Come -Eat - Live (The Lord's Invitation)
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Good Morning, I want to invite everyone to turn with me to Isaiah chapter 55 and we will be taking a look at verses 1-3. Again, that is . This morning I want to begin by asking you a question. “When was the last time you received an invitation from sometime?”(Hold up paper invitation) We live in such a busy world that it seems we constantly being bombarded with different types of invitations. Now I’m not just talking about written invitations we receive in the mail, but every invitation you receive, even word of mouth invitations.
For example, you may have a friend that invites you to lunch or out for a cup of coffee. You might have an invitation to a event at your work where your attendance is not really an option, but you know that your boss expects you to attend. You might receive a invitation over social media. These happen all the time when someone creates an event and then invites all the people in their friend list. You are reading through your Facebook news feed and boom there pops an invitation - click her is you can attend. Let’s not forget actual invitations that come in the mail. Invitation for things like weddings, showers, and various other important social events.
Let’s not forget actual invitations that come in the mail. Invitation for things like weddings, showers, and various other important social events.
How do we respond to these different invitations? Well sometimes if we admit it - the first thing we thank about when we receive an invitation is man, how am I going to get out of this? Our mental line of thought goes something like this: “Oh no, I am already so busy, how in the world can I even make time for one more thing.”
Let’s not forget actual invitations that come in the mail.
The thing about invitations is that in reality every invitation demands some type of response. You can:
RSVP, respond and say yes I am coming or no I am not able to attend your event...
Come up with an excuse as to why we cannot attend the event and then give the person who invited your the excuse and hope they buy it...
You can ignore the invitation all together, and pretend that you did not get the message...
So, ask yourself, what is your most common response?
Please follow along as I read from Isaiah chapter 55:1-3.
“Is anyone thirsty? Come and drink— even if you have no money! Come, take your choice of wine or milk— it’s all free! Why spend your money on food that does not give you strength? Why pay for food that does you no good? Listen to me, and you will eat what is good. You will enjoy the finest food. “Come to me with your ears wide open. Listen, and you will find life. I will make an everlasting covenant with you. I will give you all the unfailing love I promised to David.
Textual Background:
Isaiah 55:103
Background:
What we find here in these first three verses of is an invitation from the Lord. Isaiah the prophet is speaking the words of God to the people of Israel who are exiled in Babylon. He is calling them to trust in God, follow Him, and receive the blessings that God has offered. He does so by using the imagery of an invitation to a banquet.
There are two general types of banquets in the Bible: ceremonial and ritual. A ceremonial banquet is a festive meal at which the inviter and the invited celebrate their mutual solidarity, their belonging to each other, their oneness. Israel’s appointed festivals (see Lev. 23:2–44) and the banquets mentioned above in the book of Esther were ceremonial banquets. A ritual banquet is one that marks some personal or interpersonal transition or transformation. As a ritual feature of hospitality, such banquets indicate the transformation of a stranger into a guest (Gen. 19:3–14; Luke 5:29) or of an enemy into a covenant partner (Gen. 26:26–31; 2 Sam. 3:20).
So the banquet that Isaiah is alluding too would have been a ritual banquet where God is transforming a people far away from Him to His covenant partner. Later in the NT in the days of Jesus these meals were called “suppers,” after the custom of the Romans, and took place toward the end of the day. In the NT, special attention focuses on the gathering of Christians for a ritual fellowship meal called the “breaking of bread” in and the “Lord’s Supper” - which we will celebrate this morning. .
So the banquet that Isaiah is alluding too would have been a feast provided for the entertainment of a group of guests. Later in the NT in the days of Jesus these meals were called “suppers,” after the custom of the Romans, and took place toward the end of the day.
Malina, B. J., & Powell, M. A. (2011). banquet. In M. A. Powell (Ed.), The HarperCollins Bible Dictionary (Revised and Updated) (Third Edition, p. 79). New York: HarperCollins.
Malina, B. J., & Powell, M. A. (2011). banquet. In M. A. Powell (Ed.), The HarperCollins Bible Dictionary (Revised and Updated) (Third Edition, p. 79). New York: HarperCollins.
