Servant's Agency, Urgency, and Strategy - Luke 14:16-23

A Sermon by Dr. Neil Chadwick


What do you talk about after dinner?

The Gospel writer Luke relates the story Jesus told His disciples while sitting around the dinner table following a meal at the home of a prominent Pharisee. Here’s how Jesus told it:

    "A certain man was preparing a great banquet and invited many guests. At the time of the banquet he sent his servant to tell those who had been invited, `Come, for everything is now ready.' But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said, `I have just bought a field, and I must go and see it. Please excuse me.' Another said, `I have just bought five yoke of oxen, and I'm on my way to try them out. Please excuse me.' Still another said, `I just got married, so I can't come.'

    The servant came back and reported this to his master. Then the owner of the house became angry and ordered his servant, `Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame.' `Sir,' the servant said, `what you ordered has been done, but there is still room.'

    "Then the master told his servant, `Go out to the roads and country lanes and make them come in, so that my house will be full. (Luke 14:16-23)

This is a marvelous story, one that is clearly associated with the times and culture in which Jesus lived, and yet one with which most of us can identify. Who of us has not made plans for a special day or event, only to discover that the people we wanted to include were not able to make it? Much time has been spent in planning, purchasing and preparing for a lovely event, all of which appears to be wasted as it seems the invited guests have other things to do, places to go, and people to see.

Let’s take a few moments to see what’s going on in the story Jesus told.

A wealthy homeowner sent out his servants with an announcement that the feast to which they had been previously invited was now ready - perhaps it was to be a banquet celebrating the marriage of his son or daughter. When the people on the exclusive guest list excused themselves, the servant was sent out again, but with more general invitations.

The servant’s agency.

As an aside, we notice that the servant was under orders, he was sent – this was part of his job, to go find the people who had been invited to the feast. There was no postal service in those days, all such messages had to be hand carried. Personal servants, who were actually representatives of the owner, had this task of being messengers.

    How well I remember, when on my first trip to India in 1988, I wanted to contact missionaries Andrew and Evelyn McCabe who operated a school and orphanage in Gonda. The mission station where I was staying had just installed a telephone, but no contact could be made with the Gonda mission. So my host said if I would write a note, he would see to it that it would be taken to Gonda, and a reply would come back the same day. I wrote the note, the messenger was called and immediately left on a bus journey of three hours, delivered my message, waited for a response, and was back with the return letter by supper time. This personal delivery service cost me just over $3.00, which included the bus fare and payment for the messenger’s time.

    This is how it was in Jesus’ day – the servant must have spent hours tracking down guests to announce the time of the feast and bring back their RSVP.

The servant’s urgency.

In the Bible story, when the servant returned with all the negative responses, the time was short, so when the master said, “Go out quickly into the streets and alleys,” his words suggested urgency and the imperative to go to them, rather than just set the table and wait for them to come.

    Years ago we lived in a home on Main Street, where once in a while our neighbor in back, Mr. Adams, would go fishing and bring back a trunk load of blue fish packed in ice, and offer us as much as we could use. Just think how silly it would be if instead, we would just sit in rocking chairs on his front porch with the idea, “If the fish want to be caught, they can jump right up here onto the porch.” If that had been the attitude, we certainly wouldn’t have much fish to eat that season. And yet, that seems to be the attitude of many in the church. The homeowner in our story understood that if people were going to come to fill his house, someone would need to go to them and bring them in.

Determination of the host

In this story, the question comes, why did the master send out his servant a second and third time to recruit banquet guests? Simply because he wanted his house to be full for the feast – he wanted to share his blessings and his joy. Today our Master is like this, and we His servants are the ones required to go out to find the people that will fill His house.

But then, what is “His house”? I realize that there are some people who would argue that it doesn’t mean the church, but heaven, and the feast is the eternal banqueting table spread for the “marriage supper of the Lamb.” And in fact there are popular Christian teachers today who claim that the church age is already over, and believers need not gather in church buildings – they can just stay at home and have family worship, perhaps, if they want, invite a couple other people to join with them, and of course listen to the teachers on radio and television (and send them their offerings). Could this be why church attendance of many people has become so inconsistent? Are they listening to this teaching and deciding they can have church at home? I hope not. The very word used in the NT for “church” suggests a calling out of the world to gather together in the place that is set apart to honor the Name of Him whom we worship. There is absolutely no violence done to the Scripture to say that the church is the “House of God,” the house where the banquet meal is spread each Lord’s Day.

