Matthew 22:1-14 Dress Code Is Not Optional

The event was a Christmas Dinner Dance – at the Beauchief Hotel no less. So you know what that means – dress up time, but not quite formal – I guess if it had been by invitation, the invitation would have said “Black tie optional”. It meant I could wear a dinner suit or at the very least, a nice dark suit and tie. Since I had “outgrown” – in width – not height – my dark “Preacher suit”, I decided to splash out and buy a DJ and a dress shirt, a cummerbund, bow tie – the whole hog. And Ann bought a wonderful silk ball gown. It was a fun evening – and I’m glad we were able to be there. The only down side was when we got there – nobody else was dressed quite like us – people were dressed up right enough – but in spangly, glittery, Christmasy party gear – not in formal dress. And there were plenty of people there too – we did rather stand out on the dance floor.

The only other time I had felt quite as dressed as this was on our wedding day, when I wore a white tux and black trousers. That time I didn’t feel out of place – there were many people there that day, family and friends from all over the country and everyone had dressed for the occasion.

In our Gospel lesson today, Jesus tells about some invited guests who fail to show for the wedding of the king’s son. Now – people don’t usually fail to show up for a palace wedding. When a king’s son or daughter gets married, everyone wants to come. It is almost unthinkable that anyone would fail to show. But – then again – stranger things have happened. Strange things do happen at weddings – and in our Gospel reading, Jesus told about a strange thing.

Overall this is indeed a parable of grace. Jesus begins by telling us that the kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepares a feast. That's grace for you: God has prepared everything. We don't have to roll up our sleeves to peel the potatoes or save up enough money to afford such a four-star gourmet banquet. No, it's all finished for us by God himself. All we have to do is show up hungry!

But this matter of "showing up" is just the problem: no one does. They had sent back RSVPs saying they'd come, but then they don't, and so the king starts to panic. I know how he feels. If you want to throw me into a sour mood rather quickly, show up late for a dinner I'm making. As my wife could tell you, I rather quickly begin to pace in front of the window when people are late. Cooking is about timing as much as anything else and if my parsley crust oven baked mussels are ready, they're ready. If I've got the rack of lamb already roasting in the oven, I can't put it on pause--it's going to be finished at a certain point and if we're not through with our salad course yet, things are going to start getting dicey.

So also here: everything is ready to roll but no one shows up. So the king begins to make calls, and a flurry of excuses begins to pour in. "Sorry, gotta get back to work! Duty calls. My clients need attention, got a business deal on hold, closing on a big deal this evening and can't be in two places at once."

The king can't believe it. But he's not going to let good food go to waste and so he sends out some servants. "Go pick up the prostitutes, the beggars in the alleys, the heroin addicts and the soup kitchen denizens. Empty out a homeless shelter or two and haul those folks over here. Don't discriminate. Take the good with the bad. The main thing is that a feast as lavish as this one gets enjoyed by someone!"

If it were up to me, I'd draw a thick black line underneath Matthew 22:10 and just end this parable right there. If I were allowed to edit the scriptures, I'd grab my little bottle of Tippex and paint over verses 11-14. Because up to that point this had been a fairly lovely parable of grace. Had the story concluded with verse 10, we'd be left with the happy portrait of a succulent feast being punctuated by the chatter of the guests and the clank of flatware against china. That's not how it ends, however. Instead Matthew leaves us with the bitter image of bouncers tossing someone out on his ear for not wearing a wedding robe. Everyone else had robes, but this man did not. The king told his servants to throw the man out – to cast him into outer darkness. We're left to hear not the clank, clatter, and chatter of a fun dinner party but the sound of wailing and gnashing of teeth.

But then Jesus concluded this parable by saying, “For many are called, but few are chosen.” Now maybe like me you are thinking: “That story doesn’t make sense!” Frankly, the first time I read it, I thought the same thing. But then I studied it and learned that it does make sense – that it has something important to say to us today. So let me explain it briefly.

