Good morning, welcome — glad that you’re here; I’m glad to be here; it’s good to come together and worship the Lord. And I just also want to share that I’m really excited for our lunch this afternoon at 12:30 in the Fireside Room — Discover BVG. If it’s your first time, if it’s your first few times, if you’re newer, if you’re trying to figure out — you’ve been here for a while, you’re trying to figure out how to get connected with somebody — it’s for you. And we’re excited to meet you; we’re excited to spend time with you. And Lord willing, my wife will be joining me at the lunch, and we’ll share a little bit about how we got connected at Big Valley and opportunities for you to be connected at Big Valley. So if you’re in the new zone, don’t stay in the new zone — come to Discover BVG; we want to help you get connected.

Also, we have a great prayer night that’s coming up two weeks from tonight. It was back in October that we spent time praying as a church regarding three subjects: the first was God’s vision for our church and how he would provide for us; the second was the election season, the national election season that we were in; and the third was our Christmas season and how God might use our church to reach people during Christmas. And now we’re in January, and we’re able to look back and see how God answered specific prayers that we were praying together as a church. And we want to come together again and thank him for how he’s answering our prayers, and we want to continue to seek the Lord together. This will be an all-church prayer night; it will be [the] Modesto and [Ceres] campus, and it’ll be right here in the Worship Center, so I invite you to be a part of it. The last time we did this, it was about an hour and a half, an hour and forty-five minutes long, and the focus of the whole time is many of our team members will lead us through moments of prayer. So we invite you to be a part of it; it’s a special time to be together as a church and to be praying.

A Role Change: Big Pop

And the last thing I want to share as an update is that on January 1st, I had a role change. It’s a really significant role change; I’m really excited about it, and I’m really excited about how this role change is going to impact my future. So to help explain it — this is what my title slide normally looks like; it has my name, Joel Boone, and then it has the title of my position, Senior Pastor. But we’ve had to update my title slide, and this is what the new one looks like. My name is — well, there it is — my new name is “Big Pop,” because I’m Laney’s grandpa, and I’m super excited about that. My wife and I are thrilled — we became grandparents on the 1st of January. Here’s a picture of Laney, little Laney Rose. My wife and I are now Big Pop and Mama, and we’re super, super pumped. I already told all of my kids that Laney’s my favorite; I already got the word out. But one of the things when I see the privilege that God has given us here is that he has allowed us to see the next generation of our family, and the Scripture speaks so much about the generations of a family and how God blesses generations of families who turn to him and who follow him. And so my wife and I just see it as a real great honor and privilege that the Lord has allowed us to see the next generation of our family come to be.

So let me pray for us and we’ll spend some time in God’s word together. Father God, Lord, again we lift up those who are being impacted by the LA fires. I pray for churches to be mobilized; I pray for Christians, Lord, to be salt, to be light. Lord, I pray for believers who are in that vicinity, God, that they would be hands and feet of Jesus Christ, and as there’s great devastation right in their area, that they would impact those who are being displaced. And the conversations that are happening — that there would be lots of opportunities for conversations to turn towards Jesus Christ. And God, I pray for the same thing for us as a church and the churches in our community. Lord, would you use believers in our community, and Christ-exalting churches in our community, Bible-teaching churches in our community — that our community would be different because the church is strengthened and grows and is equipped and is glorifying you and is reaching the lost and is making disciples. And so, God, may that be true of us, and would you use this time right here in your word to bring that about. And so, Lord, we love you, and we pray this in Jesus’ name. And all God’s family said, amen.

