WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:09.200 Well, it was about 32, 33 years ago, I think now, that I woke up one Sunday morning and took myself to church. 00:00:09.540 --> 00:00:13.759 It was the first time that I'd ever made that decision for myself. 00:00:15.000 --> 00:00:18.879 I was 21, 22, something like that. 00:00:19.240 --> 00:00:25.000 So, yeah, it doesn't feel like it was 30 odd years ago, but it was quite a while ago now. 00:00:25.000 --> 00:00:34.079 Now, I've got to say that when I went to church for the very first time, I was quite apprehensive in terms of what to expect. 00:00:34.960 --> 00:00:45.299 But I pulled up in the car park, I walked towards the front door, and the welcomer on the door at that time, who I didn't know at all, 00:00:45.299 --> 00:00:50.240 it turns out he was a farmer who was married with two young children. 00:00:50.240 --> 00:00:57.660 And as I walked up to the door, he welcomed me, stuck his hand out, he welcomed me, and he engaged me. 00:00:57.740 --> 00:01:01.219 He didn't just say, hey, good morning, and hand me a bunch of stuff. 00:01:01.679 --> 00:01:02.900 But he actually engaged me. 00:01:03.040 --> 00:01:06.920 He discovered very quickly that I was new to the church. 00:01:07.740 --> 00:01:09.820 He asked me if I knew anyone in the building. 00:01:10.099 --> 00:01:10.740 I didn't. 00:01:10.739 --> 00:01:18.039 He said, well, let me take you right now, and I will sit you where my family is currently seated. 00:01:18.119 --> 00:01:24.399 And he said, I'll join you in a moment when I'm finished here at the welcoming doing this job. 00:01:25.219 --> 00:01:26.560 He introduced me to his family. 00:01:26.939 --> 00:01:29.679 As soon as he had finished his welcoming, he came and sat with me. 00:01:29.680 --> 00:01:36.540 In the course of the coming few weeks, he included me in his community group. 00:01:36.680 --> 00:01:40.460 He engaged me every Sunday, invited me to other things. 00:01:41.080 --> 00:01:43.040 He introduced me to other people. 00:01:44.280 --> 00:01:51.000 And he, within a matter of no time at all, invited me to his home to enjoy a meal. 00:01:51.280 --> 00:01:53.940 And over a number of period of times, he did the same thing. 00:01:53.939 --> 00:02:01.280 And they continued, in fact, to show hospitality to me for the course of 18 months to two years 00:02:01.280 --> 00:02:08.359 before it finally came to me what it meant to be a Christian, before I became a Christian. 00:02:09.079 --> 00:02:16.659 So over the course of that time, this young family took this young, with a bunch of rough edges, 00:02:16.979 --> 00:02:21.879 this 21, 22-year-old, into their home and showed hospitality to me. 00:02:21.879 --> 00:02:25.539 That's where we're headed today in this message. 00:02:26.240 --> 00:02:30.319 So if you've got the St. Paul's app, when I open it up, you've got three points there 00:02:30.319 --> 00:02:35.039 that we're going to go through as we discover what is hospitality 00:02:35.039 --> 00:02:38.699 and what is the purpose of the hospitality. 00:02:38.960 --> 00:02:40.620 So we're looking at Luke 14. 00:02:41.659 --> 00:02:43.680 This passage opens with Jesus. 00:02:43.919 --> 00:02:47.699 He's at a dinner party in the home of a prominent Pharisee. 00:02:47.699 --> 00:02:57.060 He's been invited in to this dinner to be set up to fail by the religious elite. 00:02:57.679 --> 00:03:02.319 As he was attempted to be trapped last week with the religious expert, 00:03:02.560 --> 00:03:05.280 now in the home of the Pharisees, he's set up to fail. 00:03:05.280 --> 00:03:12.960 All eyes are on Jesus to see whether he will heal this sick man in their presence 00:03:12.960 --> 00:03:18.500 and therefore break the Old Testament law of the Sabbath. 00:03:19.639 --> 00:03:27.479 He heals the man and he ends up trapping the religious leaders in their hypocrisy once again. 00:03:27.580 --> 00:03:28.379 They are silent. 00:03:29.759 --> 00:03:31.020 That's what we are told. 00:03:31.139 --> 00:03:31.920 They are silent. 00:03:31.919 --> 00:03:35.379 Nothing has been learnt from this moment. 00:03:35.759 --> 00:03:36.919 Nothing has been confessed. 00:03:37.839 --> 00:03:38.599 Just silent. 