Home For Christmas: The God who opens His Home | Ps Luke Harrison

Home for Christmas. Today I'm speaking

about the God who opens his home. Um I'm

not sure if you've ever heard about the

topic or the theme called FOMO. Anybody?

The fear of missing out. I think

everybody's heard about it. I don't have

that. I've got the complete opposite of

that. I've got phobi. The fear of being

included. In actual fact, I've got an

excuse for everything. I can make an

excuse for everything. You want to come

to dinner? Sorry. Why? I'll make up an

excuse. And I'm great at it. I've got to

cut my lawn just 2 millimeters just

higher than the pavement. so that my

neighbors will look at it and be

impressed. I will clean the mags of my

tires with a soft bristled toothbrush

and I'll make sure that it's spotlessly

clean. Luke, come to the dinner. No, I

can't. I'm just so busy.

But I wonder, have you ever been invited

to a party and you decided not to go

because you had an excuse? You know, you

get invited, the invite goes out and

then the excuses start rolling in. Oh

no, I can't make it. Why? Oh geez, you

know, too much going on or I can't do

this. You start prioritizing other

things. Your friends find out that

you're not going to the party. WHAT DO

YOU MEAN YOU'RE NOT COMING TO THE Come

to the dinner. The last time I went to

the dinner, it was incredible. It was so

fun. I would almost go as far that the

food was life transforming. Oh, really?

Great party. Come. Just come. It's going

to be great. Just trust me. Come to the

party. No, not coming. The host comes

back to you go, "I heard you're not

coming to the party. What do you mean

you're not coming to the party? Come to

the party. It's going to be great. It's

going to be a great party. Will you

come?" "No, can't come." Why? Some silly

excuse. Anyway, the next the next

morning you wake up and um you've not

prioritized the party. You've

prioritized doing something else and you

wake up um I said it this morning. You

first wake up, you greet your wife, say,

"Thank you, Jesus, for waking up. Then

you allow to jump on your phone. Don't

get it wrong." And then you jump on your

phone, you're scrolling through

Instagram and Facebook and whatever

other social media things are out there,

and you suddenly start seeing all the

pictures. Now the FOMO starts kicking.

It's like, "Oh, that looked like an

awesome." Like, "Look at the food." Like

I know they said it was life

transforming, but I'm pretty sure that

that guy standing in the back of the

picture like he he was doing it tough,

but it just looks to me like like he's

actually doing really good. Like, oh,

the community looks great. Oh, it looks

like they're having great conversation.

Looks like it's lifegiving. And you

realize that the reason that you didn't

attend wasn't because you weren't

invited. It's because you didn't

prioritize the invite over some other

thing that you had uh to do. And a lot

of you are thinking, well, what's this

got to do with uh Christmas? We'll get

there. I promise.

Luke 14. If you've got your Bibles with

you, Luke 14. Jackie did ask me, he's

like, "Luke, do you only preach out of

Luke?" Luke. I'm like, "No, it just

works out like that every time I need to

preach." But I promise you, I do read

the rest of the Bible. I love it. I like

the other gospels as well. But Luke 14,

um, Jesus is invited to a dinner at the

house of a Pharisee. Pharisees, if you

don't know, are people or religious

scholars back in the day um that that

would would study the word of God. But

the problem is them and Jesus typically

tended to um you know to get into some

heated conversation because the

Pharisees thought that they could work

their way to heaven and outwork the law.

But Jesus came to fulfill the law and he

came to give us a second opportunity

that it's not by works but by grace. And

so Jesus finds himself at the dinner and

uh Jesus just starts from day from word

one. He just starts having a go at them.

He's just having a go at them about

everything. You don't understand the

Sabbath, boom, he has a go at them. You

don't understand being in a place of

honor, boom, has a go at him. And I

encourage you to read it when you've got

a time. I said to the to the um

congregation this morning, I encourage

you when we read a piece of scripture,

go home, reread it, get yourself a good

commentary, continue to learn about it.

And we're not going to have time to

unpack it all today, but that's where we

find ourselves. Luke 14, verse 12. If

Luke 14:12

you got your Bible with you, open it up

to Luke 14. I love a paper Bible, but if

you don't have a paper Bible, it'll come

up on the big Bible behind us. Now,

apparently not. So, I'll read it to you.

I'm sure it will come up at one stage.

