Transcript
Our text is once again found in the Gospel of Luke. And we want to begin our reading in chapter 12. And we will move subsequently to chapter 14. But turn first of all to Luke chapter 12. Luke chapter 12. And we want to read just a few verses starting with verse 31. Luke 12:31,
But seek the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added to you. Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell what you have and give alms. Provide yourselves money bags” or we could translate it purses or wallets “provide yourselves wallets which do not grow old, a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches nor moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
And now to chapter 14 and verse 15. Luke 14:15,
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 suppertime 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.” And 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 of my supper.’
Now great multitudes went with Him. And He turned and said to them, “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple. And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.”
Bettina Ludwig’s day started out all wrong. It was just this past Tuesday. And she got up early and went to the bank early and drew out a lot of money planning to buy a pickup truck during the day while her husband was at work. She put the money carefully in her wallet. Then she dropped her son off at the Barton Elementary School in Irving. And she placed the wallet on top of her automobile while she took her infant daughter and put her in the car seat. Then she drove off.
When she had gotten about four blocks she realized that the wallet was gone. She stopped the car. She jumped out. She looked around. And then it dawned on her what must have happened. So she drove quickly back to the school. She rushed into the administration offices. And she poured out her problem. An assistant principal came to her assistance. And they went out and searched the school parking lot. They searched a nearby dumpster without success.
When Bettina Ludwig went home she still couldn’t get used to the thought that she had actually lost that money. And so she searched her entire house. She looked under the couch. She looked under the beds. And there was no wallet to be found.
Now that might be where the story would end except for one little fact. Just moments after her car pulled away from the school the first time another car drove onto the same street. This car was driven by Charlotte Mila who was an account executive with a firm that sells two-way radios. She noticed some bills floating across the highway on the wind in front of her car. And thought it was worth investigating.
Sure enough it was. Because the bills were hundred-dollar bills. And she started collecting them. Right away she even found the purse from which they had come. And she collected a total of sixteen hundred dollars. Briefly the thought crossed her mind that she could pay off some debts and fix her car. But she knew she couldn’t do that. And so she went straight back to work. Using numbers that she found on the cards in the wallet she finally was able to call the insurance agent of Bettina Ludwig and report to him that the money had been found.
It didn’t take Bettina Ludwig very long to get down to Charlotte’s place of employment. And she gladly received the money. She said she was relieved because she was sure that her grandmother was going to chew her out and her husband was going to chew her out. And she offered Charlotte a reward which Charlotte turned down. And later Charlotte told the media that the first thought that had crossed her mind was there had been some kind of foul play. And speaking of herself and her fellow employees she said, “We’re just glad to see that she’s alive and that she’s in good shape.”
Now I bet almost all of us can really relate to the frustration and anxiety that Bettina Ludwig felt when she lost all that money. But if we stop and think carefully about that story we’ll realize something else. Bettina Ludwig was just a wee bit careless. Just a little bit forgetful. Because I don’t think that the top of your car is the best place for a purse containing sixteen hundred dollars.
Would you believe that I have lost at least a half dozen gas caps in exactly that way? I take them off. I put them on the roof of the car. I pump my gas. And I drive off. And very rarely do I discover I do not have a gas cap anymore until I go back to a filling station to pump gas again. So I really don’t think that the top of an automobile is the place where you want to put a wallet containing that much money.
But this morning I’m a lot more worried about the carelessness with which some Christians treat their future wealth. In fact when some Christians press down on the accelerator of their lives they take off so fast that they leave behind them what I’m going to call this morning the golden wallet. The golden wallet. And it may just be possible that right here in this audience there is somebody who needs to step on the brakes real hard. And you need to get out of that hot rod that you call your life. And you need to look around to see what you may have left far behind you.
And therefore the title of my message this morning is really phrased in terms of an exhortation. And my exhortation is this: Don’t lose your golden wallet. That’s the title for the day. Don’t lose your golden wallet.
