s Word and Sacraments.  And some people are so foolish as to invite the devil into their homes and lives by practicing witchcraft and other dark arts.

The truth is, we are surrounded by these evil creatures who seek to devour us and separate us from Christ. The truth is, we don’t stand a chance against them.  We human beings are not equal to them in power or might.  As we sing in A Mighty Fortress, “on earth is not his equal.”

What will we do?  “With might of ours can naught be done; soon were our loss effected.  But for us fights the valiant One whom God Himself elected.  Ask ye, who is this?  Jesus Christ it is.  Of Sabaoth Lord.  And there’s none other god.  He holds the field forever.”

Christ came to crush the devil’s power, and by His life of fighting off every temptation, and by His death on the cross He took away the devil’s power to accuse us.  He descended into hell, not to suffer, but to conquer, and He rose victorious over sin, death and the devil, so that now, as we heard in Revelation, Michael, the chief angel, has cast down the dragon out of heaven where He can no longer accuse believers in Christ before God.

This Christ has paid for our sins and has rescued us from the dominion of darkness through Holy Baptism and has made us His own.  And now, as Paul says, if God is for us, who can be against us?  So we are persuaded, together with the Apostle Paul, that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

And now, having been brought into His kingdom, not by works, but by faith, we can say confidently with the prophet Elisha, those who are with us are more than those who are with them.  Christ has chosen to employ His angel armies in our defense.  They protect the little children from the devil’s snares, as Christ said in Matthew 18, Take heed that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that in heaven their angels always see the face of My Father who is in heaven.  But they protect adult believers, too, as David says in Psalm 34, The angel of the LORD encamps all around those who fear Him, And delivers them. As the Psalmist writes in Psalm 91 and as we sang today in the Gradual, For He shall give His angels charge over you, To keep you in all your ways.

Angels were there when the Law was given to Moses.  Angels were there in the Old Testament fighting for the people of Israel. Angels were there announcing the conception of Christ to Mary, the birth of Christ to the shepherds, the resurrection of Christ to the women, and the future return of Christ to His apostles at Christ’s ascension.  Angels are there to escort the souls of believers when they die to Abraham’s bosom. Angels are in heaven worshiping God, and they are also here with us now in the Divine Service. Angels are there, still fighting for the Church against the devil’s schemes. By the power of Christ, they will win this battle.  And angels will be there with Jesus when He returns.

Those who are with us are more than those who are with our enemies.  And yet, for as glorious as the holy angels are and for as powerful as they are, God has exalted our sinful race above the angels, because Christ took on human flesh, not angel “flesh.”  Christ died for sinners, not for angels, and Christ has not called the angels His brothers, but us.  Let us give thanks to God for the protection and the service of the holy angels.  Let us take comfort in the presence of these powerful friends and co-servants of Christ.  And let us pray, as Luther teaches us in his morning prayer, that God would continue to “send His holy angel to be with us, that the evil foe may have no power over us.”  Amen.

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Propers for St. Michael and All Angels

Posted on September 28, 2013 by Rev. Paul Rydecki

INTROIT              Psalm 103:20-21; Ps. 103:1

(Antiphon) BLESS THE Lord, you His angels who excel in strength, – *
Who do His word, heeding the voice of His word.
Bless the Lord, all you His hosts, – *
You ministers of His, who do His plea- sure.

Bless the Lord, O my soul; – *
And all that is within me, bless His holy name!

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

COLLECT

O Everlasting God, who ordained and constituted the services of Angels and Men in a wonderful order, mercifully grant that, even as Your holy Angels always render service to You in Heaven, so by Your appointment they may help and defend us on Earth; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, Who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

OLD TESTAMENT READING          Genesis 28:10-22

10 Now Jacob went out from Beersheba and went toward Haran. 11 So he came to a certain place and stayed there all night, because the sun had set. And he took one of the stones of that place and put it at his head, and he lay down in that place to sleep. 12 Then he dreamed, and behold, a ladder was set up on the earth, and its top reached to heaven; and there the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. 13 And behold, the Lord stood above it and said: “I am the Lord God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and your descendants. 14 Also your descendants shall be as the dust of the earth; you shall spread abroad to the west and the east, to the north and the south; and in you and in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed. 15 Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have spoken to you.” 16 Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.” 17 And he was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven!” 18 Then Jacob rose early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put at his head, set it up as a pillar, and poured oil on top of it. 19 And he called the name of that place Bethel; but the name of that city had been Luz previously. 20 Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me, and keep me in this way that I am going, and give me bread to eat and clothing to put on, 21 so that I come back to my father’s house in peace, then the Lord shall be my God. 22 And this stone which I have set as a pillar shall be God’s house, and of all that You give me I will surely give a tenth to You.”   (NKJV)

GRADUAL            Psalm 91:11; 103:1

For He shall give His angels charge over you, *
To keep you in all your ways.
Bless the Lord, O my soul; – *
And all that is within me, bless His holy name!

