A Tale of Two Banquets | Mt 14:1-21

happy birthday

pety well good morning

everybody well it's great to be with all

of you it's um I hope you all have been

doing well um I've been doing pretty

well um feel like been um doing a lot of

eating of

late um we had this was invited to our

Cantonese um uh Chinese New Year's

banquet

and ate a ton there and then uh multiple

uh wedding

Banquets was just a lot you know I mean

eating with friends and your loved ones

joyfully it's just a happy time but you

know when you eat so much and indulging

so much afterwards and you're really

worried and uh man man that that the uh

The Wedding Banquet those uh Lobster

Mountain it's wrong it's you could die

on that so anyway anyway but I'm very

blessed but you know think about

Banquets Banquets is uh celebrations

Grand gathering for

relationships many Banquets bring

together distant loved ones Friends

making the occasion all the more special

Banquets are also time where that

requires um considerable

preparations um the week before that Kon

banquet you know I just kind of walking

around in the gym there and I noticed

that they're all cooking in there so

it's like a week before they are cooking

preparing for that banquet every day the

full day this whole group cooking in

there and I remember I was visiting and

talking to and but they were just

talking about how they said they love

the prep as much as the banquet itself

so you know wow that's

great um hosting

banquet can also be

expensive um banquet takes money the

cost some many uh wedding Banquets you

know

staggering

however out of

love I've seen you know very very

Thrifty

parents just break the

bank you know for their kids'

