Dear God, we thank you so much that you water
us even through difficult times. You can grow
flowers in our life and help us to be more and
more like you. God, just be with us as we open
up your word this morning. May we see through
difficult times and challenging times that you
are the God who leads us each and every day.
In your name we pray. Amen. Sometimes you may
think you have everything needed, you may be
in the perfect spot, and then something better
comes along, and you realize that things can
even be better than you anticipated, than you
can imagine. It was a couple weeks ago during
a 4th of July weekend that my wife and I were
able to go down to Pensacola to visit my son
and daughter -in -law, and a few days before
we got there, our daughter -in -law Isabella
told us, that she had gotten some tickets to
the Pensacola Blue Wahoos. Anybody have ever
heard of them before? They're a minor league
baseball team. They actually sometimes play against
the Chattanooga Lookouts. She said she'd gotten
some tickets from work. Would we like to go?
So sure, why not? So we got to Florida. It was
nice and warm, just like here. We made our way
to the stadium. It's on the bay there in Pensacola,
just outside of the... the outfield walls. Now,
when I've gone to baseball games before, the
seats that I sit in are usually a little further
away from the field, a little higher up. Some
might call them the cheap seats. So when we had
our tickets, I was looking that direction from
the concourse. But when we turned towards the
seats, we were going down. closer to the field.
And we went down the steps and down the steps,
not quite to the front row, but to the second
row. And we were right at the very front, right
there on the third base line. And as we looked
at the seats, we saw on the back there was a
little plaque, and it was engraved with the name
of the company that my daughter -in -law works
for. And we saw out in the outfield a sign, one
of the advertising signs, and it was the company
that she works for as a nurse. And so this company
had season tickets that they would give out to
their employees at different times. And so we
were invited to something better, and we got
to sit as close to the field as you possibly
could, simply because we knew the right person,
and we got an invitation to that event. at the
right time. We were invited to something better.
In Luke chapter 14, Jesus finds himself at a
banquet, at a feast, at a dinner. And as he's
at this dinner, he begins to tell a couple different
stories. The first little lesson he teaches,
and he says, when you go to a feast or a wedding
feast, don't take the best seat that's there.
Don't sit on the front row. Because, you know,
how embarrassing would it be if you sit in the
best seat and then the host comes and says, well,
actually, you need to sit a little further away.
We've saved those for the VIP. Jesus says, instead,
sit further back. And then, wow, what a privilege
if they bring you up closer because they've reserved
some special seats for you. And then Jesus says,
if you hold a feast, he says, when you give a
dinner or a supper, don't just invite your friends
or your... relatives or your rich neighbors,
because they're probably going to invite you
back. You know, you have us over, then we'll
have you over the next time. He says, instead,
invite the poor and the maimed and the lame and
the blind. Invite those that aren't going to
be able to return the favor. Invite a different
group to your luncheon, to your crowd. And then
as he says this, One of the Pharisees, one of
the leaders that are there, responds in Luke
chapter 14 and verse 15. It says, That's a true
statement, isn't it? I can't wait for that day
when we get to feast in heaven with God. is he
who shall eat bread in the kingdom of heaven.
That is a beautiful sentiment. But pay attention,
who said that? One of these who sat at the table
with him. Well, who was that? If we go back to
the first verse of Luke chapter 14, it tells
us, it says, now it happened as Jesus went into
the house of one of the rulers of the Pharisees
to eat bread on the Sabbath. Notice what it says,
they watched him closely. As we've read through
the Gospels, you remember the stories of how
there was a group of people who wanted to trap
Jesus, who wanted to trick Jesus, who wanted
to find something that he had done wrong. And
so here we have one of these people who are watching
him closely. who are trying to find some way
that they can accuse him. It's one of these people
who is anticipating, I can't wait to get to heaven
and enjoy that heavenly feast. It's one of those
who have rejected Jesus, or at least is in the
process of rejecting Jesus, and yet is assuming,
is thinking that he's bound for the kingdom.
And it's in this context that Jesus begins to
tell, a story. And we've been looking at various
parables over the past several weeks, and we'll
look at this one as well. Verse 16, then Jesus
said to him, a certain man gave a great supper
and invited many. So Jesus begins to tell this
parable about a man who invited many people to
a supper, to a feast. And as we read through
this story today, we'll see that in the context,
Jesus is speaking to those Pharisees, to those
who were rejecting Jesus, who were rejecting
those that Jesus came to live and to die for,
those that were maybe a lower social class or
whatever it would be. And Jesus is telling this
story to those who were rejecting him. And he's
telling them in the story, we'll see, to go to
others, to go to sinners, to go to Gentiles.
