Take your Bibles with me and turn to Luke 14. Luke 14.

In this chapter, Jesus is invited to a meal at the home of one of the chief Pharisees. It would be like getting invited to dinner at a Congressmans house today. All the other guests were also religious leaders - except for one, a man who had dropsy, and Jesus healed that man on the sabbath day.

This whole meal was a setup. The whole point of it was for these guys to catch Jesus doing something. These men had already rejected Christ as their Messiah.

But Jesus didn’t let them off the hook easy. This whole chapter is filled with Jesus teaching to them around the table, and Jesus doesn’t hold back. It had to be an awkward dinner.

One time, I was on a business trip in Las Vegas. We were working on designing some podcast app for a client out there, and the client brought one of his employees with him. As you can imagine working on a podcasting app - both the client and the employee were podcasters.

Well, this employee wasn’t just a podcaster, his podcast was all about what is wrong with Christianity in general and what is wrong with independent Baptists in particular. So imagine the awkwardness of me, an independent Baptist pastor, sitting across the lunch table from this man whose life mission is basically to tear down everything I believe in.

That’s about what Jesus’ meal at the Pharisees table was like - only it was probably more awkward and Jesus was a lot bolder than I am.

So in the text last week, Jesus went right after the Pharisees who invited Him. Jesus healed the man on the sabbath then dared them to do something about it. Then Jesus exposed their whole heart by talking about how they jockey for the best seats and how their whole social life was just one big game of “you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours.”

And probably to break the tension, one of the guests of the meal interrupts Jesus in verse 15. Look at that verse:

[15] And when one of them that sat at meat with him heard these things, he said unto him, Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God. Luke 14:15 (KJV)

Now, that sounds pious doesn’t it? That sounds like the kind of thing a very religious person would say.

But it was also presumptuous, because here is what the jews believed about “eating bread in the kingdom of God” - they featured the future kingdom as a big banquet where God would entertain Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and the prophets as honored guests - and they assumed they were on the invite list.

And so Jesus isn’t going to let them off easy. He’s going to tell a parable here that exposes their hearts and also that teaches us a lot about what God’s kingdom is really like.

So let’s keep reading. Let’s start in verse 16 and read through verse 24.

[16] Then said he unto him, A certain man made a great supper, and bade many: [17] And sent his servant at supper time to say to them that were bidden, Come; for all things are now ready. [18] And they all with one consent began to make excuse. The first said unto him, I have bought a piece of ground, and I must needs go and see it: I pray thee have me excused. [19] And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them: I pray thee have me excused. [20] And another said, I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come. [21] So that servant came, and shewed his lord these things. Then the master of the house being angry said to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind. [22] And the servant said, Lord, it is done as thou hast commanded, and yet there is room. [23] And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled. [24] For I say unto you, That none of those men which were bidden shall taste of my supper. Luke 14:16-24 (KJV)

Now, as we dig into this passage today, I want to talk about four parts of it:

• The invitation
• The excuses
• The extension
• The consequences

Let’s pray and we’ll get into those four things.

The first thing I want to talk about this morning is...

1. The invitation

In Bible times, there was a certain protocol to being invited to a great feast. You were actually invited twice.

The first invitation would tell you the day of the feast and ask if you can make it. Something like I’m having a birthday party on August 12th, do you plan to attend?

That first invitation told the day, but it didn’t tell the time. Remember, people weren’t walking around with little clocks on their wrist and they certainly didn’t have little satellite accurate computers in their pocket. Their sense of time was different than ours.

So what would happen is on the day of the feast, when everything was ready, a servant would be sent out with a second invitation. Everyone on the R.S.V.P. list would get a visit and the servant would basically say “everything is ready, you can come to the feast now.”

So that was the invitation Jesus was talking about in this parable, some great man, some rich man, had prepared this sumptuous banquet and he had invited other men to come and take part in it.

And I just want to remind you that God has prepared a banquet for us and God is inviting others to His banquet.

One of the very last things God says in the Bible, in the very last chapter is this in Revelation 22:17

[17] And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely. Revelation 22:17 (KJV)

God has offered an open invitation. God wants people to come to Him and to all of the blessings that He has prepared. That verse says “Whosoever will” - God is opening this invitation to anyone who wants to come to Him.

And the Christian life is like a banquet. It is not a funeral. It is not some sad thing. It is a life of great blessing. Listen to how Kent Hughes describes it:

Jesus offers a perpetual feast of peace, a feast of help, guidance, friendship, rest, victory over self, control of passions, supremacy over circumstances, a feast of joy, tranquility, deathlessness, Heaven opened, immeasurable hope - salvation.

