The Blessed Guests

e amen you can be seated go ahead and grab your Bibles open them up to Luke chapter 14 that's where we're going to be today Luke chapter 14 continuing on in our Series in the Book of Luke and um I titled the sermon the Blessed guests or if you've been in church for a long time the Blessed guests uh because at the end of this sermon pray for each of us that we walk away blessed um really I mean that's what we hope for one another we don't want you to walk away cursed we want you to walk away blessed and and so I'm I'm

hoping that that is our reality um for us at the end of this but there's also the reality that there could be someone who's not in that position who's not actually blessed and it's good good that the scriptures tell us the type of people who are blessed the type of people who have received blessing from the Lord so that when you walk away you're able to say with a resounding yes that I am ultimately blessed and so I want to read this for us and then we will um I'll kind of give you a little bit of context and and we'll dive into it so

Luke chapter 14 we're going to be looking at verses 12 through 24 today 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 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 the Blind and you will be blessed because they cannot repay you for you will be repay at the resurrection of the just and 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 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 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 have me excused and another said I have married a

wife and therefore I cannot come so the servant came and reported these things to his master then the Master of the House became angry and said to his servant go out quickly to the streets and Lanes of the city and bring in the poor and crippled and blind and lame and the servant said sir what what you have commanded has been done and still there is room and the master said to the servant go out to the highways and the hedges and compel people to come in that that my house may be filled for I tell you none of those men who were invited shall

taste my banquet let's pray before we Dive In Father we thank you for again your word that you provide to us that you have provided to us um for several Millennia and we thank you that your word is living and active sharper than two-edged sword piercing to the dividing of bone marrow it knows our hearts it knows our minds it knows our soul and it reveals to us who we are and who you are and it convicts us and it convicts Us in such a way that it turns us to be able to see your truth and to be able to walk in your spirit

to be able to trust you and to be able to believe you for who you are and what we are and so God I'm praying in this moment in this this time that we have over this next 35 45 minutes that that you would just help us see you and see us and that at the end of it we would respond in such a way that we would be blessed God we're asking that in our time now in Jesus name we pray amen here we continue the teaching of Jesus um in way of parable so Jesus and and really we're kind of in just a

big long stretch where he's just going to be going through lots of Parables to the people and again I'm praying just as I prayed then that we hear the teaching of God's word in this Parable I pray that we have ears to hear it I pray that we're able to see the truth of what it is that he's actually wanting us to be able to understand and walk away changed because what I don't want is us to hear this message and then walk away unchanged by it we believe that the word of God changes we believe that the word of God transforms we believe that

the word of God does that when we hear it when we receive it and when we see that God is using it to make us more like his son Jesus and so simple question is do you want to be more like Jesus do you want to become more like Jesus well then I pray you hear the word of God this morning and be changed by it and for those who may not know where we are if you missed last week we're in a a small little two-part Series where Jesus is at this dinner where he was invited by a ruler of the Pharisee to come

over to his house and to dine with him and to dine with the guest that he invited and so when Jesus got there last week uh what we ended up seeing was that the Pharisee invited a bunch of people to come to this dinner party and as they started coming to the dinner party what they were doing were were they were all picking the the most noble of seats the highest seats the seats of honor and Jesus used it as an opportunity to kind of show them hey there's some pride that you're dealing with and I'm going to show you a different way and so

he kind of encouraged them or really rebuked them and corrected them and said when you come into a banquet when you come into a feast or like a wedding Feast don't go and take up the position of best man or Made of Honor but rather sit at the lowest seat so that the one who invited you then begins to honor You by moving you up and so we and we eventually got to our memory verse for the month which is for those who exalt themselves will be humbled but for everyone who humbles himself will be exalted and that was the whole point of the message

last week was there is a way to humble yourself that is chist CH like and there's a way to be prideful that is not and we want to make sure that we are humbled but there is only a way to humble yourself that is also not being prideful because again there's even the Pharisees would try to Humble themselves whenever they would fast and they would add like makeup to their face to look like they're starving but even that's prideful like there's a way in which they were going out to the streets and praying in such a way as if they were showing themselves to be

