No Shirt, No Shoes, No Service
“Am I Qualified for heaven”
Matthew 22:1-14
A woman and her young daughter were attending the wedding of one their relatives. And this was the first time the little girl had ever seen a wedding ceremony. She was in awe by the pomp and beauty of everything. The music, the formal atmosphere, the decorations, the bride and groom and their attendants in fine gowns and tuxes.
Sometime during the ceremony, the little girl leaned over to her mother and whispered: “Mommy, mommy.”
“What dear,” her mother replied.
"Why is the bride dressed in white?"
The mother thought about that for moment and struggled to come up with a simple explanation her daughter would understand. Finally, she smiled and said to her daughter: "The bride wear white, because white is the color of happiness, and today is the happiest day of her life”
The little girl thought about this for a moment, and then she said, "So why’s the groom wearing black?"
Jesus told them several other stories to illustrate the Kingdom. He said, 2 "The Kingdom of Heaven can be illustrated by the story of a king who prepared a great wedding feast for his son. 3 Many guests were invited, and when the banquet was ready, he sent his servants to notify everyone that it was time to come. But they all refused! 4 So he sent other servants to tell them, ’The feast has been prepared, and choice meats have been cooked. Everything is ready. Hurry!’ 5 But the guests he had invited ignored them and went about their business, one to his farm, another to his store. 6 Others seized his messengers and treated them shamefully, even killing some of them. 7 "Then the king became furious. He sent out his army to destroy the murderers and burn their city. 8 And he said to his servants, ’The wedding feast is ready, and the guests I invited aren’t worthy of the honor. 9 Now go out to the street corners and invite everyone you see.’ 10 "So the servants brought in everyone they could find, good and bad alike, and the banquet hall was filled with guests. 11 But when the king came in to meet the guests, he noticed a man who wasn’t wearing the proper clothes for a wedding. 12 ’Friend,’ he asked, ’how is it that you are here without wedding clothes?’ And the man had no reply. 13 Then the king said to his aides, ’Bind him hand and foot and throw him out into the outer darkness, where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ 14 For many are called, but few are chosen." (NLT)
A survey US News & World Report cited about 9 years ago. (Granted, the people mentioned are a bit dated now, but you’ll get the general idea).
They gave the people they interviewed a list of possible candidates, and asked who amongst those individuals they would think would qualify for heaven
Mother Teresa - 79%
Oprah Winfrey 66%
Michael Jordan - 65%
Colin Powell - 61%
Bill Clinton 52% (he apparently had a 50/50 chance)
Al Gore and Hillary Clinton 55%Newt Gingrich 40%
Pat Robertson 47%
Dennis Rodman 28%
O.J. Simpson 19% (he may have been cleared of his murder charge… but apparently most people still thought he did it).
And… of those surveyed (on their chances) 87%
Now it’s intriguing. Those who received the highest votes were not necessarily known for their religious affiliation. So why did most of these people receive such confidence in their salvation? Because they were nice people. They did nice things.
Also intriguing was that the people who received the most votes… were the people who were voting. They placed their chances at getting to heaven even higher than Mother Teresa’s!!!
Why? Because most people think of themselves as “nice” decent individuals that God wouldn’t even consider rejecting at heaven’s gates. After all, their garments look so much like what they know He would accept.
What parables are...They are earthly stories with heavenly meaning. Jesus used stories to tell about spiritual realities that are hard to understand.
I A Royal Invitation - v2
A. The invitation rejected v3
I read this story a pastor wrote this week. “ In the mid-1980’s my Aunt Vivian received an invitation to attend a rose-garden ceremony with President Reagan at the White House. I found the invitation a couple of years ago when I was looking through a box of old documents and newspaper clippings. What shocked me is she didn’t go. You see, I’ve always been fascinated by the presidency—and especially the White House. I’d jump at the chance to meet the man we call “president.” I’d be thrilled to participate in a ceremony on the White House grounds. But those things just didn’t appeal to her. You see, the ceremony she was invited to marked the anniversary of her imprisonment by the Japanese during World War 2. And I suppose that was a part of her life she had no desire to relive.
It’s unusual to get an invitation from the White House. I suppose it’s more unusual still to turn that invitation down. But a far greater invitation has, in fact, been offered to you and to me”
B. The invitation graciously repeated v4
-describes the greatness of the feast to provide an incentive to come.
C. The invitation rejected again v5-6
1. Ignoring the Invitation - Materialism -Love the World
2. Hostile to the Invitation
3. The result is the same whether the invitation is ignored or greeted with hostility.
II The Royal Wrath Expressed v7
“Honor the Son or Die”
When the King requests your presence you don’t miss. Period.
In AD 70 Jerusalem who had killed the prophets and God’s son was destroyed and burned by the Romans. Jesus said God was behind it as an act of wrath. It is also a reminder of what God will do at the coming judgement to those who refuse his invitation. If you think God is serious about his invitation, or that he won’t send people to hell - look back to AD 70 and the invasion of Jerusalem. God is angry with the wicked every day.
III A Royal Invitation to Everyone v 8-10
A. The Refusal of some will not hinder God’s Plan.
-He will not beg or change the rules so you can come.
