Sermon Tone Analysis

*Invitation*

*Luke 14:15-23*

* *

Intro: The Republican Party mistakenly invited an Ohio prisoner to a $2,500-a-plate fundraising                            dinner in Washington.

The invitation letter came from from Vice President Cheney                                    to Robert Kirkpatrick at the Belmont Correctional Institution in eastern Ohio.

Kirkpatrick, 35, was sentenced to nearly three years for drug possession and escape.

"I'm going to tell him that I'd be happy to attend," said Kirkpatrick, "but he's going to                          have to pull some strings to get me there."

Target: I want to look at an invitation just as outrageous as that except it is no mistake.

It is in

            invitation that the God of the universe gives to people like you and me to be involved in

            knowing Him and making Him known.

I want to give you a specific invitation toward

            that end.

It is an invitation to participate in our 24~/7 week of prayer.

Luke 14:15 (p.739)

*What do you need to know?  *

*Jesus teaches that the kingdom of God is a party.

*

*            1.

*Jesus* *pften speaks of the kingdom of God as a meal or a party.

In fact 180 times the

                        gospels speaks of feasts or its derivatives.

(Illus.)

What was your favorite meal?

It is usually surrounded a special occasion.

A birthday,

            graduation, anniversary, wedding.

Mine was a cruise…got the worse sunburn of my life.

But the food was wonderful because it complimented the experience.

(Illus.)

Times at the table…When at those times my family is not home, or I am snacking at

            night, it is just about caloric intake.

1.

We have a king who represents the Father and in other passages we know this is a

                        wdding banquet for hus son to celebrate his marriage to the church.

/16 //Jesus replied: “A certain man was preparing a great banquet and invited many guests.

At the time of the banquet he sent his servant to tell those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’/

/         /   2.

Here is the picture…the smell of well-marbled steaks cooking on the grill as the smoke              wafts into the festively decorated hall where they are having the dinner.

A                                          nervous cook grabs her one last taste of a subtly spiced salad.

A first-century                                   equivalent of a string quartet is warming up a kind of Mozart chamber piece.

This is a celebration for a son’s wedding.

3.

The guest list is the Who’s Who of Jerusalem.

As the party is ready to begin a servant                           of the king is all decked out and he strides through the center of the city, rapping                               with his knuckles on selected doors, calling out, to those who have reserved their

                        spot.

"My master, the king, requests the honor of your presence.

Come now, for                            all is ready."

And their is expectancy—until we read…

/18 //“But they all alike began to make excuses.

The first said, ‘I have just bought a field, and I must go and see it.

Please excuse me.’/

            4.

How many of you buy real estate sight that you’ve not seen?

In that day, real estate                              was negotiated over for a long period of time.

It had belonged to the families and                                 was passed on             from generation to generation.

You didn’t transact real estate                                  without a long, complicated, arduous negotiation.

And you knew exactly what                               you were buying ‘cause you had to fix a price to it.

/ 19 “Another said, ‘I have just bought five yoke of oxen, and I’m on my way to try them out.

Please excuse me./

            5.

In that day it an ox was like buying heavy machinery if you’re a farmer.

It’s like                                    getting a truck or a combine, or a backhoe.

You don’t just buy those things, pay                             for them, and then go see what they look like.

You go check it out and negotiate a                            price.

And the third one is maybe the lamest of all.

/20 “Still another said, ‘I just got married, so I can’t come.’

/6.

Oh, yeah, we know that wives hate to get dressed up and they hate to go to free parties                                     where they don’t have to cook.

Wives hate that!

They’d rather cook up the                             hamburger helper and sit home and watch TV and eat foods that end in /-itos/, l i ke                         Cheetos, Doritos, Fritos.

(Appl.)

When God gives us an invitation to participate in His purposes then all of our excuses are

            lame.

(Illus.)

It is like Rick Snyder inviting you to the mansion for a lavish party and meal and you say I can’t make it because I’ve got to catch up on episodes of Desperate Houswives and the Batchelor I’ve got recorded on my Tivo or DVR.

*Jesus teaches about a wide open invitation.

*

/21 //“The servant came back and reported this to his master.

Then the owner of the house became angry and ordered his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame.’

22 “ ‘Sir,’ the servant said, ‘what you ordered has been done, but there is still room.’

23 “Then the master told his servant, ‘Go out to the roads and country lanes and make them come in, so that my house will be full.

24 I tell you, not one of those men who were invited will get a taste of my banquet.’

” *        */

            9.

In the next scene we see the homeless, the illegal immigrants, the welfare recipients,                             the crippled making their way up the steps of the governors mansion.

Then when

                        there is not enough of them, then they get the rednecks and hicks out on the sticks.

/“Tony Campolo tells the story of a trip which he took to Hawaii.

Jet lag kept him awake late into night and he went for a walk on the streets of Honolulu.

At 2 in the morning, he found himself in a doughnut shop.

Sitting at the counter, he overheard several prostitutes who were sharing a booth.

One of the girls whose name was Agnes mentioned that it was her birthday.

\\ After she had left, Tony turned to the cook and the other prostitutes and said, “Let’s throw a party for Agnes.”

The other girls agreed to bring decorations and the cook said that he would bake a cake.

The next night, they all gathered at the shop and when Agnes walked in, they brought out the cake and began to sing, “Happy Birthday.”

Tears streamed down Agnes’s face and, when it came time to cut the cake, she just stood there.

Finally, she said, “Could I buy another cake and we eat that one?

I want to take this one home and show it to my mother.”

With that, she took the cake and left.

In the sudden silence that filled the shop after she left, Tony bowed his head and began to pray.

“Lord, we thank you for Agnes and for your love for her.

You loved her enough to send Your Son to die for her on the cross.

We thank you for the best present of all - the present of your own Son.

Amen.”

When he raised his head, he saw that all of the prostitutes had their heads bowed and had been praying with him.

The cook looked at him and said, “You’re a preacher!”

When Tony admitted that he was, the cook asked, “What kind of church do you have?”

In a sudden flash of insight, Tony replied, “The kind that throws parties for prostitutes and gives invitations to sinners.”

/

(Appl.)

You and I are the rebels and the low lifes who have committed cosmic treason.

We don’t