humble but yet that it was still in the vein of their pride and what we ultimately see at the end of the day is the more you look at Jesus it humbles you don't look at yourself the more you look to Jesus and see Jesus's example it begins to Humble you because you see ultimately what he did in humbling himself on your behalf as we walk through Philippians 2 to the point of death on a cross him becoming him him being the Eternal second person of the Trinity at the right hand of the Throne of God humbling himself coming in the form of a baby

to then live a a a life under flesh in order to the point of death on a cross like no one has humbled themselves more than Jesus and he did it in order to pay your penalty at the cross and so the more you fix your gaze you fix your attention you fix your eyes on that it humbles you you don't have to humble yourself that will humble you God will humble you in that moment and so that's what we were saying was it's it's not thinking less of yourself but it's thinking of yourself less it's it's thinking of Jesus more and gazing on him

rather than gazing on yourself and so Jesus kind of dealt with that but he's still at this dinner table he's still at this party and we're kind of hitting the second part of it where a couple of the guys here are starting to ask some questions and Jesus is kind of diving into this idea of of what is going on here and this passage even goes into affirming other things that Jesus has talked about when it comes to those who are blessed we know in Matthew 5 with the Beatitudes he talks about those who are blessed he doesn't say blessed are those who sit at

the high positions blessed are those who have all of the money blessed are those who have all of the status and privilege but no he says blessed are those who are humble in spirit blessed those who are Meek and here we're talking about the same thing where RC Sproul once said the highest word of comfort you can receive from Jesus is when he looks at you and he calls you blessed but there is a specific type of person that God has so changed and transformed that God considers blessed he considers blessed and that's why I want to look at today but I actually want to

give you the spoiler today's message right out of the gate there's a story in the Old Testament of a boy named michef um I know it took me a while to get that one but in 2 Samuel 4 it tells us that when he was just five years old his nurse had to leave quickly after a bad report from his father and his grandfather because the nurse had to leave so quickly michef fell causing him to be crippled and lame well again accidents happened right accidents happen they they do but sometimes maybe coincidentally you see mf's father was a man named Jonathan you might be

familiar with Jonathan he was a good friend of David who eventually become king but even more familiar is the infamous father of Jonathan the first king of Israel King Saul Now why is that important because the Book of Proverbs tells us that a wise man leaves a good Legacy he leaves a good Legacy not only for his children but for his children's children well King Saul did not leave a good Legacy if you know anything about King Saul do everything opposite he did not leave a good Legacy as a matter of fact if it weren't for God Saul would have had no Legacy nor would

there even be any remnant of his people left when they were faced with being enslaved to the Philistines um and and they were approached by the the Philistines and there was this big battle that was going to happen but it was just Goliath that the Philistines put out in front and said if anyone can beat him then you get everyone else like we'll all be enslaved to you but if Goliath wins then we take over and we are going to enslave you well King Saul from a physical standpoint stands a foot higher than everyone else in Israel it was literally the only reason why they

selected him to be king they just looked around and they're like yeah you're you're our guy you stand taller than everyone else the only thing that qualified him to be king but where was King Saul so if you're looking at Goliath who's standing some 9 foot tall and you're thinking who do we have that could go against him you're going to naturally say who's our tallest guy well King Saul was off hiding because he was scared he was scared he was trembling he was afraid because he did not believe he would win well the legacy of Saul left for his grandson is almost manifested in

the reality of me crippled in Lan condition because again Saul himself was spiritually and emotionally crippled and lame well Saul attempted to kill David even when because we know the story David eventually comes out and beats Goliath and then God anoints David to be the next king well Saul doesn't like that and so it actually says throughout the scriptures now some theologians um kind of differ over how many times but it's somewhere around 20 times Saul attempted to kill an assassin David even three different times just like hurling Spears at him um it was kind of insane but ultimately Saul was unsuccessful David becomes king

well David becoming king would have every right in the world to take Saul's lineage and just say you're not welcome here right your grandfather or even his one of his closest friends Jonathan hey your dad has some issues like can you work work that out a little bit like I'm sorry I can't let you be in the circle because of your dad but when it comes to mbth though he was crippled and lame David in honoring his friendship with Jonathan upholds a covenant that he made with him regardless of King Saul and said there's a place for you at my table crippled and lame knowing

