Stories from Above: The Great Banquet And The Excuses We Make | Luke 14:12-24

A feast is set, the table is full, and the invitation is personal. Then the unthinkable happens: the people who said “yes” start backing out with excuses that sound responsible but reveal something deeper. We open Luke 14:12–24 and let Jesus challenge the way we think about God, hospitality, and what it really means to be “invited” into the Kingdom of God.

We talk about why Jesus pushes against hosting that’s built on payback, status, and social safety, and why gospel-centered hospitality runs toward people who cannot repay. From a story about Ronald Reagan going far beyond what a soldier expected, to a coronation invitation stamped with “all excuses put aside,” the point keeps sharpening: when the King calls, the stakes are higher than our schedules and our pride.

The parable’s turning line is simple and stunning: “still there is room.” We explore why the servant has to “compel” people from the highways and hedges to come in, because shame makes the broken assume the invitation can’t be real. And we linger on the thief on the cross, whose only reason for belonging is this: “The man on the middle cross said I can come.”

If you’ve ever thought you’re too far gone, or if you’ve been living on delays and excuses, come listen. Subscribe, share this with someone who needs hope, and leave a review telling us what excuse you’re ready to put down.

Transcript

Welcome And Scripture Focus

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Hello and welcome. I'm Pastor Taylor Gearin here at First Baptist Church of El Dorado. I'm glad you've chosen to join us. We're in a series now called Stories from Above, the Parables of Luke. And it's just been a great time hearing these stories of Jesus, these earthly stories that give us a heavenly lesson about what God's up to and how we live in light of the kingdom of God. And so I hope you will enjoy it. And we hope to even see you in person real soon. Now, to Luke chapter 14. Luke chapter 14. And we're going to be in verses 12 through 24. But I'm going to read just the parable. So starting in verse 16, Luke 14, verse 16. But he, being Jesus, said to him, A man once gave a great banquet and invited many. And at the time for the banquet, he sent his servant to say to those who had been invited, Come, for everything is now ready. But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said to him, I have bought a field, and I must go see it. Please have me excused. And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to examine them, please have me excused. And another said, I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come. So the servant came and reported these things to his master. Then the master of the house became angry

The Parable Read Aloud

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and said to his servant, Go out quickly to the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in the poor and crippled and blind and lame. And the servant said, Sir, what you have commanded has been done, and still there is room. And the master said to the servant, Go out to the highways and hedges and compel people to come in, that my house may be filled. For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste my banquet. Let's pray together. Lord Jesus, we do come now and we just say thank you. Thank you for this special morning. What a special morning it is. Lord, it's special for many reasons, and our kids leading worship, uh, celebrating uh the mothers of this church. But Lord, uh no matter what, it's always a special day when we gather together because we always have a risen Savior. And so, Lord, right here, right now, in these moments, through this word, would you speak to our hearts? We ask this in Christ's name. Amen.

Reagan’s Roses And Gospel Surprise

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It's a great story of uh Ronald Reagan when he was at the time governor of California. He received a letter from uh a soldier who was born and raised in California and currently was serving in Vietnam. And in that letter to Reagan, he certainly talked about uh the difficult conditions he was under there, but also talked about the fact that he had an anniversary coming up. He told Governor Reagan that uh his anniversary was coming up, and he had written his wife a card, and uh he sure hoped she got it, but she asked the governor, which was a big thing to ask, that just in case it doesn't arrive, would you mind maybe on the day of the anniversary just calling my wife and just telling her I'm thinking about her? Well, uh Ronald Reagan got that letter and he read that letter. He took great interest in that letter, and on the day of that anniversary, he got out of his office. He had his uh driver and team take him to this lady's house after getting a dozen roses, knocked on her door, sat in her living room for over an hour, drinking coffee, asking her questions about life and kids and their marriage, and he went above and beyond to uh make this woman feel very special on her anniversary. This soldier could not have ever imagined this was gonna be possible. I mean, surely if you write a letter to the governor, I mean, uh it might you might wonder will he or she read it? You you might wonder if they read it, do they have time in their day to make the call? You never imagine they'd go over with roses and spend an hour. Everything the soldier wanted was greatly exceeded by Governor Reagan that day, and I love that story because I think, at a much lesser level, of course, it it really illustrates a picture of the message of the gospel. What I mean by that is this every time we see the story of the gospel and and we're tempted to think it doesn't get any better, uh Jesus continually surprises us once again. That the greatest news is even better than we thought possible, that the the greatest news is better than we could imagine, and in Christ Jesus we have received even more than we would have ever dared dream. I believe in Luke 14 today we see a picture of that gospel that is so surprising, so different from what we might be tempted to expect

