The Invitation

Sunday, October 12, 2008
Preacher: Pastor Kendra Mohn


Isaiah 25:1-9
Philippians 4:1-9
Matthew 22:1-14



Audio sermon link: http://fileresource.sitepro.com/filemanager/74/filecollections/422/6FD5C5F3-975A-69FE-90F3-A6EB7636E5AC.mp3

Pastor Mohn began by admitting this is a very difficult text. You’re hoping for good, reassuring news. You’re left asking, “Will I be one of the chosen few?”

Well, if you hang in there …. there is good news, but you’ll have to work your way through it. And it’s all about God’s invitation. The people made light of it. We made light of an invitation for which God did ALL the preparation. He had a robe in waiting, as was the custom for wedding guests and the guests refused the hospitality of the Host of Hosts. Remember last week when Pastor Johnson asked us if we’d ever been rejected … and what ti felt like? All dressed up and no one wanting us?

We are asked to do nothing more today than accept this most gracious invitation …. but, as Pastor Mohn concedes, there is a breakdown in trust, and with it, a lot of questions.

With the invitation outstanding, the people devoted themselves, instead, to idolatry. We placed out best, 1st efforts toward idols. We, as human beings, are good at finding other things to place our trust in. Sadly, we only often turn to God, as the Prodigal Sons, after the idols don’t deliver the goods.

The overriding question is “Where is God in all this?”

And the questions begs an answer, but receives none.

Look at the text from Isaiah where the people praise God for making of the city a heap of ruins. Pastor Mohn bemuses the notion of God being praised for destroying something?? And then the realization that what they are perhaps praising is not the destruction, but rather what God is replacing it with. Pastor Mohn thoughtfully shared the notion that it’s possible that with the destruction of one thing comes the room for creation of another, the story of the seasons, the circle of life, th closing of one door putting in motion the domino effect of events that open another door. God is busy in the details.

So where do we place our trust? We seem to want, crave a guarantee … that if we turn from these rather attractive looking idols,that it’ll somehow be made worth our while.

There is a book titled “What the Best College teachers Do” by Ken Bain in which he describes an intriguing aspect of teaching. When students (who are humans themselves) find themselves presented with a concept at odds with their interpretation of the world, they are VERY reticent to give up their false model without some guarantee that the newly offered goods are worth the trade. They seem to want a guarantee. Often, however, they must be willing to give up one to afford the free hands to grab the alternative. We, not only as students but as humans, suffer the same lack of trust.

Isaiah’s message is to Not Worry …. We are all called to help rebuild the mountain and set the table for everyone, even the undeserving prodigal sons coming down the road toward us. We are all called to be part of the rebuilding of a better place to replace the heap of a city that once was, but is now to be better. The “peace that surpasses all understanding” in Philippians is the fuel for that building, the courage to live that life of a disciple “without guarantees”, a trust and acceptance that what is to come will be better than what we are giving up to make room for it.

In Ken Bain’s book, he is careful to point out that in order for students to take the turn and “accept a new model of the universe and how it ticks”, they must do two things: they must care that their previous ways were somehow incorrect, and they must receive tremendous levels of support in order to transition to a new paradigm.

In Philippians, Paul is promising us that God will provide said support in “guarding our hearts and our minds”. He is saying to us all, “Come away from your idols and I will walk the road back with you, providing the peace that surpasses your understanding, providing safe haven for the uncertain journey to a place where we can live without fear, rejoicing at The Table prepared by the greatest host of all time”.

Here’s a robe for you … come now to the wedding feast!

Good News Network

Sunday, October 5, 2008
Preacher: Pastor Gary Johnson

Isaiah 5:1-7

Philippians 3:4b-14

Matthew 21:33-46

Audio sermon link: http://fileresource.sitepro.com/filemanager/74/filecollections/422/C50E913B-4D5E-4C8B-7FE7-6124D92E2B62.mp3

Tabloid journalism right in Matthew!! This is stuff of NY Post cover stories. Jesus is trying to GET OUR ATTENTION!!

