Supper's Ready!
Sermon
Sermons on the Gospel Readings
Series I, Cycle A
Let's pretend! Let's pretend that you've been invited by the Queen of England to attend a banquet at Buckingham Palace. Close your eyes for a moment and think. What would you wear? What would you talk about at the dinner table? Should you arrive ten minutes early, take a taxi, or will you be nervous? Better still, would you turn down the invitation? When John Kennedy was president of the United States, he invited a number of accomplished artists to a White House banquet. Among those invited was the then aging William Faulkner. Faulkner turned down the invitation, saying, "I'm too old to make new friends." It is possible, you know, to turn down an invitation. It is thinkable to do the unthinkable, to excuse yourself from a fabulous opportunity.
According to the text the Lord God, creator, ruler, sustainer, and heir of the universe gives an open invitation to all people to come and feast with him at a banquet table. Now, just stop and think about this for a moment! What kind of God do we have in this cosmos? He is a God who wants to get to know you. He is a lord who offers to sit down and eat with you at table. He is a creator who calls your name with a personal invitation.
"Excuse Me, Please!"
How do you respond to these facts about God? Certainly an invitation to eat with God and to become acquainted with him personally outclasses an opportunity to eat with a queen or a president or your favorite musician. And you wouldn't think of turning the queen down, yet according to the text, that's just what happened. Those invited said, "Excuse me, please. I cannot come." One man said, "I've bought some land. I must go and see it." Think for a moment. Can you imagine anyone buying a piece of land sight unseen? Since the banquet was to be at night, wouldn't that be a poor time for him to be out inspecting land? Real estate doesn't move; his land would still be there on the morrow. Obviously, the man was not giving reasons but excuses. The fact was, he did not want to go to the banquet.
According to the text, another man refused the invitation because he owned a new team of oxen. My, my! How our possessions can get in the way. There was still a third fellow invited, but he, too, refused, saying, "I've married a wife." Does that sound familiar? Blaming it on your wife? That's as old as Adam putting the blame on Eve!
People have not changed much in the years that separate the first telling of this parable and its telling today. Supper is still ready. God is still willing. The invitations are still going out, and the excuses are still coming in.
"Wait Until I Have Some Fun!"
Have you ever heard this excuse? "I'll come. I'll become a Christian and sit at the Lord's table, but first let me have a little fun." These people associate Jesus with a moral straitjacket. God to them is some sort of celestial killjoy. They say, "Thanks, but no thanks!"
Yet, Jesus said, "I have come that you might have life and have it more abundantly" (John 10:10). He didn't come to take the life out of the party, he came to put life in the party. When I was a student in college, my hall adopted a stray dog as a mascot. One winter this mangy, undernourished mutt wandered into the dorm seeking warmth. The fellows on the hall immediately loved that animal and sought to help him. Can you imagine what went on in that dog's brain as the fellows washed him in the shower? Soap and water were alien to a dog used to ugly, smelly, matted fur. Then there was the mange medicine and the rabies shot and the new taste of dog food. In that animal's eyes, I could see fear and distrust. I didn't blame him when he once tried to run away. But slowly that stray became a pet. He understood that we loved him. We weren't out to hurt him or to take his fun away. Indeed, with the right care his fun became funnier! His coat shone! His health increased. He felt loved. I think humankind often relates to God like that dog related to us. "What is this? Can I trust him? He's not going to spoil my fun, is he? I want to be free!" Which state of life do you think was more abundant for that dog - before or after? That's right! The after. It is the same for man.
"Wait Until I Get Better!"
Another excuse for not supping with Christ is, "Wait until I get better. I'm too sinful right now." I suppose this excuse is akin to the woman who has nothing fitting to wear to a party or the man who feels himself too crude in manners to eat with gentlemen.
The Bible says, "Behold, now is the day of salvation" (2 Cor--inthians 6:2). The human condition is such that to wait, to put off coming to Christ until we're better, is like waiting to go to the doctor until you are healed. What if all the patients in a hospital revolted and kicked out all the nurses and doctors? What if they locked the doors and said, "We're not going to let you in again until we get better!" Wouldn't that be a ridiculous turn of events? Yet, that is the same foolish thought pattern that a man often takes with God. "I'm too sinful. When I clean my life up, I will come." I like the way the hymn, "Just As I Am," puts it. "Just as I am, without one plea, but that Thy blood was shed for me, and that Thou bid'st me come to Thee, O Lamb of God, I come, I come!"
