Dedication of Immanuel Church

Watson, Minnesota

During the convention of the Minnesota District

2nd Sunday after Trinity, June 25, 1882

Text: Luke 14:16-25

THE INVITATION TO THE GREAT SUPPER

"How amiable are your tabernacles, O Lord of hosts! My soul longs, yea, even faints for the courts of the Lord: my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God. Blessed are they that dwell in your house: they will be still praising you." Ps. 84:4.1.

With these words the royal singer expresses his longing, his love for the tabernacles of the Lord, the place where he could be taught and comforted by God through the Lord's revelation, come into the most intimate union with the living God, and where he could pour out his soul to this God with prayer and thanksgiving. Yes, blessed are they, he says, who not only dwell there with a fleeting thought but who dwell there constantly and whose heart clings to the holy place just as Scripture says of the aged Anna that she "departed not from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day." (Lk. 2:37.) That's why we also hear David exclaim: "One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to enquire in his temple." (Ps. 27:4.)

Dearly beloved congregation, is it now this same love for the house of the Lord, this same longing for beholding the beauty of the Lord, for inquiring in his temple so that you may dwell in his house all the days of your lives, in that house which is not built with men's hands, is it this love, this longing which has prompted you to build this house for the Lord which has brought you together today with large numbers of your brethren in the faith in order to consecrate it to be a house of God for worship of the true God? Oh, unfortunately! Here, as anywhere, there is probably more than one person who has been moved to be along in building it for such outward reasons as self-righteousness, habit or hypocrisy, and who has been lured here today by the infrequent celebration featuring so many pastors and so much paegantry. However, God be praised! The Lord has promised that his word shall not return void. Therefore we surely believe that the Lord also has his people here who brought a sacrifice of love and thanksgiving for this building and who have come here today with a sigh of longing and with a song of joy in order to behold the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple.

And friends! if for this reason David already loved the tabernacles of the Lord, how much more ought not we go up to the house of the Lord with the cry of joy, "How amiable are your tabernacles, O Lord of hosts!" we to whom Scripture says, "We have also a more sure word of prophecy, whereunto you do well that you take heed, as unto a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns, and the day-star arise in your hearts," (2 Pe. 1:19) we to whom "God has spoken in these last days by his Son, who is the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person." (He. 1:2.3.)

Yes, well may your hearts be filled with joy on this day, and we share your joy at this dedication celebration with heartfelt thanks to God when we reflect on the wonderful message which the Son has brought us from heaven and which is to be the sum of all the preaching which shall be heard in this church!

With the aid of the Holy Spirit then, let us consider with one another:

THE INVITATION TO THE GREAT SUPPER

with which this text deals.

How gladly does not a person accept the invitation of a dear friend! What an honor when it comes to you from a king, from the leader of the country! But, brothers and sisters, how infinitely much greater grace and honor that we are invited to the great supper, and how much more willingly and gladly ought we not accept the invitation, and go to it!

1) Because he who here invites us is the Lord of lords and the King of kings, the Lord our God, the almighty and merciful God. Behold, the heavens are his throne and the earth his footstool and the angels his servants who carry out his commands, but he himself is the essence of blessedness!

2) And how excellent is not the supper, how tasty the meal to which he invites us? We listen with amazement to talk about the abundance, riches and splendor which are apparent at the banquets of the rich here in the world, where the tables display the most splendid dishes and vessels of silver and gold and crystal, and bow under the weight of the most tasty food and the finest wines. And yet how does that com-pare with the great supper to which you, my friend, are invited today? Here, you who hunger and thirst and have no money, can come and buy, eat and drink, buy wine and milk without money and without price, eat of the bread of life, the bread which is come down from heaven of which Scripture says, He who eats of this bread shall not hunger but shall live for ever. Here shall the thirsty get to drink from the cup of salvation and never be thirsty again.

