Why Go to Church?

Church, Gospel, Salvation, Forgiveness, Faith, Word of God, Sacraments, Worship, False Teaching, Worldliness

In the parable of the great banquet, Jesus teaches us about God’s gracious invitation to salvation and the many ways sinners are tempted to refuse it. God earnestly calls all people to repentance and faith, inviting them to receive the forgiveness of sins through His Word and Sacraments, yet the world, sin, and subtle forms of deception can cause us to undervalue these gifts. Even statements that are technically true can lead us away from the Gospel when important truths are omitted or false conclusions are implied, so Christians must carefully attend to the whole counsel of God’s Word. The excuses of those invited to the banquet remind us not to allow work, leisure, athletics, or other temporal concerns to take precedence over the eternal gifts of God. Yet Christ’s invitation extends especially to those who recognize their unworthiness: sinners, the broken, and those who know they need forgiveness. Through Baptism, preaching, and the Lord’s Supper, God declares and delivers His forgiveness, assuring us that His grace is stronger than our sin. Therefore, Christians can give thanks that Christ has made them worthy to enter the eternal marriage feast of the Lamb.

Luke 14:15–24 

Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. 

Dear friends, in our Gospel lesson for today our Lord Jesus Christ tells a parable about the call to faith. Here we see how God earnestly and energetically calls all people to salvation—that they may repent of their sins and believe the Gospel of God—and yet, there are many who refuse to hear and refuse to believe. God’s love and message of peace goes out to the whole world, it is for everyone, yet many of those who are invited to the marriage feast of the Lamb refuse the invitation. We should not be surprised by this. God earnestly calls them, but they refuse. God has no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but they flee from salvation. All are invited to eat the bread of the kingdom, the bread which has no cost; all are invited to receive wisdom of God, to leave aside their simple ways; but the scoffers abuse those who preach and stuff their ears at the sound of their cries. They are drawn to the many things turn us away from Christ and His word and prefer it to the Gospel of God. 

Let us then consider, 

Our text for today begins when one of those sitting at table with Jesus exclaims, “Blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!” (Lk 14:15 ESV). This is in response to a previous parable about a wedding feast. What this man says is true, and Jesus certainly does not deny it, but it provides an opportunity for Jesus to teach on the next topic. Perhaps there is some hidden error in this man’s heart or in the heart of the those who sit around him that must be uncovered. Sometimes, even when saying one thing that is true, we reveal our deficiencies by omitting some other vitally important doctrine of God or piece of information. This is a sort of subtle deceit or lie which can draw us away from the Gospel of Christ. 

It is true that everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God is blessed, but Jesus here is sitting at table with the Pharisees and lawyers who think themselves to be the greatest and most pious men in Israel, yet they are often revealed by Jesus to be sinners and hypocrites. They count themselves among the blest, yet they reject the Christ and His Word. And so, hidden within this true statement a falsehood is contained and strongly implied, namely, that the self-righteous pharisees, scribes, and lawyers are those who will eat bread in the kingdom of God and that the sinners, tax collectors, and gentiles shall not be so blessed. Jesus corrects this implicit error by teaching that many so-called respectable persons reject the Gospel of God and many disreputable persons and sinners will be saved on account of their faith. 

I draw this point out to demonstrate something that may seem somewhat arcane. There are times when even with true statements we must be cautious. The speaker may be trying to draw us to some conclusion that is not true by way of implication. Even true statements, when explained in a certain way, when key pieces of information are left out, when arranged with a particular force to them, can seem to imply something that is in error. 

Let me give an example. One may rightly say that God commands good works. Yes, He also rewards these good works. And, as James says, faith without works is dead. We may even further conclude that good works are necessary because God has commanded them and we know the Christian will do them. These are all true statements, but if we leave it there what seems to be implied by what I have said? One could infer from these true statements, arranged as they are, a great and terrible falsehood; namely, that good works are necessary for salvation. Thus, by only stating what is true, we seem to have denied the Gospel. 

