‘I ASK YOU TO HAVE ME EXCUSED’

Posted by Pastor Greg Allen on April 7, 2021 under AM Bible Study |

AM Bible Study Group: April 7, 2021 from Luke 14:15-24

Theme: If those who were invited to His kingdom will not come, God will draw in others.

(All Scripture is taken from The New King James Version, unless otherwise indicated).

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We’ve been studying together from Luke 14. It tells the story of a dinner that the Lord Jesus had been invited to; and of how it led to some opportunities for Him to teach vital lessons about His kingdom. And in Luke 14:15-24, we find yet another of His parables that were spoken during this dinner. We’re told;

Now when one of those who sat at the table with Him heard these things, he said to Him, “Blessed is he who shall eat bread in the kingdom of God!” Then He said to him, “A certain man gave a great supper and invited many, and sent his servant at supper time to say to those who were invited, ‘Come, for all things are now ready.’ But they all with one accord began to make excuses. The first said to him, ‘I have bought a piece of ground, and I must go and see it. I ask you to have me excused.’ And another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to test them. I ask you to have me excused.’ Still another said, ‘I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.’ So that servant came and reported these things to his master. Then the master of the house, being angry, said to his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in here the poor and the maimed and the lame and the blind.’ And the servant said, ‘Master, it is done as you commanded, and still there is room.’ Then the master said to the servant, ‘Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled. For I say to you that none of those men who were invited shall taste my supper’” (Luke 14:15-24).

When I read this passage, I sometimes think back to an unexpected dinner that I was invited to. I and some friends were visiting someone in a foster-care home once. The director of this foster home was excited to know that we were coming over; and without our knowing it, she had prepared a very nice brunch for us.

Now; I had already made arrangements to meet someone else somewhere; and when she asked if I and the others would like to eat, I felt that I had to excuse myself. I said that I couldn’t because I had a previously arranged meeting that I had to go to. The director of the home looked visibly disappointed when I said that, though; and as I walked from one room to another on my way out, I saw the tremendous effort she expended in preparing what looked like a beautiful banquet for us. When I saw the beautiful table she had prepared and all the delicious food; I immediately got on the phone and canceled my appointment so I could stay. It would have been unspeakably rude to have done otherwise … and in fact, it was a considerable honor to be asked to stay. I simply could not excuse myself from what she had prepared for us!

The offer of the kingdom of God is presented to us in this parable as a great banquet—all prepared and ready. And it’s an unspeakably great honor to be invited. It’s nothing less than God’s offer of all the glories of salvation. But to say ‘no’—to make excuses and to refuse to sit at the table—would be a dreadfully dishonorable thing to do. And it would be foolish too.

As Jesus’ parable teaches us, even if those who were invited to His kingdom will not come, God will nevertheless draw in others—and will see to it that His banquet hall of grace is truly full.

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Now; let’s look a little closer at this passage. First, we see that …

1. IT’S A BLESSING TO BE AT GOD’S TABLE (v. 15).

We find this expressed to us in verse 15; “Now when one of those who sat at the table with Him heard these things, he said to Him, ‘Blessed is he who shall eat bread in the kingdom of God!’”

This table guest—whoever he was—had heard Jesus say and do many remarkable things at this table. He saw as Jesus had healed a man who had the disease of dropsy (or edema) on the Sabbath after having rebuked the Pharisees who were there; saying, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?” (v. 3). Then, he heard as Jesus taught about how someone should not seek the chief place at the table, but humble himself down to take the lowest place. He heard Jesus say that the hosts should not invite those who could pay them back in return, but instead invite those who could not pay them back—“And you will be blessed because they cannot repay you; for you shall be repaid at the resurrection of the just” (v. 14). This all must have made a powerful impression on this particular dinner guest; and it caused them to burst out and say; “Blessed is he who shall eat bread in the kingdom of God!”

Some have suggested that this was an overly-pious and thoughtlessly sentimental thing to say. But I have grown to appreciate that it was probably a true expression of his heart. It is a very true thing to have said; and Jesus said nothing to rebuke his words. God is wondrously gracious to invite sinners to His table—to feast on His love and mercy and to bask in His presence. It’s something, in fact, that He Himself desires. That is why He sent His Son into the world. And so, someone truly is blessed to be able to eat bread in the kingdom of God.

And what’s more …

2. MANY ARE INVITED TO COME TO GOD’S TABLE (vv. 16-17).

In response to this particular dinner guest’s words, Jesus went on to tell a parable—speaking, apparently, directly to this outspoken guest. Verses 16-17 say; “Then He said to him, ‘A certain man gave a great supper and invited many, and sent his servant at supper time to say to those who were invited, ‘Come, for all things are now ready.’”

In ancient times, it was customary to send out an invitation to a dinner beforehand; and then to issue a second ‘formal’ invitation to come once the dinner was actually ready. We find this in the Book of Esther, for example. In Chapter 5, Queen Esther gave out the invitation to a banquet that she would prepare the next day; and then, in Chapter 6, she sent out her servants to bring the guests to the banquet when it was time and when everything was fully prepared and provided. This would mean that, in Jesus’ parable, the banquet host had invited the guests some time prior—and apparently, they would have agreed to come; and then would have sent out his servants to bring those already-invited guests to the table when everything was ready.