weddings and uh you know there's a

there's a costly generosity flow out of

love and also you know a part of our

Traditions but then there are very

different kind of

Banquets um Banquets of a very different

nature like political events Banquets

you know that may carry a celebration

aspect as well but a often more about

the power and

influence people

eagerly seek to

associate with the rich and the

powerful and um hoping to climb perhaps

social ladders and many are quite

willing to spend to gain

entry into such inner

circles I don't know how many of you

have you know given and attended that

kind of you know high dollar per play uh

events or Banquets you don't have to

raise your

hands um but uh they said that you know

uh the average ticket for these

political fundraising dinners you know

always starts you know starts from the

thousands of dollars

I read that the ticket for Texas

governors in ail

dinner went as high as

$100,000 per

person and then during the presidential

election fundraising dinner tickets for

a couple can

cost half a million

dollars and then for the actual

presidential in arrial dinner

if you want to go to that it'll cost you

a cool million per

person and if that is not mindboggling

enough consider this in

20122 the final auction price for the

last power lunch was the legendary

investor Warren

Buffett closes out at an astonishing

this a bidding war you know to have that

that lunch was

Buffet 19

million $19

million makes you wonder what do they

eat there anyway huh and makes you

wonder when the dinner when the lunch is

over was it worth

it well anyway that's not the topic

today but to be at the table with the

special and the powerful and the

important as appar apparently in many

circles can be

Priceless today we will resume our

Matthew sermon series which we paused

last year just before Thanksgiving I

mean actually actually right around

Thanksgiving time and we'll be looking

at Matthew Chapter 14 verse 1- 21 and

Matthew 14:1–21

we'll look at a tale of two Banquets on

the one hand is the birthday banquet of

King Herod and the other is a wilderness

this banquet by King Jesus and I want to

throw up by this question to just for

starters that if you

receive a birthday party invitation in

the Royal Palace but it's just happened

that day that that event also contradict

conflict with conflict with uh our

English Service uh Wilderness

picnic which one would you go

to which one would you go well anyway

well let's uh would you would you rise

for the reading of scripture we're going

to read Matthew 14 1-21 a little bit of

scripture reading here but I hope you

you'll mind I I'll be reading for us

from the

ESV at that time Herod the

tetr heard about the fame of Jesus and

he said to his servants this is John the

Baptist he has risen from the dead that

is why these miraculous powers are atw

working him for Herod had seized John

and bounded him and put him in prison

for the sake of herodias his brother

Philip's wife because John had been

saying to him it is not lawful for you

to have her and though he wanted to put

him to death he feared the people

because they held him to be a prophet

but when herod's birthday came the

daughter of herodias danced before the

company and pleased Herod so that he

promised with an oath to give her

whatever she might ask prompted by her

mom

she said give me the head of John the

Baptist here on a platter and the King

was sorry because of his oath and his

guests he commanded it to be given he

sent and had John beheaded in the prison

and his head was brought on a platter

and given to the girl and she brought it

to her mother and his disciples came and

took the body and buried it and they

went to to to and told Jesus now when

Jesus Jus heard this he was Drew from

there in a bow to a desolate place by

himself but when the crowds heard it

they follow him on foot by to the from

the towns when he when he went ashore he

saw a great crowd and he had compassion

on them and heal their sick now when it

was evening and the disciples came to

him and said this is a desolate place

and the day is now over and the crowds

wa away send send the crowds away to to

go to The Villages and buy food for

themselves but Jesus said they need not

go away you give them something to eat

they said to him we have only Five

Loaves here and two fish and he said

bring them here to me then he ordered

the crowds to sit down on grass and

taken the Five Loaves and the two fish

and he looked up to heaven and said a

blessing then he broke the Loaves and

gave them to the disciples and the

disciples gave them to the crowds and

they all ate and were satisfied and they

took up 12 basket full of the broken

pieces left over and those who were

wisdom uh were about 5,000 men besides

women and

children the Lord bless the reading of

his word please be

seated so we're going to start with the

first banquet which I I named this the

first section the fear at King herod's

Palace banquet but before going to that

part of scripture a little bit of

historical background here because there

are a whole bunch of King herods in the

in the Bible actually Four to be exact

King Herod the Great which are in which

is the Herod in Matthew 2 the one who

slaughtered the newborn uh because he

wanted to get Jesus Herod the tetr or

Herod anpus is the Herod in our story

today he was the son of Herod the gy and

his title tetr means the ruler of a

quarter of the Kingdom because his

father when his father died he divided

the kingdom into four quarters and he

that Herod Tetra had one quarter of that

and so he is the one that's uh that's in

our story Herod agria the first was the

Herod that who imprisoned Peter and

executed James he was also the one that

died was eaten by worms in Acts 12 if

