Check It Out • Luke 14:15-24

1:05:15 Teaching begins

Notes

Let’s say you get a card through your mail slot, and you pick it up and it says, “Winner, winner, chicken dinner!” You look inside, and it says, “Magnificent banquet, 180 days, all expenses paid.” What?

You drop that in the bin. Waste of time. But then you stop. Is that for real? You could leave it there in the bin, or you could check it out.

On first hearing Jesus sounds like “Winner, winner, chicken dinner.” People stop right there and don’t check Him out. They make a bad decision to leave Him in the bin.

If you never check it out, you’ll miss eternal life.

I’m reading in Luke 14 from verse 15.

1. A Pharisee says something to fill the awkward silence.

A. Inviting Jesus to a meal has been a bigger challenge than the Pharisees thought it would be.

1. In their own private domain they find themselves bested. Jesus heals a sick man on the Sabbath and defends Himself so reasonably that they are left with nothing to say.

2. Then Jesus comments on their manoeuvring for position and honour from one another. You should be humble, He says, showing that they’re not humble. They’re arrogant and proud.

3. Then Jesus offers to the host to not invite those who can reciprocate, but invite those who can’t, because he should seek the honour and blessing of God in the resurrection.

B. Jesus has searched out their hearts and their motives. They fall short. They’re not as good as they think they are. It’s a little quiet in the room. What do you say when there’s nothing to say?

C. That’s when one Pharisee says something that is as innocuous as “nice day if it don’t rain.” “Blessed is he who shall eat bread in the kingdom of God!”

1. That is called a truism. It’s true, everybody knows it, and it doesn’t add to our knowledge, doesn’t accomplish anything. It’s a filler, it’s a nothing burger.

2. It might be on the order of, “Well, at least we’re all on the same side, seeing as we’re all going to heaven, right?”

D. Jesus tells a story to say, “We’re not all going to the same place.”

2. He tells this story. A man gives a big dinner. This dinner is a dinner of honour.

A. We think, “A big dinner, what’s so important about that? It’s a bunch of food, who cares? Why make a big deal out of it?”

B. I used to think that, then I looked up some of the words involved, and I quickly realised, this is way beyond “a big dinner”.

1. Banquet means “a sumptuous feast, especially: an elaborate and often ceremonious meal for numerous people often in honor of a person.” This is a dinner, but it’s more than food, it’s about honouring a person, showing recognition of a person’s outstanding qualities.

2. Sumptuous means “extremely costly, rich, luxurious, or magnificent” A person who puts on a dinner like that lives that way. He has resources.

3. Magnificent means, “impressive to the mind or spirit : sublime: “tending to inspire awe usually because of elevated quality (as of beauty, nobility, or grandeur) or transcendent excellence.” Transcendent: exceeding usual limits : greatly exceeding others : of a very high degree.

C. There’s a banquet like this in Scripture, given by King Ahasuerus of Persia, in Esther 1.

Now it took place in the days of Ahasuerus, the Ahasuerus who reigned from India to Ethiopia over 127 provinces, in those days as King Ahasuerus sat on his royal throne which was at the citadel in Susa, in the third year of his reign he gave a banquet for all his princes and attendants, the army officers of Persia and Media, the nobles and the princes of his provinces being in his presence. And he displayed the riches of his royal glory and the splendor of his great majesty for many days, 180 days.

When these days were completed, the king gave a banquet lasting seven days for all the people who were present at the citadel in Susa, from the greatest to the least, in the court of the garden of the king’s palace. There were hangings of fine white and violet linen held by cords of fine purple linen on silver rings and marble columns, and couches of gold and silver on a mosaic pavement of porphyry, marble, mother-of-pearl and precious stones. Drinks were served in golden vessels of various kinds, and the royal wine was plentiful according to the king’s bounty. The drinking was done according to the law, there was no compulsion, for so the king had given orders to each official of his household that he should do according to the desires of each person.

1. For 180 days these government officials lived like the king. For seven days, all the people of Susa lived like the king.

2. This exalted host is giving a dinner, and it might be in recognition of who he is, and yet, that will also exalt each of those guests to live like him. He is going to exalt them as well. Everyone will be honoured. That’s generous, magnificent, sumptuous, inspiring awe. That’s some dinner.

3. That makes it more outrageous when those invited guests snub their host.

A. Everyone knows what “snub” means, right? To treat with contempt or neglect. Contempt means, to regard someone as small or unimportant or of so little consequence as to warrant little or no attention.

B. Remember this is a big dinner. There must be many people invited.

C. But every one of them thinks, “This guy is a joke. He has nothing I need or want. He’s dreaming if he thinks I’m going to waste my time with him.”

