Luke: An Invitation You Can't Ignore

The reading is from Luke 14 and verse 15 to 24. One of those who were climbing at the table with him heard this, he said to him, "Blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God, but he said to him, 'A man was giving a big dinner and he invited many, and at the dinner hour he sent his slave to say to those who had been invited, come for everything is ready now.' But they all alike began to make excuses. The first one said, 'I bought a piece of land and I need to go out and look at it. Please consider me excused.' Another one said, 'I bought five yoke of oxen, and I'm going to try them out. Please consider me excused.' Another one said, 'I've married a wife, for that reason I cannot come.' And the slave came back and reported to his master, then the head of the household became angry and said to the slave, 'Go out at once into the streets and lanes in the city and bring in here the poor, the crippled, and the blind and the lame. And the slave said, 'Master, what you commanded has been done and there's still room.' And the master said to the slave, 'Go out into the highways and along the hedges and compel them to come in so that my house may be filled. For I tell you none of those men who were invited shall taste of my dinner.' As we come to this parable, and our time and God's word this morning, it's important to remember the context from where we left off last week. As this is not a new teaching moment by Jesus, but a continuation of a conversation unfolding already in the house of a Pharisee. You remember from verse 1 that Jesus had been invited to a Sabbath meal by one of the religious leaders, and it was there that Jesus began exposing the hardness of their hearts of those around him. Remember Jesus healed a man in the Sabbath revealing to the Pharisees how distorted their understanding of God's law had become. He noticed invited guests choosing the places of honor, and so he confronted their pride in their pursuit of public recognition. He challenged the host who invited him in the way he would have used relationships and hospitality for personal gain and social advancement. If you and I were there at that meal, it would have been a pretty intense dinner party because Jesus was not mensing words. But as we read verse 15, we learn that just after Jesus spoke these condemning words that someone at the table had the audacity to blur it out this, blessed is everyone who will eat the bread in the kingdom of God. A very spiritual moment indeed. A spiritual comment, but it was one filled with a lot of presumption. See, for this man, this was not random small talk. It was a statement that reflected a major Jewish hope. It was the hope that one day when the Messiah would come in the future, he would come to liberate the Jews from their enemies and restore the kingdom of God to Israel under his rule. Now in the Jewish thought, part of the inauguration of the kingdom was Jesus at the helm. Well for them, it wasn't Jesus, it was someone else, but Jesus as we know was the Messiah. Part of that inauguration was going to be accompanied by a great feast. And they got it from places like Isaiah chapter 25. This is what it says there. In Jerusalem, the Lord of the heavens, our enemies will spread a wonderful feast for all the people of the world. It will be a delicious banquet with clear, well-aged wine and choice meat. There he will remove the cloud of gloom, the saddle of death that hangs over the earth. He will swallow up death forever. The sovereign Lord will wipe away all their tears. He will remove forever all insults and mockery against his landed people. The Lord has spoken. We see here that the idea of a feast is one of the central pictures of the future kingdom of God with the Messiah at the helm. But here's the thing for the Jewish person. All the people were only the righteous Jews. It was only the people sitting at the table with Jesus, people like them. It did not include people like you and I. It did not include people of Gentile origin, which is what we are. Or, as many of us have been in our lives, very immoral. It didn't include the sinners and the tax collectors. It didn't include people who were non-Jewish. So when the man said, "Blessed is everyone who will eat in the kingdom of God." He's basically saying, "Praise you Jesus. How blessed is people like me? How blessed am I?" Well, Jesus then shocks them with a parable. A parable to put them in their place and to condemn their self-righteous attitudes. And the parable was basically this. There is going to be many expected insiders who will be cast out. And there will be many unexpected outsiders who will be welcomed in. This is why it's such an important message for you and I as well this morning. Jesus is going to address this false sense of security. And he doesn't want you and I to miss out on the invitation to the banquet he has prepared. So let's read verse 16 together. But he said to him, "A man was giving a big dinner and he invited many. And at the dinner hour he sent his slave to say to those who had been invited, "Come for everything is ready now." Three quick