God's Invitation

But we're going to be in Matthew chapter 22. Before we read, I just want to speak to the boys and girls for a couple of minutes just so we're all set for reading and knowing what this story is about.

Matthew 22 · chapter mention

Jesus is going to tell one of his many stories called parables and it's about an amazing invitation.

So quick show of hands, boys and girls, if you've ever been invited to a friend's house for a play date, put up your hands.

Okay, so that's lots of boys and girls. Excellent. Okay, who's ever been invited to a birthday party? Put up your hands.

Okay, lots of you. Okay, this one might mean less hands.

Who's ever been invited to a special kind of party, a fancy dress party? Anyone been invited to one of those?

Oh, a bit less. Oh, sun's been. So less people to a fancy dress party.

Who's ever been invited to a very special occasion like a wedding? Hands up if you've been to a wedding before.

Ah, so more weddings than fancy dress parties and weddings. Well, kind of different fancy dress, isn't it?

Now, okay, so you know what invitations are. You've enjoyed lots of them.

Let me ask, boys and girls, have any of you ever been invited to the Queen's house for tea?

No.

Were any of you at either of the fairly recent royal weddings?

No, any of the adults managed to hook themselves one of those invitations? No.

No.

This is what our story is about.

Jesus is going to say, you and I are given an invitation by God to something amazing.

Actually, to something even more amazing than a king's or a queen's wedding feast.

God gives us an invitation to know him and to enjoy him by trusting in Jesus.

And Jesus says, the kingdom of heaven, life with God is like the most amazing feast, the most amazing party ever.

Really, because God is there.

That's the best thing.

Heaven is going to be wonderful because Jesus will be there.

But like every invitation we get, we have two answers that we can possibly get.

So for all of you who've been to parties, you obviously at some point said, yes, I'd like to go.

Sometimes we have to say no because we're not able to go.

Maybe you're so popular you get two party invitations for the same day and you have to choose.

Sometimes we say no because we don't want to go.

So the Bible invites us, God invites us, Jesus invites us to the most important thing that you could ever imagine.

And all of us, however young or however old we are, we need to decide how we are going to respond to his invitation.

So in our story, we're going to find some people who say no to Jesus.

And we're going to find some people who say yes to Jesus.

And those people who say yes, they end up receiving all the joy.

They're part of the feast.

So boys and girls, our prayer for you is that you'd be those who would say yes to Jesus.

That you would understand the joy that he offers.

And so we'll read this story and you can think about the invitations you've had.

Think about the invitation that this king offers.

And most of all, think about how you want to respond to Jesus.

So let's read together from Matthew chapter 22.

Matthew 22 · chapter mention

Jesus spoke to them again in parables saying,

The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son.

He sent his servants to those who'd been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused to come.

Then he sent some more servants and said,

Tell those who have been invited that I have prepared my dinner.

My oxen and fattened cattle have been slaughtered and everything is ready.

Come to the wedding banquet.

But they paid no attention and went off.

One to his field, another to his business.

The rest seized his servants, ill-treated them and killed them.

The king was enraged.

He sent his army and destroyed those murderers and burned their city.

Then he said to his servants,

The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come.

Go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find.

So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, both good and bad.

And the wedding hall was filled with guests.

But when the king came in to see the guests,

he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes.

Friend, he asked,

How did you get in here without wedding clothes?

The man was speechless.

Then the king told the attendants,

Tie him hand and foot and throw him outside into the darkness,

where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

For many are invited, but few are chosen.

We're going to continue to discover more amazing grace in Matthew's gospel.

Grace, God's free and undeserved kindness to broken, sinful people such as ourselves.

Last week, the God of grace was inviting us to rest.

This week, the God of grace invites us to the feast.

So today's story, as we talked with the children,

in some ways has sort of normal elements that we recognize,

but also has an out of this world kind of aside to it as well,

because we've all received invitations.

Some of those have been expected.

Some have perhaps taken us by surprise.

We are familiar with the idea now of sending a save the date for a big event.

