The Great Banquet

I just want to say welcome again to Watermark.

We're so happy that you're here worshiping with us this morning.

We just want to take a couple of minutes and turn around and say good morning to your neighbors

and say Jesus loves you.

Thank you.

You may be seated.

Good morning, Watermark.

How are you?

Hi.

My name is Natalie, and I'm the coordinator of children's ministry here at Watermark.

And so welcome this morning.

We're excited to have you here.

Hi, I'm Melanie Case, and I help with Watermark kids as well.

And so we are excited to kick off this fall.

We have a new curriculum.

It's called the Gospel Project for Kids, and we are excited about it.

There's a lot of modern media, which we know the kids just love.

And so it's visually stimulating, and it's just focused on Jesus Christ,

which we believe here at Watermark to be just the fundamentals of our faith.

And so we wanted to give you a sneak preview.

So watch now.

If this is your first time to Watermark or your third or fourth time,

you realize that we do everything with the family engaged because we feel like it is a family,

and kids need to be involved with the parents, and they need to see the parents' faith,

and they need to see that lived out, and they need to be able to ask a lot of questions.

And so we just feel like that is some of you walking in going, that's crazy.

Tim and Huang are looking at me like, where the heck do we sit right now?

Come on in, guys.

But the kids are engaged, and then they will leave.

But we do crazy things because we feel like we're called to be a family in that sense.

And so I'm going to try something very crazy here.

I would like to ask all the kids who are going to go to Kids Club, I need your help.

I have a problem.

So if you're going to go to Kids Club, will you kids come up here?

I have 300 pieces of chocolate candy I can't eat by myself, but that's not my problem.

Okay, so kids, will you come on up here for me, please?

Come on, guys.

All the kids, come on up here.

Okay, and just kind of sit right there.

Good job.

Well, I can tell who's the most eager ones.

Hey, Geraldine.

Hey, Aurora.

How are you?

What a beautiful dress.

Be nice to your sister, okay?

How are you guys doing?

Good.

Ryder, what are you eating?

Apple.

Apple, okay.

Do you have some too, Willow?

No?

Okay.

Okay, guys, I need your help, okay?

Can you help me?

Okay, okay.

This is what I need.

I'm getting old, and this summer, I was able to travel to many different countries.

Oh, yeah, and in these countries, we used a lot of different money, and some of the money

is better than other money, as your parents can tell you that, but I get confused in how

much the money is worth, so can you help me?

Please?

Okay, so I got some Texas money here.

Okay?

U.S. money, okay?

Okay.

Okay, so this is, this is, so I walked around, and this is a brand new $20 bill.

Does anybody know how much this is worth?

In Hong Kong dollars.

What is it?

Approximately, like $145 to $160.

That's great.

So I, but I forget sometimes, so this is worth like $160, right?

Yeah.

So what if I just take it like this, and I fold it, and put all these creases in it, then

I pull it out.

How much is it worth now?

How much?

Same.

Same.

Okay, so what if I take this dollar bill, and I just, and I rub it all over the carpet

here, and I get dirty stuff all over it?

How much is it worth now?

Same.

Are you telling me the truth?

Yeah.

Okay, what if I do this?

And I just squeeze it up, then I pull it back.

How much is this worth now?

You know the, you know, you know the Bible?

The Bible says that you and I are worth a lot of money.

And that God loves you so much, and the Bible says that no matter what happens in your life,

no matter how many mistakes you make, no matter how many scars you have on you, no matter

how many marks you have on you, that that doesn't change how much you're worth to God.

Because no matter what happens in your life, you're worth everything to God.

Did you know that?

Sometimes we forget.

Sometimes we make mistakes, and we think God doesn't love us.

But the Bible says that God always loves us, no matter how many marks we have on us.

Okay.

Who wants this?

Me!

Adele, I want to give that to you, okay?

Okay.

Hey, guys, will you pray with me?

Let's pray.

Dear God, thank you for this day.

Thank you for your son, Jesus.

Thank you that no matter what we do, you still love us.

You still sent Jesus for us.

Father, help us to love you.

Help us to love our friends.

We love you.

Amen.

Thank you so much, guys.

And I have some chocolate here.

Does anybody want to help me get rid of this?

How much is this chocolate worth?

Okay, I'm going to give this to a teacher, and the teacher's going to take this chocolate

out.

Kids Club, all the kids go to one big room, and then after you spend your time in your big

room, you go to your small classrooms, right?

And the youth, youth are going to dismiss, and they're going to go with Eric, okay?

Okay, so we'll see, you guys.

Watermark kids are dismissed.

Today's scripture comes from the Book of Isaiah and Gospel of Luke.

Please follow along in your bulletin.

The Lord of hosts will prepare a lavish banquet for all the people on this mountain, a banquet

of aged wine, choice pieces with marrow, and refined aged wine.

And on this mountain, he will swallow up the covering which is over all peoples, even the

veil which is stretched over all nations.

He will swallow up death for all time, and the Lord God will wipe tears away from all faces.