Now I want you folks to realize that your speaker this morning is carrying his in his hip pocket. And one that is rapidly decomposing before his very eyes. And I don’t want you to imagine for a moment that this is an old wallet because it’s not. I haven’t had it much more than six or seven months. And it seems to be unraveling. Because every time I pull it out of my pocket there’s another string that has come loose or thread or something. I have to pull it off. And I do that often enough I won’t have a wallet left. And I have no idea who manufactured this wallet but I suspect it was made in America by Americans. And it wouldn’t surprise me that the factory is called El Cheapo Incorporated.
And if this was the best wallet that I had folks I’d be in bad shape. Bad, bad shape. But I like to think that I’ve got another and far more valuable wallet than that. You see we just read a few moments ago about an occasion where Jesus was talking to his disciples. And he said to his disciples, “Don’t be afraid. It is the Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. So sell what you’ve got and give alms. Make for yourselves money bags. Make for yourselves wallets. Make for yourselves purses that do not grow old. A treasure in heaven that does not fail.”
Have you ever stopped to consider that it is God’s will to give Christians his kingdom? Notice what I did not say. I did not say that it is God’s will to let you into the kingdom. It is God’s will to let you into the kingdom. But that is on the basis of faith in Christ. You get into God’s kingdom by trusting the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Savior. But this is something more. God wants to give to Christians, to his disciples, he wants to give the kingdom to them just as he will someday give it to Jesus Christ.
And thus if we think about the kingdom of God like that the kingdom becomes a valuable treasure. And as I follow the Lord Jesus Christ, as I seek to be his disciple, you know what I’m really doing? I’m taking that big treasure and I’m stuffing it into a heavenly golden wallet. Or to put it another way folks when I serve Jesus Christ I am depositing the valuable treasure of the kingdom to my own account in the bank of heaven.
But hey listen up. Listen closely. The only way to put the kingdom in your personal golden wallet is to respond positively to God’s invitation to suffer. Did you get that? I’m going to repeat that because that lies in the very heart of my message this morning. The only way to deposit the kingdom in your own heavenly wallet is to respond positively to God’s invitation to suffer.
Now please remember as we saw the last time we were together on this that Jesus has just accepted an invitation to dinner. Right? A Pharisee has invited Jesus on the Sabbath day to eat the main meal of the day with him. And as soon as Jesus gets into the house he begins to disturb all the guests. First of all he promptly proceeds to heal a man. And the Pharisees objected to him doing that on the Sabbath day.
And then as he sits at the table, as he reclines really they didn’t quite sit in those days, he sees how the guests come in and they’re looking for the best spot at the table right up near the head of the table. And he rebukes the guests for that. He says when you’re invited to dinner don’t go looking for the best place at the dinner table. Go to the foot of the table. And then if your host would like to honor you he’ll say, “Friend, come up higher.”
And then not even the host got off clean. Jesus noticed how many of the guests at that dinner were friends and relatives of the host apparently. So he turned to his host and he says the next time you do a dinner or a supper don’t invite your friends and relatives who can pay you back. Invite poor people. Invite crippled people. Invite lame people. Invite people who cannot pay you back. And then you will be repaid in the resurrection of the just.
And don’t you think folks that just about this time half the people sitting around the table with Jesus were glaring at him? I mean half of them had been hit directly. And the other half probably resented it. And there was tension there I’m sure. They must have been tensioned there.
And maybe just maybe the man who spoke up was trying to relieve that tension. Because just at this point somebody who was sitting at the dinner table said, “Blessed is he who shall eat bread in the kingdom of God.” And maybe he meant something like this: Let’s get our minds off of this rocky meal that we’re having. Let’s think of the future day when we will have the wonderful privilege of sitting down and eating bread in God’s kingdom.
Not a bad idea. And Jesus takes these words and he makes these words the launching pad for one of his most remarkable stories. Jesus tells at this dinner table the story of a man who was obviously wealthy who made a big supper. And he invited a lot of people well ahead of the dinner mind you. And probably they had all indicated that they would come.
