When one of those who were reclining at the table with Him heard this, he said to Him, "Blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!" But He said to him, "A man was giving a big dinner, and he invited many; and at the dinner hour he sent his slave to say to those who had been invited, 'Come; for everything is ready now.' But they all alike began to make excuses. The first one said to him, 'I have bought a piece of land and I need to go out and look at it; please consider me excused.' Another one said, 'I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to try them out; please consider me excused.' Another one said, 'I have married a wife, and for that reason I cannot come.' And the slave came back and reported this to his master. Then the head of the household became angry and said to his slave, 'Go out at once into the streets and lanes of the city and bring in here the poor and crippled and blind and lame.' And the slave said, 'Master, what you commanded has been done, and still there is room.' And the master said to the slave, 'Go out into the highways and along the hedges, and compel them to come in, so that my house may be filled. For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste of my dinner.' "
(Luke 14: 15-24 NASB)
Recently, while Mark Jenkins was delivering a message on Luke 14 (Make War Not Peace - http://www.markjenkinsministries.org/index.php/media-folder/messages/video/126-make-war-not-peace), the Holy Spirit opened my eyes to the true nature of the excuses the invited guests gave for why they couldn't come to the dinner.
Excuse #1 (v. 18) Need to inspect a recently bought piece of land = Investment
Whatever we have have invested our time, money or effort into for a return; anything we
value more than the fellowship we are called to.
Excuse #2 (v. 19) Need to test 5 yoke of oxen = Ministry
What we do for others that we think we do for God. We think we are pleasing God
because we are doing it for God.
Excuse #3 (v. 20) Just got married = Relationship
Any relationships we are committed to more than our relationship to God.
Now this is a bare-bones breakdown on these excuses. Each one could lead to a message or blog post on its own. I offer them to you for your own meditation.
