LIFE OF
CHRIST
Luke 14:1-24
MESSAGE TO THE
RELIGIOUS
LIFE OF CHRIST #38
It is not wrong to be religious if you are a born
again Christian
James 1:26-27 - If
any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but
deceiveth his own heart, this man's religion is vain. [27] Pure religion and
undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows
in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.
We return to the Life of Christ. Our Lord visited Mary
and Martha, and some time after that was invited to the home of a religious
person, a Pharisee.
Vs. 1 – In fact this Pharisee was a chief
Pharisee. He was high ranking, and
important, and very religious. The
Pharisees made it a point to be outwardly religious, and put more stock in
their religious adherence to the law and their man made interpretations of the
law than they did faith.
This invite was on the Sabbath Day. Jesus was invited because of religion. These men were so religious that they wanted
to watch him to see if they could find a reason to accuse Him and discredit
Him. Jesus did not agree with their brand of religion, and they wanted to
condemn Him.
It is in this situation that Jesus gives a message to
the “religious”. It is a message still
applicable today for all who are religious.
Jesus basically tells these “religious” men four things:
DON’T SHUN GOOD WORKS – Vss. 2-6
Vs. 2 – There was a man in front of Him who
had dropsy.
His body was retaining water. He was obviously
swollen, and probably terminally ill.
Because of the open nature of banquets in those days,
this man could have come of his own accord.
But remember the “religious” people were watching Jesus. This man was probably invited there on
purpose in order to see if Jesus would violate their understanding of the
Sabbath.
Vs. 3 – Jesus asked a loaded question “Is it
lawful to heal on the Sabbath?” There is
no such restriction in the Old Testament Law.
But the additions that “religious” people made to that law made it
unlawful.
Jesus had them in a dilemma. If they said it was lawful they would have
violated their own teachings. If they
said it was unlawful, they would have been viewed as narrow and uncaring.
Vs. 4 – So as not to incriminate themselves,
the Pharisees said nothing. Jesus went ahead and healed the man.
Vs. 5 – Jesus then reminded the religious people that
if one of their livestock were in jeopardy on the Sabbath Day, they would be
helped.
Of course, if it took work to rescue a farm animal,
and that was acceptable, how much more acceptable was healing a sick man on the
Sabbath Day!
Jesus’ message is clear. Don’t shun good works in the name of
religion. Don’t let your religion keep
you from doing good, and don’t let your religion cause you to shun those who do
good.
Both the Jewish religion and Christianity are
religions that stress good works. If
these good works can relieve human suffering we should not let anything stop
us. 1 John 3:17, James 2:15-17
Vs. 6 – Notice that the religious people were
again silent. They had nothing to answer
because they were guilty of helping their own on the Sabbath.
DON’T SEEK YOUR OWN HONOR – Vss. 7-11
Vs. 7 – Seating was supposedly according to
who was more honorable or important. The
closer one sat to the host, the more honorable the person was. These “religious” men were seeking the best
seats for themselves!
Vss. 8-10 – Jesus told these religious people not
to seek the best seat a wedding feast. They should take the lower seat. It was
likely that one could be “bumped” from the highest seat, and could be moved up
from the lowest seat.
Jesus did not want them doing this with the wrong
motives.
He wanted these men to be truly humble.
He wanted them to learn to put others ahead of
themselves.
Vs. 11 – Jesus is saying that the proud will
be humbled, and the humble will be exalted.
Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18 - In the
Sermon on the Mount Jesus gave three examples of what some religious people did
to get honor from men.
They gave.
They prayed.
They fasted.
It was their habit to do these things so they could be
seen.
Jesus was telling them that they could seek and get
their reward now from men, but if they humbly went about their business, they
would be rewarded later by God.
Jesus is telling the religious people not to seek
their own honor. Sometimes honor does
come even when we are not seeking it.
Let the honor come if it comes but don’t seek it.
DON’T SOLICIT FAVORS – Vss. 12-14
Vss. 12-13 – It was the habit of these religious
people to invite their family, friends and those of high social and financial
status. Most of these people will be able to invite you in return. Jesus was saying, “Don’t invite people to
dinner so you’ll get invited back.”