And then when the occasion of the dinner finally arrived as the custom was he sent his servant out again. And this servant was intended to remind each of these people that everything was ready. They could come ahead to the dinner. And the servant encountered some of the weirdest excuses. Some of the strangest reasons for turning down a dinner invitation that you will ever read or hear about.
You see he came to one man. And he said to the man, “Come ahead to the supper. Everything’s ready.” And the man said, “Oh I’m so sorry I can’t come. You see I bought a piece of land and now I’ve got to go out to see it. So please have me excused.” Say what? You bought a piece of land and you haven’t seen it yet? You don’t know whether this is wilderness area. Whether it’s covered with scrub brush. Whether it’s fertile soil or anything. You invested money in a piece of land that you didn’t even see? That’s dumb. And then that’s your reason for not coming?
And then the servant goes to the second man. And he says, “Come. Everything’s ready.” The second man says, “Oh can’t do it. You see I bought five yoke of oxen. That was ten oxen. And I’ve got to test them out. Please have me excused.” Say what? You bought ten oxen and you don’t know whether they can do the job or not? You don’t know whether they’re old and feeble and hard to get out of the corral or whether they’re well trained or rebellious oxen? You don’t really even know that? You’ve invested but most farmers are satisfied with a couple of oxen. You bought ten? Lots of you don’t even know whether they work good? That’s dumb. That’s your reason for not coming to the banquet?
And then came the third guy. Folks get this. “Come ahead. The dinner is ready.” “Sorry I can’t come. I’ve married a wife and I cannot come.” Folks I don’t understand that. What does the wife do? Stand in front of the door to bar his exit? He’s settled down and he’s going to live with her the rest of his days. And he can’t even have a night to come out to this supper? I don’t believe a wife would ever object to her husband going out. And I bet that every time she objects you’ll never never never never never go. Right? See how much I know. This is a dumb excuse folks. I don’t buy it. Just because he’s married doesn’t mean he can’t accept an important invitation to dinner.
Now these three guys folks are my candidates one of my top candidates for the title the three stooges of the Bible. And when I say that I really have to apologize to the original three stooges. I don’t know whether any of them are still alive but I don’t think they were dumb. They played every dumb scene that you could possibly imagine. They did the dumbest thing and they said the dumbest thing. But I think they knew what they were doing. They knew that this was the key to good entertainment. That we folks out here we’d like to watch people who are dumber than we are. And we like to laugh at people who do things that are more stupid than we do. So they let us laugh at them. And they probably laughed all the way to the bank. They weren’t dumb.
But these guys were. There was no good reason for turning down this significant invitation to supper. And I wish I could tell you this morning folks that there’s no Christian dumb enough, dumb enough to turn down God’s invitation to this wonderful supper. Did you notice the words that we read at the very end of our passage? Thereafter the story of the supper is over. And the next scene that Luke gives us is Jesus speaking to the multitudes about discipleship.
And he says, “If any man comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters, yes and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple. And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.” What is Jesus saying? That we ought to hate the people around us? No of course not. He is telling us however that he should have such high priority in our hearts and lives that by comparison with the priority that he has our relationship to others and our love for others by comparison looks like hate. Because he is so far forward in first place that everything else including our own life is way behind.
Now listen. You all know me well enough to know that I’m not going to tell you that Jesus is talking here about the way we get to heaven. That’s not what he’s talking about at all. We get to heaven by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ by receiving the free gift of eternal life. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.
And so the supper that we’re talking about tonight is not salvation. And I want to suggest to you that the supper represents the reward that comes to those who put Jesus Christ first in their life and become truly his disciples. Or to put it in the terms that we expressed at the very beginning this supper is a supper for those. It’s not the real supper I think although I’m sure we’ll eat supper with Christ. But it is an illustration. It’s an image of the privilege and joy of possessing the kingdom in fellowship with Jesus Christ.
