For sermons and additional resources, visit STBARTS.COM.AU

A STING IN THE TALE (WEEK 3: LOOK WHO’S INVITED TO THE WEDDING) SMALL GROUP DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

CONNECT (from last week): What difference has God’s grace made to you and your treatment of other people around you?

WARM-UP Questions 1. Has anyone ever surprisingly turned down an invitation you’ve offered? 2. Have you ever turned down God’s invitation for relationship in your own life?

READ Matthew 22:1-7 3. The king sends his messengers twice to call people to the banquet. Why do they refuse to come? (Try

also to identify the three reasons referenced in the sermon.) 4. Who are these people representative of in the parable (think of who Jesus was speaking to)? 5. Why was it important for the guests to come straight away? Who do the messengers represent? 6. Do you think that we ever respond to God in the same way? Do these things ever get in the way of our

relationship with God? 7. Do you think that other people in the world refuse God’s invitation for the same reasons? How might

we encourage them to respond with a heartfelt ‘yes’? 8. Was it fair for the king to send his army and destroy the murderers and burn their city? Why must God

ensure there is justice?

READ Matthew 22:8-14 9. The king’s response to the original guests not coming is to invite EVERYONE else. Why is this great? 10. What do you think is meant by “good and bad” people? Who is that inclusive of in our society today? 11. What was the basis for an invitation? Was it something earned, or something given? 12. It can be very surprising to read of the guest who is thrown out into the darkness (vv.11-13). Why was

this person treated in this way? What had they failed to do? 13. How is ‘putting on the wedding clothes’ like ‘putting on salvation’? How do we do that every day? 14. Verse 14 reminds us of the great privilege of being called by God but the great tragedy that many

people fail to respond. How can we sensibly encourage people not to delay responding to God?

APPLY (to this week): What does it look like for you daily to “put on” your salvation?

PRAY: Dear God we thank you for your amazing invitation through Jesus! Thank you that we are invited to the greatest banquet for all time not because of our merit, but because of your mercy. Please help us to put on our salvation daily in our lives. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

For sermons and additional resources, visit STBARTS.COM.AU

A STING IN THE TALE (WEEK 3: LOOK WHO’S INVITED TO THE WEDDING) GOING DEEPER RESOURCES & SUGGESTIONS

Each week we provide additional resources that help to go deeper with whatever series we’re currently focusing on as a church. Resources could include recommended books, articles, online

sermons, courses, or videos. These are optional extras! Please don’t feel under pressure to look at every resource, but consider what could be useful to.

Talks & Other Audio • AUDIO: A sermon by Christopher Ash, on the topic of ‘Many are Called”:

http://resources.thegospelcoalition.org/library/many-are-called

Study Guide for Lent • BOOK: For Lent this year we have developed a Lenten Guide looking at some of the final stories of

Jesus. You can download a PDF copy here: http://stbarts.com.au/2017/02/20/lenten-study-guide-a-sting-in-the-tale-download-or-order/

Articles and Other Reading (Recommended Last Week) • BOOK: “The Parables of Jesus” by William Barclay. https://www.bookdepository.com/The-

Parables-of-Jesus-William-Barclay/9780664258283?ref=grid-view • BOOK: “Interpreting the Parables” by Craig Blomberg.

https://www.bookdepository.com/Interpreting-the-Parables-Craig-L-Blomberg/9781844745760?ref=grid-view

• BOOK: “Matthew for Everyone”: Read the commentary on Matthew 22.

Talk 3/6 (Following Jesus): 19/03/17 “Look Who’s Been Invited to the Wedding” by the Rev’d Adam Lowe

Bible Passage: Matthew 22:1-14

INTRODUCTION \\ VERSES 1-4

This morning we come to the third week in our series, ‘A Sting in the Tale’.

• In the lead-up to Easter, we’re exploring six of Jesus’ stories from Matthew’s Gospel, that take place between his entry into Jerusalem and the cross.

• These are provocative and controversial stories, that press in on the listeners, challenging them to really grasp who Jesus is, and respond to him.

• And the reason that these stories are so challenging, is because in order for people to respond to Jesus, it often requires an unsettling.

• Remember: Jesus has been predominantly speaking with the religious leaders, who are so wrapped up in their own agenda and self-importance, that they not only turn their nose down at everyone else, but they would sooner do away with Jesus, then to accept grace and turn to him.

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We see that clearly today in the Parable of the Wedding Banquet.

• Jesus is before them saying, God’s Kingdom is bursting into the world through me, and it is like a wedding banquet that a great King is throwing for his son. //

• On one hand in the Bible, God’s Kingdom is often likened to a feast… On the other hand, the relationship between God and his people is likened to marriage…

• So phenomenally Jesus is drawing those two wonderful images together, and he’s saying: this is what the kingdom of God is like.

• It’s like a royal wedding banquet, in which the generous King is God, I am the son, and you are the invited guests.

• And that banquet is ready!

