No Shoes, No Shirt, No Service - 8/22/26

Greeneville Seventh-day Adventist Church: Just who do you think you are? This was the question on the minds of the Jewish leaders when Jesus made a triumphal entry, when Jesus cleared the commercialism out of God's house. Pastor Dawson looked into two parables, two of the parables that Jesus told as a response to this question of just who do you think you are? By what authority are you doing these things? We were also shown last week how those parables could be applied to us if we're not careful in our relationship with Jesus. Jesus doesn't give them the answer to their question of just who do you think you are? And we've explored the issue of authority in this series several times. We went to his genealogy, which proved that he was the Messiah. We followed this further until his baptism by John the Baptist, when God spoke from heaven saying, This is my son. His authority is made clear by God Himself. We looked at how Satan also questioned this authority in the temptations in the wilderness. If you are the Son of God, do this, do that. After Jesus conquered the temptations of the devil, he began his ministry among the people. But even though he had full authority to do this ministry, he chose not to do it by himself. Even though he's the Son of God, he wanted help. He was looking well beyond himself. He knew that he would not be here much longer and wanted others to carry on what he started. You know, those those thoughts enter my mind. Okay, I'm getting old. I look in the mirror and go, wow, that's an old man. How did that happen? But it's funny, the older I get and the more I study the scripture, the more things I find. I say, wait a minute, I can't be old yet. I can't find any more stuff to share. But no, that's not my job. That's all of our jobs. But he wanted people that would carry on sharing and sharing and sharing. So Jesus went out searching for disciples. He went looking and he found the best of the best, didn't he? Well, no. We've already talked about Matthew 4, where Jesus called what some people have called the worst of the worst. Especially the tax collector named Matthew who wrote this book that we've been studying for so long. He chose people that didn't know what they were doing. He chose people that were just willing to do what he said. Yeah, I look at myself. You've heard me say before, I don't like being up front. What if Jesus came in here to preach? And he said, hey, Pastor Kennedy, I'd like to preach. I said, wait a minute, let me give you a few pointers. What? No, no. He would look at me and like, no, no. Remember you're the worst of the worst. I don't need to hear that from you. But Jesus chooses people that are willing. And we're going to look at the third parable that Jesus told the leaders who were not wanting to accept the authority of Jesus. This is not only another parable about what would happen when people did not accept God's invitation, it also is showing what the job of his disciples then and now would be like. This parable ends up being very prophetic. So let's jump into God's word. Matthew chapter 22. We're going start with verse one. Matthew twenty two. Verse one. And Jesus answered and spoke to them again by parables and said, The kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who arranged a marriage for his son. Christ Object Lessons tells us that this wedding represents the union of humanity and divinity. There are so many places in Scripture where the love of God and man is described as a wedding. A marriage. The intimate relationship that God wants us to have with each other, with his people, with himself. God wants that intimate relationship, just like he had for a short time with Adam and Eve. He wants to have with us again. And he describes the church as the bride of Christ. And he wants the bride to love him the way that he loves her. He was willing to die for us. Are we willing to live for him? And even die for him, as this parable brings out as a possibility. Verse three. And sent out his servants. stop here. He sends out his servants who are his servants. This is describing the role of the disciples of Christ. We are his servants, which he sends out with the good news of the everlasting gospel, the good news of the wedding that. is to be held. Verse three again, and sent out his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding, and they were not willing to come. Okay, to send them out to those who had been invited. They weren't going out and going, hey, there's an invitation for you. No, he's he they were sent to those who had been invited. We're gonna look more into that in a little bit. At this point in the gospel story, the disciples are being called to go and remind people about the wedding. They were to work specifically with the Jews, God's chosen people, those who had been invited. This task was not just for the twelve disciples that we normally think of. Luke 10 tells us that Jesus sent out the 70 some disciples to go before him into the towns and villages to tell the people that the kingdom was near, the wedding's on. Jesus started stated upon their return that it was interesting that their success had been among the ordinary people. instead of the wise and educated. The leadership was rejecting the Messiah. They refused to accept the invitation and the reminder. But God had not given up given up on them. Look at verse four. Again he sent out other servants, saying, Tell those who are invited, See, I've prepared my dinner, my oxen and fatted cattle are killed, and all things are ready. Come to the wedding. Notice this appeal is sent again to those who have already received invitations. What this is talking about in Oriental custom, an