Jesus Offends The Room

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is possible for us. And we see a beautiful picture of the gospel in Luke chapter 14. Really, Jesus is coming to a dinner party, and all throughout verse uh chapter 14, up to the point we begin in verse 12, Jesus has already offended everyone in the home. I'm not kidding. Uh verses 1 through 6, he comes into the home, and there's a lot of Pharisees there, and he instantly offends all of them because he is uh willing to heal someone on the Sabbath. So they're all offended. How could Jesus do this? Uh verses 7 through 11, uh, then the whole dinner party is once again offended because they all start to sit down and they all want the seat of honor. Jesus reminds them, hey, maybe it's better to take the last seat, the humble seat, and be moved up if needed. Maybe the place of humility is where you want to be. And so everybody's already offended in this moment, but the the dinner is not over, because now the host is about to be offended by Jesus. Verse 12, he said, Jesus said to the man who had invited him, When you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return, and you should be repaid. But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just. What is Jesus saying to us in this moment? Because what it sounds like he's saying, and certainly in verse 12, is that when you have a dinner party, uh, you're not allowed to invite your friends. You're not allowed to invite your family. Now, I would imagine if that's if that's truly kind of black and white what Jesus is saying, a lot of us are in trouble. And not only that, a lot of us are gonna be in trouble in in you know about 35 minutes when we head to lunch. Because maybe we invited mom on this Mother's Day. And maybe, maybe we're on the on the wrong side of Jesus right now. What we know is this that this is not some black and white statement of you're not allowed to have dinner parties with friends. We know Jesus loved going to the home of Mary and Martha and Lazarus. We know Jesus has this Last Supper with his disciples, and quite literally

Hospitality Without Payback

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Jesus says, Now I have called you friends. What Jesus is really getting at here is having us as believers, as people of the kingdom of God, really think long and hard about what hospitality means. Do we, like the Pharisees, maybe live in this world that uh we love to be hospitable when it means I can be hospitable to someone who then can make it up to me at a later date? That I will uh honor you in this moment and down the road, I sure hope you find a way to honor me. Jesus says, hey, instead, uh, how about you invite the folks that have never been over to a dinner party? How about you invite, uh, in his words, the the poor, the crippled, the lame, and I love what he says in verse 14. If you do this, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just. That the Lord Jesus will make it up for you in that day. It's really a picture of gospel-centered hospitality. But then verse 15, there is one Pharisee that can't help himself. When one of those who reclined at table with him heard these things, he said to him, Blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God. Now, that is a beautiful statement. It really is. I mean, it sounds great. It is great. If anybody said that this morning, we'd we'd say amen to it. But if you read between the lines, what it probably is is a Pharisee, really, what he's saying is probably this blessed is this crew around the table, because we are going to feast in the kingdom of God. Aren't we something that we are invited to the table? Aren't we maybe your special people? So now Jesus wants to give an illustration, a parable about what it means to be invited into the kingdom of God. Verse 16. But he said to him, A man once gave a great banquet and invited many. And at the time for the banquet, he sent his servant to say to those who had been invited, Come, for everything is now ready. In this time it would have been very normal for a double invitation to take place. We can think in those terms, even today, if you're invited to a wedding a few months out, you'll probably get a save the date. And then followed later on, some weeks later, by the actual invitation. Well, in this time, the double invitation looked like this. They would invite you days, weeks, even months out, and then the day of, or really the moment of, the evening of, uh a servant would come to your home and tell you, everything's ready. Come on. That second invitation says, the food is on the table, and we are awaiting on you to arrive. You may now come. And now we continue at verse 18, and it says this, but they all alike began to make excuses. So everybody who had RSVP'd had responded to the initial invitation. Now at this second invitation, the time the servant comes and says everything is ready, it says this, Jesus' words, they began to make excuses. The first said to him, I have bought a field and I must go out and see it. Please have me excused. I've bought a field and now I've got to go see it. Who does this? Is that a wise investment to buy something and then go see it? What it sounds like to me is a way to get out of a dinner party. I've bought a field and now surely I need to go see it. Please have me excused. Verse 19, and another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen and I go to examine them. Please have me excused. This is a sizable purchase. Five yoke of oxen, this uh implies that this man had a sizable property. I have these five oxen and I've got to go check them out. Now, again, who does this? Imagine if I tell Katie this afternoon, I I just bought five new cars, I gotta go check if they run or not. I gotta see if the engine picks up if it

