DRESSING UP FOR THE WEDDING BANQUET Matthew 22:1-14 "The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son."

Occasionally Funerals are frequent; but weddings are far more enjoyable. We have been invited to a Wedding Banquet! – Then the angel said to me, "Write: 'Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!'“ - Rev 19:9 In the last week of His earthly ministry Jesus taught a lesson about the Kingdom of God with an analogy of the invitations to a King's Son's wedding. Several truths confront us through this parable:

GOD'S INVITATION IS TO JOY AND CELEBRATION. He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come…, -vs 3 ‘Tell those who have been invited that I have prepared my dinner: My oxen and fattened cattle have been butchered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.’ –vs 4

God invites each of us to a feast that is as joyous as a wedding feast. Christianity that is a gloomy life, with only self- denial & harsh rules is counterfeit. True Christianity ought to be like the sunshine and laughter of happy fellowship. To miss out on God's banquet would be to miss out on the delights of life and to be left with little more than the drudgery of the work-a-day business.

The Jews were invited first and rejected the offer. So we were invited. Any who will come is welcome. We each need to live in such a way so as to be ready for the event on call.

THE THINGS THAT PREVENT US FROM INCLUDING OURSELVES ARE NOT NECESSARILY BAD THINGS. But they paid no attention and went off—one to his field, another to his business. –vs 5

Some of the examples given are not of wild carousing and immorality. They are legitimate obligations and the efficient administration of life. – One man had an estate to tend to. – Another had a business to run. But each had a mistaken priority. – They did not consider attending a wedding banquet important.

It’s easy to be busy with the 'things of time' and not have time for 'things Eternal' A thing that is 2nd best can shut out the Best. Things that are good, prevent us from experiencing the supreme. We can actually get so busy making a living that we fail to have life.

THOSE WHO WOULD NOT COME, NOT ONLY MISSED THE FUN, THEY DIED The rest seized his servants, mistreated them and killed them. 7 The king was enraged. He sent his army and destroyed those murderers and burned their city. –VS 6-7

Matthew wrote this after the fall and destruction of Jerusalem These words may have been his own historic perspective. But they also speak of a final "damnation of the wicked."

If we refuse the invitation of Christ, someday our greatest regret may be in the realization that we missed out on the most precious thing in life.

THOSE WHO DO COME MUST BE PROPERLY DRESSED “But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. 12 ‘Friend,’ he asked, ‘how did you get in here without wedding clothes?’ –vs 11-12

God expects us to be properly attired when we come to His banquet! The Garment we are to wear is a "robe of righteousness.“ – Of the Great Multitude dressed in White robes in Rev. 7, it is said, "These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. – …to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the LORD for the display of his splendor. --Isa 61:1-3

The God who covered Adam and Eve with "blood washed" skins in Eden, wants to cover us with "blood washed" robes of righteousness so that we can be properly attired at His Banquet. Anything else is but an unacceptable "fig leaf." It is amazing how our hymnody reflects this lesson:

#125 Blessed Be The Fountain 1.Blessed be the fountain of Blood\ To a world of sinners revealed.\ Blessed be the dear Son of God--\Only be His stripes we are healed.\ Tho' I've wandered far from His fold,\ Bringing to my heart pain and woe.\ Wash me in the blood of the Lamb, \And I shall be whiter than snow. 2.Thorny was the crown that He wore,\ And the Cross His body o'er -came;\ Grievous were the sorrows He bore, \But He suffered thus not in vain, \May I to that fountain be led, \Made to cleanse my sins here below; \Wash me in the blood of that He shed, \And I shall be whiter than snow. 3.Father, I have wandered from Thee; Often has my heart gone astray. \Crimson do my sins seem to me-- \Water cannot wash them away. Jesus, to that fountain of Thine, Leaning on They promise I go; \Cleanse me by Thy washing divine, \And I shall be whiter than snow.

#242 Jesus Paid It All Vs 3 For nothing good have I\ Whereby Thy grace to Claim--I'll wash my garments white\ In the blood of Clav'ry's Lamb. Jesus paid it all; All to Him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain; He washed it white as snow.

#305 A Glorious Church 1. Do you hear them coming, Brother, Thronging up the steeps of light, Clad in glorious shining garments--Blood-washed garments pure and white? 'Tis a glorious Church without spot or wrinkle, Washed in the blood of the Lamb. 'Tis a glorious Church, without spot or wrinkle, Washed in the blood of the Lamb.

God is preparing a banquet You are invited Don’t miss it! Dress up!

Oh, by the way, be sure you've been to the cleaners ? it's free! Look sharp. You are valued and included