And "the bread that I will give you," says Jesus, "is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world, for my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. Whoso eats my flesh, and drinks my blood, has eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day." (Jo. 6:51.55.-54.) O, dear friend, just hear what a won-derful supper is offered to you here! Your God wants to feed you here with such tasty dishes, with so nou-rishing a food that you shall not die eternally, and even if you do die, you shall however live. Tell me, have you ever heard of such food and drink at any king's or rich man's table? Ah, there they often drink themselves drunk and their gluttony can cause their death, but at the meal to which you are invited here you are filled with the good things of his house unto eternal life and you get to drink from the cup of sal-vation. The reason is simply this that God has given us his own Son. He took our flesh upon himself and in that way joined in his divine-human person our human nature with his divine. Therefore he could rec-oncile us with God with his suffering and death and holy obedience and through faith reunite us with himself, and from people who have fallen away from God and who were lost sinners, make us partake of his fellowship and let us enjoy his salvation. Since he was slain for the sin of all the world as the true Pascal Lamb God has prepared the great supper for us all in him. In a word: in the great supper to which God is letting his invitation go out to you here in the sermon, to you, my beloved, he is giving his own Son, Jesus Christ, so that freed from sin, death and the power of the devil you should be united with him through faith, enjoy him and in him all the good things of salvation! You are walking about crushed by the guilt and burden of sin and worried about punishment in hell. Behold, here he is giving you forgive-ness of sins! You are hungering and thirsting for righteousness; behold, here he is dressing you in the gar-ments of righteousness which were washed in the blood of the Lamb so that you sing:

Jesus, Thy blood and righteousness

My beauty are, my glorious dress;

Midst flaming worlds, in these arrayed,

With joy shall I lift up my head.

You can stand before God in them since he regards you in Christ as though you had never sinned. Thus you can hear the accusations of your conscience and the thundering voice of the Law without dying, and say with Paul, "Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies. Who is he that condemns? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, which is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us." (Ro. 8:33.34.)

You are wandering around here so unsteadily, so restlessly, like Noah's dove seeking a place to rest your tired feet! Behold, here he fills your heart with the peace which surpasses all understanding, which the world cannot give but neither can it take from you, however much grief it can cause you the rest of the way, because "being justified by faith, we have peace with God" (Ro. 5:1)! Here you are walking around so forsaken and afflicted, yes, nearly despairing, weighed down by the heavy burden of sorrow and tormented by the heavy yoke of the Law. Behold, here he lets you drink from the full flood of joy and to fill your heart with the joy of the Holy Ghost who comforts and sustains you in all sorrow and suffering, yes, makes you glad and blessed even in death!

Therefore, after being fully satisfied by this supper through the Word of life, the sweet Gospel in which Christ is offered and given with all his gifts, the psalmist exclaims, "You prepare a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows." (Ps. 23:5.) Thus we also sing in the hymn:

Festive is the tasty banquet

Thou before Thy guests dost set;

Blessing, peace and full salvation

Through Thy Word to us do flow;

There our ev'ry pain Thou healest,

There our souls salvation give,

There so near Thee I refreshed am

Both in life and in my soul.

But, my dear friends, this supper is going to taste even better when we shall sit at the table with Abra-ham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven where they behold the face of God (Ps. 17:15) and of which the psalmist says, "They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of your house; and you shall make them drink of the river of your pleasures," (Ps. 36:8) and where, as the prophet says, "The Lord of hosts shall make unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined." (Is. 25:6.) Therefore Scripture says: "Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb." (Re. 19:9.) "They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat. For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them into living fountains of waters." (Re. 7:16.17.) Just as we sing:

God grant that I may, of His infinite love,

Remain in His merciful keeping

And sit with the King at His table above

When here in the grave I am sleeping.

Have mercy upon us, O Jesus!

All trials are then like a dream that is past,

Forgotten all trouble and sorrow;

All questions and doubts have been answered at last;

Then dawneth eternity's morrow,

Have mercy upon us, O Jesus!

The heavens shall ring with an anthem more grand

Than ever on earth was recorded;

The blest of the Lord shall receive at His hand

The crown of the victor awarded.

