The Weightiness of the Kingdom

Today on Summit Life, an invitation from God Himself. How important is an invitation from God? Everything else compared to that is lame. It's ridiculous.

It's not really even that relevant. So if there were an invitation from God, wouldn't it trump everything else on earth? Any excuse we ever give pales in importance to the invitation we've received. Thanks for joining us today on Summit Life with Pastor J.D.

Greer. As always, I'm your host, Molly Vitovich. You know, not all invitations are equal. A backyard barbecue invite might show up in an email or a text message, but a wedding invitation? Now that's probably going to make a bigger splash, right?

I know I spent a lot of time addressing and mailing those things out by hand. And today on Summit Life, Pastor J.D. Greer explains that when an invitation from God shows up, it deserves our full attention and a very quick RSVP. We're diving into a new teaching today called The Waitiness of the Kingdom, and it's part of our series called Kingdom Come. And remember, you can always find our entire preaching catalog for free at J.D.

Greer dot com. Right now, let's turn in our Bibles to Luke 14 and join Pastor J.D. What I am going to talk to you about today is something that Jesus explains is, listen, is of such dire importance that everything else in your life almost becomes irrelevant compared to the way it is. I'm going to show you how Jesus said that. A lot of times people have the question of, you know, is God really that relevant to my life? What you're going to see is Jesus turns that around and says, based on how relevant this is to your life, I'm not sure you would call anything else, your job, where you live, who you marry.

I'm not even sure you would call that relevant compared to how important this question is. I want you to get your Bible if you have it, and I want you to open it to Luke 14. Luke 14, right? Luke chapter 14, verse 7.

Luke chapter 14, verse 7. Now, Jesus told a parable to those who were invited to this particular party when he noticed how they chose the places of honor. And he said to them, when you were invited by somebody to a wedding feast, don't sit down in the place of honor.

Let someone more distinguished than you be invited by him. And then he who invited you both will come to you and say, give your place to this person. And then you will be embarrassed and begin with shame to take the lowest place.

No, no, no. But when you are invited, go and sit in the lowest place so that when your host comes, he may say to you, friend, move up higher. Then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at table with you.

For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted." Now, at first, this just seems like really good practical social advice, doesn't it? I mean, so you get invited to the wedding of the daughter of the president of your company. And so you're a little late going to the reception, and you walk into the reception hall, and you notice that there's a few chairs open at various tables, but you're like, hey, I see some chairs open at table number one.

And so you will mosey your way up there. You go up on that little platform overlooking all the other tables. You kind of sit down next to the mother of the bride and the bride and the groom. And you're like, oh, lovely wedding.

Your dress looks fabulous. Can I ding the little cup to get you guys to kiss? And as you're kind of getting situated, an usher comes up to you and says, ah, excuse me, sir. These seats are reserved for the close friends and the family of the president, and you are not one of those. And so I'm going to ask you to get your stuff and make your way back. And he points way to the back of the room, not even to a table, but to those little chairs that are lining the side of the room. And he says, that's actually where we'd like for you to sit. And we'd also request that you not get anything from the food line until everybody else has gone through.

That's how unimportant that you are, right? And so you get your stuff and you begin the walk of shame. Now turn that around. All right, say that you go into the wedding feast in the reception and you sit back there at the back. And then as soon as you sit down, the usher comes up to you and says, sir, the president has requested that you come and sit at his table because he wants your, his family to get to know you a little better. And he'd like you to come up there. That's the walk of honor. And you're walking there by saying, who is that?

Why does the president want to know him? That's Jesus' parable. Now that's just good practical social advice, right?

Practical social advice. Is that Jesus' point? I mean, it's kind of random. And then he's telling these parables about the kingdom and about God and about the prodigal son.

And then here's some good advice when you're at a party. And then we go back to, you know, it just seems random. No, there is actually a profoundly important point in this that explains what he's about to say in the next story. So let's go ahead and get to that one.

