Uncovering Hidden Truths in the Wedding Feast Parable: Implications for Modern Believers | Matthew 22:1-14

The following resource is brought to you by Real Life Community Church in Richmond, Kentucky.

We hope you're both challenged and encouraged by this message from Pastor Chris May.

The Temple in Jerusalem.

This is the center of Jewish life.

This would be like somebody storming the White House.

He enters the temple and, remember, he turns over the money tables and he starts kind of chastising the temple leaders, confronting them, and he runs off the buyers and sellers the next day after he leaves the temple.

He comes back the next day and what's he do?

He begins teaching without permission, teaching right there in the temple.

And so the chief priest and the elders of the temple these are the temple leaders, the religious leaders of Israel they approach Jesus understandably and they ask who gave you this authority?

Again, it'd be like somebody walking in today and just assuming the authority to teach and grabbing the microphone, and I would probably ask them, along with a few of you, who has given you this authority?

And so the leaders cannot start.

And so they question him, but they're not looking for the truth.

What are they looking for?

That they want him to say something wrong, that they might charge him with some crime.

And so what Jesus does?

He's brilliant, he is God, and so he's brilliant and he answers them.

He responds to them in three parables, and in parables, remember our stories of, you know, fictitious stories that are told to make a spiritual point, so they're kind of made up stories that have and reveal some spiritual truth.

And so today we're in this third parable and it's about a wedding feast.

Now, throughout history, weddings have always been an occasion for monumental celebration.

Right In our tradition, we normally have a, you know, wedding ceremony, followed by some reception, which involves music, often dancing, speeches, and even nowadays, it's almost expected you're going to have a full course meal, which is not cheap, by the way, and so that's kind of our tradition.

But you know, weddings, you know their traditions, look different in culture to culture, but from culture to culture, but there are always reasons to celebrate.

Matter of fact, I just saw this morning a friend of mine got married in the Philippines, and you know, his wife is from there and it's the ceremony was a time of celebration, but it looked quite different than our weddings.

During the ceremony, the bride and groom were sitting on the front and the pastor was kind of up here.

Is that normal?

Yeah, kind of cool, but but yeah, it was really interesting.

So if we're going to understand what's happening in this parable, though, we're going to understand the difference between our culture and the culture in Jesus', day.

You've heard me harp on this many times, but, but we live in a culture that might be called individualistic.

Individualistic, all right.

In other words, in our culture we tend to make decisions based on what is most convenient for us, what is best for us, and most people are just okay with that.

That's the culture we live in.

So, when it comes to a wedding, you know, it's a great honor to receive a wedding invitation.

But if someone declines that wedding invitation, like we normally, don't take it personally, unless it's, like you know, the bride to be's mom or something like that might be an issue.

But generally speaking, we understand.

My son got married last year and we sent out lots of invitations and many were able to attend, some were not, and we only were angry for a moment, you know.

No, we normally don't.

We normally don't, you know, hold that against people or take it personally because, again, individualistic culture.

We know people have other plans and priorities and we're okay with that, Not so in Jesus' day.

The culture in Jesus' day was what we call an honor and shame culture.

So honor and shame were like the apex values.

And so what would happen?

Honor was based on social hierarchy, your social status.

And so you would make a decision in that culture not based on what was best for you, but what would bring honor to those who were in a higher position than you.

So in that culture rejecting an invitation to a wedding was actually a major.

It would bring dishonor to the wedding party and it was a really big deal, especially if that invite came from a king.

Could you imagine this like, ah, now I've got something better to do.

That just wouldn't fly.

And so that's kind of the historical backdrop for this text.

So kind of an odd parable here.

It's a kind of shocking story.

So let me just summarize it for you quickly and then we'll kind of move through it and show what we can glean from it.

So in the parable there's a king who throws a wedding feast for his son.

Now, in that day, you know, we do ceremony and then like a two, three hour reception In that day.

The reception or the wedding feast, sometimes it would last a week, and if you came from out of town you would stay at the family's homes on their property and it would just be a, you know, just a week long event.

So the king tells his servants the feast is prepared, everything's ready.

And he tells his servants I want you to go out.

And he says I want you to call the guests to come, those who have and this is what it says already been invited.

