Where Do We Go From Here? (August 28, 2022)

Sermon Outline for Sunday, August 28, 2022

Pastor Andy Lambert

PASSAGES:   Matthew 22:1-14; Luke 15:11-24; Philippians 3:12-14

Important Mission, Strengthen for the Mission, Get Your Priorities Right – three sermons that we have looked at with the series CHURCH ON A MISSION

• Important Mission – Reaching the Lost. Time is short and what are you gonna do with your time?
• Strengthen for the Mission – We must watch and pray and work to keep the church fires burning, else the MISSION can be stopped. How do we strengthen ourselves to do the work of the CHURCH ON A MISSION? Attending and Being the Church, Accepting Responsibility in Your Church, Appreciating Your Church, Advertising Your Church, and Agonizing for Your Church
• Get Your Priorities Right – Understanding that we must get our priorities correct by putting God first, seeking the King, drawing near to God, search with all our heart – What is Next?? Go Forth, Witness, Bring into the House of God

We as the Church must realize that when someone comes into the church, they are not going to be perfect. NONE of us are perfect. It is not our job to make people perfect, just point to the one who is perfect. I always find it, comical is not the right word, but the only word I can come up with, at the number of church folks who look down their nose, so to speak, at those who have imperfections in their lives. THINK ABOUT THAT!!!

Please don’t misunderstand what I am saying, I can’t put someone on the stage that was at the bar last night and came straight here to sing and or play the piano, but all of us have things in our lives, but many times church folks place certain “sins” greater than others. That is not our job nor our place.

So the question still remains – Where do we go from Here?

Matthew 22:1–14 (ESV)

¹ And again Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying,

² “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son,

³ and sent his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding feast, but they would not come.

⁴ Again he sent other servants, saying, ‘Tell those who are invited, “See, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding feast.” ’

⁵ But they paid no attention and went off, one to his farm, another to his business,

⁶ while the rest seized his servants, treated them shamefully, and killed them.

⁷ The king was angry, and he sent his troops and destroyed those murderers and burned their city.

⁸ Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding feast is ready, but those invited were not worthy.

⁹ Go therefore to the main roads and invite to the wedding feast as many as you find.’

¹⁰ And those servants went out into the roads and gathered all whom they found, both bad and good. So the wedding hall was filled with guests.

¹¹ “But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garment.

¹² And he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless.

¹³ Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot and cast him into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

¹⁴ For many are called, but few are chosen.”

We could look into this with great detail, but let’s get the meaning of various points of this parable:

• The King is God

• The Son is Christ Himself

• The Great Marriage Feast is the glorious day of redemption, when the church will see Christ for the very first time and be joined with Him forever

• Those that were invited where the Children of Israel, from the beginning. However, today, it can be applied to any of us, any who scoff, abuse, persecute and deny that Christ is the Son of God.

• Those in the main roads are the Gentiles or for today’s purposes, anyone who is willing to accept God’s glorious invitation; those who are lonely, depressed, anxious, discouraged, sick, hopeless, and so on.

• The wedding garment is righteousness. No guest is acceptable for the wedding unless he is properly clothed, and the only proper clothing is righteousness, the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Let’s look further …

Luke 15:11–24 (ESV)

¹¹ And he said, “There was a man who had two sons.

¹² And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me.’ And he divided his property between them.

¹³ Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in reckless living.

¹⁴ And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that country, and he began to be in need.

¹⁵ So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs.

¹⁶ And he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate, and no one gave him anything.

¹⁷ “But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger!

¹⁸ I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you.

¹⁹ I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants.” ’

²⁰ And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him.

²¹ And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’

²² But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet.

²³ And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate.

²⁴ For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’ And they began to celebrate.

[note_editor]

Let’s look at the main points:

• The younger son, who is not wise nor experienced, said give me of all that is mine.

• We must also realize that FIRST, the items the younger son wanted really wasn’t his, yet.

• The items the younger son wanted were those material items.

• The son was a child of the father by birth and therefore the son belonged to the father.

• It is clear from what follows that the son didn’t belong to the father in heart, mind and spirit. (THINK ABOUT THAT!)

• The son had not earned what he wanted; the son was selfish and self-centered, rude and unkind.

• The son had no thought about the cares of the father, the estate, just himself.

• The son really was after his own life, his own independence, his own freedom. Staying with his father, he held responsibilities, but he didn’t want that. He wanted cut loose.

• The prodigal son rejected and turned from the father and his way of life because he felt the father would …

• demand and require too much work

• curtail and limit his freedom

• disallow and restrict his fun and pleasure

• be unfair and not understand

• control and discipline too much

• keep and eye and hand upon him

• The results – the son wasted his life in riotous living which included:

• worldly, fleshly life

• loose, reckless, extravagant living

• careless spending

• wicked behavior

• immoral activities

• irreverent speech

• immodest dress

• boastful language

• The son became apart of the world and was out from under the protection of his father:

• He suffered being destitute; spent all; squandered and wasted and misused all the father gave to him

• He suffered natural disaster

• He suffered enslavement and humiliation

• He suffered hunger

• He suffered the loss of friends

After looking at these two parables, WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?

We must realize that we need to PUSH TOWARDS the goal of Christ’s mission on earth. Spread the good news of Salvation!!!

Philippians 3:12-14 ~ “Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”

Where do we go from Here? Continue to tell the good news of Jesus.

Pastor Andy Lambert ~ pastorandy@cvcog.church

Call/Text: 205.642.8744 ext 101