How The Banquet Invitation Worked

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starts. It's it's a wild excuse. And then uh the last guy, just as simple as can be, verse 20, and another said, I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come. That's his words. Uh basically, this guy is saying, I I'm I'm I'm on my honeymoon. What's interesting to me with this man is when that first invitation arrived, surely he knew his wedding date. Surely he knew this wedding was coming. But now he says, Because I've been married, I cannot come. Also, it's odd because there's nothing that says you cannot be married and go to dinner parties. And yet what we have are these three men who are just searching for any and every excuse to get out of the thing that they have this evening. Now, as we think about these excuses, and we'll call them excuses because Jesus calls them excuses. Jesus sees right through this. It's interesting that for all of us, as the invitation comes through the person and work of Jesus Christ, his death, his resurrection, the invitation comes to step into the kingdom of God, that we can come to the banquet of the Lord in salvation. We too are tempted to make our own excuses. I'm convinced of it. And I I will argue that for for you know, sometimes, oftentimes, it it is very large, uh very consequential, uh life-altering type reasons that people have for not coming to the kingdom of God. I think of C.S. Lewis, who has a young boy prayed and prayed that his mother would be healed of cancer. And when this young boy saw his mother pass away, he wondered, What in the world is God up to? Who is this God that can't answer the prayers of a little boy? And he spent the next three decades in atheism. Certainly, there are sizable reasons why while why many will not accept the kingdom of God. And by the way, the Lord has uh the the patience and the time to invest in every one of those. I I'm convinced though that for so many, if I could just be honest and and use

Excuses Then And Now

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Jesus' words here, uh the reason many don't come to the kingdom of God is is simply they make excuses. And it it may look different than I bought property or I bought oxen or I've gotten married, but even today uh an excuse is just an excuse. We we say things like, I I'll get around to that. Like I'm I I know that's something I know I know being a part of church and having a relationship with Jesus, I know it's what my grandmother talks about, it's what my mother talks about. I'm gonna get around to that at some point in life. Uh we might say things like you know, I yeah, I I'm I'm already a Christian. Why? Well, I mean, I I we live in El Doredor, Arkansas. There's a church on every corner. Uh, you know, my my and I know my my parents went to church. I uh I'm sure that I've got faith of my own somewhere, you know, tucked down deep. And the excuse might be this, that that really I don't I don't need that because I'm actually doing okay. I'm actually pretty good as far as good people go. I you know, I'm certain I I probably do more good than I do bad. My good outweighs the bad just a little bit. Or maybe we say uh the excuse of this that you know I I've looked a little bit into everything about Jesus, but but I'm I'm a little more open-minded than that. That seems a little too exclusive to me, and and and I would never come to something that just seems so exclusive. That doesn't fit. All we have in these moments are just these excuses that really end up at this, that we'd just rather have it our way. That I would much rather that that no one would make claims on my life, that no one would would would claim to be the authority over me. I would rather just sit on the throne of my life. I would rather be the idol that I worship. And we have all these excuses all the while. The invitation that Jesus is offering is standing there before us, and we say, I would rather have it our way. I'm fascinated. Then on June 22nd, uh, 1922, King George had his coronation. Invitations went out. One invitation was hand signed to a man named uh John Seville, a very noble individual, an impressive individual. He got a hand-signed invitation to King George's coronation, and it gave the description of the event, it gave the time, it gave the date, it was an invitation for him and his wife, and then right underneath in these parentheses, it had the four most amazing words maybe I've ever heard on an invitation. It says this all excuses put aside. Think about that. Think about your next invitation to your kid's birthday party. Put that on there. All excuses put aside. What did those four words mean? It says, it means this: you've been invited to the coronation of the king. You don't have anything else. Whatever was on your calendar is now off your calendar. If someone's mad because you're not at their thing, let them be mad because you're at the king's thing. All excuses are put aside, and yet, for so many of us, for these three men here, for many people in our world today, maybe for you sitting here this morning, we look at the invitation of the King of Glory who died and rose again to forgive sins and give you that invitation. And yet we look to him and give our excuses and say, I might rather try this my way. We continue because the owner of the home now has a new plan. Verse 21. So the servant came and reported these things to his master. Then the master of the house became angry and said to his servant, Go out quickly to the streets and lanes of the city and bring in the poor and crippled and blind and lame. Now think about this. If today Katie and I, this evening, let's say we're hosting a dinner party and