We know what it is when we receive an RSVP and we need to respond by a certain time.

We also know too that sometimes we receive invitations where there is an expected dress code,

perhaps a black tie event or something similar.

So we know what it is to find ourselves invited and to be part of a guest list.

But here, Jesus is reminding us of the wonderful thing about God's invitation

when He pictures an invitation from a king to the feast,

to the wedding feast that He is throwing for His Son.

As Jesus is telling the story and the people are thinking,

well, to be on that guest list would truly to be have made it.

We have arrived.

We have access to the highest honor and privilege if our king invites us to a feast.

So that's our setting for today,

the invitation to the wedding feast of a king for His Son.

And we want to think in this story, how do we see the grace of God through the story?

And how do we respond to the grace of God as we see different responses in the story?

Before we get into it, some important background questions to cover really quickly.

When does Jesus tell this story?

It's important to remember parables are not just free-floating stories.

They have a setting and a context.

In chapter 21, at the beginning, we're told of Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem,

riding on the donkey as God's promised servant king.

And this ushers in the week before the cross.

So triumphal entry into Jerusalem.

Seven days later, He will have been killed.

And so this week in between where this parable takes place is when the conflict

between Jesus and the religious leaders who oppose Him reaches its climax.

And that's important background.

Because who does Jesus tell this story to?

Verse 1 of chapter 22, it says,

Jesus spoke to them.

He's already been speaking to a particular group of people.

If you turn back to chapter 21 and verse 45,

when the chief priests and the Pharisees heard Jesus' parables,

they knew He was talking about them.

So there is a particular audience in mind,

this group who presumed that they were insiders.

Well, if anyone's in the kingdom of God, it's bound to be us.

And so Jesus tells stories that explode their spiritual religious pride.

They are the group who are resisting and rejecting Jesus.

And because of that, and we'll see this in the story,

they are not those who are part of God's kingdom.

Again, tied up with that, how does Jesus tell this story?

There are some extreme elements in the story.

Did you notice some of the more surprising language?

The king that sends an army to destroy murderers.

The attendants who bind someone hand and foot

and throw them out into the darkness.

How does Jesus tell this story?

He tells this story as God's true prophet.

Just like in the Old Testament,

here is Jesus the prophet announcing judgment

on those who are robbing God of His glory,

those who are dishonoring God as they dishonor His son Jesus.

And so this parable, like the Old Testament prophets,

is inviting the people to see the consequences

of rejecting God and His rule.

So why does Jesus tell this story?

Two reasons.

One, to show how wide God's invitation of grace goes out.

And we've seen this in the mission of Jesus,

how quick He is to welcome outsiders,

to welcome those who are rejected by others,

who are on the margins of society.

But in Jesus' mission, those outsiders

who recognize their spiritual need,

they are brought in.

Here, they're brought into the feast.

And so it's a reminder to us, again,

of just how wide God's invitation of grace is.

But He's also telling the stories we've already said

to make clear the consequences that come

from our response to God's King

and the invitation that He offers.

There's two consequences.

Either deadly destruction or joyful life.

There is no middle ground as the invitation to life with God goes out.

Now, let's think about this.

What is this story?

Let's look at the details together to see what we can learn.

Verse 2, Jesus said,

The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son.

So this is the king's feast.

And this feast represents the kingdom of heaven,

this kingdom that is dawned at the coming of Jesus.

And as we've seen in the life of Jesus,

invitations to be part of the kingdom,

to repent and believe, are going out.

And they're still going out.

We're still being invited to this feast today.

And as we see in the story,

as we see in the life of Jesus,

there are still two types of response.

One that says yes,

one that says no.

Now, in the time of Jesus,

it was typical when somebody was arranging a special event like a feast,

there would be a double invitation.

So this king would have to send out servants to say,

this wedding is going to take place so that he would get initial acceptance from those who were to be invited.

Kind of like the equivalent of our save the day.

It's coming in the future.

Are you going to come?

And then as the time for the wedding drew near,

as the food was ready,

another message would go out through,

I guess, through the kingdom perhaps,

saying, okay, now is the time.

