You are listening to a message from Southwood Presbyterian Church in Huntsville, Alabama.
Our passion is to experience and express grace.
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As far back as I can remember, I've longed for significance.
As a kid, I always wanted to do something that really mattered, to make a big difference
in the world.
And that looked different originally, it was being an awesome, incredible baseball player.
And that's what was really going to make a difference.
At other times, it was just wanting to write books that would be read across the world and
for centuries after I was gone.
Other times, I really just longed for my friends, the people who already knew me, to think I
was really smart and really spiritual.
I think we all have some of that longing in our hearts, don't we?
To be significant.
To be important.
And it's actually a good impulse because God created each of us for significance, as Ron
has reminded us from Psalm 8 this morning.
To be important.
To be valuable.
But what I've seen in my life and in the lives of those around me is that the ways we look
for and pursue that significance are often backwards.
You can think of backwards ways that people strive for significance in our culture.
The same is true for other cultures, including the culture of Jesus in the Bible.
And in our passage this morning, in Luke chapter 14, Jesus is going to call out some of those
backward ways of seeking significance through awkward moments at a dinner party.
It's going to happen a few times.
Let's pray together and then we'll follow the story in Luke 14 as we go.
Father, we do ask again for your help.
We need you.
We want you to show us your truth and show us our hearts at the same time.
That we might be different, that we might be changed, that we might be what you created
us to be.
Do that as we look to your word this morning.
Speak to us, we ask in Jesus' name.
Amen.
Luke 14 at verse 1, the scene is set.
One Sabbath, when he went to dine at the house of a ruler of the Pharisees, they were watching
him carefully.
So there's tension at this Sabbath lunch with Jesus, right?
The religious leaders are trying to catch him.
They're watching him carefully.
And that tension leads to the first awkward moment right off the bat.
One comment on these awkward moments we're about to see.
If there's an awkward moment at our Sabbath lunch today, it will probably be because I tried
to tell a dad joke.
And got eye rolls and silence and chuckles at best.
Jesus is creating these awkward moments because do you remember what we learned last week?
What's his heart towards these Pharisees?
He longs to gather them in.
He sees the backwardness and the brokenness.
He sees the backwardness and the brokenness and he wants to bring healing.
So he creates these conversations, even these awkward moments, to pursue their hearts for his kingdom.
Verse 2.
Silence.
Twice.
Well, all right.
Not how this event was supposed to go here.
Jesus was supposed to be a friendly.
Jesus sees something in the culture of the religious elite.
Their joyous religious formalism with no joy there at all.
Their sense of moral superiority.
Their cold and calculated, dutiful religious performance.
It's one way they're finding significance, isn't it?
And it completely misses the heart of the kingdom.
As we've seen, it misses the heart of the Sabbath, doesn't it?
Which is to rejoice and rest in God's redemption and deliverance.
Jesus says there's a social shift that must take place in this Jewish town.
Stop playing church and start bringing the life of the kingdom to people.
All the time.
Especially on the Sabbath.
Dream of how the joy of deliverance could bless someone who needs to experience the freedom of the love of God.
Sometimes we start to think that what really matters is whether we sang the right song.
Whether the sermon was too long.
Whether the sanctuary was too cold.
Whether we are doing church the way we're used to doing it.
And feel like we ought to after all these years.
And we lose the joy of the kingdom.
By looking for significance in formal religious tradition.
We lose the focus of the kingdom there and making it about ourselves.
We're going to do it better than everybody else.
And it's about our preferences instead of letting it be about King Jesus.
Just like the Pharisees did.
And we find ourselves critiquing others instead of blessing them.
In contrast to that, a couple weeks ago I called a woman in this congregation to ask her if she'd be willing to pray at our congregational meeting last week.
We'll call her Deb for the sake of this story since she may or may not be here.
Deb was a little bit unsettled by that.
She said, I don't really feel comfortable praying into a microphone in front of everybody.
And she felt terrible about the fact that she felt terrible.
Perhaps I should really get over this and do this.
It's important for the kingdom.
Maybe I really ought to get better.
And as we talked, I heard in the background of our conversation the voice of one of our homebound widows.
I said, are you with her?
She had just finished giving her a bath and they were chatting together and so happy to be together.
I said, Deb, you're exactly where you need to be.
You don't have to pray into a microphone to do something important for the kingdom.
