An article in the Edmonton Journal last week reported that children are spending an average of six hours a day in front of some type of a screen. Add that up and it’s about as much time as their parents are spending each week at work! Such an inactive lifestyle so early on will lead to future health problems like high blood pressure and obesity, concludes the article. What’s the remedy? Simple. Turn off the computer and TV and get off your butts! Play a game of tag. Climb a tree. Do anything to get your heart pumping.
Interestingly enough our sermon text too talks about the importance of getting off our “buts.” No, not your hind end, but the excuses we often give in response to God’s gracious invitation to eternal life. Today, through the Parable of the Great Banquet, you’ll hear Jesus say in so many words: “Get off your ‘buts.’ The Lord’s banquet is ready, so hurry! The Lord’s banquet hall is huge, so herald!” Listen to our text from Luke 14:16-24. Jesus said: “A certain man was preparing a great banquet and invited many guests. 17 At the time of the banquet he sent his servant to tell those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’ 18 “But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said, ‘I have just bought a field, and I must go and see it. Please excuse me.’ 19 “Another said, ‘I have just bought five yoke of oxen, and I’m on my way to try them out. Please excuse me.’ 20 “Still another said, ‘I just got married, so I can’t come.’ 21 “The servant came back and reported this to his master. Then the owner of the house became angry and ordered his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame.’ 22 ”‘Sir,’ the servant said, ‘what you ordered has been done, but there is still room.’ 23 “Then the master told his servant, ‘Go out to the roads and country lanes and make them come in, so that my house will be full. 24 I tell you, not one of those men who were invited will get a taste of my banquet.’”
This is the time of year for invitations. Everyone seems to want you at their graduation, wedding, retirement, or just plain ol’ summer patio party. In our text Jesus spoke about an invitation to a banquet that’s more than a one-day celebration; it’s a new life that begins here on earth and continues into eternity. On the menu at this banquet is the forgiveness of sins, peace for our guilty conscience, and the confidence that at death we’ll go to heaven and that one day our bodies will be raised back to life and made perfect so that we will live without sin or pain forever. God is now inviting you to this banquet.
Sounds good, doesn’t it? So what do I need to do to prepare for this banquet? Nothing. Jesus made that clear in the parable when he had the master say: “Come, for everything is now ready” (Luke 14:17b). God not only spent an eternity planning this banquet, he not only sought you out with an invitation to it, he also paid for the banquet with the blood of his Son. We don’t have to bring anything to this heavenly banquet in the way of good works. The fact is we dare not try. Being good in God’s book doesn’t mean trying your best; it means never losing your patience, never harbouring impure thoughts about another person, and always helping others no matter what the cost or inconvenience to us. Thinking we can contribute to God’s banquet of salvation is like showing up at a wedding reception with a dish to pass. Tell the bride and groom that you brought a casserole just in case there isn’t enough prime rib to go around and they won’t be grateful, they’ll be offended! (Justin Cloute) And so is God when we insist on bringing our sin-tainted “goodness” to his banquet of salvation.
On the other hand there are those who don’t think very much of God’s gracious invitation to begin with. The three men in the parable are an example. They said: “Thanks for the offer BUT…” Let’s take a closer look at their excuses. The first man refused the invitation because he had just bought some land and “had to” check it out, as if the land was going somewhere. The second man declined because he had just bought five yoke of oxen and was going to try them out. Regrettably, the invitation had come at an inconvenient time. And the third man simply said: “I just got married. I can’t come.” Really? Why not bring the wife and treat her to a sumptuous banquet that won’t cost you a cent? At least the other two had the manners to say, “Please excuse me,” but not this one.
