Sermon 23a 2017: Going All In On This Life with God Introduction: In a Rut or Hearing a Call I spent some time this week remembering the 1000 s of sermons; I ve preached over the past 25 years and no not the actual words of each one; But the different tones and different approaches appropriate For different occasions and different seasons of our lives. I remember I learned fairly early on that Christmas Eve must include the Christmas story In the sermon and that the sermon needs to be pretty short; At Easter I learned that communicating the power of the resurrection; Has to be the focal point no other story is needed or helpful; Oh and keep it pretty short also. Wedding sermons must be personal and even shorter; As the couple and I have talked together a lot about marriage before their wedding day; And the people gathered for the wedding have come to witness the vows. I also considered the quality of my sermons - the messages being communicated; Not whether they were good or bad or even helpful; Because what I ve considered a bad or challenging sermon for me to write Are the ones the Holy Spirit used to touch people s lives. No, I m thinking more about general themes I ve seen in the sermons God s given me; Themes like God s love for all; God giving us this mission so that we may be changed by God And in turn change the world; The power of prayer and so on. And the broadest theme I ve turned to time and again is the hope and the reality That God is calling us to a far greater life than the life we are living; And that if we are going to live our lives knowing God in Jesus Christ 1
And following in the way of Jesus, Then we have to do physical things in our lives that open us to God Physical things that allow God an important place in our lives. Apparently, I continue to pound home the point that the spiritual life follows the physical; So, that if we re going to be persons of prayer, Then we have to actually set aside time to pray; If we re going to worship God, then we have to actually attend church; If we re going to be people who are forgiven, then we need to confess And practice forgiving others; And, most importantly in this season of our financial stewardship campaign If we re going to be generous persons, then we have to give something significant away; And so on through all areas of the Christian life. And whether we re just checking out this Christianity thing for the first time; Or have a longer term Christian life; What we do matters in our lives with God; Because our actions always speak louder than our words. And with all this focus on answering God s call to a greater life with God And how our physical lives open the way for a greater spiritual life; I ve decided that I m either in a rut in my overall preaching; Or that in preaching on this common theme for many weeks, Perhaps the Spirit is calling us all at St. David s To make a deeper commitment to God in our lives. I am persuaded that God is calling all of us here to choose God in a new way Some of us, to choose God for the first time; Some of us to return to choose God again; Some of us to choose the life with God in a more committed way. 2
And it all comes down to your choice and mine - because God gives us choice; God has given us the choice about opening the way for the Spirit So that the Spirit can draw our lives into a greater venture with God; A choice that we express in our hearts and in our minds certainly; But a choice that we express by the way we live our lives; In response to that choice. The Gospel: Many are called, including you, but few are chosen The Gospel lesson for this morning is about just this topic: choosing God. Choosing to accept God s invitation to come to the wedding banquet, Choosing to enter into the greatest joy And the greatest life, offered to each of us by God; Or not. The parable we heard this morning is one that Jesus uses To show the religious leaders of His day, That though they have been chosen, that they are God s chosen people; God is calling everyone to a life and relationship with Him. That s what that little line at the end of the Gospel means; Many are called, but few are chosen; We might read it many are called, all in fact, but by comparison few are chosen. The idea of who is allowed to choose to enter into this life with God Is an ongoing struggle in Jesus ministry with the religious leaders of His day; And at this point in Jesus life and ministry, it s become heated. These good, moral, religious people believed that there was a limit to God s mercy; And that the sinners and the outcasts and the not so good people That Jesus is spending time with and inviting to choose God in their lives Aren t worthy of God s mercy and forgiveness and love. But privilege and status and chosenness mean very little to God; He wants us all; 3
The life in God is not some club or exclusive group of people to belong to; Anyone who chooses to come to God, to come to the wedding feast, And to put on the garment of the new life of God s love Is welcomed to come to this life with God and to stay. Jesus also uses this parable today for people like you and me; To help us see that we are all invited, yes, but that we have to choose to come; We have to make the choice about entering into the greater life with God, A wedding banquet no less; We have to choose to put on a different garment and live a different kind of life. We have to choose God first over all other commitments; We have to choose forgiveness over getting even; We have to choose serving others over being served; We have to choose love over all. And for those of us who hear the invitation to this life with God, But choose to stay busy with our life, our work, our self-centered ways of living; Or who treat the invitation lightly and don t bother to even respond; There will one day be a day of reckoning, For God is not only loving, God is also holy, And He will judge us by the choice we make. And in the same way, for those of us who choose to come to the banquet, But sit on the fence, who are lukewarm about truly choosing God in our lives, Who say we believe, who say we re following, but really don t; There will also be a day of reckoning. Like the person at the wedding feast without the proper wedding garment, Who is thrown out to the place of weeping and gnashing of teeth; So we fence sitters will be cast outside of God s love and presence; Until we match our deeds with our words. 4
And though this feels like a hard message for those of us who believe that God is love; Who want to worship a God who accepts and welcomes everyone, Regardless of the choice they have made, regardless of the life they live; Apparently it is not so; that s not the way things are going to work out And how we choose determines our destiny. What we are called to, Who we are called by Now before you become overly concerned about these dread consequences Or close your heart or your mind or your life to the holiness of God, To the reality that God will in fact judge us by the choice we make in our lives Consider the life that we are being invited to choose. Jesus is inviting us to a party in the presence and power of God; Jesus is inviting us to accept God s forgiveness for all our sins and misdeeds; Jesus is inviting us to live in the promise that this life is not all there is; And that we will live beyond the door of death; Jesus is inviting us to live in such a way that the power of God May work in us and through us and draw us into a life that s really life; Jesus is inviting us to a life where the presence and peace and grace of God fill us up. That s the invitation; We re not being invited to a life of drudgery and boredom and dullness; We re being invited to a wedding feast, to a banquet, to the party of all parties; To the life that is filled with peace, filled with joy; To a life of adventure and challenge and real purpose; To a life lived with God in a community of love and forgiveness The invitation to the wedding banquet, to this life in God Is all of this and more, if we will choose God in our lives. Choosing God Choosing God is not as much of a mystery as some of us may be thinking; But choose we must. 5
Our evangelical friends can be better about asking people to accept Jesus in their lives; Asking people to set aside the lives their living and to express their need for God; And then to pray some kind of prayer that invites Jesus into their hearts. This is often followed by some kind of altar call where people come forward physically To express the spiritual choice they are making. But we re Episcopalians and aren t always as demonstrative with our choice for God, Aren t always as public as some other Christian denominations When the time comes to choose Jesus And accept His love and grace and guiding hand for our lives. And yet, every Sunday, we have an altar call, don t we? Every Sunday, in the Eucharist, we invite all who are baptized Or seeking a closer relationship with God through the communion; All who are willing to choose to accept Jesus in their life; To come forward and to receive the bread and wine. To come to this table and to receive the real presence of Christ in their lives A physical sign of the spiritual reality of the life God is calling us to live. And so this morning, I invite you, in the name of Jesus, to choose; I invite you to choose to be open to the stirring of the Holy Spirit in your life; To accept God s invitation to the wedding banquet; To receive the gift of real life offered to us all by the grace of God; And taste and see that the Lord is good for yourself And not by some sermon or word of a minister like me. Jesus promises that all who choose Him will enter into life now and in a time to come; And He promises to empower us for this life; He promises to be with us always. He promises, but you and I must choose. Amen. 6