WEBVTT 00:00:06.480 --> 00:00:07.440 Hello everyone. 00:00:07.440 --> 00:00:08.880 This is Pastor Benjamin. 00:00:08.880 --> 00:00:12.000 You're listening to Sermon Audio from New City Orlando. 00:00:12.000 --> 00:00:15.439 At New City, we long to see our Father answer the Lord's Prayer. 00:00:15.439 --> 00:00:20.000 For more resources, visit our website at Newcity Orlando.com. 00:00:20.000 --> 00:00:27.519 Stand and join with me as we pray together a prayer of illumination and the reading of God's Word. 00:00:27.519 --> 00:00:30.800 Prayer of Illumination, read with me. 00:00:30.800 --> 00:00:31.920 Pray with me. 00:00:31.920 --> 00:00:44.479 God our Father, by your Holy Spirit, open our hearts and our minds to your word and lead us into your truth for the glory of Jesus Christ our Lord. 00:00:44.479 --> 00:00:45.359 Amen. 00:00:45.359 --> 00:00:53.200 If you would remain standing if you were able for the reading of the Gospel of Luke, chapter 14, verses 1 and 7 through 24. 00:00:53.200 --> 00:01:01.200 One Sabbath, when he went to dine at the house of a ruler of the Pharisees, they were watching him carefully. 00:01:01.200 --> 00:01:16.000 Now he told a parable to those who were invited when he noticed how they chose the places of honor, saying to them, When you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, do not sit down in a place of honor, lest someone more distinguished than you be invited by him. 00:01:16.000 --> 00:01:20.640 And he who invited you both will come and say to you, Give your place to this person. 00:01:20.640 --> 00:01:24.000 And then you will begin with shame to take the lowest place. 00:01:24.000 --> 00:01:31.120 But when you are invited, go and sit in the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he may say to you, Friend, move up higher. 00:01:31.120 --> 00:01:34.959 Then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at table with you. 00:01:34.959 --> 00:01:40.799 For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted. 00:01:40.799 --> 00:01:53.519 He said also to the man who had invited him, When you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers and sisters, or your relatives, or your rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return, and you be repaid. 00:01:53.519 --> 00:02:06.319 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. 00:02:06.319 --> 00:02:14.159 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. 00:02:14.159 --> 00:02:19.199 But Jesus said to him, A man once gave a great banquet and invited many. 00:02:19.199 --> 00:02:26.879 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. 00:02:26.879 --> 00:02:29.680 But they all alike began to make excuses. 00:02:29.680 --> 00:02:33.599 The first said to him, I bought a field, and I must go out and see it. 00:02:33.599 --> 00:02:35.199 Please have me excused. 00:02:35.199 --> 00:02:39.840 And another said, I bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to examine them. 00:02:39.840 --> 00:02:41.280 Please have me excused. 00:02:41.280 --> 00:02:45.520 And another said, I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come. 00:02:45.520 --> 00:02:49.039 So the servant came and reported these things to his master. 00:02:49.039 --> 00:02:58.479 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. 00:02:58.479 --> 00:03:04.560 And the servant said, Sir, what you have what you commanded has been done, and still there is room. 00:03:04.560 --> 00:03:13.360 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. 00:03:13.360 --> 00:03:18.400 For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste my banquet. 00:03:18.400 --> 00:03:19.840 This is God's word. 00:03:19.840 --> 00:03:21.199 Thanks be to God. 00:03:21.199 --> 00:03:22.639 You may be seated. 00:03:25.199 --> 00:03:26.960 Good morning, New City. 00:03:26.960 --> 00:03:36.159 So I want you to imagine for a moment that you've been invited to a dinner banquet. 00:03:36.159 --> 00:03:42.319 And it's your boss who invited you, not just your boss, but really your CEO of the company who's hosting it. 00:03:42.319 --> 00:03:46.560 And he's invited every all of the high-ups in the company as well as the whole company. 00:03:46.560 --> 00:03:51.840 He's also invited some other uh organizations and philanthropists. 00:03:51.840 --> 00:03:53.599 Uh, there's some notable people there. 00:03:53.599 --> 00:03:57.039 Maybe there's even one or two celebrities, right? 00:03:57.039 --> 00:04:06.159 So you you come to the dinner and people are coming up in nice cars, uh, people are dressed well, uh, they're mingling and socializing with one another. 00:04:06.159 --> 00:04:15.759 Everybody wants to get a chance to talk to the CEO, talk to the boss, get a chance to uh let their face and name be known, uh, hopefully get that promotion that they want. 00:04:15.759 --> 00:04:25.040 Uh for the couple celebrities that are there, people are trying to get close to them, to take selfies, either from like a distance, you know, 20 feet away, or just like brave enough to come up and talk to them. 00:04:25.040 --> 00:04:27.600 Uh and so it's it's a haul to do, right? 00:04:27.600 --> 00:04:31.680 But in the midst of all of that, somebody walks in. 00:04:31.680 --> 00:04:34.800 Uh, this person uh is a little awkward. 00:04:34.800 --> 00:04:37.360 Uh they're not dressed like everybody else. 00:04:37.360 --> 00:04:40.879 They are a little swollen, they're clearly uncomfortable. 00:04:40.879 --> 00:04:43.199 Something's a little bit off with this person. 