Have mercy upon us, O Jesus!

O, brother and sister, how tasty is not the supper to which you are invited here - to see the Lord face to face and to enjoy eternal salvation in undisturbed blessed communion with God and the elect! But, who can fully grasp or describe what "eye hath not seen nor ear heard, neither has entered into the heart of man, the things which God has prepared for them that love him" [1 Co. 2:9].

3] And now, dear brother! Wouldn't you really like to partake of this supper, to accept his invitation? "But," do I hear you say, "how can there be any talk of that for me? How am I supposed to be able to be-lieve that God will allow me, so great a sinner, to come to such a wonderful supper and partake of such blessedness? You see, I'm sure I've broken all the commandments, my heart is evil from my youth on and my mind is totally at enmity with him. With all of that I have surely justly deserved and am earning daily his wrath and disfavor, temporal punishment and eternal condemnation. That's why I can't love him now, nor have any pleasure in his commandments and will. How is he, the holy and righteous God, supposed to have mercy on me now and forgive and bless me instead of being angry and punishing me and cursing me just as he certainly says in his holy Law, 'Cursed is every one that does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them!' (Ga. 3:1O). How is he who says, 'The pure of heart shall see God,' (Mt. 5:8) and again, 'God does not hear sinners' (Jo. 9:31) and again, 'What does Christ have in common with Belial?' (2 Co. 6:15) - how is he supposed to be willing to take me, an unclean sinner, into his fellowship, seat me at his table of grace, and let me drink from the cup of salvation?"

Of course, my dear friend! of course it is certain and true that by your own reason and strength you are completely unworthy and have not at all deserved to be a guest at this great supper, and that you cannot possibly accept the invitation to believe that God has such a kind disposition toward you and is willing to bless you and to make you happy eternally instead of punishing and condemning you. Therefore there is no reason at all to be surprised about it now that your reason is offended by such an invitation and thinks that it may well enough be meant for other people but not for you. But it is exactly through this wonderful invitation which is incomprehensible to reason that the holy, righteous God wants to have you, an un-worthy sinner, as his guest at his banquet of grace in his blessed fellowship. Because God's compassion and mercy toward us fallen people was so great that he gave his only-begotten Son into death as the sac-rifice for our sins. "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever be-lieves in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." (Jo. 3:16) And just as Jesus became the propi-tiation not only for our sins but for the sins of the whole world, so has he now also commanded his dis-ciples to go out into all the world and to preach this Gospel to every creature. And just as you now cer-

tainly by nature belong to this lost and condemned world, so do you just as certainly belong to the world which was reconciled and freed from sin, death and the kingdom of Satan by the blood of Jesus and you are likewise one of all the creatures of God to whom this blessed message is to be proclaimed and who is to be invited to this great supper.

"Yes," do I hear you say again: "All too long have I despised this grace of God. In my childhood he embraced me with his grace, forgave me my sin, adopted me as his child and gave me the right of inher-itance in his kingdom. But then came the day, when, like Esau, I scorned my rights as the firstborn and let myself be beguiled by the world. How many years have passed in which I have filled myself with the pig's-feed of this world and I haven't listened to God's call and his friendly invitation to his supper. Now it's too late!"

Behold, my friend! it would of course be nothing other than righteousness on the part of God if he had already gotten tired of you, his patience been exhausted and he had abandoned you to your own ways, but God is now so merciful that he "has no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked shall turn from his way and live." (Ez. 33:11.) Therefore, when he has borne with you now and preserved you in the time of grace and again today lets you be invited and says to you: "Come; for all things are now ready, the perfectly valid sacrifice was given also for these sins of yours," then he is showing you thereby even more clearly how unutterably great his love for you is and how much your salvation and blessedness are on his mind.

