8/22/21 Luke 14:1, 7-14 “Welcome Home!”

20 Aug 8/22/21 Luke 14:1, 7-14 “Welcome Home!”

8/22/21   Luke 14:1, 7-14       “Welcome Home!”

Once again, we are coming to the close of our summer season.  Hopefully we have been on vacation enough.  Hopefully we have had enough picnics for this year.  Hopefully we are ready to shift to more fall like activities.  I think that we all wish that our summer season would last a little longer even if it has been really warm.  But regardless of the time of year, we can look in our local news and see that we have leagues for this and for that.  We have softball leagues, baseball leagues, football leagues, T-ball leagues, horseshoe leagues just to name a few.  Some of these take place up in Fargo and some are in our small towns.  There is one thing that all these leagues have in common.  There is someone or some team that is #1.  If you are on a team that is not #1, then you had better work a lot harder to get to be #1.  There is nothing wrong with this as long as we are talking about sports and we are not cheating or anything like that.  But when we start to talk about our stations in life, then things are a little different.  Today’s Scripture is really two-fold.  It talks of us being humble and then it talks of inviting the less fortunate.  We are going to touch on both of these as we try to live the life that Jesus has planned for us.

I would like to begin with a little story from David DeWitt.  Several years ago he was invited to a wedding of a relative.  It was a fine wedding and after it was over, they took the pictures.  I always think of pictures being taken before the wedding but I guess that after works also.  Anyway, the people were supposed to go ahead to the reception that was held at another place.  When the wedding party and family finally got done and arrived at the reception, they found that all the distant relatives and not so close friends had taken the tables up front next to the bride and groom.   Therefore the bride and groom’s close family and friends had to sit at the back of the hall as this was the only place left for them.

This is the type of thing that happens every day in different situations.  No one was humiliated in this story but there were probably some hurt feelings.  There is another story told by Wesley Bishop of a state governor who was getting the wedding ready for his daughter.  Finally the big day came and at the reception, all the seating charts had gotten lost or messed up in some way.  There were many important people or dignitaries at this reception and they all pretty much knew the pecking order of where to sit.  The mayor of the largest city in the state saw this as an opportunity to sit next to the governor.  The governor was not running for office again and this mayor saw this as an opportunity to get his endorsement as he was going to run for governor.  This is just like politicians!  All blow and no show.

Anyway, this important mayor sits next to the governor.  Next thing we know, a former President of the United States enters.  It seems that the governor had been in this President’s cabinet.  So the governor quietly asks the mayor to move so the President could sit there.  The place was now full so this important mayor had to sit way in the back.

Now to add insult to injury, there was also in attendance a mayor from a tiny little town in the rural area of the state.  The governor and he had been close friends and school mates in the past.  This mayor had seated himself far in the back.  The governor saw him and insisted that he come up front and sit one seat over from him.  Therefore this humble mayor ended up sitting next to the former president and one seat from the governor.

We have all seen this happen to one extent or another.  I remember in the flood of ‘97 when we were sandbagging in Fargo.  We worked on a doctor’s house.  He sat inside because he couldn’t lower himself to sandbag to save his own house.  Pride is something that we all struggle with and some people have a bigger problem than others.  I know that I used to be proud of some of the things I did but as I grow older, I see how really insignificant I really am in most aspects of life.

As we begin our passage, we find Jesus at the house of a Pharisee on the Sabbath preparing to eat.  This was a custom in those days.  If there was a traveling preacher or teacher, the Pharisees would invite them into their homes.  This is one of the reasons that they would get so upset when Jesus was in the homes of tax collectors and other sinners.  It should also be noted that they are watching Jesus rather closely.  They are trying again to get enough things on Jesus so that they could bring Him to trial and then they could get rid of Him.

Have you ever noticed how there is always a tension between the officials and Jesus?  For the most part the people love Him and want Him to continue to do the things that He does.  He is a hero!  But the officials are threatened by Him.  They may lose their standings.  They could even end up out of work because they are not honest.  Anyway, always notice the tension.

Jesus picks up on all of these things and then He notices that they are choosing their places to sit at the table according to how important they are.  So He tells them this parable that we just read.  I think that the problem here was that these religious leaders thought that they were far more important than they really were.  This passage always reminds me of a bunch of kindergartners or 1^st graders who come into a room where there is something special going on for them.  They all try to see if they can get into the front row.  Sometimes they will even start another row in front of the front row.  They will push and shove and do all sorts of things to be able to sit up front.  This is the picture I get of what was happening at this meal.

I think that we have the same problem today.  There are many, many people who think that they are very important.  One of the only places that I have found where people don’t think they are important is on Sunday morning in church.  No one tries to sit in the front row but you will not find any room in the back row.  And I reckon that this is good because if we are going to be humble, it should start in church.  What I would say is that maybe, maybe you could be a little less humble on Sunday morning.

Anyway, there is a big problem.  I have already told you 2 stories about this.  You can tell some more, I am sure.  The problem lies in the question ‘when are we important and when are we not important?’  People who don’t know Jesus, struggle here as do some others.  You are and will always be the most important person to Jesus Christ.  You are that important.  Don’t ever forget this.  You are very important to your families and spouses and a few other people in your life.  But you are not that important to other people because they all have their own families and friends where others are important.  So Jesus is telling us not to think of ourselves as that important anywhere.  Sit in the back of the room.  If you are important enough, someone will come and get you.  Otherwise just enjoy the view from the back.  Jesus doesn’t want you to embarrass yourself so start out in the back.