00:04:43.199 --> 00:04:44.560 Uh, they don't fit in. 00:04:44.560 --> 00:04:47.680 Uh and so everyone, you know, they're kind of giving them the side eye. 00:04:47.680 --> 00:04:51.439 They're like, they're aware of them, but they're not sure what to do with this man. 00:04:51.439 --> 00:04:57.519 Uh, and so the night goes on, uh, and the host comes up uh to give a short speech, right? 00:04:57.519 --> 00:05:00.240 It's polished, it's funny, people laugh at his jokes. 00:05:00.240 --> 00:05:05.839 Uh, but as he's giving it, he pauses and he notices the man in the middle of the room. 00:05:05.839 --> 00:05:13.519 And he cranes his neck and and to see who he is and what he's doing, why he's caused a little bit of a fuss. 00:05:13.519 --> 00:05:15.759 And the room goes quiet. 00:05:15.759 --> 00:05:19.680 In the middle of his speech, he's paused to look at this man. 00:05:19.680 --> 00:05:23.120 And everybody in that moment, uh, nobody moves. 00:05:23.120 --> 00:05:29.120 Uh, everybody knows that it's not gonna benefit me to move towards this man uh until I see someone else do that, right? 00:05:29.120 --> 00:05:32.000 I'm not gonna climb the social ladder by talking to him. 00:05:32.000 --> 00:05:36.319 If I do talk to him, I might kind of be burdened uh by whatever his needs are. 00:05:36.319 --> 00:05:37.759 I might actually be stuck helping him. 00:05:37.759 --> 00:05:42.480 And what if I don't get to talk to the CEO or take a selfie with that celebrity? 00:05:42.480 --> 00:05:55.759 But the host comes off the podium, he walks over to the man, he sees that the man's legs are shaking, and so he grabs a chair for him and seats him at the table, uh, right actually where the host uh will be sitting. 00:05:55.759 --> 00:05:59.120 Uh and he grabs him a meal before the dinner. 00:05:59.120 --> 00:06:00.079 It's actually plated. 00:06:00.079 --> 00:06:09.199 He goes out and he grabs it, brings it to him, gives him a bottle of water before finally coming up and finishing uh his polished speech in front of everybody on the podium. 00:06:09.199 --> 00:06:19.839 At the at that party, uh it didn't earn points for people uh to go and minister to that man, uh it didn't increase their influence, it might have cost them social capital. 00:06:19.839 --> 00:06:21.439 So they stayed silent, right? 00:06:21.439 --> 00:06:24.879 They played it safe, they protected their position. 00:06:24.879 --> 00:06:30.959 But then their host sees, cares for, and restores that man. 00:06:30.959 --> 00:06:44.000 And just like that, the entire value system of the room is exposed because while they're securing their seat, protecting their image, and managing their status, they completely missed the person right in front of them. 00:06:44.000 --> 00:06:45.040 Why? 00:06:45.040 --> 00:06:49.360 Because of a culture of scarcity and self-protection. 00:06:49.360 --> 00:07:02.160 The key idea in the social science of economics is the concept of scarcity, the fundamental problem that resources are limited while human wants are unlimited. 00:07:02.160 --> 00:07:06.480 And so our hearts tainted by sin respond in self-protection. 00:07:06.480 --> 00:07:10.639 The economics of a world tainted by sin is defined by scarcity. 00:07:10.639 --> 00:07:16.240 It's that pit in the center of our stomach, right, that tells us there's not enough for everyone. 00:07:16.240 --> 00:07:20.560 And scarcity leads sinful hearts to self-protection. 00:07:20.560 --> 00:07:22.800 Give you a couple examples of this. 00:07:22.800 --> 00:07:24.319 There's time scarcity. 00:07:24.319 --> 00:07:27.040 It sounds like I just don't have time for that. 00:07:27.040 --> 00:07:34.560 It looks like constantly rushing over booking and multitasking, prioritizing productivity over people. 00:07:34.560 --> 00:07:37.120 Then there's money scarcity, right? 00:07:37.120 --> 00:07:40.160 It sounds like I need to hold on to what I have. 00:07:40.160 --> 00:07:51.360 And it looks like fear of giving, even when we're able, anxiety about the future despite the stability that we have, and constant comparison of income, lifestyle, or security. 00:07:51.360 --> 00:07:54.959 And then there's relational or emotional scarcity, right? 00:07:54.959 --> 00:08:00.319 It sounds like I have to protect my circle or I just don't have anything left to give. 00:08:00.319 --> 00:08:12.879 It can look like hesitating to include outsiders, investing only in people who feel easy or beneficial, or withdrawing instead of engaging when life gets too hard. 00:08:12.879 --> 00:08:17.920 Scarcity leads sinful hearts to self-protection. 00:08:17.920 --> 00:08:22.720 However, in the economics of God's kingdom, scarcity doesn't exist. 00:08:22.720 --> 00:08:26.480 God knows all things, sees all things, owns all things. 00:08:26.480 --> 00:08:29.040 He creates all things from nothing. 00:08:29.040 --> 00:08:35.120 And this leads a good God to humble himself and self-giving to a sinful people. 00:08:35.120 --> 00:08:40.879 And he calls those same people made in his image to humility and self-giving as well. 00:08:40.879 --> 00:08:46.399 In God's kingdom, we can respond to scarcity with humility and self-giving. 00:08:46.399 --> 00:08:48.159 And that's what we're talking about here today. 00:08:48.159 --> 00:08:53.039 In God's kingdom, we can respond to scarcity with humility and self-giving. 00:08:53.039 --> 00:08:54.559 Go ahead and look at the text with me. 00:08:54.559 --> 00:08:58.159 We're going to start in Luke chapter 14, verse 1. 