Compel Them To Come In

 

Sermon by Rev. John Westendorp on Luke 14:16-24

P/H 62; BoW 500; 23a; 240

Theme: The parable of the ‘party-excusers’ ends with a compulsion to bring in those on the fringes.

 

Introd: Does it strike you as just a little odd that at the end of this story people are pushed to come to a party?

Doesn’t everyone like parties?
And here, what a party. A prominent man who is obviously well off is putting it on.
Just imagine: A spit roast and some wonderful side salads… there’s even prawns and caviar.
And afterwards for desert, some famous Aussie pavlova and baked cheese-cake.
And the drinks are on the house.
Mention a party like that and most people will say: Bring it on…!

But this is a parable… and it’s a parable about being a Christian.
And compelling people is not only odd when it comes to parties.
Compelling people is even more odd when it comes to Christianity.

Is this story telling us we have good grounds for coercing people into the faith?

May we drag people kicking and screaming into the Kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ?

Throughout history there have been times when people believed exactly that.
When the Conquistadors went to South America they forced the Incas to be baptised.
It was a case of: either you embrace the Christian faith or we run you thru with a sword.
And what about the Spanish Inquisition?
They had no problems compelling people to accept their version of the Christian faith.
It was either that or you were tortured by being stretched out on the rack.

So is Jesus giving you permission to twist your neighbours arm to become a Christian?

Is it okay for you to physically drag someone along to church next Sunday?

A] THE CONTEXT OF THE FEAST.

1. This story that Jesus tells about a party happens at another party.

Well, maybe not quite. Jesus is having a meal at the home of a prominent Pharisee.

Luke often shows Jesus at meal times and at banquets.
And Luke records quite some teaching of Jesus that He gave while He’s having a meal.
What’s more, this theme of the Kingdom of God as a party, is not exactly unique either.
In Matth.22 the Kingdom of heaven is pictured as a wedding banquet.
And eating and drinking features prominently in all the gospels.

And of course the great symbol of the work of Jesus is a meal… a symbolic meal.
The Lord’s Supper… [that we’ll be celebrating again next Sunday (D.v.).]

So what does that tell us about our God… and what does it tell us about our faith?
It knocks on the head the idea that Christianity is a sombre and dour kind of religion.
And let’s face it… too often Christians are pictured as people who hate fun.
I once came across a rather sad definition of a Puritan.
The Puritans were the Protestant Christians who lived during the age of Cromwell.
But this person suggested this definition of a Puritan.
Being a Puritan is having a suspicion that someone somewhere is enjoying himself.

What a travesty of Christianity.
Our God is a God who loves celebrating… He’s a God who loves parties.
You only have to look at all the O.T feast days to realise that.
And some of those O.T. feasts went for a whole week. Ours is a celebratory religion.

2. This Kingdom parable is told to a man who thought he was okay and would make it with God.

And the parable is really Jesus’ reply to something that man said.

Jesus was feasting in the home of this prominent Pharisee…
And He uses the occasion to teach some lessons.
One of those lessons is not to invite people to dinner who will invite you in return.

That’s a good lesson for us to keep in mind even today:
You invite someone over for dinner and of course they invite you back.
So how about inviting someone who can’t invite you back?

Jesus said that we should invite the poor, the blind and lame.
And He adds that these people can’t repay you but that you’ll be repaid at the resurrection.
And as Jesus says that a man who is there gets up and he proposes a toast.

Well… kind of… that’s effectively what he does. He raises his glass and he announces:
Blessed is the one who will eat at the feast of the Kingdom of God.

It’s not hard to imagine that this man is proposing a toast to himself.
Looking after the poor and the blind and the lame? Hey, we Pharisees, we do that.
We give alms. We’re well known for our public acts of charity.
And so if God is going to reward generosity at the resurrection, we’re in.
A toast to me, to us Pharisees, because we’ll be there when God rewards us at the resurrection.

The average Aussie could relate to that man.
After this life we’re rewarded for the good that we do.
And we always gave to the Salvos’ Red Shield appeal… and to the St Vinnies’ winter appeal.
And if there’s a chook raffle for some needy cause we’ll be in on it.
If God rewards us with a party at the end of the ages – make no mistake – we’ll be there.

3. In that context Jesus tells this story about a man who prepared a great banquet.

Please remember…. this is a Kingdom picture.

It’s a picture of Christianity… a picture of how one becomes a Christian.

