Highways and Hedges
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Our sermon will be on Luke 14:15-24
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Highways and Hedges
Highways and Hedges
How many of you have been to a really fancy dinner?
Years ago, I went to a catered dinner at some hotel in Tulsa. I was 18. It was my Eagle Scout banquet.
They had these round tables and a waiter came by and asked what kind of dinner you wanted.
I had helped serve the prom banquet at our school when I was a sophomore and then I was served it the next 2 years.
But I had never been involved in something like this.
Each young man there had a sponsor.
I don’t know who the sponsors were, but I can tell you who was sitting at my table.
My sponsor was to my right. His name was W Earl Mead Jr.
At that time he was president of Git N Go.
On the other side was Ken Selby of Mazzio’s fame and Ken’s pizza before that.
Both men were really good guys. I had actually met Ken Selby before. He was very active in Scouting.
That dinner made an impression on me.
Not just because of what was served, or where it was served, but because of who was there with me.
Last Sunday, I talked about a time when Jesus was eating with a ruler of the Pharisees.
He is still at this man’s house when we get to the story that Jesus is about to share.
15 Now when one of those who sat at the table with Him heard these things, he said to Him, “Blessed is he who shall eat bread in the kingdom of God!”
16 Then He said to him, “A certain man gave a great supper and invited many,
17 and sent his servant at supper time to say to those who were invited, ‘Come, for all things are now ready.’
18 But they all with one accord began to make excuses. The first said to him, ‘I have bought a piece of ground, and I must go and see it. I ask you to have me excused.’
19 And another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to test them. I ask you to have me excused.’
20 Still another said, ‘I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.’
21 So that servant came and reported these things to his master. Then the master of the house, being angry, said to his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in here the poor and the maimed and the lame and the blind.’
22 And the servant said, ‘Master, it is done as you commanded, and still there is room.’
23 Then the master said to the servant, ‘Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.
24 For I say to you that none of those men who were invited shall taste my supper.’ ”
The Invitation
The Invitation
First, we need to understand the context.
Jesus is in this leader’s home on a sabbath.
My guess is that they had just left the synagogue.
This is the equivalent of a baptist inviting the guest speaker over for fried chicken.
In this case because it was the sabbath, it was bread.
They probably had everything prepared the day before.
So that’s when someone said:
15 Now when one of those who sat at the table with Him heard these things, he said to Him, “Blessed is he who shall eat bread in the kingdom of God!”
So Jesus uses a story to talk about the Kingdom of God.
The story is about an invitation to a great supper.
We don’t know how they invited them, but my guess is that it was this servant.
Now supper time was coming and he sent the servant on his rounds to tell … the Invited … that it was time.
The Invited
The Invited
Look at the excuses of the invited.
One has a new piece of land, the second had some new oxen, and the third had a new wife.
I don’t think the excuses mean anything, they are just everyday excuses of the time.
Remember, we are talking about the Kingdom of God.
These same types of excuses are going on today.
They will say “I’m going to school now, I don’t have time to go to church.”
Or “Sunday is the only time I have to rest.”
They will say “I know I need to straighten up but I need to stop cussing first.”
It’s just one excuse after another.
The real problem is they don’t truly believe.
I know because I was one of them the first 30 years of my life.
My excuse was similar.
I would say “I can’t be good enough to be a Christian”.
Which is right and wrong at the same time.
I can’t be good enough, but God made a way ...
I saw Christianity as a set of rules that I had to follow.
But it’s not a set of rules, it is a relationship with the God of Creation.
Let me say that again:
Christianity is not about rules of God, it’s about a relationship with God.
I don’t care what your excuse is, the truth is that you are putting off the inevitable.
We are not guaranteed tomorrow.
Now, one last thing. We need to understand who Jesus is talking about here.
Jesus is talking about the invited. Who were the invited?
He’s talking to the Jews and he’s talking about the Jews.
They were the invited.
The Excluded
The Excluded
We were the excluded, but now we are invited.
So what does the master of the house do?
He says “Go get the maimed, the lame, and the blind.”
Then he says “Go to the highways and hedges and come and compel them to come”
He is telling the servant to go everywhere. Wherever they are.
The first 2 sets of people that the master invited were within the city, now he’s telling to go outside the city.
The last words we have of Jesus before He ascended is in Acts 1:8
8 But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
He breaks it up into 3 parts.
First Jerusalem, then Judea and Samaria, and then everywhere else.
We have talked about who the invited were.
Most of us know that the master of the house is God.
Who is the servant? It’s not Jesus
We are the servant.
We are the ones who need to be taking the word out to the world.
Look at verse 24: Luke 14:24
24 For I say to you that none of those men who were invited shall taste my supper.’ ”
See, it is Jesus’ supper.
What do you think the Jews were saying there?
Jesus is calling himself God and he’s saying they won’t taste of the feast.
That’s not good news for them.
But it’s good news for us.
Now, after the invitation, we are the servants.
And we need to go to the highways and hedges.
That means we need to go wherever they are.
It means we need to go to Italy, and India.
We need to go to Ireland, and Indonesia.
We need to go Israel and Iraq.
We need to go to Iceland and to the Internet.
We need to use every means we can to go wherever the lost are.
Our job is to go to the Highways and Hedges,
and we are not even going to our neighbor.
What are we going to do about it?
Or what are your excuses?
If we aren’t part of the solution, then we are part of the problem.
Are you ready to go?
We don’t all have to be missionary to go out to the world.
We can pray for missionaries, we can support them, and we can send them.
Are you ready to send out the Invitations?
We started off with this idea of a dinner.
I remember that dinner because of who I was with.
The dinner we will have in heaven will be even better because of who we will be with.
That is Jesus.
Jesus is all we need.
Jesus is the bread.
Jesus is the living water.
Jesus is all that we need.
Let’s invite everyone we know to that dinner.
Are you ready?
Let’s go