He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come… (v.3a)

• Or in verse 4 it’s even more definitive…

4 “Then he sent some more servants and said, ‘Tell those who have been invited that I have prepared my dinner: My oxen and fattened cattle have been butchered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.’

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• This isn’t the wedding invitation being sent out months ahead… This is the NEWS, that the king sends out via his servants, that the meal is ready and it is time to come. Right now!

• I know that we think that planning a wedding in our culture is a big deal,but our weddings are nothing like the weddings of the first century, let alone a royal one!It would have taken weeks to prepare a feast like this and even then,it might take days for the guests to arrive.

• So when the king makes the declaration that it is ready, this is the first-century-royal-wedding-equivalent to shouting through the house that dinner is on the table and you had better get here now!

• And if Jesus is saying this is all about the Kingdom, then this is the most incredible declaration that in him the time to respond is now.

• How we responds matters.

For, when it comes to the Kingdom of God:

• Many REFUSE; All are INVITED; but only,Some are GENUINE.

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#1 MANY REFUSE \\ VERSES 3-6

So first, MANY REFUSE the invitation to God’s great banquet.

• Imagine for a moment, that you receive one of the greatest honours possible:, invited to a royal wedding, and you just say, “Ah, no”, or something worse.

• Yet this surprisingly negative response is exactly what happens…

3 He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused to come.

• You might be thinking that refusing such a grand invitation seems implausible. It seems completely unlikely that anyone would refuse such an invitation.n.

• I mean, I’ve had this problem with a toddler come dinner time, but what adult would possibly do this?

• But if we think the refusal to come is bad, things get much worse, following an even more urgent call when the oxen and cattle have been butchered…

5 “But they paid no attention and went off—one to his field, another to his business. 6 The rest seized his servants, mistreated them and killed them.

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We’re meant to be completely shocked by the response, and what we see is that there is actually three different types of reactions.

• We see disinterest: people just refusing to come (v.3); We see distraction: people just going back to work (v.5a); We see disdain: seizing the servants, mistreating them, and killing them (v.5b).

• Disinterest, distraction, and disdain: they rank from rude to outrageous, but they’re all a form of NO.

• And Jesus’ point to those who were listening, is, this is what you’re like. • The slaves who tell the people that the feast is ready, are like the prophets of old,

to whom you responded with disinterest, distraction, or disdain,and even with the Son himself standing before you, you’re still refusing the invitation.

• We can probably think of similarities with how people respond to God today, but given who Jesus is speaking to, we must also ask the question of ourselves.

Take disinterest and distraction: two of the most dangerous predicaments for us to be in.

• I often say, the most important question for all of humanity, is: who do you say Jesus is?

• Yet getting people to even to consider that as a question, let alone respond can be difficult.

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• Some people can think, I’m just not that interested in Jesus. It’s not for me. Sometimes, perhaps even often, it’s not even a conscious decision.

• Other times it can reflect a heart closed to the call of God. • Others think, yep, all this stuff about Jesus and God sounds interesting,

and I really ought to investigate it, but now, I’m a bit busy. I might look at that later, when I don’t have a better offer…

• But right now the harvest is on, my business is requiring all of my time, there’s a lot happening with my family, the grandkids need a lot of entertaining.

I heard of someone who had been invited to a royal event. And because they had another commitment he couldn’t go, but on the invitation there no process to RSVP “no”. So he rang up the palace, and said he was sorry that he couldn’t make it, but he didn’t know what the process was, and the person from the palace said, “that’s because we’ve never had anyone say no!”.

• They had never considered anyone turning down an invitation with the Queen! • But friends, this is not just the Queen,

this is an invitation from the Creator of the Universe to the greatest banquet imaginable that never ends and every hunger will be fulfilled!

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• Whatever is keeping you busy, address it; Whatever is distracting you, reprioritise, because ultimately whatever it is, it’s getting in the way of relationship with God.

• Maybe you’ve been meaning to take a closer look at Jesus, but you haven’t had time or haven’t made time, might I encourage you to do it.

• Because be it disinterest or distraction, both are a NO to the greatest invitation you’ll ever receive.

But of course, there’s a third type of no, ‘disdain’: …seizing the servants, mistreating them, and killing them.

• It’s hard to hear this and not of course think of the previous parable about the tenants and their treatment of the land owner’s messengers and his son.

• And it still is how some people respond to the great news about the Kingdom of God. • It happened then: Jesus himself being crucified;

It happened before: with the prophets being rejected;It happens today.

• Disinterest and distraction may be the biggest danger in our culture in ourselves, but they’re both just as much of a ‘no’ as the ones who responds with disdain.

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#2 ALL ARE INVITED \\ VERSES 7-10

So in response to many refusing the invitation, all are invited.

• But before Jesus makes that surprise move, he tells of something else. At the refusal of the King’s invitation, the King just doesn’t say: ‘okay, no problem, I’ll ask someone else’: he seeks justice.

The king was enraged. He sent his army and destroyed those murderers and burned their city. (v.7)

That can seem extreme, but we must understand that refusing a King is a serious offence.