Therefore you must not now continue neglecting the Word of God and despising his grace and adding that sin to your others so that through your unbelief you continue to make God a liar in his Word. So do we also of course hear in the Gospel that he lets them that are invited hear these words: "Come; for all things are now ready!" Now even though these people excused themselves and didn't want to come, and the master is angry with them for that and says that none of them who were invited shall taste of his supper, yet we do see though how these people's contempt for grace and their subsequent rejection must serve to glorify the very grace of God, because now we hear him order the servants to go into the streets and lanes with so much greater zeal and to bring in the poor and the maimed and the halt and the blind. And when the servants said to him that still there was room, he orders them to go out onto the highways and into the hedges and compel them to come in so that his house can be filled.

Here you see though that it is the Lord's intent that we all come to his supper, that we all be saved. He really does want to have his house full. The more the world's mighty, rich, respected, and pious scorn the invitation, the more is it the Lord's will that we should seek out the downtrodden and the poor and the despised. And the more wretched and unworthy they feel because of their sins, the more should we compel them to come in so that his house shall be filled. O, brethren, what love for our souls. How it lies on his heart that everyone be saved and be blessed. Yes, he wants us to compel them to come in. But now of course God does not use violence and force in order to convert the heart and to force it to believe against its will, but in a way which is incomprehensible to us he persuades it by his divine power so that he makes a willing person out of an unwilling as the prophet says, "Lord, you have prevailed over me, and I let my-self be persuaded. You have been too strong for me and have prevailed." (Je. 2O:7.) Thus neither should we now compel people with force to be baptized, nor gather large crowds to church through secular laws, punishments and rewards, nor lure them to church and to work for it through amusements, lotteries and similar lures. Because, the kingdom of Christ is not of this world and "the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds; casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ." (2 Co. 1O:4.5.)

No, we compel, as Paul says to Timothy, by "preaching the word, being instant in season and out of season; reproving, rebuking, exhorting with all longsuffering and doctrine." (2 Ti. 4:2.) We are to stick to chastising and enticing with threats, admonitions and promises, until if possible, the stubbornness of peo-ple is overcome by the grace of God. The anxious and troubled souls, the poor in spirit who long for grace but fear for their unworthiness, them we are to compel by holding before them again and again the infinite great love of God in Christ Jesus and his friendly invitation, "Come unto me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." (Mt. 11:28.) In this way every Christian is to compel them to come in "by the word of truth, by the power of God, by the armor of righteousness on the right hand and on the left," (2 Co. 6:7) with persevering prayer and intercession, through fearless witness and confession, through persevering struggle and patient suffering for the truth. Where God should see that it is needed, neither will he let chastisement and the cross be lacking in order to compel them to come in so that his "house may be filled."

But, do I again hear someone say: "Now when God invites everyone to his supper so earnestly, and as we have heard even compels them to come in, and we know however from both the Word of God and from experience that few they are who are walking on the narrow way and are saved, then there must be some-thing good in their attitude or something less bad which prompts God and is the reason why he converts them while so many others go on to their destruction through their own fault. But I do not now find any such good, or less bad thing in my attitude through which I should have deserved in any way that God should look at me in grace and convert me in preference to others. On the contrary, I acknowledge myself as the greatest of all sinners and do not find anything other than resistance and stubbornness in myself. If there is anyone who deserves to be cast away, it is I. Therefore I cannot believe that God is gracious to me, and therefore I dare not come either."

But, my dear friend, you are mistaken in that. You are certainly correct in saying that if God should not take us into his grace and convert us before he found something good in us, or something less bad, then we could have no hope of being converted and saved, because "in me (that is, in my flesh) dwells no good thing," (Ro. 7:18) and if there was something in you which prompted him to convert you and to accept you as his child, then it was not by grace alone that we are saved, his supper no longer a meal of grace, his kingdom no longer a kingdom of grace in which the sinner who knows himself unworthy and who knows that he is dead in trespasses and sins could not hope to enter, then of course, neither were we as corrupted by sin as our Catechism teaches that we are, namely "inclined only to evil and unable and unwilling to do that which is good," and as we sing in the hymn:

Our whole nature and our thoughts all,

Ruined were by Adam's fall,

Poisoned were we by sin's portion,

We could find no help at all,

If Christ, our Comfort, had not freed us

From the threat'ning danger great,

And the wrath which came upon us,

And o'er us did dominate.

