Invitation to God's Kingdom - Matthew 22:1-14

We're going to take a break from our normal journey through the

Gospel of Luke, and we're going to look at a passage in the

Gospel of Matthew in Matthew chapter 22.

Matthew 22 · chapter mention

And so as you're turning to Matthew 22, let me start out

with two questions for you. This summer.

At some point, or maybe, you know, leading up to summer, did

you get one of those beautiful invitations in the mail that

told you that you were being invited to come celebrate a

wedding where someone you knew, maybe two people, man and woman,

that you knew, decided to make a public declaration for all to

see that they were in love and they're committing to each other

for the rest of their lives? And the second question I have

for you is did you actually go? Because just getting the

invitation doesn't always guarantee that you're able to

make it. In fact, I'm actually thinking

about this, this passage and and this invitation in my own life

because I recently got back from one of the most beautiful

weddings I've ever been to in my life.

There was a number of us from the church and our own Pastor

Parker officiated the wedding and the invite came in the mail.

And it's two people I love and they invited me and my whole

family. But it was a destination

wedding. They wanted me to drive 10 hours

and meet them on an island in Washington to celebrate and to

feast and to actually stay overnight at the wedding.

And, and it's one of the most joyful things you can do is to

be with friends and family. Some of the closest people in my

life were going to be there, two people I love to watch them get

married. And yet my initial reaction was,

I don't think I can make that. That is going to be a big burden

to figure out how to get up there and, and get all my kids.

How do I get my car on a ferry? And how do I, how do we stay

overnight and get ready for a wedding?

So my initial thought was, I don't think I would make that.

I'm so glad I did because as I said, it turned out to be one of

the most beautiful weddings I've ever been to.

And I'm sure you've had experiences in your own life

where there's an amazing invitation to do something that

would be so fun on paper, but the logistics of actually

getting there are kind of challenging.

And with that picture in your mind, we're actually going to

find an exact overlay for how Jesus describes what it's like

to come into the Kingdom of God. And that's something that we're

going to talk about today at Church in the Park.

And that's something we're actually going to invite people

into, to come into the Kingdom of God.

I'm going to send an invite to the whole park that they are

invited to be members and citizens in the Kingdom of God.

And to do that I'm going to share a story that Jesus shares

about a wedding. And so read along with me in

Matthew chapter 22 it says and Jesus answered and spoke to them

Matthew 22 · chapter mention

again in parables and said the Kingdom of heaven is like a

certain king who arranged for his son to be married.

And so every parable we do our best to not over interpret, but

to try to figure out who is being represented in the stories

of the parable. And very simply, as we go

through this, I just very on the outset, you can see that Jesus

is about to describe something that is going to be represented

in the Father and the Son and those who he invites into the

Kingdom. He says the Kingdom of heaven.

It's like a certain king, this is the Father God and he's got a

son, this is Jesus. And he's inviting people to

celebrate a union with Christ. So this is a message of

salvation. This is a message that goes out

to say the Father has sent his son into the world and

everybody's invited to to be part of the feast coming

together with Jesus. And so he sends his servants.

In this story it says in verse 3, the servants go out to call

all those were invited to the wedding and yet they were not

willing to come. They get the invite, they hear

the message and they aren't willing to come.

That'll be true this event that we have today at church in the

park that there will be an invite to experience the radical

love of God, the free gift of salvation to be one with God and

be entered into his Kingdom. And no doubt there will be some

that here that don't want to come and and Jesus will tell us

why that is. Why is it that some people could

hear that there is a free gift of salvation that gives them

access to the Kingdom of God and citizenship in heaven, and yet

they won't come? It says that he sent out his

servants. Some were not willing.

They just didn't want to come. They were totally uninterested

in the message of the Gospel. They were totally uninterested

in a wedding. They, they just, they got the

invite and they thought, no, I really don't want to go

celebrate. I don't want to go to a feast.

I don't want to hang out with the king.

I don't want to be in the, in the presence of the sun.

And it isn't that the case. You know, right now, for the

last month, we've been inviting people to come, in a sense, to a

big giant feast and to enjoy the invitation to see people become

members of the Kingdom, to watch people give their life to

Christ, to be part of some of those people who wouldn't.

This is just how it goes. Some people are like, don't

care. I don't care about church.

I don't care about God. I'm totally indifferent.

And maybe some of you felt that way in your life before the the

Lord opened your eyes to what was actually being offered to

you to eternal life and the joy of heaven.

You may have sat in church over the years or came to youth group

as a kid or heard someone talk about Jesus and said, I just

don't care. And so there will be more

servants that go out. Another round of invites in

Matthew chapter 22, verse four. And again, he sent out other

Matthew 22 · chapter mention

servants saying, tell all those who are invited, I've prepared

dinner, my oxen, my fatted calf are killed.

All the things are ready, come to the wedding.

Jesus uses parables to try to describe the indescribable.

So he's giving a picture of the best thing you could ever be

invited to. He says the fatted calf in their

day, that's the best feast you could have.

He says that I've got it all ready for you.

It's just come. I just want you to come into the

wedding. And heaven is indescribable.