The Series: Jesus Calls the Crowd

Well, the teaching series that we’re in right now we’ve titled “The Calling.” We’re looking at how — in the month of January, we’re looking at how in the Gospels Jesus called specific groups of people. Last week we looked at how Jesus called the disciples, and specifically the twelve disciples whom he named apostles, and we really highlighted Peter last week. So if you missed last week’s message, I would encourage you to go and watch it online on our website, that you might get caught up. Today we’re going to be looking at how Jesus calls the crowd. And when Jesus extends a call out to the entire crowd, it divides the crowd into two groups: those who accept him and those who reject him. Lord willing, next week we’re going to look at how Jesus calls individuals — how the God of the universe had time to address an individual; the creator of all things had time to address an individual in their moment regarding their issue, and how Jesus called individuals to follow him. And then the last week, Lord willing, we’re going to look at how Jesus is calling us — how Jesus is calling us now as the church, as Big Valley Grace, how he’s calling us to follow him.

And so today we’re going to be in Matthew chapter 21 and Matthew chapter 22. I’m going to read a significant amount of Scripture today. The reason for that is, in Matthew 21 and 22 there is a series of accounts; they all fit together to form a whole. And so to understand the whole, we need to read the whole. So we will move through a lot of Scripture, but the majority of it is in the form of a story, and so I think that you’ll find it easy to follow along, because it’s in a narrative, it’s in parable form, and we’re going to see three stories that Jesus shares.

Your Relationship to Authority

So I would start with this question: what has your relationship to authority been in your life? (I hear people laughing, so that tells me something.) What has your relationship to authority been in your life? Have you been rejecting authority? Have you been submitting to authority? Have you tried to play it even and just be neutral to authority?

Let me give you some examples. When I watch my Bay Area sports teams winning — when I watch them winning, I’m like, look at how great that umpire is! Look at how great that referee — that’s some really great officiating! Wow, I really like the way this sports competition is being judged. Or like now, where every team I root for is losing — all right, every one of my teams is a losing team right now, all right — and it’s amazing how the commentary during the sporting events is now much more critical of the umpire and the referee and the officiating. Because everything’s good when you’re winning, but when you’re not winning, all of a sudden everyone has a problem with authority.

Here’s another example. I recently moved into a different town, and I had the privilege of starting up a new Bible study — meeting, writing downtown in a business office. And I was down there one morning, and my truck was parked right out in front of the office, and I could see it through the windows of the office. And I’m in Bible study with a group of guys, and then I see a local police officer pull up and park behind my truck. And I’m like, okay, good — keeping the town safe; everything is good, right? Everything’s cool. And then after a while, the police officer got out and walked to my truck, and I told the guys, hey guys, in the Bible study — I’m like, I’m going to step out of this Bible study real quick; I think that police officer just went over to my truck. So I go out there, introduce myself: hello, I’m so-and-so, nice to meet you, Mr. Police Officer; I’m new to town, we just moved here; is there a problem? Am I not supposed to park my truck right here? Oh, no, you can park your truck there — you just can’t park your truck there if it has a for-sale sign in it. And I went, thank you for helping me to know that I’m not supposed to do that. And he said, no problem — here’s your ticket. And so, thank you for the opportunity to learn a $50 lesson of not parking my truck with a for-sale sign. And in that moment, I had a decision to make: what’s my relationship to authority going to be? Am I going to reject? Am I going to submit? You know, I paid the ticket. It was a $50 lesson that I had to learn, and I wish it was the only time I had to pay a parking ticket, but I’m going to tell you right now, apparently that’s a lesson I’m having to learn over and over and over and over — I’m slow-learning how to park correctly, apparently. Can you relate to moments where you’ve come into a situation where you’re now dealing with an authority? How do you respond? Do you reject? Do you submit? Do you try to play it neutral?

Well, the text we’re going to look at today — the question that we ask going into this text is: does Jesus have the authority to call the crowd to follow him? Jesus stands in front of the crowd; he calls everyone in the crowd to follow him. Does he have the authority to do it? And many people think that they have the same three options in dealing with Jesus: they can reject his authority, they can submit to his authority, or they can be neutral. But there are not three options. There is no neutral option with Jesus. You cannot be neutral with Jesus. You either accept Jesus, or you reject Jesus.

