Few are Chosen

Thursday, July 07, 2011, 6:30 a.m. – The song, “When I’m With You,” was playing in my mind when I awoke this morning. Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.

When I’m With You / An Original Work / April 22, 2011

When I’m with You, Lord, hear my cries.
Soon I’ll be with You, by Your side.
Harken to me; Lord, hear my plea
When I’m with You and You’re with me

Precious Savior, Lord, and my friend,
Life with You has no final end.
I’ll reign with You eternally
When I’m with You and You’re with me.

Father, God, my only desire.
Your word is in me like a fire.
I’ll sing Your praise all of my days
When I’m with You and You’re with me.

Song Lyrics @ Public Domain

Link to song

I read Matthew 21:28-32 and Matthew 22:1-14 for my time with the Lord:

The Parable of the Two Sons

28 “What do you think? There was a man who had two sons. He went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work today in the vineyard.’
29 “‘I will not,’ he answered, but later he changed his mind and went.

30 “Then the father went to the other son and said the same thing. He answered, ‘I will, sir,’ but he did not go.

31 “Which of the two did what his father wanted?”

“The first,” they answered.

Jesus said to them, “I tell you the truth, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you. 32 For John came to you to show you the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes did. And even after you saw this, you did not repent and believe him.

The Parable of the Wedding Banquet

1 Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying: 2 “The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son. 3 He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused to come.
4 “Then he sent some more servants and said, ‘Tell those who have been invited that I have prepared my dinner: My oxen and fattened cattle have been butchered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.’

5 “But they paid no attention and went off—one to his field, another to his business. 6 The rest seized his servants, mistreated them and killed them. 7 The king was enraged. He sent his army and destroyed those murderers and burned their city.

8 “Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come. 9 Go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find.’ 10 So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, both good and bad, and the wedding hall was filled with guests.

11 “But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. 12 ‘Friend,’ he asked, ‘how did you get in here without wedding clothes?’ The man was speechless.

13 “Then the king told the attendants, ‘Tie him hand and foot, and throw him outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

14 “For many are invited, but few are chosen.”

My Understanding: Two sons. One said “yes.” One said “no.” The one who initially said “no” changed his mind and did what the father asked. The one who initially said “yes” did not follow through on what he said he would do. Jesus asked, “Which one did what the father wanted? The obvious answer was that it was the one who said “no” but changed his mind and later obeyed. Jesus used this parable to illustrate how many Jews had professed belief in God the Father and had thus said “yes” to God, at least with their voices or minds, yet they failed to follow through on their verbal and/or public commitment to God, especially with regard to accepting Jesus Christ as God’s son and as their promised Messiah. Yet, many of those who were outside of faith in God (non-Jews), and were living what we might consider to be really sinful lifestyles, heard the gospel, believed and were saved. Even after the Jews saw the faith in Jesus Christ of the non-Jews, and even after John the Baptist came to show them the way of righteousness, still they did not repent and believe in Jesus.

This describes many professing Christians today, as well. Many have made professions of faith in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord but have not followed through with the commitment they had made to turn from their sin and to walk in obedience to Jesus Christ. Many more never made such commitments in the first place because they believed a false gospel which teaches that repentance and obedience are not necessary for salvation. So, their “yes” to Jesus was made under false assumptions. Either way, many of these who have said “yes” to Jesus Christ for him to provide them with salvation from sin have never turned from their sins and have not walked in obedience to Jesus Christ. Many of these have lived religious lives, have faithfully attended and served in church, and have done things in the name of the Lord, but they did not repent of their sins and they did not follow Jesus Christ in obedience where he would lead them. God has sent many messengers to show them the way of repentance and of true faith in Jesus Christ, but they still have not repented. Yet, many who had no pretense of Christianity at all have turned, have believed and are saved.

The parable of the wedding banquet follows along similar lines of thought. The king is God the Father and his Son is Jesus Christ, God the Son. The wedding banquet is that of the bride of Christ, his true church, with their Savior and husband, Jesus Christ, when he returns for them one day. Jesus was speaking of the Jews who had been invited but who refused to come, yet many people today have been invited through Jesus’ death and resurrection, crucifying our sins, burying them, and then triumphing over them so that we could be set free from our sins – from the ultimate penalty of sin and from the control of sin over our day-to-day lives. Many think they have accepted his invitation to come to faith in Jesus Christ because they joined a church or because they prayed a sinner’s prayer at an altar or were baptized, but true faith in Jesus Christ is coupled with repentance and obedience, so if we say we believe and yet we refuse to turn from our sins and to obey the Lord, then it is the same as refusing his invitation to come to the wedding banquet.

God is sending out his messengers and servants to call those invited guests to come to the wedding banquet, i.e. he is using his servants and messengers to speak to those who have been called to faith in Jesus Christ and to ask them to repent of their sins and to walk humbly in faith and obedience to Jesus Christ, yet many are not paying attention and are just going about their daily business as though the messengers are just religious fanatics and not worthy of their time or regard. These professing Christians think they have their ticket to heaven and so they are not the least bit concerned about their salvation or how their life choices might affect the outcome of their future and their eternity with or without God. They figure they “believe” and so are eternally secure and thus obedience and repentance are more something they can do or not do and still be in a right relationship with God, and they think that God is still pleased with them. They need to read the scriptures, because that is not what Jesus taught and it is not what the apostles taught.

So, since those invited guests did not come, i.e. the institutional church turned away many of God’s messengers, the Lord has asked his servants to go out into the highways and byways of life and to invite anyone who will listen, i.e. he is sending his servants out into the world to invite the world because those who initially said “yes” did not follow through with their commitment and now their eyes are blinded and their ears closed and they are refusing to listen and to obey the Lord Jesus Christ. So, forced out of the church, many of these servants and witnesses are sharing the messages out where people will listen.

I am not certain who “the man” represents, but he obviously represents someone who was invited and who showed up, thinking that he had made the necessary preparations, only to learn that he did not have the appropriate attire, i.e. he was not dressed in wedding clothes. This could be a picture of the church today with so many people inside in appearance only but who are not genuinely saved and thus are not fitted with the proper attire for entrance into God’s eternal kingdom. To me, this is a warning that we need to make sure we are in a right relationship with Jesus Christ. We need to ask ourselves, “Have we repented of our sins? Have we had a radical transformation of our lives to where we left our old lives behind and have been changed into someone else?” Some of us may have believed in Jesus Christ as children and so we didn’t have a big, huge change, but there should have been a change of mind, heart, attitude and behavior that took place when we believed in Jesus Christ, which has continued throughout our Christian lives, though not in sinless perfection.

You don’t want to be the one who thinks he is going to heaven only to find out he is not, so I pray that you will make sure today that you have turned from your sin and that you are walking in faith and obedience to Jesus Christ, because one day he will return for his bride.

In That Day / An Original Work / May 21, 2011

Based off of Isaiah 12

In that day you will say: “I will praise You, Lord.
I know You were angry; anger’s turned away.
God is my salvation; I’ll trust; not afraid.
The Lord, the Lord, my strength; the Lord, Lord, my song;
He is my salvation; Lord, my comforter.”
With joy you’ll draw water from salvation’s wells.

In that day you will say: “Give thanks to the Lord.
Call on His holy name; make Him known today.
Proclaim: He’s exalted. Tell what He has done.
Sing, for He is glorious; make this known to all.
Shout aloud; sing for joy, people of Zion;
Great is the Holy One, who among us dwells.”

Song Lyrics @ Public Domain

Link to song