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Connecting to Searchers
We live out our faith by Connecting to Searchers through Missions and Evangelism
Feast is a common metaphor in the New Testament
The feast or banquet is often used by Jesus to describe the heavenly scene of those who are saved. Believers will gather around the table with Jesus at the head and there celebrate together eternal life. It is a metaphor that often resonates with Baptists because we love to eat.
Briefly look at these passages:
Matthew 8:11
11I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.
Luke 13:29
29People will come from east and west and north and south, and will take their places at the feast in the kingdom of God.
Luke 15:11-32 – The Prodigal Son
11Jesus continued: "There was a man who had two sons. 12The younger one said to his father, 'Father, give me my share of the estate.' So he divided his property between them.
13"Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. 14After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. 15So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. 16He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.
17"When he came to his senses, he said, 'How many of my father's hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! 18I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. 19I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men.' 20So he got up and went to his father.
"But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.
21"The son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.'
22"But the father said to his servants, 'Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let's have a feast and celebrate. 24For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.' So they began to celebrate.
25"Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. 26So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. 27'Your brother has come,' he replied, 'and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.'
28"The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. 29But he answered his father, 'Look! All these years I've been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. 30But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!'
31" 'My son,' the father said, 'you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. 32But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.'"
Matthew 22:1-14 - The Parable of the Wedding Banquet
1Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying: 2"The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son. 3He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused to come.
4"Then he sent some more servants and said, 'Tell those who have been invited that I have prepared my dinner: My oxen and fattened cattle have been butchered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.'
5"But they paid no attention and went off—one to his field, another to his business. 6The rest seized his servants, mistreated them and killed them. 7The king was enraged. He sent his army and destroyed those murderers and burned their city.
8"Then he said to his servants, 'The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come. 9Go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find.' 10So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, both good and bad, and the wedding hall was filled with guests.
11"But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. 12'Friend,' he asked, 'how did you get in here without wedding clothes?' The man was speechless.
13"Then the king told the attendants, 'Tie him hand and foot, and throw him outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'
14"For many are invited, but few are chosen."
Matthew 25:1-13 - The Parable of the Ten Virgins
1"At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. 2Five of them were foolish and five were wise. 3The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them. 4The wise, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps. 5The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep.
6"At midnight the cry rang out: 'Here's the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!'
7"Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps. 8The foolish ones said to the wise, 'Give us some of your oil; our lamps are going out.'
9" 'No,' they replied, 'there may not be enough for both us and you. Instead, go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves.'
10"But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet. And the door was shut.
11"Later the others also came. 'Sir! Sir!' they said. 'Open the door for us!'
12"But he replied, 'I tell you the truth, I don't know you.'
13"Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.
Excuses are not for Servants
The servant never gave an excuse to the master. He did what he was told. The guests though had a very different response to the words of the master. They had excuses. Examine each of the excuses to gain some understanding of why people respond to the gospel the way they do.
- “I have just bought a field, and I must go and see it.”
Imagine turning down a dinner invitation to go look at land that will be there tomorrow just as it is today. Also, is it likely that the person had never seen the land before and now, after purchasing it, feels an urgent need to look at it? If there was no need to look at it before purchasing, why should you need to see it after purchasing?
So what is this excuse really about? I think this is a person who does not see any urgency in responding to the gospel. Often people think God can wait, that the invitation to salvation is always there. Some want to wait until they have lived life to the full before giving up their freedom to sin on their deathbed.
What are the problems with not seeing the urgency of the invitation?
This passage indicates the invitation may not be extended a second time.
A person may not live long enough to get another invitation.
A person may fall so in love with this world and callous toward God that they don’t recognize the second invitation.
Can you think of other problems with this excuse?
- “I have just bought five yoke of oxen, and I’m on my way to try them out.”
Oxen were the chief economic engine in the agrarian society of the first century. A strong yoke of oxen could help guarantee a strong harvest.
