HoHum:
Brad and Libby Birky opened a restaurant in Denver, Colorado. It is a 40 seat restaurant that has one thing conspicuously absent, a cash register. They serve healthy food to people in need. The Birky’s do not charge for their meals telling people “Pay whatever you can afford.” Some do not pay anything but most pay a dollar or donate an hour of work. The name of the restaurant: SAME- So All May Eat.
WBTU:
Jesus in Luke 14 is invited to a Sabbath Day dinner party at the house of prominent Pharisee. The Pharisees had an interest in Jesus and this is not the only time this happened. “Now one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, so he went to the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table.” Luke 7:36, NIV. “When Jesus had finished speaking, a Pharisee invited him to eat with him; so he went in and reclined at the table.” Luke 11:37, NIV.
Why did they invite Jesus to their banquets? At first it probably was out of curiosity. Wanted to learn more about Jesus, this new and popular rabbi. Later on it: “When Jesus left there, the Pharisees and the teachers of the law began to oppose him fiercely and to besiege him with questions, waiting to catch him in something he might say.” Luke 11:53, 54. Interesting that at this banquet in Luke 14 there is little controversy, don’t know why.
While Jesus was there, it was good opportunity for him to teach godly table manners.
In Luke 14, vs. 2 to vs. 6 he teaches table manners about the Sabbath. Healed dropsy
Vs. 7- 11 he talks about how the guests picked their seats around the table. Vs. 11
Vs. 12-14 he gives his host something to think about. Maybe Jesus in an indirect way was expressing his thanks for being invited. Jesus probably wanted to make a statement about how a Christian should choose their guest list for a banquet.
This is a unique statement from Jesus that Luke records. This does apply to stewardship.
Thesis: Take a look at 3 things: 1) what our Savior wants us to stop doing 2) what our Savior summons us to do 3) What our Savior wants to secure for us and others
For instances:
What our Savior wants us to stop doing (Vs. 12)
Now it is not wrong to invite these people. Jesus often attended feasts with these people.
Jesus is looking at the motive for inviting these kinds of people. Is it out of the goodness of our hearts or is it to get something from them? Is it the I scratch your back and then you scratch my back mentality?
“He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’” Luke 10:34, 35, NIV.
What kind of repayment did the Good Samaritan expect back? What if the man did not recover and died in that inn? What kind of repayment would he have gotten?
“A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup.” 1 Corinthians 11:28, NIV. We need to also examine our motives with our hospitality.
“So from now on we regard no-one from a worldly point of view.” 2 Corinthians 5:16, NIV. If I buddy up to this person, what can they do for me? Not a Christian attitude.
What our Savior summons us to do (Vs. 13)
This is not quite a command, this was said to the host but it is recorded for our benefit. More like a summons= to call upon to do something specified, a solemn request.
Invite who?
The poor, crippled, lame, blind- these people will be appreciative but cannot repay, probably bad for ones social standing to have them there, like inviting the homeless
Some people get a raw deal in life. The cards are stacked against them. They are born into the wrong family. They don’t have the intelligence. They don’t have the know how. They don’t have the body. No matter how hard they try they cannot get out of their situation in life.
Boston Globe’s account in June 1990 of a most unusual wedding banquet. Accompanied by her fiance, a woman went to the Hyatt Hotel in downtown Boston and ordered the meal. The two of them poured over the menu, made selections of china and silver, and pointed to pictures of the flower arrangements they liked. They both had expensive taste, and the bill came to $13,000 dollars. After leaving a check for half that amount as down payment, the couple went home to flip through books of wedding announcements. The day the announcements were supposed to hit the mailbox, the groom got cold feet. “I’m just not sure,” he said. “It’s a big commitment. Let’s think about this a little longer.” When his angry fiance returned to the Hyatt to cancel the the banquet, the manager could not have been more understanding. “The same thing happened to me, honey,” she said and told the story of her own broken engagement. But about the refund, she had bad news. “The contract is binding. You’re only entitled to $1,300 back. You have two options: to forfeit the rest of the down payment (loss of $5,200) or go ahead with the banquet. I’m sorry. Really, I am.” It seemed crazy but the more the jilted bride thought about it, the more she liked the idea of going ahead with the party- not a wedding banquet, but a big blowout. 10 years before this same woman had been living in a homeless shelter. She had got back on her feet, found a good job and set aside some money Now she had the wild notion of using her savings to treat the down and outs of Boston to a night on the town. And so it was that in June of 1990 the Hyatt Hotel in downtown Boston hosted a party such as it had never seen before. The hostess changed the menu to boneless chicken- “in honor of the groom,” she said- and sent invitations to rescue missions and homeless shelters. That warm summer night, people who were used to rummaging through dumpsters dined instead on chicken cordon bleu. Hyatt waiters in tuxedos served appetizers. Bad ladies, vagrants, and drug addicts took one night off from the hard life on the sidewalks outside and instead ate chocolate wedding cake and danced to big band melodies late into the night. This jilted bride spent $26,000 to feed and entertain people who could not pay her back.
I doubt the Lord would want this limited to just food at a banquet- “For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’” Matthew 25:35, 36, NIV.
What our Savior wants to secure for us and others (Vs. 14)
For us:
Blessed in the sense of satisfaction in helping the less fortunate? Yes, that is part of it. We are blessed by the receivers. Most people are appreciative. We are blessed by the observers. Need to let those observe be few because we do not want to do it to impress others. However, some will know even if done anonymously.
Beyond being blessed with a sense of satisfaction at doing good, we are doing what Jesus says. “Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Luke 12:33, 34, NIV.
What kind of treasures are in heaven? Need to realize the best treasure is heaven itself. “However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”” Luke 10:20, NIV.
Yes, there will be rewards given upon entrance to heaven. “For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what he has done.” Matthew 16:27, NIV. What these rewards will be I do not know. Do we get a bigger mansion? Jack Cottrell- Many think these rewards have to do with our relative subjective capacities to enjoy the blessings of eternal life, rather than with differences in our external environment in heaven.
For others:
They cannot repay you- This goes completely against the I’ll scratch your back and you scratch my back mentality. This brings into check any worldly reasons for doing this.
Repaid at the resurrection of the righteous- Already talked about rewards in heaven but we need to move beyond the benefits to ourselves.
Vs. 15-24- Notice that in vs. 21 the same list of people are there. We need to do this with the goal of sharing with them how they can be there for the wedding supper of the Lamb. Not just being do gooders, but sharing the gospel
Carl Ketcherside served with and was instrumental in a very strict branch of the Restoration Movement. However, the Lord made a lot of changes in his life. In his later years he moved to St. Louis and ministered among the down and out in the ghetto. At this time, Ketcherside began to work with a group of teenagers he described as “a crew of ripped off long haired kids,” with a history of drug addiction. He loved them, listened to them, and one by one baptized them into Christ. An affluent member of the church asked, “How are you making out with the hippies- those long haired, sad looking specimens you have been meeting with?” Carl responded, “Those are not specimens, they are children of God. You are talking about my brethren in the Lord.” Condescendingly the other man continued, “They look to me like something the cat dragged in.” And Carl replied, “They look to me like someone the shepherd brought home.”