EPISTLE READING             Revelation 12:7-12

7 And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, 8 but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer. 9 So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. 10 Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, “Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down. 11 And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death. 12 Therefore rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them! Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea! For the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, because he knows that he has a short time.”   (NKJV) 

VERSE   Is. 6:3

Alleluia. Alleluia. And one cried to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; – *
The whole earth is full of His glory!”  Alleluia.

HOLY GOSPEL    Matthew 18:1-11

1 At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” 2 Then Jesus called a little child to Him, set him in the midst of them, 3 and said, “Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 Therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. 5 Whoever receives one little child like this in My name receives Me. 6 “Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were drowned in the depth of the sea. 7 Woe to the world because of offenses! For offenses must come, but woe to that man by whom the offense comes! 8 “If your hand or foot causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you. It is better for you to enter into life lame or maimed, rather than having two hands or two feet, to be cast into the everlasting fire. 9 And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you. It is better for you to enter into life with one eye, rather than having two eyes, to be cast into hell fire. 10 “Take heed that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that in heaven their angels always see the face of My Father who is in heaven. 11 For the Son of Man has come to save that which was lost. (NKJV)

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Faith, Love, and the Sabbath Day

Posted on September 22, 2013 by Rev. Paul Rydecki

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Sermon for Trinity 17

1 Samuel 2:1-10  +  Ephesians 4:1-6  +  Luke 14:1-11

The Third Commandment says: Remember the Sabbath Day by keeping it holy.  The Third Commandment, of the Ten Commandments, is unique.  All ten demand love—love for God and love for your neighbor.  St. Paul says, “Love is the fulfillment of the Law.”  All ten commandments require this complete and total self-denial and outward-facing devotion, a devotion that comes from the heart and spreads to the hands and the lips and a person’s whole behavior, all day, every day, from birth till death.  You shall do certain things, and you shall not do other things.  The commandments are God’s unchanging description of how He defines love, and how He demands that His creatures behave on the outside, and think on the inside.

But the Third Commandment, unlike the others, has this ceremonial element to it, this requirement to keep a certain day of the week holy—the seventh day, Saturday, so holy that no work at all was to be done on the Sabbath Day.  It was a commandment that the people of Israel were to keep, not by working hard, but by not working at all.  The word Sabbath means rest.

Where’s the “love” in such a commandment?  How were the Israelites to be loving God or their neighbor by resting?  Well, first, the love for God was in devotion to His Word.  They were to deny themselves the ability to make money and dedicate the Sabbath Day to a sacred assembly, to hearing the Word of God and to remembering God’s acts of salvation for them.  The love for their neighbor was in their devotion to their neighbor’s need to rest and to hear God’s Word.  If no one was allowed to work on that day, then that means the servants and the slaves and the employees and even the animals also got a break on the Sabbath Day for some much needed rest.

Why all this talk about the Sabbath Day?  Because our Gospel today hinges on a proper understanding of the Third Commandment and the Sabbath Law.  The Pharisees and the lawyers in Israel at the time of Christ had lost the proper understanding of the Sabbath and had turned it into the most loveless day of the week, a day for showing off how religious you were, a day for making yourself look good by making up new rules for what counts as work and what doesn’t, and by putting others down for not following your made-up rules.

Now it happened, as He went into the house of one of the rulers of the Pharisees to eat bread on the Sabbath, that they watched Him closely.

If only they had been watching Jesus to learn from Him, to marvel at His goodness and mercy.  But no.  They watched Him to see if He would keep the Sabbath Law or break it.  Just one chapter before our Gospel, Luke records how a synagogue ruler condemned Jesus for healing a woman on the Sabbath.

So, again, in our Gospel, there was a certain man before Him who had dropsy. Here was this poor man suffering from this illness.  But that man had come to Jesus in faith, looking to Jesus for relief.  And Jesus would heal him, but first He puts this question to the lawyers and Pharisees, not to learn from them, but to teach them.   “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?” They couldn’t answer yes, because then they would have nothing to criticize in Him.  They couldn’t answer no, because they knew that the Old Testament wouldn’t support such an answer, as Jesus had pointed out on other occasions.  The Old Testament recognized cases of necessity with the ceremonial laws, like with David and the show bread when the priest once gave him and his men the bread to eat that only priests were supposed to eat.  The perfect Law of love included such exceptions when love for the neighbor required the ceremonial law to be set aside.  But the Pharisees didn’t want to give Jesus the satisfaction of an answer.  So they kept silent.

And He took him and healed him, and let him go. Then He answered them, saying, “Which of you, having a donkey or an ox that has fallen into a pit, will not immediately pull him out on the Sabbath day?” And they could not answer Him regarding these things. Even the Pharisees and lawyers understood that it was OK to help a hurting animal on the Sabbath.  If it was OK to help a hurting animal on the Sabbath, surely it was OK to help a fellow human being and a son of Israel.  God’s intention with the Sabbath Day was not to ignore your neighbor in need, but to set aside your own work and your own needs in order help your neighbor.  The intent of the Sabbath Day was not hatred or indifference toward your neighbor, but love.

