Lost & Found: The Party
LuKe 14:12-24
I recently was talking with some pastor friends of mine. One of the pastors was talking about how he wanted to help his church grow in their heart for outreach and evangelism. I think this pastor is one of thousands in our area who shares, along with 10’s of thousands of believers in this area, the same heart cry to God to make us more like him and use us to impact New England for the gospel. I believe there are many desperate to see God move in this way. As we were sharing our thoughts with him I quickly found myself pointing him to the gospel of Luke. I told him of the discoveries we are making in Luke about the heart of God to seek and save the lost. I believe one of the most effective ways for us to be transformed into a people who hunger to reach the lost and are successful at it is to immerse ourselves in the study and Spirit-empowered application of the truths of the gospel of Luke. Our text this morning is no exception. It presents us with a shocking picture of the heart of God to reach the lost. This morning’s message is entitled, “Lost & Found: The Party”. Let’s pray.
“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. 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.’ ” Luke 14:12-24 (ESV)[1]
Here we are following the amazing ministry of Jesus as he travels throughout Israel. At this point in the story line John the Baptist has been put to death and the opposition to Jesus by the establishment is growing increasingly hostile. For a matter of fact, this appears to be the last time Jesus is invited to dine with a Pharisee. From here on out many of the Pharisees would rather see him dead than eating dinner with them.
This time he has been invited to dinner with a ruler of the Pharisees not just a normal Pharisee and they are watching him carefully – looking to gather data to bring an indictment against him. He is there for another Sabbath meal and he causes more trouble this time by healing a man right in front of them again on the Sabbath. He is walking all over their religious toes and they don’t like it. After doing this and rebuking them for their foolish and self-righteous Sabbath practices, he goes on to instruct them how to have a proper banquet. It is no wonder that these guys got ticked off at Jesus – he was highly offensive. But there is one thing they all missed. This is no common young upstart – no, not at all, this is the most uncommon eternal Son of God who is confronting them. They missed this in all their pride and failed miserably. We too are in danger of the same. We must never take Jesus’ word as anything less than the word of the eternal holy God of all creation and all reality.
And as such, Jesus is challenging a prevailing attitude of the day. You see, he has shown up at this banquet and he has noticed that these holy people, these Pharisees have created this extensive system and culture that is all about their comfort and honor. They have created these weekly meals on the Sabbath with the purpose of honoring themselves and sitting around in their assigned seats of honor content in their prosperity and notoriety free from the messiness of sinful humanity. All the while, they think that they are close to the heart of God. They actually think that they are on God’s side and living lives that please God. As a matter of fact, the name Pharisee means separate ones and they saw themselves as a people separated for God – the holy ones devoted to God in all of life. Now that is a wonderful goal, for that is indeed God’s goal for his people – to be separate from the world. But he has never intended this separation to be marked by self-righteousness, seclusion and pride. Yet isn’t that a common tendency for all seemingly God-fearing people who have sought holiness throughout the ages? So often what pretends to be holiness and devotion to God and his people is no more than hypocrisy, selfishness and pride. True separation from sin and worldliness should exist primarily in our hearts and result in profound humility and sincere love for God that produces compassion, understanding and kindness in relating to others, including those who are living lives apart from God. You see, to be close to the heart of God is to have those far from God on your heart. Let me say that again. To be close to the heart of God is to have those far from God on your heart. And this is where the Pharisees failed and this is where we can also fail if we are not careful. The Pharisees thought being close to the heart of God meant forming self-contented pietistic cliques of like-minded believers that functionally excluded the rest of society. They couldn’t have been more mistaken.
And I am afraid that for many of us, self included, that is the same version of Christianity we can carry. We believe to be close to the heart of God is to form and maintain the same type of pietistic cliques with the same self-serving goals of comfort and self-honoring. Now don’t get me wrong – I think we are called to be a body that loves and honors one another. But, we must be ever vigilant that we not forget that this body exists to bring God glory through seeing lives changed by the power of the gospel – lives that are currently separated from God. We exist as a church for three key reasons – the glory of God, the good of his people and the salvation of the lost. Drop any one of these in anything we do and we stray into error and miss God’s purpose for us. I believe that many believers and many churches have lost their sense of mission. They have wandered far from the heart of God. And this passage in Luke is a much needed corrective. God is not excited about creating Comfortable Life Church – his heart is to reach the lost and bring them into his family.
Jesus is addressing this error of the self-righteous holy huddle among the Pharisees in verses 1-14 and the awkward silence of this tense meal is interrupted by the statement of verse 15. As if to redirect the conversation and find some common ground someone at the table blurts out, “Blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God.” I’m sure all the heads around the table were nodding at this point – that’s right, that’s what we are about – making sure we are part of that crew – living it now as much as we can! Jesus is not content to preserve this social decorum and their false pretenses. He goes on to tell a story that severs any sense of common ground with the Pharisees and their ingrown self-content and their presumption about the heart of God.
