How does God want his house decorated?
Scripture: Luke 14:16-24
My
first apartments were decorated in whatever other family members or friends didn’t
want any longer. Then when I got married
we bought our first piece of furniture – a bedroom suit. Other than that, much of our adults lives we
have decorated our home in sheik early garage sale. We obtained a few antiques along the way and
nice but not comfortable living room furniture from a great aunt who died. Not until a year ago did Kim and I purchase
some nice living room furniture so that when people enter our home it is not
only comfortable, but also inviting. It
says, we would like you to come in, sit, and stay awhile.
How is your home
decorated? Is it usually cluttered or
clean? Are you embarrassed to have
people see your home, or do you like giving people a tour when they arrive?
How is your church home
decorated? Is it a welcoming and
inviting space for you? What about for
guests who come? For an elderly person,
a young adult, a child?
How is God’s house
decorated? Is it cluttered or
clean? Is it always ready for guests or
just when He knows someone is coming over?
Is God embarrassed or ready to give a tour of His house? What is the furniture like? Are there pictures on the walls or knick
knacks and books on shelves? Does God
have an eat-in kitchen or a formal dining room or something else?
No
matter how your house is decorated, society has changed in many ways over the
years. One of those ways is the
disappearance of drop by visits to our home.
A vast majority of people do not like when people just show up knocking
at the door. It used to be that people
were always welcome, not so much anymore.
Why this change? By the way, this
change happened long before social media, the internet and computers so we
can’t blame it on that. I believe the
single greatest reason is women in the work place becoming the norm instead of
the exception. Listen, I am not blaming
women. Simply observing one of the many differences that have occurred when we
shifted from a majority of single income households to a majority of double
income households.
It
has affected the view of drop by visits in at least two ways. The traditional role of the wife was to stay
home and manage (clean) the house and household and prepare a nice dinner. Wives no longer have that same time and if
the husband calls at 4:00 to say he is bringing people home from work for
dinner at 6:00 the best response he can hope for is “then you need to stop by
KFC on the way home.” The other way it
has affected the view of drop by visits is that our time at home and with
family is so precious and so rare that when we get home from work we want to
have that time for ourselves and to not have it interrupted by the Johnson’s
just showing up to chat.
Here
is what is happening right now – the oldest generations are saying, I am happy
to have people drop by any time. Those
at the height of their careers are saying, yep, I want more time with people
but I prefer it to be arranged – when we can get to it. Newly married or new with child are figuring
out how to hang onto relationships where you just hung out all the time and, I am so
exhausted I can’t stay up that late anymore and prefer to have arranged times
to get together.
The reason we are asking how God has his house
decorated is because our God is an INVITING GOD! God expects company and it makes me wonder
how his house is furnished. Let’s look
at some invitations we have received…
Did you respond to God’s invitation to trust him for the forgiveness of your sins?
Did you respond to God’s invitation to trust him for
eternal life?
Did you respond to an invitation to start attending
church?
Did you respond to an invitation to start attending
this church?
Did you respond to the invitation to invite people
to National Back to church Sunday?
Our God is an inviting God:
JESUS
INVITES US TO LIVE LIFE WITH HIM
Revelation 3:20 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. Jesus is knocking at the door of
your soul and wanting to come in and live with you and someday have you go live
with him. He is knocking at that door
with an invitation in his hand.
JESUS
INVITES US TO FOLLOW HIM
Matthew 4:18-22 As
Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called
Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they
were fishermen. 19 "Come, follow me," Jesus
said, "and I will make
you fishers of men." At once they left their nets and followed
him. Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James and brother John.
They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, preparing their nets. Jesus
called them,
and immediately they left the boat and
their father and followed him.
Peter & Andrew, James
& John did not hesitate to respond to Jesus’ invitation to go and follow
him.
JESUS
INVITES US TO INVITE OTHERS
Luke 14:1, 12-14 One
Sabbath, when Jesus went to eat in the house of a prominent Pharisee, he was
being carefully watched. 12 Then
Jesus said to his host, "When you give a
luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or relatives, or
your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be
repaid. But when you give a banquet,
invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed.
Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the
righteous."
JESUS INVITES
US TO FURNISH HIS HOUSE – WITH PEOPLE!!!
Luke 14:16-24
Jesus replied: "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. I tell you,
not one of those men who were invited will get a taste of my banquet.'"
God wants His house
decorated with people. Some ask why a
loving God would let anyone go to Hell?
God does not want anyone to go to hell.
And He enlists us to help keep that from happening by having us do for
others what he has done for us – INVITE INVITE INVITE. To church next Sunday for National back to
church Sunday? YES! But then only? No!
Our lives need to become like Him – lives that never stop inviting
people to church and therefore to life eternal through the death and
resurrection of our savior Jesus Christ!
What would happen if just 10 people got excited about inviting people to
church and actually did it with passion this year on a regular basis? What if 20 did? What if 150 did? WAIT – I know the answer…God’s house would be
decorated in people, and His house would be full – exactly as He desires…so 'Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town
and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame. Go
out to the roads and country lanes and compel them to come in, so that God’s
house will be full.
No comments:
Post a Comment