Don't get distracted. Lay stay focused.

He said also to the man, Luke Luke

Luke 14:12

14:12, he said also to the man who had

invited him, "When you give a dinner or

a banquet, do not invite your friends or

your brothers or your relatives or your

rich neighbors, lest you be repaid. But

when you give a feast, invite the poor,

the crippled, the lame, the blind, and

you will be blessed because they cannot

repay you. For you will be repaid at the

resurrection of the just." When one of

those who reclined at the table with him

heard these things, he said to him,

"Blessed is everyone who will eat bread

in the kingdom of God." Let's pause

there. Blessed is everybody. Scholars

will have us believe that that man

reclined at the table was a Jewish

leader and had the spirit of entitlement

going, "Yeah, Jesus, that's all good and

well of what you've just told me. But

you know what? I'm I'm all good. I've

got the kingdom of heaven. I'm going."

And so Jesus actually continues when he

starts speaking about the parable of the

of the banquet, which we're going to

read shortly. addresses this man again.

But I love what Awtoer says about the

spirit of entitlement and around grace.

He says this. He says, "Grace is not

merely a gift. It is God acting in

unmmerited favor towards us." And so

Jesus is about to address the spirit of

entitlement and help us understand what

the invite at the banquet is. And so

this is where we find ourselves. Luke 14

Luke 14:16

verse 16 goes on to said but he said to

him

a man once gave a great banquet and

invited many. And at the time for the

banquet he sent his servant to say to

those who had been invited, "Come, for

everything is now ready." But they all

alike began to make excuses. The first

said to him, "I've bought a field

and I must go and see it. Please have me

excused." And another said, I have

bought five yolk of oxin and I I go to

examine them. Please have an excuse. And

another said, I've married a wife and

therefore I cannot come. So the servant

came and responded or reported these

things to the master. And then the

master of the house became angry and

said to his servant, "Go out quickly to

the streets and the lanes of uh the city

and bring in the poor and the crippled

and the blind and the lame." And the

servant said, "Sir, what you commanded

has been done and still there is room."

And the master said to the go out to the

highways and the hedges and compel

people to come in that my house may be

filled for I tell you none of those men

who were invited shall taste my banquet.

Imperative to note that the banquet

let's break it down shortly. The banquet

is a representation of the kingdom of

God. The master being God the father and

the servant. Now there's two positions

here. The first is to understand that

Jesus came to bring and fulfill the

gospel message. And so at that time he's

about to tell them and talk to him about

the invite that he sends out. But then

secondly, as believers, it's then our

responsibility to continue the work that

Jesus did and and outwork the the

invite.

But the invite goes out and the excuses

roll in

and that spirit of entitlement starts to

creep in. The uh inability to prioritize

the kingdom of God starts to creep in.

And I love Ephesians 2:8, which says,

Ephesians 2:8

"It's for by grace that you have been

saved through faith." And this is not

your own doing. It's the gift of God,

not a result of works, so that no one no

one of you may boast.

Prioritizing

the invite. And so, over the next few

minutes that we've got together, what

I'd love to do is highlight three

points, three key learnings that I found

when I unpacked this text. Now granted,

um you can go in and there's going to be

so much more that you can unpack, but

three key themes that I think are

imperative to the understanding of when

we speak about being home for Christmas

and the God who opens his home. So, you

ready? I am. [laughter]

You're supposed to be three coffees in.

Here we go. Point one. God opens his

home, but we often close our hearts. I I

put it another way. I said God continues

to open his home, but we continue to

make excuses.

Revelation 3:20, speaking about the

Revelation 3:20

invite that goes out, says this. It

says, "Behold, I stand at the door and

knock." Invite. If anyone hears my voice

and opens the door, I will come into him

and eat with him. And he with me, the

one who conquers, I will grant him to

sit with me on my throne, as I also

conquered and sat down with my father on

his throne. Here's the invite again. He

who has ears, let him hear what the

spirit says. Luke 19:10, talking about

Luke 19:10

the invite, says that for the son of man

came to seek and save the lost. The word

seek there is better translated for us

in English to the word desire. It's the

idea that Jesus not only sends out the

invite, but desires for you to accept

and be with him in the kingdom. But the

invite goes out and the excuses roll in.