So these are guests who have RSVP'd, and now it's time for the feast, and so the servants are sent out by the king and the king receives word back that these guests actually said no, we're actually not going to attend, Sorry.

So the king is baffled, so he sends out more servants and again many of the people are just like listen, sorry, we can't attend, We've got this going, we've got this going.

And then some of the guests are hostile towards these servants who are trying to persuade them to attend the feast, and they beat them, bind them and kill them.

Wow, what's going on here?

And so the king is understandably furious.

So he he sends his troops out to destroy, kill the murderers and then to do this crazy thing to burn the city.

Like thank God, if I reject a you know, a wedding invitation, that that family is not going to like burn my city.

But that's what happens in the story.

But then the king does something.

He's looking out and he sees that the wedding hall is empty.

And so he tells some more of his servants.

He says I want you to go out and I want you to go to the main roads and I want you to go to everybody.

You can, everybody.

You see, I want you to invite them to the party, invite them to the kings.

And what happens?

The wedding hall becomes full.

And then the story case takes a kind of odd turn.

The king comes in, he sees all the guests and what happens is wait, one guy is not wearing the proper attire and he calls him friend.

And then he's like he says friend, why don't you have the proper attire?

And the guy was speechless, is what the scripture says.

And so the king calls his people and he says buying this guy hand and foot, cast him out in the outer darkness.

Well, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Now I'll try to explain that at the end there, but you want my job this morning.

Well, what do we take from this?

What's the meaning?

First of all, what's Jesus trying to communicate?

Remember, he's addressing these corrupt religious leaders.

So here's what it means.

The king, who do you think that might represent God?

The son Jesus?

Yeah, you guys are smart.

And so the servants sent out by the king.

They represent the prophets, the invited guests, represent Israel, God's chosen people through whom the Messiah would come, and the brutal guest, the hostile guest.

They represent the temple leaders who want Jesus dead.

They're the ones that stood by why God's prophet John the Baptist was murdered, executed.

And so God has sent his prophets, his servants, to tell Israel we read this throughout the Old Testament to tell Israel get ready, the kingdom is coming.

And then he sends John the Baptist to say the kingdom's here, the Messiah's here, the table is set.

Repent, clean yourselves up, come to the table.

But many Israelites rejected the invitation.

They had it first said oh yeah, we'll come, we want to be your people.

But when the time came and the Messiah came on the scene, they rejected the invitation after the table was set.

Thus God gave their seat away, so to speak, and he sent his servants to all nations to preach the gospel right that any might be able to come to his table.

So what's that mean to us?

Well, the good news is this beloved God has invited all of us to the table.

Every one of you this morning have received this royal invitation, and not just an invitation from any king, but from the king of kings and the Lord of lords.

I don't care where you've been, I don't care what your pedigree looks like, I don't care what you've done in your past.

The Lord has sent his people, his church, to the highways and the byways to proclaim the gospel, to invite all who would come to the table.

And so the point this morning is, as we look at the parable, we've all received the invitation, and the way that we respond to that invitation has dire consequences.

If you receive it and you come in gladly to the kingdom, to the Lord's table, then you will receive joy, unspeakable peace, unspeakable blessing upon blessing, grace upon grace, eternal life, new creation.

You get it all.

More than that, you get the king himself.

But should you respond negatively, you'll get eternal judgment, You'll get wrath.

So the way that you respond to this invitation, it's a life or death situation.

And so all I want to do, very quickly, is I want to point out four responses in the text to God's royal invitation, and I just invite you to look at these responses and just inquire of yourself how have I responded to the king's invitation?

The first response let's look at verses three through five.

The first response is indifference, Indifference.

Look at verses three through five.

And so the king sent his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding feast.

But they could not come.

Again, he sent other servants saying tell those who were invited See, I've prepared my dinner.

My oxen, my fat calf have been slaughtered, Everything's ready.

Come to the wedding feast.

But look at verse five.

But they paid no attention and they went off, one to his farm, another to his business.

It's indifference.

Again, look at verse three.

It says he sent his servants to call those who were invited.

These are people who have already been invited and they yes, yes, I want to come to the feast, I want to come celebrate.

And now the table's prepared and they changed their mind.