And he will remove the reproach of his people from all the earth.

For the Lord has spoken, and it will be said in that day, Behold, this is our God for whom

we have waited, that he might save us.

This is the Lord for whom we have waited.

Let us rejoice and be glad in his salvation.

And he was passing through from one city and village to another, teaching and proceeding

on his way to Jerusalem.

And someone said to him, Lord, are there just a few who are being saved?

And he said to them, Strive to enter through the narrow door.

For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able.

And they will come from east and west, and from north and south, and will recline at the

table of the kingdom of God.

And behold, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.

It happened that when he went into the house of one of the leaders of the Pharisees, on the

Sabbath to eat bread, they were watching him closely.

When one of those who were reclining at the table with him heard this, he said to him,

Blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God.

But he said to him, A man was giving a big dinner, and he invited many.

And at the dinner hour, he sent his slave to say to those who had been invited,

Come, for everything is ready now.

But they all alike began to make excuses.

The first one said to him, I have bought a piece of land, and I need to go out and look

at it.

Please consider me excused.

Another one said, I have bought five yukes of us, and I am going to try them out.

Please consider me excused.

Another one said, I have married a wife, and for that reason, I cannot come.

And the slave came back and reported this to the master.

Then the head of the household became angry and said to his slave, Go out at once into

the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in here the poor and crippled and blind and

lame.

And the slave said, Master, what you have commanded has been done, and still there is room.

And the master said to the slave, Go out into the highways and along the hedges, and compel

them to come in, so that my house may be filled.

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

This is God's word.

How's everybody going?

It's quiet.

I didn't know how that Texas money comment would go across, but you know, got to try at

least once.

Okay.

I didn't hear a reply.

How's everybody doing?

How you guys doing?

Good?

Good.

Okay.

You know, I don't know how you feel about the messages we've been listening to and talking

about in Luke.

I was talking to a guy this week.

I promised that if you and I ever talk and I use you as an example, I will ask you first

if I could use you as an example, because I know people don't want to talk to me anymore

because they're afraid they're going to be an example.

And we talked about the passages we've been studying.

And he said to me, he said, man, this is really, these are really, these are really difficult.

I said, well, what do you mean?

He goes, well, I just feel like I've got my Christian life down and I know how to do what,

when, where, and I can have my pattern into my schedule.

And if I go this on Sunday and I do this for community group on Friday and I hang out

with these people on Wednesday, that's my Christian life.

But the passages we're talking about, they're dealing with our heart.

And Jesus is looking at people's heart and he goes, man, I realized really quickly that

I can do all the right things, but have the wrong heart.

And it seems to me as we look at the gospels that Jesus is always going after our motives.

I mean, he doesn't just look at our actions.

He doesn't want us just to have all our ducks in a row, but he's looking at our heart.

And I think that's the killer for me because I realized that I can do things very, very

well and on the outside look perfect, but my heart can be a wreck.

I don't know if you struggle with that.

The Bible says we all struggle with that.

And the passages we've been looking at make it very clear that Jesus wants our heart.

He wants us.

He doesn't just want us to obey.

The last several chapters and then this summer when we did the Proverbs study, we've been talking

about the kingdom of God.

And today we continue talking about the kingdom of God in this passage.

It's very clear.

And what you see in this passage is that Jesus says the kingdom of God is going to be this

massive party.

It's going to be this incredible party.

We see it in the Isaiah passage that you read.

It was 700 years before the story happens today.

We see it in this story.

And we see it throughout all the Bible, banquets and parties and feasts.

Jesus' first miracle was at a banquet.

He turned water to wine and he talks about parties over and over and over.

And it seems like if we look at heaven, if we take a picture of the Bible, it talks about

meals and dinners and parties and banquets hundreds and hundreds of times.

And it's almost as if it's like human history from scripture is one party after another party

after another party.

It starts in the garden and it moves to weddings and Passovers and communions and to the last

supper.

And we're told that all of these parties that we're going to be a part of, all of these parties

pale in comparison to the party that God is going to throw you in heaven when you get

there and spend time with him as his children.

I actually started thinking about this sermon this week and I started thinking about maybe

I would start off with a white piece of paper in everybody's chair and ask you two questions.

The first question I wanted to ask you is what will heaven be like?

And have you write out your thoughts here?

The second question I wanted to ask you is will you be there?

Because in this passage today, Jesus is talking about the kingdom and he's talking about people

and he's talking to the leaders, the officials, the rich, the wealthy, the powerful.

He's talking to the power brokers of his time and he's looking at their heart.

He gets this really deep discussion and all of a sudden somebody shouts out, I don't know

if you have an uncle like this in your family.

I think every family has an uncle like this.

He just says something off the tip of his tongue and you're looking at him like, where

did that come from?

But this guy yells out as his leader after he hears this because there's a lot of tension

in this party because Jesus is talking about the heart.

And this leader stands up and he yells out, blessed is everyone who eats bread in the kingdom

of God.

