{"id":192,"date":"2002-10-13T16:14:01","date_gmt":"2002-10-13T16:14:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/?p=192"},"modified":"2020-12-02T14:37:34","modified_gmt":"2020-12-02T14:37:34","slug":"be-my-guest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/be-my-guest\/","title":{"rendered":"Be My Guest"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Matthew 22:1-14<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

October 13, 2002<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sermon preached by the Rev. Donald Ng at the First Chinese Baptist Church in San Francisco.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our kids know how to space things out for Dad. Getting all of the bills at once is not helpful. So three years ago, our son, Greg married his college girlfriend Heather. Last year, our daughter, Lauren married her high school boyfriend Dan. Our guests were satisfied. This year Greg and Heather decided to buy their first house and 3 days ago, they made me a \u201cgrandfather.\u201d They know to space things out for good, old Dad. I don\u2019t even want to imagine what next year will bring!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paying for two weddings in the span of 3 years takes money. According to Bride\u2019s Magazine<\/em>, it takes close to $19,000 to turn a dream day into reality. For some of you who are about to experience this \u201cgood, old Dad\u201d honor, here\u2019s what you can look forward to:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            Stationary                    $374<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            Flowers                       775<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            Photography                1,253<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            Wedding favors          240<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            Music                          745<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            Limo rental                 427<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            Attendants\u2019 gifts         299<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            Wedding rings            1,060<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            Engagement rings       2,982<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            Rehearsal dinner         762<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            Bride\u2019s wedding dress 790<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            Bride\u2019s headpiece       150<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            Bride\u2019s maid dresses   720<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            Mother of the Bride dress 198<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            Groom\u2019s tuxedo          100<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            Groom\u2019s men tux        400<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            Reception                    7,246 (For an average of 186 guests)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            Pastor\u2019s lisee               248<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            Total                            $18,874<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is about $100 per guest. Not a bad down payment on a first house!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wedding Banquet Parable<\/h6>\n\n\n\n

In the parable before us, a king gives a wedding banquet for his son. Since he is a king, unlike a minister like me, naturally he spends more than twice the wedding average of $100 per guest. This daddy puts up $250 per guest!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cooks cook for days, Jars and jars of wine are opened to breathe. Olive-filled lamps are lit. The palace is cleaned, scrubbed and decorated…and not one guest makes even an appearance. \u201cBe my guest,\u201d he had pleaded. And no one showed up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The food is spoiling just like the bananas and vegetables that were on the Oakland docks. The wine cannot be resealed. The king\u2019s good mood has turned to a bad one. Enraged, he sends his troops to destroy the ungrateful guests. Here\u2019s a lesson for us to always RSVP on time! The king makes his point and you can hardly blame him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then he sends his slaves into the streets to gather a bunch of nobodies, commoners, town-folk, plain Janes and regular Joes, and so the wedding hall was filled. The blind, the lame, the beggars, the merchants, the widows, the orphans, the lovely, the mean, the abused, the abusers, the sickly, the strong, the poor, the hungry, the religious, the righteous, farmers, tax collectors, fishermen, homemakers and hookers, the young, the old, the good and the bad\u2014all come and all have a merry time of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is like heaven in there. Salmon and prime rib, bird\u2019s nest soup and shark fin soup, Peking duck and Maine lobster, Just Dessert cakes and Joseph Schmidt chocolates! A band is playing, a beautiful sunset out the palace windows, and a cooling evening breeze swirls around the dance floor. It\u2019s like heaven! What a joyous, grand wedding time for this prince! Now the king is pleased.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Underdressed Guest<\/h6>\n\n\n\n

