Luke 19:1-10 - The Mission

You are listening to a message from Southwood Presbyterian Church in Huntsville, Alabama.

Our passion is to experience and express grace. Join us.

Ray Cortese is our guest speaker this weekend for the conference.

He's the senior pastor of Seven Rivers Presbyterian Church in Lakanto, Florida.

He started that church 33 years ago.

But he's very, very young, which I failed to clarify last night.

And we're really glad that Ray and Diane have traveled up here to be with us this weekend.

Thank you all so much.

All right. Thank you, sir.

There are people who come to Sunday school on time.

And then there are people who have a life, right?

So, all right.

There we go.

If you have a Bible, we're going to look at a passage from Luke chapter 14.

Luke 14 · chapter mention

So, I'll give you a minute to find your way there.

It's an experience grace, express grace.

I love it.

I love the clarity of the mission.

I love the content of your mission.

The challenge, of course, is to get any group of people on mission, to get a church on mission, stay on mission,

particularly in areas that are significantly churched areas or people that are significantly churched people,

to be on mission.

And something we did in our community that's kind of had a pretty radical and dramatic effect is that we changed the mission statement of our Christian school,

changed the stated missional purpose,

so that we were what was typically called a covenant school.

That is, one parent had to profess faith and be a member of a local church, you know, for their child to be admitted to our school.

And we took away that, and we took a more what we called missional approach.

And, of course, there was some disagreement with that decision.

And part of my argument was, if you went to, say, India to start a Christian school,

and you were a missionary, and you believe that starting a Christian school could be a viable option for impacting that community for the gospel,

advancing the kingdom of God, would you require one of the parents of any potential student to be a Christian?

And what do people say?

No.

And then, well, why not?

Because there aren't any, right?

So, our argument is that if you went to Crystal River, Florida,

and you thought that starting a Christian school would be a viable and perhaps effective way to influence the community,

advance the kingdom of God, would you require one parent of any potential student to be a Christian?

And the answer should be no, because there aren't any.

And so, there are still pockets in our country where there are Christians,

and you can pull perhaps enough professing Christians together to do some things.

But until the North American church realizes that the answer is,

why wouldn't you do that?

No, you know, because there aren't any.

Until we realize that there aren't any Christians,

then we will not be missional in the way that we need to be missional.

Churches can't be formed by gathering together the Christians in the community.

There aren't any.

There aren't any.

People need to be one to faith in Christ.

And you're reading this, right?

You can see how culture's changing.

I remember just a couple years ago thinking,

the Supreme Court is going to declare same-gender marriage as the law of the land,

and that's actually going to be the law in the state of Alabama.

I remember thinking,

how is that going to go down?

In Mississippi and in Alabama,

same-sex marriage is going to be legalized.

So if we want to live in America we wish it was,

or it once was,

or something else,

we can play those games,

or we can live in the culture in which God's put us in,

which, by the way,

is just an awesome time to be a Christian.

You know why it's an awesome time to be a Christian?

Because the darker the culture gets,

even dim bulbs like me,

and perhaps like you,

actually appear to be light, right?

So it doesn't take really that much to be a light in a very dark place.

So those of us who never consider ourselves that our life could ever make any difference for Jesus,

guess what?

The very simplest things now will make you a radical follower of Jesus in our culture.

And I'm going to suggest one of those in this brief Sunday school,

I was going to say Sunday school hour,

you know,

the abbreviated hour.

So,

you know,

sometimes what the Bible tells us to do is pretty simple.

And that's what we're going to read in this passage.

The passage says that God is having a party,

a big party,

and he wants,

he has his eye on people who are unwanted.

He wants unwanted people.

He wants the unwanted to come to his party.

And he wants you to bring them.

That's not that hard to understand, is it?

Pretty simple concept, right?

God's having a big party.

There's people he wants there,

and he wants you to bring them.

And if you do that,

you're on mission,

and you're actually a really radical Christian.

So let's look at the passage,

and I'll give you a chance to,

I could have you stand,

but you have coffee some of you.