By What Authority? (Matthew 21:23–27)

In Matthew chapter 21, verse 23, we’ll begin there. “And when he had entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came up to him as he was teaching, and they said, ‘By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?’” So what they’re referring to in this phrase, “these things,” is — if you look earlier in Matthew chapter 21, Jesus had come into the temple and he began to displace those who were buying and selling in the temple. He took the money changers’ tables; he flipped them over, which made a big scene and a big noise and a big mess. He took the chairs of those who were selling pigeons and he flipped them over, which made a big scene and a big noise and a big mess. And now it’s saying he’s entering the temple again. And so the religious leaders, now that he’s back in the temple, they’re saying: by what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?

So Jesus answers them: “I will ask you one question, and if you tell me the answer, then I also will tell you by what authority I do these things: The baptism of John” — so this is referring to John the Baptist — “the baptism of John, where did it come from? From heaven or from man?” So in response to their question about where did you get this authority — what gives you the authority to act in this way — Jesus says, well, I’ll ask you a question, and if you’re willing to answer my question, then I will answer your question. So it says, “as they discussed it among themselves” — so imagine the religious leaders; they’re going to have a huddle now; they’re going to have a private discussion in how to respond — “and they said, ‘If we say, “From heaven,”‘” — so if we acknowledge that John the Baptist and his ministry was from heaven — “‘he will say to us, “Why then did you not believe him?” But if we say, “From man,” we are afraid of the crowd, for they all hold that John was a prophet.’” So they’re having their little unholy huddle, and they’re trying to figure out how do we respond to the question that Jesus asks us. So they answer Jesus: “We do not know.” And he said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.” If you’re not willing to answer my question, then I’m not going to answer your question.

Now, they were not questioning whether Jesus had authority. It was super clear that he had authority. No one had healed more sick people; no one had done more miracles; no one had cast out more demons; no one had raised more people from the dead. They knew Jesus had authority. Their question is: by what authority, and who gave you this authority?

Parable One: The Two Sons (Matthew 21:28–32)

So Jesus is now going to share three stories. They are parables — they’re stories for the purpose of teaching a truth about God. And Jesus gave three parables of judgment to the Jewish leaders, and the Jewish leaders are representing all who are unbelieving. Jesus gives these three parables of judgment to the Jewish leaders, representing all who are unbelieving, who challenged his authority. The religious leaders were unwilling to identify that the substance of Jesus’s authority was from God, and they were unwilling to identify that the source of Jesus’s authority was from God. They were unwilling to see that Jesus was from God.

So this first parable is the parable of the two sons, and Jesus is going to use this story to reveal hypocritical disobedience to God. That is what’s going to come out of the parable of the two sons. So he starts in verse 28 — and all of this section of Scripture just all rolls together. He says, “What do you think?” So he’s coming after their intellect; he’s going to challenge their thinking: what do you think? “Here’s the parable: A man had two sons. And he went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work in the vineyard today.’ And he answered, ‘I will not,’ but afterward he changed his mind and went. And he went to the other son and said the same. And he answered, ‘I go, sir,’ but did not go.” That’s the parable. So now Jesus is going to ask a question to the religious leaders, and he’s going to put the meaning of the parable on them to identify what it is. And the question is: “Which of the two sons did the will of his father?” So now the Jewish leaders are responsible for coming up with the meaning of this parable and identifying the meaning of this parable. So they respond: “The first.” The first son is the one who did the will of his father. What did the first son do? The first said, “I will not,” but afterward he changed his mind and went.

And so Jesus is now going to respond — since he’s now going to hold the Jewish leaders accountable for understanding his parable — “Truly, I say to you” — and now he’s talking to them — “the tax collectors and the prostitutes go into the kingdom of God before you. For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him. And even when you saw it, you did not afterward change your minds and believe him.” Bless you, my friend.

