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Grace, mercy, and peace be unto you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, the texts for this morning come from the Gospel reading and the Old Testament reading. You may be seated.
Nearly 3,000 years have come and gone since this invitation by Isaiah to the royal wedding feast was given. And this invitation proclaimed by Isaiah 3,000 years ago has continually brought people to the great royal wedding feast here and wherever Christ Jesus is preached and proclaimed and administered in bread and wine with his flesh and blood. But you have to go back even further, to the very beginning of time, to the first invitation, when God told Adam and Eve that there shall be one born of a woman who shall crush the head of the serpent, Satan, and death. And 2,000 years ago, Christ Jesus was born and died and rose again to swallow up death, to defeat Satan, and to usher in the royal wedding banquet. Christians for the last 2,000 years have been rejoicing and feasting here at the royal banquet, but not just here. Everywhere in the world where Christ Jesus is proclaimed and preached in his truth and purity.
Now the triune God has been using the prophets of old and the apostles and evangelists in his holy gospel since it was completely written and transcribed and sent out into the world to continue that invitation to this wedding feast. If you look back at how God moved heaven and earth in order to get that message out to other people, it is an amazing thing indeed.
Here is Abraham in the land of the Chaldees, present-day southern Iraq. Abraham is called by God to leave his home, which I’m sure he was very happy and content with, and travel a thousand miles to the west, to the land of Cana, of Galilee, that area, the land of the Canaanites. By doing so, God took the message from there to that part of the world, and the message was proclaimed there. Then God raised up a power known as Egypt to take those people from that area and plunk them into Egypt. For several hundred years, the gospel was proclaimed there.
Then God raised up Moses to move the people from there and travel all about to the promised land again. There he sat for a while too, proclaiming, right along the fertile crescent, as travel and trade moved from west to east and east to west. Then God raised up the Babylonians in present-day Iraq, and they came over and took the people of Israel all the way back over to Babylon. While they were there for 70 years, God used the gospel through what they brought with them. We could go on and on and on, and the point is very clear: there is no earthly power, no horrible dictator, no government form that either hinders or ensures the gospel’s proclamation.
Because God is the God of all. He is the one from whom all authority flows, and he will bring about this proclamation and invitation to all people. Think about yourself. You. How you received your invitation to the royal wedding banquet and feast. The people that God used in your life: a loving spouse, your own children, your parents, a professor, or a pastor or teacher that God used in your life to make sure you had that invitation. And no, you can’t say, “Well, I had Christian parents,” because in spite of Christian parents, there are a lot of people in hell. In spite of Christian parents, there’s a lot of people who have been called.
Think about how God has used his scripture to shape your life, where you’re at, and how he has carried you along through life by that same scripture. How one moment of scripture verse that seems completely out of place becomes extremely important because of the application to your situation at this time. And we have to be honest; we were called to faith in spite of our own ignorance and in spite of our willful disobedience.
So would you not agree that your being invited to the marriage feast is nothing short of a miracle? Absolutely. Would you then not also subscribe that your being called by God and enlightened by his grace and gathered by God is truly all by grace and by grace alone? Absolutely. Because we know it’s not our personality. It’s not as if one personality type is more conducive to God’s holy gospel and his invitation and one personality type is not. It’s not as if your demeanor is more conducive for being a believer than someone else’s demeanor. And it’s sure not about your upbringing, because there are a lot of pious people in hell and a lot of sinners and tax collectors in heaven.
So then why is it? Why is it, if we truly believe that it’s all about God’s miracle, that you and I have been invited and have come to the wedding feast? Why is it that if you and I believe it is all by grace that we have been invited and come to the wedding feast that we’re not confident of our loving Father’s power to do the same with other people? And you know the people. They’re the people in your mind that cause you not to fall asleep right away. They’re the people in your mind whose faces you know so dear to you.
Why is it that we’re confident enough to believe that we have been called and think that God’s call cannot work unless it’s tweaked, changed, or repackaged to reach that other person, as if they’re worse than you or you’re better than they? That’s a lie of Satan, brothers and sisters. A lie of Satan indeed that says that your call, because of anything about you, is different than someone else’s call whom we worry about and question and fear.
Right? Let us not grow weary, dear brothers and sisters, nor yield to earthly fears that Satan stirs up. The power of God’s gospel called you. The power of God’s gospel has kept you in the faith. The power of God’s gospel will keep you until that day. And nothing else. Not your upbringing, not your culture, not your nationality, not your eye, face, hair, or otherwise color, but by God’s grace and mercy.
You are being sent. Each day you’re being sent to invite someone to hear the wedding feast. Each day you are being sent and interacting with someone that you are to encourage to come to the wedding feast today. Nowhere does it say you are responsible for their soul. Nowhere does it say that their salvation depends upon your personality or abilities. Just the invitation.
One thing that God does keep, and you have to kind of laugh because he keeps the standard pretty low. Here’s what I mean. He doesn’t say all heaven rejoices when there are a thousand sinners who repent. You know what he says? All heaven rejoices when there’s only one. One sinner who repents. If one sinner causes all the throes of heaven to rejoice, he keeps the standard pretty low for you and me. We have nothing to fear. It’s Satan who stirs that up within us, not our Lord.
Here, brothers and sisters, is the mountain upon which the rich food is served. It was served first and foremost at that mountain called Golgotha, where the body of Christ was crucified and sacrificed for you. There is where the feast of rich food was initially served. And every week you get to eat the very same food: the bread from heaven that our Lord even speaks of in the Gospel of John.
And just as Christ Jesus’ blood flowed from his side prolifically for us, inviting us to feast upon him, the Lamb of God from heaven, so here the wine is well-aged—2,000 years of well-agedness to satiate your spiritual thirst and to bring you forgiveness. But not just you and not just here, but for all. Even the ones that we think, “Will they ever believe?” Even the ones that we think, “They’ll never believe because of something within them.”
Here is where death is swallowed up, as it was on that mountain and in that empty tomb. Here you get to hear it. Here it gets placed upon you and shoved in your mouth so that you can eat and drink eternity. This is not a metaphor, brothers and sisters. That invitation took place 700 years before Christ fulfilled it, and 3,000 years later, it’s still bringing people into heaven.
Here is where your tears are wiped away as you grieve over many things in your life, as sorrow is changed to rejoicing, as disgruntlement is changed to acceptance and contentment. And here is where your reproach, and you know your reproach better than I, for I know my own and my own haunt me, just like they haunt you. Here is where your reproaches are cleansed, as Isaiah says. And you are given the wedding garment and will not try to enter the kingdom without it because here is where your reproaches are cleansed and covered.
When Isaiah said, “The Lord has spoken,” so listen; He has spoken and it is so. Here is our God. Let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation given and fed to us in this weekly feast, this royal wedding feast where the Father has given us the bride to his son, the groom. And the groom stays with his bride forever.
In the name of Jesus, amen. The peace of God which surpasses all understanding keep your hearts and your minds on Christ Jesus to life everlasting. Amen.
You may be seated. At this time, I would like to invite all of our new members who have transferred in or who have been brought in by affirmation of faith or confirmation to please come forward and gather at the front of the church right in front of the altar rail.
Yeah, gather here. Let’s see here. We are very thankful for God adding those of his royal wedding feast to our banquet that he sets before us. You may follow along on page 272 in the front part of your hymnal. You will join us in renouncing the devil, his works, and his ways. You will join us in confessing our faith in God Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Beloved in the Lord, our Lord Jesus Christ said to his apostles, “All authority on heaven and earth has been given to me. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you. And lo, I am with you always to the very end of the age.”
You have been baptized and catechized in the Christian faith according to our Lord’s bidding. Jesus said, “Whoever confesses me before men, I will also confess before my Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies me before men, I will also deny before my Father who is in heaven.”
Lift up your hearts, therefore, to the God of all grace, and joyfully give answer to what I now ask you in the name of the Lord.
Do you this day, in the presence of God and of this congregation, acknowledge the gifts that God gave you in your baptism? If so, then answer, “Yes, I do.”
