Message Info:
- Text: Luke 14:15-24, NASB
- Series: Luke (2025-2027), No. 53
- Date: Sunday morning, April 19, 2026
- Venue: Central Baptist Church — Lawton, Oklahoma
- Audio File: Open/Download
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Transcript:
⟦Transcript⟧ Well, years ago, when I graduated college and started looking for my first full-time job, that just happened to coincide with the crash of 2008. And there weren’t a whole lot of full-time jobs, entry-level full-time jobs available. Everything I could find was in sales or government. And I am not good at sales. As a matter of fact, I was already working part-time as an insurance agent and wasn’t good at that, hence the need to find something else.
So I applied for just about every job I could find, even the government ones. And I remember putting out resumes like crazy, making phone calls like crazy. And there were a couple things that I interviewed for that just weren’t good fits. There was even one that I passed on working for the Department of Human Services because I just thought it would tear my heart up to try to work in the role that they were offering. And I recall one day standing in my kitchen and seeing that I had a missed call, I didn’t recognize the number, and, you know, spammers were bad even then.
And I thought, well, they’ll leave a voicemail. And I got busy doing something else. I see they left a voicemail. I’ll check that in a minute. And a minute turned into an hour.
An hour turned into a day. And about a month later, I was checking another voicemail. And came across that one and realized I had this voicemail I had not checked for a month. It was somebody from the state of Oklahoma calling. to, they were very interested in interviewing me for a job, I think it was with the Department of Commerce, it’s been so long ago, I don’t remember.
But you better believe I had missed that invitation, they had filled the job by the time I remembered to check that voicemail. And I kind of kicked myself, I eventually did, did you ever find a job? Here I am, no, I did eventually find a job working for Oklahoma County that God used. to teach me some things, but I always wondered what would have been different work-wise had I answered that call, had I answered that voicemail, had I remembered that voicemail soon enough.
Now, I know still God would have called me into ministry, but I just wonder how life would have been different along the way. There are times that we miss invitations. There are times that we decline invitations. One of the things that I’ve learned is that as an adult, one of the things about being a young adult versus a not-so-young adult is when you’re a young adult, it’s exciting to have plans. When you’re not so young an adult, it’s exciting to not have plans.
Get to go home and be at home. But sometimes we will decline invitations. Sometimes we just miss invitations because we’re not out of malice. We’re just not paying attention. Sometimes we think there are more important things going on.
Jesus tells a story in Luke chapter 14 about some people who missed an invitation. They missed an invitation through carelessness. They missed an invitation because they thought there were more important things going on.
But the point is they missed the invitation. as we continue our study through Luke chapter 14, that’s where we are this morning, is Jesus talking about this invitation that was missed.
Now, if you recall back to last week, we looked at the beginning of Luke chapter 14, where Jesus is invited basically to a dinner party on the Sabbath, probably after synagogue services, and they’re sitting there eating bread, and it’s kind of a tense situation because Jesus knows that these people have invited Him there so they can watch Him. And not watch Him to learn from Him, but watch him probably for ammunition. They’re looking for a way to trap him. They’re looking for something to accuse him about. They’re looking for something to start a fight over.
And Jesus, recognizing what’s going on, doesn’t wait for them to confront him. He says, is it lawful to heal this man on the Sabbath? He just rips the Band-Aid off, and we’re going to talk about this.
And then Jesus goes through a series of three stories that he tells that have to do with dinner parties, that have to deal with the things that he saw right in front of him that day, and how their religion was so caught up in them and what they wanted and who they were. Well, now he goes on in the passage we’re going to look at today, in response to a man who begins to talk to him to tell another story about a dinner party. And I feel like these should connect with us really well as Baptists because we like to get together and eat, right? Are you all awake this morning? Okay.
Like, I thought we liked to get together and eat. I might have been mistaken. That’s usually the hardiest amen.
But they, so Jesus uses these examples of people getting together to eat. And in this case, he talks about people missing the invitation and uses it to teach us something about the kingdom of God. That’s what we’re going to look at this morning in Luke chapter 14, starting in verse 15.
