From Grace to Grass

…  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. And the servant said, Lord, it is done as thou hast commanded, and yet there is room. And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled. (Luke 14: 21 -23)

And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment: And he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless. Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. For many are called, but few are chosen. (Matthew 22:11 – 14)

It is very sad that most of the ‘gospel’ being preached makes us into reservoirs of all that God has to offer instead of the soil that God deposits His treasure in to get a harvest.

Why do I say that? Most of the sermons being preached are presenting a God who only has everything to offer without requiring anything substantial from us. The only requirement that is emphasized is that we give this or the other offering, as if God needs our gifts. But even then it is so that the ‘man/ woman of God’ can function. We forget that He as the creator really needs nothing.

Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? (Micah 6:7)

Nothing we give can please Him unless it is our whole being.

In the passages above we see someone who took the kind of Gospel we are preaching to heart and lived it practically. The king had compelled people to come for the wedding party for his son without requiring anything in return. And that is what grace is. But he decided to stop there and enjoy the riches of that grace without caring to know who had invited him. To him enjoying the party was the end of the invitation like most preachers seem to imply.

But it was the king who had sent the invitation. Getting through the gate was the first part of the party. His kingdom must be seen all through the party.

You see it was for the purposes of demonstrating the generosity of his kingdom that he had compelled the rejects to be brought in. Nobody therefore had anything to boast about for being in the party. The ones who deserved had taken that invitation for granted and had to be killed (Matthew’s account). Their treatment of that invite to the palace had brought them swift judgment. And I think this is why we see ministers being sent to hell as they had taken their proximity to the King for granted. No wonder we see the undeserving being the ones who will enjoy the kingdom. And it could be the reason the statement about the first being the last and the last being the first is repeated a few times in Christ’s teachings. It is possible to be punished for having a relationship to the King if you became too familiar to Him as to treat Him as your contemporary.

But we are looking at those who attended the party. All had been invited to the party just the way they were. The beggars came in wearing their beggar attire. The prostitutes came in with their flimsy tempting attire. The crippled came in with clothes that were not only filthy from their manner of locomotion but most likely torn from walking on other parts of the body than the feet. The blind most likely had clothes with many blood stains from his so often collision with things as he walked. The poor may have had worn out clothes or probably none at all.

What does the king do to these people so that they become his public relations exercise to other nations? Surely his asking them to come the way they were was not enough to demonstrate what his kingdom was like. He had to do something else.

He must have taken each of them to the royal baths and ordered his servants to give them a thorough bath, a bath worthy of the kingdom. Their clothes were left at the entrance to the baths, probably to be burnt up.

Thereafter they were each given royal attire, with the ones unable to dress on their own being assisted by the royal wardrobe experts.

You can therefore imagine the king’s consternation on seeing someone without the royal attire. How had he gotten to the party? Who gave him permission to get there just the way he had come in?

He may have been dressed well enough that he thought he did not need to wear any other clothes. He may have had very expensive clothes that he could not imagine being burnt with those of the despicable classes. He may have thought not to burden the king as he was able to dress well on his own. He may have been among the group that had originally been invited to the party and felt pity on the king when most of them had refused to come and was therefore saving the day for the king.

But he forgot that he was dealing with a sovereign, one who owned not only everything in the kingdom but also everyone in that kingdom. He forgot that the king is the only one in the kingdom who set rules and whose suggestions are law. He forgot that the king had absolute and unquestionable authority in his domain. And of course he forgot that this same king could have easily ordered all his subjects to walk naked if he so wished and there was nothing any subject in his dominion could do.

Some theologians argue that Ahasuerus had actually ordered Vashti to parade her naked beauty before the king’s friends and that was the reason she had refused to obey that order. But it did not matter whether the king had issued a drunken (because he was then drunk) and foolish order or not; any order he gave was the law, a law that even he could not overthrow. And that was the reason she lost her royal position.

This is what this supposedly friend of the court decided to do. He attended the royal party dressed to kill, but using his own clothes.

How did he get to the party? I suppose that he argued with security that he was well known in the court as he was a constant guest there. Or he may have explained that he was dressed well enough to require any change of clothes. I doubt he sneaked through any hidden entrance. He must have satisfied every other member of the court to allow him join the royal party without needing to change his clothes.

But not the king. To the king it was a shame to be dressed differently from what he had ordered. It was an insult to his kingdom. It was like saying that his kingdom was not rich enough to provide attire for all its guests. That is how bad it looked in the eyes of the king. And that is how he became an instant criminal requiring a capital sentence.

We are here talking about the kingdom of heaven as that was what Christ was doing. We therefore need to draw parallels with our normal lives to benefit from that parable. Then the parable will be useful to our Christian experience.

Who does the parable represent and who am I in the whole story? Let us break down the parable to understand it.

Let us look at the groups. We have the ones who had originally been invited for the party and gave very reasonable excuses to decline the invitation. We then have the thoroughly disadvantaged crowd that was compelled to attend. We finally have this one who was found in the party without the right attire.

The right guests for the king were people of substance, people who were known in the palace. They were people who may not have needed an appointment to get to the palace. The palace was therefore a common thing for them and therefore had lost its awe and desirability. No wonder they had enough excuses to run away from the bother that was just another party in the palace as they had better things to do with their time.

And that was an insult to the king. Proximity to the king is no excuse to overlooking a royal invitation. The fact that they were known in the palace was no excuse for declining a royal invitation. The fact that the king was their personal friend was the cause of their execution instead of their excusal.

Who are these people? They may be ministers who have walked with God for long enough to get thoroughly familiar with Him. In the process they have slowly lost their awe and fear of the King of kings. They think that He will excuse them because they know Him and His kingdom so well. They will therefore assume that He will understand if they choose to seek other pursuits instead of obeying His orders. They will easily assume that since they are part of the kingdom and that whatever they do in the kingdom will ultimately benefit the king they do not necessarily need to obey as precisely as He orders.

How much do I know God? Has my knowledge eroded my great fear for who He is and represents? Could I be ministering in rebellion because my pursuits are still in the ministry direction? Am I assuming His favor instead of seeking clarity from Him? Am I using the momentum I have picked from my long association with Him in ministry? Could I be in a place He ordered me out of decades ago? Are my children or security excuses I am giving to avoid following Him where He is leading?

I will not dwell on the second group much as they have done what they were invited to do. To them it was grace all the way and they were just enjoying the generosity of the king as they marveled at all the glories they were seeing. They couldn’t believe that they wore such glorious attire, attire that was way beyond their wildest dreams.

Let us therefore get to the single man. He comes to the party on his own terms. He has done a good thing in attending the party. In fact I doubt he was in the group that had been compelled to come. His act of obedience was therefore very positive at face value as he had at least attended the party willingly and on his own volition.

But he had decided to save the palace unnecessary expense of having to get him clothes. Or he was probably in such a hurry to eat that that he thought taking all those pains to dress in royal apparel was a waste of time. He probably thought that nobody would notice.

What does that say about our faith? I think the first thing it teaches us is that when we come to Christ we are supposed to come on His terms. We have no choice of the matter as He is the one who has made the invitation. And that is the reason many people through the ages have refused that invitation as they were not desperate enough to require something that is offered free. They must at least come with their own clothes so that they do not burden the palace with something that they can get for themselves. No wonder the down and outs were the one we find joining Christ during His ministry. Unless you are hopeless enough that invitation might end up being the death of you as you will be tempted to chip in so that God does not struggle so hard to save you.

I am reminded of this lady who was carrying a heavy burden on her back. A pickup driver saw her plight and pitied her, giving her a lift. She was so grateful and boarded it. The driver was however shocked when he looked through the rearview mirror and found that she was still carrying her load. On asking, she politely refused, arguing that carrying her was good enough. She did not want to burden the vehicle further with her burden. I believe that this is what this guest did.

But not only does it offend the king as it paints you as one who wants to supplement what the all sufficient king is offering, it is so because it lowers the standard of the palace. This guy went to the party on his own terms and completely overlooked the requirements of the palace. He practically killed the desired appearance the king had prepared for. The beauty, the uniformity, the pomp, the glory were all killed by this single independent guest. And that is the reason he was killed for that slight infraction.

How does that apply to my faith? I am sure that those of us who have accepted Christ’s offer of salvation remember what prompted us to make that decision. For the majority (I doubt there is any other way anyway), it was the burden of our sins that brought us to Christ. Even for those who like me got saved at a very tender age the thing that drove us to the cross was our sins, however innocent they may look in the adult eyes.

How come we are looking for our sufficiency elsewhere? How come our prayer expresses more confidence than desperation about our wretchedness? Why do we find great delight writing our CVs to paint us in very good light? I confess that I really have a problem with preparing a CV due to the fact that there is no place for Christ in it. I dread those times I am required to write it because as a minister I KNOW I am what I am simply and completely because of the investment God has made in me. I do not really have anything to put in my CV as a minister and it pains me when I have to write a resume that is full of my effort and achievements. Could that discomfort be because I fear attending Christ’s party on my attire?

What am I proud of? What makes my day? Where do I get my fulfillment?

Am I like the Pharisee who was praying when he said that he was grateful that he was not like the others? How do I feel because I do not know how alcohol or drugs taste or feel because I got saved as a child? How do I feel when I am ministering to people who are being rescued from the depravity of sin? How do I feel when in the presence of a backslider? How do I feel when my marriage is the only stable one in the church crowd?

Could I be wearing my own clothes in the king’s party? Could I be feeling secretly proud that I am the only one with an unstained character, the one whose clothes could be worn and not shame the king? Am I secretly longing for the king to commend me for the fact that I saved him bathing water and clothes when I came for the party? Could I be longing for Christ to clap for me because my testimony is as powerful, even better than it was twenty years ago because I did not slip like the rest who must be bathed and robed?

I want us to appreciate that this person was not killed because his clothes were dirty or disheveled. I suspect that they were of an excellent quality to have gotten him into the palace. He was killed because he overlooked the provision of the king.

Clothes in the Bible many times represent righteousness. No wonder Adam sewed leaves to cover their sin. Again the Bible talks about our righteousness being like filthy rags before God. We might therefore conclude that going to the king’s party with our own clothes may be compared with using my righteousness to approach and serve God. It totally offends Him.

But finally I want us to look at another aspect of those clothes. Getting into the palace means that I leave the life I used to lead (removing the clothes I used to wear) in exchange with the ones I am offered by the king. I will therefore lead a different way of living to align my life to the expectation of the palace.

Getting saved means that I have died to my past life. Like Galatians 2: 20 says the life I live does not belong to me. Carrying forward with the life that I was saved from is therefore akin to getting to the palace the way I came. I just took the invitation and did not care to know where or who had invited me. I just went to the party to eat and celebrate. And no wonder I still have the clothes I used to wear before I got to the palace. The only thing that identifies me with the palace is my presence and nothing else. I could be out if the food and entertainment was being served outside. The king does not matter a whit to me. I am a stranger in the palace.

Character is one of the clothes the King provides. Prayerfulness is another. The fruit of the Spirit is the crowning of that attire.

Can I really convince myself that my life has changed since I got saved (entered the palace). Could the only compelling evidence about my conversation be my royal jargon or close proximity to people who have the palace attire. What kind of clothes does the King find me in? Do they represent the splendor of His kingdom or are they extensions of my wardrobe?

Have I carried into the palace (Christian life) foibles that were part of my former conversation? Do I still continue with the weaknesses that characterized my life before I got into the palace? Does the King notice me for my distinction from the way of life (dress) of the palace? Do I look different from the ones I am with at the party? Am I allowing the King to constantly change my attire for each day in the palace or am I content with the first ones I was given when I got to the palace?

What baggage have I allowed to accompany me from my former life? Have I allowed my former friends to accompany me to the palace without requiring them to also change their attire? Have I accommodated sin in the guise of inclusiveness and tolerance? Do the friends I had before becoming a Christian see any new clothes or they can only see the new label?

It is vital that I allow the king to give me a complete change of wardrobe. Otherwise I could be worse than the ones who declined the invitation. I might feel very content that I am in the palace but to the King I am really offensive as He looks at me as one who is insulting His hospitality. And that insult is never taken lightly. I could easily cost me my life.

Am I part of the many who have been invited or with the few who are being chosen?

God bless you