The Invitation

Well, once again, Truth Stories is our ongoing message series. I'm the other Mark here on the Pastoral staff, and I'm so glad and grateful. It's about him. Thank you. I am so glad and grateful that you are here both live and on our live stream, and it's just been a wonderful weekend to gather and to worship and to be aware of God's goodness in our midst.

And before we dive into today's parable, and if you notice how these parables, they just kinda, Jesus kinda has a way of cutting to the quick, doesn't he? And so we'll see that again today. But before we get to that, I wanna ask you a question. Show of hands, how many of you have a dog or cat, some kind of pet, or maybe you have multiple dogs or cats? We have two dogs. We have a chocolate lab. His name is Boone. And we also have a poodle. That's Ted, no, Teddy, he's awesome. He's actually an athlete, you know, disguised as a poodle. That's all I can say.

But if I could sum up what captures their hearts, their enthusiasm, their highest hopes and reason for existence, in one word, it would be mealtime. No, not me, mealtime. I mean, again, nothing just gets them going like the thought of their next meal. We feed them twice a day in the morning and evening, so whoever gets up first is greeted with much enthusiasm and excitement. They're dancing around the house, jumping. Boone likes to spin in circles and buck and jump. But he has kind of a bowling ball for a head. And so when he's doing all this stuff, it's not uncommon for him to whack into, you know, a kitchen cupboard or a refrigerator door, but it doesn't faze him, 'cause he's completely delirious.

And then at the end of the day, whoever gets home first, it's greeted with a hero's welcome. It's just on all over again, and all of this joy and exuberance, it never gets old. It's the same thing every single day. Now one night, after being fed, Boone discovered that someone had left one of the gates to the backyard open, and so Boone decided to go on a little adventure in the neighborhood. We didn't know about this for some time, and so I go out into our driveway, and I have no idea where he is, and so I yell, "Boon, Boone!" No response. And then I whistle, which is louder. Still no response.

And then I get an idea. I go back into the house, and I grab the Tupperware bin that keeps his kibble, and I walk out to the end of the driveway, and I go, and within seconds, I hear paws pounding asphalt, and just, I can't see it, but I can hear it, and I look up the street, and I see this faint shadow coming, and it's moving at amazing speed, like warp speed. This brown rocket just comes right, he runs right by me and right into the house, expecting somewhere there's a bowl of kibble waiting for him. And that's kind of the way it is with animals. You don't have to ring the dinner bell twice, if you know what I'm saying.

Now, let me ask you. Wouldn't it be great if the same were true in the human heart when it comes to our response to God? Like when Jesus says, "My father is putting on the most amazing meal ever. God is giving a party, you're invited, and when we hear that, man, we just come running." Just like that. Now, imagine most of us are here because, at the very least, that's what we want. We wanna have hearts that are responsive to God. Some of you, the Holy Spirit just lit a fire in your heart at some point, and it just keeps burning brighter and brighter, and you're just kind of blessing to other people, 'cause you're just, not to use a cliche, but you're just on fire for the Lord.

You don't have to try, it's just there. I think for maybe others of us, and I include myself in this, again, that's the way I want to be, but at times, I can find that that passion is lacking. Now, this really shouldn't come as a surprise, because when we look into the Gospels, we can see that the people who had a lot of religious instruction or tradition around them, it seems like the more they had, the less interested they were in Jesus. In fact, the ones who flocked to Jesus weren't them. They often clashed with Him. It was the people who felt, were out on the outskirts of the church scene, if you will.

The ones who were not looked to as ones who were particularly desirous of God, they, in many cases, became the ones who actually were, and we're going to see that, but I think the reason for that, that dullness, if you will, in terms of a response to God, can at times come down to one reason, they were comfortable. They were comfortable. In some cases, materially comfortable, physically, socially, and certainly religiously, they were comfortable, and we can all be lulled into that same kind of complacency.