    A church I once served sponsored a pre-school Day Care Center in the basement, and at appointed times each day the children would be brought upstairs to use the bathrooms. While the children stood in line awaiting their turn, one four year old wandered over to the double swinging doors of the sanctuary, pushed one of them in, peered inside and asked, “Does God live in there?”

    Well of course we all understand, as Solomon pointed out at the dedication of the first temple, that God’s presence can’t be contained on earth, and certainly not in a building made by human hands (I Kings 8:27). However, King David, along with each of the “Major” Prophets (Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel) all referred to the meeting place of God’s people, the temple as “My House,” the House of God (Psalm 101:7; Isaiah 56:7; Jeremiah 23:11; Ezekiel 44:7). Jesus also referred to the temple this way, "It is written, `My house will be a house of prayer'; but you have made it `a den of robbers.'" (Luke 19:46)

The servant’s strategy.

Now then, when the servant went out, what would be the strategy he would employ once the first batch of invitations were refused? Two-fold: the search was to be progressively widened, and the servant was told to utilize strong persuasion.

In reading the NIV we see the words, “make them come in,” whereas the King James says “compel them to come in.” In both, the words represent very strong language. Our normal reaction to this would probably be that of the young person who bristles at any command with, “you can’t make me.” And of course, it won’t work to use force to get people to attend church. However, we have to understand the intent of this language, and be willing to employ strong persuasion to convince people to attend the feast. In the KJV, the word is “compel,” a rather strong word, meaning, “to urge with force.” It comes from the Greek meaning “necessitate.” In other words, the servant in Jesus’ story would be saying, “You must come - my master really needs you to be there, and you really need to be there.”

When it comes to church attendance, I, for the life of me, can’t understand why parents have given up expecting their children and young people living at home to attend church services. Why is the decision to go, or not, even a topic for discussion? Parents may be the only class of people left who can possible literally fulfill this command, “Compel them to come in.” Why don’t they? The rationale may be, “If I force my children to go with me to church, they will grow up hating church and turn away from God.” I say, this makes little sense - it would be like saying, “I’m not going to force my children to go to school because they will grow up hating school” or “I’m not going to force my children to eat their vegetables because they will grow up hating vegetables and die of malnutrition” or “I’m not going to make my young person get a job because he will learn to hate work and be lazy all his life.” Who knows, maybe a deeper reason is that if parents tell their children they have to go to church, then the parents won’t be able to stay away when they don’t feel like going. They rightly want to avoid being hypocritical. But the choices aren’t just either being a hypocritical Christian or not being a Christian at all. By God’s grace and the strength He provides, it is possible to be a good Christian.

But let’s clarify this, in our story, it’s not that the servants needed these people to come to the feast; in fact the servants would have a much easier job to do if only a few showed up. But as for coming to church, if there is necessity, if there is a need, it is true to say, “The Lord, your Master needs you, and you need Him.” He needs you to fulfill His purpose in creating you, that is, worship and feelgoodship, and you need Him to bring true love, joy and peace into your life.

Servants call needy strangers.

So when the first round of invited guests refused to come, who will then be urged to come? Needy strangers will be called in to fill the house.

    A pastor friend of mine planned a special outreach service for his church. He promoted it well throughout his area, and the church was filled. Just before he went to the platform to begin the program, the pastor happened to overhear two regular members talking – one said to the other, “Isn’t it awful with all these strangers in the church.”
That invitations would be given to “the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame,” simply meant that the people who felt needy were to be invited.

When John wrote his letters to the seven churches in Asia, the last was written to a church that was on the verge of being rejected by the Lord. I sometimes wonder if this could be a letter to the American church. We often focus on the “lukewarm” part of the message, perhaps due to the rather graphic “I will spue you out of my mouth” statement. The source of the problem identified by John was that, “You say, `I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.' But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.” The solution he offered was, “I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see. Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent. Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.” (Revelation 3: 17-20)

In this passage, believers boasted of the wrong kind of wealth, and so were given a short shopping list. The “gold refined in the fire” is faith; “white clothes” refers to the righteousness of Christ, and the “eye salve” is the healing and anointing oil of the Holy Spirit. But before we go shopping, we have to acknowledge that our wallets are empty, closets are bare, and medicine cabinets depleted. We have material wealth, but spiritually, we are “wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.”

