(Through the Bible) Luke 14-15 — Chuck Smith

Shall we turn in our Bibles now to the Gospel according to Luke, chapter 14. The 14th chapter involves an invitation for Jesus to come to a supper on the Sabbath day. And of the things that transpired at that supper, and the subsequent exchange between Jesus and the people as Jesus talked to them concerning etiquette and concerning the demands of the kingdom.

Jesus Heals on the Sabbath and Eats With Sinners

So it came to pass as he went into the house of one of the chief Pharisees to eat bread on the Sabbath day, they watched him. It is interesting to me that Jesus accepted the invitation. He knew that they were out to get him, but it seems to me that Jesus was always open to an invitation to eat.

Going so far as inviting himself to Zacchaeus' house. Come on down, Zacchaeus, I want to come over to your house and eat. And finally in Revelation, standing at the door and knocking, waiting for anyone to open so he can come in and eat.

And if you will open the door, I will come in and I'll eat supper with you. As we, this morning, were talking about the significance of eating in that culture. Becoming one. And how Jesus desires to be one with us.

Now the Sabbath meal was different from other meals. In that all of the food had to be prepared before the Sabbath. And you weren't to kindle any fire, and so if you were to have anything that was hot, it had to be hot before the Sabbath.

And somehow there had to be ways to maintain it being hot. Now in those days they had definite rules of things you could not do to keep food hot, and things that you could do to keep food hot. But there was a kosher way of keeping your food hot, even, that they had developed for Sabbath day.

Today they plug in, before the Sabbath begins, their hot plates and their water for their coffee. They'll use instant coffee on the Sabbath day, but they have to plug it in. You can't fill the pot once the Sabbath has come.

But as long as it's plugged in, you can pour it out of the pot into your cup and make your instant coffee. That doesn't constitute work, but just don't pour any water into the pot to heat it on the Sabbath day.

You've got to have it that going before the Sabbath day, and you can't turn the switches on. You just have to have it plugged in and going before the Sabbath day comes. And so they still have some interesting little rules for the Sabbath day.

If you want to go out to eat, you cannot pay with cash, but you can pay with credit cards on the Sabbath day. To pay with cash would violate the Sabbath, but to pay with a credit card, they have that unfortunate concept that so many people have about credit cards, you're really not paying.

That's a dangerous thing. So the Sabbath day meal was different, and they were watching Jesus. Now it seems that they were watching him because there was a setup. Behold, there was a certain man before him which had the dropsy, and Jesus answering, spake the words of the lawyers, answering what?

It doesn't say they ask him any question, but realizing no doubt that this whole thing was a setup. Invited to eat on the Sabbath day to break bread with him, and here right before him they have set this man with this disease of dropsy.

And so Jesus answering them, realizing that it was a setup, spake to the lawyers and the Pharisees, and he said, is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath day? And they held their peace. They didn't answer him, and so he took and healed him and let him go.

And he answered them saying, which of you shall have an ass or an ox that has fallen into a pit and will not immediately pull him out on the Sabbath day? And they could not answer him again on these things.

Now under the law, they did have a provision that if your ox or if your donkey would fall into a pit, and they did have many open wells, and so it wasn't at all uncommon for a donkey or an ox to fall into a pit, into one of these open wells.

And if it happened on the Sabbath day, according to the law, they could pull it out, though it was the Sabbath day. And so Jesus brought up their own law to them, and they could not answer him. So then he dealt with them concerning etiquette.

Humility and Hospitality in the Kingdom

He put forth a parable to those which have been bidden to the feast, when he marked how they chose out the chief rooms. Now, usually they had at these feasts a table with three pillows around it. They were called tricliniums, and they would usually sit the people, three at a table, and the middle pillow would be the place of honor at that table.

And say you were going to invite nine guests, you would have three tables set up in this triclinium, and at each of the tables you'd have the center pillow for your guest of honor. And of course they would sit and sort of recline, and that's why they're called tricliniums.

They would recline on these pillows and eat in sort of a reclining position. And so Jesus was watching how they were jockeying for the best positions, for the places of honor, for the places of note. How that, you know, this business of trying to get into the place of prominence.