And then I'll show you how the two tie together, right? Verse 15, when one of those who reclined at table with him heard these things, he said to him, blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God. So you see, we're staying on the theme of the kingdom of God as a party, right? So verse 16, but Jesus said to him, well, Mance once gave a banquet and invited many.

Real quick. I love the fact that Jesus so often and so consistently compares the coming of his kingdom to a party. You want to know why?

You want to know why? Because Jesus was trying to say that the kingdom of God is everything our hearts have yearned for and wanted to come true. You know, Jesus's first miracle, Jesus's first miracle was to fix the broken tap at a party.

John chapter two. Now that's significant when you consider the fact that like I explained to you before that Jesus miracles were not random magic tricks where he showed off how much power he had. Jesus's miracles were called signs, which means each of them had a message. So the fact that he began his ministry in John two with a miracle of fixing a broken tap at a party was trying to tell us something, right? You're like, well, what is he trying to tell us? And why would he choose that one? Why would he like, you know, create a burning effigy of Satan in the sky or at least raise somebody from the head?

That would have been a good depiction of his ministry. It's because what he was trying to show us is that our hearts have been yearning for something because we know something's wrong with the world. Every world religion has taught consistently. All of them have taught that there's something fundamentally wrong with our world. That's why there are earthquakes and there are tsunamis and our bodies are broken and there's pain and there's war and there's broken relationships and there's mental illness. There's something wrong with the world. But every world religion teaches that it wasn't always that way.

There was a time when the world was at peace or was at harmony. And when Jesus shows up saying my kingdom is a banquet, it's a party. It's a party of all parties. He's saying everything your heart has yearned for will come true. Everything your heart has ached over will become untrue.

It is everything that you've been looking for. It is a banquet. And so he consistently compares it to a party.

Keep going verse 17. And at the time for the banquet he sent his servant to say to those who had been invited come for everything is now ready. Now see what happened in those days for a big feast they would all always be two invitations because in those days before there were electricity and all the modern conveniences we have they couldn't tell you exactly when the party would happen because there were too many moving pieces. You'd have to go out and catch the food and then prepare it.

You couldn't refrigerate it. You know and then like you know you had out of town people coming and there was no telling when they'd be able to show up so they'd have a first invitation where you would RSVP to the party and then there'd be a second invitation telling you everything is now ready and you were supposed to come on if you RSVP'd yes. So Jesus' story these people have RSVP'd yes already and now they just sent out the word that says it's time to come everything's ready.

So verse 18. They all alike however begin to make excuses and the first one said to him I bought a field and I gotta go out and see it please have me excused. Question who buys a piece of property without ever having looked at it and even if you hadn't looked at it what's so important about it that you gotta go look at it right now.

I mean it's dirt it's not going anywhere it's a pretty lame excuse. Verse 19 another one said I have bought five yoke of oxen and I need to go examine them. Well that doesn't make a whole lot of sense either. I mean buying five yoke of oxen was a major investment back then it's like buying a car today.

Imagine you're walking out your door and your friends are like where you going you're like I bought a car like what kind is it I don't know I just gave some dude twelve thousand dollars on the internet now I gotta go see what I bought. That doesn't make any sense that's a lame excuse also verse verse 20. And another one said I married a wife therefore I cannot come. Right right right because the last thing a new wife wants is to get dressed up and go to a nice feast and eat finger foods with rich people that's the last thing she wants.

