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+ + + In Nomine Jesu + + +
Please join me in prayer: May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
This morning our Adult Bible Class wrapped up its summer study of “Last Things”, things such as temporal death, the intermediate state of the soul, hell, and heaven. (If you missed any or all of the Class, you can find the handouts and audio online.) Last week someone in the class commented about the difficulty of one group’s watching the other group be treated differently, and today’s Gospel Reading certainly describes that torment on the part of the damned, as part of its encouraging us to strive to enter the Kingdom of God, as it were, through its narrow door (confer Matthew 7:13-14). This morning we consider today’s Gospel Reading under the theme, “Consider the outcomes of God’s judgment while you can”.
Today’s Gospel Reading comes in St. Luke’s Divinely‑inspired Gospel account as Jesus is on His way through towns and villages teaching and journeying toward Jerusalem. Jesus apparently had moved on from Judea and begun to work in and around Perea, although the change in location did not necessarily mean a complete change in themes or audience. Right before today’s Gospel Reading, Jesus described the Kingdom of God starting small—like a grain of mustard seed that a man might plant in his garden, or like leaven that a woman might hide in flour—and the Kingdom’s expanding—as to accommodate the birds of the air, or to leaven all the flour (Luke 13:18‑21). So, perhaps there is little surprise that, as we heard today, someone, who maybe heard Jesus teach that and was still traveling with Him, asked Jesus whether those who are saved would be few.
As one pair of commentators put it, “Jesus will not permit anyone to be a spectator at the drama of salvation” (Roehrs-Franzmann, 72). Where the person in the crowd asked Jesus about others, Jesus first responded to the man with a command about the man and the crowd—you all strive to enter through the narrow door. Then Jesus indirectly answered the man’s question by saying that many would seek to enter and not be able. And finally, Jesus told a parable of a sort, more or less likening God’s judgment and its outcomes to people who thought that they should have been inside of a wedding feast but were kept out (confer Matthew 25:10-12), with the master of the house twice telling them, “I do not know where you all come from”.
At the LeTourneau University Church Fair yesterday, Pilgrim’s volunteers and I met new students who came from all over—from all over Texas, from all over the United States, and even from all over the world. I often started my conversations with them by asking them where they came from, both geographically and religiously, and their answers would affect how I proceeded in the conversation. In Jesus’s parable of a sort in the Gospel Reading, the master of the house’s statement about not knowing where the people came from can be taken as his commenting about where they were while the door was open (Lenski, ad loc Luke 13:25, p.750); even though they clearly thought otherwise (confer Matthew 7:22-23), they had rejected His grace when it was offered to them, and now they could no longer have it (Arndt, ad loc Luke 13:25, p.332).
By nature all of us are like those whom the master of the house told to depart, that is, by nature all of us are workers of evil (or, perhaps better, workers of “unrighteousness”), who deserve to be cast out from the Kingdom of God. We should not be sure of ourselves. None of us is able to enter on our own. And, the time to enter is limited. God graciously holds the narrow door open for us to repent for a time—until His patience comes to an end, until the day of our deaths, or until the Lord’s return, whichever comes first. If we do not repent in time, God holds our sin against us for eternity. But, when in time we do turn in sorrow from our sin, trust God to forgive our sin, and want to do better than to keep on sinning, then God forgives our sin—our sin of not repenting sooner, or whatever our sin might be. God forgives all our sin, for Jesus’ sake.
As we heard in today’s Gospel Reading, the God-man Jesus Christ was journeying toward Jerusalem, where He would suffer and die on the cross for the sins of the whole world. After living the perfect life that we fail to live, Jesus on the cross died for our failure to live that perfect life. Out of His great love and mercy, Jesus died in our place. Jesus died the death that we otherwise would have deserved. Outside the Holy City, Jesus was forsaken by God so that we do not have to be forsaken by God (Matthew 27:46 and Mark 15:34, citing Psalm 22:1). We are unable and do nothing that needs to be done for our salvation, but Jesus can and did do everything that needed to be done for our salvation. Unless by impenitence and unbelief we reject His offer of grace or wait until it is too late, we are saved through faith in Him, as we receive His forgiveness, life, and salvation through His Means of Grace.
Is a glass at 50‑percent of its capacity half-empty or half‑full? Is the Lord Jesus in today’s Gospel Reading exclusive or as inclusive as He can be? Is Holy Communion closed to those who should not receive it or open to those who should receive it at any given place and time? The answer to all of those questions is “yes”. A glass at 50‑percent is both half‑full and half‑empty; Jesus in the Gospel Reading is both exclusive and as inclusive as He can be; and Holy Communion, in the sense I described, is both open and closed. Like the master of the house in today’s Gospel Reading who rises and shuts the door, Jesus opens and closes the Kingdom (Isaiah 22:22; Revelation 3:7). Through His called and ordained ministers, to whom He has entrusted the exercise of His keys for the benefit of His Church (Matthew 16:19; 18:15-20; John 20:21-23), Jesus Himself baptizes, individually absolves, and gives His own Body and Blood in, with, and under the bread and wine of the Sacrament of the Altar, for the forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation. Already here and now, we recline at table in the Kingdom of God with Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, all the prophets, and countless others who come from east and west, and from north and south, including those who have gone before us in the faith and so who are part of all the company of heaven.
Eternity in heaven or eternity in hell? “Consider the outcomes of God’s judgment while you can”! The possibility of eternity in hell should frighten us, and the possibility of eternity in heaven should encourage us. So, each one of us, through daily repentance and faith, should agonizingly strive against our sinful human nature. To that end, as we heard in today’s Epistle Reading (Hebrews 12:4-29), we do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor are we weary when reproved by Him. He disciplines us for our good, that we may share His holiness. His discipline yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness for those who have been trained by it. As much as we can, we also see to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God. And finally, we are grateful for receiving a Kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus we offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe. As we heard in today’s Old Testament Reading (Isaiah 66:18‑23), we who repent and believe shall see God’s glory and remain before Him forever as His new heavens and new earth remain before Him. The glory of God’s Kingdom surpasses His descriptions of it, such as that in today’s Gospel Reading; the glory of God’s Kingdom exceeds our understanding of it, and our present sufferings are not worth comparing to it (Romans 8:18).
Jesus said some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last. The outcomes of God’s judgment in some cases may surprise us (Marshall, ad loc Luke 13:22-30, pp.562-563). Those outside of the Kingdom in hell see those inside the Kingdom in heaven (confer Luke 16:19-31), and so they weep and gnash their teeth; those inside the Kingdom in heaven may well also see and perhaps even recognize those outside the Kingdom in hell (confer Isaiah 66:24), but their bliss will not be diminished (Pieper, III:551). Then it will be too late to do anything about them. “Consider the outcomes of God’s judgment while you can”! And so, as you repent and believe, live in the comfort, peace, and joy of knowing your place in heaven is secure.
Amen.
The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
+ + + Soli Deo Gloria + + +