that he could not do anything for himself David invites michef to eat at his table for the rest of his life to have a place in a spot second Samuel 9:13 says so meibes lived in Jerusalem for he ate always at the king's table which was one of The Inspirations for why we call the Men's Ministry the king's table we're just a bunch of crippled and lame men invited by Jesus to come and sit at his table and be fed by him it's the heart of God to bring those who are broken and bound by sin who are also marginalized vulnerable crippled and lame blind

and deaf Outcast and burden to be able to recline at the table of the king the great feast in heaven that's what this whole passage is ultimately about so I wanted to kind of give you the punchline first before we dive into it so that we're aware of who we are in this text In this passage because again blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God but our passage doesn't just stop there with the characteristics of the blessed person it goes on to even give a role of the blessed person so it's easy for us whenever we hear of a story

like this to say yes we're we're like mbisha yes we are like those who are the crippled and lame the blind the Beggars and the deaf were those who had no reason to be invited to the dinner party we had no reason to be invited to the table yet we are and that's why again one of the people in this dinner party like they throw out that phrase hey bless is everyone who eats in the kingdom of God yes and amen but the blessing extends beyond that to a function of those who are actually blessed pick it up in verse 12 he also said 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 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 the Blind and you will be blessed because they cannot repay you for you will will be repaid at the resurrection of the just question for you here do do you and I'm going to do a lot of as I go through here because I don't usually do that as much but do you usually just hang

out with those who are your friends or relatives as it says here or Rich neighbors do you also invite to your life or into your life or at your dinner table neighbors who may not know Jesus who may live a lifestyle in opposition to what you believe or what you hold for your household who may vote differently from you and that's going to be polarizing this year do you invite people into your life that can't pay you can't return the favor can't match the same Hospitality or encouragement that that you are giving out well verse 14 says you will be blessed if you do that

you'll be blessed if they cannot repay you so there are a couple of people in this text today those who only hang out with those who are just like them which if we can be honest is also Us in the text we're like those people it doesn't take work it's easy and it's not saying that you can't all right we've got our friends we've got our groups we got our um people that we hang out with that's easy and encouraging to be able to hang out with but it can't be just those types of relationships because as the scripture shows us there are also those

who open up their lives to those who may be different from them they may be less fortunate they may not have the means to host their own dinners they may have or live alternative Lifestyles that you disagree with at the end of the day it's difficult to have dinner with them it's hard to have dinner with them well but the Bible is telling you and us that you'll be blessed if you follow Jesus's example you'll be blessed if you do this if you invite others to follow Jesus especially those who are least like you and so who are you in the story because there's a

warning that Jesus gives in this Parable I want to make sure that we heed the warning and are aware of our own Hearts aware of our own um actions and Lifestyles and then maybe course correct if we need to course correct if we need to so that when we leave today we may be considered blessed because we have a game plan we have a strategy we have a mentality of because I've been invited to the table because I have been crippled and now I am healed because I've been sinful and now he considers me a saint I want to go with a strategy to be

able to look at those around me who may still be crippled and don't know it who may be lame and aren't aware of it who might be blinded and haven't seen yet because again they haven't had the gospel preached to them and proclaimed to them and they don't have years to hear yet but we are the ones called to take it to them so we want to have a strategy for that and again as it says here when one of those who reclined a table with him heard these things he said to him blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God

yes and amen But Here Comes the warning from Jesus verse 16 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 those or to say to those who had been invited come for everything is now ready to give you a bit of context because you might miss it just by reading over that real quickly the custom would be to send out an invitation and they would all RSVP that yes they are coming and then when the day arrives and the meal is ready they would then send out another

invitation telling all those who did RSVP yes hey the meal is ready the part is ready come on in and so this passage is not an invitation to everybody and you're just waiting to see who's the yes and no this is those who have already said yes we are coming now they're sending out the second invitation and again are they going to let their yes be yes or are they going to come up with an excuse so these are those who have already professed saying we're coming to the party we're coming to the banquet but yet now they begin to give excuses Verse 18 but