What’s interesting about these men is that none were engaged in activities that were overtly sinful. Buying property, trying out your new purchase, and enjoying time with your spouse are not in and of themselves sinful. But they become sinful when they are more important to us than taking hold of the eternal salvation God offers to us in Jesus. Friends, are property, possessions, and human relationships more important to you than your relationship with God? When invited to sit at the banquet of God’s Word and learn more about Jesus do you say: “Oh, I wish I really could BUT I’m studying for exams…BUT I’m going for that promotion at work…BUT I’ll wait until I have kids...BUT I’ll wait until the kids are out of the house.” If this is your attitude, Jesus says to you: “Get off your ‘buts!’ The Lord’s banquet is ready now, so hurry!” Why hurry? Because if Judgment Day comes or you die unexpectedly without faith in Jesus, what Jesus said about the three men in the parable will unfortunately be true of you. Jesus said: “I tell you, not one of those men who were invited will get a taste of my banquet” (Luke 14:24). Put Jesus off now in this life and you won’t just get a time-out or a slap on the bum before God let’s you into heaven. You won’t set foot in heaven. Not even one crumb from the heavenly banquet will fall your way for you will be cut off from God’s love forever in hell.
Wow! This is serious stuff. It is and not just for people “out there” who aren’t in church this morning. Just because you already are a member of the church doesn’t mean that you might not be guilty of rejecting God’s invitation. The three men in the parable rejected the invitation because they didn’t see any advantage in going to the banquet. Likewise if we come to Holy Communion, for example, out a sense of duty and not because we think we really need it or benefit from it, then we’re treating God’s invitation to this heavenly meal like an invite to the tenth grad party of the season. Really, how many of those can you attend in a month? After a while you go because it’s expected of you, not because you really need the food and drink offered there. That should never be our attitude with Holy Communion, however. We come because we have a continuing need for the forgiveness offered here.
Or maybe you have thought to yourself: “I’ve gone to church for thirty years now and in that time I have heard something like 3,000 sermons. But for the life of me, I can’t remember a single one of them, not even last week’s sermon. I think I’m wasting my time coming to church.” Tell me, do you remember what you ate for breakfast on June 1st, 1978 - thirty years ago to the day? No? What about last Sunday’s supper then? Don’t remember it either? Well those meals must have been a waste. You might as well stop eating if you don’t remember any of the meals you’ve ingested. That’s crazy! No, you may not remember any of the meals you’ve eaten but they still nourished you, didn’t they? Stop eating and you’ll die. Likewise even though you may not remember any specific sermons you’ve heard, they’ve still nourished you. Stop hearing and studying God’s Word on a regular basis and you’ll die spiritually which is a lot worse than dying of hunger (Illustration Author Unknown). So get off your “buts,” whatever they are, and hurry – the Lord’s banquet is ready.
This text doesn’t just speak to those who are in danger of ignoring God’s gracious invitation; it speaks to us who, by God’s grace, are already seated at the banquet. Jesus said that after the three men in the parable rejected the banquet invitation the master was angry but not discouraged. He sent his servant out to lead the lame and the blind into the banquet hall. Even when that was done there was still room. So the master sent his servant out again this time to the highways and the byways. This shows how much God wants all to be saved and that his banquet hall is huge. In fact there is room for all for Jesus paid for everyone’s sin. But how does that invitation get delivered? Not through angels but through us. We are the heralds of the gospel!
But are we sitting on our “buts” here too? Do the same excuses that once kept us from hearing God’s Word now keep us from sharing it? “BUT I’m too busy. BUT it’s not convenient. BUT I want to spend time with those I love, not those I don’t know.” If so, Jesus tells us to get off our “buts” and imitate the master’s urgency in the parable. As the master told his servant to “go out quickly” so we are to “go out” and not just put a sign up and say, “If they want to find us, they know where to come.” But just because we are active in going out to people doesn’t mean that we’ll bring them in quickly. There will be a certain amount of leading, that is, hand-holding that we’ll have to do. After all these people are spiritually blind and lame as we were. We’ll have to listen patiently to their objections and their skepticism about the Bible. But don’t give up. In fact when the master sent his servant out a third time he said, “make them come in.” Jesus isn’t talking about using strong-arm tactics to fill the church. He is telling us to be persistent though and to keep looking for better ways to reach the people around us and around the world with God’s Word. For it is through the Word that the Holy Spirit will “make” people come in.
Sure, it’s important to turn off the tube and to get off your hind end for some regular exercise but it’s even more vital that we get off our “buts” in regard to the excuses we make about God’s invitation. Come. Learn more about your sin and God’s forgiveness. And go. Tell more people about their sin and God’s forgiveness. For the banquet is ready and the banquet hall is huge. Hurry! Herald! Amen.