00:08:58.159 --> 00:09:07.919 Now, as we come to the passage, uh we see that Jesus is at a table. 00:09:07.919 --> 00:09:09.600 He's at a feast. 00:09:09.600 --> 00:09:14.159 Uh and it's not uncommon to find Jesus at a table in Luke's gospel. 00:09:14.159 --> 00:09:19.919 Uh he's almost always coming from, going to, or at a table with somebody in the gospel account. 00:09:19.919 --> 00:09:25.600 Uh, that can be Pharisees, tax collectors, sinners, the outcasts, his disciples, and the lost. 00:09:25.600 --> 00:09:25.919 Right? 00:09:25.919 --> 00:09:30.000 He's inviting all to the table, and he's invited to their table. 00:09:30.000 --> 00:09:32.159 So there's something important there. 00:09:32.159 --> 00:09:43.440 But we look at uh chapter 14, verse 1, and it says, one Sabbath, when he went to dine at the house of a ruler of the Pharisees, they were watching him carefully. 00:09:43.440 --> 00:09:47.360 So notice that this is on the Sabbath day. 00:09:47.360 --> 00:09:52.399 Uh Jesus says at one point, uh, the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. 00:09:52.399 --> 00:09:59.120 It looks forward to the rest and the wholeness that we will receive in the new heavens and new earth when all things are made new. 00:09:59.120 --> 00:10:02.960 And so he's been disputing with them about can I heal on the Sabbath? 00:10:02.960 --> 00:10:03.600 Right. 00:10:03.600 --> 00:10:09.679 And so he says that to this room, there's actually, he's at the feast uh of that a Pharisee is throwing, right? 00:10:09.679 --> 00:10:11.039 He's a ruler of the Pharisee. 00:10:11.039 --> 00:10:15.440 And so probably a lot of other religious leaders there, a lot of people of import and influence. 00:10:15.440 --> 00:10:21.279 And in the midst of all of that, there's a man, as we continue reading the next several verses, with dropsy, right? 00:10:21.279 --> 00:10:23.120 So he would have been swollen, right? 00:10:23.120 --> 00:10:25.039 He he would have been uncomfortable looking. 00:10:25.039 --> 00:10:27.919 People probably would have been avoiding him, right? 00:10:27.919 --> 00:10:30.720 And so notice what Jesus notices. 00:10:30.720 --> 00:10:37.679 Uh, he then goes on to notice this man and to heal him on the spot in the moment. 00:10:37.679 --> 00:10:41.840 While the Pharisees are watching him closely, asking, is this man one of us? 00:10:41.840 --> 00:10:43.759 Is he going to further our status? 00:10:43.759 --> 00:10:46.720 Are we going to benefit from him being here as the guest of honor? 00:10:46.720 --> 00:10:51.840 Jesus is noticing the humble man, right, who needs help among them. 00:10:51.840 --> 00:11:02.159 And so we move forward in the passage at uh and go ahead with me and look at verse seven, which says, now he. 00:11:02.159 --> 00:11:04.240 Oh, sorry, excuse me. 00:11:04.240 --> 00:11:05.759 Yeah, look with me at verse seven. 00:11:05.759 --> 00:11:12.240 Now he told a parable to those who were invited when he noticed how they chose the places of honor. 00:11:12.240 --> 00:11:15.120 So again, notice what Jesus is noticing, right? 00:11:15.120 --> 00:11:17.840 They're watching him, but he sees their hearts. 00:11:17.840 --> 00:11:21.279 Uh, he sees their lack of humility. 00:11:21.279 --> 00:11:27.600 I wonder uh if we were conscious all the time of what Jesus is noticing in our lives, right? 00:11:27.600 --> 00:11:36.879 When we're doom scrolling on social media, when we're posting our own things on social media, uh and all the things that we do when we when we come to church, who do we talk to? 00:11:36.879 --> 00:11:47.600 Uh, when we're going about our life at the grocery store, when we're around our kids and in our neighborhoods, uh, if we were keeping in mind what Jesus is noticing, what would we do differently? 00:11:47.600 --> 00:12:02.240 And the context of what's going on here in an honor and shame culture, uh, the places of honor at a banquet reveal one's social status and influence, things that we are often subconsciously trying to seek out and get for ourselves. 00:12:02.240 --> 00:12:05.279 And so it would be important for the people at the feast. 00:12:05.279 --> 00:12:10.480 This is an opportunity for them vocationally, right, uh, to move, to move up in their station. 00:12:10.480 --> 00:12:15.279 This is an opportunity to be near those who have much, near those who can decide their fate, right? 00:12:15.279 --> 00:12:19.679 Where they're at in society, what kind of honor they have, who can they they can be friends with. 00:12:19.679 --> 00:12:25.039 So this would have been important for those there uh to grab the seats of honor. 00:12:25.039 --> 00:12:31.360 But that's operating from the lie of scarcity, which says if someone else gets noticed, then there's less for me. 00:12:31.360 --> 00:12:35.360 If I'm not being seen, then I must not matter. 00:12:35.360 --> 00:12:42.559 And if I have if I have to position, I have to position myself, or I will get overlooked. 00:12:42.559 --> 00:12:44.799 But Jesus flips the script. 00:12:44.799 --> 00:12:46.320 Look with me at verse 11. 00:12:46.320 --> 00:12:51.120 For everyone who exalts himself, he says, will be humbled. 00:12:51.120 --> 00:12:54.960 And he who humbles himself will be exalted. 00:12:54.960 --> 00:13:00.799 Uh that word humbles himself means to cause to be at a lower point. 