invitation would go out. But the custom was that wasn't it. There was no just RSVP like we do today. Messengers would go out and say, Did you remember the wedding is coming? It's happening such and such a time. Be there. So they had been reminded. They had been invited in the Old Testament by the prophets, by the sanctuary service, by all these things were pointing to the wedding. And then the prophets came and said, Look, it's coming. And then messengers were sent out in the New Testament. John the Baptist, the bride's coming, the bridegroom's coming. You're the bride. Come, get married. It's time. The time is coming. And they still rejected the message. And then Jesus is talking about the future. He sent out other disciples again to these that had been invited. And we're looking at other disciples. We're looking at Stephen and James, who died at the hands of those that had been invited. And Jesus is describing this can even, yes, happen to those I send out. They may lose their lives trying to bring people into this relationship. Verse 5. But they made light of it and went their way. One to his own farm, another to his business. We have more important things to do. After all, I have a math test coming up. After all, do you know I've got board meeting coming up? after all, do you know what's going on in my business? I better work hard because people aren't coming to my store like they should. I need to advertise. Busy, busy, busy, terribly busy, much, much too busy for you. We live in a world that is busier than it has ever been. Are we so busy that an invitation to have a forever relationship with Jesus Christ is not a priority, not the priority of our lives. As a pastor, I've been involved in many weddings and I hear rumor that there's another one coming soon. Future brides and grooms are some of the busiest people in the world. Ask me how I know. Talking to my wife the other called my wife the other day. She didn't answer. And finally she called me back and I said, Yeah, I guess I know what you were doing. Yeah, talking to Rachel, planning the wedding. Busy, busy, busy. How long were you on the phone this time? How many hours? Busy, busy, busy. Hectic last-minute preparations are the norm. They want everything to be perfect. And I've noticed something. As people are preparing for a wedding, the world goes on. The news is still on the radio. The internet's coming up with more junk for me to look at. There's all kinds of things happening, but those that are preparing their wedding, all these things grow strangely dim. Because they're focused on one thing and one thing only. The priority is the wedding. They're focused on being ready for the ceremony, on being fitted for the dress, on finding just the right whatever. to make the ceremony perfect for tying the knot with the one that they love. This is the priority, at least it should be. I attended a wedding on the campus of Maxwell Adventist Academy in Kenya. I was there on time. I'm an on time kind of guy. Even though I knew that the weddings there often start long after the time in the invitation. The preparations had all been made. The church was beautifully decorated. Flowers there are dirt cheap, and they take advantage of it. The cars are decorated like you wouldn't believe. Not like our cars here. You know, we ride on windows and stuff and little things like that. There they decorate the cars like you would it's just crazy. Ribbons and bows this bigger round on the hood or the top or the back, just ribbons everywhere. And you say, wouldn't that blow off it? No. The roads are so bad, you can't drive fast enough to put a bug on your windshield. So there's no chance of these things blowing off. The brides and the bridesmaids were making last-minute adjustments to various things. Huge pavilions are set up in the ball field with their own decorations and more food than you can imagine. Some of it's even edible. For me. Guests are milling around outside, munching on goodies, sipping tea. Looking at all the cars. They don't just decorate the bride and groom's car, they decorate everybody's cars in the procession. All was ready. Except for the fact the groom's was not there, and neither were the groomsmen. And the clock kept ticking. After an hour, someone finally called the missing people and they promised, we're on the way. Another hour passed. They were called again. Where are you? a couple of the groomsmen got hungry, so we stopped at a restaurant and we're waiting for the food to arrive. By this time I gave up and headed to my office to grade papers while I watched out the window for the groom and the groomsman to come. When they finally arrived, the wedding started over three hours late. And nobody but me seemed to care. But I was reminded of those who had better things to do than show up for the wedding. I'm a little hungry right now. I think, hey, let's stop at the restaurant. I got more to do. Lord, when I have time, I'll come to the supper of the Lamb. But it gets worse in verse 6. And the rest seized his servants, treated them spitefully, and killed them. See what I mean? Sometimes disciples will die. while spreading the good news. When my family accepted the call to move to Africa, you wouldn't believe the hardships. Not in Africa, but at home. So many people were against us going. Wait, we want you to stay here. You you're about to get this job and that job, whatever. You're about to receive this position. No, we don't want you to move. Aren't you afraid you're gonna die? We heard that one over and over. Don't you know people get killed over there? I'm like, can you promise me I won't get killed here? God is in charge of what happens to us wherever we serve Him. Whether we live or die. I