Well, again, we're going to see that. We're going to see how being a religious insider can actually dull our response to God's amazing invitation, I'm throwing a party one day, and you're invited. We're going to be in Luke's Gospel, Chapter 14. We're going to be focusing on verses 15 through 24, but let me start by giving you some context. The disciples were baffled. Why in the world would Jesus accept yet another invitation to dine with the Pharisees, hadn't they already proved that they really didn't like Him? And after all, the disciples had much better plans for that Sabbath day, but Jesus goes nonetheless.

And as He enters the home of this leading Pharisee, right in the entry, He sees a man slumped, sitting against a wall. His lower legs and feet are terribly swollen. Clearly, it was painful just for Him to arrive at the Pharisee's house, but He'd been ordered to come. The host and several other Pharisees are gathered just beyond Him. They've been waiting for this moment. All eyes are on Jesus. Is it lawful, Jesus says, to heal on the Sabbath or not? Or silent? Again, just looking at Him. His gaze looks back, piercing each one of their hearts. The man with the swollen legs, he begins to sweat. He realizes that He's the bait for their trap.

But then Jesus turns to Him and says, "My brother, would you like to be healed?" Oh yes, Lord. Oh yes, I want to be healed. And smile, this guy breaks out on Jesus' face. And suddenly, the man's legs begin to tingle as the fluid recedes, as his legs start to shrink back to their former size, like a wineskin being drained of its contents. And he realizes that so many years of pain and misery is melting away. He begins to laugh and to cry, "Thank you, Lord, thank you, Lord, thank you." "Go in peace," Jesus says. And he skips out the door. He looks back at the Pharisees. Still no word.

And so he asks them, "If your own child or even your ox fell into a well on the Sabbath, is there any among you who would not go and pull them out?" And yet they say nothing. So Jesus says, "Well, since nobody has something to say, I couldn't help noticing when I arrived here that many of you were vying for the best seat at the table." You know, that's not a very good strategy. Someday, the host will come to you and say, "Sir, you need to move. This is somebody else's spot." And so a little humility in advance would be a good thing. "And in respect to the host, Sir, thank you for your hospitality, but we know how this works. You invite them to your supper. They will reciprocate, invite you to theirs."

And it goes back and forth, the same people blessing one another over and over. But we know from our scriptures that hospitality includes inviting the alien, the stranger, the one who can't reciprocate, the poor, the blind, the crippled. Someday you ought to invite them to your feast, but that would really warm our God's heart. And not only will you bless them, but you will be blessed in that moment and you will be blessed most of all on the day when God gives the greatest feast of all.

Now starting at 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.'" See, the situation was tense. Jesus had not only spotted their trap from a mile away, he turned the tables on them. And so this guy's trying to kind of lighten the mood. It's like maybe we could talk about something just a little bit less awkward, Jesus. And so someone has a platitude, he just blurts out, "Blessed is the one who will eat at the feast in the kingdom of God." But rather than calming the mood of the room, what he actually does is he kind of tosses a slow pitch over the plate because kingdom of God, that's one of Jesus' favorite subjects.

And when his kingdom comes in all its fullness in heaven and earth, come together, there's going to be the biggest party ever. In Isaiah 25, it says, "On that day, the Lord Almighty will prepare a feast of rich food for all peoples, a banquet of aged wine, the best of meats, and the finest of wines. On that day, he will swallow up death forever. The sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears from all faces. He will remove his people's disgrace from all the earth." Revelation 19:9 calls this the wedding feast of the Lamb. And the Lamb is Jesus metaphorically. The point, God is giving a party and we are invited. We are all invited.

Now that's the good news. The bad news is that not all will be willing to come. And so Jesus tells a parable starting at verse 16. It says, "Jesus replied, 'A certain man was preparing a great banquet 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." But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said, "I've just bought a field and I must go and see it. Please excuse me." Another said, "I've just bought five yoke of oxen and I'm on my way to try them out. Please excuse me." Still another said, "I just got married so I can't come."'