All Excuses Put Aside

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you're all invited, and and for some reason none of you show up, well, there's there's things we can do. We could take all the food that has been prepared and we could put it in the refrigerator or the freezer, and maybe we could try again tomorrow night, we could try again next week. Okay, but if you're in the first century and the food is on the table and it's ready to be eaten, and the chefs have prepared this and the glasses are full. Guess what? You can't put it in the refrigerator and wait till next week. This food has to be eaten tonight. A party is happening, okay? The tables are set and someone's going to enjoy this meal. And so the owner of the house says, Go out, go into the streets and the lame and the lanes and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame. Just bring in anyone and everyone and tell them that they are invited to the party. The people that have never been to a banquet like this, the outcast, the despised and rejected, we tried the haves. Let's try the have-nots. Just tell everyone that a party is happening and you are invited. Verse 22, and the servant said, Sir, what you have commanded has been done, and I love this phrase, and still there is room. That's really the message of the gospel. That always comes along with the message of the gospel, and still there is room. But today, at this moment, in the great banquet, still there is room. For the person that says, Surely there's not room for me. Surely the Lord wouldn't invite someone like me. The gospel message still stands. Still there is room. And then 23, I love this. The master said to the servant, Go out to the highways and hedges. Let's stop there for a minute. The highways and hedges. I I I love uh, you know, modern translations of the Bible, ESV, N I V, C S V. If if I didn't say your translation, I love yours too. Uh but but but the highways and the hedges, I'm just glad that when some translators sit in a room, they just keep some of those great phrases. They didn't try to make it anything different. That highways and hedges. I I love that that's the terminology there. Go out

The Outsiders Get Welcomed In

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wherever you can. If you got to go outside of town, if you got to go to the busy streets or the country roads, wherever it is, you go there, and I love this word, and compel people to come in. Compel them to come in. That language is fascinating to me. Compel them to come in. My question is this why why do you have to compel them to come in? You're saying people that have uh usually have no business being invited to the great banquet, they're not doing much, they don't have other plans. Why do you have to compel them to come in simply for this reason? Because the master of the house knows that when his servant goes and gives uh this invitation, those who hear this invitation are going to say, Surely you don't mean me. Surely you've come to the wrong person because you don't understand. People like me don't get invitations like that. It's the same thing that happened. We were talking Wednesday night in Mark chapter 16. Jesus has risen from the grave, and an angel stands there at the tomb and tells the women that have come that Christ has risen from the grave, and he says this fascinating phrase. This angel tells these women, hey, go tell the disciples and Peter what has happened. I love that phrase. Go tell the disciples and Peter what has happened. And why do I love that phrase? Is because at first it doesn't seem to make sense. Because I know this, that Peter is a disciple. That would be like you have a message and you say, Hey, go tell the church staff and tailor this message. I thought I was on the church staff. Go tell the disciples and Peter. Yet it's such beautiful language because of this. Just a few days before, what was Peter up to? He was betraying his savior. He was he was denying his savior, saying, I don't know him. And so the angel knows when he sends the women out, there's gonna be this man named Peter, and he's gonna be tempted to believe that he could not be welcomed back in the fold of God. So you tell the disciples and Peter, make sure he knows. Go to the highways and hedges and compel them. And when they tell you I'm not worthy, I'm not good enough, when they tell you I'm too broken and dirty, and you've come here to the blind and the crippled, the lame, you just tell them I know we have, so come to the banquet. And you're invited. And still there is room. Here's what I believe about the gospel that I just believe is true, is that it defies our own logic. It defies our own preconceived notions. And so the first thing that we've got to do when the gospel comes to us is let it just take a sledgehammer to the ideas in our mind of how we thought this thing was gonna go. Of how we thought the spiritual life worked, as how we thought uh any kind of relationship between God and man could go, because the Lord Himself takes this sledgehammer to it and instead says the broken, the blind, the lame, uh those who have no worthiness in and of themselves, they are the one that is invited. You are the one that invited into the kingdom of God. And I just wonder

