Lessons from the Gospels – The Wedding, Part 4.

It’s time to wrap up our discussion of the wedding of all weddings – that of the bride (the church) to the Lamb of God.

We’ve talked about making excused not to attend, showing up without your wedding garments, and not preparing for the long wait. Today, let’s talk about would-be scene stealers.

1.      Making a scene

Entitled. It’s a dirty word these days. Maybe it always has been.  We all know people whose money or job or celebrity status makes them feel entitled. Jesus had a warning about entitlement and attending the Wedding Feast.

Luke 14:7-11 [ESV] 7 Now he told a parable to those who were invited, when he noticed how they chose the places of honor, saying to them, 8 "When you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, do not sit down in a place of honor, lest someone more distinguished than you be invited by him, 9 and he who invited you both will come and say to you, 'Give your place to this person,' and then you will begin with shame to take the lowest place. 10 But when you are invited, go and sit in the lowest place, so that when your host comes he may say to you, 'Friend, move up higher.' Then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at table with you. 11 For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."

None of us know where we will sit at the Wedding Feast of the Lamb or what jobs we my have or number of cities to rule in Christ’s Kingdom – except the disciples who Jesus told that they would sit on thrones and judge the 12 tribes of Israel. [See Matthew 19:28]

In Luke 14, Jesus warned us about thinking we will own a high position. It is not for us to exalt ourselves – not in this life nor in our assumptions about the next.

Jesus had a little experience with this among His 12 disciples. James and John, whom Jesus nicknamed “the sons of thunder”, asked to be seated at Jesus’ right and left hands in the Kingdom. That a pretty entitled request. You can read about it in Mark 10:35-40. Jesus had to snap them back into reality. These places were open for the asking. Jesus said that God the Father prepared (or will prepare) those seats for specific people. Even Jesus would not pick those “chief seats”. Certainly, we cannot pick them for ourselves.

Thankfully, most of us know better than to sit at the table with the bride, groom, and their wedding party unless we have been asked to do so. Often, at least in wedding in America, the rest of the tables are not specifically assigned, but are up for grabs. Thankfully, though, in more formal weddings, where the bride and groom might want their close family in specific seats, they put out place cards or at least “reserved” signs. 

 The thing is, God has places reserved for us. It took the blood of Jesus and our humble acknowledgement of sin and acceptance of His sacrifice to even get us invited to the wedding. We should not now fall into a feeling of entitlement about where we should sit in the Kingdom.

To be clear, salvation is the free gift of God. We cannot earn it. But Jesus taught us, in many lessons, that our rewards – our places or positions, if you will – are earned by serving God and our fellow man. You can read the parable of the talents and the story of Jesus judging the sheep and goats – both found in Matthew 25. Also, James has almost a whole chapter on how our faith is shown in the works we do. [James 2, beginning in verse 14]

It seems clear to me that it is our job to do the work of preaching the gospel and to serve our fellow man, understanding that we will receive what is right for our service to the Father and mankind. We “see through a glass darkly” when it comes to all that is in store for us in His Kingdom. We rejoice it what the scripture tells us about it – for example that there will be no more war or death or crying, and that some will rule a number of cities. But we don’t have all the details. So, any assumptions about position or place would be futile.

Sweet sisters, we can and should get excited about being invited to the marriage of the Lamb. It should cause use to prepare enthusiastically and thoroughly, and to wait with unflagging excitement.

Let’s prepare with:

1.      Commitment to attend, rather than excuses for why we cannot.

2.      The right garments of the fine white linen of righteousness.

3.      Plenty of oil to last through what might be a very long wait.

4.      Humility about what our places might be, while focusing on doing the work we need to be doing now.

I just love a wedding. I can remember being so very excited about my own. And I was thrilled attend many weddings of family and friends.

It seems clear to me that God and Jesus are excited about the upcoming wedding of the Bride and the Lamb.

For now, we have work to do to be prepared to take our places at that wedding feast.

I welcome your comments and questions. You can write me in the comments or email me at Nancy@dyamicchristianministries.org