HH, Sir Godfrey Gregg D.Div

And sent his servant at supper time to say to them that were bidden, Come; for all things are now ready. ¹⁸ And they all with one consent began to make excuse. The first said unto him, I have bought a piece of ground, and I must needs go and see it: I pray thee have me excused. ²¹ So that servant came, and shewed his lord these things. Then the master of the house being angry said to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind.–Luke 14:17-18, 21

Don’t Let Pride, Anxiety or Family Keep You Away

Next, note the excuses of the invited guests, and see first the points in which they differ.

• The first had bought a piece of ground–it was pride in what he possessed that kept him back.
• The second wanted to prove his yoke of oxen–it was the cares and the worries of his work that filled him.
• The third had married a wife (and he was the only one who was uncivil: he had lost his manners since his marriage) –it was the ties and claims of the home that hindered him.

The guests all differed in their excuses, then, as men do still when they make light of the invitations of the Gospel. But at some points, they all agreed, and we must note at least two of these.

Firstly, not one of them was kept away by occupations sinful in themselves.

Secondly, the root of the whole matter was indifference: had they cared enough, they could all have gone.

There was nothing sinful in buying a piece of ground. There was no harm in proving a yoke of oxen. But things that are quite lawful in their own place prove hindrances and offences in the first; and it was into the first place that these things had crept, with the men who all began to make excuse. Are you so busy and glad about other things that you are really indifferent to God? Is your whole day a silent prayer to God to have you excused from accepting His calls? God grant it be not so. “Keep Christ in His own place–and His place is the first.”

Do you have an ear to hear the cal;l of the Lord during these times as we pray and fast to accept the will of the Master? Leave what you are doing and move on to the high calling in the Lord Jesus as He calls I pray that you will answer and say “Here am I.”

TO BE CONTINUED TOMORROW …..