Sep9
Matthew 22:1-14…Working
22:1 Jesus spoke to them (Religious leaders-(Chps. 21) again in parables, (A short story to illustrate a spiritual truth or lesson.) saying: 2 The kingdom of heaven (God’s Saving grace, Gospel invitation) is like (Similitude parable) a king (God) who prepared a wedding banquet (Royal wedding) for his son. (Jesus) 3 He sent his servants (Ambassadors. O.T. Prophets. In those days with no postal service, social media, or emails. Wedding invitations were sent out by hand.) to those (city officials, aristocrats, wealthy, Religious leaders) who had been invited to the banquet (Gospel of grace, Salvation) to tell them to come, but they refused to come. (Expresses a persistent refusal ) 4 “Then he sent some more servants (John the Baptist, Apostles) and said, ‘Tell those who have been invited that I have prepared my dinner: My oxen and fattened cattle (prime-rib-(New) have been slaughtered, (cooked and carved up-(New) and everything is ready. (Expresses urgency, not a moment to waste) Come to the wedding banquet. 5 But they paid no attention (apathy, indifference, uncaring) and went off—one to his field, another to his business. (busy with life, life’s-priorities. I just bought a filed, I just bought five yoke of oxen, I just got married-(Luke 14:14-20) 6 The rest seized his servants, ill-treated them and killed them. (defiant, hostile, antagonistic. Prophetically fulfilled in the murder of John the Baptist.) 7 The king (God) was enraged. He sent his army and destroyed those murderers and burned their city. (The Kings wrath is justified, having abused and killed his own Ambassadors. Lit.-Fulfilled in the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. by Rome) 8 “Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding banquet (Messianic banquet) is ready, but those (Religious leaders) I invited did not deserve to come(Unbelieving, Unrepentant.) 9 Go to the street corners (Places you would usually find disreputable people. Tax-Collectors, prostitutes, panhandlers) and invite to the banquet anyone you find.’ (Riff-raff. The sick, the lame, the blind, the poor.-(Luke 14:21) Fulfilled by the Apostles in opening the door of the Gospel to the Gentiles.) 10 So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, both good and bad, (The religious/irreligious. The moral/immoral) and the wedding hall was filled with guests. 11 But when the king came in to see the guests, (To mix and mingle) he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. (Wedding garments provided by the King. Metph.-Garment of Salvation, Robe of righteousness.) 12 ‘Friend,’ (Used in a negative sense as in buddy, pal. Some friend-(New)) he asked, ‘how did you get in here without wedding clothes?’ The man was speechless. (Expresses guilt, no excuse, defense. His tongue was tied. The cat got his tongue-(New) 13 “Then the king told the attendants, ‘Tie him hand and foot, and throw him outside, into the darkness, (i.e. Into Hell on the final day of Judgment ) where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ (Expresses sorrow and remorse mixed with physical pain) 14 “For many are invited, (Called by God/Holy Spirit) but few are chosen.” (The “General call” of the Gospel of Salvation, but only a few come by way of faith and repentance.)
Continued From Book
“Displays the persuasive persistence of God, giving people every incentive and inducement to respond.” ⇒…………(To be Continued)
“Displays the great trouble, effort, and cost God has gone through to Save us, and the abundant blessings that awaits us.–(V. 4) ⇒……..(To be Continued)
“Teaches how the Gospel is a celebration, something to be enjoyed and delighted in.” ⇒ The world thinks that becoming a Christians means being a party-pooper, a killjoy, a morbid-depressive who’s always sad and down on themselves. Someone who just exists to obey a long list of rules and regulations. You can’t go out, you can’t date, you can’t drink, you can’t listen to music, etc. There could be nothing further from the truth. Christians have a greater joy, peace, happiness that the world will ever know or experience…….(To be Continued)
“Teaches how people will come up with all sorts of excuses and reasons for not responding to God’s invitation.” ⇒ People will put off coming to Christ or following Jesus do so with all sorts of reasons and excuses. I want to believe in God. I want to answer the Invite. I want to go to Church. But it’s just not the right time, and besides Sundays are the only day I have to myself. Or they’ll say I’m just to busy with my career goals. Maybe after I finish school, get my degree, and send the kids off, then I’ll give my life to Jesus. If their believers they’ll say; I love to serve and get more involved in church and worship, but I don’t know what I can offer, and besides I just don’t have the time right now. My schedules crazy, my kids have sports. Or I’d like to hold a small group bible study, but I don’t know enough of the bible. Or I’d like to give more, but I just bought a house. Must of the time our excuses are not the issue for not receiving Jesus or taking the next step in discipleship. The real issue is that we don’t want to be held to a higher moral standard that requires life changes. Or have to give up the sins and comforts we enjoy. Often times our excuses reveal our values, priorities, security, identity, and relative worth of Jesus.