would rather die while serving Him than live while serving myself. I was praying this morning in my office and I pray a lot when working with a sermon, of course, and and Sabbath morning I was like, Lord, are these really the words that you had in mind? Help me not to stray from it. And is this sermon too long, Lord? And he said, No, I want you to add to it this morning. He did. He it's his fault, not mine. You know who to talk to. But I'm sitting there praying and I and I look around my office and I saw something. I said, you want me to tell about that? Yes, tell about that today. You see, when we were getting ready to go to Kenya, before we told anybody, even our family, I was worried. I wasn't so much worried about how Susan's parents would take it. She was born in Africa, okay? They knew this stuff. My parents had hardly ever gone anywhere. And I was like, how am I going to tell my parents? We live 20 minutes away from they love watching their grandchildren grow up. And this is not gonna be easy, Lord help me. And in the meantime, it didn't help. I didn't think that my aunt died. And they were very close and this is not a good time to tell them something else. We went through that funeral and then my parents, as they were dealing with the grief of my aunt dying, they went to their happy spot, St. Augustine, Florida, on the beach camping. That's where they went to heal. Okay, Lord, when they come back, I have to tell them that we're leaving. This is gonna be hard, Lord. You're gonna have to make it. I don't know how to tell them, Lord. You have to give me an opening. Well, they came back from St. Augustine and they gave me a phone call and they said, Hey, we're back. we bought some things for your family. would you come over and pick them up? I said, Okay. And my heart's aching because I'm trying to think, I'm gonna have to tell them now. Before word gets to them from somewhere else. And I get over there and my heart's heavy, and they say, we found this for Susa, we found this for Joshua, we found this for Rachel. But we could not find for the life of us anything to give to you. I said, That's okay. No, we we did pick up something, but I don't know. And they pulled out a safari hat. And I looked up thank And I just simply said, I might be needing that. And my mother looked at me and said, Not with my grandkids, you don't. But that quickly changed because they remembered that they had made promises to God to raise me to go where he wanted me to go. And then they became our greatest advocates. Let us help you get your house ready to sell. Let us do this. Let us do that. But so many will try to stop you from serving God. Christ's object lesson says: But the nation that claimed to be God's peculiar people rejected the gospel. Brought to them in the power of the Holy Spirit. Many did this in the most scornful manner. Others were so exasperated by the offer of salvation, the offer of pardon for rejection for rejecting the Lord of glory, that they turned upon the bearers of the message. There was a great persecution. Many, both men and women, were thrust into prison, and some of the Lord's messengers, as Stephen and James, were put to death. This is what Saul, also known as Paul, was involved in. The persecution and murder of Christians. Thus we know that individuals can still change and follow. He became the greatest missionary for Jesus in history. But as a nation, Israel rejected the gospel, and their rejection was complete. How does God react? Verse 7. So when the king heard about it, he was furious, and he sent out his armies, destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city. Susan and I were in Jerusalem on a Friday night. and decided to go to the western wall, which is the exposed foundation of the temple that was destroyed in AD seventy. We went there because we wanted to welcome the Sabbath along with the great crowds of Jews who were doing the same thing in that spot. Verse 7 is an explicit description of what took place in Jerusalem in AD 70. Jesus predicted the destruction of Jerusalem elsewhere as well as we have seen. They rejected God and God withdrew his protection. The temple is destroyed, and the foundation that is left is where the Jews weep till this day. That's why it's called the Wailing Wall. They are still looking for the coming kingdom that they rejected. Ironically, Before you're allowed to go into the courtyard by the this foundation wall, you have to go through a security checkpoint to make sure that you are not carrying any weapons. And one of the weapons they prevent you from carrying is a sword. You're not allowed to take the scriptures into that site. Bibles, the very book that has the answers that are needed. They don't want a bunch of Christians in there preaching and passing out literature. So they make you give all that up before you go in. But thankfully, many individuals from the Jewish community are finding Jesus today. Verse 8 begins a shift in the story. The focus of the gospel is no longer on the Jewish nation. The servants are given new instructions. Verse 8. Then he said to his servants, The wedding is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy. Therefore, let's stop there a minute. They were not worthy. What made them not worthy? They're still the same people that got the invitation. What made them not worthy was not accepting the invitation. Verse 9, therefore, go into the highways and as many as you find, invite to the wedding. This might remind me so much of the Gospel Commission in Matthew 28. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations. We are not to be disc discriminant on who hears the gospel. It is for all people. The servants obeyed the king. Verse 10. So the servants went out into the highways and gathered together all whom they could find, both bad and good. You ever read that part? Both bad and good. And the wedding hall was filled with guests. This reflects the life of Jesus. He preached to all the people. Grace was for outcasts and failures as well as for holier than thou saints. God loves all and wants all to love Him. The wedding hall was filled with guests, but not all of the guests were there for the right reason. Even now. Some had accepted the invitation with ulterior motives. Christ Object Lesson says, and of those who accepted the invitation, there were some who thought only of benefiting themselves. They came to share the provisions of the feast, but had no desire to honor the king. When I was the youth pastor of a church before we moved to Africa, it's in the Collegedale area. And I was walking through the parking lot during second service one Sabbath. Well, why aren't we going to church? Well, I wasn't preaching. I'm the youth pastor. And I looked out in the parking lot and there's a bunch of teenage boys out there sitting on the hoods of cars. Too cool for church. And so I just went out and sat on the hoods with them. Well that's uncomfortable, isn't it? The pastor coming and sit with you in the parking lot. Hey, I thought we were gonna talk cars. No, we're actually going into church. I think our parents are wanting us. They left me sitting there. I didn't tell them to go in. I was looking forward to hanging out with them. But I was sitting there thinking about this and I saw it happen. I had heard about it, I knew their routine, I'm just sitting there alone, and here come The potluckers. Have you ever heard of them? I had heard of them and I knew what they did, and now I got to witness this. There was a line of eight cars that pulled into the church just before potluck. They knew the potluck schedule of every church in the area. Not only would they eat at potluck without coming to the service, which was fine, we don't mind feeding people, but they would also bring their own plates or platters, you might call them. Large plates and they would heap them high. Well, that's fine too. But then we I said, you know, see you again next month when are we having potluck again? And one of them even came up to me, he's a little short guy, and he comes up to me and starts complaining about the line at potluck. I'm sorry, my Christianity didn't take over right then. I just looked down at it and went Yeah, I'm sorry, laughed. Wait a minute, you weren't even here for the service. You just come for the food. Now you're complaining about the food. Reminds me of this guy we're about to read about here. But this particular Sabbath, I was already laughing to myself as the eight car loads pulled in, because I knew something they didn't. Due to a conflict, our potluck schedule had been changed. They sent in a representative to pick up the bulletin. He read about the change, got in his car, and eight cars left the parking lot in search of another potluck. This has been called the prosperity gospel. Some have come in for selfish motives. I've upset a few politicians who want to speak to the congregation. no. You may come and worship. But you may not do politics here. This is God's house. They wanted to come into church for the wrong reason. And I invite them to come and worship, to my knowledge, none of them ever have. To some, church is merely a social event. To others, it's a way to escape hell. Some are merely looking for whatever blessings fall on them from heaven without a sense of honor for their Creator. I'm happy for anyone to enter these doors. Even if they don't have the proper motivation, maybe, just maybe, the gospel will rub off on them and they will be changed. I've seen it happen. I know a lady who used to be a tour guide in the country of Turkey. Her name is Melek. And she was so happy that people were religious, even though she was not. Because it was the religious people, the Christians, that wanted to take her tours of the seven churches of Revelation. And that's how she made her money. I'm glad there's some religious people out there that want to see these ruins. And she gave tours constantly. And one time she gave a tour to a group of Seventh-day Adventist pastors. After spending a week on the bus with these guys, she started to notice some things that were different. She sensed that something was what she wasn't used to. And on Sabbath, she actually attended a church service where one of the pastors in her group preached. And her heart was moved and she gave it to Jesus. And she married an Adventist pastor. And for a while was a part of the Georgia Cumberland Conference. Then they moved back to Turkey to spread the gospel there. Still giving tours in a bit of a different manner. Yes, all are welcome to come in as they are, but God does not want you to remain as you are. We all must change. Verse 11. But when the king came in to see the guests, he saw a man there who did not have on the wedding garment. This is describing judgment day. The investigative judgment when the king comes to look for evidence that you have accepted the gift of his son. What you are wearing, his robe of righteousness, is what matters. Do you have a loving and grateful heart? Have you ever been improperly dressed for an occasion? Have you? Doesn't feel right. Don't tell anybody. My worst nightmares. Those dreams that you have after eating peanuts before you go to bed. I don't know what causes these. They're horrible. But my worst ones. I'm sitting right here on the platform during church service, and I'm wearing cutoffs in an old t shirt. And the conference president is speaking. And I'm sitting there wondering. Why am