3 of 3 with the wedding finale...Matthew 22:1-14

These were my pick of snowshoes for my Saturday hike up the Baker Gulch Trail.  There is a forecast of a major snow event this week so I hope to get out again this Friday up another trail to keep filling in my 2026 mail.  This was the last day of upper 40's day so I walked into town and back road walking with a distance of 10.5 miles round trip.  I keep thinking about the trails I will try to conquer this summer and fall.

I am always amazed at Jesus' technique as a teacher also.  He strings together these 3 stories and by the third He is uusing some elements of story #1 and story #2 in story 
#3.  Jesus also weaves together a warning, the invitation and also the requirement.  We are seeing these 3 groups again.  Group #1 are those contrary to God's anointed Messiah as Jesus.  Group #2 are those who are indifferent to Jesus as the Messiah.  They head back to work or to the shop instead of going to the wedding.  They are also the ones in the story who are not wearing the required wedding clothes.  Group #3 are those who are committed to Jesus as God's anointed Messiah.  

We expect judgment to come upon those contrary to the Messiah (Group #1).  These are those in the stories who killed the servants and ultimately the son and they are the builders who have rejected the precious cornerstone.  We also expect those committed to the Messiah (Group #3) who have accepted the wedding garments and producing fruit for the owner of the vineyard to receive the title of an official guest.  These are the ones who replaced the original vinedressers and the closed guest list who were either indifferent or contrary to coming.  What we might not have expected is the severe consequences to Group #2, the indifferent who go back to work or the shop and come to the wedding banquet in their own clothes and this that is good enough.  They receive the same type of judgment as Group #1, those contrary to the Christ.  3 groups but 2 destinations.

I think there are many who attend church who are in Group #2.  They stumble over Jesus.  They use Jesus as long as He meets their demands but as soon as it gets tough and hint of persecution or pressure arise because of the association, they drop Jesus and seek to find what is most comfortable.  I have seen this over and over as people drop in and out of a church body based on other things that are happening in their lives rather than making this discipleship tool that God has given us, a priority spot to guide us even through the uncomfortable with conviction and commitment to Christ.  Those who are indifferent are still in love with themselves more than they are in love with Jesus.  They are still wearing their own clothes rather than putting on the white robes supplied by God through Jesus Christ's death and resurrection.  They are still thinking they are good enough.  

They still believe in the world's evaluation of the self.  We are basically good and our good deeds cloth us sufficiently.  But when we open up the Scriptures and read the words of God, we see what He sees when He looks at us.  All He sees are those who are wearing filthy rags.  We are just wearing fig leaves we have woven together like Adam and Eve in the garden after the fall.  The same Scriptures also tell us that there are other clothes provided by the Father through the Son that are essential to attend the wedding feast of the Lamb.  It would cost Him His life so that we could have eternal life.  Those threads tell us something very different than the world.  The world says it is all about you while Jesus says we are to deny our very selves because it is all about Him.  The world says we are to run toward comfort while Jesus says we are to be committed even through suffering to the One who died on a cross.  The world says to blaze your own path while Jesus says we are to step in His very footsteps.  

Our eyes need to be opened to what we really are wearing, fig leaves, and turn to a God who would sacrifice His own Son, the shedding of blood, so that we would have the proper garments to be His guests for eternity.  Don't be contrary to or merely churched but committed to Christ.

Adam

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3HGz1uizyHM 

A simple man serving a great God and the local pastor of Stillwater Community Chapel (stillwater-chapel.org). We are in our 39th year of full time ministry. God directed us to this local body of believers on the Western Range of the Rockies to grow with them in mission and mindedness of Christ.

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