Luke 14:1-24

And if you have a Bible, can I invite you to turn to that passage that we read earlier, Luke chapter 14.

Luke 14 · chapter mention

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It turns out that in this passage in Luke 14, Jesus Christ has a lot to say about parties and banquets, doesn't he?

Jesus Christ gets to the heart of a great function, of a great get-together, of brilliant hosting and of superb guest etiquette.

The Telegraph have done a list of do's and don'ts, things to not do at a party.

They say do bring a bottle, but don't spend less than a tenner.

Do send a postcard to say thank you to the host, don't send an email.

Do have a playlist, now this is my favourite, do have a playlist ready for early hours in the morning dancing in the kitchen,

but don't turf your neighbours out at midnight.

It's safe to say that I've failed on every single one of the Telegraph's do's and don'ts list.

But the question is not as trivial as it sounds.

What really is at the heart of a great party?

Does your answer match Jesus' answer?

This question matters because if you notice where this passage is heading, look at verse 24 of Luke 14.

Jesus breaks off from telling a parable here and he speaks to a group.

The U is plural here.

For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste my banquet.

This whole section is teaching us something about Jesus Christ who is the host.

The host of a banquet.

An eternal banquet to be held at the end of time.

And so does your idea of a great banquet match with his idea of a great banquet?

You might be invited to his banquet.

But actually deep down you might not even want to be there.

What he has for us I think this morning is quite cutting.

He exposes our hearts when it comes to service and giving and sharing with one another in banquets.

Because there is a way of serving one another that lies in the darkness of the Pharisees' hearts.

Where serving and being served at a banquet for them has a distinctly unheavenly agenda.

And to do service like the Pharisees will mean never wanting to enjoy a banquet like Jesus enjoys it.

So he asks us in these three parables or stories some searching questions.

So the first thing, at the party, what makes a great party when you're a guest?

What makes a great party when you're a guest?

Now if you look at the beginning of chapter 14, we're told the setting, aren't we?

One Sabbath he went to dine, Jesus to dine at the house of the ruler of the Pharisees.

They were watching him carefully.

It's a banquet laid on by a Pharisee, one of the religious elite.

Now guests love different things about parties, don't they?

Conversation, some will love that, some will just hate that.

Loud music, some will hate that and some will absolutely love that.

And in the first parable, Jesus tells the group at this party in verse 7 to 11,

Jesus puts his finger on what the Pharisees love about being guests at their party, doesn't he?

What makes a great party for them?

Well it's not particularly the food, is it, or the conversation.

Really it's the status of it all.

The first parable describes the social conventions of the day,

where the banquet was an opportunity to climb the social ladder.

Guests finding the seats of honour,

the sort of thing you might see on Pride and Prejudice.

And the enjoyment of the banquet is purely in the pride of being in the highest seats of honour at the banquet.

Now what you'd have at these kind of first century banquets would be

ranked seats, couches with different status attached to them.

And where you sat would send a message about who you were.

Sitting in the high-ranked couches would say to people,

I'm important.

I matter.

I'm special.

Love me.

Honour me.

That's what they love about the banquet, isn't it?

Notice they won't wait, will they?

They won't wait for the host to give them honour.

Jesus says there is great honour from God for those who wait for it, in verse 11.

For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled,

but those who humble themselves will be exalted in the end.

But they assume that that honour is theirs already.

And they must sit themselves down in the places of honour now.

Or the feast really isn't up to much at all.

They won't wait for God to exalt them.

The enjoyment for them is in the pride of it.

Blaise Pascal, the French philosopher,

describes the heart of a man who cannot enjoy anything in life

unless he is esteemed in the enjoyment of it.

Blaise Pascal is maybe not the kind of guy you'd want to hang around with.

He's quite a cynical fella, really.

I don't know if you agree with what he's saying there.

He's saying, in other words, that the enjoyment of anything is in the pride of it.

And that pride runs so deeply in us

that some people can be joyful even with a hard life

provided that people talk about them.

Provided that they are distinguished for that suffering.

Paul warns the Colossians about Christians who do that.

who insist on something called asceticism.

A kind of brutal self-imposed lifestyle.

Denying the body pleasure.

Bringing suffering on yourselves.

Making yourself look miserable.

Living a hard life.

Purely for the admiration of others.