You are taking the joyful deliverance and freedom of the kingdom to those who are outcast and lonely right where God has called you.
That's the kingdom showing up.
That's the shift Jesus wants to see in our community.
Quit thinking that a good Sunday is one where you make it through worship and Sunday school without your heart really being engaged so that you can go home and feel better than the other guy.
Knowing that you're spiritually superior to the guy who stayed home.
Stop seeing the law of God as a way to make you feel good about yourself and consider it as an avenue for blessing others.
No more letter of the law legalism that misses the heart of the law.
Love for God and love for neighbor, right?
That's what it's about.
That's a nice way to start off lunch.
Just kind of call everybody out.
Maybe we should get to the meal here, Jesus.
We came here to eat.
But in verse 7, Jesus gets awkward again.
Now he told a parable to those who were invited.
He wants to give some instructions to the guests right here in the middle of the party.
When he noticed how they chose the places of honor, he said to them,
When you're invited by someone to a wedding feast, do not sit down in a place of honor,
lest someone more distinguished than you be invited by him.
And he who invited you both will come and say to you,
Give your place to this person.
And then you will begin with shame to take the lowest place.
But when you are invited, go and sit in the lowest place,
so that when your host comes, he may say to you,
Friend, move up higher.
Then you'll be honored in the presence of all who sit at table with you.
For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled,
and he who humbles himself will be exalted.
Now listen, we do great at this on Sundays.
I've been trying to figure out for years why it is that nobody will sit
on the front row in the places of honor.
And it's because all of you have read this passage,
and you're humbling yourselves and staying back there.
I'm so grateful.
Well done, Southwood.
I finally figured it out.
But you know, there's something about where we sit at meals
that really gets at our hearts, isn't there?
At the spink dinner table, there's a coveted seat between mom and dad.
So we have three girls, and at each meal,
only one will get to sit by both parents.
And there is never any arguing about that seat
except on nights where we're eating dinner.
But it goes all the way back to our middle school lunch tables, doesn't it?
Where the table you sit at and the people who are near you
tells how important you are, how cool you are.
Nowadays, for us, it's who am I seen talking with at the dinner party
or whether I can dress the part while I do.
It's how can I position myself to get over and talk to the guest of honor
and maybe catch an Instagram picture to kind of show everybody else that I did.
And this heightened social tension that we know very well
was even more significant in biblical culture.
The closer you were to the head table, the more important you were.
And not only that, the better food you ate at the dinner.
In fact, so much so that if the party was big enough,
those who were not as connected, the poor, those who were less valuable,
probably wouldn't even be in the same room
or, as it were, ordering off the same menu as you were.
Everybody knew where you sat at dinner, showed how important you were.
That was the case even when the church gathered to eat.
Can you imagine that?
Maybe you can.
And Jesus comes into that context and says,
my kingdom flips this social convention on its head.
Don't put yourself forward.
Don't rush ahead of the line.
Instead, run to the back.
Race to the bottom.
Humble yourself and consider others first.
Don't turn every conversation to yourself.
Don't ignore the lonely to be seen with the influential.
And at first, it can kind of sound just like a wiser strategy to get ahead, right?
A way to get noticed and honored publicly.
But as we go on, we'll see that Jesus is really encouraging
a completely new system of significance.
And, of course, he said this right there in front of guests who've just rushed ahead
to the seats of honor.
So, there's a lot of tension in the room.
Maybe everybody except the host is feeling the awkwardness,
and so Jesus turns to the host next.
Verse 12,
Now, I know that you find it hard to understand,
how who comes to your party and whose party you're invited to
can make you feel important or significant.
But, apparently, that's how people often felt back in Jesus' day
before we matured so much and got over that struggle.
Jesus says,
This social dynamic has to change.
It must be different in his kingdom.
Don't seek significance in social networking.
Instead, what's the difference going to be?
Generously connect and share what you have with the least of these.
How many people have been in your home recently
who don't have a home to invite you into?
Whom do you share your life with that brings you
no tangible social benefit?
When you gather people together for something,
do you consider the ones most like you,
whom you most want to be seen with,
and whom you most enjoy spending time with?
Or, do you consider who most needs your time and your friendship?
Can we be honest that that kind of society
Jesus says his kingdom brings is a big shift for us too
is not the way we usually function.
We love to drop names,
to feel important because of the circles that we run in,
to feel we have value because someone else who has value values us.