And that's the immediate point of this story.
But I think as we look closer at it today, like
with other parables, that we will see not just
truths for those Pharisees in Jesus' day, but
I think that we can see some truths for us. And
I think perhaps we can see a two -fold. invitation.
We can see an invitation for us to accept and
respond to an invitation. I think we can also
see an invitation that we're supposed to extend.
We're supposed to give an invitation to others.
So let's continue on and look at this story here.
So this man gave a great supper and invited many.
Many, many people were supposed to come to this.
And it says in verse 17, he sent his servant
at suppertime to say to those who were invited,
come, for all things are now ready. Think about
how much time and energy and effort it takes
even today to have people for food or for a meal.
You know, there's people during this time even
that are preparing food up in the fellowship
hall for our delicious Asian lunch that we're
going to have in just a little bit. But that
takes time and energy and effort. And people
yesterday or last night prepared some different
dishes and prepared some food. But think about
this day. There were no microwave ovens. There
were no... regular ovens. You had a stone oven,
a brick oven, and it's heated by fire, and you're
making bread from scratch. And when I say scratch,
you're actually pounding the wheat or the barley
for the bread. There's no Stouffer's lasagna
that you put in the oven for 45 minutes, and
it's ready. This is a process to make the bread,
to get the animal from the herd, to slaughter
it, to butcher it, to prepare all these different
things. This is a long process that takes a lot
of time. And it appears that there was, you know,
an RSVP invitations were sent out on this particular
day. We're going to have a feast. But now as
they're getting closer to supper time, well,
what? What time do we eat? Well, they didn't
have watches, no clocks, no phones that would
have an alarm, no real way of telling time except
by the sun. And so the servant would go around,
make a circuit to those who had been invited
and say, okay, it's time. The bread is cooking,
the lamb is roasting, you know, make your way
and this feast, the supper will be ready. The
time has come. for supper to be served. I read
a story recently about Kalina and Shane. They
had a beautiful wedding reception planned at
a barn venue in Oregon. They had sent out their
invitations, and at least 40 people had RSVP'd,
40 people and couples, and they were expecting
to have a beautiful wedding reception. But when
it came time to the day of the event, There was
only five people that came. They had planned
the cake cutting and the things you do at a wedding
reception, all the festivities, and they were
excited for that. And even though people had
said, yes, we will be there, only five showed
up. You can imagine a day of excitement and then
yet a disappointment because there was no one
to share it with. How do we respond to the invitations
that we receive? In this story, how did people
respond to the invitations? We'll pick up the
story in verse 18. The servant goes out and says,
Come, all things are now ready. But verse 18
says, But they all, with one accord, begun to
make excuses. Have you ever had to make an excuse
in your life? The dog ate my homework. I got
a flat tire on the way to work. You know, sometimes
things happen and we miss something or we forget
something or we're late. But sometimes we just
procrastinate. Sometimes we just don't get the
thing done that we were supposed to get done.
And you can hear, maybe I'm sure it wasn't you,
but your classmates coming up with different
excuses. about why that project, why that paper
didn't get written. And it says, with one accord,
these all begun to make excuses. The first said
to him, said to the servant, well, I have bought
a piece of ground, and I must go and see it.
So wait a second. You're telling me that this
guy bought some property, sight unseen. He just
bought property. Well, I bought this land. I
got to go find it. I got to go see it. I got
to figure out what this is. I remember as a child,
we used to go on vacation sometimes to like Myrtle
Beach from Knoxville, Tennessee. And inevitably
on the way home, my dad would say, okay, we're
going to stop by the property. We got to see
the property. Now, it wasn't our property. It
was some property that my grandfather owned in
Spartanburg. And I remember driving in circles
around Spartanburg trying to find this property
because it's... It's property. It all looks the
same, you know, and I'm not sure if we ever did
see the actual property or not. But this guy
says, well, I've bought some property. We need
to go and see it. I ask to have me excused. Please
excuse me. And then there's another excuse in
verse 19. Another said, I have bought five yoke
of oxen, and I'm going to test them. I ask you
to have me excused. So again, this guy bought
ten ox, ten cows. He hadn't seen them. He hadn't
used them. These are things that they would have
already had knowledge of. They would have already
known that there was property to be purchased,
that there was oxen that needed to get out and
experience the plow for the first time. This
wasn't something that just came up. Oh no, an
emergency. These were things that had been planned
ahead, and yet they didn't make any adjustment
for this invitation that they had received. And
then verse 20, the third one that is listed,
still another said, I have married a wife, and
therefore I cannot come. Again, was this an unexpected
event? Bring your wife along to the feast. Now,
in the Old Testament, there is a provision that
getting married could excuse you from certain
things, but it was just one certain thing. Anybody
know what it was? It was going to war. If you
had just been married in the last year, I think
it was, then you could be excused from having
to go off and fight so your new spouse would
not be a widow. But this is not a war. This is
lunch or supper. And no, I'm sorry, I just got
married. And he doesn't even ask to be excused.
