You Are Invited

Luke 14:16-23
​John 1:11-12
When someone tells you supper is ready, you think about going to eat. The meal is ready, so now I can eat. You might say, "Thank God for the cook! And thank you Lord for this delicious food that I'm about to receive."
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​Here in this passage from the Gospel of Luke, Jesus is painting a picture of God’s abundance and his provision for those that are willing to come.  Everything is on this table, the table is set.  All things are now ready. You all come.

Then, something strange happens.  Those who are invited to this abundance, to this great feast, begin to make excuses.

The first man said I have bought a piece of land; he bought a piece of ground. He had bought a piece of property, now he’s going to go see it. How many of us buy a piece of land without even seeing it? Yet that was his excuse. He was basically lying.

The second man said I have bought five yokes of oxen.  I need to go and check them out, make sure they are healthy, no defect. I need to go have them approved. We see that he has already bought them, but now he needs to go and make sure they are not sickly. Something doesn’t sound right.

This third man, He has gotten married.  But a good man has prepared this great meal. Just think, the third man could maybe even look at the meal as his marriage reception. He could say to his wife, come on honey let’s go. But he says no - I just got married so I can’t come.

All three had an excuse.

After the ones that the Lord has chosen didn’t come, he told the servant to go out into the highways and hedges, go out into the streets -  get those that are blind and that are maimed.  Get all those that have been rejected and bid them to come.

After they came, the servant said, Lord, there is still room. Yes, there is still room.

God sent a Savior and when he sent his Savior to man, he sent him to his chosen people first. But they rejected him, they made excuses.  They said we don’t want to come in, we’ll just continue to hang out here.
He came to his own first, the Jewish people.  They refused him. They were invited, but they rejected the invitation.

Sometimes we make excuses. Sometimes we can hear the Lord knocking on our door, but we make excuses.
That’s why in the latter part of the gospel Jesus commissioned the disciples, saying “Go ye therefore….” He was talking about people like us.  He was reaching out to the Gentile people, people like us.

I can look back over my own life. I ain’t always been there and there were times that I made excuses.

I remember one time - at that time I was partying - I had one suit, blue pinstriped. I had it cleaned and I said I’m going to go to church on Sunday.  That’s what I would say on Friday. I would say I’m going to church.  But on Saturday night, I would find myself at “The 61”, at the club.  I would look up at the clock, 11:00. Then I’d say well, I’ll just go next Sunday. 

That happened a couple of times. Then one Sunday morning about two weeks later I was laying in the bed, sun was shining bright, it was the springtime of the year.  I can remember just laying around and it came to me about going to church; I was just laying there contemplating going to church.  The Spirit of the Lord spoke to me.  I wasn’t even walking with the Lord as I’m walking now but the Spirit of the Lord spoke to me and said: “You want to go to church.  You’re able to go to church. Why not get up and go?”  Two statements, one question. All those things were true, but I had been making excuses for weeks about going to church.  But this time, I got up and went to church.

To tell you the truth I didn’t just quit doing what I was doing right away.  But I obeyed the Spirit of God. I stopped making excuses.  I accepted the invitation.

We have to keep in mind, God knows your heart. Regardless as to what anyone thinks or says about you, God is the only one that knows the heart of every man, and no one can change a man’s heart but God.

​You are invited.  He has prepared a Way for you.  Don’t make excuses, accept his invitation. Say yes to God.
~J.T.