That feast that you said you were going to come to,

now is the time to arrive.

And remember,

this is the king's feast

that we are being invited to,

or these folks in the story are being invited to.

So let's look at the king's invitations,

because there's two.

First of all, in verse 3,

he sent his servants to those who'd been invited to the banquet

to tell them to come.

So that's standard practice.

Everything's ready.

Now's the time to come.

And that makes what happens next so outrageous.

They refused to come.

That's a shocking refusal.

They've been invited into joy, honor, privilege,

and they simply turn their back.

But the king is not done.

There's a second invitation that goes out to this group.

He sent more servants,

and he said,

tell those who've been invited that I've prepared my dinner.

My oxen and fattened calf have been slaughtered,

and everything is ready.

Come to the wedding banquet.

Here is insight into the incredible patience

and mercy and grace of God.

And grace of God is pictured in this king.

He doesn't simply do away with these people who have treated him so badly.

Rather, he highlights the greatness of what's in store.

He's saying,

there's nothing but the best.

I have done everything to get this wonderful feast ready.

Please come.

He's giving them every opportunity,

every invitation.

But despite that,

the king is rejected.

Verse 5,

they paid no attention

and went off one to his field,

another to his business.

The rest seized his servants,

ill-treated them,

and killed them.

Again,

if we put ourselves in the crowd,

as Jesus tells this story,

this would have created a sense of high scandal.

In an honor and shame culture,

you just do not do this to anybody,

never mind the king.

Here is the glory of the king

and his feast being trampled upon

and being regarded as nothing.

As one group says,

do you know what?

We've got more important things to do.

So they ignore the invitation.

And then you have the other group

who begin violent attacks on the king's servants

and in doing so,

are engaged in a violent attack on the king

and his honor.

Here is open rebellion.

Here is down with the king.

Here is let's find ways to dishonor

this king who has invited us

to receive his grace and kindness.

And then in verses 7 and 10,

we see the king's responses,

and there are two.

Verse 7,

the king was enraged.

He sent his army

and destroyed those murderers

and burned their city.

destruction is one response.

The king has been rejected,

abused,

attacked.

And remember the context.

This is during the time

when the religious leaders

are plotting to kill Jesus.

But that very graphic language

stands out to us

and is a clue for us

that Jesus is speaking as a prophet,

that this is about the kingdom of heaven.

This isn't simply a nice story

about a wedding feast.

And this is all about

how the people are responding

to Jesus.

So there's that first response

of destruction,

but then there's the second response

from verse 8 to verse 10.

He said to his servants,

the wedding banquet is ready,

but those I invited

did not deserve to come.

Go to the street corners

and invite to the banquet

anyone you find.

So the servants went out

into the streets

and gathered all the people

they could find,

both good and bad,

and the wedding hall

was filled with guests.

So here is incredible grace

and kindness.

He throws wide open

the invitation to the feast,

to honor, to joy, and to glory.

It's open to anyone

who will come.

Both good and bad are here.

That would have been

a great ending

if we were looking

for a happily ever after,

wouldn't it?

Here is the feast beginning

and the crowds

have filled up the space.

But as Jesus sometimes does

with his parables,

he has a sting in the tail.

There is this end-of-story stress,

and we see it in verse 11 onwards

with the king's demand.

When the king came in

to see the guests,

he noticed a man there

who was not wearing

wedding clothes.

Friend, he asked,

how did you get in here

without wedding clothes?

The man was speechless.

Whether good or bad,

everyone knows

there is a dress code.

The people at the feast

must do two things.

They must receive

the invitation,

and they must follow

the demands of the invitation,

so they must dress appropriately.

So this man here,

he is confronted.

He has chosen

not to wear

the appropriate clothing,

and he knows

he is guilty.

He knows

he has done wrong.

I have a recurring dream,

which is something

of a nightmare,

in which I'm invited

to speak

in a church,

and I turn up

in my pajamas.

Do you know,

I'm very grateful

I can wake up

at that point

and realize

this is just a horrible dream.