So earlier, when they challenged his authority, Jesus responds with a question, and it was: the baptism of John — where did it come from? From heaven or from man? Well, here now, after this parable, Jesus now answers the question — he answers his own question. And he says, “John came to you in the way of righteousness.” That is the same as saying John came from God, because the way of righteousness is God’s way. He’s saying John the Baptist came from heaven; he was sent from God. And in this parable, the first son changed his mind and obeyed the request of the father. And Jesus ties that to people that the religious leaders saw, which were tax collectors and prostitutes — which is representing the lowest of the low in their perspective, in their society — people who are very much in disobedience to God. And he’s saying: tax collectors and prostitutes — when John the Baptist came, they changed their mind, and they repented of their sin, and they began to follow God.

Now, something that I want to note regarding when we talk about our vision, love your actual neighbor — the thing that I want to challenge us to see from this parable: do not count out the tax collector and the prostitute that is in your vicinity. Because when tax collectors and prostitutes heard John the Baptist call them to repent of their sin, they did it, and they did it ahead of the religious leaders. So when there’s people that you come into contact with, be very careful not to count them out for the kingdom of heaven. Because even tax collectors and prostitutes can repent of their sin, and they can be brought to Jesus. And whatever “tax collectors and prostitutes” relates to in your life — however that translates to in your community, in the people you come across — don’t count people out for the kingdom of heaven.

So there’s the point of this parable: obedience to God is better than false promises. Now remember, Jesus is judging those who have actively rejected belief in him, and Jesus is using this parable to show the religious leaders that they have given false promises. They’ve been like the second son, who said, “I’ll obey God, I’ll obey the Father” — but then they didn’t. They gave false promises to God. But obedience to God — like the first son, who says, “I’m not going to do it,” but then he changes his mind — or tax collectors and prostitutes who are living in disobedience to God but then they repent of their sin and they change their mind — obedience to God is better than false promises.

Now think big picture: Israel rejecting Jesus is what opened up the way for Gentiles to believe — non-Jewish people. So the first son, who initially rejected the father but ended up obeying, and the tax collectors and prostitutes who initially rejected God but ended up obeying — they’re all a picture of Gentiles who initially reject God and disobey God, but then they end up obeying. And this is a picture of God’s grace to repentant sinners. God gives grace to repentant sinners. Now, when Jesus says that the tax collectors and the prostitutes would enter first, Jesus is judging the religious leaders. He’s making a declaration to them that repentant sinners are ahead of them in line, because they’re accepting God’s grace.

Parable Two: The Tenants (Matthew 21:33–43)

The second parable — and all these parables are going to go right together; they all form a whole — is the parable of the tenants. And in this parable, Jesus is going to use a story to reveal active rejection of God — being active in rejecting God — and he’s going to use a story to reveal that issue.

So in verse 33 he says — another parable; these are all tied together — “There was a master of a house who planted a vineyard and put a fence around it and dug a winepress in it and built a tower and leased it to tenants, and went into another country.” So this is a description of an investment that’s being made. There’s a master of a house who’s making an investment, and the investment is described as planting a vineyard, putting a fence around it, digging out a winepress, building a tower, and then, with the investment, choosing tenants to lease out his investment to, so that there can be a return on the investment. “And when the season for fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants to get his fruit” — so he’s going to now receive a return on his investment — “and the tenants took his servants and beat one, killed another, and stoned another.” So the tenants who are leasing out the investment of the master of the house — when the master of the house wants a return on the investment, they took the servants; they beat one, killed another, stoned another. Verse 36: “Again he sent other servants, more than the first. And they did the same to them” — which means they beat some, they killed some, they stoned some. Verse 37: “Finally he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and have his inheritance.’ And they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.”

Now Jesus is going to ask the Jewish leaders, again, to give the meaning of this parable, and he does it with a question: “When therefore the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” So now the Jewish leaders are having to respond with the meaning. And they said to him, “He will put those wretches to a miserable death and let out the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the fruits in their seasons.” That’s the conclusion that the Jewish leaders come to about what the owner will do. So Jesus now says to them — and remember, he’s talking to religious leaders, so hear this question as going to someone who is a religious leader: “Have you never read in the Scriptures: ‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes’? Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits. And the one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him.”

