Speaker 1: 0:13

All right, you can have a seat. Hello man, it's good to be with you. My name's Larry Lawrence, one of the pastors here. If you're with us online, thanks for taking a peek in the window. I would love to invite you to come here and join us in person. Got a full room. This is fun.

Speaker 1: 0:34

We just wrapped up this series called Hope and Help and now we're getting back into the gospel according to Matthew. So if some of you are excited, some of you are like when is it end? If you're new with us, we're in Matthew, chapter 22. Today we're starting a brand new chapter. There's 28 chapters in the book. It's in the New Testament and if you're new to church, it's in the New Testament. And if you're new to church, matthew's in the New Testament.

Speaker 1: 1:01

And this is a book that's presenting Jesus. It's like a biography of Jesus who he was, what he said, how he acted, what God's like, and we as a church have actually been going through this for a few years. Now we are coming to the end. We're actually in the final days of Jesus's life and, like I said, this is the gospel according to Matthew, and for those of you who don't know, the gospel is this term that originated from it was victory. It was good news. It was literally what a messenger brought to a king when they had victory on the field is that they brought the gospel, this good news, and so that's why it's called the gospel, and we do something here called expository preaching, which is literally just taking scripture and going verse by verse by verse, like not skipping anything, going through it one at a time, all the way through the Bible or books in the Bible, because we really believe that God would want a church to do that, which means, then, that sometimes we hit really tough passages, like the stuff that you don't hear talked about anywhere, because you'd avoid that Be like I don't know what that means and you don't just get to choose when you do this. You don't just get to choose the passages you deal with and that you wrestle with, and today is one of those days.

Speaker 1: 2:15

So, in fact, I was reading a scholar when I was preparing about this passage today and what they said out of all of the parables, that any scholar that looks at this one, it makes their knees weak, that it's probably one of the more difficult passages in the New Testament, what Jesus says. So I'm like awesome. We just came out of hope and help and now we're like into the worst parable ever. This is great, so let me read you the whole thing and then we're going to chop it up. I liken it to my youngest Demetrius. He's nine. If I was going to be like, hey, d, you want me to read like a nighttime story, and he's like, yeah, let's hear from the words of Jesus. And I'm like that'll be wonderful and just anyone who's like, yeah, just pick something. Oh, let me read you one of his parables. Here you go.

Speaker 1: 3:05

So Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying the kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son. He sent his servants to all who had been invited to the banquet to tell him come, but they refused to come. Then he sent some more servants and said tell those who have been invited that I have prepared dinner, my oxen and fatted cattle have been butchered and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet. But they paid no attention and went off one to his field, another to his business, the rest seized his servants, mistreated them and killed them. The king was enraged. He sent his army and destroyed those murderers and burned their city, to which I'm like. What book are we reading from Nighttime stories, right? Then he said to his servants the wedding banquet is ready, but those who I invited did not deserve to come. Go to the street corners, invite everyone to the banquet, anyone you find. So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find both the good and the bad and the wedding hall was filled with guests. But then, when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. Friend, he asked how did you get in here without wedding clothes? 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, for many are invited but few are chosen. Sweet dreams, demetrius. Okay, all right. So here's the deal. Okay, this is one of those days.

Speaker 1: 4:55

First off, this is what you need to understand about the Bible, like when you're digging into stuff like this is that the Bible was not written to you but for you. So, right off the bat, you have to understand this. This is an archaic language that we're reading this in. It's full of all kind of imagery. There's all kinds of things that we don't culturally understand, because we're 21st century Western Americans, we aren't in a first century culture, so the Bible is not written to you but for you, and so we have to unpack it that way.

Speaker 1: 5:24

And one of the ways that Jesus taught was in parables. So you go okay. So what's a parable? What does that look like? So a parable is a simple story that's used to illustrate a moral or a spiritual lesson, and because Jesus was like a master at exegeting the cultural milieu or the cultural social environment of the day, he often then spoke in parables, and it wasn't unusual for him to speak in parables. And in this setting, in Matthew, chapter 22, this is actually a few days after what we call Palm Sunday Jesus had arrived into the city riding on a borrowed colt and they were singing Hosanna, hosanna. And then it would only be a few short days later, I mean within a week's span that they're literally crying out crucify him, crucify him. But in between those days, these seven days right in here, which you know what we call Palm Sunday and Resurrection Sunday, jesus was still teaching in these parables. He was still trying to impart these truths to his disciples and those who would listen.

