The Lame Brain, the Lunatic, and the Hen-Pecked Husband
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Thesis Statement: Many people reject God's gracious invitation to salvation because they allow foolish thinking, worldly priorities, and misplaced affections to keep them from responding to Jesus Christ.
Introduction
Introduction
One of the greatest tragedies in life is not that people are never invited—it is that they refuse the invitation.
Most of us have received invitations to weddings, birthdays, graduation parties, retirement celebrations, or holiday dinners. Usually, when someone invites us to a special event, we are honored. We appreciate being included.
But imagine preparing the greatest banquet you have ever hosted. You spend months planning. You purchase the finest food. You prepare everything perfectly. The table is set. The servants are waiting. Then, one by one, your invited guests begin calling with excuses.
"I've got something else to do."
"I'm too busy."
"Maybe another time."
Most of us would be hurt. Some of us would be angry.
Jesus tells a story very much like that in Luke 14.
Our Lord is dining in the home of a Pharisee. During the meal He has already confronted pride, self-righteousness, and selfishness. Then one of the guests speaks up.
Now when one of those who sat at the table with Him heard these things, he said to Him, “Blessed is he who shall eat bread in the kingdom of God!”
The man assumed he would be present in God's Kingdom simply because he was a Jew.
Jesus answered that assumption with a parable.
The word parable comes from the Greek word meaning "to place alongside." A parable is an earthly story that illustrates a heavenly truth. Jesus used familiar situations to reveal spiritual realities. The setting that Jesus is about to describe would have been familiar to everyone listening.
In Jewish culture, a large banquet involved two invitations. The first invitation announced the coming feast. Guests accepted in advance. Later, when everything was ready, servants went throughout the community announcing,
"Come, for all things are now ready."***
To refuse the second invitation after already accepting the first was a terrible insult to the host.
Jesus is teaching something far greater than banquet etiquette.
God had invited Israel for centuries through Moses, the Law, the Prophets, and John the Baptist.
Now the Messiah had arrived.
Everything was ready.
Yet many refused to come.
As we walk through this passage, we discover that the same excuses are still being made today.
I. The Lame Brain (Luke 14:16–20)
I. The Lame Brain (Luke 14:16–20)
Sin has a way of making intelligent people think foolishly.
Isaiah 55:8 reminds us, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD."
The world's wisdom often opposes God's wisdom.
Jesus describes three men.
Each had received the invitation.
Each refused.
Each believed his excuse was reasonable.
Yet every excuse reveals a spiritually lame way of thinking.
The first man is what I call a Lame-Brain.
But they all with one accord began to make excuses. The first said to him, ‘I have bought a piece of ground, and I must go and see it. I ask you to have me excused.’
Think about that.
Who buys land before inspecting it?
No one.
The excuse was transparent.
His property had become more important than the invitation.
Jesus repeatedly warned about the danger of possessions.
Matthew 6:33 says, “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you."
There is nothing wrong with owning property. The problem begins when property owns you.
Many people intend to come to Christ someday.
But first they want another house.
Another investment.
Another promotion.
Another financial goal.
Material blessings become spiritual barriers.
Jesus asked in Mark 8:36,
"For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?"
II. The Lunatic
II. The Lunatic
And another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to test them. I ask you to have me excused.’
Again, who buys expensive oxen before testing them?
No farmer would do that.
His business had become his excuse.
There is nothing sinful about hard work.
In fact, Scripture commands diligence.
But work becomes sinful when it replaces worship. Some people are too busy making a living to prepare for eternity.
They work overtime.
They chase success.
They build careers.
But neglect the one thing that matters most.
Jesus asked, “What shall a man give in exchange for his soul?" (Mark 8:37)
III. The Hen-Pecked Husband
III. The Hen-Pecked Husband
Still another said, ‘I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.’
This man allowed a human relationship to become more important than responding to God's invitation.
Many people miss Heaven because they fear disappointing someone on earth.
Some refuse Christ because of friends.
Others because of family.
Some because of a boyfriend.
Some because of a girlfriend.
Some because of a spouse.
He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.
Anything placed ahead of Christ becomes an idol.
The excuses are different today.
"I'm too busy."
"I'm too young."
"I'm not ready."
"I'll wait."
But excuses have never saved anyone.
IV. The Highways and the By-ways.
IV. The Highways and the By-ways.
Now, listen carefully because what we have read so far has a hint of prophecy in it too.