00:13:00.799 --> 00:13:11.120 And what's wonderful about the God that we know and love, the God of the scriptures, is it says in Philippians 2, the Son of God was found in human form. 00:13:11.120 --> 00:13:18.480 God humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 00:13:18.480 --> 00:13:40.960 God, who owns all things, came to live and dwell with sinners in humility, counting their salvation more important than even his own life, that he could die on a cross for their sins, that they might be forgiven and have an opportunity to become children of God, who could receive all that they needed at the table of God in Jesus Christ. 00:13:40.960 --> 00:13:46.320 And that's what Matthew 18 tells us when Jesus invites us to humble ourselves like a child. 00:13:46.320 --> 00:14:00.240 And his disciple Peter later tells us in 1 Peter that as we humble ourselves, we can cast our anxieties, our needs, our wants on him, because he cares for us and he will exalt us at the proper time. 00:14:00.240 --> 00:14:01.840 We don't need to exalt ourselves. 00:14:01.840 --> 00:14:04.960 We don't need to look out for ourselves or station ourselves or be noticed. 00:14:04.960 --> 00:14:10.960 God sees and notices his children and he longs for them to come to them and receive what they need. 00:14:10.960 --> 00:14:16.960 See, God says if you humble yourself and someone else gets noticed, you are noticed by God. 00:14:16.960 --> 00:14:21.360 If you humble yourself and are not seen, God sees and delights in you. 00:14:21.360 --> 00:14:25.600 And in the new heavens and new earth, uh, everyone will one day know it. 00:14:25.600 --> 00:14:32.639 If you humble yourself and don't position yourself, God will position and provide for you at the right time. 00:14:32.639 --> 00:14:38.720 Children of God, there's no scarcity or power or position or platform or people to love you. 00:14:38.720 --> 00:14:41.200 There's no lack of those things in the kingdom of God. 00:14:41.200 --> 00:14:46.639 Yet if you truly want these things, we must be willing to lose them. 00:14:46.639 --> 00:14:48.960 Mr. 00:14:48.960 --> 00:14:52.720 Rogers, if you're a millennial, you're probably familiar with that show. 00:14:52.720 --> 00:14:54.320 You probably grew up watching it. 00:14:54.320 --> 00:14:57.120 Um He's actually a local legend, right? 00:14:57.120 --> 00:15:00.240 He went to Rollins College uh here in Orlando. 00:15:00.240 --> 00:15:07.440 Uh and his show was known uh for the degree of intention that he put uh into loving his audience well. 00:15:07.440 --> 00:15:15.440 It wasn't flashy, he wasn't just trying to get eyeballs, he was truly trying to love and let the children who are watching know uh that they were important, right? 00:15:15.440 --> 00:15:16.720 That they were cared for. 00:15:16.720 --> 00:15:21.039 And this really came out one day uh as his show was gaining in popularity. 00:15:21.039 --> 00:15:25.519 He uh the broadcasting company uh hosted the meet and greet. 00:15:25.519 --> 00:15:28.879 And they expected maybe in the hundreds of people to show up. 00:15:28.879 --> 00:15:37.759 Uh but that day in the morning, they looked outside and there were thousands and upon thousands of people lined up with their children to meet Mr. 00:15:37.759 --> 00:15:38.879 Rogers. 00:15:38.879 --> 00:15:43.120 Uh and they were there because their kids knew, right, Mr. 00:15:43.120 --> 00:15:44.960 Rogers would see them. 00:15:44.960 --> 00:15:47.600 He cared about them, he thought they were important. 00:15:47.600 --> 00:15:56.720 And it took until late in the day, right, towards the very end of the day, before they had to send people home finally because uh they still weren't through the crowds. 00:15:56.720 --> 00:15:57.840 And it was because Mr. 00:15:57.840 --> 00:16:05.039 Rogers stopped, knelt down, learned the child the name of every child, and held a conversation with them. 00:16:05.039 --> 00:16:11.360 He humbled himself before the lowly and bestowed honor on them. 00:16:11.360 --> 00:16:18.720 A good barometer in how we're doing with this is by asking ourselves the question: how do you use social media? 00:16:18.720 --> 00:16:21.200 What does your feed look like? 00:16:21.200 --> 00:16:25.919 Another question is, how do you treat others who you have nothing to gain from? 00:16:26.159 --> 00:16:26.399 Right? 00:16:26.480 --> 00:16:30.080 It could be people at the store, people in your neighborhood, people you won't see again. 00:16:30.080 --> 00:16:34.639 And a third question is, what does your prayer life look like? 00:16:34.639 --> 00:16:35.840 C.S. 00:16:35.840 --> 00:16:41.519 Lewis says, true humility is not thinking less of yourself, it is thinking of yourself less. 00:16:41.519 --> 00:16:49.120 And true humility draws us to pray and set our minds on God in the midst of all that we go through in this life. 00:16:49.120 --> 00:16:52.399 And it brings us to our knees because we know we are finite. 00:16:52.399 --> 00:16:56.320 We know that we need his help to have humility and move towards others. 00:16:56.320 --> 00:16:58.320 And we know our hearts are disordered. 00:16:58.320 --> 00:17:04.960 We're sinners in desperate need of honor and connection that only God through Jesus Christ can bring us. 00:17:04.960 --> 00:17:07.440 And that leads me to my second point. 00:17:07.440 --> 00:17:14.160 So in the first one, we talked about the scarcity of honor, and then the second one, we're looking at the scarcity of blessing. 00:17:14.160 --> 00:17:17.440 Look with me at Luke chapter 14, verse 12. 