Luke 5:27 - 32
I love this passage of scripture for a few reasons, but mainly b/c it’s a party. You’ve got this guy, Levi (Matthew) who was a tax collector, which by the way everyone hates. Over the years we’ve had these different professions that everyone despises, like politicians, and for a while it was lawyers and attorneys, I think now maybe it’s Insurance companies, maybe the gas and oil guys. In Levi’s case, the tax collector - They worked for the Roman Empire and they knew everyone in the community and they figured out they could make a bunch of money by taxing extra for themselves on top of what Rome expected.
People hated them - Levi was one of those tax col. - Then Jesus sees him and calls him out, which is one of those great things about Jesus, call to Himself the most unexpected of people. If you were to pick potential candidates of a top 12 for Jesus to work with, Levi wouldn’t have been on the list.
But Jesus does call him, and he responds, which I think is a wonderful reminder that we should never under estimate who is open to God.
Most of us, if we knew Levi, knew his life, his job, his crowd, we’d think, this guy would never be open to God, much less
give up his occupation, his career, his income and follow
Jesus Christ and all that He offers.
So as soon as Levi becomes a follower of Christ he does just the wrong the thing and he hosts a Huge party with all his wicked, vile friends and invites Jesus, and we all know we shouldn’t mix God in with corrupt people. But Levi doesn’t know any better, so he invites all his godless tax-collector friends and also invites the savior of the world.
Holy and unholy in the same room at the same time.
You see here, Levi seems to connect with what’s really on God’s heart -
that God wants us to celebrate what He’s done in our lives and invite everybody.
(Hence, Party Theology)
I think alot of us know God theology, Theology of the 2nd Coming, all these other theologies,
but we really have this under-developed party theology.
We’ve forgotten how to enjoy life, how to enjoy people, and how to create an environment where people who are
searching for God can find the God that’s searching for them.
People who really connect to God understand that the heart of God for all of us is to not be consumed by what’s going on all around us in the world, but not to run from it either, but to create environments where people who are searching for God can find the God that’s searching for them.
I think here with Levi he had engaged in a relationship with God that made a difference to him, something was going on inside of him and he was compelled to do something about it. Do you think that sometimes the reason people do not
engage others about a relationship with God is b/c their own relationship with God is lacking, it doesn’t appear to be doing anything for us, to us, we don’t see the power of God in our lives?
The truth of the matter is we cannot move into a Party
Theology until we are fully alive - we have to begin to enjoy our lives, a life that God and us enjoy together that’s filled with pleasure and astonishment and wonder and beauty and laughter -
Start enjoying you life
Do whatever you have to do -
If you need to make some changes in order to really enjoy the life God has given you here on this earth, then make some changes. If you need to change your career, change your career, if there has to be some dramatic changes do something pro-active, if your married and your miserable - don’t change your spouse - get some help, check out our
series, ‘Desperate Households”
We’re not supposed to live our lives miserable that we’re are alive.
No matter how much you know about God, no matter how much you know about the bible, if you’re not living a life that’s fully alive, you have really nothing to offer a person without God.
Levi found something worth sharing, worth inviting his friends into, and the only friends he had were corrupt, wicked, sinful people and he was very fortunate to discover that Jesus loves people just like that.
To have a Party Theology begins when you have a life
compelling enough that other people want to be around you.
How - we are only alive in Christ - it’s only when we focus on developing a relationship w/ Christ that we can fully enjoy life.
I want to challenge today to start enjoying your life and
creating environments where people can be a part of that life with you.
Then there’s a place in Luke 14 were Jesus begins to talk to them about a Party Theology - he paints a picture of how to relate in these party environments that honors God and affects people in a positive way.
Luke 14:7-11
Work party - people brown-nosing to get in good around the influential people.
There’s something inside us like this radar for hypocrisy - although we like the idea of people brown-nosing us for like this sense of power - in the end when it comes down to it those are not the people we are going to listen to in important matters, decisions...
What Jesus was saying was that you need to earn the right to be heard - A part of the way we begin to have influence and affect people’s lives for the good is you don’t want to push your way into this place where people are forced to
listen to you, but you actually want to live the kind of life that people invite you into a conversation with them.
I think this is where some really well meaning sincere christians have messed up - I understand the reasoning,
“Well I have the truth and I have an obligation to declare that truth to everyone, so I don’t care if people don’t want to
listen, they’re gonna hear it, it’s my job to cram it down their throats.” (guy comes up to us at work - do you know christ as savior?) (kids veggies - something inside of us that rejects what were being forced to eat, or consume, to partake of, yet at the same time we’ll eat garbage if we think it’s against the rules.)
Ironically what I think we’ve done is we’ve taken this amazingly beautiful gift of Jesus and made it like vegetables.
This is why Jesus used very harsh phrase when He said, “don’t cast a pearl among swine”
which is not a real positive image - but what He was saying was don’t try to shove this wonderful thing down
someone’s throat. Just offer food to those who are hungry.
Don’t force it, just be available for those who are searching.
So Jesus says, don’t be like this, don’t take the position where you have to be pushed down and away and
humiliated, take the lowliest position, just serve people, just love people, just be available. Then watch them pull you into conversation and pull you in closer.