This is the second parable now that the Jewish leaders are having their thinking challenged — their thinking about the authority of Jesus as God. And the parable is super clear: rejecting God’s servants, and even God’s own son, will lead to God’s judgment. Think big picture here: God gave his investment to the people of Israel — he gave them the promised land. And God sent his servants to the people of Israel; he sent them priests and judges and prophets and kings. And the Scriptures themselves — Jesus is quoting the Scripture; the Scriptures themselves point to Israel’s rejection of God. So what’s the point of this parable? Rejecting God is deserving of condemnation. Remember that Jesus is judging those who have actively rejected belief in him. Now again, Israel rejecting Jesus is what opens up the way for Gentiles to believe. There are new tenants in the parable who God allows to enter the spiritual promised land and who will bear spiritual fruit for God, which is producing righteousness for God. So Jesus is the son in the parable — Jesus is the son who is rejected. Jesus is the stone in the prophecy — Jesus is the stone that is rejected. And the Jewish leaders were rejecting Jesus as God.

So as you can imagine, in this moment they’ve now heard two parables; tension is super high — the tension in this moment is very high. And the Jewish leaders are unwilling to acknowledge the authority of Jesus is from God. They see that he has authority, but they are unwilling to believe in him. And the next two verses give it clarity. It says: “When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they perceived he was speaking about them. And although they were seeking to arrest him, they feared the crowds, because they held him to be a prophet.” They knew he was speaking about them. So when he described a son who will say, “I go, sir,” but then he disobeys the father — they knew that he was speaking about them. When he describes these wretched, wicked tenants who killed servants and who killed the son of the master of the house — they knew that he was speaking about them.

Parable Three: The Wedding Feast (Matthew 22:1–14)

So now we get to the third parable — the parable of the wedding feast. And I think you’re going to find that it was helpful for us to look at the first two parables and the question of the authority of Jesus to set this up. And as we go through this parable, we’ll look at it in four parts, the way that the parable is laid out. And Jesus is going to use this story to reveal unwillingness to receive from God.

So now we’re in chapter 22 of Matthew. “And again Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son, and sent his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding feast, but they would not come.’” So when we read this parable, it’s important for us to understand that Jesus is teaching us about the kingdom of heaven. This is not just a story that is irrelevant; it’s a story meant to teach what the kingdom of heaven is like. And so look at the characters. The characters: there’s a king — that’s God. There’s a son — that’s Jesus. There are servants — think about the priests and the prophets and the judges and the kings that God sent. And then there’s those who are invited — and that’s the chosen nation of Israel. And it says, “but they would not come.” So part one of this parable is: it’s an invitation to the kingdom of heaven, but it is rejected. An invitation to the kingdom of heaven is rejected. The Jewish leaders, representing all who are unbelieving, are rejecting the invitation that Jesus continues to make, from God.

Verse 4: “Again he sent other servants” — you can see a theme here — “saying, ‘Tell those who are invited, “See, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered; everything is ready. Come to the wedding feast.”‘” Again, the message comes out: look, I’ve taken care of everything; it’s all ready for you; all you need to do is be willing to come. Be willing to come. This is Jesus describing the clear attempts throughout Scripture that God made to reach the people of Israel, his chosen nation.

Verse 5: “But they paid no attention.” Consider that this is a royal invitation, coming from a king, to a royal event — the wedding for his son — and they blow it off. They ignore a royal invitation. “They paid no attention and went off, one to his farm, another to his business, while the rest seized his servants, treated them shamefully, and killed them.” Jesus is describing how the people of Israel killed priests and judges and prophets and kings — people that God sent to serve on his behalf. Verse 7: the story radically shifts. “The king was angry, and he sent his troops and destroyed those murderers and burned their city.” So now it’s not — he sent his servants to do an invitation, but now he’s sending armed enforcement to take care of the problem — military enforcement. “He sent his troops and destroyed those murderers and burned their city. Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding feast is ready, but those invited were not worthy.’”

