That My House May Be Filled

° Like to eat? At home, restaurant – love to eat with friends, share meal and time visiting.

° Often in Bible, God uses setting of meal to make point that a great plan has been laid on our behalf and we have the opportunity to accept or refuse His invitation to be a part of that plan.

° Jesus uses Parable of Great Banquet in Luke 14 to show us importance of God’s calling - how magnificent is in our lives and, in just a little way, our responsibilities after we’ve accepted invitation.

o 1st - Background – Jesus at a leader of the Pharisees’ home for dinner. They want to check Him out more closely – see if He’ll mess up on the Sabbath! Man with dropsy (retention of water - symptom of cong. heart fail. – kidney malfunction), Jesus begins this situation by asking if it’s OK to heal on Sabbath. Gets no answer, so He heals him, sends him on.

o Then tells them to be willing to humble self for the sake of honoring someone else.

o At this point Jesus begins to tell them about whom NOT to invite – friends, rich neighbors, family.

§ Not an excuse to not have mother-in-law over. He’s using a figure of speech – what He’s saying is - invite those who can’t repay. Invite those who are the outcasts – the neglected by society!

§ One apparently ONLY heard the statement regarding the “rez of just” and says “Here, here!” “Blessed is he who shall eat…” Now, granted the “rez of the just” has an eternal connotation to it.

§ But Jesus responds w/ “here and now” answer. Jesus responds with parable of Great Supper – a parable that teaches us that God wants His house filled.

o He begins in vs 16 with…(RD) So we see hear…

I. The Invitation is given.

A. In many Jesus’ parables, “certain man” represents whom – God? That is certainly the case here. God is offering an invitation to a great banquet. Same picture used by prophet Isaiah in 25:6 (RD). NAS says “lavish banquet.” King is inviting his subjects to dinner. What an incredible opportunity!

B. Here’s a dumb question: Invite you – why? (I want you to come!) God WANTS people to attend this banquet He has prepared. 1 Tim 2:4 – God desires all men to be saved. BUT – Ro 1:16 tells us the offer was to the Jew first and THEN the Gentile.

1. In fact, in vs 17 it says He sent out the servant to the initial invitees, the chosen to say that all things are ready. See, here’s how it worked. 1st – invited. Then on feast day, servants come around and say it’s all ready now.

2. In what way have things been made ready for the feast? Thru Law & Prophets, invitation extended to Jewish people. Then comes J the B w/ same message – time is at hand, turn back to God. God’s people had been told and re-told – all things are ready!

3. Gal 4:4 says (RD) – “fullness of times had come” the Law had served its purpose; now that Christ had come, gone to the cross, risen from grave, a new way had been issued in. And the Jewish people were first extended the offer to join this banquet.

C. The offer was made – everything was ready! Now, I’m going to jump ahead here a bit…everything is STILL ready. Offer still stands. Sacrifice has been made, the ransom paid. Eph 1:3 – “all spiritual blessings are in Christ.” – one who is in Christ is in church.

1. Invitations traditionally come at the end – I know. But, I want to make it clear right now – the offer still stands. God’s offer of forgiveness and entrance into the kingdom – still there.

2. All you have to do – obey. Believe in Christ as your Lord and Savior, repent of and give up the sin in your life, be immersed into water, and all the blessings of the invitation to this Great Supper are yours. (At the end – come forward.)

o T: May hear that and think – how can I resist…anyone? Read on -

II. The Excuses Begin.

A. These represent the Jews and their unwillingness to come to Christ after so many invitations. But, look - each excuse is SO relevant to us today:

1. (RD 18) - 1st guy has piece of land apparently bought sight unseen – not real bright! But, some new land, new possession to mess with – need to be excused. Bought it already – is it going to change?

a) His possessions got in his way of being in attendance at the KING’S feast! His stuff got in the way of being where the Master wanted him to be.

b) What a sad comment. Ever find hobbies, your toys getting in way of answering Master’s call?