Oh no she'd much rather stay home and watch ESPN with you and eat foods that in an Ito's, Cheetos, Doritos, Taquitos that's what she wants. All right right see these are these are pretty these are pretty lame excuses. Verse 21 so the servant came and reported these things to the master then the master of the house became angry and said to his servant go out quickly to the streets and the lanes of the city and bring in the poor and the crippled and the blind and the lame what what rich person does that and people my friends can't come to my birthday party so go get me a bunch of homeless people go give me a bunch of poor people go give me a bunch of ex-cons and bring them in. There are two shocking things about this story the first is that the original people did not respond to the invitation of this incredibly important man the second shocking thing about this story is that he filled up his house with the poor the blind and the lame and the crippled verse 22 then the servant said sir what you've commanded has been done and there's still room verse 23 the master said to the servant go out to the highways and hedges and compel people to come in so that my house may be filled now we really go a step farther because now he's telling him to go out to the highways and hedges in jewish parlance what that meant was i want you to go outside of the city to where the outsiders live people that are not accepted within jewish society we're talking about people who are street people people who run the highways people who are prostitutes people who are so far gone that they're not even accepted in our cities anymore people who live in the hedges people with rough past centers and i want you to bring them in verse 24 for i tell you notice by the way that at this point he switches into the first person up until now he's been telling a story in the third person now he switches in the first person he says i tell you none of those men who were invited shall taste my banquet he's talking about the jewish rejection of him you see the jewish people in that day were the ones who had received the first invitation to the party and they had rsvp yes that invitation came from the prophets and they said yes the messiah is coming we want in we want a part of the messiah and so jesus comes he's like the second invitation and now that he's here they got a hundred reasons why they don't have time for him and they're not paying attention to him and most of them have to do with just the normal day-to-day task of life getting married pursuing a job buying real estate buying real estate and so jesus says you go out to the gentiles you go to the outcast you go to the marginal you go to the sinners because they'll understand how incredible of an opportunity it is to be invited to the king's banquet this really bothers jesus by the way you know i know that verse 25 it says right after this he turns to this big group of people that are following him and he makes this statement he says if any of you comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters yes even his own life he can't be my disciple assuming you see that word hate and you're like what i mean jesus is telling us to hate our mothers and fathers i thought jesus wanted us to love our mothers and fathers and our children and our wives and our and to honor them yes anybody who has followed jesus will tell you that the result of following jesus is that you begin to love your family more not less but what he is saying is this compared to the weightiness of the invitation that you are receiving from jesus even your most close and tender relationships will seem like hate because of how much importance you give to the one who invited you to his banquets that's steve i realize but that's how important jesus is saying this invitation is it trumps every relationship it trumps getting married it trumps where you work it trumps everything there's nothing in your life that carries the weight and the importance of us thanks for listening to summit life with jd greer if you want to know more about this ministry visit us online at jdgreer.com you know what we appreciate you yes you are listeners it's an honor for us to be able to be a source of encouragement for you each day did you know that these summit life broadcasts are only one of the most important things in this ministry now if you're like me i spend a good amount of time on my phone okay maybe too much did you know that you can follow pastor jd on social media why not get some biblical insight as you scroll just search for pastor jd greer on facebook at pastor jd greer on instagram and at jd greer on twitter follow along on all your favorite social media platforms and stay up to date with this ministry while filling up your timeline with encouragement go ahead and set your phone down for just a few more minutes and let's get back to today's teaching once again here's pastor jd so what jesus done has done in these two parables is he has taught us the two reasons that most people miss the kingdom of god the two reasons that most people miss the kingdom of god i would encourage you to write these down because most of the people that are going to miss the kingdom of god are going to fall into one of these two categories right here number one some fail to recognize the importance of the invitation excuses that are given in this story are not outright evil did you notice that nobody's like hey i can't come i got a drug deal i'm doing i've kidnapped a little kid i got a dog fighting ring that i run i can't come to your party none of the excuses are outright evil they're just they're just lame compared to the weightiness of the invitation they're receiving all excuses are lame compared to how important this is even if the excuses sounded legitimate to you you're like jd i think you're being too hard on