Sermon Cloud

TEXT

 

Luke 14:12-24: "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. 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."'"

 

(Preliminary remarks about 1-10 and the context of humility in verse 11.)

 

This is in the context of the promise of the Kingdom of God bringing healing and sustenance to us.  This was the promise in Isaiah 61 and Luke 4 and Jesus is showing off that He came for the poor, crippled, lame and the blind.  He came for those who were literally economically poor and physically hindered; but this also demonstrates He came for those who were spiritually poor, crippled, lame and blind.  His feast is intended to satisfy the poverty and impotence of our souls. 

 

 

I. Humbled by the History of the Kingdom

 

When Jesus stepped onto the stage of world history, He proclaimed "The Kingdom of God has arrived!" (Mark 1:14)  In doing so, Jesus was not speaking a language that was foreign to the Jews of His day.  They understood the power of such a statement.  The hope of the kingdom was held for a long, long time.  It was a hope that God would break into history and intervene to put the world right.  It was a hope that God was coming in love, power and judgment through His Messiah into this world to restore His reign as King over all of broken creation.

 

Finally, Jesus comes and claims the title of Messiah for Himself.  He comes in the power of the Spirit of God and proclaims that the Kingdom is at hand and the purposes of God for the entire creation are unfolding in their midst.  The King has come to reclaim His kingdom. 

 

This announcement of the good news of God's kingdom is a climactic moment in a long history of God's redemptive work.  This good news stretches back to God's promise to Adam and Eve in the Garden.  It unfolds as God chooses Israel to be a conduit of his redemptive blessing to all the nations.  Sadly, Israel failed to live up to its call. Yet, in the midst of this failure, God sent prophets to promise that God's plan would not fail.  God was still at work, still active, and He would send a promised king to renew the whole world.  God would send the true Israel of God, the true faithful remnant in the person of His Son, the promised king whose throne would never end.  Jesus announces that the day of promise has arrived and the power of God to renew all of creation by His Spirit is now present in Himself. 

 

Jesus displays this restorative and liberating power through His life and deeds and explains its significance by His words.  His words clarify and correct the assumptions made by the religious of His day.  His liberation and power was being exercised as a way of demonstrating how the Kingdom of God was going to look.  And in the midst of His ministry we have this text set in the stream and flow of the promise of the Kingdom. 

 

This passage is set between His entrance into time and space and is just prior to death upon a Roman cross on a hill outside of the walls of Jerusalem. 

 

We have to see that this passage takes place while Jesus is explaining His coming victory, His promised triumph.  It is at the cross that the triumph of God's kingdom promised to Adam and Eve, to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, David, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Habakkuk, Micah, Malachi and all the saints, was accomplished.  It is on that cross that He wages war against the power of evil and destruction as He wins a decisive victory.  Jesus the Messiah, the Promised One, dies upon the cross to swallow up death.  Jesus the King, gives up His life as a servant so that God's people would reign with Him.  Jesus, the Son, is cast off that we might be made sons and daughters of His Father.  Jesus the only free One, is bound and beaten, marred and disfigured as a traitor so that we might be set free from our slavery. 

 

Jesus is then resurrected from a death that could not hold Him.  His resurrection is the dawning of the first day of a new creation.  As the firstborn from the dead, Jesus opens up for us the life to come.  And before He ascends to the right hand of the Father, He gathers His small group of followers and calls them to His mission of making the good news of the kingdom known until He returns.  He rises to the Father, takes His seat next to His side and reigns in power over all creation.  He pours out His promised Spirit and by the Spirit makes known His good news plan through His people as they proclaim and embody in word and deed this glorious gospel.  And one day, He promises to come again.  This time every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus the Christ is Creator, Redeemer and Lord and the center of universal history. 

 

Q- Now, does this make you read the passage differently than just another nice tale about Jesus getting His grub on at a picnic? 

 

Q- Does this cause you to think of your life differently as you begin to recognize that you are part of a great story, the story of the Kingdom of God?  How so? 

 

Q- If this causes you to read each story set in the context of a greater story, and your life as part of this true story, how will this affect the way you live today? 