2. (RD 19) new work tool. New oxen. Have yet to test them – again - not too sharp.

a) Worked at Farm & Home Supply in Stillwater. Sold farm implements, etc. Guys come in, ask if they could take a $1500 mower deck home and USE it before they bought it. How those guys work! This was an excuse.

b) Comes down to this - his work gets in his way. The Master is asking him to come be with Him, and he can’t squeeze it in because of work.

3. (RD 20) A new wife…this one comes close if you look at the Old Law. See, Deut 20:7 excludes a newly married man from military service. But not a social gathering.

a) Here’s what I find interesting – men, ask your wives for a night out – not just a night out, but a banquet – get all dressed up…how many times do you have to ask?

b) But, he uses his family as his excuse. Don’t hear me beating up on family. There is next to nothing more important than getting your family to Christ. But see, that’s the thing – he used his family commitments as an excuse to not be where he was called to be.

4. Summation of all this is that they had rejected God’s invitation to be part of His Son’s kingdom. They had rejected Jesus as God’s son! Oh, they’d accepted initially, but didn’t complete agreement.

B. Now, know from Acts 2 - not everyone refused initial invitation to be part of Kingdom. 3000! Amazing day. How many weren’t?! 1000s people in Jerusalem – only 3000 baptized. 1000s had excuse.

C. What are our excuses? Keeping with this context, what are excuses we use for not becoming a Xian? But, I also believe we can apply the principle in this question: What excuses use for not serving as the Xian we ought to be. Can’t we also find selves using our possessions, our jobs, or even our families as our excuse? Know I can…

1. Like these in the parable – the excuses are many but the spirit that prompts them is one – the desire to satisfy “self” first and then God if I can. In the end, it will be the humble, maybe looked down on by the world, but willing to put God first who accepts the invitation to feast with the Lord.

2. But we also better pay close attention to this: (RD 21-24) God says, “Those who assume they’re in – may be surprised.” What are results of rejecting God’s offer? Master of house – GOD – is angry! Another way – enraged! We tend to tone down these expressions of God’s character, don’t we? Can’t ignore fact that this is term God chose thru HS to describe how He feels when rejected.

3. What are the excuses we use – for not answering God’s offer of salvation – the excuse for not acting on your belief in Christ and being immersed in baptism for the forgiveness of sin?

o T: Some may be asking – what all this have do w/ you? You’ve accepted God’s offer, right?

III. What is Asked of the Servant?

A. This is interesting cuz we can, at same time, relate to both those invited and to servant. Here’s what I mean: Master tells servant to go out everywhere and bring people - He says go into streets and lanes – the alleyways, home of publicans and sinners, the poor and disabled and less fortunate and I will give my offer to them!

1. Servant does it…still room. Master says go outside city – limits of society – perhaps limits of Judaism.

2. Go into all world “that My house may be filled!” Because NONE of those who thought they were in – are in!

B. Look from servant perspective – isn’t that us? Yes we’re the invited, but we’re also God’s servants. And in these directions to the servant, I see a HUGE lesson for you and I today.

1. What does God tell us here? What does the master tell the servant? Go out and COMPEL them – literally, urge them by moral force as a necessity! BEG them to come!

2. Bring them in w/ heartfelt compassion. Persuade them to come to feast of Master. How does that work?

C. 2 Thes 2:13-14 tells us. In simple language Paul says (RD). God makes the call through the Gospel! BUT - someone has to share that message! Rom 10:14 says, “How shall they hear without someone heralding that message – that invitation to them?!” And that, fellow Xians, is up to us!

° But to close, we come back to question – who is invited to Great Supper in parable? Not perfect people – not richest people – not best society has to offer. It’s the invited – those to whom offer is given. The offer is given to you this morning. Message to you and I is this: God has prepared a banquet…FOR US!

° Great plan been laid on our behalf - we have opportunity to accept or refuse His invitation to be a part of that plan. It may be that offer to you is to become a child of God through baptism. It may be an offer to get your life back right with Him.

° How will you respond to His invitation? Will you make an excuse – or will you come to feast – all things truly are ready – if you have a need to make public this morning, please do so while we stand and sing.