A Great Dinner Party
There is a story in the Bible in the book of Luke that tells of a man who threw a great dinner party. This man was very generous and invited many people but when the day came for the party and everything was prepared, that is when the excuses started coming in.
How many times have you thrown a party only to have people back out at the last minute? Well, this time the excuses were probably different than the ones you received. One guy said that he bought five yoke of oxen and asked to be excused so that he could test them. Another guy bought some land and wanted to go see it so he asked to be excused.
One by one each person invited chose not to come to this man’s dinner party. As you can expect, the man was hurt and angry, so he told his employees to go out and tell every person good and bad about his dinner party, which they did and eventually filled the man’s house with guests.
My Choice and Yours
The story is an analogy, so what’s the point of the story? Each of us has been invited to dine with Jesus Christ when this life is over. That invitation has come to us in the form of simply believing that Jesus Christ came to the earth 2000 years ago and lived as a man, willingly offering up His life to pay the price for sin that we could never pay.
My choice and yours is whether we believe Him or not. No one is going to force you to believe, but like those who asked to be excused from this man’s invitation to dinner, if you choose not to believe then your name will be removed from the guest list just as the others who were invited and chose not to come.
When the final day comes, it will be natural for those who rejected Jesus Christ in this life to want to enter His house, because in hindsight they will see the truth of all that they have been told. They will come to Him and ask to enter, but will not be allowed in. If you threw a dinner party, would you let total strangers in to your house? I don’t think so.
The Book of Revelation says, “He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the Book of Life; but I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels.” Revelation 3:5 The Book of Life is the guest list for the Supper of the Lamb. It stands to reason that if a person’s name will not be blotted out from the list then there must be some whose names will be blotted out.
I Pray You Choose to Believe
Let’s drive this down a little deeper. Surely you can see that we aren’t just talking about some casual dinner party. We are discussing the final leg in our epic journey of life. It is that part of life that we will not see until this life is over. Only then will the next life become visible. There are testimonies of the next life that we can see if we are paying attention. Things like miracles are a witness that God exists and there is more to our lives than what we see.
I don’t want to make this more complicated that it really is. The choice is simple. Do we believe in Jesus Christ or not? Do we believe that He came 2000 years ago, born in a stable in Bethlehem to a virgin named Mary, who lived a perfect life and was crucified on a cross to pay the price for sin that separates us from God and Heaven?
Will your name be on the guest list? I pray you choose to believe.
The Dinner Party Bible Story
“A certain man gave a great supper and invited many, 17 and sent his servant at supper time to say to those who were invited, ‘Come, for all things are now ready.’ 18 But they all with one accord began to make excuses. The first said to him, ‘I have bought a piece of ground, and I must go and see it. I ask you to have me excused.’ 19 And another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to test them. I ask you to have me excused.’ 20 Still another said, ‘I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.’ 21 So that servant came and reported these things to his master. 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 here the poor and the maimed and the lame and the blind.’ 22 And the servant said, ‘Master, it is done as you commanded, and still there is room.’ 23 Then the master said to 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 to you that none of those men who were invited shall taste my supper.’ ” Luke 14:16-24