you know the story and then finally a

grip of the second her a grip of the

second was the one who presided over the

Pauline while in Acts chapter 25 and so

Acts 25 · chapter mention

that's the four herods but coming back

to the Herod in our story Herod anpus um

he had

a he had an affair with his brother's

wife uh herodias while his brother was

uh in Rome for business and then after

that herodias uh divorced uh his half

brother and Herod Antipas divorced his

wife so the two of them got married and

it is out of that it is against that

that John the Baptist spoke against and

he spoke when as John the bast spoke

this unwelcome truth boldly to the

power he was

imprisoned and when the scripture told

us that King Herod actually wanted to

put him to death but for fear of people

because people considered John a prophet

he kept him in

prison and so we saw here the first

thing here is how and then John the AP

in our story would later be

beheaded um in the story becoming really

the the first recorded martyr in the New

Testament one of the marks of

discipleship that we talk about in our

church we've been looking at the mark of

being beloved in the last three month

but this for this quarter we

particularly want to emphasize is the

mark of discipleship

being the truth Bearer and we said that

to receive obey and honor God's word

daily as our way of life is the

description of this quality that we want

to

cultivate in all of our people's

lives and um and when to when we said

that to receive obey and honor God's

word it means that God's word cannot not

just be a knowledge fact in here or even

buried down in here but that it need to

be lived out and that we are to also to

speak up and share God's word and

testify to the power of His truth and

sometimes that action can meet with

strong

resistance in Philippians 1: 27-29 we

read the Apostle Paul talks about when

he called on the Philippians let that

your manner of Life be worthy of the

gospel of Christ and he talks about how

how that that that that together they're

striving side by side for this gospel

and he said tell them to not be

frightened in anything by your oance and

then he closes that verse out by by

saying in verse 29 he said that for it

has been granted to you that for the

sake of Christ that you you should not

only believe in him but

also suffer for

him it's not an easy thing to uh receive

here but it says that to suffer for

Christ is actually something that's

granted a privilege and

honor and so in in fact I think some of

us when you hear this you may May

hesitate say you know do I really want

that can I really do

that but the truth of fact

is we do take up this kind of

willingness to

suffer in many phases of

life when you commit to marry someone

and when you take the wedding vow when

you take that vow it talks about in good

time and bad time in sickness and in

health you are vowing to do what you are

vowing to love and suffer for the one

you love you are vwing that you be

willing to take up that place to suffer

with your

beloved for those of us who are parents

here from the moment that your child

conceived you have started a commitment

to a

journey of

suffering to suffer willingly to give

willingly

yourself as your child grow as your own

life ABS away you are giving yourself to

the act of love and so if the Gospel of

Jesus Christ is about the love of God

for us then it go it goes naturally it

is also is a call to love and a call and

a willingness to suffer it is granted to

us to

suffer most recently there's been a

number of requests from the mission

field yeah hold off on that from

missions field concerning this kind of

suffering our Global Partners Jerry and

kitling um who we've been praying for

they have just been kicked off kicked

out uh uh their country and they've been

uh given the walk-in paper that and

they've been just under tremendous

stress and asking for prayer if you will

pray for them I think they may have to

leave their country that they've been

serving for all these past years uh

within the next week or so our Global

partner stepen friend in North Africa

has been asking for our prayers for a

local Believer by the name of Jason I

don't believe is his real name who's

been imprison for his faith and his

trial and the cour the coure uh uh the

the decision on his and the charge

against him because of a faith uh has

been postponed again and again but now

it's now set for this coming

Tuesday when you pray would you remember

to pray for Jason that he will not be

afraid that God will give him Grace and

give his family Grace

you know something because the truth of

fact is Believers around the world are

suffering for the sake of Jesus as part

of their everyday

life Stephen sent me this link to this

film

www.th 21 film.com

because February 15 which is yesterday

marks the 10th anniversary of the

martyrdom of the 21 Christians who were

executed unfilm by Seashore if some of

you may remember that story by ISIS if

you remember

that Isis filmed that beheading to try

to terrorize Believers but actually rais

the anger all over the

world these believer these copy

Believers were not missionaries they

were everyday

Believers and they were given the chance

if they recant their faith if they

disown Jesus they'll be able to go free

but for some one reason or the other all

of them all of them

resist all of them resist to from dis

owning

Jesus before their

captures to recognize these 21 Martyrs a

team of 70 plus artists from over 20

countries built made this short film to

remember their lives I just want to

point out it is a combination of

animation and Real documentary uh it is

not a film I think suitable for

children but I would say it is a very

powerful film short film that describe

how help us get a glimpse at how men and

