Title: Jesus has called and chosen you to attend the wedding feast!
Text: Matt. 22:1-14
11 “But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garment. 12 And he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless. 13 Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot and cast him into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ 14 For many are called, but few are chosen.”
Former NFL head coach John McKay, tells a story illustrating the supreme confidence of former University of Alabama head football coach Bear Bryant: We were out shooting ducks one day he said, and finally, after about three hours, here comes one lonely duck. The Bear fires and that duck just keeps on flying as if nothing happened. But Bear, being the eternal optimist, just watches that duck flap away out of sight. He looked over and said, “John you are witnessing a genuine miracle. There flies a dead duck!”
John McKay, A Coach's Story.
At the wedding feast, the man with no wedding garment was a dead duck so to speak and the King had him bound hand and foot and cast out into utter darkness. So too all who are not covered with the righteousness of Christ but for we who believe and trust in him:
Jesus has called and chosen to attend the wedding feast!
22 And again Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying, 2 “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son, 3 and sent his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding feast, but they would not come.
So Jesus moves right from the master and the vineyard parable from last week to the parable of the wedding feast. The chief priests and the Pharisees had just realized that Jesus was talking about them as the ones who would be removed from the vineyard and it would be given to other tenants.
Now, with the wedding feast parable He once again paints the picture of those who will be welcomed at the feast.
4 Again he sent other servants, saying, ‘Tell those who are invited, “See, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding feast.”’
Jesus calls all to come. He welcomes all who believe and trust in Him
5 But they paid no attention and went off, one to his farm, another to his business, 6 while the rest seized his servants, treated them shamefully, and killed them.
The chief priests and Pharisees are once again singled out as those who having abused the vineyard and the servants sent to get the master’s good grapes and now in this parable, they are the ones called to the feast but pay no attention or continue to abuse the servants.
So like the master in the previous parable who will put those wretches to a miserable death and let out the vineyard to other tenants:
7 The king [too] was angry, and he sent his troops and destroyed those murderers and burned their city. 8 Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding feast is ready, but those invited were not worthy.
So He tells them to:
9 Go … to the main roads and invite to the wedding feast as many as you find.’ 10 And those servants went out into the roads and gathered all whom they found, both bad and good. So the wedding hall was filled with guests.
Both … bad and good … those who, to human eyes appear to be worthy, and those who we might assume would never be invited, too are called.
It is very good news that:
Jesus has called and chosen you to attend the wedding feast!
Ill.
A story is told:
A man was headed home late from a wedding reception and had about a two hour drive when a friend said to me, "Remember that for every mile you drive there are two miles of ditch".
He said, “I was in the car before that really sunk in, and then it hit me, for every path we walk, there are two miles of ditch along the journey inviting us to veer off the road. There are twice as many chances to stray away from God.
Few of us ever intend to go into the ditch. No one just drives down the road and says "Hey I'm going to drive into the ditch" For most of us, it is simply hugging the shoulder of the road and little by little we move ourselves from the patch of following Jesus and somehow we end up off the road and in the ditch.
The gift of grace and faith becomes rejected and little by little the wedding garment is removed as you once again put on the filthy rags of your own self righteousness. Those rags unfortunately are so comfortable at times that you might not even notice the change. But the reality is there. You shun God’s word, reject God’s gifts, return to your old ways and if not you … maybe it is rejected by those you love.
Ill.
During WWI a young son of a prominent American family was led to the Lord.
He was in the service, but he showed the reality of his conversion by immediately professing Christ before the soldiers of his military company. The war ended. The day came when he was to return to his pre-war life in the wealthy suburb of a large American city.
He talked to his pastor about life with his family and expressed fear that he might soon slip back into his old habits. He was afraid that love for parents, brothers, sisters, and friends might turn him from following after Jesus Christ. The pastor told him that if he was careful to make public confession of his faith in Christ, he would not have to worry. He would not have to give improper friends up. They would give him up.
The soldier went home and almost immediately met a girl whom he had known socially. She was delighted to see him and asked how he was doing. He told her, "The greatest thing that could possibly happen to me has happened." "You're engaged to be married," she exclaimed. "No," he told her. "It's even better than that. I've taken the Lord Jesus Christ as my Savior." The girls' expression froze. She mumbled a few polite words and went on her way.
A short time later he met a young man whom he had known before going into the service. "It's good to see you back," he declared. "We'll have some great parties now that you've returned." "I've just become a Christian," the soldier said. Again it was a case of a frozen smile and a quick change of conversation.
After this the same circumstances were repeated with a young couple and with other old friends. By this time word had got around, and soon some of his friends stopped seeing him. He had become peculiar, religious, and … even crazy in their eyes! The same confession that had aligned him with Christ had separated him from those who did not want Jesus Christ and who, in fact, did not even want to hear about Him.
J.M Boice, Christ's Call To Discipleship, Moody, 1986, p. 122-23.
It is a lonely way at times. But it leads to the wedding feast and a table and place prepared just for you because:
Jesus has called and chosen you to be his and to attend the wedding feast!
11 “But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garment. 12 And he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?’
The wedding garment is the righteousness of Christ. It is give to you by faith through the working of the Holy Spirit. You are clothed with it in baptism and made Christ’s disciple and follower. The garment of Christ identifies you as one invited to attend the feast and your place is secure at the table.
You are seated there now … in Christ … you have on the wedding garment.
May you be comforted with His call and invitation that you have received because:
The Kingdom is Christ’s and He has called and chosen you to be his and to attend the wedding feast!
In the name of the Father, and of the Son + and of the Holy Spirit!
Amen
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