"I'm Good Enough Already!"
Supper's ready! And, oh! Is it ever ready! The question is: Are you? Are you willing to cast aside your excuses and accept God's magnificent invitation to eat with him? One of the most common excuses for not living faithfully to the claims of Christ is, "I'm good enough already. I'm as good as, or better than, any of those people who go to church!"
Dear people, the question is not how good we are in our own estimation. It is how good we are in God's sight! Did you hear about the two men who were working on a roof? As they began to work on the chimney, one man fell in. The other tried to grab him but he fell in, too. Both of them came tumbling down the chimney like another jolly fellow we know about. Now, one man had black soot all over his face, but the other man didn't. That's because he covered his face with his arm as he fell. Now, the funny thing about this story is that the man with the clean face went and washed his and the man with the dirty face did not, but returned to work. Why? Think real hard! You see, they looked at each other. The clean--faced man saw the dirty--faced man and thought, "I'd better wash my face. Since we both fell down the chimney and his face is dirty, mine must be, too." The other man said, "If he is clean, I must be, too." Now, the moral of the story is that one cannot look at others to judge how it is with himself. We must look in the mirror, and that mirror is God's word. Here in the Bible, God will tell you what he thinks of you. "All have sinned," he says (Romans 3:23). There is no good man on earth. Sure, you might be as moral as the next fellow but no man is moral enough in God's sight. That's why Jesus said, "You must be born again" (John 3:3). You must be given a chance to start over from a clean slate!
"Too Many Hypocrites In Church!"
Have you ever invited someone to worship and they replied, "Ha! I'd never put my foot inside that place. There are too many hypocrites in church!" In a Peanuts comic strip, Lucy is standing on a pew inside an empty church building. She is saying, "Hypocrites! Where are all the hypocrites? I heard the church was full of them!" Well, I'm not so sure the church is that full of hypocrites. Sure, we've got some weak brothers. Some of our sisters are immature. But isn't that where they should be? Shouldn't hypocrites be in church where the true light of reality will expose them for what they are?
Look at it this way. Handel is no less a great composer just because someone sits down and does a lousy rendition of his music on the piano. There is nothing wrong with the composer. Only the musician's playing is poor. The same with church. The gospel is glorious. Sometimes man's performance is poor, but that doesn't mean God is.
One goes to a doctor even if that doctor has a bad cold. Even though he is sick, he can still heal. Just because a lawyer got a speeding ticket, doesn't mean he cannot help you with legal proceedings. And it is the same with the church. Just because there is sin here, doesn't mean that the church cannot steer you into a saving experience with Christ.
"God Is Love. He Won't Condemn Anyone!"
Here's another excuse: Some tread on God's grace, saying, "I'm not going to become a Christian. After all, God is love. He won't condemn anyone." Oh, really? The Bible says, "If God did not spare the angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell," what makes you think he will spare you? (2 Peter 2:4).
A child was sick with a terminal disease. The only known cure was in a hospital several thousand miles away. The boy's father sold all his belongings and journeyed to that distant hospital just to buy the medicine. Returning home he joyfully handed the vial of medicine to his son and said, "Here, child, take this and live!" The boy took the bottle, looked at it, and threw it against the wall. Then, looking at his father, shouted, "If I die, it will be your fault!" Isn't that about the most ridiculous thing you've ever heard? Yet, God has gone to Calvary to purchase the medicine for our sin. He offers life to every man. Yet we toss it aside and have the guts to say, "He won't condemn anyone. He's loving." Billy Graham said, "Hell was never intended for man. It was created for the devil and his angels. But if a man insists on going there, God will let him."
Come to the banquet. Here's your invitation. What is your response?
"I Have Doubts!"
