Saturday, August 29, 2015
Proverbs 9:4-6 Whoever is simple, let him turn in here! As for him who lacks understanding, [Wisdom] says to him, Come, eat of my bread and drink of the wine I have mixed. Forsake foolishness and live, and go in the way of understanding.
NO "CAFETERIA THEOLOGY" HERE
Our Savior urgently calls Christians to evangelize the world. Jesus, who is Wisdom personified, invites all people to a spiritually nutritious and sumptuous feast for it serves up full and free forgiveness and salvation, as it calls on all people to repent and believe the gospel.
That gospel in Word and Sacrament--the heart of the Scriptures--has always been the means whereby the Holy Spirit creates, nourishes, and sustains saving faith in Jesus. That needs to be stressed for in our politically correct day and age, Wisdom's counterpart Folly dupes so many people with her foolish "banquet" of rationalism, hedonism, secularism, and plain unbelief.
Don't buy the "cafeteria theology" of so many churches today -- that pick and choose what to believe or accept from the Bible. The Savior's Great Commission includes teaching "all things, whatsoever [He has] commanded." God in His grace teaches us that there is truth and there is error. Let us each be concerned lest the leaven of false doctrine dilute and even poison the life-giving Word of God.
"Forsake foolishness and live, and go in the way of understanding." As we forsake Folly's foolish ways, let us invite others to hear and believe with us the simple gospel of "Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so." Believing that gospel leads to the abundant life here, until we join in a lavish feast called "the marriage supper of the Lamb" in heaven (Revelation 19:9).
"Lord, save me from the folly of going my own way, for in the end folly abandons me in the company of the dead. Give me a discerning mind to know how folly's call would take me from wisdom to a table for the dead. Then, by Your grace and Spirit, make me wise to the truth of Your love, help me to share Your wisdom with others, bringing us at last to a feast of life, rich with Your presence, lasting forever. Amen" (adapted from notes in The Lutheran Study Bible).