So this party is not the same as the wedding banquet in Matthew 22.
That’s an end-time party… when Jesus, the Bridegroom, claims the Bride, His church.
Instead this is a picture of here and now.

Jesus is really spelling out who it is who gets to participate and who it is who misses out.
Is it really a case of us being “in” because God rewards our good works?
Is it true that your relationship with God depends on how well you care for the poor and needy?

Or let me put it in terms of the story that leads up to our text.
You stop throwing dinner parties for your friends who will then throw a dinner party for you.
Instead you invite to dinner the office janitor who cannot throw a party in return.
Or you put on a feast for the couple doing it tough who mow your lawns every fortnight.
Does that mean then that at the resurrection of the righteous you will eat at God’s feast?

That’s the issue that Jesus wants to settle in this parable.
When it comes to the Kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ, who is in and who is out?
Who is really a Christian and who isn’t?
A certain man was preparing a great banquet…!
And there were some who went in to enjoy that banquet…
But there were others who missed out.

B] THE REASON IS THE EXCUSES.

1. The reason why the poor are compelled to come in is because of the excuses made by those invited.

And that’s the essential part of this story.
In some ways we could call this, “The Parable of the Excuses”.

To understand the importance of those excuses we need to get a handle on contemporary practices.

How would you go about organising a great banquet if you were living back then?

You would actually send out two invitations. Yep! You invited people twice.
Let me highlight those two invitations for you from our text:
Vs.16 “A certain man was preparing a great banquet and invited many guests…!”
There’s the first invitation. An invitation to which you were expected to send an RSVP.
Vs.17 “At the time of the banquet he sent his servant to tell those who had been invited,
‘Come, for everything is now ready.'”
There’s the second invitation.

The first invitation was so that you would know how many were coming.
Do I roast a chicken… or will I need a heifer on a spit to feed my guests?
How many skins of wine will I need… and how much bread must I bake?

That first invitation was often not all that precise.
We do it a little differently today: You’re invited to a party on Saturday 7th at 6.30pm sharp.
But these people in this story didn’t have clocks and watches… perhaps not even calendars.
And so time was much more elastic… and people were less pressured.
The party is going to be in about four weeks’ time… we’ll call you when we’re ready.
That’s the kind of scenario that Jesus paints for His hearers.

2. But when the servants come with the second invitation it is unanimously declined.

Please don’t overlook that bit of information in our text.
It’s true, Jesus mentions three people and their excuses…
I have bought a field – please excuse me.
I’ve bought some oxen – please excuse me.
I’ve married a wife – please excuse me.
But that’s just a sample. Notice what He says in vs.18:
But they all alike began to make excuses…! They all alike stood up their host.

Can you understand why this man is upset? I can…!
You counted your RSVPs and you did some calculations.
So many people indicated that they would come.
A calf on the spit wasn’t going to do it… so you added half a dozen chickens as well.
And the local wine merchant was running a bit short so you got some from the next town.
And the bread… your servants have spent a whole day baking.
And now they all make excuses.

What an insult to the host.
Jesus says in vs.21 that the owner of the house became angry.
Can you understand why…?
You’ve got a calf on the spit and half a dozen chickens roasting.
And you’ve got no refrigeration… no freezer to put all that food in.
I can imagine that I would be furious. What a waste.

3. The really sad part is that all their excuses are so transparent.

You can see right through them.
As Jesus mentions each of the excuses His audience would immediately know they were lies.
These people simply did not want to go to that party.

The first excuse is: I have just bought a field and it’s essential that I go and see it.
For crying out loud… why couldn’t that wait till tomorrow – or next week?
That field’s not going anywhere.

Even worse: this fellow makes it sound like he’s bought a field without even looking at it.
He’s already bought it… and now he’s going to check it out…? That’s crazy.
Nobody invests in property without checking it out beforehand.
You want to know about the soil and the drainage and the fencing.
But… you do that kind of thing before you buy.

The same is true for the second excuse:
“I have just bought five yoke of oxen, and I’m on my way to try them out.”
Five yoke of oxen? That’s five pairs. Most farmers in those days had one or two pairs.

This is a huge investment.
And he hasn’t tried them out before buying them?
He hasn’t inspected them to see if they are lame… or too old to work…?
This is ludicrous… no one does business that way.