But lots of talk about vineyards. Isaiah sings a love song as Pastor Johnson drifted into “You must remember this, a kiss is just a kiss, a sigh is just a sigh …” Oh, Play It Again, Isaiah!

But seriously, there is all this talk of vineyards, but more than just talk. A gardener plants vines, but not just any vines. He plants the BEST of vines, tills the grounds, prunes the vines, builds a watchtower, hews a vat. This is serious tending going on.
He invests love in this dream house, in a love about which Isaiah sings. These are no skanky vines, no minimal crop.

And for all this investment, what’s he get? …. With grapes. This gardener is broken-hearted. Pastor Johnson suggests that you can here them saying “I invested all of me & you rejected me. You rejected my best efforts. I don’t have another Church. I don’t have another vineyard. I don’t have another love but you … and you rejected me.”

… and then “I am taking my dreamhouse & going home”. This is the voice of God, the jilted lover, the broken-hearted and ….

It’s all about that vineyard.

We hear it in Paul’s voice. He’s Mr. Law, Mr. Rules, a Hebrew among Hebrews, Big Man on Campus. He’s spotless. He’s got it all – advanced degrees, status, material goods … and he comes to the realization it’s all crap (literally …). He says that a whole sense of a life well-lived is rooted in the message of Jesus. Everyhting else this world holds in esteem and of value is rubbish.
What is this vineyard that God would send His only Son amongst its wild grapes?

This is the vineyard of salvation – the blood of whose grapes are the precious blood of Christ. This is our vineyard that God has entrusted to us. And the key questions are these:

How do we treat the vineyard?
How do we treat those who come to the vineyard?

Pastor Johnson asked for a show of hands, asking if any of the congregation had been rejected from taking Communion in their Church lives. About 1/3 of those there said so. He felt strongly that this was one of those ultimate ironies of organized religion. Communion is one of the primal examples of our unity. It united Christians the world over every time bread is broken in community. It is a powerful mystery in whose presence we shoud ultimately feel humbled. It represents a sacrifice for which we should be willing to give our lives. As Paul says, “It is everything. It is everything you’ll ever need. The rest is rubbish.” At Church, we keep the bread on the altar, a pedestal, guarded by a rail encircling it. Imagine the irony of being rejected from partaking of that which unites us. It is everything. It is all we truly need. It is redemption. It is transformation. It is a reminder of something out there bigger than us.

The irony is that THIS should be the headline story on GNN!!

I attended the Youth Group Work Camp last summer (2007) and at one of the devotional evenings I saw a movie I will long remember. The setting was our world removed into the future. A terrible viral disease had gripped the Earth and millions were dying. Two parents of an only child learned that their son had the single rare blood type that could be “cloned” and mass-produced in sufficient quantities to save the human race. The catch? It would take all of the child’s blood and the child would not survive. I am the father of two young children that tug at my heart every single night. Even imagining the depth of sacrificing one of their lives was gut-wrenching, to say the least. The parents ask the child to decide and the child offers to give his life. Cut to a scene many years hence. The father is walking through a Times Square looking scene with people on cell phones rushing about, hardly recognizing one another. They were nto seeming to care about each other in as much as they were barely aware of their brothers around them, right next to them. The father muses, “I thought this would have made a difference. Do any of these people know the depths of that child’s sacrifice so that they could be walking here today, healthy, well-fed, alive, breathing clean air, seeing the colors of the rainbow, tasting the juice of raindrops? I thought it would make a difference …”

This is God the Father in the scripture of Matthew today looking down on the vineyard, carefully taking note of how we are tending it and who we welcome into the vineyard. He sacrificed His only Son, sending him in amongst the wild grapes at great cost.

There were no headlines on the billboards of Times Square regaling the ultimate sacrifice … only a father looking into that vineyard in dismay at the grapes gone wild despite his very best efforts.

So Jesus, today, is desperately trying to get our attention amidst the storm of our daily lives. He’s given all his blood for us. It was ALL we needed … to save a planet.

And He asks only this:

How are you treating the vineyard? … and
How are you treating your brothers who wander in?