00:03:39.439 --> 00:03:45.959 And so in verses 7 to 11, Jesus pushes the point in a bit deeper. 00:03:46.279 --> 00:03:52.159 So he tells them a parable that revolves around first century cultural expectations. 00:03:52.699 --> 00:03:57.419 Not dissimilar to some of the cultural expectations that we might have nowadays. 00:03:57.419 --> 00:04:02.259 At a dinner party, the host would have the place of honour. 00:04:02.719 --> 00:04:03.919 That's pretty standard. 00:04:04.139 --> 00:04:06.339 I mean, after all, they're the one hosting the thing. 00:04:06.739 --> 00:04:15.619 They would have the place of honour and everyone is seated according to their importance to the host. 00:04:15.620 --> 00:04:21.019 We do a similar thing nowadays at a wedding reception. 00:04:22.120 --> 00:04:27.259 You know, you don't walk into a wedding reception and just go straight for that long table at the beginning. 00:04:27.420 --> 00:04:30.079 You know, I'm going to plonk myself right here. 00:04:30.280 --> 00:04:30.939 Free seats. 00:04:31.600 --> 00:04:32.519 No one's here yet. 00:04:32.840 --> 00:04:34.180 So I'm just going to plonk myself there. 00:04:34.180 --> 00:04:36.519 You don't do that as a general rule. 00:04:36.519 --> 00:04:51.579 But when you look at the list and you go, I'm on table 15 at the back corner with the photographer right next door, kitchen door, you kind of know they were looking to fill tables. 00:04:54.860 --> 00:04:56.960 You kind of know where you fit. 00:04:56.959 --> 00:05:05.259 Protocol in the first century demanded that you would not grab a seat too close to the host. 00:05:05.839 --> 00:05:13.959 Always sit further away so that the host would elevate you to a better seat, especially in front of everyone else. 00:05:16.019 --> 00:05:17.959 Always sit further away. 00:05:17.959 --> 00:05:21.359 Now these gatherings were expensive. 00:05:22.159 --> 00:05:23.319 Expensive feasts. 00:05:23.919 --> 00:05:29.039 Not because of how much it cost, but because of the expectations that were attached to them. 00:05:30.560 --> 00:05:32.799 We even have a phrase for it nowadays. 00:05:33.060 --> 00:05:34.479 No such thing as a free lunch. 00:05:36.219 --> 00:05:40.979 First century Palestine was a class orientated society. 00:05:40.980 --> 00:05:50.879 Being connected to people at the top of society was essential for you to advance in society. 00:05:53.500 --> 00:06:04.400 And people at the top of society would engage people a couple of rungs below them in society so that they could expand their power base in society. 00:06:04.399 --> 00:06:13.759 And all these alliances and power networks were conducted through hospitality. 00:06:14.560 --> 00:06:18.219 Dinner parties like the one that Jesus has just found himself in. 00:06:19.560 --> 00:06:24.679 You brought people into your home and then those people owed you a favor. 00:06:27.179 --> 00:06:30.579 It's called the patronage system. 00:06:30.579 --> 00:06:36.139 Advancements through connections and using of people and relationships. 00:06:37.759 --> 00:06:46.659 You only ever invited people into your home or went to another person's home if you knew that you would gain something out of it. 00:06:47.120 --> 00:06:48.180 Out of that connection. 00:06:48.180 --> 00:07:01.300 And Jesus is using that protocol to illustrate a profound spiritual principle about who is part of God's great feast. 00:07:02.120 --> 00:07:03.180 It's in verse 11. 00:07:04.460 --> 00:07:13.800 All those who exalt themselves will be humbled and those who humble themselves will be exalted. 00:07:13.800 --> 00:07:19.879 That's the profound spiritual principle. 00:07:21.079 --> 00:07:28.300 Those who think they qualify for salvation will discover that they don't. 00:07:30.000 --> 00:07:31.720 That's the profound principle. 00:07:33.460 --> 00:07:42.040 And Jesus is saying this into a dinner party with a room full of people who think they qualify. 00:07:43.800 --> 00:08:00.139 To claim God's approval as a right on the grounds of position in the church or reputation in the community or good works achieved is in fact grounds for disqualification. 00:08:00.139 --> 00:08:11.000 But what Jesus says next reveals a different kind of hospitality that reveals the values that drives God's kingdom. 00:08:11.659 --> 00:08:13.139 So my second point, generous hospitality. 