attributes you want to notice about this man who hosts the dinner. First one is he had authority. In verse 17, we are told that he had a slave. So therefore he was one in authority. And in verse 21 his slave calls him a master and the head of the household. So this man is one of authority. But even though he was in one of authority, he was also very generous, a second characteristic. This was reflected in the size of the banquet. It says here that he was going to host a big dinner. Other translations of your Bibles might say a big banquet. So he was not stingy. This was not left over lunch being offered to the guests. He was being very generous with his wealth and his possessions. The generosity was also reflected in the number of people invited. In verse 16 we learned that there were many, or sorry, yeah, 17, yeah, 16. He invited many. So many were to come. Later on we see really that the number is actually unlimited. Because when the many refused to come to the invitation, we find out there's ample room for more. The poor, the crippled, the lame, and those along the highways. The third thing it's worth pointing out though, is that he gave ample time for the guests to prepare. There was a lot ample time. In my studies this week I learned that invitations to meals and banquets in the first century came in two stages. First the host would invite the guests. And then the guests would RSVP ahead of time letting the host know their other intention to come. By accepting the first invitation then, they were publicly committing themselves to come when the feast was ready. The second invitation then was made once the banquet was fully prepared. So there was a second call. This is why in verse 17 the servant announced come now for everything is ready. Because this was another call to come to the meal. So it was not a new invitation but someone to fulfill the commitment already made. Refusing the meal then at this stage was more than just declining a meal. It was going to be publicly insulting to the host. It would be an insult to the host because you've already sent out the invitation once. The food you prepared was based on the amount of guests that were responded. And so you're counting on people coming and then they decline. And so it's an insult to you. As a result then it would be unthinkable to make excuses that would get you out of attending. But that's exactly what happened. Excuses were made. The first excuse we find in verse 18. They didn't come. They all began to make excuses. I have bought a piece of land and I need to go out and look at it. The first person, one of the invited guests, surrounded his possessions. Surrounding his possessions or his pursuit of wealth. He begins the parable of Jesus does with a man whose possessions became more important than the invitation of the master. Now what's interesting about his excuse was the reason for choosing not to come to the banquet was not in his need to secure the real estate deal. It wasn't like he had to excuse himself because he had to sit down with the lawyer and sign papers. He missed out because he was captivated by what he already owned. He'd already bought the land. He wanted to go see it. He wanted to simply admire his newfound wealth. In other words, there was no urgency for this guy to see the land as it would be. there once the banquet was finished anyway. So again his actions would have been extremely insulting to the host. This man then was caught up in materialism and his concern for wealth took precedence over invitation to the banquet. The second excuse is found in verse 19. Another one said, "I bought five Yolk of oxen and I'm going to try them out. Please consider me excused." In this case the excuse became work. Work was more important than the invitation of the master. To have five Yolk of oxen this was not simply for a show. These were used to till the soil which would lead to eventual profit. His excuse was he wanted to try them out as opposed to come to the banquet. Again an insult to the host. The man for because the man already owned the oxen there was going to be plenty of time to test them out. There was no urgency then to see how they performed to figure out if they would produce a profit for him. They would still be there after the banquet invitation. But the critical thing for this man was work became a distraction and a pursuit of a career to responding to God's invitation. The third excuse is found in verse 20. Another one said, "I've married a wife and for that reason I cannot come." This fellow was preoccupied with relationships with family, with love. As a Jewish man it's interesting in Deuteronomy 24 and verse 5 we learn that if he was in military service for example and other civic responsibilities he would be freed for a year from service in those areas. So a newly married man would have a year off of civil duties and military service. So when he says, "I've just got married, I've got a new wife," that the truth of the matter was there was already time for which he was to be excused for those other reasons. He could be excused from work. However there was nothing that prohibit him