“Warns how the distractions of life can make us indifferent to the things God.” ⇒ All to often we can get distracted with the things of work, family, and the world around us. There’s work to be done and money to be made. We’re convinced we have better things to do and better places to be. Sometimes we think that it’s murderers and thieves—really bad people—who reject God. But Jesus teaches that it is farmers, business owners, property owners, and ordinary family men who miss the kingdom because they’re too distracted by the cares of life. Then on the other hand you have those who do not perhaps hate it, oppose it, or scoff at it. But they do not receive it into their hearts. They like other things far better. Their money, their lands — their business, their pleasures. How often do we miss out on what God wants for us because we have perceived better things to do. Or how often have we skipped time with Jesus because we have too much to do. Have you ever heard the quote “The devil can’t make you bad, but he can keep you busy.” William Barkley in his commentary on this text said; “It is very easy for a man to be so busy with the things of time that he forgets the things of eternity, to be so preoccupied with the things which are seen that he forgets the things which are unseen, to hear so insistently the claims of the world that he cannot hear the soft invitation of the voice of Christ. The tragedy of life is that it’s so often the second bests which shuts out the bests, that it is things which are good in themselves which shut out the things that are supreme. Maybe it’s time to say no to Saturday travel stuff and weekend soccer to saying yes to serving the Church and putting the Christian like first.
“Teaches how the invitation of Salvation is open to everyone no matter how bad you are or what you’ve done.” ⇒ No matter your checkered past. Or how broken and beyond Saving you think you are, you have a God who loves you and wants to Save you. Think about the Apostle Paul, he murdered Christians and yet God Saved Him.-(Acts 22:1-14, 1-Tim. 1:15) God’s forgiveness makes room for the atheist, the agnostic, the sexualy immoral, the pediphile, the alcoholic, the addict, the thief, the abuser, the religious, the Muslim, the Jew, the Mormon, the Jehovah Witness.
“Displays the free and undeserving grace of God to all who will respond to it.” ⇒ You don’t come to God by your achievements. You don’t come to God by going to church, reading your bible, and being good. There’s no prerequisites, standards, or qualifications needed. There’s no clean your life up and get your act together first required. There’s no church membership required. There’s no history or record of good behavior required. There’s no religious pedigree required. There’s no denomination affiliation required. There’s no rituals or sacraments required. There’s no jumping through religious hops required. The only thing that is required is to show up and accept the invitation.
“Calls for seeing that were clothed in Jesus’ righteousness, and not our own righteous.” ⇒ We come to not dressed our own righteousness, but in Christ’s righteousness. Were to be clothed in everything Jesus provides through His life, death and resurrection. We sometimes fall into the trap of trying to prepare our own clothes for the wedding banquet. Trying to get in by our merits, our good works, our kind actions, our own “I deserve to be here.” Or will try to RSVP ourselves in based on our church attendance, our position in the ministry, the number of people we brought to Christ, the people we baptised. The many hours we prayed. When what we need to do is lay down our self-righteousness, and our religious box-checking, and take up Christ’s clothes of righteousness.