00:08:14.360 --> 00:08:17.139 He addresses his host in verse 12. 00:08:17.139 --> 00:08:17.659 12. 00:08:18.519 --> 00:08:25.120 When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or sisters or your relatives or your rich neighbours. 00:08:25.419 --> 00:08:29.939 If you do, they may invite you back and so you'll be repaid. 00:08:30.039 --> 00:08:36.759 But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind and you will be blessed. 00:08:36.759 --> 00:08:46.740 Continue on with your patronage system and you will be repaid. 00:08:47.439 --> 00:08:51.319 But do it according to the kingdom and you will be blessed. 00:08:52.379 --> 00:08:55.100 That's two very different outcomes. 00:08:56.019 --> 00:09:00.840 His basic point is get people into your home that can't pay you back. 00:09:00.840 --> 00:09:06.240 He's saying practice radical, generous hospitality. 00:09:07.960 --> 00:09:09.139 Generous hospitality. 00:09:10.160 --> 00:09:17.960 Now the word hospitality doesn't actually show up here in this text, but it does in multiple places in the New Testament. 00:09:18.960 --> 00:09:20.980 In fact, Romans 12 verse 13. 00:09:21.420 --> 00:09:23.240 Practice hospitality. 00:09:23.240 --> 00:09:23.440 Hospitality. 00:09:24.220 --> 00:09:36.139 The word hospitality is often overlooked for us or again, it's downplayed for us because we look at that word, the English word hospitality, and it doesn't have the force of what the original language does. 00:09:36.700 --> 00:09:39.560 The English word here is kind of weak. 00:09:40.000 --> 00:09:44.620 We look at the word hospitality and we think entertainment. 00:09:46.000 --> 00:09:47.080 Entertain people. 00:09:47.460 --> 00:09:48.399 Have a dinner party. 00:09:48.500 --> 00:09:50.379 We think Jamie Oliver and stuff like that. 00:09:50.379 --> 00:09:55.840 Jesus is talking something very much deeper than that. 00:09:55.980 --> 00:09:59.980 Something more profound than just simple entertaining. 00:10:00.559 --> 00:10:01.480 So here's the definition. 00:10:01.679 --> 00:10:14.659 Biblical hospitality, generous hospitality, is welcoming strangers into your living space, treating those strangers like they are family so that God can turn some of them into family. 00:10:15.720 --> 00:10:17.460 So let's unpack that a little bit. 00:10:17.460 --> 00:10:23.180 Generous hospitality is welcoming strangers into your living space. 00:10:24.220 --> 00:10:33.320 Now living space in the Bible is much bigger than the concept of the place that we would call our home, our house. 00:10:33.440 --> 00:10:35.000 Much bigger than that concept. 00:10:35.680 --> 00:10:41.680 It's not just an enclosure where we do family have an element of privacy. 00:10:42.460 --> 00:10:47.220 Our living space is much deeper than that for most people. 00:10:47.220 --> 00:10:51.300 Much deeper emotionally for most people. 00:10:51.620 --> 00:10:54.259 It is the place where we rejuvenate. 00:10:54.800 --> 00:10:56.879 It's where we recharge the batteries. 00:10:57.440 --> 00:10:59.540 It's the place where we are restored. 00:11:00.139 --> 00:11:05.620 Home is meant to be the place of warmth and food and rest and nourishment and relationship. 00:11:05.620 --> 00:11:10.799 And as much as possible, it is a place of order and beauty. 00:11:12.500 --> 00:11:18.840 Unless, of course, you've got young kids and then, in which case, forget about the order and forget about the beauty thing. 00:11:18.840 --> 00:11:22.500 I mean, I love the little drawings that you get and stick them on the fridge. 00:11:22.740 --> 00:11:31.720 But anyway, our living space is profoundly bigger than our home. 00:11:31.960 --> 00:11:35.780 And yet it is tightly connected to our homes. 00:11:35.779 --> 00:11:48.679 Our homes are where we exclude almost everyone else as we seek it to be a place of rest and safety and sanctuary and rejuvenation. 00:11:48.679 --> 00:12:01.419 It's very interesting that social commentators, Hugh Mackay was one, a big one on this, who referred to from the 1990s, as community started to fracture in Australia, 00:12:02.219 --> 00:12:07.120 we started to put up walls around our homes. 00:12:07.120 --> 00:12:17.899 Walls that were, in fact, taken down in the 1950s and 60s started getting put back up at boundary fences, walls and exclusion gates. 