A Surprising Invitation to a Banquet

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Speaker: 
Andrew Fountain
Date: 
Sun, 2021-08-08

Video cover image by metalchris CC BY 2.0

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Sermon Slides - A Surprising Invitation to a Banquet

Goal

To hear what Jesus is saying to each of us in this parable

The Banquet is Ready

The Banquet is Ready

Isaiah 25:6–9

  1. The LORD who commands armies will hold a banquet for all the nations on this mountain.
          At this banquet there will be plenty of meat and aged wine —
                tender meat and choicest wine.
  2. On this mountain he will swallow up
          the shroud that is over all the peoples,
          the woven covering that is over all the nations;
  3. he will swallow up death permanently.
     
    The sovereign LORD will wipe away the tears from every face,
          and remove his people’s disgrace from all the earth.
                Indeed, the LORD has announced it!
  4. At that time they will say,
    “Look, here is our God!
          We waited for him and he delivered us.
    Here is the LORD! We waited for him.
          Let’s rejoice and celebrate his deliverance!”

based on NET Bible

Luke 14:15–24

  1. When one of those at the meal with Jesus heard this, he said to him, “Blessed is everyone who will feast in the kingdom of God!”
     
  2. But Jesus said to him, “A man once gave a great banquet and invited many guests.
  3. At the time for the banquet he sent his servant to tell those who had been invited, ‘Come, because everything is now ready.’
  4. But one after another they all began to make excuses. The first said to him, ‘I have bought a field, and I must go out and see it. Please excuse me.’
  5. Another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going out to examine them. Please excuse me.’
  6. Another said, ‘I just got married, and therefore I cannot come.’
  7. So the servant came back and reported this to his master.
     
    Then the master of the household was furious and said to his servant, ‘Go out quickly to the streets and alleys of the city, and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame.’
  8. Then the servant said, ‘Sir, what you instructed has been done, and there is still room.’
  9. So the master said to his servant, ‘Go out to the highways and country roads and urge people to come in, so that my house will be filled.
  10. For I tell you, not one of those people who were invited will taste my banquet!’ ”

based on NET Bible

Explanation

  1. The Banquet is God’s wonderful kingdom
    • Free, undeserved, delightful, satisfying, fulfilling all our longings
  2. Those Invited are everyone who hears the Gospel
    • Some respond and some don’t -even though it is such a wonderful offer
  3. There is a surprising ending because it’s not who you would expect at a banquet
    • The people in God’s kingdom are often not those whom you would have expected

The Parable of the Banquet

  1. God’s grace is amazing and totally undeserved
  2. God is looking for those who will respond, and who will value his banquet
    • They won’t think all the trivial earthly things that surround them are more important
  3. The composition in the Kingdom in Jesus’ time was very different to what was expected
    • Similarly today, God is building his kingdom often from unlikely people

1. Amazing Grace

2. Responding to the Invitation

3. Unlikely People

Luke 14 – Unlikely Guests

  1. …‘Go out quickly to the streets and alleys of the city, and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame.’
  2. Then the servant said, ‘Sir, what you instructed has been done, and there is still room.’
  3. So the master said to his servant, ‘Go out to the highways and country roads and urge people to come in, so that my house will be filled.
  4. For I tell you, not one of those people who were invited will taste my banquet!’ ”

1 Samuel 22:1–2

  1. David departed from there and escaped to the cave of Adullam. And when his brothers and all his father’s house heard it, they went down there to him.
  2. And everyone who was in distress, and everyone who was in debt, and everyone who was bitter in soul, gathered to him.
    And he became captain over them. And there were with him about four hundred men.

1 Corinthians 1:26–29

  1. For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth.
  2. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong;
  3. God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are,
  4. so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.

Updated on 2021-08-08 by Andrew Fountain