By the way,

if you want to go out and get more coffee,

anytime,

or stand up,

or walk around the back to stay,

I'm not going to be the least bit disturbed.

So just make yourself at home for the next hour,

and we'll enjoy this time together.

So if you can,

go ahead and stand,

just as we give our attention to the Word of God.

And we're looking at Luke 14.

Now in Luke 14,

Jesus is at a dinner party,

and it's not a very warm affair.

In fact,

the first verse says that

Jesus went to dine at the house of a ruler of the Pharisees.

So you can,

you know,

he's kind of in the lion's den there,

isn't he?

And it says they were watching him carefully.

So you get the spirit of what is taking place there.

He's under scrutiny.

We're going to pick up the account at verse 12.

And notice sort of the chutzpah of what Jesus does,

because what he's about to say,

he says to the host.

You know,

usually you're kind of conciliatory towards the host.

But this is what Jesus said.

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 they also invite you in return and you be repaid.

But when you give a feast,

invite the poor,

the crippled,

the lame,

and the blind,

and you will be blessed because they can't repay you.

You will be repaid at the resurrection of the just.

When one of those who reclined at table with him

heard these things,

he said to him,

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

But Jesus said,

a man once gave a great banquet and invited many.

And at that 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 have bought a field and I must go out and see it.

Please have me excused.

And another said,

I have bought five yoke of oxen and I go to examine them.

Please excuse me.

Another said,

I have married a wife.

I can't come.

So the servant came and repeated these things to his master.

And the master was angry and said to his servant,

go out quickly to the streets and lanes of the city

and bring in the poor,

crippled,

blind,

and lame.

Servant said,

what you have commanded has been done.

There's still room.

And the master said to the servant,

go out into the highways and hedges.

In other words,

go further out.

Now this is Pharisees.

This is a Jewish deal here.

This is a Jewish crowd.

What is Jesus actually saying at this point?

Go out and invite who?

Gentiles.

Ugh.

Ick.

So he says,

go all the way out and compel people to come in,

that my house may be filled.

For I tell you,

none of those men who are invited

shall taste my banquet.

But this is the reading of God's holy word.

Let's pray.

Father,

we don't want to be hearers of the word only.

We want to hear it.

We want you to teach it to us.

We want to be stunned by it.

And we want our hearts and minds engaged.

But then we want it actually to show up in our lives.

We want your,

the fact that you included us in the great feast

to just blow us away afresh.

We pray this in Jesus' name.

Amen.

All right.

Do be seated.

Listen,

hospitality.

We're going to talk about hospitality.

Hospitality is an ancient path.

Jeremiah says,

thus says the Lord,

stand by the roads,

look,

and ask for the ancient paths,

where the good way is,

and walk in it,

and find rest for your souls.

Jeremiah 6.16,

write that down.

Isn't that a great passage?

Stand by the roads,

and look,

and ask for the ancient path.

The well-worn path.

The ancient path is the way of life.

And so hospitality is one of those.

Hospitality is an ancient path.

And let me tell you something.

Hospitality matters.

Hospitality changes people's lives.

Hospitality is what it means to be a Christian.

Hospitality has tremendous impact.

Hospitality is personal.

It's deeply personal to me.

It's why I am a pastor.

Hospitality is a pastor.

When I was in,

when I finished high school,

a pastor and his wife invited me,

I grew up in Miami,

and they invited me to live in their home

in Upper Glade, West Virginia,

in the heart of Appalachia.

Less than half the people in the community

had running water.

And so for two summers in a row,

I went up,

and matter of fact,

when I got there the first summer,

after three weeks,

the pastor left for a month,

and I was the pastor of the church.

I was 17 years old.

And so I lived with this family for two.

I mean,

I saw things I've never seen since.

But I learned something about what it meant

to be a follower of Jesus,

even certainly amidst the poor.

Poor people would come.

They'd have a fire in their little shack

or their trailer or something

and lose everything,

and they'd knock on the door

of the pastor's house.

And I saw his wife go,

you know,

she didn't go down to the church

to get some old furniture people had donated.

