2.22.26 Sermon - The Guest List In The Kingdom

Campaign that we're in is called the way how Jesus calls us to live. Remember what we're doing in this campaign is walking through the parables of Jesus. Most of them, some of them. Not going through all of them, he teaches a lot of parables. Remember a parable is a short fictional story that is meant to communicate a spiritual truth. Jesus used parables a lot and some of them are easier to interpret than others. But this one is pretty straightforward as we walk through this. So remember, one of the key themes as we're running up against time and time again in this campaign is that Jesus' voice has to be the loudest in our heads. Okay. When we consider what the good life looks like, when we consider how we're called to live, morality, ethics, truth, how we're called to live as the people of God, there are lots of voices in the world that are trying to tell us what the good life looks like, that are telling us how we ought to live or what is true and what is right and what is good, Jesus' voice has to be the loudest. Scripture has to be the loudest. They're all competing for your attention. And Jesus' voice often doesn't indicate what we want the good life to be. It's challenging. Jesus challenges us to live according to the ways of the kingdom. So let Jesus speak into your life, into your heart, into your soul and let him guide you. In the context, I ask Helen to read more than what we're going to cover. She read 1 through 24, "We're only really going to cover the last parable because Jesus tells two parables in this short scene. But we're only going to cover the last one for the sake of time. But just so you guys have the context, the scene, the setting, and your head, I'm just going to go through it really quick." Okay, Jesus is eating at a Sabbath meal. He's having a Sabbath meal with a prominent Pharisee, where they're watching him to try to catch him in his words to see if he's saying or doing something that violates the law. And there's this man who comes in who has abnormal swelling. Don't quite know exactly what that looks like, if it was just like in his joints, if it was in his stomach. There's lots of different things that could be, but it was usually a death sentence. There wasn't any cure for it. And so Jesus asked them if it's lawful to heal on the Sabbath or not. And they would say no, okay, but Jesus is going to challenge their preconceived notion and their misunderstandings of what it meant to honor God and to love God. They had created all these additional rules that you weren't allowed to heal on the Sabbath unless it was to save the person's life and an emergency. And so he asked them that. They remained silent and they had this wrong understanding of what it meant to honor God. Jesus heals him and that ticked him off, I'm sure. And then he tells a parable, another parable, about how actually this guy invited the wrong people. He shouldn't have invited the people who are wealthy, who are his family and his friends who can pay him back and who will invite him in return to another Sabbath feast. Instead, he says that they should have invited the people who can't pay him back. He should have invited the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. Then God will reward him, he says, at the resurrection or in the kingdom of heaven. Okay, so there's some tension in the air. Oh, first I forgot to mention this. At the party, Jesus saw all of them picking the seats of honor and taking the high places and trying to warn up one another on the social ladder or be close to power so that they can get into the ear of the powerful people and endure themselves to them. It was all this social power game that was happening on the Sabbath day. And Jesus is like, no, don't do that, take the lowest seat, right? And then if somebody more dignified than you comes in, you won't be embarrassed. And if no one else, then they'll invite you to take the higher seat. Then he summarizes that by saying for all those who exalt themselves, will be humbled and those who humbled themselves will be exalted. So if there's ever a verse to memorize in the Bible, that's a good one. Okay? We'll go through these in the devotional, but I don't have time to go through it now. There's tension in the air. Okay? So let's just say that. We get that. It's tense. Okay? Jesus has just challenged them on two fronts. He said, stop trying to play this like power game at this dinner party. And you invited the wrong people. You should have invited the poor, the crippled, and the lame. So Jesus is challenging them. And again, we get why they don't like Jesus. He constantly challenges the Pharisees and the religious leaders of his day. Constantly. Okay. So he's just been beginning in verse 15. When one of those at the table with him heard this, he said to Jesus, "Blessed is the one who will eat at the feast in the kingdom of God." Two different ways of understanding this. One is just, he just sends me making a statement. That's like, obviously true. Okay? I don't think that's what's happening here. He's, remember the scene. Jesus has just said, you should have invited the poor, the crippled, and the lame. Jesus has just healed the man on the Sabbath day, violating their misperceptive perceptions of what it looks like to honor God, violating the oral tradition of the law. Then this guy stands up and