00:17:17.440 --> 00:17:27.599 He said also to the man who had invited him, When you give a dinner at a banquet, do not invite your friends and your brothers and your relatives or your rich neighbors. 00:17:27.599 --> 00:17:28.960 Hold the phone. 00:17:28.960 --> 00:17:33.119 So I want to have a smash tournament at my house, right? 00:17:33.119 --> 00:17:41.920 I want to uh have a pool party at my house, I want to host a Super Bowl party, and you're telling me I shouldn't invite my family or my friends or my boss. 00:17:41.920 --> 00:17:46.079 Okay, let's translate this for a moment because that's a little insane. 00:17:46.079 --> 00:18:07.200 When you form a new city community or circle, right, when you're throwing a party at your house, or when you're just thinking through your next several weekends, who you want to have over, who you want to get together with, don't think only of your besties, of the social insiders of the fun crowd, or those that you might benefit from. 00:18:07.200 --> 00:18:25.440 He's not saying don't hang out with these people at all, but his stark contrast is meant to bring out the question: how often are your decisions about community, who you invite to your table, about who is most life-giving, beneficial, easy, and most similar to yourself. 00:18:25.440 --> 00:18:33.119 See, I think this way, we all think this way because we feel the scarcity of resources, time, and relational capital. 00:18:33.119 --> 00:18:38.799 If you're single, right, you likely have people you work with, you have people at school, you have people here at church. 00:18:38.799 --> 00:18:42.960 Your social circles can be really big, but you only have so much time for each one. 00:18:42.960 --> 00:18:45.920 And then as you get married, you're spending more time with your spouse. 00:18:45.920 --> 00:18:56.000 You want to start spending more time with other couples, and you begin to feel the constraint on your time and realize you only have so much relational and emotional capital to give. 00:18:56.000 --> 00:18:59.119 And then once you have kids, man, you gotta just delete half your phone. 00:18:59.119 --> 00:19:04.880 Like you just don't have time for anybody not in your social circles, especially as they have sports and et cetera, and so on. 00:19:04.880 --> 00:19:06.319 You feel the strain, right? 00:19:06.319 --> 00:19:09.519 Somebody wants to get together and be like, Yeah, let's book it for five months from now. 00:19:09.519 --> 00:19:11.920 You laugh because you know. 00:19:11.920 --> 00:19:15.359 See, we we feel the need to be repaid. 00:19:15.359 --> 00:19:19.039 I feel the need with mutually beneficial friendships. 00:19:19.039 --> 00:19:20.400 And those are good. 00:19:20.400 --> 00:19:24.319 God's not saying don't have those, but he's saying there are those who don't have. 00:19:24.319 --> 00:19:26.079 Are you moving towards them? 00:19:26.079 --> 00:19:28.000 Look with me at verse 13. 00:19:28.000 --> 00:19:34.319 But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. 00:19:34.319 --> 00:19:35.759 So there's an opportunity right here. 00:19:35.759 --> 00:19:38.559 He's inviting us to give a feast, right? 00:19:38.559 --> 00:19:40.799 There's something good there, which we'll come to in a moment. 00:19:40.799 --> 00:19:42.240 But let's look at that list. 00:19:42.240 --> 00:19:50.000 If you've engaged the poor, you know that you cannot meet all of their needs, that their needs can be endless. 00:19:50.000 --> 00:19:56.160 If you've ever engaged the crippled, you know that they live life at a different pace, a slower pace. 00:19:56.160 --> 00:20:02.079 If you've ever engaged the mentally disabled, you know how uncomfortable certain social situations can be. 00:20:02.079 --> 00:20:11.279 If you've ever engaged the spiritually lost, those who don't believe what we what we believe, you know how quickly you can lose things in common and how awkward those conversations can get. 00:20:11.279 --> 00:20:20.240 If you've engaged with somebody of a different culture or stage of life, uh, you know how difficult it can be to form deep and lasting friendships. 00:20:20.240 --> 00:20:30.240 See, to engage those who are in need, those who are different, who are outcasts, who aren't in our normal circles is costly. 00:20:30.240 --> 00:20:34.079 We're all made in the image of God, though. 00:20:34.079 --> 00:20:41.839 And those who have greater need or different needs than our own uniquely reflect God and offer us in Jesus things that we need. 00:20:41.839 --> 00:20:50.000 That's why Jesus in Matthew 25 says that when we go out of our way to bless those who are in greater need, we are blessing Jesus Himself. 00:20:50.000 --> 00:20:58.559 We can flip the script by prioritizing the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and the lost. 00:20:58.559 --> 00:21:01.200 Look with me at verse 14. 00:21:01.200 --> 00:21:12.640 Jesus says, And you will be blessed because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just. 00:21:12.640 --> 00:21:15.279 See, Jesus flips the script again. 00:21:15.279 --> 00:21:18.880 The word blessed here means truly fortunate or happy. 00:21:18.880 --> 00:21:20.799 That's that's backwards. 00:21:20.799 --> 00:21:27.440 To be truly fortunate or happy, but to be giving of ourselves that way, sacrificially, it doesn't really make sense. 00:21:27.440 --> 00:21:32.240 But he's striking against the quid pro quo way of the world that's based on reciprocity. 