The Parable of the Great Banquet: On Evangelism | Luke 14:15-24
Brian Hedges | January 23, 2022
Turn in your Bibles this morning to Luke 14.
Let me begin by asking you a question, actually a series of questions. I don’t want you to answer out loud, but just in your own heart. Have you ever shared the gospel with someone else? As a Christian, have you ever shared the gospel, shared your faith, shared your testimony, pointed someone else to Jesus Christ? Answer that question.
Second question: When was the last time you did that? When was the last time you shared the gospel with someone else? Perhaps it’s been a long time. Maybe it’s been weeks or months or even years since you have shared the gospel with another.
Why is it that we sometimes struggle with evangelism? Why is that hard for many of us? It’s not hard for everybody. Some of you are natural evangelists; you have the personality, you’re extroverted, you like to talk to people, you just kind of have a contagious enthusiasm for Jesus; but that’s maybe one in a hundred Christians. Most of us are kind of frozen at the mouth; we struggle to articulate our faith and we struggle in conversations with others.
Someone who’s helped me in his teaching and writing on evangelism is a man named Mack Stiles. He’s a very gifted evangelist, pastors a church in Iraq, and he’s written some great material on evangelism. In one of his books, Mack talks about the things that are necessary to create a culture of evangelism, and he says there are three things. We need to have motivated hearts, equipped minds, and available feet. Anytime we are not actually actively doing evangelism, and anytime a church does not have a culture of evangelism, it can be traced to the neglect of one of those three things.
For example, perhaps our hearts are not rightly motivated. That’s a love problem, it’s a heart problem. It may mean that when we do share the gospel we only do it out of guilt, but not out of love for God and others. It may mean that we are not overflowing with joy, we’re not actually happy about our faith, and so we’re not naturally sharing it with others. It may be that we are indifferent to the needs of the lost. Perhaps we are serving ourselves, living for ourselves and not for Christ. We’re consumed with worldly interests instead of kingdom concerns. That’s a problem; the heart’s not rightly motivated.
Or it may be that our minds are not equipped. This is a confidence problem. It may be that you want to share the gospel with others but you don’t know how to do that. You don’t know how to start gospel conversations, you feel intimidated, you don’t know what to say, you don’t really know how to explain the gospel in a brief, simple way to someone else, or maybe you don’t know how to answer people’s objections to Christianity. If that’s the case, what you need is to be equipped, you need to be trained, you need tools, you need skills, a development of skills that will help you in sharing the gospel with others.
It’s one reason we’re doing the Defending the Faith coffee break tonight, where we’re going to break people into small groups, little workshops that are trying to help equip us to share the faith against specific objections that people have to Christianity. We need equipped minds.
Or it may be that your feet are not available. This is an opportunity problem. This is when we’re not around non-Christians. It may be that some of us are so insulated, we’ve kind of retreated into our Christian bubble; it may be that we are so busy with life and work and family and sports, or maybe even with church and ministry, that we just don’t have time to reach out to unbelievers. So we’re not in those relationships and we don’t have those opportunities readily available to us.
I believe that both as individuals and as a church we need to work on all three of these things. We need to have hearts rightly motivated, minds that are equipped, we need the skills, and we need to be looking for, pursuing opportunities to share Christ with others. Only when we do that will we build a culture of evangelism.
Well, as you can see, I want to talk about evangelism this morning using the parable of the great banquet in Luke 14. This isn’t going to be a full treatment; I’m not going to talk about everything. I’m not going to talk about apologetics; we’re doing that tonight. Mainly what I want to focus on is the heart issue, motivation, and I think this parable is helpful for that.
Let me give you a little bit of context before we read the passage. Really, the first 24 verses of Luke 14 all take place in a Pharisee’s house, where Jesus was dining as a guest. So what you have here is table talk, you have dining room conversations; and Jesus uses this occasion to talk about a number of different things in this chapter. He’s teaching people lessons about compassion and humility and generosity and hospitality. I’m not going to look at everything that goes before, but that’s the context. They’re sitting in a room around a table talking, and then somebody makes a comment in verse 14 that prompts the parable that Jesus gives in verse 15. So we’re going to be reading Luke 14:15-24. Let’s read the text and then dig in together.