Compelled To Come Because Of Shame

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who in your life this morning needs to hear that? First of all, praise God for the message. It may be you. And praise God, you're here to hear it. You may be the one who has wondered in their own heart, in their own life, and could the Lord save someone like me? Because, Pastor, you don't know where I've been or or what I've done, and you don't know the mistakes I've made. You may be in the room this morning, or you may be watching online, and you've been watching us online, but but you you don't even feel like, you know, how can I even step foot in that room? Surely I'm not spiritual like all these other people in this room. Hey, all of us have a surprise for you online. We don't have it all together, but still you say I couldn't go there because I'm just not a church person. I'm I'm I'm not I've it's messed up beyond belief. And then I just see this story uh that says, number one, you and I were all in the same boat, and number two, still there is room. Who is it in your life that needs to hear this? Is there a prodigal son or prodigal daughter in your own life? And you've been praying and praying and praying, and that child just needs to know there's still room. There is a savior that loves them. Is there someone in your life maybe they have messed up, maybe they've wronged you in a big way, and you need to let them know not only do I forgive you, but I know a savior who is ready and willing to forgive you. Because I I see the message here of the gospel, and I can't help seeing how much it turns upside down what we think has to be true about the nature of God. That to the highways and the hedges, the haves and the have-nots, the quote unquote insiders, and certainly the outsiders, the Lord says this still there is room. I'm not sure anyone has ever illustrated this better uh than a quick video I want to show you, and I I've referenced it in here, I've shown it on a Wednesday night. You've probably seen it. If you have, praise God, you'll see it again. If I get to the end of my days and I preach something half as good as what I'm about to show you, I'll I'll be alright. The ultimate example of what it looks like for the gospel to bring in someone that isn't worthy of it, none of us are, but still there is room. Can we show that clip now?

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Without the preaching of the cross, without preaching the cross to ourselves all day and every day, we will very, very quickly revert to faith plus works as the ground of our salvation. So that to go to the old uh Fort Lauderdale question, if you were to die tonight and and and you

The Thief’s Only Qualification

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were getting entry into heaven, what would you say? If you answer that, and if I answer it in the first person, we've immediately gone wrong. Because I, because I believed, because I have faith, because I am this, because I am continuing. Loved ones, the only proper answer is in the third person, because he, because he. The thing about the thief on the cross. What an immense. I can't I I can't wait to find that fellow one day to ask him, how did that take out for you? Because you were you were you were you were cussing the guy out with your friend. You've never been in a Bible study, you never got baptized, you never you didn't know a thing about church membership, and and yet, and yet you made it. You made it! How did you make it? That's what the angel must have said, you know, like what are you doing here? Well, I don't know. What what do you mean you don't know? Well, like because I don't know. Well, you know, we uh did you excuse me, let me get my supervisor. They go get the supervisor angel. So with just a few questions for you. First of all, uh are you are you uh are you are you clear on the doctrine of justification by faith? I've never heard of it in my life. And and what about I let's just go to the doctrine of scripture immediately. This guy's just staring. And eventually, in frustration, he says, on on what basis are you here? And he said, the man on the middle cross said, I can come.

