Dressed Appropriately

Dressed Appropriately – Philippians 4:1-9; Matthew 22:1-14

·      Reb’s wedding

o  suit is being hired for me

§  my own wedding suit no longer fits properly...

o  being a civil ceremony, no religious content is allowed

§  will I be thrown out?!

§  not because I haven’t got a wedding suit on!

·      Quite a shocking thing for Jesus to advocate, isn’t it?! (vv12-13)

o  especially as it’s clearly a picture of God’s kingdom (v2)

§  the ‘religious leaders’ (those who are first invited) miss out / mae’r arweinyddion crefyddol yn colli allan

§  all who are seen as unworthy are called to join the party

o  if it stopped there it would be alright

§  God’s love is for everyone ü

·      no matter who we are or what we’ve done ü

·      forgiveness is freely available because of God’s grace ü

·      we all get the invitation because Jesus is the invitation ü

o  but a man who isn’t dressed appropriately gets thrown out... û

§  how is that a message of Good News / sut mae hwnna neges newyddion da?

·      after all, how was he expected to have the right clothes?

·      surely God isn’t like that?

o  He loves us as we are, and welcomes all sinners

§  only a part-truth

·      The problem is what the clothes represent

·      The Gospel message we want to hear is that ‘we’re okay’

o  as we are – God doesn’t want us to change

o  He loves us warts and all

o  He forgives us, but places no expectations on us

·      That is not the Gospel

o  we even hear it in the Church sometimes

o  but it ignores enormously significant parts of Jesus’ ministry

§  Jesus, in love and forgiveness, met people where they were

§  Ond ni wnaeth gadael nhw yna / but he didn’t leave them there

o  the woman caught in adultery

§  “Go now and  leave you life of sin” (John 8:11)

o  the sick, demon-possessed, dead

§  healed, changed

·      Jesus meets us where we are

o  and takes us to where we should be; how we were made to be

o  and that’s what the clothes represent

§  a changed, restored, renewed, resurrected life

§  a life of holiness (love of God, love of neighbour?)

·      the kind of life we are called to live (Phil 4:8-9)

·      The clothes we need are available for us

o  the fruit and gifts of the Spirit

o  clothed in righteousness from Jesus

§  Romans 13:14; Galatians 3:27; Colossians 3:12; 1 Peter 5:5

·      We can’t expect to spend eternity with God dressed in rags

o  so let’s put on the righteousness that Jesus has bought for us, and follow Him to the feast