Speaker 1: 6:33

And when we look in the book of Matthew, the gospel according to Matthew those of you who don't know we mainly understand that it was written. He was writing this to an audience of Jewish believers that was his audience of the time and Matthew, knowing his audience, then spoke about the kingdom of heaven, or Jesus told us and taught us about the kingdom of heaven. It's interesting to note that the gospel according to Matthew, of the synoptic gospels, which there's four, it just means these four that give the life of Jesus Matthew is the only one that mentions the kingdom of heaven, and so now we have this passage again. Here we find ourselves today where he's still trying to impart these truths through parables, to explain what it's like. This is what the kingdom of heaven is like. The kingdom of heaven is like unto a king who had a son. That's where we start this passage. But I think it's important that before we go there, we must remember where we have been, to get the right context, so that we know what Jesus was talking about and that we don't jump to some sort of conclusion, and oftentimes conclusions that become super common when reading this parable or these parables.

Speaker 1: 7:48

So Jesus is in Jerusalem. He's been doing this road trip. We've seen this long journey of him making his way there to Jerusalem. And then, after he gets there, he pulls this stunt where he starts flipping tables and starts driving everybody out with a whip. He called everybody a bunch of thieves and he like essentially ticked off a bunch of the leadership, the people who are in charge of that space, this Jewish leadership. And so they come to him and they're like who are you Like? Who made you in charge? You're not in charge, you're not the one who oversees this. You need to explain yourself. And so the genius pauses and he says actually, you're not in charge either and you don't get to question me of who I am and who's giving me this authority. In fact, I'm going to ask you a question first, and if you answer it right, then we'll talk, we'll have this conversation.

Speaker 1: 8:30

So he poses this question Like where did John get his authority? Now, this is John the Baptist, the forerunner of Jesus, who a lot of people saw as a prophet. So he says where did he get his authority? And, of course, jewish leadership. They can't answer this correctly because if they do and they say, well, he's from God, then they're like, they look like a bunch of idiots because they rejected John the Baptist, and so they're going to say, well, they rejected him, a messenger from God. And so then, but if they like justify themselves and they're like, well, he gets his authority from man, then they're going to get totally taken over by the mob who recognizes John the Baptist as a prophet. And so what do they do? They cop out, right, they take easy street. They're like, well, we don't know. And Jesus is like, exactly, and I'm not going to tell you where I get my authority either. But instead then, what he does?

Speaker 1: 9:13

He starts telling these parables to them to explore the rejection of the kingdom of heaven in these three parables, and we find ourselves actually in the third today. So, although we're starting chapter 22, 12 weeks ago we had ended the second parable in the very end of chapter 21. So this is the third. The first was about the rejection of John the Baptist himself, and the second was about the rejection of the prophets and the son. We saw that through this story of this vineyard, and today, then, we're going to talk about the response of the rejection of the prophets, the son, the kingdom and actually the messengers of the kingdom, and so today he likened this, the kingdom of heaven, to a marriage feast, like a wedding party, and they understood this.

Speaker 1: 10:03

This is something that was really clear. They understood kind of what went into this and how it lasted and the traditions of this, and they understood, from their Jewish culture perspective, that there was one thing that was different about the Jewish culture compared to other cultures around them and that wasn was different about the Jewish culture compared to other cultures around them, and that was that in the Jewish culture, the groom's father paid for the dowry. Now you girl dads out there, you're like whoa, whoa, whoa. This sounds pretty legit Like let's get back to that, right. So other cultures you guys are probably familiar with, the bride's father would pay, but in the Jewish culture, the groom's father would pay a price. It was called a mohar and this, in essence, was the purchasing of the bride.

Speaker 1: 10:48

And this is the lesson Jesus was really trying to get across right before his crucifixion. He's trying to make the point that he's been making for the last three years that he was there to pay a price and he was there to buy back the world for himself, and so this is what Jesus is really trying to say in this parable that we're reading today, that I'm literally, I'm here with you right now and my own people don't even accept me. But let me tell you, then, this story about a king who had a son, and the king sent out his servants to bid those who had already been invited to this celebration, to this feast, this wedding party, but they wouldn't come. We see this again, actually, in Matthew, chapter 25, and we see it in the gospel, according to Luke. But in Matthew 22, right here, jesus is saying those who went out to gather, those who already invited, they wouldn't come. So why wouldn't they come? They didn't recognize that this was the Son and they didn't honor the son.