“When one of those who reclined at table with him heard these things, he said to him, ‘Blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!’ But he [that is, Jesus] said to him, ‘A man once gave a great banquet and invited many. And at the time for the banquet he sent his servant to say to those who had been invited, “Come, for everything is now ready.” But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said to him, “I have bought a field, and I must go out and see it. Please have me excused.” And another said, “I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to examine them. Please have me excused.” And another said, “I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.” So the servant came and reported these things to his master. Then the master of the house became angry and said to his servant, “Go out quickly to the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in the poor and crippled and blind and lame.” And the servant said, “Sir, what you commanded has been done, and still there is room.” And the master said to the servant, “Go out to the highways and hedges and compel people to come in, that my house may be filled. For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste my banquet.”’”
This is God’s word.
I want you to see three things here in this passage. First, the Invitation to the banquet. What’s the significance of the banquet? What’s the character, the nature of this invitation? Secondly, the refusal of the invitation, which is where the real punch line of the parable, I think, comes in, understanding what Jesus is talking about here. Then third is the call to share the invitation with others. That’s where I think the primary lessons about evangelism can be seen.
1. The Invitation to the Banquet
It’s all in response to this comment that’s made in verse 15. Someone’s there at the table with Jesus and says, “Blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God.” He’s thinking of the establishment of God’s promised kingdom on earth and when all of God’s people will be dining together. Oftentimes in Scripture the kingdom of God is likened to a banquet or to a feast, and it’s in that context that Jesus then gives this parable. Jesus says in verse 16, “A man once gave a great banquet and invited many.”
Just pause right there and think about the imagery here of a banquet. I think this is really rich imagery that tells us something about the kingdom of God and something about the gospel. This is common in the Old Testament. Many times in the Old Testament prophets—just think of Isaiah 55, which I read a few minutes ago, this invitation to come and eat without money and without price; or think of this passage, Isaiah 25:6, “The Lord of hosts will prepare a lavish banquet for all peoples on this mountain, a banquet of aged wine, choice pieces with marrow, and refined aged wine.” The kingdom of God often compared to this great banquet.
That tells us certain things. It’s a feast, it’s an occasion for joy and for celebration. It’s a time where there is plenty, it’s a time where people are coming together in order to dine and to feast. There’s rich bounty and generosity that’s involved, and people then are invited to come to this. That’s the idea that Jesus is using in this parable.
So he says, “A man once gave a great banquet and invited many. And at the time for the banquet he sent his servant to say to those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’” In the ancient world, when a nobleman would plan a banquet like this there would be actually two invitations. The first invitation would go out that was kind of planning. It was almost like the RSVP; getting the head count, planning for this great feast. Then, when the day came for the celebration, when everything was ready, then they would be invited once more to come.
That’s the context. That’s the banquet. I think it suggests some things to us about the gospel and about what it is we are inviting people to. In the same way as this nobleman set this great banquet, this feast, preparing everything, all he was doing then was asking people to come. He wasn’t asking them to bring anything, he wasn’t asking them to pay for anything. Everything was prepared, everything was ready. In the same way, the gospel is God’s offer of grace and mercy and salvation, his invitation to come to the feast that he has prepared, and to come without bringing anything. It’s a free offer, and it’s an offer to come and receive of his gracious generosity, the rich bounty of his table.
I love the way J.C. Ryle talks about this in his exposition of Luke. He says, “We are taught firstly in this parable that God has made a great provision for the salvation of men’s souls. This is the meaning of the words, ‘A certain man made a great banquet and invited many.’ This is the gospel. The gospel contains a full supply of everything that sinners need in order to be saved. We are all naturally starving, empty, helpless, and ready to perish. Forgiveness of all sin and peace with God, justification of the person, sanctification of the heart, grace by the way, and glory in the end are the gracious provisions which God has prepared for the wants of our souls. There is nothing that sin-laden hearts can wish or weary consciences can require which is not spread before men in rich abundance in Christ. Christ, in one word, is the sum and substance of the great supper.”
I think the first application for us is just to remember what it is we are inviting people to when we invite people to come to Christ. What’s the message we have to share? It’s the message of this gracious invitation to come and receive grace, forgiveness, adoption into the family of God, to sit at God’s table. It’s an invitation to eternal life, and to sit down for the last time in the eternal state where we are in eternal fellowship with God, represented by the symbol of this great feast. It’s an invitation to come and receive, and to receive without contributing anything of our own. It’s a free, gracious offer. We need to remember that when we’re sharing the gospel. We’re not inviting people to morality, we’re not inviting people to law-keeping. Yes, of course, the gospel changes our lives, but the invitation is not to become better people, it’s to come to Jesus and to receive all that Jesus has for us.