The enjoyment was the pride of it for them.

And it's what Jesus says lies at the heart of the scribes and the Pharisees, isn't it?

It's just not so subtle with them.

Later in Luke, he says that they love greetings in the marketplaces

and the best seats in the synagogues and the places of honour at feasts.

They enjoy their religion because of the pride of it.

They enjoy their feasts because of the pride of it.

And perhaps we can feel Jesus speaking to us here

in the dark places in our own hearts.

Where the enjoyment of anything in life is just in the pride of it.

The enjoyment of good grades is in the pride of it.

The enjoyment of my car or my house is what other people think of me and say about me.

Everything is enjoyed with the proviso that we can get someone else to admire what we're enjoying.

I wonder where that's the whole selfie thing comes from.

I don't know.

The enjoyment of being at the party is in being admired

and we won't wait for God's exaltation at the end of time.

We need it now in this life to enjoy this life.

And dare we say it, the enjoyment of Christianity itself is in the pride of it too.

The church is a taste of that heavenly banquet that Jesus is preparing for his people, isn't it?

It's like the kind of warm-up do.

It's like the hors d'oeuvres, isn't it?

On earth before the eternal banquet in heaven.

So what makes this party good for you?

Does your enjoyment of church and of the Christian life depend on the pride you get from it?

Where my enjoyment of the Christian life is in some honour that I get from others.

When it brings me dishonour and when I have to sit in the lowest seat in society,

actually all the value of my faith is suddenly empty and lost.

It's not worth being at the party unless I can be honoured.

And our earthly expectations of banquets and things like this spill out into our heavenly expectations.

We will come to the gates of heaven in the same way that we come to the church.

Coming perhaps with a strange sense of entitlement that God owes me honour.

Where the enjoyment of being a Christian is in the pride of being a Presbyterian church.

You owe us honour for this, Lord.

We're a reformed church, doctrinally.

Give us the honour, Lord.

We're not like those other churches who don't have two services on a Sunday.

Let us sit in the high seats of honour, Lord.

We assume, Lord, that the honour is for us.

And the enjoyment of it all is simply in the pride of it.

The enjoyment maybe of even being elect, of being one of God's chosen people,

is actually in the feeling of being elite.

You wonder sometimes with some conservative Christians,

that the enjoyment of it is purely in being more conservative than everyone else.

The enjoyment is in the honour we get from others that we confer on ourselves,

sitting in the seats of honour.

The enjoyment is in winning the argument.

The enjoyment is in being more orthodox.

The enjoyment is in having the theological upper hand.

And the question is, if we didn't have any of that,

when people dishonour us,

would we enjoy this party less?

If the enjoyment of it is just in the pride of it.

Would we be willing, with Jesus,

in our Christianity, to do verse 10?

Just look there.

When you're invited, go and sit in the lowest place,

so that when your host comes, he may say to you,

friend, move up higher.

If the one condition of our Christianity,

of this party, was dishonour,

being hated by others,

sitting in the lowest places in society,

associating with the lowest people in society,

would we still enjoy the party?

If we had to gather up the crumbs under God's table,

would we enjoy it less?

To have to wait for God to say to me,

friend, move up higher.

A good guest, it turns out, as Jesus says in his banquet,

knows how to wait.

He knows how to wait for God to say,

friend, move up higher.

But can we wait for that in this life?

Or is the enjoyment of all of this,

just in the pride we get from it?

What makes a great party for the guests?

Second, what makes a great party for the host?

We've got a copy of Nigella Lawson's domestic goddess.

In fact, we've got a whole bookshelf of Nigella Lawson.

If you don't know who Nigella Lawson is,

she is like the, I don't know,

she's like the one who tells you

how to run your dinner parties in the best way.

And she writes this in her introduction.

As the host, we don't want to feel stressed and overstretched,

but like a domestic goddess,

trailing nutmeggy fumes of baking

in our longuous wake.

What does longuous even mean?

It's an idealistic vision, isn't it,

of the perfect host,

the domestic goddess,

or the domestic God.

But as Mary Berry said,

it's easier to impress someone

than to please someone.

That's so true.

Verses 12 to 14,

the second story,

the second section of Jesus' speaking,

he changes his audience, doesn't he?

Before he was speaking to the guests

who chose the places of honour,

but now he speaks to the host

who chooses the guests of honour.