Maybe one of you here today is full of doubts. "Did God really invite me? Is the banquet real?" The only way you will ever find out is to come and see for yourself. There are always those who would stay away from the church because of their doubts. "Wait until I learn some more," they say. "Dad, I can't go to school today. I don't know math," a child says. And the father replies, "That's precisely why you go to school, my son, to learn math." When doubting Thomas was overcome with questions he did not leave church. He stayed in it! It was in church that his doubts melted away. The Lord came and allowed him to verify the resurrection firsthand! God won't insult your intelligence either. If you have questions, bring them to Sunday school, to Bible study, and worship. You will find your answers here. Doubters welcome!
"As Long As You Are Sincere ..."
Let's look at one final excuse that people make for absenting themselves from the Lord's table. Have you ever heard this one? "Any religion is good enough. All roads lead to the top of the mountain. I've got my own religion. As long as one is sincere, that's all that's important." Well, all I've got to say is, bull! Sincerity is no basis for a relationship with God. Jesus said, "The true worshipers worship in spirit and in truth" (John 4:23). He didn't say we were to worship with our own religion and in sincerity. He said we were to worship according to God's terms - "in spirit and in truth."
Remember Charlie Brown standing dejectedly in the baseball park and saying, "How can we lose when we are so sincere?" The answer is, sincerity is no basis for winning a baseball game. You can be sincere in your efforts to drive to Raleigh, but if you take the wrong road, you won't get there. It is the same with God. Your salvation is on God's terms and not your own, sincere or not!
"I'll Be There!"
The Bible is full of invitations to supper with God. Jesus ate with a Pharisee; he dined with fishermen, tax collectors, harlots, and rich men. Once he called to a man up in a tree, "Zacchaeus, come down. I must have supper with you this day!" The Lord got no excuses from Zach that day! Around the table with Jesus, a miracle began to form in the heart of Zacchaeus. "Behold," Zacchaeus said, "the half of my wealth I give to the poor. And if I have treated anyone unjustly, I restore things to him four times over!" (Luke 19:1--9). What a meal that must have been! The miracle was not in the bread and the wine. The miracle was in Zacchaeus.
What of your life? You have been invited to come to God, to sit with him at his table and eat. Are you too busy? Have you got an excuse? I saw a fellow at communion a while back whom I hadn't seen in church for some time. "And you," I said, "What are you doing here?" "I guess I just ran out of excuses," he said.
Supper's ready! And, oh! Is it ready! Are you? Are you ready? How I pray that you, too, have run out of excuses!
Stephen M. Crotts
According to the text the Lord God, creator, ruler, sustainer, and heir of the universe gives an open invitation to all people to come and feast with him at a banquet table. Now, just stop and think about this for a moment! What kind of God do we have in this cosmos? He is a God who wants to get to know you. He is a lord who offers to sit down and eat with you at table. He is a creator who calls your name with a personal invitation.
"Excuse Me, Please!"
How do you respond to these facts about God? Certainly an invitation to eat with God and to become acquainted with him personally outclasses an opportunity to eat with a queen or a president or your favorite musician. And you wouldn't think of turning the queen down, yet according to the text, that's just what happened. Those invited said, "Excuse me, please. I cannot come." One man said, "I've bought some land. I must go and see it." Think for a moment. Can you imagine anyone buying a piece of land sight unseen? Since the banquet was to be at night, wouldn't that be a poor time for him to be out inspecting land? Real estate doesn't move; his land would still be there on the morrow. Obviously, the man was not giving reasons but excuses. The fact was, he did not want to go to the banquet.
According to the text, another man refused the invitation because he owned a new team of oxen. My, my! How our possessions can get in the way. There was still a third fellow invited, but he, too, refused, saying, "I've married a wife." Does that sound familiar? Blaming it on your wife? That's as old as Adam putting the blame on Eve!
People have not changed much in the years that separate the first telling of this parable and its telling today. Supper is still ready. God is still willing. The invitations are still going out, and the excuses are still coming in.
"Wait Until I Have Some Fun!"
Have you ever heard this excuse? "I'll come. I'll become a Christian and sit at the Lord's table, but first let me have a little fun." These people associate Jesus with a moral straitjacket. God to them is some sort of celestial killjoy. They say, "Thanks, but no thanks!"