from attending social engagements in that time off. You could still say yes to a banquet even though you would say no to a war. He was totally free also to bring his wife along to the banquet. After all it was a banquet not a battle. But again for him the excuse with a family and relationships became a distraction in responding to the invitation. Now what's interesting about these excuses can be seen I think on two different levels. First of all in the context of what we're learning the man of course in this parable represents God. Secondly the banquet represents the future kingdom become or the way we understand it in New Testament terms. This is an offer of eternal life an offer of salvation. The many here in the first verse of 16 are the Jews. They're the ones initially invited but they reject God's offer of salvation that was found in Jesus Christ. Here he was sitting in their midst at the table. It wasn't it was just absolute refusal. It wasn't lack of knowledge. He made the claims. It's seen the miracles. It wasn't like a teaching. It was not lack of experience with him. It was just they refused to accept him. They made excuses. Coming to our context though it's interesting about these excuses because none of these are bad things in of themselves aren't they right? Family that's not a bad thing. Relationships not a bad thing right? Work you know pursuit of career even making money having things having wealth none of that is bad of themselves. They're not issues of morality per se. It wasn't like you know there were two stone to respond and come to the party. It wasn't like there two hung over to come to the party. These are all things that were commonplace in life and the Bible actually gives us instruction how to operate in these three categories. The problem was they became distractions and reasons as to why God's offer was not accepted. They took the place of God's invitation. And so what can we learn from this parable so far? Many people reject God not because of open rebellion but because every day pursuits quietly crowd out his offer to come. The busy schedules the financial goals the home projects the card of tinker with the career ambitions the future to tend to comfort and entertainment relationships that take priority. The kind of people that say I'm not saying I won't come Jesus but just not right now. I got better things to do more pressing matters to attend to. And Jesus is saying here don't delay the invitations now. You know in my limited experience in life in my 20 years of walking with the Lord the one excuse it really struck stuck me this week was the one about I have a wife. Don't worry honey it's not about you in a bad way. The category of relationships though. I know personally in my own discipleship with men of more than one man where he is rejected the invitation of Christ for salvation because of a woman. This happens so many times I could I won't name them but I've seen it. The Lord asked me to give me opportunity to minister to these guys to be there for them to and they're hungry for the Lord they're interested in Christianity. They want to know more about the Bible and I can tell they're just moving closer and closer to him and it's just getting closer and closer to them committing at that same time a woman enters their life. And it's a woman that doesn't have the same faith as we do the same hope in Christ the same Christian values and these men who were so close to receiving the invitation had an excuse I want to be in this relationship. I speak to you kids moving into high school some of you have made a commitment to the Lord already some of you are still contemplating the invitation. There's going to be a pull between relationships and your commitment to Jesus Christ when you go into high school. Do not reject his invitation do not give relationships as a means of an excuse. So how did the master respond? Verse 21 and the slave came back and reported this as master then the head of the household became angry and said to the slave go out at once into the streets and lanes of the city and bring in here the poor and the crippled and the blind and lame and the slave said master what you commanded has been done and still there is room and the master said to the slave go out into the highways and along the hedges and compel them to come in so that my house may be filled. We learn here from Jesus that the master became angry. This was not anger as a reaction of wounded pride but due to the fact that the invitation had been extended graciously generously and repeatedly yet those who were first invited wanted nothing to do with him. Remember again as I've said over and over here Jesus is speaking initially to the religious leaders of Israel the socially elite men who are convinced they already belonged at God's banquet table. They knew the scriptures they practiced the traditions they were the right ethnic background they outwardly appeared close to God yet when God's own son stood before them they refused him and so the Lord began to move and the parable the master began to move outward into the streets and the lanes of the cities to bring