Recently I was reading Luke 14: 15-35 and the Lord began to reveal some new things about that passage that I would like to share with you.
First of all, the usual interpretation of the banquet in verses 16-24 is that of the “Marriage Supper of the Lamb” at the end of the age. The servant represents the Christian who is to “evangelize” and gather as many as he can to this banquet. However, what the Lord showed me is that this banquet can also refer to simply feasting in the presence of God. The Lord is sending forth a call through the prompting of His Holy Spirit for us to come and enjoy the bounty of His presence; His glory; His power and might.
The Lord is preparing a table for us, but too often we are like those who found that there were other things in their life that took precedence (verses 18-20). We are so easily distracted by busyness, entertainment, the “American Dream”, and all the other things the world throws our way that time with the Lord is not a priority. So the servant (the Holy Spirit) will go into the streets looking for the poor, maimed, lame and blind. This group represents people who are hungry; who are humbled; who are weak in their own ability and totally dependent upon someone else; and who have nothing else in their life to distract them. This is what we need to become (compare Matt. 5:1-12).
Secondly, we find Jesus talking about the need to be willing to “pay the price” in verses 25-33. This time spent with the Lord will be costly and has to be top priority. If the church is to be built up (verses 28-29) or if spiritual victories are to be won (verses 31-32) we have to be willing to pay the price in prayer and not allow anything to stand in the way.
So often we want to see God’s kingdom come to our communities; we desire to experience revival, for the power of God to touch lives, for souls to be saved, etc. but we are not willing to spend the time we need to in prayer. Oh, we may start out strong in our prayer time, but it doesn’t take long for the distractions to come or weariness to set in and we stop before the “tower is built” or the “battle won.” I know there have been many times in my life when I begin the day with every intention of spending quality time with the Lord, but the phone would ring or someone would come with a problem or something else would happen to distract me from the banquet table. It wouldn’t be long, then, before my prayer time would be just grab a quick bite (if that even) before I went on to do my “real job” instead of feasting in the Lord’s presence until I became full.
Now, the Lord has been showing me that my main job is not my ministry. As pastor, it was not to take care of the needs of the people, nor was it to administrate or prepare sermons. My main job was to seek God with a passion and fervency, and He would take care of everything else (Matt. 6:33). I only wish I would have learned that while I was pastor, but I pray God will help me put that into practice on the mission field.
See, if we do not make feasting at the Lord’s banquet a daily priority, we will experience what Jesus talks about in verses 34 and 35- a lack of “saltiness.”
Salt is an influencer. It affects the flavor of the food it is put in, and it preserves that food from spoiling. When we maintain that fellowship with the Lord and daily feast at His banquet, we become like salt and will be able to “influence” our surroundings. We will see the power, glory and majesty of God touching lives through us. We will see miracles where the deaf hear and the lame walk and the blinded eyes are opened. We will see lives changed, families strengthened, cities transformed, and revival come.
But if we do not pay the price of spending time with Him, we become like the salt that has lost its savor and, in effect, become useless for the Kingdom of God. We will find that, in the end, we have wasted our lives and will have nothing to show for our efforts but wood, hay and stubble (I Cor. 3:12-15).
Lord, I pray that all of us will hunger for Your Presence above anything else. Help us to not allow distractions to keep us from feasting at the banquet You daily set before us, and may we make spending time with You our number one priority so that we may maintain our “saltiness” and influence our community for the Kingdom of God.
