Today’s Podcast
Today’s Bible reading plan:
Read it in a year – Jeremiah 42-46
see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)
Today’s Devotional
Matthew 22:2-14
Jesus: The kingdom of heaven is like a king whose son was getting married. The king organized a great feast, a huge wedding banquet. He invited everyone he knew. The day of the wedding arrived, and the king sent his servants into town to track down his guests—but when the servants approached them with the king’s message, they refused to come. So the king sent out another batch of servants.
King: Tell those people I’ve invited to come to the wedding banquet! Tell them I have prepared a great feast! Everything is ready! The oxen and fattened cattle have all been butchered, the wine is decanted, and the table is laid out just so.
And off the servants went, and they carried the king’s message to the errant guests—who still paid not a whit of attention. One guest headed into his field to work; another sat at his desk to attend to his accounts. The rest of the guests actually turned on the servants, brutalizing them and killing them. When he learned of this, the king was furious. He sent his army to kill the murderers and burn their towns. But there was, of course, still a wedding to celebrate.
King (to his remaining servants): The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited didn’t rise to the occasion. So go into the streets and invite anyone you see; invite everyone you meet.
And the servants did just that—they went into the streets and invited everyone they met, rich and poor, good and bad, high and low, sick and well. Everyone who was invited came, and the wedding hall practically burst with guests.
The king looked around the wedding party with glee, but he spotted one man who was not dressed appropriately. In fact, he was dressed rather plainly, in clothes not at all fitting for a fine nuptial feast.
King: Kind sir, how did you get in here without a proper suit of wedding clothes?
The man was speechless. He had been invited in off the street, after all! Getting no response, the king told his servants,
King: Tie him up, and throw him out into the outer darkness, where there is weeping and grinding of teeth.
For many are invited, but few are chosen.
What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?
What a story! A wedding hosted by the king. Invitees acting like it isn’t important. In fact, invitations being completely ignored and then beating and killing the servants who sent them. Destroying the homes and towns of those who killed his servants. The banquet hall being filled with anyone and everyone the servants could find to invite off the streets. A man not dressed in wedding clothes thrown into the streets.
What can we learn from all of this today?
I think there’s a lot we can learn. God gave us everything we need to find Him. In fact, He invites us to join Him in a great celebration at the wedding feast of His Son with His bride the church. But what do we do with the invitation? Do we treat it like it has no value? Do we, like the first people pointed out in the story ignore the invitation and lose the opportunity to enjoy the benefits the King of kings wants for us?
Or worse, do we murder the reputation of those sent to bring people into His kingdom? Do we fail to give honor and respect to God’s people, those who share His message? I’m not just talking about the Israelites, His chosen people, and I’m not just referring to the pastors that share God’s message from pulpits every week. I’m also talking about those prophets that come into our lives and remind us of some of the behaviors we engage in that are contrary to God’s word.
Do we drive them away and treat them the way these characters treated the King’s servants? Perhaps not. Perhaps we listen the prophets and preachers and teachers God sends our way and find our way into the company of His saints. We travel along with them through the doors of the church and sing the songs they sing. We read the scriptures they read. We even hold some of the religious offices they hold. We give of our time and treasure and there we are ready to participate in the wedding. The servants the King sent out shared the messages and we followed along and it looked like we did all the right things as we followed along with that new group of people those servants went into the streets to invite.
But then the King comes and asks an important question. Where’s your wedding clothes? How’s your heart? You heard the invitation, you knew it was a wedding, why didn’t you dress in the appropriate attire. What is the appropriate attire for the King’s banquet? We must be drenched in the redemptive blood of His Son, Jesus. If we haven’t asked for His forgiveness and received Him into our lives as Lord, we’re wearing the wrong clothes.
It might look to everyone else that we’re doing everything we’re supposed to. We might fool everyone else along the way. But God and I know my heart. He knows your heart, too. I know if I’m wearing the wedding garments, ready to enter His banquet hall. He doesn’t keep my position with Him a secret. I know if I’m right with Him. There’s an old hymn about that, my wife’s favorite. Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine. Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine. Heir of salvation, purchase of God, born of His Spirit, washed in His blood. This is my story. This is my song. Praising my Savior all the day long.
We can have that blessed assurance that we will be part of the great wedding feast with God. All it takes is faith and walking in the path He tells us to follow.
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