Sometimes we almost present the gospel as if it’s an invitation to slave labor. “Join the chain gang.” That’s not it at all! We have to remember the good news—this is good news! It’s not just moral advice, it’s good news to come and receive God’s grace and God’s mercy. The invitation to the banquet.
2. The Refusal of the Invitation
The tragic thing in this story is that so many people refuse the invitation. That’s what you have in verses 18-20. Again, the historical background is that it would have been a double invitation. The first invitation people would have accepted, they would have said, “Yes, we’ll come.” But then, when the actual time for the feast has arrived, they refuse to come, and instead they just give excuses.
Someone once said that "an excuse is the skin of a reason stuffed with a lie." The excuses, when you read them here, they’re really lame, silly excuses. In fact, one commentator suggests that when Jesus told this story people would have been chuckling. They would have been laughing at the excuses, because they’re so ridiculous, until they realize that the punchline is aimed directly at them.
Look at these excuses, and remember the context. He’s talking to these people in the home of this Pharisee, and this man who kind of presumptuously says, “It’s going to be great when we finally sit down in the kingdom of God!” Jesus is saying, “Let me tell you a story.” People were invited, but then they refused, and they made these excuses.
Look at verses 18-19. “But they all began to make excuses. The first said to him, ‘I have bought a field, and I must go out and see it. Please have me excused.’ Another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to examine them. Please have me excused.’ Another said, ‘I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.’”
Again, they’re silly excuses. Who buys a field without going and looking at it first? You look at the field before you buy it. You go try out the yoke of oxen before you buy it. I mean, you don’t go buy a car before you test drive it, right? These are silly excuses. And the guy who’s saying, “I just got married,” I mean, he had already planned to come to this feast. It’s just a lame excuse. They are an insult to the master of the feast, the one who has spread this banquet, and therefore the gospel, the invitation, ends up going out to other people, and those who refuse the invitation are shut out from the feast. Verse 24, “For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste my banquet.”
I think there’s a historical lesson here, and the historical lesson is that in history God had given a series of invitations to his people in the Old Testament, the Jewish people, and yet when the king came, when he arrived in person, when Jesus Christ was right there on the scene, he came to his own and his own received him not. The kingdom was right there, and they refused to come. That’s why the gospel goes out to the Gentiles.
But there’s a practical lesson for us as well, and it’s the tragedy of those who sit under the hearing of the gospel and refuse to come. Perhaps that’s some of you this morning. Maybe you have grown up in church, maybe you’re here with your parents, maybe you’re a young person, a teenager, or a student, or maybe you’re here with a spouse and the main reason you come is because your spouse likes to come. But though you’ve heard the gospel, though the gospel has been clear, you’ve basically been indifferent to the invitation. Maybe just a lack of curiosity; you’re just not interested in the gospel. Or maybe it’s hardness of heart, and you’re holding onto some sin or some bitterness or some resentment that keeps you from coming to Christ. Or maybe it’s an attachment to the world, and you’re so focused on temporal concerns that you’re not even paying attention to the eternal concerns of your own soul. What a tragedy to refuse the gospel! I want to urge you this morning, don’t refuse the invitation of Christ.
Don’t be like Benjamin Franklin in his response to George Whitefield. In the 18th century, Benjamin Franklin was one of the most famous American statesmen, and George Whitefield was the most effective evangelical evangelist of the 18th century. God used him so greatly in the Great Awakenings during the 1700s. You may not know this, but Whitefield and Franklin were actually friends. Whitefield many times tried to share Christ with Franklin, pressing the claims of the gospel upon him, but Franklin never became a Christian. In fact, after Whitefield had died, Franklin rather smugly said, “Mr. Whitefield used to pray for my conversion, but never had the satisfaction of believing that his prayers were heard.” You can almost hear the snide tone coming through. What a tragedy. A great man who refused the invitation.
Let that not be one of us.
3. The Call to Share the Invitation with Others
The invitation is to this great banquet; some refuse; and then the servants are charged to share the invitation with others. That’s point number three, the call to share the invitation with others. You see it in verses 21-23; it’s the master’s response to the refusal of those guests.