Speaker 1: 11:57

This is literally where we find Jesus in this moment. He's actually in this place where the Jews didn't recognize him and didn't honor him, and the Jews were still looking for this Messiah, even though he was standing there right in front of them. They were missing this open invitation, even though John the Baptist, the forerunner, let him know it's happening, and it's happening right now, and this is an open invitation. This is an open invitation from the beginning of time, where God's desire was to reconcile the world back to himself. And from that actual desire, god set into place certain things, certain things in motion. But the Jews, when it came time, even though it had been prophesied, even though these prophecies had been fulfilled, that Jesus was actually, he actually stepped into earth, god in flesh, stepped down into creation and walked among men. His own people missed it, they missed it, and so now you have this invitation where people have missed the open invitation.

Speaker 1: 13:07

Jesus said in the parable that God, instead, instead of having an empty feast, instead of having an empty celebration, he says just go call all the people. Go call all the people from wherever, from the highways and the byways, call them from the hedges, and tell them to come to this feast. In essence, what we get to learn at this moment is that the gospel is not just to the Jews. This isn't just good news for the Jews, it's now for anyone who believes. So let's chop this up. One thing I think is really important to understand about parables in ancient literature like this is one like I said, it's not written to you, it's for you too. It's not written in our language, and so there's a translation process that takes place, and there's much imagery and symbols that are connected in here, and so it's important for us to slow down and chop it up and start to understand these things.

Speaker 1: 14:06

So there are at least 12 figures and symbols of significance within Jesus's parable of the wedding feast and I put this up here in a big long list. If you want to take a picture of it, you can. This is something you can chop up later this week. You can kind of walk through this yourself or with your community group. I'm going to go through them all individually. So hang on, I'm going to, like nerd, alert you for a minute, like we're just going to help you understand what some of these mean and walk through them quickly and slowly at the same time.

Speaker 1: 14:32

So the first is, you know, the king and his son. We're going to talk about the king, king's slaves and the servants. The figures are the symbols of the wedding feast the four invitations, those who rejected the invitation, the king's destruction of their city by fire, those who then accepted the invitation, those wedding clothes what is that all about? The king's looking over and looking at the dinner guests, those who are well-dressed, a friend who apparently is not well-dressed or appropriately dressed for the occasion, and finally the outer darkness. Here we go All right. Symbol number one who's the king and his son? The king represents God and the son represents the son of God, which is Jesus. There you go. Those are those two characters. Good job, we got one done. Symbol two yeah, we're excited, okay. Symbol two In the parable, this is the king's slaves and servants.

Speaker 1: 15:31

So in the parable, the king's slaves and servants represent God's prophets and messengers of the time of the Old Testament, all the way through up to John the Baptist. This was the last of the prophets and messengers, and the prophets told the children, or the people, the children that were a part of Israel, god's people what God's message was to them when there wasn't righteousness taking place and there wasn't justice Like. This is the most important things and it would warn them to repent of those things. Hey, you guys need to shift back, get back on course here and be a light unto the nations which you are not being and follow him. But often, when they gave this message, they were ignored and even times they were then beaten and killed. This is similar to how actually the king's slaves in this parable were treated by those that the king invited to the wedding feast in verse 3, when they actually shared this invitation, like hey, it's ready, it's time to come, and then we see what happens to them.

Speaker 1: 16:25

The third symbol is the wedding feast itself. The wedding feast represents God's approval and blessing in the life to come for living faithfully in this life. The wedding feast could represent like an actual end-time banquet. You could see some of that in Old Testament, isaiah and some prophecies in there, or even New Testament the very end of Revelation talks about this. Or it can also be metaphorical of God's approval and blessings that will be manifested in his kingdom.