This is a picture to describe something we can't imagine.

Jesus says it's already come to heaven, receive eternal life.

I have taken care of everything for you.

All you have to do is say yes. But we get another response in

verse 5. It says, but some made light of

it and went their own way, one to his own farm, another to his

own business. So we've got uninterested and

unimpressed. They just totally are like, it

doesn't sound that great. I'm not that I, I make light of

it, whatever and it and then it says something that all of us

have to deal with when God gives an invitation to our life to

enjoy his joy. Says they've got farms to take

care of and businesses to tend to.

So they're busy with work and making money.

And no doubt I'm inviting some of you online.

I'm inviting everyone from church and everyone's inviting

their friends. And some people will respond by

saying, do you know what I could accomplish with five hours on a

Sunday in my life? I could do so much.

I could get work done ready for the work week.

I could spend money and make a little extra money and store up

for myself many goods. And it's not just one Sunday and

one day of the summer. It's why people don't give their

life to God. Do you know how much I could

accomplish if I just kept living my life the way I want to live

it? I could do all the work and make

all the money, and So what the heck do I want to worry about

heaven for? What the heck do I want to

reorder my life around some distant day that is described as

indescribable joy when I could be busy making money and doing

work? Now and then we get more

examples of why people could get the invitation and not actually

show up. It says in verse 6.

And the rest seized his servants, treated them

spitefully and killed them. So we have those that are

uninterested, those that are too busy, and those that are just

plain hard hearted against God. The King has invited the people

of the Kingdom or the people all around this feast to come and

enjoy a feast. He'll cover the bill.

They just need to show up and with that message, some people

respond not just with indifference, but actual

violence, hard in their heart, shake their fist at God, angry.

And you know, they're certainly in the beginning.

We see some people who could tolerate church.

Some people could sit in through church in the park, show up for

the food and be like your message is fine for you, not

really interested, but no doubt other people cannot.

There are some people that would say as soon as you mention God,

as soon as I hear the name of Jesus, as soon as you start

talking about my need for salvation and the the solution

for my sins, I am going to violently oppose you.

I'm going to storm out of here. I'm going to tell everyone how

evil you are. The Gospel of John says everyone

who practices evil hates the light and does not come to the

light lest his deeds should be exposed.

And for many of you, I can say, remember those days when you

didn't just find church indifferent, you found church

dangerous. You found those who believed

members of cults. You thought that the message was

absolute foolishness to the point that you had to fight it.

And so you have the uninterested and unimpressed, the too busy

and the angry. And no doubt I'll be preaching

this week, this, this day, this afternoon to all four of those

categories. No doubt that those categories

will be people that all believers interact with in their

own representation of the gospel, with their lives.

And the message for them is not yours to deal with.

There are only 2 ends to every story.

You will accept the free gift in the invitation of salvation unto

heaven or you will be judged. That is the reality of the

response to the message. You respond by accepting the

free gift or you respond by accepting the coming judgement.

And this is seen in the story today.

It says in verse 27. But when the king heard about

it, he was furious and he sent out armies to destroy those

murderers and burn up their city.

Everyone would understand this very clearly.

It sounds violent to our to our ears.

But to reject the king is to be an enemy of his Kingdom.

If the king sends an invitation, this is hard for us to

understand because all of our invitation responses can be.

You can check the box of maybe if I feel like it, but in this

day, if a king said show up and you said I'm too busy and I

don't care, you're an enemy of the king.

And so he acted accordingly. And to to reject God, to reject

the message of his love that is declared in the invitation to

join the Kingdom freely is to declare yourself an enemy of

God. There are only two responses, to

accept the gift or to accept judgement.

And here is the gospel good news.

This message does not end with judgement.

This message does not end with an angry king.

This message continues to reveal the king as a representative of

the heart of God. So what does he do in dealing

with all of the people who reject him?

He sends out more servants. He continues to search for

anyone who would respond by coming to the feast.

He says the wedding is ready. He said to his servants the

wedding is ready, but those who were invited we're not worthy,

not because he didn't choose them, but because they didn't

respond by saying yes. So he says they're go, therefore

go into the highways and as many as you find, invite them to the

wedding. And this is the heart of God.

Though people be uninterested, unimpressed, too busy and too

angry, He relentlessly pursues people to receive His love and

join in the feast of Heaven. And this is the good news for

all of our lives. You may have been uninterested

in God and He sent another messenger.

You may have been too busy for God and He sent another

messenger. You may have been hard hearted

and angry. You may have sworn against the

idea of God all together and he sends more messengers.

And so if we do find ourselves this afternoon preaching this

message to those who did, who came for the food and didn't

expect to join in the feast, the message is for them also for

whoever would hear this message, they are now being once again

welcomed into the free gift of salvation, a loving relationship

with God and citizenship in heaven.

And the categories don't stop with just the uninterested, too

busy and the angry. We actually now find the most

dangerous spiritual condition you can find yourself in.

And this is going to now point us to the beautiful picture of

what we're going to do to celebrate baptism today.

It says in Matthew chapter 22, verse 10.

Matthew 22:10

So the servants went out to the highways and gathered together

all they found, both the bad and the good.