If you’ve already turned there with me, please go ahead and stand as we read together from God’s Word. If you haven’t turned there, go ahead and do so.
If you can’t find it or don’t have your Bible, it’ll be on the screen for you to be able to follow along. But in response to everything Jesus has just said about the kingdom and about inviting people and about not trying to put yourself in the most prominent position for recognition, all these things, he’s talking about, he’s using the idea of these suppers to teach about the kingdom. And in verse 15, there’s a man who comes up with a response, and he says, when one of those who were reclining at the table with him heard this, he said to him, blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God. And that sounds like a nice sentiment, but Jesus’ response tells us this guy has missed something.
So he goes on in verse 16, but he said to him, a man was giving a big dinner and he invited many. And at the dinner hour, he sent his slave to say to those who had been invited, come for everything is ready now.
But they all alike began to make excuses. The first one said to him, I have bought a piece of land and I need to go out and look at it. Please consider me excused. Another one said, I have bought five yoke of oxen and I’m going to try them out, please consider me excused. Another one said, I have married a wife, and for that reason I cannot come.
And the slave came back and reported this to his master. Then the head of the household became angry and said to his slave, go out at once into the streets and the lanes of the city and bring in here the poor and crippled and blind and lame. And the slave said, master, what you have commanded has been done, and there’s still room. And the master said to the slave, go out into highways and along the hedges and compel them to come in so that my house may be filled. For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste of my dinner, and you may be seated.
So this story that Jesus tells reminds us that sometimes when God calls us to do things, we can take this kind of passive nonchalant approach to what he’s called us to do. And we can think, that sounds good. Let me make sure I don’t have anything else on the agenda. Let me leave room here in case I get a better offer. Let me make sure it fits with what I want to do.
This is the approach that if we’re not careful, we may take with what God calls us to do. And in verse 15, this man who says, blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God, he’s not wrong. It’s just not the right time to say it. You know, sometimes you can say the right thing at the wrong time. I tell my kids, you may be right in what you’re saying, but making an argument when you’re getting in trouble only leads to more trouble.
So wait till things have calmed down and Come back respectfully and say the right thing. This man said the right thing, but he said it at the wrong time. What it indicates, as Jesus is correcting these people and saying, you need to change the way you’re doing things, and this man said, blessed is everyone who eats bread in the kingdom of God. It comes across like he’s saying, we’re all God’s children. We’re all getting in.
It’s like he’s telling Jesus, calm down. We’re all good. We’re all fine. He’s acting like there’s not a problem here. And it was the assumption among them that most people were going to get into the kingdom of heaven.
That’s what I’ve explained to you before. It was understood by the Jewish people at that time that because of the covenant that God had made with Abraham, everybody’s getting into the kingdom. As long as you’re not a really, really bad person, as long as you’re not a serial killer or something like that. I’m not Hitler, so I’m getting into the kingdom. it was the assumption that that’s kind of the default and so this man says this basically we’re all good we’re all good and Jesus turns to correct him and says oh no no no not everybody here will be getting into the kingdom all of these people who are counting on getting in because of their lineage because of their ancestry because of what group they come from because of all the things they’ve done and the religious practices are not necessarily going to get in.
Now, when we say that, it sounds harsh. Oh, God is keeping people out. The reality is that God is incredibly gracious. When the world wants to say that it’s incredibly harsh, that God would only make one way into the kingdom, we have to look at it from the perspective of it being one way more than what we deserve. God doesn’t owe us 56 ways to get into the kingdom.
God didn’t even owe us one. The fact that he made one it all shows His graciousness.
But what we see here is that God’s default is to want to show grace. God, the Lord extends a gracious and ready invitation to people, and we see that in this passage. God wants people to come into the kingdom. The master of the household wants people to come into the supper. He’s done everything to prepare it.
He’s made the invitations ready. He sent people in person to go and collect people. You know, I always struggle to know when to show up to things because my impulse is I want to be there an hour early. Some of you understand. Some of you have told me you deal with this as well.