But, God be praised! our Gospel teaches us that the matter is completely otherwise.

In the first place, we hear that it was the poor and the maimed and the halt and the blind whom the master ordered the servants to bring in, people in misery and full of defects who did not have anything to boast of and in whom we do not hear the master in any way whatsoever praise something good but whose wretchedness and need went to his heart so that he had mercy on them and accepted them by grace alone. Thus he bids his servants to go out into the highways and hedges where the most miserable, the most wretched and the most needy people were to be found. And then these people, in the feeling of their wretchedness and great misery, would regard themselves completely unworthy of coming to so great a supper and consider it an impossibility, yes, presumptuous of them to accept the invitation which was meant for them, them too. So he says to them that they should compel them to come in. Therefore we see here that it is nothing other than pure grace and mercy which prompt him, both through his invitation and his compelling them.

Next then, we hear that the reason that those first people who were invited did not come to his supper wasn't that the master perhaps neglected to invite them or wasn't in earnest about getting them in. We see that they were the first people invited, prepared for it a long time in advance, and that he repeated the invitation to them and let them know that everything was now ready. No, the only reason was that they scorned the invitation and did not want to come. Some excused themselves and in that way acknowledged after all that they ought to have accepted the invitation. Another said he could not come; he had some-thing to take care of. In all of them, mere excuses, indifference and contempt.

Thus we also hear Christ say about the Jews: "How often would I have gathered your children together, even as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings, and you would not." (Mt. 23:37.) But those who came in and who shared in the supper had his undeserved grace alone to thank for the fact that they were invited and were compelled to come in. But just for this reason is this invitation to the great supper so wonderful and enticing for poor sinners who know that they are not able at all to come in, because it is of pure grace. O, that we also may regard it as wonderful, and not despise and reject the invitation!

Many are you now, dear brothers and sisters, who have been invited again and again to the great supper, to whom grace in Christ has been proclaimed and offered again and again. If you have despised God's call just as these people of whom the Gospel speaks, Oh, consider what a frightful judgment will come upon you if you remain in your unbelief and scorn the grace. It says in the Gospel that the master was angry and said that none of the people who were invited should taste his supper. Lo, this temple is being dedicated today so that the invitation to the great supper shall go out from here in this area, and yet, my dear friend, you don't know whether you'll be able to hear it here again. Therefore today, if you hear his voice, harden not your hearts!

Furthermore, in the Gospel the Lord calls our attention to what it is which brings so many people to despise his grace. It's love for the world, its riches, honor and good times.

For how many people is not temporal care the most important thing? They find no time to occupy them-selves with the Word of God, not at home and seldom in church. They have no means, no time, no inten-tion of bringing up their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Diligently keeping them in school won't do; their help is needed at home. Coming into a position where they can work for themselves and further their temporal livelihood, it's toward that that their effort is directed first of all. Therefore they cannot spare anything, or anything important, for church, school, the training of teachers, etc.

For other people the honor of the world is the highest goal. They only care about worldly information, or are taken up with politics. They read newspapers but not the Bible. For the sake of honor, they conform to the world and deny Christ instead of confessing him and suffering evil for his name's sake.

Then there are those who see the highest good in the vanity, fun and pleasures of life on earth. They go and care for their loved ones, for they are getting old, for what they will leave behind them. They have neither time nor money to sacrifice for the food which endures unto eternal life. Naturally, they cannot come. Yes, rather do they say: "Let us eat and drink; tomorrow we die!" (1 Co. 15:32.)

But God does not let himself be mocked. His verdict is: "None of those people who were invited, shall taste of my supper." Thus the Lord also says in Proverbs 1:24-32:

Because I have called, and you refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded; but you have set at naught all my counsel; and would none of my reproof; I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when you fear comes; when your fear comes as desolation, and your des-truction comes as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish come upon you. Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me; for they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the Lord; they would none of my counsel; they despised all my reproof. Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices. For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them.