Jesus came first to the Jews, but they rejected Him. This ties directly into Romans 11:25.
For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.
God has not forgotten Israel, but Israel rejected Jesus, and now God turns to a different group, the Gentiles who are symbolized as the “outsiders.”
Nothing is more irrational than rejecting eternal life, but that is exactly what the Jews did.
The servant returns.
He reports the excuses.
Notice the master's response.
Verse 21 says, “Then the master of the house being angry..."
God's grace should never be mistaken for indifference. Those who reject Christ reject the greatest invitation ever extended. Tonight, we are going to see God’s response to the Jewish rejection, but there is terrible, terrible passage in the Bible about rejecting Christ. It is one of the most fearful passages in all the Bible to me.
Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace?
For we know Him who said, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. And again, “The Lord will judge His people.”
A. God's Grace Reaches the Broken
A. God's Grace Reaches the Broken
So that servant came and reported these things to his master. Then the master of the house, being angry, said to his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in here the poor and the maimed and the lame and the blind.’
The servant is the Holy Spirit, and the father directs Him to invite a different group to the banquet.
These were people society overlooked.
Yet the master welcomed them. Jesus came for sinners regardless of nationality, race, or creed.
But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
No one is too poor. No one is too broken. No one is too sinful. Jesus did not just die for Americans. Jesus just did not die just for whites. He did not die for just blacks. He died for all sinners.
God’s grace is available to all those who know they need a Savior.
B. God's Invitation Continues
B. God's Invitation Continues
And the servant said, ‘Master, it is done as you commanded, and still there is room.’
Those words ought to encourage every sinner.
There is still room.
No matter your past—
There is room.
No matter your failures—
There is room.
Just as the Ark in Noah’s day was big enough for everyone who would have accepted Noah’s invitation. Heaven will be big enough for anyone who wants to be saved.
Isaiah 1:18 declares, “Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow."
The invitation is still open.
C. God's Servants Must Urgently Invite Others
C. God's Servants Must Urgently Invite Others
Then the master said to the servant, ‘Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.
The word "compel" means to plead earnestly.
Persuade lovingly.
Urge sincerely.
That is evangelism.
Paul says this:
Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God.
That is our mission because there is still room at the Master’s table.
We are to carry the invitation to everyone.
For I say to you that none of those men who were invited shall taste my supper.’ ”
This final verse is one of the saddest statements Jesus ever made.
Those Jews who thought they were favored by God because they were Jewish will never taste of the supper offered.
They were invited but chose something else. The tragedy was not that they were excluded. The tragedy was that they excluded themselves, and anyone who rejects the Holy Spirit’s invitation to come to the banquet will be excluding themselves too.
Every excuse sounds reasonable.
Until eternity arrives.
Felix told Paul, “Go away for now…” (Acts 24:25)
We never read that Felix and Paul talked again..
Paul wrote, “Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation." (2 Corinthians 6:2)
Tomorrow belongs to no one.
If you reject God’s grace, you are inviting judgment.
God is loving.
God is merciful.
God is patient.
But those who continually reject His Son eventually face His judgment.
“He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
The greatest sin is rejecting Jesus Christ.
Conclusion
This parable is about much more than a dinner invitation.
It is about God's invitation to salvation.
No one, in the parable, questioned the generosity of the host.
No one questioned whether the invitation was genuine.
They simply chose something else. That is still happening every Sunday.
People reject Christ—not because He is unworthy—But because something else seems more important.
A possession.
A career.
A relationship.
A hobby.
An addiction.
An excuse.
Satan never needs to convince people to hate Jesus. He simply convinces them to wait.
Every delayed decision is a dangerous decision.
James 4:14 reminds us, “For what is your life? It is even a vapour..."
Life is brief.
Eternity is forever.
The invitation is still open.
The table has been prepared.
The sacrifice has been made.
The Savior has died.
The tomb is empty.
The invitation still goes out.
"Come; for all things are now ready."
Perhaps today you recognize yourself in one of these men.
Maybe you've been saying,
"When I get my life together..."
"When I retire..."
"When the kids are older..."
"When things settle down..."
Friend, they never will.
Jesus is calling today.
Seek the Lord while He may be found, Call upon Him while He is near.
Let the wicked forsake his way, And the unrighteous man his thoughts; Let him return to the Lord, And He will have mercy on him; And to our God, For He will abundantly pardon.
If you have never trusted Christ as your Lord and Savior, today is the day to come.
