The Great Invitation

Luke 14 shows God’s heart to fill his banquet with people who know their need for grace. Jesus invites the undeserving, the overlooked, and the resistant to come to him. We are called to receive that invitation ourselves and help compel others toward the table.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Sermon text for today is Luke chapter 14, verses 2015. I'm sorry, verses 15. Well, that'd be long to the 23rd. You can find this passage in the Sanctuary Bible on pages 1590 and 1591. I'll be reading from the English Standard Version this morning. Please listen as I read God's word. When one of those who reclined at the table with him heard him or heard these things, he said to him, Blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God. But he said to him, A man once gave a great banquet and invited many. At the time of the banquet, he sent his servants to say 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 and see it. Please have me excuse. And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen and I must go examine them. Please have me excuse. And another said, I have married a wife and therefore cannot come. 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 the lame. And the servant said, Sir, what have you commanded or what you commanded has been done, and still there is room. And the masters, and the master said to the servant, Go out to the highways and hedges and compel people to come in. That is my house, that my house may be filled. Here ends the reading.

SPEAKER_01 2:06

Well, thanks, thanks, John, for the reading of the word. Thanks, Dave, for your hospitality and inviting us to do chores with you. Pretty exciting. Those of you are new, I do hope that you check out the party uh next uh Sunday. Uh I am grateful for this invitation. Uh, it's a privilege to be here with you today. My name is Sean McDowell. I uh had the opportunity to meet your senior pastor, John Strongberg, about six months ago. We had coffee together, and he invited me to come and speak with you today while he's on sabbatical uh this summer. And uh his wife actually works at our district office. I am currently the church planning and leadership uh development director for the North Central District at the Evangelical Free Church of America. That is a lot to take in on a Sunday morning, isn't it? That is a lot of words. That's loaded right there. Um believe it or not, uh there's actually you uh there the Evangelical Free Church of America is approximately 1,600 churches and 600 missionaries uh serving around the world right now. It's organized into 17 districts across the country, and your church is one of about 170 churches in our state that make up the North Central District. Before stepping into this role, I served as a pastor for many years, 30 years. I started when I was eight years old at uh Constance Free Church in Andover, Minnesota, and then later as a director for the Wheaton College Billy Graham Center in Wheaton, Illinois. Uh Pastor John asked me, he says, Sean, I want you to speak on something uh just from your heart. And so we're in this series called On the Heart, and I'm coming with you uh with a message that impacted my heart several years ago. Several years ago, I had a profound experience. I was on a three-day personal planning retreat. I was prayerfully setting goals for the upcoming year, and almost immediately and quite unexpectedly, I sensed the Lord saying, Sean, I want you to teach less and lead more in this next season of ministry. And I want you to know that that level of clarity does not happen very often to me. But that thought persisted for weeks, even months. So after that retreat, my wife and I my wife Heidi and I began to prayerfully process this, and one conviction became clear that whatever we do next, and wherever God leads next, bringing the central heart of the gospel, the good news about Jesus Christ, needs to be of first important. That became profoundly clear to both of us. There was a deep and settled conviction around that. And the conviction actually deepened as I was reading in the Bible where there's an apostle named Paul, and he writes a letter to a church in a city called Corinth about passing on the gospel, and he uses this language, he goes, What I've received, I passed on to you as of first importance. And then he goes on to share the central heart of the gospel message that Jesus died on a cross, he was raised, and then he appeared to many. And I began to ask myself some uncomfortable questions. Would those in my church say that the gospel the good news about Jesus Christ was the central message of my life? With those in my workplace, with those in my community, with those in my neighborhood, with those on my street when my neighbors think that the gospel is the central message, the message of most importance from my life. And by God's grace, that had been true in many seasons. I had had I had watched ministries exponentially grow. I had seen numerous people begin to follow Jesus Christ, but somewhere on the way, something had subtly shifted. And I was experiencing mission drift. Out of curiosity, show of hands, uh, those of you who would consider yourselves just followers of Jesus Christ, show of hands, how many of you at some point in your life have experienced mission drift? In other words, at some point in your life, weeks went by without you sharing the good news about Jesus Christ with somebody else. Just raise your hands if you would, okay? This is church. You can be honest. I don't know if Pastor John lets you be honest in church, but I'll let you do that today, okay? But that was happening in my life. I was experiencing this mission drift, and here I am pastoring a church. And so I shared these convictions with our leadership, and what I didn't fully realize is that God was already at work in their hearts too, not only in my heart. What we didn't need was another outreach event or training. We actually had enough of those over the years, and we were only seeing nominal results. What we needed was actually a culture change process. And it had to start with me. It had to start with my heart. And then it started with our leadership in the church, and then it spread to the broader church. And after the first year of kind of going through this disciple-making culture change process, 86 people indicated a first-time decision to follow Jesus by God's grace. After the second year, over 200 people indicated a first-time decision to follow Jesus Christ. And then after the third year, 150 more people indicated a first-time decision to receive Jesus. We actually recently surveyed our church, and passing on the gospel has become one of the top three priorities of the church, along with shepherding the church well. People are beginning to think about the ones in their life who do not yet know Him, and they're beginning to, in a sense, invite them to the banquet table, the great banquet, which John just read. So let's look at uh, and that takes us exactly where this Bible passage takes us today. Jesus here is in the passage that John read is sitting around a table with a group of Pharisees. He's sitting around the table with experts in the law, the Jewish law, but these religious leaders were being selective about who could sit around this table. And so Jesus tells a story about God preparing a great banquet. And God is real concerned that his banquet gets filled. So look at me with uh Luke chapter 14, starting with verse 15. One of the Pharisees or experts uh reclining at the table said to Jesus, Blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God. Now, this is more or less a pious cliche, okay? In tradition, if someone said, Blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God, he would expect a pious answer in return, like, may we ourselves be counted as among those who are worthy to receive this. And all these very pious people probably look around the table with nods solemnly and just try to look really humble in that moment. Well, this pious remark launches a reply from Jesus in verse 16. It starts with a great invitation. Starts with a great invitation. But he said to him, A man once gave a great banquet and invited many. Now you have to understand the Old Testament idea of a banquet or feast. The banquet or feast was often used as a metaphor for the coming of God's kingdom. Okay, the banquet was about the restoration of all things and the establishment of God's community. And therefore, to eat at the banquet was to receive God's salvation and to receive fullness of life through Him. Classic example of this is actually in Isaiah chapter 25 in the Bible, and it talks about the coming banquet. And the prophet Isaiah said, starting in verse 6, On this mountain, the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine, a rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined. Then Isaiah goes on to say in verse 9, It'll be said on that day, Behold, this is our God. We have waited for him that he might save us. This is the Lord. We have waited for him. Let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation. Okay? So God, in a sense, says there will be this great banquet, and God is a chef, and he is preparing a feast. And did you notice from Isaiah what kind of food is on the menu? Anyone notice? Fatty things. Food with marrow. Okay, this is not going to be like fat-free, lean cuisine, tofu tasting kind of food. Am I right? Amen on that? Right? This is a feast. And who's invited to the party? Isaiah insists that all peoples, all the niches. In fact, Isaiah uses the word all here five times in verses six through nine. In other words, it's not limited to one ethnic group. God is concerned that his banquet, his house gets filled with all people. They all matter to him. Everyone matters to God. You matter to God. This community matters to God. This country matters to God. This world matters to God. But by Jesus' day, there had been this shift in thinking, and the religious leaders have become quite exclusive. Yes, they believed that there would be this coming banquet, but Gentiles, in other words, non-Jewish people and other sinners would be excluded from that banquet. And Jesus wants to challenge that way of thinking. So back to the text in Luke. It says, a man once gave a