He just flat out says, nope, I'm not coming.
I'm not coming to your event. I'm not coming
to your party. Two say, excuse me. One just says
no. But in the end, they all reject the invitation
that they had received. Just as it appears, these
Pharisees have been rejecting the life. and the
ministry of Jesus because they are watching him.
They are seeing how they can accuse him of something
even though they claim to think that they are
on the way to this supper in heaven. And we can
ask ourselves, what about us? What about the
spiritual invitation that we receive in our life
as we go through our day? as we spend time in
God's Word. Over and over, God speaks to us in
our life, in our heart, in the things that happen
to us as we go through our week. How do we respond?
Do we reject it? Do we say, oh, oh, I'm distracted
because I just got this new property, this new
car. or this new relationship that I'm in. There's
things that can distract, things that can pull
us in another direction. Oh, I'm too busy to
heed that invitation that God gives us. Here's
some of the invitations we find in Scripture.
Isaiah 55, verse 6. That whole chapter is incredible.
Seek the Lord while He may be found. Call upon
Him while He is near. What about Matthew 11,
28? Jesus says, come to me, all you who labor
and are heavy laden, and I'll give you rest.
An invitation from Jesus to cast our sins, to
cast our cares upon him. And then Revelation
chapter 3 and verse 20, it says, behold, I stand
at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice
and opens the door. There's the invitation. I'm
knocking. If you open the door, I'm going to
come in. I'm going to sit down. I'm going to
eat with you, and you can eat with me. There's
an incredible invitation that Jesus gives us
each and every day. How do we respond to those
invitations? In fact, in Revelation chapter 19,
this glory of heaven is actually written as an
invitation. Revelation 19, 9, it says, Then he
said to me, Blessed are those who are called
to the marriage supper of the Lamb. We have been
invited to something else, and yet so often we
reject. Maybe we don't come straight out and
reject it. Maybe we just say, Oh, please, please
excuse me. I'm busy today. I'm busy this week.
I'm consumed with other things. Or sometimes
we may just come straight out and say, no, I
don't want to have anything to do with this.
Back in Luke chapter 14, the servant made his
rounds, called the people to the dinner, and
then he got all of these excuses. And it says,
so the servant came, he came back from his circuit,
came and reported these things to his master.
And the master of the house being, what's the
word there? Angry, said to his servant. The master
is angry because the people rejected this invitation
that he gave to come and eat, to come and feast.
An incredible invitation. And it was rejected.
And the master is angry. Now, I think that's
the human response. Because I think we see a
little bit different expression of a response.
From Jesus. Because we remember the story of
Jesus coming into Jerusalem. As he's coming in
that last week before the cross. And it said
that Jesus cried. He wept over Jerusalem. And
he said, oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem. How long I
wanted to gather you. I wanted to gather you
to me. But you would not. So God. does not necessarily
get angry, but his heart is broken. And it says
that he desires that none should perish, but
that all should come to repentance. And that's
why God is patient and long -suffering with us.
And so in this story, the master gets upset,
and he sends this servant back on another mission.
He said to his servant, go out quickly into the
streets and the lanes of the city. and bring
in here the poor and the maimed and the lame
and the blind. It's the same group that Jesus
mentioned in verse 13. He said, go out. Close
by, it seems to be indicating. Go out quickly.
Bring this group in. Bring this group in that
most people would reject, that most people wouldn't
want to have anything to do with. Bring them
in to this supper, to this feast, because it's
been prepared, and we need people to be here.
And so I think we begin to see here that we're
not simply called to accept the invitation that
Jesus gives us, but I think Jesus is inviting
us to invite someone else to meet him, to know
him, to be part of this feast, to be part of
this celebration. Go quickly into the streets
and invite those that otherwise you may not even
think about it. And it doesn't tell us how long
this took, but the servant goes out to the streets
and lanes of the city, and then he comes back.
