An Invitation to a Wedding

On Sunday, one of our Pastors (Kevin) preached a sermon that I can’t stop thinking about. We’ve been working our way through the Kingdom Parables and Sunday he preached from Matthew 22:1-14, The Parable of the Wedding Feast. In the parable, Jesus said, “The Kingdom of Heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son…” The King sends out his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding and they would not come. So ultimately he sends out his servants, onto the roads, to gather all they could find, both BAD and good.

And then our pastor said this about those who would not come to the wedding feast, “Some people don’t understand the Gospel because they don’t understand what it’s an invitation to.” That is HUGE... they don't understand what it's an invitation to! I have gone back and played that sentence over and over, from the recording.

This morning, my devotion was 1 Peter 2:4-6 (from Write the Word). I’m not going to type out all three verses because I want to focus on something that has rocked my heart this morning. But I don’t believe I’m taking these out of context to make a point either.

Verse 4 starts out, “As you come to Him, a living stone, rejected by men BUT in the sight of God chosen and precious…” Our hearts long for love and acceptance but we often look for it in all the wrong places. This verse makes it clear, we are rejected by men… disapproved, repudiated (refuse to accept or be associated with). 

Have you ever been there? Experienced that? Do you know the pain of that? I’m guessing we all have at some point in our lives. So hang out on that for a second. Remember what that feels like. Think of the harm it does to your soul. And it’s especially hard when it’s someone who is supposed to love you, accept you… a mother or father, a husband or wife, a close friend, a sibling, and I'm going to go there...Christians. (Sadly, I know what that feels like from my own experience and from listening to one of my grandmothers pour out her heart about her own experience.) It steeps you in shame and pain, and for years it kept me from the church, from Jesus, and it kept my grandmother from Him. 

BUT… in God’s sight, we are chosen and precious. I understand that Peter is writing to the church right now, but hang with me for a second. Go back to the pain you felt in those moments of rejection and now think about this… God, Holy, Mighty, Creator of this Amazing World, HE chooses you and you are precious… you are prized by Him... you ARE loved!! 

Now, let’s go back to the sentence that has gripped my heart and take it outside of the church. “Some people don’t understand the Gospel because they don’t understand what it’s an invitation to.” Don't miss this... It’s our responsibility, as Christians, to show the world what it’s an invitation to, because we know and we have experienced it. 

We are His ambassadors. But are we showing the world the rejection of men or are we showing them, giving them a taste of, what it’s like to be chosen and precious, in His sight? Romans 2:4 teaches us that it is God’s KINDNESS that leads to repentance. It is not condemnation or shaming or self-righteousness. It was God's kindness, His love and grace, that ultimately drew me to Him, it wasn't the shaming, condemning words I heard far too much of in some pretty important years.

Every time I’ve thought of this since Sunday, and thought of the things I read and the conversations I have, I am so profoundly sad because I think, as the "Big C" Church, we look more like the world who rejects rather than our God, full of grace and love and kindness, who welcomes. 

Billy Graham once said, “It is the Holy Spirit’s job to convict, God’s job to judge and my job to love.” I’d like to add one thing to that, it’s my job to show, in words and actions, what the invitation of the Gospel is an invitation to. Will you join me in asking God to show us how we can better show others what the Gospel is an invitation to?