Sunday Morning Service

Matthew 22:1-14 (Click title for audio access)

“A Wedding Feast” • 1.2.11 • Calvary Christian Fellowship, Sunday Morning Service

Intro

- For most of the book of Matthew, our storyteller has been presenting a case for the royalty and deity of Christ. Now, in this section of the book, Matthew is turning the tables.

- In this section of the book, Jesus is assessing the nation of Israel! He is judging them and their fitness to represent God's Kingdom.

- The set of scripture before us contains the final of three parables that explain their condition to them. In the meantime, we learn more about the Kingdom and more about the heart of God.

Text

• Matthew 22:1,2 : "And Jesus answered and spoke to them again by parables and said: ^'The kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who arranged a marriage for his son," : The Kingdom of heaven is a much more broad subject than any human mind can comprehend.

- These earthly, easily understood stories helped them to comprehend the scope of God's Kingdom. A wedding provides Jesus with an excellent backdrop.

- God's Kingdom features the presentation of His Son and His bride. There was to be a marriage, which was about the most joyous occasion that one could participate in.

- In the ancient times, weddings had several pieces to them. Today, we view a wedding as a single event, held on a single day for a few hours! That's not what they did then!

- A Jewish wedding began with the arrangement of the Father on behalf of his son. Then came the betrothal, which was a binding legal agreement, broken only by divorce.

- A couple was considered married, even though they did not live or sleep together. Instead, during the betrothal, the son would go home and prepare a domiclie for he and his bride.

- This little place would usually be attached to or at least on, his father's property.

- The betrothal period could last at least a year and was done when the Father said it was done! That was usually when the addition to his home was complete.

- Then came the announcement that the marriage would be consummated. Invitations would go out and a date would be given. Any time on that day, the wedding could take place.

- That wedding would then commence, at the very least, a week long celebration. That would be for the normal, middle class family. It was the highlight of life.

- But this is not your run of the mill wedding. This is a wedding that was put on by the most prestigious person for the most celebrated person in their life!

- This was the King's son, the crown prince and the new princess. This was a once in a life time event! The King is telling his invited guests that the day has arrived.

- His son will be joined to his bride! A great feast will commence and the party of a lifetime is going to happen. It's the social event of the century!

• Matthew 22:3-6 : "and sent out his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding; and they were not willing to come. Again, he sent out other servants, saying, ‘Tell those who are invited, 'See, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and fatted cattle are killed, and all things are ready. Come to the wedding.' But they made light of it and went their ways, one to his own farm, another to his business. And the rest seized his servants, treated them spitefully, and killed them." : The King dispensed these servants out to the guests who had previously been invited. This was not a suprise. They had known that this wedding was going to take place.

- When the servants came, they were not willing to come. It was not an issue of ability. It was an issue of desire. They were unwilling to come.

- This was more than a breach of etiquette. This was near insanity! First, it was slap in the face of the King. Saying "no" to an Ancient Near East King was not a good idea for one's life!

- Second, the food alone would have been something to get excited about. These Kings would celebrate with an opulence that would be unrivaled!

- To actually blow off this kind of opportunity was simply unheard of!

- This King, being more than gracious, sent out more servants to these same people. This time he let them know of the imminence and importance of this event.

- The oxen, cattle and other foods were rich and ornate royal foods, reserved for these amazing occasions. They were the ultimate celebration foods!

- "It was ready!" In other words, "come and get it!" "Your food's getting cold!"

- Those who were invited though were careless, negligent, unconcerned. They paid no attention when the servants came and just went back to their respective lives.

- This first reaction is indifference. "I don't really care about this invitation." "I'm not interested." "I have more important things to do."

- This group of people are rejecting the invitation of the King on account of their daily responsibilities and duties.

- They would rather skip this celebration and remain with their mundane life. They had their farm to till or their business to attend to.

- The second group is aggressive. These grabbed the messengers and brutally dealt with them. They treated them shamefully and killed them in every way.

- In these two responses, we see two types of people. The first are consumed with their daily lives. They are too busy to look up or around!

- They live to work! They are living for that next promotion or that next dollar figure that they need to get to for their own security.