Yet, Jesus said, "I have come that you might have life and have it more abundantly" (John 10:10). He didn't come to take the life out of the party, he came to put life in the party. When I was a student in college, my hall adopted a stray dog as a mascot. One winter this mangy, undernourished mutt wandered into the dorm seeking warmth. The fellows on the hall immediately loved that animal and sought to help him. Can you imagine what went on in that dog's brain as the fellows washed him in the shower? Soap and water were alien to a dog used to ugly, smelly, matted fur. Then there was the mange medicine and the rabies shot and the new taste of dog food. In that animal's eyes, I could see fear and distrust. I didn't blame him when he once tried to run away. But slowly that stray became a pet. He understood that we loved him. We weren't out to hurt him or to take his fun away. Indeed, with the right care his fun became funnier! His coat shone! His health increased. He felt loved. I think humankind often relates to God like that dog related to us. "What is this? Can I trust him? He's not going to spoil my fun, is he? I want to be free!" Which state of life do you think was more abundant for that dog - before or after? That's right! The after. It is the same for man.
"Wait Until I Get Better!"
Another excuse for not supping with Christ is, "Wait until I get better. I'm too sinful right now." I suppose this excuse is akin to the woman who has nothing fitting to wear to a party or the man who feels himself too crude in manners to eat with gentlemen.
The Bible says, "Behold, now is the day of salvation" (2 Cor--inthians 6:2). The human condition is such that to wait, to put off coming to Christ until we're better, is like waiting to go to the doctor until you are healed. What if all the patients in a hospital revolted and kicked out all the nurses and doctors? What if they locked the doors and said, "We're not going to let you in again until we get better!" Wouldn't that be a ridiculous turn of events? Yet, that is the same foolish thought pattern that a man often takes with God. "I'm too sinful. When I clean my life up, I will come." I like the way the hymn, "Just As I Am," puts it. "Just as I am, without one plea, but that Thy blood was shed for me, and that Thou bid'st me come to Thee, O Lamb of God, I come, I come!"
"I'm Good Enough Already!"
Supper's ready! And, oh! Is it ever ready! The question is: Are you? Are you willing to cast aside your excuses and accept God's magnificent invitation to eat with him? One of the most common excuses for not living faithfully to the claims of Christ is, "I'm good enough already. I'm as good as, or better than, any of those people who go to church!"
Dear people, the question is not how good we are in our own estimation. It is how good we are in God's sight! Did you hear about the two men who were working on a roof? As they began to work on the chimney, one man fell in. The other tried to grab him but he fell in, too. Both of them came tumbling down the chimney like another jolly fellow we know about. Now, one man had black soot all over his face, but the other man didn't. That's because he covered his face with his arm as he fell. Now, the funny thing about this story is that the man with the clean face went and washed his and the man with the dirty face did not, but returned to work. Why? Think real hard! You see, they looked at each other. The clean--faced man saw the dirty--faced man and thought, "I'd better wash my face. Since we both fell down the chimney and his face is dirty, mine must be, too." The other man said, "If he is clean, I must be, too." Now, the moral of the story is that one cannot look at others to judge how it is with himself. We must look in the mirror, and that mirror is God's word. Here in the Bible, God will tell you what he thinks of you. "All have sinned," he says (Romans 3:23). There is no good man on earth. Sure, you might be as moral as the next fellow but no man is moral enough in God's sight. That's why Jesus said, "You must be born again" (John 3:3). You must be given a chance to start over from a clean slate!
"Too Many Hypocrites In Church!"
Have you ever invited someone to worship and they replied, "Ha! I'd never put my foot inside that place. There are too many hypocrites in church!" In a Peanuts comic strip, Lucy is standing on a pew inside an empty church building. She is saying, "Hypocrites! Where are all the hypocrites? I heard the church was full of them!" Well, I'm not so sure the church is that full of hypocrites. Sure, we've got some weak brothers. Some of our sisters are immature. But isn't that where they should be? Shouldn't hypocrites be in church where the true light of reality will expose them for what they are?