Why did the Pharisees have such a hard time understanding that? Because they didn’t know love.  And they didn’t know love, because they didn’t know themselves rightly, and they didn’t know Jesus rightly.  They thought highly of themselves and lowly of Jesus.  They saw themselves as good people and Jesus as unnecessary.  They saw themselves as law-keepers and Jesus as a law-breaker.  They exalted themselves to the highest place, not realizing how ugly their hearts really were in not wanting the sick to be helped by Jesus, how loveless and disobedient they really were, not realizing what fools they looked like as they pretended to be more righteous than the Son of God.

So Jesus told them the parable in the second part of our Gospel, about a wedding banquet, a parable that applies just as much to us as to them.

When you are invited by anyone to a wedding feast, do not sit down in the best place, lest one more honorable than you be invited by him; and he who invited you and him come and say to you, ‘Give place to this man,’ and then you begin with shame to take the lowest place. But when you are invited, go and sit down in the lowest place, so that when he who invited you comes he may say to you, ‘Friend, go up higher.’ Then you will have glory in the presence of those who sit at the table with you. For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.

Now, this is a parable.  It’s not about where you sit at a party.  It’s about your heart, toward God and man.  If, in your heart, you set yourself up above the people sitting next to you and imagine that you’re more important or a better person than they, then you show that you are loveless and you will be humbled.  Likewise, if in your heart, you set yourself up above the Son of God and imagine that you are good enough without Him—that you are anything without Him—, then you will be cast down and shamed before God and man.  So, don’t do that, Jesus says.

Instead, “go and sit down in the lowest place.”  What does that mean? It means recognize that all your labor is in vain.  All your work, all your obedience—it doesn’t measure up to the standard of love set by God.  All your comparing yourself with other people—it’s useless and vain.  And all your rebellion against God’s commandments is deadly.  So recognize your place as a poor sinner, as the poorest of sinners and as the lowliest of sinners, and don’t even think about raising yourself up out of that place.

Instead, know that Jesus is the Savior of sinners, not of righteous people.  Know that Jesus has humbled Himself to the lowest place, as the Son of Man who came, not to be served, but to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many.  Know that the blood Jesus shed on the cross was for you.  And now He goes out in the Gospel and searches for lowly sinners to lift up and exalt, even as He Himself has now been exalted from death to life and from humility to glory.  There is no way to climb the ladder into heaven.  In fact, all whom Jesus finds on the ladder will be cast down from it.  The only way into heaven is by sitting at the bottom of the pit, and trusting in Jesus to lift you up out of it all by Himself.

In other words, the only way into heaven and into God’s favor even now, is by resting.  Not climbing, but resting.  Not trying hard, but resting.  Not working, but resting.  Resting in repentance and faith in Christ.  You see!  It’s all about the Sabbath.

The Sabbath Day and the Sabbath commandment had another purpose besides showing Israel how to love God and their neighbor.  It was to teach sinners where salvation is, not in working, but in resting.  Not by works, but by faith in Christ.  It’s as God said to Israel through the prophet Isaiah, For thus says the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel: “In returning and rest you shall be saved;  In quietness and confidence shall be your strength.” Christ’s work, not ours, is what counts before God.  Human works aren’t good enough, because we’re sinners.  But the work of Christ is perfect, and by faith in Christ—faith alone, with no working allowed on our part—His works are counted as ours.  So Christ is the fulfillment of the Sabbath Day and all the ceremonies associated with it, which is why, now, in the New Testament, the ceremony of keeping a certain day for resting has been removed by God, even as the command to love God and our neighbor remains.  We who rest in Christ are to love God, according to the Third Commandment, by regarding His Word as holy and gladly hearing it and learning it.  We are to love our neighbor by helping him to find rest, both physical and spiritual.

But that love for God and neighbor doesn’t save us.  Faith is Christ saves.  Love comes from faith, which is why the Pharisees in our Gospel didn’t know love; they had no faith.  And the sinful flesh that still lives in us is just like the Pharisees; it refuses to sit quietly and wait for God in the lowest place.

So Jesus’ Word to you today is urgent.  Recognize that in you, that is, in your sinful flesh, nothing good dwells. Stop trying to work and fight and claw and climb into God’s favor. Stop your working, and rest in the grace of God, in the wounds of Christ, in the righteousness that comes, not by doing, but by believing, by trusting in God for forgiveness, for the sake of Christ Jesus, the truly Righteous One.  You have been baptized into Christ, the Lowly One, which means that you have now been raised up and exalted with Him, too.  You will be fed again today at the Banquet of the Altar, with the body and blood that purchased your forgiveness and that make you right with God.  Here is your rest.  Here is your Sabbath.  Here is the forgiveness of sins and the strengthening of your faith.  And where there is faith, there is also the beginning of love, love that shows itself in true humility before God and man, in true self-abasement, in self-sacrifice, and in seeking the good of others before yourself.  And why not put others before yourself?  You know the secret of the Sabbath Day, revealed by Christ.  God will humble the proud, but God will lift up the lowly and give eternal glory and rest to those rest in His promise of mercy in Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

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