Now we don't know it when we read it today, but back then that had a lot of assumptions

and a lot of meanings.

When he said that and in that people that he was talking to, everybody, everybody in this

party would have answered question number two, are you going to be there?

A hundred percent yes.

The audience that Jesus was talking to today, they knew without a shadow of a doubt that

they were going to be in heaven.

I mean, they did everything right.

They were worthy.

They kept God's word.

They kept the commandments perfectly.

They did all the right things.

They went to church.

They tithed.

They did all the studies.

They finished the Beth Moore study and a crusade study and a navigator study and they did all

those studies.

In fact, some of them probably wrote those studies.

But there was this assumption that we, at this table, for sure, we're the family of God.

We're going to be in heaven.

And again, Jesus takes what we think and what we assume and he tells a story.

And every time he tells a story, it's like he takes a knife and he cuts open their chest

and he shows them their hearts and he shows us our hearts and he shows us about the kingdom

of God.

He shows us about this great banquet in heaven.

He shows us about heaven.

And there's three things I want to look at really briefly here because we could talk about

this forever and I usually do talk longer than I need to as I'm reminded constantly by my wife.

I love you, honey.

But I want to look at three things this passage tells us today about the kingdom of God, about

heaven, about the banquet that we're all going to eat.

The first thing I think it tells us is that the kingdom of God is now, but not yet.

The next thing I think it tells us is that there is an invite that goes out and it's freely

offered to everybody.

And the last thing that I want to look at in this passage today is that the kingdom of

God and the invite that goes out demands a response.

But we all get this invite and we got to do something with it.

We just can't stick it aside in our box or we can not look at it, but it demands a response.

So let's look in this passage.

Verse 16.

And he said to him, a man was giving a big dinner in Greek, a massive, so they use watermark

terms, a massive feast.

And he invited many.

Now when he did parties in Jesus' day, it took at least two invitations.

One would go out hours or days or weeks or months ahead.

It depended on how big the party was going to be and how many people were going to be

invited.

And the slave or the servant would take that invite to the person.

And the person would open it up and they would look at it and immediately they would

respond.

Of course, I'm going to go.

That's incredible.

I'm going to be there.

He throws great parties.

It's an amazing place.

Why would I not want to miss the event of the year?

And so this invite goes out.

The slaves or the helpers send it out to everybody and everybody says, yes, we'll do it.

Now the real work happens.

The master goes back home and he starts cooking and preparing and putting things together.

And I don't know how long does it take.

I don't know.

It depends on how big the party is.

How long is the party going to last?

But it could take a long time.

And as he's doing that, people are going, wow, what's this party going to be like?

I don't know.

I've heard it's great.

I heard he throws incredible parties.

I wanted to get into his party last year, but I couldn't get into it.

But he throws incredible, incredible parties.

How big is it going to be?

I don't know, but it's going to be amazing.

And as people started to talk and they speculated, there would be a wait.

There would be a period of time when people waited and guessed and asked questions.

Today, I forgot to embarrass her, is my daughter Rachel's 13th birthday.

Okay, so we had 13 13-year-olds spend the night at my house.

It was out of control.

I mean, I just didn't realize how much girls ate.

I thought that guys ate a lot, but 13-year-old girls, I think I need to take a love offering

just to fill up our refrigerator because our house is like a pair of locusts or 13 locusts.

Just went through and just, if it wasn't made out of wood or steel, they got eight, right?

And so Rachel had this 13th birthday party and she has been talking about this 13th party

for a long time.

And my question for you is, how long do you think she's been talking about it?

One day?

A year.

When I turn 13, this is what I want to do.

When I turn 13, this is who I want to have over.

Can I do this?

Can I do that?

Can I have this type of food?

What kind of food should I have?

I don't know if I can wait that long because these are the people I want to invite

and this is what I want to do and this is what I want to see happen.

Can I do that?

And she just talked about it all the time.

And it lasted 10 hours, literally.

But she was so consumed with that party.

I was in my room studying and I smelled cake.

And I walked into the kitchen and when Christina wasn't looking, I took my finger

and I dipped it and ate it.

I'm sorry, honey.

And it was good.

And I asked her, how much longer until the cake?

And she said, tomorrow.

And I realized that you and I are terrible, terrible waiters.

I mean, there's something in human nature that we do not like to wait at all.

Elevators, lines, escalators, parking places.

We just hate waiting.

C.S. Lewis says that we are terrible waiters.

He says we live in this shadow time.

That we see pieces of heaven.

We see glimpses of glory.

And we want it.

But we don't get it because we have to wait.

And he says that we live in this time of now and not yet in this shadow lands.

Jesus talks about it often in the scriptures.

I mean, every time he talks about heaven, he does a miracle.

And these miracles are called sign miracles.

And what he means by sign miracles is it points us to heaven.

It points us to God.

It points us to the banquet.

It shows us how things are going to be in the end times and what things are supposed to be like.

But now we just see a shadow of it.

I mean, we see it truly.

But we don't see it fully.

We see grace.

We see mercy.