It's the host's turn to answer that question,

what makes a great party for you?

And the clue to his enjoyment

is there in verses 12 and 13, isn't it?

You just flick over the page.

He said to the man who'd invited him,

when you give a dinner or a banquet,

do not invite your friends or your brothers

or your relatives or rich neighbours,

lest they also invite you in return

and you be repaid.

But when you give a feast,

invite the poor, the crippled,

the lame and the blind.

Now just realise how shocking

what Jesus is saying there at this party.

In Greco-Roman culture at this time,

banquets were not just the excuse

for a bit of fun.

They were a way of getting on in life.

The guest list was a sign

of your status in society.

It was a way of plugging you in

to society.

The position that you have

is to do with the people

that you have in your parties.

So to get on in this life,

to get on in this world,

to get on in this time,

you must choose your guests carefully

and you must serve selectively.

So to be known as the host

of a banquet full of blind people

or of people who are lower down

on the social scale,

it would just be suicide socially.

Jesus' command here

to invite the crippled,

the blind and the lame,

it's just a bad life choice,

the host is thinking.

Don't you know, Jesus,

that if you want to make it

in this life,

you need to know the good

and the great.

You need to be respected

and regarded.

But again,

notice the motivation

for this outlandish

hosting advice from Jesus.

Verse 14.

And you will be blessed

because they cannot repay you,

for you will be repaid

at the resurrection of the just.

Like the wise guest,

the wise host

also needs to learn

to wait.

To wait for the honour

that God will confer on him.

But when we choose

our guests carefully,

when we start doing

selective serving

of one another,

when we serve

the moneyed

or the smart

or the low maintenance

or the socially able,

that actually is a sign

that we cannot wait.

that we won't wait

for God's rewards.

But we are like this host.

When the honour

must be now.

Of that urge

to serve those

who we know

can love us back.

We need rewards

from others now

when we do that.

And when there is

no prospect

of rewards

and blessing

from God

in the future,

if that's just not

on our radar,

then things

become very tight

and stunted,

don't they,

in our service now.

We start to do

selective serving

and selective hosting.

And I think

this is why

many of us

refuse to accept

help from one another

and service

from one another.

Maybe some of us

need to learn

to just take

more responsibility

for ourselves.

ourselves.

But I suspect

many of us

are shamed

by having to

ask somebody,

I need you.

I can't cope.

Because we think

in the same mindset

of the host

and the guests

in these stories,

that if we ask

for that,

it puts us

in somebody else's

debt

and I will have

to repay them.

and our earthly

expectations

and our earthly

ways of doing

things expose

our heavenly

expectations

where we start

to think of the

Lord Jesus Christ

in the same way

too.

We're not

actually sure

whether God

is a giver

at all.

we see him

rather as a

taker.

Imagine the

story of a

little girl

who wakes up

on Christmas

Day

and it should

be a really

exciting day,

shouldn't it?

But she is

dreading it

because she

knows her

parents are

going to give

her at least

one present

for Christmas.

Christmas.

She goes

downstairs,

there's a

Christmas cake,

there are piles

of presents,

many of them

with her name

on them.

There are

decorations,

there's the

smell of

mulled wine

and turkey

in the oven

and her

family are

waiting in

the kitchen

with smoked

salmon,

scrambled eggs

and crispy

bacon.

She looks

sad though

and finally

she breaks

the awkward

silence.

Mum,

Dad,

thank you

for the

presents,

thank you

for the

breakfast,

thank you

for Christmas

Day,

so how

much do

I owe

you?

It's often

how we think

of God,

isn't it?

We think

of him

as the

taking God

and not

the giving

God.

We haven't

realised how

much he has

given to us

today and

we have not

learnt to

wait for all

that he will

give us.

in the end.

We ask

God,

how much

do I owe

you?

And when we

think God

runs his

church like

that,

we will

return the

favour to

him and to

each other.

When serving

Jesus is

done just

to be good

enough for

him,

and serving

one another

is about

impressing

one another.

Serving

Jesus is

about getting

something from

him.

And serving

one another

is about

putting people

in our

debt,

building up

favours for

ourselves.

When serving

Jesus is a

case of I'll

scratch your

back if you

scratch mine,

Lord.

And we

express that

in different

ways,

don't we?