BANQUET—a feast provided for the entertainment of a company of guests (; ; ); such as was provided for our Lord by his friends in Bethany (; ; comp. ). These meals were in the days of Christ usually called “suppers,” after the custom of the Romans, and were partaken of toward the close of the day. It was usual to send a second invitation (; ) to those who had been already invited. When the whole company was assembled, the master of the house shut the door with his own hands (; ).
So let’s imagine you lived during Biblical times and you wanted to host a banquet. You would go about this by sending out an invitation telling all your guests about the banquet: the date, time, and place it was to be held. That invitation carries with it the social duty to RSVP and to let you know if they could attend. (you did not ignore invitations - this was a huge insult) People would receive your invitation and decide if they were going to be able to attend and immediately let you know. You would then begin your preparations for the banquet and get everything ready for your guests. Finally the day do the banquet when the meal had been prepared and you were ready to receive your guests a second invitation would have been send out telling everyone that you had invited the the table was set and the meal was ready - come and enjoy the banquet.
BANQUET—a feast provided for the entertainment of a company of guests (; ; ); such as was provided for our Lord by his friends in Bethany (; ; comp. ). These meals were in the days of Christ usually called “suppers,” after the custom of the Romans, and were partaken of toward the close of the day. It was usual to send a second invitation (; ) to those who had been already invited. When the whole company was assembled, the master of the house shut the door with his own hands (; ).
When everyone had arrived it was customary that the master of the house shut the door with his own hands (; ) and the banquet would begin.
When everyone had arrived the master of the house shut the door with his own hands (; ) and the banquet would begin.
Easton, M. G. (1893). In Easton’s Bible dictionary. New York: Harper & Brothers.
Easton, M. G. (1893). In Easton’s Bible dictionary. New York: Harper & Brothers.
This
In this passage we find Isaiah sharing the Lord’s Invitation to His banquet with Israel. The question is how will they respond?
If we read this passage carefully we realize that this is not only a invitation for Israel, but it is an invitation that is extended to us as well - and like every invitation - the Lord’s invitation demands a response. This morning I want us to look at three aspects of this invitation from the Lord and how this invitation applies to our lives today.
The first aspect of the Lord’s invitation presented by Isaiah is that we are invited to Come. This word occurs four times in verses one and two. It implies action on the part of the one who is receiving the invitation. We are invited to come, to take action, and in doing so to trust in the Lord.
Notice in verse one “everyone - is invited to come” everyone who thirsts is invited to come to the waters. This is an invitation to experience the power of God’s blessing and Isaiah compares the power of God’s blessing is compared to the renewing power of water.
I have always loved the outdoors. When I was a young boy I used to strap a knife to my side, grab my machete, and a piece of rope and head down into the woods behind my house. Several hundred yards in the woods behind our house were what we upstate SC people call gullys. These were big trenches carved out in the ground usually by the moment of water from a spring or small creaks. They were probably only 25 feet deep but in my mind I was scaling the walls of a great canyon. I would spend hours climbing up and down and letting my imagination run wild. My favorite place to sit was at the bottom of the gully and listen to the small spring fed creak babble as it ran along the bottom. It was a fascinating place lots of ferns, and wildflowers grew around it. I had discovered the magical place that because of the water flowing through it was full of life. (note: even during the worst times of drought this area remained full of life - the spring never seemed to dry up).
This is like what Isaiah is describing through when he says come any who thirst to the waters. He is saying to Israel and to us come to the life-giving power of the Lord. Come and be filled, come and have your thirst quenched. Notice that the word waters is plural signifying abundance. The invitation gets even better... “Come you who have no money come, and buy and eat. Come and buy wine and milk without money and without cost.”
There are two importation things that we need to see in this verse. The first is found in the progression we find in this verse: we are invited to come to the waters: water is needed to maintain life - this is followed by followed by the promise of wine and milk - two things that are not required to sustain life, but that would be considered extras or luxuries.
waters … wine and milk—a gradation. Not merely water, which is needed to maintain life at all, but wine and milk to strengthen, cheer, and nourish; the spiritual blessings of the Gospel are meant
So Isaiah is saying that if we will come and accept the Lord’s invitation that that not only will God nourish us spiritually, but He will give us spiritually abundantly - more than we can ever imagine.