says, "Blessed is the one who will eat at the feast in the kingdom of God." I think what he's doing here is implying that Jesus won't be there because Jesus is a lawbreaker. He's violating their Sabbath oral laws. And he's saying the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, they won't be there either. Because in the thinking of their day, most generally accepted thinking of the day was that if somebody was born blind or became crippled or lame or was poor, either they or their parents must have done something seriously sinful, forgot to have done that to them. For them to have had that experience and for that to have happened to them. They must have sinned. So their sinners is kind of the impression of like, that's why you're poor. That's why you're lame or blind is because there's some sin in your life or in your family's life. Therefore, you will not be at the feast in the kingdom of heaven. That's what he's saying. That's describing heaven. The new creation is that feast in the kingdom of heaven language. So he's insinuating that. Jesus won't be there and the poor, the lame, the blind, they won't be there. It's tense. Imagine a dinner party and this is going on. Jesus replies. Now he's going to tell another parable to describe the kingdom of God. Certain man is preparing a great banquet and invited many guests. So first of all, Jesus in a lot of his parables, he compares the kingdom of God and the new creation to a banquet. It's a party. It's a feast. It's fun. Okay. So just taking out of that, we'll talk about it when I come back in a plight later. I'm an ancient parable and invited many guests. At the time of the banquet, he sent his servant to tell those who had been invited. Come for everything is now ready. So in the ancient world, they'd send out two invites to a party. They'd send out one a long time prior, kind of like a save the date, but also an RSVP, save the date, RSVP. So all these people, presumably, have said they're available and they're coming to this party. Then they'd send out a second invite when everything is set and ready. Like these are their neighbors, close friends and family. They'd send out a second invite once the food is ready and everything is prepared. They'd say, "All right, it's all set. Come, hang out. Let's have this great feast and this party. Let's have fun." People confirm that they're coming and then they don't. But they all alike began to make excuses. This was an insult to the person who's throwing the party. They had confirmed and said they're coming, but now they don't. I have bought a field and I must go and see it. Please excuse me. Okay, this sounds ridiculous in our cultural context, but it was a common practice in the ancient world. Once you bought a field, you would go visit it after you've purchased it to inspect it. But what this reveals is a misplaced priority. And again, breaking the promise. Like he said, he would be there. Now that everything's ready, saying, "Eh, no. I got this other thing I got to go do." And he could really do this at any time. Right? It's not an urgent thing. It's not something that you have to go take care of immediately. Please excuse me, he says. This kind of symbolizes wealth, prosperity. I know they said, "I have just bought five Yoke of oxen and I'm on my way to try them out. Please excuse me." All right. This means this guy is really wealthy. And in this day and age, most farmers only own one, maybe two oxen. This guy just bought ten. Right? Which I'm assuming a Yoke is like two Yoke goes over two of them. He just bought ten. Okay, so he's incredibly wealthy. Again, pretty lame excuse, right? I got to go see how they plow. Today, we'd say, "I just bought a tractor. I can't wait to hook something up to it and see how it works and watch it plow the field." So sorry, I know I said I'd be there, but I can't. I got to go fire up my John Deere and plow the field. Okay. Anybody who says that, it's ridiculous. All right. It's a bad lame excuse. And they're. It's revealing misplaced priorities, okay? But we get it, right? This is symbolizing work, right? Or like buying a new tool who has involved a new tool and thought like, I can't wait to fire this thing up. All right, when I bought a chainsaw recently, I was like, couldn't wait to just go cut something. I get it, okay? But misplaced priorities and work is symbolized there. Still another said, I just got married, so I can't come. Yeah, it's culture when you got married. There was a period of time where you're excused from your normal duties and just to give you time to hang out with your new spouse. But that's no reason not to come to a party, right? You can bring your spouse to the party and you all can hang out together, especially if you've already said you're coming, right? So this excuse, another lame excuse reveals the misplaced priority of family. All of these are taking precedent over the kingdom of God. These three, they represent the Jews and the Jewish religious leaders of Jesus' day who are making all these excuses to not believe in Jesus. Remember they're looking to trap him in his words. They have all of these misplaced priorities in following the oral tradition of the law, in the mission of that wasn't actually the Old Testament law. And Jesus is telling this parable to reveal that they have misplaced priorities. They're missing the kingdom of God because of these other priorities. Okay? Remember the context of Jesus is telling this to a group of Pharisees and teachers of the law at Sabbath, meal. And they have these misplaced priorities. It did it again, wild. I even checked it. (gasps) All right, I don't get it. (sighs) Okay. (laughs) Okay, Luke 14. Yeah. Did you fix it, Clay? Good call. Appreciate you, man. All right, maybe I check the wrong one. So, the servant came back and reported this to his master. Then the owner of the house became angry. Okay, revealing God's wrath and ordered his servants. Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame. Remember the accusation at the beginning or the insinuation that the poor, the crippled, the blind, the lame, Jesus himself. They won't be at the feast in the kingdom of heaven. They won't be in the new creation. They won't be invited to God's party. Jesus is saying like, no, actually, they're invited and they're coming, whereas you guys aren't. The Pharisees aren't. So, let's go out and invite them in. All right, Clay, if you can go back to the next one or to the other one. Sir, the servant said, what you ordered has been done but there is still room. Jesus wants his house full. Then the master told the servant, go out to the roads and the country lanes and compel them to come in. So that my house will be full. This is signifying the Gentiles. So, remember in this culture, the Jews believe that only they were the people of God. Gentiles could come in to be in part of the people of God but they had to go through this process and essentially become Jewish in order to be a part of the people of God. So, Jesus is saying here is to this insinuation that the Jesus and the poor, the lame, the blind, the disabled, they're not going to be in the kingdom. Jesus is saying like, they will and the Gentiles will. Because you guys have been rejecting the invitation through Jesus to be in the kingdom of God. They were missing it entirely. So, God wants his house to be full and he's saying, go out, outside of the city even and just bring in anybody to come and to celebrate this feast with me. He wants the Gentiles to be a part of it as well. In the Jewish mind, there was Jews, there was Gentiles. So, it's like everyone else apart from the Jewish people, people from every nation, tongue and tribe. It's great diversity in the kingdom of God. I tell you, and he says, not one of those who are invited will get a taste of my banquet. So, those original three groups signifying the Jews, the Jewish religious leaders, they're not going to be a part of the banquet. They're not going to be a part of the kingdom of God because they have rejected Jesus. Because the invitation they have rejected, they've made all these ridiculous excuses and they've missed Jesus. And the kingdom of God entirely. Michael, can you go grab the band? We're going to transition to worship here. Our big idea is God's guest list for his kingdom is diverse and full of the poor and the disabled. So, their idea in this age was God's guest list, what it looked like to be blessed was to have health, wealth, prosperity, and to be a good religious person. Anybody who didn't fit that description was probably cursed by God. The Gentiles were cursed or not, they were not a part of the people of God. The poor, the disabled, they were not a part of the people of God because again, there must have been sin in their life or in their family's lives that prevented them from being a part of God's people. And so, Jesus is kind of flipping the script and he's saying actually God's guest list is the poor, the lame, the disabled. God's guest list is for the Gentiles, for people of every nation, tongue, and tribe. Let's pray. Lord, Jesus, we thank you for your kingdom expansion that you, Lord, are expanding your kingdom to people from every nation, tongue, and tribe. That your kingdom is full of diversity. That Lord, your compassion, your love reaches out to those whom society looks down upon. Those who we look at and say, "That's not the good life." Jesus, you reach out to them and they're accepting your invitation to come and be a part of your kingdom. So Lord, I pray that you would give us this picture of your kingdom, that you would give us this heart of compassion. And Lord, that we would rejoice at your kingdom feast, that we get to be a part of it. Give us joy we pray. It's in your name, Jesus. Amen. All right, let's stand and let's worship God together. I'll come back and apply this in a few moments. If you'd like to pray while we're singing, please, Michael, is in the back. He would love the opportunity to pray with you. A big idea is that God's guest list is King Deme's diverse and is full of the poor. He's disabled. That's what Jesus is telling the Pharisees in this parable and that's what this means for us today. This means that a lot of the religious people, quote unquote, religious people who are depending on self-righteousness may not be there. They may look good now. We may look at them and say, like, they got it all together. Their life is good. But what Jesus is reminding these Pharisees of is, hey guys, that's not the way to the kingdom. The way to the kingdom is only through faith in Jesus. It's only when we believe that he has died on the cross to save and to redeem us. We put all of our trust, all of our hope in him. The poor were doing that, then saved all they were