Sunday Worship Service October 20, 2024

Prelude
Call to Worship Isaiah 25:6
Hymn JBC # 26 We praise You, O God, our Redeemer
The Lord’s Prayer
Hymn JBC # 213 Tell me the story of Jesus
Testimonies
Offering
Scripture Luke 14:15～24
Prayer
Sermon “The parable of the great banquet”
Prayer
Hymn JBC # 521 I’d rather have Jesus
Doxology JBC # 674
Benediction
Postlude


Today’s bible passage is Luke 14:15-24, and in the New Interconfessional Translation Bible (Japanese) it has the heading:“the Parable of the Great Banquet.”
A similar story to this is written in Matthew 22:1-20. In Matthew it mentions that the banquet was a wedding feast a king was holding for the prince.
In Matthew it mentions that those who were invited to the wedding ignored the invitations, and some cruel people seized the king’s messenger who brought the invitation, beat them, and killed them.
A common point between what is written in Matthew vs. Luke is that the banquet (or wedding feast) was prepared by the host (or king). Another point is that the people invited refused the invitation.
In each of the passages in Matthew and Luke, what exactly are the people who refuse the invitations to the banquet (or wedding feast) meant to portray? Let’s listen to what God has to say to us through this passage.

In verse 15 it states that someone says to Jesus,“blessed is the one who will eat at the feast in the kingdom of God.”
At this time, it seems that Jesus and His disciples were invited to share a meal with someone. (In chapter 14 verse 1 we see that Jesus went to the home of a prominent Pharisee to eat)
There, one of the guests says, “how wonderful it must be to eat a meal in the Kingdom of the God, where we will be allowed to enter.”
This guest may have been imagining that, while the current feast they were enjoying was fun, how much more amazing must a feast in the Kingdom of God be.

In verse 15 we can see that it says, “when he heard this he said that….”
“This”of“when he heard this” refers to Jesus’s sayings written in verses 7-14 before today’s passage.

Jesus says there“when you are invited to a wedding, you should not seek the places of honor, rather you should take the lowest place”thus teaching them the importance of keeping a humble attitude of faith.
This, of course, is not just a surface level action. This is an important lesson from God to us that, as those whose sins are forgiven, with thanksgiving we are to have humility and serve others.
Then Jesus says, “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,” (verse 12).
“But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed because they cannot repay it” (verses 13-14).

In other words, if you are blessed enough that you can host a banquet, invite those who are unable to repay the favor to you.
In other words, when you do something for someone else, do not expect anything in return.
When we ask someone to do something for us, do we not also think that we must give something suitable in return as thanks?
There are times when this comes from goodwill and courtesy. However, are there also not times when we think that we do not want to be indebted to someone and feel as though we must give in return to avoid that?
Therefore, God is telling us in this passage that if we invite someone to a banquet, do not expect anything in return.

In other words, I think this telling us to be free from the idea of “give and take”.

　This means that we are originally to live together and support one another. We are all unable to live without being supported by others and most of all we can’t live if not supported by the Lord our God.
I hope we can remember that we are not to live by normal “give and take”, but rather we always owe each other “gives” and “takes” in a sense that we are to support (live) with each other.
And the bible teaches us that the banquet that God is preparing for us (that includes a fellowship in the Kingdom of God, and the joy we are given in faith) is a truly great and wonderful thing.

God’s Kingdom where He allows us to enter is so wonderful that there is no way for us to give something suitable in return.
The reason we are able to know God, believe in God, and are allowed to enter His Kingdom, is because Jesus gave His life on the cross for us.
Jesus paid all the price for our salvation. Let us remember that this cost, which we could not have paid ourselves, was paid for by Jesus Christ.
We have been given an invitation to God’s Kingdom. However, in today’s passage we see that the guests who were invited to the banquet turn down the invitation when the banquet begins.

At the time, the Jews apparently had the custom of telling the guests about the coming banquet ahead of time, but the specific time and date would not be told until just before it began.
I felt that this was a rather sloppy custom. This may be because we are so used to having our lifestyles revolve around specific schedules.
The person who had prepared the banquet waited for the guests he invited to come. However, for various reasons, the people invited declined to attend the banquet.
One person said that he had just bought a field and needed to go see it. Another said that he had just bought five yoke of oxen and he needed to go inspect them.
Another said that he had just gotten married, so he couldn’t attend. Everyone had some sort of reason why they could not attend.

Why did these people decline to attend this great banquet? It is because they prioritized things that affected their own lifestyle or finances.
So does that mean that this passage is teaching us that it is foolish to prioritize our own affairs over the fellowship of the Kingdom of God and refusing the invitation to enter the Kingdom of God?
I believe that the main lesson to be learned from this passage is precisely that. When we center our lives around our own thoughts and plans, we lose sight of how great and wonderful the Kingdom of God is.
Another thing we can understand is that we view the invitation to the Kingdom of God as an obligation.
In reality, the invitation to the Kingdom of God is a great gift given freely. That is pure grace and a joy to us.

However, I believe today’s passage also shows us that we see God’s calling to the banquet as an obligation (burden) that must be fulfilled.
In today’s passage, the third person refused the invitation saying that he couldn’t go because he just got married.

In the Old Testament in ‘Deuteronomy’ 24:5 it says the following:

If a man has recently married, he must not be sent to war or have any other duty laid on him. For one year he is to be free to stay at home and bring happiness to the wife he has married.

This means that if a person gets married, they are exempt from military and other official duties for one year to prioritize their marriage life.
However, if someone is to use this situation (being a newlywed) as a reason not to attend the banquet of the Kingdom of God, that means that that person is thinking of attending the banquet of the Kingdom of God as being military service or an official duty.
The banquet of the Kingdom of God will have its perfect form when we are called to heaven and Jesus Christ has returned.
However, the signs of the banquet of the Kingdom of God have already begun in our lives on this Earth.
Jesus came to this world as a man, died on the cross and paid for our sins.

Through this, our sins were forgiven, and since we have become able to return before God, His Kingdom has begun appearing on this Earth.
Through our fellowship with Jesus Christ, through our fellowship with our brothers and sisters in Christ at church as His body, and through worshipping Christ our Lord, we experience at least a foretaste of the banquet of the Kingdom of God.
　But we feel that this wonderful grace (worship), which is equivalent to a banquet in the Kingdom of God, is something like “a duty that we have to fulfill reluctantly,” then something is wrong.
If we find worship or attending other church gatherings to be troublesome (if you find yourself unmotivated to participate), then we must say that something is wrong there.
It may not be that that person is mistaken. It could be that the church itself, or the spiritual leader of the church, the pastor, has some spiritual or attitude problem.
However, this does not change the reality that the Lord, our God through the grace of Jesus Christ, is inviting us to His wonderful banquet.

This should be a great joy. If you find yourself unable to find joy in being invited to God’s Kingdom, then let us return together to the gospel of Christ and the message of the bible that teaches us that Jesus is with us.
Let us also trust that our faith in Jesus Christ, and our worship to Christ, which is a foundation of our faith, along with the fellowship of the church, are foretastes of the perfection that is to come in the great banquet of the Kingdom of God.
We have already received the invitation to the banquet of the Kingdom of God. There is no need to give anything in return (in fact we cannot give anything in return). Let us remember the joy of being invited to the banquet in the Kingdom of God and walk in faith of gratitude and hope.