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| Summary: This harsh-sounding parable reminds us that accepting the invitation to the banquet is not enough. We should begin to prepare ourselves for the future kingdom of heaven by showing love, compassion and courage now. |
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| Summary: Those who say it’s inconvenient to attend God’s party really just don’t want to be there. But all who go should be ready to redress when they arrive, for God will have the garments of righteousness waiting. |
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| Summary: When we turn down the divine invitation into the kingdom of God, we are actually snubbing God. And if we do accept the invitation, we need to surrender our filthy clothes of sin and allow God to dress us in the garments of righteousness. |
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| Summary: The invitation of God is universal, daily and eternal. While we receive many calls from God, we can miss the critical opportunities. In the parable of the wedding invitation, Jesus challenges us to be open to his call each day of our lives |
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| Summary: Once we decide to follow Jesus, we need to discard the garments of sin and put on the clothing of righteousness. |
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| Summary: God has invited us all to be guests at his table. Some will reject his invitation. |
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| Summary: In one parable, Jesus told of a king’s invitation to his son’s wedding banquet being ignored, with some of the king’s messengers being killed. Those guilty of the crime and their city are destroyed, and other messengers are sent to bring anyone they can find to the banquet. In a second parable, the king finds that one of those brought in doesn’t have a wedding garment. A living faith in Christ, with the good works that a living faith produces, is the festive garment that the king gives the wedding guests. We should wear it as well.
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| Summary: God is gracious. God is just. We often emphasize the first and ignore the latter. This parable includes both grace and justice. The good news is that God’s grace is offered to all. We do a disservice to God and to God’s grace if we believe there are not consequences for rejecting that same grace. |
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| Summary: Jesus laid down an incredible command: “Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” This command applies, among other things, to money, work and family. |
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| Summary: It is as vital today to resolve the conflict between loyalty to the “emperor” and loyalty to God as it was during Jesus’ time. If we ask Jesus for specifics on how we should manage our loyalties, we find that his answer is similar to the one he gave Pharisees and Herodians. |
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| Summary: A question about taxes was designed to damage and discredit Jesus. But he slipped out of trouble and revealed a new understanding about what belongs to God. |
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| Summary: Christianity is a religion of feelings and of ideas and of performance. This last area, which includes trusting God enough to obey him, is something we can all do, even when our feelings fluctuate and we are flooded with doubts. Obedience gets us through to where faith returns. In the end, it is the practice of faith that makes God’s people. |
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| Summary: The Caesar many of us labor under today is work; and we are in the middle of a major cultural discussion about the place of work in our lives and what employers can and cannot ask of their employees. Meanwhile, family life also is increasingly busy and fragmented, leaving many with difficult, seemingly no-win choices. As we resonate with the dilemma facing Jesus, perhaps his response can shed light on our own. |
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| Summary: We owe a debt to both God and country. It is our Christian responsibility to remember which is which. |
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| Summary: Jesus was given a stark choice — do we pay the hated tax to the emperor or not? Flip a coin. Both answers are losers. But Jesus answered, “None of the above.” And that’s one takeaway from this passage. Jesus transcended the trap of people who use clobber verses to “defeat” their foes. We are not to let the world — or the Bible trolls — control the conversation. Jesus is changing the world through the Sermon on the Mount, his parables and the victory from the cross to the empty tomb, and so are we — God’s way.
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| Summary: When Jesus said, “A second is like it,” he gave a whole, new declaration of the nature of our relationship to God. |
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| Summary: By answering the ambiguous question of an expert on biblical law, Jesus defines love of God and neighbor as the center of biblical ethics. God enables us to love, so that we can act in ways that bear witness to God. Love enables us to reclaim biblical teaching on ethics as gift, not burden. |
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| Summary: Jesus taught us that the two greatest commandments were exercising love for God and love for our neighbors. A godly person once said that in doing God’s will there is perfect peace. Perfect peace, then, will surely come to those who love God and others. And to have peace and meaning within is to discover that one is living a quite wonderful life.
To love God with one’s whole being and to love others who are also children of God, is to discover life in its fullness. It is indeed an abundant life.
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| Summary: Jesus teaches us that the greatest commandment is to love God, but sometimes it’s easier to love our neighbor. We often don’t have the words to describe how we love God; it seems elusive and intangible. How do we find ourselves ready to love God in such a radical way that we are able to transform the world? |
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| Summary: When Jesus is asked what the greatest commandment is, he lists not one but two having to do with love. But is a life of faith really two-step simple? And what happens when we discover that love inevitably leads to pain? |
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| Summary: There are three reliable methods for hearing what God wants us to hear from a biblical passage: seek out preaching and teaching that is faithful and well-informed, let scripture interpret scripture and apply the rule of love.
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| Summary: The whole law, says Jesus, is fulfilled in self-giving love, agapē. Jesus thus shows his agreement with the basic traditions of Israel and also points forward to his own passion, death and resurrection. We are invited to accept his righteousness, his perfect fulfillment of the law of love, as our own. |
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| Summary: Jesus is asked a standard question about the law and gives a standard answer. There’s little debate about the basic content of the law. The difficulty comes when we try to fulfill the law, when the problem of sin becomes clear. The law diagnoses the disease of sin but can’t cure it. Jesus points toward the cure with his follow-up question about the Messiah, who is to be seen not just as the Son of David but one in whom God is uniquely present to save. |
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| There are 23 sermons in your results. |
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