women around the world are taking a

stand for their faith and willing to lay

down their

lives the Apostle Paul talks about

enduring persecution and suffering in 2

Timothy 3 when he says that he said that

his suffering that second persecution he

endure he said all who desire to live a

Godly life in Christ Jesus will be

persecuted all who desire to live a

Godly life will

be

persecuted and it speaks of the fact of

how the kind of heart that we need to

have living in the time we

do the Apostle Peter talks about the

speaks of the saying in 1 Peter 3 he

says that but even if you should suffer

for righteousness sake you will be

blessed have no fear of them nor be

troubled and so John the

Baptist who was sent by God as a

forerunner for Jesus the Messiah he also

lays down his life to foreshadow Jesus

own death and

suffering but as we go back to the

narrative we notice that even the

seemingly powerful had the fears of

their own in Matthew

Matthew 14:5

14:5 King Herod said he wanted to put

him to John to death but he feared the

people in 149 the King was sorry because

of his oath and the

guests King Herod

feared a public

Uprising as people saw John as prophet

he also could not afford to be seen Weak

by his officials as a king who did not

keep his

word so he made up his mind quickly as a

strong leader does not only to execute

John the Baptist but also to

fulfill the girl's request exactly as

she wanted

delivering John the Baptist's head on a

platter to

her seizing the opportunity he used the

execution as a public warning

serving an example to intimidate all

others who may come in the footsteps of

John anyone who would dare would you

think anyone would dare to challenge or

criticize the king from now

on yeah you can imagine how a birthday a

Rowdy Royal birthday party has gotten

ruined

suddenly the party had turned into a

deeply troubling horrifying stomach

churning spectacle

ending in

unsettling and joyless

dispersal

politics is a ruthless battle for

power we should see here that in

Matthew's stories there's a continual

background plot which is two

Kingdom In conflict two

kings in Conflict King Herod and the

kingdom of God

engaged in severe Mortal

Combat and understand that this is why

Psalm 2 have for told this conflict why

do the Nations rage and the people plot

in vain the kings of the earth set

themselves and the rulers take counil

together against the Lord and against

his

anointed made no mistake about it that's

all the kings of the

world and so understand why we are not

to put our trust in any political figure

or party even if the political leaders

try to connect their action to

supposedly Faith

motive when church and

Believers become tied up with any

political party the

gospel

inevitably

suffers and so we want to show we want

to bring a gracious attitude on behalf

half of the kingdom of God whom we

represent you can't represent two

kingdoms and so when we see people who

gets very all all all worked up or

overly emotional we want to be gracious

and reminding people that why is it that

we follow one

king and we follow the kingdom in the

kingdom of

God do not put your trust in princes

says Psalm 146 in human human beings who

cannot save when their Spirits depart

they return to the ground on the very

day their plans come to

nothing when House Church Pastor Wang e

of the early Reign church was imprisoned

in 2019 for his ministry he wrote an

open letter to declare why he chose the

path of faithful

Disobedience it's very much worth

reading if you're interested looking

Pastor Wang e and his open letter I want

to read a short bit for for you Pastor

Wang is still serving his nyear

sentences right

now for on Earth there has only ever

been a Thousand-Year Church there has

never been a Thousand-Year government

there's only Eternal Faith there's no

permanent Authority those who lock me up

will one day be locked up by Angels

those who interrogate me interrogate me

will finally be questioned and judged by

Christ when I think of this the Lord

fills me with a natural compassion and

grief toward those who are attempting to

and actively imprisoning me pray that

the Lord will use me that he will grant

me patience and wisdom that I may take

the gospel to

them separate me from my wife and

children ruin my reputation destroy my

life and family the Earthly authorities

are capable of doing all these things

however no one in this world can force

me to renounce my faith no one can make

me change my life no one can raise me

from the

dead Jesus is the Christ son of the

living Eternal God he died for Sinners

and rose again to to life for us he is

my king and the king of the whole earth

yesterday today and forever I am his

servant I am in in prison because of

this I will resist in meekness those who

resist

God we need to remember the suffering

church we need to remember the suffering

Believers I want to encourage uh our our

congregation our Global Ministry prayer

meeting we we really do have do have

have't been seeing a lot of uh English

congregation people uh I want to

encourage you we need to pray please

remember the suffering people of God all

over the world

and pray at the same time for our own

courage and Grace to suffer for Christ

when our time comes and we come to the

next part I'm running really late on

this it's the fellowship at King Jesus

uh Wilderness banquet and there's a very

different kind of banquet immedately

followed this because when when Jesus

went ashore and they saw the great crowd

and and people came to and he says Jesus

had compassion on them and so I'm not

going to jump into a great deal upon

this passage because next week we're

still going to go into this passage in

more detail but here I'm just a contrast

here and so the disciples right away

suggested that you know send them to um

