Invitations

When you were a young child, do you remember the exhilarating feeling of being invited to a friend's birthday party?  It is a wonderful thing to be included and deemed special enough to receive a personal invitation.  The Bible tells us that God is an inviting God and he generously invites us into a relationship with him through his grace.   He is hospitable and creates space for us in his Kingdom.  Author Christine D. Pohl, in her book, Making Room: Recovering Hospitality as a Christian Tradition, writes, "By definition, hospitality involves some space into which people are welcomed, a place where unless the invitation is given, the stranger would not feel free to enter."  

We often become so consumed with our own lives and schedules that we forget the power of
invitation.  Statistics reveal that 82% of the unchurched are at least somewhat likely to attend church if invited.  Additionally, 73% of people who don't attend church were never invited.  Most people come to faith in Christ simply because of invitations that are given by people who have created relational space for others and have extended hospitality.

During his earthly ministry, Jesus told a powerful parable about a banquet, invitations, and people's reactions to the invitations.  Jesus always wanted people to see how they fit in his parables because he spoke transformational truth and he desired for people's hearts to be radically changed by his life, teaching, and ministry.  In Luke 14, the parable of the great banquet is recorded.  It reveals some important things about God's grace invitation:

We are given an invitation to live under the authority of God's Kingdom.

There are only two ways to live.  We are either under God's Kingdom authority, or we are living under the authority of our own kingdom and pursuing a self-centered life.  Jesus describes the culmination of God's Kingdom as a feast, an image that would have been familiar to Jews in the first century.  He begins the parable with these words: "A certain man was preparing a great banquet and invited many guests" (Luke 14:16).  Notice that the banquet was lavish and the number of guests invited was numerous.  This is a generous feast that resembles the generosity of God.  Jesus goes on to say, "At the time of the banquet he sent his servant to tell those who had been invited, 'Come, for everything is now ready'" (14:17).  Given the large scale of this banquet, one would think that people would be flocking to attend, but Jesus adds a twist to the story by listing some excuses people gave for not attending the banquet:

But they all alike began to make excuses.  The first said, "I have just bought a field, and I must go and see it.  Please excuse me."  Another said, "I have just bought five yoke of oxen, and I'm on my way to try them out.  Please excuse me" (Luke 14:18-19).  

Notice how these excuses revolve around possessions, work, and money.  Things haven't changed much in 2,000 years, have they?  We, too, put God's invitation on the back burner because we're so focused on our work schedules and accumulation of possessions.  Jesus reminds us that God's Kingdom takes precedence over jobs and stuff.

There is yet another excuse that Jesus mentions: 

Still another said, "I just got married, so I can't come." (v. 20)

This is the excuse of having too many family responsibilities.  In our busy culture where children are encouraged to be involved in multiple activities, it can be exceptionally challenging to keep God's Kingdom as the priority in the home.  If you are a parent, how are you helping your children understand that God's Kingdom is central to life, not peripheral?  

After Jesus speaks about these excuses, he moves into the portion of the parable where he describes the people who actually respond to the banquet invitation in a positive fashion:

The servant came back and reported this to the 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."  "Sir," the servant said, "what you ordered has been done, but there is still room."  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." (Luke 14:21-23) 

God's Kingdom invitation is accepted by broken people who understand their desperate need for a Savior.  The great Kingdom feast table is not filled with self-sufficient, workaholic materialists.  It is filled with those who know they cannot save themselves--the poor, the blind, the crippled, the lame.

What is your response to God's invitation?  Are you too consumed with your own agenda, job, and family to even hear God's loving, graceful, hospitable invitation to the Kingdom life?  Or, is your heart receptive, broken, and soft before Him?

God invites you to a feast!