Why Indifference?

They are caught up with the things of this world one to farming, another to his business.

Sorry, I know, I confirm, but I just don't have the time Now.

Just imagine I told you it's no big deal if you, if I send you a wedding invite to my son's wedding and you RSVP, you actually say you know what?

I can't make it.

We're on vacation, we've got this going on fine.

But it is a real frustration, and some of you know this.

When someone confirms that they'll be there and again, come on.

Some of you, mom and dads who have daughters, you know this.

The meal served at the reception is not cheap and you pay by the plate.

And when someone says, yeah, I'll be there, and then they don't attend, that's a bit frustrating, and in the first century, even more so in this honor and shame culture.

To tell the king I'm going to show up and then not to show up, that's kind of an issue.

So that's what's going on in the story.

But let's just think about indifference towards God's royal invitation today.

Think about this how many people claim to want God, claim to want heaven, claim to want salvation, but they're really indifferent towards what God asked them to do.

Think about this, they're too busy.

Many people say, well, one day I'll get it right, one day I'll come to the table, and they're indifferent to the urgency.

The feast is prepared, it's ready.

Come to the table.

Matthew 13,.

Several months ago we looked at the parable of the sower and Jesus talks about this seed that is sown on different types of ground.

And the seed, as he later tells us, represents the word of God.

And when the word of God is sown, when we preach and proclaim the word, it falls on different grounds.

Some people receive it with joy, but actually it doesn't penetrate the heart and persecution comes and they fall away.

And then there's another type of ground that the word falls on.

It seems that these other people receive the gospel with joy.

Gospel in what Jesus says.

He gives us the meaning.

He says those are the people who have this experience with God and they want salvation.

Oh, give me Jesus, give me the kingdom, give me salvation.

But then the love of money, the cares of this world, those things choke out the gospel and they really are not part of the kingdom, and we see this all of the time People who say, oh yeah, sure, I love Jesus, but they're really indifferent towards everything he asked them to do.

One of the evidences of this is seen in the decline in church attendance.

Gone are the days.

Anybody remember the days when people attended church services on Sundays?

50 out of 52 Sundays.

You could give out like they used to do in school attendance.

You know awards and stuff, and I mean, if some people they're there every single week In addition to Sunday morning, sunday night, wednesday night.

But now the statistics are staggering about how many quote unquote Christians only attend church once or twice a month.

And so Kerry Newhoff he's an author, a very good Christian, and he's a leader and writes a lot of blogs and I came across a blog where he gives actually 10 reasons why church attendance has declined in this way, so drastically, and I'm just going to point out three of them.

One of them is this it's greater affluence, meaning that more people right now have the ability to gain more possessions.

You know that there's more mid to mid upper class people in our country more than ever, and so the problem with that is that the more we're able to gain, the more those things can become distractions, and so people are so distracted by what they have acquired, by their possessions, and always getting more and more and more they're caught up with the things of this world.

Then, second one I want to point out is kids activities, and I mentioned this a few weeks ago, particularly kids sports.

And I'm not talking about, you know, I was talking to Jeremy, one of our punters for our EKU football team, and after I talked about this last time, I said hey, I just want to clarify that I know you have, like you can't miss practice on Sundays.

And he rightly said hey, when you go to college and you're on a team, like this is your job, like it's not just a recreation, it's your job, and I understand that.

And Jeremy is here almost every single Sunday, even if he has practice on that Sunday and he's able to come.

But my point is this we've got five year olds traveling on teams and missing church for games on Sunday, and if they don't have a game or a tournament, it's a practice, and this just baffles me.

And so all these and it's not just sports, I mean it's, you know well, I guess gymnastics is a sport too, but uh, I almost, yeah, I should clarify that.

But gymnastics, you've got other competitions that are, you know, not sports related, but but all these activities pulled us away from church.

And then the third one I'll mention is just more travel, More travel.

Um, I've never seen a more traveling bunch of people than you guys when we live.

I mean there's so many like weekend trips that we can take, right, like in Gatlinburg, you know, camping, we went to Asheville one weekend and I mean there's just so many things that are so close to us, right.

And so it's not just hey, we take a family vacation once or twice a year.