great banquet, okay? And he invited many. Then verse 17, and at that time for the banquet, he sent his servant to say to those who had been invited, come, for everything is now ready. Now, this is the way that kind of big parties worked in this uh in this particular day. Uh there would be an initial invitation, it would go out days, weeks, maybe even months in advance, and you were expected to RSVP. Okay, this way the host would know how much food was needed. And in those days, of course, food did not preserve well. There were no large commercial uh commercial uh you know refrigerators or large commercial ovens, so it required advanced notice and then preparation. And of course, when the invitation went out, it could not say come at come at 6 o'clock p.m. Okay, there were no clocks in that day. So what did they do? Uh so typically what happened is the date was only mentioned, and when the date rolled around and the food was ready, there'd be this servant that would go out and basically say to the people, okay, come and get it. All right, everything is ready now. Come to the party, come to the banquet. That's generally how it worked. And Jesus, in a sense, says in verses 15 through 17 that the invitation has gone out. That's what he's in a sense saying. The invitation has gone out. The prophets of old in the Bible and uh years ago announced it for centuries. People have waited and waited and waited, and the time has come, the kingdom of God is near, the banquet is near. Repent and believe in the good news. Jesus, in a sense, says that what you see in my life, what you hear my teaching, this is the kingdom of God. If you want to know how to live life in the kingdom of God, if you want to taste and see how good God is, Jesus in a sense says, Come to me. Just come to me. Make me your forgiver. Make me your savior. Make me your king. This is the best offer that you will ever get. This is life everlasting. And Jesus says actually in scripture, anyone who has me has life. Anyone who rejects me and what I offer has death. And that would have been a staggering statement. And it would have been a frontal assault in the ears of everyone sitting around that table who is listening to this story. So back to the parable. The servant tells those who are SVP, come and get it. Everything's ready now. This is what you've been waiting for. But, verse 18, they all like began to make excuses. Okay, so now there's a refusal of the guests. Here's where the story honestly just goes horribly wrong. There was a great invitation, but now it's being followed by a great refusal. Jesus mentions three guests with three excuses. Take a look, if you would, at the first excuse, verse 18. The first said to him, I have bought a field and I must go out and see it. Please have me excused. Now, in the Middle East, in a country where property is limited and precious, one would not necessarily buy a field before seeing it first. Okay, it's like someone saying, You know what, I can't come over, I just bought a house, and now I gotta go take a look at it and see what kind of state it's in. All right, that's that's kind of excuse that's starting to happen here. Then, excuse number two, verse 19, and another said, I bought five yoke of oxen and I need to go to examine them. Please have me excuse. Now, five yoke of oxen in that day would have been a large financial investment. Okay, by ancient standard, this person is probably quite wealthy, perhaps owning up to about 250 acres. Okay, so this is quite a substantial investment. If you bought a team of oxen, it would be standard procedure to actually go over to the owner's home or marketplace where they're being sold, and you would see if they could work together, if they could team together well. Otherwise, it would be a large financial risk. Again, it's like the kind of the equivalent of our day if someone said, Well, you know what, I just bought five cars, I need to go see if they have engines in them. Now, I'm not a car guy, okay? I don't know much about cars, but I do know it's a good thing to make sure that they have an engine in them, and those engines work. Then, last excuse, number three, verse 20, and another said, I've married a wife, and therefore I cannot come. Now, I have no idea what marrying a wife has to do with this. Okay? Marriage actually did in the Bible keep a person from uh uh kept a person from going to war. In fact, we find it in Deuteronomy chapter 24 in the Bible, but it'd be hard to imagine how marriage would disqualify a person from attending a social meal. Now, these are not necessarily bad things, okay? These excuses are not necessarily um bad things, they involve property, wealth, family. Okay, those aren't necessarily bad things, right? But here's the deal. Even when godly things come before God Himself, something is off. Even when godly things come before God Himself, something is off. These are people placing things and others above God. These are people making excuses and refusing to attend the banquet. So let's draw some parables. Jesus the servant announces, the invitation is gone out, the time has come, the kingdom of God is near, repent and believe