TREASURY OF SERMONS
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Are You The Odd One Out?
By Rev (Dr) Timothy Tow
(Preached at Life BPC, 8am Service, 19 Sept 1999)
Text: Matt 22:1-14. And he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless (v.12).
The kingdom of heaven is like a king making a wedding feast for his son. This leads us to the Marriage Supper of the Lamb in Rev 19:7-9. Those who are bidden and clad in white linen are true Christians, whose sins are forgiven.
Talking about wedding feasts with which I am constantly involved, I have noticed those who pay near 4 figures a table, thanks to rich parents or parents-in-law. (The love of parents is reflected in the King over his Son.)
But I have a solution for hard-earning young people. Is there a better setting for a buffet dinner than under the royal palms of our own Church compound based at the kindergarten porch, all ready made? Ten thousands are saved while it makes it much pleasanter to attend, right on the spot, without that laborious trip to the hotel, which takes you up to 11.00 pm in the night.
Now the King's wedding feast for His Son is none other than the Gospel invitation to sinners. The feast is the salvation offered to those who attend. The servants are the prophets, pastors, who bear the message. Incidentally FEBC is holding a Gospel Rally on Oct 9, 7.30 pm and Rev Goh Seng Fong is speaker. May Lifers all support the Gospel campaign by bringing our unsaved friends.
Though the invitation is given out, those bidden to come excuse themselves for they are too busily involved with their farms and merchandise. That is the attitude of the rich. In another parable similar to this one, their excuses are the same. "We have bought a land, we have bought five yoke of oxen, we have just got married." Jesus says, "that a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven. And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God " (Matt 19:23 ,24).
Some of the servants got a beating and some were slain. That is what the churches in Indonesia went through recently, but God is a God of justice. While the Government's hands are tied, the Lord will deal justly with those who reject His grace accordingly.
As there were many vacancies, the King now sent his servants to the highways and brought in both bad and good. Who are those on the highways? These are the lower-income group, the poor and the struggling along life's way. During the Japanese occupation, everyone of us wage-earners, being underpaid, were hungry. I was one of them. O, the sweetness that lingers in my palate to this day of the Chinese dinner to which we were invited. Fried mee with sprinkling of sugar became a delicacy. This is the appreciative attitude of the poor.
Thus it is on Cambodia that we have poured our resources in our missionary outreach because scores and scores of our impoverished Cambodian brethren are pressing into the Kingdom. ". . .and the poor have the gospel preached to them" (Matt 11:5).
We have revealed to us in this parable the nonchalant attitude of the rich and the enthusiastic reception of the poor, but what is the position of this single fellow sorted out by the King? He wears no wedding garment. What do you think of one who comes to a high occasion as this shabbily dressed?
I have no doubt he is an insolent fellow. He represents some of those who are constrained to attend Church by their God-fearing parents. Now that they are grown up, they refuse to come, or they come in total defiance. Is this not reflected in the high dropout rate in many a church? If they come to Church once in a long while, their physical body is there but not their spirit. How sad to receive the King's sentence. The man in T-shirt and slippers, with unkempt hair, perhaps, is taken out to outer darkness and cast away for he is not covered by the white robe of the Lamb. This third category manifests that rebellious spirit.
The rich lost out by default, the rebellious spurn His salvation but the poor and humble are blessed. Which of these three are you?
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