“Teaches how were to come to God on His terms, and not on our own terms and path” ⇒ Will you put your pride aside and your ego aside and humbly come by the way God says it must be done through repentance and surrender……….(To be Continued)
“Teaches how just showing up and being Saved isn’t enough, we need to clothe ourselves with the love & mercy of Christ.” ⇒ We must see that the free gift of God’s Salvation comes with obligations. It is not enough to fill out a card, pray a prayer, and accept Jesus as your Savior. Life change must happen. You need new clothes. We cannot walk into this wonderful messianic feast without being changed. As Born again Christians you need to clothe yourself in compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience and love … and in so doing, honor and glorify the King.
“Teaches how as Servants of God were to extend the invitation of Salvation to all people.” ⇒ As believers were to go out and share the Gospel with all people! Are you inviting others to your Church to hear about Jesus? Are you sharing your personal testimony of what Jesus did in your own life? Do the people even know that you’re a Christian or know anything of Jesus because of you? As Servants of God were told to go out to the streets, alleys, highways, and hedges and invite everyone they see to the Wedding of the King’s Son. How that’s going to look like for you in your life it may be at work, the grocery store, the soccer field, the people in your circle. It may include family members, friends, co-workers, or even strangers in telling them about Jesus. Not everyone is going to be comfortable with that. But the eternal destiny of people in talking to them about Jesus is worth so much more then our momentary discomfort or awkwardness. It is clear from this passage that it is God who prepares and sends His Servants with this good news of the Gospel. To be a Christian is to be God’s servant. If not careful we might fall into the trap of inviting only those whom we like or those who look promising and good. But this parable makes clear that God’s invitation is extended to any and all, the poor, homeless, alcoholic, drug-attic, homosexual, transgender, self-righteous, etc. and the only qualification to entry is that this invitation be accepted.
“Even today, maybe your just going through the motions. Your saying the right things. Your checking of all the boxes. You answered the Invitation, you responded to the Altar Call, you prayed the prayer. But you never came into a Saving relationship with Jesus. Or maybe you’re trying to earn Salvation on your own terms, doing all the religious things, going to church, doing good works — even religious ones” ⇒ We mistakenly believe that a mental assent to Christian doctrines and dogma is all that is needed for Salvation. While still doing life the way we’ve always done it. Or we think faith is just another thing we do, another thing we attend, another box to check off, a little bible reading, a little prayer. When you got baptized you were stripped naked, plunged under the waters of baptism, and you were given a new garment on the other side of baptism, symbolizing your new life. When grace comes to you from out of the clear blue sky, as it did for all of these people invited to the wedding banquet, it needs to transform you and change you. That kindness of God will change you, and the righteousness of Christ himself is going to show in how you live. That is essentially the wedding garment: Every day showing the watching world our Savior and His holiness and His righteousness.God’s door is open to us but we cannot presume on God’s grace. God’s overflowing, endless, patient, self-giving generosity comes to us as gift, but it comes with responsibility, too.
“Many find the violence and cruelty of this King hard to take. They hear this parable and think that God is some cruel and vindictive tyrant who just can’t wait to punish us and throw us into hell” ⇒ But this simply does not fit with the gracious and loving God revealed throughout the Gospels. They can understand how the King might have been insulted and hurt if people didn’t respond to the invitation. But does that give him the right to kill them and then burn down their city. Seems a little harsh and heavy-handed. That’s why it’s important for us to understand who Jesus is talking to. We need to remember that these people who didn’t show up, killed the servants, or who showed up inappropriately dressed, was not just poor taste. But was actually high treason. We have to keep in mind that these guests who were invited to the wedding of the King’s Son’s were the KIng’s subjects, not just your ordinary people. Their loyalty and allegiance to the King would have been shown by their willingness to attend and celebrate such a significant event. You could say as the King’s constituents, they had a serious duty and obligation to attend. It’s like delegates of the United States Democratic Party being invited to the National convention and not showing up. This parable also reminds us that we too are the KIngs subjects and have a duty to live as faithful and obedient subjects of His KIngdom. When we don’t there’s a real risk of being punished by Him.