00:12:18.399 --> 00:12:30.919 We are trying to, as much as possible, keep the outside world away from our sanctuaries, our castles, a place that we retreat to to escape the world. 00:12:30.919 --> 00:12:40.599 And so our homes are where we exclude almost everyone as we seek a place of rest, safety, sanctuary and rejuvenation. 00:12:41.539 --> 00:12:48.539 And yet the reality is, as we would know, there is no such thing as a perfect home. 00:12:50.039 --> 00:12:53.079 There's no such thing as a perfect living space. 00:12:54.740 --> 00:12:58.799 Sometimes it's because the relationships are so toxic. 00:12:58.799 --> 00:13:05.979 Or it's just simply because it's not the living space that we actually hope for and long for. 00:13:07.379 --> 00:13:12.919 No one is entirely, completely satisfied with their home. 00:13:14.159 --> 00:13:18.779 No one has what they have entirely got looking for in their living space. 00:13:19.479 --> 00:13:24.379 All those home re-renovation shows, feed the hope. 00:13:25.240 --> 00:13:26.379 Better homes than yours. 00:13:26.599 --> 00:13:27.819 I mean, sorry, better homes than gardens. 00:13:27.820 --> 00:13:37.240 Shows like that feed the hope that there is a place out there somewhere, there's a home somewhere where I will feel perfectly rejuvenated. 00:13:37.240 --> 00:13:46.240 A place that offers me sanctuary, a safe place, a place to escape the troubles of this world. 00:13:47.580 --> 00:13:55.120 And even if you spend an absolute fortune to build your dream home, it won't be. 00:13:57.060 --> 00:13:58.139 It won't be. 00:13:58.139 --> 00:13:58.159 It won't be. 00:13:58.159 --> 00:14:13.579 Biblical hospitality is the exact opposite of what our culture is seeking to do with our living spaces. 00:14:13.580 --> 00:14:23.540 The hospitality Jesus is calling his disciples to is bringing strangers into our living space. 00:14:23.539 --> 00:14:37.379 The space that would normally be reserved for only for people that we would call family or close friends or people who are like me or people that I like. 00:14:37.379 --> 00:14:45.860 It's inviting strangers to be refreshed with the same things that refresh us. 00:14:46.659 --> 00:14:55.320 It involves inviting strangers not just into our living, into our homes, but into our living space, into things that rejuvenate me. 00:14:56.899 --> 00:15:00.120 Inviting them into our favorite restaurants and hobbies and activities. 00:15:00.120 --> 00:15:04.820 Inviting strangers into our personal space. 00:15:07.960 --> 00:15:11.919 And since COVID, very few people actually have a personal space. 00:15:14.480 --> 00:15:18.220 In other words, this hospitality is costly. 00:15:20.340 --> 00:15:21.740 That's the living space. 00:15:22.360 --> 00:15:27.180 Secondly, generous hospitality is about welcoming strangers into that space. 00:15:27.179 --> 00:15:35.120 Now the word that's translated hospitality all through the New Testament is a word that means love of strangers. 00:15:36.779 --> 00:15:41.579 Not tolerance of strangers, but love of strangers. 00:15:43.279 --> 00:15:47.959 Strangers, if you like, are people who are different. 00:15:49.639 --> 00:15:52.120 That is different from you, different from me. 00:15:52.120 --> 00:15:57.600 That is, they might be from a different race or a different socioeconomic group or just plain different. 00:15:58.440 --> 00:15:59.980 Whatever that might mean for you. 00:16:00.720 --> 00:16:05.899 And there are three kinds of strangers that Christians are to practice hospitality with. 00:16:06.320 --> 00:16:09.080 First of all, strange other Christians. 00:16:10.039 --> 00:16:11.759 I say that with a bit of tongue in cheek there. 00:16:12.879 --> 00:16:14.840 Practice hospitality with other Christians. 00:16:15.659 --> 00:16:18.120 There are lots of Christians who are strangers. 00:16:18.120 --> 00:16:23.179 Other Christians are brothers and sisters in Christ. 00:16:23.639 --> 00:16:30.100 And when we practice hospitality with them, we are treating them like the family that they are. 00:16:32.139 --> 00:16:34.899 Treating them like the family that they actually are. 00:16:36.179 --> 00:16:40.720 Because family are the people who we normally bring into our living space. 