This sermon was originally preached in church and assumes some familiarity with the Bible stories it explores. If you are new to Christianity, or simply curious about faith, I have also written a shorter companion article that introduces the same ideas in a more accessible way. You can find it here; Exploring Faith
Whichever version you choose, the central message is the same: we often search for fulfilment in things that cannot ultimately satisfy, yet God continues to invite us back to Himself, the One our hearts have been yearning for all along.
A Poor Substitute
One of the strangest things about human beings is how easily we can be persuaded to believe what we want to be true.
I am not particularly proud to admit it, but many years ago, I was convinced I had found the bargain of a lifetime. And I wanted it to be true.
It was as I was walking through a street market, I came across a trader selling my favourite perfume at a discounted price. He had attracted quite a crowd.
The perfume certainly looked authentic in lovely recognisable packaging, and the trader was very plausible.
I should have known better – but bought a bottle anyway.
Guess what, I soon discovered it was fake and went straight back, returned the goods and demanded my money back.
To my surprise, he handed it over quite quickly.
What surprised me even more – was what happened next.
He simply carried on selling the same perfume.
And people carried on buying it.
Some of them must have seen what happened. Yet there they were, still reaching for their money.
OK, perhaps some were stooges and part of the scam. But I’m sure others were people much like me.
Perhaps it all looked so convincing that, we all wanted to believe it was genuine.
And I wonder if that’s sometimes true of us spiritually as well.
Because we’re human, and sometimes we settle for substitutes. Things that look convincing.
Things we want to believe are what they seem.
Yet they can never give us what only God can.
When God Feels Distant
Take the verses in Exodus telling of the golden calf. Exodus 32:1-14
It’s easy to read it and wonder how the Israelites could do such a thing after all God had done for them.
He had broken the power of Pharaoh, led them safely through the sea, and journeyed with them through the wilderness.
But when Moses had gone up the mountain, and nobody knew when he was coming back, God felt distant, and the people became anxious and tired of waiting for his return.
Most of us know what it feels like when God seems absent and answers appear slow in coming.
And the Israelites did what human beings have always done.
They looked for a substitute, something immediate, visible and reassuring, something they could gather around and manage.
They collected all their golden earrings together to melt down and fashion the image of a golden calf.
This, they reasoned, would give themselves something they could actually see while Moses was away – and God seemed distant.
It became a substitute for the God they could not patiently wait for
What fascinates me is that they did not stop being religious.
There was still worship and celebration.
It all looked remarkably convincing. The packaging was still there. But the reality was different.
They had exchanged the living God for something they could control.
The problem was not that they had stopped wanting God’s help. The problem was that they wanted Him on their own terms.
Yet when God seemed distant and the waiting became hard, they turned to a false idol.
But before we’re too hard on them, perhaps we should ask what our own golden calves look like.
Not idols actually made of gold but the things we turn to for security instead, of God:
money, status, devices, consumerism and other worldly habits.
Athough, these things are not wrong in themselves.
The problem comes though, when like the Israelites, we expect them to do what only God can do.
Missing the Invitation
Then we come to Jesus’ parable of the wedding banquet. Matthew 22:1-14
People were presented with something amazing. An invitation from the king to a real feast to celebrate his son’s wedding.
Everything had been prepared and was ready for the guests, but people politely declined the invitation. One had work to do, another had other priorities.
Am interesting point is, how ordinary the excuses were.
Their mistake was not necessarily great wickedness, but allowing other concerns to become more important than the king’s invitation
They were perhaps, just distracted from what matters most.
And if I’m honest, that’s a familiar feeling for me.
We all know how easy to become so occupied with the supposedly urgent things of life, that we miss the important things.
It is very easy to become so busy in everyday matters that we fail to notice the invitations God places before us.
A Place at the Feast
And finally, we have the guest without the right wedding clothes at the banquet. Matthew 22:1-14
I’ve always found this part of the parable odd.
After all, he accepted the invitation and came to the banquet. He is in the room with everyone else. Yet the king sees something no one else does.
And that’s an interesting point.
Just as the people in the market were not put off by my challenge to the perfume seller, the other guests may not have noticed anything unusual about this man.
His appearance was convincing enough. His conversation plausible.
But appearance and reality are not always the same thing.
Jesus is perhaps saying something similar here.
This man looks as though he belongs at the feast, but something essential is missing.
He has come to the banquet but has never truly embraced the king.
In the parable, the king represents God himself, who sees beyond appearances and knows whether our hearts truly belong to him.
And like those who worshipped the golden calf, this man seems to have settled for a substitute rather than the real thing…
It is as though he wanted the feast and good company, but not the king.
And when the king challenged him, he had no answer.
The invitation had been accepted, but the relationship it was intended to create had never truly taken root.
The Genuine Article
What strikes me in both readings is that people were settling for something far less than what God was actually offering them.
Perhaps that is because substitutes often seem easier, and trusting in God can be hard, waiting for Him can test our endurance and faith.
In comparison, substitutes can feel safer, more manageable and more immediate, even when we suspect they cannot deliver what they promise.
The Heart of the Gospel
But what I take away from both readings is God’s response.
He doesn’t abandon Israel, and the king doesn’t cancel the banquet.
Just as God kept reaching out to the Israelites despite their failings, and just as the king continued to invite people to the wedding feast, so too God continues to reach out to us today.
He keeps inviting us back from modern-day substitutes that cannot provide what we truly need.
He calls us, time and time again, back to what is genuine and lasting:
Faith in place of anxiety;
Hope in place of despair;
A life shaped by love rather than the illusion of self-sufficiency;
Communion with God instead of the empty substitutes our world so readily offers.
And when we finally stop searching for answers elsewhere, when we at last turn ourselves fully over to God, we realise:
He is the one our hearts have been yearning for all along.
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