they all alike began to make excuses the first said to him I've 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 so please have me excused another said I have married a wife and therefore I cannot come to show you who we are in the story to heed the warning are we not also these people I mean we are we are God calls us to do something well I got this thing that I got to get done well I've got this relationship that I'm

diving into or as they do here like I just got married so I I I don't have time or my work I've bought five Yol of oxen and so my work is is is getting into the mix here and so it's it's not allowing me to be able to come and enjoy Christ or I'm a real estate developer and I need to go check out what I just bought sight unseen which doesn't happen as often at the end of the day what we see in these three examples they're just making meaningless excuses for why they are going back on their commitment again will the field

not be there tomorrow to be able to go see yeah there's no reason why the oxen can't be tested tomorrow I mean again if you were try to maybe look at any of the examples the one who just said I married a wife but again at the same time we don't know when they got married but there was an invitation that went out and they said we'll be there and if you did just get married this is a banquet if you're about to go on a honeymoon use this as an opportunity to Kickstart it on someone else's dime like enjoy yourself but maybe they started

off on a rocky on a rocky start and they're like hey we can't be in public we don't agree on anything right now let me just say with solidarity if you're still trying to figure out who we are that's us a little bit more application for you before we see the Master's response everyone who is a member of a church this church any other Church whatever they've made a commitment they've made a covenant with that church everyone who's married has made a vow to their spouse everyone who's employed has made a commitment to to a company to a career we we all make commitments we

all make vows that sometimes we just don't keep I'm going push comes to shove we're then nowhere to be found the Blessed path though it can be the hard path is what the scriptures tell us to do is to let our yes be yes is to let our yes be yes and this is why I believe the Bible does so many times it teaches us to remember and recall the promises of God because he is our example what he says he is going to do he does and then the same thing is for us it's a model for us it's an example for us and

he says the Blessed ones are those who when they say they're going to do something they let their yes be yes and they let their no be no they follow up with it and they commit and execute what they've committed to another point of application why did they not go to the feast and this one might hit home for all of us because they put second things first they put second things first seek first the kingdom of God no they were not going to do that they were going to seek first real estate they were going to seek first career they were going to seek

first marriage family relationships they were going to seek first those things and then maybe they'll come back around and seek God when there's time but if you remember in the context of this passage just a couple of weeks ago there will be those who strive to enter the door and will not be able because it was closed to them there are those who say and profess hey we're we're in we want to go down the straight and narrow we want to go through the door of Christ we want to we're we're there we're but they won't actually get around to do it and we got

time we got time let's get through let's build some wealth let's get some careers going let's get some family going let's get our ducks in a row and then eventually we got I got my whole life to figure out Christianity to figure out relationship with Jesus I mean I heard that so many times especially in like youth ministry kids would be like look I just I I would really love to just go through college and sew the Wild Oats and then I'll become a Christian afterward like in the South we call that building a testimony but how idiotic how idio it's it's let me put

second things first because I think those things are going to be so much more satisfying and they never are they never are it's insane but that's what was happening here they were so focused on Earthly matters that they were we're not seeing Heavenly matters it was actually CS Lewis one time who said um we are so Heavenly minded that we are of no earthly good that's not our reality anymore that might have been his reality in that context but in our reality we are so Earthly minded that we are no Heavenly good that's what's true that's what's true about this finally there are people who

have made a profession of Faith who do not possess the Fai they profess there are those who have made a profession of Faith who do not possess the faith they profess there are those who have given lip service to the king the Master of the House of God and yet have not given him their heart and life not given them their word and deed have not given them their mind and actions next week ransford because again like when when Jesus walks through and he teaches I mean he just connects and it's a chain of thought that just continues on next week ransford is going to

talk about what Jesus means when he tells us that following him will come out a cost it's costly it's costly your salvation is a free gift of Grace 100% but the discipleship that follows it will cost you everything it will cost you everything what what's how's the him go Jesus Paid It All yes and amen and all to him I owe all to him I my that's what life looks like that's a bit of application we we may have in response to the excuses that these guests have made and we're praying that we don't make the same excuses because in the end we want to

be blessed we want to be blessed so let's see what the Master's response is to their excuses so the servant came and reported these things this verse 21 reported these things to his master then the Master of the House became Ang and he said to his servant go out quickly to the streets and the lanes of 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 servant go out to the highways and the hedges 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 Jesus finishes by saying that none of those who make a commitment but have their mind on the earth first none of those who make a commitment but have their mind on Career first none of those who make a commitment but have their mind on their family first none of those who make a profession of Faith but do not possess the faith they profess Jesus says none of those will take of my banquet which did you notice the change there in the parable at first