Jesus is describing in this parable how God, who is just, is also God who executes judgment — and he’s not joking around. This is not a joke that he’s telling. He’s saying: this is what the kingdom of heaven is like. It’s tying together the son who said, “I will go,” but would not go; it’s tying together the wretched tenants who killed the servants and the son of the owner of the vineyard; and now it’s tying together those who were invited to the wedding but they had too much business, or they had something on their farm to take care of, or they seized the servants of God and treated them shamefully and killed them. It’s tying all of those together. So part two of this parable: those who rejected the invitation of the kingdom of heaven are punished. There is a real consequence to rejecting the invitation to the kingdom of heaven. Now, what’s interesting is, 35–40 years later, Jerusalem was destroyed. So the people that he’s talking to — it actually happened 35, 40 years later; their city was destroyed. What’s described in this — that their city was burned, that people were murdered — that actually happened in 70 AD to Jerusalem.

Now, if a passage like this is troublesome to you, let me give you another one — 2 Thessalonians chapter 1, beginning in verse 5, speaking about God’s judgment: “This is the evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be considered worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are also suffering — since indeed God considers it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you, and to grant relief to you who are afflicted as well as to us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might, when he comes on that day to be glorified in his saints and to be marveled at among all who have believed, because our testimony to you was believed.” — 2 Thessalonians 1:5–10. I would encourage you to read it again on your own. But it’s describing that those who reject a relationship with God and those who reject the gospel of God — there is a punishment; there is a consequence.

Verse 9: now the story shifts again. “Go therefore to the main roads and invite to the wedding feast as many as you find.” And those servants went out into the roads and gathered all whom they found, both bad and good. So the wedding hall was filled with guests. This is a picture of the heart of the king, who represents God. This is a picture of the heart of God the Father. He’s saying: go find as many people as you can — as many as you can find; it doesn’t matter what state they’re in, bad and good; just go get them, because the wedding hall needs to be filled with guests. God wants his house to be full. And so the invitation goes out to as many as you can find, whatever state they’re in — bad and good — because God wants his house full. Part three: new guests are called with an invitation to the kingdom of heaven. New guests are called with an invitation to the kingdom of heaven. The calling goes out to everyone in the crowd who hears Jesus; the gospel goes out to everyone in the crowd who hears Jesus.

The story goes on. Verse 11: “But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garment” — and that’s really important to understand this parable, so take note that the person had no wedding garment on. “When the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garment. And he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless. Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot and cast him into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’”

Now, I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking: how is it possible that a bunch of people who didn’t know they were going to be invited to a wedding were expected to show up in a dress code that they had not prepared for? I think it’s really good that you’re asking that question; that’s a smart question that you are asking. So when you think about this, we need to think about it in this way: the guests did not know that they were going to get an invitation to a royal wedding, because he said, go out and get as many as you can find, bad and good; I want the house full. So what does the king do when he makes that type of invitation? Well, the king provides the wedding garments. The king provides the wedding garments for the guests upon arrival. They didn’t know they were coming to a wedding; they didn’t know they were going to receive an invitation. So upon arrival, the king provides the wedding garment. The only way an invited guest ends up without a wedding garment on is because they refused to put it on. And that’s confirmed in the response: he was speechless — because there was no response to give. Because the invitation came from the king, and the provision for the invitation came from the king. So to reject the provision — there would be no response to give. This is part four: only those who were willing to put on the wedding garment were welcomed into the kingdom of heaven. Only those who were willing to put on the wedding garment were welcomed into the kingdom of heaven.

What is the wedding garment? The wedding garment is Jesus. Jesus is the wedding garment. Jesus is our robe of righteousness. This is what 2 Corinthians 5:21 says: “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” Anyone who chooses to reject the wedding garment of Jesus Christ will be in the same situation — they will have no response before God.