Verse 21: “‘Go out quickly [he says] to the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in the poor and crippled and blind and lame.’ And the servant said, ‘Sir, what you commanded has been done, and still there is room.’ And the master said to the servant, ‘Go out to the highways and hedges and compel people to come in, that my house may be filled.’”
Again, I think in the original context one of the things Jesus means by this is that because so many of his own people refused the invitation, the invitation was going wider, broader, to the Gentiles. This is, of course, part of God’s own plan.
But again, there are applicable lessons, I think, for us here as you think about these three questions: Who are invited, how are they to be invited, and why are they invited?
(1) Who are invited? Notice what he says. “Go out to the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame.” What’s he doing? He’s going after the most needy people. He’s going after the people who have the least to contribute, the least to recommend them to him. I mean, he’s not going after the noblemen, he’s not going after the rich and the mighty, he’s going after the poor, he’s going after people who are crippled, blind, and lame! They can’t even bring themselves. He’s saying to his servants, “Go find them and bring them to my feast.” It’s a reminder to us that the gospel is for the most needy people.
You may feel like your life is so messed up, that you’re so broken, so needy, because of your sins or because of family dysfunction or things that have happened in your past, or whatever. You may feel like that makes you unqualified. But look, that’s exactly the people that he invites to the feast.
Then, in verse 23, the master, learning that there’s still room, says to his servant, “Go out to the highways and hedges and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.” They’re going not only to the streets and the lanes of the city, but to the highways and hedges of the country. Really, what it means here is that anybody’s welcome. There’s room, and anybody is welcome to come to this feast. Who, then, are we to go after? Who are we to share the gospel with? Who is it that we invite? Anyone and everyone. Anyone who is in need; everyone is invited. It’s a free offer, a free invitation of the gospel. We have good news to share, and this news is for everyone.
(2) How, then, are they to be invited? Look at verse 23 again. “Go out to the highways and hedges and compel people to come in, that my house may be filled.”
That’s strong language, and it certainly does not mean that we are to use manipulative techniques or tactics in evangelism, it doesn’t mean that we are to coerce people into the kingdom of God. You can't coerce someone into heart change. But it does mean that we are to be persuasive. It means that we are not so indifferent and so detached that it’s kind of a “take it or leave it” proposition.
One of the scholars says that the reason this would be said is because in the ancient world, when a nobleman would go after the peasants and invite peasants to come to a feast, they would feel duty-bound for 15 minutes to refuse the invitation, because they would just think it was a joke or it was too good to be true. It would require the servant to come alongside, take the person by the hand, and urge them along, that, “Yes, this is a genuine offer. You actually can receive it.”
One of the things I love when I read some of the older writers is how persuasive they are in answering every possible objection someone has to coming to Christ—persuading. In fact, perhaps the greatest example here is my hero, Charles Spurgeon. I know I quote him all the time, but it’s especially appropriate here, because Spurgeon preached a sermon one time on this text, called “Compel Them to Come In.”
Spurgeon had such a zeal for evangelism. One time he said, “If sinners be damned, at least let them leap to hell over our bodies. If they will perish, let them perish with our arms about their knees.” That is actually how he preached. I mean, he begged and pleaded with people.
In that sermon, “Compel Them to Come In,” preached on December 8, 1858, Spurgeon applied the passage like this. He began by talking about the kinds of people who were invited, and then he started inviting people, just pressing the invitation of the gospel. Then he switched from inviting to commanding, and he reminded people that God commands people to believe and to repent and to respond to the authoritative commands of God’s word. Then he switched to a mode of exhortation, exhorting and encouraging people to come to Christ. Then from there he switched to entreating, pleading, and begging sinners to turn to Christ and not to persist in unbelief. From there he switched to threatening and warning, warning people of the consequences of unbelief and turning away from Christ, the threats of eternal judgment. Finally, when he could do no more, he said, “The last thing I can do is I can weep and I can pray for you.” “Tears and prayers,” he says, “are the arms of a minister to lay hold of his people.”
Then, finally, he turned to the Spirit in prayer, really kind of praying as he preached, and he essentially said, “Holy Spirit, we can’t compel you to do anything, but we can ask you to compel the hearts of men to come.”
