Tag Archives: invitations

Keep your promises (Luke 14:16-24) December 2, 2016

Today’s Podcast

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Today’s Bible reading plan:

Read it in a year – Revelation 1-6

see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)

Today’s Devotional

Luke 14:16-24
Jesus: A man once hosted a huge banquet and invited many guests. When the time came, he sent his servant to tell the guests who had agreed to come, “We’re ready! Come now!” But then every single guest began to make excuses. One said, “Oh, I’m sorry. I just bought some land, and I need to go see it. Please excuse me.” Another said, “So sorry. I just bought five pairs of oxen. I need to go check them out. Please excuse me.” Another said, “I just got married, so I can’t come.”
The servant returned and reported their responses to his master. His master was angry and told the servant, “Go out quickly to the streets and alleys around town and bring the poor, the amputees, the blind, and the cripples.”
The servant came back again: “Sir, I’ve done as you said, but there is still more room.” And the host said, “Well then, go out to the highways and hedges and bring in the complete strangers you find there, until my house is completely full. One thing is for sure, not one single person on the original guest list shall enjoy this banquet.”

What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?

Jesus story reminds me of a wedding I attended not long ago. I was just a guest so I don’t know how many people the bride and groom invited or how many actually sent back an RSVP, but at both the wedding and the reception, there were a lot of empty chairs. I assume that means people said they would come, the wedding party spent a lot of money on food and other accommodations for their expected guests and all the prepared food, money, and energy ended up wasted.

That problem seems to happen more and more these days. We have lost our social graces. We don’t pay any attention to those four little letters that appear at the bottom of most invitations. RSVP means respond. The party that sent the invitation may not care whether you come or not, but at least be polite enough to answer the question. Are you coming? Uhhhh? Hello? Anyone out there? Did you get the invitation? How is anyone supposed to plan when we don’t have the courtesy to let the host know if we’re coming?

It’s not just weddings that the phenomenon happens. In fact, we’re more prone to answer wedding invitations either yes or no that almost any other invitation that comes our way. Birthday parties? Silence. Dinner for a group of people? No response. Invitation to a theater event, ballgame, or other social activity? Nothing. What ever happened to common courtesy and just simple etiquette?

I think it’s a simple answer. It’s that selfishness that rears its ugly head again. We focus on ourselves and don’t really care about anyone else or the inconvenience we might cause in our failure to respond. We just decide at the last minute to go or not to go based on whether there is a better offer for us. How do I feel at the moment of departure? So we just don’t answer. Then if we show up it’s okay and if we don’t, we think it’s okay.

It’s not. Things may not end the way they did with the host and guests in Jesus’ story, but the host will feel the same. And you certainly won’t win friends by letting a host prepare for your coming and then not show up, or show up without the host preparing for you. In the first instance, the host may be pretty angry, in the second, he may be embarrassed because there may be no place for you. Then you might be angry. Both situations end with broken relationships.

How hard is it to send a note in the mail, pick up the phone, or send an email with a simple yes or no to an invitation? We are on our smartphones and computers all day long. What’s a few seconds to confirm or regret that invitation from someone who asks your presence at something. It’s not hard to do and keeps your relationships intact.

The host understands people have things to do and he would not have been angry had those guests sent their regrets when the invitations came out. The problem was their broken promise. They promised to come. Their RSVP said yes. But they made excuses and didn’t show. It’s the broken promise that made the host angry. The same is true today when those simple invitations go out. Be polite. You don’t have to go if you don’t want to. You can say no, but say something. Then keep your promise.

I know, there are lots of other things you could say about this parable that Jesus gave us. Those who heard it understood some of those subtle innuendos, too. They knew Jesus was talking about them and that He referred to their coming absence from God’s banquet table if they didn’t change their ways. But just for a moment, think about the easy thing to see about the story Jesus tells. Be polite. Answer those RSVPs that come this time of year. Then keep the promises you make.

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

The wedding feast (Matthew 22:2-14) May 20, 2016

Today’s Podcast

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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.

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.