And so he said, when you are bidden of any man to a wedding, don't sit down in the highest room, lest a more honorable man than you has been bidden to the feast, and those that bade thee and him will come and say to you, give this man your place, and you with shame will have to go to the lowest room.

Embarrassing situation. You sat at the head table, but you don't belong there. And so they come up and say, we're sorry we don't have any place for you at this table, you better take a table in the back.

And everybody sees you leave the head table and head for the table in the back. But when you are bidden, go and sit down in the lowest room, and when he that bade thee comes, he may say unto thee, friend, come on up higher, and then you will have honor in the presence of those that sit at meet with thee.

For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased, and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted. I think that one of the characteristics of greatness is humility. Some of the greatest people have been very humble people.

I think that one of the most humbling thing is to have God use your life. For you know it is not you and you know you're not worthy. But if you seek to exalt yourself, the law of the Lord, you'll be abased.

But he that will humble himself, the Lord will lift him up. Then he said also to him that had invited him, when you make a dinner or a supper, now he's turning on the host. When you make a dinner or a supper, don't call your friends and your brothers and your family or your rich neighbors in order that they might bid you again and recompense you for the invitation.

But when you make a feast, call the poor and the maimed and the lame and the blind, and you will be blessed. For they cannot recompense thee, but you will be recompensed in the resurrection of the just.

Interesting rules of the kingdom. And when one of them that sat at meet with him heard these things, he said unto him all, blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God. I think that someone at the table got the flash of light as Jesus began to talk about how in the kingdom there's going to be an equality.

There won't be the exalting of one man above another. There won't be important people and unimportant people, but we are all one in Christ Jesus and we'll all share together in the glory and in the honor in the kingdom.

And this man got a flash of light of the kingdom and he said, oh, blessed is the man that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God. And then Jesus gave a parable unto them. And you see, all of these have to do with being invited to dinner, going to dinner because they're sitting at at this dinner or at the Sabbath dinner with the Pharisee.

The Great Supper and Excuses for Rejecting God’s Invitation

And then he said unto him, there was a certain man which made a great supper and he invited many. And he sent his servant at suppertime to say to those that were invited, come for dinner is ready. And they all with one consent began to make excuses.

The first said, oh, I bought a piece of ground and I better go see it. I pray that you'll have me excused. Another said, I bought five yoke of oxen and I need to prove them. And so I pray that you'll have me excused.

And another said, I have married a wife and therefore I cannot come. So that servant came and showed his Lord these things. Then the master of the house, being angry, said to his servant, go out quickly into the streets in the lanes of the city and bring in here the poor, the maimed, the halt and the blind.

These are the ones that Jesus told the fellow he should have invited anyhow. And the servant said, Lord, it is done as you have commanded. And still we've got more room. And so the Lord said unto his servant, go out into the highways and the hedges and compel them to come in that my house may be filled.

For I say unto you that none of those men which were bid and shall taste of my supper. In this parable, I believe that the one who has made the invitation and inviting to the supper is really none other than God.

And the reference is to the marriage supper of the lamb and the excuses that people give for not coming to Jesus Christ. The first man's excuse was sort of a commercial excuse. I bought a house. I need to go take a look at it.

Pray tell what kind of a fool buys a house without looking at it. But I'm busy in commerce. The second man, I'm busy in my labors. It takes precedence over the kingdom. I bought five yoke and I need to prove them again.

What men would what man would buy five yoke of oxen without first testing them? Which of you would buy a car without driving it around the block? And then the third said, well, I've just married a wife and I can't come.

Why didn't he bring his wife? Notice they all began to make excuse. And there's a difference between excuses and reasons. Sometimes you can make an excuse when you don't have any real reason for it. But I would warn you, as Benjamin Franklin said, the man who is good at making excuses is seldom good for anything else.

They began to make excuses, different reasons. And so the Lord said, go out in the highways or go out and bring in the poor, the maimed, the halt. And remember to Jesus, he fulfilled the prophecy to the poor, the gospel is being preached.