It's like no every other weekend we're going camping and I will miss church, no big deal.

So here's the thing.

Um, I'm not legalistic, I promise you, but and I'm certainly not saying don't have your kids in sports.

I went to see Joe's son, colt, play baseball just a couple of weeks ago and man Dylan and I went.

It was fantastic and he's doing a great job and he's going to, I'm sure, continue to pursue this dream of baseball, and I'm not.

So I'm not knocking that, no, please.

I think it's great for kids to be involved in sports, but all I'm doing is is making an observation that perhaps all of these other things that are good things travels, good family times, good Nothing wrong with having a little bit of money, as long as it's not the love of your life.

But what happens is we've created these, we've made these, created glories, these good things that God has given us.

We've turned them into gods and we've allowed them to become distractions, to the point where we say I, you know, one day I'll be more committed, but right now I've got this, I've, you know, I've got to finish this degree.

I've got to, I've got to, you know, grow my business.

And then, once it kind of settles out, then I'll you know over.

We're just at this stage of life, and so I would just say that that it is a.

You know, we may hear the word indifferent and we may not think it to be that big of a deal, but make no doubt about it, you know, there's no doubt about it.

Listen, to be indifferent towards Jesus is to reject Jesus 100%.

So that's the first response in difference.

The second response to God's royal invitation is this it's hostility.

In the story again, the hostile guests represent the temple leaders.

They claim to love God.

They're in the temple, for goodness sake, but they're blinded.

They they're missing the Messiah.

They want Jesus dead.

Why?

They are blinded by their self righteousness.

They want a Messiah who will come and conquer Rome, but they don't want a Messiah who will come and say actually, temple leaders, you're corrupt and you need to repent and you need to wash yourself because you are not honoring God.

You look good on the outside, but your hearts are far from the Lord and so blinded by their self righteousness.

Here's what.

Here's what the temple leaders did.

They rejected John the Baptist.

He was preaching repent, the kingdom of messi, the kingdom of heaven, is at hand.

The religious leaders he was proclaiming and many received it.

But the temple leaders, the religious leaders by and large, rejected that message because they saw no need for a savior.

That's like, maybe some, maybe the drug addict in the prostitute, maybe they need a savior, but not me.

They're blinded, blinded by their self righteousness.

So, god, in the parable we see that Jesus tells us that the King, when he gets word that these hostile men have killed his servants, rejected the invitation.

The King then troops out right, remember this.

And he says kill them and burn their city.

This is a prophecy that Jesus is giving here about what will happen in the year 70 AD, which is the destruction of the temple, destruction of the temple.

This center place of Jewish life has become so corrupt and unnecessary because of Jesus, because the temple is no longer the meeting place of man and God.

It's now Jesus who brings us to God, isn't that good?

And so the temple falls and that religious establishment with it.

So is there hostility towards God today?

You better believe it.

1 Corinthians 118,.

For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God.

You know, the gospel is offensive to religious people.

We know that it's offensive to atheists and the like, but it's offensive to overly religious people.

And here's why?

Because the gospel tells us that none of us are righteous, none of us are good enough to receive God, none of us are good enough to come into the kingdom.

And that is really offensive to morally superior people, because it is so offensive to them to think that they get to God the same way as the drug addict.

It's offensive to them that you know, when we say that the ground at the foot of the cross is level ground, they don't like that Because it puts them on the same level as the people they see as the lowest in society.

But the truth is they're blinded because they're just as wretched, just as sinful, just as hard-hearted, just as rebellious and far from God than those whom they deem to be less ethical, moral, god fearing.

They're hostile towards God.

The gospel is a stumbling block to them.

So they may say well, jesus is a way to God, but the Bible says that he's the way.

None of us come to the Father, but by Him.

So that's the second response is hostility.

Thirdly, third response to the royal invitation is acceptance.

This is a good thing right.

Look at verses nine and 10.

The king says go to the main roads, invite to the wedding feast as many as you find.

And those servants went out into the roads and they gathered all whom they found, both bad and good.

So the wedding hall was filled with guests.

I love this.

The gospel is not just for Israel.

Even back in the gospel, being open to Gentiles, to us, it's not plan B.