And then there’s that third fellow. Some of us might feel some sympathy for him.
He’s just married. I just got married and I can’t come. Pray have me excused.
What are we going to do with this guy?

But again it’s a ridiculous excuse.
It’s ridiculous because of what weddings were in those days.
Jewish weddings were huge communal events that lasted a whole week.
This master wouldn’t have scheduled his banquet at the same time as a wedding.
In any case what an opportunity to keep celebrating.

These people simply had the wrong priorities.
Their own affairs were more important than the banquet of the Master.
Or to apply it to us today: our own affairs are more important than those of the Lord.
The things we want to do and where we want to be come before where God wants us to be.

And the sad thing is that those people missed out on the party. There was no second chance.

Today people are missing out on the Kingdom – simply because they decline Jesus’ invitation.

C] WHY COMPULSION IS NEEDED.

1. It’s at this point that the Master sends the servants to fetch the marginalised of society.

He sends them out to fetch what some people would call the riff-raff of society, the hoi-polloi.

Out in the alleys and the back streets… where they find the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame.

And they bring them into the banquet – but there’s still room to spare.
So the servants are sent out once more to search in the out-of-the-way places of the community.
They bring in the down-and-out and the poorest of the poor.
The plonko whose been sleeping under the railway viaduct.
The young woman who has been earning money by selling her body.
The drug addict and the guy just out of prison.

Some people say that Jesus meant these two groups of people to represent Jews and Gentiles.
The Jews who had been invited… right through the O.T. the invitation had gone out.
But when Jesus came to tell them that things were ready… then they rejected Him.
On the other hand the sinners and tax collectors readily accepted Jesus’ invitation.
That’s certainly a valid application.

But there is surely a wider and more general application that is still valid today.
I have a cousin who was brought up in a Christian home… he heard the invitation.
But he prides himself on being the black sheep of the family in having rejected religion.
He’s happy to miss out on the banquet.
In contrast there are Crossroad Bible Institute students in prison who have come to Jesus.

But that leaves us with that question we began with. Why are these folk not merely invited?

The Master says: Make them come in. Compel them to come in. Let me give you two reason.

2. They are to be compelled first of all because of who the Master is

That Master is none other than the Lord our God… and He wants his banquet hall to be totally filled.

Again… that is a wonderful picture of our God.
The God whom we are worshipping this morning is not a stingy God.
A God who reluctantly snatches some out of the fires of hell now and then…here and there.
No…! He is the God who is throwing a huge party. A banquet with standing room only!
And if some folk want to make excuses and reject His invitation then He’ll invite others.
He’ll even COMPELL them to come in.
He will urge them because His house MUST be filled.
He wants as many as possible to come and celebrate and share His joy.

That also helps us to understand what this compelling means.
It does not mean you have a right to kidnap your neighbour and drag her off to church.
It’s not an approval to convert someone at the point of a sword – or with a gun like ISIS is doing.
No. We’re compelled by the love of God. We call it grace! God’s undeserved favour.

We live in a culture where we’re told we mustn’t be too pushy about the claims of Christianity.
So we invite someone to try it out. Give it a burl. Who knows, you might like it.
Christianity is just one option among many.
No it isn’t. We need to impress upon people the love God in the cross of Jesus.
And then urge people to take up the invitation to that party.

We saw before why some folk miss out on the banquet – they reject the invitation.

Now we see why some folk do come to the banquet – they are urged on by the love of God.

3. There is one other reason why these other people are to be compelled to come.

And that’s because of who they are.

Isn’t it an unbelievable thing that God the Master should want the likes of you and me at His feast.

Let me make a comparison:

Imagine the U.S. President is coming to town and there is going to be civic reception
you’ve heard that all the cream of society is going to be there… a real formal occasion.
But then suddenly on the day a limo stops at your front door
and a man in uniform knocks on the door and requests your company at that reception.
Somehow I think you would need a fair bit of persuasion to realise it is a genuine invitation…
You would probably need to be compelled to go.

Well, the banquet in this parable is not being thrown by the U.S. president but by the Lord God.

That’s like the homeless who sleep on a park bench being invited to that civic reception.

I can understand why some people struggle to come to the Lord’s Supper.
They feel they are just too sinful.
But the God who compels us to come to the feast also urges us to attend His table [next week].

Here is the wonder of grace for all of us. We are those people… the poor and blind and lame.

And we are urged to come to God’s party. Make sure you accept that invitation… today. Amen