in the poor crippled blind and lame even out to the highways and hedges to welcome the outsider and the stranger. Now what's significant about these people is they're often the people who are ignored pushed aside and marginalized in society. The people like we've seen in Luke up to this point in the first 15 chapters 14 chapters people like the demonized man in Luke 8 he was to go out and summon him the woman we saw in Luke 13 just a while ago who was bent over doubled by an evil spirit. The man we saw last week who was suffering from dropsy in Luke 10 we saw a man named Zikias a wealthy tax collector who was hated and spent his life exploring exploiting others the message and the invitation was for him. The one One of my favorites found in John chapter four, the woman at the well, who had two strikes against her. First of all, she was the wrong race. And secondly, she had a life of tremendous immorality. She had committed adultery in five different occasions. And Jesus is saying, "God's invitation is extended to people such as them. They are welcome at the table. They are welcome at the banquet." Now, you can imagine how insulting and offensive this would have been to the Pharisee sitting around the table. God's kingdom would never be extended to people like that. Yet Jesus was saying that many were considered unworthy would enter the kingdom ahead of them. And this is often the case in God's kingdom, isn't it? The proud, assumely deserved, a seat at the table and the humble are simply overwhelmed that they were invited at all. But it was about to go bad from bad to worse for this fellow that yelled this out. Jesus answered the parable with words that would have silenced the room. He says in verse 24, "For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste of my dinner." None of those men who were first invited will taste of my dinner. Blessed is he who eats in the kingdom of God, Jesus. You are right, sir. You bet your boots, but you know what? You're not one of them. Isaiah 25, you're not one of them. You can see why I didn't take long for Jesus to be put on the cross with strong words like that. An incredible indictment against them. And this is the tragedy of the passage. These men, these religious elite, desired the kingdom but rejected the king. They wanted the kingdom but without the king. There's also irony in this passage. Those who seemed closest to the kingdom were actually far from it while those who seemed furthest away were brought in by grace. So what does this actually mean for us today? I wanna leave you with three things. There is a warning that needs to be heated. This passage is written and this parable is primarily given to those who have a religious background or those who feel very comfortable and familiar with who Jesus is. It's clear in this parable as well as the ones who've seen before that many people who assumed they were automatically gonna be part of God's kingdom weren't because they actually had rejected the king. The important message for you and I is this do not confuse religious habits with true saving faith. Don't confuse and count on being at church today. Attending youth group, having routine prayers, have participated in religious ceremonies, have a strong family heritage or on your good own morality as proof that you belong to the kingdom of God. To truly enter the kingdom of God, we must approach Jesus with the same raw honesty and humility as the Apostle Peter did back in Luke 5 and verse 8. When Peter realized who Jesus was, he fell at his feet and cried out, "Go away from me, Lord, I am a sinful man." The remedy, the warning were to heat is that we need to have faith in Christ and find true repentance. This is why often in life, there are as a disconnect between the words that we speak and the way we actually live. It's because usually we have never truly humbled ourselves in the same way Peter did. Secondly, there's an invitation that needs to be accepted. The invitation here is universal, but the choice is individual. The beauty of this parable is that everyone's invited however, the invitation requires a response and God does not force us. Salvation is a gift, but is not automatically applied. We must exercise our free will to receive his offer. And this offer of salvation is only received when we step out and faith and actively accept Christ's invitation. Now this truth applies equally to two different groups of people, right? This is true for the deeply religious, but it's also true for those who feel entirely on the outside. The people here that he describes as being the marginalized, the broken, and the spiritually bankrupt. Again, speaking to the religious type people, here's the problem, the religious type people have a pronoun problem, a pronoun problem. They got their pronouns mixed up. They have their vocabulary all backwards. If you ask a religious person, why should you be let into the heavenly banquet? Their answer almost starts with the pronoun I. Because I, because I. I was baptized, I took communion. The priest was all of me of my sin. I go to church, I'm a good person, I pray. I, I, I, I. A religious person