D. And they give excuses so flimsy both of them know they’re deliberately insulting him.

1. I just bought a plot of ground and I must go out and see it. I ask you to have me excused. Nobody buys land unseen.

2. I’ve bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to test them. I ask you to have me excused. You gotta go plowing right now, huh? Plowing is more important to you than this exalted dinner?

3. I’ve married a wife and therefore I cannot come. What does that even mean?

E. These men all think they know the host. They all have a low opinion of him, they can do life without him. They can completely ignore and insult him and there is no danger, no risk because nothing is going to happen to them.

4. The host gets the message and he’s angry, but he goes ahead with his dinner anyway.

A. He does something unexpected. He invites and compels the unwanted and the afflicted.

1. He says to his servant, now, go get all the crippled, lame, blind, and poor people you can find, and get them in here. Would they be hard to invite? No, because they know their need. “You wanna come to a dinner that lasts six months and you live like a king?” Sounds good to me, sign me up.

2. The servant comes and says, we got ‘em, but there’s still room.

3. The master says, go out to the highways and the hedges. Find homeless people living rough and fill up my house. “You wanna eat three meals a day and sleep in Egyptian cotton for the next six months?” What’s the catch? “You have to prove you’re homeless to qualify.” Do I look like Elon Musk?

B. The host is showing how exalted he really is.

1. The whole purpose of the dinner is to exalt the ones who come, to give, not to take. I thought the people I invited were worthy but they decided they didn’t want me. So be it.

2. He is so good, He says, I can exalt anybody I want. I’m still going to exalt anybody I want. I’ll exalt nobodies, the unwanted, the wretched, the ones who don’t have anything.  I’ll have them living like me, a magnificent, meaningful existence in beauty and wonder, and they will know that I am that good.

3. When they are exalted, he is exalted for his obvious goodness and greatness. He can exalt anybody.

C. There’s another point here. The host is making it so there’s no room for any of those men who insulted him. If they saw how exalted this dinner is, they could change their mind out of sheer greed and say, “Please let me in.” The host will say, “Sorry, I don’t have any more room. Full up.” Those men made a decision, and the host is agreeing with their decision.

6. So what?

A. The point of this story is that the invitees really don’t know their host.

B. They make a bad decision based on ignorance and pride. They refuse and insult a good, generous person.

C. Decisions have consequences. The host decides he is not going to do any good that he planned to do for them, he is not going to bless them. He is done with them.

D. Let’s apply this to real life.

1. God is inviting everyone through the gospel to eternal life, much more important than food at a banquet.

2. People don’t know God. They figure He is unimportant, can’t do anything for them, they don’t want whatever it is He’s giving. More likely He will wreck their lives. They refuse Him. That’s a decision based on ignorance and pride.

3. God will let your decision stand. You decided, I don’t want this. It means I don’t want Jesus, I don’t want eternal life. It’s terrifying that we can make ignorant decisions and God says, okay, have it your way.

4. Test yourself in this: do you know if you have eternal life? Do you care? Are you aware that God loves you? Does it make any difference to you? Do you know where you’re going when you die? If you answer, “I don’t know” to any of those questions, you’re in the same position as those insulting men. You’re making decisions without knowing what you’re doing. You might think you know, they certainly thought they did, but they had no clue. You are in the same position.

E. You start coming out of ignorance when you realised you have sinned against God and insulted and offended Him. It’s the minimum you need to know. May God enlighten you and make you aware of your sin.

F. Because then you can find out more about Jesus, that He’s a lot better than you give Him credit. You’ll find that He is the source of all you need in this life. He gives forgiveness for all your sins against God. He takes away from you all the wrath of God. You won’t go to eternal judgment for your sins, which is where you’re going now. He gives peace because you’re not fighting against God, you are reconciled to Him. He has an exalted magnificent plan for your life. He has better taste than you. He knows what will satisfy you and what will destroy you completely. He can get you to heaven.

G. This is also for believers. For some reason we lose the momentum of knowing Jesus. We don’t consider that He has what we need so we start looking somewhere else. The real issue is you don’t know that He can work at your job. He can work in your family. He can work in you. You think, I’m blind, I’m lame, I’ll never change. You are really saying, “I don’t know Jesus.”

H. Jesus is the host in His story: “I can exalt anyone.” He chose you not just to bless you, but for the larger purpose of glorifying Himself. He sees you, respects you, blesses you, exalts you. The whole world can see His goodness and glory in you.

I. You need to know Jesus, it doesn’t matter if you believe or if you don’t, you need to know Jesus. Do not decide to reject Him quickly. Find out more first.

Let’s pray.