All right, now what is Jesus getting at with these excuses? Dr. Gary Burge is a seminary professor, an expert on biblical cultures. And he has some fascinating insights into how the original audience would have heard these parables. For example, in those days, when you were going to put on a feast, a banquet, there were two things that you did. First, you went out to all of those in the village and made sure that nobody else was planning a similar event already before you. And then secondly, you would go out to all of your invited guests and you would make sure that they didn't have some preexisting commitment that would keep them from attending your feast.

To neglect either of these things would be to dishonor them and to bring shame upon yourself. And so by the time the invitations go out, the host is already, he's cleared everybody's schedule. And they've all basically said, "Yeah, we are going to come in our context." We call that an RSVP, right? "I'll be there." And so when the day of the feast arrives and everything is ready, the host then sends out the servants saying, "The meal is ready, come and enjoy the feast." And this is how their culture worked. But the first guy, he says, "Well, yeah, sorry, but I bought some land. I need to go check it out right now. So please excuse me."

Well, this is a joke because these people were incredibly connected to their land. Their history, their heritage, their identity is connected to the land. To this day, the oldest and most widely circulated newspaper in Israel is called Haaretz, the land. To this day, people are fighting in that part of the world over what? The land. And so nobody would have gone and just bought a piece of land sight unseen. It did not work that way at all. And no one would have believed this excuse if simply dishonored the host. Same with the second guy and the teams of oxen, he says, "He needs to go try out." The value of these teams had much to do with their ability to work together two by two.

And so it wasn't uncommon if you were going to buy teams of oxen, you would go and the seller would demonstrate how well they work together or even allow you to try them out for yourself. We call this a test drive, right? So to say, "Hey, you know, I bought these things, I don't see it, I need to go try them out." That's like you or I saying, "You know what? Wow, I just bought this really expensive car on Craigslist. Now I need to just go see if it actually runs." Again, nobody's buying. And finally, how about the newlywed? Servant arrives and he doesn't even ask to be excused. He just points to the do not disturb sign on the door and says, "Need I say more?"

Now we need to understand. This culture was extremely modest when it came to what goes on behind bedroom doors. And so they would have seen this as crude. In fact, the Pharisees in particular would have been appalled. Again, the host has been dishonored. But what they haven't probably recognized is there, the people in the parable. Along with anyone who ultimately just says, "No, thank you. I've got better things to do. Please excuse me." Which brings up two warnings that I see in this parable. And the first one is this, it's that familiarity can get in the way of following. And by that, I mean following Jesus.

These guys were so familiar with religion. They were so familiar with the weekly Sabbath. Their particular expressions of their religious tradition, they were so familiar, they actually missed the forest for the trees. Again, they were quite comfortable where they were at. And not only that, but they believed that if they were to keep, not just again what Moses told them to do, but so many other layers of rules and expectations that they had developed over the years, if they kept them well enough, God would reward them by sending the Messiah. But ironically, when God does send the Messiah, they don't recognize Him.

Because He doesn't meet with their expectations. He doesn't think the way they think. He doesn't teach the way they teach. He doesn't fit their profile. And so they don't recognize Him though He's right in front of their face. Kind of reminds me of when I was in seminary, I had a professor one time say this to the class. He said, "Hey, I just have to say, that I am increasingly alarmed by the number of students who want me to present a God to them that they approve of." In other words, if the God that we believe ever and only just agrees with us meets our expectations, thinks the way we think, then that's not the God of Scripture.

That's the God of our imagination. That's a projection of us, not the God of Scripture, who is who He is. But that God that we invent, that we're comfortable with, that's not the God that will ever inspire your worship. It's not the God that who will so inflame your heart, you will come to a point in your life where you will say without any compulsion, say, "If nothing else, I will follow you because you are greater than any other alternative." And so may the Lord capture us with not just His love and His grace, but His majesty and His holiness and His awesomeness and the things that we can't even begin to describe because we don't have words to express all that He is. So let not our familiarity get in the way of our following Jesus.

And second warning in this parable is that good things can get in the way of the best thing. These guys had invitations in hand, but when the master says, "The feast is ready," they'd moved on. There were other things that had captured their hearts. And listen, they weren't bad things. You know, it's not like they went off, just went off a cliff somewhere. Hey, land, you know, good real estate acquisition, you know, or some cool new team of oxen. My goodness, the blessing of marriage. These are all good things. They're just not the best thing. The best thing is to say yes when the master calls.

They could have all those other things. Just don't miss the party. And sometimes I find for myself, and maybe this is true for you, it's good for me to take inventory of my heart and to say, "Lord, is it possible there are things or a thing or someone or something that is taking priority over you in my heart? Is it possible that I'm so focused on the gifts that I'm neglecting the giver?" And I wanna make clear, these things, these are good desires. There's nothing wrong with a desire for love and health and financial security and a comfortable home. I mean, you name it, it's not about the presence of these things, it's about the place of these things in our lives and our perspective.

So again, ask God to help you keep these things in their right place because all three of these guys failed to do this. In response, continuing at verse 21, says, "The servant came back and reported this to his master. Then the owner of the house became angry and ordered his servant go quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame. 'Sir,' the servant said, 'what you ordered has been done, but there is still room.' Well, then the master told his servant, 'go out into the roads and country lanes and compel them to come in so that my house will be full.'"

This is God's heart on display right here. He wants all who are invited to come so that his household is full. But Jesus ends on this sobering note. I tell you, not one of those who were invited will get a taste of my banquet. And why didn't they get a taste of the banquet? Because they didn't want it. They didn't want it. Oh, for sure they wanted a form of it on their terms, but not on God's. But again, it's his party. And Jesus is saying, you know, in the final analysis, if you don't like me, you won't like my party.

In fact, you'll hate the kingdom of God because after all, I'm really hard to avoid there. Just gotta say, you're gonna run into me all the time. And so that's gotta be something you're looking forward to. You can't love the kingdom and hate the king. And not just the king, but he's speaking specifically to these Pharisees and the people that you don't think should be there. The outcast, the blind, the lame, the poor, people they believed were cursed by God, that they were getting what they deserved. And sadly, that's what most of these broken down people thought of themselves as well.

And yet it's why, when the good news reached their ears, so many of them responded, yes, sure, I'll take that. And it's why so many of the Pharisees didn't receive it, because the bottom line is, nobody deserves it. Nobody has anything to offer God. The down and up, they knew that. What do I have? So they said yes. But those who thought, you know, there's something, might teach Jesus a few things or two, they were more resistance. But again, it's all by His grace, all by His grace, that the master keeps issuing the invitation.

And he says to the servant, you know, go out into the roads and country lanes, go down to Jerusalem and Judea and to the entire earth and compel them to come so that my house will be full. Now, why would anyone refuse? Why, as Jesus would say elsewhere, would one wish to gain the whole world, only to miss out on the party? God has a seat for you. Will you take it? Most of you have said yes. Some of you are maybe thinking, I don't know, I never knew I had a seat offered to me. Or I'm just checking this out, that's okay. But what I want you to know is you're invited. You're invited.

Those of you watching online, you're invited. If you watch this, you know, months from now on our website, you're invited. God has a seat for you. There's a great story about D.L. Moody. Some of you know that name. D.L. Moody was one of the greatest preachers in the history of our country. And when D.L. or Dwight was only four years old, he was the youngest of seven children and his father died. Not only that, but his mother was pregnant with twins. So in short order, this young widow is dealing with responsibility to nine children all by herself, nine mouths to feed.

And so, some time passes. And the older brother, perhaps noticing the toll that this is taking on his mom, his name is Isaiah, he decides to run away thinking perhaps it will be perhaps it will help her one less mouth to feed. He was 15 years old at the time. And life was not kind to Isaiah. Meanwhile, D.L. not only grew up, but he grew into this amazingly gifted preacher, so much so that it was not uncommon for 10, 15, 20,000 people to come to hear him preach. He was a sensation. On one such occasion in Connecticut, so many people, 20 plus thousand people tried to pack into a venue. Finally, the fire marshal says, "That's it." There's no more room in the building and he shuts the door.