I bring this to your attention to make this point: we judge a thing not only on what is said, but also what is not said, and upon the natural conclusions of what is said even if these conclusions are not spelled out explicitly. Why does this matter? There are many authors, thinkers, and songwriters who present themselves as “generic protestants,” and thus aim for mass appeal on that basis. Yet, there is no such thing as a “generic protestant.” There are Baptists and Methodists, Presbyterians and Reformed, Evangelicals and more. Even when they write for a broad audience they still bring with them their own assumptions and theology. Consider what kind of omissions the vast majority of protestants will have in their writings and songs. The most obvious example is that the sacraments will hardly ever be mentioned. Since, for us, the Sacraments of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper form a crucial piece of our piety and faith, this omission leaves a massive gap. A gap which must be filled with something else. If we learn from such so-called generic protestants how to sing, how to believe, and how to practice our faith then quickly the sacraments will be set aside in our Christian life and fall into disuse, even if we had not discerned anything explicitly false in what was said. Be on your guard, then, not only for explicitly false statements, but also for deceitful omissions and implications. Being able to discern these things, that is an aspect of wisdom and insight. 

In our Gospel text for today, though, how does Christ our Lord deal with the omission of the sudden speaker? He directly addresses what was left out and clarifies what the man himself did not know needed to be clarified. He gives the dinner guests a parable about a man who hosts a great banquet. And when those who are invited are told to come, what happens? “They all alike began to make excuses” (Lk 14:18). Each one of the dearly beloved invited guests suddenly finds that have some other duty they must attend to. If the banquet were unexpected, perhaps this may have been excusable for some of them. Yet consider, these guests had earlier been invited and knew of the day of the celebration. Only now do they find themselves unable to go. 

One needs to see his new field, another his new oxen, another needs to take care of his newlywed wife. Is inspecting a field or a new team of oxen so pressing as they claim? Could it not wait until after the banquet? And cannot the last individual bring his wife to the banquet so that they might enjoy it together? Each one makes an excuse, but it does not take a genius to see what is really going on. Not one desires to attend the banquet. They think that common life and work are much more valuable uses of their time. The great banquet of the man has been severely devalued in their minds. It’s not worth the time nor the effort. So, they do not come. 

This parable is most directly spoken against the pharisees and the many others in Israel who for the entirety of their history, to that point, had been the keepers of the divine Law and promises. The invitation to the marriage feast of the Lamb, which has no end, was given to them time and time again throughout their history. These were a people set apart that they may follow the Christ and be a light to all the nations. Yet, when the time came and the Christ appeared to them, what did they do? They refused the invitation. They preferred to live in unbelief and darkness rather than the light. When the Lord saw their refusal, He sent this great curse crashing upon them: “none of those men who were invited shall taste my banquet” (Lk 14:24). For they denied their Lord and refused His grace. 

We may tut-tut and wag our heads at such foolishness from Ancient Israel, but do not people from every nation and generation follow impious in this example? There are many who have received the invitation of our Lord since infancy who later turn around and find every excuse to avoid breaking bread in the Lord’s House. What is the cause of this? It is no different from those in the parable. They do not highly value what is to be received at the Lord’s banquet. They do not see in it the great and godly benefits received by the faithful through the gifts of the Lord in Word and Sacrament. From a worldly perspective, there isn’t much to be gained here. Thus, lame excuses abound, yet they seem reasonable to the one who gives them. So, matters of work, or leisure, or athletics take precedence over attending to the gifts of God. 

If we are to grant the proper medicine to this problem, we must identify the correct ailment. I’ve said it before and I will say it again. It is a failure to recognize the great spiritual benefits we receive here in the Divine Service through Word and Sacrament and the gathering and of the faithful. So, when you speak to such people, remind them through the Word we hear God Himself speaking to us words to strengthen faith, to resist the devil, to build us up, and comfort us on every occasion. And through the Lord’s Supper we come into contact with the substance of God Himself that our sins may be forgiven. These promises are given nowhere else. Do not admit worldly excuses of needing to sleep in, or work, or athletics. These are worldly excuses. And the things of this world will pass away. But the forgiveness of sins? The grace of God? These things are eternal. Do not let temporal things turn you away from eternal things. 

God knows that there must be a time for labor and a time for sleep and a time for leisure. Yet so that you would not, in the midst of it all, forget about matters pertaining to the forgiveness of sins, one day, one hour even, has been assigned to it. It is not burdensome compared to the great benefits that we receive here, so we do not admit excuses. Instead of combating the never-ending excuses, go straight to the heart of the matter. Does the Word of God matter or not? Does the forgiveness of sins matter or not? Do the body and blood of our eternal and almighty God given for you matter or not? Cut through all the excuses. This is where God has promised to give His gifts, with the assembly of the faithful, where two or three are gathered. Do these gifts matter or not? Or do the things of the world matter more than the things of God? 