Speaker 1: 17:00

The fourth symbol is these four invitations. All four invitations are implied, or at least mentioned in this parable of the wedding feast, and the first invitation really is just alluded to. The last three invitations are explicitly mentioned in this parable of the wedding feast and the first invitation really is just alluded to. The last three invitations are explicitly mentioned in this, and so we know that there was an unmentioned initial wedding invitation from verse three, because the king sent out slaves to call those who had already been invited. So this is like a party that you're having or an actual wedding, right? What do you do you send out like a notification or save the date, and what do you do? You ask for an RSVP? You let people know something's coming and you know. You then have to remind them later a lot of times and you know this is exactly what's happened there. And so this first invitation represents then God's initial call to the children of Israel, through Moses in the Old Testament, to follow him, and this is the old covenant that then is created. And this first invitation is inferred in Jesus's parable and assumed that it had been issued before even the story had begun. It represents the Old Testament covenants that are described in great detail Wonderful reading if you want to go back in the very beginning of the Bible, in Exodus and Deuteronomy, and that talks all about that. It represents the Old Testament covenants that are described there.

Speaker 1: 18:16

And then the second and third invitations to the wedding feast is represented by the Old Testament scriptures and then, specifically, the messenger of John the Baptist. We're back into this. They were God's repeated offers continually, and warnings, spoken through the prophets, to obey his commandments and keep the Old Testament. And John the forerunner, the one who's coming before Jesus the Baptist. His message was that hey, the Messiah, the fulfillment of the old covenant is actually about to arrive, here and now, and you can actually see this in the urgency of the king's third invitation. You actually feel this too in, actually, the message from John the Baptist. If you go way back early on in Matthew in chapter 3, you see where he's saying repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand, like it's here now. This isn't some future, distant thing. Like it is arriving, it's here and we get to participate in it now. So we need to adjust, turn away from, get ourselves back to righteousness and justice. He also said the ax is already laid at the root of the trees, which means it's here, it's happening, it's taking place Now.

Speaker 1: 19:29

The fourth invitation you see in verses nine and 10, this is the one we love. This is the one where we're like I can get down with that, like this is a lot of times this is what's usually preached. We'll take a little piece of that and we'll be like yes, the wedding invitation represents the new covenant, it's the extension of God's plan of redemption for anyone who will accept this gift through faith that the table is long and it is wide and everyone is welcome, the good and the bad and this is a huge shift at this time and their reality. This is the beauty of all of this now for us includes us as Gentiles. It includes Gentiles, those who weren't social outcasts. Hello, I see. Yeah, this is the good news of the gospel that then would soon be delivered and created in, really an invitation for everyone, and not just good news that the Messiah had arrived for God's people, israel, at the time that this new covenant was now gonna be written on the hearts of all who actually believe.

Speaker 1: 20:34

And there's those who rejected the king's invitation. We see this in simple number five. So this new invitation, this invitation comes, and they rejected the invitations that were summoning them. Like, hey, it's ready. And what they would do then is it would be like we would notify you because there was a lot more going into it. They just weren't going to the grocery store and picking up something they had to. Literally, that's what they're saying. Like hey, the oxen, the fattened calf, it's all been, you know, butchered, slaughtered. We're ready to like, do this thing. You've got timing. That's involved here. We don't have a refrigeration system, all that stuff. Time, you knew about the party, you wanted to come.

Speaker 1: 21:20

And then those who rejected the king's invitation to the wedding feast. What they represent actually is disobedience to Israel. They're violating this covenant by not listening then to the prophet that God sent, which is the one that they actually requested and were begging for and waiting for. Now, apparently, there's these two groups in this parable that neglected to follow this open invitation that they had accepted. The first was this group that paid no attention to the king's invite. You know it talks about how they just went on their way, they went to their own farm, they went back to attending their business, they just weren't interested. They were like, hey, I'm busy doing my own life. And this group was, you know, seemed too preoccupied with the affairs of this world, however trivial they may have been. And then there's this other group where they just snubbed God's invitation of eternal life and blessing and reward, like they didn't just get too preoccupied with where they snubbed, but this other one just like outright, was hostile about it.