I want to be there an hour early. People don’t always like that. And depending on the situation, Wouldn’t it be wonderful if you could be ready and at home and somebody just came and got you at the appointed time and you knew exactly when you were supposed to be there? The master has done everything to make it possible for people to come and accept this invitation. And his eagerness to bring people is evident in some of the details of the description that Jesus gives of this dinner.
He says it was a big dinner in verse 16. A man was giving a big dinner. it’s not you say well what’s a little dinner little dinner is what we did last night we we we were out all day we were tired i was not cooking charla was not cooking i think i did break down and cook mac and cheese for the kids but it was basically a whatever you can find night the lord didn’t do that he’s talking about a big dinner and he invited many it says not just a select few not just the ones he liked best he invited many it was a broad invitation and in verse 17 it says that it shows us that he has made sure everything is ready for his guests all the preparations were made all the work was done the only thing these people had to do was show up the master of the house had made it so incredibly easy and and as the story goes on we see in verse 22 that when he does go out and get additional uninvited guests those who were not invited to begin with they bring some in and he said there’s still room for more let’s go get more i want you to understand the lord is not trying to make it hard for any of us to get into the kingdom i think we have that impression that i have to do exactly the right things. I have to say exactly the right things. I was so filled with anxiety about this as a kid, I knew that God had set it up where you believe in Jesus.
Okay, but did I believe hard enough? Does He know that I believe hard enough? You can work yourself sick over this. God is not trying to make this hard.
Now, Jesus does tell us that the reality is that straight is the gate and narrow is the way that leads to everlasting life and few there will be who find it, but it’s not because God has made it hard, it’s just because we want to go looking for other ways. God is gracious with his invitation. God extends this invitation to whosoever will may come. The Lord is not offering salvation stingily or begrudgingly. Have you ever did something because you had to?
Have you ever done something because you had to. Yeah, all the time. Today is April 19th. Everybody loved writing that tax check this week, right?
Now, we don’t do that because we want to. We do it because we have to. And there’s a little bit of clinging to it. The tax program will ask, what day do you want this sent out? April 14th.
Now, because of my anxiety, I want to make sure it gets there on time, so we’re going to do it the day before. But I’m not going to do it whenever I figure my taxes and let you have that money and just earn the interest on it. I’m waiting until the very last second. We’ve all done things because we had to. We’ve all paid things because we’ve had to.
And we hold on just a little bit longer before letting go of that. That is not the way God extends the invitation to salvation to us. God invites us gladly. He invites us eagerly. The invitation is offered freely.
That’s why 2 Peter says, He is patient toward you not wishing for any to perish, but for all to come to repentance. There’s this idea that God is trying to make it as difficult as possible.
But the reality is God’s desire is that you would come to him. And so he extends a gracious and ready invitation.
The problem here in this passage is that many will casually reject this gracious invitation. We all know there are people that are going to say, I don’t want anything to do with Jesus. I don’t want anything to do with him. They will be as hostile as they can be toward Jesus. It’s possible, but I don’t presume many people in that mindset are listening to me this morning.
Unless somebody dragged you here really hard. And if that’s the case, we’re still glad you’re here, and I hope you get something out of it.
But most people are not in that category of just open, outright hostility toward Jesus. A lot of the people at that meal weren’t even in that frame of mind of open, outward hostility toward Jesus. There were the leaders of the Pharisees who were out to get him. but all throughout the crowds there were people who they weren’t necessarily ready to follow Jesus. They might follow him around a little bit.
They weren’t necessarily sold on what he was preaching but they weren’t hostile and these are represented by some of these people who were invited and I think he’s talking in the immediate context he’s talking about the nation of Israel that’s right there before him. He’s talking about the people he’s talking to, telling them that the Father has issued this gracious invitation. The Father is standing there with his arms open wide, and Israel is refusing to come. The people in that room are refusing to come. They casually reject the invitation, and there were several things that would keep them from accepting the invitation, and he gives examples of what it means to reject this invitation from God.
In verse 18, we see that there are people saying, well, I’ve bought some land and I need to go see it. To us, that does not sound necessarily like an unreasonable thing.
But in their day, especially in their day, you didn’t buy land if you hadn’t seen it. In our day, it’s still not a good idea unless there’s extenuating circumstances. We’re about to send a missionary to Alaska in a month who bought property up there they’ve never seen. And they’re trusting God. That’s a different situation.