In this story, the king is God. The invited guests are the people Israel. The mistreated servants are the prophets – God’s messengers. Israel was infamous for mistreating the prophets. And the people from the streets were Gentiles. This, then, can be seen as a story of Israel rejecting the prophets – rejecting Jesus – and losing their place at the front of the line. It can be seen as the story of God wanting faithful people – and opening the door to all sorts of people to fill the banquet hall. But it is also the story of people offering to follow Jesus and then failing to do so. It might be our story. We are always tempted to accept the invitation to follow Jesus – and then to balk when it comes time to pay the price. Sometimes following Christ is difficult.

Sometimes following Christ involves real sacrifice! Jesus has called you to faithful discipleship. So what exactly does that mean?

• It means that Christ has called you to be faithful with your time – to devote time to prayer – to public worship – to service in the church.

• It means that Christ has called you to be faithful with your money – to support your church financially where possible – to help needy people.

• It means that Christ has called you to be honest in your dealings with other people – to be honest in financial dealings – to be honest in relationships.

• It means that Christ has called you to live a life that will draw people to Christ – including your family. Christ calls you love your family – to be kind to them – to witness to them – to be the kind of person they will want to follow.

Those are some of the things that Christ calls all of us to do – but he probably has other plans for your life as well. He might want you to feed the hungry. He might want you to reach out to others with His love and touch their lives. Whatever he calls you to do, you must listen to Jesus’ invitation to you – and take Him up on it! Don’t be like those who refused the invitation of the king – but accept Jesus’ invitation in your life.

And even if you do accept, then accepting the invitation is only part of what we have to do. An invitation to an event like the one we attended may say “Black tie optional” but there is still a dress code that we are expected to follow. And apparently, there was a dress code for those who finally accepted the invitation to the wedding banquet. Jesus told about the man who came to the wedding in the wrong clothing. He was supposed to wear a wedding robe, but he came in his grubbies. The king had the man cast “into outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

So what was that all about? Listen – “He has clothed me with the garments of salvation, he has covered me with the robes of righteousness.” The wedding robe in this story stands for those robes, it’s about letting Jesus change our lives. The man who came to the party without a robe is like the Christian who says that he will follow Jesus, but who continues to live in sin. It would be like me and Ann turning up for the Beauchief bash wearing our bathing costumes. That is almost worse than not showing up at all.

I believe Jesus is warning us that He won’t tolerate the person who claims to be a Christian but continues to live as always. He expects us to show up, but then he also expects us to grow in grace – to become new people whose lives reflect that we belong to him. That doesn’t mean that Christ requires us to be perfect. Far from it! Christ is happy to forgive our sins – and we all need forgiveness! But there are limits! This parable teaches us that when we give our lives to Christ, He expects that to make a difference. He expects us to begin to change. He expects us to let the Spirit begin reshaping our lives.

If we insist on coming to the party unshaven and unwashed – dressed in our grubbies – if we insist on living in rebellion – it is as bad as never showing up at all. Letting Christ change us is not optional. Changing is not optional – it is a requirement. It’s a dress code. So – there are a few responses we can make to Christ’s invitation to us:

First, LISTEN – listen for Christ’s invitation – listen so that you will hear where He wants you to be and what he wants you to do. When you hear his call, answer it. Come to the party!

Second, EXAMINE your life. Have you given your life to Christ? Has that made a difference? Do you spend time in worship? In prayer? Are you willing to let God reshape you into someone beautiful – someone holy?

Christ has big plans for you – for you personally. He wants you to accept His invitation – but He also wants to change you. Let Christ reshape your life. Let Him make you into a new person. If you will be faithful to Him, He will be faithful to you. He will give you a better life than you ever expected. For this life in Christ, He must change us.

Changing is not optional – it is a requirement. How many times have you said to someone who has dressed up, or someone said to you “You scrub up well, don’t you?” Cleaning up – changing – letting Christ clean us – letting Christ change us – is not an option – it is a requirement.