She'd walk into her children's bedroom,

unload their dresser,

and walk it out the front door

and give it to people.

I saw her take their couch

and just give it away.

I mean,

it was just an astounding tutorial

in what it might look like

to be a follower of Jesus

in that place and time.

You know,

my wife and I spent a portion of our honeymoon

in Gadsden, Alabama.

Now,

don't ask why.

You might be surprised

to find that Gadsden's

a great honeymoon hotspot.

But on our honeymoon,

my wife had a dear friend from college

who was supposed to sing in our wedding,

and she fell off the radar,

and finally my wife got in touch with her

just days before the wedding,

and she said,

I'm not coming

because she had entered into a lesbian relationship

and was filled with guilt and shame.

And so on our honeymoon,

happened to be,

she was from Meridian, Mississippi,

so we were kind of in the neighborhood

by being in Alabama,

and my wife called her,

and she came and spent a couple days

in our hotel room on our honeymoon with us.

That was an introduction to hospitality,

and it made a big difference

in her life

and the way her story would play out.

A couple,

maybe a month,

six weeks ago,

we were in northern New Jersey,

Diane and I,

and we went to a church

that we were there

trying to initiate it 36 years ago.

Again,

right when we got married,

we went to New Jersey

three weeks after we were married

and started working on this church start.

And so 35 years later,

we went back to this little,

and it's just a little church

with less than 100 people,

and so we knew that nobody would be there

that had been there that long ago.

And when we walked in,

and somebody said,

is this your first time?

And we said,

no,

we've been here before.

And they said,

when did you,

when's the last time you were here?

It was 35 years ago.

We're kind of,

casual visitors.

And every 35 years.

So,

we went,

they said,

oh,

well,

then you must know Valerie,

Valerie Marquetta.

Of course,

we were just stunned.

And,

and they pointed out who Valerie was,

and we went over,

and she just began to,

to weep.

Because,

35,

36 years ago,

Valerie came and sat

in church next to us.

She was a Catholic girl

in northern New Jersey,

and she lived with her boyfriend,

and he was abusive.

And as we got to know her,

we invited her to come live with us,

at least trying to get her

to leave this horrible situation

she was in.

And,

and then even when we left there,

and we moved to,

went away to a graduate school,

Valerie came and stayed with us.

And she told us there,

you challenged me

when I came to your place

in Mississippi,

and,

and I gave my life to Christ.

Hospitality.

See,

it makes a difference

in people's lives.

We hadn't seen her in 35 years.

I won't forget what she said

as we were crying

and hugging each other

at this reunion.

She said,

this is what heaven

must feel like.

when,

when people you've long

lost touch with,

suddenly you're,

you're,

you're back together.

The power of hospitality.

When we were,

in some of the earlier days

of our church,

I remember there was a girl

who was a waitress

at a local restaurant.

She was a friendly kid

and got invited to play softball

because our,

our church did this softball thing then.

She was a good player,

so she showed up,

so then she came to church,

so then she met Jesus.

Okay?

Um,

and she lived with a guy

and because she met Jesus,

she moved out

and really within a month

she had relocated

to somewhere else in Florida

kind of to start her life over

because she was a Christian now.

Um,

and,

and so guess who started

coming to church when she left?

Well,

the guy that she used to live with,

um,

was kind of,

thought it was fairly remarkable

that not only had her life changed,

but she had met somebody

more wonderful than him.

And,

um,

he could hardly understand that.

And,

uh,

so he walked into church

and,

and he got converted

and he came

and,

and he was going,

wanted to go to law school

and his,

um,

uh,

living situation

had been disrupted.

Um,

so he,

uh,

he had nowhere to go.

So,

so he came to live with us

for about four months

and,

uh,

we remained good friends

for,

uh,

many years.

Uh,

went off to law school

and,

you know,

so it was,

it was kind of fun.

My little son,

you know,

in the bottom bunk

and this,

this guy in his early 20s

in the top bunk,

they were roommates

for a while.

Well,

in,

in November,

he will be the speaker

of the Florida House

of Representatives.