relies on I. A true believer, someone who understands the gospel relies entirely on he. What he did for me, he saved me, he died for me, he forgave me. It's a pronoun problem with religious people. If you hear this morning and it's all about I, the message to you this morning is it's all about he, what he has done for you. And that invitation is there to find forgiveness and a new life in him. But the message is also to the hopeless, those who feel on the outside, who feel marginalized. Those are the people who I would call are in the not worthy trap and you that might be you this morning where you don't feel worthy even of God's forgiveness or love. Those on the outside usually understand the offer but they get stuck in a different mindset. I'm not worthy enough to accept it. So there's a cleanup myth. They believe they need to clean up their act, a ten more church or make better choices before God will even forgive them. But here's the reality, clean people don't need a bath. Dirty people do. Jesus invitation is specifically to those who are dirty for the broken, for the messy. And the solution is the same as the religious person. It's a pronoun problem. The hopeless person is focusing too much on the eye. But it's more like I'm not good enough. I'm too unredeelable. I've done too many bad things. Well, again, the good message of the salvation is this. It's not about I, it's about him. Again, Christ came to the earth 2000 years ago to dine across so that you and I could be forgiven and give him a new start and a new life. So the ultimate question whether you're religious or broken is will we humble ourselves and receive the invitation of Christ or will we cling to the other loves, other priorities, even on to shame and ultimately reject the one inviting us to the table. Finally, there's a mission that needs to be accomplished. I intentionally left out this in my sermon to end with it today. But there's a vital part of this parable we cannot overlook and it's the urgency of the master's mission. You see, in the parable, the master's sense is servant all over the land to invite absolutely everyone he can find. In other words, they're radically inclusive. But I want you to notice the passion behind this guy in verse 23. The slave said, "Master, what you have commanded me has been done and there's still a more room." And the master said, "Go out into the highways and along the edges and compel them to come in." The key word is to compel them to come in. This means to urgently plead to press, to have them join the banquet. This is someone who has a heart so big that they just cry out for those who don't know Christ and they want to do everything they can to bring them to the table. I think of Andrew in John after he first meets Jesus, the very first thing he does is introduce him to his brother Peter because he wants him to know the Messiah so well or so badly. So here's the question for us. us, is that in our spiritual DNA? Is that in our spiritual DNA? If we have accepted the invitation, we're be called to become the servants who pass it on. We must be people that tell people outside these walls about the wide mercy of God and how it's available to them. And as Troy always says, their mess can become their message. Here's a reality check. There's 35,000 people living in this community. 35,000 people living this community and there's only about 80 sitting in this room today. 35,000 people, 80 sitting in this room. We had a combined service at Easter and the churches got together and met at the EFRI church and saw I'm not being critical of this because it was at a great morning absolutely. Was it awesome to see the churches united? Absolutely. But you know what? There were 700 people there that day. With all the churches combined, 700 people, 35,000 people. And here's a deal. Of those 700, some of them weren't Christians in that room. So I'm not going to mention names again, but I knew some of them that weren't. So let's just go 500. So all those churches combined, maybe 500 people. Are you and I truly okay with that? Does the spiritual state of our community even cross our minds during the week? Jesus has a message for us. Compel them to come. Bring them to the banquet. Urge them. Play them. Introduce them to the Messiah. Jesus Christ. Lord, we just give you thanks again for who you are and for this parable. I just thank you for the rich truths that teaches us and what it has to teach us about ourselves and others Lord. Thank you God for extending grace to us and that you even give us an opportunity to have a relationship with you considering some of the things that we've done in our lives. But again, this is a picture of your amazing love and your grace towards us. I pray Lord for people as they leave this morning, Lord, that they would, this message would still penetrate their hearts even after they leave and that if you've been calling them to make changes, Lord, that they would respond to your spirit. And again, it's Panacost Sunday and we pray for a harvest in our church and in our community the way it happened in the book of Acts. We pray this in Jesus' name, amen.