And so Jesus defines two main um areas

of excuses that he sees that prevent

people from accepting the invite. Here's

the first one. He suggests that the

excessive delight in things of the world

prevent people from accepting the

invite. Uh Luke uh 14:18 says, "The

first said to him, I have bought a

field. I must go and see it." I love

that response. I've bought some land.

I'll go look at it. [laughter]

I know I've got some bad excuses, but

you could have done better, mate. The

second one he suggests is there's an

excessive care and concern about the

world. And another in verse 19 said, and

another said, I have bought five yolk of

oxen. I need to go examine them. I need

to go care for the things of the world.

And so the excuses roll in which

distracts them from accepting the invite

into the kingdom of God. They prioritize

things over the banquet. And my question

for us today as we sit here is what is

it in your life that you've started to

prioritize over the invite that goes out

daily? The invite to to enter into the

kingdom of God. And I'm not pointing

fingers because I know that consciously

and subconsciously all of us sitting

here do it. Pastors alike. There's no

one here that doesn't wrestle with this

thing. But it's a daily decision to go

that I'm not going to be distracted by

the excuse, but I'll prioritize the

kingdom.

Romans 12:2 talking about the excessive

Romans 12:2

delights of the world and people being

distracted says, "Do not be conformed to

this world, but be transformed by the

renewal of your mind that by testing you

may discern what is the will of God and

what is good and acceptable and

perfect." And so, what excuses have you

used? And I know in a room of this size

that some excuses um almost valid

because I understand that there's hurt

and pain. I understand that you might

have gone to another church and had an

experience that wasn't great and because

of that it's it's clouded what what your

experience might be or you've

encountered somebody another Christian

who who said that they were a believer

but they've hurt you painfully and so

you struggle to understand and so

therefore that becomes your excuse and

I'm not dismissing that. I don't want

anybody to sit here like those things

are important but I wonder as believers

and even those have never said yes to

Jesus before. I wonder if there's

another option.

I wonder if Jesus provides us the

invite, if there's another option not to

allow the excuse to separate us from the

calling that God has, which is to come

home, be part of the kingdom.

It's about prioritization of the kingdom

of God.

My question for us all is, are the

pleasures of the world pulling you away

from the invite?

Because we all have something

That's point one. Here's the second

thing I noticed. God's open home

requires our open response. Now, that's

not going to blow your mind. In order to

go to a party, you can't just get the

invite. You actually have to accept it.

It's not just an acknowledgement of the

invite like the entitled man at the

table. It's not going like, "Don't

worry, I'm fine. I've been invited. I'm

all good."

It's actually accepting and then

prioritizing the invite.

The invite goes out daily. But the

question is, will you respond?

In verse 21, we see the master is almost

confused, concerned by the fact that he

has invited so many people, but so many

people have said no. Like, what do you

mean you're not coming to the banquet?

Like, do you know who's invited you? Do

you understand what you're about to

experience if you just said yes and

came? Like, have you not seen the lives

transformed when other people have

attended the banquet? Like have you not

seen the fact that when the servant

brings you the message that lives have

been transformed but you say no and the

excuses try and roll in. And so in order

to attend we have to accept. It's so

basic but I think sometimes we're like

yeah I think I'm good with God. I I got

the invite once and I'm okayish.

Matthew Henry Henry's commentary says

this

says those who refuse to receive Christ

when they can have him will not have him

when they want him. The excuses roll in

and we go, I don't need to prioritize

this right now. Maybe at a later stage.

Maybe I'll get this done first and then

I'll then I'll go to the event.

But one of my favorite responses to the

invite that goes out around Christmas

time is Mary's response to the Christmas

me message. Mary um who was engaged to

Joseph at at that time if if you don't

know the story in Luke 1, but Mary's

engaged and um and and they've not been

with each other. And an angel of the

Lord comes to Mary and says, "You will

be with child, a virgin birth. You will

carry the King of Kings and Lord of

Lords." And I can just imagine in Mary's

mind the excuses that she could have,

the reasons for not accepting, the

reason for going, "No, no, God, you've

got the wrong person." Like, you do you

know like this is not going to work. You

imagine what people are going to say

about me. Imagine how this is going to

change. Joseph and I had plans like this

is going to completely change our lives.

No, no, no, no. But Mary accepts in one

of what in what I consider one of the

boldest acceptance of the invite. Mary

in Luke 1 138 says this very simply. And

Mary said, "Behold,

I am the servant of the Lord. Let it be

me. Let it be to me according to your

word.

