The parable of the king who invited guests to his wedding feast is something we want to apply to our hearts today. God has made a great provision of salvation through the sacrifice of His Son on the cross. It is His free gift to us by His grace, but we still must show up before Him and appropriate all that He has made available. This means we need to get rid of any excuses and everything that we would value more than God’s great provision. Lord, help us to come before You with prepared hearts, worshipping You with thankfulness for all You have given us.

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Show Notes:

Yeshua (Jesus) told a parable of a king who prepared a wedding feast, but the invited guests were unwilling to attend. Like this king, God has prepared a feast at great expense and has invited everyone to freely partake of it. In the sacrifice of His Son on the cross, God has provided salvation, healing, and all things pertaining to our life and godliness. As Christians we could feel like we have already accepted this invitation. But could that attitude be limiting how much we really should be receiving from the Lord?

According to this parable, those invited to the wedding feast made excuses for not attending. These excuses were rooted in personal pursuits they deemed more important than the king’s offer. Are we guilty of the same kinds of excuses regarding God’s provision? Maybe we are not overtly refusing Him, but we can easily be so focused on the concerns of our lives that we do not give the attention we need to the appropriation of all God has made available.

What keeps us from daily relating to the Lord in prayer, meditation, and waiting on Him? The root of the problem is explained in this parable. Those who skipped the king’s feast or attacked his servants or did not prepare to appear before him did so because they did not value what the king offered. So we ask God to forgive us for placing value on earthly things that are truly worthless in comparison to our eternity in His Kingdom. Let our thankfulness and appreciation for everything He did in giving us His Son be expressed through our daily appearance before Him, with prepared hearts to partake of His great provision.

Key Verses:

• 2 Peter 1:3. “His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness.”
• Matthew 22:1–14. “Those who had been invited to the wedding feast … were unwilling to come.”
• Luke 14:16–20. “They all alike began to make excuses.”
• Isaiah 53:2–8. “He was despised and forsaken of men, … but He was pierced through for our transgressions.”

Quotes:

• “It’s time for us to get rid of our excuses. We need to evaluate, in repentance and humility, the excuses that we make before God on a daily basis of why we can’t seem to show up for what He’s made available.”
• “Are we just going about our own business? Are we just paying attention to whatever concerns we have in our life and realizing that, yeah, the provision may be there, and He may have made all this available to us, but it’s not getting the notice from us and driving us into the appropriation of all that He’s made.”
• “The first thing we should do is spend the time with Him. Come before that cross. You know that cross is available every minute of every day. Every second that cross stands and we can touch it. We can embrace it. We can receive all that it holds within its power to heal us, to restore us to the Father.”

Takeaways:

1. As we read the parable of the king’s wedding invitation, we want to feel the depths of God’s love for us to restore us to Himself through the suffering and death of His Son—and His anger if we hold His provision lightly.
2. Many who were invited were unwilling to attend the wedding. This should challenge us to examine our own hearts. If we are willing, then what energy are we putting into what God has set before us? Are we coming to Him daily to appropriate all the provision He has made?
3. Many seized the king’s messengers, mistreated them, and killed them. The king was very angry with the persecutors and brought judgment on them. We can see God’s anger at those today who have such disregard for all God did to give us salvation that they persecute, and even kill, those who bring His message of grace.
4. Some showed up to the wedding but were not wearing the wedding garments, and the king threw them out. There still must be a preparation of our hearts to go before the Lord. It is offensive to God that we have so little regard for His effort to give us salvation that we make no effort to prepare ourselves to meet Him.