We see love.

It comes into our lives.

We see people's lives totally satisfied.

People's lives totally changed by the gospel.

But it's like we live in this shadow because we still feel hungry.

We still feel anxious.

We still feel scared.

We see sunrises, birth, love, community, redemption.

Things that point us to heaven.

Things that say, this is what heaven's going to be like.

But we see just a glimpse of it.

And we're left waiting.

And we're left wondering.

And we're left asking questions.

We live in the now and not yet.

Have you ever felt that tension?

Have you ever felt God enter into the now and not yet and show you a little piece of heaven?

I saw a piece of heaven three years ago in an ICU room.

Good friends of ours, Wayne and Alice.

Wayne was a doctor in Shanghai.

And Wayne one day went to pick up his child.

And as he picked him up and lifted him up, his back snapped, broken too.

He fell to the floor in incredible pain.

They took him to the hospital in Shanghai.

They evac'd him here to the ICU at Adventist.

We were visiting them and it was terrible.

Cancer throughout his whole body.

Spine eaten to pieces.

There's no chance he's going to leave that ICU.

Systems start to fail one after another.

We visit and he goes, hey, can you do me a favor?

I'm like, okay, what is it?

He goes, I want you to renew our wedding vows.

I want you to come back tomorrow.

And I want you to renew our wedding vows.

So it's me and Wayne and Alice, his wife, and Christina and the brother.

And it's ICU room.

And as we get there and as Christina, you know, you've never seen me cry, right?

So I don't cry, but what am I thinking?

Christina, she's a wimp because she's behind the camera.

So you can't see her crying, but you can tell that she's crying.

And we start to talk and Wayne looks at Alice and he goes, you know, I just need to apologize to you.

Because I've been so selfish.

I said I've been doing these things for the kids and for you, but it's really been about me.

And I've neglected our family.

I've neglected you.

Glimpses of heaven coming in.

Will you forgive me?

Redemption.

Forgiveness.

Glimpses of heaven coming in.

I mean, I feel like I'm sitting in this place and it's like holy place.

Like God is here.

In the now and not yet.

Christina's just over there filming.

Then he goes, I want to sing a song.

And I'm like, oh, dude, you're killing me.

Because I'm just thinking I'm biting my lip and I'm pinching myself and I'm trying to do everything I can not to cry.

But I'm seeing heaven.

I'm seeing redemption.

I'm seeing forgiveness.

I'm seeing renewal.

I'm seeing things as they are, but I'm seeing just a glimpse of it.

We all do.

Sometimes we're just not looking for it.

They do their vows.

It's incredible.

I'm weeping.

He's weeping.

The brother's weeping.

Alice is weeping.

Christina's hiding behind the camera.

It looks like she's weeping because the film's going like this.

The evac.

Wayne to the States.

Emergency.

Send him to Cleveland Clinic because it's getting worse and everything's shutting down.

And all of a sudden, he starts to heal.

Glimpses.

Of heaven.

His body starts to reject the cancer.

His back strengthens.

He starts to walk.

Glimpses.

Of heaven.

Now he's holding his kids and he's throwing them up.

And he's a doctor again in Philadelphia.

And he's doing all these things.

And when that moment I look at it and I think about it, I say God was there.

God was doing something.

God was changing people's lives.

We're living in the now and not yet.

God was changing people's lives.

The question is, can we wait?

Because what we see is amazing, but it's nothing compared to heaven.

The kingdom points us that it is now and not yet.

Verse 17.

And at the dinner hour, the slave said to those who had been invited,

come, for everything is ready now.

Come, for everything is ready.

It's the second invite.

The meal is ready.

Everybody's supposed to go there.

The second invite comes out.

And we see in this passage that the invite goes out broadly.

It goes out to everybody.

We see it in verse 16 and verse 17 and verse 21 and verse 23.

The invite goes out to everyone.

Now remember, Jesus is only talking to guys who thought that they were going to

only be the people in heaven.

The Pharisees thought they were the only ones in heaven.

And Jesus is talking to them about this invite that goes out.

You ever walk down the street and you see somebody?

Maybe somebody in your office.

And you go, you know, there's no way they're going to come to Christ.

They're just too mean.

They're just too rich.

There's no way they're going to ever hear about Christ.

These are the verses, or these are the people in verses 21 and 23.

Maybe we're walking down the street.

We see a Muslim.

He's dressed in his Muslim garb.

And we want to share with him.

But we go, no way, no way.

Maybe we see a politician or a lawyer or a banker or someone who's driving a

really cool, fast car, and they're really into themselves.

And we say, there's no way he needs the gospel.

There's no reason why I should share with him.

There's nothing that he needs that the gospel has to offer.

Maybe it's a girl holding the hand of her female lover, and you see them walking

down, and there's something inside of you that says, I should share the gospel with her.

But then you realize there's no way.

She hates Christians.

But the passage says that the minute we do this, the minute we take away the power of

the invite, we de-gospel ourselves.

I know it's a word we made up here, but we basically detach ourselves from the power of

the gospel.

