The Invitation

Matthew 22:1-14

Intro:

Remember famous line from the Godfather? “I’m gonna make him an offer he can’t refuse.” That is anything but an invitation. It is clearly a threat. But God has an invitation to offer.

What I want to say: Though many are invited, not all will respond to God’s invitation to His kingdom. These parables show both the plan of God and His intense desire to shake our world free of indifference to see what He is offering.

The Setting: (21:23-27) the Authority of Jesus challenged

After the triumphal entry, Jesus proceeded to the Temple and there drove out those who made the Temple a place of commerce. He then healed the blind and the lame. Meanwhile children were singing His praises loudly.
The next day (Monday) He returned to the Temple where He was confronted by the chief priests and elders.

Who are you to do miracles?
Who gave YOU (of all people) this authority?

Jesus’ response: two parables

I. Two sons – two hearts(21:28-32)

A. Actions reveal the heart

1. Right words – wrong heart

a) One said “Yes, sir” and did not go

2. Wrong words – right heart

a) The other said, “No” but went

B. Which did the will of the Father?

1. Jesus then reminded them that when John came preaching righteousness, the Pharisees did not respond but “sinners” did.

2. Jesus came to save sinners –

I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.”

Luke 5:32 ESV

C. Serving God is not about right words but right actions coming from a heart that is right with God.

1. Application:

a) repentant sinners are nearer to God than self-righteous professors of religion.

b) Obedience is more important than accent

2. The difference between the two is obedience from the heart.

II. The Landowner (21:33-46)

A. The Landowner can expect a return from his land

1. When he tried to collect the rent, the tenants beat and killed his messengers and finally even his son

2. The absolute reasonableness of this story is the power of it. Of course a landowner can determine what he will do with his land!

B. How will God respond to those who rebel against Him?

1. In the Old Testament God used the image of a vineyard to describe Israel. (Isaiah 5:1-7)

a) The Jewish leaders knew this and would immediately make the connection

2. What will the landowner do when he comes? The answer is self-evident: he will remove the rebellious tenants and give the land to obedient tenants.

3. In the year 70 A.D. the Roman army came and destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple with it.

C. Your response to Jesus has consequences (21:42-46)

1. (:38) They killed the heir.

2. (:41-43) Because of Israel’s hardness of heart, the kingdom is offered to the Gentiles

3. The stone which the builders rejected= Jesus

a) (:42) This is from Psalm 118:22-23

4. (:44) This stone (Jesus) will break anyone who falls on Him – i.e. it is only in humility and faith that one can come to Jesus.

a) The stone will scatter anyone it falls on – i.e. the judgment of God will crush those who reject Jesus.

5. (:45-46) You can hear the silence when Jesus finished the story. Their response is amazing. They did just what the rebellious tenants did. Their response was not repentance but anger – they sought to take Jesus by force.

6. Sum up: God is looking for you to honor Him.

III. The Invitation (22:1-14)

A. Invitation is a privilege (:1-2)

1. The wedding feast in ancient Israel was often at least a day-long event, sometimes as long as 7 days.

2. It is a privilege to be invited to the king’s feast! This is an opportunity to not only enjoy the food and entertainment but also (most importantly) to be in the presence of the king!

3. It is evident that not everyone gets invited.

a) Has anyone here been invited to the White House? How about to meet the Queen of England?

The Republican Party mistakenly invited an Ohio prisoner to a $2,500-a-plate fundraising dinner in Washington with President Bush. The invitation and a letter from Vice President Cheney were sent to Robert Kirkpatrick at the Belmont Correctional Institution in eastern Ohio. Kirkpatrick, 35, was sentenced last year to nearly three years for drug possession and escape.

"I'm going to tell him that I'd be happy to attend," said Kirkpatrick, "but he's going to have to pull some strings to get me there."

John Bacon (from staff and wire reports), "Guess Who's Not Coming to a Bush Dinner," USA Today (6-5-02) p. 3A

4. God continually offers invitations to His feast.

“Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters;

and he who has no money,

come, buy and eat!

Come, buy wine and milk

without money and without price.

Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread,

and your labor for that which does not satisfy?

Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good,

and delight yourselves in rich food. Isaiah 55:1-2 ESV

B. Distraction with this life lessens interest in eternity (:3-6)

1. (:3) In this case the king had an early meal to which he invited guests but they were unwilling to come.

a) Invitation is a privilege but still they were distracted, rude and unwilling

Busyness is the enemy of spirituality. It is essentially laziness. It is doing the easy thing instead of the hard thing. It is filling our time with our own actions instead of paying attention to God's actions. It is taking charge. Eugene Peterson in The Door (Nov./Dec.1991). Christianity Today, Vol. 36, no. 5.

b) there are those who are unwilling to come when God calls. This parable was particularly aimed at Israel

He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. John 1:11 ESV

2. (:4) He proceeded with the main meal. Everything was ready and he graciously re-extending the invitation.

a) Once Jesus appeared on the scene, all was ready for the main event

3. The invitation is re-issued by the king with much detail about the good thing they are invited to enjoy

a) You may think, “How hard headed can they be?” since they were getting a privileged invitation but they saw only business.

b) Sadly, most people today are in the same situation: invited to meet Jesus but they are too busy building a lifestyle or a career or with being entertained

c) What will they say to the King? What will you say to the King?

4. (:7-8) The King will respond to mankind

a) Justified anger and judgment

b) They had judged the worth of the king’s invitation and he judged their worth before him

c) When it is all said and done, it is not the opinion of the invitees that matters but that of the king

C. The invitation is broad

1. They saw the honor of the invitation and the worthiness of the king and they responded

2. “bad” and “good” are words describing not the actions of people but their lifestyle and character

3. But it was not the character of the person that qualified them to sit in the presence of the king but the invitation and their response to it

4. there will not be anyone in heaven who does not want to be there

D. What you wear matters! (:11-13)

1. It was the king who set the standard

2. Since these came in off the highway, they were not expecting to go to a feast and were not dressed in fine clothes. The king provided the celebration clothes.

3. The problem of this guest was not that his clothing was out of style but that it was inappropriate for the occasion.

a) It was like wearing a bathing suit to a prom or a tuxedo to shovel manure. It was just out of place.

b) Moreover, it revealed something about the man: he refused to take the clothing offered by the king

4. There are some who say, “This is who I am, if God doesn’t like it, too bad.” But they forget who is the king who sets the standard

5. The robe is given by the king

And he said to me, “These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

Revelation 7:14 ESV

he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, Titus 3:5 ESV

6. This fellow evidently slipped in as if being in good company qualified him to enter

ILLUS> A circus parade was moving gaily through the streets of Milan, Italy. Suddenly one of the elephants veered from the line and marched into a church. [In Milan, church doors are large, and in the summer are often wide open.] This visitor wandered up the center aisle, trumpeted a bit, swung her trunk around and headed back to the parade.

Unfortunately, many humans seem to imitate this pious pachyderm. On a Sunday morning some lurch into church, make a few noises, observe the congregation, then step out to resume their place in the parade. The great drama of worship is played out, but it is lost on them. They are elephants in church! David R. Randolph, quoted by Donald P. Hustad in Jubilate II. Christianity Today, Vol. 37, no. 14.

a) There are people in churches today who are just in the right place but do not have Christ’s righteousness

7. He was sent out of the company of the saints and delivered over to judgment

a) “outer darkness” – away from the light of God

Concl.

God is preparing just such a wedding feast

Let us rejoice and exult

and give him the glory,

for the marriage of the Lamb has come,

and his Bride has made herself ready;

it was granted her to clothe herself

with fine linen, bright and pure”—

for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.

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.” Revelation 19:7-9 ESV

(:14) Many are called but few are chosen – notice the word “chosen” – if you are going to the King’s wedding feast, it is because you have been chosen and prepared. Are you going? What is your response to God’s invitation?