Jesus’ mission was to establish the Kingdom of Heaven (Matt) or God (Mk/Lk) .
Perhaps the difference in terminology can be attributed to Matt felling uncomfortable as a sincere Jew writing the Divine Name of God. Even today the Jews write G-d. G-ttesdienst in the Riehener Zeitung.
There is evidence that the mystery of the Kingdom of God is both present kingdom and future kingdom.
Jesus speaks a lot about the Kingdom of God or the kingdom of Heaven.
He likens it to
1. The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed (Matt 13:24)
The kingdom will grow as a result of the word of God taking seed in individuals hearts
2. The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed (Matt 13:31)
The kingdom will grow from small beginnings to be very large. It is said that the mustard seed is the smallest seed in Israel at that time and it grew to a large bush.
3. The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into a large amount of flour until it worked through all the dough (Matt 13.31)
The kingdom will permeate all society and people will not notice it. Christians have effected society a lot, even though the influence is not recognised.
4. The kingdom of heaven is like hidden treasure in a field (Matt 13: 44)
It is so important that people will give up everything to get it.
5. The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls (Matt 13: 45)
The kingdom is worth investing our lives in.
6. The kingdom of heaven is like a net that was let down into the sea (Matt 13:47)
There will be those in the church who are not of the kingdom. God will sort them out from the righteous, who through faith in Christ are made righteous.
7. The kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants (Matt 18:23)
Membership of the kingdom is based on heart change. By their fruits you shall know them . As James says, you show me your faith without works, I will show you my faith through my works. The works referred to show a changed heart (cf Eph 2:10)
8. The kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire men to work in his vineyard (Matt 20:1)
We will be surprised who makes it! It is not nationalistic
9. The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son (Matt 22:2)
We are warned not to ignore the summons to join the kingdom. We must listen to God. Nothing must take preference
I want to look at the Banquet of Luke 14 today and intersperse some comments in from the very similar parable that of the wedding banquet in Matt 22, because I think the banquet that is being referred could well have been a wedding feast. and a wedding feast has a lot in common with our membership of the Kingdom of God. (We enter in as the bride of Christ.)
Why are they slightly different? A preacher will tell his stories differently on different occasions, when he wants to emphasise different aspects.
Luke 14: 15-23; Parable of the Banquet
OT : Is.. 25:68
On this mountain, the Lord Almighty will prepare a feast of rich food for all people, a banquet of aged wine the best of meats and the finest of wines. On this mountain he will destroy the shroud that enfolds all peoples, the sheet that covers all the nations; he will swallow up death forever. The Sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears from all faces; he will remove the disgrace of his people from the earth.
Fine picture:
1. Joy of heaven
2. Picture of Christ at Mount Calvary
access to the Father,
the right to become sons of God when we receive Him (John 1:12).
On the day of the Crucifixion, the veil in the Temple (Matt 27:51) was torn in two.
By rising again after three days, Christ "swallowed up death".
We do not need to fear death, that is to say that death is a finality.
In Christ it is the doorway to eternal fellowship with God the Father.
What can we therefore expect the Kingdom of God to be like.
Jesus has likened it in Matt 22 to a wedding banquet.
Why the difference in the two passages.
Simply that Jesus probably told the same story twice on his preaching tour and preachers will often tell story differently on different occasions.
1. The feast and its meaning
2. The invitations and
3. The excuses.
1. The feast
"What is a Parable."
picture language the Truth about God that Jesus wants to tell us in a tangible form that we can understand.
1.1 For me the feast represents firstly the place of the presence of God and eternal life in God.
1.2 It also represents the Joy that God has when we receive Him as our personal Saviour. A banquet is a joyful occasion. It is not a funeral.
1.3 The Bible talks of the Church being the Bride of Christ.
So when we receive Christ we become a part of that Bride.
Rev. 19.7 Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory. For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready.
Rev. 21: 2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice saying: Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people and God himself will be with them and will be their God.
Is. 62:5 ...as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, so will your God rejoice over you.
So when we receive Jesus as our Saviour, we become invited guests at the Banquet of God.
What a tremendous privilege we have therefore to be invited to God’s banquet.
So why doesn’t everyone come then?