It is not there. The the the prerequisite to get

into the feast is to say yes. And in saying yes, we are now

going to get another picture of something we should all be aware

of. When the wedding hall was filled

with guests, the king came in to see the guests and he saw a man

who did not have a wedding garment.

I love the picture of a wedding. This is imagery we still

understand today. Any wedding you go to, it might

be the last place on earth where there is a dress code that we

all know should not be violated. If you get invited to a wedding,

even if it says casual, please don't wear sweats.

If you get invited to a wedding, even if it's on a distant island

and you camp the night before, do everything you can to honor

the the bride and the bridegroom by putting on the robes that

would be worthy of a wedding. And this is where this picture

speaks to us. The king finds this person who

thought he could show up totally unchanged, just as he was.

And he said to him, friend, how did you come here without a

wedding garment? Why did you show up in rags?

Why are you coming to this feast and clearly not respecting the

the moment by treating it as just another day in the office,

another day on the farm. And then the king said to his

servant, bind him hand and foot, take him away and cast him out

to outer darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing him

thief. So he gets thrown out of the

wedding and weeping of gnashing and teeth.

You just get this picture. He's like, what have I done?

What what what I got thrown out. This is the most dangerous of

all spiritual conditions is that we could come to the wedding.

We could come to the presence of God, stand before the creator of

heaven and earth and say Lord, I'm coming just as I am, exactly

clothed in my own righteousness. I'm coming with my own self

righteousness, good enough, just as I am.

The the robe that this picture points us to is the brand new

robe that all of us receive on the day of salvation.

This is imagery that Jesus audience would have understood.

Anyone who knew the Torah would have known the imagery of Isaiah

Isaiah 61 · chapter mention

chapter 61 where it says, I will re greatly rejoice in the Lord.

My soul shall be joyful in my God.

For He has closed me with garments of salvation.

He has covered me with the robe of righteousness.

As a bridegroom decks himself with ornaments, and as the bride

adorns herself with jewels. So God in our salvation, we come

to him in filthy rags, and he gives us robes white as snow.

And this is now a call to baptism.

People say, well, why do I need to get baptized?

And I just believe it in my heart.

Baptism is your public decision declared before God and everyone

who will stand on the riverbanks, that you no longer

trust in your old filthy garments, in your own self

righteousness, in whatever good works you might have presented

to your friends and family as to why you never needed a Savior in

the 1st place. It says in Romans now the

righteousness of God apart from the laws revealed, being

witnessed by the law and the prophets that the righteousness

of God through faith is available to all who believe

apart from the law. No longer you, you don't get

into the wedding because God saw you from a distant place and

said, wow, look at that guy. He looks so great.

You come in and he gives you brand new articles of clothing.

And Paul says, for you are all sons of God through faith in

Christ. For as many of you were baptized

into Christ, have now put on Christ.

If you've never given your life to Christ, you've never accepted

the invitation to come to the feast of heaven.

You may have never given your life to Christ because you've

been uninterested in what heaven is in the eternal life that God

has put on your heart. You may have never come to

Christ because you were too busy about your own plans for your

own life. You may have never come to

Christ because you never wanted to believe in God in the 1st

place. But He has sent a messenger

today to tell you that He loves you, that He's inviting you to a

feast of heaven, that he's paid the price for the the feast is

not by your life, but by the life of his Son who died on the

cross for your sins and gives you brand new robes.

And all you have to do is accept the invitation.

And if you accept the invitation today, or if you've ever

accepted the invitation and never had that moment where you

have gone into the water. Representing your old life, your

old filthy rags, your old self righteousness, your old hardened

heart. You're old too busy about your

own plans. Your own robe has been washed

away and coming out of the water you are washed and cleanse.

Water representing the blood of Christ.

And as you get out of the water, you are now presented before God

in the robes of righteousness. That is what we are going to do

today. And so I'll end as Jesus ends

the story. Many are called.

I can invite anyone who can hear the application of my voice at

the park. I can go to those who are at the

foot of the stage and they get the invitation and they got it

at church the week before. I can.

I could send people all the way to the the river where people

sleep out under the stars. I can invite everyone within

earshot of the gospel. I can say, come to the baptismal

waters to receive a new robe of righteousness, that God will see

Christ in you, white as snow. But few are chosen.

Well, who was chosen? Who was invited?

In the story, everyone was invited.

Who was chosen? Anyone who has the right robe,

anyone who has taken the free gift of salvation and now has

Christ in them. So I'll call any non believer,

anyone that God is prompting their heart.

I will call them to a public declaration this afternoon.

I call anyone who's watching online.

I invite you to give your life to Christ.

And no doubt few will be chosen. No doubt there are some of you

who know that this message is for you, and in your hardness or

in your business you will not come.

But for those who come, we're going to pray for them.

And we're going to walk down to the river today and we are going

to baptize them in the name of the Father and the Son and the

Holy Spirit. And we're going to celebrate

that. They are going to be with all of

us who believe at the Feast of Heaven in the robes of Christ.

Thanks for joining us today. If you would like to watch the

full service, check out the link in the description.

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