“It is clear in the parable that the damnation of sinners is not chargeable to God. But rather it’s their own unwillingness to respond that condemns them. God gives people free will to choose to accept it or reject it.” ⇒ The only ones excluded from this party are those who exclude themselves. When it is said that many are called but few are chosen. it is not to be understood that God is unwilling that all should be Saved, but it indicates the cause of the perdition of the ungodly, which is this, that they either fail altogether to hear the Word of God, rebelliously despising it by closing their ears and hardening their hearts, and in this way hindering the ordinary method of the Holy Spirit, so that He cannot effect His work on them, or that they esteem lightly the word they hear and cast it away from them. Their perishing must be ascribed, not to God and His election, but to their own malignity. No one is lost for lack of invitation. No one is lost because God is unwilling. Men are lost because they resist the grace of God that is extended to them (Acts 7:51). Men are not chosen because they persistently reject the Gospel call.
Additional Notes & Applications
Teaches how God supplies everything were looking for in life; joy, peace, freedom, happiness, fulfillment, etc.-(V.4)
Warns against treating God’s grace cheaply.
Teaches how often times will profess our love and obedience to God, but then when it comes down to where the rubber hits the road we change our minds.
Teaches just because were justified by faith and in the banquet, it doesn’t mean the work is done, we have to dress the part by living holy and sanctified lives.
Teaches just as the burning of the city didn’t git rid of all the hypocrites, it just makes room for new ones.
Teaches how God doesn’t expect us to be perfect and holy, but He does expect us to at least show up.
Teaches how God invites us in with no costs to ourselves, accept to show up and accept what He is giving us.
Warns how no one waltzes into the kingdom unprepared. No one gets to heaven by accident.
Can you imagine the great pain and disappointment the King must have felt by those who paid no attention to his invitation. If you ever tried to offer somebody the gift of hope, or the gift of peace, or the gift of joy. And they won’t take it, you know what Jesus was feeling. You parents know this feeling. You want your children to choose the very best and they keep choosing less than the best. Teachers know the feeling, counselors know the feeling, pastors know the feeling. We offer them great advice, but they just won’t take it.
Warns, though God is long-suffering, His patience does not last forever, but will eventually run out. Will you accept Christ today, for who knows, whether tomorrow might be too late! Peter’s Epistle tells us; “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.“-(2-Pet. 4:9) We also hear in the book of Hebrews; “See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. 13 But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. 14 We have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original conviction firmly to the very end. 15 As has just been said: “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion.”-(Heb. 3:12-15) The refusal and rebelling against God will cost us everything.
To understand just how shocking this is in turning down such an invitation. We think how could anyone miss out on attending such a prestigious event in the wedding of a King’s son. It would be like the President of the United States inviting you to formal dinner at the White house for the wedding of one of His children. And the leading heads of state would be there. Can you image how ridiculous it would be having received this invitation and you turn it down saying, “Sorry Mr. President I got another engagement that night.” Or “I loved to, but I already agreed to go out to dinner with my buddy that night.” Of course not, you would clear your callander and reschedule any dates no matter how import they were.
Jewish wedding customs in Biblical times weren’t much different than today. You send out a formal invitation.RSVP and mail them ahead of time. In those days they didn’t have postal service. They didn’t have emails, social media, FaceBook, or Twitter. They had to be sent out by hand. Then based on the number yeses you got from of those who said they would attend. You then planned accordingly. You bought the right amount of food and drinks. You set up enough tables and chairs. With no refrigerators or freezers back then, it would be very costly if the guests failed to show up. Once everything was ready the second invitation would go out. The servants would knock on the doors of the invitees, letting them know the wedding feast was ready. First century Jewish wedding customs held that the father of the groom bore all the expense associated with the wedding and the banquet that followed. As well as providing special garments made of the finest materials available for guests to be wear once they arrived. To enter without the wedding garment provided by the host was an insult to the Father of the groom and could get a guest thrown out from the festivities. In case of large gatherings it also served as identification to discourage uninvited guests from crashing the party.
