MPC, 23rd December 2001.Luke 14 - "Giving Everything for the Kingdom"
Cameron Wills MPC, 23rd December 2001.
Farmer Joe was the sort of guy who was always POPULAR with his farmyard animals. They loved him. And always wanted to please him. One day the chicken says to the pig, 'Hey pig, why don't we do something nice for farmer Joe? Why don't we give him BACON AND EGGS for breakfast tomorrow?' The pig thinks about it for a couple of seconds. And then says to the chicken, 'That's going to call for a PRETTY BIG COMMITTMENT. All you've gotta give is a couple of eggs. I've gotta GIVE UP EVERYTHING to do that!'
To make bacon and eggs, the chicken only needs to give a casual commitment. A couple of eggs. But for the pig, giving farmer Joe some tasty fried bacon means the chopping block. He has to GIVE UP HIS LIFE.
Now you'll find a lot of things are like that. Some things you can be casually committed to. And other things you've GOTTA GIVE YOUR ALL for. Different things in life need different levels of commitment. And when it comes to being a part of God's kingdom, when it comes to being a follower of Jesus, it's like the situation the pig was in. To be a part of the kingdom of God, to be a follower of Jesus, you've GOTTA GIVE EVERYTHING. It's all or nothing. Here in Luke chapter 14, Jesus gives us just those two choices.
The chapter starts with Jesus having lunch. He's eating at a prominent Pharisee's house. This Pharisee's an important man, he's a religious leader of the day. Now in those days guests at a meal would often be seated around the table IN RANK ORDER. The most important person next to the host. And then the next most important person next to them, and so on round the table.
Well Jesus sees the guests choosing the places of honour around the table FOR THEMSELVES. Pushing for position. And so he tells them a parable. And in his parable he tells them NOT TO TAKE THE IMPORTANT SEAT, if they're invited to a wedding feast. Read it with me, in verses seven to nine,
"When he noticed how the guests picked the PLACES OF HONOUR at the table, he told them this parable: "When someone invites you to a wedding feast, DON'T TAKE THE PLACE OF HONOUR, for a person more distinguished than you may have been invited. If so, the host who invited both of you will come and say to you, 'Give this man your seat.' Then, humiliated, you will have to take the least important place."
It's a bit like THE OPPOSITE to what happened with a woman I knew at a previous church. Now there was a group of about thirty of us from church at a restaurant one night. I was sitting at one table with some other friends. And then our other friend arrives and, first of all, she sits at our table. But she obviously wasn't happy sitting with us. She kept looking around at the other tables, and then got up and swapped tables.
It seems she thought that it'd be better for her image, sitting at the other table. I guess being seen with the 'important people' is what mattered to her. And we just didn't make the grade. The other table had the important seats, and that's what she wanted. That's what she took. I guess she was a bit like the guests at the Pharisee's house.
But Jesus says not to take the most important seat around the table. He's only warming up in his parable though. For Jesus then says that you should choose the LEAST IMPORTANT SEAT. The one with the lowest prestige.
But Jesus is also talking about more than just where you sit around a table. He's saying that you should act humbly, IN ALL YOUR LIFE. That giving up ugly pride should be what you do, day-in, day-out. If you're a follower of Jesus then GIVING AWAY EXALTING YOURSELF is to be like the meat and potatoes of your life. Your staple diet, how you live. Self-exaltation is a thing of the past. You've gotta give that up to be part of the kingdom. Which you can see in verses ten and eleven,
"But when you are invited, TAKE THE LOWEST PLACE, so that when your host comes, he will say to you, 'Friend, move up to a better place.' Then you will be honoured in the presence of all your fellow guests. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and HE WHO HUMBLES HIMSELF WILL BE EXALTED."
I reckon that at least some of the guests would now be feeling a bit less warmly to Jesus. They're choosing the places of honour, exalting themselves, and he tells them that they'll be humbled for doing this. And maybe the host isn't so sure now about having invited Jesus to lunch. He might be thinking of having a 'quiet word' to Jesus about not insulting his guests. I mean, after all, it's not Jesus' home. He's just a guest himself.
But before the host can say anything to Jesus, Jesus has got some advice for him as well. I mean, how rude is this? He starts telling him about who NOT TO INVITE to lunch. Who to cross off your next dinner-party invite list. He says, 'Don't invite people who might be able to return the favour'. Don't give, when you might get something back. It's about not doing something, with a pay-back in mind. Look at verse twelve,
"Then Jesus said to his host, "When you give a lunch or dinner, don't invite your friends, your brothers or relatives, or your rich neighbours; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid."