 

This story is the true story of the world.  It is front page news.  It is universal history and it is ultimate reality.  Anything that contradicts or confuses this story is fantasy.  What is real is what God has done, is doing, and promises to do. 

 

Most Christians, if we're honest, might have to confess that the prevailing story that our lives and reality are defined by is not the story of the Kingdom.  We're constantly elevating our particular moment in time.  We do this to the detriment of the history of the Kingdom of God and of the narrative that is to give shape and meaning to our existence as adopted children of the Father and citizens of the Kingdom.

 

I share this with you because I want all of us to come to grips with the reality that is offered to us through the gospel of the Kingdom.  This story is comprehensive in scope and it calls for our whole life, our own individual stories, to find their fulfillment and meaning only in its story.  Our identity, our purpose, our sense of value, our meaning, our security, our idea of comfort and pleasure are all to be absorbed into this great story that is the true story of the world and our lives. 

 

It isn't that we're living in reality and the gospel is a fantasy.  It is that we are living in a fantasy and the gospel is waking us up.  In other words, the red pill awakes us to true reality and the blue pill keeps us numb as everything continues normally.  Which will you choose?  The red or the blue?

 

Okay, that might be a bit dramatic, but I do wonder how many of us are willing to be humbled by the history of the Kingdom as our reality.  I wonder that myself.  I guess if we're wondering about such things it's a good sign that we've taken the red pill! 

 

Q- Why should we be humbled by the history of the Kingdom?

 

The reason we need to be humbled under the history of the Kingdom is very simple.  If we're not, we'll falsely assume that this world, everything and everyone, revolves around our individual stories.

 

The Bible isn't to be understood as only a private religious story to give us some warm feelings to help us through this life.  The Bible begins with the creation of all things and ends with the renewal of all things.  In the middle, it gives us a meaning of cosmic history!    

 

Q- Have you been humbled by the history of the Kingdom?

 

We not only need to be humbled by the history of the Kingdom, we need to be humbled by the example of the Kingdom. 

 

II. Humbled by the Example of the Kingdom

 

Verses 12-14: "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. You will be repaid at the resurrection of the just.'"

 

Feasting with the outcast (invitation)

 

Jesus calls those who have a party or feast to invite the poor, the crippled, the lame and the blind.  In other words, Jesus is saying that the kind of people that you should invite is the kind of people that no one else will.

 

Why will no one else invite them?  Simple, most religious leaders in Jesus' day believed that such people would have no value, nothing to bring.  A party was often used as a way to get in with the power brokers of society.  It was also a way of showing off who you most identified with.  Lastly, it was a way of putting people in a place of repayment by ensuring that when someone influential threw their own party, you would be invited and the same hospitality and honor you showed to them would be returned.  It was a very selfish affair.  It gave the pretense of being for others.  It appeared as if the host was hospitable for the sake of serving his guests when in fact he was only serving himself. 

 

This kind of self-serving, selfish feast was foul to Jesus.  A meal was intended to convey warmth and friendship.  It was to serve and love others as you welcomed them into your home and ultimately into your life.  It was to be for the sake of others, not for yourself.  More than that, it was to be an opportunity to identify with those whom you loved and cared most deeply for.

 

Jesus comes into this world and begins to recover the meaning of such a dinner.  This is much, much more than simply caring for the poor by giving them a meal.  It is more than charity.  To invite someone for a meal was to invite someone into friendship.  To welcome the crippled, the lame, the blind and the poor, was to so indentify with them that you were willing to enter into fellowship with them.  This is why it was scandalous for Jesus to make a habit of eating with tax-collectors and sinners.  He was saying, "These are the people I want to fellowship with.  These are my sort of people."

 

What is so amazing is that the church is given its cues from its Head, Jesus Christ, to go and do likewise.  It is to be a community that includes and welcomes the outcast in our culture. 

 

Q- Why is it so hard to include these kinds of people in our lives?

          A- They intrude on our time.  They're not like us.  Because we're selfish.

 

Q- What is stopping you from doing this very thing today or tomorrow?

          A- Disbelief in the Gospel.  A lack of creativity and imagination.

 

Q- What will it require you give up to welcome in the outcast?

          A- Comfort.  Convenience.  Our agenda.  Our pride.  Our prejudice.   