Um,

so,

uh,

hospitality is very personal,

uh,

deeply personal to me.

It's,

uh,

had a shaping influence,

uh,

in my life.

I want you to know

that hospitality

is our heritage.

From the 2nd century

to the 16th century,

any traveler

in the Western world

would spend,

uh,

every day

of their journey

scanning the horizon

in search of one thing.

What would they be looking for?

As you traveled along,

you would spend,

um,

every day

looking for one thing.

You would be looking

for a church

or more,

most,

more likely

a monastery,

uh,

because that's

where you would stay.

That's the only place

you could stay.

It's the only place

that most lodging places

were houses of ill repute.

Or,

um,

and,

uh,

this was the only place

where you could find

safety

and,

uh,

and food

and rest.

Everyone knew

the church was a place

where strangers

were welcomed

as guests.

Did you know that?

This is our heritage.

This is what the church,

um,

did for hundreds

and hundreds

and hundreds of years.

The vocation

of hospitality

is deeply embedded

in the historical DNA

of the church.

Perhaps you've heard

of the rules

of Saint Benedict.

Um,

and,

and here,

here's one of them,

the holy rule.

All guests

who present themselves

are to be welcomed

as Christ.

For he himself

will say,

I was a stranger

and you welcomed me.

Once a guest

has been announced,

the superior

and the brothers

are to meet him

with all courtesy

of love.

All humility

should be shown

in addressing

a guest

on arrival

or departure.

By a bow

of the head

or by a complete

prostration

of the body,

Christ is to be adored.

Did you hear that?

They believed

that when anyone

showed up

at their door,

um,

that was Jesus.

Jesus was showing

up at their door

and the way

they treated the guests

was the way

they treated Jesus.

In a sense,

you couldn't say

you love Jesus

if you didn't love

the guests

that he brought

to your door.

Um,

the abbot

shall pour water

on the hands

of the guests

and the abbot

with the entire community

shall wash their feet.

Isn't that wild?

Well,

this was the,

um,

um,

the church,

um,

at its heart

is a community

of welcome.

Philip Haley

wrote a book

called

Lest Innocent Blood

Be Shed.

Uh,

I really recommend it.

It's about the,

uh,

a French Huguenot

community

called Les Chambons.

Now,

the Huguenots

you might not,

um,

be entirely aware of

are,

if you,

um,

adhere to,

uh,

the reform faith,

reform theology,

um,

then the Huguenots

are our forebears.

Um,

we don't have

Huguenot churches

because they were

all slaughtered.

The ones that weren't

slaughtered,

um,

were up in the hills.

They were in more rural,

out-of-the-way places

like this town.

Um,

but Huguenots

were experts

at,

um,

hiding,

right?

They,

they had to hide

for their lives.

And so during,

uh,

Philip Haley

wrote,

wrote that,

that he was so distressed

studying World War II

and the,

and the inhumanity

and the,

the,

the,

um,

industrialization

of death.

And,

um,

it,

you know,

he said he was

emotionalist.

He was,

um,

callous to it all.

And,

um,

and,

and then suddenly

he began reading

about this small town

he'd never heard of

and he said

the strangest sensation

happened.

There was,

there was moisture drops

hitting,

um,

the book,

the,

the materials

in front of him

and he realized

he was weeping.

Uh,

because he discovered

the town of Le Chambon

and the,

the story of Andre

and,

and Magda Trachma,

the,

um,

uh,

Protestant pastor

and his wife

who organized

their entire community

to hide Jewish children.

They saved thousands

of Jewish children,

uh,

during World War II.

And the Nazis

would come

and look for them,

um,

and,

uh,

I,

I think they,

they ultimately

found one.

Um,

they were,

they were experts

at this.

And,

uh,

they imperiled

their whole community.

Matter of fact,

when the Nazis came

ultimately to arrest

her husband,

the pastor,

um,

and he was arrested,

um,

Magda said,

um,

they knocked on the door

and,

they,

they were coming

to take him away

and,

uh,

and she said,

well,

you are not going

to take him away

until you sit down

at my table

and you eat.