If you go back to the covenant that God made with Abraham in the book of Genesis, he says yes, I'm going to bless you, I'm going to multiply your family, I'm going to give you this massive family.

But here's what he says and it is through you that all peoples will be blessed.

It's Israel.

They're chosen not to be exclusive, not to be the only ones who can receive salvation, but the Christ, god, the Son, would come, and it's through that Messiah that all could be saved.

And so the Israelites, many of them, when Jesus came on the scene.

They rejected Jesus, they rejected the invitation.

But God has said, god has said Everyone is welcome.

Come to the table, every social class, the good, as he says in the text, the good and the bad.

And I know there's none good but God.

But you understand what he's saying here.

It's not just those who are, you know, maybe aren't doing as bad things as these down here, it's the good and the bad.

All who would come, come to the table of the Lord.

Hallelujah and the parable.

The feast becomes filled with guests and you think that the disciples are here as Jesus speaking.

12 men following Jesus, one of them corrupt.

So you've got 11 now and in the book of Acts, the you know, the Savior has been crucified and now he's risen.

The Messiah has risen.

They add Matthias to the disciples, to replenance the Spirit.

And now you've got them in an upper room with just over 100 people.

And what happens?

The Spirit comes and listen.

They're up against the Roman world who want nothing to do with Christianity, they want it squelched.

But these men, under the power of the Holy Spirit, they take the gospel, by the power of God to the ends of the earth and they proclaim to Jerusalem, judea, samaria and to the other most parts of the earth.

And throughout the ages that message has continued All who would come to the table, all who want salvation, come to the Lord, come to Jesus, into the kingdom through Jesus Christ.

And we're here today as an extension of this invitation in the parable Hallelujah, john 1, 11, and 12, jesus came to his own in his own.

People did not receive him, but to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.

Are you grateful for that today?

Here's what this tells me.

We are accused, that's right.

We're an exclusive bunch, right, but do you know?

We are the only inclusive, truly inclusive religion out there.

And here's why I say that every other religion, every other religion says this you do X, y and Z, a, B and C, 1, 2, and 3, and then you can get heaven, salvation, nirvana, whatever it is they're offering.

But did you hear what I said?

You do it.

So that means that only the the most moral, the most disciplined, the most capable can have salvation.

Not so with the gospel.

The gospel says actually, none of you can earn it, so you're relying totally on grace and you're saved one way, every one of you.

You're saved by grace, through faith in Christ.

That's it.

And what's that?

Tell us that we are the most inclusive religion in the world, because that means you don't have to be the morally superior one, you don't have to be the most disciplined one.

You don't have to have the right pedigree, you don't have to have grown up in church.

Oh, if you'll just come to Jesus, you're in.

Hallelujah, the invitations for all of us.

Then we come to this final section, which is you know, you could just end right here and it'd be good, right, but then we have to go to this verse 11.

Look what it says.

The king came in to look at the guest, so he's looking at a full wedding hall now and here's what he says.

The text says he saw there a man who had no wedding garment and he said to him friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?

Now this seems to be a fair accusation because there's no argument.

It says the man was speechless and the king then said to the attendants bind him hand and foot, cast him into outer darkness, and that place will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Wow, this seems brutal.

What's going on here?

Well, in our weddings today, I mean, there's some dress code is assumed right, like it's become much more lax and I think unfortunately.

But you go to a wedding, there's some expectation to look decent.

In the first century there were even more stringent regulations for clothing at a wedding feast.

But even more than that, if you were going to go into the presence of a king, you had to wear certain things, like there were standards, and so the part of the story is really harsh because you got one guy who comes in.

Oh yeah, some rejected the invitation and it's like maybe he didn't go have time to go home and change.

I'll come.

I'm excited, here I am, and the king comes in.

Oh, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.

Shorts and a t-shirt.

No, no, no, no, no, no, no, right, this is black tie only, right.

So bind him, put him out in darkness Like, wow, what's interesting here is that two things, if you understand, like historical context.

Scholars tell us this Number one most people, even peasants, had at least one set of clothing that would be appropriate to enter the king's presence.

But two scholars tell us that it is highly likely that if you did not have the proper attire, that at the door, you were given the proper clothing.