the good news. And the religious leaders do not like this arrangement at all. Okay, the Pharisees, the religious leaders, are the ones making excuses. The story is actually directed underhandedly, in a sense, to them. The story is directed to them, and they are the ones refusing Jesus. And so the question becomes is how is God gonna respond? How will God respond to this great refusal to the great invitation? Is he gonna spend less time with sinners? Is he gonna deny his position as Savior and King because these religious leaders take issue with him? No. Instead, there's actually an even greater pursuit. Luke chapter 14, starting with verse 21, after hearing these excuses, 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 the crippled and the blind and the lame. Jesus says, Here's the thing, the banquet is not over. Quite the contrary. The host is not intimidated, the host is not frustrated or put off. He's angry, he's angry at what's in their hearts, but God looks around. He longs for his banquet to be filled, he longs for his house to be full. He will do everything by every means possible to bring all the all who will come to the feast. And so God says, go out and pursue the poor and the crippled and the blind and the lame, and you bring them in. Now who are they? Well, they're beggars. Everyone on the new list is a beggar by definition. No one typically in this day threw a party for these people. They are considered outcasts. They are considered, in a sense, second class. Over the years, I've uh traveled quite a bit. Um, on one trip, I was uh with a guy by the name of David. He was an associate pastor of high school ministries. We were headed to a youth leadership conference in Atlanta, Georgia. And this was David's second time on a plane, so understandably, he wanted to sit next to the window seat and make sure that he caught a view of what was happening outside. And so I sat in the middle chair. There were three chairs. I sat in the middle chair, the plane was filling up quickly, the seat next to me remained empty. I was getting pretty excited about that. I was hopeful about it. The seats are small. Anybody agree? Plane seats are really, really small. And toward the last minutes, just before takeup, there's takeoff, there's this lar rather large, built man, and he walks to the door and he walks slowly down the aisle. I mean, this guy is like, he's he is worked out a lot, and he's probably twice as big as me. He walks down the aisle, and I thought to myself, this is probably it. And he sat down right next to me. Now, there was no fighting over this armrest, okay? Uh yeah, sometimes there are unspoken fights over armrests. Have you ever had that? You've been in a movie theater or somewhere else, maybe, you know, some type of show, and there's like these unspoken arguments, maybe it's even between you and your spouse, right? I'm often reminded, forgive as the Lord has forgiven you, that you're taking up my armrest right now that I want to use instead, right? There was no fighting over this armrest. And so uh, you know, David's on one side, this man's on the other side, rather tight squeeze. We got this two hour flight ahead of us. And then I catch a glance of first class. These people have what looks like recliners. Am I right? Midway through the flight, they receive the. On this particular flight, and this was years ago, they received this warm towelette, okay? And an assortment of beverages and this presidential treatment. The most I received was a small bag of salted pretzels, maybe a half a can of carbonated beverage. Well, in Jesus' story, the cripples, the blind, and the lame, these beggars, all of a sudden, they are in first class. They could not even afford to fly coach, and now they're sitting in first class. They're invited to the banquet. They cannot afford it. They cannot pay the host back. This is just grace. God's response is sheer grace. Have you ever been invited to a really nice, kind of fancy dinner and just felt like you didn't deserve to be there? For some of you, it might be like every wedding you've ever attended, right? I remember one time, uh, and this was many years ago, uh, I went to a dinner on a boat. It was this dinner, dinner cruise off Lake Michigan, and I just sat down, there's the white cloth, you know, there's like two forks. I have no idea why two forks was necessary, right? But I sat there and as I was looking around at everybody, I thought to myself, I do not deserve to be here. This is not for me. And Jesus, in a sense, says, Here's the kingdom of God. A bunch of people who cannot even afford to be in first class get invited to a banquet with fatty things, with rich food, and they're invited into forgiveness and grace and love and purpose. And then Luke chapter 14, verse 22, and the servant said, Sir, what you have commanded has been done, and still there is room. And the master said to his servant, Go out to the highways and the hedges and compel people to come in that my house may be filled. So the great pursuit continues. In other words, go beyond the city, not even the same town, right? Strangers are now actually coming into this party. And