send the people to offend for themselves

and get food but Jesus said no Jesus had

compassion on

them and uh and so what we have in the

in the story in Matthew 14 uh 1721 we

have Jesus taking Five Loaves and two

fish and and if you remember the the the

the the gesture he said Jesus look into

heaven and he broke bread and what does

this remind mind you

of because what Jesus was doing there

was a foreshadowing of

the Lord's

Supper because what is really ultimately

is going to be feeding all the

people is the is is going to be the

offering of Jesus himself he will become

our bread of

life and and and and the Wilderness

setting is not an accident because

that's it is in our each of our own

Wilderness where we all met the

compassion of

Jesus if you look back into your own

life how did you experience The

Compassion of Jesus which changed the

course of your life and made you a child

of God that is our

story and so in the wilderness Jesus and

not only in this this also goes right

back into the Exodus experience when the

when the Lord led the Jewish people

through the through the Wilderness in

into the promised land even as he's

doing so for us

today and not to be missed

out is the high price of this

banquet more

costly more costly than Harris's

Birthday

Bash more

costly than the power lunch was warm

buffet for it is at the price

cause of the son of God's life that that

we all may be welcomed

into banquet was the Lord and so we got

two kings two Banquets two requests two

surprises two sacrifices and two

outcomes in these two Banquets here and

and and and it draws the cont and the

story L is it's drawing the powerful

contrast here because one banquet is all

about power and the other one is about

love and so and so what we're seeing

here is is what God is now calling us as

we go to the last part of this

message is about the banquet that is

still to

come the fullness of the Glorious

banquet of the

lamb and I was just jumping uh jumping

ahead a little bit that uh um you see in

ancient time when a covenant is being

formed the ratifying of a covenant

always calls for a covenant

meal it is in this coveted meal where

the two sides sit down and dine together

signifying the fellowship that they have

they now share because of the covenantal

agreement you can look back to Exodus 24

and Mount Si where there's an example of

that and in the New Testament time the

the Lord's Supper is our covenant meal

every time we take it we're reminded of

how at the highest cost that we now can

be made peace with God and men and with

our

neighbors how we become the people of

God and so in Luke

14 when one of the I believe a scribe

said to Jesus that blessed is he the one

who eats at the Feast of the kingdom of

God the the The Feast at the kingdom of

God is something all the Jewish people

looking forward to they understood that

you see the human

heart crave for True genuine

acceptance free from Fear And

pretentions there's a deep longing

inside of every

person that we long to me was our

maker and enter into the Glorious G

gracious welcome enter into fellowship

with him without fear in eternity and

that is the background and what behind

this eternal banquet that we're all

looking forward

to and you

know um if you saw if you probably been

our church you've seen the painting that

we call the next supper in our lobby

that was commissioned back in 2017 for

our missions

conference and um

inspired by another work by artist ha Mo

the painting serve as a visual portrayal

of our miss our heart for Missions to

reach out locally and globally as we

work together to welcome all people all

solders from our neighbors our loved

ones to families to to far away tribes

for them for everyone to take their

place at the joyous supper table of the

Lord when that work was Commissioned I

took some

photos of the painting in

progress so you the top left there was

the original pencil sketch of that work

and then I took some pictures when the

picture was uh painting was midway

finished and that got me thinking how

this how the the work in

progress that is us

the next

supper in preparation and in progress

and this is the time we're living

in you know that that in the next supper

picture there are two are standing up

there representing kind of the

Asian-American both OBC and ABC in that

in that standing signifying our posture

as one who served at that

table but the truth is we are in a

Continuum

of profits

Apostles Saints throughout histories

Martyrs who gave their

lives as we

continue their

mission to extend this gracious

invitation to All

Nations to bring this invitation to

people in every walks of life to welcome

Souljers home on behalf of the

king and so every time when we are

given a benediction here and you're

being sent out we're being sent out once

more to

continue in the footsteps of those who

went before us sharing the mission with

our brothers and sisters around the

world who are suffering for their

faith and so we

too who have been given this blessed

place at the

table have been given given this

tremendous joy to extend the

welcome for all to come to the table of

the Lord would you join me in prayer

together thank you Lord for your love

for

us thank you Lord that we who are not

worthy at all have been given a

place at your

table thank you for paying the highest

cause to save us and make us your own

Lord we pray that today that your spirit

will speak to each and every one of

us or what is the banquet that our

hearts are longing

for help us Lord that our hearts are

long and for the Eternal

banquet of the

lamb and give us

Grace to join with men and women

in history and around the world to

welcome Souljers home to the joy of

following Jesus

Together We Love You

Lord in your name we pray amen