It was a powerful sermon, and a year later Spurgeon said that scarcely a week went by where there was not some fruit from that sermon. So many people were converted by it.
It’s a model for us of the kind of urgency that we should have in our evangelism, that we are seeking out the lost and seeking to win them to Jesus Christ. Compel them to come in.
(3) Why should they be invited? The answer is because it’s a banquet! And because the host of this banquet is so gracious and so generous and because people are hungry and they have the need.
I love the comment of J.C. Ryle on the phrase in verse 22, “There is still room.” There’s still room for more to come, and J.C. Ryle says, “There is a greater willingness on God’s part to save sinners than there is on the part of sinners to be saved.” God is gracious. He’s opened the doors wide open, and he invites sinners to come.
Let me end this way, by asking a couple of questions. First of all, are you a Christian? Then don’t wait to share the invitation with others. The apostle Paul says in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. That’s our message. It’s entrusted to us. “Therefore,” he says, “we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.”
Do you see yourself as an ambassador for Christ? Do you realize that that’s your job? Your job as a Christian is to be a representative for Christ, sharing the gospel with others. How long has it been since you’ve done that? Who in your life right now do you know who does not know Christ, they’re not a Christian? It may be that nobody shared the gospel with them. Maybe you should share the gospel with them.
You say, “I don’t know how to do that. I don’t even know where to start. What if they object to Christianity and I can’t answer the question?’ Well, come tonight! Get equipped. Read a book on evangelism. Come on, church, let’s get serious about sharing the gospel with others! We have family members, we have friends who are lost, and without Christ they will perish eternally. We have the message, we have the answer in Scripture; God has entrusted that message to us; we have a job to do. We need to turn our eyes out to the fields that are white unto harvest, and then go and be laborers in the harvest. If you’re a Christian, don’t wait to share the message with others. Don’t delay. Get equipped, get your heart in the right place, and put yourself in position where you have opportunity to share the gospel with others.
Are you not a Christian this morning? Then don’t wait to respond. Respond today. Respond to the invitation today. The gospel is clear; “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.” Respond to that invitation today.
In fact, the way I want to end is just to ask you to bow your head, close your eyes for a moment, and I just want to saturate you with the invitations of Scripture. Hear the words of Scripture; I’m going to read several passages and then pray for us.
“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matt. 11:28-30)
“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.” (John 3:16-17)
“If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” (John 7:37-38)
“If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” (Rom. 10:9-10, 13)
“The Spirit and the Bride say, ‘Come!’ And let the one who hears say, ‘Come!’ And let the one who is thirsty come. Let the one who desires take the water of life without price.” (Rev. 22:17)
“Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come into him and eat with him, and he with me.” (Rev. 3:20)
“Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved.” (Acts 16:31)
Our God, how we thank you for the generosity and the grace of your heart, how we thank you for the invitations of the gospel, this free offer of forgiveness, of grace, of acceptance, of a place at your table, status in your family, deep satisfaction for the thirst of our souls, eternal life, resurrection from the dead. The promises are almost too good to be true, and we thank you for them. Thank you that you have given them to us and that you call us to respond, to believe and repent. I pray right now for any person in this room who has never done that, that right now at this moment they would respond in heartfelt faith, confessing their sins and calling on the name of the Lord to be saved.
I pray for every one of us this morning who are Christians, that we would respond again, that we would, in this moment and in the moments before at the Lord’s table, that we would confirm once again our trust in Christ, our absolute dependence on Christ and on Christ alone for salvation; and our commitment to humbly seek to walk with you, to obey your word, and to be ambassadors of your kingdom.
Lord, would you work in us this morning what is pleasing in your sight? Would you do something in our hearts that changes us, so that this is the natural impulse, to share this news with those around us? Would you fill us with love for you and love for people? Would you open our eyes to the needs of people around us? Would you forgive us for our indifference? How could we be indifferent to the plight of souls, of people who will perish eternally without Christ? God, forgive us for that. I pray that you would fill us with a real, holy zeal and devotion to this task of sharing the gospel.
Lord, draw near to us. As we come to the Lord’s table this morning, would you give us repentant hearts? Help us turn from our sins, whatever your Spirit reveals those to be in our minds, our consciences this morning; help us embrace in a fresh way the promises of the gospel. May you be glorified. We pray it in Jesus’ name, amen.
Brian G. Hedges