(tickets at a game - better seats in a lower section)
What happens in the more important issues of life, if you don’t earn the right to be heard, but just demand to step in the other person’s space, that person will just cut you off and when they need someone in their life - they wont turn to you.
We need to earn the right to be heard.
Be a person of humility,take the lowest place and be invited into someone’s life - don’t just try and crash the party.
vs.12-14
Jesus said if want a proper Party Theology, to throw a party where God will really thrive in - you need to make friends with people who need friends.
He’s not saying not to enjoy your family and those friends you already have, but if all we ever do is throw parties for those that can throw parties for us, then were missing it.
As a follower of Jesus Christ then our lives have to be open to those we may not otherwise even care about.
The reason people are attractive and have many friends friends is b/c their relationships are not about themselves - who really wants to build a friendship w/ someone that’s just a taker. So look to those who really need to be loved, and cared about, and embraced (Montrose Street Reach).
Enjoy life - live the life that’s compelling so others want to be a part of it -
Earn the right to speak into their lives - earn the right to speak this life-changing message of Jesus Christ from your mouth to their heart.
How many people have invited you to share your life with them?
I think we get caught up spending all of our free and extra time with other christians we claim, “I’d like to be a part of non-believers lives and share the message, but I just don’t have the time or room in my schedule.”
It’s like we’re all in this spiritual jacuzzi - you know?
I’m comfortable with these people -
Think about it - Hotel jac. - people in it - you dont want to join in with strangers - your family of 4 waits for it to empty out - but as soon as it does another group of people jump in, b/c they’re thinking the same thing - you never get in by yourself and say, ‘I want 7 strangers to jump in with me” - don’t do that!
I think what happens alot of times is we live our lives in the jac. of relationships. We have a group of people we enjoy, they enjoy us, were comfortable - so we don’t have room in the jac. for other people.
We get caught up in only be inviting to parties that they know they’ll get invited back -
so when someone outside that circle invites - GO -
don’t use being a christian as an excuse to not spend meaningful time with people who don’t know God.
Then don’t go there and tell them everything they’re doing is wrong - your role isn’t to be the minor prophet -
your role is just to be a loving, caring friend. And friendship is what
invites deep intimacy and opportunity for life change.
Then Jesus continued in vs.
15When one of those at the table with him heard this, he said to Jesus, "Blessed is the man who will eat at the feast in the kingdom of God."
Which means happy is the person who is invited to the party of God. read on vs. 16-21
What Jesus is really pressing against us is, we need to let people say NO for themselves.
A lot of times what happens is we know we’ve got something really important to give away and we know there are people who really need God, but we say NO for them in our brains - have you ever done that?
I know in the past I’ve done just that - there’s no way so-n-so would even give me the time of day..
But really we have no clue, no clue... how many times they drove by a church and wondered if God was real... how many times they have screamed out into space, “God are You out there?”... and we say NO for them.
We invite folks to the party of God and everyone’s got the same excuses, this stuff is not new, ‘I have places to go, things to do, people to see’.
Right, they said, bought a field, got to go see it - got 5 oxen, have things to do - just got married, have people to see.
I do like for those that are single, the 1st 2 said ‘please
excuse, please excuse, but the 3rd said, I just got married, I’m not allowed!’
Who is it in your life right now you’ve already said NO for?
For whatever reason, their life is too good, their life is too bad, they’re very immoral, not smart enough, too smart, Who is it in your life you’ve already said NO for and in your brain you’ve already had the conversation but you never let them get involved.
Don’t say No for them
There was study done and they said the #1 reason people came and attended a church is b/c they were invited...
There are other reasons, but #1 by far - invited.
This is what Levi did - this is what Jesus is talking about here in ch. 14 and the big party
vs.21-24
I love the fact that the servants did all this yet there were compelled to tell the master. “there’s still a lot more room”
The master said, “go beat the bushes” and what He’s telling us is to never under-estimate the generosity of God.
1st they invited all the people that thought should be invited,
and those people said NO - and they went outside and thought, well.. I guess if Jesus wants a lot of people at His party we’re going to have to invite these people - then they came back and said there’s still more room and He said, no you haven’t gone far enough out. We must not under-estimate the generosity of God.
The person we don’t love, God does - the person we’re not interested in, God’s interested in that person - the person who seems the farthest away, God may be speaking more profoundly to them that we’d ever know.
Listen, we must be open and available to hear God.
To be led by the Holy Spirit.
( I pray this all the time - it goes with the prayer of I want to walk in the Spirit, not under Joe’s control, but God’s control -
so I also add that God would lead me to speak to those who I may THINK are far from being open to God, but really, I don’t know... so I ask God to direct me to the right street people asking for money or some sort of charity on the side of the road or walking down the street or any situation)
- tell story of Stephanie
I’m reminded that in life, God is always more generous than me - So I don’t want to under-estimate what God is going to do, I just can’t allow myself do that.
So I’m going to love and care for as many people He leads my way - We are just to Love them til they say WHY?
then we tell them it’s Jesus.
Success is not in results, it’s in obedience.
Write down names of 2 people/couples/families that do not Jesus Christ and pray for them until they do.
No comments:
Post a Comment