The minute we look at somebody and we say, you know, there's no way that the gospel has

anything they need, there's no way that we could talk to them.

There's no way that the gospel can change them.

The minute we do that, we forget the power of the invite, and we forget that the invite

is for everybody, and we forget that the master has asked you and I to take the invite to

everybody.

I mean, we're called to share this message everywhere.

You know, in Jesus' day, the guys he's talking to right now, they thought of you and me

is firewood for hell.

The only reason that God would create Gentiles was because hell was a fire and it needed firewood.

But we see in the book of Acts that the invite goes out.

And it changes everything.

It's why you and I are here right now, because the message won out.

Verse 17, at the dinner hour, he sent his slave to say to those who had been invited,

come, for everything is ready now.

The party, the kingdom, it requires nothing.

Did you hear that?

I mean, I know that is a strange concept for us, because we're doers and movers and type

A people, but the passage says that the party requires nothing from us.

It says that God has provided everything.

It's only for us to be received.

We can't do anything.

He wants to give this thing to us.

He offers us salvation because he's the only one who will take the credit.

And I have a hard time with this, guys, because when I get invited to a party, what do I say?

What do you say?

If you get invited to a party, what do you say?

After you say thank you, what's the next thing you say?

Can I bring anything?

Joe got it right down.

Joe said, yeah, can I bring anything?

That's the first thing you say.

You say, hey, can I bring anything?

Because it's in our nature.

We want to bring stuff.

We feel like we have to provide.

And in the middle of a deep meal, you're eating with a friend, and you look at him and you go, hey, how's the wine?

And the guy goes, that's real.

Wine is really good.

He goes, I brought it.

But the passage says here that in God's kingdom, in God's party, that everything is given to us, that God pays for everything.

And we bring nothing.

I think this is foreign to us.

I mean, it's why the leaders and the powerful and the educated and the movers and shakers in Jesus' time, they had a really hard time with Christianity.

I mean, Christianity was very difficult for people who have it together.

Because, and listen to my heart here, because I'm going to offend you because it offends me.

Because Christianity is for wicked sinners.

Christianity is for people who can bring nothing.

Christianity is for people who can do nothing to save themselves.

Christianity says that Jesus died to save you and me.

That he gave his life to pay for our sins.

That he died so that God could adopt you and me.

I know there's been a lot of talk about adoption in the news, especially in Christian circles.

But, you know, the Bible says very clearly that every one of us in here is adopted.

That we're adopted by God's grace and God's love.

Let's face it.

Judaism and Buddhism and Islam and all the other religions, they're so much easier to swallow, aren't they?

Because in those religions, it says something like this.

All you need to do to get right with God is this.

All you need to do to make God happy is this.

All you need to do to get to paradise is this.

Live a good life.

Be kind.

Be gentle.

Don't hurt people.

If you have to hurt somebody, don't hurt them too bad.

And if you do all those things, God is going to be happy and you're going to be important and God's going to like you.

But the passage says, come because everything's ready.

Heaven can't be earned by us.

God gives us this.

I think sometimes we forget that, don't we?

It'd be like you and me going and you come to me one day.

I like spending other people's money because, you know.

Anyway, you come to me and say, hey, I can go buy a new car.

Can you help me?

I say, oh, dude, that's great.

I'd love to go help you go buy a new car.

And we go to the car lot or to the store or whatever it is.

And we're looking around.

And I ask you, well, how much money you got to spend?

He goes, I got $480 U.S.

So $480 U.S. to buy a new car.

He said, yeah, yeah, let's look around.

And we look around the lot and I'm like, dude, we don't, there's nothing here for $480 U.S.

And finally we get kind of discouraged and we're walking out.

And the salesperson runs over to us.

He said, hey, are you looking for a new car?

He said, yeah, yeah, we kind of are.

He goes, well, come back here.

I want to show you something.

And he takes you around the corner and there's the car of your dreams.

I don't know what your dream car is.

You know, I don't know if you're a Porsche person or a Ferrari person or a minivan person.

You know, I like to have a Land Rover and drive it around occasionally.

Whatever it is.

And you look at that and the guy hands you the keys.

And he says, it's yours.

The manager saw you looking around the lot.

And he wanted to give you this car.

What would you think?

Some of you are laughing.

What's the catch?

What's wrong with it?

What do I have to do to get it?

The guy said, you have to do nothing.

You just have to take it.

The manager wants to give it to you.

And you look at him and he goes, no one would do that.

That makes no sense whatsoever.

And you're like, you're right.

That's grace.

It makes no sense whatsoever.

No one would do that.

But that's what God did.

It'd be funny if you walked back to the manager and said, hey, I want to help you pay a little of the cost here.

Here's $480.

On the Ferrari.

What did the manager do?

He kind of looked at you like, what?

What?

Really?

No.

But that's what we do sometimes when it comes to salvation.

No one would do that.

It doesn't make any sense.

But that's what God does.

Verse 17.

