TITLE: An Invitation to a Banquet TEXT: Matthew 22:1-14 TOPIC: We must put on the righteousness of Christ to enjoy God's banquet life.

Imagine getting an invitation to a Christmas party in your mailbox.

I. God invites some to a glorious wedding banquet who will refuse. (Matt. 14:1-3)

Matthew 14:1-3 “Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying: 2 “The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son. 3 He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused to come.”

God invites some to a glorious wedding banquet who will refuse. (Matt. 14:1-3) A. We do not often think of God’s Kingdom as grand party.

God invites some to a glorious wedding banquet who will refuse. (Matt. 14:1-3) A. We do not often think of God’s Kingdom as grand party. B. Jesus ever speaks of the kingdom as an awards banquet.

God invites some to a glorious wedding banquet who will refuse. (Matt. 14:1-3) A. We do not often think of God’s Kingdom as grand party. B. Jesus ever speaks of the kingdom as an awards banquet. C. God, through the Cross of his Son, has made possible our being with him.

All of our theologies and doctrines center around one thing: God, through the Cross of his Son, has made possible our being with him. So remember the cost of the spread on the banquet table that we will enjoy.

The S.E.E.D Strategy S- Sow (we go out into our community to plant seeds by meeting people).

The S.E.E.D Strategy S- Sow (we go out into our community to plant seeds by meeting people). E- Engage (we seek and create opportunities to engage and build relationships with people).

The S.E.E.D Strategy S- Sow (we go out into our community to plant seeds by meeting people). E- Engage (we seek and create opportunities to engage and build relationships with people). E- Evangelism (share the good news and invite people to accept God’s invitation ).

The S.E.E.D Strategy S- Sow (we go out into our community to plant seeds by meeting people). E- Engage (we seek and create opportunities to engage and build relationships with people). E- Evangelism (share the good news and invite people to accept God’s invitation ). D- Discipleship (help them growth in their role as followers of the King).

II. Some are too busy with other things to attend God's party (Matt 14:4-10)

Matthew 14: “Then he sent some more servants and said, ‘Tell those who have been invited that I have prepared my dinner: My oxen and fattened cattle have been butchered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.’

Matthew 14: “But they paid no attention and went off— one to his field, another to his business. 6 The rest seized his servants, mistreated them and killed them. 7 The king was enraged. He sent his army and destroyed those murderers and burned their city.

Matthew 14: “Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come. 9 So go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find.’ 10 So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, the bad as well as the good, and the wedding hall was filled with guests.

II. Some are too busy with other things to attend God's party (Matt 14:4-10) A.Imagine what it must have been like while they waited for the arrival of the guests.

II. Some are too busy with other things to attend God's party (Matt 14:4-10) A.Imagine what it must have been like while they waited for the arrival of the guests. B.Imagine the king’s response when the quests refused to come.

II. Some are too busy with other things to attend God's party (Matt 14:4-10) A.Imagine what it must have been like while they waited for the arrival of the guests. B.Imagine the king’s response when the quests refused to come. C.Imagine the kings response when they killed his servant.

Warning "Beware the golden handcuffs."

Warning "Beware the golden handcuffs." Beware the almost imperceptible shift in your life when you stop running it and it starts running you.

Warning "Beware the golden handcuffs." Beware the almost imperceptible shift in your life when you stop running it and it starts running you. Beware the way busyness puts a numbing stranglehold on our interior life.

Warning "Beware the golden handcuffs." Beware the almost imperceptible shift in your life when you stop running it and it starts running you. Beware the way busyness puts a numbing stranglehold on our interior life. Beware those perilous days through which you sprint, out of touch with everything except the nuts-and-bolts dimensions of life.

Nothing fails quite so totally as success without God.

II. Some are too busy with other things to attend God's party (Matt 14:4-10) A.Imagine what it must have been like while they waited for the arrival of the guests. B.Imagine the king’s response when the quests refused to come. C.Imagine the kings response when they killed his servant. D.When the answer to peoples struggles comes knocking on their door they're unable to recognize him.

We need to evaluate our priorities in life.

C.S. Lewis "You know, you show up at church on Sunday morning, and you look around, and here are the very people you've been trying to avoid all week long."

Questions in Heaven? "The most often asked questions in heaven are going to be, 'Where's So-and-so?' and 'What are you doing here?'" The guests feel good. They look around, and they say, "We made it! We're in! Isn't this wonderful!"

III. While all are invited only those with the proper attire may enter. (Matt. 14:11-14)

Matthew 14: “But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. 12 He asked, ‘How did you get in here without wedding clothes, friend?’ The man was speechless.”

Matthew 14: “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.’ 14 “For many are invited, but few are chosen.”

III. While all are invited only those with the proper attire may enter. (Matt. 14:11-14) A.Many of these new invitees did not wear the appropriate attire provided for them.

III. While all are invited only those with the proper attire may enter. (Matt. 14:11-14) A.Many of these new invitees did not wear the appropriate attire provided for them. B.The king cast out the improperly adorn people.

III. While all are invited only those with the proper attire may enter. (Matt. 14:11-14) A.Many of these new invitees did not wear the appropriate attire provided for them. B.The king cast out the improperly adorn people. C.Christ adorns us with his righteousness so we may have the appropriate attire for joining the party.

Isaiah 64:6 “All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away.”

Romans 13:14 14 “Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the flesh.”

Isaiah 64:10 "I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation. He has covered me with his robe of righteousness, as the bridegroom decks himself with garland and as the bride adorns herself with jewels"

How many of us are so fixated on our goals, insecurities, or futures that we cannot the joy of the present, the sacred moments where Jesus meets us now, and asks us to rejoice with him?

APPLICATION Seed strategy- “Care and Share”

APPLICATION Seed strategy- “Care and Share” The Kingdom of God is like a banquet and you are invited.

APPLICATION Don’t miss out on the party. My friends, we have no business being here today. We are bums at a banquet. Yet we're welcome here because of the eternal graciousness of our kingly Host. So won't you slip into that robe and meet me at the Feast?

She handed him a box the size of a book. He opened the package and slowly peeled away the tissue paper. It was a cross-stitch Janet had made that simply said, "Yes."

Yes: it is the word that God, in his tireless pursuit of the sinner, longs to hear.