 

Q- What will you need to get in order to have the heart to lovingly obey Jesus?

          A- Grace.  Trust in Jesus.  Community so that it's not all up to you.

 

Q- In what way do you think Jesus wants us to be blessed by not receiving anything in return from those we invite?

A- He wants us to experience a need for His grace.  We can't get anything from the poor; we can only get what we need from Jesus to do this.  Jesus knows this.

 

What is most shocking in this story is Jesus' promise that not only will we be blessed in this life, we'll also be rewarded at the resurrection of the righteous!  This reward is for those who invite the poor into their homes. 

 

Now, no doubt Jesus is not teaching salvation by social work.  That would go against everything Jesus has taught up to this point.  But through Luke's Gospel, your attitude towards the poor is the mark of genuine discipleship. 

 

• In the parable of the rich man and Lazarus in Luke 16, the rich man spent eternity in hell because he ignored the beggar at his gate.  This demonstrates that though he may have known much of the Old Testament, or even was a regular attendee in the Temple, he didn't understand God's grace.

 

• The rich young ruler of Luke 18 kept every commandment, but still went away without entering into the Kingdom because he loved his possessions more than the poor.  He did everything right outwardly, but inside his true love was money and not God.  Because of this, he couldn't love those that God loved and wanted him to love.

 

• Jesus says to Zacchaeus, "Today salvation has come to this house" (Luke 19:9). When did Jesus say this?  When Zacchaeus stood up and said that he will pay back what he has cheated and give half of his possessions to the poor.  He was showing that he understood what Jesus was doing in saving someone like him.

 

To be humbled by the example of the Kingdom is to check whether or not we've really understood what it means to be changed by grace and conformed to the image of Jesus.  It's to realize that God desires to commune with them.  It's to see if our life is open like Christ's. 

 

Q- Have you been humbled by the example of the Kingdom?

 

We're to be humbled by the history of the Kingdom, the example of the Kingdom, as well as the power of the Kingdom. 

 

III.  Humbled by the Power of the Kingdom

 

The power of the Kingdom exposes our sense of need.  It showswhat our true masters are.  It exposes our kingdom agenda-whether it is Jesus' agenda or our own.

 

Verses 15-20: "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."'"    

 

In the Kingdom of God, the world's way of doing things is turned upside down.  God is already at work by choosing a poor, insignificant girl like Mary to be the mother of the Messiah, a Messiah who will be born in a poor insignificant town.  God glories in using the weak things of this world, the insignificant things, and the foolish things of this world so that no one may boast or take credit for what only He can do.  He loves to reverse the values of this world through His Kingdom power.

 

In the kingdoms of the world you gain entrance through something of value.  The entrance is based upon something you possess, either information, money, something you do, etc., which is valuable.  School, work, clubs, etc. all work this way.   Religions work according to the same principles as the world.  They operate in such a way that you have to bring something of value in order to gain entrance or access or favor.  In religion, you go to God and tell him you did "X" and now God should give you eternal life or heaven or a blessing.  The gospel of the Kingdom is completely different, because in the gospel of the Kingdom your entrance is received by declaring bankruptcy.   It reverses the world's values because you must come to a place where you admit you haven't lived a good life, you don't deserve anything.  Why?  Because it is by grace and therefore there is nothing you can do to recommend yourself.  You come to the difficult reality that you are spiritually bankrupt and have no power or value in and of your own resources.   

 

You now take on values that are totally contrary to the world.  You lay down your power, you declare your inability and inadequacy, you realize you're essentially the walking dead and you can't do anything to fix it.  God then gives you His power, Jesus' full sufficiency, His life and it is all by His grace.  You then find yourself seeking out the people that the world shuns, spending your resources on the things the world thinks are foolish.  And no matter how intelligent, financially secure, or educated you are, you realize that when you see a homeless person you are essentially looking at yourself apart from Christ.  You are without resources and in desperate need.  Because the gospel shows you that you must move away from an identity of personal power and admit your weakness.  This changes the way you view those who don't know Christ and haven't understood the gospel. 