doing that. The Gentiles were doing that in Jesus' day. Unexpected folks were believing in Jesus. And so we're talking about the kingdom. We mentioned this week's ago and we started this campaign. Theologians called it already, but not yet. The kingdom is here in part, but it is not yet here in full. Jesus says in Luke 17, that a camp he observed in the same way as physical things, but it's here. It's among us, Jesus says. And there's some mystery in this, that the kingdom of God exists here, now, in part, but not yet in full. And so we can experience this now. This banquet, this wedding feast, we're experiencing it now in part, and we will experience it in the new creation in full. And in this banquet, people from every nation, tongue and tribe will be there in the kingdom of God. So when you picture heaven, what do you see? Is it all people who look like you? Or is it a multicultural, diverse experience of worship? 'Cause that's what it's going to be like, and that's what it is right now. And so we should enjoy it. We should find joy and delight in that. It's also not just the healthy people, the wealthy, the powerful people who will be there. It's the people like Lazarus in the parable of the rich man, Lazarus. Guy who sat at the gate of a rich man with sores all over his body that the dogs were even looking at. It's the poor in spirit, Jesus says. It says, "Blessed of the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." Luke's version of it just says, "Blessed are the poor." Maybe two separate occasions where Jesus said that or the simple reality that poor people tend to be poor in spirit. So rich people can be poor in spirit too. It's a little harder for us to do because when you don't feel like you need God every moment of the day, you feel like you can just be self-sufficient and you have no need for God. It's more difficult to recognize your desperate need for God every moment. You can do it, but only by God's grace. Only by God's grace. It's only when God gives you that picture. So this is what it looks like to be a part of the kingdom of God. It's a very diverse experience. It's full of the poor and the disabled. I'll apply that again in a moment here. First, side point. The kingdom of God is full of joy. Jesus often portrays the kingdom of God as a party. It's usually like a wedding feast. This is the lies in the face of our common misconceptions about the people of God, the kingdom of God, about church and church people. And if there may be just wrong ideas about it, but I think a lot of it is due to misconceptions of church people and religious people. And what we've portrayed to the world, we've portrayed a wrong picture of what it looks like to be a part of the kingdom of God. Not necessarily here at Life Bridge, I've seen a lot. It's been a joy experiencing the kingdom of God here at Life Bridge with you guys. But many of us have this picture of the kingdom of God as just a bunch of strict rules, super boring, it's really lame. Okay. I always imagine it like coach Boone and remember the Titans when he's talking to PD and he's grilling him. And he tells him, you know, was this fun for you? And PD eventually gets to the point where he says zero funds, sir. That's how most people think about the church. And part of that's on us, right? Because we don't experience the joy of the Lord. Even though it is the second fruit of the Spirit listed, even though Jesus usually depicts the kingdom of God as a party or like a wedding feast, a celebration, a joyful experience. And so I just want to challenge us to not think of the kingdom of God in church and our experience together as the people of God as an HOA meeting or like a lecture on municipal zoning codes. Okay. Like, man, that's super boring. Okay. The kingdom of God should be a party. It should be a joyful experience. And so when we get together as the people of God, let's rejoice. Let's experience the joy of the kingdom of God as it actually is. Because that's how Jesus portrayed it. And that's how Jesus lived. If you've seen the chose and you've watched through it, I love how like Jesus goes to parties, he just like drops in on a wedding feast on one occasion and just starts like dancing and hanging out with everybody. Okay. That's like that's a good picture of Jesus, right? He's not a cramudge in so neither should we. All right. Our misplaced priorities keep us from experiencing the joy of the kingdom. So there's three people that Jesus has in this parable. One says he's got to go check out his field. All right. One's like, I got to go see how my oxen plow and work with them and try out my new tool. And they're like, I just got married. So I'm hanging out with my spouse. We all have these misplaced priorities. These are three of the biggest ones back in the first century that we still have today. Like investments, wealth, work, family. These can be misplaced priorities. These are good things that God has given us. But if they become the first priority in our life, then they become idols. And those are way more dangerous than anything in the secular world. That's obviously sinful. How many of us would say that we don't have time to pray. We don't have time to be with God and to commune with Him because we're just working too much. Whether it's at home or actually at work. How many of us would say we're so concerned about our financial future that our