What is God Calling You to Do?

The Rev. Kathi Johnson

Stewardship 1 – 15 October 2017

Text: Matthew 22:1-14

Our Redeemer Lutheran Church, Grand Prairie, Texas

Have you ever looked at an unshelled pecan and wondered, who was it that first looked at this thing and thought, “I bet if I crack this open, there’s something really yummy inside!” When I was a kid, my Grandpa Woolard always had a bowl of unshelled nuts just waiting there – along with a nutcracker and the little picks to get out all the meat from the shells.

Today’s parable told by Jesus is like this pecan. To get to the meat of the pecan, you have to get through the tough stuff. To get to the meat of this parable, you have to get through the tough stuff. Like many of the parables of Jesus, you can’t just look on the outside and take it at face value.

And this parable has some pretty difficult parts to it:

·      There are these people who’ve been invited to the banquet and they refuse to go. Eventually, they attack the king’s slaves and kill them.

·      The king responds with anger, sending troops to destroy the murderers and their city.

·      At the end of the parable, the king sees a guy who isn’t dressed quite right for the party, and has him thrown out, roughly.

If we take this story at face value, then we can extrapolate that God (who’s played by the king) is a real jerk who’s looking for any excuse to wipe us out.

But I want to break through that tough outer shell for a minute and take a look at the meat inside this parable. The real meat of this parable is found in verses 9 and 10: the king says to his slaves, “…Go out into the main streets, and invite everyone you see there to attend the party.” So the slaves do just that – they go out into the streets and they gather everyone – the good and the bad – and the party is full of guests.

This is the meat of the parable; this is the good news – that the king throws open the doors of his banquet hall to the good and the bad, welcoming them inside.

But we’re still left with that tough outer shell. What do we do with the difficult parts of the story? Why are they even in there, at all?

I believe that this parable uses those tougher elements first, to elicit a response from the listeners. If you were listening when I read the parable, you probably had a response to those uncomfortable parts of the story. Your response might’ve been one of confusion or some anger (what do you mean the guy gets thrown out at the end just because he’s not dressed right?!). But your response at least is a response. This is a parable meant to draw us out of apathy.

But secondly, I believe that Jesus includes these tougher elements to underscore an important point: that there is a seriousness to the call of God upon our lives, and that there should be an intentionality to our response to that call. As far back as our baptisms, God invites us to participate in a life of faith, and what are the possible responses to that invitation? We can refuse, we can make light of it and go on our own way, we can be hostile toward those who call us back to faith, or we can lack intentionality where our faith lives are concerned.

But if the meat of this parable is the good news that God throws open the doors and welcomes us all in, then we should do everything possible to grasp at this good news – everything we can to grow in our lives of faith – to grow as disciples of Jesus. And not only that, but we should also be willing to go out and invite others to join us in our lives of faith.

[Note: Here's where we handed out Ministry Activities Descriptions and forms for people's ministry commitments for 2018...]

·      Stewardship time can be a difficult time. The pastor’s going to ask me for something. You’re right – I am. I’m actually asking for two things: First, I’m asking you to take these home and look them over with intentionality. Pray about these ministry activities. Consider your gifts, and where you feel called to serve. Talk about it with your family or friends. Second, I’m asking you to make a commitment. I’m not asking you to commit to serving in whatever capacity for the next 27 years. I’m asking you to commit to serving in that capacity for 2018. Things change, lives change, our callings change. What is God calling you to do in 2018?

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     We will collect these on Commitment Sunday, which is in two weeks, on Reformation Sunday. So, I guess you could say that I’m asking for three things. As part of your commitment to the ministry of this congregation, I’m inviting you – and I’m inviting those who aren’t here today, too – to be here on October 29 to turn in your commitments personally.

Now, of course I’ll take them any way I can get them – in person, via email or phone, or even by homing pigeon if you have some of those around. But I really hope you’ll be here on October 29 to celebrate the gifts we each bring to this congregation. If you look around – go ahead and take a second and look around – think about all the gifts gathered together here, in this room. Think about the gifts of those who aren’t here today, or the gifts of those who you could invite to be here with us. We are gifted and thanks be to God for that.

It is my hope and prayer that – out of thanksgiving to God - we will take these gifts we’ve been given and use them well.

Amen.