Wisdom’s Feast for Sinners

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.

“Wisdom has built her house. She has hewn her seven pillars. She has slaughtered her beast. She has mixed her wine. She has set her table. Wisdom is throwing a party. And who is invited? Anybody that will listen, but in particular, ‘Whoever is simple, let him turn in here.’ To him who lacks sense, she says, ‘Come, eat of my bread and drink of the wine I have mixed. Leave your simple ways and live, and walk in the way of insight.’”

We don’t often think highly of simple people. But Wisdom here isn’t calling what we would consider simple; she’s calling sinners. You see, “the fool in his heart says that there is no God,” and he’s wrong on two accounts and he’s missed the mark on two accounts. The first is that he does not recognize the one true God. And the second, he does not recognize the idols that he has placed in his heart, those things that he worships and trusts in.

Wisdom is calling all to the feast. Leave behind the foolish ways. Leave behind the sinful ways. Leave behind the path of destruction. And come and eat and be merry and glad at the feast that God has arranged. And in doing so, you will gain the knowledge of God. You will stop being simple.

Where does the wisdom of God start? The fear of the Lord—knowing that there is a mighty Judge out there who will call us to account, that we will have to give an account of sin—and that terrifies the conscience. It leaves us quaking in our boots. I saw a poll this week. Ironically, for people who don’t believe in God and people who do believe in God, the numbers were the exact same. I should say this: for Christians and for atheists, the numbers were the exact same. Thirteen percent feared what will happen when they die. And I thought, why do thirteen percent of Christians fear what will happen when they die? It’s because they don’t have the assurance of the forgiveness of sins. They’re still approaching it as, “This is something that I have to do,” or, “You know, maybe God doesn’t actually love me,” or something like that.

But our Ephesians passage reminds us that the dividing wall of hostility has been torn down. See, in the Temple there was a court of the Gentiles which was separated from the rest of the Temple. And at the court of the Gentiles, there’s a little parapet, a little wall maybe two or three feet high, because Gentiles—you know, if you converted to faith in the one true God, your grandchildren would be considered fully Jewish and could go in, but you couldn’t. So there’s this dividing wall. In Ephesians, the dividing wall of hostility has been torn down. In other words, all people come, and all people are God’s people. Because that dividing wall that’s been torn down isn’t literally just that wall in the temple, but it’s the dividing wall of hostility between God and man. That in Jesus Christ, our sins are fully forgiven. So, fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. We have a terrified conscience which drives us to the cross. And there we see the tetelestai: “It is finished. It is accomplished.” The one sacrifice for all. Nothing more can be added. You can’t add anything to Christ’s sacrifice. And you can’t take away anything from Christ’s sacrifice. It is once and for all complete for you.

Here at the foot of the cross and at the empty tomb is the feast that has been prepared that everybody is being called to. And notice in our Gospel lesson, a master, a king, a rich man—he holds a banquet, and he’s prepped everybody and says, “Guys, I’m holding a banquet. Get ready. I’ll let you know when it is.” And so he gets everything ready, and the servant goes out. And people have the lamest excuses. These are excuses, by the way, to get out of military service, not to skip a feast. I mean, back then, you didn’t skip a feast unless you wanted to cause offense. And that’s what these people are doing. They’re purposely trying to cause offense. They’re saying, “No, that’s not good enough for us. We’re not coming. We don’t want that.” This is why the guy gets so angry. And so who gets brought into the feast?

People who would be considered to be under the judgment of God: the poor, those who are crippled, those who are blind, those who are lame. Because the forgiveness of God is for everyone. And when that doesn’t fill up the feast hall, what happens? “Go out into the highways and the hedges and bring everyone you can.” Notice this: “Compel people to come in.” You don’t give them a choice. You want to know who’s out in the highways and the hedges? The robbers, the bandits. So you have those who are under the punishment of God and those who are choosing evil. And God is saying, “I died for them all. I came for them all. Every single person.”

And so for the terrified conscience, the Gospel, the cross, and the empty tomb is a balm. And for those who have sinned, those who are torn to the heart, look to the cross. Even if you’ve done evil on purpose—because guess what? Guess who’s done evil on purpose? Everyone. Christ is for you. The forgiveness of sins is freely offered for you. Stop being wise in the ways of the world and calling the cross foolishness, but be simple and foolish in the ways of the world and see the wisdom of God. See how He yearns for you.

This week we are now right in the middle—today. So it started yesterday, goes through today, and through tomorrow. We are in round two of elections for synodical president. So for those of you that don’t know, Christ Lutheran Church here in Mustang, Oklahoma, we are a member congregation of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod. It might be a shock, but we literally have it plastered everywhere, all over our property and on our website. And so we elect a synodical president every three years. And this is the first time in sixteen years that we’ve had a second ballot because nobody got a majority on the first.

And so who can vote? Let me just finish explaining. There’s a lot of explanation here. So, who can vote? There is one lay representative from every congregation—ours is Larry, one of our elders—and then one pastor from every congregation. Okay? So that’s who gets to vote in the election. And there’s something like eight thousand or so registered voters, something like that. And my goodness, my friends who are pastors, I want to shake them because there is so much fear about who might or might not get elected for synodical president. And it’s like, it’s the Lord’s Church! Can you take a breath? It’s the Lord’s Church. We are built upon the rock of Christ. We are not built upon the rock of whatever your preferred candidate is.

The wisdom of the world says, “Oh, you need this guy in office to do whatever needs to be accomplished, whatever perspective that person has.” But the wisdom of God is that Christ is in charge of His Church, and He will use whoever is in office to accomplish His means.

We teach our confirmands this: “Thy kingdom come.” What does this mean? It doesn’t come to us through our own power, but it comes to us because God brings it to us. And we pray in this petition that the kingdom would come to us and that we would take that kingdom also out into the world. That God would use us to expand His kingdom. It’s fully dependent upon God.

Rest in the foolishness of God, which is wiser than the wisdom of man. Rest in the forgiveness of sins. Know that God is in charge. I also realize that this Tuesday we have—this is great—I have church elections and real‑world elections happening all this week. It’s just fantastic. Let me tell you, I hate it. God’s in charge. God is in charge. Drink of the wine of wisdom. Eat of the sumptuous feast. Come and taste the foretaste of it—the forgiveness of sins—and rest knowing that God is greater. In His name. Amen.