Speaker 1: 22:11

And that's all of a sudden where we see this picture of violence, where you're like whoa, whoa, whoa, what's happening right here? Where this next one scorned his invitation of eternal life and blessings and of reward, and these people, or the people that we see, are murderers who then seized and killed the king's slaves. And you're like, what? Like how did we get from there? They were invited to a party, like it's supposed to be, like fun. Like why, all of a sudden, are you aggressive and you're like killing people and murdering? These, though, are the kings and the leaders In real time. They're seeing this stuff. In fact, king Herod had already just beheaded John the Baptist, who was the messenger, the forerunner of Jesus and the chief priest, who Jesus is talking to in this moment, and the Sadducees and the Pharisees. They were already colluding how to kill him in this very moment, and trying to figure out how to make that happen.

Speaker 1: 23:04

So the sixth symbol, you have the king's destruction of their city with fire, again where you're like, oh my gosh, what is happening right here? This event, this is the destruction of their city. This was likely a representative of a soon-to-be fulfilled prophecy about the future demolition of the city of Jerusalem. You actually see Jesus talk about this earlier, and everyone was confused when he was talking about the destruction of the temple, so this isn't the first time that he has alluded, saying straightforward earlier, letting the disciples know that stuff's going to come down, and they're like what? The temple. This is, like you know, the ethos of the whole system, right here and now he's through this parable, you know, pre-prophesying ahead of time, and we know that this actually takes place.

Speaker 1: 23:48

Because we're ahead, right, we get to read back in history, in Josephus, and we get to understand that the Romans did in fact come and destroy Jerusalem give or take 40 years after that, in 70 AD, as a punishment for the Jewish revolt, and they burned it down. They literally tore it down, stone by stone, and to this day there is still that same pile of stones from the temple. By including in this parable their in the phrase like their city, this infers, like this harsh meaning in the soon to take place destruction. It's this rebuke of Jerusalem that it does not belong to God, but it belongs, at this point, to evil priests who falsely claim to represent him, and so the city of Jerusalem is their city. It is not God's, as it should be. And Israel's rejection of Jesus, this promised Messiah and prophet, like Moses, apparently triggered the covenant provisions relating to Israel's disobedience, including expelling them from this land. The seventh symbol those who actually accepted the invitation and attended the banquet.

Speaker 2: 25:03

This is the fun stuff right.

Speaker 1: 25:05

This is a group of people that likely represents believers in Jesus in the era of the new covenant. It particularly represents Gentile believers who were traveling among the highways and the byways when they heard this message and Jesus said to those who gathered like, say hey, he said God invited then the good and the bad. This phrase both good and bad indicates that there was all sorts of guests invited and who came, that there was actually some guests like us, considered by the religious establishment of the Sadducees and Pharisees to be unacceptable members of society. Some of you are anti-church or de-churched because you've had an experience in a church that are like, hey, you're like the unacceptable member of society and we don't want you in this club. But he's saying hey, no, no, no, you're the Gentiles, you're the poor, you're the unclean, you're the people of low morals, like the tax collectors and the prostitutes, and you are welcome. Like, not just in the Gospel of Matthew, but it was recorded in this parable, in Luke, that the master actually says to invite the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame. Now, even though the parable only mentions those who are unwilling to come during the second and third invitation, this doesn't necessarily mean that no one from the original group of the original invitees chose not to come. It's important to know. So it wasn't just nope, none of you. Now, it's just this whole new group.

Speaker 1: 26:37

Symbol number eight the wedding clothes. You guys like dressing up right, look good, feel good. You know what I mean. Do that Wedding clothes. This represents the believer's good works done in the power and the purpose of Jesus's name. So I think it's important that you notice it's the participant's responsibility to be properly, to be properly attired. So when confronted the king, when he confronted his friend about these clothes, the king's friend doesn't respond of like will you give me some wedding garments? Like, will you give me something to wear? It says he was speechless, right, and we know that there was kind of a connection because he refers to him as friend. Like, hey, I was just noticing, why didn't you, why aren't you wearing the appropriate stuff?

Speaker 1: 27:31

Similarly, the apostle Paul in Romans this is a book to a church as well as Galatians, another church. He reminded his readers to put on Christ. He told believers in Colossae he said put on this, put on a heart of compassion, of kindness, of humility, gentleness and patience, and beyond all of these things, put on love. And in this parable, the wedding clothes are not a requirement to accept the invitation to believe in Jesus and enter the new covenant, but this is so important they are a requirement to participate in the wedding feast, which is a picture of honor and reward. See, because many of you know this and those of you don't know this, please hear this so clearly we did nothing to receive his garment of righteousness, but just believe in him. That's right where it started. That's right where it started. But the wedding clothes in this parable and the wedding clothes in this parable and the wedding clothes in this parable are each believer's responsibility to put on, to wear in doing good deeds in faith. Just like Paul talked about the wedding clothes, if you will, are this brilliant, highly visible symbol during the wedding feast of a believer's possibly hard to see faithfulness to Jesus in this life?