AMEN

Sermon Romans 13:8-14 & Matthew 18:15-20 

Jesus says, "If another member of the church sins against you, go and point out the fault when the two of you are alone."

There are those who would avoid talking about conflict at all costs. They don’t want to be disliked, or they are afraid of rocking the boat. Well, you know me – I am not one to run away from the harder subjects. It’s always nice to hear about the Grace of our Lord, Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. But I truly believe we need to face the daily challenges which confront us, individually and as a church, if we are to remain strong, and vibrant and relevant in today’s world. 

It is a given fact that in the months ahead, we will wrong each other somehow. There will be times when some of us will need to meet together to work out differences, to clarify misunderstandings, and to ask forgiveness. It may be that my sermons, especially this one, may have offended someone and they call me to challenge me on it. It may be that one of you has misunderstood the words of another. I know, and you know only too well that whenever you get two or three human beings together there will be conflicts.

As we approach the anniversary of 9/11 in America, and 7/7 here in the UK, we have become more aware of global conflicts which threaten to break into war. We are waking up to the many complex disagreements in the world that trouble and threaten us as human beings. Conflict is not a new thing. Conflicts seem deeply rooted in the human condition. Even in families there is conflict. Throughout the Bible there are stories of persistent conflict. Between Cain and Abel. Between Sarah and Hagar. Between Isaac and Esau. Even amid families that appear outwardly peaceable there can be deep divisions. 

And in churches, Jesus knows there will be wrongs we commit against each other, intentionally and unintentionally. Here in our church, we are a family – and in some ways just as dysfunctional as any other family. Just look at Paul's letters to the new Churches. What are most of them about but handling the conflicts that come with being a community. Paul would not have told the community to put aside quarrelling and jealousy if there wasn't a problem would he? 

And yet, so many of us run away from conflict, or we harbour grudges deep down – making the conflict invisible does not make it go away! Conflicts are not something that Jesus hides. He even gives us a good method for dealing with the wrongs that happen. He says, "Talk one to one." If that doesn't work bring in some friends to help bring reconciliation. If there is no success bring in the whole community. If not, then there is a separation, but always the hope of reconciliation.

"Talk one to one." Not “Talk to everyone else about the one with whom you have conflict” but "Talk one to one."  It might seem like just simple advice except for what Jesus says next. "Truly I tell you whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven." How can church fights or church reconciliations, have heavenly implications? How can what happens here at Wisewood or across the way at Wadsley or at Trinity or at Saint Anne’s or Christchurch or any of the other churches in the area, be reflected in Heaven? 

Well, St Paul knows because he says, "Now is the time to wake up from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we became believers, the night is far gone, the day is near. Let us then lay aside the works of darkness and put on the armour of light."

We must wake up! Bishop Cruckshank, Anglican Bishop of Northern British Columbia was once asked by a student, "What is the first thing we should do when we start with a new church?" Bishop Cruckshank immediately replied. "Once you arrive, go to your office, sit down and remain there until you realize that what your church is doing is the most important mission in the community. And then give thanks that Christ has called you to be part of it."

And that wisdom is for all of us, not just clergy. Paul says, "Let us then lay aside the works of darkness and put on the armour of light!" All of us are to wear light as protection! But what is armour for? To resist blows, to protect against attack, to ensure that the body remains alive.

But Paul goes even further and says, "Put on Jesus Christ!" Wake up from a way of life clothed in conflict, darkness that leads to ways that cause violence and death to others and to the earth. Put on a new way of life that reflects the light of Jesus Christ. In the Gospel of John, he says, "The light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not overcome it." I wonder how true that is of us meeting here today? I wonder if we are still shining in the darkness?