The outcome

of wearing

the wrong clothes

in this story

is no laughing matter,

though, is it?

The outcome

is to be thrown out

to experience

the king's judgment

for failing

to meet

the king's demands,

and Jesus concludes

in verse 14,

for many are invited,

but few are chosen.

The invitation

to the kingdom of heaven

goes far and wide,

but many refuse

to accept,

and many refuse

to follow its demands.

So that's the story.

And what I want to do now

is to think briefly

about what lessons

can we learn

from the main characters.

I want us to think

about this king

and to see that God

invites us

to enjoy his grace

through Jesus.

Even the setting

of this story,

the fact that it's

a wedding feast

and it's the king's

wedding feast,

reminds us

of the privilege

and the honor

to which we are called.

Invited to know God

is the greatest privilege

imaginable.

And then we think about

who's telling the story.

Here's Jesus,

and Jesus in his life

was constantly

eating with people,

and those were meals

with a mission.

As he invited the poor,

as he invited the despised,

as he invited the physically

and spiritually needy

to feast with him,

they were feasting

with God's king.

It's a great picture

of that invitation of grace

that's open to us all.

Jesus is still inviting us

to enjoy a full life,

a joyful life,

with God

by faith

in him.

In this parable,

the king speaks

about the great cost

that he has gone to

to prepare the feast.

Now,

we know for us

God's grace,

God's kindness

comes to us

as a free gift.

It's free for us

to receive.

But there was a cost

to Jesus,

which Jesus

was well aware of.

Here he is

in this last week

before the cross.

And God had chosen

for his son

to walk that path

of suffering

and death

so that we might

be forgiven,

so that we might

be clothed

in the perfect righteousness

of Jesus Christ,

so that we might,

by faith,

receive the hospitality

of the king,

so that we might feast

and have real joy.

We have a remarkable

God

pictured here

as this king,

a king who is willing

to overlook

the shame

that we bring on him,

a king who is willing

to overlook

the rejection

and the disobedience

shown to him.

Day by day,

he is willing

and patient

to forgive us

and to show us grace.

So there is hope

for any of us

here today,

whatever our past sin

and our past shame.

However,

in the past,

we may have ignored

the call of Jesus.

He is willing

to forgive

and to save

and to bring you

to the feast.

There's a great picture

in verse 9

of the servants

being sent

to the street corners.

This king

who is willing

to invite any,

to show honor

and to extend joy

to any,

whoever

we might be.

We might be used

to missing out

when invitations

are handed out.

We might be used

to not earning

the approval

of others,

of having people

think not much

of us

and perhaps we don't

think much

of ourselves.

But the good news

of God's grace

is that in Christ

we don't have to fight

to earn God's approval.

God approves

of us

when we are in Christ

and He gives us

honor

and He welcomes us.

And so we find

in this king

a picture of God

and a God

who invites us

to enjoy His grace

through Jesus.

But we also have

attention drawn

to those first guests

who are invited

who refuse

to come to the feast.

And that reminds us

that rejecting

the invitation

of God's grace

leads to

deadly destruction.

We've already said it.

Jesus as God's prophet

is announcing judgment.

Jesus as God's king

has the authority

to judge.

And here He is speaking

a solemn word

to those who

persistently

and deliberately,

violently

were opposing

and rejecting Him

and we'd conspire

together to have

Him murdered.

So Jesus is speaking

to the Pharisees

but there are lessons

for each one of us.

So as we think

about the response

of these guests,

examine yourself,

examine your heart.

Do I recognize

any of these attitudes

in my own heart

and life?

If you're here today

and you're not a Christian,

do you see

the danger

through the story

of that position?

Let's look at

the different ways

people reject

the king's invitation

which is a picture

ultimately

of rejecting Jesus.

First,

there is the group

that ignore Him.

Verse 5,

they pay no attention.

One goes off

to his field,

another to his business.

Too busy

for their king.

I wonder today

if any of us

find ourselves

so busy

with life,

so busy

with work

and responsibilities

that we've never

really taken the time

to think carefully

for ourselves

about

who is Jesus

and what has Jesus done?