The second thing we need to take note of is found in the idea that we can have no money and still buy the things we need. Notice everyone is invited even those who have no money and then a few words later we are told to “come and buy and eat.” It seems like a paradox. How can we do that? How can one come who has no money and then be asked to buy something? God’s Kingdom works differently than our world does.
You see what we have here is not a discussion about physical money, but about mankind's absolute spiritual bankruptcy before God. We all like to think that we have things pretty well together. We like to think that we have worked hard to earn our place in the world. We like to think that our success in all of our own making. We we want to transfer this line of thinking to faith in Christ too: We say things like: “I do what I can for God, I’m not that bad of a person, I go to church, I’m in a Sunday school class, but the very best of what a “right” realtiohsip with God requires is out of our reach. On our own we are bankrupt. Spiritually speaking we cannot earn it or afford it.
Remember that Isaiah is proclaiming this invitation from the Lord to the Israelites in captivity in Babylon. Israel had experienced failure, they had experienced defeat and Isaiah is saying come back to God, trust in God and He will provide for you in ways you cannot provide for yourself. This call extends to us as well.
Paul tells us in : “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”
New American Standard Bible: 1995 update. (1995). (). La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
realtiohsip with God requires.
New American Standard Bible: 1995 update. (1995). (). La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
And yet, though we are sinners, though the very best that any of our efforts can offer is spiritual bankruptcy - but Jesus did for you and I what we could not do for ourselves. For it is Jesus took our place on the cross - and it is Jesus paid the price - and in this passage as we hear this invitation for those who are spiritually bankrupt and who have no money to come we must realize that it is Jesus who is saying: “I’ve already paid the price for him, for her, put it on my tab.”
For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.
knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.
The Lord invites you to come and be filled!
-
New American Standard Bible: 1995 update. (1995). (). La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation
New American Standard Bible: 1995 update. (1995). (). La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation
New American Standard Bible: 1995 update. (1995). (). La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation
2. The second aspect of this invitation that we need to take note is found in verse 2 and it is that we are invited to eat.
“Why do you spend money for what is not bread,
“Why do you spend money for what is not bread,
And your wages for what does not satisfy?
Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good,
And delight yourself in abundance.
New American Standard Bible: 1995 update. (1995). (). La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
New American Standard Bible: 1995 update. (1995). (). La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
The Lord asked the people how they could be interested in other things besides Himself as He is the only One who can bring genuine satisfaction. Throughout all history people have tried to find satisfaction through many things other than God.
It seems that is society today we are consumed with the “Myth of More Begin Better.” As a matter of fact you probably get invitations in the mail in the form of advertisements that invite you to buy more stuff so that your life will be better. Capitalizing on our inherent dissatisfaction, advertisers and marketing firms around the spend around $450 billion annually to make us unhappy with who we are, with what we have, with how we look, and with what we do.
I came across an interesting article written by an unknown author about this topic: “I sat down and looked through some magazines this past week. I discovered that if I want to feel right, I need to get a NordicTrack. I don’t have a NordicTrack, just a membership down at the gym, so I suddenly realized that I didn’t feel as healthy as I thought I did.
I then read that if I wanted to be stylish, I would need to buy a Toyota Camry. Our family van was in the shop, so I had been driving our old Mercury Sable. That felt bad enough. Real men drive SUVs or bright red sports cars. I’ve got four kids, so I don’t have the luxury of driving what real men drive. So I found out that I couldn’t be stylish with the cars I owned.
Then I saw that if I wanted to really feel the spring season, I had to dress for the spring season, and the only place for that was at Dillard’s. I knew I wouldn’t have a chance to go to Dillard’s that week. Suddenly the beautiful weather just didn’t seem that beautiful. I just wasn’t dressed for it.