We express

that hopefully,

Lord, I've

done so much

for you,

so surely

you are going

to give me

this thing

that I want.

We express

it fearfully,

I should have

done those

things for you,

Lord, and so

I'm expecting

an awful

time.

We express

that bitterly,

I did all

of those

things for you,

Lord, and you

have not done

this for me

that I wanted.

We think he

is like us,

don't we?

That he is a

host who serves

selectively,

a host who

chooses his

guests carefully

so that he

can climb up

some kind of

pride ladder,

associating only

with the great

and the good.

And we imagine

him like that.

And when we

imagine him

like that,

we become like

that too.

We become

tight, we

become selective

servers.

But the question

we've got to

ask is, is he

really like that?

Is that true

about him?

So thirdly

and lastly,

what makes a

great party

for Jesus

Christ?

What makes a

great party

for Jesus

Christ?

Jesus tells a

parable in

verses 15

to 24.

24.

And we're not

going to go

through it in

great detail

now.

But it's a

parable that

brings some

of the themes

of the first

two sections

together.

It's the story,

isn't it, of a

host who invites

some guests of

honour to his

party, but in

the end he has

to fill his

banquet hall to

invite the lowest

of society, the

poor, the

crippled, the

lame and the

blind.

And the key

thing to notice

about this

parable is that

those who

refuse the

invite, refuse

the invitation

simply because

they don't

want it.

It's just not

their idea of a

great party.

So they come up

with excuses,

don't they?

One, something

about property,

the other one,

oxen, the

other one's

sorting his

wedding out.

thanks but

no thanks,

Jesus.

They are

effectively saying

to the host,

aren't they,

that I've got

the invitation but

the party just

wouldn't be worth

my while.

I've got better

things to do.

On the social

calendar, the way

that we do

parties, Mr.

Host, is that

we need to get

something out of

it now.

And on the

social calendar,

this party is

not important to

me now.

And all three

of them vote

with their feet,

don't they?

It seems like

this host is no

longer socially

acceptable.

His seats of

honour are not

good enough for

them now.

They've got better

things to do

now.

Associating with

this host will

mean dishonour

rather than

honour now.

Because the

enjoyment of it

maybe is in the

pride of it and

nothing more.

And this is the

problem for so

many who get an

invitation to

Jesus' banquet

that our ideas

of a great party

don't match his.

They have decided

to receive Jesus'

gifts in this

life but think of

him as a bore.

They see him as

socially unacceptable,

as an oddball in

this world.

world.

He is no way to

climb the ladder

in this world

now.

He is no way to

find honour now.

And they won't

wait for honour

that is going to

come later.

And so life on

earth as they see

it, although it is

not perfect, is

enough.

Eternal life at

Jesus' banquet,

they know, without

even tasting it,

wouldn't please

them.

And this is the

whole point of the

three banquets, that

those who should be

at the banquet are

those who enter in

simply because they

want it.

They want to.

And this is how

Jesus runs his

banquet, with

guests who want

him and the

honour that he

will give to his

guests in the

end.

To sit in the

low seats now

is not a

problem.

With a host who

invites those who

have nothing to

give him in

return.

It's not an

I'll scratch you

back and I'll

scratch your back

and I'll scratch

my back, I'll

scratch your back

thing.

But a great party

for Jesus is

filled with people

who love it simply

because they're

there.

And they would be

happy to eat the

crumbs under the

table.

And he is a

great host.

And his parties

are so great

because he expects

no payment.

The story goes

of Captain

Jerry Lind and

navigator Major

David Maguire

who'd been on a

routine training

flight near a

base in

Oxfordshire.

As they came

back to base

though, their

plane suffered a

massive hydraulics

failure.

And they had

very little

control.

The operations

tower was telling

them over the

radio to eject.

But they knew

that ejecting

would mean

crashing the

plane into a

nearby village.

So Captain

Lind and Major

Maguire chose

to stay at the

controls to

steer the plane

clear of the

village.

They just

managed to

avoid it.

But by that

point it was

too late to

eject.

And they were

both killed in

the crash.

Now it wasn't

their fault that

the plane had

broken, was it?

And they

didn't owe

those people

anything.

They could have

ejected.

They paid

with their

lives without

expecting any

payment in

return.

And this is

what Jesus

loves about

hosting at

his banquet.

The joy he

gets from

serving the

lowest, from

serving sinners

who cannot

repay him, and

who wait for

God's reward.

Of being able

to invite the

worst of

sinners to

his banquet,

despite the

dishonour they

might bring to

him, and the

associations he

has with them,

and of being

willing to call

people like that

my brothers and

my sisters.

Because he

says, I can

wait for the

honour that is

due to me.

I can wait for

God's exaltation,

for God's

reward.

Now we're

almost finished,

but I just want

you to see that

this part of

Luke's gospel is

in a big middle

section where

Jesus journeys

towards Jerusalem.

And we call

this the travel

narrative section

of Luke's gospel.

And the journey

starts back in the

end of chapter

nine.

Please turn

there.

Chapter nine

verse 51.

And here's the

beginning of the

journey.

When the days

drew near for

him to be

taken up, he

set his face

to go to

Jerusalem.

So he's on

his way to

Jerusalem, isn't

he?

And this is the

journey to

Jerusalem.

But I've only

just seen this

until recently,

and I can't

believe I've

missed this

until now.

the journey

to Jerusalem,

Jerusalem is

actually only

a stop off.

It's kind of

like he's

visiting Jerusalem,

but that's not

the destination

that he's

heading for.

Look at that

verse again.

When the days

drew near for

him to be

taken up,

he set his

face to go

to Jerusalem.

He goes to

Jerusalem, and

yet his

journey is to

heaven, isn't

it, in his

ascension.

So he goes to

Jerusalem to be

killed by those

who should give

him honour,

because he

knows heaven is

coming.

He goes to

Jerusalem to

associate himself

with the lowest

in society,

upon a cross.

and he says,

I can wait

for heaven,

for my

exaltation

there.

He goes to

Jerusalem to

be spat on,

saying,

I can wait.

He goes to

Jerusalem to

be slapped,

saying,

I can wait.

He goes there

to face the

ultimate

dishonour

upon the

cross,

knowing that

he can wait.

He takes the

lowest seat,

and dies a

sinner's death,

looking to

heaven,

looking for

the reward

that the

father will

give him.

Saying all

along,

I can wait,

I can wait.

For any

true king,

if Jerusalem

was his

final destination,

his banquet

would have the

great and the

good there,

wouldn't it?

it would have

to be

sumptuous,

it would be

with the

elite of

society,

his last

meal,

something really

special,

maybe finish

it off with

a great

speech,

and as

much honour

as possible

in that

moment,

before he

died,

with a

lavish

funeral,

and accolades

from the

best in the

temple.

But he

wasn't looking

to Jerusalem,

he was

looking beyond

that,

wasn't he?

And he

could wait

for the

rewards and

the exaltation

that would

come.

And as we

come to

this humble

meal,

and as we

are at

this humble

party of

the church,

we need to

align our

expectations

and our

desires of

what a

great party

is,

with what

Jesus says

a great

party is.

to be

served by

a man

who was

rejected

and thought

of a

bore and

is still

hated today,

and to

eat with

him and

associate

with him

in the

lowest

places in

society.

But if

we will

come and

sit with

Jesus and

serve,

not selectively,

but serving

the lowest,

knowing that

we can wait

for the

exaltation

that we

will have

when Jesus

returns.

As we

eat this

meal this

morning,

we will

enjoy this

banquet and

we will

hear those

words,

Jesus saying

to us,

friend,

move up

higher.

As we

eat this

meal together

and as we

worship God

in the

church,

and as we

live the

Christian

life,

and as we

stand for

the truth

in our

workplaces,

in our

homes,

in our

families,

no one

will think

we are

honoured,

will they?

No one

will think

we are

special.

A little

piece of

bread and

some wine,

no one

will say

that's what

I call

a great

party.

But the

enjoyment of

this meal

is not in

the pride of

it now,

but in

simply being

here with

Jesus,

sitting with

him,

and waiting

for him

to say,

friend,

move up

higher in

the end.

And that

will be

hard,

won't it,

in our

lives,

in our

everyday

lives.

But taste

this meal

now and

know,

and hear

our host

saying,

it is

worth the

wait.

those who

exalt

themselves

will be

humbled,

but those

who humble

themselves

following

Christ

will be

exalted.

Let's

pray together.