This—by the way—was meant to be a picture of God’s grace having been extended to the Jewish people prior to the times of Jesus the Messiah. In the Old Testament prophets, God would have let His people know that the kingdom was soon going to come and the long-awaited King would appear. They had received the invitation; and they would have rejoiced in it. They should have been ready for it. And now, that King had come. Jesus was in their presence. They were invited to receive Him and enter into the blessings of His kingdom reign.

But as the Bible tells us, “He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God …” (John 1:11-12). As we read on in Jesus’ dinner-time parable, we find that …

3. MANY WHO ARE INVITED REFUSE TO COME (vv. 18-20).

Those who were receiving the formal invitation to come had already been invited—and had already accepted the invitation. “But they all with one accord began to make excuses. The first said to him, ‘I have bought a piece of ground, and I must go and see it. I ask you to have me excused.’ And another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to test them. I ask you to have me excused.’ Still another said, ‘I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.’”

Now; none of the excuses that were given would have been enough to prevent anyone from coming to the banquet. For example, why would a man buy a plot of ground before he saw it? And even if he had done so, it would still be there after the banquet was over. Or why would someone need to go out and test their new yoke of oxen when a banquet was being offered to them? Would they be able to test their oxen at night? Did the oxen have headlights? And why would marrying a wife prevent a man from coming to a great banquet? Wouldn’t it occur to him that she might like to come too? That these were all lame and insulting excuses is shown to us clearly by the fact that they aroused the host’s anger. These are people who were just not willing to come—even after they said they would.

And again, this is meant to be a picture to us of the Jewish people of that time who had refused to receive Jesus as their promised Messiah. They were rejecting God’s offer to them of the kingdom; and they were making it necessary for God to invite someone else. As God Himself said in Isaiah 65:1-2;

“I was sought by those who did not ask for Me;
I was found by those who did not seek Me.
I said, ‘Here I am, here I am,’
To a nation that was not called by My name.

I have stretched out My hands all day long to a rebellious people,
Who walk in a way that is not good,
According to their own thoughts (Isaiah 65:1-2).

And that leads us to see that …

4. WHEN THE INVITED REFUSE, THE UNWORTHY ARE BROUGHT IN (vv. 21-24).

The servant had gone out to bring the already-invited guests in; but all he got were lame excuses. Verse 20 says,“So that servant came and reported these things to his master. Then the master of the house, being angry, said to his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in here the poor and the maimed and the lame and the blind.’” The religious leaders and rulers of the people of Israel—the honored and invited guests—had refused. And so now, the poor and needy and the seemingly ‘unworthy’ of the people of Israel would be seated at the table in their places.

This is like what Jesus had said to the Pharisees on another occasion—when Jesus had made His triumphant entry into Jerusalem, but had been rejected and opposed by the chief priests. He told them;

“Assuredly, I say to you that tax collectors and harlots enter the kingdom of God before you. For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him; but tax collectors and harlots believed him; and when you saw it, you did not afterward relent and believe him (Matthew 21:31b-32).

But even after all this, there was still more room; and God would have His banquet table full. Jesus went on to say in verses 22-23; “And the servant said, ‘Master, it is done as you commanded, and still there is room.’ Then the master said to the servant, ‘Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.’” And so now, those who were beyond the realm of the Jewish people were being invited. The Gentiles would be brought in to sit at God’s table.

This was part of God’s gracious plan for the world. The apostle Paul wrote about it in Romans 11. It wasn’t that God was turning away from the Jewish people forever; but only for a time—so that He could extend the invitation to all people. Paul wrote;

I say then, have they stumbled that they should fall? Certainly not! But through their fall, to provoke them to jealousy, salvation has come to the Gentiles. Now if their fall is riches for the world, and their failure riches for the Gentiles, how much more their fullness! For I speak to you Gentiles; inasmuch as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry, if by any means I may provoke to jealousy those who are my flesh and save some of them. For if their being cast away is the reconciling of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead? (Romans 11:11-15).

So; God would have His table filled. But those who had previously received the invitation—and who would not come—lost their places at the table. Jesus closed the parable by having the master of the house declare in verse 24, “For I say to you that none of those men who were invited shall taste my supper.”

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Now; just think of what a blessing it is to sit at the table of God and eat bread in His kingdom! What a blessing to be invited. But also consider carefully what a horrible loss it is if—after we receive the invitation—we refuse to come! God then extends the invitation to someone else; because He would have His banquet hall full!

What are some lessons, then, that we can learn from this? First, let’s understand that Israel’s temporary rejection means the Gentile’s invitation. In the mercy of God, the invitation was extended to those who did not originally receive it. As Paul put it to his hard-hearted Jewish brethren in Acts 28:28;

“Therefore let it be known to you that the salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles, and they will hear it!” (Acts 28:28).

Second, let’s beware of the danger of rejecting the grace of God—whoever we may be. If you hear the invitation to come to Jesus Christ by faith and to be saved by Him, you’re being welcomed to the table of God’s grace. Don’t say no! Don’t make excuses! Don’t end up losing your place at the table! As it says in Hebrews 3:12-13;

Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; but exhort one another daily, while it is called “Today,” lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin (Hebrews 3:12-13).

And finally, if we have accepted the invitation, then let’s go out and compel others to come in. No one who wants to come will ever be excluded. All who are truly hungry may come by faith in Jesus. As the closing section of the Bible put it;

And the Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let him who hears say, “Come!” And let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely (Revelation 22:17).

EA