Here we see someone more concerned with financial gain than spiritual gain. Their sights are set on making money and prospering here on this earth instead of laying up treasures in heaven. We would say they have their priorities out of order.
Read Luke 12:33-34:
33Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. 34For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
What is the difference between heavenly and earthly treasures? Do you see the correspondence between Luke 12:34 and Luke 14:19?
It seems to be easy to allow earthbound thoughts to obstruct our clear view of God. We don’t struggle to find idols here that will distract us from seeing the invitations of God.
What are common things that take higher priority in our lives than God does?
- “I just got married, so I can’t come.”
As important as marriage is to us and to God, we may often find it becoming an excuse for us to not follow the Lord. As we see, none of these people have used sinful things to keep them from God. Land purchases, business deals and marriage are all good, yet they cannot become more important to us than God. Marriage is a part of life. If marriage is an excuse then anything can be an excuse because life is always occurring. Children, dating, grandchildren, divorce, new job, remodeling my home, are all part of life. None of these is an excuse for turning down the greatest invitation.
I think this excuse is about supremacy. Some people miss the supremacy of God and Christ. There is no relationship more important than the relationship we have with God. To miss out on that for anything or anyone is a wrong choice.
Read Matthew 10:37-39:
37"Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; 38and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. 39Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.”
Does this seem too radical to you? Realize that God’s call to us is urgent, requiring top priority, supremacy in our lives. There are many who are too busy or too lazy to walk away from everything to accept Christ. Don’t be surprised when someone tells you they are not interested in religion or in Christianity. Christianity requires commitment that many are not willing to give. So what do we do when we find no one interested in accepting the invitation?
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The Great Invitation
The master decides to enlarge the invitation circle. We see two types of outreach that he commands. The first doesn’t complete the banquet list so he adds another to fill the banquet hall.
Geographic Outreach
He sends his servant to the streets and alleys of the town and then to the roads and country lanes.
Notice the move goes from the near (city) to the farther out (country). Where a person was would not deter the master from inviting them to the banquet. Wherever a person lives, they received an invitation.
We see this in Acts 1:8:
8But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.
The circle begins in the middle and extends outward, ultimately to the ends of the earth. Complete the concentric circles exercise by passing out sheets to each class member. Ask them to begin on the inside and quickly to list at least two names in each circle. They can finish the entire circle outside of class. Once they have listed names they should then circle each name of a person they are certain has accepted Christ as Savior. The names not circled are the beginning of an outreach list.
Social Status Outreach
The master sends his servants to a different economic group. The first invitations went to land owners, business men, the wealthy in the community. He mentions specifically the second group will be poor, crippled, blind and lame.
Often we find ourselves wanting to reach those like us, those who look like us and who live like us. In fact, there is nothing wrong with this because these tend to be the people who are our friends and associates. We work with people who live in the same socio-economic strata as we do. We invite them to church because we know then and we have relationship with them.
The point here is that we must reach across socio-economic lines and social status barriers to those who we may not speak to in the normal course of life. This requires purposeful outreach that seeks to bring in those who are different from us. Notice that the response was greater when the invitation went to the alleys and the country roads.
Persuasive Outreach
The final thing we notice about the great invitation was that it was persuasive. In verse 23 the master tells his servant to “make them come in.” The Greek word means to “oblige them” or to “put pressure on them.”
When we invite we must do so in a way that compels people to say yes to our invitation. Of course we recognize the work of the Holy Spirit in salvation, but we also recognize the power of the invitation given and given well. It is incumbent upon us to practice and improve our ability to share the gospel and to invite people to church. In so doing we do not negate the power of the Spirit, rather we recognize that the Spirit will work through the prepared and willing servant.
We can be persuasive with our words, but also in other ways. What can we do to persuade people to Christ in addition to our words?
Live like Christ to create a thirst for Him
Be compassionate to someone’s needs
Be generous in giving
Listen without judgment
Speak the truth in love
Are there others you can think of?
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