God wants to give us the kingdom so we can co-reign with his blessed Son. But that comes to people who put him first. Who don’t put a plot of ground ahead of his invitation to that. Who don’t put ten oxen ahead of his invitation to that. Who don’t even put their wives and their children ahead of that. This comes to people who put Jesus Christ first in their lives.
I’m going to tell you a story about myself but frankly I find it embarrassing. And when I first thought of telling the story this morning I said no way Zane you’re not going to tell that story not at Victor Street. You’ll never hear the end of it. And after people have heard that story they’re going to say now we know why Zane is single. But I hope the story is not that revealing. And I decided to tell the story because it fits my message I think almost perfectly.
Let me pause to sip water so I don’t dry up while I’m telling an embarrassing story like this. When I was a student at Wheaton College the college had an annual banquet. The college banquet. There was a very fancy dress-up affair. The women wore evening clothes. Many of them in full-length gowns. Many of the men wore tuxedos or they dressed in some very formal suit.
Now there was a girl named Evelyn who worked in the same Sunday school, Wheaton Sunday school, that I worked in. And I saw her every Sunday. And she was a very nice girl. So one year I invited her to go with me to the college banquet. And she went. And we had a great time. So far I’m not embarrassed at all.
But when you hear the rest of this I saw her for the next twelve months at Sunday school only. I never invited her out for a Coke. I never had anything resembling a date with her until the next year when they had the banquet again. And then I invited her to go with me to the banquet. After twelve months of not ignoring her but you know you all understand. Now if she had slapped me across the face I would have understood. Not been happy but I would have understood. If she had said to me, “Zane I am not going to be your annual date to the banquet and that is that.” I would have understood. At least I would now. I can’t explain it folks. She said yes. We went to the banquet. And we had a good time.
But you know there is an invitation to supper where the individual could have said, “I’ve got a dozen things better to do than to go to that supper with you. I have all sorts of things that have more claim on me than you’ve got. Forget it young man.” But no Christian ever has a good excuse for turning down this invitation. I don’t care whether you pull out your job as an excuse or whether you pull out your family as an excuse or whether you pull out your bank account which you need to beef up as an excuse. There is no good excuse for not putting Jesus Christ first in your life and in mine. Is there? If you think of one come see me after the meeting. I’ve never heard a good one yet.
And don’t you see when we fail to put him first, when we’re living so fast that he kind of gets brushed to the side of us, that’s the way Christians lose their golden wallet. That’s the way they miss the marvelous rewards of the future which can be theirs.
So the servant comes back doesn’t he? Try to put yourself in the place of this would-be host listening to a report like this. I mean the servant says, “Mister I went to Mr. Smith and he said he bought some land but he hasn’t seen it yet so he’s going to see the land and he’s not going to be able to come. And I went to Mr. Jones and he said he’s invested in ten yoke of oxen and wants to find out whether they can do the work he got them for and he can’t come. Mr. Roberts I don’t understand at all. He says he’s married and he can’t come.” You know what the would-be host is doing about then? He’s steaming. He’s hot. He’s angry. How crude. How rude. How gross is this kind of a response to his invitation.
So he says to the servant, “Now let me tell you what to do. Forget those guys okay? Forget them. Go out into the streets. Go out into the lanes. And find poor people. Find crippled people. Find lame people. Find blind people.” The servant goes and does it. And comes back and says, “I’ve done what you’ve asked and there’s still room.” “All right,” says the master to the servant, “now you go outside the city to the highways and hedges where you’re likely to find beggars sitting beside the road begging or trying to find shelter underneath a hedge or behind a hedge wall. And bring them in. But by all means do not go back to the people that were originally invited. Because I don’t want them to get even so much as a single taste of my supper.”