Not let it be to me according to my

current understanding. Not let it be to

me according to my current excuse. Not

let it be according to the things that

I've gone through in my past. But let it

be to me according to your word." And I

wonder for us today, is that our

response? Lord, let it be to me

based on the word and the vision and the

will that you have for my life. Lord, I

don't understand at all like Mary, and

none of it's making sense, but what I do

feel is that you're drawing me home. So,

let it be unto the word that you've

placed before me. Let me accept the

invite. Let me not just look at the

invite and acknowledge it, but let me

accept it to come home.

And here's the last the last theme that

I notice in in the parable.

God's open. Sorry. God welcomes us in

but then also changes us from within.

And this is imperative because it's a

it's an open invitation but eventually

the banquet closes. Not only is that,

but it's an open invitation, but there's

kingdom principles that we need to

adhere to. And so, it's imperative to

state this. It's not about behavior

modification.

It's not coming in and trying to act a

certain way or dress a certain way or or

I need to be able to speak a certain way

or do a certain thing. It's not behavior

modification. That's not what he's

offering you. He's offering you life

transformation, an ability to be in

eternity with him. And sometimes like

the Pharisees, we we we denounce or

denote it at least to a place of like of

lowest standing like, "Yeah, I'm just

going to be a good Christian."

It's not about behavior modification.

It's an opportunity for life

transformation. When you accept the

invite,

it's transforming your life.

Jesus keeps both a good open home and a

good home. So what does that mean? The

invites open. So we come in and then we

start to adhere to kingdom principles

through the power of the Holy Spirit

that works through us through the spirit

starts emanating in in and through you

towards other people and the way you

respond.

But the imperative here as we talk about

the Christmas season is that it's an

open invitation.

And you say Luke, you don't know my

story. Like do you know what I did when

I woke up this morning? Do do you know

the thoughts that I had, Luke? Luke, do

you understand what I did and what I

didn't do or the opportunity I had or

didn't have? Luke, do you understand?

The invite's not for me, Luke. Like, I'm

the least of these and so it's not for

me. I'm too far gone. Great. That was

all of us. Bible says that all have

sinned and fall short of the glory of

God. But God and his infinite wisdom in

the Christmas story

in Luke 2 goes to a group of shepherds

out in the field and the Bible says that

a host of angels tell them of the king

of kings being born in Bethlehem and

encourages them to accept the invite and

go have a look.

Would you go see what's happening? And

the shepherds, they go and they accept

the invite and they make their way to

Bethlehem.

The problem when we read the story is

this.

We we view it and re or we view the

story of shepherds at least. Let me try

that again through the context

of our childhood narrative that we've

been taught. What do I mean by that?

We've been taught that shepherds were

prim and proper. You can see the image

there with the beautiful white sheep and

the staff and they're standing there and

it's all majestic and it's great. But

the reality is that shepherds at that

time were the outcasts.

It it was the people that nobody

considered. It was the lone guy. They

they were sent out of the city to tend

to the sheep. They were not worthy to be

part of the social status people

thought. But God in his Christmas story

to prove the fact that the invite is

open to everybody goes to the least of

these and says, "Not only are you

invited, but if you'd accept, I'll also

use you to confirm to Mary what she's

going through." The Bible says that it's

told that that the shepherds not only

took the message, but they confirmed it

to Mary.

>> And so, I wonder what you in saying yes

today to the invite could do for your

life.

You see, there's two responses

to the invite.

But I think what's happened, and I've

been thinking about this recently, I

think as Christians, we we start reading

scripture and then um the truth becomes

cliches. Cliches become familiar, and

it's in the familiarity that starts

losing its power. And so, we read

things, we don't necessarily believe

them, but we read them and we know them.

We don't outwork them because Yeah, you

know, that's a cool Christmas story.

But there's two key areas that I believe

we call to respond. The first is this.

It's the invite. I said that when Jesus

came, that representation of the parable

as a servant. He brought the word and

the gospel, fulfilled the gospel, gave

us all a second opportunity.

And then it was our responsibility as a

believer. How do we respond to the

invite? Well, if you say, Luke, I am a

Christian. I am a believer. But then the

challenge is on us to take the message

into the highways and the byways

to clear something up very quickly. This

invite and the invite cultures got

absolutely nothing to do with numbers.

