Have you asked to be excused?
Luke 14: 16 through 35
written by Michael McBane
I would ask that you read from Luke 14: 16 through 35. I will not place the whole text here but extract particular verses to anchor the intent of my words.
I am in a particular season presently that is a window, a window of invitation that perhaps I have not fully apprehended in the recent years because of the sorrows of my soul. But even in that season I heard the refining and responded and called out for a wisdom that was incorporated with the ability to proceed forward. That was infused not only with principals of the hows and whys of God but the dynamic of His present life, a step into that life with a constant and without the diversion of my any of my past. Lets call it a cry to be a vessel that was not just there but one that carried the heart of God because He had poured that into this vessel. So presently I have renewed that cry and enlarged it but that is because I know that I have not merely been prompted to do so I was invited with an invitation that had an urgency upon it. Do not be late, don’t hesitate.
With that said, lets consider the content of Luke 14. In the text we see a parable that tells a story of a large dinner, a table was being set before but few would respond to the invitation to come and partake of this opportunity. The excuses were plentiful. I have business to take care of I am practically entrapped. I have to pay attention to what I have purchased. I have not cultivated the love in my home as to secure them before this, so I must do that now.
I could very well expand on these points and make them more applicable but if you or I are not finding an application or conviction then I will step away from attempting to persuade you. For more then likely you have either denied the invitation or you have responded and are partaking of the possibilities. Let me be forthright here, I think we have all denied the invitation in some way. It is not to late, don’t hesitate.
The parable states that twice the servant who carried the invitation out to those the host was inviting with purpose came to the host saying with sorrow, that few would respond and come. So twice the host decided to go to those who many would consider the uncommon, those who might be offensive in lifestyle and those who were broken in life and bring them in and feed them.
In many ways I am here reminded of Jesus as He walked along the Emmaus Road, unidentified by those He had walked with days before. But they as you know had been shattered and disappointed by what and how they thought life would unfold. Because this pre drawn conclusion blinded them they did not recognize the way of the Lord, His voice was not a beat upon their heart but a far off idea. Until, Jesus turned and served them they were dull,when He did they saw again. My friends, many of our conclusions of who Jesus is and how He would or will do things is somewhat twisted for we truly have not allowed Him to steer the ship, to reveal the way, we have not allowed Him to identify what He wanted to do. We are entrenched and we say we are waiting to hear but we are trapped by what we set as the boundaries of who we think God is or how He will do things. We may have heard the first word of His sentence but then we ran and built it our way and He His waiting at the table to say, now listen. Its not to late, don’t hesitate.
Before I go further I will reminded us of something that I firmly believe is the mind of God. Our culture does not give room for the ways of God. But we continually seek to adapt God to the things there in. We adapt our thinking, our studies, our history, our understanding. We take what we earn and place it within the ways of the world and allow that to dictate how we give or save. We deny the invitations constantly. We are in need of a great straining of our hearts and minds. I have fearfully set a season aside to allow the Lord to capture in me what I have used to deny Him. That denial may be something I am dumb to but it obstructs and restrains. I want to be a vessel that is pure and undefiled and those are deep words my friends, I certainly can not conclude how deep and wide they must go.
So to return to the parable, the host then compels those who have been denied a place at this table to come. And He instructs the servant by saying, those who have been invited and sought their own way will not taste what I have prepared. Is this heaven? I presently would say no but it is Him. We must understand that we are told few can endure what is coming upon the earth. Lets stop looking for a terrible series of events, (which are probable) but see that the minds of men are being twisted into something that categorically denies Christ. This will be an assault that unless one is tasting of what is set at the table will be hard to bear. The majority of what has been identified as Christian today cherry picks the scripture, it has no discernment and participates with God in convenience. They apply the decisions of hearing God on need and adaptation of the culture of influence around them. The priesthood of the believer is either entrapped by a pastor model or listless without understanding. A mixture of Oprah and the neighborhood physic is considered appropriate.
Now we will see that the scripture here then steps into the conversation after the parable, here Jesus expands more of the parable He had just shared. He says, “Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be my disciple.” A disciple is a follower. Yes, we have heard this before. But we must hear it daily.
It is interesting that Christ says count the cost for it will cost you everything to be my disciple. It will challenge our thoughts, the way we perhaps have thought of God for years and found a certain comfort and flow there. A habit of thought that takes Jesus out of the conversation because HE is not predictable as we think, yes He is the same yesterday today and forever, but that is the constant of His love and mercy. Is everything that we are God’s?
So Jesus continues to unfold the way of a disciple and He seems to forewarn them even about the cost. It is a battle that cannot be won within the ways of man. The victory is in a faith that see Jesus as the substance of life, the provision of life in sickness and in health, in poverty and in wealth.
Jesus then demands of all and compares it to the costs of war but clearly ties it to the parable of sitting at His table. “So therefore, no one of you can be my disciple who does not give up all his possessions.”
What are our possessions. I tell you they may not be obvious as we may think. They may be our sorrows, our understanding of who God is, of how He does things, of what is the order of God, our way of prayer, our order of life, our social well being, our play, our toys our money and how we think it should be saved, spent, or given. our relationships, our community or place where we live. Everything or anything can possess us and entangle us.
If we do not place all of these possibilities on the altar then we determine who God is and therefore will not hear Him as He speaks for we will interpret His words from the vantage point of our possessions.
Jesus then tells those who are following, “Therefore, salt is good; but if even salt has become tasteless, with what will it be seasoned? It is useless either for the soil or for the manure pile; it is thrown out. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”
It is not to late , don’t hesitate.
Comments