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It didn’t get any better. I learned that I needed to be opening my mail with knife from Oneida. I only had a two-dollar letter opener from Office Depot. Now even my mail was disappointing. On top of that, I discovered that I couldn’t have a good meal if I wasn’t in Texas – at least not a meal that would satisfy me. So much for my Lean Cuisines. Then I read that if I wanted to be a man, at least a manlier man than my neighbor, I had to drive a Yard-Man mower with a Briggs and Stratton engine. At least it was cheaper than a new SUV.
I like my house until I saw the new development’s ad. I thought my family and I were close until I realized we didn’t have season passes to the amusement park. I even thought I loved my wife, but since I hadn’t bought her a diamond necklace from the jewelry store, I was informed that I didn’t. I found out that I can’t even be romantic with my wife unless we use Sylvania light bulbs. Wouldn’t you know, we have GE.
By the time I got finished with those magazines, I wasn’t just depressed – I needed counseling. Ever felt that way?”
Isaiah asks us the question: “Why do you spend money on things that will never satisfy you?” He says to us listen carefully…eat what is good and delight yourself in abundance.” He is saying listen to these words and eat so that you will be filled and nourished.
The truth is that many times we fall prey to this line of thinking. We run out and purchase the next hot item that society tells us we need, we crave the power, the success, the money the the world around tells us we need, and though these things in and of themselves are not necessary evil many times they distract us from the Lord’s invitation. This brings to minds the words of Ecclesiastics 1:8:
All things are wearisome; Man is not able to tell it. The eye is not satisfied with seeing, Nor is the ear filled with hearing.
Yet here is this passage Isaiah asks us the question: “Why do you spend money on things that will never satisfy you?” He says to us listen carefully…eat what is good and delight yourself in abundance.” He is saying listen to these words and eat so that you will be filled and nourished.
What are we to listen carefully too? What are we to eat so that we will be satisfied? The very Words of the Living God.
Isaiah asks us the question: “Why do you spend money on things that will never satisfy you?” He says to us listen carefully…eat what is good and delight yourself in abundance. He is saying listen to these words and eat so that you will be filled and nourished.
New Living Translation Chapter 7
37 On the last day, the climax of the festival, Jesus stood and shouted to the crowds, “Anyone who is thirsty may come to me! 38 Anyone who believes in me may come and drink! For the Scriptures declare, ‘Rivers of living water will flow from his heart.’ ”
New Living Translation Chapter 6
35 Jesus replied, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry again. Whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.
Sometimes we try to get filled up with the things the world offers: (Illustration youth trip with too many fast food stops…sometimes I just want to chew on piece of celery.
Christians many of you hold in your hands this morning a spiritual feast beyond measure. You have the very life giving words of the Creator of the World in your hands. This Word of God has no expiration date, it does not spoil or go bad - Paul tells us in Hebrews that it is alive and active - sharper than a two edged sword. So we have the buffet - this feast of the life-giving Word of God in our hands, some of us even have more that one copy and yet so many many times we don’t open it. God is calling you to take action and come. He is calling you to not only come to the table but to eat. We say Lord, I don’t have any money, and I don’t have anything to offer, and He says to us I’ve already paid the price you are feasting in my tab. Then He tells us simply to eat and to delight in the abundance of what He and He alone offers.
Out Lord invites us to Come to His table - to Eat until we are filled - and this brings us to the third point.
3. The third aspect of the Lord’s invitation that we need to see is found in verse 3 and it is we are to live.
Look again, at verse three:
New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update Chapter 55
Incline your ear and come to Me.
Listen, that you may live;
And I will make an everlasting covenant with you,
According to the faithful mercies shown to David.
Remember Isaiah is proclaiming this Word for the Lord to the people of Israel who are being held in the Babylonian captivity. They are living under the rule of a foreign people. They knew what it was like to have their lives uprooted and everything about their lives that they found safe and familiar had been been taken from them. The life they were living was a life bondage. The truth is that the very best of living that our world has to offer is not the kind of living that God has in mind for His people.
We see from passages like how different the things God values and the things our world values actually are. So much of our lives on this earth are built around trying to find satisfaction in things where ultimately no lasting satisfaction can be found. As Isaiah proclaims these words of the Lord’s invitation to Israel he is promising a people in bondage hope. He is promising a people who are spiritually empty and depleted a chance to be filled. He is telling them that if they will accept His invitation: that if they will come to His table and eat of His Word then they will live.