- Don't talk to them about the Lord. Don't talk to them about the reality of a life outside of this physical realm. It's meaningless and without value to them.

- But then, there is the second group of people that you will encounter. They are openly hostile and agressive once the topic turns from anything to Jesus!

- They will verbally assault you for your beliefs. There are some in this world who will even physically attempt to come at you!

- Now, Jesus is talking directly to the Jewish nation that did these very things. To the secular Jew on the street, there was indifference. To the religious Jew in the temple, there was violence.

- God's servants, the Prophets leading up to Christ, had met with one of these two responses and we will as well!

• Matthew 22:7 : "But when the king heard about it, he was furious. And he sent out his armies, destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city." : The death of his servants, men who had simply come with a message of joy, brought the King to a boil.

- This time, he responds not with servants, but with armies! This time, there is no announcement. There is simply justice.

- Jesus is making the same point that He was making in the parable of vineyard. The invited guests were the Jewish nation.

- It's capital city, the center of it's worship, had become less interested in the things of God and more interested in the propogation of their own importance.

- They had dismissed prophets that had been sent to her. In other cases, the prophets that had come to her were murdered in various ways.

- Now, Jesus, the Son Himself had come. They would do the same to Him. God from this point out makes a decision to raise up another group to represent Him.

- It will include believing Jews, but will be a nation formed from all ethnic groups! God is putting Israel on the shelf for some time, but not for all time.

- The city of Jerusalem would live on for another 37 years, and then the Romans would sack the city and leave it in ruins.

- When God's gracious invitation is declined, either passively or aggressively, eventually, one will then deal with His justice.

- He had called His people, the nation of Israel, to a joyous occasion and they rejected His gracious offer. Their city would bear the consequences for that response.

• Matthew 22:8-10 : "Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy. Therefore go into the highways, and as many as you find, invite to the wedding.’ So those servants went out into the highways and gathered together all whom they found, both bad and good. And the wedding hall was filled with guests." : The wedding is still on. The guests who had been invited were not "worthy." The picture is of a balance. The worth of an object was defined by weights.

- The invited guests had been weighed and had not come up to the value of the weight.

- This does not mean that they were not worthy and could not therefore come. Rather, the sense is that because they would not come, they had proven themselves unworthy!

- Those who refuse the invitation of God to come into the Kingdom, prove themselves unworthy of it, though paradoxically, nobody can claim worth and enter it!

- In the story, the King's heart is the same as the Father's heart. "This wedding is going to go on and I want people here to celebrate my son."

- At this point, anyone that could be found would have the opportunity to come to a royal wedding. Anyone was invited to come.

- It's amazing to consider that now, simple peasants, were allowed to come into this extravagent affair.

- The bad, meaning the wicked, the diseased, the lame, were included, as well as the good, the admirable, the charitable, the noble. There was no discernment. Everyone could come into it.

- This is a great truth regarding God's Kingdom: The lowest of the low, as well as the best and brightest are allowed in! You might ask however, "How can God allow bad people in?"

- Bad people are all that there are! With God, it's not what you are, it's what He wants to make of you! You will come in bad, but that's not how you'll stay!

- Turn over to I Corinthians 6. Listen to Paul's words to this first century church.

• I Corinthians 6:9-11 : "Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God."

- The point is that when a person comes into the Kingdom, they are saints. All things have been made new. The old is put away.

- Any person who comes to Christ, in whatever condition they are in, can find that their condition can be altered and transformed. Such were some of you!

- When the King looks out over his banquet hall, he doesn't see the lowest of the low or the best and brightest. He sees His guests!

- He has all that He ever wanted: A full house of people joyously celebrating His Son!

• Matthew 22:11,12 : "But when the king came in to see the guests, he saw a man there who did not have on a wedding garment. So he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless." : These people had been invited, but they still had to have wedding garments. In ancient times, if you were invited into this hall, you were given clothes to wear as the invitation.

- This was especially true among Gentile Kings of old, prior to Christ's time.

- No King would accept you with simple rainment. You had to be clothed with what He had given you or deemed appropriate for the day.

- When the King came out to see the wedding, sort of akin to the moment when the parents stroll through the reception, he was surprised to see this man without an appropriate gament on.

- The fact that he makes mention that there was a garment, let's us know that one had been provided or clearly delineated and had now somehow, been refused.

- For the King to address you at all, much less for him to call you out on an obvious infraction, would have been a terrible fate.

- The man said nothing. He had no excuse. His not wearing an appropriate garment was not an accident. It was a deliberate choice.

- In that moment, any thought that he had had about telling the King his reasoning for not wearing the garment, was swallowed away in silence. He was speechless.

- We have seen two types of people already: The indifferent and the aggressive. Here we see a third group of people represented in this man: The unrepentant!

˚ "He came because he was invited, but he came only in appearance. The banquet was intended to honor the King’s Son, but this man meant nothing of the kind; he was willing to eat the good things set before him, but in his heart there was no love either for the King or his well-beloved Son." Charles Spurgeon

- This person is the man who comes to church, but never confronts his soul. He is the one who is aware of Christ's righteousness, but refuses to clothe himself in it.

- He likes spiritual things, they make him happy. He likes to sing. He likes being a part of a community where there is love and acceptance.

- But when it comes to leaving his pride and insolence behind him, he will not have it. He will keep his sins and continue to wallow in them.

- On the judgment day, his preconceived defense will include a list of works that he would point to that would make God acquiece to his personal righteousness.

- Sadly, he does not know that when he stands before the living God, that only God will do the talking, and only God will make an assessment of his life.

- Men who believe that they will have something to say to God need to read the words of verse 12 again: He was speechless! What should the man's answer have been? What will our answer be?

- When you are asked on that day, "Why should you be allowed into my heaven?" I pray that you will answer something like this:

- "I am here at your invitation and I request only the robes that would please you!"

- On my Facebook profile, in the religion information, I have elected to write the words of "Rock Of Ages:" "My hope is built on nothing less, but Jesus blood and righteousness!"

- That is the garment that has been provided. It must be worn. There can be no other clothing that would suffice for the occasion!

• Matthew 22:13,14 : "Then the king said to the servants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ For many are called, but few are chosen.'" : This seems a little much doesn't it! It would seem that being expelled from a wedding would be enough!

- This man is bound physically, in a way that makes him helpless to move. This man will not be coming back in. He will be immobilized, unable to fathom a return.

- He was to be taken to the place that was farthest from the light. Today, we have a hard time conceiving of such a place. In ancient times, the inside of a city was lit, the outside was not.

- You wanted to be inside the walls of any given city, where there was protection from animals and bandits, but most of all, where there was light.

- There are places in the world that are deep enough that have never seen light and that if you are ever caught there, you will eventually go insane!

- For that man, there will be utter lamentation. This is the weeping of regret, while simultaneously, gnashing their teeth. We have talked about this before.

- There is a gnashing of teeth that comes from pain and physical agony. This word is also translated "snarling" or "biting." It's used of animals that are ready to attack their prey.

- There are equal parts personal regret and equal parts hatred of God and His righteousness.

- That is the eternal agony of the unrighteous dead, who know they are at fault and regret that, but also hate that there is righteousness and that God exists to maintain the distinction!

- Matthew concludes with this saying, "For many are called, but few are chosen." We have read this before in Matthew 20:16. Most scholars think that it was inserted there at a later date.

- This seems to be where it truly belongs. Many are called, invited to the wedding feast.

- There were the originally invited guests who were unwilling to participate, either passively being detained by worldly pursuits or aggressively opposed, being violent in their refusal.

- There were many on the roadways of any character that had been invited. Few had chosen to attend.

- Many are touched by God's Spirit, moved by stirring words, and even brought to tears. But few allow the Lord to change and affect their lives!

- Few regard God's call to holiness and manifest righteousness in their daily lives.

- In the same way that the ones who were not worthy revealed themselves by their choice, so also is it true, that those who are not chosen or "choice," reveal themselves by what they choose!

- A choice or chosen person reveals that they are by what they choose!

Conclusion

- In this new year, we neither celebrate being invited, or having responded. We celebrate that we are clothed with a righteousness that makes us acceptable to God.

- May we live as such, expressing our choice character by the choices we make.