Let’s take a look in detail at verses 15 to 24. All the while remembering Jesus is telling this story to a room full of the spiritual elite in Israel probably with some spiritual outcasts lurking in the corners of the room. Notice the first part of Jesus’ story. A man once gave a great banquet and invited many. This is following right on the heels of the Pharisees comment about how blessed is everyone who eats bread in the kingdom of God. Clearly the banquet in this story represents the grand banquet that God will call all his people to at the end of the age. The man in the story represents God. And notice that this man is giving a great banquet and he has invited a few folks. No, he has invited MANY. God is a God who wants many to come to his banquet. He invites many not few.
Back in the days of Jesus when a wealthy person wanted to have a banquet he would invite his guests weeks in advance and hear their reply far ahead of the actual banquet. Then, on the day of the banquet when all was prepared he would send out a second invitation to his guests to let them know it was time now to come and enjoy the festivities. So, when the day approaches, in verse 17, the man sends out his servant to the many of friends he has invited. Friends that would have already said they planned to come. Yet, what happens? They all alike began to make excuses. After saying they wanted to come and promising to be there, they all come up with some lame last minute excuses. One bought a field and now had to inspect it. His new property was more important than his friend’s banquet. Another recently purchased five yoke of oxen, quite a purchase, and he had to check them out. His latest business acquisition was more important than his friend. Finally, one had recently married and felt he should stay at home with his new wife. Now all three excuses given seem legit – a new field was important and they often had to be there for the closing of the purchase, five yoke of oxen were a big deal – it makes sense to make sure they are able to do the job. And certainly a new wife seems to be more than enough reason to forgo a banquet. They all seemed to have a legitimate excuse. But all three had promised to come and last minute had a seemingly valid reason to excuse themselves. Now remember, Jesus is alluding to the final banquet with God. And so each of these three people ultimately put something at a higher priority than being with God. One put his field, one his business and one his family. Later on in chapter 14 Jesus says explicitly, “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.” Luke 14:26 (ESV) Pretty harsh words but not meant that we actually are to hate someone, contrary to the explicit command of God to love our neighbor, but a call that in comparison to our love for God, nothing else and nobody else should compare. These three people invited to the banquet all found something else more important than attending their friend’s banquet, that is, being with God himself. And so they are going to find themselves excluded from the banquet.
How sad to value anything on this earth more than God himself. That is the root of sin. Sin is valuing anything more than God. Sin is a lie and it is blind. For it can not see that God far exceeds all other things. For all things have been created by God and lesser than the creator. And when we sin we trade the goodness and glory of the eternal infinite all glorious Creator for some created thing. That is foolishness and insanity – and we all do it. When we value a paycheck or a job or a home, a car or even a relationship as our ultimate fulfillment we practice the insanity of sin. And if we continue in it we too will find ourselves excluded from the ultimate party and that eternal banquet offered by God to all who would come. O God, rescue us from our foolishness! Save us O Savior! Save me!
Notice that the host is angry with this rude rejection from the invitees. Yet, he quickly turns his attention to filling up his banquet hall. This host is incredibly gracious. Rather than shutting down the party he now tells his servant to go out and bring in guests to fill his banquet. But this time, he doesn’t go to his respectable friends. He instead goes to whom? That’s right, the poor, the crippled and blind and lame. Now why do you think Jesus mentions this group in the story? What was it about them that made them important to the story? That’s right – these were people who were needy and knew it. In those days these people were excluded from the good life. The crippled, blind and lame were actually excluded from entering the temple grounds for worship. These were the outcasts of society – the polar opposite of the Pharisees. And the host has sent his servant out into the streets and alleys of the city to round up all the outcasts and undesirables to have them come and fill his banquet table. And he doesn’t stop there. After the servant comes back with this rabble there is still room. So the host has the servant go outside the city to the highways and the hedges to people who do not know the host and have not heard of him to compel them to come. This is probably an allusion to the call of the father to the non-Jews who were outside of the covenant of Israel. It is a picture of the father’s heart. He is so intent on filling up his banquet hall that he will have his servant go out and compel people to come. He is willing to go out and compel the most unlikely folks to join him.
Do you know, this is the history of
the church? Throughout history, by and large, it has not been the well-to-do
and the famous who respond to Christ. It has been the lowly and the common.
Paul says in 1 Corinthians, “
26 For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were
wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of
noble birth. 27 But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame
the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; 28 God chose what is low and
despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things
that are, 29 so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.” 1 Corinthians 1:26-29 (ESV)[2] There are “not many” among us of
high social standing. You see, the ones who fill the banquet hall are the
poor, the blind, the lame and the crippled – those who are needy and know it.
No man or woman has ever come to Christ without a profound sense of need.
Those without a profound sense of need will refuse the invitation. But those
who are in trouble and know it are the ones who come. Those who know they are a
mess and helpless and need the love of God to rescue them – those who have
given up hope in anything else and are desperate for God’s rescue. Does that
describe you today? You are in a good place!