And still there was room. And so go out in the highways and hedges and compel them to come in and the gospel being preached, compelling men to come into the kingdom of God. Now, at this point, he probably left the supper, for we read and there went great multitudes with him.

And he turned and said to them, having left the house, the people were outside waiting for him. And at this point, great multitudes of people were attracted to him and were following him and listening to him.

The Cost of Discipleship

And he is on his way towards Jerusalem, but they think that he is on his way towards Jerusalem in order to overthrow the Roman government and to establish and set up his kingdom. And that's why they're being attracted.

That's why the multitude is coming. They think that the kingdom is going to come now immediately. And James and John are saying, Lord, can I sit on the right hand, the left hand, you know, and all of this jockeying for position, but they don't understand.

He's not going to Jerusalem to overthrow the Roman government. He's going to Jerusalem to be put on a cross. And you cannot follow Christ just because it's a popular movement. There is a shallowness and a danger to popular spiritual movements.

The Jesus movement was sadly weakened by the endeavors to commercialize the thing and to popularize the thing and the Jesus movement parades and banners and fad aspects. In following Christ, you just don't get on the bandwagon.

It's not just joining because everybody's doing it. It's the thing, the in thing to do. And there was just, this was at that time, the in thing multitudes were following him. And because there is a danger in this, he turns to the multitudes and he becomes extremely severe in his words, really more severe than I would like him to be.

For he said, if any man come to me and hate, not his father and mother and wife and children and brethren and sisters, yes, his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. I'm not going to a popular being acclaimed as King.

I'm going to be crucified. There's a real cost. If you're going to come after me, you better count the cost. You better measure it. Now don't misunderstand Jesus and think that I've got to hate my father and hate my mother because that's just the opposite of what the gospel teaches.

The fruit of the spirit is love. And if I say I love God and hate my brother, I'm a liar. The truth isn't in me. How can I love God whom I haven't seen and hate my brother who I have seen? Then what does Jesus mean, unless you hate your father, mother, brothers and so forth?

That is. In the language, a comparative, your love for Jesus Christ must be supreme. It must be greater than your love for your family, your home or yourself, because it may cost you all of these things to follow Jesus Christ.

And for many of those people, it did cost all those things to follow. Christ did cost some of them, their families, their family relationships, for they were ostracized by their families when they made their commitment to Jesus Christ.

And the same is true today. Many people have found it quite costly to follow Jesus Christ. It costs them their family relationships. But Jesus said, if you're not willing to give up these family relationships, you can't really be my disciple.

You've got to love me more than you love any other relationship that you have. Your love for me must be supreme, and every other love must be subservient to your love for me. And then he went on to say, and whosoever doth not bear his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.

I'm not going to be crowned as king of the world. I'm going to bear a cross. I'm going to be crucified. And if you're not willing to take up your cross, you can't really be my disciple. You want to follow me?

You want to be my disciple? It can involve a cross, and you better consider that. And Jesus is deliberately laying out the terms for discipleship, and they are not soft, easy, comfortable terms. They are harsh.

They are severe. And it's important that you count the cost, the cost of discipleship. And then Jesus gives a couple of parables in which there is that emphasis of counting the cost. For which of you who intends to build a tower, and this is probably one of those towers that they built out in the middle of their vineyards, which are so common even to the present day in that country.

The people generally lived in the cities, but they had their farms in the countries. And during the spring, summer, and fall seasons, they would move out of the cities and into these towers that were built in the middle of their orchards or vineyards.

And these towers have the living quarters in the first level, but then you can go up into the upper level and from the tower, you can look over and watch the vineyard to make sure that no one's coming in and ripping you off.

And they're just towers for protections for the vineyards. And so he's probably referring to one of these vineyard towers. And which man of you who intends to build a tower doesn't sit down first and counts the cost, whether or not you'll have sufficient to finish it.

Lest, happily after he has laid the foundation, he's not able to finish it, and all those that see it begin to mock him, saying, this man began to build, but he wasn't able to finish. Count the cost. It's important.

