Greater Welcome Rich Nathan November 21-22, 2009 Your Gospel Is Too Small Series Luke 14:1-24

Have you ever been in a situation where you knew that you were not welcome because of your race, because of your religion, because of your financial situation, or your education?

When you are not welcome

I read a story recently about a Jewish lawyer, who is the managing partner of a major corporate take-over firm in New York City. He graduated from Harvard Law School at the top of his class in the early 1960’s. He told one of his friends that he was going to interview at a major Wall Street law firm. His friends said: You’re crazy! They’ll never hire you. You’re Jewish.

He said: Oh, come on…that anti-Semitic stuff is all in the past.

So, he went to the interview at this prestigious Wall Street firm. Back then they called it a “white shoe firm”; all of the lawyers were white, male, Protestant. They all had summer homes in the Hamptons and wore white shoes in the summer. He said that he interviewed with one of the partners, who had incredibly soft hands. The partner was very smooth, very pleasant. The partner was also more than complementary about this young man’s academic success at Harvard Law School. And at the end of the interview, the partner said, “I think that with your unique particularities, you would fit better in one of the smaller uptown firms.” In other words, “There is no way that we will ever hire a Jew.”

Have you ever been in a situation where you weren’t welcome, you knew you were an outsider? Perhaps you are the second wife, the stepmom, and your husband’s son was graduating from high school, or your husband’s daughter was getting married, and you are treated like a leper by the ex-wife and by her whole family and friendship circle. Maybe even by the children. It can be very difficult to negotiate blended family situations especially during celebrations or funerals.

Speaking about exclusion, you probably read about or heard of the Louisiana Justice of the Peace, who recently refused to marry a couple because it was an interracial marriage. This woman, age 30, and her boyfriend, age 32, went to Justice of the Peace Bardwell and asked him to perform their marriage ceremony and sign the license to legally validate their marriage. They ended up speaking by telephone and the woman was asked if they were “a mixed couple.” And when told that they were, indeed, an interracial couple, they were told, “We don’t

The Justice of the Peace said that performing a mixed marriage violated his conscience.

Maybe you have been involved in an interracial dating situation, or maybe you married outside of your race and your date or your spouse’s parents or family made it very clear that they didn’t want you, or didn’t want what you represented to them – your kind dating or marrying their son or daughter.

Most of you know that I was raised in a Jewish family. My oldest sister dated and later married an Italian Catholic boy. I remember the first time my grandmother met my sister’s boyfriend. My grandmother was very traditional and believed that you didn’t date and, certainly, didn’t get engaged to or marry someone outside of the Jewish faith. It just wasn’t done in her generation.

The first time she met my future brother-in-law whose name was Dominick Guerriera, she kept hearing my sister call him “Dom.” Dom, could you please pass the rolls; Dom, could you get me some water; Dom this; Dom that. So my grandmother asked, “Dom, is that short for Donald or Donny?”

My sister said, “No, his name is not Don; it’s Dom. It is short for Dominick.”

Well, Dominick is not a Jewish name. My grandmother lost all the color in her face and said, “Dominick? Dominick? Dominick?” And for the rest of the lunch, she sat in stony silence.

I’ve been doing a series that I’ve titled “Your Gospel Is Too Small.” I’ve said to you repeatedly that the gospel is the amazing good news that the crucified and resurrected Jesus is Lord of the world. And he offers to anyone, who would turn to him in faith and repentance, not only the gift of forgiveness, but also the power to change our lives for the good. And then to those who are changed by him, Jesus says, “Now come join me and let’s go out and change the world together.”

One of the most identifiable ways that Jesus changes people is that he gives us welcoming hearts. The people who belong to Christ are people who are marked, who are identified as uniquely welcoming people; folks who stretch beyond their race and class and background and politics and religion to welcome people who others might reject.

I’ve called today’s talk “Greater Welcome.” Let’s pray.

