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Mark Wheeler
Luke 14:12-23
05/22/2022
“Excuses Schmexcuses”
Lidgerwood Presbyterian Church
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You Are My Hiding Place
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Join in as Jake Davis leads us in our Call to Worship from psalm 117:
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Hello everyone! Welcome to worship at Lidgerwood!!
Welcome! We are glad you are here with us today! We gather here from a world filled with fear and fights – shootings at church gatherings from Buffalo, NY, and Laguna Woods, CA. Welcome to a moment where we can settle in with God and with each other.
We gather in our church sanctuary – a holy place – and it’s also a safe place – where the divine and the human connect together. Welcome to this holy sacred and safe place today.
Let’s take a second to welcome each other, those in the room and across the globe. Tell your loved ones, whoever you can see , “The Lord is with you – and also with you!!”
Welcome to this “gathering” in God’s name. We are assembled in NorthEast Spokane, WA, along with people from all over the world. We are very glad you are “here” with us.
Be filled with God’s Holy Spirit presence and power, in your homes, through your phones and computers, in this building here, and in your lives. Pray with us … and hear and be transformed by God’s Word.
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Our Opening Song of Devotion and Praise is –– Happy the Home When God Is There – #389!! A song of hope and faith
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Open our hearts today, O Lord, to feel the powerful strength and love You have for us. Help us to listen, not only with our ears, but with our spirits for Your Word of compassion and healing. Enable us to become more faithful disciples for You; for we ask this in the name of our Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
This coming Saturday, I leave for a trip of a lifetime, to walk where Jesus walked and see the sites of Gospel land! This is not my first trip, many of you know, I went once in 2006, with a group of 15 Whitworth students – all pastors from the inland northwest; and then I led two trips, in 2007 and 2009, with 10 to 12 LPC folks and friends.
This trip is the longest, by three days, and the biggest, 40 people, parents, alumni and financial friends of Whitworth University. And it’s the first time I’ve gone as a student with a real professor. I am so excited.
But … suppose nobody shows up at the airport. Or no one meets us in Tel Aviv. Hopefully they “just forgot”, but suppose they were in an accident … or intentionally stayed away. L Even if there’s some trouble in their lives, you expect some kind of better respect than that. “There had better be a good excuse!”
In today’s parable, the made-up story Jesus tells to teach a lesson, the set-up is that Jesus has been invited over for dinner and Jesus tells His host to make sure that he invites people to his house who cannot repay the favor … be generous and hospitable to everyone! And then another guest at the table says, “Yeah, but think how happy everyone who will be invited to eat at the table in God’s Kingdom will be.”
In answer to that, Jesus tells them this story, from Luke 14:12-23…. ----
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12 He also said to the one who had invited him, “When you give a lunch or a dinner, don’t invite your friends, your brothers or sisters, your relatives, or your rich neighbors, because they might invite you back, and you would be repaid. 13 On the contrary, when you host a banquet, invite those who are poor, maimed, lame, or blind. 14 And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you; for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”
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15 When one of those who reclined at the table with him heard these things, he said to him, “Blessed is the one who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!”
16 Then he told him, “A man was giving a large banquet and invited many. 17 At the time of the banquet, he sent his servant to tell those who were invited, ‘Come, because everything is now ready.’
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18 “But without exception they all began to make excuses. The first one said to him, ‘I have bought a field, and I must go out and see it. I ask you to excuse me.’
19 “Another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I’m going to try them out. I ask you to excuse me.’
20 “And another said, ‘I just got married, and therefore I’m unable to come.’
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21 “So the servant came back and reported these things to his master. Then in anger, the master of the house told his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the city, and bring in here the poor, maimed, blind, and lame.’
22 “‘Master,’ the servant said, ‘what you ordered has been done, and there’s still room.’
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23 “Then the master told the servant, ‘Go out into the highways and hedges and make them come in, so that my house may be filled.’”