00:16:40.720 --> 00:16:47.840 And we're a church here in the halls that is seeking to build this kind of generous hospitality 00:16:47.840 --> 00:16:53.620 between all kinds of what you might call natural barriers between people. 00:16:54.220 --> 00:16:55.920 Across cultures and generations. 00:16:57.740 --> 00:17:01.120 Christians are also to practice hospitality with neighbours. 00:17:02.200 --> 00:17:06.140 Neighbours are the people you encounter on a regular basis in your network. 00:17:06.519 --> 00:17:08.559 Not just literally the people who live beside you. 00:17:08.559 --> 00:17:10.400 Although that might be a starting place. 00:17:10.720 --> 00:17:14.799 Most of these people who are your neighbours will not share your beliefs. 00:17:15.680 --> 00:17:17.279 Jesus did it all the time. 00:17:17.799 --> 00:17:22.460 He was always hanging out and eating with sinners and outcasts in society. 00:17:23.000 --> 00:17:25.140 And the vision here is to love them. 00:17:26.120 --> 00:17:29.759 And hopefully love them ultimately towards belief in Jesus. 00:17:32.160 --> 00:17:35.759 That is, and this is so essential for us to grapple with. 00:17:35.759 --> 00:17:40.099 People don't get argued towards belief. 00:17:40.720 --> 00:17:44.980 People don't get argued towards belief. 00:17:45.099 --> 00:17:46.900 They get loved towards belief. 00:17:46.900 --> 00:17:51.740 And lastly, we're to practice hospitality. 00:17:51.860 --> 00:17:55.120 The strangers here are those who are needy. 00:17:56.120 --> 00:18:03.000 When the great John Newton of Amazing Grace fame looked at this passage, he said this. 00:18:03.000 --> 00:18:08.420 One would almost think that Luke 14, 12 to 14 was not part of the Bible. 00:18:08.960 --> 00:18:13.599 I do not think it is unlawful to entertain our friends. 00:18:14.339 --> 00:18:22.160 But if these words do not teach us in some respect that our duty is to give preference to the poor, 00:18:22.559 --> 00:18:25.140 then I am at a loss to understand them. 00:18:25.140 --> 00:18:38.560 Our instinct is to invite in people that we want to know, who we like, or who will open doors for us. 00:18:39.320 --> 00:18:44.460 And Jesus says, look for the hurting, the needy people. 00:18:45.460 --> 00:18:51.620 If we understand anything about God's hospitality towards humanity, then bring them in. 00:18:51.619 --> 00:19:00.779 And thirdly, the goal of all of this is to turn some of these strangers into family. 00:19:01.659 --> 00:19:08.179 When we treat the stranger like family, God will turn some of them into members of his family. 00:19:08.299 --> 00:19:12.679 There's something quite supernatural about Christian hospitality. 00:19:14.179 --> 00:19:16.019 So let's get practical for a moment. 00:19:16.019 --> 00:19:27.379 What this passage is attempting to do for these religious elite is help them to see how much they fall short to identify their sin. 00:19:29.039 --> 00:19:39.500 One of the things that we have a tendency to do in modern society is to assist people to show an element of hospitality from a distance. 00:19:39.500 --> 00:19:46.359 We Facebook posts about activism, make a difference in the world. 00:19:47.279 --> 00:19:51.980 We give money to charitable organisations out there. 00:19:51.980 --> 00:20:04.920 And yet, some of the most ardent people at pursuing this sort of social justice, this activism, will not invite a stranger into their home. 00:20:06.680 --> 00:20:11.079 Will not draw close to the needy person over a long period of time. 00:20:11.079 --> 00:20:20.779 Jesus is calling radical hospitality here, drawing close to the person over a long period of time and bringing them into your space. 00:20:22.000 --> 00:20:23.220 Costly hospitality. 00:20:24.879 --> 00:20:25.919 Costly hospitality. 00:20:27.740 --> 00:20:30.740 Now, don't hear me say you shouldn't do the other things. 00:20:32.000 --> 00:20:34.639 I'm just saying, search your own heart. 00:20:36.059 --> 00:20:37.000 Search your own heart. 00:20:37.000 --> 00:20:38.000 Search your own heart. 00:20:39.220 --> 00:20:40.799 So let's get practical. 00:20:41.980 --> 00:20:48.440 Start inviting neighbours and work colleagues and others who are in your network into your living space. 00:20:51.460 --> 00:20:58.819 If you find some kind of connection he's building, then bring them into this living space, the church. 00:21:01.220 --> 00:21:05.339 Start inviting each other at St Paul's into your living spaces. 00:21:07.000 --> 00:21:12.480 Those who have got a little bit more space, invite those who don't have such space. 00:21:13.140 --> 00:21:18.819 Those who are long-term residents of Chatswood, of Sydney, of Australia, invite those who are new arrivals. 00:21:19.579 --> 00:21:23.200 Those who have been Christian longer, invite those who have been Christians for less time. 00:21:23.940 --> 00:21:26.660 Those who have been at St Paul's longer, invite those who are new. 00:21:28.619 --> 00:21:31.579 Why not host a community group in your home? 00:21:31.579 --> 00:21:41.720 Let me just say, as a side point, not in the script at all, how much I value those who open up their homes to lead community groups or to have hosting community groups. 00:21:42.139 --> 00:21:45.139 It is no small thing to do it week in and week out. 00:21:45.899 --> 00:21:47.919 And I'm grateful for you doing that. 00:21:48.139 --> 00:21:49.000 Very grateful. 00:21:51.500 --> 00:21:55.500 Or, volunteer to be on the welcoming team. 00:21:56.119 --> 00:21:57.000 How about that? 00:21:57.000 --> 00:22:04.119 It was because someone did that 30 odd years ago for me that I'm standing here today. 00:22:04.480 --> 00:22:06.619 That and God's sovereignty and grace and everything else. 00:22:06.980 --> 00:22:12.740 But key, absolutely key in me being here today. 00:22:13.759 --> 00:22:15.400 It is no small thing. 00:22:15.400 --> 00:22:22.400 Also, maybe even today, just don't rush off. 00:22:23.080 --> 00:22:23.480 Stay. 00:22:24.540 --> 00:22:32.420 Practice gospel hospitality over morning tea, but not with those you came with or have known for a long time. 00:22:36.140 --> 00:22:38.960 I'm not sure if you realize that's the reason why we have morning tea. 00:22:38.960 --> 00:22:45.539 Like, we don't have morning tea because I'm assuming after you've sat and listened to me, you're starving and you're thirsty. 00:22:46.380 --> 00:22:47.799 I'm not working on that assumption. 00:22:48.779 --> 00:22:55.380 Maybe six months ago you might have been, but we do it as a catalyst for hospitality. 00:22:56.039 --> 00:23:03.819 You look all the way through the New Testament, all the way through the New Testament, and see how often Jesus is eating with people. 00:23:03.819 --> 00:23:09.659 So practice it now, this morning. 00:23:12.740 --> 00:23:16.000 So finally, receiving generous hospitality. 00:23:16.740 --> 00:23:21.519 You see, by now we should be feeling the force and the weight of this. 00:23:21.519 --> 00:23:30.879 The dynamic and power for us to practice generous hospitality is in fact found in the last section from verse 15. 00:23:32.039 --> 00:23:34.379 And the way that God has been hospitable to us. 00:23:34.980 --> 00:23:36.920 Someone at the table says, 00:23:37.400 --> 00:23:46.039 What he's referring to there is the ultimate feast at the end of time. 00:23:46.039 --> 00:23:55.399 Which Jess referred to in her prayer, the Bible begins with feasting and it ends with feasting and it's all the way through. 00:23:55.960 --> 00:24:04.700 And this person at this table is referring to the end time when God renews the world, when all death and suffering and evil is finally dealt with. 00:24:04.700 --> 00:24:22.059 And he's referring to this great feast, this blessed feast, where all the jubilees and all the carnivals and all the banquets and the fiestas and the laughter and the festivity of thousands of years of human history won't even come close to this feast. 00:24:22.860 --> 00:24:25.580 Not even close to how great it's going to be. 00:24:25.579 --> 00:24:37.039 The glory and the joy of the celebration which the God of the universe will lay out for those who are his. 00:24:38.000 --> 00:24:43.819 It's going to be a magnificent occasion and it will never end beyond human imagination. 00:24:45.679 --> 00:24:50.079 And the man at verse 15 is confident that he's going to be there. 00:24:50.079 --> 00:24:57.579 He's one of the guys sitting around the table going, yeah, I'm one of the elite, I will definitely be there. 