Welcome has been the unique mark of our country. When I think about America at our best, we have been the most welcoming country in the history of the world.

Welcome and immigration

Travel the world, as I have, and most countries struggle to assimilate people of different ethnicities and races. If you go to Europe right now you will find again the rise of ultra-nationalists, ultra-right political parties that want to keep France for the French, or Denmark for the Danes, or the Netherlands for the Dutch. It’s even worse in East Asia. If you are in Korea or Japan and you are not Korean or Japanese, you are absolutely treated as a second-class citizen.

What has made America unique; what has made us at times in history a shining city on a hill, to use the old Puritan phrase the President Reagan borrowed; it’s never been our military prowess – there have been great military powers in the past – Rome and Spain and the Mongols, Germany. It has not been our great economic prosperity. There have been other great economic powers in the past – the Netherlands, France, and England. What has made America unique, if there is anything special about this country, in my opinion, it has been that at our best moments we have been the most welcoming nation on earth.

Our history as Americans

Now, we’ve not done this perfectly, certainly not regarding the Chinese back in the 1880’s and still less, of course, regarding Africans. But the ideal was there. It was summed up in the words of Emma Lazarus which were penned in 1883 and then inscribed on the base of the Statue of Liberty.

Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teaming shore. Send these, the homeless, the tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!

Unfortunately, in America we’ve tended to swing like a pendulum between this expression of welcome and then, at times at our worst, we’ve been controlled by fear, prejudice, and a desire to exclude people who are different than us. So, for example, in 1911 the federal government came under pressure from the Immigration Restriction League which was a nativist group. The US government published a report named after the Commission’s Chair, Senator William Dillingham. The Dillingham Commission Report said:

Racial distinctions made the new immigrants biologically inferior to the old, and thus less likely to become good Americans.

The Commission specifically found that:

The Commission recommended:

Restriction as demanded by economic, moral and social considerations.

We are, as Americans, pretty schizophrenic about immigration. We pride ourselves as being a nation of immigrants. We love stories about Ellis Island. We visit the Statue of Liberty. And yet, I know many good folks who support really harsh measures concerning undocumented workers, folks who have overstayed their visas. They need to be rounded up and thrown out, even if they are contributing to our country, paying taxes, are married or whatever.

Now we know as followers of Jesus that God has a special place in his heart for the weak, for widows and orphans, and for immigrants, who were called in the Old Testament “foreigners” and “aliens.”

Our heritage as Christians

We don’t think like the rest of the world. We always look at the world through biblical lenses. We read passages like these in the Old Testament:

Deuteronomy 10:17-19 For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality and accepts no bribes. 18 He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the foreigners residing among you, giving them food and clothing. 19 And you are to love those who are foreigners, for you yourselves were foreigners in Egypt.

Leviticus 19:33-34 “‘When foreigners reside among you in your land, do not mistreat them. 34 The foreigners residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt. I am the Lord your God.

In the Old Testament Jews were required to repeat a prayer that begins this way:

Deuteronomy 26:5 Then you shall declare before the Lord your God: “My father was a wandering Aramean, and he went down into Egypt…”

God made sure that the Jewish people never forgot that they, themselves, were a nation of immigrants, of foreigners, so that they might not mistreat foreigners and aliens in their midst. We have terminally short memories. We forget where

© Rich Nathan 2009 4 we came from. The patriarchs, of course – Abraham, Jacob, and Jacobs sons – were economic refugees. They went to another country because they were starving in their own country. And we know that Jesus was a political refugee, whose parents fled with him to Egypt because Jesus would have been killed by King Herod. We followers of Jesus know that on the day of judgment we will be asked by God how we related to the weakest in society, the hungry, the thirsty, the alien.

Jesus says this in the text we looked at a few weeks ago,

Matthew 25:35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in,

Welcome is the mark of the Christian. But as I said, I speak with many good Christians who know something of American history and our history as a nation of immigrants, and who know their Bibles, and who yet oppose more welcoming laws concerning immigrants. And as I talk with folks, I discover that many people don’t know how immigration really works in America right now. We obviously need, as a country, to control our borders. No countries can exist that doesn’t control its borders. We live in a world in which there are terrorists who want to kill our citizens. So we do need safe and secure borders.

When I talk with other followers of Jesus, I often hear expressed the sentiment that says: I don’t have a problem with immigration, so long as it is done legally. I don’t like it that people are sneaking across the border and jumping ahead in line before those who have waited their turn. That’s unfair and wrong.

I completely agree. I completely agree if our laws were fair. But here’s the problem. Walk in the shoes of an immigrant. Let’s say that you are a Mexican woman. You are 26 years old and you have two kids. You are living in a small town in Central Mexico and you are earning $3 a day selling eggs from the few chickens you keep in a little pen by your house. And you have an aunt, who is living in Chicago and she writes to you and says: “I work at a motel here in Chicago cleaning rooms and I make $7.50 an hour. I can get you a job.”

Now, you are that Mexican woman with two children to feed. But you say: I’m a born-again Christian and I’ve read Romans 13 that tells me to obey the laws of the country that I’m in. And I want to do this the right way. I want to obey the laws of the US. I’m willing to wait in line to get in legally to America.

How long do you think you would have to stand in line at the US Consulate in Mexico to get into the US legally, if you were a poor Mexican woman? Write down your answer on your bulletin. How long do you think you would have to wait in line at the American Consulate?

Period. So here you are, a few hundred miles from food for your kids. You are just a few hundred miles away from being able to care for your children. But you can’t do it.

Again, you are a Mexican woman. You are 26 years old. But your mother is an American citizen. How long to you think you would have to wait to get a legal visa to get into America, if your mother was a US citizen? The answer is 16 years!

Now, if you Italian, the answer is 5 years. And if you want to do things legally in America right now, how many cases do you think have to be processed before they get to your case? 200,000? Half million? A million? Try 6 million!

You say: why are you raising these issues about immigration, Rich? As your pastor, I believe my calling to you was expressed by the Apostle Paul 2000 years when he said in Colossians 1:28-29:

Colossians 1:28-29 We proclaim him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone fully mature in Christ. 29 To this end I strenuously contend with all the energy Christ so powerfully works in me.

Part of my passion, what I strive for, is to try to, week by week, to shape the inclinations of your heart so that your natural response would be more and more like Jesus’; that when you are offended, you would more and more be predisposed to forgive and to not seek revenge; that when you are stressed, you would be predisposed more and more to be patient and long-suffering and not be angry; that when you are tempted, you would resist and to be pure in heart; and when you encounter someone in need, someone who is weak, that you would be predisposed more and more to walk in the shoes of the weak and to be generous and open-handed.

There is nothing that makes me prouder to be your pastor than when I see examples of people in our congregation whose heart inclinations are like the heart of Jesus. There is nothing that makes me prouder to be pastor of Vineyard Columbus than when I look around and I notice people who are seeing things not just based on their own class, their own background, their own race, their own group, but they see through the eyes of the have-nots, the poor, the widow, the fatherless, the hungry, the lonely, the immigrant.

When I see Drew Campbell, who is a corporate attorney for one of Columbus’ largest and most prestigious law firms, volunteering to head up our free legal clinic along with a dozen or so other attorneys in the church, taking their own

When I see Deb Petermann creating a ministry in this church for young people who have a variety of learning disabilities and various types of autism, I say: There’s the welcome of Jesus.

When I see John Seymour reaching out to young men who are in prison, folks that the rest of society says are throw-aways, refuse, but I see John working to see young men discover Jesus and get their lives turned around, I say, “There is a Christian! There is the heart of Jesus!”

When I see our church teach ESL classes for 150 immigrants each week, and I when I see us every day teach dozens of Somali kids, I think there’s the welcome of Jesus.

I want to share with you an incredible story of God’s heart for the poor working through a member of this church. The social worker at our community center sent me this:

Hey guys! Just thought I would share a neat story and just how God is orchestrating in people’s lives and using this ministry to be a blessing. On Wednesday I received a call from a church member who wanted to adopt a family for Christmas. I wanted to find a family who did not meet the criteria for Vineyard Christmas for Kids but yet demonstrated they do love the Lord and are faithfully attending the church. This is a single mother of 2 (5,6) and when I called her she began to weep. She was actually sitting in her car praying for a miracle as they were evicted today and she did not know where to go or what to do. She was thinking that they would all three be sleeping in their car this evening. I gave her the number to the YMCA Family shelter and she was so excited because she did not even know they existed. I then told her about the “anonymous” company who wanted to help with Christmas and she was actually flabbergasted, amazed that God had answered her prayers above and beyond what she had asked for…oh, I was so humbled and barely held back the tears. We prayed together and I could just sense the Holy Spirit and her absolute joy! As we talked about the families needs, I could hear her rummaging through plastic bags as we talked to look for clothes and shoe sizes for her children. It sounds as if they are in desperate need of clothing, winter coats and shoes (she said it has probably been a year or longer since she has bought shoes for her children- can’t even imagine at their ages how their feet have grown). As far as toys her son asked for a bat man toy and her daughter a princess Barbie. When I asked about her clothes and shoe sizes and needs she could not believe that this agency would want to bless her as well. She was so tickled and it occurred to me this lady has just become homeless and is still facing some very difficult barriers but yet

That’s the kind of generous and welcoming heart that I love seeing and want to have multiplied here at this church.

In Luke 14 we see story after story of eating. We read in verse 1:

Luke 14:1 One Sabbath, when Jesus went to eat in the house of a prominent Pharisee, he was being carefully watched.

And then in the rest of the chapter Jesus tells story after story about eating and banqueting.

Welcome and eating

You need to understand that in the ancient Middle East, meals were loaded with significance regarding who was in and who was out, who was up and who was down. To invite someone for a meal meant that they were “in” with you. And then where people sat at the table was absolutely central to their status in society. Meals were all about welcome and giving people insider status with you. That’s why the Pharisees were always so upset with who Jesus ate with. We read in Luke 15:1-2:

Luke 15:1-2 Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus. 2 But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”

Welcome and hospitality

It is a little bit like that today, more so outside of America than in America. But brothers and sisters, one way that we show welcome especially to students who are studying here from abroad, single people who may not have family in town, elderly people who are alone is by practicing hospitality and inviting someone into your home to share a meal with you. Some of you have been given gifts of hospitality. And when you use those gifts not just with your friends, but with those who might be alone, you are marking yourself out as someone who has the identifying badge of Jesus. You have become a welcoming person through your gifts of hospitality.

And then in verses 2-4 we see this.

Luke 14:2-4

© Rich Nathan 2009 8 There in front of him was a man suffering from abnormal swelling of his body. 3 Jesus asked the Pharisees and experts in the law, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath or not?” 4 But they remained silent. So taking hold of the man, he healed him and sent him on his way.

Welcome and healing

Why did Jesus heal? Well, certainly, a part of it was just his compassion when he saw someone in pain. His heart moved him as our hearts should move us when we see someone in pain. We should be moved to want to pray for that person. To ask to pray for that person – whether it is the pain of going through a divorce or the pain of rejection or the pain of dealing with an illness.

But healing goes beyond mere demonstration of compassion. Healing is a demonstration of the welcome of the kingdom. Because when Jesus healed folks he was not only physically restoring them, he was restoring them into full participation in the covenant community. See, in Jesus’ day, there were certain people who were excluded from the community. If you weren’t a Jew, if you were a Gentile, you were excluded. You aren’t welcome here.

But if you were a defective Jew, either in your practice because you didn’t observe the Sabbath in the right way or you didn’t wash your hands; if you were a defective Jew or you were defective physically, if you were born blind or deaf or lame or you were blemished in some way or you had a skin disease or discharge – then you were also excluded from community.

And so what Jesus does when he performs a miracle of healing for a Gentile or a miracle of healing for a Samaritan or a defective Jew, a Jew who wasn’t doing the Torah or who was physically impaired, what Jesus is doing in all these healings is demonstrating the wide open arms of God. He is demonstrating the welcome of God to all the groups who had been pushed out. He is saying, “I am declaring you are included in the family of God. You are part of the community. You are welcome.”

We read in verses 12-14 these words:

Luke 14:12-14 Then Jesus said to his host, “When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or sisters, your relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. 13 But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, 14 and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”

That’s why being a church that welcomes those who have disabilities – the crippled, lame and blind – a nice thing to do, an optional thing if you are a

Now, lets read the story in verses 15-24:

Luke 14:15-24 When one of those at the table with him heard this, he said to Jesus, “Blessed are those who will eat at the feast in the kingdom of God.” 16 Jesus replied: “A certain man was preparing a great banquet and invited many guests. 17 At the time of the banquet he sent his servant to tell those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’ 18 “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.’ 19 “Another said, ‘I have just bought five yoke of oxen, and I’m on my way to try them out. Please excuse me.’ 20 “Still another said, ‘I just got married, so I can’t come.’ 21 “The servant came back and reported this to his master. Then the owner of the house became angry and ordered his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame.’ 22 “‘Sir,’ the servant said, ‘what you ordered has been done, but there is still room.’ 23 “Then the master told his servant, ‘Go out to the roads and country lanes and compel them to come in, so that my house will be full. 24 I tell you, not one of those who were invited will get a taste of my banquet.’”

Welcome and the banquet

This is a story of the welcome of God.

Luke 14:16 Jesus replied: “A certain man was preparing a great banquet and invited many guests.

Of course, the certain man in this story is God. And the great banquet is the Messianic banquet. Now, banquets are often used by the writers of scripture as symbols of the kingdom of God. They are symbols of pure grace because you don’t have to do anything other than to just show up to eat the banquet. The banquet is a symbol of the pure, sheer grace of God offered to us in the kingdom.

See, Jesus doesn’t say that a man once threw a potluck dinner in which everyone contributed what they had to the dinner. Salvation is not a potluck dinner where you come with what you have, and then God adds what he has. The only thing you bring to the table is your appetite, your hunger. Where you say, “I am hungry for something that will work in my life. I am hungry for real answers. I am hungry for truth. I am hungry for peace. I am hungry for God.” The only requirement is that you come hungry. That you come thirsty. Nothing else. All you need to do is come and eat.

And eating, you know, is such a great picture of the way salvation works because in order to enjoy the banquet you don’t just come and stare at the food. You take it in. You make it your own. It is the same thing with salvation. You go for it. You embrace it. You take it in. You don’t talk about it or debate it or stare at it. You make it your own.

And this banquet is the result of great preparation.

God’s great preparation

Jesus says, “A certain man was preparing a great banquet.” The Messianic banquet was prepared from the beginning of time by God. He gave hints and fore-shadowings of this coming banquet through all the Old Testament prophets and patriarchs, through Abraham and Moses and King David and Solomon and the various prophets.

Luke 14:17 At the time of the banquet he sent his servant to tell those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’

God’s great invitation

There is going to be a great feast at the end. But that is not what this parable is referring to. What was in the minds of the Pharisees was that one day we will get to eat. And Jesus says that he sent his servant out to tell those who had been invited to come, because everything is now ready. Circle that word “now” in your Bible in verse 17.

Luke 14:17 At the time of the banquet he sent his servant to tell those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’

We can experience healing now. We can experience intimacy with God now. Righteousness, peace and joy now. A significant measure of healing in our marriages now. An end to loneliness now. Racial reconciliation now. A welcoming church now. The hungry can be fed now. The immigrant can be welcomed now. The prisoner can be visited now. Now is the appointed time. Now is the day of salvation.

And this man sends his messengers out to invite.

Luke 14:17 At the time of the banquet he sent his servant to tell those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’

© Rich Nathan 2009 11 Now, in the ancient Middle East a host would send out invitations telling guests he was going to have a banquet on such-and-such a night. When the night came, he would send a messenger telling people that the banquet was prepared. In verse 17 we really ought to circle the word “come” because that is the welcoming word of God. Come.

You know, the Lord invites us to come to him in so many verses in the Bible.

Isaiah 1:18 “Come now, let us reason together,” says the Lord. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.

Isaiah 55:1 Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost.

Matthew 11:28 Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.

Revelation 22:17 The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let those who hear say, “Come!” Let those who are thirsty come; and let all who wish take the free gift of the water of life.

As a church our commitment is to hang a banner outside of these walls that says to any and everyone, “Come, you’ll be welcome here!”

Anyone who wants to, anyone who is hungry for God, anyone who is tired of the life they are currently living it, anyone who has come to the end of themselves, anyone who is dissatisfied, anyone who is looking for truth, anyone who is hungry for God – come. The great invitation of God goes out to every single person in the world: Come to Jesus!

Of course, we need to respond. And the story here takes a twist in terms of this broad heart of God and his welcome because God doesn’t force the kingdom upon us. We need to receive the kingdom. We need to respond to the kingdom offer. And these men in the story who were originally invited make lame excuses.

Luke 14:18-20 “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.’ 19 “Another said, ‘I have just bought five yoke of oxen, and I’m on my way to try them

Our lame excuses

These are the lamest excuses in the world. No one in the ancient Middle East would have ever bought a field without knowing every square foot of that field. They would know the springs, the wells and the palm trees, the stone walls. They would know the history of the field. What kind of profits it brought. Who had owned it. When someone says, “I bought a field, and now I have to go and check it out and find out what I bought,” it is almost like inviting someone over for dinner, waiting for them, and at the last minute, after you have prepared everything, they call you and say, “Oh, sorry…I can’t come tonight. I just bought a house, signed a contract on it, and now my wife and I are going to check out the neighborhood and see what we bought.”

No one would do that. No one would believe that lame excuse. What do you mean you want to see the house you already bought? You haven’t seen it already? You don’t know what neighborhood it’s in?

In the ancient Middle East before anyone would buy a team of oxen they would watch them work to see if they worked together. That excuse is like, “Sorry, I have to cancel. I just bought five used cars, and I am going down to the lot to find out what model they are and how old they are and whether they will start.” You mean, you just went ahead and bought cars without even knowing anything about them?

The same is true for the marriage excuse. You just got married and so you can’t come to dinner? What’s that about?

Jesus is telling us that the invitation of God into the life of the kingdom does need to be responded to. Yes, God is welcoming, but he doesn’t force us. And the truth is that today people continue to make lame excuses. If any of you are disconnected from God, what’s your excuse?

I’ve talked with hundreds of people over the last 30 years about Christ. Probably the most common excuse that I hear from people regarding why they don’t turn to Christ is, “I just don’t see that I have a need. This story of Jesus may be true, but it just doesn’t seem particularly relevant to me and where I am in my life right now.” Maybe this message is relevant to a guy who lives under a bridge, but you’ve got a decent job; you’ve got a roof over your head. Over and over I hear folks say some version of: Maybe this is true, I don’t know, but it just doesn’t seem particularly relevant to me right now.

We relate to hearing about Christ the way I relate when I hear someone go on and on about their hobby about which I have zero interest. Someone talks with

© Rich Nathan 2009 13 me about their Hummel Collection. This one is particularly unique. They only made 17 of them back in 1984. Look at the workmanship. I couldn’t believe that I found it. Do you know where I found this particular Hummel? I was visiting my sister in Phoenix…I’m pinching myself to stay awake thinking that all of what you’re saying may be true, but why do I care?

If you’ve heard about Jesus and you’ve held him at arm’s length saying, “Even if what I read in the Bible about Jesus is true, why do I care, what does it matter to me,” let me give you the reason why you should care or why your boyfriend, your girlfriend, your husband, your wife, your child should care when you talk with them. I assume that you want to be a good person. I assume if you have children that you want them to grow up to be good people, to live good lives. But let me ask you this question. How do you figure out what it means to be a good person? How do you teach your kids to be good, to live decent lives? I mean, if you push God away and you don’t listen to what God says about what’s good, then how do you come up with your own basis for morality, or for teaching morality to your kids?

I remember talking with a mom up front at the church. She had a 15-year old daughter and she came forward to talk with me. She broke down in tears and said, “Rich, I never thought that I had any need for Christ. I’ve raised my kids outside of church. Now my 15-year old daughter is sexually active and I don’t know what to say to her.” How do you tell your 13, 14, 15, 16, or 17 year old daughter or son to wait, if they come and tell you they are practicing safe sex? Then why wait? If not God, then what?

You aren’t sure that a relationship with Christ is relevant? May I ask you where are you going to turn during times of crises? When life’s working for you and me, a lot of times we think, “What do I need God for?” But what do you do when life stops working?

Lee Strobel, who was an award-winning journalist for the Chicago Tribune, once described his life this way. He said: I had a beautiful wife. I had a great job. I was making a lot of money. It was like we were driving down the road in a sports car. One arm was around my wife; with the other hand I was waving to friends who were looking at us admiringly saying, “The Strobels have everything together.” He said I didn’t have any need to have my hand on the steering wheel so long as the road in front of me was smooth and straight. But then my life hit a curve. My father became ill and suddenly died. And it was when my life hit a curve that I discovered that I was not sufficient. That I needed God.

Friend, if you say that Christ is not relevant, what are you going to turn to, who are you going to turn to when your life, like my life, inevitably hits a curve. Are you really confident that you are sufficient to handle cancer? Are you confident that you on your own are sufficient to handle a divorce? Are you certain that you are sufficient in and of yourself without God to handle an out-of-wedlock

© Rich Nathan 2009 14 pregnancy for you or your daughter? And are you really sufficient to handle the crisis of getting old? The crisis of losing your spouse to death? The crisis that faces all of our lives, your own death? Is anyone of us ready for that crisis without God?

You say, I don’t know if a relationship with Christ is relevant to me? What other power do you have in your life to overcome addictions, or to heal you from the hurts that we all experience in this painful world? Every therapist in the universe will tell you that just about the only successful way that anyone ever overcomes an addiction is by turning to a power greater than themselves. You are trapped by alcohol, or pills, or some other drug. You feel stuck in an eating disorder or sex. You struggle to overcome sexual abuse in the past or rape. If Christ is not relevant, what power do you turn to to overcome your addictions, or your hurts?

If you don’t have Christ and you are a single person, on what basis can you confidently get married in the future? How do you know what the next 50 years are going to hold? If I didn’t have Christ and I was thinking about getting married, I would be scared to death. It would be like jumping off a cliff. I wouldn’t know what was going to happen to me in the future.

With Jesus Christ, I can trust my future. I can say, “Well, my wife is following Him, and I am following Him, my vows ‘until death us do part’ make sense. I think we are going to be able to hang together with the help of Jesus.” With Christ we can resolve our conflicts. With Christ we can forgive each other. But without God in my marriage, it’s no wonder that two famous Hollywood folks made wedding vows a few years ago in which the wife promised to make banana shakes for her husband (that was part of the wedding vow). And the husband promised that he would give his wife foot rubs. Without Christ, it can’t be for better or worse, richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, until death us do part. It is, “I’ll promise to make you banana shakes and you promise to rub my feet.”

