Here is a post from over 7 years ago, but it's message is still relevant in our current time...Recently as I drove through town I observed a church sign. Most churches today have a sign and many put sayings on these signs. This one, unfortunately, got me...
It read... "Wanted: Friends who don't believe - Come into the presence of the Lord, Jesus Christ." I found it interesting. I had to think a second. What did they really want? What was the purpose of this sign? What where they saying?
My thoughts, after my questions...
...I really think they wanted to see people come to church and come to know the Lord as savior.
...I really think they purposed in their heart to reach out to the community.
...I really think, they may have missed the boat!
OK, no "you're judgmental" e-mails. I know my vices. I also know people. Let me see, can you say you've observed this in our current society...
...No one knows their neighbors names (or very few of them) anymore.
...No one invites people to dinner or a cookout, just church and then only during a promotion.
...Most don't talk to neighbors, unless they need something. That includes church, after all you would not want to miss the praise or the prize at the Sunday School contest.
...Most of us suspect our neighbors more than we love them.
I could go on, but you're getting the picture. Listen, I'm guilty from time to time of wanting to be a good guy in the eyes of my fellow church goers. I know it's cool to have a "new" person sitting next to you in church and have others envy you. I just want you to stop a moment and take a heart check, WILL THIS PERSON COME TO KNOW THE LORD IF I KEEP LIVING THE WAY I'M LIVING?
Without taking away the reality that God has to call a person to himself, he tells us to compel them to come. But the question is WHERE DID HE TELL US TO INVITE THEM TO? If my memory serves me correctly, it was to a WEDDING and a SUPPER, not church.
Please read these carefully (underlining mine)...
And Jesus answered and spoke to them again by parables and said: "The kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who arranged a marriage for his son, "and sent out his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding; and they were not willing to come. "Again, he sent out other servants, saying, 'Tell those who are invited, "See, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and fatted cattle are killed, and all things are ready. Come to the wedding."' "But they made light of it and went their ways, one to his own farm, another to his business. "And the rest seized his servants, treated them spitefully, and killed them. "But when the king heard about it, he was furious. And he sent out his armies, destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city. "Then he said to his servants, 'The wedding is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy. 'Therefore go into the highways, and as many as you find, invite to the wedding.' "So those servants went out into the highways and gathered together all whom they found, both bad and good. And the wedding hall was filled with guests." (Matthew 22:1-10 NKJV)
Then He said to him, "A certain man gave a great supper and invited many, "and sent his servant at supper time to say to those who were invited, 'Come, for all things are now ready.' "But they all with one accord began to make excuses. The first said to him, 'I have bought a piece of ground, and I must go and see it. I ask you to have me excused.' "And another said, 'I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to test them. I ask you to have me excused.' "Still another said, 'I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.' "So that servant came and reported these things to his master. Then the master of the house, being angry, said to his servant, 'Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in here the poor and the maimed and the lame and the blind.' "And the servant said, 'Master, it is done as you commanded, and still there is room.' "Then the master said to the servant, 'Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled. (Luke 14:16-23 NKJV)
Let me ask you, what do the Wedding and Supper represent? The Great Supper and Wedding Feast of Christ. When does it happen, well the invitations have been going out for years, and the time is not known, but it will be when Christ comes back for his church. Now ask yourself this question in closing...
Did Jesus say "stand at the door and tell them to come the feast" or "go get them and bring them back?"
As Jesus said, "Go and do likewise..."
Till next time...