notice the relentlessness of the servant. God says, Compel people to come in. So what does this word compel mean? The word uh this probably does not mean force people against their will. That's not, I think, what the writer is going for here, um, what Jesus is going for here. Instead, God, in a sense, said, urge them to come in. There's this insistent hospitality, right? You have to understand Middle Eastern etiquette. In the Middle East, if you received an unexpected invitation, you were expected to refuse as a matter of form, especially if the invitation came from someone of higher social rank. You would assume this is just, oh, this is just a gracious gesture from a nobleman, but I do not belong to this party. You would not fit in at this party. You would most likely turn down the invite. And the master understands this. He understands grace will be unbelievable to the recipients who receive this invitation. He knows people will not necessarily get it. He knows some will say, you know what, this can't be for me. There cannot be a chair around the great banquet table for me. So he says to his servant, here's what you have to do. When you go out there and you issue the invitation and they nod their heads and say, Thank you very much, but we cannot attend, you do not take no for an answer because I want them here. Compel them to come in. And God, in a sense, says, I want my house to be filled. Around my table are many, many chairs, and I want every one of those chairs occupied. I want people hanging from the rafters of the house, including this little house. I want my banquet filled. So go out quickly and search the streets and the lanes and the boulevards and the circles and the avenues for anyone and compel them to come in. And I think that's what God says for this little house right here. I want it full. God, in a sense, says, when you come together on Sunday morning, I want it full. I want every seat, if possible, to be filled with someone who is praising or worshiping me. When small groups or Bible studies meet together, I want them to be full of people who know that they are objects of God's grace. When kids and students meet together, I want those spaces to be full. And so he says to his servants, through the ultimate servant that is working through them, go out quickly and search the lanes and the streets for all people and compel them to come in. So let me ask you, who are the ones in your life? Who are the ones in your life who need to be, in a sense, be invited to the table? Maybe they think they do not deserve it. There's no way that God would want me around this table. Have you seen the stuff that I have done? Maybe they think they do not deserve it, but they need to be invited. And then let me ask you, what is one step that you could take to compel them with God's help? Because ultimately it's going to require God's help and enablement to come in and to sit at God's table. I recently uh met the author of a book titled Looking Uh for the One. I actually stumbled upon him quite literally in a coffee shop. I was uh walking out of the coffee shop and I caught notice of this t-shirt, and I was trying to read the shirt, and I thought I was heading into a door, and I didn't quite head into a door. It was actually a glass uh window. And uh and so the guy sitting there said, Hey, come here, you know, and I came over there, and it just happened to be the author of this book. And uh his name is David McIver. He's actually a former elder leader in Evangelical Free Church here in Minnesota. And the book is just a series, it's not a training book, it's just a series of short stories about people experiencing Jesus, whether it's in grocery stores or hospital rooms or baseball dugouts and how God works through ordinary people like you and me. And David often begins his day with a prayer, something like this You know, Father, just align my will with yours today. Fill me with your love for others. Just show me one person who needs you today. Just show me one person who needs you today. Help me to notice them. Help me to see them through your eyes, help me to pray for them, care for them, share your love with them. Just empower me by your Holy Spirit to have the courage. Anybody need courage doing this? I need courage doing this. Fill me, God, with your spirit. Give me the courage, Lord, and help me to trust in you with whatever the outcome is, whatever that outcome might be. And then what David does is he lives expectantly. So I began this practice in my own life. Um, I actually started before I even read this book. This book resonated with me. And it's extraordinary the people that God has brought across my paths as I've prayed this during my days. I built a relationship with a couple who they actually manage a manufactured home community, a mobile home community not too far from our church. And I had the privilege, by God's grace, to build a relationship with them over time, invite them to our church. I was preaching one Sunday morning. I shared the central heart of the gospel message, and they indicated decision to receive Jesus with their life. It was it was awesome. And as a result, God