In a dinner, our sent and a slave said to those who have been invited, come, for everything is ready.

And mark the word everything.

It means everything.

It means everything.

Everything you need in heaven.

Everything you desire.

Everything you long for.

Everything that you want.

Everything will be there.

There's nothing that's missing.

The master provided for the party in incredible ways.

Everything is there.

Your salvation is there.

Love is there.

Abundant salvation.

Abundant grace.

Abundant hope.

Abundant everything.

Everything is there.

Abundant.

Is this going to be there?

Everything you need.

What about this?

Everything you're going to need.

Are dogs going to be there?

Yes.

But not cats.

I'm teasing.

I love cats too.

Kind of.

But everything.

Everything is going to be there.

And so we see that the kingdom is now but not yet.

We see that the kingdom is given in abundance.

And it's given freely.

And it makes no sense whatsoever.

But it's how God works.

And finally in verses 21 through 23.

We see the last thing we got to realize.

That the invite to the banquet.

The invite to the kingdom.

The invite to heaven.

Demands a response.

The first invitation went out.

The second invitation comes.

And something unheard of happened in Jesus' day.

The people said no.

I mean people listening to Jesus tell the story.

They would have laughed.

When he said that.

Because no one would say no.

I mean it would be a massive loss of face to the host.

I mean in some Arab cultures.

It would be a case for war.

You could go to war.

You could kill the people for saying no.

No one would say no.

No.

But in verse 18.

One guy says this.

I bought a piece of land.

I need to go out and look at it.

Please consider me excused.

And when the people heard that.

They would have started laughing.

Because no one just buys land.

It takes years in the Middle East.

Most of the land is desert.

And by the time you know the land.

You know everything about it.

Is it arable?

Where the water hits?

Where the water runs off?

Where the sun hits?

What season does it produce the best crops in?

You would know everything about that piece of land.

You would never just buy it.

And then go check it out afterwards.

And everybody would have been laughing.

When they heard this excuse.

And everybody would have thought.

You know.

That guy doesn't really care about the master.

What he cares about is his possessions.

That his stuff.

Is more important.

Than the master.

In verse 19.

The next excuse comes.

I bought five yoke of oxen.

I'm going to try.

Test them out.

Please consider me excused.

Again.

People would have been laughing.

The minute they heard that.

Because before you bought an animal.

There was a trial area.

You watched them work together.

And you wanted to make sure.

As a team.

That they pulled well together.

You wanted to make sure.

That they pulled.

A straight line.

You wanted to make sure.

That they tired well together.

You wanted to make sure.

They worked well together.

And animals were expensive.

This guy's a rich guy.

He has ten ox.

Most people only had one or two.

When people heard this.

They would have laughed.

It would have been like me saying.

To Christina.

Okay.

Next week is our.

Anniversary.

It's not.

But on the day of our anniversary.

I call her up and say.

Honey.

I really.

I really want to be at the anniversary.

But I bought five used cars.

I need to go check.

And see if they start.

Would that be a good excuse?

It would be a terrible excuse.

I mean.

Everyone listening would have thought.

You know.

He.

He.

He doesn't really.

He's not really saying no.

To the banquet.

He's saying no.

To the relationship.

Again.

He's saying.

You know.

My stuff is more important.

Than my relationship with God.

Verse 20.

Which is probably the worst excuse of all.

He says.

I have married a wife.

And for that reason.

I cannot come.

And in the Middle Eastern culture.

No one would talk about women.

In public.

No man would ever talk about his wife like that.

No one would ever say those words.

In fact.

In Hebrew.

In an Aramaic.

For people to hear this.

What they would have heard.

Is this.

Hey.

I got a woman.

In the back of my house.

I gotta go take care of her.

I can't come to the party.

You know.

And everyone.

Listening to this guy's excuse.

Would have gone.

Dude.

You really caused serious loss of face there.

You must really hate the master.

Everyone would have heard.

Well this guy.

He just likes his pleasures.

he likes his pleasures and his experiences

more than he likes knowing God

I've been thinking about this passage for a long time

and I have to do that

you guys just need to hear it and forget it after lunch

but I've been trying to figure out what's going on here

because every one of these guys

was in the family of God

I mean there's no outsiders here

they're all family members

they all would have been in the in club

why didn't they want to go to the party

because all of their excuses

maybe they were feeble but maybe they were real

but all of those excuses

all those things would have been there

after the party

they could have taken care of the sheep later

they could have taken care of the oxen later

they could have taken care of their wife later

or their mistress or their prostitute

whoever that person was

they could have taken care of all those things later

why didn't they do it now?