Jesus starts off with a parable saying hypothetically hey there's a man who gives a banquet and then by the end of the parable he's saying they will not taste my banquet which is Jesus kind of revealing his cards even that much more to these Pharisees he's not just talking in hypothetical or allegory or metaphor he's taken the parable and he's he's just made it reality for them he's made it reality he's re he's referencing really the Grand Banquet he's referencing the ultimate wedding feast and the supper of the Lamb he's talking about the banquet when the bride of Christ which is the global Church in

all of history joins her groom Jesus Christ at the greatest Feast the world and the heavens will ever see that's what he's talking about here and what he's aiming at with these people is he's telling them there's an invitation that's going out and for those who are Earthly minded and come up with excuses to avoid it or reject it or RSVP no after you've with lip service said yes he's saying my banquet is not for you my banquet is not for you but here's who the banquet is for and what we can really see when you walk through this is you can start to actually

see the the overlapping narrative and story that is going on in first century at this time when Jesus is Alive and Well and living and doing his ministry on the earth is he has come to the chosen people of God who the invitation has gone out to and yet they have literally spat in the face of it you're not the Messiah that we were looking for you're not the king who we want on the throne ruling over us because at this point they had again looking at Earthly things and not Heavenly things have imagined in their mind what the king would look like what the

Messiah would look like how the Messiah would Rule and Reign and they have fabricated an imaginary Kingdom on Earth that they wanted or would not and even to this day still are not allowing anybody to actually take on that role what they want is the second coming of Christ to be the first coming of Christ and they're not realizing that what he did when he was there in their midst is he gave them opportunity to see him first but they rejected and in this moment they're rejecting him but then he shows us who his kingdom is for he shows us who are the Blessed ones

go out into the streets get the crippled and the lame now he's still within City Limits at this point which again there are two different types of Jewish classifications there are those who are of the religious Elite and then there are those who are not and at this point he's saying the way that you guys are operating everything is you're only inviting the friends of the religious Elite you're only inviting the wealthy of the religious Elite you're only inviting the relatives of the religious Elite because again he's at a rulers of the Pharisees house and he's saying that's those are the ones who are invit

those are the ones who are here and not only that but they believe themselves to be those people because when they arrive they're going and placing themselves in the positions of Honor what he's saying is I'm not inviting you anymore you're not allowed who are allowed are those who you did not invite so go into the city to the Lesser class of the Jewish people and let them come in again it's one of the reasons why I Think Jesus goes to Matthew one of the tax collectors because he wouldn't be invited to this party he's considered one of the bottom of the barrel just digging

and just ruthless type of person but he's invited at jesus' table he's welcome there we're looking at the Jewish fisherman they're not going to be invited to this dinner banquet but Jesus goes out and he finds them the second group of people that Jesus invites when when the servant which if you actually look at the ultimate passage of this the master is represented as the father and the servant is Jesus and the servant says I've gone out and I've met with them I've invited them so you can kind of look at that as really him saying I've pulled in the Disciples of the Jewish people

that are going they're in but they're still room and the father says go outside the city walls go to the highways and the byways go to the highways and the hedges if you're a Oh Brother Where Art Thou fan that's where that song comes from in the highways and the hedges um which fun fact for those who don't know the church that I served at this is like boasting for nothing that's even worth boasting about but the church that I served at in Tennessee if you uh watched the movie first of all the peace offw sisters who were the three girls that actually sang that

song um they were a part of our church their father was our worship leader and then if you're watching the movie and they're all going down to the baptism and they're singing down to the water or down to the river we pray um something something about that good old day that's our choir from that church that I was at in Tennessee so there's like this like if you go in the music pastor's like office or whatever there's like a Grammy award winning like album on the it's the only thing that church is named to claim all right and I was not a part of it

because I could not sing and so you know it is what it is but I was in high school it doesn't matter side point highways in the hedges go outside of the city this is him saying take the gospel to the Gentiles the only reason why you and I are in this room if you're truly not Jewish the only reason why you and I are in this room is because of this passage the heart of God saying it's not just for those who are of lineage blood lineage of Abraham Jacob and Isaac or Abraham Isaac and Jacob but it also goes beyond that because the

heart of God is for those who are marginalized crippled lame outside unable like there was no reason for the Gentiles to ever feel like the promises of God are for us if the promises of God are for Abraham's descendants then there has to be something happen in order for others to be brought in well it's a miracle of God he graphs in those who are unnatural those who are not of his lineage it's the heart of God to go out and do that and one thing that I want you to see here because again it continues to kind of go in vain with what we

talked about a couple of weeks ago with Jesus drawing people is that it says the servant goes out and the servant compels people to come in compels people to come in and I want you to see this idea of him compelling people to come in because I believe it's what allows us to have that resounding yes to come eat at the table and then also have that resounding yes to be able to then take what we've experienced and then go out and persuade others to come in and join this and receive this so flip over with me to 2 Corinthians chapter 5 this is the

famous passage of the Apostle Paul talking about the ministry of reconciliation and and I believe again it's it's passages like what we're looking at in Luke that Paul draws off of to be able to write things like this because again he's looking at the heart of Jesus the true servant who's inviting people and reconciling them again from the marginalized areas of the city and outside of the city welcoming them in to the ministry to the banquet To The Feast so second Corinthians 5 starting in verse 11 is what Paul says therefore knowing the fear of the Lord we persuade others but what we are is

is known to God and I hope it is known also to your conscience we are not commending ourselves to you again but giving you cause to boast about us so that you may be able to answer those who boast about outward appearance and not about what is in the heart again that's that's him kind of drawing in a little bit from this passage those who are boasting about outward appearance those who are boasting about position and stature those who are boasting about their their status in the community the religious Elite he's saying that there's that doesn't do anything that that has that is worthless in

the Kingdom for if we are beside ourselves it is for God if we are in our right mind it is for you for the love of Christ controls us other other translations say compels us because we have concluded this that one has died for all all and therefore all have died and he died for all that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised I mean that's just that that's one of the U most simple explanations of the Gospel that you can get from now on therefore we regard no one according to the

flesh which is fantastic because what were the religious Elite doing at the dinner Rec they were according everyone to the flesh so if you are a religious Elite of relative status if you're awesome you're invited if you're crippled and you're lame and you're blind you're Beggars and then you're not invited they're regarding everyone according to the flesh even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh we regard him thus no longer verse 17 therefore if anyone is in Christ he is a new creation the old has passed away and behold the new has come all this is from God who through Christ reconciled us

to himself and gave us the ministry of reconc ilation that is in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself not counting their trespasses against them and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation therefore we are ambassadors for Christ God making his appeal through us we implore you on behalf of Christ be reconciled to God for our sake he made him to be s who knew no sin so that in him we might become the righteousness of God you see what Paul is talking about In this passage is first of all that this is all from God this is what God is doing he's not

regarding us according to our flesh which is the greatest thing in the world for you to hear because it takes away any right for you to posture yourself in a way to say God you should do this because I'm good because here's the truth if you go down that route when you come to the understanding or the realization that you're not good enough if that is how God operates and works then you've just committed spiritual suicide because what you've done is if you earn it if you have to work your way towards it when you come to the realization that you can't if God used

conditional boundaries to to to allow you into the kingdom you've just said it's impossible for you to get in that's the conclusion that you would have it's impossible for anybody to be able to come and dine at the Kingdom at the king's table if it's up to you and that's why again we have to push back against against any type of religious system that says you have to do something in order to receive something because it's from God who does not regard us according to our flesh but instead regards us according to Christ and what he has done we're able to come to him and

we're able to say we do not measure up we realize what Romans 3:23 say that falling short of the glory of God that's us that's us in the story and therefore we are crippled and we are lame like we can't get ourselves there we're crippled we can't we can't walk to you we can't get to you we can't see you we're blind we can't hear you we're deaf ultimately as Ephesians 2 says we're we're dead like we literally we're dead hey Lazarus get yourself out of the Tomb so that you can come hear Jesus no he's dead it takes Jesus speaking life into him for

him to come to him for him to be compelled to walk out and see Jesus and the beauty of understanding what he has done for us to get us to the table to enjoy and be blessed there another beautiful thing is that he's also then given us the ministry of then going out to those who are crippled and lame and inviting them like that's what the ministry of reconciliation is is when he tells us he says Hey do you realize how crippled and lame and deaf and blind you are and God loves you and forgives you and pursued you and came to You Again Luke

19:10 he comes to those who are lost and saves them them he goes on to say it's not the it's not those who believe they are healthy that need a doctor but the sick the sick he's in a dinner with those who believe they are healthy wealthy and prosperous and he says y'all don't need me the reality is is that they do but they don't believe they do and they reject the doctor and so he says I'm going to take the gospel to those who do need me who understand they need me they can't even get to me they're crippled and lame so the servant's

going to go to them and he's going to compel them to come in how'd they get there he brought them he brought them he brings us to the table and then because he heals us of our sin because he heals us of our sin he then qualifies us and equips us as eek as as Ephesians 6 says he he equips us to then go and be workers of the ministry Saints for the working of the ministry he then allows us to participate in this I always love just saying it's like going to work with Dad like that's what he invites us into so it's not

you just getting to come to the table and and get fat in Grace which is honestly what we get to do like you get to Feast at the table of the lavished love of Grace that God is pouring out to us in Christ like that is ours now and it will be ours for eternity we're at the table feasting simultaneously he is also saying to us take some bread with you take some of of the cup of Salvation with you and take it to those who do not have it and who need it and provide it for them persuade them as Paul says here tell

them what Jesus has done for you and he can do it for them as well and they will then be invited to the table and they can feast and they can come into the ministry of reconciliation and they can continue to go and do the same thing for others guys happy St Patrick's Day do you know what St Patrick did we had a conversation about this before before um you got here St Patrick I love St Patrick St Patrick was around in the fifth century and and the funny thing about St Patrick is you have to go through like if there were 10 pieces of

literature written about him nine of the 10 are going to be like lore and folklore and fiction and like him explaining the Trinity with three leaf clovers like he didn't do that but there but if you kind of work through it and he also did not found Guinness um but if you work through it and you get to the truth of who St Patrick was when he was a child he was in in in Southern England when he was a child he was sold into slavery in or he was actually kidnapped into slavery in Ireland and was there and while he was there actually converted

to Christianity as a slave and then escaped went back to England and and there was even an article that Gospel Coalition released this morning um talking about him being the Forest Gump of Ireland which I just think is hilarious um but but the reason was he's like I'm not a smart man but I know what love is uh I didn't say that in a force Gump accent but but that's what um that's what St Patrick was like he was uneducated unlearned and he knew it but he put himself into theological training and then what he felt called to do was go back to those who

kidnapped him and enslaved him and this is in like 432 so this is fifth century he goes back to Ireland and through his gospel Ministry of reconciliation the very thing Paul is talking about here going out to the highways and the byways those who are likely going to either enslave you again or try to kill you and he talks about that in his own writings he ends up planting over 700 churches throughout Ireland to where if you just if you dive into church history and you look through fifth century to 1500s so basically the Middle Ages of Ireland all of the Cathedrals that are built

can trace their lineage back to the gospel being spread by St Patrick so when you drink your green beer today remember a faithful faithful servant who is just like us unlearned backwards we may not know much we're not smart but we know what love is because we've experienced Christ and his love that he has poured out to us crippled lame deaf blind dumb people and we have a seat at the table just like M we have a seat at the table and we have the same Authority that the Apostle Paul has we have the same Authority that the disciples have we have the same Authority

that St Patrick has because we have the gospel and we are taking the gospel like I don't care how great you are with speech or not again the Bible over and over and over again will help you set that excuse to the side Moses was like I stutter and God's like well I'll give you Aaron Aaron can speak for you okay don't let that be an excuse Paul throughout multiple times has the thorn in his flesh and he's like can someone please which I I'm just going to throw this out there the it's conjecture but I 100% believe the thorn in his flesh was poor