Look at it this way. Handel is no less a great composer just because someone sits down and does a lousy rendition of his music on the piano. There is nothing wrong with the composer. Only the musician's playing is poor. The same with church. The gospel is glorious. Sometimes man's performance is poor, but that doesn't mean God is.
One goes to a doctor even if that doctor has a bad cold. Even though he is sick, he can still heal. Just because a lawyer got a speeding ticket, doesn't mean he cannot help you with legal proceedings. And it is the same with the church. Just because there is sin here, doesn't mean that the church cannot steer you into a saving experience with Christ.
"God Is Love. He Won't Condemn Anyone!"
Here's another excuse: Some tread on God's grace, saying, "I'm not going to become a Christian. After all, God is love. He won't condemn anyone." Oh, really? The Bible says, "If God did not spare the angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell," what makes you think he will spare you? (2 Peter 2:4).
A child was sick with a terminal disease. The only known cure was in a hospital several thousand miles away. The boy's father sold all his belongings and journeyed to that distant hospital just to buy the medicine. Returning home he joyfully handed the vial of medicine to his son and said, "Here, child, take this and live!" The boy took the bottle, looked at it, and threw it against the wall. Then, looking at his father, shouted, "If I die, it will be your fault!" Isn't that about the most ridiculous thing you've ever heard? Yet, God has gone to Calvary to purchase the medicine for our sin. He offers life to every man. Yet we toss it aside and have the guts to say, "He won't condemn anyone. He's loving." Billy Graham said, "Hell was never intended for man. It was created for the devil and his angels. But if a man insists on going there, God will let him."
Come to the banquet. Here's your invitation. What is your response?
"I Have Doubts!"
Maybe one of you here today is full of doubts. "Did God really invite me? Is the banquet real?" The only way you will ever find out is to come and see for yourself. There are always those who would stay away from the church because of their doubts. "Wait until I learn some more," they say. "Dad, I can't go to school today. I don't know math," a child says. And the father replies, "That's precisely why you go to school, my son, to learn math." When doubting Thomas was overcome with questions he did not leave church. He stayed in it! It was in church that his doubts melted away. The Lord came and allowed him to verify the resurrection firsthand! God won't insult your intelligence either. If you have questions, bring them to Sunday school, to Bible study, and worship. You will find your answers here. Doubters welcome!
"As Long As You Are Sincere ..."
Let's look at one final excuse that people make for absenting themselves from the Lord's table. Have you ever heard this one? "Any religion is good enough. All roads lead to the top of the mountain. I've got my own religion. As long as one is sincere, that's all that's important." Well, all I've got to say is, bull! Sincerity is no basis for a relationship with God. Jesus said, "The true worshipers worship in spirit and in truth" (John 4:23). He didn't say we were to worship with our own religion and in sincerity. He said we were to worship according to God's terms - "in spirit and in truth."
Remember Charlie Brown standing dejectedly in the baseball park and saying, "How can we lose when we are so sincere?" The answer is, sincerity is no basis for winning a baseball game. You can be sincere in your efforts to drive to Raleigh, but if you take the wrong road, you won't get there. It is the same with God. Your salvation is on God's terms and not your own, sincere or not!
"I'll Be There!"
The Bible is full of invitations to supper with God. Jesus ate with a Pharisee; he dined with fishermen, tax collectors, harlots, and rich men. Once he called to a man up in a tree, "Zacchaeus, come down. I must have supper with you this day!" The Lord got no excuses from Zach that day! Around the table with Jesus, a miracle began to form in the heart of Zacchaeus. "Behold," Zacchaeus said, "the half of my wealth I give to the poor. And if I have treated anyone unjustly, I restore things to him four times over!" (Luke 19:1--9). What a meal that must have been! The miracle was not in the bread and the wine. The miracle was in Zacchaeus.
What of your life? You have been invited to come to God, to sit with him at his table and eat. Are you too busy? Have you got an excuse? I saw a fellow at communion a while back whom I hadn't seen in church for some time. "And you," I said, "What are you doing here?" "I guess I just ran out of excuses," he said.
Supper's ready! And, oh! Is it ready! Are you? Are you ready? How I pray that you, too, have run out of excuses!
Stephen M. Crotts