anxious thoughts are overwhelming us. That we can't trust. We can't have faith in God to provide for us because our anxious thoughts are just taking over. We then obsess over every purchase, over every investment, and we watch every dollar. How many of us are just simply too busy on our projects at home? Good vacations, other things that we're doing to be a part of a group to be a part of our church family and church community. How many of us are just so excited about getting a new tool that we want to use that? We're more excited about that. That our passion for that is greater than when we're singing and worship to God. If you get more excited about buying a new tool than you do about praising God, that's a problem. Your priorities are misplaced. Your desires are out of whack. How many of us are prioritizing family? Again, good thing. But to prioritize that over the kingdom of God. With things like club, youth, sports. The idea there is giving your family every opportunity. Right? It's a good thing. But if it comes the first priority, then it replaces God in our hearts. That makes it impossible for then your children to participate in the family of God in church. Many singles desire more espouse than they do the kingdom of God. Many couples desire more a child than they do God in his kingdom. So what Jesus is doing is challenging us. Do you really desire the kingdom of God more than anything else? It's half, but we have to. Because when we do, there is joy in the kingdom of God. When we put other priorities first, it will steal your joy. But if God and His kingdom is first on your priority list, your life can be like this feast in the kingdom of God. You can truly experience joy and peace with God. So don't let these misplaced priorities steal your joy. So for our next steps, number one, what misplaced priorities keep you from experiencing joy of the kingdom? And two, I invite you to reimagine the kingdom of God. Re-imagine it as a diverse group. When you think of it, what does it look like in your mind's eye? It looks like diversity. People from every nation tongue and tribe. Or does it look like just people like you? Or the poor, the lame, the blind, the disabled there. I want to end with a vision, a dream that somebody from church had about a year ago. It fits perfectly with this, being marking one year after a read past. It was for the weemers and a perfectly illustrated the kingdom of God. I have adjusted it a little bit, but I'm going to read it from the dreamers perspective. We, me and my family are trying to find a parking spot. There's this feeling of excitement and hurry. We're struggling to find a parking spot that wasn't a handicap spot. It's so perfect. There was strangely a large number of spots that were marked handicap. We find a spot and a load the car. As we're in a load, we find we have a large metal pot of soup or chili in it. So we place it in the green wagon and pull it in with us. It's sunny out and the air is warm and had a sweet floral smell like summer in Florida. We began to walk as a family down a sidewalk that was lined with trees. In the dream, I know where we're headed, but I personally can't specifically make out where we're going. It feels like we're going to a sporting event or a hotel. There's this feeling of joy, hurry, and excitement. There are other people heading the same direction as us. Someone had of us, someone ahead of us drops a baby toy out of their stroller so I stopped to pick it up and hand it to them. When I turn around, I see Ross, Ross pushing Juliet and a stroller with Jenny and JoJo walking alongside. I walk back to Jenny and give her a hug. I tell her I have a video that I wanted to show her and she says she has one too. As I both stand there on the sidewalk, we struggle to find the videos of read each on our phones. I'm confused why I can't find it. I had just looked at it earlier. I know I have it somewhere I told her. She also struggled to pull up the video. Then I hear the voice say, "I'm right here." I hear the voice I look up and I see read. He's standing on the sidewalk smiling. He's shining, strawberry-blonde hair catches my attention. He's holding two poem branch prongs, one in each hand. He's playing with them as he holds them up around his face, almost creating a frame around him. It feels peaceful and calm. He's spoken a way that was so joyful and confident. Like he was where he was supposed to be. I think this is a beautiful picture of the kingdom of God. There's so many handicaps, pots. It's parable Jesus is saying it's for the disabled, for the least of these. They're entering into the kingdom of God, the beauty, the warmth, the sun, the trees, they all point to the new creation, the kingdom. Soup, chili, it sounds like a church potluck or a soup night here at the Life Bridge. There's this excitement, there's this joy where they know they're headed there, but it's kind of fuzzy and it's hard to make out. It's the kingdom of God. Read being there, but not being able to see him right away, implies the kingdom here, but not yet in full. And this Jesus statement that it is here, it is among us, it is in our midst. So Lord, we just thank You for this kingdom. Help us Lord to see it. To lighten it, to pursue it, to not seek out their priorities first. Guide us, we pray. And Jesus name, amen. Let's stand in this worship with one more song to get it.