I think he’s finally seen it this last week. That’s a different situation. Most of the time we don’t buy until we have seen it ourselves and had it thoroughly inspected.
So if you’ve already bought it, you’ve seen it before, what’s the urgency? That’s something that we miss easily that they would have picked up on immediately. and somebody else there in verse 19 says oh but i’ve bought i’ve bought a team of oxen i need to try them out something else you would not have bought the oxen without trying them out this is not oh i went to lowe’s and i bought a riding mower out of the box without getting on it and starting it because i’m pretty sure they don’t let you do that but you pretty well know what you’re getting out of the box and if it doesn’t work, they’ll swap it out, probably swap it out. You know, there’s options. Those oxen were sold as is.
Nobody does that in that day. Nobody buys the oxen without trying it out. You’ve already got them. What’s the sense of urgency? And I love in verse 20, I’m sorry my wife won’t let me go.
he says i’ve recently taken a wife please let me be excused there were certain things that as a jewish man in that time you were expected to be exempt from there were certain obligations things with the military for example you were you were excused from military service for a couple of years after getting married there were some other obligations there was no rule that said you can’t go to social engagements especially when you’ve already agreed to go see that was the thing these people have known all along that this event was coming they didn’t know exactly when they knew roughly when and they’d accepted the invitation and they’re waiting until the master of the household sends his people and says come on it’s time to come to then back out. And this is something Israel would have understood or should have understood. God’s been telling them all along that there was a Messiah coming. That the kingdom of God was going to be in their midst. And that He was going to invite them to come to Him.
And there was going to be a day for them to receive Him. And what they’re saying is, no, we’re too busy. there’s considerations with our possessions there’s considerations with our busyness there’s considerations with our relationships and all of them were mere excuses and to decline at the last minute like this was a show of incredible disrespect to the to the host the problem is they simply could not be bothered to accept the invitation and even though he’s speaking specifically to Israel this happens today too the invitation to come to Christ we’re worried what it’ll cost us we’re too busy to think about it at the moment we wonder what those around us will say there are all sorts of things that will keep us from accepting the invitation and this is summed up by a quote that I love so much from John MacArthur that God is more willing to save sinners than sinners are to be saved and it’s a warning to the listener not to treat the invitation of the Lord carelessly now specifically he’s speaking about salvation and knowing most of the people in the room and knowing most of your stories and knowing your profession of faith, I understand that most of the people in this room have already accepted that invitation, have already trusted Christ as their Savior.
This is talking about the invitation to come to God through faith in the Messiah. And most of you have already done that.
And so in that sense, there’s nothing here that for you to reject or accept, you’ve already accepted it. I will say it does teach us that it is a serious matter when God invites us, when God calls us to do something for us to just casually put it aside.
If you’ve never trusted Christ as your Savior, He’s calling and inviting you to trust in Christ and be saved. Don’t reject and don’t neglect that invitation.
If you’re already a believer, there are things that he’s calling you to do right now. Don’t neglect that invitation. Don’t neglect that call.
Here’s what would have shocked his listeners the most. Let’s look at verses 21 through 23.
The feast is for those who actually come when he calls. All of these people sitting in this feast where Jesus is speaking. were under the impression they’d be part of the feast in the kingdom. Why did they think that? Well, because they are descended from Abraham.
They’ve done all the religious things. They’ve done all the works. They’ve kept all the feasts and the festivals. They’ve kept the laws and the ordinances. They’ve done all these things.
On top of that, many of them were serving as Pharisees, and many of them were ridiculously wealthy, which is not evil in and of itself. but if you were wealthy, you were well off, it was assumed that God liked you better. God liked you better, so he gave you more stuff. That was their belief.
If you’re new here, that’s not what we’re teaching. That was their belief.
And so they’re thinking, we are shoe-ins for the kingdom. We’re naturally going to be there.
But in Jesus’ story that he tells them, there were plenty of people who naturally should have been part of the feast, and they’re not there for one very simple reason. They refuse to come when called.