00:21:32.240 --> 00:21:39.279 Essentially, I serve others because it serves me, or I bless others so that I can receive blessing in return from them. 00:21:39.279 --> 00:21:51.359 But Jesus says, Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy, and blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness and justice, for they shall be satisfied. 00:21:51.359 --> 00:21:54.880 Do you know that you need mercy? 00:21:54.880 --> 00:21:56.559 Do you identify? 00:21:56.559 --> 00:21:59.359 Do you remember that you were once spiritually lost? 00:21:59.359 --> 00:22:02.160 That you are once spiritually crippled. 00:22:02.160 --> 00:22:12.960 Do you recognize the deep needs that you have here and now that can only truly be met in Jesus Christ, who is inviting you to his own table to receive that? 00:22:12.960 --> 00:22:28.240 See, when we come to Jesus regularly in confession and repentance on our knees in prayer, and we ask for his mercy and grace for ourselves, when we ask him, and we can ask him to give us a humble heart, he will do it. 00:22:28.240 --> 00:22:33.359 Then in your great joy and thankfulness, you will turn to your neighbor. 00:22:33.359 --> 00:22:39.839 Isaiah 25, 6 gives us a vision of what will be in the new heavens and new earth. 00:22:39.839 --> 00:22:52.880 He says, On this mountain, Yahweh, the Lord of hosts, will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine, of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined. 00:22:52.880 --> 00:22:59.200 We can begin to participate in that now as we invite people to our table. 00:22:59.200 --> 00:23:03.839 And the reality is there are people around us that we don't see. 00:23:03.839 --> 00:23:15.039 One in three households have at least one family member with disability. 00:23:15.039 --> 00:23:19.839 One in four adults experience disability. 00:23:19.839 --> 00:23:23.359 One in six children experience disability. 00:23:23.359 --> 00:23:27.839 Disability. 00:23:27.839 --> 00:23:37.359 So this is important to us. 00:23:37.359 --> 00:23:42.559 We often don't see them, the people who are in need. 00:23:42.559 --> 00:23:45.680 In our own neighborhoods, in our own church. 00:23:45.680 --> 00:23:47.839 Look at the number of people in this church. 00:23:47.839 --> 00:23:57.279 If these statistics are true, how many are there in this church who we have opportunities to invite to our table that we haven't? 00:23:57.279 --> 00:24:11.200 One in two families have left their church because their child with disabilities was not welcomed. 00:24:11.200 --> 00:24:15.440 Now we are a welcoming church, we're hospitable. 00:24:15.440 --> 00:24:17.839 But what does it say about the church at large? 00:24:17.839 --> 00:24:23.599 There are people who statistically are leaving this church because they are not seen. 00:24:23.599 --> 00:24:31.359 Because they haven't been invited to our table. 00:24:31.359 --> 00:24:36.000 Are the people coming into my own home? 00:24:36.000 --> 00:24:42.079 Are the people sitting with us here in these chairs around us partaking of this meal that we'll partake of together? 00:24:42.079 --> 00:24:45.759 Are they the people who are poor, lame, crippled, and blind? 00:24:45.759 --> 00:24:49.519 Do the mentally or physically disabled have a place here? 00:24:49.519 --> 00:24:52.160 What about the poor and the oppressed? 00:24:52.160 --> 00:24:53.839 What about the lost? 00:24:53.839 --> 00:24:56.720 Do we give this feast for them? 00:24:56.720 --> 00:25:03.200 One simple way we can do this is by the common rhythm practice of feasting together. 00:25:03.200 --> 00:25:11.119 And when we feast at our own tables, when we invite people, we can just be sure to include people who are new to the church, right? 00:25:11.119 --> 00:25:15.599 Your next door neighbors, especially those who might be considered outcasts. 00:25:15.599 --> 00:25:26.319 And sometimes it's just being present enough to look around us in wherever we live, work and play, and asking ourselves, who is Jesus wanting to invite to his table? 00:25:26.319 --> 00:25:28.160 And how can I be part of that? 00:25:28.160 --> 00:25:30.079 And it is sacrificial. 00:25:30.079 --> 00:25:35.359 Like I can tell you, we we work hard to have people in our home, and it's insanely difficult. 00:25:35.359 --> 00:25:37.039 It requires planning ahead. 00:25:37.039 --> 00:25:41.279 Uh, it requires putting in your schedule, it requires being present so as to even meet your neighbors. 00:25:41.279 --> 00:25:43.119 Sometimes it's hard to even just meet those guys. 00:25:43.119 --> 00:25:44.559 So you wonder what they do. 00:25:44.559 --> 00:25:47.839 And there are many here, right? 00:25:47.839 --> 00:25:56.240 There are many of us who have been hospitable, who have loaned, offered services, blessed others, whose sacrifices have not been repaid. 00:25:56.240 --> 00:25:58.160 Jesus sees you. 00:25:58.160 --> 00:26:04.000 He sees what you have done to invite people to his table, and he will reward it. 00:26:04.000 --> 00:26:08.880 Note too that Jesus ultimately is not all dependent on us. 00:26:08.880 --> 00:26:15.039 He's inviting us to participate in his good work of inviting all these people to partake of the rich food at his table. 00:26:15.039 --> 00:26:20.079 But he's the one who will honor, bless, satisfy, and make all people whole. 00:26:20.079 --> 00:26:23.119 He just invites us to be part of that process. 00:26:23.119 --> 00:26:26.000 That brings me to my third point. 