✠ Psalmody: Psalm 18:18b-19; 1-2a; Psalm 120:1-2; Psalm 7:11; Psalm 6:4; Psalm 13:6; 7:17b
✠ Lection: Proverbs 9:1–10; 1 John 3:13–18; Luke 14:16–24
In the Name of the Father and of the ✠ Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Beloved, the time to take the Lord seriously is now. It’s always now; for every one of us, for we all live in the midst of earthly life. Whether we’re still early in our life, trying not to be stepped on by bigger siblings while trying also not to step on the elderly in our vigor; or whether we’re middle age wondering how so much has already flown by while still not able to comprehend just how much there still seems to be to learn, to grow out of, to experience; or whether we’re deep in our latter years with most of this life now existing in memories full of vivid experiences knowing that if the Lord tarries much longer the hour of death shall need to be faced. The time to take seriously the Lord our lives is now, for all things belong to Him, Eternal and Almighty God.
In the Holy Gospel according to St. Luke, The Lord Jesus desires all who hear to be awakened to this ever-present blessed urgency. “One of [the pharisees] who reclined at table with [Jesus] said to him, ‘Blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!’” Take note of the error in the man’s thinking only about that which is to come (…who will eat…) as if the words of Christ aren’t meant for all the days that we live on this side of death; as if true life fully-oriented toward the Lord our Maker is reserved for yonder; that we still have time to dabble in some of our present desires. These early Sundays in the Trinity season draw our hearts and minds to the reality of eternity that the Lord seeks to have drive our everyday current life, be we very young, quite aged, or anywhere in between. Godly living isn’t just for the life that is to come, as we saw last week with the rich man in how that will be too late for many who will realize their unchangeable error from the midst of unending tormenting flame. A holy life is for both now and forever and nothing could be more impacting on our neighbors, on our culture, on our country, on our world, than us all taking our Redeemer and Lord seriously in our words, in our deeds, in our lives. We can’t see the depravity of the world around us and restrain our thoughts only to “what’s wrong with them?” Jesus’ teachings are consistently telling us to consider ourselves, repent, lest ye likewise perish. We are not to judge everybody else first or to think that this Scripture or preaching would be good for so-and-so to hear, for if we see only others as the ones needing to repent, then we fail to see the logs in our own eyes. Nor are we to grow uptight and defensive when our error is rightly and beneficially brought to our attention. There is great healing and spiritual growth in humble confession and mighty absolution. The Proverbs instruct how reproof is received; if you’re a scoffer, you will hate hearing your scoffing being brought to your attention, maybe even if it comes cloaked in perfect Christian love and wisdom. The flesh hates being corrected, even if it is from the Lord and His Word, because even the scoffer’s mind is on how others need to first amend their ways, for aren’t all other people the ones with the biggest problems that need to do something about them? If you are wise, you will love godly reproof, receive it in humility, actually spend some brain juice on thinking about what God says, and give thanks to Him for the one whom He gave courage to speak it. Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall, yet the fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight, and such fear and knowledge is what He has for those who walk humbly with Him.
What is the fear of Lord that is in your heart? If there is any, it is likely to be one of two kinds as Dr. Luther has taught us: servile fear or filial fear. Servile, meaning the fear of a mere servant, of one with who is only duty-bound with no true or intimate knowledge of the Master and His ways nor having an intimate belonging to Him. This is one who fears only the punishment of the Lord, thus tending to keep a distance just to avoid wrath, trying to assuage the conscience through hidden thoughts, words, and deeds, deceiving oneself that if people don’t know then God won’t. In this servile view of self, a person simply dreads what horrible thing might possibly happen if people find out. This is the danger of hidden sin, because we somehow fool ourselves into believing, at least to some buried extent that we’d actually deny if confronted with it if even only within ourselves, that as long as people don’t know about my secret sins, then God won’t. It’s a deceptive way to deal with our fear that only bad comes from God, which is essentially not worshiping the true God. We have been freed from such slavery and have been made sons through the shed blood of Jesus Christ, our Brother, giving us filial fear, which is, on the other hand, one that is held by someone who knows not only the power and wrath of the Father, but how He wields it, both in correction and in protection, guidance, love, and wisdom. Does a loving father sternly correct his children when needed? If he truly loves the child, he does, otherwise the father actively hands the poor youngun over to the ways of his flesh and the world that calls him to listen to what it desires instead of what God says is good.
The Lord desires us all to have a healthy fear of Him, not only knowing that He has the power and right to destroy all things wicked, including many people, but that judgement isn’t poured out upon those who are His children; upon those who are His guests at His great banquet of salvation, having wisely responded to the gracious inviting call, but upon the One Christ Who received the Father’s full wrath for us. So, being found in the Crucified Son, we have both received the full wrath of God and the full protection from it. That is Christ’s propitiation. Indeed, our Father Who art in heave shall continue to correct us, to rebuke us by His Word and Holy Spirit, yet destroy those who are redeemed by the shed blood of His only-begotten Son He shall not do. His call to us with every rising of the sun is to realize that the time to take the Lord seriously is now. Yes, to take His wrath seriously, but to take His grace and mercy even more seriously, for that is the heart the Father desires to shine upon us through His only-begotten Son. Tomorrow may be too late to take faith seriously. He has set the entire great banquet and invited many. The life that the Father calls us to live is not one that reserves Him and His ways for after death, for no true child keeps a distance from his Father, neither by personal choice nor by external force. The many that exalt the other gods of this life above Him shall be eternally saddened to find that His mercy isn’t to be found when it’s finally, desperately sought after from a place of flame and torment.
Filial fear, the fear that a beloved son has for a dearly loved father, is the blessed gift for you, for the Lord has not deemed that you come to enjoy the feast that He has prepared once you get your act together as if you could ever qualify yourself as worthy of His goodness. He works all of that and He does it through the means that He has instituted and He does it all by unmerited grace, for He has infinite amounts of it. The more you receive Him in these ways, the more He works in you. They’re here, He’s here for the free receiving because He freely gives. This absolution, this proclamation, this Meal isn’t for those who need no physician, but it is for you. You are in need and your Father provides.
The time is now. It always has been. But it won’t always be. Life doesn’t begin at death. The Lord grants us reprieves and victories in battle against evil in this age spurring each of us on toward more life in Him, because Christians living presently in what we have already received eternally is a serious difference maker in this world; in us. We do not live in fear. God is love. Love casts out fear of torment. So, come, eat of the bread of Wisdom and drink of the wine that He has mixed. Leave your simple ways, and live, and walk in the way of insight of Who the Lord is for you now.
In ✠ Jesus’ Name. Amen.
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