them i mean a real estate deal that's kind of a big deal i think that's a good excuse uh you're getting married i mean the wife you don't want some alone time she wants a honeymoon that sounds perfectly fair to me okay maybe they are legitimate in that sense but all excuses are lame compared to the importance of the invitation they're receiving give you an example sometimes you know i'm in my office and and and somebody will call in for me and if i'm meeting with somebody else my assistant will tell the person calling i'm sorry he can't talk to you right now he's talking with somebody else or maybe you know i'm just in the zone i'm working and i don't want to be disturbed because i know if i get out of the zone i'll never get back in it and so she'll be like i'm sorry he's really tied up you know he can't he can't take your phone call right now usually people receive that you know most of you don't really have a problem and that's the answer that you get back if i you know i promise to call you back but my assistant knows that if the person on the other end of the line says your wife is in the hospital then she interrupts me so the question being asked here is how important is an invitation from god that's the question if there is a god then he is the creator of everything there is if there is a god that he invented the atom if there's a god all things come from him all things are upheld by him all things are going to him ultimately the only opinion of your life that matters is his opinion if there's a god there's only one thing that you and i ought to be worried about is do we know that god everything else compared to that is lame it's ridiculous it's not really even that relevant compared to how witty that is if there is a god that would trump absolutely everything i once heard jack welch the legendary ceo of ge say if you want to succeed in an organization any organization figure out whose organization it is how they keep score and score that's how you succeed if this is god's universe if it's god's world then the only scorecard that really matters is his scorecard so if there were an invitation from god wouldn't it trump everything else on earth any excuse we give every gift pales in importance to the invitation we've received this is to be treated as a matter of life and death i i want you to an atheist professor who teaches at a school not far from here who asks his class every year how many of you believe the bible is the word of god he says about two-thirds of the hands in his class will go up we believe the bible is the inherent inspired word of god then he says how many of you have read it all the way through it says at least 90 of the hands go down to work we're talking four five percent of the class still got their hand raised he said all right put your hands down he said let's take a popular book how many of you have read the twilight series all the way through 50 60 of the hands go up he says you can put them down he says i don't really think you believe the bible is the word of god because if you did believe it was the word of god you're telling me you wouldn't even have read it now at that point what his purpose in doing that is just trying to shake them a little bit to show them what they say they believe is not really what they believe but i actually tend to agree with him on his point i tend to agree with him that you see there's two kinds of atheists there's intellectual atheists who say there's no god and then there's practical atheists who say there's a god but then live like there is no god if there is a god then that trumps everything you know some of you guys listen to that you're like twilight series i don't really read what you call books so that didn't apply to me all right some of you guys that don't read books you can tell me anything i want to know about your profession you can tell me every major league baseball score and stat and team and what they're doing you got nine fantasy football leagues running in your head at any given point and you can't tell me hardly anything about a book that you believe comes from god if you treated your job like your relationship with god you'd be fired before the day was out it doesn't make any sense to me somebody that says they believe in a god and doesn't give it importance we're talking about god it makes sense to me when somebody says i don't believe in a god and then they live like that's true what doesn't make sense to me is when somebody says they do believe in god and live like he's not really there don't give him any weight what i don't understand are people who say they believe in the resurrection of jesus and then give it absolutely no weight who come once a year tip their hat to it at christmas time and easter but then go on throughout their lives like it doesn't really matter that much this is something that we're talking about god can i ask you a question what listen what if what the bible says about heaven and hell what if it's true what if it's true that heaven is an eternal banquet in which every one of our hearts desires what we have yearned for and longed for is fulfilled and it comes true what if it's true that the opposite of that is a place called hell where people go which is a place of anguish and torment jesus called it by the way anguish and torment sometimes people like oh well hell that's like old testament stuff that's god in his cranky years when he was angry then jesus comes along he's gentle and kind he teaches no jesus talked more about hell than anybody else in the bible you know why because he loved us what if what he said about it was true what if what he said about what he was doing was true that he was living and suffering for us in our place that we deserve condemnation and he was going to absorb it on the cross and our place and he was going to take into himself