Because the claims

that He makes

and the actions

that He takes

are so profound

that they demand

our response.

Neil Postman

a number of years ago

wrote a book

called

Amusing Ourselves

Today.

It's entirely possible

spiritually

to be so busy

with pleasure

or so busy

working ourselves

to death

that we never

take time

to think about

the realities

of eternity.

There are

serious implications

for putting

other things

ahead

of this

invitation.

As Jesus

said another time,

what good is it

to gain the whole world

but lose

your eternal soul?

What good is it

for these men

to go off

to their fields

to work

but then

to find the king

who comes

to destroy them

for their

resistance

of him?

So we can

reject Jesus

simply by ignoring

him and his claims.

There's another

way to reject

Jesus

and that's to

deliberately

rebel

against the king

and that's what

we see in verse 6

when they seize

the king's servants

ill-treat them

and kill

them.

R.C.

Sproul

talks about

the sin

of cosmic

treason.

God is the king

we owe

our allegiance

and honour

to

but in our

own hearts

we can be so

quick to try

and remove

God from the

throne of our

lives so that

we can occupy

that place.

God has

made us

so that we

would know

and enjoy

and give

him glory

in our

lives

but we

can

deliberately

rob God

of glory

because we

want life

to be

about us.

We like

Adam

and like

Eve in the

garden

can believe

the lie

that true

freedom,

true happiness

is found

in leaving

God and

his word

behind

in living

and setting

our own

rules

and setting

our own

direction

salvation.

So that

we can

in our

own

mind

just like

the people

in this

story

we can

find

ourselves

at war

with

God

hostile

to him

not wanting

to hear

his claims

or demands

because we

are a rival

king

to God.

But that's

not the

only way

to reject

God's

grace

in the

sending

of Jesus.

There's

one last

way and

that's

represented

by the

man who

wasn't

wearing

the

wedding

clothes.

We

can

resist

the

king's

demands.

Clearly

there was

the expectation

that the

guests would

wear

appropriate

clothing.

Everybody

else in

the feast

good and

bad

they were

doing that

except for

this one

representative

man who

in his

pride has

said I

will make

my own

path.

I will

set my

own

standard

of

goodness.

And we

can do

that in

our own

lives when

we get it

into our

heads that

our goodness

or our

religion are

our way to

pay our

way into

the kingdom

of God.

Where we

fail to believe

that it's by

grace we're

saved through

faith and

instead we

are persuaded

that we

have to

earn it

and that

we can

by ourselves

earn it.

In which

case we

of necessity

find ourselves

saying I

don't need

Jesus or I

need Jesus but

I also need to

contribute to

my salvation

and it's

pride.

And it's

resisting the

demands of a

king who

simply says

come and

receive what

I have

provided.

Receive the

wedding clothes

which when we

think about how

it's pictured in

the New Testament

is to put on

the righteousness

of Christ.

To receive what

he has done for

us on the

cross and to

humbly accept

that as a

gift.

This story

makes it very

clear for us

that with any

invitation there

is an accepted

or a rejected

choice.

We either say

yes to Jesus

or no to

Jesus.

Jesus himself

said he who

is not for

me is against

me.

There is no

neutral ground,

there is no

sitting on the

fence when it

comes to

Jesus.

And so the

shocking elements

of this story

Jesus gives to

us in order to

wake us up.

Just like the

prophets of the

Old Testament,

they brought

news of

impending judgment

to shock the

people into

repentance and

faith.

Jesus wants us

to see the

horror of

ignoring and

rebelling against

and resisting

our good and

gracious King.

And he wants

to show us the

urgency of our

need to respond

positively to

Jesus.

One of the

things that this

story reminds us

of is that grace

is only grace if

the outcome should

be different.

By rights,

because of our

rebellion against

God, we should

all experience

judgment.

But only in

Jesus is there

grace and

salvation.

And so we need

to receive that

invitation.

And that takes us

to our last

group.