Translation of that last sentence,
if Tim Keller or Dabo Swinney friends me on Facebook this afternoon,
you will definitely hear about it.
I will find a way.
That's what I mean by that.
Because it will communicate that I'm in.
My heart will smile and I'll say,
I've arrived.
It makes me meaningful and important.
Jesus says no.
No.
You look for the person no one else is inviting
and you have them over for lunch.
Except not this week because they heard this sermon too,
so now no one can invite anyone for lunch in this church all week
without feeling bad about why you invited them.
But next week, next week,
you invite that person over for lunch.
You jump at the chance we get at Thanksgiving
to have international college students around our table
for Thanksgiving dinner.
You rearrange your priorities to invest in relationships
with those different from you
and less socially connected than you.
Jesus says,
you think differently in my kingdom.
It is really different, isn't it?
Can you imagine how our society would be transformed
if everyone lived this way?
Joyfully serving others,
being humble all the time,
giving to those who have less,
welcoming the outsider in.
If that's what drove everybody all the time,
what a different place.
What an amazing city.
What a great country.
And that's a dangerously good message.
One that you can hear at many churches,
not to mention temples,
Islamic education centers,
and schools in Huntsville.
There's a lot of truth in that message as we've seen.
And many churches have decided because of that
that that is the gospel.
The good news of Jesus is that.
He's a social revolutionary
who teaches and demonstrates a new society
and what it really ought to look like.
But it's dangerous.
It's dangerous because sometimes the story stops there
and we miss Jesus as a savior.
The ability to address larger, eternal problems
and to enjoy true relationship with the Father
through Jesus.
We find ourselves trying to express grace
that we haven't actually experienced ourselves first.
And so we call that the social gospel
because it says the good news
is a transformed society.
Now our denomination,
the Presbyterian Church in America,
was founded before I was born
in part to avoid that danger,
that development,
and to maintain the importance of Jesus
as the savior of sinners.
And I thank God for that.
But sometimes pendulums swing, don't they?
Overcorrecting is really easy.
And we can function as though Jesus came only
to save us from hell and get us to heaven.
In a noble effort to avoid the social gospel,
we can accept its false dichotomy
between eternal and temporal,
spiritual and physical,
spiritual and social even.
And we can neglect
how the good news of Jesus
transforms society too.
We want to worship Jesus on Sunday
and then do business
and throw parties
and develop friendships
and raise our children
however we good and well please.
We say we experience God's grace,
but it never transforms us
into people who express that grace
in every area of life
and expect to see society transformed
as we do.
Jesus says there's a third way.
It doesn't have to be an either or.
Jesus doesn't want only our spiritual life
or our eternal destiny
and our Sunday mornings.
He wants our Sunday afternoons
and our Friday night parties
and our Tuesday night dinners
and our Wednesdays at work
and our Mondays at school.
all of it.
He wants all of that.
It's hard to miss that
in this passage, isn't it?
Jesus is our Savior
and then a social revolutionary,
if you will,
because He changes everything.
But the story's not over yet
in our passage.
There's one more awkward moment
where Jesus is going to drive home
the foundation for this whole new society.
How is it that in Jesus' kingdom
this actually takes place?
In fact, why is it that His kingdom
must function this way?
And that if you function differently
from the new society He's laid out,
you're actually not a part of His kingdom,
He's about to say.
The power for this transformation
comes from God
who started these kinds of relationships
where we experience grace
to fuel our expression of grace to others.
Listen to this.
Verse 15.
When one of those who reclined at table with Him
heard these things,
He said to Him,
Blessed is everyone who will eat bread
in the kingdom of God.
What's going on is that
you could cut the tension with a knife
and there's always somebody there
that can't quite handle that.
It's getting uncomfortable.
And so He leans forward at family dinner
and says,
Here's something we can all agree on.
How wonderful it will be
when we're all together eating in heaven.
The turkey's great, Grandma.
Boy, it's a little cold around here today, isn't it?
And Jesus doesn't stop.
He seizes on this to tell a parable
to challenge this man's presumption
about being there at that kingdom feast.
But Jesus said to him,
A man once gave a great banquet
and invited many.
And at the time for the banquet,
he sent his servant to say to those
who'd been invited,
Come, for everything is now ready.
That's what happened.