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You’ve probably all heard the top 10 reasons why people don’t go to church? With apologies to Dave Letterman’s old routine, here they are:
10) All my clothes are just too sexy!
9) The music is too contemporary (too new, and they sing the same thing over and over and over).
8) The music is too traditional (too old, and they sing the same hymns week after week after week).
7) Sundays are my only days to sleep in.
6) Two words: Sunday sports!
5) Sunday School: Been there; done that; got the T-shirt.
4) In training for Bloomsday … or Hoopfest … or Pig Out at the Park …
3) The “Church Lady” always sits right behind me.
2) The pews are too uncomfortable.
1) They haven’t tried Lidgerwood Presbyterian Church!
I know, I’m preachin’ to the choir … sort of. After all, you’re already here, so why am I bothering you with this? Because Jesus wasn’t talking about going to church! He was talking about something much deeper and more important than church attendance.
The context of this parable, the timing of its telling, was that Jesus was at a banquet and He taught the host to be generous and to do the unexpected, and don’t expect repayment for your generosity.
And then some poor, unnamed, bloke (it’s really kind of sad, isn’t it … he doesn’t even get his name in the Bible), thinks he can add to Jesus’ teaching; so he says, “Yeah Jesus, just think how happy/blessed the people will be when they sit at that great heavenly banqueting table in God’s Kingdom!”
And Jesus turns to him (can’t you just see the look in Jesus’ eye). He tells this parable to this poor, unnamed dude sitting at the table with Him. (You really have to read between the lines, but when you do you can almost hear Jesus say something like, “Wait a minute, Buddy. Do you think you’re in? Just because you go to church and wear your uncomfortable Sunday Best, and wade through the music you don’t like, and get out of bed, and skip TV sports and local community events, and ignore the judgmental attitudes of those sitting around you … all of that doesn’t mean you’re automatically in! Here’s a story … see how it fits …..”
The story Jesus tells is kind of like an RSVP that’s been changed without notice. Sammy was invited to a party and RSVPed “yes”, and then he was invited to another party and so he didn’t go to the 1st one. Sammy should have reRSVPed, but he didn’t, and now it’s too late.
In 1st Century Israel, the way it worked was like this: A party invitation would go out and invite the guests to come, say, on Friday. But that’s all it would say. It wouldn’t say what time, because … no one wore a Swatch or carried a cell phone. So on Friday, the invitees were supposed to wait , like we have to do for a service/repair-man to fix something at our home, they were supposed to wait for the servant to come by and tell them, “It’s time. Be there in 30 minutes or the food’ll get cold.” To reject that 2nd invitation was the ultimate insult! So the party-giver tells the servant to go out and invite who ever he can find! [Luke writes in Acts that Jesus did exactly this:“Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, and the ends of the earth.”]
Here’s what Jesus was saying: OK Buddy, you’re sitting here at this banquet table with me … but have you really RSVPed the REAL banqueting table? Look at the Old Testament, read the prophecies, listen to the stories of the Old Testament heroes of faith. Do you realize that I, Jesus of Nazareth, AM the invitation to Heaven?
At the end of the Gospel according to Luke, after Jesus dies on the cross, and after Easter Sunday when He is resurrected from the dead, He’s walking with a couple of men who are talking about all the things that had happened that week – the triumphal entry, the arrest in the middle of the night, the early morning trial, the shouts of “crucify Him”, and then the death of this teacher, pastor, friend they had been following. And now, His grave was empty!
Luke tells us that Jesus walked with them and He showed them how, from Genesis through Malachi, the whole Old Testament was talking about Him!
You see, they had received the 1st invitation (they accepted the Old Testament as God’s Word), but they were about to reject the 2nd invitation. They had God’s Word, but they hadn’t received Jesus as their Lord and Savior! Jesus Christ was a good man in their opinion, but He had little to do with their day-to-day living!