If it is this type of folk who end up coming to the banquet how should we approach our outreach efforts? Should we try to attract folks who are comfortable with their lifestyles apart from Christ? Should we in essence compete with the local health club or travel agency or movie theatre to out comfort, or out entertain them and thus win people to Christ? I don’t think so. Not that we should try to be uncomfortable or unentertaining. But folks who are relatively comfortable and entertained aren’t going to have much interest in coming to church in a gymnasium. Folks who rub shoulders with the culturally elite are not going to be interested in being seen with the likes of us. But folks who are needy for something more and know it will put up with meeting in a YMCA and learn to love some pretty quirky people, like you and me, if they know the Great Physician himself dwells in our midst. Those who know they need a Savior and a Lord will be glad to be at the banquet seated with us. And statistics and history bear witness to this. People come to Christ in crisis of need. Our job is not to make ourselves more attractive than any other part of society on its terms. But our job is to love folks and put the beauty of the gospel on display and make ourselves accessible to them so when they finally reach a place of knowing their need they will know where to turn.
Don’t worry about your brother who is uninterested in spiritual things because he has all he thinks he needs. Don’t feel like you have to beat him over the head with the gospel and continually urge him to repent and believe. Don’t think you have to make church life look better than club med. Just be a good humble & faithful sister who loves him and points to Jesus with words and life. And pray that God will lead your brother to the place where he recognizes his need. And when that happens, be available, for he will come to you. It is only folks who are needy and know it that come to Christ. So let us orient our outreach around this reality. Let us as a church make ourselves known, available and accessible and ready to respond to those who see their need. And let us keep our eyes open for ministry opportunities to those who already know they are needy. And let us offer them a seat at the banquet.
You see, the Father insists his house be filled. It says it right there in verse 23. Do you believe that? Do you believe that is the heart of God? He wants his house filled. God is not about exclusion – he is about inclusion. He wants to include whomever will see their need and receive the mercy of Christ. He will have his house filled. The servant is to compel the outcasts to come in. You and I must do all we can to convince the needy of the true love of the Father and the free offer of forgiveness and true life to all who repent of sin and put their trust in Jesus. There is a sense of urgency in verse 23. His house must be filled, therefore compel them to come in. This is the Father’s heart seen throughout the book of Luke. He is not like the Pharisees. He is not interested in cliques and neat and tidy social groups full of the fat and happy. His heart is for the lost – for the poor and blind and crippled and lame. He carries the outcasts on his heart. The Pharisees are so mistaken. They think they are close to God’s heart not realizing those close to the heart of God have those far from God on their hearts. And those close to the heart of God are active in compelling the outcasts to come to the banquet. We are too much like the Pharisees and too little like God.
O God, give us your heart. O God, break our heart with the plight of the lost. O God, lead us to the needy who know they need a Savior and use us to compel them to come in to the banquet. O God, make us a church that is a place where folks who are unchurched and searching for a Savior and Lord can come and feel welcome and loved and directed to you Jesus. O God, help us to apply this truth from Luke 14 to our lives! Change us O God!! Fill these seats to overflowing with needy sinners who want a Savior and Lord. Use us O God please! Save us from the plight of the Pharisees. Make us like you o Jesus!
As the band comes up, let us look at verse 24 before we close. Here the Father speaks of his regard for those who have refused his invitation – that is the self-contented Pharisees. He has been gracious in preparing the banquet and inviting many and giving them plenty of time to respond – but they would not have it. So he is right to be angry. Jesus, through this story, is telling his fellow dinner guests in the house of the ruling Pharisee that they are not, in fact, going to eat bread in the kingdom of God. God is not inviting those who are self-righteous and self-contented and uninterested in the plight of the outcasts. Much to their shock, this story is a powerful indictment of them even as they sought to indict Jesus. But this lesson isn’t just for them.
Not only is the host angry with those who have rejected his invitation, that is those who have rejected God’s free mercy through the substitutionary death of the Son, but if you have refused to come to his banquet he is rightly angry with you. But it is not too late for us yet. The invitation to the banquet still stands until the final day. So why not turn from your self assurance? Why not recognize that your sins have separated you from God. Why not turn from your sins and receive the forgiveness he offers because of the death of Jesus in your place for your sins? You see, Jesus bore our sins in his body on the cross and was put to death to pay the rightful penalty for your sins, if you would only believe him. He rose again, victorious over sin and death. And all who repent and believe this incredibly good news are forgiven and included forever in the banquet God offers - treated as fellow family members with Christ and offered true eternal life in him, right now. If you believe this would you pray silently along with me.
For those of us who know Christ already, let us recognize that he calls us to reject the error of the Pharisees and become like him. He calls us to go out and compel the outcasts to come in. May we respond to his call to be a home to the needy and not a clique of the self-contented. For the only ones found at the banquet are those who are needy and know it. May we all be such and welcome many more needy into our midst.
In closing, one point of application, take a look at the bookmarks in your bulletin. I would like you to take 1 minute right now and fill out those bookmarks with three friends whom you will be praying for over the next month and then invite to Alpha. We want to apply these wonderful truths in Luke. So take a minute to consider what needy folks you will be compelling to come to the banquet. Write them down and then pray for them over the upcoming month. Do that then we will close in worship.