We know how Jesus was born into a time of conflict in a nation swallowed up by a great empire. Oh he knew conflict only too well. Born and grew up among the poor. He healed the sick. Ate with sinners. He proclaimed forgiveness for sins. He announced that the kingdom of God was among them. For this humanity put him to death on a cross. The most shameful of deaths as a criminal he died ... nailed in the arms and feet and his side pieced with a spear to make sure he was dead. 

But it is at the cross the power of humanity meets the power of God. And it is the cross that God chooses not to destroy us or condemn us ... but rather even as Jesus dies, he says, "Father forgive them, they know not what they do." Amid our deepest failure, God brings new life and forgiveness.

Think about the cross! At the core of the Gospel stories is God's willingness to reconcile with us. Did you hear that? God is ever willing to reconcile with us? You know God is so Holy, and Majestic and pure that there is no way whatsoever that we in our sinful, stain soaked lives could ever approach him. It’s just not possible, but he loves us so much that in order to reconcile us with himself, he sent his only Son to die a sinner’s death, that he might be able to point the way back to God.

Paul says in Chapter 5 of Romans, "For if, when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!" 

Are you waking up to what God has done and is doing? God has reconciled us through Jesus Christ ... and made us a sign of that reconciliation The cross which was humanity’s greatest failure is now the sign of God's greatest love for us and a call to us to share in the life of our reconciling God. And this is why we gather as a community, because of what God has done and is doing. We worship God under the sign of the cross ... the sign of this God who reconciles with people like us. What has enslaved us to conflict and death, through the power of God's reconciling love, we are casting off and putting on a new way of life. And what is the sign of this new life in Christ? Reconciliation! Where two or three gather in Jesus name, which means in the spirit of Jesus Christ, he is there. Paul says, "Put away the ways of darkness and put on the armour of light. Put on Jesus Christ ... be a crucified people who reflect God's reconciling love."

This is why it is such a shame when children think that Church is boring. Boredom means either we don't understand the importance of what's going on, or it means what is going on IS unimportant! God forbid that we are asleep to the importance of the mission God, or worse that we have replaced it with something less important. 

Perhaps we as a church should do as Bishop Cruckshank said we should do "Sit here until we all know that Wisewood Methodist Church is part of the most important mission that is happening here in this community. One of the reasons we worship together each week is to remind ourselves that at the centre of our life and the life of the world, is not perpetual war, or death, or despair, but Jesus Christ and the love of God. This is why though we may or may not speak the same language; though we may come from different backgrounds, and our social status might be so different from another, we are still friends. We don’t just have a mission here on earth, we are Christ's mission – called to witness through our words and actions that God is at work reconciling this world out of conflict into the light of peace.

I talked to a lovely lady in Seventrees, on the Wisewood Community Day across the way, the other Saturday. I had already had a conversation with Hilde about the lack of ‘community spirit’ in the area, and we agreed that you cannot create it, it either is there or it is not. When I spoke to the other lady, she said it was sad that a lot of the reason was because this is to a large extent a ‘young people’s community’. Families are younger, and we are back to the age old problem of a generation gap. And this lady readily admitted that there were problems from both sides. That’s conflict. If only the two sides could be brought together – “Talk one to one” – maybe then there would be one community at Wisewood and not two.

Do you remember the BT adverts with Bob Hoskins? “It’s good to talk”. How many conflicts could be sorted out and reconciliations achieved if only people would learn to talk one to one and resolved their differences amicably. Oh I’m old enough not to be naive. I know there must be tensions and things not talked about, stuff avoided rather than being dealt with. But I am beginning to see in this community the work of Jesus Christ among you, doing something amazing and new and wonderful. I see Jesus Christ in you and among you. It seems to spring alive when there are initiatives like Hope 2008 and things like that. But why can’t we keep these initiatives going – after the event? Conflict may not always be a brick wall – sometimes it is an invisible force field that keeps things and people apart.