This is about life transformation.

This is like imagine somebody accepted

who was so far gone and I almost take my

mind to 60 70 years down the line where

somebody 70 years said yes and looking

at the impact of the generation upon

generation where now their kids and

their grandkids and their great

grandkids are all saved because they

said yes. This will never be about

filling seats and getting bums on seats.

That's not what this is about. The

invite's about life transformation. If

we make it about anything else, we've

lost already. I doesn't matter if

there's 10 people, 10,000. I will

prepare and preach to 10 and 10,000 in

the exact same way because the

individual story that's represented by

the yes of an invite will not only

change their lives, but generations to

come. And so therefore, we've got a

responsibility to not just take the

invite, but to own the invite. Amen.

>> And so when we say go into your

neighbors and your highways and the

byways, be a representation of what the

invite is.

>> It's not just a piece of paper and it's

not just about numbers. I said this

morning, believe me, as a as a pastoral

team and and many of our volunteers who

you guys are, we we don't need more to

do. We don't we're like, uh, we might

just do another one because, you know,

we feel like we want to fill our Sundays

up. It's not about that. The heart is so

much just about the one.

The person in your school, the person in

your university, the person in your

work, the neighbor, the single dad down

the road. Imagine the hope that we could

instill into them as they [music] walk

through the building and understand that

the invite is there for them to accept.

It's an open invite. And then we watch

as God works through them. life

transformating, life transforming power

out works through them. So that's the

first response for believers. Say, look,

that's me. Great. Pastor Ben said it.

Don't take one invite. Take 10. Take 15.

Take as many as you can. What's the

worst thing that someone can say? I'm

not coming to church. Cool. I'll ask you

next week. I'll ask you. I'll just keep

asking you. Like, no is okay. I'll just

ask you again. But would we take the

invite and actually invite people? Not

for a number. not to fill a service to

see their lives transformed. If it's the

greatest gift that we've received, why

would we not make it open to other

people that we love?

Sometimes almost confounds me, confuses

me. I can't even say the word. That's

how confused I am.

It is the greatest gift we've all

received. But then we keep it to

ourselves.

Why would I not want my mom and my

brother and my sister and my dad and

everybody just to experience it? It's

the greatest gift.

And here's the second one. You're

saying, "Look, it's all good and well,

but I don't know how to respond to the

invite."

Well, that's the second group.

And we can pray for that right now.

You say, "Look, I've never accepted

Jesus in my life. I've never said yes to

the invite before." Or you know in your

heart that at one stage you were close,

but like the prodical son, you've you've

walked away, but you've come home.

And it's an opportunity to say yes to

Jesus today. Yes to the invite. Imagine

today is your day where you get to draw

a line in the sand and say enough's

enough. Not about behavior modification,

but life transforming power by saying

yes to Jesus. Imagine the impact on your

family,

the impact on the generations after you,

the impact on your workplace, on your

household, on your neighborhood. by one.

Yes. And so with every head bow and eye

closed just to give people a moment of

privacy. If that's you, you want to say

yes to Jesus today, either for the first

time or to recommmit your life to Jesus.

Would you be so confident and bold

enough just to raise your hand to me on

the count of three with every head bow

and eye closed? You're saying yes to

Jesus. You're not raising your hand to

me. You're raising it to the Lord. You

It's just an outward expression saying

yes. Look, I want to be I want to be

included that prayer. So on the count of

three, is that you? One friend, know

that Jesus loves you so much.

Two, this one gets me. Even if you were

the only person on planet Earth, God

would have sent his son for you.

And three, all across the room, if

that's you, would you be so confident

and bold enough just to lift your hand

up so I know who I'm praying for?

Give you a few more minutes. You want to

say yes to Jesus today?

This is what I know. I I genuinely feel

like God's doing a work in a few people

here today.

This is not a hand raised.

This is about accepting the Lord Jesus

your life. And so if you know in your

heart that you said yes to Jesus today,

would you pray this prayer out with me

and repeat after me? And as a church

family, we'll say it out with you so

you're not saying it alone. So with

every head bow and eye closed, say,

"Dear Lord Jesus,

thank you for dying on the cross for me.

I believe in my heart that you were

raised to life.

And I pray that you be the Lord and

Savior of my life.

guide me, guard me, and give me the

confidence

to now take that invite

to other people. And all God's people

said, "Amen.