Yet There Is Still Room: The Banquet and Our Excuses

Sermon outline

A believer who is fully persuaded of God's love and of the holiness of His call will overcome first his own excuses and then other people's, because the Master is not satisfied while there is still room in His house.

1. Be persuaded of His love

   Just as a salesman can persuade you to buy something you did not want, God wants you so persuaded that nothing can separate you from His love. You cannot make God love you more, because He loved you first, while you were still lost in sin. His agape love is not earned or worked for, has no requirement to meet, and does not change. Our love is conditional, given when people meet our terms, but His is not.

   Illustration: Being talked into buying a product you did not want until someone explains it to you.

   “There's nothing in this world that you can do, or me and you, that we can do to get God to love us more.”

   • Romans 8:38-39
   • 1 John 4:19
   • Romans 5:5

2. Second-hand convictions

   On 16 June the youth of Soweto were so persuaded of their cause that they took it to the streets against the government of the day, and he puts the number who died at over five hundred. Many Christians walk around with second-hand convictions: they have the desire and the willingness, and they make the confession, but when it is time to put faith to action the conviction never gets past the belief.

   “We walk around with second-hand convictions.”

3. Saved and chosen for holy work

   God saved us and chose us for His holy work, not because we deserved it but because it was His plan before the world began. Being born again is a miracle on its own. The work of ministry is holy and the highest calling there is, not something to take lightly. Without settled convictions it is easy to fall away and make excuses, including about opening your home for a cell group when it is inconvenient and you are tired.

   “The fact that you are born again is a miracle on its own.”

   • 2 Timothy 1:9

4. Three excuses at the banquet

   A man prepared a great supper and invited many, but at the hour they all began to make excuses. One had bought land and had to go and see it, at night, when there is nothing to see. One had bought five yoke of oxen to examine: work and the cares of life, which will always be there. One had just married and could not come. He reads the parable two ways: these are the excuses we make for ourselves, and the excuses others will give when we invite them. If you cannot get up to join a prayer meeting from the comfort of your own home, how will you lead others to the Lord?

   “This is how ridiculous people's excuses can be. And oh, this is how ridiculous our excuses can be.”

   • Luke 14:16-20

5. Yet there is still room

   The master was angry, having prepared everything, but he would not give up. He sent his servant into the streets and lanes for the poor, the disabled, the blind and the lame, and when the servant reported that there was still room, he sent him to the highways and hedges to constrain people to come in, so that his house would be filled. God is not satisfied with an empty church or an empty cell. Everyone is invited, not a chosen few: if you are born again you are called to be a disciple, and the work may send you to people outside your usual circle.

   “This is not for the few or for the chosen. No, everybody.”

   • Luke 14:21-24

6. Why we need a relentless spirit

   Overcome your own excuses first, then other people's, because if you are not convinced you will not convince anyone. Only that kind of tenacity wins people and shows fruit. It starts at home: decide, as Joshua did, that your household will serve the Lord, and make your vision for your family plain. A relentless spirit helps you overcome the excuses that will always be there and the fear of the unknown, of failure and of people not turning up. The youth of 1976 paid a price for a cause; believers have a surer, eternal word, and should not be satisfied until the Father's house is full.

   Illustration: A member who opened her home to a cell group told the leaders after a meeting that in the four weeks since it began things had started to turn around, and that she now sees what an honour it is to host one.

   “If us, we are not totally convinced or totally persuaded about what we believe in, it's very difficult for us to persuade others.”

   • Joshua 24:15
   • Matthew 28:19-20

In this message