It is dinner time

and guests at my table,

uh,

are going to be fed.

So she had the Nazis

sit down

and she fed them

before they took

her husband away

because she was

in charge of her house.

Um,

just great.

You know,

if you go to Yad Vashem,

uh,

in,

uh,

in Israel,

there is a place

of honor

for,

um,

these are,

these are our,

this is our heritage.

This ought to be

the,

uh,

a height of,

uh,

of incredible joy

that this is our

historical,

um,

legacy.

So here's our challenge

in our day

is that our neighbors

are still wandering

just like they have

for all of history.

Um,

but they're not looking

anymore for the church,

are they?

Uh,

like people once did,

um,

as a place of refuge,

a place of safety,

a place of welcome.

They're not looking

any longer,

um,

for the church.

And what's even sadder

is that all too often

we're not looking for them.

Um,

and we're not open,

uh,

to,

to welcome them.

Um,

so we must

recover this ancient path.

It's the lost vocation

of,

uh,

hospitality.

Now,

almost everybody here

has,

has,

uh,

seen the musical

Les Mis.

And you remember

at the very beginning

when Jean Valjean

is,

uh,

has been set,

uh,

free,

but he has,

no one will take him in,

right?

Where does he go?

He goes to a monastery,

right?

See,

that's the very picture

of what we're talking about.

That's where people went,

that there was nowhere else

for them to go.

And you remember

what the priest sings

in the Broadway version.

Um,

come in,

sir,

for you are weary

and the night is cold

out there.

Though our lives

are very humble,

what we have,

we have to share.

There's wine here

to revive you.

There is bread

to make you strong.

There's a bed

to rest till morning.

Rest from pain

and rest from wrong.

Wouldn't that be awesome

to have

right across the doorway

of,

of,

uh,

of our churches?

Um,

come in,

child,

for you are weary

and the night

is cold out there.

Our lives are humble,

but what we have,

we have to share.

There's wine

to revive you,

bread

to make you

strong.

So this is the mission

of Southwood Church.

Um,

it's,

uh,

it's to having

experienced the welcome

of Jesus,

right?

Experience grace.

Then you extend

the welcome

of,

uh,

of Jesus.

So let's talk

about that together.

Hospitality,

the,

the,

the,

the main characters

we're going to talk

about in Jesus' parable

and the first is

we have the host,

the yearning host.

Um,

so the recovery

of the vocation

of hospitality

begins with the conviction

that God is a host

who wants his house filled.

He has,

uh,

set up a great feast

and,

uh,

um,

and the church then

is to be that community

of welcome.

So Luke 14

is,

is this,

uh,

fascinating tableau

because Jesus

is at this tension

filled,

a Sabbath dinner party

with the most conservative

religious leaders

who are watching him.

And Jesus first

criticizes the guests.

We didn't read this,

um,

part of the passage,

but Jesus criticizes

the guests

because they seek

the places of honor

and then he criticizes

the host.

So Jesus is really not,

um,

Jesus apparently

is not a southerner

because no good southerner

would act,

um,

this way.

Um,

he,

he,

he not only

criticizes the host

but,

you know,

then he criticizes

the other guests

because,

you know,

the guests for seeking

the place of honor

and the host

because he's invited

the socially prominent.

Nobody is eating.

The tension is,

uh,

palpable

and one,

um,

good fellow decides

that he's going to

ease the mood

and he stands up

and says,

well,

well,

blessed is everybody

who's going to eat

bread in the kingdom

of God.

In other words,

what he's really saying

is,

now,

blessed are the likes

of us who are

essentially shoe-ins

at the feast in heaven.

We're all going.

We're all,

uh,

going to the feast

so it's,

it's good with all of us.

Now,

Jesus can't,

just can't let it go,

right?

And,

and so he tells a parable

and in his parable

he says there's a man

of immense wealth

and he,

um,

puts on a sumptuous feast

and the invitation list

is lengthy

but when the day is come

and the meal is ready

he sends his servants out

to inform everyone,

uh,

that it's time to come

to the feast.

But what do they say?

They have a whole bevy

of excuses,

um,

right?

Uh,

and,

and they decline

but he's adamant

his house is going to be filled

so he sends them out

to bring the poor

and the lame

and the nobodies

and compel them to come in

and even that doesn't fill the house

so he does the unthinkable.

Um,

Jesus says

he actually sends them out

to gather Gentiles

and even bring them

um,

into his house.

So what's the picture

we have of the host

in our parable?

The host is,

uh,

Jesus portrays God

as passionate.

Um,

he is going to share

his fullness

with the hungry

and that is the story

of the Bible.

The story of the Bible

as it unfolds

is God,

uh,

God as the desirous host.

Look,

consider the whole story.

What is creation?

Creation is God,

um,

showing his,

um,

creative genius

and laying out

this,

this,

um,

this spread

of beauty

and art

and creation

and food

and the bounty

and inviting

and then creating us

um,

to come to his,

to fill his,

um,

to fill his house

and enjoy the feast

that he's created.

That's creation itself.

We know in the wilderness,

um,

God feeds his people.

God's always feeding people.

The Bible revolves around eating.

That's something we can get excited about,

isn't it?

Um,

and,

and so in,

in the wilderness,

he's,

he's giving them bread,

right,

from heaven.

He's giving them meat,

quail from heaven.

He gives them shelter

from the hot sun

in,

uh,

in the day.

He keeps them warm

in the,

the cold nights

in the wilderness.

The prophets,

uh,

love to describe

the coming glory

in,

in terms like these

from Isaiah.

On this mountain,

the Lord of hosts

will make for all peoples

a feast of rich food,

a feast of well-aged

wine,

of rich food,

full of marrow,

of aged wine,

well-refined.

Um,

for many of the people

in our church,

that's their life verse.

They love reading

about all that wine.

Um,

so,

here we have it.

Um,

in the New Testament,

what do we,

um,

what do we get?

Jesus usurps the role

of the wedding host

and makes the best wine.

He feeds thousands

of people.

Um,

he eats,

uh,

with the notorious

and gets in trouble

for it.

He initiates

the Lord's Supper.

He tells us

that God is a welcoming,

um,

father who,

when his wayward children

comes home,

he throws a big barbecue,

right,

for all the,

all the community

to attend.

Um,

and he says

that all of creation

is headed

for a great wedding

celebration,

a great,

um,

feast.

Um,

and regularly

in churches,

what do we do?

We invite people

to come forward

and,

uh,

and taste and see

that the Lord is good

and taste the bread

and,

uh,

and drink the wine.

God is the host.

He is,

uh,

he is this,

um,

lavish,

um,

generous,

welcoming host.

Now,

we will never be

the practitioners

of hospitality

until we experience

personally

this welcoming

heart

of,

uh,

of God.

Um,

so have you,

um,

have you experienced

God welcome you?

Do you know

what it's like

to go to God's house?

And,

and,

and,

you know,

in our church

when we go forward

for communion

we,

we encourage people

to come,

um,

with their hands

out like this

because it's a way

for us to say,

uh,

we don't bring anything.

We don't bring

righteousness to this.

We don't have any

merits to come to this.

We haven't provided,

um,

the food at this meal.

You know,

in our church,

um,

I take people out

to lunch,

um,

all the time

and,

uh,

when I take out

particularly the successful,

the wealthy,

the,

uh,

those people,

I always pay for it

and I have to be

really quick.

Um,

and they are always

bothered by that.

Um,

because they,

they have an idea

that,

um,

that,

um,

they're the provider,

the church is the recipient.

They give,

the church receives.

Um,

they're the have,

the pastor is the have not.

Um,

and,

uh,

and,

and they're always

bothered.

And one of the things

they'll often say is,

we'll have to do this again.

And I say,

no,

no,

no,

we're not.

And,

uh,

and you're not going to

get the satisfaction

of you,

um,

um,

uh,

paying,

uh,

because this is the way

it works in the family

of God.

It's called grace.

You contribute nothing.

Um,

something is given to you

that you don't pay for.

And,

uh,

and if you can't even

stand it at a lunch,

how can you,

um,

uh,

how can you,

how can you understand

it as a way of life?

Um,

we don't pay God back.

Um,

that's not the motivation

for Christian living.

Um,

we have to experience,

listen,

there's all sorts of people

go to church in North America

who profess faith in Jesus

who could recite the,

um,

Westminster Confession of Faith

and Ugaritic.

Um,

but that doesn't mean

you've ever had the experience,

uh,

uh,

you've ever experienced grace.

Doesn't mean that,

um,

you really know the love of God.

Um,

that you've ever been,

you know,

my,

my,

uh,

my favorite verse in the Bible

is when the prodigal son

came home

in all his shame

and all his filth

and all his rebellion.

Not only did his father

run out to him,

but the Bible says

his father what?

He kissed him.

He kissed him.

Him.

Your life changes

the day you experience

the kiss of the father.

You can be a follower of God,

a believer in the Bible,

and never have experienced

the kiss.

Um,

the kiss of,

uh,

of,

of God.

And to consider the price

of the feast,

you know,

this is my body

broken for you.

That's the price.

He provides it.

He provides the meal

for his children.

This welcoming,

I bet you sing

in,

in your church

from time to time,

oh,

I'm running to his arms.

That song,

right?

And the riches

of your love

will never,

you know,

the,

the riches of your love

will always be enough.

Oh,

I'm running to your arms.

It's such a beautiful

visual picture

of children,

um,

um,

running into,

uh,

the welcome

of the father.

My wife and I went

on a road trip

a couple years ago

up I-95

through,

uh,

Georgia.

And before you get

to Savannah,

there was an exit

we took,

and we went to find

a restaurant

because Southern Living

had talked about it.

Uh,

the Old School Diner,

it was called.

It was Ben Affleck's

favorite restaurant

during the filming

of some movie

and of course

what Ben does,

I do.

And,

um,

so,

um,

we drove and drove

and drove and drove

and finally got

to a dirt road

and you turn down

the dirt road

and,

um,

and there's just a,

uh,

uh,

and,

and really a shack

with about five shacks,

you know,

added on to it

and,

uh,

and the most bizarre,

uh,

tableau

because there's,

it's not,

there's no paved parking.

Um,

the whole area

around the restaurant

is covered

with carpet

torn out of mobile homes.

Um,

the carpet's

the whole ground

and,

uh,

and so as we pulled

into this place

thinking,

you know,

what is this

gonna be like,

out the door

barrels

Chef Jerome

and he runs

up to the car

and as he's running

out towards us

he goes,

my family,

my family,

my family is here

and he wraps us

in his arms

and he says,

get on in here,

get on in here.

He said,

I threw the hush puppies

on when I saw you

coming down the lane.

Now there was a welcome

um,

and,

uh,

it was a beautiful picture

uh,

of,

um,

uh,

a beautiful gospel

picture.

Um,

listen,

we wanna have churches

that reflect

the yearning host

uh,

who wants his,

um,

party filled.

