IT’S PARTY TIME
Scripture: Luke 15: 11-32
1) “People are made to party” – that’s the word from Lorna Wing, the British counterpart to Martha Stewart in her book “Party Food”.
• Lorna Wing is a professional party thrower and caterer who has been entertaining people of all stripes for over twenty years. Her list of clients includes a veritable "Who’s Who" of the famous and fashionable: Tom Cruise, Eric Clapton, English entrepreneur Sir Terence Conran, Estee Lauder and Giorgio Armani all count on Lorna to do it right.
• Whether or not she is correct that people are made to party – I know that pretty much everyone loves a good party.
• We just had a birthday party yesterday for our 6 year old granddaughter, and I know she has been counting off the days for the past 2 weeks!
• Americans are the ones who coined the phrase TGIF – "Thank God It’s Friday" – we are a people who live for the weekend – time to kick back, relax, and party! We’ve even named Wednesday “Hump Day” because once it has passed we’re over the hump and party time is that much closer.
2) What makes a truly great and memorable party is not just the food, the decorations, the music, the people – though all of those are very important ingredients – what makes the party stand out as enjoyable or not in our memory is our relationship to and with the host/hostess and our relationship with the guests present.
• Nothing is worse than being at a lavish party and feeling like an outsider, feeling like you don’t fit in or don’t belong.
• You see other people having a good time, connecting and enjoying each other’s company, but no one seems to notice you or be interested in you.
• Those are the kinds of parties we’d rather forget, no matter how elaborate or fancy they might have been.
3) Well, I have some good news for you. Our God is a partying God and there is nothing dull, boring, or embarrassing about His parties. He loves to party and His parties are lavish and extravagant and they satisfy to the very core of your being – the Scriptures have numerous references to demonstrate that fact.
• In Psalm 23 David spoke of the Lord “preparing a banqueting table before him in the presence of his enemies – anointing his head with the oil of blessing and showering him with such abundant goodness that his cup overflows.
• In the Song of Solomon 2:14 Solomon writes, “He brought me to His banqueting table and His banner over me is love.”
• In Isaiah 62:5 the prophet writes, “As the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you.”
• In Zephaniah 3:17 we read: “The Lord your God is in your midst…he will rejoice over you with gladness, he will renew you in his love; he will exult over you with loud singing as on a day of festival.”
• In our Scripture lesson for today and in the verses that precede it we read of partying, celebration, music, and dancing and are told that in the same way there is joyous partying in heaven when one who has been lost is found.
4) That raises another point. God’s parties are for all people – "red and yellow, black and white – all are precious in His sight."
• His invitation is for the learned and highly educated and those of noble birth and was accepted, you remember, by the Magi from the east – who brought gifts of gold and frankincense and myrrh to Jesus’ birthday party.
• His invitation also went out to the lowliest of the low as a multitude of heaven’s mighty angels appeared at night to a small group of shepherds guarding their sheep on a Bethlehem hillside.
• His parties are especially planned as celebrations when those who have been lost are found again.
• In the 3 parables in Luke 15: the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son, Jesus identifies 3 ways we get lost:
(a) We get lost by nature – we are all sheep and it is in the nature of sheep to get lost. They just get their head down into the juicy grass and will go munching themselves right away from the rest of the flock. Isaiah aptly describes our condition when he writes in ch. 53:6, “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way.”
(b) We also get lost by accident – that’s what happened to the coin when it got accidentally dropped from the hand or knocked off the shelf and rolled away to some hard-to-find place. We also get lost in that way just by living in this dark world – things happen, unexpected storms hammer and pound us, circumstances beyond our control lead us off the path and we loose our bearings and sense of direction.
(c) And then we also get lost by choice, as was demonstrated in the story of the prodigal son who made a choice to turn his back on his father, his heritage, and his home and head for the far country. One commentator states that in demanding his inheritance ahead of time, what the son was in fact saying was “Dad I wish you were dead already. I don’t want to wait for that time, I want my inheritance NOW!”
(d) And in each of these stories we see the amazing persistence, perseverance, and patience of our God who goes out to seek, to search and then to run towards, with robes flying in the air, to welcome back with open arms his humiliated son who has returned.
(e) And rather than chastising him for his foolishness and reminding him of his failure saying, “I told you this would happen” - he is giving orders for the homecoming party to get underway and for the symbols of sonship – the ring, the robe, and the shoes to be restored.
(f) Now as amazing and unbelievable as it may seem - not everyone is interested in attending God’s parties. Can you believe that!?
(g) One of them was the older brother who preferred to stay outside and pout because his dad had showered grace and goodness on his undeserving younger brother. And even today some refuse to join in the party when God opens the door to those who don’t fit well into the local societal, cultural, ethnic or religious mold.
(h) In Luke 14 we read of some others who turned down the invitation: one said “I have bought a field and I must go out and see it”. Another said, “I have bought five yoke of oxen and I need to go examine them. Please have me excused.” Yet another said, “I have married a wife and I cannot come.”
(i) What engagement could you ever be caught up in that would deserve taking priority over an invitation to God’s party?
5) And then the last point I want to make this morning is that God’s Ultimate Party will start on time and only those who are ready for it will get to share in the joy.
• So when will this party start? To tell you the truth, I don’t exactly know – all I know is that He said to get ready and wait for the moment.
• In one of the stories Jesus told (you can read it in Matthew 25) He compared His coming again to a bridegroom preparing for his wedding.
• In our custom the groom waits patiently for the bride and all attention is focused on the bride. But in the Jewish custom of Jesus’ day, the bride and her maidens waited expectantly for the groom and the time of his arrival was kept a closely guarded secret. The invitations had all gone out, the banqueting hall festivities were all prepared, and now the anticipation was all focused on the coming bridegroom and their need to be ready and alert to welcome him when he arrived.
• Because he took a bit longer than some had planned for their lamps went out and while they had gone off to the stores to buy more oil, the bridegroom arrived, the wedding party entered the great banqueting hall, the doors were shut to keep out gate crashers and the festivities began. Those who were ready shared the joy.
• Later, the other maidens returned and tried to get in but it was too late. They had missed the joy.
6) The lesson I want to leave with you this morning is that each one of us here has been personally and specifically invited by King Jesus to be present at His upcoming wedding celebration.
• You have not been invited to be just one of the guests – as honorable as such an invitation would be.
• You have been invited to be His Bride and to share the throne of the Universe with Him.
• He has already paid the price for your gleaming garment and beauty treatment that removes every spot, wrinkle, and blemish.
• It was by no means cheap – it cost Him everything He had - His life, to have you by His side for all eternity.
7) If you have never said a clear and unequivocal YES to His invitation, then now is your moment to do so joyously and unashamedly.
8) If you once said YES but have allowed a love for other things to move Him away from His place of pre-eminence in your life, then now is the moment to make Him again your first love.
AMEN.