Some people don’t turn to Christ because they don’t want to give anything up. Jesus does require our whole heart. We have to come to the banquet in order to enjoy Christ. He doesn’t say, “Listen, if they don’t show up, why don’t we pack up some doggie bags and send it to them while they are following other pursuits? We will send them a box lunch. It is okay. I will take people on any terms.”

No – the Lord says you have to come to the banquet with all that you are and all that you have – your whole heart. Some people don’t want to give Jesus their whole heart. Are you ready to give him your whole heart? Then you are ready for Christ.

I will tell you there is nothing more valuable than Jesus. If your boyfriend is keeping you from Christ, then you are making a really bad bargain. If your girlfriend is keeping you from Christ, if some sexual practice is keeping you from Christ, if your business pursuit is keeping you from Christ, if your kids, if anything

© Rich Nathan 2009 15 is keeping you from turning to Jesus, your busy-ness, you are making a bad deal, friend. You are trading second best or tenth best for what is ultimately best. Let go of whatever it is that is keeping you from coming to Christ and grab hold of him.

And I will say the same to those of you who have known Jesus Christ. Whatever is filling you up so that you don’t have room in your life for Christ, then let that thing go. Some people believe that God will always keep inviting. Well, you know, the invitation will always be there. If I don’t receive Christ today, I can receive him some other time. The invitation will always be there if I turn it down.

We miss a basic spiritual principle that when we turn God down, when we say “no” to God, he always will forgive us in the future. But we always won’t want to be forgiven. Something happens to you when you say “no” to God. There’s a fork in the road. You are following a different path when you say “no” to God; something inside of you changes, and the more you say “no” to God - because you are involved with your boyfriend, girlfriend, career, college or some other idol - the more you say “no” to God, the less you will in the future be able to hear his invitation. You change when you say “no” to God. You care less about being forgiven. You care less about what God thinks of you.

Again, I speak to Christians. The banquet of the kingdom is not just at the beginning of the Christian life. God wants to spread a table before you all the time. When was the last time you tasted and saw that the Lord is good? When is the last time you really felt God's presence in a real way when you prayed? Aren’t you hungry for God again? Don’t you need him as much today as when you received him originally? Don’t keep putting off the invitation of God to come to the banquet.

The host sends out other invitations.

Luke 14:21-24 “The servant came back and reported this to his master. Then the owner of the house became angry and ordered his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame.’ 22 “‘Sir,’ the servant said, ‘what you ordered has been done, but there is still room.’ 23 “Then the master told his servant, ‘Go out to the roads and country lanes and compel them to come in, so that my house will be full. 24 I tell you, not one of those who were invited will get a taste of my banquet.’”

It is always the aim of God to send his people out so that they welcome others. Israel never fulfilled its calling to be a light to the world. They thought, “Well, as long as we are enjoying the banquet that’s enough. That’s all that God has.” But Jesus wants his house full.

© Rich Nathan 2009 16 And in a very practical way, friend, we can resolve to be a welcoming church. Will you say to the Lord, “Lord, I will invite others to worship with me this holiday season. I will open up my life. I will practice hospitality. I won’t close the doors of my friendship circle. I won’t just hang with the same people I have always hung out with. And I won’t judge people or write them off by criteria that have nothing to do with the kingdom. I want the inclination of my heart to be like Jesus.”

Because Christ’s kingdom is about welcome. Jesus welcomed sinners, and he ate with them. And he wants his followers to do the same. Let’s pray.

Greater Welcome Rich Nathan November 21-22, 2009 Your Gospel Is Too Small Series Luke 14:1-24

I. When you are not welcome

II. Welcome and immigration

A. Our history as Americans

B. Our heritage as Christians

III. Welcome and eating

IV. Welcome and healing

V. Welcome and hospitality

VI. Welcome and the banquet

A. God’s great preparation

B. God’s great invitation

C. Our lame excuses