55:3. By coming to the Lord people will have life and the benefits of God’s everlasting covenant with David (2 Sam. 7:11b–16) in which the Lord promised that David’s line would continue forever. Kindnesses renders the word ḥeseḏ (here in the pl.), God’s covenantal “loyal love,” which relates to His loyal covenant with David (see ḥeseḏ, “love,” in 2 Sam. 7:15). Some interpreters say the “everlasting covenant” refers to the New Covenant (Jer. 32:40; Heb. 13:20). That is possible but the reference to David points to the Davidic Covenant, which also is said to last forever (2 Sam. 7:16). Just as God promised to keep His good hand on David, so He assured those who come to Him that He will never remove His good hand (His blessings) from them. He will always be with them and consider them His people.
Through the people has failed to fully trust God, though they has sinned again Him, and this sin led to their bondage God was calling them back. Notice, the Lord promises to make an everlasting covenant with them according the the faithful mercies shown to David. This promise from the Lord refers to the Davidic covenant found in .
:16
Your house and your kingdom will continue before me for all time, and your throne will be secure forever.’ ”
This promise form the Lord also expands and fulfills the Davidic covenant and It also points forward to the New Covenant that God made with us through Jesus’ death and resurrection. It’s a promise of life with God for those who will place there trust in Him. This is the covenant that we will celebrate this morning when we partake of the Lord’s Supper.
The Lord is calling his people, He is calling you and I to life. The only life that will ever bring true fulfillment, the only life that will truly satisfy us, the only life that deals with our problem of sin and spiritual bankruptcy - life with Him.
This morning the Lord has given us His invitation:
Come - Eat - Live
Please pray with me...
Invitation:
1) Never accepted Jesus as Savior and Lord
2) Have a relationship with Jesus but have been chasing after other things and need to return.
3) Need time at the alter to pray
4) Want to unite with our church
The Lord’s Supper: Please be seated as we partake of the Lord’s Supper together.
Everything is wearisome beyond description. No matter how much we see, we are never satisfied. No matter how much we hear, we are not content.
Ec
Deacons come up...
Here at FBC Jedburg we practice an open communion because this is not our table, but it is the Lords. You do not a member here at FBC Jedburg to participate. If you have accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior you are welcome to participate.
Paul tells us in that we are to take the Lords supper seriously. We are to examine ourselves before partaking of the Lord’s Supper.
Distribute Bread:
Deacon blessing for bread:
Jesus, on the night that 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.”
Distribute Juice:
Deacon blessing for juice:
In the same way He took the cup also 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.
no money—Yet, in , it is said, “ye spend money.” A seeming paradox. Ye are really spiritual bankrupts: but thinking yourselves to have money, namely, a devotion of your own making, ye lavish it on that “which is not bread,” that is, on idols, whether literal or spiritual.
buy … without money—another paradox. We are bought, but not with a price paid by ourselves (; , ). In a different sense we are to “buy” salvation, namely, by parting with everything which comes between us and Christ who has bought it for us and by making it our own (, ; ; ).
Jamieson, R., Fausset, A. R., & Brown, D. (1997). Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (Vol. 1, p. 493). Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.
Jamieson, R., Fausset, A. R., & Brown, D. (1997). Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (Vol. 1, p. 493). Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.
Thank everyone for coming to worship with us - Invite everyone to the meal - benevolence offering - Deacon of week close and prayer and bless fellowship meal.
The Lord’s Supper
For I pass on to you what I received from the Lord himself. On the night when he was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took some bread and gave thanks to God for it. Then he broke it in pieces and said, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this to remember me.” In the same way, he took the cup of wine after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant between God and his people—an agreement confirmed with my blood. Do this to remember me as often as you drink it.” For every time you eat this bread and drink this cup, you are announcing the Lord’s death until he comes again. So anyone who eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord unworthily is guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. That is why you should examine yourself before eating the bread and drinking the cup. For if you eat the bread or drink the cup without honoring the body of Christ, you are eating and drinking God’s judgment upon yourself. That is why many of you are weak and sick and some have even died.