and it seems to me

this is what's going on

it seems to me that these people

in the family of God

they wanted the kingdom

they wanted the party

they wanted heaven

as long as it could be on their terms

as long as being in church

or going to the party

didn't interfere

with their schedules

or interfere with their time

or if it didn't take too long

or if it didn't make them feel uncomfortable

then they were okay with it

but the moment it started disrupting

their schedule

or their free time

the moment it started disrupting

how they did business

or how they could make money

the moment it started disrupting

their families

the time they spend with them

the moment it started disrupting

their ego

and what people thought of them

the moment the invite

messed with those things

they said I'm out of there

I don't need it

it's too difficult

it's too hard

you see in verse 24

he says

for I tell you

none of these men

who were invited

shall taste of my dinner

Jesus is coming back

and he stopped telling the story

and he's telling personally

he's talking about himself

and he's saying

these guys think

that they can come back later

they think

well after I've

made a lot of money

I'll come back to

the family

or maybe after I've

done a lot of business

or had a lot of women

or men

or I've graduated

or there's a billion excuses

you hear people use

for not following God

those people thought

that the minute they did that

the moment they did that

the moment they retired

then they could come back

to walk with God

and Jesus says no

I mean Jesus is making

a very pointed statement

and he's talking about

our choices

and he's talking about

coming to the banquet

and what's interesting to me

is that all of those people

and all of those excuses

that the banquet

that walking with God

the being in the family

that would help them

deal with all those things

it would help them

deal with their family

it would help them

deal with relationships

it would help them

be a better dad

a mother

a business person

it would help them

do all that

but the people in the story

couldn't see that

all they saw was

this is what I like

this is what God's

demanding of me

I don't want to do it

I think it's a struggle

sometimes in a church

right

as a pastor

you want to make

the gospel seem sexy

and cool

you want it to seem

like a Rolex

you want a Rolex

right

everybody wants a Rolex

yeah sure I want a Rolex

give me a Rolex

I want that

but the gospel

is really like a parachute

because the airplane

is going down

and so we give this person

a parachute

and they wear it around

but after a while

the parachute is uncomfortable

I mean I can't really

do all my moves

and win Kui Fung

with the parachute

on my back

or I can't

enter into that business deal

that I know I shouldn't

enter into

because that parachute

is on my back

and it's preventing me

from doing those things

or I can't be the dad

that I want to be

because I really just

want to be selfish

and go hang out

and do something

by myself

like work on my sermon

but my kids really

need time with me

and they need me

to be present

with them

and that parachute

becomes uncomfortable

sometimes

Jesus is saying

hey guys

make a choice

and realize

that what you're choosing

has eternal significance

verse 21

the message comes back

the slave reported

to his master

then the head

of the household

became angry

in Greek

very angry

he's furious

and he said to that slave

he turns his anger

into grace

he says to that slave

go out at once

into the streets

and the lanes

and the city

and bring them in

bring the poor

the cripple

the needy

bring them all in

see what's happening here

the master gets angry

it turns to grace

and he sends out

this urgent plea

for you and I

to the banquet

and he invites us

to come

the words there

are incredible

between the hedges

means homeless people

on the highways

means foreigners

who have no place

to live

the power of the invite

goes out

to everyone

and it's so amazing

that people can't believe

that the master

would invite them

and he says

impel them

tell them

that it's true

and the master's good

and he wants you here

and in this story

everybody who accepted

they could have also

made excuses

couldn't they have

they could have

right

well I'm poor

I don't have enough money

to buy clothes

to come into the banquet

the master's not going

to be pleased with me

well I'm lame

I can't get there

I'm blind

what good is it

for me to come

to the banquet

I'm hurt

I have a bad past

my reputation

is tarnished

the master

wouldn't want me

in the banquet

and it's interesting

to me

in verse 21

and verse 23

that the invites

go out

to everybody

and they're not

based

on anything

about the person

who's getting them

did you hear that

this month

or next month

every one of you

in here

is probably going

to get an invite

to some kind of party

some kind of gathering

some type of event

and you're going

to get that invite

because

you're connected

you know people

you're powerful

you have a lot

of money

you have a lot

of influence

someone has

invited you

or you invited

somebody else

and they want

to pay you back

you're going

to get that invite

because of those

things

now I'm not

saying that

is bad

but what I am

saying is this

the invite

to heaven

the invite

to the kingdom

of God

the invite

to that last

banquet

depends on

none of those

things

God gives you

that invite

because he loves

you

not because

of what you

can do for

not because

of who you

are

what you

have

what you

haven't

done

what you

have

done

God

gives

it to

you

just because

he's good

and one of

the things

we have to

do as a

family

with ourselves

and speak

the gospel

to ourselves

over and

over and

to the people

around us

is we got

to keep

reminding

people

that the

invite

is real

and that

the host

is good

and true