In Luke’s Gospel we learn just how feeble and ridiculous some of the other excuses are. The first guy said “I have just bought a field, and I must go and see it. Please excuse me.” We have to ask ourselves who would buy a field without inspecting it first, to see where the sun fell, how plants grew, and how rich the soil. It would be like saying “I just bought a house unseen. But I need to go check the block out to see if it’s a good neighborhood or not.” The second guy said; “I have just bought five yoke of oxen, and I’m on my way to try them out. Please excuse me.” Who in their right mind would buy five yoke of oxen (ten oxen total) without tested them out first, checking out how healthy and strong they were? It’s like saying “I just bought a used car without seeing what color it is and whether it drives or not.” The third guy said; “I just got married, so I can’t come.” It’s like saying, “I don’t know enough of my wife yet, after you already dated and courting her for some time now. Or it’s like saying at the second coming of Jesus, “Lord can you come back in a few months. I just got married”. (Luke 14:19-20)
Were not told anything about the guest who is not wearing wedding clothes. Was he one of the good who had been invited or one of the bad? Perhaps this man forgot or lost his given wedding clothes along the way. He may have refused to wear them. Maybe he was naked? Or he may have thought that his clothes were better, or at least good enough for the wedding. If he was one of the bad ones. Maybe he was a shabbily dressed criminal who thought I “I’m not worthy. I smell, I shouldn’t be here. But since I’m here I might as well crash the wedding party and enjoy a free meal. Both men came to the wedding banquet on their own terms, something the King wasn’t going to stand for. The first man responded to the invitation, but thought himself good enough to secure his place at the banquet. While the second man, who, shabby and poor, took advantage of the blessing of the goodness of the King, yet still wanted to live life on his terms without having to change.
Note how it was the King that saw the man without the proper wedding clothes and not the other wedding guests. Which goes to show that it is only Jesus who knows our hearts and true selves. He sees past our hypocrisies of outward righteous without really being transformed on the inside.
Many use the phrase at the end of the parable; “Many all called, but few are chosen”-(V. 14) To support the doctrine “Election/Predestination” over that of “Free-will”. To better understand these concepts we need to know what different traditions believe about Salvation & Grace verses Free-will. The doctrine of Election teaches that God chooses to Save some people and not others.-(See Rom. 8:30, ) Those whom He has chosen to Save are referred to as “The Elect”. Many Christians recoil at the doctrine of Election the first time they hear it. But, upon further reflection, most believers will admit that God was at work in their lives, drawing them to Himself long before they were even aware of it. They will recognize that, if He had not intervened by working on their hearts, they would have continued in unbelief. The hand of God, working in big ways and little ways, becomes more evident in hindsight. Others object to the doctrine of Election on the grounds that it stifles missionary and evangelistic activity. After all, if God has chosen to Save some, then they will be Saved whether or not anyone takes them the gospel—so why bother? Or worse they’ll think, I have no need to repent of my sins and trust in Christ. If God has predestined me to Salvation, then I will be Saved regardless of what I do. This objection overlooks the truth that hearing and believing the gospel is the means that God uses to Save those He has chosen to Save. The same thing can be said that “Election” does not mean we are “predestined” to marry so-and-so or take a certain job? In one sense, looking back at God’s providential care, we can say “Yes, that’s was God’s plan for my life.” And yet this notion of divine superintendence is not meant to undercut personal initiative and responsibility. Everything happens after the counsel of God’s will (Eph. 1:11), but this is no excuse to neglect the use of means, nor is it a reason to think every decision we make is automatically pleasing to God. God’s sovereign unalterable will of decree is not be confused with his violable will of desire. Consequently, some Christians who believe in predestination may suffer greatly from anxiety over their eternal destiny. They may seek assurance in mystical experiences or a legalistic pursuit of perfection. Or they might sink into despair…….(To be Continued)
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