So here's what's happening in the parable, it seems to me One man accepts the invitation to the feast.

When he walks in, he's given this set of clothing that would honor the king, but he refuses to put it on, I'm not wearing that.

Come on, I want my comfy clothes.

Right, I'm not wearing that.

What's this mean?

Well, in the Bible it talks a lot about garments that we wear, particularly about garments of white, clean garments of white, which is often associated with righteousness, and soiled garments are associated with unrighteousness, or you could say holiness, and without holiness, hebrews 12 tells us that we will not see the Lord.

In Revelation 3, john is writing to the church of Sardis and he talks about wearing soiled garments.

Some of the people there.

They're living like the world, they claim to be Christians and he says you're wearing soiled garments.

In other words, they claim to be Christians but they were living in sin.

But then he says that those who walk with Jesus Revelation, chapter 3, says some of you, you're walking with Jesus and you're wearing clean garments he will give you clean garments and he will clothe you in white.

Revelation 3 · chapter mention

So here's what this means when God approaches us with the gospel, when somebody comes to us and proclaims the gospel and invites us into God's kingdom, invites us to enjoy salvation, to taste and see that the Lord is good, none of us are wearing the proper attire to enter the kingdom.

None of us, because our garments are all stained with sin, every one of us.

It would be shameful to go and pull up to the King's table with the clothes that we are wearing and we at our homes we don't have another.

It's stained and soiled.

As far as the Lord is concerned, because we've all sinned, we're all tainted by sin.

But when we believe in Jesus Christ, he stands at the gate of the kingdom because we, in our sin, could not enter the presence of God.

Jesus invites us as the third temple that he is, come to me and he stands at the gate of the temple.

He is the gate of the temple and he says hey, what's your wearing?

It's not acceptable.

But here I'm righteous, take my clothing and go enjoy God.

Go enjoy the Lord's table.

Beloved by grace, when we receive Jesus we get the right clothing.

Second Corinthians 5, 21, for our sake.

God made him to be sin.

Who knew no sin, that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

I didn't come up.

Thank you, when you say I want Jesus, I believe upon Jesus.

The Lord stands at the gate and he says here's your clothes and it's our job.

The spirit does it.

Yes, he's the one who transforms us and changes us, but we're supposed to put on the clothes that Jesus wears us, or gives us the clothes of righteousness.

But you know what some people want to do.

This is really common in the church oh, give me Jesus.

But they don't want to put on the clothes of righteousness.

And this is a stern warning.

Jesus says you think you're at the table, but in the end you will be cast into outer darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth, because you cannot sit in the presence of God, you cannot be part of the kingdom and live in habitual sin.

Do we all mess up?

Absolutely.

But you cannot be in the kingdom without striving for holiness.

So hear me very clearly.

We are not saved by works, but works are the evidence of true salvation.

There is no salvation without transformation Doesn't happen.

We who are in Christ are all new creations, and so there it is.

That's the story.

That's the story.

Where do you find yourself?

In this parable?

There's one final verse.

Jesus says for many are called, but few are chosen.

In other words, god has called every one of us through the proclamation of the gospel.

Go you there.

For all nations.

We're all called, but few are chosen to stay in the room.

Who are the chosen?

Those who have the right garments.

So I would just say to you, every one of you, you today, are invited to be chosen.

You're invited to be chosen.

To be chosen is to refuse indifference.

To be chosen is to receive Jesus, and to be chosen is to be willing to put on the garments of righteousness and obedience.

And your response to the royal invitation will have eternal consequences.

Choose wisely.

Let's pray.

Let's pray God, how we love you, how grateful we are that you have called us into your kingdom.

Thank you that whomever would come to Christ, whoever would come to Jesus, they may have life.

Many are called, but few are chosen.

We were chosen because many are indifferent.

Today, around the world, around Richmond, many are hostile towards the gospel.

Many have received that invitation, but they've refused to put on the right attire.

For those today who may be listening online or listening in this room, that have not received Christ, may today be the day of salvation For those in this room who have claimed to have received Christ but have not put on the garments of righteousness.

Awaken their hearts today that they may be deceived no more, and may they come to true salvation and put on the robes of white, and I pray this in Jesus' good and holy name Amen.

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