Jesus was not excluding the invitation of these
people.
He just wanted others included who could not pay them
back. The poor and the handicapped were
to be invited.
When was the last time you invited anyone over to
dinner who couldn’t return the favor or who were not on the same level socially
as you? We generally feed those who
don’t need it and never think of those who do need it.
Vs. 14 – Meeting the needs of those in need is
a quality of the Christian. When the
Christian is resurrected, then he will be rewarded for the kindnesses shown to
the ones that he could not pay back.
The bottom line is that we should not do favors for
others so they’ll do them for us.
Instead we are to show favors to those who can’t repay us. This is what is pleasing to God.
DON’T SNUB GOD’S INVITATION – Vss. 15-24
Vs. 15 – Some sanctimonious person said,
“Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the
Jesus cared too much for these men to let this
statement go without comment.
Vs. 16 – A man made a great supper. Many had been invited. The custom was to have two invitations. The first invitation would give the day. And a person was to R. S. V. P.
On the day of the dinner servants would go to the
guests again and tell them that dinner was ready. Those who were bidden to come on the day of
the banquet had already accepted a first invitation.
Vss. 17-20 - So, on the day of the dinner, the
servant went to get the guests and every one of them had an excuse for not
coming. These were all lame excuses.
A man bought a piece of ground. He had to go see it. But the man would not
buy a piece of property without seeing it. It was just an excuse for missing
the banquet.
Another man had purchased 10 oxen. He now wanted to “prove” or check them
out. Again, the purchase of that much
livestock was a major purchase. The man
would have tested them before buying them.
The third man had just gotten married. And although
Jewish men were excluded from having to go to war after just being married,
they were not banned from going to banquets.
He was using his wife as an excuse.
What is the meaning of this?
The Jewish people said they wanted to enter the
But now the King was among them and they were
rejecting him. He was there and they
didn’t want Him! They would, in a short
time, crucify their king.
They were snubbing the invitation.
Vs. 21 – The servant returns home and reports
to his master. Those who had been invited
and accepted an invitation had made excuses and would not attend the
dinner. He was rightfully angry.
He told his servant to go out into the city and bring
in those who were the social rejects, the poor and the handicapped.
Vss. 22-23 – This was done and there was still
room. So the servant was sent to the highways and country lanes and he was to
compel them to come!
The Jews had refused God’s invitation. So the socially and physically unacceptable
were to be invited to the feast. Those
in the highways and hedges represent the Gentiles.
The Jews rejected Jesus, and the Gentiles have been
invited! Ephesians 2:11-13
Vs. 24 – The ones who were bidden to the
supper and turned it down would not partake of the supper.
The point for today is obvious.
There are religious people today who are too wrapped
up in other things and use them as excuses for not accepting Jesus’ invitation
of salvation.
It is Jesus Christ who died for our sins.
It is Jesus Christ who is risen from the dead.
It is Jesus Christ who will change your life and give
you a new life now and heaven later.
Many have snubbed the invitation.
Have you?
John 3:16-18 - For
God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever
believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. [17] For God
sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world
through him might be saved. [18] He that believeth on him is not condemned: but
he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the
name of the only begotten Son of God.
If you have not snubbed God’s invitation, that’s
great.
I’m so glad that you have accepted it and are going to
Heaven.
Accepting the invitation puts you in another category,
however.
You are now a servant who has the invitation in your
hand so to speak. You have the message
of the Gospel to share with others. Mark
16:15, 1 Peter 3:15
If you, as a Christian, do not share your faith, you
are in a real sense snubbing God’s invitation.
You are helping to keep people out of Heaven instead of helping them in.
You know the way to Heaven. Shame on you if you don’t
share it with others who need it.
Jesus message to the religious applies to us.
DON’T SHUN GOOD WORKS – Vss. 2-6
DON’T SEEK YOUR OWN HONOR – Vss. 7-11
DON’T SOLICIT FAVORS – Vss. 12-14
DON’T SNUB GOD’S INVITATION – Vss. 15-24
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