Don't just jump in. He's not really seeking to create a popular movement. He's really seeking to thin the crowds of those that were following. Count the cost. What king going to make war against another king doesn't sit down first and consults whether he is able with 10 ,000 to meet him who was coming against him with 20 ,000, or else, while the other is still a great way off, he sends his ambassadors and desires conditions of peace.

So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he has cannot be my disciple. Now you count the cost. Unless you're willing to forsake everything, you can't really be my disciple. Unless you're willing to take up your cross, you can't be my disciple.

Unless you love me supremely, you cannot be my disciple. The terms of discipleship are harsh. They are severe, and it is wrong when people tell you just accept Jesus and you're not going to have any more problems.

My all your problems will be over. All your problems stems because you don't know Jesus. Listen, many times when you accept Jesus, your problems are just beginning. It's not easy. It's not going to be easy.

The Lord doesn't say it's going to be easy. He said it's going to be tough and you better sit down first and count the cost. Better not that you get started in it if you can't finish it, if you're not willing to finish it.

You make an accounting here and determine whether or not you're really willing to pay the price to go all the way through. Because unless you're willing to forsake everything, really you can't be my disciple.

Heavy, hard words. And then he said salt is good, but if the salt has lost its tang, who will use it for seasoning? It is neither fit for the land nor for the dunghill, but men will cast it out. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.

Salt, Witness, and the Pharisees’ Complaint

In those days, salt was used for three basic things. Salt was used, number one, as a preservative. When they would butcher, they would roast the meat right away, that meat that they didn't roast, they would salt because they did not have refrigeration.

And the salt has an antiseptic type of an effect. It kills the bacteria on the surface of the meat and preserves the meat. Salt was used as a seasoning to flavor the food like we use salt today to add a little zing to the food, to the taste.

Oats without salt are flat. Just a little salt really makes a difference. Every once in a while when we were kids, mom would forget to put the salt in. Oh man, was that flat. Potatoes without salt, mashed potatoes, flat.

Amazing what a little salt will do for mashed potatoes. You're the salt. Salt is good, but if it's lost its savor, it's not good. Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount talked about salt in an earlier part of his ministry.

You're the salt of the earth. Again, talking about if the salt has lost its savor, wherewith will it be salted? Henceforth good for nothing but to be cast out and trodden under the foot of man. Salt is good if it's tangy.

If it isn't, it's worthless. The third purpose for salt was to put it on the paths to kill the vegetation so that they would keep the paths cleared from vegetation by just putting salt on it. And the salt destroys the vegetation from growing on the pathway.

So it was a weed killer. You as a child of God should have a preserving effect in the society in which you live. Our rotten society testifies against the church, bears witness against the church. But you should have sort of a, what should you say, a zingy effect wherever you go.

You should add zest and flavor because of your walk with Jesus Christ. Salt has another capacity of making people thirsty, and you should be creating a thirst in people. Then drew near to him all of the publicans and sinners to hear him.

And the Pharisees and the scribes murmured saying, this man receives sinners and he eats with them. Notice the four groups that had gathered divided into two categories. First of all, the publicans and sinners, publicans were the tax collectors, the outcast of that society, one of the most hated persons in the community.

They were considered by the Jews to be traitors and quislings, and they were always classified with sinners. And so the publicans and the sinners had gathered to hear Jesus. It's amazing that many of the publicans were attracted to Jesus.

Matthew was a publican called to be a disciple. He left his receipt of customs and he followed Jesus. Zacchaeus was a publican. And after his encounter with Jesus, he said, behold, I'll take half of my goods.

They were always wealthy people. I'll take half of my goods and give it to the poor. And if I have taken fraudulently from many men, I'll restore to him twofold. Jesus said, ah, today salvation has come to this house.

Obviously, the publicans were attracted to Jesus as were the sinners because he had a message of hope for them. They gathered to hear. But the others, the Pharisees and the scribes, they gathered to find fault.

They were looking for things by which they might accuse Jesus, waiting for a slip up, waiting for some mistake so that they could pounce upon it and accuse him. And so they began to say, murmuring, he receives sinners and eats with them.

They thought that they were saying something horrible in condemning him. But in reality, they were proclaiming a glorious gospel. Jesus receives sinners. And you can become one with him. John wrote and said, that which we have seen and heard, declare we unto you that you might have fellowship with us.

And truly, our fellowship is with the Father and his Son, Jesus Christ. He receives sinners and he eats with them. He becomes one with them. He dips in the same sop with them. He eats the same bread with them.

He's identifying with them. Yes, he does. Thank God he does. And because he does, there's hope for every one of us. And so there were those that were hearing him, desiring to hear him. And there were those who were seeking to find fault with him, looking for something to condemn.

The Lost Sheep and the Joy of Repentance

Now, what should have been if they were truly righteous men, the Pharisees and the scribes, if they were truly righteous man, what should be their attitude when sinners were responding to the gospel? What should be the reaction if we see sinners saved?

I oftentimes hear people criticize Billy Graham and his campaigns. And you see hundreds of people flowing forward to accept Jesus Christ. And they say, yes, but a lot of them don't stick. You know, and it's sour apples, rather than saying, oh, bless God, you know, look at that.

Praise the Lord, you know, and rejoicing that all these people are accepting the Lord. There's just, you know, they're looking for something to find fault. Oh, you know, he preaches a cheap gospel or something.

And when the hippies were coming to Jesus by the hundreds, as I was going across the country, I'd have pastors come up to me and say, I saw pictures of your baptism at Corona Del Mar, but when are they going to cut their hair?

You know, rather than saying, I saw the pictures and my a thousand young people being baptized. How glorious. Oh, bless God. That's glorious. That's thrilling. You know, they've got to pick on something and can't really rejoice that the Lord receives sinners, but there's sour apples over it.

Jealous or whatever. And so Jesus spoke this parable unto them, unto who? Unto the Pharisees, the scribes, because of their sour apple remark. And he said, what man of you, if you have a hundred sheep and you lose one of them, will you not leave the 99 in the wilderness and go after that which is lost until you find it?

And when you have found it, you lay it upon your shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, and he says unto them, rejoice with me, for I have found my lost sheep, my sheep that was lost.

So when you find the lost sheep, there is the rejoicing. There's the rejoicing in the neighborhood. Rejoice, I've found the lost sheep. And then Jesus said unto you, I say unto you that likewise joy shall be in heaven.

Over one sinner that repents. More than 99 just persons who don't need to repent. So while the guys down here are saying when they're going to cut their hair, the angels are up having a whoopee time rejoicing that the lost has been found.

Joy in heaven. And either what woman who has ten pieces of silver, if she loses one piece, does not lie to a candle and sweep the house and seek diligently until she find it. And when she had found it, she called her friends and her neighbors together saying, rejoice with me, for I have found the piece that was lost.

Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repents. Again, the natural response to finding that which is lost is rejoicing. And the Lord said there's joy in heaven over just one sinner who repents.

The Prodigal Son Returns to the Father

And then he said a certain man had two sons and the younger of them said to his father, father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. And so he divided unto him his living. Now, under the law, when there were two sons, the older son received two thirds of the inheritance and the younger son received one third of the inheritance.

That was just the law. And many times if a father wanted to retire, he would divide the inheritance to the sons before his death. It would automatically belong to the son after the death of the father.

But this boy had the audacity to come to his dad and say, dad, I'd like my inheritance now. And so the father divided the inheritance. And not many days after the younger son had gathered everything together, he took his journey into a far country and there he wasted his substance with riotous living.

And when he had spent everything, there arose a mighty famine in that land and he began to be in want. And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country and he sent him into the fields to feed the swine, which was, of course, a a job that was forbidden to the Jews.

Cursed is the man that feeds the swine. And he fain would have filled his belly with the husk that the swine did eat. And no man would give to him. And so when he came to himself, he said, how many hired servants of my father's have enough bread that they can spare?

And yet I'm dying with hunger. I will arise and go to my father and will say to him, father, I have sinned against heaven and before thee, I'm no more worthy to be called your son, but make me as one of your hired servants.

And he arose and he came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. And the son said unto him, father, I have sinned against heaven and in thy sight, I'm no more worthy to be called thy son.

But the father said to his servants, bring forth the best robe, put it on him. Put a ring on him, family signet ring and put shoes on his feet. Shoes on the feet were significant because the slaves were never given shoes.

Only the family members, only the son. The slaves were never given shoes by their masters. That's why in that old Negro spiritual that came out of the slave days, you got a shoes, I got a shoes, all God's children got shoes.

When we get to heaven, going to put on our shoes. Not going to be a slave anymore. I'm a son, I'm a child of God. And and that that him look forward to that day when they would have shoes, they would be a claim.

The sons of God in that heavenly kingdom, because that was just one thing about slavery. You never gave your slave a pair of shoes, so the sons that I I'm not worthy to be, you know, called your son just a servant.

The dead didn't even let him finish his speech. He said, put the shoes on him and bring hither the fatted calf and kill it. And let us eat and let's be merry for this. My son was dead and is alive again.

The Older Brother and the Pharisaical Heart

He was lost in his found and they began to be merry. Now, his elder son was in the field. And as he came and drew night at the house, he heard the music. He saw the dancing. And he called one of the servants and he said, what's going on?

And he said to him, your brothers come home and your father has killed the fatted calf because he has received him safe and sound. And he was angry and would not go in. And therefore, his father came out and entreated him.

And he, answering, said to his father, lo, these many years I have served thee and I didn't transgress at any time your commandment. And yet you never gave me a kid that I might have a party with my friends.

But as soon as this, your son was come who has devoured your living with prostitutes. You've killed for him the fatted calf. Now, here is really the real point of the parable, though it may teach many things.

The parable was intended against the Pharisees. All three were actually, but he's building up in the parables. In each of them, there is something lost that was found. And the result of finding that which was lost was rejoicing, happiness.

Jesus receives sinners. That shouldn't be said in a derogatory sense. That should be said in a rejoicing sense. Jesus receives sinners. There's hope, friend. Rejoice. Jesus receives sinners. And yet they were not saying it with that inflection, but they were saying it in a derogatory sense.

He receives sinners and eats with them. And so were the natural reaction to finding something that is lost should be rejoicing. The Pharisees are angry. They're condemning. They're sitting back and judging.

And so the story was given. And in the third story, Jesus adds the older brother and his attitude towards the rejoicing because the father receives sinners. And here he is out there, sulking, angry, upset.

I'm not going to join in. You've never done anything like this for me. And his sulking attitude because the father received the sinner. He went out and spent everything he had on prostitutes. He's a sinner.

Yet you have a big party because he comes on the same attitude that the Pharisees were expressed expressing to me. It is interesting that the father said, son, you are ever with me and all that I have is yours.

You see, the younger son had taken his inheritance. So everything that was left belonged to the older son. All that I have is yours. And it was necessary that we should have this party and be glad for this.

Your brother was dead and is alive again. He was lost and is found because the Lord receives sinners and eats with them. The lost is found. Jesus said, I've come to seek and to save that which was lost.

And so we so often hear marvelous sermons preached from the parable of the prodigal son. But rarely do we ever hear a message that really gives the true meaning of the parable or the real reason for the parable.

The reason wasn't just to show the father receiving with joy a son that was lost. But the parable was used to show the Pharisees how wrong was their condemnation of him when they said he receives sinners and eats with them.

They should have been rejoicing over it rather than griping over it. May God help us that we will not have a pharisaical attitude towards the work of God in receiving sinners. Because maybe he is receiving them at some other church in the county rather than here.

It doesn't matter where he receives them. Let's rejoice he is receiving them. Let's pray that God will send a great spiritual awakening throughout the county in every church. Let's not be so short-sighted or narrow-minded that we're only praying for God's blessing upon Calvary Chapel because God knows we can't house them all.

Rejoicing in Revival Across All Churches

But let us begin to really pray that God will revive his church throughout this entire county. And that sinners will be brought to Christ. That the Lord might receive sinners anywhere, everywhere. That there will be revival in the Baptist church, in the Methodist church, in the Lutheran churches, in the Presbyterian churches.