the penalty we deserved what if it's true and what he said that there's two ways that you and i pay for sin one is we suffer for it eternally the other way is he pays for it on the cross for us and he suffers the wrath of god in our place what if it's true when he said john 14 6 that he was the way the truth and the life and nobody comes to the father but through him what if that's true you understand how important that is there's a picture i've given people in our church several times and i'll share it for you know for the rest of you too because this is how i see myself it's how i see our church story took place out in california several years ago when there was an earthquake and god was driving along the road about 3 30 in the morning there was an earthquake and the earthquake lasted about 30 seconds so he pulls his car off the side of the road and he kind of stops waits it out doesn't think it's a big deal pulls back on the road starts going across the bridge cruising across this bridge about 70 miles an hour when he notices the tail lights of the car in front of him just disappear he thought well that's i mean that's that's that's odd so he he stops his car gets out and realizes that what's happened is the middle section of that bridge had dropped out and what he'd seen was that car drop off the edge and dropped out about 75 feet to the death of everybody in the car so he turns around he said he was on a talk show telling the story he said i watched his four cars are coming toward me i start waving my arms to get him to stop no question you're driving along outside of los angeles at 3 30 in the morning and there's a dude on the side of the road waving his arms you're going to stop no this guy said he watched his four cars drove right by him at 70 miles an hour and plunged to their death he said i looked and saw a bus coming across that bridge he said i made up my mind that if that bus went across that bridge it was going to take me with it he said so i stood right in its path and i waved my arms i took off my shirt i started to wave it that bus honked its horn and flashed its lights trying to get me to move he said i wouldn't move that bus driver got out started cursing at me but then i showed him what i saw and the bus driver saw it so he parked his bus so nobody else could go off the side of the cliff here's the question i asked what if you had been the first one to be at the scene of that accident isn't that what you would have done of course i mean how could you not would you would you have cared that people thought that you were a moron out on the side of the road no because you see something they don't see i get notes here from people who visit our church they're like oh i love your church love the music but you know i felt like you were a little too passionate i feel like you yelled too much there's a reason that i talk like this and the reason listen the reason is because i believe these things are true and if these things are true i don't think sit up here on a stool and talking about my feelings is really in order i see i look at you and i look at me and i look at our church and i look at people who are headed to a destruction that is much worse even than that scene on that bridge and i said all right call us a fool say we're a little too passionate but there's a reason we're like this there's a reason i'm trying to tell you because i believe what jesus says about these things are true and i believe because of that they have the weightiest importance getting an invitation from god is the most important thing to do getting an invitation from god is the most important thing in our lives and part of god's invitation to know him is found in his word you're listening to summit life the bible teaching ministry of pastor author and theologian jd greer the book of luke has a lot to say about the kingdom of god but what is that exactly i recently asked pastor jd to help us understand that a bit more and here's what he had to say the kingdom of god made me think about the kingdom of god the kingdom of god molly is the world as god intended it to be it's the world when when god is ruling it we live in a fallen world where you know jesus himself refers to satan now is the ruler of this world it means that he's usurped the kingdom and so so one of the things we do when we become followers of jesus is we begin to represent the kingdom and we begin to pray like he taught us to pray let your kingdom come we live in what theologians call an already not yet experience of the kingdom which means we already have the kingdom of god but we'll never experience the fullness of it until jesus comes back in the meantime we are through our prayers and through our our spirit-filled labor we are bringing his kingdom into relationships into situations of injustice we're able to bring creation as god intended it back to earth one of the reasons we've given these 20 devotions to go along with our study of the of the gospel of luke is because we recognize that these are not just things we're supposed to learn there's things we're supposed to experience and to do and so a good way of of learning more about your role in bringing the kingdom to earth one of the ways you can do that is by diving deep into the end of the gospel of luke and this this little book kingdom come these 20 devotions will help you do that we'd love to send you a copy of kingdom come 20 devotions from luke with your gift of 35 or more to this ministry call us at 866-335-5220 or visit us online at jdgrier.com i'm molly vidovich and i'm so glad that you joined us today be sure to come back tomorrow where we'll learn a lesson in gospel irony and pastor jd will explain the parable of the wedding feast see you friday here on summit life with jd greer today's program was produced and sponsored by jd greer ministries