↓ Our Savior Lutheran Church, Grants Pass, OR
↓ Faith Lutheran Church, Medford OR
Sermon: Luke 16:19-31 STAND BEFORE GOD
TRINITY-2/Luke 14:16-24 THE FEAST OF THE MILLENNIUM
PRAYER LORD, You have made it quite plain in Your all-embracing Gospel invitation that all are welcome in Your Kingdom. May we at all times receive this invitation wholeheartedly and treat it with all seriousness for ourselves and others, through Christ our Lord and for the glory of His Name. Amen.
In Christ Jesus, a light to the Gentiles and the glory of the people of Israel, Dear fellow redeemed:
P&P PETER & PAUL No doubt the two most prominent Apostles, known even today among Christians and the world in general, would be Peter and Paul. They were God’s instruments in establishing the millennium of His grace we are now in, that is the time of the Gentiles fulfilling the command of Jesus to “make disciples of all the Gentiles, baptizing them…and teaching them” through the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.
DIFFERENT MISSIONS
transition from what we might call the Millennium of Israel to that of the Gentiles. Peter was sent by our Lord through a vision to the home of the Gentile by the name of Cornelius and he witnessed the outpouring of the promised Holy Spirit upon this Gentile household. Paul was converted from the strictest Jewish sect of the Pharisees, to become the Apostle to the Gentiles. He would practice going to the Jews first on his missionary journeys and often being rejected by them turning then to the Gentiles and finding many of God’s elect among the Gentiles.
JEWS/GENTILES Our text for this morning is Jesus’ revelation of this transition from the Jewish millennium to the Gentile millennium. This is not to say that God was rejecting the physical ancestors of Abraham, but noting that many were now rejecting Him, in Whom alone there was salvation. When we hear this Parable spoken as a warning to the Jews of Jesus day, we can hear a similar warning for us today, many of us who can trace our ancestry to the Gentile nations. THEME: THE MILLENNIAL FEAST IS PREPARED FOR US NOW.
I. (Field, Ox-owners & Newly-married) “I’d love to come, but NOT NOW.”
SELF-JUSTIFICATION Just prior to our text, Jesus had challenged the hypocrisy of the Pharisees who had assembled at the home of a prominent Pharisee. He challenged them on how many vied for the seats of honor at the table and that the host had invited only those who could pay him back in someway, not those who were despised in society. One of those Pharisees whose conscience must have been pricked piped up and tried to change the subject and said: “Blessed is the man who will eat at the Feast in the Kingdom of God.” – in other words: “Well, even if our motives are not the purest Jesus, we do deserve to eat in the great Eternal Feast in Heaven.”
They both played a major role in the
GREAT BANQUET PARAB. However, Jesus was not going to let this attempt at self-justification stand. He tells the Parable of the Great Banquet, which makes the point that those first invited who were not that eager to sit down when it was announced that all things were ready would never find themselves at this grand feast. But others who were not first invited would heed the invitation and come.
3 E.G.s The three examples of those who had excuses were not saying that they would never be interested in eating at the Master’s table, they just were not ready to come at the time that they were called. But the announcement to them was not “ Whenever you are ready to come, everything will be ready for you”. No, the urgent announcement was “Come, for everything is NOW ready.” The banquet God has prepared for sinners through His Son, is ready today. Today sinners are called to feed on Him, to receive of Him life in His Name.
ALL ABOUT ME! Jesus found many in His day, His own countrymen, who were too filled with their own spirituality. They were uninterested in what He had to offer them. The Pharisees especially considered themselves righteous enough in God’s eyes, deserving to sit at the eternal feast. But Jesus repeatedly called them to repentance, wanting them to see their own sin and their complete undeserving of anything good from God. Seeing their lost condition, they would be ready to hear that in Him there was complete salvation.
EXCUSES, EXCUSES… They were religious, very serious about their religion, but it was a false religion. So their reasons for being uninterested in Jesus, in fact even worse, reasons for their hatred for Jesus were rooted in their own self-righteous notions that since they were better than most people, God would certainly accept them. We might be struck at how self-centered, impolite those excuses of those first invited to the banquet were – bought a field, bought five yoke of oxen, just got married – but it was infinitely worse for anyone to reject the invitation to believe in Jesus as Savior.
TIME OF TRANSITION From the time of Abraham, about 2,200 years before Christ, God had specially chosen by His grace the Israelite nation as those who would be first invited to this Great Everlasting Banquet. Many of them believed and received of the blessings of God through His Son. There were times in their history when many would rebel, but God would call them back and many would respond appropriately by repentance and faith. Now was coming the time of the Gentiles’ banqueting.
II. (Poor, Crippled, Blind & Lame,) “Come, Taste, Eat! Of Forgiveness, Life and Salvation.”
FOR ALL! This is to whom Jesus is referring in the Parable when He says: “Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame. … Go out to
the roads and country lanes and make them come in, so that My House will be full.” Salvation won by Jesus on the Cross is for all people, not just Jews. No one is excluded.
NO FAVORITISM Nor are we to conclude that God showed favoritism toward the Jews by calling them first. All the calling of God is based on His love for us all through His Son our Savior. God shows no favoritism ever. His love in His Son toward us is equal for Jew and Gentile alike. Our Lord’s Apostles were all Jews and it was startling when they heard Him tell them to go out to the Gentiles and preach the Gospel.
FULLNESS OF TIME God had in mind the perfect time of God for the Gentile nations to hear the Gospel of God’s salvation in His Son. The question can be raised, although we cannot answer: Is the time of God’s gracious calling coming to an end? In other words, Is Satan now deceiving many who hear of Christ, like he deceived many of the Jews of Jesus’ day? Are there many in our day who are making the excuses not to sit down and eat what God has prepared? Are you prepared?!
WHAT’S FOR DINNER(?) And, what is ON the banquet table for us to eat? – Forgiveness, Life and Salvation. Jesus has come as a Substitute for us all. He lived the perfect life we are required to live. He sacrificed that perfect life, by dying the death for all sinners. He invites all to believe in Him as the only Savior and to trust in Him completely.
NO THANKS. I’LL PASS But Satan deceives many into thinking they do not need what Christ offers. They expect to be there at the eternal feast, but they refuse to sit down now and eat as God has invited them. If they will not eat NOW, they will not eat THEN. As Jesus concludes the Parable, so it applies to all who make excuses today “I tell you that no one of those men who were invited will get a taste of my banquet.” The message is urgent: “Come, for everything is now ready.”
COMING FAMINE There were many at Jesus’ time and there are many today who think they are heeding the call, but on their own terms. They fully expected to be present in Heaven, but Jesus told them otherwise. The feasting begins now as sinners hear the Word of Forgiveness and receive the Sacrament of His love. The time is coming when there will be a famine of hearing the Word of God’s grace in Christ, to make excuses now why you will not sit down and feast as invited, could mean that you will be refused forever.
COME AND GET IT/EAT. Come, fellow redeemed. Eat what has graciously been prepared for you. Eat now and forever. Our Lord is the host, but also the meal. Eat and know that all your sins are forgiven. IJ’N, Amen.
SDG
The Peace of God which passes all understanding keep our hearts and minds in faith in Christ Jesus to life everlasting. Amen.