because sometimes

we forget

that

sometimes

we forget

that

what does

your response

look like

to the

kingdom of

God

today

you have an

invite

you don't know

that but you

have an

invite

what are you

doing with the

master's invitation

do you really

desire to be at

the banquet

do you really

desire to be in

the kingdom

or is there

something

else that's

more important

to you

is there

someplace else

you would

rather be

is there

something else

you need

more than

you need

God

my prayer

for us

as a church

as individuals

is that we

would understand

that God's

offer is

true

and that

it's

amazing

and the

only question

is are we

going to

accept that

offer

accept it

by grace

allow it

to change

us

share that

offer with

those around

us

the kingdom

is now

but not

yet

the invite

for the

kingdom

goes out

broadly

and freely

and it

includes

everything

and the

invite for the

kingdom

demands a

response

from us

how are we

going to

respond

father I

thank you for

this day

I thank you for

your goodness

in our life

and for your

mercy

and for this

passage that

speaks to us

in ways

I pray we'll

never stop as

we walk around

here

father I think

of my

friends as we

talk about the

gospel and how

it guts us

and it

changes us

and it

points to

our heart

and we

realize after

20 years

that you

really don't

just want us

to be obedient

and to do

the right

things but

you want

you want

us

you want

our hearts

and our

motives

and Lord we

realize that

that's

that's

that's so

hard sometimes

and we

fail so

often on

this journey

and we're

so thankful

that it is a

journey that

we take step

by step

by step

and that

you're there

cheering us

on

and so

Lord we just

come to you

now

help us to

see the now

but not yet

help us to

realize that

it's full

and abundant

and free

and that we

have a

responsibility to

share it with

those around

us and

help us

not to

fool

ourselves

Lord we

realize that

everyone that

Jesus was

talking to

would have

been in the

church in

Jesus day

and this

passage says

that none

of them

none of

them in

that church

would have

been in

your kingdom

because they

saw the

invitation

wrong

Lord we

just

we fall

on your

mercy

and your

grace

and we

ask you

to help

us see

it

correctly

help us

to see

your son

who hands

us the

invite

help us

to realize

that it

was all

because of

you

help us

just to

have

a moment

of seeing

heaven

right

now

as we

come

to

you

father

we

love

you

and we

need

you

desperately

we

pray all

these

things

your

son

Jesus

holy

name

amen

amen

can you

be

pleased

we

see

just

for

one

second

okay

so

we

are

about

to

go

to

a

family

wide

meal

so

that

doors

are

locked

over there

so you

can't

get

out

that

door

you

have

to

go

through

this

door

so you're

at least

going to

see

the

food

and smell

the

food

and

so

we

do

this

about

once

every

month

or so

just

people

get

no

chance

to

each

other

maybe

have

the

kids

in

the

corners

because

I

think

we're

going

to

be

packed

out

with

capacity

over

there

also

when

you

came

in

today

and

before

you

do

that

if

you

have

a

youth

high

school

or

junior

high

kid

Eric

wants

to

meet

with

all

the

parents

in

the

theater

room

he

sent

out

an

announcement

but

if

you

didn't

get

that

announcement

in

the

theater

room

for

about

10

minutes

and

he

wants

to

talk

to

you

about

what's

going

to

be

going

on

with

the

youth

in

high

school

and

junior

high

kids

also

when

you

came

in

there

was

this

little

thing

called

a

life

map

on

your

chair

you

hear

us

talk

about

the

journey

a lot

and

our

journey

that

we're

on

with

Christ

and

this

is

just

a

tool

it's

a tool

that I've

used

for about

18

years

and it

helps us

think

through

our

journey

and

where

God

has

us

and

the

high

points

and

the

low

points

and

so

we

want

to

give

that

to

you

just

as

a

gift

and

as

you

think

about

going

on

the

journey

with

the

church

thinking

through

what

your

journey

is

and

what

that

looks

like

also

on

Wednesdays

starting

this

Wednesday

at

the

community

center

the

women

of

Watermark

have

a

book

study

going

on

it

starts

this

Wednesday

at

930

to

1130

it's

called

Grace

Based

Parenting

it's

an

excellent

study

there's

probably

30

women

already

in

this

group

so

if

you're

not

in

this

group

please

join

them

it's

from

children

from

0

to

18

and

it's

an

excellent

book

and a

great

chance

for you

to

meet

and

develop

community

also

one

of

the

ways

that

we

communicate

on

the

church

we

have

two

modes

of

communication

so

if

you're

here

for

the

first

time

or

if

you've

been

here

sleeping

for

a

year

we

use

our

website

and

so

we

have

a

new

website

that

just

got

put

back

up

put

up

so

revamped

and

so

if

you

go

to

watermark

church

dot

hk

this

website

will

have

everything

you

need

to

know

about

events

and

places

and

gatherings

and

sermons

and

how

to

get

go

there

and

we're

trying

to

make

it

as

simple

as

possible

for

us

to

keep

up

but

as

informative

as

possible

for

you

guys

as

the

church

and

I

think

what

I

want

to

do

here

I

actually

want

to

bring

up

all

the

leaders

but

we've

been

introducing

to

you

some

community

group

leaders

so

you

can

know

what

groups

are

happening

and

where

the

groups

are

and

sharing

a

little

bit

about

themselves

so

I

want

to

ask

Bill

and

Shannon

to

come

up

and

Jeremiah

to

come

up

tell

a

little

bit

about

your

community

group

and

is

Graham

here

Graham

said

he

was

going

to

be

here

so

if

he's

here

okay

so

these

are

all

three

different

community

groups

that