You'd get an invitation,
you'd RSVP,
and then weeks later when the party came,
the day of,
the servant would come to say,
Now we're ready for you.
But they all alike began to make excuses.
The first said to him,
I have bought a field
and I must go out and see it.
Please have me excused.
And another said,
I've bought five yoke of oxen
and I go to examine them.
Please have me excused.
And another said,
I've married a wife
and therefore I cannot come.
So the servant came
and reported these things to his master.
Then the master of the house became angry
and said to his servant,
Go out quickly to the streets
and lanes of the city
and bring in the poor
and crippled and blind and lame.
And the servant said,
Sir, what you commanded has been done
and still there is room.
And the master said to the servant,
Go out to the highways and hedges
and compel people to come in
that my house may be filled.
For I tell you,
none of those men who were invited
shall taste my banquet.
Jesus tells a story
about that kingdom banquet.
And that last verse
is the most pointed one of all,
isn't it?
What you can't tell in English
but is pretty clear in the Greek,
in verse 24,
it's not the master speaking
to the servant anymore.
It's actually Jesus
having finished the parable,
turning and addressing
the dinner party.
It's a direct warning.
And it's also a direct reminder
that the banquet in the kingdom
is about Jesus.
He says,
It's my banquet.
It's his wedding supper,
isn't it?
And God the Father
is the one
who at his son's wedding supper
has insisted on inviting whom?
The poor,
crippled,
blind,
and lame.
Jews and Gentiles,
haves and have-nots.
It's so much so
that he has to compel
these people to come in.
It's not because he's angry at them
or because they don't want to come
but because socially
they're such that they know
they couldn't pay him back.
They couldn't invite this guy back over
so they're hesitant
to accept something
so much so that he has to come
and in a sense
take them by the hand
and insist,
No, I want you here.
I want you in
at the party.
That kingdom banquet
is going to look different
from what many of us
would expect.
It's those kinds of people
whom Jesus has come to rescue
to bring into a relationship
with his Father
so that they are at this feast.
And then look how this action
of the Father,
how what he does
in gathering these people
into his feast
leads to the transformed society
we've been talking about.
Just briefly read this
gospel foundation
back into what we've seen
already this morning.
We're going to go in reverse order
back through the passage, okay?
Hang with me.
Don't try to climb
the social ladder
to get selfish gain.
Instead, do what?
Reach generously
to the least of these.
Now why?
Well, God,
the highest
and most significant
has already reached down
to them.
They've been at his feast
so they're valuable.
They're not lesser people
than you.
In fact,
they're actually like you
because if you're
at the king's feast,
you too were crippled,
poor, blind,
and lame,
living outside,
as it were,
until he compelled you
to come in.
So it's not some big request
to humble yourself
and take a seat further down.
It's just the truth.
And you can be confident
as you do
that he will exalt you
because your significance
comes from the invitation
of the king.
So finally,
what's the basis
for the joyful celebration
of deliverance?
Why is that what our lives
should be about,
characterized by all the time?
That the kingdom of God
itself is what?
A party.
A feast.
A banquet
where the king is intent
not on getting all those
who will rigidly
and coldly follow
all the rules.
Who's he intent
on getting there?
Those who will celebrate
his son joyfully
and passionately.
That's what he wants
at his feast.
He wants his house
filled for the party.
And no one who finds
the cares and concerns
of life
more important
than his son,
more important
than his kingdom,
will be there.
More from Jesus
on that next Sunday.
Watch out.
But the king
is inviting people
into a celebration
where his son
and the work
of deliverance
that he achieved
for these people
is treasured
above all else
and joyfully shared
with all others.
See, the church
should be a taste
of this new
and different kingdom.
Right?
A picture of this
kind of transformed society.
This counter-cultural community.
And shame on us
when we aren't.
As we confessed earlier,
when we don't live like this
because we've stopped
seeing ourselves
as poor,
blind,
and naked,
we better repent.
Something's got to change.
It's not the way
the kingdom works.
We heard on the video,
if we don't love
our neighbors,
there's something
we're missing about God
and how he throws a party.
The gospel
is what drives us
to throw the kind of parties
that we've been invited to.
Right?
The gospel
is what drives us
to make strangers
family,
to find our neighbors
to be both
those we naturally run into
and those
we intentionally
go out of our way
to run into.
To seek the flourishing
of others
of different races
or socioeconomic levels,
even on the back
of my property value
because of the gospel.