B. God will fill his house
-When some refuse He turns to others
C. All are invited to the Banquet (Kingdom)
Good- moral people
Bad -the worst sinners
IV An Intruder to the Royal Banquet 11-13
A. The Inspection
-You may fool the church, family, work
-But not God
Back in the 1500’s - Ivan the IV became the first Czar of Russia. He ruled a large diverse nation but he wasn’t a good ruler. He wasn’t even a very nice man. In fact he was a very cruel man. He was so cruel they referred to him as "Ivan The Terrible." And he was widely known to be a very immoral and violent man.
During his reign he married 7 women and abused each and every one of them. His idea of a good time was going up on the walls of the Kremlin and throwing animals over the walls to the pavement beneath so that he could watch them die.
How many of think that when he died, he probably didn’t make it into heaven? (Practically everyone raised their hands).
When Ivan died in 1584, historians tell us that those who prepared his body for burial were instructed to shave Ivan’s head and to dress him for burial in the robes of a monk.Why would Ivan have wanted them to do that?
He wanted that done, because he apparently hoped that God would only see his garments and think that he was a good and simple monk… and thus Ivan the Terrible would slip in under the radar. He thought if his garments made him look enough like a Christian, he’d be saved.
B. The Questioning
C. The Missing Garment
-seems unfair to us -to invite everyone and then throw one out for not having the right clothes. -maybe he didn’t have any.
According to Barnes New Testament Notes: “Anciently, kings and princes were accustomed to make presents of changes of raiment to their friends and favorites. To refuse to receive (this gift) was an expression of highest contempt.”
1. Understand in that culture the King provided the clothes for all.
2. He wasn’t wearing what he received. Did he take it off, Never put it on???
3. What is the garment symbolic of? Holiness - God’s righteousness
-contrasting Mans righteousness -Niceness
"Let us rejoice and be glad and give glory! For
the wedding of the Lamb has come and his bride
has made herself ready. Fine linen, bright and
clean, was given her to wear. (Fine linen stands
for the righteous acts of the saints.)"
Revelation 19:7-8
And there are people today who believe that they look enough like a Christian to be saved
They wear the garments of being “nice people”.
They know that God hates sin, and they believe they are not nearly as sinful as other people they know. They don’t think of themselves as being bad people. And if they’ve done any bad in their lives, they believe their good works will outweigh any bad they’ve ever done.
-Not enough to turn over a new leaf
-not enough to quit drinking, cussing, lying, stealing,
-not enough to start doing good stuff, going to church, read bible, giving,
My point is this: you and I will never qualify for heaven by what church we belong to or by the good deeds we’ve done. Those aren’t the “garments” God will accept at His banquet
Now, those ARE things that Christians should be doing…
We should belong to a good churchAnd we should be doing good deeds.
Even the world knows that is what Christians should be known for.
But if that’s the clothing we’re relying on to make us acceptable to God, we’ve missed the point.
To believe we have earned our salvation because of what church we belong to and the good deeds that we’ve done is essentially the same as walking into the banquet in our own clothing
The only wedding garment that’s going make any difference is that which God supplies
But God says that’s not the way it works: “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith— and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.” Ephesians 2:8-9
Titus 3:5 tells us - God will save us “not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit”
4. What does it mean?
a. God imputes Righteousness - Covers you with Christ Righteousness instantly at conversion.
b. God imparts Righteousness within you. He plants it in you and requires you to tend it and help it grow with the assistance of the Holy Spirit.
Just give me Jesus-but don’t make me change my ways
In the Answers magazine Dr John MacArthur quotes a person from an article in Christianity Today on the Emerging Church. “A young lady said she wants to be religious but isn’t prepared to let religion alter her lifestyle. “I’m a Jesus girl,” she said. “But I also like to go out and do tequila shots with my friends.” P 56 Oct-Dec 2007 Answers Magazine
Rick Stacy tell s the story of a man named Ken who was a laborer on the Alaska Pipeline back in the mid 70’s. Ken worked up in the icy cold for a year and came back with $30,000. That was a lot of money 30 years ago! He blew it all in a month.
He went back and in six months made another $18,000. He came home again and this time he decided to visit church.
The first Sunday he walked through the doors and sat in the back seat I had two thoughts –
1) He looked just like Grizzly Adams - beard and all and
2) 2) Here was a man that would never become a Christian.
Rick said “I preached the message and gave an invitation and the instant the music began Ken came rushing down the aisle. I thought he was going to crush me! Tears came down his face as was baptized into Jesus.The next Sunday he came back to services and I didn’t recognize him - he was dressed in a 3 piece suit and no beard! When I asked what caused him to shave and dress up he said, ‘Jesus changed me on the inside and I want people to know it - so I changed the outside.’”
It is the blood of Jesus that makes us acceptable at the wedding banquet in Heaven. If we depend upon anything else, we’re just relying on window dressing.
V The Concluding Principle “Many are called, but few are chosen” v14
Many are invited; but some refuse to come, and others who do come refuse to submit to the norms of the kingdom and are therefore rejected. (Expositors Bible Commentary vol. 8 p.457.)
A woman was asked by a coworker, ’What is it like to be a Christian?’
The coworker replied, ’It is like being a pumpkin.’ God picks you from the patch, brings you in, and washes all the dirt off of you. Then He cuts off the top and scoops out all the yucky stuff.
He removes the seeds of doubt, hate, and greed. Then He carves you a new smiling face and puts His light inside of you to shine for all the world to see.’
