Today's topic is the power of invitation and we all love an invitation.
It tells us that there's something great going to happen and invitations come for a variety
of reasons.
Only just two weeks ago I received, this is not normal I have to say, two birthday invitations,
a 50th, a 60th, two wedding invitations, a baptism invitation and an invitation to my
own birthday.
So all within one week.
But today we're going to talk about a particular invitation and this particular invitation is
one that has power attached to it.
But before we do that we need to review what happens when we accept the invitation to come
to Jesus when we first came to know him.
Now we know and we've been doing this through Romans, we know that the gospel of Jesus Christ
has the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes and we accept that the gospel
we commit, sorry, for everyone who believes and when we accept that gospel we are committing
to three things.
I'm not sure that you actually notice that we commit to these things but first and foremost
we all know that we're committing to Jesus Christ.
It is Jesus who has come into the world to live the perfect life, to die the perfect death
death on our behalf and who has risen from death to life to proclaim his power over sin and death.
We know that when we see the gospel.
But the second commitment is to the church, to the universal church and to our local church.
We're committed to the body of Christ when we come to the gospel.
We participate together in worship, in serving each other, in loving each other.
It's why our mission statement here at St Paul's is to know Jesus, to treasure Jesus and to represent
Jesus for God's glory and the joy of all people.
But the third commitment is that when we come to the gospel is to the cause of Jesus.
It's to Jesus and his mission is what we come to.
If we are not committed to what Jesus is committed to, then it's going to question that first and
second commitment.
You cannot truly be committed to Jesus and his saving power for us personally and truly committed
to the church locally and universally if in fact you are not committed to the cause and
the mission of Jesus.
You can, on the other hand, be committed to church and to serving and doing lots of things
within a church and to a mission and not be committed to the cause of Jesus, to his mission.
And if that was the case, then we have a serious problem.
So we need all three commitments.
Now, what is the cause of Jesus?
Well, 1 John 3.8, and I will be jumping from verse to verse all over the place.
So if you're a person who wants to reflect on what has been said, you might want to just
jot those verses down or flick quickly in your Bible.
But in 1 John 3.8, it tells us the reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil's
work.
And 2 Corinthians 5.18 says,
That is, Jesus' ministry is to destroy the devil's work.
And the Father says that we too have that ministry.
Not only do we have the ministry, but we are given the message as well in verse 19, where
it says,
And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.
So, every one of us here who is a child of God's, who has Jesus as their saviour, has a job title.
That is, we are all ministers.
And not only do we have a job title, but we have a job description.
And that is the ministry of reconciliation.
So how do we do that?
Well, we follow the example that scripture gives us.
And of course, we follow God's example.
So God says to come.
We read this.
Come all you who are thirsty.
Come to the waters.
And you who have no money, come buy and eat.
Come buy wine and milk without money and without cost.
Why spend money on what is not bread and your labour on what does not satisfy?
Listen, listen to me and eat what is good and your soul will delight in the richest of fare.
The only thing that will satisfy is if you come.
You cannot buy it and you cannot earn it, these verses tell us.
Matthew 11, 28 says,
Come to me, all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
So Jesus says come.
God says come.
Jesus says come.
John 14, 6.
Jesus answered, I am the way, the truth and the life.
No one comes to the Father except through me.
So Jesus is the way.
And if we go to the very end of the Bible in Revelation 22, 17, we read,
The Spirit and the Bride say come.
And let him who hears say come.
Whoever is thirsty, let him come.
And whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life.
The Spirit and the Bride say come.
Who is the Bride?
It's you and me.
It's the Church.
The Universal Church says come.
It's the heart of the Trinity to call people.
And we have the pleasure and the privilege to be part of the work that the Trinity is doing.
Don't you find that absolutely amazing?
That the Trinity is actually saying,
Come on, church.
You are part of the same work that we're doing here.
We want you to be part of this same ministry.
And did you notice the flow on effect in this verse?
The one who hears is also to say come.
That is for every person who responds to the call to come
is also then to give that same call to others to come.
It's a mandate.
It's something that we have to be part of.
If we have accepted the call to come,
we then must,
not if you wish
or if you feel like it,
but we must be giving that same invitation to others.
Why did Jesus call us to himself?
Well, you most probably know this,
because God the Father knows that we have a serious problem
and he also knows how to fix that problem because we could not.
Many of us have problems that we're not even aware of.
And then some of us have problems that we know about,
but we know that we cannot fix.
A really simple problem often can happen with my computer.
I know very clearly when I have a problem with my computer.
I also know I have no idea how to fix it.
And so I have to take it to the geniuses,
the genius bar down at the Mac shop,
and they fix it for me.
Because I know I'm totally inept when it comes to that.
But you see, we have a much larger problem than my computer.
We know that we cannot fix the problem of our sin
by our own efforts.
Only God has the answer through Jesus.
So there's an invitation to come,
and we have the ministry of giving that invitation
if we are committed to the cause of Jesus.
But I believe that there's actually power
in this particular invitation.
There's power in this one,
not so much in the invitation to my birthday lunch
or to the weddings or anything of that nature,
even though they're really lovely invitations.
But this one, there is power attached to it.
Why would I say that there's power?
Well, if you look at John 6, 44,
it says,
No one can come to me
unless the Father who sent me draws him,
and I will raise him up on the last day.
John 16, 8 says,
Speaking of the Holy Spirit,
Jesus says,
When he comes,
He will convict the world of guilt
in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment.
We see again that the Trinity is involved.
The Father, by the Spirit,
draws a person to Jesus.
So we are joining with God
as co-laborers to say,
Come.
And there's a power linked to any invitation
when you are working with God.
It's the power of God.
The one who created the world
adds his power to these invitations.
But there's also a power
that stops that from happening.
There is an enemy to a person's soul.
Satan is prowling around
like a roaring lion
ready to kill and destroy,
Scripture tells us.
In the parable of the banquet
that we had read in Luke 14,
we saw that there's an escalation
of the invitation that went out
to attend that banquet.
There was every excuse given
to stop those who were invited attending.
Some were distracted
by their real estate purchases,
others by their work,
others by their relationships.
And so the invitation went
to other people
who were ready to hear
and accept
that very special invitation
to a banquet.
And you would have noticed
there's an urgency.
near the end,
it's, you know,
a compelling,
go out and compel people
to actually come.
So what are we to do?
We're the children of God
led by the Spirit of God.
And so we are not to have
a scattergun approach
to sending out invitations.
That is,
we're not called
to just go and put
some flyers
maybe down in the mall
and hope that,
for an invitation
and hope that one day
somebody's going to pick it up
and come and be here at church
and see Jesus.
That might happen.
But that's not what
we're being called to do.
No,
we are relational people
and our invitations
are to be about relationships.
Let me give you
three really quick tips.
Pray and ask God
who he would like you
to invite
to either church
or to your community group
social event
or maybe
to your own home
to a barbecue
where you have invited
some other Christian friends
just so that
you can get to know
other people
and your friends
can get to know
your Christian friends.
The Holy Spirit
is about
the Father's work.
Drawing people
to the Father
so why not
partner
with the Father
in the work
that God
is already doing?
Open up
your spiritual eyes
and be aware
of when God
is leading you.
So ask God
who are you working
with at this moment
in time?
Who are you drawing
to yourself
and let me
invite them
to something.
That's the partnership
that I'm talking about.
Pray for the person
or the persons
that God has laid
on your heart.
We're in a spiritual battle
and we need
to take that role
very seriously.
Give an invitation
and when you've given
the invitation
then follow up
on the invitation
a few days
before whatever
the event might be.
Opposition
as we've seen
in the parable
for the banquet
opposition
will come
in the form
of distractions
just like
that banquet.
So be on your guard
be in prayer
and follow up
in love.
Now let me
quickly remind us
that church
is not
an exclusive club.
We are
always
to be on the ready
for change
and for growth.
We are
always
to have
a heart
to reach out
to others
as mentioned
right at the beginning.
To be committed
to the cause
of Jesus'
ministry.
And it is
our heart
that will test
the validity
of your commitment
to the person
of Jesus
by the commitment
to his cause.
Let me say
that again.
It is
your heart
that will
test the validity
of your commitment
to Jesus
by your commitment
to his cause.
So
who do we invite?
Let me
actually tell you
really quickly
there are four
groups of people
that are
in your circle
of influence
without even
working hard
to go and
meet people.
Okay,
the first one
is your family.
John
1,
35 to 42.
John the Baptist
is with two
of his disciples
and
he sees
Jesus
and he points
the two disciples
to Jesus.
In verse 40
it reads,
Andrew,
Simon Peter's
brother,
was one of the two
who heard
what John had said
and who had
followed Jesus.
The first thing
Andrew did
was to find
his brother
Simon
and tell him
we have found
the Messiah,
the Christ
and he brought
him to Jesus.
And then
as we know
the story
there's a
transformation
occurs in
Simon,
Jesus gives him
a new name
and that
becomes Peter
and then Peter
has this
amazing ministry
but his brother
was the one
who introduced
him to Jesus.
You see,
it seems
that it's
a fruit
of a disciple
is to have
a passion
and a heart
to bring people
to Jesus.
Don't allow
your heart
to go
cold.
Irrespective
of your age,
irrespective
of how much
ministry
you may have
already have
done,
ask yourself
who have
I
introduced
to Jesus
of late?
Be it
even in a
small way,
ask yourself
who am I
praying for
at this
moment
that I
can say
come and
see?
So the
first group
is your
family,
the second
group are
your friends.
Following on
in John
chapter 1,
we see
in 43
to 46,
Jesus invites
Philip to
join him
and Philip
then invites
his friend
Nathaniel.
Nathaniel
then goes
into this
little discussion
and questions,
is there anything
good that can
come out of
Galilee?
Because Jesus
has come out
of Galilee and
so he's sort
of asking
questions.
Surely we can't
trust this guy,
he's coming
out of Galilee.
And what is
Philip's answer?
It's not a
great apologetic
discussion.
What he says
is come
and see.
See,
we actually
don't need
all the
answers that
our friends
might give
us.
Jesus can
stand for
himself.
We just
need to
give the
invitation.
But there
will always
be a cost
involved.
It may be
your time,
it might
be your
money,
it might
be your
energy.
And we
may need
to lay
aside
our own
plans
when we
are about
the father's
business.
So there's
your family,
there's your
friends,
there's your
neighbours.
John 4,
28-30,
it's the
story of
the woman
at the
well.
And you
all know
this story
well.
This woman
is someone
who is
already
rejected by
her community.
She's
ostracised
and that
is why
she's out
in the
middle of
the day
gathering
water at
the hottest
part of
the day.
But she's
touched by
God when
she meets
Jesus.
And even
though she
is an
outcast in
her community,
she didn't
let that
stop her
from the
possibility
of being
shunned
again when
she goes
back to
the community
with a
message.
She ran
and told
the community
that they
must see
the man
who could
be the
Christ.
She's not
even certain
at this
moment in
time.
She's been
ostracised
by her
community
and yet
she still
has an
important
message
that she
wants her
community
to know
about.
How did
they respond
to the
person
that they
had cast
out?
They
responded
by going
and seeing
Jesus.
Friends,
this story
I think
is remarkable.
It's not
just remarkable
from the
woman's
perspective
but it's
remarkable
from the
community's
perspective
in responding
to her.
This is
the woman
who they
thought
was a
nobody
and yet
she comes
with this
message
come
I think
I've
actually met
the Christ
come and
see for
yourselves.
You see
if we
bring people
to meet
Jesus
it's
Jesus
who does
the rest.
It actually
is very
freeing
in so
many ways.
And the
fourth group
is our
work colleagues.
Luke 5
27
to 32
the passage
is the
calling of
Levi
the tax
collector.
He later
gets a
name
Matthew.
Remember
Levi
is rich
because
he skimmed
money
from the
taxes
for
himself
and the
Jews
looked down
on all
tax collectors.
Levi
was a
hated
man.
But Jesus
sees something
different in
Levi
and Levi
in turn
sees
Jesus
for who
he is
as well.
Levi
then throws
a banquet
and who
does he
invite to
the banquet?
his fellow
tax collectors.
It's his
work colleagues.
They're all
the people
that are
hated.
It's
great.
The banquet
is to
honour
Jesus
because
Levi
has found
that his
deepest
needs
have been
met
in Jesus.
He uses
this banquet
to testify
to what
Jesus has
done
and it's
a non-threatening
way
to invite
work
colleagues
to your
home
to have
a meal
and introduce
the person
who has
met
his deep
needs.
There is
great work
going on
in this
banquet.
You can
see it
all happening.
God
has changed
Levi's
heart
and his
heart has
gone out
to all
of his
friends
and so
there is
great work
going on
and yet
the Pharisees
are still
complaining.
So we
must be
very
careful
that we
do not
hinder
the great
work of
Jesus
by our
complaints
and our
criticism
when things
are not
happening
as we
might think
that they
should.
So in
a nutshell
being
committed to
the gospel
of Jesus
means that
we are
committed
to
Jesus
the church
and his
cause.
The
Trinity
is involved
in giving
the invitation
to come
and we
are commanded
to do
so as
well.
There is
special power
attached
when we
are co-workers
with God.
We have
a circle
of influence
where we
can give
an invitation
to come
and see.
Pray for
your hearts
to be warm
friends.
Warm
to Jesus
and warm
to his
mission
and in
so doing
we will
see
God's
kingdom
grow.
Let me
pray.
Our
Father we
just thank
you that
you have
invited us
to come
and Father
I ask
right now
that by
your spirit
you will
touch each
person here
who knows
you with
a person
to invite
to just
come and
see.
Father might
you give
us divine
appointments
this week.
Divine
appointments
where we
can see
your hand
at work
and that
we give
a little
bit of
ourselves
so that
our friends
might meet
Jesus.
We thank
you in
Jesus name.
Amen.