November 10, 2021: All Are Invited to The Wedding Ceremony of Our Lord, Are We Properly Dressed?

In the Book of Matthew in Chapter 22, Jesus shares a few parables to the spiritual leaders of His time. They were constantly trying to trap Him in His teaching to the people. The one parable that stood out this morning was the "Parable of the Wedding Banquet".

In this parable, many guests are invited to the wedding banquet. First, to God's chosen people, the Jewish community, but they refuse and were too busy with their farm and others with their business (Matthew 22: 1-7). Then the king, who was preparing the banquet for his son, told his servants to go and invite everyone they could find from the street corners, the bad ones, and the good ones to the wedding banquet. Read the following to see what happens next:

Matthew 22: 8:14

8 “Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come. 9 So 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, the bad as well as the good, 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 He asked, ‘How did you get in here without wedding clothes, friend?’ 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.”

Now everyone came, who was invited to the wedding banquet. But there was a certain man who came without the proper wedding attire. The king noticed the man and questioned him how he got into the banquet as he did. The man was speechless.

As I came to understand this parable, we are to have the proper wedding attire. The following is taken from the commentaries of Pastor Chuck Smith of Calvary Chapel Church.

"Now even though we are bid (asked) on to come to the feast, it is necessary that we have on the wedding garments. It is necessary that we be clothed in the righteousness, which is of Christ, through faith. There are some who are trying to come without the proper clothing. There are some who have not put on that righteousness through faith in Christ, but are trying to come in their own righteousness, or by their own efforts, or by their own good works. They'll never make it when the king makes the examinations of the guest. If you are not clothed in that robe of righteousness, through the faith of Christ, you will be cast out. But that's just a plain, straight warning of the Lord."

PERSONNAL COMMENT:

So how does one get the proper clothing (righteousness of Christ) to be able to make sure they are not thrown out of the wedding banquet of Jesus? How does one know if they are trusting their "own righteousness" or their "own works"? First and foremost, our faith must be in Jesus Christ alone for our salvation. We must be "absolutely surrendered" to Him...There is nothing we can do to earn our way into the wedding banquet. It is totally a "free gift" of God and a choice of ours to choose to accept His Son, Jesus, for what He did for us on the "Cross of Calvary." Are we properly dressed for the wedding ceremony?