The group that

find themselves in

the feast.

And they remind us

that receiving the

invitation of God's

grace leads to

joyful life.

The story reminds

us that God's

guest list is full

of surprises.

Jesus' life on

earth and his

mission shows us

that God's guest

list is full of

surprises.

Now we're told

anyone, verse 10,

both good and bad,

in the world's eyes

or indeed in our

own eyes, if we

believe in Jesus,

we will be in

the feast.

Because it's about

grace and it's not

about merit.

It's not about rank

or status.

It's about, do I

see my need?

Do I trust the

goodness of God,

my King, and the

sending of Jesus,

his Saviour, to

forgive my sin and

to give me new

life?

How do we enter

the feast?

We be thinking

about God's grace,

but what's our

part?

There's faith

involved, isn't

there?

We need in the

first place to say

yes to the

invitation.

We need to say

yes that we want

to come to

Jesus, that we

want to have him

as our Lord, that

we trust that what

he did on the

cross, he did for

me to deal with

my sin, to give

me new life with

God.

And we also, as

the story shows us,

we need to obey

the dress code.

We need to come

dressed in the

right way.

And that's not

coming dressed in

our own goodness.

We don't come

saying, well, look

at my good deeds, I

should be in the

kingdom of heaven.

And we come

clothed in the

righteousness of

Christ.

It takes us back

to that great

exchange that

happens at the

cross.

Jesus takes our

sin and he

gifts us his

perfect record of

righteousness.

God sees us in

Christ, perfectly

righteous in him so

that we are able to

enjoy life with God.

We can be welcomed

and accepted when we

are in Christ.

And because of that,

we get to enjoy life

in the feast.

It's a great picture of

the kingdom of heaven,

isn't it?

It reminds us of the

joy that we have as

Christians.

I read an article by a

guy called Randy

Alcorn this week and he

said, Christianity is

not a frowning

context.

Sometimes, perhaps

that's the image or

the message that we

portray to the

world.

Rather, Jesus is

saying, by faith in

him we enter this

feast.

We are brought into

this good news of

great joy.

We have this prospect

of happiness now and

eternal happiness to

follow.

So that actually the

joy that we have as

Christians should be a

crucial part of our

mission.

As we're inviting

others to come to

Jesus, people should

be saying, what's the

basis for your hope?

What's the basis for

your joy?

This is different from

the kind of happiness

that I'm pursuing which

comes and goes.

Yours seems lasting

and solid.

So joy is part of our

mission because joy is

our ultimate destination.

And joy is what we

have now when our

faith is in Jesus.

God in Jesus, his son,

invites us to the

feast.

The guests here were

surprised by the

invitation of the king.

And it's sometimes,

isn't it, it's the

surprising invitations

that bring us surprising

and wonderful joy.

We still remember and

talk about that time

years ago when we were

on holiday in Corsica,

one of the French

islands and we'd gone

for a day trip to a

fairly remote beach

and we'd missed the

bus and so we were

stranded and hitchhiking

in this really remote

part of Corsica when

somebody drove along

who'd just been back

from a fishing trip.

And it turned out he

was the ex-chief of

police in Corsica, a

man who was very both

familiar and fond of

Glasgow.

And so there was a

great chat and then we

got invited back to his

mansion.

And we had a wonderful

dinner with his family

and we stayed in touch

for a number of years

and it was a wonderful

and surprising invitation.

God in his mercy and his

grace invites us to so

much more than that,

doesn't he?

To a feast that we don't

deserve, a feast that we

don't need to earn the

invitation for.

He has sent his son

Jesus, he has paid the

great cost to invite us to

the feast, to provide that

clothing of his

righteousness so we can

come in and know our

God.

To have that joy that

begins now, to have that

joy that lasts for all

eternity.

So today, will you come?

Will you come to this

feast?

Will you enjoy life with

God through faith in Jesus?

And if that's where you're

at, if you're already

feasting on that joy, will

you share that invitation

with others, continuing

that mission to bring

others to know the joy

there is in Jesus?

Thanks.

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