It is my hope that together we, as individuals, as a church family, as a community will continue to put on Jesus Christ and share his love in such a way that others in this community will see Jesus Christ reflected in who we are. If we ask, through Jesus, we know that the Holy Spirit is ready to help us do so. May God grant us the grace and the humility to ask. Amen

Well, my friends

It seems so long since I spoke to you all, apart from the odd infrequent email or bulletin. My faith journey has taken some pretty amazing life swerves lately, and I praise God for all he is doing and all he has promised to do in the coming days.

One or two incidents of late, have been designed as dodge balls aimed at knocking me off course. Do you know what I mean? In silly game shows, they have people walking a very narrow walkway whilst others swing these huge demolition balls at them, trying to cause them to fall. Well, that's the way one or two things have come at me recently, but I am here to declare loud and clear that "Here I stand!"

I cannot claim the declaration as my own, for it came originally frm the lips of Martin Luther, the great reformer of the 15th and 16th Century.

Martin Luther (November 10, 1483 - February 18, 1546) was a Christian theologian and Augustinian monk whose teachings inspired the Protestant Reformation and deeply influenced the doctrines of Protestant and other Christian traditions.

Luther's Protestant views were condemned as heretical by Pope Leo III in the bull Exsurge Domine in 1520. Consequently Luther was summoned to either renounce or reaffirm them at the Diet of Worms on 17 April 1521. When he appeared before the assembly, Johann von Eck, by then assistant to the Archbishop of Trier, acted as spokesman for Emperor Charles the Fifth. He presented Luther with a table filled with copies of his writings. Eck asked Luther if he still believed what these works taught. He requested time to think about his answer. Granted an extension, Luther prayed, consulted with friends and mediators and presented himself before the Diet the next day.

When the counselor put the same question to Luther the next day, the reformer apologized for the harsh tone of many of his writings, but said that he could not reject the majority of them or the teachings in them. Luther respectfully but boldly stated, "Unless I am convinced by proofs from Scriptures or by plain and clear reasons and arguments, I can and will not retract, for it is neither safe nor wise to do anything against conscience. Here I stand. I can do no other. God help me. Amen."

On May 25, the Emperor issued his Edict of Worms, declaring Martin Luther an outlaw.

Ok - so I guess that makes me some kind of outlaw too, for I will never turn away from this course which Christ himself has set my feet upon.

I STAND, in the presence of God, he almighty, maker of Heaven and Earth, creator of the whole universe.

I STAND, in the presence of Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, Saviour and Redeemer of the world.

I STAND, in the presence of the Holy Spirit of God, gifted to me by Christ, according to his promise.

I STAND, a sinner separated from God, tainted by my own words and thoughts and deeds.

I STAND, a sinner forgiven by Christ, washed in the blood of Christ.

I STAND, a child of God, adopted into His family, joint heir with Christ, my Saviour.

I STAND, a preacher of the Word of God, called, anointed and blessed to take the message of salvation for all into a broken world.

I STAND, in the grace of God, Ransomed, Healed, Restored, Forgiven.

I STAND, in the armour of God, strong, blessed, equipped to face whatever the enemey may throw against me.

I STAND!!

Will you stand with me?

God bless you all - Albie

My dear friends

Some of you will know that I went to have an MRI scan today, the second attempt as I was overcome with claustrophobia at the first attempt. I felt really upbeat about this and talked to one of the staff in advance, and Ann was with me too.

I know that I was covered in prayer by many friends. Even going into the machine, I was fine, but even before they got ready to start it, claustrophobia and fear took over once more.

This time I was left feeling quite stressed out, and seemed to develop a 'fluttery' heart pattern, and the threat of a migraine. I am fine, at least I am sure I am fine. I am not feeling 100% but I know God is in control and all will be well.

Until they can perform a scan, they cannot determine what to do next about my back problem. We did discuss having the scan under sedative, but the waiting list for that is about a year, so they are now arranging for me to go to a private medical company in another city to have an open MRI scan. Once again, I feel comfortable with this, and I am sure this time will be good.

So please, please can you keep me in prayer a little while longer.

I love each and every one of you - God bless - Albie