Speaker 1: 29:10

This guy who is coming to a party, who has shown up there, he's shown up on his own terms. Right, we know culturally that clothes that Jesus is talking about were not some like first century tuxedo of the time, and so it's not like this guy is wearing like a fake tuxedo instead of a real one. What it is is that he failed altogether to make an appropriate response and then so change culturally to what he was a part of. That. The clothes that would be required or expected at a wedding are clothes that are readily available, that everyone has access to, and then everyone would be required to wear. This is just about an appropriate response you follow. This is about our response in this.

Speaker 1: 29:58

When this guy comes in, he decides I'm coming in my own terms. He's saying yeah, like I want to be a part of this. I totally want to be a part of the party. I love the kingdom, I want to be a part of the kingdom, but I don't want a king. This is the upside down kingdom. This is what the kingdom of heaven is like, which is the rule and reign of God, which I am human too.

Speaker 1: 30:21

Friends, this is like one of the things we have probably most difficulty with. This is like one of the things we have probably most difficulty with, like daily right. Am I actually wearing the clothes of Christ? Am I actually allowing to have rule and reign over my life and decisions? When I say I surrender and I'm accepting this gift, surrender means like hey, you got a little bit more authority than I do. God, where would you have me go? These are my hands. What would you have me do? This is my mouth. What would you have me say? This is my mind. What would you have me think? These are my feet? Where would you have me walk? We really struggle with that, I can tell you.

Speaker 1: 30:53

I'll give you, like a cliche, pathetic example. Yesterday I was coming out of the city. Traffic was horrible. People were driving like nuts I don't were going to run me off the road. I got my kid in the back and so I'm like defensive and I'm like now I get to kill you, right, I can cut you off too. But Jesus, since you have reign and rule over me, please help me in this moment, because I want to do all kinds of things and then I have to explain to my kid you know what I'm saying, thinking, feeling and then he goes just in a soft whisper why don't you just be curious? Maybe they got an emergency, maybe something's real bad that's going on. And I'm like I'm not interested in being curious. Actually, I'm interested in a lot of aggressive behavior, because they need to be taught a lesson. And you've made me judge and jury, and you're welcome, I'm real good at it. Right, look, it's a pathetic example, but you get what I'm saying. Like this is a real deal. Like this is.

Speaker 1: 31:47

We're confronted with this every day and every decision we make. Right, am I going to wear the clothes or not? Like, am I going to let him have this rule and reign? Am I going to discover actually like the freedom of being in the kingdom or not? Like it's that whole? Like God, I love your mercy and justice. I love your righteousness and your generosity, but I don't love you. I got better ways of doing it. Right. Like you're just some daft uncle. Like I love you, you give good gifts. I don't care about. Like your situation or who you are, but like I love what you do. And when you send you know, a card with money and stuff like that, I don't even read the card. I'm just like bloop. Right, you know exactly what I'm saying. Like, I just want to do things on my own terms, so I'll define it for myself what good deeds are and bad deeds are, and I want you to hear this, friends, and I'm saying this in love and I'm saying it to myself we cannot be a part of a kingdom. When we decide that we are the king. We decide that we are the king. So how? How do we go about responding to this invitation to be a part of the kingdom or to be in relationship with the king?

Speaker 1: 32:56

The apostle Paul in Romans 13 sees it as us putting on Jesus, like literally putting him on like a new pair of clothes. He sees us putting on Jesus like a new identity. Like, you know, when you get dressed up for something, you're like it's time to go to work and people notice like, oh, what's going on? You're going somewhere, you know. Usually you see that when you're leaving the house like, oh, it's not jammy time, no more. Like something's going on, it's something that others can see Like there's a thing about you, right? And if Jesus is our change of clothes, our change of identity, who we are, our proper response is for us to put on Christ and live then in that identity.