The problem with Christianity in America is that it has become religion without reality. Jesus is not in the house – He stands outside at the door and knocks.

    Perhaps it’s part legend, but by some accounts, St. Augustine was being shown around the premises of the glorious church of Rome, and the pope at that time made the comment, “No longer do we have to say with Peter and John, ‘silver and gold have I none.’” Augustine quickly responded, “And no longer can we say with Peter and John, ‘in the name of Jesus of Nazareth, rise up and walk.’”

    A more contemporary story has been told about the young black boy who sat alone on the steps outside an all-white church. Jesus came by and asked the boy why he was looking so sad. “They won’t let me in,” said the boy. Jesus replied, “Don’t worry about it. I also have been trying to get in there for a long time and they won’t let me in either.”

The all-news Television program, CNN, got it right when they reported that we are greatly divided in America, not just politically, but religiously – the division is between “religion and faith.”

When we invite people to church, we’re not asking them to join an institutionalized religion of forms and rituals and social programs – we’re inviting them to experience reality religion, a personal relationship with God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

One might ask, why do people need church? John would answer, because they are “wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.”

If the true church is made up of those who know they are needy, the servant’s task is to go looking for the people who know they are needy, using whatever powers of persuasion there are available to get them to come in – of course some may refuse, or give lip service – so we go on looking until we find enough people “so that my house will be full.”

The bottom line is this, if the Lord’s house is not full, it’s because the servants, who have been sent out to bring in the guests, have not done their job.

Remember that the first guests in Jesus’ story had their excuses; perhaps we have the same ones:

“I have just bought a field, and I must go and see it.” We are consumed with commercial enterprises.”

“I have just bought five yoke of oxen, and I'm on my way to try them out.” Even legitimate work responsibilities can interference with our attendance at the feast.

“I just got married, so I can't come.” Often there are impediments at home. We say, it’s the family, after all that’s what’s most important. Really?

Where are we in Jesus’ story? The Owner of the House wants His house full, but many who have been invited have made their excuses and will not come. He’s now sending us, his servants, out into the world with the commission to bring them in. Let’s be like our Lord Himself who, when He was only 12 years old said, “I must be about my Father’s business.”

Discussion Questions
The Servant’s Agency, Urgency, and Strategy
Luke 14:16-23

1. The story Jesus told in Luke 14:16-23 was included in after dinner conversation. Is this a custom that has disappeared from contemporary life? 2. In the story Jesus told, there were two main characters, and three additional ones. Who were they, and what were their roles in the story?

3. What was the relationship between the home-owner and his servant?

4. Why did the master send out his servant a second and third time to recruit banquet guests?

5. On what Scriptural grounds can we make the claim that the church is the Home-owner’s House?

6. What were the two parts of the servant’s strategy to fill his master’s house?

7. What is inferred by the home-owner’s language, “compel them to come in”?

8. Should parents today “compel” their children to come to church/

9. In what ways does God need people, and people need Him?

10. What description does the Bible story give for the people who were called during the last round of invitations?

11. What was the problem at John’s seventh church which caused it to become “lukewarm? What counsel was given to bring renewal?

12. What were the three excuses given by the first invited guests in Jesus’ story, and are they only their excuses?

  • - - Return to Top of this Page
  • - Email a link to this page
  • - Go To Next Sermon by Dr. Neil Chadwick
  • - Back To Sermons Page or to the Sermons Alphabetical List
  • - - Download This Sermon 
    This Page's Title Is:

                       
    Your Name Is:

                       
    Your Email Address Is:

                        
    Your State and Country:

    Please identify your vocation:

         Senior Pastor.     Associate Pastor.
            Youth Pastor.    Lay Minister.
                  Church Member.

    Which section of this site would you most likely return to?

         Sermons     Articles     Stories   
             Poems     Hymns    Articles for Leaders
               Marriage Articles         A Bit of Humor

    Would you like to receive the free weekly E-mail Circular?

      YES

    If you have a web page, would you like to establish a reciprocal link?

      YES

    Feel free to add a comment or prayer request: