The Invitation

Matthew 22:9-14

In part one of the story of the wedding feast, those who were invited would not come and the reasons were many, some had business interest, others had family tasks, others were just not in the mood for a wedding, but the bottom line is they all chose to put their desires above the king and his son.  And it is clear that the King is God, the Son is Jesus Christ, the servants are the prophets and maybe the apostles, and the ones who the invitation went out to are people like you and me.

Now, let us move on to part two of the parable of the Wedding Feast, beginning with Matthew 22:8-10, and these are the words of Jesus; “Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding feast is ready, but those invited were not worthy. Go therefore to the main roads and invite to the wedding feast as many as you find.’ And those servants went out into the roads and gathered all whom they found, both bad and good. So the wedding hall was filled with guests.”  The first invitation was only for the chosen, the Children of Abraham.  Do you grasp the fullness of the second invitation; it included you and me, it was a “Grace invitation” for we were included, we were the bad and good, but grace changed all of that, and by God’s grace we were grafted into the family of God.

The grandest of news is that the “Grace invitation” came to everyone, but many in religion have tried to limit the call to a group, a nation, and sometime to a denomination, but in John 3:16-18, we find this invitation was all inclusive, it was nondiscriminatory, the condition was “That whoever believes in Jesus will have eternal life.  God never meant that you believe only that Jesus was the Son of God, for we are told that the devil believes that and trembles.  This question must be answered; “But who do you say that I am?”  Both religion and the world are willing to agree that Jesus was a great teacher and even a prophet of God, and He was both of those things, but in answering the question you find the problem of unbelief, for He is, not was.  So when your answer lines up with the apostle Peter’s; “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God,” and by that confession you are by faith putting your hope only in the finished work of Christ on the cross, then and only then will the invitation of grace allow entrance into kingdom of heaven.

You may ask, how can you make such a statement?  Look with me in Matthew 22:11-14, “But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garment. And he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless. Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot and cast him into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ For many are called, but few are chosen.” 

Do you recall Jesus preparing His disciples for His crucifixion and He spoke these words to them; “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. And you know the way to where I am going.” Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

If your confession is the confession of the apostle Peter, and you believe Jesus tells the truth that is faith!  But as we stated above many are looking for another way, they will tell you what Jesus said is too restrictive too narrow, and yet God has spoken, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless. Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot and cast him into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’  That place of outer darkness was not designed for mankind; it was designed for the devil and his angels, but many a person has turned down the “invitation” and will by their choice enter for eternity, that place of weeping and gnashing of teeth.

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice