New Year 2000 - The New Millennium

At the start of this new millennium we're going to focus appropriately this morning on Jesus, the Gospel of God, sharing the Gospel and the cost of being a disciple of Christ.

This past week in the press there have been many articles on the state of Christianity in Britain today at a time of steep decline in church attendance. In one article entitled 'A God for a new century', Karen Armstrong argues that Christianity must radically redefine itself and move away from the old doctrines if it is to appeal to people's compassion and spirituality. But no! It is only the churches which do faithfully proclaim the gospel and teach the true old doctrines of the faith and cling to Christ and to the Word of God which are growing. Mainstream evangelical churches have grown by 68% in the last 10 years. The gospel is the same - and we are not to be ashamed of it - even when some reject it and make excuses for not accepting it - because (Romans 1:16) it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes. And the parable of the Great Banquet emphasises the truth that we are saved by responding to God's free invitation and not by our own effort.

What parties were you invited to over Christmas and New Year? And which invitation did you accept? Well the question on this first Sunday morning of the New Millennium is have you accepted God's free invitation to the greatest party, banquet, feast of all time? The Great Banquet that Jesus speaks of here in Luke 14. A much bigger, better, more fulfilling and everlasting party than the year long Millennium Dome Experience or the £1,300 gourmet meal at the Ritz. Have you accepted the invitation to come back to God, to be right with him through Jesus Christ, to have a personal relationship with God and to be with him in heaven forever? And if we have, have we told others about their invitation? And how is our discipleship?

We'll return to those last two questions later on but first let's go back to the question of whether or not we will be at God's banquet in heaven. Clearly the religious man in v.15 thought he would be there: "Blessed is the man who will eat at the feast in the Kingdom of God". But Jesus, himself here at a dinner party, challenges this man's assumption with this parable. When the critical time came, would he and other religious leaders really accept God's invitation? Or would he and other members of the Jewish religious elite be too busy about some activity affecting their more immediate interests? And what about those in a similar situation - those of us or those we know who have a false security of being at God's banquet? So first:


First, THE INVITATION (vv.16-17)

Look at vv.16-17:

"Jesus replied: 'A certain man was preparing a great banquet and invited many guests. At the time of the banquet he sent his servant to tell those who had been invited, 'Come for everything is now ready.

Jesus is talking here about God, his Father and his provision for our salvation. "A certain man was preparing a great banquet and invited many guests". He's talking about God's invitation to us to be forgiven and have eternal life by trusting in his Son Jesus Christ, to be put right with God, to have peace with God forever. The banquet is heaven and the invited guests are us. And we are to come for everything is now ready.

In Jesus' day if you were rich and planning to have a party, you'd send your servant out with the invitations in advance, telling them the day of the banquet but not the exact hour. The guests must have all agreed to come at least verbally. The host expected them to be there as just before the feast was to begin he sent his servant to tell the guests that the banquet was ready and that they should now come. But how do they and how do many today respond to God's gracious invitation? Which leads us on to our second heading:


Secondly, THE EXCUSES (vv.18-20)

Look at vv. 18-20.

"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 just got married, so I can't come.

But although they give verbal assent to the initial invitation when the time comes they all alike excuse themselves. They don't really want to come. Rather like some people we invite to evangelistic events who pull out at the last minute for no real reason. These excuses aren't genuine. It's not that they can't come. It's that they won't come.

No-one then would buy a field without prior inspection and even if he had the field would still be there the following day. And anyway since most banquets took place in the evening, this man would not have had enough time to view the field properly before nightfall. If someone said to you today, "Look I can't come now, I've just been granted the mortgage on my new house and now I need to go and view the property and get it surveyed". You wouldn't believe them. It's a lame excuse. He doesn't want to come.

The same is true of the second man. He'd bought 5 yoke or pairs of oxen and now says he has to try them out. Surely he wouldn't have bought them without first satisfying himself that they could do the job. Again it's a weak excuse. Rather like someone saying today, "No, I've just bought a second hand car and now I need to take it for a test drive". He doesn't want to come either.

The third man's excuse is the most unbelievable. Surely he would have known well before accepting the initial invitation that he was to be married and on honeymoon at the time of the banquet, even allowing for the forgetfulness of some men! He says that he can't come. He could have been thinking of Deuteronomy 24:5 which says that a husband will be at home during the first year of married life. But that is not a release from all socialising, rather it's a freedom from military service for that year. Certainly marriage involves new obligations, but it doesn't cancel out other obligations, especially things of which due notice has been given. So again it's not that he can't come. He simply won't come.

Many people who receive gospel invitations refuse to accept them. Not because they don't understand but because of an excuse making spirit which says 'Christ can't be served today'. How have you replied? How have others you know replied? Is your reply like those of vv.18 & 19? "Please excuse me. I've got something more important to do with my life right now". Or is it like the one given in v.20? "Please excuse me. There's someone more important in my life right now". At this New Year many people refused to accept the expensive invitations to grand Millennium parties. And who can blame them? But why refuse to accept God's free invitation? As a result of the lack of takers many extravaganzas here on Tyneside and around the country had to be cancelled. But God's party is not cancelled when some refuse to come. Which leads us on to the third heading:


Thirdly, THE CONSEQUENCES (vv.21-24)

Look at those verses.

"The servant came back and reported this to his master. Then the owner of the house became angry and ordered his servant, 'Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame.' 'Sir,' the servant said, 'what you ordered has been done, but there is still room.' Then the master told his servant, 'Go out to the roads and country lanes and make them come in, so that my house will be full. I tell you, not one of those men who were invited will get a taste of my banquet.

No doubt the promoters of millennium party flops were angry and poorer as a result of the lack of response. But then they had been trying to make money and charge extortionate prices. So although their anger is understandable - it's not reasonable or justifiable.

Whereas God's anger at the pitiful excuses for not accepting his free invitation is all three - his is the most reasonable, justifiable and understandable anger in the world. You see if we refuse God's invitation, what are we doing? What is our attitude? What are others we know doing? We're saying to God, who we have all rebelled against, I don't want you. Even though he has taken the initiative to invite us back by giving his one and only Son Jesus Christ, to die on the cross to pay the price for our rebellion, we're saying, "Please excuse me, I can't come".

No wonder that when the servant came back and reported this to his master that the owner of the house then became angry. Will your reply to God's invitation make him angry or will there be great rejoicing in heaven? (as there is when one sinner repents). Will you get a taste of God's banquet or will you not? For there are consequences for refusing to accept God's gracious invitation. There is a heaven and a hell. Look again at v.24:

I tell you, not one of those men who were invited will get a taste of my banquet".

Those who were first invited but made their excuses would not get a taste of God's banquet. There would be no second chance for them. They had squandered their opportunity and would get no other. Listen to Luke 13:28-30:

"There will be weeping there, and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but you yourselves thrown out. People will come from east and west and north and south, and will take their places at the feast in the kingdom of God. Indeed there are those who are last who will be first, and first who will be last.

And the opportunity for us to reply will pass. Perhaps you've only recently come across the invitation - you've been to Carols by Candlelight, to the Christmas services or to the events with Philip Hacking. Maybe you've had the invitation on the mantlepiece, so to speak, for some time. Perhaps you've grown up in a Christian home and yet you've not yet replied, "Yes, I can come". Well there is an urgency to respond. God is gracious and will receive all who come to him, but people may not dilly dally. Why not at the start of a New Year, at the start of a new century say, "Yes, I can come to God's banquet - I will come, I want to come, I need to come".

ABCD. Admit that you are a sinner who needs to repent, who needs God's forgiveness. Believe in Jesus Christ, God's Son, who died on the cross to pay for our sin, who died there in our place, and who is Saviour and Lord. Count the cost, as we'll see in a moment. Decide to trust in Jesus Christ and to follow him.

God wants everyone to be saved and to be at his banquet. But he doesn't force anyone. No, he invites. He takes excuses to mean 'No' and he moves on to invite others. The fact that some refuse does not mean that he cancels the party (vv.21&23). Many of us here this morning have replied 'Yes' to God's invitation and you have eternal life. If you have then hear what the Lord says in this parable. Verse 21:

Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame

- all sinners who know their need. And verse 23:

Go out…and make them come, so that my house will be full".

Go out in this New Year and take God's invitation to those who haven't heard it.

Note the phrase 'make them come in'. Does this mean even by force? No - it means that we are to use all possible godly means to help people accept the invitation, to wake up sinners and urge them to repent. We are to persuade people. If people will not come to us in public then we must visit them in private. Who can we pray for and take God's invitation to during the year 2000? Going on beyond the parable of the Great Banquet in vv.25-35 of Luke 14 Jesus also wants us to understand the cost of being a disciple of his. So …


Fourthly, THE COST (vv.25-35)

Look at vv.25-27.

"Large crowds were travelling with Jesus, and turning to them he said: 'If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters - yes, even his own life - he cannot be my disciple. And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.'",/i>

Are we merely travelling with Jesus like the large crowds or are we following him, putting him first? You see there is a cost to following Jesus and the cost is complete surrender to him. Look at vv.26,27 and 33.

Discipleship means giving your first loyalty to Jesus. If we're not willing to do so then we cannot be his disciple. Now in v.26 Jesus is not saying that we should literally hate our earthly nearest and dearest. The word hatred here can mean 'loving less'. So Jesus means that the love his disciples have for him must be so great that the best of earthly loves is hatred by comparison. We must love Jesus more than our immediate family - more than our husbands or wives, more than our children, more than our parents, brothers and sisters, and more than our own lives. Do we? Is he first? Devotion to Christ cannot be less than whole hearted. As someone once wrote, "Discipleship is not periodic volunteer work on our own terms and at our own convenience".

Verse 27 takes us back to Luke 9:23 - the follower of Jesus must deny himself. In other words he must not be self centred or self indulgent. And take up his cross daily and follow Christ. The crowd had probably seen a man take up his cross and so knew what it meant. When someone from their village took up a cross and went off with a band of Roman soldiers, he was on a one way journey. He wouldn't be back. Taking up the cross meant the utmost in self-denial. Cross-bearing is of the essence of discipleship.

And it must be done daily. Christ's follower has died to a whole way of life. Again anyone not willing to do this cannot be Jesus' disciple. Jesus doesn't want disciples who don't realize what they've let themselves in for (vv.28-33). He doesn't want a blind, naïve commitment that expects only blessings. As a builder estimates costs or as a king evaluates military strength, so a person must consider what Jesus expects of his followers.

Counting the cost is important. And Jesus uses the two parables about the builder and the king to drive the point home. A man who decides to build a tower must first think. To get no further than the foundation is to invite ridicule. The man must therefore first sit down and count the cost. In the second parable a king who has 10,000 soldiers will not find it easy to defeat the one who attacks with 20,000. In such a situation the king thinks hard. He doesn't just wait for defeat - he instead arranges peace while the enemy is a great way off.

"So", writes Morris, "these two parables are similar but make slightly different points. The builder of the tower is free to build or not as he chooses, but the king is being invaded. He must do something. So in the first parable Jesus says, 'Sit down and reckon whether you can afford to follow me.' In the second he says, 'Sit down and reckon whether you can afford to refuse my demands.'"

So we are to count the cost and we are to put Jesus first. And Jesus is clear about the price. Anyone who comes to Jesus must give up everything they have (v.33). Disciples cannot be half hearted.

"Don't have an ill -considered and faint hearted attachment to Christ. Christ wants you to know the real thing. He wants them to count the cost and reckon all lost for his sake so they can enter the exhilaration of full blooded discipleship." (Morris)

Prayer: Lord help those us who have not yet replied to your invitation not to put off saying 'Yes, I can come' any longer and may all of us put you first throughout this new year.