Speaker 1: 33:43

The ninth symbol the king looking over the dinner guests. So, simply, it's just this, he's just looking. Are we a part of the kingdom? Are we even participating? That's all. It is Like, hey, you're here, are you participating? Symbol 10, those who are dressed. Symbol 11, the king's friend who is not appropriately dressed. And symbol 12, the king's friend being bound and thrown into outer darkness.

Speaker 1: 34:11

Look, here's the deal. I'm going to combine and wrap this up because I am way out of time. You can unpack this this week in your community groups. Good luck, or a really kind email I can help you out. No, here's the deal. First of all, it's not as bad as you think it is. Remember, there's imagery.

Speaker 1: 34:32

But in Matthew, in the Gospel of Matthew, as we go on, we're going to read about how this representative, this Jesus, is thrown out of the Passover party, where he was kicked out of the city and he was bound by his hand and feet with nails to a cross and died in darkness where he was weeping. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? And it's through his rejection that we have an invitation into the kingdom. But this invitation requires an appropriate response. We cannot just presume on God's grace and say I'll come as I want, whatever God loves me. He's given us access and he's asking us to take up a new identity through his son, so that we can live as kingdom representatives and members of his kingdom to represent. But then there's verse 14. Which is the one that always lifts us up, like whoa, whoa, whoa.

Speaker 1: 35:50

We think like, oh yeah, you know, I love God and I want to love God and I want to put on Jesus and I want to walk in this new identity and I want to take off all the other garbage and this is who I am and this newness of life and all these great things, and I'm compelled by his beauty and his grace and his mercy and love. But then, like doesn't verse 14, like show us that there's some secret? Like there's some secret, some sort of hidden agenda with God? Like for many are called but few are chosen. Like doesn't that prove that God can't be trusted? Like he's insincere, like now it's just gonna be this small group. How do I know who this group is?

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And again, we must understand that this is actually Jesus. This is a Jewish dude, right. And what you need to understand is he's speaking in Jewish of the time idioms. He's speaking in Jewish idioms, not English. He's speaking in the idioms of his day. So in this example, when Jesus says many, he's talking about everyone, not just many. Many means everyone, where we can tell just by the parable who does God invite to the party? Everybody he invites everybody. The morally dubious, the evil, the good, everybody, everybody's welcome. So when Jesus says that many are called, he's saying everybody is called and that this is a calling for everyone. And so when he says that a few are chosen, he's not giving this mathematical equation where he's saying like yeah, but by comparison, there's only a few people that are actually chosen to be a part of this calling. Uh-uh.

Speaker 1: 37:29

What the Jewish idiom means is that everyone is called but not everyone is going to respond appropriately. That's our choice, that's on us. This is a calling. You've been called, you've been invited. It's a calling and it's our choice. Whether or not we choose to respond appropriately. We betray that we are not chosen. This is not a he decided, this is a. We decide how to appropriately respond and everyone has the opportunity to put on Christ and it is up to us to do what's already been done for us.

Speaker 1: 38:07

Now I know I'm a little bit over, I just really quickly wanna. It's so clear and it explains this and we can like get into this whole place of like hell, weeping and gnashing of teeth. What does weeping represent? Sad right. What does gnashing of teeth represent? Like frustrated right, anger right. Have you ever been in a circumstance where you're just like doggone it, I missed it, dang it. I have that opportunity right there. I knew that, I knew what I should have done and I didn't do it. I'm sad I missed it. I'm frustrated, I'm angry. I didn't. You missed out. You got put on the outside of the party. You're sad, frustrated with yourself and, ultimately, friends. Ultimately, this is what Jesus is trying to do.

Speaker 2: 38:50

He's trying to make a point that he'd been making for the last three years that he was there to pay a price, that he was there to buy back the world to himself. Therefore, therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved. Clothe yourself with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience gentleness and patience.

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Bear each other. Forgive each other as if you have no grievance with anyone. Forgive as the Lord has forgiven you, and over all of these virtues, put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

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Where is close? You're invited. You are loved. You are worthy. Whether you're good or you're bad, You've been chosen.

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You've been called, will you respond appropriately? Well, as a response, we get to worship.

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And I'm going to actually invite you right now to stand and worship as the Spirit ministers to us today. Thank you,