This is a third parable in a row displaying that Jesus has the authority of God. And this parable ends in verse 14 with: “For many are called, but few are chosen.” For many are called, but few are chosen. This is a description of God’s sovereignty. This is a description of how God extends grace to sinners: to those who said, “I won’t go,” but then they changed their mind; to tax collectors and prostitutes who hear John the Baptist and repent; and to those — “as many as you can find, both good and bad, bring them in” — and they are willing to put on a wedding garment. For many are called, but few are chosen. Many people hear the gospel, but few people place saving faith in Jesus Christ as Lord. And if you are wondering whether or not you are chosen, the way that you discover that is to place your faith in Jesus Christ as Lord, God, and Savior from sin, and you will discover that God chose you. Place your faith in Jesus Christ as Lord, God, and Savior from sin, and you will discover God’s choice. For many are called, but few are chosen.

Everyone in the Crowd Is Called

So all three of these parables point to the authority of Jesus to require the righteousness of God to enter the kingdom of heaven. The righteousness of God to enter the kingdom of heaven. Everyone in the crowd is called — everyone. Everyone in the crowd is called, but those who believe, Jesus — they follow. Everyone in the crowd is called, but those who believe Jesus follow. And God sorts through those who believe and those who do not believe. That is God’s book of business; that is his accounting system. God is the one who keeps track of who believes and who does not believe; that is his business. There is a Lamb’s Book of Life, and God’s the only one who writes names in it. We have the privilege of having our name written in the Lamb’s Book of Life as we place our faith in Jesus Christ as Lord, God, and Savior from sin. But God’s the one who holds that book, and God’s the one who writes names into that book.

So the question for us is: how is Jesus calling us to follow him today? What can we learn about these parables? How is Jesus calling us to request his forgiveness from our sin? Because we said, “I won’t go” — but we need to change our mind, and we need to follow Jesus. Or we’ve been living like a tax collector and a prostitute, and we need to hear John the Baptist; we need to repent of our sin. Or we’ve been — as many as you can find, both good and bad, wherever we are — but we received an invitation, and it’s time to put on a wedding garment. How can we request his forgiveness from our sin? How is Jesus calling us to receive his invitation to salvation — that we would take off the old man and we put on the new man, Jesus Christ — and we’d receive his invitation to salvation; to place our faith in Jesus; to put on a wedding garment? How is God calling us to recognize his call to sacrifice? Because as a servant of God, like the parables describe, there are great moments of sacrifice that the servants of God experience. So how can we follow God by recognizing his call to sacrifice? How can we follow Jesus today — his call to us today to reach out to those who are willing to be saved? That there’s a conversation that God has lined up for us where we’re going to be able to share about our faith in Jesus Christ and invite someone to place their faith in Jesus. Jesus is calling us to reach out to those who are willing to be saved.

How is Jesus calling us to follow him today? Church family, the crowd’s all around us. The crowd is all around us everywhere we go, and Jesus is still calling the crowd to believe. Jesus is still calling the crowd to believe. And when we think about our God-sized goal of disciples making disciples making disciples making disciples, I want to give you this piece of information: if you choose to get into the business of disciple-making, then you will be rejected. If you choose to get into the business of disciple-making, you will be rejected. Because you will tell somebody about Jesus, and they will say no — because many are called, but few are chosen. And so my question is this: are you willing to be rejected by many people to discover the one next person that God has a conversation for you to have — who is ready, and who is willing to take off those old grave clothes and to put on a wedding garment? Are you willing to be rejected by many to discover that one person that God has for you to have a conversation with, who is willing and they’re ready to take off those grave clothes and to put on the wedding garment — the robe of righteousness — to believe in Jesus Christ as their Lord, God, and their Savior from sin?

Father God, Lord, thank you for your word. Thank you for how it instructs us; thank you for how it calls us to follow you. And God, would you help us be about your business? Would you help us be your servants? Would we see you as the Master, the good Father, the King, and Lord? Would we serve you well? God, where we fall short, help pick us back up and help get us moving in the right direction. And Lord, as you’re calling us in the specific ways that you’re calling each of us today, would we respond to your call on our life? And would you be glorified? Would you be glorified, Lord? And we pray this in Jesus’ name. And all God’s family said, amen.