Talk about revising your guest list. The man in this story did exactly what Jesus advised His own host to do. His original list included people who had some money right? How do you buy a piece of land? How do you buy five yoke of oxen without money? I’m even told it sometimes costs money to get married. Some of the people on his original guest list had money. But not on the revised list. These were the poor people. These were the handicapped people. These were the crippled people. The beggars and the blind.
Do you know what’s wrong with us as American Christians? Do you? I’ll tell you what’s wrong with us. We have too much money. And we are too involved in our own affairs. And those things take priority over Jesus Christ.
Let’s get down to basics. Did you know we have a supper tonight? Did you know that we have an invitation from the Lord Jesus Christ to come to that supper? When He said, “This do in remembrance of Me,” that was His invitation. You know what? Two-thirds of you are not going to be here when we have that supper tonight. And an even smaller number will not be here when we meet for prayer. I’ve heard all the excuses. Too busy. Too tired. Gotta do housework. Better work on and on it goes. But the bottom line is the Lord Jesus Christ is not really first. Am I right?
In the nineteenth century the town of Bedford, Ohio was just a very small village. Probably not more than five hundred people. But inside this village there were two young beautiful and charming women. One of them had as her suitor, we would call it boyfriend today, she had as her boyfriend a young man named Rutherford Hayes. But her parents were very much against the match because Hayes was poor and came from a poor family. As far as they could see there was no future for their daughter marrying this young man.
The other woman had as her suitor a young man named James Garfield. And her parents objected to this young suitor for almost exactly the same reasons. Poor. No prospects. No ability. Going nowhere in life. Not good enough for their daughter.
Now listen to one of the biggest coincidences in the history of our country. I don’t think this ever happened before. I don’t think it will ever happen again. These young women who lived close to each other apparently in a small town rejected two young men for approximately the same reasons. And Rutherford B. Hayes became the nineteenth President of the United States. And James Garfield became the twentieth President of the United States.
And the book which presented this story entitled it “The Story of Two Short-Sighted Ladies.” I agree don’t you? Two short-sighted ladies. Did you know that each of us as a Christian has what might be called a divine suitor? Someone who loves us very deeply. And he wants to win from us our love, our commitment, our lifelong dedication. And did you know that our suitor is the future ruler of the whole world? He’s the King of kings and Lord of lords.
Do you think there would be anybody at Victor Street short-sighted enough not to respond to his love? Not to put him first? Yeah. Yeah there could be. There could be. “Seek first the kingdom of God,” says Jesus, “and all these things, all your needs, will be added to you.”
Back in the days of Queen Victoria the queen who was well known as a believing Christian used to like to visit in the humble cottages of her subjects. And on one occasion she went to visit an elderly widow. The widow was also a believer in Christ. And they shared a time of good Christian fellowship.
Later her neighbors who were always making fun of her for her Christian faith and her Christian commitment said to her, “Granny who is the most honored guest that you have ever entertained in your home?” And even though they made fun of her Christianity they expected her to say Jesus because they knew her deep commitment to Jesus Christ.
And so the elderly widow replied, “The most honored guest that I have ever entertained in my home is Her Majesty the Queen of England.” And they said, “Ah we got you Granny. We got you. What about this Jesus that you’re always talking about? Isn’t He the most honored guest that you’ve ever had in your home?” To which the elderly woman replied, “Oh indeed He’s not a guest. He lives here.”
Hey folks how is it at your home? Does Jesus Christ occasionally get the guest room when you can fit him into your torrid schedule? Or does he live there? Let’s be honest for a minute. Let’s kind of let the mask that we like to wear at church drop off. You don’t need to show anybody else what’s under it. What is your home really like? Do you stick Jesus Christ in the corner and pull him out when you need him? Or does he run the household? Is your whole home life built around the Son of God?
“If any man comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple.” Put Jesus Christ first. And don’t lose your golden wallet.
Shall we pray? Search us Father and help us to confront ourselves to be honest about what your Word shows to us. And where there may be needed corrections that we ought to make help us to make them quickly. We ask this in Christ’s name. Amen.