The Seeking King Luke 14:12-24

-The Lord is Seeking People to Fill His Table

We’ve traded the front porch for the back deck. Several years ago, I did a funeral for an older lady and I heard the stories of friends and family about the life they had shared in the 40s and 50s in the little neighborhood they called home. Every evening after the work day was done, there was a bell that would ring in the neighborhood and everyone knew that it was coffee time. The adults would gather on the front porches and share a cup of coffee while the kids played.

Now, we live in a world of back decks. We hit our driveways, pull into our garages, disappear behind our privacy fences, and sit alone in the back. The notion of hospitality, opening our lives and sharing them with others feels intimidating, overwhelming, inconvenient, maybe even impossible. However, that heart of hospitality is the heart of God towards us!

I. He Has an Open Table vv. 12-14

When we pick up Luke’s account, Jesus has been attending a feast and teaching about how to be a good guest; now He shifts His focus and talks about how to be a good host. His wisdom is shocking!

Jesus encourages hosts not to invite the wealthy, influential, or even friends and family; we might gain something from them!

Instead, we are to invite the destitute; we will miss out on earthly reward, but our Father will repay us in His Kingdom!

Jesus’s teaching here is important, because it gives us a picture of the heart of God

His table is open; He is not looking to fill it with people who are able to reward Him by their presence. None of us can do that

Instead, His invitation is to people who bring nothing of value with them; He delights to bless people who have nothing to give in return. That’s all of us!

This truth has a couple of powerful implications:

We need to see ourselves as God sees us: Incapable of blessing Him, yet recipients of incredible grace as He invites us to His table

We need to see others the way that God sees them as well: His table is open!

Do our churches reflect the heart of God in this area? I’ve heard it said that “Nobody is looking for a friendly church; they’re looking for a church with friends.” I think there’s a lot to this. I don’t know that most of my churches have been outright rude to guests, but I’m afraid that we settle for a sort of Wal-mart greeter friendliness. We shake a hand, say hello, offer a few kind words, and a little bit of customer service, but we don’t intend to actually welcome folks into our life or the life of our fellowship.

Church, we need to take this seriously, because it is our responsibility to include and welcome others in, not the other way around!

II. He Accepts No Excuses vv. 15-20

One guest at the feast makes a pronouncement: It will be a blessing to eat bread in the Kingdom!

On the surface, this is true and a good sentiment

However, it carries a high degree of presumption, that he and those with him will be there

Jesus addresses this with a parable

A man is prepared to give a great banquet and he reaches out with invitations

However, he only receives excuses in return

One chooses his field

One chooses his animals

One chooses his wife

All of these are serious commitments, but in the light of the invitation that has been put before them, the excuses ring hollow.

All of these guests make a few assumptions:

Their relationship with the master of the feast is secure on the basis of the good life they are living (wealth, power, relationships)

That the master will not mind their disregard for His invitation

There is plenty of time for another opportunity

Unfortunately, they are completely wrong:

They are not invited to the banquet because of their own qualities, but the Master’s desire for them to come

A rejection of the invitation is a rejection of the Master himself

There is not another chance to respond

In light of this, it’s time to stop making excuses!

My Favorite Illustrations Without Excuse

In one of the “Big Three” conferences during World War II, Roosevelt and Churchill were trying to get Stalin to agree with some proposed strategy. When Stalin gave his reason or excuse for not agreeing with them, they said, “That is no reason for your refusal!” Stalin replied with a story of two Arabs.

One Arab asked the other to lend him his rope. The latter replied, “I can’t. I need it to tie my camel.” The first Arab reminded his companion that he didn’t own a camel. To which the companion replied, “I know that. But when you don’t want to lend your rope, one excuse is as good as any other.”

Excuses offered to God are in the same category. They reveal that we simply do not want to do what He tells us to do.

III. He Fills His House vv. 21-24

The Master’s response is telling; they won’t come so the door is closed for them, but He continues to seek

The Master pursues the least, the last, and the lost and compels them to come in

This is a beautiful picture of the heart of God for the broken

He sent His Son for them

His Son gave His life for them

His Son invites them to share in His Kingdom

However, if we miss it, we miss it!

He is seeking you: the invitation is guaranteed, but it must be received.

This week, I was at an event with a pastor from Delhi, India. He talked about the caste system that divided the people by class and he talked about the tragedy of women and children trafficked into sex-slavery and the attempts of the church to minister to them. Another pastor whose work focused on victims of human-trafficking took him to a brothel to meet some of the enslaved women and the scene was disgusting. Poverty, filth, uncleanness all the way around. Yet, the women were eager to invite the pastors in to show them hospitality and share a meal with them. It’s a scene that we all wrestle with: what would I do? How would I respond?

We are living the scene in reverse, however. There is a great King who has opened His home with the richest feast the world has ever known. He is inviting the prostitute, the beggar, the outcast, and the broken to His table. None of us belong there: we have no claim on Him. However, He has sought us and wants us there, if we will just receive the invitation.