But what’s important for us to notice is that just because people refuse to come when called doesn’t mean that the master stops calling. It doesn’t mean that the kingdom’s going to be empty. Just because the really important, worthwhile people that everybody thought would be there aren’t going to be there doesn’t mean that the master’s call means nothing. It doesn’t mean that God is powerless to save.
Because when these people refused to come, the master kept inviting. And we see in verse 21, the outcasts are gathered. He said, go get the crippled, go get the lame, go get the blind. It was assumed in that day, if you had an ailment like that, you had done something to invite the displeasure of God or your parents had, and you were under some kind of divine judgment, and so you were less close to God.
But the master said, go get those people. The outcasts are gathered. Verse 22, they do that and the servants say, there’s still room. And he says, go get more. We don’t need to leave empty seats here.
Go get more. The empty places are filled. The far off are called. He says, go out in the highways and the hedges. Go gather them from every corner.
What Jesus is explaining here is that the kingdom of God is not just for the wealthy, it’s not just for the powerful, it’s not for just those who look the part. The invitation is extended far and wide to people that whether you measure up in man’s eyes or not, whether you amount to anything in man’s eyes or not, the invitation is for you. Regardless of where you’ve come from, regardless of what your background is, here He’s showing them the Gentiles are going to be invited into the kingdom. And thank God they are, because that’s most of us, those who are far off.
The feast isn’t for those who’ve convinced themselves they belong because they deserve it. The feast is for those who actually come when the Master calls. And the Master is so gracious that those who don’t belong are ushered into the feast and made to belong. And that’s good news, because I don’t know any of us who are good enough to belong on our own.
But he says, those who reject the invitation are shut out, in verse 24. None of those men who were invited shall taste of my dinner. See, there’s an open invitation to the Lord, but it doesn’t last forever. There is a time when we no longer have an opportunity to respond to that invitation. Certainly the Bible teaches that it’s at death.
I think it’s possible there’s also… I think it’s possible that one can also harden their heart for so long that they no longer hear that call. there’s an open invitation but it doesn’t last forever and this speaks directly to this invitation to salvation what he’s telling the pharisees here is there’s going to come a point if it hasn’t already that you reject the invitation so long that it’s no longer issued he’s already warned them that the nation as a whole has rejected him and so the nation as a whole is going to come under judgment.
But what we need to take away from this this morning is that if you’ve never trusted Christ as your Savior, this invitation is for you. God’s invitation to come into the kingdom is for you. No matter where you’ve come from, no matter what you’ve done, it’s for you. It’s also a reminder that it’s needed no matter where you’ve come from or what’s your background or what you’ve done. We’re all in the same place of need for Jesus Christ.
This invitation is for each of us, but we don’t know how long we have to respond to it. I don’t say that to scare anybody.
But the reality is we don’t know how long any of us have on this planet. I was at a conference this week where the man gave us a tape measure, gave each of us a paper tape measure, 13 inches long, because he said the record is just a little over 120 years for somebody’s lifespan. And he said each of these inches represents a decade. He said I want you to tear off how many have already passed, how many years have already passed. That hurt tearing four inches off of that.
Then he said, look at your family, look at your lifestyle, look at the average age for where you are in your situation, and estimate how long you think you might be here. We know it’s in God’s hands, but estimate how long you think you might have left. And what’s left in the middle is the opportunity, the time we have left to serve the Lord. And that was sobering looking at those, I said 105 because I told Charla I’ve made a deal with the Lord. I have got to see Jojo and Abigail as little old ladies.
I need the Lord to let me live long enough to see that. But looking at what’s left, the realization that life passes so quickly and we don’t know how long is left at the other end of that tape measure. and I’ve spoken at too many funerals for too many people who were too young we don’t know my plea to you today is if you’ve never trusted Christ if you’ve never accepted that invitation from the father to come into the kingdom to to be welcomed in with open arms do it today because we don’t know how long the invitation lasts if you have trusted Christ as your Savior if there’s something he’s calling you to do accept that invitation really as believers it’s a command for us but the bottom line being do what he calls when he calls because we don’t know how long we have left to serve the Lord
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