A STRONGER CHURCH
Part 4, “Meals on Wheels”
Luke 14:15-23
Sunday, August 3, 2008
Pastor Brian Matherlee
As we have gone through this series we have used the table to illustrate 3 disciplines that lend themselves to a stronger church:
• Serving (drop leaf table) means that we have a greater number of souls supporting together an exponentially greater effort.
• Worship is engaging our expressions of gratitude and humbleness towards our Host that we have a place at the table.
• Intercession is talking with our Host about the needs represented in our world. We find our power from the infusion of the Holy Spirit’s presence and gain wisdom and insight necessary for the tasks ahead. Intercession is touching heaven in order to change earth.
A by product of these practices is that we become more and more engaged with our Lord and in so doing we reflect Him more and more. Especially through prayer and worship we find ourselves molded into the image of Christ. True prayer and true worship bind us to God. When these take place our lives cannot help to be transformed so that when we are at the table we realize something very important…there are too many empty chairs.
When we know God deeper than we have ever known Him we find that He desires us to reflect His Spirit when it comes to the gathering around the table...we have to go out. It’s “meals on wheels”-reaching people where they are.
Today, I want the message to dispel some myths and see what we can do to get people to the table.
Luke 14:15-23
1. Evangelism is personal not corporate
a. One of the Greek words we translate as church in English is “ekklesia”. It means “called out ones”. In the passages of the New Testament that talk about reaching people this is the one that is used. But we operate more from the point of view of “koinonia” which is translated fellowship. Our gatherings are not the end God had in mine for the people His Son redeemed. The point was for us to go out and bring them in. We can’t throw big events and expect that to be the fulfillment of the Great Commission.
b. We can’t have the mindset of “If you build it they will come”. Throwing open the doors of the church and putting service times and sermon titles on the church sign doesn’t attract very many.
c. Evangelism in this passage was a personal invitation. It’s the “each one, reach one” approach.
2. Excuses are plentiful but so are people
a. The excuses of these three are lame.
i. It was the custom of the culture to send out more than one invitation. The first would have been to notify the recipient that a banquet was going to be held and they should set the day aside. What we read here is the second invitation that informs the individuals that the day has arrived.
ii. Each of these individuals uses an excuse that simply doesn’t add up:
1. Why would someone need to go see a field they just bought? Wouldn’t they have already seen the property before?
2. Why would someone need to try out oxen they just bought? Wouldn’t they have made sure the oxen were capable before they paid the money?
3. Marriage wasn’t a fly by night affair in first century Palestine. The thought that marriage would have interfered with a banquet is crazy! He would have know the date of his marriage when he accepted the first invitation.
b. We will encounter many excuses from people about not coming to church or not wanting to talk about spiritual things. We cannot let that hinder us. Jesus told His disciples to “shake the dust off their feet” when they encountered a town that didn’t want to receive the Gospel.
c. There are more people that want to hear if someone would tell them. Not everybody is so resistant.
i. I’ve led many people to the Lord through the years. One day I was in the office in Terre Haute and one of the teens asked to come by and speak to me. He brought his best friend and his mom and God had been working. They asked a lot of questions and I’m slow to catch on. Finally I just blurted out, “Do you want to get saved?” They all said yes and three people prayed to receive Christ that day.
d. Thom Rainer, in his book, “The Unchurched Next Door” shares some surprises his team of researchers discovered when interviewing unchurched people. Here is one of those surprises:
i. Eight out of ten people said they would come to church if they were invited (pg. 25)—That’s 160 million people in America. He adds that if only half of those 82% came there would be 80 million people coming. On average that would be 16,000 people in each of North Carolina’s 100 counties.
3. There must be an urgency
a. Bud wasn’t a church going man. His wife was. She was panicked when she called me one day. Pastor Brian, please come quickly, Bud’s in trouble. Now, I had been visiting Bud in the hospital for some time and he had never shown any desire for the Lord…but he did now. I was at his bedside as he gasped for breath and sought forgiveness from the Lord. With a prayer barely finished the code blue was called and we were rushed out as the doctors and nurses worked to resuscitate him…but to no avail. Bud knew he was dying and I believe God heard his prayer…just like the thief on the cross. But people don’t usually have this chance.
b. The host told his servants to go out again and get more. He was insistent that the banquet table be full. God has a sense of urgency to reach people. The more we worship, pray, and serve the more we will reflect God’s heart and share this sense that we must go and get them.
But we have to…
4. Be prepared
How can we be prepared?
a. Check your prayer life
b. Tell people—it must be a regular practice to talk about the Lord. You don’t know when God is putting someone there for you to talk to. Yesterday I tried to strike up a conversation with a worker at the place we had my nephew’s birthday party. They weren’t interested in even talking but I tried to begin. It won’t always work and you might have resistance but don’t let the reason people don’t hear the Gospel be your fears, insecurities, laziness, etc.
c. Practice gratitude
d. Forgive & reconcile
i. A worship leader in a local church held a grudge against the lay leader and one day in church asked to speak to the congregation at the close of the service. He confessed his sin and took the blame for the bad relationship upon himself. Forgiveness was asked for and received and that once lifeless congregation experienced true revival.
e. Love people—even if they stink
f. Look for the hurting:
i. In Jesus parable the servants were directed to find people in the alleys. This was purposely meant to convey the outcast, lonely, desperate and hurting of society. Many would perhaps have been considered unclean and were definitely gentiles.
ii. Jack was highly resistant to anyone talking to him about Jesus. He wasn’t ugly about it, he simply didn’t want to hear it. Those who knew him saw a change in his attitude toward the Gospel and asked him what was different. Jack said, “a year ago my wife died, she always tried to get me to go to church but I never did. We were married sixty years.” The death or tragedies of life are times to stand by people. In due time God will open up the door to speak.
iii. The hurting might be from jobs, money, family, marriage and any number of problems.
g. It’s about relationships—the unchurched would like to develop a real and sincere relationship with a Christian. (Rainer, pg.28)
h. Look for toys—the unchurched care deeply about the spiritual instruction of their children more than themselves. (Rainer, pg. 30)
i. Tell somebody—it must be a regular practice to talk about the Lord. You don’t know when God is putting someone there for you to talk to. Yesterday I tried to strike up a conversation with a worker at the place we had my nephew’s birthday party. They weren’t interested in even talking but I tried to begin. It won’t always work and you might have resistance but don’t let the reason people don’t hear the Gospel be your fears, insecurities, laziness, etc.
What if we picked one particular Sunday and decided together to pray, plan, invite and expect God to use us to reach people so much so that we will fill every pew with our unchurched family, friends, or anyone we can find. And on that Sunday we’ll talk about the love of God and invite them to know Him and become a follower of Jesus Christ.