I dressed like this? I had stuff at home I could wear. And I I'm just humiliated. And I rem slip out the side over here and there are the rooms for change. I I wonder if they'll notice if I put on a baptismal robe. Will that help? Looking for something to cover my disgrace. There are often two signs in the entrance of restaurants. Both of them are from around the same period in history. One sign says, please wait to be seated. It used to be that when you entered a restaurant that you saw a place to sit, we're not talking fast food joints, just a regular good restaurant. But you could walk in and sit wherever you wanted and you'd be cared for. Now you have to wait for someone to take you to your seat, even if the restaurant is empty. This sign is related to another sign that you might see. No shoes, no shirt, no service. The first sign was so that the waiter could have a chance to look at you to see if you were in compliance with the dress code before you sat down. It's a lot easier to turn away people at the door than to pull them out of the booth. That period of history that I'm talking about. that made these signs common were the sixties and the seventies when the hippie movement was in full swing. People wanted to keep these underdressed, undesirables out of their respectable businesses. Jesus reached out to the undesirables of his day to bring them in. Well, in the Jewish mind, if you did not measure up in some way, you were not allowed to participate. That's why blind and crippled people that Jesus healed rejoiced to be able to join worship services. Yes, Jesus wants everyone to come just as they are, but, and it's a big but. He also expects that you will not stay just as you are. If you love me, if you love me for healing you, if you love me for pulling you out of this situation, if you love me for saving you, keep my commandments. We've already talked so much about this and about how Jesus expects his followers to begin bearing fruit, to be living a spirit-led and spirit-filled life. This was the problem with the man not wearing the wedding garment that the king had provided for him. All were invited to the wedding, but only those who put on the proper attire could stay at the wedding. Christ Object Lessons mentions that when the king came in to view the guests, the real character of all was revealed. For every guest at the feast there had to be provided a wedding garment. This garment was a gift from the king. By wearing it, the guests showed that there had they had respect for the giver of the feast. But one man was clothed in his common citizen dress. He had refused to make the preparation required by the king. The garment provided for him at great cost he disdained to wear. Thus he insulted his Lord. To the king's demand, How camest that thou in hither not having a wedding garment? He could answer nothing. He was self condemned. Yes, the robe of Christ's righteousness is a gift That all can receive, but all need to wear it. Our own righteousness is like filthy rags, according to Isaiah 64. Adam and Eve lost their robes when they sinned. They tried to fix it with fig leaves, but God let them know that this was not proper attire. They had to wear what He provided: the skins of the lamb that was sacrificed for their sin. The robe that is offered to us. is provided by the sacrifice of Jesus for us. By wearing the robe that Jesus provides us, we show love, we show gratitude, we show respect for the giver. And this is not like the ugly sweater that Aunt Bertha knit for you that your mom makes you wear only when she comes. This is not us only looking good for God on Sabbath morning at church. This is God restoring us to the way that we were meant to be. As we keep wearing the robe of His righteousness, the fruits of the Spirit start to come naturally. They are evidence that we have practiced what we preach. That we are genuinely in love with the giver of the garment, that we are prepared for an everlasting relationship with the groom. By coming as we are, we are humbly accepting God's gift. By not staying as we are, we are continuing to wear that gift. Verse twelve. So he said to him, Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment? And he was speechless. There's absolutely no legitimate excuse that we can give to not accept and wear something that is freely given. Verse 13. Then the king said to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, take him away, and cast him into outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, for many are called, but few are chosen. Throughout the book of Matthew, we have seen a consistency in the message that being with Jesus, Causes one to bear fruit, the fruit of that relationship. Matthew's own life is a testament to the power of the relationship with Jesus, from a hated, traitorous tax collector for the despised Romans to a beloved disciple of Christ. When Jesus lives in you, he will shine out of you. Yes, many restaurants have dress codes. But some of them solved the issue by providing the clothing that the hungry customer needs. On a trip to a beach, we went into a restaurant, and I saw a sign that said No shirt, no shoes, no problem. And I looked to see why. Because there on a rack by the door were shirts and shoes. The sign said, come on in. We've got you covered. Today, Lord, we have received another reminder that the invitation has been sent. As we close our eyes and bow before you, may those who accept that reminder, that accept that invitation, show that by lifting their hand before you. Lord, we want to come. Thank you for providing the garment. Help us to wear it every day as our hearts are changed to become more like yours. In Jesus' name. Amen.

Matthew 22 · chapter mention