Verse 22, the servant said, Master, it is done,
just as you commanded. And still there is room.
I love that thought right there. There's still
room. Until Jesus comes, there is still room.
For each one of us. As we hear the invitation
of Jesus. As we accept that invitation of Jesus.
It doesn't matter what I've done in the past.
It doesn't matter what I've done today. But am
I accepting that invitation of Jesus? There is
always more room. In God's view, in God's perspective,
there are two kinds of people. Those that Jesus
loves, well, that's not right. In that era, in
that area, God loves everybody. God loves each
one of us. But there are two groups of people.
Those that have accepted the invitation, Jesus
loves them. And those that haven't yet accepted
the invitation, guess what? God loves them as
well. God loves each of us, but have we accepted
that invitation or not? There is still room,
the servant said. Notice what the master says
to the servant, verse 23, go out, go out, this
seems to be a little further, go out a little
bit further distance into the highways and the
hedges or the highways and the byways and compel
them to come in that my house may be filled.
And I think in the context here, this is where
Jesus is telling these Pharisees to go beyond
the people of Israel, to go to the Gentiles,
go out a little bit further, go out to the highways
and the hedges. And he says, go to those and
invite them to come in, compel them to come in.
Why? So that the house may be full. It's interesting
here. He says, go out. This seems to indicate
that we can't just sit and wait for people to
come to us. Do they see our invitation on Facebook?
Sure, they'll come. Do they drive by and see
our new sign that we have out here? Sure, hopefully
they'll come. But this says to go out and invite
someone else. To go out to... to Ringgold, to
go out to your place of business, to go out to
your neighborhood. There was a poll done a couple
of years ago by a group called Barna, and it
said that 80 % of the people indicated that if
they were invited to come to church by a friend,
that they would come. 80 % of people who don't
go to church that they polled said, if one of
my friends invites me, I'll go with them. I'll
check it out. And so we can't just wait for people
to come to us, but are we going out? And what's
that word? Compel them to come in. Now, this
doesn't mean, you know, a headlock, Hulk Hogan
style, and bring them to church. God is not a
God of force. God is a God of love. God never
forces us to do anything. So how can we compel?
Someone. What does that mean to compel someone?
Well, there's a couple ways you can look at that.
We can compel them with urgency. If we believe
Jesus is coming soon, and I believe Jesus is
coming soon, then our urgency. You've got to
hear this message. You've got to hear this gospel.
You've got to hear about this Savior. And then
a part of that is our excitement, our enthusiasm
for the gospel. How have we responded to it?
Do people see us excited about what Jesus has
done for us? And do they want to experience that?
And I think the greatest way is from our scripture
that we had today. John 12, verse 32. John 12,
verse 32. This is Jesus speaking in the week
of the cross, just a few days before the cross.
Jesus says, and I... if I am lifted up from the
earth, will draw all peoples to myself. That's
the best way of compelling someone is lifting
up Jesus, letting someone know about the incredible
matchless love of Jesus. It reminds me a little
bit of a little science experiment here. Let's
see if we can do this. I've got a couple things
right here. Magnets. You know, I read about how
magnets work, but I still don't know. But they
snap together, don't they? Some of you I know
have done different things and maybe seen a video
where they take a big magnet and they tie a string
on the end and maybe they'll go to a bridge over
a creek or a river and they'll throw that magnet
out there. and they'll begin to pull that rope
back in. Anybody know what that's called? Magnet
fishing. You're not trying to catch fish, but
as that magnet's coming back in, something will
stick to it. Oh, it's heavier now, and they pull
that rope back in. They pull that string back
in, and maybe it's just an old piece of metal
that fell off the bridge. Some of the videos
I've seen, it's been a bicycle that somehow fell
in the creek. A safe? Or maybe some sort of weapon?
A gun or a knife? Maybe somebody was trying to
get rid of it after, I don't know. But how does
that happen? Because the magnet compels the metal
to stick to it. And that's the compelling of
the love of Jesus. As people see that love of
Jesus, they're compelled to follow after him.
And they want, they're drawn to him. Now, you
know that with magnets, there's two sides, right?