That’s what Jesus is saying to this guy at the table with Him. “You know the hope of glory, but you don’t know the Messiah yet! If you reject the Messiah, our Father in Heaven will go out and bring in everyone He can find to join Him at His Banqueting Table … in your place!”
Unfortunately this is true for a lot of people. Most Jews have yet to take Jesus seriously. In fact, today, most Jews don’t even take God seriously, let alone Jesus. But this is also true of many people inside the Church. Maybe it’s true of someone you know. Maybe it’s true of you.
If it is, friend, I urge you to consider accepting the 2nd invitation … before it’s too late. Jesus has the Banqueting Table set, with a place-setting for you, with your name reserving your seat. Take Him seriously today. I know, you’ve said the “sinner’s prayer” a long time ago – the 1st invitation. That’s good. But we kinda have to do it over again every day to be real with ourselves and with God. If all we have are excuses, I think the Yiddish phrase God will say to us goes: Excuses Schmexcuses! Let’s not try to excuse ourselves out of God’s presence and good graces.
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I don’t usually ask people to bow their heads in prayer – personally, I like to lift my face and look into the sky – but today, in humble adoration, let’s bow our heads and pray: Our heavenly Father, this morning I look at my life and realize how many times I have taken You off the throne and made myself master and lord. One time, perhaps a long time ago, I accepted Your invitation to be called a child of God, saved by grace through faith, by the work of Jesus on the cross and from the tomb. Today, I hear You calling me forward on my personal journey of discovery … and I accept this 2nd invitation to follow You more closely and with more intention. I know I do not deserve Your grace and mercy, and so I humbly RSVP my acceptance right now, through Jesus Christ, my Lord and Savior and highest Treasure. Amen.
Now, keep your heads bowed and your eyes closed. Raise your hand in the air if you prayed that prayer with me. ---- If that was the 1st time you have ever received Jesus in your heart, I invite you to tell me before we leave this place today – I have something for you, and I want you to have it.
Great God of Creation, we worship You in spirit and in truth.
Lead us into our 2nd hundred years of faithfully following Your footsteps..
Prepare us for Your coming Kingdom and everything You would have us do and be here at LPC.
Confirm Your direction with joy and hope.
In Jesus’ authority. Amen.
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CAMERA
Our Choral Anthem !!! Choir – – “Glory to His Name”
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Come let us Pray:
- what are some praises, thanksgivings, adorations we want to offer?
- Is there a person or a situation you want to lift to our Lord for His answers and grace?
21 We pray this in the name of Jesus, who taught us to pray: [The Lord’s Prayer]
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Just like those earliest Christians, we sing praises here in this place because of the commitment and faith and generosity of others who shared the Good News of the Gospel in their time.
So we turn now, in our time, and share our faith and our commitment through generous giving to support the ministry of this church in Christ’s name. Let us gather our gifts together and offer them to God in gratitude and praise.
Receive our tithes and offerings as symbols of our very lives and livelihood, given as response to Your life given for us! Bless it, and by it bless the world around us. In Christ’s name, Amen.
– Offering (4449 N Nevada St, Spokane, 99207 ; or click HERE, or text 833-976-1333, code “Lidgerwood”)
Expedition Song #656 – Make Me a Blessing –! We began today hiding in God’s protective presence, and we close praying that we will open the doors to God’s presence!
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We continue with this benediction: May we Grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ.
Be filled with God’s Holy Spirit.
And give glory to God, today, and forever! Amen.
And as we do that: “May the Lord bless you and protect you;
may the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you;
may the Lord look with favor on you and give you peace.”
32-33 Announcements
- Fellowship Time – self-serve coffee &
pre-wrapped treats – - Office Hours are (generally)
Tuesday thru Thursday, 9-noon! - Community Garden – is happening!
Resources:
Wheeler, Mark; “Excuses Schmexcuses”; Lidgerwood Presbyterian Church; 05/13/2007.
lidgerwoodpresbychurch 