But instead, the way to go is to invite people WHO CAN'T return your favour. It's generosity that's truly generous. Giving that doesn't want to be repaid. But the thing is, that that sort of giving will actually result in a better blessing than having your favour returned now. That sort of generosity gets a repayment AT THE END of this world. So that means if you're following Jesus, you've given away the whole idea of getting repayment now. That you give, without any thought of getting in reply. You've gotta give away getting repayment, to be part of the kingdom. Read verse thirteen,
"But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed. Although THEY CANNOT REPAY YOU, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous."
Now one of the people having lunch with Jesus picks up on him mentioning the resurrection on the last day. And the man says how great it's gonna be for anyone who enters God's kingdom when it fully arrives. That it's going to be QUITE A PARTY. And Jesus agrees. Except he says, the guest list is going to be surprising.
Verse sixteen; here's what he says:
"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.'"
Now I reckon if you were there having lunch with Jesus and you heard him say that, you'd be pretty happy. You've heard all about Jesus, the miracles he's done and that he teaches God's truth. And now he's saying THAT YOU, can be a part of God's kingdom.
But Jesus' doesn't give his story a happy ending. Because he says that the people who've been asked into the kingdom are refusing the INVITATION. That they've got other things on their mind. They reckon their own personal affairs are more important than being part of the kingdom. They haven't given up everything for the kingdom. Far from it. Take a look from verse eighteen,
"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 just got married, so I can't come.'"
Which for all of them, is a BAD MOVE. Putting personal interests, putting YOURSELF, ahead of being part of the kingdom means YOU MISS OUT on the party. And that's how Jesus ends his story about the coming feast in God's kingdom. It's in verse twenty four, look at it with me,
"I tell you, not one of those men who were invited will get a taste of my banquet."
The people in Jesus' story value other things more than the kingdom, and so they aren't part of the kingdom. To them, their real estate, their first-century tractor and marriage is more important. But the kingdom has to be more important than even these things.
Now that seems like a big ask, having your home (a man's castle) or your spouse as less important to you than wanting to be part of the kingdom. But Jesus demands that.
And he doesn't stop there. He's relentless. Jesus tells you and me that to be his follower you and I must give up our very selves, our lives. That to be a part of the kingdom you must regard your life lived for yourself as being dead. Finished.
In the first century, people who were going out to be crucified sometimes had to carry the cross-bar they were going to die on. If you were in that situation then you were going out to certain death. Well figuratively that's what you've gotta do if you want to enter the kingdom. Die to self, and then follow Jesus. Read verse twenty-seven,
"And anyone who does not CARRY HIS CROSS and follow me cannot be my disciple."
Crucifixions are pretty rare today though. The only crosses you usually find nowadays are in church buildings or around people's necks. If carrying your cross has an equivalent today, then it might be something like the electric chair. Strapping yourself into the electric chair. Walking into that small room, strapping yourself in and then waiting for the switch to close and the surge of electricity. That's what they're hearing Jesus saying. When he says TAKE UP YOUR CROSS.
And with a cost like that, it's no wonder that Jesus tells you to think hard before committing yourself to being his follower. To think about whether you're willing to die to yourself and then follow him for the rest of your life. To bring the job to completion. Look at verse twenty-eight,
"Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and ESTIMATE THE COST to see if he has enough money to complete it?"
Beause doing only part of the job's not enough. To start, but then quit half-way through is a waste of time. And everyone will see you've been a FOOL. Which is what Jesus says in verses twenty-nine and thirty,
"For if he lays the foundation and is not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule him, saying, 'This fellow began to build and WAS NOT ABLE TO FINISH.'"
Make sure you can finish the job before you start. Make sure that you're willing to pay the cost to be a part of the kingdom. And the price is everything. You've gotta give up everything if you want to be a part of the kingdom. Look at verse thirty-three,
"In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple."
Now these are tough words aren't they? Incredibly challenging. That you need to make a WHOLE LIFE COMMITMENT to be a follower of Jesus. Like the PIG with the bacon and eggs. Have you done that in the past? Was there a point in time when you made Jesus the king of your life, and started following him? And if you've already done that, are you still giving your all now?
Or are there other things, or people, that you value more than the kingdom? Like the half-million dollar house, or the Ferrari, or getting to the top of the ladder at work. Things that might not be bad in themselves, but for you, they're number one, the goal of your life.
Or maybe it's more subtle for you, maybe things that only your family or your spouse know about. The secret little habits which take you away from following Jesus, but that you've sworn not to give up. Or it could be something else for you.
Being a part of the kingdom is on offer for you today. It's not just a hobby. Not a casual commitment. It's YOUR LIFE. So make sure you count the cost.