eyesight from the scales again fell off of his of his eyes but I don't think it was perfectly healed and the reason why is because when you look at the Galatians when the Galatians are talking to Paul they literally say out of love they wish that they could take out their eyes and give them to Paul like I just think there's more to that than just like a weird way of saying I love you like all of us have something that we could put out as an excuse for why we are unable to be effective in sharing the good news and the gospel with those

who are crippled and lame or out to the highways and the hedges to be able to share the gospel with someone to come to know Jesus and be invited at the table and what we're saying today is for those who are blessed are those who don't have an excuse they set it off to the side they seek first the kingdom of God and they go out and they begin persuading others you're blessed if you've re 100% you're also blessed if you go and share it you go and share it and that's what the servant shows us in this example today he's got a feast and

there's room if there weren't room Jesus returns all right but because he's not returned yet there's still room there's still room so let's take the gospel let's share with people and if you're like just saying I it's not that I have an excuse I just need more training on that like I need more training on on how to go and and as Paul did like persuade people help them then then I'll work it out with ransford we'll schedule a Friday night Forum in the next month in order for us to come together and list just get some strategies out there for you guys to be

able to help you out and just walk like whether it's cold walking up to someone and saying hey what do you know about Jesus let's talk about it or if it's that neighbor who you've lived next door to for five years now and you're like I know their name they know my name we you know chat whenever we go and get our mail and whatnot but I'm still trying to figure out how to bridge that Gap and having that gospel conversation with them or if it's that person that hey I've they've been in my house multiple times watch their kids they watch ours like been

I'm still trying to figure out how do I bridge that Gap to to sharing the gospel with them well then let's let's let's do some training all right so we'll schedule that we'll get you in here we'll do some training but don't let there be an excuse because here's the true reality if you're in this room and you believe you're blessed because you're eating at the table of Jesus and you understand the gospel then you already have everything you need to be able to share with someone else it's been shared with you and your grateful for those who probably fumbled over figuring out how to

share the gospel with you you're eternally grateful for them again I can say it's Clint Lambert once a year I call him and I just say hey man I'm so thankful when you were a fifth grader that you shared the gospel with me I didn't know I didn't know you can do it all right you're you can do it and so as we come to our time of communion I want to pull back in these two verses in in 2 Corinthians 5:14 and 15 for the love of Christ controls us compels us because we have concluded this and so if you've concluded this this is

what this is this meal is for you that one has died for all and therefore all have died and he died for all that those who live might not might no longer live for themselves but for for him who for their sake died and was raised this meal is the representation the memory of Jesus dying for us breaking his body shedding his blood so that you have a seed of to so that you get to Feast you get to actually eat of the bread of life and drink of the cup of Salvation like that's the feast we're talking about and Jesus himself referencing as the

bread of life for us his body broken and his blood shed his body broken showing that the wrath of God has been poured out and is punishing your sin and his Bloodshed showing that death was his reality and his blood was a payment for your Redemption for your Redemption he saved you he saved you from your he saved you from your sin and in and and again this is in the Theology of what we believe he saved you from God like he saved you from the wrath of God he didn't save you from Satan punishing you for eternity he saved you from the wrath of

God punishing you for eternity because he took it himself so that instead of receiving the wrath of God we receive the love of God just like mbth he could have received the wrath of David but instead he received the love of David a man after God's Own heart because that's what God's like let's pray father we thank you so much for your love to us your goodness and your grace we thank you that you have gone out to the edges of the city to be able to invite us and compel us to come and eat at your table to receive your Sal ation to receive

your forgiveness to receive you in relationship where we abide in you we are satisfied in you we are loved by you cared for by you protected by you as a Shepherd over your sheep we thank you for that and we also thank you that you have given us the ministry of reconciliation be able to take this love that we have received and take it to again those in C who are marginalized who are crippled who are lame who are blind who are begging who are deaf you allow us to take the same Ministry that we received to them and we pray we do that without

excuse faithful to you because again you say blessed are those who do this who invite people to the feast it's in your name we pray amen