God did all this first.
Jesus rescues sinners.
He restores them
to relationship
with the Father
and then empowers them
by his Holy Spirit
to go transform society.
That's the gospel.
So we find
this transformed society
to begin where?
Not with us
walking out of church
to change the world
in our own strength,
but with our Father
who began it all
reaching out
to rescue us
and pull us
into the kingdom celebration
that transforms
all of society.
that's the true
and social gospel
and don't let anyone
take the social
away from you
and don't let anyone
take the gospel
away from you.
Amen?
That's the good news
of Jesus.
Not of us.
It's not the good news
of me
or my gifts
that I bring to society.
It's the good news
of Jesus
that comes and rescues us
and changes everything.
And it's that good news
that is why we come here.
Is it any wonder
that the picture
of the kingdom
that God has given
his people
is a meal?
A feast.
A feast that celebrates
the person and work
of Jesus.
Elders and ushers,
you can hang tight
for just a second.
I know I walked down here
but I'm not done yet
and I want you to hear this.
I promise I'll pray
in just a minute
and you can move then.
See that the kingdom
of God
as a celebratory feast
is a theme in the Bible
from cover to cover
where meals in the Bible
are such a powerful picture
of inclusion
and significance
and I won't give you
all the examples
for sake of time
but just a couple.
All the way back
to Mount Sinai
in Exodus
when God has delivered
his people from Egypt
but they've already
started to rebel
and to engage
in rampant idolatry.
when God establishes
what it's like
for them to have
this special relationship
with him
you know what he does?
He invites Moses
and Aaron
and his sons
and 70 elders
up to have dinner.
These people
who deserve to be run off
from God's presence
he eats
and drinks
with them.
You know when Jesus comes
what does he do?
He's known for eating
and drinking
with tax collectors
and sinners
inviting into relationship
those who others
are running off
and so it's
because of that
that in 1 Corinthians 11
when Paul is talking
about this table
the Lord's Supper
he says to the Corinthians
y'all aren't even
eating the Lord's Supper
you know why?
Because the rich
are getting there
and getting drunk
and the poor
are going hungry
in the back room
that doesn't get
the real food.
You're not eating together
and considering
each other.
That's how important
it is
that you create
that kind of community
with each other
they must wait
and consider each other
around God's table
and that's what we're
going to do
and why we gather
here this morning.
But before we do
one more
glorious passage
that tells us
this dinner
is a rehearsal dinner
that we're practicing
as it were
for the great banquet
coming one day
Isaiah prophesies
about that feast
on this mountain
the Lord of hosts
will make
for all peoples
for the nations
for the Gentiles
what's he going to
make for them?
A feast
of rich food
a feast
of well-aged wine
of rich food
full of marrow
of aged wine
well refined
and he will
swallow up
on this mountain
the covering
that is cast
over all peoples
the veil spread
over all nations
he will swallow
up death
forever
and the Lord God
will wipe away
tears
from all faces
and the reproach
of his people
he will take away
from all the earth
for the Lord
has spoken
it will be said
on that day
behold
this is our God
we have waited
for him
that he might
save us
this is the Lord
we have waited
for him
let us be glad
and rejoice
in his salvation
that's what happens
at that table
at that wedding supper
right?
death is swallowed up
tears are wiped away
we rejoice
and say
this is the God
we have been waiting
for to deliver us
that's the feast
you need to be
dreaming about
as you come
to this one
one last thing
that's actually
the true significance
that you long for
it's not that
you don't matter
you actually get
that true significance
you know how
who you sit by
by being invited
by the king
of creation
the most high God
to sit at his table
and look him
in the eye
and sit next to him
and eat
and drink
a rich feast
with him
forever
that's where
your significance
comes from
so you can throw
parties the way
God throws parties
and not even risk
losing your significance
nothing can take
that away from you
you get to invite
other people into that
as one who
whose eternal significance
is secure
you get to share
with others
what it means
to be invited in
and have a taste
of the king's feast
let's pray
and we'll celebrate
this together
Jesus thank you
thank you that you
gave yourself
thank you that you
gave us
simple elements
like bread
bread and wine
to remind us
that we're invited
to the feast
it's the only way
we could get in
by you giving your life
for us
swallowing death
forever
and so we rejoice
and we come to celebrate
remind us of that
and give us joy in it
we ask in Jesus name
amen
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