If there are some who refuse the invitation to the banquet of the Lord, though, He is not satisfied. For the Lord desires that His house be filled. So, if the right and proper people do not attend the banquet, the Lord shall send His servants to the streets and lanes, to the highways and byways to gather up whomever they might find. Jesus tells us that in the parable the master of the house commands his servant, “Go out quickly to the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in the poor and crippled and blind and lame,” and again he says, “Go out to the highways and hedges and compel people to come in, that my house may be filled” (Lk 14:21, 24). Now who are these that are compelled to enter into the master’s house? They are the unworthy, those who would have never expected themselves to have been invited to a grand banquet. Yet, the master gathers them earnestly and without dely. 

What does Christ mean by this parable? There are many who were thought to belong in the Lord’s Kingdom but have refused it. And there are many who were thought worthless and unworthy to enter into the Lord’s Kingdom, and yet they were invited and compelled to come in. When we think of this second group, we should think of the many unconventional people Christ our Lord spent His time with on earth. He ate and spoke with tax collectors, prostitutes, and gentile sinners. He embraced the unclean and made them clean. He forgave sinners that they too would enter into His kingdom. Such persons the pharisees thought too far gone to repent and be forgiven, but the Lord came for such as these. 

So, who is to be invited to the great banquet of the Lord? Who is to eat at the Lord’s table? The answer becomes most clear when we ask it like this: who is to receive the forgiveness of sins? Only sinners! Truly blessed are those who eat bread in the kingdom of God, since it is a life-giving bread. It is bread granting the forgiveness of sins. A bread that joins us to God that we may be grafted into His family. Therefore, let no one say that he is too much of a sinner to be received by God. Christ Himself came to rescue sinners. Let no one say that he is broken and cannot be made well, for the Lord grants healing. His healing and His forgiveness is greater than our sin and our death. What then can keep us from the joy of the Lord. The Lord Himself says, “your sins are forgiven, your faith has saved you.” And also, He has said, “this is my blood shed for the forgiveness of sins.” 

Now, there is no word more powerful than the Word of God. The rulers of this earth give declarations of all sorts, but then we must wait for their servants to carry them out. And if they do not, the ruler’s word is null and void. When God speaks, though, it is done. He said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. He said, “this is my blood,” and we believe it. He said, “your sins are forgiven, your guilt atoned for” and we say amen, amen we believe it. What more can be said? All that is needful has been done. For all the sinners and unrighteous persons who enter into the kingdom of God, Christ our Lord poured out His own blood that we would be worthy to enter into the banquet hall, to break bread with God, to hear His counsel and rejoice in it. 

Satan with his deception may whisper in your ear about all your sin and guilt, but we may say, “the blood of my God is stronger than my sin, and if that was not enough He has declared it to me that my sins are forgiven, He has washed me in the water of Baptism and made me die to sin, and He sustains me regularly in this forgiveness and new life with His Word and with His body and blood. I have nothing to fear. My Lord guides and shepherds me all the days of my life.” 

And if even one of these things is temporarily taken away from us, against our will, we see how God reduplicates and overlaps His gifts so that we may never be in doubt about His Gospel and goodwill towards us. Perhaps the Sacrament of the Altar will be taken away from us one day, but still we have preaching. But if preaching even is silenced, then we may rely on the written Word. And if that too is taken away, we still may remember our Baptisms, which can never be taken away. In it, we trust that the Lord has made us poor, miserable sinners worthy to enter into the banquet hall of life, no matter what sort of sinners we were previously. The Lord desires to see His house full and so that sin would not prevent us from entering in, the Lord forgives us of it. 

In summary, dear friends, do not allow the myriad of errors to draw you away from the Gospel of Christ, as our Lord warns in this parable. Give room to neither subtle deceit, nor the appeals of the world, nor the accusations of sin. The first is defeated by careful attention to the Word of God, the second by the power and promises of God, and the last by the grace of God. Give thanks to God that He has made us His children that we may celebrate with Him in the marriage feast of the Lamb which lasts forever. Amen. 

The Peace of God which passes all understand keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.