Even the governor of the state was denied entrance. That's a fire marshal for you right there, right? Sorry, Gov. No more seats. But included in those who weren't able to get into the building was Isaiah. Come to hear his little brother preach. Well, the service is already going and a note is handed to D.L. Moody. He's sitting on the platform. He opens the note and says, "Your brother Isaiah is outside." But he can't get in because fire marshal says there's no more seats. Moments later when D.L. Moody gets up, he walks to the front of the stage and then turns and points at an empty seat.

And he says, "Since we have an empty seat right here on stage, the fire marshal won't object if my brother Isaiah is allowed in so he could sit there." And he does. And D.L. Moody scraps the sermon that he had and he improvises this beautiful message about how our brother Jesus is still offering a seat to each of us. And many hearts were touched in that moment, being reminded then and now that there's still a seat at the table.

So let me just leave you with two simple encouragements. The first one I've been saying throughout this message and it's this, you're invited to the party. I don't care what you might think of yourself or whether you don't think you deserve it, that's the point you don't, you're invited anyway. It's called grace. God welcomes you with open arms. And if perhaps he's been kind of tugging at your heart, you can't even really explain it but there's something that just keeps drawing you back to Jesus, that's his spirit, calling you, wooing you, telling you, I want you to be with me at my party, at my table.

And in a moment I'm gonna give you an opportunity when I pray to say essentially, yes, Jesus, count me in. And if that is where you are, I hope you do. Now many of us, perhaps most of us are here in church today because we've already done that. For you, the second encouragement would be this, invite others to the party. Invite others to the party. Not out of guilt, not out of obligation. Tap into the joy that you have, the hope you have, the blessing you have, knowing that you have a place at the party.

And as you tap into that, and as that wells up, it'll just overflow into conversations. We all talk about the things that we're excited about. And say, Lord, would you remind me of what I have in you? Would you give me wisdom and opportunity to share in ways that are again, in keeping with our culture? Because let's face it, you know, here, that's gonna look like befriending people being a good and caring neighbor or coworker, earning the right to be heard. Reaching out in love to those who don't think like you think or don't believe the way you believe, but you love them anyway.

And they're like, I know this person doesn't really agree with me, but they love me. Wow. Bottom line is, is that nobody cares what you know until they know that you care. And so love them and see what the Lord does. Along the way, may God bless you and may God use you to bless others. What a thrill. That's Mark's legacy that can, will never fade. That he was able to be used of God in the lives of other people. That's not just for professional Christians. It's for all of us. As a followers of Jesus, because after all, what that one guy said that day was absolutely true. Blessed is the one who will eat at the feast in the kingdom of God. Amen? Amen, let's pray.

Heavenly Father, we thank you for your amazing grace. Thank you for the invitation that you offer to all of us. Lord, I pray that for those who are here today or within the sound of my voice, and you've been tugging at their heart, you've been whispering in their ear, Lord, today, may that person simply by faith say, Jesus, I hear you. Count me in. I don't understand it all, but I understand that I have dishonored you. I have no problem admitting I've made a mess of things.

But what little I understand is that you went to the cross and you died for me. You took upon yourself my sin, my shame, even my death, and conquered them through your death and resurrection. And so now, Lord, we don't look back to something that you just did in the past. We look to who you are now. And again, for the person who right now is experiencing this through faith, that they would hear the voice of Jesus saying, now just follow me. I'll take care of the details. And if that's you, you can just, Lord, I wanna follow you. From here until the day that I'm celebrating God's great party with you.

Father, for the rest of us, help us to be wise, warm, winsome witnesses in the midst of a watching world. May we be salt and light, and may the joy of our salvation overflow into our relationships, into our conversations, into the impact and influence we have on others. We pray this in the matchless name of Jesus Christ, and all God's people said, amen.