Jesus Guides His Church With a Gracious Invitation (Matthew 21:1-14)

Jesus Guides His Church, Week Eight, October 25, 2020

Readings for this week:

FIRST LESSON, 2 Chronicles 30:1-5, 10-22:  King Hezekiah sent invitations throughout the land to celebrate the Passover in Jerusalem.  Just as King Hezekiah’s invitation was rejected, so was Jesus invitation to the land and so it is still rejected today by some.

SECOND LESSON, Romans 11:1-10:  It is not God who rejects people, it is us who reject God’s invitation to believe in Him.

PSALM 23:  The LORD is our shepherd.  He delivers us from the burden of sin and from our futile efforts to save ourselves by our own works.

VERSE OF THE DAY, John 20:31:  Alleluia.  These words are written that we may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.  Alleluia.

GOSPEL AND SERMON TEXT, Matthew 21:1-14: In this parable of Jesus, Jesus substituted a certain king for God, and the son of that king represents Jesus.  He uses a wedding banquet as the setting for a story of how God extends a gracious invitation to all people. 

Sermon, Matthew 21:1-14, Jesus Guides His Church With a Gracious Invitation.

The gracious invitation to believe that Jesus is the son of God was declined by many of the religious leaders and others of Jesus’ day, even though he sent his servants like John the Baptist to invite them to see Jesus as God’s Son and their Savior. 

Those who reject the God’s gracious invitation to trust in his Son will not receive eternal life in heaven but will instead suffer the banishment and fire of hell.

If we have been guilty of being preoccupied with life and our own interests at the expense of God’s grace in Jesus, we have the opportunity to repent today.  The same is true if we have found ourselves a little disinterested, too.  As people who know God’s gracious invitation, we know that we find forgiveness in the King’s Son.

We pray that God’s Holy Spirit would continue to work on our hearts and build us up in our faith by speaking to us as we gather for worship and the study of his Word. 

Pastor Ron Koehler