But when the king came into the banquet hall to meet his guests, sadly, he saw a guest who was underdressed. This is a puzzling part of this story. The king reacts harshly. He said, \u201cFriend.\u201d Now in Matthew, the word, \u201cfriend\u201d always has a negative connotation, something like \u201cBuster.\u201d \u201cHey Buster, how did you get in here without the proper clothes?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The man was speechless, so the king orders the man booted, not merely out the back door but \u201cinto the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.\u201d Wow! That\u2019s really mean!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The king\u2019s actions bother us because we can come up with many good excuses for this underdressed guest. You see, there have been times when we\u2019ve been to a wedding banquet or a birthday party feeling underdressed. All these people are wearing long gowns and tuxedos but you have on an Old Navy T-shirt\/Eddie Bauer golf shirt and a pair of Gap\/J. Crew kakkis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How could this guest be expected to have a wedding garment when he like the other guests, was recruited right off the streets? A man plowing the field or unloading trucks cannot be expected to pack a wedding garment in his lunch box just in case a late-breaking invitation comes his way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Christian Life<\/h6>\n\n\n\n

But this is not an ordinary story. This is a parable with things representing other things. The \u201cwedding garment\u201d symbolizes the Christian life. This garment represents putting on the baptismal garment of Christ. By being clothed with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience as recorded in Colossians 3<\/a>, we are being attired to be in God\u2019s own likeness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This scene that the king catches the guest without a wedding garment is actually a picture of the end of time, when God comes as a judge. Just coming to the banquet is not enough. Just standing at the punch bowl is not enough. What is needed is a wedding garment to fulfill the king\u2019s requirement at the banquet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The verse, \u201cFor many are called, but few are chosen.\u201d means \u201cGod wants everybody at the party, but not everybody wants to come or knows how to behave when they get there.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jesus\u2019 parable urgently reminds us that being a part of the Christian life should make a visible difference in who we are and how we live. There should be a sense of awe and responsiveness about belonging to the church, belonging to the community of Christ, being a child of the kingdom of heaven.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just imagine what this guest on the street looks like who was persuaded to come to the banquet. He\u2019s probably wearing cutoffs and sneakers, but when he got inside, only a fool would fail to see the difference between what he wore and where he was. He was in the banquet hall of the king; he was at the wedding feast for the royal son.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The table was set with the finest food; the best wine flowed from regal chalices. He is the recipient of massive grace. Where is his awe? Where is his wonder? Where is his sense of gratitude?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The other guests humbly and quietly traded in their street clothes for the festive wedding garments of respect and celebration. In the presence of the king\u2019s grace, they realized that their lives needed changing. They took off those street clothes that represented their old lives and put on baptismal garments to begin new lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s like when you have to borrow a sports jacket at the Awanhna Hotel in Yosemite! But there he is, standing next to the punch bowl, stuffing his mouth with sushi, and wiping his hands on his T-shirt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When the king demanded to know where his wedding garment is, he was speechless. In his self-absorption of enjoying all of the food at the banquet, he was only thinking about his own needs. He probably came into the banquet without the foggiest idea of who was throwing the party. He came only to eat and to enjoy himself. But when he was face to face with his wedding host, he was speechless.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speechless at FCBC<\/h6>\n\n\n\n

We can identify with this underdressed guest because some of us have come into the Christian life and have enjoyed all of its blessings. But these blessings haven\u2019t made much difference in the kinds of persons we are. For a couple of hours on a Sunday morning, we look like angels. But for the rest of the week, we look more like fallen angels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If God came up to us and asked what in the world are you wearing, would we be as speechless as this guest? Why haven\u2019t you put on the baptismal garments like the others to at least begin identifying with what I expect from my guests at the banquet?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If only the underdressed guest had replied to the king. If only he had apologized, asked for forgiveness, humbly pleaded for understanding, then maybe he might have stayed. The king would have shown compassion and forgiveness because he was only looking for a RSVP! Instead he was speechless.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

God is always giving a banquet for his son, Jesus at First Chinese Baptist Church. Our church is the banquet hall. God is not saying that you have to wear an actual tuxedo or a gown to come. God is saying that all of us are invited to come but when we do come, he expects us to live lives that are different from the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When we come to God\u2019s banquet, we are to ask for the forgiveness of our sins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When we come to God\u2019s banquet, we are to praise God for his generosity and grace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When we come to God\u2019s banquet, we should know that it is God who is throwing a party for his royal son, Jesus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When we come to God\u2019s banquet, we are expected to trade in our plain street clothes for festive baptismal garments because of God\u2019s mercy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When we come to God\u2019s banquet, we should not be speechless but we should be coming to testify the love of God in our lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lessons to Learn<\/h6>\n\n\n\n

From this parable, we can learn three things.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First, all people have been invited to God\u2019s banquet. God spends a lot of money on the cost of stationary, invitations, envelopes, and stamps to invite every person, the good and the bad and the in-between to his heavenly party. All of us receive a handwritten invitation with our names on it and urged to prepare ourselves for the heavenly banquet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

God\u2019s plan is for no one to be excluded on that final day when Jesus, the royal Son whose God is throwing the party for comes again. We are all invited by the grace of God, to experience the blessings of salvation now, and to share in God\u2019s eternal glory later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Second, there is a dress code. The invitation clearly says, \u201cBaptismal garments required.\u201d This means donning the garments of salvation and the righteousness of Christ. If we expect to attend God\u2019s banquet with the plain clothes that we have in our closets of self-importance, self-righteousness, self-conceit, we\u2019ll get bounced out the back door. God\u2019s invitation, as extravagant and as open as it is, still carries responsibilities for our part. We have to trade in our plain clothes for baptismal garments. We have to RSVP that we are coming!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And finally, a lesson that we can learn from this parable is that the church is not a club with closed membership. Too often, we take our model of what church is from the culture around us. We think of the church as we would the YMCA across the street. We join, pay our dues, and in return we expect fresh towels, clean bathrooms, and scented soap for our use. Such inwardness leads us to become a closed church, not at all the kingdom that Jesus talked about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

God\u2019s kingdom is outward, inclusive, welcoming, beckoning, inviting and open. It is also about service, not about being served.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last Sunday at the Membership Meeting, something happened that reminded me that FCBC is a place where God is throwing a banquet. As we were gathering on the sidewalk with our trays of chicken buns and hot tea, we noticed the older Chinese woman with the cane. During the weekdays, she sits on the stoop of our 1 Waverly Place entrance. When I past her on the street, she would yell out to me \u201cGod bless you!\u201d Last Sunday, this woman without a word, came up and took one of the buns. I noticed that she was brought up properly because she also took a napkin. After a few minutes, she came again and helped herself to another bun. She agreed with me that they were tasty and better for us than the pork buns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This parable teaches us that all people are invited to God\u2019s banquet. Sharing a bun or two with a neighbor is a small way that we can share God\u2019s invitation to others. Who knows what two little chicken buns might say to this older woman? Maybe God has plans with her that we don\u2019t know about. Maybe someday, she might trade in her plain street clothes for the festive baptismal garments. My only regret and confession are that I didn\u2019t go up to her and ask if she would like to have another bun!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

God is calling us, \u201cBe my guest!\u201d Let\u2019s all RSVP and show up!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let us pray.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gracious Lord God, we are thankful for your invitation to come to your banquet. Before we come, we pray that we would change our clothes of self-absorption for baptismal garments that humbly confess that we need forgiveness and healing in our lives. Teach us not to be speechless but to testify our faith that Jesus Christ is Lord. Amen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Matthew 22:1-14 October 13, 2002 Sermon preached by the Rev. Donald Ng at the First Chinese Baptist Church in San Francisco. Our kids know how to space things out forContinue readingBe My Guest<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[11,12],"class_list":["post-192","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-donald-ng-sermons","tag-fcbc","tag-matthew"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=192"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2384,"href":"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192\/revisions\/2384"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=192"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=192"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=192"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}