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The man on the middle cross said, I can come. The the master of the banquet just said you're invited. I didn't add my works to it. I didn't earn it. I wasn't good enough for it. I didn't pass the theology test to get in. I sinned more than I'm proud of. I've got more regrets than I can list. And yet, out on the highways and the hedges, a servant of the master came to me and said, You are invited. That's it. That's the heart of the gospel. That's that's how I'm here. I I love Jonathan Edwards, who talks about three surprises when we get to heaven. Three surprises when we get to heaven. And number one, he says this uh the ones we didn't expect to be there and are and are there. Wait a second. I met you earlier in your life and uh I didn't know you'd be here at this party. And yet we realize along the way the Lord did a work. Surprise number two, the people that we uh expected to be there and aren't. You look like someone that had it all figured out. You mean you were just going through the motions that that it it wasn't more than just a Sunday activity for you, you didn't

Who Will Miss The Banquet

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have a relationship. And the last thing he says, what will be most shocking of all and awe-inspiring of all, he says, is the fact that I'm there at all. That I could look around, and though the great sinner that I am could find myself here. Not by my own my own might, not by my strength, not by my works, but by the finished work of Jesus Christ the righteous. Verse 24, Jesus does give us a warning, for I tell you, he looks at the room now. None of those men who are invited shall taste my banquet. We say, Jesus, that sounds a little harsh, doesn't it? That sounds a little exclusive, doesn't it? Well, it is. But who are those that were invited? Those who made the excuses and said, uh, I can do things my way. None of those who uh uh sit on the throne of their own lives shall come. None of those who look at Jesus' invitation of the gospel and says, I don't want anything to do with that. Of course they will not be at the banquet. They don't want to be at the banquet, but those on the highways and the hedges, the outcast, the rejected, those who know they bring nothing to the table other than the acknowledgement of the goodness of Jesus Christ, those are the ones. And if you think this is just merely a parable, I will tell you there will be a day when you and I and anyone who knows Jesus Christ personally, we will be at the great banquet that is hosted by Jesus Christ. I remember in Revelation 19, beginning in verse 6, then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of many peals of thunder, crying out, Hallelujah, for the Lord our God, the Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready. It was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure, for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints. And the angel said to me, Write this blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he said to me, These are the true words of God. There will be a day when you and I come to the marriage supper of the Lamb, when all who know Jesus Christ will come to the marriage supper of the Lamb. And the truth is this we will feast in the house of Zion for all eternity. And we will sit at the Lord's table, and on that day there will be no thought of our own works, of our own effort,

Invitation To Respond And Closing Prayer

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of our own ingenuity or impressiveness. No, the only thought will be Jesus Christ the righteous who died for me. And that that Savior found me on the highways and the hedges and said, I can come. If you're here today and you don't know Jesus, uh here's what I want. I want you to be at that table. That's what I want. I want you to be at that table, and I'd love to introduce you to Jesus this morning. If you're here this morning, maybe you you you know you have a seat at the table through the work of Christ, but you just need that encouraging reminder this morning that you have a Savior that loves you deeply. I pray you've received it from God's word. Maybe you're here this morning and you know who in your life needs to hear this, needs to know that there's no one too far gone for the grace of God. Maybe you're who God wants to use to give that message to them. Maybe this morning you want to come join this church family. We'd love nothing more than to wrap our arms around you. Maybe you want to ask about baptism or again how to become a Christian. Maybe you just want a pastor to pray with you and over you. We'd love to do that. But in just a moment, we're gonna pray together and worship together, and I'll be down front as you need to respond. You can do so. Let's pray together. Lord Jesus, I thank you for the gospel, for the message of salvation that exists within the gospel, the work you've done. Lord, I thank you for the message that there is still room. And Lord, I just pray that we would be a people that know deeply of the work of Christ, and we would be a people that share widely the work of Christ. That beautiful message that there is room for anyone and everyone who would come. Lord, if there's even one now that needs to hear that message for the first time and come to know you, would they be bold to do that even now? However, we need to respond if we do so in Christ's name. Amen. Would you stand as we worship I'll be down for you?