Story: Esau lost the blessings of God, not because Jacob tricked him out of them but due to his own casual attitude to the things of God. For example, he sold his birthright for bread and some stew.(Gen. 25:2934)
God is interested in our ATTITUDES to the things of God.
Before looking at the excuses, I want to look at the
2. The Invitations.
In Jesus’ time they did not have printing presses where they could send out printed invitations. The host of the banquet would therefore send his servant (perhaps a week or two before the day of the feast) and would ask the guests if they would come. (v.16)
As they did not have telephones in those days, when the meal was actually ready the servant would come around a second time to tell the guests that the meal was ready to be served (on the day itself). v. 17.
The polite time to refuse to come was at the time of the first invitation not at the time of the second when all the food was prepared.
Refusal at that time showed either a lack of respect for the host or neglect of the host or even contempt.
So it is with those who refuse God’s invitation of Salvation. They are personally rejecting the Host of the Banquet. In fact as we analyse the excuses, do you recognise your position in the replies.
For those of us who are Christians we are God’s invitation card.
God has chosen his Church to be his INVITATION CARD. Often the opportunity that people have is by our witness. It is not by chance that we are here today. God has chosen us to be his witnesses.
Some people fail to respond to God’s invitation because they don’t really believe that they are invited.
Story: An elderly woman in Scotland lived in great poverty. Many years earlier her son had left for America. One day a friend enquired: Doesn’t your son ever help you?, "No" she replied "but he does send me interesting pictures." The friend wanted to say harsh words about the son but held back. Instead he asked to see the pictures. The woman went to her draw and showed him sizable bank notes. She had been living in poverty for many years without any need for it.
Many of us do not cash in the treasure that God gives us. We think Jesus parables are nice little stories and we fail to cash in God’s invitation to us through neglect, through indifference or for lack of knowledge.
3. The three excuses
At first sight the excuses seem reasonable. Often people think they have reasonable excuses not to accept God.
Yet those same people who carefully plan for their future on this earth for 7080 years (taking out health insurances and pension schemes) neglect where they will spend eternity.
And let us look at the excuses more closely of those who did not come to the banquet.
3.1 I have just bought a field and I must go and see it.
No one in their right mind bought a field without seeing it. Any farmer worth his salt will look at the field he buys before paying out good money.
It was a stupid excuse, possibly even a dishonest one.
Why?
3.1.1. If he had really bought a pig in a poke, the man was a fool. He could easily be cheated. How would you know that you are really buying good farm land and not a useless marsh.
Story: Though I was talking with Peter Penner some years ago about some Christians who bought some land in Florida for housing only to find out once they had paid for it that it was bad marshy land and useless. They had wasted their money.
It is a wise farmer who sees what he is buying before paying for it. A fool buys a field without looking at it first.
Perhaps the man was a fool in the same way as he turned down the invitation to this incredible banquet.
3.2.2. The second reason why it was a lame excuse is that even if the man had bought it without seeing it, that was still no reason not to come. The land wasn’t going to run away!! He had bought the land and it could have waited.
3.2.3 Perhaps he was too bound up with his "super" buy that nothing else mattered.
For me the spiritual lesson is: Are we so concerned with material things that we neglect the things of God. Jesus illustrated this well in: Parable of the Rich Fool Luke 12:1521 This excuse represents one reason for our not accepting God, namely that our property is more important.
3.2 I have just bought five yoke of oxen and I am on my way to try them out.
When we analyse this excuse, it is even more stupid.
How clever this guest must have thought he was or how dumb he thought his host was.
How often we think we can lie and cheat God and think HE is deceived by our lies. We deceive ourselves that God has to let us into His Feast we are just so GOOD!!!
Again this excuse was even more stupid. At least if you have not looked at the field, even if it is useless, you have the field. This man would have had to be doubly stupid, not to have checked out the oxen before buying them.
If they were ill and diseased, well you’d lose everything as those cattle die wouldn’t you.
No in both cases YOU WOULD LOOK AT YOUR PROSPECTIVE NEW PROPERTY BEFORE BUYING IT.
This excuse to me represents another excuse for not receiving Christ, namely that our business, our livelihood is more important than God.
Story: Someone once said that he never heard of anyone reviewing their life saying that he had wished he’d spent more time in the office.