00:24:59.819 --> 00:25:05.839 And so Jesus urges here or uses this occasion to tell us, in fact, who will be there. 00:25:06.839 --> 00:25:10.079 Tells a story about a man, another parable, throws a big banquet. 00:25:10.399 --> 00:25:11.699 The man represents God. 00:25:12.379 --> 00:25:13.759 He invites a bunch of people. 00:25:13.759 --> 00:25:23.879 And Jesus is referring there to the work of the Old Testament prophets who proclaim the kingdom of God that would arrive in the future. 00:25:24.980 --> 00:25:35.460 And those who are invited to be part of God's kingdom, the ones who the prophets had addressed with the promises of century, were God's historic people, Israel. 00:25:36.240 --> 00:25:40.180 Their descendants are sitting around this table confident they're part of God's kingdom. 00:25:40.180 --> 00:25:43.960 And they have heard the message of the kingdom of God. 00:25:44.160 --> 00:25:47.340 And now it arrives in the person of the Lord Jesus. 00:25:48.080 --> 00:25:49.539 That's the point of this parable. 00:25:49.660 --> 00:25:50.180 It's now arrived. 00:25:52.120 --> 00:25:55.019 In verse 17, the message goes out. 00:25:55.140 --> 00:25:56.380 The kingdom has arrived. 00:25:56.840 --> 00:25:58.240 Come for everything is ready. 00:25:58.680 --> 00:25:59.900 And the kingdom is here. 00:26:00.940 --> 00:26:05.180 And yet every single one who's been invited has got other priorities. 00:26:05.880 --> 00:26:07.160 They come up with excuses. 00:26:07.160 --> 00:26:07.440 Excuses. 00:26:08.440 --> 00:26:10.500 I've got a property I need to go and see. 00:26:10.600 --> 00:26:13.100 I've got five cows that need me to go and hug them. 00:26:13.580 --> 00:26:15.600 You know, like I just can't do this. 00:26:18.060 --> 00:26:18.820 Too busy. 00:26:19.560 --> 00:26:21.279 Too distracted for God. 00:26:22.140 --> 00:26:23.680 And so they come up with excuses. 00:26:25.279 --> 00:26:26.240 Who does come? 00:26:26.320 --> 00:26:33.140 Verse 21, go out quickly into the streets, the alleys of the town, and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame. 00:26:33.140 --> 00:26:44.620 Notice very clearly that Jesus here does not say, or the host here does not say, go out and invite them in. 00:26:46.140 --> 00:26:48.680 They are to be brought in. 00:26:48.680 --> 00:26:53.860 Not by their own doing. 00:26:54.220 --> 00:26:56.019 They are brought into this feast. 00:26:57.420 --> 00:27:04.259 Those who have been historically outside the kingdom, the sinners, the outcasts, the Gentiles, are to be brought in. 00:27:04.259 --> 00:27:13.019 The people who are outside God's family are the people who will ultimately eat at the feast of God's family. 00:27:14.700 --> 00:27:23.240 And Matthew 5 tells us, blessed are the poor in spirit because theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 00:27:23.240 --> 00:27:30.460 In other words, it is the poor in spirit who enjoy the great feast. 00:27:30.980 --> 00:27:34.839 The feast of God's kingdom is a pauper's feast. 00:27:37.180 --> 00:27:40.680 There are two kind of people when it comes to God's salvation. 00:27:42.440 --> 00:27:47.299 There are the poor in spirit and there are the middle class in spirit. 00:27:47.299 --> 00:27:57.579 The middle class in spirit might acknowledge they are not perfect, but they don't truly think it's much of a problem. 00:27:59.879 --> 00:28:03.619 They think they have some stuff in the moral bank. 00:28:04.759 --> 00:28:08.180 They figure they've got something to contribute to their salvation. 00:28:08.180 --> 00:28:22.380 The poor in spirit knows that they've done wrong things, but even the good things that they have done were done with wrong motives. 00:28:23.620 --> 00:28:32.400 The good things were done as ways to try to control people or to make themselves feel better about themselves 00:28:32.400 --> 00:28:37.720 or to find approval or to manipulate God for favours in some kind of way. 00:28:38.180 --> 00:28:47.700 The pauper knows that they need to receive hospitality from a radically hospitable God. 00:28:48.660 --> 00:28:52.900 They need what they cannot repay, what they cannot return. 00:28:53.539 --> 00:28:56.500 They don't work their way into the great banquet. 00:28:57.620 --> 00:29:03.440 They are brought in by hospitable God who is a neighbour to the outcast. 00:29:03.440 --> 00:29:16.240 God's hospitality is his radically free gift, but his hospitality is very, very expensive. 00:29:17.840 --> 00:29:26.980 It costs God everything to lay this banquet of his kingdom before us that we the paupers might be brought in. 00:29:26.980 --> 00:29:36.700 Jesus Christ, if you like, was part of the greatest in-group in all of history. 00:29:37.420 --> 00:29:39.539 In all of each part of the greatest in-group. 00:29:39.680 --> 00:29:43.299 He was the top of the pile with the father and the son. 00:29:44.039 --> 00:29:47.000 He dwelt in perfect unity and love forever. 00:29:47.000 --> 00:29:57.279 And Jesus left that in-group and came to us as a homeless man at the beginning of this journey in Jerusalem. 00:29:57.480 --> 00:30:00.440 We are told he said this, 00:30:01.440 --> 00:30:07.460 Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the son of man has nowhere to lay his head. 00:30:07.460 --> 00:30:14.079 He went from the greatest in-group to become a homeless man. 00:30:14.600 --> 00:30:17.420 He was born in an animal shed, not a home. 00:30:18.660 --> 00:30:24.200 He was crucified outside the gates of a city on a hillside, not inside the city. 00:30:24.860 --> 00:30:26.700 He lived in the alleys and the streets. 00:30:26.819 --> 00:30:27.559 He was rejected. 00:30:27.720 --> 00:30:29.000 He was stripped of everything. 00:30:30.079 --> 00:30:30.440 Why? 00:30:30.440 --> 00:30:38.180 Because he was paying for our sins so that we could be brought into God's family. 00:30:40.840 --> 00:30:45.720 Jesus was thrown out so that we could be brought in. 00:30:47.420 --> 00:30:52.559 The ultimate homeless man became the ultimate party host. 00:30:53.820 --> 00:30:59.039 Our host to the ultimate feast of time and eternity in his kingdom. 00:30:59.039 --> 00:31:08.539 The feast in the kingdom of God ultimately is the home, the living space that every single one of us is longing for deep in our hearts. 00:31:09.220 --> 00:31:11.139 To be in his presence. 00:31:11.519 --> 00:31:14.019 That's ultimately what we're looking for. 00:31:15.799 --> 00:31:21.220 It's what every single human being is searching for, whether you believe in God or not. 00:31:21.619 --> 00:31:22.859 It's what you're looking for. 00:31:22.859 --> 00:31:25.679 This living space. 00:31:29.000 --> 00:31:37.379 Whatever your living space is right now that you're looking for, for rejuvenation, for hope, for hospitality, for contentment, for safety. 00:31:38.639 --> 00:31:40.599 It won't give it to you. 00:31:41.519 --> 00:31:43.119 It can't give it to you. 00:31:43.119 --> 00:31:54.379 It is only in the presence of Jesus, in this feast for all of eternity, that your hurts are healed. 00:31:55.459 --> 00:32:04.719 In his presence, it is a place of absolute comfort, absolute security, absolute peace, absolute warmth. 00:32:04.720 --> 00:32:16.160 At the beginning of this journey, Jesus says to his disciples, 00:32:16.279 --> 00:32:22.420 whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves, take up their cross daily and follow me. 00:32:23.319 --> 00:32:28.900 For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it. 00:32:28.900 --> 00:32:35.240 All Christian hospitality is expensive. 00:32:37.040 --> 00:32:49.019 Jesus' radical generosity towards sinners like us is the most expensive of all because he offers us the eternal banquet in the kingdom of God 00:32:49.019 --> 00:32:53.740 and it cost him everything that we might be brought in. 00:32:54.940 --> 00:32:56.500 It cost him everything. 00:32:56.500 --> 00:33:01.400 History begins and ends with feasting. 00:33:02.220 --> 00:33:08.440 And for those who trust in Jesus, the end is an eternal wedding feast of joy. 00:33:09.519 --> 00:33:17.400 No more tears, no more pain, no more suffering, just feasting and singing with joy. 00:33:19.319 --> 00:33:25.400 This eternal banquet is the destination for all people who follow the ultimate host. 00:33:25.400 --> 00:33:32.140 So take up your cross and follow Jesus and live a life of generous hospitality 00:33:32.140 --> 00:33:44.240 to increase your joy and so that strangers like me 30 odd years ago might be turned into family. 00:33:44.240 --> 00:33:45.680 Amen.