No Excuses

"Many are called but few are chosen" – Matt 22:14

"And when one of them that sat at meat with him heard these things, he said unto him, Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God. 16 Then said he unto him, A certain man made a great supper, and bade many: 17 And sent his servant at supper time to say to them that were bidden, Come; for all things are now ready. 18 And they all with one consent began to make excuse. The first said unto him, I have bought a piece of ground, and I must needs go and see it: I pray thee have me excused. 19 And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them: I pray thee have me excused. 20 And another said, I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come. 21 So that servant came, and shewed his lord these things. 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 hither the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind. 22 And the servant said, Lord, it is done as thou hast commanded, and yet there is room. 23 And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled. 24 For I say unto you, That none of those men which were bidden shall taste of my supper. " -Luke 14:15-24 (KJV)

Please read the scripture text above for it is so applicable to our global society today – every nation and every people. So many things fill our daily lives, so many distractions, so much to do and it seems so little time per day to get it all done. Despite this, how many of us actually take the time to survey our relationship with Christ? How often? Do we respond to His call on our lives? What priority do we place on His call? Where does He fit in amongst our stuff and relationships? The parable above represents man's default reply to how he/she normally responds to the call to follow Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.

A man of probably great wealth invited many to a huge awesome delicious and ostentatious banquet. He prepared all the vittles and the location, had everything quite in place and then it came time to serve this great supper to the guests who had been pre-invited some time earlier. In ancient times an invitation went out some time before the actual event took place, so the people could be ready and prepared for the event. Then an announcement was made to the pre-invitees that everything was prepared, everything was ready and the event just awaited their arrival. In this case however, we have some unique responses from the invited guests when the final day came. (Now, I know, this applied to the Jews and their lack of the recognition of Christ as their Messiah, but can also apply to modern man's echo to Christ's call on their life to follow Him). Let's consider their 'excuses' a little closer. It is important that to note that anyone that places more importance on worldliness and befriends this world is not fit for the Kingdom of God – in fact becomes an enemy of Almighty God and hates Him – James 4:4. These strong and biting words of James drives home these points home undeniably.

EXCUSE 1:  His purchase – his dirt, his possession, his procrastination, his distraction and his priority:

The first to stiff-arm the call was this man [of the dirt]. Most likely he was well-off, a possible land-owner, had plenty of cash; he had purchased some land and what better excuse to use after being called to the banquet. In other words, he was saying, your banquet means nothing to me for I have better things to do. I have to go right now and examine my dirt. Excuse me please.

EXCUSE 2:  His stuff – his occupation, his wealth, his possessions, his distraction and his priority:

Ah, this dude had also some mega-dough and decided that it was more important to him to diss the big feast and go look at his [dumb] cattle. Maybe he was going to trot them around their stall – sho knows. Modernizing it: he got a call on his cell perhaps in between business meetings and decided he had a good [lame] excuse in going to see some oxen that he bought instead of going to the big and I assume prestigious supper prepared for him and folks just like him. Excuse me please.

EXCUSE 3:  His relationship – his wife, his distraction and his priority:

Now I suppose that of any of the excuses the dudes gave above this guy may have the had the 'best' excuse. But, I digress, nope, he didn't. This fellow although had recently married and may have married the absolute best looking, best dressed gal he could find but his excuse couldn't hold any water. His excuse that his wife was more important than attending this 'sweet' dinner even though he knew that this was a prime affair and all the right people may be present, was worthless, also lame and pointless. His relationship with his new wife did not wash with it being a valid justification. In fact, he could have taken his wife with him and she would have then been part of the guests invited to the supper. Excuse me please.

What's surprising here is that wealth, possessions, relationships can distract people from serving the Lord, knowing Him, reading their Bibles, praying, fasting, talking about Him, loving and serving others. Where the tire hits the road is there are no acceptable excuses for people not accepting the call of the Lord to love, serve and obey Him. There are no excuses that will amount to a hill of beans when we stand before Him once called into eternity. We must be willing to be invited and then be even more eager to go to the supper/banquet when it is ready. We must accept His free gift of salvation confessing and repenting of our sins. We must be willing to love and obey His laws as written in His word, to witness and spread the Gospel News to others – family, friends, acquaintances. How many times have you had the opportunity to speak about Christ and His sacrifice at family events, with friends or even at work? If you didn't, why not? Afraid?, Embarrassed? Thought you might offend someone? There will be no excuses!

There is a huge 'shaking' coming that will shake those things that seemingly cannot be shaken – finances, wealth, possessions and relationships. They will not help you when the perils of this world come against you as the Bible predicts in the days before Christ's second coming. When the Evil One attacks you and tries to overwhelm you with cares and concerns, distractions and excuses, tell him to take a hike (James 4:7) and claim your position as a child of the Living God. Your only Rock is the Lord Jesus Christ and on this Rock you must trust and work out your salvation with fear and trembling -Phil 2:12. Have faith, choose always to follow Christ, never turning back to the things of this world. Remember, there are no excuses for not believing and following Jesus as your Lord and Savior. We have this time while in the body to accept His free gift of pardon from our sins but we must be ready to come to Him and ask. Are you ready, have you prepared, to attend the banquet in eternity once your life ends here on earth? Sobering thoughts and real truth today. Where are you?

"Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear:" -Heb 12:25-26 (KJV)

 

-BPWatcher, Internet Preacher and Bible Prophecy Watchman

GIVE ALMIGHTY GOD ALL THE GLORY FOR HE IS KING and HE IS LORD!