Matthew 22:4-5

THE INVITATION IGNORED

‘Come unto the marriage. But they made light of it.’

Matthew 22:4

I. Invitation not compulsion.—It is God Who invites us. There are some who say, Why does not God compel us to come? The reason is not far to seek. Were we obliged to accept the invitation, where would be that which is so delightful to God, that which He so desires, namely, the offering of a free heart?

II. Making light of it.—What is it which is the great hindrance to the spread of the Gospel? Is it opposition? No, there is very little of that. ‘They make light of the great truths of God, heaven and hell, death and judgment. Many of them have very high ideas of duty, and they do it. But about the Gospel invitation, the worship of the Church, the life of devotion, the study of the Scriptures, the use of the Sacraments, they make light of these things. They do not oppose them; quite the reverse. In all probability they come to church on Sundays. But if a man is content to go through a mere routine form, he is setting up something which is instead of that personal relation between the soul and God which is alone worthy of being called a religion, which is the soul’s response to the invitation, ‘Come unto the Marriage.’ The Church, which is the Body of Christ, exists for the purpose of cementing that union betwixt Christ and each one of the members of the Church for which Christ became incarnate. It is this which men make light of.

III. One more appeal.—God is giving us this message and this invitation. He has given it to us again and again in our lives. He gives it to us again to-day. Shall we make light of it still? The thirst of Jesus Christ was for souls, and never will He be satisfied until He receives from each one of us, in answer to this bitter cry, ‘I thirst!’ the heart which He so desires.

Canon R. R. Bristow.

(SECOND OUTLINE)

TRIFLING WITH RELIGION

Opposition is not the worst thing to which truth or even love can be subjected. Rejection is not the worst thing. But slight, contempt, indifference are the worst things.

I. The sin of trifling.—Trifling is the sin of Christendom. It is your sin. Is it a fact (a) That the Son of God has visited this earth? (b) That you are a sinner, and that no sin can ever live with God? (c) That the justice of God requires the punishment of sin? (d) That there is a way open to you by which you may be forgiven? (e) That if you loved God, you must be holy? (f) That death is in the air? Then, why make light of it?

II. Why do people so trifle with the greatnesses of their existence, with these grand things of the Almighty? Chiefly for three reasons:

(a) They are pre-occupied, their hearts, their time, their thoughts are already full. ‘The farm and the merchandise’ claim attention.

(b) The near looks larger than the distant. Death, heaven, judgment seem so far away.

(c) There is not personality enough; the whole thing is so general and so abstract.

III. What is the remedy?

(a) Occupy the ground early with Christ, and the things of Christ.

(b) Stretch out the telescope of faith. Do not be always looking down into the valley—gaze on the snow mountains!

(c) And thirdly, take your religion out of the coldnesses of abstraction, and let it be as if you were the only one He calls—as if you were the only one for whom He died.

This, if you do, you will never ‘make light’ again of holy things.

The Rev. James Vaughan.