The second thing I want us to see from this section is how these people, who push their way to the front, see others.  I think that it is pretty obvious that they consider themselves to be a lot better than everyone else.  This is why these types of people are not very well liked.  These people not only think they are important but they also think that most other people are not important at all.

Here is a great story that I read not too long ago from Guidepost magazine.  It was written by a dad of a little league baseball player.  When this dad played little league 35 years ago, they won the national championship.  Now they were celebrating the life of their coach who had kept on coaching little league kids for all these years.  All his former players loved this guy and he was well respected in the community.  He had even turned down promotions so that he could continue to coach little league.

Now they had a big event at the baseball field for this coach and now the adults were moving to a banquet in his honor.  This former player and his son went home so the boy could get ready for baseball practice.  It turns out that the boy had lost his glove.  They looked and looked but it was not to be found.  Finally they had to leave for practice without it.  When they got to the field, they saw the former coach’s old pickup still there.  The old coach came from around the corner and approached them.  The man asked the coach what he was doing there as he should be at the banquet in his honor.  The coach replied while he was taking the boy’s beat up old glove out from behind his back, “I found this and I just couldn’t let this boy practice without his glove.”  This is an example of true humility and a lot of love for other people.

So this leads Jesus right into the next section of our reading.  We have found that we are to try to be at the rear at public doings unless we are called to the front.  Now let’s see who we are to invite to these types of events.  In this famous passage Jesus says not to invite your friends and relatives and all the rich people.  These people will probably repay you.  Instead He says to invite the poor, the crippled and the sick because these people cannot repay you.  Your reward for doing this lies in heaven.  This is very powerful.

Remember Jesus is sitting in a Pharisee’s house and the guests would all be either rich or well-connected or both.  These are the people who have no regard for others because they are so much better than everyone beneath them.  These are the power brokers of the time who care nothing for the people they are powerful over.  This sounds exactly like Washington, D.C.  This was a problem in those days.  These people would not only trample you to get the prize place to sit but they would only invite their own kind of people to the feast in the first place.

Nothing can ever change if we only invite people like us to the feast.  Look what God did to the early Christians so they would spread the news of Jesus to everyone.  He allowed the persecution to happen in Jerusalem first so that the disciples would have to leave and they did.  God didn’t want them to sit in Jerusalem.  This in turned allowed them to contact more people in the outlying areas with the Good News story.  God doesn’t want us to sit on this news; He wants us to tell everyone.  And we are not to worry about being repaid.  He will take care of this when we get to heaven.

We have this problem today.  I include myself in this as I say that we are a bunch of established, content Christians who don’t know how to reach out to new people.  We don’t know how to reach out to the young people so we don’t try.  The same can be said for the poor, the blind and the lame.  We come to worship and it is all about me and how I can feel good and it is not about others who don’t know Jesus yet.  Churches are dying because of this.  We have to figure out a way to scatter ourselves to the unchurched before something happens and we are forced to scatter.  God’s plan will not be stopped so it is best if we just get on board and reach out to others.  I know that many if not most of you will never share this broadcast on social media.  Why not?  How do you expect to spread this Good News if you don’t push the share button??  It’s the easiest way you will ever have to spread the Gospel!  Share this to all your contacts.

It is always a good thing to see new faces on Sunday mornings and on the broadcast.  Some of these people are churched and some are not.  We will continue to see this as there have been doctrinal shifts in some denominations (UMC) away from the Bible.  I said this last week or the week before.  People want to hear the truth and they will come here to hear it.  Our job is to be open to these people.  We need to be inviting even if we don’t like the person that much.

Ryan Johnson tells a couple of stories.  One is about a homeless woman, Miss Posey, in Joplin MO.  You could tell that she got her clothes from the Salvation Army as they were always mismatched and well worn.  One day Ryan and a friend saw her standing in the street and she was waving to everyone who passed even though she didn’t know anyone.  She wore yellow pants and a lime green jacket and she looked much older than her 65 years due to her time on the streets.  Anyway Ryan and his friend stop at MacDonald’s for a burger lunch.  Ryan decides to buy an extra burger and give it to Miss Posey.

So they go back to her and she gets in the car as disheveled as she was and eats the burger plus Ryan’s burger, his fries and his drink.  Then Ryan asked her if she knew Jesus Christ.  She didn’t hesitate in her answer but the tears did come to her eyes when she said, “Yes, He holds me every night.”  Jesus loves everyone not just you.

So we have to welcome all the people different from us and make them feel at home.  Jesus loves you so much that He wants you to be His hands and feet.  Ryan tells another story of when he was in Bible College and he and his wife and child went to an AMEC church.  This stands for African Methodist Episcopalian Church.  They were the only white people in this small congregation of 20 and they stuck out like red shirt at a tuxedo convention.  Anyway, the preacher was a big black man and he got up and asked that question that we all hate when we are visiting another church.  He asked, “Do we have any guests today?”   And of course, immediately, all 40 eyes were upon them and they raised their hands.  Then this wonderful preacher then said these 2 powerful words, “Welcome home!”  And thank you, Jesus, for first loving us.  Let’s pray.