(Luke 14:15-24)
Picture this. You have a really big occasion coming up. Something really important to you and so you decide to throw a big celebration party. You invite all your friends to join you as you celebrate and then wait for the RSVP’s to come in so you can plan seating, catering and so on. And you wait…and wait. As the big day approaches you start getting nervous wondering why there have not been many responses, so you start contacting the invitees and you start getting excuses. All kinds of reasons why they can’t or won’t attend. And how do you feel? This is your big celebration and its important and they are supposed to be your friends!
Well guess what. Your walk with God could be a lot like this too. You have been invited to God’s big celebration so make sure you send back the RSVP promptly!
God’s Invitation to You
God has invited you to his big event. You have been invited to come into the Kingdom of God and that will be the biggest and best event of all time…period!
But there will be many who, like those that fail to respond to RSVP requests, will likewise ignore God’s invitation. And I’m not just talking about the people of the world who are not Christians. Even within the Church there will be some who choose to ignore God’s invitation to take a different path.
How Do They Ignore God’s Invitation?
Crazy as it sounds, people will put other things before God’s invitation. They will put the things of this world above the call of the Lord and as a result will miss out. As Jesus showed in this scripture, they will put growing their wealth, business or family first and try to use those things as an excuse to put God on the back burner.
We see in this scripture some of their excuses. One man claimed to have bought a filed (asset building), another claimed to have bought a team of oxen (business) and yet another claimed to have just got married (family). And when they do these things they ignore God’s invitation to do other things.
Surely the single most important thing anyone can and should do in this life is to seek to please God. It is God who holds the key to your real future, not wealth, not business and not even family. As Jesus has said elsewhere, “seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things shall be yours as well.” (Matthew 6:33) Our priority has to be to seek entrance into God’s kingdom first. We need to accept His invitation so we don’t miss out. And as He says above, all the other stuff that are the necessities of this life will be provided as well.
The Great Invitation to All
But the Lord will not be put off by people not accepting his invitation. Consider too that in the scripture in Luke he is talking about those who were invited and failed to accept. That is, these are those who call themselves Christians but do not walk with Christ as their first priority.
No. The Lord will ensure that His banquet hall is filled. And I believe this scripture is speaking prophetically as I believe the Great Invitation is still yet to be sent out. I believe there will come a time when the Lord will send his servants out into the highways and by-ways to collect all of the poor, lame, maimed and blind and bring them to His banquet and his kingdom.
I say this because Jesus spoke of the end times in Matthew 24 explaining all of the many signs that would occur before the end. And he says that during those end days, “This gospel of the kingdom will be preached throughout the whole world, as a testimony to all nations; and then the end will come.” (Matthew 24:14)
The true gospel of Jesus Christ must be preached throughout the whole world before the very end. It is my belief that at that time the Great Invitation will be issued as the gospel is preached in the highways and by-ways so that God’s banquet hall is filled. So we must be prepared now and ensure that we are not cast aside as those who put other things ahead of God’s invitation now.
Accepting God’s Invitation
Accept his invitation now. Learn what is pleasing to the Lord. Seek out the truth. It is my hope that you will engage with me in discussion using the technology available today so that we can all learn and encourage one another.
Add you comments and questions to this post. What are your thoughts and desires for following the Lord? Engage with me on Twitter and in Facebook using the buttons at the top of this page. Am I an authority on all the things of God? Absolutely not. No man can claim to be such an authority. I need help and you need help to and together, led by God we can grow to maturity. I will share what I have and hope that you too will share what you have so that we can all be encouraged.
(Photo sourced from stock.xchng www.sxc.hu/ taken by Justyna Furmanczyk)
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Hi! I’m John, the owner, author, and editor of this site. Over the past 50+ years as a Christian I have been teaching, preaching and writing about the Bible to help Christians gain a deeper insight into the scriptures that are easily understood. I also answer specific Bible related questions, so feel free to contact me.