• And Jesus’ point is that actually, that’s what many of God’s People had been doing for some time.

• Many people hearing this after the destruction of the Temple in AD70, would be thinking about that event as an act of judgment.

• The people were meant to be God’s elect, yet because they had rejected God’s son,they had rejected his Kingdom.

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• It’s a sobering reminder of how we respond to Jesus matters. • But the failure of the original guests to come, doesn’t stop the party.

“Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come. So go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find.’ So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, the bad as well as the good, and the wedding hall was filled with guests. (vv.8-10)

The king sends the servants out to the street corners, to find anyone, that is, EVERYONE, to be invited.

• The original greek word for ‘corners’ can also be translated as ‘main streets’. • In effect the king is saying go out to the main streets of the city and gather everyone in.

• These would have been the main thoroughfares where you saw everybody. Which means those invited are a really diverse group: socially, economically, morally.

• The bad and the good! • These are the very people who the religious elite viewed as unworthy:

yet they are the ones who are now welcomed into a royal wedding banquet! • Gentiles, the blind, lame, poor, and Jews too. The bad and the good.

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• Can you imagine if at Prince William’s and Kate’s wedding, none of the original guests had bothered to come, so the royal servants went out into the main streets of London to gather people in!That would have been a party!

• And it means that you’re invited too! • If you’re here today, it’s because you’ve been invited by the King.

You don’t have to sit around waiting and hoping that the servants will arrive, it’s already happened! Now it’s just up to you to respond.

The passage is so clear: • The ones who were not worthy: were the ones who did not respond.

The ones who were worthy: accepted the king’s invitation. • That’s what is meant by verse 14: For many are invited, but few are chosen. • When you think you’re worthy, you take the invitation for granted,

but when you know you’re not, you jump at the chance. • We’re all beggars at God’s banquet, cheering at every plate that he brings! • The criterion for inclusion at the party, to be ‘worthy’ for God’s kingdom,

has nothing to do with how good you are, but everything about you respond to what Jesus has done.

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#3 ONLY SOME ARE GENUINE \\ VERSES 11-13

But the parable doesn’t end there. Because whilst many refuse and all are invited, only some are genuine.

“But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. He asked, ‘How did you get in here without wedding clothes, friend?’ The man was speechless.“Then the king told the attendants, ‘Tie him hand and foot, and throw him outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ (vv.11-13)

• This isn’t an ancient story of the consequences of being inappropriate attired. • This is Jesus saying that if you want to come to his party,

you’ve got to put on my salvation. You have to put on me. • This man appears to ACCEPT, but has actually REJECTED the King.

Commentators are somewhat divided how to understand this part.

• Some think that Jesus is saying an authentic ‘yes’ means that you actually have to be willing to change.

• So a bit like the parable of the two sons - one says yes, but actually never follows through.

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• Other commentators point out that actually, it was customary for the guests to be provided with clothes at a wedding banquet.

• So if that’s the case, why on earth would this man not have put the clothes on. • Not putting on the robes was actually incredibly arrogant.

He thought his best was good enough for God, but God said it’s not. • Rely on your own goodness and it will get you no where,

take Christ’s worth as your own and you inherit the Kingdom of God. • That because God provides the robes:

the poor need not be ashamed of their rags, the rich have no right to be proud of their gowns.

• At God’s banquet there's no room for embarrassment or pride. • The man failed to understand, like the religious elite,

that you’re only made worthy because God at his own expense wants to clothe you. • A seat at God’s table is not based on merit, where you've earned a place.

A seat at God’s table is based on mercy, because Jesus has paid the price. • There’s two common faults in Christianity.

At one end is people who say, “Salvation is free to everyone, God accepts everyone”;At the other end is “Salvation is costly, and you’ve got to earn it”.

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• When the truth is: Salvation is free to us, but it’s not free to God. It’s both exclusive and inclusive: all are invited, but it’s only possible through Jesus.

• The one who is thrown out isn’t necessarily one of the people labelled as bad, but the one you thinks that they’re just fine as they are.

• When you genuinely say yes to Jesus, his righteousness, becomes your righteousness, his salvation becomes your salvation, his worth becomes your worth, and you can stand before the king and feast with him forever.

10 I delight greatly in the Lord; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of his righteousness, as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. (Isaiah 61:10)

• Do you understand that this is what God has done for you? • For God has not only offered the food,

but he’s offered his son, so that you could be free to feast with him forever.

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I’ve lost the count of the number times that as we’ve farewelled brothers and sisters in Christ, I’ve thought of them feasting with the King, with the knowledge that one day - in God’s time - I’ll join them at the God’s table. • Not because I’m so good, but because of what Jesus has done. • Do you have this certainty? • Friends, the banquet is ready. • The King has sent his messenger,

he is standing at the door, and he’s saying, the Kingdom of Heaven has come near, you’re invited to the banquet.

• Now is not the time for disinterest, distraction, or disdain: Now is the time to say yes to Jesus.

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