3.3) I have just got married and so I cannot come.
Well I suppose at least this one did not say that he has married a wife without seeing her either!!
Story: When I am invited to a wedding, I am happy for my wife to come. I wanted her to share that joyful feast. When Maddy and I were married we became one. We wanted to share things together. And especially our faith in God.
That is why Paul tells us not to be unevenly yoked. (2 Cor.6: 1417)
I thank God that I have a wife who is interested in the things of God. We do not always agree on everything, but we both have the same MOST IMPORTANT FRIEND JESUS CHRIST. And we can encourage each other in our Faith in Christ.
The spiritual lesson for me from this excuse is that our friendships and relationships can become or are more important than God.
Perhaps we are worried what our families might think, more than what God thinks. Are we ashamed to be called a friend of God?
Rather we need to be worried that Christ will one day say: I do not know you.
Matt 10:3233 Whoever acknowledges me before men I will also acknowledge him before My Father in heaven. But he who disowns me before men I will disown before My Father in heaven.
Let us look at the sort of things we could expect to find at the Banquet.
1. Bread
2. Wine
3. Lamb
4. Other Meat
5. Milk
6. Water
7. Fruit
Let us look at a few
1. BREAD
Jn 6:35 Jesus said I am the Bread of Life
Jn 6:51/52: I am the Living Bread that has come down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. This bread is my flesh that I will give for the life of the world.
Bread signifies everything we need for nourishment.
Give us our daily bread Lord’s prayer.
2. WINE
In Jesus day water was not pure and chlorinated as it is today.
Jesus first miracle: Turning water into good wine.
Wine signifies Christ Blood shed for the sins of the world on the Cross.
3. LAMB
Lamb signifies Christ’s sacrifice that we may live.
cf the Passover Lamb in Exodus 12:1-13.
Rev 19:6-7
Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory For the wedding of the Lamb has come And his bride has made herself ready.
(We men need to sacrifice ourselves for our wives)
4. OTHER MEAT
Heb 5:14 speaks of solid food meaning meat being for the mature to train themselves to distinguish good from evil.
2 Tim 3:16 All Scripture is God breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
5. MILK
In comparison to meat, milk signifies learning the elementary truths of God’s word.
Heb 5:11-13
How can we mature from milk to meat By taking God’s word and growing.
6. WATER
At a wedding feast it was used for refreshing and purifying. When they came in off the dusty road, it was used by the servants to wash the guests feet.
Jn. 13: 2-5 Jesus washed the disciples feet.
Heb 10:22 Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water
Water is life giving:
Jn 4: 10 Jesus spoke to the Samaritan woman and said: If you knew the gift of God and he who asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water
Signifies Cleansing.
7. FRUIT
John 15:1-7 Jesus said: I am the True Vine and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch that bears no fruit while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes.
God works out the FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT in us Gal 5: 22 & 23.
Bread: Nourishment
Wine: New Covenant in Christ’s Blood
Lamb: Deliverance
Meat: Maturity in the Christian Faith
Milk : The beginnings of our Christian life
Water: Being cleansed
Fruit: The result of allowing God to work in our lives
Conclusion.
The guests who were invited TURNED the invitation down.
I want to look just at verse 24:
I tell you, not one of those men who were invited will get a taste of my banquet.
There was no second chance. You may not get another chance to accept Christ. After you die it is too late.
The writer of the Hebrews put it very succinctly in Hebrews 9: 27
Just as man is destined to die once and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for Him.
But for those of us who have responded. That banquet is great. Perhaps that is why the Lord likened it to a wedding banquet. We’re going to have a great time
Story: On my wedding day, we were married in a romantic church on a hill in Switzerland St.Chrischona and we had the reception in a German castle with a moat. We had a great meal. It is the Swiss custom to write verses about the couple being married, in our case the put together a magazine giving our innermost secrets away:
Don’t visit Dales on a Thursday, because that is when they go around the Sperrmuhl picking up pieces of furniture and you might be asked to help!
It is a time of great joy, because Jesus is going to be there.
Rev. 21: 1-4
Rev. 22. 1-5
Let’s be encouraged, God has sent us a personal invitation to his banquet. We have been invited in and we’re going to have a great time.
The Toronto Blessing is just a foretaste.