00:26:26.000 --> 00:26:32.880 So we've seen scarcity of honor, scarcity of blessing, and now we see an abundance of excuses. 00:26:32.880 --> 00:26:36.799 Look with me at Luke 14, verse 15. 00:26:36.799 --> 00:26:44.480 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. 00:26:44.480 --> 00:26:50.000 I imagine Jesus like pausing and kind of like looking over at him, like, what? 00:26:50.000 --> 00:26:55.039 And then going on and saying, Okay, let's draw this out. 00:26:55.039 --> 00:26:56.640 I don't know if you understand. 00:26:56.640 --> 00:26:59.119 Look with me at verse 16 and 17. 00:26:59.119 --> 00:27:03.519 But he said to him, A man once gave a great banquet and invited many. 00:27:03.519 --> 00:27:10.000 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. 00:27:10.000 --> 00:27:21.680 Now, uh, it's important to know that because the servant is going out and inviting people because the dinner's ready, uh, likely uh they will have already received and responded yes to an RSVP. 00:27:21.680 --> 00:27:25.920 So these people giving excuses are actually people who said, Yes, I'll be there. 00:27:25.920 --> 00:27:28.720 Um, and so notice what they say. 00:27:28.720 --> 00:27:32.799 There's actually uh an increase uh in dishonor in each one. 00:27:32.799 --> 00:27:36.400 The first said to him, I've bought a field and I must go out and see it. 00:27:36.400 --> 00:27:38.160 Please have me excused. 00:27:38.160 --> 00:27:38.559 Right? 00:27:38.559 --> 00:27:41.200 So this invitation went out months in advance. 00:27:41.200 --> 00:27:45.359 Uh, and he's probably should have looked at this field before he bought it, right? 00:27:45.359 --> 00:27:47.920 Uh but he's like, Okay, but I I just bought it, it's really important. 00:27:47.920 --> 00:27:48.640 I need to go see it. 00:27:48.640 --> 00:27:50.640 Which can you please have me excused? 00:27:50.640 --> 00:27:57.119 Another said, I have both bought five yoke of oxen and I go to examine him then. 00:27:57.119 --> 00:27:58.720 Please see me excused. 00:27:58.720 --> 00:28:00.240 So he's already on his way, right? 00:28:00.240 --> 00:28:08.799 This this servant had to go track this guy down on his way to the oxen, and he's asking to be excused, but he already presumptively went to go see them. 00:28:08.799 --> 00:28:13.279 And then the third said, I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come. 00:28:13.279 --> 00:28:19.119 Again, this likely is a wedding feast that this man is hosting, that the master is hosting. 00:28:19.119 --> 00:28:23.359 And this guy also would have scheduled his wedding feast way out in advance. 00:28:23.359 --> 00:28:26.079 And notice that he's already married this woman. 00:28:26.079 --> 00:28:29.119 But coming to this feast would mean that he'd have to be apart from her, right? 00:28:29.119 --> 00:28:31.839 And I'm sure he wants to be with her and love her and protect her. 00:28:31.839 --> 00:28:37.680 And so he says, even though he can come, he says, Oh, I cannot come, see me excused. 00:28:37.680 --> 00:28:42.400 These are legitimate concerns, but they're escalating in insult. 00:28:42.400 --> 00:28:53.519 See, double invitations were customary among the upper class when they were entertaining, and guests who invited an invitation were actually honor bound to attend when they were informed that the meal was ready. 00:28:53.519 --> 00:29:03.599 And imagine this, it basically would have been like me going out and uh hiring a Michelin star chef to come uh to a venue that I had booked, uh, that I had set up. 00:29:03.599 --> 00:29:06.640 You know, I'd spent tons and tons of money uh on a wedding. 00:29:06.640 --> 00:29:08.799 You know, some people do that, you can't really afford it, right? 00:29:08.799 --> 00:29:09.920 But you do it anyway. 00:29:09.920 --> 00:29:21.759 And uh then all of the people I had invited, I'm standing, I'm standing alone there, right, at the venue, wanting to celebrate maybe the birth, I mean the marriage of my daughter, and no one shows up. 00:29:21.759 --> 00:29:27.279 All these people who had said yes, who I thought were part of my my family, right? 00:29:27.279 --> 00:29:30.400 My my friends, the closest people I know and love. 00:29:30.400 --> 00:29:32.000 I had spent so much money. 00:29:32.000 --> 00:29:33.680 I was looking forward to this. 00:29:33.680 --> 00:29:37.519 And they have said, no, I have other things to do. 00:29:37.519 --> 00:29:47.759 See, each of them uh were looking for good life and satisfaction and worldly security, work, and family, but not in the master, not in God. 00:29:47.759 --> 00:29:52.960 Their loves were disordered by scarcity, and so their loves became idols. 00:29:52.960 --> 00:29:58.000 So they missed out on the true satisfaction and the table of the one who invited them. 00:29:58.000 --> 00:30:12.079 See, in order to find true satisfaction in Jesus Christ, in order to experience the joy and delight that God offers us even here and now, we need to humble ourselves to ask what in our lives is getting in the way of what God truly has for us. 00:30:12.079 --> 00:30:13.519 Sometimes it's lies. 00:30:13.519 --> 00:30:20.160 Like, you know, if if I if I don't give everything that I have to my job and to work, I might lose my job. 00:30:20.160 --> 00:30:29.839 I or if if I uh if I don't give everything I have to the friends that I love the most who are immediately around me, then they're gonna find other friends. 