 

If we are not comfortable with God calling us to abandon our pursuit of power and trust fully in His, we are like guests in this story who initially accepted the invitation, but when it came time to enter the feast, they refused.  What man buys a field without first seeing it?  What man buys oxen without first testing them out?  What man would not invite his wife to such a grand feast, especially if he was just married?  The point is they are all lame excuses.  

 

If we're humbled by the power of the Kingdom, our idols will be shown and we'll be able to repent of what really is keeping us from loving God and others.  If we are humbled by the power of the Kingdom, we'll begin to see the needs of our city.  We'll begin to believe that God's Kingdom agenda is really here and we're really part of it.

 

Q- What keeps us from being humbled by the power of the Kingdom? 

 

Q- Have you been humbled by the power of the Kingdom?

 

We're not only humbled by the history, the example and the power of the Kingdom, we must also be humbled and transformed by the gospel of the Kingdom. 

 

IV. Humbled by the Gospel of the Kingdom

 

Verses 21-24: "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 Kingdom of God is good news to the poor because it's a Kingdom of grace.  To get into this Kingdom you don't need an impeccable moral background, social status or money.  In fact, it seems from the testimony of Jesus and of the New Testament that these things may actually hinder you more.  It's harder for those kinds of people to accept their need.  No, you enter in by God's grace, by God's invitation, by God's preparation, at God's cost to Himself.  He is the one who sets the table and spares no expense.

 

We invite the poor to our parties because God has invited us into His great feast-despite the fact that we were:

 

• Spiritually poor - with nothing to offer God for our salvation
• Spiritually crippled - we were made powerless and impotent by our sin
• Spiritually blind - we were unable to see the truth about Jesus
• Spiritually lame - we were unable to come to God on our own   

 

Sometimes we argue that we shouldn't give to the poor because they made choices that led them there.  They brought it on themselves, it's their own fault.  This only demonstrates our lack of understanding of the gospel of the Kingdom. 

 

What if God said to you, "I'm not helping you because it's your own fault!  I'll wait until you get yourself together."  Where would you be now?

 

We're not only to reflect God's gracious welcome to us in the way we treat other people, we must also identify ourselves as the poor, the blind, the crippled and lame apart from Christ.  We are to see others and be reminded of who we are without Jesus calling us to His feast.

 

(Welcoming the good news of One becoming poor for us [2 Cor. 8:9].)

 

To be humbled by the Gospel of the Kingdom is to see that the only way we'll ever invite in the poor or identify with them is if we first see that Jesus sought us out, called us to Himself and identified with us by losing everything.  He became poor for us!  This King left His throne and humbled Himself so that we, when seeing His great sacrifice, would be humbled and grateful, yet aware that we have riches beyond comprehension. 

 

And to the degree that we see and believe what Jesus has done for us, to that same degree we'll be willing to give ourselves away and open up our lives and table for others.

 

What opportunities this next week do we have to share our table with others who are poor, lame, blind and crippled?  Thanksgiving!  What a great time to put Jesus' call into practice and welcome those who normally would only be given a free meal and nothing else.  Invite them in, become their friends. Welcome the messiness of Jesus' ministry and mission to this world by entering this story and living in response to His grace. 

 

I think it's amazing that in the New Testament there is no talk of social projects or evangelistic methods.  Instead, the New Testament talks about the church being the church; about the church being a caring and inclusive community with a message to share. 

 

Q- What mattered most to these Pharisees?

Q- What mattered most to Jesus?

Q- What is going to happen at the end of time to our notions of power, value and status?

Q- How can we live with that future reality today and see the history, example, power and gospel of the Kingdom come alive?

 

A warning

 

The Master's anger is either directed towards you or His Son (no other option).

 

V.23- His loving welcome to His feast is given to those who are humbled.

 

V.24- His righteous rejection of His feast is directed at the proud.  They finally got what they wanted! God eventually said to them, "Thy will be done!"

 

V.24- To not taste the Master's banquet is to be rejected from the only feast that will actually satisfy.  It is to be forever doomed to wander the buffets of this world, gorging ourselves until we're sick, yet wasting away in malnourishment and dissatisfaction.  Instead of feasting on Christ and flourishing in joy, we feast on ourselves and wither in despair.