Party Poopers

After listening to a concluding talk yesterday about the faith of Jesus which is really the faith that God has in us to respond to Him, this morning I realized that the two categories of people that I find in Romans 1 and 2 are represented in one of Jesus' parables about invitees to a wedding feast. It is found in Matthew 22:1-14 and talks about the problems a king had trying to get people to come to a wedding feast for his son. If you think it strange that someone should have a problem getting people to show up to a great party with lots of free food and even free designer clothes, you are absolutely right. But the problem is actually God's problem and the people are us. Evidently we don't believe that God has a great party to come to, or if we do we don't want to cooperate with His plans and provisions for how to dress for the party. Most of us are just party-poopers. But in this case the consequences for not joining the party is a disconnection from our only source of survival and life itself.

The last half of Romans 1 describes people who, though “they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened.” (Romans 1:21) These are the people who resist and resist the drawing of God in their lives and God is obliged to “turn them over” to the results of their choices. I see the parallel to this class of people in the first group of invitees to the wedding feast illustrated in Jesus' parable.

“He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused to come. Then he sent some more servants and said, 'Tell those who have been invited that I have prepared my dinner: My oxen and fattened cattle have been butchered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.' But they paid no attention and went off-- one to his field, another to his business. The rest seized his servants, mistreated them and killed them.” (Matthew 22:3-6)

All of these people like those in Romans 1 refused to even respond to the invitation of God to join the party. Even worse, they became violent against those who were inviting them and generally made themselves completely cut off from any friendly connections to the king. They openly rebelled and rejected all overtures of love and relationship.

The second class of invitees are a bit more friendly but inside they have a hidden heart of rebellion as well. These are described throughout the whole chapter of Romans 2 as religious people who claim to be God-followers. Like the second group of people in the parable, they have accepted the invitation and have showed up at the party apparently intending to have a great time exploiting the king's generosity. This is the group that makes many of us squirm a little and began to rationalize about our own behavior and attitudes. It even exposes problems with the long-argued belief held by many of “once saved always saved”. According to Jesus' parable these people were among the “saved”. They were in the wedding feast right along with everyone else and enjoying all the benefits and perks except for the one they didn't want to be bothered with. "But when the king came in to look over the dinner guests, he saw a man there who was not dressed in wedding clothes.” (Matthew 22:11)

It does not say that this man did not have any clothes at all; it only says that he was not dressed in wedding clothes. These wedding clothes were provided free of charge by the king and were designed to show that in this kingdom everyone is equal. No one had to strive to make themselves stand out to be noticed or feel ashamed because they were too poor. After remembering the variety of people who were there and where they had come from it is quite understandable why the king would have such an arrangement for everyone to feel happy and comfortable in each others presence.

After the rebuffs by the first group of invited guests, the king had ordered his servants, “'Go therefore to the main highways, and as many as you find there, invite to the wedding feast.' Those slaves went out into the streets and gathered together all they found, both evil and good; and the wedding hall was filled with dinner guests.” (Matthew 22:9-10) The only qualifications at this point for joining the celebration was to accept the invitation, show up at the party and put on the free royal clothes provided by the Father of the Bridegroom. How much better can it get?

The truth is, it can't get any better than this. Anything more that we might demand is downhill from here and takes away from the joy of the party. That is exactly what Paul is addressing in Romans 2. These are people just like most of us who want to be a part of the party and want to look good before others by comparing ourselves favorably to others in a critical spirit. The real problem is internal and described in verse 8 as selfish ambition. This is the spirit of the man who wanted to wear his own clothes to the wedding feast instead of looking just like everyone else. He wanted to stand out in the crowd and be a cut above all the other riff-raff that showed up at this party, “both evil and good”.

But that's not how the party is arranged. There is no other options for being part of the family of the King. If you want to enjoy the party and celebrate with the Son, you have to accept all of the provisions of the King, not just the ones you prefer. There are good reasons for everything the King has provided, but whether or not we understand the reasons, if we want to be in the banquet we have to follow all the instructions or the natural consequences will have to happen to us as well. Like the man who found himself speechless and then banished to the darkness where there is weeping and deep regrets, we will find that there really is no excuses that will stand up in the light of His presence.

But to my delight I see a third group of people described both in Romans 2 and the parable in Matthew. They are composed of those who realize that though everyone has sinned, with or without the law, all those “who do instinctively the things of the Law, these, not having the Law, are a law to themselves, in that they show the work of the Law written in their hearts.” (Rom. 2:14,15) They are the ones collected from the highways and street-people, all gathered together from wherever they were found both good and evil. They are not of those who were originally invited but found to be “not worthy”.

It is quite interesting to see that being considered “worthy” for the party is not based on being good or evil but on responding to the invitation and then cooperating with the provisions supplied. The first group refused to respond and were therefore lost because they were not worthy. The man who accepted the invitation but refused to become like the king was also found to be unworthy.

We can't get into the kingdom of heaven unless we are willing to become like the King. If we accept the invitation but refuse to become like the King, we are rejecting the faith of Jesus, the faith that God has in us responding to His invitation and provisions to become like Him; we refuse to be transformed by His grace, His kindness that leads us to repentance, and refusing to wear the robe of Christ's righteousness to cover us up completely.

It is an act of faith to accept the righteousness of Jesus and not depend at all on anything we can do to earn God's favor. Faith is what pleases Him (Heb. 11:6), and it is really reflecting His faith. Those who draw back from faith find that God has no pleasure in them (Heb 10:38,39). Luke 17:1-10 reveals how we can have more faith. It is by coming into a relationship with God where we put His interests first and seek to satisfy His heart before seeking our own selfish ambition. That is the condition that creates faith and is the true core of all true intimacy and love-bonds. It is the atmosphere of the kingdom of heaven.

'The wedding is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy. Go therefore to the main highways, and as many as you find there, invite to the wedding feast.'

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