Pastor's Message

The Invitation

This morning I want to talk to you about becoming a Christian – the invitation of Jesus to come and follow him. Do you remember when you first became a Christian? Was there sometime in your life that you remember when you felt God’s presence strongly enough to dedicate your life to him? Some call it salvation, some call it “rebirth”, many come to Jesus through their baptism, and some learn to follow Jesus because their parents dedicated them to him when they were too young to make their own decision.

Our scripture reading tells us that Jesus invites people to join him – to come to the marriage feast. I believe that Jesus still invites people to the marriage feast. That marriage feast is the life of following Christ, the experience of committing your life to God, of being saved from the power of sin, the experience of grace and the experience of being born anew. The call to follow is still being heard, all over the world. The power of God to change people is still operative and available today as it was when Jesus told this parable. I believe the Holy Spirit is leading people from darkness to light. The church is growing day by day with those who are being saved. God is still in the business of converting and changing people to leave their nets and follow.

I also believe that there are still those who will not come, those who have not accepted the invitation, who make light of their invitation as the scripture explains. There are just so many in our midst, those who are too busy with other interests and distractions. They don’t take their faith seriously. They put off accepting the invitation. There are all kinds of reasons, but the fact is, some are present who have not come to the marriage feast, or they may come but without a wedding garment. They may come to church, they may believe in God, they may say their prayers, but they are really not a part of the marriage feast. What they need is a commitment of the heart.

I wonder if some of you are waiting for the invitation to be given to you clearly. Some have never realized that they need to respond to the invitation. Some may think that responding to Jesus means you have to walk through the desert, and serve till you don’t have any strength left. Some may think that they don’t believe there is any hope for them. Maybe they think they have gone too far in rejecting the invitation to a marriage feast. They have listened to the wrong reports. Maybe their heart is too hard, and their temptations are too strong.

The problem with waiting too long is that if you reject the invitation long enough, there will come a time when it’s too late. In this parable that Jesus told, the king sent out his servants to call those who were invited. Some wouldn’t come. Remember now, a parable is a story meant to get across an important truth. He sent other servants to call them, to plead with them to come.

The king didn’t give up after the first rejection. He gave them another chance. Maybe a new voice, a different approach that would convince them. But when they continually rejected the invitation, the king became very angry and he destroyed the whole city and turned to others with the invitation. To continually reject God’s invitation to follow Jesus is very dangerous and risky. Because there will come a time when it’s too late. This kind of message is something we seldom talk about here at Webster, but sometimes, it’s just a good thing to go back to the basics. What I’m saying is: this is urgent business. It’s not something to put off. So, if you believe in the promise of God for your salvation, you can also believe that he will keep his promise about judgment. As one Baptist preacher said, “If God meant anything, God meant everything.”

I believe that God is still inviting people to the marriage feast. The Holy Spirit is still calling people to follow Jesus. God may be calling you this very minute.

When Jesus invites, he invites us to a different way of life. If your mind is wandering now, I invite you back.

The invitation that God is saying now is like this: I want to show you my love, my plan for all people and all creation to live in harmony. I want to show you a different way to wholeness, to health, to meaning and purpose. “Come to me,” says Jesus, “and I will give you rest.” That rest means rest from a life of toil and struggle that doesn’t seem to make a difference. It’s a call to the kingdom, the reign of God. It is new and different.

The world says – domination, accumulation and consumption is the way. Get all you can get. While God says, “I invite you to another way.”

The world says – conquer, control, compete. God says, “I invite you to another way.”

The world says – an eye for an eye, get revenge, resist evil with evil. God says, “I invite you to another way.

The world says – conform, be part of the majority, agree with the masses, go with the flow. God says, “I invite you to another way.”

The invitation is an invitation to a marriage feast not a desert experience. That means the kingdom is about love and laughter. It means grace and forgiveness. It means partnership and harmony. God wants you to know and experience unconditional acceptance. God wants to put loving arms around you. God wants to lift you up out of the miry clay you are in. God wants to forgive you; God wants to free you from bondage and guilt. God wants to give you rest.

If there is bitterness in your heart, God wants to take that bitterness away. If there is no joy in your life, God wants to bring laughter. If there is regret or shame, God wants to wash it away. God will remember your sin no more. If you are living under the power of sin, if you are driven, addicted, captive to another allegiance, bound by another strong attraction that is destroying you, God wants to release you, set you free, give you a fresh start. It’s God’s will that you experience wholeness. It is so beautiful, just like a marriage feast.

How do you accept this invitation? Be obedient to the call. Say yes. The Holy Spirit will work in your heart, in your conscience, in your inner self. There will be a nudge, a hunger, a desire to be different, a longing for change.

We don’t do altar calls here at Webster, although I believe we did one a long time ago, but for now, I would ask you that later on today, to remember that being a Christian is personal, but it’s not private. So, hold someone’s hand today, take a walk, pray to God and let God know you accept the invitation. Take the call seriously, and find some way to serve God and one another. Think about how Billy Graham invited all those people to come forward and they came in the thousands to take Jesus as Lord and Savior.

And know that God loves you, come as you are, be honest before God and live the life you were meant to live. In Jesus’ name. Amen.