God wants everyone to come to Him and be saved. To partake of the great banquet He’s prepared for those who love Him free of charge. That is what is underlying this story.

So we have an invitation, the man invites people, in those days they would have responded with a yes, I’m going and the expectation was that when they got their second invitation, they would join the party right away.

But that is not what happens in this story. So we’ve discussed the invitation, the second thing we will discuss is...

2. The excuses

In the parable, the master sends out the servant to tell people it’s time. These are people who have already committed to come to the banquet. They are just getting their second invitation.

But they don’t come. In some kind of coordinated way, they all make excuses about why they can’t come. The parable highlights three excuses, and they are all ridiculous.

The first excuse we can call the Century 21 excuse. One guy says “I can’t come, because I’ve bought some land and I need to check it out.”

Ok. Think this through: why would anyone buy land without checking it out first? Any of you ever bought a house without looking at it first? I don’t know anyone who does that kind of thing.

Plus, these feasts were generally in the evening - they didn’t have much daylight left to look at the land anyways. And if they bought it, they had the rest of their life to check out the land.

It’s a lame excuse.

The second excuse we can call the John Deere excuse. Someone says “I just bought ten oxen, and I need to test them.” Oxen were their main working animals. They were akin to a tractor on a farm today.

Again, who buys a tractor without testing it first? Who buys a used car without a test drive. I know Matt likes to buy stuff on Ebay sight unseen - but most people don’t do that. It’s a lame and hollow excuse.

The third excuse is even lamer. We’ll call it the David’s Bridal excuse. The third guy just says “I’ve married a wife and I can’t come.”

What??

In Bible times, women didn’t come to these banquets. So that wasn’t a problem. Maybe the wife would appreciate a few hours without his wonderful presence. But he just says “I’ve married a wife. Sorry.”

It was considered highly rude to accept the first invitation, and then not come when you were bidden. These people already said they wanted to come - and then made excuses when it was actually time to come.

These are three lame excuses. But they are revealing excuses. They reveal the two things that keep people from following God most of the time: possessions and passions. The Century 21 and the John Deere guy were making a possession excuse. The David’s Bridal guy was making a passion excuse.

Usually, if people don’t follow God, it’s because they are too into their stuff or their loves.

But there was really only one reason why they rejected this invitation and made their lame excuses: they didn’t want to come. Other things were more appealing to them or more important to them. They wanted to “stay home and chill.”

Billy Sunday said “An excuse is the skin of a reason stuffed with a lie.” Someone else said “People who are good at making excuses are seldom good at anything else.”

And here is the thing this passage teaches us - many people say they want to follow God. They culturally associate with God and with religion. They give their RSVP to heaven. But when the call comes - they make excuses. It’s really not that important to them.

So where does this leave the host? He’s set aside this day for the banquet. He’s worked hard on making it an amazing feast. The venue is paid for. He’s paid the caterers. He has tons of food. The tables are setup. But people aren’t showing up.

I remember years ago before I came here, I put together a special event at our camp. I had a great special speaker. I got Scott Pauley to come and preach for us. I got special music setup with talented singers and musicians. I sent out the invitations. I bought the food. I was expecting and ready for hundreds of teenagers to show up. We ended up having like 50 people come. It was embarrassing and stressful. We had to throw away food, the atmosphere wasn’t great, it was awkward for the speaker.

In Bible times this host would have been more than embarrassed, he would have been ashamed. So where does it leave him?

This brings us to the third thing we will look at today in this passage and that is...

3. The Extension

Look at verse 21.

[21] So that servant came, and shewed his lord these things. Then the master of the house being angry said to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind. Luke 14:21 (KJV)

This is something the Pharisees hearing and listening wouldn’t have expected. You didn’t invite the poor and the maimed and the halt and the blind to your banquet. It just wasn’t done.

These people were beggars. These people weren’t respectable enough to be involved in worship. These people could do nothing for you.

But the master said “invite them to my banquet.” Let them enjoy my food and my entertainment and my company.

And so the servant did. Then look at verse 22.

[22] And the servant said, Lord, it is done as thou hast commanded, and yet there is room. [23] And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled. Luke 14:22-23 (KJV)

The master says go out to the rural areas. Go out to the farms and the hollers and invite those people. Compel them, beg them, argue with them - but get them to come.

Now, there are two things I think we can learn from this extension. Two applications. The first is

We are the poor, lame, blind and halt that have been invited.