has uh uh uh basically opened up the doors for us to serve in this community. And one of the things that I love to do is I love to distribute food there. And so I go out um, you know, once maybe every couple months or so, I go into this community, I serve food, and there's one day before that I go out, I often take other people with me, and uh we just prayed a prayer, something similar to this. And God introduced me to a woman. I'm just gonna call her uh for the sake of anonymity, I'll call her Samantha. And Samantha's life has not been easy. It's been very, very difficult. She's a sharp woman. She does not feel like she deserves to sit in first class. But I have been developing a friendship with her, and I recently invited Samantha to one of our worship services. And I thought for sure she's probably gonna say no. But I invited her anyway, and she said, you know what, Sean? I have not gone to church in years. But you and your church have done so much for me in our community, I'm curious. There was something compelling her, and ultimately we knew that it was Jesus Christ that was compelling her. So I picked up Samantha with my high school daughter, who has come with me to distribute food, and at the end of the worship service, Samantha said, This was such a contemplative time for me. There have been a there's just been so much garbage in my life. And so we talked about the gospel, the good news about Jesus, and all of us have garbage. All of us have sinned. Samantha, the Bible says that this is love. Not that we love God, not if somehow we could impress God and earn his love. But that he loved us, all of us, and sent his son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. In other words, Jesus paid this penalty on the cross for our sins, a penalty that we can never pay on our own. And Jesus simply makes a request on you and me that we receive it. That we receive the invitation and we come to him and we follow him. And I'm telling you, Samantha, it is the best offer that you are ever going to get. Now Samantha's on her journey. Samantha returned to church uh the next week, actually on her own, but she's not quite to the party yet. There's actually an excuse right now getting in the way. But Lord willing, one day, she's gonna receive that invitation, that ultimate invitation. So, who are the ones in your life who need to be invited to the table? And what is one step that you could take to compel them? I actually have a couple copies of this book. I'll actually give, I've got three copies up here. I'd be happy to give away one of these copies for free. Actually, David MacGyver, who's the McGyver, who's the author, I don't know it's because if I stumbled into glass and he thought, dude, you need help, I'm gonna give you a whole book of my whole box of my books, and if you could just give them away for free, that'd be awesome. And so he gave me a full uh box of books, and I've got three up here. Um, if you're interested in in taking one of those, just feel free, walk up, grab one of those. Um, and I would say too that if right now you don't think you deserve it, and you have not made a decision to receive Jesus and to come to the banquet table and follow him, I hope that you would do that. And this story, uh, this book, I think would be a great resource for you as well. Just to capture God's heart for the one that does not yet know him. So let me ask you again: who are the ones in your life who need to be invited to the Bible? What step could you take to compel them? Maybe it's inviting them to church, if intimidated by church, maybe introduce them to a few people in your small group or Bible study or circle of friends, maybe read the Bible or a book together, watch some videos, maybe it's just praying for them, maybe it's just listening to them right now, maybe it's just serving them right now and just showing them the love of Jesus. And if they're too busy or resistant, it may take patience, it might take persistence, but help them take the next step as God opens doors and compel them towards God's banquet. Because God, in a sense, says, I want my house to be filled. Around my table are many, many chairs, I want every one of them occupied. I want people hanging from the rafters of my house, including this little house. And so compeled. Invite them to the table. Invite them to the party. Amen? Let's pray. Father, uh, you love the poor, you love the crippled, the blind, the lame, the wicked, you love the doubting, the confused, the lonely, the lost, the hopeless, the stubborn, and even the cynics. We are all sinners. We all need your grace. So, Father, empower us, give us courage, and by means of your spirit, may we join your work, compelling others, whether it's classmates at school, even during the summer, the ones we know, co-workers, friends, family, neighbors, people in the community, and we invite them to your table to you. Just fill the rafters of your house, God, including this little house. Fill your banquet. For your glory and the advancement of your kingdom. And it's in your son's name that we pray these things in the name of Jesus Christ. And all God's people said, Amen.