(…continued) Every time I prepare to preach on these good old texts, I see something new. This time, it occurred to me that this parable is the story of my life, or, at least my ministry. You see, as a pastor, I am in the business of inviting people, and over the years I have given out thousands of invitations in the name of our King, Jesus Christ. I’ve been like those servants of the king running around, inviting people, reminding people, and trying to get them to get in on this wonderful offer by our gracious God and King. “Hey Mike, I hear you are new in town, I’d like to invite you to our church… Hi Jan, I haven’t seen you in church for a while. We miss you; come on back– nobody has yet taken your spot in the third row from the back… Hey Jerry, I know you have had a bad year, but don’t let that become a barrier to your faith in God– come in and we can talk about it sometime.”
I’ve done a lot of that, and, I have gotten back a lot of what Jesus refers to in verse five: “But they paid no attention and went off; one to his field, another to his business.” And I too have heard the excuses, as in Luke 14. But I also have seen people come in from ‘the alleys and country lanes’ and other most unlikely places. That is always wonderful to see, and it is a real privilege to be used by God in this way. My ministry has been to invite them in, and this story of Jesus, in some ways, feels like my story.
We do know Jesus is talking about more than an ancient wedding banquet here, and we know he is talking about more than being invited to church. But what is he talking about? Jesus began by saying, “the kingdom of heaven is like this.” I’m big on heaven. I want to go there, I want to live and die in that promise, and I want everyone to know they too are invited.
But is that all he is saying? In Luke 17:21 Jesus said, “the kingdom of God is within you;” so, is the invitation to bring Jesus into your heart? Or, is the invitation to what has been my career, the church? Is the story about inviting people to church where they can hear about this King and his kingdom, or, about just inviting them to heaven, or, is it about inviting Jesus into their hearts? Well, yes, yes, and yes. It is all mixed together, but it is not always all the same thing. It is not exactly the same thing to invite someone to church as it is to invite them to faith in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.
I can’t go into a thorough look at all of that, but I can tell a couple stories of invitations I have made to show you the differences.
Ted was always in church with his wife and four children. He was a good man and a good friend and we would get together as families. One time in the backyard we were talking about the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, and Ted said in a very matter of fact way, “I don’t believe any of that stuff.” I said, “What? What do you mean you don’t believe it. You never miss church. Why do you come if you don’t believe in it?” He said, “I do believe that the church can provide a good moral foundation for my kids, and so I bring them. But this Son of God business, eternity, life after death, and all that; I don’t believe in any of it.” I replied that I too at one time had found it quite unbelievable, but I said, “Let me tell you what convinced me that it is all really true and why I believe it now.” We had many good visits after that. So, my invitation to Ted was not to come to church. He was already there. My invitation to Ted was to believe in Jesus.
Frank was the complete opposite. Frank lived in the senior citizen apartments across the street from the church. In the winter, he would come into our church building to walk up and down the halls for exercise. Many times Frank would stop at my office and tell me what a wonderful day God had given us, and how grateful he was to the Lord Jesus, and how he wasn’t much of a believer as a kid, but in the front lines in World War II he started praying, and he’s been saying his prayers and reading his Bible ever since, and how good Jesus was to him and his family, and how as he is walking around the church, he is just thanking the Lord all the while… and on and on he’d go. But Frank was never once in church on a Sunday morning for worship. So, I oftentimes invited Frank to church. “I know you are a believer, Frank,” I’d say, “But why don’t you come to church? It would be great to have a guy like you around here. You have such a strong faith and are so open about it. You’d be an inspiration to people. Come on in.”
Then, in his usual pleasant way, Frank would just say he was out of the habit, and besides, he and God are on good terms already. I said, “Frank, I can see that you and God are on good terms; but what about your kids and your grandkids? Do they believe like you do? I know they aren’t in church, and they can just say, ‘Well, grandpa doesn’t go either.’”
“Yes,” Frank said, “you are right. I don’t think any of them believe anything, and that is a sadness for me. I probably should have done things differently.” (continued…)
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