Listen, we aren’t the upper crust. We aren’t the jews and the leaders who would have got the first invitation. We are the rabble. We are the add ons. And God by His grace has offered us an invitation to come and experience the awesome banquet that is Salvation and living for God.

And that means we have no place for pride. We don’t get to look down at others and think “I’m a part of this banquet. Look how important I am.” No, we are here by grace and we should extend that grace to others.

The second thing I think we are to learn from this extension is that...

We are the servants who have been told to compel others to come in.

As servants of God, we are to “to go into the highways and hedges and compel them to come in.”

God has this awesome open invitation to His awesome banquet. And people need to be compelled to come in.

Now, compel in this context doesn’t mean we force them. We don’t have that right. But it does mean we reason with them, we don’t take their first opposition and then and then go away and say “I guess this isn’t for them.” We convince them to come into God’s kingdom.

How many of you have ever been to Gatlinburg or somewhere like that, and you’ve had a conversation with one of the salesmen that walk around the streets trying to get you to go to a timeshare presentation?

Man, those people are good at compelling. They offer you anything. They offer you theme park tickets and dinner tickets and cash and hotel stays. Just to get you to go to this meeting for something you know you don’t want.

Well, we aren’t offering people a part in a time share - God is offering them eternal life, God is offering them a home in heaven, God is offering them peace and a relationship with Him, God is offering them a position as His child. Why would anyone NOT want to come in? So we must compel them. We must be faithful in pleading with others to come to Christ.

So far we’ve looked at the invitation, the excuses, the extension. But there is one more aspect to this parable I want you to consider and that is...

4. The consequences

If you look at verse 21 again, notice what it says:

[21] So that servant came, and shewed his lord these things. Then the master of the house being...

What does it say? It says “angry.”

We don’t typically like to think of God as angry. But here it says that their rejection of the invitation made the host (which is God in this story) angry.

Look how Jesus conclude the parable in verse 24:

[24] For I say unto you, That none of those men which were bidden shall taste of my supper. Luke 14:24 (KJV)

This passage is both a comfort and a warning. It is a comfort to think that God has extended this awesome invitation to us to come. That we, the poor and lame and blind and halt, get to come into His great banquet.

But it is also a warning. It is a warning to those who make excuses and who ultimately reject Christ.

• It is a warning to the outwardly religious person who pays lip service to Christ but who doesn’t actually follow Him.
• It is a warning to those who are so into their stuff and their passions that they brush God to the side.
• It is a warning to anyone who is on the fence.

God by His grace has offered this amazing invitation. But if you reject that offer of grace. That makes Him angry. And at some point, God will rescind your invitation and you won’t get another one.

So if you are here this morning and you are going through the motions, if you are sitting on the fence, if you have never really trusted Christ - what are you waiting for man? Come to the banquet. It’s awesome. Christ is awesome. God is awesome. He’s inviting you.

And if you rudely reject His invitation - you are rejecting God, you are offending Him and He will be rightly angry with those who reject Him.

Conclusion:

So let me bring this all together.

This morning we've talked about God's gracious invitation to His banquet. We've talked about the lame excuses people make. We've talked about how God extends His invitation to the unlikely - to people like us. And we've talked about the consequences of rejecting God's invitation.

But here's what I want you to understand: those excuses - the land, the oxen, the wife - they weren't the real problem. The real problem was that these people didn't want to come. Their hearts were somewhere else. They preferred their stuff and their passions to the host and his banquet.

And that's the danger for all of us. It's easy to give God our RSVP. It's easy to say "Yes, I want to go to heaven. Yes, I believe in God." But when the invitation comes - when God actually calls us to follow Him, to trust Him, to make Him Lord of our lives - we start making excuses.

• “I’ll follow God when I get my career established."
• “I’ll get serious about church when life settles down."
• “I’ll surrender to God when my kids are older."

But those are just excuses that expose what's really in our hearts.

So I want to ask you this morning: What are you doing with God's invitation?

Have you accepted it? Have you truly come to Christ, trusted Him as your Savior, and started living for Him? Or are you still making excuses?

Because here's what this passage teaches us: God's invitation is gracious, but it's not indefinite. There comes a point where God says "That's it. You've rejected me for the last time. You'll never taste of my supper."

Don't let that be you.

If you're here this morning and you've never trusted Christ - the invitation is still open. Come to Him. Trust Him. Let Him save you. Stop making excuses and come to the feast.

And if you're a Christian, if you're already at the banquet - then be the servant who goes out into the highways and hedges and compels others to come in. Don't be ashamed of the gospel. Don't be timid about inviting people to Christ. They need what you have. They need to be at this banquet.

Let's pray.