Excuse Me
Luke 14:15-24 Now when one of those who sat at the table with Him heard these things, he said to Him, “Blessed is he who shall eat bread in the kingdom of God!” 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. For I say to you that none of those men who were invited shall taste my supper.’ ” (NKJV)
When a church (in wholesale) becomes distracted and then collectively the people began to make excuses about life choices, there is a great decption going on in that church. Whats troubling most about this passage of scripture is not the excuses themself, but what is stated in verse 18; "that they all with one accord began to make excuses."
YOUR BREAD IS IN THE KINGDOM
You've heard the old saying, just remember who butters your bread. That saying just means, remember whos taking care of you or whos looking out for you. You see your sustenance is in Gods kingdom, not the kingdom of this world. What the scripture is implying here is, the blessings of God come from eating your bread, or finding your sustenance within the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God is where you get your lasting nourishment not in the kingdom of this world! So whats the answer? The scripture passage says that the master of the house "got angry." Pastors must get angry about the deceptions that the enemy is bringing on Gods people. Paul said in 2 Corinthians 4:4 "whose minds the god of this age has blinded..." While we cannot create hunger, we can present an appitite. Jesus antidote in Luke 14 was for the wedding planner to go out into the highways and hedges and compel the poor, the maimed, the lame and the blind to come in and feast.
Though you can't create hunger in people, you can feed the hungry! Many times the hungry are not in your churches, but rather out in the highways, lanes and hedges of this world. Those are the people to go after, not the people who are full of this world or those who don't have the stomach for Mana. Go for God and go after God.
