The Call: Come By Pastor John Mateos Ong

Many of us have been blinded by unnecessary things that life itself offers. Prestigious car, jewelry, and a feast of delicious food are just some of what we believe are the best things to receive and attain in our lives. And because of these unnecessary things that we tend to value, we have ignored our Lord’s greatest offer. He’s calling us to be in His home, to be under His protection and salvation. He offers more than what our money can buy. God offers us a great banquet that sometimes we doubted for being too good to be true, but we can prove to ourselves that our Lord’s offer is far more than what we thought if we only surrender to him and accept His calling.

In Luke 14:15-24, it said that the Lord invited people to come to his home and join him for a banquet. But those who are invited refused to come for their selfish reasons. But the Lord is eager to fill his home that he ordered his servant to call upon those who are poor and crippled and said to his servant that not one of those who refused his offer will get a taste of his banquet. While in Isaiah 55:1-2, the lord call upon those who are thirsty and has no money to buy and eat without cost. The Lord said listen to Him and we will delight in richest fare.

These are the three lessons we have learned about our Lord’s call to us:

1. The Lord wants his home to be filled with his people.

Luke 14:23-24 “Then the master told his servant, ‘Go out to the roads and country lanes and compel them to come in so that my house will be full. I tell you, not one of those who were invited will get a taste of my banquet.”

As the Lord calls upon us to join him in his home, He wants everyone to come. He wants His home to be filled with people He invited and called upon. So if you feel like the Lord is calling you, come and you will experience the great banquet He promised to those who don't ignore him.

2. Everyone’s invited.

Luke 14:21 “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.”

As we have said everyone’s invited to the party, and that is why God wants everyone to come to his humble abode and join him for a feast. He doesn’t want anyone to be left out, because, in His home, anyone can come, anyone can be saved if they only answered Lord’s call.

3. Each one of us has an important role.

Luke 14:22 “And the servant said, ‘Sir, what you commanded has been done, and still there is room.’

If you notice, the servant is the one who was inviting people but not only that, he was also the one who noticed that there were still empty chairs and brought to Lord’s attention. Like the Lord’s servant, each of us holds an important role in order to attain Lord’s will for us. We have an important duty for our neighbors, and like the lord’s servant, we can be the one to invite them to our Lord’s home. Because if we truly love our creator, we will do everything just to fill his home with his people.

In one similar story told by Jesus in Matthew 8:12 and Matthew 13:42 the story is quite similar but both ends in different way. In Matthew, those who are not dressed appropriately will be thrown into darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

One may ask, why the Lord is so eager to invite the people and then kick them out to hell just because they were not dressed appropriately.

What the Lord mean in being dressed appropriately is you have clothe yourself with his presence and you have accepted him inside you.

When we visit our Lord, are we really visiting him because of him or we visit his home because of other matter?

Like in Colossians 3:12, it said: “Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.”

Are we dressed with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience like what the bible said? Or are we dressed with other motives?

When we go to church to meet our creator, there are 4 points we need to consider in order to be really dressed for his party.

1. Right Motives

Every time we go to church, we all say that we pray and talk to God. But are we really talking to him because we want to? Or we talk to him because we have unnecessary wants in life to pray for? It is not wrong to pray for something, but we must always remember that we go to church for one motive only and that is to talk to Him and ask for his salvation and guidance every day.