Invited to the Feast

Introduction:

What is the “swankiest” place that you have ever been invited to eat at? For many in the room, these are rare and special occasions that you only go to once in a while. Perhaps you are invited to be the guest of someone at a banquet to honor someone.

There are several of these types of environments that you might be familiar with:

White House Correspondents Dinner

ESPY Awards

Grammys

But, most of you will probably never be invited to any of these events. So let’s go with ones maybe more common to man.

Wedding Receptions

Now, imagine that you were invited to a really special dinner, but you turned down the invitation at the last minute because you were busy looking at a field that you had just harrowed up, or you had some cows you were inspecting, or you just wanted to stay home with your wife.

These activities are not bad, but when a special occasion like this arises, we usually try to make every effort to attend. The more important the occasion, the more likely we will not turn down the offer.

Well, this morning we are going to talk about a banquet that you and I’ve been invited to that is not worth turning down for anything in the world. You have to RSVP to it and you need to make sure that you don’t give lousy excuses when the day draws near.

Let’s turn in our Bibles to Luke 14.

Luke 14:12–24 ESV

12 He said also to the man who had invited him, “When you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return and you be repaid. 13 But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, 14 and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just.” 15 When one of those who reclined at table with him heard these things, he said to him, “Blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!” 16 But he said to him, “A man once gave a great banquet and invited many. 17 And at the time for the banquet he sent his servant to say to those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’ 18 But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said to him, ‘I have bought a field, and I must go out and see it. Please have me excused.’ 19 And another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to examine them. Please have me excused.’ 20 And another said, ‘I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.’ 21 So the servant came and reported these things to his master. Then the master of the house became angry and said to his servant, ‘Go out quickly to the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in the poor and crippled and blind and lame.’ 22 And the servant said, ‘Sir, what you commanded has been done, and still there is room.’ 23 And the master said to the servant, ‘Go out to the highways and hedges and compel people to come in, that my house may be filled. 24 For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste my banquet.’ ”

Pray

Context:

At the house of a ruler of the Pharisees - Luke 14:1

Jesus healed a man on the Sabbath and this made the lawyers and Pharisees upset

Jesus has told a parable about being honored by God vs honoring oneself in the presence of others

Jesus specifically points that this is a wedding feast - we also are invited to the Marriage Supper of the Lamb (Rev. 19:9)

Jesus then turns to the host and begins to tell him to show hospitality to the poor and not just invite the ones who are his friends and will repay him.

Jesus specifically states that he will be “repaid at the resurrection of the just” which prompts someone at the table to speak up.

1. There Is an Invitation to Consider (v. 16-17)

Luke 14:16–17 ESV

16 But he said to him, “A man once gave a great banquet and invited many. 17 And at the time for the banquet he sent his servant to say to those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’

Many believed that they would be invited to the feast simply because of their Jewish ethnicity.

The belief in a future banquet in the Kingdom of God has been something taught since the Old Testament prophets

Isaiah 25:6 ESV

6 On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine, of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined.

When we partake of the Lord’s Supper we look forward to this same banquet

Revelation 19:9 ESV

9 And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These are the true words of God.”

Jesus tells a parable to highlight the flawed view

Many Americans believe that they are Christians because they were born in a Christian nation or have a Christian heritage. They may think this also because they went to a church and got enrolled in the church’s membership. None of this means anything to God. God is looking for authentic faith and He knows those who are His own.

2. There are Excuses that Are Given (vv.18-20)

Luke 14:18–20 ESV

18 But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said to him, ‘I have bought a field, and I must go out and see it. Please have me excused.’ 19 And another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to examine them. Please have me excused.’ 20 And another said, ‘I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.’

The banquet was announced in advance and the ones invited knew that the man was preparing things. He would send notice when everything was ready.

They had many excuses

One bought a field and needed to see it.

One bought oxen and needed to examine them.

One got married and couldn’t come

The MacArthur Study Bible Chapter 14

All the excuses smack of insincerity. One does not purchase property without seeing it first. And since the purchase was already complete, there was no urgency. The land would still be there after the banquet. Likewise (v. 19), one does not purchase oxen without first testing them. The man who had recently married (v. 20) was excused from business travel, or serving in the military (

Application:

What are some of the excuses given by the world for why they will not accept Jesus?

They love their sins

They think the gospel is foolish

They feel God is unjust

What reason would you give for not trusting in Jesus?

Jesus told us,

Matthew 16:26 ESV

26 For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?

Jesus is the treasure hidden in a field that is worth all we have.

Matthew 13:44 ESV

44 “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.

3. There Is a Warning to Heed (vv. 21-24)

Luke 14:21–24 ESV

21 So the servant came and reported these things to his master. Then the master of the house became angry and said to his servant, ‘Go out quickly to the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in the poor and crippled and blind and lame.’ 22 And the servant said, ‘Sir, what you commanded has been done, and still there is room.’ 23 And the master said to the servant, ‘Go out to the highways and hedges and compel people to come in, that my house may be filled. 24 For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste my banquet.’ ”

The Response of the Master

Master became angry - they have insulted his generosity

He sent the servant to invite others who had not been initially invited - these would be the ones that the Pharisees and the leaders had neglected like the poor and the defective (v.21)

In Jesus’s parable the man invites the poor, exactly like he had told the one giving the feast that He was at to do (v.13)

The servant obeyed but there was still room left

The master sent him out to the highways and hedges to compel people to come in

The highways and hedges were were the robbers and ruffians were

We all are the people of the highway (highwaymen)

God compels us to come in that His house may be filled

Many were invited, but few would come

“still there is room” - “God is more willing to save sinners than sinners are to be saved.”

John MacArthur Jr., ed., The MacArthur Study Bible, electronic ed. (Nashville, TN: Word Pub., 1997), 1544.

The ones who declined the invitation for their excuses were not excused

Conclusion

There is a longing in our soul like the longing of our bodies to eat and drink or else we die.

This morning, you have your invitation given straight to you. It hasn’t been lost in the mail or misplaced, but it has been given straight to your ear by a courier.

All you have to do is respond. You have to realize that you need this bread and drink that Christ gives us in His body and His blood that is broken for us.

You have promised by your own word, out of your own mouth, that to anyone who is thirsty you will give the fountain of the water of life freely.

O Lord, I thirst. I long for one drop of mercy. As the deer pants for the water, so my soul pants for you, O God, and for your compassion.

If I had the glory, the wealth, and the pleasure of the whole world—if I had ten thousand lives, joyfully I would lay them down, just to have this poor trembling soul received into the bleeding arms of my blessed Redeemer.

The memory of my former vanities and sins is poison to my soul. The very flames of hell, Lord, the fury of your just wrath, the scorchings of my own conscience, have so wasted and parched my heart that my thirst cannot be quenched.

...

My desire is for the pardon and grace of Jesus Christ. And Lord, in your blessed book you cry, “Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters.” In that great day of the feast, you stood and cried, “If anyone thirst, come to me and drink.”

And these are your own words: “Those who hunger and thirst for righteousness will be filled.”

I challenge you, Lord, in my extreme thirst for you, and for spiritual life in you, by that word, and by that promise which you made—make it good to me. I grovel in the dust and tremble at your feet.

Open now that promised well of life. For I must drink or else I die. Amen.

—Isaac Ambrose

Isaac Ambrose, “I Thirst for Grace in Christ,” in Piercing Heaven: Prayers of the Puritans, ed. Robert Elmer (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2019), 22–23.