Diane and I went

to a church

in Los Angeles

where,

um,

we,

uh,

they met in a school

and,

uh,

we had to park

a number of blocks

away in a parking

garage

and,

uh,

it was,

it was an incredible

experience

because when you got

out of the car

somebody was standing

there and said,

walk over that

stairway to that

guy in the green

shirt,

you know,

and when you got

to the stairway

a guy in the green

shirt said,

go down the stairwell

and at the bottom

you'll see a guy

in a green shirt

and at the bottom

he said,

go down this alley

to the end,

see that guy in the

green shirt down

there,

go to him

and that went

to about seven

different guys

in green shirts

all the way

till we got

into the,

and,

uh,

and their warmth

and their welcome

continued all the way

through the,

uh,

experience there

so much so

that when we went

forward for communion,

uh,

the,

the man who served

us was so,

um,

warm that my wife

took a picture

of him

and I was like,

no,

don't do this to me,

I'm a PCA pastor

and,

um,

um,

but it was that,

uh,

you know,

we were blown

away,

uh,

and,

and wrote the

pastor later,

so there we go,

we got it,

hospitality,

this is our

heritage,

our father

is a welcomer

and,

uh,

we have been

welcomed

and so we

welcome,

so second,

I want you to

see the guests

that,

uh,

that,

they come to

the party,

with me,

the guests,

to re-engage

this vocation,

we've got to

believe that those

outside the church

are the father's

desired guests,

Jesus says to

those gathered

in the dinner

party,

when you give

a dinner,

don't invite

your friends

or your family

or your rich

neighbors,

Jesus' day

was like our

own,

society was

stratified by

class,

it was all

about who

you knew,

and everybody

wanted to

socialize with

the beautiful

and the wealthy

and the important

and the successful

because social

engagements establish

your status,

and to get

anywhere you need

a network,

and you only

practiced

hospitality,

the purpose

of hospitality

ultimately

was to get

something out

of it,

got it?

So Jesus

is saying,

invite those

who offer

you nothing,

right?

It reminds me

of selfies

actually today,

you know,

when people

take selfies

and post them

online,

it in many

ways is about

establishing

their status,

they show

themselves in

beautiful restaurants,

they show

themselves in

New Zealand

on incredible

vacations,

if they happen

across a celebrity,

they take a

picture with

the celebrity

because it's

sort of like

saying,

look at me,

I'm with so-and-so,

I'm important.

So it was,

so it was,

so it is

with socializing.

So Jesus

says,

actually hang

out with people

who offer you

nothing,

invite the people

at the bottom

of the pile,

invite the poor

and crippled

and lame

and blind,

and one of the

reasons Jesus

says to invite

them is

because they'll

actually come,

when the rich

host invites

the well-off

to his party

in the parable,

what happens?

Nobody shows

up, right?

I've got a new

marriage,

one of them

says,

I've got new

property,

I've got new

oxen,

I've got to

go work out.

And then you

remember the man

interrupts and

says,

oh,

blessed is

everyone

because we'll

all be at

the feast.

And Jesus

says,

no,

no,

you won't

be at the

feast.

Do you realize

what Jesus

is saying

to these

people?

He's telling

them,

you're not

God,

you're not

going to be

at the feast.

You do not

belong to him.

I mean,

he counters

what that guy

says right

in the dinner

party.

Do not

invite Jesus

to your

dinner parties.

It will not

be a casual,

delightful,

social engagement.

He tells the

people in the

dinner party,

no,

no,

you're not

responding.

I'm right

here.

I'm right

here inviting

you.

And you

will not

come.

You are

too self-sufficient

to respond.

The accomplished,

the busy,

the successful,

the achievers

are too full

to realize how

hungry they

are to run

to the feast.

Jesus is

blessed are the

poor in spirit.

They will come

to the feast.

But the middle

class in spirit

are too self-sufficient

to need mercy

and to need

charity

and to need

Jesus.

Philip Yancey

was traveling

in Eastern

Europe and he

was talking to

a prostitute

and he asked

her, he said,

do you know

that Jesus

actually talked

about prostitutes?

And she didn't

really know that

and he said,

do you know

that Jesus

said there are

more prostitutes

in the kingdom

of God

than there

are rich

people?

And he said,

why do you

think,

why do you

think Jesus

said that?

He asked this

to a prostitute

and this is

what she said.

Did,

she said,

you know,

there are more

prostitutes than

there are religious

conservatives

is actually what

he said.

And she said,

well,

everybody has

someone to

look down on

but not us.

We are at the

low.

Our families,

they feel shame

for us.

No mother nowhere

looks at her

little girl and

says, honey,

when you grow up,

I want you to be

a good prostitute.

Most places,

we are breaking

the law.

Believe me,

we know how

people feel about

us.

People call us

names,

whore,

slut,

hooker,

harlot.

We feel it,

too.

We are the

bottom.

And sometimes

when you are

at the low,

you cry for

help.

And when we

cry for help,

Jesus comes.

And when he

comes,

we respond.

She said,

maybe that's

what Jesus

meant.

When you're

at the low.

So,