Sermon Tone Analysis
Overall tone of the sermon
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Tone of specific sentences
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Anger
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EXCUSES DON’T EXCUSE \\ Luke 14:15-24 \\ \\ INTRODUCTION \\ How would you characterize the Christian life?
Jesus most often spoke of the Christian life as being a subject in \\ the kingdom of God.
This involves sharing in the joys of the wedding banquet of God.
To be in the kingdom is \\ to be involved in a feast.
One comes to be in the kingdom only by special invitation.
It is this special invitation \\ that Jesus emphasizes in our parable.
\\ \\ Jesus spoke the parable in response to an outburst.
As Jesus discussed the coming of persons from the points \\ of the earth to share in the great banquet of the kingdom, it was too much for one man.
With an excited \\ out¬burst, he said, "Blessed is the man who will eat at the feast in the kingdom of God."
Some think the man \\ said this thoughtlessly, it was just something to say.
However, I am inclined to believe that it was an expression \\ of genuine excitement in the heart of the man.
The parable was not a rebuke of the statement but rather \\ clarified how one can come to share in the kingdom.
If he is to have a part in this blessedness, then he must \\ accept God's invitation.
\\ \\ Before we look in further detail, let's get the main characters in the parable clear.
The man giving the banquet \\ is God.
The servants sent to announce the banquet were the Old Testament prophets, Jesus, and His \\ witness¬es that would follow Him.
Those first invited were the leaders of the Jews.
Those called in from the \\ streets were the publicans and sinners that were attracted to the ministry of Jesus.
Those brought in from the \\ highways and hedges were the Gentiles, the peoples from the north, south, east, and west.
From this parable \\ we need to learn that excuses do not excuse.
\\ \\ I. EXCUSES DO NOT EXCUSE BECAUSE OF THE INVITATION WE RECEIVE \\ There are some invitations that you do not reject.
They take priority over every other detail of life.
In this \\ parable, Jesus sets forth the claims of the Gospel upon us in the figure of the invitation to the banquet.
\\ \\ 1.
The invitation is from God. \\ He is the one "inviting".
How much impor¬tance you give to any invitation will be determined by the importance \\ and the significance of the person extending it.
The invitation of the Gospel is a divine invitation.
Unless you \\ understand this, you will never understand why your excuses do not excuse.
Too many of you have confused \\ the invitation of the Gospel with the church.
You have interpreted the invitation of the Gospel as a ploy by which \\ the church seeks to recruit more new members.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
God has sent an \\ invitation to you.
\\ \\ 2. The invitation is gracious.
\\ It is an expensive thing for the host to prepare such a feast.
We are made to understand that no cost has been \\ spared.
He has prepared everything bountifully.
His extending an invitation to you was purely a matter of grace \\ on his part.
The host of the banquet is free to invite whomever he chooses to invite.
He demonstrates this by \\ sending his servants in the streets to bring whomever they might find.
Unless you begin to see the wonder that \\ God would invite you, you will never realize how foolish your excuses may sound.
God has not invited you \\ because of some good thing He sees in you, His invitation is an expression of His love for you.
He invites you to \\ come without any payment.
It is a gracious invitation.
\\ \\ 3. The invitation is personal.
\\ The banquet is not announced by a poster stuck upon the side of a building.
The host sends his servants \\ personally to the invited.
They hear from the lips of the personal servants of the host that the banquet is now \\ ready.
This is precisely what is happening this morning.
So you will understand the dynamics of it, let me assure \\ you that I am here representing the host personally.
He sent me to tell you that the banquet is now ready, and \\ that you are invited.
He did not leave it to chance.
He sent me to you.
He could have left it up to you to find out \\ about the banquet, but He did not.
He extends the invitation personally.
\\ \\ The invitation is persuasive.
He instructs the servants that he sends to "compel them to come in".
He is so \\ anxious to share his banquet that he wants them to be compelled.
We must not misunderstand this.
Augustine \\ was wrong when he used this verse to justify persecution and the use of violence to bring people to the \\ Christian faith.
Jesus meant simply that strong persuasion was to be used.
The invited always have the right to \\ refuse the invitation, but we are to urge upon them how important it is.
God is really in earnest about your \\ coming into His kingdom.
\\ \\ Unless you understand the invitation, you will not understand why your excuses have not really excused you.
\\ When God invites, no excuse will do.
\\ \\ II.
THE EXCUSES DO NOT EXCUSE BECAUSE OF THE EXCUSES THEMSELVES \\ Listen to the parable again.
But they all alike began to make excuses.
The first said, 'I have just bought a field, \\ and I must go and see it.
Please excuse me.' Another said, 'I have just bought five yoke of oxen, and I'm on my \\ way to try them out.
Please excuse me.' Still another said, I have got married, so I can't come.'"
Jesus chose \\ excuses in the parable that would be obviously silly and inadequate.
There is no legitimate, acceptable reason \\ for refusing God's invitation.
It may be that Jesus chose these three as representing the primary type of \\ excuses that men offer.
\\ \\ 1.
The first excuse deals with possessions.
\\ The man reports that he just bought a field, and he must inspect it.
Obviously a man would not buy a field \\ without first inspecting it.
And since a banquet would probably be at night, what kind of inspection could you \\ conduct at night?
But he was obviously more concerned about his "field" than he was sharing the banquet.
\\ Jesus warned so often that possessions have a way of so captivating a man that he finds it easy to excuse \\ himself from the highest calling of life, the calling to the kingdom of God.
\\ \\ 2. The second excuse deals with a man's occupation.
\\ He has bought five yoke of oxen, and he must try them out.
Surely he would not purchase them without first \\ trying them out.
It must have been something that could have waited until the next day.
But he is so involved in \\ his occupation that it is more important to him than the invitation.
He is so bound to his vocation that it blinds \\ him to the more important things in life.
He is living for this life alone.
\\ \\ 3. The third excuse deals with a man's affections.
\\ He has just married a wife so he is sure that he cannot come.
I wonder if he had asked her about it.
There are \\ very few women who would pass up an opportunity to go to an event like this.
While the Old Testament law \\ excused a man from military service for one year, it did not excuse him from social involvement.
The thing that \\ was wrong was this man had become so involved in the earthly relationships that he had forgotten about the \\ higher relationship.
\\ \\ When you consider the excuses, they obviously involve good and innocent things in themselves.
There is \\ nothing wrong with owning a farm, having some oxen, or being married.
They however must not keep us from \\ accepting God's invitation.
The host in the parable understood the excuses correctly.
He understood that these \\ people did not desire his company.
They did not want to come.
This was a reflection of their attitude toward him, \\ and was taken as a personal insult.
It angered him.
That is just the way it is.
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