And one side attracts, right? The opposites attract,
but what does the other side do? It repels, and
if you put the two sides together, you can't
push them together. And if we look at Jesus lifted
up on the cross as the ultimate positive, If
we see the negative, I'm a sinner. I'm in need
of a Savior. And I see Jesus, that ultimate positive,
then I'm drawn to Him. But sometimes we can look
at ourselves in a different way and say, you
know what? I'm not too bad. That Jesus thing,
no, I don't need Him. I'm pretty positive in
myself. And then as we look at our false positive,
compared to the true positive of Jesus, it does
not come together. But it's when we say, you
know what, I am a sinner. I am in need of grace.
That that cross of Christ will draw us, will
compel us to be with him. There's a statement
from the book Christ's Object Lessons. It says,
the last rays of merciful light, the last message
of mercy, The last message of mercy to be given
to the world, it doesn't say it's to scare somebody
about something. It doesn't say it's to tell
somebody about awful things that the future may
hold. It says the last message of mercy is to
reveal the character of His love. To be given
to the world is a revelation of God's character
of love. And so if we lift Jesus up, As we remind
people that the perfect Son of God came and lived
and died for us, lived and died for them. As
Jesus said, if I am lifted up from the earth,
I will draw all people to myself. People will
be compelled to see their need of a Savior because
of the incredible love of Jesus. So what about
us? Are we full of excuses today? Are we ready
to accept the invitation? that God gives us?
Are we excited about the grace that God has poured
out in our life? There was a young man with a
really cool name. His name was Hudson. This was
back in the 1800s. And Hudson grew up in a Christian
home over in England or Great Britain. And he
was a Christian growing up, but then he decided,
you know what, I don't believe in this anymore.
I don't accept this anymore. He started working
at a bank and making some money, and he began
to reject those things. But what he didn't know
is that his mama was still praying for him. There
was one afternoon that he had some free time,
and he was trying to find something to do. And
as he was making his way around town, he came
across a basket full of books. And as he was
going through them, he realized they were all
Christian books, gospel literature. And he thought,
well, these probably have an interesting story
in the beginning, and then it'll probably turn
into some sort of sermon at the end. So I'll
just read the interesting story, and then I won't
worry about the rest of it. And so he began to
read a book. And the story told of a miner, a
coal miner, who was dying of tuberculosis. And
as this man was on his deathbed, he was visited
by some Christians, and these Christians began
to tell him about... about Jesus. And this miner
was just shocked as it told stories about how
in his own body, Jesus bore our sins in his body
on the tree that we, having died to sin, might
live for righteousness. And these Christians
have begun to tell the man in this story about
the cross and about Jesus' dying cry upon the
cross where he said, it is finished. And as Hudson's
reading the story, his mind was, what? What is
finished? And he began to comprehend, perhaps
for the first time, that the significance of
Jesus' death on the cross, that what was finished
was his guilt for sin as he accepted Jesus as
his Savior. And as he read that story, he said,
God, Jesus, forgive me for what I have done.
Please be. my Lord and Savior. And it was about
two weeks before he saw his mother. And as he
went to where his mother was, he said, Mama,
I've got some good news for you. And she said,
I know. Because I was praying for you two weeks
ago, and suddenly a peace came over me, and I
had an inspiration that you had accepted Jesus
as your Lord and Savior. And Hudson, his last
name happens to be Hudson Taylor. And if you
haven't heard of him, a few years later, when
he was about 22, he went as a missionary to China.
And for about the next 50 plus years of his life,
he spent time in China and he created an organization
called the China Inland Missionary, where they
had trained and sponsored 800 missionaries to
go to China in the late 1800s. And thousands
and thousands of people gave their heart to Jesus
simply because one person, accepted an invitation
and wanted to share that same invitation with
others. Have you accepted the invitation today?
I want to close with one verse. It's almost the
last verse of the Bible. Revelation 22, verse
17. One more invitation that the Bible gives
us. It says, The Spirit and the bride say, Come.
And let him who hears say, come. And let him
who thirsts, if you're thirsty for something
better, come. And whoever desires, whoever desires,
each one of us in here, whoever desires, let
him take the water of life freely. That is what
Jesus offers us. That is what Jesus offers you.
I hope that you will accept that blessed grace
of Jesus and that you'll share that. with somebody
else. Let's bow our heads for prayer. Dear God,
we thank you so much for all you have done for
us. You died for us. And it says if you are lifted
up, that you will draw all people to yourself.
So I want to pray for each one of us here. There
may be somebody here who is not walking with
you. Maybe they've turned in a different direction.
Maybe they've never accepted you as their Lord
and Savior. Lord, speak to them right now. And
may they, in the quiet of their own heart, just
say, Lord, I want to follow you. In your name
we pray.