You're Invited

Section 1 – Introduction: The Search and the Invitation

Picture the best church potluck you’ve ever attended.

Tables sag under the weight of steaming casseroles, vege meatloaf, fragrant breads, and desserts that dare you to try “just one bite.”

Everyone brings something, but nobody goes hungry.

Now imagine the ultimate potluck—not in the fellowship hall but in heaven itself.

God Himself has set the table, and the menu is grace.

You can sense the deeper hunger even in everyday moments.

When the house finally grows quiet at night, or when you scroll long past bedtime and still can’t put the phone down, there’s a tug inside.

Everywhere we look, there are folks hungering for something beyond food.

We may not name it, but beneath the frantic pace of our lives is a soul-deep craving for something more.

Some try to satisfy it in science—from brain-mapping labs to deep-space probes—hoping discovery will fill the empty space within.

Others reach for ancient rituals, new philosophies, or mystical experiences.

Still others chase wealth, power, or fame—always sure that one more promotion, one more purchase, one more round of applause will finally quiet the longing.

But when the applause fades and the lights dim, the craving is still there.

That longing is no accident.

Ecclesiastes says God has set eternity in the human heart.

He planted a void that nothing but Himself can fill.

And into that emptiness comes an invitation—God’s invitation to His banquet of grace.

Jesus captured this truth in a parable recorded in Matthew 22 and Luke 14.

Matthew calls it a wedding feast; Luke calls it a great supper.

Different settings, same story: a King prepares a banquet and sends invitations far and wide.

Some refuse. Some make excuses.

But the feast goes on, and the King still longs for guests.

This morning we’ll walk through that parable and hear it as God’s personal call to us.

We’ll see two movements:

1. The rejected invitations.

2. The filled hall—and the guest who lacked the wedding garment.

And we’ll discover that the greatest question we face isn’t what we bring to the potluck of heaven, but whether we will come at all—and whether we will wear the robe He provides.

Section 2 – The Rejected Invitations

(Matthew 22:1–7; Luke 14:16–20)

Jesus begins His parable like this:

“The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son. He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused to come.”

Luke records a parallel version, where the host sends word: “Come, for everything is now ready.”

But one after another, the guests begin to make excuses.

The King and His Feast

Let’s pause on the King.

This is no ordinary monarch. The King is God Himself, Creator and Sustainer of all things.

The wedding feast is the great celebration of redemption—the union of heaven and earth when Christ and His people are finally one.

For every faithful Jew of Jesus’ day, a wedding banquet symbolized the coming Messianic kingdom.

Jesus is saying: that day is here. The invitations are out.

The King has done it all.

He has set the table, planned the menu, and sent the invitations.

In today’s terms: the God of the universe has gone to infinite expense to throw a party and wants you there as His honored guest.

Two Kinds of Refusal

But what happens? The invitees say no.

And their reasons sound strangely familiar.

Luke records the first set of excuses:

• “I’ve just bought a field; I must go and see it.”

• “I’ve bought five yoke of oxen; I’m on my way to try them out.”

• “I just got married; I can’t come.”

On the surface these are ordinary life events—work, business, family.

But Jesus unmasks something deeper: indifference to God’s call.

The problem isn’t the farm, the oxen, or the marriage.

The problem is allowing even good things to crowd out the best thing.

Matthew adds another layer.

Some guests not only ignore the summons; they turn hostile, mistreating and even killing the king’s servants.

History bears this out: prophets were rejected, John the Baptist beheaded, and many early Christian witnesses martyred.

Two patterns emerge, and they still show up today:

1. Casual indifference.

We mean to say yes… someday. We just never get around to it. Work, hobbies, screens, and social schedules all seem more urgent.

2. Active resistance.

We may not seize and kill God’s messengers, but we bristle when His truth challenges our comfort.

We push back, sometimes with sarcasm, sometimes with anger.

Modern Echoes

Think about the excuses we hear—or make—today:

• “Sunday’s my only day to sleep in. I need it to catch up.”

• “I tried reading the Bible, but it felt boring after three days.”