Do you renounce the devil?
“Yes, I renounce him.”
Do you renounce all his works?
“Yes, I renounce them.”
Do you renounce all his ways?
“Yes, I renounce them.”
Do you believe in God the Father Almighty?
“Yes, I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth.”
Do you believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord?
“Yes, I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried. He descended into hell. The third day he rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God, the Father Almighty. From thence he will come to judge the living and the dead.”
Do you believe in the Holy Spirit?
“Yes, I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Holy Christian Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.”
Do you hold all the prophetic and apostolic scriptures to be the inspired Word of God?
“I do.”
Do you confess the doctrine of the evangelical Lutheran church drawn from the scriptures as you have learned to know it from the small catechism to be faithful and true?
“I do.”
Do you intend to hear the word of God and receive the Lord’s Supper frequently and faithfully?
“I do by the grace of God.”
Do you intend to live according to the word of God and in faithward indeed? To remain true to Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, even to death?
“I do by the grace of God.”
Do you intend to continue steadfast in this confession in church and to suffer all, even death, rather than fall away from it?
“I do by the grace of God.”
We rejoice with thankful hearts that you have been baptized, that you have received the teaching of the Lord, that you have confessed the faith, and that you have been absolved of your sins. And as we together with you continue to hear the Lord’s word and receive his blessed sacrament, God who has begun a good work in you shall bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. Amen.
The Almighty Father, God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, who has given you the new birth of water and of the Spirit, and has forgiven you all your sins, strengthen you with his grace to life everlasting. Amen.
Congregation rises for prayer. We pray.
Page 274. Almighty and most merciful Father, in the waters of holy baptism, you have united your children in the suffering and death of your Son, Jesus Christ. Cleansing them by your blood, renewing them with the gift of your Holy Spirit, that they may live in daily contrition and repentance with a faith that ever clings to their Savior.
Deliver them from the power of Satan. Preserve them from false and dangerous doctrines or teachings, that they may remain faithful in hearing Christ’s word and receiving his body and blood. By the Lord’s Supper, strengthen them to believe that no one can make satisfaction for sin but Christ alone. Enable them to find joy and comfort only in Christ, learning from this sacrament to love you and their neighbor, to bear their cross with patience and joy until the day of the resurrection of their bodies to life immortal.
Through Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
Peace be with you. You may return.
Peace be with you.
Peace be with you. You may return.
Peace be with you.
Peace be with you.
Peace be with you.
Peace be with you.
Peace be with you.
Peace be with you. You may return.
We kneel for the prayers of the church. Amen.
In peace, let us pray to the Lord.
For the church of Jesus Christ, purchased with his precious blood, that God would preserve us in the pure teaching of his word, preserve us in the right use of his sacraments, and preserve us in the unity of faith, let us pray to the Lord.
For pastors, missionaries, teachers, composers, and hymn writers, let us pray to the Lord.
And all who bear witness to faith in Jesus Christ, that they may be granted wisdom in applying the word of God to our lives, and that they would be given strength for this calling. Let us pray to the Lord.
For governments and leaders, for our military and all who protect us, that through their efforts, justice, peace, and order would be maintained in our land and that through this authority given by God alone, they would seek to serve him, promoting the welfare of our communities and nation. Let us pray to the Lord.
For all married couples, that their union as husband and wife might be a reflection of Christ and his church, and that God would bless all Christian homes with his presence, making those homes places of peace and refuge in Christ Jesus. Let us pray to the Lord.
For faith to rejoice with St. Paul in all things, including sickness, injury, stress, and need, knowing that the Lord is near and hears our prayers, let us pray to the Lord.
Finally, Lord Jesus Christ, you have invited us to your wedding feast and have prepared us to sit at your table with our garments of faith and your righteousness. You’ve clothed us with this robe of righteousness in our baptism. Let no one approach your table clad in the spotted garments of the flesh. Bring us at last to that feast which you have prepared for all people, found upon that mountain where you have swallowed up death forever. There where your saints ever feast in joy and where you live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen.
