Receiving the Gospel

Title: Receiving the Gospel 

Text: Matthew 22:1-14 

Aim: 

Introduction

Well if you have your Bibles, you can take them and open them to Matthew chapter 21. So far in this series “The Gospel in Parables”, we have looked at “Hearing the Gospel”, “The Exclusivity of the Gospel”, “The Desire of the Gospel”, and this week I want us to focus on “Receiving the Gospel”. 

If you will, stand and read with me Matthew 22:1-14

Matthew 22:1–14 CSB

Once more Jesus spoke to them in parables: “The kingdom of heaven is like a king who gave a wedding banquet for his son. He sent his servants to summon those invited to the banquet, but they didn’t want to come. Again, he sent out other servants and said, ‘Tell those who are invited: See, I’ve prepared my dinner; my oxen and fattened cattle have been slaughtered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.’ “But they paid no attention and went away, one to his own farm, another to his business, while the rest seized his servants, mistreated them, and killed them. The king was enraged, and he sent out his troops, killed those murderers, and burned down their city. “Then he told his servants, ‘The banquet is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy. Go then to where the roads exit the city and invite everyone you find to the banquet.’ So those servants went out on the roads and gathered everyone they found, both evil and good. The wedding banquet was filled with guests. When the king came in to see the guests, he saw a man there who was not dressed for a wedding. So he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without wedding clothes?’ The man was speechless. “Then the king told the attendants, ‘Tie him up hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ “For many are invited, but few are chosen.”

Body

The Banquet

For the Son 

The King has Prepared it

The Son is Honored by it 

Everything is Ready 

Salvation is Provided 

Salvation is Free 

Salvation is Secure 

Come to the Banquet 

The Invitation 

Those who Rejected 

Rejected the Invitation 

Rejected the Servants 

Rejected the Son 

Rejected the King 

Those who Accepted 

People Outside the City (Social Status didn’t matter) 

Foreigners 

Outcasts 

Etc. 

Both Good and Evil (Moral Status didn’t matter 

Robbers 

Prostitutes 

Etc. 

They Are all considered “Guests” 

In other words, it didn’t matter who they were or what they were doing before the banquet, as long as they accepted the invite, prepared, and showed up, they were called “guests”. 

The Attire 

Improper Attire 

Calls him “Friend” (ἑταῖρος- they same word used in Matt. 26:50, when Jesus calls Judas “friend”). 

Proper Attire 

Conclusion

The Lord’s Supper:

We take the Lord’s Supper…

(1) As a commitment to Christ: 1 Cor. 11:23-26

1 Corinthians 11:23–26 ESV

For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

a. in obedience to Christ.

 “what I received from the Lord”

 “Do this”

b. in remembrance of Christ’s death.

 “Do this in remembrance of me”

c. as a testimony of Christ’s death.

 “proclaiming the Lord’s death”

d. in expectation of Christ’s return.

 “until He comes”

e. with reverence to Christ.

 “Whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup in an unworthy manner…”

(2) As a commitment to one another: 1 Cor. 10:16-17

1 Corinthians 10:16–17 ESV

The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.

a. We participate together

b. We share accountability

c. We covenant together as a church under the gospel.

LEADING THE LORD’S SUPPER

Call Chris forward Remind the congregation of the sobriety of the setting

Uncover and fold cloth with Chris.

—“Jesus instituted this supper on the night before His death to foretell the institution of the New Covenant and to give His followers a memorial and ordinance of that covenant. This sacred ordinance reminds us of the price our Lord paid so that we could be forgiven, restored to a right relationship with God, and begin to fulfill our kingdom purpose.”

“As we celebrate this ordinance, we remember first the broken body of our Lord. Jesus called Himself the ‘bread of life’, so it is no surprise that He compares His body to bread broken for us. His metaphor illustrates that He, like the broken bread of the Passover, was broken and bruised so that we could be made whole.” CALL ON A DEACON (Chris) TO PRAY OVER THE BREAD AND THE CUP.

After the prayer, without speaking give the trays to the deacons one by one. Call the church to form a line down the middle isle to come and receive the elements and return to their seat on the outside isles. Wait at the front either praying or singing softly with the music.

When the congregation returns (assuming we’re using the cup with both bread and juice), serve Chris and let Chris serve you. (Nod for Chris to return to go be with Deborah.

Return the final tray and take your place. Ask everyone to open only the side with the bread and take the wafer. Say, “Jesus said, ‘This is My body, broken for you. Not as your fathers ate manna in the wilderness and died, but he who eats of this bread shall live forever’.” Then take and eat your bread. Pause a few seconds.

Take the cup, peel it, and say, “Jesus said, ‘This cup is the New Covenant in My blood’. As the Scripture says, ‘Apart from the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness’.” Drink the cup.

Say, “Jesus led His disciples to sing a hymn after they finished the first Lord’s Supper, so stand and we will continue this morning’s service with a song.” Lead in a prepared song, and after one verse, begin to walk out.