O, watch and pray therefore, dear brethren, so that you do not fall into temptation! Do not despise the Lord's great grace which he offers you when he wants to gather you now here in his house in order to teach you to know, and to lead you on the way of salvation! Do not stay away from church and do not neglect his Word. Because if you do not want to hear it, then you are hindering the work of the Spirit of God, and if you remain in such contempt you make your conversion impossible. Thus we also of course sing:

But they who have always resisted

His grace and on their own virtue depended

Shall then be condemned and cast out from his face,

Eternally lost and unfriended.

Have mercy upon us, O Jesus!

Therefore, dear brother, attend here faithfully and "keep your foot when you go to the house of God, and be more ready to hear, than to give the sacrifice of fools"! (Ec. 5:1.) Do not harden yourselves when he wants to convict you of your sins but humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, because it is im-possible that you can have any longing for God's grace or want to accept this invitation and be partakers in his supper as long as you go on indifferent and secure in your sins. "They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick." (Mt. 9:12.) Acknowledge your sins with repentance and sorrow. It is in the feeling of our sinful misery that faith is conceived.

And then when the Lord comes in the Gospel and wants to comfort you, do not resist the Spirit of grace stubbornly but sit humbly at Jesus' feet as Mary did, learn from him and take reason captive under the obedience of faith, neither go according to your feelings but stay with the Word as your only true guide! And the Lord who works both to will and to do shall himself do his work also in your hearts and give you grace to believe and to accept the invitation, and he will preserve you in his kingdom of grace until the day of Jesus Christ.

See then, that you this day

God's mercy rightly treasure

And of this mystery

Do grasp its meaning proper!

The Law whose sum it is,

That sin you are to flee,

Whose sum the Gospel is,

Are born anew to be.

Yes, of his great grace, may God grant then that this joyous invitation to the great supper, to this blessed communion and the eternal enjoyment of his heavenly blessings may ring throughout as the sum of all the sermons delivered here to the comfort of poor sinners who come together here and seek guidance and sal-vation for their poor souls! Then shall it always be said of them who proclaim the Word from this place, "How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of them who bring good tidings, that publish peace." And thus when you and they who attend here in the course of time, come in through these gates with songs of joy and say: "Yes, beautiful upon the mountains are their feet who bear good tidings, who publish peace" (Is. 52:7) because there is nothing you are so desirous of as light, life and salvation, nothing which is as precious to you as the blessed Word of God which gives your heart peace, since it teaches you to know and to believe in him, Jesus Christ, the blessed Son of God who has made reconciliation for all your sins, be-cause nothing tastes as sweet to you as the blessed Gospel which strengthens and preserves you in faith in him until the end, oh, yes, then shall all such hearers find that they were not disappointed in their hope, but on that day among the hosts of the elect they will sing praises to him and to the Lamb who sits on the throne.

Thus then, may the Lord's blessing rest upon this house so that it may be a forecourt to the heavenly temple which is not made with hands for the many who attend here in the course of time. May he preserve his testimony from this place in its truth and purity and bless it upon the listeners' hearts so that great hosts of the redeemed of the Lord may come in to the great supper!

May he bless the little ones who are brought forward to him at this baptismal font and preserve them in his name so that they may remain in Christ as they are grafted into him here through baptism!

May he bless all them who are going to kneel around this altar rail and confirm their baptismal cove-nant, and preserve them in their baptismal grace until their lives' blessed end!

May he bless also them who approach this altar to be strengthened in faith and love through the Sacra-ment of the Lord's body and blood, and let them return to their homes with peace through the forgiveness of sins!

And with this then, be this church, with its pulpit, baptismal font and altar and the holy vessels, be sanctified and dedicated to the service of God in the name of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Ghost! Amen.

Kirketidende, Sept. 22, 1882, pages 589-6OO