00:30:29.839 --> 00:30:38.480 Whatever the case may be, scarcity mindsets, right, they draw us to elevate things that were to the place where only God should be. 00:30:38.480 --> 00:30:44.319 See, Alexander the Great was probably the best at uh going out and getting what he wanted. 00:30:44.319 --> 00:30:46.960 Uh, and so he conquered more land than any before him. 00:30:46.960 --> 00:30:52.079 He was a brilliant tactician, he was a brave leader of armies, a ruthless enemy, an intelligent ruler. 00:30:52.079 --> 00:30:57.440 He was able to win some incredibly impressive battles uh against many different nations. 00:30:57.440 --> 00:31:04.640 Jerusalem actually opened the gates for him to show him a prophecy uh from the book of Daniel that he would conquer. 00:31:04.640 --> 00:31:10.480 Yet, on his return journey, he suddenly died. 00:31:10.480 --> 00:31:21.279 All of that, and the world was shocked that such an undefeatable conqueror could vanish so quickly. 00:31:21.279 --> 00:31:35.359 Right if we if our lives are required of us tomorrow, will when we get to the wedding feast, will Jesus say, Move up, come sit next to me? 00:31:35.359 --> 00:31:41.119 What will he look at our time and say? 00:31:41.119 --> 00:31:48.160 Will he say, You humbled yourself and submitted it all to me for the sake of those that I love? 00:31:48.160 --> 00:31:53.440 What are you striving after and what do you need to surrender? 00:31:53.440 --> 00:31:57.680 Sometimes we need to surrender from being the third person of the Trinity, right? 00:31:57.680 --> 00:32:05.119 We're supposed to be listening to God through his spirit for his will for our lives, but so often we, I'm guilty of this for sure, we set our own schedules. 00:32:05.119 --> 00:32:06.799 Uh, we have our Google calendars. 00:32:06.799 --> 00:32:11.200 Uh, we say yes or no to people based on what fits in our Google calendar, what our priorities are. 00:32:11.200 --> 00:32:21.119 But how often when we adjust those calendars, are we asking the Spirit who we should move towards, what he has for us, what he is doing in and through us. 00:32:21.119 --> 00:32:27.519 This is one of the reasons why uh we want to church plant and why it's important for churches to plant churches. 00:32:27.519 --> 00:32:36.880 I don't know if you know this, but um, in the average established church, you only see one conversion for every 106 members. 00:32:36.880 --> 00:32:40.640 There's a lot of new people moving to Orlando. 00:32:40.640 --> 00:32:44.079 It's a lot of people who've left the church that don't ever want to come back. 00:32:44.079 --> 00:32:50.480 A lot of people who don't know Jesus, who are spiritually blind and lost, and Jesus wants to invite to his table. 00:32:50.480 --> 00:32:58.640 But the out in church plants, that number is actually for every six members, you have one conversion, right? 00:32:58.640 --> 00:33:02.079 We want to go out and reach the lost. 00:33:02.079 --> 00:33:08.640 If we want to move towards those who don't yet know Jesus, we have to move outside of our circles, outside of what is comfortable. 00:33:08.640 --> 00:33:11.279 We have to be willing to pray and ask the Lord, what do you have for me? 00:33:11.279 --> 00:33:12.480 And that might not be church planting. 00:33:12.480 --> 00:33:14.799 Okay, I'm not trying to recruit all of you at once. 00:33:14.799 --> 00:33:22.319 But wherever you live, work and play, he is inviting you to move towards people around you that you don't yet see. 00:33:22.319 --> 00:33:24.640 Ask him who those people are. 00:33:24.640 --> 00:33:29.359 In these parables, we encounter the God who invites us to his table. 00:33:29.359 --> 00:33:36.480 See, the Pharisees were offended because Jesus gave his attention to the humble one among them against their rules and regulations. 00:33:36.480 --> 00:33:40.480 In so doing, he declared the needs of his people more important. 00:33:40.480 --> 00:33:43.119 He sees that your needs are important. 00:33:43.119 --> 00:33:47.680 Jesus was also called a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners. 00:33:47.680 --> 00:33:59.359 See, he sees and knows your sin, and he calls and invites you to the table, nonetheless, so that we can do the same with others, to those who are messy, because we're messy. 00:33:59.359 --> 00:34:12.000 To come to his table requires loss, willingness to lose friendships, social media followers, comfort, worldly security and happiness, but to find it all in Jesus. 00:34:12.000 --> 00:34:27.599 And yet in Matthew 19, Jesus says, Everyone who has left all of these things, or houses, or brothers, or sisters, or father, or mother, or children, or lands, for my name's sake will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life. 00:34:27.599 --> 00:34:33.360 And he adds, but many who are first will be last, and the last will be first. 00:34:33.360 --> 00:34:37.920 See, we as sinners are afraid to be humble because humility requires loss. 00:34:37.920 --> 00:34:44.000 And we believe the lie of scarcity, that at the end of the day we are alone to take care of ourselves. 00:34:44.000 --> 00:35:07.440 Yet God humbled himself and he emptied all of heaven to die on a cross for sinners who rejected him, so that we might have the opportunity to respond to his invitation here and now, to receive from his table, to know that it is secure for us, to participate in his good and incredible work of inviting others to that table. 00:35:07.440 --> 00:35:13.679 And this is from a God who is always available and always taking care of us. 00:35:13.679 --> 00:35:22.000